The next day....I stopped by Attorney Robert Foxworth's office with my Uncle's letter... Robert and his associates, Chance Howard and Cole looked it over with a fine tooth comb!
"Well ole buddy...this looks perfectly legal and in order...It's even notarized." said Robert.
"Looks like you and your Mrs. Morris are set for life." said Cole.
"A million don't spend like it used to Cole, but I dig what you're saying." I said with a smile.
"Still, you run a pretty lucrative business as does your wife...This certainly goes a long way to future security." said Chance Howard...
"You do realize Kevin, that your uncle named YOU and only you as the legal executor of his will.....and except for Sepia....Pastor Struthers youth center are the only people who are entitled to any thing in that will." said Robert Foxworth.
"Yeah..I realize that...So that cuts Tickle out completely." I said.
''Tickle? Cyrus Tickle?"said Robert Foxworth.
"Yes...you know him? He was my Uncle's lawyer." I said.
"Then your Uncle was conned..." said Robert Foxworth.
"He's not a lawyer?" I asked.
"He's not a notary public! He was a lawyer years ago and he got busted for accepting kickbacks or something or other and he was disbarred...He also served a two year stint in the pen....I can't imagine he's still going around telling people he's a lawyer. and taking their money. " said Robert Foxworth.
"Maybe My Uncle knew he was a con man and that's why he didn't break him off anything." I said.
"That's what it looks like to me." said Chance Howard.
"There's a map or something on the back of his will..." said Cole..
''Yeah...that's where the money actually is." I said.
I made three copies of the will....I gave the original to Robert...
"Lock this up for safe keeping...I'm going to lock a copy up in my home safe...the other I'll keep on me."
I said.
"Okay moneybags." said Robert....
He, Cole, Chance Howard and I burst out in laughter.
II-
I went home, Sepia was bathing in the tub...I walked in and sat down ....She smiled....
''What did Robert say?" She said.
"That it was all legal....and that I'm the executor of the will.." I said.
"You got another letter in the mail today." she said.
"Is it from Tickle?" I asked.
''Oh I don't know...I didn't open it." she said.
"I'll be back." I said.
I went downstairs and went through my mail...Most of it was junk mail, except for this letter...It had no return address, but it had unfamiliar handwriting...
In the envelope was another copy of my uncle's will... with the map of how to find the money and a note that read..."By no means are you to talk to anyone named Tickle..He is not to be trusted...and keep away from your uncles tramp girlfriend... Her name is Patrice Johnson...She is also not to be trusted...When he wrote his will, he told me that he wanted you and your wife and some preacher he knew to have his money.. Patrice Johnson and Cyrus Tickle have no claim to any money." The letter was signed...Your late uncles only true friend.
Included in the letter were car keys...The classic Thunderbird!!...My Uncle knew that I loved cars...Especially classic cars and directions as to where I could find the car.
I read the letter to Sepia...
"So with this letter, you didn't even need to go to the safe deposit box." she said.
''Sure didn't...Man, my uncle is dead and he still has everybody jumping....He was something else." I said laughing.
''He sure was." she laughed.
III-
My Uncle's instructions sent Sepia and I to yet another bank!!....another deposit box.. I took Clerow along with me for good measure...I wasn't about to risk running into Dice alone...He was still out there in the wind...With Patrice Johnson safely behind bars...I had one less gun slinging vulture to worry about...I'm certain that by now Dice had realized that I gave him a phony key...and he was probably hopping mad. It was good to have Clerow along with another gun to help out if anything jumped off.
I gave the letter to the bank president and they promptly led me to three million dollars that my Uncle had entrusted to me...Sepia and I did our transfers...One million into her bank account and one million into mine..
''You hit the jackpot boss" laughed Clerow.
"Yeah...just keep an eye out for Dice Lawson...I don't need any surprises." I said.
''I rented a place to him about a few years ago..Me and Owen Todd had to put him out...at gunpoint!!!..He was runnin a crap game up in his spot and sellin bootleg liquor..and I couldn't have that." said Clerow.
"So you have history with him?" I said.
''Yeah..it aint a good history." said Clerow... I laughed...He laughed too.
I called Pastor Struthers, his wife, Gail, Deacon Larry Weatherford and Deacon Basil Robinson and presented them and the church with the other one million dollars..
"Kevin, I don't know how to thank you....I knew your Uncle...he was a gambler , he was a troublemaker, and many other things...but in his final days...I suppose he made an attempt to make things right with the Lord...He couldn't take it with him...so he gave it to the only people he figured would do right by him." said Pastor Struthers..
''His only true friends." said Basil Robinson.
IV-
All in All, it had been a good day...Sepia and I had our money, the church had theirs and Patrice Johnson was behind bars...
With our business concluded...I had one thing left to do. Go get that car... I wondered where I would keep it...Both Sepia's car and my car was in the garage...I could park it out front!!...I mused...
Clerow drove Sepia home and the church people all left...I headed to the garage that was in the instructions.. and there I saw the owner of the garage...Mr. Otis Teller. A tall honey colored Black man about my Uncle's age who I had never seen before.
I showed him the letter and he smiled.
"You're Kevin right?" he said.
"Yes, that would be me." I said.
"Your Uncle told me a lot about you." he said.
''Funny...He told me absolutely nothing about you." I said.
"Me and your Uncle goes a way back...He was best man at my weddin...and godfather to my only child..
He paid off my old debts and paid this place off completely before he died...The son of a gun...He was my good friend...He told me he wanted you and your wife to have everything else." he said.
"He really win that money in a high stakes poker game in New Orleans?" I asked.
''That's what he told me...I told him not to tell anybody else..to keep it to himself...but your uncle get a little liquor in him or get in bed with a woman and he was a complete blabber mouth..." said Otis.
''You sent me that letter didn't you?" I asked.
"I did..." he said with a nod..
"You were his Only true friend?" I said.
"That would be me. That's why I warned you about Patrice Johnson and Cyrus Tickle." he smiled..,."Now let's go see your car." he said.
''I've already had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Johnson and Mr. Tickle...Ms. Johnson is in jail and Tickle?? He's somewhere waiting for a phone call from me." I said.
''Don't call that snake...let him sit...He aint about nothing...He's just a hustler." said Otis.
"I figured as much." I said.
'He hung around your Uncle when your Uncle had a hot streak at the crap table...He was always trying to get Billy to invest or finance one of his get rich quick schemes or his other endeavors...I used to tell Billy that Cyrus Tickle wasn't no damn good."said Otis Teller.
We walked to the car....No sooner than I opened the door...I heard the click of a gun....
''Nice and easy now ...Niceee and Easy." came the voice...It was Dice Lawson and he had his gun pointed at Otis Teller's head...
"Well Dice...you're nothing else if not consistant." I said raising my hands in the air..
"You thought you were slick with that fake key eh? Made me look like a fool at the bank...Key wouldn't fit......" he snarled.
''Ohhh, that key huh?" I laughed. I went in my pocket and tossed him the key...
"That's what you want...now let Mr. Teller go." I said..
"Uh Uh...You both are going to the bank with me this time...I'm no fool.." he said.
"You sure?" I said....I looked at Otis and smiled.. He looked at me...I nodded my head..He stomped on Dice's foot and then punched him in the jaw...Dice fell backwards...and Otis ducked behind a work bench...
I pulled out my .38 smokeless and the bullets began to fly..
Dice grabbed his glock and fired at me...I ducked behind a car that was being worked on ..I returned his fire..
He ducked behind another parked car....
There was an eerie silence...
"Dice...You got the key, now leave us alone.." I said.
"How do I know this isn't a fake?" he yelled...
"Guess you'll have to find that out when you get to the bank." I said.
"I followed that skirt to the bank...I figured she might know...I woulda killed her right there if she had come out with the money...I went in and my key didn't fit....I'm not going to be a fool again." he said.
"I'm afraid you have no choice...I'm not going anywhere with you..." I said.
He fired another shot...I returned his fire...Then a loud shotgun blast knocked the plaster off the wall near where he was standing...Otis Teller had gotten his shotgun...
Dice fired at me...I returned his fire again and then Otis Teller let loose another shotgun blast...
Dice realized that he was out numbered and out gunned...He was no fool....He cut and ran for all he was worth.....
Otis looked at me and smiled...
"Wow, you're pretty good with your hands and a gun." I said.
"You aint so bad yourself..Who was that son of a bitch?" he asked.
"Ohhh one of my uncle's gambling buddies...He thinks he's entitled to that money." I said.
"Your uncle didn't have the best judgement in people did he? He's got the safe deposit key." said Otis.
"Yeah, but my wife and I got that money awhile ago...It's in our bank accounts and the rest went to the church, like he said." I said.
Otis Teller smiled....
"So what's he got?" he asked.
"Well.....he'll find a safe full of money.....Play money that was made in Japan..." I said.
"You got your Uncle's sense of humor boy!'' he said...laughing and slapping his thigh....
I laughed too....It was funny...But make no mistake...Dice was going to be furious when he found out he had been hoodwinked again...He'd be back...but I'd cross that bridge when I came to it.
"Hey son...Have a drink with an old man before you drive off." said Otis Teller...
(Definitely To Be Continued...)
3 comments:
Damn this was good...
I stayed up until midnight to see this. You didn't dissapoint!
WOW! is all I could say!
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