Man With A Pear

A WEEK AGO!

A train was barrelling from New York City to Philadelphia... A well dressed white man ,wearing a Panama Hat was on the train, munching on a pear....He was enjoying it...the juice from the pair was running down his lips..

The man eating the pair wandered through the train....He was a portly man and wasn't swaying the way normal weighted passengers might...He appeared to be looking for somebody...

He saw the sleeping car and he wandered in.... A man was sitting in the car staring out the window....

He smiled...he bit into his pear...

The man in the window turned in horror as he saw the man with the pear staring sat him...He went to scream, but the man with the pair pulled out his pistol...It had a silencer on it...He fired twice...Killing the man instantly....His blood splashed across the window and the wall... He searched the man...He found his wallet....There was credit cards and cash...That's not what he wanted...He searched the area..

Still couldn't find what he wanted...He shook his head in frustration, looked around and walked away as if nothing happened..Still biting into his pear..

When he got to the core..he tossed it on the floor ,near the dead body of the man he'd just killed...

The dead body of Frank Dunaway wouldn't be discovered until the train was in Philadelphia and all of it's living passengers had left the train...

II-

Philadelphia's Chinatown Today!

Sepia and I sat in a tony restaurant in Chinatown and finished a delicious meal...

"Kevin this meal was delicious...Thank you for inviting me to lunch today babes.." she said.

"No problem..Tomorrow, we'll uh have lunch (sex) in my office.." I said, laughing raffishly....

"Have to take a rain check on that babes...Bonita and I have a house to show tomorrow..." she said and looked at her watch...

"In fact...I have a meeting I have to be at in a half an hour...I gotta go baby.." she said..."But thank you for the lunch date today..."she said and sat on my lap and gave me a very sensuous kiss..

"Mmmmmm,I'll make it up to you tonight...I promise.." she said.

"I'm going to hold you to that..." I said, smiling..

"I know you will...Aren't you supposed to meet a client here?" she asked..

"Yeah, in a half an hour..."I said..

"Ummmm, a case.." she smiled..

"My name is Kevin Morris....I run a multi-media company...Morris Communications by day...Other days....I'm a Private Investigator..I have an agency and operatives now...Morris Investigations...Today ,I'm in P.I. mode..a woman named Lola Dunaway called me for a meeting...She suggested here...I've been here before...So I invited my wife for lunch...

"I'll see you tonight babes." said Sepia...

"That's a bet!" I said as she left...

I sat in the restaraunt for another half hour before Lola Dunaway showed up...

She was a strikingly beautiful woman, Shapely, attractive..She looked like she might be Eurasian...She wore a form fitting Beige blouse and a green mini skirt and matching green stilletto heels..

"You are Kevin Morris..I'm Lola Dunaway." she said.

"I am, pleased to meet you!" I said.

"You hungry?" she asked..

"I ate before you came.." I said.

"Then let's have some drinks." she said.

I called one of the waitresses over and ordered some drinks..

The drinks came.... I stared at her...

"So what can I do for you?" I asked.

"I think my husband of only a few months, Frankie Dunaway  is having an affair....I need you to follow him and find out where he goes..Get photos if you can." she said.

"You do have a photo?" I asked.

"Oh Yes" she said....She produced a photo of a portly, well dressed man in a Panama Hat...

The man looked a good 10-15 years older than her...I found it hard to believe that a woman like her had ever  dated,let alone  married  this man..but I've seen stranger couples...

She furnished me with an address...a cell phone number and the model of his car...and an envelope with ten thousand dollars in it...

"You just want me to follow this guy, snap some pictures and tell you where he goes?" I asked.

"That's it...We are seperated right now...I'm ...I'm not living with him...I think he's seeing another woman...I moved out...but I need proof before I return to him...Here's my phone number....You can reach me at this number...We'll meet here at this same place next week...A week from today!" she said.

"Okay.." I said..

"Mr. Morris...Are you armed? Do you carry a firearm?" she asked.

"Yes...I do...I'm a fully licensed private investigator and licensed to carry...Why?  This isn't that kind of job is it?"I said.

"No, it's just good to know you are prepared for any event.." she said.

"Should I be prepared for uh some event?" I asked.

"In life you never know...My husband travels in some very seedy neighborhoods....and drinks with some very bad people from time to time.." she said.

"And you married him? A man is judged by the company he keeps you know." I said.

"I know this...I know this now." she said.

I counted my money....

"This must mean a lot to you...but okay..." I said..

We finished our drinks...She didn't offer to pay...I guess she figured, I had enough of her money to foot the bill for both of us.

I thought I would make small talk..

"So Ms. Lola..Tell me about yourself." I said.

"Mr. Morris..I'm paying you to find out about my husband...That's all..I'm not trying to be your friend or acquaintence...I'll meet you here this time , a week from today...Thank you for your attention to this matter." she said and got up and walked out without saying goodbye...

I did have ten thousand dollars of her money and this was what seemed like a pretty simple case...Even simpler than my recent work with the Attorneys ,Robert Foxworth and Associates, Gloria Brown and Kayla Bennett...

Easy Money...
As I had learned so many times before...In this business, there was no such thing as Easy money...All money came with a price!

III-

The very next day....I got a line on her estranged husband....The portly man was in town...He was munching on a pear...

The juice from the pear was running down his mouth....He was a slob...He used the sleeves of his suit jacket to wipe his mouth off..

I followed him....

 He didn't appear to have a place of employment.....He had breakfast at a cheap diner.....He made a couple of phone calls...paid his bill in cash and then took a cab  to a South Philly pool hall...He played three games of pool and then took another cab to a North Philadelphia Bar....He had a few drinks...took another call and then took a third cab to West Philadelphia....He went into what appeared to be a cigar shop and bought a box of cigars....Then he was in yet another cab...and back to South Philadelphia...The Italian market...A fruit stand, where he bought another Pear....He sure loved Pears...

He next took a cab to a very familiar place....The Law Office of sleazy Attorney, A.J. Miller...A Criminal defense attorney who it is said put the "Criminal" in Defense Attorney....His name had come up recently in some of my cases...Linked too closely to his client and their business...Almost like he was part of their caper...He must have delivered the cigars to hi because he left his office with only this pear....

He was enjoying it...the juice from the pair was running down his lips..

I followed him for three blocks and then....after following him most of the day.....I lost him!!  If you can believe that!!! He simply vanished into thin air!!!

It was starting to get dark....I walked a few blocks and looked around....I saw no trace of him....He couldn't have just vanished that quick...There were no houses or apartments in this area...

I walked down a drive way , a blind alley and I heard the all too familiar click of a gun....a big gun...

"You should have never followed me pretty boy!" came the voice...It was the portly man with the pear..

I slowly turned around...I looked at my options....He was holding a .45 in one hand and a pear in the other...He took a bite out of his pear....

"You know...My daddy always taught me...that if you have a gun pointed at someone...You'd better use it or don't bother...." I said.,

"You're a brave man pretty boy....You don't think I plan to shoot you dead?" he asked..

"You're too busy eating that pear..." I said and dove behind a wall of freshly washed trash cans....

He fired three times....There was no silencer on his gun...I was sure someone heard the roar of that big cannon...He did fire quickly...He was a fast shot...but not an accurate one...I had that in my favor...He fired two more times, stopped , reloaded and took aim again...

I had my .40 caliber out by now...I called out to him...

"Drop that heater...I'm armed....I'm a licensed private investigator...I was hired to follow you....I mean you no harm...put that gun away...We'll call it even and I'll get the hell out of here.." I said..

"I know who you are...Kevin Morris...I know you were hired to find me...Did it ever occur to you that I don't want to be found?" he said and fired three more shots over my head...

I kept moving....How did this clown know my name?  Was I just set up??

''Come on out pretty boy and die like a man!" he cooed.. He fired again...The window of a parked car exploded.....He reloaded again...I wasn't going to give him a chance to kill me...He bit into his pear...This was the only chance I had...

I returned his fire....

Three of my shots found his chest....I guess he didn't believe I was armed...

"OOOuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.....ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!! I'VE BEEN SHOT!!! OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!" he screamed and tossed his gun and his pear into the air and collapsed on the sidewalk....

Crimson read blood poured out of his portly body into the driveway....

I walked over to him and kicked his gun out of his hand....I took his pulse....

He was very, very dead!

IV-

I watched as Uniformed Policemen and CSI people cordoned off the area and took photos, as well as counted, bagged and tagged shells...

I sat with Lt. Sissy Van Buren and Detective Angie Belton-Barlow..

"I was paid ten thousand dollars to follow this guy and just see where he goes...That's all Siss...It was never supposed to end up like this.." I said...

"And you said the person who hired you claimed to be his wife?" asked Sissy..

"Yeah....She said she thought he might be stepping out on her with other women..."I said.

Angie smiled and softly rubbed my back....Years ago...before we were married to other people ,when we were young we had been lovers....

Angie smiled..

"I doubt if he was stepping out on her , with uh women..." she said and looked at Sissy....

Sissy smiled...

From a distance...Detective Jimmy Barlow, Angie's husband was talking to some eye witnesses and taking a statement..

His partners, detectives Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace and Tyriq Pile had on latex gloves and were observing the body with Forensic investigator, Dr. Hazel Baylor...

I was puzzled that my friends, who usually handled major cases were even in this alley tonight...Detective Sirena Pile, Tyriq's wife walked over to us...

''It's Him alright...Oliver Osterman....His prints check out." said Sirena..

"Oliver Osterman?? Nooooo that's Frankie Dunaway...The woman who hired me gave me a photo...It's in my car...of this guy and his address...She told me that that was her husband, Frankie Dunaway!" I said.

"Frankie Dunaway has been dead for about a week Kevin...He was shot to death on a train coming from New York to Philadelphia.....He had information he wanted to share with us....on a major investigation...He never got to us and we never got whatever it is he was going to trade with us..."said Detective Tony Hopkins..

"Frankie Dunaway wasn't married Kevin...Never married." said Carlotta.

A uniformed officer walked over...He had a pear in a plastic bag...

"Lieutenant, detectives...I found this by the body." he said.

"Yeah, he loves those things...He was munching on one all day." I said.

"Yeah we know...That's how we got on to him....He dropped one of his half eaten pears on the train at our crime scene..We got fingerprints and DNA and  we've had a BOLO out on him for the murder of Frankie Dunaway for about a week..." said Sissy...

Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor walked over to me...

"Yeah it's him Siss...I found the silencer in his coat jacket and the .22 he probably used in the Dunaway murder..." said Duke.

"If that pear is a DNA match....He's definitely our guy...Hola Kevin!" said Carlotta, who kissed me on the cheek..

"Okay,so I was fed a bogus story about him cheating on his wife and told to follow him and he's not even the woman's husband..."I said , now baffled..

''He's nobody's husband Kevin....He's not married either..."said Jimmy...

''At least not to a woman." said Tyriq, smiling slightly..

"He's Gay Kevin!!....He's Gay!....He's also a contract killer...A suspect in about five unsolved murders in as many years..." said Angie.

"He got careless...He dropped that half eaten pear by Frankie Dunaway's body last week and we got his DNA and fingerprints which were on file from a previous conviction and his military records...He did a stint in the Navy!" said Sirena..

"That's how we identified him..." said Hop.

"We'll never know what Frankie Dunaway was going to give us...but with Oliver Osterman, we'll probably find enough evidence to close five cold cases as well as Dunaway's murder..."said Duke..

"Thank you baby!" said Carlotta , who kissed me again...

"Thank you Kevin...We always like closed cases..." said Angie, who kissed me softly...

"Well friend...We are done here." said Sissy, who passed me my gun....''Go home, kiss your wife and that baby for me. We done here Hazel?" she asked.

."Yeah...We are all done." she said.

''Let's go...Come see me tomorrow Kevin." said Sissy.

''Will do." I said.

''Oh and bring me a Mocha Latte this time." she said and smiled that sexy smile of hers

 as they packed up Oliver Osterman's body and got in their cars and moved out..

I stayed until the streets were empty...

I had been played...Lola Dunaway..or whoever she was...She had more than likely tipped Osterman off that I was tailing him..Told him my name.. She didn't tell him that she paid me...Just that I was on to him...She probably hired him to kill Dunaway and then when he was so careless as to be identified and the subject of a manhunt by the police..She hired me and tipped him off to get him out of the way...

I didn't even know where she lived or her real name.....

In order for her to go to all this trouble..there must be millions involved or something so ghastly  it could put a lot of people behind bars...

Regardless...I was going to get to know Lola or whatever her name was.

(TO BE CONTINUED)