BOOM!

The explosion was so loud it literally made the neighborhood shake! It woke my baby girl, Kimberly up...She was hollering to the top of her lungs... Sepia ran into her room and rocked her ....

"Kevin, that sounded like an explosion of some sort..You think it was a gas main?" she said ,holding Kimberly,our new baby in her arms and cooing...

"Not a gas main...Something more local.."I said..

I brushed my teeth and then threw on some slacks and a shirt and my shoes and rushed out on the avenue...

I saw Clerow ,Corabeth and their two small children ...Her sisters,Mabel ,Anita,Victoria and Baby Phat, their waitress was standing outside too...

I saw, Chris, Chess, Donald Smooth,Owen Todd and Kool Kat trying desperately to
put the fire out ,but to no avail...They didn't have the kind of equipment to get the job done...

Clerow walked over to me...

"Kev...That was Danny's Diner...mann.."he said.

"Oh wowww...Danny's place...I remember him from the neighborhood..back in West Philly.. When Sean Jackson, Kool Kat, Chris and Chess and I moved into this section of the city..We were so happy when Danny moved out here too and set up shop...It was like being at home again."I said.

"Chris and Chess was trying to get him to set up shop in their shopping center..He had signed a contract too."said Clerow..

"What are you talking about?  He was in there?" I said in horror..

"Yeah man, look..." said Clerow...

The fire department and the police were now here....

I saw them bring a body out...It could only be one person...Danny Felton...I hung my head...

I looked up and saw some familliar figures...

II-

Lt. Sissy Van Buren and Detective James"Jimmy" Barlow were on the scene with scores of police officers...Forensic Investigator, Dr. Hazel Hunter-Baylor was also on the scene looking at the charred remains..

I walked over to where they were....

"Hey Siss, How you doin?" I said.

She smiled when she saw me...

"Kevin!!! That's right..you live around the corner from here..." she said.

"I do...What brings you to a fire?" I asked.

"A homicide!"said Jimmy Barlow...

"Hey Jimmy...Where is the rest of the troops?" I said smiling..

Sissy answered that for me..

"Keith and Carlotta are in Puerto Rico..It's their wedding anniversary...Tyriq and Sirena are in California and Hop and Sharon are in the Bahamas....It's Vacation time...So it's me and Jimmy holding down the fort..I have Angie Belton until they come back and I have Duke..."she said.

"And you have a homicide?" I asked..

"He was shot twice ..in the head and the chest...He was dead before this explosion..."said Dr. Hazel Hunter..

Jimmy examined the charred remains...

"Damn" he said.

"Sissy, I knew this man...He was a friend of mine...So I'll be peeping around..I won't get in you or your detectives way and anything I get..You know you'll be the first to know."I said.

"You have never gotten in the way friend...With most of my detectives gone...I'll need your help..


Just then I heard an unfamilliar voice..It was a woman and she smelled great...She wasn't bad on the eyes either..

She took one look at the body and vomited...

"Aye Mios Dios...Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." she exclaimed and vomited...

Sissy shook her head and sighed and looked at me

"Kevin, this is ADA Rios...She's working with us in ADA Keith Wallace's absence..." she said.

"Lt. Sissy, you didn't tell me the body was going to look like this....arghhhhhhhhhhhh.." she sobbed...

"It's going to be okay Nina...This is Homicide...This is how it looks sometimes.....Jimmy run down the street and get her a bottle of cold water." said Sissy ,passing him a dollar...

"Pleased to make your acquaintence...Mr. Kevin." she said.

I looked at Sissy and smiled weakly.

"Okay folks, release the body....."said Sissy....'Kevin...your ears are to the streets..Any help you can give us will be greatly appreciated." said Sissy.

III-

Kool Kat and I sat in Chess and Chris Thompson's office...Present also was Donald Smooth, Chris and Chess's main man...and Owen Todd, Lockpick Johnson,Peeping Tom and Clerow.. Chris spoke..


"Kev, guys...Danny Felton was a friend to all of us from our days as young boys in West Philly...he looked out for us, gave us a hoagie or a decent sandwich when we were on our way to school as children and always had an encouraging word...Kev, you probably didn't know...but Chess and I had moved our card game to the back room of his deli.....Natividad Diaz could no longer guaruntee our saftey, so we just moved it...We were doing good and we paid Danny to let us have it there...Danny was going to open another deli in our new shopping center that we just opened..Now he's dead..."said Chris...

Chess passed me an envelope..It had over ten grand in it...

''All of the shopkeepers and vendors in our two shopping center s took up a collection for you...We know that the police are on this...but we also know that your nose is closer to the streets and you can find out stuff from folks that won't talk to cops Kev...We want you to look into this." said Chess..

"Okay man...Danny Felton was a friend of mine too..He knew my dad.." I said.

"Over at Josies...Gus and Honey Brown are just sick over this.." said Donald Smooth...

"Well just for starters...you guys got any ideas who might have done this?" I asked.

"You ever hear of Sonny Boston?" asked Donald Smooth...

"That punk? Yeah, I heard of him...He used to run errands for old man ,Eric Slaughter years ago...Then he did a stretch upstate as a guest of the State of Pennsylvania." said Kool Kat.


"He's a guest no more...He's out and he's got a few soldiers and he's been making noise in the neighborhood..He tried to muscle in on our shopping center and some of our apartment complexes...We showed him a little show of force and he backed down...But he may try to gobble up some of the independents like Sam Mother's diner or Mabel Jenkins spot or even Josies.." said Chess.

"I'm not too worried about Josies's ,Gus, Albert and Eddie will bust a cap in his behind...but I'm worried about Sam Mother's joint and Mabel Jenkins's Soul Food joint." said Chris Thompson.

"Mabel might cut him." laughed Clerow...

We all busted out laughing....Mabel was as fine as wine, but she wasn't the one to try and strong arm...

''Alright guys...I'll start asking around about this Sonny Boston fellow...Where does he lay his head?" I asked.

"He's like my man Chris.."said Chess...."He stays with a couple of girls...None for more than two nights." he continued..

"Hey..I got one steady girl now...you know that...but we stay in an uh undisclosed location, if ya know what I mean and I know ya do."laughed Chris Thompson.

We all laughed again..It was good to be able to laugh a little under such somber circumstances..

III-

Clerow dropped me off at my home...When I walked inside, I saw I had visitors.. Sepia was showing our baby to Bridget Jones, Attorney Olivia Bennett-Alexander, her neice, Beverly West, Josie Boyd, my adopted daughter and their Assistant and my new friend and fellow P.I. Donnie Ray Alexander...

"Your baby is so cute Kevin" said Bridget Jones, a former client of mine who now owned two lingerie stores..

"Kevin, I heard that somebody killed Danny Felton and blew his store up" said Olivia...

"Yes..That's true.."I said.

"He used to watch me after school when I was a little girl"said Bridget..

''You too? He watched me when I was a little girl and he watched Bev too when she was little.He adored my mom.."said Olivia.

"He was a friend of my dad's " said Josie...

"I didn't have the history with him that you guys had...but when I first moved to Philly and first started living with Kevin, before we got married..he'd always help me with my old hooptie when it went on the fritz,He'd give me a ride to school when Kevin was out and to job interviews..He was a great guy..He didn't deserve to go out like this." said my wife,Sepia.

Donnie Ray looked at me...

''I know you are friends with ADA Wallace and his detectives and you are probably on this too...If you need any extra assistance man, just let me know...I'll be glad to help." he said.

"Thanks man..I'll keep you in mind.." I said.

I hadn't even begun my investigation yet....but with a death that effected this many people in my life...I owed it to them to get to the bottom of this and make whoever was responsible pay and pay dearly.

(TO BE CONTINUED)