I'll Be Down for You: A Bay Area Saga (13 page)

“The driver that Eva got for her just dropped her back off at the house.”

“Okay, cool. Was everything cool at that little party they went to?”

“I guess you could say that. They’re in one piece. I know you won’t like some of the company they kept.”

“Who was it?”

“Dominic. He actually talked to them both—separate from each other, but both of them. I think I’m pretty sure that I saw him and Jazz exchange numbers.”

“Is that right?”

“Yeah.”

“That fool has been asking around about where his boy Nick is. But Carl said that there was another dude with Nick when he came to Desiree’s house. I guess ain’t nobody looking for his ass.”

“Guess not.”

“But yeah, you’re right. I’m not really cool with Jazz in Dom’s face. Something tells me that the shit that happened to Shay and DJ are connected some kind of way and if that’s the case and Nick was involved with Shay’s murder…Dom has some ties somewhere. Those niggas don’t make a move without word from him.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“So, I’m just waiting for confirmation and it’s gonna be all she wrote. The only thing that I’m gonna hate is if Nick was hands-on with what happened to DJ and I didn’t get to do him before Carl did. That shit is gonna eat me the fuck up! Because you and I both know damn well that Dom wasn’t there personally—
if
this was his work.”

“Right.”

“I’m trying to figure out how to handle Jazz. For some reason she got it in her head that she’s untouchable. I don’t think she’s taking this shit seriously enough. If she was, she wouldn’t have had her ass at no damn party like the one she went to.”

“I don’t know, Khalil. We’ve both been knowing her since she was younger. For all we know, she could have her own agenda. That’s DJ’s niece. I don’t put nothing past her.”

“Exactly. And that’s why we keep an eye on her.”

“An eye on her, huh? I thought you had that part under control until you called me in on it,” Antonio teased.

“
Aye
,
aye
,
aye
,” I jokingly scolded. “That’s my business, patna!”

“Yeah, I see. She was too much, huh? Had to fall back. I got you.”

“
She
wasn’t too much,
that mouth
was too much. You know I don’t have time to have a woman with a mouthpiece, on my arm.
And that one
? Whew!”

“Shit, I can relate. Why you think I travel so damn much?”

“
Awww
, you ain’t right! Wonder what Sheila would say if she heard that!” I laughed.

“She won’t say a damn thing because it’s your word against mine!”

“Punk!” I guffawed. “This nigga scared of his woman!”

“Just like you scared of Jazz. That’s the real reason you backed off. Ain’t got nothing to do with her mouth. You just know she’ll have yo’ ass wrapped like a shiny ass Christmas gift. All up around her pretty ass finger.”

“I’m done talkin’ to you, dude.” As I disconnected the line, I could hear Antonio laughing hysterically.

Fuck you, man
, I laughed to myself, knowing that at least a part of what he’d said was true.

~*~*~

I had like an hour to go before my flight to Miami, and I was doing some last minute delegations for Vanity that needed to happen while I was gone. The more responsibility I took on in DJ’s absence, the more I started to entertain the thought of Jazz taking it over. DJ was always happy that she was interested in the business side and not the escort side, so he didn’t have reservations about giving it to her. With her business background, she would probably grow that thing exponentially too.

Even though I hadn’t talked to her beyond some casual conversation since our “situation”, I had planned to have a sit down with her when I got back to see just how ready she was and then get her into some in depth training.

After I ended my last phone call, I activated my house alarm and got ready to make the trip to the private airport in San Rafael. As I backed out of my garage, my phone rang and announced that it was Jazz calling. I activated the Bluetooth and answered the call.

“What’s up?”

“Hey, you busy?”

“Just on my way to the charter to make this trip. What’s going on?”

“Trip? Where you going?”

“Miami for a few days…on business.” I didn’t know why I felt the need to relay the ‘business’ part to her, but it was done now. No going back.

“Oh, okay…business, huh?” she said, sounding suspicious of my explanation.
I swear man. With women, it’s damn if you do and damn if you don’t
. “What’s up, Jazz? What you need?” I asked slightly agitated.

“I got something important to tell you. Are you in the car by yourself?”

“Yep.”

“Okay. Well, I found something out.”

“I’m listening…”

“Me and Desi went out to this bike party on Saturday and…” she paused. “You sure you by yourself? This is super important.”

“Come on now. What kinda games—”

“Like I got time for games,” she snapped, with that smart ass mouth. “So, anyway, Desiree told me that some dude she was messing with was murdered.”

“That don’t surprise me. Desiree likes bottom feeders.”

She smacked her lips loud enough for me to hear. “Damn, Khalil. Why you gotta say that shit?”

“Well, I ain’t surprised. That’s what she messes with, Jazz. All the more reason you need to stay yo’ ass away from her. I ain’t trying to tell you how to pick ya friends, but how far has she progressed since you’ve been fuckin’ with her? You’ve been off to school, got two degrees and she’s still ridin’ turf dick. She can’t even graduate past the fuckin’ block! That’s all I’m sayin’. Sometimes you just gotta love muthafuckas from a distance.”

“Can I tell you the rest or not, Khalil?”

“Go ahead. But—”

“Dude was killed in her apartment. Apparently…” she paused momentarily before proceeding. “
Apparently
, he killed some woman and when he did it, he took the woman’s dog and gave the dog to Desi. That was how the dudes that killed him found her. The dog had one of those trackers on it and they showed up to her house. She’s hella scared now because this dude has a friend named Dominic or Dom who’s threatening her. He knows that the last place that Nick went to was her house and now…” she stopped again. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you. You already said how you felt about her. It’s just that…this shit is so crazy, Khalil. People dying all over the place. And she saw that shit happen. Luckily, the killer didn’t do anything to her, but now…this Dominic…”

“I got it. Don’t worry about it. I’ll get somebody on it. Okay? Don’t worry about it. Let me make a few calls and I’ll talk to you when I get back from Miami.”

“Okay,” she said, just above a whisper. “Thanks Khalil. I know you got a lot on your plate right now—”

“It’s good. Don’t worry about it. And keep you a low profile for a minute. Stay away from parties with your girl for a little bit.”

Afterwards, all I could do was shake my head. The more I thought about everything the more I started thinking that right now might not be a good time to take the trip to Miami. Even though it was business, I might be able to send somebody in my place.

This thing was like some kind of web that had us tangled up in it. Nothing was making the sense that I needed it to make. Jazz didn’t even realize that the woman she was talking about was Shay, Dani’s cousin. She would freak out if she knew, and for that reason, I wasn’t telling her. I knew all about what happened in that apartment; I just didn’t know that it was Desiree that Carl was talking about. He never mentioned “the young lady,” as he had called her, by name. But I think that was the part that had me fucked up. Trying to find out why Shay had been killed and if it wasn’t a coincidence, then what did one have to do with the other?

“Hey girl!” I shouted as I hugged Dani at her front door. When we pulled back from our embrace, I rubbed my hand over her barely-there belly and smiled. “You ready?!”

“Yep, I’m ready,” she responded with a giggle and a muffled yawn. “All I do is sleep these days. But I’ll take the sleep over that damn morning sickness. I’ve been lucky as hell with that.”

On the way to the appointment in Berkeley, we chatted about everything from Atlanta and why she left for good, to her dream of writing urban fiction. It was really the first time that we had a chance to kick it solo since everything with DJ, and then the situation with her cousin, Shay, had happened. She told me about how a few of the family members were mad at her because she came to California and took up with a man instead of staying with her cousin, and how if she’d been there instead of shacked up with some “involved” man, then she might’ve saved her cousin’s life. “…
Or died with her
!” she had ended up saying to one of the aunts who had actually gotten in her face ready to fight her, pregnant or not.

She told me about how they needed somebody to blame for the next few years it would be her, so she probably wouldn’t be going back to visit with the baby any time soon once she gave birth. And I didn’t want her to with my relative! If that’s how those hoes in her family got down, I wouldn’t want my cousin around that shit. Talk about catching flights! I’d be on first class on some bitches for real. But I did feel bad for her though. I saw so many similarities between our life experiences; and that even with all the hurt and pain, we both ended up in the right place where we could heal—with Derrick “DJ” Jackson.

“So, have you been watching any TV lately?” I asked her. “What about that new show,
Power
on Starz?”

“
Girrrl
! James ‘Ghost’ St. Patrick?! Hell yeah! That man wears the hell out of some suits, don’t he?!”

“
Yesss
!”

“My baby wore his suits better than Ghost though,” she boasted. “And he smelled good too.” She closed her eyes as she trailed off in deep thought. “I’m just glad that I got something to remember him by. Not that I’d ever forget him,” she said sadly. “I’m just happy to be having my baby’s baby, you know?”

“I do. And you’re right, girl! My uncle could wear the fuck out a tailor made.”

“Don’t even get me to thinking about him and those
suits
and those
sweats
and shit, even his PJ’s!” she laughed, while animatedly fanning herself.

We both fell into laughter together and I realized just how relaxed I was around Dani. She was a really cool woman and I saw myself hanging out with her often—especially once the baby got here.

“Yeah, let’s change the subject,” I agreed, after our laughter died down. Dani released a deep sigh, causing me to turn to look at her. “What’s wrong wit’ ya?” I queried.

“I just wish like hell I would’ve been able to get my cousin’s baby. But her boyfriend Carl—”

“
Baby
!
Oh my God
! You didn’t tell us that your cousin had a baby?! Was the baby there that day?! Fuck!”

“No, no, no…” she said, reaching over to touch my wrist to calm me. “She didn’t have a baby-baby. She had a puppy that she
called
her baby.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“I asked Carl when I finally talked to him if Jada Pinkett was there when it all happened, and he told me that…”

Jada Pinkett
…
did she really just say, Jada Pinkett?

My entire body went hot. I mean from my damn head all the way to my chest and down to my stomach, legs
and
feet. I felt like I had a furnace on the inside of me as my body warmed to a temperature that had become all too familiar. My heart rate increased and my palms started to moisten profusely. I hadn’t heard a word that Dani spoke since the words “Jada Pinkett” left her mouth. Not a single word. I made sure to watch the road ahead and even saw that the split to Highway 24 was nearing. I was on autopilot, but I couldn’t hear shit. I could barely feel my hands on the steering wheel which caused me to grip the leather tight to make sure my ass hadn’t gone numb. “
Jada Pinkett
,” she said. So fuck…her cousin Shay, was the girl that Nick had killed.

My mind raced as quickly as my heartbeat as the thoughts became super overwhelming. I thought back to the dude Dom asking where Nick was. I thought back to him threatening Desiree about Nick. And then it hit me…hard. Somehow, some way, everything that had happened over the past few weeks was connected.
It had to be
. There wasn’t this much coincidence or six degrees of separation any damn where. Nobody could make me believe that.

I wanted to cry but then in the same moment, I felt like I wanted to scream. All I could think about was what if they—Dom and his friend Nick—had something to do with my uncle. And then I had a flashback to something recent . . . talking to Khalil. He had so much to say shade to throw at Desiree, but the minute those names came up, he switched gears. And then just like a lightning bolt I had another realization: he knows more than he’s telling me.

When I was forced to stop at the red light, I was shaken back to the present, and could hear Dani still going.

“…So, yeah…I just wish I could’ve brought her home with me. But Carl said that she’s in good hands and that if he’d known about me that he would’ve brought her to me, but that now he’s promised her to the girl who’s taking care of her. I still want her though. I know it’s selfish, but I do. It’s all I have left of Shay. But it’s all good. I’m sorry for talking so long. You’re probably like, ‘
Let me hurry up and get this heffa to the doctor and back to the house so I can remember what silence was like
’, huh?” she laughed.

“No, you’re fine. We’re something like family now. You need to talk, I’m here.”

“And you get the same from me too, Jazz.”

“Alright, let’s go hear my little brother/cousin’s heartbeat!” I exclaimed excitedly.

~*~*~

Long after I had left Dani at home, I was back in Tracy in the theater room with
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
staring back at me from the big screen. Even as loud as I had the volume turned up on the movie, I wasn’t paying attention to anything on the screen. If there was a monitor on my brain it would probably have picked up several hundred frequencies because my thoughts were shooting around like damn fleeing tadpoles in a pond.

I felt some kind of shift taking place in my mood. For the last few weeks, I had just kind of been moving on oxygen. I was hurting and didn’t really allow myself to feel it all the way. I had been sad a lot and trying to drown shit out, but it never really worked. Everything I was doing—from fighting with Eva, to scribbling on paper, to talking on the phone to Desiree, to getting in my car just driving had all been about me trying to escape in the best way possible. I wasn’t really allowing myself to feel and I couldn’t figure out. But now I had finally realized what it was. I felt guilty. I felt guilty that I hadn’t been there for my uncle. That I had been in fuckin’ Oakland having sex with an unworthy. That I had literally driven behind the coroner’s truck with his body in it and didn’t know it.

I felt like I had some kind of clue at my fingertips, but not knowing how to piece it together. However, now, I had a burst of energy that I couldn’t describe. It was an energy that told me that it was time. It didn’t matter that none of it really made sense. I was convinced that Nick had a connection to what had happened to DJ. I was convinced that if Nick had something to do with it, then his friend Dom who was looking for him so tough, did too. And I was even more convinced that Khalil already knew that.

But it was okay because I had plans of my own, and those plans needed to be executed immediately. I grabbed my cell and called Dom to make that date he had asked me for.