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I sat down on the bed and Wanda left me alone. The envelope had a notebook in it. I sat quietly and began to read. It was a journal. A very detailed account of all contact Camille had with any of us. All about our operation. Where our gambling houses were, and who ran them. Everything. From the first time she met Freeze at the Knicks game. She fucked him too. She wrote at length and in great detail about Black. How it troubled her that she never could get Black to talk to her, much less tell her anything important. She wrote, "Black would say just enough to get me out me dress."
Which is how I coulda played her.
Camille wrote about her and Bobby. About how she was so turned on when she met me. She wrote everything, every conversation she’d heard, everything she saw. Everything I ever told her. She even described her desire to seduce Wanda.
I sat there reading for hours. Was she Five-O? Couldn’t be. No cop would keep this type of journal and leave it around to be found.
Wanda was back in her spot on the couch and I joined her there. "Where did Freeze find this?"
"Freeze searched her apartment."
"What was he doin’ there?"
"Mike sent him."
"Why?"
"Why do you think Mike would? She was a cancer growing in his organization."
"What happened that night?"
"After we read the journal, Mike made Freeze take Bobby home. Then me and Mike went to see Camille."
"To kill her."
"No, Mike offered her twenty thousand dollars to go back to Barbados. She refused. He asked her to explain herself. She said it was just to protect herself. And that she had another copy of that book and she would use it when she needed to, and for more than twenty thousand dollars."
"So Black shot her."
"No. You know Mike would never shoot a woman."
I looked at Wanda.
"I shot her, Nick."
"You."
"Yes, Nick, I shot her. It had to be done. She was poison, and she was eating her way through our entire organization. There’s enough evidence in that journal she was keeping to put all of us in jail for long time. I know how you felt about her and I hope you can forgive me, but I did what had to be done."
"All these years I thought Bobby killed her."
"No, Nick, he didn’t. I killed her. Bobby said he felt stupid to be so fooled by her. Camille had you all fooled."
"That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t change the facts. I betrayed Bobby."
"Whatever, Nick. I’m goin’ to bed. You’re welcome to stay here, if you want. I have plenty of room."
"I might take you up on that." I yawned.
"I hope you do. We still have things to talk about. So I hope you’re still here when I wake up. Good night, Nick."
"Good night, Wanda. And thanks."
"For what?"
"For being there." I stood up and hugged her.
"I wouldn’t miss it for anything in the world. Just don’t run away from us this time. We love you." She kissed me on the cheek. "Good night, Nick."