I sat in Mabel Jenkins's Soul Food Joint in a booth...Drinking Coffee....I looked out the window and I saw my friend, Kool Kat with a very attractive young woman walking towards the restaurant...It was not the same woman he had been with two days before...That would have been Minay, the fiance of the dead, Hugh Benet...and she was definitely a "ten".....This woman with Kool Kat was right up there with her....If this guy, Hugh Benet was with her also..I had to take my hat off to him...He didn't deal with slouches...At least not in the looks department. This was one time I was glad that I was by myself!
Kool Kat spotted me as soon as they walked in and he and the young lady walked over to where I was sitting.
"Hey Kev...This is Millie...Millie Wilson....The girl Gus told you about who was with Hugh Benet the night he got killed." said Kool Kat...
''Pleased to make your acquaintence" I said. She smiled and nodded and sat down.
Baby Phat, the waitress came to our table...
"Can I get you something?" I asked Millie.
"Yes.. I'll take a coffee, extra cream, extra sugar." she said.
"I'll take a large coffee, black!" said Kool Kat, even though I wasn't making the offer to him!
"Millie, I understand that you were the last person to be with Hugh Benet?" I asked.
''Next to last." she said.
"Oh?" I asked.
"Me and whoever killed him." she said. Kool Kat tried, but he couldn't hide the smile that was on his face. I smiled myself...
"Well can you tell me how the night went?" I asked. "Oh and excuse my manners...My name is Kevin Morris, I'm a private investigator." I said.
"I know who you are...I read the magazine that you edit...and I know of your side gig...Helpin people...Hugh read your magazine too...bein that he was close to the music business and all..."she said. "But to answer your question...I met Hugh in the Mermaid Club oh maybe two or three weeks ago...We hit it off real good..He gave me his number and I gave him mine...I was with three of my girlfriends at the time. He bought all of us several rounds of drinks...I mean he was spending money and he was telling jokes, making us laugh and all...and then finally as the night wore on...he started talking to me...telling me how fine I was, how much he'd like to date me and all...I told him that I couldn't go with him that night, but to call me later.... Later turned out to be the night he died unfortunately... We met up at the Mermaid club....had a few drinks." she said.
"Just you and Hugh?" I asked.
''Yes..then we left at about midnight...We bought some weed off this guy named Chink Bob and some wine and we drove to Josie's...Hugh wanted to catch Reed Nelson's last set...We were high and we sat in the parking lot and smoked and drank the bottle of wine and we made out, you know...Then we went in Josie's..We caught Reed Nelson's set....Funny thing...There was a guy in there...a guy named Joe...He was a real high rollin, sophisticated type...didn't look like the kind of guy who would be hangin in Josie's...He kept starin at Hugh....Or at least that's what Hugh thought." she said.
''Was there any words between them or an altercation?" I asked.
"No...In fact, the guy was gone long before we left." she said.
'' What happened next?"I asked.
"We left Josies, We finished off that wine...We bought some more weed...from a guy around my way...I forget his name...Anyway...we wound up at my place....We made love for several hours.....I was exhausted by the time we finally finished....Hugh put the cover on me and kissed me on the cheek...He tossed his condom in the trash can and told me he'd definitely call me later....Oh yeah, he asked me for a bus token..I told him there was one on my dresser....He left and that was the last time I saw him. That was around 3:00 in the morning." she said.
"And you drifted off to sleep?" I asked.
"Yeah....I called Hugh later that day, but I didn't get an answer...I didn't think nothin of it...Then two days later...I hear that he was dead...He was murdered." she said.
''Wow." I said.
The three of us drank our coffee and was silent.
II-
Hours Later, Kool Kat and I were following the route Hugh Benet must have taken from Millie's house.. We followed the Bus route to where he might have gotten off at. I stopped my car and looked.
"If I had just been out drinkin and having sex all night with a babe like that and then riding the bus early in the morning...I'd be hungry, wouldn't you?" I asked Kool Kat. The big man smiled..
"Sounds like something I'd say Kevin." he said.
"Look around here....I know this neighborhood...Nothing around here would be open this time of morning except-?" I said.
"JAKE'S HOT DOGS" we both said in unison....
I parked the car and we both went into Jakes and had one of his world famous hot dogs with all the fixins, mustard,ketchup, his specially seasoned relish and two large Cokes to wash them down...I motioned Jake over to where Kool Kat and I were eating.
''Hi ya Kev...Hey Kools" he said.
"Hey Jakey." said Kool Kat.
I showed Jake a photo of Hugh Benet...
"Yeah Kev..I figured you'd come around askin about Hugh sooner or later...I'll tell you what I tole the cops..Yeah, he was in here about 3:30 in the mornin....I was just comin in...My night manager and the girl that works the shift with him served him...He had a Hot Dog and a Coke..I remember because he was short of cash..and I told him that it was cool because I knew he was good for it..He always paid up...He left and , you know he was still very high, he stumbled the three blocks to his house.." said Jake.
"Was anybody else around or in here?? Like a well dressed man...the kind of man that say, would look out of place around here?" I asked.
"Nooo..wasn't a soul out on the street Kev...It was three thirty in the mornin...This aint New York man." he said.
Kool Kat laughed- "I know that's right Jake." he said.
III-
"See this Kool Kat?" I said pointing to a terrific amount of blood and splatter at the corner...
"Yeah man." he said.
"This is where it happened...Must have...Look at all this blood...Every other house on the street is empty...Half of the street lights are out.....There is no Crime Stopper camera on this block...It's a perfect place to kill somebody." I said.
"But a killer would have had to of known he was coming this way...Had to of set up...."said Kool Kat.
"No...maybe they had been to his house,knew he wasn't there and was leaving....You gotta go through this block to get to the bus stop or the main street if you're in a car.....I'm thinking they were on foot...They run into him...Right here...and this is where they got him...The police didn't find the murder weapon because the killer kept it on them....Whoever did this probably has disposed of the weapon now." I said.
IV-
We finally got to Hugh's House.. The crime scene tape was still there! There was blood splatter all up the steps and in the door way...I was in no way in Lockpick Johnson's leauge, when it came to jimmying locks...but I knew enough to know how to get into a house like this. I got Kool Kat and myself inside Hugh's home in no time flat....There was blood still on the kitchen floor..
"And this is where he died... He was sooo high and drunk...He didn't realize how badly hurt he was...He might have fumbled for a cell phone and dropped it....but by the blood splatter here, it's obvious that he died
right here." I said.
"Okay Kev...So we know that he was at The Mermaid Club with babe...They bought some weed, drank some wine, went to Josies and then her place, then he went to Jakes and walked the rest of the way home and that in between Jakes and his house, he got stabbed....Coulda been a robbery." said Kool Kat.
''A robbery? He was flat broke...He had to borrow a bus token from Millie and he couldn't even pay Jake for a Dog and a Coke...Nah, this was personal..." I said.
"So what do we got?" asked Kool Kat.
"About as much as the cops know..." I shrugged.
"Damn!" said Kool Kat...
"Cheer up big man...tomorrow's another day...Tomorrow, we go to the Medical Examiner's Office and Homicide and then we get back on the streets and find this Joe Willis charactor." I said.
Kool Kat smiled!
(To Be Continued...)
