Pizza ,Coke and Homicide

Hours later, I dropped by C.I.D. ...The Detectives who worked the night shift were coming on....Carlotta,Tyriq and Duke sat in the conference room going over what they had uncovered so far...

Carlotta put her arms around me and gave me a nice warm kiss when I entered...Duke passed me a a hot steaming tumbler of coffee...It was now about 7:00 pm...Coffee was not usually what I was drinking at that time on a Friday night...but I accepted..

"Thanks Duke...What you guys got?" I asked.

''We covered a lot of ground in the hours since we've seen you last Keith." he said.

"Yeah...Me and Top and Jimmy called up and or visited as many of Barbara Montgomery's family and friends as possible...including the husband...all of their alibis checked out...We interviewed all of her co-workers and we tracked her movements up until she was last seen...She got her car washed and she went to Bridget Jones lingerie store and bought those panties, that bra and the baby doll...She was dressed in her own stuff.. A uniform found the boxes the stuff came in a few blocks away.." said Tyriq.

"We are having them dusted for prints and DNA..."said Carlotta...

Just then Jimmy and Hop came in...

"We did the same with Nancy Akers...Sirena, Hop and I interviewed family,friends, associates, co-workers,her husband, her ex-husband...All of their alibis checked out too...We also did a run of their credit cards, debit cards and purchases...and both women have only two things in common...They both had their cars washed at the same car wash...which is a block from Bridget Jones's shop...and both bought their underwear from her shop..."said Jimmy...

"Where is Sirena?" I asked..

"She went to take our kids over to my mom's house and then she dropped by Bridget's spot to look at security film footage..."said Tyriq..

"Neither of these women knew each other?" I asked.

"No..They are from two different worlds....They don't have a friend or acquaintence in common...I did a cross check...and they don't live anywhere near each other...They were in Bridget's store....Lady Chatterlies Lover...panties and bras for the discriminating woman on the same day and not at the same time...In fact , Nancy Akers was there first...about an hour before Rico and I's victim..Barbara Montgomery."said Carlotta.

Sirena walked into the office just then...She appeared to be out of breath....

"Heyy guys....After I dropped the kids off, I stopped by Bridget Jones's place...I watched surveilience video..Both of our victims was definitely there..and Bridget remembers them both....I have the footage with me...Maybe we can see if anyone else was there both times.." she said.

It was getting dark...These were good detectives...Great detectives....They had already accomplished more in the few hours they'd been on these two murders then many veteren detectives would have accomplished in two days...That's why I hand picked these guys...They knew how to go after evidence...

II-

Hazel walked into the office just then.....Duke passed her a coffee....She smiled and kissed him..

"Thank you baby." she said... The DNA found in the semen on the floor at both scenes is a match..We are looking at the same killer in both cases...We found a partial fingerprint not belonging to either victim or Bridget on the bags the lingerie was purchased in....I gave it to Special Agent Hopkins..She's running it..." said Hazel.

"You saw Sharon??" said Hop...His eyes lighting up.....

Hazel smiled... "Yes...She was at the M.E.'s office..She'll be over shortly..." said Hazel.

"I'm here now" said FBI Special Agent, Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins....

"I ran the partial print and the DNA through the system and I got a hit." she said.

"That is GREAT!!" said my wife Carlotta...."We got a suspect already...Boss Lady will be pleased.."she said with glee high fiving Duke,Tyriq ,Jimmy and Sirena...

"Here in lies the problem....Your suspect is DEAD!" she said.

"What?" said Tyriq...

''Come Again?" said Duke..

"You heard me..Dead....His name is Wilbur Threadgill....He did a ten year bid upstate for Breaking and entering and sexual assault...He was paroled about five years ago and killed in a shootout with Special Victims Unit detectives...He was a suspect in a rape...."she said.

"Sharon are you sure?" asked Carlotta.

''Wow...This Case really got weird."said Jimmy..

"I'll say." said Sirena..

"According to the case detective, Norris Clayton....He shot Threadgill twice in the chest and he fell off of the Ben Franklin Bridge into the water....They never recovered the body...but due to the loss of blood and the current...There is no way he could have survived.."said Sharon.

"So we are chasing a dead man?" I asked...

"Yeah, looks like it." said Sharon...

Upon the mention of Norris Clayton's name...Sirena ,who had been engaged in the conversation and investigation got very quiet and withdrawn...I noticed it, if no one else did...

Carlotta noticed it too and she went over to her friend and rubbed her shoulders...

"Mami...Are you okay?" she said.

Sirena looked distant...Then she smiled at Carlotta...

"Yeah Lotta...I'm uh fine..." she said.

III-

Just then...Sissy, Eddie C. and Detective Angie Belton walked in with several boxes of Pizza and some Cokes...

"Heyy guys...I felt so guilty ...You guys here ,puttin in hours working and me at home......"said Sissy...

"I knew she wasn't going to be any good...So I sprung for some Pizza...On one condition...That she let me come with."said Eddie C.

"Wow...That's major...Where did you pick her up at?" Laughed Duke..pointing to Angie...

"I love you too Duke" said Angie sticking her tongue out at him and sitting on Jimmy's lap...

We passed the pizza and the coke out around our conference room table...It was near midnight...

We stopped talking about the case... Sissy sat on Eddie C's lap...Sirena was on Tyriq's lap...still looking somewhat distant.. Sharon Was on Hop's lap ,Hazel was on Duke's lap  and Carlotta was on my lap....

"Not how you imagined you would spend your Friday night huh? With a bunch of cops." she said.

"It's okay...There is no other group of people period..I'd rather spend my Friday night with."I said.

"Here,Here." said Tyriq..

We all raised our cans of Coke and smiled...We were family...A close knit family..We'd crack this case..

I suppose!!!

(TO BE CONTINUED)