Roy Glenn - All About The Money

I went in his office and made my report, which was basically the same as the one I’d made last week. “Nothing new to report.”

“So you mean to tell me nothing has happened yet?”

“No, sir-I mean we go out clubbing a lot. Sometimes we go to these parties, mostly for up and coming rappers. We’ve been to a few celebrity birthday parties and that kind of stuff. And we shop, a lot,” I said, only half lying.

“No mention of where the money comes from?”

“Not a word. When I asked, all I got was giggles, and was told to ask Jada. These things take time. You know that.”

“And you’ve never witnessed any exchange of money for sex or sexual favors?”

“None that I’ve witnessed personally, no. As far as I know and can prove, they’re just four girlfriends that hang out together. Jada never speaks to me about what they do. And ‘the ladies,’ as she calls them, basically only speak when Jada says they can,” I said.

“Okay, so when you’re at these parties what’s goes on? What does she say she does for a living?”

“She says she sells insurance.”

“And?” Gineconna asked.

“She has a license, a Web site, and she speaks knowledgeably when she has to. When we’re at these events she collects business cards, just like everybody else. My guy says that he met her at a record company party and he gave her his card. A couple of weeks later, she calls and sets up a date for lunch. She broke it to him over salad.”

Gineconna let out a frustrated sigh and I took the opening. “What it comes down to is how bad do you want them?”

“Will your guy testify?”

“Not likely.”

“What about the girls? Can you turn one of them?”

“I’ll stay on it and see what I can do, but I’ll be honest-those ladies are loyal to Jada. She walks on water in their eyes. Turning one of them will take time and I’ll run the risk of blowing my cover.”

“Right now we don’t have enough evidence to make a case that will stick,” Gineconna said. “You think you can turn up another client of hers?”

“Sure, but it will take time. How bad you want her?”

“Bad. But I can’t continue to justify the use of resources and the overtime on the four little girls sellin’ pussy with no results insight. I need you back in the rotation, catching cases.”

I tried my best to look disappointed. “Damn. I just need a little more time.” But that was exactly what I wanted. “I tell you what, lieu, you do what you gotta do; I’ll continue to work it on my own time. I’ll stay close to Ms. Jada West; try to flip either one of her clients or one of the girls.”

Gineconna smiled. “That’s what I wanted to hear, Rachael. I knew I could count on you. As flamboyant as West is, and the way these girls seem to love the spotlight, I’m sure they’ll make a mistake.”

I left Gineconna’s office feeling great. I got exactly what I wanted. I was officially off the case, but still had an official reason to remain in contact with them. After a while, Jada would be off of Gineconna’s radar. I’d already told them I was going to have to get a job, so I’ve got a reason to be unavailable at times. But I could go on being Chante.

I loved being Chante and I was starting to wonder if Chante was who I really was. I didn’t believe it. But I do. I love being Chante.

The last time we were together, Jada asked if I could take a weekend trip with them. “All expenses paid of course,” Jada explained. “It’s just going to be us and the ladies hanging out in the Bahamas.”

I told her I’d think about it, but I knew deep down inside I wanted to go. And since how I did my job was pretty much my business, I figured I’d be able to go with no worries.

But Gineconna was right about one thing: I know Jada could live without it, but the ladies do love the spotlight. Sooner or later, hangin’ out at that club will be their downfall. My job now was to keep Jada out of the clubs, or this could all come crashing down on me. I’ve had nightmares about blowing my cover and fearing Jada’s disappointment once she realized the truth. My challenge was to find a way to prevent that from happening, at all cost.

Jada West

It was a little before midnight on a Wednesday night and the ladies and I had been sitting around talking and drinking. Everybody, myself in included, had an appointment earlier that night and had come back to my place. “So, I say we polish these off and go find some real trouble to get into,” I said, looking around the room.

“One more of these and I ain’t gonna have to try too hard to find trouble,” Diane said hoisting up her glass.

“Okay, we’re all feeling real nice and nobody’s got an appointment”-I winked-“so we should just call an end to this bonding, then go kick up some dust.” I glanced at the ladies. “Who’s down?” I asked.

“Count me in!” Diane said, hyped and drunk at the same time.

“You ain’t said nothing but a word,” Simone tossed in, as she turned up her glass.

Just then the phone rang.

“Does this mean I can give it away for free tonight?” Bella giggled.

Diane got up and removed the drink from Bella’s hands. “I think you’ve had enough,” she said. in a dramatic fashion. We all started cracking up as I picked up the phone.

“House of Beauty, this is cutie,” I sang into the receiver.

“Hey, cutie, sounds like there’s a party going on over there. How come I didn’t get an invite?” Chante said into my ear.

“Oh, hey, Chante. We’re just sitting around trying to decide what to get into,” I answered. I had planned on talking to Chante about her conversation with Bella, but it was a conversation I wanted to have in person.

“Hmmm, seems to me like that’s where I need to be,” Chante said.

“Well, come on through then,” I challenged.

As I hung up, Simone turned to me and asked, “Who was that? Chante?”

“That was her,” I confirmed.

“So, what’s up? Is Chante gonna be down or what?” Simone asked.

“I don’t think so. I mean she’s cool and all, but ours isn’t the kind of business you can just welcome someone into,” I said to Simone, even though that was exactly how I got her. I placed the phone back in its cradle and swallowed the last of my drink. I was had nice buzz going and this wasn’t really a conversation I felt like having with Simone. But I knew she wasn’t about to give up.

“So we just continue to have her hanging around? I mean, pretty soon she’ll figure it out, don’t you think? Nobody can be that fuckin’ dumb.” Simone snickered.

“Well, she hasn’t said anything to make me think she’s even curious.” I lied just to shut Simone up. She had a way of questioning everything. I hadn’t forgotten about the questions Chante had asked Bella, but a part of me was a little suspicious about why Chante never approached me. “Why don’t we think about getting our groove on,” I offered, trying to keep things light.

“Yeah, I feel you on that. So what’s up with the bachelorette party Diane mentioned?” Simone asked.

“Bachelorette party?” Bella questioned. “Diane, you are getting too gay for me.”

“Look, it’s like I told her. I don’t think we need to even start doing events like that. I mean, we make good money now. We start going out like that, I’m just afraid it could turn into something we don’t want.”

Simone didn’t look like she agreed too much with my response, but I meant what I said. “I didn’t start this business only to go right back to where I’d started. I see no real money in the stripping thing; especially since we make three or four times what a stripper earns on a good night. This is easy money for a few hours on your back.” I knew for sure that old saying-been there and done that-applied in this case. It made no sense to start stripping at parties. And honestly, I was a bit pissed at Diane for even bringing it up in the first place. I went and sat down next to Diane. “Did you ever imagine things would turn out this way?” I asked.