Private Deceptions (3 page)

"So you and your partner are strung out on these women," Wanda said.

"I wasn’t strung out on her, Wanda. I thought she was a very attractive woman, but I think strung out is a little strong." Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. But one thing was certain; I was very interested in Mrs. Gabrielle Childers. More interested than I’ve been in any other woman in a long time.

"Okay, Nick, whatever you want to call it."

"Wanda, I —"

"Anyway, Nick. You left Jett, and you were on your way to talk to Lisa Ellison."

"Yeah, but I was thinkin’ that we were gettin’ ready to go up against Chilly and his crew. Other than Mrs. Childers’
feeling
, I had no other reason to suspect him. That wasn’t good enough. If I was gonna play private investigator, it was time I started investigating. I had to consider the possibility that Chilly wasn’t involved. I still thought covering the house was a good idea, just in case he was."

"That was a good idea. So where did you go after that?"

"To see the sister."

"What’s her name?"

"Chésará Rollins."

Chésará lived on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. None of that suburb shit for her. When I arrived at her building, a doorman met me. He announced my arrival and asked Miss Rollins permission to send me up. She consented to see me and I was on my way.

She opened the door wearing a blue silk robe, "Hello, Mr. Simmons." And as near as I could tell, nothing on under it. "So you’re Gee’s private detective. I’ve been expecting you."

"Can I come in?"

"Of course. Please make yourself at home."

"Thank you, Miss Rollins. I’ll try not to take up a lot of your time. I just have a few questions to ask you."

"I’m all yours," she said, locking her arm in mine and leading me into the living room. She led me to the couch and sat next to me. "Tell me what I can do to help." She looked a lot like her sister. Only her look was soft and playful. Not the hard edge her sister had. Jett would be losin’ his mind right about now. As a matter of fact, I was having a hard time maintaining my composure, and her hand on my thigh wasn’t helping.

"When was the last time you saw your brother, Miss Rollins?"

"The week before last. He was on his way to Gee’s house."

"He come by here often?"

"Often enough. Maybe once or twice a week."

"Jake like to travel much?"

"Jake, no. He never went anywhere. Unless you call goin’ to Jersey traveling."

"Has he ever been gone this long before without you or your sister hearing from him?"

"No. Like I said, Jake is over here at least once or twice a week, and he calls just about everyday. I think Gee is right, that bastard she calls a husband had something to do with it."

"What makes you say that?"

"If you ever met Chilly, you’d know what I mean. He’s an asshole. I wish Gee could get away from him."

"I guess you don’t like your brother in-law much."

"That’s a good guess. But hate him would be more like the truth of the matter. The way he treats Gee is terrible. I wish he were dead."

"Okay. Other than that, any reason why you think Chilly is involved?"

"When Jake left here he said he was goin’ to see Chilly. Then he disappeared. Chilly is, well, —, he’s a drug dealer, but I guess you already know all of that."

"Your sister did mention that."

"I’m sure Gee told you alotta stuff. I know I would tell you anything you wanted to know. You married?"

"No." I smiled and she licked her lips. "I’ve never been married."

"Good for you."

"Do you have any idea what your brother was goin’ to see Chilly about?"

"No, Jake never talked to me much about what he was doin’. I always thought that all those computations and calculations was pretty boring stuff. I like things, and men, that are a bit more exciting in my life."

"Just what excites you, Miss Rollins?"

"One day, when you have some free time, I’ll have to show you just what excites me." She smiled at me and stood up. The sash on her robe came free. "I’m going to get a drink. Can I get you something?" she inquired, as she took her time retying it.

"Johnnie Walker Black, straight up, if you have it." I was wrong. She had on a blue bra and panties under the robe, but they were see-through. She turned and walked over to the bar. "You know Jake’s girlfriend, Lisa Ellison?"

"Yeah, I know her."

"You talk to her much?"

"We speak when I see her. Which isn’t very often."

"Are they close?"

"If you’re asking me if she was the only one he was seeing, I couldn’t say. Jake keeps his business to himself." She sat down and handed me my drink.

"You know who this is?" I handed her the picture.

"Ooooh, Jake." She looked up at me and smiled. She handed the picture back to me. "No, Nick, I don’t know who she is. You show that to Gee yet?"

"No. But I will next time I see her."

"Rocky might know who she is."

"Rocky, that’s Jake’s friend from Philly. You know him?"

"Sure, I know Rocky. He used to live down the block from us. Him and Jake ran track together. He works for Chilly now."

"What does he do for Chilly, Miss Rollins?"

"Chésará, please, Chésará. Say it with me, Che - sa - rá." I smiled and laughed a little at her. "He sells dope for him. I hear he’s a good earner."

"This is a very nice place you have here."

"Thank you. I decorated it myself."

"You have excellent taste."

"In more ways than you can possibly imagine." Chésará said, and repositioned herself on the couch.

I chose to over look the tone of her remark. "What do you do, Chésará? You a part of the family business?"

"No. I’m not part of the family business. Gee pays for all this. Didn’t she tell you?"

"No, she didn’t."

"Well, Nick. You mind if I call you, Nick?"

"Not at all."

"Good." She declared, and moved closer to me. "I hate to be so formal. But like I was sayin’, I have no desire to be involved in their business."

"Just spend the money," I said with a smile.

"You know what they say, Nick, OPM."

"OPM?"

"Always use other peoples money."

"You something else, girl."

"You talk real nice to me and I just might have to show you just what that something is."

"You talk real nice to me and I just might think about letting you. But I have work to do first."

"Hmm. Go ahead, keep talking. I like the way you work. But I warn you, I like to talk."

"So I’ve heard."

"Gee say that about me?"

"No, she didn’t."

"Then who?"

"I have ways of finding out things I need to. That is, like, what I do. Find things out about people." Chésará tipped her head and looked strangely at me.
Why don’t you just tell her that you have her sister’s house bugged and her brother in-law said that about her? I didn’t mean to say it, but it was out there now.
The telephone rang.

"Hello."

Saved by the bell.

"Hi, Gee."

It was her. I sat up straight. I got excited just knowing she was on the phone. Chésará looked at me and smiled. I tried to hear what Mrs. Childers was sayin’, but I couldn’t.

"Your private dick is here. You sure know how to pick them."

Whatever Mrs. Childers was sayin’ to her, it wiped the seductive smile off her face.

"Bye, Gee." Chésará hung up the phone. She looked at me, the seductive smile returned just as quickly as it left. "That was Gee on the phone."

"Really, what did she say?"

"That I should stop tryin’ to flirt with you and cooperate."

I smiled.

"You like my sister don’t you, Nick?"

"What makes you say that, Miss, I mean, Chésará?"

"The funny look you get on your face anytime I mention her."

"How do I look?"

She made a funny face and laughed. "Your know, eyes all glazed over. Gee has that effect on men. So do I."

"I noticed."

"Once we have a man, it’s hard for him to resist us. Like this guy Gee kicked it with for a while. He just won’t leave her alone."

My back stiffened. "What do you mean?"

"If Gee knew I told you this, she’d freak." Chésará repositioned herself on the couch, which only proved to expose more cleavage. She was flirting even when she wasn’t. "While Gee was in St. Martin, she met this guy at the hotel bar. He was there with his wife and kids. Well, he told Gee that he was from Brooklyn. That he owned a used car lot on Utica Avenue. He gave her his card. So Gee called him and they got together a few times. Now he won’t leave her alone."

"Why doesn’t she want to see him anymore?"

"’Cause he can’t fuck. Gee said that he couldn’t keep it up long enough to do anything for her. Gee said she rocked the house two times and he came."

"Don’t you hate it when that happens?"

"I’m sayin’."

"Why doesn’t she just tell him that? If a woman ever said that to me, I’d stop bothering her."

"But no woman ever told you anything close to that, have they, Nick?"

"No. They haven’t."

"I bet you put on a good show."
There she goes with her hand on my thigh again.
"But I promised Gee I’d stop flirting." She didn’t move her hand though. "She did tell him that. Told him to his face that his dick was little and he couldn’t satisfy her."

"How’d he take it?"

"Bad. So now he’s blackmailing her."

"Blackmail?"

"That same night before she told him that, somebody took a picture of them. But right before the picture gets snapped, this fool kisses her."

"Now he wants money or he’ll show it to Chilly," I said.

"And Chilly will kill her."

"What’s his name?"

"Ben Josephs."

"Did she pay him?"

"Of course she did. At first Gee threatened to tell his wife, but he didn’t seem to care. Told her to go ahead a tell her. She won’t believe it anyway. Besides, Gee couldn’t take that chance, Chilly would kill her. So she paid him, but now he wants more."

"How much?"

"She gave him five thousand dollars the first time, and ten more last night. She just told me that he wants another twenty."

"Where would I find him?"

"I don’t know where he lives, but I guess you can find him at the car lot he owns in Brooklyn."

"Why are you telling me all this, Chésará?"

"‘Cause if you really like Gee, you’ll take this guy off her neck."

"Maybe I’ll talk to him."

"If you do, don’t say anything about me telling you this to Gee. She would be mad at me."

"It’ll be our little secret."

"Something we can share. I like the thought of that."

"Thanks for seeing me, Chésará." I stood up and finished my drink. "And for the drink."

Chésará stood up; her sash came free again. She didn’t bother to retie it this time. She locked her arm in mine and walked with me to the door. "You come on back when you have more time. To
talk.
"

"I just might."

"You make sure that you do. You’ll find me to be a brilliant
conversationalist.
People tell me that I’m
very
oral, when the conversation is stimulating."

"I’d be interested to see."

Wanda shook her head disapprovingly. "I see you still have a way with the women, Nick." She mentioned. "Why didn’t she just come right out and say she wanted to fuck you."

"I don’t know, Wanda. Why don’t you ask her?"

"I don’t think so, Nick. I learned a long time ago not to get between you and your women."

"What’s that supposed to mean?" I demanded, but she and I both knew she was talking about Camille.

Now why she wanna go and do that?

"Nevermind, Nick. What did you think of the sister? Other than the obvious, I mean."

"What do you mean?"

"Open up, Nick. I’m not Kirk. This is me, you know, Wanda. I’m only trying to help you. We go too far back for you to be so defensive with me, Nick."

"I’m sorry, Wanda."

"I just wanted to know if you thought she was telling you the truth, that’s all."

"I thought so. I didn’t think she had any reason to lie about what she told me."

"It seemed like she wasn’t all that concerned about her brother being missing. I think she was more concerned with gettin’ her freak on with you."

"Whatever gave you that impression?" I smiled.

"Come on, Nick.
Very
oral. If that wasn’t an invitation to come back and get some head, I don’t know what it was. I’m very oral."