"You know I don’t believe that. But we’ll pass that for now. If Chilly had Pamela killed because she knew what was goin’ on, what did you have to be afraid of?"
"He might have thought that she told me." Felicia looked away from me.
I touched her shoulder. "Look at me, Felicia. Why’d you come back?"
"I told you, I missed you."
"It’s over, Felicia, Chilly’s dead. Jett’s dead. Monika may die." I put my arm around her. "Please tell me the truth, Felicia."
"Nick." She kissed me on the cheek. "I told you the truth, I came back because I missed you. And you gave me the courage to face things. To finish what I started."
"What was that?"
"I told you why I left the force. Well, I didn’t tell you the whole story. Once the shooting stopped, Morgan and I searched the house. I told you about the cocaine, well, there was a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash. Morgan said we could split it. He said he had an old friend who could get rid of the drugs for us. But I told him no, I didn’t want anything to do with the drugs. Morgan said, fine. I could keep all the money. He could make twice that from selling the drugs."
"That’s why you were so worried about the cops investigating you. You were afraid they would find out."
"Yes." Felicia looked away, but she turned back quickly. "So we robbed a bunch of dead drug dealers. Nobody would care about that, right?"
"You would think. What happened?"
"It was Rocky we robbed."
"When did you find that out?"
"I was looking at some of Pamela’s pictures. I recognized two of them from pictures she took at Jake’s party. Then Morgan called me and said that Rocky knew. He said he would kill both of us if we didn’t give back the drugs and the money."
"How did he find out it was you two?"
"Morgan’s source. He tried to sell the dope to one of Rocky’s people. He told Rocky he got it from Morgan, before they killed him. Morgan called and said he wanted to see me. He had bought into his uncle’s bar in Queens, he said to meet him there and we would figure out what to do. But he was dead when I got there. Police called it a robbery."
"What happened then?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"For the next couple of months, nothing happened. Then about a month ago, Rocky called me. He told me he wanted the money back. Or what happened to Morgan would happen to me. I was supposed to meet Rocky here the night Pamela died. I tried to call Pamela, to tell her to stay away from here. But I never did catch her. Pamela was dead when I got here."
"Is that why you killed Rocky?"
"Pamela died for something me and Morgan did. When I woke up and you were gone that morning, I called Rocky and told him I only had half of the money. He said to meet him at his club that night. I had the money, but I knew he would kill me anyway, whether I gave it to him or not."
"That much was obvious."
"I waited outside the club until I saw him pull up in the convertible. Two of his boyz were up front; Rocky was in the back seat. I walked up to the car and shot the three of them in the head. Then I swung around and put one each in their chests. I threw the gun on Rocky’s lap a got away from there."
"Nobody would care if three piece of shit drug dealers got whacked in the street, right?"
"That was my plan, Nick. I made it look like it was just another drug related murder."
So there it is, I had actually solved the case. The big question now was, what was I going to do about it? I didn’t know what I was gonna do. I knew one thing for sure, I knew then that I was finished trying to play private detective. Too much like being a cop for me. I looked over at Felicia, I put my arms around her, and she rested her head against my chest. Whether I was in love with her or not I couldn’t turn her over to the police for what she’d done. She didn’t do anything that I hadn’t done. Felicia got revenge for her friend. I couldn’t roll her over for that. Or Mrs. Childers, or Chésará for that matter. I just couldn’t see myself helping the police. If they figured it out on their own, that would be different. But I knew they would make Chilly the fall guy.
Case closed.
* * *
Chapter Twenty-seven