Clipped

I had been sold a bill of goods... I got Kool Kat and we staked out the Aloquinn Hotel...He knew the man known as Clip by sight...and I had a rap sheet photo of him...We watched for hours and we saw no sign of him...

We went inside an inquired amongst the patrons about him...Showing his photo to several people...Nobody knew who he was or had seen him...We did a room to room search....and we searched the ledger...

Clip had never been here!!! Those two knuckleheads had lied to me!

"Looks like you got snookered Kev....He's not here...I don't think he ever was here."said Kool Kat.

"Yeah,I know..But why would Drag lie? We were hunting the same guy." I said.

''Kev, guys like that are soldiers...They gone handle they business themselves...They don't care what you wanted with them...They only know what they know and all they know is they wanted to kill Clip."said Kool Kat.

''Well they won't get the chance..They're goin down for murder and from what I was told , the cops got a solid case against both of em."I said.

"Yeah...I stopped by the spot earlier today...Bobby told me that you had quite a wing ding out there..That you beat the piss out of Julius Robinson...he's a pretty tough customer...You are pretty good with your hands there fella.. Tougher than I thought...and then you shot Drag all up....My goodness..I need a score card to keep up with your lethal ass."laughed Kool Kat...

I smiled ruefully...

"And people are scared of ME?? They ought to be afraid of you..." he laughed...

People were right to be afraid of Kool Kat...I had known Walter "Kool Kat" Jones all of my life, had seen this guy in fights...had seen this guy with guns...He was not to be played with...The toughest hardest gangsters on the street shivered when they heard the Big man was in the neighborhood...I wished he had been with me the night before...but then again..had he of been, there was a good chance that both Jules and Drag would be resting in the morgue...I at least was not as lethal... but back to Clip-

"Clip", real name Anthony Clipper , was born in Brooklyn , New York... His father left the family when he was two and he and his mother moved to Philadelphia, where he was raised...

He surprisingly graduated from High School...but he had an extensive juvenile record and had racked up a record 27 arrests and two convictions...He had served five years in the state penn...His only time in prison...His only other conviction was suspended...

The lawyer who repped him was somebody I knew...I didn't know if she'd talk to me...but I had to at least try..

"Come on Big man let's get out of here..."I said..

''What's your next move?" he asked.

"I know a lawyer...a lawyer who repped Clip once...Got him off of a manslaughter charge...She's a friend...I've done a few favors for her.."I said.

"She aint gonna talk to you about her client."said Kool Kat.

''She might talk to me...Off the books..She's a real good friend."I said.

Kool Kat looked at me and smiled.

"Oh yeah?" he said.

"Not THAT good a friend.....though I wouldn't mind...She's fine as hell, but no it's not like that...but she might talk to me.." I said.

"Do what you do pal...but call me before you make a move okay?" he said.

"Kools..I woulda called you last night...but I was just going to see Bobby...I didn't know those goons were gonna follow me."I said.

''Alright man, just be easy...I don't want nothin happening to the father of my god-daughter."he said and smiled.

II-

"Kevin, we've got to stop meeting like this...People will start to talk" joked the lovely attorney, Olivia Bennett-Alexander.. A brilliant Attorney ,who had gotten her start in the public defender's office and was now in private practice...She had thrown me two very good cases and was now a good friend...

"Thanks for meeting me Livy....I need to know about a former client of yours...Anthony Clipper...."I said.

At the mention of his name she frowned her face up...

"I repped him...A real scary guy....."she said.

"You got one of his convictions suspended.."I said.

"I didn't feel good about that...If any client of mine deserved to go to jail, he did...but the case detective handling the case...A Dominick Evans ,made so many mistakes that I couldn't in good conscience let them send this guy up...So I did my job...but like I said, I didn't feel good about it....Anthony Clipper is a really scary guy...He's got ice water in his veins....Don't tell me he's your client?" she said.

"No...He's not...but I'm looking for him."I said.

"If you can't find him...Leave him under whatever rock he's hiding under..You don't want to know him Kevin..." she said.

"I gather from what I've heard...but it's what I do..."I said.

"Listen....I shouldn't be having this conversation with you, but when you stop by your job tomorrow....There just might happen to be something there for you....I wouldn't know where it came from or who sent it to you. Hopefully it'll help you."she said and winked...

I kissed her on the cheek....

"Got you!...God bless you Olivia.. and your meal is on me." I said.

"That's why I like meeting with you Kevin...You really know how to treat a girl."she said and looked at me and laughed.

She had such a sexy laugh....Her husband, Donnie Ray Alexander, also a private investigator was a very smart and lucky man to have her.

Just as I was leaving, Olivia's equally sexy niece, Attorney ,Beverly West, also a onetime client  of mine and my adopted daughter, as I called her,Josie Boyd walked into the diner...

"Hi Mister Kevin."said Beverly...

''Heyy Bev." I said and hugged her...

"Hi Daddy."joked Josie.. who kissed me on the cheek..She was working for them as their Office manager/Administrative Assistant..I was happy for her..I checked in on her routinely to see how she was doing as I had promised her late father I would do. She had no other family...Sepia and I though only about ten years older than her were the closest thing to family she had next to Livy, Bev and Donnie Ray..

"Hey Baby.."I said smiling ,as I headed towards my car...

III-

When I returned to my office, a day later.. Sean Jackson passed me an envelope that was sent for me that was marked confidential...

I smiled.... Good Old Olivia...

It was a case file!!!

Usually ,it was me sending semi-confidential files to the police...

The file turned out to be a real eye opener.....Johnnie "Pooh"Robinson was shot and killed about five years ago in the playground just a few blocks from where my friends
88 and Cock Robbins teach high school.. The accused killer was none other than Anthony "Clip"Clipper.... Johnnie "Pooh" Robinson was the younger brother of one of the men I had been fighting with the night before...Jules !! Julius Robinson.....

It was believed that Anthony "Clip"Clipper had been contracted or sub-contracted by Gumby Peterson to do the job....Gumby was alledged to have ties to then Fathead Newton lieutenant ,Malik Clarke, now himself on death row for so much else...

This was why those two guys, Jules Robinson and Richard "Drag " Drago hit Gumby Peterson...that was payback...They waited all these years until Malik Clarke was no longer a threat and they got their revenge...My bet is that they were looking for Clip just like I was...This problem had solved itself... Clip wasn't even worried about hitting my client...He was running for his own life...Or so I thought!

IV-

I went to Fathead's safehouse and retrieved Bobby Staircase... He was ecstatic... He gathered his things and was reunited with his wife and new baby... He went back to work and paid me another 3G's.... He had breakfast at Sam Mother's Diner with Kool
Kat and I the next week..

"Damn Kev...All this time I was running from Clip and he himself was running from two guys that had a contract on him....Poetic Justice huh?" he said.

"Yeah How about that?"I said as the three of us drank coffee...

"I heard Jules and Drag have been formally  charged with Gumby Peterson's murder.." said Kool Kat....

"Yeah...both guns found on them were a match...They were too stupid to get rid of those guns..." I said.

We all laughed....

Our laughter was short lived though....We heard the click of a .44 Magnum and turned around to see none other than Anthony "Clip" Clipper staring at us...

"You must be Kevin Morris...Private Investigator and all around meddler.." he said.

"Whoa...Hey man.."said Bobby Staircase...

"You don't have to do this man...Gumby is dead and the two guys that killed him are locked up..."I said.

"Oh I know that...I saw your little side show the other night...I was following them and they were following you, once we all found out that you were asking around about all of us.....I was going to kill them both, but you sort of took care of that for me...And the only reason why you're alive is because all of your cop friends showed up too soon...
See...I figured if I follow you, sooner or later,I'd find Bobby...and now I've found him..." he said.

"The contract is over...Gumby's dead.."I said.

"Don't matter...He paid me...I have to do my job....I have a reputation to uphold..."he said.

"Don't be a fool man." I said.

Kool Kat was easing his hand into his coat...

"Don't do that Walter!!....I wouldn't want to have to kill you too!  I got no beef with you...I just want Bobby here.." he said.

"I can't let you do that..."I said.

"See and there is the problem....You can't stay out of things that aren't your affair...You're a meddler...I have no beef with you either, but I won't hesitate to kill you...In fact killing you will make me a hero too..." he said...

"And you think I'm just going to let you do that right?" I said.

"I got the drop on you gumshoe...You really aint got no choice..."he smirked..

He didn't see my .22..I had slipped it out of the small of my back....I wasted no time firing at him...I hit him in the side...He fell backwards and shot up into the air...before he could aim his weapon again...Kool Kat had HIS .357 Magnum and fired just once...
All he needed...

The force sent Clip through the plate glass window and out into the street!

"That looked like a choice to me." said Kool Kat ,who didn't break a smile.

 Everybody jumped up...

I walked outside and stood over him...He was surprisingly, still alive..

"Like I said....The contract is up..."

He shrugged...

"Ughhhhh...I don't believe it....I've been...I've been shottt..ughhhhhhhh.." he gasped and died right there on the pavement...

V-

The M.E.'s office loaded Clip's body into the M.E.'s van..... Lt. Sissy Van Buren stood outside talking to Sam Mother and other witnesses...Then she came in and spoke with me..

"Are you guys alright?" she said to me and Kool Kat...

"Yeah, just shook up a little...I didn't expect him to come in here and try to take us out in broad daylight..." I said.

"I'm glad you got him Kevin....I profiled this guy when I was working Special Investigations...I'd been wanting to collar him for awhile....He's a suspect in six murders.. "said Detective Sirena Pile, who had come along with Sissy..

Her Partner, Detective Antonio "Hop" Hopkins and Forensic Investigator Hazel Hunter Baylor were talking to uniformed policemen at the scene from a distance...

"He's a psychopath...or rather...Was a psychopath.... The streets are safer with him gone...Thank you both so much..."  said Sissy...Then she leaned over and kissed me on the cheek and hugged me...

 "Come over and see the baby..."I said.

"I am....Eddie C. and I have a present for her..."said Sissy...who looked at me and winked and then said to the uniforms...

"Okay guys...clean this up and let's go."

Sissy looked at me one last time and said--"Be easy Kev."

"Always " I said...

"You and her been friends for a long time." said Kool Kat.

"I have...Practically as long as I've been doing this Private Eye thing."I said.

"She's a good friend to have." said Bobby Staircase...

"I'll say...She's fine as hell..I wish she was my friend." joked Kool Kat..

"Yes indeed!" I said as we watched Sissy  and her detectives and cops get in their cars and pull off into the Philadelphia morning...

"Kevin, Kools, I don't know how to thank you guys...I can sleep a lot better now.."

"Well not really."I said matter of factly...

"Huh? What are you talking about??" said Bobby..

"You, like I have a newborn baby...Aint no way you sleepin good...Cause I sure aint..My daughter kept us both up all last night.."I said.

Bobby smiled, then he and Kool Kat howled with laughter....

EPILOUGE-

Jules Robinson and Richard "Drag" Drago were convicted of the first degree murder of Gumby Peterson and sentenced to Life in Prison... This was only one of the many murders these two had committed, but I felt better knowing that neither one of them would be back on the streets again! Gumby Peterson and his favorite hitman, Anthony "Clip"Clipper being dead brought a lot of people much relief also...

Sepia and I lie in bed together....

I kissed her cheek softly....Her hands began to run down my legs..her hands were so soft, she gently began to fondle and massage me....Naturally,I responded...

"Ohhhhhhh...Ohhhhhh my godddddddddddd.." I moaned....

She smiled and rolled over and kissed me....I kissed her....Then we heard the wailing of the baby in the next room...

''Who's turn is it?" I said.

"I believe it's yours..." she said....

"Mine?" I asked..

"Yes..yours...I've been letting you sleep the past few nights because you've been working your case." she said.

"Well, she is going to have to learn some patience " I said as I leaned over and mounted Sepia...

"Ouuuuuuuu, ohhhhhhh.." she moaned... "You're not going in there?" she asked...

"In a minute I am..."I said...and preceded to thrust slowly and deeply into Sepia's moist and warm center....

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.."she moaned as the bed began to squeak and move under our weight...

Just like that, the crying in the next room stopped...

"Listen at that!!...Silence..."said Sepia stopping...

We both got up walked down the hall  and peered into the nursery....

Baby Kimberly was sleeping peacefully...

We looked at each other and returned to our bedroom.. Sepia fondled my raging erection...

"Ohhh My goodness.."she exclaimed..

"Now...Where were we?" I said,looking at her sheepishly, before we began kissing again...