Yogen

The next day, as promised, Bonnie Shay met me at the building that housed Morris Communications and Morris Investigations..

''Such a nice operation you have here...Both of them..."she said..

She was one of only two women who had ever been in the sub-basement of my building where my investigation operation was..

"Yes it is...It makes my job a lot easier.."I said.

I had an administrative staff of 39 people...5 new investigators with backgrounds in the intelligence community and Peeping Tom and Lockpick Johnson, running the show...

Sean Jackson still helped out from time to time... Clerow and Owen Todd had a business to run, They helped out from time to time..but now of days they spent more time with my wife and Bonita.. then they did with me...

And of course from time to time we used the services of my good friend, Walter "Kool Kat" Jones...
who was on his honeymoon now..

He had married long time girlfriend Chelsea on Christmas Eve and they were in Paris as I spoke...Hopefully I wouldn't need his talents..

II-

In all my cases I liked to know who I was dealing with....

Yogan Slyde..Missing..

First of all his given name was Anthony..Anthony Yerke...Which even Bonnie didn't know....

Born and Raised here in Philadelphia...The Son of a Circuit court judge...now deceased...Mother was also an Attorney...

Educated in both Public and later Private Schools....BA and Masters from St. Joseph's University here in Philadelphia.. JD from Columbia Law School in New York City...

Worked for several Corporate Law firms before settling at Cyclops Insurance...

He had a P.I.'s license ,but unlike a lot of P.I.'s no law enforcement background...

Bonnie, an Attorney ,who had been a Public Defender and an Assistant District Attorney had no law enforcement background either...but as an ADA, she had worked with Detectives and knew their routine..and had a license to carry....

And so...My search for Bonnie's missing Co-worker began....We hacked into the Department of Public records websites in New York City and Philadelphia and got them to fax us both Dennis Crandle's and Yogen Slyde or Anthony Yerke's  birth certificates and any medical records they had...which wasn't much!...

I next called the U.S. Customs house and got them to fax me Passport information on both men...That gave me an address which Bonnie and I went to, only to find that neither man had been seen at these addresses within a month.

I had  social security numbers and with that we got access to bank accounts and home addresses...This led us to several different places...None that either man had lived in recently and to about ten different places both men frequented and spent lots of money at.

They were known....Known quite well, but not seen together or apart within months..

Bonnie and I talked to old boyfriends...Neither man discriminated...Their acquaintences were Black, Latino ,White ,Asian and Arab....

Bonnie and I checked a number of hospitals...and even the Medical Examiner's Office..Nothing turned up on Yogen Slyde AKA Anthony Yerke.

 Yogen had a Debit card, Credit Cards and a bank account....I checked that for movemant and pin pointed an area where he made his last purchases. A lot of these places were places we had already been...

There had been no movement on his cards or bank account for three weeks.

This was bad... The man had to eat...He had to buy something....I didn't want to upset Bonnie...But it was my experience...That these signs pointed to the fact that the person might be dead!

"This is a dead end Kevin..."sighed Bonnie..

"I need something with his prints on it and his DNA...Just in case.."I said..

With the help of Lockpick Johnson...We got inside of his address and got his hairbrush...A glass he may have drank from and a discarded condom...as well as some laundry...

In all..We had probably done more in one day than Lt. Tragg had done in three weeks...

III-

 Speaking of Lt. Tragg , he was at this very moment in Captain Edward Cantrell's office....

"What is this about Ed?" asked Lt. Tragg...

"You Busy Art? Got a hot date?" asked Captain Cantrell...

''What is this about?" asked Lt. Tragg...It was no secret that he despised Ed Cantrell and had since they'd both graduated from the Academy many years before..Theirs had been a fierce rivalry...Both had made detective around the same time and had distinguished themselves by closing a lot of cases..Tragg had made Lieutenant before the flashy Detective Ed Cantrell, but Ed Cantrell had distinguished himself and made Lieutenant and then  made Captain before he had....And was now  his Superior...A fact that dug deep into his craw...

"The Crandle Case....It's been three weeks...It's still open." said Ed Cantrell..

"Oh I see what this is...Your girlfriend ,Lt. Sissy Van Buren

went crying on your shoulder because I got the Deputy of Operations to hand me the case huh?" he snarled..

''Actually, I haven't talked to Lieutenant Van Buren in three weeks..From the way I heard it and this is from the Deputy Of Operations, she willingly gave you the case...She's on Vacation as is all 7 of her detectives..They are due back next week...But we aren't talking about her...I'm asking you what is going on with the Crandle case?" asked Captain Cantrell..

"I'm working it hard.....I've questioned several people who knew him and I've gone to several of the gay bars he hung out in...Ad I've questioned everybody at the school he worked at ,including students that were suspended from the school by him.. Nothing. Do you question Sissy like this when she has a big case?" he asked..

''This isn't a big case...and to answer your question...I do...and you know what? Instead of belly aching and throwing shade , She gives me files, interviews, evidence, suspects .....a record of what every detective and policemen under her is doing and better than that, she gives me CLOSED cases...Good cases that result in convictions...You on the other hand arrest the wrong person, You have ADA's on my back, screaming for your dismissal ....You sleep with vulnerable crime victims and you manage to embarrass yourself and the department time and time again...Now it's been three weeks....WHAT HAVE YA GOT ARTIE?  Any suspects???, have you interviewed family, friends??...Any leads??" asked Captain Cantrell...

"I told you,I'm working it hard..."said Lt. Tragg...

"Okay Art.... I talked to Sgt Sam Smith , Missing Persons...

who was investigating this as a missing persons case....Since he found Crandle dead, his case is closed....He refused to work on the homicide if YOU were the lead detective..He only wanted to work with Sissy and her detectives...I told him he shouldn't feel that way...but he was adamnit, he did not want to work with you!! He said if I ordered him to, he would, but if I was just asking him to, he was not....I wasn't going to order him to work with you!" said Captain Cantrell..

''Who cares ? He's Missing Persons, this is Homicide...I don't need him..And I was a Detective ,cracking cases before Sam Smith, before Sissy, Duke, Tyriq, Carlotta, Jimmy Barlow, Sirena Pile, Angie Belton and that Hopkins fella ever put on a gold shield. I deserve some respect!

or any of your other protoge's...I know how to run an investigation." said Lt. Tragg...

"Your case is the only open case on my docket...Everyone you just named has 100 percent clearence...You got 72 hours Art...Close this case...Close it right..."said Captain Cantrell...

"Is that all?" said Lt. Tragg...

"That's All!"said Captain Cantrell..

He shook his head....He new Art Tragg was going to find a way to screw this up...He wondered how much....How Bad!

IV-

Bonnie and I were still conducting our investigation which right now was on par with Lt. Tragg's. We were nowhere...We too had questioned several people who knew both men and we'd gone to several of the gay bars they hung out in...And Bonnie and I both questioned everybody at the school Crandle worked at ,including students that were suspended from the school by him.. Nothing. We questioned people at Cyclops Insurance that Yogen was close to also.. Again, nothing..

"Bonnie, we've got to look into this dating service..."Humpin Around."I said. "Both Crandle and Yogen used that service and they both vanished after they hooked up with someone  on that dating site..

 "I know...But I tried contacting them directly and they wouldn't talk to me...I'm not a policemen and I don't have a warrant..." said Bonnie Shay..

"Hmmm, we could create a phony profile and try to get in contact with the person the same way Yogen did!" I said.

"We need to take a trip to his apartment and confiscate his laptop." said Bonnie Shay..

"Now you're talking." I said.

This time we had a key...A Key I had found the last time We had been to his apartment....

The mail had been piling up...I picked it up and looked through it...

I picked up his laptop... I had learned enough from my new investigators that I stripped it of it's hard drive

and put it in my suit jacket pocket...I was glad I did.. Just then, Lieutenant Tragg walked in...

"Morris what are you doing here?" he asked..

"I'm working a case, a missing persons case...Mr. Yogen Slyde..."I said,.

"He's missing? I came to interview him...He was the lover of Crandle...my murder victim and right now he's my number one suspect in his murder!" said Lt. Tragg..

I sighed....I sure wished Sissy and her detectives were working this case..

"He didn't kill Crandle Lieutenant Tragg...He was trying to find out who did..and we think he may have met with some foul play..."I said.

"Oh you do , do you?" said Lt. Tragg sarcastically...

"Look, we've checked his credit card records, his debit card records, his bank account...We've called customs, Department of records, Talked to old boyfriends, family members and acquaintances...They haven't given us any insight into where he might be..."I said.

"I don't care about him...I care about who killed Crandle..."said Lt. Tragg...

''We did the same thing with Crandle...Both of them knew the same people...Traveled in the same circles.. We know what both of them did up until about 48 hours before they both went missing...then the trail goes cold. Did you check the Street cam footage for the day the body was found? It might give you a clue as to who dropped the body..."I said.

I knew he hadn't...but I thought I'd ask anyway.

"I don't need you to tell me how to run a murder investigation...I ought to run you both in for breaking and entering." he said..

"I didn't break in here."I said. Not today anyway..

Bonnie produced a key...

"I let him in....I worked with Yogen, he gave me a spare key.." she lied... "He hasn't been to work in three weeks , you see his mail is piling up...I was worried...Kevin is my client...He's working for me to find Yogen...I'm an Attorney and an Insurance Investigator...My name is Bonnie Shay." she said.

"An Insurance Investigator eh? I remember you from a few weeks ago ,when you and Yogen came to me about Crandle. Morris, I know you're a P.I. , but you're way outta your leauge here..Both of you. Stick to cheating spouses or whatever it is you usually look up!  Just stay out of my way... If you find Yogen, tell him I want to talk to him...and I'll take this..."said Lt. Tragg, taking the laptop...

He walked out of the apartment...

"You do have the hard drive right?" said Bonnie...

"In my pocket.." I said..

"How did he make detective?" she asked..

"That is the question..A good question" I asked and we both laughed...

I wonder how long it would take Tragg to figure out that that Laptop was useless without the hard drive?

(TO BE CONTINUED)