6 comments/ 19608 views/ 10 favorites Case of the Black Widow Ch. 01 By: WifeWatchman The order of my stories to read is: Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, Case of the Executed Evangelist series, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player series. The Black Widow, Ch. 01 Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas. This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above. ***** Part 1 - The Crime Scene "Looks cultish to me, Lieutenant." Tanya Perlman stated. It was 8:00am on Tuesday morning. It was near the end of September, the air was getting cooler at night, the leaves were beginning to turn colors, and the University football team was 4-0... as was the team from my own alma mater within the same conference. Laura and I had been feverishly but pleasurably at work the last two weeks trying to make a new baby. But I had no time to think about any of that at the moment. We were standing in one of the older warehouses of my least favorite place in the County: The Ward Harvester Company. And one of the strangest crime scenes I'd ever witnessed was in front of me. I was looking at the body of a heavy-set, bearded man, sitting in a small metal folding chair, his hands handcuffed behind him. His pants and underwear were puddled around his ankles, his genitals exposed. The back of his skull was crushed in by a blow from a heavy object, probably a baseball bat. There was plenty of blood around the crime scene, indicating that the man had met his fate right here at this location. Lipstick had been smeared on his mouth and around his genitals, though none was on his still-semi-erect penis. "CMB estimates the time of death from 10:00pm to 1:00am, probably around 11:30 to midnight. And you'll note that the man's penis is still enlarged." Tanya said. "Looks like he climaxed just before he was killed- oh wait! Hey Barry! make sure to get extra blood samples, this guy may have been drugged." Barry Oliver, our young new Police Scientist, nodded as he brought a kit out of his bag." "Why do you say that, Tanya?" I asked as Cindy Ross and Angela Harlan came up to us, knowing the answer but wanting the other ladies to hear it. "He climaxed, but is still hard." Tanya said. "That bespeaks some Viagra-like drug that kept him hard after climax. Barry is great about identifying drug compounds." "Sounds reasonable." I said. "Any other DNA we can get?" "We've taken samples." Tanya said. "Can't say for sure, but it looks like vaginal secretions, suggesting a woman. We're going to have to run everything and see what we get. No chess sets or old movies around to give you any clues, I'm afraid." "So who is this guy?" I asked, ignoring Tanya's remark about clues from previous cases. "His name is Tom Burleson." Tanya reported. "He's a Plant Manager here, one of Ward's top guys. Cindy remembers interviewing him last summer during the Swap murders, as we've come to call that case." "What do we know about him so far?" I said. "Divorced years ago, no children. Has a younger brother whose security company works for Crown Chemicals across the river, that's the only family we know of. Lives in an apartment complex not far from here." Just then Officer Pete Feeley came up. "Lieutenant, we found something." He led me about 10 yards away. On the floor was a riding crop and a whip. "Hmmm, no chess sets, but clues nonetheless." I said, teasing Tanya back for her earlier ribbing of me. But she wasn't listening: "Wow, BDSM stuff!" Tanya said. The excitement in her voice seemed more sexual than evidence-based. "I don't need to tell you: photographs, prints, the works." I said. "Oh, and Tanya, did you notice those handcuffs our victim was secured with? "They're chrome-plated, very shiny... and very expensive. Definitely not standard police issue." Tanya replied. "Exactly. Not police issue, but something the connoisseur of BDSM might have." I said. "As you said, definitely cultish. Now I need to call ADA Patterson." I walked away from everyone else a distance so that I would not be overheard. I dialed ADA Paulina Patterson's cell phone. "Paulina, there's been a murder at Ward Harvester. I'd like to take this opportunity to see if we can get a warrant to get all of Ward's business records and files. Think you can swing that?" "I'll try." said Paulina. "I'll go to Judge Watts first; Folsom has been really bitchy about warrants lately." After hanging up I went back towards the crime scene, seeing that Angela Harlan had joined Tanya in the examination of it. "Angela says she had some experience with serial killings and thinks this might be the work of one." Tanya reported. "Okay Harlan, what can you tell me about this?" I asked. Detective Angela Harlan replied in her gravelly, husky voice: "I worked on a couple of serial killings at my last job, in Texas. The M.O. sounded like a serial killer who we thought was a woman. Three men were found tied or handcuffed to chairs with their brains beaten out." "Any BDSM stuff in that?" I asked. "No sir." Harlan replied. "I don't recall anything like that, though I didn't see every crime scene personally. We called the 'Black Widow'- oh, that reminds me: Tanya, would you check the man's penis for markings?"
 Detective Perlman put on a fresh set of latex gloves and went over to the body. She grabbed the dead man's penis and lifted it up. "Oh, you're right, Angela!" Tanya exclaimed. "There's a drawing here on his balls." We all came over and looked. The drawing was two red triangles outlined in black, the apexes touching each other in an hourglass shape. "Red hourglass." I said. "The marking of a black widow spider. Same calling card as your previous cases, Angela?" "Yes sir," Angela replied, "except the triangles were painted in various areas: one on the back of the guy's neck, the other on the guy's belly above his penis." "Angela, see if you can pull up any files or notes for all of us to look at on your previous cases." I said. "Also, check the databases for any other similar killings, and contact Jack Muscone of the FBI or one of his team members to see if they have any information on this. Detective Perlman is in charge of this case, but I want you to work closely with her on it. Last but not least, work on the BDSM angle... it may not be your serial killer but a copycat associated with the BDSM crowd in town." I left Tanya and Angela to talk as they examined the red triangle hourglass, bidding Cindy to walk with me. I was carrying my iron crowbar, and Cindy had a police billy stick in her hand, though she was in plain clothes. When we were alone out of earshot, I said "We also need to look into any angles regarding Ward and his behind-the-scenes business dealings. I'd like you to get with Myron Milton and see what you can dig up... and I need not mention that anything you find comes to me first and very quietly." "Yes sir." Cindy said, then looking behind me said "Uh oh, speak of the devil." "WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU GOD DAMNED POLICE DOING IN MY WAREHOUSE?" I whirled around. The high-pitched voice was from Mr. Ward himself. He was ambling towards us, wearing a trenchcoat and fedora hat. The man accompanying him was bespectacled, had graying hair, and was wearing a five-thousand-dollar suit. I deduced that he was Ward's lawyer. "We are investigating a murder on your property, Mr. Ward." Cindy Ross said, walking towards them as I circled around from the side. "And I'd suggest you take a more respectful tone." "You don't tell me what tone to take on my property, young lady." Ward said, his voice a sneer. "Do you have warrants to be here?" "I think the dead body of your manager suffices as probable cause, Mr. Ward." said Cindy. "Of course, you can check with your legal beagle here about that." "It's a god damn good thing that Lieutenant of yours isn't here." Ward said. "Or I'd shove his crowbar right up his ass." Cindy just glanced at me as I came up behind Ward. "I'm right here, Ward, crowbar and all." I said, my voice low and menacing. "And I'd love to see you try to shove this here crowbar or anything else up my ass. I suspect you won't survive the attempt." Ward had whirled around to face me as I spoke, his face a mask of pure hatred. At only 5'6" or so, he had to look way up into my eyes, as I stood at a full 6'4" tall. "Oh Jesus Christ, the shit eater is here, too." Ward said, trying not to show any fear in facing me down. "Get the fuck off my property, you bastard! Now." "Sorry, Ward, that's not how it works." I said. "I'm here investigating the murder of your plant manager on your property. And as you're the owner, you're my number one suspect right now." "I don't give a shit who is dead or where he's dead, you get your fucking ass off my property right now, or I'll have your badge and everything you ever thought you owned in your life, you miserable sack of dog shit." Ward said, his voice ugly and shrill. "Detective Ross," I said, "place Thaddeus Ward under arrest, read him his considerable rights, and take him to Headquarters and book him. Fingerprints, DNA sample, the works." Cindy smiled maliciously and approached Ward with handcuffs ready. "You can't do that!" the lawyer spluttered. "On what charge are you arresting my client?" "Obstruction of justice, interfering with a police officer in the course of my duties, threatening a police officer with bodily harm... and if I get a mind for it, suspicion of murder in the death of his plant manager." "You can't do that, you piece of shit!" Ward screamed. "I haven't killed anybody, this is my property and I can tell you to fuck off any time I damn well please! Now you-" Ward's tirade was interrupted by the lawyer, who put his hand on Ward's shoulder and whispered something to him. "Okay, I guess you can be here at the scene, but you can't go anywhere else on the property!" Ward said. "My client is not obstructing you." said the lawyer. "You can do your work." "Detective Ross, you heard me." I said. "What are you waiting for? Arrest Ward, read him his rights, take him to Headquarters and book him." "I protest this!" screamed the lawyer as Ward looked on in total shock. "He hasn't done anything! You can't arrest him-" I got right in the lawyer's face, inches away, toe-to-toe, keeping my voice level but very menacing: "Listen you bag of dog shit, your client is under arrest. I was not negotiating, I am arresting his sorry ass for the crimes I stated. He's going to jail, he will be booked and his fingerprints and DNA taken! I suggest that you do your fucking job and start working on his bail, but if you try to stop me from doing my job, as he has, I'll arrest your slimy ass and throw you in jail, too... and the perps in my jails would just love seeing some legal asshole in a five-thousand dollar suit come into their cells. They'll tear you a new ass in seconds!" I turned to Cindy. "What ARE you waiting for, Detective? Get going! Arrest Ward!" "With pleasure, Lieutenant." Cindy said, quickly spinning Ward around and deftly cuffing his hands before he realized what was happening. "Thaddeus Ward, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent..." Part 2 - Media Matters "Okay, ladies and gentlemen, what are we covering? Bettina, you're first." Katherine Woodburn sat at the end of the long table in the conference room of KXTC News, looking at her reporters and editors. She was the executive producer at KXTC, and she was also owner, publisher and Editor-In-Chief of the newspaper, the Town & County Examiner. She was in her early 50s, with dyed blonde hair that didn't hide the beginnings of graying. She was attractive, sporting big breasts, an hourglass shape, nice legs and feet, especially when she wore high heel pumps. She was always wearing a business suit, was absolutely ruthless about schedules, deadlines and getting scoops, and had no scruples about invading people's privacy or rights in order to get a juicy story full of dirt. Bettina Wurtzburg was seated near the center of the table at one side. "I'm getting the details of the murder at Ward Harvester. They found the body of a plant manager this morning. The police are doing their initial investigation right now, and we have a couple of 'cubs' on the scene." A 'cub' was a very junior reporter that basically observed a crime scene or situation when more senior reporters couldn't be there. The senior reporter would, of course, take all the credit when he or she arrived at the scene to report the story. "I will begin getting more information as soon as this meeting is over. I'm hearing that they actually arrested the owner, Mr. Ward, when he created a scene." finished Bettina. "Yes, check into that, and see what we can do to help Mr. Ward get his story out about police abuse." said Woodburn. "Priya?" The lovely Indian woman Priya Ajmani said "We are getting some new information about the FBI's ongoing investigation of the Rev. Jonas Oldeeds' murder. We finally found out that the lead investigator is Special Agent in Charge Jack Muscone from the City. We are arranging an interview now." "You'll never get that interview." Katherine said sharply. "And I want you to begin developing another angle to the story while you work on getting something from Muscone: I want a big story on why the FBI is unable to find out anything about the murder of Jonas Oldeeds. It's been months- months!- and the FBI is sitting on their asses." Priya nodded her full understanding. After going around the table, Katherine Woodburn said "Okay, if there's nothing else-"
 "Er, ma'am?" Tim Dawdle said from near the far end, raising his hand. His black curly hair looked oily and unwashed, his pimply face not hidden by the thick, black-plastic-framed glasses he wore. He was the stereotypical "pajama boy" millennial that, like so many people in their twenties, looked absolutely worthless. "What the hell is it, Dawdle?" Katherine Woodburn said, near exploding. "You're a sportscaster, not an investigative reporter." "But ma'am, I'm working on a bombshell piece about PEDs in the University's athletic programs, and Coach Harlan's efforts to cover it up." Dawdle said. "I'd like to run a nightly series of stories on it as the information comes out from my confidential sources." Katherine sighed. "Okay, Dawdle and Wurtzburg, come to my office. Everyone else, get out there and get me some fucking stories. Do you really mean to tell me that there have not been any drug-related crimes since Ikea went to the SBI?" "No ma'am, nothing big at all." said Bettina Wurtzburg, other reporters murmuring their agreement. "It's been amazingly quiet for weeks." "My office, Wurtzburg." Katherine said. ---- "Sit down." Katherine ordered as she took her own seat behind her desk in her surprisingly small office. She had a much nicer office in the newspaper's building next door to the television station. Bettina and Dawdle sat down. "All right, Tim, let me explain how this works." Katherine said. "We don't run piecemeal stories on something like the football team's PED use. If you try, you'll get shut down in no time, you'll have some bad people really breathing down your neck, and I'll be getting phone calls from every rich alumni and politician in the State. I really don't need that, I have enough problems as it is." "What you do, Tim," she continued, "is to get your information, get your ducks in a row on it like never before, then bring it to me for clearance. If it's dynamite, if it's a nuclear bomb, I'll have no problem running it and running Coach Harlan out on a rail. However... it had better be dynamite and lead to some arrests or mass firings, because if it's anything short of a nuclear bomb, they will come down on both of us like a ton of bricks, do you understand?" "Yes ma'am." Dawdle said miserably. "Thank you, ma'am." "Bettina, I want you to watchdog Dawdle on this. I can't have this sniveling pajama boy fuck this up, especially if it's a real story there. Don't worry, Timmy, it'll be your story if you can get it, but you'd better not fuck it up." "Yes ma'am." Dawdle said, sounding and looking like a whipped puppy dog, absorbing the abusive insults of the famed Editor with nary a whimper of self-esteem that any real man would have. "Bettina," said Katherine Woodburn, turning her attention totally to the lovely redhead reporterette, "we have got to get more information out of the Police Department. You need to develop new sources and get more. Griswold is a piece of shit and easily fooled, so what's the problem?" "Ma'am, with respect, we all know who the problem is." Bettina replied. "The Iron Crowbar." "Oh for God's sake... do they really fear one man who beat up a drug punk with a crowbar that much?" Katherine asked, unable to believe it. "Ma'am, it's not fear, it's loyalty. They love that man." Bettina said. "They love the Chief, but they know the Iron Crowbar is the real deal. And if he runs for Sheriff like the Big Boyz and Big Girlz in this County want him to, then we're really going to have problems developing sources within the entire Public Safety Department." "I know." said Woodburn. "Okay, I need stories. I have no problem destroying Harlan and the football team, but it has to be 100% solid. Now get out there and get me the story on that dead body at Ward Harvester, and see if you can scoop something before our vaunted Police Department finds it." Part 3 - Legal Procedures "Come to my office." Paulina Patterson said into the phone. I was in the I.T. office in the basement when she called me. It was 10:00am. Ward had been processed, fingerprinted and cheek-swabbed despite vociferous protests from himself and his lawyer, and within fifteen minutes of booking had been released on his own recognizance by Judge Folsom, who simply called from the Courthouse. I figured that Paula was calling me in for the CYA spanking for what I'd done this morning. However, when I got to her office, her face was somber, not angry. I instantly realized that it was bad news. "Come on in and close the door." she said. I did so, then sat down at her unspoken invitation. "I'll get right to it." Paulina said. "I went to Judge Watts as soon as I got your call... but someone had already beaten us to the punch. Judge Folsom has seniority, and he pulled rank. He'd already told Watts that only he, Folsom, could issue warrants concerning the Burleson murder and Ward Harvester, and that if Watts issued a warrant he'd be disciplined and referred to the State Legislature for impeachment." "Wow." I said with a whistle of disbelief. "That's a heavy threat Folsom is dealing to Watts. It's like crushing a nut with a triphammer." "Yes, but the nut is very effectively crushed, all the same." Paulina replied, then continued: "Both Folsom and D.A. Krasney were called by State Senator Nathan Allen, Town & County Councilwoman Kelly Carnes and Councilman Pastor Raymond Westboro, all demanding that the most stringent application of the law be applied to any 'probable cause' concerning Ward Harvester's records." "What it amounts to," Paula summed up, is that Ward's lawyer is in our faces, he's calling the big shots to back him up, and our warrant for the business records have been denied for the moment, pending you bringing something that will constitute 'probable cause' much better than what we have now." Case of the Black Widow Ch. 01 "I see, said the blind man." I quipped. "Paulina, do you think Folsom is dirty?" "No," said Paulina, "but he's very attuned to the political situation. He has his eye on higher-level judgeships, maybe the State Supreme Court, and he doesn't want to offend anyone like Senator Allen who might make or break him for a higher position." "Hmmm, so I'll need to check for connections between Ward and Goldman and Westboro." I said out loud before I realized it. "Yes," said Paulina, "but they do have a point. I understand your attempt to take advantage of this opportunity to look into Ward's dealings. But remember, the FBI did get his records and found nothing." "So they say. They also didn't know how and where to look." I said. "Well, develop something that connects Burleson's murder to Ward himself or to the business, and I'll get you your warrant, if I have to put a gun to Folsom's head to get it." Paulina said. "By the way, what do you think of this Burleson murder, so far?" "Too early to tell." I said. "Angela Harlan has an idea that it resembled some previous serial killings she once investigated, and she may well be right. She and Lainie are working up a data set for me, as well as data on Burleson and his personal situation such as finances, etc. Cindy and Myron are looking into Burleson for connections to Ward's business dealings that we already know about and can look into. We're also going to have to search Burleson's home, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera." "Those warrants are already on the way." Paulina stated. "So you think Ward was involved somehow? He certainly had a problem with you guys being there this morning." "I don't know, but don't let his tirade cloud your thinking." I replied. "He hates the police in general, he really hates me specifically, and I think he just gets naturally agitated and lashes out when things are going badly for him." "Speaking of which," Paulina said, trying but failing to suppress a grin, "did you really have to arrest him? His lawyer is howling about it and State Senator Allen is whining. No worries there, the arrest was legit, but was it necessary?" "Yep." I said, grinning myself at that memory. "For all their screaming, neither Ward nor his lawyer formally objected to us acquiring a DNA sample from him, and now I have the man's DNA as well as fingerprints on record and in the database... for the future if not the present. And I obviously also have let Ward know that saying he will shove something up my ass without him being able to back it up... well, there's plenty of room in my jails for him to reconsider his words, for a few hours at least." "You really are going to get me in trouble one of these days." Paulina said, her beautiful face radiant with her bright smile. "But I have to admit I love it when you do things like that. Just be careful and don't step over the line: they're watching us on this one." "Yes, they are- hey!" I said, then fell into a momentary reverie. A moment later, I said "Paulina, I called you before Ward even appeared at the crime scene in his plant... but he already had a lawyer with him, and Judge Folsom already had been alerted and taken over the warrants! Not to mention the political forces were already called up and marshaled. That means someone knew something about this murder, and possibly before the Police were even on the scene." Paulina replied "Yes, I realized that, also. While I'd expect someone at Ward's would've called him as soon as the body was found, giving him time to spring in action and get his lawyer working and making the calls to the big heavies around here, it definitely is interesting that they circled the wagons PDQ..." ---- "What have we got?" the Chief asked. He was in a sour mood, which made the air in the room thick with tension. It was the 4:00pm conference. Angela Harlan, Cindy Ross, Tanya Perlman, Hugh Hewitt, Lainie Everett, Myron Milton and myself were in attendance. Angela Harlan began the report: "Mr. Burleson was plant manager during the evening shift, which is 2nd shift, last night at Ward Harvester. He and the other three shift managers rotate those shifts on a monthly basis, and whoever is not on a shift works in the front office with production and material orders." "Several workers and the night shift manager said that during the shift change, which happens at 11:00pm, Burleson commented that he was going to check on the new building's progress, then on some of the raw materials they'd need the next morning, then he would head on home. Those raw materials are stored in the warehouse where he was found the next morning." "Nobody on third shift found him?" the Chief asked. "No, the night shift did a limited production run and had the raw materials they needed," Angela said, "so nobody went over there during the night. The night shift manager said that since Burleson didn't call back in about anything, he assumed that everything was fine." "So nobody noticed any strange noises or odd groups of people walking around?" Cindy asked. "Not that anyone is telling us, so far." Angela said. "A couple of third shift workers said that some lights were on in the office areas during the night, where Mr. Ward's and the various managers' offices are, and they're usually off... but they didn't think much of it, believing someone simply didn't turn out the lights." "And they're not looking for anything out of the ordinary, so nothing really catches their eye." the Chief said. "What about security?" "There is none, since they don't take deliveries or have trucks leave during the evening or night shifts. That gate is locked but not monitored." replied Angela. "The parking lot for employees is gated, but the guardhouse is unstaffed. Employees enter and exit through the front building, which connects to the employee locker rooms. Security cameras are in the locker rooms, but the one at the front desk hasn't been working for months." "Shit, place like that with ammonium nitrate, and no security?" the Chief asked, disbelieving. "Kind of convenient, wouldn't you say, Chief?" I asked, acid in my voice, "Especially if something criminal is going on around there. Certainly some perps felt it was okay to hide three kidnapped children in one of his warehouses. By they way... Angela, did anyone say if Burleson was acting strangely, or if he had any problems that he'd mentioned?" "Not a thing." Angela replied. "All he talked about, besides work, was fishing. No arguments with anyone that anyone I talked to could remember, certainly not recently. No complaints about money or anything like that. Additionally, I found out that Burleson would occasionally go to a nearby bar and drink with other workers, but never heavily, nor did he get into fights. Just a regular run-of-the-mill plant worker, from what everyone says." "Patrolmen Feeley, Rudistan, Morton and myself searched his apartment, also." said Tanya Perlman. "There was absolutely nothing there. Fishing magazines, boat magazines, some miscellaneous books, mostly on fishing. Nothing on BDSM, nothing on any explosives or anything that might be suspicious. We confiscated his personal computer, but there's nothing of interest on it. Mostly URLs for fishing sites and chat rooms. Some porn, but no heavy kink or BDSM. As Angela said, just a run-of-the-mill blue collar guy, from the looks of it all." Cindy Ross then gave her part: "I looked into Burleson's brother and their relationship. The brother runs a security firm whose only client is Crown Chemicals, which is across the river. Burleson and his brother had no problems with each other but weren't particularly close, didn't socialize or hang out with each other much. As to Crown Chemicals and Ward Harvester, they have no dealings with each other whatsoever; they're in different chemical sectors, so to speak. If there's any link there, such as industrial espionage, we'll have to dig deep to find it. We're looking to see if there is any money flow that is suspicious or unaccounted for. But so far, and like Angela and Tanya said, this guy seems to have led a life devoted to fishing and not a whole lot more." "Keep at it folks, there has to be something there that made this man a victim of a murder." Chief Griswold said. "You'll have to expand your inquiries to any of his friends and other relatives that you can find. Keep looking to see if he had any weird hobbies that most people didn't know about, or a secret double life... something connected to the BDSM crowd. Okay, Perlman, what did the Crime Lab have to say?" "Toxicology found drugs in the man's system." Tanya reported. "Further tests are being done, but it looks like he was shot full of something that kept his penis hard. But it was also a deadly poison... if the blow to the head didn't kill him, the poison certainly would have. The coroner will have to decide which was actually the cause of death." "Are the drugs in his system similar to what my nephew Ned has been known to make?" I asked Tanya. "We're doing comparison tests." said Tanya, "and the preliminary tests suggest that it may be similar, possibly a variant of what we've known Ned to produce in the past. What he injected into you during your ordeal in Ward's warehouse wasn't a deadly poison, since you're obviously still here with us, but the sexual arousal drug elements appear to be similar." "Still here by the hair of your frickin' chinny-chin-chin, I might add." said Chief Griswold, not meaning to be humorous but getting some laughs at that anyway. "Yes sir, I do seem to remember that part of it." I said ruefully, then continued with some instructions: "Tanya, get our new police scientist Barry Oliver up to speed on Ned and his drugs. Barry is young, but from what I've seen and what you've told me, he is to police science what Myron here is to computers and digital information. Get Barry everything you can, and tell him to become an expert on all drugs and forensics that are Ned-related. We're going to need him in our battle to bring Ned to Justice, as well as this and other cases." Tanya nodded as she made a note of my instruction. "Think Ned's involved, Crowbar?" the Chief asked. "Don't know yet, sir." I said. "But Ned's M.O. is to get other people to do his dirty work for him. Even though he's personally killed at least three people that we know of (Big Alex, Nurse Anya and Tim Olivet), his psychological profile suggests he likes to sit back and let others do the dirty work, with him helping and guiding. He likes to be the man behind the curtain, pulling the strings, not the man up front and exposed. So maybe he had some people go after Burleson on his behalf. The question, of course, is 'why'." "So why would Ned involve himself in something like this?" the Chief asked. "Chief, there are two angles here that we're looking at." I said. "One is the serial killer angle that Perlman and Harlan will talk about in a minute. The other is that it's related to Thaddeus Ward of Ward Harvester. That man has been known to have some shady dealings in the past, and I'm trying to follow up on that. If Ned's involved, I'd suspect it's from that angle, not the serial killer angle." I added: "And of course, Ned certainly could've cooked up some drugs for someone else to use, and not be otherwise involved. There may be no real connection at all. His drug recipes are starting to get around... 'The Vision' has them, and the CIA likely does, as well." The Chief turned to Tanya. "Anything on that aforementioned serial killing angle, Perlman?" "Sir, Detective Harlan is all over that, as well as her groundwork today. Angela?" Tanya said, doing an excellent job of getting Angela into the conversation and complimenting her like a good leader should. "It's very possible, Chief." said Angela, her voice husky. "The hourglass marking was on two of the bodies of the serial killings in Texas that I helped investigate. And the three people down there were killed by blows to the back of the head after having forced sex. Furthermore, they were all tied to chairs. The BDSM objects we found in this case were not part of the other cases, so that's something new and different. Martin Nash contacted Lindy Linares of the FBI, she's part of Jack Muscone's team, and we're hoping she'll have something for us soon." "Good. At least we can trust him and his team. Crowbar, is anyone checking up on the BDSM angle?" the Chief asked. "For all we know, this might be very much related to that crowd." "Not yet, sir," I said, " but it's certainly something we're going to look into." "Chief," said Tanya Perlman, rescuing me, "we're trying to trace manufacturers of the stuff we found at the crime scene. When we get something, we'll see which of the several BDSM crowds on campus or in Town might be connected." "All right." said the Chief. "My gut says the BDSM angle is something we need to look hard into, much harder than we have to this point. If you get bored looking into Ward's business activities, Crowbar, check into that." I was a bit shocked: the chief's words were unmistakably sarcastic, and appeared to be a clear reproach towards me. "Sir," I said, "I really think the BDSM items were planted and are a blind to lead us away from the truth, whatever that may be." "That could be, but you'll have to convince me in order to eliminate it as a possibility. Okay, everyone who is not a Lieutenant get out of here and get back to work or go home." said the Chief. The room cleared until only he and myself were left. "Don, I need to say something to you." Chief Griswold said, a bit formally and stiffly. "I know you've been working on the Ward Harvester angle with regard to possible criminal activity. And who knows, maybe this murder of his plant manager ties into it. I'm not the fool those KXTC idiots think I am; it's as obvious to me as to you that Ward made damn sure his first order of business was to throw shields up around his business and to keep you from getting at his business records. But at the same time, don't you start focusing on this to the point you overlook another angle. I expected to hear more on the BDSM angle today." "Yes sir." I said. No point in arguing with my boss at this point; I'd just made my point, and it had made absolutely no effect on him. "By the way," said the Chief, "and purely for my own curiosity: why Perlman and Harlan on this?" "Sir," I said, "my own feeling is that the serial killer angle is correct, though of course I have no proof of that yet, nor why Burleson would be a target. Harlan says she has experience with serial killer cases, and she's certainly identified this as a possible link to someone known enforcement as the 'Black Widow'; I've independently confirmed her research, and Jack Muscone and his FBI team are indeed helping us out with that." "And Perlman: because she was getting restless, and this is a good case for her to be in charge of. If our new police scientist works out in the Crime Lab, I hope to get Tanya a lot more street time being the Detective she wants to be, and is very good at being." Part 4 - The Goth-Pajama Boy Connection "Dawdle, my man expects results." said the Goth woman as she sat across from him at the small table, rings of cigarette smoke hovering above her. It was lunchtime, and they were in a sandwich and coffee shop between the University and the Downtown district. It was fairly popular with University students and the Goth crowd as it had wi-fi access and good coffee. However, at lunch they served sandwiches and salads with heavy amounts of vinegar and vinegar-based dressings, and the acidic odor was overpowering. Tim Dawdle felt sick to his stomach from the odors, and also from what he was being told. Since the Goth and B&D crowds hung out around here, the people at the small table were not worth noticing. Dawdle was a pajama-boy punk with curly black hair and thick black-rimmed glasses; people didn't like looking at him any longer than they had to. The Goth woman to Dawdle's left had dirty blonde hair and a skanky appearance. But it was the dark-haired woman opposite him, dressed in Goth appearance and her hair partially dyed blue, that gave Dawdle chills. She was well-known as 'Goth Girl Kathy', and she was known to be the girlfriend of an extremely dangerous, murderous criminal named Ned. For this woman to be talking to Dawdle, and in a manner suggesting displeasure with him, was extremely unappealing for the punk pajama-boy reporter. "I understand." Dawdle said. "I'm still acting on the information your man gave me, checking the names of the PED users and peddlers on the football team. But I have to get a solid story that my editor, the big boss, will run with; she's told me it has to be one big story and very solid. I need time to put that together." "You need to speed it up." said Goth Girl Kathy. "If the football season ends before you're ready to go with your story, my man is going to be very pissed. He wants Coach Harlan brought down in the prime-time of the season." With desperation showing in his puny voice, Dawdle said "Tell him that I'm working as fast as I can, and thank him again for his information." Kathy took a long drag on her cigarette, then blew the smoke straight into Dawdle's face. "My man does not want thanks, he wants results. Get them for him, Dawdle, or he might just decide that you make a better story than Coach Harlan does." She noticed the perspiration on the pajama-boy's brow; he was sweating in pure fear, she realized. Good, she thought, people should fear my man. Kathy got up to go. "Gwen, take Dawdle here back to his car and give him a blow job. Make him come in your mouth." The skank blonde just nodded as Kathy turned to Dawdle. "Coach Harlan's head on a spike, Dawdle. Make it happen, and quickly. You're on the clock, and this is your two-minute warning." Part 5 - Digital Research While police work has moments of excitement and moments of sheer terror, the truth is that for the most part it's boring and mundane, looking for needles in haystacks and not knowing if one is even in the right haystack. That is what was happening in the I.T. dungeon during the evening. Fortunately for me, my bloodhounds of I.T. loved doing this work, and for the small price of buying them several pizzas, they produced tremendous data by 10:00pm. The Chief came down to the I.T. rooms, something he did not commonly do, and hosted a meeting attended by myself, Tanya Perlman, Angela Harlan, Hugh Hewitt, Myron Milton, Goth Girl Mary Mahoney, and Lainie Everett. "First, about Burleson, our victim." said Myron. "He was well paid by Mr. Ward and received occasional bonuses. I have marked the bonus deposits, and I'm looking for a correlation with the Ward records we have. I took the liberty of sending that information to Agent Muscone's team in the FBI, since they acquired a lot more records from Ward Harvester and are better equipped to spot any coincidences." "Just don't send them too much, and make sure your Lieutenant knows about it." said the Chief. "Any connection to the deceased's brother and Crown Chemicals? "No sir." Myron replied. "We're only able to get limited information on the brother, since he's not yet considered a suspect and we have no warrant, but from what I can tell there has been no untoward sums of money coming to the brother and no substantial contacts between Burleson and his brother and brother's family." "As to Burleson himself," Myron continued, "there's nothing at all to indicate why he was murdered. No outstanding warrants, no outstanding complaints against him, no real debt that would be a problem for him. His credit card records are completely boring except that he has a big boat and fishing hobby. He has a boat that he takes out on Reservoir Lake, which straddles our County and Nextdoor County, the same lake you live on, Chief. He also does a lot of fishing at the River from the riverbanks at nearby parks, and the only trips he's made in years are to South Florida and to California, where he chartered boats for deep sea fishing. Again, no debts to speak of." Case of the Black Widow Ch. 01 "The guy was making plenty of money, but he didn't bother to buy a house." I said. "I don't know if that is because he wanted to remain flexible vis-a-vis a possible future home on the water, or if he's putting money up somewhere we haven't found yet." Lainie then gave her report. Her long brown hair was combed straight down her back and just about reached her waist. She peered from behind her fluorescent green eyeglasses as she spoke. Lainie was a nerdy geek-girl and her body was just beginning to show it could become overweight, but she had the "aura" and I remembered how I had taken her virginity and fucked her brainy brains out. But that was a story for another time... "I've checked on the serial killer known as 'The Black Widow'." Lainie said. "As Detective Harlan told us, there were three cases in the DFW area. My research also came up with two cases in Houston, both very similar to ours, one in St. Louis, Missouri, and one in the City, just to our east." Lainie continued: "All of the cases had the red hourglass drawn on the victims' bodies, and some had the hourglass surrounded by a black circle with 8 legs, more fully resembling a spider. All of the victims were males in their 30s or 40s and are white males, but their marital and financial statuses vary; there seems to be no real pattern that has been identified, so far." "Were they all killed the same way?" the Chief asked. "Yes sir," said Lainie, "they all were found tied to chairs, they all had been poisoned, though by different drugs at times, and they all had been forced to engage in sexual intercourse and were hit hard on the head right when they climaxed or right after they climaxed." "She mates and she kills." I murmured. Angela Harlan murmured agreement. "So there's no correlation between the victims, or any to this victim?" Angela Harlan asked. "No ma'am." said Lainie. "At least not that we've found so far, but we're just beginning to gather extensive data on Mr. Burleson, much less the rest of them." "Crowbar," the Chief said, "I expect you're going to look at this data on these guys for anything that pops out, any similarities?" "Yes sir." I said. "Lainie, please send this information to Jack Muscone and his team, also. And ask if anyone else in the FBI might've started an investigation into the 'Black Widow', or if this is just coming to light for them as well. " "Mahoney, anything on the B&D angle?" the Chief growled. "No, Chief." said Goth Girl Mary. "So far there has been no connection between Mr. Burleson and any BDSM clubs in the County or the State. There are only a few around here, and they're in the Tenderloin District except for one very exclusive club that operates somewhere else, and I don't know where that is. There are several in the City, also, but our victim virtually never went to the City, except to go to the airport and catch flights to Florida or California. Mr. Burleson never dropped a credit card anywhere that might be related to BDSM... unless Bass Pro Shops has something going on that I don't know about." We all laughed... except the Chief, who turned a dour eye upon Goth Girl Mary. "All right, Mahoney, keep searching. For that matter, we've got the names of the people Burleson supervised and the other shift managers he worked with. Check and see if any of them, including Mr. Ward, show any connection with a BDSM angle- Hewitt! Why are you here?" "Uh, just helping out where I can, Chief," said Hugh, "and I'm giving Angela a ride home when we're done here tonight." "Fer cryin' out loud." mumbled the Chief. "Just don't get in their way. Perlman, anything new about those B&D devices found on the crime scene?" "No sir." said Tanya Perlman. "They're standard toys, which can be bought in any costume shop or adult toy shop... except for the handcuffs. Those were expensive, and only sold in a few places. That exclusive high-end club Mary mentioned is probably the only group around here that would have those." "But where were they made?" asked the Chief with some impatience. "If they're that uncommon, then it should be easy to trace manufacturers." "No sir." said Tanya. "this level of chrome plating was done in small lots, essentially by hand. Literally anyone from any auto body shop to the high schools' vocational shops could've done it, but it's a near-handmade job." "All right then," said the Chief, "looks like this high-end BDSM club is our best bet." I peered at the Chief as he stood up. Saying no more, Chief Griswold stalked out of the room. After a few minutes, I told the I.T. staff to go home and get some sleep, and Goth Girl Mary, Angela, Tanya and Hugh joined me in the MCD room, gathering their things before we all left. "Wow, wonder what has the Chief so upset?" Tanya asked, thinking aloud. "I take it..." Angela Harlan said, her voice careful, "... that that is not normal behavior for the Chief?" Everyone looked at me. "Maybe he's worried about what the Press is going to do with the story, but there does seem to be an edge to him on this BDSM thing." I said. "Soooo... the best way to take care of this angle is to investigate it. I'll find out who and where that exclusive BDSM club is. Mary, are you up to some undercover work?" "No sir." Mary said. "I was 'made' by the Beanstalk Gang, they know I'm a cop. I'm worthless for undercover work now. So I'm sticking with Miltie and I.T." "I'll do it, Don." said Tanya. "But how are you going to find out about this club? There's nothing on them in all the ethernet. I checked." "I have a highly confidential source deep within the University's Department of Psychology, who knows many things about sexual matters. She's good looking, too." I said, utilizing the same old joke again. "She certainly is. Tell your wife hello for us." said Tanya, grinning. Part 6 - The Club At 7:00am the next morning, an overcast Wednesday, it was all about Bettina! "This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" said the lovely redhead reporterette as she stood just outside the gates of Ward Harvester. "Channel Two News has learned that the Police are following a lead in the murder of Ward Harvester Plant Manager Tom Burleson, who was found dead here at the plant yesterday morning. Among the evidence collected at the scene were several objects which point to a possible link with the Fetish and BDSM crowds that infest the Tenderloin District. Police have not yet found any link between the victim and groups that practice deviant BDSM behavior, but sources tell Channel Two News that possible links are being actively investigated at this time. The Police would not confirm that the FBI has been contacted to help in this investigation, but the SBI has stated that they have not been contacted at all regarding this case." "And it will remain that way." I said out loud, to no one in particular as Bettina handed over the broadcast to Tim Dawdle. "This is Tim Dawdle, KXTC Channel Two Sports. The NCAA and several of the major Conferences will begin a series of meetings in the City this week and weekend, which we will be covering. While the NCAA and participating Conferences are saying that these meetings are routine, it is highly unusual for them to be held during the football season. Channel Two Sports will bring you all the information as soon as we get it." "In other news, your University football team is on the road again this weekend, putting their 4-0 record on the line. Coach Harlan and his new staff have been extremely fortunate so far, but the oddsmakers are against them continuing their streak as they plunge into the meat of their schedule in October. This is Tim Dawdle, Channel Two Sports..." "Wow, no mention of PEDs?" Angela Harlan inquired, puzzled. "What, did they pay the bastard off?" "That's a good point that he didn't even mention it." I said. "He'd been saying something about it almost every day. I doubt he's been muzzled... hmmm, you know, it may be he's found something and is holding back to build a big story to spring on us. Knowing the Press around here, I wouldn't bet against that." "Fucking little prick." I heard Angela whisper under her breath, saying it about Dawdle. ----- At 9:30pm, I gave Tanya Perlman final instructions before heading to the BDSM club known as "Lashes and Lace". It was in what looked like an office building just South of the University and on the East Road that led to Nextdoor County and the City. Laura had obtained the information for me, as well as an "invitation" pass for Tanya to enter the club. But all my wife knew was that it was run by a woman named Rita, and we knew nothing further about her nor any of the members. "Tanya," I said, "you'll probably be on your own in there, and you can't take a gun inside. You're wired, but if the signal gets blocked we won't be able to listen in. Just ask around the bar if Burleson comes in the place. Sit around and listen to the talk, don't pick up too many men while you're in there." Tanya grinned at that one as I continued, "If there's any trouble at all, use the safe word into the wire, and also speed dial my cell phone immediately if you're able, and we'll come running in." Cindy, Hugh and I were in an unmarked SUV in a parking lot near the office building's parking lot. Angela Harlan had wanted to come, but I told her to stay and headquarters and complete a full report on the serial killings of the 'Black Widow.' "On my way." Tanya said. She was wearing a very tight black leather outfit with leather boots and a headband/tiara around her head, which is where the wire was. Her legs and ass looked scrumptious as she scooted out of the SUV and headed to the building. ---- Once admitted to the secret back room, Tanya observed that it looked like a pretty classy bar. Most of the clientele at the bar and tables were couples dressed nicely for an evening on the town. There were also a number of people in leather outfits like hers, but no one outrageously flashy or trashy. At the bar, she asked for a club soda, then looked around. She noticed some people in more traditional B&D gear enter through a side door and then disappear into what looked like a private room with its own tables and a bar in the back. She couldn't see much through the door from where she was, and resolved to go look into the room a bit later. "Hey there," Tanya said to the bartender, a very tall, slender young man with black hair. He had rings of black makeup around his eyes but no further strangenesses. "Does a Tom Burleson come in here? I was told to look him up when I got here." "Oh, who told you that?" the young man asked in a lilting voice. "Friend of mine, who suggested I come here." Tanya said, her eyes flirtatious. "I'll ask around." said the bartender. "If he's around, I'll send him to you." ---- "Nothing so far." Cindy said as we all listened in on the wire, which was working well. "Just sounds like any old bar scene." "Yeah." I said. "Keep your ears peeled, though. Tanya asked a couple of people about Tom. If anyone knows something, they might make contact soon..." ---- Tanya looked around the bar again, and was about to start walking around the half-filled room when a tall woman came out of the back room. The woman was blonde, her hair cut with straight bangs across her forehead just above her eyes, and with a ponytail in back. She was nearly as tall as Don's wife Laura, Tanya noted, and well over six feet in the very high heel salmon pumps she was wearing. The woman was further dressed in a silver-pink waitress dress and white lace socks. Though her costume suggested she was submissive, she was still a very tall, dominating sight. Her body was in magnificent shape, a perfect hourglass with big breasts, nice firm ass, and toned but sexy long legs. The woman approached the bar and eased up next to Tanya, who noted that the couple in the seats next to her had quickly left them to make room for the lovely woman. "I heard you're looking for Tom." the woman said to Tanya. "Yeah." Tanya replied, smiling. "You know him?" "No, not personally," said the woman, "but I know someone who can help you find him. Let's go into the back room; the bartender there knows everyone better than this guy in the public room here." "Sure, thanks." said Tanya. She followed the woman into the back room, which was almost completely empty except for two couples, men and women dressed in leather very typical of the B&D crowd: the woman looked like dominatrixes, and the men were bald and their muscular chests were bare with only a leather net adorning them. At the far end of the bar, the woman turned around to face Tanya, who did not notice that the curtain had been pulled over the door to the room to ensure privacy. Suddenly the couples got up and surrounded Tanya, and three more large men, masked, also came into the room from another door hidden in the far side wall. Tanya looked around, letting nervousness show, but willing down fear. "We know who you are. Cop." the blonde woman said. "And we know why you're here." "What are you talking about?" Tanya said. I-" "It's okay. Cop." the woman said. "We don't want to hurt you or impede you. But what I do want is for your boss to come in here. I want to meet the Iron Crowbar. Now no more playing around; I know what play-acting is, I see it every night around here. Call the Iron Crowbar in here, I want to meet him." Tanya realized that her cover was blown, the game was up, and she had no choice. She reached for her cell phone... ---- "Oh shit, Lieutenant, what are we going to do?" Cindy said. "It's all right." I said. "I'm going to go in. You two stay here and listen in. If Tanya calls for help, come running. But unless she does, don't come in or try anything. I'll be okay." Just then my cellphone rang. It was Tanya. "Yes, I know. Tell them I'll be right in." I said. I handed Cindy my holstered gun, then took my blue crowbar with me as I got out of the SUV. "Remember guys, don't do anything rash or show force; it'll be all right." I was wearing my Tilley hat and a trenchcoat over my sportscoat and slacks and black pullover shirt as I headed for the front door, thinking only of how to get my officer out of this potentially bad situation before Cindy's patience snapped and she and Hugh rushed the place... ---- "Ah, the Iron Crowbar himself." the blonde woman said as I was escorted to the back room by a lovely, thin college-age girl in leather... and followed by a large, muscular man behind me. They had not attempted to take the crowbar from me, but the woman had simply said "Lieutenant, please come this way." and I followed. I walked up to the bar, where Tanya was sitting. "You okay?" I asked. "Just fine." Tanya said. "They say they just want to talk to you." "You have me, then." I said. "What can I do for you?" "Hello. Cop. Your detective can stay, or she may go." the blonde woman said. Tanya immediately said she was staying with me, and the woman nodded. "They're loyal to you. Cop. That's good. But let's get down to business." the blonde woman said. "First of all, I have neglected to introduce myself. My name is Rita. I am the owner of this club. I know why you sent your detective in here. We have no desire to harm or bother either of you, but I do have a message for you: you're on the wrong track, neither I nor anyone in my club had anything to do with that man's death." "I'd love to agree with you." I said, sitting down on a stool at the bar and placing the crowbar upon the expensive mahogany wood of the bar. "But there were a few... items... found near the body. Any idea why those were planted there?" "You're good. Cop." said Rita, her eyes boring into me, but showing no malice. "Yes, I imagine those items were planted. We do have some chrome handcuffs, and occasionally a set disappears. But I do not condone any real violence that might cause someone to be harmed. There's a difference between B&D role play and actual violence and harm. Anyone who crosses the line in my clubs will find themselves on the outside looking in, without a friend in the world, in a place where they don't want to be. But this man who was killed was not a member here, nor of any other club in the County. I know that for a fact. Cop. He was not killed by our people." "Do you have any idea who might have killed him, targeted him, or acquired the stuff to plant on his dead body?" I asked. "The stuff is easy enough to get, but someone put it there with the idea for us to target you. My chief really suspects the BDSM crowd's involvement." "Ah, Chief Griswold." Rita said, with a slight cackle. "He's an old... Cop. Yes, that old man doesn't like me very much." "What, are you his daughter gone bad or something?" I asked. Rita smiled, a bit maliciously as she came up right next to me. I could smell her perfume and whatever breath mint she'd taken. She smelled as tasty as she looked, and I felt the first slight stirrings of my cock hardening. Yes, even on a dangerous job with myself and another detective in potential trouble, my untroubled cock was feeling the first stirrings of sexual pleasure. "Not a bad guess. Cop. Not bad at all." Rita said softly into my ear. "Not quite right, but fairly close. But that doesn't matter now. I want you to tell your Chief that I have control of my people, and we are not the ones." "Tell you what." I said, pretending to negotiate but knowing I really didn't have much to negotiate with. "I'll be glad to do that, but I need your help to find whoever killed the man, and tried to set up your crowd in the process. Any information you can get me, any direction to start looking, and I'll be grateful to you. I might be able to help you out sometime, in return." Rita smiled. "I'm sure we'll be meeting again. Cop." She came around right in front of me. "And you have a deal. I'll find what I can and send it to you. And to consummate that deal..." The blonde turned to Tanya. "I'm glad you stayed. Cop. I want you to... watch." With that, Rita slowly reached for my pants and began unzipping them, then opened the catch and fished out my cock. I didn't move, but just sat back as Rita slowly jacked my cock to raging hardness. "Mmm, very nice." Rita said. "Nice and thick, but very hard. Hard indeed. As nice and hard as I've heard." I did not have time to contemplate where Rita had heard about my cock, as I watched... and felt... her lean over and kiss my cockhead. Then she slid her lips over my meat and down the shaft until the full length was buried in her hot, wet throat! "Oh Geez!" I gasped as Rita began giving me head, sliding her mouth up and down my shaft as her hands gently played with my balls or held on for balance. It felt incredibly hot and good as she fellated me. Tanya was watching closely, grinning like a Cheshire Cat, and the others in the room also watched their leader suck my cock with raw abandon. The room was silent but tense with sexual atmosphere as Rita expertly serviced me. Pleasure rocketed through my shaft and balls and seemingly up into my back. I felt the pressure beginning to build and knew I wouldn't last too long... and that I shouldn't. "Yes, come in my mouth. Cop." Rita said as her hand jacked my rod furiously, "I want to swallow every drop of your hot load!" With that, her mouth sank onto my cock again and she applied furious suction as her full, lipsticked lips slid heavily up and down. It took only a few seconds of that for me to reach the crest. "Uh! Awk!" I gasped as the first thick wad of hot jism fired out of my throbbing member and against the back of Rita's throat. The second shot was less powerful and filled her mouth around my cockhead. Spurt after spurt followed until I was spent, and Rita quickly milked out the last of my load. Case of the Black Widow Ch. 01 "Mmmm, that was quite tasty." Rita said, taking a drink from her glass on the bar. "I've never sucked off a cop's cock before." She pretended to assist as I tucked my shirt back into my pants and zipped up. "Call Hotel and tell him to pull the car around front." I said to Tanya, who complied. "Okay, Rita, I'd appreciate any help you can give me in finding the killer or killers." "I'll send you something soon. You two have a good evening. Cop." Rita said. I picked up the crowbar and no one impeded us as we walked back into the public bar and out the front door. Climbing into the SUV, Tanya finally exploded with merriment. "Do you guys know what just happened?" She began regaling Cindy and Hugh with the story. "Jesus, Don." Cindy said. "It's not like you guys weren't in a dangerous situation or anything."

 "That's why I went along." I said. "Didn't want to put my fellow officer in danger, did I?" "Think they'll send you any information?" asked Hugh. "I hope so." I said. Part 7 - Puzzle Pieces Thursday morning at 8:00am sharp, Jack Muscone and his team came to our Headquarters, bearing gifts of doughnuts and assistance in the case. We met in the main conference room, and present were the Chief, myself, Cindy Ross, Tanya Perlman, Angela Harlan, Martin Nash, and FBI Special Agents Sandra Speer, Eduardo Escobar, and Lindy Linares. Eduardo was a thin Latino man who had been in the military's Special Forces (Green Berets). He seemed friendly enough, but had a tough edge to him. Lindy Linares was white, fairly short, not fat but potentially "big boned". Her hair was very black, very thick, and very curly. She was in her 30s, and I wouldn't have minded a roll in the hay with her. Also in the room were my wife, Dr. Laura Fredricson and Dr. Bonnie Karpathian. Dr. Karpathian was a professor in Laura's Psychology Department, and her specialty was serial killers and serial abnormal behavior in general. She had worked with the FBI on many occasions. She was a bit taller than Lindy Linares, but also had very thick, very black, very curly hair. No, they weren't related... except for their curly hair styles. "I first want to reiterate to my team that we are here entirely to assist the local police on this case, not to take it over." said Jack Muscone. "This is your big chance to work with the Iron Crowbar, guys, until I can find a way to kidnap him and make him an FBI agent." "Not while I'm Chief of this Police Force," Chief Griswold said gravely but with a smile on his face. "But I'm glad you're all here. So what can you tell us about this killer?" "Lindy is our specialist on serial criminals." said Jack. "She's worked with Dr. Karpathian, also. What can you tell us, ladies?" Lindy went first. "I've looked at all the information that Detective Harlan sent, and I called Texas, St. Louis, and the City Police about their cases. They were all surprised to learn that this killer might be operating in multiple places, which means they didn't try to find out in the first place. That's good and bad, the good part being that this information is not widely disseminated." She continued: "The standout features of similarity are the hourglass drawing, the victims tied to a chair and forced into sex, and a drug injection of some kind. In addition, all the victims had their heads crushed in by ferocious blows." Martin Nash said "Doesn't that tell us that there are at least two killers working here?" "Yes, we believe so." said Lindy. "The woman has sex with the male victims, but it is someone else, likely someone far stronger, who hits them on the head. Usually it's one blow, and the person must be strong to deliver that much damage with one swing. Could it be the woman? Possibly, but we're working on the hypothesis that she has a man helping her." "And the weapon?" the Chief asked. "The Texas people think a solid aluminum baseball bat was used." said Agent Linares. "I don't disagree with that." "That would be consistent with what killed Burleson." Tanya said. "CMB- that's our medical examiner's nickname- said he thought it was a metal bat that had absolutely no 'give' to it, and delivered a crushing blow." "What is interesting are the differences in the killings." Laura said. "Dr. Karpathian, would you like to comment here?" "Thanks, and everyone please call me Bonnie." Dr. Karpathian said. Laura had told me she was a vivacious woman who took over any room with her presence, and I was agreeing as I observed her. "Most serial killers use the same methods of killing, and very exactly." Bonnie continued. "Their victims also are very often similar or have very similar characteristics, something that binds or groups them. In the case of this 'Black Widow', the methods of killing are similar, but often just a bit different. The hourglass markings are always exactly alike, but the spider drawings are often different sizes and in different places, if they're there at all. Also, the victims don't fit any particular pattern, at least not that we've found yet. They're all males, but they range by age, looks, incomes, family status, and so on. Nothing to grasp here." "So you think this may not be a serial killer in the classical sense?" Jack Muscone asked. "I wouldn't go that far just yet." Bonnie replied. "It may be this particular killer's method to deliberately slightly alter things, doing that on purpose as part of his or her handiwork. That would be somewhat new, but still consistent with the general theory." "Don, any ideas?" Jack asked. I said "First, let me ask this: don't serial killers normally act alone?" "Yes." said Bonnie Karpathian, "and 90% of them are males, so if a woman is involved here, it's a fairly rare thing. Also, the vast majority of the male serial killers are white men. But you're right, Don, it's not common for serial killers to work in teams. They almost always act alone." "Interesting." I said. "Just one more thing: I read over Detective Harlan's report, and by the way Angela, it was an excellent report, well done!" I said, being sure to publicly praise my Detective for her good work. Angela blushed as I continued, "I would like you FBI guys to use your greater resources to see if the victims were similar not necessarily to each other, but in that there was some reason for them to be singled out for death. By that, I mean if the 'Black Widow' is a contract killer and these victims had reason to have a price on their head, then that would be their reason for being targeted. Or perhaps there are unrelated but big stories around each of the victims that drew the Black Widow's attention to them." "Ah, so you think the Black Widow might be a contract killer using serial killings as a cover?" Martin Nash astutely asked, having picked up my reasoning before the others did. "That's one working hypothesis I have." I said. "Especially with a team of at least two persons working together." "Those are good thoughts." Lindy Linares said as she made a note. "I'll dig into that." "You think Burleson had a price on his head, Crowbar?" Chief Griswold asked. "I don't know." I said. "Jack, you guys looked into Ward Harvester some months ago. Anything?" "No, not on the surface." said Muscone. "His records and his books are clean, but that just means he may be good at whatever he's trying to hide. He certainly has a way of showing up whenever we look into things around here, especially at companies that are doing work that involves military secrets or new technologies, be it research drugs or whatever manufacturing secret that died with that Tim Olivet fellow." "Yes." I said. "And I'm wondering if Burleson either had some knowledge of this, or else he found out something he wasn't supposed to know, and this 'Black Widow' was contracted to kill him in her and/or his unique style or styles." "But if Ward was behind it," Martin Nash asked, "would he want it to be done on his own property? I'd think he'd want it done elsewhere, especially after what happened to Don there and with you FBI guys all over him." "Ward strikes me as a man who thinks he can't be touched." I said. "The morning of the murder, he was ripping into the police to the point that I was compelled to place him under arrest. Now who in their right mind provokes police while they're investigating a murder on his property?" "I do want to ask these professors of psychology, both in serial killings and sexual matters," Chief Griswold said, "if they think the BDSM objects that were on the crime scene had anything to do with the murder." "From my husband's experience with the undercover operation at Lashes & Lace," Dr. Laura Fredricson said, "I'd have to say 'no'. My sense is that those items were planted and are meant to throw you off the trail. BDSM materials have not been found at any other crime scene where this killer was believed to be involved. There is a sexual component of these killings, but it's more along the 'she mates and she kills' theme, to steal Don's phrase." "I agree, but even so," I said, "I'm hoping that the B&D peeps will be able to find out something and give us a lead. I think they want to help us, if for no other reason than to get us off their backs." "Doubt they'll be good for anything." growled the Chief, which drew several looks of shock his way.
 Dr. Bonnie Karpathian said "As we discussed earlier, this particular killer might leave deliberate differences at each crime scene, and those items might have been to fulfill that. I agree with Laura that BDSM is not an integral part of this murder, unless it's a copycat killing." FBI Special Agent Lindy Linares reacted quite strongly to that: "Bonnie, I would be shocked if this is a copycat killer. The 'Black Widow' cases we're studying haven't even been linked together by the FBI or local agencies until now, and certainly never by the Media. There's no information out there for a copycat to copy." "Excellent point, Lindy." said Jack Muscone. "Okay, guys, I'll have my team gather data. We're here to help through next week if you need us, as well." --- "Damn, this is good food!" Jack Muscone said as he and I ate lunch at the Cop Bar. "My favorite reason to visit you guys!" "So Jack," I said, ambushing him as he enjoyed his delicious cheeseburger, "here for all of next week, eh?" Jack smiled, knowing I'd figured out that he and his team were here for a reason, and that I wanted him to tell me what that reason was. "Yeah." Jack said. "Don, the truth of the matter is that this 'Black Widow' murder is potentially stepping on my team's investigation. What I told you in the meeting was true: Ward is technically as clean as a whistle. But we have gathered information that two possible things are happening." Jack took another bite of his burger and took his time enjoying it, deliberately slowing down telling me the information he had. But I knew I could outwait him. Finally he wiped his mouth with a napkin and began speaking. "The first thing is something you already stumbled onto when that football player got killed: there's a White Supremacy group out there called 'Superior Bloodlines'. They're not your white-trash, motorcycle-gang type of white supremacy group, they're not the stereotypical Southern rednecks. These are guys who are in big businesses, wear five-thousand-dollar suits, and who stay under the radar. They are powerful people." "Anyway, we think Ward of Ward Harvester has an association with them." Jack continued. "We think he is making extra ammonium nitrate and other explosives 'off the books' and selling it to this group. They sell most of it to raise money, but they're keeping some of it, somewhere. Homeland Security wants to know for sure; they're very nervous about Thaddeus Ward." "And the second thing?" I asked. "This is what I may need your help on." Muscone replied. "As we've investigated Ward as well as the late Anthony Warner's DynaCorp, we're finding a shadowy group of figures around Ward. We've been trying to watch Karen Warner, the adopted daughter of Anthony Warner, but she is a slick one. She is onto us, and leads us in circles just to watch us spin. Her real father, as you know, is the late Reverend Jonas Oldeeds, and she's trying to work herself into his empire." "Yes, you're right, she's young, but she's got the potential to become a female 'Moriarty'." I said, referring to the arch-criminal in Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. "Yeah." said Jack. "And if she's helping Ward, it's no wonder we can't get near him. She's too damn good. She needs a good spanking, perhaps by an iron crowbar." "I suspect I'll be running into her quite a few more times before all is said and done." I said. "So is that why you're in Town for the week?" "Yeah, that and some more leads into Jonas Oldeeds that have led us back to here... to the University, specifically. I can't say any more about that to you right now, though." "Let me guess, then." I said. "Henry Wargrave's connections to the University, to the Oldeeds Empire, and their joint ventures of smuggling of guns in the Western Hemisphere." Jack Muscone just stared at me for at least 30 seconds. I just finished my own cheeseburger. It was indeed delicious. "Damn, the Chief is right: can't keep anyfuckingthing from you." Jack finally said, though I noticed the relief in his face as he thought I didn't know the full story. "What do you know about Wargrave?" "Only that he is probably the most dangerous man in the world right now, at least among non-big-banksters." I said. "His only weakness, at least that I've found to this point, is his love for the University and its football program. He's been connected to the CIA for years now, but he's also gone rogue a number of times, and he has no compunction about breaking national and international laws to enrich himself through the arms trade." "And by the way," I added, "I was just being kind to you so that you wouldn't have a heart attack if I mentioned the rest of the story: that you're also investigating Wargrave's connection to a CIA group that may be doing things not authorized by the Agency itself, particularly involving acquiring Ned's drug recipes and Tim Olivet's secret, whatever that may be." After another thirty second staredown, this time with no relief showing on Muscone's face, all he could think of to say was "I'm surprised you're alive. He and they probably know that you know." "Oh, of course he knows I know about his own connection to the CIA... and that my wife knows, as well. But he thinks I'm like Sherlock Holmes... I'm harmless to him unless and until I cross his path. I've confronted him once already, on a small matter related to the deaths of Marie Arruzio and Jack Burke. We agreed that the Town is mine and the University is his, and we keep that uneasy truce." I said. "And he does know one other thing," I said, my voice growing cold, "if he fucks with me or my family, I'll simply kill him. In cold blood, if need be. And if he gets me first, then Laura and some of my new friends in this Town will avenge me. It's as simple as that." "Glad I'm on your side." Jack Muscone said. "You're generally correct, though: the CIA works as a bunch of independent units. One might not know what another is doing. One of these units may have gone out of bounds, but the rest of the Agency doesn't know it. Your wife likely doesn't know anything about this, so keep it between us, huh?" I nodded as Jack continued "We're not even sure anything is wrong, and we don't want to step on anything legitimate. That's what the top brass wants me and my team to glance into. It's really nothing more than that." "I hear ya." I said. "And your lunch is courtesy of the Federal Government; I'll expense it. I'll say it's your last meal before you're burned at the stake." "Mmm, barbecue." I joked, grinning as we got up to leave. "About time I get something for my tax dollars..." To be continued... Case of the Black Widow Ch. 02 The order of my stories to read is: Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, Case of the Executed Evangelist series, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player series. The Black Widow, Ch. 01-02 Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas. This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above. Part 8 - Last Will And Testament After getting back to Headquarters from lunch with Jack Muscone Thursday afternoon, Paulina Patterson called me into the Chief's conference room. Inside were Paulina, Jeanine Olivet Burke, Esq., of the Women's Law Firm of Dewey, Cheatham and Howe, and her partner Virginia Madison, Esq. Jeanine, now my niece, was very heavily pregnant, and she was due to deliver Jack Burke's baby at any time now. But I was observing her lovely partner. Virginia was a short, lithe redhead. Her hair was cut fairly short and combed straight out. Her magnificent body was incredibly toned to the point of muscular. She might have been a gymnast in her younger years. She was definitely a hottie. When Cindy Ross came in at my request, Virginia almost squealed "Are you the one from the Miss Physical America competitions?" "That's right." Cindy said. "Oh, I'm so glad to meet you!" Virginia gushed, shaking Cindy's hand vigorously. "I was such a big fan of yours... still am, of course. Oh wow, I can hardly believe it!... you're such an inspiration to me!" "That's very kind of you." Cindy said, blushing, her face turning almost as red as Virginia's hair. "Ladies, what can we do for you?" I asked. "Several months ago, Tom Burleson came to me and wanted me to write up his will. I did so, and probated it yesterday-" Virginia said. "I thought you ladies were divorce attorneys." I said, interrupting. "We are." said Jeanine Olivet. "But we've begun branching into other things, slowly and usually for people we know well. Go ahead, Virginia." "Tom Burleson came to me and said he didn't want to use other law firms because they were part of what he called the 'good ole boy' network. And he's right about that." Virginia Madison said. "As to the will itself, there were some peculiar instructions in it. Among them was that if Burleson met a fate other than natural causes within five years, I was to give the police this." Virginia handed me a key. It was to a safety deposit box. "The box is at Second National Bank." Virginia said. Second National was the second largest bank in the County and region, behind the J.P. Goldman Bank. "Which was not Burleson's normal bank, if memory serves me correctly." I said. "Paulina, just to keep things very straight, we need to get a warrant before opening the box." I said. "Already taken care of." Virginia said. "I took the liberty this morning, using the will as the reason. Judge Watts signed off on it. Of course I need to be present with you when the box is opened." "Who was the beneficiary of the will?" I asked. "Tom's brother and his family received some of the inheritance, but a big chunk of it went to a Wildlife Charity devoted to the cause of preserving fishing." Virginia replied. --- Inside the Second National Bank's safe deposit box vault, I opened the box with Cindy, Virginia and Paulina looking on. Inside were some old coins, exactly $20,000 in cash, a fake passport and fake New York State drivers license, and a sheaf of papers. "Oh wow... gold mine." I said to Cindy a few moments later as we looked at the papers. They were production forms from Ward Harvester, showing the amounts of ingredients to form lots of batches of ammonium nitrate as well as explosive compounds and base chemicals for other explosive compounds. "Paulina, we have probable cause." "What do you mean?" the lovely black ADA asked. "My degree is in chemistry." I said. "I can tell that these work orders are to make lots of compounds. Everything is typed, but you can see here that the amounts are upped by either 10% or 20%, and those are written in hand on the side of the typed numbers. I'm thinking that these are the extra amounts of these products Ward was making on the side." "Wouldn't they have shown up in the FBI's evidence?" Paulina asked. "No." I said. "I imagine the typed orders are what are on file. Burleson or someone else substituted the extra amounts, then those papers with the handwritten amounts were supposed to disappear. My guess is that Burleson, and possibly the other shift managers, would make the extra amounts then destroy the paperwork... but Burleson decided to keep a copy of some of the papers, either as protection for himself, or perhaps he was blackmailing Ward. Probably the former: if Ward were being blackmailed, he would not have allowed Burleson to keep it up very long, and Burleson would've died a long time ago. As it is, there are at least 30 work orders and pallet bagging records for various compounds here." Cindy said "So Burleson was being paid extra by Ward to make these batches on the sly, and he kept these sheets for protection along with this cash so he could disappear quickly if he needed to. Perhaps Ward found out he was keeping this and had him killed for it?" "Good thought." I said. "But I'm not sure Burleson personally committed any serious crime. So why someone felt the need to kill him is still up in the air. And Martin's objection still holds: why would Ward have Burleson killed at the Ward plant?" "Got me stumped there." Cindy admitted. "Me, too." I said, then continued: "Cindy, call Tanya Perlman and have her take a team and go through Burleson's apartment again, but this time use sonar on the walls, tear out the heating vents, look for cracks in the flooring, and otherwise look very hard everywhere for more cash and more papers." "Paulina, go ahead and secure these papers, and use them as you see fit to get warrants. In fact... call Jack Muscone, and together with him get a Federal warrant to get everything, and I mean everything on Ward Harvester. Whatever y'all need to do, get those warrants. I want that information, especially on the production work orders." Cindy and Paulina were already scattering as I put the box back into it's place in the vault and bagged the money and coins, giving Virginia an evidence receipt for them. "Virginia, thank you very much." "Mmm, I can see that you are a man that takes charge." Virginia said. "I like that in a man." --- Later that day, Tanya Perlman called me. "We found $20,000 in two bundles hidden inside hidden holes in the walls of Burleson's apartment, as well as a fake passport and fake California drivers license with Burleson's picture on them. He was ready to make a hasty exit if he needed to." "Any packed bags or indications that he was about to make that hasty exit?" I asked. "No, nothing like that." Tanya said. "Looks like whoever killed him got him by surprise." Part 9 - All The University's Men It was Friday morning and the large gathering of Media at the luxury Singletree Inn and Suites in the City showed that an important event was happening there. Security tried to keep the reporters off the officials as they came out of their morning meetings to go to another room for a sumptuous lunch. Tim Dawdle and his cameraman tried hard to get into the throng to an official that Dawdle knew. "Sir, can you tell us if the NCAA is going to investigate the University for PED use? Sir, why is the NCAA not investigating this issue?" "Tim," the man said, "you already know that we've already investigated those rumors and have closed our investigation. We're satisfied with the University's cooperation and response." "Sir, that's not a denial, and I can provide the proof you need to open an investigation. So what can you tell- Uhk!" Dawdle said as a security guard roughly shoved him back, striking the pajama-boy punk in the neck, and obviously enjoying using physical force on such a puny little twerp. The official took the opportunity to hurry along. It was a similar story with the Conference officials that he tried to interview, and it appeared that Dawdle was at a total dead end. But finally, as the afternoon meetings were in progress, the Deputy Commissioner of the Conference texted Dawdle and granted an off-camera interview in the Deputy Commissioner's suite at 5:45pm... and told Dawdle to bring any information that he had. Finally, a break! Dawdle thought to himself. --- "Okay, Dawdle, this interview is either off the record or deep background." the Deputy Commissioner said. "Deep background, and thank you for seeing me." Dawdle said. "I want to ask why there's no investigation of the University's athletic program despite widespread PED use." "Well, the NCAA tells me they looked into it and have found nothing worth a full investigation." the DC said. "But sir," Dawdle persisted, "isn't Coach Gonzales's leaving under suspicious circumstances worth looking into?" "I'd have to say that we did contact the school about it." the DC said. "We also contacted the local police there after that player died. There's nothing we can pin on the University concerning the coach's decision to leave nor the death of that unfortunate player." "You also have to understand this, Dawdle," the DC said, getting tired of having to look at the pajama-boy punk's face, "we can't just waltz into a school and start throwing our weight around, nor can the NCAA. We don't have subpoena power, we're not the police. We can investigate to some extent, and the University was very cooperative with us and with the NCAA. There's just nothing there." "But sir, there is a lot there, and I have proof of it." Dawdle said. "Proof?" the other man said. "Yes, sir." Dawdle said. "At least enough for me to go with a full story when I've finished developing it, fully sourced and confirmed. That should be enough for the NCAA to at least look into the University. Look, here's a copy of what I have, at least enough names and events that should be enough for you to get started looking." Dawdle handed the official a sheaf of papers. "Okay, Tim, I'll tell you what." the DC said, taking the papers. "I'll start an informal look into it and see if your info holds up. If it does, and it's enough to investigate further, I will." "It's more than enough, sir." Dawdle said. Just two things: First, will you let me know first of anything you find out?" "Of course, Tim." the man said. "And second, do you know how long your investigation will be? Do you think you'll have something by the end of November?" "Tim, you know these things take time." the DC said. "It'll take me a month at least to get a preliminary report, and then we'd have to go to the NCAA to even start a bigger investigation if something illegal or improper is found. We're probably talking next Spring or even summer camp for the full investigation to produce results. I know you Media guys need your stories and need them yesterday, but these things go at a slower pace than some of us would like." "I understand, sir. Please let me know what you find." Dawdle said, knowing that he'd have to run with his story without the help of the Conference official. All the better, he thought, Ms. Woodburn would love to run a story of the Conference sitting on this explosive information... --- "You did what?" Katherine Woodburn exploded, a look of disgust and disbelief on her attractive face. "Ma'am, I didn't know what else to do." whined Dawdle. "There's no way they'd start an investigation if I didn't give them some proof of the need for one." "Tim..." Woodburn said, but then caught herself, reminding herself to calm down and get control before she went off on this stupid punk of a pajama-boy cub reporter. "Tim, do you realize that you've given them what we have? That they now know what we know?" Katherine asked, keeping her voice fairly calm. "Please, please tell them that you didn't give them everything you have." "No ma'am." Tim said, untruthfully. "And I'm still developing a couple of new leads, if I can find Coach Gonzales." "Tim," said Katherine Woodburn, "the problem is that the Conference official tricked you into revealing your information, and I sincerely hope that you were not stupid enough to actually expect that the Conference official would really investigate your leads. What he probably did was give Dr. Wellman, the University president, the information at the ballgame, or at least told Wellman what was going on. And by now Wellman has told Coach Harlan, who can make preparations against your information." Tim's face fell as he realized how badly he had been duped, and it was Bettina Wurtzburg, sitting in on the meeting, who tried to rescue the pajama boy. "Ms. Woodburn," said Bettina, making her voice as smooth and persuasive as she could, "there is a silver lining to this: the Conference now cannot say that they didn't know, because Tim will say he gave them leads. Now if they don't do anything, we've got a huge story based on that." "That's true, but it's really nothing compared to the damage done." said Katherine Woodburn. "Well, one thing is for sure, we're going to have to go with this sooner rather than later. Get the hell out of here and get this story wrapped up." As the reporters scurried out, Tim Dawdle tried hard to hide his enthusiasm by pretending shame and humiliation. It was going exactly as the Goth Girl had said it would, that the actions that 'her man' had devised for him to take were working: he had given the Conference man the information, told Woodburn what he'd done, and Woodburn was now having to move up the schedule to get the story out. Just what was required of Dawdle by the Goth Girl's man. Also, the Conference and University were working together to cover up the mess, which Dawdle would now expose... --- It was Monday afternoon, and the University's stunning upset win had the Town and County buzzing. At 5-0, people were actually getting excited about a run at a title. But not everyone was celebrating nor happy, including at the University President's office. "I had a disturbing visit while at the game." University President Sidney Wellman said to his two guests as he poured them drinks. "The Conference Commissioner brought his Deputy to see me. Seems the Deputy had a visit from a sports reporter here at KXTC during the NCAA and Conference seminars last week. The reporter is that punk Dawdle, and it's about PEDs." "Him again?" Coach Harlan replied. "I thought we were done with that punk and those issues." "No, Coach, we're not. And it's serious." Wellman replied. "How serious, Sidney?" asked the other guest in the room. "Very." Wellman said. "The Deputy Commissioner was given some papers amassed by Dawdle. Names of players that might have taken PEDs, information on Coach Speedy Gonzales before he left, including his arrest, release and immunity agreement; and what public information the Police had about that killer, that student Ned, possibly selling PEDs to some of the University athletes. Fortunately, that information is scant, but the Deputy Commissioner said it might be enough for Dawdle to go public with a big story if he adds just a few more pieces." "Jesus." said Coach Harlan, looking visibly distressed. "Calm yourself, Coach." the other man said. "Sidney, did the Commissioner share with you what Dawdle has?" "Yes, Hank, and here's a copy of it." Wellman replied, handing a folder with papers to the other man: billionaire alumnus Henry R. Wargrave. Wargrave looked over the material, then handed it to Coach Harlan. "It does look serious." Wargrave said. "Coach, you need to jump on this and isolate those named players. If any reporters come around, they should shove them away. If police, the Conference or the NCAA come around, they need to not answer questions without legal representation and you being informed first. I don't need to tell you to make sure their drug tests are as current as they need to be." "We've got their clean tests on record." Coach Harlan said. "Coach, thank you for coming by." President Wellman said, attempting to dismiss the coach from the office. "I know you need to get back to preparing your team for the next game. But I know the one after that is going to be the big one, against Coach Richmond's team. Great victory last Saturday, as well." "Yes, it was a great win." Wargrave said, shaking the coach's hand as they all stood up. "And I'll give you some incentive... after this next game, your opponent is that police Lieutenant's alma mater, and I know you'd like to beat his school down." "Yes sir, Mr. Wargrave." Coach Harlan said. "And it's where Coach Marshall came from and went back to. I'd really like to spank 'em, but they're a good team, too. This week we should win easily enough, but against the Wildcats we're going to have to have our best game if we're going to win." The coach said his goodbyes and left. "So, Hank, what do we need to do?" Wellman asked. "The Commissioner said they could stall an investigation for months, well into next year if need be... but if that little faggot Dawdle comes out with a big story and it generates interest, they might have to act sooner just to cover their asses." "I understand." said Wargrave. "I'll contact some friends and make sure everything stays nice and calm, and I'll see what I can do about that out-of-control reporter." "We need to be careful about that." Wellman said, not fearing to call down his extremely wealthy and powerful friend. "That Bettina Wurtzburg rape did us no real favors. We were damned lucky that the Iron Crowbar got to Arruzio before that got worse." "Yes, I remember that." said Wargrave, a bit of anger flashing in his blue eyes under his ash-blonde hair. "Don't worry, Sidney, I'll make sure the University's prestigious reputation remains unsullied." "You always do, my friend." Wellman replied, his smile firm and set. "You always do." --- "That bad, huh?" Angela Harlan said. "Yeah, that's what Wellman said." Coach Brian Harlan said. The cousins were at his apartment, sharing a carafe of wine as he told her about the seriousness of the Dawdle situation. "What are you planning to do?" "The other guy in the room, the big alumnus whose name I dare not mention," said Brian Harlan, "he said he was going to take care of things. Of course he said that the last time this came up... but it was your Lieutenant who actually took care of things, though in a way that seriously compromised me." "So it's this pantywaist reporter Dawdle that's the problem?" Angela said. "I never did like that little twit on TV." "Yeah. Anything you can do about it?" "Well, I'm relatively new to the Police Force, but I might can have some officers pull him over every hour for going one mile over the speed limit." Angela said. "But obviously I can't do anything that comes back to me... then we're both in trouble." "Yeah. We've got to find a way to make that little faggot drop the whole thing and leave us the hell alone." Coach Harlan said, his voice low but anger whipping through every word. "Let me know if you come up with any ideas." "Don't worry, cousin." Angela said, her voice soft, husky and soothing as she laid back on the sofa and stretched. "If your big-time alumnus doesn't come through, we'll get something done." Case of the Black Widow Ch. 02 Brian looked at his cousin through the alcoholic fog from the wine. She looked good, damn good, in the tight blue jeans and loose blouse she was wearing. "I hope you're right, baby." he said... Part 10 - Clues and Leads On Monday morning the Town & County Police descended upon Ward Harvester. Over the weekend, Jack Muscone, myself and Detective Julie Newton of the Vice Department had pored over the data obtained from Ward Harvester by Federal Court warrant. Julie Newton was an accountant, a CPA, and she was the one who followed the money in big-money crimes such as money laundering, RICO violations, drug money, and anything requiring her abacus of a mind. She was to finance and numbers what Myron was to data and Barry Oliver was to police science, and I felt grateful as always to have such good people working on my Police Force. Julie was slender, lithe like Virginia Madison but not as toned; in fact, she was not strong at all. She had qualified with a gun, so she was entitled to be the full Detective that she was (as was Myron Milton, upon my insistence he qualify with a gun), but she was normally found at her desk and computer. "Okay, so let's look at lot GA-101 here." I said as we examined the papers. "It's one of the batches Burleson created extra amounts for. The official file shows only the typed amount, not the handwritten extra. So that confirms that Burleson kept this extra sheet, and that it is 'off the record', so to speak." "Here's where the bags and pallets were filled." said Julie, handing me another piece of paper. "The official paper shows the standard amount for one of their pallets, but Tom's extra sheet from the safe deposit box shows the extra bags. Then the official truck manifest shows where the normal amount was loaded, but there's nothing corresponding to the extra bags anywhere." "That's where they went off-the-record -OR- where Burleson's involvement ended and someone else picked it up. It's the same with batch GA-113 here, also." I said. There were many more examples of that, and it was enough for Paulina to get warrants to bring in the other plant managers and office brass for questioning, and for us to question every worker at the plant. But every one of the top brass, from Ward to the VPs to the plant managers, immediately asked for lawyers and, upon the advice of those legal beagles provided by Ward Harvester Company, refused to answer any questions. For speed, I had four teams of two conducting interviews of all the other employees. Angela and Hugh were one team, Tanya and Pete Feeley a second team, Cindy and Teresa (of course) were a third team, and Martin Nash and Diana Torres the fourth team. An FBI agent was present at each interrogation. Alas, none knew anything. They just followed orders, put the amounts in that they were told to, bagged what they were told to, moved pallets as they were told to. No one remembered any extra bags being accumulated, though there were always extra bags, damaged bags, or bags that failed quality control from time to time. "That may be how they moved the extra bags out of the way." I said. "The shift manager says that, say, sixteen bags are taken away for quality control purposes, or having failed QC, then those bags go off on a separate truck somewhere. Way too easy to do." "Well," Jack Muscone replied, "thanks to Burleson, we now have an idea of how the extra stuff was made. I'll keep my guys digging harder on the distribution. If anything comes up regarding the murder, I'll call you right in." I agreed, as there was little more we could do at the moment. ---- The package had arrived at Police Headquarters late that afternoon, addressed to me. It was a manila folder, sealed shut. Later that night I took it to my tiny MCD Lieutenant's office and opened it in Cindy Ross's presence. Rita had enclosed a note, some photos, and what looked like financial records. The note read: "We've checked with all the BDSM crowds as well as some contacts in the black criminal community led by that rapper 'T-Square'. The handcuffs were made in the City, and were ordered by a tall black-haired woman wearing glasses and heavy makeup. There is a picture in the envelope of a man who picked up the handcuffs and also bought the riding crop in an Adult Toys store in the County. As the picture shows, he's black-haired, burly, has a thin beard and goatee." "Also, there are some pictures of the owner of the company where the guy was murdered, Mr. Ward, in the company of a woman named "Wild Child". Her real name is Karen Warner, and she and Mr. Ward have some kind of operation going on. Perhaps your victim found something out. Good luck, and I've asked your wife to come visit us and bring you as my special guest." "They came through for us, Cindy." I said, feeling very vindicated. "They came through. That is very, very helpful information." I said. "Let's take it to the Chief, then once he's seen it, I want you to start looking for these guys in the pictures as well as the woman... and Cindy, not a word of this to anyone else, even in the Department, especially not to our fellow Detectives. I'll tell Tanya once you've found something, if you do find something." "Cool beans." said Cindy. "Can I ask you a question?" As I nodded, Cindy asked, "How in the world did they get that information and get a picture of the goatee guy?" I smiled. "Because Rita is the one who sold him the BDSM objects. "What? How in the hell do you know that?" "Cindy, you were listening in when I went into the Club, weren't you?" I asked. Cindy nodded as I continued: "Do you remember when Rita mentioned that chrome handcuffs would occasionally disappear? Now how did she know to mention handcuffs as one of the objects at the crime scene? We never mentioned them... yet she knew what the objects were before we told her anything at all about them." "Ho-leee shit!" said Cindy as I enjoyed the look of the truth dawning on her face. "Then why aren't we arresting her right now?" "For what? She didn't know the stuff was going to be planted at a murder scene." "How do you know that?" Cindy said argumentatively. "If she withheld the information of her knowledge of the objects, she might know all about the murder, for all we know." I exhaled. "Well, you may be right, but I'm thinking she didn't know, at least not beforehand. She's given us what she knows here, and I'm thinking that she wants us to solve the murder so that there'll be no doubt she and her people weren't involved. You can arrest her, haul her in and interrogate her, if you wish. You'll do us tremendous damage if you do, but I won't stop you." "Thanks for nothing. Yeah, I guess you're right, we can't do that now." Cindy said, realizing where I was coming from even if she didn't like it. She then asked "So, are you going to go visit the Club again?" "Of course." I said, "And I hope to catch her off-guard and maybe get more information out of her. If she's involved with the murder, we'll land her soon enough." I hoped that would be enough to mollify Cindy for the time being... --- "I think we have something." Special Agent Lindy Linares of the FBI said the next day, Tuesday morning, as we talked in the conference room. "All but one of the victims of the 'Black Widow' had either a connection to a bank or a problem with a bank." She showed us case notes of data. "And all of the banks had or have a connection to J.P. Goldman and his bank here in your Town." J.P. Goldman was the richest man in the County, or second-richest if one counted Henry R. Wargrave as a County resident. He was the representative of the richest section of the County on the Town & County Council, and he was also a University Regent/Trustee. He owned the J.P. Goldman bank, the largest and most powerful bank in the County and a rising presence in the State. He also separately owned or co-owned banks in other areas of the country, though keeping them separate to avoid breaking banking laws. "And the only one that we haven't found a connection with is our current victim, Tom Burleson." said Lindy. "So, the Black Widow doesn't like banks or bankers." I said. "Definitely begins to fit the patterns you've told us about. What about Thaddeus Ward? Is he connected to Goldman?" "He does business with their bank, but I see no other connection between them. Goldman is a member of the Kiwanis Club, the American Legion, and the County High School booster club. He also sponsors Little League teams and one of the Boy Scout troops, while Ward has no civic ties to the community at all." "So this connection to J.P. Goldman?" I asked. Lindy replied. "It's thin, but the victims in the DFW region were one man who was a vice president at a mid-size bank there, while another apparently had litigation against that same bank. J.P. Goldman Bank had been a financial backer of the deal that was under litigation. The victim in St. Louis was a banker who actually did business with the J.P. Goldman bank here in Town, and had visited here several times over the last 10 years." "Tell you what." I said. "See if a particular Goldman bank officer besides Goldman himself has a connection with these banks. And that's great work, Lindy." "Good enough for you to buy me a drink?" Lindy asked flirtatiously, looking up at me with a hopeful expression. "Sure." I said. Lindy was certainly a decent looking woman... --- Mr. J.P. Goldman was an elderly man but his eyes were bright and vigorous and he was still spry and active. He had agreed to see me in his office at the bank. "Thank you for seeing me, sir." I said as I was seated before him. "Glad to help, son." Mr. Goldman said. "I'm hearing great things about your work in the Police Department. Are you going to run for Sheriff like some of my Council colleagues want you to do?" "Sir, I'm just trying to solve one case at a time on behalf of this County and its good citizens." I replied. "And that's why I'm here: about the death of Tom Burleson." "What can I help you with?" asked Goldman. "We know that he did his banking with your firm here." I said. "I was wondering if you know of any problems he had with the bank?" "None that I knew of, and I make sure to be told if a customer has a problem with us so that I can fix it." Goldman said with a note of pride. "Customer service is very, very important, and if a customer has a problem, I personally see to it that it gets resolved." "Yes sir." I said. "Did Mr. Burleson come to your bank and ask about other business, maybe getting a big loan for a new business or anything like that?" "No, again nothing that I know of, but I'll check with my loan officers and get word back to you... in fact, hold on one second..." Mr. Goldman picked up the phone and called for someone to come in. "I've asked Selena Steele and Bradley Hazelton to come up. She's Edward Steele's daughter, and she's one of my vice presidents, my right-hand man... well, woman. Edward is a Town & County Council member along with me, of course. Bradley is one of my loan officers." A lovely black-haired woman in her early 30s came into the room. She was about 5'5" tall, her black hair was long and lustrous, her lips were full and inviting, almost 'porn star' lips. She had a great figure, shapely legs and feet in the high heel pumps she was wearing, and while her face and body screamed "porn star", she had a helpful but commanding bearing that bespoke a high-level bank officer. Bradley Hazelton came in a moment later. He was young, mid-20s, with a full head of brown hair and too set a smile. It occurred to me that I was looking at an up-and-coming politician, that he'd be running for Mayor or the Council before too long. No, I realized... and then realized that I was feeling a sense of foreboding about this man. After introducing us, I asked them about Tom Burleson. Selena said that he had gotten a loan for his boat, which was being paid in a timely manner, and his death insurance in the loan would pay that off. Other than that, he'd made no loan applications and his banking was simply a checking account that was in good standing. "Ms. Steele, do you help Mr. Goldman run any of his other banks out of state?" I asked suddenly, as if it were an afterthought. "Please, call me Selena, and I do sometimes travel on Mr. Goldman's behalf." Selena said. "I am curious as to why you want to know that." "Just for this: perhaps you can tell me if any of those banks ever did business with Mr. Burleson, his employer Mr. Ward, or Ward Harvester that you know of?"
 "Not that I know of." said Selena. "Mr. Hazelton?" I asked. "What about you? Did you know Mr. Burleson? Do you travel to other banks for Mr. Goldman, where you might've picked up on something?" "I never met Mr. Burleson." Hazelton said. "And I sometimes travel to the City on Mr. Goldman's behalf, but nowhere else." "Anything about Ward Harvester?" I prodded. Hazelton simply shook his head 'no'. "I can't recall that, either." said J.P. Goldman. "Lieutenant, do you think there's a connection between Mr. Burleson or Mr. Ward and my other enterprises?" "Not that I can tell, sir," I said, "but I have to eliminate the possibilities. I'd like to thank you all for your time today." I made my goodbyes and left, not asking about any serial killers or the 'Black Widow' name: plenty of time to flesh that out. But I still felt that I had touched upon something important. I was 'warm' as the children say in the hot-and-cold game they play... Part 11 - A Special Celebration "Guess what, darling?" Laura said when I got home. It was Tuesday, a week after the Burleson murder. I could tell what the news was by the excitement that she was trying hard to hide. "We're pregnant." I replied, sliding my arms around Laura's hips and bringing her body to mine. "How did you know?" Laura said as we hugged warmly. "I've been watching the bloom in your cheeks for a week now." I said, holding my wife in my arms, not ever wanting to let go. "Not to mention the receipt for the home pregnancy test that dropped out of your sweater pocket onto the kitchen floor the other day." Laura laughed. "I should've known you'd observe and deduce it. Are you happy?" 
 "I'm so happy I can't stand it. I love you so much!" I said, kissing my wife hard. After a long moment I broke the kiss and said "Let's go celebrate. Speaking of babies, where's Carole?" "Your mom is babysitting her." Laura said. "I told your mom that you and I'd be celebrating. By the way, she also observed that I was pregnant; she even told me before I skipped my period that I needed to get a pregnancy test." "Now you know how it was for me growing up." I said. "Nothing gets past my mom. So where do you want to go celebrate?" "I have a very special idea." Laura said, her eyes sparkling. "Lashes & Lace." "What? The B&D club?" I asked. Laura could not know that my grin was from remembering my earlier conversation with Cindy and the 'invitation' from Rita that had accompanied her information. "Yep." Laura replied. "Rita invited us. I bought us both face masks and togas. It's Toga Night. We're going into what Rita calls the 'first level'. That's where most of the fun happens. We wear masks like an 'Eyes Wide Shut' party, and we'll be seeing and doing some verrrrrry interesting things..." --- "Why hello, you two." said Rita as Laura and I came up to a door in the back bar area. We had arrived in Laura's car and parked behind the building, which was fenced-off, blocked off from outside viewers, and patrolled by Rita's security people. Entering from a back door, we were escorted to where Rita was. Rita and Laura did the "double cheek kiss" greeting and Rita then warmly hugged me. She told us to put on our masks, which we did. Laura's mask was gold and ornate, with decorations on each side. My mask was simple but large enough to cover not only around my eyes but over part of my cheeks and temples. It was colored blue, the same color of blue as my infamous crowbar. Laura and I were wearing kimonos over our costumes. Rita led us inside the door, behind which was a small landing that immediately turned into stairs going down and to the right, along the wall. At the bottom we turned right again. "Okay, time to take off the kimonos and reveal your 'uniforms' for the evening." Rita said. We took off the kimonos to reveal that we were wearing togas: we had come as Hercules and Hyppolita. Laura was wearing very-high-heel gold lame' sandals with straps that criss-crossed up her legs, while I was wearing black military boots, as had been recommended to me. Underwear was verboten, and Laura's big breasts were practically falling out of her toga... and at her height and with her high heels, many people found their faces staring right into my wife's luscious mammaries. We went into the Club that was underneath the rooms above. It looked like a ballroom, with a big wooden-floored open space in the middle. A slightly raised stage was to the right. To the left was a small alcove with a bed inside, which was Rita's "throne room". Other little alcove rooms lined that wall, but they were secreted behind a wall that made a little hallway. On the far side was some BDSM equipment, a big "X"-cross device that someone could be tied to, and a couple of large cages big enough to imprison a human being, but none of them were being used. "That's just for show." said Rita, observing my glance at the equipment. "The real stuff is downstairs in the Second Level. I might never let you go down there. Cop." "How 'bout we forget that I'm a cop, just for tonight?" I said. "Let's just enjoy a good evening, okay?" Rita grinned and emitted her mirthless cackle. "No way. Cop. I don't distrust you, Don, but not one moment will go by that I won't remember who you are." "But yes, let's have a good evening. Laura has a surprise for you, Don, so you'll be my consort for the evening while watching your lovely wife perform as the object of several well-hung men's attention." I looked at Laura, who smiled and nodded. I nodded back, accepting the conditions for the evening: Laura was going to get fucked, and I was going to watch! There were at least 30 people in the room, all dressed in either togas or more typical B&D leather strappings. No one was having sex yet; most were drinking and talking socially. But I did notice that some of the men and women were beginning to flirt, some beginning to make out. I noticed a group of eight men on the far side. They all wore black silk masks, as if they were the 'executioners', and were young and muscular. I suspected that they were well-hung, and that at least some of them were friends of Todd as members of that SEX fraternity. A memory flashed through my mind: were any of them part of the group that had saved my life at the Ward Harvester building? "Let's take our places." Rita said. "Don, you're in my bed with me. Laura is going to be... well taken care of." The bed in Rita's alcove was very comfortable, and the sheets were clean and fresh, I was happy to note. We sipped drinks as lovely woman with long, straight, dark red hair approached the center of the ballroom floor. She was wearing a leather dress with a very short skirt and black, high heel, single strap slides. Her legs were fantastic, shapely calves rising to slender tubes for her thighs and a tight, heart-shaped, bubble-butt ass. Two long tables were brought out, then covered with mats for some comfort and then sheets. At that point Laura and the redhead woman approached the makeshift beds, Laura lying on the one closer to me, her right side to me and Rita, while the redhead lay back on the one to Laura's left side. "Mmmm, this is going to be sooooo hot." Rita whispered. I felt her grasp my cock, which was rapidly hardening as I watched the eight masked men approach the two women. Their cocks were now exposed, and they all were indeed extremely huge. Case of the Black Widow Ch. 02 One young man was hovering over my wife's head while another eased between her legs. Two men similarly straddled the redhead. The men between the women's legs began dryfucking the women, sliding their thick, long shafts along their captive ladies' slits. I heard the redhead moan, then my wife. By now everyone in the room was watching the spectacle in front of them. "Mmm, doesn't that look hot?" Rita said. "You're so lucky, Don, you get to watch your wife getting gangbanged by these hot studs!" "And while I'm fucking your beautiful brains out, baby." I whispered huskily into Rita's ear. My hands were mauling Rita's big breasts through her flimsy toga as I planted hard kisses on her neck and jaw. Things were heating up fast as I slid my hand up Rita's firm thigh to her pussy, my finger penetrating her gaping labes. Rita was sopping wet. "Unnnnnnnh!" The long, low moan was not from Rita but from Laura. One of the well-hung men had unrolled a magnum condom onto his huge shaft, lubed it up from the generous supply being held by a woman 'servant', and then slid his meat balls-deep into my wife. I watched as the man at Laura's head was sliding his huge tool into her mouth as the other young stud began a smooth, steady fucking rhythm. "Oh geez," I moaned, my own cock hard and throbbing. "You like that?" Rita asked, her eyes looking malicious as she peered into mine. "Why don't you watch while I suck your cock again. Cop." With that, Rita bent over and slid her mouth over my iron-hard shaft. Her mouth was hot, wet and wild as she applied deep, hard suction as she pulled her lips up my shaft. It was the technique Laura liked to use on me, and I wondered if my wife had taught Rita this method of giving hot head. Pleasure rocked through me as I watched the two women in the center of the room being deeply fucked. I began noticing the pattern. When the young man fucking Laura couldn't hold back, he moved to the redhead, stripping his condom along the way, then began fucking the redhead and coming inside her. The man who had been fucking my wife's face moved to Laura's cunt, put on a condom and lubed it up, then shoved his meat into Laura as the man who the redhead had been sucking moved to Laura's mouth. Then a new man moved up and eased his meat into the redhead's mouth. Watching this steaming hot rotation as my wife and the redhead were gangbanged in front of me was intensely arousing for me. Seeing the women's legs high in the air, especially my lovely wife's luscious gams, made me hot for more intense sex. "Okay, baby, I'm going to fuck you now." I growled as I eased Rita's mouth off my cock and pushed her back onto her bed. She did not resist as I mounted her, and her moan of pleasure as I slammed my bare cock balls-deep into her steaming hot quim was matched by my own gasp of pleasure. I began fucking Rita in a hard, smooth rhythm. Her pussy was hot, deep and tight. She was a magnificent fuck. She was undulating her ass and hips to meet each of my powerful thrusts, her cunt absorbing my cockmeat as I thrust into her again and again. Our mouths met in a deep, tongue-twining, toe-curling kiss as we rutted hotly, blissfully not quite aware that at least ten other couples were fucking hotly as they watched the spectacular twin gangbang in the middle of the room. I was watching out of the corner of my eye even as I pumped Rita's sweet cunt. "Don't come, baby." Rita said. "You're the grand finale. After all those men get sated and come in the redhead, you're going to finish your wife off and come in her." "That'll be my second load of the night, then." I growled, plowing Rita's furrow with raw male power. "I'm going to drop my first load into your nasty cunt, babe." I began fucking Rita harder, driving towards my own climax. Rita's pussy was spasming around my pistoning prick in hot response. "Oh baby... oh yeah..." Rita grunted as I fucked her deep and hard in the missionary position, feeling her legs sliding up and down my sides, sometimes wrapping around me. "Unngh! Uggh!... No wonder... they call you the ... Iron Crowbar... your god-damned cock... is like a fucking... iron bar inside me... oh God, you're so fucking... hard! Oh yes, OH YES!!..." Rita came hard, and her clamping, clutching cock was too much for me. Driving into her with all my strength, I began climaxing, pumping my load deep into her sopping wet vagina. A gray mist swirled around my eyes as the intensely agonizing ecstasy of my release overwhelmed me... --- I was gently fucking Rita in a "spoon" position, both of us lying on our left sides as we watched the gangbang in front of us. Rita often leaned her head back so that we could share deep, wet kisses, our tongues battling inside each other's mouths for sexual supremacy. The gangbang had been going on for some time, and the redhead's cunt was slimy and messy with the large number of incredibly huge loads that had been shot into her sloppy quim. Laura was also a mess, the lubricant the men had been constantly applying now almost gushing out of her well-used and abused pussy. Both women's cuntlips were gaping, confirming the rough use they'd taken for what seemed like hours. Finally, it was time. Rita ordered me to walk down to the dais upon which my wife was lying, and finish her. I got up and made my way through the throng. As I eased up between my wife's legs, she looked up at me with a look of pure, deep lust. I eased my bare cock into the slimy mess of her cunt. The feeling was warm and wet, but also loose to the point of near frictionless, and I wondered if I would be able to get my nut. I began pumping Laura harder, seeing the last of the eight men finally empty his balls into the redhead to finish her off for the evening. I thought of the times I'd fucked Laura in the past, the times I'd fucked Melina, thinking of as many hot sex scenes I'd been a part of or had watched, trying desperately to get my rocks off. I barely heard the loud smacks as my thighs slapped Laura's asscheeks as I rapidly fucked my wife. I barely heard the chants of the onlookers, urging me on to reach the crest. Finally, I felt my nut rise and with a loud scream of agony, I fired my load into Laura's snatch. "UUUHH!!" I gasped out. I almost blacked out from the agonizing pleasure of climax, not really seeing nor hearing nor remembering for a moment. I do remember hearing loud applause, as if it were far away, not realizing it had been for my performance in fucking my wife to a hot creampie climax. When I finally recovered, I realized that a beautiful blonde woman was cleaning up my loins, licking off the mixture of juices and lubricants. I saw Rita between Laura's legs, lapping up the mess as two other women were hungrily eating out the redhead that had been fucked to exhaustion... --- It was 5:00am and Laura and I had joined Rita at a diner just north of the University for breakfast. We'd showered and cleaned up at the club. Laura was near exhaustion, barely able to sit down, but she had been famished so we were eating on the way home. After we'd talked about the gangbang and the pleasures of the evening, Rita said something cryptic, and a bit chilling: "I figured you'd realize that it was me who sold that BDSM paraphernalia, Don. I had no idea what that was about... No, I have no idea who the people were that bought the stuff. But I'll tell you this: I just run a BDSM club, I'm not trying to be anything more than I am, I'm not trying to be the 'big leagues' in the town's sex industry. But after this murder came up, I realized that something big is going on. And here I am having breakfast with two of the biggest, most powerful people in the County. It's kind of scary..." "What do you think is going to happen?" I asked. "You're not implicated in the murder, nor anything else, as far as I'm aware." "I can take care of myself," Rita said, "but I think it's time for a short vacation. I'm going to let some of my friends run the club for a couple of weeks and just get out of Dodge for a while." Neither Laura nor I could persuade Rita to tell me what was bothering her, but she caught my eyes as I observed her. "Yes. Cop. All this is much bigger than you've been able to see thus far. You'll get there, but it's big. Bigger than you're letting yourself see..." Part 12 - Third Weekend In October On October 15th my nephew Todd's wife Jeanine delivered a healthy baby boy, mother and son coming out of the delivery just fine. Jeanine was going to name the baby 'Jack' after his biological father, and Todd had not objected. I hoped that this new edition of 'Jack Burke' would be a much better one than his father had been... --- It was the Monday before the third weekend of October. As the MCD detectives filtered into the room and began consuming coffee, all of the talk was about the now 6-0 University football team. Almost everyone was excited, except one certain Lieutenant who was known to wield a blue crowbar. "We'll see how much longer you're celebrating." I said. "You're coming up against a real team next." The next game was an away game... at MY school, also 6-0. I might work in this County, and my wife might be a professor at this University, but I was still loyal to my own School... and so was my ex-wife Melina. "We'll take care of that lightwork, Lieutenant." Cindy Ross said, fully aware of who her University (the local one) was playing against. "Sounds like a bet is in order, Detective Ross." I said. "Loser buys the winner dinner at The Steakhouse?" "You're on!" Cindy said, and we shook hands on it. "You're betting against MY cousin's football team, Lieutenant?" Angela Harlan said with mock anger. "You betcha, Angela." I said. "I hope MY team beats your cousin's team up one side and down the other. I'll root for your team in all the other games, though." "You bum." Angela said, giving what was for her a grin. "That's nicer than what my wife called me." I said jokingly. It was now 7:00am, and time for Bettina! "This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News! There have been no new developments in the Tom Burleson murder case, though the local Police have been cooperating with the FBI to develop leads that suggest a nationally-known serial killer may have visited our County. But for the big news of the week, let's go to Chuck Pringle at the Sports Desk! Chuck, what have you got for us?" "Thanks, Bettina!" Chuck Pringle said as he came onto the screen. He had a full head of dark hair that was beginning to gray, and he had played football at one of the Conference schools years before. He was much better at sportscasting than the repugnant pajama-boy Tim Dawdle. "It's a big week for the University as they face a big conference rival in a showdown of undefeated teams! Coach Brian Harlan is optimistic but very cautious going into this week against one of the teams expected to compete for the conference crown..." "I wonder what happened to Dawdle?" Cindy Ross said. "Did they finally get rid of that twerp?" "I dunno," I said, "but I have a bad feeling about it. I wonder what the punk is doing behind the scenes while Pringle here fills in." I felt eyes upon me and glanced over my shoulder. Angela Harlan was looking straight at me, her face showing worry as she considered my words... --- Finally, the day was here! It was the third weekend of October, and so far we'd had no more breaks in the Burleson murder mystery. The DNA evidence said that a woman had been present, but was too inconclusive to be of further value. But right now, no one's attention was on police work. The University was playing my old School in a showdown with Conference and National title implications! I was at the "Mountain Nest", my mom's home, in the basement game room. Watching the game with me were Teresa Croyle, Cindy Ross, Jack Muscone, Martin Nash, Daniel Allgood and my very pregnant ex-wife Melina, my wife Laura, and my mother Phyllis. My daughter Carole was there, also, but she seemed to prefer sleeping through the game rather than watching it. My school was nicknamed the "Wildcats", and our colors were red jerseys with black trim with gold pants, a gold helmet with the School's letter in a football oval (something like the San Francisco 49ers) and a red stripe with black trim in the center of the helmet. The local University is named the "Bulldogs". They'd once been the "Indians", but were forced to change it due to political correctness. Their colors were royal blue with silver trim, and as the visiting team they were wearing white jerseys with silver pants. Their helmets were silver with a royal blue "U" (like Miami of Florida's). I was wearing the red jersey of the Wildcats, as was Melina, and my mother was wearing a red golf shirt which her large breasts strained and stretched, which Cindy took many opportunities to observe. Speaking of Cindy: she, Laura and Daniel were wearing the royal blue of the Bulldogs, which was Laura's employer and Daniel and Cindy's alma mater. Jack Muscone and Martin Nash were neutral; Jack was simply enjoying a relaxing day off work. Martin's school wasn't in our conference, so he had no skin in the game. Teresa also didn't much care for either team, as her School was in another Conference in another part of the country. Teresa had been feeding Carole and holding her for most of the day. Unbelievable how the bitchy Teresa "Cunt" became so much more warm and caring while attending a baby, I thought. As we watched the game, we had no idea of the momentous events going on that would shape our lives... --- "All right, Tim, show me what you have. All of it." Katherine Woodburn said. They were in Katherine's office at KXTC television studios, the home of Channel Two News. Katherine and Tim Dawdle were in the room with Bettina Wurtzburg, and Dawdle was outlining his explosive story of PEDs at the University and the cover-up of them. Katherine examined the material for a considerable time, making sure that everything was well-sourced, backed up, and the story was rock-solid. It was. "And Ferrell and Ikea are already looking into it?" Katherine said. "Yes ma'am." Dawdle said. "Their statement and the documents opening the case are embargoed until Monday morning, but Ferrell said that SBI Director Jack Lewis has signed off on it." "Wow, Tim, this is... truly great stuff." said Woodburn, fire flashing in her eyes. "You have totally exceeded my expectations. If Brian Harlan survives this, it will be because he made a pact with the devil." "Yes ma'am." Dawdle said simply, hiding his excitement and having a story that would bring a lot of pain to a lot of people that he hated. "Bettina, did you look at this? Is it good?" asked Woodburn. "Yes ma'am, it's really good. No one can save that bastard Harlan and some of the alumni when this comes out." Bettina said, remembering also the school alumnus that she and Detective Don both thought was behind her brutal rape and beating. She intended to follow up Dawdle's story with one much more explosive and damaging to certain University alumni... After more thought, Katherine Woodburn gave her instructions. "Okay, I want you to go with this Monday morning. Bettina, work with Tim and his cameraman. Get the scripts written and to me tonight. Get as much as you can shot to tape while everyone is out of town this weekend at the game. And lay the groundwork for even more explosive stories!" Katherine continued: "So Tim, you tried to get more out of the Conference officials?" "Yes, ma'am." Dawdle said. "I've called the Deputy Commissioner back three times, and he gives me the same line that he's just started to look into it. When I asked him to give us an on-camera interview, he refused, as did every other Conference and NCAA compliance official that we contacted." "I want you to work that up." Woodburn said. "Make it a big part of the story, as big or bigger than Coach Harlan's cover-up; heck, this could be a two-tier story. I really want you to embellish the NCAA and Conference's refusals to look into this... that could make this story go national. This is your big chance, Timmy, don't blow it." "Yes, ma'am." Dawdle said, his heart surging. A *national* story! "Get out of here and get to work. Get me those scripts tonight." Katherine Woodburn said. The reporters quickly left her office. Katherine Woodburn sat back, a satisfied feeling filling her. It would get political and ugly, but this was her big chance to really take a shot at the University and take the arrogant bastards that fueled the football program down a few notches. And her best source ever, Steven Ikea, would be able to get some revenge for the shabby treatment he received after finding PEDs once before in a coach's office. And after that... she could concentrate on bringing down the Iron Crowbar and making sure the right man won the Sheriff election next year. But how to bring down the Iron Crowbar, that was the problem. He'd outsmarted the SBI on trying to frame Coach Marshall for PEDs, and every criminal in the State feared being whipped by his blue crowbar if they came up against him physically. He'd rescued those children after being shot, and survived the subsequent explosion of that warehouse. And it only added to his legend that he'd pursued three people shooting at the Irish Pub one night, literally walking up to them as they were firing, and killing one of the perps. It would be no easy task to crack the Iron Crowbar, but she felt it could be done. Now just how to go about it... --- "Trust me, this is for the best." Agent Dick Ferrell said to Vince Rossoliano as they ate lunch at the best little Italian restaurant in the City, watching with everyone else the big game on the television sets. "Tell your boss that I've got it covered. We open the case, but we let it linger and nothing gets solved for months, years, if ever. And if something else comes out, we've covered our own asses at the SBI by at least having opened the case." "Why even give that little shit Dawdle the time of day?" asked Rossoliano. "If we ignore him, then he might go somewhere else. We're stalling him, just like the Conference deputy official is. Like I said, tell your boss to have some faith." said Ferrell. "After that last fiasco trying to frame Coach Marshall, my boss doesn't have much faith in you, nor your cocksucking lapdog Ikea." said Rossoliano. "I have to go report in to him and then get out of here. I'm not even supposed to be back in the country. I'll tell the boss, but you better know what you're doing this time, Ferrell. You know what the man is capable of." Ferrell shuddered slightly, knowing indeed what the man at the top and holding both their chains was capable of. Still, he had confidence in his plan... --- "And that will do it." the TV announcer said. "The Bulldogs' dream of an improbable championship season comes to an end as the Wildcats take the 28-0 win at home..." Melina and I were high-fiving while Daniel and Cindy groaned. It had not even been a contest, our Wildcats had dominated every phase of the game for the whole game. Just then Teresa's phone rang. "Gotta go, we're going to move on a big drug bust." she said as she handed Carole to me and quickly left. "Good luck!" I called out to Teresa's back, then turned my attention to my baby daughter. "Hi, Carole!" I said, very enthusiastically. "You get to wear a red jersey all week long, how do you like that?" Carole smiled brightly and giggled and cooed. Her mother was much less amused at having lost that little side bet... Part 13 - The Breaking Story I walked into Police Headquarters at 6:00am on Monday following the third weekend of October. I was in a very good mood. I could not say the same for most of the officers on the Police Force, especially the MCD room. My peace offering of a couple dozen doughnuts was accepted somewhat begrudgingly, but accepted nonetheless as Teresa Croyle came into the MCD room. Case of the Black Widow Ch. 02 "We made a major drug bust Saturday night." Teresa reported. "Sergeant Sharples developed the leads and led the raid. We got a big score of cocaine, amphetamines, and synthetic marijuana." "That's great, Teresa!" I said. "So Sharples found out about it?" I was not quite believing of it, but maybe Sharples was better than we realized. "Yeah, but it was strange." Teresa said. "After we'd arrested about fifteen guys, one of them, who we think was the leader, tried to attack Sharples. Guy named Lenny. He's filthy, long haired." "I know that bastard." I said, remembering my interview with him on the day my daughter was born. Teresa continued: "Well, Lenny began cursing and spitting at Sharples, saying Sharples had betrayed him and the gang. Tried to go after Sharples even though he was being restrained." "Interesting." I said. "Did Sharples do any undercover work with the guy?" "Maybe, but we don't know for sure." Teresa said. "Sharples didn't say much until he was giving the information to Captain Malone, and as far as I know he only told Captain Malone how he'd uncovered it." I pondered that, but as it was 7:00am we tuned in for Bettina, expecting to hear a story about the big, successful Police drug bust. "This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the lovely redhead reporter. She was looking very fine for any hour, but especially for the early morning. "We now bring you a KXTC exclusive in a just-breaking report! Let's go now to Tim Dawdle with the story!" "This is Tim Dawdle, KXTC Channel Two Sports, with a breaking story!" said the pajama-boy punk, his oily hair and nerd face with thick black glasses especially repelling as he stood with the University football stadium in the background. "The State Bureau of Investigation's Narcotics Task Force has agreed to open an investigation of the University's athletic program for the distribution and use of performance-enhancing drugs, or P-E-Ds, based upon evidence provided by my exhaustive investigative report of Coach Brian Harlan's program." "The Town & County Examiner will be running my story in print today, and KXTC Channel Two News has the first exclusive on this fast-breaking story." Dawdle continued, clearly excited. "The SBI is investigating the extensive use of PED's and Coach Brian Harlan's knowledge of the distribution of those drugs by one of his former coaches. Special Agent Richard Ferrell of the SBI's Narcotics Task Force will be leading the way in the investigation, the results which we will be bringing to you." "Tonight on our 6:00pm broadcast, Channel Two News will bring you the results of our in-depth investigation not only into the PED use by the University and Coach Harlan's lawless, wild-west athletic program, but the cover-up in collusion with the NCAA and the Conference. We'll reveal why the NCAA and the Conference is turning a blind eye to the University football team's PED use, and why they declined to seriously investigate the University's football program even after the death of a football player last August. This is Tim Dawdle with the investigative report for KXTC Channel Two News!" "Ho-lee shit." Cindy whispered in the utterly quiet room. I glanced at Angela Harlan. She was speechless, but fury was written all over her angular but pretty face. "Thank you, Tim, this is huge information!" Bettina said, her smile radiant: she was enjoying this. "In other news, the Police Vice Department made several arrests in a drug bust over the weekend. Captain Harold Malone stated that Detective Leonard 'Sergeant' Sharples did an excellent job in uncovering and busting the drug perps as they tried to move into our County. This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News, and we'll bring you any new developments of the University's PED cover-up scandal as they break." "Shit." said Teresa 'Cunt' Croyle, "We make a massive drug bust and get barely a line on the news about it." "Life isn't fair, Teresa." I said. "And it's about to get a whole lot more unfair for a lot of college football players." "This is going to get very ugly." Cindy said. "KXTC not only attacked the football program, but the Conference and the NCAA for looking the other way. Whether they did or not, they now have to investigate the program just to cover their asses. God damn that little bastard Dawdle!" "Not to mention trying to tie Jackson's death to the cover-up." I said. "That is really going to make it ugly with the Public... and it may become an issue for the Police Force here." "I wonder if Dawdle's drivers' license is expired, if his insurance is up-to-date, if his car tag is good." Officer Pete Feeley said. "It might take several traffic stops to find out." "No!" I said, then pointed at Feeley. "And put out the word, Feeley: this Department is not to touch nor harass that man unless he actually commits a crime. I don't want to give the bastard Press any excuse of a story that the Police is being used by University Alumni to harass Tim Dawdle. Do I make myself clear, Patrolman Feeley?" "Yes sir." Pete Feeley said, disappointed but understanding. "And that goes for everyone else, too." I said. "All right guys, we have crimes to solve. I'm going to go talk to the Chief and Captain Charles and make sure nobody starts getting any ideas of going after Dawdle." As I left the MCD room I felt eyes upon me. I looked back and saw Angela Harlan looking at me. Her eyes were inscrutable. --- "We're going to have to endure a full investigation." said University President Sidney Wellman to Henry R. Wargrave as they ate lunch in Wargrave's dining room in his lakeside home near the City. "I got a call from the Conference Commissioner this morning; they're going to let the Press know that they've just opened an investigation, but that Dawdle went too quickly with the story before they had time to actually investigate, and that Dawdle has hindered their investigation by coming out with the story." "They're covering their asses." Wargrave said. "The NCAA is not so fortunate; they're saying their previous investigation yielded nothing, but they're really being hounded by the Press now, especially about young Jefferson Jackson's death." "What if they talk to the local police?" Wellman asked. "And what about the SBI? "I've been assured that Ferrell is going to let the investigation linger to the point it dies away." Wargrave said. "Ferrell's logic was not sound in my mind, but I can understand it from the SBI's point of view, especially if they have to cover their asses." "The real wild card here is the local police." Wargrave continued. "The Iron Crowbar knows about it, and he gave Gonzales and Harlan partial immunity in exchange for admitting they tried to frame Coach Marshall. Don also has video evidence of Ferrell and Ikea's involvement in that frame-up, and he is holding it over them in exchange for them not investigating him or talking to him about the PED issue." "That'll sure keep the SBI at bay, but it'll be mighty thin if the NCAA comes around." Wellman said. "It'll look even more like a cover-up. And sure, Don has every right to tell the NCAA to piss off, but what about Ikea? He's bitter as hell against the local Police, and would love to shove a red hot poker up the football team's collective ass. And his benefactors are anti-University religious nuts like Pastor Westboro and Kelly Carnes." "It's definitely a problem," said Henry Wargrave, "but the one thing we must be sure to do is not overreact in haste, and subsequently make things worse. Call Coach Harlan and tell him not to cancel his press conference today, and to be sure to use all the proper phrases. In the meantime..." He did not speak for a moment. "In the meantime?" Wellman finally asked. "In the meantime, I'll try to figure out what we can do." said Wargrave. --- "Oh my God, it was awful." said Brian Harlan as his cousin Angela poured him a large glass of wine. "Those god-damned reporters were relentless. I just wanted to jump off the podium and punch that little faggot Dawdle in the nose." "Yeah," said Angela, who had been present at the conference as 'security' for the coach, "it made me sick watching and listening to the other reporters tell Dawdle what a great thing he did breaking that story." "Well, President Wellman called me a few minutes ago." Harlan said. "He said I did well, totally denying the allegations, bringing up the past exonerations. He also said I don't have to do any more press conferences, citing media frenzy." "So, you can tell me like you can tell no one else: how bad is it really?" Angela asked. "Bad, but it depends." Harlan said. "Our fear is that the Press will somehow dig up your Lieutenant's secret deal with me and Gonzales, or that he knew his criminal nephew had been selling PEDs to some of the players last year. Either of those could be blown up and break the whole thing wide open." "Don has already told us that if the NCAA or any Press ask, we're to say that we're investigating murders committed by his nephew Ned, and in light of that ongoing investigation we can't comment. The Police Press Office stated that also. So he and we are covered." Angela said helpfully. "Yeah, Mr. Warg- er, our big alumnus told me that." Harlan said. "But I think the only thing that'll make this thing go away is for Dawdle to go away, and for the Press to be diverted..." Part 14 - Night Of The Black Widow At 11:00pm on Wednesday night I got the call. It was Tanya Perlman. "The Black Widow has struck again, Lieutenant." she said, giving the location, a seedy apartment complex in one of the lower income areas of Town south of Downtown. "Okay, I'll be right there." I said, glancing over at Laura, who was watching and listening as she breast-fed Carole. "There's more, Lieutenant..." and Laura watched the shock grow in my eyes as Perlman said "The victim is Tim Dawdle. He's dead." To be continued... Case of the Black Widow Ch. 03 The order of my stories to read is: Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, Case of the Executed Evangelist series, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player series. The Black Widow, Ch. 01-03 Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas. This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above. ***** Part 14 - Night Of The Black Widow Entering the apartment, I saw Tanya Perlman and the Crime Lab team at work gathering evidence, and the medical examiner "CMB" looking over the body. The body was seated in a small metal chair, his hands tied behind him with rope, his pants puddled around his ankles. The back of his head was bashed in, making the face barely recognizable, but the oily black hair and the glasses on the floor a few feet away made the identification fairly obvious. A huge black circle with four legs coming out each side was painted on the punk's skinny chest, and the hourglass of two red triangles outlined with white were in the middle of the circle. "Dawdle's wallet and ID were in his pants pocket." Tanya said. "However, his cell phone has not been found in the room, and may have been taken. This is not where he lives, and this apartment is unrented. Looks like he was brought here, but the neighbors claim to have seen nothing at all." "Who called it in?" I asked. "Neighbor below." Tanya said. "They heard some noises like people stomping on the floor for a while, but it then stopped. Then, at about 10:30, some blood came dripping through the ceiling and they called 9-1-1. We're keeping them away from any phones, and I've ordered that the police radio not be used at all so that the Press doesn't get wind of it." "Bless you for that one, Tanya." I said. "I owe you a big beer for that. Aw, Jesus..." Everyone looked at me, so I finished the thought out loud: "Whoever did this did us no favors at all; the Press will say this is a cover-up for the football PED story he was reporting on, and now the whole Black Widow story might get out." "That's why they pay you the big bucks, Lieutenant." Tanya said. Her crime team laughed. I was much less amused. "So what happened here?" I asked as I examined the body closely. "Either the blow that killed him wasn't enough to knock him over, or they put his body back upright." "We're swabbing for DNA around his genitals." Tanya said. "He definitely was brought off before he was killed." "So what was used to make the spider markings?" "Some kind of actor's makeup for the black stuff. The white outline of the triangles is also some kind of grease paint, but the red appears to be lipstick. Sure used a lot of it." Tanya replied. "CMB, any idea what made these abrasions on Dawdle's forehead and cheeks?" I asked. "Not sure yet." CMB said. "Looks like they roughed him up before they whacked him." "We've taken blood samples, but don't know yet if they drugged him." Tanya said. "Hmm," I said, looking at the floor a few feet in front of where the chair and body were facing. "There are some blood smears on the carpet here. I wonder if they match the abrasions on his face and head? Guys, mark these stains on the carpet, photograph them and then sample them." As the crime lab members did so, I had an insight. "Has anyone tried to lift the victim out of the chair yet?" A chorus of "no"s hit me. "Can a couple of you lift him up enough that I can see what's on the chair?" By now Tanya and her crime teams had learned not to question the ol' Lieutenant's seemingly strange requests. A couple of officers raised up the body by the armpits. "Wow, there are liquids on the chair." Tanya said. "Let's get him off there." I said. The victim was untied and his body carefully laid to the side on its side. I examined the top of the chair as Barry Oliver collected samples of the fluids. "Semen and blood." Tanya said. "By the way, when a victim dies, he usually loses control of his bowels. We should be finding shit there, not semen and blood." "Yep," I said, "and if you look at the punk's asshole, it's clear that he has been raped. My guess is that the perps tied his hands behind him, put him face-down and ass-up on the floor and sodomized him... that's where he got the face and head abrasions from as they forced his head into the carpet while raping him, and that's why his blood is on the carpet there. Anyway, after he was raped, he was placed in the chair, tied to it, and then he was injected with drugs and someone went to work on his genitals to make him climax before killing him." "None of the other Black Widow victims were sodomized." said Tanya. "Does that mean it's a copycat?" "If it is, then my job just got twice as hard," I said, "as it means there's a huge leak in either the Police Department or the FBI." Just then Angela Harlan and Hugh Hewitt came to the door. "Hi guys, can we help?" Angela asked. "Take a look, but don't get in the lab guys' way." I said. "What are you two doing here, by the way?" I asked. "Saw the police cars out front and came in to help." Angela said. "There's been nothing on the police radio about this at all, by the way." Hugh said. "And I want it to stay that way." I said. "I don't want the Press here at all." Unfortunately, my desires were unfulfilled as Bettina Wurtzburg and her cameraman Scott Turnbull showed up just fifteen minutes later. Senior Patrolmen Rudistan and Morton held her back, but I knew I had to speak to her about it. So I went down and asked Bettina to come with me, off camera, and we went a little ways off but within the police cordon. "Bettina, I'm going to tell you what happened, but it's embargoed for two hours, and you'll see why when I tell you." I said. Bettina reluctantly agreed. "The dead man inside there is Tim Dawdle." I said. As the shock hit Bettina I said "I'm going to have to interview you now, as an associate of the deceased. Can you tell me the last time you talked to him?" "To- tonight, at about 8:00." Bettina said, her face totally blank except for the shock. "We'd just wrapped up the post-action meeting for the 6:00pm broadcast. He got a phone call while he was calling sources within the NCAA about their part in the PED cover-up- oh my god, he's dead? Don, what happened to him? Was he murdered? Who did this to him?" "Two hours, Bettina." I said. "Yes, he was murdered, by a blow to the back of the head. Let my crime lab finish their work. And let me get you and your cameraman some coffee while you wait." Two hours later... to the exact minute... Bettina went into action. The camera filmed the body being removed, which I didn't particularly mind. Bettina was on the phone, calling her editor and breaking the news story, then filming her segment and an interview with me. I consented to the interview in an effort to prevent details about the Black Widow from coming out, only saying that the victim had been killed by a blow to the back of the head, and that we'd know more when the Crime Lab's report came out. --- At 6:00am that morning, Thursday, there was a full meeting in Classroom J of Police Headquarters. Jack Muscone's FBI team was present, as well as my entire MCD team and Teresa Croyle from Vice. Captain Brittany Maxwell of the University Police was also there, at my invitation. "The liquids on the victim's penis was saliva." reported Tanya Perlman, who had not slept the night before, and neither had I. "And preliminary tests suggest it was a male. We are also working up DNA samples from the semen that was left on the chair and in Dawdle's ass. Maybe two or three guys in the room with him." "No sign of a woman?" the Chief asked. "There was lipstick on Dawdle's neck right at the shoulder." Tanya said. "It had been covered with blood from the blow to the back of the head, but some lipstick was left and I'm praying for some extra skin cells. Anyway, it might have been a woman that left the kiss mark, but she did not see fit to perform oral or vaginal sex upon him." "Poison?" I asked. "Yep, he'd been injected, and it looks like the same stuff that was injected into Burleson." "Crowbar, any ideas?" asked the Chief. "I've already left instructions for the Lab to compare any DNA to the rape of Bettina Wurtzburg, and see if it's the same thugs." I replied. "Not sure if it's the same people, and we never got any samples from Ikea when he was raped there, but we might get lucky and get a match. It's just a hunch, but this case reminds me of that one, except that Bettina lived while Dawdle died." "So you don't think this was related to the Black Widow killings?" Jack Muscone asked. "Oh yes, I very much do think it's the Black Widow." I said. "If the tests confirm the poison was the same as Burleson, then I'm going to work the angle that it's the same set of killers. I don't think these sophisticated drugs are that prevalent or easy to come by."
 "That's a good point." said the Chief. "So are you saying the Black Widow was related to the Wurtzburg rape?" "No, Chief, and let me try to explain more clearly." I said, realizing that I had done an exceptionally poor job of expressing what I was actually thinking. I began: "Bettina was attacked as she met her source, who was Ikea, and that was a hired hit meant to intimidate her into backing off reports that were a problem for wealthy University alumni in the Murdered Lovers case." I continued: "The Dawdle crime scene shows two distinct phases. The first was similar to Wurtzburg in that Dawdle was tortured and sodomized, possibly over the PED stories he reported. "Then the second phase was tying him to the chair, making him sexually climax, and then killing him by a blow to the head along with an injection of poison drugs. That's the Black Widow angle, her motif. "The only reason I think this is related to the Wurtzburg attack is that some of the same perps might have been hired for both. We know my nephew Ned was involved in Bettina's attack. Maybe he was involved in this one, also. But then again, maybe not." "So do you think the perps did a copycat of the Black Widow killings?" asked FBI Agent Lindy Linares. Boy! did I fuck this up, I thought to myself as I said, "No, I think this is not a copycat killing... it's the Black Widow, but she and her perps wanted to make it look like it was a copycat killing, hence the differences in the sexual acts upon Dawdle." "This might sound weird," Angela Harlan said, "but if I recall, the other men that have been murdered were decent or even good-looking and were heterosexuals as far as we know. But Dawdle is a pretty sickening little twit to look at; maybe the Black Widow had him sodomized by other men because she didn't want to touch him, or maybe because she knew he's a fag." "But he's not... er, wasn't a homosexual." Cindy Ross said, and I noted the underlying anger in her eyes at Angela's use of the word 'fag' as Cindy continued: "Lainie already has worked up some data, and I asked her to look specifically into that. Dawdle was not a part of the gay scene in this Town." No one said out loud that Cindy Ross would have more knowledge of that than she was prepared to tell out loud, though everyone knew. "It's likely he was raped for the same reason Ikea was." I said. "To humiliate and punish him. To send a message- Oh! it's nearly seven o'clock. Let's see what Bettina has to say." --- "This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News." said the lovely reporterette, though much more somberly than normal. "Last night the body of my colleague Tim Dawdle was found here at the Pine Cone Apartments. Tim was murdered by what the medical examiner has called a blow to the back of the head with a heavy, blunt instrument. No other details have been given. We now go to a taped interview with Police Lieutenant Don-" "Why the hell did you give her an interview, Don?" the Chief asked as everyone watched. "I gave it so that I could keep details about the Black Widow from becoming public for as long as possible." I said. The Chief just nodded, still frowning. Once my taped interview was over, Bettina was back on. "Although police have not yet found any suspects or motive in the murder of reporter Tim Dawdle, it is well known that he had recently broken a huge story about PED use in the University football program, and a potential cover-up by the University, the NCAA and the Conference. I can assure you that Channel Two News will be vigorously following the investigation of the murder of Tim Dawdle, and relentlessly inquiring as to who might have committed this horrible act, and why. This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News." --- "Fun fun, we get to go interview reporters at KXTC." I said to Cindy, Teresa, Martin Nash and Diana Torres. "I expect them to be hostile to us and to not say anything, but we will appeal to their professional association with the victim and guilt to get them to talk." Arriving at the KXTC headquarters, we found that Katherine Woodburn was in her office with Bettina Wurtzburg. At first, she refused to give consent for her people to be interviewed. "Lieutenant, you know the protections of the Press prohibit us from talking about any of this." Woodburn tried. I tried a new tactic. I pulled a small chair up next to Ms. Woodburn's, behind her desk, and sat down. She looked deeply offended, which is what I hoped to see. "Ms. Woodburn," I said, keeping my voice quiet and even, just a tiny bit too quiet and even, "your journalistic protections apply to sources, not to reporters themselves. Dawdle was your reporters' colleague, and we need any information we can get to try to find his killers. There may even be a connection between those perps and the ones that attacked Ms. Wurtzburg here a few months ago. All I want is to bring the killers to Justice, and to bring Justice to whoever is behind those killers. Now I fail to understand why what I want is not exactly the same thing that you want for your employee." "You police need to be out there looking for killers and not harassing my reporters." Ms. Woodburn said, showing some anger and dislike of the police. "Oh for God's sake, Katherine!" Bettina said, exasperated. "Let them talk to our people and let us help them find whoever killed Tim! Don, I'll help you no matter what Ms. Woodburn says. I imagine plenty of others will, as well." Katherine Woodburn gaped at Bettina, but said nothing else. "So, Ms. Woodburn, what will it be?" I asked, relaxing back into my chair, still using that quiet voice. "Subpoenas all around, and you looking bad if you fight them publicly? Or some cooperation on your part... just questions about Dawdle, not your stories." 
 Katherine Woodburn looked ill-at-ease, but reluctantly consented to interviews with the reporters, but only with KXTC lawyers present. To my great surprise, most of the reporters were actually helpful and willingly answered our questions. Unfortunately, not much was learned. Tim Dawdle was disliked by just about every one of his colleagues, most of whom considered him nearly worthless as a reporter. No one had had enough conversations with him to know much about him, and nobody really had seemed to care about his existence. --- At the 4:00pm meeting in Classroom J, a lot of information was put out. Myron Milton went first with the digital data. "As you know, Tim Dawdle was a reporter for KXTC. He has been a reporter of some kind since graduating from the University of Georgia Journalism School. Their Journalism School is one of the best: it gives out the Peabody Awards, which are just behind the Pulitzer Prize in prestige. Probably that is the only reason why Dawdle has been able to secure any jobs at all, and he bounced around from place to place, several jobs in a short amount of time, most recently coming to KXTC as a sports reporter." Myron continued "Dawdle had school loan debt but nothing else of significance. One credit card, not a very high limit, and only half-maxed out. No large amounts of money anywhere, no unusual deposits of money into his accounts. He liked to look at porn, heterosexual porn, and a good bit of that was found on his computer at home. Other than that, nothing of interest at all. Neither his personal nor work-related emails showed any threats against him, even though he was carrying on an investigation into the University football team that was becoming an embarrassment to them." More Myron: "His cellphone was not found on his person, but I traced the number given to me by the two reporters that had his number in their cellphones. His calls mostly were to other reporters, to order pizza, stuff like that. I suspect he may have had a burner phone to use with sources and contacts of that nature. "However, one call from a burner phone came to his regular cellphone around 8:00pm, the time Bettina Wurtzburg said she last saw him. The burner phone pinged a cell tower near the apartment where he was found, and currently is not pinging at all, which suggests it has been destroyed or disposed of." Goth Girl Mary Mahoney picked up the thread. "We found no connection between Dawdle and Tom Burleson or any of the other 'Black Widow' murder victims, nor any connection between Dawdle and Mr. Ward or Ward Harvester. However, I did find one report from an undercover police officer, who obtained a surveillance photograph of Dawdle at lunch in a Downtown sandwich bistro with a woman named 'Goth Girl Kathy'-" "Ah, any association with the BDSM crowd?" the Chief asked, butting in. "For that matter, did Dawdle have any association with them?" The Chief was just not going to let that go, I realized as I butted in myself. "Goth Girl Kathy has no association that we know of with the BDSM crowd, Chief." I said firmly. "But she's known to be a very close associate of my nephew Ned." The Chief knew this; I was stunned at how he'd jumped at the name vis-a-vis any kind of BDSM angle. "Yes sir, that's right." Mary said. "Vice was watching her in the hope of her leading us to Ned and/or his drugs... and of course, they want to beat the Iron Crowbar to capturing Ned just for the sake of doing so." There was a murmur about that, and I nodded in acknowledgement. Then we noticed the Chief's icy stare at us all, which shut all noise down. He bade Mary to continue. "It never panned out." she said. "Neither she nor Tim Dawdle had any association with BDSM that we know of, though Kathy could've had associations we don't know about. Dawdle was too well known as a reporter, they would've shunned him. He was more in with the punk crowd, but even they didn't like him very much." Tanya then gave her report. "The blow to the head killed Dawdle, a blow delivered by a solid object such as a baseball bat. Very similar injuries to Tom Burleson there. The drug he was injected with is identical, exactly identical in every respect, to that used on Tom Burleson. "Dawdle was anally raped multiple times by at least two different men." Tanya continued. "It was saliva that we found on his penis and genitals, and I'm certain enough that it was a male to tell you that now. The lipstick kiss on Dawdle's shoulder was likely done by a woman wearing black lipstick, but there's not enough to make a DNA match." "All right, Crowbar, wrap this up with a bow." the Chief said wearily. Case of the Black Widow Ch. 03 "Dawdle was last seen around 8:00pm at KXTC's offices." I said. "He left after getting a phone call, which we now know was from a burner phone. After that, there is nothing on him: his car does not have GPS, and it was nowhere in the area of the apartment complex. We've put out an APB to watch for the car. The couple in the apartment below the crime scene said that they started hearing the loud bumping noises in the apartment above around 9:15, but there may have been activity there before then. For the blood to get to the apartment below by 10:30 suggests that the death blow was administered some amount of time before that, as we have to give some time for the blood to seep through the floor cracks and down through the ceiling below." "Suspects?" the Chief asked brusquely. "My nephew Ned has shown up as an associate of a Dawdle associate, but the crime scene suggests the Black Widow has struck again. This also is supporting my idea that the Black Widow may be a contract killer, and was hired to kill Dawdle. As to who is ultimately behind killing Dawdle, he'd pissed off plenty of people related to the University and its football team, though killing Dawdle is about the absolutely fucking stupidest thing they could've done over that matter." "Yes, but how do you really feel about that, Lieutenant?" Cindy quipped. The room broke into laughter, which I joined. "If criminals weren't stupid, our jobs would be a lot harder." the Chief said. "Okay, everyone not named 'Lieutenant' is excused. Jack, I'd like you to come with me to my conference room, also." Muscone nodded his agreement. Part 15 - Suspects and Alibis "We're doing what?" Dr. Wellman asked, his face a mask of astonishment. It was 5:30pm the same Thursday afternoon. "You and I are going to Police Headquarters and talk with Chief Griswold and the Iron Crowbar." Henry Wargrave said. "They can't come here, and this is a professional inquiry by them. I think we should go, because we might can influence them on how to handle the case." --- At 7:30pm the Chief brought me and Jack Muscone into his small Conference room. Also attending was our Press Relations officer, Lt. Scott Peterson. The Chief had already told me who else was coming, so I was not surprised that Dr. Wellman and Henry Wargrave were already in the room. Dr. Wellman was sipping on a bottled water while Henry Wargrave drank coffee. "Thank you for coming, gentlemen." Chief Griswold said as the meeting started. "You know my Lieutenant, and you may know Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone of the FBI. "Ah yes," said Henry Wargrave, "I met you at the Lieutenant's promotion party." He shook hands with Muscone, as did Wellman. "The reason for this meeting," Chief Griswold said, "is to discuss the situation pertaining to the Tim Dawdle murder. Obviously we have an investigation to do, but we realize the sensitivity to the University, as Dawdle was doing hit pieces on the school." "Yes," Dr. Wellman said, "and we're eager to cooperate with your investigation. Certainly whoever killed Dawdle did us no favors at all. The Press is already suggesting that we murdered him to shut him up. This will likely force the NCAA and the Conference to act, and the SBI has made rumblings about expanding the investigation they recently opened." "We can keep the SBI out of it." I said. "And one way of doing that is by formally asking the FBI to help, which we did this afternoon. This needs to stay in this room, but we are investigating the Dawdle murder in conjunction with the recent murder of Tom Burleson. There have been similarities between the crimes, and Special Agent Muscone's team was already called in to help on the Burleson case. Lt. Peterson will be giving a press briefing and statement that the FBI is working with us. That alone will keep the SBI out." "Excellent." said Wargrave, his eyes looking more amused than anything else. "First," I said, "I have to confirm your whereabouts last night. Dr. Wellman, you were holding a reception at your home?" "Yes I was, and it was unfortunate that you and your lovely wife were unable to come. If you had, I'd have the perfect alibi." Dr. Wellman said, grinning at his own joke as he continued: "Ironically it was for our Journalism School, and for two of our alumni that were nominated for Peabody and Pulitzer awards. Mr. Wargrave and his wife were there, as well as Tom Riordan and his wife, Mr. J.P. Goldman, Mr. Truelove, Pastor Westboro, Mr. John Colby and his wife, Dagmar Schoen and her husband..." "Yes sir," I said, "and your office was kind enough to send me the guest list. Was Coach Harlan there?" "No, none of the coaches were." Wellman said. Wargrave nodded. "Having confirmed that, we are here to discuss how to proceed from here." I said. "Of course our investigation will go where it takes us, but we'd like to know your plans, especially vis-a-vis the Press, so that we don't trip on each other." "I've already told Coach Harlan to not give any more press conferences." said Dr. Wellman. "I put out a notice that the Athletic Department is off limits during the current SBI investigation, which will proceed with glacial smoothness, I am sure. The Press is howling about that, but they can howl at me all they want; it's Coach Harlan that we're trying to provide relief for, so that he may complete the season without further distraction." "I was thinking of offering a reward." said Henry Wargrave. "A reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever murdered Tim Dawdle. That might help to show that at least this alumnus is serious about finding Dawdle's killer, and that we had no desire for this to happen." "Lt. Peterson, will you work with Mr. Wargrave on that?" asked the Chief. Lt. Peterson agreed. "As to Coach Harlan," I said, "I will interview him in the morning, and hopefully he is going to give us an excellent alibi. If he does, we can put that out to the public also." "I do need for you gentlemen to not to talk to KXTC reporters." I said. "I am working with Bettina Wurtzburg, and doing so in order to quell their nosing into the wrong things, as well as keeping them from screwing up my murder investigations. If she comes to you asking for 'confirmation' of anything at all, kindly direct her right back to me." --- "Good morning, Coach. Thank you for coming here." I said as Coach Harlan came into Interrogation-A. "Geez, I hate it every time I have to talk to you." said Harlan. "But President Wellman asked me to come down and answer your questions." "I hope that this time our talk will be productive and good for you." I said. "First, I have to ask you where you were Wednesday night between 8:00 and 11:00pm?" "I was having dinner at my house with my cousin Angela, your detective." Harlan said. "At least from seven-thirty until ten, ten-thirty or so." "Should be easy for me to confirm that." I said. "So you weren't in your offices, or with your coaches? It's football season, after all." "We have an open date this Saturday." Harlan said. "So I'm making sure the players and coaches have some time off, and the coaches can have dinner with their families. Won't happen again until December, so I tell them to enjoy this week." "I fully understand." I said. "Thank you for your time, Coach. By the way..." I said, as if it were a sudden thought, "did you ever meet with Tim Dawdle or be interviewed by him?" "Only during press conferences." Harlan said. "Never one-on-one. That punk really disgusted me, and I don't mind saying it out loud." "Did you ever know a man named Tom Burleson?" I asked, watching the Coach's eyes. Was that a bit of shock that I saw in there? "Uh... no, not that I can recall." said the Coach, then after a pause: "The name sounds familiar, but I can't remember meeting him." "You may have heard the name on television." I said. "Have you ever met Thaddeus Ward, of Ward Harvester?" Again, that same shock in the Coach's eyes... "Uh, no, not that I recall, unless he's one of our boosters at a football-related function. There are so many of those that I can hardly keep up with the names." "I understand." I said. "Thank you for your time, Coach, and I hope to be able to deflect further unwanted Press attention from you." --- "Yes, that's right." Angela Harlan said. "I had dinner with Brian Wednesday night at his place. We often get together for dinner when we can." "That's good." I said. "You just confirmed the best alibi he could possibly have." --- "Hugh," I said, interviewing him separately from and out of earshot of Angela, "you and Angela came up to the crime scene Wednesday together. Were you together all evening?" "Oh no," Hugh said, "she called me up to go to a late movie and I picked her up right before we got to the crime scene. She said she'd had dinner with her cousin, the football coach, earlier that evening." "Well, that confirms that." I said, the last question I had being answered. Part 16 - Texas Women (Don't Stay Lonely Long) "So what is this charity event that we're going to?" Laura asked as I zipped up her dress, an off-white gown with sequined ribbons of brown swirling around it. She also wore high heel strappy tan sandals. She looked fabulous, as always. "One of Hugh's buddies is doing it for the Wounded Warrior Project." I said. "They invited us, and I thought this would be a nice occasion that did not involve the University and it's alumni. I also think Wounded Warrior Project is a great cause, and I'm happy to support it." "Me, too." Laura said. "And I'm certainly glad to go along and let my husband show me off. You look handsome, as well." I was wearing a black tuxedo, which I rarely got to do. It was Friday night, and I was looking forward to a fun evening. We picked up my mother, who was wearing a lovely blue gown, and her young friend, the guy we called "The Leader." I knew that this young man was dating (and fucking) my mother, and I certainly had no problems with it, though I wondered what the sensation might be when they appeared in public together for the first time. Cindy and Teresa were keeping Carole for us at my mom's house. At the River Valley Country Club we ran into Hugh Hewitt and Angela Harlan, looking good together as a couple, not to mention being all dressed up. Angela looked a bit uneasy in her lovely dress, but after my mother and wife got through "Ooh"- and "Ahh"-ing her, she felt a lot better. Daniel Allgood and Melina were also there, Melina looking very pregnant but still simply stunning in her shimmering red dress. Daniel looked very statesmanlike, like Clark Kent in a tuxedo. Hugh and I were talking for a moment when we took notice of a lovely black-haired woman crossing the floor of the Country Club's ballroom. "Who is that?" Hugh asked, transfixed. "That's Selena Steele." I replied. "She's the daughter of Town Councilman Edward R. Steele and works for J.P. Goldman Bank." "I'd better go find Angela," Hugh said, "before I get into trouble." I could understand; Selena was a gorgeous woman. I went to find my own gorgeous wife. --- "Ah, Dr. Fredricson, I've heard so much about you." Selena Steele said, as she was introduced to my wife. It turned out that Selena was the date and co-host of the young man who was hosting this event. He was an Army buddy of Hugh Hewitt's, they had seen combat together, and Hugh had introduced me to him, and he had introduced Selena to Laura, Hugh and Angela. Selena's co-worker Bradley Hazelton had also walked up with them, and had been introduced all the way around. "Why thank you, Selena, I've been wanting to meet you, also. J.P. says he cannot run the bank without you." Laura said. "He's much too kind... Angela, is that you?" Selena said with studied politeness. "Why it's been such a long time." "Yes, it has." Angela replied, looking strained again. "Hugh, Selena and I were in college together in Texas." "Ah, is that right?" Hugh said. "Another Texas lady, eh?"
 "Make that three of you." I said. "Laura is originally from Texas, also." Selena's eyes lit up at that and began a conversation with my wife about their Texas origins as we guys took the opportunity to refresh our drinks. "Texas women's reunion tonight." said Hugh. "I didn't know your wife was from Texas, Lieutenant." "Originally she was." I said. "She moved out when she was in her teens. So Selena is from Texas also?" "Yes she is." said Hugh's buddy, Selena's date. He and Selena were friends but not seriously dating, I had been told. "I think I heard that she worked at banks in Houston and Dallas before coming up here to the City, then to our County when J.P. Goldman brought her in." "That's correct." said Bradley Hazelton. "I heard that Mr. Goldman worked hard to recruit her to his bank. Her family lives here. Mr. Steele is a Council Member with Mr. Goldman, which made it easier to recruit her, and it's paid off: she's done a lot of big-money deals for Mr. Goldman." "Hmmm..." I said. "Did she live in St. Louis?" "Not that I know of." said Bradley. "She goes there a lot, though, on bank business for Mr. Goldman." "Oh really? Very interesting." I said. I don't know if Hugh was picking it up, but the other men could not possibly know that I was asking about the various cities that had been struck by the Black Widow. As Laura and I watched Selena run the silent auction and raffle giveaway, I whispered to my wife "Honey, can you talk with Selena Steele as much as possible and find out about her past? Where she's lived and gone to, et cetera?" "Sure, she and I are having lunch tomorrow." Laura said. And as we danced in the latter portion of the evening, I noticed Hugh stealing glances Selena's way, and Selena stealing a few at both Hugh and 'The Leader.' I told Laura that I wanted to have once dance with my mother, and 'The Leader' danced with Laura while I danced with my mom. "Selena and Angela don't seem to like each other." I whispered to my mother as we danced together. "Yes, I noticed some tension in them, also." Phyllis said. "I overheard each of them telling Laura at different times that they were in school together. Angela said that Selena was an 'uppity bitch', to use her exact words, and Selena said that Angela was a tomboy... and she didn't mean to be polite in saying that. She said she wasn't surprised that Angela had become a 'cop', again using her exact words." "Oh really?" I said.
 I seemed to be saying that a lot. "It's funny how women are, though." my mother said. "Despite their apparent dislike for each other, they went to the restroom together and Angela helped Selena with her hair to get Selena ready for hosting the silent auction." "Yep, no figuring out women." I said teasingly. My mother pinched me as I continued "I can't believe Selena's not married yet." I said. "I remember that old country song, 'Texas Women Don't Stay Lonely Long.'" "Well, son, that is certainly true with your lovely wife as well as Melina, who, if I recall, grew up in Texas also." "Melina was there as a young child, but her family moved when she was four or five." I said. "Funny though, in the years we were married she never wanted to talk about her young childhood very much." "Well, Selena has her pick of young men," my mom said, "and she's been giving your friend Hugh quite a few looks tonight. If I don't miss my guess, they're going to be meeting again, and soon." "And you never miss your guess, Mom." I said, laughing. "Wonder what Angela will say if she catches Hugh with Selena? That's all I need in my MCD Department." "Oh, Angela wouldn't like that at all." Phyllis said. "In fact..." My mom went into a reverie as I led her along in our dance... yes, I inherited the trait of the thought-trance. When it was over, Mom finally blinked her eyes and said "Son, do watch out for your Detective Harlan if Hugh does cheat on her... I believe that Miss Harlan is capable of being a very mean woman..." "And Selena?" I asked. "Oh yes, she can be very vicious also." my mom said. I pondered her words as the evening closed out. --- My mother and her date were not yet home when Laura and I got to the "Mountain Nest" to pick up Carole. I found Cindy there alone, holding the baby. "Teresa got called in for another drug raid." Cindy said. "So Carole and I are now good friends, aren't we Carole?" Carole cooed happily. "Thanks for giving up your evening to stay with her." I said. "No problem." Cindy said, "But be forewarned: I said something about getting Carole a Christmas present, and Teresa got moody after that. I was glad when she got called in. I wish I knew what it was about her and Christmas." "I'm sure we'll find out in time." Laura said as Cindy handed Carole to her. "Do we need to give you a ride home, Cindy?" "No thank you, I have my car. I'll see you Monday morning, Don." Cindy said. "I've got some stuff on the Burleson case to look at, maybe we can talk about it then?" "Sure." I said. We got in our cars and went our separate ways. --- "You haven't said much about the Dawdle murder." Laura said as we got ready for bed. "Not much to say about it." I said. "Why? What have you been hearing?" I asked as I watched my wife strip naked and then put on her sheer light blue teddy and navy high heel slides. I felt my cock just beginning to ache as I admired my wife's lovely body. "Only that it is very widely believed that Dawdle was murdered over his investigation into the University football team." Laura said. "Britt Maxwell told me privately about the similarities between the Burleson and Dawdle cases, but most people don't know that, and neither does the Press, at least not yet." "Yet?" I asked. "Britt said that KXTC has filed FOIA requests with the University Police as well as the Town & County Police for information regarding the Burleson, Dawdle, and Jefferson Jackson murders, the latter particularly related to your involvement with it and the PEDs. The University has so far turned down the requests, citing ongoing investigations. What did your Department say?" "Officially, I don't know anything about the requests, since they pertain to me directly." I said. "But the Chief ordered that the requests be refused, on the same grounds of ongoing investigations into Ned's capital crimes." "So what do you think?" Laura said as we lay down on the bed, cuddling. "I think... that I came home with the best looking Texas woman at the party." I said. "Mmm, I'm glad you did." Laura said, taking my cock in her hand and stroking it gently. The feeling was electric and raced through my loins. "But what do you think of the murders? Am I going to have to hold this little iron crowbar hostage until you tell me?" "Mmm, keep doing that and you can keep it hostage all you want." I said as Laura bent over and began kissing and licking my cockhead. "But if I haven't talked about it, it's because there is so little to talk about. We really don't have too many clues. My own suspicion is that this 'Black Widow' is a murder-for-hire specialist, and uses the serial killer persona to mask his or her crimes." "Bonnie Karpathian is beginning to think the same thing." Laura said as she continued to stroke my cock. "She and Lindy Linares have been heavily researching the past cases. They're going to come to you with information sometime early next week." "I'm looking forward to that." I said. "I'm looking even more forward to fucking you right now." I said as I slid my hand down Laura's belly to her pussy. Our mouths met in a deep, tongue-twining kiss as she continue to jack my prick. I let my fingers slide into her thick black pubic bush, teasing around her labes before finally sliding up and down her slit. Two fingers slid easily into her vagina; my wife was sopping wet and ready for some seriously hot sex! Case of the Black Widow Ch. 03 As I began kissing my way down her breasts and abdomen, Laura moaned "Let's do a soixante-neuf." I rolled over onto my back, my head at the end of the bed. Laura rolled over on top of me, her head near the headboard and pillows. My wife sat on her knees as she straddled me, then lowered her pussy right onto my face as she leaned over and grasped my throbbing cock. Laura settled her pussy onto my face with just the right amount of pressure. I licked along her slit from her clit to her taint, then began licking, kissing and sucking on her labes, occasionally delving my tongue into her honey hole. I also made sure to kiss and suck the insides of her thighs and her glorious asscheeks, and occasionally let my tongue wander up to the tight sphincter of her ass hole. Meanwhile, Laura began sucking my cock. Her right hand gripped and massaged my balls as her tongue slid up and down my shaft, followed by kisses along the veins of my iron hard member. Finally, she kissed the head and then took my meat into her mouth, sliding her lips down to the base of my shaft before sucking the air out of her mouth as she slid back up. The suction was tremendous and made my cock even more painfully taut. I moaned into her cunt. We orally serviced each other for long minutes. Laura was already soaking wet, her juices near-gushing onto my tongue as she undulated her hips and ass, sliding her slit up and down my nose at times. She continued her deep sucking of my meat, taking her time to speed up. Her tease was excruciating, but the pleasure rocking my loins was immense. "Mmmmmm... mmmmmf!" Laura moaned through her mouthful of cock as I felt her labes twitch. A gush of her musky liquids gushed onto my tongue just as I probed her cunthole. My wife was coming around my cock. A second later she shoved her quim onto my face and gushed again as my tongue probed deeper into her sodden hole. Although my cock was throbbing, I wasn't quite ready to come yet... but I really wanted to sink my meat into my wife's vagina. Laura always seemed to sense when the time was right, though maybe it was my tongue working its way back up to her twitching asshole that clued her in. She rolled off of me and I quickly scurried around and slid between her spread legs. "Keep those high heels on, baby." I said as I lowered myself onto Laura and kissed her mouth. "I'm always afraid I'll scratch or stab you with them." Laura whispered through our kisses. "That's okay, let 'em." I said. "I want to feel those legs wrapped around me and the backs of those heels on my ass and thighs while I'm fucking your sexy brains out!" My cock was sliding along her labes, teasing her, and then I dipped down just as she did. As we came together, my throbbing, iron-hard cock found her dripping went cunt and I slid balls-deep into my wife. "Uhhhh!" we moaned together as our groins smacked together and my balls wetly slapped her taint just below where her cuntlips merged together. I began pumping in and out of Laura in a smooth steady rhythm, not hard and fast, but at a speed we both enjoyed when we were making love. I looked down at Laura, enjoying the sight of her lovely face in ecstasy as my cock plowed in and out of her hot furrow, seeing her big breasts jiggle under the blue nightie. She opened her eyes and looked into mine, and I fucked her steadily that way for minutes, our eyes locked together. It was times like these that I felt the deep love and passion for my wife entirely, my heart thumping with joy. "I love you, Laura!" I gasped as we copulated sensuously. "I love you too, Don!" she replied, her voice barely a gasp. "Oh God, I so love it when you're nuts-deep inside me like this... so hard and throbbing. Don't ever stop making love to me like this, darling. Don't ever stop loving me!" "I won't." I promised. I leaned down and kissed Laura's mouth, our tongues instantly battling inside her mouth. Then I eased my full weight onto her, fucking her with harder strokes, keeping most of my cock inside her and battering her labes with what remained outside. The loud slaps of my balls against her asscheeks echoed through the room. I began nuzzling and kissing Laura's neck, along her jawline and near her ear like she liked. I slid my cock out of her then sank it all the way back in again, making Laura moan. I did this several times, then the next time allowed my cock head to gently push against the tight star of her anal bud. She reacted to that. "Oh no, baby, not there..." Laura moaned. "I'm not prepared for you there." I sank my meat back into Laura's cunt, driving it balls-deep in one solid thrust. "Guess what, baby?" I said, "Lindy Linares offered me her ass. She likes getting buttfucked." "Go for it, darling." Laura replied, not the least bit fazed. "Oooh that's hot, thinking of you fucking her in the ass..." Laura was imagining what it would be like to see me hook up with Lindy; I knew my wife got off hotly watching me fuck other women, just as I enjoyed watching her fuck young men. "Baby, did you see anyone else at the reception you liked?" Laura asked, her eyes mere slits as she watched me. "What about Selena Steele? Wasn't she fucking hot?" "Oh yeah, baby, she was hot... but nowhere near as hot as you." I replied, meaning it. "I thought my mom looked really hot tonight, too." "Oh yes, darling, your mother looked gorgeous." my wife agreed. "She is really enjoying her young male friends, but it's you that she wants. You need... oh that's good!... you need to fuck her more often, she needs her son's big hard cock!... oh yes!" I felt Laura orgasm, her cunt clutching at my cock as she thought about me fucking my lovely mother Phyllis. "How about you, baby?" I asked. "Did you enjoy seeing those handsome young men?" "Ohhhhh yes, they're so fucking hot!" Laura moaned again. "Now that I'm pregnant, I can take them bareback while you watch... would you like that, Don? Would you like watching those handsome studs fuck me bareback with their big cocks?" "Oh yeah, you know I would... oh yeah, now you've got me close, I'm not going to be able to hold back..." "Let it go, darling, come inside me! Shoot your load deep inside me... UNNNH!!"... --- Angela looked up into her lover Hugh's face as he pumped his eight inch cock relentlessly in and out of her hot, tight twat. He seemed to be looking at the wall above the headboard of the bed... except that his eyes were closed. He was really concentrating on this hard, deep fuck, she thought. He'd been like this since they'd arrived home. He'd practically assaulted her once they got into her apartment, slipping her dress off of her as they shared deep, hungry kisses. As they went into the bedroom he'd ordered her to leave her dressy high heels on as he practically ripped his own clothes off. Then he'd dived between her legs and began eating her out, face-deep in intense pleasure, his mouth sucking and kissing and licking and exploring her labes until she was sopping wet and ready to accommodate his size. She didn't even need to suck him: he was throbbing hard and ready to go, his cock taut at its full eight inches, bobbing up and down with harsh eagerness to penetrate her and lustily pump her cunt into a creamy lather... "Oh that's good, baby!" Angela said, urging Hugh on. She could feel that his nut was rising, that he would be coming inside her and shooting his large load into her womanly depths. Hugh's balls were large and very full of cum, and they were overstimulated from smacking Angela's ass as he pistoned his big cockmeat in and out of her. Then Hugh lowered his head and began sucking one of her firm breasts, something he often did to help him reach the crest as he climbed her all the way. He alternated nipples, his tongue harshly lashing the hard buds, adding to her pleasure. Angela had already come once due to the powerful fucking Hugh was throwing into her, and she thought she might reach another as he climaxed. She just relaxed and let it happen, and indeed she felt the fires of orgasm sear her loins and up her lower back just as Hugh's cock began violently spurting hot man-lava into her clutching quim. Hugh collapsed onto Angela, nuzzling her neck as he tried to regain his breath. Thoughts were still floating in his head, and he knew that he probably would get hard again in a few minutes. He rolled off Angela, staring at the ceiling as his breath and heartbeat slowly calmed. Angela also looked up at the ceiling, and then realized that Hugh might have been fantasizing about something else as he fucked her. She rolled onto him, throwing one leg over his muscular abs as she half-mounted him. "You were sure hot for it tonight, Hugh." she said in her seductive, husky voice. "That must've been some hot fantasy, huh?" "It's because of how hot you looked tonight, baby." Hugh said, his eyes still closed. "Uh-huh." Angela said. "Well, you better not be thinking of that skank whore, Selena Steele." "Naaah... but what's up about her? You really don't like her, do you?" Hugh asked, opening his eyes and looking up into Angela's. He could see the fire there. "Hell no." Angela replied, some venom in her voice. "She's a dirty bitch that will do anything to get ahead, even murder. She'll do anything at all for what she wants, and what she wants is control. So, I hope you weren't fantasizing about her tonight." "No baby, it's all you." Hugh said. It was an outright lie. He'd been thinking of Selena and how hot the beautiful banker woman had looked at the reception. He had been dreaming that he was plowing Selena's hot furrow even as he'd pumped his meat into Angela. Angela noted that Hugh's cock was growing again. She fully mounted him as she said "Hugh, do you know what I'd do to you if I caught you with that nasty whore? I'd better not catch you so much as looking at her, much less being with her." "Easy babe, don't sweat it." Hugh said, concerned about Angela's demeanor. "And let me show you what the best really is... who the best really is." Angela reached down between loins and grasped Hugh's nearly-fully-hard erection and fit it to her sperm-slicked labes. "This is the very best, Hugh, and it's all yours... as long as you're not messing around with that nasty whore." "Uhh!" Hugh moaned as Angela impaled the full length of his hard male meat into her spermy cunt. "Only you baby, only you... you're the best and you know it babe..." Part 17 - Speculation It took a long, long time... but Tanya Perlman finally and totally got one over on me. And she made damn sure to do it in front of as many of my peers as possible. It was 8:00am Monday morning, and I vaguely noticed that a lot of detectives, both Vice and MCD, were gathering in the MCD room. Then Captain Charles and Captain Malone also walked in. Then the Chief came and got me and we went into the room. I knew something was up, but my birthday was tomorrow, the next day. Laura's birthday present for me was memberships for both of us at 'Lashes & Lace'. As Cindy had me sit down at her desk, ostensibly to show me something, Tanya came bursting into the room. "Lieutenant, we have a break in the Dawdle case." she said, her eyes twinkling mightily with suppressed excitement. "We have a DNA match to one of the men that worked him over. You'll never guess who it is." Having not the slightest clue, I simply said "I won't even try to guess, then. Who is it?" "Remember the guy who was servicing Bounel when you raided him?" Tanya said, "And the guy who helped try to kill you at the Fairgrounds during the Oldeeds rally? Yep, it was him... the DNA matched the guy you call 'Skinny Beard'! I can only imagine what the look of shock on my face was like, but it evoked a roomful of laughter. When I finally recovered, all I could say was "So he is alive, eh?" I don't think my fellow Detectives had any idea of the true enormity of that information. "And in Town." Tanya said. "I'm about to put out an APB on him." "Hold on." I said, recovering my wits. "Let's talk about it before we do that..." --- In the Chief's conference room were the Chief, me, Cindy Ross, Captain Malone and Tanya Perlman. "Okay, why not put out an APB on this guy?" Malone asked, somewhat accusingly. "Mostly because I'm not sure I want every law enforcement agency in the State to know about this guy, especially the SBI." I replied. "If he's getting away while we're sitting here, that won't do us much good." Malone pointed out, and somewhat rightly. "I don't disagree, Captain," I said, "but Dawdle's murder was nearly a week ago. This guy is either still here or long gone by now, I'd guess. But he's a potential link to finding my nephew Ned, as well as to Ward Harvester. If we put out an APB, both Skinny Beard and Ned may find out about it, and then they both go deeper into hiding, and it puts Ward further on his guard. I'd like to have our guys and the University Campus Police look for him locally before getting out the bullhorn." "I can see both sides of this. so I'll tell you what," said Chief Griswold, "I'll have Captain Charles put out the word to our Uniformed Officers to go looking for this guy. We'll have to send the guy's mugshot out, but we do need to look for him. Captain Malone, have your Vice Detectives touch base with their various contacts and see if the guy has been seen in the last week. If we don't have any leads on him by 4:00pm tomorrow, we'll put out the full APB." --- "You wanted to talk to me about the Burleson case?" I asked Cindy. We were sitting in the empty office next to Paulina Patterson's. I'd already asked the Chief if I could move into this office, but he said 'no' because Captain Malone would bitch about it, and rightly so. "Yes sir." Cindy said. "I've been thinking about why he was murdered, and I've got a couple of ideas I wanted to run through you." "Shoot." I said. "First," said Cindy, "I thought about the angle that Burleson was helping Ward make extra materials, that were being sold off-the books. Now what he was doing wasn't strictly illegal, but he may know that it's not exactly kosher. No reason to kill Burleson unless he was trying to blackmail Ward, or asked for more money. Ward was paying him extra already though. So I'm thinking he stumbled onto something, something else about Ward that he wasn't supposed to know, and that is what got him killed." "I totally agree with you." I said. "What was your second idea?" "I was thinking about all the crap that went on with DataDynamics, Anthony Warner's company. I was thinking that Burleson was being paid by someone else to spy on Ward, possibly to get his processes for making his products. Ward finds out, has Burleson killed for it." "That is also a very good thought." I said. "So what was he stealing from Ward, and to whom was he selling it?" "I have no idea." Cindy replied. "I went through all the records we got by warrant, and also contacted the Patent Office. Ward holds no patents, his processes are generally known and he didn't even invent the ones for the explosive compounds. Ward also has almost no research going on. The chemicals aren't even his biggest business; farm equipment manufacturing is what he mostly does." "True." I said. "The equipment is Ward's bread and butter. The chemicals are just a front, of course, for his manufacture of the extra materials that he's selling on the black market."
 "So where am I going wrong?" Cindy asked. "You're not." I replied. "In fact, you may well be on the right track with either or both of your ideas. I will say that I like the first idea better than the second, but won't exclude either possibility." "Doesn't fit into the Dawdle murder in any way, though." Cindy said. "You're right, and I'm thinking of those two murders as separate cases, done for entirely separate reasons." "Why was Dawdle killed, then?" Cindy asked. "Because of his investigation into the University for PEDs." I replied. "I can't think of any other reason. And that case is so different from all the others, I have to think the Black Widow made a special deviation for it." "Where do I go from here?" Cindy asked. "Get with the FBI." I said. "Burleson had fake California and New York IDs. California, I can understand: he could get down there, charter a boat, divert it to Mexico and disappear. New York is not so obvious to me. See if he has any connections, any family, any reason that he'd disappear to New York." Cindy left the room, and I went into a deep think. I knew that Cindy was right about Burleson working for someone... I was remembering a heavy-set, bearded man fishing nearby as I talked around a sundial with an extremely dangerous adversary. (Author's note: See Interlude 10 for that.) That fisherman had been the adversary's bodyguard, even as I had had someone watching over me... Part 18 - Special Delivery At 3:00am on November 4th, the phone at The Cabin rang. Fortunately it was not a call from Police Headquarters... and it was to Laura's cell phone, not mine: Melina was going into labor. My wife rushed to University Hospital to meet Melina there. Two hours later, as I was getting up and getting ready for work, my own cellphone rang. It was my nephew Todd, informing me that he was the (biological) father of a healthy baby boy! I called the Duty Desk at Headquarters and had them leave a note for the Chief that I'd be late, and why, and then I headed to the hospital. I expected a joyous scene at the hospital, and certainly the baby was healthy and exhibited strong lungs when he cried... that had to be a family trait. But I quickly noticed that there was a bit of tension in the room as Daniel Allgood and Todd were both there... but there was something else. I soon found the answer from my mother, who was now the hottest great-grandmother in the County. "The baby has been named 'Errol Douglass'." my mother said. "'Errol' was my father's name and 'Douglass' was both your father and his father's name. But the last name is becoming an issue. Todd wanted it to be 'Burke', as he is the father, but Daniel wanted it to be 'Allgood', as he intends to formally adopt the baby." "Ooooh, that's not going to go very well." I said. "Yes." Mom said. "The hospital is giving them 72 hours to figure it out; they'll have to file the birth certificate within that time. What would you suggest we do, Don?" "I think I'll go speak to the lovely mother and see what she has to say." I said. Suiting the deed to the word, I quickly went up to Melina's room. She and the nurse were alone with the baby. The nurse was the white-supremacist woman I call "Nurse Ratchett" because she looks so much like the Nurse from that movie 'One Flew Over The Coo-coo's Nest'. She tried to shoo me out, but Melina said it was okay, and I assured them I'd have to go to work very soon. I met my grand-nephew for the first time, holding him for a moment while I talked to Melina. "My mom said there's a bit of an issue with the name." I said. "Any idea what you want to do about that?" Melina was almost glassy-eyed as I spoke to her. While Melina has never been 'Miss Congeniality Sunshine', neither has she normally been 'Teresa Cunt'. But she seemed almost depressed, and I had never, ever seen her like this before. "I don't know." Melina said, her voice barely audible and flat. "Todd is the father, but Daniel and I are going to raise him. What do you think I should do, Don?" "Name him after me, of course." I said, smiling. Melina didn't respond, her eyes barely flickered. "I'm just kidding." I said. Then I had an insight. I'll never know why... but I said it with absolute certainty, knowing it was the right thing to say: "For now, just name him after his biological father. If and when Daniel adopts him, the name will change anyway. By the way, I'd suggest you name him 'Douglass Errol'. He doesn't want to be 'E.D.' when he's a teenager." Case of the Black Widow Ch. 03 "Good point. Okay, I'll take your advice and do that." Melina said. I handed the baby to Nurse Ratchett, who was going doing some tests on him, as well as her desire to get me out of there so Melina could get some rest. I congratulated Melina again, then left the room and went and found the two men, who were now in the waiting room with my mother. Jeanine Olivet Burke had also arrived, and was telling them she had no idea what to do legally. "Uncle Don," Todd said, "Grandma said she told you about the name issue. What should we do?" "I just talked to Melina and met my new grand-nephew." I said. "Congratulations to all of us, by the way. I suggested that Melina name the baby after Todd for now, as he's the biological father. Daniel, if and when you adopt the baby, the name will change then, so for now it's 'no harm no foul'." "That sounds like the best solution, for now." my mother said. Daniel didn't seem to be happy about it, but nodded in acquiescence. And for the record, that is what Melina did: two hours later, the Certificate of Live Birth was filed for Douglass Errol Burke. "I'll walk you out." Jeanine said as I made my goodbyes. As we walked to the elevator, Jeanine started right in: "Todd wants at least some custody of the baby," she said, "and he wants to fight any adoption of the baby by Daniel." "What's the law on that?" I asked. "I'll have to research it, but while Todd is under 21 it's an uphill battle." "Even though he's a father already?" I asked. Well, sort of, I thought to myself. "I'm telling ya, Don, 'Days of Our Lives' is contacting us about script rights over all this." Jeanine joked. "I really don't know, though I think Todd has every chance of retaining some custody rights. I'm just afraid it'll get ugly, and none of us wants that." "I agree." I said. "Do me a favor, Jeanine, and let me know how things are going as they progress. Especially if I need to keep Todd in line." --- Later that day, Laura discussed Melina's condition with me. I had given her my observations of my former wife earlier that morning. "First of all," Laura said, "Melina is not doing very well making breast milk for the baby. She's producing almost none. That's not a problem in that we can bottle-feed the baby, but Melina's not taking that well." "In addition," my wife said, "I think she's nearly at a state of postpartum depression. I'm concerned about how she's been since the birth. She's fairly despondent, and she's not responding to the baby the way I'd expect a new mother to." "Hmmm," I said, "do you think the friction between Todd and Daniel have anything to do with it?" "Maybe." said Laura. "There's no actual friction between them, but Todd being the biological father, and asserting some of his rights as such, may be a problem." Part 19 - Her Fatal Mistake It was New Year's Eve, and Laura and I were attending the party at University President Wellman's home. It was mostly University people, but Britt Maxwell and Campus Police Commissioner Dexter Robinson were there, giving me outlets of conversation. Britt was worried about the impending fate of Teresa Croyle, with whom Cindy Ross was staying. I told them not to worry, that several people had Teresa's interests at heart, the Thin Blue Line would circle the wagons around our fellow officer, and she'd land on her feet. The party began breaking up shortly after midnight. Of course Laura and I had shared a warm kiss to ring in the New Year, and Daniel and Melina had done likewise. But just as we were about to leave, I received a call on my police cellphone. It was Angela Harlan, who had drawn the short stick to be on call that night. "Lieutenant, it looks like the Black Widow has struck again." Harlan said. She gave the address: it was the J.P. Goldman Bank! To be continued... Case of the Black Widow Ch. 04 The order of my stories to read is: Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, Case of the Executed Evangelist series, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player series. Case of The Black Widow, Ch. 1-4 Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas. This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above. Part 19 - Her Fatal Mistake It was New Year's Eve, and Laura and I were attending the party at University President Wellman's home. It was mostly University people, but Cpt. Britt Maxwell and Campus Police Commissioner Dexter Robinson were there, giving me outlets of conversation. Britt was worried about the impending fate of Teresa Croyle, with whom Cindy Ross was staying. I told them not to worry, that several people had Teresa's interests at heart, the Thin Blue Line would circle the wagons around our fellow officer, and she's land on her feet. The party began breaking up shortly after midnight. Of course Laura and I had shared a warm kiss to ring in the New Year, and Daniel and Melina had done likewise with each other. But just as we were about to leave, I received a call on my police cellphone. It was Angela Harlan, who had drawn the short stick to be on call that night. "Lieutenant, it looks like the Black Widow has struck again." Harlan said. She gave the address: it was the J.P. Goldman Bank! I told her I'd be right there, and to not put anything out on the police radio. "Always on duty." President Wellman said in sympathy as Laura and I hastily made our goodbyes. My wife drove me to Police Headquarters and dropped me off by my Police SUV, which I drove to the location. I was admitted into the bank by Patrolman Rudistan, who was always in a cheerful if not mischievous mood. In one of the back office rooms I found Detective Angela Harlan, Patrolmen Morton and Feeley, and Detective Tanya Perlman and her Crime Lab team. "Some way to ring in the New Year, huh?" said Tanya as I entered. "You betcha." I replied. "Okay, Harlan, from the beginning, what's going on here?" I asked as I took in the scene. A youngish man was tied to the chair that belonged to the desk in front of it and him. His expensive suit jacket and shirt were opened, his expensive suit pants and underwear pulled down to his ankles. His penis was half-hard and the wetness of his climax smeared his loins. The back of his head was beaten in by what appeared to be multiple savage blows. On his abdomen were two red triangles outlined in white, joined at their apexes into an hourglass: the Black Widow had struck again. "This is Bradley Hazelton." Angela said in her husky voice. "He's a loan officer here at the J.P. Goldman Bank, but this is not his office; this room is apparently a generic office where bankers talk to clients." "Who found him?" I asked. "By that I mean: how did we discover this crime in a closed bank on New Year's Eve?" Angela replied "He was supposed to take his girlfriend to a New Year's party thrown by her company at River Valley Country Club. She said that he'd called and said he was running late from work and that he'd meet her at the party, so she went there alone. He never showed up at the party and never answered his cellphone, so she got worried and called the police to see if there'd been any traffic accidents involving him, that he was missing." "You talked to the girlfriend?" I asked. "No sir," said Angela, "that was what the Duty Desk Sergeant told me. Anyway, when she called, the duty desk put out a radio call to be on the lookout for him or his car. Rudistan and Morton drove by the bank, saw his car, found the bank doors locked and called in to Headquarters. The Desk Sergeant called me, I called the contact number for the bank at Headquarters, which was their Vice President Selena Steele. She never answered, so I called the second number, which was Vice President Stanley Wells. He came over and unlocked the doors for us, and once inside we found the body. I called for the Crime Lab, then called you." "Thank you for not using police radio once you found this." I said. "Tanya, anything?" "Yep, we may have a break." Tanya said. "Several long black hairs, many with roots, around the guy's loins and in his hands. He may have clutched at her hair before being subdued. In any case, it looks good for getting some DNA." "He sustained multiple blows to the head." said the crime scene man I called 'Labcoat' because I never saw him not wearing one. His voice was almost lilting as he spoke. "I'm not sure yet if this was a baseball bat or another object, though. And you can see the mark on his shoulder: he was injected with something." "Looks like our Black Widow is back, and has chosen to settle down in my Town and County, Detective Harlan." I said. "That may prove to be a fatal mistake on her part... fatal for her, if I have anything to do with it." "Yes sir." was all Angela said. --- On the morning of January 2nd, we met in Classroom J. All of the FBI team was present, including Martin Nash's girlfriend Sandra Speer, and all of the MCD Detectives were present, along with Captain Malone and Detective Julie Newton of Vice. Tanya Perlman was wearing a diamond ring as she got up to give the autopsy and toxicology report. On Christmas Day, Pete Feeley had asked Tanya to marry him... and she had said 'yes'. We were all a bit surprised at this, but I was very happy for both of them and hoped they'd be happy together... whatever the sexual arrangement between the nymphomaniacal Tanya and her future husband would be. Tanya reported "He was definitely injected with the same drugs given to Burleson and Dawdle. We recovered hairs that are now undergoing DNA testing, and we should get preliminary results in a day or two. This is the biggest break we've had so far, and I would suggest getting DNA samples of any women whose names turn up in this case. "Hazelton had blows to the head, but 'CMB', the medical examiner, thinks the poison in the drugs may have killed him first, because the person striking his head had a difficult time landing solid blows from the angle behind the desk, and there were several of them, not just the usual one major fatal blow." "Which tells us that he was placed or forced to sit in the chair behind the desk and not moved away from the desk." I said. "It might also suggest that the Black Widow herself administered the blows." said Lindy Linares. "She might have worked alone on this one, and it took several blows to do significant damage." "Oooh... very nice point, Agent Linares!" I said. That was a great observation on her part, and I had no problem acknowledging it. "Myron, what did you come up with?" "We have nothing." said Myron Milton, who had worked all day on the case with Martin Nash on New Years Day. "The bank's various cameras were either turned off or disabled. Their daytime cameras behind the teller windows are normally turned to a "motion sensor" mode after the bank is closed for the day, meaning they begin recording if motion is detected. For some reason they were never turned on after hours on this night. The other cameras that are normally operating full-time were deactivated." "In addition," said Martin Nash, "both the front and back doors were locked, and there are literally no other exits from the building. "Inside job." said Angela. "Maybe not, Angela." I said. "The dead man's keys as well as his cellphone were missing. The criminals might well have used his keys to lock the door behind them when they left. In addition, the cameras could be deactivated by anyone with security systems knowledge, and since apparently the dead man never left the back area, the systems likely weren't even activated." "What else do we know about the victim?" asked Chief Griswold. "He's been an employee at the J.P. Goldman Bank since he graduated college four years ago. And by the way, he went to your school, Lieutenant. He's a Wildcat." said Myron. "The only good Wildcat is a- oops." Cindy started, but my embellished stare at her quieted her down, though there was some laughter from others. Myron was grinning as he continued: "He's been a junior VP and loan officer for the past year, which has been tough sledding with the economy and housing markets the way they are. He was engaged to be married two years ago, but his fiancee broke it off. He's got some credit card debt, two cards, one maxed out, the other nearly so. Owns an expensive car, had a big monthly payment and a lot of paying off still to do on the note." Martin Nash then said "Detective Perlman, Officer Feeley, and I searched Hazelton's home yesterday. He was living in a three-bedroom house that he was renting from J.P. Goldman Bank. Had several expensive suits, two sets of golf clubs, plenty of furniture, big-screen TV and game console. He was living beyond his means, if you ask me. Also, there were several bottles of hard liquor around the house, and a couple of empty bottles in the trash can." "He wasn't intoxicated when he was found dead," Tanya said, "but CMB suspects Hazelton drank. We're running some extra tests to check into that." "Agent Linares? Black Widow?" asked the Chief. "Yes, Chief, absolutely." Lindy Linares replied. "This fits the pattern very nicely after the Dawdle deviation. Drugged, forced to have sex to climax, beaten over the head, banker associated with J.P. Goldman Bank. Like I said earlier, the only difference here is that the woman may have acted alone instead of with a male confederate. As to the victim, I'd like to know a lot more about his relationship with Mr. Goldman and other officers of the bank." "We'll get that for you." Chief Griswold responded. "Anyone else have any comment?" "Sir," said Angela Harlan, "I just want to say that I still think there's a possibility of an inside job. I think we should really pay attention to the dead man's work associates and his history with them, as well as possible links to the Black Widow's previous victims. With your permission, sir, I'd like to interview the bank officers and work with the FBI on the past relationships." "That's up to the Iron Crowbar." said the Chief. "Don?" "I think it'd be great if Detective Harlan works with Agent Linares and the FBI team." I said. "However, on this case I'm going to take the lead personally, especially in talking to the bank people. The reason is that J.P. Goldman is the only man who is both a Town & County Councilman and a University Regent, and he's very well-connected to a lot of important people. He is one of what we call the 'Big Boyz', if you all get my meaning. And if we're going to tread these political waters, I want my ass to be the one sticking out, not my team's." "And that is why this man is a Lieutenant already." said Chief Griswold. "That is what leadership is all about, people. Okay, Don, go to it, and keep me well informed at all times; you're right, this is a sticky situation. Detective Harlan, liaison with the FBI for us. Detective Ross, work with Don and keep him in line for me." I noticed two things as I left: Angela Harlan looked annoyed, and Hugh Hewitt looked very uncomfortable. Part 20 - Interviews and Suspicions "Thank you for seeing us, Mr. Goldman." I said after we'd been ushered into the banker's office. "This is my partner, Detective Ross." "Very nice to meet you, Detective Ross." said Goldman as he shook her hand. "You're doing a great job running that gym up there, too. Really nice place, makes even an old man like me want to work out." "Thank you, sir." said Cindy, smiling politely. "I'm sorry for the loss of your bank officer." "Yes, it's very sad." Goldman said. "Such a young man, just beginning his life and career. I know you're going to have to ask me and my employees a lot of questions, and I've told them already to cooperate with you in every way possible. I've also told them what I'll tell you now: I'm going to have a lawyer present at all of the interviews, just to make sure the bank isn't compromised. I'm sure you understand." "Yes sir, I do." I said. "And I'm glad you're doing that, as it will help us out as well. Would you like to call in your lawyer now, so we can go ahead and interview you?" --- "It's nice to see you again, Lieutenant." Selena Steele said as we sat down in J.P. Goldman's conference room, which he'd made available to us. The bank's lawyer was settled in for a long day of monitoring our interviews, and we'd conducted several already. "I wish it was under better circumstances." "As do I." I said, then introduced Cindy, whose eyes showed a liking for Selena's good looks. "First of all, Miss Steele, would be willing to give a cheek swab for your DNA?" The lawyer said out loud "Miss Steele, it's my duty to advise you that you are not required to give a DNA sample without a court order." "That's okay." Selena said. "I have nothing to hide. I'm willing to give the sample." Cindy Ross produced a tube which contained what looked like a big Q-tip. She quickly swabbed the inside of Selena's mouth, then put the Q-tip back in the tube and sealed it. Selena, Cindy and I all initialed it. "Thank you." I said. "Miss Steele, how well did you know Bradley Hazelton?" "Pretty well." Selena said. "He worked with me a lot this last year." "Did you go on trips together, on bank business?" I asked. "On a couple of occasions." Selena said. "Mr. Goldman asked me to take him to St. Louis to get to know our business associates there, and we were planning for Bradley to go on other introduction trips next- er, this year." "So was Mr. Hazelton being groomed to take over some of your duties?" I asked. "Yes and no." Selena said, her eyes sharp, having understood the underlying intent of my question. "I definitely want to cut back on some of my travel, and have been planning to have several of my officers take over those duties so that I could take on new duties for Mr. Goldman." "So Mr. Goldman was planning on promoting you?" I asked. Selena looked at the lawyer, who just nodded. "We don't want this to get out, but I am on track to become Chief Operating Officer within the year." "I see." I said. "Did you like Bradley Hazelton, as a person? How did others like him?" "Everyone liked him fine." said Selena. "He was nice enough. It really hurt him when his fiancee broke up with him, though. He became more distant after that. He was nice, polite, cordial, but he became less open, less...trusting, I guess is the word." "He was dating someone, wasn't he?" I asked. "His girlfriend called in the missing person report that led us to finding him." "I... I don't know." said Selena, looking surprised and confused. "I had no idea he was dating anyone lately." "Do you know of anyone who wanted to harm Mr. Hazelton?" I asked. "No, not at all." "Just one more question, Ms. Steele: where were you on New Year's Eve?" "The bank didn't have a party that night, so I went to The Cattleman's Club for a couple of drinks, then home for the balance of the night." Selena replied. The Cattleman's Club was an upscale but comfortable bar and grill not far from the River Valley Golf Club, owned and operated by my friend John "Jack" Colby. Laura and I had gone there with friends on a number of occasions. "About what time did you leave?" I asked. "About 9:30 or so, maybe 10:00." Selena said. "Were you alone at home, or with someone?" I asked. "Uh..." Selena said haltingly, and a blush began to form on her cheeks. "I was... with someone... he stayed the night." "Would you give us the name of who you were with, please?" I asked. "Er... uh... it was a man." said Selena. "And it's a situation where discretion is required. I don't think I can give you his name at this time." "Miss Steele," I said, my voice rather commanding, "if someone can verify your whereabouts at the time your business associate was murdered, it would be very helpful to you and to us. I must insist on you giving us his name." Selena Steele looked over at the lawyer, who leaned over and whispered something to her. "I must decline to answer that question, and in doing so my lawyer advises me that I cannot answer any further questions." "Okay, if that's the way you want to play it, Ms. Steele." I said. "That will conclude our interview, then. I once again advise you that it would be in your best interests to tell us who you were with at the time Bradley Hazelton was murdered." "If you'll excuse me..." Selena Steele said, getting up. Without further word, she left the room. "I need to call Myron." I said to Cindy as we took a break from questioning... --- "You were right, Lieutenant." said Myron Milton. "It's just as you said when you called in." We were in the 4:00pm meeting in the Chief's conference room. In addition to Myron and myself, present at the meeting were Cindy Ross, Chief Griswold, Lindy Linares and Jack Muscone. I'd asked that this information be kept on the down-low, and the Chief had agreed. "The call to the Desk on New Year's Eve was from a burner phone." Myron said. "It was used three times that day. Two calls to Hazelton's cellphone number, and once to the Police Station. And no, it's not the same burner phone used to contact Tim Dawdle on the night he died." "That figures." I said. "When every bank employee said that they were surprised to hear that Hazelton had a girlfriend, I began wondering who she was. I called Martin Nash and talked to Officer Feeley, both confirmed there were no signs of a woman living in Hazelton's house." "When Myron told me what he'd found, I called the Sergeant who'd been on duty that night." said Chief Griswold. "He said the woman's voice was youngish, scratchy, and high-pitched. 'Whiney' was a word he used, as well." "Selena Steele's voice is as smooth as cream." said Cindy Ross. "Why would someone call the police and fake being the guy's girlfriend?" asked Jack Muscone. "So that we'd find the body that night." I said. "The bank was closed New Year's Day. Someone wanted the body to be found that night, not long after he'd been killed. The Black Widow wanted her handiwork found, and quickly. Now why did she want that?..." "Okay, let's take it from the top." the Chief said. "Crowbar, what did you get from the interviews?" I said "Everyone said that Bradley Hazelton was a nice guy, a decent guy, but after his fiancee broke up with him two years ago, he became more reserved. Nothing else bad said about him, no one ever smelled alcohol on his breath, though some had noticed mouthwash on occasion. Mr. Goldman was very happy with Bradley's work and had been giving him more responsibilities. He was on his way to a decent career, from all accounts." "There was only one strangeness during the day." I continued. "Selena Steele was essentially his boss. She answered all our questions until I asked where she was the night of the murder. She said she was with someone, but refused to give his name... to the point she invoked and refused to answer any more questions." "Very suspicious." Jack Muscone said. "What's really strange is that she very willingly gave the DNA sample." I said. "She said she wouldn't give the man's name because of discretion on his behalf, so she may just be covering up for a married man." Case of the Black Widow Ch. 04 "And at the risk of her own neck." said Cindy. "She really got flustered when you asked that question about who she was with. Must be a hell of a guy for her to be willing to be suspected of murder over." "Maybe J.P. Goldman himself?" Jack Muscone suggested. "What was your impression of Ms. Steele, Detective Ross?" asked the Chief. "Sharp, savvy businesswoman, which makes her invoking over what was probably a good alibi for her all the more strange." replied Cindy. "And that's another thing: she's on track to be promoted to be a 'C-level' officer of the bank. Mr. Goldman confirmed it. She has no reason to kill Hazelton, it's not like he was going to take her place and her be cut out. She is a strong-willed woman, though, so I'm not saying she's incapable of committing murder. I'm not seeing motive for her, though." "Maybe he found out something about her." Muscone said. "Something that would derail her career." "Yeah, but this is one of several serial killings." I replied. "What was her motive for killing Dawdle and Burleson?... well, to answer my own question, we're surmising that Burleson also found out something he wasn't supposed to know, which got him killed." "And Dawdle is the exception to the Black Widow's m.o." said Lindy Linares. "After my day with Angela Harlan, I'm about to the point that I believe the Black Widow might've indeed been a contract hire to take Dawdle out over the University PED scandal." "What happened with that?" I asked, my spidey-sense tingling. "We looked back on all the other cases to see if Selena Steele could physically have been involved, meaning being at the locations of the crimes." Lindy said. "With the exception of the very first one, in which no hourglass was on the body, Ms. Steele was within a two hour drive of where each victim was found." "In addition," said Lindy, breaking the dead silence of the room, "I'm going over FBI interviews of people related to all of the past cases, and I called today to get our agents to re-interview some of them... with Selena Steele's name specifically in mind." "All circumstantial." observed Cindy Ross. "But damning, all the same." "Yep." I said. "Well, I guess we'll know more when the DNA report comes out." Part 21 - Getting A Piece of Ass With Laura busy with a Ladies Auxiliary function, I accepted an invitation to join Martin Nash, his girlfriend Sandra Speer, and Lindy Linares for dinner. It was a very pleasant evening, and we made a point to not talk about the current Black Widow case. I took many opportunities to observe Lindy. She was wearing a black dress with what looked like a black-and-white horizontally-striped blouse which was actually sewn into the dress. She was wearing block-high-heel boots made of soft black leather, which clung to her shapely calves. Her body was becoming voluptuous, not fat by any means as she exercised to keep in good physical condition, but she was curvy in all the right places. Her face was sweet under her mane of very curly black hair, her lips full and inviting, looking excellent for kissing or for sucking my throbbing hard cock. Her breasts were large, and I thought that they would be nice, ripe melons which I would enjoy sucking. But her favorite feature was her ass, which she made efforts to show off, and had been teasing me with it for weeks. It was a nice bubble-butt, firm but just slightly plump, looking nice in the tight skirt of her dress, curving like an hourglass to a more slender waist that would give a powerful pair of hands an excellent grip in pulling that ass into a muscular groin. And I knew that I was going to fuck that luscious ass this night. --- "We're at the Huntington Extended Stay Motel up near the Mall." Lindy said as I gave her a ride home. It was the nicest extended-stay place in Town, having been converted and renovated from one bedroom apartments several years before, and the FBI was saving money by renting a couple of rooms at a special monthly rate. There was a nice living room with a sofa (which had a hideaway bed), an easy chair, a TV chained into a wall cabinet, and a desk and chair, not unlike any hotel room. A kitchenette was off to the left and there was a sliding glass door that led to a small patio. To the right was a bedroom suite with a nice queen-size bed. Lindy poured us some wine and we sat down on the sofa, but we did not waste much time talking. It was very obvious what we both wanted... each other's bodies. I kissed her mouth as we melted into each other's arms, and I was right- her lips were excellent for kissing. Our tongues twined as I slid my lips along hers, enjoying the taste and feel of those soft, full lips. Mmmm... We made out like sex-starved teenagers for long minutes, our hands gently exploring each other's bodies, but teasing each other by not directly going for each other's 'naughty parts'. It was Lindy who finally broke. "Mmm...," she breathed between kisses, "why don't we... mmm... why don't... *smack*... we get ready, hmm? Why don't you... *smack*... make us some drinks and get out of your clothes while I go into the bathroom and get ready. There's a housecoat for you on the desk." I knew what Lindy meant by going to the bathroom and getting ready, especially for what we were going to do. She went into the bedroom and closed the door. I went in the kitchen and made some drinks. She apparently liked Amaretto. I made a 'Godfather' for myself, an Amaretto and Scotch; and a 'Godmother' for Lindy, which was Amaretto and vodka. I then texted Laura that I was with Lindy and what we were about to do. My wife texted back to have a good evening and feel free to stay all night. I was standing in front of the bedroom door when it opened, wearing only the white, thick-cloth housecoat when Lindy opened the door. She was wearing a flower-print, silk kimono that was more of a nightgown than a dress, and five inch high heel black slides, which really molded to her shapely feet. My cock began to harden and throb at the sight of her ass, legs and feet, shaped so beautifully by her high heel shoes. "Mmm, you look lovely." I said as I handed Lindy her drink. "Thank you." she said. "You'll look a lot better without this on." Her free hand was trying to remove my housecoat. I helped her and stood naked before her. We clinked glasses and drank, then she turned and I followed her into the bedroom. --- Lindy's pussy was hot, wet and wild. She was shoving her hips up to meet each of my powerful thrusts as I drove hard and deep into her sopping wet quim, her moans of pleasure echoing in the room as I roughly kissed and nuzzled her neck and jaw. Lindy was really into the sex. She had sucked my cock like a starved whore, sliding those full lips up and down my shaft with ferocious abandon. She moaned as I slid my hand through her curly hair and began pushing on the back of her head, dominating her somewhat as I 'forced' her to suck my turgid meat; she really enjoyed me taking control. I let my hands explore her soft, supple body as she fellated me. She moaned and sucked harder as I began clutching her asscheeks, then slid a finger onto her asshole. It was then that I realized what her preparations had been... she had cleaned her bowels out with an enema, then used a dildo on her ass and inserted a lot of lubricant. She would not let me eat her cunt; in fact, she was hoping to go straight to anal sex. She had put some extra sheets on the floor, then several towels. It was not the softest place to have sex, but would do. But first, there was no way I was not going to get to know the feeling of Lindy's cunt clutching my throbbing cock. I exercised my intention to sample her pussy by rolling her onto her back, mounting her, and taking her... and damn! that cunt felt good! Her cunt was slick and very wet, the softness of her labes and cuntwalls massaging my prick like a warm, velvet glove. I felt Lindy's cunt clutch hard at me as she experienced a deep, violent orgasm, then a couple of moments later she almost screamed as another hot climax tore through her womanhood. Finally, it was time. I got off of Lindy, withdrawing my throbbing, iron-hard cock from her sopping cunt. My cock was bobbing in the air with hardness, taut with desire and wet with a thick coating of Lindy's cuntal juices. She immediately got down onto her hands and knees on the towels on the floor, her head and shoulders to the floor and her succulent ass high in the air. Her invitation was unmistakable... she wanted me to buttfuck her! "OH MY FUCKING GOD!" Lindy exclaimed as I eased behind Lindy and fit the head of my bare cock to her gaping anal bud, then drove forward. "Oh God, that is so fucking GOOD!!" Lindy grunted happily as I withdrew and then buried my meat to the hilt inside the burning heat of her ass again. Her sphincter was tight, then her back passage opened up as I sank deeper inside it. My balls were slapping the underside of her pussylips. Slipping into Lindy's fine ass was as easy as catching crabs at a junkie convention. I began to sodomize the lovely FBI agent, not too violently but firmly, feeling my cock slide along her well-lubed back channel. I reached over and took the tube of lube and put even more of the slimy, slippery stuff on my cockshaft, then began fucking Lindy's ass in earnest. "Oh Jesus, that is so fucking good!" Lindy gasped again. Her hand was frigging her clit, and I felt her orgasm again as I enjoyed the pleasure of shoving my incredibly hard cock into her ass until she grunted with a mixture of pain and ecstasy. "Oh God, Don, this is the best I've ever had." Lindy admitted. "Oh God, your cock is so fucking hard! I've never had a cock this hard before... and it's so fucking big, too! Oh Don, don't ever stop fucking me with that hard cock!" --- After buttfucking Lindy from the rear, we changed positions. Lindy turned over onto her back and I mounted her, coming in low and slipping my little 'iron crowbar' deep into her ass again. Lindy's ankles were draped over her shoulders as I pistoned my meat into her ass, her feet still in the high heel slides, and I did not waste the opportunity to kiss, lick and suck her ankles and the heels of her sexy feet. My pleasure began fast overcoming me and I felt my nut rising, followed by that familiar agony of ecstasy as my load spurted deep into Lindy's bowels. When I finally was able to see and breathe again, we disengaged. --- We took a long, hot shower together, making sure to get my cock really clean after having been inside Lindy's back passage. Her preparation had been good, and my dick was virtually unsoiled. But a good cleaning and some Neosporin squeezed into the little hole at the apex of my cockhead was indicated, and done. Later that night we had vaginal sex again, lying like spoons, then me hovering over Lindy and sitting on my knees as she lay on her side. I filled her well-fucked cunt with my second load of the night, and then collapsed onto the bed, wiped out. We slept deeply in each other's arms until just before dawn... Part 22 - The Bettina Bombshell The next morning, the MCD team loaded up on coffee as we turned on the television. In some ways I was disappointed that no one seemed to deduce that Lindy and I had slept together the night before. We'd come into the Station together, and Lindy was walking saucily down the hall, as her ass was understandably a bit sore after the pounding I'd given it as I sodomized her. She and I had been talking fairly flirtatiously, but 'in a professional manner' of course, as we drank our coffee. Maybe Cindy noticed, but she didn't give any sign of it. I was sure no one else was the wiser. It was 7:00am and time for Bettina. Little did we know that the lovely redheaded reporterette was about to hit us with one of the biggest bombshells of her career. "This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News! Channel Two News has learned new details of the murders and Police investigations of banker Bradley Hazelton, Ward Harvester Plant Manager Tom Burleson, and my KXTC colleague Tim Dawdle. Channel Two News has learned from several sources that the deaths are related, and are the work of a serial killer known to Police and the FBI as the 'Black Widow'. The victims were all drugged and forced to have sex, then their skulls were crushed in by blows to the head. The local Police Force would not confirm that they have obtained DNA evidence of the Black Widow, nor that they are near an arrest in the serial killings." Bettina was not finished: "The FBI would not confirm that the Black Widow has also committed serial murders in Texas and Missouri. The motives for the crimes here and in the other States are not yet known, but all of the victims are men and most of them worked with or had an association with banking institutions in the area where they were killed. As always, we will bring you new information as soon as we get it. This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News." "I swear to God I am going to kill whoever leaked that when I find the bastard." said Chief Griswold, who had come into the room with Lt. Scott Peterson, the Police Force Media Relations Officer." "You'll have to get in line and pick a number, Chief." I said, feeling as angry as I ever had been... while not under the influence of Ned's drugs. "Scott, how long has she known?" "I began getting calls from her and from the Examiner around seven o'clock p.m. last night." said Peterson. "Bettina has just about everything, from the BDSM items planted at the Burleson scene to what happened to Dawdle before they finished him off." "How did she get the information? Phone call? Email?" Martin Nash asked. "I asked that, and she told me that she got an anonymous email with the details, and she called her confidential sources to confirm the information." said Peterson. "Crowbar, Peterson, let's go to my office." said the Chief. He then had to reach down and shake me; I was deep in one of my reveries. There was something important, something I was missing. Alas, it eluded me; I simply could not grasp what it was. Part 23 - Guilt And Innocence On the next Monday at 8:00am, the Chief called me and ADA Paulina Patterson into his small conference room, which he had swept for bugs just minutes before. Tanya Perlman was there. We all sat down and received the news, which I had expected. "The DNA tests on the hairs we found on Hazelton came back last night." said Tanya. "It's a 99.9% match with Selena Steele." "That's conclusive." said the Chief. "Is the acquisition and chain of custody on the evidence good?" "Rock solid." said Tanya. "Then that's that." said the Chief. "Paulina?" "I'll get with D.A. Krasney and go to Judge Folsom for an arrest warrant." said Paulina Patterson. Don, who do you want to send to make the arrest? We need to act fast before the Press gets wind of it." I didn't answer, I was lost in thought. "Crowbar... Crowbar? You okay?" asked the Chief, peering at me. "No sir." I said. "I'm missing something, but this just is not right." "Don," said the Chief, " I value your hunches as much as most people's facts. But a 99.9% match on DNA is a pretty solid fact." "Yes sir, it is." I said, trying to think. "It will certainly get this woman convicted by a jury, and likely the death penalty. And it's just a little too... convenient." "Well, if it's not Selena Steele, how did her hair get on the victim's body?" asked Tanya. "Planted." I replied. "No, what I mean is 'How were the hairs obtained?'" Tanya asked, her voice getting a bit derisive. "I seriously doubt Selena Steele just handed someone some of her hairs to plant on the body." "Don, you're going to need another of your miracles to show me Selena Steele is innocent." Paulina said. "Will you give me one hour before going for the warrant?" I asked Paulina. "Don," Chief Griswold said, "you know how bad the Press leaks have become. We can't afford even one hour of this information being in existence. And if Selena gets word of this and tries to run..." "Selena won't run. And I'll make the arrest myself." I said, "Just stay here, Paulina, and give me one hour, okay? Call the FBI for a consultation or whatever, but give me that hour... please!" "All right, but you'd better be right." said Paulina, her face showing severe doubt as well as displeasure. With that, I got up and left the Chief's office. I went into MCD, where Cindy, Martin, Hugh, Angela, and Diana Torres were talking. I played my gambit, speaking to the MCD Detectives, instinctively knowing that this was the only thing I could do but it was the right thing to do: "Ladies and gentlemen, let me have your attention for a moment. DNA evidence found at the Hazelton crime scene matches Selena Steele." I said, making sure my words were clear, precise and well-heard. "Paulina is talking to the FBI, and then she'll go to the Courthouse and secure the arrest warrant. It will be a death penalty trial for Selena Steele." I looked over the Detectives as I continued: "Ross, Hewitt, I want the two of you to go with me to make the arrest, so stay here and be ready. The rest of you also stay here. In this room. No phone calls, not one frickin' word to anybody until the arrest is made; the chief will have a heart attack if there are any more leaks to the Press. Am I clear?" "Yes sir." came one large chorus. I left the room and went into the unused Commander's office next to Paulina's office. I had to think... and to pray for a miracle. --- That miracle came just under one hour later. Paulina came in and told me to come with her to the Chief's office. Once we got there, I felt an enormous sense of relief. Sitting in front of the Chief's desk was Tanya Perlman... and Detective Hugh Hewitt. "Tell the Lieutenant and the ADA what you just told me, Hewitt." said the Chief. "On New Year's Eve," Hugh said. "Selena Steele was with me. We met for drinks at the Cattleman's Club, then went to her place. I spent the night there, we were together all night." "Why didn't you say something earlier?" growled the Chief. "I'm dating Angela." said Hugh, his voice nearly desperate. "We have a pretty good thing going. I didn't want her to know I slept with Selena. But Selena couldn't have killed Hazelton, and no matter what happens with Angela, I'll swear in Court that Selena was with me all evening and all night. I can't let her go down for something she didn't do." "How long have you been seeing Selena?" I asked. "We've hooked up three times." said Hugh. "She invited me to the Cattleman's Club for a drink the weekend before Thanksgiving and we ended up going to her place. Then we met again a couple of weeks before Christmas. Angela was on duty, and on call New Year's Eve. I'm not really dating Selena, we just get together and have a good time." "Son," said the Chief in the tone of a strong measure of fatherly advice, "I'd suggest you learn to keep it to one woman, or at least don't go sneaking behind her back cheating on her. But in this case, it's damn fortunate you were with Ms. Steele that night... or else she would've been looking at the death penalty." "What do we do now?" asked Paulina. "If the Press gets hold of that DNA report, Selena Steele is going to get lynched by them." "There's one other thing we have to do," I said, "and it is absolutely imperative that we keep Hugh's secret. Not because of his relationship with Angela, but because the Black Widow thinks she's succeeded in framing an innocent woman. This may be our chance to flush the real killer out, but absolutely no one else should know about this yet, not even the other Detectives in the MCD room, so sorry." "Agreed." said the Chief. "And that has just become my order to you Detectives. I can't order you, Paulina, but I'm sure you can see the value of keeping this quiet." Case of the Black Widow Ch. 04 "Certainly, Chief." said Paulina. "What now, Crowbar?" asked the Chief. "Paulina, take Hugh's sworn deposition right now, here in this room." I said. "After that, Hugh, if anyone asks what you were doing in here, tell them you were getting the Chief and me up to speed on your SWAT team formation. After giving your sworn statement, I want you to go get the officers that we're going to put on the SWAT team and all of you go to the outdoor range. If any other police are there, kick them out, tell them to call the Chief if you need to. Then close the range and stay there. Get in some shooting if you want to, but just stay there, locked away, for the rest of the day." "As for me, I'm going to go visit Selena Steele, and I'll take Cindy Ross with me. I intend to get Selena to tell me the truth about New Year's Eve. And then I'm going to watch for the Black Widow." "I still don't see how the Black Widow got hold of Selena's hair. So what's this all about?" asked Tanya Perlman. "I don't know for sure," I said, "but it's clear that the Black Widow is trying to frame Selena. Additionally, the Black Widow became so desperate that she revealed to Bettina Wurtzburg the information about the three killings in our County. She gave Bettina just about everything about the crimes, which of course is all we have-" "What? You think the Black Widow herself was the leak?" asked Tanya. "I sure as hell do." I said. --- As Cindy and I drove to J.P. Goldman Bank where Selena Steele was, she asked out of the blue "So did Hugh confess to being with Selena on New Year's Eve?" "Yep," I said, "and you are not to say one word about it to anyone, not even the other MCD Detectives, nor Teresa nor your sister. Is that clear?" "Crystal." Cindy replied. "But you're not asking me how I know?" "Nope." I said. "I'm sure my mother told you to watch for Hugh hooking up with Selena, because if Angela ever finds out it's going to be hell in my MCD room, and my mother still believes she has to protect her little boy from big bad MCD-drama wolves." Cindy laughed. "Yes, she did tell me that." She had that 'can't get anything by him' look on her face as she continued: "And after your speech this morning, Hugh looked like he wanted to throw up or cry. And when he said he was going to the restroom, I figured he was making a beeline to the Chief's office to confess he was with Selena at the time of the murder." "You might make a good Detective yet, Miss Ross." I said. "Stoppit." Cindy replied. "Well, here we are at the bank." --- We were in Mr. Goldman's conference room again, with the Goldman lawyer present. "Miss Steele," I said, "I'm going to read you your Constitutional rights." I did so, then asked if she understood her rights, and she said she did. "Miss Steele," I said, "DNA evidence has come back with certainty that your hairs were found on the dead body of Bradley Hazelton." "What?!?! How can that be?" Selena asked, then peered at me. "Is this some sort of trick?" "Not at all, Ms. Steele." I said, pulling out a folder and showing her the report. "The hairs found on the victim near his loins and in his hand are matched to you with a certainty that will have you convicted by any jury on earth." Selena handed the lawyer the report. He examined it and told Selena that it was conclusive and solid as evidence. "How?..." Selena said, tears forming in her eyes. "I swear to God, I didn't do it." "Then Selena," I said, leaning forward and keeping my voice conspiratorially low, "you need to tell me the name of the person you were with on New Year's Eve. It is your only chance to save yourself from the death penalty... yes, Selena, this evidence is enough not only to convict you but for you to be executed for a crime you did not commit." "I... I..." said Selena before turning to the lawyer. "What can I do?" "Detectives, I need a moment alone with my client." the lawyer said. We left the room until we were asked back in five minutes later. Once we were seated again, Selena asked "Is there any way we can keep this secret? Just between the two of you and me?" "Maybe." I said. "I'll have to let the Police Chief know, and above all else we'll have to convince the District Attorney of your innocence. But it's absolutely in our interest to keep the information quiet- so that we can trap the person trying to frame you. I would also suggest that if you want to keep it secret, you ask your lawyer here to leave and just tell the two of us. No offense intended, of course." "Yes... yes." Selena said. She turned to the lawyer and asked him to go, which he did without protest. "The man's name is... Hugh Hewitt. He's one of your detectives." Selena said. "He and I were together at the bar New Year's Eve, and then he came home with me and we were together all night." "How long have you been dating Hugh?" I asked, my eyes boring into her to mask any sign that I already knew and was ecstatic to be hearing her confirm the information. "We're not dating, he's dating that tomboy harpy Angela Harlan." Selena said. "New Year's Eve was the third time Hugh and I met and had sex. He's good in bed, but that's all we have between us." "You'll be happy to know, Ms. Steele," I said, "that Hugh was not going to let you take the fall. He was discreet, but he's given a sworn affidavit that you and he were together the night of the Hazelton murder. You have confirmed what he said, though you'll have to sign a sworn statement also, which Detective Ross here is writing right now for you to sign. Also, we need you to keep this a secret, because we believe we can flush out the real killer. Now I need to ask you some further questions..." Part 24 - Speculation, Redux "Well, your reputation just shot up again." said Teresa Croyle several nights later. She and Cindy were dinner guests of Laura, Carole and myself at The Cabin. It was too cold to sit outside with the baby, so we were in the main room. And despite there being three women in the room, it was me holding my little girl... with absolutely no intention of relinquishing this most pleasant of duties. "I'm not worried about that." I said. "But Selena Steele was literally one hour away from the death penalty, and I'm glad we could save her." "I'm just glad the Chief and ADA Patterson trusted you." said Cindy. "By all rights, Paulina should've gone for that warrant immediately." None of the Detectives had said much when Cindy and I had returned from our visit to Selena Steele without having made an arrest. The Chief told everyone that Selena Steele had a possible alibi that was being checked out, and he also said that FBI was taking over the Black Widow case. That was true, that the FBI was handling it on a national level... but Cindy and I were still secretly working on it with no one else knowing, as we feared a leak or mole within our own Police Force. The Press never got wind of the DNA report, which Tanya and Barry Oliver conspired to bury. To mollify Bettina, I gave her a comprehensive sit-down interview about the Black Widow case, saying that it was now in the hands of the FBI. We had other things to worry about, as well. Senator Nathan Allen was making noises again about taking action against Teresa for beating up his drunk son at a DUI checkpoint, but other politicians had suggested he shut his mouth, all the while working to get Teresa another police job by February 1st. Senator Allen's poll numbers had taken a beating as well after the Press reported on the sweetheart deal he pulled to get his son out of vehicular homicide charges... yeah, reporting on that might have been my deal with Bettina in exchange for the Black Widow interview. "So, do you have any idea who the Black Widow is?" Teresa asked. "No." I said. "I'm still trying to put the pieces together, and there are so frickin' many of them. But one thing is for sure, I think she's still around... and right under our noses." Indeed, I could sense the dark clouds swirling, and I just needed to pierce through them to see the light and solve the case. The clouds tried to take shape, they were trying to show me the image of the deadly woman and her evil rampage. The piece of the puzzle I needed was right in front of me, if only I wasn't too slow... Part 25 - Rejection February 1st. Teresa had gone to her new job in Midtown the day before. I arrived in the MCD room at 6:00am, and there was already a buzz around "the clubhouse", as Police HQ was called. Promotions were announced on February 1st and August 1st, and today was the big day. But even bigger on this day, we were announcing the selection of those uniformed personnel who would be placed on track to become Detectives. "Good morning!" Tanya Perlman greeted me, her face glowing, her cheeks rosy. She was anticipating the announcements as much as anyone else. "Good morning, Detective Perlman." I said, somewhat formally. "Come to my office." Once there, I bound her to silence for a few more hours, then told her the selections... including the names of those who didn't make it. "I'm going to tell him before the announcements are made." I told Tanya. "He deserves at least that much. It's really going to hurt him, but it can't be helped." "I appreciate you doing that." Tanya replied. Her cheeks were no longer rosy. ---- "Come on in here." I said at 7:30, entering the Chief's conference room. Patrolman Pete Feeley strode in, along with Detective Cindy Ross, who sat unobtrusively to one side. Feeley's face was a portrait of barely restrained excitement, and had been so since he'd walked into the building half an hour before. "I wanted to talk to you before the announcements come out." I said to Feeley after we'd sat down at the table. After a pause, I said "I'll just come right out with it, Feeley: you're not on the Detective list. You didn't make it this time." "Wh...wha..." Feeley stammered, his face now a mirror of shock. "Wh...what do you mean I didn't make it?" The young man's face began to look as if he were going to cry as the import of my words fully registered with him. "Wh... what did I do wrong? What made you decide this?" "Feeley, you didn't do anything 'wrong'." I said. "And it's not just my decision." I felt bad at these cop-out words; it really wasn't just my decision, but making excuses like that was not the mark of a good leader. "You're a good police officer and you still have a great career ahead of you with the Force. You're definitely on track to become a Sergeant early, which is pretty rare around here. You've got a great career ahead of you." "But... but what can I do to become a Detective? Even a Detective Apprentice..." Feeley said, groping for words. "You can try to make it in the next cycle, Feeley." I said. "But... but that could be two more years!" Feeley exclaimed, emotion beginning to overcome him. "That might be," I replied, and as I was trying to keep this hard moment as positive as I could for the young man, I continued: "And in the meantime, you keep sharpening your skills, and you keep being the best officer you can be. The Uniform track is wide open for you, Feeley. Captain Charles is ready to pin Corporal stripes on you today." Feeley didn't say anything more. His eyes glazed a bit, and I realized that he was now internalizing and attempting to come to grips with what he considered to be the greatest failure of his young life. I knew there was nothing more I could say to help him. "Okay, Feeley, I've talked to Captain Charles and let him know I was going to break this to you early. You can-" I was interrupted by the door opening. Chief Griswold entered the room. "Peter Feeley, you're being promoted to Corporal today. Make sure your uniform looks damn sharp this morning. I expect you to present yourself as the leader you are, is that clear?" "Uh... yes, Chief." Feeley said. He was about to get up but then remembered his manners and forced himself to remain seated. "You're dismissed." the Chief growled. I nodded and Feeley got up and left, his look and bearing betraying his sheer misery. "Crowbar, come to my office, but give me five minutes." "Yes sir." I said. As the door closed, I caught Cindy's look. "Well, Detective Ross," I said, "that goes under the heading 'hard parts of the job'." "You did all you could to make it easier for him." Cindy replied. "It was nice of you to tell him early." "Yeah." I said. "I know how much he wanted it and how hard he was trying. Maybe too hard." "He is right, though." Cindy observed. "He's probably got at least two years before he can be up for it again. Think he'll make it then?" "Between you, me, and the lamppost... no." I said. "You've watched him all these months like I have." Cindy nodded as I continued "I wasn't going to force him to go through the promotion ceremony and take the Corporal stripes, but the Chief changed my suppositions." "Pete looked absolutely devastated." Cindy said. "Maybe we should send him to the counselors instead of the ceremony. I hope he'll take things better than he looked when he left." "Yep, me too." I replied. "All right, I'll go check in with the Chief, and then we can go announce who the new Detective track candidates are going to be." --- The Chief waved me into his office as I approached the open door. "Rudistan and Morton are being promoted to Senior Patrolman today. They both asked for you to pin their new stripes on. You willing to do that?" "Absolutely, sir." I said. "And if Feeley wants, I'll do his, too, though he may want Tanya to do it. By the way, Chief, thanks for stepping in there and giving him the kick in the pants." "Sometimes you gotta give a guy a little push." Chief Griswold said. "Feeley is disappointed now, but he'll get over it, and he'll grow into those Corporal stripes, then the Sergeant stripes that will quickly follow. But what I called you in here about was to tell you that we're meeting Jack Muscone and his team this afternoon. They want to re-hash the Black Widow case with us..." To be continued. Dear Readers, the clues are all there. Do you know who the Black Widow is? Who killed Tom Burleson, Tim Dawdle, and Bradley Hazelton? And how did the Black Widow so nearly successfully frame Selena Steele? Case of the Black Widow Ch. 05 The chronological order of my stories is as follows: Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, Case of the Executed Evangelist series, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player Series, Teresa's Christmas Story. The Black Widow, Ch. 01-05 Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas. This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above. Part 26 - In The Line Of Duty "Officer down! Officer down!" came the call on the police radio. The voice belonged to Detective Cindy Ross. It was 10:05 pm on the night of February 3d. I felt sick to my stomach as I turned on the blue lights and siren of my police SUV to rush to the address. Something beyond instinct was telling me who was dead. It is possible that I went more than a bit too fast over the steeply graded narrow road leading from my home to Town, and definitely some cars had to quickly move to get out of my way as I blasted through the streets. I called Cindy on my cell phone. She responded within seconds. Upon my question, she told me who the dead police officer was. My hunch was right. I felt even worse. Cindy continued. "Looks like the work of the Black Widow." She followed up with a graphic description of the crime scene. I reached for the Pepto-Bismol that I always carried, and drank several large swigs. Then I got back on the cellphone and issued instructions to Cindy. "... those are my direct orders. How copy?" I said. "Loud and clear. Wilco." Cindy replied. When I got to the location in the Warehouse District on the middle-west side of town, I got out of my SUV, blue crowbar in hand. Looking around, I saw what I needed to see: Tanya Perlman and Cindy Ross were next to a police car while Crime Lab personnel took equipment inside. Tanya was boiling with anger, and Cindy had some extra help in the form of Senior Patrolman Morton to assist in restraining the smaller fireball of a woman. As I walked up to them, they looked up at me. "Don, what in the hell is going on?" Tanya said, her voice furious with anger and accusatory. "Cindy said you've ordered her to keep me from going in. Why the hell won't you let me go in?" "Because, Tanya..." I said, the effort of speaking being almost more than I could bear, but making sure I looked her squarely in the eyes... "... it's Pete Feeley in there." "What???" Tanya roared at the name of the police officer to whom she was engaged to be married. She again tried to tear off for the building, but it was an attempt only in her mind, as Ross and Morton had her well restrained. "Let me go!" Tanya screamed. "Tanya, calm down. Tanya!" I said. Finally my voice cut through Tanya's haze. I could see in her eyes that the shock was starting to set in." I sat down beside her. "Don..." she said, looking at me, her mind making a feeble attempt not to be affected by what I had just told her. "I've got to go in, I've got to help solve this, find out who the bastard is that did this! Why won't you let me go in?" "Because, Tanya," I said quietly but firmly. "I don't want what's in there... to be your last memory of him." "Oh..." Tanya said... and then it hit her fully. "Oh my God, Pete!" Her hands covered her face as she began to sob. She fell into my arms and cried as I held her. "Tanya, we'll handle it, and I want to catch the bastard as much as you do." I said, finally prying her arms from around me. "You just sit back on this one; you're off the case. Cindy, take her home. Stay with her." "No..." Tanya said, then added, "we should go to Pete's mother's house. I should be the one to tell her." I just nodded to Cindy, who led the sobbing young woman away to her car. Words cannot describe the pain that I was feeling at that moment. Being shot by Ned had been less painful. "Geez, Lieutenant." Patrolman Morton said. "I don't envy you your job in times like that. I don't think I could've handled it that well." "Yep, that's the part of this job that absolutely sucks." I said. "Take charge of security around here, Chet. If the Press shows up, keep them out and let me know immediately." I said. Martin Nash walked up as I struggled to get ahold of my emotions. "Martin, take charge of this crime scene." I said. "I'll be there in a minute." "Yes sir." he said solemnly as he continued walking towards the building. I took a moment to compose myself, then followed him. Once inside, I thanked God for having the foresight to keep Tanya away from the scene that filled my eyes. It was carnage. A nearly naked man lay sideways on the floor, still tied to the chair upon which he had been sitting, his hands manacled behind the chair, his legs strapped to the legs of the chair. His head was in a pool of blood. The back of his head gave testimony to the fact that he'd received a tremendously powerful, concentrated blow with a heavy object. His police uniform shirt was unbuttoned and pulled off his shoulders, only the sleeves on the arms keeping it in place. His pants, socks, shoes and underwear were on the floor several feet away. The Crime Lab team was working in utter silence. The Medical Examiner, whose nickname was "CMB", was making notes and asking the Police Photographer to take pictures at certain angles. The poor photographer looked like she wanted to be sick. I knew how she felt. It was then I saw the bucket with the trash liner... several of the battle-hardened Crime Lab personnel had not been able to hold their food down. The knowledge that the body had once been their fellow police officer contributed to their queasiness. While I began examining the crime scene, the photographer couldn't take any more, and rushed to the bucket. Despite that, I was somewhat pleased to notice that the Crime Lab teams were becoming well-trained and were meticulous in their searches. The flip side of that coin was that they were leaving traces of where they walked, so any previous footprints were being obliterated. I hoped and fully expected that they'd made notes of anything they'd seen before walking anywhere. Detective Diana Torres raced to the bucket a minute later. When she came back up to me, she said "Sorry, sir." "Don't apologize." I said. "I totally understand." And I did. My own emotions were a huge jumble. "Okay, let's see what we can discover." I said. I began looking around the warehouse for clues. "Where is Feeley's gun?" I asked. "No one's found it yet." Martin Nash said. "The perps may have taken it. Come over here for one second." Coming to the body, I saw CMB taking the fluoroscope out. He illuminated the groin area of the body as well as the floor in the area. Drops of liquid glowed a bright green. "Yep." CMB said in reply to my look. "Had sex, got his rocks off before he was killed." "And he was killed right after he came." I said. "He didn't get flaccid yet." This little anatomical tidbit was turning up in way too many of my cases, I noted with sardonic displeasure. "So yes, the woman fucked him, then somebody behind him crushed his head in. Multiple perps. Did the Black Widow leave her calling card?" "Yep." CMB said. "Two-triangle hourglass. On the underside of his penis and his balls. Done hastily, I might add." "Injected with poison?" I asked. "You can see the mark on his shoulder." CMB replied, pointing it out to me. "Alright, full blood workup, compare to the drugs used in her previouus crimes." "Yes, Lieutenant." CMB said as he began closely examining the groin area, not giving me any grief like he often did at other crime scenes. "Maybe there's something that got caught by the paint in this hourglass drawing..." Other technicians began shining lights, looking for anything in the area. Seeing them struggle to get it together, I did what had to be done. "Everyone, give me your attention for a moment." I said. When they all looked at me, I said "Guys, I know how hard this is for you. This is our fellow Town & County Police Officer. For us to get Justice for Pete Feeley, I know you'll rise up and do the best job you have ever done. You are all great professionals, and I'm counting on you. I want the bitch that did this, and we are going to get her come hell or high water. Okay, let's go to work." My words worked, they all redoubled their efforts, and a semblance of energy began filling the room. I did not examine the immediate area around the body; a set of footprints off to the right near the door where we'd entered had raised my curiosity. After glancing around with my flashlight, I called Martin Nash over. "Okay, Martin," I said as he came up to me, "it looks like Feeley came in the door here and was ambushed. Now if he were brandishing his gun and was hit from behind, he may have slung his gun to the right, here, near these pallets. They searched for it, but may not have found it." I began looking around the pallets, lying down on my chest and flashing light beneath the pallets. A glint under one of them caught my eye. "What do we have here?" I asked aloud as I eased my crowbar under the pallet and pulled it sideways. A second later, a firearm appeared from under the pallet. "It's Feeley's gun." I said. "Bag it as evidence. Martin, if nothing else, it shows Feeley came in here expecting to find a crime. And that means this is an LOD investigation." "Yes sir." Nash said, getting my meaning. 'LOD' meant 'line of duty'. There had not been a police officer killed in the line of duty in the Town or County for over 30 years. At that time, Angela Harlan and Hugh Hewitt came to the warehouse door. "What happened here?-- oh my God!" Angela said. "Is that one of our guys?" "Yes." I said. "Pete Feeley." "Oh, Jesus." said Hugh, pain written on his face. "What the hell happened?" "The Black Widow happened to him." I said. "Why don't you guys either head home or help with crowd control if the Press shows up. We've got it covered in here." After ten more minutes of examining as much as I could, I went outside, asking the Police Photographer to walk with me. She was a Korean-American woman, not particularly pretty, but very competent, and she looked at me with almost-innocent eyes. "I need to make myself as perfectly clear as possible." I said in a firm tone. "You are to transfer your digital pictures to a jump drive only. Your photographic film should be developed and the prints and negatives put under seal in my name. You are to give the jump drive and the photos to me and me alone. Above all else, Detective Tanya Perlman is to never see these photographs, no matter how hard she tries." "Yes sir," said the woman, "but why not let her see the pics? She's our best crime scene investigator." "Because the dead police officer was her fiancé." I replied. "Oh. Ohhhhhhh..." the woman said as the shock of my words hit her. She then said with alacrity "Yes sir, I'll follow your instructions exactly." "Thank you. Carry on." I said. At that moment, I heard the screech of tires as a KXTC news van almost hurtled through the gates of the fence and the police barricade there. As Bettina Wurtzburg and her cameraman got out and tried to rush through, they were thrown back very roughly by Chet Morton and Hugh Hewitt. "What the hell?" said Bettina, her face showing shock. "Don't try to come through here again." Hugh Hewitt warned, menace in his voice. "What is going on in there, Detective? Oh Lieutenant! Don!" Bettina called out, seeing me approach. "What's happened here, Lieutenant?" She and the cameraman tried to push through to get to me, and Hugh pushed them back, literally shoving the cameraman to the ground. "Jesus Christ, Hugh!" yelled Bettina, "Don, what is with these guys?" "Bettina," I said, brandishing the crowbar, "now is not the time to fuck with the Town & County Police." Bettina must've sensed what had happened, or perhaps the look on my face scared her. She stopped trying to get in and became quiet. "Hewitt, if any reporters come past the fence," I ordered, "arrest them and take them to jail. If they resist arrest, shoot them." I noticed Bettina's look of shock as I turned away. I went back to the crime scene; I did not trust myself to remain under control at the moment. And most of that anger was directed at my own self. My failure to find and capture the Black Widow, my failure to see clues that were within my grasp had led to the death of a promising young police officer and the grief of those that had loved him. When the EMTs came and removed him, all of the officers present stopped and saluted as the shrouded body of Police Corporal Peter Feeley was wheeled past them. It was then that Bettina Wurtzburg's eyes confirmed what she had sensed earlier: the Police had lost one of their own; the Thin Blue Line was that much thinner. Part 27 - Seduction On the night of February 2d, Police Corporal Pete Feeley sat at the bar, pounding down beers and shots of liquor, numb to all feeling. Chief Griswold had told him in no uncertain terms that he was to accept the honor of Corporal stripes and be the leader the Chief expected him to be. Though miserable, he followed his Chief's orders and endured the promotion ceremony and the congratulations of other uniformed officers that he had not really wanted. Feeley had gone through his duties like an automaton, not feeling anything. That night he had barely spoken to Tanya, who had tried to make him feel better, but not even her presence was touching him. As he drained his beer, he was about to ask for another when a black-haired woman sat down next to him. Despite his haze, he recognized her. "Buy you a drink, Pete?" the woman said. Pete did not know how long they talked as he practically sobbed his story with the woman sympathizing. The next thing he knew, he was in her apartment and in her bed, and she was riding his cock, impaling her sopping wet vagina onto his hard cock again and again. Pete tried to wonder how he was able to stay hard, especially as drunk as he was, but he was able to work through two orgasms before finally passing out. ------------------- "How are you feeling, Corporal?" asked Captain Leslie Charles. "My head is killing me, sir." Feeley replied. It was the next morning, February 3d, and Feeley had barely made it on time after waking up alone in the woman's apartment. It did not dawn on him that the apartment was virtually empty except for the bed. In spite of the pain of his hangover, he went to the Police Headquarters gym, where he showered, shaved, dressed and reported to Captain Charles for his assignment. "It's worth it, if you got all that mental shit out of your system. Here, drink this." Captain Charles said, feeling sympathy for the kid. He told Feeley the story that he also had wanted to be a Detective and had never made it. His own desire to be a police officer overcame his disappointment, and he rose through the ranks of Uniformed leadership, realizing over time that he did not need to be a Detective to make an impact on people's lives as a policeman. He hoped Feeley would take that same course. "Thank you, sir." said Feeley, the medicine making him feel better, but the Captain's words not assuaging him. "I have a mission for you, Corporal." Captain Charles said. "I want you to prepare a training schedule for our new officers that just came on. The template is in the computer." He was hoping that getting Feeley into the routine of his new leadership role would get Feeley 'over the hump' and back to his old self. Feeley was working on that task when one of his fellow policewomen came up to him. "Hi Pete," she said. "How are you feeling?" "Hello." Pete said. "Okay, I guess." "You should've gotten a Detective slot," the policewoman said. "You're as good as any of them that were promoted or hired." "Yeah, I know, but what can I do?" Feeley said. "It's done." "Well, maybe not." the policewoman said, lowering her voice. "Look, they've developed a lead in Vice about a drug shipment coming in, maybe tonight. Why don't you interdict it, call in the backup, make the bust? Hell, that idiot Sharples pulls that shit all the time, and he's nowhere near as good as you. They'll see they made a mistake and get you into the Detective track immediately." "You think so?" Pete said, feeling skeptical at the plan, but his desperation winning over his better judgment. "Sure," she said, "just don't tell anyone until you call for backup. It'll be your bust." -------------------- "Pete didn't come home last night." Tanya said, concern on her face. "And he had a huge hangover this morning. I tried to talk to him, but he said he had something to do and said he'd talk to me later. Then he just walked away from me." "How was he the night before?" I asked. "Numb." Tanya said. "I just tried to be there for him, but he was just numb to everything." "Well, maybe he'll snap out of it soon." I said. "And when he does, he'll appreciate you being there for him. He's a damned lucky man to have you." "I'm feeling the same way about him." Tanya said. "It's funny how it's worked out, but now I'm going to be spending the rest of my life with him, and I'm really happy about it." "Never question the course of true love." I said, happy for Tanya's happiness. "And when it comes, embrace it." -------------------- "This is Officer Feeley." came the voice over the police radio. "I'm observing two suspects at--" he gave the address at the warehouse. "Looks like they're about to move a shipment of drugs. Send backup, I'm going in." Feeley crept to the door and looked in. The tip was spot-on, he was just in time to interdict a drug bust. Only two perps, he could hold them until backup arrived. He moved towards the door-- *WHAM!!!* Pete's last memory was more like a dream. He felt himself having sex, seeing Tanya Perlman above him, riding him as she did every night in their bed. He was feeling the wet heat of her pussy, seeing her beauty as they made love, seeing her look down at him and smile, telling him she had just come. He felt his own orgasm rising, then exploding into Tanya's luscious body... and then, with a bright flash of light, it was all no more... Part 28 - Requiem For The Fallen "This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" I barely heard the reporter shout as I absently watched the 7:00am newscast. I had not slept, I was exhausted, but I was driven to carry on as I listened to Bettina's words: "Channel Two News has learned that Police Corporal Peter Feeley was killed last night while attempting to make drug arrests in the Warehouse District. Corporal Feeley was found dead at the scene by officers that he had called in for backup. Police are not confirming that he is the latest victim of the Black Widow, the serial killer who forces her victims to have sex before killing them. "The Police are currently making a line-of-duty investigation, and if it is determined that Corporal Feeley died in the line of duty, it will be the first such death in the Town or County's Police Force in over thirty years. Corporal Feeley is survived by his mother--" "Crowbar, how long have you been here?" It was Chief Griswold asking me that; he'd come into the MCD room. "All night, sir." I said. "I'm going to send you home after the morning meeting." the Chief said. "You need to get a few hours sleep." Case of the Black Widow Ch. 05 ---------------------- February 5th arrived and we had a full morning meeting at 8:00am in Classroom J. Jack Muscone's FBI team had arrived, and the Chief had instructed all of his Captains as well as all Detectives be present at the meeting. The day before had been evidence-gathering and data-sifting. I had refused to go home despite the Chief's orders, but had not done anything but listen to various reports and try to put together the pieces in my mind. Tanya Perlman had insisted on attending the meeting, though Barry Oliver gave the autopsy and toxicology report. He brought no pictures to the meeting, and I had been told that he and Myron Milton had foiled three attempts by Tanya to access the digital information stored in the computers. The Chief then intervened by assigning Tanya to the duty of officially attending Pete's mother, who was overcome with grief at the loss of her young son, and that was enough to keep Tanya busy for a few days. "The drugs injected were the same as the previous Black Widow murders here in Town." said Barry Oliver. "CMB thinks he was ambushed and hit on the head when he entered the warehouse, and then he was fatally hit by what is likely a solid aluminum bat after being drugged and made to climax." "The duty desk said that Feeley called in a request for backup." the Chief said. "Yet by the time officers arrived on the scene, he was dead. What happened there?" Captain Charles, head of the Uniformed Police answered: "The gate was locked when the backup units arrived, but Feeley's patrol car was inside the gates. We think the perps locked the gate when they ambushed him. It took several minutes to cut through the chains and get in, which was apparently enough time for the perps to kill Feeley and get away." "How did they get away?" the Chief asked. "Wasn't the place surrounded?" "Not completely, sir." Charles said. "The property abuts another property on its backside, and there are gaps in the fences in a few places. If they left on foot and dispersed, there was just too much ground for us to cover." "What about his partner?" asked the Chief. "Why wasn't he patrolling with a partner?" "He wasn't assigned to any routine patrols, Chief." replied Charles, whose face showed his own pain. "And since he'd just been promoted, he hadn't been assigned a new partner yet. His old partner was Patrolman Hicks, who was promoted to Senior Patrolman himself on the first of the month. Hicks was at home, and said Feeley never contacted him about going on a mission. We're not sure why Feeley was where he was when we found him." "Crowbar?" the Chief said to me, having seen my eyes light up with a thought. "Very well planned, down to the last details of escaping." I said, my voice hollow, as if I were talking to myself. "Pete was ambushed. This wasn't a drug operation; it was a scheme designed to lure in and murder a police officer. My question is why was Pete Feeley targeted?" "Maybe he wasn't, but was just unlucky enough to be the first to arrive." said the Chief. "Which brings up that question again: what was Feeley doing at that location in the first place?" The old man was trying hard to understand the failings that led to his officer being killed, I realized. "Chief," said Captain Malone, "we've had some reports of possible drug shipments running through that warehouse in past months, though nothing recently." "Do you think Feeley might have seen some of those reports, drove by the place and saw something?" Angela Harlan asked. Why she was speaking up, I didn't know, but it was an interesting question... ...too interesting by half, I realized to myself, feeling the blood rush to my head... "Maybe." Captain Malone was saying in reply to Angela's comment. "Feeley had clearance to access most of our basic information, and he did call in on the radio that he thought a drug shipment was taking place." "Whether or not he saw the reports," I said, speaking mostly to myself and rambling, "he was lured in, ambushed, and murdered... he had a reason for being at that location at that time, and he saw what appeared to be a drug operation, not realizing it was a trap... he's not the impulsive risk-taker type, he was always by-the-book, but this time he didn't wait for backup... he said on the radio that he saw two suspects, and he was thinking that he could take the two of them and hold them until backup arrived at the gates he thought were open, but had been chained shut behind him. Oh shit.... I hope he wasn't trying to impress us into thinking he should've been promoted to Detective... geez..." Seeing that I was off to the (mental) races, the Chief said "Well, I think that's all we're going to get from this meeting. I want everyone to hear this very clearly: no Detective is to attempt to effect an arrest without uniformed police officers on the scene backing you up. If Feeley was set up, someone might try to set you up, too. From now on it is by-the-book, follow-the-numbers, color-within-the-lines. Any Detective that disobeys this order will not be a Detective any longer. Do I make myself clear, people?" "Yes sir!" came a chorus. "All right, no excuses." growled the Chief. "You've been told. Now get out of here, go find clues to what happened... and get yourselves ready for the funeral." The room emptied. When I came out of my reverie, I was alone in Classroom J... except for Tanya Perlman, who was silently watching me with abnormal intensity. ---------------------- The Town & County Council met in special session to accept the expedited report of the Board of Inquiry, which found that Police Corporal Pete Feeley had died in the line of duty. His mother would receive a pension for the rest of her life, which would not ease her grief but would help her live comfortably, as Pete had always tried to do for her. In addition, Corporal Pete Feeley was given a funeral procession through Town before being carried to his final resting place at the cemetery. Councilman Jack Colby provided two horses to pull an open carriage upon which the U.S.-flag-draped coffin rested. The Chief asked me to walk in the front line with himself, Captain Malone and Captain Charles, and of course we were wearing our formal uniforms. The chief was at the right side of the line, per protocol, while I had the far left as the junior officer. Other police officers marched behind the four of us, followed by the family, including Tanya, in cars. Thousands of townspeople lined the streets to honor the fallen officer, which made me appreciate the Town and County that we had chosen to serve. These were good people, and they understood what Pete Feeley had done for them. It was up to us, his fellow officers, to avenge him and to bring Justice and Peace to the County. That was my mission, I thought with a righteous determination I had never before felt with such a level of intensity... Part 29 - Realization It was the night after the funeral, and I was sitting alone in The Cabin, looking out the large windows in the main room that overlooked the deck and the twinkling lights of the Town behind it. Laura and Carole were at the 'Mountain Nest', and I'd come up here to have some solitude, and to think. The swirling clouds were just beginning to form, to take shape-- and then it hit me. I saw who the Black Widow was, who she must be. I didn't yet understand fully the 'why' of it, but I was seeing the 'what' and the 'how'. The betrayal was immense and brutal. And then I realized that the answers had been there all along, right in front of me, and I had failed to see them in time to save Pete Feeley's life. I remembered the night Tim Olivet was murdered, sacrificing himself for his wife, dying because of my mistakes. And now Pete Feeley's blood was on my hands, at least in my own mind. I began to cry... Someone was approaching me in the dark. I realized that it was my mother from her perfume. I felt as much as saw her bring a chair next to mine. "It's my fault, Mom." I said. "Pete Feeley is dead because I just wouldn't see the truth." "Nonsense, Son." my mother said. "Pete Feeley was murdered by an evil, vicious woman. If you could have been in time, you would have been in time. Don't berate yourself for the past. If you see the answer now, then act on it and avenge young Officer Feeley." I said nothing, even though my mother's words made me feel better. I was not going to let my failure be washed away with excuses, but I realized that the best thing I could do now was bring this killer to Justice. "So, Don, tell me what you're thinking." my mom said. I told her who I thought it was and my reasoning for it. My mother said "Now that you're telling me this, I realize that I missed something that I should have seen, as well." "What's that?" I asked. "How Selena Steele's hair arrived on young Bradley Hazelton's body." my mother said, telling me her observations and deductions. And I saw the ramifications of what she was saying... ------------------------- "My God, did you see the look in the Lieutenant's eyes?" said Angela Harlan in the MCD room the next morning, the day after the funeral. The Headquarters was still a somber place. "Yeah, I sure did." Hugh said. "I've never seen him look so cold before." "Or determined." said Cindy Ross. "I think he's going after Pete's killer, and God have mercy on that person's soul if Don finds him or her before the rest of us do." She got up and left the room; I had just come to the door and beckoned her to follow me. ------------------------ "What?" Cindy exclaimed. "Are you serious?" The Chief had no words; he just gaped at me, open-mouthed with shock. The three of us and Paulina Patterson were sitting in the Chief's conference room, which I'd swept for bugs before inviting them in. "Dead serious." I said, knowing that my eyes betrayed that my emotions were dead to all but Justice. I explained my chain of reasoning to a totally attentive audience. "We still have work to do in order to get proof and bring this bitch to Justice." I said. "Yeah, we don't have enough for a warrant yet." Paulina said. "Do you think we ought to hand this one off to the FBI?" "No, but we do need to involve Curly Goodwin." I said. James "Curly" Goodwin was second-in-command of Internal Affairs, and if I had my way he'd be taking over I.A. soon, because Daniel Allgood would be moving on to better things, much better things. "Here's my plan of action..." Part 30 - Building The Case An hour later I went to the Federal Office Building, which was located on the Town Square. I was admitted into the FBI's office suite, which few people realized even existed in the building. I found Lindy Linares working at a computer station. "I was sorry to hear about your officer." she said as I came up to her. "Thanks." I replied. "Lindy, I need your help: you remember how you compiled data that showed Selena Steele was in the vicinity of all the crime victims, save one?" "Yes I do." Lindy replied. "I thought for sure she was 'the one'." "Yes... can you do that for me again, but this time look for this person?" I asked, handing Lindy a slip of paper with a name on it. Agent Linares's eyes widened in shock as she read it. She looked up at me, seeing the coldness of my eyes, and understood that I was not joking. And then her eyes showed understanding as she grasped the truth. "I'll start that up right now." she said. ---------------------- "Well, look what the cat drug in." said Janet Riordan, teasing me as I came into her office at the Nextdoor County Police Station. "Hi, J.R." I said, using the name she was known by at the station: J.R. Dixon. "I need a favor, which I'll repay by taking you out to lunch. I'd like for you to introduce me to your Department's best sketch artist." "You guys don't have one?" Janet asked, disbelieving. "Sure we do, but I have real reason that I don't want to use them." I said. "I dunno, you may owe me more than just a lunch." said Janet, smiling her beautiful smile. "Let's go see Ted." After Janet introduced me to Ted and asked him to help me, I explained what I wanted. I showed Ted a photograph of a woman, and asked him to sketch what she'd look like with sunglasses and heavy makeup, as if trying to disguise herself. By the time I returned, having taken Janet to lunch followed by an hour of sex at her home, Ted had drawn an excellent image for me. ------------------------ Laura looked good in her Police Auxiliary uniform, which she was entitled to wear as the Police Department's volunteer psychiatrist. She had also qualified with a gun (and very well, I might add), and so was able to go with me on this official mission at the Tower Condos, the twin building of the University Hotel. We knocked on the door, which opened to reveal... Rita, the masterful woman that ran Lashes & Lace. 
"I usually don't see visitors here. Cop." Rita said warily. "Unfortunately, Rita, this is official police business." I said. "May we come in?" Rita admitted us to her very nice apartment, with a lovely view looking north over the University. I would've taken the time to enjoy the view, but I still felt the coldness as I focused on my mission. Pete Feeley's killer was still out there. "Okay, what is this about? Cop." asked Rita as she sat down on the sofa and indicated for me to sit next to her. "First, I'd like for you to give Dr. Fredricson a cheek swab for DNA purposes. This is to eliminate you as a suspect, but you are not required to give it." I said. "Oh, what the hell." Rita said. "You'd get it one way or another. Cop." To my surprise, Rita took the tube from Laura's hand and did her own cheek swab. "Thanks, Rita." I said. "Now I just have a couple of questions for you. When you said the woman to whom your chrome handcuffs were sold was disguised, I had these pictures drawn up." I handed Rita the first drawing; it was Selena Steele, drawn up by our Department's best sketch artist to be disguised by glasses and heavy makeup. "Looks fairly close, but her hair is too straight. The woman I told you about had some curl in her hair, it was more wavy." Rita replied. "Okay, take a look at this one." I said, handing her the drawing of my suspect that was done by the Nextdoor County artist. "Oh yeah, that's a lot closer." said Rita, staring at the drawing with recognition. "A... lot... closer... I'd say it was her." I looked at Laura, then turned to Rita and said "Thank you, Rita. You've been more than helpful." "Good, and good luck catching the bitch. Cop. I heard what happened to Tanya Perlman's boyfriend. Neither of them deserved that." said Rita, her eyes looking far off. After a moment she recovered and said "Now the next time you want to see me... Cop... both of you come to the Club and have some fucking fun with us..." ------------------------ Detective Leonard "Sergeant" Sharples was surprised to see Detective Angela Harlan typing furiously at the computer on the desk that had been Teresa Croyle's as he entered the nearly empty Vice room. "Hello, Angela, what's up?" "Oh, hi Sergeant, I'm just using one of your computers to check up on something." "Anything I can help you with?" Sharples said, sitting down next to her. Angela continued typing as she said, "Did you know that the Crime Lab came up with a DNA result which proved that hairs found on Bradley Hazelton's body were Selena Steele's? "First I'm hearing of it." said Sharples, in his normal lazy drawl. "But I have to admit that I've had nothing to do with investigating those murders." "I hear ya." said Angela. "Anyway, I've always wondered why she wasn't arrested. I was wondering if J.P. Goldman or her father Edward Steele had intervened on her behalf." "Ah, nice juicy scandal." said Sharples as he leaned back in his chair, looking even more fat and out of shape than usual. Sharples liked juicy scandals. "Well, it may not be that." Angela said. "Patterson has a sworn deposition entered, but it's password-protected. If I can just get into it..." "Here', let me help you with that." said Sharples. Angela let him 'drive' the keyboard, and Sharples had the file opened within a minute. "Wow, you're good!" Angela said. "Don't tell anybody." said Sharples. "I don't want them to know." "Your secret is safe with me-- what the..." Angela said as she read the deposition. "Fuck! That son of a bitch!" "What is it?" Sharples asked as Angela closed the file and rebooted the computer, her face crimson. "Tell you later, I gotta go." said Angela as she fled the room. ----------------------- At 5:30, Lindy Linares and Jack Muscone appeared at Police Headquarters. Once in the Chief's conference room, Lindy said "You were right, Don. Your suspect was within an hour's drive of every one of the Black Widow killings at the time of the crimes." "What does this mean?" asked Jack Muscone, wanting to hear me say it. "It means the Black Widow was stalking Selena Steele, then tried to set up and frame Steele for murder." I said. "It also means we are close to an arrest warrant." "We can't get one now?" Lindy asked. "Not yet." I said. "I want to do just one more thing before we ask Paulina to go to the judge for a warrant..." Part 31 - Coach's Corner "Once again, I'm having to talk to you." said Coach Brian Harlan, whom I'd 'encouraged' to visit the Police Station again. The appearance of Pete Feeley's friends Senior Patrolmen Morton and Rudistan at the coach's doorstep might have aided my persuasion after he saw the look on their faces. It was 6:30pm and we were in Interrogation-A. "Bad things always happen to me when I have to talk to you, Lieutenant. You are a Bad Buddha for me." "And it's not going to get any better, Coach." I said. Cindy Ross was in the room with me, and Morton and Rudistan were guarding the doors to the room so that no one else could enter. Chief Griswold, Paulina Patterson, D.A. Krasney, Jack Muscone, and Lindy Linares were in the anteroom, watching through the one-way mirror. I also knew that James "Curly" Goodwin of I.A. was watching on video from his office in the I.A. area downstairs. "Laaaaaaast... October, I believe it was..." I said, as if searching for a memory, "on the night of Tim Dawdle's murder, you said that you and your cousin Angela had dinner together."

"That's right." Harlan said. "Coach... that's not true, is it?" I said, looking straight into Harlan's eyes. I saw the fear and shock well up as I said it. "You did not have dinner with your cousin that night, you were alone, weren't you?" "What? You're kidding me, right?" Harlan gasped. "No, I'm not kidding you, Coach." I said. "Neither you nor your cousin have an alibi for the time of Tim Dawdle's murder. You were not together. It is obvious that Dawdle's investigation was hurting you and your football program. Dawdle had to die to ease the pressure. So he was executed." "You'll never prove a word of that. Angela and I were having dinner together. Just try and prove otherwise." Harlan said angrily. "I will." I said. "I also have the proof that your cousin, Angela Harlan, murdered Bradley Hazelton, as well as a man in St. Louis, Missouri... their Crime Lab got enough DNA of the Black Widow that we should make an airtight match when we compare it to hers. Yes, Coach, your cousin Angela is the Black Widow, and you are aiding and abetting murder by giving a false alibi for her." Harlan looked at me, his eyes trying to determine if I were serious or bluffing. I quickly shot down any hopes he had: "You know I'm not bluffing here, Harlan. This is your last chance." Harlan's eyes became jet and determined as he said "Lieutenant, if you think I'm going to turn on my blood kin, then you are sadly, sadly mistaken." He sat back in his chair. "I now invoke my Fifth Amendment rights. I will answer no more questions from the Police or any law enforcement agency from this time forward. I want a lawyer, now, and I want legal representation at any time I am questioned by law enforcement authorities. Either arrest me now or escort me to the front door so that I can leave." Case of the Black Widow Ch. 05 "So be it." I said, getting up. "Consider yourself under arrest. Stay right here. Get comfortable." I told Senior Patrolman Morton to read Harlan his rights, process him through booking, take him to Interrogation-1 on the 'perp' side of Headquarters, and to provide Harlan with a phone so he could call his lawyer. Then Cindy and I went into the anteroom. The others were headed to the Conference room already, and Curly Goodwin was coming upstairs and met us as we walked down to join them. In the conference room, I said "Mr. Krasney, would you go ahead and get the warrant for her arrest? We can hold Brian Harlan here overnight, but we have to get Angela into custody before she finds out what we know and skips town." Krasney nodded to Paulina, who had her cellphone out and was speed-dialing the Courthouse. "Martin," I said to Detective Nash, "we're also going to get a warrant for Angela's apartment. One thing in particular that you are searching for is hair brushes. Look for hair brushes everywhere, the one she used to comb Selena Steele's hair may be hidden away." "Yes sir." Nash said, not questioning my instruction at all. Cindy did, of course. "Hair brush?" Cindy asked. "Yep. If we get that hair brush, we're halfway home to a conviction. St. Louis might have to provide the other half, unless the coach does the unexpected and turns on his blood kin." I said. "Okay, Cindy, explanations later: get your heavy gear on, we're going on a takedown mission. Where's Hugh?" "He's off duty, and we haven't been able to get in touch with him." Martin Nash said. "Shit." I said. "Martin, keep trying to reach Hugh. I just hope he's not with Angela right now. Okay guys, let's go." "I'm coming, too!" The voice behind us was Tanya Perlman. She had her heavy bulletproof gear and was dressed in a tactical uniform that allowed freedom of movement. "All right, Perlman." I said. "And if it's peaceful, you get to make the arrest... IF it's peaceful." Everyone scrambled to get their gear and get ready. I felt a hand clutch my bicep. It was the Chief practically dragging me back into the conference room. "Are you certain about bringing Perlman, Don?" he asked. I looked the Chief in the eye. "Dead certain, Chief." He said no more but waved me on to get ready. Part 32 - Near Miss "Hi Hugh, let's go get some late-night pizza." said Angela Harlan when Hugh opened his apartment door. "Okay." said Hugh. They got into Angela's car, her driving. "Where have you been these days?" Angela asked. "The Chief has me doing all this SWAT stuff." Hugh said. "He says he wants every 'i' dotted and 't' crossed when we go to the Council for final approval. If you ask me, it's all busy work, but orders are orders. What about you?" "It's all about Feeley's murder in MCD." Angela said. "Cindy says she's never seen the Iron Crowbar so cold and determined." "Yeah, Pete's murder really hit him hard. He feels like he could've stopped it." Hugh said. "Really?" Angela said, her husky voice sharp and incisive. "Does he have any clue who the Black Widow is, if it's not Selena Steele?" "I don't know. " said Hugh. "Don doesn't tell us everything he's thinking of-- hey! where are we going?" He realized they were driving into the Warehouse District." "I want to check something out on the way." Angela said. "I want to see if the warehouse where Feeley was killed is being used again." "No way." said Hugh. "That place has been compromised, they'll avoid it like the plague." "That's just it." said Angela, "logically they'll think it's safe precisely because we think they won't come back." They drove up to the front gate, which was wide open. Angela drove onto the site and up to the door of the warehouse... the door that had proved fatal to Pete Feeley. "Angela," Hugh said, "the Chief told us we can't be doing this without backup." "We're not trying to arrest anyone, we're just looking around. There's a light on inside the warehouse. If we see anyone, we'll call for backup and wait." Before he could stop her, Angela had scurried out of the car. Hugh was feeling extremely unwilling to be doing this, but felt he had no choice as Angela went to the door and peered inside. He got out of the car and followed her as she went inside. There was a light on in the middle of the warehouse, beaming down a circle of light. Angela darted into the building before Hugh had any chance to stop her. As he stepped through the door, his war-honed instincts told him to duck!-- and the plywood beam just grazed the top of his head as he whirled. "AMBUSH!" Hugh yelled in warning to Angela as he turned to face his opponent. He parried the next blow, then was spun around by a second man who grabbed him from behind. Using the military personal combat tactics he'd mastered and used all too many times, he threw the man over his shoulder as the first man rushed him again. Hugh again avoided the rush, spinning and pushing the man on by him. Hugh went for his gun as the two men prepared to attack him again-- *ZZZZZZZT!!!* The TASER prods embedded into Hugh's back and 50,000 volts of electricity seared through him. He began falling, totally helpless. Angela Harlan had used the TASER on Hugh and was fiercely continuing to pour the juice into him, a slight smell of burning flesh wafting up into the air. Finally the two men managed to get Hugh's hands handcuffed behind him, and half carried, half dragged him to the metal chair directly under the cone of light. -------------------- When Hugh opened his eyes, he felt the agony of his muscles having been TASERed. He realized that his shirt had been pulled over his arms, which were pulled over the back of the chair and that he was handcuffed to the chair. His pants and underwear were puddled at his ankles, which were also bound with an electric extension cord. "You idiot." said the husky voice as Hugh's vision cleared. Angela was standing in front of him, totally naked except for high heel black pumps. Her body looked magnificent, like a goddess in the strange light, her firm breasts standing proudly on her chest, the slight quiver of her taut abs betraying her excitement. "Give him a full dose." Angela instructed one of her helpers, a slightly overweight man with a thin beard and goatee. Skinny Beard injected the contents of the syringe into Hugh's shoulder. Burning heat seared at the spot of the entry, then began spreading as the drugs entered his bloodstream. "I just can't believe you, Hugh." Angela said in a mock 'hurt' voice. "Why in the world would you fuck that whore Selena Steele? Wasn't this enough for you?" Angela said, pointing to her own luscious body. She cupped her firm breasts in her hands, massaging them she stood over Hugh. "You were tapping this every night if you wanted, Hugh. And you could've been having me every night from now on... but what did you do but go and fuck that skank whore Selena Steele!" Hugh was trying to concentrate through the grogginess of the drug as well as having been TASERed and subdued. He'd endured hardships and extreme dangers in Afghanistan, but never had he been so near death than he was at this moment. He tried to speak, but couldn't; his mouth had been duck-taped shut. "Oh, Goddammit, I was so close, so fucking close!" Angela wailed, looking to the sky. "I had that bitch going down, she was going to get the death penalty! But no, Hugh, you had to go and fucking cheat on me with that bitch! You fucking ruined everything!" Angela peered down at Hugh, then began pacing in front of him, the clicking of her high heel pumps echoing through the warehouse. "I have to admit, Hugh," said Angela, strutting in front of the war hero. "You're pretty damn good in bed. Really good. We could've been something together. Oh look, your cock is getting hard." Angela leaned over and began stroking Hugh's big cock, her other hand massaging his large, full balls. Her breasts were right in his face, tantalizingly close but untouchable. She continued to massage his cock and play with him as she tormented him with her words. "Yeah, this cock liked my tight little pussy, didn't it? And all you had to do is be faithful to it, Hugh, and you'd be getting this all the time. All you wanted. But now..." Angela straddled Hugh, then grabbed his throbbing hard eight inch cock. As she lowered herself onto it, she said "Let's have one more time, for old times sake, huh? One final time, eh?" With that, Angela began riding Hugh's cock, impaling her sopping wet cunt onto his weapon of lust, taking him balls-deep, clutching at his cock as she slowly eased up, then slamming her cunt back down onto him again. The warehouse filled with the staccato slaps of flesh on flesh as Angela's asscheeks pounded into Hugh's thighs each time she dropped her full weight onto him. The other men began to become aroused as the watched Angela fuck the muscular young man. They both wanted her, but at the same time knew the fatal consequences of mating with this woman. Skinny Beard headed towards the door to be on the lookout while the other man, bigger and stronger, wielded a solid aluminum baseball bat. He would soon be swinging it with all of his power at the softball that was the back of Hugh Hewitt's head. The pleasure of the sex rocketed through Hugh's loins Angela rode him hard. He could feel that she was about to come. He worked hard to deaden his own sensations, trying desperately not to climax, trying to work his bonds but to no avail. "Oh God, oh God, oh UNNH!!!!" Angela moaned loudly as she climaxed. A puddle of wetness smeared Hugh's groin as her cunt clutched hard at his cock. Her whole body shook with pleasure as her climax raced up her spine. "Oh baby, that was good." Angela said, gasping. "That was a damn good cum. So... where should I paint the hourglass on you, baby? How about a really big one, all over your chest and abdomen, so that they'll admire your entire body while looking at it... oh yeah, it's so unfortunate that this magnificent body is going to go to waste, but that's what happens when you cheat on me with that whore Selena Steele!" Angela began bouncing up and down on Hugh's cock again. If she came again, great, but she was now trying to bring Hugh off and so complete her deadly mission... ---------------------- "Harlan is not at her apartment, repeat, not at her apartment." said Martin Nash into my cellphone. I was driving towards there with my partner, Detective Cindy Ross, in the passenger seat. Other police cars were headed to Brian Harlan's home to see if she'd gone there. "Have you contacted Hewitt yet?" I asked. Nash replied that he'd been unable to get in touch with Hugh. "Damn." I said. "I've got a bad feeling that she's got him somewhere." "This is just a hunch, but let's try the same warehouse where Pete was killed." Cindy said. "Angela uses convoluted logic sometimes: she'll think that will be the last place we'd look for." "I'm willing to try it." I said, turning down a street to head south to the Warehouse District. "And let me try this." I said. I activated a program on the dashboard computer in my Police SUV and punched in several numbers. "What's that?" Cindy asked. "Tracking device. There's one in all of our police issue gun holsters. That's a secret you should keep and guard with your life, by the way." I said, noticing the shocked look on Cindy's face. "I'm punching in Hugh's code now." Soon I had a faint beep on the computer GPS map. "Yep, Warehouse District. You may have hit the jackpot, Cindy." I got on the police radio and called for all units to head straight to the warehouse where Pete had been killed. As we neared the location, I called for all cars to cut their sirens, so that it was only blue lights flashing as we entered the grounds of the warehouse. ------------------- Skinny Beard heard the sirens in the distance, then suddenly a silence. He realized what was happening: the police were onto them! He knew that he had little time to act, and he did. No one else saw him slip into the darkness of the warehouse to a back door. He made no attempt to inform his cohorts of the impending danger to them; instead he brutally betrayed them by sneaking out and leaving them behind. Truly there was no honor among thieves... Soon he was on the street, hurrying away from the crime scene. Only two patrol cars whizzed by him, and he was not noticed. ------------------ Pulling right up to the door next to Angela Harlan's car, I quickly jumped out and went to the door, gun drawn, Cindy right with me. The next car that pulled up was Patrolman Rudistan with Tanya Perlman in the car, followed by three more vehicles. We crept inside, walking rapidly but carefully towards the circle of light. I could hear voices, moans in the distance. Rounding a stacked pallet of bags, I saw in the distance Angela Harlan, naked, riding Hugh Hewitt's cock. He was bound to the chair he was sitting on. Behind him and to his left, a large man swung a baseball bat back, ready to strike Hewitt on the head. "He's close... come on Hugh, come inside me!" Angela yelled. "Work that nut out, boy, get that nut!" Hugh desperately tried to keep from coming but it was too late, he felt the spurts of hot semen fire from his cock and deep into Angela's cunt. "Yeah, there it is!" Angela yelled. She nodded at the big man, who readied. He knew that as soon as she disengaged and stood up, he would swing. "POLICE! FREEZE!" I yelled as I rushed them, the others coming with me. The man looked at us, then began to swing his bat, trying to kill Hugh before we could get to him. But our bullets traveled faster as we opened fire. Angela had stood up, Hugh's semen dripping out of her freshly fucked cunt. Though she made no moves, several of the the fusillade of bullets struck her. Forensics later would tell us the man was struck 23 times by police gunfire, and Angela seven. Of those seven, one was from Cindy's gun... the other six from Tanya Perlman's. "CEASE FIRE, CEASE FIRE!" I ordered. There was moment of silence, no movement, then everything burst into a chaos of movement and sound. Rudistan unhandcuffed Hugh as Dr. Heinz and Dr. Laura Fredricson reached him with an EMT team. Dr. Heinz injected a syringe full of a clear liquid into Hugh's neck. "This is the antidote to the poison, but vee must hurry him to da hospital, ja?" Dr. Heinz said. "Yes we must." Laura replied, then gave orders to the EMTs: "Get him to University Hospital, stat. I'll ride with him. Call on the radio that we'll need whole blood and plasma for blood transfusions." I watched as Hugh was put on the gurney and whisked out of the warehouse. Looking over, I saw Cindy holding Tanya Perlman back, off to one side. A circle of police officers surrounded Angela Harlan. She was lying on her back, still alive, though barely. I went through the cordon and knelt beside her. She looked up at me and tried to grasp at my shirt. "Under... under my desk drawer." she gasped, then added with her final, supreme effort, "Tell Brian... I love him..." I nodded as I saw the light going out of Angela's eyes. Then they opaqued, staring sightlessly up at the ceiling. The Black Widow was dead. Part 33 - Solution Most desks have drawers with open holes to the next drawer down, but Angela had put some stiff cardboard under the top left drawer and concealed a manila envelope there. Inside was a jump drive and some papers. Some were notes detailing her stalking of Selena Steele, but not her reasons for doing so. There were also several lists of names of people we found to be bank officers, possible targets for the Black Widow. The only reference to Tom Burleson was one sheet of paper with his name on it and a scribbled, cryptic message: "found out about the four." "Well, Jack," I said to Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone, "I don't know what this 'Four' is about, but I suspect Ward and Angela Harlan were a part of it. Maybe Karen Warner, also?" "Why don't we question them about it?" Jack asked, not really meaning it. "Nooooo," I said, "let's just keep this little secret under our hats for a while, and observe them..." ------------------- One letter was addressed to 'Brian Harlan's attorney'. In it, Angela Harlan wrote a full confession to the murder of Tim Dawdle, stating that her cousin had no knowledge of her actions and lied about her being with him because she told him she was meeting a married man for sex. "So, do we charge Brian Harlan?" asked Paulina. "He lied to police, and he might have known about it, no matter what she writes from the grave." "I don't know." I said. "His lawyer will have a field day with all of this. He'll never be convicted of accessory. What's he going to get for lying to police, a fine? Probation?" "He has no priors, so likely that's all he'll get... if that." Paulina said. "I'll talk to the Powers-That-Be at the University, and see if they want to retain this scumbag as their head coach. If they do, we might as well drop it, it'll be fruitless to pursue... ------------------------ "Hugh is making a full recovery." Laura informed the group of us in the back room of the Irish Pub as she walked in to join us. "Last night we had to give him a pint of whole blood and several plasmas, but we got him stabilized. He's improved all through the day, and he's doing much better now." A cheer and applause filled the room. The antidote Dr. Heinz gave Hugh stopped the poison from killing him, but had the side effect of thickening Hugh's blood. To say the stuff was experimental was an understatement, but I was glad Heinz disregarded the FDA regulations and saved my officer's life. The blood and plasma transfusions thinned Hugh's blood as it was filtered. "Great work, Doctor. Thank you." I said, kissing my wife on the cheek. "Have a seat with us." "Okay, Don, tell us how you figured it out." Cindy said as we settled into our chairs. "I almost didn't." I said. "I was culpably slow. I simply forgot objectivity and refused to consider that a police officer might be the criminal." "I think we're all guilty of that." said Martin Nash. "Yeah, but the clues were staring me in the face." I said. "For starters, I should've seen it when Angela first said she'd investigated the Texas cases. Curious that she was in the area for those, then she's moved up to this County and the Black Widow appears here at the same time." "Easy to see with perfect 20/20 hindsight, and as you said, suspecting a fellow police officer is not the first thought any of us would've had. So when did you start catching on." Detective Ross asked. A persistent one, is my friend Cindy. "I'm getting there. Another clue I should've seen was what the FBI guys were calling the 'Dawdle deviation'." I said. "My contract killer idea was wrong, and shows the failure of theorizing before having adequate facts. But the Dawdle case was such a deviation from all of the other Black Widow killings that I should've seen the deviation itself as the clue. The murder scene had the same motifs, so it was obvious it was the same person... but the killing was done for totally different reasons than any of the other murders. The reason? Dawdle was going after Coach Harlan. Now who was in Texas at the time of those killings, then up here -AND- with a motive to kill her cousin's persecutor? In a case that otherwise did not fit the pattern?" "Again, perfect 20/20 hindsight." said Laura, taking up Cindy's cause. "Yes, but it was slapping me in the face and I just didn't catch on." I said. "I will say this, though: I think Selena Steele won the lottery the night she picked up Hugh at that bar and took him home on New Year's Eve. If she hadn't, she might have been facing a death penalty trial, which is what Angela had been working for, and for several years. And we never would've solved this case." Case of the Black Widow Ch. 05 I paused, then said "And that is where Angela made her first huge mistake: her intended patsy had an actual alibi that Angela wasn't counting on... and even worse, the alibi for Selena was Angela's own boyfriend, Hugh. I think that riled Angela up really, really bad, and that is why she tried to kill Hugh. But that was Angela's fatal mistake... fatal for her." After a moment, seeing the impatient look on my partner's face, I said "But as to latching onto Angela as the culprit, Cindy... I think it started when we were in the conference room after Feeley's death. I remember Angela saying something about 'maybe Feeley drove by'. Well, how would she know that or even think that? I think that was when Angela Harlan first really entered my mind as a suspect. "As I thought about it, going further back, it was Angela that came out with the idea that the Black Widow was so repulsed by Dawdle that she had several men rape Dawdle and work him over instead of the woman fucking him. And I realized later that she was telling the truth about how she felt. She really hated Dawdle from the first day she saw him on TV, and she really wanted to make him suffer for putting her cousin through the public ordeal of the investigation into the football program." "So the night after Feeley's funeral, I started thinking about it from the angle of Angela's involvement. I knew that Angela and Selena knew each other, they were both from Texas, they didn't like each other much. But enough to commit serial murders and frame Selena for murder?" "Channeling backwards, if Selena had an alibi, then the hairs with her DNA were planted. And it would've had to be someone who had access to her hair. Now that gets a lot tougher to figure out. And then my own mother reminded me that she saw Angela helping Selena get ready to host the silent auction by helping her with her hair. Turns out, Angela had brought a new comb in hopes she might get a chance to brush Selena's hair, which is why she offered to help Selena get ready." "Of course, I should've realized the connection the moment the hairs were found on the body and we found out that a fake girlfriend had made the call. The killer needed for the body to be found so that the hairs could be found and analyzed for DNA immediately. If I'd seen that like I should've... maybe Pete would be alive today." Tanya Perlman had heard enough of my self-recriminations. She came over to me and got in my face. "Don, if I ever, ever hear you blame yourself again, I am going to take that crowbar away from you and beat the living hell out of you with it! You're not perfect, and you did what you could. You avenged Pete! He loved you and I love you, and it's not your fault!" With that, Tanya hugged me fiercely for a moment, to a chorus of "That's right." As Tanya released me, I just raised my eyebrows in a gesture of resignation and said "Yes ma'am." Laura helped Tanya to sit down next to her and hugged her. "She's right, stop beating yourself up." said Chief Griswold in his most fatherly growl from the far end of the table. "So you were saying?" "On top of all that, Angela was the detective that responded to Hazelton's death that night, and she made damn sure the hairs were found. Anyway, once I realized that Angela had indeed had access to Selena's hair, thanks to my mom, the rest started falling into place. "I asked Lindy Linares to check if Angela was a possibility for all of the Black Widow killings, and of course Angela was. The St. Louis Police finally told the FBI that they had some DNA evidence, so I was hoping that would connect Angela to the crime there, and it looks like it will beyond a shadow of a doubt. "Last, I probably should've noted Angela's enthusiasm at the Burleson case when she brought up the Black Widow as the killer in the first place." I said. "But we had no prior knowledge of the Black Widow then, and there were other possible reasons for his killing." "Why was Burleson killed?" asked Martin Nash. I replied "First let me say that the Dawdle murder was obvious; she was trying to protect her cousin, the football coach, though killing Dawdle was not really going to help him vis-a-vis the investigation. Trying to kill Hugh is obvious, too, and ties into the murders of the bankers: that was all about Selena Steele." "But Feeley and Burleson... not so much. The papers Angela left behind mentioned something about Burleson finding out something he wasn't supposed to, and either Angela might have been involved in whatever he found out -OR- she was hired to kill Burleson. I suspect the former, and I'm working with the FBI on that angle, so I can't and won't say more for now." "And Pete?" Tanya asked. "I really have no idea; she left no note about Pete." I said. "If I had to guess, she was trying to get our undivided attention by killing a police officer. Maybe she was mad at me for not arresting Selena Steele. Well... she got our undivided attention, all right." "Bonnie Karpathian and I have a theory of why she killed Pete," said Laura, "and it's ugly: I think she saw Pete having a bad time after not being selected for Detective, and she preyed upon him. Just pure evil, kicking a man while he was down, and enjoying bringing pain to the rest of us in the process. She was truly a hate-filled bitch." My wife's words caused several moments of contemplation in the group. Tanya somehow held herself together. "Where did Angela get the drugs she used on her victims?" Martin Nash asked, breaking the silence. "Your bad nephew?" "She used different drugs at different times." I said. "Her Texas victims had something more like Viagra dissolved into a solution mixed with the poisons. But the crimes up here had research-level drugs, and various agencies of the Federal Government are following up on that. And of course Ned might be the source, but it's very possible he's not involved at all; in fact, some evidence suggests that Ned wanted the University PED scandal to come out, so it wasn't in his interests to kill Dawdle at that particular time." I glanced at Cindy out of the corner of my eye and was pleased to see that her face did not give away that she and I had surmised that Mr. Ward or one of the other 'industrial secrets' players might have been involved with Angela and provided her those drugs. We weren't ready to tell anyone else about any of that just yet. "Why did she try to frame Selena Steele?" Britt Maxwell asked. Laura answered "I talked to Selena this morning. She's pretty shaken up that someone would kill several people just to try to frame her for murder. She said that she and Angela knew each other in college and that they didn't like each other then. There was apparently a pretty strong rivalry between them, perhaps competitions over men, though Selena doesn't remember anything in particular that might've gotten Angela riled up. I think Bonnie Karpathian and Lindy Linares are going to follow up and try to research it, so we'll have to wait for what they find." The Chief broke in to stop the Q&A: "Folks, any more questions can wait for the coffee klatch tomorrow morning. I'm calling it a night, and I'd like for you guys to go home and get some sleep, too. Lieutenant, no matter how you feel now, you did one hell of a job figuring it out, and you saved one officer's life and who knows how many more people in the future." There was a general acclaim of agreement, which I did not share. I had been culpably slow... "And folks," added the Chief, getting somber and serious, "when a police officer goes bad like this, it rips the fabric of trust in all of us. We're a family here, and we're going to have to pull together as a family. We lost one of our own, and by the hand of one of our own. It's going to take time for these wounds to heal, but we will heal as a family. Keep your faith in each other, people, it's what keeps us going out there." I can't speak for anyone else, but I felt tremendous comfort in the Chief's badly needed words. Part 34 - Epilogue "Don, I cannot say how much I appreciate you coming to us before taking action." Dr. Wellman said. Cpt. Britt Maxwell and I were in his office on the University campus. Henry R. Wargrave and Tom Riordan, big University boosters, were sitting unobtrusively to one side, but I was very aware of their presence. "Certainly, Mr. President." I said. "May I ask what you've decided?" "Our problem is the PED investigation that is still ongoing." said President Wellman. "We could fire Coach Harlan if you bring charges against him... but if we fire him now, it'll look like we're acknowledging the cover-up of the PEDs. It opens up cans of worms. We're going to give him one more season, but I think everyone knows that unless he wins the national championship, it'll be his last with us." I understood the logic, even if I didn't really agree with it. But in a way, it made my job easier, I thought. Bringing Brian Harlan to trial and getting a conviction would've been an extraordinarily difficult task. "That is," continued Dr. Wellman, "if he doesn't fuck up and do something stupid before the end of next season. Furthermore, Don... if he's fired there's no telling how he'll react. He might cut a deal with the NCAA or the Conference to get back at us. And you've already seen what he tried to do to you after his cousin died." I certainly did see it. I had told Brian Harlan that his cousin was dead, and I kept my promise to her and told him her last words. Even as I did so, I saw the burning hatred building in his eyes... for me. A full Board of Inquiry into the shooting death of his cousin by police officers had been convened at the request (more like demand) of Coach Brian Harlan, who was joined and supported in his statements by State Senator Nathan Allen, T&C Councilman Pastor Raymond Westboro and T&C Councilwoman Malinda Adams. Someone had revealed to them that I had taken Tanya Perlman on the raid to take down the Black Widow, and while the Board had exonerated every police officer, calling it a good shoot, they had put me through some very serious questions as to why I'd allowed Perlman to go. Of course I stated that Perlman was an exceptional Detective and that she had shown no signs of anything that would cause me to not take her along, but the Board was questioning my judgement. And to be honest, I hadn't put up a stronger defense before the Board, though I could have. Brian Harlan was hammering me personally in the Media and before the Board, accusing me of being responsible for his cousin's death. He said that he believed my decision to include Perlman on that raid led directly to his cousin's death. Pastor Westboro added that my arrival in the County had led to more murders and more violence... sort of the equivalent of blaming The Batman's existence for The Joker's murderous sprees. I took umbrage with that and let Pastor Westboro know it, but it was my bringing up that I could always resign from the Police Force if the Council was unhappy with my work and decisions that suddenly got the Board to back off. Despite the loud objections of Westboro and Adams on the Council, and Harlan with the media, I was simply lightly reprimanded with no further punishment. I remember locking eyes with Brian Harlan as I left the Council chambers after their meeting to discuss the Board's findings. If he thought I was a 'Bad Buddha' to him before, the ungrateful bastard was about to find out the true meaning of having the Iron Crowbar as a mortal enemy... I put Brian Harlan out of my mind for the time being. His time would come... "Okay, Mr. President," I told Dr. Wellman, "I'll let you and the Regents handle it. I have three years before the Statute of Limitations runs out on the crimes I can charge Harlan with. I do respectfully suggest you upgrade your coaching staff before that time." Wellman nodded, and it was left at that. --------------------- Back at Headquarters, Tanya Perlman came up to me. "How did it go?" "Okay." I said. "I did have to pull the trump card and suggest I might resign, which I didn't think the majority of the Council wanted at this moment in time. But the bright side is that I now know who some of the vultures who are after me are." "I'm sorry you had to go through it on my account." Tanya said. "But I appreciate you taking me that night." "Believe me, my friend," I said, peering at her, "it was my pleasure to do so, and I have absolutely no regrets about it." I began feeling happier as I considered the ramifications of my observations of Tanya Perlman's too-rosy cheeks... "By the way," Tanya said, "I want you to have this." She handed me a gold Police badge, 'the Shield' as we called them. On top it said 'Corporal' and the number on the badge was now-eternally Pete Feeley's. "Tanya, I can't take this--" I began, but she cut me off. "I have his 'Patrolman' badge." she said. "That's how I knew him... how I loved him. I know he'd want you to have this badge, though. He worshipped you and he wanted to be like you. If for no other reason, take it to remind yourself that all of us look up to you." I allowed myself to be persuaded even as tremendous emotions coursed through my soul. I had Pete's badge framed and put it on the wall near my desk... to remind me of the consequences of failure, and of my obligations to those who serve for and with me... --------------------- "Damn sad, losing Angela." said Thaddeus Ward from behind his desk in his office at Ward Harvester. It was 3:00am, and the night shift had been released early with full pay and told to vacate the premises. "Yes, it was." said Karen "Wild Child" Warner, her tight blue jeans rubbing her pussy lips as she shifted on the sofa and crossed her legs, making her very horny. "She was tremendously valuable to us." "No doubt." said Ward. "She handled Burleson quite efficiently when he found out about us. I was afraid that it would lead to problems for her... and it did, unfortunately. What about her cousin, Brian?" asked Ward. "Is he an asset or a liability?" "He's brought us a lot of contacts, through meeting football boosters throughout the State and this region of the country." said Karen, not mentioning her intense sexual liaisons with the coach. "And he is really bitter at the Iron Crowbar over the death of his cousin." "I can understand anyone who has a hatred of that son of a bitch, the Iron Crowbar." said Ward, his voice full of bitterness and hatred. "I wish to God he'd died in that warehouse explosion." "It wasn't his day to die-- ah, hello Coach!" said Karen Warner as Brian Harlan entered the office, looking miserable and exhausted. "Jesus, Coach, you need some rest!" said Ward. "Yes sir, I do." said Harlan. "But I'll sleep when that god-damned police lieutenant is dead. That look he gave me when the Council cleared him... God, the arrogance! Speaking of which, what are we going to do about him? Wellman and Wargrave are almost fighting over who gets to suck that bastard's dick first." "Well, since we're a group of Four," said Karen Warner, "we have the sad duty of replacing your cousin, Brian. We need someone who is at the Iron Crowbar's intellectual level, someone who can compete with him and defeat him in mental combat." "And who do you have in mind for that, young lady?" said Thad Ward, admiring Karen's beauty and her gleaming eyes, always appreciative of her mental abilities at such a young age. It was admiration more as a father than in a sexual way. Karen went to the side door of the office and opened it. The men gasped as they recognized the woman who stepped into the room. "Gentlemen," said Karen, "allow me to introduce you to the woman who is going to take down and destroy the Iron Crowbar. His own sister!" "Yes, I have to be back in my cell by first call at dawn." said Elizabeth. "So we don't have much time. Let me offer you a plan to destroy my little brother, in exchange for membership in this wonderful group, of course." The others smiled. --------------------- Two weeks later I entered the main conference room. Hugh Hewitt was already inside, sitting in a chair, his head bowed. "I fucked up." Hugh said, not raising his head, knowing this meeting was to determine his fate and future. "Yes... you fucked up." I said, sitting down. After a pause, in which Hugh finally looked up at me, I said "There's no way out of it: you're going to be demoted, and no longer part of the Detective units." Hugh nodded, misery in his eyes as I continued: "The Chief is going to unilaterally demote you to Senior Sergeant, as demoted Detectives can't be demoted further in one move." Senior Sergeant was like an Army Staff Sergeant, with an insignia of three chevron stripes and one rocker underneath. It was about as high a uniform rank as was realistically possible in the Police Force of this day. "Of course," I said, "you have the right to request of Board of Inquiry and a full hearing, but I suspect you'd much prefer the Chief's unilateral action." A Board of Inquiry hearing was like a military court-martial, whereas the Chief's action would be non-judicial punishment, like an Army 'Article 15' or Navy 'Captain's Mast'. I said "Fortunately, the Chief has a strong belief in not wasting talent and resources, a belief I fully share. So he was amenable to my solution for you, which I actually think is a silver lining to this cloud: You'll be demoted to Senior Sergeant. There are going to be two SWAT teams, you will be in charge of one of them. Eventually, you may likely be in charge of the whole SWAT Squad." Hugh's eyes brightened as he realized that this was indeed a silver lining to the cloud hanging over him. It worked out for everyone: I thought that he was a reliable man but not the most imaginative Detective; and his past experience, training and associations with the men we'd hired for SWAT would serve him and the Force very well in his leadership capacity there. "Thank you, sir." he said. No more needed to be said. I dismissed him, happy to have the SWAT team well underway; the Chief and I would be going to the full Town & County Council for formal approval of it next week. I also had a sixth sense that the Game was about to turn... and get much, much bigger. Everything that I was here for, that I was brought in to do, was about to happen. It was time... Finis... for now.