Monday, July 15, 2013

Road Runner

A Saturday Morning, Two weeks after my wife, Carlotta and I moved from my loft into our new house...It was a balmy, overcast day...I felt good...I felt a part of the community I served and hung out in now...Most of my neighbors ,if not all were people that Carlotta and I hung out with in Josies, Sam Mother's Diner, Chris and Chess's shopping center and Mabel Jenkins soul Food joints...Now I wasn't driving half way across town to be with them ,We were right here amongst them!

We had a washer and a dryer in the basement of our new home, but they hadn't been hooked up yet...So I took a basket of laundry to the laundromat and was sorting it out...During the week, I am Assistant District Attorney, Keith Porterhouse Wallace....and my wife is Homicide Detective, Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace..On the weekend and or whenever I'm off....I'm merely Carlotta's husband!...

I divided the coloreds from the whites in two different washing machines...Put in just the right amount of detergent in one and bleach in the others and then got the bedspreads and pillowcases  ready for the third washing machine...

Pretty dull mundane stuff...I'm usually telling you about some horrible murder and all of my detectives are usually just about to crack some case....No such luck today...I'm doing laundry...Not even thinking about going anywhere near the C.I.D. building (Criminal Investigations Divison of the Philadelphia Police Department) where most of the best detectives called home.


I was surprised I didn't see anybody I knew like Kevin Morris or Gus or Mabel Or Bridget Jones...They all lived and worked around here...They all had homes and more than likely had their washer and dryer hooked up already...

After I got the wash started..I peered over into a corner of the laundromat....There was the first familiar face...Detective Tyriq Pile, who next to my wife,Carlotta of course is probably the detective I'm closest to..
He and his wife, Detective Serena Pile were in a corner of the laundromat, back past the dryers, Kissing like two lovestruck teenagers...oblivious to everybody....It wasn't many people in here and it was early in the morning...I was kind of surprised...At work Tyriq is such a cool , suave guy....I just didn't expect him to be showing all this PDA....

I didn't know his wife....I had met her a few times...But we weren't friendly the way say I'm friendly with Dr. Hazel Hunter, Duke's girl or FBI agent,Sharon Ferrell, Hop's girl or Angie Belton and Eddie C. , the significant others of Detective James "Jimmy"Barlow and my good friend, Lieutenant Sissy Van Buren..

I imagine that all of them were sleeping right now...We'd had a pretty intense couple of weeks...We'd all earned some time off..

I put my headphones on and listened to some music....I sat down in one of the hard plastic chairs and was just about to zone out when I received the softest, slowest kiss I'd had in awhile...I looked up and smiling at me and holding two tumblers of coffee was my wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace.

"Hey you!" I said smiling...

"Heyyy Honey bunny..I brought you some coffee." she said and sat down next to me..

I pointed to Tyriq and his wife Serena in the corner kissing...Carlotta smiled a warm smile...

"You know his wife don't you?" I said.

"Oh yes..Very well..I'm the godmother of two of their three children." she said.

"Yeah,I remember when we were in Puerto Rico..You told me that."

"I want me and you to be just like them." said Carlotta...

"We already are like them...Sissy says that I follow you around like a puppy and slobber all over you." I laughed...

"Yes..You do now, because we are still kind of new...They've been married for three years and have three kids and they still can't keep their hands off of each other...Three years from now, I want you to still be chasing me around the bedroom and trying to rip my clothes off when I come home like you do now." laughed Carlotta....

I looked at her and smiled slyly....

"I don't think that will be a problem at all...not judging by some of the panties and bras I saw in that laundry basket.."

She playfully hit my arm....Then she said.

''Funny thing about those two...When they first met, you would have never thought that they would be married and have three kids one day...." said Carlotta.

"Oh?" I said.

"Yeah...When they first met, they couldn't stand each other....I would've predicted that Duke or Jimmy or me might be standing over one of them in the street outlined by chalk." she said laughing at the memory.

"Really?" I said.

"Yeah it was something." she mused..

"Look....I'm not doing anything but sitting here watching clothes spin around...Tell me the story of how they met?" I said.

Carlotta looked at me and smiled..."Okay..Once upon a time in the city of Philadelphia.....There were two detectives........"

II-



Robbery-Homicide Divison, Early Summer 2010..
I was at my desk in Robbery -Homicide getting some papers ready for a court appearence when my partner ,Detective Tyriq Pile asked me...

"Hey Top, what'cha got going on this morning?" 

"I have a court appearence this morning, why?" I said.

"Oh because I got a lead on our boy, Gerald Glenn Felton...My informant told me where he might be hiding out..." said Tyriq...

"Okay, well look...I won't be in court that long...Wait til I come back and we can go pick him up." I said.

Gerald Glenn Felton was a heist guy...He called himself "The Road Runner"...He had eluded law enforcement for close to six years and had just taken down a huge score...Close to one million dollars...Tyriq  and I had been on this guy for close to six months and he used to call us up and taunt us...I didn't pay it any mind, But it was starting to get under Rico's skin...He had cleared his desk of all of his cases and had concentrated everything on nabbing this guy....

I gotta tell you something about Rico...He was and is a very,very snappy dresser and he is a very precise and particular man...You're his friend Keith...You know that....On this day he was showing off a rather expensive pair of shoes he had just purchased..

''Hey Top....Look at that shine baby." he said.

"You could see your reflection in that papi...Sure you want to wear those shoes on the job?" I said.

"Look the part, be the part Top...One day...You and Me, we are going to be in Homicide like my boy Duke,Real Homicide..Not this Robbery-Homicide bull...Those are the elite Detectives...They all dress well..You've seen Lt.Sissy Van Buren, how sharp she is." said Tyriq..

I had and I was very impressed with Boss Lady...I had only met her once at the time , but I had seen her on Television after some major case was cracked..She was always on Point..and When Duke Baylor would come to visit or Angie Belton, they were always sharp and on point.

"We got to start dressin for success little partner..." said Tyriq..

''So you're not going to wait for me to get out of court?" I said with a fake pout."

"Top, you know I love you doll, but this guy has slipped out of my grasp...Three times before...Not gonna be a fourth...I gotta get him." said Tyriq.."You're my partner...You get credit for the collar anyway whether you're there or not...You put in a lot of legwork on this case...and don't think I don't appreciate it." he said.

"Okay Rico...Go get him...Be easy Papi." I said.

"Always Top." he said.

His informant had tipped him that our guy would be at this bar in North Philly...Should have been an easy collar right??

Wrong....Some things just aint easy.

III-
The Bar was called -''The  Bitter End"...Pretty nice upscale establishment, considering the neighborhood...Gerald Glenn Felton sometimes called "G.G." sometimes called the Road Runner was sitting at the bar chatting with what Tyriq told me was the most sexiest ,petite little woman he had ever laid eyes on...Take a guess who it was...

''So listen baby...Saturday, You and I could slide to Atlantic City, Check out Jay Z's club...40/40...Go to Borgata, have dinner, see a show and then you know...Hit the casinos...gamble a bit...I could spot you two thousand and let you see how far your luck goes." said .Gerald Glenn Felton.

"Ouu Baby..You got dough like that and you hangin around here?" said the woman...

"That aint nothin...I took you out last night for lobster and I dropped like two hunnard and did I look like it hurt me?" he said.

"No,it didn't...What do you do for a living? You don't seem like you work..I mean you're always home and yet you got all this dough to spend on me.." she asked.

"Baby...I do work, but just not like other people....I work uh when I need to..." he laughed...

"You don't sell drugs do you?" she asked.

"Nahhh, that's for dirty people..Let's say that I'm in commodities...Heh heh,heh." he laughed...

"That's a nice way to put it G.G." said Tyriq, who had been sitting with his back turned to the two of them.

"You're under arrest G.G." said Tyriq...

"I don't think so Detective Pile..." he said and he grabbed the woman, put his .45 to her head...Surprisingly, she was as cool as a cucumber...She didn't scream or flinch...The other customers in the bar screamed and dove for cover...The bartender looked like he was going to push some button and Gerald shot him in the arm..

Tyriq pulled his glock out...But Gerald aimed at the plate glass window and shot at it...The entire window exploded...

"I'll get back baby" he said and shoved the woman into Tyriq...He then ran out of the bar....

Tyriq followed him in hot pursuit....It was now starting to rain....hard...Tyriq aimed and fired and missed.. He then dove behind a car...

Gerald returned his fire and ducked behind cars also... What followed was a wild gunbattle between Tyriq and Gerald... Between them 32 shells were fired...and miraculously , neither one of them and no one else was hit....Tyriq was dodging in between cars shooting and Gerald was ducking and dodging and shooting , while bystanders attempted to not only get in from the hard downpour, but get out of the way of the two men, running and shooting at each other!!!

Tyriq followed him to an alley where he found.....Nothing!!!....Gerald had vanished...seemingly into thin air...

He turned to walk back to the bar ,when he heard a car pull off....He aimed his gun, only to be splashed with a huge puddle of water!!!!!Ruining his suit and his new shoes... He was not a happy camper...

IV-

I arrived with several uniformed policemen who were counting shells and searching the neighborhood for clues...Tyriq was soaking wet...He had mud and water all over him...He was very angry... I passed him a tumbler of coffee...

"Next time you get one of these tips Rico...it would be wise of you to take your partner and or some back up officers...That way, this type of thing doesn't happen." I said and smiled at him...

Mad as Rico was...He never could get mad at me...He managed to laugh a little bit...

"I can't believe he got away from me again!!!...He made me look like a fool Top." he said.

"I'll say he did, Cowboy." came the voice of the woman who had been with Glenn...

"You his girlfriend?" asked Tyriq.

"He thinks I am...I'd like to keep it that way....I was wearing a wire...I was this close to getting him to talk about the heists he's pulled when you showed up and ruined my play...I must admit...you did look quite good out there with that street action." she said.

"Wire? You a cop?" asked Tyriq....

"Aren't you the smart one today!!!....Yes I'm a cop!" she said and pulled out her badge and ID....

"I'm Detective Sirena Harris, Special Investigations...I've been on this guy for a month..." she said.

"Yeah..Well I've been on him for six months..." said Tyriq...

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Detective Tyriq Pile, Robbery -Homicide...This is my partner, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez..." he said.


"Robbery-Homicide eh? Well, you guys can cool your jets...Hopefully I can catch up with him and have him in custody within a few weeks." she said.

"You want us to back off? Uh-Uh baby...I been on this guy too long..." said Tyriq.

"Six months and you still haven't caught him." she said.

''Yeah? I don't see him in your  handcuffs tonight either?" said Tyriq...

"Just stay out of my way okay?  I'm going to try to hook up with him again.." she said.

"What makes you think he'll contact you again?" asked Tyriq...

"Look at me Detective...I got more of what he wants than you do." she said.


I laughed when she said that...

"See your partner thinks so too ." she said.

"If you get him first fine...If I get him...He's mine!" said Tyriq...

"And your partner is a poet too huh Carlotta?" she said...

I shrugged my shoulders...

''He is many things." I said.

"Indeed! Well,it's been nice chatting with you good  people, but I must  go...I don't want anybody to see me talking to the po-po too long..." she said.

"Good night Detective Harris." I said.

''Good Night... Detective Rodriguez is it?" she said.

"Yes.." I said..

"Come on Top,let's get out of here." said Tyriq...

"Gooood Night Detective Pile....Get some dry clothes." she laughed.

Tyriq didn't say a word..


We drove home in his car , he grumbled about three things mainly. One, ruining his suit, Two,how much he hated Gerald Glenn Felton and  three,how much he despised that uppity Detective Harris...I think his disdain for her was the top conversation..

"I'm going to look her up ,see what her deal is when I get to work tomorrow." he said.

I smiled...

"What are you smiling about Top?" he said.

"You know she's a cop...Why are you doin a make on her? Felton is the one you should be concerned about?" I said.

"I know about him..I want to know why this Special Investigations Detective is on our case and nobody bothered to tell us about it?" He asked...

"You know what I think Rico?" I said.

"What Top?" he asked..

"I think you like her." I said.

"Huh? , What? You're crazy Top!" he said.

V-

I laughed at the story.....

"Babes this is an incredible story...I've always been interested in what your life was like before you and I met." I said.

''We had met...I used to see you on the elevator.. You would speak , but you didn't notice me much other than that.." said Carlotta.

"Believe me I was noticing you...I just wasn't saying anything.." I said.

"I sure wish you had...I was pretty lonely back then.." she said..

''Are they still over there kissing?" I asked.

"No they left out the back...Let's go get some breakfast Honey Bunny...These clothes aren't going anywhere." said Carlotta.

"Okay."I said.

"I'll tell you the rest of the story." said Carlotta.


(TO BE CONTINUED)



10 comments:

Tate 2 said...

Great lead in...Lots of action...Nice to see Carlotta narrating the story for a change!

Swaggie said...

Damn man, this was good..I loved the street action between Tyriq and G.G.

James Perkins said...

WOW! This started off with a bang..

Toni said...

I like that Carlotta is narrating most of this story...Like seeing the world through her eyes.

Angie B. said...

Another great story lead in...I love these charactors...

Lisa said...

This looks like it's going to be good.

Halo said...

Glad you're focusing on Tyriq...He's the detective that the least is known about!

Vanessa said...

So Carlotta and Tyriq were once partners before they became part of Keith and Sissy's elite unit eh? No wonder they work so well together!

Brenda said...

@Vanessa- That has been mentioned in several stories that Carlotta and Tyriq were partners before...Carlotta and Jimmy and Carlotta and Duke worked together before joining Keith Wallace's special investigative unit of Homicide.

Sunflower said...

You've finally brought the ruckus to this storyline...That's okay...I know that the violence isn't the main focus.Great story!