Good Sleep

"So this is conservative Huh?" I said...laughing as my pretty little wife, Detective Monica Nellis sat down at the table in the Bistro and joined me for breakfast...

She was wearing a dress I hadn't seen in a long time...The dress she was wearing the day I met her..Officially that is...When I started working at Homicide...As far as I was concerned...She was just as sexy in this dress as she had been yesterday in tight jeans and black bustier... It had captured my attention..

"Nate..I could walk in here with a Ku Klux Klan robe on and you'd still want to have sex with me." laughed Monica..

''As long as you had on white sheer panties and matching bra."I joked.

"Oh My goodness..what am I going to do with you?" she laughed...''So you said you uncovered something..What was it?"she asked..

"I don't know how much this can help our murder case...or if..but I talked to my Lieutenant in Narcotics about the toxin we found..AGENT X"I said.

"Nate that was supposed to be confidential...I really don't want to get in trouble with the feds over this." said Monica.

"And we won't..My old Lieutenant is cool as a fan...When I mentioned it..He was shocked..He asked me what I knew about that? I told him about our murder case and he told me about this cool guy.."I said and passed Monica a photo of a guy about our age...

"Who is this?" asked Monica.

"His name is Slobodan Kucan....He's from Croatia...He just recently became a naturalized U.S. Citizen...He owns an import-export business...At least that is his front...He is reputed to be a dealer on the Black Market of among other things...."Good Sleep" our drug otherwise known as Agent X...

"What's he got to do with us?"  asked Monica.

"I did some digging...That stuff is packaged under a street name..."Good Sleep" and it was purchased by a Veronika Stabler about three weeks ago...with her credit card...It's the only known purchase of it in this area..I got that from a DEA contact friend of my Lieutenant in Narcotics...They've been watching this guy for close to a year now...This stuff is purchased when you want somebody dead and no trace of how they died...Most people don't even know about this stuff.." I said.

"Who is Veronika Stabler?" I asked..

"Veronika Stabler?? Did you say Veronika Stabler?" asked Detective Kylie White ,who joined us at our table for breakfast...

"You know her? She purchased a Black Market drug, the drug used to kill our victim....She purchased it from this guy..Slobodan Kucan.. We want to talk to both of them..."I said.

"You can talk to him...You can't talk to her...She's dead...She's my murder victim from the other night...I was telling you about her...We found her body  up by Penns Landing...Blunt force trauma...She had eight head blows...Fractured skull...I'm interested in talking to him too.." she said.

"Well Check this out...He was at the same club we were in Friday Night...The Shark Bar.....I went back and checked the footage..He arrived with a package at around 10:00 pm...He met somebody...but they're not on the footage...Our victim, Ms. Dallas was found dead two hours later...

"Any connection between him and Ms. Dallas?" asked Monica..

"None...I checked...I don't see any instance where their two paths crossed each other.."I said.

"What about him and Penzo or Rico?" asked Monica.

"Only that he was a regular patron, that's it...I don't have any personal dealings between them..."I said.

''Well..He's certainly worth talking to...Let's go find him..I just hope we don't run into Ed Lawlor..."said Monica.

"Ohhhh Mr. Cut Butt huh? He's back in town?"laughed Kylie..

"Unfortunately yes..and he took our victim's body,the autopsy report and all of our evidence...He's apparently tracing that drug..." said Monica.

"And we are trying to crack two murders...Screw him...Let's do our jobs."said Kylie..

"I'm with Kylie,let's go...It's Sunday...Our entire weekend has been lost,maybe we crack two murders in 48 hours."I said.

II-

 The three of us went looking for Slobodan Kucan. I couldn't pronounce his name...Let alone find him...

We went by his office and by his warehouses...Without a warrant ,we couldn't search them....

We got a tip that he might be at the Shark Bar, So we headed there..

It was A Sunday Afternoon...There were only a few people mulling around, drinking, listening to music and watching a Basketball game on several monitors that were around the club...

Ray Penzo and Rico greeted us...

"Hey Guys...Any luck on who killed Anjelica?" he asked.

"You know this guy?" asked Monica..

She showed him a photo of Slobodan Kucan...He got tense...The hairs on the back of his neck began to rise..

"You-You think he had uh something to do with it? He's a pretty dangerous guy.." he said...

Monica could sense his fear...

"We just want to talk to him about something that might be related..Right now..we don't really have a suspect.We know he comes in here a lot." she said.

Rico ,his business partner got tense...

"Look he does come in here...But we don't have any personal dealings with him..He comes in and drinks...Sometimes he eats and he leaves...That's it.I swear."he said.

Monica looked at them both...

"He's been shaking you down hasn't he?   He's here right now isn't he?" she asked...

I saw a man get up and move towards the corridor...

Neither man said anything...

"Mo-Mo..You and Kylie sit tight... I'll be back.."I said.

My Cyber eye could pick up movemant as far as a quarter mile away if I needed to..He kept looking at us...He saw our shields...He slithered away quickly...

I followed him to the back hall..I saw a restroom... I entered the rest room slowly..

III-

 I searched the stalls in the front... No One... I washed my hands and straightened out my shirt...

One of  the stall doorsI hadn't checked yet slowly opened...I saw a figure in a dark suit slither out....before I could turn and dry my hands...the man had a garrotte around my neck and was squeezing hard....It was Slobodan Kucan...He had an iron grip...I had never planned to meet him like this!

 He was my age, but strong as hell..He was squeezing the breath out of me and practically lifting me off of the ground...I took what strength I had left and kicked him in his groin as hard as I could...He grunted, but he loosened up his hold just enough for me to elbow him in his jaw, snapping his head back and sending him flying...

I didn't have the time to catch my breath before he was heading toward me....He, was silent, didn't waste a lot of time talking..I liked that much about him....

He had fast hands...My cyber eye allowed me to see his hands a lot better than the average human being could...I blocked all of his thrusts towards me..

I landed some good lefts and rights to his body, but he was equally good with his hands...he landed some good lefts and rights to mine...I countered and landed some lefts and rights to his face, but he equaled me with some well placed lefts and rights to mine...

I landed some nice kicks to his body....but he landed some nice ones to mine also...
I ducked a few of his kicks....

I countered with some lefts and rights to his body that backed him up and added some nice lefts and rights to his face..

What I had in my favor was that he was a little out of shape...I worked out and kick boxed regularly and I could feel him getting winded...I cracked him hard in his jaw and saw blood trickle from his mouth...I cracked him again and saw the sweat fly off of his face...I hit him in his stomach and he bent down in obvious pain..I landed some more lefts and rights to his jaw which sent him into the wall...and down on the bathroom floor..He lay there for a minute...Still conscious and breathing heavy...I was holding my neck and still gasping for air...

I stumbled out of the restroom, trying to catch my breath and trying to run down the back hall when he  came out with his gun, a .45, drawn and aimed at me...

Before he could pull the trigger..He saw two guns aimed at him...

 "Drop that gun or I'll blow your brains out." came the voice of my wife, Detective Monica Nellis..

He was no fool...He dropped his gun and raised his arms...

Detective Kylie White patted him down and handcuffed him...

"I got him.."she said.

"DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO STAY OUT OF MY WAY IN THIS INVESTIGATION? DIDN'T I?" came the angry voice of FBI Special Agent Ed Lawlor...

"This is a suspect in our murder investigation.."I said.

"Oh is it really?" he said ,looking at me like I was dirt..

"You sure seem to be right on the scene everytime we make a major move."I said.

"You haven't made what I consider a major move yet detective..."he said.

I was getting ready to say something, but Monica shook her head silently telling me not to say anything else to him.

He looked at Monica...

"Mo-Mo...If it wasn't for you...I'd run the three of you in for Obstruction of Justice...But I WILL BE TALKING TO YOUR LIEUTENANT...." he said.

"If you feel that's what you need to do...Then do it Eddie...But we know about his Black Market business..and we know about a recent purchase, my collegue's murder victim...bought from him..." said Monica.

"He's not your killer..We've had him under surveilience for weeks..We know about Ms. Stablor's purchase..We were trying to figure out who she bought it for...but she's dead...  I'm going to take him off your hands right now.." he said.

"Oh no you're not...He's our murder suspect or at the very least mine."said Kylie.

He looked at Kylie and smirked, but didn't say anything...He looked at Monica..

He spoke softly....

"Good Bye Monica...Maybe after this is over we can have a drink or something, catch up on our lives.."he said,totally ignoring me.

"What's to catch up on Eddie? I'm married to Nate...What more is there?" she said softly....

"You should have married me." he said softly...

"But I married Nate...Good Bye Eddie."said Monica.

He took our suspect and walked him outside....

The three of us walked away ..

He watched as We got in my flying car and took off..

"What a pompus asshole."said Kylie..

"He kept us from cracking these cases in 48 hours...You two don't even have a body to investigate.."said Kylie...

"I know.."said Monica , who just leaned her head to the side of the window..

I hated seeing her like this..

IV-

The Next Day Lt. Cotton had me, Monica and Kylie in his office...

"FBI Special Agent, Ed Lawlor called me and bent my ear about you three yesterday.."said Lt. Cotton..

"He said he was going to....I guess we screwed up huh Lou?" I asked.

"No...Not in my eyes...You were doing your jobs..He suggested that I take you three off of both of these cases....But I'm not..This is my shop...Not his..The FBI got a warrant and raided your suspect's warehouses....In addition to the regular items in his inventory that people buy in an Export,Import business ,they found a lot of  other interesting things, Guns, Rifles and pistols,Heroin, Cocaine, Meth and Black Market Chemicals of Mass Destruction...Plus a listing  of all of his customers..The FBI arrested 39 of his associates and about 47 of his clients...

This was a huge bust for him..."said Lt. Cotton..

"And we did his leg work for him." said Monica.

"Well Actually....These did!"said Lt. Cotton , who put two GPS tracking devices on the desk and several micro listening devices on the table..

"He had your Flying Car and your car bugged too Mo-Mo and he had listening devices under your desks...He just listened to you and followed you everywhere you went...It was quite easy really...He waited for you guys to make your move and he made his..But he's not as smart as he thought he was...There are more in this office,So until we get this place swept...Watch what you say."said Lt. Cotton.

"So we did his work for him."I said.

"Essentially yes..  He returned your victim's body to your sister last night Mo...but he kept the Autopsy report and the files on Toxic Agent X..

Your sister acted like she was outraged...but I know she made copies..She makes copies of everything..Hah ha ha.."said Lt. Cotton.

"I hate that we gave that bastard a great collar...And we still don't have clearence of our murders..."I said.

Lt.Cotton winced...

"Uh oh yeah about that!!...You and Mo-Mo don't...but Kylie here does." he said and passed her a folder..

"Slobodan Kucan confessed to murdering Veronica Stablor...He had broke up with her and and she was threatening to turn in states evidence on him....It was a lover's spat...The Feds were watching him closely...They caught the entire murder on videotape, quite by accident."she said..

"Yeah..So they have him for murder among other things...He's going to serve about 20-30 years in a Federal Penitentary on Weapons Charges, Extortion, Wire Fraud, Conspiracy to Distribute a controlled substance and Manslaughter and then probably be deported...So Kylie..your case is down."said Lt. Cotton..

Kylie smiled..

"Wow...Down in 48 hours....I'm so sorry guys...He is still an asshole." she said.

"Nobody is as sorry as I am..We gotta start at square one...Damn it...And our case is about to go cold..We don't even have a motive.."I said.

Lt. Cotton stood up..

"I know guys...That's just how it goes down sometimes...Sorry." he said and left...

"What are you guys gonna do? I'm going home..."she said.

"We are going to hang around for awhile.." said Monica..

I hung my head..I felt frustrated and defeated...

After they had gone....Monica picked up one of the listening devices...She took my hand..

"Come on Nate...IF you want to get a measure of revenge against Ed Lawlor..I know how to do it and make you feel good at the same time." she said.

I looked at her...I was confused..

"Coming?" she said and winked..

I smiled.

(TO BE CONTINUED)