“I thought we agreed to leave the investigating to me?”
“Garrett, if Carmen Taylor asked you to go with her to a strip club so she could talk to a friend of her sisters, what would you say?”
“I'd say; you want me to drive?”
“I rest my case,” Marcus said as they walked out to the car. While Marcus drove, he brought Garrett up to speed on what little progress they had made on the case. “Did you find anything out about Damali?”
“Not really. He's a real mystery man. Nobody knows anything about him. Desireé was paying for the apartment he was staying in. Neighbors say he was quiet and kept to himself, like they always do. The car he was driving was stolen in Texas, but the Texas police don't have anything on him. No match on his finger prints.”
“Who identified the body?”
“Ferguson. When he identified his wife's body, the cops asked him to identify the other body.”
“What about their relationship?”
“Another big zero. Nobody knows anything about them. Where she met him, where they went together. Other than Roland's testimony at the trial, nobody even knows how long they'd known each other.”
“I really appreciate you for what you're doing. I know you've already got a full plate.”
“What you want me to do, Marcus?”
“First chance you get, take a run at Porsche Temple. I'll call you tomorrow with a phone number for her. Or, we might just catch her at Goosebumps.”
“She dance there?”
“No. Dig this. She got three girls dancing for her. Two at Pleasers, and one at Goosebumps.”
“So this Porsche Temple mackin' these girls?” Garrett shook his head and smiled. “What kind of freak shit you got yourself into, Marcus?”
Marcus looked over at Garrett, shrugged his shoulders, and started laughing.
“I may have to free up a little more time for you on this one.”
LET'S BE FRIENDS
By eight-fifteen, Carmen was packed and on her way to check out of her room. On the way to her new apartment, she stopped by a grocery store to pick up some cleaning supplies, shelf liners, and a pair of rubber gloves. While she walked back to her car, Carmen noticed a Sprint store and decided she was coming back when she was finished cleaning to pick up a cell phone. When she arrived at the apartment, Carmen got the key and got busy cleaning. Once the apartment was cleaned to her satisfaction, Carmen laid the shelf liners in the dresser drawers and unpacked her clothes. Now that she was settled in, Carmen sat down on the bed and looked around the room.
She glanced over at the dresser and began to think about the three pictures that Desireé had on her dresser of the two of them. She decided to ask Roland if she could have them. Carmen showered, dressed, and headed to the Sprint store and twenty minutes later, she walked out with a new phone. Once the phone was activated, she called Roland. Naturally Roland said yes to her request for the pictures. He told Carmen that he felt it was time that somebody went through Desireé's things, and asked Carmen if she would do it because he still didn't feel up to it. Carmen told Roland that she would come by later that morning with Dominique. Then she called Dominique and asked if she wanted to come with her. She excitedly accepted the invitation.
After two hours of sorting through and organizing Desireé's things, both mother and daughter had burned out. They agreed to come back another day to finish. They told Roland that they were leaving and settled on a day to come back and complete the task. Roland thanked them for coming and walked them to the door. When she got outside, Carmen saw that her car was gone.
“What happened to my car?” she asked.
“I had Connie send somebody by to return it, Carmen,” Roland replied and handed her a set of car keys. “Those are the keys to Desireé's car,” he said pointing to the gold Mercedes parked where her car was. “You can drive that while you're here.”
“I can't take these Roland,” Carmen said while she tried to hand Roland back the keys. Dominique elbowed her in the side and gave her a look.
“Please, Carmen, there's no point
in you spending money on a rental, especially if you plan on being here for a while. You can drive it for as long as you're here, or until you get something else.”
Carmen reluctantly accepted the keys and drove Dominique home.
“When somebody offers you the keys to a Mercedes, Carmen, you say, thank you.”
“I just feel kinda funny driving her car.”
“Do you feel funny about taking her pictures?”