Unexplored Territory

The next few days..We were very secretive with the press and most of the Police department about the shape of our investigation....Only the Deputy of Operations, The Police Commissioner, The District Attorney and the Mayor knew the scope of our investigation...Sissy and I met with the four of them in secret and they decided to co-operate with us...They really wanted this guy caught...It was so nice not to have Lt. Tragg brow beating her and getting on Television and all talking about the case and getting in the way....

Carlotta, Tyriq ,Duke, Sirena , Detectives from Internal Affairs and Sharon and her FBI agents began pulling  the files of every uniformed police officer and every plain clothes officer involved in the investigation of the first three homicides and the current four...

 

It was tiresome and tedious work... They flagged their credit and debit cards, checked their bank accounts...Talked to friends, family and associates and then finally began interviewing the officers themselves...It was all done as quietly and discreetly as possible and none were told that they were being investigated in relation to the murder cases...All thought it had something to do with something else..A corruption probe!

They worked around the clock...I barely saw my wife....They had already flagged the credit and debit cards of the now seven murder victims, interviewed their family,friends and associates and come up blank...They were still checking and triangulating ATM, Street and Traffic Cams looking for something,anything...This killer was careful....All the more reason we thought he might be a cop..He knew what we would look for and didn't leave anything..No fingerprints...No DNA..

II-

This was baffling Hazel....but she did find something..It was small...but it was something...

"This guy had big hands..and he used latex gloves like we use when we are examining bodies....But he apparently had a struggle with this last guy...and the second guy we found..Part of his glove ripped....I found it ...I turned it inside out...I got a partial print from two pieces of latex...We run this print...We got our guy...He finally made a mistake." she said.

Hop was busy checking ATM, Traffic and Street Cams and going into Gay Bars asking questions, showing photos of all of the victims and talking to known male prostitutes..He took three of his most trusted uniformed officers with him...

He was doing a great job solo..without the help of the other six detectives and his wife...Both Sissy and I were very proud of the job he was doing..

III-

"You miss your wife don't you Keith?" said Sissy as we sat in her office talking...

"I do Siss....They've been working around the clock....Tyriq and Sirena go to get their kids from daycare or a relative and Carlotta and Duke take up the second shift...and Sharon and Hop are working the other shift.... This case is really starting to get under their skins...Carlotta comes home at three in the morning and I see it in her eyes...The same look Angie must have had...The frustration with working a case as hard as you can and not being able to even produce a viable suspect or person of interest..."I said.

"I know...I know...but I think they are on the right track now...They are keeping it out of the paper and they are working as stealthly as possible.. I think they are closer than they know...Hazel found a fingerprint and Hop is starting to break ground in his investigation...." she said.

Just then a uniformed officer walked in and brought Sissy a tumbler of coffee...

"Oh Thank you...Officer.....Officer Little right?" she said.

He smiled..

"You remembered huh? Yes..Johnny Little. I like that about you Lieutenant, your attention to detail....You're a Lieutenant of Homicide, Special Victims and Major Crimes and yet you remember everybody's name.." he said.

"Everybody is important." said Sissy...

He smiled...

"ADA Wallace..I didn't realize you were here...Hope I'm not interrupting something?" he said.

"Oh No..Noooo...We were just talking..." I said.

"How is your wife, Carlotta? I haven't seen her in a few days.." he said.

"She's been busy...Working another case..." I said.

"What? She's given up on the Bathhouse Murders? That's what the papers are calling them.." he said, smiling..

"Well, they've gone cold right now and we have other cases that we have to focus on..." I said..

"We haven't totally given up...The criminal usually makes a mistake..Something that trips him or her up....We are sifting through evidence and looking at a few persons of interest.."said Sissy...

"Oh really? Hmmmm....I notice that Detective Belton...I mean Barlow hasn't been around lately..." he said.

"She's working the case hard.....She's just not reporting in..She's on the street.." said Sissy, who gave me the side eye...

"You worked with Detective Belton in Internal Affairs didn't you?" I asked..

"Yeah..Yeah..I was detailed to IA...I used to be detailed down here in Homicide too...I worked with her and Duke on a lot of their cases.." He said.

"You kind of had a little crush on Detective Belton didn't you?" I said smiling..."Come on you can tell us...It all stays in here.." I said laughing..

He smiled sheepishly...

"Yeah,I kind of did...No Offense...I didn't think I had a shot.....When she uh wound up with Jimmy,I was shocked..I mean he's White and like me, considerably younger.. If I had of known he could have  a shot,I certainly would have put my bid in for her earlier.."he said laughing shyly...

"You uh don't have a problem with her being married now do you?" asked Sissy..

"Ohhh Nooo, Nooo...Jimmy is my friend...I'm Happy for him...I was in the academy with Jimmy and Carlotta...We've known each other for years..."He said..."Well...I've got to go...Don't want to hold you people up.."he laughed..

After he left...Sissy looked at me funny...

I felt a chill in my bones like I'd never felt before..

IV-

What we didn't tell him or anybody was that Both Detective Angie Belton and her husband, Detective James Barlow were in San-Francisco....

"Jimmy it is really nice that you came with me...This is kind of like a mini-vacation for the two of us..But then again...I wasn't going to be gone for three days without you was I?" she smiled..

"No way...I can't sleep in that big bed of yours without you." said Jimmy...

"Aww, you are sooo sweet....or are you just horny when I'm gone?" she asked giving him the side eye..

"Incredibly horny...but is that a sin?" he said and pulled her to him and kissed her passionately...

She returned his passion and continued to kiss him for close to ten minutes before stopping and smiling at him...

"We keep this up and we aren't going to make our meeting with the chief of Detectives here." she said.

"Yeah, you're right...Come on..let's go..." said Jimmy...

Angie and Jimmy took copies of The Summer Murders of 2010 file and their recent murders to the Chief of Detectives of San -Francisco and showed it to them...He brought in the case detectives that worked on a simular case there...

"Oh My God...This is so simular to an unsolved case  we had in 2005.....It was in the summer...
We had three murders..All of them, gay men, all in bathhouses...One in May...Another in July and the last one in late August....and we got a letter,just like yours..same handwriting..." He said.

"Look..It matches the handwriting of the letters I got in the summer of 2010 and now the letters I've been getting." said Angie...

"Our perp met his victims at gay nightclubs, bars and restaurants." he said.

"Did you guys ever have a suspect? We never had a viable suspect and we still don't.."said Jimmy...

"You know ..We did have a suspect..because we had three people who actually saw him and got away from him...but we couldn't hold him..No fingerprints...No DNA...and 
the three surviving victims did not want to "out" themselves by testifying against him in court. Among the  survivors were a "well-known entertainer" and a diplomat.

The suspect spoke freely with police, although he did not admit to the slayings.
At the time, our Mayor, who was Gay himself publicly expressed empathy for the victims who refused to speak with police, stating "I understand their position. I respect the pressure society has put on them." That killed our investigation."

 "To date, the suspect has never been publicly named or apprehended  and very little information  available about the crimes was ever made public..but we do have a photo of the guy...He told us his name was Big Bob Johnson...but that wasn't his real name....Here is a photo of him." said the Chief of Detectives..

Angie and Jimmy's mouths flew wide open....

"Oh My God...I know him!!" she said.

"You know him?...I was in the Academy with him!"said Jimmy...

"The Academy?? This mope is a cop?" asked the Chief of Detectives..

"He is now. Your killings stopped after August of 2005 right?" said Jimmy..

"Yeah,Just stopped cold and this mope dropped out of sight..." said the Chief of Detectives...

"He moved to Philadelphia... Attended Community College for two years and then entered the Police Academy...He graduated with me and my partner..."said Jimmy..

He looked at Angie..

"No not her...She's my wife...My partner back home...The three of us were in the Academy together..We graduated...My partner and I went on to be Detectives...He failed the Detectives exam..He was the only one in our class who failed.."said Jimmy...

"How did he take it?" asked the Chief of Detectives...

"He was disappointed naturally...But he didn't seem too put off..I mean he's still a patrol cop...He used to be detailed to Homicide.." said Jimmy..

 

"Back when I was a Homicide cop..He was detailed to me in fact...He was there all along..Hiding in plain sight."said Angie..

"You're not Homicide anymore?" asked the Chief...

"No..I'm Internal Affairs..But uh my husband here and all of my friends are still Homicide...When these killings started...I started getting the letters again...and they called me in on this.." she said.

He looked at the both of them and smiled..

"You two make an interesting couple.."he said..

"Because she's Black and I'm white?" asked Jimmy...

"No...Because she's I.A.   Most Cops don't marry or associate with I.A.  She understands that." he said..

"Look at her? How was I not?" asked Jimmy...

The Chief of Detectives, who was African -American himself looked at Angie and smiled..

"I see your point..."he said.

Angie gave both of them the serious side eye...but a part of her liked that she was being checked out by two men like that.

Angie called Carlotta...

"Hey girl...You'll never guess what Jimmy and me found out?" she said.

"Mami...I think we got something...Hazel ran a fingerprint and Hop found a guy in a bar who identified our perp and we have found photos of only one cop who was on ALL of the murder investigations, plus..we got a partial of him getting out of a car at the scene of the second murder...hours before we got there and we traced the rental car to the agency and got a photo of him picking up the car..." she said.

"This is our guy....Carlotta!!!...You guys did great work!" said Angie...

 "We all did great work..It was a team effort."said Carlotta...

V-

 Angie and Jimmy sat on the bed in the small rooming house they were renting...

She looked at her new husband....

"Well..We've got six hours until our plane leaves...What do you want to do? Visit downtown San-Francisco..This is both of our first times here..It is largely unexplored territory..."she said and smiled..

Jimmy unzippered her dress...and began to kiss her neck and her breasts and finally her lips...

"There is some unexplored territory right here that I want to explore he said as they laid across the bed kissing like two teenagers...

"Ummmm...This isn't unexplored territory...You explore this territory every night and sometimes during the day...."she said in between kisses....

Jimmy and her had had sex at least twice in the electrical closet in the basement of their building and once in her lieutenant's office after hours...So sometimes they had sex twice a day and even three times...

"We got six hours before our flight leaves...Let's make the best of it.." he said as he took his shoes and socks off and his trousers and shirt and tie...

"Woww!  We are in San-Francisco and all you want to do is sleep with me?" she said jokingly...

"I've always wanted to sleep with you."laughed Jimmy...

Angie blushed and giggled like a school girl...

Soon they were both laying on the bed and Jimmy was entering her slowly and softly...

She kissed him slowly and passionately as he filled her up...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my goodness"she moaned...

As they began making sweet love...

He thrusted his tongue practically down her throat and while squeezing one breast with his hand...

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY GODDD OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" she screamed as he continued to thrust , harder and feverishly more.......

"I LOVE YOU CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE" he screamed....

She giggled when he called her that....

"I love you too Jimmy" she said...

....She moaned and put her arms around his neck and drew him closer to her..She wrapped her legs around his waste and they began to move in a slow, yet deliberate rhythm for quite some time...She matched him thrust for thrust and even began blowing her soft breath in his ear at one point...She was so soft...so moist and smelled so good...Jimmy was losing his mind....He looked like he was going crazy..

They made sweet passionate and intense love for close to five hours...Angie began to shake and gyrate and tears began to stream down her face again....

"I love you Jimmy...ouuuuuuuuuu....ohhhh my goodness...ouuuuuuuu.."she said...

"I love you too Angie...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...ouuuuuuuuuuu, I'm about to blow my loaddd..." he yelled and he came more intensely than he'd ever come before....Angie came too...Shaking and holding him for dear life...with tears streaming don her face like a gusher....

He rolled off of her and stared at the ceiling, breathing heavy...

"We've got an hour ....Let's get in the shower..." she said.

They both got in the shower...Kissing and fondling each other to distraction as the hot water ran out and soon grew cold...

Surprisingly enough...They checked out and just made it to the airport in time..

VI-

While Jimmy and Angie headed back to Philly from San-Francisco....

Carlotta and I made sweet love for the first time in as many nights at our home in our bed..

"Ohhhhh damn Carlotta ,you feel so good."I moaned..

"Ouuuuu papi,I missed this sooo much."moaned Carlotta...

Duke and Hazel made sweet love at their home..

"Ouuuu Big Daddy ,put it on mee...ouuuuu."moaned Hazel as Duke plowed into her...

"Ohhhhh damn girl...you feel good." he moaned..

Tyriq and Sirena kissed passionately and made sweet love in the quiet of their bedroom..

"I'm so glad this damn case is almost over..I missed you girl ummmph."moaned Tyriq....

"It's not over until we make an arrest, but that's just a matter of time.." said Sirena.."No more shop talk baby...ohhhhhhh.."she moaned as the bed began to squeak something terrible..

Hop and Sharon weren't doing much talking...Their bed was squeaking something terrible and the headboard was slamming against the wall..

Sharon was climaxing for the third time tonight and continuing to kiss Hop who was close to exploding himself....

"I love you baby..."he moaned as he exploded...

Sharon said nothing..She began to shake and tears began to stream down her face....

"I love you so much and to think I treated you so bad for sooo long.."she said...

Hop hugged her...She always got like this when she was reaching her climax...Crying and sweating and shaking...

"Shhhh,it's okay girl...."he said.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh,I love you so much.."she moaned as she began to come........

But for someone else...Their luck was running out...A young man had just left a bar....Loose Booty...A bar known for pandering...in one of the sections of the city known for male prostitutes...

He walked down the street...It was after two o'clock and unlike New York ,the city that never sleeps..Philadelphia does sleep...

He began walking faster...Faster...He turned down an empty street and began to run...He could hear the footsteps behind him...He ducked into an alleyway...He stayed there for awhile...

He looked around...

Then he continued walking...He ducked down another driveway and walked right into whoever it was who was chasing him...

He attempted to run but was caught...

"Look...I have money...Just don't hurt me.." he said..

"I don't want your gotdamn money fag boy..ummph.."said the man as he gripped the young man's neck and choked the life out of him...

He dropped the young man's lifeless body on the side walk and left a letter by the body....He smiled and walked to a payphone and made a call...

While miles away,beds were squeaking and headboards were slamming against the wall and both males and females were screaming their undying love for one another!

Lt. Sissy Van Buren didn't have the heart to wake up her detectives..They had been working so hard lately...

And yet here she was with several uniformed policemen...kneeling down over the body of another murdered gay man.....She thought about her husband, Eddie C...she had had to leave his bed...He had just finished making sweet love to her...He was ready for round two ,when she got a call..She hated to leave him...but he understood...She nearly didn't get out of the house..he was kissing her so passionately as she got dressed.

"Lieutenant...we found this..."said a uniformed patrolman who passed her a letter....

"Thank you,uh...Officer Little right?" she said.

"Yes...Johnny Little" he said..."I was the first one at the scene." he said..

Sissy read the letter..

"DETECTIVE BELTON.....I DO NOT KNOW WHERE YOU HAVE BEEN, BUT BECAUSE OF YOU I HAVE HAD TO STEP MY GAME UP!  WHAT??? DID YOU GIVE UP??? DID YOU HOPE I WOULD JUST GO AWAY?  NOT GONNA HAPPEN....I AM HERE TO STAY TO TAUNT YOU ALL DAY....GET BACK ON THIS CASE...IT AINT HARDLY OVER!"

"That's what you think.." mumbled Sissy to herself...

(CONCLUSION NEXT)