Homewrecker Ch. 01

Sonali took it up: "The initial room service order was called in at 7:20am, and consisted of the steak and eggs breakfast, one of the standard menu items. The person on the line sounded like a man, according to the person who took the call. The caller did not give a name, but just gave the room number."

Sonali: "The unusual thing is that the call did not come from the bedside telephones, but from a cellphone, which was transferred from the Hotel Desk to the Room Service desk. The Hotel registered the number from the call, but it was from a burner phone which has since gone dead; we were unable to turn it back on or get a ping on it."

Lainie said "We ran checks on the Security people that responded to the first call and went up to check." IDs flashed on the screen as Lainie continued: "They've been with the Hotel for five and three years, respectively. They were former Police Officers, and both had served in the military and received honorable discharges. No criminal records."

Sonali said "The Crime Lab team executed the warrant we procured for all the Hotel's video. They record from 3:00pm to 3:00pm, and hold their data files for approximately 24 hours, so the earliest they still had was from 3:00pm Wednesday afternoon. We are still analyzing that data. Technician Walker reported the camera overlooking the crime scene room was made inoperable with black paint on the lens. The Hotel said nothing and did nothing because the MegaTech Industries CEO is in Suite 801, and values his privacy."

"Uh huh. I'll bet he does." I said. "And the other cameras on that floor?"

Lainie said "Sir, it appears the Slender Man has returned to your County." She played several passages of tapes at different times, where the video became staticky, making it impossible to see anything clearly.

"Yezzzz." I said. "And it is MegaTech Industries. I'm sure they have the technology to imitate the Slender Man. Okay, what about who was in what room last night?" I asked.

Julia Rodriguez said "We asked for that, but the information is spotty. One of the MegaTech staff checked in at the desk, and she took about 30 pre-prepared keys and distributed them to the MegaTech executives. The CEO was in Suite 801, the one where Congressman Condor's intern was found dead. But the key to Suite 802, where Ms. DeAngelo was found, was apparently not issued to anyone, and a key to the room was only used once... right around 11:00pm last night. We're still looking for the people who were given the keys and what they did with them, and we're not getting a lot of help."

"Keep at it." I said. "I need to know the name of the person who collected those keys, and every person she distributed them to. I was told at the scene the room was unassigned, but that's clearly not the case; a key for that room was indeed distributed, and a key was used to gain entry into the room. Someone is lying to us, Detective Rodriguez."

"We'll keep at it, sir." promised Julia.

"Okay, tell me about the victim." I said.

Lt. Mary Mahoney Milton took it up: "Her name is Beverly DeAngelo, 38 years old, grew up in Southport. Parents are deceased, and were killed in a car accident when she was 12 years old. We're working on getting the case file of that car accident, but it's on paper and the Southport Police are having to go to their archives to get it for us." I nodded.

Lt. Milton: "She has a residence in Southport in her real name, a condo in a high-security compound near the Dagny Piers. She also has apartments rented in relatively good areas of the City, and Midtown... in one or more of her multiple identities nationally. Sonali?"

"Yes ma'am." said Sonali. "We ran a facial rec search, then expanded it nationally. She came up on eight different drivers licenses, along with the one from our State." Nine drivers licenses popped up on the big screen, showing Beverly DeAngelo with varying degrees of hair changes on each license.

Sonali: "Addresses are in Orlando, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Newark, New Jersey; New York, New York; Houston, Texas; Los Angeles, California; and Las Vegas, Nevada. Only her license in this State has her name as Beverly DeAngelo. All the others have her first name as 'Beryl', and different last names."

"Why would she have that many different I.D.s?" asked Roark Coleman through his iPhone.

"Good question." I said "My answer is that she likely traveled to these locations, and didn't want to run afoul of the 'three-State' rule. As you all know, the 'three-State' rule is used by Police Officers when someone is pulled over. They look at the State you are in, the State on your drivers license, and the State on your car tag. As long as two of three match, you're probably good. If all three are different, it's reason to detain the person, and start looking into them more carefully."

"So," I said, "she has cars in different places, and has different IDs to make sure she doesn't get caught up. The other reasons, of course, are that she's a drug mule, or she simply wants to hide by having multiple identities."

"Maybe she's a spy." said Mary Mahoney, meaning it as a joke. "Or a Federal Agent."

"We do need to check and see." I said seriously. "I'll handle that myself. Okay, keep going."

Lt. Mary Milton: "She has a juvie rap sheet with drug possession charges, and adult drug possession and soliciting charges. Just about everything is when she was in her early 20s, before she turned 26. She's had no charges at all for the last twelve years. Purvis?"

"Yes ma'am." said Sr. Detective Christopher Purvis. "She has no credit cards in her real name of Beverly DeAngelo, and just one bank account, from which her condo mortgage and bills are paid. Money comes into it each month in the form of cash deposits, untraceable by electronic means. I haven't obtained her IRS records yet, but her State Tax Authority records show her reporting just over the amounts of those bills as income."

"Hmmm," I said, "I wonder if she's related to Jimmy 'The Creek' DeAngelo, a minor Mob figure in Southport."

"Not much gets past you, sir." said Mary Milton, who was typing away at a laptop. "She's his niece. Her father was Jimmy The Creek's much older brother Robert, who had no criminal record and no Mob ties. Purvis, keep going."

"Yes ma'am." said Purvis. "Ms. DeAngelo does have credit cards in the name of one of her aliases, 'Beryl Angel', which she used a lot in the City. Those bills are paid off every month from an account at City and Counties Bank, belonging to a 'Beryl Corp. LLC., a Nevada Corporation'. We'll have hoops to go through to get the information on that."

"Yes. Yes we will." I said, knowing how hard Nevada corporations were to crack. "What kind of amounts are we talking about on the credit cards?"

"It varies, sir." said Purvis. "Anywhere from $500 to $3000 per month, usually $1000 to $1500. Most of the items are clothing stores and high end clubs in the City. She apparently threw a lot of parties."

"And no debt racked up?" I said. "Who's her daddy?" By that I meant her sugar daddy that was paying her bills.

Purvis said "I don't know yet, sir. But here's the rest of the story: all of that was up to about four months ago. Then the spending dropped. Significantly. The few charges she had were in Southport, mostly for cash. I ran a check with the Electric Company, and the usage in her condo in Southport quadrupled the last three months. Ergo, she's been staying at home, or someone else has been living there, or she's leaving the lights on."

"Penny?" said Mary Milton.

"Yes ma'am." said Sr. Patrol Officer Penelope 'Penny' Scott. "Sir, I did a Lexis-Nexis search as well as sending some spiders through the State and Federal criminal and Court databases." 'Spiders' were programs that crawled through databases, not unlike a DuckDuckGo search.

"Beverly DeAngelo's name didn't come up," Penny said, "but 'Beryl Angel' and 'Beryl Corona', two of her aliases, did. She was subpoenaed in several divorce cases, and also had restraining orders filed against her. She was named in Court transcripts by private investigators testifying in divorce cases, as well."

"Okay, that's interesting." I said. "Don't you agree, Lt. Milton."

"If you think so, then I think so, sir." Mary Milton said adroitly, making everyone chuckle.

"All kidding aside," I said, "that really is something of interest to us. Okay, anything else?"

"Not yet, sir." said Mary. "We're just getting started. The autopsy is not in, either."

"Okay, then." I said, standing up, which caused everyone to respectfully either stand up or get off the stools they were sitting on. "You're doing great, and this is a great start. I'd like to know more about those divorce cases this woman is mentioned in. I'll call the FBI myself to make sure she's not some sort of undercover Agent we've stumbled upon. Keep up the good work. Carry on."

With that, I made for the door and exited, followed by Captain Perlman. Once back in my office, with Captain Perlman parked in front of my desk, I called Jack Muscone. "Hi Jack." I said when he answered. "I've got a murder here, and the victim has multiple IDs. Can you check her out to make sure she wasn't an undercover Agent?"

"Uhhh, sure." Muscone said. I gave him Beverly DeAngelo's name and aliases, and he said "Okay, I'll get back to you. Gotta go." The call disconnected abruptly.

"Well, that was very brief." I said. "Your man busy over there today?"

"I guess so, sir." Tanya replied, and I sensed no desire nor attempt to hide anything in her answer. "So whaddya think of this, so far, sir?"

"Not enough data, as usual." I said. "Okay, why don't you head on out. I have another phone call to make."

After Tanya drove out, I called Eddy The Bounty Hunter. "Hey Eddy, can you talk for a minute?"

"A quick one." Eddy said, as if he were very busy. I figured he wasn't, or that I'd called him while he was fucking some woman, so I said "I just want to run a name by you, to see if you've heard of her. Real name is Beverly DeAngelo. Aliases are Beryl Angel and Beryl Corona."

"Beryl Angel? Oh yeah, I've heard of her." said Eddy, a tinge of excitement in his voice. "Her nickname in the P.I. world is 'the Homewrecker'. And yes, I can give you some serious scoop on her, but not on the phone."

"I'll buy lunch. Cattleman's Club." I said. "I'll have Commander Croyle with me, though. Is that okay?"

"Sure." said Eddy. We disconnected, and I idly wondered what hot babe was about to get fucked really good by him...

Part 4 - Eddy The Bounty Hunter

Teresa and I dressed in plainclothes for our lunch meeting with Eddy The Bounty Hunter. Eddy was about my height and built like me, but his hair was more blonde than my titian hair, and while what was left of my hair was mostly fuzz (somewhat on purpose), Eddy was blessed with a full head of healthy 'Robert Redford' hair. His trenchcoat was similar to mine, and I'd told him before to be careful lest someone think he was me and take a shot at him.

We were given a table in the far corner of the back room, where we could talk without being overheard. After giving our orders, Eddy said "So the Homewrecker finally bought it, huh? When you called, I figured it was about the Allgood lynching... er, I mean investigation."

"Oh?" I asked. "What's that about?"

"Just that the Feds are going to bring the hammer down on him." Eddy said. "I thought they'd do it today, but they may be doing work at the Courthouse and will announce it tomorrow, or Monday." Teresa began texting, and Eddy said "You warning him?"

"No." Teresa said. "I'm replying to a message from my husband. He says to watch out for a guy named 'Fast Hands Eddie' at lunch." We chuckled at that. Teresa would tell me later that she really was texting Todd, but to get the legal beagles in motion on Daniel Allgood's behalf.

"So what about this 'Homewrecker' woman?" I asked.

Eddy handed me a jump drive and said "Handle me like a C.I.; I don't want my name coming out as having given that to you." I nodded as I pocketed the jump drive. Eddy continued: "The Cliff's Notes are that Beryl's name came up in three cases where I was hired to find dirt on the husbands."

"Who were the men?" Teresa asked. I curbed my irritation, as I wanted to hear more on Beryl, but I let Eddy talk.

He said: "The three I was directly involved with were Andrew Adams, Charles Caldwell, and Darryl Dawson. Adams was, and still is, an art dealer in Southport, in his fifties, and about four years ago his wife hired me to find out if he was having an affair. Long story short, he was... with this woman Beryl Angel. I checked into his life as a matter of routine, and found out that he had a lot of cash flow behind his art business. It was more like an import/export business, and I would not be shocked if some illicit things came through with the legit stuff."

"No wonder Mona Lisa was smiling so much." I quipped. "She got high off the drugs in the next crate. What was the result of that case?"

"I got the goods, gave them to the wife, got paid, and got the hell out of Southport." said Eddy. "The divorce was pretty rancorous, which surprised me; I figured that once she had the affair evidence on him, and with the potential examination of his business, he'd make a deal. But no, they fought it out like hell, total scorched-earth warfare. I was called to testify, and I did. I never heard the end result of all that, but I do know Beryl left him not long after the divorce started up."

I nodded and Eddy continued: "Two years later, just over two years ago, I got the case of Darryl Dawson. He was a high-priced lawyer with Prodder, Ryder & Reems, P.C., and worked for and with politicians in Midtown. His wife and her attorneys, Ramon, Castro, and Partners in Southport, hired me to get the goods on him. And to my surprise, Beryl Angel was the woman I caught him with. I turned in my findings and got paid, and heard no more about it. I was never called to testify, so I figured they made a divorce settlement and both parties moved on."

"And just three months after that," continued Eddy, "I was hired to investigate a man named Charles Caldwell. He was a banker in the City, but my client thought he was doing some illegal financing under the table, and hired me to find out who he was meeting, what his under-the-table operations were, and so on. I ended up getting a shot to be one of his security guys at certain times, and I got a lot of stuff on him from the inside. I wasn't hired to get anything on his married life, but he was married, and he was keeping a woman on the side. You don't need to be the Iron Crowbar to figure out who she was."

"Beryl." Teresa said. Eddy gave her a flirtatious smile, though she was having none of that.

"Yes." said Eddy. "And I included the information in my report to my clients, but not to his wife. Still, the next thing I know, he's getting a divorce---"

Our food came, so we stopped talking for a few minutes to begin eating. When we were about done, I got Eddy talking again.

"Did you meet or see Beryl personally while you were working as Caldwell's security?" I asked.

"No, and damn good luck that was." said Eddy. "When the divorce papers hit, Caldwell realized he had a mole on the inside. But I was only his security at some of his meetings with his clients, and never when he was on his dates with Beryl. My clients extracted me a couple of days later. The divorce trial was months later, and I was called to testify, along with a bunch of other security guys. I truthfully said I'd never seen Beryl with Caldwell, so my cover wasn't blown. But a couple of other guys... got taken for a ride."

Both Teresa and I knew what that meant. "Serious stuff." Teresa said.

"And this was in the City?" I asked. Eddy confirmed that, then I asked "So what were the transactions that you saw?" I asked.

"Pure Mob." said Eddy. "Molinari had retired and run for the Legislature long before then, but the City Mob's three major factions, or 'Families' as they still call themselves, were looking for ways to launder their money. The faction Caldwell was working with was connected to the Airport and Railroad Unions. They were basically looking for ways to launder their money, and Caldwell had the schemes to do it."

Eddy: "I was hired by a rival Mob faction. No names were mentioned and no questions were asked, but I always suspected they worked for Orrin B. Taggart out of Southport. Taggart is also a transportation mogul, being in rail and shipping down there, so there may have been a competition component to it all."

I nodded. "So tell me more about Beryl Angel herself." I said.

"I'm sure you've seen the photos." Eddy said. "Tall, but not as tall as your wife. I'd call her 'statuesque', though how a guy like me knows a big word like that, I dunno. But that's what she was. Statuesque, almost regal. Had a presence about her. Definitely good at enticing men she wanted to entice into doing the things she wanted doing. But mostly, she just wanted money, and willingly traded good sex for it. She was pretty much a kept woman by Andrew Adams and Darryl Dawson. Caldwell? I'm not sure what her angle with that cat was."

"Was she escorting?' I asked.

"I dunno." said Eddy. "Caldwell may have had her doing something as part of his money laundering schemes, but anything she was doing never crossed anything I was doing..."

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

As we drove back to Headquarters, I asked Teresa "So, what did you think of that?"

She replied: "I heard a lot about the Mob today. She's related by blood to Jimmy 'The Creek' DeAngelo. She was involved with an Import/Export guy... can you say 'front company'?... with a banker with 'connections', and with a lawyer who is connected to politicians... which is even worse than Mob associations."

I chuckled. "And the law firm of the wife that went after Dawson is Mob-related."

Teresa nodded, then said: "But despite all that... this doesn't seem like the Mob's work. They shoot people with .22 caliber bullets; they don't slice their throats like what happened to this girl. And unlike politicians and reporters, the Mob ain't stupid; they would not do this in the Iron Crowbar's home County if they could possibly do it elsewhere."

"Good points." I said. "But we can't rule anything out just yet."

Teresa said "And to that point... I believe we're going to hear about more of these 'Homewrecker' cases. Eddy told you what he was directly involved with, but I think he knows more, and knows there are more cases. She didn't just get that nickname from three cases like that, so I'm betting we find more. And there many be more out that haven't led to divorces yet. It could be that one of those people silenced her ahead of time."

"Very true. Verrrrry true." I said. "That's Iron Crowbar thinking. Sure you don't want a crowbar?"

"They look like fun." Teresa replied. "But since I'm barred from the Police Boxing Matches, I don't need one..."

Part 5 - More Intel, More Action

Returning from lunch, Teresa and I wrote up our notes of the lunch meeting, not mentioning Eddy by name but as a Confidential Informant, and put the notes into the evidence servers. I also examined the contents of the jump drive with Teresa (we technically had two-man control of it all the way to the Station), which mostly contained Eddy's old case notes and some of the Court cases involving Beverly DeAngelo, and put that into the evidence servers, again masking Eddy's identity by referring to him as a C.I.

Some minutes later I went to the Intelligence Room, where everyone was working at their various stations. There was one computer station set up to handle Tanya in her wheelchair, and she was at it, working on the computer.

"I finally have the big office I always wanted." she quipped with a cherubic grin and a twinkle in her eye as I came up to her.