“Fuck should I know; outta here.”
“What time is it?”
“It’s after three.”
“Too early.”
“For what?”
“To go see Drew. I wanna talk to him before we see Henderson tonight.”
“You think we can trust him?”
“We don’t have to ’cause I ain’t gonna tell him shit.” I heard the shower go off. “We’ll talk about that later.”
Bobby shook his head and stood up. “What you got to drink?”
“Bottle’s in the kitchen.”
“You want one?”
“No.”
“I’m gonna roll one to ride with so we can get outta here,” Bobby said as the bathroom door opened and she came out. I pulled the cover off my head. Just as I thought, not a hair out of place.
“Hi, Bobby,” she said, and stepped into her heels.
“Hello.” Bobby stepped closer to her. “And you are?”
“Leaving.” She stepped around him. “But I’d like to say goodbye to Mike.”
“Go ahead.”
“Alone.”
After Bobby closed the door, she sat down on the bed.
“I had a good time with you,” she leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.
Old boy dropped a chunk of money at her pretty feet last night, so she made her money. Now it was time to see if she was a hustler or a hoe.
“I did too.”
“Maybe I’ll see you again next time I’m at André’s.”
I sat up in the bed. “Or you could tell me your name and give me your number.”
She laughed. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said and kissed me again, on my lips this time, and then she stood up. She looked around the room and then picked up my pants. “Now get up and walk me out, please.”
“You ain’t afraid to walk past Bobby alone, are you?” I sat up and she handed them to me.
“No, Bobby is harmless. Every time I see him, he asks if he can fuck me, I say no and he goes away.”
“That’s Bobby.”
I walked her to the door, she said her goodbyes and she left. I wouldn’t mind seeing her again, even if she wouldn’t tell me her name.
Once she was gone, I sat down in the living room with Bobby and we went over how we planned to do this thing again. We identified the key players, you know, the ones André said would dig in. That was Montel Lamont, Roscoe Simeon and Bodie Ringling. But first on our list was Canard Henderson.