Drumsticks by Charlotte Carter Read Free Book Online Page A

killed? I mean, other than this young boy Black Hat?”
    â€œFirst there was Rawhide. Busta Jelly was next. Then Daddy Homo. Then Phat Neck, like I said. Black Hat happened to be with Droop Rooster and Boom Dadee the night they were hit. He was nothing but a boy hanging on the scene, trying to get a career started. All the others were big names in the industry. They were probably using him as an errand boy or some kind of bodyguard. But he couldn’t even guard himself.”
    The industry , eh? Leman was getting all Hollywood hincty. It sounded as if he might actually have been a fan of one or all of the murdered stars. But you’re a grown man, I wanted to shout. Don’t you already know the kind of simplistic stuff they say in those songs?
    â€œOne after the other,” Sweet said. “They all been hit one after the other. Riding in cars or walking out of after-hours clubs or hotels. It looks like the same kind of turf war that killed Tupac in Vegas. A ‘rap war,’ like the papers call it. The Department couldn’t care less as long as no ‘civilians’—nobody white—get hurt. Let the niggers kill each other over some stupid record label design … or copyrights … or women … or crack … or whatever the fuck the argument is.
    â€œBut a group of black officers started a stink about it. We don’t care what these guys say about the police in their songs. Shit, they got just as much right as anybody else to criticize the police. Just as much right to live. And just as much right after they’re dead to have the killer caught and punished.
    â€œI guess the brass got tired of us squawking about the whole thing. They put me on this special unit that works out of that substation on Twelfth Street. It’s been six months now and we’re getting nowhere, still looking up our own asses. Black people in this city have had it up to here with these killings and now a lot of groups are demanding action. That’s too bad about your friend, but I gotta go along with Loveless on it. She was just unlucky—the way Black Hat was just unlucky. Maybe you oughta sue that stupid doll.”
    Leman Sweet, fighter for justice. I sat back, thinking it over. My goodness, life did still hold a few surprises. The situation held echoes of my encounter with Frank Loveless, the Bad Lieutenant. In both cases there was a cop who thought a lot of himself, a cop I didn’t like or trust, but neither of them was anybody’s fool. And I was damned if I could find any holes in their more than reasoned arguments.
    Little Nan was not happy.
    A nasty ploy presented itself to me then. Underhanded. Gender-based bullshit. Bad feminist Nan.
    The notorious mantrap Aubrey Davis, my best friend, had helped take a little heat off of me back when Sweet’s partner was killed and Sweet was making my life a misery. Leman had a pitiable jones for her and had in general made an idiot of himself. Not entirely his fault. Aubrey had that effect on guys and knew how to work it to full advantage.
    â€œAll right,” I said with a sigh. “What you say makes sense. But if you find you have a minute to give to the Ida Williams thing, would you give me a call?”
    I hastily scribbled a phone number on an edge of the paper tablecloth and tore it off. “I’ll be spending a lot of time at my friend Aubrey’s apartment. You might recall meeting her—tall? kind of nice looking? See, Aubrey’s a real collector of these dolls. She must’ve bought eight or nine of them from Ida in the past and she’s so upset over what happened that she doesn’t like to be alone at night.”
    â€œThis,” he said slowly, looking down at the paper, “is Aubrey’s number?”
    â€œUm hum.”
    Oh yeah. I’m going to feminist hell.

CHAPTER 6
    Let Me Off Uptown
    I looked down balefully at Dilsey and Mama Lou lying among the discarded Kleenex and junk