The Cut

TWENTY-ONE

Loquacia Hawkins lived with her son, David, in a clapboard colonial on Quintana Place in Manor Park. It was not far from the community garden on 9th and the Fourth District police station, where huge radio towers landmarked the neighborhood and loomed over the landscape. David and his friend Duron had stolen the Denali on Peabody, in the shadow of the towers.

Lucas parked his Jeep on Quintana and grabbed a black Patagonia pack off the seat beside him. He slung the pack over his shoulder and walked down the sidewalk, glancing at the parked vehicles, looking for a law car and seeing none. He noticed a shiny Range Rover HSE, black with sand leather interior and spoke alloy wheels. It looked brand-new. No city dweller needed an eighty-thousand-dollar luxury off-road vehicle like this one, but it was beautifully designed and crafted, and Lucas admired it as he passed.

He stepped up onto the porch of the colonial and knocked on the front door. Soon the door opened, and a tall, handsome woman, strong boned and well proportioned, stood in the frame. She was in her thirties, had liquid ebony eyes and smile lines parenthesizing her mouth. She wore indigo jeans, ankle-strap shoes, a faintly patterned cream-colored shirt that looked expensive, and a small crucifix on a simple gold chain.

“Loquacia Hawkins?”

“I’m Loquacia.”

“Spero Lucas. I have something for you.”

“Come in.”

Lucas stepped into a foyer that opened into a kitchen and family room. Both held nice furniture, built-in appliances, and custom cabinetry. The latest wide-screen technology hung on the family room wall. The house was not new, but its interior spoke of money.

“Is your son here?” said Lucas.

“No, he’s out.”

He handed her his backpack. “Here you go.”

She took it by its strap. “Should I-”

“Yes. Count it out so there’s no misunderstanding.”

He followed her into the kitchen. She extracted a manila envelope from the pack, which contained cash held together by rubber bands. She removed the bands and counted the bills out carefully on the granite counter. When she was done she counted the money again and said, “Fifty-four thousand.”

“Then we’re good,” said Lucas.

He and Loquacia shook hands.

Lucas walked to the front door, stepped outside, and stood on the porch. When he turned to say good-bye she was next to him.

“I want to thank you,” she said.

“Just honoring my agreement,” said Lucas.

“I’m not talking about what you brought me today. I’m speaking on what you did for my son.”

“I caught a little luck,” said Lucas.

“You and that jury gave him another chance. I don’t want to say he made a mistake, because what he did, he committed a crime. But he saw how it tore me up, and he knows he did wrong. David learned. He’s not gonna go there again.”

“They’re kids. They stumble.”

“Yes, they do.”

“If Tom Petersen’s successful, David will have his father back in his life again.”

“We don’t need Anwan,” she said, her tone suddenly grim. “Me and David are doing just fine.”

I’ll say, thought Lucas. He nodded toward the new SUV parked in front of her house.

“Is that your Range Rover?”

“It is.”

“How do you like it?”

“It’s real nice,” she said.

Their eyes locked and she held his gaze. Maybe he’d make another comment about her expensive new vehicle, or the clothes she wore. Her furniture, her richly appointed kitchen.

But Lucas wasn’t about to judge her. If her hands were unclean, then his were, too.

“Have a good one,” said Loquacia.

“You do the same.”

In the back of the Mobley Detailing warehouse, past the main office, was the second room, the one Ricardo Holley and Beano Mobley used as a fuck pad and playhouse when they entertained women and girls they brought back from the clubs.

There were two large beds in the room, taking up much of the space. Sometimes Holley and Mobley liked to do it to women in the same room at the same time, like they imagined fraternity brothers would, even though they were both deep into middle age. On the walls were posters of women in thongs and a couple of framed, infamous photographs of Darlene Ortiz in her white body thong, front view and back, holding a pistol-grip shotgun, from the cover of the Ice-T album Power.

Like the office, the room had a portable bar. Atop it were several cognacs that Mobley claimed were expensive but were just top-shelf bottles refilled with rail yak. Also in the room were a beat-up stereo system and a couple of comfortable chairs. A round table strewn with porno mags. A filthy bathroom with a toilet and no shower. A mirror with the Jack Daniel’s logo that was frequently taken off the wall and used to track out lines of coke.

Ernest Lindsay sat in one of the chairs. He was leaning forward and looking down at the linoleum tiled floor, his hands clasped tightly together. The windows had outdoor bars and interior curtains. Through the thin white curtain Ernest could see that it was night.

Fluorescent light fixtures hung from the drop ceiling, but their tubes were not illuminated. A man had come into the room and turned on a floor lamp with a tasseled shade.

“Ain’t you gonna eat that food I got you?” said the man. Tall, with puffed-out copper-colored hair and a long thin nose. He looked strange and familiar, but Ernest didn’t know why.

“No, thank you,” said Ernest. “I’m not hungry.”

It was Chinese from one of those Plexiglas-wall grease pits, and that garbage gave Ernest diarrhea. Even if he wasn’t so nervous he wouldn’t eat it. His mother had taught him early on not to touch it.

“You want a drink?” said the man. “I got liquor.”

Ernest nodded at a dirty plastic cup of tap water he had set on the floor. “I’m fine.”

The man limped toward Ernest and stood over him. He spoke in a soothing way. “Look here, son. You just sit tight and behave yourself, and you’re gonna be fine. I don’t want nothin from you. A man took something from me, and when he gives it back, you’re gonna be free to go. It’s not on me to decide when you walk out of here. It’s on him. Until that time, you’re my guest, hear?”

“Yes.”

After a long silence, the man said, “The color purple.”

“Huh?”

“Do you like it?”

“The movie?” said Ernest, meeting his eyes directly for the first time.

“I’m speaking on your shirt. Purple happens to be my favorite color, too.”

“This is my uniform for school.” Ernest knew the man was trying to act nice, but it was false. There was no kindness in his eyes.

“Don’t expend no energy with the back door,” said the man. “It takes a key to unlock it.” He went to an interior door that led to another room and put his hand on the knob. “You just relax. Knock if you need somethin. My name’s Ricardo.”

He walked out, closed the door behind him, and latched it.

Ricardo.

Ernest’s stomach turned. He felt like he was going to vomit. The man didn’t care if Ernest knew his name.

Ricardo Holley walked into his office, opened his desk drawer, and dropped a ring of keys inside. His son Larry, seated before the desk and in uniform, watched him. Ricardo settled into his chair.

“The boy’s all right,” said Ricardo. “I talked to him in a real nice way. Made him feel comfortable.”

Larry stared at him, disbelief in his eyes. He found it hard to speak.

“Just tryin to keep you in the loop, young man.”

“A little late for that,” said Larry, his voice unsteady.

“We’re men. We make decisions and we act on ’em. We don’t need to form no committees.”

“You might have spoken to me first before you went and did something like this. You and your low-ass crew.”

“I don’t need permission from you to do any goddamn thing. You perform a service for us and you’re well paid. But you’re not my partner. I told you that before. I guess I need to make it clear again.”

“You,” said Larry.

Ricardo got up and fixed himself a brown liquor drink, no mixer, no ice. He brought it back to his desk and sat in his chair.

“Now, let’s talk about this rational,” said Ricardo. “I’m gonna call Lucas. Tell him that he needs to bring me the money he stole in exchange for the Lindsay boy. When he comes, we’ll take him out.”

“What about the boy?”

“What do you think? He saw you, Larry, in uniform, taking that package and puttin it into the trunk of an MPD vehicle. It’s you who brought this on him.”

“This isn’t a marijuana transaction, or receiving stolen property. It’s even bigger than moving guns. This here is a capital crime.”

“It’s not any kind of crime if no one finds out. We’ll do the both of ’em right here and bury ’em in pieces out in the woods somewhere. You don’t even have to get your hands dirty, Larry. Bernard will take care of it. He wants to.”

“I’m out.”

“Uh-uh.” Ricardo wagged a finger at his son theatrically. “That’s not an option. Besides, what are you gonna do? Go to IAB and make a confession? You wouldn’t just lose your job. You’d go to prison, boy. You know you ain’t built for it.”

Larry stood up abruptly. His fists were clenched. Tears had come to his eyes. He hated himself for it, but he couldn’t control his emotions.

Ricardo smiled. “Look at you. You about to cry.”

“Least I feel something.”

“I can’t even believe you’re my blood.”

“I wish to God I wasn’t,” said Larry. “I hate you, man.”

“So?”

Ricardo laughed. Larry turned and walked from the room.