Bad Smack

 LAST WEEK!

CSI Photographers snapped multiple photos of the young girl from different positions,  Uniformed police officers kept onlookers away as more CSI people dusted for prints and DNA....

Detective James 'Jimmy" Barlow said somberly...  'Why are they dusting for prints and looking for DNA? This isn't a murder...This is another damn overdose..." he said and peered down at the young lady...A Latina girl from his old neighborhood...Port Richmond..

"Procedure...You know that Jimmy.." said Dr. Hazel Baylor, softly...

His partner...Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace, my wife...said "  This is another bad overdose...This is the third this week.." she said, examining the young ladies purse..

"Her name is Maria...Maria Flores....She's 19...Freshman at Temple...According to her drivers license and student ID.." she said..

''Damn...Just a baby..We had that Truck Driver last Wednesday...He was 52, way too old to be doing H.. and then there was that housewife Friday Morning...34....She shouldn't have been doing it either." said Detective Tyriq Pile..

"All of em had this peculiar smelling vomit around their mouths....I'm going to take a sample of this to the lab, but I'm certain it's the same thing...Heroin or Opiods mixed with whatever this chemical is...I've never seen anything like it...But they're all having a bad reaction sometime after ingestion and then going into cardiac arrest and dying.." said Hazel...

"This girl is here in Port Richmond.."said Jimmy...

"The Housewife was in Fishtown/Northern Liberties." said Carlotta..

"And the truck driver was found in South Philadelphia, but he lived in Fishtown.......All three of these people had to cop from the Fishtown/Port Richmond /Northern Liberties area...Who do we know that has the hot package on the streets in this area?" asked Tyriq.

"Yes....The DEA would like to know that too!" came the voice of DEA Regional Special Agent in charge, Carol Redding.. "Hi Hazel.." she said.. as she and I walked in on the crime scene..

"Hi Hazel...."I said...I'm Keith Wallace, Assistant District Attorney....I prosecute Major Crimes....I work very closely with the Detectives of the Criminal Investigation Division of which my wife, Detective Carlotta Rodiguez-Wallace is a member..

She smiled at me...

"Hi Honey Bunny." she said...as she still observed the body...

'Hi Carol, Hi Keith.." said Hazel...."This is so refreshing...Not seeing that jackass, Lt. Tragg on my crime scene...Working with real detectives for a change.." she said..

''Yes...I heard you and him and Kevin had a real rowdy dow.."said Carol Redding.. She looked at the body...

She sniffed..

'Ewwww....Just like your other three huh?" she said.

"I hate to say it...but I almost wish for an actual homicide..instead of these overdoses.."said Jimmy..

"These are Homicides Jimmy...Somebody is peddling some bad smack on the streets and we've got to find them and shut them down before there are more overdoses like the three we've already found..."said Carlotta.

"Top is right...Even though we can put teams on the street, business, ATM and Traffic cams ,it's not going to yeild much...I doubt that any fingerprints or DNA found here will yeild anymore than the other two..We've got to find out who these three people copped from , who has the hot package on the streets?"said Tyriq..

"I can think of a name...Harry Parmeter...."said Carlotta.

''She's right...Harry Parmenter....No criminal record....Owns two very popular after hours spots...and is on the board of directors of the Food and Beverage consortium...A company that imports and exports very exotic foods from place to place , they have a couple of big trucks, freezer trucks and a warehouse out on the docks.." I said..

''We've heard the rumors about him for about a year now ...That he imports a very exotic form of uncut Heroin straight from Mexico to the tri-state area and that a number of the local drug crews buy from him...but we haven't been able to prove it or get anybody close to him.." said Carol...

''We are working on that." I said.

"You can release the body Hazel."said Tyriq.

"Okay Guys....Bag her up!" said Hazel...

The Medical Examiner people put the girl's body in a body bag and strapped her to a stretcher and wheeled her away...

''I'm getting too used to seeing this.."mused Carlotta..

"Yeah, Me too!" said Jimmy sadly...

II-

THREE DAYS LATER!

Another apartment in Fishtown.....

The victim...An African American female and what looked like her boyfriend..An African American Male...

both in their early 20's...The girl clad in only panties and a bra... The male, naked...both had a small amount of vomit around their mouths...both stared blankly at the sky...

CSI Photographers snapped multiple photos of the young girl and the young man

from different positions,  Uniformed police officers kept onlookers away as more CSI people dusted for prints and DNA....

Detective Tony Hopkins kneeled down and sniffed and observed both victims.....

"You're right Hazel....No sign of physical trauma...on either body...This looks like overdoses...for both.." he said..

His partner ,Detective Sirena Pile went through the young man's wallet...

"His name is Tyrone Easly, he was a law clerk down at the courthouse...served warrants and did errands for the attorneys...He had just finished at Community College, was about to enter Temple soon...He was 21 years old...The girl, Her name was Margaret Summers....Also finished at Community College , had enrolled in Lasalle...She was also 21..."said Sirena..

"Damn..they had their whole lives in front of em and now they're gone...just like that..."said Hop..

''Once again...It's the same as the young lady Carlotta, Tyriq and Jimmy found just blocks from here last week and the truck driver they found in South Philly and the Housewife they found in Port Richmond...All overdoses...All from Heroin and Opiates mixed with some kind of synthetic drug I never heard of that's causing them all to go into cardiac arrest..."said Hazel...

''Harry Parmeter has the hot package on the street that all of the local crews are buying in this area.."said Lt. Sissy Van Buren..

"I have nothing on him...He falls completely off of my radar.."said Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins, Deputy FBI Special Agent in Charge..

''We've got to shut him down...That's priority.." I said.

"Hmmmm, a honey trap?" asked Sissy...

''Or Something!" I said.

III-

FRIDAY NIGHT, A WEEK LATER....

Josie's Bar and Grill was packed as usual...Drinks were flowing....Tonight the Josie's All Stars were performing...

Reed Nelson and his quintet performed the first set...

Downtown Rob Brown and Bone Hampton's

combined bands performed next..

Organist, B-Flat,

Keyboardist, Chazz and Sissy's Father...

Dutch Van Buren and the Liquid Love band performed next....

Carlotta and I and Sissy and her husband, Eddie C. sat in a booth, enjoying the show...

 ''This night is epic...All these bands in one night, one show...I'm surprised we even got a seat." I said..

"Look across the room, Look who is also a music lover." said Carlotta..

 "Well I'll be damned...Harry Parmeter..."said Sissy...

Eddie C. laughed..

"Word on the street is he has the hot package in the Northern Liberties Area...He's Got Port Richmond, Fishtown and that whole area sewed up..."said Eddie C.

Our drinks arrived...

Detective Angie Belton-Barlow-Jimmy's wife was having a very spirited conversation with Harry Parmeter...who had no idea she was a detective...Not just a run of the mill detective, but a member of the Criminal Investigation Division...

Angie was semi-undercover...She had gotten a job as a book-keeper at his seaside warehouse...All she could tell us so far is that he kept a seperate pair of books locked in a safe that nobody ever saw...The books she saw was strictly his two after hours spots....

They had gotten quite chummy in the past few weeks...She wore a wire in her bra...and in her panties...Most of their conversations were general...Flirtatious...No talk of drugs was ever overheard....

We had rented her a loft for her cover and we kept three plain clothes cops from Vice and Three plain clothes cops from Narcotics around her at all times...So far she had coyly stalled his sexual advances and attempts to come up to her place...

She did however find out that he was expecting a ship from Brazil to be docking at Penns Landing in the coming week...We wondered if his new supply of Heroin and Opiates was among it's contents...

To make things interesting...her partner...Detective Edwin ''Duke"Baylor...and her husband..Detective James "Jimmy" Barlow walked in with three beefy police officers...

Harry Parmenter looked up...

''Duke Baylor...Wow...Long time no see...You a music lover too?" he asked,laughing..

"You know the drill Harry,let's go.." said Duke..

"You got a warrant?" he asked..

Jimmy pulled it out..

"Yeah, now you heard the man...let's go.."said Jimmy...

Harry smiled..

''Excuse me Angie...I'll be right back.."he said..

Angie smiled..

''Want me to call your lawyer?" she asked.

"Nah, that won't be necessary.." he said..

Duke, Jimmy and the three officers marched Harry to the men's restroom where Tyriq and Hop were waiting..

Harry smiled..

"Oh My God..Rico...You guys are still together...What are you guys Narcotics now?" he asked.. He remembered Duke and Tyriq from the old days when they first became Detectives and they tried unsuccessfully to bust him for selling drugs...They all had moved up from those days...

"I'm asking the questions now Harry."said Tyriq...

Hop showed him enlarged glossies of the truck driver, the house wife, the young latino girl and the African-American couple..in death...with vomit around their mouths....

"They're all dead Harry....Overdoses...They bought some bad smack...The same kind...laced with a designer drug.."said Duke...

He looked at the photos..

"Damn...we've got to do something about drugs in our society, they are destroying our youth.." he said..

"Harry, we know you have the hot package on the streets...So cut the crap."said Jimmy..

He smiled at Jimmy...

"If you knew...You'd be reading me my rights, but you don't know.." he said..

"Strip." said Tyriq..

'What?" he asked.

''Take your clothes off"said Tyriq.

"Geez, you could have at least bought me a drink." he said..

They all busted out in laughter...

He took his clothes off and Jimmy and Hop patted him down and searched..They did find a gun...A .22.

"It's legally registered..you can check." he said.

Tyriq pulled out his tablet and took down the registration number... It was legally registered just as he said..

''He's clean Rico."said Duke.

Harry put his clothes back on....

"Did you guys really ,really think I'd have drugs on me...Even if what you say is true?" he asked..

"You're free to go Harry, but just remember this..We are watching you...One bad move and it's bye bye Harry..You can make book on that."said Duke..

The Gangster smiled..

"I would expect no less...Nice seeing you guys again...Rico!! Duke??" he said and waltzed out of the restroom with a smirk on his face..

While he was in the restroom with the guys...

Sharon and Sirena walked over to our table and sat down with us...

"How did everything go?" asked Sissy..

"Like a charm...Sharon's FBI guys are the bomb.."said Sirena..

''So they got the GPS on the car?" asked Carlotta.

"Oh yeah....one under the car and a very powerful one in the car....where he won't find it...we hope..We'll be able to listen to any conversation in that car and see it in living color..I called in my best guys.."said Sharon...

"OUTSTANDING!" I said and smiled..

''That FISA warrant is only for 30 days, so we'd better unearth something."said Sissy..

Duke, Tyriq, Hop and Jimmy left without looking our way or saying anything...Their little ruse had worked..

Angie was smiling when Harry Parmeter came back...

''Everything alright..?" she asked..

''Yeah...They didn't find nothin...They got some idea I'm uh sellin drugs....That was a lifetime ago...I'm so far removed from that...They found my gun, but it's legally registered...They couldn't do a damn thing with that...They got nothin.." he said..

"You're much too smart for that huh?" said Angie..

"You know it baby.." he said.

The joint was jumpin... Carol Redding walked in..She didn't see us...She was standing at the bar ordering a drink...

But Harry Parmeter saw HER and his eyes nearly popped out of his head...

"MY GOD!  WHO IS THAT WOMAN?" he asked...he couldn't take his eyes off of her...

Angie would say later that she almost felt some kind of way...For three weeks Harry Parmeter had been trying to put the moves on her, and in one night..He had seen Carol Redding and had flipped..

"I uh know her..."said Angie..

"Well don't just sit there introduce us!" he said..

''Introduce you? I thought you were trying to be my boyfriend??" asked Angie..

"Well Uh...I uh was..but let's be serious...You aint feelin me...You wouldn't even let me come up to your apartment.." he said...

Angie shrugged her shoulders...

She walked Harry over to Carol..

Carol was stunned...She didn't know whether to call Angie by her name or what..She knew Angie was undercover..

''Uh...Uh Hi.."she said and smiled..

"Carolyn...This is my uh boss...Harry..HARRY PARMETER...He uh wants to meet you.." she said..

''Hello.."said Carol... "I'm Carolyn Reed...I'm an Attorney ..." said Carol Redding, thinking fast...

''Welllllllllllllllll..I can always use the advice of a good Attorney..." he said, all teeth...He was so aroused, he couldn't control himself..

"Is that right?" said Carol..

"Yes...Come here...Let me order you some drinks..." he said..He then looked at Angie..

"Uh Angela...I'll see you at work on Monday..." he said..

"Yeah, sure.."said Angie, who walked away....

Angie waded through the crowd and bumped into a scruffy white guy she knew....

'Whoaaaaa, Detective Belton...Myyyyyyyyyyy goodness..Look at you..Milk certainly does a body good.."said the man...

''Cut Rate Constantine...When did they let you out?" asked Angie.

''I been out for two years now.."said the white man..

"What are you doing in here?  I never figured you to be a lover of R&B or Hip Hop.." said Angie ,who had busted him for selling drugs years ago...

''Detective Belton you got me all wrong...I like all kinds of music and all kinds of people.." he said..

''Especially paying kinds of people...You dealing smack again Constantine?" asked Angie..

"Me? Nahhhhh, Harry Parmenter has everything pretty much sowed up...I'm into other things.." he said.

"Like what?" asked Angie..

"Don't go all cop on me Angie...I'm totally legit.." he said..

''Well Mr. Totally legit...Buy a drink or get out..You've been in here two hours and haven't bought a thing.."said Honey Brown...

"I can take a hint...Okayyyy..I'm out of here...Nice seeing you again Detective Belton." he said looking her up and down..."I mean real niceeeeeeeee...." he said and left...

Angie shook her head...

"I meet such nice guys.." she said..

"Girrrrrrrrrrl...who you tellin?" said Honey Brown.


IV-

In the ladies room...Carlotta, Sirena,Sissy and Sharon were curious..

''What just happened?" asked Carlotta..

''He's a jerk...He's been pinching my ass for the past two weeks..For the past two weeks I've been wearing these damn hooker stillettos everyday to work and he's been practically drooling over me, begging me to let him come up to my apartment...trying to kiss me, grabbing me, groping me...two seconds from cumming in his pants and tonight he sees Carol and goes ga ga....kicks me to the damn curve.."said Angie..

''Angie Girl...You sound like you're mad..YOU ARE UNDERCOVER YOU KNOW!!!"said Sirena..

"AND YOU ARE MARRIED!" said Carlotta...

 Sissy cracked up laughing...

"And you have been kind of stringing the guy along....I mean , a man will only chase you for so long...I'm living testimony to that.." laughed Sharon...

''I know...It's just the principal of the thing.." said Angie as we laughed some more..

A few days later at Headquarters...I sat in on a strategy meeting..

''We've been picking up a lot of good talk from inside that car Siss.."said Sharon..

''Really?" Like what?" asked Sissy..

"Like Harry Parmenter isn't the only game in town...he's got competiton...Somebody else is selling a package in that area at a cut rate and undercutting him..."said Tyriq.

''We don't have a name yet...but maybe, just maybe...This competitor is selling the bad smack."said Jimmy...

''At any rate, we have two guys we are looking at"said Carlotta.

''With Harry focused on Carol Redding, I have more time to try and get to those books in that wall safe.."said Angie..

"You okay now girlfriend?" said Sirena, smiling wryly...

"Oh I'm fine.."said Angie..

"I can crack safes...Just find a way to get me in there.."said Hop..

''Oh Look...Here comes Carol..." said Duke.

Carol walked in...

''Oh My God ,this guy can't be for real...He's calling me and texting me every minute...The DEA has made up a phony cover for me and given me a phony address, just like yours...He sends flowers and candy every day...he's gone.."said Carol..

"Stay with it...We are going to finally shut this guy down." I said.

"I haven't done undercover work in years...I know my husband isn't going to like this...But it's the only way to bring this jerk down!"said Carol..."I don't like the way he tossed my girl Angie over for me like that...You can't trust a guy like that..."said Carol..

Sissy cracked up laughing...

Angie smiled..

"We women have to stick together." she said....

All Jokes aside...There was a bad batch of Heroin out on the streets and we had to find it and shut down whoever was selling it before more people died!

(TO BE CONTINUED)