Killer's Blood

The next three weeks  our days started like this...

Our apartment was full....

Olivia , Beverly, Nelson and I and Josie and Paris met and had breakfast, even on days when she didn't spend the night...

Then we got to work....

Olivia and Beverly had three cases of their own that they were working on, together.. and three a piece for both of them...They were super busy...

So they divided their time downstairs in the office and in court..

They were gone most of the day...

Nelson who was advising Josie had two cases of his own, so he was gone...

Josie divided her time between school and coming back to our office to study her case.....

"I'm really enjoying this period right now...Everybody running around in and out."said Rockland,..

"I just know you are....and you especially are enjoying being in and out of me..."joked Alfreda..


Rockland came by a lot, since Alfreda was there alone during the day...

And needless to say, a lot of kissing and making out occurred...He was tickled pink...

With everybody else busy, I now had time to unravel this murky case...

II-

Ronald "Ronnie Mo" Morrison was  charged with second degree murder . He was charged with shooting to death Alton "Allie Boy " Collins...His romantic Rival.

For the affections of Rhonda "Peaches" Horton....A stripper in a local go go club...

No murder weapon was found.....and Ronnie's DNA was nowhere near the scene ,although there was unidentified DNA at the scene of the crime...

The case was made on neighborhood gossip and hear say....

According to the case file, several people had seen Ronnie Mo and Allie Boy nearly come to blows over Peaches and Ronnie Mo had threatened to kill Allie Boy several times.

In fact the two had had several altercations in some area spots I frequented with the girls..

Ronnie Mo's alibi is that he was with another woman that night...at the time of the murder and that he didn't own a gun...

"This woman is your alibi....Why didn't you tell the cops this when they first arrested you?"I asked.

"I can't expose this woman....I just can't..Can't you prove my innocence without her?" asked Ronnie Mo.

"You'd better hope I can...Let me tell you something...Josie is family to me...almost as much as Olivia and Beverly is..

I don't want to see you go down for something you didn't do...but more than that, I want to see her do well on her first case...Sooner or later I may need that woman's name.." I told him..

"You really love those girls don't you? I see how protective you are of them in court and everywhere." said Ronnie Mo softly...

"I suppose you can tell by my accent I'm not a native born Philadelphian...I'm from New Orleans.. When I moved to Philly they were the first people I met...They're the only family I have up here.." I said

"Not a bad lookin family....A sexy ass wife, sexy ass niece and my attorney aint bad either..." laughed Ronnie Mo...

I smiled..

"Be thinking about that name."I said.






III-

My travels took me to Josies , where I got more than enough stories about the relationship between the three..

It was a regular soap opera..

"Peaches liked nice things....Ronnie Mo took her to a movie here and there, maybe out for drinks, breakfast and maybe dinner...but she clearly wanted more..

Allie Boy had that nice car and he wore nicer clothes...and he bought her an expensive watch and a broach and a diamond friendship ring...So one week Peaches would be with Ronnie Mo, The next week she'd be with Allie Boy." said several people...

"Those two ever have an altercation in here?" I asked.

''Yeah a couple of times...It never got violent, but it got loud...Ronnie Mo did threaten to kill Allie Boy, but it was just talk...Nobody thought he'd actually do that."said Gus..

"Peaches is a trip...I told her...It's a shame the way you mess around with these men...She got two guys jockin her and she got a boyfriend that neither of them knew about.."said Honey Brown..

'Another boyfriend? he got a name?" I asked..

"Killer." said Honey Brown.

"Government name.."I said..

"I just know him as killer.."said Honey Brown...

My next stop was Aqua Bar, where I was pretty much told the same thing...

"I had to put the both of them out of here about three times , beefin over that babe...I mean she fine and all...but it was quite obvious she was usin both of them...." said one of the bartenders..

"Ronnie Mo ever threaten to harm Allie Boy?" I asked..

"Yeah they both threatened each other, but they both were just blowin smoke..Neither one of them could crush a grape in a fruit fight...It was talk...I don't believe Ronnie Mo killed Allie Boy." he said.

"You know ,I hear she had another boyfriend.." I said.

"Yeah Killer...They both better be glad he wasn't in here..Now Him? he'd of killed both of em…"said the bartender.

"Interesting." I thought.

My last stop was Stoley's Lounge, Beverly and Josie and Nelson's favorite haunt..


"Peaches liked nice things....Ronnie Mo took her to a movie here and there, maybe out for drinks, breakfast and maybe dinner...but she clearly wanted more..She liked to floss... Allie Boy had that nice car and he wore nicer clothes...and he bought her an expensive watch and a broach and a diamond friendship ring...So one week Peaches would be with Ronnie Mo, The next week she'd be with Allie Boy." said several people... 

I had heard this...I got the picture..

''So let me guess , they never got violent, but they both threatened each other." I said..

"Yeah ,I mean, They knew about each other...but they wanted to keep gettin in Peaches panties,so neither one was willing to just step off or call her on it..Funny thing...She has a boyfriend...A bouncer at the strip club she worked at named Killer, Real name, Wallace Jenkins...He's an ex-con...If he got wind of either of them, it woulda been lights out.."said more than one person..

Now I had something...Wallace Jenkins did five years in State Prison for assault and battery...He had been arrested for another assault, but the charges were dropped...Witness refused to testify...He didn't live in this part of town..

I decided to go and talk to the lady of the hour herself..

Rhonda "Peaches "Horton, was all smiles when she answered the door and saw me...Maybe it was my expensive, tailored suit...Maybe it was my exotic fragrance...I don't know....

''Well hello Handsome...What can I do for you?" she asked. she was an attractive girl....she dressed very nice and I could see she had an appreciation for nice things..

"My Name is Donnie Ray Alexander and I'm an Investigator for the attorney representing Ronnie Mo..an associate of yours currently on trial for murder.."I said..

"Uh I uh don't have nothing to do with that.." she said..

"Come on...I just need some basic information...I know you knew both him and the deceased.."I said.

"Hey...Hey Nigga....My girl said she aint have nothin to do with that, so take yo country ass out of here before I put my foot up yo ass.."came the voice of a heavily muscled man...

"You must be "Killer" Wally Jenkins right?" I said Smiling..

"You must want yo ass kicked.. Don't call me by my government name...Now get the hell out of here.." said Killer, who looked every bit as menacing as people said he was...As a cop in New Orleans, I had seen his type before....I wasn't impressed..

"I'm not here to talk to you....So back off...I need to ask the lady some questions.." I said. "Run along nicely or get yourself a glass of milk and some cookies while we talk."I said...knowing this angered him.,

"You aint hearin me nigga.." he said and took a swing at me...Big mistake...For him....

He tried to come out in the hallway and throw another haymaker, but I blocked his second punch and landed a hard punch to his jaw...

A few onlookers stopped and stared...They smiled..

He swung wildly again..I blocked this punch and tore his mid section up with a series of lefts and rights...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." he moaned... He wasn't in shape and those punches hurt him more than he wanted to let on...

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..Why do these big  guys always throw haymakers??..They practically telegraph their punches and they leave themselves open.

I landed about 12 lefts and rights to his mid section and peppered his face with lefts and rights.. By now his nose was bleeding profusely, his lip was swollen and his left eye was swollen shut...He was spitting blood and could hardly see..

Peaches was looking on in awe...It almost looked like she was smiling...

More of their  neighbors came outside in the hallway.. They were all laughing now

I guess they were wondering who was this guy that was beating the crap out of probably the most feared man in the complex.

 I dodged his wild swings and ripped his midsection  again 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 was visibly in pain and stumbling...One of his eyes was closed shut and he appeared to be dizzy..

I quickly got to my feet... There wasn't much room...It was kind of like being in a boxing ring.. I nailed him with several left and right jabs to his jaw... He wasn't in good shape and was wheezing and blowing and my next punch sent him flying through the door and on to the floor of his living room... I'm pretty sure he wasn't getting up...I put my .38 smokeless at his nose....I was tired of beating him up...He was still wheezing and blowing.

"Wally? Wally ?You got blood on my suit....I ought to send you the  dry cleaning bill...and what is this Wally...a gun?  a .38 smokeless??
It's mine now.!...So take your dusty ass out of here Wally and don't come back until your girl calls you and tells you I'm gone.. Go on..Git." I said and put his gun in my coat pocket..

"Why aint you say you was a cop?" he whined...

"Because I'm not....Not any more....I used to be a Homicide Detective...Now I'm a Private Investigator for a law firm...Now run along.." I said..

He whimpered like a little kid,

"He's a cop, he had an advantage over me...Training." he said ,trying to explain why he had been beaten so badly to the onlookers..

but he otherwise did as he was told...People in the hallway clapped and laughed as he left..They weren't buying his excuse for why he got beat up....They really didn't care, they just enjoyed seeing him get his comeuppance..

"Got yo ass kicked didn't ya Mr. Killer?" said one woman...

"Yeah, I knew he was gonna run into the right one one day.." said another man...

"He caught the right one tonight...Kicked his ass." said another man..

"Yeah he did...dude knocked him through the damn door." said another one..

Which was met by laughter and claps...

He burst into tears and ran down the steps and down the street.. 

Killer , it turned out was a big creampuff!

Peaches looked like she'd had an orgasm...She was all smiles... Needless to say, we had a nice long talk.

IV-

I returned to the office, everyone was there...

"Baby, what happened to you? Your suit is torn and you've got blood on it."said Olivia..

"I should have gone with you.."said Beverly...

"No you shouldn't have, too dangerous......Josie..I may just have cracked your case for you...I tossed a .38 smokeless on the table..I got a plastic bag and used a pencil to lift the gun and put it in the bag...Then I took the torn sleeve of my suit with Wally's blood on it and put it in another bag...

''Call Hazel...ask her for ballistics on this gun and for a DNA check on this blood.." I said.

''What is this?" asked Josie..

Allie Boy was shot with a .38 smokeless...The murder weapon was never found...This is a .38 smokeless...Ronnie Mo's DNA was not found at the scene of the crime, but some DNA was....The blood on this shirt may be the killer's blood."I said.

"Where did you get this stuff?" asked Nelson...

"Off of the Killer"I said..

"My baby is a magician." said Olivia.. who then kissed me softly...

(CONCLUSION NEXT)