Commit To Violence

"No," Nick calmly lied again.

"Then tell me where you’ve been?"

Nick got up and walked toward Wanda.

"You can’t tell me, can you? You can’t tell me because you were with her, weren’t you!" Wanda yelled.

"No!" Nick yelled back.

"Are you fucking her?" Wanda screamed.

"No!"

Wanda took a deep breath. "I don’t believe you. I know you’re fucking that bitch. Why can’t you just be a man and tell me the truth about it."

"Why we gotta go there?" Nick said

and shook his head. He never understood why Wanda thought that questioning his manhood would make him confess all of his sins.

"Because I think I deserve that much. We’ve known each other too long for you to think that you have to lie to me like this."

Wanda looked at Nick and waited for him to say something. When it became obvious that he wasn’t, Wanda stood up and started walking toward the door.

"Where are you goin’?"

Wanda turned around. "I’m leaving, Nick, unless you give me a reason to stay."

"Stay."

"Are you fucking her?"

"No," Nick said flatly.

"Whether you are or not, and I have to be honest with you, I think you are, I don’t think we need to see each other on this level anymore. Before we lose our friendship and I lose all respect for you, I should go."

Nick tried to put his arms around her.

"Don’t, Nick. Don’t do that. I can smell her on you," Wanda said and Nick backed away.

Wanda opened the door and turned to face Nick.

"Goodbye, Nick."

"Goodbye, Wanda."

"I really did love you, Nick, even though I never said it before now. I really did love you."

Wanda closed the door.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The sound of morning traffic woke Kirk up that next morning. He stayed at the precinct reviewing files long after Richards went home for the night. When he finally did leave the building, Kirk didn’t go far. He got in his car, reclined the seat and went to sleep.

He looked at his watch. It was just after seven. After walking across the street to get a cup of coffee, Kirk went back in the building looking for Detective McNally. He had known McNally since their days at the academy and this seemed like the perfect time to catch up. Besides, McNally was vice and Kirk wanted information on the recent activities of Mike Black. It wasn’t that he thought Black was involved in his case, but he couldn’t rule him out either, and there was something about the rumor Sanchez mentioned about an alliance between Black, Angelo Collette and Bruce Stark that made him uneasy.

He could understand Collette hooking up with Stark; that would make sense, but what was Black’s involvement? Kirk knew that Black had turned his back on the drug game years ago. But when he was involved, the streets ran red with blood. That was a scenario that Kirk had no desire to see again.

Kirk’s fear was that his long-time friendship with Collette might be enough to bring Black in, and if that was the case, these robbery/executions may just be the beginnings of Black trying to force his way back into the market and make a statement.