Sorry To Disappoint You

 It had been a week since We had arrived in London...Olivia and Beverly were still petitioning a magistrate for a hearing for Lawrence Stevenson...An American accused of murder...His case had begun to make the international news..

In the meanwhile..I had been doing a work up on the murder victim, while Olivia and Beverly found a friendly British barrister who was giving them a crash course in British law..and helping them file motions.

We all worked well together.

Our victim Donna Claridge was born 28 years ago in Danville,Maryland...Her Father was a former U.S. Embassador to Great Brittan , He was white ,Her Mother was an English Professor at Georgetown...She was African-American...

Donna went to the best Private Schools in the area and like her mother, graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Political Studies...She was working on her Masters around the time she started working as the personal assistant for Lawrence Stevenson...A certified Public Accountant who specialized in what is reffered to as Financial Autopsies of major corporations and conglomerates...He was seperated from his wife at the time and an office romance began between the two of them, despite the fact he was 25 years her senior.

He had been brought in by represenatives of the Harris Group and Lock 15....When someone discovered that millions of dollars had mysteriously been siphoned out....The whistle blower, Claude Keys, 33 of the Harris Group had brought Lawrence Stevenson in on the case in the first place...He had been found shot to death in what looked like a street mugging in Washington D.C. Only Lawrence thought there was more to it than that...

I used the public library and I communicated with D.C. Homicide Detectives and Medical Examiners by Skype....I made several calls with my burner cell to certain people in Philadelphia  also...It wasn't like being there talking to people in person, but it helped me put together what Donna was doing in America before she went to London...

Because of their close romantic and sexual relationship, Donna Claridge became the conduit in which Lawrence passed his most sensitive information..After Claude Keys was murdered...She reported getting threatening calls from a phone number that was like mine an untraceable burner phone number....but she also got a call from someone in Lock 15...on her last night before she left the states..She got a call from this same number when she was in London....and surprise ,surprise...Someone at this same number made a call to the same burner phone number that she claimed she had got the threat from ,just hours before she was killed....And the cell phone call was from someone here in London...Someone who had used the same number in Philly...

Lawrence Stevens had been seen leaving her flat about an hour before her body was discovered...He admitted that he had been with her and that they had had sex...The Killer had just missed him apparently...I'm certain he was the actual target....The killer apparently must have been spooked and had to leave in a hurry and dropped my wife's photos..They were found on the floor off the bedroom...

I shared this with Beverly and Olivia ,who were using this library to do their research for Lawrence's case..

''So obviously...There was someone else involved...Someone...Donna and Larry thought that could be trusted...That's our killer right?" asked Olivia..

"No..Not the actual killer...Somebody that called the killer..This person didn't get their hands dirty." I said.

''Check this out guys...I just talked to Josie..." said Beverly , who brought Olivia and I both tumblers of coffee...

"Josie told me that someone broke into our office...They didn't take anything , but they went through all of our files...They even beat the safe....but they didn't take anything...She called the police...and apparently they went in our places ..Mine and yours auntay...Same thing...They were searching for something that they didn't find..."

"She said that Nelson ,Blake, Chance Howard and Paris came over and helped her clean and straighten up.....Nelson told her that someone had broken into his spot too...and check this out...She got several calls from someone asking for you Auntay....The number was recorded...The police said it was a burner phone...and guess what the number was?" asked Beverly...

"You don't have to tell me..Our mysterious burner phone..the one that was called here...Which means our killer was here in London a week ago...Killed this girl and set Lawrence up and then he came back to the states looking for us...He still doesn't know where we are...He's turning the city upside down searching for us..Which means...His employer desperately wants that envelope and that safe deposit box..."

''He's going to be looking for all safe deposit boxes in my name...I do have one..but that's not where I put the envelope...I used someone else's safe deposit box...U.S. Attorney Brenden Burnside..I didn't tell him what was in there ,Just told him I needed to keep something in his box for safe keeping...Whoever is looking for it is really going to be disappointed."laughed Olivia.

''Yes...but pretty soon..He or whoever is going to be coming here to London ...He's either going to be looking for Lawrence or you Livy....It won't take long...We've got to finish this business quickly.This guy is very good and very efficient.." I said.

''Yes...Kind of reminds me of you." said Olivia smiling at me salaciously..

"I am aren't I?" I said.

I smiled at her and squeezed her legs...she was wearing a short skirt and her beautiful little legs were so smooth...

''Ouu, stop that..Not here baby." she said, smiling and blushing at the same time..

"Turning you on aren't I?" I laughed...

She didn't answer...she just smiled at me salaciously....

II-

Scotland yard did a pretty thorough investigation...They checked Lawrence's alibi...That he was in a bar having a pint at the time of the murder...His credit cards bailed him out...He was indeed and I found two witnesses to bare out his story.

Plus Olivia ,Bev and I showed them the morgue reports...Photos of the victim's neck ,which proved the killer was left handed...Lawrence is right handed...The killer had large hands...Lawrence has small hands..and the police found one small print that didn't match Lawrence's or the victims..Scotland yard ran it through their system...There was no match...So they turned it over to Interpol...

Olivia and Beverly took their findings to a magistrate...It took a little less than an hour for the charges to be dropped and Lawrence Stevenson was released without further incident...

"Olivia...Beverly...You both are worth your weight in gold..You got me out of a murder charge.." he said.

''Maybe Lawrence...But now..You and I are without a country...We are both being hunted by someone who means to kill us...We can't go home...Whoever this man is..He's broken into my office..Bev's place,My place and the apartment of Beverly's boyfriend...It's time you come clean with us about all of this now."said Olivia.

"Alright...but not here...I'll tell you everything tonight ..at the Public House...Come to this address.." he said.

III-

We all met at a Jamaican club on London's West Side.......

 The club reminded me of Josies back in Philly...Live music, people laughing talking, drinking, dancing...Beverly even danced with a couple of guys....

Olivia and I laughed and teased her... as couples sat and enjoyed a pint of beer.

"Okay Freshie...I'm going to tell Nelson you were doing the rub a dub with those two Jamaican guys." said Olivia..

"Auntay, they both were cute!"said Beverly...

Olivia nodded...

"Yes they were.. You got a point.."she said and they both high fived each other..

''Good thing your daddy isn't here...He'd kill me and you for allowing you to wear that scandalous dress...and no bra."laughed Olivia.

''Allow? Auntie..I'm a grown ass woman."said Beverly..

 "I know that...but does your father?" laughed Olivia.

"You know Auntay...you got a real good point."said Beverly smiling....

I just laughed at the entire conversation...

"I gotta get used to this food Auntay...Fish and Chips aint my thing."said Beverly...

''I know ,but I do like the Bangers and Spuds..(Sausage and Potatoes)"laughed Olivia..

"The Beer is on point..." I said..." A whole pint...and it's a little stronger than American Beer " I laughed..

"Yeah..I find that to be true Donnie Ray..."said Larry..

"You were saying?" said Olivia getting right to the point..

Larry looked at me...

''She always like this?" he asked....

I smiled...

"Yes...She's a lawyer." I said and excused myself..."Folks...I have to excuse myself...drinking two pints of beer has it's consequences.."I joked...and headed to the restroom..I noticed a blond guy in a black sweatshirt, with a black skull cap sitting alone and not drinking as I walked towards the restroom...I guess I looked at him funny because next to Lawrence and maybe three or four white girls...This was the only other white male in the club...And he wasn't drinking or talking to anybody...Just sitting and looking around..

I looked at him as I headed to the restroom...Was he the same guy I had seen standing outside our hotel room a week before? I had taken note of that, but I had never seen him again after that....Plus I didn't get a good look at his face....

"His name is Senator Orville Miller...Ever heard of him?" asked Lawrence...

''Yes...He's pretty well connected...He was once the U.S. Attorney from the Southeast District of Pennsylvania..Put quite a few mobsters behind bars..That's how he made his name as a crime buster..."said Olivia..

''Yeah well..There's more to that story than you know..A few years ago...before I was asked to investigate the huge discrepancies in finances at the Harris group and Lock 15....An Investigative reporter by the name of Lois Blanco..got ahold of a story in which a group of rogue FBI and DEA agents were kidnapping Mafioso and Russian Mobsters and holding them for ransom...According to her story...Then U.S. Attorney Orville Miller got wind of it and asked for a cut...or else he was going to bust all of them..They gave him a cut and it financed his first run for the Senate and his second run...It was a good story...only .." said Lawrence...

"Only He had the story killed right?"said Beverly...

"No..More like she got killed...Her car appeared to have been run off the road into the Potomic river...She drowned trying to get out of the car..It was ruled an accident.. and those three rogue FBI and DEA agents...are all dead..Shot to death in seperate incidents...All unsolved..and thus the story died with them." said Lawrence.

"Oh My God Lawrence..What have you got me ,my husband and my niece caught up in ?  We could all be killed just for knowing what we know." said Olivia..

"That's exactly right." came a voice..It was a blonde man with the black sweatshirt and the black hoodie..he had a glock with a silencer and he had it stuck in Beverly's ribs....He was left handed and his hands were incredibly large..

"Auntay!!!.." said Beverly..

Olivia and Lawrence looked up in horror at the Blonde man with the skull cap and the very real glock with a silencer stuck in Beverly's ribs...

"Sssshhhh, hush up...Now the four of us are going to walk quietly out that back door...Either of you make a move and I will put a round in little missy's liver...and she will die a slow and painful death...NOW MOVE IT!" he said.

"Okay...Don't hurt her...She doesn't know anything about any of this..She just came over here to help me get Mr. Stephenson out of a jam...We are just attorneys.."said Olivia..

"Shut up." he said.

"She might not know anything, but you do Olivia Bennett -Alexander..Don't you? Yes...I know all about you. Now I need to know where that Zip Drive is and if there is a copy..." he said as they walked slowly into a back alley.."

"If I tell you, you're going to kill the three of us anyway...So what difference does it make it?" said Olivia..

"You tell me what I want and I promise you, I'll put a round in your heads and make your deaths quick and painless..None of you will even feel it..You jerk me around and I'll take you somewhere and introduce you to some  friends I made here in London...Sick guys that will make all of you beg me to kill you after they get through with you...Believe me...the people I know will give torture a new name." he said.

"Look Man..It's me you want..Let them go.They don't have what you want or know anything.." said Lawrence Stevenson.

''Shut Up... You Lying Liar...You're going to be the first to die. I know that Mrs. Alexander hid that Zip Drive somewhere for you and I want to know where it is...You will no longer continue to blackmail my employer after tonight." he snickered...

''You're mad"said Lawrence.

''What I am is paid well to do a job and I intend to do it. Now tell me where it is.."he said.

"You killed my lover didn't you?"said Lawrence...

''Yeah...I snapped her neck....I really wanted you..but I missed you by just minutes...." he snarled..

Lawrence lunged at him..but he stuck the muzzle of his gun in Lawrence's face..

"Don't get brave now buddy..I'll blow your brains out...for GP...I'm pissed that you got these two pretty young women involved in your mess...They have to die for something they have no stake in...I'm gonna make sure you die first and painfully."he said.

"You bastard!"said Lawrenece...

"I am aint I?" he laughed.

"Let my niece go..please. She knows nothing...She just helped me with Mr. Stephenson's case...That's all...She was my co-counsel...She doesn't know anything...Please let her go!" said Olivia..who was tearing up...

"Don't cry...I can't do that babes, She's seen me...She'll know that I killed you two..Sorry to disappoint you..You're a very pretty lady.....So is she...By the way...There was another man with you..Your husband...Where is he?" he asked..

Just then he heard the click of my .38 smokeless...Just a few feet from  his head...He smiled ,but didn't flinch.

"I'm right here ace...I do believe you are making my wife and my niece nervous and upset...Now you know  that I can't have that.. Don't you?"I said.

He smiled...and then laughed.....

"Drop that heater Donnie Ray, Isn't it?  You're out of your league with me.." he said.

"I don't know..My gun shoots as well as your gun...You shoot and I swear..I'll put a round between your eyes if it's the last thing I do...So let me ask you buddy...You feelin lucky tonight?" I asked him...He laughed..

"Come on...I'm a trained killer...Do you think that you..a former street cop can match wits with me??...I'm ex- Special Forces..I'm a marksman...I can shoot you dead and your niece before you even pull that trigger..And I don't want to have to do that. Not here..Not just yet..." he said.

"Then don't.!!..Let's call this even for tonight...Walk away..Everybody wins.."I said.

"Can't do that...My employer needs information that I believe one or two of you have...And I need it tonight..Once again..I am sorry to disappoint you mate...Now drop that gun...Save yourself a painful death."he said.

''Tell me..How long you been killin for Senator Miller? Just humor me." I asked.He flinched...I had struck a nerve..He now knew that we knew more than he suspected, which meant there was no way he was going to let the four of us walk away alive...

"I, uh..ruh, don't know any Senator Miller..But to answer your question..I've been killing for my employer since I got out of the military...I killed a nosey reporter for him, some rogue federallis, this girl here...a whistle blower at one company and now I'm about to kill you guys..Starting with your niece...Now drop the heater...I won't ask you again mate.." he said.

"But either way, We are all destined to die regardless of whether I drop my gun or not?" I asked.

''Sorry...We all gotta go sometimes...Tonight is just your night I suppose." he said laughing.

''Nah....I think I like living." I said.

"WHAT?" he said incredulous....

I fired one shot...It sounded like a huge explosion in that small alleyway...It went through his chest ,above his heart and exited out of his back...His blood splashed on the wall and he looked in shock as he tossed his pistol up in the air.... and spun around like a top ....

I was a marksman too...at one time..

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!  I'VE BEEN SHOT! YOU..YOU SHOT ME MAN..AGHHHHHHHHHHH!" he said as he stumbled....Blood poured out of him like a sive...He looked at me with pure shock.....".I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!  I'VE BEEN SHOT! OHHH,It HURTS...I FEEL COLD!!!...OHHHH...OHHH LORD...I'M SHOT!!! ARGHHHHH! I'VE BEEN SHOT!  LAWD HAVE MERCY!! I'VE BEEN SHOT..OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..MY GOD...I'VE BEEN SHOT...OHHHH LAWD...ARGHHHHHHHH....OHHHHHH.."he said again, still staring at me in disbelief and tumbling to the ground...just barely alive and trying in vain to reach for his gun,which was a few feet away from him...

"Talkative killer, isn't he?" said Lawrence Stevenson peering down at him.

I stood over him and fired two more times...A double tap as they call it in the military! A flock of birds went flying away from a distance!

I kneeled down and felt his pulse..

He was dead....

''Sorry to disappoint you mate." I said ,smiling..He would never kill  or hurt any one ever again..

Lawrence Stevenson was in pure shock!! His mouth was wide open...

''My God...You killed him!"he said...I put my gun on safety and put it back in my suit jacket...

Both Olivia and Beverly ran to me and hugged me...

''Oh Donnie Ray,I love you so much.."said Olivia..crying and shaking...and kissing me passionately....

Beverly kept kissing me on the cheek and crying and hugging me...

"I love you too.. I love you too"she said...

"Oh My God Man..You've killed him!!...He's the link to our mystery.." said  Lawrence....

"And He still can be...I'm calling the police...I'm certain...His body and his whereabouts will tell us a lot more...You wanted the man responsible for killing your girl brought to justice...Well there is your justice!" I said.

''Thank You! I'll sleep a lot better knowing this guy is dead..He was a real psychopath!"said Lawrence Stephenson...

"Don't...Miller will send someone else...Go back to your flat and lock the door..Don't answer it for anyone..Any trouble..Call me..." I said.

"Roger That!" he said as authorities came and removed the body from the alley....

IV-

The four of us gave statements to the police and I gave them my gun as evidence...It didn't matter...I had a back up piece...a 40. caliber back in our hotel...They said after a ballistics check they would return it to me..

We dropped Lawrence off at his flat and returned to our hotel...

That night,Olivia and Beverly talked to Josie...She said that everything was cool there in Philly, no threatening calls in days and no sign of break ins....

Beverly face timed  Nelson and was in her room for a long time..

I called her and told her to come down to our room...I know she was shook up...I felt as if she'd feel better staying with us that night...

I told them both to share the bed...and I would sleep on the couch with my .40 just in case there were other playmates in town...

But neither Olivia ,nor Bev would have it..

"You're sleeping in the bed with both of us..." said Olivia...

It was every man's fantasy to sleep in the bed with two sexy women...Olivia with a pink mini nightgown, matching pink bikini panties and Beverly with a grey nightshirt that came right below her hips with just a hint of her black thong....I couldn't believe it!

I had my arms around Olivia..Who constantly kissed me all night...while Beverly kissed me gently on the cheek several times before she drifted off to sleep... I couldn't believe my good fortune...

I should save their lives more often I thought as I drifted off...with a big smile on my face.

In the back of my mind...I knew that this thing was far from over.

(TO BE CONTINUED)