I pull out the photos of Angelo and Viktor and set them on the dashboard in front of him. He leans forward as best as he can.
“Before you say anything, Cookie, I wanna make something real clear. You don’t answer my questions truthfully—and I’ll know if you don’t—I’m not gonna take you to jail or sit here and try to convince you with bullshit threats. I’m just gonna kill you.”
“What?!” he exclaims.
“Look at me.”
He does.
“No bluff. This shit is real.”
“You’re no cop.”
“It doesn’t matter whether I am or not. It only matters that you believe I’m gonna kill you if you don’t cooperate. Tell me you understand that.”
“Fucking understand that. Yeah.”
“Okay. Then let’s get started.”
Seventy
Tell me about those two ’migos in the photos.”
Cookie bends forward to look.
He motions with his head toward the first one.
“That one there is Angelo. He used to run the corner you got me at, but he got himself locked up. The other ’migo is his running partner, Vik.”
“Good, you’re being truthful. You ever been to their house?”
“Fuck no. They’d never take me to their house.”
I pick up the photos, set them in the center console, and take out the one of Miriam and place it gently on the dashboard.
“You ever seen her before?”
He looks at it, then leans back in his seat and turns to me.
“Who the fuck are you, man?”
“Fucking answer the question.”
“I seen her before. She stays in one of them row houses. Up at Seventeenth, Euclid.”
“She’s my niece. She’s only sixteen years old.”
“Aw, fuck that shit. I ain’t have nothin’ to do with her. C’mon, man…”
“I’m not accusing you of something like that. I just want to know where I can find her.”
“I told you where.”
“You know about the cop that just got shot up there, right?”
“Yeah, I heard.”
“Then you know they rolled outta that house. I need to know where they’re keeping themselves now.”
“I’m not in with them like that. They got themselves a lot of spots around there.”
“So you know Cordell?”
“Hell yeah. Everyone in this area knows Cordell.”
“You know what unit he keeps himself in at the Ritz?”
“His peoples are the only ones that know something like that.”
“Little Monster?”
“How the fuck?” He looks at me. “I mean, yeah, he be one of them.”
“What about Playboy?”
“There’s a lot of boys who like to call themselves that.”
“This one’s a good-lookin’ boy, real short-cut hair. He drives a black Lexus.”
“That sound like one of them I know.”
“I need to know everywhere they bed down.”
“I told you I don’t know all that.”
“All right, then. I guess we’re done here.”
“What the fuck you mean by that?”
I put the car in reverse.
“Hold on, man. Just hold the fuck on.”
I put it back in park.
“I might know someplace, but I don’t know if your niece be there, too.”
“I’ll drive. You direct me where to go.”
“I can just tell you. I can’t be seen like that.”
I reach over him and pull the latch on the side of his seat. He drops back suddenly; he isn’t prepared for it.
“Damn, man, give me some warning.”
“There’s some good tint on this car. All you gotta do is stay low. They won’t see you. I’m not some fucking rookie.”
I put it in reverse and back out.
“Which way?”
“You wanna go left, then to University Place. You know where that is, right?”
University Place? Fuckin’ A. Is that what the fuck the officer meant?
“Clifton and Euclid, or Fairmont?” I ask.
“Clifton and Euclid.”
It’s not far from here. I head toward 14th. Cookie goes quiet again. I think he hit the pipe before I snatched him up, and his brain hasn’t caught on to the reality of the situation.
I get to the light at 14th and Clifton and turn the blinker on to make a left.
“No, not here.” He panics. “That block’s too hot. Take that left at Euclid.”
I’ve done this more times than I can count and never had a problem. And as much as I’ve put up my nose, you’d think I’d be the paranoid one in this car. Yeah, I know this area well. The 1300 block of Clifton Terrace behind us is the real hot spot, and even Garfield Terrace, a couple more blocks east of that. We used to play around there all the time. Problem was, those mopes didn’t want to play with us.
I make the turn on Euclid. The next street is University Place.
Before we get there, Cookie says, “Keep on Euclid here. I’ll point the house out when we pass. It’ll be just to the left on University.”
I don’t do what he says. Instead I make the left.
“Fuck no! What’re you doing? Shit…”
On the left side, past the side of an apartment complex that faces Euclid and takes up about a quarter of the block on University Place, is a light green house with a large porch. A couple of boys are hanging out on the front porch.