His Cup of Tea

Before she died...Anita Johnson had given me a key to her loft... I went in and rumaged through her things...I suspected and rightfully so that all these years..She had been doing some investigating herself...I was right..She had a binder that had the names and photos of all of the people in Josies that night that Bobby Holland had been drinking with...

Her notes and interviews rivaled mine and were better than some detectives... There was twenty five people in this book...

I read her notes and looked up the people....

First off...Seven of the people she interviewed were now dead...and eight of the people had moved several times....But I wouldn't be a credible investigator if I couldn't find them...I found them and I took Kool Kat with me...

A lot of these people gave her a hard time originally...Her being a woman...but when I came to visit them, with Walter by my side, they were much more acomodating...They remembered things I couldn't imagine them remembering about that night...

Like for instance.... He kept calling somebody on the phone...repeatedly...and he kept going to the rest room... He was missing for exactly 40 minutes according to one person...plenty of time to leave Josies..go home,kill his wife and come back to Josies, I also ascertained...

Still sketchy at best...

I went to Josies and got the phone number on the one pay phone there....The phone company was very helpful...I went back all those years and found that the phone call was to a neighbor living across the street from the Holland House...

That neighbor's name was Elmer Chadwick....I remembered him...A very timid man who hung on to Bobby Holland's every word and was seemingly afraid of him...The only thing was...Elmer Chadwick didn't live there anymore...

He had fallen on hard times and was living in a rooming house in South Philly now...

I decided to look him up.I always suspected he was a closet homosexual...but I was never really sure.

II-

I drove to the south philly rooming house where Elmer Chadwick was living...I found him sitting in his rooming home with another man...A large man ,who was every bit the loudmouth that Bobby Holland had been..

I knocked on the door...Elmer came to the door..

"Yes??" he said.

"Mr. Chadwick..It's me..Kevin....I used to live around the way..."I said.

He smiled...

"Oh My God...How long has it been?" he said.

The man with him bellowed..

"WHAT YOU WANT WITH ELMER?" he asked..

"It's okay Maceo..He's a friend...from the old neighborhood.."he said.

We weren't "friends"..This man was my father's age...

"Have a seat Kevin..Can I get you a beer?"  he asked..

"THE HELL WITH THAT...I paid for that beer....I DON'T KNOW HIM!" said the other man...

I suspected the other man was his lover....The Alpha Male in the relationship.

"That's okay Mr. Chadwick, I just want to ask you some questions.." I said.

"WHAT KIND OF QUESTIONS?" asked the other man...He was now becoming annoying...

"That's between me and Mr. Chadwick..."I said.

"DON'T GET SMART..I'LL BOOT YOU OUT OF HERE!" he said.

I smiled...

"You're kind of hostile..Somebody pee in your cornflakes this morning?" I said.

Elmer laughed...

Maceo, didn't find it funny at all..

"ALRIGHT THAT DID IT!!...YOU'RE GETTIN THE HELL OUT!" he said and lunged at me...

"Did I interrupt something?" I joked...

He was now furious!!

The man was pretty big and had good size arms and was amazingly fast for his size and age..He grabbed me around the neck...or he tried to...I dodged him and landed some pretty hard lefts and rights to his face...He was surprized that he was being hit so hard and so often..!!!!

I crouched and backed him up with some lefts and rights to his body and slammed a left right combonation to his jaw which sent him flying into the wall...A clock fell off of the shelf and crashed onto his head...

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH,UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he moaned in pain...

"WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY YOUUUUUUU!!!" he yelled and lunged at me again...

I caught him with an uppercut and another left right combonation and more punishing lefts and rights to the body.....

He winced in pain and fell to the ground.....

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh lawddddd...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh lawdddd...." he moaned...

His face was a bloody mess, his lip swollen...his nose bleeding and his left eye swollen shut...

"Now Mr. Chadwick is there somewhere we can go and talk?" I asked..

"What is this about?" he asked...

"Bobby Holland!!!...and the death of his wife...."I said..

I didn't notice that Maceo was still stirring...He had a huge machette and was heading toward me..

"WHYYYYYY YOUUUUUUUUUUUU!" he moaned as he lunged at me.....

"Mr. Morris look out!" said Elmer Chadwick...

I used the card table to block the knife and I slugged Maceo in his gut...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu,Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."he moaned...

Maceo still wasn't through....He got a lucky punch in....

A punch that knocked me over the living room table and to the floor..This man still had a lot of power,despite the fact that I was literally beating the piss out of him..

....I grabbed his foot and twisted it and sent him falling to the floor...I managed to get to my feet ,but I was in extreme pain....He charged at me..I crouched and I landed about 12 good lefts and rights to his face.....I caught him with an uppercut that damn near ripped his head off and then clocked him in his jaw and sent him flying.... He quickly got to his feet and charged me again...throwing haymakers...I dodged them all and ripped his midsection with well placed lefts and rights and then cold cocked him in his jaw, sending him spinning around...I attempted a swift kick to his solar plexus , but he caught my foot , twisted my leg and sent me flying to the floor...

He lifted me up by my neck and put his massive hands around my neck..I kicked him as hard as I could in his privates and he let me go...I again punished his midsection with 10-12 lefts and rights and then planted more lefts and rights to his face...He fell to the floor.....I thought I had time to catch my breath....but he was up again and charging at me...I picked up an old wooden chair that was sitting in the corner and smashed him over his head... and down he went with a crash.. he didn't get back up this time...He laid still! In fact...his head was bleeding profusely! he was breathing heavily....

I pulled out my .38 smokeless and put it to his temple...

"Game Over friend...You move again and I'll blow your brains all over this living room...Now either get out or go sit in the corner..."I said.

Maceo was bloody and in intense pain...He got up and quietly sat in a chair in the corner...He was wimpering like a child that had just had a spanking...I think he was embarrassed ,having had Elmer see him get beat up....He was shaking like a leaf..Snot was running out of his nose as well as tears...

Ed Chatwick looked at me in horror..

"Are you uh a boxer or somethin Mr. Morris...??I aint never seen nobody take Maceo apart like that...He lives downstairs..."said Elmer Chatwick...I suspected that he  in addittion to being Elmer's lover.. was a bully also...

He was breathing heavily and blood was running down his face...

"Get out of here and go on down to your room."I shouted...

He got up and quietly walked down the hallway...

"Damn Man ,what happened to you?" asked one resident..

"He got his ass kicked."said one man...

"Yeah Clem,you shoulda seen it...dude beat him like he owed him some money,then told him to get out and go to his room." said another man..

"WHATTTT? Oh Man and I missed it.?" said another man,..

"Yeah man...I wished I'd had some popcorn...Hahahahahahahahaha."said another.

"Who was that that kicked your ass?" said another one,laughing his head off..

"I don't know..but dude was his cup of tea tonight!" said another man.

The door had been open and several people had seen me beating Maceo up... a small crowd had gathered to see it...I got the feeling these men had all been bullied by him and had been waiting for years to see someone give it back to him..

Came the questions...

"Ah knew somebody was gonna pop his ass one day...He ran into the right one today...big queen..." said another man.

Maceo slammed the door to his room...

Raucous laughter followed...

"Mr. Chatwick,I know it was along time ago...but do you remember the night Mrs. Chatwick killed herself...Mr. Holland called you a number of times.. didn't he?" I asked..

"Yeah...He wanted to know what time she got in...She was riding with a man...One of her co-workers ...
He gave her a ride..."said Elmer Chatwick..

"You don't know who the man was do you?" I asked.

"No...He had a Silver Mustang...That's all I remember...I'd seen him before...Her car was in the shop..Mr. Holland had shot all of the tires out in one of his rages...So this guy gave her a ride home..

"Now the night in question after he called you and you told her she was home what happened next?" I said.

"He drove home like a bat out of hell...Went into the house...I heard a gun shot and then he came tearing out of there.... Then an hour later he came home and said that she had shot herself.." he said.

"Now Mr. Chatwick...Did you tell the police this?" I asked..

"They never questioned me...so No." he said..

Just then we heard a gunshot!

It came from downstairs...!!!!!!!

III-

It was the man named Maceo...He had taken his 357 magnum and blown his brains out!!!!!

One of the tenents was telling the police...

"I guess we teased him too much...He wasn't used to us teasing him...He picked on us so much...but today...He started with the wrong man....Some guy up in Elmer's room kicked his ass....and told him to get out....It was too much for him...If he couldn't be top dog, Ah guess he couldn't live in this world.."said the man...

I walked downstairs where Dr. Hazel Baylor ,the Forensic Investigator was investigating and observing the body...

"Kevin..did you and this man get in a fight earlier..?" she asked.

"Yeah..I came to interview Mr. Chadwick and he attacked me...I told him to go to his room..." I said.

"Well he did and he killed himself.."said Hazel..

"Don't feel bad...he's in the system...Assault, Spousal Abuse,Multiple Assaults.."said Hazel..

"You mean to tell me that somebody was married to this guy?" I asked..

"Yeah about 20 years ago..He broke her jaw and choked her...and she left him...He's bi-sexual..He's mostly dated men after his wife left him..We've had calls from here of him beating people up...I guess tonight you were his cup of tea...."said Hazel..

"Yeah,I guess.."I said.

Hazel and her people and the police removed the body ...

 "Get some rest Kevin..."said Hazel..

"I will."I said.

I turned to Mr. Chatwick....

"A Detective may be coming here to talk to you....Will you tell him what you told me?" I asked..

"Yeah sure...by the way..Where is Bobby now of days?" he asked..

"He's around...and when I'm finished...He's going to be behind bars.."I said.

"I remember you house sat for him once...You had that gal over there...I know you tore that ass up didn't ya? Hahahahahahahahaha..I saw yall kissin in the doorway and then yall went inside..HAhahahahahah,I knowed what was up then." he said.

"Mr. Chatwick...Did you ever tell him about me and Angie?" I asked..

"Awww nah..He woulda killed you and tole her father..I aint want to get you kids in trouble..I never said nothin about it."he said.

"Thank you."I said and left..

IV-

Sepia smiled at me as I came home....

Our daughter was awake and sitting up in her high chair..

I smiled at her and played with her...

Sepia put my dinner in front of me...

"Rough day today lover?" she asked..

You don't even know." I said...

"I made you some tea..."she said.

She made me a cup of tea and poured herself a cup of tea...

"How is your case going?" she asked..

"I have enough to at least create some doubt...Hopefully ,I can get some detectives to look into it.."I said.

"Did you call Sissy?" asked Sepia..

"No...I always bother Sissy and her guys...They're working another case right now anyway.."I said.

"Kevin they're your friends..As many times as you've helped them..I know they'd help you.."said Sepia..

"Well I still need a little more to give them to peak their interest.."I said.

But my interest had already been peaked...I was certain of what I knew all along ...That Bobby Holland was a murderer and that he needed to be locked up!

(TO BE CONTINUED)