Chapter 4

Liz was standing on the sidewalk facing the huge deserted building that seemed to be a block long. It was a rather miserable and gloomy place; with grey paint covered with graffiti and hollow windows it didn't look inviting at all. There was crap all over the place, paper and plastic sheets lying on the floor and hanging from the ceiling. She was glad she didn't have to go inside and felt a pang of guilt when thinking why she was there. This was Jerry's dream. He's been talking about this place for a while now and she finally got to see it.

He somehow bought it and planned to renovate it. There was a lot of space in there and according to Jeremiah, it was a perfect place to invest some money and build luxury lofts. He has been even talking about some lavish offices and storefronts with stained-glass windows but she couldn't imagine no urban sophistication in the middle of this part of Detroit.

She was just wondering how he was going to get all this money to pay for this. He told her once it was all about the government redevelopment loan, which was easy to qualify with low interest rates.

She was only hoping that this time he wasn't getting into any kind of trouble.

***

"You're kidding me, right?" she was shouting to the phone and pressing it so hard to her ear that she was afraid it was going to burst any moment but she had to somehow release her anger.

"Shit, Jack. You're just gonna burst into some gang shithole because some Johnny G heard something?" she couldn't believe how stupid they were.

"Liz, it's about our mom. They killed her with cold blood. We have to do something" his voice sounded firm in the receiver.

"You listen to me, Jack. Ain't no good gonna come from this. Let the police do their damn job" she noticed that some people looked with interest at her while passing her by but she couldn't lower her voice any more.

"Stop with the police" she could tell he was getting impatient "Half the cops in this town are crooked, you think the other half give two shits about another liquor-store holdup?"

"What about this Green guy, he's on our side this time" she wasn't going to give up that easily and let him get killed.

"Come on, Liz. She was the only woman that ever gave a damn. The least we can do is go bang on a few doors and see what happens. We owe her that much"

"Bang on a few doors?! Jack, I know you and your brothers. There will be no banging on the doors, you're gonna blow the freaking place out!" she realized she was getting too loud and bringing too much attention to her.

"So what" she hissed to the phone "Y'all just gonna shoot up the whole town because y'all mad?"

"We can't all be saints, Lizzie" he paused for a moment "Besides, Jerry is not going, I think he's really trying to stay out of trouble now, you know" this didn't make her feel better at all.

"I gotta go. Just wanted you to know what's going on. I'll call you when it's over"

"Yeah, OK" she mumbled "Jack?"

"Yeah?" she could hear he hesitated.

"Please be careful"

"I will" he said and turned his phone off but she kept standing on the sidewalk with the phone by her cheek listening to the beeping sound in the receiver.

***

She was too nervous to stay home so she was at the Mercer's with Angel's girl waiting for them to come back. It was well after midnight when they came home and she was relieved that none of them looked bruised.

There were now sitting in the big room putting the facts together and analyzing the situation.

"I thought the police got witnesses" she was pretty confused by the whole situation.

"Apparently it was all counterfeit" Bobby was staring somewhere and she could tell he was deep in thought "Nobody was playing basketball when this went down, that's why the cops didn't arrest anybody"

"How do you know that?" it still sounded fishy to her.

"The shooting took place at 11 p.m."

"So what?" she asked.

"They turn the court lights at 10" he looked straight at her and this time he didn't look like the good old Bobby she knew. Right now he looked like a cold murderer with hatred in eyes and no emotion on his pale stone-like face.

He knew that they came across something big and he was going to do anything to take revenge for their mother's death.

"It was a questionable kill" he said after a while.

"What makes you think that?" Jack finally looked up without glancing at her.

"Sometimes pros will cover up their shots with another crime like a burglary or something. Then pay a witness to throw the cops on to the wrong suspect" even his voice was changed, cold and cutting the silence like a sharp blade of a razor.

"But why anybody wanna kill the sweetest woman in the goddamn world?" Jack was the very opposite, his whole being filled with conflicting emotions.

"I don't know, Jackie. I don't know"

***

"Bobby!" she called him when he already got to the top of the stairs but this certainly did not lower her spirit.

"Don't get him involved in this one, please" she looked at him pleading.

"Sorry, Liz. He's already a part of this. Besides, he's an adult. I can't tell him what to do" from his tone she didn't think he would try anyways.

"You're gonna get him killed" she lowered her voice so that only Bobby could hear her "He's still only a kid"

"Just as you are, which doesn't make me think that you even understand what's going on right now" he looked at her meaningfully.

"Go home, Liz" he sighted "Go home before it gets any more dangerous and it would be damn smart of you if you stay away until it quiets down" and with these words he turned around to disappear behind the doors.

But Liz only wished she could stay away.

Just as Jack, she was already a part of this.