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“What’s up, Mr. Browne?”

“You at the shop?”

“Yeah.”

“How shit looking?”

I looked around before responding. For the shop that I worked at, since he couldn’t be present, he had me making sure that everything ran smoothly in his absence.

“Good. Everything moving how it’s supposed to.”

“Aight.”

I heard movement on his end before he spoke again.

“Sha there?”

“Standing right here.”

“Did y’all find anything?”

I looked at Sha.

“Nah. Not yet.”

Mr. Browne was quiet for a second.

“Aight.”

I could tell he didn’t like the answer, but he didn’t waste time complaining about something none of us could change.

“There is one thing you ain’t gotta worry about no more.”

“What?”

“That FBI situation.”

My eyebrows pulled together.

“What happened?”

“It ain’t a problem anymore.”

I waited for more, but nothing came. I almost laughed.

“What that mean?” I finally asked.

“It means exactly what I said.”

I wasn’t about to fight Mr. Browne for an answer; if he said that things were handled, then it meant just that. A weight I hadn’t realized I was still carrying loosened slightly. The FBI situation had been sitting in the back of my mind since Ghost first told me about Ryan. Even after everything that happened, I couldn’t forget that there had been a federal agent asking questions about bricks that led directly back to MB’s Auto. Now that one problem was out of the way, it was time to focus fully on the next one.

“So, I have the green light on Ghost now?”

That’s all I needed to know. Although I was diligently looking for him, Mr. Browne said to take a beat if I found him because of the whole FBI shit. Now, I didn’t have to do that. It was up if I ever saw that nigga.

“Yeah, it’s go time. Have you spoken to his mama again since you went over there?”

“Yeah… she said she ain’t heard from him.”