I checked Josephine's landline and both of her smartphones...and found nothing...She made two calls...One was to her father and the other was to a girlfriend...
While she was out the next day...I got Peeping Tom and Lockpick Johnson to get me into her townhouse. We checked her laptop and another computer for e-mails...We found nothing...
This seemingly cleared her...
Solly Gibbons was a whole nother story...He was an ex-con...a one time associate of Joe Boyd...and one who's family hadn't fared so well after he was sent up...Released about ten years ago...He worked hard and built himself up a little...His main income came from renting those apartments and rumored gambling....
He made two calls the day before... One was to my friend, Jerry "Snooka" Thomas and the other..more telling to Albert "Allie Boy"Caldwell, the gangster and rising playa in the neighborhood...
Both calls were made within an hour of the ambush...Now this was starting to make sense...
It was time to pay Mr. Solly Gibbons a visit.
II-
I had Clerow drive me to his address in West Philly...Owen Todd was with us...
We got out of the car....I asked Owen Todd to stay with the car and to hit my cell phone if we got any "visitors"
I rang the doorbell....There was no answer...Then I called his phone number...Still no answer..
I motioned for Clerow to follow me up the stairs to Gibbon's apartment...There was a foul smell in the hallway....I knew this smell...
Gibbons door was partially open...Again...This didn't look good...I took my foot and kicked the door open...
Clerow followed me inside...
''WHOAAAA! Good lord!" said Clerow...
The smell was deafening...And in the bedroom...Solly Gibbons lie on the floor in a t-shirt and his boxers with a nice neat hole in the middle of his forehead....
His body was stiff as a board and his eyes were wide open....
"Looks like somebody didn't want me to interview this guy...."I said.
"The hole in his head looks like it was made by a .22, though I can't be sure..."said Clerow...
"They probably used a silencer..." I said.
"What are you gonna do?" asked Clerow..
"First off,we are getting out of here...Second of all...We are calling the police." I said.
III-
"I didn't think I'd hear from you for awhile." said Sissy as uniformed officers and photographers and CSI people surveyed the scene....
"Why? I told you I'd holler if I heard something...Mr. Gibbons here was one of three people who knew where Joe Boyd was staying....I checked out his daughter..She's clean and I know I didn't say anything...So I was coming here to talk to Gibbons..but unfortunately..Somebody didn't want me to talk to him." I said.
"I see." said Sissy... She didn't know that I knew where Joe Boyd was and I wasn't ready to tell her just yet...I was praying she didn't ask me...I didn't want to lie to her...
"Hola Kevin...I canvassed the neighborhood and this guy says he saw a man eneter with Mr. Gibbons about twelve hours ago..." she said.
''Short Muscular guy...Brown skinned.. Clean cut guy, Had on aviator shades... Which I thought was weird cause it was at night...They walked in...I didn't hear nothin...but I saw a bright flash....Then nothing...Then dude walked out...Looked around and got in a car driven by another guy and pulled off.." he said.
"Do you know the guy?" asked Carlotta...
"Never seen him before.." said the young man.
"Why don't we bring you down to the station and you give a sketch to a police artist." said Sissy.
"Okay cool." said the man....
"Thank you." said Carlotta.
"Hey mami are you married or seein anybody?" he asked leering at Carlotta.
"I'm married papi." said Carlotta looking at Sissy and sighing...I laughed...
"Well how bout your partner? She married?" he asked now looking at Sissy.
"YESSSS...Yes I am engaged!" Sissy lied...Both Carlotta and I laughed now...
"I'll see you both later...I'll call if I hear anything." I said.
"Okay Kevin...Be easy papi." said Carlotta...
"Be easy Kevin.." said Sissy looking at me and cracking up laughing.
''Always ladies." I said.
IV-
I stopped by the Church Outreach Center....Deacon Basil Robinson was there...He waved as I drove up with Kool Kat.
"Hey Kev, Kools...What's good?" he asked.
"Is Snooka around?" I asked.
Basil frowned....
"Yeah...he's over there on the phone...He makes more phone calls now of days than works." he said.
"Yeah...I gathered..." I said.
I had checked the Church and Outreach center's phones....Several calls had been made to Albert Allie Boy Caldwell's cell phone the past few days from the church...I'm betting it wasn't for a contribution...
I walked up to Snooka...
"Heyyy Snooka...What's happening?" I asked...He looked shocked...
"Hey man,I got nothin to tell you or say to you otherwise." he said.
"Then you got two hundred dollars to give me back." I said.
"Come on man." he said.
"You come on!....You were supposed to give me some good information...but you didn't...Probably because you couldn't....Probably because you set Joe Boyd up to be killed didn't you? How much are you into Allie Boy for?" I asked...
I had did my homework...I had found out that he was into Allie Boy for 150G's....Gambling debts....My guess is that he was going to work his debt off by arranging for Joe Boyd to meet his sudden demise.
''I don't know what you're talking about..."he said.
"Want Me to improve his memory Kev?" asked Kool Kat..
"Nah Big Man..we just here to talk " I said...
I could see that Snooka was a bit intimidated...
"I could use my money right about now." I said.
He looked at Me, then he looked at Walter....Finally he peeled off two hundred dollars in twenties and handed it to me...
I smiled.... Walter and I left.....Snooka stood there just staring.
An hour later, Lockpick Johnson, Peeping Tom and Sean Jackson rolled up in a car.... They had a .22 pistol with a silencer in a plastic zip lock bag.. and another larger gun...a .44 mag in another plastic bag..
"You were right on the money Kev" said Sean Jackson..
"While you and Kools kept Snooka busy...We hit his apartment like you told us and we found this gun and a silencer...hidden... said Lockpick Johnson.
"We also found this .44 mag in his bedroom, right out in the open..." said Peeping Tom.. ''He's not too smart. Good hitters discard their weapons." he added..
''No...He's not Tom...But he's not military or ex- CIA...He's a street hood." I said.
Tom smiled and nodded in agreement.
"What do you want us to do with these guns?"asked Lockpick Johnson.
"Mail them or deliver them to Philly Homicide...Attention Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace....I'll call her." I said.
"This ought to put the pressure on Snooka." said Peeping Tom.
"And hopefully ,he, being the sniveling coward I think he is...will roll on his main man Alley Boy." I said.
"We on it Kev." they said and pulled off..
"So what happens now Kevin?" asked Kool Kat...
"I'm gonna call the police...Then you and I are going to pay the man himself...Allie Boy a visit." I said.
Kool Kat smiled...
V-
Within hours...Detectives Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace , Tyriq Pile and Jimmy Barlow arrested Jerry "Snooka" Thomas...They charged him with the murders of Soloman "Solly" Gibbons, Tyrone Langly and Jeff Forte.
He was stunned that the police had both of his guns and his silencer...and his fingerprints...and a ballistics match on both!
Not to mention a witness!!! Together with a witness and the guns ,they had an airtight case against Snooka. He was looking at three murder charges!!! He was facing a needle!
He felt that he had been set up...by Allie Boy....He took a little over an hour to confess to all three murders and to ask for a deal if he agreed to put Allie Boy in for ordering the murders...
They were waiting for word from ADA Keith Wallace , who was in court.
Sissy called me as Kool Kat and I were on our way to see Allie Boy.
"I'm sure he does...This little case is solving itself...My client may be able to walk in the day sooner than he thinks."I laughed...
"How about that?...A win win." laughed Sissy.
"Yeah" I said.
But I should know by now...That things are never as simple as they seem...I was about to find that out!
(CONCLUSION NEXT)
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