The North Star

My wife, Carlotta is a very charming woman....I'm not saying that because she's my wife...I'm saying that because it's true...I've seen her in action and not just on me...So sitting outside the North Star Bar in a van watching a live feed of her in action was amusing....Me? I'm Assistant District Attorney,Keith Wallace...My wife is Homicide Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace....

When Carlotta entered this bar, heads turned...She was not a regular for one thing and like I said...She had a charming nature about her...One person she had charmed was our suspect...Charles Dance...a major narcotics trafficker and an associate of our murder victim.."Turk" Gentry.

Dance gravitated towards Carlotta like a fish to water.....He bought her a few drinks and soon they got into a conversation about drugs...

"So you say that your employer is looking to distribute a lot of weight eh?" said Dance ,leering at Carlotta's breasts and her open blouse...

"Yes...but he is thinking about moving his operation soon...He's been having problems out of a cop." she said.

"A cop? He's under investigation?" asked Dance...

"That might be better....This cop wants money..." she complained...

"Yeah...some do...I had a partner....He was going through the same thing..He didn't want to play ball...I used to tell him...Turk look...that's the price of doing business...You duke a cop a couple of bucks and a judge or two and you go about your business.....But see...He didn't want to play ball..He was talking about going to this Assistant District Attorney....A cat named Wallace and reporting the dirty cop....I told him...Look.....You do that and you'll be tellin on yourself..I said...Look, we got a good thing goin...Just cool it...But he wouldn't let up.....To make matters work..The cop was under investigation anyway  by his own department....I told him...be cool and this cop might be out of your way anyway...He still wouldn't buy it. What really made him angry was when he found out the cop was taking his stash and reselling it himself."  said Charles...

"Wow...Did he rat the cop out?" asked Carlotta...

"Nahhh..I don't play that...too much money involved...I went to the dirty cop myself and pulled his coat...and uh the cop and his partners set him up and uh took care of him....I  hated for that to happen..He was my partner...but it was too much money involved....Now uh, enough shop talk sugar...how about me and you get out of here and go someplace quiet...have some wine and uhhhh take it from there?" he laughed...

"Lawdd have mercy you fine...Skin so soft...like a baby..and you smell so good..and your legs....You turnin me on girl...I aint gonna lie.." he said.

"Take a cold shower .....I don't think I can do that papi....See, I'm married..." said Carlotta showing him her wedding band..

''Damnnnn that's nice...Your husband is a lucky man." he chuckled.

"Yes...and you know that Assistant District Attorney....the cat named Wallace...Keith Wallace??? He's my husband.....I'm a cop!"She said and flashed her badge...

"Damn it." he said and dashed out the back door of the bar and into the hands of Detective Sirena Pile and Detective Tony Hopkins and five uniformed Philadelphia Policemen....

"Dance...Show me your hands!" said Hop as Sirena put the handcuffs on him... Carlotta walked out of the bar and gave them both the thumbs up...

Sirena high fived Carlotta...

"My girl...Damn Carlotta, you are good..." she said laughing...

"Did you get it" asked Carlotta.

"Every word girl...That wire worked very good..." said Sirena...

"Boss Lady wired me real good...Nice fitting bra and dress....I felt so comfortable "joked Carlotta...

"Do I need to hear this?" joked Hop...

''Woman talk partner" joked Sirena as Carlotta laughed.

I walked over to Charles Dance....

"Mr. Dance...I'm ADA Keith Wallace..." I said.

He looked at me and grimaced....

"I gathered as much" he sneered...

''I see you've met my wife?"I said jokingly...

"Damnnnnn....of all the women in the bar and I have to get drunk and horny and start talking to your damn wife." he said.

"She does the same thing to me...Gets me horny and gets damn near anything she wants out of me...What can I say?" I said smiling...

"That aint funny man." he said.

"No I guess it isn't." I said laughing.

II-

At the Low End Theory Bar... Detective Tyriq Pile walked up to the bar and ordered a beer.....The talkative bartender eased up to him...

"You don't look like a regular." he said.

"I'm not...This is my first time here.." said Tyriq...

"You look like a cop." he said.

"Do I?" asked Tyriq...

"Yeah....I don't want no trouble..." he said.

"Well, you should have thought about that before you slipped a ruthie in a cop's drink." he said.

"You are a cop!" he said.

"No grass grows under your feet Vinnie." laughed Tyriq as he finished his beer..

Vince Culligan turned and attempted to run out of the bar only to be hit and knocked off his feet by Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor...

"Ohhhhh, hold it now Vinnie....Let's not get crazy babe." he said laughing...

Just then the sound of a shotgun cocking was heard....It was the assistant Bartender, Jack "Curly" Brunner...

Duke looked at him and smiled...

"You can't be serious man..We are cops...."

Another sound of a gun clicking was heard.....Detective James "Jimmy" Barlow had his glock aimed at Curly's head....

''Drop the shotty Slim...Do it now!"barked Jimmy....

"Good Lookin out Junior and welcome back" said Duke..

"Much obliged." said Jimmy.

He did as he was told and Tyriq handcuffed Vince Culligan, While Duke handcuffed Curly...Five uniformed policemen entered the bar and subdued both men....

I stood outside The Low End Theory Bar as Tyriq,Duke and Jimmy brought both men out....

"Good work guys....This thing is coming together..." I said.

III-

 At C.I.D. Lt. Sissy Van Buren passed Detective Angela Belton her badge and her gun...

"I never thought you were guilty....I knew we'd prove that you were innocent." said Sissy...


"Thank you guys so much for believing in me...I don't know what to say...I love you guys so much..."she said Crying...

By then I had returned....

I hugged Angie....

''Carlotta, Tyriq,Duke,Hazel Sirena,Hop, Jimmy and Sharon never gave up on you...They worked around the clock until they had enough to clear you...."I said.

''Where are they?" she asked...

"They picked up three people who were instrumental in setting you up...Charles Dance...He's a major player....He's the guy you danced with...that bought you the drink... The Bartenders....Vince Culligan and Curly Brunner...They put the ruthie in your drink and the body in the car...Dance drove you to that underpath and left you...We got em all...." I said.

"All except Delorca...He put this whole thing together..." said Angie...

"We are close to getting him...don't worry...Right now..We've got to find your friend...Sally...She's the key to this whole thing..." said Sissy.

Carlotta walked into the office just then with Jimmy...

Angie hugged Carlotta tight for a long time....

"Thank you girlllll....You ran a tight ship and you got the job done...Thank you soo much little sister." said Angie...

I had to admit...I was touched...

"You're cleared..and I've got an idea of who killed that man in your trunk and why.
I don't know if you know this...but that cop you were investigating...Tim Delorca... He was seeing Detective Sally Conroy...and they had been an item for quite some time...It's not in any report....I was over at Narcotics....Just talking with some of the detectives I know over there and I heard the scoop via gossip...I was looking for Sally....Who hasn't reported to work in three days..."
said Carlotta.

"I can help you with that!!!....She's believe it or not ...undercover...She's working a target that the FBI has been shadowing for quite some time now...The Philly P.D. and The FBI are about to take this guy down tonight...His name is Phillip Manilla...Major drug and gun runner....Just thought you guys would like to know that." said FBI Special Agent Sharon Ferrell -Hopkins...

Sissy smiled....She looked at us...

"You know...I'd love to watch a textbook FBI-Philadelphia Police sting in action...That I'm not a part of...How about you Chica? , Keith? ,Angie girl?" she asked.

''Anybody got any popcorn?" I laughed...

 IV-

We were in two vans...and we sat at a distance...

In One van... Detectives Tyriq Pile, Sirena Pile, Duke Baylor , Dr. Hazel Hunter  and Detective Tony Hopkins sat....

In the van behind them, I sat with my wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace, Detective Jimmy Barlow and  newly re-instated Detective Angela Belton and Lt. Sissy Van Buren..

"This is going to be good" said Sissy into her walkie talkie....

''Lou...This is going to be better than anything I've ever watched on Television."laughed Tyriq on his walkie talkie from the first car...

On signal...A slew of FBI agents, backed by Philadelphia Narcotics Detectives raided two homes that were next to each other...a total of 53 people were arrested....

Detective Sally Conroy came out of one house with Drug Suspect...Phillip Manilla in handcuffs.....

FBI Special Agent in Charge , Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins supervised the entire operation...

She grabbed Detective Conroy....

"Oh wait a minute Detective...Someone uh wants to talk to you." she said.

"Talk to me?  I've been undercover for three days working these guys....If they want to talk to me ,I hope they have a cold beer." she laughed...

"How about some cold handcuffs?" came the voice of Detective Carlotta Rodriguez..

Sally looked up....

"Carlotta, what are you doing here...This is a drug bust....Not a homicide..." she said.

Carlotta tossed the handcuffs to Detective Jimmy Barlow....

"Detective...You're under arrest for kidnapping, attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder..." said Jimmy as he handcuffed her...

"What?? You got it all wrong..." she protested...

Detective Angie Belton and Lt. Sissy Van Buren walked over to her...

"Damn Sally, how could you? We been friends all these damn years....How could you?" asked Angie...

"I want My F.O.P. lawyer." was all she'd say..

"I want your badge and your gun..." said Sissy....

''Sissy...Come on girl...How long we've known each other? we took the detectives examination together...We come up throught the ranks together?" she said.

''Even more of a reason why I don't understand what you did." said Sissy.

''It's not what you think?" she said. "I was gonna come to you." she said.

"You should have." said Sissy.

One of the drug suspects witnessed the whole thing and tapped his buddy...

"Will you look at this? One of the Narcos that set us up is being busted her damn self...Ohhhhhh wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww." he said.

His buddy, in handcuffs began howling with laughter.....So did most of the arrested guys who witnessed the entire thing..

I have to admit...It was indeed strange...To be busted by someone one minute after you busted several criminals....

They weren't the only ones laughing...Duke,Tyriq and Hop were laughing so loud...it wasn't funny...Sirena and Hazel were laughing and trying to shush them...

Sally Conroy looked at Sissy...

"Please don't make me do the perp walk with those guys...I just busted them..." she pleaded...

Sissy looked at her...

"I'm going to show you more mercy than you showed my girl, Angie here....Duke,Tyriq, Hop...you got room in your van for one more?" asked Sissy...

"NO!" said Duke laughing...

Sissy smiled at Duke and said...

"Stop playing...Tell Hop to ride back with Sharon...I'm sure he won't mind?" she said.

"Lou, We laughing too hard in here ,come on." said Tyriq...

Sissy shook her head....She located a patrol car...

" Officer Mills, take her down to Central booking, lock her up...."said Sissy...

"I'm on it Lou." he said and placed Sally Conroy in the squad car....

FBI Special Agent Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins walked over to us...

"Can my boo ride back with me? I'm missin my hubby somethin terrible..Yall got him workin so hard." she jokingly asked...

"Of course he can." said Sissy ,who hugged her....

"I can't thank you enough....Tell him...He's got a day off tomorrow if he wants it.." she said.

Hop walked over to Sharon...They were kissing passionately...Even after they were both in her car...I feared that they wouldn't make it to their house...I smiled...I knew the feeling...

Sissy walked over to the van...

"Duke, Rico,Hazel Sirena, You all can come in at noon tomorrow...Good work guys....Same for you Chica.." she said.

From a distance we saw Angie and Jimmy in the field kissing passionately...Oblivious to everyone else in the area...I smiled...

Carlotta pointed up to the sky...

"Look papi.....at the sky....The North Star..." she said...

"Yeah...it's beautiful." I said...Looking at the North Star and wondering about it's significance....

Carlotta gently pulled me to her and kissed me softly....Her body was so soft and I had missed it...I held her in a warm embrace and began kissing her passionately....She softly broke our embrace and smiled at me..

"I promised you something good...Take me home papi...We've got all night and a good part of the morning." she said..

I hugged Carlotta...and kissed her forehead..

"Sounds like a plan babes!" I said.

The FBI vans began to pull off as well as the police cars...As Carlotta and I walked to our van... Only Jimmy and Angie were still on the street kissing...

(CONCLUSION NEXT)