Naked Stranger

The next morning...Carlotta and I sat in Sam Mother's Diner in a booth...

I had Scrambled Eggs, Grits and Sausage..

and my sexy wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace..

was having an Omelet...

"You got enough food there counselor?" laughed Tyriq, Detective Tyriq Pile...One of my wife's partners, who came in with his wife, Detective Sirena Pile, who laughed...

They sat in the booth beside us and both ordered Pancakes and coffee..

Before I could answer.... My wife's other partner...Detective Jimmy Barlow and his wife, Detective Angie Belton-Barlow came in and took an adjourning booth....

 ''Hey guys...That looks good.."said Jimmy...

"I'm starving.." said Angie..

 Jimmy ordered a stack of pancakes....

Angie had an Omelet....

 Sirena's partner, Detective Tony Hopkins...who was juggling working with us and being in an accellerated law school program also walked in, holding hands..Hop looked as happy as a lark.

His wife, Tough as Nails FBI Deputy Special Agent In Charge, Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins had a look of pure love for her husband....She also looked as if she and Hop had been making love well into the morning and it had been good...She kept rubbing his arm and leaning up against him..

They ordered Scrambled Eggs and Grits and Sausage as I had...They had ,as Carlotta and I had worked up quite an appettite..

 "Hey Guys" said Duke ,who walked in with his wife, Forensic Investigator and Coroner, Dr. Hazel Baylor..

 ''Hey Guys..What a night huh?" said Hazel..

Lt. Sissy Van Buren was the last to walk in...She smiled...

The three of them ordered omelets....

Sam Mother laughed..

"I don't have to worry about being robbed with all of you law enforcement types eating today...Most days I have all of the lawyers in here.." he said..

"Then you don't worry about being sued.."laughed Jimmy..

We all burst into laughter...

II-

For awhile we chowed down, we didn't talk shop...Hazel broke the silence...

"My lab technicians, who worked the midnight shift got back to me this morning on the loaded condoms, latex booties and latex gloves, Sirena, Hop

and those wonderful Police Academy Cadets ,along with CSI and my M.E. 's office guys turned up last night..

They got a DNA match on every single one of them...from sweat secretion and semen...The same person was using all of these that we found discarded in that trash bag and whoever he is tossed them in that dumpster when he did because trash pick up was this morning...We found them in just the nick of time.."said Hazel.

"Did You get any fingerprints from inside the gloves?" asked Carlotta.

''Sure Did , but they aren't in the system...City,State or Federal...and we checked bonded people and still got nothing.."said Hazel..

"You wouldn't!!!...Our suspect is not an American...but we got on somewhat good word that he may be a French National."said Tyriq..

"Jimmy told us last night...I'm going to call Interpol...See if they have this guy's prints and DNA on file..I'll check with Scotland Yard and the French Police too!" said Sharon..

"Good work, All of you....Now we are making progress..."

 Lieutenant Danny Ho walked in...He had an attractive Black woman with him who I somewhat recognized...

"Hello Guys...This is Mrs. Bonnie Shay...She is an Insurance Investigator, Cyclops Insurance.." he said.

"Hi everyone..I think we've all met before.." said Bonnie..

"You're Kevin's friend...You're a P.I. like him..We have met.."said Angie..

"Yes, I remember."said Duke..

"I'm also an Attorney...I was a Public Defender in New York City and an Assistant District Attorney there too before moving back here ,getting a P.I.'s license and working for Cyclops..Like Mr. Wallace..I've worked with Detectives before.." she said..

''Cyclops Insurance...Her employer has been investigating the thefts....They insured all three places that were robbed by our naked bandit..She's been co-operating with the Robbery-Homicide Unit...I thought I should introduce her to you guys.." said Lt. Ho..

''At this point we can use all of the help we can get.."said Duke.

"My guys know that our killer and our jewel thief is one and the same man..We have a couple of grainy photos pulled from Street cams and an ATM cam of a naked man with a woman's pantyhose covering his face and latex gloves, latex booties and in the case of our murders..a loaded condom still attached to him as shown in these photos." said Sissy, who showed them to Bonnie..

Her eyes got as large as saucers...

''Whoooooooooooooo lawd!" she said..

Carlotta,Sirena,Angie, Hazel,Sharon and Sissy all smiled that conspiratorial grin that women shared amongst themselves...They knew that Bonnie's reaction was because the man was so well endowed,plus the shock that he was naked and wearing latex booties and gloves....

This went completely over Duke,Jimmy,Tyriq and even Lt. Ho's head...

I just laughed...

''We've recovered a bag with his latex gloves,booties and loaded condoms in them that he was planning to discard...We got a DNA match and fingerprints, but he is not in any of our systems, Local, State,Federal or Bonded.."I said..

"So he has no sheet...but surely.."said Bonnie.

''He is from France...A Major Boxman..One of my C.I.'s ..A Shot caller told me so."said Carlotta.

"My friend,Kevin Morris told me you guys were the best..He's right..You guys have a photo, grainy at best..DNA and prints..WOWWWW! That's better than I have and I've been on this guy since the first robbery..." said Bonnie.

"But we don't have a name.."said Sirena..

"He's still Naked Guy."said Hop..

Jimmy cracked up laughing...

But all of that laughter was silenced when someone else walked in... Lieutenant Tragg..

III-

''Wellllllllllllllllll look at this..Philadelphia's finest....Enjoying your breakfast guys?" he said Sarcastically..

"I hope you are...There is a serial killer on the loose who has killed and raped three girls ..It's been three weeks and you guys are busy eating breakfast and drinking coffee and telling jokes.." he said.

''Lieutenant Tragg..Where is your press corps today?" I asked..

"Probably doing more work than your friends on trying to discover your killer...eyewitnesses have told them that the guy you're looking for is running around naked..Let's see , a big metropolitan city...a guy running around naked with latex gloves and booties on and a stocking cap made of pantyhose and you guys have no clue..."he said..

"We've been working this case for three weeks...We have a photo of him...grainy....DNA and prints..."said Sissy , angry at him putting down her detectives..

"So why isn't he in custody?" asked Lt. Tragg..

"We don't have a name or address for this man....and he doesn't appear to have a sheet or fit any M.O.'s of guys we have on file..I'd be pleased if you not blab to the press about the information we have on him." said Sissy..

''What's to blab?...You have nothing..I'll nab him before you do.."said Lt. Tragg..

"HAAA!" laughed Jimmy loudly...

Lt. Tragg stared at Jimmy..

"Detective Barlow...Do YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO ADD TO THE CONVERSATION?" he snarled.

Jimmy smirked..

"No My Esteemed Lieutenant,I do Not.." he said..

Carlotta, Sirena,Angie, Tyriq and even Duke couldn't hide their giggles..

Only Hop and Lt. Danny Ho did not laugh...Though I'm betting they wanted to..

"Sissy you need to teach your detectives a little respect."said Lt. Tragg..

"I'll work on that, AFTER WE CATCH OUR KILLER!"said Sissy sarcastically...Their relationship was now as acrid as it could be..She despised him...

The only person who despised him more was Hazel, who didn't look his way..

"Ho, how are you guys doing on those three jewel thefts? It was millions of revenue lost...The Deputy of Operations wants action...It's been three weeks..."said Lt. Tragg..

"My guys are working it hard sir.."said Lt. Danny Ho.

"It doesn't look like it.."he said an stared at Bonnie Shay..."Insurance Investigator...What are you doing here?"he asked..

"It's not a crime to eat breakfast Lieutenant."said Bonnie..

"Well don't even think about interfering in Lt. Ho's investigation...He already appears to have enough distractions.."said Lt. Tragg as he sauntered out of the diner..

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuu I hate him..."snarled Hazel..

"Relax...He'll screw up a case of his own in the near future..I'm sure..Give us all a laugh..."said Duke.

IV-

After breakfast we all returned to our headquarters...

Sharon had news for us...but not completely good news...

"Well Guys ,I've Got Good News and Bad News.....I'll give em both to you..at the same time."she said.

"That's a switch.."laughed Duke..

"I called Interpol and Scotland Yard...Apparently three years ago in Paris, three prostitutes were murdered, same way..Strangled...killer had sex with them using a condom...and on the same days there were major jewel thefts...Killer got careless and left a loaded condom at the scene of one of the murders..They got a DNA match that matches ours...Eyewitnesses swear they saw a naked man with Latex Booties, Latex Gloves and pantyhose covering his face...but the killings and the thefts stopped and there was no more sightings of this naked stranger."

A year and a half later in West Berlin , Three more women were found murdered...Manual strangulation...Killer used a condom..On the same three dates..There were large jewel thefts....Killer left no clues behind of any kind and only one eyewitness saw , wait for it..a naked man with Latex Booties, Latex Gloves and pantyhose covering his face...The police worked the cases hard...but the killings stopped and there was no sign of the naked stranger again...

A Year later in London, three prostitutes were murdered, same way..Strangled...killer had sex with them using a condom...and on the same days there were major jewel thefts...Killer got careless and left a loaded condom at the scene of one of the murders too.. He dropped it in the street, A Police dog recovered it..They got a DNA match that matches ours...Eyewitnesses swear they saw a naked man with Latex Booties, Latex Gloves and pantyhose covering his face...but the killings and the thefts stopped and there was no more...There was a latent fingerprint on the condom that matches the prints we have.  Sightings of this naked stranger stopped...There were no more killings of prostitutes..and that was that.." said Sharon.

''So the good news...We are looking for the same guy that the police in Germany, France and the U.K. are looking for."said Carlotta.

"The Bad news is ...They don't know who the hell this guy is either.."said Tyriq..

"WOW!" said Jimmy...

"Yes...but one thing we do know...He's still here somewhere.."said Sharon.

"We need to make him public ,set up a hotline..."said Hop..

"We do that and we might scare him off and cause him to change up.."said Sirena..

"You mean cause him to wear some clothes on his next job?" said Jimmy...

 I cracked up!

 So Did Sissy..

.

 "Angie get your husband..."said Hazel.

Angie was laughing.....

''Sirena and Junior both make good points."said Duke.."Right now ,we know more about him than he knows we know..He doesn't know we have his Prints and DNA...He doesn't know we know he's naked and that we have a photo of him...or that we know he's not an American national...We have a slight advantage.."said Duke..

"Think again!"said Carlotta who pointed to a monitor..

Lieutenant Tragg was having a noon day news conference..

"Well what we do know is this killer is naked...He's killed three call girls from the same agency...and at least three people claim to have seen a man with pantyhose covering his face, latex booties and latex gloves running from the scenes..." he said..

''Well what are you guys doing about it?" asked a reporter.

"I don't know what the ones working on it are doing, but pretty soon I'm certain I'll be taking over the investigation and putting together my own task force.." he said..

"Turn that off!" said Sissy...

Lt. Danny Ho sighed..

"He'll just mess everything up..."

"I'm calling Captain Cantrell and The Deputy Of Operations right now.." said Sissy...

"Before you do...Listen to this.. I've been on this case since the first theft....A Big time financier named Ernesto Maserati is said to be asking for an agent to insure some valuables of his..He has underworld ties allegedly  "said Bonnie Shay..

"I've heard the name....He supposedly has the hot package on the streets...but when did he get into high line merch?" asked Carlotta.

"It's easy money....It's big money and it's not as visible as having known drug organizations hanging around to buy product....From what our intelligence gathered from Narcotics and Vice..Maserati is slowly getting out of the drug business and diversifying into high end merchandise...It's clean business...and the yield is high.."said Lt. Ho...

"Santana told us that whoever reached out for this guy has some long green...some deep pockets...And it makes sense...This guy is from France and operates overseas....None of these local yokels have the kind of cash to reach out to someone like him.."said Tyriq.

''Does this Ernesto Maserati have that kind of cash?" asked Jimmy.

"Oh he sure does....We've had our eye on him for a long time....The FBI and ATF has suspected him of not only having a package, but of running guns as well.." said Sharon...

"Where does he lay his head in this area?" asked Sirena...

"Well we've got some surveillence photos of him...

 That's him...Ernesto Maserati...

He stays on a boat at Penns Landing's east Marina..He rarely comes off..People come to meet him..."said Sharon who pulled up some recent FBI-ATF photos.."said Sharon.

"Carlotta...That girl with him...Look!"said Hop...

 "It's Mercedes!!" he said..

Carlotta and my eyes got as large as a saucer...Mercedes on the arm of suspected gangster, Ernesto Maserati!!!

 "That's my cousin....Mercedes Rodriguez....She's a cop!" said Carlotta..

''She Must be undercover.."I said.

"Good...I've already set up a meet with Maserati  for tomorrow...I'm a slightly corrupt Insurance Agent who is willing to get him insured for a cut...And I have a blueprint of a big score, he's long been interested in...."said Bonnie..

"That's a perfect way in..."said Sissy...

"Yes, we've created a perfect cover for her...She gets inside and it may lead us to the stolen merch...My guess is...He couldn't have moved it that fast...It will also lead you guys to your serial killer."said Lt. Ho...

''What about your cousin Top?"asked Duke..

"Bonnie, If you get close to her...Tell her I need to see her..."said Carlotta...

''Will do.."said Bonnie..

"And maybe...Just maybe...We can get close to our Naked Stranger..."said Sissy..

TO BE CONTINUED