My Guys On The Street

I didn't have a whole lot of time to find these pictures....I scanned all of the gossip sites and news sites I could and so far the incriminating photos hadn't shown up....My guess was that whoever murdered Larry Geter and stole from him was going to let my client sweat for awhile before making a demand...

I could of course get my guys together and we could cruise the neighborhood watering holes talking and interviewing folks, knocking a few heads, duking a few guys cash...but that probably wouldn't net me much...Plus I was pretty sure the police had already done that and it had yielded them little...

I wanted to go see Sissy, but at the same time...I didn't want to tell her or her detectives just what it was I was looking for..Which meant I had to work fast....I had to get information from a reliable source or sources...

My first choice was Marco Gervay...

Marco Gervay was a two bit wanna be hood who depending on the week was out of the game or in the game...How he had managed to stay alive all these years, being on the fringes of the underworld was a mystery to me...but never the less..I had to find him...

People on the street had told me that he had stopped drinking and was into health and clean living...I laughed at the thought of that....But anyway...I was told that he could be found at a new coffee shop that had recently opened .

II-

Finding the shop was not a problem...Finding Marco Gervay was even easier...He was busy talking to several young ladies...

I walked in and sat at the counter...Marco was in a booth just laughing, grinning and talking...Drinking coffee....I kind of hated to disturb him...The women he was with were gorgeous...They looked like the Bohemian type...

Marco saw me sitting by myself, drinking coffee....I had on a brand new suit, tailored just right...with matching shoes....I wasn't wearing a tie...Just a white shirt...One of the girls he was sitting with kept eyeing me and smiling salaciously at me..I smiled back..

Marco finally got up and walked over to where I was sitting..

''Hi ya Kev.." he said.

"What's goin on Marco?  Heard you're into clean livin now of days..." I said.

"Uhh yeah Kev...I don't drink no more...Don't smoke no weed....I just work out at the gym with these lovely ladies here and drink water and health drinks....Coffee is my one vice.." he said.

"Good for you Marco...Good for you.." I said.

He looked around , then he leaned in closer...

"What do you want Kevin? This aint your kind of spot?" he said.

"Information...and I need it quick....A guy named Geter, Larry Geter, you ever hear of him?" I asked.

"Yeah, Punk kid, Photographer/Blackmailer....I heard of him....but he's dead..." said Marco...

"I know..."I said.

"Look...I don't know for sure who killed him...But he was poppin a babe...The type of babe with connections...The young babe that was married to uh a State Senator..." he said.

"Okay....so now you know as much as I knew coming in here." I said.

"He had photos....Photos of him and her havin sex...." said Marco...


"Outside of the State Senator himself...Who would have an interest in those photos?"I asked.

"Awww Kev, I aint mixed up in this.."he protested...

I passed him four hundred dollar bills....

His eyes popped out of his head...He was quiet for awhile...

"Two guys...Bert Mooney and Chucky Dash.....They were seen talkin to him a day or two before he was found shot to death and his apartment ransacked...They're pretty tough customers...They might know somethin...That's all I know..." he said.

I smiled...

"Thanks Marco...and relax...Tell your lady friends that their tabs have been taken care of...Yours too!"I said and smiled..."That $400.00? That's yours old friend...Happy Birthday!" I said.

He smiled...

"Always good to see you Kevin." he said.

III-

My other guy on the street was Gus, the bartender and owner of Josies Bar and grill, where I often hung out.....

I walked in and sat down at the bar...Gus smiled and greeted me..

"Well, look who it is...the ladies man!" he said in jest and passed me a Corona....

"What's up Gus?" I said.

"You! Haven't seen you or the missus in about three weeks..." he said.

"Yeah man,I've actually been going to work and then coming home to my wife and my new baby... I've spent the weekends with her, shopping mostly and taking in a few movies..."I said.

Gus smiled..

"Living the normal life eh?" he said as he washed a glass or two...

"Yeah man...but now..I got a case.." I said.

Gus smiled..

"Oh?"

"Look man...that Geter guy that got snuffed a few nights ago..."I said.

"I heard about that..."said Gus..

"I'm lookin for two cool cats that might know something...Bert Mooney and Chuck Dash." I said.

Gus frowned...

"They're both two nasty pieces of business...They're boxmen...Safe crackers and they're thieves in general, but one of em, Mooney has a violent streak...If you're going after those two...Take some back up...and be careful kid.." he said.

"You got an address on these two jokers?" I asked..

Gus wrote down an address on a piece of paper and passed it to me...

"That's where Mooney stays...They drink at the Mermaid Club.."he said.

"Why am I not surprised?.." I said ,laughing...

"You think they snuffed Larry Geter?" he asked.

"I don't know...but they were the last people to see him alive.." I said..."Thanks Gus." I said and paid my tab and left.

IV-

I had just left Josies and was headed towards the parking lot ,when I saw an attractive young woman who I recognized from Big Nasty's photo walked over to me..

"You're Kevin right?" she said.

''Yes and you're Elise!" I said.

"Let's walk and talk." she said.

I smiled and walked with her...

"Look...You're a private investigator...right?" she said.

''Yes..."I said.

"I'd like to hire you..I asked around...People tell me that you're good at getting people out of jams...Jams they can't go to the cops about." she said.

"You want to hire me?  To find out who is trying to blackmail you?" I said.

"You know about my situation?" she asked ,incredulous...

''I sure do..and I've been working on it...I think I've located two men who may be able to tell me something." I said.

"You have?" she asked...

''Yes...Have you heard from anybody?" I asked.

She showed me a text, followed by a video of her and Larry Geter making furious love in the bed at his studio apartment and her and another unidentified man in the bathroom of Mulberry Street..She was on her knees giving him a blow job.

"You've been quite active..."I said.

"Don't make jokes...Read the text." she said.

"We are pretty sure you don't want these videos getting out...Even more sure your husband wouldn't want these getting out...Keep your phone on...We'll send more instructions."

So...they had made contact....

I looked at her...

''Okay, look...You have one advantage...They don't know about me...I'm going to find them....You sit tight okay...You do nothing...If they ask for money or a drop place...You call me...I'm going to give you my number...You are not to tell anybody about me or my involvement." I said.

"Oh thank you, thank you so much... but how did you know about this and who hired you?" she said.

"Let's just say you have friends in high places who don't want your name or your husband's name dragged through the mud." I said.

"Friends? Does my husband know about this?" she asked.

"I'm certain he does not...but the person who hired me does not want this to get out." I said.

"How many people know about this?" she asked.

"The Blackmailer and my, uh your friend....Let's keep it that way." I said.

"Oh My God...Thank you...Thank you soo much."she said.

''Don't thank me yet...I'll be in touch." I said and passed her my business card.

She stood there and watched me as I got in my car and pulled off.

V-

 

Next I went to Nat's Diner out by the airport....Next to the Mermaid club, there were people here who knew everything and I mean everything going on on the streets of Philadelphia..

I went in the diner, ordered a tumbler of coffee and called for the manager, a guy named Nat, who I'd done a favor for years ago....

"Hey Kevin...What's good?" he asked.

"Card game still hot?" I asked.

''Always hot" he said. Everyone in the know knew that a high stakes card game went on in the backroom...

He pointed to the back room....

''Thanks Nat." I said.

''How's my boys, Chris, Chess, Donald Smooth and Kool Kat?" he asked.

''They're fine..." I said.

"I'm stoppin by Josie's as soon as I can take a day off." he said.

He always said that...I think he owed Chris and Chess money,which was why he didn't
stop by...He played in their high stakes card game also..

I walked to the back of the diner and an electric buzzer opened the backdoor for me and I entered a backroom where a high stakes crap game was going on. Several low level playas were involved in a spirited game....a table of all types of cold cuts and cheeses remained untouched...Proof positive that this was a hot game...Cold Brews and Barbecued Chicken wings were being consumed though and several scantily clad young women were sitting around the men, looking bored...

One scantily clad woman in the middle of the game was Patricia "Big Nasty" Porter..

As soon as Big Nasty saw me..She said-

"Hold my place Sam...I'll be right back." she said.

She got up and walked over to me...

"Didn't think I'd be hearing from you this soon." she said.

"Bert Mooney and Chuck Dash." I said.

"What about them? They're safe crackers and thieves...Low level hoods."she said.

"They may be the guys who have the photos...and who killed Larry Geter." I said.

"Them?  " she said.

"This is what I'm hearing from some reliable sources...I got an address for one of em and I'm going to pay him a visit soon..." I said.

"Wow.....You got this information quick...." she said, smiling...

"No matter what anybody does out here in these streets...somebody other than them knows about it...That's always been my rule...And I asked around and I found out about those two......" I said.

"Somebody could be blowing smoke up your ass Kev."said Big Nasty..."This just seems too big a caper for those two." she added..

"So I hear....I'm thinking somebody else is behind this...Somebody big."I said.

"Like who?" she asked..

"Don't Know yet...I'll be in touch..."I said.

"Well thanks for letting me know...How did you know you could find me here?" she asked with a salacious smile on her face..

"I'm on the street ,I hear things..." I said.

"You scare me Kevin." she said.

"Somehow...I find that hard to beleive."I said and kissed her on the cheek..

(TO BE CONTINUED)