The Last Loose End

 The one person I didn't want involved in this case was Lt. Tragg...which was why I had called Sissy's people when Detective Hutton and I came upon the murdered bodies of the two girls...And here he was...In Sissy's office bellowing about a case, two cases that weren't his.

Sissy saw us as we walked in and motioned for us not to say anything..

Duke was at his desk, looking over old case files sent to us from Interpol involing the murder suspect,Vladmir Iran.. a  hitman from overseas...Peeping Tom was correct...They had come to the same conclusion my operatives had..

Angie and 

Detective Barbara Hutton and

 FBI /ATF Sharon Hopkins had case files of other murders committed by this guy on another big desk and they were looking through them..

"Sissy , you've got two open murders and it's been 72 hours and the only thing you have to show for it is an arrest of a guy you should've locked up six years ago...The Deputy of Operations is not going to be pleased. he wants action on this fast." Who is on these cases?" he asked.

"Detectives Pile , Rodriguez-Wallace and Barlow are working the Queen Village Murder..

and they're working it hard..

And Detectives Harris and Hopkins are working the South Philly Murder... We have determined that the same man is responsible for both murders...I have a BOLO out...Even the Stateys have been alerted..What more can we do?" asked Sissy , who was becoming increasingly annoyed with Lt. Tragg's constant brow beating..Though they held the same rank..He was her superior only because he had held the rank longer.. Still she felt no compulsion to be ordered around by him..

He looked at Me and Bonnie Shay..

"And what are these two doing here? Please, Please ,Please don't tell me these two P.I.'s are involved in this." he bellowed...

''What they are doing here is none of your business." said Sissy..

He looked at Detective Barbara Hutton..

"And I'm already going to call your Lieutenant and find out why you're here.." he said.

She turned and walked toward him...She wasn't a Philadelphia Detective and had nothing to fear from him..

"WHY DON'T YOU GO STICK YOUR HAND UP SOMEBODY'S DRESS? Somebody who won't slap you...I've heard all about you...You recently screwed up that Jane Martin case..Thank God the defense attorneys had an investigator better than you or they would have never caught the real killer. Oh and that Gleeson case...You really screwed the pooch on that one, arrested the husband, when the real killer was the business manager...Wowwwwwww! Looks like it's Private Investigators two, Lt. Tragg Zippo..Now look..Five very good detectives are working on catching this killer..and the rest of us are helping, why don't you make yourself useful and get out of here?" she said. It was quite obvious Barbara Hutton kept up with the news...

"DID SHE JUST READ HIM OR WHAT?" said FBI/ATF Sharon Hopkins, who had never liked Lt. Tragg.

He and Sharon's dislike for one another was more than evident...and he was as red as a beet at her remark....

Angie and Duke smiled wryly, but kept working..saying nothing!

"That does it..I'm calling Bayside PD right now missy...I'm still a superior officer and you WILL NOT TALK TO ME THAT WAY!" he said.

Just then his phone rang..

"Yes sir...Lt. Tragg here sir...What?  I was.. I was overseeing the uh twin murder investigations...No sir..I was in no way interfering with the detectives cases...No...Nobody asked me to oversee but I thought...Yes sir sirrrrrrrr! Yes, I agree that they are very capable detectives..I trained some of them myself....No sir...Yes, I am aware that Detective Hutton is here from Bayside ..What is that sir? Oh you have talked to her Lieutenant, I was just getting ready to call him myself..What sir? What for?  I am to give her my full co-operation...but sir..No sir..but I thought..Yes sir, I know it doesn't matter what I think sir...Yes sirr sirrrrrrrrrrrr...Yes...I am leaving now..I'll be in your office in a half hour..Yes sir sirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" he said.

He was as red as a beet...He walked out of the office....He didn't say a word...

Sissy busted out laughing...

"Babs, you are my girl.."laughed Sharon, you read him.."said a Jubilant Sharon, who high fived her..

"Hi Sis, guys...Now that he's gone we can share notes.."said Bonnie.

"Sis, Babs..This is about diamonds..One Million dollars worth of diamonds.. DeAngelo Barker and his brother commissioned a crew to steal one million dollars worth of jewelry...Jewelry that had already been stolen from Eastern Europe..Deangelo murdered his brother, who he felt had double crossed him..That's what Harry swayzie witnessed...It was never about any money from a card game owed to Chopper McKenzie.. Chopper McKenzie and his associates wanted their hands on those jewels..They wanted to get to them before DeAngelo Barker did..With DeAngelo under indictment for murder and Harry in the wind..This was a perfect time to grab those jewels." I said.

"We thought that Barker had sent this killer out after Harry...but through our investigation...Kevin and I have determined that he didn't.. We've been on the street, talking to Russian mobsters. Barker doesn't have this kind of pull...This killer, who you're looking for is an independent operator."said Bonnie.

"We've got plain clothes and uniformed policemen at the Airport, the bus stations and the train station as well as along Penns Landing with his photo...Even the State Police have been told.."said Sissy.

"I've got Federal Agents spread out...We've got this city bottled up tight."said Sharon.

"All this and we still haven't found Harry...but we have the jewelry.."I said.

"YOU DO?" said Duke.

"You do?" asked Angie..

"He , by he I mean Harry gave me the jewelry...Cyclops Insurance has them in a Safe deposit box..and only I know where that box is.."said Bonnie.

"We plan to use that to flush your killer out." I said.

"Excellent.."said Detective Barbara Hutton.

II-

Bonnie Shay returned to her office...

Her husband had gone to lunch...She was sorry she had missed him...

A gun was placed in her side..

A man with glasses and a hat spoke to her..

"Don't make a sound...Just walk out of here slow......slowwwwwwww and you might just live..." he said..

Bonnie did as she was told..

''What do you want?, who are you?" asked Bonnie.

"Questions aint in your vocabulary sugar britches..I want those diamonds...I know Harry gave you those diamonds to safe guard for him...I want them...I want that ICE...You are to take me to the safe deposit box.." said the man..

Bonnie turned her phone on...She speed dialed me...and left her phone on....

I answered the call..

''Hello" I said..

There was no answer...but I could hear all I needed to hear..

"I want those diamonds...I know Harry gave you those diamonds to safe guard for him...I want them...I want that ICE...You are to take me to the safe deposit box.." said the man..

I said no more..I knew what was up...Somebody had Bonnie in custody... I followed the GPS tracking device on the phone and I used my other phone to call my friend, Kool Kat....

Bonnie said.

"Who are you with?  Chopper?? He's in custody you know.." she said.

"Yeah, unfortunate....FOR HIM! He and Louis and I were partners...We were going to split that cool one million three ways..With those two in custody...Looks like it'll all fall to me..I don't know where Harry is...but I don't need him.....I just need you...I lost track of him...but once I found out that he had visited you...I figured out that he must have left the Diamonds with you to insure..Now I need to know where those Diamonds are...Are they here?" he snarled...

"They might be.."said Bonnie..

"YOU MIGHT BE DEAD SUGAR BRITCHES!!!....NOW GIVE ME THE DIAMONDS...IT AINT WORTH YOU LOSIN YOUR LIFE OVER!" he demanded...

he put his .40 caliber pistol to her head and clicked it..

"Okay...Okay...Okayyyyyyyyyyyy!" I'll take you to the Diamonds.." said Bonnie.

"That's more like it!" he snarled..

They quietly walked out without a soul noticing..

They got in her car and drove toward the place where the Diamonds were..

"Nice ride..You do pretty good for yourself..What do you do for a living?" asked the Hitman as they drove..

"I'm an Attorney and an Insurance Investigator.."said Bonnie..

"Ohhhhhhhh, a mouth piece and a gumshoe...Nice." he said and went in her purse and took her pistol out.

"Heh , heh ,Heh...just in case you got the suicidal idea of trying to uh pull this on me.."he laughed.

III-

Bonnie quietly walked into the Bank with him..She showed her ID to the guard and she walked in with the man...

"Okay let's stop playing games...It's just you and me.. open that vault.." he said..

"That's no way to talk to a lady " I said.

Bonnie stomped on his foot hard and elbowed him in the jaw...

"OOOOOOOOOF!" he moaned..

Bonnie ducked...

He pulled out his .40...

but I pulled mine out too!

"Don't even try it jack...From this distance...I won't miss...Give it up!" I said.

and Kool Kat

pulled out his 357 Magnum..

"I won't miss either...NOT THAT I WANT TO." he snarled.

THAT WAS A BIG GUN!!...If I was this guy I would have given up...but he was foolish..

"You think I'm afraid of you two???...I've killed guys tougher than you two ,seven days to Sunday..." he snarled.

He fired two shots..He missed us both!

Kool Kat, Myself and a Bank Security Guard returned his fire....

Guess who got the short end of the stick??

He was hit with three shots each from the three of us...

"OUUU...OHHHHHHHHHH! I don't believe it....I've been shot!" he groaned and collapsed in a pool of blood...He was dead before he hit the ground..

Awhile later , We watched as his body was wheeled out on a stretcher..

"Kevin, his name is Jimmy Peters, low level hood ,got six or seven arrests...Suspect in several contract killings.I hope you called Sissy..I'd hate to see you in a battle with you know who.."said Dr. Hazel Baylor..

"I did call Sissy." I said.

"Jimmy Peters...I busted this guy when I was a Detective for attempted murder and again for assault.. I didn't know he was out of jail.."said Sissy..

"Yeah, I remember him...Suspected Hit man for the highest bidder.."said Duke, who was writing up a report..

"I remember him too!"said Jimmy...

"I suppose he is after these Diamonds too?" asked Tyriq..

"That's what this is all about..Barker wants Harry dead in Bayside, to keep him from testifying.. Chopper and his crew wanted those diamonds, left in Harry's care.. and this killer, he wants the diamonds too..It's one million dollars on the line." I said.

''Chopper had him on Harry's trail as well as Kevin...He came to my office and took me at gunpoint..Lucky for me...Kevin and Mr. Jones followed my GPS Signal and were able to take him."said Bonnie.

"That was good thinking.."said Carlotta.

"Yes it was.." said Sirena.

''We still don't have Harry."said Detective Hutton.

"Or our killer." said Hop..

"All in good time." said Angie.

IV-

"Bonita...Thank you so much for watching Kimmie Cakes for us...Kevin thought it would be better if she were seperate from us for the time being...I'll face time you as soon as we get settled."said Sepia.

'Girl, will you hush...You know Auntie Bee, doesn't mind keeping her little Kimmie Cakes..

"It'll give our daughter someone to play with..." said Attorney Robert Foxworth...

"Thanks Bonita, Robert...I'm in your debt." I said as they drove off with our daughter, Kimberly....

I looked in my car... Ronnie and Bonnie Shay were with us...I wasn't taking anything for chance...If that thug knew that Bonnie and Bonnie alone knew where the Jewelry was...Then our killer from Europe knew it too...I wanted to make sure that she and her husband were safe as well...

"You guys ready?" I asked.

"Yeah Kev, We ready.."said Ronnie.

"I'm ready..." said Bonnie.

We drove to the headquarters of The Criminal Investigation Division....We were all going to be staying in the apartments above the headquarters...

Duke and Sissy Greeted us..

"Hey Guys...Welcome to our humble abode...I hope you like the accomodations...These rooms are pretty nice...And uh you won't be alone..We are all staying here for the next few days with you...Any of you guys play cards? Spades, Pinocle?/" asked Duke..

"Are you kidding?  Deal me in.."laughed Sepia.

"I'm a former ADA..I hung around Detectives a lot...You know I play." said Bonnie..

"Me too...I'm also a former ADA.."said Ronnie, her husband..

"Okayyyyy, then we'll all have a great time...We usually play in the cafeteria after the staff leaves for the night." laughed Sissy...

"Kevin your wife is very pretty....I understand why you don't cheat.." whispered Detective Barbara Hutton in my ear....

After we got situated...We joined the others in their cafeteria..

ADA KEITH WALLACE  and CARLOTTA RODRIGUEZ-WALLACE

TYRIQ AND SIRENA PILE

JIMMY AND ANGIE BARLOW

DUKE AND HAZEL BAYLOR

SHARON AND TONY HOPKINS....

They were already eating..

The dinner was buffett style..

''Everything looks delish." gushed Sepia.

"I work here part time sometimes along with my work at the Youth Center."said Sissy's husband, Eddie C.

"This is soooo nice.."said Bonnie.

"It is...We should hang out with these guys more often.."laughed Ronnie.

I looked on at all my friends...We had been together for a long time...shared information on many investigations, put many bad guys behind bars....

"Kevin, that gun that was on Jimmy Peters turned out to be a ballistics match for 7 unsolved murders and guess what? They were all Lt. Tragg's old cases...He's not going to be happy that we not only closed them , but we killed the likely suspect..."laughed Sissy..

"So far this week..You've captured a suspect in a six year old cold murder case and closed seven of Lt. Tragg's open cases...and yet we still have a double murder that's now 72 hours old.."I said.

"And we still haven't found Harry."said Detective Hutton..

''We've frustrated the killer. He has no targets...So we've got to find Harry before he does...That's the only loose end." I said.

We all looked at the ground solemnly and joined the others at the dinner table.

(TO BE CONTINUED)