Just Another Murder

I had just come out of court...When I got a text from my wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace to come down to the Marriot in Downtown Philly ASAP!  I secretly hoped she had a room booked and plans for a secret sexy romp in the afternoon...but I knew that that wasn't the case...This was business..And in her line of work, it meant that somebody important was dead!

I am an Assistant District Attorney here in Philadelphia...My name is Keith Wallace...I prosecute homicides....This was another one...

I walked from the courthouse to the Marriot on 13th and Market...Once inside...A Police Sergeant and two other policemen walked me up to the 14th floor ....  I walked inside the room and there I saw my wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace and Detective Tyriq Pile kneeling over the body of a healthy Black male in his early 30's...lying on his back in the bedroom on the floor...dead! He was clad in his boxers and a white bathrobe...

She saw me and she walked over to me and gave me a nice wet ,sloppy kiss....

"Good morning sweetie pie...And how are you?" she said smiling..

''Better than that fellow on the floor." I said.

Tyriq smiled  and shook his head.....

"Doesn't seem to be any sign of struggle or violence....No wounding of any kind..." said Tyriq...

''What do you think happened?" I said.

"He appears to have collapsed...but his complexion looks a little funny.." said Carlotta...

Just then Detective Jimmy Barlow, who I didn't know was at the scene  walked into the room..

"It smells funny around him.... Don't you think?" he said sniffing lightly...

"Yeah...like ...like Cyanide.." said Tyriq...

"It does , come to think of it." said Carlotta...

''Who is he?" I asked.

''That's why we called you Honey Bunny..He's Ernest Freeman...The son of your friend, Judge Turner Freeman." said Carlotta.

''WHAT??? I didn't know he had a son?" I said.

"He was married..years ago...Divorced...and had a son." said Tyriq..

"Hmmm, she probably left him because she got tired of him stealing her underwear." I said.

Tyriq and Jimmy cracked up laughing....

Carlotta slapped my arm playfully...

''Stop it ,all of you...a man is dead here." said my wife Carlotta...

Crime scene photographers and CSI people were now in the room examining everything.....

"Did anybody call Hazel?" I asked...

"Yes...I called her after I called you..She's on her way here now.." said Carlotta...

"Why was he here?" I asked.

"That's just the thing." said Jimmy....

"He wasn't..He's not on the guest list...He has no room...In fact...This isn't his room...It belongs to Dr. Inger Braden ...She's a medical expert for Lock 15." said Carlotta.

"What? What is Lock 15?" I asked.

"It's a Bio-Medical Corporation...Multi-national in scope...They were having a big summit here...Top secret..." said Tyriq.

''And he was here in her room?" I asked.

"Yeah...They weren't allowed to have any wifi, no cell phones, no mobile devices of any kind or to make any phone calls other than for food...it was real hush hush." said Carlotta..

''So I guess she had to have some company." I laughed...

"Where is she?" I asked.

"Duke went to get her." said Tyriq.

II-

Dr. Hazel Hunter arrived a few minutes later...She kneelled down ,examined the body and sniffed.....

"Definitely smells like Cyanide...I won't know for sure until I get him to the M.E.'s office and do a full tox scan...." she said.

Just then, Detective Edwin "Duke " Baylor , two police officers and an attractive young white woman walked into the suite...

"Okay folks , this is Dr. Inger Braden...This is her room..." he said.

She took one look at the body on the floor and began to tear up....

"Oh My God...Ernie...What happened to him?" she said, shaking and crying profusely....

"He appears to have been poisoned..." said Duke...

"He was found dead in your room by one of the maids..." said Carlotta...

"Oh My God...He was certainly alive when I left here this morning to go to our conference and our retreat.."she said.

"Is he a -ahh friend of yours?  He's not on the guest register." said Tyriq.

She looked at the floor sheepishly....

"He uh...He uh was my guest....He uh..spent the night...Is there anyway that this can be dealt with as discreetly as possible? I don't want my name in the papers...You see, I-I-I'm going through a bitter divorce." she said.

"I'm Assistant District Attorney Keith Wallace...I plan to handle this as ,well as discreetly as humanly possible mam, but I seriously don't know how I can keep all of this out of the papers...This was your room and he's not a registered guest.." I said.

"Oh my God...How could this have happened?" she said.

"I'm Detective Carlotta Wallace...I'm going to have to ask you to come downtown with us for questioning.." she said.

"Carlotta Wallace...Keith Wallace??? He's your husband isn't he?" she asked.

"Yes, he is." she said...


''Then you understand." she said.

Carlotta looked baffled...

"Everything...Being involved with a man of another race and being desperately in love with him." she said.

"Mam, just go with Detective Baylor." said Carlotta.

Tyriq and Duke chuckled....But Jimmy didn't...He understood...He was with a woman of another race..


III-

If this looked like it was a mess, it was even worse when Carlotta,Duke,Tyriq,Jimmy,Hazel and I got to C.I.D. headquarters...

Judge Turner Freeman was in Sissy's office crying like a baby..He was wearing a lavender baby doll and purple eye shadow...In addition he had on purple bikini panties, white garters and stockings, White high heels and a matching purple bra...He was so distraught he hadn't bothered to change clothes... He was hugging Sissy and bawling like a baby...She had a pained look on her face...She wanted somebody,anybody to get her out of this situation..

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH lawddddddddddddddd, my boy, my boyyy, my boy is deaddddd,lawddddddddd jesus...arrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" he cried as Sissy tried to comfort him and not laugh at the same time...

"It's alright Judge...My best detectives are on this...They'll bring your son's killer to justice..." she assured him...

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH lawddddddddddddddd, my boy, my boyyy, my boy is deaddddd,lawddddddddd jesus...arrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" he howled..

Jimmy, Tyriq and Duke took one look at the scene and busted out laughing.... Dr. Braden looked at Me and asked..

"Who is that guy?" she asked.

"That's Ernest's father." I said.

''He said his father was a judge." she said.

Carlotta and Hazel looked at me and turned their heads to conceal their laughter...

I looked at her blandly and replied...

''He is a judge...That's the honorable Judge Seamus Turner Freeman...and uh yes...he is a cross dresser." I said.

She was horrified...

"Oh My God!!!!...No wonder he never talked about him much." she said.

By now all of my detectives, including my wife and a number of uniformed policemen had excused themselves and were laughing uncontrollably...I probably would have too, except that I was embarrassed and disgusted.

IV-

I motioned to Sissy to come out of her office...

"Heyy Keith." she said.

''Heyy Sissy...We gotta close this one and close it fast...As crazy as it looks this could blow up to be a big scandalous mess." I said.

"Who are you telling?" she said.

"You think our detectives can stop laughing long enough to actually close this?" I asked.

"I hope so...Who is that woman?" she asked.

"The victim...was in her room...apparently he was an uh unofficial guest if you get my drift?" I said.

"Oh myyy..You think it was her?" asked Sissy.

"Not really, but Carlotta and Tyriq naturally want to question her."I said.

"Reporters are going to be coming here soon...Officer Jealous, Officer Nehru...Escort Judge Freeman back to his courtroom." said Sissy...

"I don't have to tell you how otherwise serious this is...A popular Black judge's son is found dead in a white woman's hotel room...a white married influential woman..It doesn't look good at all." I said.

Carlotta walked over to me...

"Honey Bunny, order some coffees and some platters from Sam Mothers...It's going to be a very long night." she said.

The good thing...We'd all be together...The Bad thing...It was going to be a long night and here...

Sissy looked at the  one empty office left and smiled..

"You know..maybe we could have some carpeting put on the floor in there and some bunk beds..I think most of us could fit in there." she said.

"Yeah, if all we want to do is sleep." said Carlotta, tongue in cheek...

Sissy and I busted out laughing...

(TO BE CONTINUED)