Commit To Violence

"I’m investigating a string of drug murders, and Sanchez mentioned something about an alliance between Black, Angelo Collette and Bruce Stark. You heard anything about that?"

"All I can tell you, Kirk, is that Black is so far out of the game that it’s getting boring out here. One thing I’ll say for Freeze, he kept it interesting. Since Freeze got popped, they’ve been moving to go completely legit," Fields said. "Hey, make a left here and I’ll show you what I mean."

Kirk drove down the block and Fields pointed out a storefront window.

"See that place Fast Cash?"

"Yeah, I see their commercials on TV all the time."

"Yeah, well, Black owns them. So tell me, why would he bother with the loan shark business when he can do the shit legally?"

"Okay, you convinced me," Kirk said.

When Richards got to the station, Kirk was sitting on the hood of his car in front of the building. "Isn’t that what you had on yesterday?"

"Yeah."

"Did you go home at all?" Richards asked as he got behind the wheel.

"No."

"Did you at least get some sleep?"

"Yeah."

"I feel better now."

"Good. Can we go now?"

After a day of not making any progress on their case, Kirk and Richards needed something to break their way. Operating under the assumption that PR was a Hispanic male, they concentrated their efforts in those communities. They were becoming increasingly frustrated because nobody seemed to have any idea what they were talkin’ about.

For the next couple of hours the detectives rolled around the city trying to get a lead on the shooters. They got a call that one of the bodies had been identified. When they got back to the station, they were informed that none of the victims had any priors. Rain made sure that most of her people were clean. She made sure none of them had a record of any kind.

The one that had been identified was reported missing by his mother; he was only sixteen years old. The detectives went to talk to the mother hoping that she might be able to identify some o

f the others he was found with.

When they arrived at the apartment, they were met at the door by a young woman. "Yes."

"I’m Detective Richards—"

"Yeah, I get it. Y’all the po-po. What y’all want?

"We’re looking for Mrs. Betty Evans. Is she here?"

"She here. What y’all want with my mama?"

"We’re investigating your brother Andrew’s murder and we’d like to ask her, both of you actually, some questions," Kirk said. "May we come in?"

"Who’s at the door, Seline?" came a voice from another part of the apartment.

"Po-po, mama."

"I’ll be right out," Mrs. Evans said and she came in the room shortly thereafter and sat down at the table with her daughter. Kirk sat down and Richards stood behind him.

"First of all, ladies, I want to say that I’m sorry for your loss," Kirk began. "I wanted to show you some pictures of the other men he was found with."

"He wasn’t no man! He was just a boy. A good boy," Mrs. Evans cried.