The Life Preserver

It was Midnight...I had explained everything to Sepia ....and I had called Clerow and Owen Todd....They drove up right on time..

They drove up right on time..

 "Thanks Guys..." I said...I had to come clean with them too....They looked worried...

Sepia was crying....

"Don't worry, I always find a way out of these predicaments...Don't I always?" I said..

"We have this great life together..."said Sepia..

"Now...Now..Now...No tears...No Tears...We are still going to have this great life together..."I said and I hugged Sepia and Kimberly for dear life.... I kissed Sepia passionately...

I reached up under her sundress and squeezed her behind...She laughed through her tears...

"You're so Nasty.." she said...and tried to laugh, but cried....

I looked at Owen Todd ,who was driving and Clerow, who had his .45 resting on his lap...

"Take em somewhere safe..." I said..

"We on it Boss man.." said Clerow..

"Take it easy Kev."said Owen Todd..

"Always.." I said..

I couldn't bare to watch them as they drove off..

My phone rang again...It was Dr. Hazel Baylor of all people...

''Kevin can you meet me at the M.E.'s office?" she asked..

"Sure and Hazel, don't call this number anymore...I believe it's been cloned.."I said.."I'll give you another phone and number when I get there.."I said..

I left the phone in my house...My guess was that Mr. Tickle had been tracking me through my phone..That's how he knew I'd been to the M.E.'s office and to see Olivia and Beverly...

II-

I drove to the M.E.'s office...It was late...I was sure that Hazel was about to go home...When I got there...I saw Hazel and Doc Gibbons..

"Hi Kevin....I have a little bit of good news for you..." she said..

"Hazel told me about your condition and about that toxin and I remembered something....."said Doc Gibbons, who then put a bottle of Buttermilk on the counter..

"Drink this.."he said..

"That's Buttermilk!" I said.

"Good, the Toxin hasn't affected your reading skills." said Doc Gibbons...

Hazel smiled...

I don't know who was more crotchety...Gus or Doc Gibbons...Both men were funny,

"The Buttermilk will effectively fight the toxin in your blood stream for awhile...It's not a cure...but it will buy you some time until the antidote gets here...You won't have any side effects..."said Hazel...

I drank the entire bottle...

Doc Gibbons gave me three more cold bottles...

"I know that stuff aint the best tastin stuff...but it'll save your life..."he said.

"In that case...It tastes great..."I said...

"I need to be able to contact you when the antidote gets here.." said Hazel...

"I can be reached at this number..." I said...and gave her a burner phone...

"I contacted some people I know on the West Coast...They have the antidote too...I told them to overnight it...You could have the antidote by tomorrow...Just keep drinkin that Buttermilk..."said Doc Gibbons..

"Hazel, Doc...Thank you...Thank you so much.." I said..

III-

It was midnight...If I knew right...Cyrus Tickle was calling and calling ,trying to get me to transfer money into his account...It wasn't going to happen...And now that I had bought myself some time...I was going to checkmate him..

I went to my office and down into the basement of Morris Communications to the semi secret headquarters of Morris Investigations...Where Peeping Tom, Lockpick Johnson, Sean Jackson and my five new investigators were working..

"Mister Tickle has been calling from this number...I know it may be a protected number...and it may be coming from a burner phone...I need to know where.."I said..

''We are on it Kevin.." they said..

They worked well into the night and early morning on that number and came up with something around 4 in the morning...

"We got it Kevin...but...but ..this is strange...The calls are coming from the Maximum Security Flintlock State Prison..."said my one guy who was ex-KGB...

"Can you hack into their system, See if he's still listed as a prisoner or if he's escaped recently?" I asked..

Peeping Tom and the four ex-CIA agents worked on it long and hard and reported to me..

"He is still listed as an inmate.." they said..

"What is he doing with a cell phone and how was he able to track me this close?" I pondered..

"He might be working with somebody here in Philly..."said Sean Jackson..

"Or he's in Philly and he's got his signal relaying from someplace here to the prison to look like he's still there."I said..

"That's possible.."said Lockpick Johnson.

"Sean,call Kool Kat...He and I need to visit that prison.."I said.

"Okay..but what about your condition??...You've...You've got about 30 hours boss..."said Sean..

"I'll be fine....I got people working on getting me the antidote..."I said..

IV-

Kool Kat drove me by my home...I picked up my phone...I knew Mr. Tickle was going to try and trace me..Only now...I'd be tracing him...

Next...we headed for Flintlock State Prison...A new Maximum security Prison where the most dangerous criminals in the state were housed...

"I swear ,you take me to the nicest places Kev...Now you got me drivin you to a prison..."joked Kool Kat...

I downed another bottle of Buttermilk...

"It's a brand new prison...Just opened in January...and it's close..."I said.

"Geee that's so sway." joked Kool Kat....Then he turned serious..."How you uh holding up?" he asked..Neither of us really wanted to discuss my condition or my imminent death...It had dawned on both of us that this might be our last adventure...

"I'm fine...This Buttermilk keeps me from having side effects and will slow down the poison , giving me some wiggle room until we catch Mr. Tickle and until that antidote can get here..Doc Gibbons said he might have the antidote as early as tomorrow.."I said.

"Oh.."Kool Kat said...we kept driving ....

We reached the prison at Daybreak...I had a pass from ADA Keith Wallace...The Warden assured us..

that all was in order..

"Cyrus Tickle? He's here..Snug as a bug and he doesn't have a cell phone..None of our inmates do."  he said..

Kool Kat and I sat in the waiting room and waited as they brought the inmate in.........

''Here he is..Cyrus Tickle.."said the Warden..

One look at the man and I said..

"That's not Cyrus Tickle..." I said..He did resemble Mr. Tickle...but it wasn't him!

Kool Kat busted out laughing...

The Warden looked at Cyrus Tickle's prison photo and then at the inmate posing as him and was incredulous..

"Jack Sweeney, what are you doing in Cyrus Tickle's cell..?" he asked.

"He promised $1800.00 on my books if I would pose as him...I did and he walked out on a delivery truck..He's been gone about month and you clowns didn't notice it..The money was on my books as he promised, a few wees later..." he said..

A guard walked in with a cellphone..

"We found this in Sweeney's cell warden?" said the guard......

"I'll be damned..! SWEENEY!!!" said the Warden...

"Jack..Why did you do it?" asked the Warden...

"I'm serving Life, No Possibility for parole for first degree murder...What are you gonna do, add a few more years to my sentence..???Plus $1800.00 is a lot of cash man...It buys a lot of stuff around here.." he said.

"You won't be spending it for awhile...You're going to solitary confinement.."said the Warden..

"Heyyyyyyyyyyy..Come on..." he protested...

"Wait a minute Warden...What can you tell me about Cyrus Tickle..?" I asked.

"If I tell you will you not let them put me in Solitary?" he asked..

"Depends on if you tell me something I don't already know."I said.

"He and Bob Big Butt Thornton were pals with this heavy syndicate guy...Harry Pockets...They mob was tryin to have him knocked off..but Thornton has a lot of pull in here..he kept him alive...He told Thornton he owed him a favor...Thornton told him about some Private Detective...Some guy who was responsible for him and a lot of his gang being behind bars...He told him this Private detective was good and could help him get rid of his enemies...He said to look him up when he got out...And he said...After this Private Investigator took care of his problem...To uh take care of him....Pockets agreed...Then Tickle got involved, Told him he was getting out soon too and that he was owed millions...He said he'd cut Pockets into that money after he dealt with the Raleigh Syndicate...and that he too had a personal hatred for the same Private Investigator..That's how they all got together.." said Jack Sweeney..

I smiled..

"I already know that...Harry Pockets is dead and his former Syndicate members will be here soon.."I said.

He looked at me..

"You!! You're the guy.!!! You're the Private Investigator he was talking about!!!" said Jack Sweeney...

"Yup!  And I traced his cell phone to here.."I said..

"He has it ..the uh signal going to some kind of relay station...that reroutes it here...Makes it seem like he's here.."said Jack Sweeney...

"I know that too!  Where is he in Philly?" I asked..


"Oh I don't know...He wouldn't tell me all that." said Sweeney...

"Good Bye Sweeney...See ya after you get out of the hole.."I said..

"No...Nooooooooooooooo...Okay...Okayyyyyyyyyy...I got one address for him..." he said..

Kool Kat laughed out loud..

"They just don't make gangsters like they used to...He sang like the Temptations with just the threat of going to the hole.." he said..

The next inmate they brought in was Bob "Big Butt" Thornton, All six foot four of him, Tall and slender and from behind, a butt that would rival any woman's...

He walked in and sat down..

''Damn Big Butt...That butt looks like it got bigger...I know you have to watch yourself around here."joked Kool Kat...

Big Butt Thornton glared at Kool Kat like he wanted to kill him...Then he looked at me with a bit of surprise.

"Hello Big Butt." I said.

"Kevin Morris..You aint dead yet?" he asked...

"No thanks to you....Your boy Harry Pockets is very dead... Yes..I have been poisoned..and I have less than 24 hours to live or so I've heard...but I wanted to see you one last time...See...I've got people working on getting me the antidote...I could get it before today is over or I could get it tomorrow..Thing is..I'll still be alive...And your boy Cyrus Tickle...He'll be back up here soon...You can make book on that..."I said.

Bob Big Butt Thornton smiled..

"Yeah? I'm a gamblin man...I think you're full of it...Drugs to make you comfortable just so you could come up here and bluff me...Well it aint gonna work, I don't believe you and I aint tellin ya nothin...I just wish I could be there when you lose control of your bowels and all of your bodily functions and you die...I wish I could be there to see it.."he snarled..

"I sure hate to disappoint you Big Butt...But I'm going to make it..Which is more than I can say for your boy...Have a nice life Big Butt."I said and got up..

"Watch your back man!" said Kool Kat, who cracked up laughing as we left the prison..

"HEYYY WAIT A MINUTE!!! WHO KILLED POCKETS?  THE COPS?? THE FEDS??  " he yelled as the guards took him back to his cell.

We drove back to Philly....

Like Clockwork...Mr. Tickle called.

"KEVIN ,YOU ARE REALLY MAKING ME ANGRY...IT IS PAST MIDNIGHT." he said.

"Way past midnight...It's almost noon.."I said.

"THAT MONEY IS NOT IN MY ACCOUNT!!!...PLUS YOU ARE WASTING ENERGY...You've been up to the prison, I see....A waste of time...Sweeney probably gave you an address for me..You know that I'm not there don't you? Now...I want that money or there will be serious consequences for your wife and baby.." he said.

"Really? Where are they?" I asked.

"They're at your house." he said.

"Think so?  Their phone is at my house...I figured you might be tracking Sepia through her phone...They're gone...Gone where you'll never find them you loser..And I only had this phone ,so I could track you....I'm not giving you a red cent...And here is something to think on....I've got less than half a day to live...Doesn't it seem funny that I'm not seeming to have any side effects ,I haven't lost control of my bodily functions , No vomiting, No headaches...and I've been to the prison and back and still in good shape..??" I said..

"YOU...YOU LIE!!! THAT TOXIN SHOULD BE TAKING AFFECT...IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN STARTED...YOU SHOULD BE MOANING IN AGONY...I-I-I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT!!!" he bellowed..

"Understand this!!!...I'm going to find you....And when I do...I'm going to re-arrange your face...and I'm not giving you a red cent!" I said.

"DAMN YOU!! DAMNNNNNNNNNNNNN YOU!!!! I NEED THAT MONEY...I NEED IT!! I NEED IT....YOU HAVE TO SEND ME THAT MONEY!!  LISTEN..I HAVE THE ANTIDOTE...I DO..NOW I AM A MAN OF MY WORD....SEND ME THREE MILLION DOLLARS AND I PROMISE!!! I'LL GET YOU THE ANTIDOTE..I SWEAR..." he said.

"Bye Mr. Tickle.." I said

"NO...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!    DAMN YOU!! DAMNNNNNNNNNNNNN YOU!!!! I NEED THAT MONEY...I NEED IT!! I NEED IT....YOU HAVE TO SEND ME THAT MONEY!! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO MEEEE!!  YOU SON OF A BITCH!! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!!!!ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed..

"Buh Byeee,.," I said and hung up..

Kool Kat laughed ruefully..

"No Matter what happens...we have had some good laughs haven't we?" he said.

"Yeah man, We have.."I said quietly..."Now Pass me that Buttermilk.."I said.

He passed me the buttermilk and the glass...I downed some more of it.. It was my life preserver...

(TO BE CONTINUED)