Woman In A Barrell

It was there as bright as day, floating in the Deleware River...a barrell....Nobody knew where it came from...or how long it had been out there...It was just floating...aimlessly....It looked old...rusty...

The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States. Its watershed drains an area of 14,119 square miles in five U.S. states—New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.  

Rising in two branches in New York state's Catskill Mountains, the river flows 419 miles into Delaware Bay where its waters enter the Atlantic Ocean near Cape May in New Jersey and Cape Henlopen in Delaware. Not including Delaware Bay, the river's length including its two branches is 388 miles. The Delaware River is one of nineteen "Great Waters" recognized by the America's Great Waters Coalition.

 My new hometown, Philadelphia Pa. is a long way from my native New Orleans...Sometimes I miss the Big Easy...but when I do...I look at her...

My wife, Attorney ,Olivia Bennett-Alexander and I get over it...She's the reason I relocated here...I met her some years ago when she was vacationing and I knew I had to see her again...Knew I couldn't be without her..

Me? I'm Donnie Ray Alexander...Former New Orleans Homicide Detective...Now , full time investigator for my wife Olivia and her niece ,Beverly West..

Also an Attorney....

That damn barrel was floating in the river...It hadn't caught anyone's attention yet...but it would and when it did it would draw us into something deeper than any of us imagined..

II-

 

Today, Olivia, Beverly and I were in a Tony little coffee shop talking to the girl's latest client... Sersi,  A Syrian Man, with a green card who was frightened and worried..

"Ms. Olivia...I fight in war...I fight against Al Queda in Gulf War, Side By Side with American Soldiers...They give me Visa after war and tell me "You can come to America...I have been here for 11 years, I start this business...Now they have detained my wife , my son, my daughter and my parents and told them they can not come...They gave up everything Ms. Olivia..They quit their jobs...All their belongings are in their suitcases and they are stuck in the Airport in Damascus..." said Sersi...

"Sersi, my niece and I are doing everything we can to rectify your situation...We have been at Immigration arguing your case ,everyday last week." said Olivia..

"We are scheduled to meet with a federal judge in a few days from now.. We unfortunately have a lunatic for a President...What can we do?" added Beverly...

"Sersi, how close are you to getting your citizenship?" I asked..

''I take test soon...that is ,if I'm not deported..." he said.

"You have no reason to be deported...You have a valid green card....I checked and this is still a Sanctuary City...Which means the police don't help Immigration agents and ICE agents when they come looking for immigrants." said Olivia..

"Besides...you're documented...You're not undocumented..." said Beverly..

''Some of my workers are.." he said.

"Keep that under your hat." I said and smiled..

"I heard the speech you gave at the Airport, with the other lawyers...I was very moved....That's why I called you to help my family..." said Sersi..

Olivia had joined several attorneys at the airport a few weeks ago when people first started being detained and offered her services...as did Beverly..

''Wow! If I had gone to work for the Immigration department, I'd be in the thick of this right now." said Beverly...

"Ever regret not going to work for them? That was a great opportunity." said Olivia..

"Nope...I like working with you, as your partner in this law firm...You've taught me everything I need to know..and besides...working with you guys is so much fun..."said Beverly without hesitation...

"Working with you is a joy too..." said Olivia, smiling at her niece...

Sersi brought us all coffees...

"This is on the house ladies and Mr. Donnie Ray.." he said.

 "Thank You Sersi....I'm going to see if I can contact that Judge this afternoon." said Olivia..

 "Yeah...We have a pretty good argument prepared....We are going to get your family here...Don't worry."said Beverly assuredly...

 "They've been working hard on your behalf..believe me...Trust them." I said.

They had...They had been up all night for the past week studying Immigration law and looking at precedents...

We were all up so late that ,Liv and I went to sleep in the extra room that used to be Liv's when she lived downstairs with Beverly and Beverly either slept on the couch or in her room...

Beverly's boyfriend, Attorney Nelson East came over one night with Pizza and Cokes and we stayed up until three in the morning...

I gathered all the information I could on Sersi and his family...Military service...His family's history in Syria and Iraq....to make sure there were no connections to any terrorist or extremist groups...There weren't...This guy was just a good dude...I hoped the girls could find a judge that would hear them and rule in their favor..

This was so different from a good juicy murder case...but Liv warned me that the law wasn't always exciting...

Little did we know...a murky case was coming our way...Sooner than we thought...

III-

That Barrell, was still floating...It was there as bright as day, floating in the Deleware River...a barrell....Nobody knew where it came from...or how long it had been out there...It was just floating...aimlessly....It looked old...rusty...

The Marine Police went out to check it out....It probably was nothing....right?  If that were the case...I wouldn't be telling this story....

They pulled the barrell on one of their boats and they opened it....To their shock and surprise...There was a mummified body in the barrell in an airtight body bag....

The police brought the body of a young woman to shore... she looked about in her early twenties...And the coroner at the scene and CSI personell asertained that judging by the barrell and the level of decomp though slow...the woman had been dead for about ten years...

"This body is so badly decomposed...We won't get fingerprints...maybe we can ID whoever this is by dental work.." said one of the police...

IV-

Olivia and I were kissing passionately on one of the blocks behind the coffee shop...

"Ummmmmmmmmm husband, we should take this back to our room.." said Olivia..

''You mean we are going to sleep in our bed tonight?" I said.

''Yes...I'm ready, aren't you?" said Olivia.

"I've been ready..." I said...

"Ummmmm, Me tooo!" she said as we continued kissing.

We continued kissing for a few minutes and then we broke our embrace...  Beverly was coming down the street..

"I bought doughnuts...Enough for everybody.." said Beverly...

I kissed her on the cheek and just squeezed her...

She giggled like a school girl...

Olivia smiled...

"Let's go and see if we can find that judge...and then go home and relax..." said Olivia..

V-

While Ironically enough in a bar, just a few blocks from us , another more sinister meeting was going on...

The Attorney, A.J. Miller was having a drink when another man walked in and sat down next to him...He was also an Attorney...

"Hello Jack..." said A.J.

"Hello A.J."

"What are you drinkin?" asked A.J.

"My usual." he said.

"Bartender, Gin and Tonic on the rocks.." said A.J.

"We got problems A.J." said Jack.

"Oh?  We do?" asked A.J.

"It's Ginger!! They found her body today...floating in the River in a can...." said Jack..

"It's been ten years...How did that can just float to the top??..It was sufficiently weighted down..."said A.J.

"Doesn't matter...It floated to the top...What are we gonna do about it?" asked Jack..

"We don't have to do a damn thing..She's probably mummified..."said A.J.

"Man they got DNA, dental records they'll identify her in days...." said Jack..

"So what if they do?" asked A.J.

"They'll know she was..she was murdered..."said Jack..

"So?" asked A.J.

''We were involved with her...One of us is the father of her baby..." said Jack..

"She died long before she gave birth...Won't be no trace of that and besides...Her husband will be the first suspect.." laughed A.J.

"But he didn't kill her..." said Jack..

"So...would you rather them shine a light at us?" asked A.J.

"I didn't kill her either..." said Jack...

"Relax...you got nothin to worry about then..." said A.J.

"Man, I just got remarried....I'm doing pretty good now, I just bought a new car and we just moved into a new townhouse.....I can't afford to have none of this come back on me.." said Jack..

''What are you so nervous about? It won't.." said A.J. Miller.

"I just felt better when she was presumed missing..." said Jack...

"Hey ,let's stop talkin about her okay...just relax...The cops got nothing..."said A.J.

Yup like I said...

That barrell was trouble..more trouble than we knew...


(TO BE CONTINUED)