Chapter Four

You okay?" As soon as Jazmine walked into his office, he couldtell something was wrong.

Closing the door behind her, she replied, "Yeah... Yeah, I am just coming from Homicide. A girl from my complex was found dead in a cab the other night.""Yeah, I heard. Did you know her?""In passing. She lived like two doors down. I don't know ..

just kinda ... personal when it hits that close to home.

Reminds me of a lot of things I'd rather forget," she replied, sitting down in the chair in front of his desk. Hall could see the moment was wearing on her. She had that look on her face like the night she mentioned her father.

He cleared his throat."I'm sorry to say, but that's kinda where I wanted to start this briefing.""Go 'head. I'm good."Hall handed her a glossy of Antman dead in the back of the cab, and a glossy of his mug shot."That's the guy she was killed with, not to mention the cabby we found dead in the trunk of the cab they were killed in."A hit," she surmised.

Y "Exactly. But who gave the nod? The guy's name was Anton Collins aka Antman. He was a ranking member of Love's crew because he was Thump's right hand man.""Who's Thump?"Hall reached down and brought up a corkboard. On it were various mug shots and camera shots of Love's crew in a pyramid pattern. He leaned the board against the wall."What is that? Your Love's family portrait?" she quipped.

He chuckled."Yeah, a family of dope pushers, killers, and convicts. Now pay attention. This is Deon Stokes aka Thump." Hall pointed to a picture of Thump that was right under Love's picture at the top. "He's the second in command, the COO to Love's CEO, basically. He makes sure shit rolls downhill. Now this .. used to be Ant," Hall remarked, taking down the pictures that were thumbtacked to the board, and replaced it with the picture of Ant, dead and bloody. She noticed another two pictures at the bottom. One of the dude Jo-Jo, and another equally dead lowly block lieutenant."Who are the two dead guys at the bottom?" Hall shrugged."Two dead guys at the bottom literally. Block lieutenants of two very lucrative blocks," he answered and then tapped Love's picture. "And this ... is Love."The picture was apparently taken in the club, using a police trick too many people fell victim to when they took pictures.

They didn't make the camera man erase it out of the camera.

Therefore, police often ended up with extra prints. Love was standing between two Spanish chicks, dressed in his grown and gangster shit and looking like the model Tyson Beckford"Hmmm, he's a cutie," Jazmine remarked.

"Glad you think so," Hall grunted, slightly jealous.

.

"Well, it looks to me like either an internal power play or a new crew's moving in.""My money's on the power play angle, because Love's got his claws dug so deep in this city, a crew would have to be suicidal to move in," Hall countered."Remember, it's a recession. Hunger makes people crazy.""And it's getting worse. Love's beginning to get into politics, throwin' his money at a recent city council election, Once that cement dries ..." He shook his head, and then added, "We gotta stop this cock sucka.""I concur.""Okay, Ms. Lady," Hall stated, after sitting down at his desk and folding his hands, "you've got your chance. What are you going to do with it?"Jazmine looked at the pyramid of pictures for a moment. "I really don't think it's internal. I mean, why kill two nobody block lieutenants? They're pawns. You only do that when you want to destabilize the foundation. You don't burn the house down if you want to take it over. To me, it looks like we're not the only ones trying to take Love down," Jazmine summed up. Hall nodded as he contemplated her assessment.

"Makes sense, but it adds an x to this equation." "Which is?""If there's a war about to jump off, I don't want to send you into the middle of it.""Trust me, detective. I'm a big girl. I'll be okay." He pointed at her."Listen here, Georgia. This won't be none of your cowboy shit. You clear everything by me. You make one unauthorized move. I'll have you doing high school security, we clear?""Yes sir," she replied with a playful salute. "Only one question?""What?" "When do we go shopping? I need an undercover wardrobe." She winked.