Monday October 18th 8:43
A.M. Washington Heights
West 176th Street –
Apartment Building of Roberto Guevara
Kelli pulled up half a
block from the five-story tenement and parked. “You see the guy sitting on the
stoop up there, Chris? That’s who we want to talk to, so just follow my lead.”
She opened the driver side door and kept her eyes on Roberto as she walked
around to the curb.
Chris waited at the front
of the car, focused on the front of the tenement. “So, who is he?”
Kelli tapped his
shoulder. “Come on, and let me do the talking. The last time I saw this guy, he
spit in my face and I pointed my Glock at his crotch.” A slow smile crept
across her face. “His name is Roberto, but he hates that. His crew just calls
him Bobby. I hope he remembers me.”
Roberto Guevara had to be
either one of the smartest members of the DDP, or the luckiest. During the
leadership of Carlos Rodriguez, Roberto was nothing more than a street hood.
Now, with Carlos and two of his lieutenant’s dead, the kid moved up. Kelli made
it her business to keep tabs on him.
As they approached, Kelli
spotted several gang members standing around in the alleyway next to the
building. “Check it out, Chris.”
“Great. Just what we
needed. You sure you don’t want to call Harris and Yablonski in on this one
too?”
She kept walking. “Just
stay cool. They’re stupid, but they’re not that stupid.”
“Yeah, but just the same,
it’d be nice to have some backup.” He looked over his shoulder.
“Don’t worry about them.
Let’s just concentrate on what we came to do, get information.” She stopped at
the bottom of the steps and looked up at Roberto, perched on the top step.
“Need to ask you a few questions, Roberto.”
The man shifted, narrowed
his eyes and crossed his arms. “I know you? Cause you look a lot like the bitch
who tried to blow my balls off.”
Kelli fought the urge to
smile. The son of a bitch does remember me. “Actually,
I only threatened to blow them off, Roberto. If I’d wanted to blow them off
everyone would be calling you Roberta now.
Roberto grimaced as he
placed a hand between his thighs. “You’re one mean bitch. What you want?”
“Information. What do you
know about Raul Flores?”
Roberto shrugged. “What’s
it worth to ya?”
“Not a hell of a lot
right now, considering that he’s dead.”
Roberto stood and stared
at Kelli. “That’s a fuckin’ lie! He ain’t dead. You got him in jail for
shootin’ that cop, everybody knows that.”
“Not any more. I was with
him at Bellevue when he died. Do you have any idea why someone would want him
dead?”
He slumped back down on
the step, shaking his head. “Fuckin’ Raul, always knew that motherfucker was
gonna end up dead. Dumbass junkie.”
Kelli looked at Chris,
then back to Roberto. “He wasn’t always a junkie, was he, Roberto? What
happened to him?”
Roberto looked up, a sour
expression on his face. “Naw, he used to run errands for Carlos. Then he got
himself hooked up with this guy Carlos knew and disappeared for a couple of
months. Don’t know what he was into, but when he came back he was smokin’ that
fuckin’ crack like it was candy.”
Kelli had a good idea
what Raul had been into, but telling Roberto would just make things worse. There was already the possibility of a gang war between the DDP and
Trinitarios, and she didn’t want to give Roberto any more reasons to start one.
“So, you don’t have any
idea what he was into, what made him start doing the hard shit?”
“Naw,” he said, avoiding
her eyes, “I just know he had a bad habit. Told the stupid motherfucker that if
he was gonna do that shit to keep his ass someplace else. Only seen him a
couple times since then, and he was always high.”
“So, he wasn’t one of
you, wasn’t in the DDP?”
Roberto slowly raised his
head, his eyes boring into Kelli. “Chingala pinche puta,” he
hissed. “First you come around tellin’ me Raul got himself killed and now you
got the cajones to ask about shit that ain’t your fuckin’
business.”
Kelli didn’t waver as she
stared him down. “Pendajo, it is my fucking business.
Whoever put the word out on Raul is still out there. Shit Roberto, who knows,
you may be next on the hit list.”
He puffed out his chest
and sneered. “I ain’t afraid of these motherfuckers. They come around here
startin’ any shit, we’ll fuck ‘em up.”
Kelli shook her head. “I
thought you were smarter than that. You want to end up like Raul? Or even
worse, end up like Carlos?”
“Carlos was a tota,
a real fuckin’ pussy. He got soft, and when…” He lowered his gaze. “I ain’t got
nothin’ else to say. If these motherfuckers come around, they gonna get fucked
up.”
“And when what, Roberto?
What happened? I know how he was killed, but I don’t know who did it. What do
you know about it?”
Roberto raised his head,
closed his eyes and sighed. “I said enough. I ain’t talkin’ to five-oh no
more.” He stood up, spun around, pushed through the doors and disappeared into
the building.
Kelli looked at Chris and
frowned. “I’ve got a feeling that this is just the beginning. With Raul dead,
and the Trinitarios responsible, it won’t take long for the DDP to retaliate.
Problem is, it could start at any time and we can’t stop it.”
Chris nodded. “All we can
do now is wait, and worry about picking up the pieces later. I just hope the
body count is low.”
