“Bruce Lawrence.”
“Yeah, I know him. And yeah, he was down with Chilly. I heard about what happened. Her brother owed Chilly money. Chilly sent some people around to collect, and things got out of hand. But I know Chilly didn’t send them over there to rape women and little girls. That ain’t his style, but Chilly will kill a muthafucka about his money.”
“Then he knows who did it.”
“Maybe you should stay out that man’s business. Whether he had something to do with it or not, it ain’t none of your business.”
Travis looked at Freeze and thought about Me’shelle. “I understand.”
Chapter Thirty-five
Later that evening, Travis parked his car across the street from The Spot and turned off the engine. In spite of Freeze’s warning to stay out of Chilly’s business, there he was. As he sat in his car, he wondered what he was going to say, wondered if he should take the advice that Freeze had given him, and wondered what the hell he was doing there. He thought about Me’shelle, and what he was doing there became clear.
Travis reached under the passenger seat, grabbed his gun and stepped out of the car. Since he was determined to do this, he briefly considered coming back with Ronnie, or Jackie and Ronnie. But there was no point in involving them in this. They would think it was stupid, and they would be right.
Travis walked inside and took a look around. It occurred to him that he had no idea what Chilly looked like, and just asking for him might not get him anywhere. From the stares that he was getting, Travis could tell that he didn’t belong there. If that was the case, he knew somebody would approach him soon enough and ask him what he was doing there.
He stepped to the bar and ordered a drink. The bartender looked at him like he was crazy and walked away.
“Something I can get for you?” asked a voice from behind Travis. He turned around to find three men standing in back of him. One held a gun in his hand. The other two had theirs in their waistbands.
“I’m looking for Chilly,” Travis said.
“Who?”
“I’m a friend of Bruce Lawrence and I’m looking for Chilly.”
“No, you a stupid muthafucka with a death wish,” the one with the gun said as he put it to Travis’s head. “Search him.”
Travis was relieved of his weapon and took a fist to the stomach. The blow caught him off guard and knocked the wind out of him, but it didn’t really hurt. Travis was running on adrenaline now. The two men grabbed him by the arms, in case he thought about doing something about the punch.
“What you wanna see Chilly about?”
“I wanna talk to him.”
“About what?”
“About Bruce.”
“What about Bruce?”
“Are you Chilly?”
“No.”
“Then it ain’t your business,” Travis said. He suddenly realized how foolish this was. The smart-ass answer cost Travis two more shots to the gut; he felt the butt of a gun hit his mouth.
That hurt.
While the beating continued, a crowd formed around them. One man forced his way thought the crowd. “What the fuck is goin’ on here?”
“This mutha fucka says he wants to see Chilly, Rocky.”
“Who is he and what he wanna see Chilly for?” Rocky asked.
“He said he’s a friend of Bruce Lawrence.”
“No shit. I didn’t think Bruce had any friends,” Rocky said and slapped Travis in the face.
“Who is this nigga?” someone asked behind Rocky.
Rocky turned around to find Chilly and Derrick standing behind him. “He says he’s a friend of Bruce. Wants to talk to you.”
Travis turned up his bloody face and saw Chilly standing before him. Chilly looked at Travis and shook his head. “You must be a friend of Bruce, ’cause you really are a stupid muthafucka. You walk up in here by yourself, wanna talk to me about another stupid muthafucka.” Chilly looked at Rocky. “He don’t wanna talk to me, he wanna die.”
“Hold up, Rock. Chilly, let me talk to you for a second,” Derrick said and stepped closer to Chilly. “I seen this nigga before.”
“Where?”
“He’s with Freeze.”
“Freeze? You sure?”
“Yeah.”
Chilly looked at Travis again. “You don’t want nothing from me.”
“I wanna know what happened to Bruce,” Travis said and Rocky punched him in the face.
“Nobody asked you to talk.”
“Whatever went on with Bruce ain’t none of your business. Get him out of here,” Chilly said and walked away.
Derrick followed behind Chilly. “Don’t kill him. Just take him out back.”
Travis was taken to the back door of the club and thrown out into the back alley. He picked himself up from the pile of trash he landed in and thought, that didn’t go well at all. As he walked away, he realized that it had gone the only way it could have. It was stupid for him to walk up in there in the first place. And coming alone was worse. What were you expecting, a nice sit-down conversation?
Back inside The Spot, Chilly sat down at a table and pulled out his cell phone to call Freeze.
“Yo.”
“Freeze, this Chilly.”
“What’s up?”
“You send one of your people over here to ask me some shit about how I run my business?”
“No,” Freeze answered, knowing he meant Travis. “I didn’t send him. And you know better than to ask me some shit like that.”
“He with you?”
“Yeah, he’s with me, so I hope you respected that.”
“He’s still alive. But he got educated while he was here.”
“I can respect that.”
“Who is this nigga, anyway?”
“He’s a friend of Bruce’s sister.”
Chilly laughed. “I’m beginning to understand this shit now. She’s a bad bitch, and bad bitches make niggas do stupid shit.”
Freeze laughed. “I told him to stay out of your business. But I should have told him that I would handle it.”
“Handle what?”
“I heard that he owed you money and you sent someone to collect.”
“What about that is any of your business?”
“It ain’t. Whoever you sent raped his daughter.”
“Freeze, word is bond, I didn’t know anything about that. Raped little Brandy?” Chilly thought for a second. “Well, I guess by now she ain’t no little girl.”
“That’s still some fucked up shit,” Freeze said. “I know that ain’t how you do business. I know you got more honor than that, and I assured Travis of that. But like you said, bad bitches make smart men do stupid shit. So, I apologize for his disrespect, but I do ask that you do something about that situation.”
“You have my word,” Chilly said as Derrick tapped him on the shoulder. Chilly looked up and noticed that Detectives Kirkland and Richards were standing in front of him. “I’ll get with you, later about that. The police are here,” Chilly said and hung up the phone.
Chapter Thirty-six
“I didn’t mean to rush you off the phone, Chilly,” Detective Kirkland said.
“That’s all right, Kirk. I always got time to talk to you,” Chilly said.
“You mind if we sit down?” Kirk asked as he sat down.
“Have a seat, Kirk. Can I get you a drink?”
“No,” Detective Richards said. “We’re on duty.”
“Shit, I know plenty of cops that drink on duty. Y’all stick around, you might see one or two of them. But enough of this small talk. What y’all want?”
“What do you think, Chilly? I wanna talk to you.” Kirk dropped a picture on the table in front of Chilly. “You know this man?”
Chilly picked up the picture and looked at it carefully. “I know this guy. His name is-” Chilly snapped his fingers. “Let me think. What’s his name?”
“Bruce Lawrence,” Richards said.
“That’s right, Bruce Lawrence. He used to work at the bank where my wife does business. If I’m not mistaken, he got fired from there years ago for stealing.”
“I heard that he works for you, Chilly,” Kirkland asserted.