Where There's Smoke (10 page)

“Attorney?” The chicken and fruit hit the spot. Fatigue dragged her down, yet she fought to listen.

“A couple of lawsuits we’re dealing with. You’re tired.” Cherise stood, shooing her out the room. “Go get some rest, you’re going to have a long day.”

“I know.” Vianca yawned, exhausted. “Thanks again for bed, food, everything.” Entering the room assigned to her, she fell across the bed, and was out.

Smoke watched Cherise return alone to the family room. Where’d Vee go? He’d hoped to get another glimpse of that round ass in those gray sweats. The woman was definitely on his to-do list. She hadn’t looked for him when she came in earlier and on some level that disturbed him. Pushing away his irritation, he focused on his partners. The past few days had taken their toll on Red and Ross, there were new grooves and lines on Ross's face. He'd swear there were gray strands in Red's beard.

They worked better as a team, with each partner working in their strength. Normally, Smoke would have the pad and take notes. Today, Red handled the honors as they discussed their next moves.

“Baby, I’m going up.” Cherise looked at Ross and threw him a kiss. “Smoke, words fail me how grateful I am to God at this moment. To see you alert and mending means the world to me. I love all you guys.” She waved and left.

Ross leaned back in his chair, eyes closed. Red put the pad down. Smoke looked between the two and waited. “Do we need to go for a ride to talk?” he said low and soft when no one said anything.

“Man, those muthafuckers took you,” Ross said, his voice tortured. “They stepped up like a damn movie and took you.” The deep ragged voice Ross uttered shocked Smoke. Pain and anger, a dangerous sounding combination, charged the atmosphere. He didn’t speak. What Ross said was true, and he refused to minimize his partner’s feelings.

“Bullshit. This is pure bullshit. And the lawsuits?”Red snarled, his feelings surfacing as Ross's had a moment ago. “Red flag man, I’m about ready to cap somebody in the ass for that one.”

Smoke listened as they talked out their pain and frustration. Something teased the back of his mind. Something important. Finally, it hit him. “Where’s Julio?”

Ross stopped mid-sentence and stared at him. “Julio?”

Smoke nodded. “Yeah. Where is he?”

“I ain’t seen him since last week, why?” Red asked.

“He was in the parking lot asleep when they took me. My car was in the shop, remember?” Fear crept up his spine. How could he have forgotten?

Ross nodded. “Yeah, I forgot you said he was gonna pick you up.”

Panicked, Smoke jerked forward, reaching for Red’s phone. “Gimme your phone.” He took it, punching in Julio’s number. No answer.

“Damn.” He called another number as his heart raced. They did not need this shit. “Pick up the phone, dammit,” Smoke snapped. He closed his eyes and counted to ten. This could not be happening, not now.

“What’s the matter?” Ross asked.

“What’s up with you and that dude?” Red asked, sitting back.

Smoke shook his head and punched in some numbers, praying it wasn’t too late. The dial tone stopped, although no one said anything. “This is Smoke. I’m looking for Julio. He was waiting for me in the parking lot at the junior college in Flint this past Saturday and now I can’t find him. Have him give me a call when you hear from him.” The other line went dead before he clicked off.

“Dude, you’re sweating like nobody’s business,” Red said handing him a napkin. “Do we need to get prepared for more shit?”

Smoke wiped the perspiration from his face and covered his eyes with his arm. “Can’t get ready for this, man. Either they're on their way or not. I hope I got to him in time.”

“Talk to me about Julio,” Ross said into the quiet of the room.

“I can’t. But, I’ll let you know if they show up here.”

“What the fuck do you mean if they show up here? Are you involved in some Mafia bullshit?”

“Not really. It’s complicated,” Smoke said, knowing he walked a thin line. His allegiance to his boys was absolute. But the deal with Julio went back to his military days, before he met his partners.

“Give us the uncomplicated version,” Red said. “For instance, do I need to send my woman and kids back to Pennsylvania? Do I need to upgrade my fucking insurance policy?” Red stood and smacked his chest. The sound echoed in the room.

Smoke grunted and sat up. He looked up at Red. “Sit your big ass down. I don't feel like staring up at you.”

Red snorted and returned to his chair. “You need to talk to us,” he snapped, his face the color of his name.Smoke knew the last few days had been hard on everyone. But if Julio didn’t surface, it’d get worse.

“And you need to trust me just a little while longer. I swear I’ll tell you if I need to, otherwise, let me keep my promise to an old friend I knew before I moved to Detroit.” He stared at them, waiting to see if things had changed.

“Okay, you got it, my man,” Red said sitting back. “Are you tired, or can you talk a little while, fill us in on what really went down?”

Smoke relaxed on the leather sofa. “I’ve been asleep most of the past three days. I can tell you what I know and what I’ve been told. Vianca is going to be the key. Once we look at her pictures, we’ll have a better idea how all this is stringing together.”

Ross nodded. “Sounds good. We can look at them later today. I’d like Tank to have a look at them as well.

“Tank? From your team?” Smoke asked confused.

“Yeah, I just want to make sure he hasn’t had these guys disposed of before we hunt for them.” It took Smoke a minute for Ross’s words to settle.

“Damn, it’s the quiet ones you gotta watch out for. He’s connected in some way?” Smoke knew some of the men were involved in outside crime rings, but as long as they kept it from the company, he didn’t care.

“I guess so, he won’t talk about it, but I’m not comfortable with outside involvement. You know how those guys are, they’ll want something in return.” Ross grimaced.

“Some do, some don’t. It all depends on the connection,” Smoke said thinking of Julio’s checkered relationship.

“By the way, Winston’s here, got in yesterday,” Red said, taking a sip of beer.

Smoke frowned. “Who the hell is Winston?”

Red and Ross looked at him. He stared at them.

“Your brother, asshole.” The voice startled them, and they turned in unison to see the tall, skinny figure standing in the entryway.

Chapter 10

Smoke, Ross and Red sat in the family room waiting for Vianca. She’d informed him she’d pull up the pictures and he could see them. Cherise had taken Winston with her to the office despite his objections. The tense conversation earlier with his sibling taxed Smoke’s reserves and when he went into silent mode, Ross sent Winston to bed before Smoke hurt himself trying to kick the spoiled brat’s ass.

“Here it is,” Vianca said, holding some electronic cords as she strode into the room. “Now I can hook the laptop to your television. That way we won’t be crowded together. Silently, Smoke disagreed, crowded close to her sounded good to him. He squashed the thought. Not once today had she given him more than a perfunctory glance and that was when she said “good morning” at one o'clock this afternoon. He wasn’t accustomed to being summarily ignored by women he planned to know intimately.

“Thanks, that’ll be great.” Ross stretched out, hiding a yawn.

Smoke watched her hands move fast, quick and with precision. It was obvious she was in her element, a few moments later the large screen displayed the two prostitutes and the man waiting for them. All three smiled and walked into the room. There was a pause between each of the five men entering the room. No one watching the photos spoke.

Then the door opened and the pleased expressions on the faces of the sadistic bastards caused Smoke's stomach to cramp.

“They enjoyed that shit,” Red growled.

“Yeah, they did.” Smoke wondered how he would get involved putting them away. The next frame showed three men. All big, tall. Two white on the end and Smoke in the middle. His head was down, the men dragged him to the door. Red growled when he saw the faces of the men.

“You know them?” Smoke asked.

“Not yet.”

Vianca glanced at Red and then looked at Smoke. Her lip curled on the side. His brow rose in question. The following scene showed the judge, the hotel attendant and then went silent. The next scene showed a disguised Vianca easing into the room with the women. Smoke watched the screen, still unable to believe she’d been able to get him out on her own. The door opened again with him leaning heavily on her. They walked down a hall slowly, him tilting to the side. Several times, she grabbed hold of him to keep him from falling on his face. They'd just reached the corner when the cameras picked up the hotel attendant returning to the rooms. The judge was in close pursuit, entering the room with the two women. A howl rent the air and the sound running of feet were the last action as the screen dimmed.

“I had it on remote for an hour after I packed the laptop away. They found it after that.” She scanned through the tape, clicking on the faces of each man. “I’m going to download these pictures to a disk, as well as send the judge a copy of the tape minus Smoke going into the room. It’ll be interesting to see what he does with them.”

Denise and Cherise walked into the room as Vianca began working with the pictures. Immediately, Denise ran to Smoke, grabbed and hugged him. “I’m so glad to see you.” She stared and hugged him again. “Thank you, God,” she murmured. “You’ve looked better, but I’m just glad to see you.”

“Thanks, baby girl.” Smiling he nodded at her. “This is Vianca Marino. She saved my ass.” After witnessing what she’d done to get him out of harm’s way, he was humbled and more than impressed.

Denise pivoted and hugged her. “Thank you so much. Cherise told me you’re a private detective and you were on a case when you grabbed Smoke.”

She smiled and nodded.

“Okay, so here’s the deal,” Denise said without pausing. “We’re on lunch right now.” She pointed between Cherise and herself. “But we want to know all the deets. Have you eaten?”

“Not yet, we’re looking at the footage from the hotel.” Vianca cringed when Denise hollered near her ear.

“Yeeeeessss! We want to see, show us.” She sat on Red’s lap in the large leather chair and kissed his lips before staring at the screen. Cherise chuckled and sat next to Ross. Smoke smirked at her. She ignored him. Watching his friends, she had to admit there were some holes in her gringo theories. Without a doubt, these white males would eliminate any threat to their women, and to their friend. These men had to be the exception to her rule. She shrugged it off and rolled her eyes at him. He laughed.

“These first five men are the men who were in the room with the two women that were murdered.” Vianca said. No one said anything as the pictures faded in and out on the screen. “These are the men who took Smoke into the room.” Her voice hardened as anger rose at the duplicitous nature of the men who took him inside.

Smoke was glad Cherise and Denise didn’t see him being dragged into the room. It was enough to see his boys’ reaction, let alone the nausea that rose in his throat.

“Who’s that?” Denise asked looking at the judge. “I saw him somewhere, somebody died or something.”

Vianca stared at Denise before glancing at Smoke. “This one?” The judge’s picture returned to the screen.

“Yeah.” Denise pointed. “Somebody close to him died recently. His daughter, wife, a female in his family died. It’s been on the news.” A look of exasperation crossed her face that no one knew the latest news.

“The case I was on,” Vianca started, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. “It was from this judge. I was supposed to be observing his daughter-in-law for him. He wanted to know who she was with, what she did, that sort of thing. He specifically requested no electronic surveillance. We don’t work that way, so we did it without his knowledge. Except,” she inhaled, closing her eyes at the implications. “Except he was visiting the prostitute he claimed was his daughter-in-law. I didn’t believe him, but maybe he told the truth.”

“No one would be that dumb to bang their daughter-in-law on the side and hire an investigator to watch her,” Denise said, disgust etched across her face. Red rubbed her thigh in a circular motion.

“Unless he was jealous and insecure,” Cherise said staring at the pictures. “He never thought there’d be any proof of his involvement. We might need to consult with Mama on this.”

“Yeah, a judge screwing his son’s wife’s not cool. No way he’d want that to come out,” Red said rubbing Denise’s arms. “Mess him up in the public eye, being all law abiding and shit.”

“I need to talk with Nando.” Vianca stared at the picture of the judge, a queasy feeling in her stomach. Her long ponytail brushed against her back as she looked at Smoke. “This is fucked up. He’s not going to turn these pictures over to the police.”

Smoke nodded, his fingers rubbed his jaw as he gazed at the screen. “What’s the cord tying these men, these events together? I don’t know this judge. I’ve never been in his courtroom. Have you Red? Ross?”

The men stared at the screen. Vianca turned and looked again, appreciating the way Smoke’s mind worked.

“Not me,” Red said.

“Me, neither,” Ross echoed.

“Okay.” Smoke looked at all the pictures on the screen. “These five men buy a woman or two for the night. It ends in murder. They’re too smooth, too calm when they leave.”

“No fear of getting caught,” Vianca murmured, getting caught up in scenario. “They took their time, I think they were in that room an hour or so.”

“But they left before the judge came up. Didn’t the attendant say the prostitute knew he’d be late?” Smoke asked Vianca.

She flipped through her notes, nodding. “Yeah, that’s what the hotel guy said. Also, earlier when they were at the bar, the older woman talked the younger woman into joining them. I remember them having an intense discussion before Barbara caved.”