Free Piece Keeper by Antwan Floyd Sr. Page A

silence caught up in their own
thoughts they were startled back into the here and now as Brown,
the local homeless man, appeared from out of nowhere.
    “What are you doing around here?” Waeltz spat out
angrily.
    “Minding my business,” Brown said as he went on his
way.
    Feeling embarrassed, Waeltz began to go after the
man.
    Black placed his hand on Waeltz’s chest stopping
him. “Leave him alone. Let’s stick to the matter at hand.”
    Waeltz angrily pushed Black’s hand away. He wanted
to pursue the issue and put the smart mouthed bum in his place but
he knew Love was right so he pushed it out of his mind.
    “What does this mean, Waeltz?”
    “Not sure yet. Let’s see what the other pieces of
the puzzle look like first. But we won’t know that until we get the
results CSU collected back.”
    “Speaking of pieces of the puzzle… what did you find
out about our friend?”
    “I did a little digging around and finding skeletons
wasn’t as hard as you might think.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Before I joined the department there was an
unsolved homicide… my sources say he should have gone down for the
body.”
    “Cover up?”
    “He’s dirty alright.”
    “What’s his connection to the chief other than the
department?”
    “Still working on it.”
    “Keep me apprised,” Black responded as he walked off
towards the replacement truck he was now renting.
    Waeltz didn’t respond. He just watched as Black
drove off.

Chapter Eight
    The next morning Black rushed out of the building,
hopped into his truck, slammed the door closed, and strapped on his
seatbelt. He turned the car on, shifted into drive, and then peeled
away from the curb. He’d just received a call from Waeltz saying
the lab report was back. He was surprised that it had gotten done
so quickly. Waeltz said they’d found something so he was meeting
him at Foster’s to search for evidence. The case was finally
starting to go somewhere. It was nearly a forty minute drive to
reach Foster’s home. When he arrived at the address that Waeltz had
given him, he parked and made his way to the door. Black felt
apprehensive about the situation. There were no squad cars onsite,
only Waeltz’s vehicle. The neighborhood was quiet. At mid-day most
people were still at work or school, he surmised. Foster, a single
woman with no children, lived in a neighborhood that appeared to be
more family orientated. Foster’s car wasn’t parked in the
drive-way. Black approached the front door with apprehension. It
was slightly cracked. Examining closer he noticed the frame of the
door was splintered as if it had been kicked in. Looking around the
neighborhood before entering, he turned back to the door and gently
nudged it open.
    “Waeltz, you in here?” he yelled as he slowly
stepped in to find the place in a shambles. Stepping over broken
picture frames and lamps he made his way to the center of the
living room.
    “Back here!” Waeltz responded.
    Black made his way towards the sound of Waeltz’s
voice. Stepping around a coffee table and sofa that were both
flipped over then bending the corner into a hall that led to a
bedroom, he found Waeltz standing over Foster’s bed peering into a
shoe box. Black stood half way in the hall and half way in the
room. His eyes scanned the area. It was no different from the
living room. All of her things were everywhere.
    “What is this Waeltz?”
    “What’s what? It’s like I told you. The lab geeks
found a trace of Teresa’s blood mixed with a soft plastic, such as
flexible vinyl, and a strand of hair that just happens to be the
same color as Foster’s”
    “And that means what?”
    “Well according to the geeks they say it is
synonymous with a material that strap-ons are made out of.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “And if you remember from Teresa’s report she was
attacked with a strap on.”
    “Okay… but what are we doing here like this? Where’s
the warrant? Why does it look like a B&E?”
    Just as Waeltz held up the