"Need to talk with Belair."
I squint. It's 5:15. "Who needs to talk with Belair? Only reason anybody'd call this early, something bad's happened. Or you need me for some kind of bail. Which is it?"
"This Belair? 'Cause it's the only time there's no long line for the phone in here."
"So...Speak to me."
"This is Marcus Shaw. I'm still in lock up. Alexis...Alexis Adams already got out."
"Who?" I say. "Marcus who?"
"Thought you knew. I'm in all the papers. The guy who was trying to do a deal with that punk Jackson, Coach of the Warriors...Basketball? They're saying stuff's not true, so I need you to tell it right...you know, since you're big in sports, Sports Blog and all. Tell my end of this."
Now I remember. "Oh, yeah, the guy tried to shakedown Coach Jackson for $200 grand. Extortionist. Sure, I read about you."
"Don't believe any of it. Listen to me. I'll tell you how it really is. No extortion, simply a business deal. I'll tell you what happened, then you can write it. Got it?"
"Okay, okay," I say. "Let me hear what you got, then I'll decide what to believe. Hope you got something good, this early in the morn..."
"It's good. It's real good. Me and Alexis, done this, okay, but nothing illegal. And she ain't no Skanky Whore neither, or Stripper like they say. She's an Exotic Dancer. And a Singer. Get that straight."
"I thought she was a..."
"Exotic Dancer, and a good one. Anyway, she has an affair with this dude Jackson, back a few years. Guy's married with four children, sixteen years, and he's doing Alexis on the side, can you believe. And he's a minister. That's right. A preacherman. And they're calling me bad. You gotta tell them my side."
He takes a deep breath. "Okay, so one day Alexis shows me these pictures of Jackson all naked and everything. I was shocked. From the front. And it's all there. So I'm thinking we save this guy. If we put these pictures on the internet, his life is in ruins, he's destroyed, everybody finds out he's doing Alexis, you know, behind his wife's back?"
"So you had naked pictures of Jackson?"
"And a CD, caught him talking some real crazy sex stuff, his congregation would blush for sure." He laughs. "$200 grand to save his life, his career, save his marriage. It was going to be a simple business deal."
$200 grand?" I say.
"That's cheap for this guy. He has a lot to lose, but no, fool goes to the cops. This I can't believe. We thought his family was important to him, so I guess they ain't."
"They would probably know sooner of later," I say. "Hard to keep an affair secret."
"Those pictures show everything. You'd think he'd want that stuff private. I sure would. Keep his privates private." He laughs. "Told him you don't want the vultures of the media get a hold of them."
"So, you didn't get bail?"
"Flight risk, I guess. Alexis, damn girl, she's 28, so she got out. But me. I'm 40, and I got a Robbery conviction, and I got arrested for murder, but it got dismissed, but still. No way I can afford any bail."
"And you thought you'd get away with this...business deal?"
"Why wasn't she bangin' Tiger Woods. $200 grand, dude like that, it's pennies. We'd be gone, living the life."
"Maybe Jackson thought you'd keep coming back for more?" This guy's interesting. From the horse's mouth. This will work for a blog post. So I play along, keep him talking.
"I keep saying, it's nothing personal," he says. "I ain't no criminal. Told the dude, I'm in the Reputation Management Business. Alexis figured he'd leave his wife first, but that never happened. So I made up a story, like good salesmen do, make thing easier for all parties."
"A story?" I say.
"Yeah, took some thought too. She meets the guy back when he was announcing the Nets games, and she was working at a Gentleman's Club. They hit it off real good, doing it while he's got four kids at home. And they're calling Alexis a scumbag whore? You getting all this? It was business."
"I'm listening. How did you contact him, anyway. Just walk up to him?"
"Pretty much. I took the time to drive back to Memphis. I see him in a hotel where they're playing. He's now the Coach of the Warriors. In the lobby I showed him the pictures, and tell him the story. Sounded legit. We even had CD's. Told him I found it all in a storage locker I bought.
"Got $5 grand from him, but that was it. Never got anymore. Guys a fool. You'd think he'd know more about ball control." He laughs again.
I laugh too, at that one.
"When I achieve wealth and national acclaim," I say. "I'll get nude pictures taken with a Stripper...I'm sorry... an Exotic Dancer. What could possibly go wrong?"
"I know. I saw those pictures, I had to sit down. Dude's some kind of pastor, lets somebody take naked pictures, and the CD's. Guy has no control whatsoever. Dude needs professional help."
Silence.
"So, you're getting all this?"
"Every word. And I know what he'll be saying. Satin is trying to destroy my ministry. Lots of tears too, I bet."
"Got that right," he says. "True Love Worship Center International in Van Nuys. Been there three years. Anyway, he says $35 Grand, but I say add $165 Grand more and you're saved. Didn't know the cops were listening.
"So, I'm thinking, hey, how about the wife. She don't want her husband's package going out on the internet. She'll pay."
"Makes sense." I say.
"Stop, guys, I'm talking here. Trying to make a call. This place...So, listen to this. I get in touch with the wife. Smart, right? She should get a load of her reverend husband. She's got a stake in this business proposition too, right?"
"I would think." I say
"So I set up a Gmail with the name Mark Smith, and Tencommandment7@gmail.com, and send a message to the wife. But she's just like him. Don't care about family. They're both fools."
"If memory serves, that's how they caught you. Traced your IP address."
"Tencommandment7@gmail.com. Took me some time setting that up. They find me by my IP address. Stupid to give my real address. Stupid, stupid, stupid."
"Yeah, that was probably a mistake. You want to keep your privates, private."
"You got that. And can you believe what he says afterwards to the press? Wait I got it right here. 'I recognize the extremely poor judgment that I used both in having an affair six years ago--including the embarrassing communication I exhibited during that time--and in attempting to deal with the extortion scheme at first by myself. I made some egr...egre...
"Egregious?"
"Yeah, that. 'Errors. I apologize for any embarrassment I may have caused my family, friends and, of course, the Warriors.'" He laughs. "I'm embarrassed just reading this. The fool."
"How could his family not be embarrassed seeing their father, husband naked." I say. "I don't think embarrassed is the right word. Outraged, or Repulsed, or maybe completely Sickened by whole thing."
"Hey, stop pushing," says Shaw. "Belair, I gotta go. You print this. Tell them no hard feelings. It was a business deal, plain and simple. Wasn't trying to hurt nobody. Just trying to make an honest buck. Save the guy's reputation. Hey, that don't come cheap. Dude goes to the cops, can you believe...for a lousy $200 grand?...Hey...I'm making a call here...stop pushin'...it's not your turn...Damn, I gotta get out of here."
............................................
Help comes from:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=mc-spears_mark_jackson_warriors_071811,
sfgate.com/sports/article/Warriors-Mark-Jackson-has-2-strikes,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Jackson_%28basketball%29,
readabilityformulas.com,
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