Good Captain Faustus

Once again I woke up in my bed by myself...but this time ,my wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace was still in the house...She was standing in the mirror putting on her lipstick and buttoning her blouse...She was indeed hot, just as Richard Beavers had stated....She saw my reflection in the mirror staring at her and she smiled and waved at me...I smiled back...

"So what is the game plan for today?" I asked...Sitting up in the bed...

"Sharon gave Rico, Jimmy and I a list of the GPS devices and other electronic devices we found on us to look up...She said to look them up, find out where they were purchased and who purchased them..." she said.

"So you guys will be gone for most of the day." I mused...

"Maybe two days..however long it takes to run everything down...Hazel gave Sirena and Hop the description of the knife and the kind of rope used....They have the more difficult assignment...To see if they can find a combonation of the two purchased by one person...If that person is Beavers...We have enough for you to get a search warrant." she said.

"Wow...so you guys haven't thrown in the towel eh?" I said smiling with pride at the great individuals I had put together in this unit...starting with my wife...

"Come here and zip me up?" she said.

"Huh?" I asked.

"My skirt silly." she said.

"With pleasure" I said practically leaping out of the bed...Carlotta looked at me and cracked up laughing...

"You are still soo hot for me...Who knew?" she said.

"If you had known I was going to be like this , would you have still dated me? I asked...

She  turned and gave me the sweetest ,slowest, softest kiss...and smiled

"Of course I would have...just as long as it was me that you are so hot for..." she said.

"You know it is babes..." I said.

"Awwwwww, you are so good for my ego....I'll see you this afternoon papi." she said as she grabbed her keys and purse and walked down the steps and out the door...God, my wife was so sexy I thought to myself.

II-

The city in the early morning was beautiful...It was a crisp clear fall day....I felt funny driving to work...I had no pending court cases...and all of my friends at CID would be busy...She hadn't mentioned Duke...I wondered what he was doing?

That was answered fast enough.....I ran into Duke in the street at a crime scene...A fresh crime scene...He had about five uniformed policemen with him and his wife, Dr. Hazel Hunter Baylor...

She was kneeling down, observing the body with latex gloves on as was Duke....

"What do you have here Duke?" I asked...

''Heyy Keith....A Pizza delivery boy...He went out on a delivery....Never returned....His truck is over there with several cold and spoiled orders on it..." said Duke...

"From the rigor on this body...He's been dead for close to three days..." said Hazel... "His throat was slashed...Same type of cut as our other victims...." she said.

"That pizza and that coke was from this company....I remember...I remember seeing the pizza box and the coke on the table in Stella Jordan's house...." I said.

"Then that explains how our boy got in...He intercepted a delivery....Killed this poor slob and got in her apartment and did the rest....Hey guys...see if you can get any video from the neighborhood...Anything!" said Duke...

"Wow, everybody has their hands full today...Is Boss Lady in the office?" I asked..

"Yeah...She was at least when I got this call." he said.

"Okay...I'll get with you guys later." I said

"Okay Keith." said Duke.

Surprisingly enough, there was no sign of Beavers in the crowd....By now, he had to know that we had found his tracking devices and weren't talking on the radio to each other anymore...

III-

With nothing else left to do...I headed to the C.I.D. building... Maybe Sissy was in.
I walked into an office filled with other detectives and policemen all working their cases...Homicide, Special Victims Unit, Major Crimes, Robbery -Homicide,et al, yet when 8 individuals were missing, the office seemed empty...Those individuals being, my wife, Carlotta, Tyriq, Jimmy, Duke, Sirena , Hop ,Hazel and Sharon...all out investigating these now four gruesome homicides , the office seemed empty.

To my surprise...Ricky Beavers was sitting in Sissy's office talking to her...She looked so relieved to see me that I just had to come in and sit down...

Ricky Beavers smiled and nodded his head as I sat down in Sissy's office...

''So Counselor...where are your detectives? I haven't seen them in a few days.." he said matter or factly.

"You mean you don't know? You usually know where we are going before we do." I said, not trying to hide my sarcasm...

Sissy stared at me in a way in which I knew she meant for me to chill....She said...

"I was telling Mr. Beavers here about the directive that came down from the Deputy of Operations for all detectives to use department issued vehicles when going out on cases and not to talk on the police radio about sensitive investigations." she said and looked directly at me.... I nodded.

"Yeah...the department can't be liable for anything that happens to a personal vehicle." I said.

This was a lie...but it was a good way to keep him from knowing that we were on to him...  He looked a little disappointed....Now he realized that the detectives were using different cars, which in fact they were and he couldn't place tracking units on them if he didn't know which cars they were using.

"Any new developments on this case?" he asked...

"No...We are dead in the water, no forensic evidence...no witnesses, no clue.....I've never seen a case this baffling before." said Sissy with tongue in cheek....

Beavers looked encouraged then.....He looked out into the office and he saw a man walking towards Sissy's office...He got as white as a ghost...He suddenly stood up...

''Well..uh...I have to go...Another story to work on....Sissy, please take into consideration my offer of dinner next Friday." he said and then quietly ducked out...

The man walked into the office and upon seeing Sissy, developed a big smile on his face...

''Sissy Van Buren...OH MY GOODNESS...If YOU AREN'T A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES." he bellowed...

Sissy stood up, saluted him....He waved that off...

"Oh girl, forget about that...come here and give me some sugar!" he said.

Sissy ran into his arms like a daughter who was being reunited with a long lost father...

They embraced each other for a long time....This wasn't like Lt. Cantrell trying to dry hump her....This was genuine affection...

"Keith, this is Captain William Bazemore Faustus...He was my Training Officer when I was in the academy and my mentor..." said Sissy.

We shook hands...He was a tall, six foot four ,heavy set, carmel colored Black man...

"Just call me Bill....All my friends do. You're Assistant District Attorney Keith Wallace right?" he said with a sheepish grin.

"Yes I am." I said.

"You're married to one of my prize pupils next to Sissy here.... Carlotta Rodriguez..." he said.

"Yes I am...She's a homicide detective in this unit..."I said.

"Oh I know...I've kept up with all of my students...Duke Baylor, Tyriq Pile, Angie Belton, James Barlow, Sirena Harris, uh that's Pile now and Antonio Hopkins.... All great cadets and great cops....I am so proud that they've all moved up in the ranks and became detectives...I knew that they all would, they were amongst my best pupils." he said.

Sissy just beamed with pride...

"I no longer work at the academy." he said.

''You don't?"she said.

"No...I teach forensic science and the art of detection at community college and I am a fire arms instructor on my part time...I'm about to retire in about a year..." he said.

"Wow...you put in your time." said Sissy...

"I just saw one of my former pupils in here that I uh...That I failed....He might have made a good cop." said Captain Faustus hanging his head...

"Who?" asked Sissy.

"That kid, Ricky Beavers....He was just in your office wasn't he?" said Captain Faustus.

Sissy looked at me....

"He was in the Academy....He was in the class after Carlotta and Jimmy...Had the smarts, the instincts, the attention to detail....Would have been a great cop, and an even better detective...but he had serious psychological issues....So serious...that we had to wash him out...And you know it had to be bad...because one third of our graduates go on to be total bust outs...getting in trouble, what have you...His issues, which I shouldn't even talk about were so noticeable that we had to take notice and put him out...I felt sorry for him...Some woman had really messed his head up....I tried to get him counseling, to keep from having to wash him out...but it didn't work...Can't win em all." He said.

Sissy and I didn't say anything...and we didn't talk about Ricky Beavers anymore...But after Captain Faustus left we looked at each other.

"This all makes so much sense now." said Sissy...

"Between being humiliated and rejected by that girl and then dropping out of college and facing the further humiliation of being washed out of the police academy...This man has built up a life time of rage.....He's acting out by killing the girl and her boyfriend who humiliated him and in his mind outsmarting the elite unit of detectives and proving to himself that he's superior.." she said.

"I'm all on board...We have a motive...Not a hard motive to argue....Now all we need is positive feedback from the rest of the guys...and we got Beavers for four murders.." I said.

"Four?" said Sissy.

"Duke found the missing Pizza Delivery boy this morning... Same throat cut.....I'm going to start the ball rolling for a search warrant...." I said.

"I think I can uh, distract him long enough for the guys to hit his house." said Sissy.

"You think you can? Sissy, wear that scandalous dress you had on a few weeks ago and he might confess!" I said laughing.

"Oh shut up Smarty...It's too cold for that dress now......Why do all of the crazies like me?" she mused...

"Because you're single...Every other woman in here is not only married, but their husband is also here..."I said smiling...

"Angie is single." said Sissy...

"She's upstairs and Jimmy would kill him." I said.

Sissy laughed...

"He sure would....You're sprung over chica...but Jimmy will kill somebody over Angie.. Oh My God...He's so in love with my girl..." laughed Sissy...

"Sissy..We are going to be alright...We are gonna close this case." I said, rubbing her hand softly...

She smiled at me...My good friend....

(CONCLUSION NEXT)