Everybody Wants To Be On The News

The detectives worked around the clock....We had a double homicide, a homicide and an attempted homicide... Neither Sissy nor I got to see them before we left for home..

Carlotta came in very late and just crashed...She was so tired...

This morning they ordered their breakfasts to go and came back to work...They wisely chose to eat and share notes on the third floor, The FBI -ATF floor, so that they wouldn't be disturbed by Lt. Tragg, who had probably heard about the two double shootings..

Before Sissy could say anything...Carlotta started...

"The School was blaco...I interviewed about 150 students....both were very popular...None of them had a bad word to say about either of them....They are shocked...I talked to teachers, counselors and their parents, siblings and cousins....I checked their financials and their alibis.. They all checked out.. It's in my report.. Rico and Jimmy helped me." said Carlotta..

"Knowing you...I'm sure it's thorough Chica." said Sissy, who was not surprised.

"Junior and I went to Jakes...We found them both on the store camera.... We checked the street cam...We found a brown Chevy outside Jakes, Across the street...It followed them apparently..."said Tyriq..

"Same car was at the Movie theatre...Across the street....We got a partial....It was stolen....Auto Theft found the car....It had been bleached and wiped down...No fingerprints...No DNA...and the windows were tinted...Whoever was in this car had been following them from the movies, to Jakes and then the lovers lane...We showed the car to the students, teachers ,counselors and relatives...Nobody seems to have seen it." said Jimmy...

''Donna Perl was married ,just like I said...Her husband had no idea where she was or what she was doing with Mr. Renault...He never heard of him....He is devastated and he's not faking.. They had to sedate him... I checked his financials and his alibi...He's solid...It wasn't him.....I interviewed some of her friends...It seems Mr. Renault was a customer in the restaurant where she worked...The two of them had been having an affair.. It was an open secret....."said Sirena..

''Where they drove to....There is no street cams..."said Sissy...

"The tire mold that was taken is a match for your stolen car though.." said Hazel...

Hop walked in....

''Renault is awake and he's talking...He gave a police artist a description of his assailant and a description of the car... A Brown Chevy...He said neither he nor Donna Perl ever saw this guy before." He said....

''We are dealing with the same guy....Guys.. Listen to what a caller called in last night." said Sissy.

"This freak called the FBI Violence Task Force while you were out last night.." said Sharon..

"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...

''We are dealing with , yess..A Serial Killer." I sighed.. Duke and Angie walked in...

 "We traced that call...It came from a booth.." said Duke

''And get this...It was right across the street from the scene of your murder, Carlotta..."said Angie..

"No prints, no DNA...We had it checked.. Whoever this is...He's good and very careful.." said Angie.

''Except he doesn't know he has a living witness." said Hop.

This was the one break we could say we had in this baffling case..


II-

You would have thought  our killer , who was still anonymous and unknown to us would have laid low...Three murders and an attempted murder in two days...but nooooooooooooooo!

We got another call within the hour...

''YOU KNOW...I HAVE KILLED FOUR PEOPLE..TWO COUPLES...I AM SURPRISED THAT I DID NOT MAKE THE FRONT PAGE NEWS......YOU THINK YOU WILL KEEP ME A SECRET AND TRY TO FIND ME RIGHT? WRONG...YOU WILL NOT FIND ME BECAUSE I DID NOT LEAVE ANY CLUES!!!  I AM THROUGH DEALING WITH YOU LOSER COPS...I KNOW WHO WILL PUT ME ON THE FRONT PAGE.....SO FAR ME FOUR...PHILLY PD ZIPPO...BIG DADDY HAS SPOKEN!"
came the voice...

"This guy sure thinks highly of himself.." said Tyriq..

"My training as a profiler tells me that this guy has some major inadequacies...Possibly sexual...Which is why he kills couples engaging in sex..."said Sirena...

"That makes sense...Do you notice...he shoots the woman more times usually...Overkill..."said Hazel..

"Yeah, it does appear like that.." said Jimmy...

"Okay...We keep this in house....We don't tell anybody that there is a living witness who has given a police artist a sketch...I want a team of well placed plain clothes guys in that hospital guarding that room and I want that hallway sealed off...Top priority.." said Sissy..

"I'll put a team on it now.." said Duke..

"I'm headed back to the hospital now." said Hop.

"What we need is a break...Just one break." said Carlotta.

"Chica, Rico, Jimmy, Sirena.. go home, pack a few bags...Come back....you guys are staying here...I've already told my husband

 to pack me some things..."said Sissy..

"Jimmy and I already packed some things...They are in the car.." said Angie...

I pulled Carlotta to the side and kissed her..

''What I need is you..."I said..

Carlotta giggled..

''Papi , you always want it..." she said..  It was true.. I did.

III-

B.L. Benz and Lt. Tragg were again in their favorite bar, knocking back drinks...

and complaining....

''I tell ya Benz...even when I make a good collar...Those damn defense attorneys and their investigators  make me look like a bungling idiot...and if it's not them...It's Sissy Van Buren and her detectives...many who used to work for me...who are bringing in the big case...I need a good collar or two.." said Lt. Tragg..

They were watching Television....

Olivia Bennett-Alexander and her niece ,Beverly West were being congratulated on winning another high profile case....Standing with her was her husband, Investigator, Donnie Ray Alexander, Beverly's husband..Co counsel, Nelson East and their protoge' , Para Legal and law student, Josie Boyd..

" Olivia and Beverly and their little para legal are stone babes and good attorneys too...I would love to have them on my show....With you too Artie.. You guys have jousted often...It would make my ratings leap.. Bottom line ,I need a good story.." said B.L. Benz..

As annoying as he found Olivia and Beverly....Lt. Tragg really didn't hate them...He understood that they were attorneys doing their job...He understood the game and how it was played....And he actually liked and respected Donnie Ray....Olivia's husband..an ex-Homicide Detective...Now a P.I.  Beverly's husband Nelson seemed like a nice enough fellow and he didn't really know Josie. .their para legal.

Just then B.L.'s phone rang....

"Scuse Me Artie...I gotta take this...I don't recognize the number..." he said..

"Hello...Your dime your time.." he said..

"SHUT UP AND LISTEN....

"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...

"Are you serious pal?" asked B.L. Benza...

"SERIOUS AS CANCER...LT. SISSY VAN BUREN KNOWS...SHE IS TRYING TO KEEP IT LOW KEY.....DETECTIVES JAMES BARLOW, CARLOTTA RODRIGUEZ-WALLACE AND TYRIQ PILE ARE WORKING THE FIRST CASE...WHERE I KILLED THE TWO TEENAGERS AT THE LOVERS LANE TWO DAYS AGO...AND DETECTIVES SIRENA PILE AND TONY HOPKINS ARE WORKING THE SECOND CASE WHERE I KILLED A TEEN AGED BOY AND A MARRIED WOMAN UP IN BREEZEWOOD YESTERDAY....THEY DON'T WANT IT ON THE NEWS...BUT I WANT FRONT PAGE COVERAGE. THIS IS BIG DADDY TALKIN." said the voice..

"Are you on the level mack?" asked B.L. Benz...

''JUST SO YOU KNOW I AM SERIOUS....UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH...I UGHHHHHHHHHHHH, DROPPED TWO MORE BODIES...AN HOUR AGO AT THAT SAME LOVERS LANE WHERE I KILLED THE FIRST TWO....UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..."

"Hey Buddy, you okay? You sound a little under the weather?" asked B.L. Benz.

(CLICK!)

He looked excited..

"Hey Artie...This could be a big break for both of us...we got a serial killer on the loose..He just called me..He knew things only the killer could know and he said he just killed two more people.."he said excitedly...

"You're kidding?" said Lt. Tragg..

"I'll fill you in on what he said in the car...Come on."said B.L.

IV-

It was  like de ja vu....Here we were at the same scene we had been at two nights before..

Uniformed policemen kept the crowds away and C.S.I. and Medical Examiner personell snapped photos, picked up shell casings and looked for evidence..

 "Is she dead Rico?" asked Duke..

"Yeah, pretty much...eight gun shot wounds.." he said..

Duke and Tyriq examined the woman's body.....Her blouse was open, her bra was completely off..it was on the floor of the car....Her dress which had been pulled up was crimson red...

 ''My goodness.." said Sissy.

''They didn't realize this was the scene of a murder just a few nights ago?" I asked.

"They didn't care....They just wanted to get it on.." said Sharon..

Sissy and I and Sharon looked at her lifeless body...

 "Hey Guys...This one is alive.." said Sirena..

 "He's conscious."said Carlotta..

The man was several feet from the car...He had been shot four times in the chest....

Angie checked him out..

"He's got a gun.....and it looks like he fired it..."said Angie who followed the trail to a pile of blood...

 "This might not be their blood."said Jimmy..

"This might be the killer's blood.." said Hop.

Jimmy and Hop took hankerchief's and soaked the blood up..

"Which means our guy made a mistake...Finally he left behind some DNA..."said Sissy...

''Heads up...I knew it was too good to be true.." I said..

"Aye Mios Dios....The Great Detective is here.." said Carlotta.

"CRAP!" said Hazel disgustedly...

Lt. Tragg and his buddy, TV News personality B.L. Benz walked up on the scene..

 ''Another double eh Sis?"sneered Lt. Tragg..

"This makes six...You know this guy called me this afternoon...He knew things only the killer could know...He told me about the two, two nights ago and the two yesterday and now these two.." said Benz...

Lt. Tragg looked around...

"All this blood...different types of shell casings..,."he mused..

''Apparently, our guy over there was armed and may have wounded him." said Jimmy...

"Is he alive?" asked Lt. Tragg...

"Not anymore." said Angie, who felt his pulse...He had just died..

Ignoring Lt. Tragg, Tyriq said to Sissy.

"The dead guy is Calvin Arnett, He was a security guard at the bank.. He was bonded and licensed to carry.. I found his drivers license and his work ID and his permit."he said.

"The girl is Cecilia Sheppard, a bar maid at Stoleys… I recognize her.." said Carlotta.

BL Benz looked around....

"No street cam....no business cam....This was perfect for an ambush...You guys  going to take a plastar cast of those tires?" he asked.. Like a detective...he knew the drill.."

''Yeah dude...we're on it."said Jimmy.

"This is the third one...No Suspects Sissy?" asked Lt. Tragg.

"He hasn't left us much...No shoe prints, no fingerprints, no DNA...and like your friend said...No street cam or business cam..We found the car used in the first two...It was stolen and bleached down..no prints or DNA...Whoever this is.. He's good..We investigated these killings as separate events until he called us yesterday and told us things we hadn't released to the press..."said Sissy.

"Like the color of the victim's bra huh?" asked B.L.

"It's too much to ask you guys to keep this on the low...but think of this...The more publicity you give him, the more you egg him on...The more you put people's lives in danger." I said.

"Seems to me that by you NOT giving him what he wanted...It cost these two their lives..."said Lt. Tragg..

Sissy and Hazel were beyond disgusted..They certainly didn't need Lt. Tragg stirring the pot.

 "Hazel, you can remove the bodies now." said Sissy, totally ignoring Lt. Tragg.

"Okay guys, pack em up."said Hazel..

We all watched as both bodies were hauled away..

and into M.E. vans.. headed for the morgue..

Sissy whispered to Hop.

"Get to that Hospital, see if our guy is awake." she said.

"I'm on my way." he said.

B.L. had recorded everything on his phone...Including his conversations with Jimmy, Angie, Sissy and myself.

It was going to be a long night...

 "Let's get outta here." said Duke..

 "Yeah man."said Tyriq.

"We can take my car."said Sharon...

"This is going to be all over the television...That's just what he wants.." said Carlotta..

"We have an edge...We have a living victim he doesn't know about...and now we have his DNA...We are going to get him.." said Sissy..

I hoped she was right.


(TO BE CONTINUED)