A Shallow Grave

A beautiful hot ,steamy summer day began.. I awoke first...my beautiful sleeping wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace yawned and then turned over...I looked at her and smiled...She was sleeping so soundly...

We had recently had three straight days of torrential rains..So it was nice to see the sunshine..In fact..I didn't mind that the weatherman said it was going to hit 99 today..

Who am I?..I'm Assistant District Attorney, Keith Porterhouse Wallace...

I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek softly....She awoke, smiled at me sweetly and motioned for me to come closer...I leaned in closer and she put her arms around my neck and kissed me slowly, softly, sensuously....

It was 4:35 am...It was a work day...We kissed passionately like that for a good while...
I rolled over on top of her...I eased her nightie up and slipped her panties down. and slipped my pajama bottoms down...

I entered her slowly....

''Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu papi, you feel so gooood ,Aye Mios Dios...." she moaned..

"I love it when you speak spanish!" I said, continuing to move in and out of her warm center....

"Oh stop it...you love it when I speak anything." she said....

"Yesss...I do...I do..." I agreed and continued to kiss her....

It had been awhile since we had made love in the early morning like this...but I welcomed it..and I think Carlotta did too..

It was close to 7:00 am when we both climaxed deeply and intensely and held each other for dear life, continuing to kiss each other until we finally collapsed in a heap of sweat....

''Wow..that was...that was amazing.."I said.

Carlotta looked at me and smiled..

"Okayyy, Get off of me..you are wet..." she said.

"So are you." I said.

She leaned over and kissed me long and softly...

"Want to take a shower together?" she said playfully...

"Yes...but you know we will probably wind up doing it some more.."I said.

"I know...That's why I asked."she said devilishly and kissed me again...

"Coming?" she asked...as she smiled and playfully ran towards the shower...

I shook my head...

"I'm glad I'm married to you."I said.

"As you should be" she laughed playfully....

I followed her into the shower...She put her arms around my neck and we stood and kissed each other passionately while warm water splashed all over us...This day was starting out great.....

II-

After starting the day off on such a nice note, you can understand me still experiencing a post coital high when I arrived in Love Park...Which was just a few blocks from where Carlotta and I lived..hours later..

A body had been found!!!

It was 95 degrees...A very hot day and the body was hot and ripe...When I arrived...I saw my wife, Carlotta and her partners, Detective Tyriq Pile and Detective Jimmy Barlow ,along with Forensics Specialist, Dr.Hazel Hunter-Baylor...They all had on surgical masks...

Hazel and Tyriq were examining the body...  Carlotta walked over to me and hugged me and gave me a kiss...

Jimmy was talking to uniform policemen while CSI guys were photograping the body and the scene and processing the area... a crowd of people were watching as the body was pulled from the shallow
grave...

"From the looks of it...He's been in here for about 24 hours..." said Hazel...

"He was shot in the back of the head with a .40" said Tyriq....

Carlotta felt beside the body.....and uncovered a gun...

"Like this one Rico?" she said...

He looked at it...

"Yeah...but he couldn't have shot himself in the back of the head? This was no suicide." said Tyriq..

"Mafia guys used to whack their targets and drop the gun next to the victim back in the day." said Jimmy ,who had just joined the conversation..

I smiled..So Did Tyriq...

"You have watched a lot of Television Jimmy...This guy certainly doesn't look like a wiseguy or a playa."I said examining him...The smell was giving me a headache..

My wife looked at the face and put her hands to her mouth....

"Oh My God...I know him!!!  I know Him!!!"She said...

The body had been buried for about 24 hours and it hadn't started decomposing completely just yet...but it was pretty ripe...Yet Carlotta recognized him..

"That's Gary...Gary Campbell...I went to High School with him...." she said..

Jimmy went in his pants pocket and pulled out a wallet with a drivers license in it..

''She's right...That's who it is..." he said..."The address is just five blocks from here...I'm going to check with the unis and see if anything was caught on the cameras..." he said.

I looked at her and smiled...

"An old boyfriend?"

"Nooo...but he and our favorite FBI Special Agent were hot and heavy for a minute." she said.

"You mean ,Sharon?" I asked.

"Yes...I hadn't seen Gary since High School...I had no idea he was living this close to us."said Carlotta.

Hazel examined the body closer..

"He was shot in the back of the head and again in the back...Execution style and then buried in this grave...and the murder weapon was dropped in here with him...That seems so cruel..."she said.

"He never saw it coming...Haze, you think we can pull any prints off of this gun?" asked Tyriq.

"That's very doubtful...It's been wet and it's been in all this mud...Probably not..but I'll try." she said.

Carlotta looked at the gun...

"It has a serial number...Most bad guys file the serial number so we can't trace it...This one isn't filed..Maybe we get lucky and get something from this." she said.

"When are we ever that lucky Top?" said Tyriq...

"First time for everything Rico."she said with a sweet smile.

Tyriq was the primary...He signaled for the M.E. guys to remove the body....

"We'll see Top." he said.

II-

A few hours later I ran into my favorite Lieutenant of Homicide...The Boss Lady herself...Lt.Sissy Van Buren...She was in her office doing paperwork...

"Hey lady..."I said as I walked in and sat down..

Sissy smiled that sexy smile of hers...

"Counselor...Your wife is over at the M.E.'s office if that's who you're looking for.."she said.

"Oh I know...They caught a case this morning...Turns out it was a guy she knew from High School..A Gary Campbell...." I said.

Sissy's eyes lit up...

"I knew him...I dated his older brother briefly...I didn't care for him...He was fresh..His brother is married and in the military....He's overseas....Him?  Like I said...I hadn't seen him..."she said.

"Yeah,well somebody shot him in the back of the head and the back in Love Park and buried him and get this!!!...They buried the murder weapon with him.."I said.

"Oh wow...Really?"said Sissy.. "It's probably wet , with no prints and no serial number." she continued..

"Actually it did have a serial number."I said.

"Really??It wasn't filed away?' she asked.

"No.." I said.

"How often do we get that lucky?" said Sissy.

"That's what Tyriq said."I said.

III-

Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor walked in the office just then....

"Hey Keith, Lou....Lou if you're tired of doing paperwork...You might want to ride over to the Medical Examiner's Office with me...I just talked to Top and Rico...They said you might be interested in this." he said...

"I am about to fall asleep sitting here doing this paper work.." said Sissy...

"We'll take my car." I said.

We drove over to the medical examiners office where we were met by Tyriq ,Jimmy,Carlotta and Hazel...

"Heyy guys" said Hazel as the three of us entered the M.E.'s office...

"Lou, How often do we get this lucky....We checked the serial number on the weapon found in the shallow grave with our victim and we got a name...Paul Witherspoon...and guess what?? He has a sheet....A conviction for Felonious Assault...He served six months in county...about four years ago..Here's his photo."said Tyriq...

Carlotta again shook her head...

"I know him...I went to High school with him...He was a little older than me...He used to date my sister and he also dated Sharon for a minute." she said.

"Damn! That's two guys Sharon used to date...You think she committed this murder? joked Jimmy..

We all busted out laughing...

"He got an address?" asked Duke...

"His last known address is this" said Tyriq showing Sissy,Duke and I his address..

"Is that gun the murder weapon?"asked Sissy.

"It is...and it still had three unshot bullets in it..A definite match..."said Hazel...

"Well guys...Let's saddle up and go get him."said Sissy.

IV-

Using my SUV, Sissy, Carlotta,Tyriq, Jimmy , Duke and I
 ascended on the address we had ...The last known address of Paul Witherspoon...

When we got to his last known address we were surprised....We were met at the door by his wife!!
Claudette Witherspoon...

She recognized Carlotta...

"Carlotta Rodriguez...Is that you?" she said.

"Hey Claudette..."said Carlotta..

"You're a detective now huh? Wowww!" she said.

"Yes...Is Paul home?" asked Carlotta...

"Paul?? You've found him?" she asked....

"Found him? We are looking for him in relation to a murder..." said Carlotta..

"A murder??  I reported Paul missing two years ago..." She said!

"Missing?" asked Carlotta.

"Yes...Paul went to work one morning...Only he never showed up and they called here for him...I said he wasn't here and I called around...All of the places he was known to hang out and no one had seen him that day...and anyway...he hasn't been seen or heard from since...I went to this detective...Detective Carlo Tegron...He was working it hard." she said.

"Unfortunately...He's no longer with us...he was killed a month ago." said Carlotta.

"Yeah, I heard...He used to come around ,every now and then and keep me abreast of the case...All of his leads went dry....I'm assuming Paulie is dead." she said.

"Claudette,I hate to ask you this..but is there any chance that Paul just left, just ran off?" asked Sissy...

"Noooo, he wouldn't do that..He loved me...He loved me deeply and he had a good job ....a job he loved and was proud of...and had just bought a new car....If you check Detective Tegron's records...It'll show you that up until a month before he died...There was no activity on any of Paul's bank accounts or credit cards, No more car payments ...No Nothing.....His phone went dead...All of his clothes are still here, not a peep...Personally, I think he's dead..."she said.

"Mam, do you think that Paul was into anything...Did he owe anybody any money? "asked Tyriq..

"Nahhh..Paul went to jail for six months for a fight in a bar....and after that ,he didn't jaywalk...He said he never wanted to go back to the joint...He just worked...Went to the bar and had a few cold ones and came home to me.." She said.

"Did you know Gary Campbell?" asked Jimmy...

"Yeah, from High School Days...Him and Paul went to Central together...They were best friends." she said.

"So they didn't have beef?" asked Duke..

"Noooo...I don't know that he'd seen Gary since we got married and that was about six years ago..." she said...

''We found Gary in a shallow grave in Love Park this morning..Apparently he had been killed last night by a gun belonging to Paul.." said Duke..

"Paul used to carry his .40 on him...for protection...but he wasn't no gangster...and he wouldn't have hurt Gary...Gary was his boy."She said.

"They were close...If you saw one, you saw the other.." said Carlotta.

"You remember right Carlotta?" said Claudette...Carlotta smiled and nodded....

''Hey, whatever happened to your girl, Sharon?" she asked..

''She works with us...She's in the FBI... She went to law School, then became a fed and recently got married."said Carlotta.

''Sharon Ferrell Married???...Oh My God...She was always so picky...Who did she marry?" asked Claudette.

"Antonio Hopkins...and he works with me too...He's a detective.." said Carlotta..

"Get outta here???...She married Tony??? He loved that girl...He loved him some Sharon and she treated him soo bad...I used to feel sorry for him...She realized that he was the only one who could put up with her huh?? Good for him...He got his Sharon..I know he's happy as a clam.." she said..

We all laughed...But there was still the fact that we had a murder victim and a mysterious gun belonging to a man who went missing and had not been seen or heard from in two years...This didn't look good...In fact it was very unsettling...

"Sorry I couldn't help you guys...Carlotta it sure was nice seeing you again...Tell Sharon and Tony that I said Heyy."said Claudette...

We said our goodbyes and we headed back to CID Headquarters...

Sissy looked at Carlotta...

''Well Chica..You guys have your work cut out for you." said Sissy......

As they walked away, I whispered in her ear..

"So I guess that means that I'm not going to get any uh work tonight?" I said...

Carlotta looked at me...

"Papi how can you think about sex at a time like this?" she said.

"Yeah..I guess you're right...I'm sorry...we are in the middle of a murder.."I said..

Then she laughed...

"You are so easy papi....We've made love in between multiple murders before...What makes this one any different..Of course I'll take care of you tonight if you want it." she said smiling...

I smiled at her....Then she took my hand and walked me toward the SUV....

''Now come on, drive and turn the air conditioner on...It is hot and there is six of us in that SUV." she said.

(TO BE CONTINUED)