I stood at Penns Landing drinking a tumbler of coffee.....For once I was alone....Sissy, Carlotta and Detective Pile were all working on the case...The murder of a toilet and plumbing supplies salesman who it had now been revealed was a pimp....
This seemingly unassuming man alledgedly was running a prostitution ring of young ladies imported to Philly from Russia and Eastern Europe...
A few days had passed and I was waiting for a report from Detective James "Jimmy" Barlow...a very good investigator who didn't get enough credit... Jimmy was a young guy who had walked a beat in Fishtown and Port Richmond before making detective..Then, he and Detective Carlotta Rodriguez had rode around in a squad car before being detailed to C.I.D.
He worked Auto Theft, Then Robbery, then Narcotics and then finally Special Victims unit with Detective Carlotta Rodriguez...Now he was splitting his time with Homicide and Major Crimes....
He had just been added to our unit. Detective Edwin 'Duke" Baylor was on loan to Special Investigations, so we needed an extra detective..Jimmy had come highly recomended to us. Duke would be back eventually, but until he returned...Jimmy would fit in just nicely...My plan was to keep Jimmy even when Duke did return to the unit!
He was a hip hop loving white boy who could throw Black slang around with the best home boy and who had amassed a number of street informants and a large clearence list of cases...When Sissy said that she needed some good detectives..I gave her ,Carlotta Rodriguez, Tyriq Pile and Jimmy Barlow...
He walked up to me as I watched the water...He was gregarious and wired as usual....Today,I was not...Carlotta and I had hung one on at Josie's the night before and had then been up all night, making love...If not for this case...I would have taken the day off..
"Hey Mr. Porterhouse." he said, laughing...
"What did you call me?" I asked.
"That's your middle name isn't it?" he laughed...
"ADA Wallace is how I prefer to be addressed Detective." I said.
We both looked at each other and burst out laughing....
"Well listen...I got the skinny on our dead guy's operation and it's sweet...you'll love it.." he said.
''So tell me." I said.
II-
" Detectives Pile and Rodriguez did some digging and discovered that the bar,"Little Norway" was actually owned by our dead guy..Arkady Notchios...He bought it about ten years ago...His younger brother, Nikolai or "Nick" as they call him on the street manages it....Anyway...I took some plains clothesmen and some of my snitches into the joint and learned the set up...
See, the client comes in and talks to the barmaid , who points him to a backroom...My guess is that this is where money is exchanged and a girl is picked....They have a book of photographs and you pick from the book...The money is paid upfront and the client goes to the bar,orders a drink and waits until he is told to go outside... He goes outside and he's picked up in a car....The car takes him down the street to a hotel...The hotel is where all the babes are...and the client goes in and is serviced by the girl of his choice." said Detective Barlow.
"You observed this?" I asked.
"Hey we got photos of the entire deal." he added... "So get this....This hotel is also owned by Arkady Notchios...." he added.
"I'm betting that he never goes near the place, right?" I asked.
"Well, it's uh too late to ever know...His brother Nick stops by there with a big black guy...His name is Bruno somethin or other...The madamn gives him a big envelope and he pulls off... From what I heard on the street...Nick met with his brother...usually at his brother's downtown condo...and gave him his cut..."said Detective Barlow...
"But his brother was at Little Norway a few nights ago?" I asked.
"He came there sometimes, but not often..." said Barlow...
"I wonder if the brother had him hit?" I asked.
"Carlotta and Tyriq are hunting for him now as I speak.." said Barlow...
"'Hmmm, I think I'll pay Sissy a visit..." I said.
"What do you want me to do?" he asked.
"That was great work...Stay on the Bar and the hotel....I'm going to go and see if Sissy and the gang have found the brother." I said.-"Oh and Jimmy?" I said in parting.
"Yeah?"he replied..
"Next time you meet with me, you bring me coffee...Especially this early in the damn morning...Coffee, two creams, four sugars..."I said.
He smiled..."I'll try and remember that ADA Wallace." he said with a smirk...I laughed myself!
III-
I arrived at Homicide , about an hour later...Sissy Van Buren, stunningly beautiful as always was standing ,looking at the two way mirror that was what we called the"
tank.."-The police interrogation room..
God, she looked so good...Even when she was being a hard nosed detective...
Nick Notchios was a handsome man...He bore little resemblance to his older brother...He had been picked up early in the morning....He was unflappable...cool as a cucumber...
"So Nick...Do you know why you're here?" asked Carlotta.
"You want to know about my brother." he replied....
"That's right....He was poisoned you know." she said.
He feigned surprise....
"Noooooooooooooo..?" he said...then began laughing maniacally...He wasn't exactly greiving.
"You wouldn't know who or why now would you ?" she asked.
He shrugged...
"As you Americans say...beats me." he said.
"Can I speak plainly Nick?" she asked.
He smiled wryly and then said-
"You know, you're a very beautiful woman......After this unpleasentness is over, could I take you to dinner?"
"I'm flattered Nick, but I don't think so...Look.." she said.
"Why not?" he asked.
"I have a boyfriend." she said.
"So? He is not a husband.He would not have to know...I certainly would not tell, heh heh...heh." he said.
I was getting angry...Sissy looked at me and laughed a little..
''You are sooo sprung Keith." she said and laughed again..
''I am not!" I protested.
"Look at you, you can't stand to see another man flirt with Carlotta, even a scumbag like him, who she wouldn't even consider....." laughed Sissy.
I waved her off and continued to listen to the interrogation-
"Look Nick...We know that you and your brother run women...and that the bar and his plumbing and toilet business are just fronts....and we don't care about that..We are just trying to solve a murder.....Did you guys have enemies?" Carlotta asked.
"Enemies? I prefer to say we have competition....but no one who would resort to violence...Like Micheal Jackson, the King of Pop say- We are lovers ,not fighters.." he laughed.
Carlotta laughed...
"You look so sweet when you smile." he said.
Carlotta blushed.
"So you don't know of anyone who would want to kill your brother?" she asked.
"No...and unless you plan to charge me with something....I am going to get up and leave here...I have business to attend to...legitimate business of course..." he said.
"Of course. You're free to go...but don't plan on taking any long trips out of town." she said.
"Of course not....Not until you agree to go out to dinner with me...heh,heh ,heh." he laughed...
"Goodbye Nick." laughed Carlotta...
He got up and walked out....I glared at him as he walked past me...Sissy laughed and pulled Carlotta to her...
"What are you doing to him Chica?? You got him sprung!!!" she asked..
"He'll be alright. I can handle him." she said.
"I'm talking about ADA Wallace." laughed Sissy...Carlotta put her hand over her mouth!
"Ohhh him? What can I say...he loves me." laughed Carlotta... Both women laughed that conspiratorial laugh that women laugh...and walked down the hall..
IV-
Later on, I sat outside the Little Norway bar alone...I followed a couple of men to the hotel, which was just blocks away... It was a warm night and the windows of some of the rooms were open...
From the streets I could hear bed springs squeaking loudly, headboards slamming against the wall..and wails of alcohol feuled lust and ecstacy
''Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..."
"Ohhh baby, give it to meeeeee....ummmmmmph..."
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....ouuuuuuuuuu, more, more... ohhhhhh..."
"Sock it to me baby...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh gooooddddddd it's soooo goood...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
"Morrre...Morreee....morrre...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.."
"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...I love you soooooooooooooo much...ouuuuuuuuuuuu.."
They were doing a brisk business tonight....The parking lot was full....
Detective Barlow tapped on my window...
"Slumming tonight ADA Wallace?" he said with a laugh...
"Nahh...just checking out the action..."I laughed.
"Yeah, that joint is jumpin tonight..." he laughed...
"Hopefully we get enough evidence to put that pimp, Nick in the slam for a long time." I said.
"Him? I don't like him for this murder...I think it's someone else...Unconnected. I think he knows more than what he's tellin...You know how these gangsters are..They gonna work it out themselves." said Detective Barlow.
"Yeah.... maybe, but he is a smarmy charactor." I added.
"No doubt..but that sounds kind of personal ADA.." said Detective Barlow...
"You're a good Detective Jimmy." I said.
He smiled and passed me a tumbler of coffee...
"Two creams, four sugars right?" he said with a smirk...
"Yeah...." I laughed....
(To Be Continued...)
