Eclipse

A night later, with the help of Lockpick Johnson and Owen Todd, I broke into the office of the now deceased Private Investigator, Pete Berger....Like him, it was a messy office... Coffee stains on the desk, uneaten or unfinished sandwiches on the desk on the window ledge and the smell of booze and stale coffee wafted through the office...

I went through his files....I was looking for clients...I didn't expect to find Robert "Big Butt" Thornton in the files....No...he was too smart to ever directly hire someone like him...but to my surprise..I did find the now deceased Raif Collins as one of his clients and the man I was looking for...Marion Joseph Jones....better known to the world as "Philly Joe"

''Damn, his real name is Marion?? Hahahahahah, no wonder he goes by the name "Philly Joe."laughed Owen.

"He used to work with some guys in New York...That was the way they distinguished him from a playa named Harlem Joe  and another playa named New Jersey Joe ...They called him Philly Joe cause he was from Philly." said Lockpick Johnson. I smiled..it was crazy, but it made sense.

While they talked....I studied the records..They had met at least three times in the weeks before my house and office had been bugged....If what Big Chicken had told me was true...Bob "Big Butt "Thornton put this into motion before he was actually released...How he must have hated me for originally putting him behind bars and then taking down his lucrative organization on the outside and busting the corrupt officials that had him living like a king inside of prison.

This guy ,Peter Berger had all kinds of wire tap devices....Almost as good as Peeping Tom's collection...He had lockpicking devices and key cards too...He was good at what he did..

I had checked him out...He had been a homicide detective a long time ago...but the hard drinking and the job got to him....He was put on administrative leave and he never returned...but now he was dead.....I was now concentrating on finding Philly Joe...

I found cancelled checks...from Marian Jones to Peter Berger...No one would suspect that Marian Jones and "Philly Joe" was the same person.

Prior to coming here ,I had checked Berger's phone calls... These two had called each other several times in the past month...Philly Joe had called him from different phone booths and one last time from a number that was determined to be his cell phone.. Now I had an address and a number..

I had another unidentified number that was from a cell phone listed to "Ross Clark" that was an out of town number..I did a quick investigation of that number and found that it was from out of Detroit...and "Ross Clark" was a recently diseased senior citizen.  This number belonged to whoever was assigned to kill me.

"Okay guys...I'm done here." I said.

''Where to next Kev?"asked Owen.

"After we drop Lockpick off...call Clerow, tell him to meet us at Ciros." I said.

"I'm on it Kev." he said.

II-

I never drank at Ciros....It was owned and run by Fathead Newton's nephew, Chick...It was a dive....Even Chick didn't drink there...He sent somebody around to collect the proceeds and give him his cut...

Owen and I sat across the street from the bar....To our surprise..We saw none other than the man himself...Bob "Big Butt" Thornton...He was six foot five, tall, thin until you got to his waist....He had a fat behind...and from behind , he looked like a woman!!!! He had a shape that could rival some women...a fact that no doubt bothered him...He walked with an exagerated stroll...like he was overdoing it..If it wasn't for the fact that he was a dangerous gangster...He would have had some problems in prison...this I know...

Philly Joe walked up to him...

"Where you been Joe?" he asked..

"I been gettin our guy straight....He's in a nice hotel in South Philly....Waitin for our guy to start showin up...and then...pop! We got him...This guy Clint "Deadeye" Williams...He's the truth....from outta Detroit...He don't miss..." said Philly Joe.

"He better not...I had to reach out to some powerful friends to be put in touch with him..I want Morris dead in the next 48 hours..." he said.

"Relax Big Butt...I got it covered babe!" he said.

"You better..How about Berg?  " he asked.

"He's gone man...gone..So is the last livin guy from that team you originally sent after Kevin and his guys....Shame they found the bugs in the office and the house." he said.

"They found em too damn fast...but that's good...We know where he's likely to be..We don't need em." said Big Butt. "Well just to be safe...torch his office....We don't want Kevin goin in there and finding anything that will lead him to me." he continued.

"Aint nothin in there babe." he said.

''Burn it down anyway and don't ever call me babe, you hear?..I'm a man, ALL MAN, don't get it twisted...Just cause my butt is big like a woman's, Don't make me a woman,understand??" he said.

"Yeah..Yeah..sure." said Philly Joe.

"Good now torch that office....TONIGHT!" snapped Big Butt.

''Okay...Okay...I'm on it!" said Philly Joe.

Bob "Big Butt" Thornton then crossed the street, got in his car, which ironically was parked right in front of ours and pulled off....He never noticed me sitting on the passenger side!!!!!

"Owen...I got an idea..Joe is inside the bar...put this GPS tracking device under it..When Clerow gets here, We are going to follow him back to Berg's office...Call Sean Jackson....Tell him to meet us there and to bring his equipment." I said.

"I'm on it Kev."

III-

It began to rain a little...Owen ,Clerow and I followed Philly Joe back to Berg's office... The street was empty...Sean Jackson was across the street filming him getting out of his car with cans and materials used in arson...We watched him jimmy the lock
and take his equipment in....he began pouring lighter fluid on the phone, when Sean swung the door open and snapped a photo of him!!!

''Smile, you're on Candid Camera!" I said.

He was startled...Owen Todd and Clerow aimed their guns at him...He threw his hands up!  I walked over to him...Upon seeing me, his eyes grew as large as saucers!

"You're Kevin...Kevin Morris!!!" he said.

"Now that we know my name....and I already know your name...Let's answer some questions." I said.

"I aint gonna tell you nothin." he said.

"Clerow, light a match!" I said...Clerow smiled that toothy grin of his and lit a match..

"Hey man, this place will go up...don't do that?" said Philly Joe.

"You were gettin ready to torch this place." I said.

His eyes got large..I could see straight fear on his face.....

"Owen, shoot him!" I said.

Owen cocked his pistol...and aimed...

''Man you crazy...you crazy!" he said

"Either you talk or you die in here in the ashes...Either way, makes me no difference." I said.

IV-

"I can't believe how much this charactor talked" said Homicide Lt. Sissy Van Buren...
as I sat in her office a day later and had coffee with her and Detective Carlotta Rodriguez...

"He put himself in for the murders of Peter Berger and the four guys you said tried to shoot you and your friends up....but that's as far as he would go...wouldn't say who hired him." said Carlotta.

"Oh I know who hired him...Bob "Big Butt "Thornton ...only I can't prove it and he's more afraid of "Big Butt "than he is of the law." I said.

"I can't believe they paroled him." said Sissy Van Buren...

"So are you still in any danger?" asked Carlotta..

"Didn't know you cared Carlotta." I said in jest...

Sissy and Carlotta laughed....

"No, No more than I usually get myself in....I'll keep in touch." I said as I walked out of their office.

It had stopped raining.....The city was calm, quiet....It had been an interesting week...
Big Chicken ,Raif Collins and Bob Big Butt Thornton had all returned.... I had foiled a kidnapping plot, closed a couple of murders and flushed out a conspiracy...I wasn't out of the woods yet, but I could feel the forces against me eclipsing...

Big Butt must be going crazy, knowing that his point man was in custody....He was going to have to make a move and  soon...I would have to anticipate it and counter it.

I had to flush out a hitman and begin my end game with a hated adversary....It was now, my move.

(Conclusion next)