It Smells Like Death

Sissy, Carlotta,Jimmy,Tyriq and I entered the State Store.....There was a young kid at the register......

"Hi...I'm Assistant District Attorney, Keith Wallace...This is Lt.Sissy Van Buren and Detectives Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace, Detective Tyriq Pile and Detective James Barlow..Can we speak to your manager?" I said.

"I'm the assistant manager" came the voice of a pretty Blond woman who came to the front,,,,"I'm Lydia Krall...Is there a problem?" she asked.

"Well no...but we need to talk to your husband." said Sissy.

A tall slender white male ,about my age walked out...He had a goatee and his hair was well groomed...

"I'm the manager...I'm Avril Krall Jr.  What can I do for you?" he asked...He seemed pleasent enough.

"We are trying to find your father." said Carlotta.

"Yeah? ,Well that makes two of us....I haven't seen my dad in three years...His creditors have been looking for him too!" he said.

"We understand he had a little trouble with his business." said Tyriq.

"A little trouble? That's an understatement.....He lost his business...He had a still, mortgaged up to the ears, Had partners...They backed out on him...Had loans....defaulted on them...He was just in debt up to his ears and he just uh checked out...split....I don't know where he is." he said.

"But you manage a State Store? " said Jimmy.

"Yeah...aint that somethin?...You'd think I'd stay as far away from Wine and Spirits as possible right?  I was my dad's partner in his business until it went belly up....I had a new wife...We are trying to have a baby...I had to have money....dependable money...So I got this job and my wife got hired here too and we did good and after the old manager transferred to another store..We took over this one...Not a bad life." he said and smiled.

"Well ,I can't lie to you sir...Three women were killed a few days ago and your father had ties to two of them...One was his loan officer and the other was a lawyer that broke up the business after it went belly up."
said Carlotta.

"And what? You think my dad might have something to do with that?  He's 75 years old...I seriously doubt that...Plus,like I say...I haven't seen him in three years...I don't know that he's even in the area..." said Jr.

"So where do you think he might be?" asked Carlotta...

"We have a place in Florida....I'll give you an address." he said.

"Honey.....I'll be back....I have an appointment at the Fertility clinic." said his wife as she headed out the door.

"Okay, drive safe." he said..."We've been trying to have a baby for the past three years...We had a real jerk of a Doctor....Glad she has a new doctor now." he said..

Carlotta looked at him funny when he said that...Then she smiled.

II-

Back at C.I.D. Carlotta, Jimmy and Tyriq looked feverishly through records.....and walked into Sissy's office , where I was sitting...

"Boss Lady...We've been looking at property records and it appears that Avril Krall Sr. has a residence and it's been right under our noses all along." said Carlotta.

"We couldn't find anyone who will say that they have seen and heard from him in the past three years and yet his electric, water and gas bills have all been paid on line up until last year"said Jimmy..

"And get this....They were paid from Junior's bank account...Now if he hasn't seen his father in three years..Why would he still be paying bills on his father's house?" asked Tyriq.

"Well, you never know when Papa might be coming home." said Sissy.

"I checked their residency in Florida.....It went into receivership a year ago....And nobody there said that they ever saw Avril Krall Sr. ,They said that the son was the one they were talking to." said Carlotta...

Just then, Detective Tony Hopkins walked into the office...

"Detective Carlotta...I got a warrant to check out that fertility clinic like you asked and guess what I found out....Your third victim...Kimberly Dewey was Avril Krall Jr.'s wife's doctor....They've been trying to have a baby for awhile now and they complained bitterly about her...even wrote these letters asking to have another doctor." he said.

"This seems like an awful lot of co-incidences..." I said.

"Too many...Tyriq, Jimmy...Take Hop with you...Pick up Junior and his wife if need be....Chica..We are going and pick up Senior." said Sissy...

"Say, where is Duke?" I asked.

"He took Carlos Losada over to the Federal courthouse....That's where he's going to be stashed for awhile....Meanwhile Benny Gillespie is cooling his heels and trying desperately to find a lawyer and make bail....and probably wondering if Joey Never's boys or Angel Ortega's boys are going to be the ones to put a shiv in his back." laughed Sissy.

I smiled....

"Come on girls...Let's take my car." I said.

III-

Sissy, Carlotta  and I took six uniformed policemen with us....We had them knock on doors and ask neighbors if they had seen Avril Krall Sr.  The reason being was that this was a predominately black neighborhood and a white man with a french accent like Krall would have stood out like a sore thumb!

None of the neighbors recalled seeing him for close to two years...but they said that the house often had lights on and that somebody came by and collected the mail, went inside and left....He was described as a younger man....

Sissy and Carlotta were on the porch...They knocked on the door and rang the bell... There was no answer...

Carlotta dialed the number, but was told that phone service was dead!!

"Chica...Something smells bad....You smell that?" said Sissy...

"Yeah...It smells like......Death!" she said.

Sissy motioned for one of the policemen to use the battering ram and break the door down.... Two of them took the door off the hinges....

Sissy, Carlotta and four uniformed policemen entered the dwelling with glocks drawn...I came in behind them...The smell was making me sick to my stomach......

Three policemen raced up the stairs....After a few minutes one yelled down to us..

"Clear Lieutenant!"

The living room and the kitchen was immacculate!

Finally there was the basement door....Sissy yanked the door open!

Carlotta grabbed her glock and a flashlight...

"Cover me Boss Lady!" she said...

Carlotta eased down the steps, Sissy followed her, now, five uniformed Policemen followed both of them...I pulled out my .38 smokeless and followed...Leaving one policeman in the living room...This was like a horror
movie...

"There's a light switch Boss lady." said Carlotta..

"The power is off...It probably doesn't work." said Sissy.

"Sometimes, there is a back up generator.." said Carlotta who flicked the switch and let out an ungodly scream!

Sissy said -"OH MY GOD!!!!"

I ran down past the policeman.....and there sitting in a chair, mummified was Avril Krall Sr. with a big hole in the side of his head and a .45 lying on the floor near him!!!

"Call Dr. Hunter." said Carlotta!

"I'm already on it." I said.

IV-

More Crime Scene Investigators and Police photographers showed up....A small crowd began to build in the neighborhood .......This was a bizzarre scene indeed...

"Oh my God...This body has been here at least two years....and this gun is almost rusty....and the smell...whooooo...Who could stand this?" asked Dr. Hunter.

"If he's been dead for two years, then he couldn't be the killer...." said Carlotta..

"No but his son could!!! He's connected to all of these victims somehow." said Sissy...

"Look, there's a letter." I said looking at a nearly yellow handwritten letter on a nearby table.

"Dear Son...This is a cowardly way to go and I'm sorry you had to find me like this, but I just didn't have the will to continue on living...It appears the world got the best of me...I was a poor businessman and not the best husband or father....When your mother died and I lost my business, I lost everything I had ...except you......I hope you and your wife have that baby you have been trying so hard to have and I hope my connect helps you to get that job at the State Store...It was all I have to give you..Use my insurance money to pay off my debts and have a great life...I love you son."-Avril Krall Sr.

"This is a suicide note." I said.

"His son must have found him here and ...and couldn't deal with the reality of his father being dead." said Carlotta.

"Yeah and he must have found out that the fertillity doctor that he hated so much and the lawyer who ruined his dad's business and the loan officer were all girlfriends and college room-mates....That must have drove him off the deep end...Which is why he killed them...." said Sissy.

V-

"Lou, we picked up the wife, but the husband is nowhere to be found!!..." said Detective Tyriq Pile.

"I got an all points bulletin out for him" said Detective Jimmy Barlow...

Carlotta was in the interrogation room talking to her...

"I didn't know anything about what my husband was doing....He never would let me go to that house...I kept telling him to sell the house and he kept saying that his dad might come back home someday....He paid the utility bills on his dad's house for three years until I made him stop...Then he just seemed to be so distant at times." said Mrs. Krall.

"Do you have any idea where your husband might go?" asked Carlotta.

"The only place I can think of would be his Aunt's house in Cherry Hill....The car is gone...I'm almost certain that that is where he is.." she said.

"Somebody call Cherry Hill P.D., That's where we have to go next." said Carlotta...

She was so focused...So in her element...She hadn't mentioned the other case at all...Benny Gillespie, Carlos Losado...et al...and I wasn't about to bring it up...

VI-

I headed out of the office...Sissy ,Carlotta, Tyriq and Jimmy had done good work this week...They were on the verge of clearing four murders and Duke and Hop were on the verge of closing out long unfinished business...I was happy...I needed to go back to my office and get some briefs ready...

I was walking down the hallway and I heard a familliar voice...

"You leaving papi?"

It was Carlotta, She was standing by the door of an empty office...

''Uh yeah..I've got a few briefs to work on....I'll be back to pick you up." I said.

She played with my tie a little bit , then smiled...

"How about a little sugar from my sugar?" she said.

I looked at her and smiled...

I looked around....I pulled the shades, while Carlotta locked the door....We cut the lights....

I pulled her to me and began kissing her passionately.....She was wearing a white blouse...which I opened up and began marveling over her pink ,flowery bra...I unhooked it and began squeezing her breasts gently...

She pulled my zipper down and lightly fondled my now raging erection...She usually didn't let me go this far in the C.I.D. building...She was always afraid we'd be caught...but today..she was letting me go as far as I wanted...

"Ummmmmmmmm...I like that papi." she said........

"I like it tooo..ohhhhhhhh.." I moaned..

Something about this was different....We continued to kiss and I put my hands up her skirt and eased her panties down...She didn't remove my hands this time...and I layed her on the counter and spread her legs and entered her slowly.....I couldn't believe that we weren't stopping, like we usually do before we go too far...

 "Oh My God..you feel so good Keith..."She said as I eased her panties down and slowly eased myself inside of her on that hard table...

''Ummmmmmmmmmmmm...this feels goood ......ouuuuuuuuu....."she moaned...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh yesssssssssss...." I moaned...

 I entered her softly and gently and began to stroke her softly and slowly....She moaned and put her arms around my neck and drew me closer to her..She wrapped her legs around my waste and we began to move in a slow, yet deliberate rhythm for quite some time......

  I stared  into Carlotta's  gorgeous brown eyes  and I continued to make love to her like nobody's business...I wanted to savor this experience, So I took my time...

I made slow, steady sweet love to Carlotta until we both climaxed.......

Carlotta fixed her hair and her blouse and her skirt...She looked at me and smiled..


I fixed my pants and shirt and my suit jacket and smiled...She fixed my tie...


"Wow...That was amazing." I said.


''Finally let you do it to me in a CID office." she said.


"Yes...Oh wow ,that was the best.." I said.

"Take me home...I'm tired..." she said.


It was near the end of the day anyway...


"I have  to stop by my office.."I said.


"Okay, I'll go with you.."she said.


I smiled...


"Does that mean some more...freaky sneaky?" I laughed...


Carlotta busted out laughing...


"Don't you ever get enough?? Don't answer that." she said.


"I'm just kidding babes...Let me get those papers and we can go home." I laughed...


We looked around and then we walked down the hall and out to the parking lot where Sissy was talking to Lt. Cantrell ,who had tracked her down...

''Ohhhh ,hey ADA...I didn't know you were still here ...but how would you not be with your pretty little wifey still here?" laughed Lt. Cantrell...Sissy had a pained look on her face...

"Well Sissy..uh ah...I'll talk to you tomorrow....You sure have been busy lately...I've been by everyday and you've been gone...I've been checkin out the dailies...Two big cases.....You got great detectives workin for ya...You oughta sit back and not be so hands on....And let me put mah hands on you! Heh ,heh, heh." he laughed as he walked away...


Carlotta and I smiled...


"Hope we weren't breaking up something." I laughed.

"Oh Hush up!...I'm so glad you two came when you did!  God...I was doing so good at ducking that man and he finally caught me." said Sissy.

"We got a long day tomorrow." I said.


"Yeah guys...let's get some sleep...that is if you two can." laughed Sissy.
The three of us laughed!


(CONCLUSION NEXT)