Maid of Honor

It wasn't too often that Pastor John Struthers came to my house or anybody else's house that didn't wear a dress and have nice curves...So when my door bell rung on a Tuesday Morning and I
peered out of my bedroom window and saw him standing at the door, my interest was tweaked.

My wife ,Sepia answered the door and I heard the conversation.

"Good Morning Pastor Struthers...What brings you to our house?" she asked.

'Good Morning Sistah Morris.....Sistah Morris, Sistah Morris, Sistahhh Morris...You certainly are sayin a taste in that there skirt and jacket..Do you always go to work lookin that good?" he inquired.

"Thank You Pastor....Do you want Kevin?" she asked.

"Yesss lawd...I - I-I mean, yes, it is very important that I speak with him.....He certainly is a blessed man.....Good Gawdd..he's blessed....to have you...Lawd Jesusssss..." He exclaimed.

"I'll get my husband." she said tired of being gawked at by our pastor.

''Kevin.....Someone here to see you." she exclaimed as she walked out the door..

"Leavin so soon missy?" he said.

"I have to go to work. Kevin has the luxury of working from home most days." she said as she got in her car and pulled off..

I came downstairs in my bathrobe and offered Pastor Struthers a seat and a cup of coffee.

"Kevin...you got a nice house here, a nice car and a foxy wife...Son you are blessed..Blessed I say." He said as he sat down.

"Thank you Pastor...To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" I asked.

"Kevin, I don't often come to you for a favor...but I need you to look into somethin for me." he said.

"Look into something?" I said.

"Yes....Do you know James Cooley?" He asked.

"Vaguely...He attends church off and on...Didn't he get married a few weeks ago?" I asked.

"Oh, you aint heard have you? You've missed a few Sundays." he said.

"Heard what?" I asked.

"James is in jail...accused of murdering his wife......Rita....but Kevin, I don't think he did this...He is a lousy no good womanizer, it's true....but murder?? This aint him?" said Pastor Struthers.

I was amazed that Pastor , who had been known to have bedded quite a few church members himself would accuse anyone of being a womanizer...but...I wanted to hear him out.

"Listen Kevin...This is the series of events that led up to the murder...Two nights before the wedding....They had wedding rehearsal at the church...I was there...Lawd have mercy ,Let me
tell you...that woman ,Rita had some fine ass womens in her bridal party, every one of em was
a brick house as Lionel Richie say in his song...but that maid of honor, Juanita Rawlins...whoooo lawdddddd...she was the finest of the fine...That's why I don't half blame James for what he did." said Pastor Struthers.

"You mean murder his wife?" I said dryly.

"No....Nooooo...That's why I'm here....He in jail with no bail for somethin I'm sure he aint do...
but what he did do....well, see what had happened was...We was waitin for Rita to get to the church and she had called one of the girls and said she was gonna be late..an hour late.....Well, the girls was sittin aroun talkin and they had they laptops out readin this blog called "Keith's Space" that they all talk about...This Keith fella reminds me a lot of you Kevin..." he said.

"I've read his blog..he all right." I said.

"Well anyway...Juanita got a call on her blackberry and she got up and went down into the church basement to take it....Reason I know because I was down there with Sister Patrice...
Doing a little uh, counseling...if you will...a layin on of the hands.....We had just finished up and I was fixing my pants...They had gotten a little ruffled , uh er ,ruh and whatever and Sister Patrice went upstairs first ,so it wouldn't look like nothin out of the way was going on in the basement. I heard Juanita say -"You at the back door? Oh James , why are you here? This is
too dangerous." I didn't want her to see me, So I ducked into the men's restroom, but cracked
the door.

"James came in through the basement door...Which I thought, I was the only person in the church who knew about it....I'm gonna have to place a deacon in the basement to make sure nothing inappropriate is goin on down there in the future... James came in and Juanita said to
him-

'James , why did you come here? Your fiance will be here in the next hour..."

"Ah just had to see you Juanita...you're all I think about.....I just had to have you, one last time." he said.

"I shouldn't be doing this...I'm the maid of honor...She's my best friend.....oh my god..You're marrying her in two days..."she said.

'I need you Juanita...I neeeed you." he said.

He starts pulling his pants down right there and she was like...

"James please...not here, not in the church...oh my ...."


"Come on...Nobody comes down here...Nobody will know...just a quickie...come on..." he said.

"James, I'm gonna be with you all night tomorrow, the night before your wedding...in the hotel ,like we planned...just wait.." she pleaded..

'I can't wait..I need you now...." he said and he pulled her toward him and began kissing her.
She didn't fight it ,she began kissing him too....She breifly pulled away and said-

'Somebody might catch us...We can't be doing this...not here..not now..."

But James kept kissing her and soon he was rubbing her breasts and had opened her top and
had her bra off....He was kissing her and licking her breasts...and next thing I know, girl pulled
her panties down, stepped out of em and James lifted her up ,spread her across the table down
there and entered her......He was going to town...He kept his hand over her mouth, cause she was moaning something fierce. I tell you one thing...It will be a long time before I eat Sunday dinner on that table again after the way they was carrying on...

After what seemed like forever ,the boy finnally came...They was both just sweating and breathing hard and what have you.... She got up fixed her clothes and he fixed his and they held each other and kissed some more...

'You gotta get out of here James..You can't be caught in here." she said.

"I know...I just needed you so bad.." he said.

He left. She went on upstairs ,like nothing had happened....and a little while later, I come up too...Rita was there by then and they had their wedding rehearsal....James come in there with his groomsmen like he was just getting there....Boy he's a phony baloney.." said Pastor Struthers.

"And you want me to look into whether he killed his wife or not?" I asked.

"He boned the maid of honor, but I tell you, he's no killer" said Pastor Struthers.

"What does any of this have to do with any murder?" I asked.

"Nothin...I just wanted you to know what he did.....But anyhow..He and Rita got married, they went on their honeymoon and they come back and two weeks later, Rita is found shot to death in their house. " said Pastor Struthers.

"Yeah and?" I asked.

"He said that he was at work all day...but the cops caught him in a lie. He wasn't at work..he was
in a hotel room with the Maid of Honor." said the Pastor.

"And you know this because?" I asked.

"I heard em." he said.

"You HEARD them? " I asked...

"Well...I uh..er, I...My lady friend and I ,you know, needed to get away from things for awhile and we was , kind of sort of in the same hotel..." he said.

"So you heard them?" I asked.

"I seen them in the hallway....I know that's where he was." said the Pastor.

"Then you're his alibi." I said.

'It aint that simple." he said.

"Why isn't it?" I said.

"She's engaged to Rollie Rollerson, you know him?"

"What? Yeah, I know him...This girl is like 28 years old...Rollie Rollerson is 56." I said.

"Age aint nothin by a number son....you live long enough, you'll find out....I can't get involved...I can't have it known that I was in a hotel with an unmarried woman and a man of Mr. Rollerson's importance can't find out that his fiance is cheating on him with a murder suspect." said Pastor
Struthers.

"He tithes heavily doesn't he?" I said.

"He's one of the biggest...He keeps the lights on around here." said Pastor Struthers..

"You want me to work a miracle don't you?" I said.

"Just find the killer Kev...like you always do...That'll take the boy off the hook and it won't expose Rollie, the maid of honor or me and my ladyfriend." He said.

"So you think the killer is someone else?" I asked.

"Yeah...that boy, Cooley aint kill his wife....This was somethin else...you'll see." said Pastor
Struthers.

Oh yeah..I would see.

(To Be Continued.....)