Hot Ice

I have to admit...When I walked out of my door today and got in my car I looked cleaner than the board of health....I was wearing a dark pin striped tailored suit that fit me to a t...My shoes were black wing tips that a banker would have worn....I was adorned with a rolex, my wedding band and a pinky ring...I looked good..
I was pretending to be a somewhat shady commodities broker or let's say...middle man!

Perhaps I ought to back this story up a bit...This all started about six weeks ago...I was in my office at Hype Magazine where I work...I had just finished up an article for the coming month and had just gone over some photos with Sean Jackson and his wife ,Sheila....My assistant, Harry Charles had just brought us all some Ice teas after the conference and we were all kicked back and relaxed , when Rollie Rollerson, Black millionaire and man about town and a person who sat on the magazine's board of directors from time to time came into our conference room....He was sweating profusely....It was a hot day, but this was an air-conditioned building.

"Kevin...I need your help." he said.

"Sure Mr. Rollerson, what's the problem?" I asked.

"I need to speak with you privately." he said.  The look on his face said everything.....Sheila, Sean Jackson and Harry Charles all got up immediately, took their ice teas and left.

"I've been robbed." he said.

"What? robbed?" I said.

"Yes...two million dollars worth of diamonds , stolen out of the hamlet that I've been sharing with my fiance." he said.

"Did you call the police?" I asked.

"I uh can't report this to the police.....See, it would be in the papers...I would like the thief caught and the diamonds returned." he said.

"Well how did this happen?" I asked...

"I don't know...Somebody knew exactly what they were looking for...They got past the security system and they stole the diamonds." he said.

"Mr. Rollerson, did you tell anyone about the diamonds?" I asked..

"I uh, ruh..uhhhh might have let it slip....I've had several young ladies in the hamlet." he said sheepishly.

"Where is your fiance?" I asked.

"She's in Europe doing a photo shoot...You know she's a super-model.....A man get's lonely , soooooooooo,uh I occassionally have company in the Hamlet and I might have mentioned it to one of them, I might have shown it to one of them and they might have uh said something to somebody....but I've got to get those diamonds back...Her father left them with her for safe keeping....He's in Africa....Neither one of them will be back for awhile....I've got to get them back before they return and find out....I'll pay you handsomely,I swear...Just do it, Puh LEASE Kevin...I don' want to hear their mouths." he pleaded.

"Okay Mr. Rollerson...I'll get on it right away." I said.

II-

That was six weeks ago.....It took me three weeks to identify and find the thief, using my contacts on the street and my friends in various places....The man's name was Derrick Tradue...known on the streets as "D.T."....He was a smooth and nasty piece  of business out of Haiti who had been living in Philly for about ten
years...He was a jewel theif, a box man (safe cracker), cat burglar, you name it...This guy was a master thief. He was also rumored to have killed his partner who had crossed him once.  That partner, a man named Burt Peters had vanished in 2003 and hadn't been seen again...People on the street whispered that D.T. had shot him to death and buried him in New Jersey somewhere.

Once I located D.T.   , I got word that he was looking to sell the diamonds....That was when I dreamed up my present persona of "Kenneth Jenkins",commodities broker.. I arranged to meet him in Josies of all places and I told him that I had a" buyer".  It took me about a week of schmoozing and paying for his drinks and using real life gangsters like Fathead Newton, Roscoe and Ralph Mole as well as Gambler Steven Bristol to "vouch" for me that I gained his trust...

From Kool Kat, I learned of a shady fence named Albert Sane , who operated in the back office of Tiffany's,off the Boulevard..Who was willing to do business with us...Albert Sane was the real thing and he had no idea who I really was and that this was a sting operation....The night before the sting, I had had Lockpick Johnson and Peeping Tom break in and wire the office for sound and video...They were waiting down the street in a van with Sean Jackson...Who was snapping photos of the front...Clerow and Kool Kat were down the street in another car, poised to take him down....Harry Charles was dressed as my "driver" and he actually drove me up to Tiffany's in one of Mr. Rollerson's Bentleys.

Which brings us up to speed....I looked at my watch and smiled as "D.T." showed up like clock work with his suitcase.  He was a tall thin dark skinned man who was as immaculately dressed as I was... A no nonsense type of guy...

"Right on time baby." I said.

"Always on time to make that cash." he said with a smile.

"Well alright then...Let's do this." I said and we walked into Tiffany's....

There was a pretty young Black girl that I knew from the neighborhood named Amazette Clark working at the counter...She recognized me and was getting ready to say "Hi Kevin " , when I made the shoosh sign with my index finger and looked her dead in the eye...This was no sitcom...Black people in the neighborhood knew what that meant...They didn't go blurting out your government name like that.  She smiled and turned away and picked up the phone. We walked into the back room.

Albert Sane was a smallish, balding man who didn't take fools lightly...He was suspicious of everybody!

"Well, long time no see D.T. What do you have for me?" he said.

"You know each other?" I said.

"Yeah...I've done business with him before." said D.T.

"You,I don't know." he said.

"He's cool...He arranged this meet up...Only I didn't know it was you Albert." said D.T.

"What have you got?" he asked.

''Check it out yourself." said D.T.

He surveyed the merchandise, then looked up at D.T.

"Damn man...these things are worth over 6 million dollars....and I know this ice is hot...I aint even heard about em being stolen." he said.

"That's right...because the guy I stole em off can't report em stolen..." said D.T.

"You killed him?" asked Albert..

"Nah...they belong to his girl...He had some other chick up there who was blabbin about it to a friend of mine...He told me and I uh looked into it, ya know...heh , heh, heh...." he said.

''Wow..jackpot..What about your uh friend and the girl who told him?" asked Albert...

"No need to worry about either one of em...They are uh let's say, enjoying a nice swim in the Schuylkill river right about now...heh heh heh..." laughed D.T.

"That's what I like about you D.T.  No loose ends...heh heh heh..." laughed Albert.

Just then....two young men , wearing panty hose over their faces to cover their identities burst in the backroom with guns drawn....

"Alright, you know what this is...Get your hands up...this is a stick up!" They yelled....

"You're makin a big mistake kid." said Albert Sane...

The one guy fired a round which went right through Albert Sane's left temple, killing him instantly....The other man looked at him in horror...

"Dave what the hell is wrong with you...What you shoot him for??????" he yelled...

"Darryl, shut the hell up...you just said my name out loud!" he yelled...

"Oh, my bad...just grab the diamonds and let's get out of here." yelled the other man...

They scooped up all of the diamonds and put them in a duffell bag...They then cracked open a strong box and took an undisclosed amount of cash and went running out the front, where a guy was at the wheel of an old Dodge Dart... The car sped off into the daylight....

D.T, and I had remained still throughout the entire episode....

"I don't believe this...we've been robbed.." yelled D.T. who stomped his foot and punched his hand into the wall....

The girl, Amazette Clark ran into the room and screamed-

"OHHHH MY GODDD, OHHHHHHHHHHHHH  MY GOD... MISTER SANE...OHHHHHHHHHH."

D.T looked at me...

"Look boss, I can't stay around here and talk to no cops, ya dig...I'll be in touch." he said.

"In touch about what? We got took." I said.

"I'll find those punks...and when I do...the deal will be back on." He said and he slipped out of the door..

Kool Kat and Clerow, Sean Jackson, Peeping Tom and Lockpick Johnson had heard the shots and they came running back into the room.

"Kev, what happened man?" they yelled.

I shrugged my shoulders...."We got robbed....."

Yeah, imagine that...I'm with a thief and HE gets robbed....I had to find those two knuckleheads before he did..For their sake and for the case.

(TO BE CONTINUED....)