Gotta Start Somewhere

The first stop I made in  my investigation was Police Headquarters......I spent the morning on the rooftop, drinking a hot tumbler of coffee with Lt. Sissy Van Buren..

"It's usually rainy and overcast when we stand up here.." I said..

"Yes, it is...so what is this you say you have?" she said ,looking at my folder....

"His name is Cole Hain...A free lance journalist....Born and raised here...Went to private schools on the mainline...Bachelors in Communication Arts and sciences from Northwestern...Masters in English from New York University...Wrote a number of great pieces for several publications, including one of mine that I didn't even know about...No criminal record whatsoever...Shot and killed last summer ....Case unsolved..."I said...

"Yes..His was one of about six robberies and shootings that occurred in this same area in that same period and time...Let me show this to my guys and see what they say...Come on let's go downstairs..." she said..

Down in the office...I saw FBI Deputy Special Agent in charge Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins...

''Well, if it isn't our favorite private sleuth...Long time no see honey, what brings you around these parts?" asked Sharon..

''Case I'm working on...I thought maybe you guys might be able to help." I said.

"Hola Kevin."said Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace...''Let me see it." she said and looked at my file..
"Rico, this guy is from last summer right?" she said, showing it to one of her partners...

Detective Tyriq Pile looked at my file...then he pulled up a number of his files from last summer..

"Yeah,I remember him...We had six robberies.shootings that occurred in this same area....A rash of them." he said..

"Yeah, I remember...We caught five different guys...All non related...we recovered their weapons."Said her other partner, Detective James "Jimmy Barlow..

"Let me guess...No match right?" I said..

''Right"said Detective Sirena Pile, "We worked jointly with plain clothes guys from Robbery-Homicide...None of these five guys knew each other or were working together..and none of their guns matched the murder weapon that killed this guy..." she said..

"All of the other victims survived...Hain was the only person who died...We never found a shooter or a gun match..."said Detective Tony Hopkins ,who showed me the Hain murder case file and made a copy for me...

''We worked his murder case hard until something big came up and we had to move on..."said Duke..

"My client thinks his murder wasn't so random..He thinks it might have had something to do with a story..he might have been working on.."I said.

''Story about what? We went to his publisher or the last person he was working for and they didn't have any notes or nothing...Nothing on his computer there either."said Angie..

''Well his apartment has been broken into twice since his death and yesterday my client ,his uncle told me his place was broken into...Tossed and ransacked...but nothing found..."I said.

"Don't you just hate who done it's?" said Sissy, smiling..

"I do..I fear I may not find anymore than you guys did."I said..

"Not you Kevin..."laughed Carlotta..

"Tell me something...After you arrested the five guys...Did the robberies stop?" I said..

"Pretty much...The Hain murder was the last incident...but after that, nothing..." said Sissy...

"Oh well....Thanks for giving me a copy of the case file.."I said..

"If you find anything new...let us know.."said Sissy slyly...

"Oh But of course.." I said, smiling..See ya guys.."I said as I left..

II-

I next went to the Medical Examiner's Office where I talked to Dr. Hazel Baylor, who had done the autopsy..

"Kevin ,his murder was different and I told Sissy and the guys that... The other people who got shot..got shot in the chest, the arm...randomly....and robbed...they were stuck up by scared punk kids...This guy was shot in the temple..Almost like an execution or hit and the robbery seemed like an afterthought...It just seemed that way to me.." she said..

I looked at the autopsy photos , the point of entry....

''Did you recover any shells...In the body I mean?"I asked..

"Yeah, one...He was shot with a sophisticated, European pistol....Not the type a punk kid on the streets would be carrying...I agree with you...This was something else...but bigger cases came along and we had to let this one go...I'm intrigued though...I was hoping they'd get back to it.." said Hazel...

"Well I have a client who feels the same way Hazel...Thanks for making a copy of the autopsy file for me.."I said..

"Anytime Sugar.."said Hazel....She was so sexy...Duke was a lucky man...

My friendships with Sissy and her detectives, Hazel, Sharon and the FBI gave me access to things no other private investigator in this city had, I wagered...

III-

Sissy and her detectives were some of the most thorough in the city...The case files they kept were immaculate...

I interviewed 22 people....The same 22 people they interviewed and they pretty much told me word for word what they told the cops....that basically they knew nothing but that the last times they saw him, he acted secretive and paranoid....but nothing beyond that...Nobody knew what he was working on or if he was working on anything...and nobody new of anybody he was having a problem with...

I checked his credit card and debit cards..I see he had purchased airline tickets for London just days before he was shot to death...He also made a trip to the custom house to get his passport up to date..
All things that were in Sissy and her detectives case file...He was planning to leave the country...perhaps this was the only place he felt he might be safe...

I had covered no new ground and made no progress.. but I had to start somewhere..

I didn't tell Sissy and the guys that I had a Laptop..A Laptop his uncle had taken before the police arrived on the scene...A Laptop somebody was still looking for...

This bordered on obstruction of justice...but I needed to know what was on that laptop that somebody was willing to kill for..

I decided to stop by my building and see what my guys had uncovered...

Look at me, I now had an agency, Morris Investigations......Peeping Tom and Lockpick Johnson...worked for me full time and they had talked me into hiring five new investigators...four, were former CIA operatives , one,ex KGB...all very good at what they did...We had computers, monitors and an administrative staff...We had spyware and software and equipment that would rival any police department...

"So guys any luck on getting inside that Laptop.? "I asked..

''Oh yeah..we got inside.."said Peeping Tom..

''What's on it?" I asked..

"Bank Account information...These accounts belong to some very heavy hitters...people who might not want it known that were contributing money to this Super Pac.." said Tom.....

"It's a Super Pac..That's not illegal..."I said.

"On the outside they don't appear to be...but there are accounts here that are linked to Mercenaries...Mercenaries from other countries who he alleges have committed murder in this country....This kid did some very good research...He brought up blackmail and at least five unsolved murders attributed to this shadowy sub group inside the group...." said Tom...

"Kev, if that kid found all of this out and had this kind of dynamite on a zip drive, no wonder someone killed him...He was way above his pay grade.." said Lockpick Johnson.

"Clean that Hard drive...Put all of that information on a zip drive....I'm going to put this Laptop where whoever is looking for it can find it...Put a tracer inside...Let's see if the fish bites...They trashed his uncle's house and they have broken into this kids apartment two times since his death..."I said..

"For this information....I can see why somebody is looking for this so hard." said Peeping Tom.

IV-

Peeping Tom did as he was told and I took the Laptop to another apartment that was listed as being rented by Cole Hain....and hid the laptop in the ceiling...Clerow and Owen Todd and Harry Charles had helped me cut out a section and conceal it...

I was certain that whoever was looking for this Laptop might be aware that Cole Hain had two residences..The police didn't know, because one of the people I interviewed failed to mention it to them...

People often told me things they didn't share with the cops..  This apartment was apparently where he went to cool out ,to get away from it all...It is also mentioned on the Laptop as a place he met secretly with whoever his contact was on the inside....

I wanted to see how sharp....whoever was searching for this laptop was...

I had put in a good days work on this investigation....I headed home , where Sepia was waiting for me..

"Heyyy Baby.." she said.

"Hey Girl..."I said.

I pulled her to me and kissed her passionately...

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmm....all this kissing is going to lead to something..."Sepia said..

"Yeah, you're right...Josie should be back with the baby soon.." I said..

"Not exactly....Olivia, Bev and Josie asked if they could keep her an extra day and take her to the beach...I said  okay." said Sepia, giggling...

We wound up naked...In the shower.....Kissing under the hot water...


(TO BE CONTINUED)