Page 109 of The Prodigy

“Aight, man. ‘Preciate it.”

My stomach was balled up tight. Throat dry. Head starting to hurt.

Something didn’t feel right about this.

Bo had been with my family since I was little. He was a teenager back then. A six-foot-tall, two-hundred and fifty-pound teenager. His pops had come up in the drug game with mine, and when he went in the pen, he didn’t snitch on nobody. He got life and stayed ten toes down, so my pops made sure to put his son on the payroll. Gave him a living so he wouldn’t have to be out here scratching for shit.

But where did Malika’s mama come in at? McGrady’s men bailed our employees out all the time. That was part of their job. But ain’t no way Malika’s mama was working for us. It had to be something else.

I picked up my phone and texted Bo to meet me in the study. Him and Will had been on me since I left the hospital, so they were never too far away.

“What’s up, Boss, you need me?”

I motioned for him to come in the room. “Close that behind you.”

He shut the door and took a seat across from the desk, facing me head-on. I needed to look in his eyes when I asked the question.

“Who’s Kenya Andrews?”

He frowned. “I don’t know that name.”

“Yeah, you do. You should. You bonded her out of jail three times.”

“Lemme think.” He sat there and stared into space. I could tell he was really thinking on this shit. He wasn’t faking that.

“I’m sorry, Boss. I done bailed a lot of folks out over the years. What she look like?”

“I don’t know.”

“What were the charges?”

“Drug shit. So you don’t remember us having any employees by that name?”

“Nah. I mean, I believe you if you say I did it, but I can’t remember her specifically. Maybe if I had a picture.” He was quiet for a minute. “Unless…”

“Unless, what?”

“Nah, if it…well, okay. Lester—your pops—he had a couple of girls he dealt with. On the side,” he whispered, like that would make it better. “Some of ‘em were pros. But if it was that, the charges would be different. So I don’t know.”

“Did you always know the charges when you bonded them out?”

“Ineverknew. It wasn’t my job to know. I just paid the fee and dropped ‘em off wherever they wanted to go.”

This wasn’t getting me anywhere.

“Aight, man. Back to work.”

“Gotcha, boss.”

“But look, if you think of something, come straight to me.”

He nodded and took his leave.

I wasn’t satisfied. It wasn’t his fault. I just hated mystery. I like shit straightforward and right in front of my face, not hiding in the shadows, out of my reach.

Something was off with this. I just wasn’t sure what.

Yet.

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