Trip Wire

NEW ORLEANS, APRIL 2012

I drove a classic 1970 Cutlass Supreme....I bought that car for next to nothing and then spent a year putting a new engine in it, new tires...new electrical system...the works....until I had it in tip top condition...I also had it completely detailed and painted...I'm willing to say that it ran better than it did in 1970 when it came off the lot.

The first sign that things were going south for me is when my shift ended one day and I went to get in my car and "SNITCH" had been painted on both sides and my windshield had been busted...It cost me a mint to have the paint removed and a new paint job and have the windshield replaced...

I wanted the bastards that did this to know that they neither scared me ,nor deterred me from doing my job...

On April Fools Day however....It was lunch time ,I noticed a really fine ,thin wire..running down the front of my car....Normally,I and everybody else might not have noticed this...but I've been a Homicide Detective long enough to know exactly what this was...a bomb!!! Me...My name is Detective Donnie Ray Alexander.

I called the bomb squad immediately and they sent a guy down who sure enough disconnected a small bomb,laced with enough c4 to take down a city block....I sighed releif...

Just as a precaution...the guy, who was wearing a huge rubber like suit and a helmut that made him look like an astronaut decided to check inside.... I stood at a distance and then out of the corner of my eyes...I noticed another fine, thin, trip wire...thinner than the first one...

"LOOK OUT!!!" I yelled and dove, knocking the bomb squad guy out of harms way!!! We both got up and ran for cover as my car exploded!!!!

Luckily....No one was hurt...but this little stunt could have resulted in two or more deaths...

My car was gone...There was nothing left....The work was slick...They meant for me to see the first trip wire..Knowing I'd call the bomb squad...I'd then think I was home free ,get in my ride and drive off and explode with the car...

It was a very neat trick....Very neat...Unfortunately for whoever put this together...I had seen this before...!!!!!

I've been a homicide detective a long time...My ear has always been to the streets...I know who does this kind of work...

II-

There wasn't much left for our Forensics boys...but out on the street, I paid a few informants, threatened others and shook things up enough to get a name...The name of a guy who works like this...an ex-army demolition guy, turned hitman, who works for the highest bidder...

I knocked on his door...His name...Ralph Clementine....He had a couple of arrests for suspicion of arson, suspicion of murder...but no convictions...

He came to the door and I punched him in his face immediately...He fell backwards and got up..he swung and missed...I nailed him with a couple of lefts and rights and then hit him in his stomach...He fell to the floor and I put my glock to his temple...

"Hey mannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn...Hey mannnnnnnnnnnn...I know who you are...you're a cop mannnnnnnnnnnn...you can't do this!!!...."he said..

I dragged him to the bathroom...I put a stopper in his tub and told him to run the water...Nice and cold....

"Hey man....you aint got no warrant....What are you doin?" he yelled...

I just laughed....

When the water was as high as it could get, I shoved his face into the water and held him for awhile, then pulled him up...

He spit water and coughed....

"Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy..." he yelled...

"That's what I yelled when my car exploded yesterday!!....."I said....

I shoved his head back into the tub of water......I pulled him up....he spit cold water out and couged..I cocked my glock and smiled...

"Okay....I'm going to ask you a question...You give me the wrong answer...I'm gonna dunk your head back in the tub....You continue to piss me off...I'm going to shoot you and leave you in the tub...See if the NOPD will figure this out?" I said.

"Okay...Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyy...look....it was me!!!!...I put the bombs in your ride...I was paid 25G's mann...but the guy that paid me was a cop!  It was a damn COP mannnnnnn..." he said.

"I want a name....GIVE ME A NAME!!!" I shouted...

"You can't use this in court....This is co- ercian ." he yelled...

"Oh..you a lawyer now?" I said smiling...."Who said anything about court?" I said.

"It was Grandon!!!!...Lieutenant Grandon....He's pissed because one of those dirty cops...one of those cops you snitched on was his son in law." said Ralph Clementine...

"His son in law committed murder...He and that other bozo killed two kids..."I said.

''And you're better than them? Look at what you doin to me?" he yelled..

I pulled him into a living room...I pulled out my smartphone and began recording...

"Talk"I said.

"Look....it was me...I put the bombs in your ride...I was paid 25G's mann...but the guy that paid me was a cop!  It was a damn COP mannnnnnn.. .Lieutenant Grandon....He paid me 25G's in cash. He's pissed because one of those dirty cops...one of those cops you snitched on was his son in law. He wants you dead mannnnnnnnnn."he said.

I put my phone away, holstered my gun and tossed a bus ticket to him....

"Hey man...you can't use none of this in court." he said.

"That's not your worry....There's a bus leaving New Orleans in two hours...I suggest you be on it...You failed to kill me and Grandon will be your next visitor...He will kill you." I said and walked out of his apartment.

III-

I went to the New Orleans FBI Office....There was a pretty young lady working there....Her name was Special Agent, Sharon Ferrell.

I gave her my phone with the bomber's confession...photos of what was left of my car and copies of Grandon's  bank records which showed he took half of the payment out of his bank account and the other half out of his 401K the day before the bombing....I also had a copy of Clementine's bank record, which showed a deposit of 25G's on the morning of the bombing...

She smiled...

"I am so tired of New Orleans and crooked cops." she laughed.

"Me too...After you bust Grandon...I'm turning in my badge and my gun...I'm done." I said..

"Done?  You can't quit...If you quit...the bad guys win!!!...You're one of the good guys...You have to stay." she said.

"Nah....I'm done here.....Nothin here for me anymore..."I said.

''How will you make a living?" she asked..

"I play trumpet on the side...I'm pretty good...I got a few gigs lined up.....When I get enough money..I think I'll head North...some place far away...Like Philly." I smiled..

"Philadelphia PA.?? That's where I'm from..." she said.

"You live there?" I asked.

"I haven't lived there in years...but I was born and raised there...I have family and friends still there. I have a place in Atlanta....I'm here on temporary assignment....but I'd like to go back...Someone there I need to see...Right a wrong...you know?" she said.

" A Guy?" I asked.

"Yeah... A nice guy...A guy who always loved me...I was too vain and stupid to realize it." she said.

"It's usually like that. I met a woman from there last year...I wonder if she's still around." I said.

"She got a name?" asked Agent Ferrell..

"Yeah..Olivia Bennett...She was uh some kind of lawyer...We kicked it for awhile when she was here on vacation...I wrote her and called her for awhile...Last time I talked to her was in December." I said.

Her eyes perked up...."Olivia Bennett...I was in Law School with her...Oh My God...I haven't seen her in years...She was here in the Big Easy last year? Oh My God...I sure wished I had known... That's my girl.." said Sharon Ferrell. She showed me a photo of Olivia...

It looked like it had been taken just a year or two before..

"That her? This was taken two summers ago ...Last time I was home..We hooked up and hung out at Josies..and a few other clubs one night." said Sharon..

"Yeah...That's her!!!" I said.

"Wow..Small World.. You never know who knows who.. From the way you talk about her ...She's made quite an impression on you...You're kind of sweet on Livy aren't you??"asked. Sharon.

"Yeah.. I am...but I haven't talked to her in like four months..."I confessed.

"You should call her.She's probably wondering why you stopped calling." she said.

III-

The FBI arrested Lt. Grandon and about 22 policemen and detectives in the NOPD....They were cleaning house of all the bad apples...They had a long way to go to totally clean out the corruption that was rampant on this force...But I decided not to hang around and be witness to it...I turned in my badge and my gun...and took an early retirement and got the rest of the money I had coming to me...

Some musicians from Philly came through ironically enough...Reed Nelson, Downtown Rob Brown, Bone Hampton, Dutch Van Buren and Chazz Gillison....I sat in with them on a couple of gigs and made enough money to ship my stuff to Philadelphia...It was in a storage facility owned by a brother they knew who was also from Louisiana named Clerow...

I spoke to Clerow on the phone...He sounded like a real good brother...said he'd been livin in Philly now for five or six years and that he loved it. His wife was from Monroe ,Louisiana too as was his three sisters in laws and they all lived in Philly now.

These were some real solid cats and I enjoyed hanging out and setting in with them...I was sorry when they left...

That pretty FBI agent, Sharon Ferrell had left too...I heard she had went to Atlanta, then to Washington D.C. and then eventually back to Philly, where she married her guy...a Homicide detective!!! Imagine that?

IV-

PHILADELPHIA PA... FALL 2012

I walked into the bar they called Josies..When I arrived in Philly....It was just as I had heard...Packed and full of my musician friends...playing, eating,drinking...what have you...I liked the vibe...I had been in Philly for close to a week...I had one day left...I had secured my stuff and was still searching for an apartment or a house to rent.

It took me little less than an hour to spot her...Olivia Bennett ,Sitting with a younger woman at a table..

"Olivia...How long has it been?"I said laughing...

Olivia's eyes lit up upon seeing me and she smiled the sweetest smile..

''Oh My God...Donnie Ray...It's you!!! I never thought I'd ever see you again."she said.

''Auntay...you never told me about this guy." said the younger woman.

"I met him in  New Orleans about a year ago..." she said.

''And your mother forgot all about me." I said.

"That's not my daughter.." said Olivia, looking at the woman and smiling.

I knew that..I knew exactly who she was..I was being funny.

"You two are sisters then right?" I said.

"Wrong again...I have no sisters...just one older brother...her father!!! This is my niece...Attorney ,Beverly West." she said.

"Ohhhhh...I see...Both of you are beautiful women.." I said.

"Ouuuu be careful Auntay...He's a sweet talker.."said Beverly smiling at me..."

"So what brings you here?" asked Olivia...

"I quit my job...I'm no longer on the New Orleans Police Force...I've been giggin as a trumpet player for the past few months...Pays pretty well...My stuff is in a storage unit and uh...in a few days ,I'll be looking for a new car."I said.

''You live here now?" she said, her eyes lighting up.

''Not yet...I gotta go back to New Orleans and settle some business..but next year, I should be moving up here."I said.

"Wow...that's great!!!!...I mean...That's nice." said Olivia...

Her niece Beverly gave her the side eye...

"What?" said Olivia...

"Nothing"said Beverly, then she looked at me..."You like my auntay that much huh?"

"Beverly!!" said Olivia...looking a little embarrassed.

"My Auntay is a lonely woman...Never dates anymore, got out of a bad marriage a year and a half ago...just work,work,work..I been tryin to hook her up...but she so picky.." said Beverly...

"Beverly!!" said Olivia...

"It's true Auntay..You need someone in your life..." said Beverly.

"Oh really?" I said ,smiling...I liked Beverly already...

"Pay my niece no mind...She's an insufferable romantic." said Olivia.

We all laughed....

IV-

Later that night....My hotel room door swung open...Olivia and I were kissing like two teenagers...

''Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh...Ohhh my God...I've missed you sooo much..." she moaned...

"I've missed you too baby." I said as I continued to kiss Olivia..

"Ouuuuuu, ohhhh baby, you feel sooooooooooooooooooo good. Slow downn, slow down...mama isn't going anywhere.....ohhhhhhhhhhhhh goddddddd!"moaned Olivia...

She was wearing a short skirt, which I unzippered...I slipped it off and I slid her panties down...I unbuttoned her bra...I lifted her up on my dresser drawer..
I entered her and began to thrust hard and fast....

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...ohhhhhhh baby..please....ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.." she moaned..

It felt so good...I wanted to stand there and keep thrusting into her forever....

I eventually carried her over to the bed and layed her across it...I just kept staring into those soulful eyes of hers and kissing her passionately...

She wrapped her big shapely legs around me and allowed me to seemingly enter her even easier...She was good and wet and soft as ever.....

 The bed rocked back and forth and slammed against the wall as we went at each other furiously....We went on like this for close to EIGHT TO NINE HOURS...I couldn't get enough of her and she seemed like she couldn't get enough of me.. The bed squeaked so loud it was embarrassing...and the headboard seemed as if it might come loose at any minute..

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,...."I moaned...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..." she screamed...

"UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM....OUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" she coooed

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY GODDDD, THIS IS SOOOO GOOOD!" I moaned.. as the bed rattled..

"OHHHHHHHH GOD...."I said, feeling as though I could explode at any moment...

"Baby!!"she hollered

"Darling..." I said as I pulled out of her and came like a gusher....

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.."she moaned....

We both came furiously and lie across the bed...breathing heavy..Looking at each other and smiling sheepishly...

Olivia looked up at me...

"When are you coming back? Whooooooooooooo..." she said.  Still shaking....and sweating...

"Christmas...Then next summer...I'm moving here for good...Gotta sell my house...then I'll be back..I promise." I said.

Olivia smiled..

"Hey, you still with that law firm of yours?" I asked.

"Yes..why?" she asked..

"You think they might have a need for a private investigator??  I got a P.I. License now..." I said.

"Still a hunter of men eh?" she laughed...

''Yeah..it's kind of in my blood." I laughed.

(TO BE CONTINUED)