4 comments/ 15678 views/ 14 favorites Case of the Murdered Bride Ch. 01 By: WifeWatchman 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, Trilogy Series, Dark Side Of The Force series, Caught In the Act series. Case of the Murdered Bride Ch. 1. 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 The cabbie pulled over to the curb as he saw the couple hailing him on the sidewalk outside the bar. The man was in a tuxedo and the thirtysomething woman was in her white bridal gown. They were laughing as they got into the car, obviously having had plenty to drink. "Cabbie, just drive around for a while." the bride said. As he pulled out, the bride and groom were kissing, laughing and playing with each other; the groom was sliding his hands along the bride's sweet-looking thigh as she rubbed his crotch while they kissed. The husband was a bit nerdy looking, maybe in his late 20s or early 30s, the cabbie thought, with glasses and unkempt hair, but he was tall and slender. The guy looked even nerdier in contrast to his new bride: she was definitely in her 30s but she was very beautiful, with honey blonde hair, large breasts that were not naturally so, a firm, trim body. As the cabbie drove on the main streets in a big circle around Town, the bride opened up her groom's pants and fished out his cock. The cabbie could clearly see them in his rear-view mirror, and this guy had a formidable weapon of lust: very long, at least eight or nine inches, and nicely thick. The bride was stroking the groom's meat to hardness as they kissed, their tongues twining, then the bride leaned over and sank her mouth down onto the huge, exposed cock. The young man moaned as the beautiful blonde fellated him. The cabbie had to be careful in his driving as he frequently looked into the rear-view mirror to see the bride's mouth sliding up and down the long, thick shaft of her new husband's hard male meat. Then her eyes glanced upward at the mirror, making eye contact with the cabbie through the looking-glass. "Mmmm, honey, I think our driver likes what he sees." the blonde bride teased. "Like what you see, cabbie?" "Yes ma'am." the cabbie said, not lying. "Cabbie, drive to the University Hotel and park." said the groom. "Why don't you escort us to our room... to help with luggage." "Yes sir." the cabbie said. "Want to party with us?" asked the bride. "Sure, why not?" said the cabbie. It seemed like the dream opportunity of a lifetime. ------ They were in a room on the sixth floor of the University Hotel. It was a nice room, with white trim contrasting the 'true blue' walls, a king size bed, and a large bathroom with hot tub; but it was not the bridal suite by any means. The cabbie was sitting on the bed, with the bride standing in front of him. "I'm going to go get some ice for drinks." said the groom. Taking the ice bucket, he left the room. "Well, let's get this party started." said the bride. She went to her knees just in front of the cabbie sitting on the edge of the bed and began opening his pants. The cabbie leaned back, resting on his elbows as the bride fished out his hard cock. "Mmmm, nice." said the bride. It wasn't as large as the groom's, but was a nice-enough seven inches of cabbie cock. The bride engulfed his meat, sucking voraciously. "Ohhhh... you keep that up and I won't last a minute." the cabbie groaned as the pleasure of being fellated by this lovely blonde coursed through his body. "Mmmm, it's okay, baby," said the bride as she licked the man's shaft and tongued and kissed his cum-heavy balls, "just shoot your load down my throat. There's plenty of time for Round Two tonight..." The cabbie did not resist and less than a minute later he was firing his jets of man-lava into the bride's throat, hearing her gulp and moan as she swallowed his baby batter... Part 2 - The Crime Scene I arrived at University Hotel at midnight, October 9th becoming the 10th, having been called by Lt. Cindy Ross. As I got off the elevator, I was met by Patrolman Johnson, who was guarding the hallway and not letting anyone pass through. "Sir, if you'll just be careful not to step in the blood at the doorway..." said Patrolman Johnson in admonition. "Yes. Thanks." I said. "By the way, Johnson, excellent job taking down that perp Lenny." Lenny, the filthy, long-haired little dog-shit that was constantly in and out of our jails for petty stuff, had run away from police officers, only to be chased down, tackled hard and quickly cuffed by Patrolman Johnson. "Thank you, sir." said Johnson, happy to be complimented by the Police Commander, knowing that I didn't forget good work and that a promotion might be on the way. Cindy Ross met me at the door, her finger over her mouth in a 'hush' sign. "Coroner Haines is inside there." she said. "He's really interfering with the Medical Examiner and our Crime Lab people." "Ah, election season, don't you just love it?" I said. "He's got to be seen taking action, and I've heard he's got a strong challenger. You got your blue crowbar?" I asked. "Of course." said Cindy. "I've got my red one." I said. "Let's make sure the bozo sees them. If he interferes with me, I'll ask you to escort him out... under arrest if need be. Usage of your crowbar will be optional, and I'll back you up no matter what you decide." Cindy responded to that with a smile... a smile that no perps wants to see on her rugged but attractive face. The door to the hotel room was half open, and I knocked and then carefully treaded over the door sash, stepping sideways onto a mat that had been placed to the right, then on around to the center of the room. The floor right at the door was tile, giving way to bluish carpet a couple of feet later. As I entered, I could see what happened. A blonde woman in a bridal dress was lying on the floor on her back, staring up sightlessly. Her head was touching where the tile met carpet, her feet at the end of the bed. Her throat had been slit, and blood had poured out of the wound onto the tile and run to the space under the door. A large Bowie knife, called a 'Rambo' knife by some, was embedded in the center of the woman's chest, right in the heart. "Hello, everyone." I said. "Why Coroner Haines, what a surprise." Coroner Steven Lester Haines was an older man, a bit pudgy, his graying hair thinning and beginning to have gaps. Detectives Martin Nash and Diana Torres were in the room, both in plainclothes, Martin in a suit and tie as always, and Torres in a royal blue blouse and midnight black pants. They were watching the Crime Lab team do their thing, taking samples and processing the scene, taking pictures and the like. There was a quietness to the air, as if everyone were afraid to move, and they looked very happy and relieved to see me enter the room. A woman in her late 40s to early 50s was examining the body. She was the assistant medical examiner, and was on duty because 'CMB' was taking a timely vacation. I actually thought she did a better job than CMB in thoroughness, but didn't say that out loud. She was being 'birddogged' by Coroner Haines, who was literally directing her every action. "Okay, Martha, what have you got?" I asked. "I'm in charge here, Detective. You'll address any questions to me." Coroner Haines said. I saw Nash wince and Cindy's face become visibly angry. It was time to assert my authority, especially in front of my Detectives. "First of all, Coroner Haines," I said, drawing up to him and confronting him, locking my eyes with his, "while 'Detective' is a honored title given to some of my very best officers, my own title is 'Commander', and I'll thank you to show me the courtesy of using it respectfully when addressing me-" "Fine and good, Commander," Coroner Haines interrupted, making his bid at a power play, "but I'm in charge of the Public Health Department, I'm the elected official here, and I am in charge of the Medical Examiners and Crime Lab personnel. You'll direct your questions to me, and I'll direct how this investigation proceeds. Your job is to-" The red crowbar was tapping in my hand, which my Detectives knew meant a 'spanking' was imminent. "Coroner, " I replied, "you do not give me any orders at all, and you sure as hell are not going to tell me what my job is nor how to do it. Furthermore, you are not in charge of this nor any other crime scene; *I* am in charge here. You may be in charge of the Medical Examiners, but the Crime Lab people are mine. Your Medical Examiner is here as a courtesy, not a requirement, and the body is not your M.E.s until I release it to them. "If you have any issue with that, bring it before the Town & County Council, and we'll see who is in charge of who. In the meantime, keep your fucking mouth shut, or I'll have Lieutenant Ross remove you... and by violent force and under arrest if need be." I suspect it was the look on Cindy's face that convinced the Coroner that playing the macho game with the Police Force was neither a politically expedient nor physically correct way of handling things. He said nothing more as I said "One more time... Martha! what have you found so far?" "Looks like someone had his- or her- hand over the deceased's mouth and slit her throat, severing the carotid artery." the Asst. M.E. said. "Lot of blood gushed out, then the perp stabbed her right in the chest. Looks like it got the heart, from what I can tell. She bled out pretty quickly." "Did she put up a fight?" I asked. "Not much of one, from what I can tell." Martha replied. "It looked like it all happened pretty fast. I took scrapings from under her fingernails, but it doesn't look like there was anything there. No other bloodstains on her or the floor or in the room. Bathroom was not used at all, so the perp didn't clean up; perhaps he brought a bag with him and took stuff out in it." "Fingerprints on the weapon?" I asked. "No sir." said the man called 'Labcoat', who was standing next to Torres and watching as I began making a much closer examination of the body. "Who called it in?" I asked, as I fiddled with the wedding dress while examining it. "Front desk." replied Martin Nash. "Some other hotel guests on this floor were going to their room and saw the blood coming out under the door. They rushed back to the front desk in a panic, and an employee came up. He saw the blood, and had the front desk call 9-1-1. The employee stayed in the hallway but says he didn't try to go in. The door was closed at that time, by the way." "Also," continued Nash, watching me examine the dead woman's left hand and the wedding rings upon the ring finger, "the room is registered to a 'Doug and Nancy Jones'. We haven't found any ID; in fact, we've found no purse in the room. The killer may have taken it. I'm thinking we'll have to check weddings earlier today- well, yesterday- and see if we can get more information." "No purse... highly instructive." I said. "As to the day's weddings, you can look them up, but don't waste too much time on it." "Why is that, sir?" Torres asked. "Teachable moment." I said, using one of my favorite phrases, which was known to make Detectives wince: they were about to be tested. "Nash, have you and Torres closely examined the body yet?" "No sir." said Nash. "Coroner Haines has been actively directing this scene and wouldn't let us do our jobs." The coroner glared hatefully at Nash, but said nothing as he noticed both me and Cindy staring hard at him, eager to start something. "I see." I said. "Well, start looking it over. Ross, you too, if you like." All three Detectives looked closely at the body, trying to mimic my earlier actions. Torres even pulled at the woman's wedding rings. Meanwhile, I looked around the room, under the bed, through the dresser drawers, then peeked into the bathroom, then finally took the fluoroscope and bathed the bedspread, floor and dresser top in the eerie light. "Okay, guys, what have you guys seen from your examination of this crime scene?" I asked. "Looks like a struggle took place, but it was a brief one." said Nash. "The room is not torn up, the bed is still made. The woman may have been ambushed when she walked in and quickly overpowered. That suggests a man, definitely someone much stronger than this woman, since she didn't get much of a chance to fight back." "That's pretty good, I like that." I said. "Torres? Anything to add?" "I'm sorry sir, I didn't see anything that stuck out." said Torres. "You were looking at the woman's rings." I said. "They're an important clue. What did you observe about them?" "Yes sir, I saw you doing it." replied Torres. "They're on her fingers pretty tightly. I guess the fingers swelled up when she died?" "Sometimes there might be some bloating," said the Assistant M.E., "but nothing in this case. Her fingers aren't broken, either." "Lieutenant Ross?" I asked. "I was going to say what Martin said." Cindy replied. "Looks like the guy, and I agree it was a man, jumped her, killed her quickly. And I admit I didn't examine the rings closely." "Okay, not bad, guys." I said, trying to keep it positive, but knowing I had a lot to teach these three otherwise excellent Detectives. "Whoever killed her either did it so fast that she didn't have time to react and scratch at him -OR- he was wearing a long-sleeve shirt that protected his arms -OR- she knew her attacker, and was totally surprised to find herself under attack, and by then her throat was slit and it was all over." "Second," I continued, "I personally find it just a bit strange that this woman's wedding dress is secured by velcro. See it here?" I pointed out the fastenings on both sides of the dress. "Of course there's a lot of blood on the upper part of the dress, but if you look at the entire dress, it looks old, a bit of smudging here and there. Not what I'd expect to find on a blushing bride that was newly married just hours ago." Everyone nodded as I continued: "Also, about those wedding rings on her fingers... they have been there for a long time, I'd say for years. They're tight on her fingers, as you said, Diana, but you can see by the slight indentations underneath that they weren't just put on her finger today- er, yesterday. Dammit, Nash, you've got me fucked up on the dates now!" I teased. "Sorry about that, sir." Nash, said, not sorry at all, teasing back in his own way. I saw out of the corner of my eye that Coroner Haines was smirking, and I resolved to teach that bastard a hard, cold lesson in County politics, a lesson from which he would not recover politically. "So, Torres, what does this tell us?" I asked, testing the young but promising Detective. "That she's already married?" said Torres. A bit obvious, but I wanted to just get her imagination flowing. The experience and knowledge would come in time, I thought to myself. "Yes. Good, very good." I said. "Nash?" "I'm not sure, but it's not looking like a typical wedding night." said Nash. "And maybe the names they registered under are fake. Not sure what the velcro means, though." "Excellent, Nash, I agree that the names are very likely fake." I said. "And since I'm married to a college professor whose job is to think outside the box sexually, it immediately occurred to me that this woman is married, has been for some time, and that this is some sort of sexual role-playing. This velcro is for the woman to get out of the dress very quickly, and obviously for sexual purposes. This is not her first rodeo, either, as she has used this dress a number of times in the past for this kind of thing." I pretended not to notice Martha and the Detectives looking at each other in part 'How does he do that?' and part 'Why didn't we see that?' modes. Coroner Haines looked bored; once he was supplanted as the alpha-male, he had totally lost interest in the crime scene. "Okay, everyone," I said, wrapping up. "First, check the woman's mouth, throat, esophagus and stomach to see if she swallowed any semen. That might give us some DNA to work with." "Already done for her mouth. And I've done a rape kit for her vagina, though it looks like she had not had intercourse nor been sexually assaulted in the last moments of her life." said Martha. "We'll check stomach contents during the autopsy." "Great!" I replied. "Now what I need is the Hotel's video footage of when these people first came into the hotel. I need a description of the alleged 'groom' and any third or more persons that came in with them. Talk to the Hotel staff for descriptions, also. Lt. Ross, who are you putting in charge of this case?" I asked, making sure not to step on my Lieutenant's role in assigning cases to her Detectives. "Senior Detective Nash." replied Cindy. "And Detective Torres, you're working this one with him." I waited until my Crime Lab people were finished with their work before I left; I was not about to leave my people at the mercy of the power-hungry Coroner Steven Lester Haines. Cindy stayed with me, chatting about the recently concluded Derrick Belle murder. Coroner Haines finally realized why I was staying. He left, and I subsequently sent Cindy home to get some sleep. Part 3 - Politics and Crowbar Applications "This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" said the lovely reporterette redhead on the morning of October 10th, standing outside the front entrance of the University Hotel. "Channel Two News has learned that a woman was found dead in a room here at the University Hotel. Police will not confirm that the victim was wearing a bridal gown and veil, not that foul play was involved; however, Channel Two News has confirmed that the woman was wearing a wedding dress, and was stabbed to death." Suddenly, behind Bettina, a superimposed photograph of the dead woman appeared, obviously taken at the crime scene. Bettina said "Police have not yet identified the victim in this horrible crime, and if you can provide any helpful details, the Coroner's Office asks that you contact them immediately." "Why that son of a bitch!" I snarled, knowing who was behind that photo being released. I picked up the phone and called the Police Photographer, the Asian woman who had helped me by concealing the Pete Feeley photos from Tanya Perlman's best efforts to see them. She told me that the pictures were uploaded into our computers, but that she had not released any to the Public nor the Media. I also placed a call to Lt. Peterson of Media Relations, and left him a message to get back to me. "The M.E.s would have access to the pictures once they were uploaded." said Martin Nash. "Yep." I said. "I think my next call had better be from my office." I went into the office and called Bettina on the cell phone. --------- As Bettina and her cameraman wrapped up and were packing up their stuff, Coroner Haines approached her. "Miss Wurtzburg," said the Coroner, "may I ask why you didn't report on Detective Troy's interference with my crime scene investigation in this case?" Case of the Murdered Bride Ch. 01 "Mr. Haines," Bettina said, giving the man a look that he didn't realize meant the wily reporterette was about to play him like a landed fish, "first of all, we have not confirmed what you told us. Second, if I do report it, the Town & County Council will investigate, and they may very well find that Commander Troy is in the right and you are in the wrong. And that would not help your election, now would it, Mr. Haines? Bettina continued: "And... speaking of your election, if I broadcast your complaint, I have to give your opponent equal time. Do you want your opponent involved in your political tit-for-tat with one of the most highly respected police officers in this County's history?" His face not hiding his fury, Coroner Haines stalked off. Just then Bettina's phone rang. "Hello, Commander," said Bettina, "your ears must've been burning... er, why no, it was Coroner Haines that asked me to show that photograph... no Don, you're right, it was too early... yes, I'd feel bad if the next-of-kin sees the photo... I'm sorry, Don, we'll follow procedures next time... okay, bye." Bettina put away her cell phone, feeling very lucky that the Iron Crowbar had been what she considered 'restrained' in his conversation with her about putting the dead woman's photo on the air... ------- At 9:00am I was having breakfast with Councilman John "Jack" Colby at his Country Breakfast Diner. I'd already sent him and Dagmar Schoen a copy of the formal complaint I'd sent to Inspector General Horace S. Wellman, brother of University President Sidney P. Wellman, about Coroner Haines's huge breach in releasing a Crime Lab photo to the Press without authorization, and trying to go over my head in attempting to identify the dead woman. "Malinda Adams and Pastor Westboro got complaints from Haines, about you. He woke them up last night with phone calls." Colby said. "Malinda contacted me an hour ago, and I told her about your formal IG complaint, as well as your version of the crime scene incident. She fully understood and agreed with me on this one. By the way, I know she likes to bitch about the police a lot, but I think she secretly has a crush on you." "Nice to have the full Council on my side." I adroitly replied, not letting Colby's teasing work. "You don't, though. Westboro is a real thorn in your side." said Colby. "He was really supporting Brian Harlan's attacks on you, and after you arrested Harlan for murder, Westboro went ballistic, I mean he went absolutely nuts. He and Steven Ikea are still in touch a lot, too. Be careful about him." "Yeah," I said, "and I'm hearing some rumors about Pastor Westboro being friendly with the Oldeeds Group... both sides of them. He makes friendly with Vicki Oldeeds, then turns around and gives Reverend Robert Patterson and Pastor Fred Bundy lip service." "Just between us and the cow patty in the field, who's winning that one?" Colby asked. I realized he knew a lot more than a County farmer and ranchhand would be expected to know about some things. "Vicki's all but out of there." I said. "After she made the reward offer for Jonas's killer, their governing Board, or whatever they call it, met and reprimanded her severely for making the unauthorized money offer. Fortunately for her, Oldeeds' killer will never be brought to justice, if my guesses are right-" "And they usually are." said Colby, astutely knowing what I had just told him 'between the lines'. "Thank you." I replied. "Meanwhile, they're working on a settlement to get her out, but she's fighting it hard. I hope they'll start slinging mud and then the crimes will start coming out..." "Hell, people will start getting killed if that happens, then Jack Muscone will be stealing you from us to work with the FBI on it." Colby said, his words not idle chatter; he'd just revealed what was worrying him and the Council the most. "Rest easy, my friend." I said. "I ain't goin' nowhere, especially with my wife wanting to stay here until she dies." "Best news I've heard since you walked out of Ward Harvester alive and your nephew lay dead inside." said Colby. "You may have no idea how happy the Council was to hear of Ned's termination with extreme prejudice. As to Haines, there are a lot of people that don't like him much, not the least of which is Inspector General Wellman. You've given Wellman the excuse he needs. And the man running against him, fairly young man, Dr. John Quincy Kelly is his name... he's a good Conservative, and he'll be all over Haines for this..." The politics of it were not my issue, I thought as I changed the subject, one guaranteed to get Mr. Colby's full interest: "So, Jack, how's the battle over precincts going?" It was lucky for me that looks can't kill, as John Colby's eyes were firing lightning bolts of daggers. Then he settled back in his chair, his eyes becoming more resigned. "I think we're losing that one." he said. "Dagmar and I are the only ones who are actively fighting precincts. Kelly Carnes and Tom Cook are swerving to the other side, and J.P. Goldman and Edward Steele aren't committing to either side. The rest are firmly for them. I've heard that the Council is going to call Griswold on the carpet before he retires and force him to justify not having precincts." "It won't be the Chief that gets to face that firing squad." I said. "He's retiring, and he's beginning to not give a shit what the Council thinks anymore. So guess who is now having to respond to the Council?" "Welcome to Command." Colby said, his eyes glinting but showing no sympathy. "Things like this are exactly why we so joyfully approved your promotion. So, what are you going to do?" "That's why I brought it up." I said. "I've also heard that precincts are pretty much a done deal. As you said, you and Dagmar are the only two opponents left, and if you push too hard it becomes a racial issue for you. So I'm going to employ a strategy of mitigating the damage and making it happen in a more limited and better way than Reginald B.F. Lewis wants it." I did not mention to Mr. Colby my other two reasons for conceding the fight: that it was a concession to Lewis for keeping the Black community calm when the racially explosive Harold Malone accusations came out, and also because I actually thought there might be some good things that could come out of it... "Good luck with that... keeping it limited." said Colby. "These things tend to grow out of proportion when legislative bodies get geared up. But thanks for the heads-up. I'll let Dagmar know, and we won't expend any more political capital on it..." Part 4 - Upon Further Review, There Is Video Confirmation... At 9:30am my wife Laura called me. "I saw that news report with that dead woman's picture. She and her husband were swingers with the Hedonists. Her name was Diane Lang, and her husband is named Larry Lang." The Hedonists and the Libertines were the main two swingers' clubs in the area. The Libertines were the sophisticated elites, while the Hedonists were a bit more earthy, down and dirty. "Ah," I said lovingly, "my top confidential source comes through again. So what do you want for your reward?" "I want us to spend some time in the hot tub tonight," my wife replied. "and then I'm going to spend at least two hours sucking your cock, and taking my time doing it." What loving husband wouldn't give his beautiful wife a reward like that? I mused, as I quickly agreed to her terms, provided that I got to take her out to dinner first... ------- "Okay, Martin," I said as I sprang into the MCD room. "I just got a tip from a confidential informant. Get DMV records for one 'Diane Lang' and one 'Larry Lang'." "Yep, that's her." said Diana Torres a moment later, as the image on Martin's computer screen was transferred to the big TV screen on the wall. "But that image of the husband isn't matching what we just got from the Hotel's video footage. We were just about to come get you to show you, Commander." "I know I burst in here, so I don't mind you telling me," I said, "but let's make sure to tell your MCD Lieutenant first, then it'll come up the chain. I hate having to say that, but the Chief has been biting chunks out of my ass about protocols, and he's right." "Yes, sir, I understand." said Torres. Nash nodded also. Then they proceeded to show me the camera footage. I saw a cab pull in, the bride and groom get out, then the cabbie walk in some minutes later, having parked outside the range of the camera. No one was carrying luggage. Then I saw the lobby footage, clearly showing the bride and groom. "Oh wow," I said, seeing the images side-by-side on the TV screen, "you're right... that man is definitely not Mr. Lang. Well, my C.I. said they were swingers, so maybe this guy is one of their group." "Mr. Lang is very handsome," said Detective (J.G.) Joanne Cummings, a gorgeous blonde beauty contestant herself, who had just walked into the MCD room from Vice, and making her police uniform look very hot, "but this guy at the hotel, he looks a lot more nerdy." "I'll take your word for that." said Nash, no slouch with women in the looks department himself, and making what for him was an attempt at humor. "I'll get APBs out on Lang and send Myron this video footage, and I'll send some patrol officers to the Lang's address and see if anyone's home." Before I could say it, Diana Torres said "There's some good footage of the cabbie in the hotel, too. I'll send that to Myron, and see if we can't get the cab's ID." "I called all four cab companies in Town." said Nash. "University Cab Service said they had no pickups of a wedding party last night. Yellow Cab has not called back, but they're usually good about getting back to me when I leave messages. Silver Cab is run by a friend of your buddy 'T-Square', Commander. They only make pickups in the Tenderloin District, though they deliver hookers to hotels in the Northwest part of town, Hotel Row south of Town, and University Hotel. And the fourth, Viscotti Cabs, aren't a real operation; Vice has been watching them." "Yes, sir," added Cummings, "they only pick up certain clients, and we think they're making drug trades and deliveries through the cab service. We can't sting them, because they only pick up people they know." "That should be a fun group to bust!" I exclaimed, genuinely interested in that operation. "So, what other hotel footage do we have?" "We've got the lobby footage from late afternoon until the time the blood was spotted coming out from under the door." said Nash. "The hallway footage is spotty, though. The hotel was using cameras with motion-sensor devices, and sometimes it doesn't activate the camera properly." ------- I have a very efficient, fast-moving Police Force. Cindy came into my office at 10:05am with the first report. "Rudistan and Morton went to the Langs' home." she reported. "Same subdivision, Kensington, that the Schelles lived in, and that our young friend Ryan lives in. The place was abandoned, and looks ransacked. Rudistan called for a warrant and a Crime Lab team." We headed over to the Lang home. It took half an hour to get the warrant, and I was glad Rudistan had taken that precaution. If I had my way, Sergeant stripes would be on his uniform at the next round of promotions. Once the warrant arrived, I went in first, with Cindy following me closely. The main room was trashed, with books thrown out of the bookshelves, papers everywhere, lamps knocked to the floor. Kitchen utensils, plates and cookware, and bottles of spices littered the kitchen floor as drawers and cabinets had been opened and emptied. The den and bedrooms were similarly torn up. But there were no humans present, no blood on the floor (that I could tell)... "This is going to be a bitch to figure out." I said. "Hard to tell if there was a struggle here, or a break-in and someone was looking for something." "You know, Commander," Cindy said, "your mom and I worked that case of those break-ins a few weeks ago. This really reminds me of that... everything fucked up to excess, if you ask me." "Yep." I said. "We're going to have a very tired Crime Lab team; they're going to have to go through every bit of this for clues." "Lang's cars are gone." said Sr. Patrolman Morton, having checked the garage. "Two car garage, both bays used, but no cars." "Morton," I said, "put out an APB for Larry Lang. He works for Lightsource Industries, check with them to see if he came to work today. Call Myron at Headquarters to get descriptions of all cars owned by the Langs, and put out APBs for both cars." Morton moved out with a purpose in order to comply with my instructions. ---------- At 2:00pm, the Chief convened a meeting in the main conference room. Present were myself, Cindy Ross, Martin Nash, Diana Torres, Myron Milton, Teddy Parker, and J.R. Barnes from the Crime Lab. The Chief had me lead the meeting. "Okay, before we get ahead of ourselves," I said, "let's get the Chief up to speed from square one. Nash, tell us who the Langs are." Martin Nash began his report. "Larry Lang is 34 years old, but looks younger. He's the top sales agent for Lightsource Industries, which makes L.E.D. lights but also makes lasers, fiberoptic solutions, and is doing research with the University on a number of projects, some of which are classified-" "Good Godamighty," interrupted the Chief, "the CIA again?" "Sir," I said, "I'm beginning to understand why we have so many Federal agents in our County. The University is a place where research takes place, almost always with Government dollars. Businesses here work in cooperation with some of the professors, and get to license the patents as part of the arrangements. For example, Dr. Carrolla in the Chemistry Department has a grant from the National Science Foundation to do work with lasers. They're measuring things at subatomic levels. Of course everyone knows, but no one mentions, that the lasers involved in the work just might also be studied by the Army for military applications as part of the 'Star Wars' program. I'd imagine Lightsource Industries is all over things like that." "I'm sure that's true." said the Chief. "Nash, sorry I interrupted. Go ahead." "Yes, sir." Nash replied. "Lang sells products to other companies, and as far as I can tell he has nothing to do with the research. By the way, we're going to interview the company president in the morning." Nash continued. "I couldn't get an appointment today. Part of that is because I've requested to interview all of the sales team and other co-workers at the same time, and that's going to take a small army of police officers as well as inconvenience the Lightsource people's work. But the president said that if we come in first thing in the morning, he'll give us full cooperation." "I hate waiting," I said, "as it might give someone time to get away or prep their stories. But at the same time, there's some good in it, and we can prepare better. Okay, what else on them?" "Diane Lang was a typical 'trophy wife'." said Nash. "Married Larry four years ago, no children, she's 35 years old. Ladies Auxiliary, Women's Club, all that. Myron will be reporting on their finances in a minute, but she was not known to have a job after she got married. Before she got married... well, I'll let Myron tell that." "Don't keep me in suspense, Myron." I said. "Roger that, Commander." said Myron. "Basically, Larry Lang was making seriously good money working for Lightsource Industries. He also inherited a good chunk of change from his grandfather. He and Diane dated for several years before finally getting married. They were part of the social scene, and perhaps a bit more, but I'll defer to you, Commander, for that part." Myron continued, "Diane Louise Lang was her full name, and she was completely off the grid before she got married. I've checked to see if 'Louise' is a last name, apparently it's not, and I've not found any 'Diane Louise' first-and-middle-name combinations that fit her. She definitely was a jet-setter type, though. No arrests of either of them, though we're asking the FBI to work a nationwide search on her prints." I said "Let me just step in here about the so-called 'social' part: Diane and Larry were members or attendees of several swank clubs in the better parts of the Tenderloin District, and a couple of the clubs they went to regularly were nothing but fronts for gambling clubs in the back rooms. The gambling itself is a front: there are even more back rooms for sex parties in those same buildings. The Langs were swingers, kind of like some of those Alumni at that party Jefferson Jackson was killed at. And I know all this from phone calls to some of those party organizers, who were contacted by my C.I.s." Hopefully no one was fooled: anyone who didn't know by now that my wife Laura had amassed that information, and how and why she would know all about it... just wasn't paying attention, I mused to myself. "I haven't yet found any cases of them posing as a newly married couple, but we're going to be pursuing those leads. Nash, you'll go with me after 4:00pm to the cab companies; we need to talk to the evening shift cabbies. Okay, J.R., what has the Crime Lab gotten, so far?" J.R. Barnes said "About the body: the M.E. says the woman was killed by having her throat slit, though the dagger to the heart might have actually caused her to expire while she was bleeding out. There was semen in her stomach, which was otherwise empty, and we're running samples now; the University is also running a duplicate set of samples. No other physical evidence found in the room, at least nothing we can use. We think a guy was sitting at the end of the bed, she may have given him the blow- er, the oral sex." "As to the Lang house, we're still processing stuff, but we didn't find any quantities of blood or anything else to suggest a crime of violence took place there. We have found only two sets of prints, so far, and one of the sets appears to be Diane's; we're speculating the others are Larry's, but can't be sure yet, as he has no fingerprints on record with the FBI." J.R. took a breath, then continued: "We have no way of knowing if anything was taken, though it does not look as if any large objects such as televisions were removed. Diane's computer was found at her desk in the office, but Larry's is missing, if he had one at home, that is." "Any ideas yet, Crowbar?" asked the Chief. This was his way of working me to wrap up the meeting. "First, let me ask: Myron, anything on the 'groom' or the cabbie on the tapes?" "I can answer that, sir." said Martin Nash. "I sent Sandra Speer of the FBI some of the video footage as well as stills of those two men. She's going to have her people run their Facial Recognition program to see if anything comes up, but it might take a day or two." "Excellent." I said. "The FBI is being mighty courteous to us. Jack Muscone is a good man and a good friend, but he's also a busy man, as is his team. So their courtesy means they have an interest in this, also. That might be a clue... hmmmm..." I did not go into a reverie, but kept going: "Chief, to answer your question: I like Lieutenant Ross's suggestion that the damage to the house might be a blind to misdirect us. But whether it was Larry Lang or someone else that did it, we don't yet know. Obviously we need to conduct those interviews at Larry's place of work tomorrow. Cindy, I also want Claire Michaels and Lorena Rose to go around this evening and interview some people whose names I'll give you. These are social friends of the Langs, so have Michaels and Rose interview them with some sense of discretion." "I'll ask you something after the meeting." Cindy replied as she took down notes. I knew what her query would be. Case of the Murdered Bride Ch. 01 I said "One other thing, Myron: have Teddy Parker work with you and Mary. Teddy, I want you to look at the videotapes again, everything we've got, all of it. See if any other persons came into the Hotel around the time the happy couple and their cabbie did... I have a feeling we should not limit our inquiries to just those people we know of so far..." -------- Back in my office, Cindy said "Commander, I didn't want to say this in front of everyone else, but if you want discretion in interviews, I would not recommend sending Detective Rose. She plays 'bad cop' to other Detectives' 'good cop' routines, and she can be abrasive." "Yeah, I realized that when you said you'd talk to me privately." I replied. "So tell me, what do you think of Rose overall?" "Oh, don't get me wrong about her; I think she has a lot of potential, and she works hard." Cindy said. "But she's not exactly Martin Nash in the demeanor department." I laughed at that one; Cindy had a better sense of humor than she tended to show to the world, and sometimes it slipped out, like just now. "All right, who do you want to send?" I asked. "Don't say yourself, either." "I was thinking of reaching into Vice and pulling out Joanne Cummings for a few hours." said Cindy. "No-oooooooo." I said. "Joanne is a good officer, but these ladies are interviewing women and men that knew the Langs at sex parties. Joanne is a, shall we say, 'practicing' Christian." "All the more reason to send her." Cindy said. "She needs to see this side of what we do in our work." I couldn't argue with that, telling Cindy to coordinate with Teresa Croyle, and then have Claire work with Joanne on keeping her facial expressions straight and unrevealing. I did not need for my Detectives to look openly shocked at what they were going to hear this night... Part 5 - Cab Fare "Commander," said Martin Nash as we approached the garage of University Cab Service, "these guys said they didn't make any pickups of a wedding party..." "Yes, they did say that." I said. "And I believe them, too. Almost as much as I believe in the tooth fairy. So let's go chat with them." We went into the garage and to the dispatcher's cubicle. It was 4:10pm. The dispatcher was a balding older man, tall, and had seen some tough times in his life. He wore coveralls; he was a mechanic as well as the dispatcher. "Whaddya want?... Officer?" he said, letting us know he was seeing through our plainclothes. Our badges were on our belts, though, not hard to see. "What time does your evening shift start, Dispatcher?" I asked. "It just did." the man said. "Can you assemble everyone here?" I asked. "It'll save time and we can get out of your way faster." The dispatcher didn't look happy about it, but he got on the megaphone and radio and called every man to the dispatch booth. Soon we had eight guys in a group. Per my previous instructions, Martin Nash held up the DMV photos of Diane and Larry Lang and asked "Did anyone pick up either of these people last night? Or have any of you ever seen either of them?" None of the cabbies said anything. I was looking over all of them, seeing what I wanted to see in one of them. "You." I said, pointing to a man near the back of the group. He was in his forties, shorter than the dispatcher, more hair on the sides of his head than the top. He looked like he'd once had a very muscular frame; he was still in decent shape. "Me?" the guy said. "I don't know nuthin'." He was lying; I'd already seen it in his eyes. "You're not in trouble, buddy." I said. "I just want to talk to you. Dispatcher, any place I can talk to 'Frankie' here privately for a minute?" I had seen his name on his uniform cabbie shirt. "Back in the corner." said the Dispatcher. "There's a small storeroom back there. Hey Frankie, you have a right to a lawyer, y'know." "Yes, he does." I said, "But he's not in trouble, so I hope you'll have a word with me, Frankie." Frankie came with me and Nash to the back room. Once inside, I wasted no time. "Okay, Frankie." I said. "I want you to be straight with me. I suspect you've seen these people, maybe her in a wedding gown... they picked you up, took you to a hotel, you had sex with them, or at least her..." Frankie looked frightened. "How the hell you know that?" he asked, his voice a whisper. "Because I'm good at my job, like you're good at yours." I said. "Look, just tell me the story, and you can go back to work. Did you see this woman last night?" "No, it... it wasn't last night." said Frankie. "It was a couple of months ago. It was as you said, they were a bride and groom, and I picked them up in front of the Chop House Restaurant." That was one of the finer steakhouses in Town; Laura and I had gone there with Melina and Daniel a few times, and also with the Chief and his wife. "Wedding party?" I asked. "Yeah, she still had her white dress on, and he had a tux." Frankie said. "They got in my cab, told me to drive around. I did, and all the while they was kissing and fooling around. Then they asked me if I wanted to party with them. I said sure, what the heck, and they had me drive to the Sunrise Hotel, south of Town." "I know the place." I said. "So what happened?" "Well, they asked me to help bring their luggage in, but it was just one little bag they'd been carrying. When I got to the room, he says he's going to get ice for drinks, and she starts coming on to me. I figured what was up and asked her to level with me. She admitted that she and her husband were doing it as some kind of game, and they'd been married for years and were swingers. Then she pops right out of her wedding dress and is standing there naked in front of me." "Well, Officer," Frankie continued, "as you can see, she was a hot babe. Next thing I know, she's blowing me. Her husband comes back, tells me to fuck her while he watches, so I do. Then he bangs her, then I bang her again while she sucks him off. Good clean fun, you know?" "Sure, no problem with any of that." I said agreeably. "Any ideas what their names were?" "Yeah, she said her name was Diane." Frankie said. "I don't remember the other guy's name... Larry, maybe? Kind of a dull name for a good looking guy like him. They were like a 'Ken and Barbie' cute couple, you know? Too good looking by half, if you know what I mean." "Yes, I do. Let me ask this." I said. "When she got naked, did the dress just fall off of her, like?" "Yeah, like it came apart at the seams." Frankie said. "And she did this before giving you head?" I inquired. "Yeah, that's right." Frankie said. "And this happened two months ago?" I asked, to confirm. Frankie affirmed, then I asked, "Did they give you any way of contacting them again?" "Naw, they just gave me a couple hundred bucks for the cab fare, then I left." Frankie said. "I never saw 'em again, until just now when you guys showed us those pictures of them." "Have you heard any other cabbie telling a story like that?" I asked. "Or maybe some guy at a bar telling it like a tall fish tale?" Frankie laughed. "Naw, I was the one telling the story, and half the guys didn't believe me. Nobody said 'That happened to me, too!', so I guess I was the lucky one." "Martin, you get all that?" I asked. Martin had been jotting down the interview, and I asked Frankie to sign it as an affidavit, which he did. "Okay, Frankie," I said, "here's my card. If you see either of them again, or if they contact you, give me a call. They're witnesses to a case I'm working on. Thanks for your help, too." We went to the other cab companies, but none of the cabbies present had ever seen the Langs. That didn't mean that someone who wasn't there hadn't gotten lucky with them. "So, Martin," I asked as we drove back to the Police Station in my SUV, "what did you think of Frankie's story?" "Nothing like that ever happens to me when I'm driving around." said Martin. "Har!" I said. "You and Sandra could work on that... but seriously, what are your impressions of it pertaining to the case?" "Sounds like what happened with Frankie is what Diane intended for the cabbie that picked up her and her 'groom' the other night... but she ended up dead instead." Nash said. "I guess that's why you had me hold up a picture of Larry instead of the groom from the other night? To find this cabbie who had a previous encounter with the Langs?" "Yep." I said. "Also, there was one more difference between the 'encounters', as you so correctly used the word: Frankie said the woman stripped before she started up with him... but she had her wedding dress on when she gave a guy head and he came in her mouth on the night she was killed. May not mean anything, but it could be a clue..." Part 6 - Politics of Personal Destruction "Your polls have dropped, Ms. Woodburn." said Katherine Woodburn's campaign staffer. "You were up 50-45, but now it's 46-47 against you. Yes, within the margin of error, but still a problem." It was the late afternoon of October 10th. "Why the drop?" Katherine Woodburn asked sharply. "The Iron Crowbar, Ms. Woodburn." said the staffer. "You have to stop the attacks on Commander Troy and the Police Force." "Why?" Katherine Woodburn asked coldly. "My constituents need to know what I'm defending them against." "That's the problem, Ms. Woodburn." said the staffer. "The People are solidly behind Commander Troy and the Police, even a majority of Blacks and our other base constituencies. The People don't feel that the Police here are corrupt, especially with the Commander in charge, and they don't feel they need protecting from the cops by you. You might get traction complaining about the Coltrane County and Buford Police Forces, but not here." "Ma'am," said the Queen of Opposition Research, who had joined Katherine's campaign after Nathan Allen had died, "let me put it this way: get elected first, and then you can destroy that prick the Iron Crowbar and his Gestapo Police. But you have to get elected first, ma'am." Katherine sighed. "I see your point. Okay, okay. I'll back off if you think it's hurting my polls. So what's next?" "You have an interview with Priya Ajmani in ten minutes, ma'am." said another staffer. "Tomorrow you'll speak to the Ladies Auxiliary at their luncheon, then to the Nextdoor County Ladies Auxiliary in the afternoon." "Jesus, the things I have to do to attain power." said Woodburn. "Okay, bring Priya on in here without her cameraman; I want to talk to her off the record before the interview begins." The lovely Indian reporterette was ushered into the office, and everyone else left. "Hello, Priya." said Katherine. "Before we begin, these comments are off the record. I want to lay groundwork for our interview. Unfortunately, I've been told that it hurts my polls if I speak the truth about the Iron Crowbar and his filthy cops, so we're going to have to back off that, for now." "Aww, I'm sorry to hear that." Priya said sweetly. "I was building up a story on why he hasn't been formally investigated for his alleged uses of his crowbar on Sergei Molotov and especially Bryan Thatcher." "You can do the piece on Thatcher's behalf without me." Katherine said, as if she were still the editor and the power behind a television news organization. "And after I win and become this district's State Senator, you and I are going to dig so far up the Iron Crowbar's ass, he'll be crying for his mother." Priya giggled. Katherine suggested Priya bring in the cameraman so that the interview could begin... Part 7 - Mothers And Sons The young stud slammed his huge meat balls-deep into the tight, sopping wet cunt beneath him. Both lovers groaned as he began whipsawing his hard, muscular ass, driving his cock in and out of her cunthole with loud, wet squishes. "Ohhhh, God, Mom, that is one smoking hot cunt!" Todd gasped as he began driving in and out of his mother Elizabeth's pussy with raw, joyful abandon. "God, it's been too fucking long since we've fucked like this." "Yeah, son, we've got a lot of lost time to make up for." gasped Elizabeth, pulling her legs up and back to allow her hung son to really piledrive his ten inch meat into her with raw, youthful, male power. "God, I love it when you wear your glasses, Mom." Todd gasped, looking into his mother's attractive face. "You look so fucking beautiful, Mom!" He leaned over and slammed his mouth into hers, driving his tongue halfway down his mother's throat. Elizabeth sucked hard on his tongue, trying to suck the air out of his lungs, it seemed. She loved kissing her handsome, hung son this way. She remembered how it was when Todd was younger and more youthful... --------- Unbeknownst to each other, there were two incestuous matings happening simultaneously, adding to the sexual energy of the Universe. "Honey, you've been very patient in waiting for me to heal up." my wife Laura said to me after dinner. It had been delicious, and when Laura slipped me a 'gray viagra', I knew that I was in for a hot night. The kids were put to bed and the baby monitors were on. "Since you've been such a good boy," my wife said, "I've arranged for all of us to have a very hot evening." Laura was referring to my mother Phyllis, who was in the room with us. Mom was looking very good: her platinum silver-gray hair (colored even more silver) fell straight to her shoulders with just an inward curl at the end, framing her very pretty face perfectly. Her body was voluptuous, but toned by exercise; her legs were curvy but firm, and her personal trainer Cindy Ross had made sure she exercised her hands and feet to accentuate their elegant exquisiteness. In addition, Phyllis was wearing very high heel clear lucite slides with a clear plastic strap, not platforms (I didn't like platform heels as much as just plain high heel slides), and as my mother pranced in front of me, showing off her body in the tight, clingy salmon-pink dress, the heels really made her feet, calves, thighs and ass even more shapely. I didn't need the gray viagra to get a massive, throbbing hard-on. Laura was also smoking hot. Her sexy feet were a couple of sizes larger than my mom's, and she was also wearing clear lucite high heel slides, knowing that it made me horny as hell to see her wearing them. Laura was wearing an off-white dress, as well, but would not be wearing it for much longer this evening. It wasn't like I'd abstained from sex while Laura was healing from her hysterectomy six weeks before. I'd fucked my lover Molly, who was by now heavily pregnant with my child, and I'd enjoyed two hot interracial sex sessions with ADA Paulina Patterson, and one steaming hot all-nighter at The Cabin with the lovely Bettina Wurtzburg... and all of it at my wife's bidding. Laura enjoyed hearing about my sex with other women as much as I liked hearing her talk about her encounters with the young, well hung studs she dated from time to time. Some people don't understand that, but we have an open, honest marriage based upon love and trust, and sex with others just seems to enhance what Laura and I have. "Why don't you get naked and lie down on the floor, honey." Laura said. We'd spread a sheet on the living room floor. I stood up and let both women strip me naked, then lay down on the sheet. Laura slid between my legs, lying on her belly as she took my throbbing meat in her hand and slid her mouth over the top. She teased me with her tongue before engulfing my shaft into her warm, wet mouth. Meanwhile, my mother did a striptease of her dress, then eased over my head, her back towards my cock and Laura's beautiful face that was stuffed with my meat. Phyllis lowered her pussy lips to just above my mouth. I began licking my mother's sopping wet quim, making the hot mature woman moan with pleasure. Soon my tongue was buried in my mother's cunthole, her labes pressed against my face as my wife voraciously sucked my cock. ---------- "Oh Mom, I'm getting close." Todd moaned as he steadily and relentlessly jackhammered his ten inch cock in and out of his mother's stretched, sodden hole. "Where do you want it, Mom?" "In my pussy, son!" Elizabeth cried out, still gasping after three hard orgasms had crashed through her as the result of her son's powerful fucking. "I can still get pregnant, Todd! Come inside me, put a bun in your own mother's oven, stud!" "Oh God, Mom..." Todd moaned, the thought of impregnating his mother, one of the nastiest, hottest things he could think of to do, filling his head. "Oh yeah, I'm gonna knock you up, Mom! I'm going to fucking impregnate you! Unnhh... "UNNNNH!" Todd gasped out as his cock seemed to explode. Thick ropes of hot jism fired into his mother's pussy as he shuddered, making sure not to sink his cock too far into her and leave no room for the hundreds of millions of sperm he was pumping into Elizabeth as he climaxed. Finally he was spent and, gasping, he slid his meat out of his mother's snatch and collapsed on the bed. Elizabeth wasted no time diving down and sucking her son's big cock as it began becoming flaccid, cleaning it of the rich mixture of their combined juices. Then she drank some champagne that they'd been sharing before making love, and settled down next to Todd. They were lying like 'spoons', her lovely ass pressing into her son's groin and abdomen as they lay on their right sides. Elizabeth pressed her back into Todd's chest as he began kissing and nibbling her ear and neck. "That was great, baby." Elizabeth said. "I've really missed your big cock. Especially after getting fucked by it so much before you went away to college." "Yeah." Todd said. "Remember how Ned was so fucking jealous because I was fucking you whenever I wanted, but you would never give him any?" "Mmmmmm, oh yes, dear." Elizabeth replied. "And I would laugh to myself when you'd brag into his face how you were fucking me and coming inside me while he wasn't good enough to have me." "I still wish I'd been the one to kill that piece of shit." Todd said. "Uncle Don was the lucky one to be able to arrange that." "Oh, don't think of it that way, honey." Elizabeth said. "My baby brother let your stepmother take care of that trash, but you are the man enjoying my pussy right now, baby. And Ned is lying in a grave while you're enjoying my pussy... all... you... want..." With that, the lovely mother reached her left arm up and pulled her son's head to her, turning her head so that she could share a deep, wet kiss with Todd. Their kiss ignited Todd's loins, and he felt himself getting hard again. Still kissing, Todd maneuvered to be on top of his mother again. She reached down and guided his size into her, and soon they were copulating again in a deep, steady rhythm... ------- "Unnnnh..." I moaned. "God, Mom, you are so fucking sexy! I love your sexy fucking feet!" I was mounted on my mother, driving my cock in and out of her in the missionary position, her legs hooked under my arms as I fucked her. She was nearly bent double her feet draped over my shoulders. I'd been turning my head, kissing and sucking on one foot, then the other, especially around her heels, which she claimed that she liked. Laura had been watching us, frigging her clitoris until it was distended and swollen. Then she came around to where our heads were. Since I was much taller than my mother, Laura could sit behind Mom's head and rest her high-heeled feet on the floor, and I could lean over and kiss and lick the tops of my wife's sexy feet. Laura also teased me by taking one foot then the other out of her slides and letting me suck her toes, kiss my way down her insteps, and suck on her fine heels. Finally, I could take no more of this intense stimulation. I slid my hands down my mother's body, taking her luscious asscheeks in my hands, and I began fucking the living hell out of her. I pounded my mother furiously until the deeply painful ecstasy of my climax approached. Case of the Murdered Bride Ch. 01 "AAUUUGGGHH!!" I screamed out as the gray mist swirled before my eyes. I felt my loins pulsing, jetting my load of hot semen deep into my own mother's vagina. Coming inside my mother, that nastiest of all actions, just added to the intensity of my pleasure. I was coming inside my own mother! This was fucking incest! and I was loving it! Finally, I realized that I was lying on my back. Laura was licking and sucking my cock, cleaning it of my semen and my mother's cunt juices. I looked over at Phyllis, who was lying on her back, my semen slowly oozing out of her well-fucked cunt, a smile of pleasure on her face. Soon, I'd have her chest pressing into my left side and Laura's into my right side as I held the two beautiful women in incestuous, post-coital bliss. --------- The room was filled with the staccato slaps of flesh on flesh as Todd held his mother's hips and pulled her asscheeks hard into his groin, his huge cock sheathing itself to the hilt in his mother's succulent pussy with each driving stroke. Elizabeth was coming, her second orgasm of this particular position flowing through her as she enjoyed mating with her own son, the dirtiness of what she was doing with her own child adding to her hot pleasure. Todd was loving it also, enjoying the sensations as well as the fact that it was his own mother's pussy that he was pumping his cock in and out of. Long moments of steady fucking later, Todd finally shot his second load, which was bigger than most men's first loads. He and Elizabeth settled down into a sleepy relaxation, both exhausted by their deep, sinful copulation. "So, Todd..." Elizabeth said quietly, her hand caressing her son's muscular chest, "are you happy with your life?" "Yeah... I guess so." Todd said. "Jeanine's a great woman, she really is, and it's a lot more fun being a father than I thought it would be. And I like the work we're doing." "Why do I sense there's a 'but' in there, somewhere?" Elizabeth asked as she kissed her son's nipple. "Well..." Todd admitted, "it wasn't what I had always dreamed it would be. Ever since that day I kissed Melina when they visited us all those years ago, she was all I ever thought about. Even when I was fucking you, Mom, I was thinking of Melina. And then... and then I had her. She was right there in my arms, pregnant with my baby, we were lovers and together... Uncle Don was going to marry Aunt Laura, and I couldn't believe it when I found out Laura and Melina were sisters..." "I'll bet they were surprised, too." said Elizabeth. "I have to give my baby brother credit for figuring that one out." "Yeah." Todd said. "Like I've said, Mom, Uncle Don is a cool cat. You shouldn't hate him so much, you know?" "You don't know the history, Todd." Elizabeth said. "You know how bad it was with your puny little brother as an embarrassing appendage... well, that was my problem for years, too. And I don't care what he tells you, son, he doesn't think much of me, either. Not at all." "I hear ya, Mom." Todd said. "Anyway, Melina meets another guy, drops me like a hot rock, and then all this shit with the Burkes started happening. It's been crazy. Like I said, Jeanine is a good woman and a good wife, and I love her... but how does someone get over someone they've been in love with for years?" "You don't." Elizabeth said. "You just have to deal with it as it is. I was in love with Jonas Oldeeds from the minute I met him. When he popped my cherry and fucked me the first time, I knew what heaven really was. I still think of that wonderful man every day. I'm still in love with him, and he's gone. I swear to God, Todd, if I ever find out who murdered him..." She did not finish the sentence. Todd said nothing... To be continued. Case of the Murdered Bride 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, Trilogy Series, Dark Side Of The Force series, Caught In the Act series. Case of the Murdered Bride 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 8 - Sources of Light "I know this stuff goes on, but it was still shocking to hear." said Joanne Cummings as we drank coffee in the MCD room the next morning. She and Claire were recounting their interviews with several couples... couples that had been having swinger relationships with the Langs. But none had seen the Langs for at least several weeks, and didn't know of any role-play by the Langs. The interviews at Lightsource Industries began at 8:00am on October 11th. Martin Nash and I spoke with the company president, Mr. Turner Rogers. I tried hard not to make any "Mister Rogers" jokes, and the man looked nothing like the children's TV star. He was much older, heavy-set, and while he had a full head of gray hair, his forehead still bulged out along with his jowls... he indeed had a brilliant mind for invention. "No, Larry hasn't been in for a couple of days." said Rogers. "I didn't think anything of it; he landed a huge account with Acme Consolidated a few days ago, and I figured he'd take a couple of days off. So you think he's missing?" "Yes, sir." said Martin Nash, who I'd told to lead the interview while I essentially sat back, listened, and observed. "He's definitely missing, and his house was ransacked. And his wife was found murdered the night before last." "Oh, that's horrible." said Rogers. "Surely you don't think... that Larry would kill his wife?" "We're not jumping to any conclusions, Mr. Rogers." said Nash. "So you have no idea where he is?" "No." said Rogers. "But he doesn't report directly to me. He reports to our Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Mr. Blair. You'll have to check with him." "Yes sir, we will." said Nash. "Let me ask you this: is Larry well liked in the company?" "Oh, I daresay he is." said Mr. Rogers. "He's our best salesman because he has a tremendous personality, almost magnetic. I've rarely met anyone like him. Mr. Wargrave of Acme, he has that type of personality as a leader of men, too, and University President Wellman is like that at times. But when Larry turns on the charm, he could sell ice to Eskimos, as the saying goes." Martin was finished with his line inquiry, so he turned to me, and I asked the one question I had: "Sir, was there anyone that did not like Mr. Lang? Anyone who maybe he cut out of a deal, or had any issues with?" "Not that I know of." said Mr. Rogers. "But that question would be better answered by Mr. Blair..." --------- Mr. Blair, whose first name was Barry, but he went by 'Blair' as if it were his first name, had curly brown-black hair that was beginning to turn gray at the edges. He was about six feet tall, and lithe. He had a personality that suggested being in control more than being a sales or marketing guru, but he was both, and had been for years. His voice was flat, and a bit strong. I noticed that he wore no wedding ring, and indeed had never worn a ring on that finger, if I did not miss my guess. "Yes, Larry's our best sales guy, and he's a good friend, too. Wonderful personality, like a magnet. He's made sales I didn't think would be possible, like that deal with Mr. Wargrave just a few days ago." "Mr. Lang has not come in to work the last few days?" Martin asked. "No, he took a couple of days off after getting the Acme account." said Blair. "Which is one reason we're all surprised to hear he's missing. His absence wasn't unexpected." "Do you know where he went? Where he is now?" I asked. "No." said Blair. "Can you tell me if anyone didn't like Mr. Lang?" asked Martin. "Anyone ever have a problem with him, any arguments, maybe over a sale?" Martin had picked up on the importance of the question I'd asked the Company President, and he was now quickly asking that question of the VP of Sales & Marketing. "No, no- well, there was Atkins, but that wasn't actually any problem between the two men themselves." Blair said. "Tell us about it, anyway." said Nash. "Well, the man's name was Keith Atkins. He was a real go-getter, maybe too much so. He sometimes was a bit pushy. Larry can charm any lady he wants to, and he's been very friendly with some of the married women around here. But it's a subtle charm, and one that seems friendly and innocent, and knowing the beautiful wife Larry had at home, probably innocent in every way. But Atkins would come on to women pretty strongly. Some ladies found him charming and went out with him, but some were offended by him. Larry took it upon himself to suggest to Keith to take it easy, and while Keith didn't say anything, he may have resented it." "Is Mr. Atkins still working here?" Nash asked, perhaps seeing me fidgeting and looking at him. "No, he left, and that's another part of the story with Larry." said Blair. "Atkins works with Stadler Office Supply now; they're a competitor in sales of L.E.D. lights. As I said, Atkins was a real go-getter, and he began moving a little too fast and pushed too hard trying to get some accounts, and he ended up encroaching on Larry's space. Larry didn't say anything about it; I was the one that called Atkins on the carpet about it. Again, I never heard any complaint from him afterwards, but he is the only person who might have had any problem with Larry that I know of." "One more question, if I might." I said. "Did Larry vacation a lot? Or did he take fewer, longer vacations?" "Uh, he would take long weekends." said Blair. "Sometimes he and I would take fishing trips together up to Lake Amengi-Nunagen. But nothing out of the ordinary." -------- "Got three women you might want to talk to, Commander." said Claire Michaels. "Trish Donolan, Jessica Savage, and Annika Czeckova. They all seemed uncomfortable when we asked if they knew Larry and his wife, and how well, though they tried to hide it." "Okay, let's start with Trish." I said. Truth is, I knew her already. Trish Donolan was an attractive blonde in her forties, with a body that was just becoming 'saucy'. Her legs were shapely and her breasts fairly large. She was a well-known social butterfly about Town, and she was a founding member of what had become known as the 'Hot Wives Investment Club', an investment club of some of the Town's women. When she came into the little office in which Martin and I were conducting interviews, I said "Why Mrs. Donolan, how nice to see you again." "Commander Troy, nice to see you, as well." said Trish. "How is your wife doing after her... surgery?" "Very well, very well, thank you." I said. "Now I need to ask you a couple of questions about the Langs." "Is... is it okay, is it right?" asked Trish, looking pointedly over at Martin Nash. I knew what she meant. "Unfortunately, Mrs. Donolan, this is a police investigation, and it is public. I will be as discreet as possible, as will Detective Nash here, before whom you may speak as freely as you can before me. But I will not mislead you into a false sense of security that what you know won't become public if your knowledge has any direct bearing on the murder of Mrs. Lang and disappearance of her husband." "Oh, it's just so sad about Diane." said Trish. "Well, as you know Commander, my husband and I have an... arrangement in our marriage. We socialized with the Langs quite frequently." "In other words," I said, "you and your husband had a swinging/swapping relationship with the Langs." "Yes, we did, as part of a larger group." said Trish. "We were forming our own offshoot of the Hedonists, just four couples so far. Jessica Savage and her husband were part of it, as were the Langs." "When did you last see them?" I asked. "Socially, about a month ago." Trish said. "I saw Larry three days ago here at work, of course." "Do you know if they did any role-playing, dressing up as a bride and groom, for example?" I asked. "I heard they did things like that." Trish said. "Someone, don't remember who it was, told me they'd dress up like that and pick up cab drivers. Wasn't my cup of tea, and things like that are probably why they were rejected by the Libertines and had to join the Hedonists instead." "Do you know of anyone who might have wanted to hurt them? Either of them?" I asked. "No, not that I know of, no one that I know of." "What about Mr. Atkins? Did you know him?" "Oh, yes." said Trish, disparagingly. "He found out about our open relationships, and he tried to invite himself to our parties. I thought his outward charm was phony; behind the mask he was a foul, disgusting pig, and my husband quickly formed the same opinion when he met Keith. We wanted nothing to do with him." "Keith was single? He didn't swing with a girlfriend?" "He tried to play it that he had a girlfriend, and I did see him with a woman here at work a couple of times. She was short, blonde, voluptuous, cute but nothing exceptional. Single women here seemed to like him well enough. But we, meaning those of us in our group, really didn't want anything to do with him. He was really pushy. Thought too much of himself, too." That was all Trish Donolan could tell us. The other two women also admitted that they and their husbands had enjoyed sexual relationships with the Langs, but knew nothing further. They both had been 'approached' by Keith Atkins, and they both had rebuffed his advances, and Jessica had even complained to H.R. about him for sexual harassment. Part 9 - The Atkins Diet (of Information) We had an address for Keith Atkins and were headed to it. I'd offered Nash the opportunity to take Claire or Diana Torres with him, but he asked if I'd be willing to come and observe while he interviewed Atkins. Of course I agreed. Atkins admitted us into his condo, which was a smallish one that was actually converted from apartments in the district just south of Downtown. He was in his thirties, dark haired, lean, muscular, fairly short, with a scruffy beard. He looked like he could be a troublemaker if he wanted to. I observed a lot of military and paramilitary paraphernalia on the walls, as well as Prepper and Paramilitary magazines lying about. Not hard to see what Atkins's interests were. "Mr. Atkins," Martin Nash said, "we'd like to ask you a few questions about Mr. Larry Lang and his wife." "What's it about?" asked Atkins in reply. "I'll tell you that in just a moment." said Nash. "When was the last time you saw Mr. Lang?" "Officers, if you won't tell me what this is about, I will decline to answer your questions without a lawyer present." said Atkins, very directly. "I'm not trying to be uncooperative, but I've had people lie about me before, and I want to know your intentions, first." "Who's lied about you?" Nash asked. "That Jessica Savage bitch, for one." said Atkins. "She falsely accused me of sexual harassment, pretty much got me fired from Lightsource, though they let me 'resign'. And I've had cops try to arrest me for DUI even though I was stone-cold sober." Martin glanced at me, so I picked it up. "Mr. Atkins, we are investigating the murder of Diane Lang, and her husband seems to have disappeared. Where were you the day before yesterday, October 9th?" "I was in the City, making sales calls." said Atkins. "I spent the night there. Took one of my clients out to dinner, and we did some drinking. He got called home for something, so I went on up to bed and came back to Town the next morning." Atkins gave the name of the hotel he'd stayed at, but declined to state the name of his client, citing his client's privacy. "Well, Mr. Atkins," I said, "we'll be checking your story, but you'll be happy to know that in this case if things check out, we'll be eliminating you as a suspect rather than trying to pin something on you." Atkins relaxed considerably. "Detective Nash?" "Sir, we do still need to ask you a few things." said Martin. "When was the last time you saw Mr. Lang?" "Gosh, it's been... months." said Atkins. "I may have seen him at the Country Club once or twice since I left Lightsource, but I really don't remember specific times or anything." Upon questioning, Atkins explained they both played golf at the River Valley Country Club, my personal favorite. "What about his wife?" Martin asked. "Did you know her very well?" "Yeah, I knew her, mostly through her husband, of course." said Atkins. "Have you seen her recently?" Nash asked. "No... again, maybe I saw her around town once or twice, but I couldn't tell you exactly when or where." Atkins said. "People said you had a strained relationship with some of the people at Lightsource," said Martin, "and you've told us about Mrs. Savage. What about Mr. Lang? Did anyone have a problem with him that you knew of?" "Some of the single women were jealous that he was paying so much attention to the married bitches." said Atkins. "But I don't know if anyone had any problems with him or not." "What about you?" asked Nash. "You got along with him? Any problems?" "Naah, no problems." said Atkins, though I noted a change in his eyes and posture. "In fact, we went out to lunch a few times, especially in my early days. He gave me the picture of what we were doing, to whom we were selling, stuff like that. We got along fine. Wouldn't say we were best friends or anything, we weren't close friends like he and Blair were, but we got along okay." I interjected with a question. "I'm told Mr. Lang was far and away the best sales agent for the company. Did anyone have any problems with his success? Any jealousy from the rest of the team, or anyone specifically?" "No, none that I was aware of." said Atkins. "But I was gaining on him. I always wondered if he got that bitch Savage to make the sexual harassment report on his behalf, so that he could get me out of the way." "Ah, so you were cutting into his sales?" I asked. "No, I didn't say that." Atkins replied, a bit testily. "I don't think I was causing him or his accounts any problems. I didn't go after his established clients... well, not until I began working with Stadler Office Supplies. But I think he might have felt threatened by the success I was starting to have. He definitely liked being the big name in the Sales department, and he didn't want to share that. Blair was protective of him, also. I had some run-ins with him when I began being successful and making sales." We excused ourselves and left after it became clear Atkins could tell us no more. As we drove back to Headquarters, I said "Well, Martin, what did you think of Keith Atkins?" "All I can say is: 'wow'. I'm sure going to check out his story." Martin said. "And I'm going to dig deeper into his past, too. Something about him is not quite right. Maybe I'll find out he has a twin brother." He was referring to the Joe Arruzio case, where I'd figured out Arruzio's guilt by showing that he had a twin brother pretending to be him to give him an alibi. "Let me know what you find." I said. "I agree that he's hiding something. What else did you notice about Atkins?" I asked, testing my Detective. "Let's see..." Martin said, thinking about it. "Seems to have a bit of a persecution complex, didn't want to cooperate with us at first. But he seemed to be straightforward in his answers without thinking about them too hard. What did I miss?" "Nothing, really." I said. "I did notice that his answers were carefully crafted to cover any eventualities, though. For example, if we find that he did talk to Mrs. Lang in the last few months, he didn't deny it, just couldn't remember exactly when he might have talked to her. He also attempted to make it sound like he was the innocent, clean boy and the real success story, while Lang was the womanizer, was jealous of Atkins, and so forth. And Atkins made sure to throw in a few shots at Blair... that was interesting." "Speaking of that," Martin asked, "Commander, do we need to talk to Mr. Blair again? Neither he nor anyone else gave any indication at all that Atkins was successful or eating into Lang's success." "Maybe." I said. "Blair didn't mention the sexual harassment, either; in fact, Blair almost seemed to be covering for Lang by omitting a few things that I suspect he did know. Atkins made damn sure to point out that there was a friendship between Larry Lang and Blair. So... while you're checking on Atkins, check up on Blair, too. We'll go back to see him if something pops up." --------- "Jenna's excited as all get out." said Cindy, later that same afternoon. "This is our first social outing as a couple." "You look pretty happy about it, too." I said. Laura had invited Cindy and Jenna to have dinner with us at the Mountain Nest, and tonight was the night. "I just hope Jenna likes babies. Carole will be passing judgement on her." Carole was an astute as well as beautiful baby. Of course I say that because she's my daughter. "I think she'll do fine-" started Cindy, but she was interrupted by the knock on my door. It was Detective Martin Nash. I had him come in and have a seat. "I've got some information on Atkins and Blair." said Martin. "First, about Keith Atkins: while he was in college at a school in Indiana, he was in ROTC. But his commission was held up, and he was ultimately not commissioned. It was found he concealed some DUIs and major speeding tickets, like plus-30 over the speed limit. The DUIs and their concealments got the Army commission killed. He also was a Campus Police officer, and after his driving record was found out, they relegated him to desk duty." "After he left school," Nash continued, "he then had a couple of jobs with police departments, but while he never was arrested for anything, he concealed his past problems from them, too, so one by one they let him go. At one Department, he was accused of starting a bar fight while off duty and was suspended, but he sued them to get reinstated, and he won. However, they wouldn't let him drive a car, so he was on virtually permanent desk duty, and the Police Union wouldn't help him out. He went to another Department, where he was accused of something, but was officially exonerated. That Department's I.A. sealed those records, so I don't know the details. "Ultimately, he became an anti-Police activist, and a para-military, survivalist type. Did the paintball and boot camp training stuff with an unofficial militia. He also found a job as a sales rep. He was pretty good at sales, and that's why he was eventually hired at Lightsource." "So there's why the FBI is curious: prepper and paramilitary/militia type. But nothing major on his record? No violence?" I asked. "No sir." said Nash. "Not that we've found, so far." "That's strange." I said. "Hmmm... the treatment in college for a few DUIs and then not revealing them seems a bit harsh, so I suspect there's more, stuff that's not on the official record. Probably some bar fights, maybe having a gun in a bar, stuff like that." Case of the Murdered Bride Ch. 02 "He seems to rub people the wrong way." Cindy said. "There are a lot of people who don't really do anything wrong, but the 'system' works to their detriment and they find themselves on the outside looking in, sometimes without really understanding why, or at least not admitting to it. Like Teresa before we found out why she was the way she was." "Nice point, Lieutenant." I said. "And Sharples is on that bubble in Vice now. Hasn't done anything really wrong, but there are strangenesses, and I just keep wondering what's really going on with that guy..." It was not correct of me to talk about a police officer like that, but sometimes 'gossip' of this nature helped facilitate future information and actions. "Okay, what about Blair?" I asked. "Blair just may be someone we should take interest in." said Nash. "He's been with Lightsource just a bit longer than Larry Lang. Apparently they're good friends; the guy at the pro shop of the River Valley Golf Course said Blair plays golf with the Langs quite often, though Blair has different women with him at times, and sometimes they play as a threesome... or a twosome: he sometimes plays with Larry or with Diane alone. I called a couple of people at Lightsource, too. They say Blair and Larry have indeed taken vacation days at the same time, allegedly for long-weekend fishing trips." "Yes, interesting." I said. "See if we can get Lightsource's H.R. to tell us when those vacation days were over the last couple of years. Anything else about him?" "He was a good sales agent at several previous places of employment, but didn't stay with any one for a very long time. He took the job at Lightsource as the boss of the sales agents, and part of his job is to teach them sales techniques. Apparently he's good at teaching; his teams have done very well. This last year, he's been trying to build on that on his own, giving sales seminars in the City on some weekends." said Nash. After a pause and glance at both me and Cindy, Nash continued: "What was interesting to me about him was his finances. His credit cards are maxed out, and he's behind in payments on one of them. He has an expensive BMW and lives in a home that's beyond what he needs, and maybe beyond his means. I called Elsie Gringer, who is the gossip columnist for the Examiner, and she told me that Blair and Diane Lang have been seen together playing tennis as well as golf, and he's given her a number of rides in his car." "Well," I said, "the three of us know that the Langs are swingers, and it's more than a little possible that Blair is part of their fun company." "Yes sir," said Martin, "but it occurred to me that maybe Larry didn't know that Blair and Diane might be doing a little extra on the side. Larry finds out, confronts them, he disappears, she ends up dead..." "But neither Blair nor Larry showed up on any videos at the Hotel on the night she was murdered." I said. "Not that that exonerates them from being there somehow. Okay Martin, check up on Blair's whereabouts on the night of the murder. So...what about this guy who was not Diane Lang's real husband, but was playing her groom on the night she was murdered? Have we not found anything on him at all?" I asked. "Not yet, but the FBI has a bead on the cabbie." said Nash. "He's an ex-con, original name was Joey Franks, small-time thief, safecracker. Problem is that he was last known to be in New York City over three years ago, and his name hasn't popped up on the grid since that time. Sandra thinks he's using an assumed name, and she's working with the FBI and NYPD in New York to see if she can come up with something for us." "I don't mean this as a personal affront to your friend Sandra," I said, "but it's clear as Cindy's competition heels that the FBI has some interest in this, and maybe it's more than Atkins's toy soldier stuff. Looks to me like the FBI is trying to find Franks first." Cindy used to wear clear lucite high heel slides in her Miss Physical America competitions, and she looked hot in them. "I won't say you're wrong about that." said Martin. "Though I haven't seen Cindy in her competition heels." "YouTube, my friend." I said. "I would try to make their swimsuits an official police uniform, but I don't think this Police Department could handle it if Cindy came in that way." "That's right, you guys can't handle the truth." Cindy replied in a withering voice, but I could see by the gleam in her eye that she was liking the compliments. "No doubt." said Nash. "But as to the FBI, I think they're playing it straight up with us." said Nash. "I think Special Agent in Charge Muscone would've contacted you by now if there was a problem, of if they had any reason not to give us Franks if and when they find him." "That's a good point, Martin." I said. "Okay guys, let's see what we can do to wrap this case up. I think if we find the guy playing the 'groom' that night and the cabbie that picked them up, we'll go a long way to solving this case." "Which one of them do you think did it?" Cindy asked. "I don't. No data yet." I replied. "Martin, if you and Sandra would like to visit the City tonight, I'll expense a hotel room for you, and a good meal at a nice restaurant. Just don't get crazy about it like the party animal you normally are." Nope, couldn't get a grin out of Nash for that one, though Cindy chuckled. Also, though she was on Jack Muscone's FBI team, Sandra was living with Martin in his condo and working full-time out of the FBI's office in the Federal Building on our Courthouse Square. Finally, I need not say how happy I was that, as the Police Commander, I could approve expenses for my Detectives, instead of having to ask the Chief. That saved some serious frickin' time. "Check the hotel and bar where Atkins said he was on the night of the murder." I said. "Upload his picture, and also the cabbie and 'groom', just in case. And unless you actually find the perps and make arrests, or find a huge lead needing following immediately, there's no need to call me; you can just report in in the morning when you get back." "On my way. Thanks." Martin said, getting up and leaving. "All right, Cindy, you can go home." I said. "Hooker heels optional at dinner tonight." "I think I'll dress sensibly, for your family's sake." said Cindy, standing up. "Of course, what I do when Jenna and I get back home... I'll just keep to myself." With that, she turned and walked out the door, prancing as if she was walking down the runway for one of those Miss Physical America competitions... Part 10 - Dinner Parties "That was a really delicious dinner, Laura." said Jenna Stiles as we enjoyed some post-meal coffee in the den. It was about 9:00pm, and Laura was holding baby Jim, who was fast falling asleep. Carole had liked Jenna well enough, but had shown a preference for being held by her buddy Cindy, to Cindy's delight. "Don grilled the steaks." Laura said. "And Cindy made the salad and pasta. All I did was set the table and pour the tea." "Well, you organized us well." I said. Laura smiled as she put Jim in the baby rocker. I was observing Cindy and Jenna. Cindy was wearing a tight, clingy dress with green and brown flower patterns, and while she didn't wear the clear heels, she did wear high heel slides, and she was looking smoking hot. Jenna Stiles was wearing a black dress that showed off her darkish red hair, and high heel black pumps. I'd fuck either one of them, I thought to myself as I drank some wine, if they only played on my team... Just then my cell phone rang. It was Martin Nash. I answered the phone as I headed to the formal living room. "Whaddya got, Martin?" He told me his shocking story: --------- "Hi." said Sandra as she and Martin sat down at the bar at the Marriott Grande Hotel in the City. "Were you working here two nights ago, on the 9th?" "Maybe." said the bartender, a tall man with blonde hair, who was in his late twenties. "Who wants to know?" "I'm Sandra Speer with the FBI and this is my partner Martin Nash." said Sandra, smiling prettily to disarm the man with her feminine charm and wiles. "We're wondering if you could tell us if some people were here that night." "Yes, I was here." said the bartender. Martin Nash held up his cellphone. "Did you see this guy?" Nash asked, showing the picture of Keith Atkins. "Yeah, he looks familiar." said the bartender. "I think he was having dinner with someone. Let me get Kate in here, she was on duty that night, too." The bartender made a phone call, and soon a pretty but voluptuous girl with black hair was approaching the bar. "Kate, these guys are with the FBI." said the bartender. "Do you remember this guy being here a couple of nights ago?" Kate looked at the picture. "Oh yeah, he and another guy were here. I think this guy was a salesman trying to sell something to the other guy." "Do you remember what time they were here?" asked Sandra. "I think they came in at seven o'clock or so." said Kate. "They were here about an hour." "Anything in particular you can remember about them? Did they drink a lot?" "No, I don't think they drank much. It was just two guys having a business dinner." said Kate. "The guy in that picture, he paid the bill." "Our manager will have to look up the receipts for you." said the bartender. "I'll call him now." "Thanks." said Martin. "Before you do, let me ask you if you've seen either of these guys, as well." He showed them the picture of the cabbie from the hotel footage. Neither hotel employee had seen him. Then Martin showed the picture of the 'groom'. "Hmm, he looks familiar. Kate?" said the bartender. "Yeah, he sure does... hey!" said Kate. "I think he was the guy that first guy was having dinner with?" "He was the client?" asked Sandra. "They guy the other man was selling to?" "Yeah... I think he was, he was the other guy..." --------- "Wow, Martin, that is huge!" I said into my cellphone. "Any possibility of getting an ID?" "I don't know yet." said Martin. "Atkins paid the dinner bill with a Stadler Office Supply credit card, and he paid for his hotel room with the same card. He and the other guy left together, the lobby staff don't really remember seeing them, but they remember Atkins saying goodnight to them before going to his room. Hotel security says they've already overwritten the security cameras in the lobby and hallways for that night, too." "Okay, great job." I said. "You and Sandra enjoy the rest of the night, and have a good dinner..." -------- "It's almost ten o'clock." I said, turning on the television. "Bettina has a new night reporter. Let's see how she does. Dunno why they replaced Priya Ajmani, though." "Oh, didn't you hear?" Cindy said, looking surprised at my lack of knowledge. "Priya Ajmani took a new job... with KSTD." "How'd she get out of the non-compete clause?" I asked. Usually television reporters had six month non-compete clauses in their contracts. Laura said "What I heard is that someone paid Bettina a little something, actually a lot of something, under the table to let Priya out of her contract." "And Burt West, too, I'd imagine." I said, mentioning the editor of the newspaper, the Town & County Examiner. "Hmmm, wonder why Wargrave wanted Priya so badly? Er, for his TV station, that is." "Well, she's hot as hell in the looks department, and she's pretty popular with the TV audiences." said Cindy. "But she's not Bettina and never will be, so she had no chance to move up at KXTC." Laura said "I also suspect that Priya and Bettina didn't get along as well as they appear to on TV. Your mother and Elsie Gringer just might know more about that, and I won't break that confidence." Ah, I thought to myself, so that's how Laura knows so much about this. Elsie Gringer was the social queen and gossip columnist at the Examiner, and she was also Bettina Wurtzburg's aunt. And my mother... geez, you wanna talk about someone who knows everything that's going on... "I'll have to have a word with Ms. Wurtzburg." I said. "I'm really wondering about that..." I went into a reverie. "Don," Cindy said, her voice reproving, "not everything that happens in this Town has a sinister purpose, you know." "No, just the things that seem to come to my attention, my friend." I replied. "Isn't that right, Carole?" "Da-da." Carole replied, looking over at me as I spoke to her. The ol' Iron Crowbar's heart was thoroughly melted. At that moment the KXTC news came on. KSTD would come on at 11:00pm. Indeed, the KXTC News At Ten was hosted by a blonde woman named Amber Harris. Amber was very attractive, and I noticed that she was very well toned, almost as muscular as Cindy. Amber had been a sports reporterette in the past, but was now the co-anchor with Bettina for the evening news, and the sole night anchor at 10:00pm. "This is Amber Harris at the KXTC Channel Two Newsdesk!" said the lovely blonde as the Chiron at the bottom of the screen said 'KXTC Channel Two Newsdesk', which I guess was to reinforce what was being said. "With the Elections just scant weeks away, Daniel Allgood is a virtual lock for Sheriff with nearly 90% support. Mayor Vaughan and all of the Town & County Council members are expected to easily win their respective races, and District Attorney Gil Krasney is comfortably ahead. Only the Coroner's race and the State Senate race are close at this time, and the race for the newly elected post of Solicitor is distributed among a wide field." "Speaking of the Coroner's race, Coroner Steven Lester Haines was formally reprimanded by the Town & County Council at their meeting this evening, for releasing a Police Crime Lab photograph of the deceased Diane Lang to the Media without authorization. KXTC Channel Two News ran the picture, and has apologized for their error in showing it before the next-of-kin was notified. Coroner Haines has apologized for the error but has refused to resign, asking the voters to forgive his mistake and re-elect him. His opponent, Dr. John Quincy Kelly, called upon Coroner Haines to resign, saying that such breaches of the public trust are too serious to be lightly dismissed. Coroner Haines had led the race by ten points, but spot-polling today shows the race may be narrowing." Amber continued: "In the tri-county State Senate race, Democrat Katherine Woodburn and Republican John Cummings are in a statistical dead heat and are hitting the stumps with speeches. While Ms. Woodburn has walked back some of her earlier fiery rhetoric aimed at the Town & County Police, she has stepped up attacks upon her opponent, declaring him to be a TEA Party Extremist desiring to deny women birth control and the long-established Right to Choose, denying DREAMers the right to stay in America, and wanting to cut essential Government services in order to give the top 1% yet more tax cuts.. Mr. Cummings has replied that Ms. Woodburn is a big-spending liberal with close ties to the late Senator Nathan Allen, and that she would be wrong for the County and the State Senate. Now let's go to John Hardwood. Johnny!"
 "Thank you, Amber." said John Hardwood, standing outside the City Hall complex on the west side of the Courthouse Square. "The Town & County Council meeting tonight centered around the hot-button issue of Police precincts, which seems to be gaining support with a majority of the Council. The precincts initiative, long sought by Councilman Reginald B.F. Lewis but opposed by former Police Captain Harold Malone, took a large step closer to passage when the Council appointed a Committee to hear and prepare plans for precincts. "Councilpersons Colby and Schoen were the only two opposed, with Mr. J.P. Goldman abstaining from the vote." continued Hardwood. "Channel Two News called Police Chief Griswold for a statement, and Chief Griswold replied that while he thought the County was not large enough to warrant division into precincts, he was retiring and that it wasn't his, and I quote, 'cross to bear'. Police Commander Donald Troy declined to comment as well, saying he was an employee of the Police Department and would abide by the Council's decisions. Channel Two News has learned, but has not confirmed, that Commander Troy will be tasked with coming up with a plan for Police precincts..." "Ouch, is that true?" Cindy asked me. "Yep." I said. "Precincts are actually a done deal, I'm afraid. I present my plan next Tuesday night." "Damn." Cindy said. "What are you going to do?" "What I always do: make lemonade out of lemons." I replied. "At least I can give input and mitigate the damage. The Chief liked my ideas, so in the face of the inevitable, he'll help get my ideas passed. By the way, guys, not a word of this to anyone until I've made the presentation." Jenna asked "If you don't mind my asking, why the opposition to precincts?" I said "Captain Malone was the real stumbling block, and he's gone now. The Chief is old-school, and he likes things the way they are now. I'm a bit more flexible about it. I don't think we're really large enough to need to be divided and spread out, but if I can keep MCD and Vice intact at Headquarters, then deploying Uniformed units won't be too bad." "Good luck with that." said Cindy. "It'll kill us if the Detectives are split up, but some of the uniformed officers are actually in favor of it." "Jenna," Laura asked, changing the subject, "what's going on with the Solicitor position?" Jenna replied "The Solicitor handles small cases, such as traffic citations, code enforcement violations, non-violent misdemeanors and the like. The D.A. used to appoint one of the ADAs to that specific task, but the Council decided a few months ago to make it an elected post, as it is in most other counties in the State, after the Nathaniel Jones case and all that racial stuff came out last summer." "Who do you think will win that?" I asked. "Miriam Walters." said Jenna. "She was doing the job for two years." Miriam Walters had black hair that she kept fairly short, beady eyes that rivaled Jenna's but more closely reminded me of Jack Muscone's eyes, and a decent hourglass figure. But she was as cold as ice, even more so than Teresa 'Cunt' Croyle on a bad day. "Well, Jenna, I think we need to be going." Cindy said. Carole was getting cranky in my partner's arms, fighting hard to stay awake." "Okay, Carole, time for bed." I said as I took her from Cindy. That didn't fly at all: Carole began fussing and crying and reaching for Cindy. "Easy, Fussbudget, what's the matter? It's time for bed, little girl." Carole still fussed. "I'll put her in her crib." said Cindy, taking Carole. My daughter calmed down somewhat, but was still cranky and trying to stay awake, wanting to know what was going on. A fighter she was, I thought, secretly proud of my little girl. Cindy took Carole to her crib while Laura put Jim down in his in our bedroom. Carole cooed as Cindy talked to her, then my daughter finally closed her eyes and relented to inevitable sleep. "See you in the morning, Boss." Cindy said as we all made our goodbyes. "And prepare to get worked over in the gym." "I hope that's a promise not to be kept, as opposed to a threat to lose sleep over." I said... Part 11 - S.O.S. On the morning of October 12th, Martin Nash arrived back home at Headquarters at 8:30am. He and I headed to Stadler Office Supply. "That was a real break, finding out that our 'groom' was Atkins' client at the dinner." I said. "Thanks to you." Nash said. "You told me to take his picture. I'd have never thought to. I learned something there. So did Sandra." "And I'm not even sure what made me tell you." I said. "Premonition, I guess. Okay, here we are." Stadler Office Supply was not like an 'Office Depot' or 'Staples', but sold things like major furnishings and lighting. We went inside, where a secretary called her boss to the lobby. Case of the Murdered Bride Ch. 02 "Ah, Commander, Detective, good to meet you both." the boss, Mr. Stadler, said as he shook our hands. He was medium height, starting to fill out in girth but not fat yet, light brown hair and a fairly pleasant demeanor. "Come on back to my office." We went to the office, declining offers of coffee or tea. "Yes, Mr. Atkins is one of our three sales reps." Stadler said. "He's done a good job for us, made some good sales. Why? I hope he's not in trouble or anything." "No, no." I said, "But he may be a material witness to a case we're working on. What I'd like to ask you about is his trip to the City on the 9th." "Yes, he's been trying to cultivate some clients in the City." Stadler said. "He's made a couple of sales, so I let him drive over there and do more. He said he wanted to start a branch office there, but I told him he'd really have to build a client base in order for us to do that. I appreciate his go-get-em attitude, but we're not looking to expand that fast." "Do you know who he visited on the 9th? Existing clients?" I asked. "No, they were potential new clients." said Stadler. "By the way, he called in sick yesterday, said he was feeling run down from his trip to the City and was afraid he might have caught a bug. He said he hadn't gotten any orders from the trip, but would follow up with the potential clients in a couple of days. So I don't have the information yet on his contacts, nor his expense report." "I see." I said, then abruptly and completely changed the subject. "Mr. Stadler, do you know a man named Larry Lang?" "Oh yeah, sure." said Stadler. "He works for Lightsource Industries. They're our competition on L.E.D. lighting, though for nothing else. Larry and I are both members of the Football Booster Club at County High School." "Oh really?" I said. "He and his wife don't have any kids; why is he a member of the Booster Club?" "Uh... you know, I really don't know, I never asked." replied Stadler. "Maybe he likes high school football, or maybe he's cultivating clients, like I do, even though my kid plays Junior High ball. If I may ask, why do you want to know about Larry?" "He has gone missing." I said. "Hasn't been seen since the 9th. We knew Mr. Atkins knew him, but Mr. Atkins was in the City at the time, as you've just confirmed- oh, let me ask: how did Mr. Atkins travel to the City?" "He took one of our company cars." said Stadler. "Left his car here and drove the company one." "Is that car here now?" "Sure is." said Stadler. "In the back parking lot. It's fenced in; we keep our trucks there, too." "Anyone driven it since his trip to the City?" "No, not that I know of." said Stadler. "The other sales reps have their own company cars, and I haven't been out so I haven't used it." "Do those cars have GPS devices?" "Certainly." "Mr. Stadler, would you mind if a couple of my technicians download the GPS memory of Mr. Atkins car? It would help us in our investigation." "I... why I guess so, if it'll help. Mind telling me why, though?" Stadler asked. "Just to confirm Mr. Atkins' whereabouts." I said. "Again, it's not so much Mr. Atkins, but one of the people your employee had a sales dinner with is of interest to us, and maybe the GPS information can help with that. At worst, it'll simply confirm where Mr. Atkins was at the time." -------- "Okay, Commander," said Myron as he finished downloading the GPS contents into his Police computer and sending the data to secure Police servers at Headquarters, "I'll analyze the data and let you know what I find." "Thanks, Myron." I said. As we'd waited for Myron to arrive, Mr. Stadler showed us around his facilities. There were several rooms with office suites set up, these were 'demo' rooms to show potential clients some of the various things they could order from S.O.S. The back part was a warehouse. "I guess we'll need to go talk to Atkins again?" Nash said. "Oh yes," I said, "but we're going to invite him to Interrogation-Alpha instead of going to him." Just as Myron left, my cell phone rang. It was an invitation I could hardly refuse. Part 12 - Secret Passage To Lashes & Lace I drove Laura's car to the office building on the East Road that led to Nextdoor County. There were a number of cars in the parking lot towards the left side where businesses were. On the right side there were fewer cars, but I parked in the middle of the lot. Needless to say, I was in plain clothes: a green golf shirt and khaki pants, brown belt and shoes. My backup gun, a Kel-tec 9mmP, was holstered to my ankle, and a smaller .380 ACP pistol was in my pocket. Not a lot of firepower, but at least I know how to use it. The bar which was the front gateway to Rita's 'Lashes & Lace' was essentially closed and was being thoroughly cleaned. Everyone there knew who I was, and I was not hindered (nor helped) as I headed to the right and to the barroom in back, where Tanya and I had had our first meeting and encounter with the lovely statuesque blonde Rita. She was sitting at a table on the very far side of the room, near the door that led to the basement party areas. Two of her 'satyrs' were sitting with her as a bodyguard. She was wearing a dark red and black print blouse, black miniskirt that barely covered her pussy, high heel black strappy sandals, and a silver chain choker necklace around her neck, signifying her to be a submissive... when she wasn't in charge and running her operation, of course. Rita got up and walked up to me as I walked towards her. In the heels, she was actually a bit taller than me. "Mmmm, look who came to visit." she said. As we met, she wrapped her arms around me and pressed her lips to mine in a warm kiss. Her tongue forced its way into my mouth, making the kiss deeper and hotter. I gave in and we kissed for a long moment. "So how are you doing? Cop." Rita asked as she finally broke the kiss, which had ignited fires of lust in my body. "How's your beautiful wife? I hope her recovery is going well." "It is." I said. "Though she's not back to having sex yet. She really loved the gifts you sent her." Rita had sent Laura three necklaces: one a choker chain similar to the one she (Rita) was wearing now; a chain that went around her waist, held up by her hips; and an ankle bracelet with the small charm of the male symbol (circle and arrow) penetrating the female (circle and cross beneath). Laura had loved them. "Good." Rita said. "I expect to see her wearing them when she brings you to visit and play with us. Cop." "So, why did you call me?" I asked. "Let's go to the basement. Here's a silk mask for you." Rita said. I put on the black silk mask, which made me feel like a bank robber, but I knew I'd be stealing some hot pussy soon. We went downstairs. In the main room there were two women being fucked by Rita's muscular, well-hung satyrs. "Slow day today." Rita whispered. "The lunch hour can get surprisingly busy. Housewives come here to get properly fucked while their husbands work like dogs to support them. One of the women I did not know. She was in her thirties, extremely beautiful, with a mane of gently curling, deep-honey-blonde hair, and her body was toned and magnificent. She was wearing clear high heel slides, her legs spread and her wedding rings sparkling as she lay back and absorbed the powerful thrusts of the masked young man on top of her as he pumped his huge meat into her relentlessly. Two other satyrs were standing by and watching, ready to fuck her just as soon as her current stud climaxed and pumped his full load into her. The other woman was dark haired, and I recognized her. Her name was Marlena, and she was the mother of young Ryan, who we'd met in the 'Swap' case, and who'd helped Cindy make my red crowbar out of the molten metal of the rifle that had exterminated the Rev. Jonas Oldeeds. Marlena was a hot MILF, with a shapely body and very shapely legs. She was wearing high heel slides like the ones she wore the night I interviewed her son in the 'Swap' case, and Marlena was taking her lover's thrusts and giving some back as they rutted lustily. Another satyr watched and was ready to take his turn fucking Marlena, his cock long and thick and bobbing in anticipation. "Can you keep a secret? Cop?" Rita whispered into my ear before nibbling on it. "Sure, baby." I said. "Unless you're confessing to a murder or something." "No, nothing like that." said Rita. "Let's go to my secret office." With that, she took me by the hand and led me along the side of the arena, right in front of her 'bedchamber' where she and I had watched Laura's gang-bang some time before. I'd fucked her there several times when Laura and I visited the club, but of course we had not been able to visit since Laura's hysterectomy. Walking past there, Rita opened a very-well-concealed panel in the wall that was actually a door. We walked down the darkened hallway and turned left into what was an office with a desk in the middle, and a sofa-bed on the left side, the headboard against the far wall. The sofa bed was opened, and ready for use as a bed for couples to hotly fuck upon. "This is my real office." Rita said. "Very few other people come in here, so you better feel special about it. Cop." "I feel special about the gorgeous woman in front of me." I said. Rita turned and wrapped her arms around me again, and we shared another very deep, tongue-twining kiss that seemed to just go on and on. As we kissed, I brazenly slid my hand between Rita's firm thighs and up to her pussy. She was sopping wet as I fingered her slit and then buried two fingers knuckle-deep inside her deep, hot twat. She moaned into my mouth as I finger-fucked her. Breaking the kiss, Rita began taking off my shirt, which forced me to stop finger-fucking her. We undressed each other, sharing hot kisses. Then Rita sat down on the bed. "Leave those heels on." I ordered as Rita was about to take them off. "Yes sir. Cop." Rita said submissively. She lay back onto the bed and watched as I approached her, totally naked, my little 'iron crowbar' sticking out hard and throbbing, ready for use. I eased onto the bed and mounted Rita, my weapon of lust finding its target and deeply penetrating the beautiful blonde's steaming hot cunt. No foreplay was needed, but Rita pulled my face down to hers, wanting to kiss. I hadn't been with a woman this hot to kiss since I was married to Melina, who would kiss her lover all day and night if she could. "Oh baby, that cock feels so fucking good." Rita whispered as I began pumping in and out of her. "Take it slow, baby... nice and slow... oh yes... ohhhh..." I buried my meat to the hilt inside Rita's welcoming cunthole, grinding up against her, barely withdrawing before pushing back in again. Rita groaned, saying "Oh yes, just like that, baby... nice and slow... ohhhh, just like that... my god... Cop... you are one hell of a great fuck, you wonderful man... ohhh..." Rita and I made love this way for some few minutes. I sucked her large, natural breasts, enjoying the taste and feel of her big mammaries in my hands. Her teats were long and very hard, and I enjoyed harshly lashing my tongue against them, then sucking them as hard as I could. But I had to compete with Rita's desires to have my tongue in her mouth matching my cock in her cunt... ------- Long moments later, Rita and I lay in a 'spoon' position, her lovely ass pressed into my abs and groin, my semen seeping out of her well-fucked cunt. "That was terrific. Cop." Rita said sleepily. "Just hold me like this while I tell you why I called you. It's about that murder case you're working on." "Okay." I said, kissing Rita's neck, jaw and earlobe, relaxing in extramarital post-coital bliss. "As you know, Diane Lang and her husband are swingers." Rita said. "They've been here a few times, but what I offer here isn't really what they were into. They did have some of their parties in my upstairs inner bar, and would then move on to the University Hotel and have orgies there." "Hedonists?" I asked. "No." Rita replied. "They had an offshoot group from the Hedonists. They thought they were a bit too classy for the Hedonists, but the Libertines had rejected all of the people in that group for various reasons. By the way, you and Laura are a lock for the Libertines, if you'll only get your asses moving and join up." "After she heals up, we will." I said. "So, the Langs had their own little group?" "Yep." Rita said. "Mr. Blair, who is the Langs's very close friend, was a part of that group, sometimes bringing a girlfriend like that Annika Czeckova woman to the parties. Annika is Eastern European, married... and she is one hell of a hot fuck, from what I'm told. "Anyway," Rita continued, "the Langs also did some other things. Their favorite game was to go into the City as a bride and groom, and pick up cab drivers or some guy at a bar, take him to their hotel room and fuck him. But they had to start moving around when it became known what they were doing, so they were in Southport for a while. The class of men down there is very rough compared to the rest of the State, so they started doing their stuff in Midtown. "They finally came up here, and the night Diane was murdered was their second time doing the role-play in this County. Soiling their own beds, so to speak." Rita said. "I heard you found the cabbie that they did it with the first time. That one went well, but this last time something went wrong and she ended up dead." I said "She was not with Mr. Lang on the 9th. Any idea who was playing the 'groom' role?" "No, I'm not sure." said Rita. "I think he may have been from the City, though. I'm told that Diane played the bride with men other than Larry as the groom from time to time, almost always at the same time Larry was on vacation hunting and fishing trips with Mr. Blair. And by the way, I'm pissed at Diane for stealing my 'white dress' image. So you can put me on your list of suspects." "I'll be sure to do that." I said jokingly, knowing that Rita was not likely to kill anyone. Then I got serious again. "What about Keith Atkins? What can you tell me about him?" "Ah yes, Mis-ter Atkins." Rita said, and I felt her body change a bit, in line with the derision entering her voice. "He came to our outer bar a few times, sometimes with a blonde girlfriend, sometimes alone. He was trying to get himself invited into the inner bar, but we never let him in. I have several friends who are very, very good at reading people, and they all said he was trouble." "Violent?" I asked. "No, not that I ever heard," replied Rita, "but just pushy and he just had this... aura of instant unlikeability. One of my girlfriends was a disciple of P. Harvey Eckhart, she's practically psychic, and she said he was just someone we didn't want in our group." "And she's probably Eckhart's spy inside your camp." I said. "Oh, of course. Cop." Rita said. "But Harvey must be mighty bored with her reports... we do the same things here every day and every night. By the way, all of my friends think you're hot. They all want to suck your cock." "I'm all for that, at least with the women, anyway." I replied, very sure that Rita was not just talking about her female friends. "But I'm sure Mr. Eckhart is anything but bored with the names of your clientele here." "You'll just have to keep him in line for me. Cop." replied Rita. "Yes, I will." I said. "But never mind P. Harvey Eckhart: anyone you can think of that might want to harm the Langs?" "Nope. That's your job to find out. Cop." Rita said. She then turned to face me, kissed me on the mouth, then said "In return for this information, I want you to tell me something." "What's that?" I asked. "I noticed that you recognized Marlena out there." Rita said astutely. "I want to know: is she fucking her son Ryan?" I paused for a moment, then said "I don't know for sure, I've certainly never seen them nor heard either saying anything, but I suspect that they're fucking." "Ohhh, God, that makes me so fucking horny!" Rita exclaimed, her voice a whisper but very excited. "I really get off thinking about a mother fucking her own son." Rita then whispered "Oh, I know about you and your mom, and your nephew Todd was not only fucking his stepmother, he's been fucking his own mother since she got out of jail." "Oh really?" I said, shocked to hear that. "Yep." Rita said. "And there's a lot more incest going on in this hot Town. You know Cal and Drusilla Romano, the Italian couple?" "I know of them." I said. "They're members of Melina and Cindy's gym." "They're not husband and wife." Rita said. "They're brother and sister pretending to be married, and they are fucking each other like rabbits. Okay, now you've got me all horny with all this hot incest talk. Cop. Why don't you give me a proper hard fuck... mother fucker?" I rolled on top of Rita, slammed my throbbing hard cock into her sopping wet, cum-filled pussy, and began fucking her with raw, animal power... Part 13 - Secret Passage To The Conservatory "Okay, Mr. Atkins," I said, "I need the whole story from you, not just bits and pieces." We were in Interrogation-Alpha. It was 4:30pm, still on one busy October 12th. I had had Rudistan and Morton 'invite' Atkins to come to the Police Station for further questioning. He'd come along without any trouble at all. So far, he had not invoked nor asked for a lawyer, and was being relatively cooperative. "What do you mean?" asked Atkins. "Who was your dinner client in the City on the evening of the 9th?" I asked, very directly and imperiously. "Oh. Tom Rollins." said Atkins, realizing the game was up on the 'client privacy' schtick. "He ran the Pancake Diner chain in the City and in Southport. I was trying to sell him L.E.D. lights for his restaurants." "I see." I said. "How long have you known Mr. Rollins?" I asked. "The dinner was our first meeting." Atkins said. "I'd talked to him on the phone, then invited him to dinner to discuss the lights." I asked "He's the president of the company?" "Yeah, he was the president of Pancake Diners, LLC." said Atkins. "They are the holding group. Each restaurant is it's own corporation." "You seem to know a good bit about the structure of the company." said Martin Nash, who was interviewing Atkins with me. "Uh, sure, I research my clients before talking with them... just like I'm sure you've researched me before bringing me here." Atkins said, half humorously, half contemptuously. "No doubt about that." I said. "So just to make sure I heard it correctly: you'd never met Mr. Rollins before your sales call upon him on the 9th." "That's right." Atkins said. "Did you meet his acquisitions people before meeting him?" I asked. "No..." Atkins said, then paused before picking up again, "I took a shot and went straight for the top guy. It worked; he accepted my dinner invitation and we had a good conversation." "Mr. Atkins," I said, "in our earlier conversation, you said that Mr. Rollins and yourself had had a good bit to drink. Would you clarify that for me?" "Uh..." said Atkins, "yeah, I should clarify that. I didn't mean to make it sound like we tried to drink each other under the table. We had a few beers at the bar, wine with dinner, and so on." "And Mr. Rollins was capable of driving after consuming all that?" I asked. "He seemed to be pretty sober." Atkins said. "We also were eating, so I'm sure that helped keep him sober. I was probably more buzzed than he was, which is why I went up to my room instead of driving anywhere." "So tell me about how your dinner ended." I said. Atkins looked surprised, but again answered instead of asking what I was getting at. Case of the Murdered Bride Ch. 02 "Uh, we were talking, and he got a phone call." Atkins said. "After that, he started wrapping it up and saying he had to go, and to call him again in a few days." "How would you describe his personality?" I asked. "He was a business owner, so he was in control, in charge. Pleasant enough fellow, talked with our waitress in a charming way." Atkins said. "Okay." I said. "Mr. Atkins, you are not under arrest nor under suspicion of anything. However, I'm going to have to ask you to contact the Police Department if he contacts you, and I'm also going to have to ask you to not leave Town, or at least give the Police Department a call and let us know where you're going and what times you'll be away and will get back." "Why?" asked Atkins. "What's it all about?" "Mr. Rollins might be involved in the case I'm pursuing." I said. "And you're a connection to him, so I'm going to have to ask you to cooperate with us to that extent." After Atkins had left, I asked Martin Nash what he thought of the interview. "I just can't put my finger on it," said Nash, a bit of frustration in his quiet, even voice, "but there is something just not quite right about him. I just can't see where it is..." "Let me help you with that." I said. "Don't you find it odd that Atkins says he never had met or knew Tom Rollins... but he makes the sales call directly to him?" "I'm not sure why that's odd." Martin said. He had never been a business owner, like I had been and was now, so I clued him in. I said "I find it strange that Atkins would go straight to the holding company president of a chain of restaurants instead of first going to the acquisitions or procurement officer first. And I'm then surprised that the company president went to dinner with Atkins instead of referring him to the procurement officer. So what does that mean to you?" "That Atkins is lying?" said Nash. "That he's met the company president before, which is why he felt he could call him instead of the more obvious person?" "Exactly." I said. "Now I'm not saying Atkins is lying, it could be as he said. But it's a strangeness, something to thing about, especially with Rollins being our 'groom', and that was the real reason he left the Atkins dinner... to meet Diane Lang. In fact-" I stopped, entering a reverie. "Commander?" Nash said after a couple of moments of patiently waiting. "Uh, sorry, Martin, I was just thinking of something." I said. "We really need to find this Rollins fellow..." ------- Not long after getting out of the Atkins interview, the Chief called me and Cindy into his office for a meeting. I noticed two things: that this was a private meeting between the three of us; and that the Chief was wearing a black leather belt sash over his light blue uniform shirt. I was entitled to do the same, but neither of us normally wore the sash belt unless we wanted to be more formal than normal, but less formal than 'duty dress', and especially in public. Deduction: the Chief was about to take us somewhere, where he'd be 'in public'. But before we left, the Chief had me tell what I'd recently learned: "Tom Rollins and his wife are part of the Swinging Scene in the City." I said, having easily obtained that information from three different sources. "He's an alumnus of the University here, and he's a friend of Tom Riordan's... which means he may be part of the parties those alumni throw for the players, as we learned about in the Jefferson Jackson case. In any case, apparently he and Diane decided to go out and play together as bride and groom... and I still don't know why her husband wasn't participating." "I've gotten a report from Teddy Parker, Myron and Mary." Cindy said. "The Hotel video only shows the cabbie coming in and on the elevator, but not leaving. There are no cameras in the stairwells, and the sixth floor camera that overlooks that door and the hallway were apparently inoperable. We also don't have Atkins at all, on any camera at any time. "In addition," Cindy reported, "Myron has already gotten Atkins's cell phone pings, and they pretty much show he stayed in the City at the hotel all night. His S.O.S. car was also parked in his hotel's parking lot, and remained there all night." "So, it looks like Rollins or Lang." I said. "APBs are out for both of them, and we really need to find Rollins; he was either a witness on the scene, or he's the murderer." Then I looked hard at the Chief and said "So, Chief? What's the real reason you brought just 'Crowbar 2' and myself in here? And I'll drive, but where are we going?" "How do you do it?" the Chief muttered, but smiling under his big handlebar mustaches. "Yes, as I'm retiring, there are a few secrets in this County that I need to pass along to you. One of them, you're going to learn tonight. Captain Charles knows, but he may be retiring soon. The Fire Chief will also be telling a couple of trusted Fire Department personnel." The Chief continued: "It has occurred to me that one reason we've not seen the criminals in the cameras like we should, is because they used a secret underground passage between the University Hotel and the Tower Condos." "Ooooh, secret passage to the Conservatory!" Cindy said, her face lighting up, referencing the famous board game 'Clue'. "Something mysterious and exciting!" "Yes." said the Chief. "Here's the story: the buildings were built simultaneously, and I was a Lieutenant with the Town Police here at the time. I recommended a secret passageway be constructed between the basements, in the event of a fire or hostage situation arising, and the University had the State money to do it. I want to take you there and show you the entrances, and maybe see if some footprints were left in the dust. So, Crowbar, how did you know?" "You've dressed well." I said, referring to the belt sash the Chief was wearing. "Oh, is that it?" said the Chief, then he said in admonishment "You should never reveal your tricks, Crowbar, makes you seem ordinary when you do." "I am ordinary, Chief." I said. "I just happen to have a great Team and an extraordinary mother." "Ordinary, my ass." said Cindy. "Modesty is a human trait, Commander. I will excuse it." said the Chief, quoting a Klingon line from one of the 'Star Trek' TV shows. "Let's go to the University Hotel." We drove to the University Hotel in my SUV. Going inside, Chief Griswold went to the Hotel Manager's office and let him know what we were about to do. A moment later, Chief Griswold led us to the stairwell on the side of the building away from the main road and nearest to Tower Condos. There was a gray metal door set into the far wall, which should have been the outer wall of the building by my reckoning. The stairs to the basement were blocked by a door, with a sign that said there was no emergency exit from the basement, and to exit on this floor. That door was blocked, though people from the basement could come upstairs and open the door from the other side. However, the Chief bypassed that door and went to the other one. He unlocked it with a key and opened it. Behind the door was another stairwell! "This is a secret second set of stairs." said Chief Griswold. We went into the room and closed the door behind us. The lights were on, but were dim. We went downstairs. At the base was a door that led to the publicly known stairs and to the basement hallway and to the meeting rooms, laundry rooms and other rooms that operated the hotel. Behind the stairs was another metal door with a simple sign that said 'No Entry. Authorized Personnel Only'. Chief Griswold's key opened it, and he reached in and flicked a light switch. We descended the concrete stairs into a narrow passage. It was lighted at intervals by a string of powerful lights like those under a stadium corridor, or something of the kind. I noticed the floor. "You're right, Chief, there's footprints here." I said, taking out my flashlight to give better, stronger light to what I was looking at. "Hmmm, some are very recent, but some seem to have been made a little while ago." Cindy took out a flashlight that threw an eerie blue, fluorescent light. "There's drops of blood, here, too." she said. We slowly went down the hallway to the right turn. About twenty feet down the passage we saw a large, dark form. It was a human body! Rushing up to it, I observed that it was a man, and that he was wearing a tuxedo. Turning the body over, we immediately saw that it was Tom Rollins, the erstwhile play-acting groom! We were too late. He was dead. To be continued. Case of the Murdered Bride 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, Trilogy Series, Dark Side Of The Force series., Caught In the Act series. Case of the Murdered Bride 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 14 - Secret Passages and Hidden Knowledge "He's been dead a couple of days." said the Chief. "Rigor had set in but is releasing now. Blood pooling inside the chest cavity and abdomen." "So, you're going to be a medical examiner in your retiring years, Chief?" I asked, grinning. "Just might. Miss Perlman has nothing on me." said the Chief, feeling around the man's neck. "Hmmm, the man's neck is broken. Violently so. Probably the cause of death." I was looking further down the passageway. "Looks like someone walked around the body here, probably the guy that dumped him here. But there are some footprints headed down the passageway... not fresh, they have some dust settling into them." "Wanna follow them?" said the Chief. "Here's an extra key to the locks. I was going to give it to you, anyway. Keep it on your police keychain at all times." "Thank you, sir. Yes, sir." I said. "But first: Cindy, why don't you go upstairs and call in for only Dr. Woodrow and Technician Cho to come down. Have them bring a wheeled stretcher so we can haul the body out." "Good idea, Crowbar." said the Chief. "The less people know about this, the better." He handed Cindy his key to all the doors, and she headed upstairs. "So, Chief," I asked as we waited. "Where are the other secret passages in the County? Besides the one between the Crime Lab building and the Headquarters?" "You know about that?" asked the Chief, his voice incredulous. "How in God's name? I know there's something down there, but I don't know where it is." "Well, Chief," I said, "that guy who got into our Evidence Rooms, the one who committed suicide when we caught him, who was wearing my badge... he didn't come from upstairs, that much is obvious. That suggests a passage somewhere... I think it runs parallel to the firing range, then cuts over to the Crime Lab, but I'm not sure." "Geez." said the Chief, truly astonished at my knowledge. "I figured it was somewhere behind Internal Affairs. I've only been in there once, and that was just after the building was built, before they actually moved in. A moment later, the Chief said "As to your question about other passages, there's two under the University football stadium, in an 'X' shape, that goes to the four corners of it. I'd hate to see what condition it might be in right now. And there's an old sewer drain under the County Jail that leads to the River, big enough to evacuate the Jail if there were a fire or if it came under attack from the outside." ---------------------------------- After Cho and Woodrow got to the crime scene and processed it, having been sworn to secrecy by the Chief, we got the body up to the main floor, and quickly removed it to the waiting ambulance by the side door. After that, Cindy and I went on down the passageway. "Two sets of footprints." Cindy said. "Moving pretty fast." "Yep," I said, "and staying in the center, which means they were navigating in the dark with flashlights and avoided the walls." "Think these are connected to this murder?" Cindy asked as we turned the corner and headed up the stairs. A moment later, we were in the ground floor hallway of the Tower Condos. "No, I think that was a separate thing." I said. "I suspect we just traced the escape route of the rapists of Vicki Oldeeds some months ago." "Ah, yes." Cindy said, remembering all that had happened in association with that. "So do you think the same guys are involved in this case?" "Can't see that as being likely." I said. "We're--" I was interrupted by my cell phone going off. I answered it. "What?!... That's great!... Yeah, Ross and I are coming back to Headquarters right now... listen, Martin, process him, read him his rights. Suspicion of murder. I want him agitated as hell when we interrogate him. Okay, see you in a few." As I put the cellphone back in its pocket, I said to Cindy "The FBI got a facial recognition match on the cabbie in the videos, and sent Nash an address. Rudistan and Morton have already gone there and made the arrest, and they're bringing the guy to Headquarters now. Let's go!" Part 15 - Cab Fare, Redux The cabbie was in Interrogation-1. He was taller than medium but shorter than tall, and in his early forties. He was well built and fairly muscular. His brown hair was ringing the sides of his head, but very thin up top, and his forehead was a bit prominent. It was all the more obvious due to the sweat on his brow under the bright light over the table. "His name, the one he's going by now, is Ronald Burger." said Cindy as we observed him from the anteroom through the one-way glass. "He's been with University Cab Company here just short of three years. He apparently created a new identity for himself, complete with modest credit card records, but no credit cards in his wallet when he was arrested. He hangs out with other cabbies sometimes, but for the most part keeps to himself." "Witness protection?" I asked. "That would explain some of the Federal interest in him... or at least in this case if he's involved." "When Sandra Speer called Martin with the address of this guy," said Cindy, "she said that the Marshals were denying he was in Witness Protection. She also said they probably would say so if he was, not to mention they'd tell us to back off of him. So we're thinking he's not." "So why don't you have someone interviewing him?" I asked. "He invoked." Cindy replied. "When they went to his home, he refused to voluntarily come to the station. So he was arrested, brought in and processed, per your instructions. As soon as he was put in Interrogation-1, he demanded a lawyer. He doesn't have one to call, so we're getting him a public defender right now." About half an hour later, at 7:30pm, still October 12th, the public defender arrived, and Cindy and I high-fived when we saw who it was: Dexter Epstein. He was a very typical nerdish geek, and he was a very poor lawyer. He was the public defender the racists Judge Stoner and ADA Sanders had tried to assign out of turn to Nathaniel Jones. He was assigned to night court arraignments as a public defender, and God have mercy on the suspect to whom he was assigned. "All right." I said to Cindy. "Have Nash and Rose play 'good cop, bad cop' with this slug. He looks nervous. We did take a cheek swab, didn't we?" "Yep." Cindy said. "We had the warrant for that ready to go by the time Rudistan and Morton got him to the station." -------------------------- Nash and Rose didn't make much progress. Ronald Burger, a.k.a. Joey Franks, simply refused to answer any questions about anything. Epstein occasionally would reinforce that when Nash and Rose tried to ask if the cabbie was at a certain place at a certain time. "Okay, I'm going to go change uniforms." I said. "When I get back, pull them out of there." I said to Cindy, meaning Nash and Rose. "Then you and I will go in. I'm going to barbecue this guy, so just watch and go along." I went and changed to my 'black' uniform, which looked more formidable and menacing than the regular blue one, and my silver oak leaf rank stood out more brightly, as well. I wanted to intimidate this man, but subtly. When I got back to the anteroom, Cindy knocked on the window and then stuck her head in the door and had Nash and Rose pull out. Then I went in, Cindy following. "All right, cabbie, my name is Commander Troy, and I want to--" "My client has invoked." interrupted Dexter Epstein, in his annoying, nasally voice. "He is not answering any questions. I want you to stop wasting his time--" "Wasting his time?" I asked, allowing incredulity to be a major inflection of my voice. "The man is going to either sit here or sit in our holding cell until we transfer him to County Jail, Mr. Epstein. Now you have your right to remain silent, Mr. Burger, or Mr. Franks, or whatever you want me to call you tonight.... how about 'Cabbie'? I'll just call you, 'Cabbie', okay? You may have the right to not speak, but the Constitution doesn't protect you from having to listen to me." Actually, the Constitution might indeed afford that protection, but let Dexter Epstein figure it out... I continued ominously: "I need to make sure you understand the full picture here, Cabbie. You're on video in the company of one Diane Lang, who very shortly afterwards was found murdered in her hotel room. We know that you went to her hotel with her. Now we're going to be comparing the DNA from the cheek swab we just took from you to the semen found in Mrs. Lang's mouth and stomach. I'm betting it's going to come up as your semen, Cabbie." "I got nothing to say." said the Cabbie. "You're harassing me at this point. Either let me go or take me to my jail cell." Heck, he was a better legal eagle that ol' Dexter, there. I leaned forward just a bit and looking very hard into Cabbie's eyes. "Oh, you're going to your jail cell, all right. But before you go, let me make something really, really clear to you: if that DNA matches, it is all over for you. I'm talking the death penalty here, Cabbie. When you are convicted, you will die. They are going to strap you to a table and inject drugs into you, buddy. Juries have convicted for a lot less than what we have. You were at the scene of the murder, you had sex with the dead woman, your semen was in her mouth and belly. Jesus, this is going to be easy!" I paused, then continued: "If I leave this room without you telling me what happened, and I mean the truth, then I won't try to help you one fucking bit, Cabbie. You'll be convicted of murder and you will be put to death. You don't stand a chance, buddy, not a hell of a chance. You know that if it comes back as your DNA, then I am looking at a dead man walking right now." "You're bluffing." the cabbie said, but the look on his face showed me who was really bluffing. The man was scared to death, and desperately trying not to show it. "Mr. Epstein," I said, turning my attention to the lawyer, "I'd suggest you talk to your client. I suggest you discuss with him about seeing reason. If you think I'm bluffing, so be it. I think once you see our evidence, you'll understand that your client is going to be executed for the crime, whether he in actuality did it or not. I'll leave you for a few minutes to talk to your client Epstein. But the clock is ticking, and when I walk away, it'll be for keeps. I won't come back to save your client; he will be executed by the State after he's convicted." I got up and left the room. Cindy followed. We watched in the anteroom with Nash, Rose and ADA Paulina Patterson, who'd come in while I was letting the cabbie know of his impending death. "Think he'll crack?" Nash asked. "If he did it, no." I replied, somewhat to the surprise of the others. "But if he's innocent, he's going to sing like a bird. He'll be begging me to come back in there." The cabbie and his inept lawyer seemed to be getting heated in their discussion, which was turning into an argument. By law, we were not allowed to listen in on their privileged conversation. Finally, a couple of minutes later, Epstein got up, picked up the wall phone which communicated with the Duty Desk, and asked for me. The message was relayed, and after five minutes I came back in, this time with ADA Patterson. "Look," the cabbie said, his voice desperate as he tried to control his shaking body, "you gotta help me, here. I didn't kill nobody. You gotta believe me!" "Are you waiving your Fifth Amendment rights, Mr. Burger?" I asked. "Are you going to talk to us?" "Mr. Burger," said Epstein, showing a bit more ability than I would've thought he had, "it's my duty to advise you that once you waive your right to remain silent, you cannot re-invoke, and you will have to answer their questions. I again urge you to ask for immunity or other consideration from the ADA before speaking." "There will be no offers from the District Attorney's office." said Paulina, clearly and severely. "We have a case that is all-but-guaranteed to get a conviction and the death penalty... which I absolutely will be asking for. I have no reason to make a deal, and I have no desire to." The cabbie's face fell as Paulina spoke, and kept on falling until a look of sheer desperation masked his features. Dexter Epstein looked disgusted... and defeated. He'd played an exceptionally poor hand. "Oh Jesus..." said the cabbie, his face in his hands. Then he smoothed his hair back and said "Okay, I'll talk, I'll tell you what I know." "Mr. Burger--" started Epstein, but Burger yelled "Just shut up! Don't you understand? This is my only chance to live!" Epstein remained silent as Burger asked "Okay, Colonel, what do you want to know?" "Tell me what happened that night." I said, not worrying about his understandable misinterpretation of my rank. "All of it, no lies, no tricks. I already know so much I could probably tell you what happened, so make damn sure you tell it straight." "It was like this." said the cabbie. "I was driving around when I saw this bride and groom outside one of the bars on The Strip." The Strip was the lineup of bars and restaurants on the other side of the main north-south road from the University. Students went there in droves to eat and (with their fake IDs) to drink in large quantities. The Strip morphed over the city blocks into the Tenderloin District. "I picked them up and they had me drive around." said the Cabbie. I got out my iPhone and showed him the DMV pictures of the Langs. "That's her, but that's not him." he said. I then flipped the pics to the 'groom' from the Hotel videos. "Yeah, that's him." said the Cabbie. I urged him to keep talking. "So she's giving him a blowjob while I'm driving around. He had a big cock, and she was really going to town on him. After a while, they asked if I wanted to party with them, and I said 'Sure, why not?'. So they had me drive them to the University Hotel. I dropped them off near the front door, then parked at the far end of the lot, since he hotel people don't like us parking our cabs in their parking lot near the entrance." "I went inside and followed them to their room.... yeah, it was on the sixth floor." Cabbie continued. "The groom got the ice bucket and said he was going to to get some ice for drinks. The bride started fooling around with me. She gave me a blowjob and I started getting close. She said to come in her mouth, that we'd be partying for a while. So I came in her mouth, to take the edge off, y'know? She was a hot dame." "Did she take off her wedding dress?" I asked. "No, not while I was there." said the Cabbie. "So then what happened?" I asked. "Well, right after she sucked me off, her husband comes back." said the cabbie. "He was kind of agitated. He apologized to me and told me that the party was over and I had to go. He handed me a hundred dollar bill and told me I needed to go out by the stairwell. He took me to the stairwell, and I walked down the stairs and out the door." "Was this the stairwell nearest the highway?" I asked. "Yeah." said the cabbie. "It wasn't too far from where my cab was, which is why I figured the guy had me leave that way." "What did the bride say when the groom ushered you out?" I asked. "She was confused, she was asking him what was going on, and he said he'd explain when he got back from taking me to the stairs." "Did you see anyone else in the hallway? Did you hear any noise of an argument at any time?" I asked. "No, I didn't see nobody or hear nuthin'." the cabbie replied. "Well, cabbie," I said as I got up. "I'm sorry to say that you're going to be spending some time with us. You get a hearing in the morning. Paulina, he's gotta have an ankle monitor. He's a flight risk, so I'll leave that to you." With that, I exited Interrogation-1, with Paulina following. A few minutes later, Sr. Patrolman Morton escorted the cabbie to a holding cell. -------------------------------------- As we walked out of the Interrogation area and into the hallway that ran along the back of Police Headquarters, Teresa Croyle came up to us and said the Chief wanted us to come to the main conference room. I asked them to go ahead and tell the Chief I'd be there in just a second, as I had to use the bathroom. Once they went down the hall, I quickly went the other way and made my way to the Duty Desk up front, leaving some instructions for the Desk Sergeant, the extremely reliable Sergeant Thompson. Then, as I walked back to the conference room, I made a quick cellphone call. "Nice of you to join us, Commander." the Chief said acerbically when I entered the main conference room. Already in the room were Cindy, Martin, Lorena, and Paulina, and Teresa Croyle, who'd been invited in by the Chief. "Sorry about that Chief. When Nature calls, it calls." I replied. "Right. So, what do you think?" asked the Chief. "This cabbie the guilty party?" "Well," I said, trying to think even as I was speaking, "he told his story straight enough, it holds true as far as the evidence. Hold on one second..." I was looking at my notes on my iPhone as everyone stared at me. "I'm looking to see if an ice bucket was mentioned in the Crime Lab's report... I think it was... yeah, here it is. Ice bucket was on the desk to the right as one went inside. It was dry and empty." "What does that prove?" asked Lorena Rose. "It doesn't prove anything, but it's not inconsistent with the cabbie's statement." I said. "He said the groom took the bucket to get ice, then hurriedly came back in, taking long enough for the cabbie to get a blowjob from the bride. I'm thinking all that took about five minutes total. When the groom came back, Cabbie probably didn't notice him put the ice bucket down in his haste to get the cabbie out of there. However, the the fact it was on the desk and not in the bathroom area or refrigerator, where ice buckets are normally kept, shows that at least that much of the cabbie's story is valid." "Think he did it?" asked Cindy, trying to force my hand. "C'mon, Cindy..." I said, a bit exasperated. "But I can say that right now I'm inclined to believe his story. He goes out the far stairwell; the parking lot cameras are all trained on the front of the Hotel, and the front door cameras are also trained to that drive-up area. So that's why we might not see the cabbie as he left... and... hmmm, what if the groom knew that, and had the cabbie leave in a way he wouldn't be seen?" "And the cameras on that floor weren't working right." said Nash. "Maybe they were tampered with." "Why don't we have the cabbie take a polygraph test?" asked Lorena Rose. "We can," I said, "but I personally don't believe in them. Whether he passes or fails, it's not admissible in Court; and if it's not admissible in Court, why in the hell should I give it any credence? He was agitated when I was talking to him; he realizes his life is on the line here. That alone could make the polygraph worthless. No, Detective Rose, I'm one of those that just don't bother with polygraphs; the Chief and Lt. Ross disagree with me, though." Case of the Murdered Bride Ch. 03 "True enough." said Cindy. "I might have him take one, anyway." "Let's hold off on that." said the Chief. "We can re-interview him, and under a polygraph, and see if he's consistent. But before we do, I want to know from the Commander what he thinks... what's going to crack this case, Crowbar? Besides a crowbar, of course. At least tell us who your suspects are." Wow, they were pushing, I thought as I spoke: "We have five suspects. The first is the late Tom Rollins, which means we're actually searching for his murderer now. But if both were killed by the same person, then we have these four candidates: the cabbie that was admittedly with Diane Lang just before she was murdered; Larry Lang, if we can find him; Keith Atkins, who just seems to have these connecting strings to so many of the other names; and perhaps Mr. Blair, who I am convinced is covering for Larry Lang right now." "The problem here..." I said, "... is going to be getting the proof we need, proof that will stand up in Court. It's not nearly enough to suspect, or even know, what happened. We have to give Paulina what she needs to prove it to a jury. We simply aren't there yet, but I think I know where to start:" "Paulina," I said, turning my attention to the gorgeous black Assistant District Attorney, "I need a warrant. It's on a pretty thin basis, though." I explained what I wanted, causing gasps among my Detectives. "I'll go to Judge Watts' house if I need to." said Paulina. "He's very amenable to your hunches. Just make sure that you never blow that and leave him hanging..." Part 16 - Liaisons "Well, that meeting went fairly well." said Dr. Sidney P. Wellman, president of the University, in his office as he poured a couple of drinks for himself and his guest. "Yes, it did." said University Trustee Henry R. Wargrave, billionaire and by far the biggest contributor to the School and its various programs. "It was a shame to hear about Tom Rollins, though." "Yes." said Wellman. The news of Rollins death was not yet public, and was under embargo with the Media until 11:00pm thanks to a request from the Police Commander. But powerful men find out things quickly, and both Wellman and Wargrave were powerful men: they heard about it immediately, from different sources, upon the body being delivered to the morgue for an autopsy. "Have you talked to Tom Riordan yet?" asked Wellman. "I understand he and his wife were friends of the Rollins." "Not yet." said Wargrave. "He and his wife are at a private party tonight. I'll contact him tomorrow." "Good enough." said Wellman. "So, do you think we have any chance of beating the Iron Crowbar's Wildcats in a few weeks?" "Harrumph!" Wargrave grunted. "We'll be lucky if they don't whip us by 35 points or more. They're undefeated, we're 2-4 and lucky to be that. I think Bronson will be a good head coach, but with Harlan sick and all, the team is really in disarray." "Nick Eastwood has fallen off the pace, also." said Wellman. "He was a strong Heisman contender last year, but while he's doing his best, his numbers are way down." "That's because his wide receivers suck, so sorry." said Wargrave. "Losing Coach Speedy Gonzalez really, really hurt us there. Another consequence of the Iron Crowbar's actions..." "Well, Henry, we can't blame the Commander for that one, and Gonzalez was the PED-pusher. How much worse that might've been if the Iron Crowbar hadn't driven him out." Wargrave sighed, wanting to blame the Iron Crowbar for every bad thing in the world, but knowing President Wellman was correct. "True enough. Nick Eastwood still might be a high draft choice, but he's definitely not able to do as much as he did last year..." ----------------------------- "Oh GOD, Nick! Yes! Fuck me with that big cock! FUCK ME!!" shouted Janet Riordan as Nick Eastwood drove his cock down into the beautiful redhead with all the power he could muster. Janet was a short woman and Nick was tall, but she was not only accommodating his nine inches, she was fucking back at him, seeming to want even more. The rutting couple fucked furiously in Janet's bed in the Riordan's home on the Reservoir Lake, the same bed upon which Iron Crowbar had all but raped Janet over a year before. Janet wasn't thinking about anything but the handsome young blonde stud that was slamming his big, hard meat into her with gusto. Tom Riordan sat in a chair in the corner of the room, his cock throbbing as he watched his wife being sexually pummeled by the young, muscular Eastwood's massive prick. And his cock was not just throbbing due to the sight in front of him; his own cock was being ravenously sucked by the beautiful blonde University cheerleader that Nick had brought with him. In addition to being a varsity cheerleader, the young woman had a 3.8 GPS in pre-med biomedicine, she was the Vice Chair of the Student Council, chairwoman of the Student Honors Council, and the president of the Phi Mu sorority. Her long blonde hair fell down her back in gentle waves and her large breasts jiggled as she ravenously fellated Tom Riordan's meat. Though few people realized it, she was nearly as insatiable as Karen Warner, though she hid it while Karen had all but advertised it. As the blonde moaned around Tom's cock, Janet moaned and grunted as Nick furiously pumped her. She was one of his absolute favorite pieces of ass, Nick thought, though he believed that when he got the chance to sample Dr. Laura Fredricson's tremendous talents, he'd find her (Laura) to be even better. The thought of Laura Fredricson and her legs and feet spurred Nick on to fuck Janet even more furiously-- *BRING!!* *BRING!!* *BRING!!* It was Tom Riordan's cell phone, sitting on the table next to the chair in which he was sitting. He saw the number and knew he had to answer it. "Excuse me a moment, honey." he said to the blonde. Quickly walking naked into the hallway, he answered it. "Oh my god." he said. "What happened?--- just tonight?--- yeah, we'll be right there." He hung up and re-entered the bedroom. "Janet, we've got to go. Tom Rollins was found dead late this afternoon." Tom said. "Oh that's sad..." said Janet, "... but I'm not stopping now." "Dammit, bitch, didn't you hear me?" Tom said angrily, nearly shouting. "Tom Rollins is dead! We need to go see his wife, right now!" "Fuck you, asshole!" Janet almost screamed, giving her husband a look that could only be described as 'ugly' on the woman's beautiful face. "I'm not going anywhere until Nick has climaxed at least twice! Come on, Nick, put that big cock back in my hole and start fucking me!" "Jesus Christ, bitch!--" Tom said, then gave up. He headed to the shower, leaving his wife to fuck the college students. When he got out of the shower, he found that Nick was still pumping Janet, and the beautiful blonde was sitting on Janet's face. Janet could eat pussy with the best of them, and the blonde was moaning in pleasure as Janet's tongue explored her honey-hole. Nick was sucking the blonde's big tits as he pumped Janet, just beginning to feel his nut rise as he worked toward his first climax of the evening... ----------------------------- Leaving Dr. Wellman's office, Henry Wargrave drove to his home in The Heritage Cloister subdivision, home of the most exclusive homes and Country and Golf Club in the County... really the most exclusive anywhere in the northwestern part of the State. He did not really know the Rollins, and so did not do what Tom Riordan was doing in visiting the widow. He headed home. "Hello, dear." his wife Lilly said as he entered the large den of his home, seeing blackness outside the window as the sun had just set. "How was your day?" "It was okay, except that a Mr. Tom Rollins was found dead today." said Wargrave. "He was a friend of our friends Tom and Janet Riordan." "Oh, that's so sad." Lilly said. "I'll be sure to send some flowers in the morning." "That's very kind of you dear." Henry said. He looked over at his wife. Her hair was reddish-blonde, kept short around her face and head, and she was still very attractive. She was lithe, very slender, her tall height exacerbating her thin look. Her legs were long but very shapely, and her feet were very exquisite, as much as Laura Fredricson's in Henry's perhaps-biased opinion. She was wearing a tight, clingy blue dressed that really went well with her red hair and skin. Wargrave felt the pangs of desire in his loins, but his penis simply wouldn't respond. Not even drugs could help him get an erection anymore, and Dr. Fredricson's psychological help was also exhausted in getting a response from him. He had over two billion dollars in his bank accounts, but not a dime of it could give him a true hard-on so that he could fuck his wife or his beautiful secretary, or any other of the many women that openly flirted with him at parties and social events. "You look lovely tonight, dear." he said. "Why don't we go on up to bed?" "Why certainly, dear." said Lilly. They went upstairs to the master bedroom, which was simply furnished but with the best furniture and bedding that money could buy. Wargrave chose to spend his money in quality and excellence as opposed to quantity of things bought. The couple kissed deeply as they removed each other's clothes, except Lilly kept her high heel sandals on like she knew her husband wanted. She got onto the bed, lying on her back, and spreading her legs wide. Wargrave settled between his wife's legs and began eating her pussy. Lilly's pussy was sweet and tasty, her labia large and bulging when engorged with blood. Henry might not be able to get it up, but he could sure taste his wife's juicy wetness as he lapped her cunt like a starved dog. "Oh yes... oh yes.... oh yes..." Lilly moaned, her eyes closed. She loved her husband and she understood his medical condition, one that caused him more angst and pain than it did her. Still, the thought of a large, hard, erect cock sinking into her, probing her sweet cuntal depths, flooded her mind. She craved being penetrated and stretched by a hung stud, getting what her husband could no longer give her. As she thought about being fucked by a hard cock, by a real man, she climaxed hotly, her copious juices soaking Henry's face as he hungrily ate her. --------------------------- Long moments later, Wargrave and his wife were cuddling when he asked "Do you want me to put on the strap-on and fuck you?" "Mmmm, that's okay dear, not tonight." Lilly said. "You ate me sooooo well.... I came so many times!" -------------------------- Janet Riordan was dozing between Nick and his blonde girlfriend, her sensational ass pressed into his hard, muscular groin and abs, feeling the blonde's ass pushing against her tummy and groin. Nick had come twice inside Janet's pussy, and both times the blonde had voraciously sucked Nick's large load from Janet's twat, cleaning her up with intense oral passion. Janet had cleaned Nick's cock with her own mouth. Tom Riordan came back inside the bedroom, seeing the sleeping threesome. Anger welled up through him; he'd had to comfort Tom Rollins's distraught wife, though many others were there as well, and Janet had not even deigned to be there with him. He left the room and went to sleep in the guest room... Part 17 - Consolidation of the Objective At 10:00pm, still on October 12th, Senior Patrolman Micah Rudistan and Patrolman Morton knocked on the door to Mr. Blair's house. Blair answered. "Can I help you, officers?" "Mr. Blair, we'd like to ask you a few questions about the Lang case." Rudistan said jovially, the mischievous perma-smile on his face. "Now?" said Blair. "Yes sir, it'll only take a few minutes." said Rudistan. "May we come in?" "Uh, tell you what..." said Blair. "...why don't I come to the Station with you guys, and we can talk there?" "Is something the matter, Mr. Blair?" a voice called out. Blair looked out to see a tall police officer approaching, wearing a full-brim hat; a light trenchcoat which contained light body armor and was worn over his civilian clothes, and which had silver oak-leaf-clusters on the shoulder epaulettes. Then Blair saw the unmistakeable form of a red crowbar in the man's right hand. "Is there some reason we can't talk here?" I asked. "Uh, well, if you want to talk outside here, I guess we can. Maybe in your vehicle." said Blair. "So you won't invite us in, Mr. Blair?" Blair finally turned testy. "No, Commander, you are not invited into my home, and you cannot enter my home without a warrant. I'm trying to be cooperative, but I know my rights, and I don't want the police in my home... at all." "I can certainly understand why not." I said, peering straight into Blair's eyes. I took a piece of folded paper out of the inner pocket of my light trenchcoat. "But here is the warrant that you're expecting, Mr. Blair. It gives us the right to enter your home and search for the one thing we need.... in order to execute this second warrant, which is a material witness arrest warrant." Blair looked worried as I stepped past him, and inside. Cindy Ross had come out of the shadows and followed me inside while Rudistan and Morton stayed with Blair on the front steps. Cindy and I had guns drawn as we cleared each room, one at a time. "MR. LANG!!" I shouted. "I KNOW YOU'RE HERE! COME ON OUT!" Not hearing anything, we began clearing more rooms. Upstairs, I shouted again, "MR. LANG, I KNOW YOU ARE HERE. WE WILL TEAR THIS PLACE TO MATCHSTICKS IF WE HAVE TO, BUT WE WILL FIND YOU!" Finally, a closet to a back bedroom upstairs opened... and out walked the handsome salesman, Larry Lang. He was unarmed, and showing his hands. "Am I under arrest?" "Mr. Lang," I said, "I have a material witness warrant to bring you to Police Headquarters. And you just tried to hide from Police. So yes, you are under arrest, and you are coming with us. Lt. Ross..." Cindy came forward and handcuffed Lang, reading him his rights as she escorted him out of the room. I came out the front door behind them. "Mr. Rudistan, take Mr. Blair into custody. Cuff him, and read him his rights." "On what charge?" demanded Blair. "Lying to police, for openers." I said. "Harboring a fugitive from justice, for another. Move him out, Rudistan." "With pleasure, Commander." said Rudistan, ever jovial. "Mr. Blair, you have the right to remain silent..." I called in on the police radio. "Have Johnson and Hicks bring Atkins to the Station. Under arrest if need be..." ---------------------------------- It was nearly midnight, the long October 12th becoming the morning of October 13th. The two men had been processed, cheek swabs for DNA obtained. They both had demanded lawyers and had been allowed to call them. Lang was in Interrogation-1 and Blair in Interrogation-2, both with their legal representation, awaiting questioning. Keith Atkins had been brought in, but not processed; he was half-asleep, waiting in Interrogation Alpha with Patrolman Johnson watching over him. "Damn, Crowbar, Muscone is right." said the Chief when the two men were first brought in. "If you'd lived 400 years ago, they'd have burned your ass at the stake. How in the hell did you know Blair was hiding Lang?" "It just made sense." I said. "When we first interviewed Blair, I realized he knew more than he was telling, and that his answers were trying to cover for Lang and keep the swinger information from getting out. Then a C.I. told me that Blair and the Langs have a close relationship, not to mention that Larry and Blair took vacations together. Lang hadn't been found in a few days, and in this age of Government surveillance everywhere, it's increasingly hard to travel totally unobserved. Ergo, Lang was still in the County somewhere, and the best hiding place would be with Blair instead of his own ransacked home..." ------------------------------- I was watching Martin Nash and Lorena Rose interview Larry Lang in Interrogation-1. He had his lawyer present, but had not yet invoked, though the first words out of his mouth were that he reserved the right to invoke at any time. I was leaving Blair and his lawyer in their room, alone, on purpose. The lawyer had twice called the Duty Desk, demanding to either be interrogated or that Mr. Blair be released. The Duty Desk said that Blair was under arrest and would stay where he was "until the Commander decides to talk to him." Meanwhile, I listened to Lang's interrogation: "So you and Blair were going on a fishing trip to Lake Amengi-Nunagen." said Nash. "Yeah." said Lang, sitting up straight, and I noticed that Lorena Rose was a bit smitten by his handsomeness. "We left the afternoon of the 9th." "And you came back late that night?" Nash said. "Yes." said Lang. "Blair got a call that Diane was dead, murdered, and the police were crawling all over my house. I wanted to go straight back, but Blair said that I'd be arrested for the murder if I did. I was feeling panicky, so we drove back to Blair's house, and he had me stay there until things calmed down and it would be a better time for me to turn myself in... hopefully after the murderer was caught. What he said made sense, so I did what he said." Lang would say nothing more about his wife, though, saying he did not know what had happened and had nothing to say about their past sexual activities. It was time to utilize a verbal crowbar to pry out the truth. "Detective Rose," I said, entering the room, "why don't you go get a cup of coffee, and wait outside for a few minutes?" Lorena nodded and left the room. I took the seat she'd just vacated. "Mr. Lang, my name is Commander Troy." I said. "It is very late, and I know that we all want to get this cleared up, and get to the real murderer of your wife. So I need your answers, your truthful answers. But if you go off the straight-and-narrow path with me, I'll bury you." "Commander, I must ask you to stop intimidating and threatening my client." said the legal beagle. I knew from that statement that he was a good and experienced attorney, and I'd have to walk the straight-and-narrow, myself. "I can assure you, counselor," I said, "that I am not trying to intimidate your client, and that I mean what I said. Mr. Lang, I know, and for a provable fact, that you and your wife were swingers. Is that not so, Mr. Lang?" Lang looked at his lawyer, who asked for five minutes to talk to his client. After the allotted time, Nash and I were back. "Okay," said Lang, "to answer your last question: yes, we were swingers. Yes, we did the bride-and-groom thing every couple of months. Yes, sometimes Diane did it with Tom Rollins or with other men as the grooms, while I was on a fishing or hunting vacation. I knew all about those, it was all good." "So, Mr. Lang, who do you think killed your wife?" I asked. "I have no idea, unless it was the cabbie they picked up." said Lang. "Tom Rollins was a good guy. My wife and I had played with him and his wife several times. Diane liked having sex with him. She trusted him, definitely enough to be her groom, which was also her bodyguard of sorts when she picked up other men that she didn't know." "Do you know a Keith Atkins, Mr. Lang?" I asked. "Uh, yeah," said Lang, obviously surprised to hear the name, "he was a sales rep with Lightsource. He had some trouble with Jessica Savage, and they asked him to resign." "Did Atkins ever party with you or your wife?" I asked. "No." Lang said. "My wife didn't think much of him. He wanted to be in our swinger group, but she didn't want him there." "What about you, Mr. Lang?" I asked. "You didn't want Mr. Atkins in your group?" "Actually, I would've had no problem with it." Lang said. "We had lunch a few times, and he gave me a DVD of him fucking a couple of women. He was good in bed, and some of the single women he dated confirmed that with me. I thought the ladies in our group would enjoy him. But some of them, my wife included, thought he was a bit pushy. That's what kills a lot of guys in this lifestyle... the women think they're too pushy. There was this guy once, his name was Robert Schelle--" Case of the Murdered Bride Ch. 03 "Yes, I know about Schelle." I said, having put the man in prison for murder. "So the DVD, how was it marked?" "Simple, unmarked, had my name written on it with a Sharpie." Lang replied. "So, getting back to Diane," I said, "you had no problems with your wife having sex with Rollins while you were away?" "None at all." said Lang. "Mr. Lang," I said, adding a tinge of harshness to my voice, "what about Mr. Blair? Was he part of your sexual groups?" "Yes." said Lang, though resignedly. "Blair was seen frequently in town with your wife." I asked. "Were they having an affair, and did you know about it?" "Let me put it this way: they were having sex, and sometimes when I wasn't there with them. I was cool with it; it was no problem. Diane told me of their encounters, and I have no knowledge of her having sex with him without me knowing about it pretty soon afterwards." "So if Mr. Blair and your wife were planning to run away together, or otherwise cut you out of the picture, you'd be okay with that, too?" "That's not what was going on." said Lang derisively. "I don't expect you to understand about open marriages or the swinger lifestyle, Commander, but Diane and I trusted each other, and our marriage was based upon much more than just monogamous sex." "I think you'd be surprised how much I do understand about it, Mr. Lang," I said coldly, "but we're not really talking about that... we're taking about the murder of your wife. Now why in the world should I not believe that you, Mr. Lang, didn't come back from your vacation, go to the hotel and murder your wife and her lover, and then hide from police at your friend Mr. Blair's house? You're a big, strong man, Mr. Lang, you don't hold back, you go and do what you want, whether it's in sales, or in taking vengeance for your wife's affair with your friend Blair--" "Commander! That's out of line!" shouted the attorney, finally breaking his restraint. "Is it, Counselor?" I said. "We'll see what Mr. Blair has to say. You'd better pray to God that what he says matches exactly with your story, Mr. Lang." I got up and exited the room, Nash following. "Well," said the Chief, "do I need to re-hire Ikea to beat a confession out of that guy? You didn't get much out of him, from what I saw." "No sir." I said. "But it's time to have a word with Mr. Blair now. Nash, watch this one from the anteroom. Cindy, come inside with me; I want you to observe Mr. Blair most very carefully." ------------------------------ We went into Interrogation-2, where Blair muttered "Finally!" and sat up straight as we took out seats. "Commander, with what are you charging my client?" demanded the lawyer. He was also a good attorney, but I was not really in a mood to play around with him. "First of all, counselor," I said, "Mr. Blair was asked directly by police officers the other day... one of those officers happening to be me... if he knew where Mr. Lang was. He said 'No', quite simply and directly. And it very much appears that was a lie. So we have lying to police. We also have him harboring a fugitive and helping that fugitive, the aforementioned Mr. Lang, hide from a warrant for Mr. Lang's arrest. And if Mr. Lang had anything to do with his wife's murder, we'll be adding Aiding and Abetting First Degree Murder to the list." "For crying out loud." said the attorney. "All of this, keeping my client up late at night, badgering him with questions while he's exhausted... just for that little shit?" "Counselor," I said, "I'm sure that you've advised your client that if he's sleepy, then he can take the Fifth. Now Mr. Blair I only have a few questions for you. First, did you have a sexual relationship with Diane Lang?" "Yes I did." said Blair, coldly. So far, he was not taking the Fifth... "You were part of their swingers' group?" I asked. "Yes, I was." "Did you and Mrs. Lang have sex without her husband's knowledge?" "Not that I know of." said Blair. "Diane and I had sex alone on several occasions, but Larry either knew about it ahead of time, or Diane told him about it afterwards. I brought up a couple of those encounters with Larry myself, and Larry showed no surprise either time." "So Mr. Lang had no reason to be jealous, to be angry at you and his wife?" I asked. "Hell, no." said Blair contemptuously. "Larry Lang didn't have a jealous bone in his body. And he was banging other women on occasion, also." "You were with Mr. Lang on the 9th, Mr. Blair?" I asked. "Yes." said Blair. "We drove up there together earlier in the day, and we drove back home together after I got a phone call that Diane Lang had been killed." "Who made that phone call to you, Mr. Blair?" I asked. "A friend." said Blair. "That's all I'll tell you. I'm sure you can get your buddies in the NSA to tell you who it was, but I won't rat on a friend." "Oh, we'll find out, Mr. Blair." I said. "And I find it suspicious that you won't tell us." "Commander," said the lawyer, "this intimidation and harassment of my client is preposterous and offensive." "Mis-ter Blair..." I said, ignoring the lawyer, my voice slow and pausing, ready to spring the big one, "... your own relationship with Mr. Lang was not platonic, was it? You and Mr. Lang were having a homosexual relationship, weren't you?" Mr. Blair's eyes widened, then he realized how much I knew. The lawyer pulled Blair by the neck towards him and whispered something. "No, I'll answer it." said Blair. He sighed, then said "Yes. Larry and I took those fishing vacations, like the one we were on on the 9th, to have sex together." "Did his wife know?" I asked. "Or did the three of you party together, maybe sharing Larry as well as Diane?" "Yes she did know." Blair said. "And yes, we partied as a bisexual threesome. You say that like it's a bad thing, Commander." I was aware of Cindy's eyes averting to me as I answered: "Mr. Blair, it's not for me to decide here if your sexual relations are good or bad. What is bad, inexcusably bad, is the first degree murder of two persons, Mr. Blair. And right now, neither you nor your lover Larry Lang have any alibi, except each other... and that just became flimsy, didn't it? I continued: "Yes, I'll be finding out who called you and told you of Diane's death. And yes, we can-- and we will-- check your car GPS, but that doesn't mean that you drove up to Lake Amengi-Nunagen together. One of you goes up there, the other stays behind and kills Diane Lang and her lover Tom Rollins." "Is that a question, Commander?" asked the attorney, "or baseless speculation?" "Baseless?" I asked. "We'll see. Just one last question: who tore up Mr. Lang's home? And why?" "I have no idea." said Blair, casually. A bit too casually. He showed no surprise at the question. "Larry didn't sneak out of your house and go rip the place to shreds himself?" I asked. "No, he was with me from the time we left until we drove home in the early morning hours, then he was staying at my house the whole time afterwards until you showed up and arrested us." Blair said. "Are you sure he stayed in your house, including while you were at Lightsource, such as the time you answered our questions?" "I'm sure." said Blair. "Check my keychain; my alarm system can lock the doors automatically. I had the alarms to the doors and windows set; if Larry had opened a door, the alarm would've gone off. You can check with the NSA... or at least the alarm company... about that." "I'll be sure to..." I said as I got up, getting tired of Blair's attitude, and also knowing that his lawyer very badly wanted him to invoke. "But it's interesting, Mr. Blair... I never said exactly when Larry's house was trashed. But you seemed to know..." I motioned to Cindy, and we left. I stepped quickly into Interrogation-1, not bothering to sit down. "One quick question, Mr. Lang." I said. "Why was your house trashed so badly, and who did it?" "I have no idea." said Lang, not seeming to be surprised at the question. "I was with Blair from the afternoon of the 9th until you came and got us." "Funny, that." I said. "I never mentioned before that your house was trashed. Yet you seemed to know..." I turned to leave. "We'll be talking again, Mr. Lang." ------------------------------------- "So we have the videotape of Atkins' last interview in Interrogation-Alpha?" I asked Myron on the phone as I walked down the hall, a curious Lt. Cindy Ross following. Myron assured me that we did. "Okay, Cindy," I said as we reached the anteroom to Interrogation-A, which required that we walk the full back and side lengths of Police Headquarters to reach. Who built this place? I wondered. "I want you to watch and listen in from the anteroom. I'll have Johnson in there with me." "Roger that." said Cindy. I went on inside, and woke Atkins up. "Sorry to awaken you, Mr. Atkins," I said, "and I apologize for keeping you here so late at night, and keeping you waiting. I'm afraid it couldn't be helped." "Well, you're here now." said Atkins. "I'm sure you'll understand when I say let's get this overwith so I can go back home." "I do understand." I said. "I think we have a suspect in the murder case of Diane Lang, and it appears your client Mr. Rollins actually left your dinner to come to Town and meet Mrs. Lang. Mr. Atkins, did you get any idea of anything suspicious about Mr. Rollins during your meeting?" "Well, now that you mention it, he did seem distracted at times, as if he wasn't totally focused on our meeting." said Atkins, "And after he got that phone call, he was pretty much distracted, and of course left minutes later." "Let me ask this, Mr. Atkins, as you're a salesman and a good judge of character: do you think Mr. Rollins would be capable of committing murder? Was he strong enough, mentally and physically?" "Uhhh..." said Atkins. "He definitely was the controlling, in-charge type. So mentally, yes, he probably could've committed murder. And he was a fairly young, strong man, physically... I assume in your question that you mean killing without a gun... so yes, he probably was physically capable of killing." "But in your dealings with him, you found him to be pleasant enough, someone you could have a beer with?" I asked. "Yeah, he was a good guy, that way." Atkins said. "If you'll stay here just another minute," I said, standing up "I need to check on something before I have my patrolman give you a ride home. Johnson, have the duty desk bring Mr. Atkins some coffee or soda or water if he wants anything." I left the room, beckoning Cindy to come with me, and gathering everyone in the main conference room. Part 18 - Clutching at Straws "Okay, four suspects." I said to them. "Cabbie in the holding cells; Lang in Interrogation-1, Blair in Interrogation-2, Atkins in Interrogation-Alpha. Who do y'all think did it?" My Detectives looked at me as if to say 'It's late, we're exhausted, and you're playing games with us?'. "Seriously guys, I think I know who did it, and I'm wondering what you think." I said. "It's after midnight, Commander." said Lt. Ross, speaking up on behalf of her Detectives. "Why don't you just tell us?" "Okay, okay." I said. I got out my cellphone and called Paulina. "Yes, Paulina, it's me." I said. "I need a search warrant... yes it's thin... yes, here's what I'm searching for, based upon our video of the interrogations of these guys..." I told her what I was looking for. "Yes, I'll text you the bullet points... okay, thanks Paulina!" I then looked up at my Detectives... and my very tired Police Chief, who had just come into the room. "Paulina's getting the warrant, and the Duty Desk Sergeant is already sending a team to the location to meet it." I said. "While we're waiting, here's what happened..." To be continued. You now have the clues, the same clues that gave the Iron Crowbar the straws he needed to clutch at. Who killed Diane Lang? Who killed Tom Rollins? And what are those vital clues? Answer next episode! Case of the Murdered Bride Ch. 04 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, Trilogy Series, Dark Side Of The Force series, Caught In the Act series. Case of the Murdered Bride Ch. 1-4. 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 18 - Clutching at Straws, Continued The Chief was right: telling my Detectives who I thought the murderer was, and why, had them saying "Oh, of course, that's easy." Well, maybe not. At 3:00am, the morning of October 13th, the police officers executing the warrant came back with the evidence I needed. "All right, guys," I said. "This guy is potentially dangerous. If he tries something, have no compunction about putting a gun to his head and shooting him down." I headed to Interrogation-Alpha with the patrol officers in tow. As I entered the room, Atkins woke up again. "Dude," he said, "I don't want to be uncooperative with you guys, but it's time to either let me go home, or place me under arrest." "Good enough." I said. "Keith Atkins, you are under arrest for the murders of Diane Lang and Tom Rollins." Atkins face was a mirror of shock as I recited his rights to him, then became angry. But seeing the tension in my officers, he did not try to resist as Patrolman Johnson cuffed his hands behind his back. ---------- "Man, you got nothing." Atkins said, this time from Interrogation-1, his lawyer by his side. I was surprised that this was a not-insignificant attorney about this Town: Atkins had some firepower behind him. A patrolman was in the room to keep security, but I was otherwise alone on the police side of the table. But there were a bunch of people watching with utter fascination through the one-way glass, including Paulina Patterson, who was ready to come in if any deals were discussed. "I beg to differ." I said. "We've searched your home, and we've got a black shirt with some blood in the fibers... yeah, you washed the shirt, but I'm betting my Crime Lab will get enough blood to show it's Diane Lang's. And...oh yeah, you didn't wash your shoes off, and I'm willing to bet that the dust on them matches the dust in the passageway where we found Rollins's body. We've got the DVD you gave Mr. Lang, which should be in his house, but was back in yours... which you took when you trashed his house after killing Diane. Why did you trash the house, Keith?" Atkins didn't bother to answer. He just stared at me. "So why did you do it, Keith?" I asked. "Or shall I tell you: you're a sex maniac, you're pushy with women almost to the point of rape... an accusation made against you while you were with a police department in another State. Their I.A. sealed the files, but the FBI got the information for me. "You befriended Larry Lang at work, and he thought enough of you as a candidate for his swing club that he recommended you, especially after having a few beers with you and then watching you fuck those women on the DVD you gave him. But his wife and other women, they could feel something was wrong with you. Other people in other places felt the same bad vibe, and they were right, weren't they Keith?" Atkins said nothing. I continued: "After getting rejected, you got pushy with some of the club members, especially Jessica Savage, who'd come out strongly against you. You didn't just sexually harass her, you threatened her, and that's when she complained to H.R. and to Larry Lang about you. Larry cut bait and didn't help you out; his wife had persuaded him that you were trouble. You had to leave Lightsource." "So you keep getting rejected, Keith, you can't hook up with any of the fine women Larry Lang was banging, especially his beautiful wife; you only have that blonde tramp and a few prostitutes giving you the time of day." I said, noticing Atkins' face darken as I talked, especially when I spoke derogatorily of his girlfriend. I drove the dagger further in: "When you found out about the Langs doing the bride-and-groom bit, you tried to work into that action, as well... and that's where Diane Lang really put you down, telling you that she didn't want anything to do with you. Am I right?" Atkins said nothing. "And then what happens? You go to the City on business, and your client gets a call, and tells you that he has to leave. He'd been talking about swinging, and he said he was going to meet a woman to do a bride-and-groom roleplay. Here you were, being rejected, and this guy was sitting there telling you he was about to go bang the beautiful Diane Lang. He was part of her 'in' crowd, while you'd been explicitly rejected. God, that must've hurt, hearing that man not only telling you that, but leaving you behind without a sale in order to go fuck the woman you couldn't have." "I have to give you credit, though." I said. "You thought it out well enough that you didn't drive your company car back to Town, and you left your cellphone in your room. Maybe you had a burner phone, but in any case, you hailed a taxi from the Hotel, which we got on tape, you took the cab to near the City Airport, where you rented a car and drove that back to Town." "I do have one question: how did you know of the secret passage between Tower Condos and the University Hotel, and how did you get into them?" I asked. Atkins just stared at me. "I'll find out soon enough, but you came into University Hotel by the side door closest to Tower Condos. You got into the secret stairwell and either went up to the sixth floor, or went into the lobby. Either way, somehow, Rollins got a glimpse of you, and instantly knew something was wrong. He went back to the room, got the cabbie out of there, and apparently went to find you. Perhaps Diane was supposed to run out down the other stairwell, but in any case you ambushed Rollins, broke his neck using your paramilitary training, went and killed Diane, then went back and took Rollins to the basement and into the passage." At that, Atkins's eyes glinted a bit. "No, I see that I have it backwards." I said. "You killed Diane first, got out into the hallway without tracking blood, but then you were confronted by Rollins. After a brief struggle you broke his neck, and then disposed of his body. Then you left through the side door and somehow managed to get away and avoid all cameras. I find it interesting you were able to avoid the cameras like that; that suggests foreknowledge." "Good luck proving that." said the lawyer. "Thank you, counselor." I said, matching his sarcasm with my own. "Let's watch some TV." I pressed the remote, and the video footage of Atkins' first interview in Interrogation-A came on. "What drew my attention to you as the murderer, Atkins," I said, "was that you spoke of Mr. Rollins in the past tense. This was before we found his body, so it's very strange that you, who was otherwise being very careful with your answers, and very smart, would refer to Rollins in the past tense, as if he were already dead." Atkins slid down in his chair a bit, realizing his mistake, knowing how costly it was. "That doesn't prove a damn thing." said the lawyer. "Then in the second interview a few hours ago," I said, "you continued to speak of the man in the past tense. That alone wasn't enough to get a search warrant of your home, but when Larry Lang said you'd given him a DVD of you having sex with women, trying to become a member of the Lang's swing club, I knew that such a DVD had not been found at Mr. Lang's home when we processed it after it was trashed. So we got the warrant to look in your home, and we found it. We also found a couple of Bowie knives identical in manufacture to the one that was left in Mrs. Lang's chest, we found the clothes and the shoes, and so on." "Purely circumstantial." said the lawyer. "C'mon, counselor," I said, "you know that many cases are built on circumstantial evidence, and we're starting to amass a lot of it. For example, Atkins' home is chock-full of paramilitary stuff, including books on weaponless home defense, including how to break a man's neck in personal combat... which is what happened to the unfortunate Mr. Rollins. But the video stolen from the Lang's home is not circumstantial, that's factual evidence that Atkins' broke into the Lang home that night and stole the DVD, then trashed the place. We may not get the blood, but the dust on his shoes? That's gotta hurt your client, counselor." I pointed at the one-way glass, and a uniformed officer peeked in. I asked him to get the Assistant District Attorney. A minute later, Paulina came in. "Mr. Atkins, I'm willing to offer you a deal, which I believe the ADA will accept also, that if you tell us who hired you to kill Diane Lang, you'll get a consideration of your sentence. Death penalty off the table, and such." Keith Atkins' eyes widened in shock, as did Paulina's and Atkins's attorney's. "This is outrageous!" cried the attorney. "How dare you even suggest such a thing?" "I dare," I said, "because I realized something very important, which I discussed with one of my detectives, another little thing that got me walking down the path that pointed to Mr. Atkins, here. I was surprised that a sales man would meet a company president on a first-time sales call, unless the sales agent actually knew that president before. But Atkins said that he'd never met Rollins before, so the strangeness of that was intensified." "So what?" the lawyer said, his voice derisive and becoming a bit menacing. "I'm getting there, counselor." I said. "Atkins could have known Rollins from having been at Lightsource, or possibly through the swinger groups the Langs were a part of. But no, Atkins instead said he never knew Rollins. So either Atkins is telling the truth and didn't know him, making my original thesis come to the fore; -or- you, Mr. Atkins, were lying because of another reason, which I realized: you were pretending to be a sales agent for Lightsource, not Stadler Office Supply!" Atkins's face was one of pure amazement... that I was figuring it out. The lawyer's face was dumbfounded. Paulina's face was one of waiting for me to finish, knowing I was all over it. "So..." I said, "either way, we have a strangeness. And I suspect that Rollins met Atkins at someone else's request, someone who knew Rollins. That would very likely be Larry Lang... or Barry Blair. So, Mr. Atkins, which one of those two men hired you to murder Diane Lang?" "Enough of this shit!" gasped the lawyer. "Mr. Atkins, don't say another word to this son of a bitch!" Hmmm... mighty ugly the lawyer was getting, I mused to myself. Atkins complied: "I have nothing to say. I'm invoking my rights and will answer no more questions. I want to confer with my lawyer now." Paulina and I left the room. -------- Back in the main conference room, Paulina all but exploded on me. "What the hell was that about somebody, either Lang or Blair, hiring Atkins to kill Diane Lang?" the lovely black Assistant District Attorney asked, seemingly angry. All of my Detectives and the Chief simply had shocked looks on their faces... except Cindy Ross, whose face was full of accusation. "Guys, I didn't know it myself until a few minutes ago." I said. "I just realized it and Atkins' face gave it away when I asked about it. It was a longshot, but I think I'm right." "Why don't you tell us all about it, so we can get this shit wrapped up and go home." ordered the Chief, his voice a growl... more of a growl than normal. "I do apologize for keeping all of you awake." I said. "But we needed to process these guys and make sure the perps didn't get away. Paulina, I'm releasing Larry Lang tonight. I'll let the cabbie have his hearing tomorrow, and you can ask the judge to release him on his own recognizance." "And Blair?" asked Paulina. "At his hearing tomorrow, you really need to make sure he either doesn't get bail, or he gets an ankle monitor. I'm absolutely convinced he's involved." "How?" said Cindy. "Oh, the phone call to him, notifying him of Diane's death." said Martin, getting it. "Yes." I said. "I played 'Myron' tonight and researched that call while we waited for Blair and Larry's lawyers to get here. It was from a burner phone, and from the cell tower on the Nextdoor County line, and at a time that would be consistent with Keith leaving the University Hotel, going to Lang's house, then driving back to the City..." -------- "Miss Patterson," said Judge Folsom at 8:00am on October 13th, "This is an unusual request. The charges against this defendant are Class E felonies at best." "Yes they are, Your Honor," said Paulina. "However, we consider Mr. Blair to be a flight risk; we fear he will attempt to flee the County if he is released. We're asking for an expedited trial and therefore no bail, or at least that he be ankle monitored if he is given bail." "Your Honor, I must strongly object." said Blair's exhausted lawyer, who'd been kept up all night as I'd had Blair fully processed and put in a holding cell while the legal beagle bitched and moaned throughout. "These charges are extremely flimsy at best, should be misdemeanors instead of the felony versions, and the ankle monitor is wholly uncalled for. Mr. Blair has strong ties to the community and the Assistant District Attorney has not shown at all that he is, nor that he warrants this harsh treatment for such small charges." Blair simply watched the proceedings, his face cold and his eyes burning. In response, Paulina laid out Blair's financial records and his frequent trips to Lake Amengi-Nunagen, which was out of State... and a sworn affidavit from one local Police Commander that a further investigation of Mr. Blair, as a possible co-conspirator in the murder of Diane Lang, was ongoing. Judge Folsom thought about it, then said "All right, Ms. Patterson. This is one of the most unusual requests you've ever made of this Court, but when that Police Commander has you barking this strongly, he's usually right. I'll set bail at $100,000, and the defendant is to be ankle monitored and under house confinement while awaiting trial. Upon meeting bail, he will be considered to be in his attorney's custody..." I breathed a sigh of relief. Now to get Keith Atkins to confess... Part 19 - Solution Once we had the info on the car Atkins rented, we were able to go back and look at the traffic tapes near the University Hotel, which had been preserved because of the crime that night. We got a couple of good images of Atkins driving the rental car. We also had witness statements from the car rental place near City Airport, and a still from a videotape of Atkins hailing the cab in front of his hotel in the City on the night of the murders. In addition, Tower Condos keeps their videos for a week before overwriting them, and we got a not-so-great shot of Atkins working his way out of the University Hotel towards his car, which had been parked between the buildings, near the stairwell exit. It'd have to do. The next day, October 14th, upon seeing the rapidly accumulating evidence against him, Keith Atkins cut a deal with the District Attorney's office. He confessed to the crime in exchange for a 25-to-life sentence with possibility of parole, a far cry from the death penalty case that might've awaited him. He also agreed to testify against his co-conspirator, Mr. Blair. He admitted that Blair had asked him to pretend to be a Lightsource salesman and to meet Mr. Blair's 'friend' Mr. Rollins. He further admitted that he had called Blair after murdering Diane Lang, and when he gave us the location of the burner phone he used, we had a lock. Judge Folsom revoked Blair's bail when the new charges of conspiracy to commit murder were brought against him. ------- Two hours later, Blair was offered a deal of 20 years in prison in exchange for his confession and guilty plea. "So why did you do it?" I asked Blair. "Why have Diane killed? She was your friend, your wife's friend, and Larry's wife. Why?" "That's just it, Commander." Blair said, staring at me as he spoke. "She was Larry's wife. As long as she was in Larry's life, I was nothing more than a weekend fling to Larry, which she could cut off at a moment's notice if she wanted to... like she did Keith Atkins. But once she was out of the way, I would be able to have a full relationship with him." "So you're saying you had a woman murdered... for love?" I asked derisively. "Yes." said Blair. "You wouldn't kill for the person you love?" "Not like that." I replied. "And I think you'll find my Courts less forgiving than what happened to King David and Bathsheba. But I do have one question: How'd you get Atkins to do it? You sure didn't have the money to pay him." "Information, Commander. Information." said Blair. "The value of good information is priceless, never forget that." His words triggered a memory in my mind as he continued: "I agreed to acquire some of Lightsource's cutting edge research and pass it to Atkins, which he could sell to one of several interested bidders, in exchange for killing her. He accepted the deal." ------- "Come on, Keith." I said. "I could have your deal rescinded for holding out on me. Now who were the bidders for the information Blair was going to give you?" "Mr. Crowbar," said Atkins, "if I do tell you, I'll be murdered. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but I won't last any time in prison if I answered that question. I'll be marked for death. So go ahead and revoke the deal; I'm dead either way, and I'll take my chances on a trial and being executed by the State... or possibly being acquitted... over telling you that information and being dead for sure." I couldn't argue with that; I was trying to negotiate from a losing position. I left Atkins' deal in place without getting what I wanted. I'd just have to find out another way. ------- "What did he say when you asked him how he knew about the secret passage between the buildings?" I asked Paulina as we sat in the main conference room with Cindy, Martin, Lorena, Teddy Parker, and the Chief. We were talking about Keith Atkins and his confession. "He said he'd known about the tunnels for years." Paulina replied. "He said he didn't really remember exactly who told him, but all his paramilitary paintball buddies knew about it. That's all we could get out of him on that." "Yeah, riiiight..." I said. "I'm really wondering about that. I'm looking deeper into this one. Maybe it's the associations with the paramilitaries, maybe there's something about the Langs or Rollins, he was going to receive information that he could sell... there's a lot of loose ends to this one..." "Not everything is more sinister than it appears to be, Commander." Cindy chided. "We'll see, my friend." I said. "But this case has been pretty damn sinister, don't you think?... So Paulina, how close to correct was I on how he killed them?" "Well, here's what he said he did." Paulina said. "He went into the side exit by using a master key on the door lock. He then went up the secret stairs, again using his master key, and came out on the sixth floor. He pretended to be waiting for the elevator when Rollins came out of the room and went to the ice machine room. There was no ice in that machine, so Rollins went downstairs to the lobby to see about getting some ice. Apparently he changed mind and came back up to the sixth floor fairly quickly. Atkins saw Rollins hurry back to the hotel room where Diane was, and a moment later Rollins was leading the cabbie to the far end stairwell." Case of the Murdered Bride Ch. 04 "Did he say who gave him the master key?" I asked. "He said he bought it from someone in the Tenderloin District, but he didn't know exactly who." replied Paulina. "That's how deals down there go, with intermediaries, so we probably won't be able to trace that." "Unless he's lying and got the key from someone else." I said, fairly sure. "Meanwhile, Rollins must've seen Atkins, realized that something wasn't right in Atkins being there, and so he went back to the room and called off the threesome with the cabby." I said. "That was something I never quite understood." Paulina continued, "Possibly. At any rate, Atkins said that he hurried to the cracked door of the hotel room and went inside. Diane Lang was there, in her bridal dress. She was surprised to see him, and didn't react quickly enough when he grabbed her, slit her throat and dropped her body flat on the floor, then buried his knife in her chest, which actually got her heart. "Atkins then tiptoed into the hallway, avoiding Diane's gushing blood, but got into the hallway just as Rollins got to the door." Paulina went on. "They stared at each other for a second, then Atkins jumped Rollins, and managed to get him in a headlock and break his neck very quickly. He then hoisted Rollins' body over his shoulder and carried it down the secret stairwell into the passageway, where he dumped it. He was going to go back to get the knife, but someone came down the hallway, so he just fled down the stairs and out the side door, and back to his rental car." "He didn't go straight back to the City, though." said Paulina. "He went to Larry Lang's house. He knew he had to get that DVD of himself, or else the cops would come straight to him. He found the video quickly, but then had the bright idea to trash the house completely. So he did, thinking it might distract the police. Then he drove back to the City, got a few hours sleep, and drove back the next morning. He still does not understand how you got onto him as quickly as you did." "We got onto him so quickly because Blair betrayed him to us, bringing up Atkins name, thinking we'd never trace Atkins to Blair." I said. "But Atkins story leaves many questions." "I agree with the Commander on that." Cindy said. "Swiss cheese holes in that story, from start to finish." I nodded. "Want me to go back and rescind the plea deal?" Paulina asked, somewhat mischievously. "No." I said. "Let's leave it lie. I think our due process was good, but it was thin at first. In fact, only when Larry Lang said that he'd gotten a DVD from Atkins did I have any realistic probable cause for a search warrant. Sure it led to strong evidence, sure we would've gotten more over time, but... well, we'll just let this sleeping dog lie for 25 to life." "Smart man." said Paulina. "So let me get this straight." said Martin Nash. "Your said your first clue was when Atkins talked about Rollins in the past tense. You never suspected anyone else?" "Well, let me start from the beginning and tell the story." I said. Everyone got comfortable for a long tale as I started: "Of course the Crime Scene gave clues that we were dealing with sexual roleplay, so I immediately went along those lines. Then there was the Lang break-in, which confused me. Cindy had the good idea when she said whoever did it was trying to deceive us. But it did occur to me that the murderer had also gone to the Lang house to murder Larry Lang. Fortunately, Lang was out of town, but it was more fortunate for Atkins... killing Lang would've pointed more sharply to Atkins." "Question." Cindy said. "Blair didn't want Larry Lang dead. Why did Atkins go over there to kill him?" "Maybe for his own reasons of jealousy." I said. "But I don't insist on the thesis that Atkins wanted to kill Lang, so maybe that was off the mark. Anyway, I happen to have a wife and other sources that know more about the Swinging Scene in this County than most people want to know in a lifetime. I got the Lang bride-cabbie story pretty quickly, and Martin and I went and found the guy who'd had a lucky experience a couple of months ago." "You found him." said Nash, then grinned as he said "I was just there to watch, pun not intended." That line got everyone laughing for a minute; Nash had just shown a pawky sense of humor. "Good one, Martin." said the Chief. "Okay, Crowbar, then what?" "Atkins name came up rather quickly at Lightsource." I said. "I began seeing the rejection pattern even then, and when we followed up on his past, I was seeing it more and more. I also saw the paramilitary stuff, and knew that Atkins was at least physically capable of quickly killing Diane so heinously. As far as suspects went, Atkins was a 'fit'." "I still had a missing Larry Lang, though." I said. "As I thought about it, it became clear that Blair had been protecting Lang from the get-go. Then it began coming out that Diane would do the cabbie thing while Larry was on vacations with Blair. Sure, it was a stretch, but I surmised there might be something sexual between Blair and Lang, and that Blair might have not-so-obvious but very real reasons for protecting Larry. That led to me suspecting that Larry might be hiding in the Blair home. Certainly I'd never do something like go and peek into Blair's garage, where Larry's car might have been parked; why, that would be against the law, of course." "Good grief, no wonder you get the results you do, you scofflaw." growled the Chief. Everyone laughed again. I said "So, to round out the likely suspects, that just left finding the cabbie that was there that night, and finding the groom. And to answer your question, Martin, it was 50-50 with me that it was Atkins or the groom Rollins. You found out about Atkins' client in the City actually being Rollins; that just cemented it for me that Atkins was at least involved; the question was if Rollins was also involved, that they did the murder together." "So then we found the cabbie and got his story." I said. "I never disbelieved him; he was scared shitless and was telling the truth-" "He was lucky as hell." said Paulina. "You were right that a jury would easily convict when his DNA matched the semen in her mouth and stomach." "Yes." I said. "He thought he was lucking into this dream night scenario, and he nearly ended up being tried for murder with the death penalty awaiting him. As it was, I didn't really suspect him; I had his story, and I was looking even more askance at the groom. Why get the cabbie out so quickly? What had caused him to do that? I wondered to myself. My first thought was that he'd seen Larry Lang at the Hotel and was spooked, but why would that be the case? Didn't fit completely. Then we hear Martin's discovery of Atkins and the client, and things definitely fit in that case: the groom had possibly seen Atkins, perhaps in or near the lobby of the Hotel, and that caused him to panic." "So then the Chief comes up in a timely manner with the information about the passageway, to which you're all sworn to secrecy now, by the way." I said. "What made you think of that, Chief?" "I could say my brilliant intuition," joked the Chief, "but the truth is that I got a call from SBI Inspector Britt Maxwell, who also has long known about the passageway. She suggested that I have a look inside there when she heard about our investigation. She thought there might be footprints, but we actually found the body there." The Chief's words cemented some suspicions I had about that passageway. The Chief told me to continue, which I did: "So all that was left was to go get Larry Lang, which I did despite Blair's strong efforts to keep him hidden. Then Larry mentioned the Atkins DVD, and I was home free to get a warrant for Atkins' apartment." "And you thought the motive was jealousy? Being tired of rejection?" Cindy asked. "No, my friend." I said. "I think that was part of it, but I also really suspected that there was a lot more to it. I don't believe in coincidences, and for Atkins to be having dinner with the man who was Diane Lang's groom that night? His knowing them, and some of them pretty well? And then there was the Cabbie with a very nicely created second identity. "Not only all that, but the truth is that Atkins had plowed his way through a number of women, including some of the single women at Lightsource. I thought that he might have known and had a relationship with Diane Lang before she married Larry. Maybe she thought Atkins was stalking her by getting close to her through her husband. Maybe they didn't have a relationship, but she knew something from his past. I'm not satisfied with the answers here, and I certainly need to do more research in this area." "Whatever you do, don't let it take away from your more current duties." said the Chief. "You've solved the crime, and brilliantly. Let's keep moving along. So, Miss Patterson, what is going to happen to Mr. Lang?" Paulina replied "Probably nothing, unless the Iron Crowbar pries out a confession that he knew of the murder plot all along. He evaded police, but he'll say he was scared about the ramifications of his wife's murder as well as his home being broken into. It'll be hard to get a jury to convict on that, and for such a small charge?" Part 20 - Epilogue October 15th was baby Jack Burke's first birthday, and my mom, Laura and I went to Todd and Jeanine's house with our own babies in tow. To my surprise, Teresa Croyle had also been invited by Jeanine to attend, and she'd shown up. Little Jim was still a bit too young, so he was held by everyone (mostly Teresa), but little Jack, Doug and Carole seemed to have fun in each other's presences. It was getting late that afternoon when I received a phone a phone call from Cindy, urgently asking me to come to Mr. Blair's home. Jeanine and Todd said they'd get my family safely home, so I made my goodbyes to the people at the party and headed out in my Police SUV. There were a number of police cruisers, SUVs, and an ambulance at the Blair home as I strode up the steps. Once inside, I saw Larry Lang sitting on the sofa, a look of total shock on his face as he stared sightlessly forward, with Diana Torres sitting with him. Cindy came and got me and led me into the back room which had been a den. "We haven't touched anything yet." Cindy said as I surveyed the scene. Martin Nash was looking around the room and taking notes. The Crime Lab team and Martha, the Assistant M.E., were standing by, having patiently waited for my arrival, so that I could see the tragedy on the floor. Mr. Blair was lying on the floor in front of his desk, a .357 magnum revolver in his left hand, a gunshot wound to his left temple. He was no longer with us. "There's a suicide note on the desk." Nash said. "I photographed it, but no one has touched it yet." The note read: "Larry, I am sorry for the pain I have caused you, and for the pain that I am about to cause you. Goodbye. Blair." "Who called it in?" I asked. "Larry Lang." replied Nash. "He was still staying here with Blair. He went to make funeral arrangements for his wife this morning, leaving about 10:00am. He got back around 4:00pm and found Blair. He called 9-1-1 immediately." "Martha, any idea on a time of death?" I asked. "He hasn't been dead long." Martha said. "Less than two hours, I'd say." I put on latex gloves, whipped out my rectangular magnifying glass, and examined the handwriting of the suicide note. Then I looked at other documents on the desk, concluding that all were written by Blair's own hand. "Blair is left-handed." I said. "Suicide note written by a left-hander, other notes on the desk written by a left-hander. I'd say it's Blair's handwriting." I used the glass to examine Blair's left hand, still clutching the gun, a Smith & Wesson model. I also looked at gun without touching it. After peering at Blair's clothes, then looking around the room, I said "Looks like the cartridges are .38 Special, which can be fired from a .357 magnum, of course. I own a Smith & Wesson .357 magnum similar to this one, and they are notorious for blowing back some powder onto the hands. I can see that that is what happened here. Be sure to take some swabs of his hands and test for powder, to make sure. Can someone shine a light on the mouse of the computer before I touch it?" The man known as 'Labcoat' did so, then took a UV photo of the prints on it. Then I used the mouse to look at what Blair had been doing on his computer, which was on and operating on his desk. "Yep, looks like he got his affairs in order after Lang left this morning," I said, "and then he shot himself this afternoon. Okay, guys, process the scene. I don't see anything that suggests anything but suicide." I went into the main room, where Lang was still sitting, dazed. "Diana, pour the man a drink." I said, then sat down by Lang. "Mr. Lang, I'm sorry but I have to ask you a couple of questions." "Sure... sure." Lang said, still dazed, still looking forward. "Had Blair been agitated or upset, unusually so, in the last couple of days?" Lang replied "He... he was worried yesterday. He was worried about our homosexual relationship coming out, about the potential criminal charges against him, and about his money problems. We talked about it last night, and I told him Chapter 7 bankruptcy would clean up a lot of the mess, and we could, you know, start over. I was really worried about him, about his state of mind." "Was he worried this morning?" I asked. "No... that's the funny thing." Lang said. "He was really bright and cheerful this morning, like he didn't have a care in the world. I felt really relieved to see him feeling so much better, so I told him I'd go get the arrangements for Diane done. He said to go ahead, that he had some stuff to do here." "Did he get any phone calls, last night or this morning?" I asked. "Uh... yeah, yes he did!" Lang said, snapping out of his daze for the first time. "Late last night, at nearly midnight. He didn't say who it was. We- he went to bed right after that." "Thank you, Mr. Lang." I said, as Diana arrived with a bourbon for Lang. "Here, drink this." I said. I then got up and walked onto the front porch with Cindy and Nash, who had been listening to my interview with Lang. "Here's a little psychological tidbit, guys." I said quietly. "When someone acts upset, depressed, or suicidal, then suddenly becomes calm and happy, that's a sign they've really decided to commit suicide. It's not when they're in the agitated state that friends should worry... it's when they suddenly snap out of it and act well. The friends think 'Oh, everything's better!', but in reality, it's the danger time." "I've heard that before." Cindy said, then asked "So you definitely think this was suicide, and not suspicious? Considering the loose threads in his wife's murder, I wanted you to see the crime scene first, just in case." "And I appreciate you doing that." I said. "But yes, I think Blair took his own life. Unless the Crime Lab or M.E. finds something extraordinary, I think this one will be closed fast. I'm going to head back home." "Can you give me a ride to Headquarters?" Cindy asked. We said our goodbyes to Martin and went to my SUV. As we drove, Cindy said "I doubt I'll ever be as good as you in observing and deducing crime scenes, but I think I've learned to read you better than most. And I can tell you're not totally convinced about Blair's suicide." "Let me put it this way, my friend." I said, looking out over the road as I was driving. "I think Blair did kill himself. However, he got a phone call last night. I think something was said to him, a suggestion that he take the way out that he did. He slept on it, decided to do it, and once the decision was made, the cares of his life fell off his shoulders; ergo, his happiness this morning." "So it'd be 'most very unwise' of me to say that not all things are as sinister as they seem?" Cindy quipped, showing her understanding. "Well, let me lay out the puzzle pieces." I said as I turned onto the road leading to the bypass, so that we could just drive around and talk for a few minutes. "The cabbie that was picked up was an ex-con who disappeared off the grid three years ago, then re-appeared with a new life, a new and what appears to be artificial credit card history, and the FBI gave him to us after a day's delay." "Now that may have been purely coincidental." I continued. "But then we have Atkins, who was a paramilitary ex-cop, trained well enough to cleanly and quickly break a man's neck, which he did. This man was having dinner with the man who later went to be Diane Lang's 'groom'. Oops, there's a second coincidence, and as you know, I like to quote Dame Agatha Christie's axiom that 'you can always have one coincidence, but you can never have two'. Well, we now have two." "And now..." I went on, letting my thoughts pour out, "we have Mr. Blair, who has rather conveniently taken his own life. He's been a prominent though hidden feature of this case. He's on the verge of financial ruin. He was having a homosexual relationship with the husband of the deceased wife, and apparently wanted that relationship to not be made public. At the same time, he said he had Diane murdered so that he could be with Larry. Now that's a contradiction, and Ayn Rand wrote 'Contradictions cannot exist. When you are faced with a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.'." "Then we can add that all of them, Lang, Blair, Atkins, worked or had worked at Lightsource Industries, and Lightsource Industries is doing a lot of cutting edge research. So, Cindy... connect those dots!" Cindy thought about it. "Oh... of course... Blair was being blackmailed. Someone wanted him to give them information about Lightsource's research in exchange for not exposing his relationship with Lang." "Good, very good!" I said. "And let's go a step further: the blackmailers offered a carrot, as well: if he goes along, he gets money to climb out of his debt problems; if he doesn't go along, we get the exposure." "Should we tell Lightsource about this?" Cindy asked. "I've already contacted Mr. Turner Rogers, the Lightsource president, and told him of possible industrial espionage, though I mentioned no names." I said. "So they will hopefully be on guard. If not, it's on them." "Wow..." Cindy said, the wheels of her mind churning hard, "this thing is exploding... there are so many things going in so many directions... was Atkins part of this blackmailing group?... was Atkins being blackmailed himself?... was Larry Lang involved?... and in the middle of it all, there's this poor woman, playing like she was a bride, who ends up being murdered..." "Yep." I said. "You and I still have lots of work to do to clean this mess up." "The party never stops," Cindy said, "in the Iron Crowbar's Town and County." ====================== In room 204 of the Sunrise Hotel, Elizabeth relaxed and watched as the muscular, well hung stud slammed his huge meat into Karen Warner's sopping wet cunt again and again, piledriving his size into the beautiful young woman as hard a he could as Karen begged him to fuck her ever harder. Elizabeth felt the wetness in her own pussy, and it felt like she was still being fucked by a big cock. She had lay on her back with her lovely legs spread, enjoying being taken as two young, very well hung men had taken turns mounting her and fucking her with raw, physical power, each man twice shooting his full load into her sodden quim. The orgasms had flowed through her, and she was now limp and exhausted. But it seemed like nothing could satisfy Karen Warner. Elizabeth didn't know where Karen had found these satyrs, but they all had eight and nine inch cocks, they were all fit, well built, and seemingly inexhaustible themselves, but Karen was giving as much as she got and still begging for more cock and more sex. Case of the Murdered Bride Ch. 04 Elizabeth watched the young woman on the other bed. Karen certainly was a drop-dead gorgeous woman... such a beautiful, sweet face, made even more so by the joy of orgasm; her long, lustrous black hair; her perfect breasts, large but not too large, her slender thighs, shapely calves, and exquisitely elegant hands and feet. She was far more beautiful than her mother, and far tastier... Elizabeth had spent over an hour eating Karen's pussy the night before... and she was simply a sex machine... ---------- Two hours later, after taking a shower together, Karen said to Elizabeth "That was fun, but I've got to get back to Brian." "How is he doing?" Elizabeth asked politely, already knowing that Brian Harlan was terminally ill. "He's... hanging in there." Karen said, her voice sad. "I think he feels better when I cuddle with him, but he's hurting. He doesn't want to go yet... but when the pain gets bad enough..." "I understand." Elizabeth said as she dressed. "By the way, our new Number 4 has accepted our offer to join our team. We'll need him. I'm not sure what happened with that swinging couple, but the chain of events disrupted our pipeline into Lightsource Industries. We can only hope that my dear baby brother does not connect too many dots, there." "It's taken care of." Karen said. "By this time tomorrow, the Town will be buzzing with the news of the suicide of Lightsource's VP of Marketing and Sales. But you're right; we lost that pipeline. Now what are we doing about BOW Enterprises?" "Oh, I'm building a pipeline so deep into there, Barry Oliver won't know what hit him." Elizabeth replied. Fully dressed, Karen went over and deeply kissed Elizabeth. "Mmmm," the beautiful younger woman said, "you have one hell of a mouth, Elizabeth... especially when you're kissing my mouth or eating my pussy." "I look forward to using my mouth on your pussy again... many times." Elizabeth said. The two women left the hotel room, each thinking of how surprised the other would be when she gained ascendancy over the other... Finis. ... for now.