Page 67 of Maceo

“I was able to find his registration with the license plate number, so I ran his name through my system. Blane Carmichael. Thirty-two. He’s been in and out of juvie since the age of twelve. This guy has done a little of everything—assault and battery, robbery, arson, illegal possession of a firearm… The only thing not on his rap sheet is rape and murder. Looking at him, I wouldn’t put it past him.”

She clicked around some more before pulling up what looked like a record.

“I found something interesting,” she said, zooming in. “This is his commissary account record from the last time he was in prison. Notice something weird?”

Maceo and I stared at the screen.

“That’s a big jump from fifty dollars here and there to having a thousand dollars a month,” I said.

“Exactly. I decided to see who was putting money on his books…” She moved to another monitor. “Quinton Ellis.”

She pulled up a picture of a nerdy looking nigga with thick glasses. He didn’t look the least bit threatening, but something about him was vaguely familiar.

“What’s he got to do with anything?”

“Quinton is the son of Blane’s old cell mate, Quame Parker. He’s been in prison for fifteen years on human trafficking charges. Now, you would think that with him behind bars, business would be shut down, but it’s not. I had to accessthe dark web to find this shit, but he’s been moving deep underground, even from a prison cell.”

Maceo’s brows furrowed. “If it’s on the dark web, how do you know it’s Quame? Ain’t that shit encrypted?”

Jaeda looked offended. “Really, Maceo? Look who you’re talking to.”

I giggled. “Don’t play with my favorite nerd like that,” I said, slapping his arm. “My girl is the smartest person I know. If anybody can do it, it’s her.”

Jaeda blushed. “Thank you, boo. Anyway, once I was able to get past the encryption, I got the IP address. No surprise, it’s registered to Quinton. My guess, he’s been running things for his father. Much like Detective Pearson was Councilman Hayes’ illegitimate son, the same goes for Quinton.”

Maceo shook his head. “What is it with these illegitimate bastards taking on their deadbeat ass daddy’s burdens?”

Jaeda shrugged. “Everybody isn’t blessed with a father like ours, Maceo. Some people are desperate for that love. Anyway, over the last couple of days, I’ve been combing through his files, emails, texts, phone records. His most used contact is this one.” She pulled up a number on another screen. “That’s Blane. I’ve been all up and through his shit, and I can say for certain that he is the one behind the organ trafficking. He’s got connections to black market doctors and all kinds of shit. They thoroughly examine these victims before taking their organs. There is a whole log in his encrypted email. It’s sickening.”

I had to sit down for a moment. We’d really ran into some crazy shit. I looked over at Maceo, who stood, rubbing his temples.

He took a deep breath. “One of the guys from my team is dead, Jae.”

“What?”

“The shooting that happened downtown a few days ago… he was the victim.”

A look I couldn’t read presented itself on her face.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I found something else,” she said slowly. “You remember giving me the organization’s name?”

“Yes.”

“Well… I think someone on the inside tipped Blane off the last time. He got this anonymous email telling him that they had information on who was interfering with his drops. I think that same person tipped off Daddy to get y’all off their trail. Either they were hoping he’d put a stop to it or you would get killed. Y’all have interfered with a hell of a lot of money, Maceo. Blane came up off a cool quarter million to even get that information. Honestly, Shar, I think you may be on to something with Charity. It can’t be a coincidence that they’re hanging out, especially when she was in the back of that van. That had to be the reason she was there… a setup.”

“I’m gonna kill that bitch,” Maceo said, angrily.

“Not if I kill her first,” I mumbled.

“Both of y’all need to stay calm until I can figure out who she is. I have to run this by Daddy so he can be in the know. This is why we don’t deal with the underground shit, Maceo. It’s so much to uncover, and we may never know who everyone involved is.”

Maceo shook his head. His fists were clenched at his sides, and his chest heaved in anger.

“Fuck, man! I already know he’s about to be on my ass for this shit.”

Jaeda sighed. “I know. But if we can take out the head three in charge, the rest of the organization will fall eventually. I’ll do my best to see who on the inside tipped him off. My guess, it’s the same person who’s been tracking them this whole time. Howelse would they know where the drops were gonna happen? It might take me some time because I’m sure we are on similar levels with computers, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

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