Case of the Murdered Bride Ch. 02

The chronological order of my stories is as follows:

Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player Series, Case of the Black Widow series, Teresa's Christmas Story, The Case of the Black Badge series, A Case of Revenge series, Trilogy Series, Dark Side Of The Force series, Caught In the Act series.

Case of the Murdered Bride Ch. 1-2.

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

This story contains graphic scenes, extreme 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, racial or racist 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 8 - Sources of Light

"I know this stuff goes on, but it was still shocking to hear." said Joanne Cummings as we drank coffee in the MCD room the next morning. She and Claire were recounting their interviews with several couples... couples that had been having swinger relationships with the Langs. But none had seen the Langs for at least several weeks, and didn't know of any role-play by the Langs.

The interviews at Lightsource Industries began at 8:00am on October 11th. Martin Nash and I spoke with the company president, Mr. Turner Rogers. I tried hard not to make any "Mister Rogers" jokes, and the man looked nothing like the children's TV star. He was much older, heavy-set, and while he had a full head of gray hair, his forehead still bulged out along with his jowls... he indeed had a brilliant mind for invention.

"No, Larry hasn't been in for a couple of days." said Rogers. "I didn't think anything of it; he landed a huge account with Acme Consolidated a few days ago, and I figured he'd take a couple of days off. So you think he's missing?"

"Yes, sir." said Martin Nash, who I'd told to lead the interview while I essentially sat back, listened, and observed. "He's definitely missing, and his house was ransacked. And his wife was found murdered the night before last."

"Oh, that's horrible." said Rogers. "Surely you don't think... that Larry would kill his wife?"

"We're not jumping to any conclusions, Mr. Rogers." said Nash. "So you have no idea where he is?"

"No." said Rogers. "But he doesn't report directly to me. He reports to our Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Mr. Blair. You'll have to check with him."

"Yes sir, we will." said Nash. "Let me ask you this: is Larry well liked in the company?"

"Oh, I daresay he is." said Mr. Rogers. "He's our best salesman because he has a tremendous personality, almost magnetic. I've rarely met anyone like him. Mr. Wargrave of Acme, he has that type of personality as a leader of men, too, and University President Wellman is like that at times. But when Larry turns on the charm, he could sell ice to Eskimos, as the saying goes."

Martin was finished with his line inquiry, so he turned to me, and I asked the one question I had: "Sir, was there anyone that did not like Mr. Lang? Anyone who maybe he cut out of a deal, or had any issues with?"

"Not that I know of." said Mr. Rogers. "But that question would be better answered by Mr. Blair..."

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Mr. Blair, whose first name was Barry, but he went by 'Blair' as if it were his first name, had curly brown-black hair that was beginning to turn gray at the edges. He was about six feet tall, and lithe. He had a personality that suggested being in control more than being a sales or marketing guru, but he was both, and had been for years. His voice was flat, and a bit strong. I noticed that he wore no wedding ring, and indeed had never worn a ring on that finger, if I did not miss my guess.

"Yes, Larry's our best sales guy, and he's a good friend, too. Wonderful personality, like a magnet. He's made sales I didn't think would be possible, like that deal with Mr. Wargrave just a few days ago."

"Mr. Lang has not come in to work the last few days?" Martin asked.

"No, he took a couple of days off after getting the Acme account." said Blair. "Which is one reason we're all surprised to hear he's missing. His absence wasn't unexpected."

"Do you know where he went? Where he is now?" I asked.

"No." said Blair.

"Can you tell me if anyone didn't like Mr. Lang?" asked Martin. "Anyone ever have a problem with him, any arguments, maybe over a sale?" Martin had picked up on the importance of the question I'd asked the Company President, and he was now quickly asking that question of the VP of Sales & Marketing.

"No, no- well, there was Atkins, but that wasn't actually any problem between the two men themselves." Blair said.

"Tell us about it, anyway." said Nash.

"Well, the man's name was Keith Atkins. He was a real go-getter, maybe too much so. He sometimes was a bit pushy. Larry can charm any lady he wants to, and he's been very friendly with some of the married women around here. But it's a subtle charm, and one that seems friendly and innocent, and knowing the beautiful wife Larry had at home, probably innocent in every way. But Atkins would come on to women pretty strongly. Some ladies found him charming and went out with him, but some were offended by him. Larry took it upon himself to suggest to Keith to take it easy, and while Keith didn't say anything, he may have resented it."

"Is Mr. Atkins still working here?" Nash asked, perhaps seeing me fidgeting and looking at him.

"No, he left, and that's another part of the story with Larry." said Blair. "Atkins works with Stadler Office Supply now; they're a competitor in sales of L.E.D. lights. As I said, Atkins was a real go-getter, and he began moving a little too fast and pushed too hard trying to get some accounts, and he ended up encroaching on Larry's space. Larry didn't say anything about it; I was the one that called Atkins on the carpet about it. Again, I never heard any complaint from him afterwards, but he is the only person who might have had any problem with Larry that I know of."

"One more question, if I might." I said. "Did Larry vacation a lot? Or did he take fewer, longer vacations?"

"Uh, he would take long weekends." said Blair. "Sometimes he and I would take fishing trips together up to Lake Amengi-Nunagen. But nothing out of the ordinary."

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"Got three women you might want to talk to, Commander." said Claire Michaels. "Trish Donolan, Jessica Savage, and Annika Czeckova. They all seemed uncomfortable when we asked if they knew Larry and his wife, and how well, though they tried to hide it."

"Okay, let's start with Trish." I said.

Truth is, I knew her already. Trish Donolan was an attractive blonde in her forties, with a body that was just becoming 'saucy'. Her legs were shapely and her breasts fairly large. She was a well-known social butterfly about Town, and she was a founding member of what had become known as the 'Hot Wives Investment Club', an investment club of some of the Town's women.

When she came into the little office in which Martin and I were conducting interviews, I said "Why Mrs. Donolan, how nice to see you again."

"Commander Troy, nice to see you, as well." said Trish. "How is your wife doing after her... surgery?"

"Very well, very well, thank you." I said. "Now I need to ask you a couple of questions about the Langs."

"Is... is it okay, is it right?" asked Trish, looking pointedly over at Martin Nash. I knew what she meant.

"Unfortunately, Mrs. Donolan, this is a police investigation, and it is public. I will be as discreet as possible, as will Detective Nash here, before whom you may speak as freely as you can before me. But I will not mislead you into a false sense of security that what you know won't become public if your knowledge has any direct bearing on the murder of Mrs. Lang and disappearance of her husband."

"Oh, it's just so sad about Diane." said Trish. "Well, as you know Commander, my husband and I have an... arrangement in our marriage. We socialized with the Langs quite frequently."

"In other words," I said, "you and your husband had a swinging/swapping relationship with the Langs."

"Yes, we did, as part of a larger group." said Trish. "We were forming our own offshoot of the Hedonists, just four couples so far. Jessica Savage and her husband were part of it, as were the Langs."

"When did you last see them?" I asked.

"Socially, about a month ago." Trish said. "I saw Larry three days ago here at work, of course."

"Do you know if they did any role-playing, dressing up as a bride and groom, for example?" I asked.

"I heard they did things like that." Trish said. "Someone, don't remember who it was, told me they'd dress up like that and pick up cab drivers. Wasn't my cup of tea, and things like that are probably why they were rejected by the Libertines and had to join the Hedonists instead."

"Do you know of anyone who might have wanted to hurt them? Either of them?" I asked.

"No, not that I know of, no one that I know of."

"What about Mr. Atkins? Did you know him?"

"Oh, yes." said Trish, disparagingly. "He found out about our open relationships, and he tried to invite himself to our parties. I thought his outward charm was phony; behind the mask he was a foul, disgusting pig, and my husband quickly formed the same opinion when he met Keith. We wanted nothing to do with him."

"Keith was single? He didn't swing with a girlfriend?"

"He tried to play it that he had a girlfriend, and I did see him with a woman here at work a couple of times. She was short, blonde, voluptuous, cute but nothing exceptional. Single women here seemed to like him well enough. But we, meaning those of us in our group, really didn't want anything to do with him. He was really pushy. Thought too much of himself, too."

That was all Trish Donolan could tell us. The other two women also admitted that they and their husbands had enjoyed sexual relationships with the Langs, but knew nothing further. They both had been 'approached' by Keith Atkins, and they both had rebuffed his advances, and Jessica had even complained to H.R. about him for sexual harassment.

Part 9 - The Atkins Diet (of Information)

We had an address for Keith Atkins and were headed to it. I'd offered Nash the opportunity to take Claire or Diana Torres with him, but he asked if I'd be willing to come and observe while he interviewed Atkins. Of course I agreed.

Atkins admitted us into his condo, which was a smallish one that was actually converted from apartments in the district just south of Downtown. He was in his thirties, dark haired, lean, muscular, fairly short, with a scruffy beard. He looked like he could be a troublemaker if he wanted to.

I observed a lot of military and paramilitary paraphernalia on the walls, as well as Prepper and Paramilitary magazines lying about. Not hard to see what Atkins's interests were.

"Mr. Atkins," Martin Nash said, "we'd like to ask you a few questions about Mr. Larry Lang and his wife."

"What's it about?" asked Atkins in reply.

"I'll tell you that in just a moment." said Nash. "When was the last time you saw Mr. Lang?"

"Officers, if you won't tell me what this is about, I will decline to answer your questions without a lawyer present." said Atkins, very directly. "I'm not trying to be uncooperative, but I've had people lie about me before, and I want to know your intentions, first."

"Who's lied about you?" Nash asked.

"That Jessica Savage bitch, for one." said Atkins. "She falsely accused me of sexual harassment, pretty much got me fired from Lightsource, though they let me 'resign'. And I've had cops try to arrest me for DUI even though I was stone-cold sober."

Martin glanced at me, so I picked it up. "Mr. Atkins, we are investigating the murder of Diane Lang, and her husband seems to have disappeared. Where were you the day before yesterday, October 9th?"

"I was in the City, making sales calls." said Atkins. "I spent the night there. Took one of my clients out to dinner, and we did some drinking. He got called home for something, so I went on up to bed and came back to Town the next morning." Atkins gave the name of the hotel he'd stayed at, but declined to state the name of his client, citing his client's privacy.

"Well, Mr. Atkins," I said, "we'll be checking your story, but you'll be happy to know that in this case if things check out, we'll be eliminating you as a suspect rather than trying to pin something on you." Atkins relaxed considerably. "Detective Nash?"

"Sir, we do still need to ask you a few things." said Martin. "When was the last time you saw Mr. Lang?"

"Gosh, it's been... months." said Atkins. "I may have seen him at the Country Club once or twice since I left Lightsource, but I really don't remember specific times or anything." Upon questioning, Atkins explained they both played golf at the River Valley Country Club, my personal favorite.

"What about his wife?" Martin asked. "Did you know her very well?"

"Yeah, I knew her, mostly through her husband, of course." said Atkins.

"Have you seen her recently?" Nash asked.

"No... again, maybe I saw her around town once or twice, but I couldn't tell you exactly when or where." Atkins said.

"People said you had a strained relationship with some of the people at Lightsource," said Martin, "and you've told us about Mrs. Savage. What about Mr. Lang? Did anyone have a problem with him that you knew of?"

"Some of the single women were jealous that he was paying so much attention to the married bitches." said Atkins. "But I don't know if anyone had any problems with him or not."

"What about you?" asked Nash. "You got along with him? Any problems?"

"Naah, no problems." said Atkins, though I noted a change in his eyes and posture. "In fact, we went out to lunch a few times, especially in my early days. He gave me the picture of what we were doing, to whom we were selling, stuff like that. We got along fine. Wouldn't say we were best friends or anything, we weren't close friends like he and Blair were, but we got along okay."

I interjected with a question. "I'm told Mr. Lang was far and away the best sales agent for the company. Did anyone have any problems with his success? Any jealousy from the rest of the team, or anyone specifically?"

"No, none that I was aware of." said Atkins. "But I was gaining on him. I always wondered if he got that bitch Savage to make the sexual harassment report on his behalf, so that he could get me out of the way."

"Ah, so you were cutting into his sales?" I asked.

"No, I didn't say that." Atkins replied, a bit testily. "I don't think I was causing him or his accounts any problems. I didn't go after his established clients... well, not until I began working with Stadler Office Supplies. But I think he might have felt threatened by the success I was starting to have. He definitely liked being the big name in the Sales department, and he didn't want to share that. Blair was protective of him, also. I had some run-ins with him when I began being successful and making sales."

We excused ourselves and left after it became clear Atkins could tell us no more. As we drove back to Headquarters, I said "Well, Martin, what did you think of Keith Atkins?"

"All I can say is: 'wow'. I'm sure going to check out his story." Martin said. "And I'm going to dig deeper into his past, too. Something about him is not quite right. Maybe I'll find out he has a twin brother." He was referring to the Joe Arruzio case, where I'd figured out Arruzio's guilt by showing that he had a twin brother pretending to be him to give him an alibi.

"Let me know what you find." I said. "I agree that he's hiding something. What else did you notice about Atkins?" I asked, testing my Detective.

"Let's see..." Martin said, thinking about it. "Seems to have a bit of a persecution complex, didn't want to cooperate with us at first. But he seemed to be straightforward in his answers without thinking about them too hard. What did I miss?"

"Nothing, really." I said. "I did notice that his answers were carefully crafted to cover any eventualities, though. For example, if we find that he did talk to Mrs. Lang in the last few months, he didn't deny it, just couldn't remember exactly when he might have talked to her. He also attempted to make it sound like he was the innocent, clean boy and the real success story, while Lang was the womanizer, was jealous of Atkins, and so forth. And Atkins made sure to throw in a few shots at Blair... that was interesting."

"Speaking of that," Martin asked, "Commander, do we need to talk to Mr. Blair again? Neither he nor anyone else gave any indication at all that Atkins was successful or eating into Lang's success."

"Maybe." I said. "Blair didn't mention the sexual harassment, either; in fact, Blair almost seemed to be covering for Lang by omitting a few things that I suspect he did know. Atkins made damn sure to point out that there was a friendship between Larry Lang and Blair. So... while you're checking on Atkins, check up on Blair, too. We'll go back to see him if something pops up."

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"Jenna's excited as all get out." said Cindy, later that same afternoon. "This is our first social outing as a couple."

"You look pretty happy about it, too." I said. Laura had invited Cindy and Jenna to have dinner with us at the Mountain Nest, and tonight was the night. "I just hope Jenna likes babies. Carole will be passing judgement on her." Carole was an astute as well as beautiful baby. Of course I say that because she's my daughter.

"I think she'll do fine-" started Cindy, but she was interrupted by the knock on my door. It was Detective Martin Nash. I had him come in and have a seat.

"I've got some information on Atkins and Blair." said Martin. "First, about Keith Atkins: while he was in college at a school in Indiana, he was in ROTC. But his commission was held up, and he was ultimately not commissioned. It was found he concealed some DUIs and major speeding tickets, like plus-30 over the speed limit. The DUIs and their concealments got the Army commission killed. He also was a Campus Police officer, and after his driving record was found out, they relegated him to desk duty."

"After he left school," Nash continued, "he then had a couple of jobs with police departments, but while he never was arrested for anything, he concealed his past problems from them, too, so one by one they let him go. At one Department, he was accused of starting a bar fight while off duty and was suspended, but he sued them to get reinstated, and he won. However, they wouldn't let him drive a car, so he was on virtually permanent desk duty, and the Police Union wouldn't help him out. He went to another Department, where he was accused of something, but was officially exonerated. That Department's I.A. sealed those records, so I don't know the details.

"Ultimately, he became an anti-Police activist, and a para-military, survivalist type. Did the paintball and boot camp training stuff with an unofficial militia. He also found a job as a sales rep. He was pretty good at sales, and that's why he was eventually hired at Lightsource."

"So there's why the FBI is curious: prepper and paramilitary/militia type. But nothing major on his record? No violence?" I asked.

"No sir." said Nash. "Not that we've found, so far."

"That's strange." I said. "Hmmm... the treatment in college for a few DUIs and then not revealing them seems a bit harsh, so I suspect there's more, stuff that's not on the official record. Probably some bar fights, maybe having a gun in a bar, stuff like that."