Break-In Ch. 02

"Thank you, Sheriff." I said, glaring at Miriam, indicating that the Sheriff's 'suggestion' was one I was eager to enforce. She glared back at me, but she and the Sheriff finally left and went back into the hallway.

Detective Roark Coleman was looking around the right side bedroom table at the two firearms on the bedside table. Fortunately he had gloves on. I also noticed two sets of black clothing on the floor. They belonged to the perps, I reasoned.

I said "Detective Warner, you spoke with Mrs. Locklear?"

"Yes sir." Joanne said. "She gave me her statement. I recorded it on my Police iPhone. Mr. Locklear invoked."

"He invoked?" I asked, openly surprised. "He took the Fifth?"

"He refused to answer questions, sir, and asked for a lawyer." said Joanne. "That's invoking."

"Okay, hold tight here for a moment." I said. I practically hurtled back down the hallway, and to the living room, where Stanley Locklear and Sergeant Hicks were. Teresa had followed me.

"Mr. Locklear," I said, "I know you asked for a lawyer. Did you invoke, take the Fifth?"

"No sir." said Stanley. "And I'm eager to give my statement. I just want a lawyer present."

I looked up at Hicks, who said "I've been with him the whole time, sir. He's never said that he's taking the Fifth."

"Okay, thanks." I said. I went back down the hallway, very fast, and called Joanne into the hallway. "One more time: did Mr. Locklear actually say he was taking the Fifth?"

"No sir." Joanne said. "But he wouldn't answer any questions."

"Did you mirandize him?" I asked.

"I didn't." Joanne said. "I don't know if anyone else did."

"Step back into the room." I said. Joanne did so, and Teresa and I followed. "Listen up, everyone!" I said loudly. "Teachable moment. There was a legal ruling in the Ninth Court in California, which Captain Michaels may remember, that said that someone must state out loud that he or she is invoking. Maintaining silence is not enough, he has to say it. And that ruling is working the opposite way in Mr. Locklear's favor tonight. From what I'm hearing, Mr. Locklear did not take the Fifth."

"So why won't he talk to us, sir?" Joanne asked.

"You're an NRA Life Member, as I am." I said to Joanne, who frequently went hunting with my ex-wife Melina. "That's what they teach and advocate in self-defense shootings. And I agree with them. Mr. Locklear is doing correctly by asking for an attorney. And we will afford him that... at the Station, when we take him down there. Okay, Jerome, we have taxed your patience. What happened here?"

Jerome Davis said "The Locklears were brought into the bedroom. Mr. Locklear was tied to the end of the bed. Then Mrs. Locklear was (air quotes) 'forced' to sit on the right side of the bed, where Tom Maple, the athletic man who is now lying across the pillows, seemingly forced her to perform oral sex on him. Then he had her lay back, and Chuck Hogue, the other man, received oral sex while Maple went down on her."

Jerome: "Then she was turned so that her head was on the pillows. Maple got on top of her and had intercourse with her, while Hogue had her perform oral sex on him. Maple climaxed inside her, then the two men switched places. At that time Mr. Locklear was able to free himself of his bonds. He ran to the bedside table, pulled out his revolver that was in the drawer, and shot both of the men."

"And that revolver was in the drawer of the bedside table on the far side of the bed over there?" I asked.

"Yes sir." said Joanne Warner. "There was a speed-loader in the drawer, too. The techs bagged it along with the gun."

"So this was fantasy roleplay being acted out?" I said.

Joanne said: "At least until the shooting started, sir. And that's Mrs. Locklear's story. She said she had arranged for this fantasy rape scene as an anniversary gift to her husband. She said he looks at a lot of material about wife sharing, cuckoldry, roleplay, and rape fantasies on erotic literature websites."

I said "Well, that roleplay didn't work out so well. They ended up getting shot dead."

Joanne said "Sir, that's part of the problem, here. Mrs. Locklear also said she unloaded Mr. Locklear's gun in his bedside table... the one he used to shoot the other men... two days ago. But he's not talking to us, so we can't confirm when he reloaded it."

I said "What kind of gun is it?" Theo asked a tech to bring the revolver over, which had been placed in an evidence bag, along with the five spent cartridges. The speed-loader with five cartridges was also in the bag. I held up the bag and visually inspected the revolver and the cartridges.

I said "Okay, this is a Taurus M85.38 Special+P revolver. Ammo is standard Winchester.38 Special, not the +P variety. You checked for prints yet?"

"No sir." said the tech. "We'll do that in the lab."

"Do me a favor and do that now." I said. "Fingerprints on the gun, on the cartridges that were in it, and the ones in the speed loader. Were there any other cartridges?"

The tech said "Yes sir. The speed-loader has five rounds, to match the five rounds the cylinder holds. And there were three boxes of ammo in the dresser drawer. One was 9mmP, one was.45 ACP, and one was.38 Special, same manufacturer as these cartridges. The.45 ACP box has all 50 rounds, while the 9mmP and.38 Special boxes have 40 rounds each."

I said "Hmmm, the five in the revolver, and the five in the speed-loader would account for those ten, unless there's another box somewhere. Have you found the nine millimeter pistol yet?"

"No sir." said Joanne. "But we haven't searched the house yet. And Mr. Locklear there won't answer questions without a lawyer."

I said "Which is irritating you no end, Detective Warner, is it?" Everyone knew that was a thinly veiled warning that Joanne's complaining about Mr. Locklear's exercising of his Constitutional rights was irritating me.

To the tech I said "Check the.38s in the box for fingerprints, too, but do the gun and it's cartridges first. Do we have Mr. Locklear's fingerprints?"

"They're on file, sir." said Theo Washington. "He has a valid, current Concealed Carry Permit, for which he had to submit fingerprints."

"Okay, good." I said, "I believe I was told the criminals had guns. Where are those guns now?"

"Right here." said Roark Coleman, pointing to the table on the opposite side of the bed from which Mr. Locklear had retrieved his gun. "They were put down here, sir. They were both fakes. One was a fake nine millimeter, that normally has an orange attachment on the end. That orange attachment was removed. The other gun looks like a snub-nose revolver, but it's a kids's cowboy cap gun."

"Mr. Locklear didn't go for them." said Joanne. "He went for his gun on the other side."


I said "He went for the gun he was familiar with."

Joanne said "Which his wife is claiming she unloaded. And maybe he could see that their guns were fakes."

"Let's stop theorizing without data." I admonished. "Okay, we're taking the Locklears, both of them, to the Station for interviews on camera. While they're there, Newman can get warrants and supervise the search of the house. Has that videocamera's memory been taken into evidence?"

"No sir." said the tech, who was busy looking for fingerprints on the revolver.

"Get two people in here to take that videocamera to Headquarters and download its contents into the evidence servers." I said. "Theo, why wasn't that done already?"

Theo had a helpless look on his face for a second, then he manned up. "No excuse, Commander. I'll get some people to do that now."

Before he could leave, I said "Hold on, Theo. Did the perps have cellphones with them?"

"Yes sir." said Roark Coleman. "They were in the perps's pants on the floor. The techs bagged them."

"Good." I said. "Theo, while you're at it, go ahead and confiscate any computers in the house. We'll put it on the warrant, but Mrs. Locklear said her husband liked to look at cuckold porn literature, so it's vital to the case and we can go ahead and take the computers. Okay, go." Theo hastened to get out of my sight.

"Anyone look in the bathroom yet?" I asked. Not waiting for an answer, I went into the bathroom. The towels were hung haphazardly, not folded neatly. The vanity had two lavatories, but only the one on the far end looked used. The large amount of eyeliner bottles and lipsticks suggested to me that it was Mrs. Locklear's domain.

I opened the drawers, and in one I saw a bottle of aspirin, another of ibuprofen, and Mrs. Locklear's birth control pills. The container was full, and I noted that the prescription was for three months before.

Going back into the bedroom, I said "Theo, make sure the techs bag Mrs. Locklear's birth control pills as evidence. They're an older prescription, but unused. Are there any condoms anywhere?"

"Yes sir." said Roark. "In the bedside table." He was indicating the bedside table on the near side, where the fake guns had been placed.

"Sir," said Theo, coming back in the room, "there's a small bathroom between the other two bedrooms, and it looks like Mr. Locklear was using it. There's shaving materials and men's care products, and shampoo and towels in the shower."

"So he was using that bathroom to do his business." Roark Coleman said. "No big deal."

"Are you sure?" I asked, which struck everyone into silence. Then I said "Theo, I need a better, faster effort from the Crime Lab team. Those fingerprints on the bullets are absolute top priority, but let's get this whole place worked up. By the way, where's Martha the M.E.?"

"I called her, sir." said Jerome Davis. "She said she'd meet the bodies at the morgue." Hmm, I thought to myself, that's strange...

Moments later, I had Mr. Locklear brought into the den, and I gave instructions: "I'm having both of you taken to Police Headquarters. Mr. Locklear, you can call your attorney from there. Neither of you are under arrest, but we need to interview you on camera at Headquarters. We also cannot allow you to return here tonight, nor go back into the bedrooms. So tell the Uniformed Officers what you need, and they'll get you a change of clothes."

"Am I under arrest?" Marla Locklear asked.

"No." I said. "However, you both need to stay in Town while we complete our investigation. I also need you to stay separated from each other. The best way to do that is separate hotel rooms. But we can handle those logistics after your interviews at the Station..."

Part 9 - Investigation and Interrogations

12:25am, Sunday, June 6th. When Teresa and I came into Police Headquarters via the employees parking lot entrance, the Officer at the Desk said that the Chief was in his office, and wanted us to see him 'when you're able to'. We were not fooled; that meant Go Directly To The Chief's Office, Do Not Pass 'Go', Do Not Collect $200.

We did not even take our armor off, but went straight to his office. "You wanted to see us, Chief?" I said after knocking on his door and opening it.

"Come on in, Commanderrrr. You too, Commander Croyle." the Chief said. "Have a seat." We sat down, and the Chief said "I appreciate you calllll-ing me about this un-yuuuu-sual incidennnnt. The Media is already inundating the Dooty Desk with calls about it."

"Yes sir." I said. "I also had Teresa call you because not only did Bettina herself show up, rather than send an underling like Amber Harris or Pat Stellum, but both Miriam Walters and Savannah Fineman showed up, and were there before Teresa and I got there... as was the Sheriff."

"Yezzz." said the Chief. "Just between yooo and meeee, I think he sits in his chair at home listening to Police Band radioooo. Anyhoo, do you think this is a good shoot, an act of self-defense?"

"Maybe, sir," I said, "but we're going to have to do some investigating, and make sure. The wife's story that she set this up as a roleplay fantasy may be true, but the husband sure didn't see it that way. And he asked for a lawyer before he gave his statement... which in some people's eyes is all but an admission of guilt, but which in my opinion may have been a very wise move by an innocent man..."

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

When we came out of the Chief's office, we went to MCD, where the Detectives and Jerome were working on computers at their desks. Captain Michaels came into the room and said "Mr. Locklear called for an attorney. He called a number that's a hotline to the NRA, and they called an attorney in the area on his behalf."

"Good." I said. "Is that attorney coming in tonight?"

"Yes sir." said Claire. "He should be here within an hour. Mr. Locklear is in Interrogation-Bravo, and Mrs. Locklear is in Interrogation-Alpha."

"Okay." I said. "Lieutenant Davis, who are we sending in to interview our fantasy couple, there?"

Davis replied: "Warner will talk to Mrs. Locklear again, and Theo can go in with her. Mister Roark and Newman can interview Mr. Locklear when he's ready." 'Mister Roark' was Roark Coleman's nickname, after the character on that old television show 'Fantasy Island'.

Claire immediately cut in: "No, I want Warner and Newman to talk to her, and Coleman and Washington to interview him." The room suddenly got quiet, with an undercurrent of tension.

"You good with that, Lieutenant?" I asked Jerome, whose face did not hide his anger at being shown up by his boss in front of his subordinates like that.

"If my boss orders it, I have to be, sir." he replied.

"What do you mean by that, Lieutenant?" Claire said angrily.

I intervened. "Okay, you guys get ready for your interviews. Captain, come with me." I took her into my office, and had Teresa come in with us. Once inside, I said "I'll tell you what he meant by that, Captain. He's the MCD Lieutenant. It really was his call to make on who he wanted to do the interviews."

"Sir," Claire said, "first of all, I'm implementing the new partnerships, which you agreed I could do. Second, I'm the boss of him, not the other way around. His comment was borderline insubordinate, if not outright so."

"And I'm the boss of you." I said. "And to that point, I, the boss of you, asked him who he was going to send in there. Now I know I've been guilty of micromanagement, especially of the Detectives. But I'm trying to not micromanage as much as I used to. And I want you to do the same, and let your Lieutenants do their jobs and run their Divisions."

"Yes sir." Claire said. Then she got her hackles up, and said "Now is a bad time, sir, but I would like to further discuss this overall situation sometime in the near future."

"What is there to discuss?" I asked curtly.

"The current structure of my Divisions, sir." Claire said. "Particularly MCD."

I said. "Yes, we'll have to talk later. Okay, get out of here. These interviews are crucial to this case."

Claire said "Is there more to it than a fantasy roleplay gone wrong, and this was just a tragic accident?"

"That's what we're about to find out." I said. "Dismissed." Claire finally got the hint and left.

Teresa and I looked at each other. Amazement was on the Iron Wolf's attractive face as she said "Uh oh, press the panic button. Trouble in Paradise."

"Yeah..." I said with considerable asperity.

Teresa said "I'm surprised, pleasantly so, that you didn't take her head off. What? a 'kinder, gentler' Police Commander?"

"I give and I give and I give." I replied with mock sadness...

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

12:50am, Saturday, June 6th. Senior Detective Joanne Warner and Detective George Newman went into Interrogation-Alpha and sat down opposite Marla Locklear. Patrol Officer Lisa Burrell was the Uniformed Presence.

I had told Joanne and George some of the questions I wanted them to ask, and told them to feel free to follow up with questions of their own for clarification. I also had them wear ear buds so I could feed them questions over the wi-fi.

"Hello, Mrs. Locklear." Joanne said as pleasantly as she could. "As you may remember, I'm Detective Joanne Warner. We spoke at your house. This is Detective George Newman. We're going to re-interview you, and it's being recorded on that camera up there." She pointed up to the camera above them, to Joanne's right and Marla's left. There was a second camera over the one-way glass behind the Detectives, as well.

Joanne continued: "Because of the nature of the incident that occurred in your home, I'm, going to protect your rights as well as ours, and read you the Miranda warning." She did so from the card, then said "Do you understand the rights?"

Marla said "Does this mean I'm under arrest? Am I a suspect in something?"

George Newman said "Ma'am, this is a very serious situation, and two people have died. You are not under arrest and you're not a suspect, but we have to proceed properly and carefully, and that's why we're protecting your legal rights as well as ours."

Marla made a noise that sounded like a sigh, and said "Okay. What do you need to know?"

They went through the details of the timeline of the events, then Joanne said "You set up the videocamera?"

"Yes, to record it for my husband and I to watch later." said Marla. "I really thought he was going to enjoy it, especially once we revealed what was really happening."

Joanne said: "So you set up this fantasy roleplay, for lack of a better term, as a present for your husband on your anniversary?"

"Yes." said Marla.

"Why did you think he would enjoy that?" Joanne asked.

Marla said "He looks at stuff on the computer all the time, about husbands watching their wives have sex with other men, including gangbangs, and being forced to watch their wives being forced to have sex. I thought he would enjoy seeing me with his two friends, especially once it was over and we explained it all to him."

Joanne: "Did you and your husband do fantasy roleplay in the past? Did you discuss with him doing anything like this?"

Marla: "Yes, we discussed roleplay and fantasies a lot during our marriage, especially in earlier years, and then again in the past few weeks and months. Things had become a little... stale... and I wanted to spice things up."

After several more questions going over what had happened, Joanne said "Did you know your husband kept a loaded gun in the bedside table?"

"Yes." Marla said. "And I unloaded it beforehand, in case something went... wrong. Like it did."

Joanne: "Did your husband say anything to you about finding the gun unloaded? Did you know he'd reloaded it?" As I listened in, I was glad to see she was going in the correct direction.

Marla: "He never said a word to me about it, but he obviously did reload it at some point."

George Newman: "How long before tonight did you unload it?"

Marla: "I think it was Wednesday or Thursday. I was talking to Tom, that's Tom Maple, and he told me to make sure I unloaded any guns in the room, just in case."

Joanne said "So you and Tom planned this?" In the Monitor Room, I grimaced; Joanne had taken it in a different direction than I wanted her to go with it.

Marla said "Yes. I approached Tom about doing this, and he was enthusiastic about it. Chuck is a lot less aggressive, but we convinced him to do it with us."

"When did you start planning it with Tom, and Chuck?" Joanne asked.

Marla: "We started planning it about a month ago."

Joanne: "Will you permit us access to your cellphone? To your texts and emails with Tom Maple and Chuck Hogue?"

Marla: "Uhh, I might need to consult with a lawyer before allowing that."

Joanne: "If it'll confirm what you're telling us, why would you not give us the data tonight?"

Marla's eyes narrowed a bit as she said "There are other things on my cellphone, other texts to other people, and other emails to other people, which are not relevant to this and are none of your business. So with you trying to trick and harass me into giving up my rights, I definitely insist upon consultation with a lawyer before giving you access to my cellphone."