The trip to the Plantation Club was supposed to square things with Gallo—get her and Ezekiel out of debt, but the envelope with the betting slips was still inside her box purse.
Gallo had seen her the night he murdered Houdini and seemingly had no fear of retribution for murdering a Negro. Houdini’s life didn’t matter to Gallo. Honoree wouldn’t matter, either.
Gallo rubbed his calloused fingers over her arm and, pausing at her waist, tugged on the fabric of her dress. “You a stupid little girl, but the prettiest chocolate child I’ve ever seen.”
“Let her go,” said Ezekiel’s dangerously deep voice.
Breathing was a thing Honoree could do later. Where had he come from?
“She’s my girl, Gallo. Let her go.”
“Who do you think you’re talking to, boy?” Gallo glanced around the table, smiling as if nothing unusual had happened or was about to happen.
He then shoved Honoree off his lap, but Ezekiel caught her before she hit the floor. Then he moved her shaking body aside, putting some space between her and Gallo.
“I could kill you here and now,” Gallo said with a grim smile.
“It’s one thing to kill a Black man at an empty bar. Another to kill a man, even a colored man, in a room full of people.”
“You are a brazen boy, Ezekiel Bailey.”
“Maybe, but I’ll walk out of here with my girl. And we won’t talk about tonight ever again.”
“Are you threatening me?” Gallo asked in the tone of a man who’d never heard something so outrageous.
Suddenly, Ezekiel was on one knee next to Gallo’s chair. Honoree could barely hear what he was saying, but she heard enough.
“Capone made a deal with the policy kings in Bronzeville,” Ezekiel said. “Buy his bootleg whiskey, and he’ll keep his hands out of policy gambling in the Black Belt.”
“So what? You, me, and Archie made a different deal.”
“A deal Capone knows nothing about.”
Gallo chuckled, but his eyes were small, angry marbles. “You bet on a dark horse, boy—a mighty dark horse. You gonna double-cross me? I don’t think so. Don’t forget. I know how your daddy died.”
Ezekiel rose from his knees. He backed away from Gallo and took Honoree’s hand. “Time for us to leave, Honoree.”
He nodded at Gallo, and when they reached the other side of the rope, he spoke low and hard. “What were you thinking? Did you want to get killed?”
“How did you know I was here? Did Bessie call you?”
“No. She didn’t call me.”
“I don’t see her. I don’t see her anywhere.” Honoree jerked her hand free and went over to the colored maître d’. “Did you see my friend? The girl in the green number who came in here with me?”
The man squinted. “She left a while ago.”
Ezekiel took her by the arm. “We can’t stay here, Honoree. We’ve got to go.”
“Was she alone?”
Ezekiel squeezed her arm. “We’ve got to go.”
Panic swelled in Honoree’s throat. “Who did she leave with?”
“Calm down, Honoree.” Ezekiel led her toward the door. “Why couldn’t you just wait?”
“I don’t wait. I take care of me. Now, where’s Bessie?”
