Vanishing Acts

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Sisssy..." moaned Eddie C. in between hot steamy kisses...

"Baby why don't you take the rest of the day off?" he moaned..

"You ask me to do that everytime you come to my office to have lunch with me...You know I can't...Just like you shouldn't.." said Sissy in between more kisses...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...but...but if we keep this up...I-I just might...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.." she moaned in a whisper trying to keep the sound down...Her door was closed and the blinds were drawn shut..

She smiled and eased out of his embrace....

"Whooo stop....Whooo...Tonight after dinner...You run me a hot bath and I promise you...I'll rock your world.."said Sissy...

"Okay babes...I'm gonna hold you to that..." he said and smiled... He sat awhile ,calming himself down...

Sissy fixed her hair and her makeup and straightened out her clothes...

She opened her door, Eddie C. , her husband, let himself out... I was just coming in..I am Assistant District Attorney Keith Wallace...I prosecute Major crimes....Sissy is Lt. Sissy Van Buren of The Criminal Investigation Division of the Philadelphia Police Department..Her unit investigates major crimes and major criminals...

With me was Detective Sgt. Sam Jones of Missing Persons...

An old friend who had worked with us on a big case a few months ago...

"Lieutenant Van Buren." he said with a smile.

 "Hey Sam or should I say Sergeant Sam Jones...Congratulations...You got that promotion.." said Sissy, smiling.." Good Afternoon counselor.." said Sissy to me..

"Hey Lady, where are the troops?" I asked... Meaning the seven great detectives I sent her when we started this unit...My wife being amongst them...

"They're all on the street...They're all looking for three seperate murder suspects in three seperate cases ,non-related who seem to have alluded them...Your wife, Rico and Jimmy have been looking for their suspect for three weeks...

They think they have a lead on his whereabouts today.."said Sissy..

"Yeah I know...She told me.."I said..

"And speaking of missing..That's why I'm here.."said Sam Jones...He knocked on FBI Deputy Special Agent in charge, Sharon Hopkins door..

"Deputy you might want to get in on this.." he said..

Sharon walked out..

"Hey Keith...Heyyyyyyyyyy Sam...Congrats...My husband told me you got that Sergeant's position over in Missing persons...What's on your mind?" she asked..

"JACK STRATTON!" he said..

Upon him saying that my eyes got big..So Did Sissy and so did Sharon...

"What about him?  We've had an open investigation into him for months now...He's dropped off of our radar.." I said..

"He is thought to be a major shot caller...Putting down a series of Jewelry store heists and bank robberies.."said Sissy..

"Not to mention a post office heist that resulted in the murder of a postal office security guard...Which put him in our sites.." said Sharon..

"Yeah well, his estranged wife and grown daughter from a previous relationship both put in missing persons reports on him...He hasn't been seen in six months...He wasn't a fugitive...You guys didn't have an indictment on him...I'm used to looking for runaway teens or straying spouses...I ran this guy through decks....He's heavy duty..."said Sam Jones..

"He had no reason to run...We didn't have anything solid on him....Maybe he just moved his operation somewhere else.."I said..

"That's what I thought...I talked to some underworld cats...who say he owes them money...I talked to some sources, C.I.'s on the street...They said they haven't seen or heard a peep out of him in awhile...But here's the kicker...I wish Sirena was here so she could say this..Here is where it gets cute...He had a girlfriend...They were living together in his expensive and tony condo....She's missing too...I went there, mail is just piling up...Hundreds of messages on his phone, emails loading up on all of his computers and the place looks like he was coming back...but it's been six months..." said Sam Jones..

"Looks like our boy may have met some foul play...I can assign some agents to it...."said Sharon..

"Wow...seems like a whole lot of people are alluding the law lately....Sirena and Hop have a murder suspect who seems to have vanished into thin air too...

They been on this guy for a week and so do Duke and Angie...

They're serving a warrant on a guy who is wanted for a double homicide, as I speak...."said Sissy...

"Hmmm something foul is in the air.." I said..

I didn't know how true that was...

II-

"You sure this is on the up Jimmy....We been on this guy for three weeks now and all we've run into is dead ends." said Detective Tyriq Pile

 as He ,Detective James "Jimmy"Barlow and Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace, My wife approached a street in the Kensington section of Philadelphia..

"My C.I. is solid...Every place he gave us , was a place where Henry Riggins lays his head...He had three girlfriends..He never stayed any one place more than two nights...

"Well we've been to two of them and had a team watching their homes and he hasn't shown up at any of them's homes.."said Carlotta...

"And they've both been calling an emailing him for three weeks and he hasn't returned their calls.."said Tyriq..

"He knows he's hot..wanted for first degree murder and we got him cold...The fool dropped the gun at the scene..and we got him on Street cam footage.." said Jimmy..

Carlotta directed the police tactical squad to take up positions and she went to the door and rang the bell..

A young white girl came to the door...

"Whoa....You guys cops?" she asked..

"I'm Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace..I have a warrant for Henry Riggins arrest...." she said..

"He aint here....I haven't seen him in three weeks..."she said..

''We still need to search "said Jimmy..

Tyriq pushed by her with a squad of policemen..

They searched the upstairs...the downstairs and the basement...

"CLEAR!!!" they yelled..

Jimmy noticed several baggies of Marijuana lying on her coffee table..She gasped..

"I suggest you put those away.." he said..

"We're Murder police...We don't care about that, at least not now...Do you know anywhere else Henry would go?" asked Carlotta....

"Why don't you ask his other girlfriends?  Yeah I know about em....Ask them.." she said..

"We did.."said Carlotta..

"He hangs around the Pizzeria in Fishtown..."she said.

"Mickey's Joint...I know that place.."said Jimmy...

"Well Let's get a move on and close this case...It shoulda been closed two weeks ago." said Tyriq..

III-

Detectives Tony Hopkins and Sirena Pile surrounded a cheap apartment building located on top of a bagel and coffee shop on South Philadelphia..

"This is the spot...He was seen going in here two nights ago....."said Hop...

"The lady in the bagel shop said she saw him go in, but didn't see him leave..." said Sirena.. "Here comes Back up....Three of you guys stay out front...Three of you go around back...The rest, follow me and my partner.." she said.

"Roger that Detective.."They said..

They stormed the stairs...and then made their way down the hallway...

"Bobby....Bobby Singer...open up...Police..We have a warrant for your arrest..." said Hop...

There was silence...

"Knock it down!" said Sirena..

The police knocked the door down and they entered ...They found a sink filled with dishes and water that was now cold..A bed unmade...Clothes on the floor...A pair of jeans on the bed with close to $1500.00 in cash in the pockets...A sig sauer pistol and a .38 smokeless on the dresser as well as his drivers license...An An AK-47 rifle in the closet...

"Damn, this boy didn't play did he?" asked Hop..

"Definitely not...You should see his rap sheet, Armed Robbery, Distribution of Controlled substances, Assault and battery...Two visits upstate...and one Federal visit.."said Sirena..

"And he was still on the street?" asked Hop..

"Go Figure.. Look, here's his car fob..Which means his car isn't far behind..."said Sirena..

Bobby Singer's car was a block down the street...It had a tank full of gas, but was otherwise cold...

"His car appears to be cold, like it hasn't been driven in awhile.." said Hop...

"I'm going to put a team of plain clothes guys on this apartment..Just in case he comes back..."said Sirena.

Bobby Singer was a prime suspect in a murder investigation ,Sirena and Hop were investigating..They had three eyewitnesses and now possibly the murder weapon in the case...They bagged and tagged all three weapons they found and had the place dusted for prints...

III-

And in Northern Liberties...Detective Angela Belton Barlow waited patiently for her partner, Detective Edwin "Duke"Baylor to arrive..

She sat at an outside bar...Several men had bought her drinks...and asked for her phone number..

"Having fun?" asked Duke ,when he arrived...

"Not as much as I could be having if we could close this case and I take a few vacation days on a nice beach..with my husband!"said Angie..

"Yeah, well that other place was a total bust...Our guy wasn't there and nobody said they've seen him in weeks.."said Duke..

"Same here...The super let me in...I found cash on the bed...a drivers license..., even a key fob....I located his car...Car hasn't been driven..It has a flat tire..."said Angie..

''Wow...you really haven't been wasting time...What did I tell you about going in places with no back up huh?" asked Duke..

"Who's gonna harm little ole me?" asked Angie sweetly...

"Ang,I'm serious...This guy is wanted for a double homicide..And I don't want to have to kill him before he gets to court for killing my partner.."said Duke..

She knew that Duke would kill for her...She liked the fact that Duke was always so protective of her...She had once dreamed of being more than just his partner a long time ago when both were single...and they had shared a passionate kiss on the last day they were in the Academy...

They never mentioned that night again...And they worked as partners from then on...He married Hazel, her good friend from High School and She married Jimmy...She was happy, and she was sure he was too! but every now and then ,she thought about what might have been...She wondered if he ever thought of her that way?

"Okay,Okay...I'm sorry Duke...But you hadn't got here and I wanted to make sure everything was covered...

"Okay forget about it...I'm going to put a team of plain clothes guys on both of these places...They'll let us know if our boy shows up.."

They had been searching for Bruce Cutter...wanted for killing his estranged wife and her boyfriend..He hadn't been seen in six days...

"Come on...let's get some pizza...I know a place your husband told me about" he said..

"Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy." said Angie in her babyish voice.

IV-

"Wow girl, you hit the jackpot.."said Hazel...

''So this gun is our murder weapon?" said Sirena...

"Yeah...This sig sauer is your weapon and it's got his prints and DNA on it.. This Ak-47 was used in a Bank Robbery recently in which a teller and a guard were shot and killed...It's a match, with his prints and DNA on it and the .38 smokeless is a match for an unsolved homicide last year..." said Hazel..

"Oh Wow...We got this mope for so much..."said Hop..

"Now if only we could find him.."said Sirena..

 Carlotta, Tyriq and Jimmy went to Mickey's Pizzeria in Fishtown.....They looked at some footage of their suspect,Henry Riggins dining there a few weeks ago....

Then they helped themselves to some Pizza and some cokes..

"Carlotta you know about this place....Best Pizza outside of South Philadelphia.."said Jimmy...

"Oh My God...Yessss...It's been years since I had a pizza from here." said Carlotta.

"This pizza is good..I saw our boy on camera...He was here...but it was two weeks ago and that's the last time he was seen.." said Tyriq..

"This case is about to go cold ,unless we catch him...."said Carlotta...

"Can I get you anything else lovely lady?" came the voice of the waiter...

Carlotta looked up...Then smiled..

"No...I'm fine.." she said..

"Yes you aree...Yes lord..." he said..

He was white, a little overweight ,about an inch taller than Carlotta...who was about 5'4 or 5'5 herself..

"John...Johnny Boy?? John Toilet(pronounced To lay) is that you?? You still work here?? You should own this joint by now.."said Jimmy...

"Jimmy Barlow...Look at you....What you doin now?" asked the man...

"I'm a cop..."he said showing him his badge...

"Detective...Criminal Investigation Division-Philadelphia Police Department...Wow!!!  I always thought you'd wind up being a wise guy...Instead, you lock em up huh?" laughed John Toilet..

"These are my partners...Detective Tyriq Pile..we call him Rico..."said Jimmy...

"Pleased to meet you."said Tyriq..

and Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace..

"Pleased to meet you.." she said smiling...

He was practically drooling..

"WOWWWW! You are so beautiful.." he said..

"She gets that a lot.."laughed Tyriq..

"Stop it Rico, you make me blush." said Carlotta..

He couldn't keep his eyes of of her cleavage and her curves and her beautiful hair...

"So we were here looking for Henry Riggins....You know him?" asked Jimmy..

"Who doesn't?  He's the weed man....Sells Junk(Heroin) too...He come in here about two weeks ago, but just to eat...He didn't do business in here...He knew better than that...I'd of thrown him out on his ass...Excuse me Carlotta.."said John Toilet..

"It's okay..." she said..

Just then, Duke and Angie walked in...

''Whoa, look who is here..."laughed Duke as he and Angie sat down...

Angie walked over to Jimmy and planted a sensual kiss on his lips..

"Ummmmm baby I missed you soooooo much!" said Angie.

John Toilet's eyes popped out of his head upon seeing Angie..

"Johnny Boy, this is my wife, Detective Angela Belton-Barlow and that's her partner..Detective Duke Baylor..This is a childhood friend..John Toilet (To-Lay)"said Jimmy..

 "Hi Johnny."said Angie..

 "What's up man?" said Duke.

John Toilet was stunned..

"WIFE???? Jimmy ,you got married??WOW!!!You're a detective and you're married !!! This is too much...You guys all eat on the house..My treat...Haven't seen my good friend Jimmy Barlow in years..."he said,.

"Heyyyyyyyyyyyyy Thanks!" said everybody....

He whispered in Carlotta's ear...

"So uh Carlotta, you seein anybody?" he asked..

"I'm married...Sorry?" she said..

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh wowww...You're married....Your husband is a very lucky man..." he said.

"He thinks so."she said, laughing..

VI-

"I was going to wait for the guys....but I've decided to take off..."said Sissy...

"They probably are having a day like Hop and me had..running into nothing but dead ends.."said Sirena..

"Hop doesn't look like he's having a bad day.."I said laughing..

"Oh Sharon...I missed you baby..."he moaned..

"I missed you too boo!" she said in between kisses...

"Let's go home..." he said..

"Okay" she said almost meekly...

"I wish my husband was here...So I could go home.."said Sirena..

"Yeah me too!"said Hazel....

"Ditto that!" I said, smiling.

One of our most bizzare cases was about to begin!  None of us knew it though!

(TO BE CONTINUED)