“Black likes to make money, bottom line. You showed him the money and he’s moving that way. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Yes. But I still feel so left out.”
“You’ll be all right.”
“That’s what he says.”
“He’s right, you will.”
“So who was that woman with you?”
Now it comes.
My first instinct was to say; what woman? But I know who she’s talkin’ about and she knows I know who she’s talkin’ about. Me asking what woman would only piss her off and send this conversation down the road to perceived denial and deception. No, take it head on. “That was Rain Robinson.”
“Who is she, Nick?”
“She’s JR Robinson’s daughter.”
“What were you doing having dinner with her?”
“She’s helping me find who killed Zakiya Phillips.”
“Who?”
“The woman who was killed at Paradise Fish and Chicken. You remember I told you that Black wanted me to look into it.”
“Yeah, but I’m sure he wasn’t expecting you to waste a lot of time on it.”
“Black told me that he didn’t want people thinkin’ that now that Freeze is dead that they could just hit our spots and we don’t do nothing about it.”
“I understand that, but we’ve got plenty of people that could handle that mess.”
“That’s true. But he wants me to establish myself, handle things personally.”
“What does you handling things personally have to do with you having dinner with her?”
“Nothing. How many men do you have lunch and dinner with?”
“That’s business.”
“So is this.”
“How?”
“I told you, she’s helping me find the guys that murdered Zakiya Phillips.”
“What is she, a private detective?” Wanda asked sarcastically. “How is she helping you?”
“My sources say that some of JR’s people were involved in it.”
“And?”
“I went to see JR Talked to him about it and he assured me that he didn’t know anything about it. But since he doesn’t want any bad blood with Black, he told Rain to help me find who did it.”
Wanda folded her arms across her chest and that pouty look came over her face; which meant that at least for the time being, I had successfully held her off. “I still don’t like you having dinner with her.”
“What’s wrong with it? We were hungry, so we ate. And if you want to get technical about it, we didn’t have dinner together. She ate while I talked to Black and then she sat and watched me eat. But you already know that,” I said and made a mental note to keep Rain out of all of our spots. Wanda had eyes everywhere, and I need to know who they are.