“I’m sure that you will.” She stood up and looked at Fantasy.
Although she wasn’t at all interested in being involved when Black originally approached her about working with Fantasy, in the time that they been together, Jada had come to like her. Fantasy had taken to her methods better and faster than anyone had before her.
Of course, Fantasy didn’t have that cumbersome burden of having to work on her back with her legs in the air, but she had already mastered that skill years ago. Now, she was proving that she was a reliable operative, whose mission this time was to gather information for her boss.
“I have a couple of appointments this afternoon, but I will be back here later.”
“I will do my best to have answers to your questions when you return,” Fantasy promised Jada and rushed off to shower and change.
Once Jada was ready, Mr. Nesmith escorted her to the limousine for the trip to see her lawyer. Along the way, the situation with Carmen was uppermost on her mind. After speaking with Fantasy, Jada had tried to call Carmen, but got no answer.
A moment later, she received a text from Carmen informing her that she was, once again, at the precinct waiting to be interviewed by Detective Harmon. It reinforced her resolve not to let Carmen take the weight for something that she did.
As she arrived at the offices of Wanda Moore and Associates, Jada considered whether she should seek Patrick’s advice on the matter. But as she rode up in the elevator, she decided to deal with the issue at hand first and discuss the matter with him should the conversation become appropriate and necessary.
The matter at hand was that Jada had been arrested years ago and charged with several violations of the New York Penal Law, including promoting and compelling prostitution, both of which are class B felonies and were punishable by up to twenty-five years in prison.
“Or you could cooperate with us and not be charged at all.” That was the offer that Lieutenant Gineconna made Jada that day.
To which she replied, “You want me to snitch, don’t you?”
Jada chose not to become Lieutenant Gineconna’s snitch and fled the country several days later. At that time, a warrant was issued for her arrest.
“Since you’re going to be in the city for a while, I can work on speeding up the timetable to get before a judge to get
the warrant dismissed.”
“Is that possible on such short notice?”
“It’s going to take some work, for sure, and if you can be a bit more flexible about the date, we might be able to get this done.”
“As you know, Mr. Freeman, I had planned to be in Paris for a while, and since it seems like that’s not going to work out, I suddenly find myself with free time on my hands,” Jada said.
“Great,” Patrick said excitedly and began shuffling the papers on his desk until he found the one he was looking for. “If you could give me three or four weeks, I’m sure we can get this done, Ms. West.”
“That sounds excellent, Mr. Freeman.”
“So I can count on you to be in the city for that long?”
“Can you assure me that I won’t be arrested and carted off to jail?” Jada asked.
Her one and only time in jail, however brief, was enough for her to know that she was never going back. However, it did give Jada an understanding of why her mother, Vivian, didn’t want her to visit while she was in jail, and absolutely refused to talk about the experience.
I don’t know how you stood it for all those years, Jada told Vivian on more than one occasion.
“I think that I can assure you that you will not be arrested while we get on a sympathetic judge’s calendar.”
“If you can make me that assurance, I promise to behave and not skip the country.”
“That will give me enough time to set some things in motion,” Patrick said.
“Are you referring to the items that we previously discussed?” Jada asked.
“In part,” Patrick said. “One of those items has been taken care of with the help of Lieutenant Cavanaugh, who by the way, is now working at One Penn Plaza in the Commissioner’s office.” Cavanaugh had been on Mike Black’s payroll for years.
“Really, how so?”
“Lieutenant Gineconna has been promoted to Captain and transferred to a precinct in Staten Island with heavy mob activity.” Patrick leaned back in his chair. “So he has his hands full.”