Charlie's Last Meal

An unseasonably warm winter night...I was leaving Josie's...By now word had gotten back to Crotty that I had been asking questions about him, that I had been to several restaurants he ate at and reviewed...And that I was asking more and more about the missing Eddie Vincent...

I didn't see the red Coupe De Ville at first...but I heard it speed up and I saw a man leaning out of the side window on the passenger side...

Any one who has watched enough TV or who has lived in Philadelphia long enough knows what's up...

The man who was leaning out of the passenger side fired six shots....Several people ran back into the bar...I dove to the pavement and crawled between two cars....

The car backed up...

By now I had my .38 smokeless out...I returned fire, The man got out of the car...I fired again, just missing him...He returned my fire...

Walter "Kool Kat" Jones appeared...He pulled out his .357 Magnum...

The gunman saw him and retreated...He was no fool..

Kool Kat calmly fired , destroying the back window of the car and fired again , destroying the windshield..He fired again, destroying the rear view mirror on the passenger side..

The two gunmen got in the car and pulled off..

The car sped down the street....

By now, two police cars were in hot pursuit....

And then ,surprisingly enough...the car exploded...

killing both men.....





II-

Detective Tyriq Pile looked at the charred car and remains...

''And this was supposed to be a slow night.."he remarked..

"You making new friends Kevin?" remarked his partner, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace as she surveyed the wreckage...

Detectives Jimmy Barlow and Tony Hopkins walked up...

"The Dead guys are James Spade, contract killer, a suspect in seven homicides...."said Jimmy..

"The Driver is Johnny "Torpedo" Tolliver...Low rent hood for hire...Won't be missed.." said Hop...

"If you check you'll find that A.J. Miller and Charles Crotty have repped both of them in time..."I said..

"A.J. is dead...You think this revenge for you helping us to put him on ice awhile ago..."said Detective Sirena Pile..

"Not a chance...These guys strictly work for the money....This is something else.."I said..

"Something else like what?" said Lt. Sissy Van Buren...

"I was hired by Ralph Scallion...The chef at Bottom of the C. to locate Eddie Vincent..."I said..

"Eddie V? That's my man...Best Sui Chef around next to Ralph Scallion.."Said Detective Duke Baylor..

"Oh I love him...He cooked me and Jimmy this exquisive seafood buffet for our wedding anniversary dinner..I haven't seen him in awhile.."said Detective Angela Belton-Barlow.

"Nobody has...That's why I was hired...He hasn't been seen since September..."I said.

"This is January...What does all this have to do with tonight?" asked Sissy...

"Charlie Crotty..Attorney Charlie Crotty has found a new career as a Food Critic..He writes a column in one of my online publications..and has a podcast....A good word from him sets your establishment up...A bad one...Well...you're pretty much deep sixed...I followed a trail of his writings...Bad one month, then good the next month....I then followed the paper trail and discovered Crotty had been blackmailing a number of establishments...in return for a healthy payout...I think Eddie V. discovered what he was doing and presented him with proof and he's been murdered..."I said.

''Wow Kevin...You got proof?" asked Sissy..

"Of Extortion? Yes....I discovered a  Zip drive hidden away in Eddie V.'s house that has even more extensive evidence of this than what I discovered and I have a lot....When you get back to your office you'll discover two zip drives..Mine and Eddie V.'s with enough information to put Charlie Crotty away for a long time..."I said..

"But what about tonight?" asked Carlotta..

"Crotty doesn't like that I've been asking around about Eddie Vincent and his business dealings...Tonight was the second and most deadly attempt by him to get me to cease and desist..But of course I can't prove that.."I said..

"Well , their car was destroyed by a bomb."said Hazel..

"A Bomb?" I asked..

"Yeah, CSI found a very primitive triggering device beneath the car....Apparently after they wiped you out...That car was rigged to explode before they picked up their payment..."said Duke.

"Sooooo Crotty learned a lot from his sleazy former boss, A.J. Miller.."I said.

"That makes this conspiracy to commit murder as well as extortion..."said Sissy..

"You'd never prove it....Hang on to that information I gave you...You can pick Crotty up anytime for extortion...I need to find Eddie V..or his remains...Give me a few days...Then we can get him for Murder, conspiracy and extortion..."I said..

"Okay Kevin...I trust you....Alright guys...let's clean this up.." said Sissy...

We watched as both bodies

were carted off and a tow company towed the car away....

After the police and the crowd had gone, Kool Kat came up to me..

"Kev man....what now...Do we pay Crotty a visit?" he asked..

"Not yet...One thing we do know...Crotty is scared...This makes two attempts on my life...Something is about to pop and pop soon...I can feel it.."I said.

III-

Within the next 24 hours...I got a call from of all people...Eddie Lee, the kingpin of Chinatown...He wanted a meet at his restaurant....

Kool Kat and I met him in town...

"Gentlemen, this is getting to be a thing with us...and these meetings..."said Eddie Lee..

"Yeah it's getting to be a bit much." I joked..

Kool Kat laughed...

"You want Eddie V.   His body is more than likely at Sweeney's Ice House...."said Eddie Lee.

"Sweeney's ? That joint has been closed for about 10 years...."said Kool Kat...

"Old Sweeney owed A.J.Miller a bundle for legal fees...He couldn't pay...So A.J. took that old Icehouse off his hands..He never did anything with the property, just kept it...Know what I'm saying?" said Eddie Lee..

"It's a perfect place to hide a body..."I said...."I would ask you how you know all of this..."I said.

"You know better than that....but I will tell you why I'm telling you...Crotty has my sister paying him...She just opened up a nice little bistro...Not in Chinatown , but here in Philly...She's trying to get established...Now I could take matters in my own hands...but I figure you can handle things from here.."said Eddie Lee..

''Wow! You knew where Eddie V. was the whole time didn't you?" asked Kool Kat..

"Actually I did not...but I run a crap game...A lot of interesting people come through and they get drunk and some of them run their mouths....I hear things...For instance...didn't you find it odd Kevin that that Coupe Deville turned that corner just when it did?  How would they know when you were coming out?  Somebody was inside Josies watching you, reporting back...directing traffic...A couple of my associates caught up with the the shot caller and pursuaded him to tell us things..My associates were very uh persuasive....He told us a lot...  Like the fact that you can find the murder weapon in a paper bag, in this old office..." he said passing me a piece of paper..

"You really hate Crotty don't you?" I said.

"I do...I dislike him more than I do you two..Oh and in case you're worried.. Crotty's little shot caller is alive..He caught a very fast bus out of Philly to parts unknown....Now that you know all that...I trust you to take care of business...."said Eddie Lee...

"Thanks...I owe you a big favor." I said..

Kool Kat and I left....

IV-

Eddie Lee's information was on the level...We found the nearly mummified body of Eddie Vincent in Sweeney's long defunct, but still functioning  Icehouse...He was frozen stiff  in one of the freezers...

He had been shot with a .22 caliber pistol

which we found in a long empty office last rented to Charlie Crotty in midtown..

I called Ralph Scallion....He immediately made the identification...

He looked at me and Kool Kat teary eyed...

"Kev, Walter...Who would do a thing like this?" he asked..

"We are going to find out soon and we are going to make sure he pays."I said..

"Sorry about your friend guys...I heard he was a great sui chef.."said Hazel

as the body was carted out...

"I'm not going to ask you how you found out his body was here Kevin....but finding the murder weapon was unbelievable..."said Sissy...

"We got a fresh set of prints....Even though it was in a bag...I suspect Crotty was using that as leverage to use the killer again if he needed him."said Carlotta..

"That's not going to happen..We got a bolo out on the guy now.."said Tyriq..

"Sirena and Hop are on it.." said Jimmy....

And as we spoke, Detectives Sirena Pile and Tony Hopkins arrested, Tyrone Bolden, A Heroin Addict who killed for a fix..

He gave up Charlie Crotty as the one who hired him on the spot....

Didn't matter...The street camera caught Crotty and two of the guys who attacked me a week ago Trever Johnson and Big Lou Stevens,who still were in the hospital and the two recently deceased would be hitmen taking Eddie Vincent's body out of the trunk of a car and taking it inside the Icehouse...

I couldn't believe he had been that careless...

"Sissy, guys...I know where Crotty might be....I'll give you a call in a few.."I said.

"Okay."said Sissy...

*********************************************************************

Charlie Crotty was at Stephen Bristol's rooftop Bistro, enjoying a fine meal...

He was saying to Stephen....

"I hear Kevin Morris has been around asking questions..." he said.

"He had a meal here.."said Stephen Bristol...

"Don't lie to me...If he comes back...You are to turn him away, capice? Until I can decide what to do with him.."said Charles Crotty...

"Why don't you tell me yourself Charlie?" I said and sat across from him...Stephen Bristol smiled and folded his arms....

Kool Kat sat across from him....

"How is the Steak? Surf and turf huh..." he asked..

Crotty was furious...

"You're lucky to be alive..." he shouted..

"We found Eddie Vincent about an hour ago...In Sweeney's Icehouse....Found the gun in that old office too, oh and Tyrone said to tell you what's up?"I said..

Crotty looked stunned..

"WHATTTT? How could you?" he asked...

"You can explain that to us "said Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor , who walked in with his partner,Detective Angie Belton-Barlow...

who dropped the handcuffs on the table..

"Put em on!" she said softly....

"Oh Angie you sound so sexy when you say that.."I said..

Angie busted out laughing...

"Goofball." she said..

Six uniformed officers read Charles Crotty his rights and walked him out...

 "Oh and by the way Crotty....YOU'RE FIRED!" I said..

He looked at me like he wanted to choke the life out of me...

Kool Kat cracked up laughing, slapping his thigh....He sat down at the table... He looked at the food...Crotty hadn't begun eating yet...

He asked Stephen Bristol for another knife and fork....

"No Need in wasting this good food" he said...

Stephen Bristol smiled and looked at me...

I shrugged my shoulders...Stephen Bristol busted out laughing...

Sissy was there smiling...

"Nice.... Neatly wrapped in a nice little bow....Thank you again friend.." she said..

"Don't mention it..."I said..

With Charles Crotty on his way to prison...All of the local restauranters could breathe a sigh of relief...

The tragedy was that Eddie Vincent, the real hero was the one who stood up to him and was about to expose him wasn't around to see him get his just deserts...

EPILOUGE:

Charles Crotty was convicted of First Degree Murder, Conspiracy to commit murder, two counts and extortion...He was disbarred and sentenced to 99 years in prison...He'd be a very old man by the time he got out , if he ever got out....

Sepia and I were invited to a restaurant opening...Several of the owners of the restaurants I helped were also there..

"Husband, this food is delish.."said Sepia.

I smiled and went for my wallet...

"Your money is no good here."said the owner..

"Nor my restaurant.."said another owner...

"Or Mine...You just tell them you know me...You and the missus can eat free.." said another...

"Oh Wow!"I said..

"You saved us all a great deal of money and aggravation when you put that Charles Crotty on the spot.."said yet another..

"You do good things you get good things.."said Sepia..

"I know a good thing I want to do and get.."I said and laughed raffishly...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuu you are soooo nasty.."laughed Sepia, slightly blushing..