Bottle Kill Ch. 02

This story is part of an ongoing series. The chronological order of my stories is listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, 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, racism, racial 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.

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Part 7 - Whiskey Wars (continued)

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

If one wanted to know where all the Police and Sheriff Deputies were, one only had to listen for the loudest cheers in the room. Everyone else applauded, also, but those of us locals that knew him best were cheering the hardest.

Afterwards, as people got up to take breaks and maybe do some shopping at the various tables, Sheriff Griswold came up to me and Teresa. His cheeks were as rosy as Mary Milton's as he said "I will definitely need a ride home tonight."

"We've got you covered, sir." I said. "In fact, I'm going to use taking you home as my excuse to leave." We said goodnight to everyone else, and made our way out to my Police SUV...

Part 8 - New Revelations

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redhead MILF reporterette from the parking lot of the Hyatt Hotel at 7:00am, Tuesday, February 9th. "The County Sheriff drinks whiskey while his Police Force struggles with two murders!"

After the hard-charging music intro, Bettina began: "Theodore 'Tex' Boone, who won the Poker Championships here twenty years ago this week, was found dead in his hotel room yesterday. Also found dead was his fiancée, Tiffany Adele Westgate. Both are Las Vegas, Nevada natives, and were here for this week's poker tournament as well as the World Whiskey Championships, which began last night."

BetItina: "Town & County Sheriff Griswold was among 24 contestants in the first round of the competition. He won the heat, putting him in Friday night's finals. Police Commander Donald Troy and Lieutenant Commander Teresa Croyle were also in attendance at the Whiskey competition, even though there are two unsolved murders that were committed under their noses."

Bettina: "The autopsy report has not been released, as Coroner John Quincy Kelly is going to hold a Coroner's Inquest over the murders, citing irregularities between the autopsy and what the Police are reporting. The Coroner's Inquest will be held this afternoon. Meanwhile, the Town & County Police have no leads at all, and Commander Donald Troy has once again failed to respond to Channel Two News's repeated requests for comment."

"And now let's go to political reporter Carl Lemay, who is in Midtown covering the session of the State Legislature. Carl!"

"That's right, Bettina." said Lemay as the feed switched to him, with the gold-domed State Capitol as his backdrop. "In what was termed as an exceptionally rare move, the State House Ways & Means Committee and the State Senate Budget Committee held a joint meeting yesterday. Also attending the meeting were State Senate Majority Leader Moe Molinari, the Republican from Westphalia & Eastphalia; State Senate Minority Leader Jimmy Cerone, the Democrat from Southport; and the State House Majority and Minority Leaders, Republican Wilson Hammonds of Pottsville and Democrat Elijah McKinney of Southport."

Lemay: "We have with us State Senator Katherine Woodburn from our own Town & County, and Chairwoman of the State Senate Budget Committee. Senator, what was the purpose of the joint meeting?"

The camera had panned out to reveal Katherine Woodburn in a business suit and blouse, oblivious to the cold temperatures. She said "We are meeting to form a blueprint for the way forward in passing a State Budget. There are too many factions chirping their own demands, and by meeting we hope to filter out some of that noise and find points of mutual respect and understanding that can serve as the basis of the next Budget."

Lemay: "Senator, do you believe it's possible to pass a Budget, and more than that, a Budget that ultra-conservative Governor Sharon Marshall will sign?"

Katherine: "Carl, what Governor Marshall must understand is that now is not the time to grandstand nor repeat former Governor Val Jared's racist hatreds of minorities, including hardworking Undocumented Workers. If and when a Budget is passed, it will be a carefully worked out bill that was acceptable to the majority of both Houses of the State Legislature, and we will expect her to sign it."

"Thank you for your time, Senator." said Carl Lemay. As the camera focused back on him, he said "Channel Two News has learned that the Budget negotiations by the joint Committees was cordial and went well, with the exception of House Majority Leader Republican Wilson Hammonds. Leader Hammonds often interrupted Republican Representative Billy Williams of our Town & County, and Libertarian Representative Johnny Perdue whenever the conservative reps brought up strong Immigration enforcement. Even some Democrats were calling for Leader Hammonds to be removed from the meeting, but further hostilities were avoided when Leader Hammonds did not return to the meetings after the lunch break."

Lemay: "And one very interesting side issue is brewing, which may begin affecting the overall Budget negotiations. With James 'Curly' Goodwin resigning as SBI Director after winning the election for Town & County Inspector General, Democrats and some Republicans are increasingly demanding that Governor Marshall reveal her plans to fill the SBI's top position. Democrat Lieutenant Governor Corey Coons is demanding Governor Marshall name an SBI Director before any bill passes that would fund the SBI..."

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

"Wow." said Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle as she, Sheriff Griswold, me, Chief Moynahan, Deputy Chief Tanya Muscone, and Pottsville Police Lieutenant Shane O'Brady sat at the table in the Chief's Conference Room (and in that order around the table) and drank coffee as we watched the broadcast. "Sheriff wins a match in a world championship competition, and Bettina makes it sound as bad as possible."

"And she gives you no credit for being at the scene of the crime all evening as well as all day." Tanya said with a gleam in her eye.

Teresa added: "And that was dirty pool, saying the Coroner wanted the Inquest because of discrepancies with the Police reports. That's not the case at all."

"Par for the course for the American Mainstream Media." I replied. "I'm just grateful Bettina didn't give a lot more details, like all the security people's names and stuff."

"That is a good point, Mister Crowbarrr." drawled the Chief. "I wonder whyyyy."

Teresa said "Giving out their names probably wouldn't hurt the case very badly, so she didn't bother. It did seem like she was eager to get to Carl Lemay and his guest... their boss, Katherine Woodburn." For those not in the know, Katherine was the owner of KXTC.

"You noticed that, did you?" I said, needling the Iron Wolf. "And you may well be right. But I'll offer an alternative theory... Bettina was asked to not mention the names. Or maybe Katherine was asked, and directed Bettina to not say anything more than she said."

"By you?" the Sheriff asked. "Or the Public Relations Office?"

"No sir." I said. "You know I don't speak to the Press. Bettina mentions every chance she gets how I refuse to respond to their pleas for comments." Everyone chuckled at the way I'd said that.

"But why?" asked Tanya. "I mean, why would someone ask Bettina to not report stuff like that?"

"Oh, I dunno." I said. "But Tiffany Westgate is not the first of 'Tex' Boone's fiancées to come over all dead by violent means. His previous fiancée was the daughter of a (air quotes) 'big boy' in shipping in Florida. Methinks Tiffany Westgate bears investigating, too..."

Tanya said "Shane, I have a question for you, since you're from Wilson Hammond's District. What is up with that guy?"

O'Brady replied: "He's bought and paid for by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who as you know give millions to Establishment Republicans to preserve Illegal Immigration. They despised Val Jared, and they're despising Sharon Marshall now. The U.S. Chamber is just about the only major supporter Hammonds has left, and he is giving them their money's worth."

I said "That's true, and more: the Media portrays it as the Democrats supporting the Illegals, but the Establishment Republicans work even harder to prevent anything being done about it, nor the crises at the border. And if there is ever a Republican President that actually does try to stop illegal immigration and 'build the wall', it is the Establishment Republicans that will work even harder than the Democrats, and in lockstep with the Dems, to defeat that President."

"Strong letter to fol-lowww." drawled the Chief, his way of connoting his unhappiness at the political direction the conversation was turning. "Soooo, Mis-ter Crowbarrrr... are you groooooming Mr. O'Brady here for the SBI Director post?"

"I did consider giving Governor Marshall his name." I said with a grin. "Just so I could watch Wilson Hammonds blow a gasket."

"I don't want any part of that job." O'Brady said. "I'm a good cop and a good Detective. I am not a good politician, and that's what that job requires."

"That, or someone with enough spine to stand up to the politicians." Teresa said. "And Don won't take the job, either."

"Nor will Teresa." I fired right back...

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

9:00am, Tuesday, February 9th. Fortified with several pots of Jerome Davis's 'Navy' coffee, we gathered in Classroom 'E' to discuss the case. Along with the Detectives and their Leadership, we also had Lieutenant Myron Milton in the house. He was Mary's husband, and he was also the Chief Information Officer, the I.T. guy, for the Police Force. His chain-of-command went through the Deputy Chief (Tanya), while Mary's went through the Police Commander (me), thus negating nepotism conflicts.

Pottsville PD Lieutenant Shane O'Brady had come into Headquarters with Vice Detective Joan Laurer early in the morning, walking down the hallway slightly separated, as if to say 'nothing going on here', when any Detective with more observational powers than a blind beetle could see that there was. He'd been invited by the Chief to the coffee klatch, and now he was joining our meeting. He had stories to tell, so Captain Claire Michaels called upon him to go first.

"I had the PPD copy and send electronically all the information on the Charlene Conway case." Shane said. "They also asked for and were sent the Westphalia Police Department's case notes, mostly those of the late Lieutenant Paul Cash."

O'Brady: "The Charlene Conway case was pretty much as I remembered and told you yesterday. She was found badly beaten and then strangled. But she was not raped, and the M.E. said the beatings looked to be as the result of a fit of rage; in other words, it wasn't systematic."

O'Brady: "She had her purse with her when she went into that hotel room that she never came out of, and it was never found. Nor was her cellphone, which may have been in the purse."

I'd been looking at the Police reports as Shane talked. When he paused for breath, I said "I am seeing in these reports, which I'm sure was confirmed by the video, that she was a redhead, 28 years old, and was wearing a lime green skirt, matching lime green high heel sandals, and a print blouse that was lighter green with several pink and orange designs on it in patterns. My point is that she wouldn't fade into the background while wearing those clothes."

"That's right." said O'Brady. "Also, she never wore much jewelry, just simple earrings, a necklace, a wristwatch, and her engagement ring... and the engagement ring was missing when we found her body."

"Like Tiffany's ring!" exclaimed Julia Rodriguez. As everyone looked at her, she said, "Oh, sorry for speaking out like that. But Commander Troy and I were talking about Tiffany's jewelry at the crime scene, and he said Tiffany had a huge rock of an engagement ring. And yes, sir, it was missing, though her earrings, necklace, brooch tennis bracelet, and ankle bracelet were all still on her body."

"That's good to know." I said. "And with both fiancées found dead and missing their engagement rings? That's not a coincidence, it's starting to be a pattern. Anything else, Shane?"

"Yes sir." said Shane. "Boone and Charlene had been engaged for a year, and were only one month away from their wedding. Boone had had a will made up that would create a trust fund for Charlene and pay her a monthly stipend from it for the rest of her life. Supposedly she had wanted it that way. She also readily signed a prenuptial agreement, that would've left her with a lump sum or a trust fund, her choice, but that would've been it."

"Who signs prenuptials these days?" asked Detective Roark Coleman, which generated some funny looks in his direction.

"I did." I said. "And my wife and I have since amended it as well as our wills."

"Todd and I signed a mutual prenuptial agreement, too." said Teresa. "And if we do ever amend it, I'm going to make damn sure to get the Auburn-Alabama season tickets." There was some chuckling from the SEC fans in the room... except Alabama fan Joanne Warner.

"Why do I think we won't have to worry about that?" I said. "But the moral of the story, Mr. Roark, is that if either or both parties have considerable assets, it's not only wise to have a pre-nup, but damn near stupid to not have one."

"Especially if they didn't live in California." said Claire Michaels, who was originally from California. "In California, she'd likely as not get half anyway. In Nevada? Not so certain, from what I understand."

"Okay," I said, getting our trains of thought back on the tracks, "so Charlene readily signed a pre-nup, while Tiffany originally resisted, and testimony is conflicting on whether she actually did. What else Shane?"

O'Brady said "The time discrepancies we talked about yesterday. One thing Cash put in his notes was that the eyewitness testimony said it was an hour after losing his match that he began asking about his wife's whereabouts, but the timestamps showed it to be later... a full hour and half. That would've given Boone more time to take Charlene to Pottsville, kill her, and return."

"Do you think Boone killed Charlene?" I asked O'Brady.

He shrugged, and said "I really don't know. I could make a case either way. The biggest problem for Boone at the time was that there were no other suspects. We truly had nothing on anyone."

Lt. Mary Milton put a DMV photo on the matrix of monitors. "And here is Charlene Conway's last DMV photo, taken two years before she died." The photo showed an attractive but not exceptionally beautiful redhead, and the DMV information listed her as 5'6" tall, 120 pounds, with hazel eyes.

"Nice looking, but certainly not the glamour/showgirl type like Tiffany Westgate." Julia Rodriguez observed.

Shane O'Brady said "She was pretty fit, and definitely not overweight. That was one reason Paul Cash thought it was Boone; a stranger was not going to sneak up on her without a fight coming his way, but someone she knew like Boone?..." He let the sentence hang.

"Well, we don't want to be sexists, here." I said. "So are you sure it was a guy that did that?"

"Point taken." said Shane. "But it'd have to be someone like Commander Ross and her 'Miss Physical America' friends, or this here Police Boxing Matches Champion." He was referring to Joan Laurer, who currently held that most prestigious of titles.

"Glad I have an alibi for the current case." Joan said humorously.

"Okay, what's next?" I asked.

Mary Milton spoke up: "Grandmaster Schwartzmann is Mr. Boone's financial advisor, and he gave me the name of Mr. Boone's attorney------"

"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt." said Teddy Parker. "But did you say Grandmaster Schwartzmann?"

"She sure did." I said. "He was something of a child prodigy in chess, like Timmy Austin is. He achieved his International Master title when he was in the ninth grade, and his International Grandmaster title while he was in college. But two years later he quit professional chess to wrap up his degrees and pursue his financial career. He still plays in tournaments every once in a while, and that was a perk of traveling with Boone; his expenses were paid. But go ahead, Mary."

"Yes sir." Mary said. "I left messages with Mr. Boone's attorney's office in Las Vegas, and I'll keep trying. I'm hoping he'll be able to give me some information about Mr. Boone's will and his expectations of who would receive his fortune after his death."

Mary: "I've also been stymied in going through proper channels to get the military and Federal employment records of Mr. Boone's security team. I understand that they were with the U.S. Secret Service, but it's not like I was asking for the blueprints to Air Force One or anything."

That caused Commander Tanya Muscone to look darkly at Mary, as Mary hated the Feds and especially the FBI, while Tanya was married to an FBI Special Agent In Charge. This was by no means their first time being in opposition on things of this nature.

As usual, I refereed. "Or maybe it was, and we just don't know it yet." I said. "And don't sweat it, other forces are at work to get us the information we neeeeeed." After a pause, I said "And speaking of the information we need, let's dig as hard as we can to get whatever we can on both of Boone's fiancées..."

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

10:00am, Tuesday, February 9th. FBI Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone was shown into my office. He handed me a sheaf of file folders, then helped himself to some coffee before sitting down in front of my desk.

"That's everything I could get on the security team." Jack said. "Some stuff is redacted, because Mike Malone, James Jensen, and Steve Stewart were with the U.S. Secret Service, and Malone was on the Presidential Security Detail."

"And you got Malone's military records, too." I said. "That's great. I appreciate you getting this for me."

"I'm going to go talk to your Deputy Chief while you look at that stuff." Jack said. "I'll come back in when you're done."

It did not take long to look over the files, and when I was done both Jack Muscone and his wife, Deputy Chief Tanya Muscone, came back in. Tanya parked her wheelchair on the dime (literally on the floor) in front of my desk, and Jack sat down next to her in the 'hot chair'.

I said "I see now why Malone got passed over for promotion to Captain."

"I wish that had happened in the TCPD." Tanya said, referring to the late TCPD Captain Harold Malone. (Author's note: 'The Eightfold Fence', particularly Ch. 03 for his death.)

"Enlighten us on the living Malone." Jack said. He leaned forward and I turned the file sideways so all of us could see it.

I said "You see this box of items where the Officer is rated 1-5, 1 being highest? Anything less than all '1's could be the difference between promotion and denial. Also, on the back is this box with two vertical lines. The one on the left is where the Commander rates the Officer by marking a box. The one on the right shows that Commander's aggregate scores, which creates a Bell curve. If the Commander marks someone in the third box, and most of his marks are the fourth box, that's a plus for the Officer."