Murder Most Likely

The Crime Scene Investigators  and the  Forensics Boys went over the entire house with a fine tooth comb...It took them three days...They found blood, brain tissue and plenty of DNA...

in the little red rowhouse..

We went back to his Tony Condo..

It had been three days and it looked exactly the same as it had looked before..Sink full of the same dishes...Bed unmade... Hamper full of the same clothes...and mail piling up..

We took Tony Montrose's  toothbrush and a pair of his boxer shorts that were in his hamper at his condo..and we got a one hundred percent DNA Match!  The blood and brain matter in that house was Tony Montrose's.

The gun at the scene had no fingerprints or DNA, but the shell casings and the gun were a ballistics match...

 72 hours in...No body was found..

The Audi had been wiped and bleached down....No fingerprints, DNA or anything was found on it or in it!

And Tony Montrose's car outside of the Olga Diner had only his prints and DNA on it..

72 hours later and all we were really certain of was that Tony Montrose was more than likely dead...That was all we were certain of...We had no body and worse...No suspect..

"He's Dead..Let's just face it." I said.

 

"And the question is why and who?" said Carlotta.

"My Guess is that he was just the face on the street...That somebody else is really pulling the strings."said Tyriq.

"He had to be getting his product from somebody...The closest I got was there was a Russian Mobster backing him...Financing his package... I  saw a mysterious well dressed guy, but he never spoke when I was around.. I never  heard his name...The name on the street was Tony Montrose..and only Tony Montrose.

but this shadowy character would come into Sonny's restaurant and sit in the back...He'd order coffee. I never even heard his voice..But Tony would get quiet...He'd sit back there with him and talk quietly....I could tell he was somebody important..I tried asking Tony who he was..but he'd never answer me.. He told me that I didn't need to know who he was."said Jimmy.

"That sounds spooky..He had a Lieutenant...Sonny...Charles "Sonny" Brown..."said Sirena.. He was once a player himself until he went to jail..He did a dime upstate.....Tony Montrose had no criminal record whatsoever...Has an MBA from Harvard, dressed and looked the part of respectability...So he became the boss. He was perfect...Nobody suspected him of anything...He never touched drugs or guns...He had his underlings to do that....He was on several boards of directors for major companies...Hob knobbed with the movers and shakers in town..."said Sirena.

"And all the while...He was selling all of The Heroin, Coke and Opiates to several customers , representing every section of the city and the suburbs...He was the connect...Word on the street was He had the good dope..But his slick Harvard ass wasn't street wise..He needed Sonny Brown to make the right connections, put him with the right people.."said Hop..

"I must say....Tony ran it like a business from top to bottom....Maybe Sonny saw his opportunity...His boss was taking a fall and it was his time..He couldn't have liked coming home from prison and seeing this guy now the Boss...He thought he was entitled to that...He played the game as long as he could and when he saw his opportunity.. He made his move."said Duke.

"Or maybe he was making his move all along..He was always lurking around...He didn't like me too much, I was always on guard when he was around and he was always watching...Telling Tony he was talking too much around me. The Russian guy Jimmy was talking about...

I saw him too, a couple of times....

I saw Sonny whispering to him."said Angie.

"I think some of us should have a little talk with Sonny Boy."said Sissy..

"Meanwhile..we can't say for sure what happened to Tony Montrose until we find a body.."said Hazel..

"It's been a week and there has been no movement on his ATM card or his credit cards....Mail continues to pile up at his condo, no one has claimed the car or the phone and he hasn't returned to his condo...Hasn't been at his office either...The lights are off ...Almost as if it's universally known that he won't be back." said Sharon gloomily..






II-

A Very tony new restaurant....It had a huge Aquarium with Aquatic life swimming in it for the diners to see....

Charles "Sonny" Banks owned it...He smiled as his host, A Man known as "The Russian" Real name
Vladmir Ikloch walked in and sat down...

''What do you think huh? Classy huh?" said Sonny..

"I'm allergic to shellfish and I don't like Fish...Don't waste my time...What do you want Sonny?" said the Russian..

"Look it's like I was tellin you all along..Tony was not built for this...despite all his Harvard MBA bullshit...The man had no street sense...and no vision...That was all me baby... Now look, I got this joint...successful joint..Upstairs I run a pretty successful underground card game...High stakes game..Only the wealthiest movers and shakers play...Between my restaurant and that card game I pull in a cool 3 mill annually, easy..."said Sonny...

''And you are telling me this because?" asked The Russian..

"I wanna do business with you....I've got a buyer...Just one buyer for now...but he's loaded..He says he can move big Heroin....You front me a large stash and I sell to him and we, You and I make big money...No middle men...No workers....Just me and you...He does all the heavy lifting and It'll just be me and you making money..! It's a start.....You know I know the streets...What happened to Tony...All those federal indictments and all...Losing the two warehouses would have never happened with me...I run a tight ship...You see I was never mentioned in any of those indictments." said Sonny..

"I already took a calculated risk with you guys.....and I lost my stash....You've got 39 people in prison and 26 others on their way....You guys are just too flambouyant...I'm thinking about taking my business elsewhere..."said The Russian..

"Look that was my former partner...He put this whole thing in jeopardy...He got compromised somehow..but me...I'm in the shadows...Nobody knows me like that...I can make you money ,more than Tony ever did. Quiet money....Clean money..."said Sonny..

"You know the cops found the house don't you?  You should have cleaned that house down thoroughly...They found Blood and shell casings and the gun...That's very sloppy."said the Russian..

"The gun was wiped down as was the car...They got nothing. The cops found that house faster than I thought they would...before I had a chance to send a clean up crew in..."said Sonny.

''Blood means DNA...They can get his DNA off of his car, Out of something in his condo...They make that connection they know he was murdered...They know you're, well you were his second in command, they come to you..I don't want to be seen or be around you when they come to you...I am not known...I plan to keep it that way."said The Russian.

"They got nothing..Me and Cappy put him in a body bag and drove to the Crematorium...We put his body in a pine box and cremated him...Flushed his ashes down the toilet...They'll never find him...He is gone..Not a shred of evidence leads to me or you!.."said Sonny..

"Which brings me to your friend Cappy….He's a Heroin Addict...I don't like him....If he  gets caught and begins to need a fix there is no telling what he might say...You guys are too reckless.."said the Russian.

"Heyyy Cappy can go....I'm telling you...We can carve out a sweet deal...Tony made you millions...I can make you more..." said Sonny..

"I'll take your proposal into consideration...and get back to you.."said The Russian..

 His meal came..

"I do like the Pan -Asian cuisine you serve here.." he said as he chowed down...

He ordered some drinks and quaffed them down..

"Your food is on the house."said  Sonny.

III-

Carlotta, Tyriq and Jimmy went to the Olga Diner with Sissy and Sharon..
Tony Montrose had indeed been there and had a hearty meal and several drinks..Many said he looked anxious, nervous...That he kept looking at the door.
They questioned everybody who had been there that night and did thorough background checks on them all...

"He was in big trouble....He knew he might be under indictment...He was looking for the cops."said Carlotta.

"More than that Top....All of his buyers had suddenly been arrested..All of his associates were under federal indictments...and we hit his warehouses and impounded millions of dollars of his stash...He was out of business and out of friends to protect him.."said Tyriq.

"Like I said..When I was under I only heard this guy mentioned once or twice...but I think this Russian cat was bankrolling the entire operation...Selling him his Heroin, Coke and Opiates.."said Jimmy..

'' A shadowy figure in the background...Sounds like Russian Mafia...Sounds like the real boss..The real string puller." said Sissy.

.Meanwhile...Sharon ,Sirena, Hop and Angie viewed ATM, Traffic and business cam footage from the entire night..

"If we can blow up this footage...Maybe we can get a good look at who was in the car with him.."said Sirena.

 "The windows are tinted..It's very hard to see who is in the car with him.."said Hop..

"But the front window isn't....Keep trying keep looking."said Angie..

FBI, ATF and Police Technicians were also helping them....

IV-

Duke and I walked into the Swanky Restaurant with the Aquariums surrounding everything and live aquatic life...

"This place must cost a mint just to maintain....The water bill alone! "said Duke..

I smiled... It was a perfect place to launder money I wagered...Judging by the clientele alone and the money spent here...

I knew about the largely illegal high stakes card game that went on upstairs...We didn't tend to bother things like that...It didn't hurt anybody and the only players were those who could afford to play and lose.

"May I help you?" said an attractive waitress.

Duke showed his badge...

"I'd like to speak to your boss.." he said..

"I'll get him.."she said.

Charles "Sonny" Brown walked out....He took one look at us and grimaced...Then he smiled..

"Hi ya Sonny."said Duke.

''Duke Baylor....Nice suit mannn..Tailored...You're a big deal now huh? Detective, Criminal Investigation Division huh? I remember when you rode around in a squad car, eatin dougnuts and chasin hoppers." said Sonny..

''And I remember when you were selling nickel bags on the corner.."said Duke..

"Hi Sonny."I said.

'Smooth Keith...I remember when you used to play Football...You was a hell of a playa man...I saw all of your games...Law school huh?  Assistant District Attorney...Hey how is Tyriq? He a detective too?" asked Sonny..

"He is...In fact, he is at the Olga Diner...trying to find out what happened to your friend, Tony....Tony Montrose...You wouldn't happen to know where we could find him would you?" I asked.

Sonny shrugged..

"You know...I haven't seen him in a week....." he said..

''We have a witness who says he got into a car with you the night he was at the Olga Diner, which by the way is the last time he was seen alive."Duke exaggerated a little...Our witness couldn't identify either man...  "You and Cappy." said Duke.

''Wasn't me...I'm certain of that.."said Sonny, who looked a little nervous for the first time..

"Wasn't you Sonny?" I asked...

"Nahhh Nahhh….I'm uh too busy tryin to keep this place a float..." said Sonny.

"Nice Joint...Glad to see you're on the straight and narrow....No longer on the corner slingin bags.."said  Duke..
\

"People change Edwin....If you retire and need some work...Come see me...I can use some security around here."said Sonny with a smile..

Duke smiled..

"If you should hear from Tony...Tell him, we are looking for him and to turn himself in...."I said.

"I'll uh do that..."said Sonny...

He smiled...and watched us leave his establishment..

"He's dead Keith." said Duke.

"I know..." I said...as we walked out.

(TO BE CONTINUED)