Jersey Sly

It was a scene that was becoming all too familiar.....Detectives Carlotta Rodriguez, Tyriq Pyle and James Barlow as well as myself, ADA Keith Wallace were all on the scene of yet another of these bizzaro murders..

This time it was well known Millionaire and Philantropist...Guy Caldwell Jr. , a man who didn't have an enemy in the world...or so it would seem... He gave money to the school district, to charities of all kinds and was always around for some worthy cause...Who could hate him enough to kill him???

This murder like the others had the exact same m.o.   A woman with a husky voice calls and recites a childrens rhyme and tells us the location of the body....

"This one is real high profile guys....The Mayor and everybody else is going to want action on this...I don't know if we are going to be able to contain it..." I said.

"I got some guys canvassing the neighborhood" said Detective Barlow...

"Nobody around here will talk to us....They didn't before." I said...

"You never know ADA...All you need is one person..." said Carlotta who put a reassuring hand on my shoulder...and nodded to Detective Barlow to carry on.

Detective Pyle came out of the building with a plastic evidence bag and in it was another whiskey shot glass

"The good stuff." he said.  Carlotta smiled at him....




"Puerto Rican Rum....What you know about that Tyriq?"

He smiled salaciously at Carlotta...

"I wasn't always a cop...I used to hang out." he said..."Wasn't always married either."

Carlotta and Tyriq high fived each other and laughed a conspiratorial laugh....

"Am I missing something here?" I laughed...

"You gotta try that rum chief  ..this aint any old rum...Expensive,like I said, the good stuff...It'll make you see life in a whole new way." laughed Detective Pyle...as he again slyly looked at Carlotta.

"School him Carlotta" he added...

"Yo, I was about to until the poet called up." she laughed and they both chuckled..

They were removing the body when the reporters showed up....They had questions of course...They wanted to know if this murder was related to the judges murder in this same apartment building just days before...
I of course told them that it was not...Then I refused to answer anymore questions and released the body...

I looked at Carlotta....

"Guess it's going to be a long night for you huh?" I said.

"Yeah...got work to do." she said...Then she pouted at me....and rubbed my arm...

"Don't worry....there will be time for me to show you that trick with the banana and drink some of that rum.."

I looked at her and remembered the vision of her sitting on my couch the other day in her panties and a white wife beater t-shirt, dissecting that banana like a surgeon with her mouth and I just shook my head...couldn't this killer take a break? Damn...what was the rush?

II-

The killer did take a break...For close to a week there were no more calls and no more rhymes..No nothing!
The case was appearing to grow cold...The Detectives in Homicide and Major Crimes had formed a secret task force and were working around the clock, running down every lead, talking to members of the victims families and friends, cross checking every single fact about their lives and trying to find a link...all to no avail.

The room had been rented by , get this- "Michelle Obama" using another Visa gift card, paid for by cash from a local Rite Aid...A woman with blond hair in a bun, wearing all black, black sunglasses and a black baseball cap made the purchase... and yet...who was she??? Did she have a partner?? She was smart...Most of the calls were made from right inside of our building and this last one was made from a telephone booth.
Naturally, there were no fingerprints when we fund the phone! Whoever she was...She was good!

Sissy called me to her office....I thought it related to the case....It didn't.

"Heyy Sissy...something break in the case?" I asked.

"No ,not yet...but we should be getting the DNA and Fingerprint evidence back soon....At least we'll know who our mysterious woman is....I called you here because I need a favor Keith...and I don't want my other detectives to know about it." she said.

"Anything for you Sissy, what is it?" I said.

"Awwww, you are so sweet...you don't even know what it is...Chica is sure a lucky woman." she said.

"This concerns Eddie C. doesn't it?  He's in trouble isn't he?" I asked.

"Yes he is....When we went to Vegas for Christmas...I found that he is a degenerate gambler...He gambled away most of our trip money....That's why we argued so much....When we got back here....Chris and Chess banned him from their crap game...So did Stephen Bristol, but he found one...A high stakes card game run by Jersey Sly...You know him?" she asked.

"Do I?  I've been tryin to put that clown away for years.." I said.

"Eddie is in to Jersey Sly for 250G's....He's a fool...I know...I always meet up with bad guys...good in bed, but not much good elsewhere....but I can't let Jersey Sly and his leg breaker, BoJack kill Eddie...I can't...I'm going to do him this favor and then cut him loose." she said.

"Sissy...Sissy...look...I'm going to use some other detectives and get this guy...We got to wire Eddie C. and Get Jersey Sly to actually talk about extortion or physical harm if he doesn't pay up...We get that on tape...and we got Sly and Bojack...but here's what I want you to do....I want you to give Eddie C. another chance." I said.

"What?" she said.

"He's a good dude...He's flawed, but who isn't...Everybody makes mistakes Sissy...Sometimes people need a break....I think he really loves you...From what I've heard him say...Give him a break...Sometimes people have to hit rock bottom before they see a need to rise to the top..He did it before... He can do it again." I said.

"He told you he loved me?" she asked...looking like a vulnerable school girl and not the tough as nails Lieutenant of Homicide and Major Crimes Units.

"Yeah once...I should have let him be the one to tell you that." I said.

Sissy looked at me and smiled.....

"Wow, when did you get so wise...Keith?  I tell you, I missed out on two great guys...You and Kevin Morris..Sepia and Chica are so lucky to have such sterling men in their lives." she said and she began to cry..

I held her...

"It's okay Sissy...it's okay....Come on...we got a rat to flush out!" I said.

III-

Sylvester "Jersey Sly" Connors was a psychopath...a big time gambler and loan shark who ran a high stakes and illegal card game that attracted high line playas....Unlike Chris and Chess and Stephen Bristol's games where there was no violence and basically good times...This game was for huge amounts of money and losing and failure to pay could and allegedly did result in sudden death! At least three people had vanished,never to be seen again who played and did not pay.

Chris and Chess and Stephen Bristol only allowed playas who had the money and could pay into their games  while Jersey Sly ran a loan sharking scam through his games...He had "juice" on the streets in Philly and South Jersey.....Authorities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey had been trying to shut Jersey Sly down for years!!!!No one would testify against him....That's how good and murderous his partner Bojack was at making people disappear or suddenly change their minds.

I had our guys fitting a wire on Eddie C.  We placed the wire in a place on him where no straight man would be likely to look!! (I learned this from Kevin Morris) and the wire we were using was high powered enough to get perfect sound...)  I had a small but powerful video cam in the bar where they were to meet and I gave Eddie , 10 G's ,just to make it look good.

"Remember Eddie...You gotta get them talking about extortion and possible physical harm if you don't pay up...but play it cool." I said. I took Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor with me...He was temporarily assigned to Special Investigations and Detective Sgt. Danny Ho of Robbery -Homicide.

"I will man...and Keith...I appreciate this..I swear I do...And tell Sissy..I'm sorry and I'm gonna make it up to her....I love her..I really do...She's the best thing that ever happened to me...." he said.

"Okay...Okay..Eddie...Eddie, get ahold of yourself...you can tell her that yourself....It's showtime...I'll be in the men's room....I've got two detectives sitting in the bar...." I said.

''Who? I don't see Tyriq or Jimmy or Carlotta" he said.

"They're not on this case...They're working on something else..." I said.


Eddie C. sat at the bar...He was drinking to my surprise...some Puerto Rican Rum...It had the same smell as the kind on the glass the suspect in my multiple homicide case was drinking...Within minutes..Jersey Sly and his leg breaker, Bojack appeared at the bar..

''What'cha drinkin Sly?" said Eddie cool as a cucumber..

"A Corona for me...Bojack aint drinkin....You got my dough?" he said.

"Well...now see..there is a story here.."said Eddie..

"Aint no story I wanna hear except you got 250G's right here, right now.." he said.

"Relax Sly...here is some dough...." said Eddie and he peeled off 10G's, slipped it in an envelope and passed it to Bojack, who counted it..

"It's light boss, 340G's light..heh, heh,heh..." he said.

"Heyyyy hold up...That's 10 G's in good faith... I 'm good for the rest...but I only owe you 250G's...What's Bo talkin bout...340G's light?"said Eddie.

"Bo has always been bad at math...but he aint wrong this time....That's how much you owe me after the interest is paid..heh ,heh, heh..." said Jersey Sly...

"Whoa man...Hold up...I can barely afford the 240...Now I'm tryin to raise the money but.." said Eddie.

"Well raise 340G's then...Cause if you don't...It uh could seriously effect your future health." said Jersey Sly.

"Nah...I don't think I can do that..."said Eddie C. cool as a cucumber.

"What? " said Jersey Sly...

"I don't think I'm going to do that...I mean I was gonna give you the 240 in increments but ah.." said Eddie.

"Nah partner...There was another guy like you...Tryin to make a deal....Ever hear of Moe Peters?" said
Jersey Sly..

"No ,should I?" asked Eddie C.

"He tried to get funny with the money....Me and Bo put two hot ones in his dome, buried him out on the Atlantic City freeway....So everytime you drive to AC, you are drivin over his grave...And there are others...In the ocean, in Philly in the sewers...You name it. I don't play games. You? you don't pay me my cash, we gonna drop you in the ocean." he said.

"So if I don't pay up, you're going to kill me right?" Eddie asked.

"Just as sure as you sittin here boss..We done it before...We'll do it again." sneered BoJack.

"Well uh, I can't do business with you then." said Eddie.

"WHAT??? WHY YOUUU!" screamed Jersey Sly....

Just then, I came out of the restroom with my .38 drawn...My two plainclothes detectives stood up...

"Drop em Sly...it's a wrap !!" I said...

"You set me up!!!! ,You rat you!" said Jersey Sly and he pulled out a .45

Detective Sgt. Danny Ho yelled -"Gun"

Duke fired  two shots...That's all he needed..Jersey Sly was hit in the head and in the back and fell to the floor , dead...Bojack fired three shots and ran for the door..I fired and Duke and Danny Ho fired and Bojack got hit multiple times in the side and the chest and fell through the bar's plate glass front window into the street...

"ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH...I DON'T BELIEVE ITTTTT..arghhhhhhhhh...I"ve been shottttt!" he screamed as he fell into the street and died!

Patrons screamed and ran out of the bar .A crowd gathered around and more police showed up.....I had no idea that these two would opt to shoot it out...This was supposed to be a clean bust!

I looked at Eddie C.

''Well, looks like your debt is clear."I replied dryly...

"Damn man..I didn't know there was gonna be no gunplay." he said ,visibly shook.

"It wasn't supposed to be....Those two crazy guys turned it into a shootout.." I said.

I looked at Duke Baylor and Danny Ho.

"Good work Guys." I said.

"Thanks ADA.." said Duke....

"Take off  Duke.I'll make the report." said Detective Sgt. Danny Ho.

"Come on Eddie, let's get you out of here." I said...and just then, I looked up....and into the face of evil!!!

It was her!! The blond woman from the photos...The one who made all of the phone calls with the rum...She
got up from the bar, pulled her cap down ,put on her sunglasses and exited quietly....but I saw her face fully this time...I know her!!! I thought...Could it be her? After all these years??  Oh My God...

I ran out into the street  looking for the woman and just like that....Nothing!!!....She was gone!!! I was certain it was her....!!!! It was as though she was a ghost!

"Somethin wrong counselor? You look like you just seen a ghost.." asked Eddie C.

I just stood out in the street....

"I think I did Eddie. I think I just did!" I said.

(DEFINITELY TO BE CONTINUED....)