On A Clear Day (You can see Murder!)

TWO WEEKS LATER-

I couldn't believe it when I got the call...Carlotta and I were out and about to get some dinner, when Jimmy called us..

Things had been quiet for awhile lately....We had closed seven open murder cases and had put the notorious and elusive mob hitman, Maclean Heath behind bars...and although we knew about him, Drug Czar, London Cummings was bone dry....With no product to sell...He was a non-factor...

We believed that he was the one the shipment of Heroin and Cocaine was for and we believed he was the one who hired Maclean Heath to clean up...but we had no proof and Mackey was not talking...He was sitting in county lock up quietly...like the true soldier he was....He didn't want to cut a deal , didn't want a lawyer even...He just sat....Saying nothing.

When Carlotta and I drove up...The first person I saw was Jimmy...

"Hey guys....there's been a murder...and not just any murder either....Take a look.." he said as he led Carlotta and I past the Police line and into the crowd...Tyriq waved at us...He was taking witness statements as was Angie...

Sirena had on latex gloves and with her partner Detective Tony Hopkins...was kneeling down with Hazel,examining the body....

The body was of an African-American male, well dressed...athletically built lying face down in a pool of blood...

Sissy saw us and just shook her head....

A young patrol officer bagged and tagged some shells...and passed them to Duke Baylor...

He turned the body over....

"That's London Cummings..." said Duke...

Carlotta kneeled down and looked at him...

"Aye Mios Dios...I thought he was too smart to ever go out like this...I always thought he'd either retire and go straight or we'd bust him..."she mused...

"He didn't do either and that means that this isn't over....There is somebody....Over him pulling the strings...I thought he was the boss.."I said.

"I did too....apparently not....I just sent Carol a text...I know she went out of town lately...She'll be interested to know about this." said Sissy.

''He was shot with a glock nine...Two shots to the head..."said Sirena..

''Anybody see anything?" asked Carlotta..

"Witnesses said the man was a white male had on a black jacket, Black Ball cap and was driving a beat up green thunderbird..."said Hop...

"Glock Nine? That's police issue..."said Jimmy...

"Yeah, how bout that? We got a good description of the car...I'm puttin a team on the ATM Cams, Street Cams and Traffic cams...we may pull something."said Tyriq.

"Somebody is cleaning up....Siss, maybe we ought to move Mackey to Federal Custody.."said Angie.

"That's a good Idea...First thing in the morning...I'll call Brendan Burnside and make that happen...Although..He's not saying a word."said Sissy..

"Can we release the body?" asked Hazel...

"Yeah...release the body." said Hop...

I watched as the body was released...

"Somethings real fishy here."I said.

"What Keith?" asked Sissy...

"I'll tell you all in the morning...Let's get some sleep." I said and we all dispersed and went home...

Our Task force had disbanded after we captured Mac Heath...We had all returned to our homes and had been enjoying a little downtime...

All of us hanging out at Josies...Aqua Bar and Stoleys...

Carlotta, Sissy,Angie,Sharon,Sirena and Hazel shopping, getting their hair done, getting mani's and pedis and buying lingerie from Bridget's store....

Me, Duke,Tyriq, Hop, Jimmy going to Football games....

 Me ,Robert Foxworth, Soloman Foster  having our poker night with U.S. Attorney Brendan Burnside...

And Me and Carlotta making sweet love in our home in our bedroom..

We had all been living our normal lives and now this....The murder of London Cummings....a reminder that our work was not finished..



II-

 The next day was a clear day... I sat in the office with Carlotta on my lap....Sissy and Sharon were there, everybody else seemed to be out...

Sissy smiled when she walked into the office and saw us...

"So what was bothering you last night Keith? You said something was fishy?" said Sissy...

"From the time this whole thing began...I'm talking about Lt. Tragg and his men stopping the boat and finding the Heroin....things seemed to happen fast...Too fast...."I said.

"What do you mean?" asked Sharon..

"I mean...Tragg reports it as he's supposed to do...Then he calls the DEA as a courtesy...Carol and him and one officer leave two officers and three suspects on the pier as they inspect the boat...When they come out...Five men are dead..." I said.

"Papi...They screwed up...they got caught.."said Carlotta.

"Yeah, but who knew they were in police custody outside of Law Enforcement?? How did they get their information THAT fast???  Tragg made two calls...He called dispatch that night to report the stop as he was supposed to do...Then he called the DEA as a courtesy....Carol and her agents show up..They inspect the boat...all of which took about twenty minutes and in that time...Mac Heath shows up and massacres five guys....I got this all from Duke and Angie's report and from Lt. Tragg.."I said.

"Everybody there is accounted for except one officer...But he was on the boat with Tragg and Carol.."said Sissy..

Just then , Angie and Duke walked in.....

"You know...Duke and I were on the same wavelength..."said Angie ,who heard the tail end of our conversation...

"Great minds think alike...so I pulled that officer's phone records...His name is Lou Palumbo....He was a sergeant at one time....got busted down to Patrolman and sent to the boat...He called a "Brooklyn Decker"in New York twice that night and then called a burner phone..here in the city...This was in the moments before Carol showed up...So in between the time Carol showed up , Mac Heath had plenty of time to get there and set up...He saw his chance and he whacked every last one of them and escaped under the cover of night.."said Duke..

"You really think a cop could be involved in this?" asked Carlotta.....Before she could answer...Hop and Sirena walked in the office..

"Boss Lady...we really got to get some of the play things the FBI has.....They really really are top of the line.."laughed Hop...

Sharon kissed him softly...

"Being married to me has it's benefits...besides uh the obvious.."she said laughing.

"What they mean is we were able to triangulate every camera in that area a little faster, Street Cams, Traffic Cams, ATM cams and business cams and we got a composite of our shooter...Look,Black Ball Cap, Black Trousers,Black jacket...We did a facial recognition and look who we got..Officer Louis Palumbo...Marine Police.."said Sirena..

"Well I'll be damned...That's Tragg's guy and between the calls he made the night of the murders and this...I think we know who our mole is.."I said.

Tyriq and Jimmy walked in...

"Junior and I did a trap and trace on his phone...He called a Brooklyn Decker in New York just hours before the murder...I don't know who this Brooklyn Decker is..but he doesn't have a sheet and owns an Import business...He's very well heeled..connected to politicians and what not..His name seems to pop up three or four times in this investigation.He's a Philly native, but he's been living in Atlanta for the past few years....Now he lives in Manhattan!"said Tyriq.

"At any rate, Palumbo is our shooter and possibly our point man in the Port Murders...I checked his financials...In addition to his regular pay, he's been getting thousands of dollars wired into his account from some shell fund in the Caymen Islands...Rico and I tried to trace it and just like before...It shut down and closed up.."said Jimmy..

"Pick him up!!...He's the missing piece of the puzzle ...Mac Heath won't talk....but this jamolk will talk..He'll lead us right to this Decker person."said Sissy...

"I'm taking a trip to New York...The FBI has an interest in Mr. Brooklyn Decker."said Sharon.

III-

 So that should have been it right?? Closed case right?  It was such a clear day...

I have never been more wrong...

We called Lt. Tragg and he was waiting for us when we arrived...

"Unbelievable that one of my men would be involved in this...but Lou was showing lots of cash lately..and bought a speedboat..I asked him where he was gettin the cash and he said he got lucky at the crap tables..."said Lt. Tragg..

"Well his luck just ran out...I have a warrant for his arrest..Murder one among other things." I said.

"Do you see something Chica?" asked Sissy...

"That's him right there exiting that boat...walking down the pier.."said Carlotta.

"PALUMBO!!!!!"said Tyriq...

 "He's seen us Rico...He's on the move" said Jimmy ,unholstering his glock.

Lou Palumbo saw Lt. Tragg, Myself, Sissy, Carlotta, Jimmy, Tyriq  and five uniformed officers walking towards him...

"It's over Lou...We know everything...We know you're a mole for someone in New York...and we know you killed London Cummings....Why Lou? what this guy pay you?  Huh?" asked Lt. Tragg..

He began backing up...

"You'd never understand...You make more money than I do...You're a Lieutenant....I don't make much...I got alimony to pay and a second morgtage...When he came to me...How could I refuse? He paid off my second morgtage...he paid off my credit cards...All I had to do was give him information that's all....I had no idea anybody was gonna get killed..Especially not cops!"he said continuing to back up..

''Who came to you? Who." asked Tyriq..

"Who aint important...You guys will never touch him..He's way over your heads."said Lou Palumbo...

"Rico...Gun!!!" said Carlotta..who pulled out her glock and aimed....

Lou Palumbo pulled out a glock,put it in his mouth and fired,blowing the back out of his head and falling into the water...

"Holy Crap!!" said Jimmy...as the body splashed in the water and the water turned a crimson red....

"Oh Hell!!!" said Lt. Tragg...hanging his head down....

Sissy and I just stood there in shock!

 We all stood in shock as the body was retrieved from the water........No one had much of anything to say....

IV-

 Some Hours Later-


 Hazel walked over to Detective Sirena Pile's desk...

"Your murder is solved...The gun Officer Lou Palumbo killed himself with was the murder weapon that killed London Cummings..."said Hazel..

"Yeah ,I heard....Another case down.." said Sirena sighing..."So much death...I just want to go home tonight and hug my three babies.." she said.

Her partner ,Detective  Tony Hopkins walked over to both of them...

"That was your husband ,Duke on the phone Hazel...He and Angie were over at CFC to pick up Mac Heath....He's dead!!! They found him stabbed 42 times in his cell..."said Hop...

V-

 Sissy and I drove over to the city jail....just in time to see Angie...

 "Hey Girl, what's up?" said Sissy...

 "I think we already know.."I said sighing..

"Hey guys..It was the bloodiest thing I ever saw...The way he was stabbed...we have no witnesses...Nobody that is willing to talk anyway..." she said...

Duke walked over to us..

 "With him dead....All we have is Palumbo.."said Duke..

"Palumbo's dead....He killed himself..earlier today."said Sissy..

''What? So we have nothing."said Angie..

"Damn!"said Duke..

"I wouldn't say that...We've closed seven murders...We've inadvertingly busted a drug ring and we closed the Cummings  murder...I doubt that Mack the Knife was ever going to tell us anything anyway.."said Sissy managing a smile..

''What about Sharon?"I asked..

"She and the FBI didn't have much of a case and when they got to Brooklyn Decker's New York residence...Decker had cleared out of there..We were told he is out of the country on business..."said Sissy..

"Under the circumstances...This is a hollow victory for us...but a victory just the same..I'd take the win." said Sissy...

Who looked on as the body was being removed...

EPILOUGE-

 And at Greensville Correctional Center-Virginia- Three Days later.

Owen McCracken peered through the glass at DEA Agent, Carol Redding...

"Back so soon Agent Redding??? " he said smiling...

"I'm back!!...I made that call...I talked to U.S. Attorney Brendan Burnside...

He wasn't going to go for it...but after recent events in Philadelphia....."she said..

''You mean the murders of London Cummings and Maclean Heath and the suicide of Lou Palumbo right?  That was Brooklyn Decker cleaning up... you know? He takes screw ups personally...He's kind of sick like that...You know?" he asked.

She paused...

"Yeah..."

"And?" he said.

"You're going to be transferred to a Federal Holding Facility later on today and your sentence will be commuted to life after you help us get Mr. Decker..."she said.

"YOU ARE GOOD!  You know who my partner is..." he said very surprised...

"I found out...."She said...

"Get me out of here and I'll tell you how to get him..." he said.

"Looks like we have a deal..."said Carol...

She looked out the window.

It was a clear day!