Slipping Through The Cracks

Midnight...Police, FBI Agents and ATF Agents with Bloodhounds blanketed the neighborhood where Arthur Jackson lived...

'Top that was good thinking, Having Bloodhounds search the neighborhood.."said Duke..

"These dogs will sniff not only blood but latex....and if we find latex gloves...we can turn them inside out and find fingerprints...DNA.."said Carlotta...

A small crowd was being held back by additional policemen...

Deputy FBI Special agent in charge, Sharon Hopkins, Detectives Tyriq Pile and James Barlow were assisting...

"I've got a team searching the dumpsters for a 15 block radius..." said Tyriq...

"I got guys working in the opposite direction.."said Jimmy...

Inside the house...CSI operatives under Dr. Hazel Baylor's direction were going over the Jackson house again ..

The primary of the operation, Detective Angela Belton-Barlow was overseeing everything..

"I appreciate everybody helping out with this investigation..." said Angie...

"This is a team effort." I said and hugged her...

Sitting across the street from us in an unmarked car was Detective Justin Dunn and Lt. Arthur Tragg

''What the hell is Angie doing? They were out here already?" said an unusually exasperated Detective Dunn...

"Relax....This is just an attempt to make it look like they're doing something...They've got no leads...Got nothing!   It's a grandstand play.....FBI, ATF agents out here...Bloodhounds...What a circus.....I want to see Sissy justify this,plus the man hours.."sneered Lt. Tragg...

Angie walked by...Detective Dunn looked at her..

"You know...Angie isn't bad looking at all...I thought about askin her out years ago...but I didn't think she'd go for white guys....but she's married to Barlow....Hell if he could get that far, Imagine what I might have done...Shame she's such a cunt..." he sneered..

Lieutenant Tragg looked at him funny.....He was surprised at how jumpy and how irritated Detective Dunn was...

"WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY LOOKING FOR?" he asked..

"Come on...Let's get out of here..."Let's grab a few beers.."said Lt. Tragg as they drove off..

II-

We had all packed some bags and were staying over night at our new headquarters....

Sissy's Husband, Eddie C. was cooking hot links for us... and had a case of brew....He wasn't a cop...but we considered him Honorary...

Sissy was working closely with the only two detectives in her unit who weren't on the street...Detectives Sirena Pile and her partner, Tony Hopkins..

They were still trying to find and catch a serial killer who had killed five women over a period of a month and was using UBER and LYFT cars to do so....

They were using the FBI's high tech play toys to hack into the street camera footage of the young ladies block  the nights they went missing...  They were also looking into the camera footage from both the LYFT and UBER dispatch offices...

They cross referenced and came up with somebody....

''We got a hit!!!...Look Sirena "said an excited Hop...

"Oh My God...Same Guy!!!" said Sirena...

"Unbelievable!!!!" said Sissy...

A pudgy white male with a brown crew cut and huge hands was seen hanging around the dispatch offices.....And seen clearly in an Uber car, THE UBER car we found at the scene of four of the women's homes...

"These women may have been abducted ..."said Sissy...

''And look....There he is in the LFYT car....."said Hop.."Same car..."

"Rico, Carlotta and Jimmy and some detectives from Auto Theft found that car yesterday, completely bleached down..."said Hop...

"Oh and I meant to show you this....Hazel did get a hit on the DNA...

She got a sex offender..Herbert Fluharty....Three prior arrests for criminal sexual assault and indecent exposure!"said Sissy...

''And look at his Mug shot and the guy we have on video footage near those cars.."said Sirena..

"It's the same guy..." they both said..

Sirena did the cabbage patch in the middle of the floor..

"Awwwww Suki Suki nowwww." said Sirena...

Sissy cracked up laughing...

"Girllllll, you are crazy..." she said..

"I see you girl....I see you.."laughed Eddie C."

"Partner....We got an address?" asked Sirena..

"Sure do!" said Hop..

"Let's go a huntin..."said Sirena with a smile..




III-

Sirena and Hop, bolstered by armed uniformed policemen

descended on two of the last known addresses of Hubert Fluharty....They found both residences empty....

They then traveled with Sissy to his ex-wife's home..

His ex-wife and her fiance appeared at the door...

"I knew you guys would be coming here sooner or later..." she said..

"Cecelia!" cautioned her fiance..

"No...You're here for Herbert...He's killing those women.." she said..

"What makes you so sure of that?" asked Sirena...

"My ex-husband was a very scary man.... A very sick man....I liked sex as much as the next person, but he wanted it all the time, constantly.....He'd come to my job and want me to take off or find some place to go where we could do it...At first I liked it....but after awhile he was just ridiculous with it...He was also violent when he couldn't get it..I left him, I lived in a shelter for a year until my divorce was final...Then I moved into a new place...and got a new job and I met Matt here and we are engaged...

"Herbert came around here..He found me.."she said.

''And I gave him a good beating....He never came around here again.."said Matt.

"When we heard about the murders....I knew it was him...He's sick...Sick in the head..."said Cecelia Fluharty...

''Why didn't you come to us? We've been hunting your ex-husband for  a month.."said Sissy..

''We were scared...He's sick....He needs to be taken off the streets...I'm glad you came.."she said..

''We've been to these two addresses, they were empty, you got any idea where he might be?" asked Hop..

"You might want to try that third address..." she said.

IV-

Meanwhile back at Arthur Jackson's house...

"Ang, we hit the jackpot!!!..."said an exuberant Duke Baylor..

''What did you find?" asked Angie..

"These beautiful doggies found not one ,but two pairs of Latex gloves in the sewer...and they weren't wet...So they haven't lost anything."said Carlotta..

 ''Hopefully you can turn them inside out and get some prints and DNA."said Tyriq..

"I sure hope this turns out to be something.." said Jimmy...

Sharon and Hazel had good news too..

"We found two empty bottles of bleach in a dumpster two blocks away..."said Sharon...

"Hopefully,I can pull some prints and DNA from it.."said Hazel...

"I know it's circumstantial....but if the DNA matches certain DNA and prints we have from a coffee cup a certain detective drank from the day before...He's going to have a lot of explaining to do.."said Angie..

"Especially since we caught him in a lie..His Lieutenant was at COMSTAT and therefore could not alibi him for the time of the murder like he told us.."said Duke..

"Let's call it a night guys....This was about as good as it gets..." I said...

"I'll rush this stuff to the lab now and get it to you as fast as possible.."said Hazel.

We all headed back to headquarters...Everyone except Hazel...Duke and I

Duke and I went to the Medical Examiner's office with her....

I was on the phone with a judge I knew...He'd write a warrant up immediately....If we could lock up a suspect tonight...It would be all the better..

At Headquarters....Sirena and Hop had good news for the others..

''We have a suspect in our murders..."said a jubilant Sirena..

"His name is Herbert Fluharty...A three time loser...."said Hop...

"How did you make him?" asked Tyriq..

"DNA makes our case...Hazel got a hit from the DNA in the semen....."said Sirena..

''And we matched his mug shot to several street cam photos of him at the UBER dispatch and LFYT Dispatch stations and in the neighborhoods of all of the women on the nights they went missing.."said Hop..

"His ex-wife was also very helpful.."said Sirena..

''So is he in custody?" asked Carlotta..

"There in lies the problem.. We went to all three of his known addresses and he's cleared out of there...We have a BOLO out on him....State Police have his description and we have men at the train station, the bus stations and both airports...We'll get him..."said Sissy...

Jimmy had been on the phone...

"I just got off the phone with Duke...The fingerprints in both sets of latex gloves and on the two bottles of bleach are a match for....Wait for it...Detective Justin Dunn!!!!" he said..

''We got him!!"said Angie..

''Duke said he'll meet us at his apartment...Pick him up!!!..Keith said that the Judge just texted him the warrant.."said Jimmy..

"Grab some guys...Let's go..." said Sissy...

So for the second time tonight...The guys were out on the hunt...

Angie, Carlotta,Tyriq,Jimmy, Sirena,Hop,Sharon and Sissy converged on Jason Dunn's house..

backed by a squad of tactical policemen....

They were too late.....

Duke, Hazel and I drove up just then....by the looks on their faces we could tell it was a bust.....

"He's cleared out of here...He must have felt the heat..." said Angie...

"That's two suspects tonight Keith....We have a solid suspect in the UBER slayings...We went by three of his known addresses...He's gone too..."said Sissy...

Aye Mios Dios...What a night..We finally make some headway in these two cases and both of our suspects slip through the cracks.." said Carlotta.

V-

''Where you headed ?" asked the voice of the Uber Driver...

"To the airport..."said Detective Jason Dunn...

The car headed towards the airport....

Detective Dunn looked on the floor of the back seat....

a pair of pink panties and a blue and white striped bra were on the floor, under the seat on the drivers side..

He smiled..

"This UBER Drivin....Must have it's perks huh?" he laughed..

The driver Herbert Fluharty said nothing...

Detective Dunn looked down and saw a small Taser on the floor ,under the underwear...

''What are you doin with a taser?   Wait a minute...Panties, Bra...Taser.....Oh My God!" he laughed..

.

"You're that nut, Sissy and her guys have been tearing the city upside down to find....You're the Uber killer.." he said,laughing...

"Ya know somethin bud...You talk too much!"said Herbert, who produced another taser..

"AGHHHHHHHHH!! LALALALALALAALALALALAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"screamed Detective Jason Dunn.

(CONCLUSION NEXT)