Golden Gun

"So you see Kev....As of midnight, Hype Magazine, our sister magazine, Hype.2 ,and our newspaper will be available to all of our paid subscribers on ipad and their smart phones." said Sean Jackson.

I sat in the office with him, his wife Sheila and Harry Charles with a big grin on my face......

''Wow...This is great." was all I could say.

"Man, we've come full circle....We got a whole new generation of readers and ..we haven't lost our old generation." he said.

"What's going on with the radio station?" I asked.

"In a month, we'll be up and running." said Sheila....

"People will be able to listen on line and or satellite Kev...We'll have the best Classic Soul and R&B, Neo Soul, Jazz and Hip Hop flowing 24 hours a day, seven days a week and guess what?  We are going to have a feed hooked up in both Mabel Jenkin's Soul Food Joint and Bottom of the C', Dollar Bill's joint for trial runs to get more subscribers...." said Sean Jackson...

His wife Sheila smiled at me....

"Kevin...I'm so glad you put together that investment group of Your wife and Bonita, Chris and Chess and Clerow to buy this company....You've put into motion ideas I've had for close to five years that I could never get the board members of the Harris Group to invest money in." she said.

"Well..that's all different now...We are Black owned and managed now completely darlin." I said as both Sean and Harry smiled.

"Well guys...It's quittin time...I like what I've heard...I'm out." I said.

''Ohhhh Mr. Morris?" asked Sheila seductively....

"Yes?" I said.

"I love your wife's new perm....please try not to sweat it out tonight in celebration." she joked.

Sean and Harry smiled wryly....

I laughed....It was no secret to anyone how much I loved my wife, for want of a better word...and how she could have a brand new hairstyle one day and be wearing it in a bun or a ponytail the next... But the same could be said for Bonita, Robert Foxworth's wife , Corabeth, Clerow's wife and any number of the foxy women in our neighborhood who happened to be married to my friends.

II-



I drove from work to a very tony wine bar in another part of the city....I was meeting a client of mine... Having tending to my business as CEO and Editor and Chief of Morris Communications...I was now tending to my other line of work...As a private investigator!...

My client, Elbert "Curly" Kunkle arrived on time...He was wearing a very elegant suit, smelled very good and had a nice fat envelope full of money for me... Mr. Kunkle was a wealthy Black interior designer....He had designed my new radio station studio...When He heard that I was also a Private Investigator..he hired me to see if his wife had been cheating on him...She was!

"Thanks Kev....I can't say it was a pleasure....but you did give me the information I asked for." he said as he passed the envelope to me.

"Curly...I feel horrible about this." I said as I tucked the envelope in my jacket's inside pocket...

"Don't Kev...I thought my wife had been cheating on me all along....but to find out that she was cheating with not one, but two men...damn!!! That was more than I could take...I'm just glad I had proof." said Curly.

"So what now Curly? Is there anyway for you two to work this out?" I asked.

"Work it out? Hellllll no...We are getting a divorce....and I already had a pre-nup signed when we got married...She won't get a penny more." he said.

"I'm sorry to hear that." I said.. I generally hated these kind of cases....

''Don't be..Wasn't your fault." he said.

We didn't talk about it anymore... We drank wine and talked about other things...My business, Sports, what have you...

III-

From Being an Investigator all of these years, you learn to notice your surroundings.....This was a neighborhood where the average car was no more than three years old and it was mostly BMW's, Escalades, Jaguars and the like...So a white 1970 Cutlass Supreme had no business double parked in the street outside of this wine bar.

It had been sitting there for close to five minutes....Naturally, the windows and wind sheild were shaded so you couldn't see the drivers...The car cruised down the street and then left... An hour later...That same car was cruising down the street again....It stopped...It sat for a few minutes and then left.

I noticed that and made a mental note...but didn't say anything.  Finally I said to Curly....

"Well Curly...Thanks for everything and I hope the next time we meet it is under more pleasent circumstances." I said.

Curly shook my hand...

''Yeah Kevin...I hope the same..." he said.

We paid for our drinks and preceded to walk out the door...

''Hey Kev, where are you parked?" he asked..

"Across the street in the lot." I said.

"Oh" he said.

I looked to my left....And at the corner of the block...That Cutlass...The same one began driving down the street....Slowly....Something didn't feel right...The window came down and out of the corner of my eye...I saw the gun first...

It was a gold plated .45 pistol....I had never recalled seeing such a pistol before.... I yelled to Curly....

"Curly...Look out!...Look Out, drop down!"

Curly turned toward me, but it was too late...The man fired three shots....They hit Curly in his chest! Curly threw up his arms and moaned....

''ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH...KEV , I BEEN HIT!"

The shooter got out of the car and then aimed  and fired twice at me....!!! I dove to the ground...I pulled out my .38 smokeless and returned his fire... He fired at me again....I crawled some more, came up behind another car and once again returned his fire!

The driver yelled-

''Hey Sunshine...are you crazy?? Get back in this car....before someone sees you."

Then the driver pulled out a .22 and fired at me...I was behind cars now..I crouched and returned his fire.. He put his arm back in the car and pulled his window up...The shooter got back in the passenger seat and the Cutlass pulled off...I fired two rounds that took out their back window....and fired another shot that took out their side mirror on the passenger side.. They stepped on the gas and took off after that...

A crowd began to gather...I went over to Curly.....He was dead!!  I ran into the Wine Bar and got a piece of paper....I wrote down the license plate number on a piece of paper...and then I called the police...

I had the license number of the car and a scope on at least one of the shooters.....I had seen him before..He was one of the men, Curly's wife had been seen with in my survelience photos...I didn't know his name, but it wouldn't be hard to find out...I had heard his nickname...''Sunshine"

Well Mr. Sunshine...You and I would definitely be meeting up again.

(To Be Continued.)