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Jul-25-2009 17:35

"This book was written by Heimlich VonVictor & describes true events that occured during his time as a detective." As he finished these final words on his manuscript he dropped his pen onto the desk. He had just referred to himself as a detective in the past tense for the first time in his life.

He didn't want to believe that it was over, but when one takes pen to paper and scribes one's life story as a matter of record, there was a sense of finality to it.

He picked up the stack of papers before him, each page a piece of a life he would never get to live again. He looked up at the framed newspaper article celebrating his 100th case solved as a detective. It had already started to yellow and fade.

He walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of gin and a glass. Even if it was a bittersweet occasion, it called for a celebration, and that meant a good Tom Collins.

He looked up at the plaque on the wall that his agency presented him upon his retirement.

"Retirement! Psh! That's rich!" he grumbled out loud to no one in particular. He remembered the exact conversation.

Eric had called him into his office and said it very clearly, "Heim, you're a liability. Some of the stunts you've been pulling lately have got the other detectives mighty scared."

He had tried to brush it off, "I'm a liability!? Do you realize how much money I pull in for this agency each year? You should be down on your hands and knees thanking me for being able to make bank!"

Eric sighed at him, "Heim, I can't keep you on. The Baltimore incident was the last straw. We'll let you retire, and we'll let it look like it was your decision to do so. We'll keep it out of the papers."

What choice did he have? He had put on a grin, went to the dinner, accepted his plaque, and faded into obscurity.

He was reliving this oh so favorite of memories when the phone rang. Startled, he dropped his drink on the floor and the glass shattered.

Aug-4-2009 20:53

"Heimlich,please,answer my question. Can you forgive me? " the cop once more asked again and he cried. He just cried,like I did. Heimlich gave a "sigh",took a cigarette out and started to smoke. It stayed silent for 5 minutes,until Heimlich said : "What you did,is unforgivable. A friend you are..."

The cop looked down to his knees and burried his face in his hands.

My face was without expressions focused on Heimlich and Kobetz stood still for a moment.

Then,the phone rang. "Go get it Vulkie. I haven't got the strength for it." Heimlich asked and I reluctantly went to the phone.

I picked it up and said,with a huge sniff : "Vulkie here."

"Vulkie,what's the matter?" the voice on the other line asked. I knew it was Joseph.

"Joseph,there's been trouble here. Some cop that's an old friend of Heimlich's raided this place. I... I.... I shot Heimlich Joseph!" I yelled and in the kitchen,I heard a screech.

"Is... Is Heimlich dead?" Joseph asked. "No,it was just a flesh wound Joseph. I don't know why I did it,I don't know why. Kobetz took care of us. Heimlich shot the cop in his kneecap and Kobetz made sure everything was alright for us. Also,there is another matter. The cop said that there's something about Heimlich and something about Baltimore. I think Heim..." I said and watched how Heimlich took the phone out of my hand and hung up.

"That's all he needs to know now Vulkie. You... You get some rest...." Heimlich said and looked at me with a sad face.

As I stumbled towards the bedroom,I saw Heimlich on the couch,with his hands before his face. This affair of Heimlich was breaking him up. I knew it...

And so,I went to my bedroom,to get some rest,while Kobetz took care of the dishes and Heimlich stayed on the couch,needing some time for himself...

(Cont)

Aug-4-2009 21:01

********One week later*********

It was time that I could get on the streets again. Kobetz's trail hadn't warmed up,so the cops got easy on me. Also,they didn't know it was me that broke Kobetz out,except for the guards that protected Kobetz at that time.

Heimlich was feeling better and the cop recovered little by little. It was time to pay Richard Cambridge a visit,to tell him the truth.

1542 Rancine street. A shady place in NY. It was one of the darkest places,where you shouldn't venture alone,unless you had important business.

As Heimlich and I pulled up at the house,Heimlich looked around. "Seems the right place,for a rat" I said and Heimlich almost choked in his donut of laughing.

As Heimlich rang the doorbell,we heard a man screaming " Yeah yeah,coming,coming. Keep the noise down" and the man opened the door. It was a tall,handsome man,possibly between 40-45 years.

"Heimlich,my god. What are you doing here? You should be in...." he asked,looking astonished.

"Jail,perhaps?" Heimlich said. "Got out of it,no evidence and a friend helped me. No time to explain. Can we come in?"

"Sure,why not?. Come in,please. Coffee?" he asked and he instantly began to make some coffee.

"Richard,I've got some explaining to do. You see,it's like this...." Heimlich said. And with that,he began to explain the situation....

(Cont)

Aug-4-2009 21:12

"So,you think old Judge Haliwell is bribed? Well,then you need to get rid of him. We can get a new judge,that's not a problem. But Haliwell is well protected,you should know that. He's as important as the mayor. He has put many people behind bars and is a well known figure. Getting rid of him is almost impossible." Cambridge exclaimed.

"Leave that to me!" I said and so,Heimlich and I went to old Judge Haliwell's place to "convince" him to drop the case.


********** Judge Haliwell's house***********


Old Judge Haliwell's place was a mansion just outside town. It's just like one of those family mansions you see in Louisiana. It was just like one of them,only the swamp was missing.

As we drove towards the entrance gates,we noticed 2 guards watching the television. "Boys and toys" I thought and sighed.

We drove by the gates and drove a few meters from the gates and stopped the car there.

"There's 2 ways in. One possibility is,that we can go through the entrance gates and go to the front door. The other possibility is,that we sneak behind the house,climb over the gates and go through the back door,hoping it's not secured with guards.

And so,we chose for the second possibility. Everything went smoothly and soon,we stood in the Judge's bedroom.

"What in tarnation are y'all..." the judge screamed and I pulled my gun.

"Don't even think about that Judge Haliwell,or it's the last thing you'll ever do" as the judge reached for a button that said "Alarm".

The judge straightened himself in his bed and said. "What do you want from me? Money,Jewelry? I can even..." the judge yelled,in a desperate way to safe his life.

"We want you to drop Kobetz's case Judge. We know you're bribed. Don't try to talk yourself out" Heimlich said and I cocked my gun.

"I can't drop it,no way. There's no way..." the judge almost screamed

And so,I cocked my gun,took a pillow,placed it on his face and said : "Have a nice trip Haliwell." and I pulled the trigger...

Aug-4-2009 21:18

And so,Heimlich and I made our ways out of the mansion,got in our car and took a rest. "What we do know Vulkie? We just murdered Haliwell. If we get caught,we'll get the chair,or even worse..." Heimlich almost screamed,panicking.

"Don't worry,we'll phone Joseph and make him "disappear" some evidence. The next thing in the morning,we'll phone him first." I said to Heimlich and I drove towards the safehouse.

Kobetz was sitting there,in a chair,with the cop laying on the couch,reading the funny papers. "Ghwell,what ghappened? Did the Judge drop the case?" Kobetz asked.

"Well,he dropped something. Himself,dead." I said and started to explain. "My gawd,what terrible crime you did. Was there no way you could convince him?" Kobetz asked.

"No Kobetz,we tried it. But he said he couldn't give up the case." I exclaimed and Kobetz sighed. The cop looked terrified. "So,old Judge Haliwell is... dead..." he asked and I just nodded.

The next morning,we phoned Joseph and he took care of it. And so,the newspapers stood full of information about it. "Judge Haliwell murdered. Suspects may be robbers."

Joseph took some jewelries and some other precious stuff in his pockets,so it looked like a robbery. And the crime was never solved....

And then,Joseph dropped by us,to ask what happened....

Aug-5-2009 09:49

(srry for my last part guys. It says know instead of now,in the beginning) -.-

Aug-5-2009 19:14

Eric looked at the people around him: VonVictor, Vulkie, & Kobetz. Not exactly the company he thought he would be keeping a week ago. They were supposedly "the bad guys" and they weren't that bad. The skirt had even taken the blame for shooting Heimie. He raised a glass of beer to his mouth and noticed that his Russian companion was doing the same. They both looked at each other and Kobetz motioned towards him, "Eh? Cheers my friend!"

Eric chuckled before wincing in pain from his knee. It still hadn't fully healed and he didn't expect it to until he had a doctor piece it back together. He thought back to that night a week ago.

****

Eric felt cold water splash on his face. "Wake up!" he heard the heavily Russian voice order him. "You don't get rest now! You talk and explain!"

His head was throbbing... Heimlich had struck him. He could taste the blood in his mouth and the room came back into focus. He saw Kobetz standing in front of him with a handgun pointed directly at him. Over on the couch Heimlich was lying motionless.

"Make wrong answer and you become Swiss cheese." Kobetz said to him, "Why you attack Heimlich?"

Eric spat on the ground. "Mr. VonVictor and I have history. You could say we used to be associates, but we both burned bridges and inadvertently ruined each other. Although I suspect his was more deliberate." he angrily spat.

Kobetz picked up a chair, put it across from Eric, and sat down. "Talk." he said, "Tell me about you and Mr. Heimlich."

Eric coughed and spat on the floor again, "It's a long story." He then cast a glance to the ropes binding him in his current state, "But I guess I really don't have any other pressing engagements at the moment."

****

Aug-5-2009 19:14

"I'm sorry Eric, but we had to let her go." His captain looked down at him with a look of disappointment. "We really had nothing to hold her on and if she says she didn't see anything we can't presume that she did. Why don’t you take the rest of the week off?" He nodded, thanked the captain for his time, and promptly broke down into tears once he was out of sight.

A month ago he had been the hero cop. He had managed to take down that big smuggling ring, and got his name in all of the papers. It was finally all coming together, he was going to get his promotion, get his brother off of opium and into a good paying respectable job, and retire with a great reputation. It was all planned out and then everything went to pieces.

He had been at home reading when there was a knock on the door. He opened it to find two of his fellow officers standing there in full uniform, “Sullivan! O’Leary! What are you doing here?” he said with a smile. Neither officer returned the gesture.

“Eric, I think you may want to sit down.” Sullivan said very softly. Once they were inside he learned the horrible truth. His father had been working at his factory job that evening and his mother had gone to deliver a warm meal to him. The whole place went up. Among the remains of the factory they found a card with an X on it-a sure sign that this was a revenge killing. They believed it was retribution for the smuggling ring being taken down.

Two days later his brother was found in an alley with a bullet in his head and a card marked with an X over his heart. He saw red. He wanted revenge.

The police worked tirelessly, but only managed to track down one person who had a clear view of the entrance of the factory at the time that it went up and she had just walked out the police station claiming that she hadn’t seen anything. He stepped outside the station in a daze. He almost didn’t hear the car horn beep.

Aug-5-2009 19:15

He looked up to see a strange man sitting in black car with the passenger door open. “Get in!” he yelled, “Time to show you how it’s done!” Eric really felt he had nothing left to lose, so he got in.

Along the car ride, he learned many things: The man’s name was Heimlich VonVictor, he was a private investigator, formally he worked for the district attorney’s office, and he was interested in the reward being offered by the police for the capture of the Marvington’s killer.

Eric was lost in thought when the smell of fire invaded his nostrils. He looked up and saw the charred remains of the soap factory his father had worked in. “What are we doing here?” he demanded.

Heimlich shook his head, “Not here.” He pointed to the apartment across the street, “Here!” He parked the car and beckoned Eric to step out. They walked up the stairs and knocked softly on the door. A rustling was heard from inside and about twenty seconds later the door opened to reveal Diane West, the witness who had refused to talk.

“I already told you I have nothing to say to the police!” she shouted and went to slam the door shut. Before she could, Heimlich shoved his foot in the way.

“If you’ll pardon the intrusion Ms. West, we just wanted to thank you for coming down today,” he said coyly producing a bottle from underneath his coat, “with this fine bottle of wine. Would you care to have a glass with us?”

Ms. West glanced out at the wine and looked the men over. She smiled, “Well I guess one glass wouldn’t hurt,” she said, “why don’t you come in?”

A half hour later the bottle was near empty and Heimlich was playfully twirling Diane West’s hair as she smiled. “Now Diane,” he sweetly said to her, “this here is Eric Marvington. The poor boy lost both of his parents in that awful fire across the way. We’re just trying to get him some justice, and you don’t know how much it would mean to him to know that you helped give him that justice.”

Aug-5-2009 19:15

She nodded, “Well… I didn’t want to say anything, because I didn’t get a good enough look at him, but…” she started.

Heimlich smiled at her, “Diane, anything you can tell us will be helpful. We will be so grateful.”

She smiled back at him, “I thought I saw Tommy Schwartz, a neighborhood hoodlum, speeding away in his car right before the fire started. Although I could be mistaken…”

Heim shook his head, “Amazing Diane.” He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek as she giggled, “We can’t thank you enough.”

As they left the apartment Eric turned towards Heimlich, “What on earth was that? You got her to talk when the police couldn’t!” he asked.

Heimlich laughed, “That, my friend, is called being charming. Certain witnesses are more susceptible to a charming personality, and are willing to give information up more easily. You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.”

As they got back into the car, Eric asked, “Where are we going now?”

Heim smiled as he stepped on the ignition, “You’re about to see what happens when you use vinegar instead of honey.”

Minutes later they were in front of a large run-down apartment. Heimlich leaped out of the car and Eric followed. They came to a door with the name “T. Schwartz” on it. “So how are we going to…” Eric started before Heimlich drew a handgun, kicked the door open, and ran in.

“What the hell?!” Tommy yelled as Heim pounced on him. They struggled for about three seconds before Heimlich had one arm wrapped around Tommy’s head pressing it into the kitchen counter and the other keeping a tight hold on his wrist and holding his arm about a foot in front of him.

Aug-5-2009 19:15

“Here’s the deal Tommy,” Heim barked at him, “and you do not want to find out what happens otherwise! You’re going to tell me who was behind what happened to the Marvington’s, you’re going to tell me what your role in this was, and you’re going to do this in the next three seconds, or I’m breaking a finger.” With this Heim grabbed hold of Tommy’s index finger and began bending back.

“Agh! I don’t know what you’re talking about! I wasn’t even there!” he screamed. One second later an audible snap was heard and Tommy let out a bloodcurdling scream. “Argh! I told you I don’t know anything!”

Heim grabbed hold of his middle finger and started to bend, “I can play this game all day Tommy!” he shouted.

“Alright!” Tommy screamed, “Alright I’ll talk!”

“Talk faster!” Heim ordered as he kept bending. A second later another snap was heard. Tommy let out another scream. In a flash Heim had released his hand and grabbed a cleaver off the counter. “Eric! Hold his arm down!”

“No! No!” he screamed, “Jimmy Piston! It was Jimmy Piston! He wanted revenge on Officer Marvington for busting up the smuggling ring! I swear I was just the driver! Please don’t hurt me anymore!” Heim threw the cleaver to the ground and smacked Tommy across the face, knocking him out.

“Cuff him Eric,” he calmly ordered, “he’ll make a deal down at the station and give you Piston. That’s a nice big fish for you. Now was that so hard?”

****

“With Schwartz’s testimony, Piston went in for a life sentence. About a month after all was said and done I receive an envelope containing the reward money from my parents’ murder and a note from Heim that said, ‘Seed money for Marvington Associates. It’s their reward money, so I think it’s only fair to name it after them, and I think you’d make a damn fine detective.” Eric smiled as if recalling a favorite memory, “I quit the force a week later and got my PI license. Heim came to work with me and we created one of the best agencies in the ci