My friend, Attorney Robert Foxworth had not come home that night...Bonita was now frantic that something bad had happened to him... She and Sepia had already done all of the things I would've done in beginning to look for him...
They had called all of the area hospitals, had called the morgue...Had called the police station and had been to the courthouse..No sign of him...I routed around in his office..Went in his phone records, went on his computers and went through old case files..Nothing..
I questioned all of his employees and known associates...Then I began reconstructing his life...Robert liked to stop by Sam Mother's and have breakfast....So I went to his diner...
He passed me Robert's briefcase....
This definitely wasn't Robert...He would not have left his briefcase with his important case files in it..
"Sam was anybody in here with him?" I asked..
"Come to think of it...There was a guy in here..He wasn't with Robert though ,he came and sat down at the table with him and it looked like they were having an argument..But he didn't stay...He got up and left....Robert was still here..He paid his tab,but he looked a little pale..Like whatever the man said had upset him.."said Sam Mother..
"Sam can I look at your camera for yesterday?" I asked...
"Sure Kev..We got one for the outside and the inside." he said.
All of the businesses around here had video camera's now..It cut down on crime a lot..
Sean Jackson,Peeping Tom,Lockpick Johnson and I watched the footage carefully in the basement headquarters of Morris Investigations..
"There he is Kev...There is Robert coming in the store..." said Sean Jackson...
"Look..He's ordering his food and sitting down..."said Lockpick Johnson..
"Okay freeze the frame right there....There is the guy...Look at him..He's trying to hide his face..Tom can you zero in and bring him up?" I asked..
"Yeah..hold on."said Peeping Tom, a former CIA agent and like Sean Jackson, a master at survielience and photography as well as bugging...
"There he is talking to Robert and they looks like they are arguing.."I said.
"Okay..He gets up and he walks out...He's gone......Robert leaves a few minutes later."says Peeping Tom...
"And that's the last known time Robert Foxworth is seen.." I said.
"Sorry Kev."said Lockpick Johnson...
"That's okay...I'm going to need to look at film footage from ATM cams and Traffic cams in the area..and to do that ,I'm going to need a favor."I said.
II-
"No..I'm about to get married soon and have a black person's name....Van Buren used to sound so white." she laughed..
"Well your father is white...What was your mom's maiden name?" I asked.
"Richardson...Her name was Sirena Richardson...."said Sissy proudly...
"Yeah, But Lt.Sissy Richardson...Just doesn't sound right...I like Van Buren...."I said.
"Oh hush up." joked Sissy....who signaled to detective Jimmy Barlow to cue up the video..
"Hey that's Robert..."said Sissy...
"Yes Siss, that's why I'm here...It's about your ex-husband..He's been missing for the past 24 hours...We've checked everywhere...His job, hospitals, morgue, court and all of his known haunts...No one has seen him...This is the last known sighting of him...in Sam Mothers Diner... Now this is him leaving..." I said.
"And that guy..the guy he was talking to in the diner comes up behind him and look ,there is another guy and there is a car...A White car..."said Jimmy...
"It appears there is more conversation and the three of them are getting in that car and pulling off in the wrong direction....."I said.
Detective Antonio Hopkins ,who had joined us...ran the two faces of the two men who had been with Robert through facial recognition....
"We got a hit on both boss lady...The Big Guy is Jackson Tanner, Bank robber,currently on parole and the guy getting out the car is Floyd Carpenter...another paroled Bank Robber."said Hop...
"You know these guys Sissy?" I asked..
"Yes...I know of them...both have long rap sheets....Career criminals..Talk to Tyriq and Chica...They used to work Robbery-Homicide...They might know..What have they got to do with Robert? He never repped them...Did anybody from his firm deal with either of them?" asked Sissy..
"I don't think so..but I'm going to find out...then I'm going to come back here when Chica and Rico are here..." I said.
"I hope Robert is alright..." she said.
"I hope so too.."I said and kissed her on the cheek...She and Robert had been divorced for a number of years..He had in fact been married twice since he and Sissy had divorced and yet there was still a closeness to them...They had still continued to sleep together for up to two years after they divorced and still occassionally went to lunch and talked...I had never seen a divorced couple that was so cordial and friendly...
I could tell that like the rest of us...Sissy was worried..
I went by Robert's law office and talked to Chance Howard, Cole and Nelson East...None of them had represented Jack Tanner or Floyd Carpenter, nor did they know who they were...I went through Robert's files..He hadn't either...
III-
I went back to police headquarters and talked to Sissy's detectives...
"Those two are heavy duty Kev...Bank Robbers and Heist guys...The best.....Carlotta and I took down Jack Tanner and his crew back when we were in Robbery -Homicide."said Detective Tyriq Pile..
"Rico and I busted Floyd Carpenter and his crew a few years ago too..Didn't know he was out of jail."said Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace.
"Yeah...but what do these guys have to do with Robert Foxworth?" I asked..
"Maybe they need a good lawyer."said Carlotta...
We all laughed....
Duke ,Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor looked at the glossies and showed them to Detective Sirena Pile, Tyriq's sexy wife...
"We know these two don't we Sirena?" said Duke..
"Yeah...These boys have been on parole for awhile...Kind of off the grid."said Duke..
Detective James "Jimmy" Barlow walked in the room..
"I got addresses for both of em Kev..I just sent some uni's to pick em both up." he said.
An hour went by and Detective Tony Hopkins walked in...
"No luck Kev...The uni's hit both residences and found nothing...They both cleared out of there days ago.....We did get lucky though...We found your boy's car....Robert Foxworth...Just a few blocks away...with the keys in the ignition....The CSI guys are going over it for fingerprints and DNA.." he said.
"Thank you."I said.
"Thanks for your help Sissy...I'll call you if I find something.."I said.
"We'll keep this out of the news...I don't want to tip their hats that we are on to them."said Sissy.
IV-
I was still driving the car my late uncle had left me in his will....I drove up to Otis Teller's garage about an hour later...Surprisingly..It was just as I'd left it the day before...Empty!! No sign that anybody had been there....In all the furor to find Robert..I'd forgotten that he was missing too..
I questioned several more people about him...One man remembered him talking to a very attractive woman and leaving with her around 9:30 and gettin in a white car....
Hmm, that white car was key...I asked the man if he got a license plate but he didn't..
I went back to my headquarters and looked at the footage I had....
I got a partial license plate number... I ran it through my databases...I got a hit...
"Floyd Carpenter." and it was the same address that the cops had already been to...
Interesting...These two disapearences were related...But Otis had been whisked away by a woman...Who was she??...and how was she related to the two bank robbers turned kidnappers?? I wondered...and what would they want with both Robert and Otis??...
Next...I drove and picked up Sepia and Bonita...I told them what I'd found out and that the police were now looking for Floyd Carpenter and Jack Tanner in connection with Robert's disapearence....
"Oh My God...What is this about?" asked Bonita..
"I don't know...but we are going to find out..."I assured her...
"It's going to be alright honey....Not only is Kevin on this, but the police are looking for them too!"said Sepia..
V-
The head of the center was glad to see us...
"Mr. and Mrs. Morris...I'm so glad to see you...A woman was here..She said that you had sent her to pick up Kimberly, but I had never seen her before and she wasn't on your list of people who could pick up Kimberly..So I wouldn't let her..She even had a signed letter by you...but she didn't look on the up...I said I had to hear from you first Mrs. Morris..." she said.
Sepia looked relieved... That list of people who could pick up Kimberly was Bonita, Olivia Bennett-Alexander, Beverly West, Josie Boyd, Kool Kat, Clerow, Gus and Lt.Sissy Van Buren...a very short list.
"Thank you so much...I didn't write any letter..."said my wife,Sepia...
Bonita had a look of pure horror on her face...
"Oh Jesus...They were trying to snatch your baby..." said Bonita...
"But they didn't..."I said...now a little upset myself...
"The woman..She was young,very pretty...She left this package..." she said handing me a package wrapped in pretty wrapping paper..
I unwrapped the package..It contained a zip drive and a letter...
"It's been a long time Mr. Morris...You and I have unfinished business." was all it said.
I used my laptop to review the zip drive....It showed Robert..blindfolded and tied to a chair in a room with no windows......It also showed Otis Teller blindfolded and tied to a chair..There was no one else in the video...No sounds or anything...They appeared to be alive...but nothing else...
I wisely decided not to show either Sepia or Bonita the letter or the zip drive...I was now very visibly upset....
I called Ralph Mole...Then I said to Sepia and Bonita...
"Girls...Take a vacation...I'm taking you and the baby to Fathead's safehouse...Tonight...I already called Ralph Mole...Don't call me on my phone..Ralph will give us burner phones...You'll contact me only on that..." I said.
"Baby what's up?" said Sepia..
"I-I don't know...but I'm going to find out..."I said.
"Baby,where are you going to stay?" asked Sepia...
"Somewhere safe....I'll call you when I get there...I promise.. and Bonita...I'm going to find Robert and bring him back to you....I promise..."I said.
She smiled and rubbed my hand...
"I know you will Kevin." she said...
"Sepia...Watch over her..."I said and I leaned in and kissed our baby daughter and then kissed Sepia...
Clerow and Owen Todd picked up Sepia and Bonita and took them by our house and
Bonita and Robert's..They packed bags and quietly exited.....They drove them to Fathead's old safehouse...With them safe ,I had to prepare to deal with whoever was behind this.
I packed a few things and then headed for my office building...
The basement where Morris Investigations was located....I had enough food to sustain me for three days and monitors watching my house and the rest of this building...
Robert Foxworth and Otis Teller...Two Black men...One a flashy and flambouyant Attorney and the other, an old man...an auto mechanic...Why were they both kidnapped and what did they have in common besides being black? They didn't even know one another...
The only thing they had in common was me!! They both knew me!!!
"It's been a long time Mr. Morris...You and I have unfinished business."
read the letter in the pretty package...
My mind wandered as I lie on the cot in the basement of my office building...
OH MY GOD!!!!
The only thing they have in common is ME!!! This is about me!!!....They don't know each other...They both know me...and both of them know him!! ....But it couldn't be......He was on Death Row, awaiting execution.....It couldn't be!!
Could he be back????
Mister Tickle!!! Cyrus Tickle!!!!
My worst fear had come to light!!!!!!
(DEFINITELY TO BE CONTINUED!!)
2 comments:
This is finally making sense... Mr. Tickle ! He's back!
Mr.Tickle is such a thorn in Kevin's side...I hope Kevin pummels him this time!
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