No More Tears In The End

JR closed his eyes and turned away from Rain.

“But something ain’t right about her story. Lakeda wouldn’t talk to Jeff Ritchie about Miles having an affair. But she would talk you. Lakeda came to see you that night. That’s what happened, ain’t it, Daddy?”

JR didn’t answer, didn’t open his eyes; he just gripped Rain’s hand a little tighter.

“Jeff Ritchie would never do anything like that. He wouldn’t send men to kill her, not unless you told him to.”

Rain let go of her father’s hand and stood up.

JR opened his eyes.

“She was pregnant with Miles baby, Daddy. You killed your grandchild.”

When Rain walked out of the room, JR looked at me. I thought about what Black said.

If JR’s involved, kill him.

“You shouldn’t have hit her at our spot, JR.”

“Didn’t know it was your spot.”

“Guess not,” I said and walked out of the room.

Chapter 37

Mike Black

It took a couple of days for me think through what I was gonna do, and a week to put it all together. But I was almost ready to put my plan into action. There was just one more piece that I needed to put in place-the most important piece.

Kevon parked the car and we went in the building. We took the elevator up and Kevon knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

I leaned in front of the peephole. “Mike Black.”

“Don’t go nowhere. I gotta put something on.”

“Don’t go to any trouble.”

“Maybe you should call first, boss,” Kevon said and leaned against the wall. I took the other wall and we waited.

Five minutes later the door opened. “Hello, Mr. Black,” CeCe said. I don’t know what she had on before, but now she looked radiant. Knowing my fondness for the color, CeCe was wearing a black dress and four-inch stilettos, her hair was done, and her make-up was flawless.

“I didn’t catch you at a bad time, did I?”

“Not at all. I was just sitting around watching TV. Please come in,” CeCe said and extended her hand gracefully. I walked in and CeCe looked at Kevon. “He’s not coming in?”

“He’ll be right there if I need him.”

“I understand.” CeCe smiled and shut the door.

I followed her into the living room and she offered me a seat. “Nice place,” I said and sat down.

“Thank you,” CeCe said and sat down next to me. “It would be an understatement to say that I’m surprised to see you. I didn’t know you knew where I lived. But you did say that when you wanted me, you would find me.”

“Sorry I didn’t call first, but I needed to talk to you about somethin’ and I don’t like talkin’ on telephones.”

“I heard that about you. That’s why I haven’t blown-up Kevon’s phone.”