The Lady In Waiting

Kool Kat and I sat in my car outside of pawn shop where our guy, Billy Price was doing business...Everything Yokum Tate III said had checked out...We found the gun and the silencer cylinder with prints all over it... I checked Jeters bank statements from a year before and he had made two withdrawals of 10K in the month of May...One a week before the murders and one , a week after the murders....He had also made a withdrawal of 15 K just a few weeks ago...The night before Insurance Investigator Ray Lord was murdered....Very interesting.

If Tate testified, the gun , the bank statements and the medical records was enough to bring Floyd Jeters down for conspiracy in three murders.....

"Kev...Kev...Price is on the move... He just left the pawn shop." said Kool Kat. Kool Kat knew of Price, a gunman for hire, who it was said , worked cheap , yet clean...rarely left anything behind that could be traced to him...His mistake...trusting a psychopath like Tate to dispose of his weapon.

Price was walking gingerly down the street...I began following him briskly... Kool Kat ducked down a side street as planned.

There is a saying that you can tell when somebody is following you...Price must have known because he started walking faster and in between people...then he started running... I started running too...He pulled out his pistol....

A woman screamed- "He's got a gun!!"

A man ducked...Three or four people dove for cover... I pulled out my .38 smokeless...

"PRICE!!! DON'T BE A FOOL!" I said.

"Who you callin a fool? Fool?" he yelled and aimed his gun at me..


"That would be you partner" said Kool Kat, who came up behind him and stuck the business end of his .44 magnum in his back...

I walked up to him and took his gun....

"Billy Price....You're in a lot of trouble partner..." I said. Shaking my head. Kool Kat just grinned.

II-

''Mr. Jeter puh-lease... pull your pants up...please...I didn't come down here for this...they just told me to bring you these reports...please...please.." said a young intern Floyd Jeters had stretched across his desk..
Her dress was hiked up and his pants were down...He was feverishly trying to slip her panties down, but she was resisting...

"Shhhhhhhh...quiet...quiet now...I'm just teaching you how things work baby.....Just teaching you about the birds and the bees.....the birds.....and the bees...." he said

"Don't pull your pants down...please Mr. Jeter..Please...I don't want to do this..We might get caught." she cried...

"We won't get caught....I'm just teaching you about the birds.. and the bees.....the birds  and the bees......" he laughed...

I tapped on the door...

"Biology classes are over Jeter." I said... Just then, the girl pushed him off of her...straightened her dress out and ran past me down the hall...

Floyd Jeters looked at me with pure white hatred....

"YOU BASTARD...I'M GONNA HAVE YOU ARRESTED FOR TRESPASSING....THEN HAVE YOU WHACKED IN JAIL.." he screamed.

"I don't think so Floyd..." I said.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" He screamed...

"Calm down...Calm down...A beautiful woman wants to talk to you." I said.

Lt.Sissy Van Buren and two uniformed Philadelphia Policemen walked in...They handcuffed him.....

"You're under arrest for conspiracy in the murders of Frederick and Althea Washington and Ray Lord.." she said.

"You must be kidding..Are you serious? Do YOU KNOW WHO I AM ?DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I WORK FOR??  I'LL HAVE YOUR BADGE LADY COP!!!" he said.

"Read him his rights Officers.... It's tank time stupid." she said as she looked at him in disgust....

As they walked him out in handcuffs, several employees broke out in cheers !

I just shook my head as I watched them walk him to the Paddy wagon....

Ms.Mae Horton was standing there too ,watching the whole thing....She had been waiting a year for this day!

"You got him...You cracked the case...You are good , Just Like Attorney Foxworth said....Thank you so much....Now my friends can rest in peace..." she said.

I said nothing.....I realized that what I really was , was fortunate.

EPILOUGE:

Billy Price's fingerprints were all over both pistols and they were a ballistics match for all three murders...He agreed to testify against Floyd Jeters, which saved him from getting a death sentence...He got a life sentence for each murder...

For his help, Yokum Tate III got a light five year sentence and was scheduled to be moved to a federal lock up.....but nobody likes snitches...He was found hung in his cell , a few days before he was scheduled to be transferred.

Floyd Jeters was sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for his roles in the deaths of The Washingtons and Ray Lord....Lord apparently had gotten as close to his misdeeds as I... Floyd though went crazy in stir and was found hanging in his cell one morning, shortly after he arrived in state prison...an apparent suicide.

Another Friday Night...Sepia and I decided to spend it at home...I had bought a bottle of champaigne and had it on ice....

"Wow...My little private eye...you helped me crack a big case... " I laughed...

"See...I told you , you should take me out on your cases." she laughed.

"Well some of em at least..." I laughed...

"He disgusted me...He was so nasty, asking what color drawers I was wearing." she spat.

I smiled...

"Well... what color are they?" I asked.

"You didn't look this morning when I was getting dressed?" she answered  with fake sarcasm.

"I was too excited about cracking the case." I said , which was the truth...

"Too bad...I'm not telling you." she said, laughing....

I smiled....

"Besides...I don't plan to have them on much longer.." she said seductively.......

"That's what I'm talkin about...Who cares?" I said.

"I figured you'd be in agreement." she said...

We just laughed and drank champaigne for a long while!

The Right Dress Will Get A Girl Far

I watched my wife get dressed in the bathroom.... She stood silent as I hooked the micro listening device in her bra...

''Now what exactly is it that you want me to do Kevin?" she asked.

"I want you to get in good with this guy...Flirt with him, but push his advances away...Make him want to talk to you....Try to get him talking about your cousin ,Althea Washington...got it?   But don't bring that up right away...Lead him into it." I said.

"Okay....I'll see what I can do." she said.   I could sense her excitement with wanting to go "undercover" on this operation.

"Robert Foxworth has a friend who works in the unions who fished Clerow in there as a janitor...He'll be keeping watch on you as much as possible...." I said.  Robert's friend had also fished Sepia in there as a   vacationing Councilman's aide.   The vacationing councilman was in on the entire operation...He had no love for Floyd Jeters....Jeters had allegedly slept with his wife!

''Robert sure has a lot of friends." said Sepia.

"It comes in his line of work..Him being an Attorney and all." I said as I zipped her up.

"Damn...You sure look good in that dress girl." I said....

Sepia smiled and looked at me...

"The right dress will get a girl far." she remarked...and winked....

Indeed!

II-

With the help of another of Robert's friends,...Lockpick Johnson and Peeping Tom had got into Floyd Jeter's office and wired it for both sound and video....  Owen Todd drove Sean Jackson around, snapping photos of him....

We knew where he lived...We saw his wife and his three small children...We also saw him in other parts of town, coming out of different women's homes and apartments.....Not to mention that his office was a revolving door of  young ,pretty secretaries and administrative assistants...Getting a biology lesson...about "The Birds.....and the bees..." no doubt!

He didn't discriminate...Black, white, asian, hispanic...They all saw him...and him being a very important councilman's aide got them ,in return for sexual favors...a good (free) parking spot... overtime pay... time off and other perks they might not have gotten on just plain merit...

Clerow had been "working" there for a few days as a janitor..un-noticed...Sepia started working there and he damn near lost his mind... Despite the fact that she told him upfront that she was married..It didn't deter him...He pursued her almost obsessively...She refused his advances and any attempt to come to his office..When he came to her office..She made sure Clerow was there...This was driving him crazy...

III-

While that was going on...Another drama was unfolding....I got a call from Robert Foxworth.......

''Hey Kev...you'll never guess what just happened?" he said excitedly.

"I can't imagine....Are you going to tell me or what?" I said.

" I got a client....His name is Yokum Tate III" he said.

"Yeah? " I said getting a little testy with Robert...

"Well I'm defending him on a manslaughter rap....If he's convicted...it'll be his third offense and he'll automatically get a life sentence.....So like most three time losers...He wants to cut a deal...He says he has information on an unsolved murder...Guess what unsolved murder?? Your unsolved double from last year..Meet me at the detention center..." he said.

Wow...all of a sudden my seemingly impossible little unsolved double homicide was opening up....Owen Todd and Sean Jackson was busy as was Peeping Tom and Lockpick Johnson....Clerow and my wife were busy....and I didn't need Kool Kat as of yet..So I drove to the detention center myself.

Robert Foxworth, Chance Howard and Cole met me at the Detention Center... An escort led us into a small detention room where Yokum Tate III, a short ,bald, Black inmate sat with a smirk on his face...

"So you're the gum shoe my lawyer was tellin me about eh?" he smirked.

"Tell your story fast pal....I haven't got all day." I said.

"Okay...here it is....About a year ago...A big shot city councilman and his wife got shot to death right?  It was never solved.... I set that up." he said.

"You set it up?" I asked.

"A guy....Some big wig in city council...He knew a guy that knew me...We met at this bar...The Mermaid Club...He said he needed somebody offed... A broad...He had gotten her knocked up and it was his bosses wife...Not to mention..He was married and had a baby on the way...He needed her out of the way and quick.  I told my friend that I knew a guy...a guy that worked clean and cheap... His name is Bobby Price.
This guy paid me...10G's to get this guy to do the job and he paid the guy 10G's to do it....I got the guy and the guy did the job...He was only supposed to whack the broad...but the broad's husband was there and he popped em both." he said.

"You realize you're confessing to excessory to murder?" I said.

"I didn't kill anybody...I just put two people together...you know ..a business deal.....I can tell you where the gun is...and where the hitter is staying....See..he used a silencer...After the job was done...He gave it to me, to dispose of it...I bagged it and hid it." he said.  What a psychopath!

"You hid it why?" asked Robert.

"Just in case a time like this came up and I might need to make a deal....I give you the killer...You get some time knocked off of this manslaughter conviction....That's a fair deal, huh?" he said.

I didn't like this guy, nor did I like the idea of making a deal with him...but it was all I had....I looked at Robert...He looked at me....He nodded.

"Deal." I said.

IV-

That night when I arrived home...Sepia was smiling....

"Hey lover guess what?" she said.

"I don't know...Tell me." I said.  Now she wanted to play one thousand questions...

"That Floyd Jeters is a nasty man..Finally got me in his office....Do you know he had the nerve to ask me what color panties I was wearing?? Anyway...he begged and begged me to give him some and I had to knee him in the groin to back him off....but I got something...Free Parking for the rest of the month...and next Friday off." she said.

"Wow!" I said with fake enthusiasm...

"That's not all...." she laughed..

"A gold key to the executive restroom?" I joked.

"No.....better...While I was there...He had to leave his office for about a half hour...I went through his files and found this....a copy of Althea Washington's medical records...She was indeed pregnant and it was his baby....They had gone together apparently, just three days before she was murdered!!...It's got the Doctor's name and address....I made this copy and put the original back. It doesn't seem like these records should be in his possession." she said.  ''Clerow took a photo of the files in his office with his phone..."she added.

My eyes lit up....This was better than I'd hoped....She and Clerow had done well.

"You're right....They shouldn't be. WOW...You did good wifey, real good....The right dress will get a girl far." I said. Sepia smiled!
(Conclusion Next)

A Change of Direction

Sometimes a case seems like it's going one way...then it actually winds up going in a completely different direction....I took the knowledge that a mysterious man was seen consoling Althea Washington just hours before she died and the revelation that she was three months pregnant at the time of death as thinking that maybe this horrific double murder wasn't about Frederick Washington, Dynamic African-American City councilman and police corruption activist at all....but more about his wife!!!

In the coming days...I talked to his family members and his closest friends as well as his city council colleagues... They all told me what was quite evident...That yes there had been some tension in the marriage and that they were working it out... They knew about the two miscarriages and how bad they both had felt about it...They all were surprised to know that she was pregnant a third time!!!!  None of them knew it and Frederick Washington, who wanted a baby more than anything had said nothing about it!! Now why was that??

The fact that she had been seen visibly upset and being consoled by a mystery man made me think....Made me think that maybe Frederick didn't know and maybe....just maybe...It wasn't his baby!

I called Homicide Lt. Sissy Van Buren and had her meet me at the Medical Examiner's office...I brought three tumblers of hot steaming coffee from Dunkin Donuts....One for Sissy and One for Dr. Farber , who did the autopsies on the bodies...

"That's what I like about you Kevin....When you ask somebody to go out of their way....You make it up to them." laughed Dr. Farber.

''Aint it the truth?" seconded Sissy.

He had had pulled out the DNA reports on the two deceased victims and the fetus....as I had asked him days earlier.....He looked at us both gravely...

"I don't know why I or the case detective didn't think much about this a year ago...but not only was Mrs. Washington pregnant.....but the DNA of the fetus is not a match for Mr. Washington!!!" he said.

"Meaning that she was pregnant by someone else?" I said.

"Exactly!!" said Dr. Farber.

"Okay Kevin...that would back up your claim that she was upset....But what would that have to do with a double homicide?" she asked.

"I think someone , someone who had a lot to lose if this was discovered wanted this hushed up...Wanted her hushed up!" I said.

"Wow , you're out in left field on this one." she said.

"Match that DNA and you've got your killer..." I said.

"How you gonna prove that?" asked Sissy.

"I don't know." I said.

II-

So back to the drawing board!   I was back at Robert Foxworth's law offices....Looking at the compiled evidence on Frederick and Althea Washington...

"Man, you're in here so much I'm going to have them get you a desk" joked Robert Foxworth. Cole laughed.
I smiled too.

"I know....I'm working on a theory counselor....Althea was three months pregnant at the time of her and her husband's murder. The baby wasn't her husbands" I said.

''WHATTTTT?" said Robert Foxworth...


"It coulda been Floyd Jeters baby." said Chance Howard non-chalantly.

I spun around!!! So Did Robert.   "Who is Floyd Jeters?" he asked.

"Some Aide to Frederick Washington...I caught his act yesterday..a real smooth operator..Reminded me of you." I said looking at Robert Foxworth and laughing.

''Very funny, very funny." said Robert Foxworth.

''Floyd Jeters??? What makes you say that?" I asked Chance.

"He was Frederick Washington's aide.....He worked for the man....but before he was that....He and Althea had known each other in High School....They had had a short relationship." he said.

"Wow!! Chance, how did you find that out?" I asked.

"A few days ago when you said that you was going to talk to him...I called our guy in records and did a little digging into his background...He grew up here in Philly...He and Althea attended the same high school...I did a little asking around....You know , mutual friends and what not....They were pretty hot and heavy at one time...Then they broke up..She went off to college...He went to college here and they met up again when the Washington's moved back to Philly.....It was rumored that they uh caught up on lost times and that that was why the Washington's seperated.." said Chance.

''So wait a minute....This guy has an affair with a guy's wife and he hires him to work for him?" I asked ,incredulous....

"It's uh kind of keep your enemies close and your friends closer!" said Chance... Both Cole and Robert Foxworth laughed their heads off. "It was a favor from Jeter's father in law...Claude Jerguson...a businessman...He had a number of big construction contracts with the city and was a friend of the mayor. " he continued.

"Jeter's father in law eh?  I might need to talk with him." I said.

"Uh that's not gonna happen Kev." said Chance.

"He's that connected?" I asked.

''No...He's dead." said Robert Foxworth.... ''Lung Cancer ...died a little over a year ago." he continued.

''With him dead....Washington could have fired him." I said.

"Yeah and the fact that he had knocked up Washington's wife wouldn't have helped his case at all." said Robert Foxworth.

"So he had to go....just like the pregnant Mrs. Washington had to go." said Cole.

''It all fits...There is your previously  missing motive." I said.

"Yeah...but he probably wanted to put the missus at ease, before the kill." said Chance.

"Hmmmm, that makes sense...What if he was the man seen consoling her on the day she died?" I asked.

"You know he's got three kids...The  third child was born just weeks after the Washington's were murdered." said Chance.

"Oh Yeah?You should have seen him the other day...Had some woman stretched across the desk in his office...Had his pants down around his ankles...goin to town...He didn't seem like the happily married family guy type." I said.

"Damnnnn ,across the desk huh?" said Robert Foxworth...Cole ,Chance and I all gave him the side eye..

"What?  Just askin!" he said innocently.

"He was probably on thin ice everyday with this man he worked for....and with a wife ,two children and one so close to being born, he couldn't afford to have one with his bosses wife and then suddenly be disgraced ,embarrassed and unemployed too." I said. "Plus with his benefactor gone...he had no political protection...This was a survival move." I continued.

"You stretchin here Kev. All of you are...You can't prove any of this...It's all just speculation." said Robert..

"I'm bettin I'm right....Robert , Get on the phone and call Peeping Tom and Lockpick Johnson...I got a job for em to do....Cole ...call your security guard friend at City Hall....I need to know when the good councilman leaves for the day..." I said.

"What are you going to do?" asked Robert Foxworth..

"Right now? I'm going home....Today has been a good day." I said.

"Yeah?" asked Robert Foxworth...

"Yes it has....I've got a whole new perspective on this case." I said.

III-

"Ohhhhhhhh...Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm   Kevin....." moaned Sepia that night as we made sweet love on the living room couch....

"Remember how you said you wanted to go on one of my cases with me?" I asked

"Yeah?" she said.

"I just might have a job for you to do in a few days." I said.


"REALLY?" she said...her eyes lighting up!

"Yeah and uh...wear that Green dress you bought a couple of months ago...the tight one!" I said.

She gave me a side eye!


(To Be Continued...)

Birds And Bees

Why did so many of my investigations always start in Robert Foxworth's law offices?  Using his contacts in records... Cole, Chance Howard, Robert Foxworth and I looked up every publicly known fact about the late Mr. Frederick Washington...

He was a lettered athlete in Basketball and Track in High School, Attended Howard University, got his Bachelors and his Masters Degree there in Public Administration...Met his future wife, Althea Davenport there also...She too had a Bachelors and a Masters degree from Howard...They got married and they moved back to Philadelphia...She got pregnant...had a miscarriage.

Three years into the marriage...they seperated....He got his J.D. at Morgan State University in Baltimore,Maryland. Within a year, the couple reconciled... She got pregnant again, suffered another miscarriage ... He then took a run for City Council in his district and won...He became a fearless and relentless activist, mostly protesting police brutality in the Black community.

He and his wife owned a moderately sized home...and they both had cars... Aside from a mortgage and credit cards...Neither of them had any major debts...

I scoured the community they both lived in....I spent two days talking to their neighbors, people in grocery stores, barber shops, hair dressers and even bars near where they lived...I couldn't find one person who had anything bad to say about either of them..

One neighbor however did mention that a day before the double homicide...Mrs. Washington was visibly upset about something and was crying.  Another neighbor said that a grey 2010 Honda Accord was seen outside their house earlier....just hours before Mr. Washington arrived at home.  A man was seen talking to her as though he was consoling her....Consoling her about what?  I mused.

II-

I next went to City Hall.... I spoke to all of the Washington's City Council collegues....Democrat and Republican...Not one had a bad or unkind thing to say about the man.....I left and traveled to the Fraternal Order of Police offices in another part of town...
A lot of the officials there had an axe to grind with him and were straight forward about their disdain for the man, yet I didn't get one vibe at all that aside from political differences their dislike went any further than that. A couple of them told me to talk to his former aide...A Floyd Jeters..Who they discribed as a bit arrogant, not the most personable guy, unless you were wearing a skirt and heels..but still, the one who probably knew Frederick Washington the best.

So back to City Hall I went... To talk to the man who probably knew him best of all...His former aide...Floyd Jeters...Who was now aide to another City Councilwoman...
The City Councilwoman he was working for was on vacation, so I figured it should be no problem getting to see him...I was wrong... The door of his office at the end of a long dark hall was cracked...but once I got halfway there...I could understand that I wasn't going to see him today!

"OHHHHHHHHHHH...OHHHHHHHHHHH MISTER JETERS....OUUUUUUUUUU.." came a female voice....

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH BETTY....OH GODDDDDDDDDDDDDD...OHHHHHHHH...you've got the plumpest breasts and the softest skin....oooohhhhh I've been checking you out all morning...I couldn't wait to get you in my office alone..."he moaned.

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu... Mister Jeters...Mister Jeters..." she cooed.

" OHHHHHHHHH...baby....YESSSSS .....ohhh godddd...I'm just ohhhh ,teaching you about the birds......ohhh my god and the bees...the birds.....and the ouuuuuuu, beeees." he howled!

He had a young woman, possibly an administrative assistant up on a desk...had her legs wide open, had his pants down and was thrusting madly inside of her... The desk was slamming against the wall...... His pants were slipping down along his ankles...

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh womannnnnnnnnnnn..." he yelled..

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu ...Mister JETERRRRRR!!! OHHHHHHHHHHHHH...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu. I'm about to come" she moaned.

"So Am I.....ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmphhh...." he moaned...oblivious to the world !!!

I was in luck...Their tryst was coming to an end.....


"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...." he moaned.... He put her down.....He was sweating so hard his shirt had a visible ring on the back and under the arm pits...He pulled his boxers up, fixed his trousers..While she slipped her panties back on, fixed her dress and attempted to fix her hair...

"Mr. Jeter...This was ...This was...ouuuu.. Highly inappropriate.." she said..

"Nothing inapproriate about the lovin you put on me....You put it on me!!!Non-sense....I was just advising you on the birds and the bees....The birds and the ........bees.." he said.

"Well my goodness...I certainly got a lesson...With my clothes off!" she said, still trying to straighten her hair.

"Yes indeed...That's what it's all about baby...The birds and the bees.....The birds.............and the ....beees. heh...heh...heh.." he laughed, catching his breath...

I tapped on the door....They both spun around...She turned beet red and ran past me....He looked exhausted and a tad exasperated...

''Who are you? What do you want?" he snapped.

"My name is  Kevin Morris...I'm a private investigator....I wanted to ask you about your late associate Mr. Frederick Washington." I said.

"Look.. THAT was a year ago..!! What is it with people still talkin abut that? I talked to the detectives last year and I spoke to some other guy who claimed he was investigating that....I don't have anything else to say...He worked here...I worked for him...Outside of that, I don't know anything to tell you." he said rather flippantly.

"When was the last time you saw him?" I asked.

"The day he died...He worked a full day...then went home...That was it." he said.

"This is hard work eh?  Workin for the city ,I mean." I said giving him a side eye and smiling.

"It has it's uh ruh perks." he said.

"You teach many biology lessons? " I asked almost laughing.

"Huh? Biology??" he said.

"Yeah..I uh heard you ahhh instructing that lady on the birds and the bees." I said hardly containing my laughter.

He wasn't amused...

"Is there anything else Mr. Morris?" he asked.

"Nope...Not right now." I said.

"Then Good day." He said. He stared daggers at me! I could tell that he was never going to be a fan of mine.  I get that a lot in this business.

"The Birds and the bees!  I'll have to remember that." I said to him as I left. He slammed his door!!....I hadn't gotten any further with my investigation...but at least I'd gotten a good laugh.

III-

I met with Lt. Sissy Van Buren , Homicide ....the very next morning...

"What can I do for you Kevin?" she asked smiling sweetly.

"The Ray Lord Murder....." I said.

"What has that got to do with you? It's still an open case...We got no witnesses and no suspects." she said.

"My client hired him to investigate that double murder of the city councilman and his wife from last year." I said.

"Really?  My best detectives tossed his house and went through his files and his computers and all we have are insurance investigations...Besides...He was an insurance investigator....Why would he be looking into a year old unsolved double murder?" she asked.

"As a favor for a friend...." I said.

"Your client?" she asked.

"Yes."

"We not only found...no DNA and  no fingerprints at the scene of that one...but we couldn't even find a motive. Nobody had a bad word to say about either of them..We worked the police angle and the political angles ,but they led nowhere...What we need is an eyeball witness." she said.

"One neighbor told me that she saw Mrs. Washington crying earlier that day and a man who she didn't know consoling her..Said he drove a 2010 Honda Accord, Gray." I said.

''Yeah, we heard that..Never found the car and never  identified the mystery man." said Sissy.

"Damn...Goose eggs." I said.

"One thing about that case was sad though." said Sissy Van Buren.

"What was that?" I asked.

"They had tried hard to have a child...The Washingtons.....She had miscarried twice....At the time of her murder...She was three months pregnant!"

This changed everything!

"Where are you headed Kevin?" Sissy asked.

"Home for now...but tomorrow..I'm going to be looking at this case from a different angle ." I said.

Sissy smiled. "I figured as much....Happy Hunting...Keep me posted." she said.

I took one last look at her....

''Don't I always?" I said.

(Definitely To Be Continued...)

Prolouge To Conspiracy

Monday Morning....The phone was ringing.....

"Kevin....Kevin...get that." said my wife ,Sepia...

I groggily woke up....

"Uh...Hello." I said.

"Hey man...Kev, where you at? It's 11:00 am." came the voice of Robert Foxworth...

"Eleven O'clock???" I said and shot up with a start!  I never slept this late...I hadn't planned on working today....Neither had Sepia...but we never stayed in bed this late, unless of course we were uh busy and this morning we hadn't been..We were just sleeping and enjoying our rest...

"Uh..okay...I'm up..." I said.   There was a pause, then I heard Robert laughing.....

"You nasty negro...I know what you two been doin....." he laughed.

"No...you're wrong...We were just sleeping good...is all." I said.

"Tell Robert to mind his business" laughed Sepia in the background...

"Tell your wife that I took care of mine and managed to get to work on time." he retorted...

''What did he say?" laughed Sepia...I ignored them both.

"What do you want counselor?" I asked.

"My client...The woman I wanted you to meet...She's down here..." he said.

"Ohhh yeah...I forgot...I'm on my way." I said.  I hung up..snuggled next to Sepia for a few more minutes...then drifted back into a short sleep.

''You better get in that shower and go handle your business hero." she said with a laugh a little while later.

Sepia had already gotten up, showered and was preparing to get dressed....I stared at her..

"Damn girl...I feel like maybe, being a little late." I said.

"Later than you already are?" she laughed.  "Bonita,Bernadette and I are supposed to go shopping today anyway..We are all on vacay today...Don't worry..I'll be here tonight....Question is....Will you be back in time?"

"I'll damn sure try." I said.

II-

I showered ,dressed and hurried to Robert's Office...Chance Howard and Cole brought an attractive , middle aged woman into the office where Robert and I sat...

Robert stood when she came in the room....

"Kevin...This is  Mae Horton....Mrs. Horton, this is Kevin Morris , the private investigator I told you about." he said.

"That's Miz...Ms.Horton" she said, smiling broadly and staring daggers at me...

"Pleased to make your acquaintence..." I said.

"Not as pleased as I am...My My My...Your wife is a lucky woman....Lawdddd!" she said.

"Uh Ms. Horton...your uh ahhh case?" said Robert.  Cole and Chance smiled sheepishly.

"Yes... a year ago...My co-worker, Mrs. Althea Washington and her husband...Frederick Washington were murdered in their bedroom...They were shot in the head at close range....I live right down the street...Nobody heard or saw  a thing...Their murders remains unsolved." she said.

"And you want me to do what the Philadelphia Police couldn't do?" I asked.

"I want you to do what they wouldn't do...They didn't particularly care for my co-worker's husband...He was on City Council and he was also a neighborhood activist...One of their main critics.." she said.

"So you think his murder was politically motivated huh?" I asked.

''I don't know..I just know that it's been a year and they have no idea who did this or why." she said.

"Well ,I'm friends with a certain high official in Homicide....I'll talk to her, see if I can see some case files.." I said.

"You know" she continued..."I had a feeling there was more to this than just a random killing or robbery gone wrong, because nothing was stolen....I got a friend of mine...an insurance investigator to look into this ...Now he dead...got killed Friday night..same M.O." she said.

"Really? Why would you hire an insurance investigator to look into something like this?" I asked.

"I didn't know who to call...He was an ex cop...I figured he could look into it." she said.

"Oh...Who was this guy you hired?" I asked.

"His name was Ray Lord." she said.

"RAY LORD??" I said, looking at Robert.

"Yes..You know him?" she asked.

"I know of him..One of the best insurance investigators in the business..In fact, I was there Friday night at an establishment not far from where he got shot." I said.

"So was I" said Robert.

"Oh my God...." she exclaimed.

"So you'll take my case?" she asked.

"Yes...I'll look into this." I said.

"I can pay." she said.

"Tell me something...What is all this to you?" I asked.

"Althea was like a daughter to me...I watched her grow up into a fine young lady...and her husband, Frederick was the salt of the earth...you hear me? The salt of the earth..I hate to think of somebody doing this to them and getting away with this." she said.

I looked at Robert....He looked at me...

This was more than just a year old double murder.....There was a fresh murder attached to this and perhaps a fresh connection too...At any rate...I had my work cut out for me.

(TO BE CONTINUED......)

Un Tender Is The Night

It was a hot ,sweltering night in the city...Sepia and I, Robert Foxworth and his wife Bonita and Sean Jackson and his wife, Sheila and I decided to bypass Josie's tonight....We instead found a new spot....Tiny's Lounge , across town...A fashionable joint that was considerably less crowded and much cooler...I was wearing a new suit..some sandals and I didn't especially feel like sweating...

Sepia was wearing a sexy black dress that was hugging every curve and Bonita and Sheila were no slouches tonight either... I was wondering why the three of us were out and not home making sweet love to these sexy women....

Perhaps because it was too hot.... A sexy curvaceous waitress brought us our drinks...It was all Robert could do not to sneak a peek .....a fact that brought knowing smiles from Sean and I...Careful to keep our lustfullness away from the girls..

"I like this place Kevin...We should come here more often..." said my wife Sepia...

"It's a little quiet for my tastes , but it suits my needs for tonight." I said.

''Sepia, you know your husband is only happy when he's got a loaded gun and Kool Kat is behind the wheel of a fast car and they're flying through the city streets."laughed Sheila....

She was halfway right....But it had been a couple of months since I had been on a big case...Once more..Life had returned to normal...Me going to work at the magazine, coming home to Sepia and dinner...and the next day, we both going back to work...
We had even gone away on a couple of uneventful(for me) weekends....Life was good at the moment!.

We continued to drink and talk and Robert Foxworth smiled and motioned to me that he had something to say....More than likely he was drunk...

"Kev...I've been meaning to call you for the past week.... I've got a client and uh ruh..She has a little something that maybe you should look into." he said.

"Yeah?" I said perking up...

"Nothing you gotta worry about tonight....Get with me on Monday." he said.

''Sure thing...I'm not working anyway." I said.

II-

We paid our bill and the six of us headed out to the parking lot..... Across the street from us, we saw a small croud and police cars everywhere...Funny...I hadn't heard any gun shots... and yet there was a body lying on the sidewalk and police standing around...

I saw a familiar face...Lt. Sissy Van Buren.... Philadelphia Homicide Lt.  Even she was looking sexy tonight...I momentarily forgot that she was Robert Foxworth's ex-wife...His first of three ex-wives...She had a pair of legs on her... and nice sized breasts and a figure to die for....For the life of me, I couldn't understand why he had cheated on her...

Robert and I walked over to the crime scene....

"Evening Sissy." I said.

"Evening guys.." she said.

"No rest for the weary eh?" I said.

"Well at least not for him....He's an insurance investigator....Ray Lord...." she said.

"I've heard of him...He's a pretty good investigator." I said.

"Was a pretty good investigator....He got a little too close to something and somebody cancelled his ticket."she said. 

"Must have used a silencer..because we were in Tiny's spot and we didn't hear a thing." Robert said.

"That might be because of the alcohol" she said....I laughed...Robert didn't get it...We were kind of lit and her police instinct picked that much up...

"Oh well...we got women waiting on us....Go to it my esteemed Homicide Detective." I said.

"Have a good night Kevin, Robert...and be careful on your way home." she said.

We smiled and walked back to our cars... One by one we all drove away and to our homes...

III-

Once at home...Sepia took her heels off and poured herself a glass of water.....

"I heard Robert...He just gave you a new case.." she said with a smile.

"Yeah...life has been kind of quiet lately." I said.

"You should let me help you with one of your cases  one time." she said.

"You don't mean that." I responded...unzippering her dress...

"Sure I do...I think it would be exciting." she said as I kissed her neck and her earlobes...

"Mmmmmmmm and speaking of exciting.." I said...

"Ouuuuuu...you keep this up and we aren't going to get any sleep tonight." she laughed
as I began kissing her breasts and slowly layed her down on the bed...

"Like you were going to sleep this early." I laughed and continued kissing her.

Within minutes...my clothes were off and Sepia dress was hiked up, her bra and panties were off and we were making sweet love on the bed....This was the calm before the storm that was coming...

I didn't know it at the time....but tonight's murder and this case that Robert wanted me to look into were all related....Things were about to heat up!

(TO BE CONTINUED....)

A Night At The Movies

 5:30 pm. Friday afternoon .Cherry was bored!  Would this be yet another uneventful Friday Night...The Dealership told her that her car would be ready by Monday...Which was great news.......For next week..But today, right now.....it wasn't...Another Friday with no car....She didn't feel like taking the subway and El to points unknown again. She didn't feel like drinking period....So when the doorbell rang...She perked up a bit...

It was Roscoe!!!!  She didn't want to admit it...but she had missed him...They would occassionally hang out when she was in between men...Now he wanted to BE THE MAN! and she wasn't into that....Besides...he was rumored to be a gangster....Scratch that...He is a gangster...He's Fathead Newton, her former boyfriend...fiance...number two man...He was feared on the streets in many circles.

She knew the man outside of the feared rep...He could be quite funny, quite tender at times...She loved that about him...and he was incredible in bed, she knew firsthand from their one time romp between the sheets...which is why she really didn't want to go there again..Roscoe was intoxicating...

"You gonna stand there or are you gonna let me in?" he asked....

Such Swagger she thought...It was making her moist.

"Hi..What brings you around ?" she asked.

"You." he said.

"Really?" she asked dryly, hiding the fact that she was genuinely glad he had thought of her..

"Wanna go to the movies?" he asked.

"Sure..I'd rather do that than drink." she said..

"I'll be the perfect gentleman...I just didn't want to go alone." he said.

"Okay." she said.

"You don't care what the movie is?" he asked..

"No..Not really." she said and winked...

He gave her a side eye...Then he smiled......

"Okay...the movie starts around 6:30...let's be about it." he said.

Such Swagger she thought...It was making her moist.

II-

The movie was a big disapointment to both of them....It was silly and boring...Roscoe started to drift off to sleep...Plus..They were sitting in the middle of a nearly empty theatre....

Cherry stared at the bulge in his trousers...It was huge ,even when he was asleep...She gently pulled his zipper down...and gently pulled his penis out...She began fondling it softly....

Roscoe awoke with a start...

"Shhhhh.." she said...

She continued to fondle Roscoe...He smiled slyly...He also got grantic rock hard....

"Ummmmm" she said.

He leaned over and kissed her...She kissed him passionately, more so than before..He returned her passion....Soon they were kissing passionately and she continued to fondle his penis....

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..argggggggggggggggh.." he moaned..

"Shhhhhhhhh.." she said and smiled...

"Let's get out of here...go back to my place" he said.

"Okay." she found herself saying....

"Holster that horse of yours....myyyy lorddd." she found herself saying...She wasn't thinking about what was going to happen next..All she knew was that she wanted it to happen.

It was still early...only about 7:30 pm.

III-

And it happened...Once back at Roscoe's place, it seemed as if his trousers and his shirt just melted off....as well as Cherry's dress and bra..He slipped her panties down, lifted her up on his dresser drawer and began thrusting away into her...

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU..ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Roscoeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" she moaned...

''Cherry...I've missed you sooo much..." he said...thrusting into her with wild abandon...

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Roscoe...I've missed youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." she moaned.....

She was beside herself with passion....writhing and swooning, while he was thrusting and moaning...he sounded like the singer..Jon Lucien...she thought to herself.

He lifted her in his massive arms like she was a rag doll and layed her down gently on his bed....There he kissed her navel, all around her panty line and up her stomach...licking and slowly massaging her breasts with his mouth...This alone brought her to a powerful climax....

He entered her again...from the rear..kissing the small of her neck and continuing to thrust....

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" she cooed..

She came harder than she'd ever come before this time and he did as well..Shaking and vibrating something crazy....

"Ouuu, that felt good Roscoe....I needed that...My..My..My.." she said.

He rolled over....

He looked at her....

"No strings attached....Friends?" he said weakly...

She thought of how much he looked like a scared, hurt little boy at that moment..

"Yes...Friends............with benefits." she said and smiled...

"Word?" he said...

She rolled over on her stomach....began massaging his penis with her hands...and then took all of him in her mouth....

He leaned back....his eyes were rolling in his head.....

She stopped just as he exploded....

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.." he yelled...

They began to make love again....oblivious to anything that had been said prior. They started off slow and then gradually began to move faster and harder until they both came furiously......

''Ummmmmmmmmmmmmph" she said as she sat on the floor next to Roscoe...

Roscoe looked up at the clock... It was 9:30 pm...

"It's still early...Wanna go to an 11:00 o'clock movie?" he asked smiling....

"Nah...why don't we just see what's on cable right here..." she laughed..

Drinking Alone

It was a Friday afternoon... Cherry Johnson was off from work....She wanted to go out and have drinks...She wanted to go somewhere other than Josie's....


"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH GODDDDD HENRY...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu pUt it onnn me daddy....."

came a woman's voice from next door....Her next door neighbor had kept her up the night before with her new boyfriend, Henry....Henry was something else...

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU GODDDDDD, OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HenRYYYYYYYYYYY! OHHHHHHHHH..."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...COME ONE GIRLLLLLL..OHHHHHHHHH.."

Cherry closed her laptop....Enough of this...She had to get out of here tonight....My Goodness, Henry, or whoever he was must come by to see that girl every other night....She couldn't sleep some nights with the bed squeaking and the yelling and hollering....She smiled...That was because it was new love...She knew how that was...

Roscoe had had her screaming like that, the one time they had been intimate...So had Sam Rasulala...she hadn't seen either of them in awhile...and listening to her next door neighbor's goings on was making her horny and sad at the same time because she didn't have a man...

II-

Cherry's car was in the shop....She had been without it for two weeks...Her friend, Bonita Foxworth  had been picking her up, giving her a ride to and from work for the past week...She wanted to hang out with them, but they were probably going to Josies with their husbands..

Cherry called her associate Cheryl...

''What's goin on girl?" she asked.

"I met this guy the other day in the store Cherry...He wants to take me out tonight." she said.

''Never mind..I thought you wanted to hang."laughed Cherry.

''Maybe Next week." she said.

OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU GODDDDDD, OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HenRYYYYYYYYYYY! OHHHHHHHHH..."

Cherry had heard enough of that...She quickly showered, put on a red dress and some black pumps ,grabbed her pocketbook and took off...She didn't have her car, but she had a transpass now..She caught the bus and rode it to the subway station...Then she caught the Broad Street Subway...She was going to drink somewhere else tonight...Somewhere she wasn't known...Maybe she'd get lucky.

III-

Cherry rode the Broad Street Subway to Center City and caught the Market Frankford line to Olde City and found a nice little spot..She had a couple of drinks and ordered some dinner...She was an attractive Black woman...but she was in a bar filled with them...Most of them in couples....Which only depressed her.
Several guys attempted to talk to her...Some of them unashamedly wore their wedding bands..While others made it quite obvious (by their mannerisms) that they were living with someone.

She paid her bill and got back on the Market -Frankford Line and rode into West Philly...Roscoe had taken her to a spot here once when they had just been hanging out...before he had made it known that he wanted to be "friends with benefits.."  It was true..Sex ruins great friendships...she mused.

She drank until midnight....Now alone and afraid...She got on the Market -Frankford line again...She had about $100.00 in twenties in her pocketbook and her phone. She didn't remember falling asleep...but she must have....She rode the wrong way!!! All the way to 69th Street in Upper Darby... She got up...got on the train across the platform and got back on...She fell asleep again...Missed her stop at 15th Street and woke up at the end of the line in the other direction...Frankford Transportation Center...Used to be called Bridge and Pratt...That was long before she had moved here...Roscoe had told her that!

She finally made it back to 15th street and boarded the Broad Street Line...She dozed off again...This time when she woke up she was in South Philly at Patterson Avenue....She got off the train...Walked across the street to a small concession stand and got a cup of coffee and a hot dog.  She got back on the train and rode to her stop this time...It was daybreak....What a wasted Friday night!!  It was Saturday Morning...She was hung over and hadn't even gotten laid.

She stood on the corner waiting for a bus when a familiar car drove by...

"You keepin late hours darling." came the familiar voice....It was Walter "Kool Kat" Jones...and sitting on the passenger side was Roscoe!!! He looked at Cherry and smiled.

"I could say the same for you." she said.

''Well you know us...We guys..." he laughed.

"Yeah...well last night, I drank like one." she said.

"Yeah..Where?, Didn't see you at Josies or Ciros or the Mermaid Club and we just come from the Aqua Bar." said Kool Kat.

''That's cause I wasn't there...I went to some classier joints" she said.

Roscoe said nothing...

''Yall just want to know where I was and who I was with." she said.

"Nah...if you was with somebody you wouldn't be waitin on a bus at six in the mornin.....or riding the subway." said Kool Kat...Roscoe laughed then....

"Get in..we'll take you home." said Roscoe.

Kool Kat opened the door...Cherry got in the back seat...She was too tired to jockey with either of them and just relieved to be off her feet and safe...