season 5, episode 15

"In the Heat of the Night"

•

The scene was set in black and white. It was evident it had been raining earlier in the evening since there were small puddles on the ground.

A male of average height walked into eyeshot. An oversized trench coat was keeping his body warm while a matching fedora occupied his head; the brim shielded his face as he looked down at the sidewalk. Although he didn't smoke, a cigar was placed between his index and middle finger. Three other males stood not too far behind him standing stiff as stone. They wore black jackets, black boots, black shades—all black everything with gold jewelry to piece their outfits together.

The male wearing the trench coat stopped in his tracks and leaned up against the wall. He lifted up his head, revealing his facial features: a smooth milk chocolate skin complexion, baby face, two naturally perfectly arched eyebrows, a well-kept thick mustache accompanied with a goatee. All three of his ear piercings were filled with ear jewelry, 2 hoops and one stud diamond. To say he was attractive was an understatement.

His tongue briefly swiped over his medium sized lips before opening up with his monologue. "If you ever need someone to call on to get you outta trouble, you're lost in a state of confusion, or you just simply need someone to talk to.....don't call us. I say that because—well, let us give you the rundown. Riff, step to the people." He stepped back and allowed Riff, the skinniest of the clique, to start the story.

"Alright," Riff stepped forward, playing with the pinky ring on his left pinky finger. "Allow me to set this scene for y'all...."

•

The Blues
New York City, New York
1948

The area was filled with adults enjoying themselves. Some dancing, majority drinking, others talking, and few just minding their business and watching the young performers do their thing on stage. They were a band of six—two women while the remaining were men.

"Y'all see that real fine dude wearing the top hat on the mic, scattin' and hittin' riffs?" Riff spoke over the scene. "That's me, Riff! Damn I'm fine."

"Stop droolin' over yaself and get back on track," one of Riff's group members slapped the back of his head.

"Aight but you ain't gotta be touchin' me!" Riff pushed him before going back into the story.

A young man with dimples slowly swayed side to side as his smooth and soft but also strong and soulful voice flowed into the microphone.

"That's my brother, JoJo. In a minute, you'll soon find out that he's the only one without a cool nickname because he wanted to be lame."

Thump! Tsst, tsst, tsst, tsst! Thump! Tsst, tsst, tsst, tsst!

Was the sound created every time the slender pieces of wood would hit the bass, snare, and cymbal. The player was struggling to keep his focus on the steady drum pattern because the feminine arm draped over his shoulder was partially distracting him.

"Him back there on the drums? That's Stixx." Stixx briefly glanced at the female next to him, admiring her as she looked out into the crowd and captured the moment while singing. "That's his girl, Rosè—like the alcohol."

Long and unproportioned fingers danced across piano keys, producing a majestic melody that completed the whole performance. Unlike Stixx, the musician wasn't as distracted by the second singing woman who was sitting fairly close beside him. "Last but far from least, that's Swing and his girl, Chardonnay—like the alcohol."

"And together, we make Epiphany. The baddest damn singing group you could ever hear!" Riff stated cockily.

"That's riiiighttt!" Stixx co-signed lowly.

"Now the six of us would always go and hit up The Blues, it was our spot. We'd talk there, drink there, and we'd perform damn near every time. But this one particular night we performed, it just so happens that our performance got cut short," Riff explained.

"That's all for tonight!" The owner of the establishment, Jax, stated which caused the band to abruptly stop playing. "Everybody go home!"

{ STOKELY WILLIAMS AS JAX }

The patrons in the crowd began to get up and go but Epiphany wasn't going for any of that.

"Jax!" Riff stepped down from the stage, going over to him. "The hell wrong with you? Gon' stop us from what we was doing to tell everybody to go home."

"Look, I love you guys and you know that," Jax began. "But I don't want everybody going home so late. There's a murderer on the loose out here and I don't want everybody's lives at risk."

"A murderer?" Stixx repeated.

Jax nodded. "Yup. A murderer. Heard they callin' him Lemon Squeeze."

JoJo's face etched together. "The hell kinda name is that?"

"I don't know," Jax shrugged, beginning to bust down tables. "Apparently it's because he leaves a trail of lemon juice after he's struck. And I heard his victims are only women."

"Women??" Rosè gasped.

"Yup."

Chardonnay clutched her pearls. "Black women or white women?"

"Doesn't matter, he's takin' 'em all down," Jax shook his head.

Swing threw an arm around Chardonnay, pulling her in close. "Ain't nothin' gon' happen to Chardonnay or Rosè while we around."

"I wouldn't put all your faith in that if I were you. That man is crazy. I can't believe y'all haven't heard about this, it's been going on for about almost two weeks! Look at this!" Jax threw a newspaper down on the table as Epiphany stared down at it.

"'S. Jèan-Pierre and S. Hopkins, two young women who were over the age of 18 but under the age of 25, were hit by local killer Lemon Squeeze in the same day, different time frame'," JoJo read.

Riff shook his head, looking down at one of the deceased women on the paper. "That's a damn shame cause that S. Hopkins was one fine mama jama."

Jax took the newspaper away from them. "Yeah, well as long as Lemon Squeeze is runnin' wild around here, we'll have to shut it down up in here until he gets caught. Y'all go on home now, make it safe while you can!"

In the midst of the story telling, Riff stepped back and allowed Swing to take initiative in telling the next part of the story.

"We listened to Jax and went home right away—but we felt like we needed to come up with somethin' if we ever wanted to perform at The Blues again."

Later that night, Epiphany sat in a cozy loft-like living room decorated with warm colors. The girls didn't seem as bothered about the situation as they seemed earlier, but the boys were determined to figure something out.

"We need to come up with a plan," Stixx paced the carpeted floor.

"A master plan," Swing added on.

"A plan too brilliant for it's own good!" Riff said lastly.

"Let's take the time to really think about this," JoJo sat up. "What do we already know about Lemon Squeeze?"

"Uhh....we know he likes women," Swing pointed out.

"And we know his name's Lemon Squeeze...and he's a man," Riff stated the obvious.

Stixx shook his head. "That's not good enough. We need something else."

Since the window was open, a piece of paper flew right inside. Stixx noticed there were words on it, so he picked it up and began to read.

"Come on down and cut a rug at the Ladies Choice Ball, this Saturday night, on 42nd and Broadway! It's an event you surely wouldn't wanna miss!"

Chardonnay was focused on her appearance in her compact mirror and Rosè was filing her nails, but they soon felt four sets of eyes on them—so they slowly looked over to see the boys staring at them.

"The hell y'all lookin' at us for?" Rosè asked.

"Well y'all are women and there is gonna be a ladies choice ball in two days...." Riff trailed off, hoping they'd get the hint.

Chardonnay gave them all an unimpressed look, rolling her eyes and going back to her reflection. "No."

"Please!" Stixx pleaded.

"Y'all are setting us up to get killed," Rosè folded her arms.

"It's not like that," Swing denied.

"All it is, is a way for us to catch this Lemon Squeeze guy before he could strike again and we can go back to our regular everyday lives," JoJo explained.

The girls ignored them, still finding their mirror and nail file to be much more important.

"Please! Please!" Stixx began to beg repeatedly, causing Riff and Swing to join in too. JoJo didn't plan on being apart of the chant until Riff nudged his arm, so he eventually hopped in too.

Realizing there was no way out of it, Chardonnay and Rosè rolled their eyes to the sky with a puff of air.

"Fine," they agreed simultaneously.

"And just like that, we got them on board with our plan."

•

"If we wanted to catch Lemon Squeeze, we were gon' have to play it cool," JoJo jumped in on the story telling.

It was the night of the ladies choice ball and Epiphany was standing in the corridor outside the party.

"This ain't gon' work," Rosè doubted. "Not to mention, we look like expensive hookers."

The boys—well, really Stixx—had arranged for the girls to be wearing satin gowns. Chardonnay's dress was rose pink and off the shoulders while Rosè's was an aquamarine blue color and spaghetti strapped. The dresses were supposed to be loosely fitted but their bodies filled them out perfectly. Their silky hairstyles, lightly beat faces, feather boa, fur shawl, and jewelry helped complete the look. Any male at the ball would surely mistake them for luxurious princesses.

"Y'all look great to me," Riff complimented shrugging, earning quick looks from the drummer and pianist of his group.

"What's the plan again?" Chardonnay asked as she held her compact mirror up to her face as usual, which Swing had to take away from her.

"Y'all are gonna go inside and scope out anybody that looks suspicious," Stixx adjusted Rosè's boa. "Flirt with them, ask them if they wanna dance—just don't allow no touching! If anyone asks, Chardonnay, your name is Jacqueline, and Rosè, your name is Beverly."

"We'll be close by if you need us," Swing informed.

"When you think you found Lemon Squeeze, say the code word loud enough so we can hear you," JoJo told them.

"Which is suga!" Riff pronounced the word without an 'r'.

Stixx placed a kiss on Rosè's forehead, pushing her and Chardonnay out onto the dance floor. "Good luck! Make us proud!"

Chardonnay searched the area for a second, trying to find a man to go over to. She spotted someone over by the drinks table, flipping her hair and strutting over to him.

"Hey, you here alone?"

The male turned to face her, eyeing her up and down as his lips turned upward into a smile. "Not anymore. I'm Andrew."

{ KHALIL KAIN AS ANDREW }

"Jacqueline," Chardonnay lied with a flirty smile. The two got acquainted afterwards, starting a conversation with one another.

In another area of the room, Rosè leaned against the wall not in the mood to interact with any male at the ball. Most of them left her alone cause of how mean she looked, but she ended up attracting one particular person anyway.

"Hey Doll Face."

She averted her attention over to the voice, seeing a male with a complexion lighter than anyone else in the environment. He had a head full of curls with circular black shades placed over his eyes.

{ GUEST STARRING: SLASH }

"You talkin' to me?" She questioned, trying not to focus on Stixx who was closely walking back and forth near the two.

"I am. I saw you standing over here by yourself and I wanted to know if I could come over here and join you, if you're not here with anybody."

She looked at Stixx who nodded his head before he went elsewhere. Rosè gave the stranger a fake smile, "Yeah, that'd be nice."

"I'm not even really the party type of guy," Andrew said to Chardonnay. "I just decided to come out tonight cause I figured I needed to go out and meet some women. I'd much rather be at home, enjoying a hot cup of tea."

Chardonnay nodded, finding his statement to be suspicious for some reason. "Oh really? You're a tea kind of guy?" She sipped her red wine.

"Yup! Never really been too much of a coffee fan."

"You know I like sugar in my coffee?" Chardonnay said loudly. The boys all perked up at the sound of the code.

"Oh really?" Andrew smiled.

"Yeah," Chardonnay nodded cutely. "Can you come with me to the back real quick? I wanna show you something."

She began leading him out the ball and Stixx, Riff, Swing, and JoJo swiftly followed a minute after.

"You seem like you don't really wanna be here," the male individual that took a liking to Rosè said to her.

"Here is better than staying in the house, right?"

"Yeah....hey, what do you say we get outta here? Ditch the party and walk around outside, get to know each other better?"

Rosè shrugged. "Okay, I don't see why not."

"Great," the male smirked deviously. "After you," he allowed her to get in front of them and they left the gathering.

"So you thought you were slick, huh?!" Riff shouted in Andrew's face. They had managed to find a vacant room and tie him up to a chair.

"What are you guys talking about?" Andrew questioned confusedly. "I don't even know any of you so what could I have possibly done?"

Stixx stepped in front of him. "Don't try and pull one over on us, we know who you really are!"

"....a veterinarian—?"

"No! We know you're Lemon Squeeze!"

"What?" Andrew shook his head. "I'm tellin' you, you've got it all wrong! My name is Andrew and I'm a veterinarian! I'm telling the truth! Go in my pocket and pull out my business card if you don't believe me!"

Swing dug in Andrew's pocket and pulled the small rectangular card out, showing it to the rest of the boys. They all looked over at Chardonnay, mugging her.

"You got the wrong person," Swing tossed the card to the side.

"Oh....can I get my mirror back now?" Chardonnay asked.

"No! You don't deserve that mirror!" Riff refused.

JoJo went over to Andrew, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'd like to uh...apologize on behalf of all of us in here."

"I appreciate it. Now can y'all let me go?"

"There's no time! Rosè is still out there!" Stixx took off running. Everyone else followed after him, leaving Andrew to pointlessly shout at them to free him.

Rushing out to the dance floor, they looked every which way. "See her anywhere?" JoJo asked.

"No but somebody had a goddamn accident and I stepped in it!" Riff retracted away from the puddle on the floor.

Stixx looked down, noticing a shimmering piece of jewelry near the liquid. "There's one of Rosè's earrings!" He picked it up, then stared at the puddle.

"Wait a minute..."

Dipping his finger into the spill, he tasted it and made a realization. "This is lemon juice!"

"Why would you taste it?" JoJo cringed. "Now what if it wasn't?"

"Well thankfully, it is. Let's go!" Stixx followed the trail of lemon juice as Epiphany followed.

They ran outside, hearing commotion coming from an alley. They followed the sound, seeing Rosè with the man in a headlock.

"Oh, you're alive. Thought you was dead," Swing spoke unnecessarily.

"I got him!" Rosè tightened her grip. "I caught Lemon Squeeze!"

"At least someone did," Riff mumbled, shooting a look toward Chardonnay.

"So...what's your motive?" JoJo wondered.

Lemon Squeeze winced, trying to free himself out of Rosè's grip but there was no use. "You see, I lived with my grandmother all my life. We were never too close, and she ended up throwing me out a couple weeks ago. I left her house and I left a few of my things there—including my pet hamster, Mabel. When I came back to get her a couple days later, Mabel was dead due to my grandmother not feeding her while I was gone. I loved that hamster with all my heart! She was the only one who understood me. And now she's dead, all because of my granny. So you know what I did? I strangled my grandmother to death and watched the life go out of her eyes. After that, I felt resentment toward every woman and went on a rampage."

Epiphany stood there, staring at the male blankly at a loss for words.

"So you did all this....over a hamster...." Stixx tried to understand.

"Thing probably wanted to kill itself with a name like Mabel anyway," Riff spoke lowly.

"Like I said, I loved Mabel with all my heart," Lemon Squeeze said without blinking.

The cops had been called and the officers pulled up in their cars, getting out and taking Lemon Squeeze into custody.

"Well that was crazy," Riff said what everyone was thinking. "Back to The Blues we go!"

The group took off running out the alley, and they were back at The Blues the next night, performing as if nothing had ever happened.

•

The story was now over and Riff, Swing, and JoJo went right back to standing stiffly behind Stixx.

"And that's the story of how we caught a murderer. We came up with a great plan—even though we caught the wrong guy at first—we used team effort to find him. Lemon Squeeze threatened to kill us all when he gets outta jail so we'll probably all go into witness protection once he gets out. On the bright side, we saved our careers. Moral of the story is....what's the moral?" He turned to face the three men behind him.

"Ain't no moral," JoJo answered. "We out."

The four of them strolled down the street together and the black and white coloring faded to complete black.

•

I love this episode bye.