A Fatal After thought

Monica and I got on the subway train...We sat in the back.....

"It was nice of your friend to let us use the training car..." said Monica..

"He owed me a favor...When I was a young detective in Auto Theft....His car got stolen...I not only found the car, but arrested the perp....He was very grateful..."I said...

"Awww, you're a good guy like that." said Monica..

At the next stop, Kylie got on...as planned..

"Hey guys....I bought you coffee and donuts.." she said as she got on and sat with us...

"Awwwwwwwwww thank you girl!" said Monica....

"Kylie...You sure you weren't followed?" I asked.

"Oh of course I was... I took three cabs before I lost the guy following me and then doubled back and caught the subway." she laughed...

"How about you guys?" she asked.

"Oh you know it...He had two cars that kept driving by the house all night.....They were the decoy....The real car was a few blocks down the street..I worked a case with this guy...I know how he thinks..Oh and he had our domicile bugged and my sister's...I'm pretty sure he's cloned our smartphones and laptops too."said Monica..

"Damn...So what did you do?" asked Kylie.

"I went back to Police Headquarters and copied everything we have on file regarding this case and replaced our original file with a dummy file...The original file is locked up in evidence..Everything pertaining to this case, interveiws, crime scene photos,forensic reports...financial reports on the account in the Caymen Islands and the Hotel and Bar where the illegals are and surveilience reports on the four girls are on these three Zip Drives." I said ,passing one to Kylie and Monica and keeping one for myself.

Monica then said to Kylie..

"He's probably cloned our department Laptops too, so we had the hard drive cleaned....and Nate and I bought three new Laptops...and we have burner phones...You contact us with this phone and this phone only." said Monica.

Kylie frowned..

"If this case wasn't complicated enough as it is...We got your pain in the ass ex, complicating it more.."said Kylie..

"I know...It would be a big feather in his cap to crack a case like this...I played with the idea of working with him...but he'd only want to work with me...He'd freeze you and Nate out...Or he'd freeze Nate out...He might include you Kylie.." said Monica..

"Nothin doin...Nate is on our team..." said Kylie, smiling..

I loved the vote of confidence..

"When we have something of substance..We'll meet on this subway train...or the trolley....We can lock our gear in a train locker at the end of the line..." I said.

II-

And somewhere in the City...FBI special Agent Ed Lawlor was furious as he screamed at his agents..

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LOST THEM?   THREE COPS....CITY COPS!!! HOW DID YOU LOSE ALL THREE?" he bellowed..

"They know we are lookin at em...Why don't you just accept the fact that the girl has moved on and stop wasting our time with this nonsense..?" said one agent..

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" screamed Ed Lawlor..

"I'm done with this...If you want to report me to the SAC in charge, go ahead...But this aint police work...This is light weight stalkin....because you can't get over the fact that the girl has moved on, gotten married..." said the agent...

Another agent spoke up...

"Yeah...You had me monitoring the sister.....What a waste...All night long, All I heard was the bed squeaking, the headboard slammin against the wall and the sister and the Lieutenant moaning and groaning ...." he said.

"And I'm thinkin...I should be in a room with a broad instead of this crazy crap..." he snarled..

"Her sister, Monique has got that Lieutenant's nose so wide open,

he doesn't know if he's coming or going.." snarled Ed Lawlor..

and then he thought...

"Wait a minute...That's it... He doesn't want to be accused of favoritism or obstructing a federal investigation because he's sleeping with his lead detective's sister...He'll comply once I present that to him...

To his surprise...Lieutenant Cotton offered him no resistance at all...He presented him with the dummy file that I left for him...

"That's more like it..." he said...

"I'd like to meet with the lead detective to discuss this..." he said.

"Detective Monica Nellis ?" said Lt. Cotton...

"Yes...I don't need to speak to her team...But the two of us can work this case ..."

" Her husband is actually the primary...I was kidding and he doesn't want to work with you.."said Lt. Cotton..

" You're the Lieutenant...Order him to comply..." he snapped...

"I don't cut the legs of my detectives like that..."said Lt. Cotton.

"Or your uh brother in law." said Ed Lawlor..

"He's not my brother in law yet and like I said...I don't cut the legs of my detectives....Around here..they are all equal and subject to my directives...Until the District Attorney or the First Attorney tells me this is a federal matter...Detective Nate Nellis is the primary....Now I've shared the file with you...I'm not required to share anything else...and besides...You and I both know this is really about Monica...Nothing else...Get over it...She's married....Move on!" said Lt. Cotton....

"You haven't heard the last of this Frankie..." said Ed Lawlor..

"I sure wish I had." sighed Lt. Cotton...

Monique walked out...she put her arms around Lt. Cotton..

"Wow!  My sister really put something on him....He's crazy!" she said.

"Yeah,I know...This case is complicated enough without Him nosing around to complicate things further..I can only stall him for so long." said Lt. Cotton.

III-

We met in the Diner down the street from the squadroom , some hours later...

"It's been a long day...but somewhat productive....I did another cross reference and I found out something interesting.."said Monica.

"What is that?" I asked..

"All four of our victims had the same wedding planner.." said Monica..

"Really?" I said.

"Her name is Helena Rubenstein...." said Monica...

"Helena Rubenstein.....Helena Rubenstein....Helen Robinson..." I said.

Monica gave me a soft kiss..

"Ummmmmmm you are such a smart guyyy...Yes....Helena Rubenstein is easily Helen Robinson...We need to look into her ." said Monica...

Kylie walked in just then....

"Guys...I got something....An Address for our Attorney...Henrique Swanson..." she said.

"Let's jump on this, before this guy becomes an after thought..." I said..

"We'll pop him for Wire Fraud first and then work our way around slowly to the murders, the prostitution and the other stuff.."said  Monica.

IV-

We found the condo where the Attorney and I believe , Co-architect of this conspiracy lived...

"That's his car parked across the street..So I know he's in.." said Kylie..

"If he lives in a place like this...Why would he park his car on the street...As a resident ,he can park in their indoor lot.." said Monica..

"You know a lot about this." I joked..

''Ex-boyfriend lived in this spot...And no...I'm not talking about Eddie Lawlor.." said Monica..

"Come on, let's go up...Maybe we don't need back up..." I said.

We charged up to his floor and knocked on his door...It was unlocked..

We pulled our glocks and charged in, only to find...

Henrique Swanson..Real name...Andre Swanson, Attorney....Hanging from the ceiling fan...

"Oh My God, our first real lead and it's gone..." said Monica..

Within the hour...Scores of police and CSI personell converged on the condo......

"He's been dead for at least 12 hours sis...He was tortured too...All of his fingers broken and there were cigarette burns on the body....then his neck was broken and he was strung up..." said Monique.

"Yikes!" said Kylie..

"If he was tortured, somebody was trying to find out something...I'm guessing they didn't find out what they wanted to know..Here comes Lt. Cotton." said Monica...

"He looks grimm."I said.

"Guys ,I held off as long as I could...The FBI hit the Bar and the Hotel...They arrested 25 Russian and East European girls and their Johns....Total of 50 people...They arrested the madam, the pimp and the Bar owner too!...This was hours ago....They got nothing...The only name they came up with was Mr. Swanson...The Attorney there....Henrique Swanson, better known as , according to his law license and birth certificate as Andre Henry Swanson....." said Lt. Cotton.

"Damn it!  Now  they'll change up....Now they know we are looking..." said  Monica..

I pulled out my tablet...

"Damn it...Helen Robinson's account in the Caymen Islands? It's closed...Gone." I said..

"They moved the money.." said Lt. Cotton..

"So we are back where we started...At square one..." said Kylie..

"Maybe Not...we still have one hand to play...Helen Robinson..." I said.

"And just who is Helen Robinson? Is she the brains behind this?" asked FBI Special Agent Ed Lawlor..

"You couldn't butt out, Could you Eddie?? You couldn't leave it alone could you , just had to be the hero...We 'd been watching that bar and that Hotel for a week , we had a team on it..We didn't want to hit it until we got more information.."said Monica..

"Information? Your guys had more than enough...I, I mean the FBI broke up a major white Slavery ring...We got the girls, the Johns, The pimp, the bartender and the books and they all lead to this cool cat here...Andre Swanson, Crooked lawyer.." He laughed..

"You jackass....We knew about Swanson too, but he's not the brains, He's not the boss....There was somebody above him...Somebody he answers to..Proof of that is the fact that somebody had him shut up to keep him from telling...And also, thanks to you...The phony account with millions that was financing the entire thing just vanished into thin air...Whoever is behind this now knows we are looking...They didn't know before...We had the element of surprise in my favor. Now we don't...Whoever is behind this just went underground...We may never find the boss now or our killer." I said....

"Good Night....I'll be calling your SAC and telling him what a bang up job you did.."said a very angry Lt. Cotton to Ed Lawlor...

"Hey this case was above your heads anyway...I -I was trying to move things along..." he said.

''Move things along? Move things along?  For what? For Who? We got four unsolved murders...Well now five..and no killer, and no boss and no money trail....You just stalled a case that might have been moving forward....You never could be a team player Eddie.." said Monica.

"Mo-Mo...Look at the bigger picture.." he pleaded..

"YOU DON'T GET TO CALL ME MO-MO ANYMORE!!! YOU HEAR ME EDDIE! YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH!! GOOD NIGHT!" she said...She was very angry!

I put my arms around Monica.

"Let's go home partner...I'm tired.." she said to me..

Ed Lawlor looked absolutely stunned...

Kylie looked at us..

"Rolling...Tomorrow..." she said. That was our code for Subway...

''Rolling...Let's get breakfast first.."I said.

''What are you guys talking about? Rolling? What is that, some type of uh code word?" asked Ed Lawlor.

No one said a word..We all left him standing there, by himself...

(TO BE CONTINUED)