Sepia and I sat in Mabel Jenkins's Soul Food Joint having coffee....The boss lady herself, Mabel Jenkins's , my former employee..(Used to write a cooking column before she started her own restaurant) and one of the sexiest women in this part of Philadelphia , next to my wife Sepia, who is as it turns out, her first cousin..was sitting with us...
"So Kev....No luck on who killed Hugh Benet yet huh?"asked Mabel..
"No not yet, but I've got a few more people to interview." I said...Which was a lie...I had interviewed all but one person and I wasn't any closer to cracking this case than the police...and it was already a cold case for them...What homicide detectives call a "Who done it..."
I also knew that there was a chance that I might not crack this case....That Hugh might have been killed by a lone nut or an angry would be robber/drug addict who came upon him and realized he was broke and vanished into the streets...Yet something about his stab wounds seemed so personal....I couldn't explain it ,but they did...
I had talked to Millie, the last woman he had been with, Valerie Brown, another woman he had been with and they were all pretty satisfied with him...They had no reason to kill him....and they weren't scorned women...I talked to Joe Willis , the angry, spurned lover....I liked him for the crime...He had motive...but he was too big and he was right handed..and he had an airtight alibi.
As we continued to drink coffee...His lovely fiance, Minay entered the restaurant ,saw the three of us and sat down with us.....
''Hey Baby, how you holdin up?" said Mabel..
''Hi Minay" said Sepia...
"Hello you all, I'm doing the best I can, I suppose.....The reason why I'm here is because I just remembered...I was getting Hugh's things together and removing them from his house and I remembered that I had his cell phone...I never turned it in to the police or the investigators...I thought that maybe this might help you." she said as she passed it to me....
"Did you look at this phone? I hope you didn't erase anything??" I said.
"No...I didn't even go into it...." she said.
I tossed a few dollars on the table , Then I made a phone call.....I excused myself-
"Ladies...this may be the break I need." I said... I kissed Sepia and then rushed to my car.
II-
I drove to Peeping Tom's house......He and I went through 26 messages......all from a "Yvette Blessings"..Here was a name I had never heard mentioned at all by anybody, Not Dollar Bill, Not Gus, Not Joe Neptune, Not anyone!!!!
Tom and I looked at the text messages-
"Hey Hugh, just calling to say that you were fantastic....I can't believe I was actually thinking of not giving you any..Call me...G."
"Hugh....Come back...I don't have to work tomorrow...Come back and get some more of this good lovin. G."
The two texts and close to 15 calls were all within 15 minutes apart....The night before Hugh was killed... and there were more...
"Hugh ,I know you can't be asleep already...You've got to be thinking about the whammy I just put on you. Call me.. G."
''Hugh, okay, really I'm thinking about what you just put on me...I think I'm addicted to your penis...anyway,i need , want more..please call me..I need it..badly..Your sexual slave, G."
This was just one minute after the last call. Same night.
The next day, the day Hugh died there were 9 calls...All in the morning... The texts got more desperate-
"Hugh, you've forgotten me already? Call me. G."
"Hugh...I need you...I'm offering you this good lovin....don't blow it. Call me.G."
"Hugh Please...call me...G."
Then there are no more calls until two in the morning....
"You scum, you're just like all the other guys....You just wanted to get me in the bed...You got what YOU wanted and now you're just like movin on right?"
"Hugh, I didn't mean that...I need you to call me............Okay that's it...I'm done..and so are you."
That was the last call and it was made at 3: 15 am...Just 15 minutes before Hugh was stabbed to death...
Tom looked at me....
"Kevin , these calls were made from all over the map...but this last one was made just a block from Hugh's house." he said.
"Then this Yvette Blessings is his killer...but Tom, that's impossible...He was with a girl named Gypsy that night...Unless he's superman...No way he could have banged both broads in one night in the same time period...Wait a minute.. Wait a minute....This person signed off by saying..."Call me.....G." I said.
''Kevin, you're right....Gypsy is probably a nickname.....Yvette Blessings and "Gypsy " could be one and the same." said Tom...
"Well, only one way to find out...Thanks for your help Tom." I said.
III-
Clerow, Kool Kat and I went back into the Mermaid Club....Joe Neptune was serving beers...I asked him if he knew Gypsy personally...
"Yeah..She used to be a barmaid here at one time....but she works over at Victoria's Secret in the mall now."he said.
''When is the last time you saw Gypsy?" I asked.
"You know...Now that you mention it...I haven't seen her since Hugh died...That's been about three weeks now and she always used to come in after work and have a cold one." he said.
''What is Gypsy's real name?" I asked...
"We called her Gypsy, because she never stayed no place too long, always breakin her lease, livin with a girlfriend here, a guy there...Her name is Yvette....Yvette Blessings....but we all called her Gypsy..." he laughed.
"You got an address for her?" I asked.
"Here's one I got...Good luck if you find her there." he said.
"Thanks Joe...It would help if I knew what she looked like." I said.
"I know what she looks like...I've seen her around." said Kool Kat...
"Okay babe...This could be the break in this case we been lookin for." I said.
(CONCLUSION NEXT)
