Read Online Baby Brother's Blues by Pearl Cleage - Free Book Online Page A

warring gangs and their endless struggles to control the lucrative drug trade. Shoot-outs and beat-downs occurred in broad daylight and people were increasingly afraid of being caught in the cross fire. Her first week on the job, a seventeen-year-old dealer had used a fifteen-month-old baby as a human shield and the child was shot and killed. Lee’s beleaguered sergeant wanted action, and he told Lee it was her job to make it happen.
    Lee wanted action, too. Her long-term ambition required the cleanup of this precinct to be a success story, not an embarrassment. So she sat down with T. G. Thomas, the smartest of the gang leaders, and explained to him that he had a new partner. As his partner, Lee promised to create a space for him to move around in where business could be done with a minimum of disruption to community life. Distribution points would be controlled and dealers would stay away from schools, residential areas, and main thoroughfares.
    There would be no more shoot-outs, she explained. It wouldn’t be necessary. The leadership of the other gangs, as well as their soldiers, were being warned to clear out or face her wrath. Lee wasn’t naïve enough to think she could eradicate the drug trade, but she intended to stop the casual violence that surrounded it. T.G., who couldn’t have been more than twenty-five, agreed to her proposal and they shook hands. She declined his offer of a share of the proceeds, reminding him that she was still a cop and that if he didn’t hold up his end of the bargain, she’d put his ass
under
the jail.
    Lee knew Poppy would have called it a deal with the devil, but she was realistic. She didn’t need to fix things permanently. She just needed to keep her precinct quiet until she could make her bones and move on. After that, the community was on its own again. Somebody else would have to figure out how to keep the peace.
    Her strategy worked like a charm. Within days, Lee had arrested five dealers and intimidated the rest. Things started to quiet down. People returned to their porches and playgrounds, avoiding the designated spots the dealers now claimed and keeping one eye out for the ever present pit bulls. Lee nipped any renegade activity in the bud. In a month, things were going so smoothly her sergeant commended her and Bob Watson called to invite her to lunch.
    That was almost five years ago. The partnership she had forged with Bob had served them both well. Of all her mentors, Bob had been the most useful, as well as the one she considered most nearly her equal in intelligence, emotional complexity, and sexual stamina. Only the sex had been a surprise. His other qualities were part of why she had been curious about him long before their involvement in the city’s active cocaine trade brought them together.
    She knew who he was, of course. He was well respected, professionally and personally, and had been on a first-name basis with every Atlanta mayor since Maynard Jackson took office as the first African American to hold the seat in 1973. His special interest was the ongoing gentrification of some of the city’s most run-down neighborhoods, including Lee’s precinct. Bob expressed his desire to talk with her about the vital role public safety played in his revitalization efforts. They chatted easily throughout the meal. Over coffee, Bob casually complimented her on forging the deal with T. G. Thomas that had returned peace to the precinct. Until that moment, she was unaware that Bob and T.G. even knew each other.
    “How do you know Mr. Thomas?” Lee said.
    “We’ve been in business together for ten years. He was fifteen when I made an investment in him. He was ready to go off on his own and he needed capital.”
    Bob made it sound like T.G. was going to open a shoe store and had needed a small business loan.
    “I don’t know what Mr. Thomas told you, but all I’m interested in is making it safe for innocent people to walk down the street.”
    Bob nodded slowly. “I