The Master Of Cologne

''Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......Ronald.....Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.."  moaned the woman as she lie in the bed....The bed was squeaking loudly and moving from side to side..The headboard was rattling...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Beth....Beth.....ouuuuuuuuuuu you feel so good..." said Attorney Ronald Amundson..

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Ronald, you feel good too.ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu." she cooed.

He had a small room on the side of his office and reception room that had a small bed and night stand...Robert Foxworth had told me that in the early days of his law firm , before he had his high rise office and two partners,,Namely Chance Howard and Cole...that he had had a set up like this... a small room where he entertained his clients...Maybe I should have been a lawyer...

I was sitting in Peeping Tom's house with Lockpick Johnson,Clerow,Owen Todd and Sean Jackson watching Attorney Ronald Amundsen and a cute ,shapely young white woman in her early or mid twenties making sweet love in his side office...

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Ronald...Ronald.....don't stoppppp..don't stopppppp." she moaned as he continued to hump her like crazy.....

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh baby...Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh baby...I'm about to blow my damn LOADDD!!! arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" he moaned as he came furiously and she began to come also...shaking a little...

''OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU."she moaned....
At this point I spun around....

"Okay, why did you call me over here to watch this?" I said. Clerow,Owen Todd and Lockpick Johnson were watching with rapt attention....Even Sean Jackson was watching attentively. For them this was cheap porn.

''Wait Kevin...Watch this!" said Tom.

The girl got out of the bed...She put on her bra.....she looked for her panties...But Ronald Amundson had them..

"Heyyyyy, What are you doing? Give those back to me?" she said.

"Please let me keep them...Your panties....I -I-I need them." he said.

"What? Are you some kind of freak or something? What do you mean you need them?" she asked.

"I need your panties..Please let me have them." he said.

"No! Give them to me...You're a nut." she said,.

"Please...Please...Don't make me beg you." he said.
He looked very sad....Finally she relented.....

"Ohhhh, okay you can have them....You are really over the deep end..." she said with a smile....

"Thank you Beth...Thank you so-so-so much." he said. He gently folded the panties and placed them in a drawer with several sets of ladies underwear...bras, panties, babydolls, thongs, what have you.

''You've got quite a collection there...Guess I'm not the first intern you've bedded in here huh?" she said.

"Uh no, you're not?" he said.

''Your wife know about what you do in here? Of course not....Of course she doesn't. It would be a shame if she was to come in here and find all this stuff wouldn't it." she said slyly. "Like if she got an anonymous phone call."She continued and laughed.

"Why? You thinkin of blackmailing me?" he said.

"Oh of course not....I'm just saying.....But you know, a girl could use a few things for her silence...a little extra cash from time to time...Maybe a little car to get around in, a used  one...you know?...You've got my panties....I might as well have a few little odds and ends...You know what I'm saying ?" she laughed slyly.

"I don't believe you." He said.

''I don't believe you...Collecting panties..You perv. Imagine what would happen uh, if your collegues or worst...the newspapers found out what you do in your spare time....The tabloids or the web!! Hmmmm,I imagine you wouldn't come off too good counselor."she said.

(Click!)

Sean,Clerow,Owen and Lockpick Johnson laughed, clapped and cheered and high fived each other..

"What a freak!...Man that cat is something." were their collective comments...I shook my head, ignoring them.

"Kevin...Take a good look at the girl in the video..Take a good look." said Peeping Tom.

I looked at the woman in the video....Her name was Beth.....

"Beth Edelman.....The dead girl in the trunk of the car from the other day....Oh My God!!" I said.!!!

"When did you film this?"  I asked.

"About a week ago..." said Tom..'

"I almost forgot about her....He might have killed her shortly after that was taped...Probably killed her somewhere else." I said.

"I saw her photo in the papers after she was found in the car...I took another look at this video feed." said Tom.

"Good lookin out Tom...Good catch.Leave those bugs in his office...I've got a feeling we may find out more." I said.

"That doesn't prove he killed her...Just proved they had sex...."said Sean Jackson....

"Yeah, but it's definitely a connection." I said. "You heard the tape...She sounded like she was going to blackmail him...A guy like that is not going to be played or hustled..So she had to go." I continued.

"She coulda been just teasing, talking smack." said Owen Todd.

"Some guys...you don't even tease."said Lockpick Johnson.

"He's right...and this guy doesn't seem like he's the type to leave anything to chance." I said.

''Do you know him boss?" asked Clerow.

''No...but I'm gonna get to know him!" I said.

II-

I went back to Robert's Office and looked up everything there was to be known about Beth Edelman....A local girl... She was twenty five, Had just gotten her Masters in Criminal Justice from Temple and was attending Law School at night...During the day she was an intern for Ronald Amundsen...Hmmmmmmm....

"Kevin....I know what you're gettin at...But all you got is the fact that he knew the dead girl...She was his intern, he slept with her...That proves nothin." said Robert Foxworth...

"He collects panties." I said.

"Okay, so he's a freak...So was I at one time...Doesn't mean I go around killing girls." said Robert Foxworth.

"Really? Where were you last week?" I asked Robert giving him a side eye and grinning.

"Verrrrry funny...Everybody is a damn comedian." laughed Robert.

''Check this out...Remember that rape of my co-worker a few weeks ago?" I said.

"Yeah...What? You think it's him too?" asked Robert.

"I checked all four buildings where the rapes occurred...He has clients in those buildings...who he had appointments with on those days!He was there, everyday that somebody was raped....He was in my building the same day Frenchette was raped...and he's the only person who refused to donate DNA..I think it's more than just co-incidence that he was in all of our buildings on the day there was a rape."I said.

"So..That still doesn't mean he did it. But I admit...That is a lot of co-incidences."said Robert.

"It gives him opportunity Robert. I'm bettin also that the panty sniffing pervert also took those photos of Cornfield with other women too, Not to blackmail him but to watch for his own enjoyment!, Which is why neither Whitendale or Cornfield knew of the existence of the films and photos. I know..I'm going to need more." I said.

"Yeah, you sure are Kev...I told you about him. Be careful....If you come at him wrong,he'll sue you...He's petty, he'll make up stuff and if there isn't something there...He'll manufacture it...He's a real prick...He tried to sue my firm once. " said Robert.

''Sounds delightful...Thanks for the heads up." I said as I left.

III-

There was one guy who I knew who wore only the most expensive and exotic kinds of cologne....That was the gambler, Steven Bristol....A very well dressed man...Wore only the most expensive and rare of everything!

I met him at his condo..He was getting his shoes shined and looking at the paper..

"I must admit...This is indeed a strange visit..Kevin. You usually want to know about some gangster or hitman...Not grooming advice ."he laughed.

"You ever heard of a cologne called Devestation?" I asked...His eyes got large!

"Yes...very expensive...$150.00 a bottle.and that's the little bottle...You want that?? You seem like an Old Spice kind of guy to me personally." he sneered.

''Very Funny...Where would I find that?" I asked.

His eyes lit up again....He managed a smile....

"Only one place in Philly..."he said.

''Where?" I asked.

"Across the street." he said and pointed to a Tony and exclusive Cologne and Perfume shop....

"Thanks Steven." I said.

"Kevin...I am so proud of you...You're moving up in the world and doing it in style." he said.

"Goodbye Bristol." I said -'Oh and thanks." I added.

"Remember....A light spray...don't take a bath in it." he added..I winked and turned and left.

He smiled and waved as I darted across the street.

I talked to the manager for ten minutes and he located a credit card receipt for the cologne Devestation, purchased by Ronald Amundson just a month before!

This was too good to be true!  Now I needed just one more piece to the puzzle.

IV-

I called Ronald Amundson and asked to meet with him....As described by Robert Foxworth...He was not the nicest person you wanted to meet...Short,Stubby, balding and extremely arrogant. Never the less, he agreed to meet me in the bar of his choice.

He was thirty minutes late...I was afraid he wasn't going to come... Kool Kat went with me...He sat a few tables away from us and drank alone...all the while watching...

Young Chance Howard, Robert Foxworth's protoge' who knew what Ronald Amundson looked like, called me to let me know he was on his way into the bar...

I signaled him to come over and sit with me and he did...

''Let's make this quick....First of all, who are you and why are you calling me?" He asked.

"I'm a private investigator, My name is Kevin Morris." I said.

"And I'm supposed to care why?" he asked.

"Have a drink...Come on...." I said.

He begrudgingly ordered a beer!

"Beth Edelman" I said.

"What about her?" he asked.

" I've been hired to find out what happened to her...I understand you knew her." I said as we both sipped our beers.

''Hired by who?" he asked.

"Come on...as an attorney, you know I don't have to divulge that." I said.

"Really?" he smirked.

"Did you know her or not?" I asked, not willing to verbally spar with him.
''Yeah she interned for me."  He said.
"Would you say you two had a social relationship?" I asked.
"No...She worked in my office That is all..Her and another young lady...I didn't know anything else about her." he said.

"Are you sure that was it? She just worked in your office?" I asked.

"Yeah..I'm sure... I've already talked to the cops and I don't have to talk to you." he said and finished his beer...

"Now..I aint answerin no more of your questions and thanks for the beer." he said and got up and walked out.

Kool Kat came over to me...

"You didn't get nothin Kev." he said.

The bartender took the glass and put it in a zip lock bag and passed it to me...I gave him a couple of dollars.

"Thanks buddy!Oh and put those  beers on Ronald Amundson's tab! " I said.

He looked at me and smiled. I looked at Kool Kat.... Kool Kat just shook his head and laughed.

"I got plenty...I got his DNA on this glass, I got a videotape of him and the dead girl having sex..I got a receipt that says he purchased that cologne  Devestation that two of the rape victims say that their assailant was wearing...and I got logs that place him in all four of the buildings on the days that rapes occurred." I said.

"And all of that is what Robert Foxworth would call circumstantial evidence." said Kool Kat.

I looked at him and smiled...

"Wow son , listen to you.You comin up in the world." I said.

"Hey I know some things." said the Big man. Chance Howard ,who came in on the tail end of the conversation laughed.

(Conclusion Next)