You'll Be The Death of Me

I sat in the coffee shop the next morning and looked at my watch...She was a little late...but I was one hundred percent certain that she would be arriving...I was right... Veronica Bennett and the bodyguard of his late sisters ,Mr. James Brown arrived... She saw me and she sat down...She looked a little irritated...

''Mr. Morris , what is this about?" she said, exasperated...

"Where is your fiance?" I asked.

"He's my husband...We were married a few days ago in City Hall." she said.

''Well,normally I would say congratulations...but in this case...I'm worried."I said.

"I don't think you need to worry about me." she said.

"I think I do...I don't think you were paying attention just a week ago when I presented this evidence to your sisters about your husband.." I said.

"I don't care about what so called evidence you have"..She snapped.

"I think you need to be...Where is he?" I asked.

"He took a flight out to Atlanta last night at midnight." she said.

''At midnight eh?"I asked giving her a side eye...

"Yes..." she said.

I layed out several doziers on the table, complete with death scene photos and began to run it down to her...

''Listen to me...I don't think you understand what you've gotten yourself  into..Look, that woman there in the car with the water pouring out is first wife ,Betty Mosley....a woman he'd met in the Air Force and looked up after they both got out. He was employed at a nearby Air Force Base as a civilian contractor.


After two years of marriage , In 1993 ,Betty Mosley turned up missing...A thirty day search uncovered her body in her car at the bottom of a Florida swamp...It was implied that she had been drinking and drove off the road into the water and couldn't get out of her car...Mr. Hutton walked away with $300.000 in an insurance policy he took out!" I said...

"Oh My God." she said...looking horrified..

"Oh my God is right...There's more...Wife number two...Look at the photo Ronnie...He married Mary Latham in 1994...They were married for seven years...He worked at an Electronics wholesale store.In the spring of 2000. Mrs. Latham was found in her garage in her car, with the motor running...An apparent suicide!!! A hastily typed Suicide note was found!! Mr.Hutton walked away with $500.000 in an insurance policy he took out. Coincidence??" I said.

"Oh Jesus, please...please stop." she said... I showed her the last ghastly photo..

''Look...Wife number three...He married Patty Phillips...a pretty court reporter he had gotten friendly with during his trial ,ironically enough...They lived in a suburb of Daly City, outside of San-Francisco, California..
In June of 2009, Barbara got up during the night and went in her basement...she heard water running....She went to turn on a hanging light and was electrocuted!!! It was ruled an accident..Mr. Hutton walked away with  roughly $750,000 dollars in an insurance policy he took out!!!Another sad co-incidence??? I did some more checking...Look what I found...This is a copy of an insurance policy....It's for  40 million dollars...It's on you!  Did you even know he took this out on you? Two weeks ago... Don't be the next accident Ronnie." I said..

"Alright...Alright...Okay...Do you know a good divorce lawyer?" she asked...

I gave her a card...

"His name is Robert Foxworth....You call him..He's a friend of mine...He can take care of you." I said.

"Okay...I'll give him a call as soon as I get back to my house." she said. "Thank you Mister Kevin." she said and she quietly left, got in her car and pulled off.

The Body guard James Brown walked over to me...

"You think she bought it?" he asked...

"Not a chance...She's so in love that she's blind to anything he's done...She was playing me , saying what she thought I wanted to hear so that this could all be over with." I said...

"So why did you bring her here?" he asked..

"Watch and learn" I said...

My friend, Clerow walked in and walked over to me.

"You do it?" I asked.

"Yupper...Lockpick Johnson got me inside the car and I put the GPS unit inside the glove compartment..She'll never see it. Peeping Tom told me it's his smallest ,lightest unit...You'll be gettin a powerful signal." he said.

"Good job Clerow...Thanks...Your coffee is on me." I said.

"Gotta take a rain check Boss!..I gotta go get my kids...Take em to daycare...Corrie is pullin a double today for Mabel .Owen Todd is waitin for me outsisde in the car boss." he said.

I smiled.."Okay..Thanks Clerow." I said.

''Anytime boss." he said and left.

II-

Detective Jimmy Barlow dropped by the same coffee shop about an hour later...

"Kev...I got your message..We checked the airlines...There was no midnight flight to Atlanta at all last night...and no one fitting William Hutton's description was seen at the Airport last night...

Duke covered the Northeast Airport..Same thing...No Midnight flights out to Atlanta..and no sign of Hutton... Carlotta and Sissy checked Newark and BWI too." he said.

"Yeah ,my guess is our boy is still here in Philly....Thanks Jimmy...Tell Sissy and Carlotta to await my call." I said.

"Okay Kev." he said.

I smiled...The die was cast...

III-

With the GPS device...I was able to follow Veronica Bennett without her knowing it..I followed her to the train station at 30th street...The airport and the bus station and several banks...I suspected that she was just covering her tracks in case someone was following her. Finally ,she headed toward wherever it was ,she was staying...I called Sissy.

"Hey Kevin...What's up?" she said.

''She took the bait ,just like I knew she would." I said.

"Does she suspect that you're following her?" she asked.

"I don't think so..Are you getting my signal?" I asked.

"Yes..loud and clear, but I'm on the other side of town from you and traffic is terrible.." she said.

"Well...I've located her house...She parked her car and she just went in and guess who opened the door for her?" I asked.

"Who?" she asked.

"Mr. William Hutton!!" I said.

"So he is here!" she said.

"Did you ever think he wasn't?" I said.

"Well be careful Kevin...Chica ,Tyriq and I are on our way." she said.

"Okay....Let's do this!" I said and hung up.

I parked in back of Veronica's car and walked up to the door..I could hear them talking inside.

IV-

"Ronnie Baby...You got here...Did you get the money?" said William Hutton..

"All of it...It's in my account...our account and if you're a good boy, I'll let you have as much of it as you want.." she said seductively...

"Awwww baby. Can I have as much as I want of er something else?" he said as he pulled her to him...

"Ouuu Mr. Hutton...What is that in your pants?" she cooed...

"Wanna see?" he said slyly...

"Ohhh myyyyyy." she said...

I rang the door bell....

"What the hell?" she said.

"Oh who in God's name is it?" he said and flung the door open!!!

They both were astonished....

"YOU!" they both said in unison...

I smiled..

"Hi, I came by to say congratulations on your wedding....and to inform you that it's Accident prevention week! " I said, laughing...

"You know Kevin...I'm finding you less and less humorous."snapped William Hutton..

"Yeah,I'll bet the last three Mrs. Huttons found you a riot!" I said looking at him side eyed..

"I had nothing to do with their deaths...I was never charged with a thing, why don't you leave me alone?" he said.

"You ought to be locked up anyway...Antoinette and April Bennett are dead...you seem to be bad luck period." I said.

"Hey,I didn't do them,I swear." he protested...

"I know you didn't." I said.

"You do?" he said...

I heard a gun click behind me....I smiled and looked at Veronica Bennett..

"You knew all along didn't you?" she snarled...

"Not at first...but I figured it out...The car brakes...Your murderous hubby here is too slick to do a job that sloppy...Pushing your sister out of a window and writing a suicide note on her computer and printing it on her printer was a little better, but not convincing...and the hitmen???...You hired them didn't you?" I asked.

"You got it all right Mr. Kevin...Unfortunately...the hitter missed didn't he?" she said.

"Yeah...unfortunately...." I said.

"My sisters were never going to give me any peace...All my life they tried to run my life, especially Antoinette...I was tired of it...I had to kill them both. I had to...You kept on asking questions,looking up stuff..You had to go too. My hitman missed you, but I won't."she said.

I looked at William Hutton...

"Look here Doc,I'm the only man who knows that you didn't kill your two sister in laws...you feel me? I'm your alibi." I said.

"Uh yeah...Ronnie baby...put that heater away...He's got nothin...We are free and clear." he said.

She didn't budge...

"Ronnie, put that gun down...Don't be  stupid ,PUT IT THE HELL DOWN!" he shouted!

She looked at him in a rage...

"Who are you calling stupid? I killed my sisters for you...For us..Now back up!" she said and fired three shots at me that missed...I dove behind a couch...He ran in the opposite direction...

"You'll never get away with this..I'm wearing a wire...The police are on their way here now !" I said..

She ignored me and cut loose again! I dove behind a coffee table...I pulled my gun, but I didn't really want to shoot a woman!! William ran in the opposite direction...Ronnie shot all of the glass vases off of bureau and shot the glass out of a nearby window!

"Ronnie, baby, put that gun down! PUT IT THE HELL DOWN!" said William Hutton who ran toward Veronica and stepped on a metal plate on the floor...

72 thousand volts of electricity hit him....

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! OH LAWDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD....LALALALALALALALALALALALALAHHHHHHHHHHH....

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"he yelled and then fell to the floor, singed and very,very dead!

I walked over to him...His body was smoking...The smell of burning flesh was making me sick to my stomach..I checked the plate on the floor...It was concealed under the rug ...there were wires hooked on the plate that led to a generator in the basement....He had been electrocuted...Ronnie's mouth flew wide open...

''OH My GOd....He's Dead!" she yelled.

"Pretty much" I said dryly!

Veronica followed me into the basement....I looked at her... There was a fresh body bag on the basement floor...I pointed to it!

"This was the accident he had planned for you Ronnie...He was planning to kill you and get insurance money and everything else you had in the bank." I said.

We walked back upstairs...

She dropped the gun on the floor... I used a hankercheif and picked it up and  stuffed it in my inside jacket pocket. She went and sat in a nearby chair.. She had a blank stare!!!

"I thought he loved me...I thought I had finally found the man of my dreams.I thought he loved me...I thought I had finally found the man of my dreams,I thought he loved me...I thought I had finally found the man of my dreams...Ahhhh lawdddd!" she cried..

V-

Sissy and Carlotta opened the front door and walked in, They had their glocks drawn.....They saw me sitting in a chair, I signaled that they could holster their weapons .....They looked and they saw the burnt, charred body of William Hutton lying on the floor in the living room...

"Whoa..what happened here?" asked  Detective Tyriq Pile, who came in behind them...


"He's a victim of the booby trapped floor...His latest invention...He had that planned for Veronica as soon as he got the money from her. He walked on it himself by accident." I said.

Carlotta looked at the body...

"Aye Mios Dios....I guess justice was done after all." she said.

"He really did kill all of his wives." said Sissy.

"Yeah...and how ironic.. He died in one of his own traps..."I said.

Over in the other corner sat Veronica Bennett, completely gone....

"I thought he loved me...I thought I had finally found the man of my dreams,He loves me, He loves me not..He loves me..He loves me not...He loves me, he love me not...HE LOVES MEEE.AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH
He loves me not...Aghhhhhhh LAWDDDDD!I MISS YOU TONI...I MISS YOU APRIL....I LOVE YOU..ARGHHHHHHHH LAWD JESUS..." was all she would say...

Sissy stared at her....Tyriq shook his head...Carlotta looked at me, I shrugged my shoulders.

"Whoa.." said Detective Tyriq Pile...

I looked at Sissy and Carlotta...

"Well ladies...I promised you two closed murders...You got em!!She killed her sisters...."I said.

"I never doubted we wouldn't have em.." said Sissy, hugging me softly...

"I suppose she's headed for Blue Skies huh?" said Detective Pile..

"You know it man." said Carlotta...

Sissy walked over to me...

"Did you get your satisfaction Kevin?"

"Yeah...A truly monstrous serial killer got his justice...and a poor deluded double murderer is going to get hers.."I said.

"Yeah...They were made for each other." said Sissy.

Carlotta,Tyriq,Sissy and I laughed our heads off!

EPILOUGE-

Veronica Bennett was found guilty of the murders of her two sisters , but insane...She is presently a resident of the Blue Skies Facility for the criminally insane...Most days she sits in a padded room saying nothing,just staring into space!

A few days later,Sepia and I were chilling in the comfort of  our home, drinking a bottle of champaigne and listening to some smooth jazz on the ipod dock.....

''Wow..this was a dilly of a case..wasn't it?" she said.

"Yeah....I helped the Philly PD close two murders and kind of closed age old murders in Sarasota, San Diego and Daly City...Not only that, I prevented a third one from occurring here, for what that was worth..."I said.

"So you happy now?" she asked.

"Yeah I'm happy...I'm most happy because I'm with you...and it's quiet." I said.

''Awwwwww." she said...

"I saw your friends today, ADA Keith Wallace and Detective Carlotta Rodriguez" she said.

''Oh Yeah?" I said..

"Yeah..Bonita and I showed them a house , not too far from here...about six blocks over that they said they might take...They said that they are planning to get married in about a month...The house should be ready for them in about two months..." she said.

''Wow..That's nice... That's nice...I'm happy for both of them...and I'm happy for you and me..I'm serious...Couples that make sense in a world that's becoming more senseless everyday." I said.

"Yeah...You and me and them!" said Sepia, who kissed me softly on my cheek.


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