vodka appeared. They raised their glasses, drank and toasted a couple rounds. Lil’ Long glad-handed with the Russians.
He understood this type of protection and knew it came with a huge price tag attached.
“Something tells me you want to leave here. You don’t like it here at our facility?” Igor asked.
“In here is all good for y’all but I got things, I got some BI I gotta handle back on da street. You feel me?” Lil’ Long said.
“This ah, BI is it enough to make you want to cooperate with the law?” Igor asked.
Lil’ Long stared at the muscular Russian who was wearing a smile. Then lunged at him, but a large boot tripped him. He fell to the rug. Before Lil’ Long could recover, three other muscular bodies dove on top of him. They smothered him. One pulled out a shank.
“Nyet, not yet, comrade. Let’s work with this man. He has spunk and despite the odds, he would rather die than give up. Am I correct with the assessment, Mr. Long?”
When Lil’ Long was dragged to his feet, he stood face to face with the Russian. Lil’ Long bit his lips.
“So what’s your beef bout, man? I don’t care what ‘cha know, ma-m-m-man!” Lil’ Long said.
Nesto kept a close eye on him. He whispered something to the Russian.
“Listen and you’re gonna have to learn to do exactly what you’re told to do. Or else…” Igor started.
“Or else what man?” Lil’ Long challenged. The Russian lit a cigar and puffed before he answered.
“Or else nothing goes on. You’re going to come to understand that nothing goes on without my say so. Not a family visit, a walk to the yard, use of the recreation room. Nothing goes down unless I okay it. You will pay tribute for the privilege of leaving here.”
“What da fuck are you going on about, man?” Lil’ Long asked. “Who da fuck you think you are?” He wondered aloud.
“My name is Igor Daks and everyone reports to me. I have connections on the inside and the outside wherever you go.” Igor paused puffing on his cigar. He exhaled in Lil’ Long’s face, looked the street thug up and down before continuing.
“I want you to handle your so-called BI, Mr. Long but I’ve got a proposal for you. You’ll see it’s quite a simple one with lots and lots of returns for both of us.”
Igor smiled and puffed on his cigar then exhaled. Lil’ Long looked around the well-furnished prison cell, exhaled then sat down on a sofa. He smoked, sipped and listened while trying to contain his rage.
SIX
Coco sat uneasy on the hard bench. She rubbed her back, which ached from sitting in the same position for over three hours. She turned her head toward the ceiling and whispered a prayer for Miss Katie. She was distracted by the parade of usual suspects in central booking, as white officers of the law hauled young Blacks and Latinos in.
She watched fiends squabbled for the disgustingly stale bologna and cheese sandwiches.
“You come with me,” a uniformed officer ordered.
Coco struggled to her feet, stretched, and walked away with him. He led her to a room and sat her down alone. Moments later the door swung open. Kowalski and Hall strolled in.
“Coco my girl, how’re you doing yo?” Kowalski asked in mocking tones.
He had a huge smile waiting to pop like a zit on his face. Hall laughed. Coco scowled and with a frown, Kowalski began baiting Coco. Hall got between them.
“Why don’t you want to cooperate with the law? You see us as being weak?” Hall demanded.
“I wanna speak to a lawyer. Are you gonna deny me my rights?” Coco asked.
Kowalski paced, fuming, pointing and yelling at Coco.
“Rights? You have no rights. You’re better off throwing yourself on the mercy of the court. A bag of weed and you gave up all your so-called rights. It looks like you’re going to meet big mama, girlfriend.”
Hall pleaded with Coco. “Maybe you should reconsider. Any information that you provide us with may help someone from being murdered again. Ascot’s involvement is the key to this investigation. You’re going to save yourself and your mother a lot of headaches of dealing with the system. I mean the simplest thing for you to do is help us solve these murders and you’re free.”
“You’re gonna be locked away for a while. You’re going to do some time. Time you can rap about,” Kowalski said pointing his finger at her. “My partner, he thinks your life may just be worth a French flying rat’s ass. Frankly, I don’t care. It doesn’t make a difference. I know if you don’t cooperate then you’re going down with all of them, Eric Ascot and all his mob cronies.”
“I’m not saying one more thing until y’all let me speak to a lawyer. I know my rights,” she said and began humming softly.
The detectives looked quizzically at each other.
“Coco, if you don’t stop behaving like a retard right now, your ass will go to jail and your mother…” Kowalski started.
Coco hummed loud enough to drown out his voice.
The detectives walked out the room and left the teenager alone for a brief period. Coco was still humming when they returned. This time they were accompanied by a uniformed officer.
“All right this officer is here to process you unless you got something to share with us,” Kowalski announced. “You can go to jail for up to eighteen months on a charge of possession of narcotics.”
“Maybe I can speak to her alone,” Hall said and took a notepad from the uniformed officer. The others exited the room. “Let me tell you that I have children, your age even. My son is just two years older than you are.”
“Then you should understand that I don’t wanna be here, I wanted to visit with someone who’s close to me. She’s in the hospital and y’all got…”
“Coco, first thing first, there was a bag of marijuana found in a place you occupied. Now the fact is we could just stick you in a jail cell. We’re trying to help you open your eyes. You have information on a case involving the death of a police officer. In addition, well, my crazy partner thinks you’re holding back on key info. Now I told him you’re not. He’s dreaming. The fact is Coco, I’m trying to prevent you from going to jail and he’s trying to send you there as an accessory to murder. You’ll be guaranteed to live the rest of your life locked up behind bars because the lives of two police officers were taken.”
“I don’t know about anything like that, yo. Y’all are tryin’ to pin sump’n I ain’t do. I ain’t scared.”
“Now, now the simplest thing would be, if you have anything you might want to say, just tell him what you know and… If you don’t want to speak with either of us, then I’m begging you, urging you, encouraging you to write down what you know on this notepad and I’ll witness your signature,” Hall said handing a notepad to Coco.
She glanced at it with disdain.
“If you’re not comfortable,” Hall continued. “I mean if for some reason you don’t want to write…”
“Look all this BS act, you could just save, ahight. I know you’re just trying to get me to speak on things I don’t know nothing about…”
“No that’s not true, Coco. You were witness to a shooting and the gun used is the same gun used to kill a police officer…”
“I didn’t kill anyone why don’t you go out and find the real killer and harass them?” Coco screamed with tears streaming down her face.
Hall waited, put the notepad down then he offered her tissue