The Imposters

When I woke up, I had no idea how much time had elapsed...My room was quiet and dark...It was night time..My window was wide open...It was still about 90 degrees...I needed to turn on the AC...I was sweating profusely...I was still weak, but not as weak as I had been...

Had I had a bad dream??  That was all it could have possibly have been...Cyrus Tickle was on death row in Pennsylvania....No way he was here in San Juan...Wow...I hadn't even been drinking....but I felt like I had...

Had to get up......Just then , my phone rang....

I picked it up....it was Sepia...

"Hi baby....how are you?" she said.

I imagined her in some sexy lingerie lying on the kitchen table...

"I'm better now, now that I'm talking to you." I said.

''What's the matter baby?" she said.

"Oh nothing...Nothing...I had a bad dream is all.." I said.

"You too??...so did I!" she said.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"It was about Cyrus Tickle...Remember him?" she said.

"I sure do...I dreamed about him too." I said.

"I guess we better give him that two million we owe him so he'll leave us alone huh?" she said.

"What? What are you talking about Sepia??, We don't owe him any money!!" I said.

"Honey, we do." she said.

''Sepia!! Did he get to you?? Sepia!!" I screamed into the phone..

"Goodbye Kevin...Just pay him the money." she giggled and hung up.

What was going on?? My wife would have never said anything like that....I picked up the phone to dial her back and the line was dead!!!! No power....

I pulled my other  smartphone out of my suitcase....That was dead too! But how?? I had just charged it when I got here.!!!!  I went to look for my charger....It was gone...!!!

I walked down into the lobby... I saw a clerk...

"Hey Mr. Morris...You okay?/ You was runnin around down here with your pistol ,waving it in the air ,talking about you shot  a man a few hours ago...What kind of rum did you have?" he asked.

"I wasn't drinking.... How come you don't have any signs welcoming the National Black Entrepeneurs Society Convention ?" I asked.

"The what?? The who??What are you talking about?" he asked.

"I'm here for the convention." I said.

"There's no convention here fella...In this joint? You gotta be kiddin?" he said.

So this was all some kind of ruse...I was packing my bags and getting out of here right away I thought....

I took the elevator back to my room.

II-

When I got back to my room, I felt dizzy again....I don't remember passing out, but I did....When I woke up...I heard a knock on my door...

"Kevin...Kevin...You in there?" came the voice..

I answered the door... It was Attorney Robert Foxworth...

"Heyy man, am I glad to see you." I said.

"Kev, we been hoodwinked...I tried to call you...There is no convention!!!..This whole thing was a hoax!!!..." he said.

"Yeah and I think I know who is behind it... our old friend, Cyrus Tickle..." I said.

"He escaped from prison two months ago."said Robert Foxworth...

"Huh?? What?? You mean you knew and you didn't tell me??, What the hell is wrong with you?" I snapped, surprised at my tone of voice towards Robert.

"I woulda thought that Sissy or Carlotta

 woulda told you, since yall are so chummy now! Heyy man...I been at Stanga Prison with ADA Keith Wallace 

and you been god knows where, plus I've been in court a lot. I been busy." he said.

"Excuses, Excuses... All I get from you is damned excuses!!!!....I really don't know how Bonita deals with you." I snapped.

"Heyy man, Kev...what's goin on buddy??....This is me, Counselor Foxworth, your friend...I come down here to help you out." he said.

"I'm sorry Robert...I don't know what's gotten into me...It's almost as if..I-I-I hate you, as if I'm blaming you for this." I said.

"Hey man, you're sweatin like a stuck pig.....I know it's hot down here, but the AC is on. You need a doctor man, you look like hell." he said.

"I-I-I-I don't know what's wrong...My head feels funny...Sepia called me, she was talking crazy...I feel dizzy..I-I-I-I never felt like this before..."I said.

"Maybe you better write a check for that two million dollars you owe Tickle, so he'll leave you alone." said Robert Foxworth..

When he said that, it triggered something in me, something angry, primal....

"What the hell do you mean, money I owe him?? I-I-I don't owe him a damn thing!" I said.

"Well man, he was pretty steamed...You all did have a contract...He was your client." said Robert Foxworth...

''Are you nuts ??You defended me...You told me that he wasn't my client!!!, You told me that he wasn't even a real lawyer!!!!...He was disbarred...You were the hardest on him!!!." I said... I pulled my .38 smokeless out....

"Kev...Kev..What's wrong with you baby??...This is me!!!...I'm your friend...put that heater down..."he said backing up...

"He got to you didn't he?? You're on his side, you rat!!!.." I said and fired five shots into Robert's chest...Robert jerked furiously and then fell against the wall...

"I don't believe it....Kev, you shot me... You shot meeeeee!!!!...Whyyyyyyyy??" he moaned and fell to the floor...I felt Robert's pulse...He was dead!!!! A feeling of pure dread ran through me...What had I done???

I ran downstairs and called the  desk clerk...

"I just shot my friend!!!....I think he's dead...Call the police.." I said.

The  desk clerk looked at me and laughed...

"Oh boy...Not this again." he said.

"I'm telling you..I just killed a man." I snapped.

The  desk clerk and two other men followed me to my room...and guess what??

Robert's body was gone.!!!..No blood!!!....My gun was loaded...Hadn't been fired!!!!!

They looked at me....

"Where is your dead friend?" said one man.

"I don't know...He was here on the floor in a pool of blood...I shot him five times!"I said.  The carpet was spotless!!!!

He checked my gun...

"Your gun is loaded...It's cold....It hasn't been fired." said one man...

"What?" I said.

"I don't know what you've had to drink tonight or last night buddy...but I don't want none of it!" he said and he busted out laughing...

"I want it!...If it makes me that high, that's just what I need." said another man...


III-

I spent the next few hours over the toilet, vomiting my guts out.....After I was done...I washed my face with cold water....I was no longer sweating, but I was weak...The last thing I remember....I was flat on the floor...The room was spinning...

I heard footsteps... I heard two men talking...

I smelled Ms Kitty Holland's perfume...She lifted me in her arms...She placed a cold towel on my forehead....

"Kitty, Mr. Tool, bring him to the car downstairs....Take him to the house...Lock him in the room...by the time he wakess up in the morning, the effects of the drug will have worn off..He'll be back to normal...We have to prepare for Mr. Foxworth's arrival.." came the voice of Cyrus Tickle....I was certain that was him.

"Brenda's on the plane with him... She'll have that cock hound eating out of her hands." said Cyrus Tickle..

"The car is here Mr. Tickle." said Tool.

"Good, he's too weak to give you any trouble...but when he wakes up in the morning it will be a different story." said Tickle.

"Cyrus...Why are you doing this?" asked Kitty Holland..

"This man and his wife cheated me out of two million dollars...I killed three people to help them out...and what did they do? He shot me!  Nigga shot me..They sent me to prison, To death row!!!....If it wasn't for Mr. Tool engineering that escape two months ago...I may have yet been awaiting a needle..." said Cyrus Tickle...

"That was this man's uncle's money... it's not yours...his uncle left it for him and his wife." she said.

"Shut Up KITTY!!...It was my money!!! Do you hear me?? MINE!! MINE!!!...I had a right to it...His uncle and I were old drinking buddies...His Uncle told me that I could have some of his winnings. That was my retirement fund..." he said.

"Don't tell me to shut up, don't talk to me that way..." she screamed..

"I'll talk to you any way I want!!  Lose some damn weight ,instead of worrying about my affairs.." he snarled.

"You'd said once you got your practice set up, you'd do a tummy tuck...help me to lose weight!!" she said.

"I did...but I can't do miracles baby.....!" said Cyrus Tickle.

 

The man named Tool laughed derisively....I was too weak to move...Never had I ever been so helpless....

"Mr.Tool and I pulled several successful bank robberies together...before we left the States and I used my share to set up this elaborate con....Need you know anymore?" he sneered..

"No Cyrus..With all of your talent...You're an Attorney and a Surgeon...Why do you stoop to this?" she said.

"Because I can....Because I can , Now take him to the car and dont't talk back to me anymore!" he snapped.

''Why do you talk to me like this?  Why do I love you so...When you are so unworthy of it?" she cried...

"Just take Kevin to the damn car and quit the dramatics...sheeeesh." said Cyrus Tickle.

The man named Tool and Kitty Holland lifted my weak nearly lifeless body and took me down the back steps... A car was waiting...They tossed me into the back seat...
Tool got in the front seat with the driver...

"You're not ridin in here with us...Take the car with Mr. Tickle ." he said.

I thought I heard Kitty Holland crying as the car pulled off....I was weak and helpless now...but as soon as I regained my strength and barings....I made a silent vow...I was going to make them all pay for what they were doing to me.

(DEFINITELY TO BE CONTINUED)