Hatches

The next morning...I shaved and showered and put on a nice White Linen suit and sandals and donned a straw hat and sunglasses and met Mr. Slipp of Slipp, Skip and Trippe Insurance at a seaside Cantina...He was a dapper and well dressed white man...

He gave me an envelope with 3 G's in it....

"This is a down payment...Mr. Morris...I've heard about your work...I did my research...Mr. Foxworth has told me about the great work you've done for his law firm and Ms. Sissy Van Buren raved about how you've helped the police from time to time crack some serious cases...I heard you've helped the FBI too.."he said.

I smiled...

"I'm flattered sir that you know of my exploits , but don't you insurance companies have Insurance investigators for this type of thing?"I asked.

''We have one and he's in jail at the moment."he said.

"In jail??" I said incredulous...

"Long story...Anyway...You're the best our money can buy right now..."he said and opened up a briefcase..

He put papers on the table in front of us...

"This is a list of the five businesses that have been robbed...In every case...the safe was blown..." he said.

"What kind of things were stolen?" I said.

''Jewelry mostly, ....Here is a list and some photos of the jewelry stolen.....They also stole a large amount of cash from these places..." said Mr. Slipp....

"That means that whoever stole this stuff is an experienced box man.....How did they gain entry?" I asked..

"This is where it gets cute...Because these businesses are all on the waterfront...There is a sub-basement under each and every one of them with a hatch that leads to the river...I suspect the robber used an electric welding torch and burned the hatches..."said Mr. Slipp...

"That means he's a box man, an experienced scuba diver and he has had knowledge of these businesses...You think it's a gang?"I asked...

"I don't know...That Mr. Kevin Morris is your job to find out." he said...

''You're right..."I said.

"Breakfast?  It's on me." he said.

''Don't mind if I do...I am hungry."I said smiling..

II-

I returned to me friends shortly afterwords...Sepia was feeding the baby...I leaned down and kissed the baby and then kissed Sepia....Robert and Bonita sat beside her...Sean Jackson and Sheila sat next to them and Conrad Nelson and Jill rounded out the group....They were eating Pancakes and Sausage, Waffles, Omelletes and Crepes...There was hot coffee, Mimosas and Orange juice at the table...


"Kev, sit down,have some breakfast ."said Robert...

''I already had breakfast...I gotta go in town to talk to Jim Swanson...I'll see you guys in a few...You going diving today Robert?" I asked..

"Nah...I'm giving it a break....Might do a little shopping." he said.

I smiled...He wasn't fooling me..He was shook by what he found yesterday...I didn't blame him...

III-

I met Sheriff James Swanson, my friend at the restaurant in town he liked to frequent....He preferred meeting here...


''Hi ya Kevin...I already heard that that insurance guy hired you to look into this mess...I tell you,I could use all the help I can get on this." he said.

''Have you been to the scene of the other robberies?" I asked.

"Yeah....The guy got in those damn hatches..." he said.

"So you don't think it's a gang?" I asked.

"No...this looks like a one man job.." he said.

"That helps me a lot." I said.

"Yeah? How?" he asked..

"I know this guy is a swimmer....probably a diver...and I know he's a box man....Might have done time.." I said.

"What are you going to do?" he asked..

"I'm going to eliminate the most obvious suspects first..." I said as I left..

"Okay, call me when you've got something."he said.

"I will Jim." I said.

IV-

The 25 members of the Black Scuba Divers Association was meeting here and had come here around the time the robberies occurred...


I did work ups on and interviewed all 24 of them...I knew that Robert wasn't responsible for this..They all had alibis, which I checked thoroughly...Thus clearing all of them...

I faxed their information , the information I had back to Philly....They all checked out...Only one had anything resembling a record and it was a minor assault charge...No time was served... Thus I cleared all of them..

With them eliminated...I called my friend, Sharon Ferrell- Hopkins of the FBI in Philadelphia..

"Heyy Sharon..How's tricks?" I said.

''Who is this?" she answered..

"It's me, Kevin." I said.

"I take it you're out of town eh?" she said.

"Yeah...I need your help."I said.

"Wow...All you Private Investigators call me for help when you're out of town."she said laughing..

"Oh...I'm jealous...Who else is calling you?" I said joking..

"Donnie Ray Alexander called me from Texas recently for help on a murder case."she said.

"Oh, that's okay...He's good people....Just nobody else...you're my FBI agent." I said jokingly...

''Andddd...what can I do for you Mr. Kevin?"she asked, laughing......

 

''Do you have any record of any boxmen, just recently released from prison like in the past year and if so do they have any military experience??....you know, ex-Navy Seal, ex-scuba diver..et al?" I asked.

"I'll look and I'll get back to you okay?" she said.

"Thanks Doll." I said.

"Anything for you baby." she said.

"Watch that!" I said and we both laughed...

"Byeee Kevin." she said.

V-

I next visited all but one of the places that had been robbed...All of them had these age old hatches that led to the river...I could see where the robber had used a very high end underwater blowtorch or a sodering iron to blow the top off of the hatch and let himself in...He blew the safe in record time, emptied it's contents and escaped through the hatch into the river...The police reports showed no fingerprints were left at the scene or DNA... Not one of these stores had any kind of alarm system and there was no video cameras of any kind..That was going to make my job even harder...

Couldn't catch an easy case could I?