"Ain't nothin' to worry 'bout. I be taking care of my baby."

"I'm sure you are, Mrs. Jefferson, but when somebody's mom calls in and says they're worried, I'm supposed to come out and see if everything's okay." I pulled the parka closer around me. "If I could just come in and talk to you both for a minute, I could be on my way."

To my right, the door at the opposite end of the hallway suddenly opened all the way with a bang, and a posse of three men came inside amid a blizzard of profanity and posturing. All of them were layered up with jackets, all of them down with the perp walk. My testicles withdrew into my body as Mrs. Jefferson shut the door on me.

The back door stayed open. The leader of the gang, seeing me, stopped and looked around behind him, then down the hall behind me. "Yo, fuck."

I nodded. "'Sup," I said, dishing back some brilliant repartee. But I turned to face them, standing my ground.

"'Sup wi' this shit?" They'd come up close, surrounding me, all intimidation, the usual. The man's eyes looked a sickly yellow. He hadn't shaved in several days. Or, apparently, brushed his teeth ever.

I looked him in his yellow eyes. "It's no shit," I said. I held up my ID. "CPS, guys. Just checkin' on Keeshiana in here. See she's all right."

The front man took a beat, another look around. He swore again, cocked his head, and the posse moved past. The last man, eschewing his earlier mannerly approach, hawked and spit on the floor at my feet.

Tempted to tell them to have a nice day, I figured there wasn't any advantage in it and instead bit my tongue, then turned and knocked again on the door. "Me again," I said.