Octopus Garden

''I swear you take me to the most interesting places." I said as we headed for Penns Landing in my Flying Car...

My partner ,Detective Monica Talbert wanted to re-interview murder victim, Nestor Jefferson's supervisor...Jack Redding....

"Oh Relax..You'll like it...besides...I've always wanted to take a ride on a mini sub and dine at the Octopus Garden,Underwater cafe." she said smiling..

"I already interviewed this guy...and I checked his financials and his comings and goings...he's clean." I said.

"I talked to his wife...He told you he was home with her on the night of the murder...She says otherwise..and you know I know if someone is lying to me or not." said Monica.

''I do...Well, I gotta admit...Since I became your partner...I've been to the moon and now I'm about to take a trip to the bottom of the sea..I wasn't having this much fun until I met you..."I said...

She smiled...She rubbed my hand softly and kissed me on the cheek....

"I know...Me neither..." she said.

II-

We had stopped by Diamond Investments and the receptionist had told me that Mr. Redding was dining with a client at the Undersea cafe known as Octopus Garden and that if we hurried we could catch them...

Octopus Garden was a franchise of undersea cafes....financed by the same venture capitalists that financed cities on the moon...They were built with the same concept...

I parked at The Port ,an ultra -modern building practically sitting in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean...Normally we would have taken a ferry out...We got on an elevator that took us down, about a mile under the sea to a very ,tony and modern undersea bistro.....A Lounge in a huge bubble like dome that had oxygen pumped in from huge pumps.....

To say my mind was blown was an understatement...

"You okay partner?" laughed Monica who was tickled pink...

"You do realize if that dome cracked..We ware doomed...We could never swim to the top in time." I said.

"Now is not the time for you to be talking like that." she said and pulled me to the side and kissed me long and softly for a few minutes...

"There, Do you feel better now?" she asked..

''You sure know how to take my mind off of things.." I said.

''Relax...just follow me.." she said.

"With pleasure.." I said smiling salaciously....Lord, this woman sure knew how to fill up a dress...

"I know." she said..smiling..She heard my thought....Again.

Jack Redding was tall, well tanned, Athletic build with a very expensive tailored suit that fit him to a tee and a great smelling cologne...He had a mouth full of perfectly white teeth...A kilowat grin and a bullshit type personality to go with it..He took one look at Monica and was all teeth...So was the Black man who was sitting with him...

"Detective Nellis...Is this your partner?" he asked...

"It is..." I said.

"You should have brought her along with you the other day...My..My..Myyy...Ahem!You guys make any progress in Nestor's murder?" he asked.

"We may have...You uh told my partner the other day that on the night of the murder...you were home...That's not exactly true...I talked to your wife and she told us that you in fact were not home and that you didn't get home until about 4:45 am and that you called out sick the next day...Which is why you weren't at work when we initially visited your office. She said you slept the whole day.." said Monica..

He looked like he had drank two cans of paint...He motioned us over to a corner..

"Irv..I'll be right back..."he said.. He was as red as a beet...

"Something you want to tell us sir?" I asked..

"Look...I wasn't at home that night...but I was in bed......With Nestor's wife...." he said.

"WHAT?" asked Monica...

"Look Nestor had been working late three nights a week ,every week...Rita complained...Bitterly...One night I stopped by to see him...She told me that Nestor was staying overnight in the city...We had a couple of drinks..one thing led to another and the next thing I know..We wound up in bed and we've been screwing for about a month...I've been meaning to break it off...You have to keep this under the strictest of confidence.." he said pleadingly...

Monica looked at me...

"He's telling the truth..Let's go partner.." she said.

"Heyy, since we are here..Why don't we have lunch?...My treat. I've been wanting to take you someplace really nice...There is no place more uh out of the way than Octopus Garden here." I said.

She smiled at me...

"You are really doing a good job in your first week as my boyfriend ,Mister Talbert...You get all A's.." she said laughing as we sat down and had lunch.

The food was as expected very high..but very good...I had a New York Strip Steak that was to die for...Monica had a Salmon Steak...

"Wow...My FBI friend was going to bring me here...He was going to bring me to a lot of places...All we ever wound up doing was going to some hotel...screwing....That's all he wanted to do.." she said.

''You're with me now..." I said.

She smiled...

"I know...You're a surprisingly marked improvement over all of them." she said.

III-

Back on dry land and in the air..we were headed for Mrs. Rita Jefferson's house again.....

 "Yes..He was here..and uh yes...we uh have been uh having uh...a kind of relationship..." she said.

"You've been sleeping with him." said Monica.

"Yes...Nestor was a workaholic...I was bored..." she said.

"So why not get a divorce?" asked Monica..

''A divorce?? And lose this nice house? And have to work again? SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!" she said.

I cracked up laughing...Rita Jefferson cracked up laughing too...

Some hours later...Monica and I sat in the diner....drinking coffee...

"I hate women like her...They give us all a bad name..." said Monica..

''Well partner..it's time to talk to the mystery woman...Mona Scott...the blonde he was at the hotel with..."I said.

"I checked her financials and her whereabouts..."said Monica.

"But did you talk to her?" I asked...

"No..I suppose we should.."said Monica...

I kissed her on the cheek...

"I have a file here...Check it out...We ought to talk to her for more reasons than one..." I said.

Monica looked at me and smiled...

"Ouuuuuuuuu." she said.

IV-

''So Mrs. Scott..You knew Nestor " asked Monica as we sat in her kitchen drinking tea.

''Yes...I -I met him at The Octopus Garden...The Undersea Bistro...he was there with a client..I had taken the Ferry there... I had always wanted to go, but my husband would never take me...He never wanted to go anywhere..So one day I went..I met Nestor...He looked so alone, so bored...We both met for lunch..he talked about his wife and I complained about my husband....and the next thing you know we wound up meeting when he was working late at hotels ,at the Chinese Bistro...at a number of places...I knew it was wrong, but I had never felt so alive, so electric..so real than when I was in bed with him....making sweet, tender love....We were going to break it off...We were going to visit Octopus Garden where we met, just one last time and that was going to be it...Only he got shot, two days before we were supposed to go..." she said..She was crying..

We heard the sound of someone coming in the door...

''Oh my God...That's my husband..Turnbow...You can't tell him about this..He can't know." she said.

"Ohhhh I think your husband already knows....Don't you Turnbow?" I asked as a tall ,balding ,middle aged man walked in and put down a bag of groceries...

"You hired a private investigator to follow your wife when you got suspicious of all the time she spent in Philadelphia....and you have a .45 glock and a silencer....and a license to carry..Am I right? And when you were in the Army, you regularly won Marksmanship ribbons didn't you?  In fact you were a range instructor once...Stop me if I'm getting warm ." I said.

I knew from the time I saw the tight groupings in the chest shots on Nestor's body that the killer was an excellent marksman, which was why I originally thought the killer was a professional hit man...But once I looked into Mona Scott and her husband's service background...I knew who our killer was.

Mona Scott looked at her husband Turnbow in horror...

"TURNBOW!! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?  WHAT DID YOU DO TO NESTOR?" she screamed...

"I gave him what he deserved...He was sleeping with you....You're my wife!!!....He was destroying our marriage...Damn it ,I gave him what he deserved..." he said and stomped his foot in anger..

''WE DIDN'T HAVE A MARRIAGE...HELL WE MADE LOVE TWICE A YEAR AND YOU WERE DONE IN FIVE MINUTES...YOU NEVER TOOK ME ANYWHERE..WHAT MARRIAGE DID HE RUIN? OH MY GOD ,YOU PATHETIC BORING MAN!" she yelled.

Monica read him his rights and I handcuffed him...Three uniformed officers walked him outside to a police wagon...

He turned and looked at his sobbing wife...

"I shoulda divorced her years ago...but I didn't....Now look at the mess I'm in...because of her....I'm in a world of crap! I GAVE HIM WHAT HE DESERVED!! I SHOULDA SHOT HER TOO!  I'M IN A WORLD OF CRAP! " he said as they led him away...

I put my arms around Monica... She leaned into me and rested her head on my chest....I hugged her gently...

"Wow...we cracked another case.." I said.

"Yeah....Come on, let's get out of here.." she said.

"This kind of spooked you didn't it?" I said...

"Yeah...Hold me Nate." she said...

I put my arms around her.....I held her tight...and I kissed her forehead...I held her for a few minutes...

"It spooked me too.." I said..

EPILOUGE:

Turnbow Scott was convicted of First Degree Murder and given a Life Sentence...Back at the squad room ,Lt. Frankie Cotton Jr. was ecstatic..

"Damn...you guys are like my two little all stars...That's eleven cleared cases since you two got together..Good Work guys...Damn good work"said Lt. Frankie Cotton Jr.

"Wow....That case was a mess Lieutenant...Two loveless marriages and a murder, and lives and marriages ruined all because people were afraid to say what they were feeling.." I said.

"Yeah....Imagine that?  Lot of that going on around here.."he said and looked at both of us,Monica and me kind of funny..

"Good work guys...Take tomorrow off..Both of you.." he said and looked at his watch.."Gotta go...Both of you ,get out of here find somethin fun to do." he said and left..

Monica and I walked out of the precinct...

"What you said was right...What a mess...all because people wouldn't say how they feel.." she said.

"You and me..We would never have that problem....You know how I'm feelin every minute of the day.."I said.

Monica smiled..

"Not every minute..I'm not always reading your mind..." she said.

"Not reading it now?" I asked..

"No...Why are you thinking something nasty?" she asked..

"No.....Honest!" I said..

Monica looked at me side eyed...She could tell I wasn't telling the truth....She smiled...

''Okay..maybe a little nasty...but I was thinking something nice too..Like maybe you're the best thing that's ever happened to me." I said.

"Awwww that's so sweet."she said. She looked at me and smiled devilishly... "I did hear that thought." she said and giggled....I kissed her softly...

''Silly." I said.

She kissed me again and then took my hand in hers and we walked to my flying car....We said nothing...We didn't need to.