Round and About

I sat in Chinese Bob's  enjoying some hot steamy cuisine about two days later ,when to my surprise...Detective Carlotta Rodriguez came in..saw me and came and sat down with me..

Oh my god she was fine... I thought to myself.. So round...so lovely..so curvaceous! Good Lord! I thought!

"You don't mind if I sit down do you?" she said.

"Are you kidding???...Uh..er...I-I-I mean , of course not.." I said.

''Excuse the way I look...I've been up all night."she said.

"There is no excuse for how good you look!" I found myself saying and then realized how corny and how obvious I must have sounded.

"Anyway...I've made some progress...Our killer got careless." she said.

"Oh?" I said...now just as intrigued with what she found as I was with how great she looked.

"We found a discarded condom in a wastebasket in our victim's kitchen and it's loaded with semen..." she said.

"Yeah, but that could've been a boyfriend....or anybody." I said...My legal training kicking in.

''Way ahead of you ADA...I talked to both Big Chicken and his main man Rollo Jones..
yesterday...They knew the last two victims...Not the first and they gave me a list of their boyfriends and most frequent customers...We hauled all of them in except one..and we got DNA samples from all of them.." she said.

"And?" I asked.

"None of them match this DNA." she said.

''Who's the one you didn't haul in?" I asked.

" A white guy named Haywood something or other...Not really a boyfriend, just a geek who frequented the two strip clubs these two women danced at... He'll turn up eventually..We left a message on his phone." she said.

"Still doesn't have to be our guy." I said.

"No...but I told you  that we did get  a bit of semen from our first victim...back in June...and it's a match for this!" she said excitedly....

My eyes lit up...

''Okay, so that links our boy to at least two of the three victims...Good work..." I said.

"All three of these women lived with in a seven block radius of each other, but from what I gathered from interviews with close friends, classmates and Big Chicken and Rollo...They didn't know each other..." she said.

"Both were strippers!" I said.

"Two of the three girls were, but they worked at different clubs and didn't travel in the same circles...My guess is our killer is somebody who also lives in the neighborhood and who somehow came into contact with all three women." she said.

''A pizza delivery boy or someone like that."I said.

"Yes.." she said ...Her eyes sparkling...

"You look so cute when you're excited about something." I said.

For a moment, she was dis-armed...She smiled a shy smile, then went back to her tough girl mode.

''Well anyway..I just wanted to keep you abreast of the case."she said.

"Thanks...Uh Hey..you hungry?  I can order you a platter?"

She wanted to say "No", but the aroma of the hot food was intoxicating...She gave in, smiled sheepishly and said- "Oh Alright."

I watched her eat.....So dainty..So refined for such a tough ,no nonsense detective...

"You handle those Chopsticks well." I said.

"An old boyfriend taught me." she said.

"Oh really?  " I said.

"Yeah..." she said.

I wanted to go further , but thought better of it.

"Look, you did good work...Take the rest of the day off...Get some rest." I said.

She looked up...

"Excuse me?" she said..

"I'll work it out with your Lieutenant! Go home, get some sleep" I said.

She looked at me in disbelief, then she smiled so sweetly, I damn near fainted..

"Thanks ADA." She said and was off....I watched her attentively as she walked out the door and to her car....

"My husband looks at me like that when he want me to love him longggg time." said Chinese Bob's wife.

I turned and looked at her, She winked....and walked away.

II-

A little while later I stopped over the Homicide Unit... Hadn't stopped by in awnile...I usually sent another attorney, but this was a major case...

Lt.Sissy Van Buren and I went back a ways...Her ex husband, Attorney Robert Foxworth and I had been in Law School together....When he told me he was dating a cop...I didn't imagine someone like Sissy...

When he introduced us..I was knocked out...She didn't look like a cop...She had just made Detective...She was gorgeous...Robert, a known ladies man had hit the jackpot...I remember telling him- "She's a keeper Rob." and he agreed...He married her, like he should have done....but Robert was wild back then..Didn't know a skirt , that he didn't feel he shouldn't take off of a woman...He messed it up!.. Had an affair with some lawyer from his firm named Cindy Waters....Messed it up....

Sissy moved on from that...She dated Millionaire ,Rollie Rollerson, also a known skirt chaser.and.he messed that up too.  I would have dated her myself if it wasn't for the fact that she had dated my friend Robert....So I never went there...

Sissy was in her office when I stopped by...I smiled...I brought her a tumbler of coffee.

"Keith, you remembered how I like it.." she said.

"Not hard...Extra cream, Extra sugar." I said.

"So to what do I owe this rare visit?" she asked ,looking at me slyly.

"I'm monitoring the case of the three women who have been found murdered in their homes..." I said.

She nodded...

"I definitely think we got a serial killer and I don't want to start a panic...I want to get this guy off the streets and quick." I said.

Sissy smiled-

''What else are you working Keith?" she asked.

"Well, we just closed two drug related homicides and we had a jumper the other day-" I said.

"Stop playing Keith...You've taken an interest in this case because of one of my detectives....." she said.

''Well Detective Tyriq Pile is very good.."I said. "Very thorough young man...You said you needed some crack investigators, so I sent you some." I said.

"Detective Pile is a very good investigator, but Detective Pile isn't the lead detective and he doesn't speak a lick of spanish." she said and winked at me.

"Oh.....you uh..know!" I said.

''Everybody knows..Every time you see her, you can't finish a sentence...and you've taken her to breakfast...bought her lunch and now You've GIVEN HER THE DAY OFF!! MY  LEAD DETECTIVE!" she said with a hint of a smile, shaking her head.

''Sorry if I over stepped my boundaries." I said.

"Keith, Keith...I'm just pulling your chain...We work for you essentially." she said.

"Wow ,I'm that obvious huh?" I said.

"Oh yeah." she said.

"Does she know how I feel about her? Carlotta, I mean?" I asked.

Sissy looked at me as if I was crazy....

"She's one of the best detectives I've got on my squad...If she doesn't know that you've  got a thing for her...I'd be losing faith in her deductive abilities by now." said Sissy.

"She say anything to you?" I asked.

"No....She wouldn't..." said Sissy.

"She got a man?" I asked.

"You're going to have to ask her that yourself...But Keith...a word of caution...You're crossing a lot of professional boundaries you know?" she said.

"Yeah, I know...But I mean, you're her direct supervisor..She reports to you or Tragg." I said.

"Just like a lawyer...You and my ex-husband are so alike." she laughed.

"I'm sorry Sissy, you're right...Maybe I just better back off." I said.

"Who you kiddin Keith ..You never back off of nothin..Especially not as wide as she's got your nose open..You could drive a mack truck up your nose. Just take it slow...be careful." said Sissy.

"You think I got a shot?" I asked.

Sissy was quiet for a moment, then she muttered..

"She'll kill me for saying this...but she did say she thought you were cute once." said Sissy..

"Yeah?" I said.

"It was a longgg time ago." said Sissy, laughing...

"You're all heart Sissy." I said.

She laughed....

"Just be careful Keith, tread lightly..." she said.

"Thanks Sissy, good to know I have a friend in this office." I said.

"You got a lot of love in this office Keith...You got us more hours when we needed it, You got me more manpower when I asked for it and you've helped our clearence and conviction rate become the best in all of C.I.D. (Criminal Investigation Division)" she said..You got a lot of love...That's why I'm telling you to be careful and take it easy." she said.

"Thanks again Sissy ." I said as I kissed her softly on her cheek and headed out the door..

She smiled  and sipped her coffee.

(To Be Continued...)