Searching For Her

"So Kevin, the last time you saw your wife was in the morning when she left for work, right?" asked Homicide Lt. Sissy Van Buren of the Philadelphia Police.

"Yeah Sissy...She left for work before I did....That would have been around eight o'clock." I said.

"Was everything good between you two...I mean there was no tension or anything?" asked another
Detective.

"Noo..Nothing like that..We had made love the night before and early this morning while she was getting dressed we wound up making love again....She complained that I was going to make her late." I said.

"So everything was good huh?" he asked.

"Yes." I said, a little annoyed that he would make me repeat myself...

"You got a text from her at 8:45?" asked another detective.

"Yes...Look here...it says "Kevin...Help" I missed it because I had my phone on vibrate and it was in my office desk while I was at a meeting." I said.

"So you were at work all day huh?" he asked.

"Yeah....My co-workers here, Sean Jackson and his wife Sheila can vouch for me" I said. Sean Jackson and Sheila agreed that I had been in their company all day.

"How'd you get to work? You said that her car is in the shop and she has yours?"asked Sissy.

"We came by and picked him up.....Sepia was supposed to come and get him after she got off." said Sheila Jackson.

"But she never came to work" said Bonita ,who was also sitting there.

"Well...We can't file a missing persons report until after she's been missing for 48 hours Kevin...She's a grown woman...She could leave and she wouldn't have to tell you why." said Sissy.

"She didn't leave though....All of her stuff is here!!! I think she's met with foul play.." I said ,nearly in tears at the thought...

"Come on Kev....Come on now...Let's think positive." said Sean Jackson...

Sissy took me to the side...

"Kevin, give me her debit and credit card information and her Blackberry and Android numbers.. We'll check and see if there is any activity....We have the description and license plate
number and photos of your wife...I'll fast track this...We'll turn up something." she said and patted me on the back...

"Thanks Sissy." I said.

I rented a car..... Sean and I rode around town, going to all of Sepia's favorite spots....Nobody had seen her...Peeping Tom had a way of checking her phones and her credit and debit cards to see if there was any hits or activity...Clerow, Lockpick Johnson and Kool Kat also rode around looking for her...Nothing!

Chris Thompson, Donald Smooth and Chess not only searched, but they had their associates searching too...At Josies, Gus, Andrew, Eddie ,Honey Brown and Big Nasty asked around and drove around...It was great to have such good friends helping me out...Robert Foxworth and Conrad Nelson and Chance Howard kept an eye out and Paris, Blake, Cherish and some of their friends drove around searching for Sepia too...

She had just dropped off of the face of the Earth...48 hours passed and finally the Philly coppers started looking for her...We put posters of Sepia all around the neighborhood..In Josies, Ciros,
Bottom of the C, Mulberry Street and The Mermaid Club....I was turning the city upside down...

II-

I stood outside of my job with Sean Jackson, Clerow and Kool Kat...72 hours had passed and I feared the worse....Funny the strange things you notice when you are concentrating on something else.

There was a man, with a tan suit jacket, Black pants and sunglasses standing across the street from us...He lit a cigar after he made a phone call...He then got in his car and pulled off..The same man had been at the corner of my block the day that Sepia disappeared. I remembered him because I thought it odd that a man would have on Sunglasses at 9:00 am on a cloudy overcast day. He saw me get in Sean's car..He made a phone call , got in his car and pulled off.
Co-incidence? Who was he? Why was he at the corner of my block and why was he across the street from where I worked?

Maybe I was just paranoid...Was my wife being held captive somewhere?? Was she hurt?? Was she still alive??? Was this man somehow responsible??? I had to know....It was thin...but it was all I had.. I didn't say anything to Kool Kat or Clerow, but my mind was going in all kinds of directions..

III-

I was sitting in Josies a few hours later having a Corona .....

"You miss her kid?" asked Gus.

"Yeah man...I hate myself for missing that text message." I said.

"Don't beat yourself up kid..It's not your fault..." said Gus...

Just then something hit me!!!!! I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before...I leaped up out of my seat...

"Gus....you got somebody that can take over for you?" I asked.

"Yeah kid..what's up?" he asked.

"I just thought of something...I don't know why I didn't think of it before...I need your help." I said.

"Honey....Take over for me, close up at two on the dot." said Gus.

"Okay Gus." she said.

"Where we goin Kid?" asked Gus...

"To find my wife." I said.

"Oh really? You know somethin I don't know? asked Gus..

"Not something...someone!" I said.

As Gus and I left the bar, there he was again!!! The man in the tan suit jacket with the black slacks and those sunglasses...He was just getting off of his phone.

"Hold up Gus..." I said.. I pulled out my .38 smokeless and began walking across the street towards him...He was standing outside of his car on the passenger side...There was someone else in that car on the drivers side that I didn't see...When he saw me coming towards him..He smiled, got in the car, closed the door and pulled off!

"Who was that Kev?" asked Gus.

"I don't know, never seen him before in my life....but I'm going to find Sepia and I'm going to get to know him." I said as I put my gun back into my jacket.


(To be continued....)