The Tipping Point

"Well Guys...I have good news for you." said FBI SAC,Sharon Hopkins...

"I called Homeland Security and Interpol and ran those fingerprints and I got a match..."she said...

She flashed a photo of her on our 50 inch monitor....

"This is Olga Tolstoy....aka Wilma Rigby....Ex KGB enforcer and hitman....implicated with her late husband across Europe and here in the USA for wire fraud,loan sharking and now several murders...She also was an Olympic trained swimmer and diver...Which explains how she escaped last time...Probably was wearing Kevlar and or body armor..Her prints are a match for those lifted off of the bodies of the three dead girls and the latex gloves we found in the sewer and trash cans...She's your killer."said Sharon...

"Now all we've got to do is find her...Good work Sharon...Hazel..We couldn't have done this without you."said Sissy....

We all clapped....

Hazel smiled and then passed the phone to Sissy...

"It's Angie.."she said.

"Siss...We got another murder and uh this is uh a real situation...it's a cop...You need to get down here..."said Angie..

"Alright Angie...I'm on my way...We may have to put these serial killings on hold..a police has been murdered."said Sissy...

II-

I had no idea...In fact...none of us did at the time that this murder was related to our serial killings until we arrived on the scene...

Duke was there to meet us...He had CSI people and photographers already examining the scene...

Angie was joined by Hazel as we watched them bring the body in out of the water...

 "Someone saw the officer floating in the water early this morning..."said Angie..

Hazel directed the Marine Police where to lay the body and she looked at it...

"One gunshot wound to the temple..."she said...."He's been in the water a few hours...no telling how long he's been dead."she said..

"Rico..We know him...He was a patrolman in Robbery -Homicide when we were there."said Carlotta.

"That's Joey...Sgt. Joe Clarke...Damnnnnnnnnnnnn.."said Tyriq..

"I knew Joey...That was my boy...."said Jimmy....

Hop came running up to us just then...

''A uniform found these in the water too...It's a suit...it's got blood on it..." he said..

"That looks like the clothes Lt. Tragg had on yesterday.." said Sissy..

"Yeah...I was wondering why he of all people wouldn't be here right now.."I said..

Sirena went in the pockets...

"These are Lt. Tragg's clothes...This is his badge and ID...."she said..

"I found some shoes floating in the river...They look like his...We have trousers, shirt, tie,shoes and suit jacket...I have divers searching for him right now..."said Angie...

"We've got a dead cop and a missing cop....I wonder if this has anything to do with our serial killer?" asked Sissy..

"Your killer killed with her bare hands....This was a gunshot...and why do we have Lt. Tragg's clothes and not his body?" asked Sharon...

''Because the killer changed up and is trying to throw us off...She or whoever wants us chasing a cop killer..while she or whoever makes a clean get away with the heat off of them....Put an APB and a BOLO out for Olga Tolstoy...Four counts of Murder in the first degree and possible kidnapping."said Sissy..

"Boss Lady, you think Lt. Tragg is still alive?" asked Carlotta...

"Unfortunately yes.."said Sissy...

"With no clothes on?" asked Jimmy....

We all turned and looked at him...

"I love this guy...if for no other reason ,he can make me laugh at the damndest of times."said Sissy, hugging her detective and laughing...

We all smiled at his remark.

III-

Not far away on an abandoned houseboat... Olga Tolstoy aka Wilma Rigby had Lt. Tragg tied up...He was clad only in an undershirt and boxer shorts...Next to him was a young blonde woman clad in only a babydoll and matching bra and panties...she was tied up too..

Olga cleaned her pistol....She was watching the entire thing...

"Your friends have no idea how close they are...Hahahahahahahahaha...They are smart....They disabled the GPS on their cell phones and they are using burner phones that I can't trace...Not only that..They are operating from a remote location that I have not found...Impressive...I'm not able to get any information or determine how much they know...They're pretty good Lt. Tragg.....I understand the patrolman who shot me years ago is their Lieutenant now...Very impressive...That's why I changed up my pattern...For the next few days they'll be looking for a cop killer and your dead body...They won't be looking for me....."she laughed..

"You'll never get away with this..." snarled Lt. Tragg...

"I think I will...and in fact...the way I have this planned...They're going to think it was YOU, who was behind this....HAhahahahaha...They're pretty smart...these guys...By the time they figure out it was me...I'll be long gone...Far from the USA...You'll be dead and they'll have egg all over their faces...Hahahahahahahahaha."she laughed maniacally....Then she looked at the girl..

"You missy...You're just like the trollips my husband liked so much...Big tits...small waste...Blonde....I WAS BLONDE...I WAS BUILT LIKE YOU ONCE...." she raged..

"HA! IN WHAT LIFETIME?"laughed Lt. Tragg...

Olga put the muzzle of the gun near his crotch...

"Something funny Lieutenant? Say something else and I'll shoot your balls off...Then let's hear you laugh then.."she said..

Lt. Tragg said nothing...

IV-

That night...Sissy called the Serial Killer tipline back at the office to check the messages....And she got a chilling message...It was from an old friend of ours...Hugh Benny and it was for Carlotta.....

Sissy handed her a burner phone...

''It's your C.I. Chica...Hugh Benny...Call Him." she said smiling.

She looked at me...

''I don't know what it is about your wife....So many men just love her."said Sissy..

 I smiled wryly...

''I know this isn't you saying this Siss as many men as you have in your fan club.." I joked.

Carlotta dialed his number...

"Carlotta baby...I would have hoped to have talked to you again under better circumstances...Why don't you uh give me a call soon..You have my private number...It's real important...Hugh Baby." was the message.

Carlotta called him from her burner phone...

"Hugh?" she asked..

"Carlotta? Hey baby...Listen....I'm only doing this because I dig you and your friends...but your boy Tragg is in a bit of trouble...I seen some big woman with blonde hair ushering him into an old houseboat on the marina, early this morning...I thought Tragg had picked up a broad at first, but even he would have better taste than this..Plus the broad had a gun on him..and he was in his drawers and a t-shirt...It just didn't look right..This was about six hours ago...The broad left and came back once....I don't know what is going on in there ,but it doesn't look good.." he said.

"Do you have an address?" asked Carlotta...

"Yeah.." he said...

"Thank you Hugh....When I see you I'll give you my card...anything less than a felony..you call me...That's your get out of jail free card."said Carlotta...

"I was hoping for a kiss." he said..

"I'm married papi..I can't do that."she laughed..

"I know..I had to try."he said and hung up.

Carlotta smiled..

"We got a lead on Lt. Tragg and our killer...Let's put this thing to bed."she said.

"Saddle up everybody...Kevlar and trauma plates...Shotguns and sniper rifles...We take this woman dead or alive..."said Sissy...

I stood up...

"I can't stop you from going Keith...but you and Hazel are going to have to stay back in the car." she said...

"Aww..we miss all of the fun" joked Hazel...

We all laughed....

V-

The houseboat sat eerily quiet along the riverfront....We approached on foot...We could see someone moving inside the boat...Jimmy,Tyriq,Duke and Hop, armed with shotguns eased along the side of the boat....They had five uniformed policemen with them...

 Sirena,Angie,Carlotta and Sissy and five uniformed policemen brought up the rear

"Maybe we'll get lucky and take her alive without any gunfire."said Sissy.

While inside the houseboat....Lt. Tragg again tried to talk Olga Tolstoy into giving up..

''Look ,you kill one cop...you've got trouble..you kill another cop and all these girls and you got an international manhunt...You'll never get away with this.."he said.

"You know..I was going to strangle little missy over there...but you have gotten on my nerves....I think I'm going to kill you first."she said and aimed her gun at Lt.Tragg's head..

Just then , Duke and Hop hurled shock grenades into the window...

"GET SOME BABY!" yelled Duke....

The bright light blinded everybody....

''Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...My eyes...MY EYE!!!Son of a bitch."she screamed.."HOW DID THEY FIND ME?" she screamed...

Jimmy,Tyriq, Carlotta,Sirena and Angie charged through the door with about 5 uniformed police officers...

"POLICE...FREEZE!!!" They yelled...

"Damn it!" she yelled and ran out of the other door....with her gun cocked and blazing...

"I'll kill you all!! I'll Kill All You Sons of bitches...EAT IT COPPPS!!!" she yelled firing a number of shots at Duke and Hop, who ducked, then reloaded and came up firing back at her....along with five uniformed officers armed with shotguns....

Olga was hit multiple times ,but continued to fire....

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH,OW..OWWWW,Ohhh SHIT!...I don't believe it...I've been shot..OWWWWW.ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Whoooooooooooo!....Ouuuu lawddddd! OWWWWW.ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! HOW MANY OF YOU DAMN GUYS IS IT???"she screamed as she took more gunfire to her torso..


There was a fusilage of gunshots....coming from the side of her.....

 "OWWWWW.ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Whoooooooooooo!....Ouuuu lawddddd!  OWWWWW.ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! IT'S YOU!!! OHHHHH..."she screamed and spun around like a top, tossing her gun up in the air....and falling with a loud thump to the ground...She wasn't wearing body armor today.....

"Damn....I'm all shot to hell....ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" she moaned...

Then there was nothing...

Hazel and I ran towards where we heard the gun shots....

We saw the body of Olga Tolstoy lying face up....with a pool of blood running from her......

Standing over her with her gun smoking was .....The Boss Lady...Lt. Sissy Van Buren..

"Is she dead Hazel?" asked Sissy...

Hazel looked up..

"Pretty much..."she said...

Duke and Hop came running up....They too had fired at her, as well as Sissy...

Tyriq, Sirena , Angie ,Jimmy and the other uniformed policemen walked outside...

"Where is Carlotta?" I asked..

"She's untying Lt. Tragg and a young girl who was also held hostage..."said Sirena..

Carlotta put a cloth over the girl who was clad in lingerie.....Poor Lt. Tragg was forced to come out in his underwear...

He looked at the body of Olga Tolstoy....He angrilly kicked the corpse and spat on her....

"YOU KILLED A POLICE!!...A GOOD POLICE YOU CREEPY BITCH!" he yelled....He then looked at us....

"You were right!!It was her...She killed Joey Clarke and her husband and those other three girls and your three."he said.

''We know.. You had brought her in just a week before the killings started..Your instincts were in the right place...We just couldn't prove it then Lt. Tragg"said Sissy...who passed him some handcuffs...

Reporters were coming...

"Your collar Lieutenant!" she said...

Lt. Tragg felt emotional....He owed Sissy and her detectives his life....once again...He passed her the handcuffs back...

"No Lieutenant...YOUR COLLAR! Good Work Sissy!!!...Damn Good Work, All of you."he said and slipped out of sight!

  The body was removed and Sissy addressed the reporters...

 "Tonight, we have unfortunately had to kill the person we believe was responsible for four murders several years ago , the murders of three young girls just days ago and one of our own, a police officer in just the past few hours....The city owes it's gratitude to these wonderful people...Detectives Carlotta Rodiguez-Wallace..

Detective Tyriq Pile  and his wife, Detective Sirena Pile..

Detectives James Barlow and his wife, Detective Angela Belton-Barlow,our newest member...

Detectives Tony Hopkins and Edwin "Duke" Baylor

and our brilliant Forensic Investigator, Dr. Hazel Baylor

They worked tirelessly around the clock until we identified and found our killer...and I would be remiss if I didn't thank the FBI and it's deputy Special Agent in charge, Sharon Hopkins for their invaluable help....

This happened because of all of these people...I'm just proud and happy to work with them. They did the heavy lifting." said Sissy...

"You guys are really a family affair aren't you?" asked a reporter...

"We are...which is why we work so well together..We are a family." said Sissy..as she posed with her troops...

I looked around the crowd for Lt. Tragg, but he was nowhere to be found...perhaps he didn't want to be interviewed in his underwear and be held up for ridicule yet again...Who could say?...

EPILOUGE-

With Olga Tolstoy dead....We had cleared four unsolved murders from years ago and our four murders of this week...We had also saved a young woman from being victim number five...And given Lt. Tragg another black mark...Once again, we had skunked him and solved another case he had tried to bogart his way into...

We found Olga Tolstoy's apartment...three days after her death...It was loaded with photographs of all six murdered girls during the last terrifying moments of their lives and then after death,before the bodies were placed on the street....The gun taken off of her was a ballistics match for the gun that killed Officer Clarke and we found a claw hammer that had blood and DNA that matched her husband's blood and DNA...Thus closing 8 murder cases....Not bad...

An Ex KGB agent living in Philadelphia ,who knew her and her husband told us a little while later that she had always been a little unstable and sadistic and seemed to take a little too much pleasure in murder and torture....

No one ever claimed Olga Tolstoy's body....She was cremated and her ashes put in a wooden box that is in a small corner of the M.E.'s office..

The case was closed...All of the plain clothes cops from Vice and Special Victims and the additional FBI agents all left and went back to their homes...

The 12 of us chose to stay one more night....We had plenty of beer,plenty of wine and Hoagies and Cheese-Steaks I brought in with me when I got there later on....

It was a couples night...Me and Carlotta...

Eddie C. and Sissy..

Duke and Hazel...

Tyriq and Sirena..

Sharon and Hop...

and Jimmy and Angie...

Our "Family" as Sissy said had grown so much in the years since I first added Carlotta,Tyriq and Jimmy to the unit....to help her and Duke out.We had met Hazel, I had promoted a sharp young patrolman named Tony Hopkins to detective..We had added Tyriq's wife, Sirena, a brilliant detective herself  to our unit...We had Hop's his girlfriend, now wife...FBI agent Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins and best of all...We had brought Angie back...which I had always wanted to do...

Like I had told Carlotta...Murder would always keep us together...