“Hello.”
“Mr. Simmons, this is Roslyn Phillips speaking. How are you today?”
“I’m doin’ fine, Mrs. Phillips. How are you?”
“I’ll manage. I was calling for two reasons.”
“What’s that, Mrs. Phillips?” I already knew what one of them was.
“I wanted to know if you had found who killed Zakiya.”
“Not yet, but I’m workin’ on it.”
“I see. Well, I know these things take time. But I just thought I’d ask. But the main reason I was calling was to make sure that you would be at her funeral today?”
I hadn’t planned on going. Hadn’t given it any thought at all, to be honest about it. But I promised that I would be there. Mrs. Phillips gave me the address of the church and I hung up. I went back to the living room and hoped that Black wanted to talk about Charles Watson and not me runnin’ out on him.
“That was Mrs. Phillips on the phone,” I said when I got back in the room.
“Wants to know about Zakiya?”
“That and whether I was comin’ to her funeral.”
“Are you?”
“I told her I’d be there. Since you’re dressed for it,
you wanna come with me?”
“No.” Black said definitely. “I have a lunch meeting with Wanda and somebody else with a name I can’t pronounce. After that, I gotta meet Bobby at the club to talk to P Harlem and his agent about some shit P did to lose his record deal. Then I have a dinner meeting at Cuisine with our investment banker.”
“Meka Brazil?”
Black looked at me like he was surprised I knew that. Then I guess he thought about it. “Wanda.”
I nodded my head.
“Tell me about Zakiya Phillips?”
“Word I got is that the shooters were Jasper Robinson’s people.”
“JR?”
“I talked to him and I don’t think he knows anything about it.”
“How’s he doin’?”
“He looked all right to me, but his daughter says he’s been sick.”
“I haven’t seen Lorraine and Miles since they were kids.”
“She likes to be called Rain now. I didn’t meet Miles yet.”
“Jeff Ritchie still with him?”
“Yeah. What’s his deal?”
“Jeff Ritchie is JR’s right hand; been with him for years.”