Page 82 of The Prodigy

23

Jakari

Joestuckaroundafterdinner, which I took as a sign that he had some news for me. So I was disappointed as fuck when he came into the study and plopped down on the leather couch with a sigh.

“What, man? What’s the bad news?”

He pulled out his notepad and flipped to the page he was looking for.

“Alright. I couldn’t find a single link between Tank and anybody in the family.”

That was a relief, I guess. “Even my uncle?”

“Yeah. I did find out that Tank is part of the Adams crew.”

“Refresh my memory.”

“They move all the heroin on the north side. It’s Tank, his brother Horace—he goes by Shaka—and some other niggas from the west side that joined up with them.”

“Why would them niggas have beef with me?”

“From what I can tell, they wanna go legit, and we happen to be in the way. They probably been planning it for a while, and then when Pop passed, they made their move.”

I nodded. “It makes sense, I guess. But what’s the link, man? How they know where I’d be?”

“I’m digging, Knight. I’m working as hard as I can.”

“Alright. What else?”

He sighed again. “The police don’t like having an unsolved homicide on the books. They’re spending a lot of money on the investigation.”

“That’s their fucking job.”

“Right. But with the other shit going on, it looks bad. They’re agitated.”

“What you want me to do?”

“Get with Gray again. Smooth shit over. He’s buddy buddy with the district attorney. If by some chance you get on the police radar, Gray could make that shit go away with a phone call.”

I nodded. “And Malika’s mother?”

“Still working on that. I should have something by tomorrow.” He sank down into the leather. “So I take it y’all are getting along.”

“Yeah. She’s cool.”

“Cool, like, you wanna stay married?”

“I ain’t say all that. I’m saying…for where I’m at right now, I’m cool with how we are. If at any point I ain’t cool with it, I’ll ring your nosy ass and you’ll handle it for me.”

He laughed. “Keep me posted. Oh, your mama’s waiting outside.”

“Of course she is.” I closed my eyes and tried to rub the tension out of my temples. “Thanks, Joe. I don’t think I’ve said that lately.”

He stood and dapped me up. “You don’t have to.”

He gave my mother a hug and kiss on the cheek as he passed her. She entered and closed the door behind her.

“You busy?”

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