Cindy

Early the next morning, I took a ride over to the Criminal Investigation Division of the Philadelphia Police department and paid a visit to my favorite Homicide detective...Lieutenant Sissy Van Buren...I had a steaming tumbler of coffee for her and a pastry from Cakeman Raven's Bakery. This was my second stop of the day...I had gone to the hospital to talk to Renee ,only to find out that she had checked out and was now missing.

Sissy smiled when she saw me and motioned for me to follow her to the rooftop....This is where we have met and talked about cases ever since I've known her...

"Wow Kevin...when you butter someone up, you really go all the way don't you?" she said and gave me a sly look and serious side eye..

"Sissy!  I'm hurt that you would think I'm buttering you up." I joked..

"I know about last night...Bridget told me!!" she said.

"Oh that...." I said.

Sissy smiled...

"Yeah that!  It seems my boyfriend was a hero of some kind...Saved a woman from being abducted by two hoods and got himself beat up in the process...You saved his life and the young woman , a co-worker of his and he asked you to look into it for him." she said.

"Damn...Grass doesn't grow under your feet does it Sissy?  I'm sorry." I said and I turned to walk away...Sissy looked confused...Like a hurt school girl...

"Hey ,where are you going? I thought you came to see me?" she asked.

"I figured you probably don't want to talk to me now."I said.

Sissy put her coffee down and motioned for me to put mine down...

She hugged me...tightly and for a long time...

"I'm not mad at you Kevin...Why should I be?  You saved my boyfriend's life...possibly..." she said.

"He wasn't cheating on you Sissy, he wanted to know who was after his co-worker...He figured if he met her at some out of the way place, no one would see them and get any ideas." I said.

"I know....He's told me the entire thing.."she said and smiled..

"Huh?" I asked.

"Not that I'm bragging...but interrogation isn't the only way I have of breaking a person down." she said and gave me a side eye...

I could imagine...A man making love to Sissy , as sexy as she was ..would confess to things he hadn't done...

I smiled...Her skirt as usual was hugging every curve...Her legs were shapely and on point...

"Stop looking at me like that smarty....We are friends remember?" she said and picked up her coffee..I picked mine up too...I just smiled and shook my head....I had momentarily allowed my mind to drift.

"Of course." I said.

"So what did you want?" she asked..."Oh I know...The girl's name is Renee Miller.. She was a dental assistant for the City....The name she muttered...Graves...Sinister Albert Graves is the name of a hood...a lieutenant in Angel Ortega's organization...." she said.

 "Ortega....He has gobbled up all of the real estate that used to belong to Minolo Sennterro ,who you guys took down awhile ago...."I said.

"Not to mention, he took over the late Joey Never's territory too... ADA Wallace has wanted to take Ortega down for awhile now...Sinister Albert Graves just got out of prison about a month ago...He did a year for a gun possession charge... Chica and Tyriq had a murder case against Angel Ortega a year ago, a bookmaker was shot to death.. and Albert Graves gave him an alibi...Testified in his behalf...Case never got past the grand jury...We always thought that Graves was lying...but we couldn't prove it...

"Hmmm...What about Cindy?" I asked.

"Who is Cindy?" asked Sissy...

"That's the other name she muttered before she passed out." I said.

"You got me there..."said Sissy.

"Okay...You said that Renee Miller was a Dental Assistant....What connection would she have to Al Graves? A girlfriend maybe?" I asked.

"I don't know....Maybe you do a little digging and you tell us." she said and smiled.

"Okay...At least I got a start...Thanks Sissy." I said.

Sissy hugged me again....Her body was so soft and she smelled so good....I didn't want to let her go....

"You know...We keep meeting up here on the rooftop like this and your other boyfriend, Lt. Cantrell is going to get jealous ."I joked...


"HAAAAAAAA." said Sissy who cracked up laughing as I turned and left....

II-

Naturally, I did some research on my principals...Renee Miller was born and raised here in Philly. We were the same age..She was educated in the Philadelphia School System, Attended Fisk University for a spell,left in her junior year...Did a stint in the Air Force, completed her degree and was working as a dental assistant for the city and the department of corrections for awhile...

Albert Graves on the other hand was a high school graduate , who had a series of arrests for drugs, loan sharking, wire fraud,burglary, assault....A career criminal....And now alleged number two man to growing crime kingpin, Angel Ortega...

When Minolo Sennterro went down...Angel Ortega and Joey Never fought for that lucrative territory....Joey Never was gunned down in West Philly in the summer....which made Angel Ortega , the new power in several areas...

I still didn't understand what these two hoods had to do with that girl...It didn't seem as if their paths should have ever crossed...

I had to find out who Cindy was and where she was..

I found Eddie C.

"Hey man, how are you doing?" I asked.

"I told Sissy everything , so you're off the hook." he said.

"I know...she told me." I said.

He smiled...

"Well ,you know her...She's real smart...a trained detective.." he said.

"With nice curves." I said smiling...

"Mannn look...she gets to kissing me and rubbing on me and talking all breathy and the next thing I know,I'm spillin my guts to her..." he confessed...I totally understood..

"Did Renee have any close girlfriends?" I asked.

"Yeah....One...Cynthia Lyles...She's a barmaid at this real tony place called Minks..."he said.

"I know of it...I've never been there." I said.

"I was there with Sissy." he said.

"Nice...When does she work, do you know?" I asked.

"After five." he said.

"Good deal...I'll talk to her. Thanks man." I said.

III-

Minks Bar was indeed a nice place...A little high concept for my tastes...but definitely a place I might consider coming to with Sepia..

I had no idea what this Cindy person even looked like...It wasn't hard to find her though ,once I was inside...
She was the only female working...

A pretty ,blond white woman...Not who I expected...


"Hi...I'm Kevin Morris...a friend of Renee's.." I said.

She gave me a serious side eye...

"You're not a friend of Renee' and I don't know anything." she said.

I showed her my private investigators license.

"I'm just concerned about Renee...I was paid by a former co-worker of hers, Eddie C.  to just look in on her."I said.

She looked at me suspiciously...

"Eddie C. huh???  ,Him I  do know...You're from him huh?... Another guy has been around here tryin to get information...One of his girlfriend's detectives..." she said.

"Oh? Tyriq Pile?" I said.

"No...." she said.

"Duke Baylor?" I asked.

"No, that doesn't ring a bell either.." she said.

"Tony Hopkins??" I asked..

"Uh-Uh." she said.

"A white guy, Jimmy Barlow?" I asked.

"It was a white guy...an older guy...heavy set...Detective Bill Lundy." she said.

"There is no Detective Bill Lundy in the CID unit...I know all of those guys..."I said.

"That's him what just walked out of here...Look...I can't talk to you here..." she said.

She wrote down an address and passed it to me...

''Meet me tomorrow okay?" she said.

I looked around...She looked frightened...

"Is there a back way out of here?" I asked.

"Sure...that way" she said, pointing to a side door...

IV-

I walked out the side door..."Detective Lundy" must have figured that I made him...He was waiting for me and he was in no mood to talk...

He swung at me...I ducked...

''Heyyyy, Wait a minute man, what is this about?" I said.

He was a big hulk of a man...

He grabbed me around the neck...He was squeezing the breath out of me and practically lifting me off of the ground...I took what strength I had left and kicked him in his groin as hard as I could...He grunted, but he loosened up his hold just enough for me to elbow him in his jaw, snapping his head back and sending him flying...

I didn't have the time to catch my breath before he was heading toward me....

"Hey man, if you wanted to get to know me...you could have bought me a drink.." I joked....

But he was in no joking mood...He said nothing...

 I landed some good lefts and rights to his body, but he was equally good with his hands...he landed some good lefts and rights to mine...I countered and landed some lefts and rights to his face, but he equaled me with some well placed lefts and rights to mine...

What I had in my favor was that he was older and terribly out of shape and I could feel him getting winded...I cracked him hard in his jaw and saw blood trickle from his mouth...I cracked him again and saw the sweat fly off of his face...I hit him in his stomach and he bent down in obvious pain..I landed some more lefts and rights to his jaw which sent him into the wall.

Again, he charged me.. He charged at me..I crouched and I landed about 12 good lefts and rights to his face.....I caught him with an uppercut that damn near ripped his head off and then clocked him in his jaw and sent him flying.... He quickly got to his feet and charged me again...throwing haymakers...I dodged them all and ripped his midsection with well placed lefts and rights and then cold cocked him in his jaw, sending him spinning around...I attempted a swift kick to his solar plexus , but he caught my foot , twisted my leg and sent me flying to the floor...

He lifted me up by my neck and put his massive hands around my neck..I kicked him as hard as I could in his privates and he let me go...I again punished his midsection with 10-12 lefts and rights and then planted more lefts and rights to his face...He fell to the ground........He was breathing heavy...He looked up at me one last time and then collapsed on the sidewalk....blood trickling from his mouth....still breathing heavy...

I fished  his wallet out of his pants and copied his address...I checked his cell phone and copied his phone number...Then I returned them to him..

Cindy opened the back door and was astonished to see Lundy lying face down in the alley...


"Call an ambulance...He's uh unconscious...but still alive." I said.

"He can rot in hell....I hated him...Always squeezing my breasts and grabbing my butt and making salacious remarks...You're alright with me already." said Cindy...

I looked at her and smiled..

(TO BE CONTINUED...)