My wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez Wallace and I stood in the garage of the Criminal Investigative Division kissing passionately....
"Damn girl, I don't want to let you go." I said in between long kisses...
''Awwwww,I don't want to let you go either...but I have to...or we won't make it to work." she said laughing.
"Yeah...you're right...We've got a triple murder to work on." I said.
"Okay..that's enough...I'll stand here until you calm down a bit..then we'll go upstairs." she said.
''Wow...Thanks..." I said.
We held hands and walked towards the elevator... We saw Duke and Hazel and Tyriq and Sirena...They no doubt had played out the same drama we had just played out somewhere in the parking lot.
Lt. Cantrell was right..We did have a "love shack" over here in this office...Time would tell if this was a good arrangement or not.
II-
When we arrived upstairs at the office..We found Detective James "Jimmy" Barlow already up there and talking to several uniformed policemen...
"Jimmy!! Have you been here all night?" asked Tyriq.
"Yeah man and it paid off in spades...I got a hit!" he said.
''Oh? You caught somebody on tape?" asked Carlotta.
''Sure did...This cool cat."said Jimmy passing a glossy of a short blond haired man with sunglasses on , a dark black shirt, black slacks and black shoes leaving the Flores house on Saturday morning of last week around 3:30 am...
Duke looked at the photo...
"This matches the description of a guy seen leaving the house of Rico and my victim, Ms. Townsend...A white guy in that neighborhood of her stood out like a sore thumb...a couple of people remember seeing this guy arriving with our victim and leaving alone early Monday morning..." he said.
"Yeah and I checked video from your crime scene and look...There he is again..Same guy, dressed the same way ,leaving your spot....and there is more...A day later...Same guy...leaving the South Street home of Hop and Sirena's victim..." said Jimmy.
"Only thing is..we don't know who he is." said Sissy.
"Wrong my esteemed Lieutenant...I ran his image through our new computer system over there....The one we got from Homeland security..Naturally, he has no criminal record and he wasn't in VICAP...So I cross checked it with Motor Vehicles in a series of States and I got a hit!!!...His name is Claude Geter and he's from Boley,Oklahoma..He's 25... I called down there...Nobody has seen or heard from him since last year...They gave me an Atlanta address...I called Atlanta...They had nothin...I got no Philly address and no phone number for him here...but that's him..That's definitely him." said Jimmy.
Tyriq and Duke smiled...
''Good pull Junior..." they both said.
Carlotta pulled Jimmy to the side....
"Talk to me partner." she said.
"Huh? about what Carlotta?" he said.
"Where is Angie? The last time you worked by yourself like this is before you had a girlfriend." said Carlotta.
Jimmy confided to her...
"I can't lie to you Carlotta. I'm mad at Angie...I wasn't spying on her...but her phone was ringing one day last week...She wasn't in the room...Guess who it was from? Our old friend, Soloman Foster, as in the Rat Foster...Former ADA who set Duke up...Who gave sensitive information to Minolo Sennterro!!...He's in town testifying in some case...
He's down at the City jail...Calling Angie...Supposedly she had a relationship with him that she didn't tell me about...She wrote him a few times and went to visit him once...She broke it off with him, but she didn't bother to tell him about me and her...just told him she was in a relationship,like she was ashamed of me or something...I told him I was her boyfriend and the bastard laughed...like I was joking or something..." said Jimmy..
"I'm sure there is an explanation...Have you talked to Angie?" asked Carlotta.
"A little bit...but I've been keeping my distance...and as you see, so has she.." he said.
"Oh Jimmy." said Carlotta...
"Forget it...Lou is here...We gotta go down to Allied Comunications and talk to them." he said. ''We'll talk later."
Carlotta didn't know what I knew about Angie and Soloman writing each other and talking on the phone for a hot minute when he first went to prison...And only Sissy knew that it was Soloman who gave me that information about the bodies being in those cans at the bottom of the ocean...
Maybe I'd tell Carlotta....but Duke and Tyriq and even Jimmy was another matter..They hated Soloman.
III-
You can imagine the shock of the people at Allied Communications when I, Keith Wallace, the Assistant District Attorney and the Lieutenant of Philadelphia Homicide , Sissy Van Buren descended on them with four of our crack detectives and five uniformed policemen..
"It isn't everyday that we get a visit from law enforcement like this."said the Assistant station manager, Bradley Williams.
''Well two of your employees were murdered..." said Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor.
"Annette Flores and Juanita Townsend" said Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace.
"Naturally you can understand our concern." said Detective Tyriq Pile.
''Oh yes..Yes...Annette Flores was our receptionist and Ms. Townsend was the production assistant to one of our producers and casting directors...Van Wilder...Neither Ms. Flores or Ms. Townsend showed up for work on Monday and we called them both several times..|It was very strange...both young ladies had a great working record....But since our producer,Mr. Wilder didn't come to work Monday either...We thought that maybe he had them both with him..."said Bradley Williams..
''You ever see this guy before?..."said Jimmy showing him a photo of Claude Jeters.
"No...he doesn't look familliar to me.." said Mr. Williams...
''Well how about this guy here with the blond hair?"said Jimmy showing him another photo...
"Yeah...Yeahhh...I remember him..That's Thor!!!" he said.
''Thor? His name is Thor Blake..." said Bradley Williams..
"No...His name is Claude Jeters...He's from Oklahoma..It's the same guy...He dyed his hair blond." said Jimmy...
"Oh....It is him! He told us his name was Thor Blake and that he was a model...He wanted to be a contestant on our show-The Last Bachelor...He gave us a bunch of head shots of himself and photos of him modeling clothes in fashion shows.. He used to flirt with Ms.Flores...Took her to lunch a few times..." said Bradley Williams..
''What about him and Juanita Townsend?"asked Sissy.
"He took them both to lunch...He was trying to get in good with them so that they could put in a good word with Mr. Wilder..." he said.
"Did they?" I asked..
''Nah...He didn't have the look we wanted..He was too short, too scrawney...If you've ever seen our show..Our guys are all six feet or over, athletic build,like Detective Baylor over there... and you Mr. Wallace. Mr. Wilder turned him down cold....He didn't take it too well either..He said that he had walked out of his apartment in Atlanta and gave up his deposit and he had sold his car just so he could have some money to live off of until he got this job....He said he desperately needed this job...but we couldn't hire him..." he said.
"This Thor fella...Does he have a home address?" asked Carlotta...
"Here is his W-9..You might want to check this address out." he said and handed it to her.
"Can we speak to Mr. Wilder?" asked Tyriq...
"Funny thing about him...We haven't seen or heard from him since Friday Night." said
Mr. Williams..
IV-
''Nothing...I've called about six times and it's going straight into voice mail." I said.
Jimmy and two other uniformed officers came running up...
Carlotta, Sirena and Hop looked at the car....
''Normally we do...But I'm going to make this call right here...I think a crime may have been committed...so I'm authorizing you to take that door off the hinges." I said to one of the policemen who grabbed a battering ram.
"What if you're wrong and he's in there naked in the bed with his girl or his guy?" asked Sissy with that devilish grin of hers that I loved..
"Well...I guess the city is going to have to buy him a new door..." I said...
Jimmy,Carlotta, Duke, Tyriq,Sirena,Sissy and Hop all laughed...
And then we entered his home...Two burley policemen hit the door and the smell immediately told me that Van Wilder wouldn't be demanding that we put his door up....
Carlotta entered first with a flashlight and her gun drawn...It was dark...Duke and Tyriq followed her with guns drawn....Sissy, Jimmy, Sirena ,Hop and myself followed...
We flicked the lights on....The living room was empty and surprisingly neet...The kitchen was clean..every dish washed and stacked...
Yet the smell of decomposing human remains remained...
Jimmy,Tyriq,Hop and several uniformed policeman ran down into the basement...
"Clear" they yelled..
Sissy, Carlotta,Sirena and Duke headed upstairs and there in the master bedroom was a horrific sight...
Van Wilder was clad only in his boxer shorts,lying in a pool of blood on his bed...He had been shot twice in his head and once in his torso....The smell was awful....
''Our blonde suspect is an ambitious little guy...He's keeping us running." said Jimmy, who had just entered the room with Tyriq and Hop and uniformed policemen behind him.
Duke picked up a trash recepticle and walked him into the hall, where he vomited his guts out....He was very embarrassed, especially with Sirena ,his new partner witnessing it..
Tyriq looked on with pride...
"I'm on it Top!" said Duke..
''What are you doing here??...I don't think our suspect is a cop unless you know something I don't." I joked.
''He's inside...He and Carlotta are examining the body..." I said.
"Well Hazel is here to look at the body...He has some time...Especially since the whole damn unit is practically here...I ran into Hazel when I stopped by the office looking for Sissy...When Carlotta called Hazel. Hazel and Sharon told me about this murder scene and the case..I figured that Jimmy would be here." she said.
"He and Duke and Hop are the primaries "I said.
"I'm sure Carlotta ,Sissy, Rico ,Duke,Sirena and Hop can hold it down." she said.
Jimmy appeared in the doorway...
"I came to talk to you...I know you're mad at me...You have good reason to be...I should have told Soloman that I was seeing you and I should have been a little more forthcoming with you...I'm sorry...I was scared..." she said.
"Of a lot of things...Things I'm not scared of now...I told Soloman the whole deal...He called again and I told him not to call me anymore ,that I was your girl now...That is,if I still am your girl." she said.
Jimmy stood there,stoic...
Duke had heard the whole thing...I heard him whisper to Jimmy...
"Are you crazy man? You gonna be mad at someone as fine as her? Have you looked at her? Mann, you better make up with her and act like you got some sense...I know you aint had no good lovin in about a week.."he said.
I smiled when I heard that. Angie was looking exceptionally good tonight...
"Come here chocolate cup cake." he said. Angie giggled like a school girl when he called her that...I was surprised at her...Had never seen this side of her before..
"Chocolate cup cake?is that what he calls her ?" asked Duke ...
"It makes sense." I said.
Duke smiled.. So did I.
Angie smiled and walked over to Jimmy...He put his arms around her...She was crying a little bit...He walked her across the street...
"Don't cry Angie...I'm scared too sometimes..." he said... They stood beneath a tree across the street and kissed passionately.
I tapped Duke on the shoulder and we walked back inside... Sharon and Hazel were examining the body ..Sissy was watching...Sirena and Tyriq were holding hands in the corner of the room and Hop was talking to a few uniformed policemen...
Carlotta walked over to me...
"Where's my partner?" she asked.
"Angie is here??... Did They make up?" asked Carlotta.."
"Yeah ,you little matchmaker you." I said and hugged my wife. Carlotta just smiled..
We still had a mass murder to solve...
(TO BE CONTINUED..)
1 comment:
The ending of this was sooo sweet...I want to see more of Jimmy and Angie's relationship...We see way too much of Keith and Carlotta...And let's see more of Duke and Hazel too!
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