Smells Like Death

If it's one thing Gus told me that always rang true...It was..."No Matter what you do out in the street..Somebody knows about it and for a price, somebody will talk about it."

Lola Bey, was willing to talk about it....Hey price was basically a cheap breakfast...I had been asking around the neighborhood about the missing public defender....Everybody knew her, Everybody knew she was a lawyer "that worked for the city."  Only a few knew what else she did..A small few...Mostly men and all they could tell me was that she was great in bed...nothing more..

After spending a week talking to neighborhood folks, I ran into a cute neighborhood girl,Lola Bey who offered me more information than the average person...She was friends with Mary Powell Mabry and she lived across the driveway from her.

She agreed to meet me at a tony little coffee shop and lounge.  She was cute, Petite, Brown skinned with a devilish grin I found appealing.  She wore a Black mini dress that  that seemed more at home in July than in early October...but it had been unusually warm now of days.

I ordered us two coffees and some pastries and sat back in a chair so comfortable, that I could have gone to sleep in it...  She was prompt, which I liked and pleasent, which was also a plus.

"So Lola, What can you tell me about Mary that I might not already know?" I asked ,hoping that she indeed could tell me something, anything..that would give me a clue as to what happened to her..I felt as though I had been doing all of this legwork the past month for nothing.

"Well Mr. Kevin...I lived across the driveway from Mary...I used to watch her kids for her...She paid me well, both to watch the kids and for my silence." she said.

''So you knew that she wasn't just practicing law.?" I said coyly.  Lola smiled and continued...

''Oh God yes..the whole side of my block knew....Guys coming in and out like a revolving door all times of night and sometimes in the day...yelling to the top of their lungs about how "good it is." ,Her yelling too...It was crazy....And plus...she always paid me on time and well...and if I needed a little loan, she would hand me the cash and wouldn't sweat me about paying it back...Yeah, I knew she was hookin...Didn't know why, since she was a lawyer and all." said Lola.

"Tell me about the last time you saw her." I asked.

"That's the real interesting part Mr. Kevin....Two months ago...Mary told me that she was getting phone calls late at night...or well,early in the morning....That the person would just breathe heavy and hang up..It was unnerving her....I told her that it was probably just some freaky guy she had uh "dated"...She said no, that this was different!....Also...there was a car, a green Monte Carlo that cruised the neighborhood constantly...It was eerie...I saw the car once...or twice." she said.

''Would you recognize the driver if you saw a photo of him.?." I asked..

"Yeah...He was a Black guy, balding...in his late 50's or early 60's...He was one of Ms. Mary's clients...his name was Duke...something or other...Mary was scared of him...She said he liked to do things with handcuffs and bondage and she wasn't into that...Just straight sex for her..." she said.

"Anybody else strange come around?" I asked.

"Oh yeah  there was this white guy that came by....A suit and tie type guy...I met him once...Didn't catch his name...but he looked like a lawyer type." she said.

''Was he a client too?" I asked.

''No....He didn't stay long enough...He was always came, got an envelope from her and left...She didn't like him too much...but she always gave him that envelope..." said Lola..

"The last day I saw Mary, she and that white dude had a heated argument , right out front and she told him not to come around anymore.....Then that afternoon....She told me to watch the kids...That she was going to the corner store to get some cigarettes....That was the last time anybody remembers seeing her...And in fact...The guy at that corner store says that she never made it there....After I didn't see her for two days...I called her ex old man, Joshua Mabry and he called her other old man, Mr. Powell...They came and got they kids and that was that." said Lola.

"So you called both ex husbands?" I asked.

"Yeah.." she said.

"Neither one of them was in that house?" I asked.

"No...Not at all. They came to my house." she said.

"Hmmmmmmm. How about her family?" I mused.

"Her Mother and father and her brother came by here and they talked to me, asked me some questions." she said.

"Did they go into the house?" I asked.

''No...They didn't have a key and neither did I. ..But I did see that Green Monte Carlo cruising the neighborhood...But the dude never got out of the car....There was too many people out and about I suppose." she said.

"Wow" was all I could manage to say.

''She's dead isn't she Mr. Kevin?" she asked me....Suddenly she looked like a small child.

"Probably...but I'm going to make sure that whoever did this pays for it." I said....Didn't know if I could keep that promise or not...I paid for our coffee and pastries and stood up...I rubbed her soft hands and gave her a faint smile and left.

II-

I sat in Robert Foxworth's office....I felt as though I should be with Cindy Waters...but there would be ample time to see her....The young attorney, Chance Howard came in to the conference room where Robert and I were sitting and tossed a handful of briefs on the table...

"Guess what? This Duke Snyder guy....I know that you know already that he's an ex con....Did a bid for attempted rape and attempted kidnapping....Well guess who represented him??? Dennis Douglass of Powell & Douglass where you went yesterday." said Chance.

''How did you know I was there yesterday?" I asked.

"Ms. Waters called me to see how I was doing...I asked her how the case was going and she told me that you were checking out a lead at Powell & Douglass, so I went out there, checked out their set up and then did some digging of my own....On Duke Snyder, the one guy on the list who hasn't returned your calls and on who repped him." said Chance.

Robert Foxworth and I both gave Chance the side eye and then looked at each other.....

''Good Work Kid.. I think I've already figured out just what was going on here....Where does this Duke Snyder work?  I know where he lives..."I asked.

''Here's where it gets interesting Kev...He works at Abbotts Hardware and Home Supply....There are several Public Storage Bins across the street from Abbotts...." said Chance.

''So let me guess...You went down there?" I said.

''Yeah and Old Man Abbott was complaining to Duke Snyder about how bad one smelled..Snyder told him to just give him until the weekend and the smell would be gone." said Chance.

I smiled....

"Kid, when I retire from this business, you're going to take over...you're quite a good investigator." I said. Robert Foxworth gave him the side eye and smiled himself...

III-

Clerow parked the car right across the street from Abbotts....Kool Kat, Chance Howard and I got out and went inside the store...We found Old Man Abbott in the back, counting the days take.

"Hey Kev....Sorry man, I'm closin." he said.

"I'm lookin for Duke Snyder." I said.

"He didn't come in today..damn chisler...If he don't clean out that Storage bin...I'm gonna fire him...It smells like death." said Mr. Abbott..

"That's his bin..We probably need a warrant to open it up." I sighed.

''Warrant Hell, that's my bin...He has one key, but I have the other...I told him that what ever he's got in there, needs to come the hell out...It smells even worse now than it did before..." said Old man Abbott...

"Can we have a look see?" I asked.

"Don't know why you'd be interested in that bin, as bad as it smells, but I guess it's okay.." said Old man Abbott as he went to get his keys...

Kool Kat And Chance Howard walked outside...Clerow walked over to me...

"Damn boss...it smell so bad....I couldn't stay in the car...what the hell is that smell?" he asked.

I pointed to the Storage Unit.....

''That my friend....Is a tomb." I said.

"Okay boys....let me open this damn thing up." said Old man Abbott!

"GOOOD GOOOBLY GOOK...WHAT THE HELL?" he said as he opened the storage unit.....

There in full sight of all of us lay the freshly deceased body of Attorney Dennis Douglas...with a nice neat hole in his head.....and lying next to him was the mummified , badly decomposing remains of a woman who I believed to be Mary Powell-Mabry...

Kool Kat, Chance and Clerow were stunned....Old Man Abbott fainted......I got on my Android and called Cindy Waters...

"Hello."

"Hi Cindy....I've found Mary Powell Mabry!" I said.

"Oh My God....Is she...Is she...d-d-dead?" she asked.

''Pretty Much." I replied.

(Conclusion Next-)