The Lady In Waiting

Kool Kat and I sat in my car outside of pawn shop where our guy, Billy Price was doing business...Everything Yokum Tate III said had checked out...We found the gun and the silencer cylinder with prints all over it... I checked Jeters bank statements from a year before and he had made two withdrawals of 10K in the month of May...One a week before the murders and one , a week after the murders....He had also made a withdrawal of 15 K just a few weeks ago...The night before Insurance Investigator Ray Lord was murdered....Very interesting.

If Tate testified, the gun , the bank statements and the medical records was enough to bring Floyd Jeters down for conspiracy in three murders.....

"Kev...Kev...Price is on the move... He just left the pawn shop." said Kool Kat. Kool Kat knew of Price, a gunman for hire, who it was said , worked cheap , yet clean...rarely left anything behind that could be traced to him...His mistake...trusting a psychopath like Tate to dispose of his weapon.

Price was walking gingerly down the street...I began following him briskly... Kool Kat ducked down a side street as planned.

There is a saying that you can tell when somebody is following you...Price must have known because he started walking faster and in between people...then he started running... I started running too...He pulled out his pistol....

A woman screamed- "He's got a gun!!"

A man ducked...Three or four people dove for cover... I pulled out my .38 smokeless...

"PRICE!!! DON'T BE A FOOL!" I said.

"Who you callin a fool? Fool?" he yelled and aimed his gun at me..


"That would be you partner" said Kool Kat, who came up behind him and stuck the business end of his .44 magnum in his back...

I walked up to him and took his gun....

"Billy Price....You're in a lot of trouble partner..." I said. Shaking my head. Kool Kat just grinned.

II-

''Mr. Jeter puh-lease... pull your pants up...please...I didn't come down here for this...they just told me to bring you these reports...please...please.." said a young intern Floyd Jeters had stretched across his desk..
Her dress was hiked up and his pants were down...He was feverishly trying to slip her panties down, but she was resisting...

"Shhhhhhhh...quiet...quiet now...I'm just teaching you how things work baby.....Just teaching you about the birds and the bees.....the birds.....and the bees...." he said

"Don't pull your pants down...please Mr. Jeter..Please...I don't want to do this..We might get caught." she cried...

"We won't get caught....I'm just teaching you about the birds.. and the bees.....the birds  and the bees......" he laughed...

I tapped on the door...

"Biology classes are over Jeter." I said... Just then, the girl pushed him off of her...straightened her dress out and ran past me down the hall...

Floyd Jeters looked at me with pure white hatred....

"YOU BASTARD...I'M GONNA HAVE YOU ARRESTED FOR TRESPASSING....THEN HAVE YOU WHACKED IN JAIL.." he screamed.

"I don't think so Floyd..." I said.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" He screamed...

"Calm down...Calm down...A beautiful woman wants to talk to you." I said.

Lt.Sissy Van Buren and two uniformed Philadelphia Policemen walked in...They handcuffed him.....

"You're under arrest for conspiracy in the murders of Frederick and Althea Washington and Ray Lord.." she said.

"You must be kidding..Are you serious? Do YOU KNOW WHO I AM ?DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I WORK FOR??  I'LL HAVE YOUR BADGE LADY COP!!!" he said.

"Read him his rights Officers.... It's tank time stupid." she said as she looked at him in disgust....

As they walked him out in handcuffs, several employees broke out in cheers !

I just shook my head as I watched them walk him to the Paddy wagon....

Ms.Mae Horton was standing there too ,watching the whole thing....She had been waiting a year for this day!

"You got him...You cracked the case...You are good , Just Like Attorney Foxworth said....Thank you so much....Now my friends can rest in peace..." she said.

I said nothing.....I realized that what I really was , was fortunate.

EPILOUGE:

Billy Price's fingerprints were all over both pistols and they were a ballistics match for all three murders...He agreed to testify against Floyd Jeters, which saved him from getting a death sentence...He got a life sentence for each murder...

For his help, Yokum Tate III got a light five year sentence and was scheduled to be moved to a federal lock up.....but nobody likes snitches...He was found hung in his cell , a few days before he was scheduled to be transferred.

Floyd Jeters was sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for his roles in the deaths of The Washingtons and Ray Lord....Lord apparently had gotten as close to his misdeeds as I... Floyd though went crazy in stir and was found hanging in his cell one morning, shortly after he arrived in state prison...an apparent suicide.

Another Friday Night...Sepia and I decided to spend it at home...I had bought a bottle of champaigne and had it on ice....

"Wow...My little private eye...you helped me crack a big case... " I laughed...

"See...I told you , you should take me out on your cases." she laughed.

"Well some of em at least..." I laughed...

"He disgusted me...He was so nasty, asking what color drawers I was wearing." she spat.

I smiled...

"Well... what color are they?" I asked.

"You didn't look this morning when I was getting dressed?" she answered  with fake sarcasm.

"I was too excited about cracking the case." I said , which was the truth...

"Too bad...I'm not telling you." she said, laughing....

I smiled....

"Besides...I don't plan to have them on much longer.." she said seductively.......

"That's what I'm talkin about...Who cares?" I said.

"I figured you'd be in agreement." she said...

We just laughed and drank champaigne for a long while!