Four Square Ch. 01

"My friend Mrs. Boddiker is correct." said the woman. "We shall wait for the Police to arrive."

"Who the hell are you?" Rhonda Gray asked angrily.

"This is my friend, the Widow Athena Jones." said Mrs. Boddiker.

"I've had enough of the both of you." said Jefferson Gray. "I'm calling the funeral home, they'll take the body and------"

"Why hello, Mrs. Boddiker!" said TCPD Lieutenant Rudistan with great joviality as he came into the room, followed by Sergeant Morton. "Is there a problem here?"

"NO!" shouted Jeff Gray. "Just these busybody old ladies sticking their noses where they don't belong, and flashing fake Police badges at us."

"Oh, those aren't fake badges, sir." said Rudistan. "And may I see your ID, please?"

"Why are you even here, Officer?" asked Rhonda Gray as her husband showed his ID to Rudistan.

"Oh that, ma'am." said Rudistan. "A 9-1-1 call from this location was cut off, which generated a call to the Police. We're here to check out the situation..."

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

Meanwhile...

Lieutenant Ivar Irwin and Corporal Ronnie Kirkpatrick arrived at the two-story home in the relatively older but nice neighborhood in the northwest section of Town. Lt. Irwin said "Dr. Woodrow, who was once our Crime Lab Director, called in and said his fellow Professor of Criminal Justice, Dr. Charles Christian, did not arrive for their meeting this morning, and Dr. Woodrow couldn't get him on the phone. Captain Croyle asked us to knock on the door as a favor to Dr. Woodrow."

"Roger that." said Corporal Kirkpatrick. He peered at the house and said "This house looks familiar.".

"It was Pastor Raymond Westboro's home." said Lieutenant Irwin. "First Baptist Church claimed it after he died intestate, and the State granted it to them. They're renting it out."

Lt. Irwin knocked on the door. "Dr. Christian? Are you there?" There was no answer.

"Check around back?" asked Kirkpatrick.

"Sure." said Irwin. They went around the garage side to the fence. Irwin stopped Kirkpatrick at the entrance gate. "Look." he said. "Footprints. Looks like military boots."

Ivar got out his Police iPhone and began videoing the ground. They made their way carefully into the backyard, then up to the patio deck and the sliding glass door. Looking inside, Kirkpatrick said "The living room is trashed. Probable cause to enter?"

"If the door is unlocked, yes." Irwin said as he put on latex gloves. "The Iron Crowbar would pry it open, but we're not him."

As Kirkpatrick also put on gloves, Irwin tried the sliding glass door. It opened. "Okay," said Irwin, "call for backup, then we'll clear the house." Kirkpatrick called for backup, saying to watch for footprints at the gate to the backyard. Then Irwin slid open the door and Kirkpatrick went inside, Irwin coming in behind him.

They cleared the lower floors, then covered each other as they went up the stairs. When they got to the master bedroom's bathroom, they found a middle-aged man in a wifebeater t-shirt and slacks lying in the bathtub full of water. His eyes were open and he was obviously dead. Kirkpatrick checked his wrist for a pulse, finding none.

"They waterboarded him." said Irwin, pointing out the cloth and a glass pitcher with the smiling Kool-Aid face etched into it. "Let's call in the CSIs..."

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

Meanwhile...

It was a gaggle of five girls that arrived at the parking lot of Town & County Ford, one of the dealerships on University Highway going towards Coltrane County. Callie Carrington, Cindy Ross, Maggie Ross, Molly Ross Evans, and Betsy Ross got out of the two cars. Betsy was being carried by her grandmother, who showed no sign of wanting to give up that task.

"Why the Ford place, Mom?" Cindy asked.

"They make the best trucks." said Maggie. "We always had Ford trucks on the farm, and they never let us down."

"Mom," said Molly mischievously, "the Corvettes are at the Chevy dealership down the road."

"Yeah, those are more your style." Callie said with her beautiful smile, teasing Maggie. "What do you think, Betsy? Want to ride in style with your grandma in a C-5?" Baby Betsy smiled brightly, more at hearing her name than any knowledge of Corvettes.

A very slender, youngish man with curly hair came out of the dealership. "Hi, I'm Jamie. Can I help you ladies find your new car today?" he asked hopefully.

"We're just looking around." Cindy said. "Mostly at the trucks, but at the SUVs, also." Jamie led them over to the nearby SUV area.

"These Escapes are pretty nice." Molly said as she and Cindy looked at them while Maggie went towards the trucks. "The hybrids get good gas mileage."

"You'd rather Mom get one of these?" Cindy asked.

"Truth be told, I'm looking more for me than for Mom." Molly said. "My old car is starting to wear out, and as a mother with two rowdy boys and sometimes a baby niece to drive around, an SUV would be ideal."

As they looked around, Cindy glanced over at the sedans... and got a 'vibe'. She peered harder, and saw what looked like a splotch of crimson on the back bumper of a white Ford Taurus.

"Molly..." she said, pointing at the car. The two Police Officers immediately went over and looked more closely. Not only were there drops of brownish-crimson on the bumper and the ground, but a small pool had formed up under the trunk.

Cindy called out for Jamie. When he came over with the others, Cindy showed him her badge and said "We're Police Officers, and that is blood on this car. We need the keys to the trunk, right now."

"Uh, I'll have to go get them..." Jamie said, his eyes bugging out at what he was seeing.

"This'll be faster." Callie said, handing Cindy the green crowbar that she'd just hurried to retrieve from the car where Cindy had left it.

"Just for the record, Jamie," Cindy said, "this blood gives me probable cause to pop open the trunk." With that, she went to work, and when she applied her considerable power to the crowbar wedged into trunk lid, it opened with a loud *SNAP!*

"Oh my God." Maggie said. "Come on Betsy, you do not need to see this." She carried Betsy a distance back as Cindy and Molly looked at the dead body lying in the trunk of the car...

Part 3 - Four Investigations...

I was sitting in the greatroom of The Cabin, talking with Professor Stephanie Steele. Carole and Marie were busily drawing a panoramic view of a city on a huge piece of heavy brown wrapping paper. Tasha was making her own drawing on a smaller piece of paper. Bowser had been supervising them, but then decided that curling up on the sofa and overseeing things while getting skritchins from me was a better plan.

The boys were upstairs, working on Jim's Lego project. Earlier I'd helped him lay some tracks for the model railroad that would be winding through the Lego structures. Now several Lego projects were going on, with no sense of collusion nor continuity. Buddy was supervising that with his eyes closed.

Laura, Paulina, and Selena Steele were enjoying the Spring day, sitting on the deck and chattering like parakeets. Stephanie Steele was inside, talking to me.

"Have you heard any more from the LAPD about that serial killer tracing one of your designs?" I asked.

"I was going to talk to you about that." Stephanie said. "They called, but only to say that it appears the pattern stopped. But then I got a call from the Atlanta Police after they consulted with the LAPD. They've got a serial killer now, and he may be tracing another of my diagrams. The problem, though... is that I have not published that paper yet."

"Yikes." I said. "What was the paper about?"

"Theories of tachyons interacting with black holes." said Stephanie. "It could be a breakthrough into the nature of dark matter." I knew that tachyons were theoretical particles that moved faster than the speed of light, and I knew black holes didn't let even light escape their gravity... and that was about it.

"I've gotten some support for my faster-than-light theories." said Stephanie. "A group at the University of Georgia has been incorporating my theories into their model for the early Universe after the Big Bang. They believe as I do that particles had to be moving at faster-than-light speed in the first minutes and hours of the Big Bang."

"Hmmm." I said. "The University of Georgia is in Athens, which is not far from Atlanta. Could that be the connection?"

"I don't know." Stephanie said. "I hadn't share that draft paper with them. I was just beginning to get it ready for publication. Anyway, I'm getting some good results applying imaginary numbers to gravitational theories, and that's where the graphic came from that the Atlanta Police are seeing in their serial killer's pattern."

"What are imaginary numbers?" Carole asked. She had been listening to our conversation, I realized.

"I know what imaginary numbers are!" said Jim as he and his brothers appeared in the room. "They're numbers like 'eleventeen' and 'thirty-twelve'!"

"That's as good as it gets for me." I said to Jim. To Stephanie I said "I didn't do so well in my calculus class when my professor put up the i ² = -1 formula. I never could quite grasp something that was not based in reality."

"So you're a better Detective than theoretical astrophysicist, eh?" Stephanie said with a grin.

"And speaking of that," I said, "I am observing and deducing that three boys are hungry and want to be fed. What do you guys want for lunch?"

"HAMBURGERS!" said a chorus of boys in unison. Bowser gave them a look of 'disapproval' at the sudden noise, as did Carole and Marie.

*BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!*

And Bowser gave barks of disapproval at my Police iPhone ringing. I fished the phone out of my pocket and got up and walked into the front room as I answered it: "Troy."

"Sir, this is Captain Perlman." said Tanya. "I'm just calling to keep you in the loop. We've had four deaths right at the same time. One death appears to be an accident, where a guy mistook his neighbors's role playing as rape, and hit the alleged rapist on the head, killing him. I assigned Rodriguez and McGhillie to that one, and may go see about it myself."

"You always did like the sex crimes." I said quietly, so that the kids would not hear.

"It might be more up your alley, sir." retorted Tanya. "Wife watching, cuckold hubby tied up, forced sex role play..."

"Definitely sounds like one you'd love." I said. "What else?"

Tanya said "The second is an altercation at the Boddiker Hospice House. A Mr. Robert Fitch passed away, and his wife is claiming he was abused. She tried to call 9-1-1 but her son-in-law forcibly took her phone away and disconnected the call, generating a Police response to the scene. And Mrs. Boddiker and one of her friends were there, as well, flashing their Auxiliary badges and almost getting assaulted. Rudistan and Morton responded to the call, and I've ordered that an autopsy be done. I've assigned Warner and Washington to the investigation, though it may come to nothing."

"Good." I said. "Next?"

"A Professor Charles Christian, who is a colleague of Dr. Woodrow." said Tanya. "Dr. Woodrow made the call when Dr. Christian didn't show up for a meeting. Irwin and Kirkpatrick went over, and found Dr. Christian dead in the bathtub. He appears to have been waterboarded and then drowned, and the house was ransacked. Some bootprints were found at the scene. And the key feature, sir... is that it is the former home of one Pastor Raymond Kyle Westboro."

I emitted a low whistle. "You know what we think of coincidences, don't you?" I said. "Who did you assign to the case?"

"Parker and Geiger." said Tanya. "Geiger is moving into MCD tomorrow, but I went ahead and sent him to this one. Jerome Davis also showed up there, though I did not call him. I may have to have a conversation with Davis------"

"No." I said. "Not before you talk to me and we have a philosophical exchange of ideas about it. Let all three of them work on it, for now."

"Yes sir." Tanya said, a bit woodenly. "Anyway, the last one is a body found at the Town & County Ford dealership. Commander Ross and her family were car shopping and found the body in the trunk of one of the cars."

"Wow, trouble following the Green Crowbar. Whodathunkit?" I said. "Okay, who is on it?"

"I was going to send Davis over there, since Commander Ross and Chief Evans are already on the scene."

"No, call Purvis and send him." I said. "A bit more cross-training won't hurt."

"Yes sir." said Tanya. Then her voice became teasing as she asked: "So, sir, which one do you want to go to? Sex case? Consultant of Crime case? Or get your Kato out of trouble yet again?"

"Wait... you said both Mrs. Boddiker and her friend flashed Auxiliary badges?" I asked. "Who was the other person?"

"Uh, I don't know, sir." Tanya said. "Rudistan didn't say."

"I think I do know." I said. "And that's the one I'm going to first..."

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

Entering the Boddiker Hospice House, I saw that the front room was full of old people who were enjoying the 'excitement' that had occurred. I all but snuck up behind Detective Joanne Warner. She turned around, saw me, and said "Oh! Hello, Commander. I didn't know you were coming here."

"Why not?" I asked. "From what I'm hearing, there's a point of interest for me here."

"I thought the murder at Pastor Westboro's old home would be more interesting to you, sir." Joanne said. "But since you're here, I'll take you to Mr. Fitch's room."

"Sure." I said. I followed her to the room, which was on the first floor of the converted old house. The dining room was behind the front living room, and behind that was the kitchen, an 'employees-only' area. Lt. Rudistan and Sergeant Morton were using tables in the dining room to interview people, which was wrapping up.

Mr. Fitch's room had a few pieces of furniture, several photos on the wall of himself and his wife, and older photos of them with several young children. A hospital bed that could be maneuvered around as well as raised and lowered was also in the room. I also observed what was not in the room: no oxygen tank, no defibrillation device, no IVs, no special medicines on the dresser.

Joanne began her report as I looked at the book that had the daily record of baths, bed changings, medicines administered and feedings of meals and supplements. She said: "Mr. Robert Fitch had just died, about thirty minutes before the altercation. His wife, Alice Fitch, was not here at the time, and the hospice nurse called her to inform her of her husband's passing. When she got here, she was upset, but then she got angry and demanded the Coroner and Police be called. Her daughter and son-in-law, Jeff and Rhonda Gray, also arrived, and began telling the staff that she, Alice, was batty and to not listen to her."

Joanne continued: "Mrs. Fitch tried to call 9-1-1 and her son-in-law forcibly took her phone away. At that point, Mrs. Boddiker came in and insisted they wait for the Police. Mr. Gray advanced upon her, and the staff have given statements that they believe he intended to physically assault her. Then the Widow Athena Jones came in and put her cane between them, but it was Lt. Rudistan's appearance that prevented anything physical from happening. Captain Perlman had the Coroner pick up the body for an autopsy."

"Did his body show signs of abuse?" I asked.

"I didn't see it, sir." said Joanne. "Theo------ er, Detective Washington did."

"Right behind you, sir." said Theo, coming up to us. "He had a bedsore on his back, but I didn't see a lot of bruising or anything suggesting abuse."

"Tell me about this facility." I said.

"It's named after Mrs. Boddiker's late husband, sir." said Joanne. "He started it years ago, and left a large endowment for its upkeep and continuation." Then Joanne whispered "Though that left his wife getting food out of garbage cans."

"There's more to that story, so don't worry about that." I said. "And Father Romano makes sure Mrs. Boddiker has good food and a place to sleep. So, back to this place..."

"It's more of a memory care center, sir." said Joanne, getting the hint. "People who are physically fine but are getting Alzheimers come here to be cared for. Some deteriorate and pass away, and some are taken to true Hospice care, like at University Hospital. Mr. Fitch had been slowly deteriorating, but his wife swears he was physically fine until very recently. The staff said he was sleeping in a regular bed in the room until the last couple of weeks."

"Where is Mrs. Fitch and the Grays?" I asked.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fitch attended First Baptist Church." said Joanne. "Our minister, the Reverend Calvin Derkins, came by. I let him take her home, and asked him to keep her at home until we could come by and re-interview her. The Grays were taken to Police Headquarters. I thought it might be best if they were interviewed on camera."

"Good thinking." I said. "Where are Mrs. Boddiker and the Widow Jones?"

"In the off-wing lounge, sir." said Joanne. "There's a separate wing that houses patients that have a tendency to wander off. They're locked in, fed their meals in there, and they have a lounge room."

As we headed to that area, Joanne said "Sir, the Widow Jones has a TCPD Auxiliary Detective Badge, but no other ID, and her aluminum cane is a sword-cane. That's technically a violation if she doesn't have a concealed carry permit."

"Did you scan her badge with the app on your Police iPhone?" I asked.

"I took care of that, sir." Rudistan said jovially. "She's legit."

"No doubt about that." I said, knowing that Rudistan knew.

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

*Whirrrrrrrr*

The elevator opened and out drove Captain Tanya Perlman in her regular wheelchair. She drove down the hallway to the doorway of Tanu and Ashwarya's apartment.

"Hello, Captain." said Detective Julia Rodriguez as Tanya came through the front door and into the living room. To Detective Roy McGhillie she said "You owe me lunch!"

"What?" Tanya said, curious.

"Ma'am," said Roy, "we had a lunch bet on who would come to the crime scene first. I thought it'd be Commander Troy, and Julia------ er, Detective Rodriguez said it would be you."

"If it weren't for another case going on right now, you might've won." said Tanya with a grin. "So! What's going on, here?"

"From the beginning, ma'am." Julia said. "A 9-1-1 call came in, saying that a man had been hit on the head by accident. When the University Hospital's paramedics arrived fifteen minutes later, he was dead, so they left him there."

"I hope for their sake that he really was dead." Tanya said. "Make sure to have the Medical Examiner check and document those findings."

"Been there, done that, Captain." said Martha the M.E., coming out of the bedroom. "And I think he died instantly and would've had no hope for revival. Come on in." Tanya drove into the bedroom behind Martha, seeing the dead body lying face-down on the bed.

"And yes, Captain," Martha said maliciously, but teasingly, "his penis is elongated, and is over eight inches in length. He died just as he was climaxing."

"Hell of a way to go." Tanya replied. She looked around. "Were the windows open or closed?"

"Closed, ma'am." said Julia. "And the videographer taped the CSIs checking it. They also taped the CSIs checking the sliding glass door in the breakfast room to the deck, and I checked it myself while being videoed. Closed and locked."

"Wow, very thorough." Tanya said, meaning it as a compliment.

"I have a feeling, ma'am," said Julia, "that it's going to be important. We also checked the apartment next door, closer to the elevator (to the right as one faces the front doors from the hall). It's the neighbor's apartment. He's the one that heard the girl crying for help, came in, and hit our victim here as he was in the act of climaxing."