A Monster At Lovers Lane

My wife is a Detective....A very good detective...She's in an elite unit that I helped put together with her Lieutenant ….The Criminal Investigation Unit...They investigate Major Crimes, Major criminals and their enterprises...

I am Assistant District Attorney Keith Wallace, I prosecute major crimes....My wife is

Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace..We met some years ago at a crime scene..I was entralled with her from that first day...

I did everything I could to run into her to talk to her..To know her and keep up with her progress...When I started recruiting detectives for this unit...She was the first one I recruited..

Nevertheless , that was almost a lifetime ago...She called me this morning...This was big..She only called me when it was a big case..

It took me awhile to find the area...A lovers lane where couples parked their cars and made out, away from the view of the street....

But what I saw today was not romantic or erotic...

I walked past the uniformed policemen and the CSI and Medical Examiner's boys snapping photos and looking for evidence...

I saw a young woman, lying face down...Her blouse open...Her purple lace bra exposed....

a trail of blood leading from her body to the car...a white 2012 Nissan Maxima...

One of my wife's partners was looking at the drivers side of the car...In the passenger seat sat a young man, slumped over at the wheel, blood just pouring from his head like a siv...

"Damn, poor fella..he never saw this coming.."observed Detective James" Jimmy" Barlow..

"He took two to the back of the head..." he said..

Carlotta saw me and smiled, but she went back to observing...

"He took one to the shoulder...One in his side..Two to his lower back....By then he was dead.." she said..

Her Boss, Lt. Sissy Van Buren observed and grimaced..

"The girl must have seen the assailant and ran.....She got shot in the side...and she took two to her legs, both legs..." she said..

My wife's other partner, Detective Tyriq "Rico"Pile  observed the girl's body with Forensic Investigator and Coroner, Dr. Hazel Baylor..

'She got out of the car and tried to run...Her boyfriend had already been riddled with bullets..She got hit in the side....and both legs..she fell down and the killer stood over her and fired into her head...The kill shot." he said kneeling down and observing the girl's body...

"This was all so cruel.." said Hazel..

I was getting too used to seeing dead bodies...I was after all a lawyer...I went to law school.. My job is in a courtroom...I never figured on this..

''Who are they?" I asked.

"High School students...His name is Arthur Ferrell, he's 18....I can tell by his drivers license." said Sissy..

"The young lady is Elizabeth Johnson, She's 17...Student ID and Drivers License..."said Carlotta.

"I found two movie ticket stubs in his wallet...They had just come from the movies..."said Jimmy..

"There is a receipt in the girl's purse from Jake's.. They had stopped for a couple of Hot Dogs and a Soda.."said Tyriq..

"Nothing else?" I asked quietly...

"Just a lot of shell casings...The boys are bagging them and tagging them..."said Jimmy..

"Besides their car, there was obviously another car here....The forensic guys are doing a plastar cast of the treads...but that's it.. No fingerprints...No DNA and no Cameras to record anything.." said Carlotta..

"This looks like a crime of passion...Somebody was very angry at one or both of them...Chica, go to that high school.. See if you can find any of their friends, who will talk to you, maybe somebody was jealous of one or the both of them...Talk to their teachers, counselors, next of kin.. girlfriends...everybody!" said Sissy.

"I'm On it.." said Carlotta.

"Rico , go to Jakes...He must have camera footage of them there that night.." said Sissy..

''And this receipt has the exact time they were there.." said Tyriq..

''And I'll go to that movie theatre and do the same thing...Find out if there was any incidents.. see if I can catch them on film.." said Jimmy...

"Good and when you two are finished , go to that high school and help chica out.." said Sissy..

"My guys are done here...Can we remove the body?" asked Hazel...

"Yeah, go ahead." said Jimmy.

We all watched somberly as both bodies

were removed from the area...

''So Much violence..."I lamented..

"It's what regrettably keeps us employed." said a somber Tyriq..

''I'll never get used to this.."said Carlotta

."Don't...The day you do...Transfer to another unit.." said Sissy..

"Kind of surprised the uh "GREAT DETECTIVE" didn't show up with an entourage.." said Jimmy..

''Don't say his name...Be glad you can investigate this with no fanfare or interference from him.." said Hazel..

''Yes." said Carlotta. She walked over to me and gave me a soft kiss.

"How you doin papi?" she asked me...in between a couple more soft kisses.

I smiled..

"Mmmmmmm A little better now." I sighed..

"Me too, because you're here.." she said and hugged me..

That's how it began for Carlotta and me...A murder investigation....


II-

THE GREAT DETECTIVE was the sarcastic nickname the guys had for one Lieutenant Arthur Tragg, Who liked being on television and being interviewed more than he liked doing real detective work...The result...a half a dozen arrests of the wrong person and general bungling of cases, Ridicule from most of the local press core and a dozen fist fights with the press..

Today he was having drinks with seemingly his only friend.. T.V. Host B.L. Benz ,

 host of the CRIME SHOW, HARD BOTTOM", which regularly featured Lt. Tragg as a guest host , who gave his opinion and commentary on the most sensational crimes of the day...Most of which he had nothing to do with and the ones he did have something to do with were later proven to be the arrests of the wrong guys.

They were drinking in a local bar...

"B.L. take it easy....That's your sixth Vermouth.." said Lt. Tragg.

"Artie.. look.. you gotta help me.. My show's ratings are in the toilet...The network is talking about replacing me.. I gotta  get some new blood on my show,..You know people..That Willie Childs case.. Woulda been real nice to get those Attorneys who defended him.. Yvette Jones, Beatrice Evans, Keith Jones , Sofia Garcia and Kahlil Ahmed and their investigator ,Jade Lee.

 on the show.. And that death row case they had.. That case they tried in Houston with Olivia and her people...Not to mention the case they tried before the State Supreme Court wowzers.. but I couldn't get a return call from them...

and speaking of Olivia... I've been trying to get

Olivia Bennett-Alexander and her niece Beverly West on my show for years...They've had some meaty cases.. They won't return my calls....I'd be happy to talk to people close to them like her husband, Donnie Ray Alexander,

He's a hell of an investigator.....Or Beverly's husband, Nelson East,

He's a hell of a litigator...I nearly got an interview with that cute little para-legal that works with them, I forget her name.. I think it's Josephine..

She's in law school...but as soon as she found out who I was..she clammed up..."

Artie You know all of them, why don't you get them to do my show? My ratings would go through the ceiling." he said.

''You don't need them.." scoffed Lt. Tragg.. The mention of these attorneys made him sick to his stomach...They had all humiliated him by getting many of the people he arrested off and making him look incompetent as well at one time or another.

''Or how bout Sissy Van Buren??

 She and her detectives cracked that case where the two serial killers killed themselves in a sleazy hotel recently...The case you were on..She saved your life.. She would be ratings gold!" he said.

"I broke that case wide open.. Me.. I did that...She got all the credit..Why do you think those two freaks poisoned me?...They knew I was on to them."  said Lt..Tragg , who had been bested by Sissy and her detectives time after time.. They had cracked Major cases.. Major Cases he should have been involved in. To make matters worse ,no hot shot defense attorneys had ever made Keith Wallace look bad he mused.. He won almost all the time..

"Never the less..I need one case..One case I could cover first ,something big...To boost my ratings.. That would send me over the moon.." said Bl. Benz..

"You and I both need a big case B.L.  It's out there..Waiting for you to cover it and for me to crack it." said Lt. Tragg.




III-

Two Days Later...I again got a call.. Not from my wife, but from Detective Tony Hopkins...A young man I mentored..

He was a sharp uniformed officer I had taken a liking to...I found out he had dropped out of law school with one semester to go...

I got him to take the detectives test which he aced and I helped him get into an accelerated course at Drexel so that he can get his law degree...

His partner, Detective Sirena Pile..

Tyriq's wife and next to Tony Hopkin's wife, FBI Deputy Special Agent in charge, Sharon Hopkins

My wife Carlotta's best friend....

Carlotta was godmother of two of Tyriq and Sirena's three children..

Sissy was the godmother of the youngest..

Thus proof of how close knit and how much of a family this unit was..

This afternoon...a male was lying face down outside of his car...He had been shot in the chest three
times..

A female was slumped in the passenger seat...blood pouring from her head...

 "She got shot three times in the head...She was killed instantly,...."said Sirena...

"From the looks of things...The killer walked up to her and shot her first..."said Hazel..

"Hey guys...My guy is still alive!"said Hop..

''What?" said Sissy..

''He's alive!!!...He's trying to talk.."said Hop..

"Get an ambulance.."said Sissy..

"Lieutenant....These are 9 millimeter shell casings....Just the ones in your other case a few nights ago." said a CSI man..

I looked at the woman...Her blouse was open and her bra had been unhooked..The young man's trousers were down around his ankles...

"They pulled off this side street into this abandoned street to make out.."I said.

"Yes, there are similarities.." said Sissy..

"He name is Donna Perl...She's 22 and she's married...Judging by the wedding band on her finger.." said Sirena.

"This guy is in bad shape..His name is Mike Renault.. He's 17...and uh..He is not her husband!

"Awwww suki suki now." said Sirena...

''Find the husband..Find out where he was...check his financials. .and his movements..and get this guy to a hospital..."said Sissy..

The body of Donna Perl was removed and carted away...

While Mike Renault, barely holding on to life was rushed to the hospital...

"Hop go with him....As soon as he wakes up we need to know who did this to them..."said Sissy..

''So Far,So Good...Two cases and no interference from you know who...Maybe they put him back on the boat."said Hazel..

"I doubt that...but at least my detectives can work without him breathing down their backs.." said Sissy.

''Siss..I hate to sound like Lt. Tragg...but don't you see a pattern here..? Two couples making out...Two couples ambushed...9 millimeter slugs at both sites????" I asked.

"It could be or these might be two separate murder cases with nothing to do with each other...We don't want to jump on that Serial Killer bus just yet..."said Sissy..

IV-

We returned to headquarters...

Detectives Edwin "Duke" Baylor and his partner, Detective Angie Belton Barlow and FBI Deputy Special Agent in charge, Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins had chilling news for us..

 ''Siss, while you were out, we got this phone call..."said Duke.

 "I know everybody is out running down leads....but this guy sounds very serious.."said Angie..

''He called the FBI Violent Crimes hot line this afternoon around three..Listen to this.."said Sharon..

Sissy and I listened...

"I KILLED TWO PEOPLE TWO NIGHTS AGO AT A LOVERS LANE....A YOUNG MAN...HE WAS WEARING KHAKI PANTS AND DOCKERS...His FLY WAS OPEN...THE YOUNG LADIES'S BLOUSE WAS OPEN...SHE WAS WEARING A PURPLE LACE BRA FROM VICTORIA'S SECRET....."

"THIS AFTERNOON, I KILLED TWO PEOPLE....A WOMAN IN HER TWENTIES AND A TEEN AGED BOY...SHE WAS GIVING HIM A BLOW JOB WHEN I WALKED UP ON HER AND SHOT HER THREE TIMES IN THE HEAD AND HIM THREE TIMES IN THE CHEST...."

"SHAME ON HER...SHE WAS MARRIED!!!   SO FAR , ME FOUR....PHILLY PD...ZIPPO....THIS IS BIG DADDY SPEAKING!" came the voice...

''Only the killer would know that...We've released nothing to the press about the one Sirena and Hop caught tonight...And only sketchy information about the double ,Carlotta,Tyriq and Jimmy caught.
He is wrong about one thing though.."said Sissy...

''What's that Siss?" asked Angie..

"One of the two people he shot today is still alive....He's at the hospital...That will not be known...Our guy doesn't know that."said Sissy..

"Hop is with him now!" I said.

''So we are looking for a serial killer.."said Duke.

"We are looking for a Monster."said Sissy...

She was right. I Feared for my city...I stared out the window at the city from a distance...

Somewhere in the city lurked a mad man.


(TO BE CONTINUED)