Dawn Of The Empire's Fall

Three days later...we all sat in the conference room of our safe house when we got another visitor...The only other person who knew about this place, but never stayed here...DEA Regional Special agent in charge, Carol Redding-Cantrell..

''Hey Sissy, guys...You can imagine my surprise when I return from one of my many visits out of town and I discover that you guys have really been busy in my absence...Sharon...you have captured a possible witness that you visit out of town and you guys have a major playa in your scope looking to buy from Decker...a playa so big, that the man himself will be coming here in a day or two to meet with him...I never stop being impressed with you guys." she said.

"Carol, my detectives are sitting on indictments for numerous drug crews affilliated with this guy...We think we have found his stash house and the place where 46 young men are buried or being kept on ice..." said Sissy...

"What?" said Carol...

"You arrived just in the nick of time...We are about to clear  55 unsolved murders..." I said.

"WHAT???"said Carol, astounded...

"It's all here on this recording...Listen and watch." said Sharon...

We watched as the screen showed Charlene "Charlie" Brown arriving at her apartment...The apartment she shared with her fiance...Candi Harmon...

She went to kiss her....

"Hey Babes...sorry I didn't call... Jimmy had me busy the past few days...I uh had to take care of some people for him..Me and Basil and uh dole out the last of the product to our uh associates..." she said.

"You bitch...Don't lie to me.." said Candi...

"Good for you." said Carlotta...

"I know right Lotta? She lyin like a dude." said Sirena...

Me, Eddie C, Hop,Jimmy,Tyriq and Duke all chuckled at that exchange...

"What's wrong with you babes?" asked Charlene...

She produced a DVD...

"This is what's wrong with me..." she said..

"What is that?" she said...

She popped it into her DVD player...

There was the sound of kissing...passionate kissing and heavy breathing...

 "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh Charlie...Charlie you are driving me crazy ma..."

"Ouuuuuu, oh Norma...you driving me crazy bae...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

"Ouuuuuu....How you gone explain this to your fiance?" 

''What she don't know won't hurt her...All I know is..ohhhh,I just want you now..ohhh.."

"Ouu girl ,suck on my breasts...suck em Charlie...ohhhhhhhhhhhhh.."

"Ummmmmm girl...ohhhhh my goodness..."

"Ouuuuuu..ohhhhhhhh..."

There was the sound of the bed squeaking, the headboard gently slamming against the wall...

 "Ever since I first laid eyes on you...I been in love with you...that's why I been doublin up on your product for you and your crew..."

"Don't let Jimmy find out..."

"Who is gonna tell him? Huh? You??

"Ouuu girl...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuu.."

There was the sound of licking and slurping...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm losing it...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.."

"Ohhh Norma...I'm crazy bout you bae..."

"And I used to be scared of you ..."

"Why?"

"Everybody knows you kill people..You kill people for Bishop.."

"I do...and I've killed people before that...Right now I'm a suspect in four unrelated murders that they'll never prove....I made four big mouth witnesses disappear..into thin air....Those other people...I did that for Jimmy..to help him take over..."

"How come you didn't make me disappear?"

"Because like I said..I'm crazy about you...I been crazy about you since I first met you...I knew you'd play ball with us and you have and I've been takin care of you ,haven't I?"

"You sure have...Put me up in this nice apartment..Paid my bills..Gave me extra product....I love you so much..."

"Ouuuuuu, oh Norma...you driving me crazy bae...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

 "Ouuu girl...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuu.."

"Ohhhhhh god this feels so good...You should leave her...leave her Charlene...Come stay with me.."

"I just might...I just might bae..Ouuu girl....

(Click!)

"Where did you get that?" asked Charlene...

"I don't know....I found it in my mailbox this morning...You fool...You told her everything...You put yourself in for several murders...How do you know you wasn't layin up with a cop?" asked Candi...

"Candi...Baby...that aint what it looked like..I swear...That was just sex...she don't mean nothin to me...She's a client...She buys and sells from Jimmy...I swear...I'm in love with you.." said Charlene..

"Save it.. I got this yesterday...I done already put all your stuff in storage...You aint stayin here no more..and if I was you...I'd get in the wind and fast..Apparently...Jimmy Bishop got that DVD delivered to him too and he sent Basil and two guys around here yesterday ,lookin for you...Your dumb cheatin ass is in trouble.." said Candi...

"What??? No....They wouldn't hurt me...I've killed for them...I've killed with Basil..Things I know..."said Charlene...

"Things you know is exactly why your dumb cheatin ass is grass...You cheated the boss stupid and you know too much...You done made yourself a liability bitch...." said Candi..

"Please....Please ,you gotta help me....They'll kill me...Please that was just sex...It wasn't nothin...Please ,all we been through..please don't let them kill me..Don't you still love me?"she pleaded.

"Part me of does....but part of me just can't take your cheatin anymore.."

"Help me...Help me get out of town...I swear...I'll make it up to you...I'll send for you,soon as I get safe.."said Charlene..

"You lie so much you can't even help yourself...Just go...Just go!" said Candi..

"Candi please...PLEASE!!! PLEASE!!!!" screamed Charlene...

The vicious woman who had killed so many was now terrified herself...

Carol's mouth dropped wide open...

"Ohhh my godd!" laughed Carol...

''It gets better" said Sissy.

II-

Charlene walked out of the apartment...She was crying.....

"Oh My God...I was set up....That bitch set me up....Filmed the whole thing and sent it to my woman and to Jimmy....But she couldn't be a cop...She bought and sold weight...Oh My god.." she thought...Shaking and crying profusely...

There was a car across the street....The windows were tinted... A young guy with latex gloves got out of the car...He had on jeans and sneakers....and a trenchcoat and sunglasses...He pulled a shotgun from under his trenchcoat... He aimed at her...She saw him in the reflection of a car window...

She pulled her pistol and fired first....Her shot hitting him in the chest and killing him instantly....

Two more gunmen got out of the car....

Hop yelled...

"Drop em.."

They turned to fire, But Hop, Sirena and three uniformed policemen opened fire... killing both of them....

"She's running..." said Sirena..."It's okay..she won't get far..." she said..

 "It's over Charlene!!!....Drop that gun and give yourself up." said Carlotta ,with a shotgun of her own ,aimed at her...

Jimmy had his Glock nine aimed at her...

"You'll lose Charlie Brown...Drop that gun and put your hands where I can see em..DO IT!!! I AINT PLAYIN WIT YOU!!" said Jimmy...

Tyriq, three plain clothes Vice cops and three Plain clothes Narcotics cops converged on her...Tyriq handcuffed her...

"Charlie Brown....your reputation precedes you babe!...You're under arrest, murder one...quite a few I believe......" he said.

"I aint tellin you nothin cop!!!.." she spat..

"You don't have to baby!...We've heard enough...See , we been watchin your boss , Jimmy Bishop...We know everything about him and you're going to help us put the nail in his coffin." said Tyriq..

"I aint tellin you nothin...LAWYER gotdamn it!!!...Get me a lawyer!" she said.

"Now listen you dumb ass...He's got a contract on you!!!...We saved your life tonight...Those hitters...They were his guys...But better yet ,let me show you why you're going to help us..Get in the gotdamn car!!!" said Tyriq..who shoved her into his car...He was through playing nice guy...

Carlotta and Jimmy got in and they drove several blocks away.....

"Where you takin me?" she asked...

"You know where this is!!!....It was your girlfriend's apartment...Norma, right?" said Carlotta...

"She is an undercover cop." she spat.

"No..No..She's not one of us...She was someone we were targeting for arrest....We didn't plan on this happening...Hazel!!" called Carlotta as the car stopped and they got out... a crowd of people were mulling around...

"What Happened..?? What the hell happened??"she asked..

"Here I am." said Hazel...

"Open up the body bag....TAKE A LOOK CHARLIE!" snarled Jimmy...

Inside was the body of Norma Jean...Norma Jean Reddick, her other lover...She had been shot twice in the head...

"OH MY GOD NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! That damn Basil....Damn him!!!!" screamed Charlene Brown....

"You're next....They want you dead for cheating them and pillow talking about their operation and mentioning their names...They got people searching all over the city for you.."said Tyriq..

"Who set me up?" she asked..

"Damn if we know...same people who sent us the same copy of the DVD your boss and your fiance got. You've killed so many people...I'm sure you've made your share of enemies."Tyriq lied...

Sirena and Hop drove up...

"It's over for you Charlene...We got you cold.."said Sirena...

"Take her downtown.." said Hop to some near by officers.....

Carol Redding shook her head....

"So this is Bishop's enforcer...huh? Wow!  Excellent..Well played Sissy." said Carol...

"The final part is coming up.."said Sissy smiling...

III-

They took Charlene Brown downtown to headquarters and sat her in the "fishbowl" the nickname the detectives had for our interrogation room...

She sobbed and shook with fear for about an hour....I didn't know if she was afraid of death,if she was crying for the end of one or both of her relationships...but she was crying crocodile tears....

Sissy, ADA Nina Rios and I walked into the interrogation room...

 "Charlene Brown...I'm Lieutenant Sissy Van Buren, Criminal Investigation Division..."she said.

 "I'm ADA Keith Wallace."I said.

"I'm ADA Nina Rios." she said.

Charlene looked up...

"What do you want?" she asked defiantly...

"You're in a lot of trouble...We have you on tape confessing to a lot of murders....murders we have suspected you of for a long time, but couldn't prove until now.."said Sissy..

"You got nothin...Just pillow talk...I was just tryin to make myself look bigger than I was..I-I made that up."she said.

Sissy was beyond exasperated..

She sighed...

"You're smarter than me...Keith, Nina, she's right..we have nothing..process her and release her.." she said.

''What?  What are you talking about?" she said.

''Like she said...We got nothin...You can go..."I said..

"They'll kill me...You-You can't let me go..." she said...You could see the fear...

"It's late...I'm tired and I want to go home to my man...You gonna jerk us around or are you gonna deal? Because we got you on enough murder ones to earn you a number of needles...or we can release you and let you be judged by the court of the streets...Hey Nina...you think she'll make it out of town alive?" asked Sissy..

"I think so....Hundred dollars says she will..." said Nina..

"Let me in on that..Hundred dollars says she won't." I said..

"ALRIGHT, OKAY..OKAYYYYY...I'll give you all of the murders...What will I get?" she asked.

"Life...No parole and imprisonment in another state with a new identity...We want you talking about everything...Any murder you don't talk about...If we find out about it later...We'll prosecute you and make sure you get the death penalty.."said Nina..

"Can I have something to eat?  And a tablet?? I'll give you all of it..." she said.

"What do you want?" asked Sissy...

"A Cornbeef special...Potato Salad and a Coke....and some chips..." she said.

She confessed to the four earlier murders she was a suspect in and the murders of the four witnesses...and she confessed to the murder of Flea and Angie and Duke's C.I.Jason Tyson and with Basil Templeton, the murders of 46 drug bosses who did not want to turn their territory over to Jimmy Bishop....

She said those murders were on Jimmy Bishop's orders and that she and Basil Templeton kidnapped them, shot them to death and took all of the bodies to a meat packing plant in the basement...where they were frozen solid...To be disposed of at a later date...

She confirmed that the meat packing plant was both a stash house and a place for holding bodies...Just as we had thought...

She knew nothing about Brooklyn Decker..We didn't think she would.

"So you guys did this 12 hours ago...Where is she now?" asked Carol.

"She made a lengthy confession on video ,which we have and she had a lawyer present...and she gave us a lengthy written confession. She's being transferred by Federal Agents to the same out of state facility where we are holding Mr. Curly Nelson...That way nobody can get to her..." said Sharon...

"We have warrants for the arrest of Bishop and 102 of his known associates...but we are sitting on them and that meat packing joint..we want to wait until he meets with Decker and nab both of them...Conspiracy charges.."said Carlotta...

''Well played....Well played."said Carol.

"There is more...You gotta  see me in action." said Duke..

"Oh My..." said Carol....

IV-

Basil Templeton stood in the shadows as the body of Norma Jean Reddick was being examined...He lit a cigarette and was about to walk away when he saw Angie...

"What you doin tonight playa?" she said smiling...

He smiled at her..

''Hmmmm, what do you want to do baby?" he asked...just drooling over Angie...

Angie was about to pull out her handcuffs when Duke grabbed him and threw him against the wall..

"Unfortunately playa...you've done enough.....You shot that young girl....and you tossed your gun down in the sewer....Got the whole thing on video...Even you disabling the camera...See we were watching this place...We didn't get here in time to stop you unfortunately...but we got you just the same..."said Duke..

"Long story short sugar....You're under arrest, Murder one." laughed Angie as she handcuffed him and turned him over to uniforms....

He sat in the Interrogation room and fell asleep...He woke up when Duke walked in...

Upon seeing Duke he said...

"Lawyer...I want my lawyer bull...I aint tellin you a damn thing." he snarled...

"You should call your lawyer...I'm not here to grill you...I don't need to...Somebody you know just gave you up....You're under arrest for 47 counts of first degree murder...I'm definitely coming to your execution..."laughed Duke...

Hazel walked in and kissed Duke and whispered in his ear...

"We found the gun...the one you tossed in the sewer....It had your prints on it...Make that 48 counts of first degree murder...Come on babe...Let's go home.." laughed Duke..

Sissy, Carlotta, Jimmy ,Tyriq,Hop ,Sirena ,Angie and Hazel all clapped and cheered...

"Basil Templeton is in county lock up...he's not talking...but he's done...Jimmy Bishop meets with Brooklyn Decker tomorrow...and tomorrow we nab both of them and take down the entire empire..." said Sharon.

"The King is dead....Long live the king." I laughed... As Eddie C arrived with the beer and wine..

We all relaxed that night...but little did we know...This case was about to take another twist...

(CONCLUSION NEXT)