We had solved the three murders of girls dropped in the parks that had been hanging over our heads for a week and the murder of attorney Todd Sweeny..
The .357 found in his apartment was a ballistics match for the murder of Attorney Todd Sweeney,plus it had his fingerprints and DNA on it..
His Black gloves and the Garotte we found in his apartment had his DNA and the DNA of all three of the murdered girls on it..
Plus he had glossies of all three murdered young women and newspaper clipping of all three murders..
We found 125 k in cash in a travel bag under his bed and an airline ticket to Miami...
He had been planning to leave town anyway when we fell upon him..
Sissy wanted to treat all of her detectives, plus the cops and federal agents who helped us on this case to breakfast...she asked for and got permission from the Deputy Of Operations for the breakfast...
There was Shrimp and Grits..
Omelettes made to order...
Hash Browns
and sausage links...
Champaigne and
Mimosas ..
''Siss no one can throw a party like you do." said Duke.
"This is just wonderful..." said Hazel..
"Boss Lady, this is why I like working for you..."said Jimmy.
"I think we all share that sentiment.."said Angie..
"Ditto to that...I was so glad when you guys let me come over here.."said Sirena.
''Siss you're the best.."said Tyriq..
"THREE CHEERS FOR THE BOSS LADY!" said Carlotta..
"Hip Hip Hooray....Hip Hip Hooray...Hip Hip Hoorayy!" they all said in unison..
"Yes...Like my partner...I was honored when you guys accepted me...after I put on my Gold shield and showed me the ropes.."said Hop...
"I've worked with Police departments in D.C. , Atlanta and New Orleans and let me tell you, you guys are the best....I had to come back to my hometown to see that."said Sharon...
"I'm just so appreciative of all of you....I prayed for truly good detectives for years and thanks to ADA Keith Wallace...I got you guys...You guys make my life easier every day.."said Sissy ,who was near tears...
I hugged her...
"Now Now..No tears...let's eat up and drink up guys..
The Federal agents and the Uniformed and Plain clothes policemen all cheered...
It was a great morning and a breather... but if you thought this case was over...Think again..
II-
A Few hours later...I found myself sitting in Sissy's office with Carlotta and Angie..
"I hate to be Debbie Downer, but this aint over..Yeah we caught our killer...but he only killed the girls and the lawyer...They were killed for a reason..."said Sissy.
"Well they all got pregnant and had babies by the very married Judge Phillips."said Carlotta.
"He's a breath away from the Supreme Court or at least another Federal Judgeship...A scandal like that would wreck his marriage and his political career...so he had to shut those girls up.."said Angie.
Tyriq weighed in...
"He was in Miami, Florida the night the first girl was murdered...He was on CNN, I have film footage.." he said..
Jimmy weighed in...
"He was in San-Francisco at a Republican Party Fund Raiser when the second Girl was murdered..I got a copy of plane ticket, credit card receipts and photos from the Fund Raiser..." he said.
"And the night the third girl was found dead...He was in Atlantic City...I've got photos from the Casino and the Convention and credit card receipts."said Sirena..
"We know he didn't personally kill anybody and it seems like he got his money and instructions through the Attorney, Todd Sweeney, judging from the phone calls back and forth on the burner phone.."said Duke.
"Until it was decided that Todd Sweeney had to go...He had to have gotten a call from somewhere else..And that's the phone call I want to know about..."said Sissy..
''Siss, is it possible that someone is acting in the Judge's behalf and he doesn't know about it?" asked Hop..
"Very Possible...Not that he doesn't know about it..But that someone is in the background, pulling the strings..." said Sissy..
''Does he have a campaign manager?" I asked.
"His wife is his campaign manager.."said Carlotta.
"I can tell you about her.." said Sharon..
"She's an attorney...Born and raised here in Philadelphia...Attended Prep schools on the Main Line..Attended prestigious Sarah Lawrence College, B.A. in Humanities..Another B.A. in English Literature.. J.D. from PENN LAW...She was about a decade ahead of Me....Worked at several prestigious firms...Said to be an excellent litigator, Taught Law at , wait for it...Georgetown...Met and married our fair haired boy...Judge , then Professor Barton Phillips...
They were the power couple of D.C. and later Philadelphia." said Sharon..
"Somebody...Look into her finances, study her phone calls made around a certain time..."said Sissy..
"We've got to tread very carefully with both of these individuals ,I warned..Right now...we have very little connecting either one to a crime and they are lawyers.."I said..
"Maybe we should put Lt. Tragg on this."said Jimmy with a straight face..
Carlotta, Tyriq, Duke, Angie, Sirena, Hop, Hazel and Sharon burst into raucous laughter...
"You don't know how bad I wish we could...but I want this case solved thoroughly and right.."said Sissy.
III-
Barton Phillips was worried...
"This is a mess...A shootout in the streets...I'm just glad no cops got killed..Was this necessary?" he asked his wife..
"He was a loose cannon..He couldn't be trusted...If he got caught , there is no telling what he might have said to save himself.. He had to go ..I knew if the cops cornered him , that fool would fight rather than surrender and it couldn't have been more perfect...The cops took him out!"said Janice Phillips..
''They found enough evidence on him to take all four of his murders off the books..He was too stupid to discard any of that stuff..It was perfect." she said.
''Oh My God, what a mess...WHAT A MESS. This all got out of control.. " he said.
"If you weren't such a man whore and could keep it in your pants...This wouldn't have gotten messy...Why didn't you use condoms? You got all three of those little trollips pregnant...and Todd Sweeney cleaned it up , nice and neat for us...Then Todd got greedy...Thought he was going to blackmail us...hah! I took care of him and those three girls..or rather Tyler did...but I got to worrying about Tyler...He wasn't the brightest bulb in the socket...So I made a little call to the Criminal Investigation Divison...I gave them what they wanted before they got too close..They had already raided the adoption agency and Sweeney's office..The bleeding had to be stopped.. I did what was necessary...You couldn't do it...So I took it off you..Now Relax...You're an angel's breath from the Supreme Court...everyone involved that could hurt you is now dead...The police have their killer..Their murders are solved...Everybody wins...Just keep cool and let's ride this out..." said His wife...Janice Phillips.
Lt. Tragg stood outside of ADA Karen Page's apartment complex....
He was across the street..
He watched as B.L. Benz walked out and walked down the opposite side of the street.....
How he hated him....He had banned him from his TV show...The TV show he helped make popular and now he had his girl...
Assistant District Attorney, Karen Page...but he wasn't done yet...He had just begun his quest to get Karen...He wasn't done yet he thought to himself..
IV-
Judge Barton Phillips answered the door...
"Judge Phillips, it's an honor to meet you...I don't know if you remember me...I'm Assistant District Attorney, Keith Wallace." I said..
"I see you on the news quite often...To what do I owe the pleasure.. And is this the lovely Lt. Sissy Van Buren? You head that un Criminal Investigation Division...you guys have been taking a lot of big time criminals off the street." he laughed..
"Thank You your honor..but it's your wife we are here to see.." said Sissy...
"My wife?" asked Judge Barton Phillips..
''Me? what do you want with me?" asked Janice Phillips incredulously...
Sissy put the glossies of the three young murdered girls on her coffee table..
"I can't sleep at night Mrs. Phillips and the reason why is because these three young ladies keep calling out to me for absolution...."said Sissy..
"Who are they? I don't know them.." said Janice Phillips..
"Ohhh but you do....and let's not lie to each other...Your husband got all three of these women pregnant and they gave birth to his son and two daughters..who were all adopted legally....Your attorney, Todd Sweeney handled that....I can only imagine what it must be like to have a husband with a wandering penis...one who impregnates three women ,who give birth...why would you stay?Why would you put up with this, but more telling, why would you clean up his mess?" asked Sissy..
"You're going to be in a lot of trouble....I know people...Like the Mayor, Like The Police Commissioner ,Like The Deputy Of Operations..You're going to be walking a beat in West Philly, that is if you even have a job at all Lieutenant." said Janice..
"I'm not worried about you ,who you know or your threats...I wouldn't be here...If I didn't have evidence...I have a detective named Tony Hopkins and another Detective, His partner named Sirena Pile and another detective, who's pretty creative named Jimmy Barlow..
and they looked into the activity in your husband's bank account for the past month......several payments of 200K a month were transferred from his bank account into the account of Attorney Todd Sweeney and he in turn when we looked at his bank account was siphoning about a third of that to the three young ladies... apparently the 9000.00 dollar payoff they were given after agreeing to give up their children to adoption wasn't enough...The four of them were blackmailing your husband... News of one child out of wedlock would have destroyed his chances of sitting on the Supreme Court and you more than anything wanted to be married to a powerful man......So you cleaned it up...
Three of my other detectives followed phone calls made on a burner phone found in the dead killer's apartment...Calls made by YOU to him that correspond to times your husband was out of town and times all three of the young ladies and Mr. Sweeney were murdered. Silenced...
Most detectives would have thought a serial killer was at large and wouldn't have even put two and two together that Sweeney was tied to the other three, since he was shot and not strangled..but we knew about the pregnancies and we knew who the father was, who the attorney was ..We knew all of that early....We just needed our killer and you knew that the killer was a little off...No telling what he might say or do if captured...So you made what you thought was an anonymous call to the CID yesterday and told us where he could be found..and you made a second call to the killer ,telling him to get out of there..Knowing his fragile state of mind...You knew he'd choose to fight ,rather than flee and you hoped we'd kill him, which we did..." said Sissy...
"You've got your killer, you've got a few suspect phone calls from me to Todd Sweeney, MY ATTORNEY BY THE way in which we could have been discussing anything and maybe I made a call to a burner phone..a wrong number perhaps...In a nutshell, you've got nothing." said Janice Phillips..
"You know my friend in the FBI, who happens to be an Attorney
said the exact same thing...and then one of my other detectives
Checked the street camera on the block that killer Tyler Adams lives on and look who we saw going into his apartment while he was out...
YOU!...with a briefcase....Is that the briefcase that contained the glossies of the dead girls...Why would he have them? and the news clippings of the killings....and 175K on the floor...????" asked Sissy...
"You don't have to answer....None of his prints were on the glossies or the cash, but yours were...You ate at a downtown restaurant recently...
Two of my detectives lifted your prints off the dollar bills and the photos...and the news clippings...
"I put this all together and I think I can make a very good case for Conspiracy to commit murder, five counts..." I said.
"Stand up Mrs. Phillips, you have the right to remain silent...Anything you say from now on can and will be used against you in a court of law...You have a right to an attorney, if you can not afford one, one will be supplied for you...I know you understand these rights being an attorney your self.."said Sissy, who handcuffed her..
Two uniformed officers escorted her out..
"You'll be hearing from my attorney." she snarled.
"Do you even have an attorney?" asked Sissy...
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh myyyyyyy" said her husband as he stood there....
I looked at Sissy...
"Case closed?" I asked.
"Case Closed.." she said..
EPILOUGE-
Janice Phillips was convicted on five counts of Conspiracy To Commit Murder.. disbarred and sentenced to Life....
We never had any evidence that Judge Barton Phillips knew anything about what his wife did or took part in the conspiracy in any way, but the sordid story that he had fathered a child by all three women and covered it up didn't play well for him...It Torpedoed his appointment to the Supreme court and Federal Judgeship...
Carlotta and I were out taking a leisurely stroll when we ran into ADA Karen Page and B.L. Benz..
"Keith Wallace, so this is your lovely wife...The Hero of yesterday's unpleasentries...P;eased to meet you Carlotta.." she said..
''So am I...I'd like you on my show next week Carlotta...You too ADA Wallace...Please??" he said.
''Wellll, I guess it won't hurt....Will it?" asked Carlotta..
"Nah the case is over..."I said..
"Oh Thank you....This won't get you in any hot water with Lt. Tragg will it.?" B.L. asked..
"Noooo Sissy Van Buren is my Lieutenant.."said Carlotta..
'I want her on my show too!" said B.L.
"This Might get YOU in hot water with Lieutenant Tragg.." I joked..
"I'm not worried about him.."said B.L.
"Would you two care to join us for some Ice Cream?" asked ADA Karen Page..
"How romantic...I don't mind ...How about you honey bunny?" asked Carlotta..
"Why not?" I said..
And the four of us walked to a local Ice Cream parlor and enjoyed some ice cream together..
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