What Is Done In The Dark

Homicide Lt. Sissy Van Buren and I sat in the Medical Examiner's Office drinking two large tumblers of coffee and talking..

"Kevin, those four bottles of Profoful you found in the waste basket at John and Conchita's home didn't have any fingerprints on them at all...but the needle had blood on it...Enough for us to get a DNA sample....It's John's blood." she said.

"Hmmm, so that proves nothing huh?" I asked...

"Only that it looks suspicious that those bottles were in the waste basket...That stuff is not supposed to be for public consumption." she said.

Just then, Dr. Faustus walked out into the foyer..He looked at both of us and winced...

"You know...I did a preliminary autopsy yesterday and everything looked normal ,like this guy died of natural causes..I was going to sew him up and call it a day..Until your guy here brought these bottles of pro to me...Then I took another look...I found a pin prick..a small puncture mark under his armpit....and then we did a tox report...Found enough propoful in his system to drop a horse...  He was a healthy guy....No way he should have gone into cardiac arrest...He was helped out of this world Sissy." he said.

"So this is a homicide?" she asked..

"Yes indeed...No way any anesthesiologist would have given any patient this much pro...This was criminally administered.....And whoever did this , did this well..Almost got away with it...Their mistake was leaving the bottles behind." he said.

Sissy looked at me..I went in my pocket and pulled out "exhibit B"

"What's this?" she asked.

"It's a bill of sales from West Philly Locksmith.....It's a duplicate of the house keys for John and Conchita's house....I know for a fact that Bonita Foxworth gave the keys to Dale Evans for him to give to Conchita....I have an eyewitness who saw him having a duplicate key made and he made another mistake....He used his debit card to pay for the keys being made." I said.

"And all this means what?" she asked.

"That's how he got in the house...He didn't break in..He let himself in....No telling how long he had been hidden in their house , waiting for Conchita to leave....John was probably asleep and he slipped into his bedroom and injected him, then let himself out and locked the doors." I said.

"Well Kevin, this is very slim, but enough to get a warrant...." she said.

"Dale Evans hired me to investigate Conchita, before I knew who she was or her relationship to my wife...just weeks before....I told him that there was another man in the picture...He didn't take that well..When they came over my house...and she announced that she was getting engaged..He didn't take it well at all...I'll testify to that." I said.

"So this was a romantic rivalry?" she asked.

"Nah...Only in his mind...She told him she was seeing another man..." I said.

"And nothing went down between them? Sounds like he had a reason to believe that he was being shortchanged." said Sissy...

"Nah..I think he is delusional." I said.

"Does your wife know that you were working for Dale?" asked Sissy.

"She does now...I sat both her and Conchita down and told them all about me working for him and investigating Conchita before I knew their relationship...." I said.

"How did they take it?" she asked.

''They good with it..Neither of them blames me for this." I said.

"A lot of people would have kept that a sceret." she mused.

"I don't keep secrets from my wife and I wanted everything out in the open." I said.

"You're a good man Kevin Morris...You're the kind of man I wished I'd of been married to." she said, flashing that sexy grin of hers....I smiled and continued to sip my coffee.

II-

I drove by Conchita's House....Just as I was getting out of the car, I saw Owen Todd leaving the house....

"Oh Owen , this was sooo kind of you.." said Conchita..

"Don't mention it doll...Anything you need...anything, you feel free to call me.." said Owen Todd...

"I certainly will." said Conchita...

Owen Todd walked past me and smiled sheepishly...

"Oh..Hey Kev." he laughed.

"Hey man." I said as I walked inside...

My wife Sepia was there..... On the table was two huge tumblers of hot coffee and a box of a dozen Krispy Kreme Doughnuts....

"Heyyy Lover..Wasn't this nice of Owen? He brought Conchita and me coffee and doughnuts and look at that bouquet of flowers he sent?" she gushed.

"And Walter Jones sent me that bouquet of flowers over there." said Conchita.  Sepia just hung her head and smiled wryly at the mention of Kool Kat's name.

"Yeah..Yeah...That sure was....nice of them." I said... My goodness, John was still in the morgue, funeral arrangements hadn't been made yet and Kool Kat and Owen Todd were putting the moves on her...Mannnn!  I thought.

"So what did you find out ?" asked Conchita....

"It was murder....John was injected with enough profoful to kill a horse, the ME said...Somebody was in this house or came in this house after you left and injected John in his sleep...He was dead within a half an hour...." I said.

"Oh my God....Oh my Godddddd, Johnnnnnnnnnnn...." said Conchita as she began to sob....

I felt bad....Sepia walked over to me, put her arms around me.....

"If it makes you feel any better...Clerow, Owen Todd and I have gone door to door asking anybody if they saw anything...We've talked to thirty people..No one saw anybody enter your house...but we are still looking...I've got a receipt from the locksmith and a witness who saw Dale have your housekey duplicated.. and I gave it to the police...A warrant has been issued for his arrest." I said.

"Ohhhh, I can't beleive Dale would do this....I can't believe it..We had an understanding." she said.

''An understanding? What are you talking about?" asked my wife Sepia...Taking the words out of my mouth...

"I mean..We were just friends..He just took things too far." she said.

"Took what too far?" I asked.

"At first I thought he was just being nice....He'd always remember my birthday..send me a card....Send me flowers just because....If I was having a stressful day, He'd buy me coffee and a muffin or a bagel.....When I didn't have a man, he was great to hang out with..We went to movies....He didn't mind going to chick flicks,We'd sit up all hours just talking..We'd got to breakfast, lunch..sometimes dinner....He was just a real nice guy." she said, still sobbing..

"And somehow he got the idea that there was more right?  Well I could see that...You were together a lot." I said.

"No Kevin..Sepia..There's more..Something I didn't tell you." she said.

"Oh Conchita no." said Sepia...

"I was seeing this guy named Claxton for awhile...We broke up...I was devestated..So I called Dale...He came over with some wine...We killed the whole bottle and he held me in his arms..Told me that everything was going to be alright...Well, The Ojays was playing on the ipod dock...and the wine and next thing I know...My clothes was off and Dale and I were making love on the couch....Not once..but about seven times in that one night...And it was good...Dale was a very warm and loving man.....I should have never gone there with him....but I did....And then there were a few other times...When I was just feeling lonely...I'd call Dale and he'd come over and you know warm my buns for me....But then I stopped...I told him no more...That I couldn't do this with him anymore because I didn't see him like that..He was my friend...My brother..That was about a year ago....He never got over it.....That was around the time I started seeing John." she said.


"So that was all an act at my house right?" I said.

"Yeah." she confessed.

"You know...He never mentioned your sex life , the entire time I was in his employ..Just that he loved you and he was sure there was another man in the picture...He didn't know did he?" I asked.

"No...Well, he had a feeling,but he didn't have a name." said Conchita..She frowned-"Dale,always the gentleman."

"Yeah....He was good like that." I smirked.

Sepia and I left and drove home.... After I took her home...I got in my car and drove to Philadelphia Homicide....

Sissy was standing on the rooftop of her building..She passed me a cup of coffee as I approached...

"Sissy, you were right...There was something more between them...It seems they had a sexual relationship the year before....She broke it off, but he apparently didn't take that too well." I said.

"I knew it was.." she said.

"How did you know?" I asked.

"I'm a woman...I know these things." she said with a smile...

I sipped my coffee.... Indeed!

(CONCLUSION NEXT!)