The Panty Drawer

Monica and I worked seperately the next day.....She interviewed the family members and close personal friends of the dead man we found electrocuted in the bath tub...Republican State Steering Chairman, Miles Standish..None of them knew of anyone who had a reason to do any harm to Standish...

I checked his financials...Bank accounts, credit cards and debit cards and the alibis of all of the people that my partner initially interviewed....They were all clean...

That done.. we both decided to re canvass the scene of the crime...It was the first time we had seen each other since she had left my place that morning...

Upon entering the crime scene we discovered Officer Bryan Brown sifting through the remnants...

''Officer Brown, what are you doing here?" asked Monica..

"Ohhhh, working on something you detectives call a hunch...A man's surroundings tell a lot about him." he said with that superior air he had when he was around us...

"Sooo, what have you found out?" asked Monica...laughing to herself...She had already read his mind..

He opened a drawer full of women's underwear...

 

"Look at this....a drawer full of panties...plus..I found two different toothbrushes in the bathroom and a couple of skirts in a back closet and blouses...This guy was obviously a cross dresser and leading a double life." he said.

Monica and I looked at each other and cracked up laughing...He seemed to be surprised that we were
laughing at him...

"Really ? A cross dresser bruh?? Look at the skirts and the blouses....This man was six feet, two inches..No way he was going to fit into these...or these shoes..The Emerald Slippers" I said.

"Those shoes are sharp...Somebody spent some good money on these babies." said Monica...

"He's got money." said Bryan Brown

"And two toothbrushes....It's quite obvious what was going on here..He had a girlfriend, who stayed overnight occassionally." said Monica..

If he could've turned beet red, he would have...

"Oh...I didn't think of that." he said.

"A word to the wise...If you're going to be a detective...Don't over analyze my man...Sometimes the obvious is right in your face.." I said...That really got up under his skin...

"My partner is right...Now we've talked to everybody in his life and nobody mentioned a girlfriend...So we suspect he was dating somebody he didn't want anybody to know about...Like somebody he uh worked with.."she said...

We both realized how close to home that was and we both winced a little bit.....

"Bag and tag these panties and the tooth brush...We'll be able to get DNA I'm sure." said Monica...

I saw him stomp his foot and grimace... He was still basically a uniformed officer and not a detective yet..He couldn't stand it.

I looked at a few of them....

"Hmmm, damn these are sharp..." I said, smiling to myself...

Monica looked at me..

"Pervert..." she joked and walked away..

II-

Back at the squad room...I walked over to my partner with a glossy...

''We got a hit on the 5 mile radius check of traffic cam footage, look who it is.." I said.

"I know who that is...Carl Cooper...He's on that Republican Steering committee...He was in line for Standish's seat....once his term was up..." said Monica..

"Did we interview him?" I asked..

"No..He was on my short list....This photo is time stamped...He was speeding away at twenty minutes after the estimated time of death...I'll have an officer bring him in..." she said.

''So...Uh I guess we won't see each other tonight huh?" I said.

"Uhh no..besides..I uh need a good nights sleep..You keep me up all night..." she said smiling..

"You like it." I said..

"I sure do...but I have to get my rest." she said and softly rubbed my hands within hers..Just then her phone rang....

"It's your ex-partner...I'm not answering it." she said..

She and two officers got ready to go and pick up Carl Cooper...

"I think I'll go and make this pick up..."she said.

''See You when you get back partner..." I said.

Soon after she left...My phone rang...It was Becker...My ex-partner....

"What do you want?" I asked..

"Heyy bruh...I uh called your partner...She there?" he asked.

"She's not here...She's out doing real police work...Something you should be doing.."I said.

"Tell her I called when she comes back." he said.

"She don't dig you man and you're beginning to piss her off..."I said.

"She said she's seein somebody...You know who it is?" he asked..

"I don't get into her personal business..." I said.

"You guys eat lunch everyday..I've seen you..I know you guys talk...About your lives..You don't just talk cop talk..." he said.

"I'm not going to talk with you about her personal life." I said.

"Well while we are at it...Your ex-wife is seeing somebody...A new guy..." he said..

"Yeah, so what?" I said.

"Just thought you'd want to know that..." he said.

"That would seem to effect YOU more wouldn't it?" I asked..

"Aww man, don't be like that.." he said..

"Wally...Wally...I gotta go...My suspect is here.." I said and hung up...

III-

Carlton Cooper was Black, about 45 years old...Tall, thin, well dressed and wearing horn rimmed glasses...His hair was immaculately close cut and his shoes had an impeccable shine to them...

He had been born and raised in Philadelphia...Been educated in private schools and had attended the University of Pennsylvania where he got his law degree....He was a partner at a prestigious law firm for several years before becoming active in Republican politics...

It was a well known fact that he was gunning for Miles Standish's job, both as head of the Steering Committee and a spot on the popular Television show...Point & Counterpoint in which he would debate the very sexy and lovely Black Democratic -Co-Host Cara Bailey-Jones....

That would be a first...Two African-American Pundits representing opposing political discourses...The networks were eating it up...but no decision had been made as of yet...

He looked nervous as Monica and I walked into the interrogation room long ago nicknamed "The Fishbowl" by Detectives...

"First of all...I want to know why I was brought down here?" he asked ,trying to act indignant..

"You know why you were brought down here...A man has been murdered...Miles Standish..a rival of yours...Everybody knows you were gunning for his job..and you were seen leaving his apartment just minutes after he was found electrocuted in his bathtub..."I said.

Monica said nothing...She just looked at him...

"Hey look...Yes...I was gunning for Miles spot...but we didn't take that personal...I didn't have anything against him...." he said.

"So why did you go to his apartment and electrocute him?" I asked..

"I didn't...I didn't...He called me..He told me to come by...Well he didn't call me..He texted me..Told me he had reconsidered and wanted to talk to me...I swear...I have his text right here in my smartphone...I drove over there and when I got there...The door was open...and I called to him..He didn't answer..I saw an electrical cord running from the kitchen to the bathroom...I walked into the bathroom and he was in the tub...already dead..I swear that's what happened.." he said.

"Pass me your phone." I said.

He did..

The text was there...

Monica looked at the time of the text...

"Standish couldn't have sent this text....He was already dead...." she said.

"I swear...I didn't kill him." he said.

Monica looked at him...

"I know you didn't...Why didn't you call the police..?" she asked..

"Are you kidding...What would that look like? Me , a young black man in a White man's apartment..and him dead in the tub? I got the hell up out of there.." he said....

Monica smiled..

"And yet you're a Republican?  Amazing..." she said smiling...

"What do you mean by that?" he asked..

"Nothing..."she said.

I smiled and held my head down...

"You're free to go Mr. Cooper." she said..."The officer downstairs will take you where you need to go."said Monica..

"That's it?" he said..

"For now.." she said.

He got up and left...

"Whoever killed Standish...sent him that text ,so that he could be there and take the fall for the murder...."said Monica.

"CSI checked Standish's phone...It was wiped clean of prints.. Not even his prints...That's a dead give away.." I said. Monica nodded..

"Yup....These cases are never easy..."I said.

Monica looked at me..

"Tomorrow..We start looking at the women in this man's life.." she said...

I looked at her...

"Yeah...Tomorrow.."I said...

"So..Uh what are you going to do tonight?" she asked..

"Some much needed laundry...vaccum the place...How bout you?" I asked..

"Same thing...I might stop and get some pizza and a bottle of wine and catch up on all the television I've missed since we started doing this.." she laughed..

I walked her to her car in the garage...We both looked around...She was parked in a corner where there were no cameras...We embraced and kissed for a few minutes...

''See you tomorrow partner." she said as she got in her car and pulled off..

I headed back upstairs to the office and called her...

''What's up Nate?" she asked..

"You got a tail..." I said...I had seen Becker's car pull off from a distance with my Cyber Eye and begin following her as soon as she got out of the sight of the building..

Sure enough she was being followed by Becker...She brought her car to a halt and parked it..

She got out and walked over to his car...

He smiled..

"Heyyy girl...Looks like we were both leaving at the uh same time.." he said ,incredulous that she caught his tail that fast...

"Go home...."she said sternly.

"Aww come on.." he said.

"Go Home..You are not coming to my apartment..And if I see or hear from you again...I'm calling I.A. and file charges against you...That won't look good on your file Detective." she said.

She walked back to her car and got in and pulled off...

IV-

I

I was still at work...I walked over to CSU and talked to the personell there..They got DNA samples but whoever's DNA this was...They were not in the system...They found some prints that did not belong to Standish or Carl Cooper...I sifted through the panty drawer again...Whoever this woman was she had good tastes...I could smell a fragrance..the same fragrance my ex-wife Nyla wore...It was very expensive.

Nuts...This was not going to be an easy case to crack...

I looked through case files for an hour and then I headed home...Just as I was about to leave the building, there was my ex partner, Wally Becker...

"Hey Man, what's with all those panties down at CSU?" he said laughing...

"Part of our murder case..Evidence"I said.

"Hmmmm,I'll bet... Homicide is pretty interesting for you...huh? You got a fine partner...Lookin at panties all day...Heh,Heh ,Heh.." he said.

"Hey Becks...Grow up huh?" I said.

He looked introspective for a second, if that was possible for him.

"Hey Man...I'm sorry...I'm sorry about Nyla...I was out of line...The whole thing...I should have never of done what I did...I'm sorry.....and uh tell your partner...I'm done chasing her...I've had enough...There are other women that want what I have to offer....She's heard the last of me." he said.

"I'm sure she'll be glad to hear that." I said.

"So uh who is she seeing?" he asked..

"Look, you didn't hear this from me...Some ex-military guy...That's all I know..." I said.

"It figures she'd go for that type...Who else can handle all that body that girl got on her??...Probably blowing his mind." he said...

"Yeah...No doubt." I said... "Good Night Wally." I said as I got in my car and took off...

I thought about Monica...as I headed home...

She definitely was blowing my mind....

(TO BE CONTINUED)