Another Morning, Another Murder

I just shook my head...Another morning, Another murder...Philadelphia was on par this year to top last year's rate...We were clearing a lot of them, but just as many as we were clearing, it seemed as though that many more were occurring...

I'm not a cop...My name is Keith Porterhouse Wallace..I'm the Assistant District Attorney...I prosecute Homicides.... This one was particularly troubling as I suppose all loss of life is....A Bank Robbery, Nine million dollars stolen, The biggest heist in modern Philadelphia History!! and one of the security guards, murdered....A guy I knew personally...

A former cop...Victor Davis....A good cop....A retired cop , divorced...two grown children, who was now working as a security guard at this prestigious bank....Not because he needed the money....He was getting his pension...but because...Well you had to know Vic...He got bored just sitting around...He loved the action, being on the streets, first in a patrol car, then as a Detective in Vice and Narcotics and finally in Robbery-Homicide....After he retired he would still come around the different precincts and chew the fat with the detectives and patrolmen....He loved the job more than anything...maybe his wife !!!He still didn't deserve this...gunned down during a bank heist!

I'd be lying if I said that that was the only reason I was at this particular scene....A very pretty  detective had given me a call..Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace ,my pretty new wife of two weeks gave me the call!!...She had awakened me this morning...hours before with a kiss so sensuous, so soft....I wanted to pull her back in bed...but she was already partially dressed and on her way out the door...I loved watching her get dressed in the morning.

I arrived and to my surprise...I saw a swarm of FBI agents canvassing the crime scene and talking to two detectives I knew... Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor  and Detective James "Jimmy"Barlow...

"Hey guys what's up?" I asked as I approached...

"Hey ADA...We got uniforms canvassing the neighborhood along with the FBI.....Lou , Top and Tyriq are inside with Dr. Hunter." said Duke...

"So how come you guys are standing outside?" I asked.

"You gotta talk to the Boss Lady." said Duke... "She doesn't want too many Philly coppers contaminating her crime scene." said Duke with a wry smile...

"Sissy said that?" I said.

"Nah, not our boss lady...that boss lady." said Jimmy pointing to a beautiful Black Woman in an FBI jumper.

I walked over to her...

"Don't tell me you're another detective....I already let your Lieutenant and two detectives and a forensic investigator into the bank...But since this is a Bank Robbery, this is my investigation..." she said.


"No...I'm not a Detective....I'm Assistant District Attorney, Keith Wallace....I prosecute Homicides, " I said.

"Wow!  You actually come to the crime scene...That's a first!!! Most ADA's I know only come to the press conference. I heard that the security guard was ex Philly PD...I'm sorry , but this is still my investigation...I only let your Lieutenant and her people in because I know one of her detectives. she said.

"You do huh?"I asked.

"The Puerto Rican Detective...Carlotta Rodriguez ,We went to high school!!!" she said.

"My wife, Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace ,you mean?" I said.

She smiled...

"Ohhhhhhh...Carlotta...is your wife....I thought I saw a wedding band on her finger. Carlotta did well for herself...If I don't say so." she said looking me up and down and smiling broadly.

Despite her attitude...It was hard to dislike her.

"You know Carlotta?" I said.

"Very well..She was one of my best friends in High School...Which is the only reason I allowed her and your Lieutenant and that other guy to enter the scene...Shame he's married too..He's cute." she said and smiled...

"You're good at spotting wedding bands huh?" I joked.

" A woman should always look." she said, smiling.

''I take it, you didn't once." I said.

"You're right...More than once and it cost me." she said.

 I found her honesty refreshing.

"Can I go inside??......Uh...With your permission?" I said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Let's not start our working relationship like that ADA Wallace....Congratulations on the wedding...Carlotta is a very lucky woman and I mean that....ummmph...I'm damn near jealous.." she said.  "Oh and excuse my manners..I'm Special Agent in Charge, Sharon Farrell.." she said.

"I usually deal with Special Agent in charge,Frank Cotton." I said.

"He's on Assignment in Washington D.C. ...I'm filling in for him until he returns." she said.

II-

Inside the bank....I saw blood...Vic's blood and several bank employees being interviewed by FBI agents, Lt.Sissy Van Buren ,my new wife, Detective Carlotta Wallace..and Detective Tyriq Pile.

"What'cha got Sissy ?" I said.

She smiled upon seeing me...I realized that it was her first time seeing me since we returned from our honeymoon a week before.

"Hey Married man...How are you?" she said.

"I'm great, all things considered." I said.

"Yeah, this is a mess... I didn't know Vic, but I'd heard about him...He was like a legend ." she said.

"I worked with him briefly when I first came on at the D.A.'s Office..." I said.

"Heyy baby." said Carlotta...

"Heyyy girl...." I said smiling  kind of salaciously at her ,which made her giggle....

Sissy smiled and just shook her head....

"Tyriq and the FBI agents are talking to witnesses...It was a crew of three guys...They took the bank down strong....They had a guy out front who set off some kind of explosive device as a diversion and they had a driver positioned down the street from the bank...The whole thing lasted a little over 15 minutes." she said.

"Hi ADA Wallace....Welcome Back!!" said Dr. Hazel Hunter,our forensic investigator....

''Hey Hazel, how are you?"I said.

"I'm fine. The victim, a 59 year old White male was killed by a single shot through the forehead...The bullet went in the front and exited out the back...I retrieved it...It's a .45 slug..." she said.

"I'm going to need to see that for evidence Hazel...You know that." said Agent Farrell.

"Agent...This is a homicide...This is our evidence...."said Sissy...

"I understand that...but this is a Bank Robbery and it's my investigation." said Sharon...

I looked at Carlotta...She had a pained look on her face...The kind you have when two dear friends are about to have an argument...

She loved Sissy like a sister, but I could see that Sharon was an old high school friend that she must've loved equally at one time...  I had to do something...

"Hey wait a minute...We are all on the same side...We all want this crew....I'm sure we can work together on this..."I said.

Just then Detective Tony Hopkins, who we called "Hop" walked into the bank...

"Lou....I found the getaway van down the street...and guess what...there's another body in it." he said.

''What?"she said...

"Yeah...Jimmy and Duke are checking it out now...They told me to ask Dr. Hunter if she could come down and look at it." he said.

The look on Agent Farrell's face changed suddenly....She looked like she'd seen a ghost.....

"Tony?  Is that you?" she said.

"Yeah...it's me...and I see that's certainly you isn't it Sharon?,Oh excuse me...Special Agent in Charge ,Sharon Ferrell, FBI." he said sarcastically.

"You're a ...You're a Homicide Detective???" she said.

"Guess you thought I was destined to be a bum didn't you Sharon....."he said.

"No...No...I never thought that Tony..I just thought..I thought..."she said.

"Forget it...Whatever you thought doesn't matter to me at all...." he said.

She looked like a hurt school girl.... Sissy,Carlotta,Tyriq and I looked on with amazement...Dr. Hunter had a wry smile on her face, as though she knew what was going on....It made her look even sexier than she already was.

"Lieutenant, I'm going to join Duke and Jimmy at the other crime scene...There seems to be one detective too many on her crime scene as it is!" said Hop.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Sharon Farrell's entire demeanor changed.....She looked at Sissy and me and said quietly...

"Okay...We can...we can ..work together on this...but just...just your detectives Lieutenant, Carlotta,Hazel,Detective Pile and those other two outside.." she said.

"Detective Hopkins is one of mine too." said Sissy gently...

"Oh he is?? Well, Well, I suppose so...It's your call Lieutenant....Now if you'll, you'll excuse me...I-I-I need a minute.. Congratulations on your wedding Carlotta..Nice seeing you and Hazel again..Tell Hazel..I meant nothing personal..." she said... Tears streaming down her face...

"Sharon are you alright?" asked Carlotta.

"Yeah...Yeah...uh, something got in my eye." she said and ran out of the building...

"Whoa...What the hell was that?  "asked Tyriq Pile...

"It appears Agent Farrell and our young Detective Hopkins have some kind of history." said Sissy.

"Yeah and it doesn't look like a good one.."said Carlotta...

"Wow...Well let's check out that other murder scene." I said. Whatever their history was, was not important to me right now!

III-

Lt. Sissy Van Buren, Detective Carlotta Wallace (damn ,I loved how that sounded), Detective Tyriq Pile and I joined Detectives Edwin "Duke" Baylor and James "Jimmy "Barlow at the second crime scene.....Six blocks away..

"Hey Lou, Carlotta, Rico, ADA...We got another body...this guy looks like he might have been one of the bank robbers..."said Jimmy.

"I found black gloves, and a black hoodie and this." said Dr. Hunter , who produced a .45 handgun....

"I found this...some bloody money." said Detective Tony Hopkins.....

who produced a pile of dollars in a stack with blood all over them...

"Good pull Tony....Check the serial numbers against what the bank says was stolen..." said Sissy...

''Come on Hop...You and I can do that together."said Carlotta..

"I like that...Hop and Top" said Duke...

We all burst into laughter..... and then Special Agent in Charge Sharon Farrell showed up with three FBI agents...

"Oh My God...another killing?" she said.

 Detective Tyriq Pile, Detective Tony Hopkins and Dr. Hazel Hunter turned the body over.....

''Look familliar?" asked Tyriq...

"That's Bobby Coster....A local hood...His brother was ''Fast Tony" Coster, another local hood who was killed last year in an unrelated incident...He must have been driving the getaway van for them..." she said.

"Looks like they had a switch vehicle...They drove this here and got in another car." said Jimmy....

"Hazel, have your team check all of the tread marks in this area...see if we can get a make on the vehicles."said Detective Carlotta Wallace..

"I already called my team out here..I'll see what I can get." said Hazel.

IV-

FBI Special Agent in charge Sharon Ferrell pulled Me and Lt.Sissy Van Buren to the side...

"Lt. Van Buren, let me apologize....We got off on the wrong foot...Not your fault at all...That was me...I can be a pushy asshole at times...or so I've been told. Your unit works very well together...I have no problem working together with you and your people...Neither I nor my agents will get in the way of your murder investigation and we'll share with you anything we get on this crew.......I knew Carlotta Rodriguez..I mean Wallace in high school and I knew Dr. Hazel Hunter...She used to date my older brother...and I remember you too from Girls High...You were a little ahead of us.." she said.

"Is your older brother Danny Ferrell? Ran track at Central High?" said Sissy..

''One in the same... Dr.Hazel Hunter had quite a thing for him at one time....long before she was a doctor." she said.

"I don't blame her...He was finnnne." laughed Sissy...

"Don't blow his head up even more...He still thinks he's a lover." laughed Sharon...

"So...Since we are going down memory lane and all...What's the deal with you and my detective?? Tony Hopkins.."asked Sissy...Always a cop I mused and smiled..

"There's no deal Lieutenant!!!...She broke my heart...practically left me at the alter."said Detective Tony Hopkins..

"Tony...it wasn't like that...I swear..." she said.

''It's okay Sharon that was years ago..You did your thing...and I'm doin mine...Forget about it...Ah Lieutenant can we release the body?" he asked.

Both Sissy and Carlotta looked at Hop...He had always been happy go lucky in his demeanor...Kind of like Jimmy...Never like this...

"Yes...Tell Jimmy ,Tyriq and Duke to go ahead." said Sissy.

"Okay guys, she said release it." he said and joined them....

I looked at Sissy and shook my head, meaning for her to not pursue her line of questioning any further...I don't think she was...

''Okay Agent Ferrell..We'll look over these bodies and shake up our street contacts...Maybe we'll get something on this crew... Do you want to stop by tomorrow or would you rather one of us stops by the Federal Building?" asked Sissy.

"I'll stop by your shop.........Thanks for your help.Again Lt. Van Buren,I'm sorry for the way things started." she said...

"That's okay girl, I understand...Believe me I do...It's hard being female and getting the respect of your male peers when you're in authority...It's okay...And it's Sissy...We are from Girls High...we're  family!" said Sissy...

''So  uh, are we sweet like cracker jack?" she said and laughed...

Sissy smiled....

"Like Cracker jack girl!" she said...They both laughed and high fived each other.

Carlotta smiled.....I was happy things turned out as they did.

The FBI agents packed up and left...Soon the uniformed policemen and M.E. people dispersed the crowd and left...Duke, Jimmy and Tyriq also left....

Detective Hopkins walked over to us...

"I uh...came up here with Jimmy and he's left...Could one of you give me a lift to my car...It's at C.I.D.?" he said.

''Sure Tony...We'll drop you off...Don't get like my husband here and make that a habit." joked Carlotta.

Sissy cracked up laughing...-"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Carlotta , you're wrong for that girl." she said.

Sissy knew about how just the thought of spending the night with Carlotta whether it was at my place or hers had made me leave my car and head off with her, having to come back on Public Transportation the next morning and pick it up...She saw me a few times and figured out what had happened... So glad that Carlotta and I were married now and living under one roof ...No more mishaps like that!

"See what I have to put up with Hop?" I said laughing...

"Must be nice...At least she loves you..." he said...


I had a feeling he had been hurt bad by Agent Farrell....But I couldn't worry about that..I had a bank robbery and two murders to solve.

(TO BE CONTINUED...)