Sunday, March 15, 2009

I Got What You Need


For awhile, I didn't worry about Lennie, though I never totally forgot him...and what he did to Tanginika...Days turned to weeks and weeks became months and my attention turned to my wedding. It was a nice wedding...Clerow was my best man. Sean, Paris, Blake and Conrad were
my groomsmen, while Mabel, Cora Beth, Victoria and Sheila were the maids of honor. Since her father was deceased and her mother was presently a guest of the state of Pennsylvania for life, Gus of Josie's bar walked her down the aisle.. Deacon Larry Weathford was there, so was Big Nasty...Missing was Cock Robbins and his wife Vanessa. They had been invited and they sent us a nice present, but apparently there was too much bitterness still existing between Sepia and Cock for him to feel comfortable at her wedding, even though he was now married and a reformed player. I wasn't mad, I understood. Reverend Brother Dr. Pastor John Struthers married us. He was two hours late. I would later learn that Deacon Larry Weatherford had to
go to one of the choir member's house to awaken him after a night of "laying of the hands" if you know what I mean and I know you do.

There was one woman in the church who I didn't recognize. She was about twenty five, very attractive and very very pregnant...Nobody in the church seemed to know who she was...
After the wedding , when Sepia and I were standing in the receiving line she walked past and whispered in my ear... "I got what you need..." I looked at her stunned and then said-"What?"
"You want Lennie, come see me after you come back from your honeymoon..I got what you need." Then she slipped into the crowd and vanished. I was preplexed....but I must say..the smell of blood was back in my nostrils...The hunt was on!!!

Sepia and I honeymooned in Atlantic City....and returned to Philadelphia two weeks later.. I had forgotten the mysterious pregnant woman, but she hadn't forgotten me...She came to my office on one of the rare days that I actually went to the office and place a towell on my desk.

"What? No Hello...No Intro?" I said.

"Who I am is not important, since I aint never gonna testify in no court..but what I brought you
might help you get Lennie for what he did to that girl." she said.

Under her towell was a bloody crowbar inside a plastic bag. I looked at it in amazement!

"That's the crowbar he beat that girl Tangi on the head with....It's got her blood and brain matter and his fingerprints." she said.

"What? Is this some trick or something...and how do you know this?" I asked.

"Because I was there when he did it...He had her up in his apartment giving him a blowjob that day and I walked in on them...I was furious..Here I was having this fool's baby, engaged to be married to him and he was still fooling around with Tangi...I threatened to leave him and he got up out of the bed and told me to stay, told that trick Tangi to get dressed and get out....Well, she didn't take too kindly to that and she cussed him out pretty bad...told him he wasn't even all that good in bed in the first place. Lennie didn't take too kindly to that ,so he slapped her and then he punched her...She hit him in the head with a vase...and before you know it..Lennie choked her...
I kept telling him to stop before he killed her, but he was in a rage. It looked like she was dead..
But after awhile, she started coughing...Then he took the crowbar and bashed her head in for good measure... He made me help him load the body into his Escalade and he had my brother take it up to the roof of your building and drop it.....so it would look like she jumped..You saw my
brother on that roof." she said.

" This is a wild story, but for the sake of an argument...say I believe you and I give this to the police...Why are you doing this? You're pregnant with his child...what is in this for you? "I asked.

"Me? Revenge...He done got some other girl pregnant....Tangi's girlfriend, can you believe this
guy? And he broke our engagement off...He told me that if I go to the police or say anything about this..He'll kill me and my brother. He doesn't know that I kept this crowbar for insurance, just in case he tried to hurt someone in my family or break our engagement off.
I was supposed to have discarded this crowbar. I didn't like Tangi...She was with my man and she knew he was my man, but I aint want her to die." she said.

"Alright...I'm gonna turn this into the police. What happens to you now?" I said.

"Me and my brother are going to leave Philly..We aint comin back here until Lennie is safe behind bars...That ought to be enough to put the kibosh on him." she said.

"Well, I guess I should thank you....but who are you? What's you name?" I asked.

"I'm not tellin you that...I gave you what you need...Now I'm out...Good luck Mr. Kevin." she said and she left.

I didn't try to follow her...this was too good to be true..After all these months..I had Lennie...He had been incredibly careless....A smart guy like that..I couldn't believe it.. Just then...my cell phone went off.

"Kevin Morris?" came the familiar voice of Lt. Sissy Van Buren of Philadelphia Homicide.

"Yes...that's me....I got something for you that may help you with an old investigation." I said.

"Really, because we got a break in the Tanginka Jones Murder....An anonymous tip just told us where the garage is that houses a 2008 ,Black Escalade that has blood,DNA and fingerprint evidence linking one Lennie Hughes to the murder....We just got a warrant for the garage and we
are going down there now..What did you have?" she said.

"I might just have the murder weapon." I said.

"Let me guess....a pregnant woman gave you this stuff right?" she said.

"How did you know?" I asked.

"Apparently, Mr. Hughes should have invested in some condoms...Our confidential informant is
telling us..that he has two women pregnant and they aren't too happy about it and even though they are afraid to testify , they apparently have enough knowledge of what he did to start talking." she laughed.

"You have got to be kidding me." I laughed..
"What did your pregnant girl look like? Tall, light skinned like a model?" she asked.
"No, this one was brown skinned, kind of thick." I said.
"Hmmm Mr. Lennie is quite the ladies man I suppose." she said.
"He's a cold blooded murderer, that's what he is..." I retorted.
"He's Trash...It's time to take out the trash, wouldn't you say Kevin" she said.
"Indeed it is...high time." I said.

(Conclusion Next- )

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Nice Try


The police picked up Lennie on suspicion of Homicide. They grilled him for close to eight hours. They got nothing. He told them that he was "a self employed salesmen.(hair and grooming products)", that yes he indeed did know
Tanginka Jones and that he and she had a sexual relationship, but that it didn't go past that. He admitted to picking her up, but said he returned her to her house an hour after he picked her up and that he didn't see her after that. He stuck to that story and didn't change it. I sent a cash payment of his bail to a
Bail Bondsman and allowed him to be released.

Clerow and I sat in a rented car with tinted windows, so not to be seen and watched him as he was released from jail. He called someone on his cell phone and after about 45 minutes...somebody showed up in a Black Escalade and picked him up.

"What now boss man?" asked Clerow...

"We wait...We wait and we listen...We let Sepia do her thing." I said..not really feeling good about this at all.

A few nights later, Sepia and Lennie sat in a booth at Josie's Bar...She was wearing the tight, low cut dress and was attracting more male attention than she would have wanted.

"Girl, you causing traffic accidents with that dress...." said Lennie.

"What are you doin out of jail?" asked Sepia dryly...purely not impressed.

"Can't keep an innocent man in jail can you?" laughed Lennie.

"You? Innocent?? Hmmmph,that's a laugh?" said Sepia.

"How come you keep sweatin me like that? I tole you, I aint done nothin to
Tangi..."

"When you drove by my house the other day, what did you want with her?"
asked Sepia.

"Look...let's not bullshit each other...you know what I really do for a living??
Tangi worked for me...You think she could afford them fly clothes and that car she had by just doin hair and taking pictures for your boyfriend's magazine??
She had a package that I gave her that she was supposed to deliver, that's all.
My client called and tole me that he never got delivery...That could cost me future business...so I came and got Tangi...Then I took her to my spot and uh you know..exploited her a lil bit...Then I told her dumbass to get out and I went to sleep...and that's it..I aint never see her again." said Lennie.

"That what you told the cops?" asked Sepia.

"What you care what I tole the cops?" asked Lennie.

"I care about what happens to me if I decide to take you up on your offer." said
Sepia.

"heh-heh-heh...so you been thinkin bout it huh? Look, I know you just stay with that nigga Kevin, cause he let you stay in his crib...but I'll put you in a
condo baby...and I'll give you a car better than the one he sportin now. You'll be my number one." laughed Lennie.

"Your number one huh?" laughed Sepia.

Then Lennie smiled, he looked at Sepia funny, then he stuck his left hand over the table and grabbed her breast....she tried to slap his hand away..but he slapped her hard....

"Excuse YOU!!!" said Sepia, but Lennie reached over the table and pulled the carefully placed mini mike out from under Sepia's clothes......

"Heheheheheheheh...a mike ,huh? Tell your nigga Kevin, I said- Nice Try...
but he aint fixin to jam me up like that...tell him to come again.." said Lennie.

"Why don't you tell me yourself!" I said...

Lennie turned around , startled....before he could do anything , I grabbed him in his collar and slammed him against the wall....

"You ever put your hands on her again and I'll rip your little body in shreds" I said amazed at my sudden fury...

"You really sprung over this trick aint you playa?? It's kool..I aint gonna mess with her no more...you aint gotta worry bout that..being she was just playin me all along....We straight kool...You need to do like uh Beyonce said in that song and put a ring on that finger...cause YOU aint never gonna do no better
than what you got right there and that's the truth ruth." he said.

I put him down and I watched as he strutted out of the bar..Clerow and Gus walked over to me.

"Everything alright Kevin?" asked Gus.

"Yeah..it's all good." I said.

Sepia looked at me and managed a weak smile...

"I guess I messed up huh Kevin? I pressed him too hard too soon." she said.

"Ahh,don't worry about it..more than one way to skin a cat..we'll get him on
the comeback..You know he was right about one thing he said." I said.

"What's that?" asked Sepia...

"He said that I'm not going to do any better than you." I said.

"Awwww Kevin...that's so sweet, but considering it came from a rat like him
I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or not." she laughed.

"How long we been living together?" I asked her.

"I don't know...about a year or so..why?"

"It would be a lot easier on both our minds...if there was a Mrs. Morris living
in that house." I said.

"What are you saying Kevin?" asked Sepia...

"Marry me." I said.

(Yeah, you know this is To Be Continued.....)

Friday, March 13, 2009

The Pigeon


The phone rang at 1:30 am , Sepia motioned for me to turn on my recording equipment..It was him....

"Hello."

"Hey baby, it's me."

"What? , Who is this?" asked Sepia, pretending to be waking up.

"It's me, Lennie....is your man there?"

"Yes he is...so I can't talk to you right now...He's asleep."

"Why don't you slip outside ...I'm at the corner of your block, I want to holla at ya
for a minute."

"You crazy...I'm not dressed..I'm not coming outside...I gotta go...before Kevin wakes
up." she said.

"The hell with Kevin, why don't you drop that lame and come be wit me.?"

"Aint gonna happen playa." she said.

"Come on, drop that zero, get wit this hero...I like a woman like you, you got spunk."

"Oh really? How come you always call me at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning? , What do you think
I am a booty call?" she asked.

"hahahaha..I'd like some of that booty, I aint gon front..heh, heh,heh, but no love, this aint
no booty call...I just wanna holla at you..come on now..I'm at the corner of your block, put on somethin tight and sexy and come on down to the corner..Kevin aint gon wake up..nigga prolly snore don't he?"

"Tangi aint cold in the ground and you tryin to push up on me...you really somethin." said Sepia.

"Why you keep bringin her up? I told you that she wasn't nothin to me but somethin to do..
but you!!! a honey like you, I 'd make you my wifey ...gurllll..."

"Keep dreamin playa, I'll talk to you tomorrow." she said.

"Heyy , don't hang up love!!"

"Good night Lennie, gotta go." she said and she hung up.

I recorded the entire thing. Ever since we'd located Lennie, Sepia had been playing him. Letting him buy her dinner, drinks, etc. and even call her...I had about twenty recordings of their conversations and so far he hadn't said one thing to incriminate himself. He didn't even discuss on tape what he did for a living. He was a known drug dealor...but he always reffered to himself
as a "salesman" I was ready to junk these tapes and go down the street and beat Lennie to a pulp, not only for killing Tangi, which I was sure he did , but for trying to beat my time with my girlfriend.

Sepia could see that I was perturbed.

"Kevin...just a little while longer...I got this guy where I want him and I think I can get him to tell
me what he did with Tangi..but I can't appear to fall for him too easy...it's gotta be real."
she said.

"Yeah, well I could walk down the street right now and beat the crap out of him and that would be justice enough for Tangi...All the justice...she's gonna get..The Police have already ruled her
death a suicide." I said.

Sepia took my face into her hands and kissed me...

"We are gonna get him Kevin...I hate him as much as you do...we are gonna reel this pigeon in."
She said.

"Listen at you, trying to talk like a cop." I laughed...

She walked over to her closet and showed me a new dress...It was low cut and extra, extra tight.
,she had matching shoes and very sexy fishnet pantyhose to go with it. She showed me a matching, lace bra..that she also planned to wear the nexxt time she saw him.

"Just settin this pigeon up Kevin...I'm going to get him drunk, get him horny and get him to talking." laughed Sepia.

"Wow, in that dress, I'd confess to Tangi's murder if you asked me" I said.

Just then my cell phone rang...

I answered it.

"Kevin, this is Lt. Sissy Van Buren, Philly Homicide..I've got good news for you." she said.

"Oh yeah? So good that you call me at 1:45 am , this I gotta hear."

"We took another look at the autopsy findings and we've discovered that Tanginika Jones was
dead, hours before we found that body on the roof...and her injuries are consistant with blunt
force trauma...not associated with her fall...Her suicide has been upgraded to murder..You wanna tell me where this Lennie person is now..?" she said.

I smiled....

"I sure do..." I said.

(To Be Continued.....)

Thursday, March 12, 2009

I Never Heard Her Scream


We stood somberly on the street outside of my job as they put Tangi's body into a green body
bag and then loaded it into the Coroner's van. Sepia was in tears...So was Sheila and Mabel Jenkins.. Mabel's sister, Cora-beth, Clerow's wife held her tightly as the tears streamed down her eyes..They all knew and loved Tangi. Sean, Clerow, Conrad and I stood there on the street, motionless and blank...We couldn't believe it...Nobody in the crowd could believe that Tangi ,who always had so much life was dead.

My old "friend" , Lt.Sissy Van Buren of Philadelphia Homicide and two homicide detectives was on the scene ,along with the Crime scene investigation team, surveying the area. I decided to walk over to her and tell her what I saw and heard.

"So you're saying you saw the body fly past your window?" said one of the Detectives.

"I did and I heard it crash....I looked in the direction it came and I saw , like a shadow...like somebody was definitely up there and they ducked away." I said.

"Are you sure Kevin?? Are you sure you saw somebody on the roof?" said Sissy Van-Buren.

"Yes ,I'm sure." I said.

"Male or female?" she asked.

"I couldn't tell from where my window was." I said.

"We are dusting for prints and we are checking all of the exits and we can't find any evidence
that anyone else was up there but her." said Sissy.

"So...This is another suicide right? She jumped." I said.

"All I'm saying is that we can't find any evidence of anyone else up there." said Sissy.

"You should talk to her boyfriend. His name is Lennie....He drove by my house and picked her
up earlier this afternoon...He seemed a little rough with her." I said.

"This Lennie, he got a last name? an address??" She said.

"I don't know his last name , nor do I know where he lives." I shrugged.

" Well Kevin....you've been a lot of help." said Sissy sarcastically.

"Look Ms. Van Buren....Give me a couple of hours...I'll find something for you,okay." I said.

"That's my job Kevin, don't take this "Crime solving Blogger" thing too serious..You aint even
a private dick...Let the Police handle this...They why they pay us the big bucks."She said and she and her detectives got in their cars and drove off... Slowly, everybody began to wander back into the building...Sepia and Clerow stood around me....

"What's on yo mind Kev?" asked Clerow...

"You know something Clerow?? I just remembered something....Most people scream when they
take a jump like that or even if they are pushed....I never heard her scream...I just heard a thump and saw that body go sailing past my window. I think this whole thing was staged..I think she was dead before she got to the roof." I said.

"You can't prove that Kevin and you don't know that." said Sepia.

"Tell me somethin Sepia...You knew her, you saw her, just like I did..hours ago...you think
she was the type to commit suicide??" I said.

"No..of course not..." said Sepia.

"What you sayin mane?" asked Clerow.

"Suppose that boyfriend of hers got a little too rough and he had an accident.. Well, if he
dropped her off our roof..It suddenly looks like a suicide ,doesn't it???"I said.

"Yeah mane, but how you gon prove that?"asked Clerow.

"I don't know...but I sure am gonna find that Lennie and ask him.....if it's the last thing I do."
I said.

"What you got planned boy?" laughed Clerow.

"Feel Like going for a ride Clerow??"

"You know I'm down wit'cha boy." he said.

"We are gonna look for this Lennie charactor." I said.

"Hold up Kevin...I think I know who can find him and I think if you let me tag along,
I can get the information you need out of him." said Sepia.

"You?? What makes you think you can get through to him?" I asked in wonderment.

"He thinks he's somewhat of a lover...He used to come into the hairdressers trying to flirt
with me...I never gave him the time of day...but perhaps I can use my feminine whiles and
get the information you need." she said.

I pondered it over for a minute...then I said-

"Okay....let's play it your way Sepia...get in the car..." I said.

"But we don't know where he is Kevin." said Clerow...

"Don't worry, I know someone who knows where we might find him." said Sepia.

I again pointed to my car....

"Lead the way babe." I said.

(To Be Continued.....)

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The Girl On The Roof


"Come on Kevin Tell meeee." she said.

"There's nothing to tell" I laughed as I finished washing and waxing my new BMW.

"Come on , what did you have on Rollie Rollerson that made him give you this nice
ride?" asked Tanginika Jones. Tanginika was a very young, but quite shapely model who was doing a photo shoot for the magazine I worked for..She was also, Sepia's hairdresser. She made
money, hand over foot doing hair in the community...and when she wasn't doing hair, she was modeling...nothing big yet..but you could look at her and see that she was a hustler...that she had
promise. She was so energetic and talkative that I liked her , even though initially I didn't want to. You couldn't help it..she just kind of grew on you. Not a day over 23, Dark brown skinned, with shapely hips and well developed legs. She had perfect teeth and a pretty smile that usually won you over before (if you were a guy) that body did.

"Who said Rollie Rollerson gave me this car?" I laughed, playfully tossing the suds at her.

" Stop it Kevin, you'll get my hair wet, you know I just had it done for the photo shoot tomorrow,
Sean Jackson will have a fit.......now come on...Everybody at Hype knows that he had you fired,
then the next thing you know..You workin again and now you got a brand new car that you couldn't have afforded otherwise." she laughed.

"Hollld up, slow up girl...get out of my pockets..how you know what I can afford?" I said.

"Come on Kevin...You're a writer...not a rapper or a Basketball player..I've seen your
little Hooptie..What is it...a 1996 Volvo?" she smirked.

"It's a 1998 Volvo, thank you." I said.

"Yeah, uh huh..Now you sportin a 2009 Aqua BMW, just like that...BAMMM!" she said.

I was about to spar with her some more , when Sepia came out of my house...

"Come on Tangi...stop bendin Kevin's ear and come on..we gotta get your dress fitted for
Sean's photo shoot... and we are going in my car..not Kevin's." she said.

"Nah Sepia..I wanna ride in Kevin's car." she teased.

Just as the playful banter continued, a Black Escalade pulled up in front of my house...The tinted
window lowered and the driver, A Short brown skinned guy, with a slight build and a bald head,
with a platinum stud in his ear looked at Tangi.

"Yo, wasn't you supposed to be doing something?" he snapped, not even acknowledging me or
Sepia. Tanginika looked like she'd seen a ghost.. Her playful nature shifted and all at once she seemed like a small child.

"Okay Lennie, I forgot.." she wimpered.

"You FORGOT, you always forgettin stuff that gotta do with me..get yo ass in the car." he
yelled.

"Lennie, I gotta get my dress for the photo shoot." she protested.

"What? Oh, so you gonna disrespect me in the street right?? Uhh huhh." he said.

"No, Lennie no..I..I.."she stammered.

"Get yo ass in this car." he said.

She looked at Sepia and said meekly- "I'm sorry girl, I'll hit you up later." She then got in the car with Lennie and they pulled off.

Sepia looked at me and said-

"Kevin, I don't like that guy...and I got a bad feelin about him."

"Yeah, me too." I said.

A few hours later, I was in my office at Hype Magazine, when my friend ,Sean Jackson dropped
in...

"You seen Tanginika Kevin?" he asked.

"A few hours ago." I said.

"She's late for the photo shoot." he said.

"Did you call her?" I asked.

"Yeah, I hit her cell phone and her Blackberry, nothing." said Sean.

Just then, I heard a loud thump....then I looked out my window and I saw to my astonishment
a huge figure go flying by and then I heard another loud thump on the adjoining roof right below
my office window. Everybody heard it...I heard a woman scream...

"OH MY GOD, there's a body on the roof below!!!OH MY GOD....DID SOMEBODY JUMP???"

I looked out my window and there did appear to be a body on the roof below...Then I looked up
and I could swear I saw a shadow or a figure move away from the roof above.

"Come on Sean, let's head up to the roof" I said.

"The roof? The body is down there man." Sean said.

"Can't do nothing for a dead person....I saw somebody on that roof...let's go." I said.

Sean and I ran upstairs to the roof only to see - Nothing!!

"You sure you saw somebody Kevin?" he asked.

"I know I did." I said. "Let's go downstairs, check on that body."

We made our way to the adjoining roof, several stories down and there , very,very dead was
Tanginika Jones!!!!!!

(To Be Continued......)

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Sweetness


There have been times I've
wondered if someone other
than you...
could do more for my heart
maybe someone I knew prior...
But then
reality sinks in
the thought tears me apart
That I could live the rest of my life
as a liar.../

Everyone needs a little sweetness
in their life..
girl you fill that specific role
in mine..
Everyone needs a little sweetness
in thier life
your love fills that void in mine../

Every once and awhile
I wonder if we'll ever drift far apart
you going one way
and I ,going the other...
but then I realize
somewhere deep inisde
you're never far from my heart
and I could never live with another../

Everyone needs a little sweetness
in their life
girl, you fill that role in mine...
Everyone Needs a little sweetness
to bide the time..
your love fills that void in mine..

The grass always looks greener
on the other side of the road
so some people will say...
but people get lost and caught up
and lose sight of the way they were meant
to go...
so I'll take my chance
on this romance
hoping we'll stay
in love
this way..../

Everyone needs a little sweetness , baby
your love ,just happens to give me mine..
Everyone needs a little sweetness in their lives..
your love
fills the void that was in mine...

(For Rosalyn, My wife and soulmate of twenty plus years...)