Fast Tracking

Things started happening quickly. I woke up the next morning to the news that the body of Willie Parmenter had been found! He was found in the Port Richmond section of town....Miles away from where he lived.....Hanging from the rafters in an abandoned warehouse....Nude except for a condom on him. The police didn't have a clue that his death was related to the three women who were found floating in the river...but I did!

Clerow and I drove to Port Richmond shortly after the police removed the body...We went in a few bars and questioned local people. I'm sure the Police did the same...but Clerow and I talked to the kind of people who don't normally talk to cops. One guy said-

"Funny thing...I saw a hearse flying down the street at top speed, early in the morning...Like 4:30 am....I know it wasn't headed to any funeral or nothing...I couldn't imagine why it was drivin so fast...they almost run me over."

That was all I needed to know. I contacted Lockpick Johnson and got him to slip a GPS unit under the Hearse , while it was parked at the Church. Peeping Tom told us that he heard them talking about getting " a re-up" of cathesism from a guy named "Dutch".

"Dutch? Doesn't ring a bell....but that drug cathesism does....That's the paralyzing drug isn't it?
The drug that was used in the Eddie Chin case right?" I asked.

"Exactly my friend....It's illegal.....This Dutch charactor is their supplier....but Lockpick who knows all of the local players has never heard of him." said Tom.

"Then we got to follow them boss" said Clerow.

"Exactly! Clerow...Let's go pick up Kool Kat and be on our way." I said as we exited the Van.

"Tom, Lockpick, thanks again." I said.

The Good Reverend and his Deacon had seen my car and by now Clerow's...So I rented a car from Enterprise and the four of us, (We stopped and picked up Sean Jackson) followed the mysterious duo in their Hearse. We had the GPS device, so we could follow from a distance without being noticed. They made two stops....One was to a flat bed truck in a wooded area on the outskirts of the city..... It was parked next to a small building that had a huge water hose and drums filled with some substance.

From a distance we saw and snapped photos of Deacon Cecil Williams putting fresh water into the baptismal pool....Then we saw Reverend Collins pouring one of the drums substance into the
water.....They shook hands , got back into their Hearse and pulled off. Once they were out of sight...Kool Kat, Clerow, Sean and I approached the Flat Bed truck.

''What the hell is a flat bed truck doing out here in nowhere's land?" asked Sean Jackson, still snapping photos.

"Yeah and with a Baptismal pool?" asked Clerow...

I stuck my hand in the water...it was lukewarm....it smelled like chlorine.......

"This is chlorine Kev....The kind they put in a swimming pool." said Kool Kat.

"Yeah...just what was found in the lungs of all of our victims except Willie Parmenter." I said.

"The pool is for the babes....They just shot him and hung him." said Kool Kat.

"Yeah....Let's get to the car...See where else they are going?" I said.

Clerow took down the license plate number and gave it to me.

"Call Robert Foxworth...See if his boy in Records can trace the owner of this truck." he said.

I smiled at Clerow

"Damn Cle, you've been around me too long...you're starting to think just like me now."

Kool Kat and Sean Jackson smiled. We got back in the car and followed them to a row house in South Philadelphia....They walked out of the house with a couple of briefcases. The brief cases contained vials of the chemical used to paralyze the victim, ,cathesism I bet.

II- The Federal Building , Downtown Philadelphia, Sometime later

"You ever see this guy before?" I asked Agent Cotton , showing him a glossy photo of "Dutch that we took of him on his front porch with the Good Reverend.

"Yeah...His name is "Dutch'' , William"Dutch" Wardlow....He's a pharmacist by trade...but we suspect that he's a black market drug dealer." said Agent Cotton.

"Well...I suspect that he's supplying those two guys with the paralyzing drug found in all of your murder victims." I said.

''What? How do you know this?" he asked.

"Look Agent Cotton...How long have you known me? Have I ever steered you wrong? These two guys are the interim Pastor and deacon at my church...They are from Atlantic City....They are both ex-cons...look em up.....Everywhere they've been, women have died...Now I'm working on them....I might be able to give them both to you guys soon.....but that guy Dutch is definitely their supplier...Take this as an anonymous tip and hit his house....I'm telling you..he's their supplier." I said.

"Okay Kevin.....you've never steered me wrong before...I'll call my guy at the DEA. Oh and ,I think you'd be safer if you found another church to attend" he said with a hint of a smile.

"Yeah, at least for the time being." I laughed. He couldn't know how right he was..I was actually somewhat afraid of these two guys...They were definitely creepy individuals. John Collins was charismatic, manipulating...frightening....Cecil Williams was lethal in his own right, a stone cold killer, but not much of his own man..He was the type of guy who needed someone to tell him what to do.. He had found that person in John Lazurus Collins, His guru, his preacher....Collins had found in him, a true believer....the one person who maybe didn't think he was as nutty as a crackhouse rat! Together these two made a murderous combonation!

That night, Several DEA Agents and Philadelphia Narcotics Detectives hit Dutch Wardlow's house ...They found his lab in the basement and several other Black market drugs...He was arrested and immediately booked for his activities...

Clerow, Kool Kat, Sean Jackson and I stopped and got some Hoagies, Coffee and Doughnuts and
walked it to the van where Peeping Tom, Lockpick Johnson and to our surprise, Robert Foxworth was camped out.

"I figured I'd find you here Kevin." said Robert.

"What's up?" I asked.

"My guy found out who that Flatbed truck is registered to.....Cecil Williams. So is the Hearse" he said.

"The Deacon?....How careful is John Collins? Nothing is in his name...Nothing to really come back to him." I mused.

"Yeah..Well you guys had better get to movin and soon....They plan to snatch somebody tonight!
We heard it on the wire." said Peeping Tom.

"Really?" I said.

"Yeah and you know her too...The babe from Victoria's Secret who he had the argument with" said Peeping Tom.

"Cherry...Cherry Johnson." said Kool Kat smashing his fist into the palm of his other hand.

"Oh and fellas, stop and pick up a carton of buttermilk....drink it....It's the only defense you'll have against that poision." he cautioned.

"Mannn, I don't like Buttermilk" snapped Clerow.

"You like livin though...don't you?" I asked.

Kool Kat smiled broadly in the backround!

"You guys....Take the van over to the shopping center....Don't try to approach them..they're probably armed....We'll meet you there after we get the buttermilk." I said.

"Got'cha my friend." said Tom.

Kool Kat was driving....Clerow was riding shotgun...I was in the back seat.....Kool Kat, checked his
.357 magnum....,cocked it and smiled that sinister grin of his.

"What are you doin Big Man?" I asked.

"Gettin ready to finish this." He said. Clerow grinned that toothy grin of his and looked at me.

"Oh...just checkin." I said.


(Conclusion Next)