Good Morning Murder

It was a Saturday Morning.....I awoke strangely to an empty bed.....Sepia rarely got up before me...but there was no sign of her. I smelled bacon cooking and I also smelled the aroma of Hot Coffee..I arose slowly...got my wits about me and walked into the bathroom..I brushed my teeth and then walked back into my room, put on my bathrobe and descended down the steps...

Sepia was fully dressed and sitting at the table reading the morning paper...There was a hot pot of coffee on the stove , toast, Bacon, and home fries with green peppers and onions in them like I liked.

"I decided I'd wait until you came down to crack your eggs...you want em scrambled right?" she said.

''Well, good morning to you! Where you going all dressed up?" I asked.

"Kevin, you don't remember anything I tell you...I told you that Bonita and I are making a big sale today...." she said.

"Oh yeah, Breminger's place." I remembered.

"She's picking me up." said Sepia.

Bonita had moved here in Philly recently...She lived in a condo.....She owned two floors.....She was presently looking for office space to run her and my wife's business.

"Damn girl..you sure look good.." I said eyeing my wife up and down....It was just then that the newspaper fell on the floor and I saw the caption out of the corner of my eye on page 6.

"Newark Crime Kingpin arrested for murder of romantic rival, faces the Death Penalty!" it said.

"Thank you dear.." said Sepia as she cracked two eggs for me. I picked up the paper and there on page six was a photo of "Tulip", The Newark playa who had indirectly aided me in two cases.

The article said that "Tulip" had no arrest record...not even a juvenile arrest, but had long been suspected of being a major narcotics trafficker, of having a hand in prostitution and even of fixing some horse races....If you added setting up bank robberies and taking a cut of the proceeds you had it all, I thought ruefully.

The article further went on to say that there were three eyewitnesses who swear that they saw him walk up on and shoot in the head, Edward "Snookie" Lewis....another Newark Playa who some say was not only making moves on Tulip's territory but was also sleping with Tulip's woman, Monica Courtland...

I laughed at how cruel fate could be...Here was a guy who was like teflon....probably guilty of a half dozen things and who had never had one thing stick to him or lead back to him and here he let his emotions get the best of him...Incredible...Looks like I wouldn't have to worry about him calling me for a favor I thought. I couldn't have been more wrong as I would find out later.

I tossed the newspaper in the trash and gave it no more thought. I ate my breakfast and kissed Sepia goodbye. I then got back in the bed and drifted off to sleep. Some hours later I showered and got dressed and was out and about... Around Mid day , I stopped in Emilio's Pizza joint and ordered some of his good Brickface Oven Pizza and a beer... Just as I sat down to eat , I felt the presence of someone huge standing over me....Before I could get one slice of Pizza in my mouth,the man sat down with me uninvited. I knew who he was! He was a big hulk of a guy with a bald head and a platinum ear ring in his left ear and a goatee...His name was Al...He was the guy who had pulled the shotgun on me in Newark ,the first time I came there to call on his boss...Tulip.

"Don't you New Jersey guys knock first before you come into a man's domain." I said as I ate my Pizza and sipped my beer.

"Always the smart alec, aint you?" said Al.

"I heard about your boss...Shame...." I said.

"That's why I'm here Kevin....The boss told me to reach out to you...He's in a mess, he needs your help.....You owe him a favor." said Al.

There it was...The moment I dreaded...Repaying the favor....I knew this day was coming..I dreaded it...but here it was...

"Look Kevin...Tulip is a lot of things...Yeah he runs drugs....he gets a cut of the prostitution that goes on in the neighborhood, but they aint his girls...We shake down the pimps that's all..it's kind of a "luxury tax." and maybe we've fixed a few horse races...but we aint killed nobody...Tulip aint never personally killed nobody in his life...and he sure as hell wouldn't walk up and kill nobody with eye witnesses...Come on..you met the man...you know that this aint him." said Al.

"How do I know? They said it was over a girl...A girl can get you pretty steamed up, make you do things you wouldn't normally do." I said.

"Tulip got about three women...Monica was kind of like his main squeeze...but he wasn't into her like that...This was a set up man...a stone cold set up." said Al.

"Okay...who set this up? In your opinion?" I said.

"Little Anthony" he said.

'Who?? The singer?" I said.

"You got jokes huh? Little Anthony is a young buck playa...He's on his way up...He engineered this whole thing to get Snookie and Tulip out of the way and become the king of Newark." said Al.

"And you know this how? " I said.

"I don't...and I can't prove it....That's where you come in." said Al.

"Man..I aint no miracle worker..." I said.

"Now you tell us...You put one of the most dangerous killers on ice...Caught a dirty cop and solved a 19 year old mystery....Seems like this would be right up your alley...You in or out man??...I can't be down here in Philly wastin my time if you aint.....I thought maybe, just maybe you was a man of your word." said Al.

"I'm in...I'm in....I'll do what I can...I need a few days before I can come to Newark....Have me a place I can stay...I don't want anybody to know who I am or why I'm there and I need the names and adresses of those eyewitnesses..I'll take it from there." I said.

"You got it Kev.....Thanks man, I appreciate this..." he said as he got up and was about to walk out..

"Yo Big man!" I said before he left...He turned and looked at me....I handed him my Blackberry.

''Put your phone number in there.....and stay in touch." I said.

"Ohh yeah, right...Sorry about that." he said. Then he walked out... I ordered another Pizza and just sat and ate... What had I just gotten myself into?

(To Be Continued......)