The One Most Likely to be Murdered

It was the typical scene....One I was used to... Crime Scene Photographers snapping photos of a dead
body.....and Crime Scene Investigators going over the dwelling for fingerprints and other forensic evidence...

I'm Assistant District Attorney Keith Wallace...I prosecute Major Crimes...

My Wife , Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace was the first person I saw when Lt.Sissy Van Buren and I entered the apartment ....

"Hey Chica...What have you got?" asked Sissy...

''White Female, 36... Looks like cause of death was manual strangulation....." she said...Then she walked over to me and gave me a slow sensual kiss on my lips...

"Hola Honey Bunny.."she said and smiled sweetly....

Forensic Investigator ,Dr. Hazel Baylor was still looking at the body... as was my wife's partner...Detective Tyriq Pile..

"I've found about three loaded condoms in the trash can Hazel....Was she raped?" asked Tyriq..

"No....If she had sex..It was consensual....."said Hazel....Just then, my wife's other partner, Detective James "Jimmy" Barlow walked in with two uniformed officers...

He kneeled down and took a look at the body..

"I know her....Her name is Bonnie Jerguson...She's a cop's wife!" he said blandly, shaking his head...

"Lou Jerguson??" asked Carlotta..

"Yeah the same..."said Jimmy..."I was at the wedding.....They were a cute couple...I wanted what they had...This was long before I met Angie....Funny....I always thought Lou was the one most likely to be murdered ...Him being a cop and all... I never thought anything bad would happen to Bonnie.."sighed Jimmy....More melancholy than anyone had ever seen him...

"You guys know this woman?" asked Sissy...

"I don't know her...but I know her husband, Lou Jerguson...He's an officer in the 29th Precinct.He was in the Academy with us. Good Cop..." said Carlotta..

"Really? And he's still a uniform? He hasn't made rank in all this time?" asked Tyriq...

''Nah...He's done some plain clothes assignments...but he's mostly a roller...Not really the ambitious type.."said Jimmy...

"Has somebody contacted him?" I asked..

I got my answer almost immediately....A young white male barged in and fought his way past the uniforms...

"MY WIFE!!! MY WIFE!! IS THAT MY WIFE???ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"he yelled out...Two uniformed officers attempted to restrain him!

Sissy motioned for the officers to let him go.....

 He rushed towards the body....

 "Heyyyyyyyyyyyyy Lou...Lou...I know man...I know.....I understand....You've got to cool it man, we got this...We got this.."said Jimmy...

"Lou....I'm so sorry...I am soooooooooooo sorry, don't torture yourself...."said Carlotta...

Jimmy and Carlotta grabbed him......

"Oh My God...h My Goddddddddddddddddddddddd! Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww , Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, Oh LAWDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!" he screamed....

"Come on, Let's go outside, Come on..."said Sissy gently as he sobbed....

The C.S.I. people reported to Tyriq and Hazel...

"I don't smell bleach....Does that mean you guys found something?" asked Tyriq...

''Detective....We've found so many fingerprints and so much DNA....it's not funny..."said one man...

"Maybe we can wrap this one up quick..."said Tyriq..

II-

Just then...everyone's favorite Lieutenant, Lieutenant Tragg barged in....Surprisingly there were no reporters with him this time..

He peered at the body....

"Oh My God, That's Bonnie Jourgeson....Lou Jourgeson's wife......What the hell happened?" asked Lt. Tragg...

"She was strangled..."said Tyriq.. "I take it you know Lou?"asked  Tyriq..

"I do...Damn good cop...He worked in my precinct when I was a Sergeant....and again with me after I became Lieutenant....Where is he?" asked Lt. Tragg...

Tyriq pointed to the door... Lt. Tragg left the room... Tyriq sighed and looked at Hazel...

"Is he going to be a problem Rico?" asked Hazel...

"Is it a cloudy day? Of course he is..."sighed Tyriq...

''Can I release the body?" asked Hazel..

"Yeah.."said Tyriq..

The body was removed from the apartment and rolled down the hallway...

III-

Outside, I watched as the body of Bonnie Jourgeson was released and rolled to a Medical Examiner's Wagon...

Sissy asked Lou Jourgeson...

"You look like you're off duty today Officer, How did you know this was happening?"

"I keep my police radio on....This is my district.....My wife and I were separated...but we were working things out....This is her apartment...I had just convinced her to move back in with me...When I heard the report and got this address...I knew it was her..." he said..

"Hey Siss...What gives? Why are you questioning him?? He's a cop...One of us...His wife has been murdered.."said an angry Lt. Tragg...

"I'm a cop ,Lt. Tragg...There has been a murder....I have to ask these questions...ESPECIALLY if another cop is involved...If it was my husband, heaven forbid...I'd expect my detectives to ask me the same questions.."said Sissy..

Carlotta was silent..

Jimmy held his head down...

"Lou ,I hate to ask you this...but uh, you said you two were separated...How long?" asked Carlotta..

''Would have been a year tomorrow...She was going to move back in with me....I swear..Carlotta, please..." he said..

"I'm sorry.....I have to ask....Uh did you know of any other guys she uh might have been seeing or otherwise involved with?" asked Carlotta..

"You're way out of line Detective.....Barlow...Say something...Lou was your boy!"said Lt. Tragg to Jimmy...

"Lt. Tragg, let my detectives do their job...."said Sissy sternly...

"I'm the ranking officer here.." Lt. Tragg bellowed...

"WRONG!  This is my case...and I am the ranking officer.."said Sissy...

''Folks, Folks, this is no time for a pissing contest...A woman has been murdered.."I said diplomatically..

"There were no other guys.....No other guys...It was me and her...We were working things out..."he said..

Sissy looked at Jimmy...

"Jimmy, take him home....After he's settled...I want to meet with you and Carlotta..."said Sissy...

"I'm on it Boss Lady."said Jimmy. He looked at Lou.."Come on man, let's uh get a couple of drinks and then go home.." he said..

"Jimmy...Jimmy oh my god!" he wailed...crying profusely .....

I looked at Carlotta, who I hadn't seen in hours and whispered in her ear...

"Uh Detective Rodriguez-Wallace...Could I uh have a word in private?" I said.

"Huh? , oh.....uh yes." she said and we walked across the street, away from the crowd behind the apartment complexes into a vacant parking lot!


The last time I had said this to her in that way was years ago ,before we were married , when we first started dating...She remembered...

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....ohhhhhh Carlottta, I missed you so much.." I said as we kissed each other passionately...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...I'm so sorry Keith, but I've been busy..." she said as she began kissing me like it was going out of style...

"Tonight.Let's go out to dinner..I know a place with a sirloin steak that's callin my name and a nice port" I said in between kisses...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuu I like that...." she said as we continued to kiss...

We broke our embrace....Carlotta fixed her hair....

"We'd better go back before people start getting suspicious." she said.

"Yeah." I said. I fixed my collar and my suit jacket...

"You okay?" she asked...

"Let me take a few deep breaths..." I said.   Carlotta smiled that sweet smile of hers....I smiled too.

IV-

Lieutenant Tragg was furious..

"You know Sissy...I'm really getting tired of you disrespecting my rank and my authority...." he said..

''Last time I checked....I have Lieutenant's bars too...I allowed you to order me and my detectives off of a case once and you screwed it up and we wound up taking it over anyway.. AND CLOSING the case....while you wound up losing your pants...."said Sissy..

"Oh Lord...He's never gonna live that down..."snickered Tyriq...

"I know right?" said Hazel, snickering...

Carlotta and I were crossing the street at the time..

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so it's that huh?  Well...I am taking you, Carlotta, Jimmy and Tyriq off the case...That's an order!" he said..

"This is not your case....You can't order me or my detectives off of anything...I have the final say as to who is on it.. Not You!  ME!"said Sissy angrilly...

"The Deputy Of Operations will hear about this....His word trumps your boyfriend, Captain Cantrell..

 said Lt. Tragg...Sissy was furious that he went there...

"Go right ahead..Call Him.....But this is still my case....You better remember that...." said Sissy...

Having two Officers argue in the open wasn't a good look.....

"Come on Siss....Everybody is leaving..." said Tyriq softly rubbing her shoulders...

Lt. Tragg called the Deputy of Operations...He explained the situation...

"Yes Sir...That's how she talked to me...Huh? WHAT?   Yes...She and her detectives were at the scene first....Yes Sir...I know it's her case....and she's the ...the what sir?....She's the ranking officer in charge...Yes Sir...I-I-I uh realize that....Yes sir...I uh do have something else to do...I did get those reports you asked for...I have them with me....I'll bring them right now...No sir..I-I-I-I don't intend to interfere with Lt. Van Buren's investigation.... Yes Sir....I'll get those reports to the necessary personell right away sir....Yes Sir... "he said and hung up....He was as red as a beet...

"The Deputy Of Operations says to call him as soon as you return "he said snarkily and got in his car and sped off...

''What a Punta!" said Carlotta..

Sissy smiled and hugged Carlotta...

"I don't know what that means Chica...but I agree.." she said and laughed..

V-

Some hours later at headquarters....

 Detective Tony Hopkins and his wife,

FBI Deputy Special Agent in Charge, Sharon Hopkins were kissing softly at his desk..

Detective Angie Belton -Barlow was at her desk smiling..

Her partner, Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor was tossing a football to one of the uniforms...

It was a nice quiet day at headquarters....No major cases were on the horizon...

Sissy,Myself, Carlotta and Tyriq walked in just then....Duke looked at her..

''Siss you got a call from the Deputy of Operations..He said for you to call him when you come in..."said Duke..

"Hmmm, Old No pants didn't lose any time did he?" she said and walked in her office....

Duke looked at me...

''Is it bad? I heard a cops wife got murdered....Lou Jourgeson..." he said.

''Yeah...You knew him too?" I asked.

"Yeah, I knew him  when he worked over in Lt. Lockwood's Precinct...He took the detectives test....He failed it badly....but he was a good cop otherwise...Plain Clothes and uh as a roller..Tough cop...I liked him..."said Duke..

''Siss and Tragg had a big blow up at the scene...He called the Deputy of Operations..He ordered her to Take Top, Jimmy and me off the case...She refused..." said Tyriq...

''Why does he have to show up at every crime scene that looks like it's newsworthy?" asked Angie.

"So he can get himself on television...."said Carlotta...

Jimmy returned...

"How is Lou?" I asked..

"Not Good..He's back at his house...Sleep....Duke , I took him back in his car.....He was in no shape to drive...Can you take me back to my car?" asked Jimmy...

"Sure."said Duke..

Angie kissed her husband...

"Or I could take you to your car..." she said in between kisses....

Jimmy was blushing something terrible...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh...Oh my god...." moaned Jimmy...

I smiled...

"Go with Angie Junior...I Can't argue with that.."laughed Duke..

Sissy emerged from her office....

"Jimmy...I'm glad you're here....I just got off the phone with the Deputy Of Operations...." she said..

''Are we in trouble?" asked Jimmy..

"No...Not at all...The Deputy Of Operations agreed that this was my case...My call and Lt. Tragg  was told to stand down...But....You and Officer Jourgeson are friends....Carlotta....You were in the Academy with him....You guys didn't do anything wrong...but The Deputy of Operations feels you both are too close to the case...So not that you guys did anything wrong...You didn't..but I'm taking you off the case...I'm making Sirena the primary...

"Gee Thanks Lotta...I had 100% clearence..."joked Sirena

and Hop the secondary..." said Sissy.

H

e stopped kissing Sharon long enough to hear that...

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmm...oh yeah...Yes...I'm on it." he said.

"You're on Sharon right now.." joked Sissy...

Me, Carlotta,Angie, Jimmy,Tyriq, Sirena and Duke cracked up laughing....

"Stop laughing at my husband....I'm going back to my office and concern myself with federal business."said Sharon who laughed and stuck her tongue out!!

''As usual, we are a team...and we assist and help each other where we can.."said Sissy...

I know Sissy hated to do that....She usually gave her detectives a lot more autonomy than the average Lieutenant or even Sergeant....but she wanted this case cracked...Specifically to spite Lt. Tragg..

who was already on Television talking to the media about a cop's wife being murdered....and hoping that the case be cracked soon...

We all wanted that!


(TO BE CONTINUED)