Bottle Kill Ch. 01

"Good." I said. "And there was someone else we saw yesterday, a guy named Marty McMillan. Boone wanted McMillan put in Room 814 because McMillan was in that room 20 years ago when Boone won his Poker title, so let's make sure to eliminate McMillan as a possible suspect, or not. Ditto that for all of Boone's security personnel and his assistant."

As Jerome moved out smartly to execute his mission, the Sheriff said to me "You think any of them are involved, Crowbar?"

"No data yet, Sheriff." I said. "But I do know they knew what room Boone was in, so that's possible means and opportunity. Motive? We need a lot more data for that... a lahhht more data."

"Maybe possible motives will lead you to other suspects." growled the Sheriff. "And I know Intel Branch will root anything out if there is anything to be rooted out." I nodded and we returned to Room 404.

Julia Rodriguez reported: "There's not much else here, sir. Boone and his fiancée booked this room all week, but their luggage was still packed and not gone through. We'll have to ask you, the Sheriff, and Commander Croyle to be interviewed on camera, so we can ascertain if anything such as her jewelry is missing. His Rolex is still on his wrist, by the way."

"Okay, good." I said. "And Julia, if any connection at all to the Biology Conference comes up, you are to notify Lieutenant Davis, and also Captain Michaels and me, that you are recusing yourself, on account of your cousin being part of the Conference." As Julia looked at me with a bit of shock on her face, I said "Just an overabundance of caution. Legal beagles like Gwen Munson and inept ADAs like Savannah Fineman give me the willies about even the smallest things."

"Yes sir." Julia said, then looked past me and said "And speaking of ADAs..."

I turned to see that ADA Savannah Fineman was walking into the room. Her hair was straight and long, almost to the small of her back, and was platinum blonde by 'choice' (her choice). She was wearing a tight white dress that showed off her very attractive curves very nicely, and black high heel pumps to offset her relatively short height.

"A double murder, one of the dead persons being something of a celebrity?" Savannah said.

"Who told you that?" I asked. "Bettina Wurtzburg?" Savannah was not good at hiding her emotions, and I was confident that my observations backed up my belief that the Press and Savannah were in 'cahoots'.

"It doesn't matter who did call me." Savannah retorted. "The issue is that you did not, Commander Troy. What, did you actually forget to call me about this?"

"I didn't forget." I said severely. "I've told you that after your actions in the Davalos case, I'm not cooperating with you at all." (Author's note: 'Price No Object', Ch. 03-05.)

"Whose side are you on?" Savannah shot back. "The criminals's?"

"Watch yourself, Fineman." growled Sheriff Griswold, hastily getting between me and Savannah as I turned on her and brought my crowbar up with every intent to smash her head in with it. "Keep up your shit, and I'll have you removed, under arrest if need be. Crowbar, why don't you and I step outside for a moment."

Of course I followed the Sheriff's instructions. I did go over to Patrolman Culver and ask how Savannah got past him. "Uh, sir, she showed her ADA badge, and I've always let the D.A. and ADAs through. Should I stop doing that?"

"No, Culver." said the Sheriff before I could say otherwise. "But you need to inform the highest ranking Officer at the scene whenever ADA Fineman appears."

Moments later, Savannah stormed out of the room. "For God's sake!" she spat at me. "Martha's refusing to talk to me. Did you put her up to that?"

"No." I replied coldly. "And I'm not the boss of Martha. Maybe if you let her actually do her job and get her work done, you'll get a bit more cooperation from her. Though the way you're going, she's as tired of your shit as I am."

"You'll be hearing from Miriam about this!" Savannah growled at me as she turned to take the elevator back down to the lobby.

"Is that a threat to be ignored, or a promise I can expect you to keep?" I fired back. Patrolman Culver laughed.

"Crowbarrrr..." the Sheriff admonished me as a furious, red-faced Savannah got on the elevator and the doors closed behind her...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The body-bag-shrouded bodies were removed on gurneys, followed by Martha coming into the hallway.

"You know what I want to hear first, Martha." I said. "Time of death?"

"They've been dead all night." Martha replied. "They're room temperature and almost back out of rigor. When I do the autopsies, I'll see if if they'd eaten, and how far along that went before they died. Right now, I'd estimate the time of death to be between 7:00pm and 11:00pm."

I nodded, then said "What was the cause of the woman's death?"

Martha replied "The woman's neck was broken, but there are signs that she was in the process of being strangled first."

"Is that normal, abnormal?" I asked.

Martha replied "It's possible the killer was grabbing her head and neck to break it but had trouble doing so and was strangling her until he... or she, but I'll just presume it was a man and say 'he'... until he got it right. The strange thing, though, is that her neck was broken cleanly, almost (air quotes) 'expertly'. So I do think he was trying to strangle her, and I don't understand why he bothered, and just didn't snap her neck, since he showed he was capable of doing so quickly and efficiently."

Before I could respond, the Sheriff asked: "What about him? I mean I know: 'blunt force trauma to the head'. But was it a broad or a narrow wound?"

"Broad." said Martha. "And it was a very powerful blow. Powerful enough to crush in his skull and also break that bottle."

"If it was the broad side of a Woodford Reserve bottle," the Sheriff said, "it's understandable."

I said "And to answer your question about strangling her before snapping her neck, Martha... I'm agreeing with your idea that the perp was intentionally strangling her, then heard Boone coming into the room. He drops her, grabs the bottle, quickly hides in the bathroom, whacks Boone on the back of the head, then finishes the job on her by quickly snapping her neck. Will it hold?"

Martha said "It certainly does not contradict any of the data I have so far, Commander."

"And I know you won't let it cloud your judgement as you perform the autopsies." I replied. "Let me know what you find... including who died first, if you can tell."

"I'll certainly tell you before I tell that blonde harpy that thinks she's better than the rest of us... including you." said Martha the M.E., about ADA Savannah Fineman.

After Martha left, Sheriff Griswold said quietly "Sounds like you've got some ideas about this case, Crowbar. Why do you think the perp was trying to strangle the girl at first?"

"I'm not being facetious or snarky when I say this, Sheriff," I replied, "but I think that because that is what he was doing. By that, I mean that Martha's data showed that to be the case. I think that the perp wanted the woman to feel pain, to feel the life ebbing out of her, and stopped only when Mr. Boone was about to surprise him."

I said: "And to back it up, I commend your attention to the sheer power of the 'bottle kill' blow that took down Boone. That is some serious hatred behind that. I can tell you from experience, Sheriff, that administering a crowbar blow is much more powerful and damaging if there is some... 'passion', for lack of a better word... behind it. And that's what I'm seeing here."

The Sheriff nodded, and we went back into the room. The CSIs were doing 'deep cleans' of the shower and lavatories, and using the fluorescent light to find blood and other bodily fluids (i.e. semen).

I said "Okay, guys, I'm leaving you to it. Any final thoughts before I go?"

"Just one thing, sir." said Detective Roark Coleman.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Whoever did this... must really hate Rye whiskey!" Coleman observed. I chuckled; I could not argue with that...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Sheriff and I collected Teresa Croyle and headed back to Police Headquarters. On the way there, Teresa said "I apologized to Rudistan. I didn't know he and Laurer were working with Special Agent Dwight Stevens of the DEA."

"Yes, we've kept that quiet." I said. "Nothing personal to you, and my apologies for not letting you know, but only the Chief, me, Tanya, Claire, Rudistan and Laurer knew. And Tanya only because her husband is the FBI Special Agent In Charge of the FBI in this area. We kept it tight because of the leaks to the Press we've been having."

"So you think I'm leaking to the Press?" Teresa said, looking darkly at me though I knew she was needling me.

"Har!" barked the Sheriff with joviality. "You like Scotch better than bourbon. That definitely puts you on my suspect list." The Sheriff hated leaks to the Press even more than Your Iron Crowbar does.

"That," I said to Teresa, "and the fact you won't carry a crowbar. Definitely suspicious."

"Good thing I don't carry one." Teresa said without hesitation. "Otherwise you'd be getting a crowbar beatdown right now."

"Seriously," I said, "I was wrong; I should have brought you into the loop."

Teresa said: "That's okay... it's worth it just to hear you say you're wrong, since that almost never happens." The Sheriff's laughter became infectious, and I was treated to something that almost never happens: hearing the sound of Teresa actually laughing...

Part 6 - The Flatfoot Grind

I love my Detective Team. They do amazing work, and very fast. At 2:00pm, just three hours after the bodies were discovered, Captain of Detectives Claire Michaels called me on the landline phone in my office and told me they were ready for our initial meeting to disseminate what they'd found.

The Sheriff had stayed at Police Headquarters, as he was obviously very interested in the case. After notifying the Chief, I went by the Sheriff's temporary office at Headquarters and invited him to the meeting.

We went into Classroom 'E', where the Detectives were waiting for us. My seat was in the middle of the long table, to the left from the perspective of the door, and facing the 5x4 matrix of monitor screens on the wall. The Chief took the seat at the end of the table nearest the door, his usual place. Today the Sheriff sat to my left.

Present at the meeting from the Leadership were the Sheriff, Chief, me, Lt. Commander Croyle and Captain Michaels. From MCD were Lieutenant Jerome Davis, Senior Detectives Teddy Parker, Theo Washington, and Joanne Warner, Detective Sergeant Julia Rodriguez, and Detectives Roark Coleman and George Newman. From Vice we had Lieutenant Rudistan, Detectives Joan Laurer and Lisa Monroe.

Present from Intel was Lieutenant 'Goth Girl' Mary Milton, and let the record show that her hair was very bright pink today. Let the record also show that her cheeks were noticeably rosy. Also present were Senior Detective Christopher Purvis and Senior Patrolman Sidney Plant.

And also coming into the room right behind me was Lieutenant Seamus 'Shane' O'Brady of the Pottsville Police, with whom I'd worked several times, most notably in the Bundy McGinty case. (Author's note: 'One Night In Bangkok'.)

"Ladies and gentlemen," I announced, "newly promoted Pottsville Police Lieutenant Shane O'Brady!" Everyone broke out into song:

"For he's a jolly good fellow,
for he's a jolly good fellow,
for he's a jolly good fel-lowwww,
which nobody can deny!"

"Well, thank you!" Shane said as he went over and sat down next to Joan Laurer. That was not a coincidence; she had saved the seat for him. And that was not a coincidence, I thought to myself; their dating relationship must be going very well.

"Yezzz, congratulations, Lieutenant O'Brady." drawled Chief Moynahan. "But to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit to us to-dayyyy?"

"I heard about the murder of 'Tex' Boone." said O'Brady. "And it may tie in to an open nine-year-old case in my jurisdiction."

I said "Glad to have you here, Shane. Why don't we get our basic reports, and then you can discuss your tie-in with our cases here. Captain?"

Cpt. Claire Michaels said "Let's hear about the victim, then his fiancée, and then talk about our video evidence and potential suspects in the case that we interviewed. Mary?"

"Yes ma'am." said Mary Milton. She brought up a Nevada DMV photo on one of the monitors on the wall. "Theodore Boone, 72 years old, went by the nickname 'Tex'. His father was an oil 'wildcatter', and he grew up in Oklahoma and Arkansas with his mother and her family, according to his bio on his website. He went to college at what was then called North Texas State University, now called the University of North Texas, where football player Mean Joe Greene played his college ball."

"Who?" asked Lainie Everett.

"Mean Joe Greene played for the Steelers in the NFL in the 1970s. Made a famous Coca-Cola commercial, too." I said, then indicated for Mary to keep going.

Mary: "Boone graduated with a Business degree, and while his bio claims he worked in the oil fields as a venture capitalist in Texas, in reality he was an investment banker behind a desk in Dallas for 20 years and then Oklahoma City for nearly ten years. He was listed as a part-owner of a French-Asian Fusion restaurant the last four years he was in Dallas, along with his wife Jacquelyn Vinet, a.k.a. Jackie, and a man named Cliff Southworth, who really was in the oil business."

Mary: "The restaurant did well, and was really taking off after four years when his wife was found dead in the kitchen of the restaurant, stabbed in the heart with a large knife. I've asked for the autopsy report to be sent to us, but the records are on paper and it'll take some time to find the report and scan it and send it to us. Ditto that for the Police report of that crime."

Mary: "After she died, Boone sold his stake and hers in the restaurant to Mr. Southworth, and Boone moved to Oklahoma City. From his employment records they sent us, he did very well for his company in the investment banking business but apparently he didn't get rich. He also began competing in those professional Poker tournaments, and made enough that he could've had a decent living from that alone. Then twenty years ago this week, he won the National Poker Championships and the prize of ten million dollars. He immediately left his company's employment, took the ten million dollars he won, and self-incorporated."

Mary: "He fell out of public sight after that, and during that time he parlayed that ten million he won into nearly $150 million in the bond markets. He also took up official residence in Las Vegas, Nevada, and he began jetsetting around the country. He was frequently seen as a celebrity guest at big-time Poker tournaments, and he flew into City Airport in our State a good bit."

Mary: "About nine years ago he retired from all his businesses. He converted everything he had to trusts and annuities. He traveled less and less, and never to this State again, until this week. He had always had a security person with him, but after he retired he increased that security detail to four persons. There were occasional sightings of him at events in Las Vegas and in Atlantic City, New Jersey, but nothing attention-getting until he was found dead this morning."

Mary: "So now let me circle back to his rap sheet, such as it is. Boone had a disorderly conduct arrest when he was in college, but nothing else until 20 years ago, right after he won the Poker Championship. His company was investigated by the SEC... the 'other' SEC, the Securities & Exchange Commission... and they investigated him, as well. The company had several major infractions, and since he'd just left and had $10 million suddenly pop up in his accounts, the Feds looked into him, too. The investigation concluded that the company was attempting to make him the patsy, especially since he was no longer there. He was never charged with anything, but curiously, neither was the company."

Mary: "About 16 years ago Boone was in Cherokee, North Carolina, at the casino on the Reservation there. He was attacked by a man named Timothy Jones, who claimed that Boone had hit the man's wife after she refused to go to his room and have sex with him. The woman had a shiner under her eye, but Boone denied hitting her. He said she'd agreed to go to his room with him for sex and backed out when her husband came and got her, and Boone further suggested that it was her husband that had hit her. The Police made no arrests, as there were no other witnesses. Still, the casino got him out of there by offering to have Boone driven in a casino limo to Atlanta, where he boarded a flight back to Las Vegas."

Mary: "And then ten years ago, something similar on the Native American Reservation across the State Line River from Southport. A woman claimed she was drugged and raped by Boone in his hotel room. Her husband had contacted the casino's security after he couldn't find his wife, and their videocameras showed her having a drink at the bar with Boone. But there was no video at all of them leaving together, in any elevator, nor going down the hall to his room. Still, Boone hightailed it out of there before the Police could change their minds and take him into custody, and he has never been back to that casino."

Mary: "A year after that, I found a Lexis-Nexis article in a Florida newspaper announcing Boone's engagement to a Society girl named Charlene Conway, daughter of Miami shipping magnate Charles Conway. But we found nothing else at all on that, so I don't know if they married, broke it off, or what."

"That's why I'm here." said Shane O'Brady. "Nine years ago, Charlene Conway's body was found in Pottsville, in a hotel room just off the Interstate. I'd been with the Pottsville Police a little over two years as a Patrolman, and her case was my first assignment as a Detective. She'd been beaten badly, then strangled to death."

Mary said "I... I never found anything about that."

"You wouldn't." said O'Brady. "Her father, Charles Conway, worked with Wilson Hammonds, and possibly someone else... a Consultant, if you will... to cover it up and pull all the Police records on it. The official ones, anyway."

"Go ahead and tell us what you know." I said.

"Sure." said O'Brady. "Tex Boone was in Westphalia, participating in a Poker tournament there. He lost in the early rounds, and was upset about it. He left, and was seen on video going to his room. He appeared again an hour later, walking around the tournament room, the bar, and all around the hotel, asking if anyone had seen his fiancée. And no one had, since seeing them together at lunch before the round began."

O'Brady: "Hotel video wasn't great, but it showed her going down a hallway to a hotel room on the first floor that was not hers nor Boone's, during the time Boone was sitting at the Poker table getting his ass handed to him. She went inside the room, and was never seen alive again. She didn't come out of the room into the hallway. That room had a door straight to a patio outside, but parking lot video had it in sight, and she was not seen coming out of it, either."

O'Brady: "But again, that video system wasn't very good, and was also motion-sensor activated, at least in the hallways. So there were gaps in the timeframe. Additionally, the room was checked out to a 'Ms. Ann O. Therenigma'... and yes, it was 'another enigma'."

"Sounds 'Consultant'-ish." I said.

O'Brady: "Yes, it does. And Commander Troy, you'll remember that Westphalia Police Lieutenant Paul Cash's death was the start of our investigation into Bundy McGinty." I nodded, and O'Brady said "Cash worked with me on that case. He took the lead dealing with people at the tournament and the hotel in Westphalia, and he interrogated the living hell out of 'Tex' Boone. I learned a lot from watching him pursue the case."