Lesser Of Two Evils

I told Sepia to pack some things and I took her over to Bonita's place to stay while I was gone. I locked my house up tight and put on the security system that Peeping Tom had hooked up for me.

Anyone breaking into my house would be video taped. Not only that, the police would be contacted immediately with very clear photos of them. Clerow, Gus and Sean Jackson were the only ones with the security code and they said that they would check my house out on the regular while I was gone. With my wife, Sepia safe and my house secure, Kool Kat and I drove up to Angel City where the state's newest correctional facility , The Pennsylvania Men's Colony was.

If not for the barbed wire and re-inforced steel on the outside of it, The Pennsylvania Men's Colony looked like a college campus with high rise dormitories. The men were not locked up in cells...They were locked up in rooms. The rooms had two beds...A sink, A toilet and two dresser drawers. There was one Televison in each room...Depending on how much money one had on their books..The television had cable or it did not.

There was a swimming pool here, both an outdoor and in indoor pool....There was a huge golf course and a basketball court and a baseball field. The inmates took classes in modern classrooms that rivaled my college classrooms...Some played baseball, some played basketball, others lifted weights....There was a couple of trailers for conjugal visits. This was only for married inmates....

Practically all of the inmates here were guys with little or no violence in their past. First time offenders or honor inmates...Most of the hard luck cases I had put behind bars were doing hard time in other prisons....Even though this was pimp, Harlan Platt's first conviction.....He was not the type of inmate I thought would be sent to this type of prison....Harlan "Big Chicken" Platt was still a stone cold Philly gangsta in the best sense of the word.

The first surprise was that the warden was a very attractive and shapely black woman named Sulima Chase. She wore a grey pin striped skirt that hugged her curvaceous body in every way possible, white sheer pantyhose and matching grey pumps, A white see through blouse that didn't hide her beautiful laced bra and not a hair out of place...This wasn't lost on Kool Kat, who couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was quite impressed with him also!

"Warden Chase....My name is Kevin Morris, I'm a private investigator from Philadelphia...I'm here to see inmate, Harlan Pratt." I said.

"Yes...I remember your call from the other day...." she said , talking to me but looking Kool Kat up and down..

"Excuse my manners...This is my associate, Walter Jones." I said.

"My My My Mister jones....you look like the type of guy that would wind up in here.....behinddddd bars." she laughed.

"Nah mam...I'm strictly on the straight and narrow path." he laughed.

"I'll bet you've got a lot of straight and narrow.." she said ,winking at Kool Kat.

"If you like...maybe I'll show you one day." he said, giggling like a school boy...

"Ummmm, hmmmm, I sho would like that...." she said.

"What's a nice lookin babe like you doin up here being the warden of this prison?" he joked.

"I don't know...Tryin to find the right guy." she joked.... Both Kool Kat and her pointed at each other and laughed. I just shook my head.. I had one of the guards lead me to the waiting area...
In the waiting area...Several inmates were talking to their wives, girlfriends, children...I sat and waited for 15 minutes...Finally, a guard brought Big Chicken into the room.. He saw me, pointed and smiled and sat down behind the glass...He motioned for the phone receiver..I picked it up and we began to talk...

" Well Kevin, by now, I'm sure Rollo has gotten in touch with you and clued you in" he said with a laugh.

"Yeah...What I need you to do is clue ME in." I said.

"Well...You remember a guy named Raif Collins?" he asked.

"Yeah...He killed a friend of my wife's....He tried to kill me too."

''Yup and you broke his jaw and put him in jail with a death sentence."said Big Chicken.

"Yeah, yeah,so what about him?" I said.

"His death sentence got commuted to life without parole....He's here because he's been a very well behaved inmate....He has a lot of money on his books, just like I do....He worked at a beer distributor as a front...He had a couple of kids movin dope and coke for him for awhile...so he still
has a lot of money on his books...Enough to approach me about havin you whacked..He 's still upset about the beatdown he says you put on him....Anyway, that's neither here nor there..I turned him down cold.....He's stuck in here for life...I only got six years and I'm up for parole in a few months....I aint tryin to get involved in nothin heavy....so I turned him down.....but another cat didn't turn him down...Glen Bridges is his name...He was gettin released soon and Raif contacted him with the same offer....50G's to knock you off and he took the contract...." he said.

"Glen is a real smart guy, real efficient at what he does....He was a heist guy originally , but he always bragged that he had done a few contract killings for a couple of people....That's the guy who is following your every move on the streets of Philly and who paid that junkie to rig your car. Yeah ,I heard all about it....Shame your wife drove the car that day instead of you." he continued.

"So what do you want me to do?" I said.

"I'm gonna give you an address....This is where Glen is staying...He's an ex con, so you can get a photo of what he looks like...and as for Raif...You wire me up, let me talk to him and he'll sing like a canary..." laughed Big Chicken.

"Aren't you worried that it might get out that you're a snitch?" I said.

"Nah...I run this joint up in here.....I can do whatever I want...The cons come to me for advice , for favors, for everything....All of those conjugal visits aint wit they wives..heheheheheheh...some of those ladies are my girls...Hell, some of the guards have uh conjugal visits..heheheheheh...Anything even looks like it's gonna happen to me...and these guards and these inmates will fall all over Raif." laughed Big Chicken.

"Okay Chicken....I'll take this evidence and get Bridges...I'll have somebody up here to wire you up in a few days...This works out, I'll give the warden a good word for you." I said.

"Yeah...the way I see it...I'm the lesser of two evils." laughed the Pimp.

"Yeah...exactly." I smirked dryly...

As I walked back down the corridor, I saw Kool Kat emerging from the wardens office...he was straightening his shirt and pants and jacket....The wardens hair was all out of place and her blouse was completely out of her skirt...She looked dazed....

"So, you'll call me won't you Walter?" she sighed..

"Sure baby...most definitely." he said with a grin....

I just shook my head....

(Conclusion Next)