The Web That's Been Woven

Monday Morning, Sepia and I took turns showering and getting dressed...Since we had a house guest we didn't bother to engage in the shenanigans we usually engaged in on a daily (and nightly) basis...Once again...Ann was up before us and dressed and cooking... Her mysterious , ratty suitcase that had "MM" monogrammed on the side was at the front door..

"Get up sleepy heads...I got breakfast ready..." she said cheerfully as we emerged down the stairs...Sepia smiled...

"Smells good, what you cookin gurl?" she asked... She had warmed a little to Ann since Saturday Night..We sat up and  laughed and talked and  played cards with Kool Kat and Chelsea Sunday night until 2;00 in the morning...I admit...I was a little tired..

" I made Spanish Omelets and Bacon for you both ....There's a pot of coffee brewing and orange juice." she said.

''Wow" I said. It was certainly hard not to like  Ann....She was just so cool...or so it seemed.

We sat down and ate breakfast.....

"So Sepia...What is it that you do?" she asked.

"Me and Bonita...the woman you met at Josie's last night are into Real Estate...We have a company and we are brokers..." said Sepia...

"Wow and Kevin you run a magazine huh? Wow...I actually have read your magazine....I used to subscribe to it on line out in Cali." said Ann.. "Good stuff." she added ...I nodded.

''What did you do?"I asked.

"Roy and I worked for a brokerage firm in San-Francisco....We didn't actually live in the city..We lived in nearby Daly City..." she said.

"Sounds sweet." I said.

"What happened?" I asked.  Sepia perked up a little.

"What do you mean what happened?" she asked.

''Well, you had a sweet deal going and now you're here."I said.

She hesitated a little....

''My marriage went south two years ago...shortly after you guys went back to Philly...Then with this economic downturn....I found myself laid off....You know how it is...I wanted to get as far away from there as possible..So I just decided to head east." she said.

"Just head east huh? What did you do...Spin a bottle and it landed in Philly? Why not New York?" I asked.

"You sure ask a lot of questions Kev...you sound like a cop." she said with a trace of rancor in her voice...

"Nahhh, not at all...I was just curious." I said innocently...

Just then...my doorbell rang.

It was Kool Kat and Owen Todd...Sepia smiled broadly....

"You ready to go to the bank?" he said.

"Yesssirrrrr." she laughed.

"Your chariot awaits." laughed Kool Kat...

''Well..I'll see you good people this afternoon..." she said and got up and left with Walter and Owen.

Sepia looked at me and smiled wryly.

II-

I was at work for about four hours...Then I left and headed straight for Robert Foxworth's office...He and Chance were in court...but Cole was there.... I read up about the dead woman at the airport...Her name was Mavis Morgan...She was a manager at Blake and Lively Brokerage Firm in San-Francisco...The papers say that she had asconded with close to one million dollars and was being investigated at the time she vanished...
She was headed to Philadelphia because her sister lived here...According to the papers...She had told her sister she was just coming for a visit..She gave no details as to the nature of her troubles...

I made a call out to Blake -Lively in San-Francisco and found out something interesting...One, Ann Williams ,our Ann Williams was a Fraud investigator for the firm...She hadn't been laid off..She had been fired a month ago for abandonment of employment!!!! Neither she nor her husband , Roy had been seen in weeks!!!

I got this information thanks to the fact that not only am I a licensed private investigator...but I dropped a few police contact's names that I knew from Sissy Van Buren on the person I was talking to.  Apparently Ann Williams had been investigating the disapearence of a huge sum of money from several accounts that all led to Mavis Morgan....Then just like that..they both vanished...and now Mavis Morgan was found murdered in Philadelphia!!!

I was asked if Mavis Morgan's killer or the money had been found...I told them that I didn't know about any of that and I thanked them for their time.

I had the phone number she had given us two years ago for her and Roy.... I called it...I was informed that the number was now disconnected!!!

Hmmmmmm!!  I attempted to see if a Roy Williams had any other numbers...There were several...I called them, but they weren't Ann's husband Roy's number.  I then called the Marin County office of records and asked if a divorce decree for Ann and Roy Williams had been submitted....There was none!!! According to their records, Ann and Roy Williams were still married.

My final call was to the Marin County Police Department, Missing Persons....I asked about Roy Williams...They had nothing!! No one had called about him...I asked if someone would go and check on him and I gave them my number...

Within one hour , I got a call...Someone had went to his house and judging by how much mail and bills had piled up and neighbors accounts...Roy Williams hadn't been seen or heard from in about a month...His car was in front of the house...but there was no sign of him!!!

Cole looked at me...

"Kev..this looks bad...This woman that's stayin with you has lied to you about a lot of things man...She aint divorced..She didn't get laid off, she got fired and she was investigatin the dead lady..She told you she didn't know her right?" the young attorney asked.

"Yeah, she did..."I mused... "Hey Cole...Keep a lid on this..don't say anything to anybody okay?" I asked him..

''Sure Kev." he said as I left and raced to my house..

No one was home...Good!  I looked through her suitcases...Clothing, toiletries,et al , nothing out of the ordinary...I put everything back just the way she left it.  I then went in her gym bag...There was a .38 smokeless, just like mine and a silencer...They were in a plastic bag....There was black gloves and bleach also...and a bottle of cotton swabs...Hmmm, I thought...Also a stack of money..about 10 G's...I put it back quietly ,exactly where I found it and left.

III-

I next rode over to Philadelphia Homicide and sat with Lt.Sissy Van Buren...

"What's going on Kevin...Haven't seen you around in awhile?." she said.

"I've been busy." I said.

"Not as busy as I have been....Now I've got everybody on me to solve this tourist murder." she said.

"The woman at the airport?" I asked.

''Yeah."she said.

''What kind of gun was she shot with?" I asked...

"A .38 smokeless...Like yours.....but I suspect ,her killer used a silencer...A big crowded airport like that..Somebody would have heard it...We found her on the toilet..slumped over, with two in the head..." she said.

"You know she was more than a tourist...She was wanted or suspected in San-Francisco of stealing a large amount of money." I said.

"I see you read the papers....Yeah she was...only we didn't find a penny on her...Either she put that money in a bank account before she vanished from the west coast or..." said Sissy.

"Or somebody else took it off of her." I said, finishing her sentence.

"This wasn't no street thug heist. The killer used a silencer." she said.

"That's right...this was done by someone who knew she had the money...a partner maybe!" I said.

"Well you know as much as I know...but we can't identify a partner...Her sister was no help..We talked to her...and the person who was investigating her has also vanished...Assumed dead." said Sissy Van Buren.

"Oh really?" I said.

"Yeah..we called out to San Francisco...They said her name was Angela Williams and that at first they fired her because she never showed up for work...then they started thinking that maybe there was some foul play because neither her ,nor her husband has been seen in awhile...They are keeping their missing persons investigation hush hush until they know more." she said.

This explained why Marin County PD couldn't help me....They didn't know anything...I should have called San-Francisco PD...Not that they would've helped me....Glad I had talked to Sissy...I knew enough.

IV-

Kool Kat sent me a text...Told me to meet him at Josie's...Alone!  That was odd...I left the police station and headed to Josies..He was sitting in a booth..He saw me and motioned me over...

I sat down with him...He looked very grave....This was not like him at all.

"What you drinkin Big Man?" I asked.

"Later for that Kev...Just what is this babe into you got stayin at your house?" he asked.

"Probably a lot more than we know, why?" I asked.

"The whole time I'm driven her to the bank...She kept askin me about off shore accounts..You know I have the majority of my money in several off shore accounts... Chris Thompson and Gus turned me on to that...Anyway..I explained it to her and she took that big ratty suitcase in the bank...MY bank and came out without it!!!! I asked about the suitcase...She told me that she didn't need it anymore...So I joked...I said
''Hey Baby how much money did you deposit?." She got real cold like and said..."Don't ask questions, you don't want to know the answer to." he said.

"Deep!" I said.

"Here's where it gets interestin Kev" said Kool Kat...

"Tell me." I said, amazed at what I already did know...

"You know that I uh ruh know a few ladies right? And uh..I know uh a young lady in that bank...I used to kick it with her back in the day..After I dropped Annie off at the hair dressers...I went back to the bank with Owen...Guess what? Baby girl dropped one million clams in an offshore account....It's in the Cayman Islands and guess who's name it's in??  One is in the name of Mavis Morgan...I don't know who that is...but the other is in the name of SEPIA MORRIS, your wife...She talked to two seperate people and apparently must have used phony ID to set up both accounts!!!" he said.

"WOW..Annie is a smooth operator...I've been doin a little checkin up on her myself today Kools..She apparently was a fraud investigator with some firm out in Cali...This Mavis Morgan?? That's the dead woman that was killed on the plane...They worked at the same firm....Mavis embezzled that money..Now either they were in on it together and she killed her or she just followed her here and killed her...Either way, She did it...I went through her stuff at my house and found a gun, with a silencer..." I said.

"Damn Kev..You got a killer at your house." He said.

"Yeah....and if I know right...Now that the money is safe...She'll be gone soon." I said.

''Come outside to my car...I got somethin." he said.

I followed him outside and he opened up his trunk.....

He had the ratty suitcase with the monogramed letters...MM on them...MM for Mavis Morgan!!!!

"Me and Owen went back and rooted through the dumpsters..we found the suitcase for what it's worth and I got better." he said.

"What's that?" I asked.

"I got a copy of the account numbers....The two offshore account numbers that bare your wife's name and the late Mavis Morgan." he said.

I smiled...

"Kool Kat , how did you get these?" I asked.

"The broads...I know uh er uh..ahh another broad in that bank and she kind of er ahh got em for me...You can't say nothin or she'll lose her job." he said.

''No problem...you did good work." I said.

"So what are you gonna do?" he asked.

"I'm going to give little Miss Annie the surprise of her life and inform my wife that she's a millionaire." I said.

(Conclusion Next)