Dead Man (Black Magic Outlaw Book 1) Page 19

  "Where did you get this from?"

  "Don't play stupid, Evan. Who do you think benefits from bargain-valued land? The ones snatching it up. Namadi and your bosses. That's what this is all about. I finally see it. It's not about Nigerian culture. It's gentrification. More money for the rich, in the name of revitalization and safety." I spit on the floor. "You sold me out for a political career."

  Evan swallowed calmly on the other end of the line, thinking over his reply. Instead of an immediate denial, he surprised me.

  "I can't talk over the phone, Cisco. We should meet in person."

  "And how's that different from turning myself in?"

  He hissed. "You need to trust me, man. That's how."

  My jaw was sore. My fist was clenched. I was wound up.

  But I wasn't stupid.

  "I'll think about it," I said, and hung up.

  Chapter 34

  I commandeered Milena's tiny Fiat and headed south before rush hour hit. I passed through the Grove to check out the address Namadi's driver had given me. The shaded, winding streets led me to an isolated mansion with an imposing fence. The overgrowth made the property difficult to see, but the red and blue lights were hard to miss. The police swarmed the place like worker bees.

  That meant Namadi's body had made the official rounds outside the DROP team's jurisdiction. Namadi's house was now an area of interest. No way I'd be getting in anytime soon. I looped back around to Downtown Miami.

  The heart of the city was beginning to clear. Traffic was tight, but everyone was leaving at the end of the workday. It made for convenient parking. I walked a block and slipped into the coffee shop across the street from Evan's office. I ordered something called a pumpkin spice latte from someone called a barista. I'm not sure when the future got so confusing, but I didn't complain. The future was delicious.

  I watched the clock and badgered the barista about the medium being called a large in Spanish. After a while I saw what I was waiting for: police detectives poured out of the task force headquarters. That meant, exactly three minutes ago, Milena had made the call to Evan. She'd told him I was at her place in Midtown. Backing up the info, if the officers checked, they'd find my cell phone on her coffee table. I thought it a long shot they could track my burner with just the phone number, but Milena didn't think so. I figured, in matters of technology a zombie fossil like me needed to take outside advice.

  My heart grew heavier as I watched the police load up into squad cars and take off. That meant Evan considered me a hostile player. On the plus side, my friend didn't ride with his unit. Just like he'd said, he was more politician than officer now, remaining behind to oversee matters. The DROP team would arrive in Midtown and Milena would give them a sob story about how I'd barged in and harassed her. She'd be fine. The downside was that I probably couldn't stay at her place anymore, just in case they were watching.

  When the street cleared out and Evan returned indoors, I quietly crossed. The downtown shadows were lengthening now. The day was nearing completion. The timer I'd set the day before was nearing its limit as well, so I had to be quick.

  I snuck in the task force building, abandoning the shadow when I found it unnecessary. The main room was empty. Once again, Lieutenant Evan Cross was in his personal office. This time, he was standing by his printer with his back to me.

  My red boots scuffed the carpet as I entered. Evan grew tense, then sighed and dropped his head without turning to me.

  "Hello, Cisco."

  "Hi there, buddy. Sorry I missed the cavalry."

  Evan faced me with his hands on his hips, looking me up and down and shaking his head like he knew something I didn't. "It was just a precaution," he said.

  I scoffed. "Looked more like the actions of a corrupt cop to me. You didn't send the call to dispatch. You got your own guys to move on me, half a town away. You're trying to keep things quiet."

  "You idiot. That part was for your protection." Evan came around his desk and put his hands on my shoulders. "I know the kinds of questions walking into the precinct will spur. I don't want that for you. This office? It's my private world. I can run things off the books. Maybe there's a way to keep your name out of everything."

  "That the plan for Tunji Malu too?"

  Evan's eyes narrowed and I brushed free of his grasp.

  "I passed by Namadi's house," I told him. "Is Tunji there?"

  "Homicide has it locked down. Tunji won't risk going there. Like you said, he doesn't want police visibility either."

  "I get it. So the bodyguard doesn't even need to clear his name. Your guys will just sweep his association under the rug. Even though he's the one doing all the killing."

  Evan returned his hands to his hips in his self-righteous manner. "Hey, you're doing a fair bit of that yourself. I got nine witnesses in Little Haiti who say that was all you."

  "You know that's not true."

  "Do I?"

  I got right in Evan's face. "Yeah, asshole. I told you what I know. Everything. I was killed. Made into a mindless thrall for ten years. I hit the Haitians on Tunji's orders. I stirred up the pot. And if it wasn't for a lucky shot from Laurent Baptiste, I might still be on the wrong side of things." I turned away and leaned on the back of the chair. A third of my life, vocalized in a few short sentences. "He thinks I have something. He killed Martine for it."

  "What is it?"

  "It doesn't matter, Evan. I don't have it. I don't have anything. That's what I know." I spun around in frustration. "You believe every word of it, too. I can see it in your eyes. You know I'm right. It's just your heart that's hoping I'm wrong."

  My friend frowned and took an unconscious step backward. Rethinking his stance. Alone, Evan had rationalized his actions. He probably thought he'd done what needed doing. But that logic wouldn't slide with me present. Right now, I was his doubt personified.

  "I do want what's right, Cisco," he said softly. "For all of us. Living with this weight on my shoulders has been tough."

  "Tough?" I cackled. "Try sleeping in a dumpster. You're living the high life compared to me. I saw that yellow Vette in your driveway."

  His face soured quickly. "Fuck you, Cisco. Fuck you and your self-centered attitude. You've been back one day and I'm already sick of that sob story. You weren't the only one that suffered. You, at least, deserved part of what happened. Your family didn't. And those of us who lived, who had to live with the consequences of your actions, we've suffered just as much these last ten years."

  My words froze in my throat. I wanted to curse, spit, jab, bite. Nothing would come. I turned to the chair again. The bastard knew me just as well as I knew him. Pushing the right buttons, striking the right nerves—it was easy for him.

  Again, his voice softened. "They said you were dabbling in black magic, man. They said you killed people."

  I shook my head sadly. "And you believed them?"

  "You were never exactly a normal guy, Cisco."

  I was never a bad guy either. Not until Tunji had gotten his claws on me. I wasn't stupid. I knew I had dug this hole myself. But I wasn't fucking evil. I had a heart, damn it.

  "You were supposed to be my friend," I said. "You were supposed to trust what I said. Ask me. Not take rumors at face value."

  Evan sat against the windowsill and sighed. "It's been a long time."

  "It's been more than that. You're in bed with a West African vampire."

  My friend was speechless for a second. I knew that was the last thing he wanted to hear. I also knew that, like everything else, he believed me. The horror on his face spoke of more than guilt.

  "The limo driver came clean, Evan. Tunji wasn't just Namadi's enforcer. He acted on his own discretion. You could say he was in charge all along."

  My friend came to grips with the revelation and nodded. "He's approached me several times. I always got the same impression."

  "And you went along to get along."

  Evan met me with a wry smile. "Look. Just 'cause I'm the boss in th
is building doesn't make it my show. This is a political detail. The commissioners make the assignments. Are certain laws enforced more heartily than others? Sure. Ultimately, it's their call."

  "And they're gonna need a scapegoat when this gets out."

  His hands returned to his hips. "You don't get it, Cisco. You and me don't have power over these guys. It's the other way around."

  More rationalizing. More passing the buck. After years of service, it was ingrained into Evan's logic. I didn't belabor the point. This wasn't about a logical fallacy. This wasn't about good and evil. As much as I hated to admit it, this was about me feeling hurt.

  "Christ, Evan. I have trust issues these days. This is what you do to me?"

  He stood up straight again. "That's why I did it. You'll never admit it, man, but I was always a better friend to you than you were to me. I always looked out for you. Tried to steer you in the right direction. Give you a hand."

  "That's not true!" I yelled, getting my buttons pushed again. "I would've died for you!"

  Evan stepped forward. "You didn't die for me. You died for power. You died for yourself. And it got your family killed in the process." The scorn came through his eyes now. "You turned your back on them. On all your friends. On your parents and Seleste. On Emily."

  I decked Evan so hard he sprawled against the office window. He was slow to get up. When he did I slammed him against the wall. But I didn't feel any resistance. The dude wore two holstered pistols and never even reached for them. I had tears in my eyes, and they kept coming when Evan wouldn't fight back.

  I released him and spun away. My friend dropped to his knees, breathing heavily, staring at the carpet.

  I couldn't look at him. I wanted to end it. Our friendship. His life. But I knew I couldn't do that. Not like this.

  "I didn't know," rasped Evan. "I swear. You were dead and no one knew anything. I looked and looked but there was nothing to find. I knew what you were into. I knew it was out of my league. It sucked, Cisco, but one day life moved on." Evan bared it all now, just unloading his conscience without a care. He finally met my eyes again. "I heard about your family a couple years later. I was heartbroken, man. And it was the same brick wall. Except I eventually got this appointment. I was finally in a position to make some moves for you."

  I crouched beside my friend, listening intently.

  "I wasn't lying when I said I looked into your murder. Martine wouldn't talk to me. Nobody would. I dug up old graves, man. The commissioner had already been working with Namadi. Our team began joint security for him. Tunji Malu introduced himself to me. He told me he'd kill my family just like he killed yours if I pressed the matter." Evan turned away. Scared. Ashamed. "I couldn't fight anymore, man. I was all alone. I had no idea you were still alive. You have to believe that. Everything would've been different if I'd known. You would've been the first person I went to."

  I stood up again. It disgusted me, to see my friend beaten like that. A part of me hated that, but another part hated myself for blaming him. To him, Tunji was a demon. An unstoppable force. Would I have been happier if Evan had been killed too?

  And it wasn't just him anymore, I knew. It was Emily.

  I kicked the chair and sent it flying into the far wall.

  I couldn't hate him for protecting Emily. I would've done it differently, but that would've been my end goal as well. Lord knows how kids figured into the equation.

  I rubbed my face. My tired eyes. The new, sun-lined wrinkles that traced my forehead. I was beginning to get a feeling, I thought. Beginning to see things from another point of view besides mine.

  I steadied my breathing and spoke evenly, without sympathy or indignation. "Just tell me you're not on his side here, Evan. Just tell me I can kill Tunji Malu and end this."

  Still on the floor, he shook his head. "It's not that simple, Cisco. He's been working this for ten years. The whole time you've been dead. It's not just about money to him. That's what drives people like the commissioner. But Tunji? He's playing the long game."

  I snorted. "And you say I got mixed up in black magic."

  "I thought you were dead, man. You would've done the same thing."

  I grabbed a pen and placed it on the edge of the desk. Then I pulled out the tattered business card Evan had originally given me, the one with his address on the back, and snapped it on the glass surface.

  "I want you to write down the address where I can find Tunji. I don't want any excuses or stories or reasons why I shouldn't go. I don't want to hear how noble your actions were, or that you did it for me. Just the address."

  He chewed his lip and mulled it over. "You don't need an address. Tunji has a safe house off Eighth Street in the Everglades. A turnoff just past Gator Park. You can't miss it if you're looking for it."

  Calle Ocho. I nodded and checked the window. It was almost twilight. Evan brushed himself off and straightened his clothes as he stood. I headed to the door but paused and turned to him.

  "You no longer exist," I told him. "You're dead to me. And that means something coming from a necromancer."

  That was it. The last word. I walked out and would've left it at that. But Evan Cross was too stupid to leave it alone.

  "I did it for you!" he yelled back at me.

  I halted in my tracks and growled. I stormed back in his office with unfinished business. "You know what gets me? That once you weren't alone anymore, once I came back from the dead and walked into your office yesterday, you didn't come clean. You kept balancing your house of cards, trying to keep it up, trying to keep me out." I sneered. "Trying to get rid of me."

  "I was trying to keep you alive, man. Happy. You're gonna get yourself killed all over again. And for what?" Evan stared hard at me. "There's nothing left for you in Miami."

  I lunged at him again, grabbing him by the shoulders. "I get to decide that!" I yelled. "Me! Not you! Not Tunji Malu!"

  He threw me off him but I came back harder. Evan and I flailed against each other, emotions getting the better of us.

  "You're wrong again, Cisco! It's not about you!"

  He shoved me into the desk but I rolled out of the blow. I swung at him but he was ready this time. He ducked and came back at me, connecting with my cheek and making the world blurry.

  "You can't always make decisions based on you!" he yelled.

  I'd about had it with him. Old friend or not, Evan was seriously getting on my nerves. Before he could vent out any more frustration on an old buddy, a slither of shadow peeked up from behind him and enclosed around his neck. I yanked it backwards, hard, and Evan tumbled to his back.

  I'd never used magic on my friend before. It had always been off limits. In principle, it isn't cool for animists to take advantage of the general public. It's cruel and unfair, especially with anger involved. Even now, after everything Evan had done to me, I shouldn't have done it.

  But I couldn't stop myself.

  Evan was supposed to have been my best friend. He was supposed to have looked after me. Avenged me. Instead, he was in league with my killer. He was sleeping with my girl. He was washing over my life like it had never happened.

  He choked against the shadow tentacle. I snarled. I didn't snap his neck, but I didn't let go either. My friend's face flushed red and hot. I didn't know if I could stop the hate.

  "She's your daughter!" he squeezed out.

  I recoiled, suddenly seeing my actions with open eyes. I shook away the rage. I dispersed the shadow. My friend rolled over like a recovering drowning man.

  "She's yours, man," he continued between coughs. "Emily was barely pregnant when you died. She didn't tell anyone. She was afraid, Cisco. She didn't even tell your family."

  "What?" I asked dumbly.

  "She was right to do it, too. They were killed, but she was left alone. I watched after her though. I figured it out." He sat up but stayed on the floor, not risking another skirmish. "Once we got together, I couldn't risk them, Cisco. You... Your family... This was your daughter, man. Th
e only piece of you anyone had left. The only piece I could protect. What other choice did Emily or I have?"

  I quietly backed away, not sure how I felt about what he said. About what had almost happened here. If Evan had been even a little bit right, then maybe I was a little bit wrong. Maybe I was a lot of bit wrong. Maybe some of the evil I had done was a part of me now.

  I blinked, trying to focus. Trying to sort out my thoughts. But they were a helpless jumble. I was a dead man. A cursed man. A wronged man. And I was also a father.

  Evan rubbed his throat. "I didn't know you were alive," he muttered again, more to himself than me.

  I forced my feet to move, one by one. I had to get out of there.

  "It would've changed everything..." he said.

  I walked out, leaving his tattered business card behind. "Everything changed anyway."

  Chapter 35

  Bad decisions are usually made without conscious thought. That extra drink that puts us over the edge. A subtle difference in wording that transforms misunderstanding to hurt. It could even be, say... I dunno—stumbling upon a mystical artifact named the Horn of Subjugation and receiving a one-way ticket into indentured service for my trouble.

  Maybe I should've known the discovery would blow up in my face. Hell, maybe I did. It's hard to speak to something I don't remember. But what I was doing tonight. Going after Tunji Malu? That was a bad decision I had every intention of making.

  Slightly less stupid (but every bit as necessary) was revisiting Saint Martin's Cemetery. I had started a spell the night before, one looking for old answers to old questions. This late in the game, considering my date with destiny, I wasn't sure how many more chances I'd get at this. That meant it wasn't an option.

  It was dangerous to return here. But it was nearly twilight. I was on the clock. I had to know.

  The Fiat pulled into the empty parking lot. I surveyed the block behind me for anyone on my trail. I'd been ambushed here once already. I couldn't let that happen again.