“You cool?” Marcus asked.

“I don’t know,” she said nervously. “It was someone from Harlem Hospital calling about Yoshi.”

“Is she okay?”

“I’m about to find out,” she said, dialing the number Nurse Reid had left on the message. After telling the operator who she was trying to reach, Billy was put through. “Hi, this is Willamina Jefferson, you called about my sister?” she asked, praying nothing had happened.

“Ms. Jefferson, I’m a nurse at the rape center at Harlem Hospital,” Nurse Reid informed her.

“Oh my God, rape center? What’s happened to Yoshi?” Billy asked frantically.

“Ms. Jefferson, your sister was brought in this morning. She was found raped and beaten outside her apartment building.”

“God, please don’t let this be happening. How? Who?”

“Ms. Jefferson, we really don’t know much right now. The police came to question her, but she was still too shaken up to be much help. She just requested that we contact you.”

“I’m coming over there right now,” Billy said, ending the call.

“Billy, what’s wrong?” Marcus asked.

“Yoshi was raped last night,” she said, searching for her other boot. “I don’t know much yet, but I’m on my way over to the hospital to find out. Can you call me a cab?”

“Fuck a cab, I’m driving you,” he said, grabbing a hoodie and his car keys. She opened her mouth to protest, but he waved her silent. It was obvious she wouldn’t be rid of him that easy. The two of them made a mad dash out of the apartment and headed into Harlem to find out what the hell had happened.

Slick sat on his bed with his mouth hanging open. On his lap was a copy of the Sunday paper, with an article telling of a young man murdered not even three buildings away from him. They found Ralph slumped in the hallway of his girlfriend’s apartment building, shot multiple times. The police said that when they questioned his girlfriend she simply said, “He went out to get a pack of cigarettes and never came back.” Though Valerie wasn’t yet a suspect, the police didn’t quite believe her story. It seemed odd that Ralph would’ve been “just going to the store” carrying all his worldly possessions. Not needing to read any more, Slick tossed the paper into the corner.

The police deduced that Ralph had been murdered over a drug beef, but they were only partially right. The way Slick figured it, Ralph had gotten spooked by the botched hit and tried to hightail it out of town. Apparently, Jah had caught him before he was able to make his escape. It was just as he’d told his boys, never underestimate your enemy.