Case of the Black Widow Ch. 02

Brian looked at his cousin through the alcoholic fog from the wine. She looked good, damn good, in the tight blue jeans and loose blouse she was wearing.

"I hope you're right, baby." he said...

Part 10 - Clues and Leads

On Monday morning the Town & County Police descended upon Ward Harvester.

Over the weekend, Jack Muscone, myself and Detective Julie Newton of the Vice Department had pored over the data obtained from Ward Harvester by Federal Court warrant. Julie Newton was an accountant, a CPA, and she was the one who followed the money in big-money crimes such as money laundering, RICO violations, drug money, and anything requiring her abacus of a mind. She was to finance and numbers what Myron was to data and Barry Oliver was to police science, and I felt grateful as always to have such good people working on my Police Force.

Julie was slender, lithe like Virginia Madison but not as toned; in fact, she was not strong at all. She had qualified with a gun, so she was entitled to be the full Detective that she was (as was Myron Milton, upon my insistence he qualify with a gun), but she was normally found at her desk and computer.

"Okay, so let's look at lot GA-101 here." I said as we examined the papers. "It's one of the batches Burleson created extra amounts for. The official file shows only the typed amount, not the handwritten extra. So that confirms that Burleson kept this extra sheet, and that it is 'off the record', so to speak."

"Here's where the bags and pallets were filled." said Julie, handing me another piece of paper. "The official paper shows the standard amount for one of their pallets, but Tom's extra sheet from the safe deposit box shows the extra bags. Then the official truck manifest shows where the normal amount was loaded, but there's nothing corresponding to the extra bags anywhere."

"That's where they went off-the-record -OR- where Burleson's involvement ended and someone else picked it up. It's the same with batch GA-113 here, also." I said.

There were many more examples of that, and it was enough for Paulina to get warrants to bring in the other plant managers and office brass for questioning, and for us to question every worker at the plant. But every one of the top brass, from Ward to the VPs to the plant managers, immediately asked for lawyers and, upon the advice of those legal beagles provided by Ward Harvester Company, refused to answer any questions.

For speed, I had four teams of two conducting interviews of all the other employees. Angela and Hugh were one team, Tanya and Pete Feeley a second team, Cindy and Teresa (of course) were a third team, and Martin Nash and Diana Torres the fourth team. An FBI agent was present at each interrogation.

Alas, none knew anything. They just followed orders, put the amounts in that they were told to, bagged what they were told to, moved pallets as they were told to. No one remembered any extra bags being accumulated, though there were always extra bags, damaged bags, or bags that failed quality control from time to time.

"That may be how they moved the extra bags out of the way." I said. "The shift manager says that, say, sixteen bags are taken away for quality control purposes, or having failed QC, then those bags go off on a separate truck somewhere. Way too easy to do."

"Well," Jack Muscone replied, "thanks to Burleson, we now have an idea of how the extra stuff was made. I'll keep my guys digging harder on the distribution. If anything comes up regarding the murder, I'll call you right in." I agreed, as there was little more we could do at the moment.

----

The package had arrived at Police Headquarters late that afternoon, addressed to me. It was a manila folder, sealed shut. Later that night I took it to my tiny MCD Lieutenant's office and opened it in Cindy Ross's presence.

Rita had enclosed a note, some photos, and what looked like financial records. The note read: "We've checked with all the BDSM crowds as well as some contacts in the black criminal community led by that rapper 'T-Square'. The handcuffs were made in the City, and were ordered by a tall black-haired woman wearing glasses and heavy makeup. There is a picture in the envelope of a man who picked up the handcuffs and also bought the riding crop in an Adult Toys store in the County. As the picture shows, he's black-haired, burly, has a thin beard and goatee."

"Also, there are some pictures of the owner of the company where the guy was murdered, Mr. Ward, in the company of a woman named "Wild Child". Her real name is Karen Warner, and she and Mr. Ward have some kind of operation going on. Perhaps your victim found something out. Good luck, and I've asked your wife to come visit us and bring you as my special guest."

"They came through for us, Cindy." I said, feeling very vindicated. "They came through. That is very, very helpful information." I said. "Let's take it to the Chief, then once he's seen it, I want you to start looking for these guys in the pictures as well as the woman... and Cindy, not a word of this to anyone else, even in the Department, especially not to our fellow Detectives. I'll tell Tanya once you've found something, if you do find something."

"Cool beans." said Cindy. "Can I ask you a question?" As I nodded, Cindy asked, "How in the world did they get that information and get a picture of the goatee guy?"

I smiled. "Because Rita is the one who sold him the BDSM objects.

"What? How in the hell do you know that?"

"Cindy, you were listening in when I went into the Club, weren't you?" I asked. Cindy nodded as I continued: "Do you remember when Rita mentioned that chrome handcuffs would occasionally disappear? Now how did she know to mention handcuffs as one of the objects at the crime scene? We never mentioned them... yet she knew what the objects were before we told her anything at all about them."

"Ho-leee shit!" said Cindy as I enjoyed the look of the truth dawning on her face. "Then why aren't we arresting her right now?"

"For what? She didn't know the stuff was going to be planted at a murder scene."

"How do you know that?" Cindy said argumentatively. "If she withheld the information of her knowledge of the objects, she might know all about the murder, for all we know."

I exhaled. "Well, you may be right, but I'm thinking she didn't know, at least not beforehand. She's given us what she knows here, and I'm thinking that she wants us to solve the murder so that there'll be no doubt she and her people weren't involved. You can arrest her, haul her in and interrogate her, if you wish. You'll do us tremendous damage if you do, but I won't stop you."

"Thanks for nothing. Yeah, I guess you're right, we can't do that now." Cindy said, realizing where I was coming from even if she didn't like it. She then asked "So, are you going to go visit the Club again?"

"Of course." I said, "And I hope to catch her off-guard and maybe get more information out of her. If she's involved with the murder, we'll land her soon enough." I hoped that would be enough to mollify Cindy for the time being...

---

"I think we have something." Special Agent Lindy Linares of the FBI said the next day, Tuesday morning, as we talked in the conference room. "All but one of the victims of the 'Black Widow' had either a connection to a bank or a problem with a bank." She showed us case notes of data. "And all of the banks had or have a connection to J.P. Goldman and his bank here in your Town."

J.P. Goldman was the richest man in the County, or second-richest if one counted Henry R. Wargrave as a County resident. He was the representative of the richest section of the County on the Town & County Council, and he was also a University Regent/Trustee. He owned the J.P. Goldman bank, the largest and most powerful bank in the County and a rising presence in the State. He also separately owned or co-owned banks in other areas of the country, though keeping them separate to avoid breaking banking laws.

"And the only one that we haven't found a connection with is our current victim, Tom Burleson." said Lindy.

"So, the Black Widow doesn't like banks or bankers." I said. "Definitely begins to fit the patterns you've told us about. What about Thaddeus Ward? Is he connected to Goldman?"

"He does business with their bank, but I see no other connection between them. Goldman is a member of the Kiwanis Club, the American Legion, and the County High School booster club. He also sponsors Little League teams and one of the Boy Scout troops, while Ward has no civic ties to the community at all."

"So this connection to J.P. Goldman?" I asked.

Lindy replied. "It's thin, but the victims in the DFW region were one man who was a vice president at a mid-size bank there, while another apparently had litigation against that same bank. J.P. Goldman Bank had been a financial backer of the deal that was under litigation. The victim in St. Louis was a banker who actually did business with the J.P. Goldman bank here in Town, and had visited here several times over the last 10 years."

"Tell you what." I said. "See if a particular Goldman bank officer besides Goldman himself has a connection with these banks. And that's great work, Lindy."

"Good enough for you to buy me a drink?" Lindy asked flirtatiously, looking up at me with a hopeful expression.

"Sure." I said. Lindy was certainly a decent looking woman...

---

Mr. J.P. Goldman was an elderly man but his eyes were bright and vigorous and he was still spry and active. He had agreed to see me in his office at the bank.

"Thank you for seeing me, sir." I said as I was seated before him.

"Glad to help, son." Mr. Goldman said. "I'm hearing great things about your work in the Police Department. Are you going to run for Sheriff like some of my Council colleagues want you to do?"

"Sir, I'm just trying to solve one case at a time on behalf of this County and its good citizens." I replied. "And that's why I'm here: about the death of Tom Burleson."

"What can I help you with?" asked Goldman.

"We know that he did his banking with your firm here." I said. "I was wondering if you know of any problems he had with the bank?"

"None that I knew of, and I make sure to be told if a customer has a problem with us so that I can fix it." Goldman said with a note of pride. "Customer service is very, very important, and if a customer has a problem, I personally see to it that it gets resolved."

"Yes sir." I said. "Did Mr. Burleson come to your bank and ask about other business, maybe getting a big loan for a new business or anything like that?"

"No, again nothing that I know of, but I'll check with my loan officers and get word back to you... in fact, hold on one second..." Mr. Goldman picked up the phone and called for someone to come in. "I've asked Selena Steele and Bradley Hazelton to come up. She's Edward Steele's daughter, and she's one of my vice presidents, my right-hand man... well, woman. Edward is a Town & County Council member along with me, of course. Bradley is one of my loan officers."

A lovely black-haired woman in her early 30s came into the room. She was about 5'5" tall, her black hair was long and lustrous, her lips were full and inviting, almost 'porn star' lips. She had a great figure, shapely legs and feet in the high heel pumps she was wearing, and while her face and body screamed "porn star", she had a helpful but commanding bearing that bespoke a high-level bank officer.

Bradley Hazelton came in a moment later. He was young, mid-20s, with a full head of brown hair and too set a smile. It occurred to me that I was looking at an up-and-coming politician, that he'd be running for Mayor or the Council before too long. No, I realized... and then realized that I was feeling a sense of foreboding about this man.

After introducing us, I asked them about Tom Burleson. Selena said that he had gotten a loan for his boat, which was being paid in a timely manner, and his death insurance in the loan would pay that off. Other than that, he'd made no loan applications and his banking was simply a checking account that was in good standing.

"Ms. Steele, do you help Mr. Goldman run any of his other banks out of state?" I asked suddenly, as if it were an afterthought.

"Please, call me Selena, and I do sometimes travel on Mr. Goldman's behalf." Selena said. "I am curious as to why you want to know that."

"Just for this: perhaps you can tell me if any of those banks ever did business with Mr. Burleson, his employer Mr. Ward, or Ward Harvester that you know of?"


"Not that I know of." said Selena.

"Mr. Hazelton?" I asked. "What about you? Did you know Mr. Burleson? Do you travel to other banks for Mr. Goldman, where you might've picked up on something?"

"I never met Mr. Burleson." Hazelton said. "And I sometimes travel to the City on Mr. Goldman's behalf, but nowhere else."

"Anything about Ward Harvester?" I prodded. Hazelton simply shook his head 'no'.

"I can't recall that, either." said J.P. Goldman. "Lieutenant, do you think there's a connection between Mr. Burleson or Mr. Ward and my other enterprises?"

"Not that I can tell, sir," I said, "but I have to eliminate the possibilities. I'd like to thank you all for your time today." I made my goodbyes and left, not asking about any serial killers or the 'Black Widow' name: plenty of time to flesh that out. But I still felt that I had touched upon something important. I was 'warm' as the children say in the hot-and-cold game they play...

Part 11 - A Special Celebration

"Guess what, darling?" Laura said when I got home. It was Tuesday, a week after the Burleson murder. I could tell what the news was by the excitement that she was trying hard to hide.

"We're pregnant." I replied, sliding my arms around Laura's hips and bringing her body to mine.

"How did you know?" Laura said as we hugged warmly.

"I've been watching the bloom in your cheeks for a week now." I said, holding my wife in my arms, not ever wanting to let go. "Not to mention the receipt for the home pregnancy test that dropped out of your sweater pocket onto the kitchen floor the other day."

Laura laughed. "I should've known you'd observe and deduce it. Are you happy?"

"I'm so happy I can't stand it. I love you so much!" I said, kissing my wife hard. After a long moment I broke the kiss and said "Let's go celebrate. Speaking of babies, where's Carole?"

"Your mom is babysitting her." Laura said. "I told your mom that you and I'd be celebrating. By the way, she also observed that I was pregnant; she even told me before I skipped my period that I needed to get a pregnancy test."

"Now you know how it was for me growing up." I said. "Nothing gets past my mom. So where do you want to go celebrate?"

"I have a very special idea." Laura said, her eyes sparkling. "Lashes & Lace."

"What? The B&D club?" I asked. Laura could not know that my grin was from remembering my earlier conversation with Cindy and the 'invitation' from Rita that had accompanied her information.

"Yep." Laura replied. "Rita invited us. I bought us both face masks and togas. It's Toga Night. We're going into what Rita calls the 'first level'. That's where most of the fun happens. We wear masks like an 'Eyes Wide Shut' party, and we'll be seeing and doing some verrrrrry interesting things..."

---

"Why hello, you two." said Rita as Laura and I came up to a door in the back bar area. We had arrived in Laura's car and parked behind the building, which was fenced-off, blocked off from outside viewers, and patrolled by Rita's security people. Entering from a back door, we were escorted to where Rita was.

Rita and Laura did the "double cheek kiss" greeting and Rita then warmly hugged me. She told us to put on our masks, which we did. Laura's mask was gold and ornate, with decorations on each side. My mask was simple but large enough to cover not only around my eyes but over part of my cheeks and temples. It was colored blue, the same color of blue as my infamous crowbar.

Laura and I were wearing kimonos over our costumes. Rita led us inside the door, behind which was a small landing that immediately turned into stairs going down and to the right, along the wall. At the bottom we turned right again.

"Okay, time to take off the kimonos and reveal your 'uniforms' for the evening." Rita said. We took off the kimonos to reveal that we were wearing togas: we had come as Hercules and Hyppolita. Laura was wearing very-high-heel gold lame' sandals with straps that criss-crossed up her legs, while I was wearing black military boots, as had been recommended to me. Underwear was verboten, and Laura's big breasts were practically falling out of her toga... and at her height and with her high heels, many people found their faces staring right into my wife's luscious mammaries.

We went into the Club that was underneath the rooms above. It looked like a ballroom, with a big wooden-floored open space in the middle. A slightly raised stage was to the right. To the left was a small alcove with a bed inside, which was Rita's "throne room". Other little alcove rooms lined that wall, but they were secreted behind a wall that made a little hallway. On the far side was some BDSM equipment, a big "X"-cross device that someone could be tied to, and a couple of large cages big enough to imprison a human being, but none of them were being used.

"That's just for show." said Rita, observing my glance at the equipment. "The real stuff is downstairs in the Second Level. I might never let you go down there. Cop."

"How 'bout we forget that I'm a cop, just for tonight?" I said. "Let's just enjoy a good evening, okay?"

Rita grinned and emitted her mirthless cackle. "No way. Cop. I don't distrust you, Don, but not one moment will go by that I won't remember who you are."

"But yes, let's have a good evening. Laura has a surprise for you, Don, so you'll be my consort for the evening while watching your lovely wife perform as the object of several well-hung men's attention." I looked at Laura, who smiled and nodded. I nodded back, accepting the conditions for the evening: Laura was going to get fucked, and I was going to watch!

There were at least 30 people in the room, all dressed in either togas or more typical B&D leather strappings. No one was having sex yet; most were drinking and talking socially. But I did notice that some of the men and women were beginning to flirt, some beginning to make out.

I noticed a group of eight men on the far side. They all wore black silk masks, as if they were the 'executioners', and were young and muscular. I suspected that they were well-hung, and that at least some of them were friends of Todd as members of that SEX fraternity. A memory flashed through my mind: were any of them part of the group that had saved my life at the Ward Harvester building?

"Let's take our places." Rita said. "Don, you're in my bed with me. Laura is going to be... well taken care of."

The bed in Rita's alcove was very comfortable, and the sheets were clean and fresh, I was happy to note. We sipped drinks as lovely woman with long, straight, dark red hair approached the center of the ballroom floor. She was wearing a leather dress with a very short skirt and black, high heel, single strap slides. Her legs were fantastic, shapely calves rising to slender tubes for her thighs and a tight, heart-shaped, bubble-butt ass.

Two long tables were brought out, then covered with mats for some comfort and then sheets. At that point Laura and the redhead woman approached the makeshift beds, Laura lying on the one closer to me, her right side to me and Rita, while the redhead lay back on the one to Laura's left side.

"Mmmm, this is going to be sooooo hot." Rita whispered. I felt her grasp my cock, which was rapidly hardening as I watched the eight masked men approach the two women. Their cocks were now exposed, and they all were indeed extremely huge.