Morning Of Another Murder

SEVEN YEARS AGO!-

The body lay lifeless on the shower floor... He was a good looking kid...about six foot, six...heavily muscled....good strong legs...My detectives stood over the body and examined the trajectory of the bullet...I knew they would tell me what I already knew... African -American male...age 17, one gunshot wound to the left temple. 22 caliber bullet. ..The shooter fired from a downward position. With his left hand. You think I'm good....I should be...I've been a Homicide Detective for awhile now.. My name, Lieutenant Sissy Van Buren, Philadelphia Homicide...

As the Medical Examiner was carrying his body out of the school, I noticed a throng of teen aged girls crying and sobbing.. a couple of guys hanging their heads muttering -"Man, thas messed up...who would wanna do somethin like that to him...He was the man..now we ain gon win anudder game."

Funny what kids deem important. In some ways adults are just as bad. My Detectives interviewed close to 250 people...There wasn't one person who had anything bad to say about this kid. I checked over the interviews and I noticed something a little off center. This kid had two juvenile arrests...One was for forcibly assaulting a female (a pre-cursor to rape) that was thrown out..and another was for assaulting a male student. Also tossed out. Both arrests were last year.

A number of the males I talked to stopped just close to hero worship for this guy, yet I got the impression that they were afraid of him. The girls idolized them...yet some of them appeared to be afraid of him also. Then I ran across a
young man..The team statistician ,named Thaddeus Barber. He was about five foot nine, 110 pounds soaking wet and wore glasses...Like all the other boys, he wore his hair cut close and even sported a platinum earing...He didn't seem to be put off that Trevor Lee was dead at all. When I came across him, he was writing some notes...with his left hand on a stat sheet supported by a clip board. He seemed oblivious to the hoop la that was engulfing his classmates and the rest of the school...The Police and the detectives didn't seem to phase him at all.

At first ,I reasoned that this was a school in North Philadelphia. The school had
metal detectors..(that obviously weren't working today) Neither Thaddeus or any other student at this school was surprised or in awe of Police and or detectives. It was a fact of life of children going to school in Philadelphia's Public school system.

I sat down next to him and began talking to him..

"Hi Thaddeus...I'm ...."

"I know who you are...you're a cop." he said.

"Uh, yes..I'm a cop..I'm investigating the death of your high school hero." I said.

"He wasn't my hero, actually I'm glad he's dead." He said.

"Really? You're the first person that had a bad word to say about Trevor." I said.

"Yeah, well, he didn't take your IPOd, that you'd been saving for all month, and he didn't take your cell phone and step on it and crush it." said Thaddeus ,obviously filled with emotion.

''He did these things to you?" I asked ,knowing the answer.

"He bullied everybody, it's just that..because he was the school basketball hero, nobody ever said anything." said Thaddeus.

"Did you tell your parents?" I asked.

"My moms couldn't do nothing..and my pop..he would've tried to help..but Trevor is Six foot four..My dad is 5"10, maybe...Trevor would've beat my dad up
and I couldn't live with that...I told the Principal, but he just said he'd look into it..He never did nothing. And as long as we winnin Basketball games he aint gonna say nothin. Did you talk to the girl Trevor Raped last year?? The Principal talked her and her parents into dropping the charges..Said it was a misunderstanding....Ha...yeah, I bet it was."

"What? Are you serious? " I said incredulous.

"You can't prove it...Nobody will talk to you about it... He did whatever he wanted...She aint the first girl he raped..she was the only one who reported it.
When the case got tossed, the other girls made her life a living hell...She don't even go here no more.The other girls threatened her..Aint that a bitch.?" He said.

"Yes..I suppose it....is..." I said. I should have felt sorry for the dead victim, but all of a sudden I hated him. I didn't know what had come over me. This kid, this poor bullied kid could have been my son..if I had one..Was it the mother in me? I didn't know what it was...that I was feeling.

"Wow...so you really didn't like Trevor did you?" I said ,again hating myself for sounding so stupid.

"Ya think?" he said, not trying to hide his hostility.

"I'm in the 10th grade..I haven't reached pubertry yet, you know...I feel bad enough around girls...He and some of the other guys on the Basketball team tossed me into the girls shower room naked once...The most humiliating day of my life.." He added.

"Thaddeus...You don't have to say another word...I just wanted to know how you felt...I guess you feel safe now right?" I asked.

"Yeah, matter of fact, I do..He was everybody's favorite guy...he wasn't mine..I'm glad that mother fucker is dead..." he screamed.

I made a shush sound to him....."Don't say anything else to anybody...don't even repeat what you told me...you hear? Anybody give you any trouble...you call me.
Here...take my card....take it...now go on..." I said.

He looked at me with tears in his eyes...This was probably the first time in a long time that any adult had ever tried to help him...had ever reached out to him..He put my card in his pocket and walked away from me with that sullen walk that so many of the young boys have now of days.

I know, I know....That's probably Trevor Lee's killer right there..I probably just talked to a murderer and let him go...I'm a homicide detective..It's my job to bring killers in..not give them a pass...Maybe I've been doing this job too long.
Maybe...Just maybe...this one time..Justice was served. The murder of Trevor Lee remains unsolved!

II- EARLY THIS MORNING-

"Edddie...babe...you're going to be too tired to go to work..." Sissy cooed to her lover and fiance, Eddie C...

"Baby..I don't care...I just want more of you..." he said kissing her passionately....

Sissy rolled over and returned his passionate kissing...she ran her soft hands down his hugely erect and hard penis...

"Oh My God Eddie...Oh My Goodness..." she moaned as he kissed her cheeks and licked her breasts and then continued hungrily kissing Sissy...

Eddie had Sissy on top of the bed...they hadn't bothered to turn the sheets back....he entered her slowly...Sissy was so soft, so warm....so wet...He felt like he was slowly losing his mind...going in, out..in...out.....and kissing Sissy...She was holding him tight... kissing his neck, his adams apple, his cheek and his lips...soon she had her legs wrapped around his waist...He was staring into her pretty hazel eyes...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...Ohhhhhh girl, what is you doin to meeeee?" he moaned..

"What are you doing to me?" cooed Sissy...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh lawddddd..." he moaned...

The bed rocked furiously and the headboard slammed against the wall with a fury... a piece of plaster slowly fell to the ground...

''Ummmmmmmmmmmmm.Sissy..this feels goood ......ouuuuuuuuu....."he moaned...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh yesssssssssss...." she moaned..

"You like it baby?" she cooed..

"You know I do,..Ohhhh helll...Ohhhhhh this is sooooo good." he moaned..

"Glad you like it baby."moaned Sissy as she began deep throat kissing him.....

Eddie C.began to move in and out of her very slowly...savoring every minute , every second of the experience....Sissy wrapped her legs around him and began french kissing him as he continued to move inside of her even slower..

"God girl, this is sooooo good." he moaned..

"Ohhhhhh Eddie.."moaned Sissy...

With that, Eddie C. continued stroking her body gently and slowly...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...It's all about you Eddie.." she said.

"Well alrighttttttttttttttttttt!" he said....

They had already been making love like this for five hours... An hour more of this was all Sissy could take , she began to climax furiously and Eddie felt himself about to explode... ,he pulled out and exploded like a gusher.....

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...Sisssyyyy...I love you babbbbbbbbbbbyyyyyyyyyyyyy, aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.." he screamed to the top of his lungs...

"Ouuuuuuuu big daddy,I love you tooo..ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." she screamed to the top of her lungs as she climaxed.....Tears streaming down the side of her face....

Eddie C. sat on the side of the bed some minutes afterwords...

"Damn Siss, that was good...What am I going to do with myself for a week without you?" he said.

"You'll dream about how good it'll be on our wedding night..." she laughed...

He was going to stay at Deacon Basil Robinson's house until they got married within a week...

"Damn...I'm gonna miss you...I'm gonna miss this...There is nothing like it..." he said...

Sissy laughed..."Oh Hush up..."

III-HOURS LATER-

It was a somewhat overcast ,rainy day ..It always seems to be that way when we discover a fresh murder victim....I'm Assistant District Attorney, Keith Wallace...My wife ,Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace called me on this one...She always called me when they had the weird ones...

When I arrived , she and one of her partners, Detective James "Jimmy" Barlow was looking up at the body of a 22 year old girl, hanging from the rafters of her apartment building...

"Hey Honey Bunny." she said and gave me a soft, tender kiss as I walked up with a patrolman...

"What'cha got? Although I can see it." I said...

"She's twenty two....and this is the third time I've seen this in as many days." said Carlotta...

"What?" I said.

"Yeah..We've had two others just like this...No sign of forced entry..all hanging from the ceiling of their apartment in their panties and bra..All 22 or 23..."said Jimmy, looking up...

Her other partner, Detective Tyriq Pile walked in the room with two patrolmen just then...

"It's crazy Keith...The other two went to the same high school...and knew each other..but they hadn't seen each other in years...according to family and friends we interviewed.."he said.

"You guys caught all three of these murders?" I asked..

"Unfortunately...Our number just keeps coming up..."said Carlotta..

Our Forensic Investigator, Dr. Hazel Hunter Baylor instructed two policemen to cut her down...She looked at the body...

"Same as the other two....Black female, 22 or 23 years old....no sign of sexual assault, but dressed in panties and bra....Killed by a single injection in the neck of ketemene...then hung up....Our killer is good at tying knots..." said Hazel...

Her husband, Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor walked in the room just then...

"Hey Keith...I've got uniforms doing a block to block search of a five mile radius and they are checking travel cams, ATM cams and crime stopper cams for anything ,just like the other two.." he said.

"What did you guys get from the other two?" I asked.

"Not a damn thing...This guy may have come on foot and blended in with the crowd...This neighborhood is pretty crowded and populated...College kids, office buildings...It could have been anybody..Same with the other two.." said Jimmy..

Just then...their supervisor and my good friend,Lt. Sissy Van Buren walked in...

"Hey guys...What's going on?" she said.

"Boss Lady...What are you doing here?" asked Carlotta...

"Yes..You're supposed to be getting ready for your wedding." said Hazel...

"I know...It's in two weeks...but I read the twenties...and I see that you guys have three open murder cases..So I decided to see what I could do to help." she said.

"Sissy, you got pre-wedding jitters..Go Home..The guys got this...It's not like in the old days ..These guys are actually good detectives ."I joked.

Sissy looked at the body of the victim....

"I actually know this girl." she said.

"You do?" said Tyriq...

"I interviewed her about seven years ago in relation to an unsolved high school murder." said Sissy...

"She would have been about 15 or 16 then." said Duke..

"Yeah..She was...I remember her because she kind of kept in touch with me over the years...When she went off to college, when she was job hunting...She's one of the rare people who I gave my card to, who would actually call me..A very nice girl..She was a cheerleader...Real popular with the boys...We would talk...Not a lot, but off and on..Her name is Valencia Tabor.." said Sissy.

"Well our two other victims are former cheerleaders too and they went to the same high school and it turned out they knew each other.."said Carlotta..

"Hmmm...Find out if she had any ties to the other two girls...Same High school huh?Something about this seems off putting ."said Sissy..

Detective Jimmy Barlow looked around the apartment...He saw Diplomas from College and a High School Diploma!!

"Hey Carlotta, Rico...Come here..look....This diploma...She went to the same high school as our other two victims and she's around the same age...I'll bet they knew each other." he said.

 "Co-incidence? I think not...Something is going on here...Something diabolical...These girls knew each other...Let's look and see if they were dating the same guy or something." said Tyriq.

"Rico...The other two girls hadn't seen each other since high school..One had been out on the West coast for three years...Those two didn't socialize." said my wife, Carlotta.

"Well those two might not have...but maybe one of them socialized with this one..It's worth looking into." said a very worried looking Sissy...I had never seen her like this before..

Hazel stared at Sissy and smiled weakly...When Hazel came to us...She had been shy and standoffish a bit..Sissy had befriended her and made her feel at home and had brought her out of her shell....Sissy and of course Duke, who salivated over her and followed her around like a lovesick puppy dog...Hazel was to be Sissy's maid of honor..She rubbed her friend's shoulders...

"You nervous Boss Lady?"said Hazel..

"Girl yes..Eddie C. left this morning...He'll be staying at Basil's house until we get married...You know..He's not supposed to see the bride and what not.....I can't sit in that house by myself and twiddle my thumbs...I might as well help you guys out." she said.

"Well..let's go back to the office..I'll order Pizza and sandwiches..." I said.

"Chica, Rico, Jimmy...give me the  case files on your other two victims...I want to look at them...See if I know them too.." said Sissy...

My wife Carlotta walked over to me and whispered softly...

"Poor Boss Lady...the closer her wedding approaches...the more nervous she gets...She just doesn't want to admit it...I am so sorry we caught three open murders..I hope we can put these down before the week is out.." she said.

"Were you nervous before you and I got married?" I asked..

"Oh yesss...Of course...but we didn't have a big murder case....So I had to twiddle my thumbs...I was staying at Angie's house and I was missing you so terrible..." she said..

I kissed her...

"Yeah..I was missing you too." I said.

Sissy kept looking at the body of the dead girl....I knew Sissy and I knew that there was more to this than even we suspected.

(TO BE CONTINUED)