Invisible Sun

Two days later, you would have thought that the events of a few nights before had never happened....Carlotta was a different person....

She sat in Sissy's office with Dr. Hazel Hunter, Detective Tyriq Pile and Detective James "Jimmy" Barlow and discussed the particulars of the case...I passed coffee and pastries to the four of them and to Sissy.

''Ummm Keith, Where did you get these?" asked Sissy.

''Remember the late great Cakeman Raven? Well his bakery is still being run by family members..After I dropped Carlotta off this morning...I doubled back and picked these up for you guys." I said.

"Thanks Keith" said Jimmy..

''Yeah man, these are off the heezy." said Tyriq.

"Thank you ADA Wallace." said Dr. Hazel Hunter.

"Okay..Let's get down to cases...What do you have on these three girls?" asked Sissy.

"Amy Ryan, successful corporate lawyer....She worked for a company as a headhunter...a company that swallowed other companies up whole...Not the most admirable job...I talked to nearly everybody who ever knew her in the area, friends, family, co-workers...Not one person had a bad word to say about her..Two ex-boyfriends...Even they had nothing bad to say about her...She didn't appear to have an enemy in the world.. I checked her bank account and credit and they both appeared to be normal....I checked all of her movemants for the days leading up to her murder and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary... I'm checking her phone, facebook and twitter accounts and email for anything else." said Carlotta.

''Michelle Lord was a Loan Officer at a bank, a very very tony bank...I interviewed her family out on the main line, some people she attended college with in New York City and New Jersey and friends, associates and co-workers here in this area..Same thing...Nobody had a bad word to say about her...She didn't appear to have an enemy in the world...She was engaged to be married...I talked to the fiance...He's devastated...and I talked to his family members...They can't think of any enemies the girl had...." said Tyriq.

"You went to New York City and New Jersey yesterday?" asked Sissy.

"Yes I did...All in the line of duty my esteemed lieutenant" laughed Tyriq.

"Yeah,I can imagine the re-imbursemant for mileage and for food for those two trips." said Sissy.

''All in the line of duty my esteemed lieutenant" said Tyriq...

Carlotta, Hazel,Jimmy and I all laughed....So Did Sissy eventually.

"Well Lou...I didn't go to New York or New Jersey, but I did talk to Kim Dewey's people...They're all on the Main Line and here in Philly...Same thing...Nobody can think of any enemies they had...I talked to boyfriends, cousins, siblings,aunts,uncles, ex-classmates all the way back to high school...She was well liked.. Her credit and her bank accounts were all solid..no big debt...In fact..she had just bought a very expensive high end car... Yeah...I talked to the dealer...I left no stone unturned.." he said.

"Well any of you get anything for their immediate neighbors? Anything off of the video cameras in the condo or off the crime stoppers cameras off the streets?" asked Sissy.

"Yes...Jimmy and I got a delivery guy coming in at around a quarter to eight with Chinese food that they all ordered...From Lin Soo's Kitchen....Hop interviewed him, but he only picked up the food...He didn't prepare it... Rico, Jimmy ,Hop and I interviewed everybody at the establishment and went over the place with a fine tooth comb....We got help from Licenses and Inspections and we found nothing..." said Carlotta.

"We did a tox report and all three girls were poisoned...But this stuff used is something I've never seen before...I sent a sample to the FBI for examination....It wasn't in the chinese food...It was in the Wine..." said Dr. Hazel Hunter.

"The wine bottles had generic labels on them....and apparently they were delivered by courier service to two of them about a week ago...We are trying to find the courier.." said Carlotta.

"Woww..Looks like the cases get tougher and tougher...Can't we just have a good old gangland shooting?" joked Sissy...

"Yeah ,how about that?" I laughed.

II-

"Boss Lady,will you ride with me...I got a hunch about something?" asked Carlotta..

Sissy smiled..

''Why Chica...You don't have to ask...Besides...I have a feeling Lt. Cantrell will be sniffing around today...So sure,I'll ride with you." she said.

"You guys mind a third wheel or you want to have girl time?" I said.

Carlotta hugged me and kissed my cheek...

"Of course you can come honey bunny." she said.

She walked over to Tyriq and Jimmy....

"Can you guys find me that courier?" she asked..

"We wouldn't be the great detectives we are if we couldn't." said Tyriq.

"I know where the company that delivered the phony wine is...It shouldn't be hard finding the courier." said Jimmy.

"Thanks Guys....I'll meet you back here in a few." said Carlotta.

As we got in my car, Carlotta put the palm of her hand out...She was checking for rain....

"Funny...it felt like rain....The sun was shining this morning...Now it seems to be invisible." she mused.

"It's up there...Just hiding behind the clouds." mused Sissy.

III-

We visited Amy Ryan's law firm....They were more than happy to let us look through her files...and her letters...I was glad they didn't insist on a warrant...Judge Freeman had gotten even worse...I had visited him for a warrant the week before in another case...and once again he had on panties and a bra in his office..He had the fan on and his wig was blowing in the wind....He wasn't even trying to hide his freakiness now!

Carlotta and Sissy went through her records for hours as I watched and went over briefs in other pending cases on my laptop ,When finally these two great detectives emerged with  something of interest...

"Look at what we found?  His name is Avril Krall Sr.  and he owned a winery...Just outside the city limits...This company was losing money, losing badly and Amy Ryan was the lawyer who handled the disolving of the company." said Carlotta, her beautiful eyes just glistening.

''Yeah, but that is what this company does....I'm sure they disolved several companies." I said.

"But his company was particularly bad...He sent several letters, had people send references in his behalf  and had several loan applications or copies of the loan applications included..." said Sissy.

"Loan applications...??? Let me guess....The loan applications are from Michelle Lord's company??" I asked.

"One in the same." said Carlotta.

"Okay...we know where our next stop is huh?" I said.

Carlotta looked at the overcast sky as Sissy and I walked out of the law office...

"Where is that sun?  Why is it invisible today?   It's like ...I know it's up there...but it won't come out?" she mused.

"You think that's an omen chica?" asked Sissy.

"I don't know Boss Lady, Just an observation." she said.


IV-

Michelle Lord's office was in the Northeast and had a nice view of the rooftops....A check of her records revealed that three years ago, she had been the loan officer that had approved of a loan for Avril Krall Sr.'s
winery ...A loan he defaulted on!  He had applied for a series of loans, all of which had been rejected by Ms. Lord.

"Well Look,There's the sun" mused Carlotta as she peered out of one of the windows...

"An omen of hope, for this case Chica?" asked Sissy.

"Yeah, maybe." mused Carlotta.
We did some checking and found that he had made some threatening calls to both women...But had never made good on any of his threats....

We returned to C.I.D. and began looking into Mr. Avril Krall...

He was born in Toronto.....He migrated to Philadelphia some thirty years ago...Became a U.S. citizen and got married...and had one child...a son....He and his family lived in California for a while where they worked for a successful winery for years....They all moved back to the Philadelphia area 10 years ago...Avril got a loan and bought some trucks and began a winery of his own...Hired drivers and and imported wine from a friend he had met in California...

Sissy,Carlotta and I interviewed some of his business associates and backers....Apparently the wine wasn't any good and after awhile ,he just couldn't move it...The business went bad...and despite herculian efforts to save it....He lost it....All of them said that he was very bitter after his business failed...He began to drink...His wife, who had been his biggest defender....Died...After that....he dropped out of sight...

We checked his bank accounts...All of them were near empty.....His credit cards had all been closed... There was no indication of any movemant within two years , which was strange....

"Mr. Krall is definitely a person of interest." said Carlotta.

"Nobody can say they have seen him in at least two years and there is no movemant on his credit cards or bank account...Something is weird about that." said Carlotta.

Just then her smartphone went off...It was Tyriq..

 

"Hey Rico....We found a possible suspect." said Carlotta.

"That's good Top because Jimmy and me found the courier...the guy that delivered the wine...and he isn't going to be able to help us." said Tyriq.

''Why? He wants a lawyer?" said Carlotta.

"He won't uh need a lawyer Top...He's dead!" said Tyriq.

"Dead?" asked Carlotta.

"Yeah..you better get over here." he said.

V-

Sissy, Carlotta and Dr. Hunter met Tyriq and Jimmy at the home of  Lance Gold, the courier who had delivered the wine to the condo.....We found him in the living room with a gunshot to the temple and a hastily typed suicide note...Confessing to the triple murder!!! The gun was on the floor by the body...

"This is too neat...I don't think this guy killed them and I don't think he killed himself either...." said Carlotta.

"The powder burns are on the left side of his head, yet the gun is way over there on the right side of the body...No way if he had shot himself on the left side of the head would the gun have fallen and been way over there." said Dr. Hazel Hunter...

"Somebody knows that we are getting close and they're trying to clean up." said Sissy.

"Let's put in the papers that this murder is solved... Whoever is behind this will think they're safe." I said.

"You said you had a suspect Top?" asked Tyriq..

"Yeah..an Avril Krall Sr.  His wine business collapsed...Amy Ryan was the lawyer who disolved his business and her friend, Michelle Lord was the loan officer who refused him a loan. He threatened both women in writing and there were police reports filed...I think he thought they were in cahoots." said Carlotta.

"Then that means the Fertility Doctor was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong people and drank the wrong wine." said Jimmy.

As grim as the situation was.... Sissy,Tyriq, Carlotta and Dr. Hazel Hunter managed to laugh....I smiled as uniformed officers, crime scene photographers and CSI workers dusted for clues..

Carlotta looked up at the sky....

''Sun is still invisible." she said.

"Yeah babes...it's that kind of day." I said.

"It's like an omen." she mused...

"Oh for tomorrow?" I asked.. Tomorrow We were going with Duke and Carlos to the supposed burial site of Mickey Lolo...

"Yeah." she said.

"You ready for that?" I asked.

Carlotta frowned...

"As ready as I'll ever be." she said.

"I'll be with you."I said.

She smiled and stroked my hand gently!

"I know." she said.

(TO BE CONTINUED...)