"What’s the other, Jett?" I asked, expecting another snappy come back.
"It would be too much like fuckin’ my sister."
It was eleven thirty when we arrived at the Childers residence. We were late, but so were they. We parked the car down the street to the sound of Chilly yelling. "I ain’t gonna call you no more, Gee! Get your ass down here right now so we can go!"
"Go without me, then!" Mrs. Childers screamed back.
"You just get your ass down here, right now."
"You set this up, Nick?" Jett asked.
I nodded, trying to hear the argument.
"Not bad work. A little staticy, but not bad. You set up cameras too?"
"No, but I got pictures of each room."
"We need to go over those pictures. It will make it easier to complete the set up."
"No time now. I gotta follow them. Find out what was so important that she had to go with him."
"Get your head out her ass, Nick," Monika said. "You go with Jett. I’ll follow the happy couple."
I started to insist that I had to go, but she was right. The sooner we could go over the pictures, the sooner we’d have the place covered.
When Mrs. Childers came to open the gate, we got out, and Monika took off behind the Childers. Me and Jett went back to the office to develop the film. "How’d you get in, Nick?"
"Simple alarm and cheese ball locks."
For the next hour I went over the set up of the house with Jett. Once he was satisfied with my review of the set up of the house, he prepared to implement his plan to maximize coverage. "Where are you going?" Jett asked.
"To see Lisa Ellison. Then I thought I’d talk to the sister."
"Not without me, you’re not."
"Jett, you heard what Monika said, and she was right. I know these people, some of them I probably know personally. They will kill us for involving ourselves in their business."
"Come on, Nick. We can handle them."
"I know you’re a tough guy and all, Jett. But we are out-numbered and out-gunned." The way I left Black. "We need to be a step ahead of them all the way," I said, as I armed myself. I did know these people, and when the guns started coming out, I wasn’t about to be the last one to pull his. "We need to stay on task. So, I’ll go talk to the sister. And you get your head out that woman’s ass and set up the surveillance."
* * *
Chapter Four
"So you and your partner are strung out on these women," Wanda said.
"I wasn’t strung out on her, Wanda. I thought she was a very attractive woman, but I think strung out is a little strong." Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. But one thing was certain; I was very interested in Mrs. Gabrielle Childers. More interested than I’ve been in any other woman in a long time.
"Okay, Nick, whatever you want to call it."
"Wanda, I —"
"Anyway, Nick. You left Jett, and you were on your way to talk to Lisa Ellison."
"Yeah, but I was thinkin’ that we were gettin’ ready to go up against Chilly and his crew. Other than Mrs. Childers’ feeling, I had no other reason to suspect him. That wasn’t good eno
ugh. If I was gonna play private investigator, it was time I started investigating. I had to consider the possibility that Chilly wasn’t involved. I still thought covering the house was a good idea, just in case he was."