Blue Ice

"Clerow....I don't know how you did it man." said 88 as we all sat at our booth in Josies and downed several beers...The we, was myself, Clerow, Robert Foxworth, Sean Jackson ,Harry Charles and Keyboardist, Kerry "88" Moore.

Clerow flashed that toothy grin of his and said -"It wasn't easy man...you see the situation I'm in now." he laughed gingerly....

''Some Situation." chimed in Attorney Robert Foxworth..."Corabeth is fine as hell her damn self...a younger version of Mabel." he continued..

"Yeah man...You was in a no lose situation." said 88.....Clerow just smiled.  To tell the truth, I was worried about how he'd take the news that Mabel Jenkins...His one time woman...The reason he had even come to Philadelphia in the first place , was getting married to her longtime love, Kerry "88" Moore....Apparently, he was good with it...After all..He was married to and had two children with Mabel's younger sister, Cora beth...herself, no slouch in the looks department...and a fine person also.

We were all drinking and having a good time when Sean Jackson tapped me on the shoulder....

"Hey Kev...Look over there...Look who it is?" he said.  I momentarily stopped laughing and drinking and turned to my left to see, Owny Maclin....Shady one time Lawyer,reputed to have been in on a few not so legit deals, reputed to be a legitimate broker and businessman here of late... He saw me and motioned for me to come to his table...I ignored him and continued laughing and drinking with my friends..

To My dismay, he came over.....

"Kev...what do you know? What do ya say?   , Hey Sean, Attorney Foxworth, what's happening?" he said and shook our hands..

''When did they let you out?" I asked.

"Awww Kev, Is that anyway to treat an old friend?" he asked

"Who said we was friends?" I asked...and then I laughed and shook his hands.... "How are you doin OMAC?" I continued..

"I'm doin well Kev....Hey listen..Can I talk to you in private?" he said.  And here it was...a job, a favor...For a month now...I'd been going to work, coming home to my wife, going to work and hanging out and chopping it up with my friends...What was up now?

I excused myself and walked over to the bar and sat down....

''What's Up Owny?" I asked.

''Well...I work for a firm that insures jewelry...expensive jewelry.....We're insuring 300G worth of rocks called 'Blue Diamonds" that are on display at Jakes Jewelry Store right now." he said.

"Yeah...So how does this concern me?" I asked.

"I know you're a Private Investigator on the side...and I don't know if you know it or not, but there have been six jewelry store heists in the past month." he said.

''So why aren't you talking to the cops?" I asked.

"Oh we are..We are.....but I'd like you to take a personal uh interest in Jake's spot....I just got a funny feelin about that joint." he said.

"Jake's a friend...I bought my engagement rings and my wedding band from him and so did a number of my friends." I said.

"Yeah, but Jake's been acting funny lately and I've seen some unsavory guys hanging around his spot...." he said.

He peeled off some money...$1000.00 and put it in my hand...

"Here's a G. Kev.  up front... Just look into Jake's business, Nose around, keep your eyes open...If nothin turns up..We are square...If it does...There's more where that came from....Could you do me that solid Kev?" he asked.

"Okay...but what am I looking for?" I asked.

''Anything out of the way..Anything that doesn't look kosher...Anyone that looks like they might be shaking him down...I don't know..I just got a funny feeling something is up....I just don't want nothin happening to those rocks...." he said.

''Well why don't you or whoever you represent just pull em out?" I asked.

"Wrong Question Kev...One I can't answer...Just do this for me....And look...I paid for all of your friends drinks for the rest of the night....I gotta go Kev." he said.

"How'd you get so flush?" I asked.

"Long Story Kev." he said and he left.

I looked at Gus...He shrugged his shoulders....So did I...I returned to the table with the guys and we continued laughing ,drinking and making merry.

II-

I hated what he was paying me to do....I got Lockpick Johnson, Peeping Tom and Sean Jackson  the next night and we broke into the place and wired it for sound and video.... For the next week...There was a mundane stream of phone calls that were about business and business only...Customers came and went and nothing suspicious happened at all...

I put Robert ,Chance and Cole on his records and we found nothing out of the way about the place...As I suspected... Jakes was a totally legit business.  I gave Owny updates on what I wasn't finding and he of course kept telling me to keep looking...

I did a little research on him too...I couldn't find any brokerage or insurance firm that he was working for anywhere in the tri-state area...The phone number he gave me to contact him was a cell phone and it was in the name of a "Barbara Wilson"....The next time I saw him, I was definitely going to ask him about just what he was into.

A week or so later..Robert Foxworth asked me to walk him over to of all places... Jake's Jewelry Palace...
It was a short distance from his office, so we walked in...

"Hey guys...How are you doing ?" said Jake, a big hulk of a man with an eastern european accent....and a warm smile.

''We doin alright Jakey ,how are you?" I said.

"Buisness...Business as always...It's killin me." he laughed.

"It's killin all of us." laughed Robert.  "I came in...because I wanted to know if you could uh resize my wife's ring for me...Our wedding anniversary is coming up and I'd like to surprise her." he said.

Jake looked at the ring carefully and smiled..."Shouldn't be a problem Mr. Foxworth."

Just as he did...Two men in trenchcoats walked in...They had on ski  masks and had shotguns in their hands...

"ALRIGHT...YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS...GET ON THE FLOOR...GET ON THE DAMN FLOOR!"
He yelled...

One guy took a crowbar and smashed the glass and began scooping up as much jewelry as he could....Then a smaller man walked in..He had a trenchcoat on too, but he had a .44 mag, which he put to Jake's head...

"The Ice...Get me the ice." he yelled.

"What are you talking about?" yelled Jake....  The man brought the gun down on Jake's head twice...Blood was running down the side of his face...."DON'T GOOF AROUND...OPEN THAT DAMN SAFE...AND DO NOT GIVE ME THAT JIVE ABOUT THE TIMELOCK...I KNOW THE WHOLE SET UP...THE TIMELOCK GOES OFF AT 9:30 am....NOW OPEN THE SAFE AND GET ME THAT ICE!" he yelled..

Jake did as he was told... Robert and I were face down on the floor ,along with five women and one of the guards.....But Jake's trusty friend...Sam Baron was apparently in the back...He came out with his shotgun blazing....But the two men with shotguns cut him down.....!!!!!! Jake came out with the "Ice" and then for his trouble...The short guy with the .44 shot him in the head, killing him!!!

"Hey man, what did you do that for ? We done already killed one guy?" he asked.

"Well,I'm counting eight people in here....Kill em all." he said.

"They can't ID us...They didn't see our faces.." he said.

"Let's get the hell out of here" said the other one..

"No...kill em." he said.

I wasn't going out like that...I had my .38 smokeless out...I fired two rounds..Hitting one of the shotgun weilding men in the chest...

"AARRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHH...I don't beleive it...I've been shot!" he yelled as he fell to the ground... The security guard got off another shot and hit the second shotgun weilding man....The smaller man scooped up their two bags and with his bag , ran outside to a waiting car and pulled off!

III-

Robert Foxworth and I and the Security guard and the five women survivors gave detailed accounts of what went down to the Robery -Homicide Detectives who arrived on the scene....The dead included, Jake, his longtime assistant, Sam and the two shotgun wielding gunmen, identified as Anton Jackson and William Smith.
Both had long police records and were known muscle for hire!  The third person....the smaller man had escaped in a waiting car...!

That night I called Owny Maclin to give him the bad news... He had already heard.

''See Kevin, this is what I was afraid of.. That stick up crew is the same stick up crew that has hit about six jewelry stores this month..." he said.

"Well sit tight....I may be able to pull some information on them!" I said.

"That's great man, great...I knew that with you on it...It would be done right." he said.

''By the way OMAC...Just who do you work for?" I asked.

"Too many questions Kev...I gotta bounce...Hit me up later." he said.

He hung up!    I was more confused than ever and I wondered just what I had allowed myself to get into.

(To Be Continued..)