Rogues

This crime scene was a mess...Not only was there a lot of blood, but there was shell fragments everywhere...There had been a terrific gun battle this afternoon...

Several uniformed policemen were counting bullet casings... Several C.S.I. guys were searching for any forensic evidence , while crime scene photographers were snapping photos....  This was a typical homicide scene for me... ADA Keith Wallace....but this was no typical homicide!!

For one thing, there was three bodies...Two dead....One still alive, but in bad shape...The one still alive was one of our own...Lieutenant Forrest Tragg.... My wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace and Lt. Sissy Van Buren had on latex gloves and along with Forensic Investigator Hazel Hunter Baylor were checking out the body of a white female... Dead!

"She took one to the back of the head....She never saw it coming...She was dead before she hit the ground.." said Hazel....

''From the looks of things...I'm guessing our killer crept up on her...and she was the first to die." said my wife ,Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace.

"We got any ID on her?" asked Lt. Sissy Van Buren...

"A pocketbook here...Her name is Audrey Rustin.. Her drivers licensce says she's from Washington, D.C." said Carlotta....

''D.C.?? What is she doing up here?  Was this a robbery gone bad?" asked Sissy.

"I don't think so...There's nearly a grand in cash in her pocketbook and three credit cards and a debit card." said Carlotta.

Detectives Edwin "Duke" Baylor, Tyriq Pile and Antonio Hopkins also had on nylon gloves and were checking the body of the dead white male...

"He took two to the chest and one to the hip....This guy had a piece on him...a glock!  Looks like he got some shots off..." said Duke...

"The kill shot was one between the eyes and out the back of the head......This guy had a glock...Is he a cop?" asked Tyriq...

Hazel came over and checked the body....Hop went through his clothing and found a wallet and a shield...

"He's a Fed!!!...His name is William Gold...He's DEA! according to his ID and his shield... His address is Bethesda, Maryland." said Hop.

"This is an awful long way for these two to be...Anything in his wallet?" I asked.

''Yeah, three credit cards..a debit card and six hundred dollars in cash." said Hop.

"This wasn't a robbery, this was a hit!" said Sissy.

"They both were shot at close range with .22 slugs....You're right Sissy...This was the weapon of a professional hit man..." said Hazel...


Detective Sirena Pile, Tyriq's wife walked up with some uniforms just then..

"Lt. Tragg is pretty bad...He took three to the chest and one to his leg....He apparently got a few shots off, but whoever shot him was quicker on the draw... but I think the hitter got hit too...judging from the blood splatter..." she said.

"What was he even doing here?" asked Sissy.


II-

Carlotta, Duke and Detective Jimmy Barlow ,who had been with the uniforms canvassing the area and talking to people followed the footprints...Jimmy and Carlotta had flashlights and they followed Duke ,who did not...


"The footprints and the blood lead to right here...Then they stop....No more blood, no more footprints." said Carlotta...

''That means , our killer got in a car." said Duke...

"Yeah...You think he had an accomplice?" asked Jimmy.

''He could have...or he could have just made it back to his car."said Duke..

"None of the people the uni's interviewed mentioned seeing anyone else... Our shooter had on all black, Black shoes, Black shirt, Black slacks and aviator shades...We are looking for a white male, 6 feet, slender with sandy blonde hair." said Jimmy.

III-

A car marked FBI drove up.... FBI Special Agent in Charge, Frank Cotton and our FBI laison , Sharon Hopkins, Hop's new bride got out along with several FBI agents...

"Thanks for calling us Keith, Sissy." he said as the FBI agents surveyed the crime scene....

Sharon put on latex gloves and looked at the dead bodies....

"DEA agent....hmmm, who is this woman?? she said.

"You know him? " I asked.

"No, not really...Seen him around when I was in Washington....Don't know what he was doing up here." she said.

"I understand one of your guys went down too?" asked Frank Cotton..

"Lt. Tragg got shot...He's in critical condition..." I said.

"What was he doing here?" asked Sharon..

"That's a good question." said Sissy..."We don't know." she said.

Frank Cotton looked at us and smiled...He was a good man and we had worked together well for years...

"This is the part of the investigation where we usually tell you guys thanks for your time...but we'll take it from here...But you know I don't work like that...Keith, Sissy...You have some fine investigators here..You guys have already started... So go on...Co-Ordinate with Sharon and keep me posted...A DEA agent was up here a few weeks ago looking for these two....Your dead woman here was a co-operating witness in a murder case..Apparently your victim and this dead agent went rogue and vanished...The DEA Agent will be here tomorrow..She says she used to be Philly P.D.  Her name is Carol Redding!" he said.

"Oh My God....I know Carol....Know her well...We were young detectives together in Cantrell's old unit." said Sissy.

 "When Jimmy and I first made Detective, we worked a case with her in Narcotics...Remember Jimmy?" said Carlotta..

"Yeah,she kind of took us under her wing and taught us the ropes...before Duke and Tyriq met us." said Jimmy...

"I remember Carol Redding...She and I worked a case in Special Investigations once..." said Sirena...


"Yeah Carol was good police." said Duke..

''Next to Sissy, She was my favorite supervisor....Which is more than I can say for Tragg." said Duke..

"You aint never lied partner.Sissy, then Carol...with Danny Ho a close third"said Tyriq.

''Yeah, Sergeant Ho was cool." said Duke.

Sissy smiled at all of this talk....Tickled pink that her detectives openly thought so highly of her.

Both Duke and Tyriq had a deep hatred for Lt. Tragg....a hatred that neither tried to hide and both were very vocal about...Neither of them cared that he had been shot, but being the professionals they were, I knew they were going to do everything they could to crack this case...

"Duke, Tyriq...You two run point on this...Chica , Jimmy , Sirena and Hop will assist...I'm going to co-ordinate the investigation with Sharon and Carol." said Sissy..

''We on it Lou." They said.

"Release the bodies" said Duke..

Both bodies were put in body bags, strapped to gurneys and stuffed into the M.E.'s wagon on their way to the morgue...


It was a nice, unseasonably warm night....I put my arm around Carlotta...

"We have really got to stop meeting like this babes." I said...

Carlotta looked at me and smiled and put her arms around me...She laid her head on my shoulder.

This was kind of how we met, during a major murder investigation...and here we were , married and still meeting at them...Our love affair was indeed special and different I mused as we all got in our cars and headed back to C.I.D. Headquarters.

(TO BE CONTINUED...)