Band Of Gold

It was midnight...Usually not an hour that I, Assistant District Attorney ,Keith Porterhouse Wallace would normally be working...In fact...I had been at a Sixers Game at the Wells Fargo Center with Attorney Robert Foxworth, my good friend and his assistant, Chance Howard...Kind of like a boys night out...When I got a call that a wealthy African-American socialite had been found dead in a tony Center City hotel room...

The game had long been over..and we were just knocking back some beers and wings and talking about Basketball when I got the call....I excused myself and got in my car and rushed to the scene....The first detective I saw was the present love of my life, apple of my eye, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez...This was a murder, yes...and a serious matter, but I was secretly glad that she was the primary.....

I wondered how I could think of that at a time like this... never the less..I decided to at least pretend to be professional.

''What have you got Detective Rodriguez?" I said as I waded past uniformed policemen........

"Her name is Mary Talbot...She was discovered by the maid." she said.

"Maid...what was she doing in a hotel room?? She lives here in Philly...." I said.

"She wasn't staying here...This room was registered to Rollie Rollerson." she said.

"Rollie Rollerson?? He lives here too." I said.

"It was a ruse..ADA, Rollerson isn't in town...He and his fiance ,Portia Collins are in L.A." said Detective Tyriq Pile..

"In Los Angelas?" I asked.

"Yeah...They were at the BET Honors....It's been in the papers... The guy at the desk said that a woman in a scarf and dark glasses paid cash...Said she worked for Rollie Rollerson and to book the room in his name." he said.

"Well, let's get a look at some film footage." I said.

"Not going to happen Keith...Somebody knocked out the video cameras....Two or three hours of footage is missing." came the voice of Lt. Sissy Van Buren who walked in with Detective Jimmy Barlow...

"What??? Wow...We got a sophisticated one here..." I said.

"Look what I found!!!  " said Detective  Jimmy Barlow...

It was a set of wedding bands.....

Sissy and Carlotta looked at the rings.....

"Nice...These are pure gold...nothing fake here....I wonder what this is about?..." said Carlotta...

"Look at the initials on the bands..R.R." said Detective Tyriq Pile...

Sissy had a peculiar look on her face...Like she'd seen a ghost...

"Oh My God....Noooooo.." she kind of whispered.

"You alright Sissy?" I asked.

"Uhhh yeah...yeah , I'm...I'm ,I'm alright.." she said.

Carlotta called a couple of uniforms and  said- ''Cut her down"...They did and she examined the body....she was wearing latex gloves.....

"She's been strangled...but something is strange about the look on her face...and it's a bluish saliva on the side of her mouth." she said.

" This coffee cup is half full.." said Sissy....She still had a strange look on her face again..Like she'd seen a ghost..

"Sissy?...Sissy? You alright baby?? " I asked.

"Uh...yeah...Uh no...I'm not." she said.

''What is it? Something about this case seem familiar, you see a pattern?" I asked.

"No...No... nothing familiar..it's just...it's just ...this job never gets easier." she said and walked away.

I thought her saying all of that seemed peculiar...So did Carlotta...She looked at me, but I didn't say anything.

Sissy looked as pale as a ghost!

II-

The EMT guys came and removed the body....Detective Tyriq Pile, Detective Jimmy Barlow and several other detectives and uniformed police began a door to door search of the hotel, questioning everybody...

"Well we won't know anything until Doc Gibbons does an autopsy." said Sissy..

''Wow..Seems like we have been having a rash of weird cases lately haven't we?" said Carlotta...

Sissy said nothing...

I pulled her to the side ...

''Sissy what's wrong?" I asked...

"Nothing..." she said.

"You' re as bad a liar as you say that I am..You can't fool me." I said.

"I'm okay Keith.." she said sounding surprisingly exasperated.

"When you feel like talking about it...I'll listen." I said. "You know my number."

She smiled at me..She rubbed my arm  gently.

"Okay...we've done all we can do here...Let's go home, get some sleep...I'll see you guys in the morning ." she said  and headed for her car...She turned to me and whispered..."I'm sorry for kind of snapping at you...I-I-I just don't feel like myself...." she said.   I had never seen Sissy like this before.

Carlotta walked over to me...

"What's wrong with Boss Lady?" she asked...

"I don't know..she wouldn't tell me.." I said.

"She wasn't herself tonight...Maybe she'll tell me in the morning." said Carlotta....

I turned and looked at her..She always looked good and smelled good despite what she did...investigate homicides...I hadn't seen her in awhile, despite talking to her by phone every day....

"I guess you're going to your place tonight?" I said.

Carlotta looked at me and smiled...

"If you want me to come and stay with you, just ask." she said.

"Okay...I'm askin." I said with a smile.

"I'll be by after I finish up here with Tyriq and Jimmy." she said and kissed me on the cheek.

III-

Carlotta was true to her word...She stopped by my loft an hour later with an over night bag....We lie across the bed just talking..

"What is the deal with Boss lady and Rollie Rollerson?" she asked.

"After her divorce, she and Rollie were an uh item...Like you and me." I said.

''Oh that's what we are huh? An item!" she said with a laugh.

"Yes indeed!" I laughed and kissed her ,slow and long..

"I knew they were an item...I can tell by how irritated she gets whenever his name comes up...Remember when we raided that bar in Little Norway and he was in there with the prostitutes?" she said.

"Yeah,I remember and the time when Kevin Morris helped you and Sissy nab those two killers who were killing everybody in that investment group that Rollie was involved in...She was pretty angry then too." I said.

"Yeah...he must have done a number on her..." said Carlotta.

"It's a shame...My friend, Robert Foxworth really hurt her when they were married...He was a womanizer then...and then she gets involved with Rollerson and he was no better." I said.

"I feel for Boss lady, but at least she found somebody for her...Eddie is a good guy." said Carlotta..

I kissed her again, slow and began to rub her breasts....

"I'm a good guy too." I said..

"Yes, I know...You're a horny guy too." she said and winked...

"You make me that way." I whispered in her ear...She giggled...

I kissed her and rolled over on her....I eased her panties down and slowly entered into her...She moaned softly as I slowly, yet deliberately moved inside of her and out of her....We continued to kiss long and slowly and make slow, easy , yet sweet love well into the night...and early into the morning...

When we both came, it was intense...

"Ouuuuuuuuu...baby...that was just what I needed.." said Carlotta..

"Just what I needed too...It's been a week and two days." I said.

''You count the days?" she asked laughing.

"Yes I do...and the hours too." I said.

"Go to sleep silly" she said laughing.

Carlotta and I went to sleep in each others arms..

IV-

The next Morning, Carlotta and I, driving our own cars showed up at yet another murder scene... Detectives Tyriq Pile, and Jimmy Barlow were already at the scene as was Lt.Sissy Van Buren...

"Who's the primary?" I asked..

"Duke" she said. She wasn't her usual joking self...She made no smart remarks about Carlotta and I driving our own cars ,when she knew that we had spent the night together....She just stared as Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor had other detectives and uniformed policemen do a house to house search and had CSI people canvas the scene...

Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor was a good investigator....and like Carlotta, thorough...I was glad to have him back on my squad. He recovered a couple of gold wedding bands..

"Keith, check it out....I read Carlotta's report from last night....She found two...and I found two at this scene...look at the initials.."R.R." and like her crime scene...I found a half drank cup of coffee..." he said.

"Who is the victim?" I asked.

"Her name is Sondra...Sondra "Cookie" Clark...Hot little number...Used to dance in rap videos for awhile, then she dated a couple of Football players and most recently she was on that reality show-"The Real Housewives of Philadelphia." he said.

''Why does this look like somebody is trying to frame Rollie Rollerson?" said Carlotta.

"Or send him a message" said Detective Jimmy Barlow...

''We know that he isn't in town...We know that he didn't rent that room in that hotel last night..." said Jimmy.

Detective Tyriq Pile walked over to us...

"What;cha got Tyriq?" I said.

''One woman said that she saw a  brown skinned woman, with dark shades on and a scarf and black leggings stop by this house late last night." he said.

"Take her downtown, show her some mug shots, see if it's anybody we know." said Carlotta..

''We're on it Top" he said.  "Top" was his pet name for Carlotta...She always laughed when he called her that...

I walked over to Sissy...

"Lieutenant...Why don't you and I go and have some coffee....and talk." I said.

Sissy smiled at me...

''Keith, Don't you feel like taking Chica behind one of these buildings and making out with her while nobody is looking?" she said.

I laughed but Sissy didn't laugh......She sensed that I was somewhat taken aback and she grabbed my arm gently...

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'll tell you everything soon, I promise...You and Chica...I just gotta go..Gotta be by myself." she said....and she headed to her car...

"Boss Lady!!!" said Carlotta , who was about to run after her...

"Let her go Carlotta...She'll be alright." I said.

"We got two murders and they look like they're linked..." said Carlotta..

"We'll work it out...The Lieutenant will join us when she can." I said...Hoping what I said was true...

Carlotta stood and looked at me...like a child needing to know more...I looked at her and kissed her on her forehead...There was two mysteries going on here..

(Definitely To Be Continued....)