Backwashed

I thought the only decent thing to do would be to go talk to "Soap" about the mysterious death of the woman he had been talking to in Josie's the night before. After finishing our meal..Sepia and I drove over to Ivory Plumbing and Associates. It was a small store front that housed only an office and a backroom. "Soap" had a big warehouse across town where most of the men who worked for him could be found and where most of the equipment was....This storefront was where he could be found.

Sepia and I walked up to the front door...The lights were on in the office, but at least from the street...no one could be seen....The front door was also locked! It was afterall a Saturday, Maybe the office was closed I thought...Then Sepia tapped me on the shoulder and motioned for me to walk around to the side of the building....We could hear what sounded like a bed squeaking loudly
and what had come to be all too familiar sounds...

"OHHHH YEAHHH...OHHHH YEAHHHH..OHHHHHHHHHH BABBBYYYYY..OUUUUUUUUU.
Sweeeeeeetttt jesussssssss...owwwwwwwwwwww....OHHHHHHHHHHH....." came the sound of a man as the sound of the bed got louder...

"Ouuuuuuuuu, ohhhhhhhhh, ohhhhhhhh my goddddddddddd! Ohhhhhhhhh, baby don't hurt me...ouuuuuuuuuuuuu......." came the sound of a woman....

Sepia looked at me and smirked....

"I guess your boy "Soap" is out to lunch.." she laughed.

"Nah...His car is nowhere around here.....Unless he just bought a 2010 Lexus with the initials
"R.A" monogrammed on the side." I laughed.

We heard a snapping sound and then two loud thumps....then laughter.....

"Come on Kevin...I don't want to hear anymore of this....Sounds like I'm intruding." said Sepia.

"Why is this getting you turned on?" I laughed....

"No..it's not..It's making me feel like a pervert." she said.

"Alright, we'll leave....I'll swing back by here in about thirty minutes." I said.

In a half an hour , we drove back to Ivory Plumbing and Associates....This time the door was unlocked and I did see movemant in the office...A Tall Black man who was beginning to bald and who had gray hair was fixing his clothes and walking out the door....The Hottie who I had seen Soap give the envelope full of dollars to walked him to the door...

"I know him!" said Sepia as we sat in my car directly across the street from them.

"You do? who is he? " I asked.

"That's Radcliff Aikens...He works for the City...he's a major, major player in City Hall politics and operations....He has the mayor's ear." she said.

"Oh yeah, well what's he doing at a Plumbing office?" I asked.

''Laying Pipe" laughed Sepia.

"Ouuu girl, you are sooo bad...but bad is sexy.." I laughed and pinched her behind.

"Ouu Kevin, stop it." she laughed playfully.

The woman, who I knew only as Velma..came to the door and smiled at him...Aikens waved and then said-

"Tell Billy that that city contract is all but his.....I can guaruntee that his guys will be doing all
of our plumbing work." said Radcliff Aikens..

"Thank you baby." said Velma....

"Nahh, thank YOU....My lawd woman...I felt like I died and went to Heaven.." he laughed.

"Ohhh, you just say that because it's true.." she laughed.

He got into the brand new Lexus that we saw and pulled off....There was no sign of Soap anywhere.

I drove Sepia home....and then doubled back....I was no longer worried about talking to Soap right now...I wanted to drive by that Storefront and see what I could see. I parked across the street again and just sat...To my horror, I saw the Pastor of my church, Reverend John Struthers walking out of the office , fixing his clothes...Velma walked out behind him and took a
hankercheif and began to wipe what looked like lipstick off of his cheeks...She also helped him pull up his zipper...

"Pastor , pull up your zipper...fix yo clothes baby...you can't be seen out in the street like that..everybody will know what you been doin...tee hee heee.." she laughed.

"Gurllll, you tell Mr. Ivory that he can do all of the plumbing for my church...and I know a few other Pastors who need some work done on their churches too." laughed Pastor Struthers...

"Ohhhh Thank youu baby.." she said and gave him a big wet kiss on the lips...

''Woman, don't do that...We might have to go in there and get started again...hahahahahahaha."
laughed Pastor Struthers.

"Ouuuuu Pastor, you are sooo fresh" coooed Velma.

What was going on here? Was Soap pimping Velma out to get clients? If so, were those envelopes really to pay her bills or were they to pay her fees? I couldn't believe that Soap would
stoop to something this low...Not the guy I knew, Not the guy that I went to school with, was in the Marines with and had been friends with for a lifetime???

I drove up to Josies and sat at the bar, ordered a beer and some chips and watched to see if Soap
would come in....I had all but forgotten about the dead girl who had been shot to death the night
before.

"Hey Gus, you seen Soap?" I asked.

"Billy was just in here...you just missed him..He was on his phone, looked like he was in a hurry."
said Gus.

Another man was sitting at the end of the bar...Sam Jenson....Like "Soap" he was a plumber too..
He was talking rather loud to another man who I did not know. It was quite obvious he was upset..It was also obvious that he was sloppy drunk.

"Man, I can't get any damn business...I had to lay off two of my guys the other day.....That damn
William Ivory has got everything sowed up....He got the churches...Got the City contracts and he took the Elk Inn, right from under me..." he said.

"The Elk Inn? Aint that Rollie Rollerson's joint?" said the other man....

"Yeah....but I got a little surprise for him.....I don't know where he's gettin his information from,
but I all but had that deal in writing and then Rollerson met with Ivory and aced me out of the deal and threw the job to him...but they gonna get the shock of their lives soon...just wait..heheheheheheheh." he said.

I wondered what he meant by "surprise" and shock of their lives.....and what did this have to do with the dead girl? Probably nothing....but my boy "Soap" was into something deep and I was hoping I could find him and help him before he went too far...or had he already?

I decided to visit Rollie Rollerson.....Him ,I knew..He had been on the board of the directors of the very Magazine of which I was employed...Had gotten me fired once when I was working a case that involved his then wife...and had given me the very car I was driving as a peace offering
to keep my mouth shut about what I had turned up.

I drove out to his suburban home and to my surprise...There he was ,standing in his door way with his pants half way down kissing......Velma Whetstone, who was massaging his erect penis with her hands....

"Ohhhhhh baby, you do that soooooo goooooooooodddd...ouuuuuuuu...ummmmmmph...." he
moaned...

"It's cold out here Rollie....let's go inside before your neighbors see us.." she cooed..

"I don't care about the neighbors...ohhhhhh...ummmmmnnnnggghhhh..." he moaned.

"Well ,I do...fix your clothes....come on..let's go inside..." she said.

"Tell your boss, that as far as I'm concerned....He's got the plumbing contract to the Elks Inn and
a few of my other places for life if he wants them...as long as I can spend some time with you in the sack....ohhhh..oouuuuuuuuuuu..ohhhhhhhhhhhh.." he moaned.

"Oh thank you baby..I'm sure he'll be appreciative." she said.

Velma was a very busy woman, it appeared and thanks to her...William "Soap" Ivory and his associates were becoming very wealthy men...They had plumbing contracts all over the city and with some very heavy hitters...

There was nothing more to see here...I decided to drive by the Elk Inn and see what was going on there. The Elk Inn was a very classy joint.. A little expensive for my tastes. The Hoi Poloi of the city of Philadelphia all frequented this spot...The food was overpriced..and the drinks were high...But it was the kind of place where..If you had to ask about the price..you probably didn't belong there in the first place.

I walked in, ordered a drink at the bar and watched the Lakers play the Cleveland Caveliers on the 60 inch Flat Screen that was suspended from the rafters ....I was relaxing in one of the comfortable seats when I felt drops of water on my head. At first I thought I was imagining it and then I felt more drops of water...Other people began looking up and then water began running across the floor....It was a little at first, then it became a lot...I heard a woman scream, then I saw a man jump up...The next thing I know...Water was running everywhere!!!

Well you know what happened next....It was as if the floodgates opened...Water was gushing out
of several pipes and flowing like a river...women were screaming and men were running in every
direction....I got up and ran for a door..I opened it and water came flowing out of the door and knocked me down...I got up and a rush of water carried me and several people out into the lobby
where more water was gushing...I picked up a trash can and hurled it through one of the windows and made my escape, followed by most of the patrons...

When Rollie Rollerson got news of this...He was going to be furious......If Soap's guys did the work, They were going to be out of a job...Right now...Rollerson could have cared less..but come
Sunday Morning....it was going to be a diferent story.....Meanwhile, William "Soap" Ivory was still out of my immediate grasp and all of these shenanigans had nearly made me forget the dead girl I initially wanted to see Soap about..Somehow or another , all of this was tied together...I just didn't know how.

(To Be Continued....)