A Living Witness

It was certainly weird having the M.E.'s forensic team at a scene where there was no body...

But a lot of blood..

"Thanks for coming Hazel...I know I'm supposed to call you when there is a body..."said Detective Sgt. Sam Smith.

"Yeah thanks Hazel.."I said..

"For you guys I'll come..For your stupid Lieutenant...He'd better not come within 100 feet of me.."said Hazel..

"You mean Tragg?  I feel the same way ,unfortunately, I have to work with him.."said Sam Smith..

"Awful lot of blood here.....And it's fresh blood.." I said... "How did you know about this?" I asked Sam Smith...

 "I've got an eyewitness....He's in my car....We'll talk to him downtown...At the rate my witnesses are vanishing,I don't want this guy seen talking to us.."said Sam Smith...

"If I may ask, talking to you about what?" asked Hazel...

"Three men,possibly four have vanished...into thin air all in this driveway....behind that bar..."I said..

"That's a gay bar..."said Hazel..

"The Sister and the room-mate of the first guy who vanished called Missing persons...The first guy was missing for 72 hours...The room-mate and I were in that bar talking about it and we visited a few of the first guy's missing associates...Then just like that my second guy vanishes a few nights later..A third man who was with the first guy who vanished came forth....He was supposed to meet me and come downtown and give an artist a sketch of an older gentleman seen with both of my missing guys.."said Sam Smith..

''And he turns up missing too?" said Hazel.

"That's when I called Kevin in on this...He has an instinct for finding missing people.."said Sam Smith..

"He found Sissy's father, alive and well who she hadn't seen or heard from in years..."said Hazel,smiling at me..

I blushed...

"According to my eye witness...There was a big fight out here last night...A Big Guy and a muscular guy were fighting and a second man hit the muscular guy with a sap...They tossed him in a car...A beige 1970 Pontiac..."said Sam Smith..

"You know who it is?" asked Hazel..

"No, but it sounds like the way these people have vanished except whoever is doing this made some mistakes...They bled out and they had a witness....I only hope they didn't see this guy." said Sam Smith...

"I can put him somewhere where he'll be safe..."I said..

"This sounds like a serial killer.."said Hazel..

"Yeah, but I don't want to jump to that conclusion yet...Unlike someone else we both know..."laughed Detective Sgt.Sam Smith...

"I know, don't say his name..."laughed Hazel...

II-

 Sam's witness sat in the Fishbowl...

The nickname the detectives gave their interrogation room...

Lieutenant Tragg walked by....He saw me sitting in the room with our witness.

The witness and I were casually talking...

Lt. Tragg walked in...

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

I said nothing...

"Get out!! This is for detectives....Detectives that wear a badge...." said Lt. Tragg...

Detective Sgt. Sam Smith walked in...

"Kevin is with me....This man is my witness.."said Sam Smith...

"Witness to what?" asked Lt. Tragg...

"I work Missing Persons don't I?  He is a witness to the whereabouts of my missing person, who Mr. Morris was also hired to find...Thus we are working together..."said Sam Smith...He had stretched the truth a bit...

"Alright for now...but I want a full report...."said Lt. Tragg...

"Don't you have some crimes to solve?" I said...

"Morris,I busted you once before..."said Lt. Tragg...

"How did that work out for you?" I asked..

"Artie look I've got a witness to brace....Can we have the room?" asked Sam Smith...

"Alright, but I want a full report on my desk." said Lt. Tragg...

III-

Once he was gone....

 Sam and I turned to our witness...

"Look man...I aint gay....I had this little freak..I mean young lady with me and we were up in one of those new buildings having sex...We were just finishing up...I looked out the windows and I saw this muscular white guy with an ear ring leaving the bar, that gay bar out the back....And this Big swarthy looking white guy hit him with a pair of brass knuckles.. It stunned him, but his nose opened up and he bled like a son of a bitch...

He was good with his hands because he beat the stew out of big boy...bloody nose, closed one of his eyes...busted his lip...but there was another guy in that alley..An older guy...He hit him with a sap...Two or three times..knocked him out....They folded him up and put him in the back seat of an old tan 1970 Pontiac...and drove off with him..." said our witness.

"You didn't get a license plate number did you?" asked Sam Smith...

"Look man, my girl was interested in ridin me again...Ya know what I'm sayin? So No...but I can describe the big guy with the beard that was fighting..."said our witness..

''What about the other man, the one in the shadows who hit this guy with a sap?" I asked.

 "He was in the shadows...Hard to get a look at his face, but he was thin...a little older...Hair was uh just starting to gray....Didn't get a real good look at his face..."he said.

''A Police sketch artist is coming in...You give them what you got.."said Sam Smith.

"I got a place I can take you where you'll be safe for a few days..."I said.

"Safe?? What's going on??"asked our witness...

"I'll explain it to you on the way to our safehouse.. Neither man saw you did they?"I asked..

"Nah, I doubt it...We were up in the window and the lights were out...It was late..."He said.

 IV-

 At the headquarters of The Unity Group...The Real Estate Agency that my wife Sepia, Bonita, and my partners, Clerow and Owen Todd owned..

Developer, Lincoln Todd looked around..He was impressed...He had never dealt with Black realtors before...but he was impressed with their office and their track record...The home sales, their apartment, condo, loft, duplex and triplex sales and rental and they owned public storage space too...
Not shabby at all, he mused...

A staff of 40 people, Black, Latino, Asian, White....and a gorgeous office....

"Would you like some coffee Mr. Todd?  It's hot."said Sepia.

"Mr. Todd, this is our partners...Mr. Clerow Hamilton and Owen Todd..."said Bonita...

He shook their hands as they passed him a steaming hot cup of coffee...

Clerow noticed that his shoes...very expensive Italian models had grass and dirt all over them...Which he thought was strange for a man who wore such expensive clothing and otherwise seemed so fastiduous...

They put a group of papers on the table and Lincoln Todd showed them photos of the interior and exterior of his three properties...Triplexes...

They talked about the particulars and then drew up contracts......

I walked in just then....

Sepia planted a soft kiss on my lips...

"Ummmmm hi baby!" she whispered seductively....

"Hi baby!" I said..

"Mr. Morris...Morris communications...I'd like to talk to you about advertisement in your magazines...both digital and print and maybe some radio and TV ads..."said Lincoln Todd.

Sepia and Bonita smiled..

"Sure...Here is my card....When you visit, ask for Sean Jackson...He'll take care of you and set everything up..."I said..

"You guys have quite an operation..." said Lincoln Todd....

I swear something about this man gave me the creeps..

(TO BE CONTINUED)