I Got A Right To Sing The Blues

It was a rainy Thursday Morning...Two weeks after John's Funeral...I was driving towards Robert Foxworth's office , when I happened to pass by Conchita Williams's house....

Kool Kat was leaving her house...She was at the door in a very sheer nightgown that left nothing and I mean nothing to the imagination...she was waving goodbye and he was smiling gingerly...It was 7:30 AM....I guess she has gotten over her grief at losing John.

Hadn't it been just two weeks before that I'd seen Owen Todd leaving her house after he'd delivered coffee ,doughnuts and flowers??? These two were amazing I thought to myself.


Kool Kat got in his car and pulled off...I guess he didn't see me..Didn't matter..I had other business...

Once in Robert Foxworth's office the conversation began...

''Police make any headways in catching Dale?" he asked..

"None...Neither have I...I spoke to his Father over in Camden and his mother in Southwest Philly and his sister in Chester....They gave me an address in Baltimore...I went down there last week...He had already gone...I questioned a few folks and found a house in D.C.  By the time I got there..He had already left." I said wearily....

''Damn man..that's rough..He'll turn up somewhere I'm sure." said Robert.

"Well that's why I'm here...I have his cell phone number...I gave it to your guy in Telephone Security....He knows someone at this guy's provider...If he's still using the same phone and I hope he is...They can pinpoint just where he is...and hopefully,I can find him." I said.

"Damn man...Remind me never to piss you off...You'll search the ends of the earth for me." laughed Robert Foxworth....

Chance Howard walked in just as we were laughing with an envelope for me...

"We found him Kev..Your hunch was right....He's still using that phone...and guess where he is?   In Miami." said Chance Howard...

''Well I'll be damned...Our boy does live good doesn't he?" I said.

"How you gonna find him? Miami is a big place.." asked Robert..

"I'll find a way." I said with a smile...

"I know you will." he said and laughed.

II-

Miami,Florida, 3 days later-

I was in Miami...South Beach...alone! I should have brought Sepia along...But I didn't...I didn't plan to be here that long.   The first night, I enjoyed the night life...The Clubs and what not...but the next day..I went to work.   I had two photos of Dale Evans...and since he was a nurse...I figured he'd be working in a hospital or a clinic..

I scoured the area hospitals and clinics with my photos of him....and within 48 hours...my legwork paid off...I found him!  He was working in a Small community clinic and using another name- "John Clarke"  The irony of it made me laugh....

I watched him from afar and I followed him in a little rental car.....He had a nice little bungalow in Liberty City that he was renting....I watched him go to work...leave, go to a bar , have a few drinks and leave again....I decided that the best way to do this would be to meet him at his home...I had hoped he would come easily...

I had had Sissy Van Buren to call the Chief of Detectives here and to tell them that I was in town and what I was in town for...  I recalled that it rained something terrible my last day in town....I waited patiently and then around four in the afternoon it stopped and the sun came out...It was a serenely warm afternoon...About 75 degrees...Balmy.....

I walked up to his little house and rang the doorbell.....There was an eerie silence...Then nothing!  Finally...I decided to go and come back...When I turned around there was Dale staring at me and smiling...He was wearing a tropical shirt and a straw hat and sunglasses..He also had a gun pointed at me....

"Hello Kevin....Welcome to Miami." he said.

"Hey Dale...Look...Listen, let's not do this." I said.

''No...Let's not...Go on inside...Go On...I got neighbors." He said as he waved the gun at me..

I walked inside...

"You really should have left this alone Kev....I mean I left the city....My Father, My Mother and my sister told me that you were lookin for me....I figured it would only be a matter of time before you found me...." he said.

"Dale man look...I know the whole story ...She told me...I know that she used you...She uses everybody..." I said.

"Nah, you don't know...I've seen your wife...She's sexy as hell...You're a lucky man...You should be back in Philly making love to her non-stop..Instead you down here huntin me....." he said.   For once...I agreed with him...I wished I had never come down here.

"All your boys..Robert Foxworth, Clerow, Chance, Harry Charles...all of em got sexy ass wives or girlfriends..Me?  I had nothin...Nothin but a girl that used me...that strung me along..." he snapped.

''I know...I know the whole story...but you killed a man....a man who was just like you, being used..." I said.

"He didn't look like he was being used to me." he said.

''Man, right now...She's laying up with one of my friends..and stringing along another and John's body aint cold in the ground yet." I said.

"So what, you come down here to tell me that?" he said.

"Dale...you killed a man." I said.

"You shoulda left this alone Kev...I liked you,I like your wife....but she's about to be a widow and you're going to be the subject of one of those missing person shows...No one is ever gonna find you...Now open up that basement door...Go ahead..open it." he said... He reached in my coat pocket and took my .38 smokeless and then reached in the small of my back and took my .22...He had done his homework...

"Come on Man." I said.

"No...you come on...open that door...and get on down there...I'll make it fast and painless Kev...you won't feel a thing, I promise." he said.

As I walked to the door...I noticed that it was one of those doors that opened from both ways....

"This is one of those new fangled doors isn't it." I said to him.

''Yeah...Yeah...Now open it and let's go." he barked..

"Okayyy, if you insist." I said and I used every bit of strength I had to swing that door hard into his face, breaking his nose!!!!

He screamed in anguish and his gun went off!!  The bullet hit his foot....he tossed the gun up in the air and yelled-

"AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW MAMA BABY!!!!!!! I DON'T BELIEVE IT.......I'VE BEEN SHOT!!! ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!"

And he fell to the floor...blood gushing from both his nose and his foot......I leaned over and confiscated my two guns from him and I took a hankercheif and lifted up his gun....I looked down at him and just shook my head...

"Sorry about that Dale....Sometimes life just plays out hard like that!" I said.

EPILOUGE-

The Miami Police came and arrested Dale Evans...He was extradited to Philadelphia to stand trial for the murder of John Edmundson.....He was convicted of First Degree Murder and sentenced to Life.

Sepia and I were sitting in Josies talking to Gus and having drinks one night when Kool Kat walked in..he saw us and he came and patted me on the back.....

"Hey Kev...heard you got your man....I seen him on the news....broken nose and foot in a cast..You really busted him up...Good...Cause I woulda done worse if I had of gotten my hands on him." he said with a laugh.

''You really taking this personal aren't you?" I said.  Sepia and Gus laughed  to themselves when I said that.

''Nah...It's just..she's a nice girl...I was just talkin to her the other day...I hate to see someone like that mess over a nice girl like that." said Kool Kat...  I just shook my head...Sepia gave him a mad side eye and Gus just chuckled...

Owen Todd walked in next and walked over to us...He slapped me on the back....

"My man Kev...you got that sucka...Hey Gus...drinks for Kev and Sepia on me." he said.

"Feelin good tonight eh Junior?" said Gus...

''Pretty much." He said.

While we were all there....Conchita Williams walked in, arm and arm with another man!!! He was brownskinned, tall, had on a beautiful tailor made suit and a panama hat and sunglasses.  Kool Kat and Owen Todd's mouths dropped...

"Hey Kevin...Hey Sepia......This is my new fella, Bently Worthington....He owns a car dealership in Jersey..." she said ....

I smiled....Sepia looked very surprised.....Kool Kat and Owen Todd sat looking stunned...

"Oh and this is Walter and this is...uh what did you say your name was?" she asked.

"OWEN...OWEN TODD." he spat!

''Oh yeah ,Owen." she said.

"Pleased to meet you....Come on girl..let's get some wings and a booth...I'm famished ." he said...

"Ohhh Bently...you are soooo voracious." she cooed...

"You aint seen nothin yet...wait til I get you back to your crib." he laughed...

"Ouuuuuuuuu, you so baddddddd." she gushed...."Oh well, see you guys later....Sepia...call me girl." she said.

''Alright baby." said Sepia.

Kool Kat stood up and stomped his foot, tossed a few dollars on the bar and stormed out!!!!  Owen Todd banged his fist on the bar, tossed a few dollars on the bar and stormed out too....  I was bent over laughing...So was Sepia.....

Gus was perplexed.....He looked at us both...

"What was eatin them?" he asked...

I looked at Gus with water in my eyes from laughter....

''Woman problems."

Gus looked at me and Sepia...then he looked at Conchita and Bentley and then he got it!   He busted out laughing.....In fact, He, Sepia and I laughed the rest of the night!


(For SLC)