The Devil You Know

The next day..I walked into C.I.D. headquarters where Sissy was holding court with the six detectives assigned to the double murder case and the plain clothes and uniformed officers assigned to them...A few hours had passed and I wasa xnxious for an update..

"Okay guys...What have we found out so far?" asked Sissy...

Carlotta, the primary spoke first...

Rico, Tyriq and I recanvassed the area and we interviewed close to 25 workin girls who knew both victims..
They described a black town car picking up Sirena's vic, Marisol Dante, earlier that night..They said the windows were tinted and they didn't get a good look at the person in the car...but that he flashed a lot of cash...and Marisol got in...This was around 5:30 pm..just as it was getting dark." said Carlotta..

"We then heard that some hours later..The same Black town car came back and that the man, described as either white or Latino ,with a spanish accent propositioned two other girls...They smoked some good marijuana with him and knocked back a couple of beers..but for some reason they didn't go with him...Maria Flores did...and that was around 11:00 pm....We found her shortly after one in the morning." said Tyriq.

"We know that both girls knew each other...They were staying at the same halfway house...and the staff told us that both of them were in and out...They hadn't seen Maria Flores in about a week..but Marisol had been there earlier that day...We got a partial plate number for that town car...I got some guys in Auto running it down now.."said Jimmy...

"Check this out...Hazel got a DNA match on both envelopes and a print...We ran it through decks...It wasn't in the system...Not here...but.." said Duke, who was interrupted by FBI Deputy SAC,Sharon Hopkins..

"But Duke gave it to me and I ran it through the Federal Database and Interpol and I got two hits....There was a murder in San Juan, Puerto Rico several months ago of a young prostitute that is exactly like your two..
She was cut open, more than likely with a surgical knife and all of the organs removed... It was never solved...but get this...As my girl Sirena would say...''Here is where it gets cute...There was a murder ,exactly like this in Madrid ,Spain...Also last year...Same M.O. ...A young prostitute..cut open, organs removed...And at all of them...a letter in Spanish that reads "If you hadn't sinned so spectatcularly ,God wouldn't have sent a punishment like me down to punish you" and it was signed "El Diablo.."-The Devil.. Spanish Police and Police in Puerto Rico have kept those details away from the public...Hoping the killer would get comfortable and tip his hand...Only it seems the killer has moved on..." she said.

''So we are looking at possibly the same killer in all four cases." said Duke.

"There is a good chance this guy could move on to somewhere else.." I said.

"Hopefully, we can catch him and stop him before this happens somewhere else and to someone else."said Carlotta.

Just then Sirena and Hop walked into the room...

"We may have something...Auto found that car...and we got a scope of it in Kensington and a license plate.."said Sirena.

"Thing of it is..It was reported stolen ,early yesterday morning from the motor pool at the Marriott in Center City."said Hop..

"Maybe we can pull some video from the Hotel.."said Carlotta...

"I got some guys working on it.." said Hop...

Sissy then addressed about seven Black and Latina female plain clothes officers..They were dressed like prostitutes...

"Guys...These plain clothes officers are on loan to me from Vice and Special Victims unit...They're going to be on the street in Kensington...They're going to report to Detectives Sirena Pile and Tony Hopkins who will be working out of the old Food Cart that Rico and Hop worked in back during the Russian Mob case...You'll have five armed and seasoned plain clothes cops working that truck with you...as well as FBI agents..and they'll be on the street.." she said..

Duke spoke next...

''Guys...You might hate hearing this...but uh ruh..We are going to be working out of that hotel we stayed at during the Russian Mob investigation...The Serial Killer task force will be in there until we catch this guy.." he said.

I smiled...That was kind of fun...Carlotta and I had a room..Sissy and Eddie C. were in the room next to us..
Duke and Hazel had a room and Tyriq and Sirena had a room..Sharon and Hop had a room with us..also..

"That was kind of fun...Guess we'd better pack some bags huh?" laughed Tyriq.

"I get to play this time huh?" said Jimmy... He had been undercover and had been the only detective that had not been staying in the hotel...

Sissy smiled.

"Not only will you be staying...but we are bringing another detective in with us temporarily to help us out..Your wife,Detective Angie Belton...She'll be on loan to us...for the duration of this investigation..." said Sissy..

''We'll be supported by FBI agents, who will also be staying there and helping us out." said Tyriq...

The temporary base of operations was a hotel owned by the government...It had three floors of bedrooms...
A downstairs law library, a makeshift morgue for Hazel's team and a conference room where Sissy could brief everybody...It was perfect ..and it had a parking lot off the street, which was perfect...

We had used this in two major investigations...Security had never been breached and no one near it ever suspected law enforcement activity....No police cars were allowed in the area..All unmarked cars.

II-

A few hours later...I met Sissy,Sharon and her detectives at an apartment complex in Manyunk...Somebody had gotten a tip on the car and our suspect's possible whereabouts...

"Duke, you, Sirena and Hop and five of these uniforms...take the back.. Chica,Rico, Jimmy,Sharon and I will take the front..." she said..

"We on it Lou..Come on Hop, Sirena, guys...saddle up..let's go.." he said.

I watched as my wife drew her shotgun, Rico and Jimmy drew their glocks ,along with Sissy and Sharon and five shotgun weilding uniformed policemen and five FBI agents with sniper rifles converged on the building..

They charged up the steps quietly and stealthly....

Bringing up the rear was Detectives Edwin "Duke" Baylor , Sirena Pile, Tony Hopkins, five uniformed policemen with glocks and five FBI agents with sniper rifles..

They all eased down the hallway where the room was .....

Carlotta counted off and gave Duke the high sign....

On the count of three..Duke and Tyriq hit the door...

"PHILADELPHIA P.D. Get your hands up!!" they shouted as they crashed into the room..

Carlotta,Sharon, Hop,Sirena, Sissy and Jimmy and company charged in...A woman dropped her glock and put her hands up...

Carlotta was stunned....

''Don't shoot !!"she screamed...

''Mercedes?? What are you doing here?" she asked.

The woman, Carlotta's cousin, Detective Mercedes Rodriguez of San Juan Homicide smiled...

"Well hello cousin...Probably the same thing you're doing...Investigating a murder." she laughed.

III-

 Upon seeing me, Mercedes smiled brightly...

''Hi ya handsome...Still making my cousin smile?" she laughed..

I smiled sheepishly...

"Yeah Mercedes...That is my main mission in life.." I said.

''Mercedes?" said Sharon and Hop in unison..

"Heyyy girl...Hey Hop...I see you two finally got hitched...huh?Good for you two...You were made for each other." she said..Then she walked over to Sissy...

"And you are the boss lady, Sissy...I've heard so much about you...We've met at Carlotta and Keith's wedding and I think once last Christmas..." she said.

Sissy smiled weakly..

"Yes..I remember you, Carlotta's cousin...You're homicide too...In Puerto Rico." she said.

"Yes...the guy you're lookin for killed a prostitute in San Juan...She was a friend...My informant...Always kept me abreast of what was going on in the street..She didn't deserve to die like this...I've been tracking this guy for months...I know you guys already know that this guy killed a prostitute in Madrid...The same way..I got a DNA hit from an envelope he left at my victims scene...and I ran it through the system with the local FBI...I came to the same conclusion you guys came to..." she said.

"How did you know your person was in Philadelphia?" asked Duke..

" The locals told me that this guy flashed a lot of cash...So I started looking for well heeled businessmen and dignataries...This guy partied a lot and I got a good description of our doer from a street source..I followed a potential suspect...He got careless and made some wire transfers to a bank here in Philly...I followed the money trail...Then it got cold." she said.

"You got a name for this suspect?" asked Tyriq..

"Not a real name..But I believe I may be the only one who has actually seen this guy...The name he used for this room is a phony and he left another letter...You've probably seen it." she said and passed it to Carlotta.

Jimmy smiled broadly....

"Your cousin eh Carlotta?  You come from a family of good detectives.." he laughed..

"Are you here officially?" asked Sissy, who I suspected knew the answer...

''I won't lie to you...We worked that case for a long time...It went cold and we had to work other cases..But I grieve for my friend....I was trying to get her off the streets...She shouldn't have died like this..I took a leave of absence and I came here to catch this bastard myself.."

"Ayye caramba little cousin..You can't go rogue..We already have a task force set up.."said Carlotta.

"I can help you....I've seen this guy...None of you have..." she said.

Sissy was in charge...It was her call..She sighed...

"I don't like rogue cops...but I appreciate your passion...and you seem like you know your business...So I'm going to let you work with us okay...but I call the shots..No off the grid stuff...Is that clear?" she said.

Mercedes hugged Sissy...

"It's clear....I won't cause any trouble....Carlotta has told me so much about you guys...I have always wanted to work with you..."she said.

Duke,Tyriq and Jimmy were checking Carlotta's foxy cousin out and smiling sheepishly to themselves..I'm certain they didn't mind her being around...At least Carlotta and Sharon knew her..I didn't know how Sirena,,Angie and even Sissy might feel.

"Where are you staying?" I asked..

''Nowhere yet...Everything is in my rental car downstairs.." she said.

''We've got an extra bed in our safehouse...Come on girlfriend...Saddle up and follow us." said Sissy.

IV-

We found the infamous black town car, but it had been wiped clean of DNA and prints and bleached down...

The cameras in the parking lot had been blocked out..We found the same Micro wave distortion device.. in the parking lot...So there was no film footage of the theft...

We traced the spyware to an offshore sight...It was ordered on line and we traced the ip address to the Free Library...We got a partial of the young man walking out...but no face...He had on sunglasses and a baseball cap and was driving a rental , that was listed to yet another phony name..

Mercedes endeared herself to everyone very quickly..She had a bubbly and friendly personality and could take a joke..The other women soon got at ease with her..She told them about her boyfriend at home,also a Homicide Detective and how she missed him..

That night Mercedes sat in Carlotta and my room, getting to know everybody... Jimmy and Angie..

"Oh you two just got married...wow...You're a cute couple.." she said

Duke and Hazel...

''Oh My God...A Detective and a Medical Assistant...That happens so much back home where I'm at.."she said.

Tyriq and Sirena..

"You two are married and in the same unit? Wow..Don't let my boyfriend find out...He'll be trying to marry me tomorrow." she laughed..

And of course Sharon and Hop ,who she already knew...

"It's so cool that you two finally stopped playing games and got married...And it's really cool that you work with my cousin...It's nice to have people around her that know her and love her." said Mercedes..

"We all love her.." said Duke..

Carlotta blushed and smiled... There was a knock on the door.. It was Sissy and Eddie C..
They had cases of beer and food, Hoagies, Steak and Spanish food...

''Heyy everybody...now the party can start..." He said as they both walked in...

''Si...The food is here...He is the most important man in the room." laughed Mercedes..We all agreed and began clapping...

''Okayyy..Hope I got everybody's order right." said Eddie C. as he passed out hoagies, cheese steaks and other dishes to us.

Sissy and Sharon both had made sure that the FBI agents and other cops from Vice and SVU were equally fed...Which is what took her so long...

"They closed the place down and just fixed our orders...." said Sissy.

"Eddie C. , This is my cousin..Detective Mercedes Rodriguez from San Juan...She'll be helping us on this case..Mercedes...This is the boss lady's husband..Eddie C." said Carlotta..

"Pleased to meet you.." said Mercedes...

''Wow...Cousin..do you guys always hang out like this?" she asked..

''Not in these close of quarters ,but yes pretty much..We are like family...That's why we are so effective."said Carlotta.

V-

We played cards, backgammon,chess, checkers and ate and drank into the wee hours of the morning...Mercedes fit right in with us...Finally Sissy addressed us..

"Here is the game plan folks...Mercedes..I want you on the street...You know what this guy looks like...We have plain clothes cops from Vice and Special Victims unit dressed as working girls on the streets mixed in with the regular girls..In case our guy comes back...Detectives Sirena Pile and Tony Hopkins will be working in a Food truck that's a front..It's loaded with cops and FBI agents in case anything goes sideways...They'll be co-ordinating everything from the streets...

Sharon and I will co-ordinate everything through this office and Hazel will work any DNA or fingerprint evidence we have in the makeshift lab here...The rest of you, Carlotta,Jimmy,Rico , Duke and Angie will work any and all leads we get on the streets...

We got eight detectives working this and enough back up that we should have this guy by the end of the week." she said.

"You think so?  This guy has eluded an international manhunt..for a year."said Mercedes...

Sissy smiled like a proud mother-''That's because my guys weren't involved...and your cousin wasn't the primary."she said smiling..

Carlotta blushed...

"Well, with that said...Let's take this son of a bitch down." said Mercedes..

(TO BE CONTINUED)