Roy Glenn - In A Cold Sweat

All CeCe could do was shake her head. Stark was practically shaking he was so scared of Black. All that, don’t fuck with me and mine, shit he was talking must have been for his boy’s benefit, because she wasn’t impressed.

Since that night, CeCe heard that Black had been to all the spots Stark hung out at that night. “That’s what you do when you got beef with somebody. You go lookin’ for him, not hide like a bitch,” CeCe told one of her girlfriends. “Mike Black is a real man. And I’m gonna get him.”

“You’re such a flirt. How can he resist you?” her girlfriend replied.

CeCe had been leaving word for Black with anybody she could think of, but days had gone by and she still hadn’t heard from him. She was starting to think that maybe she wasn’t as irresistible as she thought she was.

When the detectives came to interview her for a second time and asked her if she knew Mike Black, CeCe started to ask them if they could get a message to him, but she didn’t think they’d do it. So, when Richards and Kirk left her apartment, they still had nothing to go on.

“Any ideas?” Kirk asked.

“I’m fresh out,” Richards confessed and slumped in his seat.

“What do you do when you’ve got nothin’?” Kirk asked and started the car.

“What?”

“You go make something happen.”

“Where we goin’?”

“Taking a ride downtown.”

“What for?”

“To talk to agent Vinnelli,” Kirk said as he drove. “See what he can tell us about The Commission.”

“You think he might know something about these guys?”

“Not really, but you never know.”

“I think you just like fuckin’ with the guy,” Richards said.

“I do.” After his conversation with Black, Kirk knew that sooner or later he would hear that DeFrancisco was dead. That didn’t bother him. In a way, he agreed that he had to die. Justice?

His concern was about Vinnelli.

Would Black really try to kill a DEA agent? Kirk didn’t know.

Kirk had briefly entertained the idea of warning Vinnelli that Black was on to them and that he’d be coming. But he knew Vinnelli was dirty and suspected that he was the one who hired Kip Bartowski, the man that killed Shy.

Kirk had found a cigarette butt in the laundry room at Black’s house. They were able to pull a partial print off of it. It came back that Bartowski was United States Army, Special Forces. He was reported killed in a training accident on October twenty-seventh nineteen ninety eight. His helicopter went down and the body was never recovered. “How a dead man could smoke a cigarette at a crime scene?” Kirk remembered asking Vinnelli during their investigation.

Even though he didn’t say it, Kirk felt Black knew that Vinnelli was involved in the murder of his wife. So he had a decision to make.

Not my problem, Kirk decided. If Vinnelli is murdered, it would be a Federal matter. No one will ask me for my help. I been trying to get Black for murders I know for a fact that he committed and couldn’t. Let’s see if they can do any better. If they ask me, I’ll tell them what I know, but they won’t ask. That he was sure of. But he did enjoy harassing Vinnelli, now more than ever.

While waiting almost a half-hour for Vinnelli, Richards occupied the time by flirting with the receptionist and pumping her for information about Vinnelli. He and Kirk had been there so many times over the last few months that the agent didn’t bother coming to the lobby to greet them.

“Send them back. They know the way,” Vinnelli told the receptionist. When the detectives were seated before him, Vinnelli got right to it. “What can I do for you?” he asked, not bothering to hide his contempt.

“We’re investigating the deaths of two suspected dealers,” Kirk began with a look that showed his contempt. “We were hoping that you had something on them.”

“Who we talkin’ about?” Vinnelli asked.

Richards pulled out the crime scene photos. “A Steven Blake, goes by the name Cash Money. And the other one is Kevin Murdock,” he said.

“Jesus,” Vinnelli said, caught off guard by the bloody drive-by images. “What do they call him?”

“K Murder,” Kirk spit out.

“Fitting, under the circumstances,” Vinnelli laughed and Richards joined in. “I haven’t heard of them, but give me a day or two to make some inquiries; you know, see if they come up on somebody else’s radar and I’ll get back to you.”

“We would really appreciate that, Vinnelli,” Richards said.

“Not a problem. Glad to help out. What's the deal with these clowns?”

Kirk was hoping he’d ask that question. “Those two and two others had formed what they called The Commission. They billed it as a buying co-op, but their real purpose was to protect themselves against Mike Black. I know you guys once considered him a person of interest, despite his lack of involvement in drugs.”

“Don’t tell me that fuck’s involved?” Vinnelli asked.

“He’s a suspect,” Kirk said. “So any info you have to share may be helpful.”

“I’ll get right on it,” Vinnelli promised.

“As always, we’ve taken up more than enough of your time,” Kirk said and stood up. “Don’t bother getting up, we know the way out.”

Once the detectives were out of sight, Vinnelli got up and closed his door. He returned to his desk, picked up his phone and dialed a number.

“Agent Masters,” he answered the phone.

“Vinnelli. Detectives Kirk and Richards were just here.”

“What did they want?” Masters asked.

“They’re investigating the deaths of two drug dealers and they shared with me that Mike Black is a suspect.”

“Really?”

“Kirk let that slip before he left.” Vinnelli laughed a bit. “You heard anything about that?”

“No, but I do need to make you aware of something though.”

“What’s that?”

“Agent Harris has not been able to reacquire the other two subjects. If he can’t resolve that situation soon, we may have to move up the time table,” Masters said.

“Keep me posted,” Vinnelli said and hung up the phone.

With a little help from Monika, a lot of help actually, Jackie now had high-tech surveillance up and running on Mylo. After listening to the crude surveillance that Jackie had running, the first thing Monika wanted was to see the place. “All of it,” she told Jackie when she came begging Monika to help her. “Gettin’ up on his cell phone frequency is easy. I need to see the house.”

“That’s no problem,” Jackie said. “Just come with me tonight.”

“Don’t you think that’ll look a little suspicious? If I show up there and start wandering around?”

“Yeah, you’re right. I didn’t think of that,” Jackie admitted.

“No, girlfriend, you're the one on the inside. You're the one who’s gonna map the whole thing out, and you’re the one who’s gonna plant your devices. I’ll be right back,” Monika said and left Jackie alone in the living room.

While she waited, Jackie thought that whatever Monika had in mind wasn’t helping her. She had already done her best work, and it was poor. That’s why I came to her in the first place , Jackie thought. This was important to her. Black asked her to watch Mylo and she wanted to do a good job. She understood that it could turn into better things for her. If Black trusted her, maybe he’d put her in a spot where she wouldn’t have to hustle every night.

When Monika returned, she was wearing sunglasses, had a headset on and was carrying a laptop. Jackie stood up.

“Where you goin’?” Monika said and sat down.

“I thought we were goin’ somewhere.” Jackie reclaimed her seat.