Dmitry's Closet by Nelson, S. (read people like a book .txt) 📕

“Hamilton, you aren’t telling me anything that I don’t already know. Hell, I could get that Intel from my kids. We sent you in to give us the real insight. You gotta find a way to get deeper inside and get in that damned basement.”

“Lou, I’m fucking trying,” Cory said frustrated. He scratched his head. “I don’t want to jeopardize my cover.”

“I’m not asking you to do that,” Lt. Agosto said, look-ing around. “Look, you’re right. Ivan is definitely making moves. We’ve got credible sources that say that he moved in a shipment of girls to Memphis within the last week to start up a whore house here. Now, before this, Dmitry never dabbled in human trafficking. He’s a guns and drugs type of guy. But if he’s changing his inventory…”

“I don’t think so,” Cory interrupted. “This sounds more like Ivan trying to carve out a new niche for himself.”

“Well, we need to divide and conquer. So, I need them to go at each other’s throats. Maybe then, we can get one of them to give us something more. Fucking Kirill got popped, and he was our only lead.”

“I was close to a confession in the boutique, but they were talking pretty low. They said it was a suicide that happened in the basement, but they didn’t’ say where.”

“Close is no cigar.” Agosto patted Cory on the back. “What about Royal? Does she suspect anything yet?”

“No, she’s totally clueless. I keep trying to get her to open her eyes, but she doesn’t want to. She’s in love with him.”

“There’s no way that it could be a cover?”

“No.”

“Look, you’re doing a good job, but what I need you to do now is help me figure out how to get the ball rolling between these two. If the blood is as bad as you say it is, it won’t take much. We need that to happen.”

“They’re Vor. I don’t think that they’ll turn.”

“That’s what they said about Kirill.” Lt. Agosto’s voice turned to a whisper. “Look, there’s something else,” he sighed. “We’ve got a leak.”

“What?” Cory rubbed his forehead. “No, no. Lou, I’ve got a family, I can’t…”

“We’ll find out who the bastard is,” Agosto tried to calm him. “Someone told Dmitry about Kirill. I just have to figure out whom.”

“It could have been a leak with the feds.”

“I’m not taking any chances, which is why I wanted to meet you here.”

“I see you brought Patton.” Cory lifted his brow at the black man standing behind the counter. “Where is the real cashier?”

Lt. Agosto smiled. “This is Patton’swife’s store. He actuallyruns it on the weekends. It’s no cover. Can you imagine someone trying to hold up this place? They walk in and this motherfucker’s got two Glocks under the counter and a bad case of the rages from coming off one of his steroid cycles.”

They all laughed. The man behind the counter gave them the finger as he sipped on a protein shake.

“Screw y’all. This shit is natural,” Patton said, flexing his 23 inch arms.

“Okay, we really believe that,” Agosto said, sarcastically. He turned his attention back to Cory. “You worry about getting me the information, and I’ll worry about the leak. Hopefully, we’re approaching the end of this soon.” Lt. Agosto gave him a small leather satchel. “See if you can place these in the restaurant or the boutique again. Who knows? We might get lucky. Also there’s a jump drive in there with the pictures of the girls from the whore house. Memorize their faces just in case they end up at the boutique for clothes or at the restaurant. Alright.”

“Alright,” Cory said, taking the satchel. “You know, if you want to set them up against each other, you might start by approaching Dmitry about the whorehouse. I’m sure he doesn’t know.”

“Okay. I’ll take your advice on that.”

“How’s my family?” Cory’s face became solemn. He missed his wife and two kids.

“I went by to see them a few days ago. They’re doing great. I told Becca that you’d be home really soon. She can’t wait. The boys are being themselves. You know, being kids.”

“Lou, these men are heavy hitters. If they ever found out about me, they’d go straight for my family.”

“They’d have to get through all of us first, man. It ain’t gonna happen. Pattonhas a house full of girls. I’ve got a family at home too. Ivy’s working on our third child, and I don’t know what I’d do without them. Look at me; I went from Armani to Gap, because I can buy everybody’s stuff at the same place. Trust me. I know how much they mean to you. But we watch out for our own. I’ve got a car on the house 24-hours a day and tail on kids and your wife when they leave. We know their every move.”

“Thanks.” Cory finished his shake and slipped on his hood. “Till next week,” he said, headed back out into the sprinkling rain.

∞♥∞

Royal’s Thanksgiving masterpiece was nearly ready. Renée helped her pull her ham out of the oven and put the garnishes on the plates. Carefully, she carried her dishes to the dining room, where she had taken extra care to make sure everything was asfestive as possible.

The men sat obediently in the entertainment room watching a football game and talking to one another. Dmitry could smell the food wafting through the house. There were interesting soul food smells, unlike the ones from his restaurant all around him. His stomach rumbled loudly, but Royal wouldn’t let him eat a thing until dinner.

“She’s going all out for you,” Anatoly said, not taking his eyes off the game.

“Royal is good girl that way.” Dmitry looked back be-hind his chair to make sure that no one was behind him. Then he turned to his son and leaned over. “She saw the newspaper this morning. Conners was in it.”

“Did she know that it was you?”

“No. Why would she?” Hisvoice was nearly a whisper. “She thinks