One Blood

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-One

Monday

New Roads, LA

As Jhonnette exited the room, Lincoln tried to remember his last moment of clarity.

He’d been lying on the ground just outside of Angola—people screaming all around him. Roberts was kneeling over him.

“Either you come with me right now, or you die here.” The words seemed to be coming from a voice right next to his ear.

Lincoln bolted upright in bed and glanced around wildly. For a second, he swore he smelled the sour tobacco scent of Roberts’ breath.

What happened next?

The only thing he remembered was waking up in this hospital bed. He needed to stay focused. First things first, he had to contact Amir and confirm Jhonnette’s story.

* * * * *

Jhonnette paced in the hallway searching for a nurse. She needed a few minutes to clear her head, as well as take a much-needed potty break. She’d been running pretty much non-stop since three o’clock in the morning. Her bladder’s burden relieved, her mind returned to Lincoln. She was still a long way from gaining his trust and needed to accelerate the process before it was too late.

While Jhonnette stood patiently in the corner, a short, petite nurse named Monica checked Lincoln’s monitors and administered morphine into his intravenous line. Lincoln paid no attention to the nurse, his eyes fixed intently on Jhonnette.

The nurse finished her duties and glided out of the room.

Jhonnette approached Lincoln’s bedside and asked, “Feeling better?”

“I need to use your phone.”

“To call who?”

“It’s none of your business. Listen, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. Just let me borrow the phone first.”

“Okay.” Jhonnette dug through her purse for the cell phone.

She watched as Lincoln searched for the dialing pad. “How you work this thing?” he asked.

“Let me,” she said, taking it back. “What’s the number?”

After dialing, she returned the phone to him. Lincoln held his breath as the phone rang and rang.

“Amir not answering?” she asked.

Lincoln’s eyes widened. “How did you—”

“Amir has been compromised. You’re going to have to start trusting me, Lincoln, because I may be the only person left that can get you out of this.”

“What the fuck you talkin’ ‘bout lady?”

“Like I said, I’m here to help. I have information you need.”

“Yeah? Well you can start by telling me what the fuck happened to Amir.”

“We’ll get there, but first things first. You need to understand your past to make sense of what is required of you now. What was Kristopher Lafitte doing on the wrong side of town on the day of the Simmons Park Massacre?”

 “I hate when people call it that. It wasn’t no massacre. It was a set up.”

Jhonnette seized her opening. “But set up by whom?”

Lincoln was silent.

“You and Kristopher Lafitte were friends, weren’t you?”

Lincoln rolled away from her. “You think you know me just because you’ve read some articles? You don’t know shit.”

“I know we share a common enemy, Lincoln,” she said. “And we are running out of time. But I need to know why you killed your friend. Or why you allowed yourself to be framed for the crime if you didn’t.”

“Why is that important?”

“Because you are the key to bringing Randy Lafitte to his knees and you don’t even realize it. But first you have to stop blaming yourself.”

Lincoln stared at her for a long time. Then he started talking. His words came painfully slow at first, but soon he lost himself in his own story and Jhonnette got lost with him.