He Was The Ocean,I Was The Sand

The next day, Carlotta,Jimmy and Tyriq brought in Tony Blake, the business partner of Paul Jordan ,who was also at the party that night ..

Rather than take him into the ''Fishbowl" our interrogation room...They took him into our conference room for questioning... Sissy and I were present..

Carlotta whispered to Sissy....

"One thing is for certain...This guy is definitely not gay....He was hitting on me something fierce, even after I told him I was married...He did not stop until I told him WHO I was married to." said Carlotta. Sissy giggled.

"Isn't HE married?" she asked..

''Yes..but not happy!" said Carlotta...

They both giggled..That conspiratorial laugh they had between each other...

II-

The reason why they were using the conference room was because Sirena and Hop had a suspect in the "fishbowl" already interviewing him...His name was Tony Maiden...He worked with the Catering Company that worked the party...He was a last minute replacement for the murdered man, who Duke and Angie were investigating...

Sissy and I walked back and forth from both areas...Listening to the interviews...

"Look...I saw Michelle around 9;30pm...we were talking briefly on the deck...." said Tony Blake..

"

''We have a couple of eyewitnesses that say you were doing more than talking...You were kissing." said Carlotta.

He squirmed a bit...

"Yeah..We were."he said.

"Your partners wife huh?" said Tyriq..

"Yeah,well, look at her...She's hot..and I'm sure If you knew Paul, you'd know that he didn't mind one bit."said Tony...

''So you knew he was Gay and that they had an arrangement?" said Jimmy.

"Yes I knew...He uh didn't know I was bangin her and I'd like to keep it that way....Look...Neither of us killed her alright...Why would I kill her...She was givin me good lovin...I mean good lovin...Much like I'd imagine you are giving ADA Wallace eh chica?" he said winking at Carlotta.

"Did your wife know about the good lovin you were getting?" asked Carlotta.

"Yeah...She uh caught us in an embrace...There were words between us...she as you can imagine, wasn't too happy..." he said.

"Yes...I can Imagine.." said Carlotta sarcastically..

Jimmy showed him a watch, a very expensive watch....

''See that ace? That's your watch...We found it on her body...We checked the registar...It's yours." said Jimmy.

"Yeah, that is my watch...but I don't know how she got it...I never gave that to her....I fact,I reported it stolen a week ago.  You can check." he said.

"A week ago huh?  I'm going to call Robbery-Homicide right now and find out." said Tyriq who left the conference room...

In the Fishbowl, Sirena grilled the waiter, Tony Maiden...

''Did you know Floyd White, the dead waiter?" she asked..

"I met him a few times...I didn't know him well...I just started..."He said.

"In fact you took his place the night Mrs. Jordan was murdered.."she asked.

"Yes I did...It was a last minute thing...I was on stand by...."he said.

Hop placed a photo of Michelle Jordan on the table...

"Did you see her that night?" he asked..

"I sure did...How could you miss her? She had that short skirt on and a top that revealed everything...Yeah I saw her...She was foolin around with Mr. Blake...They were uh below deck gettin it on, you know...I turned and walked away...But Mrs. Blake walked up on them...They had a yelling and screaming match and Mrs. Jordan left and Mr. Blake left...I stayed with Mrs. Blake...I held her in my arms and wiped her tears....That clown ,Mr. Blake told her that he didn't love her, that he loved Michelle Jordan..." said Tony Maiden...

Sirena gave him the side eye..

"You sure are kind of personally invested in this...being you were just working there."she mused...

"I-I-I have worked for the Blakes before...Mrs. Blake is a nice lady...She didn't deserve to be treated like that." he said.

"So she was with you the whole time after that?" asked Sirena.

"Until eleven o'clock." he said.

"Really? an hour..What did you two do?" she asked..

"We just talked...We talked until she got herself together.."He said.

"What do you think Sissy?" I asked.

"It's looking like either Blake or his wife may have done this...or somebody is trying to make it look like they did."said Sissy.

"His alibi seems to fit...The watch was reported stolen...a week ago like he said and from what Hop and Sirena gathered from their interview, Blake and our victim were getting it on hot and heavy almost every chance they got...I can't see why he would kill her..."said Tyriq..

Carlotta joined us...

''Rico,let's you and me check his financials..Find out about any pre-nups, divorce proceedings...We are still going to hold him....Jimmy is going to pick up his wife." said Carlotta.

"Okay...I'm on it." he said.

Meanwhile Sirena and Hop released their suspect...

She said to Carlotta and Sissy...

"He was just a material witness, but something about him seems off...Hop is looking into him closer."she said.

"Good Job, all of you Keep me posted.....There is Duke and Angie now..."said Sissy...

III-

"Hey Sis" said Angie..

''Hey Lou,Keith" said Duke....We went back over that warehouse area..We interviewed some more people on the pier and we took some guys and went to that Catering Company...Nobody had a bad thing to say about the dead guy...His family,friends...none of them...His financials are normal too..and he had great attendance up until the days before his death...Something about this is hokey...Like it's connected to the murder Top,Rico and Jimmy caught." said Duke.

"We can't find any links though...He didn't know any of the principals personally...Nor they him..." said Angie..

"Ange...got a minute...I want to talk to you...in private."said Sissy...

"Something Wrong Sis." she asked.

"No...I just want to talk to you a minute." said Sissy...

"Okay." she said and walked into her office...

Duke looked at me...I shrugged my shoulders..

''Keith, what's up man?" he asked.

"I don't know...Sissy thinks Angie is running from something or someone upstairs.." I said.

"Yeah it does seem funny...Her showing up down here all of a sudden...But you know what man,it's been fun...I miss her being my partner...When I see Rico and Top, how they work together..How they know each others rhythm or Top and Jimmy or Sirena and Hop...I miss that...That's how me and Angie were...Workin this case was fun man..." he said.

"I offered her a chance to come back, but she always declined...I thought it was because of her and Jimmy."I said.

"Nah...He good with it...Just like Rico is good with Sirena workin with Hop...It's her, man... She seems like she wants to be here with us now." said Duke..

IV-

Inside Sissy's Office....Sissy said to Angie...

"You know I love you Angie...and I've known you for a long time..Since you were a uniform cop....and I know when something is not right...What's up?" said Sissy..

"Nothin...I'm back here with my favorite cops on the force working a big case."she said smiling.

Sissy gave her the side eye...

Angie sighed...

"No wonder you're such a great Homicide lieutenant...Look how you broke me down..."she sighed..

Her and Sissy laughed....

''What is it girl? You were one of my best detectives...but you burned out...You lost your passion for this...I know that you love what you do now in I.A.  I know that that's your calling...I know you don't want to come back to this.....Why are you here?" asked Sissy...

"Sissy....I love you...I love all of you, Rico Suave, Duke...he's my partner for life...,Carlotta, Jimmy,he's made me happier than ever....Sirena, Hop,Hazel and Sharon..and I'm enjoying working this case with you but..."

"But someone upstairs has made you uncomfortable...Who?" asked Sissy..

"He's back....Lt. Lockwood...." she said and hung her head.

"Gary Lockwood??? Detective Gary Lockwood is a Lieutenant now?? How???"asked Sissy...

"He was Lt.Tragg's Boy, ..."said Angie.

"Tragg pushed him along and now he's a Lieutenant...He took Cantrell's spot since Cantrell made Captain...but he's with IA for awhile until a permenant spot is found for him..."

"You two had a thing once...I had heard that."said Sissy...

"It was more than a thing...I was in love with him Sis, totally head over heels in love..He was the ocean and I was the sand... It began as far back as when we were both uniformed officers... before I met you. He walked into the locker room, the female locker room...I was getting dressed...We had been flirting with each other  and talking for awhile...I was spellbound by that man Sissy....he knew it...I knew it..We kept talking about how we should hook up one day...but we hadn't.Then he walked in on me taking off my uniform and getting ready to go home for the day...

He looked at me with those pretty hazel eyes of his...and the next thing I know, we were kissing passionately...He had my bra off and my panties down and he took me right there on one of those hard benches...It's a miracle we didn't get caught, but nobody came in there for hours and we made love like nothing mattered in the world.....

"After that, we would get away and do it everyday for awhile...Then he made Detective...I didn't see him for awhile, but when I did..It was the same all over...we picked up where we had left off...I had made Detective by then and we were at it again...We'd go to a hotel on our days off,We stayed in bed...but we never talked about where our relationship was going...He never wanted to talk about it...I didn't care then...I just didn't want to lose him  and that good loving he was putting on me..I was never so addicted to any one man before...He was like a drug Sissy...I don't want to go there with him again...

We talked about moving in together...I was so happy and then one day....I was working late and I went to the women's locker room and there he was thrusting away inside some young patrol officer...

She was squealing with delight..moving her head from side to side and he was just moaning ,sweating..just like he did with me. I couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe him....I wondered how many other girls he had done this with...

I was crushed....I just walked away." she said.

Sissy put her arms  around her...

''Aww honey, you two never talked about it?" she asked.

"Oh eventually....I told him what I'd seen...He apologized profusely.... He said that she meant nothing to him ,that this was just a one time thing...That she had been flirting with him...but I wasn't hearing it...I talked to the girl...She was a uniform patrol cop..She told me that he had been flirting with her for close to a year and that she didn't know anything about me and him...I talked to two other cops and found he had done the same thing with them....He was a creep Siss...a real lothario..He couldn't keep it in his pants...He mostly got young female  cops...Female cops looking to move up to Detective...And now he's a damn Lieutenant and I have to work under him...I couldn't bare that again...

"Don't you know, his first day there he called me into his office and had me hemmed against the wall trying to kiss me? ,Trying to slip his hands up my skirt...I had to fight him off...He's like a wild animal Siss... I told him that that was very inapropriate and unprofessional and that that was not going to happen again...I also told him that I had a boyfriend now, a detective in homicide...He wasn't pleased... People were gossiping about us as it was.. and I couldn't do my work...He was always standing over my desk....If I wore a white blouse..He would send me a text saying that he liked the color of my bra...Foolishness like that...I started dressing like a nun, Pants suits..Dark blouses..It didn't stop...So When Keith and Carlotta and Rico and Sirena and Hop and Sharon went on vacation..I jumped at the chance to help you out down here.Just to get away from him...I don't want things to get ugly where I have to file sexual harrassment charges against him..." she said.

"They're all back now...Duke and Hazel are going on vacation next and Captain Cantrell will be pinch hitting for me ,while I take a few days....I suppose you can still stay, but you can't hide from him for ever. If he's making you uncomfortable...by all means, bring him up on charges...I'll back you....You know that!" said Sissy..

Just then there came a knock on the door..It was FBI SAC, Sharon Ferrell and Carlotta..

"We aren't interrupting anything are we? " said Sharon..."Angie girl, there is a fine man out here...he's looking for you.." she said.

"His name is Lt.Lockwood...He is very handsome...It's a good thing my partner Jimmy is out on a call."laughed Carlotta..

Angie shrugged and walked out into the office...Duke and I were still sitting there..We knew Gary Lockwood from his days as a Detective..

He was tall, six four...Brown skinned ,had curly wavy hair and smooth skin...Dressed immacculately...

"Angie...So this is where you're hiding...And Sissy...You...You are a vision of loveliness." he said.

Sissy smiled wryly ,but ignored him otherwise.

"We are working a case Lieutenant...Is there something you want?" said Angie.

He whispered in her ears...

"Besides getting in your panties...Yes.." he said.

"Gary,I'm working.." she said sternly...

''Doesn't look like it to me...But I have a case that demands your expertise.." he said.

"Gary...She is a part of my murder investigation...We've got a double homicide...."said Sissy.

He smiled...

"I heard...I read the papers... that Port case..but you've got Tyriq, Duke,Keith Wallace's wife, Carlotta, This Jimmy Barlow fellow, Tyriq's wife Sirena and that new fellow, I don't get his name...You don't need Angie...You're covered." he said.

"It's my call...I say I need her and while she is on loan to me...That's how it goes."said Sissy...

He smiled and raised his palms....

"Okay Sis, Okay...I can't over-rule you...You do have seniority..." he said snidely.

"It's okay Sis...I got this...When we crack this case...I'll be returning to IA...but hear me and hear me well...I'm not going to sleep with you....Not gonna happen..Do not call me into your office unless it is business...You will keep the door open ,even if I am in your office..and I will not go out to breakfast,lunch or dinner with you and do not call me or text me at home....I will file a sexual harrassment charge against you if you do."she said.

His smile dissappated  after that....

"You can try that...but let's be realistic....I have friends...Lt. Tragg, the Deputy of Operations and several others...How far do you think that will go?" he said.

"She has friends too....Like me and Lt. Sissy Van Buren....and Captain Ed Cantrell....Let's see if your friends trump her friends." I said.

"Oh...Well in that case...Don't bother to come back until after I am placed somewhere else....Sissy...She's yours indefinitely."he said and stomped his foot and stormed out...

Carlotta walked over to Angie and put her arms around her...

"I don't know mami....You used to always say that I had that good good...that made men go wild...I don't know..." she joked..

"Come on girl...You had a mob boss giving you sensitive information for free! And you took the smoothest player in the game, Keith Wallace  here, off the market and got him to marry you...You do have it.."said Angie..

"You brought an assistant district attorney,Soloman Foster to his knees...as well as my partner, a celebrated Homicide Detective..."she said.

''Celebrated by who?" laughed Duke..He was kidding...He and Tyriq loved Jimmy, they loved giving him a hard time even more..

Sissy,Carlotta and Angie all stuck their tongues out at Duke ,who was eating a sandwich....and chuckling at the whole thing..

"As I was saying You brought an Assistant District attorney to his knees...My partner, a celebrated Homicide Detective can't think straight when you're around, a diabolical Bank robber and killer went loco over you and now you've got this Lieutenant about to lose his job trying to get you in the bed....I think you are the one with the good good." laughed Carlotta.

Sissy cracked up laughing..

''We all are some dynamic, sexy  women."laughed Sissy...

The three of them hugged and laughed...

I  smiled...

We still had two open murders to solve...

(TO BE CONTINUED)