Blue Skies

It was a totally beautiful day...The type of day I'd rather not be working...The type of day I'd like to be in the park with Carlotta, having a private picnic...but it was Philadelphia...We had a double homicide and they appeared to be linked...No time to enjoy the Blue Skies...

Doc Gibbons sat in Sissy's office with Detective Carlotta Rodriguez, Detective Tyriq Pile, Detective Jimmy Barlow , Detective Edwin ''Duke" Baylor and myself and ran down what he had found...

''The coffee had a mild sedative in it...You can get this sedative from any drug store....Both women had enough in them to knock out an army regimen....After they were sedated, then they were strangled..." he said.

"Hmmmm.. Our killer is more than likely a woman and our killer knew both victims." said Carlotta..

"There was no forced entry...so both of these women let whoever killed them into their spaces." said Tyriq Pile.

''I did some research and guess what...Both of these women were engaged to our friend, Millionaire playboy,Rollie Rollerson..." said Detective Jimmy Barlow, who passed us old copies of the society pages..

"Looks like our boy is more of a stud than you ADA Wallace." said Detective Edwin "Duke " Baylor...

Doc Gibbons busted out laughing as did the others....with the exception of Carlotta...Who gave me a side eye, before she began laughing with the others...

''Come on Folks...Focus." I said.

" Duke...You and Jimmy go to all of the local drug stores...Pharmacies, see if a woman matching our artist's description came in and ordered that sedative in the last few days..See how she paid..if she used cash or a credit card...I'm sure hoping it was a credit card." I said.

"Tyriq and I are going to see if we can find out where these gold wedding bands were made and who might have purchased them."said Carlotta...

"By the way ,Where is your fearless leader?" asked Doc Gibbons...

''Sissy? She's running down another lead." I lied... Doc looked at me side eyed...So did Carlotta...If nobody else knew I was lying, She did...She walked over to me..after the other detectives left...

"Tyriq, ,we'll take your car..I'll be right down." she said.

"Okay Top." he said.

"Why does he call you Top?" I asked.

"He's been calling me that since my first day as a rookie under him...It's a private joke between me and him. I'll tell you one day." she said.

"Oh." I said.

''You wanna clue me in on what is going on with boss lady?" she said.

"I will when I find out...I promise..." I said.. I looked around, nobody was around...I closed the door and pulled Carlotta to me and kissed her passionately...We broke our embrace..

" Stop...you gotta stay focused, remember?" she laughed...

"I am focused." I said..

"Liar." she said and kissed me on the cheek...."I'll see you later." she said as she rushed out!

II-

I drove to Josies....It was early in the day, but there was Sissy, sitting in a booth with two tall glasses of water and one bottle of beer. She hadn't touched the beer...Her hands were shaking...

I sat down with her...

''What are you doing here counselor?" she asked.

"Funny, I should be asking you the same thing." I said.

"I can't be involved in this case." she said.

"You don't have a choice...You're a Lieutenant....You've got some good detectives out there working this case..and they need their leader." I said.

"What did you tell em?" she asked.

"I told em you were running down a lead on this case." I said.

''They believe you?" she asked.

"Everybody except Doc and Carlotta." I said.

Sissy laughed...

"Carlotta is a good detective...She'll make a fine Lieutenant one day. Maybe sooner than she thinks." she said wryly....

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

Sissy opened the beer and downed it and drank a glass of water....Then she looked at me....

"You won't like me when I tell you this.." she said.

"Nothing could make me dislike you." I said.

She smiled and rubbed my arm...

" I met Rollie Rollerson at a fund raiser...It was right after my divorce from Robert Foxworth was finalized. He was charming and nice looking and very married. I knew when I met him that I shouldn't have ever gotten involved with him...but he swept me off of my feet...A forced kiss here, finally a surrendered kiss there..groping in his car and eventually hot and wild lovemaking every chance he and I got a chance to sneak away. I never meant to get this involved with him. He told me that his wife was crazy..That she had split personalities and that he was going to leave her...yet he never did..."

  "I broke it off with him....Then he came to my house late one night...Telling me that his wife was cheating on him...He was in tears..I took him inside...He and I made love all night long and he left my bed that next morning. Soon the news came that his wife or one of her personalities had murdered her lover. I covered that up for him. Wrote it up as a suicide when I knew it was a murder....I stopped a  Private Detective  we all know and love named Kevin Morris from writing the story after he figured out just what had really happened...That's how we met...That was one of the first cases he gave me...He's kept my secret all these years....That's why I love him...and he's helped the department out many times as you know." she said.

"You mean to tell me, you think Rollerson's ex-wife is doing this?" I said.

"It's a strong possibility." she said.

''What became of her?" I asked.

"She was put in the hospital for the criminally insane..years ago." she said.

"Well let's go and see if she's there." I said.

"What about what I just told you? About me obstructing justice?" she said.

"You didn't tell me anything about obstructing justice..Did you?" I said.  I looked at her and winked... "Kevin isn't the only one who can keep a secret." I said.

"Awww..." she said and she leaned over and gave me a big warm hug....

"Sissy, over the years you've been nothing but sterling, closing major cases and making this city safer...No way I'd condemn you for one lapse in judgement...make that two....Getting involved with Rollie Rollerson wasn't your best move." I said and laughed.

Sissy smiled...

"Chica has a good man...She is soo lucky...I tell her that all the time." said Sissy.

''Eddie has a good woman too." I said.

Sissy smiled. I was happy to bring a smile to her lovely face.

III-

Sissy and I drove out to Blue Skies Asylum for the criminally insane...It was a spooky and foreboding place just off of the interstate, up on a hill....I didn't want to go inside, but we had to...

Inside...It had pale green walled hallways and it smelled like a combonation of ointment and Pine Sol.... The patients walked around in a drug induced stupor mostly...and the most violent were locked up in the dorm rooms...

The Superintendant...An attractive  white woman in her mid 40's and two huge strapping and muscular Black men met us at the front office.

"I'm Lieutenant Sissy Van Buren...Philadelphia Homicide and this is Assistant District Attorney Keith Wallace..  she said.

"I'm Sylvia Ratchet ...I must admit, I was a little confused when you called me Lt. Van Buren...Why would the head of Philadelphia Homicide want to talk to one of our patients?" she said.

"Is Olivia Rockland here?" asked Sissy.

"Yes..Why wouldn't she be?" said the superintendent

''Could we see her?" I asked.

" Sure.Daniel...Take her to Olivia's dorm room..." she said.

"This way." he said. He was a tall, muscular, light skinned Black man.

We walked down the long corridor to Olivia Rockland's room...

There she was... A very attractive woman...Looking very peaceful and serene, sitting in her room watching the Steve Harvey show on Television...She took one look at Sissy and said-

"Welll, if it isn't the woman that is screwing my husband..."

"Nice to see you Olivia." said Sissy.

"Olivia isn't here...I'm Rachel!" she said.

Sissy looked at me and said-"Rachel is her alter ego, the one who killed her lover."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here..." she said.

"Come on Keith...Let's get out of here." said Sissy...

Then just as frightening as could possibly be...I heard another voice come out of this woman...

"Sissy...How you been girl? You're looking good...How's Rollie doing?"

''Hello Olivia. He's fine I guess." said Sissy.

"Heyy girl...Is that your man??..He's cute."she said.

"No Olivia...just a good friend." said Sissy..

''A good friend worth keeping honey." she said and laughed.

"How you been doin up here?" asked Sissy.

"I've been fine...Got all the comforts of home...Rollie has seen to that."she said.

"That's good...I'll let him know that we saw you." said Sissy.

''You do that Missy...Tell him I'm going to cut his penis off when I see him since he can't keep it in his pants." came a more sinister voice.

''Goodbye Rachel."said Sissy.

"Goodbye bitch!" she said.  "Daniellll...come in here and get some of this good lovin..." she cooed.

The guard looked at us...he shrugged his shoulders..ignoring Rachel/Olivia...

"She didn't used to be this bad..She'd be Olivia for a month and then be Rachel for about a week...but now,she switches from one personality to another so fast, it's frightening...Gotta get her stronger meds." he said.

The transformation was frightening.... Sissy and I just looked at him.

Rachel had now stripped down to just her panties and bra...She was a good looking woman...Hard to believe she was so young and stricken with a split personality...I didn't want Sissy to see me checking out Rachel/Olivia's body...but I was..and I'm sure that Daniel was too...I should've come up here with Duke,Jimmy or Tyriq!

"Oh dear...where are my clothes? Oh My God....Turn your heads...I'm so sorry." came the voice of Olivia.

Sissy and I left...

On the way home Sissy seemed to be her old self again....

"Well we know that she's not our perp...She's as crazy as a loon." I said.

"Well, if she's there, then who could be doing this?" she asked.

''Somebody else from out of Rollie's past...another angry female....By the way, where were you when all of these murders were committed?" I joked.

''Please...I wouldn't jeopordize my career a second time for Rollie Rollerson." she said.

IV-

That night, Carlotta lay across my bed.....

''Any luck today?" I asked.

"Duke and Jimmy are still chasing down that sedative....They haven't found anything yet..Same here..Me and Tyriq can't find a shop that made those rings..." she said.

"Sissy and I ran down a lead...We drove out to the mental hospital...Blue Skies...She thought Rollie's crazy ex-wife might be doing this...She's got two personalities....It's frightening to watch....but she's there,locked safely away..." I said.

"Sissy ,Kevin Morris and I had a case like that once...Guy dressed up like his mother..Killed several people...He's probably out there at Blue Skies too." she said.

"What a name for a place..A place like that...Blue Skies." I laughed.

"Yeah ,how about that?" she laughed....

She leaned over and kissed me...I eased her panties down and slipped her bra off...I kissed her neck and behind her ears....She kissed my chest...I entered her slowly again...In and out...softly, steadily...slow sweet lovemaking...

She was on top, riding me, her long hair flinging into my face....I cupped her buttocks and moved her up and down....

"Ouuuuuuuuuuu papi...ohhhhhhh that feels good..." she said...

"Yesss lorddd.." I said...

We kept at it just like this for close to an hour and a half....I sat up and began kissing her deeply,slower...

"Let's take the day off tomorrow, say that we were hunting down another lead." I said jokingly in between kisses...

''Where? In bed??" she said.

"Yeah...in bed...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." I moaned as we both began to climax...

"You are soo...silly." she said laughing and holding me tighter...

Funny what you think about at a time like this...My mind wandered to Sissy and then to crazy Olivia/Rachel...

Then back to Carlotta.... Yes...Carlotta!!

(To Be Continued...)