My Money Is On You

I hung around until the police came...A man had been murdered in the parking lot...This was indeed strange...This hadn't happened at Josies in years...Between my investigations and the security that Chris and Chess and Donald Smooth kept around this neighborhood and the police presence...It was pretty safe and pretty quiet around here...This was a rarity!

Detective Carlotta Rodriguez and Detective Tyriq Pile drove up....

They had another person with them...A Black woman who I had never seen before....

''Hey Kevin.."said Detective Pile...

"Hola Kevin" said Carlotta....

"Tyriq, Carlotta.." I said.

"Kevin...This is Dr. Hazel Hunter...The newest member of our team.." said Carlotta..."She's a forensic investigator." she said.

''So you're the legendary Kevin Morris, I hear so much talk about." she said. "Sissy and all of the detectives on her squad always talk about you." she continued..

"Well,None of it's true." I joked... Tyriq and Carlotta laughed...

"What do you know about this?" asked Tyriq Pile..

"Nothing...I was inside drinking...and we heard a scream from outside...I think the woman over there talking to one of your uniforms saw the whole thing....He's a musician...Was a musician...They called him "Flaming Moe" I said.  "He played the vibes.."I continued..

"Well we didn't need to bring you out here Dr. Hunter...It's quite obvious how he died...Somebody plunged a butcher knife into him." said Detective Tyriq Pile...

"Let me view the body...I still might be able to tell you some things that don't seem apparent." she said...

Carlotta said to me...."I always get the difficult cases...Just once I'd like a suicide."

We both laughed...

"I wish I could help you on this one Chica...but I didn't see or hear a thing...Don't even know the man." I said.

"When has that ever stopped you?" she joked.

''Come on now...I got a straight job." I joked. "See ya later guys." I said as I walked back inside.

Gus, Dutch and Chazz were the only ones in the bar now...It was well after two...

"Man....Moe didn't deserve to die like that....Who would want to kill him?" asked Dutch...

"He owed Vinnie "Trolley Car" Jones some money..and I heard that Trolley Car was pretty pissed at him."
said Chazz.

"Yeah Trolley Car was around here a couple of times looking for him." said Dutch.

"Yeah,I seen him the other day." said Gus.

''Which explains why your boy was arriving late, he was ducking him." I said.

"I told that fine Puerto Rican Detective you know where she could find Trolley Car Jones." said Chazz.

"You don't know if Trolley Car Jones killed him...You didn't witness it." I said.

"Besides...You can't even see." said Dutch...

If only he knew what I knew, I mused.

"Man ,he did it...Kev...He did it if anybody did it."said Chazz...

"Yeah ,well I hope you're right. You could be puttin the spotlight on an innocent man." I said.

Dutch motioned for me to talk to him in private....I excused myself and walked outside with him.....

''Kevin....I want you to find out who done this...Here's a grand..." he said and peeled me off one thousand dollars.

"Dutch heyyy wait!..." I said..

"I would give you more, but I gotta pay some bills and help Selma out...You know, we got a baby on the way." he said.

I took the money....

"There will be more when you find out who done this..another grand." he said.

"What was his real name?" I asked.

"Moe Green...Moses Green..I met him in Patterson, New Jersey, We played some gigs there and in North Jersey and in New York City...When he moved here, he stayed with me for a hot minue...Good guy, Good Friend...Real cool people and a great musician...I'm sorry you never heard him play.He didn't desrve this...Knifed in the back." said  Dutch...

"Okay , but your daughter has two of her best detectives on this and a forensic investigator.." I said.

"Maybe...but you found me twice ,when nobody else could...You caught Chang Lee and his gang when nobody knew where they was and my daughter told me how many times you've cracked cases that even they couldn't crack....My money is on you Kevin." he said.

That was obvious....I had one thousand dollars of his money in my pockets.

II-

Sepia was still awake when I finally got home that night.....She put her arms around me as I took my shirt and undershirt off...

"How was it tonight?" she said..

"Interesting." I said with a half smile..

I pulled out one thousand dollars and tossed it on the bed...

"What's that?" she said.

''Lunch money for you." I said.

"You got yourself a case huh?" she asked.

"You know I can't go out without getting mixed up into something." I said.

"You're gonna have to stop hanging out at Josies." she joked..

"Yeah, you're right.....A man got murdered tonight." I said.

"In Josies...??? She asked.

"Yeah in the parking lot.. He was a friend of  Sissy's father....he gave me a grand as a down payment to find out who did it." I said..

"Isn't that the police's job?" she asked.

"It is..Carlotta and Tyriq are on it... They might crack it before I get started and I'll have to give him his money back." I laughed...

"My money is on you Kevin." she said.

"Your money is on the bed." I laughed....and turned Sepia towards me and gave her a long slow kiss...

"Mmmmm, Money makes me horny lover..."she cooed..

'' And All this time I thought it was my technique." I laughed...

"That too." she said between kisses...

I eased her shorts off....She stepped out of them and kissed me  some more....

I layed her across the bed and eased out of my trousers....

I entered her slowly, gently, Sepia began to tremble a bit....and slowly I glided into her moist center and we began to make love slowly above the covers...

"Ouuuuuuuu...I like this....Nice and slow...Nice and slowwwww." she said...

We made slow sweet love like that for hours...

When we finally climaxed and were spent, we lie across the bed, sweaty and exhausted...Sepia was still awake...

"So Lover, where do you begin?" she said...

"With the man himself... but not tonight....tomorrow."I said.

Sepia straddled me and gave me a long sloppy kiss..

"That goes without saying lover." she said.

III-

The next day, after I left work....Yes, I did put in a full day at my job. I asked around about Mr. Moses "Flaming Moe" Green....Mostly amongst musicians who knew him...I got at least two addresses for him...both in other sections of the city...I stopped by a few watering holes he was known to frequent...The Aqua Bar, Ciros, The Mermaid Club and even Mulberry Street....No one there had anything bad to say about him and most of the people I talked to told me what I already knew....That he owed people money..... Most of the people he owed money to said that in the last week of his life...He had paid them back in full!! Hmmm, suddenly flush...I wondered where his good fortune came from all of a sudden?  That might lead me to whoever killed him!

Then of course there was the matter of one Vincent "Trolley Car" Jones... He wasn't a playa or a gangster, just a neighborhood guy..

 I knew that it wouldn't be long before Carlotta and Tyriq were on his trail....I asked around about him too!  No one had seen or heard from him since the murder! He'd turn up sooner or later!

I stopped in Josies...

Gus was there as usual, tending bar....As soon as he saw me ,he pushed a bottle of Corona over to me...

''So what's new kid?" he said.

"Ahhh, this Flaming Moe thing?" I said.

"You mixed up in this too??...Carlotta and her partner came in here today talking to a few people." he said.

"I figured....Dutch is paying me to look into it." I said.

"Yeah, Flaming Moe was his friend." he said.

Just then I heard a commotion on the other side of the bar...

"Take your hands off of me." came the voice of my former client and friend, Bridget Jones... She was sitting with a tall muscular guy...I'd seen him around before...He carried himself like a boxer...Dressed like a hood.

"Aww come on baby...I've bought you two drinks." he snarled...

"That doesn't give you the right to fondle me and touch me places I didn't give you permission to touch." she said.

"I say it gives me permission to do whateva I want, considerin that those wasn't no cheap drinks." he said.

"Take your hands off of me." she said again..

"Awww come on baby..be nice to me." he said again.

I walked over to where they were sitting...

"I think you'd better get up and bid the lady good day sir." I said.

''Oh yeah? That's what you think huh?" he said and cracked his knuckles.

''Yeah, that's what I think." I said staring straight into his eyes... He wasn't used to not being able to intimidate people...I could tell. Who did he think he was...Kool Kat? I mused.

"How bout you mind your business ace before I belt you one?" he said.

I pulled out my .38 smokeless and jammed the muzzle into the crotch of his pants...

"Ughhhh!" he sighed....and then looked at me with pure fear...

"Feel that ace? That's a .38 smokeless, it leaves a big hole...If I pull this trigger and you somehow manage to survive, I am one hundred percent certain you'll be singing soprano the rest of your life, Feel me playa?" I said. "Now get up, and get to steppin." I continued...

"You do realize that I work for Mr. Lance Fontaine." he said.

"Is that supposed to mean something to me? Now I'm not going to ask you again...Get up and get to steppin." I said...

A crowd of people were watching....He got up straightened his clothes and said...

"Okay pal....You and me...We'll dance again...." he said.

"I look forward to it...Tell your boss ,I look forward to meeting him too!" I said.

He stomped his foot in frustration and walked briskly out of the bar.

Bridget looked at me and smiled and gently stroked my arm...

"Oh thank you so much Kevin...He was such a lout.He sent a drink to me, then a second one and then he came over and started talking...A lot of foolishness, then he started with the hands...all touchy feely...Oh My God...Last time I accept a drink from a stranger." she said.

"You gotta meet a better class of guy." I said.

"Who you tellin?" she laughed....

"You will....A pretty girl like you...It'll happen sooner than you know." I said.

"That's what everybody keeps sayin." she said.

I smiled and winked at her and quietly left...

Gus smiled and just shook his head.

"My money is always on you kid." he laughed.


IV-

The next night, sometime around midnight, Sepia and I enjoyed a delicious soul food meal at Mabel Jenkins Soul food joint with Harry Charles, his wife Bernadette, Robert Foxworth and his wife, Bonita and Clerow and his wife, Corabeth....

''So  Kev... I called your job today..I wanted to have lunch and they told me that you weren't in....So I figured...You'd gotten yourself mixed up in a case or somethin..." said Robert Foxworth.

"Yeah, isn't it funny how those things just seem to happen so much?" I joked.

Clerow, Corabeth,Harry, Bernadette,Sepia and Bonita all laughed while munching on their food.

"That was some set at Josies tonight..." said  Clerow...

"Yeah ,I haven't seen Sissy's father in years...Thought he was dead...He still sounds good on that sax." said Robert.

As they talked...I noticed a well dressed Black man walking in...He definitely had the look of a playa..
.
He sat by himself...Ordered some coffee and stared at me funny...Then he turned away...

His name was Lance Fontaine...a gambler...a gangster..He was rumored to be a juice man (loan shark)..I had heard of him vaguely. So he was the boss of that lout who had tried to feel up Bridget the night before.The way he stared at me seemed foreboding...a warning of things to come.


(TO BE CONTINUED...)