2. Vice Blackwell #3
“And you don’t know that she isn’t. Clearly, you don’t know how this street shit is.” Neither one of us spoke for a moment as I mugged his ass. Then I returned my stare back to Lil’ Mama. “You said one of them started walking toward you,” I said, looking back at Milan. “Why’d he stop?”
“The sirens.” She answered so fast I knew she hadn’t forgotten a single second of it. “Hospital security came through the employee entrance, and I heard police getting closer. That’s when they ran.”
I nodded slowly.
“So, they didn’t leave because they were finished.” I voiced much to myself. “They left because they ran out of time.”
The words hung in the room.
I watched her expression change as everything she’d been trying not to think about started making sense. She shook her head before looking toward the detective.
“But they don’t even know who I am… They saw me but they don’t know anything about me. My name or anything.”
“They don’t have to.” Her eyes came back to mine. “They know where you work. That’s enough.”
Silence settled over the room again, heavier than before.
Detective Harris finally cleared his throat. “As I said, we’ll have patrol keep an eye on her apartment for the next few days.”
I almost laughed.
“For the next few days…” I repeated.
He frowned. “It’s standard procedure.”
“Standard procedure gets people killed.”
The detective’s jaw tightened like he was offended, but I didn’t give a damn. His ass knew not to say anything because deep down, he knew I was telling the truth. Fuck that standard bullshit.
I looked back at Milan. She hadn’t said another word. She was still trying to process the fact that the worst part of her night might not have been over. I could see it all over her face. She’d walked into work expecting an ordinary shift.
Instead, she’d witnessed an attempted murder, become the only witness, and now had two men out there who knew exactly what she looked like.
Whether she believed it or not… her life had just changed.
“You think they’re coming back?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“I don’t think shit.” I held her gaze without flinching. “I know how people like them move.”
Confusion and fear fought for space across her face. She wanted me to be wrong. Hell, anybody in her position would. Unfortunately, I’d spent too many years dealing with people who solved their problems with bullets instead of words.
Shit, I used to do it.
“They had one job tonight,” I continued. “Make sure my cousin never talked. They handled that part. Then they saw you.”
“But I didn’t do anything.”
“I know…”
She let out a shaky breath and looked down at her hands. “I had just gotten to work.”
Neither me or the detective had a response for that. Sometimes life didn’t give a damn what you were supposed to be doing. It put you in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now you were forced to deal with the fallout.
Detective Harris shifted beside me. “We’ll increase patrol around her apartment and make sure she’s got a direct number to call if she notices anything suspicious.”
I looked at him and asked, “And then what?”
“We’ll continue investigating.”
“That ain’t a plan.”
“It’ll have to do until we identify the suspects.”
I shook my head. “No, it’ll have to do for you.”
The detective’s expression hardened. “So what exactly are you saying, Mr. Blackwell? That what we’re doing isn’t good enough?”
“Take it however the fuck you want... You getting offended ain’t gonna catch who did this.”
The room got so damn quiet you could’ve heard a mouse pissing on cotton.
Even Milan was looking at me like I’d lost my damn mind.
I could feel her stare burning a hole into the side of my face, but I didn’t look at her right away.
When I finally turned my attention back to her, I held her gaze for a minute before speaking up.
“You got somewhere else you can stay tonight?” I asked.
“My apartment…”
“Besides there.”
“My sister.”
“She lives alone?”
“Yes… Well, her and her kids. Her husband drives trucks, so he’s hardly ever home.”
I nodded, already crossing that option off in my head. That wasn’t any better. “What about your parents?”
She shook her head. “My dad’s been gone for years, and my mom passed when I was in college.”
“Friends?” I asked.
“I know a few people from back in the day.”
“Anybody with security? Gated neighborhood… cameras… somebody who ain’t an easy target?”
She nodded. “Yeah… Me.”
“What?”
“My apartment building has security downstairs twenty-four seven. Visitors have to check in and show ID before they can even get on the elevator.” She shrugged. “Honestly… it’s probably one of the safest places I could be.”
I nodded and went, “That’s good.”
Detective Harris spoke up. “We’ll also notify the security staff about what happened tonight. If anybody suspicious shows up, they’ll know to call us immediately.”
I glanced at him but didn’t say anything. My mind had already drifted somewhere else.
Who the fuck were these people?
Why were they talking about me before Sam got shot?
What was Sam trying to expose?
None of it made sense to me, but I was going to get to the bottom of it, if that was the last thing I did.