Deep Heat II Chapter 8

8.

I told Madge I may need reinforcement.

“I will be there after lunch soon after I fed the kids and arranged their sitters. It’s about three hour’s drive in my Defender.” Madge drives a Range Defender II bought from the Army surplus. “I should be there at supper. You have any food to cook?”

“No, you stay there. I will see you at lunch.” All was arranged and I took a rest then. My body ached from the fall, and the bike needed a rubdown. It was an hour later when the phone rang.

“Ma’am, it’s Patty. They are looking for you.” I guessed that was a warning from her. “I did not tell them where you are.”

I called then Tabitha and made some inquiries. And asked about the investigation.

“Ma’am, you just being away for two days. Nothing major had come in. We did, however, have a Chief Inspector McMahon on the task. He is from the Yard. He is having some tea while pondering the folders. I guessed he is either a desk detective like Sherlock Holmes or may spring into action soon like Dragnet, 

or James Bond.”

“Bond, as in James Bond. He is a spy.” I cut in. “An old one too.”

“Oh! Yes, ma’am. Bond is not a detective. But McMahon speaks like Connery with his Scottish accent.”

“No, ma’am. I doubt Ian qualifies for a Highlander. He is more Welsh than that. His mother was anyway. Never speaks on his dad though. I guess family troubles. His mum thinks Tabitha sounded like a witch name. She asked if I was from Salem. I told her out of humor, I was born there.”

Those were our laughter moments until I got the report from her later.

The ‘Patriarchs riders’ are led by a female named Marilyn Cohen. The sister of Nigel and the granddaughter of Mirtha Seward Cohen, the matriarch of the Cohen family. James Cohen is the brother.  I regretted my action then. It was reckless of me to race with the riders. I was stupid as I was when I raced with the other Selby then.

“Fuck!” I cried out. I calmed myself and then called back Tabitha. I needed information, and that was everything on the Cohen and the village. I was digging dirt on them.

“Fuck!” was what Madge uttered out then soon after she arrived. “What is wrong with you, bitch? You are a long distance from the city. And here you have to widen the rift of yours with the Cohen.”

“How well do you know of the Cohen?” I asked.

“I was there when Graham Cohen was loading the boxes on the train. He had just married Mirtha Seward. I was the constable on the beat then. We met and spoke then, but soon after he became the leader of the loaders and packers of the trade. He went up and so did me but of differing careers. Graham made it to the top to rival the others then; the Irish, the Scots, and even the proud Welsh. He united the small gangs and they became the Cohen. Nigel Selby was to form the other; the Selby. They are also heading the Hangman Group.”

“What of you, Madge?” I asked.

“I was too stupid to be allied with them. So was my wretched husband, Gavin Mitchell Cotton. He was recalcitrant like me. He refused to be a part of those alliance, and paid for it with his life.” Madge glared at me. “Once I told you to trust no one. I will repeat that caution.”

“I trust you.” I looked at Madge. “Tell me more about Cohen.”

“Mirtha and I were a pair then. Good friends. God forbids us if we were like yourself. We went to school and the balls together. We have balls then; where we meet the boys. Mirtha was the wilder one. She will attach to the bad boys then while I stood on the sideline. One day, I met Graham Cohen. He was back from the States where he had studied in the college there. Or was trying to study.”

“I was soon with Graham but Mirtha had decided to cut in when she heard he was the Cohen’s family. She argued and fought bitterly with me. I would have relented but I loved him then. In the end, Mirtha took things into her own hands. They had their wedding in Summer and by Autumn, she had borne him their first child. Her name was Guinevere.”

“Maybe in the mind of Mirtha, her children may one day marry the royalty. The Cohen were rich with their varied investment. Their only son, Graham was not a wise one in the running of the business but Mirtha was. She was a wizard with the numbers. She managed the business in the name of her husband. Soon, she involved her mother’s family in the illicit trade of smuggling. They were doing fine with the regular supply of goods that evaded the custom’s detection.”

“Mirtha expanded the business and then the family adopted the name Selby when Nigel took over. Nigel worked for her. While she worked on the legal business and fraternized with the influential persons and Nigel work on the other side. It was fine, and soon, Graham died from a bad heart. Ironic but true.”

“Mirtha took over and the Cohen went into their own sleazy trade. I heard of human trafficking but then I was near retirement and ignored it all. I was soon to be the grandmother. My first had her child at eighteen. I was upset but the smile of the child appeased my anger.”

“The Cohen’s,” I asked once more.

“They operated in many forms. They had the bikers like the scouts or raiders. They have enforcers. Those were the hitmen that will kill on command. They were all clear of the law with their alliance which I mentioned beforehand. The allies were well taken with benefits including monetary to turn the other eye.”

“Who? Who are the allies?”

“I know not their names but they were named the Hangman. They were of the law from the politicians to the enforcement. The names have surfaced but we could not investigate without real evidence. There were some attempts to open the tasks to investigate and even the Anti-Corruption was halted. Some officers were removed by retirement or transferred. Or died in their daily tasks.

“Was that why you retired? The weapons? The constant alert for trouble?” I questioned Madge.

“No…,” Madge replied. “I got fed up with the delays. Gavin was down with a stroke and later bed-ridden. I needed funds and they approached me but I turned them down. I decided to retire and used my pension funds to care for Gavin. It worked but it was hard.”

“Here, you need these.” Madge handed me the duffel bag. It was what I could rouse up.” Madge said that with the smirk on the face. I took a look at the bag and was not surprised. It was Madge’s gift.

“There is a Glock 17, a Walther PPK to be concealed, and the double gauge barrel shotgun. I shortened the barrel so use it for point-blank. There are some extra clips and ammo for the shotgun. And binoculars. You have to see who before you shoot most times.” Madge smiled. “There are untraceable. I scrubbed the serials off. Now that is done, I am leaving. I have to be back before midnight.”

I declined and the phone rang. I picked it up and it was Tabitha. There was more information. I then asked her to check for me missing reports in the area. Madge had left when I was on the phone. I thought of calling Patty but I was too tired and slept.