Silent Partners

Early the next morning...I stood on the roof of C.I.D. headquarters....It was cool out...I was drinking a tumbler of hot coffee...So was Sissy....She looked at me and smiled...Sissy was such a sweet woman...Over the years we had become great friends...Amazing that when we first met...I didn't like her!


I always liked how she looked though...And probably because of that...I continued to deal with her...Feed her information, give her good cases...Eventually we both began to trust each other, we both began to get to know each other and today...I can't think of a better female friend...In my own way...I love Sissy and she loves me too.. Though it's purely platonic...It's there....Unspoken, but known by both of us!

"So you're telling me that Honest Harry Halliday is dirty...I always thought so." she said as she sipped her tumbler of coffee.

"Sissy, the things I saw in that briefcase would curl your toes..."I said.

"Where is the briefcase?" she asked...

"It's on it's way here...I've replaced it with a briefcase full of phony money and phony documents...I needed time to prepare it....When you get it , sit on it....I'm setting up a sting tonight...at Josies....I'm going to reel all of our little fish in and close this case." I said.

Sissy smiled...

"If anybody can...you can... I've got great detectives...Carlotta..she is so smart,so intuitive, so tough...Duke and Tyriq, tough, hardnose...intuitive, streetwise...Jimmy,Sirena,Hop...All incredibly gifted detectives...But none with your imagination, your flair..." she said.

"That is some compliment...because I am in awe of all six of them and Sharon Ferrell too!" I said.

Sissy smiled.

"They are all a godsend...Since I couldn't have you....I prayed for some good detectives and now I have them...but I still wish I had you." she said.

"Sissy, you do...You've always had me...I'm your silent partner.." I said.

Sissy gave me a hug....

"Yes you are...My silent partner..." she said and kissed me on the cheek!

I walked down from the roof... I looked at her...The steam was rising from her coffee as she stared out at the city...

"I'll be in touch." I said.

She turned and smiled at me like a shy school girl...

"I know you will" and she tossed me my .38 smokeless...."You may need that." she said.

I smiled at her again as I left the C.I.D. headquarters.

II-

It wasn't hard to find Billy Blanca's residence...He frequented Big Chicken's strip clubs...They told me where he lived right away...

I knocked on his door... He came to the door in his boxer shorts...One of Big Chicken's girls was lying across his bed in just her panties....knocked out...A half empty bottle of tequilla was on his night stand...

"Hello Billy." I said.

"You have the claims ticket?" he asked.

"No...I don't...Come by Josies tonight...near closing...I'll be there..." I said.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

"I need to know a few things...Like what is actually in that briefcase? What is your stake in it?" I asked.

He smiled...

"Honest Harry Halliday, our esteemed Tax Commissioner is supposed to present the tax bills to several large corporations that the city of Philadelphia does business with, construction, services, etc, etc..and he is very,very lenient if you get my drift... He has taken over one million,maybe more in bribes...and never paid one red cent of taxes on any of that....William Dunn started looking into him...he got all of the facts and figures...Halliday has ten bank accounts in ten different cities...and some off shore accounts to boot...He got the account numbers, cancelled checks and book-keeping records of all of his payoffs....Real Estate deals paid in cash...That's what was in that briefcase along with blackmail money.." said Billy Blanca...

"So...What has any of this got to do with you?" I asked.

He smiled and continued...

"I was a dealer in Atlantic City at the Golden Nugget...I personally passed a quarter of a million dollars in payments to Honest Harry Halliday through his associate, Thomas "Shifty" Mills, a thug, trying to look respectable. ...His uh table winnings...he said.

I smiled...

"I get it..The bribers lose to you and you see that Honest Harry gets his money back right?" I said.

"Yes sirr...I was going to testify to as much." he said.

"William Dunn was going to pay me a half a million dollars for my testimony." he said.

"Did you have him killed?" I asked.

"Noooooo..Not me..." he said.

"Not you." I said...I looked at his girlfriend on the bed..

"Is she alive?" I asked..

He smiled..Then I heard her snoring...

"Heh heh heh...yes..she is very much amongst the living." he said.

"Did you have Dunn killed?" I asked again...

"Nooo..It was Marilyn Short...She knew about the briefcase..She hired the man, a man named McNeil from D.C. to kill him on the train...He was supposed to get off in Deleware...that is where her operative, Georgie Neary met up with him, got the briefcase and paid him off...Only , he got himself arrested and Neary, through his underworld connections had him offed in the city lock up...Neary returned to the city with the briefcase and he put it in a safe deposit box...They were supposed to split the proceeds and continue to blackmail Halliday."he said.

"Thus acing you out of the deal." I said.

"Yes....Then she hired you to follow Georgie and tipped him off that you were following him...Knowing and hoping that in a violent confrontation...You would come out the winner...Which you did...You did her work for her and she knew that you must have found the ticket, because..if the police had found the contents..Halliday and a lot of other people would be on their way to jail..." he said.

I smiled.

"Well...that just about explains everything...I'll see you in Josies tonight." I said.

"Of course." he said..

He smiled wryly as I left...

I walked four blocks down the street to our survelience van..

Sean Jackson, Peeping Tom ,Lockpick Johnson and Owen Todd were in the van..

"Did you get it?" I said.

''Every bloodthirsty word Kev." said Sean Jackson.

I had been wearing a wire....The contents of my recording plus the contents of that briefcase would be enough to put Halliday and all of these conspirators away for a long time...

"Okay...Get this stuff boxed and get it to Clerow...Tell him to take a copy to ADA Keith Wallace and another to Lt. Sissy Van Buren." I said.

"We on it Kev" they said.

The die was now cast! Time for the final act.

III-

Josies was hopping tonight... It was free crab legs night... The place was packed...

The band was cooking...Downtown Rob Brown, Chazz Gillison, Bone Hampton and Dutch Van Buren..were playing up a storm tonight...

I sat in a booth with Attorney Robert Foxworth, Bonita , his wife and my wife, Sepia...we were eating fried chicken wings, crab legs and drinking beer...All the while I eyed the bar...No sign of any of the players...Not yet...but I knew they all were coming.

At 2:00 am...The last patron left...Robert and Bonita and my wife Sepia were preparing to leave...

''Are you going to be alright Kevin?" asked Sepia..

''Sure ...I just want you guys out of here." I said.

Robert Foxworth, Bonita and Sepia headed for the door...only...Billy Blanco stumbled in... a trail of blood followed him....

"He looked up at me...Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Mistah Kevin...the dirty bastardos double crossed me..I don't believe it...I've been shotttttttttttttt...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." he moaned and fell to the floor...

I felt him for a pulse...He was dead!

This was NOT going the way I planned it...

Just then, Honest Harry Halliday, Marilyn Short and Thomas "Shifty" Mills walked in the bar and closed the door...

Gus went to make a move, but Shifty drew his gun on him...

"Get behind that bar old man...Do it!" he snarled...Gus obeyed but stared him down...

I looked up...

"Well, well, well...The gang is all here " I said.

"Everyone just be cool....I have a little business to complete with Mr. Kevin Morris and I'll be on my way...
I have 20 large I will pay you if you produce the briefcase...Now hand it over." he said.

Shifty Mills cocked his .45 and smiled.

Honest Harry Halliday said- "20 large and this will all go away Kevin...but you're running out of time."

"And if I don't?...I'll wind up like Mr. Blanco over there on the floor."I said.

"I want that briefcase Mr. Morris." said Honest Harry Halliday....

"You three have been in cahoots since day one....First you sent Nylon or whatever his name is here to hire me , only you had no idea that Marilyn here was working behind your back...Had her own little crew...who killed William Dunn and planned to take the contents of that briefcase and cut you out of the deal eh?"I said.

Marilyn got up...She was clearly frightened now...Honest Harry Halliday was staring at her....What I had said was making sense...

"You didn't know did you Honest Harry?" I said ,looking at him and laughing..."You were the biggest sucker...All those nights you lay in her bed thinking she was your lover, She was just playin you,like a deck of cards." I said.

"Harry, that's not true...I've been your administrative assistant  and your lover for years...I would never betray you...I love you...Why it was Shifty...He had Dunn killed and Dunn's killer killed...He was working with Georgie." she said.

"You're lying!!.. YOU LIE!!...Boss, she's lying.I aint have nothin to do with Georgie...I didn't even like the guy...She's a lying liar!" he said ,now frightened himself...

"The proof is here in Billy's pocket..." she said and she kneeled down and went in his pocket, producing a .45!!!!...She took a perfect squatting stance and fired, hitting Shifty Miller in the chest twice, killing him instantly!!!...Honest Harry Halliday was stunned...He leaped up knocked over a table and attempted to run, but she fired again ,hitting him square in the back and in his side...He fell to the ground dead...She was about to turn and fire on me , except that a bottle of tequilla was smashed and broken over her head!!!...She fell to the ground, unconscious and out like a light...I picked up her gun, unloaded it and put the safety on it and stuffed it in my waistband.....My wife Sepia had done the honors...I kissed her softly...

"Thank you baby." I said.  She smiled...

''My pleasure" she said, smiling and kissing me.

Lt. Sissy Van Buren ,Detectives Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace, Tyriq Pile,Edwin" Duke "Baylor,Jimmy Barlow, Sirena Pile and Tony Hopkins crashed through the door, guns drawn and with five shotgun toting
uniformed Policemen...

"Whoa...What happened here?" asked Sissy...as more police cars and ambulances drove up....

I pointed to the unconscious Marilyn Short...

"She's your shooter....You'll find she's guilty of a lot of things..." I said.

Dr. Hazel Hunter and her staff of CSI people and Crime Scene photographers arrived on the scene...

The bodies of Billy Blanco, Honest Harry Halliday and Thomas "Shifty" Mills were removed... Marilyn Short, bleeding profusely from her head wound, but alive and conscious was put in an ambulance...

I looked at my cop friends...

"You got my tapes?" I asked.

"Yeah we got em and the briefcase...Keith Wallace sends his regards" said Duke..

"I knew you weren't going to rest until you got to the bottom of this...Good work Kevin." said Sissy.

Within an hour, they were all gone...Robert and Bonita had also left....

I helped Gus ,Honey Brown, Eddie and Albert mop up the floor and clean up....

''Wow Kid...That was some wing ding you had in here tonight."he said.

"Gus, I swear it wasn't supposed to go down like that." I said.

"It's okay Kid...That's the most excitement I've had in a long time.."he said and busted out laughing...

Sepia and I busted out laughing too..

EPILOUGE:

Honest Harry Halliday, Billy Blanco and Shifty Mills were all dead, but 49 people who accepted kickbacks and bribes were indicted and arrested by the FBI and given long prison sentences...

His multiple bank accounts were seized and emptied and the money returned to the city government coffers they were robbed from...

Marilyn Short recovered from her injuries and stood trial for the murders of Honest Harry Halliday, Billy Blanco and  Thomas "Shifty" Mills..She was also indicted for conspiracy in the deaths of William Dunn, George Neary and Larry McNeil...She was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to die by lethal injection.

Sepia and I stood in our living room kissing passionately...

"You saved my life baby..."I said.

''What was I supposed to do...let her kill you???..I had to do something." she said matter of factly...

"I'm so glad you did." I said.

We tossed off our shoes and I eased Sepia up against the bedroom wall and began kissing her passionately...She returned my passion....My shirt went to the floor as I continued kissing her and she continued kissing me...I unzippered her dress and slipped it off....She unzippered my trousers and I hurriedly stepped out of them....She held my now massively erect penis in her hands, stroking it gently.....I hadn't even bothered to close the bedroom door...

"Oh My God....Close the bedroom door, " she exclaimed...as I unhooked her bra and began sucking on her breasts.....I took my foot and kicked the door shut. We were inside...who would hear  or see us ? I mused.

 "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh Kevin....ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." she moaned as I slipped her panties down ......

I thrusted my tongue practically down her throat and while squeezing one breast with my hand...I lifted her up and positioned her on me as I entered her and began thrusting away...

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY Goddddddddddddd!!  OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" she screamed as I continued to thrust , harder and feverishly more.......

Once again...We wound up on the bed...making wild love with reckless abandon...

 Two or three hours of passionate and slow ,yet intense lovemaking went by before we both climaxed mightily and furiously and dozed off to sleep on top of the bed in each others arms...

Later, when we were just relaxing...

Sepia said to me...

"You know...when we first met...It was at that same train station and I uh kind of got you involved in a bit of a mystery..."

"Yeah...a bit of a mystery? Bodies were falling like flies..." I said ,laughing, remembering my very first case.

"Yeah, but it was the best mystery of my life...I met you...I gained a husband, a new city, a house, a car, a job..new friends and being reunited with family I never knew I had...You saved my life Kevin...I had nothing before I met you..." she said ,sobbing a little bit...I wiped the tears from her eyes with a tissue.

"We saved each others life Sepia ,You're my silent partner, you always have been......I had been lonely for years...No steady girlfriend....On the verge of being fired on that job...I can't tell you how many times Sheila covered for me and Sean Jackson....and now we own the joint....lock ,stock and barrell.Me, Sheila and Sean." I said. "And I couldn't have bought the company without help from you and Bonita,Chess and Chris and Clerow..Giving me that infusion of cash from your businesses...You all helped me to buy that company and expand it...We all have worked together over the years as silent partners babes."

"Isn't God good Husband of mine?" said Sepia...

"He is indeed! My sexy little silent partner" I said...

Sepia looked over at me and just laughed....