A Girl And A Guy

Our first day up and running in our new headquarters brought a very important visitor, Private Investigator, Kevin Morris..

who had helped us out for years by providing information and evidence on several known criminals..

"NICEEEE!  NICE DIGS!!  SO I GOTTA drive way out here to see you guys now huh?" he said,laughing..

''That's right...but you still have to bring me coffee....And our phone numbers are all the same..."laughed Sissy...

"I like this..." he said..

''We've got a kitchen and a breakroom..and bedrooms upstairs....I'm no longer on the same floor with them...I'm a floor up, but of course I'll be down here..."said Sharon Hopkins...

The equipment was ultra modern and up and running....The administrative staff was there and working and the uniformed and plain clothes policemen were there at their desks....

All had offices , which they were showing Kevin and myself..

''Wow, you guys have sure come up....I'm happy for you.." I said.

Duke and Angie showed us their offices , which they were already making personal...

Sissy was beaming like a proud mama, looking at her detectives....and marveling over their new headquarters....

THE FBI AND ATF had an office right above her floor...That's where Sharon was..

They had an interrogation room..

The new fishbowl...They called it...And already someone was sitting in it....A young girl, about 19 years old...She was distraught, crying her eyes out.... A female uniformed officer was offering her some coffee and some tissues..

Kevin smiled..

"Damn, you guys couldn't wait...You've already got somebody down here.." he said..

"Her parents and her younger brother were shot to death last night in Lawnside....She wasn't home...Jimmy and two uniforms found her early this morning.." said Sissy...

"Wow, you caught a triple on your first night here huh?" said Kevin...

''Worse....Just eight blocks away , Sirena and Hop caught  a double...Man and his wife shot to death." I said.

''Damn, they related?" asked Kevin..

''Doesn't seem like it..Two different guns."said Sissy...

"Me and Angie caught a double last night....but it got taken away from us, given to Lt. Tragg."said
Duke.

''Which means it will never get solved."said Angie..

Kevin shook his head..

"Yes, I heard about that one...Two girls murdered....My wife ,Bonita, Clerow and Owen Todd rented apartments to all 10 of the recent rape victims....Lt. Tragg has them at your old headquarters questioning her now..

he said...Smiling and shaking his head...

"Oh God, Sepia and her partners might wind up being  suspects..."said Sissy...She wasn't joking..

''No, but he wanted copies of all of the people's paperwork...He wants to cross check that and their financials..."said Kevin...I'm going to pick her up after I leave here..

''So he's actually working this case, like a real detective.."I said..

We all laughed..

Sissy, Kevin, Myself , Sharon,Duke and Angie....

II-

Sharon retreated upstairs...Where Jimmy, Tyriq, Carlotta and Sirena were discussing their two cases...

"The girl is not our shooter...She was with friends last night at a party... I checked...They all verify her whereabouts and her credit cards prove where she was at the time of the murders..."said Carlotta.

"They were shot with a .22....Considering none of the neighbors heard anything..I'm guessing a home made silencer was used.."said Tyriq...

"The street cam was disabled and the lock was jimmied...Sounds like a hit, a professional job to me." said Jimmy...

''Well, I checked their financials....Mama was having an affair...I have several credit card charges to a hotel during the day.....Dad had one drug arrest...from years ago...."said Sharon...

"I checked the guy out she was seeing...It wasn't him...They broke the affair off months ago and he and his wife weren't in town the night of the triple murder.."said Tyriq...

"The only fingerprints we found were those of the family members so the killer wore latex gloves.."said Carlotta...

"Our family had no blotches on their record...Father was a deacon at the church...No sheet, credit fine...Bank account normal...Liked by everybody at his job....Same thing with the mother..From the looks of things...The killer had a key...Let themselves in..."said Sirena..

Hop walked in just then...

''We found the son....Me and two rollers...He's not our guy....He's got the perfect alibi..." said Hop..

''What is that?"asked Sirena..

"He got arrested last night...For being underage in an after hours joint...He got in a fight...He made several calls to his parents ,I suppose to bail him out...but they were already dead..He didn't know.."said Hop..

''Wow , we get a brand new building..and we get two unsolvable cases..."said Jimmy...

"I don't think they're related...Two different guns were used....In our case...the killer appears to be more sophisticated.....In your case, Sirena and Hop...The killer let themselves in...Your killer is somebody close to the family.."said Tyriq..

''Which means we got to work harder.."said Carlotta.

III-

The girl and the guy sat quietly in the fishbowl talking to each other... Both of their families had been wiped out in one night...It was tragic..

Captain Cantrell walked in just then...

He looked around...

"Beautiful...I love this place... Beautiful and modern ." he said..

"Glad you like it.."said Sissy...

"Duke and Angie around?" he asked..

"They're in their office."said Sissy...

''I understand they caught a double last night"he said.

"It was reassigned to Lt. Tragg...It's in the area where he's investigating those 10 rapes.."said Sissy..

Captain Cantrell frowned.

"For about a month....It started with two rapes and it's ballooned to 10 and Lt. Tragg doesn't have a suspect...but he's had about ten news conferences though...And his asinine remark...about the rapist has never killed anybody or attacked anybody when someone is at home might be the reason this double murder occurred....Get Duke and Angie out here.."said Captain Cantrell..

"Okay.." said Sissy..

 ''Hey Cap!" said Duke.

"Captain Cantrell." said Angie...

"I understand you two got taken off the double you caught last night .." said Captain Cantrell..."WELL YOU'RE BACK ON IT!" he said..

''Sir The Deputy Commissioner took us off the case.."said Duke..

"I know and the New Commissioner reassigned you two...She's not pleased with Lt. Tragg's multiple
television appearences for the past month and no progress at all in the investigation of the rapes, which started with just two and have now ballooned to ten....No way he can investigate a serial rapist and now a double homicide...You and Angie are back on the double murder.." said Captain Cantrell..

Duke and Angie smiled at each other...and high fived each other..

IV-

Everybody loved our new headquarters.... And even though we didn't have to...We all decided to pack some bags and stay in the bedrooms upstairs...Just for a few days...We loved hanging out with each other and it showed...

We loved that this place had a kitchen...Not the kitchen on wheels that "Copland'' had, but a real kitchen...We bought groceries...and us and the FBI and ATF agents, who were also utilizing the bedrooms on the upper floors were all cooking and eating together every night...We loved it...

Nice to know we could go home every night...We didn't have top secret cases....but nice still to know we could all hang out too if we wanted..Only our administrative staffers went home..

Corlette Jenson, 19 had finally stopped crying....Carlotta sat with her,

while Tyriq  and Jimmy stood outside the window..

looking inside...

"Anybody have any vendetta against your family? Or you?" asked Carlotta..

"Not that I know of.....I mean my mom and dad were no angels...but it was never that serious.."said Corlette....

"You know the boy, James Pearl Jr.   ? His Mother and Father were slaughtered last night too."said Carlotta..

"He's my boyfriend...I just found out.."she said..

"Don't you find that strange...Both of you lost your families while you were out last night?" asked Carlotta..

"What are you trying to say? You know where I was...You know.."she said..

She did..

Upstairs in the Federal Holding cell, Sirena and Hop questioned James Pearl Jr.

"I understand you were having a relationship with Corlette...Who lost her family last night?" said Sirena...

"Yeah..That's my girlfriend...It has been for a year now.." he said..

''Your parents cool with her?" asked Hop.

"Yeah, why wouldn't they be?" he said..

"Nothing was stolen from your home...and your dad was shot in the living room on his couch...The killer let themselves in....That doesn't seem strange to you?" asked Sirena..

He showed no emotion at all...

"Look ,I was in jail...You know that...I called them several times...I had no idea they were dead.." he said..

''Did you give someone your house keys?" asked Hop..

"No man....I had em on me...The Duty Sergeant will attest to that..." he said..

It was true...He was in jail the entire time the murders occurred..

Hazel had given us a timeline...

and  Carlotta, Tyriq and Jimmy's suspect was at a party at an after hours joint when her family was being slaughtered...

Film footage and credit card records attested to that....plus different guns were used...It appeared to be two different killers...but still it was weird that both struck on the same night...

V-

Meanwhile..Duke and Angie and a team of plain clothes officers were doing door to door searches in the apartment complex where the rapes had taken place..asking questions of people who knew the victims...Even talking to some of the rape victims themselves..

 ''We had a lot of semen...Let's talk to Hazel and see what she's come up with."said Duke..

''A lot more than we did..Partner...Even though we got taken off the case originally...I ran credit card and bank card checks on our two victims and the 10 rape victims just to see if their lives intersected...They did..Some of our ,but not all of the rape victims knew each other and they all drank and hung out at Stoleys ...They were all blondes...All in the early to mid twenties...All shapely and attractive..One was Latina, One was African-American..."said Angie..

"It's small, but there is our connection...We need to get to Stoleys, get some film footage.."said Duke..

''Lt. Tragg isn't going to like that we interviewed his victims and their neighbors..but it had to do with our case..."said Angie..

''Don't worry about him...We are covered.."said Duke..

''Duke...One day, you and I and Rico Suave, Maybe Carlotta and my husband..will all be Lieutenants,maybe we'll have our own units...I hope we are never like Tragg,With holding information, territorial..."said Angie..

"Never babes...We aren't assholes"said Duke...

Angie rubbed his knuckles softly....

She loved Duke when he was like this, making jokes...

At Sam Mother's Diner...Lt. Tragg sat with the Deputy Commissioner, Action Jackson...

"I can't believe it...Sissy Van Buren will do anything to usurp me....She got that double murder taken from me.."complained Lt. Tragg...

"Good Buddy, this wasn't her...This was The New Commissioner...My boss, that did this..Sissy didn't have anything to do with it...Sissy and her group have five open murders...believe me..She was glad to give you this double..Now she has seven open murders.."said Deputy Jackson..

"She just stepped over your order....I tell you...Women running things....This was bound to happen.."snarled Lt. Tragg..

"Buddy you gotta give her something...How bout that Sepia Morris, That Bonita Foxworth, the realtors..?They rented to all of the victims.."he said.

"Their alibis are solid...I checked..."said Tragg...

''Well what about that Clerow fella...??He and his pal, Owen Todd look shaky to me!"asked Deputy Jackson..

"Nah...He and his buddy were drinking in the same spot I was drinking in during the rapes...I'M THEIR ALIBI...It wasn't them..."said Lt. Tragg...

"Well good buddy give them somebody...Even if it's the wrong guy, make them think you  are working this thing.."said Deputy Jackson...

"I've been working this thing for a month...I haven't got a clue."said Lt. Tragg...

''Ahhh know good buddy..Ah Know.."laughed Deputy Commissioner Jackson.


(TO BE CONTINUED)