Blowback

I met Sissy and the guys at the address we had for our bomber, John David Stutz....and what a bizzare scene it turned out to be...

A 1956 Aqua Thunderbird sat down in the street in front of the apartment building where Stutz lived...in the front seat was a hood I knew named Ronnie Gallagher...He had a huge hole in his head...He was slumped across the steering wheel..There was blood everywhere...The motor was still running...the radio was blasting.. A small crowd had gathered...

''Aye Mios Dios...There is blood everywhere.."said Carlotta...observing the body...

"That's Ronnie Gallagher...local hood...I know him, but I've never had any major dealings with him."I said..

"Yeah,I know him too...You, Top and I busted him a couple of times Junior.."said Tyriq..

'"Yeah..He's looked better."said Jimmy, taking his pulse and looking at his head wound...

''He took two gunshots at close range to the head."said Angie..who turned the radio down and cut the car off..

"He never saw it coming...Looks like he was surprised by whoever came out of that walk up...His body is still warm...This must have happened like an hour or so.."said Hop..

Sissy pulled her gun...

"Let's go up..." she said..

Duke pulled his gun and cocked it..He followed Sissy....

So did Sirena..

They entered the building backed  by a squad of Tactical Officers...

 Me

 Carlotta

 Angie

 Tyriq

 Jimmy

and Hop followed suit..all of us with guns drawn...

There in the hallway we found another man, also deceased and with a .22 in his hands..

Sissy knelt down...

"His gun is still hot...It was recently fired."she said..

Duke took it out of his hands...he passed it to an officer..

"Bag it and tag it.." he said..

"That's Jimmy Kalimber...I arrested him as a suspect in a murder two years ago..Both witnesses skipped town..."said Carlotta.

"Me and Hop worked that case with you...I remember him.."said Sirena..

''When we found the witnesses, they refused to testify.."said Hop..

"Well they won't have to testify now...Somebody blew a hole in his head and  stomach... And by the amount of blood here..He must have bled out.."I said..

"Hey guys..look at this.."said Jimmy, who had stepped into the room...

There was bomb making manuals and bomb making equipment...and more blood , but no sign of John David Stutz..

"Good Lord...He might have been planning to make more bombs..."said Tyriq..

Sharon walked in with ATF and FBI agents...Now the apartment was filled with CSI personell also..

snapping photos...

"Guys, take this place apart...Prints, DNA, Everything.."said Hazel...

A crowd gathered outside...The FBI Evidence response team came and joined the Philadelphia Police in  investigating the scene..Soon reporters would be coming...We had kept the story of us being sent mail bombs out of the news...but soon the entire city would know it..

The Bodies of Ronnie Gallagher and

Jimmy Kalimber were wheeled away...

"Wow, to top it off , we got a double murder.." said Duke..

"I'll put a team on the street cameras..."said Hop...

"Sissy, I think whoever was financing our boy wasn't pleased that he'd failed to kill us..I think he sent these two to take care of Mr. Stutz for failing...Figuring he was too hot.."I said..

"Only he got the drop on them and killed them first..."said Angie...

"There is blowback blood in here...Somebody must have gotten at least one shot off.."said Carlotta..

"There is a trail of blood down the street...He couldn't have gotten too far with the amount of blood he 's lost.."said Sissy..As we all walked back down the stairs and out into the street.

II-

"LIEUTENANT VAN BUREN!!!" called one of the Tactical Squad Officers..

Sissy, Myself,Carlotta,Tyriq, Jimmy,Sirena,Hop,Angie Duke and Sharon followed the officer and the trail of blood down the street and into an alley where the body of John David Stutz lie face up...his lifeless eyes staring at the sky.... He was dead!!!

 "Oh My God...It's him!"exclaimed Sissy..

 "Wow!  John David Stutz...."I said.

 "So this is it...?This is him?" asked Carlotta..

 Tyriq saw his gun, a .38 Smokeless ,like mine,lying in the gutter, a few feet from Stutz's lifeless body...

He passed it to an officer.

"Bag it and tag it.."he said.

 "I'm guessing this will prove to be the murder weapon.Stutz killed those two guys."said Jimmy...

 "Our double murder is down then...One of those guys killed Stutz.."said Sirena..

 "More than Likely Jimmy Kalimber.." said Carlotta.

 "All nicely wrapped up in a bow for Christmas..We found our bomber and his apartment...and we solved our double murder..He killed those two boys..."said Hop.

 "Maybe...but they were on someone's payroll as was he...And that someone is still out there.."said Angie..

 "There you go muddying the waters Ang."laughed Duke, who hugged his partner..

 "At any rate..we can all return to our homes right?" asked Hazel..

''Well, the bomber is dead and his would be killers are also dead.."said Sharon..

"Yes, whoever was trying to kill us has had his plans slowed down for the time being..Maybe they'll give us a break until after Christmas..I for one am ready to go home..."said Sissy

"Yeah, We are too!It'll be nice to walk free again.." I said.

I watched as the body of John David Stutz was carted off...

Within a day..Ballistics came back...Jimmy Kalimber did indeed shoot John David Stuz and John David Stutz shot and killed Jimmy Kalimber and Ronnie Gallagher..

The Blowback blood was Stutz's...

III-

ONE WEEK LATER-

We all returned to our homes and our normal routines...

But it ate at me...Somebody had laid out a lot of cash to this nut job,John David Stuz...to send bombs to my address , my workplace and to the homes and headquarters of the detectives of the Criminal Investigation Division...Stuz was dead and the two hoods associated with him was also dead...but whoever was behind this wasn't just going to quit...They would try again...

Just knowing that had me on edge...

I wound up in Josies..

Josies as usual was packed...it was festive...Christmas was a few days away...Gus saw me and smiled..

"Hey young fella..heard you almost left us for a minute.."laughed Gus..

 "Almost Gus...but not quite!"I said..

 "You got nine lives kid..and you done used up about seven aint you?" laughed Gus.

My good friend, Walter "Kool Kat " Jones sat down next to me..

"Hey man, when you take a powder, you take a powder...Couldn't find you for a few days.." he said.

"Somebody was trying to take me out..Somebody I never heard of...Don't know what he had against me or my friends..Anyway..he's dead now...The Bomber as well as the two hoods who tried to take him out..Didn't really have any dealings with either..You ever hear of  Ronnie Gallagher, Jimmy Kalimber?" I asked.

"Yeah...in fact I seen them boys in here with that former shyster...A.J. Miller, a few nights ago."said Kool Kat...

"Yeah, I seen em too!" said Gus..

"The Lawyer?  he's in jail..."I said..

"He's out..He was in here the other night...He aint lookin so good.."said Kool Kat..

Now I was thinking...I tossed a few dollars down...

"Walter...I'll see ya later...I may need your services.."I said..

"You got my number ace."said Kool Kat..

IV-

I went back to my headquarters, Morris Investigations...

I pulled up the files of the two dead men...Ronnie Gallagher, Jimmy Kalimber...They had both been represented by crooked lawyer, A.J. Miller several times and had recently done time with him in Prison..

They had all been paroled recently....

But why was he out? He had drawn a 10 year sentence??

I actually pulled up an address for him..

I had helped send him to prison, along with Sissy and the gang....It makes sense...It all makes sense..

 It wasn't hard to find the Apartment complex where he lived....

I knocked on the door, I had Kool Kat with me..

A.J. Miller, defrocked Attorney was shocked when he saw us at his door...

I pulled my 38 smokeless and aimed it at his head...

He frowned....then sighed...

"You figured it out huh?  You are good....You should have been in my employ...."he said and laughed..

Something about him was different...He had lost a lot of weight...He was bald...All of his hair was gone..All of the fight, All of the swagger seemed to be gone from him....He was like a man, waiting to die...

"The two dead men you hired to probably kill John David Stutz...They had your call back numbers in their phones...That and the fact that you repped them both was a dead giveaway..Led me right to you." I said..

He frowned...

"They all were major liabilities...I felt that way as soon as I hired them...None of them were great thinkers.." he said..

"You never intended to pay Stutz for making those bombs...Even if they had succeeded and killed all of us.."I said,.,"You don't have any money.." I added..

He smiled..

"You wearin a wire?" he asked.

"No...I came here to kill you myself...My baby girl was handling that bomb...She thought it was a toy..."I said..my hands trembling...I cocked my gun and aimed at him...I was inches from his head...I could see the pure fear in his eyes...Yet he was too proud to beg for his life...

"I'm dying Kevin...I have terminal pancreatic cancer....That's why they let me out of prison early...I'll be dead pretty soon anyway..." he said..He was afraid....I could see it..

"How much longer you got?" asked Kool Kat..who gently moved my gun hand down.....A surprising move from him...

"I don't know...A month, two months....I was angry...I wanted to pay you people back for me being disbarred and jailed..I hired those three with the promise of a big pay day....They didn't know I am broke...I was going to have the bomber kill those two and then liquidate him..After the explosions"laughed A.J. Miller..

I holstered my weapon...

"Sounds like something your sleazy ass would do..."I said.

"So ,would you guys have a drink with me?  One last drink?" he offered..He produced a bottle of wine and three glasses..

"No last time I had a drink from you or one of your associates,I nearly died.......I'm going to say goodbye...Oh and I am wearing a wire...You're toast you rotten son of a bitch.." I said and walked away...I had no sympathy for A.J. Miller..None at all..

"You're lucky you're dealing with Kevin....If it were me...You'd of been dead!" said Kool Kat as we both walked out..

He looked sad...He held his head down...Almost like he was ashamed...

Sissy and her detectives walked in, guns drawn...

 "You're under arrest A.J.  11 counts, Conspiracy to commit murder."said Sissy..

 "It's back to the cooler for you."said Duke..

 "You'll spend your last days in a prison hospice.."said Tyriq.

 ''And that's better than you deserve." said Jimmy.

 Carlotta read him his rights..

"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you...You have the right to an attorney, if you can not afford one, one will be provided for you...Of course...You being an attorney yourself, you understand all of this...you rat!" she said..

"Yesssssssssss I understand.." he said.. He appeared to be mildly irritated..

 Sirena handcuffed him..

"A.J. you don't know how much I'm enjoying this..You horrible old man...My children were playing in my house when your package arrived...Shame on you.."said Sirena.

 Hop and

Angie walked him out of the apartment into a waiting police van...He said nothing...He just hung his head...He had once been a celebrated and heralded Defense Attorney....But somewhere along the way ,he went bad....He became just like the scum he defended so eloquently in court...

"Thanks again Kevin....We work well together...You're an honorary C.I.D. member.." she said, smiling..

"I've always felt like I was...Siss, It was all I could do not to pull that trigger..When I discovered he was behind this..I was tempted not to call you guys.."I said smiling...

"But you did...and I'm glad you did!..Friend!" she said, rubbing my hands softly...

The Case was closed and fast...Meaning we'd all be safe and at home for Christmas....

EPILOUGE-

A.J. Miller did not die right away...He lived long enough to stand trial and be convicted on all 11 charges...

He was sentenced again to life , which for him was short...He died in the prison hospice just days before he would have been transferred to Stanga State Prison to begin serving his life sentence...

But that would be months from now...

 Sepia ,Kimberly

and I spent the first few days before Christmas in center city..

We went to the light show at Lord and Taylor and we had Hot Chocolates...

"This is so nice Kevin.."said Sepia..

"I used to come up here when I was a kid...with my parents..."I said..

"Shame your parents aren't here...They'd be so proud of the man you've become.."said Sepia..

"They'd love you..."I said and smiled..

"For what it's worth...My mom has warmed towards you..."said Sepia.

"Really?"I said.

"Oh yes...She said that you've taken good care of me..given her a grand baby and you keep money on her books!"said Sepia...

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and there is the rub." I laughed...

 "Ugh Ugh..She's not shallow like that.."laughed Sepia..Then she said..."Or Maybe she is.."

Now it was my turn to laugh....

Her mother was serving Life in prison for engineering multiple murders in the city...I had put her there.. It was purely funny that I was married to her daughter... and had a child by her daughter...but it was what it was....I loved Sepia and I had no doubt in my mind about that....

We walked a little further , admiring the pretty lights and watching people hustle and bustle by us...
Oblivious to everyone and everything..

 Sepia held Kimberly in her arms to keep her warm...She smiled lovingly at me..

I smiled at her...

Christmas was in a few days...Life was good again!



FOR SLC!