The Pocketbook

A soft rain began to fall...then it got harder...it was pouring... It was mid-day..Neither Sepia ,nor I was going to work today...The only light in our room was from the front window...I looked at Sepia's body in the semi-darkness of the room..I pulled her to me..she was wearing one of my shirts...

I pulled her toward me and slid my hands up under the shirt...I gently slid her panties down...She slid out of them slowly and I opened her shirt with my mouth...slowly....

She gasped as I began to suck lightly on her breasts....

''Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..." she moaned....

I eventually worked my way up to her luscious lips and began to kiss her slowly...She returned my kiss..equally slowly....

In no time, I was laying her across the bed slowly and I was entering her warm and moist center....

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." she moaned as I began my descent inside of her, moving very slowly, yet deliberately....Enjoying every single minute...

Our lovemaking was slow...steady...Not furious and hurried...but no less passionate...

If I seemed like a man with no worries, I wasn't exactly!...I had located the Gold plated .45 and had it hidden away for safe keeping and insurance...

I didn't know this "Wallace Bell" fellow...but I knew that he was really one, Arthur Carter...Gun collector and ex military sniper and marksman...He could also possibly be a killer!!

I had located his house....Sean and I had staked it out and we had observed him coming and going...

I had sworn the hotel staff where his phone apparatus was to secrecy....I didn't want to tip him that I knew his set up....He hadn't heard from me in a few days...I was certain he'd be calling me soon.

In the meantime...My wife and I were making slow ,sweet love on a rainy morning...The ringer of our phones was off and our smartphones were on vibrate...This was our time!


We both had the most intense orgasms ever and naturally, we continued round two in the shower..

Kissing ,fondling and making love standing up until we were both spent and sparkling clean!

II-

Sepia and I were enjoying a light lunch sometime later that day, when my phone, now off vibrate , did ring!

"I knew it was too good to be true." she smiled.

It was Chance Howard...

"What's going on?" I said.

"Hey Kev...Got some news for you." he said.

"What?" I said.

"I located Velma Davis." he said.

"She dead?" I asked.

"Oh nooo, noo, not at all..She's very much alive...She's in the women's detention center." he said.

"Women's Detention Center?" I said.

''Yeah..been there since August..She burglarized a couple of homes out on the Main Line." he said.

"Wow...and your boss and I swore that she was dead."I said.

"Nope..Not dead...just on ice." he said.

"Good to know...Thanks Chance." I said.

''Anytime boss." he said.

Then my case was settled...No crime had been committed, at least not by Mr. Carter or Mr. Bell or whoever he was...

I called the number and left a message for him to call me...  Didn't take him long!

"Are you calling me to tell me that you have retrieved my pistol?" he said.

"Yes sir.." I said.

"Alright....That's fantastic...I'll bring the money and I'll contact you in a few hours and let you know where to meet me..Would it be asking too much if I ask you to come alone and to bring the gun in a black female's pocketbook?" he said.

"I'll see if my wife has an old one she doesn't mind parting with." I said.

"Good. Talk to you soon." he said.

I was baffled by the cloak and dagger routine...I wasn't about to meet him alone..I was taking Kool Kat and I was coming ,packing heavy...

"That was your client?" asked Sepia.

"Yeah." I said...as I put on my kevlar vest and trauma plate under my shirt and suit jacket.

"Wow...Something must be up." she said.  "You taking Walter?" she said.

"Yup...I don't trust this guy...Not at all.." I said.

"Maybe you should call Sissy." she said...

I cupped her face in my hands...I kissed her slowly...

"Ummmmm, I almost want to stay here." I said.

"Then why don't you?" she said.

''I'll be back..you got an old pocketbook you don't need?" I asked.

''Huh?"she said!

III-

Arthur Carter!  Arthur Carter....I had heard that name before...but I couldn't quite put my finger on just where I had heard the name...Like me , he had been in the Marines and like me , he had served around the same time...But that Arthur Carter would have been my age...Not older like "Wallace Bell" , who I now knew was an alias... I had a bad feeling about this whole thing....The secrecy, the hotel phone set up...using the name of an incarcerated petty thief for a cover...Why go to such great lengths to get a gun back?? even if it was gold plated?

He asked me to meet him at the old abandoned Kessler's Brewery!....and at 9:00 pm... I drove up in my car and parked... I looked around...I was a sitting duck in this area....after all, he had been a marksman!!!  a Marksmen!!!! And then it hit me....It all began to make sense to me...How could I have forgotten after all of these years!!!!
I knew exactly who he was...he didn't look like the guy I remembered...but he was definitely him.... I made a couple of phone calls and made other arrangements immediately before I ventured out into the streets.

I waited patiently...and just like that...He appeared in the shadows....I looked at him...I mean really looked at him this time...

He smiled...

I passed him the pocketbook...He took the gun out....Looked it over, then put several bullets in the chamber and cocked it...He looked at me and smiled...

"Figure it out yet Kev?" he said.

"I've figured out that you're not really going to pay me that quarter of a million and that you had me running around town for nothing. Isn't that right MR. CARTER?" I said.

He laughed, then pulled off his prosthetic nose and rubber bald head and phony mustache!...Now I knew who he was...

'' I figured you'd figure out who I was...You're still sharp Kevin....Just as sharp as you were when you were an NCIS Investigator.." he said.

"I didn't get you Arthur...Lord knows I tried.." I said.

"I know...You and your boy, Holden Wakefield took down Bob "Big Butt" Thornton's entire organization....." he laughed.

''All but you." I said.

"I wasn't really a part of it....I guess now I can let it out...He paid me a huge fee to knock off your number one witness against him...Uh Frankie Hollinger, wasn't that his name?" said Arthur..

"And you did so with great efficiency, I might add." I said.

"Yup..I don't miss...I shot Frankie at an angle that experts say was amazing.Big Butt Thornton didn't know that you had so much wiretap evidence on him that that witness didn't matter...You could of left it there, but you had to go after me." he snarled...

"You were cleared...I couldn't prove it." I said.

"Yes...but it put a bad shine on me just the same...I couldn't get promoted any further...I transferred from base to base and my sordid reputation followed me..I was blackballed....You can't know how long I've hated you....I'd almost forgotten about you until I read in the papers about Bob "Big Butt" Thornton going back to jail again and I saw your photo with those two lady cops..." he said.

"So you looked me up, found out where I worked and hired me to find two guns that you could have cared less about." I said.

"That's where you're wrong Kevin...The Gold Plated Gun is the one I won my marksmanship  award with.."he chuckled....

"It's the one you killed that witness with...The one we could never find....You had it gold plated afterwords." I said.

"Right again...Oh it really was stolen...by that thieving whore I had working for  me..I had been following you for weeks, when I happened to run up on you and your friend in that shootout and I saw those two clowns with my stolen guns....That's when I came up with this elaborate plan...." he said.

"You're crazy...You're mad...You could have killed me at any other time...Why put me through all of this?" I asked.

"For my amusement, to frustrate you, to wear you down, to put you off guard....It makes killing you sweeter."  He laughed...

"Well I hate to disappoint you Artie....I mean after you went through all that trouble...I'm wearing a wire...Everything you just said has been recorded....Good sound quality too!....I'm also wearing a kevlar vest and a trauma plate...I know how you liked to use armor piercing bullets so much..." I said.

"I don't believe that. Your head isn't protected...Oh and your friend, Mr.Walter Jones?  One of my men has him, let's say occupied...I knew I couldn't trust you to come alone." he laughed.

"Looks like you out thought me ,huh Arthur?" I sighed..

"I certainly did.." he said.

"So you're going to shoot me here or inside?" I asked.

"Does it matter? There's no one around for blocks....Don't try to go for that .38 smokeless...You know I'm faster than you...I'll drop you as soon as you twitch." he said.

"Yeah, I'm certain you will. but tell me Art..are you faster than them?" I asked.

''Who?" he asked...

He turned to see two snipers, crouched with high powered rifles aimed at him...

A policeman walked up with his henchmen in handcuffs...Kool Kat was standing next to the cop, laughing his head off...Behind him....Lt. Sissy Van Buren and Detective Carlotta Rodriguez and about six uniformed Philadelphia Policemen with guns drawn were looking at him....

"Drop that gun Mr. Carter." said Sissy as she and two cops handcuffed him.

Peeping Tom, Lockpick Johnson, Sean Jackson, Clerow and Owen Todd drove up in the van...Peeping Tom gave me the thumbs up!  Arthur Carter had just put himself in for a long unsolved murder and now an attempted murder...He was cooked!

Carlotta smiled at me and winked.... I smiled..A real smile for the first time in a long time... I looked at Arthur Carter one last time before they took him away....

"You're smiling Kevin...I like that better." she said.

''Me too." I said to her with a smile... Kool Kat looked at us and grinned, shaking his head.

"Hey Arthur...Give "Big Butt" my regards when you see him.I'm sure he just can't wait to see you" I said.

"Go to hell!" he muttered as they put him in the Patty wagon and drove off...

Kool Kat and Clerow walked over to me...

"You Okay Boss?" asked Clerow.

"Yeah...I'm good... I was sure lookin forward to that quarter mill though." I said.

Clerow, Kool Kat,Owen Todd, Peeping Tom, Sean Jackson and Lockpick Johnson all burst out in laughter...

After awhile...I laughed too!

EPILOUGE:

Arthur Carter was convicted of First degree murder in Federal Court and sentenced to Life...He was convicted of the attempted murder of myself in state court and given an additional twenty five years...Unable to conceive of doing all that time.... He was found dead in his cell just days before he was supposed to be transferred to the Federal Prison...Someone slipped some cyanide pills to him.

His Henchman, Jack Lampkins, who was wanted for unrelated murder charges at the time of his arrest was convicted of weapons charges and attempted murder and sentenced to 25 years...He's still awaiting trial on those other charges...

Ricky Ransom was convicted of Attempted Murder and weapons charges and sentenced to 25 years..Since Carter didn't pay me...I had no money to put on his books..

Sepia and I lie in bed some days later talking...

''Wow..I know you were looking forward to that quarter of a million...shame it was all a ruse." she said.

"Yeah...can't believe I wasted so much time searching for that gun...but it did help clear up an earlier murder,so I guess it wasn't a total waste." I said.

"Well, you'll have better days...You'll get money....You can't miss what you didn't have." she said.

"Oh you're full of cliche's this morning Mrs. Morris...I did bring something  for you." I said.

"You did??, What?" she asked.

"Your pocketbook!" I exclaimed,laughing...

"Ohhhhhhhhhh..now see.. you aint right...That's not even right." she said as we both lie in bed cracking up.