Play Nice

A Hot Summer Night in the city....A Night with a full moon....Temperature near 100 degrees....Hot...A Perfect night..In Philadelphia at least , for a homicide...

My Name is Keith Wallace, I'm an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia..I prosecute Homicides, Major Crimes...Drug Cartels, Crime Syndicates...the like....I work with the Detectives of the Criminal Investigation Division...Like I said..We take down major guys....

So why was I called to this very tony high rise..which was better air conditioned than my own house on a god forsaken humid night like tonight??  Keep reading..you'd soon see...


The first person I saw when I entered the apartment room was Lt. Sissy Van Buren, my good friend and the leader of the C.I.D.

She shrugged...

"I'm sorry Keith, but this is a big one.." she said...

I saw an African-American man, who looked as if he was in his mid to late thirties lying face down in a pool of blood on the floor...My wife, Detective Carlotta Rodiguez-Wallace and her partner, Detective Tyriq Pile and Dr. Hazel Baylor, the Coroner and forensic investigator were kneeled over the body...They had on latex gloves..

"The Body is still a bit warm Hazel, how long would you say he's been dead?" asked Carlotta..

"Rough Estimate, two hours..." said Hazel..

"Roll him over...Let me get his prints and run em." said Tyriq...

Photographers were taking photos and CSI people were already dusting for prints and DNA....

Jimmy, Detective James Barlow....My wife's other partner walked in the room....

"Nobody heard anything...I got uni's questioning everybody on this floor and the floor above and the one below it..." he said...

I looked at Sissy...

''Who is he?"  I asked..

"Him? I don't know....What you should be asking is who's apartment is this?" she said...

"Okay, it's not his, I take it..." I said.... A Black man living in this neighborhood did seem a rarity...but not impossible...

My wife walked over to us and kissed me in the lips softly...

"Ummmmmmmmmmmm Honey Bunny, you smell good....This is the apartment of Margot Scott....Daughter of Deputy of Operations, Jim Scott..." she informed me...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" I said....He was kind of like , Their Boss!  This was indeed a big case...And I could see him and the Mayor wanting action on this fast....but this was some strange guy found dead in here..Where was she?

"I know your next question...Where is she? we haven't got a clue...but from the looks of this place...there was a terrific struggle and our boy here got the worst of it."said Tyriq..

He was clad only in his boxer shorts and he had a condom on...

"Considering he's in his undies and I found his clothes neatly hung up in the closet.....and a second toothbrush in the bathroom and a man's bathrobe...I'm going to assume that they were more than just casual acquaintances.."said Jimmy...

Sissy,Carlotta and Hazel looked at each other and smiled...

II-

 Just then, we got another visitor, Two visitors to be exact...


"Oh My God...Oh My God..." said the man...He was James Scott, Deputy of Operations...

"It's okay Jim...It's Okay...I'm right here.." came the voice of our favorite and I'm being sarcastic , suck up and all around nice guy, again I'm being sarcastic, Lt. Art Tragg....

"It's not your daughter....She was nowhere to be found...It's this man here....Do you know him?" asked Sissy...

"Sissy ,how insensitive, what kind of a question is that to ask the man at a time like this...His daughter has been murdered?" said Lt. Tragg...

"There is no proof of that Lt. Tragg...The only person in this apartment period is this man...Deputy Scott's daughter is not here." said Sissy..

"I ran his prints....No sheet...not in our system , I just called Sharon

(That would be FBI Deputy Special Agent in charge, Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins, our good friend)

And she ran his prints through VICAP, Nothing..."said Tyriq..

"He's no criminal...His name is Benny...Benjamin Jefferson...He's an engineer..He was Margot's fiance..." said the Deputy of Operations..

Sissy and I both looked at each other...We didn't know the Deputy of Operations well,but we both found it eye opening that his daughter would be dating and engaged to an African-American Man...

''Sir, would you happen to know his address? Did he live here?  " asked Carlotta...

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa..Detective,It's your job to find that information out..What are you doing asking the Deputy of Operations a question like that?" asked Lt. Tragg..

"This is his daughter's apartment...He just IDed our victim....If he knows this information and we can get it faster ,why shouldn't I ask him?" said Carlotta, who was as fearless as any detective I've ever known...

"She's absolutely right Arty...Now button it, Okay?   Yes Detective...I have his address and his next of kin...I'll provide that for you....Hell of a nice kid...I can't imagine why anyone would want to hurt him....You say my daughter wasn't here?" he asked..

"No sir and no one we've asked heard or saw anything..."said Jimmy...

"You guys got anybody on street cams?" asked Lt. Tragg...

"Got it covered." said Detective Tony Hopkins , who entered the room with his partner and Tyriq's wife, Detective Sirena Pile..

"We've got a team on the Street Cam, the ATM Cams and all of the business cams in a 15 block radius as well as the traffic cams, hoping we pick up something..." said Sirena...

 Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor and his partner, Detective Angie Belton Barlow, Jimmy's wife walked in...

"I got unis searching dumpsters and questioning local businesses and residences in that same radius..."said Duke..

"According to people I interviewed sir, Your daughter and this man...our victim were seen coming in at around nine o'clock... He left around nine thirty ,walked down the street to the local 7/11, then came back 15 minutes later....That would be around 9:45....Last time either of them were seen by anybody..."said Angie..

"So my daughter was here? You don't...You don't think she did this do you?" he asked..

''Sir we don't know what to think...This man is dead...She's not here....We just don't know at this point.."said Sissy...

"You don't know, you don't know...Sir,let me take over this investigation...I'll get to the bottom of this..." said Lt. Tragg...

"Artie, they were at the scene first....Listen, why don't you work together?  Come on, Play nice guys...Work together.." he said..

I grimaced...but I saw a collective look of horror on the faces of Duke, Angie, Jimmy,Tyriq and even my wife Carlotta...

I had taken, Tyriq, Jimmy and Carlotta from Lt. Tragg , when I started staffing this unit and given them to Sissy, And they were all extremely grateful....Duke and Angie didn't work for him, but they both knew of him and his high handed, grandstanding and showboating ways...

Only Sirena and Hop, had never had the "pleasure"of working under him..

It was getting late...

we were all bone tired....

"Can I remove the body? We've finished processing the room.."said Hazel...

''Yeah, go ahead..remove the body."said Tyriq, who was the primary...

"Sirena, Hop..Stay on those teams...Triangulate those cameras with the FBI..maybe we'll pull a car, a license plate or a person...."said Tyriq..

''Yes Dear."laughed Sirena...She knew how much he despised Lt. Tragg..

''We on it Rico.."said Hop..

"Ang, before we go...let's check out the back of this building...The driveway.."said Duke..

"I'll grab some unis...Hazel, I'll need a few of your CSI people." said Angie..

"I'll grab a few.." she said..

Carlotta found a smartphone...She showed it to the Deputy of operations...

"That's my daughter's phone.." he said..

''No girl is going anywhere without her phone  or her purse.."said Carlotta, who picked up both...She looked in the closet...She felt and smelled the clothes...

"There are a lot of clothes in here.."she observed...

"You think my daughter has met some foul play?" he asked....

''Sir, that's a possibility..but I don't know that right now.."said Carlotta.

''Did you check the phone for last calls?" said Lt. Tragg ,who went to snatch the phone from Carlotta, who pulled it back...

''Sir, this phone is evidence...You don't have on any latex gloves, you could contaminate our evidence..."said Carlotta..

"Detective,I was doing this job when some horny guy was trying to get to first base with you in a car.." snarled Lt. Tragg..

"ARTY! I SAID PLAY NICE!!! Now that wasn't a very nice thing to say...In fact, it was downright sexist,Apologize to Detective Wallace...THAT WASN'T A REQUEST!" said Deputy Of Operations Scott..

"I'm....I'm Sorry...I meant no disrespect Detective...You are absolutely correct..."said Lt. Tragg...

III-

We met Duke and Angie outside of the Apartment complex ,in the driveway...

"The cameras in the driveway were disconnected...and this door was jimmied...It's supposed to be locked.."said Duke..

"Siss, where is Tragg and Deputy Scott?" asked Angie..

''They're out front with the body." said Sissy..

The body was being transported to the Morgue..Deputy Scott was nice enough to call the next of kin of the deceased for us..

"I didn't want to get him upset, but my gut tells me that Margot Scott has been kidnapped...The smartphone left behind, the purse...Carlotta's right..No woman goes anywhere without her phone and her purse..."

"Expect to hear something from the kidnapper soon."I said..

"God...We've got to work with Tragg on this...This is going to be a real humdinger..."said Sissy....

"If ever I wanted to go to Copland (Our secret forwarding location)and be away from the brass, Here is the time.."said Carlotta.

"Guys...We'll just have to do the best we can...Play nice...Like the Deputy of Operations said.."I said with a smile..

''Easy for you to say." said Jimmy...

It was a hot and humid night..Another night..Another homicide!

(TO BE CONTINUED)