Bait and Switching

The next day, I sat in Sam Mother's Diner having a hot tumbler of coffee...I looked up and a familliar figure walked in and sat down next to me...It was Walter "Kool Kat" Jones....

The big man had been my friend since childhood...He was legendary in the Philly streets...a former enforcer for the big boys at one time...and still feared by many...and with good reason...He was six four or five...His muscles had muscles and he was a pretty accurate shot....A good man to have at your back when you went to war on these streets...

"What's good Kevy Kev?" he said as he sat down....I ordered him a coffee...

"I suppose you been hearing about me" I said.

Kool Kat laughed...

"Sure have...heard you lit up Frizzy Johnson and Knuckles Thompson and heard that last night you and two of Johnny "Green Eyes" Lyles boys got into it and they didn't come out too good...So yeah...I heard you been busy partner." he said.

"Yeah...That's why I called you in...I need your help." I said.

Kool kat laughed and slapped his knee...

"You need MY help? Sounds like you been doing alright by yourself boy..." he said.

"Look...I have this client...cute little chippie...Sold me a bill of goods...Told me that she worked at an insurance company and that the contents of this bag was evidence that could put her former boss away......Only thing is ....She supposedly got cold feet and wanted me to return this bag and it's contents back to it's original owner." I said.

"Okay...So what happened next?" asked Kool Kat.

"Soon as I walked out of Josies....Johnny Lyles and his goons attempted to take the bag and me for a ride...and just as soon...The cops arrived...There was a big shoot out...Two guys died...and Lyles escaped..." I said.

"Without the bag right?" asked Kool Kat.

"Right...Without the bag!...Here's where it gets real greasy Kools...I open the bag...and find out there is nothing in it!!! No documents, no files, no money...nothing but air...and baby girl is not who she says she is...She never worked at the insurance company...was never fired and there was no investigation of anybody!" I said.

"Wowww!!!! You know what I think?   Johnny Lyles and Reese Wilkins hit an armoured car years ago, took down two or three million....Reese got popped by the cops a month in it....and Johnny supposedly died in a car explosion...The money was never found." he said.

"I found that much out from the police.." I said.

"Yeah..well Reese had a wife...A hot little number...Her name was Kim something or other...What if she has that heist money and Johnny who has been laying low all this time has come a callin and wants that money back??" said Kool Kat.

"See big man....I knew talking to you would be an education...She set me up...Told Lyles first that Reese Wilkins had the dough...Lyles and his boys tortured and murdered Reese and then got back on her trail...She told em that I would deliver the money and she called them...She probably tipped the cops off...Which is why they were there right away...The plan was for them to kill me and the cops to catch them in the act and either kill them or haul them off to jail...."I said.

"Exactly....Only something went wrong..." said Kool Kat.

"Let's take a ride Big Man...I got an Idea." I said.

II-

Kool Kat and I paid Peeping Tom and Lockpick Johnson a visit....

Lockpick Johnson opened the timelock on my bag......

"Okay Kevin....I've sewn a powerful micro GPS tracker inside the sleeve of this bag..It's almost impossible to be spotted.." said Peeping Tom.

"And I've filled the bag with all of this phony money...like you asked." said Lockpick Johnson...

Kool Kat sat back and laughed...

"What you got in mind playa?" he asked..

"As far as both Lyles and Kim know...The operation was a bust...The cops showed up and killed his two accomplices and I got away with the bag...She doesn't know that I got this bag opened...and he still thinks that I have his dough...One or both of them will be getting in touch with me...Soon I hope and I'll drop the bag off with them...Hopefully ,it'll be in his person long enough for me to get a bead on him and get him off the streets..." I said.

"Then what?" said Kool Kat...

"In the meanwhile...I'm going to find out just who little lady is and where she lays her head." I said.

"That's what I've always liked about you man...Always ahead of the game." said Kool Kat.

"That's how you stay alive" said Peeping Tom...

Lockpick Johnson and Kool Kat nodded...

I smiled.

III-

Later that day...I met with Attorney, Olivia Bennett in what was soon to be her former office...She had sent me a text while I had been with Peeping Tom, Lockpick Johnson and Kool Kat.

"Moving out soon huh?" I asked as I sat at her desk...

"Not soon enough...Your friend, Robert Foxworth told me how tough it is going into Private Practice...He showed me his first office and offered it to me....I passed." she said.

We both laughed... I remembered that humble little office on the second floor of that apartment building...It wasn't much, but it was a start..

"Your wife and his wife sold me a house with a storefront below...just a few blocks from where you live...It's beautiful...Tell them I said thank you." she said.

"You got staff?" I asked.

"Staff?  I can't afford staff just yet...but I'll eventually get to that...Which brings me to why I texted you....I need a favor.." she said.

"I gathered....What's going on?" I asked...

"My neice....Her name is Beverly West....She's got a bit of a situation..." said Olivia..

''What kind of situation?" I asked..

"She's up for a prominent position with the Department of  Immigration...she's an attorney too, she works in the public defender's office ...She's in a bit of trouble..." said Olivia...

"What kind of trouble?" I asked..

"The kind of trouble a young impressionable girl can get into..when she's not thinking." said Olivia...

"Let me guess...She took some not so flattering photos years ago?" I said.

"Nudes...and in some uh very unflattering positions...She said she did it for a little extra cash when she was in college....The Photographer was someone she thought was a friend..." said Olivia..

"And....??" I said.

"He sold the photos to this guy...A guy who has been preasuring her for sex....The guy is threatening to put these photos on the internet if she doesn't comply soon to his demands.." said Olivia...

''And there is still no promise that he won't still put them on the internet.." I said.

"Exactly."she said.

"So while you pursue a legal angle...You'd like me to get those photos....and convince our little black mailer to cease and desist...off the books as in ...this conversation never happened, right?" I laughed...

"Kevin...I like the way you think." she said...

"Deal." I said...

She passed me an envelope...It had $3000.00 in 50's in it...I smiled..

"Means that much to you huh?" I said.

"She's my favorite niece.. My only Niece..My brother's daughter..." said Olivia...

"Well let me meet with your neice first, how about that?" I said.

"No problem...She'll be here tomorrow morning.." said Olivia...

"Okay...I'll see what I can do.." I said.

"Thanks Friend." she said.

"Hey...I've noticed that you've been carrying around that black briefcase...What's with that?" she asked..

"It's related to another case I'm working." I said and smiled.. "You'd be better off counselor, not knowing what was in this case..."I said.

"Oh.....Okay..." she said and gave me the side eye....Then smiled...

I left Olivia's office and got in my car....

IV-

After about two blocks...I realized I was being followed....  Whoever it was and it didn't take a genius to guess..Had been following me for awhile...Had caught up to me, about a few blocks before I went to visit Olivia...

I drove to a crowded intersection and got out of my car...If these guys were going to try anything funny...It was going to be with an audience...

I got out of the car and stood on the corner with the bag... The car that was following me came to a stop....The big hulking man from the night before got out...I could see he had a small gun...

"I suppose you want this bag..."I said..

"Keep your voice down....You're right....I want the bag..." he said.

"It's got a time lock on it...I couldn't get it open...but not for a lack of trying.."I said.

"Don't worry about that..I can get it open.." he said.

"I'll give you the bag...but I'm not getting in your car..."I said and pulled out my .38 smokeless !!!

He backed up...

"It's the bag you want...Not me...You try to force my hand and I promise you, I won't miss from this distance.." I said.

I tossed him the bag....He caught it...

"Okay....I don't need you anyway....and you don't look like the type that will go talkin to the cops." he said.

"Talkin to the cops about what?  I don't know what's in that bag...I was just paid to deliver it...I don't know nothin and I don't want to know nothin." I said.

"Goood...you're my kinda dude....See ya around mack." he said and slid back into the passenger side of the car...

"Not if I see you first." I said...

He and his driver smiled and pulled off..

I watched them drive off and I had a big belly laugh.....The joke was on them...

(TO BE CONTINUED...)