Ken Matthews The Unfinished Business

By Lemore Allen II

Ken Matthews is the average Social worker who is also a retired Police Officer, trying to deal with the ghost from his past by putting them completely out of his head. He had been successful at doing exactly that, until the day that one of those ghost walked into his office and asked for his help.

He had no idea that by helping her and her family with a problem they had, he would have to deal with a ghost that he didn't know existed much less, that he created.

Over the next several months, Ken is going to have to deal with the consequences of his past actions, while he tries to make things better for a woman, from his, that asked for his help but more importantly, he is going to be reminded of the man that he was and needs to be again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Firebrand Publishing
• Release date: Nov 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781941907443

Book preview

Ken Matthews

The Unfinished Business

Lemore Allen II

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Firebrand Publishing

Copyright © 2021 by Lemore Allen II

All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form on by an electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

ISBN 978-1-941907-43-6 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-941907-44-3 (eBook)

Published by Firebrand Publishing

Contents

Praise For Lemore Allen II

1. That Night

2. An Old Flame

3. Something Familiar

4. Remember the time when...

5. A Promise Made

6. I Remember This Game

7. That Night at the Diner

8. New Business

9. This is the End

About The Author

Also By Lemore Allen II

Praise For Lemore Allen II

Lemore Allen II has given the world an exciting story that will keep you reading until the last page.

Chapter one

That Night

It was a warm summer night in 2004 and Officer Ken Matthews was on patrol in the City of Birmingham, at the end of a long, hot shift. As he headed back to the precinct to turn in beat car 29 and call it a night, the dispatcher started barking over the radio, All units, there is a robbery in progress at Tommy’s Dinner, 6975 1st Avenue, two-nine, thirty. Head that way. Officer Matthews turns on his lights and sirens, making a beeline to the diner.

He responds, Two-nine, 10-4, then thinks to himself, Damn it, I just left there, as the car speeds the 5 blocks to the location.

Matthews is the first to arrive, as he turns his lights and sirens off.

Radio I’m on the scene. Suspect is still in the building, hold all traffic, click. She replies, 10-4, then the radio goes silent.

The suspect is so busy robbing the diner that he doesn’t notice Officer Matthews walk in the door… with his weapon out.

Drop your weapon!

The suspect turns and points his gun at Officer Matthews. Fuck you… drop yo’ shit bitch!

The hammer goes back on the .38 caliber revolver that the robber is holding. Officer Matthews screams, Listen! You ain’t ready to die and I don’t want to kill you, so put the damn gun down!

A brief silence fills the air, then the suspect speaks, Man fuck you, I’ma walk out dis' bitch and you ain’t gonna do shit.

This is not how Officer Matthews wanted this to start and it damn sure is not how he wants it to end. To Officer Matthews, it felt like time was slowly passing, at least at this moment and then… all hell breaks loose. The cook knocks over a pot, shots are fired, screams ring out and Officer Matthews is hit twice. Once in the chest and once in the shoulder. The suspect is hit twice in the chest by Matthews’s .45 caliber service weapon. Matthews is wearing his bullet resistant vest and while the impact to his chest and the searing pain in his shoulder are not life threatening, they knock the fight out of him. The suspect is not that lucky; he falls to his knees, hits the floor and takes his last breath. Matthews doubles over in pain, but he will live.

Matthews clicks on his hand-held radio, Two-nine… shots fired… start the paramedics… and a supervisor…I’ve been shot. Officer Matthews falls to his knees and the last thing that he hears, just before he passes out, are the sirens of the emergency vehicles as they get closer to the diner and the dispatcher screaming into the radio, Two-nine, help is coming… two-nine respond… two-nine, two-nine, then lights out.

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Ken wakes up from this nightmare in a puddle of sweat, looks over at the clock and it is 2:30 in the morning. It has been ten years since that night. Occasionally, he has dreams about it, but this time was the most vivid and the worst in a long time.

He gets out of bed and walks to the bathroom, as he thinks to himself, "That was stupid, I should have waited for back up." Click.

The bathroom light comes on. He looks in the mirror and there he was. Now a man in his forties, the grey hair in his beard matches that on his head. He has just a few more wrinkles than he did last year, but all in all, not too bad looking.

It is almost three o’clock and I damn sure ain’t going back to sleep; he thinks to himself, as he washes his face. He looks in the mirror as his mind wanders back to that night. Could I’ve done something different? Could I’ve waited for backup and coordinated a tactical entry? Could I’ve…

It doesn’t matter what he thinks he could’ve done, that night will always be that night and nothing can ever change it. No sense in dwelling on it. Might as well do my workout. Ken thinks to himself as he turns out the bathroom light and goes back into his bedroom. After he works out and takes a quick shower, he gets ready for work.

It is a beautiful morning; the sun is shining, the birds are singing, it’s a cool 70 degrees and…. who are we kidding. It is 8 a.m. and not even the lukewarm coffee in his Louisiana Marines coffee cup is waking him up. As Ken is leaving his apartment, he thinks about his day. A lot has changed in the eleven years since that night… a lot.

His wife of fifteen years is now an Ex, his two small sons are now two large teenagers, and he is no longer a patrol officer. Now he is a Social Worker with a very busy schedule. When he finally gets to his office and looks at his schedule, he sees he has an appointment every hour on the hour. Yes, it is a different line of work but he is still helping the same kind of people and it was a lot of work.

Settling down, he gets started with the first phone call of the day. The hours seem like minutes and when Ken looks up, it’s late in the morning and almost time for lunch. He was scrolling through his phone trying to figure out where he is going to eat when in walks a woman. A woman that he has not seen in nearly eight years. Smiley? she calls out.

That’s a name I haven’t heard in years. Smiley is the nickname that the people on his beat