A major jewelry store is where I found myself this morning...
I'm Assistant District Attorney, Keith Wallace...They Call me in when it's a major crime...This was a major crime..
A six million dollar jewel heist ...The biggest heist of the year, maybe of the decade...
and a brutal murder... One of the security guards was shot to death...
Uniformed policemen were outside controlling the small crowd that gathered around...
Inside...Dr. Hazel Baylor and detectives , Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace, My sexy wife and her partners,
detectives Tyriq Pile and James "Jimmy" Barlow had on latex gloves and were kneeling down at the body...As CSI and Forensic people snapped photos and looked for clues..
"This was particularly cruel...."observed Hazel looking at the body of a young man, just 25 years old..His second day on the job..
"He was shot twice in the chest.."observed Carlotta..
''Yeah , and then the killer shot him once more in the head to make sure he was dead."observed a solemn Tyriq, shaking his head...
"They knew what they were looking for....They left all of this costume jewelry and lesser pieces behind." said Jimmy..
There was diamonds on the floor and a lot of broken glass.....
"These guys were good..They deactivated the street cams for blocks and they jammed the signal of the store cam..."said Detective Sirena Pile, Tyriq's wife..
"They knew when there would be a lull in customers, They came in through the front door and took this place down strong...The owner said it was a man and two women...They wore masks...."said Detective Tony Hopkins, her husband...
Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor and his partner, Detective Angie Belton -Barlow, Jimmy's wife walked in..
"Witnesses say they left out the back and were in a black muscle car...A Challenger with bright headlights... I got a guy getting a plaster cast..."said Duke..
'We might have gotten lucky...There is an ATM across the street...If they didn't deactivate that, We may have caught them on film.."said Angie..
''We need whatever luck we can get in this case." said Sissy..
Deputy FBI Special Agent in charge ,Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins had her FBI agents and some ATF agents processing the scene also..
"There was a time when my FBI would take over this entire investigation...but I like you guys and we work well together..We'll crack this thing."said Sharon with a smile..
Lt. Danny Ho of Robbery -Homicide sighed..
'This is a new crew , nothing like crews we've been used to and very violent...I want them badly...That's why I called you guys in. AGAIN!" he said..
"That's what friends are for Danny.....Take a deep breath....What do you notice?" said Sissy.
"Huh? what are you talking about Sis?" asked Danny Ho.
"He's not here..No press as of yet....No Lt. Tragg….He's still serving out his two week suspension for that melee in the courtroom with those reporters....We can solve this thing in peace before he returns." said Sissy...
"Oh My God Yes." said Hazel..
Sirena laughed.....
"Yeah, that is a relief...we can actually work a case without the meddling of the "Great Detective" laughed Jimmy...
''Rico, Duke are we going to put a team together to canvas the block?" asked Hop...
"Yeah, but I doubt we'll find anything.."said Duke..
"But you never know...we might get lucky."said Tyriq.
Angie whispered in her husband's ear - "Do you feel like getting lucky later on tonight?"
Jimmy blushed something terrible, which Angie loved making him do..
"I take that as a yes." she said and smiled... she remembered when he was so shy around her...He is three years younger and felt like she was out of his league.. Even She never imagined they would be married....Now just like Carlotta and me ,they were married and often snuck off in the middle of the day for a quickie.
It made the gruesome job we do of speaking for the dead...bearable!
"My agents will clean up the scene guys...You can move that body mow if you're done with it."said Sharon.
"Yeah, we are done with it...Chica...you and Rico and Jimmy are the primaries on this one."said Sissy.
Carlotta had finished her investigation...
"Okay Hazel, you can move him..." she said softly...
The young man, Herman Daniels, age 27 had no wife of baby, but he did have next of kin...Carlotta would locate them and tell them the sad news...
We watched as the body was moved...
II-
At His neighborhood watering hole, Curly's Bar, a week had gone by and Lt. Tragg had been allowed back in the bar.
Curly had thrown him out after he assaulted TV Host , B.L. Benz...
Since he had returned, he noticed that no HARD BOTTOM was run, only Sports on four of the six monitors and the news on the other two.. His customers preferred this..
For his part, Lt. Tragg reacquainted himself with the gorgeous young blonde he had been talking to weeks before...He apologized for his behavior profusely and she let him buy her drinks..
He talked about anything and everything except police work or business....He loosened up and was more pleasant to be around...With her his mood changed...
His hands wandered under her tight skirts and rubbed her legs and except for a few times when his hands got too close to her panties and she removed them politely...She didn't seem to mind him...
''You're obviously feeling better now of days, less stressed." the blonde said.
"I am...You know Ruby....I uh could be even a lot less stressed...Heh heh Heh." said Lt. Tragg.
"Oh you could?" she laughed...
"I know a place not too far from here...Thickest Juiciest steaks you ever wanna see...and they serve good wine....You Hungry?" asked Lt. Tragg..
"Ouuuu that sounds good....I am a little Hungry." said the blonde..
Lt. Tragg tossed a few dollars on the counter..
"Come on...let's get outta here." he said.
Curly looked at him and smiled..
"That's what Artie needs...To get laid...He was too wound up" he mused.
III-
Back at headquarters....We all sat around trying to decipher the days events...
"We put a team on the immediate area, The five to six block radius and got nothing...Nobody saw or heard a thing.."said an exasperated Duke..
"They took out the street cams and the traffic cams for six to seven blocks..."said Tyriq...
"They didn't leave not one print and no DNA.."said Hazel...
"These guys were good, They left no stone unturned.."said Hop...
"They weren't that good...They made two mistakes.."said Carlotta.
"TWO MISTAKES LOTTA?" asked Sharon, whose FBI/ATF task force had come up just as empty...
"Pray tell, what was that?" asked Sissy...
"We found a glass with a latent fingerprint in the alley way... It may have been a guy and three girls who pulled the robbery, but somebody was driving the getaway car...a muscle car...and they were drinking wine as the robbery went down...The glass has a latent print on it and saliva...DNA.."said Carlotta, smiling..
"Good Pull Top."said Duke..
"That's my girl."said Tyriq..
"There is more.." said Angie...
"More ?" I said.
"Their second mistake...They didn't take out the ATM camera across the street..They missed that altogether.."said Sirena..
Our monitor showed the car driving up and our jewel thief/murderers getting out of the car as it went around back and putting on their masks and cocking their weapons..
''Well I'll be damned....I know that guy..That's Terry Watkins, a two time loser...Armed Robbery....Attempted murder."said Jimmy...
"And using facial recognition....we have the other three...
"That's Lisa "Lu Lu Benson, three arrests for prostitution....Three arrests for possession with intent to deliver controlled substances...No convictions...."
"This one right here...A conviction a piece for Grand Larceney and Burglary ...Just finished a three year bid upstate...That's Patricia Krenkle…"
And last but not least....That's Melody Harris, once an aspiring singer and songwriter, with arrests for drug possession, prostitution and Burglary..." said Sharon..
''Something doesn't fit here."said Sissy.
"Like this is a big step up for them." said Hop...
"Yeah I mean, subtract the guy, Terry Watkins...Those girls aren't heavies...They're light weights.."said Sirena.
''Well they were before today...That was a six million dollar heist , the biggest in the history of this city and that was a murder..They're in the big leauges now.." said Sissy..
''And the fingerprints and DNA on that glass is either the string puller or the getaway driver..."said Carlotta.
"No...The string puller wouldn't be there...The shot caller set this up......He had somebody case this place...for weeks, case this entire area...No...He wouldn't be there...he cased this place and he hired this crew to take it down...I know Terry Watkins...He's an expert heist guy...but he couldn't put something like this together...No this is someone else.."said Tyriq..
''Rico's right...We need to check all of the known fences..."said Jimmy..
Sissy's husband, Eddie C. walked in...He had brought some fat juicy steaks for us and baked potatoes..
The smell of the steaks wafted into our conference room..
"I don't mean to get in your conversation guys....but you said a six million dollar heist??...Only one man on the street can handle that kind of weight.. Eddie Palmieri..." said Eddie C.
''Yes..Eddie Palmieri...He's a jeweler...but everybody knows he's a wiseguy also..."said Carlotta.
"He's a wanna be.. He's not a made man...Not yet anyway...but yeah, word on the street is he's connected.." said Duke..
"Where can he be found?" I asked..
"He's got a penthouse suite in town...He holds court there, sells high end jewelry to the high rollers..and people in the know...It's all totally legit..."said Tyriq..,
''And it's a front...Everybody knows, but nobody can prove that he puts down scores.. He buys information on vulnerable establishments and hires high priced heist crews to take em down." said Jimmy..
"So why work with these lightweights?" asked Sirena..
"Yes, Why?" asked Sissy..
"I guess good help is hard to find huh?" said Sharon..
"Terry Watkins is no lightweight, he's said to be one of the best box men (safe cracker) money can buy and an expert if not vicious heist guy...The fact that he only has two convictions speaks to how good he is...Why he's using those girls...I don't know.." said Angie..
"The Power of The Panties! Those steaks smell good."said Sissy..
We all agreed...
We had all packed overnight bags...We were staying here tonight , so we could get an early start on cracking this case...
We headed into our cafeteria and prepared to chow down...
IV-
While at a tony steakhouse.. Lt. Tragg and the mysterious Blonde are enjoying a delicious meal and some good wine..
"Lieutenant, you weren't lying about the Steaks here...They are delish and the wine...Oh My goodness." she said,
She politely removed his wandering hands from under her skirt..
''Don't be naughty...We've been having a nice night." she said.
'Heh heh heh...naughty is sexy."laughed Lt. Tragg..
"My phone is ringing..Excuse me Artie...I gotta take this..It's business." she said and walked outside..
"Uncle Eddie what's up?" she said..
"Ruby, where did you find those cowboys you recruited for my job?" asked an Angry Eddie Palmieri...
"They came highly recognized...Terry Watkins is an expert boxman...And Curt is solid...plus with the layout I gave them a bunch of fourth graders could have taken that joint...No prints, No DNA and no pesky cameras for a seven block radius...plus limited witnesses...Piece of cake Unc."said Ruby..
"Yeah, it should have been except these cowboys managed to kill a security guard , now those ice cubes are hot..City coppers and federallis are turnin the city upside down lookin for them. I don't want em to come here." said Eddie Palmieri..
"Cops are lookin for ghosts...They got nothin...No fingerprints, no DNA... no visual captured on street or traffic cam because they disconnected or jammed every camera in sight for blocks...Curt took care of that...Cops got nothin..." said Ruby...
"I hope not...One thing I don't need is a murder rap hangin over my head...."said Eddie.
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