Tricked

Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor is not the detective you want after you when you've done something....He's organized and meticulous and tenacious...He is one of Sissy's best detectives...He and his partner Detective Tyriq Pile mentored and trained my wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace ,Tyriq's future wife, Sirena Harris, James "Jimmy" Barlow and Tony "Hop" Hopkins...The fact these are all great detectives in their own right, are in no short order because of Duke's mentorship and Tyriq's.

We were starting to look at James White...The estranged husband of Mellie White and the business partner of our victim's girlfriend, Amber Moore...He had had a crush on her all his life...and it was known that he didn't like any of her boyfriends...

So when Sissy got a call from Duke...We weren't too surprised...

''What's going on Duke?" said Sissy...

"Boss Lady..I found the car...James White's car....The Altima!..."said Duke..

''Where is it?" asked Sissy..

"It's in Glenside.." he said.. Glenside is a suburb of Philadelphia..

''Glenside,Pa. I went to James White's parents house a few hours ago...They hadn't heard from him either...They told me that they had a time share...another house in Glenside that James would go to...Only thing is They called his cell and called the house phone there and there was no answer...I drove out her and there is his car...and check this out Lou....There's a puddle of blood underneath and a trail....I don't know how long he's been here...but my guess is ,he's inside with Robinson's body...You gotta get out here...Call the Glenside P.D." said Duke.

"Okay Duke...I'm on it...We'll be out." said Sissy...

''What is it?" I asked.

''Duke found James White's car...He thinks he's holed up in his parent's time share in Glenside..He says there is a pool of blood beneath the car and a trail that leads to the house."said Sissy...

"I'll get on the phone with the Glenside P.D. and their ADA...You guys get out there" I said...

Just then my pretty little wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace and Detective James Barlow walked up..

"We did a check of James White's credit card activity...He bought a lot of feet of  plastic drop cloth, an electric saw, plastic buckets and shovels from Leows a few hours ago." said Carlotta...

"That sounds like body disposal equipment to me.."said Jimmy...

"Duke has located him....Everybody...get your kevlar vests and trauma plates and your glocks...Let's Go." said Sissy..

''I just called Glenside P.D., They'll meet us there...Go Get Hazel....Let's Go." I said as we headed out to Glenside..

II-

We met Duke down the street from the house...He was with a Sergeant and six Uniformed Glenside Patrolmen, all armed with Shotguns...

"We got a warrant" said Duke....

"Okay...Hazel...You and Keith stay back here....Chica...You,Rico,Jimmy and I will take the front...Duke..you Sirena and Hop take the back...You take three Uniforms...The Sergeant and the rest will back me up" said Sissy...

"On it.." said Duke..

Sissy, Carlotta, Tyriq, Jimmy, The Sergeant and three uniform policemen armed with shotguns knocked on the front door...They could hear a saw in the back...Nobody answered....They traveled around the back where the sawing was louder....

Duke gave the order...

"Knock it down!" he said..

One of the policemen knocked the door down and they all rushed in with guns drawn...

"PHILLY PD!  LET ME SEE YOUR HANDS! GET DOWN ON THE FLOOR, GET ON THE FLOOR!" they yelled..

The mystery was over...There on the table was the body of Tony Robinson...two of his arms had been sawed off and put in a bloody bag...The rest of him lie on the table...

Sissy handcuffed James White who offered no resistance at all...

 ''James White...You're under arrest for the murder of Tony Robinson.." said Sissy...

Carlotta read him his rights...

 Hop and Jimmy walked him out with the rest of the policemen...

Hazel walked in and examined the gruesome sight...

"Oh My God!!!....Look at this...Stabbed 28 times...By the state of rigor..He's been dead about two days...Oh my goodness and bleeding out like this...Oh My.." she said.

"Look in this bag...It's probably the murder weapon!!!...a surrated knife.." said Sirena..

"We got him...We got him cold."said Tyriq...

Duke looked around at all the blood...

''Damn...this place is going to give me nightmares...Look at all this damn blood." he said.

"Me too Duke!  Ughhhhhhhhhhhhh."I said...

By now I was surveying the carnage....

''Thank you guys from the Glenside Police Department...for your help..."I said.

''No problem Mr. Wallace...This is the most excitement we've had around here in years.."said The Sergeant..

A throng of reporters and cameras snapped photos of all of us as we brought Murder Suspect James White out and whisked him back to Philadelphia for arraignment on first degree murder charges! Another case cracked and in under 48 hours...Not bad...My guys were good!

III-

Some Hours later, James White sat alone in the fishbowl....My wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace walked in by herself..Most of the guys considered this an open and shut case...But Carlotta was bothered..She had told Sissy,Duke,Tyriq ,Jimmy, Sirena,Hop ,Hazel and me on the ride back to Philly that something bothered her and she needed to talk to him. Sissy said to have at it..She trusted Carlotta's instincts..

She came in and dropped her files on the table and sat down...She stared at him for a long time until she finally said something..

''James...You're in a lot of trouble."she said.

"I know how this looks detective...but I didn't kill him..."he said.

"I may be the only one who believes  you James.."she said.

He was surprised...

"You do?" he said.

"I do....I looked at your crime scene....You're very organized....Neat, clinical...Then I looked at Tony Robinson's body...Stabbed 28 times ,all over the place...like somebody in a rage...That's not you!!! I looked at the car...four tires slashed...a brick through the windshield...That's not you...That's someone else...a woman!!"said Carlotta.

"I'm not saying anything else..." he said.

"You don't have to...Your wife told me where you were...and what time you disappeared...and we checked the job...You've been alibied.You couldn't have possibly killed him...He was dead already and missing...No...I know exactly what happened..See ,we know that you set up that phony facebook page and we know that you hacked into Raven's phone and put those naughty photos on Tony's fake Facebook profile and you put that comment on there as him...You made sure Amber saw it...So that she would realize she was with yet another lying user and loser...Only..you didn't know she'd react the way she did..You didn't know she'd go ballistic and kill him did you? Then she called you and like the faithful guy you've always been ,you left home and cleaned up her mess even at the expense of ruining your marriage...You didn't commit the murder, but you drove her to it..and you are an accessory to murder....Am I right?"said Carlotta.

"Yes....That's about how it happened...I didn't want her to get in any trouble...I was going to dispose of the body for her...She called me...She was scared..So scared...I just had to protect her..." he said...

"I know..." said Carlotta.

He was in tears.....

"I loved her all these years...I was hoping she'd see...Hoping she'd see that I was right here...Right here..All the time...She never gave me a moments notice...I was always there to clean up her mess..Always..."he said.

Carlotta signaled for an officer....One came and handcuffed James White...He was charged with Accessory to Murder....

IV-

Amber Moore had no idea why she was being brought down to Police headquarters again...Detectives  Tony Hopkins,His partner,

Detective Sirena Pile and two uniformed policemen had picked her up at the office where she worked without telling her why or handcuffing her..

''Just go right in there Ms. Moore..The two Detectives will talk to you" said Sirena..

Inside...Detectives Tyriq Pile and Jimmy Barlow sat waiting for her..

She smiled flirtatiously at Jimmy as she sat down...

"What's this about?  I heard you guys arrested James for the murder of Tony...I was so shocked...How is he doing?" she asked.

"You know..I'm surprised you would ask that question...Considering he is accused of Accessory to murder in the death of your boyfriend.."said Tyriq..

 "He's still my best friend..that doesn't just go away....I am in shock...I've always known that James had a crush on me...but not to this extent...I had no idea he was so obsessive..And..And ..And what do you mean
Accessory to murder? You think someone else killed Poor Tony?"she said.

Jimmy sighed...He pulled out an IPOD mini tablet and showed her...

"See That? That's Tony's real Facebook profile...and see this?...That's the phony one with the pictures of Raven on them...Her phone was hacked by your friend James White ,who then made up this phony profile and commented as Tony....Didn't you find it odd that these are the only photos and entries on this Facebook page? He's been on Facebook since 2009....You didn't know did you??...You were hoodwinked by James because he was jealous...You went into a white hot rage and you threw a brick through Tony Robinson's windshield and then flattened his tires...He caught you...You two argued  and then you stabbed him...because he was just like all the other guys who let you down...Isn't that how it went?"said Jimmy..

She smiled...

"Nice story, but you can't prove any of that." she said.

"We pulled your latent fingerprints off of his car and off the brick...We have you placing a phone call at 4:30 to James White , right around the time  that Tony Robinson vanished! and have you looking up how to dispose of a body on your laptop...Not to mention, your fingerprints as well as James White's on the murder weapon."said Tyriq..

''By the time the jury hears all of that...they'll have heard enough...Stand up Amber...You're under arrest for the murder of Tony Robinson." said Jimmy...

"I was tricked....He tricked me....I wouldn't have done this if he hadn't of tricked me..Don't you see...I was tricked.....I was tricked..You gotta understand...I was tricked...Ohh..Oh my god...James White  you lousy obsessive punk....lousy punk..He tricked me...aggggggggggggggggggggggggrhhhh nooooooooooooooooo.." she wailed..

Duke and a uniformed Police officer walked in and handcuffed her and read her her rights and walked her away...

"James White...He He He is responsible for all of this...I wouldn't have killed Tony...If he hadn't of tricked me...I-I-I-I was tricked...Oh My God...You can't do this..." she screamed and stomped her foot.

"Let's go baby."said Duke as they walked her out...Sissy ,Sharon and Angie walked into the room just then..

"Good work guys..We closed that case in under 48 hours...Great work...Duke..let the officer take Ms. Moore to booking...I want you all here for this..." she said.

Amber Moore was still babbling..."I was tricked...He tricked me...He was obsessed with me...I was tricked..tricked....I wouldn't have killed him if I hadn't of been tricked..."  The two officers looked at each other and made the cuckoo sound and laughed as they dragged her out!

Sharon walked Angie into the office...

We all were stunned...Jimmy walked over to Angie and put his arm around her...

"Uh guys...I asked her to marry me yesterday and she said yes." he said....

"He and Sharon tricked me into coming down to Tiffany's and there he was with this gorgeous ring and a proposal."gushed Angie as she showed off her engagement ring.

Sissy,Carlotta,Hazel, Sirena,Sharon and several female police officers gushed and ouued and ahhhed at the ring.

"Some trick huh?" I said.

"Yes...the best kind." said Angie who was gushing with tears...

The room erupted in applause and screaming...Not just us the detectives, but the uniforms, plain clothes cops and FBI agents...

Sissy,Sirena, Hazel,Sharon and Carlotta hugged and kissed Angie...Duke,Tyriq,Hop and myself gave Jimmy dap and hugged and kissed Angie...

"Come on you guys...You're going to make me cry..." she said.

Her Lieutenant from upstairs in Internal Affairs and several of the detectives from that unit joined us...They had brought cake,Ice Cream and sodas...

Carlotta and I walked over to Jimmy....

''What a week for you huh? You got engaged and you closed one of our most baffling cases.." said Carlotta.

''Yeah man...what a week...I can't believe this..I remember a year ago when you asked me if she'd go out with you, I secretly thought...Not a chance...And here you two are getting married..I was never so happy to be wrong in my life I said.

"Angie is going to ask Sissy to be her maid of honor...ADA Wallace..would you be my best man?" asked Jimmy...

I smiled...

''Wow!  I'd be honored.." I said.

"Wow Buddy...We've been through a lot..You and me..The Academy, making detective...Special Victims unit, This unit.." said Carlotta..

"I know Carlotta..you're my sister...My crazy little sister.I love you baby..." said Jimmy,hugging her...

Angie was crying like a gusher...I walked over to her..

"Hey girl..What are you crying for? This is a happy occassion." I said hugging her.

"I am happy..I'm with my favorite people, My best friends...and I'm about to be a married lady...I wondered if anybody would ever ask me.. I gotta admit...I never imagined it would be like this...but I'm so glad it happened..." she said.

Carlotta and Sissy hugged her...

"Love you mami" said Carlotta...

"Love you girl."said Sissy....

What a nice ending to such a strange murder case!

EPILOUGE:

James White was convicted of Accessory to Murder and sentenced to Three to five years...He was released in one year for good behavior...He and his wife, Mellie are going to marriage counseling religiously..

Amber Moore was convicted of second degree Murder and sentenced to15- 25 years...She went screaming and kicking to the prison bus....

"I was tricked...I was tricked... I was tricked I tell you...I can't go to jail...It wasn't my fault....He tricked me...Damn it...Damnnnnnn ittttt..I was tricked...Arghhhhhhhhhhh nooooooooooo..I was tricked damnit! Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...nooooooooooooooo...I WAS TRICKEDD!!!!!"she yelled.

She and James White do not keep in contact and he never mentions her...EVER!

Carlotta, clad in only my undershirt and white lace bikini panties sat on my lap in our bedroom...I was clad in only boxer shorts.. I hugged her and kissed the nape of her neck.

''Honey Bunny remember when we were the only couple in the unit?" she said kissing me softly.

"Nah...Tyriq and Sirena were married when we got together..."I said.

''Yeah, you're right....Look at the unit now...Hazel and Duke married!...Sharon and Hop married...It was about time Jimmy and Angie got together...For awhile,he was the only one who didn't have somebody...I was glad when he and Angie got together." said Carlotta...

"Yeah me too...And Boss Lady and Eddie C. are living together...It's nice...We are all hooked up."said Carlotta.

"Ummmmmm...Now let's me and you act like we are hooked up." I said bouncing Carlotta on my lap.

She giggled like a school girl...

"We always act like we are hooked up."she laughed as she leaned over and kissed me.