No Room for Mercy (48 page)

“Last month—about a week after he was arrested. He left a
letter detailing some things, though.”

Lisa held her hands out and widened her eyes, signaling to Laddy that
she was waiting to hear what the letter said.

“Mister Sweetwater, in his farewell letter, says that a woman
named Carmella Lapiente` mentioned a man named Asa Spade. Something
about Shorter Arms apartments and a Royal, a Royal Flush night club.
Said umm, said this guy Asa Spade tried to kill Carmella Lapiente` at
her home in Denver last year.”

“Denver? Where the Holland retrial is to take place,”
Lisa said matter-of-factly as she chuckled.

“Exactly. And Misses Lapiente`, the woman involved in said war
with Asa Spade—”

“Was killed fifteen miles south of Brownsville,” Lisa
said, cutting Laddy’s remarks short. “Sweetwater was
busted with three kilograms of cocaine last month during Operation
Leaky Faucet. He was moving weight for our dead friend south of the
border and decided to come clean before he checked out I guess.”

“The operation is still on-going, but we have no further leads
since our informant decided to take a dirt nap.”

“Right. But old dogs can still hunt. We can look into some
things while in Denver.”

“You’re gonna reexamine Leaky Faucet? Where will we
start?” Laddy as inquistively.

“Carmella had one hundred and forty-four kilograms on hand when
she was assassinated. Looks as if she was on her way to resupply her
clientele and got cut off,” Lisa replied as she scanned the
contents of the folder, looking at the photos of the massacre that
had taken place south of Brownsville. “How does this puzzle
work? And just who is this Asa Spade character?” she asked
herself.

Lisa then tapped the pictures of Carmella’s lifeless corpse
with her fingertips. “You did not die in vain, young lady. Your
death will lead to bigger fish and I will fry their asses just as
sure as my name is Lisa ‘badass’ Vanguard,” she
said out loud as she began looking over the files on a man by the
name of Benjamin Holland, whose case she would soon be prosecuting in
Denver, Colorado.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

HOOK UPS

It was now May of 2005, a month after Junior and Tiva’s
wedding, which was a small ceremony held on the ranch, followed by a
large gathering of the siblings’ friends from town and the
family from Chicago.

A month before the event, Tiva Holland-Cernigliaro gave birth to
identical twins in which she named Malaysia and Malara Cernigliaro.
They were slender babies; light brown-skinned like their mother, with
jet black hair. They had their father’s sexy lips and their
grandmother Mildred’s crystal blue eyes.

Malaysia and Malara, although resembling their parents slightly,
oddly favored Spoonie and Tyke, just a lighter version of the two.
And even though their last names were Cernigliaro, one knew right
away that Malaysia and Malara were Hollands because the trademark
birthmark was clearly on display under their left eye.

Everybody was excited over the new additions to the family, including
seventy-four year-old DeeDee, who’d survived a life of crime to
see eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren come into the
world.

With the new additions, DeeDee hung up his hat. He wanted to be
around for as long as possible to see his great grandchildren grow
up. Five decades plus of life on the streets had come to a peaceful
end for seventy-four year old Doss Dawkins Senior, who was still in
good health and had an active lifestyle. He was planning on moving
down to Ponca City for good in order to enjoy the twilight years of
his life there on the ranch with his family.

There was a lot of activity around Ponderosa and over to the guest
house this time of year. Mary was busy with her harvest, Naomi was
closer to owning the land behind the family’s property as it
had matured in value, Tiva and her kids, Bay with her relationship
with AquaNina, Dawk and Oneika, Siloam and the band she was managing,
and of course, there was Kimi, Koko, Walee, Spoonie and Tyke.

The youngest five were all teenagers now; hanging together a few
years back was unheard of when Kimi and Koko were the only teenagers
out of the young five, but with age came a little maturity for
Spoonie, Tyke and Walee. They could somewhat relate to Kimi and Koko,
who now stayed on the go most weekends once they were done with their
homeschooling.

The first time thirteen year-olds Spoonie and Tyke asked Kimi and
Koko could they ride with them down to Oklahoma City, which was about
two months ago, they were prepared to hear Kimi and Koko go off and
turn them down. To their surprise, however, Kimi and Koko were happy
to have their sisters tag along.

The trip had turned into a girls’ day out where Kimi and Koko
catered to their sisters’ every need. Constant conversations
about fashion from shoes to scarves took place the whole time. Kimi
and Koko had even brought their sisters a week’s worth of
clothing each.

Spoonie and Tyke were changing clothes in different stores, modeling
for their sisters happily. The moment was magical for Spoonie and
Tyke, they’d seen a side of Kimi and Koko that they’d
come to love completely, not because they spent money on them, it was
because they had something real—big sisters who wanted them
around. Big sisters who didn’t mind spending time with them and
being genuine, and to Spoonie and Tyke, the way Kimi and Koko treated
them meant the world.

Kimi and Koko were coming into their own being as well. Ever since
the day Martha had caught them dancing nearly naked over the Holiday
Inn Express, they’d been on their best behavior. They were
appreciative of the fact that Martha and Twiggy didn’t tell
their parents also. Through their actions, Kimi and Koko showed
Martha and Twiggy that they were genuinely sorry for their actions.
They could get a little rowdy at times, true enough, but they now
knew how far to go with their behavior.

Amidst the activity swirling around Ponderosa, the young five
descended the patio stairs past Siloam and her band and climbed into
Martha’s Sebring and let the top down on this warm and sunny
April morning. Everybody was gearing up for a show Siloam was putting
on for her band later on in the evening, but before the festivities,
the young five wanted to travel down to Oklahoma City and buy outfits
as it was Easter weekend. Sales were on and high end fashions had to
be purchased by all inside the Sebring. With the top down and music
pumping inside Martha’s ride, the young five caravanned off the
land headed towards OKC, about an hour and a half’s drive
straight south.

Quail Mall was the place to be on Saturdays in Oklahoma City; and the
shopping center was doubly packed since it was Easter weekend. The
young five had hit up shoe stores where fresh Nike’s, stilettos
and sandals were bought. Macy’s took up a grip and Toys R’
Us Express was perused where a new basketball and football was
purchased for Regina’s son Tacoma. After making a trip to the
car to offload bags, the young five returned to the mall for another
round of shopping, but first, they decided to stop off in the food
court.

While the group was waiting in line at Chic Fila, loud applauds were
heard. Kimi looked over to the other side of the court yard and saw a
crowd forming in front of Famous Cajun Grill.

“Who that is over there got all these people worked up?”
Kimi wondered.

“That might be that singer Narshea,” Spoonie answered as
she showed Kimi the flyer she’d picked up when the group first
entered the mall that announced the popular singer’s appearance
inside Quail Mall.

“The southern sensation?” Kimi asked happily. “She
got that song out call I do it right, or I do it well, something like
that.”

“It’s called I Do It Well. Me and Spoonie love her music.
Let’s go see her.” Tyke cheered.

“Shiit,” Koko protested. “She cool and all, but I
want my food.”

“Y’all go ‘head. I got it,” Walee intervened,
never looking back at his sisters.

Koko followed Walee’s eyes over to the counter where a female
stood ringing up items. The two girls before the register were
placing their order, but the cashier was paying them no mind because
she was too busy eyeing Walee, who was dressed fly in a baggy pair of
white jeans, a fresh white t-shirt and blue and white Adidas. The
platinum chain draping his neck set his outfit off completely. Walee
had his grandfather’s height and slim build. He was tall for
fourteen, standing nearly six feet. Working the ranch the
dark-brown-skinned teen in shape also, and the two thick plats he
wore left his handsome face, with his neatly trimmed, thin mustache,
wide open to be admired.

Koko was all smiles as she watched the girl behind the register
fumble with empty cups before walking off. She was cute, if Koko had
to tell it; short and brown-skinned with short, curly hair, dark eyes
and a nice smile. She was obviously a couple of years older than
Walee, but Koko knew he’d been dealing with Jordan for a while
so her age really didn’t matter.

“Go ‘head, playboy.” Koko said as she smiled at
Walee. “Handle your biz.”

“I got this here,” Walee said confidently as he smiled at
the female and gave her a friendly wave. “I’m a get her
name, number and a hook up for us, watch.”

“Well, do your thizzle. Me and Kimi gone take Spoonie and Tyke
across the way to see this here singer. Get us a table ‘cause
we gone sit down and eat.”

“Cool.”

Narshea, (Narshay) meanwhile, although she smiled as she signed
autographs and took pictures, was pissed to high heaven that ‘Big
Derrick’ and Torre`, her record label’s owners, had sent
her down to Oklahoma City to make a couple of appearances. She had
only planned on stopping over to Quail Mall to see what kind of
jewelry was on hand and to get a bite to eat, regardless of what the
flyer said, but she was quickly spotted by a group of females who
practically worshiped her. A crowd soon formed and Narshea was now
swamped with fans as her bodyguards held back the crowd. Getting into
the groove of things, because she truly loved adoration, Narshea
began handing out free tickets to her performance on the University
of Oklahoma’s campus the following Saturday.

Spoonie and Tyke made their way through the crowd with Kimi and Koko
following close behind. The youngest were eager to get a hold of some
tickets and return the following day to see one of their favorite
singers perform, but when they reached the front, Narshea had given
all of the free tickets away.

“Can we get an autograph?” Tyke yelled out. “Narshea!
Narshea! Give me and my sister your autograph! We got all your
music!”

“Thank y’all for comin’ out! See me tomorrow on the
Sooner campus!” Narshea yelled aloud as she backed away from
the crowd.

“Hey! We asked you for an autograph!” Spoonie yelled
aloud.

“Calm down, Spoonie,” Kimi said. “She probably
didn’t hear you.”

“She heard her! She was looking dead at us!” Tyke yelled.
“You ain’t all that!” she then screamed.

Narshea heard the comment and turned back to the crowd and looked
over in the four sisters’ direction. “Look at you, okay?”
she said matter-of-factly. “You drug your country ass down here
to this mall to see me, okay? And now ya’ mad ya’ ain’t
got no free tickets to see me, okay? So yes, boo, boo—I am all
that and then some!”

“We ain’t come here to see you we came here to buy
stuff!” Spoonie yelled.

“What the hell you all up in my face for tryna get free tickets
then? Carry on!”

“You carry on! Ole hoola-baloola looking self!” Tyke
snapped.

“I got ya’ hoola-baloola ya’ saucer eye heffas!”

“You ain’t gotta be so mean to people!” Kimi
snapped.

“Fuck you!” Narshea snapped as she mean mugged Kimi.

Kimi and Koko charged at Narshea, but two of her bodyguards stopped
them both while the other bodyguard shoved Narshea behind the counter
of the Famous Cajun Grill. “You ain’t have to do that! I
coulda handled them hoes!” Narshea yelled.

“You lucky they here or we woulda’ kicked your ass with a
smile on our face!” Koko yelled.

“Yea! Yea! Yea! Poof! Be gone ya’ double mint groupies!”
Narshea yelled as she danced behind the food counter, taunting the
twins before she walked off.

“That’s why we be burnin’ all your music! We ain’t
never pay for nothin’ you got! And when we get home we gone
smash all your shit!” Tyke yelled, startling Kimi and Koko, who
merely laughed aloud.

“And ya’ looks good behind that fast food counter,”
Kimi added. “Your ass phony anyway! And nobody like ya’
music! And this where ya’ gone be workin’ pretty soon if
you keep treatin’ your fans like that ya’ booger nose
bitch!”

“Alrighty then,” Koko said, still laughing. “We are
done over here. Let’s go eat.”

Walee was cracking up as he sat at the table watching his sisters
walk his way. Their voices were echoing throughout the food court
just seconds earlier and people were eyeing them like they were all
crazy as they headed towards their table.

“That’s right we said it! Y’all stupid for lettin’
her mishandle y’all! I wouldn’t set foot on Sooner campus
to see that ungrateful ass!” Kimi yelled out to no one in
particular as she sat down.

Once the sisters were seated, they all noticed the table was void of
food. “Where the order?” Koko asked.

Walee looked around. “Oh, here it come now,” he said
nonchalantly as he draped his arms around a couple of chairs and
shook his legs with a smile on his face.

“Whaaat?” Kimi and Koko sang.

“You got table service, Walee?” Koko asked in surprise.

“I do my thang well,” Walee said through a smile, quoting
a line from Narshea’s current hit single.