I called him.
He picked up on the second ring the way he always did.
“Xavier. Everything okay?” he answered, knowing that I never called him this late.
“I need to run something by you,” I said. “I got some information today and I don’t know what to do with it yet but I know I need to tell you.”
“Talk to me.”
I ran through all of it. Brielle coming to the gym. What she overheard Marcus saying through that office door the morning after the hospital. Every detail she gave me — the graze Mazi caught that could have been worse. How Marcus had said he doesn’t know, neither does she, the twins won’t figure it out, the older one is too focused on the title fight.
Legal was quiet while I talked. Not the kind of quiet where somebody was waiting for you to finish so they could respond. The kind of quiet where somebody was listening to every single word and making a serious note of it.
When I finished he didn’t say anything for a moment.
“Legal? You there?”
“I’m here.” His voice was different. Controlled in a way that told me he was working to keep it that way. “Mazi was shot?”
“Grazed. He’s okay. It happened a few weeks ago outside a trap house. I handled it with him directly and I thought it was connected to him being in the streets but now—”
“Why didn’t you call me when it happened? Does your moms know? I was wondering what he was doing for money if he never came back and worked with me. Now, I see.”
The question landed flat and heavy and I didn’t have a good answer for it.
“I was handling it, and I’m sure he didn’t call cause he’s ashamed. My mom doesn’t know cause I promised him I would tell her.” I said.
“Xavier.” He stopped. Started again. “That boy is my family too. You should have called me.”
“I know, but at the time, I thought keeping his secret was the best thing to do. I didn’t think he could be caught up in all the other stuff.”
Another silence. Longer this time.
“This man Marcus,” Legal said. “He knew about the shooting before Brielle told him anything?”
“That’s what she said, and the call I overheard at the hospital would make me believe so. I don’t even know this nigga.”
“And he referenced your title fight specifically. As a distraction?”
“Yeah.”
“And you heard the name BJ connected to this man Marcus?”
“In the hospital corridor. He stepped out to make a call and I was at the vending machine and I heard him say tell BJ everything is moving the way it’s supposed to.” I leaned forward. “That name has been in my head since I was five years old. You know that. You know what I heard that night after my pops was killed in front of me.”
“I know.” Legal sighed. I could hear the stress in his voice.
“So what is the connection. Between Marcus, and BJ, and what happened to my father. Because I know there is one and I knowyou know more than you’re telling me right now. When my brother life gets placed in danger, I can’t sit back. Im coming to you for help, but I’ll handle this alone if I have to.”
The silence that followed was the longest one yet.
And it told me everything.
“I need you to listen to me very carefully,” he said. His voice had dropped completely. Flat and serious in a way I had never heard from him before in my life. “I have been working on something for a very long time. Since the night your father died. And I am not ready to put all of it on the table yet because I don’t have everything I need to do it safely. Do you understand what I’m saying.”
“You know who BJ is?”
He didn’t answer that directly.
