Sirena

The Private investigator, Kevin Morris sat in his Lexus with his close friend, Clerow.... Sissy and Marina and her friend, Eddie C. Walked over to their car.... Carlotta and I stood at a distance drinking coffee...

Kevin Was a guy I respected a lot...I can't tell you how many cases...Big cases he helped us crack...They usually had something to do with a case he was working on...but it didn't matter , he helped us many times..He was one of the best investigators I had ever seen....

Sissy often told me she wished she had a whole team of investigators like Kevin....Which was why I brought her Carlotta Rodriguez, Jimmy Barlow and Tyriq Pile..They were good, smart, tough investigators..

"Kevin, I can't thank you enough for doing me this solid." said Sissy...

"Don't mention it Sissy...I'm only too glad to help...I have a friend...He's uh not exactly on your side of the law and he has a place where he goes to hide...Nobody and I mean nobody will find her there..she'll be safe and when you are ready for her...Just give me a call." he said.

"Thank you Kevin...Thank you so much....This is my friend, Edward Clark..." she said.

Both Kevin and Eddie C. smiled sheepishly.

"What?" asked Sissy...

"Who doesn't know the great Eddie C.?" said Kevin, laughing...

"So you two know each other?" she said.

"Everybody knows Kevin Morris...He helps people..."laughed Eddie C.

"We go to the same church Sissy." said Kevin...

"Oh." she said.

"That guy you told me about...Bruno...His name is Bruno Jefferson....he's high priced muscle...runs with the Russians...Lives in the hood." said Kevin.

"Oh really? I've got two of my detectives staked out in Little Norway." she said.

"He hasn't been up there lately...Him and some white chick been in Josies." said Eddie C.

"You know him too?" she asked.

"I know of him...I can point him out.:" said Eddie C.

"Why do I have Detectives???...All I need is you two." she joked.

Marina got in the car with Kevin and Clerow......

"Marina...you'll be safe with them...they're my friends....Here is my number...If you need anything..just call or text me." said Sissy.

"Thank you again Lieutenant." she said.

Kevin waved goodbye and he and Clerow drove off with Marina.

"I can point Bruno out to you..He'll be at Josies, tonight." said Eddie C.

"And we'll be there waiting." said Carlotta.

I smiled. The die had been cast.

II-

Detective Pile, was already in Josies....He was setting at the bar quaffing down a Corona ,while Reed Nelson and his quintet played a set...The music was good...I came in with Carlotta, dressed in what for her was civilian clothes...This woman made me hot even in her police department issue blues...

We sat in a booth and ordered drinks.....Eddie C. and Sissy sat in a booth across the room from us...It all looked very normal...Kevin and Eddie C. had told us that this Bruno Jefferson was a rough charactor and that if challenged ,he would throw down....


Right now he was wanted for suspicion of murder....a murder we couldn't even prove had happened....We were hoping to rattle his cage and get more information on Nick and possibly bring the assasain, Leonid out into the open...

As usual, the bar was packed...Mostly African-Americans....So when this white woman showed up in the crowd and sat at a booth by herself she stood out!  Not that white women never came in Josies...They did, but not this woman...She seemed extremely out of place...

She wasn't sitting there long before a big , six foot four, heavily muscled Black man with a gold ear ring in his left ear came to her table...She kissed him passionately and rubbed his back...
Eddie C. looked at us and tipped his hat...

It was Bruno Jefferson....but who was this white woman he was with???  And then it hit me... I nudged Carlotta...

"That's Sirena!" I exclaimed.

''Sirena? The murdered girl!!! " said Carlotta.

"Yup." I added

"She looks pretty healthy to me." she said.

"So if she's alive....What is this about? Arkady was murdered because Leonid thought that he had had his fiance killed."I said.

"At any rate..I'm not going to lose this opportunity...Stay here Keith." she said and she signaled Detective Pile to follow her lead.

They both descended on the the table.. Bruno was startled.... Carlotta flashed her badge

"Bruno...please don't make me pull my gun out of my pocketbook." she said.

Detective Pile walked up behind them....

"Let's all walk out of here nice and easy....you too little lady...We just want to go downtown and ask you a few questions.." he said.

With that Bruno, who was no fool, got up quietly , as did Sirena...and the four of them walked out of Josies without anyone knowing...

Sissy leaned over and kissed Eddie C. long and hard in the lips ,which was an eye opener for me....They really were a couple now, it seemed...

She waved and she followed me out of the bar.

III-

Bruno and Serena sat in the "tank" with Carlotta,Sissy,Myself and Detective Pile...

"Yall don't even understand...As you can see,I aint kill nobody." said Bruno Jefferson.

"But there's a guy on the street who thinks you did and he has already killed one of your bosses." I said.

"Yeah, I heard... I don't work for them no more." said Bruno...

"That is Leonid...He is my ex-fiance..." said Serena.

"Apparently he still has love for you." said Sissy..

"He has guilt....He is the one who sold me to Arkady and Nick." she said!!

"WHAT???" said Carlotta.

"In Russia..He was KGB man....and then later on a Detective,like you...He try to put Arkady and Nick in prison...but they had something on him..Proof that he had embezzled a huge amount of money....It would have ruined him..Soon Leonid was giving them information on cases against people who worked for them and imminent arrests. Just being in their pocket wasn't enough....They wanted something more...They wanted me...He gave them me..This was their way of totally breaking him and paying him back for all of the years he had dogged them and tried to build a case against them.  Finally they leave Russia..they come here and they bring me along...
I have suffered for two years because of Leonid...Now ,he is no longer cop...He is here to get me back, but I no go back...I am in love with American Soul Man, Bruno...I no want to go back...I am having Bruno's baby." she said.

"You're kidding?" I said. Sissy smiled a bit, so did Carlotta.

"Nah man..She is two months pregnant...We in love." said Bruno...

"Oh you're in love?" asked Detective Pile..

"At first ,it was just sex...She hit me off a little somethin,somethin...but eventually we fell in love...We tryin to get her citizenship papers...and then we gettin married." he said.

Love was something...Here was a stone cold gangster, responsible for God only knows
how much mayhem and here he was reduced to mush by the woman he had fallen in love with....  There was something to say for that...

"Nick thinks you killed her...If he finds out you didn't and that you are in effect shacking up with his money maker, he'll have you killed." Said Sissy.

"I know..I know..We was making plans to leave Philly..Maybe go to New York,Nick can't reach everywhere." said Bruno...

"Man, forget Nick...Leonid will kill you both." I said.

"I didn't think about him...What can we do?" asked Bruno.

"Pray Bruno...Pray that we get to Leonid ...and Pray we can make a case against Nick." said Carlotta...

A Tall order!  A Tall order indeed I thought.

Bruno and Sirena embraced... I looked at them...In love and in big trouble...but isn't everyone that is in love in trouble at some point?? I looked longingly at Carlotta...I didn't know if I loved her...I hadn't said those words to her yet...and she only jokingly said it...We weren't at their point yet...and hopefully when we got to their point...we wouldn't be as desperate.

(Conclusion Next)