Who Do You Trust?

I loved Robert Foxworth's office...It was comfortable...more comfortable than my own office and a great place to do research on just about anything...and anybody!

Chance Howard and Cole, the new attorney sat down next to me in the conference room...Robert was in court working on a case... They had bought three tumblers of coffee, some doughnuts and some breakfast sandwiches...My kind of guys....I went over the information I had pulled from my street sources and they gave me the information they had pulled from public records...

For one...They had an address on Owny Maclin...It was far from where he was believed to be living...There was no telephone number..Apparently , his landline had been cancelled as well as his cell phone over a year ago...right around the time he had lost his license to practice law... He was facing charges of income tax evasion as well as others...His cable had been cancelled and his other utility bills were behind...So where had he gotten all of this money from?? Money he had freely paid me...

''Kev...you said that this guy gave you a gee?  He's straight broke." said Cole.

"Somebody was sponsering him....I gotta find out who." I said.

I drove to the address that was given to me...It was a nice condo in Manyunk...At the time I arrived , a woman also arrived...She was a nice looking White woman, a lawyer type with a business suit and glasses...

"Oh hello...How are you?  I'm Kevin...Kevin Morris...I'm uh a friend of Mr. Maclin...I haven't heard from him in a few days.." I said.

"Neither has anyone else...I came to collect his rent or evict him...He's behind.."she said.

I rang the bell....then I knocked on the door...Nothing!

"He's probably in there with one of his girlfriends...I have a key.." she said.

"He had a girlfriend?" I asked.

"Yes...a little brown skinned girl, wore glasses....." she said.

"Owny is married or was." I said.

"He was..His wife moved out a year ago...then I started seeing this other girl come around..." she said.

I pulled out a photo of Barbara Miller....The white woman stared and then looked at me-

"That's her...." she said.   This explained a lot!

She opened the door....The smell alone could have knocked us both out...but the sight was the real show stopper...Owny Ellis Maclin lay on the couch, with a nice neat bullet hole in his left temple and a pool of blood on the floor, very,very dead!

"ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!!!!" she screamed as I grabbed her and held her.....I was shocked myself....Owny was dead!!! And from the looks and smell of things...had been dead for close to two and a half days!!!!

II-

Within the hour...Homicide Detectives and uniformed policemen were all over the area...I was drinking yet another tumbler of coffee and talking to Lt.Sissy Van Buren...

''What's going on Kevin?"she asked.

"Here's my theory....Owny was broke and disbarred a year ago...but he came into some good fortune....He and somebody stole 300 grand worth of diamonds...Something called "Blue Ice" I said.

"Blue Ice? ,Did you say Blue Ice?" she asked.

"Yes...that was what the third stick up boy in Jake's reffered to them as." I said.

"There was a jewel heist about a year ago out on the mainline.....The famous Blue Ice Diamonds were stolen..They were never recovered...They're worth more than 300 Grand.??..Try a cool 3 million dollars...That Ice was so hot that no fence in town would touch it...but it's been a year...He probably thought he could move that ice now." she said.

"Then he had them stashed....He and Jake must have been in this together....A big score....Only his girlfriend, Barbara Miller found out about it and she betrayed him..She gave the information to her other boyfriend, Ray Kind and he stole the merch." I said.

"Ray Kind...Haven't heard that name in a long time.....I thought he'd gone straight...." she laughed.

"No...he runs a bike shop as a front....Barbara is his inside person." I said.

"Can you prove that Kevin?" she asked.

''Sissy...She's on the video footage of every jewelry store that was robbed....She's an employee at every last one of the stores....she's using phony names..That much evidence I have..It aint much...but it's enough to swear out a warrant and at least pick her up...You lean on her enough and she might flip Ray Kind.." I said.

"Still what has that got to do with this murder?" she asked...

''Everything." I said

"Everything and nothing....but I'll have my guys pick her up. What about your man, Owny?" she said.

"What about him?" I asked.

"You said that he was damn near broke, about to be evicted..Didn't even have a phone...Yet he paid you one thousand dollars and was flashing cash in Josies...That looks kind of suspect...Don't you think?" she asked.

"It damn sure does...I think he had a sponser who advanced him some cash." I said.

''Who?"she asked.

"I don't know." I said.

"There's a lot of I don't knows in this case." she laughed, giving me a side eye.

"Aint it though?" I said.

III-

My Android went off just as I was talking to Sissy...It was Clerow!!!!

''What's going on Clerow?" I asked.

"Boss...it's bad...real bad...Me and Owen was sittin on that babe's apartment like you asked..." he said.

"Yeah...Well we heard what sounded like two or three gunshots...But we didn't see anybody enter or leave the spot...Look , you better come over here quick.." he said and hung up.

I looked at Sissy...

"I think you better follow me...You got another homicide." I said.

Lt. Sissy Van Buren, six of her top homicide detectives , three uniformed policemen and I arrived at Barbara Miller's apartment, where a crowd of people had already gathered...Clerow and Owen Todd led us to her apartment. In her apartment was the body of Barbara Miller...She had been shot several times.....She was in the living room....In the bedroom was the stocky body of a Harold Singelton, a known thug....He had apparently put a .45 in his mouth and pulled the trigger....On a desk was a suicide note..supposedly written by him , confessing to all of the jewelry store robberies and the murder of his "girlfriend" Barbara Miller as well as the murder of Jake the Jeweler..He said that he couldn't live with himself.....

The gun he killed himself  and Barbara with matched the gun used in Jake's Jewelry store heist and murder. A nice frame.....I of course knew this was a crock...This was Ray Kind's way of getting rid of all loose ends...There was of course no sign of any of the jewelry stolen....and no prints on the gun...not even the dead mans.

In the back of the apartment complex was the car seen fleeing the heist...It was Barbara Miller's car!   No surprise there!

''Wow Kevin...it looks like this case is wrapped up!" she said.

"Come on Sissy...You know this was all arranged...You know Ray Kind is behind this." I said.

"There is nothing here to tie him to it. But I agree with you...It's a little too neat." she said.

"Of course it is...These are the only people who could tie him to it." I said.

"Get me some proof Kev...Get me some proof and I'll lock him up...You got anything I can use?" she said.

"Unfortunately..I don't." I said.

IV-

A few hours later ,It was just getting dark....Ray Kind was locking up his store... He thought he was alone..He walked toward his car...

"You aint gonna get away with it Ray." I said.

He was startled..He spun around and Kool Kat was standing on the side of him , cracking his knuckles...

He straightened up and smiled.

"Well...it's you two....It appears your case is over huh?" he said.

"Is it?" barked Kool Kat.

"I think so." he said.

"I don't...I know you put those scores down....I know that you killed Owny and Singelton and even Barbara..You aint gonna get away with it. Every cop in town is looking for that Ice." I said.

He walked toward his car and reached under and passed us the GPS device that I'd had Owen Todd place under his car.

"Nice try Kevin...." he said.. " You don't have a shred of proof  of any of your allegations and don't try to bug my shop...I have it swept every other day....Now if I see either of you or any of your little associates again,I'm afraid I'm going to have to call my lawyer and  have all of you charged with harassment." He said.

"Ask around about me Ray...I always get my man sooner or later." I said.

''And I never get caught." he laughed.

''Always a second time." quipped Kool Kat, reminding him that he did go to prison once.

"Well three men can keep a secret if two of them are dead as the saying goes." he quipped.

"Or five" I said.   He didn't find that funny at all...He frowned...His mood changed drastically!

"Good Night Kevin....Walter...Have a good life." he said.

He smiled and got into his car and started it up...He put on his shades, even though it was night..

''Have a nice night boys. I don't expect to see either of you again...REALLY!" he laughed and pulled off..

''Kev, did he just threaten us?" asked Kool Kat.

"For what it was worth, yeah.." I said.

Kool Kat and I walked about two blocks down the street to my car...

Clerow drove up in his car a few minutes later....Owen Todd ,Peeping Tom, Sean Jackson and Lockpick Johnson were seated in his car...

''He found the GPS unit didn't he?" laughed Clerow.

"Of course he did...just like I expected him to." I said.

"Damn....shame he don't know I cloned his smartphone...." laughed Lockpick Johnson...

"And that I put the micro GPS unit  Peeping Tom gave us inside his car...under his seat." laughed Owen Todd...

"He'll never find that in a million years and get this...it picks up sound better than anything I've used so far." said Peeping Tom...

Kool Kat laughed....Clerow, Owen Todd and Lockpick Johnson laughed too....Finally, I laughed myself....Hopefully...We'd all have the last laugh!

(To Be Continued...)