Home At Last

A night later, Sepia and I drove up to Josies....It was well after 2:00 am in the morning... Josie's was closed.
Gus called and asked me to come and to enter through the back.....I knew something was important... I didn't want to bring my wife, but she insisted...

I rang the doorbell and Gus opened the door...

"Hey man, I came as soon as you called, what's up?" I asked.

"Hi Gus, you okay?" asked my wife, Sepia

''Aw hey Sepia...I didn't mean to wake you up." said Gus.

"It's okay Gus...I thought you might be in trouble." said Sepia.

"Nah, Nah, I'm fine,I got somebody here who your husband needs to talk to." he said.

We walked inside and sitting in the store room at a small table was a small framed ,brown skinned man that I did not know.

''This is Wally Young...He operates and monitors the video cam in the parking lot....Or rather he used to operate it...He's fired." said Gus.

"Aww Gus come on...it wasn't my fault.." he said.

''Shut up ya chissler...Tell Kevin what your drunk ass told me." said Gus.

"Kevin....It was Lance Fontaine...Not him personally...but his boys...A Tall muscular guy...used to be a boxer, another guy, tall and slim and a short mousey kind of guy with sunglasses on....The night that guy got stabbed in the parking lot....I got the whole thing on tape....They come in here and roughed me up, slapped me around a little and told me to edit out the film....the parts that showed the actual stabbing....and not to say a word to the cops about it...So I did what they said.....By the time the cops came and got my video....It didn't have that part on it....I had to do it...Dude damn near broke my jaw...and the other two stomped me..." he said.

"But you know who killed Flaming Moe right?" I said.

"I sure do....and I kept a copy of the original print...For insurance."he said.

"Insurance? Insurance against what?  You think you got the stones to blackmail Lance Fontaine?" asked Gus.

Gus and I shook our heads...

"Where is the original print?" I asked...

''Aw Kev please....They'll come back and they'll kill me." he said.

"No they won't....I had the pleasure of running into the same three men a night ago.... All three are locked up, they won't be coming back to do anything....Now where is the print?" I asked.

"I'll get it." he said.

"No...We are going to go get it and watch it together...Then you're going to call Lt. Sissy Van Buren of Homicide and deliver it to her...Tell her everything you told me and Gus. Give her this address and tell her to meet me there in a few hours." I said.

"Okay Kev..." he said.

"Gus, give him his job back...Those guys were pretty rough charactors...They would have killed him if he hadn't of complied." I said.

"Well uh okay...If you say so Kev...But only because you said so....Alright Wally,let's get to steppin." barked Gus.

II-

I found myself back in Roxy's......I was beginning to like this bar...It might be a suitable place for me to drink when I wanted to be alone.  I told myself to make a note of that in the future...Nobody knew me here..
The gambler and would be gangster, Lance Fontaine and his little trollop, Lucy Diamond were sitting at a seperate booth drinking...

I walked in, smiled and walked over to their booth and sat down....Lance was stunned...Lucy looked annoyed..

"YOU!" he said.

"You must be the great, great Lance Fontaine...I've heard so much about you...At last we meet." I said with a smile..

"I've heard about you too... None of it anything I like. Thought you would have been thinkin differently about things now.Like life, health." he barked...Lucy smiled.

''And why is that Lance? Because of those three idiots you call muscle that you or miss
lady here sent after me the other night?  Have you bailed them out of jail yet? Has the swelling in their jaws and their faces gone down yet " I said.

By now the talk on the street had gotten back to him about the beat down I had put on two of his goons the night before and that they were all in jail...He bristled at me rubbing it in.

"You got a smart mouth ya know that?....How bout I close it for you personally?" he said.

"If you feelin froggy , jump baby, but I'd strongly advise you not to..." I said , no longer smiling.

"I'm out of here, I detest blood shed." smirked Lucy.

Lucy went to get up, but I grabbed her and pulled her back down forcibly...I could tell that it startled her!

"Sit down!...I'm through playing nice with you." I said.

"Get offa me...Get off of me.."she screamed....

Lance went to reach for his gun....but I grabbed the back of his neck and slammed his head down on to the table hard about three times...giving him a bloody nose and a head ache..

''Ughhhh, "he grunted..."You're a dead man ...you just wait." he moaned as he slumped over in the booth!

I took his gun out of his coat pocket cocked it and aimed it at him.

"You send those three creeps after me the other night and you're the one who's mad.???...I should be mad that you sent such inferior muscle..." I remarked..."Now sit tight...I'm talkin tough now tough guy....Sit tight or I'll gladly lay you out...Feel me playa?." I said no longer smiling or joking.....They both got the message.

I gave him some tissues for his bloody nose....

"Now Lucy...How long had Flaming Moe been blackmailing you?" I said.

"You know huh?" she said...She simmered down considerably after she saw what I did to her so called tough guy boyfriend.

"Yes...I know the whole deal....He was in the laundry room when you plunged that big knife in Bruce Diamond's chest killing him...He saw the whole thing...Only he didn't tell the cops....Reason why was because he knew that Bruce Diamond died,leaving you a couple of million dollars...He started blackmailing you then didn't he?  How else could he have afforded a move to Philadelphia and a down payment on a house?
You tried to run, moved from Patterson to West Orange, to Jersey City , New York City and eventually here ,only to discover that Flaming Moe was here too and the black mailing began again...Which was how he was able to pay all of his debts." I said.

"Yes....I couldn't escape him...Every week, wanting money...more and more to keep my secret.He was draining me." she snarled.

"Only, you were connected now....To Mr. Fontaine here......Which brings me to my next question...Why didn't you let Mr. Fontaine handle your situation? He and his guys would have certainly have handled Mr. Green much cleaner and with less fuss than you did?" I asked.

She held her head down...

"Yeah...I should have....I was so mad that night at Josies....I thought that Trolley Car Jones was going to kill him...but then I saw him pay Trolley Car what he owed him...Paid him with my money..my damn money!! That was all I could take...I pulled out that butcher knife and ...and ...just stabbed the hell out of him." she said.

"SHUT UP LUCY!! IF I know right, this crumb is wearing a wire!" said Lance Fontaine...

He was right....I was!!!

"It's all over mami, you're under arrest. Love you Kevin." came the voice of Detective Carlotta Rodriguez as she handcuffed Lucy Diamond...

"Love you too Chica!" I laughed.

"Damn it...I knew it.I knew it!" said Lance Fontaine....stomping his foot and pounding his fist on the table in anger.

"That goes for you too killer!" came the voice of Detective Tyriq Pile, who handcuffed Lance Fontaine...

"I don't believe this...I'm goin to jail?"he muttered...

" You sure are!Thanks again Kev." he said. "Whole lotta folks will be glad to see this dreck off the streets." he said.

"All in a days work Detectives." I said, smiling...

Lt. Sissy Van Buren and four uniformed policemen entered the bar just then...

"Well Kevin, how many times is this that we've met just as a perp was being taken down?" she laughed.

"I don't know....a hundred maybe?" I laughed.

"It never gets old!" she laughed...

"Nope, never!" I said.

"Thanks again." she said as She ,Carlotta, Tyriq and the officers hauled Lucy Diamond and Lance Fontaine out of the bar as the crowd gawked and looked on...

After they all left, I went back to the bar and ordered myself two beers.... It had been a long two weeks...
My friends would all be returning from Spain tomorrow... I drank two beers and saluted them!

Yep! I think I was gonna like this bar!  Oh don't get me wrong...Josies will always be my main spot...but like I said, When I need to be alone...Roxys will be that place.....Yep! I think I was gonna like this bar

III-

Lucy Diamond was convicted of Second Degree Murder charges and sentenced to 15 years to Life in the death of Flaming Moe Green....The City of Patterson, New Jersey has re-opened the 2007 murder of Bruce Diamond and is seeking to try her for that murder.

Lance Fontaine and his three henchmen were convicted of Obstruction of Justice and assault with intent to kill and conspiracy and sentenced to 15-25 years each....

I took my wife, Sepia out to a nice little restaurant, about a block from Roxys...the new bar I had discovered.

"This is nice...Good Food...." she said.

"How did you like Roxys?" I asked.

"It was okay, but a little dead for my tastes....What's the bartender's name?" she asked.

"I don't know, I don't wanna know." I laughed.

"They didn't have no music." she said.

"It's a quiet little place."I said.

"Well if you like it, okay...but I prefer Josies...Josies is home, We know everybody there, There's music and closeness."she said.

I smiled...She was after all right.

EPILOUGE:

The next night, Sepia and I were right back in Josies...Everybody was there, Chris Thompson, Chess, his wife Rell, Donald Smooth, Kool Kat,Owen Todd,Chelsea, Clerow, Corrie, Sean Jackson, Sheila, Harry Charles, Bernadette,Robert Foxworth,Bonita,Bridget Jones, Conrad Nelson and his wife Jill...Chance Howard, Anita Jenkins, Cole, Blake, Paris...the whole crew.....

And the musicians were back, Downtown Rob Brown, Delores, Reed Nelson, Debbie, Bone Hampton,Ella, Meek Rollins, B-Flat,Honey Brown, Brooke Taylor, Ingrid Rhodes, 88 and Mabel Jenkins...It was good to see everybody!

I looked over at the bar... Gus was entertaining the drinkers...He was telling some story that had them all laughing...

Chazz was playing the piano with his new quartet and Dutch Van Buren was slipping towards the door...He had just finished his set.

I caught up with him...

"Oh uh Dutch....There is the matter of my fee....The murder has been solved." I said.

''How much I owe you Kev?" he asked.

"About a grand." I said.

He peeled off $500.00 dollars and put it in my hands...

"I'll give you the rest next week Kev....I got a baby on the way and all." he said as he slipped out of the door.

I shook my head...My wife, Sepia came and draped her arms around me...

"Now doesn't this feel like home lover?"

I looked at her and smiled...

"Yeah...Home at last!" I said.

(FOR SLC)