Change Of Heart

Clerow, Robert Foxworth and I sat in an Oyster Bar that Robert had been raving about for months...a day later...We were drinking beer and sucking oysters like they were going out of style...

"So Kevin...I get the strangest call from Deputy District Attorney , Keith Wallace yesterday...He tells me that Lewis Berger has suddenly had a change of heart and has dropped all charges against you.. Not only that...but some woman named Meaghan Hearst has completely changed her story...Said that she didn't actually witness anything and that she couldn't be a reliable witness....said the whole thing as explained to her was a big misunderstanding." said Robert Foxworth.

Clerow sipped some beer, looked at me and then laughed.....

"Is that right Robert?" I said, smiling and continuing to suck down oysters and drink beer.

"You know , if this was Fathead Newton or The Diaz Brothers or somebody like that, I wouldn't be surprised...but you Kev, you?" said Robert Foxworth.

"Counselor....I assure you, I went straight home with my wife and was sufficiently occupied all afternoon...I didn't go out, nor did I make any phone calls to anyone." I said.

Robert smiled and gave me a side eye...Clerow continued to laugh...then they both took huge gulps of beer.

"Well anyway...The D.A. isn't interested in pursuing this any further, so the whole matter is dropped.." said Robert Foxworth...

"Lucky me huh?" I said.

"Yeah, lucky you." said Robert Foxworth...

"Me and Clerow stopped by Homicide yesterday.....Slim's grand-daughter was full of semen....In her mouth, and in her vaginal area..." I said...

"Kevin...I'm eating." said Robert Foxworth.."I mean ,so what? She's a young girl and she had a hot body...Somebody was going to sex her." said Robert Foxworth...

Clerow flashed that toothy grin of his.....

"What I meant was that they have a definite DNA match Robert..." I said.

"A match to what?" he asked...

"They don't know the identity of the sperm donor....but Lt.Sissy Van Buren....you may know her? Your ex-wife...is a very thorough detective...She ran the DNA sample through decks and it matches another dead girl that was found in a dumpster three years ago....She too had been raped and strangled...So all we know is that our boy has done this before.." I said.

"You can't prove it was him....All you know is that he was at Josie's that night as was millions of other people and he and her were at the 7Eleven...." said Robert Foxworth...

"You're right.....what I need is a sample of his DNA , to prove that he was the one." I said.

"Yeah and all you got then is that he had sex with the girls...Still doesn't mean he killed them....Your case is thin Kev.." said Robert...

He was right....but I had to at least have something to make Colin Huxley sweat a little, I thought.

II-

"Boss, you taken a chance coming here." said Clerow as we pulled up in front of the apartment complex...

"I know....that's why I brought you along." I said with a smile as we boarded the elevator... Clerow was right,Why should I trust this woman???..She had tried to set me up with a phony assault charge just days before..and now she was calling me, saying she had had a change of heart?? Sounded too good to be true..It could have been a trap...Which is why I brought the troops along... Owen Todd was outside , standing at the car as an extra measure...I wasn't taking any chances.......

I rang the doorbell.... To my surprise...Meaghan Hearst came to the door immediately and wasn't in a nasty mood.  She was the white woman who had been rather loud and expressive a few nights before with Colin Huxley at his apartment...She was sporting a fresh black eye....I immediately thought about Kool Kat and Owen Todd who had been to see her and Lewis Berger...but Kool Kat would never strike a woman without extreme provocation....Would he?

She looked around and then motioned us inside....She had a nice little apartment....Clerow and I sat down....

"I'm sorry about what happened...with you getting arrested and all....Colin made us both do that." she said.

"That's okay....How did you get that shiner?" I asked.

"Colin....It's not the first time either....He's a self centered , self absorbed bastard." she snapped with a venom that sounded so different from a few nights ago when she was moaning in ecstacy...

"I know what you think." she said, nearly reading my mind...."I have to make sounds like that...to make him think he's really doing something....He comes incredibly fast and sometimes......Well sometimes he can't get it up and he becomes frustrated and punches and chokes me...This was one such time." she snapped.

''Why do you put up with that? You know you're not his only girl.....He hops around to New York, L.A. , Miami, Paris, London, Amsterdam...He's got girls in all of those places.." I said gently...

"Yeah I figured....But he's not like that all the time..Sometimes he's good to me...He buys me things, takes me out.." she said.

"When he's in town." I said.  She looked at me and burst into tears......I held her in my arms as she shook with hurt, anger...I wasn't sure..

"You want to make him pay? Want to make him sweat??  I can do that...but I need your help...We have DNA matches on the dead girl's body and on another dead girl who was murdered.....If I get something that is definitely his DNA....We can pin him to two murders and take his sick ass off the streets." I said.

She thought for a long moment...then she looked at me.. "Wow..he's killed somebody...Two people you say?" she said.

"If he gets uh ruh frustrated the way you claim and then gets violent...it could be even more." I said.

"I don't know how much this will help....but here...I'll give you this." she says as she went into her hamper....

Clerow and I stared at each other.....

''Here... Here is a pair of my panties and my negligee that I was wearing that night that you came over." she said.

"Huh? What?" I said...

"They are full of semen....His semen....He came as soon as I got undressed and I had to wait for him to be ready again....This ought to at least help you with a  DNA match." she said.

Clerow and I looked at each other.....

"Well...I'm not used to a woman handing over her undergarments to me without at least me paying for dinner."
I laughed....

Clerow, Meaghan and I  laughed..

III-  Atlantic City, three weeks later!

About three weeks later...I got a call from Eric "Shark Dollars" Redding....

''What's goin on Shark Dollars?" I said.

"Got a tip for ya Kev.....That high roller you was talkin about...Colin Huxley?  He's here....I can tell you where he's staying and what casino he's playing at." he said.

" Good.... Walter and I will be in AC tonight." I said.


That night, Kool Kat and I drove to Atlantic City....Using Shark Dollar's tip...It wasn't hard to find..Colin Huxley....He was at the crap table and losing badly....

"Mr. Huxley...you owe the house ten thousand dollars." said a dealer...

"Don't tell me how much I owe...just deal me in." snapped Colin Huxley..

"Still making friends I see." I said as I sat down next to him...Kool Kat sat on the other side.

He assessed the situation and smirked...

"Ohhhhh it's you Mister Morris...Freshly sprung from the hoosegal."

"No thanks to you." I said.

" You know...I could have your two thugs, Mister Jones there and Mister Todd arrested and charged with witness intimidation , if I wanted to.....Didn't think I knew about that little stunt they pulled for you, did you? You also don't know that you are way out of your league with me....I'm not one of your little ghetto cases...You fool with me...I'll have you in jail and own your house and maybe...just maybe take that pretty little wife of yours too.!" he said.

"You couldn't satisfy her..." I snapped.  ''Besides...Mr. Jones, Mr Todd and I am the least of your worries...You got big problems buddy boy." I said.

"Oh really?" he said looking angry about my last statement..

"Oh really....I know you murdered Maysa Giddings and I know you murdered Natalie Owens three years ago and dumped her in a dumpster like she was trash...I can finally prove it." I said.

"You don't scare me....You can't prove nothin and I won't ever do a day of jail time...at least not on your say so." he said.

"Well, I have photos of you....I have DNA from you that matches DNA found in both girl's bodies and a witness willing to testify about that DNA...and worse...We found the clothes the dead girl was wearing that night that you didn't quite get rid of quick enough....With your DNA on it...Is that enough?" I said.

His face grew pale....His jaw dropped and he looked up and saw Two Atlantic City Detectives and several uniformed policemen converging on his crap table...

"It's tank time stupid....Time for you to go to jail." I said.

He stood up, then stomped his foot..."NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...NO.... NO WAY!!! I DON'T BELIEVE THIS....I'M BEING ARRESTED? NO...NO.. NO... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....NO....NOOOOOOOOOOOOO...NO WAY! NOOOOO." he screamed as they handcuffed him....

I smiled as they dragged him out of the casino kicking and screaming!

"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.....LET ME GOOO...I CAN'T BE ARRESTED....I CAN'T....DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM??? NOOOOOOOOOO...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.I can't...I will not...do a day of jail time...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" he screamed...

"Wow, he didn't take that so good ." said Kool Kat...

"He sure didn't.." I said and we looked at each other and burst into guffaws of laughter!


EPILOUGE:

Colin Beowoulf Huxley was  extradited from New Jersey to Pennsylvania to stand trial for two first degree murder charges. He was tried and convicted of the murder of Maysa Giddings and of the unsolved murder of Natalie Owens from three years before.. He was sentenced to Life Imprisonment for both murders...but he would have the last laugh....Someone smuggled some cyanide tablets to him...and he was found dead in his cell, just one day before he was to be transported to State Prison...He was serious when he boasted that he wouldn't do a day of jail time! Now he'd be judged in a higher court for his crimes!

Sepia and I, Bonita and Robert Foxworth, Clerow and Cora Beth and Kool Kat and Chelsea all met at the Oyster Bar that Robert had turned me and Clerow on to....We were joined by Slim Giddings and Meaghan
Hearst....We were drinking a round of beers and eagerly sucking oysters out of their shells....

"Kevin...I can't thank you enough for not only finding my grand-daughter, but bringing the monster who killed her to justice.." said Slim Giddings..

''Don't thank me Slim...Thank Meaghan here....It was her testimony that blew the case wide open." I said.

"Yeah , among other things!" said Clerow, giving me the side eye...

I burst into laughter...Meaghan blushed....and Kool Kat, Chelsea, Robert Foxworth, Bonita, Sepia and  Corabeth all looked bewildered...Which made Clerow and I laugh even more at our private joke.




For All of my loyal readers! Happy New Years!