“Black.”
“Huh?”
“We’re here,” Victor said.
“Don’t look like that. I’m not gonna kill Sabrina. I just want to ask her some questions about Bo,” I said and Victor and I walked toward the house.
“Yeah, you told me. But suppose she gives you the wrong answers?”
“Then I’d have you kill her,” I said and kept walking. Victor stopped. “I’m only kiddin’. I wouldn’t ask you to do that.” Victor had been fuckin’ Sabrina, so I wouldn’t ask him to kill her. I’d get Monika to do it. But I didn’t think that would be necessary. I just wanted to ask her some questions about Bo. Before I had him killed, Bo Freeman worked for me. He had to die when he and his partner, Hank Jackson, conspired with Cruz Villanova to kill me, Nick, and Bobby. They’re all dead now.
I rang the bell and waited for Sabrina to answer. Sabrina Cole was a very beautiful thirty-seven-year-old woman who talked slow, and was just country enough to be sexy. She had been with Bo for twelve years; since she’d arrived in New York from Mississippi. During that time she’d had two years of good and ten years of bad. Her life was made bearable when she started sneakin’ around with Victor. “Hey, Black,” Sabrina said when she opened the door. “Hey, Victor.”
“How you doin’ tonight, Sabrina?” I asked.
“I’m doing just fine, Black. Y’all come in,” she said and stepped aside.
I leaned close to Victor and whispered, “Wait here.” His eyes opened wide. “Don’t worry. I told you I wasn’t gonna kill her.” Victor didn’t look convinced. “Right,” I said and handed him my gun. “That make you feel better?”
“A little,” Victor said.
“Y’all comin’?” Sabrina asked.
“Comin’ right now,” I said and closed the door behind me.
Sabrina led me into the living room and I sat down. “You know something, Black?”
“What’s that, Sabrina?”
“I been invitin’ you over here for dinner or drinks and whatnot for years, and this is the first time you been here.” Sabrina sat down across from me. “Now, I’m not tryin’ to be rude or disrespectful or nothin’ like that, but what you want, Black?”
“I want you to know, for what it’s worth, I liked Bo, and I’m sorry it turned out the way it did.”
“I’m glad you came to say that, but that ain’t what you here for, is it?” Sabrina asked. She was a beautiful woman; I understood what had Victor so excited.
“You know what Bo was plannin’?”
“No. Bo never talked to me about y’all’s business.”
“Who was over here talkin’ to Bo the last couple of weeks?”
“One night Hank, Bull Harris, and Skip Skinner was here.”
“You hear what they was talkin’ about?”