Cold Flash by Carrie H. Johnson

Author:Carrie H. Johnson [Johnson, Carrie H]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2017-04-03T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

Calvin was waiting outside when I pulled into the parking lot behind Calvin’s Place. BJ and two other men were sitting in a black Cadillac with the engine idling. Calvin opened my car door and offered me a hand. After we got in his Mercedes, he handed me a notebook.

“We have visitors sign in to keep track of the comings and goings of folks who come to the center. Monroe mans the entrance and makes sure that everyone signs in. The log shows that Mr. Kim’s daughter was at the center the day before you said she went missing. My guys say she’s been hanging out with members of Berg Nation, or rather young dudes who claim to want out of the nation. I’ll tell you, she didn’t get mixed up with them for love.”

I had the notebook open on my lap. He pointed to her signature, flipped a page and pointed again. “She signed in twice a week for the past month or more. If she’s on that junk, my bet would be that Griffin’s holding her in one of the crash pads at Blumberg. He controls several apartments. A few of them are flop houses for users. He keeps girls hepped up on that shit, just enough, and rents them out by the half hour.”

“Elijah said Griffin called her his girl.”

“Yeah, right. His girl that he pimps out for cash.”

“How the hell do these kids even get it in their heads to use drugs? How does anyone get that thought moving through their brain? I mean, I know what happened to me . . .”

“Don’t be naïve, Miss M. This stuff hits little black children and executives, doctors, lawyers, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers alike. No boundaries this go-round.”

“I got guys doing surveillance to confirm what apartment in which building before we go storming in. Your police compadres would not be very happy if things got out of hand. Ward Griffin is a pretty shrewd young man. He controls eyes everywhere. Blumberg is a fortress. His own little city, if you will.”

“So what you’re saying is we can’t walk in there friendly-like, and take her out?”

“Let’s find out where she is first.”

“Waiting . . . we could be too late. She could end up like Kenyetta.”

“Always the pessimist.” His phone buzzed. After a few curt grunts, he clicked off and shifted into drive. I got out and got back in my car to follow them.

Calvin waited at the entrance to the Norman Blumberg Apartments while I parked. Across the street from the entryway to the projects was a vacant lot, overgrown with weeds, covered in cracked cement and trash. The rancid odor of decay floated on the hot air.

“We must stop meeting like this, my darling Miss M,” he halfheartedly joked, when I got in his car. “She’s not being held against her will, right?”

“According to Elijah, she’s not there against her will.”

“So we can’t go busting in. Well, we’ll have to go in proper-like, and knock. If she doesn’t want to come, you’ll have to leave her?”

“That is not an option.

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