Harlem Shuffle

Three years later, Ray has moved his family to a better neighborhood. Following the collapse of Duke’s bank, his in-laws have moved three times and faced financial difficulty. At a family meal, Leland and Alma complain about the recent protests and riots in the city. Ray excuses himself from the meal and walks to his store, taking in the signs of destruction around Harlem. Buildings were burned and cars destroyed after a “white cop shot an unarmed black boy three times” (194). Ray spent the night of the riots guarding his store with a baseball bat. Ray thinks ahead to his meeting with Mr. Gibbs, the sales representative from Bella Fontaine, a large furniture retailer; he wants to become the company’s first African American dealer. He worries that the riots will be a problem for Mr. Gibbs.

Ray stays after closing time to work on a newspaper advertisement for the store. Freddie arrives unexpectedly, looking thinner than ever and clutching a leather briefcase to his chest. He spins a long tale about how he was accidently swept up in the protest and how the protest turned into a riot. Then, he and Linus laid low for a few days and got high. Freddie explains that the briefcase contains stolen goods, something he and Linus stole together. He needs Ray to “sit on” it for a few days as the victims of the crime are now angry. Despite the sense of dread he feels, Ray agrees. As he places the briefcase in his safe, Freddie warns Ray not to open it.

The next day, Ray plans to visit a department store to research Bella Fontaine furniture ahead of his meeting with Mr. Gibbs. As he walks to the station, a man approaches from behind and grabs him by the arm. Ray is forced into a car and taken to a meeting with Chink Montague. For the past five years, Ray has paid protection money to Montague and fenced a large amount of stolen goods on his behalf. Montague was engaged in a turf was with his old mentor, Bumpy Johnson. Both men were backed by a different branch of the Italian mafia, turning their gang dispute into “a proxy war over Harlem’s rackets” (205). Now, a truce has been called and Harlem’s crime divided up between the two men.

Ray meets Montague in the back office of a rundown launderette. Ray agrees that their partnership has been profitable, but Montague wants to talk about Freddie. Ray lies, claiming not to have seen his cousin in months. As Ray leaves the meeting, Montague’s henchman Delroy warns him that the matter is very serious. Afterwards, Ray searches for Freddie in the apartment where he is holed up with Linus. Freddie is not in the apartment, but Ray discovers Linus’s dead body. He realizes the young man died from a drug overdose.

The image of Linus’s corpse lingers in Ray’s mind. He cannot sleep, even though he has the meeting with Mr. Gibbs the next day. Elizabeth consoles him; her professional success means that Ray can now afford to give up the illegal side of his business. The next day, Ray begins his meeting well, but he is interrupted by two policemen who want to talk about “a death that occurred last night uptown” (216). Mr. Gibbs is horrified and leaves quickly. The police officers quiz Ray about Freddie and Linus; Ray feigns ignorance as he hides his rage. The officers explain that Linus’s wealthy family makes his death a priority, so they want to talk to Freddie. One of the officers asks Ray to reserve a sculpture until payday. After they leave, Ray calls to leave a message at Mr. Gibbs’s hotel, but he doubts he will ever hear from the sales representative ever again.

The portrait of Wilfred Duke was removed from the Dumas Club in the wake of his scandal. Duke is still missing, along with the money he stole. In the three years since, the Dumas Club has opened its doors to more members, including Ray. Pierce, now president of the club, he meets Ray for a drink. Pierce is helping the legal team representing the boy shot by the police. He launches into a familiar impassioned complaint about the injustice in the city. Ray asks Pierce about Linus’s family, and Pierce explains that they are wealthy, powerful, and unafraid to use violence to protect themselves.

Ray examines the briefcase Freddie left in his safe. The briefcase is embossed with Linus’s initials. Once Ray breaks open the small lock, he finds personal papers and “the biggest cut emerald” (224) he has ever seen, set in a necklace. Aunt Millie called him in the early hours of the morning because her house was robbed while she worked a night shift. The house had been ransacked by someone searching in every possible hiding place. Ray assured his aunt that he heard nothing untoward about Freddie. Given the value of the emerald necklace and the people involved, Ray knows that he is terribly implicated in his cousin’s problems. He places his employees on paid leave and closes the store, blaming the riots for his temporary unavailability.

After closing his shop, Ray runs into Detective Munson, accompanying the policeman as he rides around collecting bribes from local businesses. Munson apologizes for not blocking the detectives who interrupted Ray’s meeting with Mr. Gibbs. He blames the riots but explains that the wealth and power of Linus’s family mean that the police are under a huge amount of pressure to solve the case. When Ray returns to his store, he finds Freddie inside waiting for him.

Freddie recounts his recent experiences. By his account, Linus came up with the idea to steal the necklace. After being arrested alongside Biz Dixon, Freddie turned to Linus to bail him out of jail, and the two grew close, spending weeks and then months in a drug-induced stupor funded by Linus’s family wealth. The pair was separated for a brief time when Linus’s family pressured him into visiting a rehabilitation facility and Freddie tried to improve his life by working regular jobs.

When Freddie ran into Linus again, they resumed their old ways and were soon living together, injecting heroin every day. After spending winter in St. Augustine, Linus told Freddie about the plan to rob his parents. On the night of the riots, they stole the necklace from the Van Wyck residence. As they took the necklace from the safe, however, Linus’s father interrupted them. Linus fought his father, pushed him into a chair, and then escaped with Freddie and the necklace. They hid from the police and Van Wyck’s henchmen in the rundown hotel and left the briefcase with Ray. One morning, Freddie went out for breakfast. He returned to find that Linus had overdosed. Ray speculates whether someone might have killed Linus and made his death look like an overdose. Freddie dismisses the idea. He needs to leave town. Ray turns to Pepper for help.