The cost of vengeance - [10]

“Jackson.”

“Jackson? You don’t mean Jackson Ponder?” Now it made sense, Jackson Ponder was one of my better clients, and Diane had been his only choice for the last two years.

“He took me to his country club last night to meet his friend, and this morning he asked me to marry him.”

Now that the initial shock had worn off, I got up and hugged Diane. “I am so happy for you, Diane.” And I was. Jackson Ponder was a multibillionaire. “You’re getting married, and to a very rich man,” I said and hugged her again.

“Every hoe’s dream,” Diane laughed.

“So when is the big day?”

“In two weeks,” Diane said. “And I got something to ask you, Jada,” Diane said and took a step back.

“What’s that?”

“Would you be my maid of honor?” Diane looked at me. “Please say yes, Jada. You’re my best friend, my only real friend. I couldn’t get married without you standing next to me.”

“Of course I will, Diane. I’m honored that you asked.”

“I haven’t decided who I’m going to ask to be bridesmaids yet,” Diane said and I smiled.

“Why choose.”

“What do you do mean?”

“Why not have all of the ladies as your bridesmaids?” I suggested. You see, Jackson Ponder was rich-very rich-and that usually meant that all of his friends were rich too. I saw it as an opportunity to recruit some new clients.

Well, Jackson only agreed to three bridesmaids, but I gave everybody the afternoon off to go to Diane’s wedding. But as soon as the reception was over, everybody went back to work. And even though I told her that she didn’t have to, Diane kept working. In fact, the wedding was at four o’clock and she took her last client at one.

In a very short time, I planned a beautiful affair. Everything was wonderful. One of his groomsmen was already a client, and he was nice enough introduce me around. Before the night was over, I had seven new clients and three more that I thought had potential, but just didn’t get to because they left early. But I did get each of their business cards and promised that I would get back to them within the week for cocktails. It seemed that most, if not all of the men there, knew how he’d met Diane, and that made it easy.

I started to ask Mr. Black to be my escort for the evening, but I knew that if he was there, all I would want to do was, smile in face and giggle like a schoolgirl over every word that came out of his mouth, and offer him my body. As good as that sounded to me, I knew that the evening would be better spent speaking with potential new clients. Once again, my passion for Mr. Black would have to wait.

Chapter Six

Kirk

Either it way too early or I was getting too old for this shit. It wasn’t quite six-thirty in the morning yet, and I was on my way to a triple. As I approached the crime scene, I saw that there was a crowd formed around the perimeter that the uniforms had setup. “Wasn’t too early for them,” I said and parked the car.

I made my way through the crowd of onlookers and showed my badge as I went under the tape. The first person I saw coming toward me was narcotics’ lieutenant, Gene Sanchez. He was a good guy as far as cops go, and as far as cops go, he was a good cop.

“Morning, Kirk,” Sanchez said and looked around. “Where’s your partner? Off somewhere beating a suspect?” he asked and shook my hand.

“On vacation.”

“And your captain let you work alone?”

“Nah, he tried to stick me with some broad that just got her shield and I told him that I was thinking about taking all of the six months of vacation I got accumulated, and he changed his mind.”

“Sounds like gender bias to me, Kirk,” Sanchez said and shook his finger at me as we approached the first of the three bodies.

“Not gender bias, Gene; I don’t have the patience to train no wet-behind-the-ears chick that just got her shield. I’m still training Richards and we’ve been partners for six years.”

“What she look like?”

“Oh, she’s hot. And I hear she was a good cop on the street,” I said and knelt down next to the body. “I just ain’t the guy to get her feet wet with.”

“If you want my opinion, and I notice that you haven’t asked for it, I think you’re the perfect guy to bust her cherry. You’re a good cop, Kirk, and a better detective then most of the guys in that unit.”

I looked at the body and got up. “That’s the same line of shit the captain ran on me. But you see she ain’t here, right?”

“You’re a piece of work this morning,” Sanchez said and laughed.

“It’s early and I haven’t had my coffee yet.” I looked at the other two bodies. “Any ID on this one?” I asked as we walked to the next body.

“Nope. Not on that one either,” Sanchez said as I took a look at the second body and moved on to the third. “Only one with any ID is her.”

I looked at her laying there dead, with the gun still in her hand, and shook my head. “Who was she?”

“Driver’s license says she’s Kenyatta Damson. Got a couple of arrests a few years back for possession with intent. Been off the grind for a while though.”

I looked at Sanchez. “You guys didn’t know about this spot?”

“No, I’m ashamed to say. And from what I’ve gotten from the few that have said something, she controlled the building.”