In the Wind

After narrowly skipping on a murder charge....and with

 me and Bonnie making her aware that we were aware of her little scam.. Leslie McKenzie did what I expected her to do...

Close up shop..

 In the sub-basement of Morris Communications

where my semi-secret facility and headquarters of Morris Investigations lie...the news was what Bonnie and I expected..

''Kev, she closed out all of her bank accounts..." said one operative..

"And she took down those GoFundMe's too...Took down the one on Twitter first and then took down the one on Facebook.." said another of my operatives...

"Looks like the con is apparently over and she's moved the money....She has to report that income on her tax returns." I said.

''She hasn't so far...She's been running this scam for close to a year, taking in close to a million dollars and none of it was on her tax returns...I talked to a guy at the IRS...No record of it.."said Bonnie.

''We do have copies of her bank accounts and the income is showing."I said.

'Well it was...the money is gone now...Those accounts were closed the minute she got out of jail."said Bonnie.

"She moved it fast..she doesn't have the kind of connections it takes to open an account in the Caymen Islands...So that money has to be somewhere else...Somewhere close and fast....Maybe not in Philadelphia...But not too far..."I said.

"And she has to split it up...She can't put a large amount like that anywhere without reporting it to the IRS..." said Bonnie..

"But by now...she could be using, assumed names ,several assumed names...Guys...Look for any recent deposits in area banks...Sudden large deposits.. and by recent...I mean..Today….Cross reference everything.."I said.

''We 're on it Kev."They said.

 I took Bonnie by the hand..

"Where we goin?" she asked..

"We are going and visit a slick little hustler." I said.

II-

 Kool Kat met Bonnie and I at the apartment complex where Leslie McKenzie and her husband lived..

The three of us entered the complex, only to find her entire apartment empty...Empty as hell..As if no one ever lived there...

 "She's gone mannn, In the wind!!"said Kool Kat..

 "I was afraid she was going to do this...but so fast...Wow!  " I said."It was as if this was pre-planned."I said.

"It smells like bleach...."said Bonnie..

"She bleached and wiped this place down...No DNA, No Prints, No Nothing."I said..

 Lt. Tragg

and a tactical squad flooded the hallway..

"What are you doing here?" he snarled...

"I was looking for Mrs. Mckenzie...who has apparently flown the coup...see for yourself.."I said.

"I'm gonna ask you again ...and you're gonna come clean, or all three of you are going downtown."snarled Lt. Tragg..

"I have a client..Three clients to be exact" I lied.. "They were bilked out of a LOT OF MONEY,by a scam this woman and possibly her husband had been running...That guy who was murdered two nights ago had come to me..he also wanted me to look into her dealings...Only somebody killed him before he could tell me everything." I said.

"Lieutenant, what are you doing here? Do you have any new evidence?"asked ADA Karen Page..

Lt. Tragg turned from us and looked at her, smiling from ear to ear...

"Nooooo, but there is evidence that I've got it bad for you baby and that aint good.." he said softly...

"I don't think she warrants all of this hardware..."said ADA Karen Page,

looking at the heavily armed police squadron Lt. Tragg had brought with him...

"She's a suspected Grifter, possibly a murder suspect...I say possibly...because she has an alibi..." said ADA Page..

"An Alibi?" asked a puzzled Lt. Tragg..

 "An Alibi?" I asked..

 ''An Alibi?" asked Bonnie.

"I gotta hear this.."laughed Kool Kat..

''She was ticketed by patrol officer Gerald Tibbett, several miles away, right around the time this murder was said to have taken place...and the one eyewitness I found that saw what happened, says he saw a man in a blue windbreaker running from the scene, shortly after the shots were heard.."said ADA Karen Page..

"Oh!  Okay Boys...pack it in..."said Lt. Tragg as the gaggle of Tactical squad guys left...

"Drinks tonight? After work?? Curly's.." he said to her..

"I'll be busy tonight Arthur.." she said tersely....

"Oh ,Okay..." he said and walked away...

"You did his job better than he did.."I laughed..

"I didn't find out about the traffic ticket until this morning...the story about a guy in a wind breaker, running from the scene...I made that up...Just so he'd leave...No eyewitness told me that....If he was a real detective...He'd of asked me for the eyewitnesses name.."said Karen Page, shaking her head..

"I was getting ready to say..The three of us interviewed every single resident in this building and nobody told us that...In all fairness , he did too..."said Bonnie.

''She's cleaned out all of her multiple bank accounts...The money is gone.."I said.

"We still have records of it being there...And it looks like her and her husband cleared out of here pretty fast..."said Karen..

"This was too fast...They had this pre-arranged...If the heat picked up one or the other...They were going to clean this place up and move out of here.."said Kool Kat...

"Looks like she was slicker than any of us thought...regardless of whether we were on to her little scam or not..She's gone...and so is all that money she scammed people out of …" I said.

"I've got a plan...You're a media man....Start contacting her victims....Spread her photo where-ever...TV, Radio...Clubs...Contact these people and inform them they were scammed.. I'm going to get my boyfriend B.L. to do a story on her....and offer a reward for information on her whereabouts..
She's not going to get away with this.." said Karen..

"I'm on it.." I said..

 "Let's get out of here..Nothing left to do here.."said Bonnie.

"Damn, I was hoping for some action."said Kool Kat...

III-

I went home...It had been a very unsatisfactory day....My client was dead...My suspect had an alibi and had apparently escaped..Outsmarting me..This was a first...Maybe I was slipping..

 Sepia had put Kimberly to sleep and was putting away her laundry...

''Sorry you had a bad day baby."she said.

I stared at the panties she was putting in the drawer...

"These new?" I asked.

 "No , you haven't been paying attention..You take em off so fast..." she laughed as she put some bras in another drawer..

I stared at them and smiled..

''Wow!" I said..

Sepia smiled..

''Kevin...I wouldn't have this life if not for you...I co-own my own business.,...I finished my education and I'm in this new city with these new friends..You took me in when I didn't have a roof over my head...I'll forever be in your debt." she said.

She kissed me softly....

"I'm in your debt...I had a house...you made it a home...Gave me a daughter..." I said...

Pretty soon we were both straddled  across the bed , kissing passionately....I slipped her night shirt off...

''Welll...I'll certainly remember these panties and this bra.." I laughed..

"No you won't...you'll be asking me about them within a month..." laughed Sepia as we rolled across the bed, kissing passionately...

Sepia soon was moving up and down on me, drowning me with sweet kisses...

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Kevin you are driving me insaneeee.." she moaned..

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh girrrlll.." I found myself moaning...

We soon were on top of the bed, making sweet love....

'You feel better daddy?" she asked..

"Yessssssssssssssssss...much better..." I moaned..

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm she moaned..

EIGHT TO NINE HOURS slowly drifted by Neither of us knew if we were coming or going...

IV-

 But while that was going on...My Guys got a kind of break in this baffling case...

They called me sometime later and after a hot shower...I was there..

"What you got?" I asked..

"No leads on her...but her husband....We tagged his credit card...He's in this bar.....Been there all night..If you hurry you can catch him.."said Tom...

"Good work guys.."I said.

"You need one of us to tag along?" he asked.

"No..I got this...you guys go home, get some sleep."I said.

The Bar was not one I was accustomed to..It was on the other side of town....I didn't recognize a familiar face...Except one..

The man I had come for...Mitchell "Mitch" Mckenzie...He was talking to, almost pleading with a group of guys to buy something..Something he had in a bag...

 "That's our boy..."said Kool Kat..

"Yeah, that's him...The husband..."I said.. I looked around...Leslie, his wife was nowhere to be found..

We approached him...

"Hey slick, what are you selling?" I asked..

He stared at us hard...

"You two look familiar...You guys cops?" he asked.

"Not hardly.." said Walter "Kool Kat " Jones..  He had a look about him that said hoodlum..

I didn't think I looked like a hood...but I was after all with him...

''We aren't cops.." I said softly...

"I've seen you before...I can't place it..." he said.

"You sellin a gun?" I asked.

His eyes got as large as saucers...

"I know where I've seen you...You're that private investigator that was nosing around my wife...."he said and he pulled out the gun he was trying to sell..

a .22 caliber...

"That's a ladies gun.." I laughed..

He cocked it to let me know he meant business..

"It's loaded....Both of you ,get your hands up...and let's walk out of here...It can kill you at close range , just as good as any other gun.." he whispered..

"I know....Did you use it to kill Trevor Wilson the other day? Is that why you're trying to sell it?" I asked.

"You ask too many questions.....Both of you...get up quietly and head toawards the back exit..DO IT!" he said..

"You killed Trevor..Not your wife...He was planning to expose your little scam...Mess up your good thing huh?"I said..

"Yes...I killed him....Just like I'm going to kill you.." he said..

Kool Kat smiled...Unknown to Mitch...Kool Kat's sunglasses were specially wired...Everything that was transpiring was being recorded by video and sound...

"You're making a big mistake...We know all about your wife's scams..she's going to be exposed..Tomorrow, her face is going to be in every newspaper, on every television screen and on every radio station...and all the people she scammed are going to come forth...It's all over.. It doesn't matter where she is...She's going to be found...Trevor went to the D.A.'s office...Give it up.."I said.

''Too late...Too much money involved...I've killed a man....I'm not burning for anybody..." he said..

As we  got to the doorway...

I walked out and ducked..

Kool Kat slammed the door hard into his face, breaking his nose...Then he too ducked..

"AGRHHHHHH, STUPID NIGGERS!" he yelled.. He stumbled..Then he fired three times..

I ducked behind a dumpster and pulled out my .38 smokeless..

I fired one time...I hit him in the leg..

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...I don't believe it...I've been shot!" he said and he emptied the gun in my direction..

 Kool Kat fired once with his .357 magnum..

hitting him in the side and killing him instantly...

I immediately got on the phone and called The Criminal Investigation Division... No way did I want Lt. Tragg in on this...

 Crime Scene Investigators and Forensics picked up shells  and searched the driveway for anything else they could use..

Hazel observed the body, along with Jimmy ,Carlotta and Tyriq..

 "Wow...What a mess.."said Jimmy...

 "Well, Kevin says he got a recorded confession...This is the killer of Trevor Wilson."said Tyriq..

"Once again..We've cleaned up one of Lieutenant Tragg's cases."laughed Carlotta.

 "He wasn't anywhere close to cracking this case...He had no evidence what so ever.."said Hop..

Sirena used a pencil to pick up the gun..

"A ladies gun....These shells and a ballistics match probably matches the gun to the murder.." she said..

"And his prints are all over it.."said Angie...

"I talked to a few guys in the bar....He was trying to sell this gun...He seemed like he was in a hurry."said Duke..

Sissy was talking quietly to me..

"I've got a taped confession of him admitting to killing Trevor Wilson and of him attempting to kill me and Walter before we defended ourselves." I said..

"Nice and Neat...Just like we like em.."said Sissy with a smile..

ADA Keith Wallace and Karen page drove up...

" Karen filled me in on everything Kevin..Good work.."said Keith Wallace,..

"Good work Kevin...You caught Trevor's murderer...but I'm betting he didn't implicate his wife...If he didn't..We can't go after her for the murder or conspiracy..."said Karen..

"Damn it.." I said..

"But my office is still going after her for Wire Fraud, Fraud, conspiracy by mail and an assortment of other charges.."said Karen..

"Can we release the body?" asked Hazel..

"Yes, release the body.." said Sissy..

We watched as Mitch Mckenzie's body was wheeled away...

The news of the killing of suspected murder suspect Mike McKenzie was all over the news....

"Hey that was your case wasn't it Artie?" asked a cop watching as the body was towed away...

"Yes it was and I'm damn tired of Sissy Van Buren and her crew interfering in my cases...I'm calling the Deputy Of Operations right this minute!!" he fumed..

And a few blocks away in a rooming house..

Leslie Mckenzie was watching the whole thing on television..

She could all of a sudden feel the noose tightening around her......And she felt breathless...

(CONCLUSION NEXT)