In The Heart Of The City

Lt. Sissy Van Buren and I, Sean Jackson and about three case detectives watched from the bridge as the body believed to be Lance Terrier was pulled from the water....
The cell phone company hit the tower and tracked down a latent signal from his cell phone..This led us to the area near the water....

His cell phone was found near the river bank....in a wooded area....Very sloppy!  I asked the police to drag the river and sure enough, they located the badly decomposed body of a young man, with two gunshot wounds to the head...

I recognized the jacket that Lance had been wearing. 

Lance's Driver's License and Press ID was found in the pants pocket, leaving very little doubt that this was him!

"Sorry about your friend Kevin." said Sissy...

"I'm sorry too...I've apparently been side tracked lately..." I said.

Sissy looked at me and winked....

"Robbery-Homicide  told me about the uh anonymous ton of information they got on a certain Hardware store, pawn shop and warehouse that netted them a ton of suspects as well as merchandise....Not to mention the arrests of the notorious Poor Boys Crew...We've been trying to get those guys for a long time....You don't have to say anything...I know it was you." she said and winked..

I smiled...We had known each other a long time...I had helped her close numerous murder cases...She knew when something had my signature on it.

"Well Sissy...I might have something else for you soon." I said.

"Really? What? " she asked...

"His killer! " I said.

"You know who killed him?" she said with a wry smile...

"I do and if you hang tight...I'll be delivering him to you and maybe a co conspirator." I added.

Sissy smiled and shook her head...

"You never cease to amaze me Kevin...I'll be awaiting your call." she said.

II-

''Where to holmes?" said Sean Jackson....as we drove away from the crime scene...

"I got a text from Peeping Tom....We're going to slide by there and see what he's got."
I said.

''What about Kool Kat?" asked Sean Jackson.

"Kool Kat ? Right about now...I'm bettin that Willie ''Diamond Head "Smith is being introduced to a whole nother world of hurt." I said.

Sean Jackson smiled wryly...We drove through the heart of the city.......

Once at Peeping Tom's house, we got news that Johnnie Renaldo had made bail...

"He's the only one that made bail....and Kev, he aint happy....Check this conversation out." he said.

"Hello." answered Stephanie "Teacher of the Year" Ellis.

''Stephanie baby, how are you?"said Johnnie.

"Johnnie is that you?" she said...She seemed surprised....

"Yeah....I just got out..." he said.

"Oh...uh...I'm glad to hear that." she said.

"Cut the crap....Where is your boy?" he asked.

"What are you talkin about?" she asked.

"Don't B.S. Me...You think I didn't know you was sneakin around with that punk Diamondhead? Where is he?  All of us got knocked and he the only one that aint in jail...Sounds to me like he was snitchin." said Johnnie.

"Johnnie that's, that's crazy...Why would he do that? Put his own boys in? " she asked.

"Maybe the cops caught him and he made a deal." said Johnnie.

"No...He aint talked to no cops.." she said.

"Yeah, well when I see him..I'll be the judge of that." snarled Johnnie.

"No...It's not like that....Listen...I got to tell you somethin..." she said.

''What?"he said.

"There was this guy...a reporter...You remember I was up for teacher of the year right?" she said.

"Yeah,yeah,yeah....get on with it." he said.

"Well he did some research....He found out about me and Willie...Willie was one of my former students....just like you were...and worst off...He found out about Willie's Crew and the whole Fence operation....If that had got out...I would've never have gotten my award...and all of you guys would've gone down..." she said.

"All of us did go down...what's your point?" snapped Johnnie.

"Well, I told Willie about him and Willie iced him, took his computer and stripped it and trashed it and took some evidence he had on everybody out of a safe deposit box and trashed it." she said.

"So obviously you missed something." he said.

"That's what Willie is doing now...He's at the guy's  lawyers house now..." she said.

''Give me the address..I'm going there....It's obvious he can't handle things the way they supposed to be handled... After I handle that ,I'm gone handle him.....Then I want you to put on your sexiest lingerie...After all that killin,I'm gone need some good lovin." he snarled...

''Okay!" she said.

"What?" he said.

''Okay."she meekly replied.

(Click!)

Peeping Tom and Lockpick Johnson looked at me and Sean Jackson.

"Looks like it's going to be a party my friend." said Tom.

"Yeah....Sean, Call Owen and Clerow, Tell em to meet us at Conrad's house and tell em to come heavy." I said.

Sean Jackson smiled..."I'm on it Kevin." he said.

III-

Sean and I drove up to Conrad's House...Kool Kat's Escalade was parked across the street....

The house was eerily quiet....Sean and I sat tight..... We saw a 2012 Blue Mustang convertible drive up...It was Johnnie...He got out...Surprisingly, he had a pistol..He put a silencer on it as we watched , astounded...

"How stupid is this guy? In broad day light!!!" said Sean.

"Yeah...I miss the smart playas." I said.

Sean looked at me, We both laughed...

As he turned to walk up the steps, Clerow approached him....He smiled that toothy grin of his...

"You might want to drop that heater son." he said.

"Get out of my way hayseed." snarled Johnnie.

Clerow pulled out a .45 and stuck it in his chest...He was still smiling... Owen Todd came up behind Johnnie with his .45 drawn and took Johnnie's gun away from him....

Sean Jackson and I got out of the car and walked over to them....Sean tied Johnnie up..

"Heyyyy what is this??? I was set up!!" he said.

"In more ways than one." I said.

Kool Kat came to the door...He saw us with Johnnie and smiled-

''Wow..looks like I was about to have another party guest." he said.

"Is Willie here?" I asked.

"Yeah , he here...He's sleepin..." said Kool Kat.

"Bring him out." I said..

Kool Kat hauled him out ...He had two black eyes and a swollen lip....He was also tied up....

I smiled.....

"Game ,Set, match" I said.

Owen, Clerow, Sean Jackson and Kool Kat all raised their guns in the air!

Johnnie looked up at us....he growled...

''Where is the love?  Where the hell is the love?"

Willie, sitting next to him hung his head low....

"Aint no love in the heart of the city bruh...didn't you know that?" he said.

EPILOUGE-

Abe Renaldo, Johnnie Renaldo and close to 51 of their associates were convicted of receiving stolen property, conspiracy to sell stolen property, running an illegal enterprise....They were sentenced to from 10- 20 years in State Prison.

Russell Young, Mike Baker,Arthur Jones and Stevie Reynolds were convicted of numerous counts of armed robbery and sentenced to 25 years each in State Prison.

The leader of the crew, William "Diamondhead" Smith received 25 years for Armed Robbery...and a Life Sentence for the murder of Lance Terrier.....He refused to implicate Stephanie Ellis in the murder plot and she was never charged...However, the story came out about her inappropriate sexual relationships with her former students, both of who were now convicted felons...It didn't look good for her and the Board of Education stripped her of "Teacher of the Year " Award....She is being reviewed right now and could possibly be dismissed from her job. It was awarded to Mrs. Rita Struthers, Wife of our Pastor...John Struthers.. I made sure that Lance in death got his revenge!

Conrad Nelson and I sat, drinking coffee in a local coffee shop some weeks afterword...

"Wow, that was a nice home going service they had for Lance.....I didn't know he had so many friends and well wishers." said Conrad.

"Not to mention family." I said.

"Yeah....I got his story out....but somehow...it would have been better if he had been the one to write it.." I said.

"I think he'd be alright with you writing it....He must have discovered that she was sleeping with Smith and then did some digging and uncovered the stick up crew and their fence...Once they found that out...They couldn't let him live... You think Stephanie ordered the hit on him?" he asked.

"I think it was more or less Willie's idea...but she  didn't object to it.." I said.

"She deserves to be in a cell right next to him.." said Conrad..

"Yeah...but being stripped of her award and losing her job might be punishment enough for her." I said.

We continued to sip our coffee...I glanced out the window and to my amazement, there she was !!!! Walking arm and arm with a big wig from the school board..Laughing and talking as if nothing happened....I shook my head...

Perhaps there was some love in the heart of the city!