Hopeless

After making several calls, Alden Jones's wife, Desiree Jones agreed to meet with me... She lived in a weird looking condo in the Northern Liberties section...Not far from where I'd just been a few days before with the Diaz Brothers...I couldn't find Kool Kat or Owen Todd...So I took Clerow with me... I had to admit...The voice on the phone sounded markedly different than the voice on the outgoing phone message I'd heard some days before...but I had no choice but to go with it. 

Clerow was good company...In the early days before Kool Kat and Owen joined me...It was me and Clerow...Clerow could drive well and was good with a gun...That was all I hoped I needed this afternoon as we drove up to the place.

"You want me to wait outside boss?" he asked.

"Nah..Come on up with me." I said.

"Oh Hi...I didn't know you were bringing someone." she said when she answered the door...She was only wearing a man's shirt...She had a black bra underneath which I could see and some black bikini panties on...Which I could also see!
She saw both Clerow and I looking at her and she smiled. She tried to cover up a little bit, but not much!  Strange behavior for a married woman, whose husband was missing!  I made a mental note of all of this.

"Wait a minute..let me go put on some clothes...I'll be right back." she said.

Clerow smiled a little bit and looked at me...I smiled too...I wondered just what she thought was supposed to happen...I told her that I was a private investigator and that I was looking for her husband.
"Take a number..Who aint lookin for him?" had been her reply.

She came back in some tight jean shorts and a black blouse and some sandals....Her hair looked as if she'd just gotten out of bed, still she was a very attractive woman.
This fact wasn't lost on Clerow..I thought his eyes were going to fall out of their sockets the way he was looking at her..but I couldn't blame him...I had a feeling that she knew exactly what she was doing!

"Can I offer you guys something?" she asked.

"Nah..I'm good." I said.

"You got a beer?" asked Clerow....We both gave him the side eye....

"Is Heinekan okay?" she said.

"Sho" he said smiling that toothy grin of his.

"You know that your husband was into some shady business don't you?" I asked.

''Well I know that now ." she said.

"He and his partner were running a ponzi scheme...and some of their investors were not the type of people that you want to scam.." I said.

"You know...for a long time....I didn't know what he was into..Then he began acting strange...Couldn't sleep, didn't want to have sex....Complained of headaches...was vomiting a lot...He was real stressed out...Before he disappeared he came clean about the gangsters that he had investments for...You think they killed him?" she asked.

"Question is do you think he's dead?  I don't.....I know that the gangster who got the others to invest is dead." I said.

"They hit him huh?" she asked.

"No they didn't...I've checked all of them out....We kind of travel in the same circles....They tell me stuff that maybe they won't talk to the police about....It was none of them.But somebody obviously did kill this man and his female companion." I said.

"You sure?" she asked...I gave her a look that let her know that I was sure.

"Hmmmm, how do you like that?" she said rather non-chalantly.

She gave me a letter...

"Look ,Alden wrote this...I found it the day after he vanished..." she said.

"My deep depression and discouragement have driven me to deep anxiety, fear and shame. I am emotionally overwhelmed and incapable of continuing in this life,"

The letter read. I looked at her...

"That's it?" I asked.

"Yeah that's it." she said and shrugged her shoulders..

"And you haven't seen or heard from him since?" I asked.

"Nope....." she said.

"There is 21 million dollars of investors money missing." I said.

"Yeah, well I haven't seen any of it...I had to leave our home....It was put in foreclosure shortly after he went missing." she said.

"WHAT???" I asked.

"He hadn't been paying the bills at all like I thought...He had been hiding them from me...His firm had been losing money ...That's why he and Lacy came up with this scheme, this ponzi scheme..." she said.

"You aren't the least bit upset about this? Losing your home and your husband missing?" I asked.

"Well it is what it is." she said non-chalantly...

I wasn't buying her act at all.....I had to do some more fact checking......I would see her later.

"Thanks for your time Mrs. Jones." I said.

"Sure." she said.  Clerow and I left...

"Boss..I don't buy her act." he said.

"Me neither Clerow....Me neither...I need some more information....We got one more person to check out... His partner Lacy ...I'm sure he's found a lawyer to get him out of jail on bail by now...In the meanwhile..Call Peeping Tom....Tell him and Lockpick to bug this spot and call Owen Todd...Tell him and Sean to scope her and let me know who comes and leaves this spot and where she goes during the day." I said.

''I'm on it Kev." He said dialing the numbers and setting things up."You don't trust her boss do you?" said Clerow.

"No..I don't..She's just too cool for a wife who's husband just left her and who had to leave her nice expensive home..." I said.

"Yeah, but she sho had some big legs didn't she?" he asked.

I smiled -"Yeah she sure did, among other things." I said.

We both laughed and high fived each other.

I planned to get with Robert Foxworth and find out how she was paying for this crib too  or rather who was paying for it...but that would be later.

II-

Clerow and I drove to Lacy Pryor's spot.....It was eerily quiet..I had a bad feeling about this.  There wasn't a person in sight...Not even on the streets and the door was wide open...

We went to his condo and walked up the stairs to his loft....We saw a man sitting out on the terrance in a white bathrobe with what appeared to be  a big stain in the back!!

His back was to us, so I couldn't see...As We got closer I saw broken glass...

"Mr. Pryor? Lacy." I said...I touched him and he fell over....A nice round hole in the side of his head and fresh blood running down the side of his body all over his nice white bathrobe....He had his boxer shorts on under the robe and nothing else. Lacy Pryor was dead..recently dead!!!! I saw a shadowy figure running down a driveway ,across the street...

"Let's get out of here Clerow...." I said...The building was eerily quiet..Not a soul in sight...we ran down the stairs and out into the street...

''We'd better call the cops " I said.

Just then...I saw a bright light...a flash from a distance....

"KEVIN WATCH OUT!" screamed Clerow as he dove and pushed me down....

Two shots rang out!!!  They missed us both...

I pulled out my .38 smokeless and Clerow pulled out his .45.. We returned a fusilade of shots in the direction of the shot that was fired at us...

"ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH.... HOTTT MOMMMY..I DON'T BELIEVE IT....I'VE BEEN SHOT!!! LAWDDDD HAVE MERCY!" came a voice...

"Come on Clerow...Let's go." I said as we ran toward the sound of the voice...

We heard a car door slam....and tires screech!...and a car pull off in a puff of smoke...

"Drive nigga drive....I've been shot....Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!" came the voice.

''Wow...Whoever shot at us is probably the same guy that aced Lacy Pryor." said Clerow...

"Probably....He's lost a lot of blood....The cops can handle this...let's not hang around." I said.

''You aint gotta tell me twice." said Clerow as we both looked around and then jumped in our car and pulled off.

III-

That night I went home for a little tender lovin care from my wife, Sepia...

''Wow Lover..I'm beginning to get a little concerned about the danger you find yourself in." she said.

"Me too...Tonight was a close one." I said.

"You got any evidence on who killed Macaroni Toni." she asked.

"Nope..None." I said.

.

"And certainly not Lacy right?" she asked.

"Nope." I said.

"Any idea where Alden Jones is or if he's alive?" she asked.

"None at all...This case is hopeless." I said. "I got nothin." I said.

"Relax baby...the answer might be closer than you'll ever know..Relax and attack it with fresh eyes tomorrow." she said.

"You're right dollface." I said as I turned my attention to her...

"I know I am...I'm your wife." said Sepia with a seductive smile as I rubbed her feet!

(To Be Continued...)