The Cuban

It was a rare Saturday Morning that found me sitting in "Bottom of the C.", Dollar Bill's joint of all places. They had started serving breakfast and had something called a "Jazz Brunch" Symphony Sam...a Saxophone player and somewhat of a promoter was now serving as a D.J. He was playing a little bit of Jazz and a small helping of old school R&B on "the wheels of steel". His son, Sam Jr. had a more sophisticated set up...A Laptop computer with thousands of songs downloaded already , hooked up to four large speakers...With the flick of a finger..He had hot jazz and r&b pumping throughout the place.

Together , they were both doing a great job....I felt kind of bad wearing a black T-shirt that read "Josie's Bar and Grill" and some khaki pants and some brown loafers....My wife, Sepia was wearing a matching black t-shirt that said the same thing...Hers was fitting her a little too tight. I was slightly annoyed at all of the repeat male traffic that kept waltzing by our table...They were obviously checking her out a bit too much.!

The food was incredible though... We had Potato Pancakes, Suasage...Hash Browns and Hot tumblers of coffee...

"Kevin , this food is delish...We should've invited Sean and Sheila, Maybe Bernadette and Harry Charles too." said Sepia.

"Yeah...If they do this next week...Maybe we will." I laughed.

"Ladies and gentleman....I have a treat for you this morning....A live performance by Downtown Rob Brown and his quartet...and a special treat...
Visiting Saxophonist, Ramon Hernandez..." said Symphony Sam...

The band was cooking...Everybody was snapping their fingers in between chewing the good food...Meek Rollins , the producer saw us and stopped by our table a minute..

"Kevin...Sepia...How you guys doin?" he said.

"It's all good." I said , shaking his hand.

"How yall like my boy Ramon?" he laughed.

"He's good." I said.

"He's cute" said Sepia.

"Yeah...He's from Cuba...He's been a fan of Reed Nelson and Downtown Rob Brown for a long time he said...and after following them on satelite radio all this time, he said he just had to meet them." said Meek.

"So what, Is he on tour or something?" I asked.

"Ahhhhhhh...it's kind of complicated." said Meek Rollins.

"How complicated?" I asked.

"Lets uhhhh say...he's out playing later than he should be...you dig?" said Meek.

I held my left palm up!

"Say no more friend."I said.

Meek and I both gave each other a knowing look and burst into laughter...

Sepia looked at us both and just shook her head...

"You men and your secrets." she said with a slight laugh.

What Meek Rollins meant was that this guy had defected from Cuba....I wanted no parts of that. Sepia and I just sat and enjoyed the music and great food. This felt like a Friday or Saturday Night...Not a Saturday Morning. I peered to my side..The owner.."Dollar" Bill was busy counting money...He was making a killing with this idea.

II-
Sepia and I paid our bill a few hours later and headed home....

"Wow, what a nice morning." she said.

"Aren't you glad I suggested this?" I said with a sly grin.

"Well uh...Yes, I am." she said.

I rubbed her thigh with my free hand...

"Well, uh doesn't that get me special brownie points?" I laughed.

"Don't you get tired of coming on to me? You act like we are just meeting or something..." she laughed.

"The fantasy keeps us hot baby." I laughed.

I stopped at the red light...Sepia leaned over and gave me a long sensual kiss....
When the light changed green....I looked to my left...A guy driving in the lane next to me gave me a thumbs up!

"What was that for?" I said.

"For keeping us hot.." she said.

We drove home laughing...

III-

A few hours later, there was a frantic knock on my door and then a frantic ringing of the doorbell. I was wearing my bathrobe and my boxer shorts when I came to the door....It was Meek Rollins and Downtown Rob Brown..They looked shell shocked...

"Hey guys..what's up?" I said.

"Kev...it's 5:30 in the afternoon...What you doin in your bathrobe?" asked Meek.
"Hey Meek, that aint what we come here for...and besides..have you taken a look at his wife? Hell, I'd be in my drawers too." said Downtown Rob Brown. I didn't know whether to thank him or not for his attempt to "defend" me.

"Kev..I hate to interrupt you, but could you get dressed and come with us...There's been a murder? " said Meek Rollins.

"A Murder??? Did you call the cops?" I said.

"Not yet man...Look just check this out for us." said Rob Brown. He looked serious...

"Alright , let me get dressed." I said.

Just then Sepia came downstairs...She was wearing a bathrobe, a bathrobe that could hardly conceal the white babydoll she was wearing under it...Both men looked and tried to act as if they weren't looking. I heard Rob say-

"I sure hate to interrupt Kevin from this....."

"Yeah man, I know....lawd have mercy." said Meek Rollins.

Sepia heard them...She smiled wryly..She halfway enjoyed their leers and compliments....She walked back up the stairs...They had had enough of a show for today..I supposed she reasoned.

I got dressed and I rode with them in Rob's car to a rental property that Meek owned. he explained to me that he kept this place for guests and to take some of his women to...Women he only wanted for one night...Women he didn't wish to become too close to.. He was allowing Ramon to stay there....

It was a beautiful home, well stocked....but once inside...the smell of death was everywhere....and laying on the floor in white boxer shorts with a hole the size of a quarter in his left temple was Cuban Jazz Saxophonist, Ramon Hernandez!!!
The pool of blood beneath him was getting dry and sticky....His body was still warm..He hadn't been dead long.

I instructed them not to touch anything...I took my Android out and snapped photos of the crime scene... I looked around for shells of any kind...There were none. There was also the smell of bleach....This place had been wiped down...The police weren't going to find any fingerprints either...This was a professional hit and it was a clean hit...The kind I hated the most... We walked into the bedroom and took more photos..There was a huge stain in the middle of the bed..It looked and smelled like semen...There was a bra,panties and stilletto heels in the corner... Who else had been here and where were they now? Had they been shot too?

"Gentlemen...I've got to call the cops and Meek, you're going to have to give a statement, you know that?" I said.

"Yeah Kev, I know..." he said.

"What do you want with me?" I asked.

"Kev...We want you to find out who did this...He'd been staying here for close to two months as my guest..I was doing this as a favor to a friend of Dollar Bill's..
Ramon did like the ladies...Maybe he messed with somebody's lady." said Meek.

"Naw...This looks like some covert government mess." I said.

''Nah Kev...Nobody cared about him leavin Cuba..Trust me...This is some local
mess..I can just feel it...I need you to look into it." said Meek.

"You sure huh?" I asked.

"Okay...After you tell the cops a lie....I want you to contact me and tell me the truth okay?" I said. Rob Brown laughed..

"Now, could you gentleman be so kind as to drop me back home?" I said.

"Oh..sure Kev" they both said in unison.

(To Be Continued.....)