***

Early Warning.



The thing that first caught her attention was the fact that the office door was wide open , she had it in plain view as she rounded the corner of the hallway after she topped the first landing of the stairwell. It was then that Pinky LaRue’s instincts kicked in and she knew that something was indeed wrong. She quickened her step and as she drew closer to the open office doorway she removed the snub nosed .38 revolver that Hammond Rogue had given her some time ago, she pulled it up towards her shoulder as she cautiously put her first foot over the threshold, on the floor behind his desk lay Hammond Rogue, Pinky knew to keep her guard up as she slowly made her way to his side, he was still alive and breathing although he’d been badly beaten, she knew that there had to have been a few people involved in this beating, for even with two or three men, Hammond Rogue was a formidable fighter and could take care of himself in any back alley of the city. When she was satisfied that she was alone she returned the .38 to her purse and knelt down beside Hammond Rogue.
“Hammy?.. Baby can you hear me?”
Slowly he stirred and struggled to his feet. Pinky all the while with her arms wrapped tightly around him offering assistance. She helped him to his chair.
“Hammy? Who did this to you baby?”
He rubbed the back of his neck slowly and tried to concentrate.
“ Four guys I think Pink, said they were delivering a message, someone wanted me to back off of the Honey Primmer case, someone wants it to disappear.. Quietly.”
“Did you ever see any of them before?” she enquired.
“Two I think hang out at the barter street saloon, don’t recall seeing the other two anywhere before, I think that they must be new talent. Well, at least I know where to look for them.”
She gave him a serious look, and ran her hands slowly across his face.
“Hammy no. C’mon let me take you home baby, let it rest for now.”
He pulled her up to him and leaned in to kiss her full on the lips, it was one of those kisses that made your toes curl. When he finished she stared up at him for what seemed like a full five minutes.
“No Pink, not now, I need you to come with me, we have some bush shaking to do, the snakes are nervous, and I want to see who crawls out of the weeds first. We have to go find these guys baby, I have a message of my own that I want delivered.
She hesitantly agreed, and together they straitened up the office before leaving for the Barter Street Saloon.

Counter offerings.



He immediately spotted two of the culprits sitting off at the corner of the bar, and he pointed them out to Pinky LaRue. She studied them carefully before turning to Hammond Rogue to express her concerns.
“Geez Hammy, I dunno Hun, they’re awfully big, are you sure that your up for this?”
“Just tell them what I told you to tell them and I’ll do the rest, but don’t get too close baby, okay?”
She reluctantly agreed and entered the Barter Street Saloon, she saw them and tried desperately to look casual as she moved in to deliver her message from her beloved Hammy.
“Hey you guys, some strange man just gave me fifty bucks to come in here and tell you that he’s waiting for you in the alley out back, something about seeing if you were ready for round number two?”
The two men looked at each other and then at the back door of the establishment, and pushed past Pinky LaRue as they made their way to the rear exit, pausing only momentarily before walking out the door to where Hammond Rogue was waiting. When they saw him they were surprised that he was upright and still walking.
“What? One beating wasn’t enough for you Rogue?”
They tried to rush him but this time he saw it coming, he slammed his massive fist into the liver of the first man causing his knees to buckle which he followed with a vicious uppercut, the second recklessly rushed forward and got kicked in the side of the knee and he fell immediately screaming in pain. Hammond Rogue grabbed him by the back of the hair and drug him to a trash can full of garbage.
“Ya see sweetheart its like this, I don’t know who sent you to kick my ass or whatever, but you do, so I’m going to keep this simple so even an idiot like you can understand. Your gonna deliver a message from me now, you tell whoever sent you that Hammond Rogue is coming for them, and when I find them, I’m gonna stuff my fist down their throats and rip their ribcage out through their mouth, I will find out who shot Honey Primmer and I will find out what is being covered up and who is doing it. And there is absolutely no place they will hide from me, you tell them that Cup cake. And if you and any of your pals want to dance with me again you know where to find me.”
He released him and let him fall face first into a heap of garbage, and paused to watch them both rolling around on the ground in pain, he turned and exited the alley to barter street where Pinky was waiting. they caught a cab back to Third and Plunder streets where her apartment was, and she took him upstairs, where he slowly took his clothes off and climbed into a hot Shower, letting the hot water soothe him, seconds later a naked Pinky LaRue joined him, but they soon decided that there wasn’t enough room in the small shower stall so they dried off and headed for her bed, Hammond Rogue tried his best but seeing his obvious discomfort Pinky took the reins.
“No Baby.. Lay still.. Let me do it.”
She slid her naked body up on top of him and slowly took him inside of her, her hips began to move up and down slowly on him, until neither of them could any longer contain themselves, minutes later she collapsed in an exhausted heap on top on him, and he lay there most of the night listening to the rain fall as he held her. His thoughts drifted back to Honey Primmer, regardless of who a person was or how they had chosen to live their lives, everyone deserved Justice. Even Honey Primmer.

Scratch.. © 2007.

Morning Watch





In the two and a half hours that he’d spent watching her that morning from outside of the Primmer home, it had occurred to Hammond Rougue, that perhaps Theodore Primmer should put a revolving door in the front of their house. From the time that he’d left for work that morning Honey primmer had sexually entertained all in all seven men that morning alone. And when she emerged from the house looking fresh as the morning rain he knew that she was a handful for any man. After she got into the yellow cab, he followed her downtown to the hair dressers, where she spent the better part of two hours, and then on foot she went to the Barter hotel where she went upstairs, and he cautiously followed. She went to the fifth floor and into room 309 at the end of the hall nearest the back of the hotel, needing to see who she was meeting with Hammond Rogue climbed out the hall window and as quietly as possible stepped onto the fire escape of room 309. Through the window he could clearly see Honey Primmer Laying naked on the bed with her legs spread apart, awaiting god only knew who.

It didn’t take long before he saw the form of a young black male, slowly working his tongue up her well toned naked thigh, upon reaching the magic spot, he buried his face into her hungrily licking and sucking her. A full five minutes passed before his hands pushed her legs even farther apart, he climbed on top of her and thrust his hips into hers, causing her to scream out in pleasure which made him even more excited, each thrust came faster and harder as he pumped harder the bed began to buckle and shake violently, as her legs grabbed him tighter pulling him into her even more. And when her Back arched to meet his final thrust, both of their bodies slowly lowered themselves back onto the mattress, where they lay together, until he got up and dressed to leave. She resigned herself to the bathroom, and when Honey Primmer left room 309 of the Barter hotel she looked as fresh and clean as when she went in. Now Hammond had to tell Theodore Primmer that his wife Honey was not only banging another man, she seemed to be banging half of the town.

Honey Hush.



When Pinky met him at the thirty third street diner, he could already feel it in his stomach, that rumbling sound that it makes whenever it was trying to tell him that it was hungry. He watched her walk over towards him turning heads every step of the way, she was wearing those tight stone washed blue jeans and a tee shirt that read: “Stone cold Bitch” on the front with no bra underneath. He tried not to notice when she bent down to kiss him on the cheek, but there they were. The twins.. Staring him right in the face, she sat down next to him and they ordered up lunch as the conversation turned from casual to business.
“So… Hammy. How many guys is ol horny Honey giving pony rides to?”
He looked at her smiling face from over the top of his water glass as he lifted it to his lips.
“Half of the town it looks like. I took some pictures at the house this morning, all in all, seven guys in two hours.”
He passed her some photographs.
“Tommy Kang?”
He nodded.
“Yep.. Pro quarterback for the Century City Titans, league champions all pro three years running, until the steroids controversy got him.”
She studied the Picture.
“The Boys gonna need more than steroids if he keeps on humpin Honey.”

The second picture that got passed between them was of a city councilman named Frederick Littles.
“He’s the guy that was investigating the upper east side real estate corruption, Lots of shady deals going on behind the scenes.”
She picked up the Picture.
“Yeah, I remember that, some kind of scam they were running where some rich guy was hiring enforcers to run the poor people out of river town, Somebody was torching the old buildings so the real estate guy could buy the property dirt cheap and build high rise condo’s there, the whole thing just kinda went away didn’t it?”
He put the pictures in an envelope, and as they ate, something began to creep around the back of his mind, and when he saw the police cars with their sirens blasting heading down the street he suddenly got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He and pinky exited the diner and made their way to the police cars, and when they saw the dead body of Honey Primmer laying in the alley Hammond Rogue and Pinky LaRue both knew that Honey was into some really bad shit, the kind of shit that has a habit of getting all over everyone around it. He put his arm around Pinky.
“C’mon Pink, we’d better go tell Theo that somebody just shot his wife.”

Scratch. © 2006

The case.



He watched him labor along the two levels of stairs that lead up to the double doors of the Rogue detective agency, He was a short pudgy fat man, with thinning hair along each side of his head which got thinner the closer you got to the top of his head. He studied each title on each door as he passed them down the narrow hallway stopping in front of the door that said Hammond Rogue and Associate’s detective at large. He entered into the door and stood looking over the top of his little round glasses blinking nervously at the husky black haired man in the black tee shirt and blue jeans.
“Excuse me? I’m Looking for Hammond Rogue.. The detective?”
He rose to his feet extending his hand warmly.
“Yes sir I’m Hammond Rogue.. Please sit down.”
They both sat down in opposite chairs, as the detective studied him from across the old cherry wood desk.
“So what can I do for you?”
“Mr. Rogue.. My name is Theodore Primmer we spoke on the phone yesterday morning and I told You that I needed your services and you said to come by this office so we could talk in person. Do you recall that?”
“Yes Mr. Primmer I do seem to recall having that conversation with you, something about your wife is missing or something along those lines wasn’t it?”
The little fat man blinked several times nervously.
“No Mr. Rogue I want you to investigate her activities, I believe that she may be cheating on me sexually with another fellow.”
“Do you have a picture of her Mr. Primmer?”
He passed a manila envelope over the acres of dust and unpaid bills laying on top of the desk.
“Her name is Honey .. Honey Primmer.”
He opened the envelope to see a breathtaking blonde in the picture looking back at him she was the stereo typical trophy wife. Big blue eyes, and with a whopper of a set of tits, no doubt the best that Primmer’s money could buy, and on top of it all she looked strangely familiar. The door behind Primmer opened up with a long legged brunette with a formidable body of her own walking past him to Rogue’s desk. She bent over to him speaking in a thick eastern accent. Her round rump was staring Primmer in the face causing him to squirm uncomfortably.
“They ain’t gonna extend your credit line till you pay some bills Hammy.”
He leaned around the voluptuous woman to look at Primmer.
“Theodore Primmer may I introduce one of my esteemed associates.. Miss Pinky LaRue.

Pinky's The Brains.



He was looking at those magnificent well tanned and toned legs, that seemed to travel all of the way up to Pinky’s armpits. He straitened his tie and wiped the small beads of perspiration from the top of his balding head.
All the while watching Pinky’s legs closely.
“So tell me Miss LaRue.” he asked her laughingly “Why do they call you Pinky?”
She stopped chewing on her gum and peered over the top of her sun glasses giving him an icy stare, followed by an uncomfortably momentary silence.
“I dunno Toots.. Why did Mama name you Theodore?”
His smile quickly faded.
“Yes… well.. Mr. Rogue, I will leave you to fill in miss… LaRue. all of the particulars are there in the envelope with the picture, addresses of where she works and every place that she frequents.. Please help me Mr. Rogue, I love my wife dearly but I won’t live a lie. I must know the truth.” he excuses himself and leaves the room, while Pinky looks through the envelope at the picture of Honey Primmer.
“So Hammy.. What’s the deal with ol Honey Suckles here?” She asked.
He turned to face her.
“That’s Honey Primmer. Theodore’s wife.”
She laughed out loud leaning back in her chair, with Hammond Rogue giving her a curious look.
“What’s so funny Pink?”
“This bimbo is married to that little tub?” she says jerking her thumb towards the door.
“Aw c’mon Pink. He’s a client.”
She stood up swinging her ass over to his desk in one flawless motion and sat down right in front of him, waving the envelope back and forth.
“Hammy.. Look here sweetie, I dunno what she is to him, but I know what she used to be, her real name is Gloria Munroe, she used to work the strip circuit under the name Honey Dew, then she moved on to giving jerk jobs in back room peep shows, before embarking on a lovely career in the porno films industry, where she adopted the name Honey Suckles.”
Now he was leaning back in his chair eyeing her suspiciously.
“And YOUR privy to this information HOW exactly?”
She puckered her lips and smiled at him slyly while bending over to look him square in the eye.
“That’s classified baby, but you can be certain that you’ll never see this ass getting naked on film.” she walked away giggling.
He studied the picture of Honey Primmer. Theodore said that he thought that his wife may be cheating on him.. Now Hammond Rogue was sure of it.

Scratch. © 2006

Full Circle



He stood there studying Martin Keatchum, pacing back and forth like a nervous cat, and before the words even came out of Willie Coopers mouth he already suspected the answer that he would get, and no amount of bullying or beatings was going to change them. They had Martin tied to a chair in the backroom of his own establishment, beating on him trying to obtain the whereabouts of Jack Macleod. Of course all that Marty would tell them of his dear friend is that Willie was going to meet him soon enough, and that only having four men with him wasn’t going to be enough to stop Jack from killing them all. Unknown to Willie and his cohorts Martins wife Esmeralda had already seen the strange men enter the store earlier and was already on her way to get Jack, and she’d ridden her animal to the point of exhaustion to reach him and rain. Jack was out and about at his usual early hour when he seen Esmeralda round the top of the hill, her animal on a dead run, he immediately recognized the smell of trouble. She related the entire thing to him, about how she’d seen the men ushering her husband into their store, and how the name of Willie Cooper immediately came to mind.
“You two had best stay here.” he told Rain and Esmeralda.
“Not a chance in hell Jack!, That’s my husband they have and we’re coming with you!”
Rain looked at her and nodded in agreement. He knew that he was playing against a stacked deck as soon as he looked in their eye’s.. he rested his hand on her shoulder for a moment as if to comfort her.
“Alright Esmeralda, take it easy. Rain? baby Girl, you do Jack a favor?”
She nodded to the affirmative trying to contain her excitement.
“Go and Round up two fresh animals from out back for you and Esmeralda while uncle Jack loads his Colts.”
She bolted out of the door and disappeared around the corner of the house, and before Jack and Esmeralda had barely enough time to step off of the front porch she had not two but three animals saddled up and waiting for them. Jack smiled at Esmeralda.
“She always likes going to Hells Bottom to visit you and Marty.”.
They all mounted up and began the trip back to town. Willie Cooper was waiting.

Willies Last Ride.



When they rode into Hell’s Bottom it was getting towards twelve Pm, Jack dismounted and instructed Esmeralda and Rain to find shelter somewhere, while he tended to Willie Cooper and his band of merry men.
He walked into the saloon and told Ed Carpenter to go and fetch Willie cooper from the Keatchum’s store, and to tell them that he would be waiting in the saloon for them. Ed walked into the store just as Willie was coming from the back room where they had Martin tied up. He did as instructed and Willie told his boys that they would be taking a break to go and have a drink. When they exited the store Ed Carpenter tended to a badly beaten Martin Keatchum.
“Don’t you worry Marty, they’re walking over to meet the devil right now!”
They entered the Saloon just past twelve thirty, only to find a hat and a shot glass full of whiskey sitting on a table in front of them, and immediately Willie knew that they’d been had.
“Alright boys, he drew us out in the open, now spread out and find him.”
the first man got cut down as soon as he stepped back out the door, the thunder of one of Jack’s navy colts ripped through the air as the man came flying back in through the swinging doors of the saloon. One down, four to go. they scattered out drawing their weapons looking for any sign of Jack, Willie motioned for his three remaining men to move through the door, and none of them would budge two were staring down at the dead body of their friend until finally the third man stepped forward.
“We ain’t dying for you Willie. You want this man dead? Kill him yourself.”
as they walked out into the street they told Jack that it was between him and Willie now and that they just wanted to go home, they rode from Hells Bottom unharmed. Willie Cooper was inching his way towards the back door of the Saloon when he heard Jacks Voice echo through the empty Saloon.
“It’s a funny thing Willie, about death I mean. when you know that your going to die, without a doubt, the end is a breath away, knowing and waiting for that last second to come, is a scary thing, waiting for death is actually worse than dying don’t you think?”
“I figured you would try to take me alive Jack, bring the bad man in alive to stand trial. Ain’t that how it works?” he turned to the small hallway that lead to the back door to find Longshadow Jack waiting patiently.
“Do not flatter yourself Willie boy. I have no intention of taking you in alive.”
The last second of Willie Coopers life arrives with Jack’s Navy Colts coming alive to deliver their gift to him, the plum of smoke waffling through the air as the bullet rips through Willie Coopers skull striking him dead. He returned to the front of the saloon to find his baby girl Rain standing there alone, her innocent eyes searching his as if to say “What now uncle Jack?”
He smiled and pulled his little girl up to him to protect her from the cold.
“Its cold here Rain, cold and hard, what do you say we go someplace warm?”
She looked up at him, her eyes still full of wonder.
“Home uncle Jack?”
“Yeah baby girl.. Home.”

Scratch © 2006