She didn’t care if killing Ronnie was business or not, Rain had to pay for his death. She wanted her to pay with her life, but Rona wanted to destroy it first. Black losing confidence in Rain and taking control of his business was a good first step. Now she had something else in mind.
“Garon, there is something that I want you to do for me,” Rona smiled and said.
“Just tell me what you need.”
Detective Bautista was still stinging over the release of Baby Chris. She just knew that she had him for four murders and if she put enough pressure on him, he would flip on Rain. Dickerson, on the other hand, knew that wasn’t going to happen. They had learned from an informant that Rain was at Shooters that night and she had killed at least two of the men. And if that were the case, it meant that Baby Chris had shown his loyalty to Rain by saying that it was him who killed those men and Rain wasn’t there.
They needed something to break their way. That break came when Bug, one of Bautista’s least favorite snitches, walked into the precinct.
“What can I do for you?” the desk sergeant asked.
“I need to see Detective Bautista.”
“She’s busy right now. Why don’t you have a seat over there.”
He knew who Bug was and he also knew that Bautista had cut Bug loose because his information rarely panned out.
As instructed, Bug took a seat where he could see the clock and he waited. It was exactly fifty-seven minutes later when Bautista came in the precinct with Dickerson. Bug sprang to his feet.
“It’s about time. I’ve been waiting here for damn near an hour,” he got in Bautista’s face to say.
Dickerson backed him off. “I think you better watch your tone,” he said with his hand in Bug’s chest.
“Alright, alright,” he said with his hands up.
“What do you want, Bug?” Bautista asked as she walked away from him.
“I heard you’re interested in information about Rain Robinson.”
Bautista stopped and got in Bug’s face.
“What do you know about Rain Robinson?”
“I know her, and Ronnie King killed somebody.”
Bautista’s eyes narrowed. “You better not be wasting my time,” she said, grabbing his arm and practically dragging him to an interrogation room.
“Okay, let’s hear it.”
Over the next ten minutes, Bug laid out the story of Afra Dean. She was an old girlfriend of Ronnie’s. Bug said that she was going to snitch on them about the drug operation they were running, and they killed her before she had the chance.
Both Bautista and Dickerson were skeptical about the source of the information and especially the timing of the tip, but they decided to pursue it anyway and opened an investigation.
“The report says that skeletal remains that had been found in a dry creek bed, were positively identified from dental records as Afra Dean,” Dickerson began.
“At least that part was true,” Bautista commented.
“She was last seen a year before at a restaurant called Bones.”
“That’s one of the King’s places.”
“She was arrested for failure to pay the bill and marijuana possession. The first officer on the scene was Officer Henry Jones. He said that the restaurant staff said that she’d been acting strangely. But he added that he did not believe that behavior was caused by alcohol or drugs.”
“That jives with Bug’s story. He said that Rain and Ronnie were waiting outside for her.”
“The coroner has said her death did not appear to be a homicide, but the body was too decayed to determine the exact cause of death.” He put down the file and looked at Bautista. “What do you think?”
“I think that it is worth looking into,” she said, knowing that if it involved Rain Robinson, she was all in. “I’ll get started on the process of getting the remains exhumed.”