Chapters (95)
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Seventy-One
- Seventy-Two
- Seventy-Three
- Seventy-Four
- Seventy-Five
- Seventy-Six
- Seventy-Seven
- Seventy-Eight
- Seventy-Nine
- Eighty
- Eighty-One
- Eighty-Two
- Eighty-Three
- Eighty-Four
- Eighty-Five
- Eighty-Six
- Eighty-Seven
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- Also by David Swinson
- Thank you for buying this ebook, published by Hachette Digital.
“Twenty-five extra to allow me to smoke. You can air it out when we’re done.”
“You killin’ me, man.”
I light one of the cigs laced with coke. It’s immediate, but it doesn’t last more than a few seconds. I feel a bit with each puff, though, and have to smoke it quick so I don’t lose any. Better inside me than lose it to the atmosphere.
I flick it out when I’m done. After a couple of minutes all it does is make me want a hefty pile on the back of my hand.
Another swig of Jameson.
We spend a couple of hours there, and it does seem to be hopping. The two mopes, Younger and Older, take turns. Sometimes they return from the deal with certain property, but most of the time they don’t. Just bills, like they’re dealing tens and twenties.
Diamond’s cell rings a couple of times, but it sounds like he’s talking to friends or other cabbies.
Diamond is able to identify a couple of the burglars he drives around, but not Biddy. I’m going to have to come here in my own vehicle and sit on it late, see when they come and go. I gotta go sit on R Street, too, so I ask Diamond to pull out.
“Just a little while and we’re done. I won’t need you the rest of the day.”
He drives to R, and we find an illegal spot to park, far enough away from the building to avoid a problem. The area has changed. The fourteen hundred block of R is not the same as it was when I was working. Drugs, burglaries, and robberies are still occurring, but not like before. This used to be a real hot spot. We’d get in a foot chase with a suspect who’d run into one of the buildings across the street, and that was it. Gone. Right now, I’m just hoping that Biddy will show. We’ll give it a bit, then I’ll let ol’ Diamond go.
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Seven
I’m feeling toasty—from the whiskey, not from the heat. It’s making me tired, and I’m all out of the cigs I laced with coke. I call it a day.
“Go ahead and drop me off at Tenth and U.”
Diamond rolls out, takes a right on 15th.
He drops me off at the same corner. I count him out one hundred and fifty dollars and hand it through the little opening in the Plexiglas window. He counts.
“You said an extra twenty-five for allowing you to smoke those sweet-smelling cigarettes of yours.”
I hesitate, because that statement throws me, like he knows what burning coke smells like. I keep it to myself. Give him fifty instead.
“Why the extra?”
“You did good today,” I tell him.
“I did nothin’ but sit on my ass.”