It's amazing to see someone's face change when you shock them.
"Oh, Detective I apologise, I didn't mean it that way." The man was freaking out, nervous about having insulted my family. Worried about insulting the big cop, in the long jacket with a gun holstered to his hip, he was worried about insulting me.
I put my hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, I agree with you." I tried to assure him as John stood mute at my side.
"Well, uh, I'll take you to see Alex and Andre, they're upstairs." He motioned towards the stairs and we followed him, a group of tough black kids, making a path for us, with the same look of shock, or maybe it was awe, having seen their fearless leader laid flat by two cops.
I tried to remember how long it had been since I had seen Alex and Dre, maybe at my Mothers about a year ago, maybe more. They were both sitting on the bottom bunk, their hair braided into cornrows, but they couldn't be more different. Alex was dark, with hard eyes, and a firmly set mouth, even at nine he was built in a way that said strength. My sister had once told me that she was pretty sure that Alex's father was her pimp, a heartless, cruel man, whose untamed malice assured that nobody dared step a foot over his line. He ruled his girls with an iron first. He ruled their johns with bribery. He had been killed in prison four years ago. Looking down at Alex I saw that the mixture between my sister and a low-life controlling pimp had brought out all the bad things in him. Alex was going to be a man to be reckoned with. Dre was the exact opposite, he had much lighter skin and the eyes of oriental descent, he smiled easily and his eyes lit up with the pleasure of life. Dre had been diagnosed with a few problems, none of which I remember the name of, but all of them related to my sisters crack abuse when she was pregnant with him. He was a slow learner, and knew very little of the way the real world worked. In the place he was living, with Alex as a brother, I was worried for nativity, I was worried for his life. As he jumped off the bed, and wrapped his arms around my waist, looking up at me with big brown eyes, saying with a smile. "Uncle Fin!" I wanted to take him home with me.
"What are you doing here?" Alex asked me quizzically raising his eyebrows. He looked nervous, his eyes darting from side to side, shifting his weight, moving his hands. I wondered what he had done that could actually be making him this nervous in front of police officers.
"This is my partner, Detective John Munch." I motioned to him, as Dre detached himself from me. John nodded.
"Hello." Dre said to him quietly. Alex brushed him off and asked me again, with more edge.
"What are you doing here?"
"We're here about Q."
"What about Q?" Alex asked.
"I hear he came to visit you yesterday."
Dre nodded energetically. "He did. Brought me a present."
"What did he bring you?" John asked, trying to bring some police formality to this.
"A car. A little car, he said it was a…" He stopped for a second, straining his memory as he dug as small metal car out of his pocket and zoomed it around in mid air.
"A Porsche." Alex cut in, elbowing his brother. Dre sat back down on the bed, running his car over the bedspread, taking himself out of the conversation at his brothers' request.
"What about you, did he bring you something?"
"Uh huh."
"What?" John asked showing his meanest Jewish face.
Alex scanned the room, noting the open door, the boys in the hall, the leader by the stairs.
"How 'bout we talk outside?" I gave him a nod, as Alex led us out of the room and down the way we came, Dre following us like a lost puppy dog.
"Q brought someone with him." He finally said, his face half cast in shadow, Dre by my side, holding onto my coat.
"Was it Door?" I asked him flatly, half praying for one answer, half hoping for another. I wanted to keep my hope and I wanted to crush it, all in one thought.
"Door was in the car, he was driving, but Q brought a girl with him." Dre tugged on my jacket.
"She was pretty."
John gave me a strange look. "A girl? How old?"
"I don't know, 'bout my age, she was hot."
"Excuse me?" I couldn't catch my breath, my mind only forming: "what the hell."
"Hot. Like tall, wearing a kilt like a private school girl, looking like a black, baby Britney Spears." At this point I was willing to run to the car screaming. Alex, nine year old Alex, had met Harmony, our ten year old, private school girl, rape victim, and the only way he could refer to her was as if she was a piece of meat, treating her exactly the way his role models would. It began to flash in the back of my mind, that Alex was actually involved in this somehow. John perhaps seeing my shell-shocked look, took charge.
"Did you talk to her?"
Alex shrugged, smiling, trying to put on his playa look. "Yeah." He scoffed.
"What did you guys talk about?"
"I talked about my brother and stuff, and I told her who I was. She told me her name was Harmony, and that Q and Door were bringing her to see her Mom and that she was nervous. Cos she don't ever remember her Mom. I said to her, don't worry about it baby, cos I never met my Dad, but if I had the chance I'd meet him. Just so ya know. She said she wanted to go home." I had been right, goddamn Martiza had something to do with this.
"What time did they come?" Alex examined his knuckles with a concentrated look on his face.
"Don't remember." He finally replied looking up at me. I don't know if I believed him, he wanted to protect his brother.
"It was nine, cos Rita got mad because it was bed time." Dre replied at me innocently, I believed him, and believed him even more when Alex elbowed him and hissed something I couldn't hear.
"How long did they stay?"
"Not long, like twenty minutes, Harmony's Mom lives in the city and Harmony was bugging 'em, cos she had to go to school today."
"She had a test. I bet she did good, she looked smart." Dre said to me.
I could feel bile rising in my throat as I thought about that poor girls' body, laid out in that tiny shed, and then thinking about her as a real person, a real girl, worried about going to bed, and school and fifth grade tests. Right here, right at the place I was standing, she had been less than 24 hour ago, and now she was dead.
"Thanks guys, we appreaciate you talking to us." John said, as we began to walk away, Dre still clutching to my coat.
"Don't we get something, for giving y'all such good information?" Alex called out to me.
I rustled in my pockets and came out with a twenty, I handed it to Dre. "Give that to your brother." He ran off obediently, waving as he went.
I watched them standing in the dark as we drove away, wondering what happened to Harmony after she left here.
We drove back to the office both of us starring through our front windows, wishing we could have any other profession.
"So those were your nephews. Nice boys. Or at least one of them."
"And to think you haven't met Q yet, he's the real jewel of the family." I replied sarcastically.
We returned to the office, with lots of new information to add to our growing board, a face to add to our suspects and a few questions.
The elevator doors opened, to reveal Elliot waiting for us, in the background I could see Olivia very patiently speaking into the phone, the look on her face revealing that their should be smoke pouring out of her ears.
"We've got news."
"Oh, Detective I apologise, I didn't mean it that way." The man was freaking out, nervous about having insulted my family. Worried about insulting the big cop, in the long jacket with a gun holstered to his hip, he was worried about insulting me.
I put my hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, I agree with you." I tried to assure him as John stood mute at my side.
"Well, uh, I'll take you to see Alex and Andre, they're upstairs." He motioned towards the stairs and we followed him, a group of tough black kids, making a path for us, with the same look of shock, or maybe it was awe, having seen their fearless leader laid flat by two cops.
I tried to remember how long it had been since I had seen Alex and Dre, maybe at my Mothers about a year ago, maybe more. They were both sitting on the bottom bunk, their hair braided into cornrows, but they couldn't be more different. Alex was dark, with hard eyes, and a firmly set mouth, even at nine he was built in a way that said strength. My sister had once told me that she was pretty sure that Alex's father was her pimp, a heartless, cruel man, whose untamed malice assured that nobody dared step a foot over his line. He ruled his girls with an iron first. He ruled their johns with bribery. He had been killed in prison four years ago. Looking down at Alex I saw that the mixture between my sister and a low-life controlling pimp had brought out all the bad things in him. Alex was going to be a man to be reckoned with. Dre was the exact opposite, he had much lighter skin and the eyes of oriental descent, he smiled easily and his eyes lit up with the pleasure of life. Dre had been diagnosed with a few problems, none of which I remember the name of, but all of them related to my sisters crack abuse when she was pregnant with him. He was a slow learner, and knew very little of the way the real world worked. In the place he was living, with Alex as a brother, I was worried for nativity, I was worried for his life. As he jumped off the bed, and wrapped his arms around my waist, looking up at me with big brown eyes, saying with a smile. "Uncle Fin!" I wanted to take him home with me.
"What are you doing here?" Alex asked me quizzically raising his eyebrows. He looked nervous, his eyes darting from side to side, shifting his weight, moving his hands. I wondered what he had done that could actually be making him this nervous in front of police officers.
"This is my partner, Detective John Munch." I motioned to him, as Dre detached himself from me. John nodded.
"Hello." Dre said to him quietly. Alex brushed him off and asked me again, with more edge.
"What are you doing here?"
"We're here about Q."
"What about Q?" Alex asked.
"I hear he came to visit you yesterday."
Dre nodded energetically. "He did. Brought me a present."
"What did he bring you?" John asked, trying to bring some police formality to this.
"A car. A little car, he said it was a…" He stopped for a second, straining his memory as he dug as small metal car out of his pocket and zoomed it around in mid air.
"A Porsche." Alex cut in, elbowing his brother. Dre sat back down on the bed, running his car over the bedspread, taking himself out of the conversation at his brothers' request.
"What about you, did he bring you something?"
"Uh huh."
"What?" John asked showing his meanest Jewish face.
Alex scanned the room, noting the open door, the boys in the hall, the leader by the stairs.
"How 'bout we talk outside?" I gave him a nod, as Alex led us out of the room and down the way we came, Dre following us like a lost puppy dog.
"Q brought someone with him." He finally said, his face half cast in shadow, Dre by my side, holding onto my coat.
"Was it Door?" I asked him flatly, half praying for one answer, half hoping for another. I wanted to keep my hope and I wanted to crush it, all in one thought.
"Door was in the car, he was driving, but Q brought a girl with him." Dre tugged on my jacket.
"She was pretty."
John gave me a strange look. "A girl? How old?"
"I don't know, 'bout my age, she was hot."
"Excuse me?" I couldn't catch my breath, my mind only forming: "what the hell."
"Hot. Like tall, wearing a kilt like a private school girl, looking like a black, baby Britney Spears." At this point I was willing to run to the car screaming. Alex, nine year old Alex, had met Harmony, our ten year old, private school girl, rape victim, and the only way he could refer to her was as if she was a piece of meat, treating her exactly the way his role models would. It began to flash in the back of my mind, that Alex was actually involved in this somehow. John perhaps seeing my shell-shocked look, took charge.
"Did you talk to her?"
Alex shrugged, smiling, trying to put on his playa look. "Yeah." He scoffed.
"What did you guys talk about?"
"I talked about my brother and stuff, and I told her who I was. She told me her name was Harmony, and that Q and Door were bringing her to see her Mom and that she was nervous. Cos she don't ever remember her Mom. I said to her, don't worry about it baby, cos I never met my Dad, but if I had the chance I'd meet him. Just so ya know. She said she wanted to go home." I had been right, goddamn Martiza had something to do with this.
"What time did they come?" Alex examined his knuckles with a concentrated look on his face.
"Don't remember." He finally replied looking up at me. I don't know if I believed him, he wanted to protect his brother.
"It was nine, cos Rita got mad because it was bed time." Dre replied at me innocently, I believed him, and believed him even more when Alex elbowed him and hissed something I couldn't hear.
"How long did they stay?"
"Not long, like twenty minutes, Harmony's Mom lives in the city and Harmony was bugging 'em, cos she had to go to school today."
"She had a test. I bet she did good, she looked smart." Dre said to me.
I could feel bile rising in my throat as I thought about that poor girls' body, laid out in that tiny shed, and then thinking about her as a real person, a real girl, worried about going to bed, and school and fifth grade tests. Right here, right at the place I was standing, she had been less than 24 hour ago, and now she was dead.
"Thanks guys, we appreaciate you talking to us." John said, as we began to walk away, Dre still clutching to my coat.
"Don't we get something, for giving y'all such good information?" Alex called out to me.
I rustled in my pockets and came out with a twenty, I handed it to Dre. "Give that to your brother." He ran off obediently, waving as he went.
I watched them standing in the dark as we drove away, wondering what happened to Harmony after she left here.
We drove back to the office both of us starring through our front windows, wishing we could have any other profession.
"So those were your nephews. Nice boys. Or at least one of them."
"And to think you haven't met Q yet, he's the real jewel of the family." I replied sarcastically.
We returned to the office, with lots of new information to add to our growing board, a face to add to our suspects and a few questions.
The elevator doors opened, to reveal Elliot waiting for us, in the background I could see Olivia very patiently speaking into the phone, the look on her face revealing that their should be smoke pouring out of her ears.
"We've got news."