"It just doesn’t make any sense, Pat," Kirk said to his partner.
"What doesn’t?" Richards asked
"Black having a meeting with drug dealers in his own place. Black is smarter than that."
"Maybe he didn’t know about it. I mean, he wasn’t there. Maybe she set the whole thing up."
"But Simmons is there ridin’ shotgun over her drug meeting, and Black doesn’t know about it? Give me a fuckin’ break."
"They only said they had reason to believe that Simmons was there."
"This shit is weak, Pat. He was there. That picture they have of him was taken recently."
"What makes you so sure?" Richards asked.
"You saw that picture, Pat. Didn’t he have that same scar under his eye last week when we saw him?"
Richards thought about it. "He damn sure did."
"He was there; they know he was there. I got a feeling that things didn’t happen down there the way they say it did."
"Why don’t you just call Simmons and ask him?"
Kirk looked at Richards like he was stupid, but then he thought about it. "That’s not a bad idea. But what do you say we just drop by his place."
When Nick opened the door, he looked a little groggy. He had stayed a little too long at Cityscape the night before, had one too many lap dances and way too many shots of Johnnie Black. "Kirk?" What the fuck does he want? Nick thought. He didn’t have time for Kirk now. He had to leave soon if he wanted to catch Freddie, an old contact of his.
"Yeah, Kirk. Mind if we come in?"
"Come on in, gentlemen. I always have time to talk to New York’s finest," Nick said and stepped aside.
Once the detectives were inside, Kirk asked, "Going somewhere?"
"As a matter of fact, I was."
"We need to ask you some questions, Simmons."
"What do you wanna know?"
"You seen Black lately?" Kirk asked nonchalantly.
"Saw him last night. This morning, actually."
"When did he get in?"
"Yesterday."
Just like that slime Marshall said, Kirk thought. "He up here on business?"
Nick looked at Kirk and then to Richards. There was a point to all these questions, and he was willing to go along to see where Kirk was going with this. But not for long. "He’s got some business to take care of."
"What kind of business?"
"Let’s stop dancing around, Kirk. What do you wanna know?"
"We have information that you and Black met with a couple of drug middlemen at Black’s club in the Bahamas a couple of days ago. So, I’ll ask you again. What kind of business is he up here doing?"
"First of all, let’s get one thing straight. Me and Black weren’t involved in any meeting with anybody in his club."
"So, you weren’t in the Bahamas at Black’s club?"
"Yeah, I was there, but Black wasn’t there."
"Who you meet with then, Nick?" Richards asked sarcastically.
"I didn’t meet with anybody, Pat," Nick responded in kind. "I had drinks with Black’s wife."
"Shy," Richards said. "You had drinks with Shy."
"Who?"
"Cassandra Sims, a.k.a. Shy," Richards taunted. "A.k.a. Cassandra Black. Mike Black’s wife."
"Look, Simmons," Kirk interrupted, "we know what happened in that club. We know you and Shy met with two drug middlemen. What’s going on, Nick? Black gettin’ back in the game? He up here to set things in motion?"
Nick thought for a moment before answering. Kirk gets around, knows people, hears things. He might be some help with this, he thought, but Kirk was a cop, a good cop, so he decided to proceed with caution. "His wife was kidnapped. That’s what Black is doin’ here."
"By who?" Richards demanded to know.
"You ever hear of a guy named Sal Terrico? Runs with some South Americans. They’re the middlemen you keep askin’ about. Check with the DEA. They might have an ongoin’ operation involving him."
"Slow down, Simmons. You say this Terrico guy that kidnapped Black’s wife is involved with the DEA?"
"No, what I said was Terrico is one of the middlemen, and that the DEA might have an ongoing operation involving him," Nick replied, treading carefully.
"So, what does the DEA have to do with Terrico?"
"They’re probably looking at him in connection with the murder of an agent named Roman Patterson."
At that point, Kirk was sure that something wasn’t right. The DEA never mentioned anything about Terrico being involved with the agent’s murder. They made it seem like Black was involved. But why? "I need you to tell me everything you know about this."
"Why, Kirk? Why should I tell you?"
"’Cause I know some things; things you need to know."
"All right, Kirk," Nick said. "Agent Patterson was at Black’s club in the Bahamas. He was meeting with Terrico and two other men. Both of them were Latinos, probably South American. During that meeting, one of the Latinos shot and killed Patterson. There was some shooting. During that shooting, one of the Latinos was killed, Terrico and the other guy got away with Shy."
"I thought she was a part of the meeting. Why’d they take her?"
"She wasn’t involved in their meeting. They used her as a hostage to get out of there."