Deep Heat Chapter 6

6.

From what I was told of Robert Kellie was a rising star in the profession when he was made Chief Inspector at the early stage of his career when he solved some big cases. He was given the push-up and there was when he got into the wrong crowds. He was seen with the who’s who and soon with the plush dinners, he was said to be involved with some crime lords. His first wife was one of the daughters of the Cohen’s.

“It was a lavish wedding with the knowns of the city invited. I was stopped at the road junction to the church by the uninformed.” Derek Langston spoke of that day. “We were neighbors at young and even got the invite but my reputation as the hot journalist spooked them out. I was told the Cohen was the ones who screened the visitors.”

“As per my reputation, I got out of my equipment and took my long lens to work. It was easier than to climb the trees and jump over the wall.” Derek rubbed his left forearm. “I got some snaps of the visitors and it was then I found out his wife was the daughter of Cohen’s family. Her mother was the youngest daughter of the Cohen Senior. That lady upon my checking further was a rebel in the family. She brought up the daughter whom she had outside of the wedlock. The Cohen family had only received her return about a year before the wedding.”

“It must have been a shock to Robert.” I snapped in.

“Not exactly. Later I was to know that it was Robert who acted as the mediator.” Derek continued on. “He had the leverage with the family and they needed his influence in the city. He was close to the names they could not access then. He facilitated the network.”

“So Robert was not the good guy. What was in it for him? Money or fame?” I asked.

“Robert wanted to go to politics then but his wife died suddenly in an accident. I investigated the accident but came up naught. He had an alibi then. Somehow, the Cohen stayed loyal to him. Robert was moving up then and was Deputy Commissioner. He was involved in the cases on the Cohen and later the Selby.”

“How did the Selby come in?” I asked

“Nigel Selby was involved in their own business but it was operated in terms of works and responsibility sanctioned by the Cohen,” Derek added on. “And them by the Hangman Group. The untouchables in the link.”

Familiar names to me from my previous investigation.

“What about Sidney Madden?” I asked my father.

“Sidney was no true saint. He was involved for he needed the protection of the Cohen from the Irish and other Latino gangs. They are all in for the sake of protection and turf boundary.”

I knew Sidney was bad but he was still my father.

“What’s in it for you?” The pertinent question in my mind all night.

“I am Robert’s friend. Despite his connection to the Hangman Group. I believe his death was not the work of the same group he was affiliated with. Not their commission to kill him, but someone in the group wanted him dead. I want to know who will kill him when he was the next Chief Constable.”

“You sound like a C-Grade Movie star. With a D-class script.” I told Derek. “But I will read your script and see if I need to change it. If I do, I may end your freedom as a journalist.”

“I will pray for your health. Think of what I told you. I am leaving now.” Derek left me at the counter. I ran some names in my mind.

Nigel Selby, Alice Cohen or Alice Cohen, Sidney Madden, Shawn, Maud, and the other victims. All dead. So who is not? The other name that flashed on my mind was Daniel Cohen of the Hangman Group. I can’t think of any. My mind went back to one more name. Alive and retired.

Madge Cotton.

I left Derek Langston and went home. My lover was not in. I took my shower and then to bed. It was a deep sleep that night.

I dreamed of Shawn.

“Bitch! You were to die.” Shawn was there staring at me. We were on the street where the incident took place but standing on the sidewalk. I saw the car we were in approaching and then the shots. The car crashed and it all stood still. I guess I could recall till then.

“No! You ….” I snapped back,

“Alice talked too much. She should have just shot you and we will be done.” Shawn looked to his chest. The wound then appeared and the blood seeped through. He was shot point-blank.

“She told me we were going to kill you. To shut you up. To complete the Sidney saga. I will take over and with her help, we will be the ones that control the city.”

“Alice was a Cohen. They won’t let you share the rule.” I told Shawn. “You are living in a fantasy. Sidney fought them off his turf for years. He made a mistake of ….”

“Of a son like me. Maybe he did but I meant well for the people there. We were living in the ghetto. We were peddling our lives for the pittance they give. We have drugs…”

“Not brought in by Sidney. He was peddling bodies but not drugs.”

“So, say the prodigal son. You don’t know Sidney. He was distributing it like the others. And yes, he did not sell it to his own people but he did to the others. He calls it his stratagem to weaken the opponents. He was doing what the Latinos and Chinks were doing. It was all the same modus operandi. You sell in your enemy land.”

“Fuck you, Shawn. You were in too. Why didn’t you stop it?” I was getting upset that Sidney whom I thought was righteous in his dealings; protecting and yet he destroyed the others outside. Narcotics told me the number yearly and I was appalled that we were losing the battle every time.

“Does it matter now, Bernice? Cohen has taken over.” It was the wakeup call for me. I always woke up then whenever I have the dream. I sat up and cradled my head in my hands. Shawn was right. Cohen has control over the city. Instead of winning, I was losing in the war. I looked out and saw the sunlight seeping through the curtains. I got out of the bed and the bedsheets were wet. It was my perspiration from the bad dream.

I called in late that morning.

I decided to visit Madge.