A Second Coming!

The surveilience van sat a few blocks from Penns Landing....Clerow and Owen Todd knocked on the door...Lockpick Johnson opened the door...Peeping Tom, Sean Jackson,Kool Kat and myself sat inside the van..

"It's the coffee man and breakfast." said Lockpick.

''Good." I said.

Mabel Jenkins had been nice enough to cook some take out breakfast platters and tumblers of coffee for us....Clerow and Owen had picked up the food for us...

''Everything set?" asked Clerow.

"Yes indeed...That boat is wired for sound and video...And we checked...The feed is perfect in here." said Peeping Tom.

"When the time is right...You and Owen are going to take Sean to his position so he can get good photographs of everybody that enters that boat." I said.

"Kev, you think they'll take the bait?" asked Kool Kat.

''Oh yeah...and one of them will know that this is bogus...." I said.

"What?" asked Owen Todd..

"Yes...One of the people coming to this meeting is our killer and they'll know that this is bogus and they'll use this golden opportunity I've created to wipe out the rest of the investors...That's what I'm hoping." I said.


"So Kevin...Who is the killer? Dick Richards?? , Lola Devlin???" asked Kool Kat.

"I'm not gonna say....All I will say is that you'll be surprised....Just be ready to make your play." I said.

"I got forty dollars on the babe" said Owen Todd..

"I think it's Dick Richards." said Clerow..

"Put your money up fellas." said Owen Todd.

"Let me in on that, I got forty...It's Richards."said Lockpick Johnson...

Peeping Tom, Sean Jackson and Kool Kat laughed and shook their heads, while they ate their food.

"Okay guys, sit tight and be ready....I've got to go and get Rollie and Robert Foxworth, call me if anything out of the way happens." I said as I got in my car....

''Alright Kev, we on it." said Owen.

II-

As I was driving to Rollie's house, I got a phone call...It was Detective Carlotta Rodriguez...

''Hello" I said.

"Hola Kevin." she said sweetly.

"Hey gorgeous...What you got?" I asked.

"I don't know how you knew...but I checked those fingerprints for you...You were right in your suspicions." she said.

"Good....I figured....I've got something in the works right now...I'll give you the address...You might want to tell Sissy and your guys to be ready..." I said.

"You make being Murder police so easy!" she joked. "We'll be awaiting your call." she said.

III-

Robert Foxworth and Rollie Rollerson sat on the boat....I sat with them.....So far, our other two players hadn't arrived...

Robert went into the refrigerator and poured himself a glass of Cognac...

"Good Stuff." he laughed.

"Kev...You think they'll come?"asked a nervous Rollie Rollerson...

"They'll be here...Too much money involved....and a lawyer too?...No, they'll be here." I said.

"You think you'll be able to get a confession?" he asked.

"Rollie, relax...Kevin got this." said Robert.

"Hey counselor, go easy on that bottle before you're too drunk to play your part." I joked.. Robert looked at both us and laughed...

We heard a knock at the door....

"Our first player arrives." I said.

It was Lola Devlin.....She was dressed to the nines...Had on sunglasses and was not drunk...She was all business.

"Ms. Devlin!" I said as I let her in...Rollie and Robert both stood.

"You said that Wayne left something in his will....Fat Chance....But I want to hear what you have to say." she snapped.

"Uhh let's wait until everybody gets here before we get into that...Would you like a drink?  We have a well stocked bar on this boat." said Robert Foxworth.

"No,I don't want a drink....Dick will be here shortly....Called me  at 3:00 in the morning, wanting to know what I was wearing ,like we kids or something...Horny bastard called about two more times..." she muttered...She was definitely different than she had been the day before.

There was another knock on the door...It was Dick Richards...He looked disheveled...He had on the same clothes he had had on the night before when we had met at Josies...and dark sunglasses..

''Late night Mr. Richards?" I asked.  He looked at me like he wanted to cut my throat.
These two were definitely not morning people.

We all sat around the table in the middle of the boat.

Robert passed them each copies of their original contract and copies of the bogus clause we drew up in his office.

"Ms. Devlin, Mr. Richards...I am Robert Foxworth...I'm Rollie Rollerson's Attorney...I've been looking over the original contract for your investment club here...I noticed that in the fine print it states that the entire pot goes to the last living survivor.
The late Mr. Cooper made a sound investment...A couple of sound investments with your money and the value of this pot has tripled...It is close to 75 million dollars now..He uh had a second clause, as I told you all on the phone...an abridgement he wrote just days before his death with the dear and departed Mr. Simpkins...that stated that the pot should be divided equally amongst all of the investors." said Robert.

"It's only three of us left...We should all make out pretty good." said Rollie.

"Sounds good to me." said Dick Richards.

"That's a load of crap...Wayne didn't write any abridgement....What kind of con game are you trying to run Mr. Foxworth?" said Lola Devlin.

I smiled wryly....

"She's right...I didn't" came a voice....

We all turned around and were astonished to see Wayne Cooper standing in the doorway with a .45 aimed at all of us!!!!!!!!...

"OH MY GOD!!!! You're dead!!!" said Rollie Rollerson...

"OH HELL, I wasn't drinkin that much liquor last night." said Dick Richards...

I stood up...

"No folks, you're not seeing a ghost...You're seeing Wayne Cooper." I said.

"Kev..We saw his lifeless body hanging in his condo...!!!" said Rollie Rollerson.

"No, we saw his twin brother,Dwayne Cooper, the lawyer's lifeless body hanging from the ceiling in his condo... Detective Pile told me yesterday that whoever that was in the condo had been murdered somewhere else and then hung up there and that the entire hanging was staged....That's when I got to thinking...and I had Detectives Rodriguez and Pile check the fingerprints on the body...A lot of lawyers are bonded....Dwayne Cooper was bonded and the prints were a match." I said.

"Very good Mr. Morris...you're worth every penny Rollerson paid you, shame it won't do you any good." said Wayne Cooper.

"You made some, rare for you, but good investments and you saw the money in that pot balloon....That's when you got the idea to start knocking off the members of the club right? Plus you were going belly up and this would have been a way for you to recoup, Am I correct?" I said.

"You got it....I killed Drollinger first, then Cole Cummly, then Sean 'Shakes" McGonigle and of course that hood rat, Nick "Two Guns" Cassidy....Almost got Rollerson, but he got lucky." laughed Wayne Cooper.

"You killed your brother and Simpkins too right?" I asked.

"Yeah and I would have gotten around to Richards eventually, had you of not been snoopin around." he snarled.

I turned to everyone at the table...Robert Foxworth looked at me,puzzled

"But if Wayne Cooper was presumed to be dead...He couldn't get any of the money ...Unless, he had a ....a partner in this operation." said Robert.

"You're absolutely right Robert...Didn't you notice that there was one name he left out!!!!!" I said.

Lola Devlin pulled a .22 out of her pocketbook and stood up...

"Wondered when you'd get around to me...All of you stand up, get your hands up." she said.

Wayne Cooper laughed....

"They were in it together from day one...They were the only two millionaires who weren't financially sound....I figured this out about two days ago, but I kept my suspicions to myself until I had enough evidence." I said.

"You're just too smart for your own good Mr. Morris..Maybe I'll kill you first." she said.

"Think so huh?" I laughed. "Look behind you." I said.

"You think I'm going to fall for that?" she said.

She felt something poke into her side...She turned...Clerow had his pistol sticking in her ribs...He was laughing with that toothy grin of his.

Kool Kat had that big gun aimed at Wayne Cooper's head....He wasn't smiling...and neither was Wayne...He dropped his gun and put his hands up!

"Folks...I hate to tell you this...But everything said in here is on videotape and being viewed by the police as we speak." I said.

Within minutes...Lt.Sissy Van Buren,Detective  Carlotta Rodriguez, Detective Tyriq Pile and Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor entered the boat with several uniformed policemen and handcuffed Lola and Wayne...

Wayne Cooper stared at me....He smiled and he shook his head....not saying a word...Just staring...... Then he just laughed hysterically as they dragged him off the boat!

Lola Devlin was more vocal...

"I Don't believe this....I can't believe I listened to a loser like you Wayne Cooper...Oh my God....What a fool I was..What a fool!!! Ohhhhhh my God...I can't believe it...You said you loved me, said we'd make this money and go away together...You lied..Now I'm all caught up in this...You said this plan was fool proof...OH MY GOD, How could I have believed you??" she wailed....."My life is ruined!!" she continued.

Sissy looked at Lola and then stared at Rollie Rollerson....

"Don't feel bad Lola....I know exactly how you feel girlfriend...believe me!" she said... Then she walked over to Robert Foxworth, her ex-husband and planted a soft kiss on his lips..
Robert was stunned...Rollie Rollerson was furious!

"Hi Robbie." she said to Robert Foxworth, (who was still stunned) and hustled the two felons off of the boat....

"Sissy...I'm sorry..I said I was sorry." said Rollie Rollerson.

She looked at him with daggers, but said nothing..

Carlotta walked over to me...and whispered...

"One day, you'll explain to me what all of this is about, right?" she said.

I shook my head...

"Yeah girl...We must talk one day." I said.

EPILOUGE:

Wayne Cooper was tried and convicted of  the first degree murders of Wally Drollinger, Cole Cummly, Sean "Shakes" McGonigle,Nick "Two Guns" Cassidy, Stanley Simpkins and his brother ,Dwayne Cooper and sentenced to die by lethal injection...When the verdict was read, he laughed hysterically and slapped his thigh...He was crying though when the guards ushered him to the bus that would be transferring him to Pennyslvania's Death Row.

Lola Devlin turned in state's evidence against him and was convicted of Conspiracy to commit murder and complicity , and sentenced to 15 years, with no chance of parole for at least 10 years...There is a good chance she may do every single day of the 15 years.

Rollie Rollerson and Dick Richards split the 75 million dollar pot between them and went their seperate ways... Rollie Rollerson paid me handsomely.....

So much so, that Sepia and I already had tickets for a nice mid winter vacation abroad and all of our bills paid for the next three months and still some cash in the bank. She bought a hot new dress that still has me practically drooling everytime I see her in it.

A few days later, Robert Foxworth and I were walking along Penns Landing talking..

"Wow Kevin, you wrapped that case up nice...You would have been a good Poker player..." he laughed.

"So would you...Sissy laid that kiss on you and you didn't flinch." I joked.

"Mannnnn, I'm glad nobody looked at the bulge in my trousers...I wasn't expecting that."he said.

"I know you went home and wore poor Bonita out didn't you?" I laughed.

"You know I did man...I was soo horny after that kiss from Sissy, I had to do something." he said.

"I mean Robert...Bonita is fine as wine....and I didn't know your second wife,Corrine, but knowing you, I'm sure she was a smoker too, but Sissy....man...Sissy is a once in a lifetime kind of woman." I said.

Robert thought about Sissy ,I'm sure...

"Kevin, you aint never lied...If I have one regret in my whole life...It's that I was married to her and I messed up...I lost probably the best woman I ever had and she knows that I know it...She kind of forgave me...but I also knew that I could never have that back..." he said.

"Well counselor...The important thing is that you have a gem of a wife now in Bonita and you can't mess that up." I said.

"Oh I don't plan to...I stopped all of my womanizing....I'm a different man today!  " he said.  He was telling the truth, but I loved to rib him just the same.

"But tell me...between me and you....If Sissy had offered you some , you would've took it." I said.

Robert was quiet for a long while.....Then he said.

"Nah Kev...I wouldn't hurt Bonita...That part of me is dead man." he said.

"You're a good liar counselor." I said dryly...

"Damn Kev...that aint a fair question man!" said Robert and we both laughed loudly and walked along the landing.