Roy Glenn - No More Tears In The End

“Miles, no!” Rain yelled and we rushed at him.

“She was having my baby!” Miles yelled and put three shots in Jeff Ritchie’s chest and one to the head.

Miles let the gun drop to the floor and sat down in the chair next to Jeff Ritchie. Lakeda sat down next to him. She took his hand in hers and tears rolled down her cheeks. Doctors and nurses flooded into the room and tried to save Jeff Ritchie, but he was dead.

Miles didn’t offer any resistance when the police and hospital security arrived on the scene. Miles stood up and put his hands behind his back.

I stood there with Rain, watching as they took Miles away. Then she turned to me. “Something ain’t right about this.”

“What?”

“Come on.” Rain took me by the hand and we walked toward the intensive care unit. She told the attendant that I was her husband and they let me go in with her.

We went in JR’s room and Rain sat down next to him. She took his hand. “The police just took Miles to jail for killing Jeff Ritchie.”

“What?” JR said in barely a whisper. “Why?”

“Lakeda found out that Miles was having an affair. She said she told Jeff Ritchie and he sent the men that killed the woman.”

JR closed his eyes and turned away from Rain.

“But something ain’t right about her story. Lakeda wouldn’t talk to Jeff Ritchie about Miles having an affair. But she would talk you. Lakeda came to see you that night. That’s what happened, ain’t it, Daddy?”

JR didn’t answer, didn’t open his eyes; he just gripped Rain’s hand a little tighter.

“Jeff Ritchie would never do anything like that. He wouldn’t send men to kill her, not unless you told him to.”

Rain let go of her father’s hand and stood up.

JR opened his eyes.

“She was pregnant with Miles baby, Daddy. You killed your grandchild.”

When Rain walked out of the room, JR looked at me. I thought about what Black said.

If JR’s involved, kill him.

“You shouldn’t have hit her at our spot, JR.”

“Didn’t know it was your spot.”

“Guess not,” I said and walked out of the room.

Mike Black

It took a couple of days for me think through what I was gonna do, and a week to put it all together. But I was almost ready to put my plan into action. There was just one more piece that I needed to put in place-the most important piece.

Kevon parked the car and we went in the building. We took the elevator up and Kevon knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

I leaned in front of the peephole. “Mike Black.”

“Don’t go nowhere. I gotta put something on.”

“Don’t go to any trouble.”

“Maybe you should call first, boss,” Kevon said and leaned against the wall. I took the other wall and we waited.

Five minutes later the door opened. “Hello, Mr. Black,” CeCe said. I don’t know what she had on before, but now she looked radiant. Knowing my fondness for the color, CeCe was wearing a black dress and four-inch stilettos, her hair was done, and her make-up was flawless.

“I didn’t catch you at a bad time, did I?”

“Not at all. I was just sitting around watching TV. Please come in,” CeCe said and extended her hand gracefully. I walked in and CeCe looked at Kevon. “He’s not coming in?”

“He’ll be right there if I need him.”

“I understand.” CeCe smiled and shut the door.

I followed her into the living room and she offered me a seat. “Nice place,” I said and sat down.

“Thank you,” CeCe said and sat down next to me. “It would be an understatement to say that I’m surprised to see you. I didn’t know you knew where I lived. But you did say that when you wanted me, you would find me.”

“Sorry I didn’t call first, but I needed to talk to you about somethin’ and I don’t like talkin’ on telephones.”

“I heard that about you. That’s why I haven’t blown-up Kevon’s phone.”

“I appreciate that.”

“So, what do I owe the honor of this visit?”

“I need you to do something very important for me.”

“You know I’ll do anything for you. Just tell me what you need?”

“I arranged for you to meet with a reporter from the Post .”

CeCe frowned. “For what?”

“I want you to give him a story.”

CeCe looked at me for a second or two and then she sat back. “This is about your wife, ain’t it?”

“Yes.”

“I thought so.”

“What you know about my wife?”

“I know that she was murdered, and that they accused you of her murder. I know that finding her killers is the only thing that’s important to you.”

“You’ve been talkin’ to Bobby.”

CeCe smiled. “I know a lot more about her, but you don’t wanna hear all that.”

“Try me.”

“I know that you loved her very much.”

“I still do.”

“Is she what’s keeps you from letting me get close to you?”

I didn’t answer her because she was right. I won’t let anybody get close to me. I didn’t want to feel for any other woman what I felt for Cassandra. But there was something about CeCe.

“I guess that answers my question,” CeCe said and got up. She stood over me and shook her head.

I wanted to tell her how beautiful she looked standing over me like that, but I didn’t. I had to admit that her appeal to me is much more than physical. The thing was that I liked CeCe. Liked her look, liked her style, liked the way she handled herself.

CeCe stood there looking at me, and then she walked away. “I’ll do what you need me to do for you, but after I do it, there’s something I want you to do for me.”

“What’s that?”

“Do we have a deal?”

“You haven’t told me what you want.”

“Do we have a deal, Mr. Black?”

“Not until you tell me what you want.”

“Believe me, it’s nothing you can’t do.”

“Then why can’t you just tell me,” I laughed.

“Do we have a deal?” CeCe came and sat next to me again. “Look, you want me to do something for you. I want you to do something for me. Since you’re sitting here I know it’s something important to you, or you wouldn’t be here. Bottom line, you need me. When I’m done doing whatever it is that you need me to do for you, I need you to do something for me. So do we have a deal, Mr. Black?” CeCe said for the fourth time and extended her hand.

Once again, I knew that CeCe was right. I did need her and it was something that only she could do. I accepted her hand. “Deal.”

“Good. So what can I do for you?”

I stood up and extended my hand. “Come with me.”

“Where are we going, handsome?”

“To meet some people.”

We left CeCe’s apartment and Kevon drove us to Monika’s. Since she already knew about Cassandra’s murder I told CeCe that Vinnelli had arranged the murder, and that he was our target. When we arrived Monika opened the door and let us in. “CeCe, this is Monika Wynn and Travis Burns.”

“Hey,” Monika said half-heartedly.

Travis got up and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, CeCe.”

“Good to meet you both,” CeCe said and looked at Monika.

“Now that we’re all here.” I went and sat down next to CeCe. “I’ll tell you why we’re here and your part in it. I intend to destroy agent Vinnelli. Over the last few weeks Monika has been compiling information on Vinnelli that you’re gonna feed to the press.”

“Why me?”

“Because your past relationship with Steven ‘Cash Money’ Blake gives the story credibility. And it’s something that he can verify with the police.”

“What about him?”

“Nothing really, but he connects to Mylo, or as you know him, the late agent Clint Harris. He connects to the late agent Masters.” Monika put a picture of Mylo and Masters in front of her. “And Masters connects to Vinnelli.”