Crazy Little Cases

It was 5:30 am....The heat was so sweltering that even though it was barely sunrise..It was already 80 degrees... I Assistant District Attorney ,Keith Wallace stood in the airport with Lt. Sissy Van Buren and FBI Deputy Special Agent in Charge Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins...We were waiting for a very special plane carrying a very special passenger....

The plane carried Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor and FBI Agents, Ray Stanton and Kelly Dickerson...They had flown to Atlanta ,Georgia to bring in contract killer...Wilton Jessup....

Wilton Jessup had killed the jury foreman and two jurors in the murder case of Drug Kingpin Amel Redding...    A nasty little psychopath who was trying to intimidate the jurors and anybody else who thought about testifying against him...He was on trial for killing nine rival dealers personally...to take over several corners...

I felt good when Sissy and her detectives put the handcuffs on him.....and even better when Duke ,with the help of the FBI tracked his contract killer down....We had gotten a new jury and kept their names top secret...I was going to lock them up at the military base if need be...but either way..This little monster was going to jail...

It took Sissy,Carlotta, Tyriq,Jimmy,Duke,Sirena and Hop two weeks to make a solid case against Redding and 39 of his associates...They all got hefty sentences ,but refused to testify against the boss...Such was his fearsome reputation....bolstered by his fearsome lieutenant, Wilton Jessup...

When Jessup  fled...Duke and Tyriq ,aided by Carlotta,Sirena,Hop and Jimmy made it their personal mission to find him....Sharon and her FBI agents helped and Duke went to Atlanta and nabbed him in record time..with the help of Agents Stanton and Dickerson.

The man who had ended so many lives and had  intimidated so many others was not so tough in custody...He cried like a baby and signed a written statement implicating Amel Redding in nine murders and himself in five murders in addition to the two jurors and jury foreman in exchange for Life No Parole in a secure prison where no reprisals could be made against him...

 "There's Duke over there.." said Sissy pointing.....

Duke had Warren Jessup in handcuffs and leg irons...Walking next to him with a riot pump shotgun like my wife Carlotta's was FBI Special Agent Ray Stanton.... and a very  attractive  white woman with auburn hair named FBI Special Agent Kelly Dickinson....Ray Stanton I knew...Agent Dickinson I did not..

Sharon greeted them...

"Hey guys...I have coffee and bagels and muffins over there on that table..." she said.

"Good, cause I'm Hella hungry..."said Jessup..

"Shut Up!" said Duke ,looking at him with a baleful stare that sent chills through the spine...

I laughed...

"Good Old Duke..."I said and gave him dap...

 "With this mope behind bars and facing a needle...Mr. Redding no longer has any way to intimidate anybody anymore...He's goin down.."snarled Duke.

"Thanks to your good work." said Sissy... "I know you want to see your wife....Hazel is off today...She's waiting for you." she said.

Duke smiled...

''How was your flight guys?" asked Sharon..

"It got a little bumpy over D.C.  Agent Dickinson lost her breakfast....."laughed Agent Ray Stanton..

"Detective Baylor held my hand and soothed me and stayed with me the entire flight back" said Agent Dickinson...

If I didn't know right,I'd swear she was swooning....Duke smiled weakly....

''Shucks...It was nothin.." he said.

"Noooo..it was very gallant...You're a very brave and gallant man..." she said.

Sissy smiled wryly and whispered to me..

"Hmmmm..I wonder how gallant Duke was?"

I giggled...

Sharon whispered to Duke...

"You sure you just held her hand on the plane?"

''Come on now..The girl had thrown up and she was frightened...I held her hand and rubbed it, that's all..." said Duke..

"For some women....That's enough..."she said and giggled..

"Let's get out of here...I need a shower and I need to see my wife." said Duke...

"Yesss, she needs her hands rubbed." said Sissy...

Sharon giggled....I smiled wryly.....

''Let's get out of here." I said.

II-

TWO WEEKS LATER-

 I drove up just as the Philadelphia Police crime scene unit was removing the body from the car, a 2015 BMW... I just shook my head...another morning, another murder...Philadelphia was on par this year to top last year's rate...We were clearing a lot more of them, but just as many as we were clearing, it seemed as though that many more were occurring...


A young attractive black woman was found sitting in the front seat of this car with a nice neat bullet hole right between her eyes...


I'd be lying if I said that that was the only reason I was at this particular scene....The pretty lead detective had given me a call..

 That pretty lead detective, Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace, now my wife had called me once again...This was how our relationship began..Her calling me to a murder scene....Part of this was her wanting to see me..I had been busy lately ,in and out of court handling the Redding trial.....Considering how good my wife was looking today...I was glad that she had called me...

She greeted me with a sweet smile and a slow juicy kiss....

"Ummmm Hola Honey Bunny.." she said..

"Hi...What do we have here?" I asked..

"Her name is Erika Ford ...She's a socialite......An Interior Decorator.....according to her drivers license."said her partner...Detective Tyriq Pile...

"Cause of Death is as you can see...a single gunshot wound to the head......I checked her pocketbook...Everything is there...phone, credit and debit cards and about five hundred dollars cash, doesn't look like a robbery." said her other partner, Detective Jimmy Barlow...

Forensic Investigator, Dr. Hazel Baylor, Duke's Wife felt the body...

" Judging by body temperature and lividity...She's been dead about an hour.." she said.

"This was a perfect place for an ambush...Look at the Street Cam....The way it's positioned....It misses the shooter completely said Detective Tony Hopkins...

"I just talked to a few people who heard the gunshot...They saw a figure dressed in all black running down that way...Away from the Street cam and down that back driveway.....This was perfect.."said Detective Sirena Pile....

"Hmmm,I wonder what she was doing here at just this time?" asked Carlotta...

"Oh I can answer that Top...Her office is right down the street...and she parks in that parking lot over there....She comes this way everyday.."said Tyriq..

"How do you know so much about her and her schedule?" asked my wife Carlotta,smiling...

"Yeah?" asked his wife, Sirena, smiling....

"Before Duke,Angie and I became Detectives, we used to moonlight as Bartenders, Valets, a number of things...Duke and I used to drive her here to work...She's in the papers all the time...She has designed places for all of the Black entertainers and movers and shakers in the area."said Tyriq.

''So you and Duke drove for her?....What about Angie?" asked Sirena, who was jokingly pretending to be jealous....

''She didn't like Angie too much, she just wanted Duke and I to drive for her...

'Ummmmm Hummmmmmmmmmmmmm!" said Sirena and Hazel ,pretending to be jealous...

''Damn Rico....I sure wish I could help you out of this man."joked Jimmy...

"We can release the body now.....Hop have unis do a five mile radius check of residences and offices..."said Carlotta.

"I'm on it." he said.

"Lotta,I'll put a team on all of the Street Cams, ATM Cams and Traffic Cams...We may catch something else.."said Sirena..

"CSI is dusting the car for prints and DNA, though I doubt if we'll find anything."said Hazel..

"I'm gonna check her financials."said Jimmy...

"Okay...let's wrap it up." said Carlotta ,who was the primary on this case.

I watched as they removed the body and took the woman away.....I then stared at the car...brand new car...Such a shame that she would not get to drive such a beautiful machine anymore..

III-

Back at headquarters...sometime later I was sitting in Sissy's office waiting for Carlotta...When Detective Angie Belton walked in...

"Hey Lady...How's have you been?" I said hugging her...

"I've been fine...." she said...

'So ,I hear that before you guys became detectives...You,Tyriq and Duke used to moonlight a lot eh?" I said laughing..

''Oh yeah...We bartended..we worked as valets....Though that was mostly Duke and Rico...They used to drive for this snooty interior decorator named Erika Ford..." she said.

"I take it you didn't like her too much ."I said.

"I couldn't stand her...She was so fake and phony,always smiling in some man's face though."said Angie..

''Well Ang...Guess what? Somebody shot and killed her today...Carlotta,Rico and your husband caught the case...Sirena and Hop are assisting.."I said.

"Ohh wow..I mean I didn't like her...but I-I didn't want her to die ...not like that."said Angie who was genuinely upset at hearing about her death...

Sissy walked in with a wrapped package..She had a strange look on her face...

I looked at her..

"Secret Admirer Siss or is it your birthday? " I asked..

My wife Carlotta and Duke walked in at that time..

Carlotta put her arms around me and kissed my neck..

Duke hugged his former partner ,Angie who giggled..

"How you doin girl?" he said.

"I'm fine....Guess you heard your former employer, Ericka Ford caught a bullet today.."she said.

"Yeah, Rico and your husband told me..." he said.

"Duke...Uh a uniformed officer gave me this...It's for you...He said it came with the mail today while you were in court.."said Sissy.

"For me? It aint my birthday.."he said smiling..He unwrapped the package....

"Hmmm...It smells nice..."he said.

"I wear that fragrance...but it's not from me."said Carlotta...

Duke opened the box and to all our surprises..there was a pair of panties and a matching bra....

''What the hell?" he said.

"There is a note, look ...it reads-

"Dear Detective Baylor...I sent these as an  expression of my love for you..Gaze upon these and think of me...and how much I want to model these for you one day..."-Your secret admirer..

"DUKE!  Oh my god!" laughed Carlotta..

"Duke...Is everything alright between you and Hazel?" asked Sissy, half playing ,half serious..

"It couldn't be better...I don't know who sent these...or what kind of game they're playing.."he said and tossed the underwear in the trash recepticle..

''Wow..Don't feel bad Duke...I know how you feel...before Carlotta took me off the market ,things like this used to happen to me all the time..Some girl see me from a distance and next thing I know, she was sending me packages just like that."I said laughing...

"Don't listen to him Duke...He's lying...He was miserable before he met me..."laughed Carlotta...

Sissy and Angie were cracking up...

"You're going to have to toss those things somewhere else...I don't want the night crew coming in here thinking those are mine and that I took them off and deposited them in my trash recepticle...Here."said Sissy who passed the bra and panties to Duke..

Angie,Carlotta and I laughed ourselves silly...

"Don't worry..We won't tell Hazel."laughed Angie....

"Lawdd Today."said Duke...

That made us all laugh that much harder..

IV-

Carlotta and I were getting ready to leave for the day when I looked at her slyly...

"You know....Now that I've made love to you in Boss Lady's office...I was thinkin..."I said..

"I don't like where this is going..."said Carlotta...

"Why don't you uh mail your panties to my office....That sounds real erotic..."I said...

"Seriously Papi?  You're starting to scare me." she said...

"I was just kidding..."I said.

"No you weren't.....If you're a good boy...I might do it....Maybe on your birthday,,"she said..

''Yeah?" I said.

"It'll be a surprise." she said and pulled me to her and softly and slowly gave me the kiss of life...

I returned her passion and began squeezing her breasts,..

She kissed me passionately and rubbed my back...

''Let's go home papi..."she said...

"Yessssss...good idea."I said...

We were all in good spirits...but what we couldn't know is that our troubles were just beginning..Especially for Duke!

TO BE CONTINUED-