Devilish Details (23 page)

“Look, the indictment and arraignment
happened fast, but the trial is months away. We got you on this,
boss.”

“Thanks, and I mean that. You and the others
have been great.” Jazz held out a hand and Byron gave it a firm
shake. “Team JV Enterprises.”

Byron let go of her hand and snapped his
fingers. “Hey, we oughta have T-shirts. I’ll get my cousin to come
up with some designs. She’s studying art. A brand is very important
for a business.”

“Go to it manager,” Jazz said. Despite her
Monday blues, she had to grin at his enthusiasm. The buzzer
announced someone at one of the entrance doors.

“I’ll get it.” Byron strode out and five
minutes later came back with Cedric and Willa.

Willa put down a large white paper bag.
“Sure you won’t stay and have some, Byron.”

Cedric placed a shallow cardboard box with
five cups of coffee on the small side table in Jazz’s office. “We
have plenty. Wasn’t sure who would be in at this hour.”

“No thanks. I got to get home. I have a
class assignment due. Then I’m gonna get some sleep before I work
tonight. See you tonight, boss lady.” Byron gave Jazz a playful
salute.

“If you don’t quit calling me boss or boss
lady…” Jazz said in a mock threatening tone.

Byron merely laughed and waved at her. “I’m
out.”

“Bye,” Willa called to him. Cedric followed
to walk with him to the door. “He was an excellent hiring
decision.”

Jazz stubbed out the cigarillo so her sister
wouldn’t whine about the smoke. “Glad you think so.”

Willa opened the bag. The smell of hot
biscuits and bacon floated up. “Can’t wait to dig into this food.
Crazy morning already and it’s just nine-thirty.”

“That right?” Jazz watched Willa sniff the
biscuit like a connoisseur sniffing fine wine.

“Hmm.” Willa stuffed two slices of bacon
into the fluffy treat. With a sigh she bit into it. After chewing
for a few moments, she nodded. “Anthony pitched in and took Mikayla
to school for me. You were right. Helping him buy a car wasn’t a
disaster.”

“You’re welcome,” Jazz tossed back.

“Then we had a seven-thirty meeting with a
potential client.” Willa got a cup of coffee. She dumped sugar and
creamer into it.

“Damn, you gonna run business away making
people come that early to talk.” Jazz waved away her offer of a
biscuit.

“Mr. Barilla has a growing wholesale produce
business. He wanted to meet at seven-thirty because he’s used to
working before sunrise. I think he was testing us. You know, seeing
if we were his kind of people.” Willa grabbed a napkin before she
sat down.

“I hope you get a contract after getting up
with the chickens for the guy.”

“I think so. He’ll call us by Wednesday at
the latest, so we’ll need to hire.” Willa chewed more bacon and
biscuit. “This is so good. Have one, girl.”

“No thanks. Since you’re impressed with
Byron, keep him in mind for a job. He might be needing one,” Jazz
said with a grimace.

“Stop that kind of talk,” Willa replied.

“What kind of talk,” Cedric said as he came
in. He retrieved a cup of coffee.

“Jazz is being pessimistic way too soon.
Besides, we have news.” Willa wiped her mouth with dainty dabs.

“Good news I hope,” Jazz retorted.

“Well, I’d call it interesting news for
sure,” Cedric said. He took a sip of black coffee.

Willa put down her half-eaten breakfast.
“Okay, remember the city employees that were caught up in a scandal
three years ago?”

“One of them ended up getting jail time for
taking bribes,” Cedric added.

“I wasn’t watching the news much back in the
day. Now that I’m a main topic, I’m keeping up more.” Jazz
grunted.

“Cedric, tell her the rest. This is
good
.”

“One woman worked in the Clerk of Court’s
office collecting business taxes. The other one worked in the
Sheriff’s department tax section. They would ‘lose’ or falsify
documents so these businesses would pay less or no taxes. That was
just one of their schemes. Guess who was one business owner who
benefitted for at least three years,” Cedric said.

“Oh man. I should have known. Lorraine
wasn’t stupid enough to let those taxes slide, not that she wasn’t
a sloppy record keeper,” Jazz replied. “She knew all about the city
auctions downtown where you go pay taxes on property to own it. Now
it makes sense. Her tax problems started after those folks got
caught.”

“Yes. The city parish did audits. Eight
months later tax notices went out. They didn’t have enough to
indict Lorraine. Her lawyer claimed she was charged ‘fees’, and she
didn’t know the employees were doing anything illegal. But the city
wanted their money,” Cedric said.

“And she couldn’t pay the interest and
penalties,” Jazz added.

“Plus she paid a fine for the overdue taxes
and a fine for falsifying public documents. She had to admit not
reporting all of her business income, too.” Willa picked up her
biscuit sandwich again. “She squeaked by with only misdemeanor
criminal charges.”

“All I remember was her complaining about
crooked politicians stuffing their pockets while the little guys
got screwed.” Jazz rocked back in her chair considering this new
twist.

“I suspect Lorraine thinks you knew all
about it,” Willa said.

“If you recall, I was distracted with my own
worries,” Jazz replied, raising an eyebrow at her sister.

Willa’s no good ex-husband had been murdered
and her son had been one of the suspects. Jack Crown managed to get
into business that included Filipe’s gang. Jack didn’t know about
the drug and gun smuggling part at first. But greed had made him
too stupid to check out his new partners. At least the Scar Face
clone hadn’t figured out Jazz helped solve Jack’s murder, which in
the process put the police onto Filipe’s lucrative game—yet.

“Thanks for taking the risks for us, but
don’t do it again,” Willa added, pointing a finger at Jazz.

Jazz affected a fake sugary smile. “You’re
so welcome, sweetie. See how easily she reverts to being a woman of
the street, Cedric? You’ve been warned.”

“Duly noted,” Cedric said with a chuckle
despite the dark look Willa gave him.

“Y’all both getting on my nerves,” Willa
muttered and ate the rest of her biscuit.

“So Lorraine and Cleavon threatened to send
word to Filipe that you stabbed him in the back?” Cedric said to
Jazz.

“Yeah. How’d you figure that one out?” Jazz
liked this guy. Willa could do a lot worse, and had.

“Logical since they know about you and
Filipe, and how you stood by Willa when Jack was murdered.” Cedric
frowned. “I don’t know. Something’s missing.”

“Did you find out about Lorraine’s son? He
could be the missing link,” Jazz said.

Cedric stood. “Nothing solid yet, but I’m
still tracking down street gossip about all three of her sons.”

Willa glanced at her fancy wristwatch and
stood as well. “In the meantime, you need to eat regular meals. I
know how you get when times get rough. You can go two days without
anything much in your stomach.”

“Yes, mama. I promise to eat my veggies,”
Jazz said in a childish sing-song voice.

“Smart ass. Speaking of, have you heard from
Vivienne lately?” Willa asked, grimacing at the mere mention of
their biological mother’s name.

“No, and no news is good news,” Jazz replied
with the old phrase they always used when their mother went MIA on
them.

“Yeah. You know Lorraine reminds me of her a
lot. Anyway, watch your back and front.” Willa crossed around the
desk and gave Jazz a hug before she could object.

“Yeah, whatever. See ya, Cedric.” Jazz tried
not to look pleased at Willa’s big sister affection.

“Bye.” Cedric gave the two siblings an
amused look as he followed Willa out.

Seconds later, Willa burst through the door
again. She pointed a magenta polished forefinger at Jazz. “Don’t
try to do any investigation about Lorraine’s thuggish offspring.
Let us do the sniffing out.”

“Stop worrying about nothing,” Jazz said.
“Now get to work so you can make some money.”

Willa squinted at her but said no more. Jazz
rocked and thought. And rocked some more. Answers to the riddle
banging around in her head seemed as elusive as the smoke from her
cigarillo.

* * *

Monday sped by as Jazz tied up details at
Candy Girls. By four o’clock in the afternoon she’d given Rochelle
instructions. Lilly had come in insisting she should dance to bring
in more money. Plus the blunt young woman missed the tips. So much
for her ambitions to get off the pole, Jazz mused. She left Lilly
and Tyretta working on a poster to advertise Lilly’s upcoming
Thursday night performance. Chyna had come in by five o’clock to
help Rochelle in the kitchen. By six thirty, few men had drifted
in. Lilly had gone home, and Rochelle’s brother was in the kitchen.
Tyretta and Rochelle assured Jazz they could hold things down.

“Go up to your place and rest. Stop thinking
about the business and all the drama and stuff,” Tyretta
insisted.

“Yeah, we got this. Not much goin’ on here
anyways,” Rochelle agreed.

Jazz grimaced as she glanced around at two
customers warming seats. “Thanks for reminding me.”

“Mondays are always slow,” Rochelle replied.
She patted Jazz on the arm as she headed back to the kitchen. “Take
it easy.”

“Call my cell if y’all need me,” Jazz
said.

Tyretta waved at her to leave. “Uh-huh, now
go.”

Jazz glanced over her shoulder once as she
headed through the side entrance. They were right. Sitting around a
slow night didn’t make sense. But she had no desire to lounge
around watching dumb television shows or listening to music. Jazz
went home and changed clothes. She let her hair hang down her back.
Two inch silver hoops decorated her ear lobes. Jazz turned left to
right checking her look in the full length mirror in her bedroom. A
gray knit blouse with silvery threads over black leggings fit the
ready to party image she wanted. Jazz added a pair of Luichiny Hot
Seat ankle boots to finish the look. Deep red lipstick added the
final touch. She stuffed her driver’s license, some cash, and knife
in the pocket of her suede jacket. The only item in her small cross
body bag was a small .38 pistol. She smiled at the reaction Don
would have to her bad habit of carrying weapons.

“What you don’t know...” Jazz murmured as
she walked out.

Twenty minutes later she was perched at the
bar of Grown Folks. For a good thirty minutes Jazz chatted with a
middle-aged man determined to get her into his Lexus SUV. She
played along to blend in with the other customers. Willa would
scream that Jazz was nuts to be at a club only five blocks away
from Lorraine’s new place. But this was ripe territory to pick up
street buzz.

Jazz bobbed her head to the music. A mixture
of music blared, including tunes from the eighties. Grown Folks
catered to an older, less volatile crowd than the twenty-something
and younger bar flies. To her surprise, Jazz liked the way the new
owner had transformed the place. The decor had a sophisticated
look. The club looked shady from the outside, but inside, the muted
gray, green and blue tones classed the place up.

“I have one of those new apartments
downtown. Nice view of the bridge even. I’m on the eleventh floor,”
the man said, leaning closer to stare down Jazz’s blouse.

“Sounds expensive,” Jazz replied with a
flirty smile. She knew the game. Lawrence had dangled the hint that
he had money.

Lawrence shrugged. “I like it until I build
a house somewhere.”

Jazz glanced around looking for a familiar
face as he droned on about his big plans. Two women kept shooting
hungry glances at Lawrence. About ten years older than Jazz, they
seemed ready to pounce if she gave up the prize. She switched her
attention past them to a group that entered the lounge. An
insistent tug on her harm pulled her back to Lawrence.

“Hey beautiful, you want another glass of
bourbon?” he said, voice pitched low in an attempt to be sexy.

“Sure. Hit me again.”

Jazz turned around and acted like his every
word fascinated her. Yet she kept the newcomers in her sights. Two
of the guys were wannabe players who hit the Baton Rouge club scene
hard regularly. She’d let them get settled before ditching Lawrence
to strike a conversation with them. Before she could make her move,
a surprise plum appeared. Kelli Granger joined the male bartender
to handle the onslaught of customers. Kelli had worked for Lorraine
on and off for over five years. Now they were definitely off since
Lorraine fired her a year ago.

“Don’t you slip away, sweet thing. I have to
pay the water bill,” Lawrence said with a wink.

She somehow managed not to roll her eyes at
the outdated cutesy reference to his need to pee. “Okay,” Jazz said
with a smile.

Kelli came over with the drinks. She blinked
hard at Jazz and then boomed out a laugh. They slapped palms by way
of a greeting and shared a brief hug across the bar.

“Girl, you up in here checking out the
competition?” Kelli leaned against the polished wood.

“What competition?” Jazz wisecracked. “How
the hell you been?”

“Great these days. Getting fired turned out
to be my blessing in disguise. Lorraine is asshat crazy. But I
don’t need to tell you.” Kelli gave a grunt. “Hey, you need
me?”

“Nah, I got it. Visit with your fine ass
friend.” The bartender gave Jazz a broad grin.

“Real smooth, Derrick” Kelli said. She
turned back to Jazz. “And he thinks you’ll melt all over him
because of that crude compliment.”

“Other than him, you like it here?” Jazz
snapped her fingers to the beat of Kanye West music spitting from
the speakers.

“He’s alright. It’s just these desperate
women got men spoiled. They don’t even have to be polished or
polite. Just say any kind of stupid shit.” Kelli started to say
more, but she gazed past Jazz. “Oh no. Lawrence done latched on to
you? Lawd have mercy.”