Sissy looked serenely happy.. Happier than I'd seen her in a long time...They smiled upon seeing us...I waved them over and they joined us in our booth...
"Considering the week we've all been having...It's nice to take a break and get some breakfast." she said.
"Yeah...Maybe if we look at this case with a full stomach and fresh eyes something will break our way." added my wife, Carlotta.
Detective Tyriq Pile and his wife, Detective Sirena Pile entered next...They saw the four of us and walked over and sat in the booth directly across from us...
"Wow ,the gang is all here..almost" said Sirena...
"I Just saw Jimmy and Angie pull up in the parking lot." said Tyriq..
Detectives James "Jimmy" Barlow and Angela Belton of Internal Affairs walked in and sat in the booth across from Tyriq and Sirena...
Jimmy looked beat...I wasn't sure if it was from the investigation or being with Angie all night...I smiled at the thought...
Within minutes...Detective Tony Hopkins and his wife, FBI Special Agent Sharon Hopkins entered with Dr. Hazel Hunter-Baylor and someone we hadn't seen in days...Her husband...Detective Edwin"Duke" Baylor..
"Hey Guys" they said as they took seats...Our unit now had the entire section of Sam Mother's diner taken up...This was nice everybody was together , getting their breakfast.. Itwas rare that we all ate together...I liked the feeling.
Waitresses came and took our orders and while we waited, we talked about what else?
These two baffling and gruesome cases....
"Jimmy, Tyriq and I interviewed all of our victim's friends from elementary school ,through high school through college....and we haven't found a person with too much bad to say about her." said Carlotta.
"Yeah and we interviewed all of her lovers and relatives too...Nothin.." said Jimmy.
"I checked her credit cards and her bank records...Nothing unusual there" said Tyriq.
"Well, Sirena and I did the same thing and we came up with something very interesting." said Hop..
"Good...I'm glad to hear that somebody came up with something." said Sissy, laughing.
"It appears that our guy, Jett Skyler and Lotta,Rico and Jimmy's victim, Stella Jordan had history...They had been an on again off again item since college and they had been engaged up until last summer when she caught him in bed with another woman." said Sirena.
"You guys need to re canvas both crime scenes." I said.
"We did that honey bunny." said Carlotta. She ,Tyriq, Jimmy,Sirena and Hop had spent half a day doing just that she told me later.
"Those shoe prints on the table belong to a man, It's a size 13...Nike...It looks like it was custom ordered...I have people looking into that now....Also..both victims throat was slashed with the same type of knife...The cut marks match.." said Hazel.
"No..somebody jammed the signal...knocked the building cameras off at around 9:30, about a half hour before our victim was last seen...I did pick up a plain white van and
a grainy visual of a very tall thin guy in a work uniform with ropes entering the building...I got a plate number off of the van too... Duke and I and some Auto Theft Detectives ran it down and sure enough, it had been stolen and was wiped clean of prints and bleached down for DNA..." said Jimmy.
"You guys are dealing with a real smart assailant eh?...You think the same person is responsible for both murders?" came the familiar voice of reporter, Richard Beaver..
Jimmy and the rest of the detectives stopped talking...
"Hi guys...what's up? " he said.
"You found us" said Jimmy sarcastically...
"Every crime beat reporter worth his salt knows that all the cops and detectives love this place...Which is why it's only been robbed once to my knowledge." he said.
He was good, I had to admit..Annoying, but good.
II-
Carlotta couldn't stand him...She ,Tyriq, Jimmy,Sirena and Hop had complained bitterly that he had showed up at every interview they did with every witness ,snapping pictures and commenting when they were trying to ask questions...He had been a nuisance...
Sissy was sick of him too...When he wasn't following the detectives around...He was sitting in her office ,slyly trying to ask her out on a date... If she wasn't ducking Lt. Cantrell's advances...She was ducking Richard Beaver's.
Duke ignored him completely. The hair on the back of his neck rose everytime Beaver told him how hot his wife was.
Since we had all of the booths and tables in the area filled and the others were filled also...Beaver was forced to take a seat at the counter....
Once he was seated..It was then that Duke began to talk...
"Hey Rico..Remember when you and I were patrolmen and we used to moonlight and do security at Rollie's club?" he asked...
Tyriq smiled...Sissy's eyes opened wide...
"You guys did what?" laughed Sissy, slapping her thigh....
''Yeah Lou...Rico and I used to do security on the weekend...We weren't the only ones moonlighting at Rollie's club." Laughed Duke.
Detective Angie Belton smiled and hung her head low...
"Yeah Sissy...I was a barmaid...Rollie was kind of sweet on me back then...but I didn't give him the time of day...I just worked at the bar..I let Rico Suave and Duke talk me into it...We were all rookies then, fresh out of the academy...We didn't even know you then." she said.
I laughed....
"Wow...that's something..."I said.
''Well, I didn't bring that up to just go waltzing down memory lane...I brought it up because I remember Jett Skyler and Stella Jordan...Man, I had the biggest crush on her..I couldn't figure what she was doing with Jett except the obvious...He had money and I was a lowly patrol cop, forced to moonlight to make ends meet. But there was the manager of Rollie's club...Margaret Dewees...Remember her Rico?" said Duke.
"She sounds like somebody you guys ought to be talking to. I remember her..She was the one who told me that the very married Rollie Rollerson had a crush on me." said Angie.
We all laughed and began to eat our food...
"Top, you, Rico and I ought to have a talk with Margaret..We used to call her Peg." said Duke.
FBI Agent Sharon Hopkins looked at Jimmy...
"Jimmy, you and I ought to examine the angle of what happened to those cameras...You say the signal was jammed...That took some very sophisticated equipment...The kind a Television station might have or spy types...You wanna take a look see?" she said.
"I love spy stuff.." said Jimmy...
"Can we come along?" asked Sirena...
"Sure...I'll get a chance to work with my boo." joked Sharon...
"Aww, you guys are so cute." laughed Sirena.
Sissy put her index finger to her lip, signaling for us to be quiet...Then she drew us all in and whispered...
"Watch what you say around him...He's probably harmless...but I don't want him compromising our investigation by printing something in the paper before we are ready to release it.." she said.
III-
I went back to my office...I had an afternoon appearance in court... I was just getting out of court when I saw Sissy standing on the court steps....This was not a good sign..
"What's Up Sissy...This doesn't look good." I said.
"It's not..."she said.
"Carlotta call you?" I asked.
"Yeah...She wants to see you." said Sissy..."I'll bring you back to your car,come on." she said.
Hazel was sitting in her car....Just by seeing her,I knew it was another murder..
I didn't say a word...I just rode...We were headed to Rollie's club...I wondered how Sissy would react, seeing him again...
When We arrived...Rollie Rollerson was talking to Duke..There was a throng of policemen keeping the crowd at bay..
He saw Sissy and it was as if his heart stopped...He stared at her for a long time...Sissy managed a weak smile and then headed towards where Carlotta and Tyriq were..
"What'cha got Chica, Rico?" she asked...
"Single White female...throat slashed...." said Tyriq...
"We found her like this, slumped across the seat.....It looks like the killer reached in."said Carlotta...
Hazel put on her latex gloves and examined the body......
"From the looks of it...The same type of cut.....Same knife...."she said.
"I'm afraid to ask...Were there any witnesses?" I asked.
"None that we've found yet...I've got policemen questioning everybody in a three to four block radius in both directions." said Carlotta.
"Wow...I was looking forward to seeing old Peg." said Tyriq...
"Who would do something like this? Why? Peg never hurt nobody." said a visibly distraught Rollie Rollerson...
Sissy, to everyone's surprise rubbed Rollie's back...
"Somebody very sick Rollie...We plan to catch whoever is doing this." she said.
Rollie didn't use this as an occasion to try and fondle or dry hump Sissy...He squeezed her hand tightly for a moment and then walked away... I walked over to Sissy..
"You okay Sissy?" I asked.
She smiled..
"Yeah...I'm fine." she said.
I looked over in the crowd and there was ace reporter, Richard Beavers snapping photos...and talking to uniformed policemen...I just shook my head...
Carlotta and Hazel instructed the medical examiner's people to release the body...Then she walked over to me...
"Well we are back where we started...Nowhere...No witnesses...No physical evidence,
no clue..." she said.
"It's not over yet babes...Whoever this killer is...They'll slip up, make a mistake...They might have made it already."I said.
"Yeah,maybe."she said.
I lifted her face up and gave her a kiss...
"Come on...I'm going to take you somewhere quiet tonight...and we won't talk about this case at all." I said.
"I'd like that." she said and smiled...
Duke, Tyriq, Sissy and Hazel waved as they got in their cars and began to take off..Carlotta and I got in the car with Sissy and Hazel and drove off into the Philadelphia night...
Out of the corner of my eye...I peered out the window...
Richard Beaver was following us...What a pain, I thought.
(TO BE CONTINUED...)
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