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....
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..
"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.
3 comments:
Another great story Keith..I figured out it was Dutchie who did the killing..but having Brad be the mastermind totally slipped by me.
Can't believe I'm just now commenting. I figured Brad had something to do with this..It was obvious..The man was screwing his wife. No surprise there, but surprised at the way things escalated into shocking horrible violence in the end..Wow~!
Story started out very nice and tame and then you brought it to a horrifying climax..(The Murder-Suicide) but it was the phony alibi Kevin supplied Dutchie that really surprised me. This explains why Kevin could not be a cop...If Kevin was a cop he would have had to arrest Dutchie, who I am assuming was a close friend..This way, he didn't..He does work better outside of the law..He was right to turn down Sissy's offer.
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