We raced a few blocks after the explosion, only to see a burnt out loft.....
The fire department was already there going through the rubel...
"My god...I never seen nothin like this before.....This wasn't no fire...Not an ordinary fire.." he said..
"I'm Detective Monica Nellis, Homicide." said Monica..
"I'm Detective Nate Nellis...Homicide.." I said.
"I'm Detective Kylie White, Homicide." said Kylie..
"Homicide...What are you doing here? This is a fire or an explosion..." said the Fireman...
Another fireman yelled...
"We got a body...over here.." he said..
We all walked over to where the body was...
"Poor smuck..He almost escaped...but this place went up like a light.." he said..
Surprisingly the body wasn't as badly burned as the five yesterday...I actually recognized the guy...
"This is Assistant District Attorney James Jefferson.."I said..
"Death Row Jefferson....He's sent more people to death row than any other sitting ADA...."said Monica as she looked at the body...
''Yeah including those two creeps we busted last month...That Hitman, Dyke Blazer and his wealthy boss, Chris Ventura..."said Kylie..
"Yeah...he did send Ventura and Blazer to Death Row..where they currently sit..."I said..
"You know...that voice on the phone told me that yesterday with that Flying Taxi was some kind of dry run...He said today was going to be more pointed and it was going to be a clue.." said Monica..
"Meaning this is about him!! He's the real target.... We need to look into his cases...He's sent close to one hundred men to death row..." said Kylie...
"Yeah, but that's hundreds of guys...This has got to be someone he sent to death row recently...Like who is the last person he sent to death row?" I asked.
Monica was already looking it up on her tablet....
"Chris Ventura.. our case..." she said..
"It makes sense...He's the wealthiest man on death row....but would he have the connections to pull off something like this? We broke up his little conspiracy...."said Kylie..
"Or did we?
"His Lieutenant and lover, Carrie Shaw is dead...She hung herself.....and so is the guy who was supposed to kill Monique...
Trevor Reed is dead too..killed in a prison fight...which leaves only hitman, Dyke Blazer..
Who himself is on death row..."said Monica..
"This means he has someone else...Someone we missed..Someone behind the scenes handling logistics..."I said..
"Well right now, all we have is theories..No proof of anything...This could be some nut..Some lone wolf."said Monica..
II-
Lieutenant Cotton and Dr. Monique Talbert-Cotton drove up just then..He looked at the carnage...
The burned out loft...
"My God...Any Casualties?" he asked..
"Just one....The resident..."I said..
"Oh My God...It's ADA James Jefferson." said Monique..
"Death Row Jeff...We used to call him..." I said.
Monica showed the Lieutenant the smartphone that was now in an evidence bag...
"The call Kylie got and the calls I got all came from this phone..we traced it to a street a few blocks away after I got a call saying that the next time something exploded it was going to be pointed and a clue.."said Monica.
"Burner phone right? , Bleached down...No prints or DNA right?" said Lieutenant Cotton..
"Yupper...Yesterday, the Flying Taxi was a Dry Run, today was on purpose....He said that this murder would be a clue..."said Monica..
''A clue?"said Lt. Cotton.
"Yeah, a clue and then he said he would start making his demands..." I said..
"Demands? What does he want? Who is this guy??"asked Lt. Cotton..
''We don't know...but we think it may have something to do with Chris Ventura..."said Monica.
"Chris Ventura? He and his henchman are safely on death row, awaiting a needle.." said Lt. Cotton..
"Those are the last two people he sent to death row...And Chris Ventura is the only person with the kind of money to finance something like this..."said Kylie.
"We need to check on his visitors at the prison..."I said.
"His lawyer is the only one who has visited him and we can't ask him to divulge what they talked about....but I happen to know he's in the city...We can tail him, see who he talks to..." said Lt. Cotton.
"I'll take the lawyer..." said Kylie..
"Nate, Mo-Mo...talk to the next of kin..." said Lt. cotton, sighing..
As the body was wheeled out and placed in a body bag and hauled off to the Medical Examiner's office.
We all looked at the carnage...
"Nate, you can do what you want...but if I were you..I'd stay out of the air for the next few days or until we can catch this guy..."said Lt. Cotton,looking at the carnage..
''We found the same black and burned metal that was found near the Flying Taxi....This was a drone strike.."said Monique...
"We can't keep this out of the papers, but so long...We've got to get this guy.."said Monica..
"We don't even know where to start...We don't know who we are looking for or where this guy is operating from....He could be operating from anywhere..."I said.
Monica held my hand and rubbed it softly...
"We'll get whoever this is...like we always do.." she said softly....
III-
There wasn't much else we could do...That night we went home...
We were down in Monique's Domicile....Enjoying a couple of Pizza's and some beer and some wine..
Monica leaned her head on my lap and fed me pizza...
I smiled sheepishly at her....
Monique was fixing her hair in the bathroom...
Lt. Cotton, our newest resident was relaxing....nearly going to sleep....We were all trying to chill....It had been a frustrating day...a series of investigations that led nowhere and now a new fresh murder..This one ..we knew was deliberate...To make matters worse...The whole city knew about the drone strike that killed the five people in the Flying Taxi and the drone strike that killed ADA James Jefferson....The Mayor wanted action on this and fast...
Panic was growing in the city.....
Lt. Cotton had assured his bosses that his three best detectives were on it and that we were waiting for an FBI analysis of the drone to come through...
We had all been on edge and trying to mellow out...Nobody was talking, we were just eating pizza, drinking wine or beer and relaxing quietly when Monica's phone rang again...
It was a protected number...
Monica got a look of pure horror and said-
"It's...It's ..It's him..." she said..
I jumped up...We had no way to trace it...Not from here...
"Go on honey...answer it..Put him on speaker phone.." I said.
"Yeah put that bastard on speaker phone.."said Lt. Cotton..
"Detective Monica Nellis...Homicide!" she said..
"DID YOU GET MY CLUE TODAY?" came the voice...
"You killed ADA James Jefferson...blew his loft to smithereens..." said Monica..
"I sure did....Do you know why?" came the voice..
"He's sent more men to death row than any other ADA right now...in particular Christopher Ventura.." said Monica.
"BINGO!!! DING DING DING DING!!! YOU MY DEAR ARE CORRECT!!!NO WONDER YOU AND YOUR HUSBAND BUSTED UP HIS CONSPIRACY AND PUT HIM IN JAIL!!!"
"What do you want?" asked Monica..
"I want him released from Death Row.."came the voice..
"Look, we are just detectives, we catch criminals...We have nothing to do with sentencing.."said Monica.
"Oh I know that and Mr. Ventura bares you and your husband no ill will, he understands that you two are just murder police and you were doing your job...He places the blame for his incarceration on the ineptness of Carrie Shaw..Fortunately, she will no longer trouble him, nor will that silly little hitman she hired...You know,the one that was supposed to kill your sister..." came the voice..
"Wait a minute...Her death wasn't a suicide?? Trevor wasn't just randomly stabbed in a prison gang fight?" said Monica..
"You are a smart one...Now you understand how things are coming down...I don't accept failure.....When you have a lot of money to throw around...Say to put on someone's books..It buys you a lot of good will.."came the voice..
"We can't get Chris Ventura off of Death Row!" I butted in..
"Mrs. Nellis, Have you got me on speaker phone? Heh heh Heh....And was that the other half of your twosome, your husband???To answer you Mr. Nellis...Yes you can and you will....And since you're not convinced...Tomorrow look for another example of why you'll do just as I ask....It's going to get worse...Good night folks...Sleep tight tonight...because tomorrow....You're gonna get a real BANG out of my next demonstration...HeH Heh heh heheh heh...."
"Arrogant Bragging bastard...NATE, MO-MO...WHEN YOU DO CATCH UP WITH HIM...NO TRIAL, NO ARREST...PUT HIM DOWN!!!! THAT'S AN ORDER!" growled an extremely angry Lt. Cotton..
"Frankie!" said Monique.
Lt. Cotton took three deep breaths...
"I'm sorry...I didn't mean that....I just thought we were done with Chris Ventura.." he said.
''So did I.." I said.
"He's responsible for 8 murders and if you include both of his wives...That makes ten...He's a monster.."said Monica..
"Well we've got to find his Pit Bull and put a leash on him..." said Lt. Cotton..
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