Break-In Ch. 03

Tia was wearing a white blouse, lime green skirt, white stockings and beige high-heel pumps. Roark was checking out the woman's shapely ass and lovely legs as she led them into the kitchen. They all sat down around the breakfast room table. Tia offered them water or coffee, which they politely refused.

Julia said "I'm sorry for your loss, and I'm sorry that the questions I'm about to ask are personal and probing at such a bad time. May we record the interview?"

"Since you already are, go ahead." Tia said, aware that the videocamera was operating. Dumb redhead, she was not.

"Thank you." said Julia. "First of all, how did you meet your husband Tom?"

Tia replied "We met in college. I was an undergraduate and he was in graduate school. We married right after graduation."

Julia said "I'm sorry, but I have to ask this: during your marriage, did Tom have any sexual affairs?"

Tia said "Tom was a very outgoing man with a magnetic personality... and a powerful libido. While we were in School, (air quotes) 'dating' may be too generous a term, but he partied with the Pi Omegas... the Sorority your Iron Crowbar shut down." (Author's note: 'Unresolved'.)

Tia: "After we were married, Tom spent most of his nights here at home with me. But he had a few late dinners, or so-called lunches with clients, female clients, and I'm not the dumbest rock in the box. But Tom was attentive to me, we had a close friendship as well as a good sexual connection, and I had a good life with him. So I didn't worry about it very much."

"Speaking of that, did he rush the Taus, or show interest in joining them?" Roark Coleman asked, seemingly as an afterthought.

"No, he hated them." Tia said. "He was in the business clubs at School to get contacts for the future, and many of those paid off as they became clients of his in later years. He (air quotes) 'dated' Pi Omegas because they they were easy lays, and gave him plenty of sex."

Julia asked: "What about Chuck and Harriet Hogue? What were they like?"

Tia gave a brief, wan smile, then said: "Harriet is the most forceful, outgoing personality I know. She's Myrtle L. James on steroids. She and I became friends after she and Chuck became partners in Tom's company, and Harriet was always on the go, leading charity drives. And she would have me helping, going around picking up things for her. But we had a lot of good conversations when were were at dinner together with our husbands."

Tia: "Chuck was a lot more quiet and reserved. Not shy or introspective, but willing to take the back seat to Harriet's energetic, driven personality. Tom said he was a really good computer programmer and systems analyst, and did a lot of good work behind the scenes for the company. I can tell you this: Chuck never flirted with me nor made a pass at me, unlike many other men. I think he and Harriet were genuinely in love."

"And the Locklears?" Roark Coleman asked.

Tia said "Stanley Locklear was a nice guy, and I mean it just like that: a (air quotes) 'nice guy'. He was old fashioned, traditional, and that may have been a problem for him: he never quite adapted to the new digital advertising world. I always got along with him when we talked at dinners and company functions, and he was good at carrying a conversation. But like Chuck Hogue, Stanley never made a pass at me."

Roark didn't let up: "And Marla Locklear?"

Tia's face fell a bit at the name, more in anger than sadness. "Marla. Now she... well, I need to be careful what I say and how I say it. Marla had what we call 'bedroom eyes', and she used them on men a lot. She played that Game very well; subtle but unmistakeable when she flirted with a man. And she flirted with married men, including both Tom and Chuck, sometimes right in front of her husband Stanley."

Tia: "In fact, when I heard that Tom had died while he and Chuck were banging Marla in a roleplay scenario, I wouldn't have questioned that it was consensual all the way around... until Stanley shot them thinking they were home invaders. I thought they, Stanley and Marla, had some kind of open relationship, or at least an understanding."

Julia: "Again, I hate to ask but I have to: were Tom and Marla having a sexual relationship, and by that I mean an affair before last night?"

Tia said "With 20-20 hindsight, it's very possible. I never thought anything of Marla's flirtations at the time, as Tom seemed to keep her at arms length. But now, after all that's happened? It's possible. But I can't prove it, at all. I never saw or heard anything that would lead me to believe it... until last night."

Julia: "To your knowledge, did the Locklears have a good marriage? Were they affectionate in public, or did they argue in public?"

Tia said "I don't want to tell tales out of school, but they may have had problems. I remember hearing that they were seeing a marriage counselor, but that was a while back, and I don't know if it was really true."

Roark said "What were the company's finances like? Good? Troubled?"

Tia said "As far as I know, they were fine. If they weren't, Tom never said a word about it. When Tom told me just the other day that they were considering letting Stanley go, he hastened to tell me that it wasn't because of money issues, just that Stanley wasn't working out as well as they'd hoped."

"So they were going to let him go?" Roark asked quickly.

"Tom said they were thinking about it." Tia said, seemingly correcting herself. "But I did get the impression they were leaning that way."

Julia said "Are you the beneficiary of Tom's will?"

"Yes." said Tia. "Uh, Mr. Fowler, will you explain all that?"

"Certainly, if I have your permission." said Mr. Fowler. Tia nodded, and Mr. Fowler said: 
"Mrs. Maple is her husband's beneficiary; however, there are clauses in it as well as the partnership that states Chuck had the right to buy out Tom's share of the business. There was a similar clause for Tom to have first rights to Chuck's shares if Chuck died. But how both their deaths affects things has yet to be worked out, and won't be until the wills are probated."

Julia said "Thank you. And my point to that question, Mrs. Maple, is that as your husband's heiress, you can allow us to examine the company's books and other papers, to determine if there is a reason for Stanley shooting Tom and Chuck, beyond the roleplay mistake theme we're looking at. Will you give us that permission?"

Tia looked over at her lawyer, then back at Julia and said "You'll have to ask Harriet Hogue. I can't give you that permission on my own."

Roark added "We can get a warrant, but you can help us by giving your consent."

Julia said "And you can give that consent unilaterally."

Tia got her hackles up and said "Okay, then... I won't. I've talked to Harriet, and she's strongly against that unless you have a warrant from a Court, with more probable cause than Harriet is seeing now. So again, you'll have to ask her; I won't give that permission unilaterally."

Mr. Fowler said "At this point, I'm strongly advising my client to require you to get a warrant before you make any searches of the company, its records, and any of its employees."

"I can assure you we will follow the law." said Julia. "I'll just ask this final question, Mrs. Maple: do you have any reason to believe this is anything but a tragic accident?"

Mr. Fowler intervened. He said to Tia: "I'm going to advise against you answering with any speculation. If you know something as a fact, you should let them know. But don't speculate."

Tia said "No, I don't know of anything..."

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

"O-kayyyy." Teresa said as the tape ended. "Observations? Deductions? Opinions?" All eyes went to me. I looked right at each one of them until they realized I wasn't going to speak.

After a long, awkward moment of silence, Lt. Jerome Davis finally spoke up and said "They sure don't want us looking into the company's finances."

"That was obvious." Cpt. Claire Michaels said witheringly.

"Actually, ma'am," said Jerome, unperturbed, "there's more to it than just the denial of our requests to look at the data. Tia Maple said she and Harriet Hogue had talked already, which means they had their ducks in a row on the access denial. They both had lawyers there at their homes, which I take to mean that they not only wanted that legal representation there for the questioning, they wanted to make sure we didn't mess with them when they denied us permission. They both went to effort and expense on it. They certainly had the right to refuse, or make us get a warrant, but they made sure to 'build the wall' on it, to coin a phrase."

"Those are excellent observations, Lieutenant." I said loudly. "And I'm sure Detective Warner agrees with me that we are not to read anything into that, other that they know and are demanding their Constitutional rights be honored, isn't that right?"

Joanne had her hackles up. "With all due respect, Commander, I do not agree. I think it's suspicious. No, I'm, not assuming guilt, but it's a red flag for me, and I do wonder what they're trying to hide." After a pause, she said "Sir."

"It's about time you stood up to me on that, Detective Warner." I said, which I think shocked everyone. "And look, guys, this is not like Stanley Locklear taking the precaution of asking for an attorney before answering questions, since he'd just shot two men dead. Lieutenant Davis is right: they made an effort and coordinated together to be ready to resist showing any data. But what they may be trying to hide may not be related to the Locklear shooting. Okay, what else, everyone? And address Commander Croyle. I'm shutting my potty mouth again."

"Bets on how long that lasts?" Cindy Ross fired back. The room erupted into laughter, especially after I gave the Green Crowbar a 'look' that could kill.

"Laugh it up, laugh it up." I said as a red crowbar was waved in Cindy's general direction. Then I grinned and said "Okay, she got me good on that one. Let's keep going."

Claire Michaels said "This is obvious, too, but both the widows do not like Marla Locklear at all. I just wonder if it is because of the incident the other night, or if there's been a long-building hatred of her."

Teddy Parker said "Maybe that's why they were getting rid of Stanley... because of their dislike of Marla as opposed to Stanley not being useful to the company any more."

Joan Laurer said "Ma'am... I came in late to this party, and I apologize for not being more up to speed on the case. My observations are about Mrs. Hogue. I believe she is extremely dominant over her husband, that she has him totally cowed, under her thumb. And her strong personality dominates Tia Maple, too... Tia all but told us that in her own interview. At the same time, I think both these wives genuinely loved their husbands, and I suspect she was totally shocked that he participated in that sexcapade with Marla and Tom."

Claire said "Okay, what Teddy and Joan said is part of a theory I want to put in front of all of you, and see if it fits. We knew from the notifications Saturday night that neither of those women like Marla Locklear at all. Let's say Teddy is right, that she may have been the reason Maple and Hogue were dropping her husband Locklear. So she gets back at them by arranging for their husbands to do this sexual roleplay with her. But they find out, tell Mr. Locklear, he reloads the gun, then blows them both away when he gets the chance."

Teresa said "But like Joan said, if Harriet Hogue both loves her husband and dominates him totally, why would she let it go through with it? Why not just stop her husband from participating? And ditto that for Tia, despite turning a blind eye to her husband's infidelity with other women?"

I said "Y'all are theorizing within the data, but you're all over the place, which means we need more data in order to form better, more cogent theories. But I have to say I'm a little bit disappointed, here. There was one huge piece of data that none of you appear to have glommed onto yet."

"The marriage counseling, sir?" Roark Coleman guessed after a long pause of silence.

"Ah, bingo!" I said. "Here, hold this." I passed the red crowbar down to him. The other Detectives did not look happy about that. I continued anyway: "Yes, Tia Maple said the Locklears may have been seeing a marriage counselor. If true, Commander Croyle wants to know all about it. It's something you can ask the Locklears about when you re-interview them today."

"I'll see if there's anyone that pops up in their personal 'accounts payable'." Mary Milton said as she began typing furiously on her laptop.

Teresa had taken the paper I'd given her at The Cabin, and looked at me as if to ask if she should read it to the Detectives. I shook my head; not yet, I signaled. So she said "I want you guys to answer something for me: exactly how did all these people meet? And I know what the widows said, that we heard on the tapes. But I want you guys to look further into that. There may be much more to it."

I typed something into my Police iPhone, then said "Okay, Chief Deputy Ross wins the bet. I do have something to show you guys, or at least my special guest does." The door opened, and in walked my wife, Dr. Laura Fredricson. She was wearing a white dress with black side panels, and bright white high heel pumps. She looked good enough to eat... and I planned to do just that when we were at home alone that night.

Following her in was Chief Moynahan, who unnecessarily said "While all of yooooo were talking about the case, Dr. Fredricson and I were talking about Police Psychology." The Detectives seemed to take that at face value; only Teresa and I knew that the Chief and Laura had been watching this meeting from the Chief's Conference Room, and making observations and evaluations.

As the Chief sat down at his usual place at the end, Cindy got up from the seat to my left and let Laura sit there, next to me. I said "We are about to review the evidence from the videocamera in the bedroom of the Locklear's home, showing the sex acts that took place, and also the shootings that occurred at the end. Dr. Fredricson has noted several points of interest... Police interest... on the tape."

I added: "I will also say that college students are paying thousands of dollars in tuition for the the instruction you are about to receive from her for free." Everyone broke out laughing at that.

"Roll tape." I said when the laughter died down. Corporal Penny Scott started it up.


Laura narrated as we watched: "First, they forced Marla to lay on the bed while they tied Stanley up. Marla made no effort to flee the room, even though the men were concentrating totally on Stanley. Now you see them tying Stanley up. His arms are flexing; you can see the muscular definition in his biceps and forearms---"

"Sorry to interrupt, ma'am," said Joanne Warner, "but would you say he could have fought back harder at this point? Even though he's masked, we can see that Chuck Hogue is not all that large. And can we deduce or interpret anything if Locklear didn't fight back harder?"

Laura replied "You're all Police Officers, trained and trained well to act aggressively and fight back. But it's always dicey when your family members are the ones threatened. If Stanley legitimately thought Marla's life was in danger, then the level of resistance he gave would've been what I would expect to see."

The tape moved on and Laura said "The more muscular... and more well-endowed... man begins seemingly forcing Marla to perform oral sex on him. And here I notice that she is not crying nor yelling, nor very emotional. She also appears to be a very willing participant, not resisting at all. That confirms to me that she knew this was roleplay."

Joanne Warner said "Shouldn't Stanley have seen that, and realized something was going on?"

Roark Coleman said "Not if he thought she was complying in order to protect him, her husband, from harm. There are many cases where rapists forced women to (air quotes) 'fully participate' by threatening the woman's child."

Laura said "That's true, and you may be right about Stanley's state of mind, there. We can't assume that he should have realized it was roleplay. Not many people have you guys's level of observational skills."

"Especially not your husband's." Cindy said, referring to me.

As the tape went on, Laura said "Here Tom Maple is performing oral sex on Marla while she fellates Chuck Hogue. I'm noticing several thing here. First, Hogue is very comfortable with this situation, even though I understand his wife is the dominant one in their marriage. I would expect he would not be able to hold back and would ejaculate quickly, but he doesn't."

Laura: "And here's a little secret that is not talked about much. Many women may not like performing oral sex on a man, but they will do it, even with strangers. There are a ton of examples of this in the Tenderloin District every weekend, where they're paid fifty bucks a pop, pun fully intended." There were some chuckles at that.

Laura: "But while women enjoy cunnilingus, it's much more of a trust issue with them. They'll let a man they've been dating or that they're married to go down on them... and ditto that for lesbian relationships... but they're often very uncomfortable in a situation like the one you see here should be. But Marla is very comfortable with this masked stranger going down on her, she is moaning, not fighting it but appearing to enjoy it... and I think that's because she knows who it is." Everyone nodded at that.

"So this confirms her story is true?" Joanne asked.

I replied "It's circumstantial, but it does appear to show that it was consensual, and therefore the roleplay story is very likely true."

The tape moved along, showing the masked Tom Maple mounting Marla and sliding his large cock into her wet pussy. Laura said: "This is the scene, for lack of a better term, that interested me the most. As I watch Marla and Tom Maple having intercourse, I am noticing that he isn't just thrusting away like a rapist would, but is grinding his hips in little circles. That shows good technique on his part, but it also shows he is thinking of his partner's sexual pleasure."

"Ooooh, Seth is going to get a free lesson tonight." Joanne Warner said. Everyone erupted in laughter, mostly because that had come from the normally sweet, uber-Christian Joanne.

Laura smiled and said "But what is really interesting is that Marla is grinding her hips in rhythm with Tom's. And that, everyone, is borne of sexual experience and carnal knowledge of her partner. In other words, this shows me that Marla and Tom have had sexual intercourse before, and probably a number of times."

"So she lied when we questioned her before." Roark Coleman said. Joanne barely hid a scowl at that.

"So it would seeeeeem." drawled the Chief.

Teresa said "It definitely tears open new lines of inquiry about all of this."

I said "Let's watch the rest." We did so, observing Tom ejaculating his load into Marla, then them switching places.

Laura said "Chuck is now penetrating Marla, and he's acting like I would expect a rapist or a man unfamiliar with a woman to act: he's just thrusting in and out for his own enjoyment. Marla is lying there receiving him, but she is concentrating on fellating Tom's penis, which once again shows me a familiarity with him that is more likely to be from having an ongoing sexual affair with him than anything else."

"Here comes the shooting." Teresa said, redirecting our full attention to the tape. We could see Stanley working his hand out of the rope, then surreptitiously untying his other hand as he carefully watched the two masked men. Then he jumped up and ran to the side table. Tom Maple was just noticing him and moving to stop him as Stanley quickly opened the drawer, pulled out the revolver, and fired it into Tom's face then his body. Similar lethal force was applied to Chuck Hogue.