Cinnamon Bun

Sepia and I lay in bed , just relaxing one Saturday morning when the phone rang. I didn't want to pick it up, but I did anyway.

"Hello" I said.

"Kevin, is that you?" came the voice.

''Yeah..who is this?" I asked.

"It's me...Robert Foxworth"

"Ohhh , man, I didn't recognize your voice." I said.

"I need your help on a case." He said.

"Oh really?" I said.

"There's good money in it...Just get down here man." he said.

"Okay man, give me about an hour." I said.

"What does Robert want now?" asked Sepia as she turned and faced me.

"He says he needs my help with a case." I said.

"Wonder if he's sleeping with this one?" she laughed.

I laughed too and went back to sleep.

I got up, brushed my teeth, shaved and showered and put on some clean clothes...Then I got in my car and headed for his office downtown, but not before I got a tumbler of coffee from Mabel Jenkin's restaraunt and a slice of her delicious Sweet Potato pie to go with it. It wasn't the perfect breakfast but it would have to do.

When I got to Robert's Office...I noticed an elderly Black couple sitting there...They looked to be in the late 70's and they also looked (from the way they were dressed) like they had some money. Robert came in and introduced them to me.

"Kevin...This is Mr. and Mrs. Lambert...Bert Lambert...." he said.

"Bert Lambert?? The car dealor? I've seen your commercials on television...Buy a car from "Dirty Bert" I said as I shook his hand. He smiled..

"Yes..that's me.."Dirty Bert"Heh heh heh heh heh..." he laughed.

"Bert, we aren't here to sell cars , tell him what we are here for." said his wife..a short petite woman who gave me the impression that she really ran the show.

"This is Kevin Morris, the private investigator I was tellin you about." added Robert Foxworth.

"Mister Morris...Our son is missing....We want you to find him. He told us he was engaged to this woman....a woman we don't approve of at all...and he moved in with her...They've been engaged for a year now and about three weeks ago...We didn't get a call from him or a visit.
That's not like him at all...When we went to the place they were supposed to be living..there was another man there with her. She said that they broke off their engagement and that she hadn't heard from him." said Bert Lambert.

"Well Mister Lambert I am assuming your son is a grown man, right?" I said.

"He's forty five years old..." added Mrs. Lambert.

"Well, is it that strange that you haven't heard from him in three weeks?" I asked.

"He calls us every week or would stop by....It's just not like him not to say anything to us. We called his job and they said that they hadn't heard from him. Plus, this woman...Her name is Anjanette Stevens ,and I should tell you, she's a stripper, who he is supposed to be engaged to for almost a year has another man at the house they were living in and just kind of blew us off." said Bert Lambert.

It wasn't much...but these people said they would pay us just to find him...So I agreed to take the case. Their son's name was Bert Lambert Jr. He had some credit cards....I checked them out and found out that there hadn't been any activity for almost a month...Not particularly weird. he had an Atm card too....No activity on that. His name had been taken off of the lease of the Apartment he was supposedly renting with Anjanette Stevens just three weeks before.This was looking like too much of a co-incidence.

"What you think Kevin?" asked Robert as we were driving towards the Strip club where Anjanette Worked.

"I think something is rotten in Denmark. I also think that Junior might be dead...I didn't want to say that to Mister and Mrs. Lambert" I said as we pulled up to the strip club.

Not anyone's surprise...Fathead Newton was sitting in the club, drinking and checking out the girls on stage. He was a little startled when he saw me and Robert come in.

"Hey Kev, Counselor...Happy New Years...What brings you guys into a place like this?" he asked.

"I like the food...The hot wings, the ribs at the buffett." I said.

Fathead looked at me funny, then he busted out laughing, smacked Robert on the back and said-
"Oh that Kevin..he's a smart ass."

"We are looking for a dancer. Anjanette Stevens." said Robert.

"Anjanette...Ohhhhh you mean Cinnamon Bum.....Lawdd have mercy, that gal got a body on her...She's one of the most popular ones in here..She got three guys wrapped around her finger..
one of em is the son of that car dealor, you know..the one that be on Television.."Dirty Bert" laughed Fathead.

"She in here?" I asked.

"Nah, she aint workin tonight...She in trouble?" asked Fathead.

'Nah, just want to ask her some questions, is all.." I said.

"Yeah..I'd like to ask her some questions my damn self." he laughed...

With that, Robert and I left. I dropped Robert off at his house and I went home..I'd do some more looking tomorrow I reasoned.. When I arrived home, Sepia was in the kitchen cooking and talking on the phone...The television was on...

"This is Action News...Breaking News...The body of 45 year old Bert Lambert Jr. was found today in the Schuylkill river.....He had been shot three times.. The killers appeared to try and weight the body down....but it floated to the top...."

Once again...I was involved in a murder investigation....

(To Be Continued...)