Gold Star

The Olde City section of Philadelphia...The oldest section of the city...Where the founding fathers founded our great nation...Also, recently where a horrendous mass murder occurred two weeks ago...five men....Three were New York Gangsters...Two were Philadelphia Policemen...despite two additional murders ,not far from the area...It was this one that was garning the most attention...

So on this morning....I , Assistant District Attorney Keith Wallace sat inside the FBI's mobile Crime Lab with FBI ,Deputy Special Agent in Charge, Sharon Hopkins, Lt. Sissy Van Buren of The Criminal Investigation Division of the Philadelphia Police Department and DEA Regional Special Agent in Charge, Carol Redding...We had hot tumblers of coffee and pastries and bagels for the FBI agents, DEA Agents working with us...

"You think we can count on him to come alone and without the Press?" asked Sharon...

"He will...I told him this was for his eyes and ears only and that it was top secret.." said Carol..

"You should have called the Deputy of Operations and told him to remind Lt. Tragg of that also." added Sissy..

"That's him now at the door...I don't see anyone with him.."I said ,smiling...

Lt. Tragg walked in...He was amazed at what he saw....

"Good Morning ADA Wallace, Sissy, Sharon, Carol.....This is some magilla you guys have here...You Federallis really know how to put on a show..."he laughed...

We were actually parked on a side street away from Penns Landing and out of sight of the street....

"I'm grateful that you guys have kept me in the loop on this thing...I know we've uh had our differences in the past."said Lt. Tragg...looking uneasily at Sissy,Me and Sharon...

None of us said anything or cracked a smile...Carol Redding was holding court...

"We owed it to you....You after all were the one who intercepted the drug boat that led up  to these murders ..I trust you kept your word and told no one...Not even your men where you were going?" said Carol..

"Nobody knows I'm here...And by the way...Why am I here with the DEA, The FBI and Sissy and her detectives..What's up?"

II-

"What's up is we may very well be close to closing your port murder case and finally putting a tag on Maclean Heath..."said Sissy...

"Shut the front door!!Are you serious Sissy?"he said laughing...."People have been trying to put a tag on that old dog for years...I heard you guys had him bouncin around in the box a few days ago, but had to let him go....Carlotta,Rico and Jimmy jumped the shark on that didn't they? Though I mean them no disrespect...I have come to see that you got yourself a group of fine detectives Sissy...They just didn't have enough to tag him."said Lt. Tragg...

"No but Carlotta and Jimmy and Rico are relentless...Carlotta played a hunch....a very expensive hunch....

She's got 120 recruits from the police academy out with Bloodhounds and some officers from the dog corps doing a search of dumpsters and sewers for a 15 block radius..."said Sissy..

''What?  That's a pretty expensive hunch..The man hours...I mean."said Lt. Tragg..

"It worked in another case and in her murder case...Lonnie Denton..."I said.

"We got camera footage of Maclean Heath in a stolen car leaving the scene and they found latex gloves in a sewer ,some blocks away and several bloody knives in a hefty trash can bag in another sewer, not too far from the Betsy Ross Bridge over in Jersey.." said Sharon...

"Hazel has already matched the blood and DNA on the weapons to Lonnie Denton." said Sharon...

"Okay,so you found the murder weapons...That doesn't tie Mackey to the murders?" said Lt. Tragg..

"There's more." said Carol...

"Naturally, Latex gloves are worn to avoid leaving fingerprints at the scene of a crime....Turn them inside out and you got fingerprints...We've already matched the blood on the knives and the latex gloves to Denton...and the fingerprints are a match to Maclean Heath..." said Sissy....

"If my girl Sirena was here...She'd say....This is where it gets cute....She and my husband, Detective Tony Hopkins took 120 recruits from the police academy out with Bloodhounds and some officers from the dog corps doing a search of dumpsters and sewers for a 15 block radius of their crime scene the next night..." said Sharon...

"And guess what they found?  In a dumpster ,eight blocks from his abandoned apartment they found bloody hacksaw blades and surgical knives wrapped up in newspaper and in a hefty trash can bag...and in the sewer right here in old city....bloody latex gloves...

 Hazel has already matched the blood and DNA on the weapons to Alvin "Superfly" Mayfield  ,her murder victim and, and the fingerprints are a match to Maclean Heath...on the inside of the latex gloves...Those Bloodhounds are worth their weight in gold."said Sharon.

''So your jackpot question must be...What has this got to do with your Port Murders right?" I asked.

''I'm startin to figure it out..I like Mac Heath for my murders...You guys are doing the same thing around here huh?" he asked..

"You get a Gold Star Lt. Tragg...Duke and Angie have Bloodhounds and Recruits from the academy scraping the area as we speak...We also have FBI divers in the waters too."said Sissy..

Lt. Tragg folded his arms and allowed a smile to cross his face...

"Well Sissy, you and your detectives and the federallis may just have cracked this case wide open!" he said.

"But we owe you a debt of gratitude...You were the one who stopped that shipment, which brought all this to light...because of you...a mass killer may be taken off the streets and for the moment , a drug kingpin is out of business...That Drug Kingpin being London Cummings." said Carol..

"London Cummings?? I've seen him a lot at Penns Landing....At first he was out partying with a couple of broads...but I spied him meeting with two guys I didn't know and another time with Mayfeild and Denton...This was weeks before anybody died...I had a couple of my guys watching out for him."said Lt. Tragg.

III-

 While we sat inside the FBI mobile crime lab,out of sight....Detective Angie Belton-Barlow stood on the pier with her partner, Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor..

"How long me and you been partners?" she asked..

"Wow Angie...Since the Academy...Then as Patrolmen and later on as Detectives....

"I used to think you had a crush on me..."she laughed as she sipped her coffee..

"I kind of did back then...Rico did too...but you were so close to me, to us...You were more like a sister than a love interest..."said Duke...

"Yeah,after awhile..You and Rico were more like my Big Brothers than potential boyfriends..."she said.

There was an awkward silence between them and then Carlotta, Tyriq and Jimmy walked up to them with three eager police academy recruits...

"Top...Rico.Jimmy..you guys find something?" asked Duke...

"This guy...this recruit found something"said Carlotta ,smiling...

"He found latex gloves...bloody latex gloves wrapped up in tons of newspapers...we turned em inside out and they are full of blood and fingerprints...."said Tyriq...

"Not only that...He found a bloody hacksaw knife....the surgical type and he did it without the Bloodhounds...They're with Sirena and Hop.."said Jimmy...

"What's your name son?" asked Duke...The young man didn't look any older than twenty....He was Black,athletically built and was sharp..

"Talbert sir...Ray Talbert.."he said..

"You're going to make a great detective one day Mr. Ray Talbert." said Carlotta.

"I hope so mam." he said.

Carlotta petted the dogs...Sirena and Hop walked up...

"We hit the motherlode...We got bloody latex gloves...found in the sewer and a second surgical knife,wrapped up in newspaper...There may be fingerprints on the newspaper..."said Sirena..

"Hazel and her CSI crew are already taking the evidence to the mobile FBI crime lab to process it "said Hop..

"If we get a positive match on this stuff we will have done what detectives couldn't do for years..put an end to the murderous career of Maclean Heath."said Hazel...

"Listen at you....Sounding like a cop.."laughed Angie...

"Being married to me paid off.."laughed Duke..."Hey guys remember when you were in the academy and Detectives pulled you for an assignment like this?"he asked..

 "Oh wow...Yes....I think they pulled us twice,didn't they Jimmy?" asked Carlotta.

 "Yeah and we didn't find jack!" he laughed ,remembering when he and Carlotta were in the Academy together.

 "I found something....I got a Gold Star for the day..."laughed Hop...

"Yeah...I did too, when I was in the Academy...I got a Gold Star."laughed Sirena...

"Me and Duke didn't find anything...but Angie did...""laughed Tyriq...

Angie stuck her tongue out...

"And I've been carrying you two clowns ever since.." she joked as they all busted out laughing...

"Recruit Ray Talbert and these bloodhounds all get Gold Stars." laughed Hop....

HOURS LATER-

Hazel came out of the lab...

"I've got a match....DNA and fingerprints match all of the murder victims and Maclean Heath!"she said..

"I've already got the warrants...Pick his ass up!" I said.

"Ouu Papi...you turn me on when you sound so authoritative like that."whispered Carlotta in my ears...

I got an erection at just the sound of her voice....I immediately sat down...

"Okay guys...Kevlar vests....Trauma Plates....Leather gloves...."said Sissy..."Let's saddle up."she said..

"I'm going to sit this one out...Got to get this thing back and get our people back."said Sharon...

"Me too...Plus...I've got somewhere I've got to be...I'll see you in a few days.."said Carol...

Sissy looked at Lt. Tragg-

"You coming?" she said..

"I wouldn't miss this." he said ,so grateful that he was in on a take down

Hazel and I looked at each other...

Without saying anything...we knew we had to stay behind...

IV-

 They didn't have time to call for back up...But Sissy,Lt. Tragg and seven detectives was more than enough to take down one man...

"Okay...we don't want to alarm him if he is in there...Sirena...You and Hop know his room number?" asked Sissy...

"He's on the 7th floor in the back...Room 711.."she said..

Sissy read the address on the warrant...It read 711....

"Okay guys...let's do this quick and fast." said Sissy as they descended into the building..."Sirena, you and Hop and Lt. Tragg follow me...We are going in the back.and quietly up the steps" she said..

"Duke, you ,Angie, Chica, Rico and Jimmy take the front.." said Sissy....

"We are on it.." said Duke...as they headed quietly up the front steps....

Both groups reached the floor at the same time and had glocks drawn....

Lt. Tragg and Duke were ironically on both sides of the door...

Lt. Tragg gave Duke the high sign...Duke nodded...

Just as they were about to kick the door in...The door opened..Maclean Heath had a suitcase and a small travel bag...

A cab had pulled up outside...

Upon seeing all of the police...He smiled..

"Not this again...Look,don't you guys get tired of wasting your time?" he laughed...

Lt. Tragg grabbed him through him up against the wall and handcuffed him...

"Mackey...We are not wasting our time this time....You look like you were going somewhere.."he said..

"I was planning a riverboat cruise..."he said...

"You're going up the river alright.."laughed Sissy as Duke Tyriq and Hop walked him down the stairs and to a waiting patrol car...

He stood outside and looked at his apartment complex...

Then he looked at Carlotta,Angie, Sirena and Sissy..

He smiled...

"Sure is some foxy ladies in this unit...I'd play cops and robbers with you gals anytime..."he said.

Jimmy cracked up laughing.



VI-

 Faced with the mountain of evidence we had against him...Maclean Heath was formally charged with seven counts of first degree murder...Despite the fact that it was rumored that he may have killed close to or over 100 men in Philly,New York,D.C. and elsewhere...These were the only murders that stuck.

Maclean Heath...alias "Mack the Knife" was in prison..in segregation...The news traveled like wildfire...Detectives from New York City, Washington D.C., Baltimore and as far as Atlanta came to talk to him to clear their books, but he would admit to nothing...He just sat silently and laughed...

All he would concede was -

"Well....I had a good run...a lot of talented detectives tried and failed to put a tag on me....I tip my hat to these seven....I suppose they get a gold star." he said dryly....

TO BE CONTINUED