Embarrasment Of Riches

The Policemen's ball.....The largest social event of the year for cops... I had been a few times...Once I went with Sissy...This was years ago...She and Robert Foxworth had just gotten divorced and she didn't want people to know she was dating Rollie Rollerson, so she called me, her friend, ADA Keith Wallace to escort her....

That's all it was ...I escorted her..She and Rollie slipped off somewhere that night and I wound up going home alone...I was in between girlfriends at the time....I remember drowning my sorrows in cheap champaigne..Not because I was mad at Sissy..I wasn't..Because I didn't have a steady girlfriend and everybody thought that I should have...I hadn't met Carlotta yet...

Speaking of  my wife, Carlotta...She had never been to one of these...Certainly not as a patrolman and not as a Detective either...So on the eve of our first wedding Anniversay, here we were..

I looked around...Other couples here for the first time was Detectives Duke Baylor and his lovely wife ,Forensics Investigator, Dr. Hazel Hunter-Baylor...

And Detectives, Tyriq Pile and his wife, Detective Sirena Pile and Detective Jimmy Barlow and his girlfriend, Detective Angela Belton of Internal Affairs..

Sissy and I had wanted all of our guys to go to the ball this year..We had purchased their tickets...Duke,Tyriq, Jimmy,Hop and I had all gone to Sam the tailor and had custom made suits for the affair...We looked like Bankers when we walked in....And speaking of Hop...He and his wife, FBI Special Agent, Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins walked in as all of us were congregating in the lobby...

"Heyy Everybody...Wow, this is really nice!" gushed Sharon as she and Hop walked in..

All of the women looked great....All had gone out and bought brand new dresses for the event...

The woman ,who had made all of this happen, Lt. Sissy Van Buren walked in looking glamorous...but surprisingly, alone!!

Sissy was stunning in a hot red dress.....

"Hey Boss Lady"said Carlotta and Sirena....

"Girl you look fierce."said Angie..

Sissy smiled....

"Thanks...You guys look incredible yourselves..I'm so glad you all could come...The last time I came..none of you guys were detectives.." she said.

"That was a lonnnnnnnng time ago wasn't it Lou?" joked Tyriq..

"Sure was "said Sissy ,playfully kicking Tyriq.....They both laughed...

"Chica....your husband over there was my date, kinda sorta, the last time I came.. I was actually dating Rollie Rollerson, but we were keeping our relationship on the low,So Keith was good enough to be my "pretend " date..." she said.

"Honey Bunny is good like that." laughed Carlotta...

"Well, isn't this nice...We are all here with our significant others now...How far we've all come.."I said. "Speaking of which, where is Eddie C?" I asked.

''Don't ask....He was supposed to be home two hours ago to get dressed so we could be here...Naturally, he's late and I couldn't get in contact with him....I wasn't going to miss this because of him...So I came by myself.." said Sissy.

Nobody said a word...We all gradually turned and entered the ballroom....

II-

The room was filled with cops tonight...Dressed up, having a good time, drinking, eating, laughing, talking..taking it easy for awhile...We had raised 2.5 million...To be donated to local charities.... It was in a big Treasure chest on the main stage near the podium where tonight's speakers were going to be...

Another person in the crowd who was surprisingly alone was Lt. Eddie Cantrell..

He walked over to our respective tables and spoke to all of us....I would have thought that he would have invited DEA Agent Carol Redding to this...

He looked at Sissy and smiled....Usually we expected him to make a salacious remark, but he didn't... His visits were far and few between now...When he stopped by,it was usually for business.. And his conversations with Sissy were short and business like..

"Hello Lt. Van Buren...You look...You look incredible." he said ...

"Thank you Ed..."she said...

Hazel,Carlotta,Angie and Sirena all smiled sheepishly...

Duke, Tyriq, Jimmy ,Hop and myself held our head down...."Here it comes "we all thought, but there was nothing.

"Is Carol here?" asked Sissy...

"Uh she was going to come, but she got called away on a big case...She's in California." he said. "Where is uh your friend?" he asked.

"I don't know and I don't care!" Sissy said.

All of us decided it was a great time to hit the floor and start dancing......

"Sit down Edward...I won't bite."said Sissy...

"I wish you would.."he said leeringly...

"And there is the Ed that I know and love so well.."said Sissy laughing...

"I'm Sorry Sissy...I couldn't resist that.."he said.

"It's Okay...I missed it...besides....it was funny."she said and smiled at him...

Ed Cantrell shook his head...

"Damn girl...You...You look soo good." he said. "I can't help it..You just do."he said.

"Come on Ed...You're just missing Carol..." said Sissy...

"Yeah,I guess I am...Can I tell you something Sissy?" he asked..

"Sure you can...We are friends..."said Sissy....

"Although the sex is mind blowing...There is something missing between me and her..Carol,I mean...We have this whole relationship and we never talk about where it's going, what we both want in the end...There doesn't seem to be an end plan..I-I of course would like nothing better than to sleep with you...but there is more to you...Always was...I like talking to you...You have a great mind...and a big heart....I like so many things about you Sissy....I'm..I'm just saying...It was never just about sex....I just thought I'd tell you that....Uh,I'm gonna go now.."he said.

"No Ed..Don't go...It's okay...Sit down...I like your honesty, your openess..I know that you liked me for more than just sex...At least I hoped you did. And I think you have found somebody great in Carol...Talk to her Ed...Give her a chance...She deserves that much."said Sissy..

"You're right...She does...Next time I see her, we'll have that talk."he said.

 "And just so you know...If she wasn't around and I wasn't presently involved..you'd be the guy I'd be with,for what that's worth." said Sissy.

"Really?" he said.

"Yeah...really!"said Sissy...

Meanwhile Carlotta and I had snuck to a small dark room away from the boardroom..

We were kissing passionately...and groping each other....

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." I moaned...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." she moaned.....

We had been looking at each other hungrily all night long, waiting for a chance to get away from the others...

She smiled and then gave me a slow sensual kiss...a kiss that lingered...almost in thin air...

''yessssssssssssssss" I said.

''ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" she moaned in between more kisses.

I unbuttoned her blouse...She didn't move my hands this time... We kissed some more and I unhooked her bra and fondled her breasts in my hands....

''Ouuuuuu," she moaned....

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." I moaned as I began to kiss her deeper, more passionately...

I then took one of her breasts in my mouth and began to suck it lightly...

"ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..." she cooed...and trembled a little.

I had my hands up under her skirt...but suddenly I removed them...I looked around...We both did!! Amazing....Not a soul in sight!!!....I stopped for a minute.....

She was about to unzipper my trousers...We both stopped...Looked around..

"We'd better stop papi...This is the last place I'd want to get caught doing this..by anybody!" she said.

"Yeah, you're right..."I said..

We fixed our clothes...

I calmed down a bit...

"Maybe we'd better go back by ourselves..."I said.

"Yes..that's a good idea.."she said.

III-

Unknown to any of us...The night was about to take a tragic turn...

An unmarked White van pulled up....Five men leaped out...Dressed in Black ski masks,Black pants, Black turtle necks and Black sneakers with black laces...Two had uzis, two had shotguns...One had a glock...

Two of them put shotguns to the heads of two women and one stuck an uzi in the stomach of a guest's wife...They hearded them in....

"ALRIGHT...THIS IS A STICK UP!!!" said the leader who fired his glock up into the air....

The bandits had bags and immediately popped open the chest and began helping themselves to the 2.5 million dollars....

"ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH" was heard from the stairwell.... A man grabbed his chest and fell down the stairs.... He had been hit by the warning shot the leader of the gang had shot...

One of the robbers said to the leader...

"Hey man, what the hell did you do?"

"I didn't know anybody was standing there...I just fired up into the air.." he said.

"You shot somebody...." he said.

"Well ,we can't worry about that...Come on..Let's gooo." he said and the five men rushed out of the building and leaped into their van and pulled off...

The room was filled with screams and pandemonium....

It was pure kaos.....

Sharon, Duke,Tyriq,Jimmy  Hop and Sirena headed outside after the stick up crew,along with several other police officers and detectives... but they were gone!!

On the inside, Carlotta and Hazel kneeled over the body of the man who had been shot in the chest...
 My wife was visibly upset...It took me only minutes to realize that she knew the man..

"Aye Mios Dios....This is Carlo...Detective Carlo Tegron...We took the detective test together...We made Detective the same day....I knew him...He worked in Robbery-Homicide with Rico and me and was now working Vice....Oh My godd...nooooooooo..." she wailed as she held his head .....His blood was all over her dress...

Hazel felt his neck for a pulse....After a few minutes she hung her head....

"He's gone!"   She held Carlotta as she cried like a baby....I felt powerless at that moment...

Lt. Edward Cantrell Walked over...He looked at the fallen detective....

"That was one of my guys...I trained him...He was a damn good detective....I-I-I never expected him to go out like this..." he said...He suddenly looked very sad.....


Sissy looked at me...

"You have to appreciate the irony of this keith...A room full of cops and WE get robbed and one of us gets killed." she said.

"It's not ironic Siss, it's tragic....and I'm going to clear my desk of everything...We are going to find out who this crew was and take them down at all costs..."I said.

"That goes without saying." said Sissy.

(DEFINITELY TO BE CONTINUED....)