Who Shot Ya?

"Hey Kevin, How you doing?" asked Gus as Sean Jackson and I sat up at the bar and ordered our drinks! Sean ordered a shot of Henny and I had my Corona.

"He's rollin in dough Gus..I wish I was doing half as good as him." laughed Sean.

"Is that true Kevin?" asked Gus.

"If he says so." I laughed.

I had recently been promoted to Assistant Editor and Cheif at the magazine that employed both Sean and I. I still had my column (that I wrote from home mostly) and my two blogs that I had been neglecting lately. What Sean was talking about was my other gig....I was now a licensced Private Detective and I had been making a small fortune off of a slew of clients with deep pockets. All of the cases involved a cheating spouse or lover and after I handed the client the damning evidence and refferred them to either Robert Foxworth or Conrad for legal help..I made pretty good change. (Plus Robert and Conrad both broke me off a little change in finders fees for the clients.) Despite my hefty raise from the magazine, I was making more doing my P.I. work.

Thing is..I hated doing this type of thing ...spying on somebody and giving somebody else the evidence that ultimately destroyed their relationships...I hated it and at times hated myself for doing this. I didn't hate the money I was making though. I just longed for the type of case that would get my adrenalin running again.

They say be careful of what you wish for...because you just might find it. Just as I was thinking that...a guy walks into the bar...He was limping and he had a cane...He was about my age, yet he walked like an old man. He seemed to know who he was looking for because he walked right up to where Sean and I were sitting and said to me-

'You're Kevin right? , Kevin Morris?"

"Who wants to know?" I asked him.

"I do....I want to hire you...My name is Eddie..Eddie Gold." He said.

'Hey Eddie..Long time no see." said Gus...

"You know him?" I asked.

'Yeah, yeah...Eddie Gold...used to come in here all the time..Man, how you been...I haven't seen you since they closed the Holden joint." said Gus.

"Yeah ,I've been rehabbin man...I'm back on my game a little bit..glad to see you're still here Gus and got your spot lookin good too." he said.

"The Holden joint? I remember that place...before I was coming in Josie's..I used to stop by there and grab a drink and one of those fat, Roast Beef sandwiches and that great Potato Salad."
I said.

"Yeah...shame about the tragedy." said Gus.

Three waitresses mysteriously vanished in the summer of 1999. Everyone suspected that Mr.
Holden's crazy brother, Haywood might have had something to do with it....He was questioned, but never charged....then a few months later...He was found hanging in his apartment. a suicide.
Mr. Holden took it pretty bad...He and Mrs. Holden closed up their establishment and moved down the shore I had heard... The three girls were never found!

"See Kevin, right around that time, when the Holden joint closed up..I lost my job....I was shot
three times one night....Once in the head, once in the shoulder and once in my leg...I was in a coma for about a year...then slowly but surely, I began to come out of it. Thank God for my military benefits..." said Eddie.

"Wow man,I'm sorry." I said.

"Don't be...I'm gettin along just fine...but I need you to find me somebody..I want the cocksucker
what shot me." he said.

'What? That was ten years ago...." I said.

"Don't matter...All I need for you to do is find him and tell me where he's at...Anything else is on me." he said passing me an envelope with 5 G's in it.

"A guy like you has money like this?" I asked.

"What's it to you? I got it..and I gave it to you...that's all you need to know. The guy what shot me is still operating Kev...He's a seasoned stick up man and I can tell you this much...I suspect he's a Jamaican, with a real thick british accent. Now it aint many guys that fit that description in
West,North or South Philly...I'm sure you can turn him up...That was half down on him...When you make the scope...contact me." said Eddie.

"How will I contact you?" I asked.

"Here, that's my cell phone number..you see him, call me and let me know where he's at."

"Then what?" I asked.

"Then, it's none of your business what? That's my business...The less you know, the better off
you'll be." he said.

Sean and I stood there blank faced.. Eddie tossed down a couple of dollars to pay for our drinks
then stood up,grabbed his cane and smiled at Gus-

"Nice seeing you again Gus...and as for you Kevin, I'll be hearing from you." he said as he hobbled out of Josies.

I looked at Gus, who just shrugged...

"Don't look at me Kevin.....I don't know what it is about him...I mean he was a good paying customer and all, but there was always something about him that was a little off kilter..Always something about him that gave me the willies." said Gus.

As bad as this sounded..I was drawn to it...I felt alive again... I was gonna find me a shooter.


(To Be Continued....)