Rivals

It was going to be another long night....we all rode back to the C.I.D. building and got to work...I put in an order for food and coffee for everybody, including the uniformed policemen who had been out with us collecting evidence...

Sissy, Carlotta, Jimmy and Sharon and I were in our video room looking at  what the crime stopper cameras had picked up...

''Look...Cue that up...There is our girl...Audrey, coming out of that residence...see if you can get an address." said Sissy...

"There she is walking to that corner store....Okay, she comes out....Now look..Our guy, Agent Gold is coming out of the same residence...They meet in the middle of the block....They're kissing... These two were having an affair....Ohhhhhhh." said my wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace.

"Okay..now look...That car...That car wasn't there before she left...The mustang....I'm going to have some guys go back out there and see if they can do a plaster cast on the tires...There's laughing boy in black gettin out the car and boom! He shoots the girl in the back of the head...Just like Hazel said...The Agent returns fire, but ole boy is pretty damn good...Look how many shots he gets off and how fast....And now look...
There is Lt. Tragg, coming from the opposite direction...He fires a warning shot and he's barking something and our guy let's him have it...but not before Tragg gets a couple of shots off...He hits him, but doesn't slow him down.."says Jimmy..

"Now look...he's on the move, running....He gets in his car and pulls off....There was no accomplice...He was by himself." said Sharon.

An hour later, Detectives Sirena Pile and Tony Hopkins entered the room..

"We pulled a license plate number from that mustang....It was reported stolen , a week ago...Uniforms found it just hours ago...It had been wiped clean and bleached down.." said Sirena...

"The house was a rental...It was owned by Lt. Tragg...Apparently ,he knew they were staying there...he must have been coming to check on them." said Hop.

"Leave it to Tragg to spoil a perfectly good night...It's been six weeks since our last major case....Since then Top, Rico,Jimmy, Hop ,Sirena and I have had perfect clearences...been goin home at a normal hour...Actually enjoying quiet time...Now look at this." griped Duke.

Hazel and Tyriq just laughed...It was true...It had been quiet lately...No major cases...and when someone caught a murder,it was a simple one that was wrapped up in 48 hours or less..Everyone had 100 percent clearance rates at the present time.  It had been nice going home to dinner with Carlotta and us turning in at the same time...She not coming home late, after I was sound asleep and too out of it to grope her, I mused with a smile.

"Sharon, we got a list of both people's next of kin in the Maryland ,DC area...you want to go with us to check them out tomorrow?" asked Duke.

''Sure...I haven't been to DC in awhile.. Mind if I take two of my best agents with us?" she said.


"Nah, that'll be great..."said Tyriq.

"You two just love to go on road trips." said Carlotta.
"We used to take you with us Top before you got married.."joked Tyriq.

"Take me...I aint married." laughed Jimmy.

"Not yet anyway...damn near. Angie would kill us if we took you away from her" joked Duke..."Besides ,we need you and Top to check on Tragg at the hospital to see what he says when he comes to...Rico and I don't want to be in the same room with him" said Duke.

II-

"If I had known you were going to have such a hip unit Sissy, I would have stayed on the Philly P.D." came a familliar voice...

It was DEA Agent , Carol Redding, formerly Detective Sgt. Carol Redding and Lt. Eddie Cantrell/

They walked into our squad room holding hands...a fact that wasn't lost on any of us...And now it came to me....This was the CAROL , Lt. Cantrell was talking to on his phone a few weeks back....Now I understood what was apparent here....Carol was his lady in waiting...She had given him one last chance to make a go at Sissy...With him having done that and failed...She gave him the greenlight to pursue her...Nicely done...Kinda sorta.  I smiled to myself and said nothing.

Sissy smiled and hugged Carol though...

"OHHHH MY GODDD, CAROL!! HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN?" said Sissy as she looked at her old friend.

"TOO LONG SISSY, TOO LONG... Hi Duke, Tyriq...Ms. Sirena...You turned around and got married on me huh?" she said.

"Heyyy Carol,.Look at you.....DEA Agent huh?  I'm impressed." said Tyriq who greeted her with a big hug.....

She looked at his hand and marveled at his wedding band..

''Rico Suave!...Angie used to call you that....The Don Juan of Detectives....You went and got married...hahahahahahahahaha." laughed Carol.  Tyriq laughed sheepishly...So Did I...

''Detective Sgt. Redding....Oh that's right...you're a Federalli now" said Duke who also laughed and hugged her!

"Heyyyyyy Sgt. Redding...Yeah, me and Tyriq got hitched three years ago...We have three little rugrats now...This is Duke's wife, Forensic specialist, Dr. Hazel Hunter." said Sirena who also laughed and hugged Carol and spun her around....

''Ohhh Sirena....Sirena...It's so good to see you , all of you....You and Rico have three children?? Wowww!"said Carol.

"Pleased to meet you." said Hazel.

''Likewise I'm sure.... " said Carol, smiling.

"Come here, give  me a hug girl, you're family now." said Carol to Hazel..

"Oh wow...Look at my detectives...all grown up and married.....and is that Carlotta and Jimmy over there??My babies." she said laughing...

 

"Hola Sgt. Redding" said Carlotta.



''Heyy Detective Redding,I-I mean Agent Redding."said Jimmy...

" Carlotta!!! Jimmy!!! Come here...." she said and hugged them both...."Look at you both...Homicide Detectives now!!  I am sooo proud of both of you." she said.

"Yeah, They've all come up in the world " chimed in Lt. Ed Cantrell.

Sissy stared daggers at him....Carlotta ,Sirena and I picked that up...but none of us said anything..If anything,I was a bit amused..It had been six weeks  and Sissy had said at least twice...

''I guess Ed Cantrell got the message..No lunchtime visits...No gropes, no nasty talk...It's nice and quiet around here now." she said....almost as if she missed it! Her boyfriend, Eddie C. hadn't moved in with her yet..He kept hedging around it...Something that was making Sissy quite irritable.  To her credit..she didn't take it out on her detectives or policemen.

I vaugely remembered then Detective Redding...a very shapely woman and a good detective...Just like Sissy, smart, good instincts, ambitious....

I looked at her now and I perfectly understood what Ed Cantrell had done...He had gambled and played a mean game of chess and appeared to be on top at the moment...I smiled that smile we men smile when we realize another man has played his game well.

"Hey Carol...This is my husband, Detective Antonio Hopkins...I don't believe you have met him." said FBI Agent,Sharon Hopkins.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance." he said.

''Same here...No, I didn't meet him." she said.

"I just made Detective about a year ago." he said.

''And you're already in homicide?? Wow, that means you are good." she said.

''He was a very exceptional patrolman."added Sissy looking at Hop like a proud mother.

"Wow! Sharon...You too? Came here ,got married...All you guys married now...Eddie said that this is the love shack over here....I said Right on...Sissy, you got it goin on girl...I love this unit...Not too much testosterone...Just the right mix of estrogen to keep things in perspective." said Carol.

Sissy, Carlotta,Sirena, Hazel and Sharon all smiled.

"Since we are all here now..let me bring you up to speed on this case... Agent William "Billy" Gold was my partner...We made a case against Johnny Malinga..a major importer of drugs and crime kingpin.. Audrey Rustin witnessed him actually commit a murder....After years of trying to make a case against him...we had a solid case...She filled in all of the blanks... Then my partner began to get a little too close to Audrey....I think he fell in love with her...He and his wife were seperated anyway...and well...They ran off...She was paranoid that Malinga would find a way to get to her and silence her...She was testifying about another witness he had murdered... These two vanished...I traced them to Philly....I was up here right before Christmas....That's when I found out that Billy Gold was the nephew of Lt. Tragg."  said Carol.

"Then that makes sense....He was hiding his nephew and that girl out...That's why he was there.." said Carlotta.

"Yes...Billy, Agent William Gold went rogue on us...I had covered for him as long as I could...I came up here to talk some sense into him...but I see I was too late." she said.

"Maybe not...we got cops...Undercover , plain clothes cops and uniforms in the airports and the train station and the bus station....Carlotta, Hop, Sirena and I will be givin these cops the photo we have of the shooter...They'll be on the look out for him...Maybe if we take this guy alive...we can flip him and still make a case against your guy." said Jimmy.

"Hitmen usually don't flip on their employers Jimmy.....That is provided we can catch this guy at all...He might already be gone." I said.

"No...He was wounded....and badly.....I think he may be sticking around town." said Carlotta.

"You guys look beat...Workin this case hard eh?...I figure you guys already have your assignments...I'll be back tomorrow to co-ordinate with Sissy and Sharon...Hopefully I can see my girl Angie." she said.

"Come on babes, let's get something to eat." said Lt. Cantrell...Carol smiled at him....

"That's a good idea sweetie." she said..."Sissy, It was so nice seeing you again.. All of you."she said as she left..

''It was nice seeing you too Carol...Hopefully we can catch up before you leave.... Maybe we can have lunch or go out for a few drinks." said Sissy.

''I would like that...We haven't talked in what, two years???" asked Carol.

"Yes..It's been about that long." said Sissy.

"Come on babes, let's get something to eat.. What was that? He is such a dog...Six weeks ago he was grinding and dry humping me, trying to sneak a kiss.. Now he's all over Carol....I hope she doesn't fall for his bull...." said Sissy.
From the sound of it..Carol had done more than fall, I mused to myself.

"Boss Lady...You sound like...like you're a little , .like you're a little jealous." said Carlotta...

"Jealous?  Don't make me laugh....Carol can have him!!....But she probably has no idea he's trying to put the moves on her." said Sissy.

I smiled....Looked like he had already made his moves.

Sissy looked at me...

"What are you smiling about?" she said looking at me wryly and smiling herself..

"Not a thing..." I said....''Come on Carlotta...it's late...let's go home, get some sleep. Good night Sissy." I said.

"Good Night Boss Lady." said Carlotta as we walked out...

Duke and Hazel had gotten in their car and were pulling off.....Tyriq and Sirena were pulling off...Sharon and Hop were pulling off in their car..Jimmy was on the phone...More than likely calling Angie, asking if he could come over...I remember those nights...

I pulled Carlotta to me and kissed her for a long time...

"Mmmmm, I don't mind being the last ones out." I said.

Carlotta smiled ,then put her index finger to my lip...

"Ssssh..we aren't the only ones in here....Look." she said...

At a distance...Lt. Edward Cantrell and DEA Agent Carol Redding were in the corner by his car, kissing passionately...He didn't look as if he were sneaking a kiss or groping her...She looked like she was engaged and enjoying what it was they were doing...They slowly slid into his car....They were still kissing and moaning..

Carlotta and I looked at each other....

"They may not make it to where ever they were going." I mused.

''Not a word of this to boss lady." said Carlotta.

"Oh That goes without saying." I said.

(TO BE CONTINUED)