8 comments/ 10767 views/ 6 favorites The Porno Set Mystery Ch. 01 By: WifeWatchman The chronological order of my stories is at the end of the story. Let me know if you'd prefer I put it back here at the beginning. Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas. This story contains graphic scenes, extreme 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 or racist 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 - Prologue - Christmas Conversations (Author's note: little bit of groundwork, folks. Thanks in advance for bearing with it.) "How is she doing?" I asked in my office on December 23d. "Not too bad." Lieutenant Cindy Ross replied. "I've taken her out shopping, my sister Molly has taken her out shopping, and you've restricted her to desk duty for two weeks now and she's catching up on paperwork. She's trying. She may never quite get over it, but she's trying this year." We were talking about Lt. Teresa Croyle, whose sister had been wiped out by a drunk driver on a Christmas Eve years before, the same Teresa that beat the shit out of a State's Senator's son last Christmas Eve, after he'd killed a mother and two children while driving drunk. The incident caused severe problems for Teresa, which took some effort on my part to overcome, but overcome we did. Still, the Christmas season had different meaning for Teresa than it did for most others. "Hard to believe it's been just one year since that incident." I said. "Amazing what has gone on in that time." "You're not kidding." said Cindy. "Captain Malone was here, Angela Harlan was here, Pete Feeley was here, Coach Harlan was here, Senator Allen was here, your nephew Ned was out there somewhere, you had a blue crowbar, and you had no sons born..." "Too bad your year was totally uneventful." I said, needling my friend and partner, knowing how close this past year had been to being her last on this earth. "Harrumph. Yeah. I'm just glad to be alive and talking about it." Cindy replied. "But at least I have a girlfriend and a nephew to buy gifts for." "Yes." I said. "And a sister and race partner, too. The good news is that Teresa agreed to come to the family party at our house tomorrow night, and to stay the night and help be 'Santa Claus' for Carole and Jim and Ross. Hopefully, we'll be able to keep her out of trouble, and make her feel like family." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The party on Christmas Eve was not as large as the year before, when we finally got Teresa's story out of her and gave her the pictures of her and her sister. Tonight it was me, Laura, Todd, Jeanine, my mother Phyllis, Molly, and our various children. I had also invited Cindy, Jenna, Teresa and Tanya, and of course Baby Pete. Jenna did not come; Cindy said she was feeling under the weather. I hoped that was true, as opposed to Jenna still being mad at me over the treatment of her punk assistant Gor-don, or perhaps problems with Cindy's sister Molly. Daniel and Melina Allgood had also declined their invitations; they were spending Christmas Eve with Daniel's family, which I could understand... except that I thought Daniel's parents had died and he had no siblings. Maybe he had cousins... We were doing a 'Secret Santa' this year, and I had contrived it so that I would be giving Teresa her present. I gave her a large 36"x24" frame full of pictures I'd taken of her over the course of the year, many with Cindy, some from their race over the summer, others from inside Police Headquarters and with her Vice Squad. She seemed to like it, and was making an effort to be part of the party. Still, my wife Laura had a good chat with her, to let her vent about her sister, whom she was still remembering... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "We're so glad you came." said Joanne Cummings as she admitted Daniel and Melina Allgood into the home of her cousin, John Cummings. "You remember my friend Seth Warner, I'm sure?" "Oh yes." said Daniel, shaking Seth's hand. Seth and then John Cummings and his wife greeted the Sheriff-elect and his wife. John Cummings had become friends with Daniel while they were on the campaign trail, often appearing together at rallies around the County. And it was neither secret nor surprise that Seth and Joanne had begun dating since being introduced at the Policeman's Ball by Mrs. Phyllis Troy. The surprise was that Melina and Joanne had become fast friends when they had met at the Policeman's Ball. They found that they had in common a love of hunting, as in deer hunting, as well as the shooting sports. They'd even gotten together for lunch twice, and also had used the range at Cummings Outdoors General Store after normal business hours. While Joanne did not out-shoot Melina (hardly anyone in the world could do that, but Joanne didn't know it), she certainly was no slouch with rifle, pistol, or bow-and-arrow. After an excellent dinner and conversation, John Cummings announced his bombshell. "I am going to be closing Cummings Outdoors General Store." he told his guests. "I'm not sure I can sell it very quickly, so I'm going to have a 'Going Out of Business' sale." "Why are you closing the store?" Joanne almost wailed. "You love that store; we all do!" There was a murmur of agreement." "Well, I have another store near Lake Amengi-Nunagen." said Cummings. "Well out of this State, and with the retirement community up there growing and some farming communities springing up, that store is doing well and poised to do better. It will keep me busy." Cummings continued: "But the main reason I'm leaving this Town is because of the Election and Katherine Woodburn. You all know about the corrupted processes in both the election and the court cases, so I won't re-hash that." Cummings went on: "But the real issue is that I've been audited twice by the Federal BAFTE and once by the State Firearms Bureau. The IRS has also sent a letter that they're going to audit me. I'm squeaky clean and my lawyer is already on it, but it's clear I'm going to be harassed until I close down and leave. Woodburn has actually said that out loud to other people." "Is there anything you can do, Sheriff?" asked Seth, looking concerned. Seth had been on the receiving end of corrupt Court practices, as well. "No." said Daniel. "I can push back against Woodburn, and Commander Troy is aware of this situation and could push back a lot harder, but it's not going to make a difference to John. I'm not sure why, but someone really wants him out of the County. And not just Katherine Woodburn, even though John here was our State House Representative for six years. There's something else going on, and we're just not sure what's going on." "I hate Katherine Woodburn." Joanne pouted. "Not as much as I do." said Seth. "She tried to interfere with my legal case, tried to help my sister out against me. Commander Troy did have a word with the State Ethics Board about that, and my partner Todd's wife helped with that, too. Woodburn had to back down, but if this is what she's doing before being sworn in, God only knows what she has planned once she reaches the State Senate." Daniel said "John, I'm not sure you can't find a buyer. The Cosby Brothers opened their Gun and Safe Store a few months ago. I know Bobby Cosby, he was on the Police Force before opening his store. I don't think they were prepared to expand on their own for some time, but if you check with them they might be willing to buy you out." "And if financing is an issue, call me." said Melina. "I think I can help make some arrangements." Even Daniel looked at his wife in surprise, wondering what secret Melina possessed that would allow her to facilitate a financial transaction of that magnitude, no matter how well her gym was doing. "Thanks, guys. I'll call up the Cosby Brothers the day after tomorrow." said the very religious John Cummings. "Okay, not another word about any of that. It's Christmas Eve, let's celebrate our Lord's birth..." "Amen." said Joanne. Even the not-at-all-religious Melina felt the love as she observed Seth taking Joanne's hand in his... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * It was midnight and Cindy was looking for Teresa, who was nowhere to be found. "We'd better go look for her." Cindy said, clearly worried. "I'll call the Duty Desk and have them tell all patrols to be on the lookout for her, discreetly of course." "No, wait." I said. "Let's think about where she would likely go. She's not permitted to be on duty, so any police seeing her at a DUI checkpoint will call me immediately... it is possible that I left instructions for them to do so. That leaves the hospital, or.... oh... yes, of course." "Yes, son," my mother said, steps ahead of me and seeing me figure it out, "I believe you are right." "I'm not a Troy." Cindy said. "How about cluing me in." "So you say, my dear." said Phyllis, a twinkle in her eyes. "But observe and deduce as if you were a Troy. Use your mind, child." Cindy thought about it as I went and got my coat and hers. She still had not figured it out as we got into my new silver Police SUV and headed out. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Teresa was sitting on the deck of what was left of The Cabin, looking over the Town as its lights twinkled peacefully on this Christmas Eve. She saw the light of a train just coming out of the western horizon; it was the nearest thing to the Star of the Nativity in sight. Most of the remains of The Cabin had been cleared in preparation for rebuilding, but there were still a few charred timbers and some ashes and soot around. To her surprise, Teresa heard what sounded like a step behind her. She looked back, totally stunned to see who it was. She mostly could only see the shock of bright white hair. "Ah, my dear Ms. Croyle." said the slender, older man as he came up to her. "My name is Harvey Eckhart, and I'm pleased to make your acquaintance again." "You remember me?" Teresa asked. "My husband, now ex-husband, and I attended one of your seminars... but that was years ago, and we were among 1500 people there." "Oh, you would be surprised how many people I've met that I do remember." said Eckhart. "But I also know you through your excellent police career, and of course your fine race win with Ms. Ross last summer. A really splendid performance, both of you." "Thank you." said Teresa. "So what brings you here?" "The same thing that has brought you here." said Eckhart. "The memory of your sister." "You knew her?" Teresa asked, totally stunned. "Oh, no, my dear, I never had the fortune to meet her." Eckhart said. "But you are here remembering your sister on the anniversary of her passing. I am here to perhaps be a bit tough on you, however improper it is, and to let you know that while I believe your sister appreciates your thinking of her, she also would very much like for you to be happy, and to move on with your new family." "Oh?" Teresa said, becoming skeptical, but not feeling insulted, somehow knowing that Eckhart was here and doing this in order to help her. "What would you know about any of that?" Eckhart laughed, which sounded a bit more sinister than he intended. "My dear, you are a very important person in the lives of certain people who are very important in my life. And you should allow yourself to be part of their lives. You deserve to be much, much happier than you are, my young friend." Teresa stared at Eckhart, unable to believe he was stating her deepest thoughts, some of which she did not realize she had until he'd expressed them for her. Eckhart understood. "And to show you what I mean, my dear Ms. Croyle," said Eckhart. "I know you are perched here upon this very dangerous ledge because you are remembering the fire that your insane father set, which burned your home to the ashes. Is that not so, my friend?" "Yesss..." Teresa hissed. Eckhart suddenly turned his head, then said "Ah, I believe your new sister and her friend the Iron Crowbar are just arriving..." Indeed, Cindy and I had just arrived and had heard the last part of the conversation. "Go be with Teresa." I whispered to her. "I'll talk to Harvey." Eckhart made his way back to me as Cindy moved towards the deck. "Ah, Miss Ross, how wonderful to see you again. I hope your Holiday will be filled with great joy." he said as they passed each other. "Likewise, Dr. Eckhart." Cindy replied. "Don wants to talk to you." Eckhart approached me. "Ah, my young friend Donald. How are you this Christmas Eve?" "Feeling very blessed, Dr. Eckhart, feeling very blessed." I said. "And you?" "Likewise, certainly." Eckhart said, beaming. "Now that your young friend's soul sister has arrived, I'll take my leave of you. I hope you'll have a wonderful Christmas, and New Year as well." "Harvey..." I said, getting his attention. "I do appreciate that loan you arranged so that I can rebuild--" I pointed at the ruins of The Cabin, "-- all this." "Ah, I will not pretend ignorance on that." Eckhart said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I have more money than I could hope to spend. What better way to use some of that than to help you restore the home you love... and to be honest, the view I've come to love as well?" "But I will ask you to do this." Dr. Eckhart said, his voice rising slightly in the passion of his words.. "Design the new home yourself, and really let your mind flow as you do. I believe that if you do that, what will be produced will be a truly wonderful thing!" "I will do that." I said. "And thank you for helping my friend here, and helping Luisa Gomez in the hospital... and I have not forgotten that night in Cindy's hospital room..." I extended my hand. Harvey grasped my hand in a thumb-to-thumb handshake, and both our other hands came up to cover our joined hands. "I'm here to help you any time you need it, my young friend Donald. Any time." I knew that he meant it. And that I would need that help, and that price would not be an object... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * They sat there for a very long time, side by side, on the dangerously unstable deck of The Cabin, not saying anything. Finally, Teresa said to Cindy "Thank you." "For what?" Cindy asked. "For letting me sit here and remember my sister." Teresa said. "Why here?" Cindy asked, idly curious. "The smell." Teresa said. She took a breath and exhaled, then said "It smells like the fire that my father set, that burned our house down the night Alexis died. It reminds me of that night. I've always felt that if... if I don't remember Alexis, especially on this night, she'll be.... she'll be forgotten." Tears began streaming down Teresa's face. "I see." Cindy said. "But she's not forgotten, and won't be. But you don't have to do this to remember her." Cindy's own thoughts wondering how Don and his mother had known that... and that Teresa would be up here at The Cabin. Geez, no criminal has a chance in hell in this County with those two at work... "It..." Teresa said, faltering, then gathering her strength and continuing, feeling that she needed to, "it's what makes me what I am. It's what drives me." "I can understand that." Cindy said, "But at the same time, you've got a new family to take care of, not the least of which is your current race partner whose girlfriend wouldn't come to the party and whose other sister is making me change diapers." "Other sister?" Teresa asked. "Yes." Cindy said firmly. "You're my sister and I am your sister, and we'll remember Alexis together... but I think she'd want us to move on, and remember her without trying to cause ourselves pain, especially by sitting on an unstable deck in the cold in the middle of the night." "Okay, okay," Teresa said. "That's what Harvey Eckhart said, too. Is he really psychic?" "Probably." said Cindy. "And Don and his mother are, too. If they were all related, I'd say it runs in the family." Teresa couldn't help but laugh at that one. Part 2 - Friday Night Action "So," said Teresa Croyle, "when are you going to come up here and join our Police Force?" It was Friday night, the day after Christmas. Molly Evans sighed, then replied "Probably never. As much as I'd love to come up here, and Don could see Ross so much more often, it wouldn't be very good. I can't work with the Detectives because of the nepotism laws in this State and Cindy being my sister, and I'm sure as hell not working in Records, no disrespect to them intended. I guess I could be in I.A. But I also like it where I am, down in Midtown. My people are good people, too. And we still consider you one of our good people, even if you did come back up here." "That's true about Cindy being your sister; and yes, your people are good people too." Teresa said. "And I don't need to be Don or his mother to observe that there's still tension between you and Cindy over Jenna... or more specifically, Cindy's orientation in general." "Well," Molly said, "I've come to grips with that, though my-- our parents have not." Teresa peered at Molly as the ruggedly lovely blonde continued: "I'm not avoiding Cindy, and I'm happy to bring Ross up so she can see him or have her down to see him." "Speaking of Ross, where is he now?" Teresa asked. "His grandmother has him." Molly said. "Phyllis just loves him." Molly, Teresa, Cindy and Jenna had gone out to dinner earlier in the evening, and Phyllis had done babysitting duty, also caring for Carole and Jim while their parents Don and Laura were at yet another reception given by Dr. Wellman, President of the University. Molly was staying with Teresa while up in Town for Christmas. "So how are thing down in Midtown?" Teresa asked. "Quiet, at least right now." said Molly. "All the politicians are out of town, back in their home districts. We don't have a University there, so the DUIs and general disorderly conduct isn't too bad. But in January? Sheesh. The lobbyists come into town, take the politicians out to expensive dinners with free-flowing liquor, and we really can't touch them because the politicians do the driving, and politicians can't be arrested while the Legislature is in session. And our Internal Affairs Department also gets busy during this time of year as politicians bribe cops every which way. They're missing you in that area." "I liked being down there while I was there," said Teresa, "but there is no place like up here. But it's going to be busy and hard for Don. As much as he tries to hide it, the responsibilities he's taken on, in addition to trying to help us solve as many crimes as possible, are going to take a toll on him." "Yes." Molly said. "Laura has mentioned that, also. She says that I have to help her keep Don well satisfied in bed to keep his stress levels down..." "Like uncle, like nephew." Teresa said. "Since starting up that business of his, he's been insatiable, and that's after fucking his secretary every morning and his wife every night, and he is still coming on strong for more..." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Meanwhile, Cindy and Jenna were in the kitchen, preparing after-dinner desserts and drinks. "I know she's trying, but your sister just does not like me." said Jenna. "She's trying, Jenna." Cindy said. "She is trying. We have to meet her halfway, like tonight, and go with what we get." "So, what happened with all that about your parents going to Midtown instead of here when Ross was born?" Jenna asked. She knew the answer; she was trying to get Cindy riled up. And Jenna wasn't happy that Molly was not totally accepting of her and Cindy's sexual orientation. The Porno Set Mystery Ch. 01 "We've hashed that over, time and again." said Cindy, not rising to the bait, knowing what Jenna was doing. "Jenna, neither Molly nor my parents are ever going to embrace what you and I are nor what we have together, much less show enthusiastic support. So there's no point in fighting it." "Don't know why we have to accept her attitude about us." Jenna mumbled. "Because I love my sister and want her to be part of my life, just as I love you and want you as part of my life." Cindy said. "This is the 21st century, Cindy." Jenna said. "Yes it is." said Cindy. "Which is why we can live together and date openly. Come on, now, let's go back in the living room. You can have an extra brandy while we're talking..." Jenna would have more than one extra brandy... and so would Molly... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I nuzzled my wife's neck, tasting her, letting my lips and tongue run up her jaw line to her ear, giving her sucking kisses as I felt her hand grip my throbbing hard cock and guide me into her sopping wet cunthole. I continued to nuzzle her neck hard until she turned her face, wanting a kiss as I entered her. Our mouths met in a deep, hard, sucking kiss, our tongues twining hard as I began pistoning my ass up and down, driving my iron-hard cock meat in and out of her deep, sopping wet cunt. I was on top of Laura and we were making love in the missionary position. We'd just returned from a reception at the University, held by and for the Medical School's professors and staff. Among the people there were cardiologist Dr. Richard Searles, who we had consulted with during the case of the Murdered Football Player... and his wife Dr. Gloria Searles. I had a crush on Gloria, some serious hots for her. She was short, lithe, in shape, and her black hair was worn short. Her face was almost radiantly beautiful, and her small mouth and lips were just perfect for kissing or oral sex. Her breasts were large and very noticeable on her small frame, and her legs were as shapely as any woman's that I'd ever met, including my lovely wife's! "Oh yes, Gloria was looking really hot tonight, wasn't she?" Laura said, almost taunting me, urging me on to fuck her harder as I plowed my meat in and out of my wife's fur-lined furrow. "You looked like you wanted to fuck her right there in front of all those people..." "Uhhh..." I moaned as pleasure rocked through my loins at my wife's nasty words about the beautiful doctor. "Yeah, I wanted to fuck her right then and there... and I think her husband would've done the same thing to you, babe." "Oh yes, he's a very distinguished man and I'd spread my legs for him." Laura said, making her words as nasty and visual as possible in order to drive me nuts... and nuts-deep into her. "I think he'd swing with us, but she's either religious or just prim and proper..." "Yeah, she's ice-cold, worse than Teresa was in the past." I said as I steadily pumped my cock in and out of Laura with hard, short, stabbing thrusts. "She doesn't like you at all, and that extends to me by default." "You're right," Laura said, her voice more of a series of moans than anything else as her hands squeezed my asscheeks or hips. "But part of that is because she's jealous of the way her husband looks at me... did that make you jealous, Don? Seeing how he and other men were looking at me? Like they wanted to fuck me?" "Oh yeah," I said, giving Laura the compliments for which she was fishing, "but it also makes me happy, knowing that I'm married to the most beautiful woman in the room, the woman everyone else wants to sleep with, but that I *do* get to fuck just like I'm doing now..." With that I began fucking Laura harder, and kissed and sucked her neck and jaw. "God, you're magnificent, baby!" I gasped into her ear. "Mmmm..." Laura moaned back, "Keep fucking me, just like that... ohhhh... ohhh, that's so good... oh, you're going so deep, baby... oh yeah..." Her hands wrapped around my shoulders as our mouths met in a deep kiss that matched our deep fucking in its intensity. After breaking the kiss and resuming our hard steady pace of fucking, Laura looked up into my eyes. "Are you going to try to fuck her?" she asked. "Who, Gloria?" I asked, seeing Laura's eyes sparkle as she nodded. "Oh yes, I'm going to try. I'm going to get nuts-deep into Gloria's cunt and drop my load into her... oh, uhhh..." "If you get into her, you will really be the miracle man around here. Think you can do it?" Laura asked, her voice a challenge. I stopped fucking my wife, sinking balls-deep into her and pressing in. "Think I can't?" I asked, looking into my wife's eyes. "Mmm, why don't you try..." she said, letting her hands slide up the sides of my body, "... and let's find out if you can melt her ice cube. Now get your ass moving, stud, and fuck me like you want to fuck her!" I grinned and as I began pumping in and out of her again, and my mouth attacked her huge, milk-filled breasts before kissing my way back up to her neck and ear again. The thoughts of fucking Gloria Searles had me climbing my wife all the way, the intensely ecstatic pain of my building orgasm overwhelming me. With only a few more savage thrusts and the thought of Gloria's legs wrapped around me, I cried out as my climax took me. "OH MY GOD! UHHH!" I yelled out as the first spurts of my cock-cream blasted out, coating the back walls of Laura's clutching vagina. With savage thrusts I emptied my balls into my wife, feeling the pleasure but also the love and the gratitude that I was mating with this most wonderful of women... Even as we decoupled, my cock was half hard. "Wow, that woman really has you hot tonight." Laura said, then took my cock into her mouth, cleaning off our mixed juices. "I think it's that gray viagra you gave me." I said. "I'm horny as hell and ready to go again, just as soon as I catch my breath..." "Mmmm, good." Laura said. "I've only come once; I want you to make me come three more times. I'll get some lubricant..." As my wife got up to get the slick gel in its tube, I contemplated why she was giving me those viagras... I certainly did not need help getting an erection, especially for Laura, but she had me take one at least once a week... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Lt. Bill Hanson walked into the University Campus Police Headquarters in the early morning hours of December 27th. His Sergeant, two full time Campus Police officers and two cadet officers were waiting. "Sir, we've gotten three calls tonight of lights on in one of the dorms on the south side of the main quad." said the Sergeant. "We had Officer Coates drive by there in plain clothes, and there is some activity there. One of those three calls said that people were carrying cameras into the dorm. We secured a warrant from the night judge at the County Courthouse to make an investigational raid of this dorm." "Good work, guys." said Hanson. "We'd gotten word from the FBI that some of these porn production people had been spotted at City Airport, but we didn't know for sure which School they might go to. Looks like they came to us. Okay, everybody got vests on? Good. Let's go in without light and sirens, but let's move very fast." The officers scrambled to their police cruisers and tore out. It was not a long drive, and the cars pulled up to the dorm in question within minutes. But just as the officers were pulling up, a number of people poured out of the dorm and fled into the night. Police gave chase, but the perps ran in several different directions. An examination of the dorm found some lights on, some underwear on the floor of one of the lighted rooms, used condoms full of semen and other evidence that sexual activities had taken place. The evidence was collected, but it was obvious the perps had been informed of the police raid and and defeated the efforts to capture them. "All right, stand down." Lt. Hanson said when informed of the raid. "Put out an APB, just to let them know we're thinking about them. Let the TCPD know, also: send them a routine copy of our police report of this incident. Increase patrols in marked vehicles; I want them to see a strong police presence. I don't want to see them back on my Campus..." Part 3 - The Crime Scene The handsome stud pumped his huge cock in and out of the drop-dead-gorgeous platinum blonde woman beneath him, feeling his nut rise. Her beautiful legs were high in the air, and she made sure to stretch her feet out and bend her toes to show them off in the best way for the camera as they bounced just above the stud's pistoning, rock hard asscheeks. He did not resist the impending powerful climax that was building in his loins; instead, he let go and felt the painful ecstasy of his release. With one more shove, he buried his meat to the balls inside the woman and began shooting his load. Despite the intense pleasure, he remembered to pull back enough that some of his thick semen would coat the walls of her cunt just inside her swollen, stretched labes. "Oh that's good, great creampie!" the man with the camera muttered as he zoomed in on the lovers' coupled loins. As the stud eased his cock out of the woman, the camera caught the globs of semen dripping out. "Okay, cut!" yelled the man with the camera. "Lisa, get some of that goop in her cunt so I can shoot it coming out. Hold still, Callie. Come on, Connie, bring the goop! Get your Chink ass moving, bitch!" The assistant Lisa, a girl with a 'Goth' haircut and blue streaks in her hair, spooned some of the sugary mixture from the bowl the Asian woman Connie was holding onto the blonde's labes, getting some inside. It would look just like a man's semen as it oozed out. After a moment of shooting the creampie, the director said "Okay, great job, Callie! Now let's get some of the goop smeared on The Stallion's cock, and you can clean it up." Callie took Bobby 'The Stallion' Steed's huge cock into her mouth. He was still half hard, and the assistant Lisa dripped some of the fake cum onto his shaft to make it look wet and messy. The director filmed as Callie cleaned it all up, moaning around the stud's huge white cockshaft as she greedily sucked him. "Okay, that's a wrap for this scene!" yelled the director, Steve West. He was the owner and producer of 'Steve West Films', some of the hottest pornography currently being produced. It was just becoming afternoon on Saturday, December 27th, and they were filming in an empty warehouse where Tenderloin District and Warehouse District overlapped. "Good work, guys! Nice job, Lisa." said West. "God damn it, Connie, you're spilling that goop, you fucking Chink. Can't you do a god-damned thing right, you idiot bitch? Okay, Jay, change out the video tape in the cameras, I don't want to run out right in the middle of the next scene. Do that now, Jay, you don't have to work with the 'help' around here. Let that worthless whore clean that shit up." "Got it, Boss." Jay said, stopping from helping Connie clean up the floor and moving back to the cameras to fulfill West's instructions. After a pause West said "Okay, everyone, I'm going to prep for the next shoot. Lunch is ready in the front room, so go eat now. We've got a lot of work to do to get finished so we can fly out of here tomorrow morning, so be ready to shake your asses this afternoon!" * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The pretty, slender young woman, her dirty blonde hair tied into a ponytail behind her head, was sitting on the edge of the table, her shapely legs bent double as her feet, in black high heel pumps with a strap over the top, were on the table beside her exposed loins. The man in his 30s or 40s, muscular and fit, with a head full of brown hair and a big brown mustache, was standing between the woman's spread legs. His pants were opened and he was pumping his enormous nine inch cock in and out of the her tight, wet pussy. The looks on their faces were of a couple experiencing deep pleasure as they copulated, each using their experience as well as their sexual organs to give the other as much pleasure as possible. But they also rutted urgently, knowing that the scene in the other room was near completion. In addition, the stud was very close, the woman's last orgasm bringing him to the brink. "I'm gonna come, Betsy!" he gasped. "I'm... UHHH!!!" Jolt after jolt of thick baby batter fired out of his cock and splattered against the back wall of her clenching cunt. She expertly used her vaginal muscles to milk his pulsing cock dry, getting as much of his semen as she could from his well-drained balls. "Mmm, Rod, that was really good." Betsy said, smiling up at her lover. "I came twice." "It was good for me, too." Rod said, bending down and kissing Betsy's inviting mouth. "Oops, we gotta go, they're breaking for lunch." The couple got off the table, fixed themselves up and went to join the others as they were coming into the front room for lunch. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The actors and assistants and extra personnel all headed to the front room and to the table where a catered lunch of soup, salad and pasta waited. The 'back room' had the sets for the sex acts being recorded, with other empty rooms off to the side which were not being used. The building was owned by a man named Thomas P. Cook, who had a seat on the local government Council. Everyone went through the line and then sat down at one of the two long tables set up for eating. Besides Callie, Brooke, Lisa, Connie and Bobby Steed, there was Betsy the manager, two other male porn stars, and Rod and two other security men. Callie Carrington, the beautiful blonde porn starlet that was gaining national fame in the industry, was the star of this production. It was called 'University Sexcapades, Vol. VI'. Callie had been a bit 'voluptuous' when she started her career exclusively as a lesbian, but thanks to regular workouts she now had one of the hottest bodies in the industry. She also had a very sweet, beautiful smile and the sweetest personality, and was adored by fans and co-workers alike. Bobby 'The Stallion' Steed had a huge, thick ten inch cock, and his body seemed chiseled out of rock like a statue of a Grecian god. He had dirty blonde hair and looked like a California surfer boy. He was very popular and in extreme demand in the industry. Viagra helped him stay erect for long periods of time, but he also showed up to work drunk or on drugs half the time, and could be very rough during the sex scenes. He enjoyed brutally fucking the women and sometimes needed to fuck them very hard in order to get off himself, which made him useful to some of the categories of videos in the 'Steve West Films' empire. Brooke 'Cassandra' Monarch had long, long black hair, milky white skin, a tall thin body and shapely legs. Just a 'look' from her eyes at a man could make him hard, and her voice naturally just dripped with seductiveness. She would be doing the scene after lunch with two well hung young studs. Lisa Lorena wasn't exceptionally pretty, but wasn't ugly either. She had dark hair with blue streaks, a compact body with large breasts and a shapely ass. She had starred in many punk, Goth and B&D films for Steve West, but on this trip she was the make-up woman and production assistant. Also working in an assistant capacity was Connie Chang, a beautiful Asian woman with luscious, full lips; long, lustrous black hair; and a dynamite pair of legs. She had a mouth that could suck a golf ball through a garden hose, so it was said. Betsy was Steve West's personal assistant and manager, and handled all the paperwork and stuff. She had been a porn starlet in the past, but preferred the steadier income and less grueling work of being an assistant. Rod was one of the 'security' people. Steve West Films was in Town over the Holiday season, filming sex scenes for several movies. The company was known for romantic 'women friendly' films, and for films shot on location at various colleges and other 'road trip' movies. West also produced films that were borderline snuff, hard B&D, and simulated gang rape. Colleges didn't want him on their campuses, and his crew had snuck into a dorm at the local University the night before and gotten in two full scenes before the Campus Police, led by Lt. Bill Hanson, got calls and arrived on the scene. He found people scattering in every direction and made no arrests. He made a perfunctory report to the Town & County Police, then had his Campus Police Department double patrols around the dorms. The tight blue cordon meant that Lt. Hanson would have no more problems... and Steve West would not be doing any more campus filming. "Wow, this food is a lot better than what we normally get." Callie said, smiling her beautiful smile. "Yeah, towns like this often have a deli that's cheap but has better food than the Publix stores in big cities. This town has some really great places to eat." Betsy said as she came up to the line. For the next several minutes, everyone busied themselves getting food. Just as Connie passed through the line, the last to get lunch, Lisa looked around and asked "Where is Steve?" "He's setting up for the next scene." said Brooke. "He and Jay will probably grab something while we're in makeup." Jay was Steve West's major cameraman, they worked hand-in-glove to get the best shots which led to the high quality of the films that were produced. "He never eats enough." said Lisa. "I'll take the guys a couple of plates now." With Connie's help, she quickly piled food onto two plates, then Lisa took the plates and headed back into the back room where they had been filming. "When are we getting out of here?" asked Bobby Steed. "We almost got our asses arrested last night. I've heard the police here are a bit too good." He had been high the night before during the shoots; an arrest would've been bad for him. "We wrap up tonight and drive back to the City in the morning to catch our planes." said Brooke. "I'm in no hurry, though. The college studs here are hot as hell!" "That's true." said Callie. "But we--" "AAUUUUGGHHHH!!! HELLLPPP!!!!" The scream was from the back room. Everyone got up and ran into the room. They found Lisa screaming, almost hysterically. Two plates of food were on the floor next to her, having been dropped. Everyone looked at the bed, and more screams and gasps rang out. Lying on the bed that was to be used for the next scene was Steve West. He was staring sightlessly up at the ceiling; he was dead. He'd been stabbed multiple times. His pants were opened, his belt lying on the floor. His throat was slit, and a thin stiletto knife was sticking out of his groin, standing straight up... he'd been stabbed the final time right where the base of his cock met his balls. It took everyone a moment to take in what they were witnessing, but they soon jumped into action. "Jesus Christ! I'm getting the fuck out of here!" gasped Callie. Everyone else agreed with her sentiment and began running for the door. "POLICE! FREEZE!" The voice shocked them into silent immobility as they got into the front room again. Eight police officers in helmets and armor vests, followed by four more in ultra-heavy SWAT gear, had their pistols and military-grade rifles pointing at the cast and crew. From behind the small army came Detective Timothy Geiger of the Town & County Police Department, and following him, the trenchcoat stretched around his large girth, was Vice Detective Leonard 'Sergeant' Sharples. "This is a raid!" Sharples announced. "You're all under arrest for prostitution and making pornographic films!" "Detective Sharples!" shouted a policeman who had gone into the back room. "We've got a body in here!" "Is that so?" Sharples said, a sneering smile forming on his face... The Porno Set Mystery Ch. 01 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * It was a somber cast and crew that was sitting on the floor, their hands manacled behind them with plastic zip-ties, when I came onto the crime scene with Lt. Cindy Ross and Detective Theo Washington. I was wearing my uniform with white shirt, rank on soft shoulderboards, and a black leather bomber jacket, which was a Christmas gift from the Chief. My ranks were on the epaulette flaps, and it had a Town & County police badge intricately sewn in on the left chest, complete with my badge number and 'Commander' in their places in the wreath circle. The jacket was heavy with light armor sewn in, and it was very warm. I liked it. I also had a new red crowbar. It was the same size as the blue one I'd given Cindy, not quite as large as the 'IC2' crowbar made from the rifle that had exterminated the Rev. Jonas Oldeeds. That one was now mounted on the wall in my office. The new one was allegedly made of scrap metals from The Cabin and my previous SUV which had been destroyed there, from the remains of the vehicles that had collided and exploded when Takaki Taichi destroyed the last of the Corrigan Cell, as well as a better quality of metals than the previous one. It had 'IC3' imprinted into one end. It felt 'useful' in my hands. Lt. Tanya Perlman was already on the scene with the Crime Lab, and she was arguing furiously with Sharples, who was trying to obstruct the Crime Lab team from going into the back room. "What the hell is going on?" I asked, interrupting their verbal sparring. "What the hell are you doing here?" Sharples said. Suddenly everything became very quiet, as every officer was watching to see what my response was going to be. "I happen to work for the Town & County Police Department, Sharples." I said evenly. "Which you will will not be for much longer if you show me that level of disrespect again... ever again. I asked a question: what is going on?" "This is my case, Commander." said Sharples. "This Detective is trying to butt in." "That Lieutenant outranks you, Sharples." I said. "That's two strikes against you today. You'd better pray to God the third strike doesn't offend Lt. Ross. I might not be able to restrain her." I wasn't kidding; I'm not sure what was holding Cindy back from using her blue crowbar on Sharples. Her ice blue eyes were radiating ice cold fire. "And Sharples," I said as I surveyed the room, "if Lt. Perlman wasn't clear enough, I will be: this is now MCD's case. You are not a part of it. Go back to the station and file your reports." "Goddammit, Commander, this is my bust and my case." Sharples growled. "I'm filing a grievance with the Union if you take me off of it." "I am counting on that to be a promise you will keep, as opposed to a threat you won't follow through on. Please file that grievance, Sharples. Ross, I am going to turn around, and if I turn back around and see Sharples on this crime scene, I will write you up." Cindy got the hint, and escorted a cursing Sharples out of the room. "My God, how is that bastard still on the Force?" Tanya asked, her cherubic face still beet red with anger over her verbal spat with Sharples. "The Union." I said. "He stays just inside the lines, and I can't get enough to terminate him. The Chief couldn't either." "Who the fuck hired him?" Tanya asked as we walked towards the group of detained cast and crew. "From what I can tell, Captain Brownlee of Personnel & Records." I said. "Oh, that jerk." Tanya replied, understanding. "Say no more." I didn't need to. Captain Robert Brownlee was in his upper 30s, maybe early 40s, and was as big an asshole as Steven Ikea could ever hope to be. Nobody liked him, but he reportedly did Personnel and paperwork jobs very well. He was a boorish ass to his subordinates, and made no secret of his desire to be Chief of Police. He'd even made the inexcusable faux pas of actively seeking election into the Orange Order, but I found out that for the last four years he only got one vote each year, believed to be cast by himself for himself. The unfortunate thing was that he was also exactly the kind of on-the-job politician the Chief had been trying to mold me into. He had friends on the Town & County Council as well as being a staunch friend of the Police Union and some of its key people. And he had made some rather questionable hires over the last two years, including that of Leonard Sharples, who seemed to be just exactly what Brownlee liked in a police officer -- someone who could never rise to Brownlee's level, much less to be a competent police officer, and someone Brownlee would expect to be loyal to him. "He hired Angela Harlan at the same time." Tanya said, saying what I was not going to say in front of her. "And we didn't know what she was at the time, either." "True." I said. "But Harlan was a good Detective in Texas... until she went bad. Sharples never was particularly competent. I think Malone approved Brownlee's choice of Sharples, thinking he, Malone, could use Sharples in some way." Unfortunately, I had to put that conversation and those thoughts into a compartment as I came upon the cast, surrounded by heavily armored police officers. "The body is in back." Perlman said, heading that way herself. "I'll be there in a second." I told her, then addressed the SWAT Sergeant. "Okay, Sergeant Charles, who called for the SWAT team for these young people?" I caught the pretty platinum blonde in the crew fix her blue eyes upon me. Ah, she's the smart one I need to be talking to, I thought to myself. "Lieutenant Michaels gave us the orders, those being to report to Sharples for this mission." said Charles. "I see." I said. "You can stand down. Take your team back to Headquarters." Charles gave instructions and the SWAT team left. I then took out my police iPhone and texted a message to Lt. Claire Michaels, which said 'Be at Headquarters when I get back there, and prepared to discuss today with me in my office'. The message was meant to convey my displeasure with what I was witnessing today. "Okay, Sergeant McCombs, " I said. "Have these people been frisked for weapons?" "Yes sir. They're clean." said McCombs, and older sergeant who was not especially good. No wonder he and Sharples worked together. "Okay, cut off those ties--" "Sir, they're under arrest, and they're flight risks--" McCombs started saying. "Goddammit, I said cut off those ties and release their hands!" I shouted into McCombs's face as I fronted him. "What fucking part of that did you not understand, Sergeant?!?!" I was worn to anger, and slipping like that was not good, I knew. But I couldn't undo it now. McCombs stared at me, in shock, but also in confrontation. Fortunately (for him), Vice Detective Geiger took control and ordered the other officers to release the captives' hands. I turned to them. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am Commander Troy, in charge of the Police here. "You are all material witnesses to the crime here, and you are not free to go. Geiger, they can sit at the table where they were having lunch, and they can eat. Have them escorted to the bathroom if they need to go, only one at a time and watch them in the bathroom. Sorry, folks, but that's a necessity. In the meantime--" "I want a lawyer." said one of the crew, a young man with a beard. "Either let me walk out of here, or get me a lawyer now." "Who is this?" I asked Geiger. He produced a drivers license, California-issued. The guy's first name was Jay. Per procedure, all drivers licenses or other IDs had been collected and were being held by a police officer. "Okay, Jay, you'll get your lawyer when we take you to the Station, which will be after we process this crime scene." I said. "Then I demand to be released, right now." the bearded asshole said. "I want a lawyer, and I'm not cooperating--" "Would you shut the fuck up?" the lovely blonde woman said. "You're going to piss them off at all of us!" The others murmured their concurrence. "You're under arrest as a material witness, Jay." I said. "Technically, all of you are. I'm trying to be nice here, folks, but if this one asshole keeps giving me shit, I'll have all of you handcuffed again and lying on your stomachs with no bathroom breaks, maybe for hours, until I'm good and damn ready to process you." The bearded slug Jay glared at me, but said no more. That might have been because his fellow crew members were glaring very hard at him. My tactic of 'divide and conquer' was working, so far. "Geiger, read them all their rights." I hated to do that, as it made questioning potentially more difficult. But I was now in a legal bind, so I took the correct way out going forward. "In the meantime, I need to go see the crime scene." I said. I hurriedly walked into the back room, and just in time: Tanya was getting impatient. "Okay, what do we have here?" I asked, examining the body as Tanya fed me information. "His name is Steve West." she reported. "Thirty-one years old, the owner and producer of 'Steve West Films', which are hardcore porno films. He likes to film in college dorm rooms, and decided our University was a perfect setting. Lt. Hanson of the Campus Police interdicted a filming last night; in the early morning hours of today, actually; but made no arrests as everyone scattered. I have the videotapes from the cameras of today's shooting, thinking maybe he got the murderer on tape." "Secure that evidence under seal, requiring my personal permission to view it." I said. "I don't want every cop on the Force, and particularly Sharples, getting to watch porn under the guise of looking at evidence." "As long as I'm one of those that do get to watch it." Tanya said, grinning, teasing me. I couldn't help but give a wan smile. "All kidding aside," I said, "call my wife and tell her we've arrested porn actors and crew, and see if she wants to interview them professionally... her profession, not ours." Tanya did so, grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Then she said to me "I'm also calling Dr. Bonnie Karpathian to come see this scene, if you don't mind. She's an expert on serial killings, and also has done some work on sex crimes. Putting a knife in a guy's crotch seems awful personal, if you ask me." "Good enough." I said, then turned to the Crime Lab man. "Okay Labcoat, whaddya got?" I asked the man who was never seen not wearing a labcoat. I suspected he had labcoat pajamas at home, but was not going to try to find out for sure. "West is about six feet tall." said Labcoat, his voice lilting, making me think he was gay every time I heard it, but not knowing at all what his sexual preferences actually were. "Almost all the stab wounds are angled very upwards, suggesting someone shorter than him committed the crime." "That would be just about all of them." I said. "Actors, be they mainstream or porno, are very short. I met Charlton Heston once. He was very short, and they just made him look tall on the movie screen." "Yes sir." said Labcoat politely. "But see here: there are two neck wounds. One was upwards, and it just got the center of the neck. The second slice all the way across was not upwards. That suggests he had fallen to the bed. The wound to the heart and the final wound to his groin was also done after he was lying back." "First blow to the throat to silence him." I said. "Then the killer began carving him up." I looked further at the wounds, seeing the beginnings over an overall pattern. Labcoat and Tanya began watching as I began making fluid movements, as if I were practicing a martial arts routine. "Labcoat, Tanya, look at this." I said, ignoring their open stares at me. "I've had a little bit of martial arts training, most of it from Lt. Ross in trying to avoid taking crowbar beatdowns in the gym. As I look at these blows, I'm sure West tried to defend himself or fight back, but these wounds were almost... anticipatory... yes... the killer moved fluidly, taking shots at vulnerable areas, then finished him off when he fell..." I was halfway in a reverie trance by now, my hands once again moving as if doing a martial arts movement. "That's why he's in command." Tanya said to Labcoat. "I don't know how he expects anyone else to have seen that." "So this knife here..." I said, examining it. "Labcoat, are you at a point you can extract it?" "Not yet, sir, we need to make sure there are no fingerprints." Labcoat said. He quickly brought a technician over to process it as I looked around the room, seeing nothing of significance except two paper plates that had carried food were now on the floor, a big mess as the food had splattered onto the floor with the plates coming to rest on top. West had been checking the light with a device, and had dropped that device on the floor at the foot of the bed. From that I could tell he likely was standing there when someone came up behind him. "Labcoat, can you tell right now if the first throat wound, the one that got his larynx and kept him from crying out, was from behind or in front?" I asked. "Not for sure." said Labcoat. "But likely front or perhaps an angle from the front right side. But it will take the Medical Examiner to get a better idea of that." "I understand." I said. "Thanks." I looked around. There was an exit from the building at the very back left of the room, to my left as I faced the body on the bed. I was assured by multiple officers that the door was locked, had been locked, and could only be opened from inside. To my back right as I faced the bed was a short hallway to the front room, and to my front right was a door which, so I was told, led down a corridor to the bathrooms, and possibly to other building exits, though those also were locked from the inside and gave no evidence of having been recently used. "Now Perlman," I said, "why do you suppose he or the killer took off his belt and left it there?" I asked, pointing to the black leather belt lying next to the bed on the floor right at West's feet. "No idea." Perlman said. "Maybe the killer had an idea to strangle West in addition to multiple stabbings. As I said before: very personal." "A strangeness, for sure." I said. Just then Labcoat came up to us. He handed me the knife, which had been bagged as evidence. "No prints." he said. I nodded as I examined the weapon of death. "Commander," said Tanya, "there are blood spatters on the sheets, here, and it looks like the sheet was lifted next to the body, and this smear is where the handle was wiped off. Blood spots here, here, and here show where the sheet contacted the body as it was lifted over it." "Good observation, Perlman." I said continuing to examine the knife in the plastic evidence sleeve. "This knife is a lot like that thin stiletto knife Sergeant Brody had in his belt during the 'Black Badge' case. It actually can curve, though it's strong enough if stabbed straight into a body. I am thinking that when we process this crew at the Station, we need to be looking for secret pouches in belts and purses where it might have been secreted." Just then, Dr. Bonnie Karpathian arrived, her dark black hair in its frazzle of drilled curls, looking as if she'd been struck by lightning to get that hairdo. Her full lips looks inviting, and her slender body was dressed in a gray suit with black blouse and black high ankle-high boots. She was a vivacious woman, and she could not hide that even in the presence of a murder. Tanya spoke to her a few minutes, and Bonnie examined where the knife had been in the poor dead man's groin. "Yes," Bonnie said, "if someone left the knife in his groin like that, it does suggest something sexual about the crime. He was a porn director, maybe he did something to one of the women he filmed." "Or maybe a jealous girlfriend not associated with the porn industry?" Tanya suggested. "Or the boyfriend of a girl this guy induced to be in his porn films..." I said, then caught myself. "But we're speculating with insufficient data, aren't we?" I moved to wrap up. "Okay, Labcoat, help the M.E. when he gets here, if he gets here, and wrap up this scene. Bonnie, thanks for coming down, and feel free to examine whatever you need to. Perlman, you're with me; we have to interview these suspects, and mighty fast." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * There was no good place to interview the suspects privately, so I had an officer take each person to a side or corner of the big front room, with instructions to ask what they saw, and who had not been part of the group. I made sure to take the platinum blonde woman, whose real name was Callie Carrington, myself. She was wearing a very tight white t-shirt that strained against her large breasts, tight blue jeans that showed off her magnificent ass, and brown strappy sandals with a solid wedge heel that showed off her very shapely feet quite nicely. "I'm a fan of yours, Miss Carrington, and my wife is, too." I said. "She likes those romance videos you make." "Ah, that's sweet." said Callie, smiling happily at the compliment. "And she's a lucky woman to have you, Commander... you're a handsome man. Want to trade police work for a starring role with me in my films?" Yes, she was as intelligent as she was beautiful, I realized. Already trying to ingratiate herself with me. "I'll keep that in mind." I said. "Okay, what can you tell me about what happened leading up to finding Mr. West?" Callie said "We finished a scene with me and Bobby. Steve told us to go get lunch. Lisa toweled me down and I put on my clothes and she and I went to get lunch with everyone else." "Do you remember the order of the line?" I asked. Callie answered "Bobby was first, he has no manners and just went out there half naked. He eats like a horse. Then there was Cassandra. She eats a lot too, and I don't know how she keeps that beautiful figure of hers, but she does. Then there was Lisa, and then me. Then... I'm not really sure. I think Betsy, Steve's assistant who does all our paperwork, getting hotels and plane reservations and stuff, was behind me, and our security guys were there. Yes, that's it, I do remember Rich and Rod behind Betsy. Then Roger came in a minute later; he's in charge of all the A/V equipment, computers, and such stuff. I remember that because normally he's helping Steve set up scenes, but this time he was eating lunch with us at the table when Lisa screamed." "So the security guys were eating with you?" I asked. "Oh yeah, that's normal." Callie said. "They're there to handle any issues that come up, but for the most part we never have problems, so they eat with us if there's food catered. I had Callie make me understand about Lisa getting plates for Steve and the other cameraman, Jay. She told what happened, then said "Connie was going through the line when Lisa started getting some food for the guys. I think Connie was the last one to go through." "So Jay did not make it through the line?" I asked. "Never saw him, that I can remember." Callie said. "Let me guess... he's also the guy that was asking for a lawyer from the get-go." I said. Callie just grinned a beautiful grin, and confirmed it. All of the Officers' notes of their interviews were good, and all the stories matched... save one. The man called 'Jay' refused to talk at all, reiterating his demand for a lawyer. Everyone else was brought to the Station in a paddywagon, none of them handcuffed. Jay's hands were cuffed behind his back, and he was brought separately to the Station in the back of the Police Commander's new SUV. Tanya rode shotgun, and loved checking out the new equipment in the SUV, not to be confused with the 'equipment' of the men or women riding with her... Part 3 - Legal Beagles Back at Police Headquarters, Sergeant Rudistan and a team of patrolmen led everyone through the booking process while I met with ADA Paulina Patterson, Captain Leslie Charles of the Uniformed Police, Lt. Cindy Ross, Lt. Tanya Perlman, MCD Detective Theo Washington and Vice Detective Timothy Geiger in Classroom J. I had Geiger in there for two reasons: first, to tweak Sharples; and second, because of the possible Union grievance, so that I could say I did keep a Vice Detective on the case. The Porno Set Mystery Ch. 01 "Guys, we have to act fast, very fast." I said. "As ADA Patterson will tell you, we can only hold these guys for 72 hours before we have to arraign them, and if they're given bail they will skip and be out of the State before we can sneeze." "True." Paulina. "And play it by the book, too." "Perlman, who are you assigning to this case from MCD?" I asked. "Myself." said Tanya. "And Theo. Everyone else either has days off or is busy." "Good." I said. "Captain Charles, is there a holding cell here where we can put these guys and only these guys, and have Jay in a separate isolation cell?" "Unfortunately," said Captain Charles, "our four group berths are full. Too many people partying the last couple of days, getting DUIs. But... I think there's a holding cell in the County Jail building. With the renovations, it has cameras and listening devices in there now. I'll call Precinct Captain Weston and have them make sure it's clear for these guys." "That'll be great, thanks." I said as Captain Charles left, noting Tanya's face flash a bit of fire at the mention of Precinct Captain Susan Weston's name; they'd clashed before. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The holding cell at the County Jail was great: it had television, and a bathroom with a door that didn't lock, but gave privacy... well, there was a camera in there as well as cameras watching everyone in the cellblock. I had officers monitoring the conversations, hoping someone would slip and say something of value in solving the murder of Steve West. The young bearded man, Jay, was being held at Headquarters, in an isolation cell. A search of everyone's clothing found no hidden compartments in anyone's belt, nor inside any purses nor purse straps (oh yes, we did not miss those; this is not a Police Department of dullards). I told my officers to examine their shoes, but nothing was found there, either. "That's an unfortunate setback." I said to Cindy. "I was really hoping to find something there." "Not even the Iron Crowbar can hit a home run every at-bat." said Cindy as she watched me search the clothing. Warrants had been procured to search the hotel rooms of the company's cast and crew, and several computers had been found. Myron was downloading them now, and said that the vast bulk of the information was video footage of porn scenes. Myron also said that one of the computers we'd confiscated was basically a server, designed to keep large amounts of digital data until it could be downloaded to bigger servers. I told Myron to keep it sealed off; I was running a Police Department, not a porn website. "Okay," I said to Tanya in my office, "we're going to have to process all that. Tanya, it's going to be a long, hard night. I want you to go through the tapes from the videocameras, which weren't yet committed to digital servers. Cindy, you too. Check through what was shot at the University and here in Town that had been put into the servers. It's going to be needle and haystack, I'm afraid. " "Surely you're not going to waste this opportunity to look at Callie Carrington videos, Commander." said Cindy. "She's one of the hottest porn babes on the planet." "No, I'm not." I said, grinning. "But I'm not so much going to be watching tapes as researching the company itself. But first, we have to do interviews, and it's getting late, it's three o'clock already. Let's head up to the Third Precinct building, a.k.a. County Jail." Just then, our smooth investigation hit a bump... more like a fallen tree trunk. The Duty Desk Sergeant knocked on my door. "Commander," he said as he stuck his head in the door, "there are six lawyers in the front lobby. They're from Chase, Lynch & Berry, and they say they are representing everyone from the arrests you made earlier today at the warehouse..." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "I'm here representing those poor actors and crew you arrested without warrants today, Commander." said H.J. Lynch, Esq., senior partner of the firm of Chase, Lynch & Berry. We're handling their case pro bono, to make sure you Police don't abuse them physically or legally." Lynch was a tall, lanky man in his 50s or maybe early 60s, with a balding head and what would be a distinguished presence if it didn't come across as arrogant and disrespectful, and disrespectful of Police in particular. He hated the Police with a deep, abiding passion, and I knew he was going to represent the dog abuser Bryan Thatcher pro bono at Thatcher's trial early next year. "So let me make sure I heard that right." I said. "You're representing them pro bono all the way through, correct?" "Yes." said the lawyer, grimacing. I'd just trapped him: his firm would now be required to represent anyone charged with the murder without being able to bill either the defendant or the County Government for their work. It did not get better for him, either, as Paulina Patterson entered the room. "We've got the warrants for their arrest, right here." said Paulina, a sheaf of documents in her elegant, shapely hands. "They're all material witnesses and flight risks. Their arraignments have been set up for Tuesday morning." "That will never do." said Lynch. "I will be insisting on an immediate hearing and immediate recognizance bail for all of them. Now I insist that you allow my legal team to talk to everyone you have arrested, Commander." "Sure." I said. "One of them is here, the others are in pre-detention at the Third Precinct. Would your boys like to drive there, or shall I provide them transportation in a paddywagon?" Lynch was not amused at my joke. To be continued. 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, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player Series, Case of the Black Widow series, Teresa's Christmas Story, The Case of the Black Badge series, A Case of Revenge series, Teresa's Summer Race, The Trilogy series, Dark Side Of The Force series, Caught In The Act series, Case of the Murdered Bride series, The Credit Card Caper series, The Hot Wives Investment Club series, Seriously Inconvenienced, Ch. 1-5, Case of the Paper Trail, Ch. 1-4, Christmas Mystery Theater. The Porno Set Mystery, Ch. 1. The Porno Set Mystery Ch. 02 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, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player Series, Case of the Black Widow series, Teresa's Christmas Story, The Case of the Black Badge series, A Case of Revenge series, Teresa's Summer Race, The Trilogy series, Dark Side Of The Force series, Caught In The Act series, Case of the Murdered Bride series, The Credit Card Caper series, The Hot Wives Investment Club series, Seriously Inconvenienced, Ch. 1-5, Case of the Paper Trail, Ch. 1-4, Christmas Mystery Theater. The Porno Set Mystery, Ch. 1-2. Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas. This story contains graphic scenes, extreme 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 or racist 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 4 - Interviews and Discipline Since we were at Police Headquarters, we had Jay brought into Interrogation-1. I read Jay his considerable legal rights and informed him that every minute of this interrogation was being recorded by audio and video means. Jay's legal counsel, H.J. Lynch, sat next to him while Tanya and Theo sat next to and behind me, with Cindy watching from the anteroom. Sr. Patrolman Morton also was in the room, per internal police protocols. "My client tells me that he has invoked." said Lynch. "There's not much to say at this point." "Doesn't stop me from asking a couple of questions." I said. "Jay, the witnesses at the scene all said that-" "That is all inadmissible." said Lynch. "None of them were advised of their rights nor offered legal counsel, despite my client asking for it." "Mr. Lynch, you know that we can talk to witnesses at the scene of a crime." I said. "And they were read their rights, we have that on videotape. Only Jay invoked, and was not asked further questions. He has been afforded legal counsel, specifically you, before we asked him any further questions. I'm not going to let you create legal loopholes here, Lynch." I turned to Jay. "Jay, the witnesses at the scene all said that you were the only person, let me say that again: the only person who was not with the others at lunch. Now I'd love to be able to help you, Jay, but that does need some explaining. Otherwise, you're the primary suspect in the murder of Steve West." Jay looked over at the lawyer, who whispered something to him. Jay whispered back, and the lawyer said something to him. I got up and had all PD personnel leave the room, leaving the two alone to talk. After a few moments, we were invited back in. The legal beagle sighed. "I've advised my client that he has already invoked." said Lynch. "However, he is willing to answer questions provided he be allowed to re-invoke at any time in the future." I nodded. "I don't have to allow that, but I will in this case. You may re-invoke at any time, Jay, but for now it would be most very good for you to explain where you were when West was murdered." "I was in the bathroom." said Jay. "I had just taken a dump and was cleaning up when I heard the scream. I ran out and arrived in the back room right as the others did." "Where is the bathroom in relation to the other rooms?" I asked. "The front and back rooms were to the left of the building relative to the front door of the place. If you go from the back room towards the right side of the building, the bathroom is off to the left down a corridor." Jay explained, and I noticed his thoroughness in doing so. "Did anyone see you go to the potty or did you say anything to anyone?" I asked. "Can anyone confirm you went to the bathroom?" "I don't know." said Jay. "I stayed behind with Steve as the others were going to lunch. Just then I had to go, so I told Steve I was going and I'd be back in a minute. He just nodded; he was already adjusting lights and stuff, totally into it. I don't know if he even heard me." "Did you see anyone else in the back room, or anyone not in the front room at lunch? No security people hanging around?" "No." Jay replied. "Did you tell Steve you were going to the potty while others were in the room, or had they all left? And to that end, did they all go as one group to the front room, or over a period of time?" "I... I'm not sure." Jay said, becoming thoughtful. "They didn't all leave at once. Bobby rushed ahead, he's rude about getting to the food first. Callie had to put her clothes back on and someone was talking to her as they left the room, maybe Lisa. I don't remember, really. I think they were mostly all gone when I told Steve I had to go and said I'd be back." "And so you invoked because you knew you were alone at the time of his murder." I said. "Yeah." said Jay. "I knew it looked bad for me. I was hoping everyone would tell you cops they weren't answering your questions-" At that moment the lawyer whispered something to Jay. The lawyer said "That is not an admission by my client of any guilt whatsoever." "I'm not taking it as such." I said. "Let me ask this: how long have you been working for Steve West Films, and for Steve personally?" "About three years." Jay said. "he hired me right after he started the company. He was a cameraman for one of the big companies, and thought he could make better films himself. So he started his own company, and did very well. The big companies tried to pressure him to shut down or sell out to them, but he was a tough guy. He stood up to them, even when they had the Mob threaten him." "Was he paying off the Mob?" I asked. "Probably." Jay replied. The lawyer immediately grabbed him and began whispering something. "I've told my client not to make speculations of that nature." said the lawyer. "Yes, I must clarify: I don't know for sure." Jay said. "Betsy might; she's the company's manager." "Jay, did you know of anyone that might have wanted to harm Steve? Anyone at all, for any reason?" "No." Jay said, shaking his head. "Nobody that I know of." "No arguments or fights with anyone, anyone at all?" I asked, peering at Jay. "No. Nothing that I'm aware of." "No girlfriends, or ex-girlfriends?" "He was dating Betsy," said Jay, "but that might be too strong a term. He was fucking Betsy, but she was fucking other guys, too, so I don't think there were any issues there." "Okay." I said. "What about yourself? No arguments, no grudges, no issues of not being paid?" "No, no problems at all. Really, I had no problems with him. He's a perfectionist, and he could really drive people hard during shoots, but it wasn't personal and we knew it. He just wanted the best films possible." "Did he ever abuse any of his porn actors?" I asked. For the first time, I saw a glimmer in Jay's eyes. He peered straight at me as he said "Officer, the porn business is not all glamour and glitz and spontaneous loving sex. The hours are long, the work is hard, and we don't have the luxury of days of shooting like the mainstream films do. And some of the films Steve did were rough sex films. Everyone knew it, the girls knew it, and they knew they were being paid well for it. Steve was a great visionary when it came to porn films; that's why they're so good and so successful. But watching them being made is another story. He didn't abuse anyone in the sense I think you're asking. But it can be a rough life." "Sounds like the old joke about sausage and the law... those who love them should not watch either being made." I said. Jay nodded. The lawyer looked at me contemptuously. "Okay, Jay, thank you for answering these questions." I said. "If there is anything, anything at all, that you can remember, that will help me find Steve's killer, you need to let me know as soon as possible." I instructed Morton to return Jay to his cell, and I came back through the anteroom, not bothering to speak with the lawyer Lynch. "That was instructive." I said to my assembled party of Detectives. "You guys get something to eat and then go to County Lockup and wait for me. I've got a couple of items of business to take care of. Cindy, I'm going to need you as a witness for all of this." Tanya and Theo scooted; they knew that my business was disciplinary in nature. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I typed furiously, then hit the Save and Print buttons. I sent an email to the appropriate places, then handed Cindy an extra copy. "This is writing up McCombs for his insubordination today." I said. "I'm sure he's going to go to the Union for me yelling at him; this is butt-covering, but it will also keep him in line, I hope." "Does it matter if he files his grievance first?" Cindy asked as she read the report. "No." I replied. "What will happen is that the Union will commiserate with him, come to yell at me, then Captain Charles will come in and promise everyone that he'll take care of the discipline in exchange for me not dropping this report into McCombs' permanent file. I'll agree, the Union will agree, and hopefully McCombs will keep his fucking mouth shut for awhile. Just between you and me, Cindy... I've been watching McCombs, he's borderline, and I've always wondered if he'd been part of the Black Badge or if he is some kind of mole for bad guys." "Teresa has her suspicions, as well." Cindy said. "But aside from having a bad attitude after being passed over for Detective a couple of times, and showing insubordination because he thinks he's smarter than everyone else, he hasn't done anything really bad that we know of." "Okay." I said. "Now for the big one, that you need to be here to witness." I got on the phone and told the Duty Desk to find Lt. Michaels and have her report to my office. Five minutes later Lt. Claire Michaels, commander of the SWAT Department, was in my office. I did not invite her to sit down, making her stand in front of my desk. "Lieutenant," I said, looking at her severely as I spoke, "do I understand correctly that you ordered the SWAT team to go along with the Vice raid on the porno set today?" "Yes sir." said Claire, flatly. "And who authorized this?" I asked. "I did, sir." Claire said. "Er, yes... but I mean who gave you the green light to deploy the SWAT team." I asked. "Detective Sharples asked for them to come with his raid team-" "Lieutenant, that is not what I asked." I said, intentionally interrupting her and bearing down hard. "I am asking you to tell me who gave you the authorization to deploy SWAT team members on that raid." "Sir, may I speak freely?" Lt. Michaels asked. Cindy had a confused look on her face that matched my feelings at the moment. "Is there some reason my question cannot be answered within protocol?" "No sir, but the answer may be lengthy and I want a chance to explain fully." "By all means, Lieutenant. Explain. Within protocol, but explain." "Sir," Claire said, "Sharples came to me this morning and asked for four people. He said it was 'rush rush'." 'Rush rush' was the colloquial term we used whenever we got information that we needed to act upon very quickly, such as a drug shipment coming in that we might could interdict. "I try to send teams out whenever I can for such operations, to give them training and experience if not to help keep other officers out of harm's way." "Did Sharples say he'd cleared it with Lt. Croyle, Lt. Ross or myself?" I asked sharply. "No sir, and I admit that I did not ask." said Claire. "I can understand you wanting to get your people work and experience." I said. "But you're a Lieutenant and in charge of the SWAT team because you have the brains to think about these situations. I daresay that a SWAT unit raiding a pornography set is a bit of overkill, and you should have realized that. Put yourself in the position of those poor naked people having a heavily armed SWAT team rushing in and pointing guns at them. And God help us if the Media had gotten onto it." "Yes sir." Claire said. "I should have better informed myself of the nature of the mission before approving it." "That would help. This will help more." I said, sliding a sheet of paper across my desk for her to read and keep. "This memorandum is an order from me to you, in writing, as witnessed by Lt. Ross, here. It says that you are to deploy SWAT teams only upon the orders of Captain Charles, Lt. Ross, myself, or someone higher like the Police Chief when we get a new one, or the Sheriff himself. You may deploy SWAT upon the request of Lt. Croyle or Lt. Perlman, but preferrably after clearing it with Lt. Ross or myself, and I would imagine that they will have let me or Lt. Ross know about it already, if at all possible in the time constraints imposed by the intel." I went further, leaning forward to emphasize my point. "But most of all, Lt. Michaels, you are never... ever... to approve any SWAT mission based upon any request from Detective Leonard Sharples at any time, no matter the necessity of quick action or little time, no matter the circumstances, unless of course you also have the approval of Lt. Croyle at least. Sharples is not your boss, he cannot require you to do anything, and you are to deny his requests even if he says lives are at stake. I do not want a situation like today to ever occur again. Do I make myself clear, Lt. Michaels?" "You do, sir." "Good. You're dismissed. Get your team's reports in tonight." "They're already in the computers, sir." Michaels said. She left the room. I glanced at Cindy. "I'm surprised you didn't discipline her further, Commander." Ross said. "She really should've known better, especially if it was Sharples." "Naah, that was a bit of a loophole that I'd let go for too long." I said. "If it weren't Sharples, I wouldn't have had nearly as much a problem with it, either. But that man is abusing the system, constantly wanting raids that have to be done in a hurry, right at the last minute, and then he wants overkill like the heavy armor, not to mention the SWAT team, and he's got us headed for an 'excessive use of force' lawsuit if we're not careful. He's driving Teresa crazy, too. That bastard is really becoming a problem for us... especially for me. "Welcome to the world of Acting Chief." Cindy said, having no mercy upon me. "Yep. Okay, let's get back to work." I said. "We've got a murder to solve." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * At the Third Precinct and County Jail, I quickly went through interviews with everyone from the cast and crew. Before I started, I asked the Uniformed officers watching on video about the people inside the room. "The only emotion anyone is showing," said one Deputy Sheriff who was watching along with TCPD officers, "is the assistant Betsy and the Asian girl Connie. No one else really seems to care; they're just joking among themselves, and talking about sex. If that keeps up, they may start having sex right there in the room." "I doubt it- they're not getting paid." I said acerbically. "So, any hostilities?" "Not really, sir. The black haired woman that looks like she came out of 'The Addams Family', she was talking to the secretary girl and hugging her. The Asian girl has just been very quiet and keeping to herself for the most part. A couple of the others started messing with her, but the blonde woman came to her defense and told them to leave her alone, then went over and hugged the Asian girl and they talked for a while." Tanya and Theo were also in the interrogation room, as was always at least one lawyer from Chase, Lynch & Berry. The interviews are condensed here: The security guys were more like bouncers than armed, uniformed security, they actually weren't armed at all, and they were eating with everyone else when the scream was heard. They did not notice Jay's presence or absence at all, nor did any of them see him running up from the bathroom. One of the security guys, Rod, said he had been talking to Betsy in the front room and helping her set up for lunch during the shoot, and they joined the lunch line when everyone came to the front room to eat. When the scream was heard, they rushed to the back room and found Lisa just standing there and Steve dead on the bed. I asked them a pertinent question, and they stated their observation of what I asked. Bobby Steed said he went to the food line first, mostly because everyone else was lingering and he didn't want to wait for them: he was hungry after three hours of sex with Callie and having to shoot so many different scenes and angles. He remembered seeing Cassandra, Callie and Betsy come to the table while he was eating, but couldn't really place anyone at specific times relative to each other. He never saw Jay at all. As far as he knew, Steve and Jay got along very well, and worked very well together. As far as he knew, everyone liked Steve just fine. Steve and Betsy sometimes acted like a couple, but that could just be that they worked together a lot on running the business side of the company. I asked him a pertinent question, but he had not observed. Brooke 'Cassandra' Monarch's observations of the lunch line agreed with Callie's comments at the scene, and she (Brooke) was behind everyone else running to the back room after the scream, the last to arrive at the scene of West's murder. She did not remember seeing Jay at all, as she was trying to see through people to see what the issue was. She said Jay worked well for Steve, and never saw them argue. She did not know of anyone else having any problem with Steve. I asked her a pertinent question, but she had not observed. Connie Chang said she had lingered a moment to put down the bowl of goop and to straighten out some of the things on the make-up table, then caught up to the rest of the group. She was last in line, and was in line when Lisa made plates for Steve and Jay. She had not seen Jay at all, but hit me with a bit of a bombshell: "I did go back into the front room during the shoot, to ask about lunch." said Connie. "Betsy and Rod were in the front room, having sex on one of the tables." "Are they lovers?" I asked. "They were that day." said Connie. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to be flippant with that. Steve is in love with Betsy; everyone knows it. They've been dating, so I was a bit surprised to see Betsy making love with Rod. But it made sense once I thought about it: Rod was often on sets as security when he wasn't scheduled to work at all. It makes sense if he and Betsy are seeing each other on the side." "Did Steve know about that?" I asked. "I'll bet he didn't. He was infatuated with Betsy." I asked Connie about hearing the scream. She was one of the first into the room when Lisa screamed, and I then asked her the pertinent question: "The plates of food Lisa was bringing in... what happened to them?" I asked. Small thing but pertinent, and exceedingly important. "She'd dropped them." Connie answered. "I almost stepped onto the food that was on the floor." "Lisa was standing right there where the food had been dropped?" "Uh, yes sir." Connie said. "She was just standing there, screaming. I don't think she noticed she'd dropped the plates. Not to be flippant again, but there was a dead man in front of her." "True enough." I said. "Thank you, Connie. You were very observant, and very helpful to me." Of course, I thought to myself, the more important point was that Lisa had not moved from where the plates dropped, and that was a very important thing to establish. The Porno Set Mystery Ch. 02 Lisa said that she helped Callie clean up and get dressed, then walked with her to the front room. As she left the back room, she saw Connie setting down the bowl of 'goop' near the makeup table, but did not notice Jay at all. Yes, she had gathered the plates of food and went into the back room, and found Steve lying there on the bed with a knife sticking up like a cock from his groin. She said she saw no one else in the room that she could remember. She did not have any recollection of who came up behind her after she screamed, including Jay, and only after thinking about it did she remember the plates of food, saying she'd dropped them when she saw the body. She repeated that Steve and Jay seemed to work well together. "So you worked on all of Steve's films?" I asked. "For the past year, yes." Lisa said. "I'm a contract star for Steve West Films. I can only work with him, but I was guaranteed paid work. If I wasn't an actress in front of the camera, I was doing makeup or other work behind the scenes at the same pay rate." "Any idea of who might want to harm him?" I asked. "Let me say this." Lisa replied. "Working with Steve could be very good, or very bad, or both. The good was for contract stars like me, and his crews: he paid us on time, he kept his promises to us, he made sure we got fed properly. The bad is that Steve was a perfectionist, and could be very hard on the women, especially in the gangbang and BDSM films. That's part of the industry: the sex is a lot harder, a lot rougher than what you see when you pop in a DVD and press play. Some of those films can be very... very... rough, Officer, very... abusive." Lisa looked hard at me as she said that last part. I was about to ask her to elaborate, but then realized she might be trying to give me a clue without speaking too directly. "How did Steve get along with Jay and Betsy and the non-actors?" "Good." Lisa said. "He was head over heels in love with Betsy, and I think he wanted her to marry him and start a family." "How did Betsy feel about that?" I asked. "I don't think she was ready for a family yet, that's for sure." Lisa said, then caught herself a bit: "She went out with Steve, they were having sex, but I don't think she was nearly as in love with him as he was with her. She's been fucking other guys, too, especially Rod. I think she and Rod would be a couple if she weren't milking Steve's infatuation with her." "Okay, Lisa, thank you." I said. I was saving Callie and Betsy for last; I thought they might have the most to tell: Callie was the most observant, and Betsy was the Manager, the person who essentially ran the show behind the scenes, not to mention the recently acquired knowledge of her love life with Steve and Rod. But things got interesting when Betsy was brought in. "I want to help you guys," she said before I could even say a word, "but I need protection." "Do you want to talk with your lawyer here privately, first?" I asked. The lawyer answered for her, insisting upon doing so. I used the five minutes to use the restroom and get a '5-Hour Energy', knowing I needed the energy boost for what was going to be a long, long night. Then we were invited back into the interrogation room. "My client has a request." said the lawyer. He then nodded to Betsy. Betsy said "That big fat cop, the one who came in after the SWAT teams and made the bust, the one you bitched at about a Union grievance? I've seen him before. He and Steve West met yesterday when we got into town." "Hold it right there, ma'am." I said. I turned and pointed to the one-way glass, which looked like a mirror inside the room. A second later, Cindy Ross poked her head through the door. "Lieutenant, call Internal Affairs, right now. Get someone over here, ASAP." I said. Cindy's head disappeared as I turned to Betsy and said "I'm going to wait a few minutes and ask our Internal Affairs to be present. I want you to talk to them about this situation. And yes, I will protect you if I have to personally guard you myself all night." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "Oh my God, it was awful." said Claire Michaels. "He was pissed at me." She took a long swig of her drink. "Well, at least he didn't reprimand you in writing." said Hugh Hewitt. "He just gave you a written order not to cooperate with Sharples." They were at the Cattleman's Club, having a drink at the bar. Claire had told Hugh of her dressing-down by the Police Commander. "Yeah, it wasn't formal, but he lit into me pretty hard." Claire said. "And I heard that he jumped down Sergeant McCombs throat so hard that it shocked everyone there, even if McCombs did back-talk him. He must be under some really serious pressure." "I'm sure he is." said Hugh. "He's only in his early 30s and he's Acting Chief already. And someone burned his house down, tried to kill him and his whole family, and some of those perps may still be out there. He's got a lot on his mind." "You're right." said Claire. "Think we should talk to the new Sheriff and let him know what's going on?" "Won't be me snitching on a man who carries a crowbar around, not to mention three 'Crowbar's Angels' that love that man and will do anything for him." replied Hugh. "Let's wait and see what happens. If the Sheriff appoints a new Chief pretty soon, then that'll take a lot of the pressure off Don." "Wonder who they'll make Chief?" asked Claire. "Sergeant Charles thinks his dad is going to retire soon, so he won't be taking the job. God help us all if it's Captain Brownlee or Captain Forsyth." "Might be a woman." said Hugh. "Councilwoman Malinda Adams is already making noise about that, and State Senator Woodburn... Senator-to-be, that is... said the same thing in a speech the other day. Might be Captain Harlow or even Precinct Captain Weston." "The Commander will never accept Weston." said Claire. "She got into it with Perlman, and the Commander jumped down her throat about it. From what I hear, the Commander will probably only accept Charles or Benton in the Chief's chair over him. And yes, he pretty much has veto power over that..." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Lieutenant James 'Curly' Goodwin, chief of the Internal Affairs Department, sat next to me as the interview with Betsy commenced. From photographs presented to her, Betsy identified Sharples as the person who had been in contact with Steve West. "Yesterday morning, when we got to the warehouse, that guy was the one Steve talked to. Steve said he was the guy who we were renting the building from." Betsy said. "Does Steve normally handle rentals, or do you?" Goodwin asked. "Something like this, Steve does." Betsy answered. "I found the building while we were in California, but Steve handled all the arrangements of it. I made the hotel reservations, paid for those with a company credit card, but Steve handles the cash transactions. I usually do the hiring of the actors for the films, but Steve pays them in cash unless they're a contract star. And so on." "What hotel are you staying at?" I asked as I typed into my iPhone. I was texting Cindy to get Myron to check and see who owned that warehouse. Goodwin looked surprised at me over my verbal question. "The La Quinta, south of Town." Betsy answered. "We're booked through tonight." "So did any money beyond the rent get paid to the guy?" Goodwin asked. "I don't know." Betsy answered. "Steve paid him in cash. I don't know how much." "Thank you, Betsy." said Goodwin. "Commander, I'm going to go follow up on this, with your permission." I knew that he was realizing that he would not get more from Betsy, and that this was likely going to be a dead end in pursuing Sharples, despite our initial hopes. "Get with Ross and Milton." I said. "They're already running data on the warehouse." I then dismissed Goodwin, who left the room. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "Betsy," I said, "let me ask this: what kind of man was Steve West, and why would anyone want to harm him?" The lawyer whispered something to Betsy, who nodded. "I'm speaking in general terms here." she said. "Steve was a good guy. He took care of me and he took care of his people. He was a really good filmmaker, and he drove the actors hard to get quality scenes. As to enemies: it's a rough and tumble business, absolutely cutthroat, and I don't know what issues Steve might have had with the Mob, with other filmmakers..." She let the sentence hang. "He and Jay got along?" I asked. "Oh yeah, Jay was really good on the cameras for Steve; he really knew what Steve wanted and just did it. They got along very well." Those words struck me, so I asked "Think Jay might have wanted to go into business for himself, as Steve did when he was a cameraman?" "Maybe, but he never said anything to me if he did." said Betsy. "But Jay didn't seem like the entrepreneurial type. Steve had to talk to people, raise money, hire his crew, put his systems in place... that's not easy to do, and I don't think Jay was interested in all that. He liked to shoot film, though, and he was good at getting the best and hottest angles." "You said Steve treated you and his people well, but what about the actors?" I asked. "Are they part of that group? Or were they different?" Betsy replied "Let me explain: First, Steve actually employed quite a few people. Me, his cameramen, his A/V people, his editors, and he contracted with a distribution company in California that he had a part ownership in. However, the only actors that were in his employ were contract stars. Lisa is one of those; she's bound by contract to Steve West Films, and only to Steve West Films. Cassandra, Callie and Bobby Steed are all independent, and are paid by the job, which usually is one film at a time, though we sometimes contract for three being shot all at once." "And he treated those contract stars well, as opposed to the others?" I asked. "Look, Officer," said Betsy, her eyes boring into me, "I'm tryin' to tell ya: the porn industry can be rough. It's not the loving sex or even the cookie-cutter sex the final film product tries to show. The hours are long, the guys are on viagra and maybe other stuff... which I won't elaborate on... to stay hard, and the girls have to take a sexual pounding for hours at a time. We go through tubes of lube like you wouldn't believe. And the BDSM and other rough films Steve was making... those girls really get worked over. Those films are even rougher to make than what you see in the final product." "I understand." I said, my eyes meeting Betsy's. "I'm sure it's not an easy life, either." "Yes... it's hard, Officer." Betsy continued. "Girls are used up like kleenex. They are making two films a week, if not more, and after six months, they're physically damaged to the point they can't go on. If they last a year, they're lucky. They can make $50- to $100-grand, but it's a limited window, and they know it. Some girls, like Callie, are lucky: they get some name recognition, some stardom, they're not contracted, and they can pick and choose a bit more, make more money, get more rest, and last longer. A girl like Callie will leave because she meets a sugar daddy and marries him, or she'll start producing her own films like Jill Kelly did. But most girls are just pieces of meat, and when they're used up, it's all over for them. They go back to the streets and the poles." "I understand. But back to the present: so you're the casting agent, so to speak?" I asked. As Betsy nodded, I asked "So how did that work for this job in Town here? How did you hire them, how did you all arrive, what did you do from the time you got here?" "I put together the cast weeks ago, mostly on Steve's instructions. Everyone had plane tickets to the City from their various homes, and we arranged a shuttle bus to drive them here yesterday, Friday morning. After checking into the hotel, we went to the warehouse, where we did some setting up. Cassandra shot a scene with Bobby Steed, which was really hot because Cassandra was really horny and wanted to get fucked. Then Callie, Lisa, Connie, Rich and Rod, two of the security guys, all came in. Rich and Rod were actors in the rough films sometimes, and behind-the-scenes help or security sometimes. I was a bit surprised at Connie and Rod being here, as they weren't scheduled to work, but that happens all the time." "What do you mean?" I inquired. "Steve will schedule people and forget to tell me. We had the hotel room space for them, so it wasn't a big deal. Rod was asked to do security, and Connie helped me and Lisa out; she was a good 'extra'." "And Steve approves it when you schedule people for jobs?" I asked. "Yes, if he's not running around like a chicken with his head cut off, trying to get something out to meet a deadline. He generally trusts me to go with things, too. I've been with him since he started the company, and it's gone pretty well." Betsy replied. "So please continue: what was the rest of your time here in Town like?" I asked. "Well, we planned the shots for the night at the University dorm, knowing we had to get in there, shoot, and get out before someone called the cops. Someone always calls the cops; can't just mind their own business and leave us alone to get our business done. We went over there, got several hours of shooting done, then we got the scatter alert, which means the cops were on the way. We ran, found places to eat, then came back to our hotel rooms over time. This morning we all were brought back to the warehouse, and you know what happened there." "Okay, Betsy, let me ask this." I said, having saved the best for last. "What was the nature of your personal relationship with Steve West?" Betsy's eyes showed her understanding, and that I must've known, so she did not try to lie. "We were dating." "How seriously?" I asked. "Let me put it this way." Betsy said. "Steve took me out a lot, he wanted us to live together, even talked of getting married and starting a family. I told him I wasn't ready to go that far. So we went out, we had sex, a lot of sex, and that was all it really was." "And Rod?" I asked, hoping to make a hard impact upon her. "Seems people are talking out of turn." Betsy said with some asperity. "But I won't lie to you; I've been having sex with Rod, and with other men, too." "And any other guys with this cast or crew?" I asked. "I fucked Bobby Steed a bunch of times while I was acting, before I became the manager of Steve West Films." said Betsy. "I've never fucked Jay or Rich or the others, though." "And Rod, you were fucking him behind Steve's back?" I asked. "I didn't exactly announce it to Steve," said Betsy, "but I don't consider it cheating on him. It's my body, I can fuck whoever I want with it." "I see. One last question." I said. "Are all your rooms at the La Quinta in one block? All together?" "Uh, yeah." said Betsy. "What floor are they on?" "The top floor, the third." Betsy replied. The lawyer's face was one of being flabbergasted at the question. I turned to him. "I'm going to let your clients sleep in their rooms tonight, Counselor." I said. "They're still detained, they won't be allowed to leave those rooms, I'll have officers on duty guarding the rooms and hallways, but they'll get to sleep in their beds tonight." "They should be out on bail- on their own recognizance." the lawyer sneered. Sheesh, not a shred of gratitude, I thought. "Thank you, Officer, that's good of you." said Betsy. Okay, at least someone understands that I'm trying to make it a bit easier for them... Part 6 - The Long, Hard Night I left the Interrogation Room and starting giving instructions. Paulina Patterson had gotten my text, and had gotten warrants to wiretap the rooms of the crew. We were going to listen in on their conversations this night. To Captain Charles, I ordered that a detail of officers be assigned to transport the crew to their hotel, escort them to their rooms, and to have two officers in the hallway between their rooms and the elevators, two officers on the stair landing nearest them (the rooms being between the hallway officers and stairs), and two officers on the stair landings above and below. Two officers would also be outside watching the guest room windows, though I did not think anyone would try escaping from third floor windows. 'Jay' was not going to be afforded such luxury; he was to be retained in solitary at Headquarters this night, I made sure to add while giving the instructions. I then made one more phone call, and then addressed the porno set crew: "Ladies and gentlemen, you are going to be taken back to your hotel rooms. You may not leave your rooms unless escorted by a police officer, so don't even try. Don't pull a fire alarm, because if you do, the officers will handcuff you behind your backs before taking you out of the building. Food will be provided." I continued. "I also have a request from one of our University's professors. She specializes in sexual studies, and wants to interview all of you, especially the actors, for her work. You do not have to do this, and anything you do say to her is privileged and cannot be used by Police, so you may speak freely to her. She'll be interviewing you at all hours of the night; however, she's paying $200 each in cash for any inconvenience, if you cooperate." Their eyes lit up at the mention of the money. "Okay, I have one interview left, with Callie Carrington." I said. "The rest of you can go with the officers." Everyone filed out, except Callie. "Miss Carrington," I said, once she was alone with me and Cindy, "would you like a tour of our Police Station? And I mean that in a good way, not a bad way." Cindy smiled at Callie, who had been looking at Cindy with starry-eyed lust. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "Wow, nice office." Callie said, looking around at my office as I led her in, Cindy following us and closing and locking the door. "Oh... student of the Trojan War?" Callie had noticed the painting and the matchstick Trojan Horse behind my desk despite the fact that it was dark outside, and only the light of my desk lamp bathed the room in a warm but relatively dim glow. "Just some mementos of an old case." I said, sitting down, and having Callie sit down in the chair in front of my desk, Cindy in the other chair but at an angle that gave her an advantage should Callie try something 'extraordinary', which I did not expect. Callie turned and peered at Cindy again. "It has been bugging the shit out of me," Callie said, "but I finally remembered where I've seen you... you were in those 'Miss Physical America' fitness competitions, weren't you?" "Busted." Cindy said, smiling politely. "Oh, I am such a fan of yours!... and all of those women." said Callie, smiling her beautiful smile. "You're all so fucking hot!" "I'm a big fan of yours, too." Cindy said, and I knew that wasn't just politeness; Cindy meant it. Callie had made some very hot lesbian films as well as mainstream hetero porn, and I could imagine that Cindy and Jenna used them in their 'repertoire' of sexual pleasure. "Mmm, I'd love to get you into a film with me." Callie said invitingly. "You could be a star, like Chyna coming over to us from the Wrestling TV industry. We really have to talk- er, after your Commander's business, of course." Callie said, knowing that I'd brought her here for a reason, and I was ready to get to it. "Yes. And stop trying to steal my officer away from me." I said with a smile, leaning back in my comfortable 'Command Chair', as I called it. "Callie, I brought you here because it's obvious you're a damn sight sharper, more observant, and smarter than the rest of that group, no offense to them. Everything here is essentially off-the-record, I can't use it as evidence since we don't have a lawyer here to represent you. But I'm hoping you'll work with us and help give any clue to who committed this murder." The Porno Set Mystery Ch. 02 "I'll do what I can." Callie said. "But I really don't know anything more than what I told you at the scene." "Well, I have a better idea of what questions to ask," I said, "so are you willing to talk to us in this setting now?" "Sure." said Callie. "First, some background." I said. "How do you get hired to do a film, or a job?" "I have an agent." Callie said. "She gets contacted, and she asks me about the offerings. I choose the ones I want to do and she tells everyone either 'yes' or 'no'." "And you like doing Steve West films?" "Oh yes." Callie said. "The romantic ones, anyway. I've done a couple of the rough ones, but those can be like really getting raped; they hurt, and often the girls doing them come out injured in some way." "Oh really?" I asked. "So do all the actors get hired the same way as you?" "Oh no," Callie replied. "Very few have agents like I do. Most carry business cards and can't wait to give them out to any producer that walks by. Betsy has a bunch of cards, a bunch of names on her list, and she calls in whoever she thinks will be good for a particular film. I like doing the University ones, I get to meet hot college studs and get fucked after the filming is over, so I was glad to do this one." "So were there any surprises in this cast?" I asked. Cindy was peering at us as we talked, and I was glad to see she was working hard mentally to get to where I was on the case. "Not that I know of." Callie said. "I thought we'd have more security, seeing that we were out of Steve's studios and on location at a University. Rich and Rod are porn actors themselves, not really security. And having both Connie and Lisa doing makeup and shit is a bit unusual; usually there's only one make-up person and Betsy helps with that when there's a need, but maybe she was loaded up with the logistics." "That could be." I said. "Callie, do you know of anyone at all, within the group or outside it, that would want to harm Steve West? Anyone, and any reason, for him coming up dead like this?" "No, unless he pissed off a mobster or something." Callie replied. "But if that were the case, I'd have thought Steve would be shot in the head in California, not stabbed in the balls here in this Town." "Good thought." I said. "Want a job on my Detective Squad?" "Mmmm, that's a thought." Callie said. "I'd be a great undercover prostitute for you... except I'd have to work with that fat ass that you're trying to fire." Her observations about Sharples didn't surprise me, and I was only half kidding about offering her a job with us... "What about Betsy and Steve?" I asked, not elaborating further, not needing to. "Oh yeah." Callie said, grinning that beautiful grin. "Steve was so in love with Betsy it wasn't even funny. He wanted her in the worst way. Hell, early on I was trying to get into his pants, as starlets do when they're trying to get work, and he rejected me! Then I saw how he looked at Betsy, and I understood." "She felt that way about him?" I inquired. "Noooo." said Callie. "She was using him like crazy, and why not. He made her his manager, so she's getting paid well and not having to work on her back to make money. I think if he made more money or was rich, she'd marry him, but he hadn't made the big-time yet, so she kept stringing him along. By the way, I will deny ever having told you that. It's talking out of turn, and I'd be blacklisted if they knew I told the Police that." "I understand," I said, "and as I said before, this conversation might as well not be happening at all. So tell me... I have no illusions about the life of porn being an easy one, but was Steve relatively good or tough to work for?" "Relatively good." Callie said. "If you were a good actress and knew what he wanted and did it, it was easy, good work. If you were an airhead idiot or a bitch, it could be hard. Cassandra is so natural, so good at sex, that Steve basically just goes along, er- went along- and filmed whatever she did. Lisa gave him fits, though; he'd constantly bitch at her during shooting when she was the actress on set." "Tell me about these rougher, gangbang films." I said. "Acting, planned out, or 'just do it'..." "Pure hump and pump." Callie countered. "Basically the guys, who are often coked up, just go at a girl while the cameras roll. It can get really rough for the girl if she isn't prepared for it. They take it easier for the anal shots and double penetrations, though; girls can get injured, like 'take-me-to-the-hospital' injured, and we don't want shit like that coming down on us." "Okay," I said, "now I want you to speculate... who do you think might have done this to Steve West? No one can hear us, no one will ever know what you've said. I know some of your colleagues seem afraid to say anything, but you can speak freely here and now." "Yeah, right." Callie said, still smiling beautifully though her eyes twinkled with the slightest bit of contempt. "I'll just say this... pornography is a hard life. We all know it, Steve knew it. It is what it is. And some of Steve's films are... rougher than the rest." I nodded and was about to ask another question, but Callie had other ideas: "Now..." the gorgeous blonde said as she got up and began walking around the desk to me... pulling off her t-shirt, revealing her magnificent breasts. "Why don't we start doing... what you brought me here to do." Cindy had been on edge, but now as Callie squatted and began undoing my pants, my partner said "I think I'll go to the restroom for about ten minutes." She left the room. Meanwhile, I put my gun in the drawer that locks, just in case. But Callie was only interested in my other 'weapon'... my weapon of lust. My cock sprang free, hard and throbbing, as Callie fished it out of my pants. "Mmmm, she said. "Now this is the right tool to interrogate a woman." With that, she opened her mouth and took my hard male meat over her tongue and into her throat. "Ohhhhhh" I gasped. "God damn, that is good!" Callie's mouth was hot, wet and wild. She sucked very hard as her lips slid up my shaft, then scrubbed the underside of my shaft with her tongue before engulfing my throbbing inches again into her sweet, beautiful face. "Mmm, this is good cock." Callie said as she licked and kissed down the underside of my shaft to my balls. She wetted them down with sucking kisses before moving back up and sucking me hard again. "Have a seat, I'm going to be sucking this big thing for a while." I sat down in my chair and Callie was on her knees in front of me, really going to town on my cock. After what seemed like long minutes of the beautiful blonde giving me a deep blowjob, Callie finally stood up and unfastened her pants. I stood up, taking a condom out of its wrapper. Callie unrolled it down my shaft in her warm hands, then sat on the edge of my desk and lay back until she was flat on her back. I slid a couple of fingers past her wet labes and into her cunt. Callie groaned, but did not take that for very long. "I'm already soaking wet, stud. Put that big cop cock inside me!" I walked myself between her legs and did as she asked. "Oh, YES!" she gasped out as I slid my cock into her sopping wet pussy, driving balls-deep until my balls rested against her ass and 'taint'. I could feel the back wall of her pussy, and I wondered how this woman took such large cocks on the porno screen with such ease. "Fuck me, cop, fuck the hell out of me!" Callie ordered. She had pulled her legs back until her pretty feet were high in the air. I took her firm asscheeks in my hands as she rested her legs against my chest, her feet on my shoulders, and began fucking her with hard, driving strokes. We rutted hotly, mating with lusty abandon. Callie was moaning and grinding her pelvis against mine, and I wondered if she was acting or if she was really getting into it. I could feel her cuntwalls clutching at me, and I realized that she was so trained with her muscles that she could make it feel like we were fucking even if I stopped thrusting and didn't move... But no time for that, we needed to finish our mating quickly. I fucked Callie urgently, almost violently, loud smacks filling the room. Just as I felt my nut rise, I heard Callie cry out and her pussy clamp down violently on my cock. It felt like she was trying to push me out, and I pushed into her as hard as I could, making her moan again and clamp down again. Then, with a loud groan, I just let go. I felt my semen firing out, caught by the tip of the rubber I was wearing. After several long pulses of pleasure coursed through me, I backed up a step, letting my cock slide out of the beautiful blonde porn star's steaming wet snatch. "Mmmm, that was good." Callie said, smiling brightly as she took the condom off my cock then bent down and licked my shaft clean. "You made made me come, Commander. That was a really hot fuck." "Yes it was, and I definitely came." I said. "Wish I could've lasted longer, but you're just too good, Callie." "I'll take that as a compliment." Callie replied. "But you lasted longer than some of the guys on the porno sets. You'd be surprised how many times they come within two minutes of shooting, and we have to stop and get them hard again. When you see them come, it looks like their first time, but it might be their second or third, and the money shots might've been taken near the beginning, not the end." That was interesting information, I thought to myself as I slid my pants back up and got myself dressed and presentable. It had been about fifteen minutes, and I used my cell phone to call Cindy and have her come back in. "Oh my God." Callie said, smiling as she saw Cindy. My partner was not dressed in her police uniform, but a white dress with blue 'panels' down the sides, and her clear acrylic high-heel competition slides with clear strap. "I think I'll take a couple of minutes while you guys talk in here." I said, leaving my office to the women. "The couch is very comfortable..." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I was in the anteroom of my own office, using the desk that I wanted to put a personal assistant behind in the coming year. It had a computer hookup, and I was working through some data that Myron had sent me, as well as some further research on Steve West Films. I heard occasional moans from my office, but for the most part it was soundproof... thank God. Nearly an hour after I'd left Cindy and Callie inside alone, the door opened. Callie came out, fully dressed, smiling about as happily as I'd seen her smile, and looking exhausted. "Oh my God." was all she said as her eyes met mine. She then almost ran up to me and slammed her mouth to mine in a hot, hard kiss. She didn't let it go, sliding her tongue into my mouth and forcing my tongue to twine with hers. I could taste what her tongue had been licking for the last hour, that unmistakeable taste of... pussy. Very delicious pussy. Then I realized... it was Cindy's pussy that Callie was making me taste with that kiss. "Your partner is getting dressed." Callie said, her voice a whisper. "She is absolutely the best pussy I have ever had, and I mean ever. Thanks for letting me have her this past hour." "That's high praise... and you're quite welcome." I said. "But we've got to get you back to your hotel room. Get presentable." After Callie checked herself, using the glass of the window from the brighter hallway side, I called the Duty Desk and had two female officers come get Callie and transport her to the hotel. Only then did I go into my office. Cindy was dressed, but her hair and what little makeup she normally wore was a mess. She looked exhausted but extremely satisfied. "I guess I better go back to my office." she said. "I'll sleep on the couch in there." As she passed by me, she turned and said "Thanks for that, Don. That was one... unforgettable experience." With that, Cindy made her way down the hall to her office in a dreamlike state... Part 7 - Psychology at Work At 2:30am, Dr. Laura Fredricson and Dr. Bonnie Karpathian paused in their work to chow down on some coffee and pastries. They were in a hotel room on the same floor as the porn stars and crew, and had been interviewing everyone. "Wow, you're getting a lot of data, here." said Bonnie as she looked over the papers. "Yes, this is a gold mine of an opportunity." replied Laura. "They all answered the survey questions, they all talked about their childhoods and what led them into porn, they've talked a lot about the industry itself. Even Betsy was helpful in talking about the management and paperwork side of it. I really owe my husband for setting this up for us." "Well, if you want reward him with an MFF threesome, I've got just the woman for you." Bonnie offered. "Me." She paused, not knowing how Laura would react. "Ah, you want to get Don inside you, do you?" Laura asked, then smiled brightly. "Well, I think that might be possible in the near future. Don has said that he thinks you're a very beautiful woman." Bonnie smiled her vivacious smile at that. Laura said "As for now, I am going to let Don look at this information, even though he can't use it in Court, nor even to get a warrant for anything. Why don't you take this jump drive with a copy of the files on it to him now?" "Sure." said Bonnie. She took the jump drive and left, but at the door she said "I think Callie Carrington is back." "Yes," said Laura, "speaking of possibilities in women, I've still got to interview Callie Carrington. Thanks for your help, Bonnie, I'll talk to you later." Bonnie left as Laura asked the uniformed officer at the door to please ask Callie to come in, and Callie came inside with her radiant smile, looking fresh and happy despite the lateness of the hour. "Oh, you're the Dr. Fredricson?" Callie gushed. "We had to read your papers when I was in Community College out in California! Well, I shouldn't say 'had to', you're papers were excellent!" "Thank you, that's very kind." Laura said. She had Callie fill out the survey, then talked to the blonde beauty about her (Callie's) life leading to her life in porn. Unlike many women in porn, Callie didn't do drugs. Like a number of women in porn, she had been to Community College and had done stripping, prostitution and porn films to pay for her schooling. Callie had liked the porn industry and been fortunate to acquire a bit of fame, leading to more money for less harsh work. Laura also found herself being steered into discussions about sexual subjects in general, as if she was talking to one of her graduate students. Callie was very interested in the psychology of sexual studies, to the point Laura suggested Callie try to get money and enroll in school somewhere, if not here at the University with her (Laura). "That would be great," Callie said, her eyes twinkling as she grinned mischievously, "except I don't know if your Police Force could handle my presence." Laura laughed. "I think you underestimate their Commander." She saw Callie peering at her. "Oh, that's it!" Callie said, her voice almost a whisper. "That was your picture on his desk... you're married to him! Aren't you? So that's why he set you up to do these interviews..." Laura did not want to admit that she was married to the Police Commander while there was a murder investigation going on involving Callie, but it didn't seem to matter to the hot blonde, who stood up. "Well, Doctor, you are a very lucky woman." Callie leaned over the desk. "And he's a very lucky man, if I'm any judge." With that, Callie leaned forward further and kissed Laura right on the mouth! "Mmmm, that's very good." Callie said. She went over and closed the door to the hallway, then turned and began undressing. "Let's find out how good your really are." Laura found herself being led to the bed, her own clothes coming off. A moment later she was lying on her back, and Callie was easing herself between the older woman's legs... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Bobby 'The Stallion' Steed slid his huge cock into Lisa's pussy as they lay together on their right sides like spoons. On the other bed, they watched as the handsome, muscular stud deeply pumped Brooke 'Cassandra' Monarch in the missionary position. Laura had brought a second assistant, someone that Bobby knew from their mutual membership in the unofficial Sigma Epsilon Chi (SEX) Fraternity. It was Todd Burke, and Cassandra was moaning in deep pleasure as the handsome stud plunged his huge, hard cock into her sopping wet cunt again and again. "Yeah, buddy," said Bobby Steed, "you should come out to California, be in some of our films." "Ohhhh, yeah..." moaned Cassandra, her milky white skin making Todd look tanned. "Oh yes, baby, I'd love to star in films with you. Keep on pumping me with that wonderful cock, baby..." Rod and Betsy were sitting in one of the chairs by the table that was in front of the window, and Betsy was riding Rod's cock in a 'reverse cowgirl' position, their coupled loins on display for all to see. But all the attention was on what was happening on the bed, and the sight of the beautiful Cassandra truly getting her brains fucked out by this hung, handsome young man. Cassandra's moans filled the air as she climaxed hard, only to have another climax start welling up in her. Todd could sense her level of pleasure and adjusted his fucking to match it, and to bring her closer and closer to another violent orgasm. "Ohhhh, I can feel our connection, baby." Cassandra moaned into Todd's ear as he nuzzled her neck. It was true: Todd could feel a connection with Cassandra, just as he'd felt a connection with Jeanine, with Melina... and with his own mother, Elizabeth as he'd fucked them in the past. He didn't know where this mental capacity came from, and he didn't question it; he just used it to bring the woman he was coupling with experience the most intense pleasure that he could possibly give her. Even as he pumped Cassandra, urged on by the others in the room as they fucked each other and watched him, the thought of Teresa 'Cunt' Croyle entered him mind, and how hot and fine she was in bed... then he thought of Cindy Ross, getting a strong vibration from those thoughts. He had no way of knowing that Cindy was climaxing around Callie Carrington's probing tongue even as his own nut was rising. "UHHH! I'M COMING!" Todd gasped. He let it go, climbing Cassandra all the way, then began shooting his huge load into her. Streams of thick, ropy jism fired into the beautiful black-haired woman's clenching cunt as the lovers climaxed together hotly. Some time later, after another long fuck with Cassandra, Todd heard Laura summoning him. He got dressed and left, taking his bag. He had filmed his sexual liaison with the lovely porn star, as Laura had wanted. As they left the hotel, Laura asked "How was it?" "Good. Really good." Todd said. "She's every bit as hot as her reputation. And we had a really deep connection going while we were making love." "Mmmm, that sounds very interesting." Laura said. "Sounds like what your uncle and I reach while making love. By the way, anyone say anything about the crime? Anything that I can pass on to your uncle?" Laura asked. "No. It's like it never even happened with them." Todd replied. "Okay, thanks." Laura said. "Why don't I take you to the Country Breakfast Diner and buy you breakfast?" "It's a date, Aunt Laura." Todd replied. "Though I hope the next time we go to breakfast, it's after I've spent the night fucking and connecting with you." Laura just smiled and assured Todd that his wishes would be coming true very soon... Part 8 - Data Minefield At 6:00am on Sunday, December 28th, Cindy appeared at the door of my office, having changed back into a police uniform. I had her come inside to look at the data that had been acquired. Myron had left several files of data on the servers for my perusal, and I wanted to show Cindy what I'd come up with while she was with Callie. The Porno Set Mystery Ch. 02 "By the way," Cindy said, drinking her coffee, still in a dream state after her tryst with the beautiful porn star, "I was surprised you didn't come inside Callie. I thought you'd leave me a little present, there." "I wouldn't want to eat another man's sperm out of a woman's pussy." I said. "I figured you wouldn't want to, either. Besides, I didn't want to leave that evidence, if you know what I mean." "Yeah," said Cindy, knowing what I meant, "that's a point. But I'm not as adverse to semen as you might imagine. I gave a ton of blowjobs when I was in high school, and swallowed a lot of cum from some of the football players. That was before I realized how much of a lesbian I really was, of course." "I hear ya." I said, then joked "And I'll try to remember that the next time I fuck a woman right before you eat her out. Soooo, back to business: here's the data. First, let me draw your attention to this belt, which is in evidence." I showed Cindy a video shot by a Police cameraman as I examined a black belt in the presence of three police officers. It was Steve West's belt, that had been found on the floor. "Then we have this." I said. I'll condense my report here: Steve West's assets and debts relatively matched; he did not have a ton of equity in his business. He was not the sole owner, he'd listed Jay and Betsy as minority partners, with Betsy having a far larger stake than Jay. His loan was from a company that was relatively shady in California. He did have a will, and the majority beneficiary of his personal assets, which were not many nor extensive, was Betsy. "Gives her motive." Cindy said. "But I'm not seeing the means and opportunity on this occasion." "True." I said. "and this is what I came across last night." I showed Cindy the raw film footage. It was one of the gang-rape films under the 'Black Night' label that was part of Steve West Films. It was in the darkened hallway of a building that looked like a dorm, with white-painted concrete walls. Bobby 'The Stallion' Steed was shown grabbing a woman, pinning her to the wall, and shoving his huge cock up into her pussy. She screamed as he entered her, having to thrust several times to get most of his meat into her. As they were fucking, with several men and some women surrounding the couple, urging him to brutalize her further and harder, Bobby Steed suddenly grunted and then said "Jesus, the bitch just scratched me!" After another couple of strokes, he yelled, "Ow! Goddammit, bitch!" He pulled his meat out of the woman and dropped her hard onto the tile floor. "What the fuck, bitch?" yelled Steve West, coming into the picture. The camera showed him drawing his arm back, then he punched the woman in the face with his closed fist. The *smack* was very loud as he punched her again, yelling "Do the fuck what you are supposed to, you god-damned (deleted) bitch!!" West then ordered Bobby to mount the woman and begin fucking her again. Steed complied, falling onto the girl and shoving his huge cock into her again. The cameras showed his ass rapidly bobbing between the woman's spread legs as he relentlessly drove his meat into her again and again, with others around them chanting for him to really 'fuck that bitch!'. The woman was crying, and every time she screamed out, she was slapped hard by either Bobby or someone else. After Bobby finished, Steve West himself snarled "Get out of the way, I'm going to teach this bitch a lesson!" He unfastened his pants and mounted the woman himself, fucking her hard with his seven or so inches of cock, really trying to make her feel it as he drove in harshly time and again. He hit or slapped the woman multiple times, slapped her breasts, hit her in the head as she screamed for him to get off of her. Steve came inside the woman, then another man who was totally naked mounted her and began fucking her, followed by two other men. At the end of the raw footage, it showed the woman getting up. Her left eye was swollen shut and there was deep bruising forming under both her eyes, some blood was seeping out of her nose. Other bruises were already forming around her breasts. She had been beaten badly during this ordeal. "This is very tough to watch, Don." Cindy said. I understood. Any woman was going to empathize with that rape victim. "That was done about seven months ago." I said. "Here is the finished product, which hit store shelves about a month after the footage was shot." I ran the tape. "They don't show Steve West hitting her or raping her, and after he hit her they don't show much of her face any more. Most other films of this kind have shots of the woman, supposedly shot afterwards, saying it was just acting and she's fine... but not after this scene." "It sure looks like motive there, too." Cindy said. "So we have two suspects." "And means and opportunity... but as you said, only in the case of one of these persons." I said. "We have our killer; we now have to get the proof or a confession. Either is going to be somewhat difficult, but I think we can do something. Here's what we're going to do..." To be continued. Dear Readers, you have all the clues. Who killed Steve West? How was the murder done, and for what reason? Tune in next chapter for the solution! The Porno Set Mystery Ch. 03 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, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player Series, Case of the Black Widow series, Teresa's Christmas Story, The Case of the Black Badge series, A Case of Revenge series, Teresa's Summer Race, The Trilogy series, Dark Side Of The Force series, Caught In The Act series, Case of the Murdered Bride series, The Credit Card Caper series, The Hot Wives Investment Club series, Seriously Inconvenienced, Ch. 1-5, Case of the Paper Trail, Ch. 1-4, Christmas Mystery Theater. The Porno Set Mystery, Ch. 1-3. Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas. This story contains graphic scenes, extreme 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 or racist 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 9 - Moving Forward The lawyer H.J. Lynch, Esq., senior partner of the Chase, Lynch & Berry Law firm, did not like it at all that I was calling him up at 6:00am on a Sunday morning, but I told him that I was about to interrogate Jay and that it was in his best interest to get there within ten minutes, and that I wasn't waiting much longer to make an arrest. He made it in fifteen minutes, pleasantly surprising me. I also told the Duty Desk to send a vehicle and officers to escort Lisa, Betsy and Connie to Headquarters. While we waited, I asked Lt. Tanya Perlman, who had come in already, who she thought had done it, which she correctly surmised meant that I'd solved the case. "I'm not sure who it is, Don." Tanya said, as Cindy watched us. "I don't think I've seen all the evidence you have." "True." I said. "But let me help you: we have three suspects. Who are they?" "Let's see..." said Tanya. "Lisa, who found the body; Jay, who was seen by no one and admitted he was with no one else; and... well, I'm not sure. Oh, wait! Connie Chang was last into the lunch line, and not really noticed by anyone beforehand." "Excellent!" I said. "You've definitely named the only three that might have done it. Everyone else was in the company of others during the very narrow time frame. So, any ideas who it might be?" "For the lack of information," Tanya said, "I'd have to go with Jay." "This might change your suppositions." I said. First, I showed her the video of me examining the black belt. "This belt was the one found on the floor by Steve West. We assumed it was his, and that was my very bad mistake, I'll admit. As you can see, there are two secret pouches inside the belt, either could have concealed the knife that was the murder weapon." "So West brought in that weapon himself?" Tanya asked. "And the killer got the knife from him somehow?" "No, I don't think so." I said. "I think the killer was wearing this particular black belt when he or she came to the set that day. The killer got the opportunity to use the knife on West, then left that belt on the floor and put Steve's belt on and wore it out of the room. So one of the belts we examined was actually Steve's, and we found no pouches, but we didn't look at the belt found next to Steve. Very bad of me, folks, very bad." "But you did get to it, eventually." Cindy said. "Yes." I said. "And it shows we have a tremendously smart killer to deal with... who was smart enough to switch belts with Steve. So I have the raw footage of that day, and we can look to see if someone is wearing a belt that is not quite exactly like the belt we confiscated during the changes of clothes during processing. Otherwise we have an exact belt match, which will be a strangeness in and of itself." "That doesn't really eliminate nor point to any of our suspects." Tanya said. "True, but this does." I said, showing her the the raw footage of the gang-rape video. "Jesus Christ..." Tanya said softly as she watched. Even the policewoman who ate popsicles while watching autopsies in progress was disturbed by what she was viewing... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "Okay, Jay," I said in Interrogation-1 as he settled into his chair, the lawyer next to him, Lt. Perlman next to me on our side of the table, "the same conditions apply as before: you can re-invoke your Fifth Amendment rights at any time, but that's up to you. I just have one question for you: you did not kill Steve West... but you saw who did do it, didn't you?" Jay's eyes practically came out of his skull. "No, I didn't." he finally said. "Jay, Jay, Jay." I said. "Look dude, you only had to pee, not take a dump. You came back into the room and Steve West was lying on the bed, dead, and you saw the killer leaving... didn't you? You saw her take certain actions that if you described them, would help me prove who the killer is... and that it's not you." Jay's eyes widened again. "What, were you there?" The lawyer groaned, burying his face in his hands as I looked triumphantly at him. "I need a moment with my client." he said. We gave them five minutes before returning. It is possible that I did some victorious fist-pumping in the anteroom as we waited, while Cindy and Tanya grinned and tried not to laugh out loud. Back inside, the lawyer said "We need a deal, here." "I don't see why." I said. "Jay's innocent, and with his statement I can prove the perp's guilt. What does Jay have to fear?" "C'mon, Commander," Lynch said, "any good defense lawyer will say Jay is making this up just to save his own skin. I want him to have immunity from prosecution before he gives his statement. If you really think he's innocent, you should have no problem with that." "I need more." said Jay. "I need witness protection. If I give my story and I testify, the Mob will kill me just for being a snitch. That's why nobody is saying anything to you, Officer. Anyone talks, they die, even if it is to take a murderer off the streets. That's the way it is in this business." "I believe you." I said. "And when our ADA gets here, I think he will accommodate you." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ADA Franklin Washington had come in at my request, and he did indeed give Jay immunity as well as an agreement to put him into Witness Protection. Jay gave his story, which was that he saw the killer stab the knife into the dead Steve West's groin, then pull off West's belt from his pants and wear it out of the room. "Yep." I said to Washington after Jay was taken out of the room. "He knew of the belt being exchanged. He didn't realize how strongly that exonerated him." Franklin smiled at my strong chain of reasoning, the links holding up well. The other people that I had asked for had been brought to the Station, and were in Interrogation-A on the other side of the building. I instructed them to put one of the people in a holding cell until I was ready, then to bring Lisa to Interrogation-1. "Lisa," I said when she arrived, H.J. Lynch watching as her attorney, "you found the body. You were alone with Steve West when you went to serve the food, weren't you? So why couldn't it have been you that did it?" "Are you kidding?" Lisa said. "You think I'm The Flash or something?... how could I have had time to cut him up that many times? Ask anyone, I screamed when I saw him lying there... it could only have been a second or two..." "I agree." I said. "And I don't think you murdered him. I just want to confirm what you told me earlier: you never saw Jay, and you did see Connie putting down the bowl of goop." "Yeah, that's right." Lisa said. "Then Callie and I went into the front room and got in line for lunch." "And how long was it before Connie got to the line?" "Uhhh, she was just getting in line when I made the plates for Steve and Jay... couple of minutes, I dunno." "Lisa, you said you've done some of the BDSM films for West. Did you do any gangbang or simulated rape films for him?" "A couple." Lisa said. "Did West have sex with you himself during any of those shoots?" "No." Lisa said, her eyes growing wary. "I only made love with Steve off-camera, never on camera or 'professionally'." "During these what I'll call 'rough' films..." I asked, "did anyone ever hit you, and by that I mean did someone deliver a closed-fist punch to your face or body, or slap you so hard that it injured you?" "Not really." Lisa replied. "They slapped me, and it stung, but it wasn't hard enough to really hurt me." "Not even to leave a bruise?" "Not to my face, though one of the guys really squeezed and slapped my tits, and I got some bruising there. Nothing serious." "So it would be abnormal, even in these rape films, to hit a woman hard enough to seriously injure her?" "I can only say it never happened to me." said Lisa. "Ah, so it did happen to someone else?" I said, giving her a 'gotcha' look. "That's not what I mean." Lisa said, somewhat defiantly. "What I mean is that I don't know for sure if anything else happened to any other women, and I'm not going to say definitively that it never happened and then have you say I'm lying to police because you found a case where it did happen. Some women got fucked in the ass, and that can cause damage if they're not careful. Some women liked it rough, and may have been slapped around harder. Steve went as far as he could without overstepping. He asked me for my limits before we started, and he generally honored them, though he went to the edge at times." "Well, I'm not trying to trick you into any 'lying to police' issues, Lisa." I said, as reassuringly as I could. "But I want you to watch this video, and tell me if this is the norm." I had Tanya show the video. Lisa watched, her face increasingly becoming a mask of horror as she watched. "Oh God," she said, "I never... oh God, I never saw anything that bad." Then I saw the light hit her eyes as she realized who the killer of Steve West was... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I had Cindy come in for the next interview, but said I'd be giving more instructions later. "Thank you for coming in, Connie." I said, having her sit down next to the lawyer Lynch, who was becoming something between nervous and exasperated as I worked up to the final announcement of who the killer was. The pretty Asian woman looked at me impassively. "Connie, my partner Lt. Ross here has two black belts in various martial arts." I said. Connie's eyes lit up and she smiled just a bit, as she looked at Cindy. "Are you a black belt in anything, Connie?" "No sir, I'm a brown belt in-" Connie said, naming one of the martial arts forms. I then asked Cindy to explain the basics of that form of the martial arts, which she did. Free-flowing movements were a big part of it. "I see." I said. "Lt. Ross, would you please step outside and ask Detective Washington and ADA Washington to come in, please? You and Lt. Perlman can grab some breakfast if you don't want to watch the interrogation." Cindy seemed surprised, but did as I asked. A few moments later the Washington brothers came in, and I could barely tell them apart though they were not twins. "I need to show you some video, Miss Chang." I said. The raw footage of the rape scene came on. Connie quickly turned her head from it, refusing to watch. "That is you, isn't it, Miss Chang?" I asked. Indeed, the woman being violated and abused on the film was indeed Connie Chang. "I have nothing more to say." Connie said. "I am invoking my rights to remain silent." "And well you should." I said. "But allow me to tell everyone what happened, and you'll just correct me if I go astray, okay?" I leaned forward slightly and began my tale. Part 10 - The Solution "Miss Chang, Steve West hated you. He hated your guts. He called you a 'Chink' every chance he could, he berated you, he could not understand why you kept getting hired for his films, but there you were. You filmed several romantic scenes, which were very good- my wife likes them very much- but then West rather suddenly decided to use you in one of his rape films, totally to your surprise." "He had you assigned as an extra, but then had Bobby Steed grab you and begin forcing sex upon you. You scratched at him as you tried to get away, and that earned you being thrown to the floor. West was furious with you, expecting you to go along with the filming, and he hit you very very hard several times, injuring you." "He then had Bobby Steed continue to rape you, and he was so worked up that he raped you himself after Bobby finished, hitting you as he violated you." I said. A tear was forming on Connie's face as I talked, but I went on relentlessly. "The rape went on several minutes, as this film shows." I said. "You were in pretty bad shape afterward. You had to take time off; you certainly could not be seen on film with those injuries to your face." "Once you healed, though, you began asking Betsy for work... because you secretly wanted revenge on West for what he did to you. Betsy hired you as an extra twice, but you never had a chance to be alone with West to kill him... with the knife secreted in your belt. Your purse might be searched for weapons, but you did not expect your belt to be examined, and I must admit it was a brilliant way to bring a weapon to the set." "This time, you came on as an extra even though West was telling Betsy to not hire you any more. Even after raping you, he was insulting you, calling you names and racial epithets again, and he really had hoped the rape and the bad treatment would make you go away." "So this time, you had a chance... after everyone went to lunch, Jay went to the bathroom, and there you were, alone with him. You had your knife out in a flash, and you ran up to him and got him in the neck where he could not scream out. He tried to hit back, but your martial arts skills allowed you to move very fluidly as you continued to stab him... I've been recently studying methods of samurai sword combat in ancient Japan, and your pattern was familiar to me as well as to Lt. Ross... and he finally fell onto the bed. You slit his throat fatally, you stabbed him in the heart to make sure, then you opened his pants and left the knife in his groin, cleaning it off with the sheets." "Opening his pants wasn't just to stab the knife there; you needed his belt. You left your belt with the knife pouch there, and took his belt and put it on, wearing it. That was a very smart trick, but we think the DNA we've recovered on both belts will prove the swap." Connie's eyes fell as I said that. "You then hurried to the front room and got in line to get food, and just in time: only seconds later Lisa began making plates for Steve and Jay. She went into the other room, screamed, and you rushed with everyone else into the room and saw the body." "It's going to be hard to prove this, Commander." said the lawyer, though his face showed he knew his client was defeated. "Not really, Counselor." I said. "Connie, we have a witness, someone who did see you commit the crime. Who it is will come out in the discovery phase for your trial, but along with the other evidence we're rapidly acquiring, we'll have a death penalty case. I'd suggest you and your lawyer begin conferring with ADA Washington about a plea deal before the arraignments on Tuesday morning." "Commander," said the lawyer Lynch, "I need to see you and the ADA privately for a few moments. Miss Chang, don't say a word to them until I advise you to." I called Cindy and Tanya back into the room; of course they'd watched from the anteroom. "Take Miss Chang back to her holding cell." I said. "Counselor, why don't we go to the Conference Room?" After Connie was escorted out, we went through the anteroom and the hallways of Headquarters to the main conference room. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "As I told you before, Commander," said the lawyer Lynch, "the other guy's statement is just a 'he said, she said' situation. That's reasonable doubt. And do you really think a jury is going to coldly convict this woman after we show the tape of what was done to her? Death penalty case? Really? I'm expecting an acquittal. You may be lucky to get a hung jury." "Aggravating circumstances." I said. "She came here with a knife secreted in her belt with the premeditated intent to kill Steve West. She stalked him, hunted him down, and butchered him." "And then there's 'guilty but insane'." said Lynch, and I began wondering why he was working this hard... it wasn't just a lawyer doing a conscientious job for his client. "After what's shown on that video, we could make that case, too." "And have her sent to the Asylum?" I asked. "You know what happens to women there." "Which you have effectively stopped, Commander." the lawyer shot back. That one, I had to concede. "We need to talk about this one." said Franklin Washington, to me. "Don't waste too much more of my time." sneered the lawyer. "I'm going to go back and confer with my client." I had a Uniformed officer escort the lawyer back to Interrogation-1." "He may be right." said Franklin. "If he gets even one woman on the jury, I don't know if we can get a unanimous conviction." "I'm even more worried about witnesses." I replied. "We have Jay in Witness Protection, and therefore we can get him back to the stand. But the minute we let the rest of them go, we will never get them back here." "So what do you want to do, Commander?" Franklin asked. "Put her on trial, for malice murder with aggravating circumstances." I said. "Go for the death penalty, make these bastard lawyers work their asses off. I suspect they don't want to work that hard pro bono, and she might just see reason and take a plea. What are you prepared to offer her?" "The best I can do in any situation is 25-to-life with possibility of parole." said Washington. "By the way, why am I in here instead of Paulina Patterson?" I just smiled. "For the same reason I sent Ross and Perlman out while questioning Ms. Chang. All right, I have one more person waiting in Interrogation-A. I want you to watch." Part 11 - Wait! There's More! I informed Lynch that I was going to talk to Betsy, and he demanded I wait until another of his lawyers arrived. A woman arrived at 9:00am, claiming to be the Chase, Lynch & Berry counsel for Betsy. Sheesh. "Okay, Betsy." I said as Cindy Ross and I took our seats on our side of the table. "Let's watch some TV." I showed the video of Connie being brutalized. Both Betsy and the lawyer turned their heads, unable to watch for more than a few seconds. "Betsy," I said, "would you mind telling me why, after that happened, you would even consider hiring Connie to be on a set anywhere near Steve West again?" "As bad as that looked, Commander," Betsy replied, her eyes becoming shrewd and cunning, "it's what the porn industry is. Connie knew it, and when she came back, obviously for money, I didn't think about it. But to answer your question: I felt sorry for her, and I wanted to get her some work to get her some money." "Yeah, right." I said. "I'll tell you what I do think, Betsy. I think Steve West was hopelessly in love with you. I think you used his feelings for you to wrap him around your little finger. You had him make a will leaving his personal assets to you, but that was only the beginning of it: you got him to give you a stake in his company. Now that he's dead, you get his company, you get a free inroad into making films. You've got Jay as your cameraman; all you need to do is make promises and string him along. Above all else, you don't have to start from scratch." The Porno Set Mystery Ch. 03 "You knew what happened with Connie Chang." I continued. "You kept hiring her even though Steve hated her guts. He didn't quite understand why you kept bringing her back in, but he was so in love with you that he overlooked it, or else you gave him a quick fuck to appease him-" "Commander, that's inappropriate!" gasped the lawyer. "Is it, Counselor?" I asked derisively. "What's really inappropriate is that Betsy here kept bringing Connie back into Steve's presence, knowing Connie was looking for a chance to kill Steve. Who else made sure of the schedules so that Connie was on set? But more importantly: who else but Betsy here could arrange to make sure Steve wore a belt that was exactly like Connie's with the knife in the pouch?" "I loved Steve." said Betsy. "You have a funny way of showing it, lady." I said. "You were fucking Rod behind Steve's back; in fact, you kept hiring Rod even after Steve said Rod wasn't needed. I don't know if Steve knew that, but I also know it was Lisa, not you, bringing Steve plates of food, which you'd be doing if you cared a whit about him. Lisa was the one working her ass off to make Steve's job and life easier, while you were skimming money off the top of his business, not to mention hiring people he didn't want. The FBI and my own Detectives are looking into Steve West Films's finances, Betsy; I can't wait to see what they find." Betsy's face had become sullen as I poured it on. "So I have you for conspiracy to commit murder, Betsy. You're under arrest on that charge. Officer Green, take her to the same detention cell Connie is in." Officer Lydia Green followed my instructions to the letter. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I spoke to Connie in Interrogation-1 one more time, with her lawyer present. "Connie," I said, "I've just arrested Betsy for conspiracy to commit murder. I know she helped you to get to West and murder him, so that she could take over the company. But Connie, there's only one deal on the table, as ADA Washington here will tell you. Either you take his offer, or she will, and her testimony will be more than enough to get a death penalty case for you." "You're full of it!" gasped Lynch. "Connie, don't say a word, not one word." "Connie, you're all alone here." I said, my voice harsh and severe. "Everyone else is going home, leaving you to your fate. They don't give a shit about you; hell, they'll let you rot if they can just get themselves away from here." "Stop it, Commander, that's police harassment." said the legal beagle. "I want to talk to my client alone... now." "Counselor, it's feeding time here at Headquarters." I said. "Your client is going back to her cell. You can talk to her again after she eats. Officer Green, take Connie back to her cell." Officer Lydia Green escorted Connie back to her cell. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "You better not say one fucking word." whispered Betsy as they ate their eggs and hashbrowns. "They have no chance of proving anything on me, and if you keep your mouth shut you'll likely get off, too. But if you say a god-damned thing, they'll get you in prison. They'll carve you up like you carved up Steve. I'll make damn sure of it." Connie said nothing, and Betsy sat back, lost in her own thoughts. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * At 2:00pm, Connie broke. "I will accept your offer." she said, meaning the 25-to-life with parole on the table. She silenced H.J. Lynch and stated a confession, detailing her actions in murdering Steve West, including swapping the belts. "What about Betsy?" I asked. "Did she help you?" "I did this alone." Connie said. "I committed this crime, without help. There was no one else involved, at all." "She's taken the deal, Commander." Lynch said, his voice gravelly. "That's all you get." Again I wondered why this guy was working so hard to protect these guilty clients; it was not just zeal for the law or hatred of Police. But I'd have to think about that later. "Good enough." I said. "Miss Chang, I'm sorry about what happened to you. I'm even sorrier that you reacted as you did. Keep safe in prison and mind your manners, and when the time for your parole comes, I'll give a good word for you." I got up and left, leaving Franklin Washington to do the paperwork with Connie." Part 12 - Aftermath and Solution An hour later, Betsy was released. Without Connie's cooperation, there was no chance of proving what I knew to be true about Betsy's role in the crime. But I had what I wanted: Connie's confession. "See you around." Betsy said to me, sneeringly, as she gathered her belongings at the Processing front desk. "I hope not, Betsy." I said. "You're a very intelligent person, and I expect you will do well in whatever you do in life. But make sure, Betsy, that you don't do it in my County while I am a Police Officer on this Force. I'd suggest you never enter my County again." Betsy and her lawyer both glared at me, but I think she understood the seriousness of my admonition. Jay was taken to County Jail for processing and preparation for being taken into Witness Protection. The rest of the porno set cast and crew were brought back to Headquarters, having had to check out of the hotel. My wife Laura had arranged to swap their flights for ones later in the evening, and had also arranged a shuttle to take them back to the City to catch those flights. "See you around, Commander, Lieutenant." Callie Carrington said to me and Cindy as she left. "This is one hot rockin' County. I'll be back; it's been fun, here." "Just don't bring a porno set crew with you." I said. Cindy and I watched as the group left and loaded into their shuttle van. "She was a great piece of ass." Cindy said when we were back in my office and alone. "But I think I'm happy to have what I've got at home." "Jenna's happy with what she's got, too." I said. "Laura and I swap, but that's not for everyone." "Neither is porn." said Cindy, most astutely. "Okay, where do we go to celebrate solving this case?" * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I called for barbecue to be delivered to the Mountain Nest, and we had an impromptu party Sunday evening. Laura had said she wanted to entertain at the Mountain Nest, and she seemed to enjoy doing it tonight. Present were her, myself, our babies Carole and Jim, Bonnie Karpathian, Cindy, Jenna Stiles, Tanya and Baby Pete, Tim Geiger, Theo Washington, Franklin Washington, Molly and baby Ross, and of course my mother Phyllis. Molly was going to have to drive back to Midtown tonight, so this was a farewell party for her. Leonard Sharples had not been invited. "You know the deal, Commander," Cindy said after we ate, "I ask how you solved it, and you tell us. So, how did you solve it?" A chorus of encouragement came my way. "Well," I said, "after I dealt with the military-style crushing of those poor porn stars, I noticed quite a few things. Of course the crime was extremely brutal, but after hearing the stories I realized that it had to have been done in a very, very short amount of time. I also knew that we had to act fast before everyone fled the jurisdiction. It was the speed required to get this solved that made it challenging." I paused, then continued: "It was a fairly easy process of elimination to understand that only Lisa, who found the body; Jay, who had used the bathroom; and Connie Chang, who was last in the food line and by a good bit; could have had the opportunity to commit the crime. I certainly could not eliminate Jay, but I put myself in his place: if I was going to murder Steve West, wouldn't I want to be seen going to the restroom, or create some sort of alibi? Jay had absolutely none; in fact, his actions were such that he almost became the primary suspect." "Almost?" Cindy said, rather acerbically. I understood what she meant. "Yes," I said, "but unlike what idiots like Sharples would do, we continued to look, knowing that it wasn't that simple." Even Geiger smiled at my insult of Sharples. "I saw the knife in West's groin, and I made two deductions: first, that whoever had done this had some deeply personal hatred to leave the knife in his groin like that... with all due respect, Bonnie and Laura, I don't need the considerable expertise of the University Psychology Department to see that one..." Everyone laughed. "And second," I went on, "I correctly surmised that the knife could've been brought in secreted in a belt. We'd seen something like this before with the Brody/Black Badge case, so we had experience and knowledge there. But I thought I was wrong, because our killer very astutely had thought of that, also... and had changed her belt with Steve West's. That was an excellent touch on her part." "Do you really think Betsy helped Connie with that? Getting Steve to wear the same kind of belt so that Connie could change it out?" asked Franklin Washington. "It's certainly a logical possibility, and Betsy's face when I mentioned it was not one of innocence." I said. "But it's impossible to prove without a confession somewhere. At any rate, as I interviewed the suspects, a few threads kept popping up. One was that Steve adored Betsy, but his love was not exactly reciprocated. I could tell that from hearing that Lisa, not Betsy, was thinking enough of Steve to make a plate of food for him while he worked." "That's a good observation, Son." said my mother. "Very small thing, easily overlooked, but you caught it." "Definitely easily overlooked, and I don't mind admitting it." Cindy said. Tanya and several others nodded. "Thanks, Mom, but let me get back to the story. Seeing the knife in West's groin suggested to me, as it did to Bonnie, that there was a sexual nature of this crime, and one of personal wrongdoing. So I'm already thinking that West abused one or more of his porn actresses, and this was payback. I asked a lot of questions in that direction, as you'll recall." I went on: "I also had made an observation of the plates on the floor. That gave me the idea to ask if Lisa, who everyone said was carrying the food, had dropped them there. It actually was a way to exonerate her: if she sees the body, drops the food, and stays immobilized, that would be very natural. And indeed, it was Connie Chang herself that said she observed Lisa standing between two plates of dropped food." "So that left... Connie." I said. "I didn't see how anyone else was left alone in that short a period that could've carved up West. So I haven't even left the crime scene and I'm looking at Connie as my primary suspect. I let everyone else think it was Jay to keep Connie from realizing I was on to her." "But I didn't have motive for Connie and I need that... and in a very short time." I said. "As soon as we released these people, they'd be long gone and never seen again, so we didn't have days to research this. But there I had some good fortune. I think most of the people there had an inkling that Connie was guilty... and why. But as was pointed out to me by Jay, snitches are dealt with harshly in this Mob-dominated industry. Even if it was for the good, anyone who said it was Connie might have been in trouble themselves." "Having said that, I realized everyone was giving me clues by telling me how harsh the porn industry was. Yeah, it is... but Jay, Lisa, and Callie all made points to say it. So, what with the knife sticking out of West's groin, I'm again thinking to look for someone who was abused or wronged by West, someone who was treated harshly by the industry, particularly Connie." "No wonder you found that tape so fast." Cindy said. "You knew who to look for." "Exactly." I said. "And as soon as I found it, I knew we had motive as well as means and opportunity. I then began interrogating her, having Cindy sit in so that I could mention martial arts. She fell hard for that; her face gave her away, and she admitted being a brown belt. So I knew from that second on that I was right. After that, it was just a matter of getting Connie to confess, and that was tricky in and of itself." "How did you get her to confess?" Franklin Washington asked. "I really thought her lawyer would keep her from confessing, and he definitely had chances with a well-picked jury." "Yes." I said. "What I did was turn to my wild card: that Betsy was involved. I had Betsy put in the same holding cell with Connie, and they did have some brief words. I think Betsy let Connie know about what happened and would happen to snitches. Now Betsy was never going to talk; she was well aware that there was virtually no way I could prove to a jury that Betsy was involved. But I thought Connie might break and throw Betsy under the bus. Well, Connie confessed but wouldn't implicate Betsy. So Connie gets a reduced sentence, she'll be out of jail in ten years, maybe less, and she gets to live since she did not snitch on Betsy." "You were right about nobody caring, either." Cindy said. "Nobody at all asked about Jay or Connie when they were being outprocessed. They might have heard that Connie was the culprit, but they didn't ask about Jay, either. Out of sight, out of mind." Laura was nodding at that. "Yep." I said. "it's a harsh industry, and everyone looks out for number one exclusively. Any other questions?" "Just one." Tanya asked. "I still don't understand why you eliminated Jay as a suspect, and especially how you thought he saw the crime take place." There was a murmur of agreement with the question. "Let me first say," I replied, "that I did not eliminate Jay as a suspect. In fact, I kept him separated and isolated in a holding cell because it was as likely as not that he had done it. But I still was looking at Connie, and had I disproved her as the killer, I'd have been right back to him. But of course, Connie began standing out like a lighthouse on a stormy night." "As to him seeing it..." I said, "that was something of a longshot, but I realized that he did see it and likely immediately knew that he himself was in trouble. He couldn't join the group from the other side; people might notice how late he joined. He then said he was taking a dump instead of peeing, to make it sound like he was in the john longer than he was. He was scared shitless, pun not intended, and tried to bluster about taking the Fifth immediately, hoping others would do the same and not mention that he was not with the group. "He had to see where he stood, and found he was alone without help. In other words, it occurred to me that his own actions suggested he may have seen something. Had he not, I doubt he'd have blustered so much. So I brought it up and his eyes lit up, and so it goes." "I want to sit next to you at the blackjack table." said Franklin Washington. "I want to thank you for going along with me during the interrogation process." I replied. "That reminds me," said Cindy, "I appreciate Franklin for sitting in, but he's normally the Vice ADA. Why did you have him instead of Paulina, Commander? And for that matter, why did you send me out after the martial arts discussion?" "I wanted Connie to feel very alone and abandoned." I said. "If she'd seen the sympathy on your face, on Tanya's face, or Paulina's face over the way she was raped, she might feel she could use that sympathy to her advantage. Ergo, I stacked the deck with men." "Smart." said Bonnie Karpathian. "Absolutely politically incorrect, but smart to do." "I was willing to go to a jury though, Franklin." I said. "Juries are smarter than people think they are, and I was willing to take chances that they'd see it was premeditated murder despite the mitigation of the rape. I was more concerned about the 'guilty but insane' attempt that Lynch was going to try, and yes, that is what he was going to try." "Well, you've racked up another one, Don." said Tanya. "And in 24 hours. I think I'll take baby Pete home and let you guys get some sleep." "I do have some questions." Cindy said. "One of them is: 'Why did Steve West hate Connie Chang so badly?'. And-" "You and I will talk about that tomorrow." I said to Cindy. Part 13 - Epilogue "This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" said the lovely redhead reporterette at 7:00am on Monday morning, reporting from in front of the warehouse where West's body had been found. "Channel Two News has learned that one Steve West, owner of adult film company 'Steve West Films', was found dead at this location on Saturday morning. On Sunday morning, Police arrested one Connie Chang, one of the actresses in Mr. West's various adult films. Channel Two News has confirmed that Miss Chang has confessed to the murder of Mr. West. No other persons are implicated in the murder." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The next day I sat with Jack Muscone and Cindy at the Cop Bar, where Jack was enjoying a "Jack's Double Cheeseburger", his most very favorite menu item, so much so that the owner of the bar named it after him. "I heard John Cummings is selling his business to the Cosby Brothers." Cindy said. "John's moving to near Lake Amengi-Nunagen to run a store up there, and Joanne is pissed off about it." "I heard a couple of rumors myself about that." I said. "Katherine Woodburn successfully ran him off." Cindy sighed. "Out of the frying pan, into the fire. I thought Nathan Allen was bad-" "Well," I said, interrupting her, "Katherine Woodburn hasn't raped any underage girls that we know of." "True." Cindy said. Jack just kept eating his double cheeseburger, so I brought the point of the lunch to the fore. "Cindy," I said, "you asked yesterday about why Steve West hated Connie Chang so badly. I have a possible answer for you, which is what I wanted to talk to Jack about, also. So let me ask, Cindy: did you notice any other peculiarity about Steve West Films?" "I did notice that Connie was the only non-white in the group." Cindy said. "No blacks, no Hispanics, either. But that's not totally unusual in the porn industry, so I've learned from research this morning. Blacks have their own porno companies, and interracial scenes are usually done by the bigger industry companies." "True." I said. "But we have four points of interest here. First, Steve West Films, or I should say Steve West himself, was white-only. Steve hated Connie precisely because she was an Asian woman. Second, the shady company that helped finance Steve West Films, has been discovered. I'm sure Jack has heard of them." I named the company. "Oh, yes." Jack said knowingly. "They have associations with the Superior Bloodlines group. We think West's financiers have been doing some money laundering for Superior Bloodlines out in California, and it's more than a coincidence that West went to them for money... or maybe they even went to him to have someone to launder money through. My people will certainly be working on that." "Yes." I said. "And what's more, that partially explains why nobody wanted to talk to us. They're not afraid of the traditional Mobs over snitching; that was a crock from the get-go. However... if it's this Superior Bloodlines group, the guys who were behind two people being found hanging on meat hooks, as happened in our Black Badge case, then I can understand their fear. I paused and then said "It really is too bad that I couldn't detain Betsy here. I think she knows a lot more than she was letting on." "Callie, too." Cindy said. I peered at her as she said "Callie knows a hell of a lot more than she's saying, too. And she didn't get to be an independent and relatively wealthy porn star just by being better in bed than the rest." I just smiled and nodded. Jack caught on, too. "I think Cindy's been learning a lot more from you and your mother than she let's on, Don." said Jack. The Porno Set Mystery Ch. 03 "She has a crowbar." I replied. "And there's a reason for that." "I try, Jack, but I'll never be a Troy." Cindy replied. "Don, you did say there were four points?" "Oh yes," I said, "and the third point ties into the second: why the legal beagles were working so hard for these perps. I think they were hired and paid exceptionally well behind-the-scenes to help these people. Maybe they hoped to have any possible case break down so that it would all go away, and Superior Bloodlines and the West financiers would be protected. In any case, that legal beagle was working wayyyyy too hard to just be wanting to help against the Police." "And the fourth item," I said, "is something for us local cops on the beat to glance into. Betsy said that Sharples was West's contact for renting the building for illicit purposes, that he was the one West rented from. However, the building belongs to another name familiar to us... Thomas P. Cook, of the Town & County Council, and from whom the Police Force bought the First Precinct building. There's much to infer from these facts, n'est pas?" "Wow, yes." Cindy said. "Maybe the lawyer was working hard on Thomas Cook's behalf?" "Could well be." I said. "And what else?" "Sharples is working for Cook?" Cindy continued. "Possibly. Even likely." I said agreeably. "And what else?" "I..." Cindy said, thinking about it. "I guess I'm not seeing it." "The Eightfold Fence." I said, referring to the ancient Japanese poem, but I knew Cindy would get it. "Ohhhhh." she said, getting it. "Mr. Cook was one of the eight people in the room." "Uhhh... do I get clued in on this?" asked Jack Muscone, not understanding. I said "Cook was one of the people in the room when I talked about putting in the servers at Precinct Two... which led to that night that the Corrigan Boys were going to visit to wipe me out, except that Taichi-sama got in their way..." "Ah, I see." said Jack. "So maybe this Thomas P. Cook bears watching?" "Indeed, Agent Lestrade, indeed." Cindy said. That got both of us a 'look' from Jack's small but penetrating eyes. "She said it, not me." I said, but both Cindy and I were chuckling. Jack just finished the rest of his delicious double cheeseburger. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The final Town & County Council meeting of the year was wrapping up on the evening of Tuesday, December 30th. As Councilman Thomas P. Cook gathered his papers and put on his coat, he was approached by Councilman Reginald B.F. Lewis, who was black and representing the primarily black district of the Town. "Nice deal you got for that building for the First Precinct, Thomas." Lewis said. "Yes, it was." said Cook. "Of course, you're the one who drove precincts into happening, Reginald, especially the Second Precinct for your district. That's going to bring a lot of plums your way." "True, true." said Lewis. "I have to admit, I didn't think the Police Commander would be so... receptive to precincts, but he went along with it, and he's even making a good faith effort to work with my people on police-related matters." "Yes, but be very careful about that." said Cook. "The Iron Crowbar has a reputation of seeing much farther than most people. Griswold was a dumb fuck, he couldn't handle what was going on in this County, and what's really going on in this County now. But the Iron Crowbar? He scares me, Reginald. He really does have me looking over my shoulder." "And well you should be." Reginald Lewis said, then dropped his voice. "And that's what I want to mention to you, just between us... be very, very careful about that fat cop Sharples doing that side work for you. The Iron Crowbar is watching him, and worse, Sharples is really hated among my people. He's made some deals with my people, took money, then turned around and arrested them. And not like a sting operation, either; Sharples is pocketing the money and denying he was given anything. Lewis dropped his voice even more as he continued: "He's playing both ends, and he's going to pay for that one day. I can't hold my people back if they get pissed off enough, even if Sharples *is* a cop and it would bring down the wrath of the Crowbar." "So why are you telling me this, Reginald?" Cook asked. "Just to let you know, Thomas." said Lewis. "Sharples is dirty, but he's stupid, too. Don't let him cause you problems. I'd even go so far to suggest, friend to friend, that you disassociate from him completely." "I appreciate you mentioning that to me." said Cook. "I'm already taking steps to do that, too. You're right that Sharples is no help, and could actually cause my operations trouble." He then said more loudly as others approached them "But enough of that, Reginald. Let's head on out with everyone else." As they joined the other Council Members in exiting the building, Lewis said to Cook "Have a great New Year, Thomas! It's going to be a big year in this County, a big year!" "You got that right, Reginald!" said Thomas P. Cook. "A big year, indeed!" Yes indeed, he thought to himself, a year like nobody would believe if I told them now... Finis... for now.