Interlude Ch. 09

"And the details are?" I asked, not one bit surprised to be hearing this.

"Here's what happened." she replied, knowing I'd rather hear the chronological version to answer the not-yet-asked questions. "Christina Cho had taken the samples and gave one set to Teresa like you asked. Christina and I were processing the other set. Patrolman Johnson, a new rookie, was stationed in the room with us. CMB was coming in to do the preliminary autopsy but wasn't here yet."

She continued: "Christina and I were at the desk in the office next to the autopsy room, transmitting the fingerprints to the FBI for identification. There's a window looking into the autopsy room and I saw Patrolman Johnson nearly collapse. He got sick and began vomiting into a trash can. We helped him to the bathroom and when we got back, the body was gone, and so were the first set of samples we'd taken."

"How is Johnson now?" I asked.

"He's at University Hospital being checked out, but seems to have gotten over the heaves. Another patrolman stayed there with him." Tanya replied.

"Did you smell anything in the air, or feel sick yourself?" I asked.

"No, just smelled puke." Tanya said. "I took a sample of it from the trash can, to test for any drugs or poisons."

"You're awesome, Tanya, but you can spare me the details of that part of it. I'm busy at the moment, but I'll be there shortly." I said, then hung up.

"Dear me, Mr. Holmes, dear me." said Wargrave, in the form of a quotation.

"I trust that my officer will be okay?" I asked, not amused.

"I'm sure he'll make a full and speedy recovery." said Wargrave. "Cleanup means leaving no further messes behind."

"Speaking of cleanup," Laura interjected, not liking to be losing control while in her own office, and not fooling with word games, "the stolen drugs have been destroyed completely. My husband was extremely efficient. Even the syringes and glassware were burned out. I wouldn't have thought to do that, but he did. Not a molecule left of them."

"Well!" said Henry Wargrave with mock enthusiasm, "that's very good news, wouldn't you say, Lieutenant? After all, no more evidence of any illegal police raids, so that imbecile Detective Ikea won't be chirping about you anymore."

"We do agree on something, Mr. Wargrave." I said. "That Ikea is indeed an imbecile. But I'm sure that he remains the least of my worries." I said. "In fact, I can now just go back to the simple police business of finding criminals and keeping all the children, including mine, safe from harm."

"Yes, and I'm sure no children are in any danger, especially yours." said Wargrave. He was basically saying in response to my words that he was not a threat to my daughter. I relaxed somewhat.

Wargrave continued: "But what about the person to whom the hideous Mr. Bounel was to deliver those vials? Surely you'll pursue those culprits." He was watching me closely but was distracted by Laura's voice cutting through the air that was thick with tension.

"With the samples destroyed, why would anyone care about that?" Laura said.

"Indeed." I added. "The pickup wasn't made in a timely manner, so that person must've lost interest. Of course, it was the merest dumb luck that my rogue nephew hired Bounel to help with that very stupid attack upon Betting Wurtzburg, leading to Bounel stealing a cop's gun, leading to an... interdiction of that most hideous person. That attack on Ms. Wurtzburg really has turned out to be a very stupid thing to have done, wouldn't you say, Mr. Wargrave? Karma, neh?" I drove the verbal knife deep and twisted it; Mr. Wargrave's own actions had set in motion the dominos that interrupted the transfer of those drugs.

"I couldn't agree with you more, Lieutenant." Mr. Wargrave said, not totally able to hide the anger in his eyes. "But you are right about your pursuit of murderers, particularly your own young nephew. I hope your sister was able to give you information about her rogue son's whereabouts. I must admit that the young man has managed to hide himself more effectively than even my best private investigators can handle."

"And why would you be looking for him?" I asked, knowing Wargrave was not making a mistake in letting me know that.

"Why, to help you, of course." Wargrave said. "The 'punk', as you like to call him, is definitely a threat to good order and standing around these parts. He's become a threat to my University's interests, as well as those of your Town and County. I would love more than anything to deliver him to your doorstep. Do you want him alive or dead?"

"I appreciate the help." I said. "And 'confirmed dead' would be fine with me."

"Strong sentiments, there." Wargrave said, concealing a smile. He stood up. "Unfortunately, I must run. Congratulations again on the new baby, Lieutenant, Doctor."

"Congratulations are in order for you also, Mr. Wargrave." I said as he was turning to go. "Upon Acme's acquisition of the Olivet company."

Wargrave's eyes flashed irritation but he swiftly recovered. "Well, I'm barely more than a board member and consultant to that firm." he said, "But I'm sure they'll find the acquisition... profitable." Not waiting for further conversation, Wargrave exited the room.

"In some ways," Laura said, "I'm glad I was here to watch that... on the other hand, part of me wishes I didn't. Was that a threat to our daughter that I heard?"

"I don't think so." I said, still looking at the closed door Wargrave had just closed behind him. "If I thought it had been, he would not have left this room alive, no matter the consequences."

"You're right, and it might not have been you that killed him." Laura replied. I knew that my wife was not a woman to be fucked with, and a threat to our daughter was something neither of us would tolerate.

"So why did he come here?" Laura asked.

"To find out who Bounel was supposed to deliver the samples to." I replied. "He still doesn't know, and he'd like to know who his competition was. And I was tempted to tell him, but for now can't see the good that would come of that."

Part 24 - Epilogue

"Where to from here?" Cindy Ross asked, sipping her wine.

It was late Saturday afternoon and I'd just gotten home from hours of study of the Olivet data. The sun was still high, but beginning to lower itself over the Town.

Laura and I had invited Cindy Ross to have dinner with us, and Cindy and I were sitting on the back deck of The Cabin. Cindy was wearing a basic clingy dress and high heel sandals, and she looked smoking hot.

"I don't know." I said, sipping my single-malt Scotch. I was also holding Carole, who was peacefully sleeping. Holding my daughter after a long day of work made me feel very good about life, no matter what the news of the day had been.

The tests for poisons in Patrolman Johnson's system would come back negative. Attempts to identify the dead man with the second set of DNA samples as well as the fingerprint and footprint evidence also failed. How the body was removed and by whom remains unsolved.

With the drug samples destroyed, everyone seemed to breathe easier. Laura reported that the CIA was "satisfied" with the conclusion, which was confirmed by Jack Muscone. I also heard from several sources that the pressure on the SBI and Agent Ferrell to obtain the drugs had gone away. Steven Ikea tried to make some continued noise but was told to shut up by his political benefactors.

What no one else knew is that both sets of vials had not been destroyed: I never removed the set that I had hidden in the Weapons Evidence room. I made up four vials with colored water in them. I knew that one day I might need the vials as a trump card against some very powerful people with very ugly intentions.

"I'm still looking at the Olivet data." I said. "Did you find out anything new about Ward of Ward Harvester?"

"No." Cindy said. "Ward beat down our attempt to get warrants to look at his financial records and phone records. What he didn't know was that the FBI did get federal warrants, and Martin Nash's girlfriend, FBI Agent Sandra Speer, let me look at what they had... but there wasn't anything we could use. I did see one interesting tidbit, though: there was one phone call to Ward's personal cell phone from Karen Warner, the daughter of the guy who was murdered several weeks ago."

"So I checked around," Cindy continued, "and sure enough, Ward and Karen Warner had lunch together some days ago. But aside from that being a curiosity, I'm not sure what good it does us."

"Hmmm, interesting." I mused, mostly to myself. "For now, though, it's just something to catalogue in the back of our minds as we await further developments."

"Did Ned really put out a mob hit on his own mother?" Cindy asked suddenly.

"Not formally." I said. "But he put out word to the underworld that he'd pay handsomely in money and drugs and drug synthesis if Elizabeth showed up dead. Most criminals don't care and wouldn't waste the effort, but there are a few that might. At any rate, it was enough to spook Elizabeth into turning herself in."

"I still don't get why she thinks turning herself in is the safest thing to do." Cindy said.

"She doesn't." I replied. "Elizabeth is up to something, but the only way to find out what that is, is to let it play itself out."

"Hmmm... Oh, I did have one question." Cindy said. "You didn't tell Hugh the whole story when we were going to pick up Bounel. Do you trust him?"

"Oh yes." I said. "I trust everyone I work with... unless and until they give me a reason not to. But to answer your question fully, I've only told you and the Chief the full story about all of this, and that is a positive reflection upon my trust in you, not a negative reflection on anyone else. The less others know, the fewer leaks we have, however unintentional."

"I appreciate the trust." Cindy said. "Speaking of which... Teresa's in trouble again. Ikea tried to assign her to security for the 10K race this coming weekend. She declined with the words 'fuck off and die'. Ikea then tried to front her and get physical, and Teresa's reply was to attempt to spit in Ikea's face. She missed, and Sergeant Sharples got between them and calmed everything down before they came to blows, but Ikea's working Malone like crazy trying to get her in trouble."

"I thought she only popped off around Christmas time." I said.

"True enough. Captain Malone has been patient with her, but he had to chew her out for that one." Cindy said. "She still refused to do security for the race, but Captain Malone didn't push her on that. I wish I could figure out what's inside her head and help her."

"Yeah, I know. Speaking of Malone, his attitude towards Ikea has sure changed." I said. "They used to be peas in a pod. Now Malone seems to be losing control of his 'boy'."

"You're right." Cindy said. "Teresa says even Timothy Geiger, who used to be Ikea's lapdog, is avoiding him, and that Ikea is out of favor with Malone. Not sure why, though. And Ikea's increasing arrogance, especially in trying to go after you, shows me he's got someone behind him much more powerful than Captain Malone."

"Good observation." I replied. "But Malone is hamstrung. If he runs for Sheriff next year, as he's threatened repeatedly to do, he'll need Ikea's religious backers as a constituent group. Politics are such amusing fun, n'est pas?"

We were interrupted by Laura calling us in to supper.

Finis... for now.