Into Thin Air

48 HOURS LATER-

I sat at Jean Stevens bed side the entire time...She had been extremely lucky....She was found shot...and bleeding profusely , not far from the Art Museum two days before...She was lucky to be alive...

She had been hit with one of the two bullets fired at her...It had hit her in the side and gone straight through her without hitting any vital organs....The second shot, which her would be killer meant to be the kill shot ...the shot to finish her off ,missed her completely....it hit the ground, by her head and bounced off of the cement and landed several feet away...

Like I said...She was very,very lucky to be alive... He meant to kill her!

I sat by her bed until she regained consciousness....

 Jean woke up and looked over at me and smiled weakly....

''Kevin....Kevin...Ohhhh Kevin,I've been such a damn fool.." she said weakly...

"Now..Now...Jean, relax baby...relax...You're lucky to be alive..." I said and rubbed her shoulder gently...

"He shot me!   I couldn't believe it ..He shot me...He tried to kill me...Just hours before we were making sweet love in my bedroom...I can't believe he would do something like this to me...Why? What did I do to deserve to be shot?" she said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"It's nothing you did Jean...This guy is a little sicker than any of us realized...I thought he was just a player, a married man living a double life...I had no idea he is some psychopath...I was trying to get in touch with you Jean....You didn't answer your phone...Everything he told you was a lie...He doesn't live where he said he lives...He's not a lawyer...The guys at the law firm he said he worked at never heard of him...His drivers licenses, credit cards, debit cards...all fakes...In fact...his name is a fake.."I said.

"Then who is he Kevin?" she asked..

"I don't know....Nobody knows.....He wasn't who he said he was....He just vanished...Seemingly into thin air."I said.

Just then...my wife, Sepia and my buddy, Walter "Kool Kat" Jones  walked into the hospital room...

Sepia put her arms around me and rubbed my back and kissed me softly....She smiled at Jean...

"It's not often I let my husband spend the night with another woman...but he was so distraught when he found out you got shot...He blamed himself...I had no choice..." she said ,smiling sweetly...

"Ohhh my God...I'm so sorry....Kevin you didn't have to do this...This is all my fault...I've been a fool..a fool in love..."she said.

"It's okay...We've all been there...I'm just glad you're alive.....My girlfriend got a picture of you and your guy...She and her husband were at that gala...at the art museum....Robert Foxworth, her husband mentioned to her that Kevin was trying to find out information on this guy you were dating...She snapped several photos of him with her phone and emailed them to me."said Sepia.

I smiled and hugged my wife...

"What would I do without her?" I asked...

Kool Kat...who had been silent...spoke...

''Uh...we called your son and your daughter...They're both going to take you to one of their homes this afternoon ,when you get out of here..." he said.

"I can go home today?" she asked ,amazed...

"Yeah...You are the luckiest woman alive...No internal damage...You just have uh er ruh, that small hole in your side,where you got wounded...You're going to have to take it easy for a couple of weeks..but the doctor expects a full recovery...But until we catch the guy that shot you and I intend to get him...You're better off, not being at your house." I said.

Jean smiled and she sighed...

"You were right..I should have followed my gut....I'd be a thousand dollars richer and wouldn't be here in this hospital..." she said..

Sepia,Kool Kat and I stayed until Jean's son and daughter arrived and checked her out...

Sepia drove Kool Kat and I home...

"You hungry Walter? I'm cooking dinner tonight." said Sepia...

"Well Gee thanks Sepia...and will my god-daughter be there?" he asked...

"She sure will...Eva will be bringing her home in a few hours..." said Sepia...

I smiled....I slumped over and went to sleep...my first real sleep in 48 hours...

II-

A day later, after a good nights sleep, a shave, a shower and a hot breakfast at Sam Mother's diner...I was feeling much better...I got a call from Lt.Sissy Van Buren...She said we needed to talk...

So I headed to the headquarters of the Philadelphia Police department's Criminal Investigation Divison of which she is the head...

I walked in...a uniformed policeman led me to the conference room where Sissy, ADA Wallace and the detectives in her unit were seated...

Sissy greeted me with a smile and asked me to sit down...

"I called your house and your home office a day ago...Sepia told me you were at the hospital with Jean Stevens..." she said.

"You guys are investigating this? It's just a street shooting.." I said.

Sissy and her guys investigated major crimes..Murders,Kidnappings, criminal enterprises...Serial Killers, Mass Murderers, Drug Kingpins and the like...

"This is more than just a street shooting papi.." said Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace...

''You're right Kev, usually this kind of case would be a little under our radar, except that the bullet extracted from Ms. Stevens and found on the sidewalk come from a Spanish Astra... Not the type of pistol used by these street punks or the wise guys around these parts..." said Detective Tyriq Pile.

"Two years ago...In Alexandria ,Virginia...A young Black woman...An Attorney was gunned downed in front of her apartment and killed with the same type of weapon...Same M.O. as your client..Double tap...one shot to the chest...and another shot to the head..The gun used...is a match...Spanish Astra...

"Hmmmm." I said...

"Last year...a young woman...African-American, A Real Estate agent like your wife...Pretty,up and comer was shot and killed , after leaving a concert in Wilmington, Deleware...Same gun..Spanish Astra....Same bullets..A match for this shooting..."said Duke Baylor.

"When we heard about the shooting and the type of bullets and gun retrieved...We backtracked all of our cases and then hit VICAP...and we got a match to those other two murders...Both unsolved...."said Carlotta...

"Here is where it gets cute....Both women had recently started dating a man named Richard...They described him as tall, handsome, brown skinned...Well dressed....Claimed to be a lawyer...Both women told friends that he was secretive...and somewhat aloof...Wasn't interested in talking about himself or his past...no known relatives...wasn't interested in meeting their family or friends and seemed a bit shaky....Sound familiar?" asked Detective Sirena Pile..

"It does...Jean Stevens hired me because she was getting serious with this guy...and he seemed distant..She asked me to check him out...He told her his name was Richard Condom." I said.

They all smiled...

"Yeah ,I know.."I said.

"In Virginia...He was Richard Johnson." said Carlotta..

"And in Deleware...He was Richard Biggs.."said Detective Tony Hopkins...

"The FBI has been monitoring both of those unsolved murders and then this happened...It may be the first break we've had in the case....He didn't kill her...He slipped up...he hit her once and totally missed the second time...She's lucky to be alive.."said Sharon...

"Kevin...we are certain that the man you were investigating is the same man who killed those other two girls...Problem is...Nobody has a photo of him and only a few people have actually seen him...He has a knack for vanishing into thin air."said Sissy...

''Here's the thing...except for a few sketchy descriptions...No one has ever seen this guy...We don't know what he looks like..Now I kept it out of the paper and off the news that our shooting victim survived like you asked...We know she was your client....Can you help us?" asked ADA Keith Wallace...

I smiled..

"I have several photos of the guy." I said.

 "YOU DO?" asked Sissy in amazement...

"I've been tracking this guy for two weeks...I have footage of him and Jean Stevens...the night they met at Josies... I have photos of him at the Art Gala ,just minutes before the shooting...and I have one glossy of this guy...taken by one of Jeans girlfriends and the only other person to get a glimpse of him." I said and showed them the photos...

"Kevin...you should be one of us..."laughed Dr. Hazel Baylor, Duke's wife and a forensic investigator.

"Damn sure should be.." said Detectives Tyriq Pile, Jimmy Barlow and Duke Baylor in unison...

"I've got more...He rents an Apartment a few blocks from the park...If you get over there you'll find electronic equipment used to reroute calls...and I can give you both of his cell phone numbers..but that's it...Everything else he told Jean was a lie...Social Security number....Credit Cards,Debit Cards,
Drivers License...all fakes..." I said.

"This is more than we had....Thank you Kevin..."said Sissy...

"Yeah,but this guy may have moved on by now..Looking for another victim...He seems to vanish into thin air...It's like he doesn't exist.."I said.

"Oh he exists...and he's comfortable...He's probably scanning the news media looking for word of the shooting...Hoping she's dead...because if she isn't...She can identify him..."said Carlotta...

"Hmmm,You guys get on that apartment...You may find something you can use...I'm going to explore another avenue..."I said.

"Stay in touch friend."said Sissy...

''Always." I said.

III-

 Back at Morris Investigations ,my secret headquarters in the sub-basement of Morris Communications Inc.  The multi-media business I actually owned and ran for a living,I brought Hoagies, Steaks ,Fries and Beers for my operatives...Peeping Tom, Lockpick Johnson, Owen Todd,Kool Kat, Sean Jackson and Clerow...

They were busy looking up all online sales of a Spanish Astra in the past five years and doing background checks on the owners...I was certain Sissy and her detectives and Sharon and her FBI agents were doing the same..

"I got a hit Kevin" said Peeping Tom...

Clerow,Sean Jackson,Owen Todd and myself looked at his monitor...

"An Arthur Richard Smith of Philadelphia bought a Spanish Atra about two years ago...Bought it on the black market from Amsterdam...A further look into this guy shows that he is indeed a lawyer....Graduated from Penn Law School...Passed the bar
here and moved to Arlington,Virginia...according to credit card charges."said Peeping Tom..

"That's where the first young lady was murdered two years ago...What about Wilmington,Deleware?" I asked..

"It shows he was there for a few months with the law firm, Blockley and Naugle..but he had moved back here." said Peeping Tom..

"Around the time of the second murder.."I said.

Just then...my phone rang....It was Sissy...

"Hello Kevin...I've got some good news for you..."said Sissy..

"I've got news for you too."I said.."You go first.."I said.

"We hit that Apartment complex you told us about and found the equipment used to reroute calls...We lifted a finger print and we traced the equipment....The equipment was purchased by an Arthur Richard Smith...an area lawyer..He bought it on the Black market from Amsterdam..."she said.

"I traced a purchase of a Spanish Atra from the same guy ,Arthur Richard Smith to a black market website out of Amsterdam...And get this...Our boy made purchases in Arlington,Virginia and Wilmington,Deleware around the times of both murders..."I said.

"We really are in sync Kevin...We faxed photos of him to police departments in Arlington and Wilmington...It took a little time, but friends of both murder victims positively identified him as the lothario their friends was dating....We got him, we got him cold...Chica,Rico,Jimmy,Duke and five patrolmen went to arrest him...And get this..HE's married...Has the nerve to be married..."said Sissy..

"Why am I not surprised?" I said. "Thanks Sissy...Looks like we wrapped up another one huh?" I said.

"Yup...We been doin this a long time friend." she said..

"I know...What stories we'll tell to our grand-children."I said laughing..

"Good night Kevin." said Sissy..

"Good Night Siss." I said.

I turned to my guys who were just finishing up their steaks and hoagies and beer...

"Well guys...we can call it a night..That was Lt. Sissy Van Buren...She and her detectives were working along the same line as I was..They're going to pick up this guy as we speak.. Let's go home."I said.

What I didn't realize was that this story wasn't over just yet..There was still one last chapter left..

Sepia was still up when I got home...She sat on my lap in the living room...

"You got him lover?" she said...

"Sissy and the guys identified him and went to pick him up...He's a lawyer named Arthur Richard Smith..and check it out...He's married.." I said.

"See,I told you.."laughed my wife...

"Yeah,you did...I'm just glad it's over and Jean is safe..."I said.

But it wasn't over....This guy,as I would find out was a highly intelligent psychopath and he had one more hand to play..

(CONCLUSION NEXT)