Brigadoon

Manny Spain slept pretty good that night...Once again, alone in his new loft....The only one he owned...He had just got Panama Brown to sign his condos back over to him...He would take these to a Notary today and then his lawyer and it would all be official..He'd be back in the business again...Those chumps...Panama Brown And Smackwater Jack had paid off his debt....Thinking they had a foothold on him...Panama Brown was dead now , his body at the bottom of the river...He made sure of that...

He still had his drug deal ...The Nidal Brothers would sell his remaining product through their popular Bakery-Coffee shop in Little Norway...and he would get his 50 percent cut...A sizable piece of change...and he was out....Totally legit...Once again, he thought...His luck had held out...

He had drove back by Angie's Duplex after he had shot and killed Panama Brown but the place was dark...She was probably sleeping...He hadn't wanted to wake her up...It was after 1:00 am anyway.

He tried to sleep...

He dreamed of his former attorney Beverly West and the last time he had seen her...In Minks...He had fallen for her hard...But she had never been even the slightest bit interested...Her sexy body, her voice gave him an instant erection......

''Mister Spain...May I sit down?" she asked.

His eyes nearly popped out of his head..

''Yes...Of course...." he said.

''Sorry to hear about your friend." said Beverly..She was talking about the recent death of June Carson...His number two man, who's death he had reluctantly ordered....

He smiled..

"Yeah, shame..I heard you and your aunt (Olivia Bennett-Alexander)won a big settlement against a car company that made faulty cars." he laughed...

She smiled...

"You're smarter than I thought you were...This is over and all of it fell on Carson, none of it blew back on you.." she said.

He smiled but said nothing...

"What do you want Beverly?" he asked.

"Nothing...Just sayin congratulations...Game well played..." she said.

"Bev...let's me and you stop playin games...I want to tap that thang in a bad way....Why don't you let me? Come on...Let's play house." he asked..

"That's never gonna happen Manny." she said.

"So ..you just gonna keep comin down here and teasing me? Gettin a brother all worked up? "he asked..

"Nope...This is the last time I'm ever going to come down here...but I will give you some free advice.....You won today...but this type of thing will eventually go bad for you..So wise up...Just some free legal advice." she said and got up...

"Heyy,I didn't order you a drink.." he said.

"I don't need one...My boyfriend will take care of that tonight." she said and got up and looked at him one last time...

"Bye Bye Manny." she said and walked out...

He smiled and just admired her sexy body as she slowly made her way through the crowd and out the door...

That had been the last time he saw Beverly.....He did play the game well didn't he?

Better than most...He thought of ADA Keith Wallace...The dashing ADA who took a run at him...along with the Criminal Investigation Division, The FBI and The DEA.He had to give them credit... They nearly took him out of the game but he survived him and them...

ADA Keith Wallace had walked over to him as he and his detectives were arresting January Carson..

"Mr. Spain...Do you know who I am?" I asked..

He smiled..

"Yeah..ADA Keith Wallace." he had said.

"That's right....And you're a lucky man today......" said Keith Wallace.

"Yeah...he was trying to kill me."said Manny Spain...Talking about January Carson.

"Indeed he was......and I was trying to put you in jail....He and I both failed...."he said.

"Yup....How about that?" said Manny Spain smiling at the irony of both...

"Maybe next time....I'm a patient man....I'll wait." said ADA Keith Wallace...

"Good to know....Good day Mr. Wallace...Nice meeting you." said Manny Spain and walked off...

He had outplayed them all....He was home free...he dozed off to a peaceful sleep...

And of course his thoughts drifted to Angie....How bad he wanted her both sexually and emotionally....Thinking about her made him so hard he couldn't stand it...He had to call her...He would beg her to come to him tonight....and make love to him...He had to have her...He'd go and pick her up...

He called her...but there was no answer...He called several more times..but got no answer...

Maybe she was still asleep he thought. Finally, he got up shaved, showered and headed out to a 24 hour joint for coffee, eggs, bacon,hash browns and toast....It was 5:00 am...

II-

The Night had been interesting...The DEA and Philadelphia Narcotics Unit Detectives found his other warehouse as he slept...They seized what was left of the heroin and coke left over...A street value of over 150 million...

They arrested Ali Nidal and eight other men at the warehouse and seized the four trucks....They next arrested his brother Ahab Nidal ,coming out of his bakery.....

They went to all of Manny Spain's Condo's looking for him, but he wasn't there....They next raided Panama Brown's suite at his hotel...but there was no sign of him either....

An APB was put out for John "Smackwater Jack" Taylor...his close associate, but there was no sign of him either....

By mid morning when police and federal agents found out about and had raided Manny Spain's present living quarters..He too was not there...

They didn't know it...but they had just missed him.

Manny Spain had no idea that he was a wanted man...He had gotten up, shaved and showered and copped the beautiful diamond engagement ring he had purchased days ago and headed toward Angie's Duplex after he finished his breakfast...

He was going to propose to her...After he took her to brunch...He was taking her to city hall...They could get married today he reasoned....He was crazy...She was still married...Maybe his lawyer friend could take care of that.....

At least with Panama Brown dead,there would be no more interruptions while he was attempting to get his freak on with her...He thought about the last time he'd seen her...hours ago...She looked so good he had wanted to eat her up...

He had all kinds of crazy thoughts about Angie this morning....He hadn't felt this giddy in a long time...



III-

He drove up to Angie's duplex...He thought it strange that her car wasn't there...He called her number several times...No Answer...

He knocked on the door...It was surprisingly open...He went inside...

Everything was gone!!!...Her clothes, The furniture, Her Wide screen TV, Her Laptop...Everything!!!...

He went through her drawers..they were empty!!!....The refrigerator was off and it was empty too as were the cubbards!  There was no sign that anyone had ever lived here...

"ANGIE!!!" He called out.... "ANGIE!!" he called out again...The place was so bare and empty he could hear his voice echo....He didn't hear the footsteps walking up behind him in time!!!

He then felt a sharp painful shiv go into his side.......Blood began to spill out of him like a siv and he fell up against the wall...The man weilding the knife turned it around in his back and then pulled it out...

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed..

Smackwater Jack suddenly appeared..

"She's gone Manny.." he said laughing as Manny Spain slumped into the corner..bleeding profusely.

''What did you do to her???..I'll ...I'll kill you.."said Manny.

"Me? I didn't do nothin to her...I came here to kill you both, but when I got here..She was gone and this place was empty..."he said.

"You lyin creep.."said Manny...

"Nah...Nah...She's gone from here...This place was just like this when I got here...I don't know where she is...And actually,I don't care...Maybe she figured out what a loser you really are and high tailed it out of here...Smart girl that one...I got no beef with her...It was you I wanted..I figured you didn't know she had split..So I just waited here..Hoping you'd show up..."he laughed...

Manny was getting weak and losing a lot of blood...

"She wouldn't leave without calling me...ughhhhh..She wouldn't do that!"moaned Manny...

"Well she did!!!...I aint seen her...Look at this place...This place looks like she was never here..It's empty...Aint even no furniture..."laughed Smackwater Jack looking around...

"Like Brigadoon..."moaned Manny Spain..

"Huh? Like what?' said Smackwater Jack...

"Figured you weren't the book readin type....Brigadoon...it's a story...It was a flick too.. I saw it when I was a kid..Two dudes was on a hunting trip in Scotland and they got lost. They encounter this small town, not on the map, called Brigadoon, in which people harbor a mysterious secret, and behave as if they were still living two hundred years in the past. The town aint on the map and the two dudes brought people back and the whole town was empty as if nobody had ever lived there...That what this duplex is like.." he moaned..

Smackwater Jack laughed...

"Cute story...Here's somethin else  cute,you don't know..The Federallis found your warehouse last night and they arrested your two new partners...and took all of your Heroin and Coke...Maybe they got your girl too!!!...but at any rate Mr. Untouchable...I owed you that...Now who doesn't hear anybody talkin?  You hear me now don't you ?" he said..

Manny laughed...

''What's so funny?" asked Smackwater Jack.

"See that's the thing about you Jack..You always bring a knife to a gunfight" he said..

"WHAT?" asked Smackwater Jack....

 Manny then produced his Nickel plated .45 and fired two times...The first bullet hit Smackwater Jack in his stomach and the second went right between his eyes and out the back of his head...He stumbled in shock and spun around like a top...

"I don't believe it!!!....I've been shot ."said Smackwater Jack, who stumbled and then fell out the window and into the street....

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"he screamed....He was dead before his body smacked on the concrete sidewalk below...a stream of blood ran off the curb and into the street....People walking by gasped.....

Upstairs, Manny Spain coughed up blood....blood was running out of his side like a siv...He was growing weak......

''Angie....Where you at baby? Angieeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!" he moaned..

"I'm right here Manny." came her soft voice..

Manny looked up and there she was...Angie!!! He smiled the brightest smile...

"Angie...you came back for me..." he said...

"Manny!!! You've been hurt.... Yes..I-I- I came back for you..."she said...Tears were streaming down her face...

"I'm good...Now that you're here baby girl...I'm sooo good..Ugh...I knew you didn't leave me....I-I-I-I'm good....I'm coming for you...It takes more than a knife in the back to stop me baby, to keep me from you....I'm movin forward baby girl, forward towards you baby.."he said as he got up...

"So Sorry Manny, but you stopped moving forward a long time ago baby.." said Angie...who vanished into thin air!!!!!

Manny looked around and saw his body slumped on the floor in a pool of blood..He turned and Angie was gone too...As if she'd never been there in the first place and he realized he was dead!

IV-

About an hour later, The body of Manny Spain was removed from the duplex Angie had been staying at.....Angie looked at the body one last time before they zippered the bag...The body was still warm..Strange as it seemed, She was going to miss him....A part of her secretly felt glad that he had died never knowing that she had betrayed him...

Hazel and Sissy were with her..

"You Alright Angie?" asked Hazel...

"Yeah...I'm just glad you guys got me moved out of here yesterday afternoon after he left." said Angie..

"I found this engagement ring on him...He was really taken with you..."said Sissy...

"He must have come back here to propose to me and found that Smackwater Jack charactor hanging around...and got stabbed..."said Angie..

"You're right about that Ang...And then he put two hot ones in him for his trouble.."said Hop ,who had been outside with his partner ,Detective Sirena Pile,looking at Smackwater Jack's corpse..

"Just goes to show..you shouldn't bring a knife to a gunfight." said Sirena ,trying to lighten the mood..

"Damn good job partner...you honey trapped the hell out of him...I would have loved seeing the handcuffs slapped on that smug bastard, but just as well...he's gone now..."said Duke..

Duke had never stopped calling her "His partner" even though they technically hadn't been partners for three years, since she left Homicide and Went to Internal Affairs....He still sat at the same desk they once shared and kept her part empty after all of these years....She smiled....Duke was sweet...He missed her.

"Good Work Ang...We found the body of Panama Brown floating in the river just hours ago...He was shot to death sometime last night...Somebody didn't weigh the body down good enough...He floated right to the top..."said Tyriq...

That was the other business that Manny had to attend to...He was furious that Panama Brown had bought his condos from under him...and tried to make a side deal with the Nidal brothers....Panama had gone too far and it had cost him his life.... Angie mused..

"Okay,Okay guys...Enough shop talk...Leave Angie be...She is probably just glad this is all over."said Carlotta..

Angie hugged Carlotta...

"I love you little sis...you really understand."said Angie..

"Someone is here to see you mami."said Carlotta ,who moved aside as Angie's husband, Jimmy walked over to her and held her in his arms...

"It's all over cupcake...You're mine again.." he said...

"I was always yours baby..." said Angie, who leaned over and kissed Jimmy....

The body of Smackwater Jack was loaded into the Medical Examiner's wagon also...

ADA Keith Wallace, FBI Deputy SAC Sharon Hopkins and DEA SAC Carol Redding
all walked over...

"As usual, Job Well Done Angie." said Keith Wallace, who hugged her...

"Girlfriend...Girlfriend..Girlfriend...You were the bomb...All of your drinks are on me tonight..."said Carol...

Sharon looked at Angie...

"You didn't tell em yet did you?" she said smiling...

"No,I was going to tell them tonight at the bar.." said Angie.

Just then Captain Edward Cantrell walked up...

He gave Angie an accomodation pin...and hugged her...and then looked at Sissy...

"I'll tell em...Sissy, you are looking at your new Detective as of Monday Morning...Detective Belton's transfer is complete...As of Monday...She will once again be a member of the Criminal Investigation Divison-Homicide....I think she will be partnered up with that Duke Baylor fella..He needs someone to keep him in line."joked Ed Cantrell..

Duke smiled and laughed sheepishly..."My partner is back..." he said...

Carlotta,Tyriq,Jimmy,Sirena and Hop all cheered....
"Angie's back!!!"they all said.

Duke and Sissy hugged her and ADA Keith Wallace beamed...

"I love you guys...I couldn't keep fighting the fact that I wanted to be with you."said Angie tearing up...

"Welcome home Angie."said Sissy and Carlotta...

Angie was where she needed to be ..Once again.

EPILOUGE-

 Angie sat on her husband's lap in her home....She was wearing a nice orange sundress....She felt good being in her own bedroom and using her own name and with her husband...Not some gangster who had a monster crush on her...

Jimmy was as happy as a lark...Angie couldn't tell if it was because she was back home or if it was because she was going to be a part of the same unit with him..

He was squeezing her tight...So tight she could hardly breath.....

"Okayyyy, ease up baby..I'm home now..I'm not going anywhere...." laughed Angie....

"Good...I don't want you out of my sight." said Jimmy,laughing...

"That's what scares me sometimes..." she joked...

''For real?" he paused...

"No silly....Actually,I'm quite flattered that you feel that way about me...For what it's worth...I don't want to be out of your sight either..." she said and kissed him...

She was flattered and excited about working with her good friends again too!...She had been gone too long...It was good to be back...She was never leaving again...She now knew she had a nurturing and supporting team that wouldn't let her feel insecure or lost again.