Death In Little Norway

"Little Norway" was a bar in the section of Philadelphia peopled by Russians and Eastern Europeans...Not a part of the city that I traveled in as a youth or even now...
But I found myself standing in the bar with Lt. Sissy Van Buren, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez and Detective  Tyriq Pile.....

Me? I'm Assistant District Attorney, Keith Porterhouse Wallace, my jurisdiction, Homicide, Special Victims Unit and Major Crimes..

The reason I was here  was, This had a potential to be a major case , a very semi-important man, Arkady Notchios was lying facedown on the bar room floor....Dead as a doorknob....

Arkady was a leading manufacturer and salesmen of toilets and plumbing fixtures... His business had begun close to ten years before and had bloomed over the past decade.  He was a millionaire many times over... He sold toilets to a lot of the hotels and motels in the city and plumbing fixtures to the top craftsmen...

So what was he doing in a bust out joint like "Little Norway", I reasoned???

"What you got Chica?" asked Lt. Sissy Van Buren to Detective Carlotta Rodriguez ,who had turned the body over and was looking at him....

"He's been poisoned....Look at how his skin has changed color to an almost bluish hue.....I've seen this before....Another case I had a couple of years ago..." she said.

"You're absolutely right" said the Coroner, Doc Gibbons....

"This is poison...I won't bore you or confuse you by trying to pronounce it...but it was primarily used by Eastern Europeans...It's rare here, been banned for nearly two decades..." he continued...

"You'll know for sure after a full autoposy right?" I asked , smiling....Doc Gibbons looked at me like I was crazy....

"But of course Mr. Wallace." he said....Sissy and Carlotta smiled...

I had to laugh myself...But I wanted to be sure....

"Okay...Doc, you ready to release the body?" I asked.

''I should be asking either you or Sissy that, shouldn't I?" he quipped.

Again, I laughed...He was right..

"Release the body....You uniforms over there...Block the door, let the M.E. folks move the body." she said.

Just then Detective Tyriq Pile walked in...

"What'cha got?" asked Sissy...

"Plenty Lou....Apparently his younger brother owns this place...His name is Nikolai...They were supposed to meet here tonight...But the brother never arrived and we can't locate him......We interviewed a number of patrons... He met with another man who was here...They had a few drinks and the other man got up and left... Minutes after he left, our boy keeled over dead." he said.

"I sure hope this place has video cameras." I said...

"Keith...it's not that much of a bust out joint...It has flat screen TV's all over the place and cable " said Carlotta..

I smiled at the sound of her voice....

"Get the tape from tonight..." I said softly...

Sissy and Detective Pile and Doc Gibbons gave me a side eye....I ignored them...I guess they knew their work...

II-

They loaded his body into the M.E.'s van and it pulled off...Detective Pile shook his head...

"Damn man, that's a cryin shame... I bought two toilets for my place from him just last month....They were the electronic kind that flushed when you moved.." he explained..

We all looked at him...

"What?" he said.

"Too much information." said Sissy with a smile...Carlotta laughed too...I just smiled and shook my head.

Sissy got in her car and pulled off, So Did Detective Pile and most of the undercovers...
The crowd was disapating...Carlotta and I were still standing outside of the bar...

I pulled her to me and began kissing her passionately....She eased out of our embrace..

''What was that for?" she asked..

"I just needed that...Haven't seen you in a few days." I exclaimed..

"Keith ,we got to watch the PDA....We are in broad daylight." she said.

''Who knows us in this part of town?" I asked.

"You never know who is watching or talking....I don't want to wind up in the gossip column Mr. ADA." she said.

"Yeah girl, you're right." I said.

She frowned a bit...

"Don't be sad....I'm stoppin by your place tonight okay?" she said.

"Okay." I said...Then she grabbed me and kissed me long and hard..

"Hey what did you just say?" I exclaimed...

"Do you really listen to what I say?" She joked and then winked at me...

III-

The next day I sat in my office...I was leafing over some case files...Actually ,I was daydreaming about my night with  Detective Carlotta Rodriguez when Detective Pile came in my office...

She had definitely made her presence known the night before...but I really should have been concentrating on the murder case at large...Maybe she was right and I should cool it...She was becoming bad for my concentration...But I didn't care at this point.

He brought us both a tumbler of coffee....

''What's on your mind?" I asked.

"I did some background research on our boy from last night." he said between gulps of coffee..

''Yeah and?" I asked.

"It appears this guy did more than just sell toilets and plumbing fixtures." he said.

"Oh really..what else did he sell?" I asked.

"Women." said Detective Pile..

''Women?" I asked.

"Yeah...It appears our boy and his brother are reputed to be major traffickers in Eastern European and Russian prostitutes....The ring was run out of that bar...I got it from one of my friends in the FBI."said Detective Pile...

My little murder case had now become something larger than even I had first suspected!

(To Be Continued..)