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“Q.”
He laughed and held his hands up. “I’m not here for you.”
“Then why did you ask for me?”
“One of my cooks cut his hand last night and needed surgery. I came to check on him and figured since I was already here, I’d say hello.”
That sounded reasonable, and now I was feeling stupid for assuming.
“Oh,” I said, feeling ashamed.
“Yeah. Oh!”
“Well, I hope he is okay.”
“He’ll be straight. Probably out of work for a minute but I’m going to still pay him until he comes back. Bills don’t stop because you get hurt.”
His response reminded me of how Rah would handle business.
“That’s nice of you.”
“Yeah, you gotta take care of your people.”
One of the clerks walked by and looked between us and smirked.
“You really don’t care that everybody sees us talking?” I asked.
“Why would I?”
“You own District 12, and I’m Rah’s baby mama. It don’t take much for people to turn that into something.”
His expression changed. “Do you always introduce yourself through Rah? Like is that your whole personality?”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“I didn’t introduce myself through anybody.”
“You just told me who you were by telling me whose baby mama you are.”
“Q, you know damn well that’s not what I meant.”
“I’m not disrespecting that man. I knew Rah.”
“What you mean you knew him?”
“Who didn’t know him? He would come to District 12 every now and then.”
“When was the last time he came through District 12?”
“He would come through with different people. Sometimes with his brother and sometimes with other people. Why are you interrogating me?”
“Can you tell me the last time you saw him there?”
“A couple of weeks before he got murdered.”
“Who was he with?”
