Brained!

I picked Sepia up from her hair appointment and subsequently dropped Harry Charles off after work.

"Where are we going Kev?" she asked. "Over to that apartment complex where Ralph Scallion lives." I said.

"Oh lord, what has he gotten himself into now?" asked my wife.

"Nothing...For once this doesn't concern him...Skillet Jackson has been arrested for a murder that occurred there a few nights ago and Gus asked me and Robert to look into it." I said..

"Skillet Jackson? That sweet old man?? Awww, he didn't kill anybody..." said Sepia.

"Well, that's what Gus and Robert believe too." I said.

When I got there, Robert Foxworth and his fiance, Bonita was already there...So was Gus.. The yellow police tape was still blocking off the apartment of Bobby Catchet...the murder victim.. Dried Blood was everywhere....The hallway looked a gruesome mess....there were bloody footprints that led down the hall and up the stairs all the way to Skillet's apartment...Then they stopped. Robert and I scoped out the scene....

"Looks like the killer hit and beat this guy with the pipe and then walked up the stairs and dropped it here....in front of Skillet's door." said Robert.

"Gee counselor, you're a genius...I bet you were at the head of your class." said Gus sarcastically.

Robert Foxworth ignored him and looked at me...I studied the bloody footprints which I was surprised that nobody had cleaned up yet.

"The City has had to cut back a lot man and crime scene cleaners and technicians are one of the things they have cut back on." said Robert.

"Oh yeah? I'll bet if this happened in Mayfair or out on the Mainline...it woulda been cleaned up by now." groused Gus....I agreed...but I was glad that it wasn't...I examined the footprints...

"Damn.....whoever our killer is..He sure has some big feet." I said.

"Yeah...looks like a size thirteen or more.....Skillet wears a size seven...He got small feet for a man." said Gus.

"That's good to know...That could help clear him..." A few doors down we could hear a bed squeaking loudly and banging up against the wall and the sounds of sweet lovemaking...

"Ohhhh...Ohhhhhhh...Ohhhhhhhhh........Ohhhhhhhhh my goddddd ......." "Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu........" " OHHHHHHHHH baby...I'm about to...I'm about to....ohhhhhhhhhhit's soooo damn gooood..." "Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuu, don't come....don't come...just a little longer....just a little longer, Ohhhhhh."

Sepia, Bonita and Robert all blushed and looked toward the floor...Gus, looked disgusted and grimaced....I just laughed....

We saw a man coming up the stairs just then... A heavy set ,middle aged Black man....He banged on the door.. "HEYYYYY, SHUT UP THE NOISE....I'M TRYIN TO WATCH TV....FOR GOD SAKES!!!" he yelled.

Sepia, Bonita and Robert giggled.... Bonita tugged on my arm and whispered to me... "Kevin...I recognize that voice...He lives next door to Ralph Scallion...He used to bang on the wall and yell at us when we were making love....you know, back during the time that Robert and me had broke up and I was breifly involved with Ralph." she said.

"Oh really...Ralph had you hollering like that?" I joked. "Oh shut up." she said and playfully punched me in the arm....It was a good thing that Robert Foxworth was out of earshot of this conversation... He hated Ralph Scallion!

"Oh I'm sorry guys...you here investigatin that murder huh? My name is Phil...Phillip Ford...I live right below those guys in there...between that guy and his wife and my next door neighbor and his assortment of women...I can't get any sleep at night, can't even watch a ball game..This is the noisiest building I ever lived in."he said.

"Phil...Phillip Ford it is? I'll bet you heard these two men arguing the other night didn't you?" I asked. "Well I heard Bobby arguing with somebody...I can't say it was Skillet...It was somebody...I never left my apartment...They were arguing about money...Apparently one of em said..I can't believe you're not gonna break us off, after all we done for you, you lousy chisler." said Phil.



"All we done for you? So there was more than one person out here right?" I asked. "I only heard two people arguing...Bobby and another man...I never heard anyone else...Anyway like I told the cops...I only heard the argument...I didn't see anything and I certainly didn't know it had escalated to a violent murder.

"Ohhhh...Ohhhhhhh...Ohhhhhhhhh........Ohhhhhhhhh my goddddd ......." "Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu........ohhhhhh Rayyyy, Rayyy, it's soooo good." " OHHHHHHHHH Thelma...I'm about to...I'm about to....ohhhhhhhhhh it's soooo damn gooood.. you're drivin me outta my minddddd...ohhhhhh, arghhhhhhhhhhhhh....' "ooouuuuuuuu weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.....oh Rayyyyy" "Ohhhhhh Thelma...."

"Ohhh hell, I wish those two would get a job....Practically all day, everyday those two...He does go out some nights and come back late and drunk...Then they're arguing for two hours and then they wind up back in bed....She has the nerve to accuse him of cheatin with other women!! When would he have the time?? Seems like they're always in bed." said Phillip.

"Yeah, well bein unemployed, don't give em much else to do." said Robert Foxworth. Bonita and Gus stared daggers at him after he said that...Sepia smiled and tapped me in the side..Although I wanted to laugh...Now was certainly not the time. At this point the bed was squeaking even louder and ramming against the wall....Phillip looked at all of us exasperated and shrugged...

"See, right there, this is what I'm talkin about...all day..around the clock..Cept when they was down in Bobby's apartment helpin him out...That was the closest thing either of them had to a job and me to a break .If them two ever finish...talk to them...They were Bobby's closest friends... They were in his apartment all the time." he said.

"I'll do that...when is a good time to catch them? I mean, when they aren't....Oh forget it." I said. Robert,Bonita, Sepia and even Gus were now laughing uncontrollably at this point....

"Man what can I say....between them over top of me and that cat next door to me..it's a non stop porn movie in this building....a few years back...Some guy was goin at it with his babe so hard the bed came through the ceiling and into Skillet's apartment...I kid you not." said Phil. Sepia and Bonita howled with laughter at that story.

Robert Foxworth, who used to live in this building himself looked towards the floor...Gus and I stared daggers at him.....then we looked at each other and laughed....Sepia and Bonita had no idea what we were laughing about.

I wanted to interview the married couple...perhaps they could give me more of an idea about who might have brained this guy with a pipe...Maybe they couldn't....beings as it looks as though they were each other's best company, still...it was the only lead I had and maybe Skillet's only chance.


(To Be Continued...)