Baltimore Chronicles (12 page)

 

Tiphani called up the
Baltimore Sun
and anonymously reported where they could pick up a package regarding a big breaking news story. Then she called the detective assigned to the murder cases of Archie, Bolden, Cassell, and Chief Scott, and told him the same thing. The package was on its way, and what was inside would turn the city of Baltimore upside down.

Tiphani looked over the pictures again and reviewed the gun ballistics report that Rodriguez had given her. Tiphani couldn't help but smile when she read that bullets from Derek's personal weapon, which he had forgotten in their home safe, were found in the bodies of all the dead officers.

Tiphani called Scar. “It's done, baby. I made all of the calls. We will live happily ever after.” She smiled as she spoke into the receiver. “I love you too,” she said, closing her eyes.

Hanging up the telephone, she shrugged into her coat on her way to mail her packages. She grabbed her keys and stepped out her door. When she stepped down her first step, she was hit from the side. She wasn't able to scream before she was dragged away.

 

TO BE CONTINUED…

Coming January 2011

 

 

Baltimore Chronicles

 

Volume 2

Tiphani called Scar.

 

“It's done baby. I made all of the calls. We will live happily ever after,” she smiled as she spoke into the receiver. “I love you too,” she said, closing her eyes. Hanging up the telephone, she shrugged into her coat on her way to mail her packages. She grabbed her keys and stepped out her door. When she stepped down her first step, she was hit from the side. She wasn't able to scream before she was dragged away
.

“In breaking news, police report that Assistant District Attorney Tiphani Fuller has been reported missing. Police fear Mrs. Johnson may be in grave danger because of her husband's alleged criminal associations. Police say ADA Fuller is the estranged wife of embattled Maryland State Trooper Narcotics Detective Derek Fuller. Fuller, once hailed as the leader of the State Trooper's Drug Enforcement Section was indicted by a grand jury last week on charges of conspiracy and first degree murder—one of the more serious charges pending against him. Detective Fuller is a suspect in the suspicious death of a DES officer who was brutally murdered. The officer's mutilated body was found outside of the home Fuller shared with a fellow officer. Detective Fuller who is currently being held without bond is also suspected of cutting deals with the Dirty Money Crew—a notorious drug syndicate, headed up by the infamous Stephon “Scar” Johnson. Police would not confirm whether they believe ADA Johnson's disappearance is directly related to her husband's alleged crimes, but said they are putting out all of their manpower and resources to find her. The FBI is also involved. ADA Johnson was last seen dropping her children off to school two weeks ago. The children's whereabouts are being kept private for their protection. We will continue to follow the story as it develops,” the reporter said staring into the camera.

Derek sat on one of the small, hard plastic chairs in the dayroom of the protective segregation unit inside the Baltimore County Jail. The room was pin drop quiet. Everyone was interested in the infamous narco that sat right in the same jail with them—inmates and CO alike were glued to the television. In protective segregation Derek was surrounded by other corrupt cops who had been arrested and some of the inmates who needed special protection. The warden knew there was no way Derek would survive in general population with people he had put behind bars. Derek felt the heat of eyes on him, but at that point, he didn't care who was around him in the hell hole of a jail. He watched the television so intently he didn't even realize he was involuntarily holding his breath. The air around him was thick and threatened to suffocate him even after he had finally exhaled. Derek flexed his jaw at the news of Tiphani's disappearance and at the sight of his old home on the news.

Every broadcast news station in Baltimore, Maryland was posted outside of Tiphani and Derek's house. Derek was immediately drawn back to a time when his life was almost perfect. The two of them had had everything and within a second,
boom!
Their lives had exploded into chaos. Here he sat in jail for crimes he didn't commit; his wife was missing and feared dead; and, their kids would surely be in foster care because both Derek and Tiphani had no parental support to lean on. Derek shook his head…what had he done to himself? To them? Just seeing his former home on the screen made his stomach muscles tighten. What would happen to his kids? Where could Tiphani have gone?

“She wouldn't just leave the kids like that…something had to have happened to her,” Derek mumbled under his breath. All of a sudden a rush of anxiety filled his gut and he raced for his open cell so he could throw up. He had a fucked up feeling about this whole disappearance and about everything in general that had happened thus far. Derek felt betrayed in more ways than one. He couldn't believe that his administrative leave had so quickly turned into a full out witch hunt against him and now he sat rotting in a fucking jail cell with a bunch of trumped up evidence compiled against him. The crimes he was accused of were unheard of, but Derek had been pegged as the scapegoat for the Department for some reason. Derek finished emptying his guts into the toilet and swiped the back of his hand over his lips. His mind was crowded by thoughts of Tiphani. The news story had clearly shaken him. He had hoped that Tiphani would've come home by now. Each day that passed made it worse for her and damn sure made it bad for him. Derek had already been questioned about Tiphani's disappearance and he didn't like the underlying innuendo in the voice of the detective who had interviewed him. It was like they were trying to blame him for her disappearance too. Derek had gotten so frustrated at the detective asking him the same question seventy-five different ways, that he had jumped into the detective's face. The cocky detective still didn't back down.

 

“Mr. Fuller, we understand that you and your wife were going through a bitter, nasty divorce and custody battle,” the detective had said with a sly smirk on his olive colored, wrinkled face.

“Yeah, and what of it?” Derek had asked as he squinted his eyes evilly.

“Well, sometimes when things like that are going on, one spouse…you know you may…” the detective said, his voice trailing off like he wanted Derek to fill in the blank with some crazy shit.

Even though Derek knew all of the interrogation tricks he couldn't keep his cool. Blood immediately rushed to Derek's head. “I didn't have anything to do with my wife's disappearance!” Derek screamed, his face turning almost burgundy and his heart hammering against his chest bone. He didn't like being interrogated. Derek was used to being on the other side of the table doing the interrogating.

“Mr. Fuller we are just trying to run down any leads that may help us find your wife,” the detective said, his paper thin lips moving in slow motion. Every word seemed like flashbulbs of light to Derek—exploding in front of him were images…non stop images of Tiphani and Scar fucking.

“I'm stuck in this fucking hell hole because somebody wanted me out of their way. My wife needs to be found now! My kids are all alone…” Derek croaked out, the tears were burning in the back of his eyes and a sharp pain gripped him around the throat. He couldn't erase the images. Scar ramming his wife in and out. Tiphani's face contorted with pleasure; pleasure that Derek was never able to give her. Derek's heart was breaking all over again. This was all too fucking much to handle.

“We are trying to find her. But I will tell you now, if she has in fact been kidnapped, and ends up dead it only makes you look worse,” the detective had said pointedly as he rose to leave.

Derek shook the memories of that interrogation from his mind. That was almost two weeks ago now and still Tiphani had not been found. He'd heard on one of the many news stories about it; Tiphani's cell phone was found on the side of I-95…not a good sign. The night he was visited by the detective; just like today, Derek hadn't slept for even one hour. He hadn't been able to concentrate since.
If Tiphani turns up dead I can forget my freedom. They will believe it was me no matter what I do or say.
Derek thought as he paced up and down the pod. Although Tiphani had cheated on him, which was basically the catalyst for his downward spiral, Derek still worried about her whereabouts. He had a recurring thought that ran through his mind over and over again since he'd learned about her disappearance—Scar could be the only person responsible for her kidnapping…he was the only mu'fucka that would dare. And just like everything else that had gone wrong in Derek's life lately, Scar was behind it. Derek couldn't believe that he was being labeled a cop killer for Archie's murder. Now Tiphani was gone and he appeared to be the only one with an ax to grind with her—the divorce and custody battle made him the prime suspect since no one knew about Tiphani's affair with Scar. Derek put his head in his hands and rocked back and forth. “God, if you exist please let her be alive,” Derek whispered.

 

Rodriguez let a smile spread across her petite face.
This must be it. It's really about to happen for me, s
he thought to herself as she walked with a pep of arrogance in her step. Rodriguez felt overly confident as she followed Chief Hill down to his office. Rodriguez was sure that her little private meeting requested by the chief would be the first step before she would be promoted to DES lead detective permanently and could officially take over Derek's role. The two of them walked in silence, both deep in thought. Once they arrived in the chief's office, the chief walked over to his desk and sat down. Rodriguez noticed that the chief's face was emotionless—poker face was an understatement. Suddenly shit didn't seem like Rodriguez had thought. Watching the chief take his seat, a feeling of dread washed over Rodriguez. Maybe she was wrong about the purpose of this meeting. The chief looked like he was about to bite her head off. Rodriguez couldn't figure it out, so she waited for the ball to drop. “Nice artwork,” Rodriguez said, gesturing toward the chief's collection of black art paintings. She was trying to lighten the mood in the room.

The chief nodded, but inside he was laughing.
This bitch really thinks I'm stupid.
The chief thought to himself. “Look, I didn't call you here for a social love call or no shit like that,” Chief Hill said flatly. “Have a seat…you'll need it,” he continued.

Rodriguez sat down across from the chief. She placed her hands under her thighs to keep them from trembling. She knew now that she was definitely wrong about the purpose of this meeting.

“Look, I don't know what you got going on or what you had against Derek Fuller, but I know what you did,” Chief Hill said, staring Rodriguez down. The chief stared at Rodriguez so hard his dark brown, almost black eyes, dug imaginary holes into Rodriguez's face.

“I don't know what…” Rodriguez started but the chief put his hand up and cut her off mid-sentence. Chief Hill grew slightly hot under his collar.

“You don't know what I'm talking about? Is that what you were going to say? That's the best you could do? The best lie you can come up with? C'mon my six year old can do better than that!” Chief Hill spat, growing angry, feeling like Rodriguez thought he was stupid. The chief hated more than anything to feel like somebody was trying to insult his intelligence. “You fuckin' changed evidence in the Fuller's case! Not only did you change it, you stole mitigating evidence that might help get Fuller off! You also planted some shit,” the chief said, getting to the point and letting Rodriguez know that she wasn't fooling him.

Rodriguez's face paled. It was like all of her color leaked from her face and pooled on the floor with the buckets of sweat that was now dripping from her head. Rodriguez was frantic inside. She couldn't go out like this. She wasn't going to admit to shit she told herself.
I'm taking shit to the grave
, she thought. Rodriguez got defensive; the only way she figured she'd get around these accusations.

“You're fucking crazy! I would never do that shit! Fuller was my friend!” Rodriguez screamed, jumping up from the chair defensively.

“Sit the fuck down! I'm not asking you if you did it…I know you did it!” Chief Hill barked, the vein near his temple pulsed like crazy. The chief leaned back in his oversized leather chair and turned his computer monitor around so that the screen was facing Rodriguez. Rodriguez swallowed hard, trying in vain to get rid of the huge lump that sat at the back of her throat. Finally able to breathe, Rodriguez stood and stared at the monitor. She watched the computerized, grainy surveillance image of herself as she moved around the evidence cage. Rodriguez's legs buckled almost sending her fivefoot seven inch frame crashing to the floor. “You look like you've seen a ghost. Sit down before you faint,” the chief said, smirking. He had Rodriguez right where he wanted her—scared and willing to play the game.

Rodriguez flopped back down in the chair, exasperated and scared to death of what was about to come her way. “Chief, I swear…” Rodriguez started, her hands shaking so bad she wanted to cut them off. Cold sweat now drenched her entire body instead of just her head. Her bowels felt like they would release right there in her pants. This was the end of her career for sure or so she thought.

“What made you do it? I mean, I thought Fuller was your friend…your supervisor and team member. I thought the DES was like a brotherhood? Didn't all you bastards go around professing this brotherhood shit?” Chief Hill asked, shaking his head in a fake display of disgust.

Rodriguez hung her head at first, them something hit her like a thunderbolt…it was anger, fear, and her own measure of disgust all mixed together. “I…I…was so mad about Archie's death! I mean he didn't have to do him like that! His family couldn't even have an open casket! Then I started feeling like that mu'fucka Fuller had something to do with Bolden and Cassell's murders too! It was all too much to think about!” Rodriguez spat, sweat dripped down her face and she felt hot all over her body. She clenched her fists together. At that moment she wanted to see Derek in front of her. “I just wanted revenge. I didn't do it for any other reason…just revenge. I wanted him to suffer,” Rodriguez fabricated on the spot.

“Bullshit! Nice acting job Rodriguez,” the chief said sarcastically. He smirked knowingly. “Scar Johnson is paying you too ain't he?” Chief Hill asked, standing up and leaning on his desk toward Rodriguez. At that point, he was letting Rodriguez know the gloves were off. Rodriguez almost choked on her own tongue. It was impossible for the chief to have figured that out she thought to herself. Rodriguez only had one meeting with Scar—the initial meeting. She always dealt with one of Scar's little workers when it came time to collect her money. There was no way Chief Hill would even associate her with Scar unless the chief was on the fucking take himself.