Muddy Waters

48 Hours Later-

Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor stood in knee deep water ,with several Medical Examiner office workers and hauled the female's body up on the banks...

She appeared to be Latina...She was shapely and very attractive...Clad only in panties and bra...


He stared intently....He felt the neck and looked at the lifeless eyes that were staring back at him....


"Hmmm, strangled.. panties ripped...ripped nearly off...Bra unhooked partially...This looks like an engagement ring.. Whoever did this was in a hurry...The way he tore at the clothing and the underwear..." he said.

His wife, Forensic Investigator...Dr. Hazel Baylor smiled..


"Very good Duke.. you are getting so good at this ." she said.

"You taught me everything I know." he said.

"Awwww...you were such a good student." she said smiling...Knowing that in the early days when she first met him...He feigned interest just to have a reason to be with her...
He never fooled her...She knew...But he did learn and learn fast...


She observed the body....


"Vaginal bruising..Just like Sirena and Hop's a week ago..

 and just like Carlotta, Rico and Jimmy's two bodies..

two days ago." she said...

"Yeah, but this is just one body..." said Duke..

"I'm afraid not partner....I have a male... Caucasion....25 years old...Gunshot wound to the head.. Body still warm..."said Angie.

"Oh My God!!!..." said Hazel...

"This guy's wallet was cleaned out...They didn't take the credit cards or debit card...but the cash is gone..I found a couple of dollars on the floor...According to his drivers license...His name is John Bounty, he's 29."said Angie..

"I have this girl's purse...There is over a grand in cash in here..A Debit card and three credit cards...She wasn't robbed...I have her dress...her coat, and her shoes.. They all floated up with her.. Bag em and tag em boys...Get her out of the water.Her name is Helen Acosta, she's 29..."said Duke.

The workers removed the bodies...

quickly loading them on the M.E.'s van....

I stood to the side, talking to Sissy...


"We have a serial killer...." I said.

"Yeah, I know.." sighed Sissy  .."And right before Christmas.." she said.


Christmas was two weeks away...

Angie passed her best friend a tumbler of coffee..


"You even start your Christmas shopping Siss?" she asked...

"I started ..I'm nowhere near finished." she said.

"Same here...Carlotta has already finished buying for all of her relatives in Puerto Rico....I haven't even started shopping yet." I said.

"You guys going to Puerto Rico for the holidays?" asked Angie..

"Yeah, if we crack this case and the bad guys take a break." I laughed..

"We are done here.. Let's get back to headquarters." said Duke.

We watched as the second body was loaded on the van....


Soon the Medical Examiners workers...The CSI guys and Photographers and Uniform policemen had all gone...Sissy, Hazel, Duke, Angie and I stood quietly...looking at the muddy waters of the Schuylkill River..

The Waters looked surprisingly peaceful...

Muddy, but peaceful.


II-

When we returned to headquarters...My wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace was holding court...


"What we do know is that our two victims and your two victims don't know each other and have no ties.." said Carlotta and like a school teacher ,she asked. .."And how do we know that?"

"Because Jimmy and I interviewed Family members...Fellow employees at their jobs and nobody knew or ever heard them mention the two Drug Kingpins who Sirena and Hop found.."said Tyriq..

"I ran their financials.. Bank statements, Credit cards and what have you...They didn't live or shop in the same places or go to any schools or clubs in common...."said Jimmy..

"Same here..I ran my two victims financials and cross referenced everything and they had nothing in common and paths never crossed.."said Sirena.

 "But they had to cross at some time...I've been following their movements on the Traffic and Street cams up to the last 48 hours they were known to have been seen...Both couples were in clubs.. but not the same clubs...

But their killer must have been in both clubs both nights.. I'm cross referencing ,using credit card information to determine if I can find somebody who was in both clubs...That's going to take awhile."said Hop..

"Good...Maybe we'll get lucky and turn up a suspect..."said Carlotta.

"I just got footage from both clubs your victims were in...

I'm running facial recognition to see if I can pick up anybody that was in both." said Sharon..

"Hip Hip Hooray for the FBI..." laughed Jimmy...

"I'll say." said Hop..

I clapped my hands...


"We got two more...Angie and Duke have two more...A woman, in panties and bra found floating in the river...along with her clothes and a husband shot to death in a car not too far..." I said.

''Did you guys order a plaster cast to be taken ?" asked Duke..

"I did...We got back about three or four different vehicles.." said Carlotta..

"I'm running down makes and models now...It's going to take some time."said Tyriq.

"It was too muddy and wet where Hop and I were...There were no visible tire treads.." said Sirena..

"I'll grab some detectives from Auto theft and help Rico run down these makes and models." said Jimmy.

"I'm still looking at Club footage." said Hop.

"I'm going to start a serial killer hotline...Maybe somebody saw something or knows something.."said Angie.

"Normally I'd say it's too early to publicize this...but the press already knows about Sirena and Hop's victims and yours too Chica..Go ahead ,do it.." said Sissy.

"Seems like we always get a serial killer right before Christmas..." said Carlotta.

"I swear...We do don't we?  Can't we have a nice drug sting or heist gang ?" laughed Sissy..


III-

Our food order came in.... A guy named Chuck...Chuck Kohls was the delivery man..
He was a nice affable guy....And he liked all of us..


"Carlotta....This is yours..." he said and passed her her sandwich...

"Gracias.." she said..

"You got mine Chuckie?" asked Tyriq..


"Yeah.. Yeah.. Let me give your wife hers first..." he said and laughed at Sirena..


"The nerve of him right..?" he said.

"I know...Right? Now that he has me, he just takes me for granted.."joked Sirena...


"Shame on you Rico..Taking such a beautiful woman for granted.." he joked...


He passed Jimmy and Angie their orders...


"I didn't think you two would be back in time." he joked.

"Yeah we back..You got my wife's food?" asked Duke..


"Right here man." he said.

"Thank you Chucky..." said Hazel..

"Hey..Where is my food?" I asked Jokingly...


"I only got an order from your wife..."He said....Then he laughed..


"Nahhh counselor...I got your order..."he said..


I laughed..


"Detective Hopkins,  This is for you and your wife.." he said.

 "Thanks man...Just in the nick of time...I'm starving.." said Hop..

"You're always starving.." joked Sharon ,who jumped up on his lap and fed him his sandwich....

Angie and Jimmy were in the corner, kissing passionately...


Chuck put their food to the side..


He smiled..


"So..All you guys are married to each other...huh?" he laughed..

"I guess that makes us unique.." said Carlotta.


"Most married couples would be at each other's throats if they worked together all day and then came home to each other."said Chuck..

"Yeah maybe...but we all have each other and it's so many of us.." laughed Sissy.


"Ms. Sissy, you're the only one who is not married huh?" he asked.


"I am married...but my husband is not a cop or attorney...That makes me the odd woman out." she laughed...

"You married Chuck?" I asked.


"Oh nooooo..Nooo...I almost got married...but uh it didn't work out...But I like you guys...I like that you all are so tight.." he said.




I gave him a healthy tip..




"Thanks Chuck..You're our favorite delivery guy."I said.


"You're my favorite customers." he laughed and left..

"Such a Nice guy.." laughed Carlotta.


IV-

The next day..... My wife, Carlotta, Sirena , Angie and Duke had a bus load of recruits from the police academy and bloodhounds searching the area of the Schuylkill River where so far six bodies had been found for anything, plastic gloves...maybe shell casings...(We found none) anything that might give us a clue as to who we were looking for..

''We have a lot of ground to cover guys." said Carlotta...

"I remember doing this when I was in the academy...You'll never guess who the two detectives were on the case..." said Sirena..

"Who?" asked Angie...

"Danny Ho and Carol Redding." said Sirena..

laughing remembering when she was a recruit....

"Wow that goes way back....When I was in the academy and Rico, Duke and I did this..The Detective was none other than Lt. Eddie Cantrell. He was just Detective Ed Cantrell then..

"Who would guess that one day we'd all be serving under him..?"said Angie..

"I know right?" laughed Carlotta..

"Your hunch was good Top...We found shell casings...and latex gloves..." said Duke..

"Good.. That's something." said Carlotta.

They expanded their search up the Schuylkill River...Meanwhile at headquarters...

Jimmy and Tyriq and several detectives from Auto theft continued to look at plaster casts of all of the tire tracks found at the scenes of Duke and Angie's murders and their own murders and match them to cars and cross reference...It was tedious work..

Sharon lent them the help of some FBI agents and their complex computers to help them track down a possible match...

Meanwhile Hop and some FBI agents were viewing  footage from the clubs all three couples had last been seen in...


It was grueling work....Not as glamourous as what you might see on television.. This was real detective work... Done with brain power and attention to detail...

At the M.E.'s office ,Hazel was examining the bodies of all three female murder victims..She had some interesting findings to share with Sissy and me..


''Wellll...I feel funny saying this...I think the same guy is the killer of all three of these girls.. Judging by the way the vagina was stretched..He had a...He had a..." she said.

"He had a what Hazel.?" asked Sissy..

"A pretty nice sized penis...and pretty big hands too ,judging by the marks on her neck.." said Hazel..

"My lawd!" said Sissy...

"Yessss...He must have used latex gloves because there was no prints to be found.." said Hazel..

"That's understandable.. They were in water...What about the car?" I asked.

"Nothing..No DNA, No Prints...The Killer must have worn gloves.." said Hazel.

''Well, the guys are working this hard...They'll come up with something." said Sissy.


V-

At the end of the day , we all met at the bank of the Schuykill River....

"Well, what has the big investigation turned up so far?" I asked.

"Very little that we can go with yet." said my wife Carlotta...

"I was just glad to get out of that damn office...My eyes were killing me.. Looking at numbers and registrations.."

said Tyriq.

"It's grueling, but it's gonna pay off soon."said Jimmy.

"Man, cops on TV don't do all of this." laughed Hop.

''Sure don't partner....My feet hurt.." said Sirena.

"I knew it was something about Homicide that I didn't miss...This..the detailed investigation..."laughed Angie.

''That's why we are considered the elite of Detectives...Murder Police...We use our brains...more than guns..."laughed Duke..

"Yes.. Well let's hope for a little luck so we can catch this guy...I have more Christmas shopping to do." laughed Sissy.

I laughed and looked out at the muddy waters...

I wondered silently if there were other body's beneath these waters...bodies that hadn't washed up on the shore yet...


(TO BE CONTINUED)