Big Mouth

A new day and we were in yet another Bath house ,looking at another dead body.....

"Prior to this case..I had never been in a Public Bath house...and in three days I've been in three.."said Jimmy as he and two uniformed officers and three CSI personel dragged the body of a slender nude black man out of the water...He had a fresh fish in his mouth.....

Carlotta and Tyriq  turned the body over...They were wearing latex gloves and examining the body

"Manual Strangulation,just like the others" said Carlotta...

"You think this was a copycat Top...There is a fish in his mouth...The others didn't have a fish in their mouth.." said Tyriq..

I answered their question..

"I know this guy...This is Shylark Priestly...The guy from the job placement agency that Sissy and Hop and I talked to yesterday.."I said.

Hop kneeled down and looked at the body...

"Yeah this is him....Where were you last night ADA Wallace?" asked Hop..

Sissy busted out laughing....

"Good One Hop." she said and high fived him..

"That's cold Hop...I thought we was cool." I said Laughing...

His business cards say "Shylock Priestley" but his given name was Derrick Priestley...I found his drivers license...and his wallet.."said Sirena.

Duke stuck his finger on the electronic device that took the fingerprint and his record came up...

''He had a conviction for shoplifting and two other arrests...Drug Possession and pandering.." said Duke.

"Was he from San-Francisco?" asked Sharon...

"Nah, he's a local.."said Duke..

Detective Angela Belton-Barlow..Jimmy's wife walked in....

"When I came in this morning..Look what was on my desk?" she said and showed us the latest envelope and letter-

"DETECTIVE BELTON...GLAD TO KNOW YOU'RE WORKING HOMICIDE AGAIN...IT WOULDN'T BE FUN WITHOUT YOU BEING INVOLVED...YOU SEEM TO BE WORKING WITH A BETTER CLASS OF DETECTIVE NOW...BUT THEY WON'T FARE ANY  BETTER!
I LEFT A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR YOU AND YOUR GUYS...A GUY WHO TALKED TO MUCH.."

"This is our guy alright...Hey listen guys...Let's go to Sam Mother's place." said Carlotta.

"Chica , you hungry?" asked Sissy...

"No Boss lady..I just want to run something by the people in this group... No uniforms...No outsiders..Just the twelve of us." she said as Hazel and her people walked in..

"What did I miss,beside the murder?" asked Hazel as we all smiled.

II-

We all sat in Sam Mother's Diner...

Carlotta and Me, Tariq and Sirena, Jimmy and Angie, Duke and Hazel, Sharon and Hop  and Sissy..

 "So Chica...What is this about?" said Sissy.

Carlotta who was sitting on my lap looked at Angie and asked-

"Angie how come the killer writes to you?" she asked..

''I'm,I was the primary in the last three cases." she said.

"But outside of cops...Who knows that?  You weren't on the TV like Lt. Tragg." she said..

We all laughed...

"I see where Top is going with this Ang...The Killer always contacts you...Always sends you a taunting letter...They don't even contact Duke.." said Tyriq...

"The Killer wrote that he was glad you were working Homicide again....Who knows that other than us Angie?" asked her husband Jimmy...

"Oh My God...and the guy killed today was interviewed by you, Hop and Siss yesterday....How would the killer know that?" asked Hazel...

"Are you saying that the killer might be a cop?" asked Angie...

''Oh My God...It would make sense Angie..I read the huge file You and Duke compiled on the Summer Killings of 2010...It seemed like everytime you guys got close...The Killer slipped away from you guys..It seemed like whoever was doing this was always one or even two steps ahead of you...And when you burned out and left Homicide...Some of the fun of it all left for whoever this is...That's when the killings stopped...This is about you...Somebody...Somebody amongst us knows you and is hiding in plain sight...and started killing again hoping and praying you'd come back for a second try.." said Sirena..

''What Sirena said makes sense..I've profiled serial killers for years..This may be somebody who is jealous of you Angie..Somebody with an axe to grind...''said Sharon...

"Why me? What have I ever done to anybody?" asked Angie..

''Are you kiddingAng, you work in Internal Affairs..You bust cops for a living..Only reason we hang with you is because we know you."joked Duke , who smiled and hugged his friend and former partner..

''See...and you asked me to come back to Homicide too a few months ago...This is exactly why I'm not.."she joked and we all laughed..

"When these killings started...You weren't IA yet, you were Homicide..This has nothing to do with that."said Hop...

''Thank you Hop..Least I got one friend here."joked Angie as we all laughed...''Still Carlotta is right...The killer seems to know a lot about me...Like officially,I'm still with Internal Affairs..How would the killer know that I'm on loan for this case?" she asked..

"And the killer may have made his first mistake..He killed Shylock and he said you were working with a better class of detectives....Which means he knows about us...and he said he killed shylock because he talked too much.." she said.

"The Fish in the mouth...That's a symbol..a message...Oh My God...He was with us yesterday...He heard our interview with Shylock Priestley...." said Sissy.

I scanned the room....This was why I put this group of detectives together...By themselves..each one of them was a brilliant detective...intuitive,imaginative, could think outside the box...Together....They were like the Dream Team of detectives...My wife, Carlotta,Tyriq,Duke, Jimmy, Sirena,Hop....and with the addition of Hazel ,who was a genius Forensic Investigator and Sharon, a brilliant FBI agent and Angie, a great detective in her own right...Most criminals were in trouble..I'd put these people up against anybody's unit...Anywhere.

"Alright look...This conversation stays amongst us...Chica,Rico,Jimmy,Sirena, Hop...I want you to quietly pull the files on every uniform and every plain clothes cop who has been at the scene of your investigations,including people from Vice and Special Victims units....See if anybody has any ties to San-Francisco or Seattle...see if any of these guys were at all three Scenes...

''Angie..You and Duke do the same with your summer murders of 2010...One cop..One cop was at all of these murder scenes...and one cop...knows you Angie....Maybe he had a crush on you ,maybe he had an unrequited longing for you.."said Sissy....

'We aren't talking about my husband are we?" Joked Angie...We all busted out into guffaws....

"That's cold...Anyway..I was a detective in Narcotics back then.."laughed Jimmy...Angie sat on his lap and kissed him passionately...

"I'm sorry baby,I couldn't resist that.." she laughed..


III-

I got a court order and Sissy pulled some plain clothes officers and uniformed officers we hadn't used before,from Sgt. Danny Ho's unit...and we opened up the storage lockers...that belonged to all three victims..

''Can't thank you enough for loaning us your guys Danny"  said Duke..

"Always glad to be of help to some of my favorite guys" said Sgt. Danny Ho..

"Nothing in here but Computers, clothes, smart phones and books.." said Duke..

"Maybe these computers will have something...Something we can use.."said Tyriq...

"Me and Hop are going to scan their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages...Maybe there will be a clue in there.."said Jimmy...

"Hmmm, here is some photos...They look like they were taken on the West Coast..." said Carlotta..

''That's San-Francisco...I've been there...Looks like a few pages were taken out.."said Sirena...

"Same here, pictures have been removed...You think someone has been here?" asked Hop..

''Possibility...Our killer was with us yesterday and heard Shylock tell us about the location of this place..."

''Find the manager, ask the manager if anyone has been here asking questions...Or using a key."I said..

We heard Sharon's voice...she and several FBI agents were a few feet away....

"The manager won't be able to help you... He's dead!!!" She said.

''Aye Mios Dios" said Carlotta..

"Oh My God..."said Angie...

The manager of this place...A short man and probably the only recent person to see our killer was now dead..

He had been strangled...just like the others...

 ''Siss, What kind of case is this?" asked Danny Ho, putting his arms around a visibly distraught Sissy..

''Danny, One I wish we didn't have." she said somberly..

Sissy held her head down...

"Somebody call Hazel..." she said.

(DEFINITELY TO BE CONTINUED!!!)