Locked Down

William Lundy was in the hospital...He had suffered a mild concussion after his fight with me in the alley behind Mink's....This gave me time to do some investigating...

He had indeed been a detective at one time...He had retired a good ten years before Lt.Sissy Van Buren had went to the police academy....

He was a tough cop...a brutal cop who had been asked to retire after numerous police brutality claims and after a particularly bad beating of a Black minister, active in the civil rights movement.

He had been married four times and had a child by each wife...All four marriages had ended in divorce amidst claims of domestic violence and adultery!  A real prize...Now he was a licensed Private Investigator and suspected muscle for Angel Ortega, the gangster....

While Lundy was cooling it in the hospital...Lockpick Johnson let me in Lundy's office ,which was on top of a storefront and Peeping Tom and Sean Jackson wired it for sound and video... We found his cheap,smelly apartment and the apartment of his girlfriend and we did the same...

While in his office ,I found and Sean photographed and copied...his client records....It seemed that everybody he did investigative work for was a criminal.....Two in particular , Angel Ortega and Albert Graves...I copied and photographed cancelled checks and bank transfers from both of them for various jobs..

"I hate dirty cops Kev and this guy sounds like he put the "d" in dirty." said Peeping Tom.

''Yeah man, you got a real sweetheart here." added Lockpick Johnson.

''Yeah ,he was some fighter too..a tough old guy...I could easily be where he is now, in the hospital." I said thinking about our fight in the alley behind Minks.

"What are we gonna do with all of this evidence?" asked Sean Jackson...

"Just hang on to it for now...You cloned his cell phone and his computers?" I asked.

''Yup..everything."said Peeping Tom...

"Okay...well let's get out of here...Keep your eyes and ears open...When he gets out of the hospital, there may be some news." I said as the four of us left.

II-

I met Sepia for lunch in front of our house....I lifted her up and gave her a big kiss.....

"How's your case going?" she asked...

"It's beginning to make some sense now...That girl knows something or was privy to something that Ortega wants quieted..."I said.

"Is she still in the hospital?" asked Sepia.

"No...she's in the wind...but I have an idea of where she's at...I'm supposed to meet somebody this afternoon." I said.

''Would you please take Walter?" she asked.

"I am...I am." I said.

''Okay then.." she said and gave me a nice ,slow, sultry kiss...

"How long do you have for lunch?" I asked...She looked at me and smiled...

 Later, we were both breathing heavily....after having made sweet love for close to an hour...a quickie for us..

"Sepia, you can't kiss me like that and think nothing is going to happen." I said as I played in her hair...

"I've got to get up....and shower....Unlike you, I have a job to go back to....Good thing I live walking distance and have an understanding partner." she joked...

We both got up, showered, changed our clothes and made the beds and went on our way...

III-

The address I was supposed to meet Cindy at was Nat's Diner, out by the airport....I went in the diner, ordered a tumbler of coffee and called for the manager, a guy named Nat, who I'd done a favor for years ago....

"Hey Kevin... Who are you lookin for today?" he asked...

"Actually Nat, somebody is meeting me here." I said.

"Ohhhh." he laughed...

Cindy Lyles walked in and heads turned...There were mostly middle aged white men in this diner...a few Black men....and all of their eyes were on me and this young and pretty white woman...

I smiled and she sat down next to me...I ordered us both drinks...Nat brought them to us...He kept looking at me and grinning slyly....

"Funny you'd meet me here..." I said.

"I know...it's a dump right?" she said.

"No...just far from where you operate..."I said.

"I know about the card game that goes on in the back....An old boyfriend of mine used to play in that game...I've been in here before...long time ago.."she said.

"Well obviously...the natives don't remember you." I said with a grin...

"I don't want them to....That's why I picked this place...it's far enough from where I live and work that nobody would follow me here." she said.

"You're certain you weren't followed?" I asked...

"Certain." she said.

"Okay....so spill it." I said.

''Renee and I went to high school together."she said.

"I know." I said.

"I figured if you were any kind of P.I. worth your salt...you'd know all about me." she said.

"Yes...I know you're name is Cynthia Ann Worthington...and you were married to Johnny Lyles, now deceased....You were in your senior year at Penn, when you married him and dropped out and your family kind of disowned you after that...You've been supporting yourself by barmaiding and stripping ever since...
Renee helped you re-register for college in the spring..."I said.

"You are good...Better than Billy Lundy..." she said and smiled.

"So where is Renee?  I know you know." I said.

''Renee is with a friend of mine...for safe keeping...She used to be a dental assistant for the Department of corrections...While she was working on a root canal for Albert "Sinister Al" Graves...He was under with a dose of sodium pentothal...High as a kite and blabbing away...He confessed that he was taking the rap for or alibing for Angel Ortega.....That Angel Ortega shot and killed a bookmaker named Frankie King and that in return for his false testimony....He was given a cool million dollars and promise of being a big man in Ortega's organization when he got out of prison...  She heard him say it...It wouldn't be such a big deal except that ADA Keith Wallace and the police and The FBI are really trying to stick it to Angel Ortega  and he doesn't want any loose ends....you know ,like somebody tagging him with a murder rap...Another convict, who is now on the street and who was present told Angel Ortega about the incident in the dentists office...Now they're trying to kill Renee to shut her up....Albert Graves hired Lundy to find her...she's scared to death." said Cindy Lyons...

"Aren't you scared?" I asked.

"Why should I be? I don't know nothin...I was just her friend...They've been watching me to see if Renee was going to make contact with me...But they saw nothing..." she said.

''Is Eddie C. the "friend" who is hiding her?" I asked.

"Oh My God...You are good." she said.

"He rescued her from some goons the other night...That's how I got involved...He hired me."I said.

"Eddie is good people...He's a good friend...He and Renee were not fooling around if that's what you think...They are just good friends...We know his girlfriend is the Lieutenant of Homicide...He didn't want to get the police involved...He thought it would just complicate things.." she said.

"Okay...tell me something...Who was this guy that was in jail with Graves that spilled the beans?"I asked.

"His name is Vincent Spano....a real creep...He runs around with another guy named Bobby Warlow...They might have been the two goons Eddie C. rescued her from.."she said.

I ordered her another drink....

"Look...do you have any family or girlfriends you can stay with?" I asked.

"I got a girlfriend in Lower Merion..." she said.

''Call her...ask if you can stay with her....I'm going to call two of my most trusted lieutenants , have them go back to your place...pack you some clothes and take you to her."I said.

She leaned over and gave me a soft kiss in the lips....

"Thank you Kevin...you are so nice." she said.

"That's what a lot of women tell me." I said laughing.

IV-

Within hours...I got a phone call from Clerow...

"Yo what's good?" I said.

"Owen and I went back to Cindy's house...She packed a bag and we followed her car to Lower Merion to her girlfriend's house...She's safe and sound." he said.

"Good job guys...Thank you." I said.

"Don't mention it Kev" laughed Owen Todd.

I felt better knowing that ...

I was pretty sure that Ortega's people had no clue where Renee was now and if they were looking for Cindy, she was gone too....Lundy was by now out of the hospital and his phone was probably ringing....
I went by and got Sean Jackson and we headed to Peeping Tom's house , where he and Lockpick Johnson had a recording for me to hear...

"Hello, who is this?"  

"Lundy...it's me..Albert...where you been? I been tryin to get in contact with you for two days man?"

"Hey Al...I was in the hospital...I uh fell and hit my head..."

"Yeah? Did you find the girl?"

"No...she got away from me...Your two buddies almost snatched her, but two nosy do gooders interceded...
I almost had her at the hospital, but she got away.."

"What about the girlfriend? Cindy Lyons???"

"Now she's missing too...Nobody has seen either one of them."

"You gotta find them man...Angel will have me hit if he finds out those girls are gone...and are still out there and can pin that murder on him....He's cleaning up all loose ends.."

"I'm lookin...I'm lookin hard man...They'll turn up...neither one of them has any money or any friends..They'll both have to show up.."

"Well when they do...close their mouths for good....Oh and I got another job for you...Those two uh buddies of mine...Vincent Spano and Bobby Warlow??"

"Yeah..what about them?"

"I want you to uh show those two backstabbing bastards my appreciation ...You feel me?"

"You want em gone?"

"Like yesterday's newspaper."

"Got'cha...They're gone then."

(Click!)

Peeping Tom, Sean Jackson and Lockpick Johnson looked at me.....

"You got em Kev...You got Graves and Lundy plotting a murder and admitting that Ortega killed that bookmaker." said Lockpick Johnson...

"Yeah...but it's not enough...Just hang on to this stuff." I said and left...

V-

It was still light out...Some hours later I was driving home when I came upon a now all too familiar sight...
A crime scene....CSI guys were picking up shells, crime scene photographers were snapping photos..Uniformed policemen were talking to people in the crowd...

I parked my car and got out and walked over to the scene...a familiar smiling face told the policemen to let me through...It was Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace...

She and the lovely Dr. Hazel Hunter-Baylor, Duke's new wife had on rubber gloves and were examining two bodies...of two young men...

"Hey Kevin...Looks like I caught a double." said Carlotta...

"Hello Kevin" said Hazel...

"Hello and congratulations on the wedding Mrs. Baylor." I said.

Just then, Detective Tyriq Pile and Hazel's husband, Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor walked up..

"Hey Kev" said Tyriq...

''Hey Rico"I said.

"Hey Duke...Congratulations man." I said,.

"Thanks Kev...The two dead men are Bobby Warlow and Vincent Spano...Both of em have ties to Angel Ortega.." said Duke...

Detective James "Jimmy" Barlow walked up just then...

"Hey Kev..Witnesses say that a huge heavy set man with a big ten gallon hat got out of a late model Escalade
and shot both of them in the head, twice, then got back in the Escalade and pulled off...Nobody got a good look at his face because the hat covered his face...We found the Escalade about a mile away...wiped clean....Turns out...It was stolen..." he said.

"Guys..what would you say if I could tell you that I know who did this and who ordered it?" I said.

"WHAT??" said Carlotta...

"Look...it's part of a seperate case I'm working...I just happened to come across something..but I need you guys to back off for 24 hours....Trust me...You'll be getting one of my uh care packages....and it will give you everything and maybe..just maybe..Angel Ortega." I said.

Duke, Tyriq and Jimmy smiled...They looked at Carlotta...She was the primary! It was her call...She looked at me and smiled...

"I trust you...Okay, 24 hours...."she said.

"Good...I promise...I'll have this whole thing locked down."I said.

(TO BE CONTINUED)