Not Her Boy!

"Okay, listen up Hanky....I want 25 large to do the two cats you say are tryin to shake you down..I want that up front and soon......and I want 50 large to do Houston."

"An additional fifty thousand....for Houston?? Why?"

"He's in jail with no bail...I guess you aint heard....He's been formally charged with first degree murder and the state is askin for the death penalty....He can be got though...I got a cousin ,who is in the detention center with him....I can have him knocked off before he is transferred to the state prison on Friday....I want to put 25 large on his books and 25 large is my uh....finders fee..
hahahahahahahahahahaha."

"Okay...I'll ask my contact to get the money.. Why so cheap for the other two?"

"Because they're easy.... For one thing...they aint players....One fashions himself as a private investigator and the other guy who came in here with him is just a friend who helps him out.
I can knock those two off today if you get me my dough."

"Private investigator eh? Who is he workin for?"

"That I don't know..Maybe the lady's son that you workin for?"

''Elvira? How you know about her?? "

"It's my business to know who I'm workin for. You just get me my cash and I'll get the bodies.

"Well, I have 25 thousand here now...In my safe...I'll get you the fifty thousand tomorrow."

"Twenty five huh?"

"Yes...there it is....you want to count it?"

"I trust you.....Now you want me to kill the two dudes who been shaking you down right?"

''Yes and I'll pay you the rest to knock off Houston."

"Well my friend.....I got real bad news for ya....I'm a cop! My name is Detective Jack Brown,
Philadelphia Homicide and you're under arrest for solicitation of murder...Three counts."


And with that.....Detective Brown handcuffed Henry "Hank" Woods and brought him outside where Clerow, Peeping Tom, Lockpick Johnson, Sean Jackson ,Robert Foxworth,Conrad Nelson , James Cooley and I were standing. He looked stunned...

"You all were cops?" he said.

"No, we were helping the cops...I'm a private investigator."

"I was set up, I was entrapped." said Hank.

"Call it what you want...but you're in one hell of a spot right now Hank.....You can deal with us or
you can take the whole load along with your friend ,Houston , who heard the tapes of your plot to have him killed...He can't wait to see you at the detention center tonight." I said.

Hank looked at Detective White....

"Look, we must be able to work something out....we must...I'll give you everything...The whole story..Come on..Let's make a deal." He said.

Hank Woods took us to the shallow grave where the remains of 17 year old Marcia Clark was buried....James Cooley had been in a relationship with her , against his mother's wishes when he was a senior in High School. She had gotten pregnant. There was no way James was going to miss going to college and be a baby daddy...Not her Boy......According to Hank, He was contacted by Elvira to find someone to "Make Marcia go away." He contacted Houston Overton...a player from west philly who specialized in making troublesome people just go away. 17 year old Marcia went missing ten years ago and was never heard from again.

Flash Forward to the future....James and Rita , another woman his mother disapproved of had a stormy, off and on relationship...Elvira Cooley thought of her as bourgie and stuck up, but James,
Now a college graduate with a Masters degree was hell bent on marrying her...Elvira thought of her as "ghetto trash" and was not going to see James "ruin his life " by marrying such a woman...
Not her boy! It was then after all of these years that Henry "Hank" Woods, no longer a West Philly playa, but a successful businessman, far removed from the underworld , was asked to solicit Mr. Houston Overton's services once again. "She figured if James was at work , he would have the perfect alibi....We had no idea that he didn't go to work that day....and that he would lie about it.."said Hank.

"So she had you to get him a lawyer and to make his bail right?" I asked.

"Yes....Yes....I did it all....but look, I was just a middle man..It was her money and her contract..I just contacted the guy and set it up....I didn't know them girls and I didn't have nothin against them...I swear...I'm sick to death over this." said Hank.

"Why did you do it?" I asked as a stunned James Cooley stood by me....

"Long before that boy was born...Elvira and I were lovers.....I loved her deeply...but she went and married his father.....She strung me along for years....I waited for her....She's the reason I never married...When His father died...she promised to be with me, but she needed me to do her a favor...a big favor!!! That's how I wound up getting that first girl killed...She never did marry me though...Years just went by..She swore she'd marry me if I just did her this one more favor."

"She was usin you Hank." interjected Robert Foxworth. Clerow ,Sean and Lockpick Johnson all shot him a look..but there was no humor on Foxworth's face...Instead there was a kind of sadness. Ever since he had returned from San-Francisco...something about him was different...

That afternoon...I knocked on Elvira Cooley's door. Detective Brown and Lt.Sissy Van Buren of
Philadelphia Homicide were with me and three uniformed Philadelphia Policemen.

"Hello? Who is it?" came a sweet ,yet sultry voice.

''Elvira Cooley...This is Lt. Sissy Van Buren...Philadelphia Homicide...We are here to place you under arrest mam."

"Arrest?? For what pray tell?" she said.

"Open this door mam, don't make this harder than it has to be." said Lt.Sissy Van Buren.

"Harder for whom? You or I?" she laughed coyly.

"Are you going to open this door?" asked Detective Brown.

"No I'm nottttt..." she said in a sing songy voice, still laughing! Then we heard a gun shot!

The police knocked the door down and there in the living room of this huge and beautiful house we found her body....She had shot herself in the heart....She was dead! She was a beautiful woman...She looked way too young to have a 29 year old son..She was light skinned and with freckles and long sultry hair...I could see why Hank had been so enthralled with her. She couldn't stand the thought of going to prison and her son knowing of her treachery and deceit....No, Not her boy! I stared at her lifeless body...Hard to believe she was 52 years old...She could have turned the heads of guys younger than her son....Such a waste...Such evil.

Houston Overton was convicted of two counts of First Degree Murder and sentenced to death by
lethal injection.... For his help in turning in state's evidence , Henry "Hank" Woods was given a sentence of Five years in a Federal Prison....With good time, he'd be out in little more than three years, if that.

A few Sundays later, Sepia and I were about to leave church after service...Pastor Struthers came up to me..

"Kevin...So glad you and the missus came out today.....and I want to thank you for cracking that case...What a mess that was...wasn't it?" he said.

"Yes Pastor, life is messy sometimes." I said.

''Well you'll be pleased to know that that James Cooley and the girl who was his dead wife's maid of honor got married here last week and they're on their honeymoon." said Pastor Struthers.

"Oh yeah? That's nice...They kinda deserved to be together." I said.

Just then ,Sister Odessa Harris walked over to the three of us..

"Hi Kevin, Hi Miz Sepia.....Pastor, don't forget..We serving Fried Chicken and Fried Fish in the church basement in a few minutes...Yall come on down and get yourself a seat at the table..cause you know how it gets crowded down there after church when we servin food." she laughed and walked away...

Pastor Struthers looked at Sepia and I...We looked at him.......

"Pastor, I think we'll pass on that meal today.."

"Uh...yeah.....I uh....I uh ,Think I'll pass on it too." said Pastor Struthers....


(For SLC)