War (4 page)

I look back at Marlon and see that he’s back to staring at Jacob. Instinctively, I turn around to look at Jake again. I see Malcolm sliding his bank card over the counter to the bartender while nodding to the brunette on his right. She sits up on the stool, thrusts her breasts and ass out, crosses her legs, and taps a finger on her lips as she looks at a chalkboard menu filled with drink names behind the bar: Sexy Sally, Titties on Ice, Pop It Pineapple… Malcolm steals a look at his watch and I’m sure is thinking,
Order your fucking drink, sweetheart, and move along
.
I’m trynna be nice here.
Been there, Mac. She whips her head around to Malcolm and he brings a quick smirk to his face and looks at her. She’s working with a professional here. You see, when your name and face are plastered all over television, newspapers and magazines, you can’t afford to be a dickhead. It’s bad for business.

The brunette finally appears to be ordering and I see Malcolm shoot Jake a look.
If her ass doesn’t hurry up.
Jake smiles before shaking his head.

“She’s sleeping with him,” Marlon says. I turn and see his eyes still glued on Jake. “I know she is.”

              “Maybe,” Jon says before taking a cool sip of his Jack Daniels. “So the question is, what do you plan on doing about it?” I look at Jon. He looks back at me and shrugs at the same moment that his cell phone buzzes and jumps around on the table. He picks it up, looks at it and gives a half smile before taking another sip of his drink.

              I look back over to the bar and see Jake ask the bartender for another shot. I then see Nat step over to Malcolm and whisper something to him as Malcolm leans back and takes a sip of his drink.

NAT

Dena saw the cops outside of our building so she bundled up the kids, went down to our condo’s lobby and asked what happened.
Making sure attorneys Malcolm Blair and Jacob Blair are alright, Mrs. March. Is your husband around?
they asked her. She told them no.
Do you know where he is?
She lied and said,
I’m sorry sir, I don’t quite know where my husband is at the moment
.
But if you’ll excuse me, I must put our children to bed. Good evening.

Immediately she and the kids rushed upstairs to call me. “The police are looking for Malcolm and Jacob, Nathaniel. Something’s happened. They asked where you were and I told them I didn’t know. Can they trace this call?”

“No, we’re fine, baby. We’re on a private network.”

“Oh goodness, do something, Nat. Please. The lights, the police downstairs, them asking me questions…they’ve frightened our children. I just had to give Piper some warm milk to calm her down.”

“I’ll handle it, baby.”

“Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

              I called Malcolm. “Jake ran into an issue at his place,” he told me. “Jasmine showed up. Winnie jumped on her, beat her ass and then jumped on Jake. Jasmine’s got a busted lip, Jacob’s got a small gash on his face. Winnie laid down the goddamn law.” I told Mac I’d see him at the bar. I immediately called Winnie:

              “Nat, I’m not in the mood for—”

              “Who dropped the kids off with Jacob’s parents?” I asked as rap music blared into my ear from her end.

              “I did.”

              “Good. You never left.” She gave me a long pause, no doubt trying to see if it was Jacob’s ass I was trying to cover of hers. Of course, it was both. I helped her out. “You’re facing a charge if Jasmine runs to the cops. Assault, Winnie.”

              “So, I went straight from their house to the bar.”

              “You did.”

              “Fine.” She hung up on me. I called Rusty.

              “I hear the police are stomping on your territory,” I said to him when he answered.

              “Damn sure are, sons-of-bitches.”

              “Don’t give them a damn thing, Rusty. You run that building, not them.”

              “Oh, you don’t have to tell me twice! I’m not giving them
nothing
without a court decree!”

              “The security cameras that shows Winnie coming back into the building earlier today…”

              “Uh huh.”

              “Get rid of the film.”

              “I’ll take out the tape and take it to your condo. I’ll just start a new roll of film and tell those donut-eaters I have no idea what’s going on with the cameras. I’ll drop the tape off to you now. Are you home?”

              “Just leave it up there with my wife.”

“Done.” I ended the call with Rusty. In that moment, Malcolm and Jacob walked into Piranha’s, one after the other, a blast of cold air following them.

              “I think Mrs. Reynold’s called the police tonight,” Malcolm said to me. “You know how she is with noise. Let’s send her flowers, tell her it was a big misunderstanding. You know the routine. Say Jake and Winnie were fucking around. Sorry for the disturbance. Won’t happen again.” Mac took a seat at the bar and put his hand up for the bartender to come to him. And, of course he came running. Jacob followed and sat next to Mac, looking wired up. I immediately pulled out my android to find out the name of the Dispatch Operator who took Mrs. Reynold’s 911 call.

             
Boston City Police Department.

Access Code
: 8545

Username
: PenPit

Password
: 885996

Dispatch
Log
: Access Granted

Date
: January 17
h

Time
: 9:45 pm:

Reason
: High Alert! Code 93Z- Assault of a government official. High Alert!

Dispatched Officers
: Officer Tills, Officer Montgomery, Officer Lye, Officer Barton, Officer Robinson, Officer Thomas, Officer Olander, Officer Russels, Officer French, Officer Wyatt, Officer Georges, Officer Jones, Officer Hammond, Officer Isles, Officer Gadley, Officer Dean, Officer Nero, Officer James, Officer Denton, Officer Stafford, Officer Bingham, Officer Hubbard, Officer Pitts, Officer Daniels

Total Officers on Scene
: 24

Location
: Brookshire Condominiums, Beacon Hill

Dispatch
Operator
: Phyllis Jeffries

Next I logged into the Boston 911 Dispatch Operating System to get the Wireless Caller Code:

             
Access Name
: RTHY

             
Access Code
: BNJ632

             
Dispatch Center
: Access Granted

             
Dispatch Officer:
Sandra Jeffries

             
Dispatch Contacted
: 9:41 pm

             
Call Location
: 02116, Beacon Hill, Brookshire Condominiums

             
Call Contact Code
: Wireless Caller Code 617.329.98

Got it. Then I logged into the back server of all the wireless carriers, entering in my access names and codes, heading to their customer logs and searching for the account holder by their Wireless Caller Code. I checked:

              ATT

              Amazon

              Cingular

              Sprint

              T-Mobile

              Verizon

              Virgin Mobile

Virgin Mobile was a hit.

              Wireless Caller Code
: 617.329.98

             
Access
: Granted

             
Account Holder
: Jon Luc Saint James

              “Mac,” I walk over to Malcolm and watch him lean back while taking a sip of his Scotch. “It was Jon.”

MARLON

              It only takes a nano second, just one split second, for Danny to spot Malcolm at the bar. This time, there are a group of three women around his crew. There’s a blond in particular who’s trying her damnedest to take Malcolm home. A man can tell these things; it’s in the way the blond’s turning her head and smiling at Malcolm. The way she has her right leg crossed over her left. Now, Malcolm’s calling the bartender over. And now the blond’s bending over the bar, giving the bartender her drink order, breasts spilling all over the counter. Sorry sweetheart, Malcolm’s just given you your walking papers. The blond makes one more attempt at seduction: she rests her hand on the collar of Malcolm’s button-up and then does a slow slide-down over his chest. Wow. This one is
shameless
. She wants dick and she wants it now. I look and see Danny on the hunt.

She wants blood.

              “Oh shit,” Matt says as he stands. “I gotta stop this shit.” Jon leans over the table, grabs him by the arm and yanks him back down.

              “Sit,” Jon commands as we watch Danny barge over to Malcolm and his crew. This is what Jon’s been waiting
years
for. He’s always thought that Danny considered Malcolm to be a king among mortals. Now she’s about to see Malcolm for the man he is. Yes, he loves her and the kids, but he’s a man. For better or for worse, he’s
going
to buy a woman drinks to get her out of his hair, if subtle clues don’t work. It’s normal. It’s natural. I mean, I do it, too. But I’ve got this gut feeling that Danny could give a shit less. It’s then that I notice Marla and Jasmine with her. They’re trailing behind…slowly.

              Jasmine’s looking around. Who is she looking for, I wonder?

              “I need to text Rena,” Matt says as he grabs his cellphone out his pocket. I watch Jon look at Danny with a little grin on his face. He’s about to enjoy this.

              By the time Danny gets to the bar, the bartender is sliding a martini over to the blond that Malcolm’s trying to get rid of. Malcolm has taken out his wallet to pay for it.

And Danny’s right behind Malcolm now.

“Mac, Mac, Mac…” I see one of Jacob’s brothers-in-law calling as he hurries over towards bar. But
Mac
doesn’t hear.

Danny reaches into her purse at the same time that Malcolm slides his card across the bar to the bartender. She then slides the bartender her money while sliding Malcolm’s card back to him. Malcolm sees that golden brown hand and red nails. He whips his head around…and I swear to God, he looks mortally terrified.

“Oh shit,” I hear Matt say.

Malcolm shoots up off his bar stool. The blond sees Danny and instantly bolts up, nearly running away. She and Malcolm’s reaction just made that shit seem real suspect. Damn…

              “Your drink!” I see Danny saying after the blond as she holds up the martini glass. The woman shakes her head as she continues to bolt away.

              “Come on, let’s go outside,” I see Malcolm say as he places a hand on Danny’s arm.

And then it happens.

              Danny explodes.

              I don’t know what she’s saying but Malcolm’s crew is now attempting to huddle around them. The last thing they want is for the media to pick this up.

              “Damn, it’s not looking good,” Matt says as he looks at Malcolm and starts texting Rena again.

              “ I’m fucking pregnant...” I see Danny mouthing. “ … buying drinks … talk around town … risky … fuck you … hell no … pack your shit … fucking embarrassing … fuck you! … get your clothes … get out … white girl …” And Malcolm is pleading. He might as well be on his knees. His hand is over his heart, he’s nodding, he’s trying to talk in between her shouting, he has a hand on her arm.

              “ Harmless…” I see him saying, “ … okay … I’m sorry … never again … please … just let me … in the spare room … on the couch … Danielle, please … three kids … I was wrong … Danielle, please …”