Chapter 11

Ash and Jo walked until they got to a convenience store. They entered, startling the geriatric sales lady who was taking a nap.

"What can I get you young couple?" The woman asked as she sluggishly adjusted her glasses and smiled at them.

"We'd like to see Jean." Jo said, not looking at the woman, but rather at the security camera behind the woman.

The woman scowled and fixed her with a stern look, "Look, I sell a lot of things, but I don't sell jeans. If you're not interested in buying anything, you better leave."

Ash felt like a child who'd had been caught stealing from the cookie jar, "We're quite sorry, Ma'am. We'll just be on our way."

"No." Jo said intractably, "I'm not leaving until I see Jean."

"Are you crazy?" Ash whispered to Jo, "She doesn't know what you're talking about."

The old woman was about to wag her finger at Jo, when the landline next to her rang. She picked it up, listened to what the person at the other end had to say, and slammed it down.

After that, she pursed her lips and said, "Jean says you can come in. Just go downstairs."

She opened a door behind her, and Ash and Jo went in, thanking her as they did.

They went down a damp stairway and then they got to an iron door. Before they could touch it, it mechanically slid open and they saw into a brightly illuminated room.

The room was filled with computer screens showing different activities. At the center of it all was a figure in a swivel chair, typing away at what looked like five different keyboards at the same time.

Jo cleared her throat, and the chair swiveled around, showing them a reed thin young woman with a shaved head.

"Jo! What are you doing here? Who is this snack you brought with you?" The woman asked, appraising Ash as if he were rare steak.

Jo started to reply, "Jean. I need your-"

"Nope. Nope. Don't say it." Jean said, covering her ears with her palms.

Ash looked at Jo, "Are you sure we can trust her?"

Jean released her ears and shot Ash a glare, "Of course, you can. Even better, I don't have a teenage offspring who might be tempted to snitch."

Ash and Jo looked at her with shock.

"You know about that?" Ash asked when he found his voice.

"Of course, I do. I have my ears in the police comms and servers. I even have the audio of the call he made. Do you want to take a listen?" Jean asked graciously, her eyes twinkling.

"No!" Jo and Ash shouted simultaneously.

"Then what do you want?" Jean asked them as she turned to face her precious screens once more.

"I need you-"

Again, Jean interrupted, "Blah, blah, blah. I'm not listening."

Ash gave Jo a look that could be interpreted as 'you've brought us to the lair of a mad woman.'

"What don't you want to hear?" Jo asked in frustration as she walked up to where Jean was seated and looked at one of the screens.

"Oh my God!" Jo said, averting her eyes.

"What? You're gonna act like you don't watch porn?" Jean said as she continued to the screen.

"Not in the daytime." Jo spluttered.

"It's daytime?" Jean asked, surprised.

"You didn't know?" Ash said as he joined them.

"Nope. I rarely leave here."

"Jean, Jo and I are in trouble." Ash said, trying to work up to pleading with her to help them.

Jean wrinkled her snub nose, "For a really hot dude, you like to state the obvious."

Ash decided to go straight to the point, "We have a camera here. We'd like you to see if there's anything stored in it."

Jean smiled at him, "And why didn't you say so all along?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you all along." Jo said with frustration.

"Oh! I thought you were going to tell me to come up and empty the trash." Jean said.

"Why the hell would I do that?" Jo asked, exasperated.

"I dunno. That's what my grandmother always comes to tell me." Jean shrugged, "Can I have the camera?"

Ash produced the package, and unwrapping it, pulled out an oval object that looked like a light bulb, only it was black.

Jean took it, looked at it with narrowed eyes and then opened a part of it. She found a tangled USB cord lying on the floor next to her. Not bothering to disentangle it, she connected it to the camera and then plugged it to her system.

"Let's see what you've got here." She said as her fingers flew over the keys on her keyboard.

* * *

Jo watched from a distance as Jean tried to get access to what was on the camera. Staring at a screen for so long had given her an honest to goodness headache, so she'd left her post near Jean and was leaning against a wall.

Meanwhile, Ash seemed rooted to the spot next to Jean and was staring at the screens relentlessly.

Jo overheard pieces of the conversations the two were having, but not enough to make complete sense.

She saw Ash give Jean a disarming smile, and to her utmost surprise, the woman blushed and giggled.

Jo tensed as an intense pang shot through her. She didn't want Ash smiling that way at another woman.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she admitted to herself that she was jealous. Which was funny, she thought, because all she'd shared with Ash was only one kiss, in a dingy alley no less.

"Why is it taking so long?" She snapped at them, interrupting some joke Jean was telling Ash.

"So grouchy." She heard Jean whisper. The traitor.

"I know right?" Asher replied in a stage whisper.

Jo rolled her eyes, "You still haven't answered my question."

Jean turned, "The footage was wiped. But I have the tech to recover it, although it takes a lot of time. You happy?"

"Terribly." Jo growled. Jean and Ash ignored her and continued their discussion.

* * *

"So you and Jo, huh?" Jean asked as she twiddled her thumbs and waited for her software to recover the lost footage.

"What do you mean?" Ash replied, not looking at her.

"Seriously, the sexual tension between you two is as thick as Blac Chyna." Jean replied, smiling.

Ash winced, "Thanks for that the vivid comparison."

"Anytime. So, are you together?" Jean asked, undeterred by the dark look Ash gave her.

"What makes you think that?" Ash asked, not wanting to give her a definite answer.

"The scowl she's been shooting me for the past half hour." Jean replied.

"What has that got to do with anything?" Ash asked, confused.

"Men." Jean exclaimed, hitting her forehead with her palm. "She thinks we're flirting, so she's scowling at me because she's jealous."

Ash immediately looked back and saw Jo scowling.

He turned back to Jean and smiled. Yes, he liked the thought of Jo getting jealous over him. It meant he wasn't the only one going in way over his head. He vowed he'd address the attraction between them as soon as their names were cleared.

"Now you're grinning like an idiot." Jean said.

Ash ignored her and kept smiling.

"I've found something!" Jean announced, startling Ash and causing Jo to stride to where they were.

Jo folded her arms across her torso and stayed on the other side of Jean, not wanting to be in close contact with Ash. This was not the time to get distracted.

Jean played a grainy video clip that showed the ground floor of the building.

"Hey! Who's that?" Ash asked as he pointed at the screen. Jean rewound the footage and it showed a tall man in a baseball hat, shades and face mask enter hurriedly.

"I don't recognize him." Jo admitted.

"Me too. Jean can you run facial recognition?" Ash asked.

"If you think I can run a facial recognition with how grainy this footage is and how covered his face is, then you probably watch too many TV shows for your own good." Jean proclaimed.

Minutes later, the footage showed a gangster and his thugs walk up the stairs with swagger and duffel bags.

"J-Cane." Ash and Jo said simultaneously.

"You know him?" Jean asked.

"Yeah. He's the leader of the Jelly's." Ash replied.

"What's that? A dance troupe?" Jean asked with a laugh.

"No. It's a street gang." Ash replied.

Jean turned to him, "You're serious, aren't you?" Ash nodded, and she continued, "What kind of silly-ass name is the Jelly's?"

"I've heard worse. There's a gang out there called the Sopranos." Jo said, smirking at Ash.

"Nah. If you really take a look at it, it's not that bad. In an opera, the Soprano is one of the most vital parts. You don't mess with the soprano. When a soprano sings, everyone listens." Jean said.

"What's the world coming to? What do you people see in the screeching and screaming?" Jo asked.

"It's a selective taste. Not for everyone." Jean replied and fist bumped Ash.

Jo found herself scowling at their level of camaraderie.

"So now we have this, and we still can't identify the other man, what do we do? We can't just hand this over to the police and expect them to let us go." Ash lamented.

"No we can't. But we can pay J-Cane a visit and find out if he killed that cop. If he didn't, then he'd surely know who did." Jo said.

"Wow! This is better than any police show I've watched in a while, and believe me I've watched a lot. Be sure to keep me posted." Jean said happily.

"We will. Bye, Jean." Ash said.

"Bye Ashie." Jean replied, waving.

Ashie? How mushy was that? Jo thought as they left the room.

When they climbed up to the convenience store, the old woman eyed them balefully, "I forgot to tell you two to remind that little imp to come up and empty the trash."

Jo and Ash thanked her for her help and left.

* * *

Jo and Ash argued over how to get J-Cane to talk to them.

"I say we get to his lair and hide so when he comes in, we'll question him." Ash said.

"It's that easy, isn't it? We just waltz into his lair? Do you know how many men he has? How armed they are? We might just be walking to our deaths." Jo said.

"Then what do you recommend?" Ash asked, hands akimbo.

"I don't know." Jo said, and pulled out her phone. She opened a social media app and began to scroll through her feed.

"Oh sure! There's always time for the gram." Ash said sarcastically.

Jo ignored him and continued scrolling until she got to a video clip.

She clicked on it and showed it to Ash, "See. He went live a few minutes ago. At Sassy's. He's probably still there."

Ash was skeptical, "How is this any different from the plan I hatched?"

"Sassy's a strip club. What are the odds that as flashy as J-Cane is, he'd want a private viewing? You see where I'm going with this?" Jo asked.

Ash was astounded by her smartness and wondered why she was living her life as a gangster.

He didn't realize that he'd spoken the words out until her sunny expression was wiped away and replaced with a closed one.

"Let's go. We don't have time to waste." Jo said as they left.

* * *

When they got to Sassy's which was tucked away between a restaurant and a private cinema, they snuck past the bouncers, who saw two people walk around them, but made no effort to chase after them.

Jo guessed they weren't being paid well enough. Whatever the reason, she was glad the bouncers had remained stoic. It made their job so much easier and it afforded them their anonymity.

They passed the main floor where women wearing only thongs were shimmying on tables, while many men and a few women sprayed dollar bills on them.

Then they approached the hallway that connected the rooms where private performances were being held.

Fortunately for them, the doorways were covered with only curtains, so each door they passed, they only had to shove the curtains aside and peep in to see if their quarry was in there.

In the third room they checked, they found two ladies dancing proactively while their one man audience, J-Cane dozed, clutching an empty champagne bottle to himself.

The ladies looked alarmed for a moment when they saw Jo and Ash, but after a moment, their gazes turned coy as they looked at Ash.

One even offered her nude breasts to him.

Jo scowled, the woman had a very nice pair, nice and fuller than hers.

When Ash smiled at the ladies as he shooed them away, she felt like knocking some of his teeth loose. That would give him something to smile about.

After the women left, Jo and Ash walked up to the sleeping J-Cane. Ash took the bottle from him, lest he lash out with it, and Jo slapped him lightly on his cheeks, "Wake up, J."

J-Cane looked at them sleepily, "Yeah! Shake that ass and titties for me."

Jo gave him another slap, this one was harder than the first.

J-Cane sat up with a start and gazed at the two figures towering over him, recognizing them, "Oh hell! What are you two doing here? You want me to hand you over to the cops?" He asked, trying to stand up.

Ash placed his hands on J-Cane's shoulders and pushed him back into his chair.

"J, I have a feeling that you won't do that." Jo replied.

"Yeah? You wanna try me?" J-Cane blustered.

"Yeah. We know you're the one who was supposed to buy the drugs in that building that day. We have proof. You turn us in, and we'll the cops that you're a cop killer." Ash threatened.

At that threat, J-Cane lost his bravado and cowered in his chair, "I didn't kill no cop, y'all."

"Then who fucking did? 'Cause it sure as hell isn't us." Jo said.

"It was Hatter. It was Hatter, y'all. I was just as surprised when he pulled the trigger. The cop seemed to know him." J-Cane said.

"Shut up! Who the hell is Hatter?" Ash asked.

"He's the seller. He produces a lot of products. He works out of Gulden." J-Cane replied.

"What does he look like? Describe him to us." Jo commanded.

J-Cane shook his head, "That's totally impossible. He's called the Hatter 'cause he always wears a hat on his head, just like the character in Mary Poppins."

"Alice in Wonderland." Ash corrected.

"Whatever," he continued, "He also wears shades and a face mask. The only thing anyone knows about him is that he's tall and Caucasian."