Rainy Little World Of Murder

Usually on a day like this, I'd choose to stay home, sleep late, get up, go to my computer...do a little work from home and go back to bed...On days when I was very fortunate...I could talk my wife Sepia into staying at home too and we'd spend the entire morning making sweet love all over the house with neither of us getting a thing done...

Those days were far and few now...Sepia and Bonita had several houses to show here of late and I ,in addition to running Hype Magazine...was now running my new online and published newspaper, a staff of 93 people and launching a new magazine...

I was at work everyday...so were my partners, Sheila and Sean Jackson.  Harry Charles, my office manager was doing a stellar job running the show in my absence....He had moved up from just getting me coffee and defraying my calls...I had other people doing that now...

On this day...I had Reed Nelson, Bone Hampton, Meek Rollins and Ella Washington and Downtown Rob Brown in my office...Reed's new wife, Debbie had just joined my staff as a full time writer and was getting ready to cover them on their next big tour...They had a new CD out and had played Josies and and Mulberry Street and were getting ready to perform on the road.

Outside it was raining cats and dogs....

"Well guys...I can't wait to see the photos of your tour, when you get back." I said to them...

"It's going to be a great tour Kevin...We are honored to be featured in your magazines and your newspaper."
said Reed.

"What's this I hear about you startin a radio station?" asked Downtown Rob Brown...

"It's true...Ole Kev done already rented out space in my recording studio, where they gonna broadcast from." said Bone Hampton...

''Really?" asked Debbie...

""Yeah...It's in the works....I got plans to be the king of all media." I laughed.

"Thank you again for giving me a straight gig." said Debbie...

''No thank you...for becoming part of my group." I said.

Since I had taken over Hype Magazine and created Morris communications... I had been able to hire double the amount of bright young college educated people looking for work and been able to take care of my friends..Kool Kat (who really needed no financial help) ,Owen Todd, Lockpick Johnson, Peeping Tom and Clerow ( who was now a part owner!)  ...When Debbie asked for a job here...I had no problem...She had written several freelance pieces for us dating back to when I first became editor as had Mabel Jenkins, a successful business owner herself and part time contributer to my magazine and newspaper.

The rain began to pour down something fierce....

"Wow ...it's pretty bad out there...I'm headed back home..'' said Reed, clinging to Debbie... Bone Hampton put his arm around Ella.

''Yeah man... I need to be curled up on the floor with a nice cool drink and a nice warm body..." he said.

Ella giggled...Everybody just looked at him and laughed.

I looked at my watch , it was three o'clock.....I got on my phone and called Harry Charles...

''What's up boss?" he asked...

"Cut everybody loose....The weather is bad..." I said.   I loved being able to do that.

II-

I drove over to my wife's office, which wasn't far from where I was working..... Neither she nor Bonita was there!

I chit chatted with the receptionist...

"They showed three houses today....They should've been back by now...." she said.   "I called Ms. Bonita and Ms. Sepia and neither one of them answered their phones...which is odd...." she said.

''When is the last time you spoke to either one of them?" I asked...

''When they left to show the last house to a Mr. Dandridge....Only thing is...They said they were waiting on him..He never showed. That was two hours ago." she said.

I had driven Sepia to work this morning..I glanced out in the parking lot and I saw that Bonita's car was gone!

''You got an address on that house?"  I asked.

"Yeah...here it is." she said.

''Okay...I'll check it out...I'm sure they have their phones on vibrate and they probably didn't hear you."I said.

I had complained to Sepia one thousand times about that and Robert Foxworth, Bonita's husband said he had gotten on her about the same thing... I got in my car and headed to the last house they were showing.

II-

It took me very little time to drive through the wet Philadelphia streets and locate Bonita's car and the house that they were showing...

Nothing seemed amiss... Her doors were locked, as they should be...There was a half drank bottle of water in the cup holder....nothing else!...

I walked toward the house and I heard footsteps behind me...I turned and saw a man in a raincoat ...I couldn't see his face...but I could see his gun!!!!

I ran and dove for the ground as he fired three shots at me... My .38 smokeless was in the trunk of my car...what a hell of a place for it...but I did have my .22 on me..

I pulled it out and fired three shots at the man in the rain coat..He ducked behind a car...Another man emerged from the house , with a gun.He was wearing a stocking cap and a scarf that covered his face from his mouth to his eyes...He was trying to find out what had happened....He looked around, He saw me and he aimed a gun at me and motioned for me to drop my weapon and come inside the house...
I answered him with two shots that just missed his head...

"Jeeeeeeeesus.....this guy is crazy..." he said... He returned my fire and I took cover....

The other man told him...

''Come on let's go."he said.

"What about the skirts?" he said..

"They don't know nothin and they didn't see nothin." he said.

"But they saw my face.." he said.

"So, the important thing is that they didn't see my face!..now lets's go...apparently they had back up!" he said...

By now,I had run across the street and got into the trunk of my car...I had my .38 smokeless...Now I was ready for action.....

The two men got in their car and began to speed down the block towards me....The guy in the raincoat aimed at me...I ducked and hit the ground, rolled and lept up, entered the street and fired again....I hit him!

''ARGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH...I DON'T BELIEVE IT, I'VE BEEN SHOT!!!OHHHHH!!!"
he moaned as the car sped off down the street...

I dashed into the house... Sepia and Bonita were in the corner...bound and gagged....I quickly untied them...

"Ohhhhhh Kevin....Ohhh Lover, how did you find us?" cried Sepia as she hugged me tightly...

"I'm soooo glad to see you." cried Bonita....

The two women were visibly upset....

"What the hell happened here?" I asked.

"Kevin...upstairs....upstairs....murderrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.." babbled Bonita....

"Huh?" I asked....

I pulled out my .38 smokeless and charged up the stairs and in the master bedroom I found a horrific sight....

A  nude man facedown near the door with two slugs in his head....very, very dead.... in the bed, a nude woman with a slug between the eyes...very, very dead....

Sepia and Bonita followed me upstairs...

"We came here to show this house to Dandridge...He never showed up....We noticed that it smelled pretty bad in here...We walked upstairs and walked in on that!!! Two dead people!!" sobbed my wife ,Sepia..

"Who were those two men?" I asked.

"We don't know...but they had a key...They let themselves in and they bound and gagged us....They kept asking who we were and what did we know...We told them that we didn't know nothing......The one guy kept saying-

"Well you've seen too much....we can't let you live." said Bonita...

"Then we heard shooting from outside." said Sepia..

"That was me...The other guy was guarding the outside and when I was about to walk up the steps...He shot at me." I said. "What's going on here?" I asked.

"We don't know!" said my wife Sepia...

And here it was...another caper that I had been drawn into...and the worst kind...a non-paying one.

(To Be Continued...)