The Fire alarm went off at the projects,

but when they got their, no one spoke,

and there was the absence of fire and smoke,

it was just going to be a prank,

and that’s when a crime scene developed

in a project house basement, a dank,

the odor was so bad, it just stank,

it was an unfurnished place,

where an elderly black man

went missing without a trace,

and after completely opening up the basement door,

they found that missing man stretched across the floor,

he was in full rigor, and what’s more,

he was covered by a long sheet

of plastic painter’s tarp,

skin cooked in its own oil and heat,

shoe laces tied to his hands and feet,

and there death and drama would meet,

four homicide detectives and two firemen

stood over the body,

a dim basement with low light,

doing its best to fight off the night,

and they waited awhile,

it was like a nativity scene, Brooklyn style,

not in a manger,

but in a two story brick pile.