Bottle Kill Ch. 01

"I'm not assuming he's guilty, sir," said Teddy, "but I think he did know more than he was telling. Maybe he heard of the bodies being found on the news and just tried to play the intellectual, to steal your phrase there, sir."

I grinned at that, then said "Good point, but has there even been anything on the news?"

"Yes sir, there has." said Claire Michaels as she slipped through the half-open door. "Captain Thompson said KXTC had it on their noon news report." Captain Damien Thompson was our Public Relations Officer, and kept tabs on things like that.

Claire continued: "I'm also sending the Campus Police McMillan's photo, and asking them to confirm that he was at the Biology Conference, and there all day..."

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

6:30pm, Monday, February 8th. Captain Michaels told me we had new data, so the Chief and I went to Classroom 'E' with the Detectives and their Leadership.

"Okay, what do we have?" I asked.

Detective George Newman started us off: "I went with Patrolman Hardy to University Hotel to check out Marty McMillan. Their video shows him checking in at the front desk about 2:00pm, into Room 228, so we were told. The hallway cameras on that floor are spotty in their coverage, and don't work more often than not."

Newman: "The parking lot cameras show him getting into an Audi sedan about 4:00pm, and an Audi of that same description is registered to him. Since he appeared in front of you guys and the Sheriff at 4:30pm, he probably went straight to the Hyatt. He came back two hours later, and parked his car off to the side near a door that would let him quickly get to his room. The front door cameras looking at the parking lot can't see over there, and the camera on the roof that overlooks that side of the parking lot is not working well, either."

"Sounds like a theme." I said acidly.

"He did use his room key a couple of minutes later." said Newman. "He is not seen on any video for the rest of the night, so we cannot confirm his visit to the bar across the street to get dinner. About 9:45pm his room key is used again at the side door to the outside and then to his room. The side door keypads are disabled at 10:00pm and he'd have to go through the main lobby after that."

"If I may ask," said Captain Michaels, "is it recorded if and when the doors are opened? Could he have rigged the door so that he could get back in later without using a keycard?"

I said "From my experience with past cases there, only the use of the keycard is recorded in the Security Office. But if the door closes flush with the doorjamb and the bolt does not engage because someone stuffed something in there to stop the door from locking, an alarm message is generated in the Security Office. And if a door stays open for more than 30 minutes and Housecleaning is not at work, another alarm is generated."

"Thank you, sir." said Claire. "Keep going, George."

Newman: "There was a breakfast sponsored by the Biology Conference, and McMillan appeared at it just before 8:00am. He came out with a group of people to the shuttle bus to the University's Conference Center, where the conference is being held. He is on their cameras several times, often with others, and several eyewitnesses said they saw him at the lectures all day."

I said "Did you check with the bar?"

"Yes sir." said Newman. "That particular bar features country music and Confederate flags, and they looked at me funny when I first went in."

"They probably don't see a lot of black men in that bar." I said, as Newman was black, and I do not refrain from making politically incorrect observations.

"No sir, but they got their act together when we showed our badges." said Newman. "There was only one person that was there at the time that was also there last night, a young woman who is a student at the University. When we showed her McMillan's photo, she said he looked familiar, but she didn't remember him being there the night before. I might add that she is not the kind of person who makes a good witness. She didn't seem to remember any other people who were there at the time. And their sign about video surveillance is a sham; the cameras are fake, to deter thefts."

"And they don't want video incriminating them if an underage University student is drinking in there." I said. "Okay, good report and good work on that. So Marty McMillan's movements could be perfectly innocent and legitimate."

"Even going to the Hyatt, sir?" Teresa Croyle asked.

"Sure." I said. "He was there 20 years ago, there was a Poker tournament this year as well as then. There are the Whiskey Championships, which a lot of people are interested in. He's in Town, so he goes over and takes a quick look, and he got caught up."

"And he appears to have been back home before Mr. Boone went up to his room at 10:30 to 10:45pm." said Claire Michaels.

Lt. Mary Milton said "I'll get to that timeline in a second, ma'am. To round out the picture on McMillan: I called former Coroner Haines about McMillan's wife's death, but Haines is out of Town and hasn't gotten back to me yet."

Mary: "And speaking of Coroners as well as the timeline, we got Martha the M.E.'s autopsy report back. She may call for a Coroner's Inquest because of some time-of-death discrepancies as well as other anomalies."

"Like what?" I asked.

Mary: "First, her original range was 7:00pm to 11:00pm, pending autopsy tests to narrow it down. But it's been pretty well established that they began eating dinner at 7:30pm, and finished an hour later. So we're up to 8:30pm or so already. Martha doesn't like being pinned down on times, but she also hates being that far off in her times, so she's ticked."

We all grinned, and Mary continued: "Also, Martha's autopsies showed that the digestion of the food eaten at dinner had gone on no more than two and a half hours, even allowing for some residual digestion that can occur after death------"

Tanya Muscone interjected: "And that's from the starting point of dinner, at 7:30?"

"Yes ma'am." said Mary Milton. "Martha also ran other tests, and says she can testify in Court that they died no later than 10:00pm at the latest."

"That does not jive with Mike Malone's statements at all." said George Newman.

"No, it doesn't." I said. "It's about an hour off."

"You know, that reminds me..." muttered Shane O'Brady. After a second he said "There was something wrong about the videos in my case, the Pottsville fiancée case nine years ago. There were timeline discrepancies in them, too. I need to go back and check on that."

"I'd appreciate it if you did." I said. "And if that's the case, it's too many coincidences. What do we think of too many coincidences, Iron Wolf?"

Teresa Croyle, the 'Iron Wolf', replied: "People with 'Iron' in their nicknames cease to call them coincidences."

"You got that right." said Tanya Muscone, a.k.a. 'Lady Ironside'.

"Yes. Yes you do." said me, Your Iron Crowbar.

"It also means we cannot eliminate Marty McMillan as a suspect." Teresa said.

Claire Michaels said "He still got back to University Hotel before 10:00pm, ma'am."

"And the murders may have been before 10:00pm." Teresa replied.

"True." I said. "But University Hotel is clear across Town from the Hyatt, and that time would have to be factored in. In any case, you guys can flesh all this out and we'll pick it up tomorrow at 9:00am. Right now, I'm starving, and I want to go watch the Sheriff compete in the Whiskey Championships. So let's all go to the Cop Bar, my treat, for dinner, then head over to the Hyatt."

There were no objections to that plan...

Part 7 - Whiskey Wars

7:45pm, Monday, February 8th. A young man with dark hair and a short, trimmed beard came out onto the stage in the back of the huge conference room. "Hello and welcome to the World Whiskey Tasting Championships!" The large audience in the chairs facing the stage cheered. Behind them, people were milling about, visiting the various booths and tables set up in back.

"I'm Jason Q of the 'Mets and Falcons' Channel." said Jason Q, who seemingly paradoxically was a New York Mets fan and an Atlanta Falcons fan. "Before we get started, I want to bring on the man who brought this event to the Town & County. Sheriff Antonio Griswold, come on out!"

There was applause as Sheriff Griswold, in 'western' gear that would fit well in a SASS Cowboy Shooting event, came out on stage with Jason, followed by Teresa Croyle, who was in uniform.

"Thank you, everyone, and I want to welcome you to the event." said Sheriff Griswold, acting like a practiced politician. "We're glad to have you here, and I want you to know that the Town & County Police and BOW Enterprises are sponsoring shuttles to any hotels if you're not staying here. We will also make sure you get a ride to your destination if the shuttles don't go there." Everyone applauded.

Sheriff Griswold: "This is Commander Teresa Croyle, the Operations Commander of the Town & County Police Force. She has earned six Purple Orders and the Medal of Valor, and I can assure you that no one in this room can whip her ass. She lost her sister to a drunk driver, and believe me, folks, you do NOT want to be drinking and driving and have her catch you." Teresa shook her head vigorously in warning.

"So do us all a favor and drink responsibly, and don't get behind the wheel if you've been drinking! Let us take you home." said Sheriff Griswold. Everyone applauded.

"Thank you, Sheriff, and thank you, Commander Croyle." said Jason Q. "I found out today that her husband's company is sponsoring the shuttles and Uber rides to the hotels for you, and we appreciate that. Okay, let's bring on the host of the World Whiskey Tasting Championships, himself the winner of this event as well as the World's Top Whiskey Taster championships, Matt Beverly!"

The room erupted into huge applause as Matt Beverly came out on stage. He was a large man, with dark red hair and a trim, well-kept beard. His voice was relatively soft, almost 'scratchy' at times, and he spoke with a deliberate inflection that made it seem he was giving special clarity to every word he spoke.

"Welcome, everyone." he said into the microphone of the table he was sitting at. The large screens on either side showed what YouTube was showing; this was being livestreamed to the world. "Tonight is the first of four heats of 24 persons each, and only the top two in each heat go to the Final Eight on Friday night. So every question is important, every answer could make the difference between advancing and going home."

"And tonight's scorekeeper is Adriana of Whiskey Valleys!" Matt Beverly said. Julia's cousin Adriana came out and sat at the table next to Matt's as everyone applauded wildly. Matt said "As you know, she'll be having a fundraiser for Alzheimer's research, and we've had a lot of bottles of really good whiskey donate for the cause. We just got a donation of a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 23 year, very generously provided by Commander Croyle's uncle and his wife, Don and Laura Troy."

Matt pointed at me in the back left. I waved as everyone applauded Laura had wanted to remain 'anonymous', lest anyone ask where she was getting those bottles of Pappy Van Winkle. So Teresa had them announce it that way.

Matt Beverly said "I will ask the questions, the contestants will have 30 seconds to text their messages to Adriana, and she'll tally the scores. And now let's meet the 24 contestants of tonight's heat!"

The curtain went up, revealing the 24 contestants in a semicircle. Near the end on the right side was Sheriff Griswold. I recognized some of the other WhiskeyTubers from their livestreams, including 'Whiskey Wrench', who I can say with gratitude served our Nation in the military.

"Okay, on sample 'A'." said Matt Beverly. "You'll have 30 seconds to nose and taste, and then the questions." On the livestream, a video of the 'Shelf Nerds', Dan and Kira, one of the popular young couples of Whiskey Community, sang as they played the guitar and tambourine. And they had very good singing voices. The words generally were poking some fun at some of their fellow WhiskeyTubers, most notably a previous contest winner named 'Greeze'...

After the 30 seconds, Matt Beverly said "Okay, five points if you give me the exact proof of this whiskey. Four points if you are within three proof points. Three points if you're within six of the proof. One point if you're within ten proof points, and that's it..."

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

As the evening went on, the Shelf Nerds had a running commentary going, and answered the comments by YouTubers, which were appearing on the screens to each side of the stage. Some of those comments were downright 'spicy' in nature... like a good Rye whiskey, I thought to myself.

"The Sheriff looks confident." Teresa said. "I think he's doing very well."

"I agree." I said. "But those are 23 of the best, most experienced whiskey tasters in the world he's going up against."

Finally, the contest was over, and everyone applauded. At the end, Matt Beverly said "the last question was to name each of the five pours in this blind flight. How did they do, Adriana?"

"Only one of them got all five right, for the bonus points." said Adriana. "And thankfully none of them were Ryes." Chuckles broke out in the audience.

"Oh, we're saving those for Thursday, when you're competing." said Matt Beverly. Some in the audience applauded loudly, probably to needle Adriana. "It's time to announce the winners. Who are they, Adriana?"

"In second place," said Adriana, "is Trev, the Whiskey Wrench!" Everyone applauded loudly. "And the winner of the first heat is..."

To be continued.