Gypsy Cab

I was in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia...The house was very non-assuming, considering who I was going to visit...Robert Driscoll, better known as Bobby Dee...Bobby Dee is listed as a businessman who owns a company that gives short term loans to area businesses....That is what he is listed as...In reality..it's a shell company...and Bobby Dee is a loan shark...He loans money to area businesses and he collects at 7-10 percent....and of course if they can't make the payment...people have been known to get broken jaws...broken fingers...fractured knee caps....

I've been told that Bobby Dee allegedly killed one shop owner who couldn't pay and took over his business...A deli ,that he expanded and now does great business and also acts as a front...

Bobby Dee knows everybody in the area and their relatives and loved ones...If he did commit murder, no one and I mean no one has ever talked about it.....Such is the fear and reputation of this man...He has not one conviction on his record...neither juvenile, nor adult...and it is said that he has several beat cops in his pocket....

You can imagine my surprise when I was summoned by this guy.....I rang his doorbell...It took only seconds before a big gorilla named appropriately "Hulk" answered the door...He smiled..

"Mr. Morris?" he said.

"Kevin...Kevin Morris." I said.

"Come in...Mr. Driscoll will see you." he said.

I walked into his living room...

Considering this man was a major playa....I was surprised at how modest he lived...Small row house...Nice and neat....Drove a Black 2014 Lexus....No flashy jewelry, nothing that made him stand out...The smart ones always went the low key route....I learned that from my friends, Chris Thompson, Kool Kat, Basil Robinson and Eddie C. who used to be in the game.. I looked more like a playa than he did..I was wearing a new Italian tailored suit and a pair of $700.00 shoes to match.

Bobby Dee walked out..He was wearing a nice pair of jeans with a neat crease in the legs , a white polo shirt and white Nike Sneakers...He smiled..

"So you're Kevin Morris...Private Investigator eh?  One of the best I've heard." he said.

"And you're the legendary Bobby Dee..or should I call you Mr. Driscoll?" I asked.

"Bobby Dee is fine." he said.."Sit..Sit..You want some coffee?" he asked.

"Yeah, that uh will be nice...Cream, three sugars."I said.

"Yo Hulk...get the man some coffee..." he said..

"You know...When Bobby Dee asks to see someone..I expect to meet you at your deli....Not your house."I said.

"Because of the nature of my business....I couldn't afford to talk to you in public." he said.

"Oh?" I said.

"Yeah...Mr. Morris..Let's cut the crap..I know that you know who and what I am..." he said.

"Oh that you're not really a businessman?" I asked smiling...

He frowned a bit..

"Oh you got jokes huh?" he said and then he busted out laughing....

"Look.."he said and put a glossy photograph on the coffee table of a man I did not know...

"That's Tyrone "T-Mack" Mackery...He's from Camden....He's got the hot package on the streets out in West Philly and Southwest Philly...The territory that your boy...Fathead Newton used to control...Nothin out there now but undisciplined independent crews...It's a mess..Fathead kept a lid on all that nonsense...Anyway long story short...He has the hot package on the streets and all of these crews buy from him..." he said.

"And this is of interest to me why?" I asked.

"He had a sit down with me two days ago....at my deli....We talked business." he said.

"By that you mean money laundering." I said.

He smiled..

"No grass grows under your feet...He took a cab from my place...and that's the last time he was seen.."said Bobby Dee.

"A cab?" I asked..

"Yeah...and he hasn't been seen since...His folks in Camden have been callin here around the clock..."he said...

Hulk walked in and placed a stack of bills in front of me...

"That's 100G's.....All yours...Free and clear..I need you to find out what happened to him....I don't want any unnecessary trouble with Camden...I told them I'd get to the bottom of it.  I didn't do anything to him...We were going to do business together...Why would I?"he said.

"It's not often I work for people like you....I usually help put people like you behind bars..You do know that right?" I said.

''Yeah I know...I just want to know what happened to him that's all..." he said.

''If I find out something did happen to him and I find out who did it...I'm turning them over to the cops...Not you." I said.

"That's fine...I just need to know what happened..That's it.." he said.

"Okay and if I can't find anything in a decent amount of time...I'll return every penny of your dough and our business is over ."I said.

He smiled..

"I respect you...That's why I hired you...You're tough..but you're fair....and you know your business...That's more than fair Mr. Morris."he said and we stood up and he shook my hand...

I left his home and drove away... People like him disgusted me...but he was a paying client.

II-

The first thing I did was call the three main cab companies and ask them about pick ups in the past two days....

Not one of them sent a cab to Bobby Dee's address....!!!

I finally found the cab company or Limo Service that did...I checked their log...A phone call was made from a phone number I traced to Tyrone Mackey's cell phone at around forty minutes before he was last seen...

"Damndest thing though..."said one of the drivers..."I took that call....but when I got there..He was gone...I was told that another cab had picked him up...It wasn't one of mine and we checked with our two competitors and none of them were in the area...It must have been a Gypsy cab."he said.

I checked out all of the known Gypsy cabs in the area and talked to all of their drivers...Not one of them said that they were in the area at the time...

I talked to people in the neighborhood but could get no co-operation..They didn't know me and were afraid...A quick call to Bobby Dee got at least one guy to talking...

"Yeah ,I seen him..He left Bobby Dee's house at 11:45..right before noon and there was a cab waiting...It had been sitting there...He said something to the driver and smiled and got in and they pulled off...It was a Yellow cab." he said.

Tyrone Mackey did not drive ..He always took cabs and or limo service everywhere he went...

I figured a guy like him would have to have a driver...As much as I hated this..I headed over to Camden to talk to his people..

III-

 I spent the rest of the afternoon in Camden talking to Tyrone Mackery's people....His known associates, his rivals, his relatives and close friends...None of them had seen or heard a peep out of him since he left for Philadelphia 48 hours before....

His driver , who usually accompanied him was in jail on a weapons charge....He swore up and down that the gun had been planted on him...This was sure seeming to be fishy real quick...

Naturally...I checked his credit cards,debit card and bank account...There was no movement on any in 48 hours....That was a dead giveaway to me that the person I was looking for might be dead...

I checked his cell phone and the last call made was the call for a Taxi...right before he was last seen alive...This was not looking good at all..

I had a meal at a local Camden soul food joint and then was getting ready to leave when a tall dark skinned man motioned for me to come to his table...He had just begun his meal....

"Sit" he said.

I sat down...

"You're a P.I. from Philly right?" he asked.

"Yeah..Who wants to know?" I asked..

He smiled ,then flashed a badge....

"Oh, you're a detective..."I said.

He smiled..

"Yeah...My name is Earl, Detective Earl Chambliss...You're trying to find...Tyrone Mackey right? So am I? Probably for a different reason than you.." he said.

"I got a client...Who doesn't want people here in your good city to think he had anything to do with this guy's disapearence.."I said.

"That client would be uh Bobby Dee right?"he said.

"Yes...You're good."I said.

"We have been tracing his calls...He wanted Bobby Dee to launder a significant bit of cash for him..Bobby Dee was going to do it...There is no good reason why Bobby Dee would clip this guy and lose out on all of that revenue...No way..."said the Detective..

"Who do you think killed or kidnapped  this guy?" I asked.

"Take kidnapping off the table ..He's more than likely dead...If I were you...I'd start looking at some of the people who were buying his package and see if there was someone else who had a package that wanted to replace his...Either somebody in Philly or New York." he said.

"You know...that makes a lot of sense.."I said.

"Me? I'm glad he's gone...One less maggot for my unit to have to investigate...One win in the war against drugs." he said and smiled...

I laughed..

"Thanks man for the insight."I said.

"Give Bobby Dee my regards...I can't wait until that creep disappears.." he said..

We both laughed...

III-

Later that afternoon I was at home , kissing my wife Sepia passionately in the living room...our little baby girl was upstairs sound asleep...

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, this is so nice..." she cooed in between sloppy wet kisses...

"Yessssss..."I moaned...

"You got a new case?" she asked..

"I do....Guy paid me 100G's up top....but If I can't find the guy he's paid me to find...I'm going to return it." I said.

"Ohhhhh, he's a loan shark huh?" she asked me..

I looked at Sepia in shock....

"How do you know that?" I asked..

"Kevin..I'm not dumb...It wasn't hard to figure out..."she said and giggled..

"I forget....You're a Jersey City girl..."I said smiling...

"West Orange to be exact...and yes..I'm a little street..."she said...

"I like round the way girls...especially those like you who are uh round in the right ways.." I said looking at her salaciously..."

"Ummmmm...you are sooo nasty..."she said as I opened her blouse...and unfastened her bra....

She in turn pulled down my zipper and helped me out of my trousers and my shirt...

"I love it when you get new cases..." she said..

"One day we are going to go to an analyst and find out why that turns you on so much."I smiled in between kisses...

I straddled Sepia on the living room couch....mounting her and moving slowly inside and out of her...
....She kissed my neck, my chest, my cheeks and finally my lips...I kissed her breasts and her neck...finally, I was entering her luscious body....

Moving in and out slowly....Sepia moved with me slowly....We made sure we didn't moan loudly..didn't want to miss Kimberly...As she got older and began to move around..I regretted that our sex life would cease being as spontaneous and would one day be confined to our locked bedroom..

The couch squeaked a little bit , we smiled..but resisted the urge to cry out....She began licking my neck and sucking on it,which made me begin moving deeper and deeper into her warm and wet lusciousness.......

"Ouuuuuuu lover...you are hittin my spots.." said Sepia...

"This is driving me crazy...." I moaned silently...

''Me too..ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..Me tooooo,ohhhh my godddd.." she moaned...

The couch was rocking and squeaking loudly...We slowed down a bit...She looked like she was climaxing...I slowed down immensely and moved in a little harder.....She let out a soft whisper...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..."

''Yes...yessssssssssssssss...ouuu, we've got to be cool baby...we don't want to wake up  the baby.." I moaned..

The couch squeaked a little bit more....

We kept on at it for another four hours...surprised at how quiet we were...We managed
to climax together...holding each other tightly..and breathing heavy...Kissing each other as if it were going out of style.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sweet lover...ouuuuuuuu that was soooo nice." said Sepia in between wet sloppy kisses...

"Yes lord."I said.

She giggled and ran her index finger across my lips.

"You know, we need to get up and go upstairs to the bedroom..we don't want to be discovered down here.." said Sepia..

I smiled...

We got up and began to gather our clothes...

We wound up dropping them in the middle of the floor and embracing  again..

"Kevin." she asked me in between kisses...

"Yeah baby."I answered..

"We aren't going to make it to the bedroom are we?" she asked..

"I don't think we are.." I said...

We both laughed and continued kissing..

IV-

 The next day...I was out on the streets ....In West Philly, Manyunk and Southwest Philly, talking to the crews...the young independent dealers who had been distributing his package...They talked to me because they knew I wasn't a cop...

They knew nothing ...except that their supply was getting short and they needed to re-up as they said..
Apparently Mr. Mackey controlled an even larger area than Fathead Newton had...and with him missing ,even for a day...They were scattering trying to find a new connect..

I was told that that connect was Mr. Clarence Basket...brother of the imprisoned...Charles "Bread"Basket..a one time Fathead Newton enforcer and person who had tried to take over during the bloody summer after Fathead stepped down and left the city....

Finding him was going to take the help of a friend...

A friend known as Walter "Kool Kat" Jones....

(TO BE CONTINUED)