More Money for Good Page 15

  She made me promise to do just that.

  Chapter 57

  I swear my intentions were to spend quality time with Lauren while we sat and ate an early dinner at her favorite rib joint. And we were doing just that. While enjoying our meal, I had just mentioned to Lauren what a wise choice she made in our dinner spot. I was seriously thinking about ordering another stack of ribs and a drink. That was until Rossi called. He let me know that he was with his contact. This guy was adamant about not sitting down with Saadia to share what he knew about the major crimes unit. Lauren picked up on my uneasiness. When the waiter came to check on us she asked for a takeout box and told me to go handle my business.

  Lauren didn’t say much when I pulled into our driveway, other than I could get in by myself; then she opened the door and walked off. I thought about going after her but there was no use. Our date had been ruined.

  I picked Rossi up in about twenty minutes.

  “We’re going to do what?” Rossi wanted to know.

  “Going to go back over your boy’s, take him over Saadia’s so she can do that got-damn article,” I told him.

  Rossi gave me the directions to his home as we drove. He damn sure didn’t have a problem with what I wanted to do. The only thing I remember Rossi saying was something or other about getting his cut of the money so he could put it in the bank. He needed to get a handle on his gambling.

  During the drive we called Tavious and revealed what was happening. Tavious gave us Saadia’s address. He was anxious to hear some results of what we had going because he needed some relief from the mounting pressure he was feeling. I told him we would let him know as soon as we could, if not sooner.

  Chapter 58

  We made it to Samuel Ganes’s home. We knocked. He finally answered.

  “Sammy, baby,” Rossi said.

  Ganes had his door open about half an inch. I could see half his eye. “Rossi? What the fuck? I already told you—not doing it.”

  “Now, now, Sammy,” Rossi eased.

  “Who the fuck is he?”

  Ganes had his eye on me, and through that little-ass crack in the door, I could tell the police had really whooped his ass in that parking garage.

  “He’s my guy,” Rossi let him know. “His name is West. I’ve told you all about him.”

  “Why’d you bring him here?”

  Rossi changed his weight on his stance from left to right. “Don’t, Sammy, you know why.”

  “Can’t do it,” Sammy decided. He tried to slam the door.

  At exactly the same time Rossi and I put our hands up to the door and pushed it backward. He fell to the ground.

  Rossi looked down at him. “Shit, man, you have no strength left after that ass beating, do you?”

  Right after Ganes picked himself up from the floor, he told us he was getting ready to work the night shift. He was paranoid about us being there and said he had an eerie feeling someone was watching his every mood. He wanted us out of his house with the quickness. But we refused to leave. It was time for desperate measures. Over and over again we made it clear that Saadia wouldn’t print his name or give him up. Ganes didn’t want to hear what we were selling and told us to go fuck ourselves. He reinforced that we had no idea who we were dealing with and he wished he’d never told Rossi anything at all.

  I didn’t want to hear Ganes’s bullshit. It was too late for the Monday-morning quarterbacking that he was spewing. I told him that if he wanted to play the game like that I would just give his name to the reporter and tell her to use it as she pleased.

  Five minutes later he was dressed for his night shift and sitting in the back seat of my car on his way with us to see Saadia.

  When we knocked on Saadia’s door she took one look at our officer in uniform and quickly ushered us inside.

  “You brought a fully dressed cop to my house?”

  We all stood in the foyer waiting for her to guide us in. She shut the door and Ganes went back to the door and pulled the curtain back on the pane to see if anyone had followed us.

  “Are you sure you guys want to keep this a secret?” Saadia took a good look at Ganes. “Never in my life have I had a cop in full uniform about to spill the beans on some corruption.”

  “Had to bring him as is,” I let her know. “He starts his shift in forty-five minutes so we need to do this,” I clarified.

  Saadia led us into her sitting room, which was right off of the front door. It was a sunken living room. When we all were seated she looked at Ganes. “You have some information for me?”

  Chapter 59

  The deed for the article was done. Saadia seemed to be content with the information Ganes gave to her. I paid close attention as she asked questions that only a seasoned reporter could, to confirm what she was being told. When she felt she had enough, she quickly ushered us to the door so that Ganes could get to work. She declared she would have something for the paper in the morning as long as her editor approved it, which she didn’t think would be a problem.

  It was already late, and after we dropped Ganes off at his place there was nothing else to do other than go to the address we had for the major. It was time to try to find out if our hunch was right that the two million was stashed someplace in the house.

  We parked the car close to the house and sat for a while. We were only a few houses down from the driveway. The house was dark with no movement inside.

  Rossi rolled down his window and looked over at the house. “Just like old times, partner.”

  “Just like,” I agreed.

  “I say we go in,” Rossi decided.

  “No one in sight and the fact they burst into people’s places anytime they want, that alone gives me enough motivation to check it out.”

  “You think that money is inside—don’t you?”

  “Yeah, I do, this major is playing everyone. Keeping this quiet little place. What is this, a one-, two-bedroom flat? One garage? The only other option is to have this place surrounded by police cars twenty-four-seven, keeping an eye out for the money, and that’s too loud, man. People would suspect something.”

  I wasn’t sure if the money was inside, but the only way we were going to find out was to go inside and check for ourselves. One thing we both were sure of was that the major definitely had an alarm system on the house. I sat in the car while Rossi went to the backyard to find the electrical box connection to cut the system off. It took Rossi only a few minutes to finish the job. We decided to go to a nearby Walmart to pick up another flashlight with batteries. When we returned there was still no movement or lights on in the house. We waited another thirty minutes before we made our move to go inside.

  Chapter 60

  Rossi noticed a glass sliding door when he was disconnecting the alarm. We made it our point of entry. Of course it didn’t take him long to get the door open. He pried the screen open with a screwdriver and used the same tool by unscrewing two screws connected to the lock on the door. We watched the entire lock mechanism fall to the ground as Rossi called it some cheap-ass shit.

  It didn’t take long to get our bearings and finally see the layout of the house. When we stepped in we were right between the kitchen and what looked to be a sitting room that had an HD TV mounted on the wall. We didn’t know what kind of time we were working with to search for the money so I pointed for Rossi to go one way and I was in the wind in another.

  I pointed my flashlight toward the kitchen and stood for a few seconds wondering where to start. I noticed that there were quite a few cabinets and drawers. Some were over a built-in desk with a computer sitting on top. That’s where I started my search. I pushed the Enter key on the keyboard but it had no power so I reached down to the computer and turned it on. While I waited I opened up the two cabinet doors above the desk. With the help of my flashlight, I could see two shelves. One of the shelves was half full with books that were lined up in an orderly fashion. Most had something or other to do with police tactics and urban security. The other shelves whe
re filled with all types of other knick-knacks: deck of cards, light bulbs, an old Rolodex, and a small camcorder and so much other shit that I just got tired of looking at it. I took my arm and started to throw it all to the floor searching for the money. I noticed the computer came on but I decided to unplug it. I took it along with the camcorder and placed it near the door so I could take it back to see if Rita and Lauren could find anything on it.

  We were in and out the house searching for the money in about forty-five minutes and, sad to say, no money was in sight. The one thing we did find out was that the major didn’t seem to spend much time in her residence of record, which Rossi’s snitch copied off their emergency contact list. We came to that conclusion because once we started searching through the house it was in perfect order. It didn’t seem to have someone there on a day-to-day basis. There were no towels in the bathroom, no dishes in the sink, and no clothes in the washer or dryer.

  It rained all the way back to my place. When we went inside Lauren and Rita were sitting in front of the television, snacking on popcorn and drinks while watching a show Lauren had recorded sometime ago, called Single Ladies. They hardly noticed that we were dripping wet when we walked through the door. It almost felt like they shooed us into the kitchen while they giggled and laughed about the show. At least Lauren was smiling.

  I put the computer we took from the major’s house along with the camcorder on the counter, and retrieved a few beers from the fridge, then handed one to Rossi.

  “I can’t believe it, not a damn thing to be found in that house,” I said.

  “This major is crafty, man—maybe more so than we ever thought. I mean it was a nice try but I would probably keep two million dollars so close that you would think I was making love to it,” Rossi admitted.

  “You’re probably right. That money is so close that we are going to have to get an eyeball on this major and just follow her until it’s revealed.”

  “You talking twenty-four-hour surveillance?”

  “Maybe . . .”

  Rossi’s immediate expression was not pleasant.

  “No other way around it.”

  Rossi thought for a minute. “I never thought it was going to be this difficult. I mean it’s not like I’ve ever tried to help a man get his two million dollars of drug money back that sat in the wall of a friend for twenty years and is now connected to multiple murders and police. But geez, man, who are we dealing with here?”

  I didn’t get a chance to answer Rossi because the ladies entered the kitchen. There was no hiding that it was not soda in their glasses.

  “Wow, what a crazy show!” Lauren said in her outside voice. She kissed me on the cheek and then put her glass down on the table.

  Rita was close behind. “You got that right. Hey, Rossi, would you ever cheat on me?”

  Rossi was taken aback by Rita’s question because her conversation was 180 degrees from what was on his mind. “Rita, are you serious?” he wanted to know.

  “Of course I am. I didn’t even know people in Atlanta were so shady. There are so many places to go and do the nasty without getting caught.”

  Rossi didn’t say a word. The look on his face gave Rita all that was on his mind.

  “Okay, okay, yes . . . it’s no secret about my past life. But geez, I didn’t think everyone was doing it—and for free.” She chuckled.

  “It was a television show you were watching,” I reminded her.

  It didn’t take Lauren long to focus on the computer. They were so busy watching their show when we walked in she hadn’t even noticed.

  “So, what’s this?”

  “Computer and a camcorder,” I let her know.

  “Okay . . .” she sang.

  “We’re going to sit here and go through it and see if there’s anything that can help us with Tavious.”

  “Where is he by the way?” Lauren wanted to know.

  “Oh, he’s fine,” Rossi interrupted.

  “I didn’t ask that,” Lauren said.

  I could tell Rossi and Lauren were close to getting into one of their loving squabbles so I went in quick. “So, will you ladies help to see what’s on this computer for us?”

  “Sorry, babe,” Lauren said. “I’m on my way to bed. I was caught up knee-deep in getting your receipts in order on your desk all day and I’m beat.”

  “That makes two of us, honey,” Rita decided. “This drink has a sister wanting her pillow.” Rita kissed Laruen on the cheek, then told Rossi to take her home so they could continue their conversation in the car.

  Rossi looked at me and shook his head back and forth.

  “I’ll take the computer, man,” Rossi told me. “I’ll have her check it out in the morning,” he confirmed.

  Chapter 61

  Not getting much sleep had programmed my body to do just that. My self-mandated requirement of eight hours’ sleep had become a thing of the past since we were on the hunt for the money. I’d curled up into the bed next to Lauren until about three in the morning, when my tossing and turning wouldn’t allow me to sleep any longer. My intentions were to make coffee and fiddle around with the camcorder we took from the major’s. But there was no coffee so I quietly went out the house to the grocery store to buy some so the coffee wouldn’t be an issue once Lauren was up for the day.

  To my surprise the store had way more people than I expected. The twenty-minute wait I had to endure with the two shoppers in front of me with baskets full of items didn’t help matters. After the cashier swore to me she would have let me move in front of her if she had been the customer in front of me and noticed that I only had a can of Chock full o’Nuts coffee and her basket was full with almost $200 of groceries, I noticed the AJC delivery man slam a stack of morning papers on the counter. I picked one up and asked the cashier to add it to my bill.

  “Dang, you already doin’ coffee and it’s barely five in the morning,” Lauren said from behind me as she stood in her T-shirt with her hands on her hips.

  “Couldn’t sleep, babe, so I went out and got some when I realized we didn’t have any.”

  “Pour me some when it’s ready?”

  Lauren moved toward the kitchen table and asked if I’d seen her house shoes, then took a seat at the table. I grabbed some cups from the cabinet and placed them on the table. I noticed the coffee was just about ready so I stood in front of the maker waiting for the last drop to fall through, while I told Lauren about the lady shopper in the store with all the groceries and how I would have let her move in front of me if I would have had an army-load of food to check out. As I continued to give my two cents about the lady and the lack of human decency people display, Lauren gave me the customary early morning acknowledgment of a nod and a yawn. The coffee was ready. I picked up the pot, went to the table, poured it into our cups, then went into the fridge for the hazelnut cream. She still hadn’t responded to what I said to her about the lady in front of me at the store. I could see some of the major headlines on the front page about the Atlanta school system and the cheating by principals and teachers that had occurred resulting from the No Child Left Behind Act.

  “Wow, that paper really must be interesting,” I said to her. I sat down at the table and took a sip of my coffee. “So, are they throwing all the teachers and principals in jail? Hey, maybe the prisons can save a bit on contractors teaching coming in with their own on site,” I said to her.

  Lauren looked up at me. I’d known her way too long not to tell something wasn’t right. She didn’t say what was wrong; she just slid the entire newspaper toward me and started on her own coffee and told me to relax.

  After my turn at reading the paper it was as though I’d been smacked in the face. I couldn’t believe it. Saadia had thrown Tavious under the bus in a scathing article that just about implicated him in the killings of Amara and Ely. Her article was a local news front-page story; and not only had she written her accounts on how she thought the murders occurred, but she added a dark picture of Tavious that made him look mu
rderous and hardened. Her call for a manhunt by the APD to find him and throw away the key was enough to send me quickly over the edge.

  I threw the paper on the table and asked Lauren to get my cell phone. I wanted to talk to Saadia pronto, but, as I expected, when I called there was no answer. The article that I had just finished reading was 180 degrees from what we had discussed with her. There was no mention of the police major crime unit or any of the unlawful bullshit they had been doing passing it off as police work.

  The audacity of Saadia calling her article her best work ever. She applauded herself for going undercover to find out more about Tavious after her contacts told her he was initially under investigation for the murder of Amara. She even went so far as to write about spending a day with his mother and now understanding where his anger came from. Saadia was not shy about letting everyone know that Tavious was the last person to ever see Ely alive. She wrote that he was fresh out of prison after twenty years and the prison system had hardened him. Her article said that when he got home to retrieve money that he left with his drug mule, she had spent it all. She claimed he snapped and took her life, then weeks later took Ely’s because men in his mother’s life had always taken her from him and he had never been able to deal with seeing his mother hurt.

  I called Rossi and briefly explained what Tavious was now up against. I took a quick shower and asked him to meet me at the spot where Tavious was staying.

  Mrs. Bullock had always been an early riser. Before I even got out of the shower she had called my cell and Lauren let her know we were on our way to see Tavious. She let me know that she would be there just as soon as she could.

  I didn’t like the look on Lauren’s face when I jumped in my car just after she called out to me and ran out to give me the camcorder and newspaper that I’d left sitting on the kitchen table. She knew that things were coming to a head.

  “You’re goin’ to be careful—right?”