New Lives..Recent Death

A bright Sunny Morning and I, Kevin Morris, sometime Private Investigator stood outside the doorway of my former client..Jean Stevens new house.....Jean had been in the middle of a case I had investigated almost two years ago...She had become a friend since then,like most of my clients.. Jean Stevens was a very attractive young woman...I was pleasently surprised when I visited her that first time...I expected a spinster....She was anything but that.....A divorcee, with a grown son and daughter in college...She lived alone...

At the time of my initial investigation...Jean Stevens had been educated in Philadelphia public schools, had gotten a bachelors at Drexel University, majoring in Chemistry and had then gotten a Masters at Howard University....She was married and lived in D.C. where she gave birth to a son, then 22, attending Howard ..He has since graduated and is married and living somewhere in this area. and a daughter, 21 ,attending Morgan State...She too is now a graduate and living close by..Engaged ,I believe...

Jean divorced her kids father about ten years ago and returned to Philadelphia when her mother died...Her father moved in with her... Her father retired from his government job with a pretty decent pension and had been lucky with the stock market and came into some more money....I investigated his murder, which was how I met Jean in the first place....Her fathers killers were living in the sub-basement of a property my wife and her partner,Bonita Foxworth were preparing for sale.It was one of my more memorable cases...I worked on it with Sissy and her detectives.

Jean, who worked for a Pharmecutical company was making a modest salary..She had gotten involved with another former client of mine, Millionaire Playboy ,Rollie Rollerson.. after the case...Not the best move for her...but...That was none of my business.

  Recently, I head heard from fellow Private Investigator, Donnie Ray Alexander that Jean and Rollie had had a rather public break up in Josie's about a month ago.....The skirt chasing Millionaire had been caught with a young girl in a rather uncompromising position and Jean had splashed him with champaigne...Shipped his clothes back to him and told him not to try and contact her ever again...

Jean had put her house up  for sale and had bought this beautiful house ,sold to her by my wife ,Sepia and her partner, Bonita Turner...Jean had changed all of phone numbers,Landline and Cell phone and had started working at a new job...She wanted no part of Rollie Rollerson....He had gone to his lawyer,Olivia Bennett-Alexander ,a friend of mine  and Donnie Ray's wife..and had begged her for the services of her husband...Donnie Ray Alexander, a top notch private investigator to locate Jean...Who he was desperately trying to get back with...She refused....She said that this was not a legal matter and she wanted no parts of his relationship problems...Good Ole Livy..Loved that girl and her husband...and her pretty little niece, Beverly too..Also an ex-client of mine.

This call came from Jean and I'm certain it had nothing to do with Rollie.. I waited for ten minutes and finally Jean came to the door..

"Kevin...Kevin...So nice to see you." she said ,greeting me with a big smile and looking lovely in a beautiful blue print dress...She had on a nice fragrance that was just enchanting...

''Don't stand there...come on in...See my new diggs." she said.

Her house was beautiful....

"Baby girl..I'm impressed...You stepped up in a big way..."I said.

Jean laughed...

"It's funny...You calling me 'Baby Girl.' You make me feel so sexy..." she said.

I didn't need to say anything to make her feel or look sexy...Even though she was about a decade older than me...She was definitely sexy...

She gave me a tour of the house......And finally , we sat down in her living room...

"Well Kevin...The reason why I brought you here is because I have a problem..A problem that calls for your expertise..." she said.

"So this doesn't concern Rollie?" I joked..

"Oh Heavens no...I don't ever want to see him again...I know you hang out at Josie's and you must have heard the story by now...He was fooling around with the Gambler, Stephen Bristol's fiance...I caught them in the act..his tongue down her throat and grinding on her in a corner....I cooled his jets for him..." she said.

I smiled..

"Yes..I heard...You wasted some pretty expensive champaigne on him." I said ,laughing and slapping my knee...

She laughed too...

II-

"Well moving away from that...Besides buying this new house...I've started working at a new job...A Non-profit...I've been there awhile now..About six months...My girlfriend..A  Mary Shipley died last week....Drug Overdose....I need you to look into it." she said.

"Jean, don't you think that's a job for the cops or the DEA?....I have friends in the police department...and the DEA..." I said.

"I know you do....But they just ruled her death mis-adventure..She was a party girl..That's true..but in the weeks before her death...She was upset...She kept telling me that somebody at the job was dealing...and that it was way deeper than what anybody suspected...She kept telling me about a real dangerous guy." said Jean Stevens..

"This Dangerous guy got a name?" I asked..

"Yes...Skye Tyler...She said that he was dealing dangerous designer drugs...Made in a lab....They weren't good and a few of her friends were getting sick...She was afraid of him...I think she had confronted him...Next thing I know..She's dead..." she said...

"You suspect foul play?" I said.

"Yes..You had to see how afraid she was.... She was my friend Kevin...When I started working there ,she helped me find my way around...She taught me the job....She was young ..Her life was just beginning...She didn't need to die like that....I think this Skye person and his associates killed her to cover up something." she said.

"Okay Jean...Tomorrow, take me to your job...Show me around..I'll look into it...I've got a friend...Dr. Hazel Hunter -Baylor...She's a forensic investigator...I'll have her look into the cause of death and I'm tight with a Lieutenant and six great Detectives as well as a damn good DEA agent...I'll see if I can get them interested in this..."

"Thank you so much Kevin...I knew I could count on you." she said. I stood up and she stood too...She hugged me...Like Sissy,Like Mercedes, Like Sharon....all of these women were soft and round...and tempting... I eased gently out of our embrace...and smiled..

"Maybe I'll bring you some good news."I said.

"Oh and Kevin...I know he's somewhat of a friend of yours...but not a word to Rollie about me.." she said.

"Mums the word."I said.

III-

I went to see the very sexy Forensic Investigator, Dr. Hazel Hunter-Baylor...Duke's wife...The next day..

She was examining the body of a murder victim when I arrived...She smiled when she saw me...

"Heyyyy Kevin, how are you? I haven't seen you since Sissy's wedding.." she said.

"I know...She and Eddie C. still in Cancun?" I asked.

"Yes..She'll be back next week...Jimmy and Angie are in L.A. on their honeymoon too."she said.

"Wow! So who's running the shop?" I asked..

"My husband is like the Senior Detective...So he's running the shop...Him and Tyriq...Imagine that?" she giggled..

 "Well they both  are very capable.."I said.....Thinking of Carlotta,Sirena,Hop, And FBI agent Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins..All very capable people..People I'd worked with on many cases...Sissy had nothing to worry about..Her shop was in good hands.

"So....What brings you by here to see me?" she asked...

"Do you still have the body of a Mary Shipley?" I asked.

"Why yes!  She died a week ago and I'm waiting for next of kin to claim the body..Drug Overdose."she said.

"Did you do a tox on her?" I asked.

"Yes..." she died of a drug overdose....but I know you....You suspect foul play right?" she asked..

"Welll,I was asked by an interested party to give it a deeper look.."I said.

"She was found in her apartment...The injection was between her toes and her arms looked as if she had been held down...Friction marks...And these drugs...I've never seen anything like these before..They look like they are man-made...in a lab..Something new.." she said.

"I know you're sending that report to the DEA aren't you?" I asked..

"Yes..I have to..." she said.

"Could I make a copy of it?" I asked..

She looked around...

"Hurry up......and Kevin...this didn't happen..." she said.

"Oh of course not...Your back was turned and you didn't see me making copies."I said
as I snapped photos of the report." I said,smiling at her salaciously..

Hazel gave me a devilish smile back and I made copies of her tox file and Cause of death files..

"Thanks Hazel." I said...

"Don't mention it Kevin." she said.

"Tell the guys I said hello." I said as I left her office.

IV-

I was done for the day....I headed home...To my delight..I found my "Adopted "Daughter",Josie Boyd sitting in my living room rocking my biological daughter, Kimberly to sleep...She had just taken her bottle from her...

"Hi Kevin...Just dropping by to pay you a visit...and to see this cute baby of yours ."she said.

Her late father, once one of the city's major Gangster's had been a client of mine...He had gotten himself killed....I promised him as he lay dying that I would always look out for his daughter, Josie...

Josie was now a grown woman in her early twenties...She was working for Attorney Olivia Bennett and her niece, Beverly as their office manager...She visited me and Sepia a lot more than I visited her...Something I was going to have to rectify...She was a good girl...Working and keeping her nose clean...Her gangster father, the late Joe Boyd had left her well taken care of, but I admired the fact that she still held down a job...

"So what's new with you? Sorry I missed your birthday the other night." I said...

"Oh that's okay....You know I sold my house recently?" she said.

"What? That big house your daddy left you?" I said.

"Yeah...It was too much house for me..Your wife and Ms. Bonita just sold me a new house..A little smaller and closer to where I work...Which is just a few blocks from here." she said.

"And closer to where Blake and Paris live right?" I said.  I smiled..I knew that she was seeing Paris ...

"Nothin gets by you does it? You and Donnie Ray are so much alike."she smiled..

I nodded...

My wife Sepia walked into the living room...

"I told Josie she could stay with us until her house is ready." she said.

"Cool with me..I'll get that extra room ready for her." I said.

"I already did."said Sepia..

"My stuff is in storage...Most of it anyway." she said.

"So you're all set." I said....

"Josie, could you take the baby upstairs and lay her down in her room?" said Sepia..

"Sure she said as she walked upstairs with our baby...

I hadn't seen my wife, Sepia all day....I kissed her passionately for about a minute...

"Wow what was that for?" she asked..

"I missed you...And it's so nice..."I said.

"What's so nice?" she said.

"Having a house full of people..When I bought this house..It was empty...Just me.. Sean Jackson lived a few doors down by himself ,until he married Sheila..As was this neighborhood..Now so many of my friends live around here..Chris and Chess and Rell, Donald Smooth,Mabel and 88, Clerow and Corabeth, Kool Kat and Chelsea...Robert and Bonita, Livy, Bev and Donnie Ray, Paris and Blake...to name a few...I got you and our baby and temporarily...Josie...This is great...I never liked living alone.."I said..

"Me neither baby." said Sepia...  "Guess who stopped by here earlier, looking for you?" she said.

"Who?" I said.

"Rollie Rollerson." she said.

"What did he want?" I asked..

"He wanted to know if you knew where Jean Stevens was staying....I just sold her a house and I'm pretty sure she doesn't want any bother out of him..So I told him that I didn't know...and that you were with a client."she said.

"Jean is my client." I said. "You were right to tell him that you don't know..Jean has started a new life." I said.

"Just like me." said Josie ,who had just returned..

"Yeah." ,I said..."Just like you."

(TO BE CONTINUED)