Out Of Pocket

I slept like a baby that night...One of the most peaceful sleeps of my life....When I awoke, There was a note from Sepia with a lipstick kiss on it..

"Sorry I couldn't stay to eat breakfast with you honey bunny,but you were sleeping so peaceful..I didn't want to wake you.....There is breakfast waiting for you downstairs....

P.S.  I'll go a little easier on you tonight...(LOL) Love, Sepia.."

I looked out the window....Sepia was strapping the baby into her car seat and getting into her car and pulling off...

I smiled and got up...Shaved, Brushed my teeth and showered.. and got dressed.... My phone rang....

"Hello.."I said..

"Hello Mr. Morris, I hope you enjoyed your rest....Soon you'll be resting in peace if you know what I mean..That Toxin will start taking effect soon...You'll get headaches, start vomiting...eventually you'll lose control of your bodily functions and in short...you'll die...and I'm the only one with the antidote...Heh Heh heh..." came the voice..

"TICKLE!" I said..

''Very good, you remember...Now I want you to do something for me...This will insure that nothing will happen to your lovely wife and daughter after you are dead...I want you to wire 6 million dollars into this account...It's in the Caymen Islands...You do that and your death will be the closing of business...Fail to do that in the next 24 hours and your wife and daughter will meet a very tragic end..." said Cyrus Tickle..

''You're a madman...I'm going to get you and Harry Pocket...Make you both pay for this.."I said.

"Oh are you now?  Remember Kevin...6 million dollars into this account...I'll text you.....You've got until midnight...Oh and I hope you've written your last will and testament...HAhahahahahaha.."said Mr. Tickle, who then hung up...

My phone rang again...

"WHAT IS IT TICKLE?" I said..

''Tickle?? Mr. Tickle??" came the voice...It was Sissy...

"Oh Hey Sissy..." I said..

''Kevin, meet me at this address...I think you might be interested in this.." said Sissy..




II- 

 I knew the address..

.It was the house Harry Pocket was staying in ,under an assumed name...

I got in my car and drove there immediately....

I saw a gaggle of policemen, they had the area cordoned off and an M.E.'s wagon was nearby...Somebody was dead....I knew that much, but who???

Detective Tony Hopkins told the uniformed officers to let me through....He led me up the stairs...What I saw next blew my mind...

Two bodies were strewn across the floor...in seperate pools of blood...

One man was white, white hair...dressed in a white trenchcoat,black slacks, black shoes ,black turtleneck and aviator shades... He was face up....He had been shot twice in the head..I didn't know him...

Detectives Sirena Pile, Angie Belton-Barlow and Edwin Duke Baylor were kneeling over him, staring at him..

 Sirena removed his Aviator shades...

"He had some pretty blue eyes.." she remarked..

"He did!" said Detective Angela Belton-Barlow...

 "He took two shots...One between the eyes....It exited out of the back of the head and one to the right temple...The second shot was in the chest, right above the heart...Either shot might have killed him.." she said..

"Hey Kevin...This here is Collie Raleigh, the boss of the Raleigh Crime Syndicate...We didn't have an indictment on him yet,but we were working on it..I think he was looking for your guy over there on the floor.."said Duke, who pointed to a second body...as he took the pistol that was still smoking, with a silencer on it, out of his cold ,dead hands.

"Holy smokes.." I said..I knew the other corpse....Harry Pockets

''Kevin , was this your client? Harry Pockets?" asked Sissy..As I peered at his lifeless body,also face up and in a pool of blood...

''He was..We finished our business yesterday..." I said.

"Yeah? Well somebody finished his business on Earth, Early this morning...I believe it was laughing boy over there on the floor.."said Detective Tyriq Pile.

 Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace was kneeling down peering at his body...

"He took a shot to the heart and another shot to the chest, looks and feels like the second shot punctured his lung...He drowned in his own blood.."she said..

 "If the shot to the heart didn't kill him first." said Hazel...

"The street cams were disabled in the back and front and the uniforms did a house to house search and so far they've come up with nothing.."said Detective James "Jimmy" Barlow..who kneeled down and with his latex glove covered hand ,took the pistol out his cold dead hand and placed it in a plastic evidence bag...

''It's still hot...still smoking.." he said.

 FBI Deputy Special Agent in Charge ,Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins walked over to me...

"You know he was a co-operator..right Kevin?" she said..

"Yes, I knew, but only after he came to me for help."I said..

"He had been co-operating with us for years and then after his release from Prison, he dropped out of sight and so did our investigation of the Raleigh Crime Syndicate...It was dead in the water.."said DEA Regional Special Agent Carol Redding..

"Until you sent us all of that great intelligence info..That helped us make cases against all of em except the big boss..He was too smart to be caught on tape or in the day to day..."said Sissy..

"But not smart enough to miss a bullet." said ADA Keith Wallace...Looking down at both bodies and shaking his head...

"Harry Pockets lived in fear of the Raleigh Crime Syndicate finding him...This place was solid...It wasn't in his name...For weeks, while I gathered intelligence and fed it to you guys...They couldn't find him...They couldn't have done this...They're all in jail.."I said.

''He wasn't" said Carlotta ,pointing to Collie Raleigh's body...

"And all this time, he was looking for him, for revenge and it looks like he found him..."said Hop, who held the gun and the silencer found in Collie's hands in a plastic evidence bag...

"The gun was still warm when we got here.."said Sirena..

"He must have heard him stirring and sat in wait for him.."said Jimmy holding a pistol and a silencer ,taken from Harry Pockets hands and also in a plastic bag...

"Looks like these two boys shot each other to death." said Tyriq...

"Yeah, it looks like that..."said Angie..

Duke said nothing, he just walked around the room....

The CSI people were dusting for prints and DNA...The cup I had drank my poison laced coffee in was gone..

"I thought you'd be interested in this, since he was your client...At any rate..This closes the Raleigh Crime Syndicate Investigation.." said Sissy...

"Can I remove the bodies?" Asked Hazel..

"Yes...Get em out of here..."said Sissy...

I said nothing...I walked out of the house with the rest of them and watched as the bodies were carted off..

Both of them...

I pulled Hazel to the side..

''Dr. Baylor..?" I asked.

"Yes Kevin...?" she answered...

"I need to see you later today ...It's a medical matter and of extreme importance.." I said...

"Sure Kevin...Are you alright?" she asked...She sensed my graveness...

"I don't know..."was all I would say...

III-

I met Dr. Hazel Baylor within a few hours and I asked her to run tests on me...She took a urine sample, Saliva and Blood sample...

The Tests took two hours , but she came back to me ,looking very grave...

"Kevin, how did this happen to you? How did you get this toxin in your blood?" asked Hazel...

"I was poisoned by Harry Pocket ....I had coffee with him yesterday and he paid me for services rendered...Then he told me how Bob Big Butt Thornton and Cyrus Tickle befriended him while he was in prison...That's why he came to me for help and stopped co-operating with you guys.." I said.

"But you saved his life...You helped us put that entire Crime Syndicate away..." said Hazel...

"He had an ulterior motive...He wanted them out of the way ,so he could build his own syndicate from top to bottom..He used me and you guys to knock them out...Then he decided that I was too dangerous and knew too much to be left alive...So he poisoned me...He told me I only have 72 hours to live...Less now..About 48 hours.....Can you help me in any way?" I asked..

"Kevin this Toxin was banned by the United Nations..It is listed as being too dangerous...All of the member nations destroyed their supplies of it..."said Hazel...

"There is always Black marketers ,who sell anything.."I said..

"You're right....You are in luck...There is an anti-dote...but it's in Europe..I can make a few calls..but it will take at least two days for it to get shipped here in Philadelphia.." said Hazel..

"And two days is all I have...Make the call Hazel...It's the only chance I have to live...And please ,do me a favor...Don't tell Sissy and the guys...Not unless, I-I don't make it..Okay?" I said..

"Sure Kevin...It's our secret for now.." said Hazel..

"Oh and one more thing....If I don't make it...Tell em..Cyrus Tickle engineered the whole thing."I said.

"He's in prison isn't he?" asked Hazel...

''I hope so.."I said.

IV-

I next went to visit..Attorney Olivia Bennett -Alexander...

 "Heyyyy Kevin...How nice to see you.."said Olivia.

 "Hey Kev....you gotta come down to Josie's Saturday...I'm playing with a small group..."88"put together."said Donnie Ray..He doubled as a musician..when he wasn't investigating for Olivia and her niece,Attorney Beverly West..

Olivia was sitting in her husband, my friend and fellow Private Investigator, Donnie Ray Alexander's lap when I arrived there....Beverly was filing a few papers and getting ready to leave...

"Heyyy Mr. Kevin..Josie should be here in a few.." she said..

"Yeah, I want to see her..." I said...

AN HOUR LATER...

''There it is Kevin....Your complete will and testament..."said Olivia..

"Thanks Livy, I'll arrange to have a check sent to you..."I said..

"You okay Mister Kevin?" asked Beverly...

"Yeah, Yeah...I just like to make sure everything is in order..." I said.

I could tell by the way Donnie Ray looked at me that he didn't believe me....

"Liv, Beverly...Thanks for everything babes.."I said and hugged them both...

Donnie Ray followed me outside..

"Kev you alright? Anything I can do to help you?" asked Donnie Ray...

I smiled...

"I'm fine man...I'll see you Saturday Night.." I said....I sincerely hoped I'd be around to see him...

V-

I went home, Sepia was there and so was Josie Boyd and Eva Corona, my two favorite babysitters

"Look who I ran into today...Eva....We may be selling her a home soon.."said Sepia..

"Really? That's great!" I said..

"I'll be two blocks down from you Mister Kevin.." she said..

"Not far from me..."said Josie..

"I just come from your place of employment Josie...I hear you were just out in Seattle, breaking hearts eh?" I joked...

"Maybe, but not the hearts I would be interested in breaking." laughed Josie..

"Girl it's always like that." said Sepia..

Just then, my phone rang...

"Excuse me...I have to take this.." I said.

"You have been a busy man today... You went to see Dr. Baylor huh? I suppose she told you that there is no antidote in the U.S. and by the time she can get some shipped here....You'll be long gone...You also went to see the Attorneys, Olivia Bennett-Alexander and Beverly West too...Getting your will in order huh? Very smart....Now about that money..." said Mr. Tickle..

"I'm not giving you a dime Tickle...and you aren't going to touch my family....Pray...Pray I don't find you and kill you..."I said..

"Now Mr. Morris..Mr. Morris..You're dying, You've lost...Soon you're going to feel the side effects and by the time you do...It will be too late, even if they get the antidote in time...Now I need that money...I-I -I have made plans for that money and I was owed that money by your late uncle.."said Mr. Tickle..

"Not Six million...He only had three million..."I said..

"IT IS DOUBLE BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN SO INSOLENT AND CAUSED ME SO MUCH TROUBLE MISTER MORRIS!! NOW GET ME THAT DAMN MONEY MANNNN!" he screamed..

"Not a red cent...burn in hell! Maybe I'll met you there.." I said and hung up...

He tried to call back, but I wouldn't answer...

"Problem Kevin?You were raising your voice on the phone.."

"It's a long story Sepia..Pack some bags....for you and Kimberly....I'm calling Clerow and Owen..."I said.

(TO BE CONTINUED)