Case of the Black Widow Ch. 01

"I see, said the blind man." I quipped. "Paulina, do you think Folsom is dirty?"

"No," said Paulina, "but he's very attuned to the political situation. He has his eye on higher-level judgeships, maybe the State Supreme Court, and he doesn't want to offend anyone like Senator Allen who might make or break him for a higher position."

"Hmmm, so I'll need to check for connections between Ward and Goldman and Westboro." I said out loud before I realized it.

"Yes," said Paulina, "but they do have a point. I understand your attempt to take advantage of this opportunity to look into Ward's dealings. But remember, the FBI did get his records and found nothing."

"So they say. They also didn't know how and where to look." I said.

"Well, develop something that connects Burleson's murder to Ward himself or to the business, and I'll get you your warrant, if I have to put a gun to Folsom's head to get it." Paulina said. "By the way, what do you think of this Burleson murder, so far?"

"Too early to tell." I said. "Angela Harlan has an idea that it resembled some previous serial killings she once investigated, and she may well be right. She and Lainie are working up a data set for me, as well as data on Burleson and his personal situation such as finances, etc. Cindy and Myron are looking into Burleson for connections to Ward's business dealings that we already know about and can look into. We're also going to have to search Burleson's home, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera."

"Those warrants are already on the way." Paulina stated. "So you think Ward was involved somehow? He certainly had a problem with you guys being there this morning."

"I don't know, but don't let his tirade cloud your thinking." I replied. "He hates the police in general, he really hates me specifically, and I think he just gets naturally agitated and lashes out when things are going badly for him."

"Speaking of which," Paulina said, trying but failing to suppress a grin, "did you really have to arrest him? His lawyer is howling about it and State Senator Allen is whining. No worries there, the arrest was legit, but was it necessary?"

"Yep." I said, grinning myself at that memory. "For all their screaming, neither Ward nor his lawyer formally objected to us acquiring a DNA sample from him, and now I have the man's DNA as well as fingerprints on record and in the database... for the future if not the present. And I obviously also have let Ward know that saying he will shove something up my ass without him being able to back it up... well, there's plenty of room in my jails for him to reconsider his words, for a few hours at least."

"You really are going to get me in trouble one of these days." Paulina said, her beautiful face radiant with her bright smile. "But I have to admit I love it when you do things like that. Just be careful and don't step over the line: they're watching us on this one."

"Yes, they are- hey!" I said, then fell into a momentary reverie. A moment later, I said "Paulina, I called you before Ward even appeared at the crime scene in his plant... but he already had a lawyer with him, and Judge Folsom already had been alerted and taken over the warrants! Not to mention the political forces were already called up and marshaled. That means someone knew something about this murder, and possibly before the Police were even on the scene."

Paulina replied "Yes, I realized that, also. While I'd expect someone at Ward's would've called him as soon as the body was found, giving him time to spring in action and get his lawyer working and making the calls to the big heavies around here, it definitely is interesting that they circled the wagons PDQ..."

----

"What have we got?" the Chief asked. He was in a sour mood, which made the air in the room thick with tension.

It was the 4:00pm conference. Angela Harlan, Cindy Ross, Tanya Perlman, Hugh Hewitt, Lainie Everett, Myron Milton and myself were in attendance.

Angela Harlan began the report: "Mr. Burleson was plant manager during the evening shift, which is 2nd shift, last night at Ward Harvester. He and the other three shift managers rotate those shifts on a monthly basis, and whoever is not on a shift works in the front office with production and material orders."

"Several workers and the night shift manager said that during the shift change, which happens at 11:00pm, Burleson commented that he was going to check on the new building's progress, then on some of the raw materials they'd need the next morning, then he would head on home. Those raw materials are stored in the warehouse where he was found the next morning."

"Nobody on third shift found him?" the Chief asked.

"No, the night shift did a limited production run and had the raw materials they needed," Angela said, "so nobody went over there during the night. The night shift manager said that since Burleson didn't call back in about anything, he assumed that everything was fine."

"So nobody noticed any strange noises or odd groups of people walking around?" Cindy asked.

"Not that anyone is telling us, so far." Angela said. "A couple of third shift workers said that some lights were on in the office areas during the night, where Mr. Ward's and the various managers' offices are, and they're usually off... but they didn't think much of it, believing someone simply didn't turn out the lights."

"And they're not looking for anything out of the ordinary, so nothing really catches their eye." the Chief said. "What about security?"

"There is none, since they don't take deliveries or have trucks leave during the evening or night shifts. That gate is locked but not monitored." replied Angela. "The parking lot for employees is gated, but the guardhouse is unstaffed. Employees enter and exit through the front building, which connects to the employee locker rooms. Security cameras are in the locker rooms, but the one at the front desk hasn't been working for months."

"Shit, place like that with ammonium nitrate, and no security?" the Chief asked, disbelieving.

"Kind of convenient, wouldn't you say, Chief?" I asked, acid in my voice, "Especially if something criminal is going on around there. Certainly some perps felt it was okay to hide three kidnapped children in one of his warehouses. By they way... Angela, did anyone say if Burleson was acting strangely, or if he had any problems that he'd mentioned?"

"Not a thing." Angela replied. "All he talked about, besides work, was fishing. No arguments with anyone that anyone I talked to could remember, certainly not recently. No complaints about money or anything like that. Additionally, I found out that Burleson would occasionally go to a nearby bar and drink with other workers, but never heavily, nor did he get into fights. Just a regular run-of-the-mill plant worker, from what everyone says."

"Patrolmen Feeley, Rudistan, Morton and myself searched his apartment, also." said Tanya Perlman. "There was absolutely nothing there. Fishing magazines, boat magazines, some miscellaneous books, mostly on fishing. Nothing on BDSM, nothing on any explosives or anything that might be suspicious. We confiscated his personal computer, but there's nothing of interest on it. Mostly URLs for fishing sites and chat rooms. Some porn, but no heavy kink or BDSM. As Angela said, just a run-of-the-mill blue collar guy, from the looks of it all."

Cindy Ross then gave her part: "I looked into Burleson's brother and their relationship. The brother runs a security firm whose only client is Crown Chemicals, which is across the river. Burleson and his brother had no problems with each other but weren't particularly close, didn't socialize or hang out with each other much. As to Crown Chemicals and Ward Harvester, they have no dealings with each other whatsoever; they're in different chemical sectors, so to speak. If there's any link there, such as industrial espionage, we'll have to dig deep to find it. We're looking to see if there is any money flow that is suspicious or unaccounted for. But so far, and like Angela and Tanya said, this guy seems to have led a life devoted to fishing and not a whole lot more."

"Keep at it folks, there has to be something there that made this man a victim of a murder." Chief Griswold said. "You'll have to expand your inquiries to any of his friends and other relatives that you can find. Keep looking to see if he had any weird hobbies that most people didn't know about, or a secret double life... something connected to the BDSM crowd. Okay, Perlman, what did the Crime Lab have to say?"

"Toxicology found drugs in the man's system." Tanya reported. "Further tests are being done, but it looks like he was shot full of something that kept his penis hard. But it was also a deadly poison... if the blow to the head didn't kill him, the poison certainly would have. The coroner will have to decide which was actually the cause of death."

"Are the drugs in his system similar to what my nephew Ned has been known to make?" I asked Tanya.

"We're doing comparison tests." said Tanya, "and the preliminary tests suggest that it may be similar, possibly a variant of what we've known Ned to produce in the past. What he injected into you during your ordeal in Ward's warehouse wasn't a deadly poison, since you're obviously still here with us, but the sexual arousal drug elements appear to be similar."

"Still here by the hair of your frickin' chinny-chin-chin, I might add." said Chief Griswold, not meaning to be humorous but getting some laughs at that anyway.

"Yes sir, I do seem to remember that part of it." I said ruefully, then continued with some instructions: "Tanya, get our new police scientist Barry Oliver up to speed on Ned and his drugs. Barry is young, but from what I've seen and what you've told me, he is to police science what Myron here is to computers and digital information. Get Barry everything you can, and tell him to become an expert on all drugs and forensics that are Ned-related. We're going to need him in our battle to bring Ned to Justice, as well as this and other cases." Tanya nodded as she made a note of my instruction.

"Think Ned's involved, Crowbar?" the Chief asked.

"Don't know yet, sir." I said. "But Ned's M.O. is to get other people to do his dirty work for him. Even though he's personally killed at least three people that we know of (Big Alex, Nurse Anya and Tim Olivet), his psychological profile suggests he likes to sit back and let others do the dirty work, with him helping and guiding. He likes to be the man behind the curtain, pulling the strings, not the man up front and exposed. So maybe he had some people go after Burleson on his behalf. The question, of course, is 'why'."

"So why would Ned involve himself in something like this?" the Chief asked.

"Chief, there are two angles here that we're looking at." I said. "One is the serial killer angle that Perlman and Harlan will talk about in a minute. The other is that it's related to Thaddeus Ward of Ward Harvester. That man has been known to have some shady dealings in the past, and I'm trying to follow up on that. If Ned's involved, I'd suspect it's from that angle, not the serial killer angle."

I added: "And of course, Ned certainly could've cooked up some drugs for someone else to use, and not be otherwise involved. There may be no real connection at all. His drug recipes are starting to get around... 'The Vision' has them, and the CIA likely does, as well."

The Chief turned to Tanya. "Anything on that aforementioned serial killing angle, Perlman?"

"Sir, Detective Harlan is all over that, as well as her groundwork today. Angela?" Tanya said, doing an excellent job of getting Angela into the conversation and complimenting her like a good leader should.

"It's very possible, Chief." said Angela, her voice husky. "The hourglass marking was on two of the bodies of the serial killings in Texas that I helped investigate. And the three people down there were killed by blows to the back of the head after having forced sex. Furthermore, they were all tied to chairs. The BDSM objects we found in this case were not part of the other cases, so that's something new and different. Martin Nash contacted Lindy Linares of the FBI, she's part of Jack Muscone's team, and we're hoping she'll have something for us soon."

"Good. At least we can trust him and his team. Crowbar, is anyone checking up on the BDSM angle?" the Chief asked. "For all we know, this might be very much related to that crowd."

"Not yet, sir," I said, " but it's certainly something we're going to look into."

"Chief," said Tanya Perlman, rescuing me, "we're trying to trace manufacturers of the stuff we found at the crime scene. When we get something, we'll see which of the several BDSM crowds on campus or in Town might be connected."

"All right." said the Chief. "My gut says the BDSM angle is something we need to look hard into, much harder than we have to this point. If you get bored looking into Ward's business activities, Crowbar, check into that." I was a bit shocked: the chief's words were unmistakably sarcastic, and appeared to be a clear reproach towards me.

"Sir," I said, "I really think the BDSM items were planted and are a blind to lead us away from the truth, whatever that may be."

"That could be, but you'll have to convince me in order to eliminate it as a possibility. Okay, everyone who is not a Lieutenant get out of here and get back to work or go home." said the Chief. The room cleared until only he and myself were left.

"Don, I need to say something to you." Chief Griswold said, a bit formally and stiffly. "I know you've been working on the Ward Harvester angle with regard to possible criminal activity. And who knows, maybe this murder of his plant manager ties into it. I'm not the fool those KXTC idiots think I am; it's as obvious to me as to you that Ward made damn sure his first order of business was to throw shields up around his business and to keep you from getting at his business records. But at the same time, don't you start focusing on this to the point you overlook another angle. I expected to hear more on the BDSM angle today."

"Yes sir." I said. No point in arguing with my boss at this point; I'd just made my point, and it had made absolutely no effect on him.

"By the way," said the Chief, "and purely for my own curiosity: why Perlman and Harlan on this?"

"Sir," I said, "my own feeling is that the serial killer angle is correct, though of course I have no proof of that yet, nor why Burleson would be a target. Harlan says she has experience with serial killer cases, and she's certainly identified this as a possible link to someone known in law enforcement as the 'Black Widow'; I've independently confirmed her research, and Jack Muscone and his FBI team are indeed helping us out with that."

"And Perlman: because she was getting restless, and this is a good case for her to be in charge of. If our new police scientist works out in the Crime Lab, I hope to get Tanya a lot more street time being the Detective she wants to be, and is very good at being."

Part 4 - The Goth-Pajama Boy Connection

"Dawdle, my man expects results." said the Goth woman as she sat across from him at the small table, rings of cigarette smoke hovering above her.

It was lunchtime, and they were in a sandwich and coffee shop between the University and the Downtown district. It was fairly popular with University students and the Goth crowd as it had wi-fi access and good coffee. However, at lunch they served sandwiches and salads with heavy amounts of vinegar and vinegar-based dressings, and the acidic odor was overpowering. Tim Dawdle felt sick to his stomach from the odors, and also from what he was being told.

Since the Goth and B&D crowds hung out around here, the people at the small table were not worth noticing. Dawdle was a pajama-boy punk with curly black hair and thick black-rimmed glasses; people didn't like looking at him any longer than they had to. The Goth woman to Dawdle's left had dirty blonde hair and a skanky appearance.

But it was the dark-haired woman opposite him, dressed in Goth appearance and her hair partially dyed blue, that gave Dawdle chills. She was well-known as 'Goth Girl Kathy', and she was known to be the girlfriend of an extremely dangerous, murderous criminal named Ned. For this woman to be talking to Dawdle, and in a manner suggesting displeasure with him, was extremely unappealing for the punk pajama-boy reporter.

"I understand." Dawdle said. "I'm still acting on the information your man gave me, checking the names of the PED users and peddlers on the football team. But I have to get a solid story that my editor, the big boss, will run with; she's told me it has to be one big story and very solid. I need time to put that together."

"You need to speed it up." said Goth Girl Kathy. "If the football season ends before you're ready to go with your story, my man is going to be very pissed. He wants Coach Harlan brought down in the prime-time of the season."

With desperation showing in his puny voice, Dawdle said "Tell him that I'm working as fast as I can, and thank him again for his information."

Kathy took a long drag on her cigarette, then blew the smoke straight into Dawdle's face. "My man does not want thanks, he wants results. Get them for him, Dawdle, or he might just decide that you make a better story than Coach Harlan does." She noticed the perspiration on the pajama-boy's brow; he was sweating in pure fear, she realized. Good, she thought, people should fear my man.

Kathy got up to go. "Gwen, take Dawdle here back to his car and give him a blow job. Make him come in your mouth." The skank blonde just nodded as Kathy turned to Dawdle. "Coach Harlan's head on a spike, Dawdle. Make it happen, and quickly. You're on the clock, and this is your two-minute warning."

Part 5 - Digital Research

While police work has moments of excitement and moments of sheer terror, the truth is that for the most part it's boring and mundane, looking for needles in haystacks and not knowing if one is even in the right haystack. That is what was happening in the I.T. dungeon during the evening. Fortunately for me, my bloodhounds of I.T. loved doing this work, and for the small price of buying them several pizzas, they produced tremendous data by 10:00pm.

The Chief came down to the I.T. rooms, something he did not commonly do, and hosted a meeting attended by myself, Tanya Perlman, Angela Harlan, Hugh Hewitt, Myron Milton, Goth Girl Mary Mahoney, and Lainie Everett.

"First, about Burleson, our victim." said Myron. "He was well paid by Mr. Ward and received occasional bonuses. I have marked the bonus deposits, and I'm looking for a correlation with the Ward records we have. I took the liberty of sending that information to Agent Muscone's team in the FBI, since they acquired a lot more records from Ward Harvester and are better equipped to spot any coincidences."

"Just don't send them too much, and make sure your Lieutenant knows about it." said the Chief. "Any connection to the deceased's brother and Crown Chemicals?

"No sir." Myron replied. "We're only able to get limited information on the brother, since he's not yet considered a suspect and we have no warrant, but from what I can tell there has been no untoward sums of money coming to the brother and no substantial contacts between Burleson and his brother and brother's family."

"As to Burleson himself," Myron continued, "there's nothing at all to indicate why he was murdered. No outstanding warrants, no outstanding complaints against him, no real debt that would be a problem for him. His credit card records are completely boring except that he has a big boat and fishing hobby. He has a boat that he takes out on Reservoir Lake, which straddles our County and Nextdoor County, the same lake you live on, Chief. He also does a lot of fishing at the River from the riverbanks at nearby parks, and the only trips he's made in years are to South Florida and to California, where he chartered boats for deep sea fishing. Again, no debts to speak of."