“Okay, counselor.” Black put down his fork and knife. “Since you already made the point that we’re making more money on the legit side of the house, go ahead and make your case.”
“For one thing, we used to need a bigger table to have these meetings.”
No one said a word.
No one had to.
Since she had everyone’s attention, Wanda continued to drive her point. She reached out and held Black’s hand. “It seems like we’re moving backwards instead of forward. I mean look at the two of you. Mike, you had left all this behind you. You and Cassandra made a life for yourselves in the Bahamas. You were out. Then you let her talk you into staying here. You lost your wife and Michelle lost her mother. Which one of you is gonna be next? I’ll be honest; I don’t want to go to anymore funerals for a long time. I don’t want to lose anymore friends. And the fact is we don’t have to live like that anymore.
“And Bobby, while Mike was gone, you were so busy being a faithful husband and a father to your children that I had to practically drag you out of the house.”
“True that,” Bobby had to admit.
“And look what happened when you did,” Wanda added.
“You had to go and throw that in.”
“Well, it’s the truth. And now Freeze is dead. Hasn’t this life cost us enough?”
Black looked at Wanda for awhile without speaking. She was right, as usual. Actually, he had been thinking the same thing lately. It was as if life had come full circle for him. He was back in New York, back running Cuisine. He was seeing a stripper or former stripper at this point, along with a few others. Everything was like it was before he met Cassandra.
He thought about Michelle.
“All right, now that you’ve killed my appetite, I have two questions,” Black said.
“What’s that?” Wanda asked.
“Since we are still making money on gambling and our other businesses, if you do get out, how do you plan on replacing that income?”
Now it was Wanda who was looking at Black without speaking. She hadn’t expected him to ask that, so she didn’t have an answer ready. “I haven’t given that any thought,” she was forced to admit.
“What’s the second question?” Nick asked.
“How do we get out? I mean what do we do, just walk away from it all? Do we make everybody buy us out?”
“I hadn’t thought of that either,” Wanda admitted quickly. Now her appetite was gone.
“When you have an answer to both of those questions, we’ll talk about this again.”
“Yes, sir,” said a defeated Wanda. She had taken her shot, but she wasn’t prepared. That wouldn’t happen again.
“Don’t get me wrong. Everything you said is true. I’ve been thinking about gettin’ out before Michelle loses her father too. Maybe it’s time.”
“What about Vinnelli?” Nick wanted to know.
“I gave Angelo my word that I’d let that go.”
“Angelo?” Bobby questioned. Now that Angelo thinks it’s a good idea he gives his word, he thought. Bobby had been saying all along that after what happened with Masters and Mylo that Black should back off of Vinnelli.
“Well for once I agree with him,” Wanda said. “We dodged a bullet with Mylo and that other character, no point pushing our luck any further.”
Bobby got up from the table. “Well, if we’re finished here, I got to get back uptown.”
“You goin’ to the club?” Black asked.
“Not right away, but I’ll be there sometime tonight.”
“I’ll see you up there later. I wanna run something past you.”
“Cool,” Bobby said and left the restaurant.
After Bobby left, Black, Nick, and Wanda talked and had drinks. When Wanda excused herself to the ladies room, Black turned to Nick.
“There’s somethin’ I want you to do for me.”
“What’s that?”
“There was a robbery at Paradise Fish and Chicken. Two people were killed.”
“Employees?”
“No, customers. They were standing in line when the bandits hit. Shot them for no reason.”
“What do you want me to do?”
Black reached in his pocket and pulled out a fat envelope. “Take this to the family. The address is in the envelope. Her name was Zakiya Phillips; the money is for her grandmother. To help out with expenses.”
Nick took the envelope from Black. “It’ll give me a reason to get out of the house.”
“With Wanda’s pushin’ me to get involved in the legit side, I’ll be busy most of the day,” Black said and shook his head.
“You? Busy during the day?” They both laughed because Black was truly a night person.
“Picture that. But if that’s where we’re headed, she’s right. I need to be on top it; especially since that’s where the most money is being made. So tomorrow, you call Kevon after you get done with Mrs. Phillips. I want to talk to you about some other things.” Black told Nick as Wanda returned to the table. “About time. I was about to send a waitress in to check on you.”
“I didn’t think I had been gone that long. You must be ready to go?”
“Exactly,” Black said and called for the check.
Nick didn’t feel like driving back uptown, him and Wanda got a room at the Westin on 43rd Street. Once they had checked into the room and had gotten comfortable, Wanda had questions. “Did Mike ask you what you wanted to do?”
“I didn’t tell him that I was thinkin’ about runnin’ the game if that’s what you wanna know. But there is something he does what me to do.”
“What?”
“Did you know that there was a robbery at Paradise Fish and Chicken?” Nick asked, knowing that she did. Wanda stayed on top of everything. There were times when he wondered who her sources were. He would make it his business to find out.
“Yes. I heard that a couple of people were killed. What does he want you to do?”
“Take some money to one of the victim’s grandmother,” Nick replied and waited for her to say something, but she didn’t. Wanda just moved closer to him in bed and put her head on his chest. Maybe I don’t know her as well as I thought I did, Nick thought. When she began gliding her hand over his chest, Nick knew then that Wanda wasn’t interested in talking.
Chapter 6
Nick Simmons
The next morning Wanda left to go to her office, and I went back uptown and got ready to take the envelope to the victim’s family. I understood from my army days what was in front of me. Having to tell parents that their child was dead wasn’t an easy thing. This wasn’t the same thing, since she already knew that her granddaughter was dead, but I still wasn’t in the mood to deal with her grief. I had enough of my own.
When I got to Mrs. Phillips’s apartment, I knocked on the door and waited for her to answer. It took a while, but finally the door opened. “Mrs. Phillips?”
“Yes.” she smiled. “How can I help you, young man?”
“My name is Nick Simmons. Mike Black asked me to stop by and give this to you.” I tried to hand her the envelope and get away from there.
“Mr. Black said to expect you. Come in,” Mrs. Phillips said and stepped aside to allow me to enter the apartment.
Not wanting to be rude, not to mention having respect for my elders, I went inside. “Thank you.”
Mrs. Phillips was slow getting around, but she led me into the living room and offered me a seat. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“No, thank you. I wouldn’t want you go to any trouble,” I said and tried to hand her the envelope again, but she wouldn’t take it.
“Nonsense. It’s no trouble at all. What would you like?”
“Whatever you have is fine.”
“I just made a pitcher of iced tea, or would you like something a little stronger?”
“It’s a little early in the day for me,” I lied. Lately, I’ve been waking up to Johnnie Black.
“I usually have a glass of brandy around this time of day. One drink in the morning and one before bed, it’s the secret to living a long life.”