Keys Baby,Keys!

Within the next 48 hours, I put a full court press out on Benny"Fruit Loops"Kelly....I had Peeping Tom and Locksmith Johnson,posing as exterminators wire both of his grocery stores for sound and video...They watched his home and got inside of there and wired that for sound and video also...Eventually, they hacked into his computer, and his cell phones...

Clerow and Sean Jackson followed him, Drake and Moon in an assortment of rental cars and took photos...One day of surveilience brought about some interesting things. An assortment of known low level drug dealors came through his grocery stores with envelopes and packages..but bought no groceries...We got good photos of them and we had audio tape and video of their transactions..Drug payoffs and re ups of supplies...We annonymously passed this information to the District Attorney's office and The DEA...

"Fruit Loops" himself was much too shrewd to discuss his business on the phone or the cell phone..He had a goon named Jack Rafferty make his collections and conduct his business for him...

We eventually though did pick up this rather revealing conversation in the living room of Fruit Loops house.

"So let me get this straight...one guy...one guy beats the crap out of both of you knuckleheads and takes your guns?? One guy???" screamed Fruit Loops.

"Mann..He was good with his hands and he hit hard." whined Moon.

"Yeah, from the shiner on both of your eyes ,I can see that." laughed Jack Rafferty.

"You shut up..I'd like to see you try it." screamed Moon.

"Come on pal..come onnnn, give me a reason..I been wantin to knock you on you can for awhile now." said Jack Rafferty.

"Both of you shut up and pipe down....First off..Why did you shoot Bone Hampton?" asked Fruit Loops.

"He mouthed off at me in the club." said Drake.

"SO WHAT?? He owes me money...and you guys were supposed to collect that money..So far I aint seen but about a third of what he owes...He told me that he had most of it...What you shoot him for?? You coulda just have slapped him around...How come he had muscle at the hospital?? He musta thought you knuckleheds was comin back..WHAT WAS YA COMIN BACK FOR?" said Fruit Loops.

"Nothin man...We was just gonna scare him, tell him to keep his mouth shut..and get us the rest of that money." said Drake..

"I think they lyin boss...You shoulda put me on it..I woulda got the money and found the dope that that babe is hidin..." said Jack Rafferty.

"Awww man you wouldn't have done nothin..Just shut up." said Drake..

"Shut me up...Come ONNNN..COME ON baby..If you fellin froggy..Leap daddy oh.."
said Jack Rafferty..

"Dummy up all of you....That babe had four keys...four keys of good dope..street value ,millions...Go back to her place and toss it...Find me a P.O. box key or something..She has to be hiding that dope somewhere....Find Bone and get my money from him, that's all I'm askin you two to do..Nothin else..Ya hear me?" said Fruit Loops.

"Yeah and when I find his friend, am I gonna have somethin for him." said Moon.

"Forget about his friend...Apparently he had somethin for both of you...He beat the crap out of you..Leave him be....before he beats you up again." said Fruit Loops.

(Sound of laughter)

"Hey Jack, shut up..." said Drake.

"Shut me up..COME ONNNNN..puhleaseeeeee!" taunted Jack Rafferty.

"Will you both knock it off, you're all like children." said Fruit Loops.

We all howled with laughter after hearing that conversation....

"Once again Tom and Lockpick, great work...Sean...you and Clerow stay on them and keep me posted...I got some more nosing around of my own to do." I said.

"We on it Kev." said Sean Jackson.

II-

Several low level and middle management drug dealors who did business with Fruit Loops were arrested thanks to the information I passed on to the authorities..but I wasn't worried about that...It was the girl, the dead girl ,Barbara that was intriguing me.
I stopped in Josies and the Mermaid club and talked to a few people....Barbara was known, but not as a player..It was her brother...Eric Courtland that was player..He had once worked for Fathead Newton...He was enterprising and eventually bought his way out of Fathead's employ and went to work for himself.....

Fruit Loops did not take kindly to independent freelancers working on his turf...Eric had a supplier from somewhere in the south...He drove down south every month, got his own stash and quietly dealt it himself....It was said to be so good that pretty soon he began attracting Fruit Loop's customers away...His sister ,Barbara went from handling his books to helping him distribute product....

Sometime in late July of last year....Eric's bullet riddled corpse was found out near the golf course where Fruit Loops and some of his associates were known to play...His way of sending a message!

Heartbroken and enraged that her brother had been murdered..Barbara Courtland continued to sell off the rest of his stash...Which is why she had enough money to front a certain Jazz musician with a dream that she had begun dating and sleeping with.

Amazing what you can find out on the street...I imagine that Fruit Loops wanted that stash as well as the name of the connect, which Barbara wouldn't give up...and she paid for her defiance with her life!! She obviously had no idea how ruthless a man like Fruit Loops was!

III-

I drove out to the safehouse... Bone Hampton and Ralph Mole were playing cards and watching basketball on Television..I sat down next to them...I looked Bone Hampton in
the face...

"What?" the Trombonist asked.

"The keys baby, the keys....When were you going to tell me that you have the keys to that girls P.O. Box?" I asked.

"You hadn't asked." he said and held his head down...

"She gave you the keys didn't she and told you to hide them in case anything happened to her didn't she? That's how much she hated Fruit Loops didn't she?" I said.

"Boy you can't keep anything from you huh Kev?" said Bone Hampton.

"The keys Bone, the keys." I said.

Bone Hampton went in his pocket and gave me a key...and a peice of paper with a location on it..

"This is my key....It'll lead you to my P.O. Box...In there you'll find an envelope with her keys and the location of her P.O. Box...In her P.O. Box is the four kilos of dope man.  I was gonna sell it myself , raise his dough and pay him off." said Bone.

"You never pay a guy like him off...."I said.

"So what you gonna do?..." asked Bone..

"I'm gonna give him the dope , in exchange for your debt being wiped clean..."I said.

"You think he'll go for it?" asked Bone..

"He's got no choice." I said and laughed and was about to leave...I turned and looked at Bone...I suddenly had an amusing idea.....

"Bone...I want you to call this number...tomorrow...it's Fruit Loop's private cell.....Tell him that his two main men have been stealin from him." I said.

"He won't believe me." said Bone.

"Ohhh, I'm bettin he will...and once he does...the pot will really get stirred." I said.

"Okay Kev...if you say so." said Bone.  Ralph Mole looked at me and laughed...

"Kevin, you're a big trouble maker." he said, grinning at the thought of what might happen next.

IV-

Clerow couldn't control his laughter as he pulled the four Kilos of Heroin out of the P.O. Box and replaced it with four kilos of Dunkin Hines Cake batter...Kool Kat was laughing too...The only one not laughing besides me was the two DEA agents and ADA Keith Wallace...

"Thanks for the tip Kevin as well as the other evidence....but you think this will work?" asked ADA Keith Wallace..

"I'm going to set him up...When he and his goons come to pick this up...Your cameras will catch him and then, you got him!!!" I said.

"Seems too easy...but we'll take it." said one of the DEA Agents...

"We got him on conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance...I'd like to get him on murder, but if this is the best we can do..I'll take it." he said.

Drake and Moon were sitting at a booth in the Mermaid Club when Kool Kat, Clerow and I walked up to them...naturally they were startled...

"Don't get up....REALLY..DON"T GET UP!" said Kool Kat...Clerow stood behind him, snickering, holding a .45....I smiled at them..

"Heyyy Drake....What's happenin? Moon baby, how you doin? How's the eye? Look, let's let bygones be bygones fellas....I happen to know that your boss wants four kilos of some good dope that a recently deceased young woman left behind.....here is your chance to be a hero.." I said and tossed the P.O. box key on the table.

"What the hell is this?" asked Drake.

"That's the babe's P.O. Box key...The dope is in there..." I said.

"What's in it for you?" asked Moon.

"Tell your boss my finders fee is 50 large and I want my man Bone's debt cleared...Everybody wins...You get to be heroes.." I said.

"I'll think about it." said Drake.

"Well don't think too long...tick tock...the clock is tickin...Here's my number...tell him to call...Make the deal..If he doesn't...I know several players who will." I said.

"Alright...we''ll call you tomorrow and let you know." said Drake.

I then snatched the key off of the table...

"Evenin Gents." I said.

Clerow, Kool Kat and I left the club...All of us were snickering. The tide was about to turn!

(Conclusion Next)