“Come on, Rain,” Carter said to her. “We gotta go.”
Rain nodded at her soldier and left Shooters through the back door along with Carter and Jackie. Once they were gone, Baby Chris took control of the scene and quickly talked to Treach’s men and the dancers to make sure that they were all on the same page.
“Rain Robinson was not here tonight and hasn’t been in months. I shot those men. Got that?” Baby Chris said and told everybody to make sure that nobody said anything different. Then he went in Treach’s office to wait for the police to come for him.
When Bautista arrived at Shooters with Dickerson, they talked to their officers and were informed that everybody told the same story.
“What’s that?” Dickerson asked.
“They all say that Baby Chris came in the club, dropped the two at the door, and then he came in here and then he shot these two assholes,” the officers said standing over Bullet and Romy’s bodies. “That’s the story and everybody tells it damn near word for word.”
“Where is he?” Bautista asked.
“In the office.”
“Anybody talk to him?” Bautista asked.
“No, ma’am,” the young officer said. “I thought it be best if you handled the questioning, Detective. So, I have an officer posted outside the office door.”
“Where’s Treach’s body?” Dickerson asked.
“Over there,” the officer pointed and then led the Detective to the body.
“One shot, dead in the center of his forehead,” Dickerson said. “Good shooting.”
“Damn good, or a very lucky shot,” Bautista said and then she and Dickerson went to question Baby Chris.
“You buy the story everybody’s telling?” Dickerson asked as they headed toward the office.
“I believe those four men are dead.” Bautista paused. “Do I believe Baby Chris killed them all? Shit no.”
“I agree. Who you think was with him?”
“Jackie Washington, maybe,” Bautista said as they reached the office and went in, but her gut told her that it was Rain Robinson that was with him.
“Baby Chris Arcus,” Dickerson said when he burst through the door. They found Baby Chris seated behind the desk.
“Detectives.”
“Why don’t you tell me what happened?” Dickerson said, and the Detectives sat down.
Baby Chris waited until Bautista sat down and he made eye contact with her before he spoke. “I had just come in the club when I saw these two guys in ski masks robbing the place.”
“What happened then?” Dickerson asked.
“When they saw me they shot at me.”
“What did you do?”
“After they shot at me,” he was careful to say, “I pulled my guns and shot back,” Baby Chris said, still looking at Bautista. It was making her a little uncomfortable, but she refused to show it and continued staring into Baby Chris’s soft brown eyes.
“So, you came in, saw the robbery in progress and you pulled your guns and shot them. Is that right?” Dickerson asked.
“That’s right. After they shot at me, I shot back.”
Dickerson saw the way that they were staring at each other and figured that either they were trying to intimidate each other or there was something going on between them. Either way, he hoped Bautista knew what she was doing and pressed on.
“What happened next?”