Knucklehead

INTERLUDE- Thursday Night, Penns Landing...  A WEEK AGO!

A young Black man spies a beautiful car...

"WOWWW...That's a beaut....They just unloaded it off the boat man.."he says on his phone..

"Yeah it is......That's the one my contact told me he wanted....Can you snatch it?" came the voice on the phone...

"No prob man....I'm just waiting for it to get darker..."said the young black man...

"Okay..Bring it by the job ASAP...There's a cool 10 large in it for you..."said the voice..

"Mannn that ten large will solve all of my problems..."said the young African-American...

"Yeah...it'll keep your legs from being broke...Hahahahahahahaha."came the voice from the phone..

"That aint funny, but you right...but I needed that money at the time...I needed a ride man, you know what they say...He who walks ,walks alone...I had this fine honey lined up and I had just got my license and if I didn't have a ride, I wasn't even gettin any conversation, let alone any good lovin.."laughed the African-American youth...

"So you borrow from a loan shark...You knew you'd have to pay it back soon enough didn't you?" came the voice from the phone..

"Yeah,I know...I wasn't thinkin...I been hidin out at different friends homes for days now...That's why I'm glad you hooked me up with this job Chico..."said the African-American youth...

"Speakin of which...We need to cut this conversation and for you to get me that ride." said the voice from the phone..

"Okay Chico man...I'm on it...I'm out man!"said the young man...

It took him no time to cut the lock in the auto yard and steal the car...He drove it through the cool wind and rain swept streets of Philadelphia like a boss...Careful not to go over the speed limit and even more careful not to draw undue attention to himself..

This car was sweet.....He loved it..He hated to have to turn it into his friend Chico.... but a deal was a deal...

He pulled into Chico's Chop Shop....

Chico and his two boys laughed and clapped...

Chico hugged him...He turned to his boys...

"I told you...I told you this kid was solid.." he said..

"Wowww man, this car is the bomb!" said one of the guys...

Chico gave The Young African American boy $5000.00 on the spot..

"I know it's light kid...but that's all the cash I have on hand...Come back in two days...I'll have another 5 large...I promise.."said Chico...

"I know you're good....This is enough to keep that loan shark off my back...for now.."said the kid..

He looked at the car...

"Mannnnn that car is sweet..." he said..

TWO DAYS LATER, Saturday Night-

The young African-American kid returned to the chop shop only to make a grisly discovery...

Chico and his two associates were tied to chairs....dried blood ran down their faces....They had all been shot to death...the fingers on both hands of all three of them had been broken and they had cigarette burns on their arms,legs  and torso...

The car was gone...He looked around...Then he ran for all he was worth....

He made a frantic phone call to the only person he knew who might help him...

"Hello" said Bonnie Shay, A former Public Defender, A Former Assistant District Attorney and now an Insurance Investigator...

"Aunt Bonnie, it's me...Delroy......I think I may be in trouble!" he said frantically.....

II-

SUNDAY MORNING-

A Sunday Morning at Josies, And it was just as packed as it was on a Friday or Saturday Night.....\Usually Josies was closed on Sundays, but not this Sunday...Josies was having their  Jazz Brunch...Something new!

I looked at my good friend Gus...

''Sunday Morning Gus?...Sunday Morning? Aren't you gettin too old for this?" I asked..

"I'm doin what I love Kevin...I bought this dump when I was a young man....For awhile it looked like this place was gonna go under...It was a good night if I got 10 people in here...Then Chris and Chess bought up all that land across the way and now they have three shopping centers....Them and your wifey and Bonita  and Clerow and Owen Todd started buying up and rehabbing Apartments, Duplexes, Lofts and Condos and selling new homes.. All of this new influx of people started moving around here and working and now it's standing room only every night.." said Gus..

"Yeah and you made Honey Brown the manager and she made changes...Put in new floors, a new bar...expanded the place...brought in more live entertainment and multiple D.J.'s...  Josie's is the hot spot in the neighborhood.."I said smiling..

"Yeah, a lot has changed..Look at you...Got your own business and Private Investigatin agency...Married, Got a baby girl....I'm proud of both of you.."said Gus..

Honey Brown and I both lost both of our parents early in life...Gus used to date Honey Brown's mom and my dad was his best friend..After our parents died...Gus raised both of us....I joined the Marines after High School, Got my college education and became a middleweight all services Boxing Champ....I also was A NCIS investigator for awhile until my discharge...I got out ,took my journalism degree and became first a writer,then Editor and chief of a Black Lifestyles Magazine...I got a P.I.'s license and began doing investigations around the neighborhood on my spare time...After that..I eventually ,with some financial help from Chris, Chess, My wife, her partner Bonita and Clerow and Owen Todd bought the company and expanded it into a communications conglomerate...I also started my detective agency, which is housed in the sub-basement of the same building...

Donated to me by Chris and Chess..

Honey worked for Gus and he put her through school..She got her degree and came back and practically runs Josies...

The occassion this Sunday was Josie's first Sunday Brunch....They had contracted with my friends, Mabel Jenkins and her sisters, Cora Beth, Vanessa and Anita...

Who had turned a successful Soul food restaurant into three locations now and a catering business...They provided the breakfast meal for today...

Pancakes, Eggs to Order, French Toast, Waffles..

Everything looked delicious...Honey and Mabel had hired extra staff to actually run the brunch....Gus was here because..Well ,He was Gus and this was his place...

My wife Sepia walked over with our daughter, Kimberly...

"Hiiii Gus...Come on and sit down before your food gets cold.." she said to me..

I looked at Gus...

''She's the boss.." I said.

"Not a bad boss to have.." he laughed...

Reed Nelson, Downtown Rob Brown, Dutch Van Buren..Chazz and B-Flat and their groups all played a set...

At another table I saw my good friend, Donnie Ray Alexander , who had sat in with the band earlier and was now sitting down to eat with his pretty wife, Attorney Olivia Bennett-Alexander

Her equally pretty niece, Attorney Beverly West-East

and her new husband, Attorney Nelson East

and my adopted daughter and their colleague,

Para legal Josie Boyd and her boyfriend, Paris...

They had a large table...They were joined by My new friends and my wife and Bonita's Tenants,

Attorney Yvette Jones and her significant other, D.A.'s Investigator, Gary Lockwood, once a Lieutenant on the police force.

and her four young attorneys...

Bee Bee Evans

Keith Jones

Sofia Garcia

and Khalil Ahmed..

At the table next to them I saw Attorney Soloman Foster and his wife ,Attorney Celeste Tate-Foster

Attorneys Zoey  And Lemuel Anderson

and Attorneys Arthur Trout and his girlfriend, Mandy...

There was certainly enough Attorneys here...but on the other side of Josies were my cop friends...

Sissy and Eddie C.

ADA Keith Wallace and his wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace,

Detectives Tyriq and Sirena Pile..

Detectives James Barlow and his wife, my former lover and childhood friend, Detective Angela Belton-Barlow..

Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor and his wife, Dr. Hazel Baylor...

And my good friends, Detective Antonio Hopkins and his wife..Deputy FBI Special Agent in Charge, Sharon Hopkins..

All good friends of ours and mostly people I'd met in the past ten years...Through my wife Sepia and Bonita ,who sold them their homes or apartments..

We were sitting with Bonita's Husband, Attorney Robert Foxworth

and my closest and oldest friend,

Walter "Kool Kat " Jones and his wife, Chelsea..

I stared over in a corner and I saw Jade Lee, a former detective from Tokyo I had once worked a case with..

She had just gotten her American Citizenship and was working exclusively for Yvette Jones and her attorneys...I had had the pleasure of working with her recently on some cases they had...

With her was another cop friend of mine, Lieutenant Danny Ho...I had known him since he had made Detective...I was happy to see him move up the ranks..

III-

It was nice seeing all of these people from the neighborhood out....It was very rarely that all of us was in here at the same time...

"Still people watching husband?" asked Sepia....

"Yeah,I was just thinking how so much changed in this neighborhood so fast and how we met so many people in the past ten years...It's nice that we all are in here at the same time..That so rarely happens.."I said..

"It is nice...There's Chris, Chess and Rell and Donald Smooth over there...and There is Sean Jackson and Sheila and Clerow and Corabeth and their two little girls...God, they're gettin big..."said Robert Foxworth..

"This food is delicious.."said Bonita..

"It is..Gus said he's going to do this the first and next to last Sunday of every month...."I said..

"He's gonna make a pile of money.."said Kool Kat , who took a pancake off of Chelsea's plate..

"Stop it." she playfully pouted...

"You're pretty busy now eh Kevin? Olivia and Beverly are the only Attorneys you don't work for...

because they have Donnie Ray.."

said Robert...

"Yeah, I work with Their cousin, Kayla Bennett...

 Who is not here today...I'm surprised

 and another Attorney named Gloria Brown..." I said..

"I know her.."said Robert. smiling sheepishly...She had been one of his many conquests before he met and

settled down with Bonita..

 "Occassionally I do work for Yvette Jones and her crew...."I said..

 "It's all good work, soft work....It keeps me off the streets.." I said..

"And Home on time.."added Sepia..

Bridget Jones walked over to our table..

"Hi Guys.." she said..

"Well if it isn't the queen of panties.."I said..

"Ohhh stop it you.." she laughed..."Is there room ?" she asked..

"Surrrrrrrrrrrrrre, pull up a chair."said Robert Foxworth, grinning from ear to ear...

Bonita gave him a playful side eye...

Robert smiled sheepishly...

"Just being polite dear." he said..

Kool Kat ,Sepia and I tried hard to conceal our laughter...

This was so nice...A nice Sunday Brunch in my favorite place with practically all of my friends, Just chowing down and enjoying music ,conversation and laughter...

This was unfortunately...The calm before the storm that was coming...

IV-

Sepia and I and Kimberly was resting later on at our house....

"Wow! That meal was good"I said...

"It was.." agreed Sepia, hugging Kimmy...

"Know what I could go for right now..?" I said..

"Kevin, not in front of the baby.."said Sepia..

"I wasn't talking about that....I was talking about a nice cold beer...but...Now that you mentioned it..."I said ,raising my eyebrow...

Then the doorbell rang!

"Wonder who this is" I said..as I went to the door..

It was our good friend, Bonnie Shay....Insurance Investigator and Attorney....She and I had worked several cases before...

"Hi Kevin, Hi Sepia....and hiiiii little cutie." she said to Kimberly...

"Hey Bon-Bon...We thought we'd see you at Josie's this morning for their Brunch...Everybody was there...and I mean everybody..."said Sepia..

"Girl, I would have been there too...My boss, Elwood and my husband are in Atlanta on company business and I needed to get out..but I'm afraid I've got a bit of a situation...I need your help Kevin and this time I have to pay you..." she said and handed me an envelope with $1200.00 in it..

"Bonnie, we are family..."I protested...

"I know...but I can't keep asking for favors and not paying...and this is a big one.."said Bonnie..

"Bonnie girl, you look upset...What's up?" asked Sepia..

"You ever have that one relative in your family who you wish wasn't related to you?" she asked..

"I feel you girl...Who is it in yours?" asked Sepia..

"I don't talk much about my family...but I have an older sister...We aren't close....and she has a son...His name is Delroy Green Jr.... I never hear from him or his mother except when they need something...Bail money for him...He's got three Juvenile arrests....He graduated from Glen Mills and She has been in and out of rehab for substance abuse herself over the years...She seems to resent me because I finished college and law school..She was in college too, a whole four years before me..She dropped out just a semester before she would have graduated...She met a slick talking guy named Delroy Green....She got pregnant...He ghosted on her and she had to raise Delroy by herself...She started using Cocaine, then crack and wound up in rehab and out of rehab and several low paying jobs..."said Bonnie..

"Is she the one in trouble or your nephew?" I asked..

"My nephew....

He called me a week ago, told me he MIGHT be in trouble..."said Bonnie..

''Which means he is in trouble."said Sepia, holding Kimberly.. "Sit still girl or I'm going to put you to bed..."said Sepia to Kimmie...

"If you're paying me this kind of cash and this distraught, he's in big trouble...Tell me everything from the beginning Bon Bon..."I said.

"He told me that there was this girl...This girl he met that he was crazy over.....He said that he had just got his driver's license recently, but had no car...He said without a car he 'd get no conversation,let alone anything else.."sighed Bonnie..

I smiled...I had been where he is once...I was extremely lucky that Angie Belton dated me

and loved me despite my not having a car and being two years younger than her....but I knew how he felt..

"He borrowed 10K off of a loan shark..and bought himself a new car.."sighed Bonnie..

"Oh man.....bad move.."I said..

"It gets worse....He agreed to steal a car for this guy he knows...Chico Carilla...who owns a chop shop...Chico agreed to pay him 10 grand for a brand new imported car off the ship....My stupid Nephew stole the car and delivered it to Chico..."said Bonnie..

"And they stiffed him?" asked Sepia..

"No, Chico gave him half...$5000.00 and he already had $2000.00..So he gave the loan shark $7000.00, which was enough to keep his legs from being broken...for awhile..Chico told him to come back in three days and get the other half..."said Bonnie..

"Did they pay him?" I asked..

"No Kevin, they didn't...Not because they didn't want to...They can't...They were all dead..Shot to death and tortured....He called me this morning, told me to meet him there..I went there...He was nowhere in sight...and I found Chico and two of his associates...Tied up...Shot to death and tortured..Fingers broken and cigarette burns on their arms and body...They've been dead at least a day.."said Bonnie..

"I didn't call it in...I wanted you to see the scene first...Would you come with me? I'm so sorry Sepia.."said Bonnie..

"No girl..it's alright...Help her Kevin....She's helped us in the past a lot.."said Sepia..

I agreed....I called Walter...This type of job called for his special set of skills...

V-

Bonnie ,Kool Kat and I went to Chico;s Chop Shop...Kool Kay knew where it was...He kept his nose to the streets..

The smell was ghastly.....and the scene was even worse...Three young men tied to chairs...Shot to death, all five fingers broken on all of their hands...cigarette burns on their arms,legs and torsos...

"Man, rigor has set in....These guys have been dead at least a day...."said Kool Kat...

"In this place....They wouldn't be discovered for weeks...Maybe even a month....Let's get out of here...I'll call this in...Anonymously....but it has to be called in.."I said..

"My nephew might be a car thief...but he's no killer...I know he didn't do this...And now he's dropped out of sight..Whoever killed these guys might be after him..."said Bonnie..

"First things first...We've got to find him." I said..

A job that was going to be easier said than done...

(TO BE CONTINUED)