Inside we found exactly what Soloman had told me we would find... Body Bags, Fresh Body Bags...Stolen from the Medical Examiner truck...along with several large steel drum cans, with holes punched in them ,so that they would take on water and sink faster....
"Yeah, I know...I doubt if you'll find anything here incriminating though...It looks as clean as a whistle." I said.
"I may have pulled something ADA." said Detective Jimmy Barlow...He motioned us to an office....
''They have cameras here...The cameras record the comings and goings of everyone...Look what I found." he said.
The picture was grainy....but there on the film was Albert "Sully" Sullerson and Juan Rivera and Micheal Light carrying a body bag out of one of the sheds and loading it into a can ....The film was grainy...very hard to make out who it was....
Micheal Light is seen peeling off dollars and handing them to Sullerson...
"I can't believe those three would be so careless...." said Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor...
"They didn't expect anyone to ever know about this place.." I added...
"This puts them in for the murder....Of someone!" said Detective Tyriq Pile...
"Yeah that's right...and we got nothing linking them to Sentterro except that he owns this place...He's not on film and he's not seen paying off anybody..." said Detective Jimmy Barlow...
"Yeah"...I sighed..."He's locked away in Texas for the rest of his life and those three malcontents are dead...Guess that's all the justice we can get from this guys...." I said...
I doubted that any DNA or other forensic evidence would be found here...I was right...it wasn't.
''Well ADA, we tried..At least that rat bastard won't be killing anybody else." said Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor.
II-
A week later, I was with the United States Coast Guard out on the Atlantic Ocean at the spot, Soloman estimated that the cans were deposited...He had more information than he had a right to know...I believed him when he said that he had never been present and that he got his information after the fact and from women during pillow talk...but I didn't see Minolo Sentterro or any of his underlings being that loose with talk about murder around women and especially not around him...He was still an officer of the court....
It gave me chills to think that Minolo would eventually have fitted Soloman for a body bang, a can and a trip to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean....!!!!!
The Coast Guard used sonar and sophisticated devices to probe the ocean....I didn't expect anything to be found...Who knew how long Sentterro had been dumping bodies out here...I was certain the water had floated these bodies away...
"Heyyy Man, we got a hit!!! We've found something?" said a Coast Guard man...
''What??" I said...
"Yeah...it's a cluster of cans... We are going to need a sub.." he said...
Within two days....The Coast Guard brought a total of 28 cans from the depths of the ocean.....All 28 cans had body bags in them....inside the body bags was a grisly discovery....The skelatal remains of human beings......
"You know...I thought this was a crap shoot .....But you were right on the money." said the Captain..
"I can't believe it." I said.
"Probably more...that we can't find...A lot of em have probably just washed out further into the ocean..you may never find them...I'm amazed that all of these were found!" he said.
"Yes...So am I." I said.
III-
Some of the bodies were surprisingly fresh....and others skelatal and mummified..
''Sorry Doc.. but these are Philadelphians..." I said.
"Arggghhh You work too hard...Aint Carlotta keepin you busy enough?" he asked, then he winked and smiled...''She's right you know...You walk right into my crap all the time..."He said and laughed.
"Okay Doc, Stop hassling my favorite ADA" came the unmistakable and sexy voice of the Lieutenant of Homicide...Sissy Van Buren.
"Just havin a little fun Sissy...You know how easy he is." laughed Doc Gibbons.
Lt. Sissy Van Buren entered the room...She was with Detective Angie Belton of Internal Affairs...I was a bit surprised...Usually Carlotta was attached to her hip...Not Angie Belton.
''Hey Keith" said Sissy..
''Hey yourself." I said. ''Hi Angie." I said.
"Hey Keith.. ,listen, can I ask you a question a minute in private?" she said.
''Sure." I said. We walked over to the side while Sissy and Doc chatted.
"I heard you went to see Soloman Foster a few weeks ago...How is he doing?" she asked.
"He's doing good...He said he sends his love." I said.
She frowned...
"He didn't say that." she said.
"Nah, He just told me to tell you hi." I said. "You going to see him again?" I asked.
She looked shocked when I said that.....I was mildly amused at her reaction, but I held my amusement to myself...She was quiet for a minute...Then she spoke.
"Yeah." she said.
"You two are getting pretty close huh?" I asked smiling a bit...I could tell that Detective Belton was mildly irritated by my inferrence...Which amused me even more!
"Well ahhh, We talk...It's nothing more than that...I mean it's not like I'm fallin for the guy." she said.
I gave her a side eye....She shrugged her shoulders...
"Come On Keith...I'm a professional Black woman...and look at me...You think I'm so hard up that I'd fall for an inmate???...Come on....You and I both know that I can do better than that." she said.
"Yeah...I know right?He wasn't always just an inmate as you say..He's a former Assistant District Attorney" I said ....I don't think she caught that I was ribbing her.
I know that she knew now that I knew the whole deal...That she had been talking to him on the phone and writing him....Her "secret" was safe with me...I didn't care.
I walked over to Sissy...
''Where is Carlotta?" I asked.
"She's in court...She just cracked a murder and she had to appear in court.. I ran into Angie on my way here and she asked about you and I told her I was coming here to see you...I hope that was alright." said Sissy.
"Yeah..It's all good."I said. "These are all cleared murders....These were more than likely committed by Albert "Sully" Susserman, Mikey Lolo, Juan Rivera and Micheal Light....That's how you write em up." I said.
"Nice...and all of my suspects are all dead." she said with a smirk.
"Less paperwork for you." I said and smiled...Sissy laughed too..
IV-
I did make a murder case against Sentterro for one of the victims...Tony "The Lip" Washington. A man from Camden, New Jersey, found amongst the dead...Detectives Tyriq Pile and Edwin ''Duke" Baylor were able to find two witnesses that placed Sentterro at the scene of this man's murder in 2009...He was brought back to Philadelphia and tried for this murder and convicted and sentenced to die by lethal injection if he somehow ever gets released from his Federal Sentence of 75 years...
He is presently appealing the conviction... I had to laugh....Finally a murder on this guy that stuck..I was happy to have been a part of that! I got him for you Mickey...I thought! Somewhere ,Mickey Lolo was smiling I hoped!
Carlotta and I finally ran into each other a few weeks later.....In the judges chambers of the courthouse...Court was over for the day.....
"You've been busy lately ...I've hardly seen you." she said with that sweet smile of hers that always disarmed me.
"Yeah...I uh went up to Stanga to see Soloman." I said. I had decided I wasn't going to lie to her or hide the truth from her.
"I know...Angie Belton told me....And Doc Gibbons was still fussing as they took the last of the bodies you found out of his morgue." she said.
''Guess you heard about Sentterro" I said.
''Yup..He finally got his just deserts....You Happy now?" she asked.
"Not really...This wasn't about him....I was trying to locate Mickey Lolo...and I failed....I don't know where to look now." I said.
"Stop looking...You never needed to look. Not for me!!" she said.
"I have a feeling that you've known what I've been doing all along and why" I said.
"Yes I have and I thought it was sweet...but you didn't have to do it.....I'm sorry about what happened to him, but I don't need closure...I'm good.He and I were over a long time ago..." she said.
"Never been surer." she said.
She walked over to me and kissed me....long, slow, soft.....I pulled her to me and kissed her passionately...
"Convinced now?" she whispered...
"I-I-I think I am." I said.
She laughed...''I think you are too." she said.
"Let's go home." I said.
"Your home or mine?" she asked...
"Flip a coin." I said..She laughed and rubbed my back.....
"You just want to take me somewhere and relieve me of my clothes." she laughed...
''I sure as hell do." I said.
I pulled her to me and rubbed her back...We kissed some more....She took a hankercheif out of her purse..
"You've got my lipstick all over you and on your collar." she said.
"I don't care. Are we alone in here?" I asked as I kissed her and attempted to open her blouse.....
She gently removed my hands and buttoned her blouse back up....
"Not here... I don't know if we are totally alone..Somebody is always wandering around.." she said..She was right....
We looked at each other and both cracked up laughing.
"Come on, let's get out of here.." I said.
After we left work..We walked along Penn's Landing and stared out at the Ocean....
"It is...Especially tonight..." she said.
"I wish I could give that to you." I said.
"The Ocean?" she asked.
''Yeah..the Ocean." I said.
"I don't need the Ocean...I'm not asking for the Ocean..."she said.
"What are you askin for?" I asked...
She smiled...put her index finger on my lips and said quietly...
"I think you know...I think you've already givin it to me." she said and smiled at me.
Carlotta leaned her head against my shoulder and I hugged her as we stood and stared at the ocean and the sun that was slowly lowering itself in the horizon.
3 comments:
Sweet and romantic ending!
Stop teasing....I was hoping they got it on in the judges chambers...I was ready to throw my panties!
Who didn't know that?-LOL!
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