Bronx Requiem(118)

“Tyrell?”

“Yeah, she told me she shot his ass. You didn’t know that?”

“Goddammit.”

“Eric, you slippin’. She shot Derrick, too.”

“I know that. So she’s with you because you told her you’d help her?”

“Damn right I did.”

“Where are you now?”

Esther lowered her voice. “Hold a sec. No bullshit now, Eric. I know you want this girl, and I can’t be out here running around homeless on my own, so you got to promise me it’s gonna be worth it for me to turn her over.”

“I promise you’ll be dead if you don’t.”

Queenie yelled, “The way this shit is goin’ down I might as well be. What I got to lose? Go on. Keep threatening me.”

“All right, shut the f*ck up, Queenie. You deliver the girl, I’ll make it worthwhile.”

“I’m gonna tell myself I believe you, Eric, cuz I don’t have much choice. I’m sick of all this shit.” Queenie dropped her voice. “Listen here, I know damn well what you gonna do to her. You gonna make an example of her. You gonna mess her up so bad none of them other bitches will even think about doin’ anything like she done.”

“That’s none of your damn business.”

“Don’t treat me like I’m stupid, Eric. If I do this, we both know I’m burned. Word gonna get out with your whores I turned over Princess. No way I’m gonna be able to deal with any more whores. I got to square up, Eric. I got to do something legit. I know you have other businesses. You got to promise to give me a real job.”

“You trying to shake me down, Queenie? You really want to play it this way?”

“Ain’t no shakedown, Eric. It’s just the reality. If I turn over this girl, what do I have left? I got to have something, or I might as well walk away now and take my chances.”

Queenie forced herself to stop talking. She had to wait for Jackson to make a decision.

Finally, he said, “All right, Queenie. I can’t see you going straight, but I ain’t going to argue with you. You deliver the girl; I’ll give you a shot at something. You have my word on it. Where are you? I’ll come for you now.”

“It ain’t going to be that easy. The girl is skittish as a colt. She’s got a gun she took from Tyrell’s car. I got to keep buildin’ her confidence. Sell her on a story. I can’t risk her shootin’ me and takin’ off if she gets suspicious.”

“Queenie, don’t make this complicated.”

“Take it easy. I got this figured out. I told her I know some people outside of Charleston who can take her in. She can’t fly down there cuz she don’t have no ID. So I promised her I’d bring her to Port Authority and put her on the next bus, which leaves tomorrow. That’s when I’ll get her out in the open, and you can take her.”

“I ain’t got time for that.”

“Dammit, Eric, I already sold her on this. I showed her the bus schedule. It leaves at eleven-ten tomorrow, Sunday. I convinced her we should take a car service downtown. Sneak out of the Houses around nine and meet the car on 174th outside the project. Have one of your boys in a car. I put her in. You got her. It’s done.”

“Are you in the Houses now?”

“Yes. And I ain’t telling you where. You gonna have to go through all twelve buildings to find us. Cops will be here long before you find me.”

“Fuck, I don’t have time to mess with you on this.”

“You got a better idea, go for it. But I already got it all set up.”

After a few moments, Jackson spoke. “All right, here’s how this is gonna work. You call me at nine A.M. tomorrow. You tell me what building you’re in. Ten minutes later, you walk out. You’re gonna be tracked all the way to a car on 174th. You get in that car with her, you understand? You tell her you’re gonna make sure she gets a ticket and finds the bus and all. We’ll take it from there.”

“I don’t want to see what you do to that girl.”

“Don’t worry. As soon as you two are in the car, we’ll put a gun on her. My guy will drive you a couple of blocks. I’ll meet you and take you up to my place. We’ll work on setting you up with something.”

“Okay, Eric. Tomorrow at nine.”

Esther put down the phone and looked around the table at Beck, Amelia, Demarco, and Willie Reese, along with the Bolo brothers.

“It’s done. Tomorrow morning at nine, Bronx River Houses.”

Beck said, “You think he bought it?”

“Hell, no. He’s gonna kill me and the girl the second we get into that car. And he sure as hell don’t think an old whore like me would go at him like I just did. No sir, Mr. Beck, he knows a set up when he hears it. Juju Jackson’s gonna fill the Bronx River Houses with Whitey Bondurant and all his thugs, plus every single punk with a gun who want to get with him.

“I hope to God you know what you’re doing, Mr. Beck, because I don’t think anybody going into Bronx River Houses on Sunday morning is coming out in one piece unless Juju Jackson says so.”

“I already told you, Esther. He’s not calling the shots. We are. Here’s how it’s going to work.”

*