Cedric continued muttering with the notebook on his lap, “Chandra. Chandra Rampaul. Was he in the prison guards? Were even his papers legal to be a prison guard? How many times did I meet him? I must flip the papers to reveal him from the shadows of oblivion. A cursory glance into the these pages, must go down in the history as a deep research. Research on men of ill repute, some goons, some spooks, some snitches, and what not.
“But back to Chandra. Here! It reads… ‘Chandra, this man who came to drive taxi in California, ended up becoming a cop in a Federal Prison. He made his way through some scandal, which his handlers do know and have his numbers.’ Oh, not strange, handlers. I really did write this when I met him the first time. That heavy Jamaican accent that he had. Did he work for Sergeant Clifford? Or Maxwell? Or Feinman?
“Who knows? I’m not able to remember it. My bald patch on my head has widened, and my remaining unkempt hair on the side and back of my head, tell gigabytes of stories. The only refuge leads to this notebook in my hands.
“Let me read further, ‘Chandra used to work near a red-light area. He dated a woman named Mali or Maliyah Omars.’ Did he get married to her? He never told me the end result of that dating. ‘But he also dipped his hands in illicit gambling. He knew a guy named Booker alias Ricardo Brathwaite, who used to run a casino in a deli, which his deceased brother used to own.’
“But wait a minute, I haven’t written the location of this casino. Was it in the red-light area or was it on the way to the hood near the bridge? If I ever go to those places, I would always accompany Sergeant Schapiro. But let’s assume that as a cop, you should be posted near a crime area. Chandra was a cop. And used to accompany… Milton? Horace Milton?
“Let’s find more on this page, ‘When off-duty, Chandra visited the scenes of underground. Whether he would be off-duty, or under cover, who knew, except for Shirley…’ Shirley? William Shirley? Guy Shirley? Or William Guy Shirley II? Got it! William Guy Shirley Jr.! Chandra was a beat cop under Sergeant Shirley.
“I flip the page, ‘June 13, 2011. Five men entered the den in the Lakewood. Firing ensued and continued for almost four hours. A chimney came between crossfire, which contained gasoline, and it blew up…’ Wait, what? There was fire all over the place. Did Chandra survive it? Did Sergeant Shirley survive it? If they didn’t, then Palas has no scores to settle with Chandra.
But, what if he had survived it?”