Heart of Gold

We followed The woman and her traumatized son to the Medical Examiner's Office where she formally identified the dead man as Michael John McCulley, known to most of as "Sailor Mike", the boxer. He was called "Sailor Mike" only because he had done a stint in the Navy and that had been where his boxing career had begun. He had had sixty or seventy fights and had lost about fourteen fights..He was what you called a journeyman....Went from fight to fight....never quite good enough to get a big payday or contend for the championship. He was also what we called a "spoiler"...The type of fighter who might hurt your up and coming prospect and who you there for might want to avoid until later. From what I knew of him , and it was very little...He was a pretty decent guy.

After we left the Medical Examiner's Office...Sepia and I went to their home...a nice little row home in South Philadelphia. We sat with her as she gave little Eddie some warm Cocoa and put him to bed....Then she sat at the table with us.

"Thank you for looking after Edward...I know he's traumatized.....Sailor Mike was his favorite person in the whole world." she said.

"Was Sailor Mike his father?" I asked.

"Oh No..Noooo.....I had Eddie with another guy.....He's in jail now...I met Mike ,when Eddie was two. Mike and I were lovers up until a year ago. He treated Eddie like he was his own son. Even after we broke up, He continued to take Mike to games, movies and stuff. He never missed his birthday or any holidays...He was the closest thing to a father my Eddie ever had Mister Kevin."

"Do you have any idea who would want to kill Sailor Mike?" I asked.

"The Police said that this was a Robbery gone bad.." she said.

"I know....and Eddie told me that one of the guys did rob him at the gas station....but I was there.... They didn't take much and the guy who robbed him was already on the move...well ahead of him, when another guy fired seven slugs into him...They dropped the wallet two blocks
away....I told the cops that....with all of the money still in it...and you know what? They were wearing gloves.....No young punks, who snatch wallets or purses act like that...This whole thing was orchestrated....This was a hit miss...."I said.

"My Name is Vonetta.....Look...I'm...I'm gonna tell you this...only because you aint a cop...and please Mr. Kevin....whatever you find out....please don't drop my name..please..."she said.

''What is it honey?" asked Sepia.

"He had a fight a few weeks ago." she said.

"Yeah...I was at that fight..." I said.

"He was supposed to drop that fight." she said.

"Drop the fight?" I asked.

"Kevin, he was supposed to lose the fight." said Sepia.

"Do you know Jamaica Jim?" she asked.

"I've heard of him....he's a gangsta" I said.

"Yes...He fixes a lot of fights....He has this kid, John Henry Armstrong....He's heavily invested in him with a lot of gamblers in New York and Atlantic City.....He got some guys to offer Sailor Mike
a lot of money to throw that fight." said Vonetta.

"How do you know this?" I said.

Sailor Mike brought a big bag here two weeks ago filled with hundreds....lots of hundreds....He told me to hide it for him...Then at the last minute he told me....He told me that he couldn't do it...He had a heart of gold like that...He said that he couldn't take this money, take a dive and look
Eddie in the face...He said he was trying to teach him to be a man, to have principals, to have respect...And he said...If he took a dive....he couldn't respect himself...So he gave that money back...Every dime of it. It was more money than he'd ever seen in his entire career...Enough that he could have retired...He wouldn't take it." she said.

"Yeah, but even though he returned it...the die was cast......You can best believe that Jamaica Jim and his associates lost more money than what they gave him....So he had to fall in order for a
message to be sent?"I said.

"You probably right...but there is nothing you can do...Jamaica Jim is a killer and the people he works for don't mind killing either...I told Sailor Mike he should have never gotten mixed up with them...but he wouldn't listen." she said.

"Don't worry your secret is safe with me..." I said.


"We've taken up enough of your time...We're going home now." said my wife.

"Thanks again for everything you've done for Eddie." said Vonetta.

We left.. I was quiet as I drove home.....Sepia looked at me and said-

"Okay Sherlock...I know you...What's your next move?" she laughed.

"Well, first I'm going to get a little information.....then I'm going to take Jamaica Jim and his whole crew down." I said.

"Just like that?" she smiled....

"Just like that....I need to go home and get some sleep first.." I said.

"You know, your confidence is very sexy...very arousing....it always has been." said Sepia.

"Really?" I said with a wink!


(To Be Continued....)