I'll Be Doggone

My friend, Kool Kat  stood and watched as Clerow and I, Kevin Morris picked up a couple of new suits from Sam the Tailor's shop...

"My man Kev...and My man Clerow...Yall gone look like real bosses in these new suits man." he said with a smile as we picked up our three suits..

"I'm glad I'm making the kind of money where I can afford these suits...Sam the tailor does great work, but he's not cheap." I said.  Clerow smiled...

"Hey, Kev..You and Clerow both run businesses...You run a communications business, not to mention your private detective agency and Clerow here rents condos and apartments and a few homes...You gotta dress like the bosses you are."said Kool Kat..

"I suppose you right man." said Clerow...

''Sure I'm right...Now next we gotta go and get you guys some shoes..." said Kool Kat.

I smiled... For years, Kool Kat was one of the most well dressed and dapper guys on the street...He dressed like a Wall Street banker...Now that Clerow and I were making good money, Kool Kat had become our personal groomer...Had us buying tailored suits everytime we turned around...

I had to admit...I did look and feel good ,driving my Lexus and dressed like I was...I commanded a new type of respect when I met perspective clients...

We next headed to a very tony shoe store where we saw the gambler, Stephen Bristol trying on a pair of shoes...He saw us and smiled...

''Walter...I see you have your friends dressing properly now" he said and smiled...''Are those suits from Sam the Tailor?"he inquired.

''Sure are..and now they're both going to buy shoes to match those suits." said Kool Kat with pride..

Stephen Bristol laughed....

"Uh Oh...Looks like you and I are going to have rivals for the best dressed in the neighborhood." he said with a smile..

Like Kool Kat,Stephen Bristol was also a snappy dresser...He passed Walter a card...

"After they pick up their shoes...You might want to take them to this store...They sell very exotic colognes...That's where I shop...Tell them you know me." he said.

''That's where I shop too...but will do." said Kool Kat.

"Game recognizes game." said Bristol with a sly smile...

Kool Kat nodded...

"No doubt" he said.

II-

After we got our shoes and our cologne...We stopped at Josies and ordered a few drinks...

"Gin and tonic for me Gus." said Kool Kat.

''Corona" for me and Clerow." I said.

"How you boys been doin?" said Gus.

"Been doin well, it's been pretty quiet for me." I said.

"I suppose you heard what happened to old Vince Scully didn't you?" asked Gus.

''No..what?" I asked.

''He got bit by a pit bull..got bit on both arms...one of his legs and in the neck...If an alert cop hadn't fired his side arm...the dog would have damn near killed him."said Gus...

"Whatttttttt?" said Kool Kat and Clerow...

"Yeah...he got chewed up...He's in the hospital..." said Gus.

"He wrote some very good pieces for my magazine and my newspaper...He's a very good investigative reporter." I said.

"Yeah? ,well he won't be writing nothing for awhile." said Gus..

Honey Brown and Cherry Johnson entered the bar just then.....

''Ouuu, look at all these dapper gentlemans, with their new clothes." joked Cherry Johnson...

''Hey Cherry." I said.

''Hey Kev..We just got back from the hospital ,visiting Vinnie Scully." said Honey Brown...

"Yeah, Gus was just telling me that he got chewed up by a pit bull..I wonder how that happened? Somebody let their dog loose?" I mused..

"It wasn't no accident Kev... I hear that he uh made a very important enemy." said Honey Brown..

''Oh?"I said.

''Carl Cutter" said Cherry Johnson.

''Cookie" Cutter" laughed Kool Kat...

Carl "Cookie" Cutter owned a condom company....A very successful one from what I heard....His company manufactured condoms and birth control equipment...Ky Jelly and the like... He had made himself a small fortune...But the talk on the street was that his "other "business was Meth and Heroin...It was whispered about, but never proven...He had no police record... He had never been arrested in his life.

He lived in a nice loft in a tony part of town and he was rarely seen on the street. I knew him from the neighborhood... I had never really liked him.. I'm sure the feeling was mutual. We traveled in different circles... He had put his hand up Angela Belton's dress once when we were teenagers.. He was constantly getting fresh with her and touching her inappropriately...She was afraid of him as was a lot of people in the neighborhood. His mistake was that she told me about it!

She and I were no longer seeing each other at the time...The two years in our age..(She was two or three years older than me) separated us, but I still felt the need to uphold her honor...Carl and I had words ,which led to him getting a fat lip and knocked on his rear end...and me having some of the best sex of my young life that night with a grateful Angie Belton...Ahh ,good times...Jimmy Barlow, her present boyfriend was a very fortunate guy indeed...He has a good woman...I stopped daydreaming for a minute and just smiled , thinking about what might have been...Back then ,it was age that kept us apart...Angie is two or three years older than me.. But she's going with Jimmy and he's three years younger than her also..We are all at an age now where that doesn't matter....Doesn't matter now.. I'm happily married.

I was curious....I decided to pay Vinnie Scully a visit.

III-

I went downtown to Jefferson Hospital to visit Vinnie Scully...I found him in his room...He had bandages on both arms...One on his leg and one on his neck...He was in bad physical shape...But glad to see me..

''Hi ya Kev...I'm so glad to see you." he said.

"What's shakin baby?" I said.

"What can I say?  I've been better." he said.

"I hear you had an unfortunate run in with a pit bull." I said.

"It wasn't no accident baby...That was a message." he said.

"So I hear...Carl "Cookie" Cutter eh?" I said.

"Kevin...I was investigatin him....My notes are in a safe at my house...I got photos, the whole magilla...He's runnin a meth lab out by Northeast Airport and he's importing heroin, pure heroin out of New York City.

You know , he's been meeting with the Chamber of Commerce about some big business deal...Well..I wrote an expose' on him...Big piece....It was very embarrassing to him... I get a call from a woman no doubt...Telling me to lay off of Mr. Cutter...I wrote another piece on him... For you guys....Next thing I know...I'm walkin home yesterday from the deli and this pit bull attacked me." he said.

"Did the dog have a lease on it ? An owner?" I asked.

''Nah...that's the crazy thing...The dog just came out of nowhere...If that cop hadn't of fired his gun...That dog would have killed me.."he said.

"You mean, the cop just fired a warning shot and the dog stopped?" I asked.

"Yeah man...Craziest thing huh?" he said.

"Pit Bulls don't stop attacking once they get started....Unless they are trained... Somebody near by must have had one of those whistles..The kind that only the dog could hear and when the cop showed up...They pulled the dog."I said.

"Yeah...Wow?" said Vinnie...

"Anything strange happen,leading up to your attack?" I asked.

"Yeah..Somebody broke into my house... I figured they were goin for my safe...Only...They didn't get my safe.. All they took was a pair of my shoes." he said.

''A pair of your shoes?" I asked.

''Yeah man, a pair of my damn shoes. Not even my new pair...A pair of my old shoes."said Vinnie..

"Hmmmm, that's weird." I said.

''Kev, you gotta look into this for me...I'll pay you." he said.

"Okay man.. I'll see what I can dig up." I said.

''Here's my key...get my notes and files out of that safe and put em somewhere for safe keeping. Here is the combonation....You know where I live...The safe is in my bedroom." he said.
IV-

I drove up to Vince Scully's house...His door was already open.... Why did I feel as though this would be the case?  I pulled my .38 smokeless out and entered...I flicked on the lights...Somebody had obviously been here...They had tossed the place...I walked up the steps and entered his bedroom....His safe had been blown...His files were gone!!! I checked his laptop.....Any files he had on Carl Cutter had been erased!!!!
Cutter had hired the best...I was going to have to start from scratch and build a case against Mr. Cutter.

(TO BE CONTINUED!)