Strings

I lay in my bed , halfway between being awake and asleep and slowly I began to dream......

Inside Meaghan's apartment...We tossed off our shoes and I slammed her up against the wall and began kissing her passionately...She returned my passion....Our coats went to the floor as I continued kissing her and she continued kissing me...I unzippered her dress and slipped it off....She unzippered my trousers and I hurriedly stepped out of them....She held my now massively erect penis in her hands...




"Oh My God...Jacques....Ouuuuu...you are loaded.." she exclaimed...as I unhooked her bra and began sucking on her breasts.....




"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh Jacques.....ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." she moaned as I slipped her panties down ......




I thrusted my tongue practically down her throat and while squeezing one breast with my hand...With my other hand I pulled out a condom...She helped me tear open the wrapper....I slipped it on and lifted her up and positioned her on me as I entered her and began thrusting away...




"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY LAWDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD..." she screamed as I continued to thrust , harder and feverishly more.......




She came really fast....and began to shiver........




"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..." she moaned...




I wasn't done with her yet ...I led her to the sofa and turned her around....I entered her from behind...I began pumping strong and steady and she really began to moan then....




"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMPPHHH...OHHHHHHHOhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."


" She moaned as I continued...




I go on like this for close to an hour and she cums again.!!! I can feel it......but surprisingly enough...I haven't cum yet!




"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.....Oh My goodness Jacque...." she exclaims....




I lay her across her bed....She pulls my condom off.....




"I want to taste you she says and she takes me into her mouth..working feverishly......I can't hold it much longer...I try to pull out but she won't let me....I explode all over her face with wild abandon......


I awake suddenly....as erect and as hard as a board... alone in my bed! I feel my sheets...They are wet with a milky and sticky liquid.....I have not had a dream this real, this intense...since I was a 12 year old boy....

It's been three weeks since my night with Meaghan...The white woman who lives down the hall  from me...I haven't heard from her...I haven't seen her in the elevator or downstairs in the lobby...Haven't seen her on the streets either...It's been  so long now that I'm embarrassed to call her...She might think that I'm only calling her out of guilt or worse , for one thing... Truth of the matter is...I would be calling for one thing... I've thought of nothing more since our New Years Eve encounter...But she did say no strings and she was somewhat drunk...Maybe she never meant to have sex with a Black man....I don't know...Perhaps , I thought it would be best to leave it alone.

My doorbell rang.....It was Saturday morning...I looked over at my clock...It was 7:30 am....Who would be ringing my doorbell this time of morning??  I got up, put on my bathrobe and walked to the door...To my utter surprise...It was Meaghan!!!

II-

She looked good...she was wearing a black strapless party dress and I could tell that she had been out late the night before.

''Hello Meaghan" I said as I opened the door.

"This isn't a bad time is it?" she asked.

"Uh no...Come on in." I said...

''Sorry to be waking you up from your sleep, but I haven't seen you in awhile and I've felt a need to talk to you for quite some time now." she said.

"Yeah...I've been meaning to get back with you too." I said.

"Oh?" she asked.

"You know...uh, to see how you were doing." I continued.

''Uh yeah..me too." she said.

"You were out drinking last night." I said.

''Wow is it that obvious?" she asked.

"I'm afraid so...Come on in...I'll put a pot of hot water on...I don't have any coffee....You don't mind Tea do you?" I said.

"No...No..Not at all...You got a lemon..I like a lemon in mine." she said.

"So do I." I said.

She sat down at my kitchen table... I put on a pot of hot water and put two teabags in two cups...I opened my refrigerator and took out two sliced lemons and put them in the cups...

"Wow...you're preparing for me to stay and you don't even know why I'm here." she exclaimed in wonder.

"I'm always an accomodating host." I said.

She smiled...

"That's a nice looking dress you have on." I said.

''Thank you." she said.

"So how have you been?" she asked.

"I've been good...I got a job." I said.

"Oh?" she said.

"I'm the sou chef at" Bottom of the C", where we went to eat on New years eve." I said.

"Oh really?" she said.  "I had a good time that night Jacques." she said.

''Excuse me." I said as I headed to the bathroom...I gulped down a cup of Scope , gargled with it and then spit it out...I then took out a tube of toothpaste , applied it to my toothbrush and began to brush my teeth...I washed my mouth out with water and spit it out and then gargled with more scope...I looked up as I was wiping my mouth off with my wash cloth and Meaghan was looking at me laughing...

"You are something else...I thought you had fallen off of the face of the Earth." I said.

"I thought...I thought it might be...well, I might be ..Well uh , you know...a little forward if I called you too soon afterwords you know.." I said.

"Jacques...It's been a month...You could have at least said hi." she said.

"Yeah, I know...I really enjoyed myself." I said.

"I know you did...immensely." she said with a straight face and then she laughed..

"Yes...I really did enjoy myself..How about you?" I asked.

"Couldn't you tell? I know I woke my neighbors..." she laughed.

''Any chance we could uh.....You know...uh....keep your neighbors up again?" I laughed.

She didn't answer, she smiled and kind of blushed.

III-

I smiled...The tea pot was whistling...I walked past her and turned the oven off and poured the tea in the two cups...We sat down and began drinking the tea...I was a bit nervous....I don't know why...

"My friend, Ralph Scallion....He's the chef over there...He got me the job...It pays good money..." I said.

"I was there last night....Then I went to Josies...Downtown Rob Brown and Ingrid Rhodes performed...It was great.Then I went to the Aqua Bar..." she said.

"Did you have fun?" I asked.

"Not as much as I could have had." she said.

"You went with your girlfriends?" I asked.

"Nah...Some guy....He just wanted to get in my pants...All night long...All hands..." she said.

"Oh." I said.

"But I didn't let him...I had him bring me home.." she said.

"At 7:30 in the morning?" I asked.

''No...He brought me home at 2:30 and he was on his way home by 3:00." she said.

"Wow that was quick." I said.

"Like I said...I fought him off the whole night...I didn't want him like that." she said.

"So you haven't been to sleep?" I asked.

"I couldn't.....All I kept thinking about was you." she said.

"Really?" I said.

"Okay,Alright...Don't go getting a big head." she said..."I know I said and we agreed ..No strings attached on our uh night. But I can't get you...what we had that night out of my mind." she said.

"Somethings big alright and I assure you, it's not my head." I said and smiled..."Come here Meaghan" I said.

"Huh?" she said.

'Come here...I won't bite you." I said.

She walked over to me and looked down...She gasped....

"Oh my God......" she said...My bathrobe was sticking out like a tent...She pulled it to the side and softly caressed my now erect penis....

"Ohhhh myyyy Jacques...Ohhh my." she exclaimed.... I leaned up and kissed her softly....She returned my pasion and reached down and squeezed my engorged penis a bit...I moaned and she rubbed it softly again..

''Ohh Jacques...I need it..I need you."

"I've been waiting for you Meaghan.." I said as we continued to kiss...

"Ohhhh Jacques..." she said as she sat on my lap...We kissed softly for a few minutes with her still stroking me...and soon the soft kisses turned into full mouth kisses....and moans...and soon I was standing up with my arms around her kissing her...

She slipped my bathrobe off and slipped my boxers down...She gasped again and got down on her knees and took as much of me as she could into her mouth and began to go to town...slurping and humming.....

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..." I moaned as she continued until I was at the point of climaxing and then she stopped...

She led me into my bedroom and she slipped off her dress, bra and panties and pushed me down on the bed.. She straddled me and began to lower herself down on me....

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmph.....ohhhhh Meaghan..." I moaned...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh Jacques...put that huge thing in me...deeper...deeper...ohhhhhh it's sooo goood..ohhhhhh" she moaned as she moved up and down , up and down...each time slower than before and we just devoured each others mouths.....I rubbed and squeezed her breasts and she began to bounce up and down harder and faster....

"Ouuuuuuu....Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...Ohhhhhh Jacques.....OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." she screamed and began to shake like crazy....she was having a huge orgasm...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.....Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu....Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." she cooed as I continued to pump....

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY ...OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.." I screamed as I began to explode and shake myself...

"Ohhhhhh Jacques.....JACQUES.....ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I haven't cum this hard before in my LIFE!! OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...." she moaned out loud!

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." I said  as she collapsed on me...

IV-

Meaghan lay beside me in my bed....

"This bed is so sticky...you came a lot..." she exclaimed...

"Yeah, I guess I did." I said.

''Jacques?" she said.

"You know this goes beyond just a one night stand, right?" she said.

"Most definitely..." I said.

"I think we have ...uh...ruh.. strings...for want of a better word." she said.

"Yeah...strings." I said.

"Wow...I've never been with a black guy before," she said.

"Neither have I." I said.

Meaghan took a minute to digest what I said and then she hit me..."Silly." she laughed.

"Meaghan...This is 2012...It won't be as bad as you may think." I said.

"I guess we'll see won't we?" she said.

"I guess so." I said as we both lie there staring at the rising sun....

Must Be An Angel

You didn't believe that I was serious...
you thought that I might be
another player...
So I never told you that I was actually
a poet...
I didn't want you to think I was just
another Sooth Sayer.../

Deep Inside of you
you must have known that I had a heart of gold
that needed you now..
and I know that somehow...
someway, somehow.....

Heaven must have sent you
Heaven must have sent you girl
from up above..
Somebody must have known...
Somebody surely must have known
that two people needed love..
Must be an Angel...
Must be an Angel....
Girl, surely you must be
an angel...
Sleeping beside me.../

Morning after morning...
Morning after morning..
It's so hard to believe..
That I'm waking up beside you...
This is good for me...
And it's so nice to know it's true.....
Everything you are...
baby, everything you do.../

Deep..Deep inside my heart
I know nothing will and nothing can..
Tear , what we've been building apart...
(I know this deep in my heart...)
I know that I'm beyond my past that was so tragic...
Because now I've witnessed pure magic..
In my life.../


Heaven must have sent you
Heaven must have sent you girl
from up above..
Somebody must have known...
Somebody surely must have known
that two people needed love..
Must be an Angel...
Must be an Angel....
Girl, surely you must be
an angel...
Sleeping beside me.../

And I just have to say it again..
You must be an angel...
Surely you must be an angel
Sleeping beside me...

Sex Games

Girl......What you do to my mind...
is why it's so hard for me to find...
a reason...
To let you go...
I can't get it into my head..
That while you're so good in bed...
and pleasing...
Maybe I should know.../

You use your body at just the right times...
I find...
To get my money, to get my heart, to even
get my mind...
Then, when you've got what you need...
You quietly say goodbye to me...
For a time.../

I'm tired of playing these sex games..
These jive ass sex games
With you...
But I just can't let go of you...
You've got me whooped..
You've got me hooked...
So caught up in these sex games ...
With you.../

Anyone else would say...
Nah baby, that's okay...
but all you have to do..
Is touch me in a certain way...
Soon we are making sweet love..
All day...
And once again...you are having your way..
By now I should know better..
But it seems like I just can't let ya...
alone.../


because girl You use your body at just the right times...
I find...
To get my money, to get my heart, to even
get my mind...
Then, when you've got what you need...
You quietly say goodbye to me...
For a time.../

but one day...
one day soon I'll grow stronger..
I'll find someone else and I won't
need to hit that thang ...
no longer...
Then you'll surely be a goner...
Now how about that?/



I'm tired of playing these sex games..
These jive ass sex games
With you...
But I just can't let go of you...
You've got me whooped..
You've got me hooked...
So caught up in these sex games ...
With you.../

I'm so tired girl...
I'm tired of playing these sex games..
These jive ass sex games
With you...
But I just can't let go of you...
You've got me whooped..
You've got me hooked...
So caught up in these sex games ...
With you.../

(Original Art by Laurie Cooper, Poetry by Keith)

Cancelled Check

Sepia and I and Nadine sat in a little coffee shop on Broad Street drinking tumblers of Hot Coffee and eating pastries...

''I heard that you got fired for missing so many days Nadine...I'm really sorry." I said.

"Yeah ,he notified me by registered mail...Because he didn't know where I was staying. I got served when I returned to my apartment. That's okay Mr. Kevin...I didn't want to work for that creep anymore anyway." she said.

"Well times are tough out here girl and if it makes you feel any better...My partner, Bonita Foxworth and I have a receptionist/administrative assistant position open at our company that you're welcome to if you want it...We'll at least match your salary at Scurlock's job." said my wife Sepia.

"Oh thank you soo much Mrs. Morris." she said.

"You know that those two hoods were looking for you too and that they were going to kill you...That's why I told you to go to a friend or relative's house and not to come back there." I said.

"Yeah...and I thank you...Was anything you got out of that office of any value?   I just hate to see Scurlock get away with this." she said.

''Well..I've been sitting back on a lot , but we have enough to hand to the feds and put him away for up to 25 years for the embezzlement, tax evasion and wire fraud among other things." I said.

"Not Murder? Not attempted murder?? " she asked.

"No...He's too smart to say anything on the phone and we don't have anything to tie him to those two boneheads that got killed in my house ." I said.

"Did you look thorougly through that stuff I gave you?" she asked.

"Pretty much....I handed it to some lawyers to look at." I said.

"Well those two guys came to the office a few times and he gave them checks...I think there might be a few cancelled checks in those folders.." she said.

''Really?" I said.

"Yeah...I don't know what he paid them for....but those two guys didn't look like they were good for much except what they did...Find people ,abduct people and kill people." said Nadine.

I smiled...she was smarter than she knew!

"You're right." I said.

My eyes lit up!  That might be the edge I needed!

Sepia smiled...She looked at Nadine....

"I only see that look three times...His Birthday, Christmas Eve and well you know." she laughed and gave Nadine the side eye.

Nadine smiled back at her and the two women giggled....I tossed some cash on the table...

"See you ladies later." I said as I headed out the door and to my car.

II-

Back in Robert Foxworth's office, Robert,Chance, Cole and I sifted through  documents and other files that we had retrieved from Scurlock's Office. It took awhile...but after much searching, there it was!!! Two checks for 50G's a peice made out to Fred and Arthur Angel....My two would be , but now deceased killers. All I had was a bluff, and a long shot....but I had to take it.

"Kev...These are two cancelled checks..So what?" said Robert Foxworth..

"Those two guys that tried to kill me and Sepia were contract killers...What else would these checks be for? Look at the large amount of money....It's not like those two knuckleheads were accountants or book-keepers." I said.

"Yeah Kev...But you don't know what this was a payment for. It just says "consulting" That could be anything...You try to make a murder case out of this and any first year lawyer could tear your argument to shreds..." he said.

"Yeah...a lawyer might....Let's hope Scurlock isn't that smart." I said.

Robert shrugged his shoulders...

" Yeah let's hope he isn't...That's a nice bluff....but it's weak." He said.

"I know Robert, but it's all I got..." I said.

"He probably thinks he's safe right about now...The only two people who can link him to any murders are dead and with no ties to him.." said Robert.

"You're right and these two cancelled checks are a connection." I said.

"Connection to what?" he asked.

"It proves he knew them and that they worked for him...They were both ex-cons and career criminals...Let him explain to a jury what he paid them for." I said.

"Alright Kev....it's your show...Go get him!" said Robert.

"I plan to...Evening Gents." I said as I got up and left.

"Go get him Kev" said Chance Howard and Cole...Robert Foxworth just smiled and chuckled.


III-

Clerow drove up and parked in front of the Office....Kool Kat,Owen Todd and I got out of the car...We were met in the hallway, by a big six foot four tough who sternly said... "Office Hours have been suspended."

Owen Todd pulled out his .45 and stuck it in his stomach ...

''What did you say son?" he asked.

"Nothin...Go right in...." he said.

Kool Kat ,Clerow and I grinned, nodded our heads and kept walkin....

''I'll keep goober here company guys."said Owen with a smirk.

Once inside the office.. we heard a woman moaning in ecstacy...

"OUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..oh ..oh...oh...ohhhh..ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh Mister Spurlllockkkkkkkkkk!  ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...Spank me, slap me, beat me..doooo meeeee..ohhhh god, it's so goood...ouuuu."


''Ummmmphhhhh..ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...ohhhhh...ohhhhhh....uh oh..ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
...geeeeez...I'm going blind......ohhhhh geeezzzz...I'm about to blowwwwww my loadddddd!...argghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."


"Ouuuuu, Mister Spurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrlockkkk..Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."


"arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...aggggrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

Spurlock had a young blond  on his desk , naked...riding him...He was naked also.......His eyes were rolling into the back of his head...the legs on the desk were rocking back and forth feverishly...like they could break at any minute...

"Bet she can't type a lick." laughed Kool Kat...

"No wonder he fired Nadine." I mused....

Clerow laughed his head off...They both noticed us in the office...The Blonde screamed!


"AGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...What are they doing in here?? Johnnn, I'm not into anything like that." she screamed.


Spurlock jumped up and ran behind his desk to cover himself, grabbing feverishly for his boxer shorts....

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?" he yelled.

"Aww gee Johnny,where are your manners...No Hello, No how are you doing? I thought we were friends?" I said as I sat on his desk.

The blonde grabbed her bra and put on her blouse and inched away from Spurlock...She grabbed her skirt..She was looking around the floor for something...

Kool Kat tossed her thong to her....

"Get dressed honey...Take a coffee break...Don't come back!" He said....

Spurlock went for the drawer...but Clerow put his pistol to his temple....

"I wouldn't do that dock...Might be hazardous to your health." he said with his toothy grin!

Both Spurlock and the girl got dressed...The girl ran out of the office without looking back.

I cocked my pistol.....but stopped short of aiming it at him...He sat down....He was sweating profusely...

"What do you want?" he asked.

"The Hughes...Where are they?" I asked.  He knew that I wasn't playing.....

"They are buried in the marshlands, up by the airport...I don't know exactly where." he said.

"We know everything...The embezzlement..the wire fraud...the money laundering...all of it.....The Feds are on their way here...I thought you might like to see these." I said and I put the two cancelled checks on his desk...

"What are those?" he asked.

" Downpayment for murder. You explain to the cops why you paid those two guys...I'm sure the D.A. would love to hear it. It's all over Spurlock....All over....I just stopped by to tell you that." I said. "Come on guys...let's go." I said .

"That's it? We just leavin?" asked Kool Kat.

"Nothing else to do or say." I said. "Have a nice life John."

...and at that, Kool Kat, Clerow , Owen Todd and I left the building....As we were getting in the car, we heard a gunshot!

"What the hell?" said Clerow...

"What was that?" asked Kool Kat...

"That was justice!" I said... and we all got in our car and drove away!

EPILOUGE-

By the time the police got to the office building , a crowd had gathered....Inside they found the partially clothed body of John Spurlock on the floor in his office with a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head.... With all the evidence we turned over to the authorities and the tapes from his office ,it was enough to formally declare the Hughes dead and to assume that they were more than likely murdered by Fred and Arthur Angel on orders from John Spurlock.

It took close to a month, but the skelatal remains of Gary and Lisa Hughes were found, where John Spurlock had said they would be found....in the grassy marshlands out by the airport...  


I stopped by Sepia and Bonita's office one day at lunchtime.....Bonita greeted me at the door with a smile....

''Hey Kevin, care to join us for lunch?" she asked sarcasticly...I smiled and said nothing...

"Sepia will be out in a few minutes....The new girl Nadine, you sent us is working out great...." she continued.

"Glad to hear that...where is she anyway?" I asked..

"We are waiting for her to come back from lunch." said my wife Sepia.....The two of them laughed that conspiratorial laugh that women laugh...

''What?" I asked.

Sepia pointed...  Coming up the street, hand and hand and laughing gingerly was Owen Todd and Nadine?? I laughed and shook my head...Would wonders never cease? I thought...

''Alright ladies mind your business...Where are we eating today?"  I asked.

"I'm in a Mcdonald's kind of mood ." said Bonita...

Sepia looked at me...I shrugged my shoulders  -"Oh why not?" I said and the three of us walked down the boulevard towards Mickey Dees.

Winken,Blinken And Shot!

Robert Foxworth and I were enjoying a delicious New York Strip Steak and Baked potato at a nice bistro near his office a few days later and talking...

"Well Kev, how is the great investigation of one John Scurlock going?" he asked.

" He doesn't say much on the phone, but two suspicious looking guys have come by and he has given them an envelope stuffed with money...He doesn't talk in the office, so I don't know what he says to them.  He pretty much goes to the office...Goes to a bar, stops off at a strip club and goes home...Same routine everyday." I said.

"He married? Got any kids?" asked Robert.

"No...neither." I said.

"Well he's loaded...I put Chance and the new guy, Cole on all of that financial information you and your crew turned up....Lord Jesus man...He's been bleeding this company and two others he's involved in dry for close to five years...No wonder Lisa and Gary wanted to see the actual books....This guy is a mechanic the way he has changed the numbers around and moved things from different accounts to his private accounts...and he has several...in the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas...you name it... You got enough to get this guy a long stretch in a federal pen....The embezzlement, the tax evasion...the deception...You got it all Kev..." said Robert Foxworth..

''How about murder? I'm talking about three murders here possibly?" I said..

"Nothing here like that." he said-"But enough to take him off the street for up to 25 years at least." he added.

I poured some wine and pondered just what I could do.    I had located the former accounting company and talked in length with several people there about Scurlock....They all seemed frightened of him and wouldn't tell me much.

My android went off just then...It was Sepia...

"Hey Babe what's up?" I said.

"Kev...You'd better come home...It's important." she said.

''What are you doing home?" I asked ,but she hung up.

''Everything alright?" asked Robert Foxworth.

"No..it's not...Sepia drove to work this morning..she didn't say anything about going home....Call Kool Kat..tell him to meet me at my house...Tell him I said to park three blocks away...He'll know what I mean." I said.

"Oh okay Kev...You want me to come with you?" he asked...I smiled at my good friend...

"Nah Robert... Just call Kool Kat." I said.


II-

I drove up to my house.... I had a .22 in the small of my back, my .38 smokeless in my shoulder holster and another .22 strapped to my ankle under my left trouser leg.   I put my key in the door...Just then, a familiar looking man in a black trenchcoat and a big floppy hat put a pistol in my back...He took my .38 smokeless and then reached around and took my .22 out of the small of my back....

"Quiet..don't make any fuss...I might just get nervous and fire my gun." he said.  I noticed that he blinked a lot....

I said nothing...I walked inside and another man...His identical twin had a gun on Sepia...She was sitting on the couch looking scared. He kept winking..What was with all of this winking? Meanwhile his brother kept blinking...These two were creeping me out!

"What's this about?" I asked.

"I think you know...Mr. Kevin Morris, private investigator....You been askin too many questions..." said the one who kept blinking


"Kev...they walked up on me when I was at the market." said Sepia.

"Shut up." said the one who kept winking....Now I recognized them....by their clothing...They were the men from the video...The second set of guys who went inside the Hughes office and came out with plastic bags... and got in the old Ford Fairlaine.

I lunged at him, but the one with the gun on me who kept blinking cocked his pistol and said- "I wouldn't do that if I was you partner...No need in dying sooner than you have to." he said.

"But we are going to die ? You came here to kill us?" I said.

"Pretty much. but we want to know the location of the girl first" said the one who kept blinking.

"What girl?" I asked.

''Don't play dumb...We know the receptionist gave you some folders she took out of the office...Tell us where she is and get her over here..It'll go easier for you if you do....Otherwise..We'll have to torture you a little bit....I could start with your pretty wife and make you watch." said the one who blinked a lot.

"Just like you did Lisa and Gary Hughes? huh?" I asked.

"Yeah, just like we did them....Cause they asked too many questions." said the one who kept winking.

''And Brother you talk too much." said the blinking one...Obviously the leader and the smarter of the two.

"Hell, we gonna kill em anyway, what's it matter?" asked the one who winked.

"Yeah, you're right...but don't say anymore than you have to." his brother said and blinked.  This was getting on my nerves more than them having a gun drawn on me and my wife, I thought.

"Where is the girl?" asked the one who blinked a lot and had a gun trained on Sepia.

"I don't know..I told her to get gone...I didn't ask her where she was going." I said, which was the truth!

"Oh.....I see you're going to make this rough...maybe I should shoot you in the kneecap first..I heard that smarts." said the one who blinked a lot and had a gun trained on me.

"Hey the two of you ever consider going to an optometrist about that thing with your eyes?" I said.

Sepia giggled...The one that winked cocked his pistol and aimed it at Sepia's temple.

"SHUT UP!  OR I'LL BLAST BOTH OF YOU RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!" he yelled.

"Relax brother, don't let him rile you...We'll get our shot eventually." he said and blinked twice.

" Just like Gary and Lisa got their shots huh?. Did John Scurlock send you here?" I asked...

"There you go again...asking questions..." he said..

"Brother..I heard something..Somebody else is in here." said the one who winked.

"Anyone else live here?" he asked.

"No...Maybe we are being robbed." I said. Sepia laughed out loud this time..

"You  two got  smart mouths for two people who are about to die." he snapped..".Go sit down on that couch next to your wife..." he said ,Blinking.

I did as I was told.

"Somebody else is in here." said the one who winked a lot.

"You're hearing things.You got problems with your ears too...Damn..you guys are messed up" I said.

"SHUT UPPP!" he snapped...Sepia giggled , which seemed to enrage him even more.

"Brother stop letting him get into your head..ignore him ." said the one who blinked a lot...

"Yeah,listen to your brother..  Seriously though...I know a doc who could cure that problem you both have..For real." I said.

"WHYYY YOUUUUU!" screamed the one who winked ,before his brother calmed him down and looked at me sternly....

"You know Kevin...I'm gonna enjoy shooting you...and before I do..I'm gonna make you watch us both rape your pretty wife..Got anything smart to say now laughing boy?" he yelled.

"I think your brother is right, somebody is definitely in here..I heard something too.Oh and damn man, a Tic Tac wouldn't hurt...your breath is wicked." I said.

"Ohhhhh, you aint gonna make it out of this house alive smart guy." he said as they both looked out of the back window into our driveway.

While they were momentarily turning their attention elsewhere, I quietly unstrapped my .22...just in time for Kool Kat to appear in the kitchen!!!..He had come up from the back entrance...

He looked at me...I nodded. He aimed his .44 mag at the one who blinked a lot and fired...His gun was loud ! and the hole it made between the eyes of the man who blinked was huge!!!...He left his feet and fell against the wall and then slid down to the floor. He was dead before he hit the floor!

I pulled out my little .22 and fired two rounds at the man who winked a lot...One hit him in the side and the the second one hit him in the chest...he tossed his gun up in the air...and yelled -''Wooooouuuuuuuuuu..."like a woman!! Kool Kat watched him spin around like a top and couldn't hold back his laughter!

"AGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRHHHHHHHHHHHHH, I don't believe it..I've been shotttttt!" he screamed as he fell to the floor bleeding profusely....

I stood over him and smiled-

"Man...I sure wish you had of let me give you the address of that eye doctor....Oh well, you won't need it now." I said.

He spit blood and gurgled...."You ...You...You...you.....You go straight to hell..."

"Uhhh not before you do PARTNER!   I've sent a few people there...Give em my regards...Will you?" I said.

"I'm all shot to hell..." he muttered...Those were his last words in this life.........
He died right there on my living room floor! Eyes wide open!!

''Well, at least he aint winkin anymore." I mused

Kool Kat laughed...He grinned like a cheshire cat...I looked at him and I have to admit...I laughed too...I had been hanging around the big man too long. Sepia cracked up laughing....Here we had almost been killed and the three of us were laughing..This was a bizzarre day.

Kool kat untied Sepia...He shook his head-

"Why are they always so surprised when they get shot?" he laughed...

"I don't know..you'd have to ask someone else that." I said.."Thanks for the save man." I continued...

"No problem...I needed some practice anyway." he said.

"Sepia...call the police..." I said.

"What? You're gonna leave me here with two corpses?...Uh Uh..No you aint." she said.

"You got a point." I laughed.

Kool Kat laughed too and shook his head.

III-

Sepia, Kool Kat and I stood outside with Homicide Lt.Sissy Van Buren and several policemen and detectives as the bodies of the two gunmen identified as Fred ''Winky"Angel and Arthur "Blinky" Angel were carted away...

"Wow Kevin, you caught two big ones... Those two are high priced hitters...Suspects in close to 25 murders in Philly,Baltimore,D.C..." she said.

"Them?  They couldn't even see." I said.

"Don't let their affliction fool you...They are pretty efficient..We have never been able to get anything on them." she said.

"Yeah and now they are dead and I'll never find out what happened to the Hughes." I said.

"Oh well, win some ,lose some." she said "Let's pack it in boys." she said as they pulled off....Sure enough...The Ford Fairlaine was two blocks away....The police towed it.....

I held Sepia in my arms...Kool Kat stood there too......

"We ought to go pay Scurlock a visit Kev." he said.

"In time Big Man..In time...." I said.

(Conclusion Next)

Nadine

I poured myself a cup of coffee as I waited for John Scurlock to come out....He had a very modern office inside what had been a warehouse...Developers along the waterfront had gutted all of these old warehouses and turned them into condos and offices and tony restaraunts and bars....In fact this entire area..Once a fisherman's reef and full of dive bars and transients had been transformed into a tony playground for the up and coming.

It didn't take me long to recognize the Black receptionist who was sitting at the front desk...She was the same young woman who had had an appointment with Lisa and Gary Hughes the day I did..The same day they had gone missing... She had took one look at me and tried to hold her head down so that I wouldn't get a good look at her face.. I remembered her, but I didn't say a word.

John Scurlock was about 5'11 or 6 feet, a little pudgy....Middle aged and white...He had a fat face and a smile that was part Tony Soprano, part Curly of the three stooges...He came out, greeted me with a big smile and shook my hand...I walked back to his office and sat down..

"Mr. Uh Morris ,you said your name was...I don't believe I know you." he said.

"Uh you don't....I was hired to do some work for Mrs. Lisa Hughes last week...Only thing was..I went to her office and she wasn't there...Her purse, Her cell phone was there, but she wasn't...Her car is still in the lot but I never saw her...I even stopped by her house...She wasn't there... I uh stopped by her house and her husband's car was suddenly there and it wasn't before." I said looking him dead in the eye and not smiling.

"Hmmm..that does seem a bit strange....I-I-I-I, uh haven't heard from either of the Hughes in close to a week." he said.

''You don't think that's odd?" I asked.

"Well, the Hughes have been known to go on vacations at the drop of a hat...They are somewhat, uh,er...jet setters.." He said.

"I don't think Mrs. Hughes would leave her purse and cell phone and credit cards on her desk with her office door wide open if she were going on vacation." I said.

"How do you know her credit and debit cards were in her purse?" he asked.

"I took the liberty to look." I said.

''Oh....you took the uh liberty to look. You always take such liberties Mr. uh Morris?" he asked.

''When it suits my fancy." I said.  I could tell he was getting irritated.

"Just what kind of business or uh work were you supposed to be doing for the Hughes? They never mentioned you to me." he said.

"You might say I was doing some er independent consulting." I said.

"Independent consulting?" he asked.

"Yes." I replied..   "By the way....I was out at dinner with them the night before they went missing when you called and asked them to meet with you that day..." I said.

''When I called?" he asked , seeming surprised.... "I never called them." he said.  

"You called Mr. Hughes....I was there when he told his wife that you wanted to meet at 8:00 in the morning." I said.

"Not me...I never called them...Not Gary, and not Lisa." he said.

"He said that you had some new figures to show them....Mrs. Hughes had wanted to look at your books." I said.

"What is your name again?" he asked.

"Kevin. Kevin Morris." I said.

"Well Mr. Morris..Unfortunately, I don't have anymore time to talk to you...If I were you I wouldn't worry about Mr. and Mrs. Hughes anymore... I haven't heard from them...But I'm certain that they won't be needing your services." he said.

"Where are they?" I asked.

"Uh Mr. Morris..don't ask too many questions like that....You might find out and maybe...just maybe you don't want to find out." he said.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked...

"Good Day Mr. Morris...Nadine...see Mr. Morris out." he said and just like that..He got up and walked away,like I wasn't there.   I was flabbergasted....

The Black receptionist motioned me to the door...And I walked out....She took her finger and poked me in the back...She motioned for me to be silent...

"I think I can help you...Meet me around the corner at the cantina in about two hours when I go to lunch...My name is Nadine." she said.  I nodded and walked out.... She had told me that it was Vernita just a week ago...I wondered what her game was?  I guess I would have to play to find out.

As I walked to my car, I looked up and saw John Scurlock looking out his window...As soon as he realized that I saw him..he closed his curtain.

II-

Two and a half hours later...Nadine, a cute twenty something African-American woman slipped into the small waterfront cantina and sat across from me...She passed me two folders....

"I take it your name is not Vernita." I said, remembering the name she originally gave me when I saw her at the Hughes's office the day they went missing.

"That's my middle name...I couldn't use my first name or my last...It was me that called Gary Hughes that night when you were all out eating....He couldn't mention my name in public ,so he told his wife that Scurlock wanted to meet with her...I'm sure he explained to her afterword that it was me." she said.

"What are these?" I asked...

"These are files..This is what I had come by the office to give her .These are the latest figures...Sales figures from Mr. and  Mrs. Hughes business...I had been slipping them to them for months....He's been feeding them a bunch of baloney...He's got phony books..but he keeps the real books in the back in a safe....I can't get to them...but I know he has been laundering money into an offshore account for two years now...The guy that used to own the business before the Hughes did,..a Mitchell Humphrey figured it out...and he wound up missing...They found his body in a steel drum down in Miami, about a year later...I fear that the same thing has happened to the Hughes....Miss Lisa was suspicious of him from day one...That's why she fired the accounting firm that used to be here..She wanted to view the books...but he had been giving her the runaround....That's why she hired you." said Nadine.

"You know who I am?" I asked.

"I did my homework....Yeah..I know that you write for a magazine and that you're a private investigator on the side." said Nadine.

"You're good girl..You could be a private investigator yourself..." I said with a smile. She smiled too!

''How long have you been a mole for the Hughes?" I asked.

"Ms. Lisa hired me and told Scurlock to let me work there...but all along it was to watch and listen and give her information about what was going on....But she realized that what she really needed called for someone more suited for this type of thing...That's why she hired you...Plus we both suspected that he was getting suspicious and so Ms. Lisa wanted to take the heat off of me." said Nadine.

"Look..I can give you the layout of the place....and a pass key to get in....but you have to get in and out fast." she said.

"Okay...Look...I'll look over these files...This is my address....Drop the pass key off tonight...I'll handle the rest." I said.

"Thank you Kevin....I just want to get that bastard back for what he did to Miss Lisa and Mr. Gary" she said.

"Nadine!" I said.

"Yes." she replied.

"You think Gary and Lisa are dead?" I asked.

"You don't?"   It's been a week Mr. Kevin...They haven't been heard from...They aren't going to be heard from." she said.

III-

That night....We waited for John Scurlock to leave his office....(I had already placed a GPS Unit under his car.)  I had  recruited Paris, Blake,Harry Charles and Owen Todd to follow him in rental cars and to communicate with Kool Kat and Clerow by cell phone....Using the pass key, Peeping Tom, Lockpick Johnson, Myself, Chance Howard, Sean Jackson and Nadine entered the office...Peeping Tom and Sean Jackson wired the office for sound and video...Lockpick Johnson cracked the safe...Nadine and I used the Xerox Machine to xerox all of the records kept in the books...We replaced the real books in the safe with our phony books and carried three carts of his actual books out of the office and into our van...

Peeping Tom copied the hard drives of all of the computers in his office also. All in all, our operation took close to 90 minutes... We made sure that the office was wiped clean of fingerprints and looked exactly like it did when we arrived...

Peeping Tom,Sean Jackson  and Lockpick Johnson packed everything into the van...

"Thanks Guys...Chance will know what to look for....Chance..Take those books to Robert." I said.

''I'm on it Kev." he said and he pulled off... The van pulled off too.

That left me, Kool Kat ,Clerow and Nadine.

"Thanks for your help Nadine....Now I want you to call out sick for the next two or three days okay." I said.

"What?" she asked.

"I want you to be safe...You got any cousins or girlfriends you can stay with?" I asked.

''Sure" she said.

"Good, Clerow will take you to your home...Pack a few things and go stay with your friends or relatives...I'll do what I can to take care of Mr. Scurlock." I said.

"Thank you Kevin." she said and kissed me on the cheek.

"No..Thank you Nadine. I could have never have gotten all of this information without your help." I said.  She got in the car with Clerow and drove off....

That left me and Kool Kat...

"Wow we put a full court press on this cat Kev." said Kool Kat.

"Yeah....I suspect there is more to him than we know." I said.

(TO BE CONTINUED...)

No Show

I hated missing persons cases...Nine times out of ten , the people who are missing are dead and that winds up being a whole nother basket of worms...and one percent of the time...the people are missing because they want to be missing or they were kidnapped.

I didn't say it around my wife Sepia or Robert and Bonita...but my thinking was that either Gary and Lisa Hughes were kidnapped and being held for ransom or they were dead. I was thinking one or both of them were dead.

Their office was unlocked, unattended to....Lisa's purse ,full of credit and debit cards and about $800.00 in cash was on her desk....Her cell phone was on the table...and her car was in the parking lot!!   At their house, nothing was disturbed...All of their personal effects...Except for Gary's Lexus! was in place, nothing disturbed and again...The door was opened...

Just didn't look right.. These two were prompt and precise ..Always made their appointments, always on time..Everybody that knew them personally who I talked to and I'd talked to close to 200 people in the two days since the Hughes went missing said the same thing.  That they would have never just left and left their doors open and all of their things out in the open like this...

I took Clerow , Owen Todd and Chance Howard back to the Hughes office and we went over it with a fine tooth comb...I found client lists....Future appointments..The whole works...The four of us divided up the lists and interviewed close to 75 people within the next day....We found out nothing...,

I talked to people in the general vicinity and in their neighborhood....One lady was up at around 4:30 in the morning...She had had company and her company was leaving...She remembered seeing a man getting into Gary's Lexus and pulling off...She said that she didn't get a good look at his face, but that she could tell by his build that it wasn't Gary , who was tall and athletic...She didn't recall seeing Lisa at all...

Peeping Tom and Lockpick Johnson took both of their home computers and their laptops and was doing a forensic investigation of the computers...He said that he would call me when he got something...Another search of their office turned up nothing.

With the help of the building supervisor....I got to look at the video surveilience of the entire area....And here it was..Something of interest!

I saw Gary's Car driving and parking in the lot at 5:35 am....on the morning the Hughes went missing.  On The tape ,I see Gary and Lisa getting out of the car and going into their office, There is clearly someone with them, but I can't make out his face...He is wearing huge shades and a black trenchcoat....I keep watching..and watching watching....I never see Gary or Lisa leave, but I see the man in the trenchcoat leaving and driving off in Gary's Lexus.....About an hour later I see another car pull up...and old Ford Fairlane, like the one my father used to drive.

Two different men get out and walk in...One has a cup of coffee..The other has a box with what looks like cleaning supplies...A little while later they both come out carrying a huge trash bag each or is that a body bag?  It is huge and it's tied up...They put the bag in the trunk of their car...They go back in, and come out with another bag and put that in the trunk of their car.. One guy goes back in and gets the cleaning supplies and gets back in the car and pulls off.  That's it.


I inquire about a night watchman!!  I was told that he goes off duty at 3:00 am and that his replacement doesn't come on until 6:00 am and on this morning, his replacement was late...Didn't come on until 6:20 am.  Which gave these guys time to come in and go God knows where and do God knows what.  I don't know where these guys went when they entered the building.

What I did know was that Lisa and Gary came here with another man and walked into this building and never left!!!!!  Since this was early in the morning, There was no one to witness anything.

I questioned shop owners along the route to the office...I was wondering if anybody fitting any of the descriptions I had stopped for coffee, cigarettes , anything...Nobody remembered anything. Chance and I looked at hours of videotape..and we found nothing!

Lisa and Gary and whoever had walked into their office and vanished into thin air!!!

II-

Later on, Owen, Clerow, Chance Howard and Lockpick Johnson all met up at Peeping Tom's house.

"Kevin...The hard drives on all of these computers have been wiped clean....It's as if they are brand new..." he said.

"You didn't find anything?" I asked.

"Nope...and I should have found something...Personal emails...something...All wiped clean.." he said.

"Somebody was either looking for something or trying to keep anybody from finding anything." I said.

''So they disapeared em right?" said Owen Todd.

"Yup...Even the appointment book I did find had the day they went missing's appointments ripped out of the book." I said.

"But they was only supposed to meet with you right boss?" said Clerow...

"No...Bonita and Sepia was supposed to show them a house earlier, but they never made the appointment." I said.

"That it? Were they supposed to be anywhere else?" asked Chance Howard...

And then I remembered something...Something about our dinner-

Just then Gary's Android rang....He looked at us...


"I've got to take this ...excuse me." he said and got up and walked towards the restroom.


We all continued to laugh and talk and eat....Gary came in after a little while and said to Lisa...


"Well you talked Scurlock up...He would like to meet with both of us first thing in the morning." he said.


''About what?"asked Lisa.

"He said he has some new figures to show us..." he replied...

"I'll bet...You go see him...I'm going to meet with Sepia and Bonita." she said.


"He insists on the both of us being there." said Gary...

"Ohhh, okay...We might be a little late girls...but we'll be there." she said.

"SCURLOCK!!!" I said.

"Who?" asked Clerow,Owen and Chance in unison....

"The reason they hired me in the first place...They wanted me to investigate their partner, who they didn't trust..A John Scurlock....They wanted me to look at their books.He's the one person I didn't talk to...." I said.

III-

Later on that afternoon, I picked Sepia up after work...We were driving through the city, talking...

"Your car will be out of the shop tomorrow won't it?" I said.

"Yup..and you won't have to pick me up anymore." she laughed...

"Oh I don't mind." I said ,smiling...

Just on a hunch...I decided to drive past Lisa and Gary's house... I am glad I did.

"Sepia...Do you see what I see?" I said.

"Oh My God!" she said...

It was Gary's Lexus!

It was parked right out front...I got out of the car, walked up to the house....The door was locked!!! It hadn't been before....I checked the car...It was locked and the keys were lying on the front seat!!!   It had been two days since the Hughes had gone missing....Lisa's car was at the office and now Gary's car was in front of the house and the door was locked... Somebody had been here!  But who ???and better yet!  WHY?


(TO BE CONTINUED.....)

Such A Cute Couple

Gary and Lisa Hughes was the perfect example of a young black and urban power couple....They met while in Howard University Law School....They married and then both went their seperate ways for awhile...Lisa came back to her native Philadelphia and earned a MBA at Wharton to go with her J.D. and Gary went to Harvard to get his MBA...They ran into each other by chance at my good friends, Attorney ,Robert Foxworth and Bonita Turner's wedding and they began their torrid love affair all over and got married themselves shortly thereafter...

They both did well in the world of corporate law , but longed to go in business for themselves...They took on a partner named John Scurlock and they bought a Yacht Rental company....The company was about to go into receivership when they bailed it out and bought it with Scurlock's help nearly two years ago....They were the only black owned Yacht rental company at Penn's Landing ,here in Philadelphia...

"They're such a cute couple." marveled my wife, Sepia as we sat down at the table with the Hughes and Robert Foxworth and Bonita Turner at Bottom of The C. where we were invited to dine with them....I felt a little out of my league...I was a writer/editor of a magazine and sometime private investigator at dinner with a bunch of lawyers and real estate people...

"Hey Kev...How's it going?" said Robert Foxworth as Sepia and I seated ourselves....

"We are doing just fine." I said..

"Kev, Sepia...This is Gary and Lisa Hughes.....Friends of ours...I knew them both when I was in law school." said Robert.

"Yes...Small world that it is..Sepia and I sold these two a house." said Bonita... Sepia smiled in agreement...So this was the connection eh?  I just smiled...I wondered why I was being made to go out to dinner on an afternoon when I would have rather of just sat around my house in my underwear.

"I understand you two just celebrated an anniversary?" said Lisa Hughes.

"Yes we did ...we spent a week in Atlantic City." said Sepia...

"Oh wow...sounds nice." said  Gary Hughes....I wondered if he really meant that...I was sure that he and his wife vacationed in Paris or some private island....I mused to myself.

"Next year...you have to take one of our short cruises....I was at Josies talking to Mr. Gus, I believe his name was and I was inquiring about us doing a summer Jazz Brunch cruise...From here to Baltimore, with all of the artists that perform there at his establishment and with Ms. Mabel Jenkins and her fine staff doing the catering..." he said...Now my imagination was peaked...That was a good idea...I thought.

Just then, Ralph Scallion and his daughter and two waiters bought our food and drinks to our table....The food smelled great and the steam was coming off of the top of the dishes...

''Everything smells delicious." said my wife, Sepia..

''Compliments of the chef, who would be me." said Ralph....I laughed...So did Robert....Sepia smiled...but Bonita looked down toward the floor....Her brief affair with Ralph, right before she and Robert got married was still a thing of uncomfortableness between the two of them.  Robert however had seemed to have gotten over it and moved on.

We began to eat and as these things go...people are usually quiet when they are eating and the food is good...
I looked up and I saw Lisa eying me..I smiled and she smiled...I wondered what that was about...

''Uh Kevin...I hear that you're an investigator of sorts.." she said.

''Uh Lisa...we are eating dinner, let's not talk business"said her husband Gary..

"Oh...I just need a little professional advice." she said shushing him and turning her attention to me again..

''Why do you ask?" I said , not really wanting to know...I had just finished a big case..that wasn't a case I thought.

''Well...This company, which should have been profitable was nearly in receivership when we bought it...We have hosted several big boat rides and cruises...Oh , The Kappas, The Ques...The Deltas, The AKA's, The Masons, Church groups....you get it and they have had huge crowds and have paid us a lot of money...Our overhead is not that high and yet we are still losing money...." she said.

"Oh?" I said.

''Yes...I let the previous accounting company go and began looking at the books myself and let's say ..I saw some things that didn't look right....Then mysteriously...the books vanished!!! I asked our business partner Mr. Scurlock for certain things and he would tell me either that he would get them or that he would let me see , but he hasn't as of yet and we are still bleeding money." she said.

''So you don't trust him?" I asked.

"Lisa" said Gary.

"Did I say that?" she laughed coyly...

"You wouldn't be talking to me if you did." I said.

Lisa paused...She looked at me with a flirtatious grin and smiled.

"Sepia...I know this husband of yours must be thrilling in bed...just full of surprises." she said.

Bonita,Sepia and Robert's mouths dropped...

"Lisa!" snapped Gary...

''Oh Hush up...she knows what I mean...He's a right to the point...No Nonsense kind of guy..I know he turns her on...He turns me on..."she said.....To my surprise...Sepia laughed...and Lisa laughed too...a kind of conspiratorial laugh...

"I want to hire you to investigate Mr. Spurlock...I'll be grateful for anything you can find...Stop down to our office tomorrow...I'll fill you in on the particulars." she said.

"Oh...There is the matter of my fee." I said.

She pointed at me...and laughed..."Ouuuu..I like that about you Mr. Kevin...Name your fee...I'll pay....I don't trust this guy and I think he's possibly embezzling our profits." she said.

"More than likely." I replied...

She looked at Sepia....then she winked...

"He's a keeper gurlll."

Sepia nodded and we all continued eating.

"Oh Lisa..Don't forget...You and Gary have a meeting with us also tomorrow to look at a new property you guys said you might be interested in." said Bonita...

"Oh yeah....We are meeting you at 10:00 am sharp right?" she said.

"Okay..So Kevin, How about we meet at two?" she said.

''Sure thing." I said.

Just then Gary's Android rang....He looked at us...

"I've got to take this ...excuse me." he said and got up and walked towards the restroom.

We all continued to laugh and talk and eat....Gary came in after a little while and said to Lisa...

"Well you talked Scurlock up...He would like to meet with both of us first thing in the morning." he said.

''About what?"asked Lisa.

"He said he has some new figures to show us..." he replied...

"I'll bet...You go see him...I'm going to meet with Sepia and Bonita." she said.

"He insists on the both of us being there." said Gary...

"Ohhh, okay...We might be a little late girls...but we'll be there." she said.

II-

2:00 pm the next day, Clerow and I drove up to the Hughes's Office...Lisa's 2012 custom BMW was in the parking lot...It had her initials engraved on the side.  We walked up to their plush office...The door was open, but I rang the bell anyway.  Nobody answered!  I opened the door and Clerow and I walked in...There was a receptionist's desk at the front, but no one was at the desk...I looked out the window..Gary's car was nowhere in sight...There were papers on Lisa and Gary's desks..Invoices...Registrations, Maps, what not...Lisa's cell phone was there, so was her purse....

"If her cell phone is here and her purse , then she couldn't be far boss." said Clerow..

"What woman you know goes anywhere without her purse and her cell phone?" I asked.

"Maybe she went to the bathroom." he remarked...

I pointed to the restroom in the office...The door was open..

"Oh....Well her car is in the lot...She must be close by." He said.

We sat and we waited....Clerow fell asleep...soon he was snoring....I looked up at the clock..It was now 3:30 and there was no sign of either of them!

"Hey.  Heyy Clerow..Wake up." I said.

"Huh? What's up?" he said.

"They never showed up." I said.

Just then, we heard the door open and a young Black woman in her early twenties came in....

"Heyy, who are you?" she asked.

"We had an appointment with Gary and Lisa Hughes..only they never showed up." I said.

"Yeah..Me too...I called them both three or four times this morning to confirm and they never answered their phones...It's odd that neither of them answered she said.

''Let me call my wife...They might still be with them." I said and I called Sepia.

"Hey Kev...Is Lisa and Gary there with you?" asked Sepia.

"Funny...I called to ask you if they were still in the meeting with you and Bonita." I asked.

"They never showed up...We waited as long as we could...but we had another couple that wanted to see the house too...After we came back Bonita called both of them and neither of them answered their phones.." she said.

"Well I'm at their office now...I've been here since two....Her purse and her cell phone is here and her car is in the parking lot, but there is no sign of her or anybody else in this office." I said.

"Hmmm, that's strange." said Sepia.

The three of us left the Suite....I called Gary and Lisa's home phone...It went straight to voicemail!  Equally odd.

"Well,I've got to be going...If you should see either of them...Tell them that Vernita came by...I was their 3:30 appointment." said the woman who got in her car and pulled off.

"This don't look good Boss." said Clerow.

''Sure doesn't." I said.

Clerow and I drove to the Hughes home...Maybe they were there I thought, but as soon as we pulled up, I got a bad feeling in my stomach..Robert Foxworth, Chance Howard, Bonita and my wife Sepia were out front....

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"Lookin for Lisa and Gary....Bonita called me and told me that you told Sepia that they weren't at their office,So Chance and I picked them up and drove by here..." said Robert Foxworth...

"We've been inside Kev..The door was open....Everything is as they left it...It looks like they are still there,like if they did leave, it was just to go down the street...Beds made..Kitchen clean as a wink...Bathroom clean...Clothes in closet...but no sign of them..." said Chance Howard...

"This isn't like them at all Kevin..Lisa was miss prompt..She got on me for being two minutes late for one of our meetings."said Bonita..

"Well they aren't in their office and they aren't here...Were they supposed to be anywhere else today?" I asked..."Oh and where is Gary's car?" I asked.

Gary drove a silver 2012 Lexus with his initials engraved on the side.

"No sign of his car at all." said Sepia.

Robert ,Clerow, Chance,Bonita,Sepia and I went back through the house and we found an address book...We also found an appointment book...It had all of their appointments in it up to today...That page had been torn out...

I looked at Clerow....

''Something is bad about this Clerow...Real ,real bad." I said.

(TO BE CONTINUED.....)

A Reversal Of Fortunes

The next morning, Sepia and I had breakfast and then walked off of the Boardwalk , about two blocks to the shopping center...We went to the Coach Store, where Sepia bought herself a Coach bag.....We went to another store where Sepia bought me a very expensive Movado Watch...We went to the bar and had Mimosas and then even though it was January and very cold..We went out on the Beach....Just watching the waves....

"Kevin, before I dozed off last night...I thought you said something about knowing who killed that guy?" asked my wife.

"Oh I do.." I said...

''You said you knew who one of the killers was?" she asked.

''Yeah...I know who actually did the killing...and I have a theory as to who put the person up to it?" I said.

"You think it was Eric?" she asked as the cold waves rolled upon the sand....

"Nah...Nahhh...Not him...The man owed him money and he was doing a favor for someone in Philly who I know he wouldn't cross....It wasn't him...and besides...that's not his style...Not how someone like him goes about their business....No...I knew it wasn't Eric "Shark Dollars" Redding the moment I saw his hands and the moment he told me that he got paid two days ago." I said.

"You think it was Lola then right? You haven't seen her hands." said Sepia.

''I don't need to....One, I don't think she'd have the strength to lift what I think is the murder weapon or the motivation to do it.." I said smiling.

"Contract hit from somewhere else?" she asked.

"Too sloppy...A contract hit would've been neat and clean...this killer left too many clues behind. It was almost too easy to figure this one out." I said.

''Well you sure don't sound too enthusiastic about bringing this to a close." she said.

"Bringing what to a close? , I'm not working a case..remember...I'm here with you celebrating our fourth wedding anniversary remember?" I said as I kissed her passionately....

"Ohhh Kevin." she said as we embraced and kissed there by the cold waves blowing up on the beach.


II-

As we got off the elevator and headed back to our room...I looked at Sepia knowingly..She smiled....The door to Mambo's room was open...Someone was inside rumaging around..We kept the door to our room cracked and we looked down the hall...A male figure crept down the hall and slipped into the room....

"What are YOU doing here?" came a female voice...

"I might want to ask you the same thing, except that I know...You probably lookin for your drawers." came the male voice...

"Forget you." snapped the female voice...

I motioned to Sepia to pass me a small box and she and I began walking towards the room..

"What do you care what I'm doing here?" came the female voice...

"I don't care...just get what you came for and get out." said the male voice...

"What did YOU come in here for?" asked the female voice..

"He's probably looking for this Lola!" I said as Sepia and I entered the room and I pulled out the heavy wooden sculpture..


"KEVIN...What are you doing here?" asked a startled Dutchie....

I just shook my head in disgust...

"Dutchie....why did you do it? Why didn't you let me help you? I had 50G's in my pocket that night that I was gonna give you to help you pay your debt to Shark Dollars..." I said.

''Aww Kev...I couldn't take your money like that...." said Dutchie....

"I did some checking....You told Shark Dollars that you had $50G's in the bank...You are in debt up to your neck yourself....You don't have fifty dollars in the bank that's not owed..Yet you paid Eric your debt and then some....How'd you get so flush all of a sudden Dutch?" I asked....

"I think you know the answer to that Kevin." came another voice.....Lola, Sepia and I turned around....Only I wasn't surprised by the voice I was hearing...I already knew who it was...

"Well , the last player in the game shows up...Hello Brad, How are you doing?" I said.

"Brad..What are you doing here?" asked Lola...

"I'll fill in the blanks" I said.   "Brad here paid Dutch to kill Mambo....You and Dutch were the only people he allowed in his room....They waited until you left his room that night...See, they like my wife and me heard how much you enjoyed your uh visit and they waited for you to leave....Dutchie killed Mambo and He and Brad snuck the body down the backsteps...It was 4:00 in the morning...No one was on the streets...They left it in back of the Casino until they were ready for it to be found hours later....Then Brad paid Dutch enough money to pay his debts off and to square himself with Shark Dollars...I imagine it was a big weight off of his shoulders." I said.

Brad laughed , cocked his .45 and motioned all of us to the side of the room...

''Yup, that's about it...and now, I can't allow any of you to leave here with that knowledge..." he said.."I love my wife...but she didn't love me...I couldn't bare for that bastard to be humpin my wife...I paid to have him killed..Damn Skippy I did..and I'd do it again." he snapped...

''Oh Brad...You did that for me?" said Lola.

"Yes Baby...I did it all for you." he said, his eyes tearing up...

"You FOOL!!!!...You pathetic old ,old mannnnnnn....You should have killed yourself...You could never give me what Mambo gave me." she snarled...

"Well guess what, gold digger?  That's the last time you insult me...The Last time you break my heart!...." he said and to our horror he aimed the gun at Lola and fired once hitting her in her right temple and killing her instantly...Then he put the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, blowing the back of his head out... I covered Sepia's face....

"Oh Lord." said Dutchie......As he looked at the two dead bodies lying on the carpet which was turning a dark shade of red .....

A crowd of people gathered in the hallway.... I told someone to call the police......

''Damn Kev...I'm done." said Dutchie...

"No....When the police get here...You'll explain that this was a love triangle gone bad....Her husband caught her coming back to this room to search for more of her missing underwear, which she didn't want found.....Brad killed Lola and  then he killed himself as we all witnessed  and more than likely he killed Mambo Norton...His romantic rival." I said.   "You got that?" I said as Sepia looked on...

"But Kev...The cops already took her panties and bra for evidence...along with that Aligator." He said.

"Yeah,hahahaa..I know...This is a nice model isn't it?   And she'd been in his room so many times, she didn't know if she'd actually left more of her  drawers here or not...I was counting on that." I laughed.

"That was you that called me, told me the alligator was here wasn't it?" he asked.

''Nah..Not me ...Somebody ,I duked a little cash to and asked to do me a favor.  Lola here got a  call too..Telling her to get that stuff out of the room to keep from incriminating herself more....The police were supposed to be here...Guess they got stuck in traffic." I said.

"Brad too? He got a call?" asked Dutchie.

"Yup, telling him he'd catch his wife in this room...Only, I didn't count on him packing heat and killing her and himself." I said.

"He was crazy bout that girl." said Dutch.

'' Yeah,apparently!" I said.

"So this means...You mean, you're letting me go?" he said.

"Lucky for you,I'm not a cop......You  just stick to that story Dutchie.....Your debts are paid off, you're free and clear..Look at this as a clean slate for you, a reversal of fortunes." I said.

"I don't know how to thank you Kev." said Dutchie...

"Just don't call me for a few hours....My wife and I are going back to our room...We don't wish to be disturbed." I said and We left.

EPILOUGE:

The police came and retrieved the bodies of Brad and Lola...Dutch stuck to the story I gave him and Brad was officially charged post humously of the murder of his estranged wife, Lola and his romantic rival, Mambo Norton...The case was closed...The newspapers were humming of course, but that was the end of it...

Dutchie joined Gamblers anonymous and presently lives in Philadelphia , debt free....he still works for Fathead Newton though!

It rained on the day that Sepia and I were supposed to leave so we asked Eric "Shark Dollars" Redding if we could stay two extra days...He more than readily agreed!...It was raining outside....but we had no problem just relaxing in our suite, lying across the bed....

''Kevin...guess what?"  said my wife, Sepia..

''What?" I said.

"You know that $ 100G's I won a few days ago..?" she said sheepishly...

"Yeah" I said.

"Well most of it is gone." she said.

"Gone?" I asked.

"Yeah..I tried to win some more money and I guess my luck ran out...I gave you 50G's, We bought stuff and I lost the rest.." she said.

''What about the $75G's you won the first night?" I said.

''Lost most of that too...I went somewhere else...lost bad. I'm sorry lover." she said.

"Well...I guess you learned an important lesson about gambling huh?" I said.

"Yeah, quit while you're ahead." she said.

''Yeah..Win some , lose some...It's not so bad...We are staying here for free.....and it's not like we had that dough when we got here...but I do have some good news." I said.

"What's that?" she asked.

"I never did give Dutchie those 50G's you gave me to give to him...so we still have that!" I said.

"We do?" she said.

"Yup...So we are coming home with something after all." I said.

She leaned over and kissed me for a long time....

"Kevin?"  she asked.

"Yeah baby?" I said.

"Next anniversary, let's go to Vegas...I'm certain we won't run into anybody you know out there." she laughed.

''You never know." I said and we both laughed at that.