The Trouble With Women

I sat in the coffee shop in Chestnut Hill waiting for my guest...This was far from either of our neighborhoods with no chance of anyone either of us knew seeing us talking. She was late...This was the trouble with women...they operated on a different time schedule than men ,I thought.

I ordered a big steaming tumbler of Coffee and two Cherry Danishes and I waited patiently. I took stock of where my investigation had gone so far. I had discovered that my friend William "Soap" Ivory was pimping his beautiful Administrative Assistant,Velma Whetstone out to several important men. Important men who he was securing huge plumbing contracts from. They had some kind of crazy relationship going on that no one understood except them.

I had foiled a rival's plan to set "Soap" up. My surveilence of his warehouse and his office was turning up nothing...There was no conversations in either place that could be deemed illegal or even interesting. The line of men going in his storefront office and coming out, fixing their clothes and with big smiles on their faces had stopped. I suspected that "Soap" had told Velma that I was on to them and she was meeting with these guys elsewhere like her condo.

I was wrong again...We scoped out her condo....Nothing...Not Pastor Struthers,
Not Radcliff Aiken, the city official, Not Rollie Rollerson, Black millionaire playboy...Nada...Everything had dried up. I nosed around and dug up what I could on Velma Whetstone....She was born, Velma Louise Bradley....She didn't have any criminal record at all...Not even a parking ticket. She was a high school graduate who had gone to Community College. She had worked mostly low paying jobs and then had married a guy named Ray Whetstone. Ray Whetstone was a minor playa , who had gotten himself sent to prison for 99 years for murder. She was recently divorced...She had been a stripper for a minute until she met William " Soap" Ivory.

"Soap" had a moderately successful Plumbing company...He made her an administrative assistant..paid her debts off and gave her three months rent money to move into this ritzy titsy condo....She worked for him as an administrative assistant and "Soap" helped her out with her bills whenever she was short..just like he said.

He may have been romantically or sexually involved with her for a minute..but apparently he had broken that off and began seeing the now dead, Sheryl Billips.
Which was where I was at right now and why I was meeting with her sister, Juanita Billips..Who I hoped would fill in the blanks.

"Waiting Long?" she said as I looked up.

"No, not too long." I lied. She certainly was worth waiting for...She was ,like her deceased sister..a stunner....A gorgeous woman who dressed well and who's clothes agreed with her every curve.

"I'm Juanita Billips..We spoke on the phone." she said.

"I'm Kevin Morris..I'm a private investigator looking into your sister's murder."
I said.

"You talk to the cops?" she asked.

"I did...They gave me what you've probably already read in the papers...Your sister probably knew her killer because she opened the door for whoever it was and took two shots to the head which killed her instantly. They found her sprawled across the floor near her front door. They lifted a latent print off of the
doorbell...but it doesn't match anybody they have on file.....Other than that..this is all we have. I saw your sister the night she died." I said.

"You did? Where?" asked Juanita.

"I was in a bar...Josie's and she came in and was having a rather heated conversation with a man named Ivory." I said.

"Yeah..Him? William Ivory...They call him "Soap" I know him..I can't stand him. She was engaged to him...I was so glad she came to her senses and broke it off with him..he was terrible." she said.

"Really? Did he beat her or cheat on her?" I asked.

"Nah..he wasn't the violent type.. He was weird though...You know? At first, he was cool..He'd buy her things....co signed on her car...Take her to shows and on nice vacations...the works....She told me that he was the bomb in bed..made her toes curl...but-"

"But what?"I asked.

"He wanted her to do things for him, Things she didn't want to do..Weird things...I don't know how to explain this to you....See, she found out he had a chick on the side..some chick named Velma." said Juanita.

"I know her..she works for him...She was in the bar with him that night too."I said.

"Yeah..Well, he swore up and down that there was nothing between them..nothing romantic...but Sheryl didn't believe him...Then he asked Sheryl
to "entertain" a client of his...a guy who he was trying to secure a plumbing contract from...and by entertain, I mean sleep with him...Sheryl was outraged that he would even ask her to do something like that...but Soap told her that if she loved him, she would do it...Sheryl refused and broke it off with him." said Juanita.

"Well what happened then?" I said.

"Oh he begged and pleaded for another chance...I told her to leave him alone..but Sheryl gave him another chance. They were okay for about a month and then she discovered that he had this chick ,Velma doing this for him...She went by his office one day to surprise him with a home made lunch she'd made for him and she heard the bed in the back room just a squeaking like crazy and she heard a man moaning and yelling and a woman moaning and hollering too.
At first she thought that it was Soap....but then she realized it was Radcliff Aiken...the guy that works for the mayor. She ran out of there in horror, because she knew what "Soap" was doing...She told him it was over and not to bother her anymore." said Juanita.

"When was this?" I asked.

"Two weeks before she was killed." said Juanita.

"So why was she at Josie's that night ,if she had already broken it off?" I asked.

"Prolly cause beggin ass "Soap" begged her to come there , to try and persuade her to come back to him and not to tell his secret. I know my sister..She wouldn't have told on him..but once her mind was really made up that she didn't want him...it was made up." She said.

"Yeah,when I saw her ,I got that impression too....Well...Juanita...you've helped me a lot..More than you know." I said.

"I don't see how..unless that will help you figure out who killed my sister." she said.

We finished our coffee and went our seperate ways!

While Driving home..My Blackberry went off... I answered it...It was Sean Jackson.

"Kev, where you at man?" he said.

"I'm in Mt. Airy now..why?" I said.

"Get with me....Tom and Lockpick pulled something off of the tapes that you gotta hear." he said.

"I'll be right there." I said.

Once at Sean's house...He played me a recording..It was a phone conversation between Radcliff Aiken and Velma Whetstone-

"Baby look, why you wastin your time with that plumber? He's a lightweight, you oughta be with me...you know it and I know it..." he said.

"Soap has been good to me...If it wasn't for him...I wouldn't have nothin...He gave me a job, a car, pays my bills when I'm short...he does it all...I owe him."
she said.

"You don't owe him nothin...You done paid him...I know he's hit that..a couple of times and that freakazoid is whorin you out, got you sleepin with his potential clients...guys you probably can't stand.....You aint got to do that...You think about it..I can put you in a house...get you a better car, a brand new car and you won't have to work at all...I'll take care of you...Get away from that freak..Now you think on it.." He said.

"Hmmmm, you make an attractive offer Mr. Aiken." she said.

"Damn right...You think on it and let me know what's up." He said.

"Okay." she said.

Sean Looked at Me...I looked at him.....Things were definitely getting deep! And here lies the trouble with women...they usually have more options to weigh.

(To Be Continued..)