Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood

 I sat in the car , I watched as Lieutenant Frankie Cotton Jr. rang the door bell of  architect, Mark Rodger's house...

There was an eerie quietness and then a woman answered the door..

Both the Lieutenant and I jumped when we saw her...The woman bore an eerie resemblance to the late
Antoinette Rodgers..only she was younger no more than 18 or 19...

"Excuse me...May I help you..." she said with a smile...

"Aja?? Aja is that you?? Oh My God...You look exactly like your mother."said Lt. Cotton..

She laughed...

"I get that a lot " she giggled...

"Aja..Who is at the door?" came a bellowing male voice...


She looked at me...

"Do I know you?" she asked..

"No...I uh knew your mom...a long time ago...I'm from the Police.."said Lt. Cotton..

The man was shorter than Lt. Cotton, but had strong features...Smooth brown skin, a handsome ,well chiseled face and physique...He looked like he worked out...

He took one look at Lt. Cotton and smirked..

"Detective Cotton ,how long has it been? " he said sarcastically...

"Long enough...and it's Lieutenant Cotton now...and this is Detective Nate Nellis" he said pointing to me.

The man smiled..

"Ohhh so you actually had some ambition huh? You moved up." he said.

"Save the sarcasm Mark...You know why I'm here.." said Lt. Cotton

"I heard...I watch the news...They found the skelatal remains of Robert Flynn near the Marina..."he said.

"Yes...." said Lt. Cotton.

"So what has that got to do with me?" he asked..

"Everything...He wasn't found alone...there was another skelaton there...a woman...About your wife's size and build..." said Lt. Cotton..

The man laughed...

"You ...You are sooo pathetic..Still mad because you couldn't have my wife...Still heartbroken because she used you like she used everybody she ever knew....Still trying to pin her lovers disapearence on me...You have no proof...You didn't ten years ago and you still don't now." he scoffed..

"Ten years ago, we had no body...It just seemed as if Flynn left town...Now we have a body, long hidden under the tarmac in a decaying pier house..a body with a .45 slug in the head..." said Lt. Cotton..

"Again, what does that have to do with me?" he asked..

"We know you hired a Private Investigator...Pete Peterson to follow your wife...He found out about Flynn and her and he executed both your wife and Flynn and hid the bodies there temporarily...He was going to come back to dispose of them permanantly,only fate stepped in and he died.." said Lt. Cotton..

Mark Rodgers looked at him like he was crazy...

"You really are crazy aren't you?  Even from beyond the grave, Antoinette is still pulling your chain...I suppose I then murdered Pete Peterson before he could uh finish this job huh?" he laughed..

"I wouldn't have put that past you...but I know that at least you are innocent of that..."said Lt. Cotton.

Monica ,myself and Monique got an exhumation order a day before and we had Pete Peterson's body exhumed...

Monique did a thorough job of examining tissue and what was left of the body and she studied the autopsy report on Pete Peterson...In the end..his death was not the case of foul play...He had a bad heart and he used cocaine...all of which didn't help him and he died...

Mark Rodgers looked at him...

"So why are you here?" he asked, laughing...

"Is that your wife in the cemetary or someone else?" asked Lt. Cotton..

"That's my wife..She died of a brain tumor...She is resting peacefully in the cemetary...And I will get my lawyer and fight you tooth and nail if you try to have her exhumed.....Let her rest in peace...Flynn was a gigolo...He probably got caught with someone else's woman and got what he deserved..."he said.

"You'd better hope that that is the case..because if I find out otherwise..."said Lt. Cotton..

"You're gonna what?" he asked.

"I'm going to give you the justice you've long deserved.." he said.

"You're very entertaining Lieutenant..but now I grow tired of your foolishness....Leave my residence and if you have anything further to say to me...You'll talk to my attorney..." he said.. "Congratulations on your promotion." he said mockingly and slammed the door..

From the side window...I saw his daughter...Aja...She was in her room staring out the window...

She looked good...If her mother looked anything like her...I can see why she would drive a man to distraction...Many men....

I was glad it was me and the Lieutenant this morning....This was guy stuff..

II-

Speaking of my beautiful wife...Monica and Detective Kylie White were in the Doctor's office of Dr. Roland Harvey, The family doctor of the Rodgers Family...

"Dr. Harvey...I'm Detective Monica Nellis...and this  is Detective Kylie White...We have a search warrant to look at your files..."said Monica.

"My files?? Am I being audited...?" he laughed..

"We are Homicide Detectives...Not the IRS sir." said Monica..

"Homicide?What?" he said.

"We are here to see the files of Mrs. Antoinette Rodgers...You performed the Autopsy.." said Kylie..

He frowned...He looked frightened..

"Yes...I-I-I did.. She's been  dead for ten years... My god...what do you want with her?" he said.

 "Dr. Harvey, can we see the files?" asked Monica.

" Let me see that warrant." he said...

Kylie showed it to him...He looked it over...

"Okay...I see it's all in order...Uh Katie...Show the Detectives to the back where the files are.."he said.

His smartphone's ringtone came on...

He looked frightened..

"Excuse me...I have to take this..." he said and walked to the file room...

He slammed the door to the file room and locked the door...

Monica and Kylie pulled their glocks.....

"Open that door, open that door...Dr. Harvey Open that door.." said Monica...

The sound of a window opening was heard and then the sound of a car pulling off was heard...

"He's in his car, he just pulled off!!He's got a file with him..." said Kylie ...

She kicked the door open...

"Go get him Mo-Mo...I'll see if I can find anything here!!!..." said Kylie..

Monica had my flying car....I had taught her how to fly it...She took to the sky...

The chase was on...

Monica radioed to all police cars in the area that she was in pursuit of Dr. Ron Harvey and to stop on sight...

He peered up in pure horror as she chased him in my flying car...

She didn't want to cause a panic...He was on the Ben Franklin Bridge in midday traffic, driving at top speed..Weaving in between cars, switching lanes masterfully...Well aware that Monica was flying above him in a faster vehicle..

Lt. Cotton and I were headed that way in his car...

"The Doc cut and ran...I'm bettin  he got a call from Rodgers as soon as we left..." said Lt. Cotton..

"Maybe we can head him off at the path." I said.

"Too late...He's on the bridge...There's your wife.." said Lt. Cotton..

Monica was going much faster than I usually flew, I didn't want her to have a mid-air accident either..To say I was worried was an understatement..but at the same time...I was proud of her...

The  hunt was on...Dr. Harvey drove off the bridge  and lost control of his car...We watched as his car flipped over and exploded...He had been doing well over 100 miles an hour..

Monica slowly landed my flying car...and ran to the scene of the accident...She was horrified..

She put both of her hands over her mouth..

"OH MY GOD!!!!!" she cried..

I ran to her and held her in my arms...She was trembling...

"I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry...Why did he run? Why didn't he stop?" she cried...

Lt. Cotton comforted her....

"It's not your fault Mo-Mo...You did a fine job.... The fact that he grabbed a file and ran proves that somebody is afraid of something...We are on the right path...but unfortunately...Whatever was in those files burned up with Harvey..." he said surveying the wreckage..

III-

 So once again we found ourselves in Mr. Rodgers neighborhood and back at his house...

He came to the door very angry...

"Lieutenant Cotton what do you want?" he bellowed..

 "I suppose you heard what happened to Dr. Harvey a few hours ago..." said Lt. Cotton..

"Yes...I heard he was killed in an automobile accident..." said Mark Rodgers..

"We had a legal search warrant for your late wife's medical records and her autopsy...He chose to take that file and cut and run ,after getting a mysterious phone call.." said Lt. Cotton.

"And I suppose that phone call came from me..?" he asked.

"Did it?....because we don't have his smartphone...it was incinerated, along with him and everything in that file in the crash...It will take us awhile to find out who that call was from if we ever find out...I'm sure the call came from a burner phone.."said Lt. Cotton.

"So what are you accusing me of murder Lieutenant? Conspiracy of some kind?" he asked..

"Am I Mark? Am I?" asked Lt. Cotton..

"Maybe Dr. Harvey's death is the result of an over zealous Detective who is chasing something that doesn't exist!" said Mark Rodgers...

"I don't think so..."said Lt. Cotton...

"I'll tell you one last time...My wife is resting peacefully in the cemetary...and I'll fight you to keep you from disturbing her grave....She's dead Lieutenant...let her rest in peace..and perhaps you can have some peace!" he said...

He slammed the door...

As we walked away we saw Aja....She was no longer smiling...

She looked at us and said...

"Let my mother rest in peace." and she put her key in the door and was about to go in when she looked at Monica..

Monica gave her a strange look ...

 "Everything alright babe? What is it?" I asked.

''Yeah, everything is fine." said Monica..

I had seen that look on my wife's face before..I knew that it was not.

IV- 

There was a full moon out...

Lieutenant Cotton stood on the rooftop of the precinct by himself...saying nothing to anyone...just staring at the moon....

Kylie ,Monica and I sat in the squadroom....

"I don't like to see him like this...He's not himself..I've never seen him like this before." said Kylie..

"I know...He's taking this case very personal...maybe he's pushing too hard...maybe there really is nothing to this..."said Monica..

"We gotta clean this up for him...He'd do it for us...Tomorrow, we get a team and go to Missing persons to look and cross check all women who vanished around the time Robert Flynn and this young woman vanished ..."I said.

"I'll talk to the ADA and see if we have enough for an exhumation order...We have to know who is in that coffin..."said Monica...

"But mostly we gotta give him time to work this thing out himself...it's eating at his soul.."I said..

The three of us all nodded in agreement...

There was a full moon out...

 Lt. Cotton stood on the roof alone.
 


(TO BE CONTINUED)