A Chill Down The Spine

PHILADELPHIA ,2042


The Astro port was busy this afternoon.....There were close to 200 hundred people staring and being held back by police as I arrived...

"I'm Detective Nate Nellis...Homicide...."I said and showed a uniformed officer my electronic badge...


"Right over there detective" he said...

What a way to start the New Year....I saw my sister in law, Forensic Investigator, Dr. Monique Talbert kneeling down and examining the body of a security guard....who was lying face up...Lifeless eyes staring at the sky....


I looked just a few feet from her and I saw my wife....and partner and Monique Talbert's identical twin sister...Detective Monica Talbert-Nellis..

She was looking at the body of a young female...about our age...lying facedown...in a pool of blood...


Crime Scene Investigators were snapping photos of both bodies and looking for shells....


''We found one over here detective." said a uniformed officer.


"Bag it and tag it." said Monica..

I looked at Monica somberly....


"Double Huh?"  I said softly....


It was quite obvious we were looking at a double homicide...It's just that I couldn't think of anything else to say...

Monica wasn't smiling, she looked very sad...Never the less ,she walked over to me and gave me a nice sloppy ,wet kiss..

"Hey baby...yeah...we got a double...This young girl had just got off the transport space shuttle from Luna City..." said Monica...

I looked at the security guard....


"What's his story?" I asked..

"He worked here...Security....I think he may have walked up on her being murdered...and was killed to stop him from talking or interfering.."said Monica...

"Hi Nate."said Monique..

"Hey Sis.." I said.

"He took two to the chest,...one punctured his heart..the other punctured his lung...He didn't have much of a chance..." said Monique, also looking sad...

''She took two to the back of the head...She was killed instantly...Considering that nobody claims they heard a thing.. I'm thinking the killer used a silencer...This was cold and professional...When he realized this poor guy saw him..He took him out too..He probably wasn't expecting him.."said Monica.

''Who is she?" I asked..

"Her name is Barbara Payton....She lives in Luna City...Her ID was in her purse...along with credit cards and debit cards and about 2G's in cash....and an iphone...This wasn't robbery... She has no sheet on her...She had a round trip ticket back to the moon in her purse..." said Monica.

"We have to find next of kin or somebody that can tell us what she was doing here.." I said.

"Here comes the Lieutenant.." said Monica..

"Whoaaaa...what do we have here? A Double??? Damn!" he said.

"Yes...The security guard may have witnessed it...Which is why he was killed.."said Monique..

Lt. Cotton put a red rose on her dress's lapel and kissed her...

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmm damn girl...your lips feel good." he moaned almost..

"Frankie...cool it...We are at a crime scene..." whispered Monique..

"Yeah, you're right..." he said.

"This killer was soo cold...So precise..."said Monica.

"He was paid to do a job and he or whoever did it well." I said matter of factly...

"Yeah? Well I'm going to do my job and bring his or whoever's ass in...." said Monica...  I had never before heard her sound so serious, so determined.  Ever since I'd known her and been partnered with her..We'd seen hundreds of dead bodies, cracked hundreds of homicides...I didn't understand why she was so emotional over this one.

I took a few witness statements and surveyed the area...


"There's a camera.  up here...Our killer made his first mistake...He or whoever got caught on the camera.. probably got caught on the camera.." I said again..

"I'm sorry bae...I'm being very cold...You and I have seen hundreds of homicides...and before I even met you,  I saw even more...it's just that...This one ..This one seems so cold, so cruel....And the fact that it's a double, that an innocent man got killed too just sends a chill down my spine." said Monica.

"Yeah, this is a little colder than most." I said.

"Don't mind me bae........Every once in awhile...some of these killings just get to me."said Monica.

" You're human...It's only natural." was all I could say...

Monica smiled and kissed me softly again...


"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm,You understand me sooo well bae." she said...

"We can release the body." said Monica..

"Okay guys...release the bodies..." said Monique...

The bodies were put in the  eerie new white body bags the city was using and zipped up and put on stretchers and loaded into a medical examiner's van and carted away...I liked the old drab green body bags better.

"I'll know more when I get them both to the morgue." said Monique...

"I'll know more when I get a look at that film footage." I said.


All so routine...and yet this afternoon...Something was definitely different....


II-

Monica was at first quiet as we flew back to headquarters....I didn't know what to make of her silence...and I knew she knew how I was feeling..She could read my mind and feel my emotions...A power she had that was both a blessing and a curse.. She told me..

As I landed my flying car on the roof, She slowly unzippered my trousers...She softly fondled me.....


"Ummmmmm, you are always ready....Aren't you?" she said.

She wasn't smiling....but she was right...Just a touch from her and I was ready....

I pulled her turtle neck up and marveled at her bra...

I kissed around it...For the first time, she smiled..She giggled..

"Nate, that tickles.." she laughed..

Soon we were kissing passionately and moaning...


"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu we shouldn't be doing this....Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh.." she moaned..


"You started it." I said as I reached up under her skirt and slid her panties down..


"I did...I've got to stop that...ouuu." she moaned as I entered her slowly...

"Ouuuuuu baby you feel sooo good." I moaned..

''So do you bae." she cooed in my ear ....

She licked my neck as I plunged deeper into her warm and wet center....


"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuu Nate...Nate...you've got the door open....ummmmm, we are wide open up here.." she moaned..


"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..I know...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.." I moaned...


but neither of us stopped kissing or making love...



I'm sure glad no one was on that roof at the time...They would have gotten a sight, considering the door to my flying car was open and we were on the front seat ,making sweet love..

An hour and a half went by...We were in the front seat of my flying car making love....It felt good, but we knew we had a job to do...We hoped nobody missed us or was looking for us...

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmm Nate, we gotta get to work bae.." cooed Monica in my ear...She had come at least twice...I was trying to come once...

She sucked on my neck and blew softly in my ear...Which did it for me..It was all I could take..


I came quickly....so did Monica....We laughed....as we hugged each other and continued kissing for a few minutes.....both of our bodies trembling...

"Partner, we gotta stop all of this P.D.A." she laughed..as she fixed her clothes...

"I know...It's downright unprofessional." I laughed.. fixing my clothes too..She wiped her lipstick off of my face...and she put on more lipstick... and fixed her hair..

"Yes, Downright!" she laughed. We laughed as we exited the rooftop and walked downstairs to Headquarters...


III-

Detective Kylie White seemed to be in a cheery mood when we entered the Squad Room..

Monica scanned her mind...Wally had been in the squadroom while we were out...They had had sex...They had talked.. Kylie felt good.. Monica would tell me later that she felt that Wally was just stringing Kylie along for sex sometimes...and would never marry her...I said.. All things in time...

Since I didn't know any of this at the moment...I was more interested in our case...

Kylie had the information we needed..


"Your victim is 27 year old Barbara Payton...She's from Luna City...She was on her way here to see somebody.. We find that out, we find out maybe why she was killed.." said Kylie...

"Hmmm, Maybe we should call the Luna City Police, talk to the chief of detectives up there.." said Monica.

"You do that Mo-Mo.. As you know...Another one of my exes is a Detective on that force..." said Kylie..

"By that, you mean Detective Carlos Wallace..." said Monica.

Monica and I had worked with Detective Carlos Wallace on our very first case and he had come here to help us out on another case...


He and Kylie had been hot and heavy and then he discovered he had gotten a young woman pregnant and that ended that...She wound up with my ex-partner...Wally Becker..

"Yeah...I don't want to stir that nest...." said Kylie.

An Hour or so later...I returned to the dayroom...I had done a little digging into this woman's past...Monica and Kylie were still there talking...Monica saw me and motioned me over...I just smiled and looked at the information we had on this girl...

Born in Chicago....Educated in Chicago Public Schools, Attended the University of Chicago...BA. in Public Administration...MBA from PENN here in Philadelphia.. Served as Assistant Director of Luna Galactic Transportation...The company that manufactured and owned most of the Transport Shuttles that transported people from the Earth to the Moon...


No police record.....


I made a few calls also...

"Our girl had a sterling work record...but according to a few people close to her I talked to.. about three months ago, She began acting strangely...Like something was bothering her...Like she was afraid....But she wouldn't tell anybody what she was afraid of.." I said.

"She have any siblings?" asked Monica...

"Yeah...A Brother...Wayne ,He was an investigator for the Luna Galactic Transportation Company....And get this...He was found in the lobby of the Transport Station on the Moon, about a month ago...Two shots to the head.. She resigned her position shortly after that and dropped out of sight....but somebody found her.."I said.

"Yeah...Somebody did..This is a little deeper than here...This investigation may spread to the moon." said Monica..

"The Answer is no Mo-Mo" said Lt. Cotton , smiling..."I just authorized a trip to the bottom of the damn ocean for you and your hubby last month...Now you want to go to the moon?" he said.

"Lieutenant...We have a double murder and one of the people murdered was a citizen of our fair city....He was 28 years old...Charles Stafford....He had a wife and a small child..He had only been working there three months and now he's dead." said Monica.

"I tell you what....The three of you...Go down to that Astro Port, Check all of the cameras......Take as many men as you need.....Get me the book on all of the passengers in and out that day....If you don't get any leads here on Earth...Within this city....I'll authorize a trip to the moon." said Lieutenant Cotton.

"I'll get on the Astroport Cameras, The Business and ATM Cameras and the Street and Traffic cameras..."said Kylie.

Lieutenant Cotton looked at Monica and I..

"Don't Just stand there...Get back out to that port.." he said.


IV-

"Bae, I'm sorry." said Monica...a little while later...

"Sorry? Sorry About What? " I asked.

"Well...We are here....In this port." she said..

''Ahhh, it's the job... We are Detectives...it's what we do." I said....

"Yeah, but I was trying to get me and you a trip to the moon..." she said..

"Hey Bae...After this case...You and I both have some vacation time coming..we got a nice little nest egg in the bank...and well, you can't take it with you..Let's go to the moon...You and me...It won't be work...Just you and me..In a hotel...and on the town..." I said.

''Awwww bae....you are so sweet..." she said and we kissed a little bit more..

We got the lists of all of the passengers who arrived from Luna City and who departed...

It was pain staking work and for the next 48 hours...Monica and I made calls, visited those we could and did complete work ups and interviews on everyone on those pesky lists and we came up with nothing...

Kylie got a partial picture of who our killer might be...but not enough to make an identification or put it in facial recognition..She followed him to an Uber....and got the plate number...

Monica and I ran it down, but the passenger paid in cash and he was let off in the center of the city...He could be anywhere...and the cab had been washed down thoroughly....

Monica and I and a squad of policemen fanned out and checked the Bus Stations, Train Stations and the Aqua Port..

Another 24 hours went by and we still had a big fat zero...

What we did know is that our killer was a professional ..Hadn't left the city or if he had...he was long gone by now...and unidentified..

"I think we need to concentrate on who ordered this and why." said Monica.

"It's as good as anything ,considering we've been investigating this crime for two days ,almost three now Mo-Mo and we have nothing.."I said..

"It's going on three days now...Let's go home partner..." said Monica.

"It would have been nice.." I said.

"What?" said Monica.

"Me and You going to the moon again, like we did on our very first case....On the departments dime." I said.

Monica smiled as I put my arm around her...

"Yeah..I gave it a good try.." she said.


IV-

We went home and had just got comfortable when our doorbell rang...

"Who could that be?" asked Monica ,who walked to the door..

"Hey Sis"I said....It was Monique..

"So glad I got to you two before you all uh went to bed.." she said.

"What's up?" asked Monica..

"I found this zip drive taped to the inside waistband of these panties...

She said and placed them both on our couch....

"I take it our dead girl was wearing these? she has good tastes" I said.

"Yes and she had this zip drive hidden on her....I think our killer was looking for this..And if he didn't find it...." said Monique.. who smiled at my last remark.

"Chances are..He's still in town ,looking for this." said Monica.

"Which means he may come to us." I said.

That would make this case a lot easier to crack...We've followed a lot of leads that have lead us to a dead end...

"I didn't look at it...because I figured you guys would want to.."said Monique..

"You find anything else on the body?" I asked.

"No..No DNA or fingerprints....No semen....and judging from the fact that she got hit twice in the back of the head...She never saw her killer...never saw it coming...There were no witnesses to the actual shooting except our security guard and he won't be telling us anything." said Monique...

Now it was my turn to feel a chill down the spine!

(TO BE CONTINUED)