Eating Habits

With some people...I like to know all about them before I approach them...Such was the case with Mr.Charles Crotty, a guy who was actually working for me, who I did not know and photographed in the last known photo of Sui Chef , Eddie Vincent, who I was searching for and who hadn't been seen alive in three to four months...

For that I decided to do a thorough investigation...

He had been writing a syndicated column for one of my online magazines for a year now..He was a food critic....I read some of his columns...He was blistering in his criticism of a lot of local eateries that my wife and a lot of my friends often dined in...Including Bottom Of The C.

I read his columns...A lot of his criticism was a bit persnickety and unfair...but to each his own..Then I noticed around the middle of the year...The tone of his criticisms changed...They became nicer, more complimentary...though a few changed and went right back within a month, only to be complimentary the next week...

A lot of hipsters and younger people had moved into my general area....The Lofts, The Duplexes, The Triplexes, The Condos and Apartments...A lot of these new people worked in the area too...This was my audience...They streamed my music...They streamed my videos and news service...They read my print and digital publications...A bad word from him could doom an establishment with a few exceptions...He regularly slammed the food in Sam Mother's Diner, Mabel Jenkins Soul Food Restaurants and even Josie's Sunday Brunch without a budge...The loyal clientele paid him no mind..They knew the reputation and good food these establishments provided.. but some of the other upper crust establishments like Bottom of The C. , Mulberry Street et al was a different story...

Sean Jackson, Harry Charles and I went through his articles and listened to his Podcasts for a few days and we wondered the same thing...

II-

I took my investigation downstairs to Morris Investigations-

Charles Edward Crotty was like me, a Philadelphia native...Attended Philadelphia Public schools..Attended Howard University, dropped out after three years...Attended Community College for a year and transferred to Lassalle where he graduated with a B.A.in Communications/Journalism

He did a three year stint in the Marines.....Was honorably discharged...Returned to Philadelphia, got married and divorced all in one year...

Entered Law School at Temple...dropped out one semester shy of graduating....Returned a year later and graduated... Passed the bar....Went to work for someone I knew , crooked and now deceased attorney A.J. Miller...

After A.J. Miller was disbarred and went to prison...He began freelance writing and a syndicated podcast...

My company hired a lot  of guys like him...It was no big deal...I didn't know a third of them...

''Kev, you think this guy Crotty may shed some light on what happened to Eddie Vincent?" asked Sean Jackson..

"I don't know...but he's seen in the very last photo taken of Eddie Vincent talking to him in front of his house.. And he's in another photo talking to Eddie in Bottom of the C. Bistro just a week before..He's the only constant...He's a food critic..Maybe he knows something."I said..

"You need to see his financials.."said one of my investigators who passed me a file..

His credit cards were maxed out and his bank account was damn near empty just a year prior...His nice car had been repossessed and he was about to be evicted from one of his lofts....Then just like that...he began to get a huge influx of cash....

He paid off all of his credit cards...retained his car and in fact bought a new car and was still in his stylish loft...He had even traveled a bit...Vegas, California, Punta Canta..

"We weren't paying him that much for his freelancing and he wasn't being paid by anyone else...And I know he wasn't making that much from that Podcast....."I said..

"So where did the other cash come from?" asked Lockpick Johnson...

"I don't know..But that would be nice dinner conversation..." I said..

III-

There were a number of stylish rooftop restaurants opening up in the area....People seemed to like that....With heaters to keep them warm during the winter months...and a nice view of the city..

Ruthie's Steakhouse was one of them...

I found Charles Crotty dining in one of them...He was a fat, round, pleasent looking man with brown skin and slicked back hair...a little greasy for my tastes...

He was enjoying swordfish...

I sat down with him...

"That looks delicious...You come to a steakhouse and you have seafood? You don't eat the steak?" I asked..

He looked a little annoyed..

"Who are you?"

"Oh...I'm Kevin Morris...You kinda work for me....Your column in Hype On Line...That's my magazine and your podcast....My company..Morris Communications broadcasts them."I said..

He smiled..

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh Mister Morris....I uh kind of thought of you as a private detective..

"Oh I do that too..."I said..

He had already lied...He knew exactly who I was, from the time I sat down with him...I had hounded his old boss, A.J. Miller enough....Oh he knew...

He frowned...

''This is a little salty.."he said.

''Don't be too harsh on them...This is a steak joint...Now If Eddie Vincent was working here..He'd of tightened that Swordfish up...He's an excellent Sui chef..."I said.

He looked stunned when I mentioned his name..

"You knew him?" he said..

"Knew? I know him...You say knew as uh in the past tense...You know something I don't?" I said and smiled..

"No..No...I uh barely knew him.Know him.." he said..

I showed him two glossies...

"I've been looking for him for a week now..My wife wants to hire him for a catered affair...Seems nobody has seen him in three or four months...and I have these two photos of you with him...I just thought you might be able to shed some light on his whereabouts.."I said..

"No...No..Why would I?  " he said..

"Just askin...see you around Mr. Crotty."I said and got up...

I got on the elevator and headed towards the street...I noticed a big hulk of a man had followed me out of the bistro...As I walked...he sped up his walk...

Soon another man joined him...

Realizing  I was being followed I stopped...

"Can I help you gentlemen?" I said..I was tense...I knew what was coming..

"You know,it aint polite to upset a man while he's eating..." said the one man, who was a little smaller..

I smiled...

"Hey Ralphie.. Laughin boy here thinks it's funny..." said the shorter man...

"Let's wipe that smile off his face..." said the big ham handed man...

I picked up a trash can and blocked the shorter man's punch...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." he moaned in pain and then I brought the trash can down on his head three times...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh.."he moaned and fell out into the street...

Big Boy was another matter...

A big ham handed guy...Bald headed and heavily muscled had also followed me out of the bar...He had brass knuckles on his left hand...He said quietly...

"You talk too much homeboy....I'm gonna have to close that mouth of yours...Keep you from askin questions.Makin my buddy nervous." he said.

"Do I know you?" I asked..

"No, but you about to know me real well !!!!"he snarled..

Oh wow...This was classic, which was why I didn't give him a chance to hit me with those things..I kicked him in his groin...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, agrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."he moaned and I punched him three or four times in his face...drawing blood...

He went to swing at me with that left hand and I blocked it and hammered him again with a left- right
combonation...

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 trash can that was stacked fell and crashed onto his head...

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

''Wow..That looked like it hurt." I remarked.  Now he was furious....

"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..." he moaned...

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

He tried to swing at me again with that hand that had the brass knuckles...I used another trash can to block it..

"Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww..ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." he groaned....He must have broken a few knuckles right then and there...

 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 again punished his midsection with 10-12 lefts and rights and then planted more lefts and rights to his face...He fell to the ground..

He slowly got back up and I crowned him with a trash can....

"Ooooooooooooooooooouuuu." he moaned and fell to the ground...again...out for the night!!!...


Charles Crotty walked out into the street just in time to see the two men, out cold, bloody pulps....lying on the side walk....

I smiled at him...

"Friends of yours?" I asked.. "So hard to find good help now of days..Good evening Mr. Crotty." I said and walked to my car and drove off..

He angrilly stomped his foot....

IV-

Both men would require hospitalization....They both had concussions...One had several broken fingers...Both of his eyes were nearly swollen shut, his lip was busted and his nose was broken....The larger man...

I had made my point to Mr. Crotty, who was now looking more suspicious as the day went by...Don't try to intimidate me with muscle...

Kool Kat ran into me a few hours later in Josies, where I had stopped to wind down with a cold drink...I found that news travels fast in the streets.

"Damn Man...I heard you ran into Trever Johnson and Big Lou Stevens tonight...Two enforcers for the juice men...Two tough charactors....Word on the street is that you beat Big Lou to within an inch of his life and put Trevor in the hospital as well...Damn boy, your reputation is getting as big as mine.."laughed Kool Kat who had retired more players than social security himself..

"Let me buy you another beer."he said, laughing and slapping his thigh..

"Yeah ,I should have took you with me...I didn't expect to have do all that heavy lifting.."I said..

"You kiddin? Crotty used to be a lawyer...Used to defend guys like that....before he got into his food critic business..."said Kool Kat..

"He's come into a lot of money Kool Kat, a lot of money real fast and it aint from writing or his podcast or from practicing law..It's from something else...He got real nervous when I mentioned Eddie Vincent.."I said.

"You think they were into something together?" asked Kool Kat...

"I don't know..but his eating habits are starting to interest me..."I said.

(TO BE CONTINUED)