I sat in a mid town coffee shop with Fathead's main man, Ralph Mole a few days after Malik Lockjohn got picked up by the FBI and we enjoyed two hot steaming tumblers of coffee and some Apple danish.. Ralph Mole, a short chubby brown skinned man who still wore his hair in a gherri curl from the 80's and was always wearing sunglasses looked at me and smiled as if in seeming amazement and said-
"Kevin,I gotta tell ya...The streets is talking bruh..Every major player in town wants to shake your hand for standing up to that freak,Lockjohn and getting him put behind bars. Chris Thompson said the other day that you got a pair on you larger than anyone else he knows. Fathead is tickled pink.. Man, we are all breathing easy." He said as he slurped his coffee.
"I wouldn't get too relaxed Ralph...He's gotten himself a fancy lawyer and they're saying that there isn't much evidence he committed the two murders he was charged with...and little to none that he had any weapons, since he was the only one that got shot. All that's going to hold up is the attempted kidnap charge and breaking and entering of my house, which I do intend to press." I said.
"Well at any rate..He'll serve the the last six of his original ten year sentence..and maybe you can tack some more years on that , so that the next time he gets out of jail...he'll be too old and feeble to raise any hell." laughed Ralph.
"We can only hope " I laughed.
"Guess you didn't hear ,did ya?" came the voice from behind me. It was a tall, slender Black man, the color of a brown paper bag, whose clothes seemed to just droop off of him.
"That cat made bail today.....the guy you were talking about..Lockjohn...It was on the news."
he said.
A look of horror came across Ralph Mole's face...I looked at the gentleman talking and said nothing.
"Excuse my manners...My name is Bobby...Bobby Sanders....I was looking for you. A couple of people told me that you might be here..I wanted to shake your hand Kevin..I heard you stood tall against that freak Lockjohn and you almost killed him...I sure wish you had of..He's a mad dog and he needs to be put to sleep." said Bobby. he turned to me and said-'Hey mind if I smoke?"
I looked him over then quietly said -"Nah , go ahead.." He pulled out a pack of Newports and lit one up..he took a long drag and then began to talk.
"I know that freak...Well, let's just say..I knew him....I haven't seen him in years...See, me and my friend Calvin , we called Calvin "Booby" was in the second grade with him at William Dick Elementary school in North Philly, 1973...He was a bully even then, nobody liked him, everyone was always afraid of him and if you didn't give him what he wanted..you could have a "mysterious' accident..get hurt...He was a slick bastard even then.. One morning he stopped us as we were about to buy our lunch and demanded our lunch money..I gave him mine, but Calvin wouldn't...and Calvin fought him back,
beat his little ass good too....Hours later...They found Calvin in the playground dead...He had been beaten to death with a Baseball bat. There was a witness...Little Nicky Hilton...who told the cops he had seen Malik Lockjohn commit the crime. Only thing was...Little Nicky Hilton went missing twenty four hours later... No witness, no evidence...Lockjohn goes free .It would be a year before they would find what was left of Nicky Hilton... They found his body in a drainage ditch, rotting away...He had been bludgeoned to death. We all knew that Lockjohn did it. Nobody said anything and worse..Nobody did anything. They did expell him and force him to go to another school.
This was probably his first murders..Nobody ever came forward.. Lockjohn was never charged....I was too afraid. I had moved away from Philly for years...but I never forgot...It always haunted me...I came here last week to attend Calvin's mother's funeral....and I heard that Lockjohn was out of jail and that you had had two run ins with him and almost killed him...I jumped for joy...I been wantin to meet you and shake your hand man." he said.
This was the murder that Sissy Van Buren had told me about, two unsolved murders linked to him as early as when he was in Second Grade. Nobody knew who his real parents were. Lockjohn had been in one Foster home after another and had been kicked out of every school he had been in until he got to high school. He did finish up at Simon Gratz High school.
The psychologist in The Marine Corps labeled him a "Dangerous Sociopath" and reccomended an immediate dismisall from the Marines . That says a lot right there .
Now he was back on the streets..Out on bail..I wondered who was bankrolling him..Somebody too afraid of him to say no,no doubt. My phone went off. I answered it.
"Hello"
"Kev...This is Sissy Van Buren"
"I heard that he's out.." I said.
"He's not only out...He's kidnapped your friend.." she said.
"What? Who?"
"Gus...the bartender at Josie's...A person resembling Lockjohn grabbed him and put him in a car at gunpoint this morning, according to witnesses...I told you to leave this guy alone,I told you that you were in over your head...Now don't do nothing..We are on this...Go home ,sit tight and wait for us to call you." she said.
I dropped my blackberry on the ground.
'What happened bruh?" asked Bobby.
"He's kidnapped my friend" I said.
"Oh crap....this guy just won't stop." said Ralph Mole...
"That's how he do.....if he can't get you, he'll get someone, anyone close to you...damn man.." said Bobby Sanders who banged his fist in his hand.
My Blackberry went off again... I knew who it was....
"Hello Mr. Kevin...I aint forgot about'cha....I got your buddy here with me...Gus? I beleive you know him....I aint killed him yet....I got a sweet deal for ya...Come to the Aloquin Hotel....Yeahhh, that empty spot you thought we was gonna make a truce at...Come alone.. If I sense any cops or any of your fellas..I'll kill him....This is between me and you..No friends,no cops..ya feel me boy? You got one hour." said Malik Lockjohn.
"That means you won't have anybody else there either?"I said feebly.
Click!
"What's up bruh?" said Bobby Sanders..
"I gotta meet this freak alone at the Aloquin..or he'll kill Gus." I said, not feeling all that great and not having a plan...I hadn't planned on him making bail.
"You need some back up? I'm down" said Bobby Sanders.
"No..I gotta go alone." I said.
"Don't be Crazy...Let me call Fathead, Chess, Chris and Smooth..they'll ride with you." said Ralph Mole.
"Uh...Uh....This is on me...all my responsibility...I'm on this." I said.
"Sure ,you don't need any help...I know that freak...He aint to be trusted..." said Bobby Sanders.
"Thanks man..I got this." I said and I left the diner and got in my car. It would take me about 45 minutes in mid day traffic to get to the old empty Aloquin Hotel...I had two guns...A .45 and a snubnose revolver hidden in the small of my back under my shirt. No vest, no trauma plate. I was as vulnerable as could be.
I didn't see any signs of anyone else in the old place. It had been closed a year and a construction crew had gutted it out completely...you could hear echos and hear wind blowing all through it. It was spooky at night and still spooky during the day. I climbed the steps with my gun cocked and ready to go off...When I got to the third floor..I saw Gus , tied and bound in a chair. His eyes grew as large as saucers when he saw me and he jerked his head from side to side as if to tell me to turn around or back up...I had seen enough movies to know exactly what he meant..I hit the floor and rolled and took cover behind a concrete beam...the first three shots bounced on the floor and hit the wall....Never one to be out done..I aimed carefully and fired...just missing the elusive man with the cat like reflexes...
"One of us is going to die Lockjohn...no way both of us is walking out of here" I said, as he fired a shot that just missed my head.
"I can't believe you have the nerve to threaten me...do you know who I am? didn't they tell you who the hell I am?" he screamed....
"The question is...Do I care?" I said.
"I'm gonna close that smart mouth of yours." he said , almost screaming with rage.
"You might want to close yours...did you brush your teeth today? your breath smells like you'd rather be alone." I quipped and fired another round at him that just missed him.
" You have no respect for who I am....That's why I can't let you live." He barked.
"Who are you? A psychopathic loser who has wasted his life building a reputation that frankly ,I think is way, way overblown...They told me you was a badd man, and I gotta tell ya Lockjohn...I just don't see it..I mean really...." I said.
"Don't disrespect me BOY....DON'T DISRESPECT ME...I AM NOT A LOSER, I am LOCKJOHN!!!...." he screamed to the top of his lungs..
While he was talking, I saw a light fixture hanging over his head...I aimed at the light and fired..
Glass went flying all around him and in his confusion he spun around...I fired again and hit him in his shoulder..Then I fired one more time and hit him in his side..He fell up against a table as blood poured out of him like a stream....
"I- I -I don't believe this.... I don't beieve this....I've been..."
"Oh please..will you knock it off...yeah, you've been shot...end of the line for you...no more killing." I said.
He was still recovering from the last time I shot him....He was now too weak and had lost way too much blood to be a threat now and he knew it...He was coughing blood and breathing heavy and holding on to that table to steady himself...
"Looks like you win punk...what are you gonna do..hold me for the cops?...I know your punk ass called them...I hope they hurry up...argggggggggggh, I need medical attention...I'm hurt bad....ohhhhhhhhhhhh." He said as he spit and coughed blood and tried to steady himself on the table.
Then I heard the loudest noise behind me ,I'd ever heard in my life...It sounded like an explosion! Lockjohn's eyes opened up wide..His mouth opened up and blood just poured out of his mouth and he fell to the ground... I kicked the gun out of his hand.....but it didn't matter..he would not be using it anymore...He was dead!
I untied Gus immediately.....
"Wow Kevin...you sho is a good shot... and a smart one too...I knew you would bring some back up with you." he said.
"Back up? I didn't bring any back up..I came alone." I said.
'Alone...well how did you get past the guy he had downstairs?" said Gus.
"What guy?" I asked.
'Sonny Templeton" he said.
"Sonny Templeton? That old bust out? He was workin with him?" I asked..
"Yeah..It was him that kidnapped me..He was supposed to get the drop on you and bring you to Lockjohn." said Gus.
"Gus...There was nobody here when I got here." I said.
"Well ,somebody was here besides you...Looks like they blew the back of Lockjohn's head clean off." said Gus.
We walked downstairs and we saw a pool of blood running from inside to the back of the hotel. We followed the blood and there lying in the weeds was the body of one should have been retired gangster...Sonny Templeton...Somebody had blown the back of his head out also...but who?
"Let the cops sort this out..Gus...Let's get the hell out of here." I said as we got in my car and drove off, leaving the two dead bodies of Malik Lockjohn and Sonny
Templeton inside the building.
It would be at least a week before the bodies would be found decomposing in that building..The Police were so glad that they both were dead that I doubt if they even bothered to investigate the circumstances.
A few weeks later I was in front of my house washing my car, when a familiar figure walked up to me...It was Bobby Sanders, the slender brother I had met in the diner the day Lockjohn got killed.
"Hey man...I heard you got that freak...put him in a pine box." he said.
"I'd like to take credit...but it wasn't me...somebody else was in that house...Somebody took out the player that was working with him and somebody finished him off...YOU wouldn't happen to know anything about that would YOU?" I asked ,looking him dead in the eye.
"Who me? Nah...I'm not into all that gangster stuff. Since I got out of the Marine Corps ,I've been living a quiet life in California...Painting and trying to get my pictures sold." he laughed.
"You were a Marine?" I asked.
"Yup, Special Ops...did a tour in both Gulf Wars...Honorably discharged last spring.Semper Fi baby "he said with a laugh.
"And suddenly you're back in Philly?" I said giving him the side eye...
" I told you, my boy's mother's funeral....I always felt bad that I didn't step up and tell the cops what I knew back then...It wouldn't have saved my friends...but maybe they would have stopped Lockjohn...maybe I would have saved more lives."
"I think you did your part." I said.
"Nah, you're the hero man...I was just the guy who was behind you ,giving you moral support and the time you needed." he said with a wink. He lit a Newport and blew out the smoke..Then
he shook my hand.
"Goodbye Kevin....have a good life brother" he said and then he walked down the street and into the sunlight's glare.
(For Soloman)
"Kevin,I gotta tell ya...The streets is talking bruh..Every major player in town wants to shake your hand for standing up to that freak,Lockjohn and getting him put behind bars. Chris Thompson said the other day that you got a pair on you larger than anyone else he knows. Fathead is tickled pink.. Man, we are all breathing easy." He said as he slurped his coffee.
"I wouldn't get too relaxed Ralph...He's gotten himself a fancy lawyer and they're saying that there isn't much evidence he committed the two murders he was charged with...and little to none that he had any weapons, since he was the only one that got shot. All that's going to hold up is the attempted kidnap charge and breaking and entering of my house, which I do intend to press." I said.
"Well at any rate..He'll serve the the last six of his original ten year sentence..and maybe you can tack some more years on that , so that the next time he gets out of jail...he'll be too old and feeble to raise any hell." laughed Ralph.
"We can only hope " I laughed.
"Guess you didn't hear ,did ya?" came the voice from behind me. It was a tall, slender Black man, the color of a brown paper bag, whose clothes seemed to just droop off of him.
"That cat made bail today.....the guy you were talking about..Lockjohn...It was on the news."
he said.
A look of horror came across Ralph Mole's face...I looked at the gentleman talking and said nothing.
"Excuse my manners...My name is Bobby...Bobby Sanders....I was looking for you. A couple of people told me that you might be here..I wanted to shake your hand Kevin..I heard you stood tall against that freak Lockjohn and you almost killed him...I sure wish you had of..He's a mad dog and he needs to be put to sleep." said Bobby. he turned to me and said-'Hey mind if I smoke?"
I looked him over then quietly said -"Nah , go ahead.." He pulled out a pack of Newports and lit one up..he took a long drag and then began to talk.
"I know that freak...Well, let's just say..I knew him....I haven't seen him in years...See, me and my friend Calvin , we called Calvin "Booby" was in the second grade with him at William Dick Elementary school in North Philly, 1973...He was a bully even then, nobody liked him, everyone was always afraid of him and if you didn't give him what he wanted..you could have a "mysterious' accident..get hurt...He was a slick bastard even then.. One morning he stopped us as we were about to buy our lunch and demanded our lunch money..I gave him mine, but Calvin wouldn't...and Calvin fought him back,
beat his little ass good too....Hours later...They found Calvin in the playground dead...He had been beaten to death with a Baseball bat. There was a witness...Little Nicky Hilton...who told the cops he had seen Malik Lockjohn commit the crime. Only thing was...Little Nicky Hilton went missing twenty four hours later... No witness, no evidence...Lockjohn goes free .It would be a year before they would find what was left of Nicky Hilton... They found his body in a drainage ditch, rotting away...He had been bludgeoned to death. We all knew that Lockjohn did it. Nobody said anything and worse..Nobody did anything. They did expell him and force him to go to another school.
This was probably his first murders..Nobody ever came forward.. Lockjohn was never charged....I was too afraid. I had moved away from Philly for years...but I never forgot...It always haunted me...I came here last week to attend Calvin's mother's funeral....and I heard that Lockjohn was out of jail and that you had had two run ins with him and almost killed him...I jumped for joy...I been wantin to meet you and shake your hand man." he said.
This was the murder that Sissy Van Buren had told me about, two unsolved murders linked to him as early as when he was in Second Grade. Nobody knew who his real parents were. Lockjohn had been in one Foster home after another and had been kicked out of every school he had been in until he got to high school. He did finish up at Simon Gratz High school.
The psychologist in The Marine Corps labeled him a "Dangerous Sociopath" and reccomended an immediate dismisall from the Marines . That says a lot right there .
Now he was back on the streets..Out on bail..I wondered who was bankrolling him..Somebody too afraid of him to say no,no doubt. My phone went off. I answered it.
"Hello"
"Kev...This is Sissy Van Buren"
"I heard that he's out.." I said.
"He's not only out...He's kidnapped your friend.." she said.
"What? Who?"
"Gus...the bartender at Josie's...A person resembling Lockjohn grabbed him and put him in a car at gunpoint this morning, according to witnesses...I told you to leave this guy alone,I told you that you were in over your head...Now don't do nothing..We are on this...Go home ,sit tight and wait for us to call you." she said.
I dropped my blackberry on the ground.
'What happened bruh?" asked Bobby.
"He's kidnapped my friend" I said.
"Oh crap....this guy just won't stop." said Ralph Mole...
"That's how he do.....if he can't get you, he'll get someone, anyone close to you...damn man.." said Bobby Sanders who banged his fist in his hand.
My Blackberry went off again... I knew who it was....
"Hello Mr. Kevin...I aint forgot about'cha....I got your buddy here with me...Gus? I beleive you know him....I aint killed him yet....I got a sweet deal for ya...Come to the Aloquin Hotel....Yeahhh, that empty spot you thought we was gonna make a truce at...Come alone.. If I sense any cops or any of your fellas..I'll kill him....This is between me and you..No friends,no cops..ya feel me boy? You got one hour." said Malik Lockjohn.
"That means you won't have anybody else there either?"I said feebly.
Click!
"What's up bruh?" said Bobby Sanders..
"I gotta meet this freak alone at the Aloquin..or he'll kill Gus." I said, not feeling all that great and not having a plan...I hadn't planned on him making bail.
"You need some back up? I'm down" said Bobby Sanders.
"No..I gotta go alone." I said.
"Don't be Crazy...Let me call Fathead, Chess, Chris and Smooth..they'll ride with you." said Ralph Mole.
"Uh...Uh....This is on me...all my responsibility...I'm on this." I said.
"Sure ,you don't need any help...I know that freak...He aint to be trusted..." said Bobby Sanders.
"Thanks man..I got this." I said and I left the diner and got in my car. It would take me about 45 minutes in mid day traffic to get to the old empty Aloquin Hotel...I had two guns...A .45 and a snubnose revolver hidden in the small of my back under my shirt. No vest, no trauma plate. I was as vulnerable as could be.
I didn't see any signs of anyone else in the old place. It had been closed a year and a construction crew had gutted it out completely...you could hear echos and hear wind blowing all through it. It was spooky at night and still spooky during the day. I climbed the steps with my gun cocked and ready to go off...When I got to the third floor..I saw Gus , tied and bound in a chair. His eyes grew as large as saucers when he saw me and he jerked his head from side to side as if to tell me to turn around or back up...I had seen enough movies to know exactly what he meant..I hit the floor and rolled and took cover behind a concrete beam...the first three shots bounced on the floor and hit the wall....Never one to be out done..I aimed carefully and fired...just missing the elusive man with the cat like reflexes...
"One of us is going to die Lockjohn...no way both of us is walking out of here" I said, as he fired a shot that just missed my head.
"I can't believe you have the nerve to threaten me...do you know who I am? didn't they tell you who the hell I am?" he screamed....
"The question is...Do I care?" I said.
"I'm gonna close that smart mouth of yours." he said , almost screaming with rage.
"You might want to close yours...did you brush your teeth today? your breath smells like you'd rather be alone." I quipped and fired another round at him that just missed him.
" You have no respect for who I am....That's why I can't let you live." He barked.
"Who are you? A psychopathic loser who has wasted his life building a reputation that frankly ,I think is way, way overblown...They told me you was a badd man, and I gotta tell ya Lockjohn...I just don't see it..I mean really...." I said.
"Don't disrespect me BOY....DON'T DISRESPECT ME...I AM NOT A LOSER, I am LOCKJOHN!!!...." he screamed to the top of his lungs..
While he was talking, I saw a light fixture hanging over his head...I aimed at the light and fired..
Glass went flying all around him and in his confusion he spun around...I fired again and hit him in his shoulder..Then I fired one more time and hit him in his side..He fell up against a table as blood poured out of him like a stream....
"I- I -I don't believe this.... I don't beieve this....I've been..."
"Oh please..will you knock it off...yeah, you've been shot...end of the line for you...no more killing." I said.
He was still recovering from the last time I shot him....He was now too weak and had lost way too much blood to be a threat now and he knew it...He was coughing blood and breathing heavy and holding on to that table to steady himself...
"Looks like you win punk...what are you gonna do..hold me for the cops?...I know your punk ass called them...I hope they hurry up...argggggggggggh, I need medical attention...I'm hurt bad....ohhhhhhhhhhhh." He said as he spit and coughed blood and tried to steady himself on the table.
Then I heard the loudest noise behind me ,I'd ever heard in my life...It sounded like an explosion! Lockjohn's eyes opened up wide..His mouth opened up and blood just poured out of his mouth and he fell to the ground... I kicked the gun out of his hand.....but it didn't matter..he would not be using it anymore...He was dead!
I untied Gus immediately.....
"Wow Kevin...you sho is a good shot... and a smart one too...I knew you would bring some back up with you." he said.
"Back up? I didn't bring any back up..I came alone." I said.
'Alone...well how did you get past the guy he had downstairs?" said Gus.
"What guy?" I asked.
'Sonny Templeton" he said.
"Sonny Templeton? That old bust out? He was workin with him?" I asked..
"Yeah..It was him that kidnapped me..He was supposed to get the drop on you and bring you to Lockjohn." said Gus.
"Gus...There was nobody here when I got here." I said.
"Well ,somebody was here besides you...Looks like they blew the back of Lockjohn's head clean off." said Gus.
We walked downstairs and we saw a pool of blood running from inside to the back of the hotel. We followed the blood and there lying in the weeds was the body of one should have been retired gangster...Sonny Templeton...Somebody had blown the back of his head out also...but who?
"Let the cops sort this out..Gus...Let's get the hell out of here." I said as we got in my car and drove off, leaving the two dead bodies of Malik Lockjohn and Sonny
Templeton inside the building.
It would be at least a week before the bodies would be found decomposing in that building..The Police were so glad that they both were dead that I doubt if they even bothered to investigate the circumstances.
A few weeks later I was in front of my house washing my car, when a familiar figure walked up to me...It was Bobby Sanders, the slender brother I had met in the diner the day Lockjohn got killed.
"Hey man...I heard you got that freak...put him in a pine box." he said.
"I'd like to take credit...but it wasn't me...somebody else was in that house...Somebody took out the player that was working with him and somebody finished him off...YOU wouldn't happen to know anything about that would YOU?" I asked ,looking him dead in the eye.
"Who me? Nah...I'm not into all that gangster stuff. Since I got out of the Marine Corps ,I've been living a quiet life in California...Painting and trying to get my pictures sold." he laughed.
"You were a Marine?" I asked.
"Yup, Special Ops...did a tour in both Gulf Wars...Honorably discharged last spring.Semper Fi baby "he said with a laugh.
"And suddenly you're back in Philly?" I said giving him the side eye...
" I told you, my boy's mother's funeral....I always felt bad that I didn't step up and tell the cops what I knew back then...It wouldn't have saved my friends...but maybe they would have stopped Lockjohn...maybe I would have saved more lives."
"I think you did your part." I said.
"Nah, you're the hero man...I was just the guy who was behind you ,giving you moral support and the time you needed." he said with a wink. He lit a Newport and blew out the smoke..Then
he shook my hand.
"Goodbye Kevin....have a good life brother" he said and then he walked down the street and into the sunlight's glare.
(For Soloman)
19 comments:
Incredible ending Keith!
So...Lockjohn is dead...I was kind of hoping he'd just go to jail and come back to haunt Kevin again in a future ep...like Culpepper did!
Uber violent,but still satisfying!
I like the way you had something long forgotten come back and do Mr.
Lockjohn in...
You were really opening up a door into this guy's psyche and then you closed it. I sure wished you had let himive..He was interesting.
Lockjohn finnally got what he had coming to him...and not a minute too soon!
Great Ending, it had everything I wanted in a story.
I was on the edge of my seat!
Great story and great ending Keith.
Touche! Another good one!
Bravo Keith!
I was glad that nasty evil man finnally got his come uppance,but he would have made a nice return villan. -:)
I loved this...I swear it was like watching television...You're good
man!
Seems like everybody that worked with Lockjohn wound up getting killed..Glad he got his..He was a scary charactor!
Cool wrap up...I could visualize the entire story in my mind as it unwound..Loved it!
On the one Fam....Loved it!
Enough of this gangster mess..I'm ready for some erotica..I'm ready to toss my panties to the rooftops
again.
Great ending.
You always come up with some type of twist there Keith.
Great ending Bro!
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