Internal Affairs Ch. 14

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Everyone is looking for something.
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Part 14 of the 15 part series

Updated 10/28/2022
Created 08/07/2014
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When Trish and Peter left on their trip to the small university town a couple of hundred miles from the mining site, they were going to be looking for Louise. The drive was eight hundred miles from Detroit to the town where Miles had lived. It took the best part of the day. Even in the big fancy sedan Trish furnished.

Peter first found out about the big Lincoln sedan, when he met Trish in the parking lot of his place early in the morning. He stood looking out the window of the apartment building with his clothes for the trip in a larger version of his get away back pack. When she pulled up in the black Lincoln he didn't recognize her. She had to beep for him. He had expected the econobox she usually drove.

"So you are rich. I had a sneaking suspicion that you were?" he asked. He immediately flashed on the socialite parents, and a stern childhood nanny.

"I am not rich at all. I live on a small trust fund. I just have use of the family assets." Trish said.

"Sounds like a nice life," Peter said.

"I'm twenty five years old and still live on an allowance of sorts. I have to ask to borrow the car for god's sake." she said as she pulled from the lot. "Can you imagine doing that?"

"Obviously not or I wouldn't be jealous." Peter replied.

Our plan was to ambush Louise, so we hadn't called ahead, which turned out to be a mistake. "Should we wait for tomorrow to approach her, or should we call now, or maybe just go over and risk it?" Peter asked Trish.

"Call her and ask if we can come over now," she replied.

"Maybe we should call her and Ada and try to arrange a breakfast meeting with both," Peter suggested.

"You tell me what you want to do. We can try any of those options," Trish agreed.

"Let's call Louise first, then check into a motel," Peter suggested.

They stopped for dinner at one of the chain date night restaurants before they checked into the small older motel. Peter expected a hooker to be their neighbor, but it turned out to be a college student, and what was obviously a woman his mother's age at least.

Screwing for a better grade obviously, Peter thought but said nothing.

It was Peter and Trish's first night in a full sized bed. It was a treat. Some things just weren't possible in the cot he owned.

"They spent a lot of time enjoying the larger bed, so they overslept. They had made an appointment to meet Louise early the next morning for breakfast. It was her choice to invite Ada.

Peter and Trish had to skip their showers in order not to be late for the interview. "One of you must be Louise Adair," Peter said to the two women at the table by the window.

"I am Louise Adair, and this is our former business partner Ada Fine," the younger of the woman said. She had a stern look about her, but it appeared to be mixed with a lot of pain, Peter though. Louise looked sad but was attractive in that school girl way.

"It is good that you both could make it this morning. Trish, my associate, and I really appreciate it. Could you bring me up to speed about the last trip home before your uncle's death," Peter asked after the introductions.

"Uncle Miles came home for Christmas and stayed till New Years, then he went back to the mountains," Louise said. "There isn't a lot more to say."

"The shooting took place on a private road which led into the gold camp. Did your uncle say there had been any trouble, no matter how small at the claim?" Peter asked.

"He didn't mention anything," Louise said. "He did have some kind of hush, hush thing going on with Silvia from QE2. I thought they were dating and that it was cute." Louise said.

Immediately Ada jumped in. "It was nothing, they just spent a little time together."

"I know Silvia is your daughter, but she and Uncle Miles were up to something. There were phone calls and whispered conversations that ended when anyone came in the room. That just screams conspiracy," Louise said.

"I'm sure it was just not wanting the crew to know they were sleeping together," Ada said.

"Did Silvia visit you Uncle at the home you shared," Peter asked.

"Who did you say you were with?" Ada asked.

"We are with JustAct. It is an independent legal advocacy group. It is authorized by the Department of Justice to act as an over site group." Trish said in her cold voice.

"Well we are done here I suppose," Peter said laying his card on the table. Call any of those numbers if you have any questions, or just need to talk."

Peter got Trish out of the restaurant before Ada could pull out her phone and take his picture. He had knew it was risky but he had chance. When Ada started asking questions, he decided her daughter might be too much of a risk.

In the car Trish said, "We were about to find out something, why did we leave."

"We are going to have to separate them to find out anything. Their stories are different. Louise thinks something Miles did for, or with Silvia got his ass shot. Ada, who is Silvia's mother, thinks he was just screwing her. So we can figure that if Louise is right, Ada will only obstruct us."

"Okay, I can see that. So what is our next move?" Trish asked.

"We give her till lunch to contact us. If she doesn't you contact her to ask if she would like to talk just the two of you," Peter suggested.

"Deke, this is some serious shit. If one of the people offed Miles they might decide to do one or both of us," She said.

"Yeah, are you having fun yet?" he asked. She actually smiled when she nodded her head.

Since there was no longer a production crew in town to interview, the two of them played Louise like a fish. The calls started in the after noon. First it was Ada. She wanted to talk to Peter alone. He agreed to meet her in the park on the university campus.

He had a feeling that she wanted to interview him. She must likely wants to know what I know about her daughter, he thought.

Trish called Louise after Ada called. Louise agreed to meet her at an upscale restaurant and pub for a drink.

"It's cold on this park bench," Ada said.

"Tends to encourage people to get to the point," Peter replied.

"I suppose so," Ada said.

"Silvia had nothing to do with Miles death," Ada said.

"You know this how?" Peter asked.

"She and I spent the day together," she said. "I told the police the same thing and they were satisfied."

"Did you also give them them the name of an independent party who could verify that?" Peter asked.

"Yes I did," she said.

"Let me guess the camera man," Peter said.

"As a matter of fact yes. She stopped in to see Silvia at my house while we were having lunch so I invited her to stay for a turkey sandwich." Ada said.

"Ada you know that isn't the best alibi, but it's better than none," Peter said. "I'm still going to New York to interview your daughter. If I find out you are covering for her," his voice trailed off when he realized the threat would not help.

"Do you know who did kill Miles Adair?" he asked Ada.

"If I did, I would tell Louise. I want her to bury this theory that Silvia or I had something to do with it," she said.

Peter decided he didn't like Ada, but he couldn't see her as the killer. Still there was the mama grizzly possibility. She would lie and probably go a lot farther if she thought she was protecting her daughter.

Peter felt that it was most likely going to be a messy investigation. All murder investigations got messy. Unless the killer was a psychopath, there were all sorts of crap involved. He wondered how well the killer of Miles Adair had covered his or her tracks.

He walked back to the entrance to the entrance gate of the university where he was able to find a cab. The driver carried him to the motel for five dollars.

It was after midnight when Trish came in. She looked very relaxed. Peter knew the look. He had no idea what it meant since she had been with Louise for the last few hours.

"I was getting worried. What's the word on Louise?" he asked.

"She really wants to help," Trish said. She loved her Uncle. It was like you said according to her. No sex involved just two lonely people living in the same house. He left the house to her."

"Is it valuable?" Peter asked.

"Not really, it is just a small frame house outside of town. Certainly not a motive for her to murder her uncle," Trish said.

"I see. Maybe a jealous boyfriend did it. No, it was not a crime of passion. If one of the people here did it, they had to follow him four hours by car to do it. He or she would have had more than enough time to calm down." Peter said.

"Louise thinks he knew something on Silvia. She is convinced that Silvia is involved somehow." Trish said.

"So what is Louise like," Peter asked.

"I think she is telling the truth," Trish said flatly.

"Then unless something comes up, we will move off Louise. It's time for a road trip?" peter said.

"We are on a road trip now," Trish said being a little irritating.

"Alright, a side road trip," Peter replied with a smile.

They had dressed, or undressed for bed when Trish said, "I slept with her." As usual she used the same voice she used when she ordered pizza.

"I thought so. Like we keep reminding ourselves. We are not cops," Peter said. He fell asleep in Trish's arms.

Peter spent most of the night trying to figure it out. His wild imagination and knowledge of the facts told him that he didn't have enough facts.

He plugged the case file into the DOJ tablet, which he suspected was hardwired to the NSA. The idea was to read the police interview reports on all the participants.

Since Miles had been killed in a rural county after the crime scene investigation the sheriff's office turned the investigation over the State Police. Under the new organization there were regional detective offices. That being the case, Peter planned to move his review after reading the regional file yet again. He needed to determine if there was any reason to meet with the state Agents.

The state people had met Ada and Louise shortly after the shooting. They both started out on the radar because Miles had a .38 revolver which he hadn't tried to use. It appeared that he watched the other car drive up and park. The locals and the state men expected that he knew his killer. Since he didn't know anyone locally, they turned an eye on his partners.

Louise was interviewed and then eliminated. Since she had been with her parents for several days. Her alibi was solid. The investigators liked Ada for about a day, then decide to move on to Silvia. She alibi was the same as her mother's. It wasn't a perfect alibi but the cops couldn't break it.

The other two possibilities were the camera people. One was part of the Alibi for Silvia and Ada. She had been in town waiting for Filming to restart after the holiday. The police hadn't known about her affair with Louise until they ran the names past Louise. Louise immediately admitted to the affair.

According to Louise it was just sex not love. "Miles was cool with it," she said there was no reason for either of us to kill him." At least that was the quote from the report.

The male cameraman was interviewed while he was still in the area. According to him, he was supposed to meet Miles at the cabin in the gold camp. Unlike Miles he pulled a small camper along. His plan was to commute from the camper parked about two miles away on the fire road. The farmer who owned the land where the gold camp stood discovered the body while he was stile on the road. He had a credit car receipt for gas purchased two hundred mile away a half hour before the murder. The camera man genuinely liked Miles and there was no motive of any kind for him to end his life.

The gun used for killing Miles never showed up so the case went cold after a few weeks. There were too many jurisdictions to really do an adequate job. If Miles had been a movie star or had caught the public attention it might have been different. Hell it might be different now that the TV series had been released.

Peter couldn't decide where to go looking for the missing pieces of the puzzle. He needed to talk to the QE2 players. A quick call to New York confirmed that the camera people and the producers were in the field.

"So what now," Trish asked.

"Now we go back to Helen," Peter said. "We need her to do the computer search or Miles and the other' financial records.

When the two of them arrived back in Detroit the work week was almost over. Peter went into the office.

Since he had a stack of files to review he went through them quickly but carefully. Believe it or not the two things are not mutually exclusive. Just doing his job and ignoring the larger context cut the review time in half.

Peter explained to Iva that he was still going to be coming and going for the next couple of weeks, then he cornered Helen to solicit her help with the records check.

"You know the cops did all this, why not just get copies of their reports?" Helen asked.

"I could kiss you," Peter said to Helen.

"Later," she said. "Like after dinner tonight. As a matter of fact. Why don't you pack up your laundry and we can do it after you take me to a nice dinner. Even better we can do it all day tomorrow it is Saturday."

"You don't have to do that," Peter said.

"Hey Trish is younger and prettier, but I'm more useful." she said. "Not to mention more comfortable."

"No comment," Peter said. "I'll take off early and be waiting for you, clothes in hand, after work."

"Good you can use my machines, but tomorrow you are going to have to do the work. I am going to be busy reading the financial information for all the parties," Helen suggested.

"Fair enough," Peter agreed.

They had dinner and then each other. Peter slept very well in Helen's big comfortable bed. Like she had said Helen was like Trish's big sedan, comfortable.

After breakfast Peter retrieved the files from his DOJ furnished pad. It had the heavy encryption programs on it. Even though it was not a national security matter the information came from a huge research project DOJ ran.

Seth had moved Peter's request along through channels probably because he felt needed to make up for almost getting him killed. Peter had bypassed Iva's clear directive that all DOJ requests had to go through her. It was getting pretty clear that the partnership between the two of them was finished.

It also seemed fairly obvious that their days as employer and employee was wearing thin. He expected that if he didn't solve the mystery on the gold claim they were through.

"Well here is your smoking gun. Silvia made cash withdrawal from her business account. She made the five $9500 withdrawals, and one $5000. Even you can figure out that she paid for something more than a manicure," Helen said.

"Maybe she paid for someone to shoot Miles, while she at turkey sandwiches with her mother." Miles suggested. "So I'm going to go over the case notes again. Just to see if anyone picked up on it. Since she had an alibi, even if the people were all connected to her somehow, they might have given up on her as a suspect."

The police did what anyone else would have, they ran the best leads first. They most likely felt that Ada was the better lead. Hell, Peter even thought so.

Motives ran from jealousy. To secret gold deposits. it just depended on the time of day. Silvia's motives could also have been the same.

The fifty k added a new dimension. Miles didn't seem the type to be blackmailing her. His financial records were in order. At least according to Helen. No one seemed to have received the money. It looked more and more like hit man money.

Peter swore to himself that Silvia had some explaining to do, when he arrived in New York.

The production staff from the Gold Digger show were busy working on a new show called 'Homefront'. That show was a family living in a Trenton NJ block of row houses. The family was doing a reenactment of how it was to live the 1939 life style. They had found a row house the had restored. The TV show money was going to be used to retire the dept. Peter was pretty sure that the show was going to require some creative editing.

Helen and Peter had amassed a hell of a lot of information that Saturday evening. They had also washed, dried, and folded a lot of clothes. By 6pm they had a line of inquiry and a place to start.

"I'm here for my update," Trish said as she entered the rear door of Helen small house.

"Well the DOJ did a dump on Helen. She has been organizing it since I downloaded it," Peter said. "She was able to find a money trail."

Trish turned her attention to Helen. It wasn't so much a trail as a bump in the trail. DOJ found a series of suspicious bank transactions that the state police missed for some unknown reason." Helen said.

"It's more like they didn't recognize the importance of them to their case," Peter added. "Police coordination between agencies is terrible. Access to the federal data base is essential for crimes covering multiple jurisdictions, It like the DOJ says. They gather info and store it, but without an investigation asking the right questions, the information just sits there."

"You are thinking she paid someone to shoot Miles Adair?" Trish asked.

"Unless she can explain it away, that's exactly what I think," Peter said.

"So are we headed for New York?" Trish asked.

"No first we are headed to Philadelphia," Peter said. "I want to ask the camera people some pointed questions."

"I thought all your questions were pointed," Trish said.

"I'm sure it seems that way," He agreed.

After it was all explained to Trish, Helen brought out a bottle of wine. Peter stayed with coffee while the women began to relax.

"So I hear you interviewed Louise Adair. What was she like?" Helen asked after the wine bottle was half gone.

Trish looked at Peter, he shook his head just a little. It was to reassure her that he hadn't told Helen any secrets.

Helen could tell she had hit an interesting vein of information. "A college girl living with a single uncle. There must have been some sexual tension there," Helen suggested.

"There was no indication of anything other than them sharing a house. She kept the place clean as payment for her rent," Trish explained. "I think she is a committed Lesbian. I'm not sure if she is bisexual as well, but she is lesbian for sure."

"Oh and how come you are so positive. Did you sleep with her?" Helen asked laughing.

"Yes," Trish said. Then she went on without a second's hesitation "Should I go for more wine?"

"Honey, you are one twisted girl. I like that," Helen said.

Peter awoke Sunday morning to find Trish naked and with her back to him. He also noted that Helen was snuggled against his back side. Each of them had consumed the equivalent of one bottle of wine. He had no such excuse. He had been drinking only coffee.

He was not sure how they all ended up in bed, but he did remember the conversation leading up to it. Helen confided, "For all my big talk I have never slept with a woman."

"There has to be a first time for every thing. I can tell you from experience, it is only hard the first time," Trish said.

"So Louise Adair wasn't your first?" Helen asked.

"Yes she was my first, but what I said is still true. Doing each new thing with her was difficult. But it did get easier the next time." Trish explained in her emotionless voice.

The two of them began comparing experiences while peter surfed the internet. he went from one news site to the next for two hours while they drank. he had spent the night with Helen the night before. She stood behind him as he sat on the sofa then said, "You are invited to come to bed with us, if you can handle it."

Trish was already naked covered only by a sheet. The sheet was pulled up to her chin. Peter knew that she wasn't shy. So he figured she must be cold. It didn't take long for her to warm up.

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