All the Kings Horses....

It would seem that this was just another day or afternoon in the big city for me, Keith Wallace, Assistant District Attorney....I oversee, Homicide, Major Crimes and The Special Victims Unit...  So a routine murder of a neighborhood drug dealer shouldn't warrant my arriving on the scene right?

Well normally it wouldn't except that this suspect is part of a group of young dealers that my office was targeting in a push to free up this neighborhood from drugs and violence and two of my favorite detectives, Lt. Sissy Van Buren and Detective Carlotta Rodriguez were on this case....Okay....I actually wanted to see Carlotta..I hadn't been with her in two weeks...She had been busying working and closing cases....Cases like this one...Violent Drug offenders...

I got out of my car and walked over to them...

"Hey ladies , who do we have here?" I said looking down at the bloody lifeless body of a young man who couldn't have been more than 22 years old...

"His name is Trayvon Jones....Better known as "Tray"...Head of a local crew that was vying for control of all of these corners around here." said Lt. Sissy Van Buren...

"Tray huh?   Isn't he the guy who was warring with our old friend, George Bailey?" I asked.

"The same" said Sissy..

"The kid we found last week in the early morning shootout? That 19 year old....Benny  Sessions...He worked for Tray, he took out two of George Bailey's people...I should say three...The ballistics check on his gun shows that he was more than likely the killer of Carlo Hunter, just a few nights before..." said Carlotta.

"You think George Bailey or his people did this?" I asked.

"That would've been my first guess...Only  old Georgie boy has been out of town or at least off the scene for close to three weeks....and from what I'm hearing on the streets...What was left of his crew either defected or has gone to ground.....No, this was somebody else.... Tray owned the corners around here...Even though he failed in his attempt on George, he effectively ran them out of the neighborhood...and none of the other independent crews had enough muscle to challenge him...This was somebody else..." said Carlotta.

Sissy Van Buren smiled ,looked at me and winked....

"This was the detective I was waiting for.." she beamed....

I had been waiting for her too, but for slightly different reasons...

"I've got some uniforms canvassing the neighborhood and running down leads.....We know all we are gonna know here Lou....He was hit with two in the head....Apparently ,he knew his killer, because you don't get that close without knowing the guy.." said Detective Pile....

"Naturally nobody saw anything did they?" asked Carlotta...Detective Pile smiled... "Naturally...They gotta live here...We just visit occasionally." he said.

"Well we've got to find somebody willing to talk to us...This foolishness has been going on all summer.." said Lt. Sissy Van Buren...

"Almost makes you long for the old days of Big Daddy, Wally Gator,Fly Ty, Cakeman Raven,Tone Capone, Beautiful Bobby Hunter and Joey Porter....They kept it quiet...they controlled all of the cats in this area and kind of had a gentleman's agreement not to step on each others toes...Now they're all dead or in jail and these young bucks have turned the neighborhood into the OK Corrall." I said.

"The problem is....Nobody stays "king" long enough to have any control...."Two Guns " Cassidy was the man on the streets for a hot minute and then he got killed...and George Bailey was almost the man and it looks like he got run out of the city.....Then Tray Jones looked like he was the man and now after only two weeks...poof, he's gone." said Carlotta.

"Yeah, damn shame....How many open murders you got behind this?" I asked.

"Just him and the two guys who worked for Tray who bought it in that shootout... I like George Bailey for both of those killings, but we don't have enough to charge him...No eyeball witnesses, no weapons and no sightings of him..." said Sissy Van Buren...

"The kid, Benny Sessions who bought it in that early morning shootout killed Carlo Hunter and two of George Bailey's people...So we just got this killing here on our plates." said Carlotta.

"Okay, well do what it is you do...You're murder po-leece..." I said with a fake country accent...Sissy and Detective Pile laughed...

"Release the body." said Detective Pile as people came with stretchers and lifted the now lifeless body of Tray up and put it in the M.E.'s wagon....I grabbed Carlotta's arm gently and pulled her to me.

"Uh Detective Rodriguez...Could I uh have a word in private?" I said.

"Huh? , oh.....uh yes." she said and we walked across the street, away from the crowd behind the restaraunt
into a vacant parking lot!

II-

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....ohhhhhh Carlottta, I missed you so much.." I said as we kissed each other passionately...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...I'm so sorry Keith, but I've been busy..." she said as she began kissing me like it was going out of style...

"Stop by and see me tonight if you can." I said in between kisses...

"I will...I'll bring an overnight bag." she said as we continued to kiss...

We broke our embrace....

Carlotta fixed her hair....

"We'd better go back before people start getting suspicious." she said.

"Yeah." I said.

"You okay?" she asked...

"Let me take a few deep breaths..." I said.   Carlotta smiled that sweet smile of hers....I smiled too.

We walked back...Carlotta was blushing...I was trying my best to look professional and non-chalant...Detective Pile and most of the uniforms and the M.E. was gone... Only Sissy and two uniforms remained..

Sissy was not concerned with us...She was grinning from ear to ear and talking to a well dressed, light skinned African-American man with freckles...

"The name is Clarke...Edward Clarke....Most people know me by my street name..."Eddie C." ...I'm a former player.... Like Chris Thompson and Basil Robinson, my former contemporaries...I quit this game before it quit me...heh heh heh....I volunteer down at the church with Deacon Basil and his neighborhood outreach program...I talk to a number of these knuckleheads and try very hard to get them off the streets....Some I get through to, Some I don't...." he said.

"So you think you can be of help to the Philadelphia P.D.?" asked Sissy, giggling like a school girl.  I must say I was intrigued..Sissy is a no nonsense, tough as nails Homicide Lieutenant...I'd never seen her like this before...

"I got a bachelors degree in public administration.....I work for the city, but like I said...I volunteer with Deacon Basil...I can get some of these guys to talk to me that won't talk to you .....Here's my card...I'll give you a call in a few days...I'll get one of these knuckas to tell you something." he said.

"Well thank you Eddie C." said Sissy..

"Nahh thank you Lieutenant...for caring about these boys and these streets...and for being such a fox...yowsa!" he said... "I was wondering if uh....well uh, you know...Like me and you could meet for dinner, some drinks and uh ruh, discuss this case and uh these streets?" he said...What a smooth operator, I thought.

"Wow!  you don't waste any time do you?" said Sissy.

"I don't have time to waste Lieutenant....I waste time and someone else will be going to dinner with you." he said.

"Wow...I like a guy that's direct." she said.

"Hopefully , you'll uh like other things about me." he laughed. He tipped his hat and walked away....

Carlotta giggled...Sissy looked at her...

"What?" she said.

"Nothin Boss Lady, but you're blushing." she said.   I said nothing, I just smiled...

"He was just so handsome....and so direct..no stutturing or beating around the bush...just came out and asked me directly what he wanted...No pretense...No B.S.  It's been so long since I've met a man like that....and his cologne!!! Girl...I was about to collapse, it smelled so fresh and good." she said. She noticed me smiling , then she reverted back to the Sissy I know and love...

"So..uh...how was your kiss?" she asked ,looking at Carlotta and me...

"What are you talking about?  I had a couple of things I wanted to ask Carlotta, I mean Detective Rodriguez about that I didn't want eveybody else hearing." I lied.

Carlotta laughed and shook her head...Sissy looked at me as though I was crazy.....Finally I said-

"It was the best damn kiss I've had in a long time."

Sissy smiled- "Awwwww that's cute.."

Carlotta blushed something terrible...

"Well uh...look, my detective has work to do....Do you need anything else ADA, besides the obvious?"she said , then smiled at me....

"No mam...Like I said...Do what you do?" I said...

"Carlotta...I'm going and start the car." she said.  "Keith...I'll keep you up to speed on the case." she said.

I pulled Carlotta to the side...

"Pull Mr. Eddie Clark's file." I said..

"Way ahead of you ADA....Don't want boss lady to walk into anything untoward." said Carlotta..

"I'll see you later on tonight right?" I asked.

"With an over-night bag." she said with a wink....

Loved that woman!

(To Be Continued...)