Taboo To Murder

"You discovered the body Gary?" asked Sissy...

''Let me explain and you'll understand why I called you guys in on this.." said Gary Lockwood, Once a Lieutenant himself and now an Investigator for the D.A.'s office...

He worked for my colleauge , Rockland Cambridge

who after having lost some cases due to Lt. Tragg's screw ups and poor detective work, hired his own investigator, to make sure his cases were solid...

"I don't know if you guys heard but awhile ago...Detective Justin Dunn's wife was murdered...and it was revealed she was having an affair with one of the kid's who worked with her....Jonathan Jenkins...An African-American Man, about 22 years old.. Tragg arrested him and charged him with her murder....

The uh Defense Attorney and her team...A Ms. Yvette Jones and her team of Keith Jones, Beatrice Evans, Sofia Garcia and Khalil Ahmed and their investigator, Jade Lee, an ex homicide detective from Tokyo, now their investigator..

did an excellent investigation and defense of the young man....

These files are copies of the trial transcripts and their investigation....It will show that Young Jenkins did not kill Dunn's wife... It however does point a finger at your victim, Arthur Jackson....He was engaged to Dunn's wife years ago...He hired a private detective to shadow her and discovered her sleeping with the defendant's older brother.."said Gary...

 ''WHATTTTT?"said Carlotta

 "Oh My Goodness"said Sirena

 "WOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"said Angie

 "That's just trifling..."said Sissy..

"I'll say.."said Sharon...

"Talk about keeping it in the family.."said Jimmy...

 ''Junior...That aint right.." laughed Duke.

 ''This boy is crazy.."laughed Tyriq..

 "Awwwwwwwwwwwwww man.." said Hop..

Duke, Tyriq, Hop and I cracked up...

''At any rate...Jackson broke off the engagement after he found out she was cheating...but he stalked her and called her....It's all there and when she got married to Detective Justin Dunn...He made sure he knew about her past...See, there is the incident report...He and Dunn had a physical altercation...Dunn was disciplined..  He continued to shadow her...At the trial  Jackson couldn't explain his whereabouts during the murder and was caught in several lies... We have him leaving the bar minutes before the murder...It was a short walk from where he had been....He never returned to the bar..We don't know where he went after that...The street camera was conveniently disabled.. We do know that he owns a Glock nine...The same type of gun used to kill Mrs. Dunn.." said Gary...

"This is all good Gary...All good...but what did you have to do with all this...?" asked Angie..

''After the trial was over...my boss ,Rockland Cambridge

 as a favor to ADA Margaret Barnes

 who prosecuted the case and lost...asked me to look into Arthur Jackson...We were going to charge him with First Degree Murder..I went to his house to interview him....When I got there..the door was ajar..I walked in and there he was on the floor, dead...He probably wouldn't have been discovered for days..  I got out of there and I called you from a burner phone...Lt. Tragg had already loused up this investigation as it was...I didn't want him on it...So I called you Angie and Duke.."said Gary...

''All good Gary...but Tragg is already trying to take the case from us."said Duke..

"He can't do that...You guys were the first detectives at the scene...Only Sissy, your supervising official can remove you two...It's in the regs."said Gary...

"Thank You Gary...As a former Lieutenant yourself...You know that!  I tried to tell Lieutenant Tragg that, but he went to the Deputy Of Operations...To file a complaint against me for insubordination..because I refused to remove them."said Sissy,laughing..

"Don't worry about that....If you have any trouble...My boss, and ADA Barnes will go to bat for you.."said Gary...

Hazel walked in just then...

"I got a ballistics reading on that Glock Nine...It appears to be the murder weapon in another case...The recent Renita Dunn murder....and it's registered to Arthur Jackson....the victim...It's also the murder weapon in his murder..."said Hazel...

"He didn't kill himself!" said Gary...

"No...I don't believe he did either.." said Angie...

"Until we hear different..We are still on this case.."said Duke..

''And Uh this conversation never happened.."said Gary..

"Your secret is safe with us.." I said.

"Nice digs you guys got here.."said Gary,looking around..

II-

Another part of town, Another body of a young woman dropped...

Carlotta and Hazel

looked at the body.......

Sirena shook her head as uniformed officers moved the crowd back and CSI officials looked for forensic evidence..

"Same M.O.  Taser marks.....Strangled...Semen everywhere..."she said..

Her husband Tyriq Pile and Jimmy Barlow had an eyewitness a piece...

So did her partner, Hop..

"Both of these people saw an UBER drive up

 and push the body out and then take off like a bat out of hell down the street." said Hop...

"My eyewitness got the license plate off the UBER." said Jimmy...

"So did mine.."said Tyriq..

"Now we are getting somewhere...Our first break.."said Carlotta...

"In our second case...Somebody said they saw an UBER high tailing it out of the area.."said Sirena..

now sensing a pattern...

''We've got Street cam footage now.. Maybe, just maybe we can pull some from your two victims and our other one....and find out who this freak is.."said Carlotta..

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

Jimmy looked through her purse...

"Money is here....Credit cards...Drivers License..Her name is Lillian Harris...She's a school teacher.."he said.

 "Yeah....Hazel, release the body....I'll contact next of kin..."said Tyriq.

Sissy and I drove up just as the body was being carted off..

"Number four?" I asked..

"Yupper!" said Carlotta..

''So We have a serial killer."said Sissy..

 "But we have three eyewitnesses..They say they saw an UBER that pushed the body out and pulled off..We got a license plate number too."said Carlotta..

"Let's get out of here.."said Sissy...

III-

Back at headquarters...Detective Angie Belton sat alone with Gary Lockwood ,Investigator for the D.A.'s office..

He was once her Lieutenant ,when she was in Internal Affairs...Even more..He was once her lover...years before...

 Duke was out on the street, running down a lead on the Arthur Jackson murder case...

Sharon was upstairs, attending to FBI business.. Angie's husband and the other detectives were on the street...They had caught another murder...The fourth in a series of murders of young women..

''We've come a long way Gary...Me and You..."said Angie..who poured him a tumbler of coffee...They hadn't sat and just talked in years...

"I know...You were the one....Angie, you were my first true love and I screwed up.....I really loved you Angie...I screwed up and I always meant to tell you that I was sorry...I meant to tell you that years ago.."said Gary...

"It's okay Gary...I forgive you..." said Angie quietly....They both sipped their coffees...

"I'm in uh a different place now.."said Gary...

"I know...Who is she?

 I'm guessing a certain defense attorney, named Yvette Jones."said Angie,smiling slyly...

Now he looked surprised..

"You know Yvette?" he asked.

"Not personally....but I've seen her around...I know of her !You have copies of her transcripts and her investigatory papers....No Lawyer is going to turn that over to an investigator for the D.A.'s office unless she trusts him and SHE LOVES HIM!!!"said Angie, smiling.. "Plus I see the way your face lights up when you say her name...Your face used to light up like that when you said my name.."said Angie..

"I'm sorry''said Gary..

"Sorry for what? Gary, You and me...That was how many years ago??We've both moved on... I'm Happily Married now...and you...You're in love....I can see it....You really love her huh?" asked Angie..

''You're a great Detective Angie. Yes...I'm in love with her..I really love her..."he said,

thinking about Yvette and smiling..

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwww look at you.....That's so sweet...I'm so happy for you Gary.."said Angie..."Does she know how you feel about her?" asked Angie..

"Oh yeah.....It took me some time....but she says she loves me too!"said Gary..

''Awwwww that's so sweet...Don't you screw this up....If she's a good woman...Don't mess over her..."said Angie..

"I don't intend to Ang..." said Gary...

"I believe you..."said Angie softly....She rubbed his hands softly...




 IV-

 We all returned to headquarters..

Sharon greeted them all...

''Another victim huh?"she said..

''Yeah...Can we look at your VICAP files for all convicted serial killers with this m.o.?" asked Carlotta.

''Sure...Tell Agent Stanton to open them up for you.."said Sharon..

 "Our eyewitnesses gave us a license plate from an Uber that pushed this body out into the street."said Jimmy..

"Junior and I are going to run down this license....While he checks with Uber...I want to look at some traffic cam footage and see if we can run this cab down..."said Tyriq..

"Sirena and I notified all four girls next of kin and we are cross referencing their financials,places they shopped in common...friends, family and people they knew..

"Three of these four girls knew each other and traveled in the same circles.."said Sirena..

''Siss ,you got a great group of Detectives.."  said  Sharon , who smiled..

"I do don't I?" said Sissy...

Just then a very angry Lt. Tragg stormed in...

"I don't know what kind of drag you have with the brass...but I got a call from the Deputy Of Operations about a half hour ago..."said Lt. Tragg...

''Did you?" said Sissy, who was amused..

 ''Yes...He said that Detective Angela Belton-Barlow is the primary on the case and that I was in no way to interfere with her investigation....Happy now?" he asked..

"I am ecstatic!"said Sissy...who was doing all she could ,not to laugh....

***********************************************************************

Meanwhile , Duke was leaving an apartment building...he had interviewed several friends and associates of Arthur Jackson..

He turned around ,only to see Detective Justin Dunn behind him..

''Duke, what are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm investigating a murder.."he said.."My Job, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"he asked.

"Come onnn, you know and I know that this worthless piece of crap killed himself.."said Detective Dunn..

"How do you know? And why didn't you tell us that you knew the murder victim" asked Duke..

"Huh?, What?" asked Detective Dunn..

"Knock it off Justin...He was engaged to your wife, before you met her!....You and him had an altercation last year....You were suspended...It's in your file...And today, we matched the glock we found on him to her murder...This guy more than likely killed your wife..I think you knew all of that.."said Duke..

"WHAT ARE YOU TRYIN TO SAY DUKE?? YOU GOT SOMETHIN TO SAY...SAY IT!" he shouted...

Duke looked at Justin...

"I got nothing to say....At least not yet!  You need to go home and get some sleep..And you need to stay away from this investigation."said Duke..

And back at headquarters...

I looked at Sissy...Lt. Tragg had left...

"Is he going to be a problem?" I asked..

''I don't think so....I hope not...At least he's not hovering around these serial killings.." said Sissy, I want them to have a free hand....and not be bogged down in any bureaucratic crap.." she said..

"I know what you mean...I'm going over to that DNA lab tomorrow..I'll tell them to make your cases top priority"I said..

Gary Lockwood walked downstairs...

"I saw and heard the good Lieutenant Tragg...I didn't want him to know I was here.."said Gary...

"He's gone...The Deputy Of Operations told him to stand down and that it was Angie's case..."said Sissy..

"Good...Now I know it'll get solved.."said Gary...

I laughed...

"You want a lift Gary?  I have to go  downtown.."I said..

"No my car is in the back..."he said..

"Thanks Gary...You probably saved us two to three days worth of investigating..."said Sissy...

''Duke just called..He's on his way here...He said he had an interesting conversation with Detective Justin Dunn.."laughed Angie..

"Yeah he seems to be more than a little interested in this case...He's a bit of a loose cannon.I didn't want him or Tragg anywhere near this case.."said Gary..

"They won't be.....I can't thank you enough for your help Gary......Be well..."said Angie..

"I will..."said Gary...

"Be good to Yvette." said Angie..

 Gary's face lit up at the mention of her name...He really was in love...It showed!

He looked at Angie and smiled..and walked toward his car..

"I will." he said.

(TO BE CONTINUED)