51. Four
Four
Istared at the next name on my list.
Melissa Walters.
Daughter of Javion Walters Sr and Lindsey Ferguson.
The fact that she’d been able to get past me pissed me off to no end.
When Cori mentioned her name, I’d been quiet, hoping and somewhat not hoping that the woman I fucked around with all those years ago wasn’t the same one that had set my woman up.
As soon as I saw her picture, all hope was gone.
“Melissa’s name is popular as fuck right now,” Nine said. He sat at his computer, a stupid ass smirk on his face, and watched me.
“Who else is looking for her?” I leaned forward.
“A DeCorte.”
Sighing, I sat back and wiped my hand over my face. “Which one? And please don’t tell me it’s that axe-carrying wife of yours.”
“Nah,” he answered. “The other one.”
“It’s a few of them,” I reminded him. “Just give me the name so I can tell them Melissa is mine.”
“Mercy,” he answered.
“Why?”
“Apparently she spiked Givens drink a few months back.”
“Sounds about right,” I said, nodding. “Where are they?”
“You ain’t getting her,” he said, and I chuckled. “Nah, for real. You aren’t. Mercy already took care of her.”
“Where her parents?”
“In the wind.”
“Siblings?”
“Two.”
“Give me their names then.”
“Pyrite already has the sister, and Xoey has the brother.”
“Where?” I questioned him.
“Pyrite has the baker locked in his basement, and Xoey has the brother in the warehouse.” He pulled a folder from his desk and handed it to me.
“I did some research on them.” He chuckled.
“To be honest, I've been researching every fucking name that you gave me. They all have ties to SP. The young niggas. The ones around our ages all work for SP in some capacity. Or at least are on the payroll. But it’s the old heads that caught my eye.
They have a history with Robert or Logan, back in the day shit.
Before we were born, hell, even thought of.
Javien Sr. knew Corinthians and Psalms' daddy, Ruben.
They did a few stints in jail together. Nothing long, a month or two for getting caught with drugs or money.
Their lawyer got them off every time. Tyrell was the illegitimate child of one of the Cartells.
I can't figure out which one, though. His daddy was an identical twin.”
“DNA is the same.”
“Right, he had a brother named Jax. Ain’t nobody seen or heard from him in years. One rumor is he’s dead, the other is he got institutionalized. There’s a payment record, but like I said, nobody has seen him in years.”
“He’s dead,” I said, and Nine nodded. He more than likely thought I was saying shit, but I wasn’t. Jax was dead, been dead. Whoever they were paying to institutionalize wasn’t Jax.
“Probably,” he agreed. “Their money guy, he works wonders. Honestly, for a second, I thought it was some shit you did.”
“Robert,” I said, shaking my head. “Nigga can fix a book better than anyone I know. Which is why it took Unc so long to figure out SP was in trouble.”
“Same thing I thought.” He sighed and wiped his hands over his face.
“Every name. They all link back to Robert, which links back to our friend's family. All of them. The DeCortes, because of Ruben. The Stones: Micah was Robert’s head of security for years. The St. Thomas’ because Xia was their lawyer. ”
“Not Xayne?” I asked, slightly surprised.
“Nah, Xayne was too busy trying to get his sister Xierra off the streets. He didn’t join the fold until the very end,” he answered. “And I don’t even want to go into that basket case. I get why Xoey did what she did.”
“She ain’t gonna forgive herself for killing her aunt.”
“She should because Logan was Xierra’s pet,” Nine announced, and immediately my face twisted. “Yeah.”
“Fuck.”
“Oh, it gets more interesting. Robert was or is friends with the Kilmores. He’s even the godfather of Isaac.”
“Since when?” I chuckled.
“I don’t know,” he answered with a shrug.
“There’s a Will in there, one that shows what would happen to the Kilmore kids if their parents and grandparents died.
Isaac would go to Robert. The others to Logan.
They’d split the insurance money, Robert getting the bigger chunk even though he got one kid. ”
“Business deal,” I said, shaking my head. I remembered Robert having the same deal with Ruben for Cori and Psalms. Robert got Cori; Jonathan got Psalms. “Who drafted that? Can you tell?” I would hate it to be Xia. As much as I loved the St. Thomas’s, if she did that shit, she was going to die.
“Nah,” he replied. “All I know is that it wasn’t Xia or Xayne. They weren’t fucking with Robert by then.”
“When did their business stop?”
“After the DeCortes died,” he said. “After their accident, everyone cut ties with Robert. The Stones, Carters, shit damn near all of TR. Nobody fucked with them. It looks like nobody knew what the fuck Robert and Logan were up to.”
“I knew that,” I said, nodding. “It’s one of the reasons why I changed my mind on killing them.”
“How did you know?”
“Because nobody knew who I was,” I replied. “And it wasn’t a fake not knowing either. They legit didn’t know, and if they were tied to that shit, they would’ve known.”
“So what’s your next move?”
“Go see Pyrite and Xoey,” I announced as I stood. “I want to meet the woman in the basement and the nigga in the warehouse.”
***
“No,” Pyrite said, shaking his head. He took a pull of his blunt as he watched something on his computer. “Not happening.”
“Why?”
“Itty Bitty doesn’t know shit,” he answered. “Not even one small damn detail.”
“You can see Javien Jr.,” Xoey offered. She sat next to me. Her attention was on something on her phone. “I don’t mind as long as you don’t kill him.”
“Why?”
“Because I need information,” she replied. “Only he can give me. You killing him will stop that.”
“Get your information, then I will kill him.”
She slowly lifted her head. “No.” Doll sat next to her. Her eyes locked on me just like her owner. Everyone thought Doll was just a pet, but that was the furthest thing from the truth. She was just as dangerous as Xoey. If Xoey was calm, so was Doll; if she wasn’t, there was a problem.
“Why?”
“Because I said so,” she replied. “Now I can always renege on you seeing him.”
“I could always just go to the warehouse,” I reminded her, then turned to Pyrite. “And break into your house.”
“You wouldn’t,” Pyrite said, and I just stared at him.
I would. Without a doubt and wouldn’t care. I needed information; they held the people who had the information. They were either going to let me talk to them, or I would do it my way.
“Why is this so important to you?” Pyrite asked. “He’s just a nigga that’s wrapped up in some shit. His pops owes me money; he inherited the debt. They decided the payment was his sister.”
“I need to talk to one of them about their daddy and a business deal he was a part of.”
“How much do they owe?” Pyrite sighed. “I’ll pay it off that way I have more leverage over the sister.”
“You are so in love,” Xoey laughed and shook her head. “Just tell Fable that you love her already so y’all can have pretty brown big-haired babies.”
“Everything ain’t a love story,” Pyrite told her.
Xoey reared back and then rolled her eyes. “Yes, it is.” She turned to me. “Do you want a moment with Jr or no? Because this nigga is in love, and I can tell you right now he ain’t gonna let you talk to The Baker. He gets moody when I come by.”
“You come over uninvited.”
“I have the code; that means my invite is open.” She waved him off without looking at him. “Yes or no?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, let’s go.” She stood, smoothed her skirt, then turned to Pyrite. “I will be back to talk to you about that shit with Xion and his little girlfriend. Something is bugging me about all this.”
“It’s Xion…”
“This feels different,” she said, shaking her head.
Xoey had a rocky relationship with her brother Xion, but lately she said things felt off.
She swore he was watching her a little too hard, asking questions and showing interest when he shouldn’t.
She also mentioned being followed a few times over the last week or so.
“Alright, Xoey,” he said, nodding. “I’ll call Nine and Cross and ask one of them to meet with us too.”
“Oh, my second favorite serial killer couple,” she smiled and clapped. “I love them.”
“Second favorite?” Pyrite asked with a laugh. “Who replaced them?”
“You’ll have to figure it out since you said everything isn’t a love story,” she replied. She looked at me, lifted her brow, then smirked. “You ready?”
“Let’s go, Xoey,” I chuckled, then stood. “Catch you later, Pyrite.”
“Later.”
***
Xoey had Javien Jr. tied to a pole in the middle of the room.
He sat next to it, his head resting against it, eyes barely open.
He wasn’t beaten too badly. Just a few bruises, his left eye swollen and cuts along his face.
His arms were covered with cuts as well.
This wasn’t too bad for Xoey. More than likely, she was fucking with the nigga, the torture was light, more of a mind game than physical.
But there was no doubt in my mind it would turn physical, and when it did, he would wish she never walked into the room.
I sat in a chair by the door, waiting. Xoey promised to give us privacy. So whatever I said to Javien Jr. would stay between us.
“Do you know why I’m here?” I finally asked him.
“Yes.”
I appreciated that he wasn’t playing dumb.
“Why?”
“Robert sent you,” he replied, then lifted his head from the pole to look at me as best as he could. “He said he would send his son when he was done with me.” He chuckled, then coughed. “I thought he meant the other one. The one that’s always with him, not you.”
I kept my face void of all emotion, but it was fucking with me that he said Trey was always with him. Trey said he hadn’t seen Robert more than once or twice over the years.
“So, you’ve always known who I was?”