Straight To Hell

It was early morning....it was hot muggy and overcast...Hot like Hell..very humid! I wasn't going to work today...Neither was Sepia or Bonita...They, like me..had a capable office manager and staff to take care of any pressing business either one of them had..  I had asked Owen Todd and Donald Smooth to watch my house and Robert Foxworth's house...I still felt as if whoever tried to ice them and me, might be out there in the wind, looking to clean up...
Not on my watch!... With Clerow and Sean out of town and Kool Kat in parts unknown, that left me riding solo on this caper...

This morning, I was running a few laps with my friend, Cock Robbins...a former semi pro and pro football player and now a  football coach at the local high school...

"So Cock...you know this Herbert Dandridge fella?" I asked.

"Yeah ..I know him...He owned one of the semi pro football teams I played for..." he answered.

"What did you think of him? I mean what kind of guy is he?" I asked.

"I didn't like him....I busted my hump playin for him and he wouldn't renegotiate my contract....But that aint the real reason I couldn't stand him..." said Cock Robbins...

"No? Why was that?" I asked.

" I had a hot little number...A lawyer.....Her name was Lorita Banks....She's dead now...I read in the papers that she was found in that house with the sportscaster,Jimmy Belzer last week....Anyway this was back before I met you Kevin...I was datin Sepia and her mother on the side and some other chick....I was young, you know....He found out and arranged to have me caught......Lorita found out I was cheatin on her and she left me....Next thing I know, She ridin in his car, He takin her to lunch, dinner, to concerts, games and what not..." said Cock Robbins.

"So he stole Lorita Banks from you?" I asked.

"Yeah, old bastard...Lorita was just using him....to get back at me....make me jealous...Hell, he was only one year younger than Lorita's father...What was she gonna do with him? And he was married his damn self back then. Anyway...She was spending his money and sleepin with Jimmy Belzer and some playa named Ben Ali...." said Cock Robbins.

"Really?" I said.  Some of this story ,I knew already knew....

''Would you say he was possessive?" I said.

"Yeah, jealous and devious too... He paid good money for information." said Cock Robbins..

"What about his wife? She divorce him?" I asked.

"Nah..She run off...Left him....Nobody ever saw her again...After seven years...He just went on and got a divorce." said Cock Robbins.

"Thanks man." I said and left the track, took a long hot shower in the gym's shower room, dressed and headed into Northeast Philly to Peeping Tom's house.

Peeping Tom fit me for a nice , but powerful micro wire...He placed it in a place where it wouldn't easily be found.... He gave me a small micro GPS device, which I placed in my wallet...I then told him to call Kool Kat and tell him where I was going.

I did check out what Cock had told me about Dandridge's wife...He told people that she ran off to California with some guy....But there was no record of her ever living in any part of California. No credit or debit card activity, no phone records, no nothing on Darlene Ruby Dandridge after 2002!!  The man who she supposedly ran off with didn't  seem as if he existed..I found no records of this guy anywhere.. Strange indeed!

II-

The next morning was equally hot...It was 92 degrees and it was barely six in the morning..and getting hotter...Yes , this was what Hell must feel like! Sweat was running off of me and I had just gotten out of the shower, I couldn't wait to get in my car and turn on the AC.

 I had next to nothing I could prove to make a case against Herbert Dandridge...I was going to have to bluff him and play it close to the vest.....So I called him and asked if I could meet and talk with him....He agreed. It was he that suggested 7:00 am...Said he had an appointment! (This early in the morning?)

His house, was on a nice street in East Oak Lane...It looked like a mansion...in fact...was a mansion...So why was he buying real estate in Germantown??

He came to the door in a stocking cap....!!!!! Something about that stocking cap looked familliar.

"Mr. Morris is it?" he said.

"Yes...Kevin Morris...Private Investigator..." I said.

I walked through the foyer and sat down in his kitchen at his breakfast table.. He poured himself a tumbler of coffee, added cream and sugar and stirred..He had on a nice gray suit.

"Excuse my manners...Would you like some coffee?" he asked as he removed the stocking cap, revealing near perfect waves in his hair. He appeared to look at least 20 years younger than he actually was.

"No thanks. Not in this heat." I said. He smiled a very sinister smile.

"You said you were an investigator right?" he asked.

"Yes...I'm looking into the double homicide that occurred in that house in Germantown last week." I said. I looked for something in his demeaner, anything...but there was nothing...The man was as cool as a cucumber.

"I read about it in the paper...a terrible tragedy..What has that got to do with me?" he said and smiled a slick grin that was a little un-nerving.

"My wife and her associate were supposed to be showing you that house last week...only you didn't show up...They waited for you, you never showed up and in the meanwhile they happened on to a horrific double murder.  That was bad enough but then two goons tried to take me and them out." I said.

He laughed a hearty laugh...Like my friend Clerow..He had a toothy grin..Something about the sound of his voice gave me a chill-

They don't know nothin and they didn't see nothin." he said.

"But they saw my face.." he said.

"So, the important thing is that they didn't see my face!..now lets's go...apparently they had back up!" he said...

I stared at him....He kept laughing.....

"You were there!!!  That was you with the stocking cap on!!!.....and the scarf.....You were the other guy who we couldn't identify!!..." I said.

"Yes.... that was me...I completely forgot about the appointment to see the house because you see, so much happened in the 24 hours preceding our appointment." he said non-chalantly..."But then...you know all of that." he laughed.

"You told Carmella Belzer that her husband , Jimmy Belzer was sleeping with your girlfriend...Lorita Banks didn't you?  You told her where she could find them..." I said.

"Yes...that was me...Of course, I just planned for her to find them and perhaps use that in her divorce...I didn't know the little psychopath was going to go there with a gun and shoot and kill them both!" he snarled.

"So then you had to clean things up...That's what you were doing when my wife and Bonita arrived there..It was then you remembered that this was the house you were supposed to see..The one you thought you were buying for you and Lorita...." I said.

"I was buying it for her...I didn't need a house as you can see....I didn't know the little whore was sleeping with her young boyfriend in the house." he said with a little rancor.

"When I shot your partner and he dropped his gun out of the car, you had to kill him didn't you? Couldn't chance him being arrested or going to a hospital and mixing you up in all of this right?" I said.

"That's right.....You know...I wondered when you might figure this whole thing out and wind up at my door...I figured out who you were the day after our little brou ha ha...I've heard of some of your exploits." he said.

"You have?" I said.

"Yes..Mr. Morris and that's why ,I can't allow you to live to tell this story." he said.

I heard the click of a gun and looked around to see another man in the kitchen with a .45 aimed at me...He was smiling.....

"Get up." he said.

I stood up and he patted me down, took my.45, took my .38 smokeless...patted me down some more...

"What? Not wearing a wire? That's not like you." he laughed.  "You didn't think I was just going to surrender did you?" he laughed..

''I must admit...The thought did kind of grab me." I said.

"Ahhhh, gallows humor eh Mr. Morris." he said still smiling.

He went through my pockets....

"That's just my wallet..all I have is a couple of bucks and a debit card." I said.

He tossed it back to me.

"I'll let you keep it...You won't need it though." he said.

"Where we gonna do him boss?" asked the gunman....

"Get some cement...We are going to take him to the bridge as James Brown says and see how good a swimmer he is...WITH CEMENT BOOTS ON...It's early in the morning nobody will be out there." said Dandridge.

The man went in the basement and came back with two big cans of cement and loaded it into an SUV...Then at gunpoint, Herbert Dandridge and his goon walked me out to the SUV...Sitting in the back seat, bound and gagged were two women...one was Carmella Belzer and the other was one of the women who had been at her house cheering her on a few days before, Flory Johnson.

"Let me guess, this is Carmella and her girlfriend who was driving her the night of the murders right?" I said.

"Right again...." laughed Herbert Dandridge...

"Tying up all loose ends eh?" I said.

"That's right Kevin.....Two psychopaths and a nosy P.I...The only three who can tie me to this mess." he said.

"Why don't you take us in my car?" I said.

"Nice try Mr. Morris....Probably got a GPS device somewhere in there...a wire too...Uh UH." he laughed.

"I had to try." I said.

"You know...if it wasn't for this mess, I might actually see myself having a few drinks with you...You're quite humorous." said Dandridge...I found nothing about him humorous.. I felt like I was in the clutches of Satin himself.

He tied me up  and sat me next to Carmella Belzer and her girlfriend, Flory Johnson...Dandridge sat in the back with us...His goon drove.

III-

The sun was just starting to come up...Still hellishly hot! There wasn't much traffic...While we drove...I had been working my hands free of the ropes they had tied me with....They weren't tied very well and I had managed to slip a .22 out of the small of my back that his goon hadn't found ,into my hands....I just sat tight...It was a nice drive....

The two women were frightened to death...

"Don't fret ladies...We may just shoot you two and make it quick and painless before we put the three of you in cement boots and drop you in the lake..." said Dandridge non-chalantly....I snickered a bit.

"Something funny Mr. Morris?" he asked.

"You sound like you've done this before." I laughed...

"I was married once...If you did your homework on me, I'm sure you know that." he said.  I did.

''Ever wonder what happened to my wife?" he laughed  chillingly and then winked...

"You're a real sweet heart." I said. He smiled.

"It's a very efficient way to uh get rid of lingering problems..." he said.

"You need to go straight to hell." I said no longer laughing.

"Perhaps...but it looks like you'll beat me there Mr. Morris." he said, still laughing.  I was soon going to wipe that pompous grin off of his face.

We finally got to the bridge...We all got out of the car....His goon held his gun on the two girls....I stood behind them...

"Well we are here!" He said with a smile..

"Yes we are." I said and shot Dandridge  in the stomach with my 22.!!!! I slugged his goon, knocking him off balance for a minute and the two women ran on the other side of the SUV and ducked down..

Dandridge looked like someone had poured a bowl of hot soup on him....His mouth flew wide open!!!!

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...ARGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH

I DON'T BELIEVE IT....I've been shot!!!" he screamed and I shot him again in the shoulder...He fell to his knees, bleeding profusely....

''OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SWEEET BABY JESUS...I'VE BEEN...I'VE BEEN SHOT!!!OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" he moaned...I kicked his gun out of his hand...

His goon had regained his footing by then  aimed his .45 at me and I heard the loudest sound I've ever heard!  His gunmen went flying over the side of the bridge into the river with a huge splash!!

It was none other than Kool Kat.!!!!...He had leveled the gunmen with his riot pump shotgun......Both women were shaking in their boots....

"Relax ladies....you're not going to die....You're going to jail, but you're not going to die." I said.

Kool Kat walked over to me..

"Damn man...what I tell you about goin out on these capers alone?" he chided... "I was afraid he might see me trailin behind him...but he didn't." he continued.

I laughed....

"I called you didn't I?" I said...  He laughed and shook his head...

We looked over at Herbert Dandridge...He was still alive, lying on the ground moaning....

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHH...I'm SHOTTTTTT...OHHHHHHHHH GOOOD GRACIOUS OF LIFE...YOU SHOT ME...NIGGA YOU SHOT ME..OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he moaned in agony.

"Looks like you're going to live laughing boy." I said. "Not so funny now huh?" I added...He gave me the finger , then fell over on his back....

"YOU...YOU GO STRAIGHT TO HELLL...OHHHHHHHHHH LAWDDDD!" he continued to moan!

Kool Kat looked into the river....The gunman, 29 year old Ronald "Git Low"Garrett, a low level playa was floating in a pool of red blood mixed water...Very, very dead!

"At any rate....Dandridge over there is in better shape than that cat." said Kool Kat pointing to the gun man's body in the river below.

I looked over at his lifeless body ,floating in the river...

"No doubt!" I said, shaking my head.

Flory Johnson fainted.....Carmella Belzer began to weep....Soon the police would be here....I looked up at the burning early morning sun...

"It's gonna be a scorcher today." I mused..

"Yeah man..I'm going and find a swimmin pool to jump in...Think you can manage from here Kev?" laughed Kool Kat..

"Yeah man..Thanks." I said.

"Okay babe..I'm out..Be easy!" said Kool Kat as he got in his Escalade and pulled off..

"Always!" I said and waved as his Escalade drove off into the early morning sunlight!

EPILOUGE-

Carmella Belzer was convicted of two counts of first degree murder and sentenced to two life sentences...Her driver, Flory Johnson was convicted of Accessory to Murder and sentenced to Five to seven years... Herbert Dandridge recovered from his wounds and stood trial. He was convicted of  murdering, James "Sonny" Carlton and sentenced to 25 years to life. He was also convicted of kidnapping and attempted murder and given another two life sentences for that.  The police dragged the river and found the skelatal remains of his long missing first wife, Darlene  RubyDandridge...She had been fitted for concrete boots and dropped in the river...He was tried and convicted in her murder and received a death sentence.!!!

Sepia sat on the sink in the bathroom with her arms around me and her legs wrapped around my waist...Kissing me with soft, teasing kisses...

"My big heroic husband put some bad people away.." she said in a breathy voice.....

"Yes I did...and now it's time for my reward." I said slyly...

We continued to kiss....

"Oh you get the same reward every night almost." she cooed...

"I'm not complaining..." I laughed...

"I see....Ugggghhhhhhhhhhhhh...I feel..." she said....

I smiled and we continued kissing in the bathroom.