The Other Guy

Brooke Taylor sat in Josies laughing and talking with a young man who I did not know and had not seen before... She saw me sitting alone in a booth and excused herself and came over and sat with me...

"Thank God I saw you....That clown was watching my cleavage more than he was listening to what I was saying." she said.

"But the drinks were flowing." I said with a wink and a bit of tongue in cheek...

She laughed...

"Yeah, he bought me about three drinks." she said.

"I thought you stopped?" I said.

"Oh they were light...sweet lady drinks...No hard stuff.." she said.

"Well anyway...I did some digging...I looked through all four of these peoples bank accounts, going back 10-15 years...It made for some interesting reading...All of them are now independently wealthy....They've got fat accounts and nice portfolios...which made me wonder why they're still hanging around here..." I said.

"They don't want to bring attention to themselves." she said.

"Would be my guess....I did some further research and discovered that in the weeks before your accident , Donny Miller was robbed.. Somebody broke into his home and hit his safe...They got over one million in cash..Way over one million and enough jewelry to finance a small country....Donny Miller was never quite the same...He reported it to the police, but they never found the dough or the culprits....He had his own goons and informants on the street looking, but they never found a thing!Greasy Jones ,in addition to dealing dope and coke, fancied himself as somewhat of a boxman and heist guy...." I said.

"You know...I used to get high with his stash...Me and his girlfriend, Thelma...Thelma was dating Donny Miller on the sly...I mean she had his nose wide open...It was our secret...." she said.

"Did you ever think that maybe, Greasy Jones fished her inside of Donny Miller's spot so he could set him up?" I asked.

''What? No..I never thought about that."she said.

"Donny Miller, one of the most major,major playas at that time was nothing more than a mark...She set him up and Greasy, Doc and Georgie probably broke in his spot and robbed him.."I said.

"Did I tell you that I had a fella?" she said.

''A fella?" I asked.

"Yeah....his name was Clyde...Clyde Rassmus..."she said.

"Who was he or is he?" I asked

II-

"Clyde was the best lover I ever had....Even better than Robert Foxworth and that takes some doing." she said...

"He was the other guy who ran with us...He was Doc's boy...Talkative guy...He liked me..Used to bring me a bouquet of roses everytime I performed....He would order my favorite liquor and have it ready for me after a set...

At first I thought it was just a crush...but gradually he began to try to move me away from the others...I liked being around Clyde, I liked having someone who knew how everything works for me. I lovde knowing that Clyde knew what to do in the bedroom. Yes, there are still quiet moments when I wistfully drift back to the sex-for-recreation days. I do  miss them. I miss him.  I am glad that I had them.

When Clyde touched me it was with the skill of a seasoned carpenter,a cat who knew how to put in work. There was such discovery... tongues, fingers, toys. I got maximum satisfaction. It was satisfaction on all levels. This makes our sexual pairing deep, rich and oh so damnnnn good." she mused wistfully..

"But I'm boring you with all of this I know..." she added.

She was, but I let her go on...

"He told me that Greasy and Doc and George were planning to rob somebody... I didn't take him seriously at first..He wouldn't tell me who...but that it was going to be big..and he swore me to secrecy....I didn't tell a soul...I was so busy drinking, and smoking weed and dabbling with a little coke back then that I probably forgot all about that..." she said.

"Go on." I said.

"About a week before my accident...They started acting funny....All of em...Doc started flashing a lot of cash...buying girls drinks and bragging about how much more he had where that came from... One night, Greasy came in with Thelma and saw him carrying on and gave him a good thrashing in front of everyone..Clyde attempted to jump in and George put him down...Hard...Beat him pretty badly..."

"I heard him tell all of them not to be spending any money on any big ticket items...to bank that dough and to keep their mouths shut or else...I remember that now... I asked him what thay was about and he gave me a bag of weed and told me not to worry about it....Greasy just changed Kev, he got paranoid and he would snap at the least little thing." she said.

"He had good reason to be paranoid...If Donny Miller had even suspected that they had robbed him...They'd all be in the bottom of the Deleware River right about now..." I said.

Donny Miller and his entire crew got popped within the next few years and all got pretty long stretches in the state pen....Donny Miller died a few years ago...So these people were home free I reasoned.

"What happened to Clyde?" I asked.

"One week after my conviction, I heard they found him in his apartment, dead from an overdose....Heroin and Cocaine...Which was funny....He never did drugs...Not when I was around..." she said.

"More than likely, Greasy wanted him shut up...He feared that Clyde or his own girlfriend might have told you too much and he set you up to die in automobile accident, only you lived and went to jail in a drug fueled haze..."I reasoned.

"It sounds good Kevin....but you can't prove any of that." she said.

"Don't worry...I'm going to do some more digging." I said.

"Thank you baby." she said.

III-

I followed Greasy Jones around town during the day....Mostly in rental cars with shaded windows, so I couldn't be seen.... Sean Jackson rode with me and photographed him....

He started his mornings at Sam Mother's Diner....eating breakfast with Thelma....Then he'd drop her off at the mall and go over to Mabel Jenkins's Soul Food joint where he'd hold court...Doc would bring him a fat envelope full of money...Apparently he was still in the lucrative drug business...just wasn't selling as openly as he used to...His clients were upscale white suburbanites with lots of cash to spend and little time to spend in the hood.. I took notes of this...

I also took note of how he frequently verbally upbraided both Doc and George in public, calling them stupid... He would slap Doc for the slightest infraction....He was no fool, he didn't lay hands on George...

Owen Todd and Clerow took turns following Him...They led Sean and I to his other woman's den...

Hmmmm...

"Boss, you thinkin about callin Lockpick and Tom on this?" asked Clerow...

"Yeah...to bug the girlfriend's house.....and then I want you and Owen to put a bug in Greasy's ear about Doc....I'm going to try and get a bug on wherever Doc lays his head..."I said.

"What you got up your sleeve Kev?" asked Owen...

"I'm going to kick the dust of this old crime up and turn these four people against each other." I said.

"And in doing that ,they gone spill the beans on theyselves right?" asked Clerow...

"Exactly." I said.

"Kevin,.you are diabolical." laughed Sean Jackson...

"Yeah...I know." I said.


To Be Continued......