Sepia and I were late...We were supposed to meet Robert Foxworth and his wife, Bonita at the very tony, very busy coffee shop an hour before....When we arrived, Bonita smiled and waved us over to the booth where she and Robert Foxworth were sitting...We hurried and sat down with them just as the waitress came to take our orders..
"Wow..this place is packed." mused my wife Sepia...
"True, but they have the best coffee and they are wifi compatible." said Bonita...
I could see that, admidst the tables filled with hot steaming tumblers of coffee, there were laptops and androids ,ipods and ipads galore..I smiled as our coffee and pastries arrived...
"How's your case going Kev?" asked Robert..
"It's taking a different direction.." I said.
Just then, Robert's young protoge' , Attorney, Chance Howard, who was turning out to be a good investigator himself walked over to our table with a newspaper...He had two articles circled..He smiled and waved at Bonita and Sepia..
"Hey Bossman...Kevin....I think you'll be real interested in today's headlines." he said with a cocky grin..
"Reputed West Oak Lane Drug Kingpin, Elton "Eldorado" Mack and 52 alleged associates indicted on Drug trafficking and conspiracy charges!"
There was no surprise in that...My investigation and my annonymous delivery of hours of audio and video evidence was partially responsible for his problems..although he would never know that!
The second story however was more of an eyebrow raiser...It was buried on page six.
" Murder suspect found dead in his cell..... Paul "Pee Wee" Hankins, 27 , a suspect in the shooting death of 19 year old Tyquan Boyd was found dead in his cell this morning.It is not known if foul play was involved. Boyd was a suspect in the unrelated shootings of a woman and three men a month before...Another unidentified suspect is still being sought by police!"
Wow! Only I and Councilwoman Jenkins knew who that unidentified and as of now ,still missing suspect was!
"Good Lookin out Chance!" I said with a smile.
"I tell you man, It pays to read the papers." he said..
I smiled and so did Robert....
My android vibrated in my pocket...It was Lockpick Johnson of all people!
"What's up man?" I asked.
"Kev...We just got an interesting pull off of the wiretap...You should hear this." he said.
"Where are you guys?" I asked.
"We about two blocks from you at the corner in the van." he said.
"Who is we?" I asked, even though I knew...
"Tom, Sean and me." he said...
"Good deal..I'm on my way." I said.
II-
I excused myself and walked down the street to Peeping Tom's van....Lockpick Johnson and Sean Jackson were there....Peeping Tom smiled when he saw me.....
"Kevin....The City councilwoman got a very interesting phone call about an hour ago..and you'll never guess from who?" he said.
"Her nephew?" I asked..
"No...one West Oak Lane playa named Eldorado Mack!" he said.
"Eldorado Mack??? He's in jail." I said.
"No...He's been indicted, but he's not in custody yet!." said Tom.
"Hello"
"Mona...I need your help....I've been indicted." he said.
"Yes...I read the morning papers...I don't know if I can help you..This is a federal charge..." she said.
"I don't wanna hear that after all I've done for you." he said.
"I had nothing to do with you and your drug charges...That's on you!" she snapped.
"How about a double murder charge that's ON YOU?" he snapped.
"Hey...Hey..What's that got to do with your present problem?" she snapped.
"I don't want to go to jail at all." he said.
"What can I do?" she asked.
"Get me a lawyer, a good one." he said.
"YOU don't have lawyers on retainer?" she asked.
"Not like the kind you can get." he said.
"You know...if you had hired a professional hitman, you wouldn't have even had to have taken care of Pee Wee, which compounds the problem." she said.
"Professional hitman! Are you kidding for your dumb ass nephew and hispunk friend? Pee wee was appropriate..." he said.
"So appropriate that he left his gun two blocks from the scene of the second murder where the cops could find it..and with his prints on it???Yeah right!" she snarled.
"True...but he's not a problem anymore...I had that taken care of." he said.
"So you're going to Blackmail me now?" she said.
"I'm not goin to jail Mona...Neither one of those goofs meant anything to me, until you called up sayin you needed em taken care of." he said.
"My dumb ass nephew...I was reaching out to that boy, Was gonna help him...then he goes and kills those four people....If it had got out he was my nephew..My chances for re-election would be all but ruined." she said.
"Well Pee Wee did one thing right..He took the car to a chop shop like you said and your nephew's body is buried at the zoo, near the cat house...He'll never be found." he said.
"Okay..good...Here's what you do...your 52 associates...Tell them to take a structured plea...They plead guilty to everything but they don't mention you....Offer to take care of their families while they're away and or put money on their books..That lets you off the hook." she said.
"Sounds like a plan." he said.
"I am a lawyer after all....and as far as my nephew and his dumb ass friend...With Pee Wee gone and my nephew missing....You and I are both in the clear on murder charges." she said.
"You're right...Good deal Councilwoman...See how easy that was." he laughed.
"I'll buy you a drink after court." he said.
"You don't have to do that." she said.
''Still a snob."he laughed.
(click!)
Peeping Tom ,Lockpick Johnson and Sean Jackson all looked at me...
"Well...this just about explains everything....Her nephew calls her and tells her he is in trouble.. Horrified, she calls her friend, Eldorado Mack, who hires one of his underlings to knock both of those kids off....That's pretty cut and dry." I said.
"So what next?" asked Peeping Tom...
"Next?? I'm going to string both of these two up in their own little web." I laughed.
I then headed back to the coffee shop!
(Conclusion Next-)
