The Chill Of The Water

PHILADELPHIA 2040-

Early Morning...June....A warm breeze blows by....It's already a balmy 79 degrees  and threatening to get hotter.. The water shifts along gently....It has rained the night before and it's so hot...that already the surrounding streets are dry....The river sits in the backdrop of the city skyline... On the nearby bridge,commuters on their way to work in downtown Philly or summer classes in University City race back and forth...

Birds fly in a pattern across the river...and just below the bridge, just below the teaming city...her body lies.....

At first glance, you would think she was sunbathing ....sun bathing in her underwear....Clad in only panties and bra...she lies still.....blond hair....shapely body....head turned to the side,she looks like she's sleeping...except...she's dead..very,very dead...

Discovered by a homeless man, who found the nearest uniformed cop....

I took the call...

I'm Nate Nellis...Homicide....

 A small crowd gathered around ....Uniformed cops cordened off the area... I kneeled down and observed the body.....She didn't look older than 29 years old... She had freshly manicured nails...and her hairdo was professionally coifed...This was no hooker ,Whoever she was, was a professional woman...She had been stripped of her clothes to delay identification..The killer still left a pair of very expensive earrings on her though...

My fiance and my future sister in law were on their way...I had raced ahead...after I got the call...

I looked up after awhile and I saw my partner and soon to be wife, Detective Monica Talbert being led to the crime scene by two uniformed officers...

She passed me a tumbler of coffee and a bear claw and gave me a soft kiss in the lips...

''What do we have baby?" she asked softly..

"Single white female..about twenty nine or thirty....Looks like cause of death was manual strangulation...stripped of all clothing..."I said.

''Check the dumpsters?" asked Monica...

"I did...Down here and up on the street..I got unis checking the entire area...We haven't found anything...No footprints either..."I said.

"It rained last night...The rain might have washed them away.."said Monica...

"Maybe she was killed somewhere else and brought here..." I said.

"How? By car? Someone would have spotted someone carrying a body..." said Monica...

"She's soaking wet as if she'd been in the water....Look at her hair." I said.. Monica put her hands in the water....

"The chill of the water.....This was some cold water....and with the rain last night...the much needed rain...it really cooled things off...It was 92 degrees the past few days..."she said...

I kissed her neck..

"My little weather girl."I said.

Monica smiled and continued to look at the place where the body had been.....

"But how did the killer get here and how did our killer get away?" asked Monica..

"When your sister gets here....Maybe she will be able to tell us more." I said..."By the way,where is she,I haven't seen her in a day or so."I asked.

"Where do you think? She spent the night with Lou....I called her....They'll be here." said Monica...

I smiled....My sister in law to be, our Medical Examiner, Dr. Monique Talbert had been spending a lot of nights with our Lieutenant....He had recently broken up with his girlfriend...after catching her with another man....How ironic and Monique had been "helping him get over the pain." She spent two nights with him and he spent at least three nights with her...

So far...only Monica and I knew about it...but just like our relationship...How long can you keep something like that a secret!

Within minutes they both drove up, laughing gayly and looking at each other sheepishly...

"Hey guys...Sorry I'm Late" said Monique....

"I got her here as fast as I could.."laughed Lieutenant Cotton, blushing.

I pointed to the body....Lieutenant Cotton pulled out a Gardenia and pinned it to Monique's dress....She smiled at him...

"You are so thoughtful Frankie....I mean Lieutenant Cotton." she said and giggled...

Monica laughed and shook her head...

Even I smiled...

 ''Cause of Death appears to be manual strangulation...The body is wet and cold....Hard to get a bead on how long she's been dead...but it appears she's been in the water...No sign of any footprints...Not hers or the killer."said Monique..

"It rained last night...We are thinking they were washed away..."said Monica...

"That would have created mud, which would have made the footprints more apparent."said Monique...

''She's right Mo-Mo...We didn't find any footprints on the steps leading up to the bridge..I've got uni's checking traffic cams, street cams and atm cams in the entire area..."I said.

 "Look at these earrings!!! Wow...Very expensive....These aren't cheap...This is no working girl"said Monica..

"And her hair was recently done....and go on Nate, tell us about the bra and panties..."said Monique laughing...

"WHAT?" said Lieutenant Cotton, laughing...

"Oh yes...Didn't Monica tell you Nate is a panty expert!!" joked Monique...

Lt. Cotton gave me the serious side eye and then cracked up....

"Hmmmmm, I'll just bet you are." he said and continued laughing....Monica and Monique both laughed at me...I was blushing like crazy...

''This matching set retails for about $60-70.00 bucks, Victoria's Secret.....This is an uptown girl...I'm guessing she doesn't live far from here...If only we knew who she was." I said.

"Maybe we'll get a missing person report.I'll check the decks when we get back.."said Monica..Looking at me and laughing and shaking her head...

''Alright...Release the body." I said.

''This is the kind of case you like isn't it Mo-Mo...The weird ones." said Lt.Cotton.

"You know me so well Lieutenant." laughed Monica...

I used my cyber eye to scan the area..looking for anything...but there was nothing...Not a trace to be found...

I ran my hands in the river water...It was surprisingly chilly for it to be so hot out today....The temperature was no 98 sweltering degrees....If that water wasn't so muddy and dirty..I might consider taking a dip in it myself.

II-

A little while later....Monica and I met her sister Monique in the M.E.'s office...

"Your victim ,for now...Unknown White Female was killed by manual strangulation...She did not drown...but there was a substantial amount of river water in her lungs..."said Monique..

"You mean like after the killer strangled her ,he doused her in the water??" asked Monica..

"I thought maybe he brought her from wherever in a boat....but I spoke to the Marine Police.. No boats of any type was in that river last night.." I said.

''Oh this is just crazy...Was she raped? Any sign of sexual activity?" asked Monica..

"No...and even if she did have sex...She's been in the water...There is no DNA or trace evidence on her...I think that's why the killer took her clothes off of her.."said Monique...

Lt. Cotton walked into the room and whispered in Monique's ear...

''I'd like to take your clothes off of you doctor." he said..

Monique blushed something crazy...

Monica just shook her head...

"Partner...Let's go back out there and scan that area...Maybe we missed something." she said.

''Yeah...You're right." I said.

III-

We spoke to the uniformed policemen who questioned a number of people...Nobody remembered seeing anything.....but one man told them he remembered hearing a loud splash around 2:00 AM ....

Then nothing...

"It was weird because...I heard the splash...kind of like somebody tossed something in the river..but nobody was there..."he said.

Monica and I stood by the river bank and stared .....

''Nate..Something about this whole case is kind of scary...I've never seen anything like this before."said Monica.

''She had to have gotten here somehow..Now the Unis watching the Street cams, Atm cams and Traffic cams can find nothing...The Harbor master assures me that no boats were on the water and yet here she is...soaking wet,clad only in panties and bra and dead!" I said..

''What if she was swimming Nate, swimming and somebody strangled her and swam her here and left her?"asked Monica..

"That would explain a lot...but swim from where???...and in this nasty water? "I said.

I stared at the river...

''What's on the other side?" I asked.

"Well you go further down and there is Boathouse row..You keep on going and there is Manyunk....and Condos..."said Monica..

I put my arms around her and kissed her neck...She turned towards me and hungrilly kissed me....

We looked at each other...

"Wow!  I've been waiting all day to do that."I said.

"I know..I was waiting for you to do that too.."said Monica.

We kissed each other again, slower and more passionately.....

"Was it worth the wait?" I asked as we eased out of our embrace...

"Always...You have the softest lips..for a guy.."said Monica...

I smiled and then resumed looking at the river....

"This is a hell of a lot of water ...the person would have to be one hell of a swimmer..to cover this distance..with a body.."I said.

''Maybe our killer is a merman.." laughed Monica.

"Yeah..Imagine that?" I laughed.."Let's take my car and head down the river..."I said.

We flew down the river and into the Manyunk Section....

It was starting to get dark...the river actually looked pretty...We saw people kyaking on the river...

"Maybe the killer transported her in a kyak!" said Monica.

"None were out last night...remember? It was raining." I said.

Monica and I had made love all during the torrential downpour last night...It was some of the best sex we'd had...

And speaking of sex...As I spoke..The Lieutenant and Monica's sister Monique were getting cozy in the Medical Examiner's office..

"Oh godd Monique...you are driving me crazy..."he said as they kissed passionately in an empty coatroom...She tried to break out of his embrace...

"Couldn't you wait until we got back to my duplex?   I don't feel comfortable doing this in here with all these dead bodies.."said Monique..

"Baby...they won't hurt you.."he said as he slipped her panties down and positioned her on his lap...She tried in vain to pull them back up...His pants were already down and she could see he was very hard and erect...

"You'll say anything to get some." she said...

He smiled...

''Right now...yes." he said...He was beyond the point of no return at this point... She giggled...

She eased down on him slowly....and moaned...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my goodness...ouuuuuuuu..ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.."she cooed...

"Yessssssssssssss...Yessss baby yesss...oh my god girl...ouuuuuuuuuuuuu.."he moaned..

"Calm down...somebody might hear us..." she cautioned...

Monique moved up and down on him, first slow and then faster....She was also beyond the point of no return, wet and moist and more excited than she could ever imagine...She was having multiple orgasms....

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.....ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu lawd!" she declared...

The Lieutenant looked like he was going to die of ecstacy....he closed his eyes and just smiled as she continued...

The legs on the chair they were in were rocking from side to side.. This went on for about two  hours... and surprisingly no one came inside the morgue looking for her...

"Don't cum inside me..Don't cum" she begged......

"Ohhhhhhhhh..ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.." he moaned and she got up, just before he exploded like a gusher....

''Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." she cooed..

She slid her panties back up and fixed her dress...

He fixed his pants and took a towel and wiped the sweat off of his face...

''Damn girl...I can't get enough.." he said..

She smiled..

"You're going to have to try....I'm not going to do this in here again...It's not right...I work here...Get some wet towels and uh clean this floor and the wall up." she said still smiling at him....

For the first time he was a little embarrassed... No woman had ever made him lose his cool like this and feel so uneasy...He didn't know if he liked this feeling or not..

Meanwhile ,Monica leaned her head on my shoulder as I flew my flying car the length of the river...When I touched down at the first waterfront condo..

''Well Look at this.." I said.

We got out and walked inside...

There was a few people milling about...

"Hi..I'm Detective Monica Talbert and this is my partner ,Detective Nate Nellis" she said.

We only had a photo of the dead girl lying on the river front a few miles down...But we showed it to the group of people..I didn't expect the reaction we got..

"That's Diane...Oh My God...Something Happened to Diane?" said at least two girls..

"You know this woman? We found her body this morning down by the 23rd street Bridge." I said..

"That's Diane Harper..She lived here!!!!"said another woman..

"What was she doing way down there?" asked another woman..

"That's what we are trying to find out." I said.

"Well partner...she's no longer unknown white female...She has a name."said Monica.

TO BE CONTINUED