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"A lot’s changed since you been gone."
"I see this. This is really a step up from The Late Night."
"Damn, The Late Night. I haven’t thought about that place in years. We had some good times —" Freeze paused and looked at me. I guess he remembered the last time I was there that Bobby tried to kill me. "And some bad times." Freeze laughed a little. "Anyway, this ain’t that type of place. The Late Night was just that. A late-night hang out. We are marketing to a different clientele."
"Listen to you."
"Wanda taught me to say shit like that. She’s a trip, but she was right. She’s right about most things. She made us all a ton of money over the years. Anyway, I know you didn’t come here just to talk about old times. What’s poppin’?"
"You know somebody named Alvin Childers?"
"Chilly?"
"Yeah, Chilly."
"I know him and so do you, Nick. You remember he used to deal for André back in the day. He’s the one who made peace with Black, and they set up the dead zone where nobody deals. Bitch nigga had to make peace; ’cause Black was gonna blast that ass next. Now he runs most of the drugs uptown. What’s your interest?"
"Business. His wife is my client."
"Gee. What Gee hire you for?"
"Find her brother."
"Didn’t know Gee had a brother."
"Didn’t think you would, he’s not part of the family business. His name is Jake Rollins, he’s a chemist."
"Never met him, just her sister, Chésará
."
"I just left her."
"She’s a bad mutha fucka."
"So I noticed."
"Wild as hell. Into everything."
"I could see that, yeah."
"Pussy was good though."
"You fucked —" Freeze looked at me like I was stupid. "Nevermind. She got anything to do with the family business?"
"No, Gee’s breakin’ her off. You think Chilly had something to do with it?"
"Mrs. Childers does."
"If Chilly did have somethin’ to do with it, your job is easy. All you gotta do is find the body. Chilly likes to make his shit real public. Make a statement, like André used to, you know what I’m sayin’." Freeze laughed. "I know you do, that used to be our thang. Remember?"
I laughed. "Yeah. I remember."
"So let me get this straight. Gee hired you to find her brother. Gee don’t think Chilly’s involved, Gee knows he’s involved. So what does Gee want with you?"
"So I can prove it to the cops."
"Nick. This ain’t nothin’ you want any parts of."