Long Arms

Linda Branson was obviously uncomfortable sitting there exposed with two men...two men she didn't know sitting there with her. She excused herself and went into the bedroom. She came back with some Jeans and
T-shirt on. Then she told me her story. She said that she and Walter had known each other breifly in High School...He had played Football at Central and she had gone to Girl's High...She had gone to Hampton University largely because he was there and she wanted to be with him. At Hampton...Walter was a stand out Football player....and it was conventional wisdom that he would go high in the NFL draft. He didn't...In fact he didn't get drafted at all and he returned to Hampton and earned his Masters degree in Business Administration. Out of college, He entered the NFL draft again...he was now 24 years old. Again he was not taken in the draft. He walked on to the Carolina Panthers and
rode the bench for a year and was cut.

Horribly depressed...He walked on to the Baltimore Ravens...got cut before training camp was over. He then walked on to the Washington Redskins. They kept him for three years, but he saw very little playing time and wound up on their practice team.

They returned to Philadelphia, where he tried out for the Eagles, The Giants and the Jets but didn't quite make muster. He began playing on several Semi-Pro teams just to get a paycheck and just to feel like a real Pro football player....Cock Robbins knew exactly how he must have felt, for this had been his life too. Walter met Olivia Rockland...Yes,( Linda knew all about her ) but he didn't love her....claimed Linda..He was just using her..for sex and for her money...but Olivia had fallen in love with him...had helped him buy a house...(She gave him $20K to make a downpayment) and had bought him a car...

What Olivia couldn't know was that Walter was still carrying a torch for
Linda and when he broke off their little clandestine romance and married
Linda...Olivia was livid...The house ,which Walter thought he had made a
downpayment on ..had actually been in Olivia's name and she had had him evicted before he ever got a chance to move in and demanded her money back...She took the car back too..

Walter said that he didn't care....that he would be happy with Linda...and now he was dead...apparently a suicide.

"You don't believe that your husband killed himself Linda ,do you?"I asked.

"That's what the cops say." she shrugged.

"Your husband was left handed right? The bullet hole is on the right side
of his head." I said.

"Yeah ,I know and I thought that that was odd...You know ,I told that
Lady Detective ...Miss Van Burn that, when I went to see the body and she
said that that didn't mean nothin because Walter had long arms." said
Linda.

"What? She said the same thing to me...and that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." I said.

"Well..that's what she said." said Linda.

I thanked her for her time and as I was getting up to leave she said to me-

"You think someone killed Walter don't you?"

"I don't really know...but something doesn't sound right or look right."
I said...

"Well, I hope you get to the bottom of it....regardless of what you saw here
or heard...I did love Walt....I miss him so...Pastor Struthers came over here to help me through my time of grieving and one thing led to another,
we both got to crying and the next thing you know...we were both in bed...
He recently got divorced and he misses his wife too.." she said.

"Yeah...I can tell..." I said dryly....Cock Robbins hung his head low...he continued to laugh silently as we walked down the steps.

Olivia Rockland was nowhere to be seen and neither was the car!!!!!!!!

I looked at Cock, he shrugged his shoulders....

"That was her car man...she just let me drive it!"

(To be Continued.......)

Ask His Wife

We heard the bed springs squeaking and the sound of a headboard slamming hard against the wall as we stood outside the apartment of Linda Branson...We heard her moaning and yelling out at times-

"OHHHHHH .....OHHHHH MY Goodness...Minister to meeee...OHHHHHHH,
good lord.......ouuuuuuuuuu...."""

Then we heard a distinctive male voice..."Ohhhhhh, give it to meeee, give me morrrrrre...just let daddy have morrrrre..ummmmmph, ohhhh baby."

I was having a case of deja vu...Was I in Chinatown outside of the apartment I thought belonged to Eric Slaughter?

Olivia lit a cigarette and frowned-

"She don't sound like she's so devestated to me. I guess she got over it quick
huh? The poor man aint even in the ground yet and she in there gettin her
freak on."

Cock Robbins smiled and turned his head so that Olivia wouldn't see him laughing..

"Ouuuuuuu papa...give it to me...give it alllll to meeee...ohhhhhhh." came the
voice from the apartment. I hated to ring the bell and interrupt all of this. I really felt bad. This was why I was glad I lived in a house..Nobody could come to my front door and know all of my business like that. These sleazy apartments
had thin walls and everybody in the hallway and on either side of you could hear everything you did from sneeze, make love to sitting on the toilet...There was just no privacy.

"Ohhhh, I think this is it...this is it...here I commmmeeee..ohhhhhhhh." came the distinctly male voice...

"Me tooo....ouuuuuuuuuu...weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.." came the female voice.

At this point Cock Robbins was in hysterics, banging his massive fist against the
wall on the opposite side of the apartment.

I then began ringing the bell.

"Somebody's at the door" said the female voice.

"Oh for Christ's sake, who in the hell could that be"? came the male voice.

I heard some rustling and then we slowly saw the door open... A short, shapely
and voluptuous brown skinned woman came to the door in a very sheer robe that left nothing to the imagination...She was trying hard to hide her breasts
and cover them up, once she saw that at least two men were in the doorway.

Olivia looked at her ,then said to me and Cock-

"I'm going downstairs to the car, I can't be privy to this crap" and she turned and walked towards the elevator.

"Hi...I'm Kevin Morris...I was uh, a friend of your late husband.." I lied.

"Oh...okay, excuse me, I uh had company...come on in.." she said.

Once in, I got a second shock....

"Pastor Struthers????? Is that you??" I asked in horror and disbelief..Now I really had Deja vu...First I had encountered the Pastor of my church with an Asian prostitute in China town..and now here he was in the apartment of this young widow.

"Son, it seems like you're everywhere but church" He said, obviously annoyed that here I was again, seeing him somewhere he shouldn't have been.

"This young woman just suffered a terrible loss and I was here comforting her and offering her a...a...a...a..a..laying on of hands...sometimes a person needs a
human touch.." he said.

By now, Cock Robbins was in the hallway, not even trying to hide his laughter....while I was so mortified that I couldn't speak....Pastor Struthers hastily put on his clothes and kissed Linda Branson on the cheek and said to her-

"I'll see you in church sister Linda...everything is going to be alright...
You too young man...you aint been to church since New Years Eve.."

"Pastor, what about your oil?" she said...

"Keep it here..I may need it the next time I have to annoint you." He laughed.
She giggled too and sighed as he walked out.

It was a nice neat little apartment...There was an overturned wedding photo of her and the now deceased Walt Branson...He was a huge ,six four, 250 pounds,while she was no more than five foot two, 110 pounds if that.

"I'm sorry about that, I didn't know you were coming.." she said.

I could have said the same thing. (I didn't know she was coming either)....but I let it slide...I sat down on her couch and I asked her about Walt....

(To be Continued.....)

If You Wanna Know About A Man

If you really want to know about a man...Talk to the women in his life. My Mother always used to say that and I have found that to be true. As we walked out of the morgue, the first thing I noticed was the dead man's "girlfriend" Olivia Rockland....She had on a rather expensive wedding band. She was married. She saw me eyeing her left hand, middle finger and she looked at me dryly and said- "My husband and I had an open marriage."

I laughed...Neither she nor Cock knew what I was laughing about. I knew who her husband was.. Rollie Rockland was one of the wealthiest Black men in Philadelphia. He was into Publishing, owned a satelite radio station, was co-owner of a cable TV sation and on the board of directors of the Magazine that I was employed by. I knew her husband very well. She was an attractive peice of eye candy....Light skinned, yet built as well as any of her darker skinned, yet
less heeled sistas....Redish brown hair...I could see what men saw in her... I knew that Cock Robbins had probably sampled her during his days of Semi-Pro football and had moved on to different women....She had probably never been loyal to Rollie....nor he to her..I had seen Mr. Rockland more than one time at one of those magazine affairs all of us just had to attend with an Asian beauty or a Hispanic woman...Never with a Black woman. I was surprised that he was actually married to a Black woman.

"Look Mr. Kevin, Walter and I had a thing...a good thing...I met him at one of your magazine's
party's ...Yes Kevin..I know who you are...I read both of your blogs "Kevin's Spot" and "Ventures" I love your writing..and I love your articles in Hype magazine...I know all about how you cracked the Jean Cokely case and the Singing Blogger case and how recently you helped
The FBI put an end to Eric Slaughter's career in crime...That's why I called Cock and asked him to talk to you..You're the only one who can prove to the world that Walter Branson was murdered." said Olivia.

I looked at her and smirked-

"Why do you care? He's gone, no matter what I can prove...he was just an obscure Semi-Pro Football player that nobody outside of this area ever heard of..Why is this a big deal to you?"
I asked.

"Because I loved him...I had bought him a house and a car....I would have done anything for him,
he was the love of my life." she said.

She reminded me of Sepia , when I first met her and how she initially felt about Cock Robbins, and how when she found out that Cock had been sleeping with her mother too, as well as a few other girls, that love had turned to icy hatred that she still held on to today. Funny, Cock didn't seem to care that Olivia had been seeing Walt, but everytime he saw me with Sepia..I detected a bit of regret in his eyes and in his demeanor. Yet, in some strange way..Cock and I had become friends..kind of sort of...You know what they say..You keep your friends close....

"Mr Morris...We try to duck a few punches here at Homicide." said Lt. Sissy Van Buren.

"I know, but it seems to me that if a man is a known lefty , he wouldn't shoot himself on the right
side of his head...it would seem rather impossible."I said.

"It's not impossible...He had long arms...."she said.

"Yes he did, but don't you find that strange ?" I said.

" No I don't. Is that all you got..? He was left handed and there is a gunshot wound on the right side of his head? Come on Mr. Morris...He was by himself..In his boxer shorts, with an empty bottle of rum by his side and a pistol with five of six shots still in it on the floor...with only his prints on them...It was a suicide. Besides...we went over all this with his wife..she didn't believe it either."said Lt. Van Buren.

"His wife?? Mrs. Rockland is not his wife.....she's married to-" I said before I was interrupted.

"I know who she's married to, who doesn't know?...I'm not talking about her...I'm talking about his wife, Linda Branson...They had just got married two weeks ago..Don't go bothering her either, she's devestated right now...leave it alone." she said.

I smiled, thanked the Detective for her time and walked outside to my car. Cock and Olivia were
waiting.

"Well, what did they say?" asked Cock

"Oh ,they told me that they talked this over with his wife and that she was upset too." I said, letting that bomb marinate. I eyed Cock...He clearly was shocked...but Olivia was as cool as a cucumber..

"He had a wife?" asked Cock.

"Yup, sure did...a new wife at that, they had only been married two weeks, but you knew that,right Olivia?" I said.

Olivia smiled and looked at me-

"That's what I like about you Kevin Morris...you don't miss a damn trick....Yes...we had a terrible quarrel, Walt and I, and he went off and got married...and-"

"Okay, you wanna cut the crap.....He didn't go off and do nothin...He had been seeing both of you all along .....but let's face it...you're on the good side of 42...I'm bettin his little wife is in her twenties...and you found out rather accidentally that he was playin you..right?? You weren't about to allow this to go down....You had risked your marriage for him..he wasn't gonna play you
cheap, right? " I said.

"Well, you got some of it right...only I didn't kill him...I loved him. I didn't kill him...If I did , why would I get you involved, especially after the police have closed the case?" she said.

"I don't know, maybe you're crazy." I laughed.

"No..I'm not crazy...you know I'm telling the truth." she said.. I knew she was telling the truth, but I had to test her to be sure...Next..I'd have to rattle another cage...I'd have to talk to the
wife. Cock and Olivia got in their car and I got in mine and followed them...I knew that Olivia knew where this wife lived too...Didn't have to ask...I knew women.. Knew em real good.
I was beginning to understand this man too..This dead man....He had some kind of spell over these two women..what was it? Was he good in bed? Was he really a good loving man?? or was he a master player? I'd know for sure when I talked to his wife.

(To Be Continued....)

A Favor

ART: "Reality" By Laurie Cooper

I was chasing Sepia around the living room....She was wearing nothing more than a very sheer ,white babydoll...She was moving fast, but not fast enough...I did my best impression of one of the Eagles defensemen and tackled her....We fell and rolled upon the floor, wrestling and laughing...It was a lazy, playful Saturday morning...Neither of us had to go to work and we were both laughing, before I finnally wrestled my way on top of her,leaned in and gave her a very long and passionate kiss.. She returned the kiss and we lay there, holding each other and breathing heavy, when all of a sudden the door bell rang.....I let it ring again...I felt ,if we were silent..maybe whoever it was ,would go away...But Sepia, got up, tried to fix her hair, put on a robe and went to the door. Upon seeing who it was..she turned to me with a frown and said..."Kevin, it's for you."

I got up off the floor and walked to the door...It was Cock Robbins.. He peeked in and looked at us sheepishly -

"Hope I wasn't interruptin nothin folks.." he said.

"Oh nah...whatever would make you think that?" said Sepia ,not even trying to hide her sarcasm or her disdain for the man.

"Kool it Sepia?"I said. Then I looked at Cock and said-"So what brings you to my house on a Saturday morning?"

"You know I wouldn't just come over here on a humbug like this Kevin, but I need you to look into somethin for me." said Cock.

"Look into something...Look into what?" I asked.

"It's like this...one of my ex-girlfriends was dating this guy...Walt Branson.....right? Well ,he died
last night...Shot to death.....Cops are saying it's a suicide." said Cock.

"Yeah and?" I asked...

"She don't think it was a suicide...." he said.

"So...what do you want me to do?" I asked...

"Kevin, this has you written all over it...If you could figure this out and-"

"Hold up, Hold up....do I look like a cop or a private eye to you? I'm a Blogger and a writer..
I'm not a detective..Why don't you go to the cops with this?" I said.

"Because they already ruled it a suicide..they won't talk to me...but if you look at him and dig around a little you'll prove that they wrong." he said.

"What? If the cops already ruled it a suicide, what can I do to undo that? And what do you want me to do, solve his murder...if it in fact is a murder?" I asked.

"Kevin, just meet me at the morgue and look at the body and tell me what you think...just do that for me, okay?"asked Cock.

"If I agree to do this, will you leave me alone? I asked...

"Yeah, sure man." He said

"Okay...get out of here...I'll see you in a few hours." I said.

"A few hours?? I got the girl outside in my car..what am I supposed to do in the meanwhile?"
asked Cock.

"Where's your wife? She know about this?" I asked.

"Vanessa is home, she knows I'm helping Olivia....It's on the up Kev, I swear....I aint doin nothing shady..." said Cock.

"Okay, Okay...I'll meet you in a few hours. I'm sure you'll find something to do with her." I said.

"I'm tellin you Kev, it aint nothin like that..I'm a changed man..no skirt chasin...I aint shady like that no more." said Cock..

"Okay Cock..whatever you say." I laughed, still teasing him. I beleived him..Sepia didn't.

After Cock was gone...I grabbed Sepia and pulled her towards me... She had been standing by the bedroom door.

"Now that he's gone...I wanna do something shady and underhanded with you.." I laughed..

"Oh..you so nasty, Kevin.." laughed Sepia.

Three hours later I was parking in front of the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office..right off of the University of Pennsylvania's campus. If you didn't know better, you would have sworn that the small, cold impersonal building..located in a cubbyhole on 38th Street, near Baltimore Avenue was actually part of Penn, but it wasn't. Cock and his ex-girlfriend, Olivia were already inside talking to some people...There were Television monitors in the hallways for those who were too squeamish to actually go into the rooms and view the bodies...but we were going into the room. We walked down a very cold and clinical, yet well lit hallway to the room where dozens of the recently deceased lie cold and lifeless on steel tables with wheels.

A small dwarfish little white man in a white uniform walked us to the table that held Walt Branson....or what was left of him. He was a dark skinned hulk of a man, larger than Cock Robbins and well muscled...a handsome man in life...with a big hole on the right side of his head.

"Kevin...look at the bullet hole...I aint smart as you, but even I can see what's wrong with this picture here?" said Cock Robbins.

"What's wrong with it?" I asked.

"Kevin...the bullet hole is on the right side of his head..." said Cock.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"He was left handed." said Cock. 'Did everything with his left."

For the first time in a long time..Cock Robbins had said something intelligent, something that made me think...Maybe he had a point after all..

(To be Continued.....)

Clueless

/If your man had a clue...
he'd of seen a long time ago that I had eyes for you..
and if your man had a clue
he'd realize that he hasn't done right by you../

/He'd know that he should have stopped constantly leaving
all alone..
He'd know that he should have called ...
when he said that he would phone.../

/But he's so clueless
so clueless ,and it's not funny...
He's so clueless
when it comes to how he should be treating you
honey...
He 's such a fool..
one day he'll blink and he'll wonder what happened
to you../

/If your man had a clue,
he wouldn't be openly fooling around with Renee
and Tracy and Sue..
If your man had a clue...
he wouldn't talk to a grown woman like she was
a child or a fool./

/ He would know that a woman like you
doesn't come around everyday...
just like he'd know that for him it was already
way too late...
He'd know that it was only a matter of time..
before a guy like me would make you mine../

/But he's so clueless..
so clueless and it's not funny..
He's so damn clueless when it come to
how to treat you, honey..
He's such a fool, one day he'll blink
and then he'll wonder what happened to you.../

Girl ,if that man of yours had a clue...
If he really understood..
but he thinks he's safe doesn't he?
He says-"Oh she'll never leave me"
He thinks he's got it good../

He'd know that he'd better keep his ear to the wood..
because it aint how good I could make it for you girl..
It's just how I could make it so good.
He'd know that my line wasn't busy girl
and when you called you had a clear mind, you didn't get nervous...
You just dialed my number one night and I came over and gave
you some service.../

But he's so clueless
isn't he?
He's so clueless
it isn't funny...
He's so clueless when it comes to loving you, honey..
He's such a fool..
one day he's gonna blink...
and wonder what happened to you...

He's so clueless baby...
but I know what to do when it come
to lovin you...
I'm not clueless baby...

On My Name Alone

ART: "Como No" by Justin Bua

I was doing pretty good for myself...with the money I made from my Apartment units, I purchased two more Apartment complexes, had them renovated and began renting to low income families in West and Southwest Philadelphia. I purchased an old long closed movie theatre..had it gutted and renovated and opened up yet another gym....and in time, I moved to a loft in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia , so I could be far away from Rell, so I wouldn't be tempted to go anywhere near her, except when I had to...as in my weekly visits with
our son and to leave money.
My name is Chess, this is another one of my stories.

In a short time I had become a very wealthy man...Like Chris Thompson had told me...No flash,
He said it was crazy to walk around people who didn't have any money ,wearing your sucess for them to see..It did two things...It reminded them of their shortcomings and it made them envious of you and if they were envious, they would try to take what you had. When I walked around West Philly, I dressed like everybody else...I blended in...I wore no jewelry , I drove an
inexpensive car and I looked like the average joe. Few people knew that I was actually close to
being a millionaire.

I just happened to be in the state store buying a bottle of wine , when a very voluptuous young woman walked by me... I did a double take and then stole at glance at her as she walked by-

"Hey man...what's up wit you..that's my woman..that's my woman you lookin at....You want me
to knock those eyes out.." came a voice. It was her boyfriend, from what I could gather.

"Hey man, I meant no disrespect....that's a very fine woman you got there ." I said.

"Hey man...don't be lookin at my woman okay, you let me worry about-"

"So what, he was lookin at your woman.?...he didn't say jack to her...he didn't touch her, an you gettin all chest up with him...I'm lookin at her too...so what you gone say to me?" came a
familiar voice...It was Chris Thompson and upon seeing him...The man who had been selling me wolf tickets changed his tone immediately.

"Chris...Chris Thompson? This yo boy??...awww man, well ..well you know me...I-I-I was just-"
he said, falling all over himself...

"Yeah...yeah..I know you owe me money nigga, so when am I gon see that dap huh?" said Chris

"Awww mann, homie, look, now you know I'm good for it..You know I'm gone get you your cash
man....Man, look, I didn't know this was yo boy...Hell, that broad aint nothin to me...just a damn
jump off thas all...sheet..."said the man.....

The girl smirked, she shook her head and then looked at the guy, tossed her hand up and said
"You is a weak ass nigga...don't you ever call me.." and she walked out of the state store.

Chris looked at the guy with disdain-

"Go get your woman man, don't stand here lookin at me and don't forget my money...end of the
week, ya hear?"


"Yes Chris...I'm out baby..I'm gone....nice meetin yo friend.." he said and ran out of the state store. Everybody who witnessed it started laughing. That poor guy could never show his face in that state store again. Not after the way Chris punked him.

"Yo Chris...I coulda handled that situation...why'd you punk him like that?" I said.

"What? No Hello Chess? No Thanks homie?" said Chris.

"I could've taken him man" I said.

"I know you could've...When we was coming up, nobody cept me was nicer with they hands than
you Chess...You had my back more times than I can count....but we grown men now, you and me, we businessmen...We aint gotta carry it like that anymore...You try to avoid situations like
that that can potentially turn violent or you finese your way out of em." said Chris.

"Oh and that was finese?" I asked Chris.

"Naw..that nigga owe me money..but see..I get over on my name alone.....Nobody know who you
are....but they will soon...They know you my main man and that alone will get you dap in this part of town." he said. He took his right hand and slapped my face lightly....

"Take it light homie, but take it...you feel me?" He said as he grabbed his bottle and walked out the door, jumped in his Black BMW and pulled off.

I walked outside into the West Philadelphia night and smiled....Chris Thompson was a bad man,
but he was my friend...and sometimes all you got is your friends.