Watery Graves

It was a bizzarre discovery....I now wondered how long it would have taken us to discover it, or if anyone would have ever discovered this....

Five Bodies in plastic , air tight body bags...weighted down by cement and dropped into the water under the bridge...

Monique ordered her staff members to cut open the bags.....

Monica looked at me...

"Well partner....Our search for Polly Hamilton has ended....." she said..

"Wow,"was all I could say...Dead for nearly three weeks , She was wearing the same clothes she had last been seen in and her cell phone was still attached to her shorts....dry as a bone...and still working...

"Rigor has set in....I doubt if we'll find any DNA or other trace evidence on her....I can tell you the cause of death though....Manual strangulation...." said Monique...

"This second girl is Sharon Gilly, a 24-year-old woman from Camden,New Jersey, who went missing on January 1, 2042 working as an escort.This is the girl Zig was telling us about... She was reported missing  shortly after midnight on New years Day.. She was last seen in the area after she ran from, rather than to a cab that was waiting for her outside a client's house in West Philly." said Monica.

"We need to find that john and track down that cabbie." I said.

Lieutenant Cotton drove up..He saw the two bodies in the body bags lying under the bridge...He saw a third and a fourth being brought up...

He was scratching his head....

"We found Polly Hamilton Lieutenant.....and the girl Zig was telling us about who vanished last month." said Monica as he observed the two bodies..

"They're both very well preserved....They've been down there at least a month...both of them...."he said...Then he put gardenias on Monique, Monica and Kylie..

"Thank you Frankie.." said Monique..who gave him a wet sloppy kiss...

"Ummmm baby that felt good." he said.

Monique giggled.

"Thank You Lieutenant..."said Monica after he placed a Gardenia on her lapel.

"You're going to be my sister in law....I have to take care of you too Mo-Mo." he said. The Gardenia was to protect their noses from the smell of death.

"You always have...Since day one.."said Monica..

"Thanks Boss." said Kylie..

He smiled at Kylie...

"Sweet Kylie.." he said with a tender smile..

I looked at the two new bodies..

"Okay...according to your photos and the description of what she was wearing last...This one here is Mary Barton, 24, of South Philadelphia.. She went missing on July 15, 2041. She had been living in the Northeast and working as an escort through Craigslist. She waited tables and was an exotic dancer/stripper at a number of clubs. On the night she went missing, she met with a client, deposited $900 in her bank account, and attempted to call an old boyfriend but did not get through. Beginning one week after her disappearance, and lasting for five weeks, her teenage sister, Amanda, received a series of "vulgar, mocking and insulting" calls from someone who may have been the killer using her sister's cell phone."I said.

 ''And this one here is Megan Quarterman, 22, also of South Philly, went missing on June 6, 2041, after placing advertisements on Craigslist" as an escort. The day before, she had told her 20-year-old boyfriend that she was going out and would call him later. At the time of her disappearance, she was staying at a motel ,The same one where Bert Cracker was murdered."said Monica.

 "My God..." said Lt. Cotton...

"They all are stiff as boards....Rigor has set in...but they are well preserved otherwise ,considering how long they've been dead and under the water...These body bags are nearly air tight...Not much water got to them....or air for that matter..." said Monique...

"Here comes the fifth body." said Kylie...

The fifth and final body was brought up out of the water...

Monica looked at her files of the missing girls...and looked at the body in the bag....

"Oh My God...This is the girl Zig was telling us about who vanished around Christmas...Who quit working at his spot and never turned up at her new job...This is Amber Lynn Carson, 27, of Brooklyn, New York, She moved here last year and was living in Northeast Philly.. She was a prostitute and a heroin user who went missing on December 22, 2041. On the night she disappeared, she went to meet a stranger who had called her several times and offered $1,500 for her services....and was never seen again.." said Monica.

"And of course we have Polly, your murder suspect, who vanished the same night she killed Bert Crackers.." said Lt. Cotton...

"Was this one strangled too?" I asked..

"No, this one was shot!!... A .22 to the right temple.." said Monique...

"But they're all in these bags and they are all weighted down......the same....I wonder if this was a permanent resting place for these girls...or was the killer planning to come back and retrieve them?" pondered Monica.

"Who knows? Is it even important now?? This is insane....We got a mad man , who's killing hookers...Find this guy Mo-Mo, Nate, Kylie...Find him!!!" said Lt. Cotton..

"That's our job partner!" said Monica..

"We're murder po-leece!" I said. Monica giggled slightly....But the fact that there were five dead young women, all murdered was no laughing matter and thinking of that was sobering for all of us.

The bodies were loaded into ambulances and shipped off to the Medical Examiners Office...

"This case is a little unsettling...I'm so glad my sister isn't working undercover anymore." said Monique..

"Yeah, me too!" I sighed..

"Awwww, you love her as much as I do."said Monique , who hugged me with her warm ,soft and curvy body.....

Having a wife as fine as Mo-Mo and a sister in law as fine as Monique was a jackpot situation...and times like this made me aware of it and thankful..
II-

I didn't know if the gods were smiling on us or not...but we were handed one good clue already...

 ''All five of these girls ,including our now deceased murder suspect,Polly Hamilton had smartphones.. working smartphones and all had one thing in common...On the last day they were seen alive.. They all got a call from this number.." I said showing it to my partner and my wife, Monica Nellis..

"Yes and whoever their last caller was, was feverishly leaving them  calls...Several calls...and even sent texts and offered all of these girls up to $2000.00 to see him...He was desperate almost..." said Monica.

We pinged the number of the phone..

We tracked the phone down and found it in three hours...

"You guys actually found this phone?" asked Kylie...

"It's a burner phone and the call history has been wiped clean...but I think our tech people can still work with it...I doubt that there are any finger prints on it...It smells like bleach. It's all over the news that we found five bodies yesterday...and that they were all hookers ,missing since the summer....No doubt our killer has seen this and ditched his phone.." said Monica.

"Oh well, it was worth a try..." I said. "Let's look at it from another standpoint...These body bags are all manufactured by Lycoming Plastic which is right here in Philly....I'm checking their sales logs now to see who if anybody ordered a large amount of these airtight body bags in the past year...Oh and get this...The cement cinder blocks come from the Whaley Cement company....Which is right across the street from this plant....There is a chance that our killer might work for one of these two companies or live somewhere near there.." I said.

"Oh Mo Mo...there was a call for you , while the two of you were out..." said Kylie..

"Who was it from?" asked Monica...

"Somebody named Tillie." said Kylie..

"That's the Assistant. Manager of the strip club..." said Monica ,who called her back...

"Heyy Tillie.." said Monica..

"Hey Michelle,I-I-I mean Monica...There's a guy....He's been asking for you....more so than the rest....I didn't tell him you were a cop...I just told him that you haven't been around...His name is Johnny...He's been in here a lot...He tends to get over excited with the girls...Cums in his pants a lot...The girls nicknamed him "Wet Johnny" but he has a lot of cash...Throws around a lot of cash....He asked for you....Specifically you...This is the same guy who was bugging me about Polly before she went missin....Polly wouldn't date him...and she hated to dance with him ,because he always got her wet....I'm thinkin this might be your guy.."said Tillie..

"Good...Give him this phone number....I'm about to give you....Tell him I haven't been around, but I can reached there.." said Monica..

"Okay...you be careful girl....But I hope you get this creep! Sharon Gilly and Megan Quarterman were my friends...Polly and I weren't that close...but I didn't wish her dead...Get him detective, make him pay." said Tillie...

"I'll do my best." said Monica.

"You catch a break?" I asked..

"I just might have..." said Monica.

"Lord knows we could use a break in this case..." said Kylie.

III-

The next couple of  days...Detective Kylie White, Mo Mo and I criss crossed the city , running down leads....

Kylie located the cab driver who last saw Sharon Gilly and her client....who said they had a wonderful night together...He told her that he had called a cab for her....The cab driver told her that there was somebody...Somebody in a white car ,sitting across from him that night and that Sharon saw the car and "Freaked out " and ran down the street...The car followed her slowly...He said he never saw her or that car again.....

She alibied both the John and the cabbie...

I scanned Mary Barton's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.. and contacted Craigslist...I checked with the bank...where she had deposited $900.00 last year...The account was still open and except for interest that had accrued...there had been no movement on the account...I checked the number from her sister, Amanda's phone....Her sister said she got mocking calls for the first three weeks after Mary vanished...It was the same number..same burner phone number of whoever called all five of the girls on the last night they were seen alive...

Monica investigated the most hard core of the women, Amber Lynn Carson, 27, of Brooklyn, New York, She moved here last year and was living in Northeast Philly.. She was a prostitute and a heroin user who went missing on December 22, 2041. On the night she disappeared, she went to meet a stranger who had called her several times and offered $1,500 for her services....We knew that this stranger called from the same number that contacted the other girls...but nobody, not the other escorts who knew her and not the dealer who sold to her...Monica found him too knew what they is guy looked like or who he was...But all of them said that she was afraid of whoever it was...

I investigated Megan Quarterman, 22, also of South Philly, who  went missing on June 6, 2041, after placing advertisements on Craigslist" as an escort. The day before, she had told her 20-year-old boyfriend that she was going out and would call him later. At the time of her disappearance, she was staying at a motel ,The same one where Bert Cracker was murdered.



The 20 year old boyfriend was no help at all...He was dead!  His death by an opiate overdose just a few months ago....His brother and close friends say they had no idea that Megan was an escort and that she was going to hotels and motels with men...They just knew she always had cash...

Monica and I went back to the motel...The same place Bert Crackers had been murdered at....We told the Manager that we had found the killer of Bert Crackers and that she too had been murdered...

''Aint that a bitch?"he said, shaking his head...

Monica showed him a photo of Megan Quarterman.....

"You know her?" asked Monica

"Yeah...I remember her...Megs used to dance at the bar down the street....Haven't seen her in a long time..She had a room here...but she only stayed here on certain days..When she brought guys back for the night.." he said...

"She was one of the girls we found with Polly in the water....We found five girls in all." I said.

"Damnnnnnnnn!" he said.

''What do you remember about the last time you saw her?" asked Monica..

"She kept gettin calls from this guy wantin to come back here...He offered her $1500.00 for a night...She told him she wanted $2500.00 he told her okay...She went out to meet this guy, but never came back...That was in ohhh May or June...He picked her up on a white car...A white Impala...They drove off and I never saw her again..." he said.

"You get a look at this guy?" I asked.

"Nahhh, All I can tell you was he was white and was wearing shades...It was dark out..." said the manager..

Monica nodded....Meaning he was telling the truth and we left...

IV-

Lt. Cotton greeted the three of us when we returned to the squadroom...

"Tell me we at least have a suspect? It's been three days and three weeks since your murder suspect Polly vanished...He said"

"No...We got nothin except a phantom in a white car , who kept callin from a burner phone who had a lot of cash to spend..He called all of the girls....that we know...but nobody ever got a good look at him." I said.

"I got a guy who called for my services that has kind of spooked the Asst Manager of the place where I was working undercover..He fits the description of our guy...I'm going back undercover  and see if this is our guy...It's the best lead we've had so far." said Monica..

"And I'm checking out the employees at the plastic company that makes those body bags and the cement company where the cinder blocks was made....Our killer bought from these two companies or he works there." said Kylie..

"Okay...Keep pluggin....These girls have been missin for months...It would be nice to close this case fast....before he kills again, if he hasn't already.....Mo-Mo... take some back up...Grab some plain clothes guys from Vice and let us wire you...This may be the best chance we have to get this freak." said Lt. Cotton.

Monique ,who had been standing in the background looked at her sister..

''Well Sis...come on...I gotta do your hair again..."she said.

"Yeahhhhhhhh, I know..." said Monica.

"I don't like this...I should be with you.." I said.

"You can't bae....I'm taking some good people from Vice...They do this type of sting all the time.. I'll be fine..." she said.

"Be careful." I said.

"That's so cute.. you're worried about me.." she said...and kissed me softly...

I wanted to believe her, but I was still worried.....and would be until we caught this guy.



(CONCLUSION NEXT)