Jupiter Rising Ch. 01

"Which you are assuming is the murder weapon?" I asked. Agent Johnson shrugged.

"Sir," said one of the State Crime Lab techs, "there were three unfired cartridges in the revolver, and two fired cartridges, very recently fired. It was literally a smoking gun, sir."

"Okay." I said. "So, Carole, tell me what's wrong with that." Carole started talking, and after I heard her story, I admonished her to stop. "Let me do this. Rodriguez! Get your Police iPhone out. Let's record this."

Julia Rodriguez came over with her Police iPhone. "You are 'go', sir." she said, to indicate she was recording.

"This is Commander Donald Troy," I said, noting the date, time, and location. "I am here with Carole Troy, who is a witness to the crime scene very shortly after the crime, and also was in the room before the crime. Carole, you saw the purse on the desk earlier in the day?"

"Yes sir." said Carole. "And it was a black purse. Dr. Steele is wearing a white dress with a black belt and black shoes, and the purse matched them. Mommy says that matching belts and shoes are a fashion must, and that matching purses are best, too."

"Carole's mother is Dr. Laura Fredricson." I said to the camera. "So, Carole, the purse was black? Where did Dr. Steele leave the purse?"

"She put it in the top right drawer of her desk, like she always does." said Carole.

"So what happened next?" I asked.

"Doc-tor Steele was going to take Marie and me home," said Carole, "so we came to her office for her to get her purse. She had closed and locked the door when we went to her class---"

"Okay, let me a question." I said. "Dr. Steele picked you and Marie up from school?"

"Yes sir." said Carole.

"And you came here to her office?"

"Yes sir." said Carole.

"And then she took you to her classroom, so you were with her during her class?"

"Yes sir." Carole said. "She always does that. She says she has to keep an eye on us, even though we behave."

"I'm sure you behaved, and she's just making sure you're safe by having you stay with her." I said. "So Dr. Steele closed and locked the door when you went to her class?"

"The door locks automatically." said Carole. "She has to use her card to get back into her office."

"Was the door locked when you came back to the office after the class was over?" I asked.

"No sir." Carole said. "The door was cracked open. I told Dr. Steele it was open, and she told us to stay back while she looked inside."

"And then what happened?" I asked.

"She looked inside, and then she screamed." said Carole. "I ran under her before she could stop me, and I saw the body on the floor. I said to not touch anything, and I got my iPhone out and called you."

"And that was exactly the right thing to do." I said. "So you didn't touch anything?"

"Just my phone, to call you." Carole said. "And nobody else touched anything until the Po-leece got here." Thorough, my six-year-old witness was.

"How fast did the Police get here?" I asked.

"Pretty fast." said Carole. "I was putting my iPhone back in my bag when a bunch of them came in."

"Did you see anything else?" I asked. "Anything not ordinary?"

"There was a blue purse on the desk. Medium blue, not dark blue." Carole said. "I knew it wasn't Dr. Steele's, so I thought it must be someone else's. But these Po-leece Off-i-srrrr said it was hers, because her pocketbook and her drivers license was in it. And a gun was in it, too."

I looked up. "Was there a black purse anywhere? In the drawer? In a trash can, maybe?"

"No sir." said Tarleton. "Nothing in the drawer. And the trash cans on this floor were examined immediately for a murder weapon or other evidence. That started before we found the gun in the purse."

"Okay, then." I said. "This is Commander Troy, ending my interview of eyewitness Carole Troy." After Julia nodded that she'd stopped recording, I said: "Detective Rodriguez, put that interview into the evidence servers. I'll write up the transcript and have Carole sign it."

"I'll write it up, sir." said Julia. "And have both of you sign it." I nodded in agreement.

"Where is Marie, by the way?" I asked Carole.

"With her mom." said Carole. "These Po-leece Officers took them to the other room."


"We were going to take this girl, too." said SBI Agent Johnson, "but she refused to go. She also said she's a Police Officer, and then one of these CSIs said we'd better let her stay."

"Probably a good idea." I said. "And she is an Auxiliary Police Officer... and she's my daughter, too. Okay, Carole, let's go find Marie."

We went down the hall. In the classroom next door, Stephanie Steele was in a seat at the table where she'd just taught her class. She was wearing a white dress with black belt and black medium-heel shoes. She looked both worried and frustrated, and it was easy to see why: Campus Police Officers were questioning her.

"Don!" she said when I poked my head inside. "I need your help!"

"Granted." I said. "First things first. Where's Marie?"

"They wouldn't let her come in." said Stephanie, looking more worried. "I don't know where they took her."

The room got quiet as everyone observed the look of anger on my face and my face reddening. "Okay, where is Dr. Steele's daughter?"

"She's safe, sir." said one of the Campus Police Officers. It was a poor try.

"ONE MORE TIME!" I thundered. "WHERE IS THE CHILD?" Shocked Officers stared silently at me.

"Next door, sir." said Tarleton, coming up the hallway. I stalked off down the hallway, Carole rushing to keep up.

In the next classroom, a room nearly identical to the one we'd just left, Marie was sitting at the table, looking sad and scared. A male Campus Police Officer was sitting in a chair by the wall.

"Mis-ter Crowbar!" Marie exclaimed when she saw me. She got up and ran to me, and hugged my leg.

"Are you okay, Marie?" I asked. "Did anyone hurt you, or touch you the wrong way?"

"No sir." said Marie. "They were pretty nice. But this Officer said I had to stay in my seat, and wouldn't let me go see Mommy."

"She's okay, Daddy." said Carole, putting her arm around Marie. "She's just worried about her mom."

"Okay." I said. "Come with me, girls." Turning to Tarleton, I said "I believe Marie when she tells me she's okay. But I want to know why an underage female child was left alone with an adult male in a room for even one minute. I can assure you all that the Campus Police Commissioner will be hearing from me about this."

"Sir, I did nothing wrong." said the Campus Police Cadet Officer that had been watching Marie.

"I'm sure you didn't." I said. "And my report will reflect that. But let this be a 'teachable moment' for all of you: never, ever, put yourself in a situation where there is just one adult with one child, unless that child is your own. And especially you adult men with regard to underage girls. There are too many people in this world who would just love to accuse you of committing a sex crime, just because you're wearing a Police uniform. So always be cognizant of the tactical situation. Got it?" There were murmurs of agreement.

I took the girls back to the first classroom. Marie ran into the room when I opened the door. "Mommy, Mommy!" she cried out as she ran up to Stephanie, who hugged her.

"Are you okay, Marie?" Stephanie asked, her eyes 'wandering' up to me. I just nodded that everything was okay.

"Who let her in here?" the lead Detective with the Campus Police asked. She was a woman in her 20s with blondish hair, who reminded me a lot of ATF Agent Lindsey Black.

"I did." I said. "And you are?"

"Campus Detective Tracy Stone." said Campus Detective Tracy Stone, who was sitting opposite Stephanie Steele. "And the TCPD does not have jurisdiction on Campus. So who are you?"

"You must be new to these parts." I said, sitting down next to her. "I'm TCPD Commander Don Troy. If you have jurisdictional problems, I can be SBI Reserve Inspector Don Troy, if you like."

"Yes, he is." said SBI Agent Johnson. "And we welcome the TCPD's help with this case."

"This is not their jurisdiction." retorted Detective Tracy Stone.

"Detective Rodriguez," I said to Julia, "would you select one of these female Campus Police Officers, and the two of you take Carole and Marie to the other classroom, and get their full statements, please?"

"Yes sir." said Julia Rodriguez, realizing that she was getting time to write that transcript from the video testimony Carole gave. She took one of the Cadet Police Officers with her.

I told Carole and Marie to go with them. "Here, hold this." I said, handing Carole my red crowbar. Detective Stone's eyes widened in the shock of recognition as I told Carole: "If anyone messes with you, whack 'em and come running to me yelling as loud as you can."

"Yes sir." said Carole, taking the crowbar. "Can I hit 'em between the legs?" A mixture of shock and laughter (by gender, wouldn't you know) erupted in the room.

"Uh, try whacking 'em on the knees first." I said. Carole stalked off, followed by Marie and the female Detectives.

"O-kayyy, Detective Stone." I said. "What's going on?"

"Maybe one of these SBI Agents can brief you outside, while I'm interrogating the suspect?" Stone said.

"Suspect?" I said. "Why is she a suspect?"

"Sir..." started Stone.

"Detective Stone," said SBI Agent Tarleton, "when the Iron Crowbar asks you a question, answer it without giving him any lip."

"Then you brief him." said Stone. "I'm trying to interrogate a suspect, here."

"Was Dr. Steele mirandized?" I asked.

"No." said Stone. "We haven't arrested her yet."

"But you called her a 'suspect', not a 'person of interest'." I said. "So in this 'teachable moment', I'll give you the career-saving advice to mirandize her now. And Dr. Steele, you don't need to be mirandized to insist upon legal representation when being questioned by law enforcement authorities."

"I want a lawyer." Stephanie immediately said. Campus Detective Stone looked exasperated.

"Fine." she said. "Place her under arrest, read her her rights, and take her to the Campus Police Station." She turned to me and said "Satisfied?"

"Go with them." I said to Stephanie. "I'll take care of Marie, and I'll check on you in a few minutes, to make sure they're treating you... well."

Tracy Stone glared at me, then read Stephanie her rights. I insisted the two Campus Police Cadet Officers, one female and one male, to cuff her with her hands in front of her, not behind her. They did so, and escorted her out of the room.

"What the hell was that?" Stone all but yelled at me.

"Detective!" yelled SBI Agent Tarleton. "That is a Police Commander. He is the second-in-command of the Town & County Police Force, and he's the SBI Reserve Inspector. He outranks you every way you can think of, and you better show him some respect!"

"And if you shut your mouth and listen to him," said Agent Terence Johnson, "you just might learn a thing or two. Trust me, I learned that from experience."

They'd saved her. I was staring her down, and she relented. "My apologies, Commander. But why did you all but tell her to lawyer up?"

"To protect her Constitutional rights... and also yours." I replied. "The Miranda warning is as much for our protection as the suspect's, to ensure we don't damage a case by not affording the suspects their considerable rights. So... you were telling me why she's a suspect?"

"A .38 caliber snub-nose revolver with two rounds recently fired was found in her purse, on her desk, in her office, with two rounds fired." said Detective Stone. "And a dead man, Dr. Stoddard, was lying on the floor in the same room."

"Were you recording your interview with Dr. Steele?" I asked.

"No." said Detective Stone. "But I had several witnesses in the room. Now they're all gone, since you just dispersed them all."

"Okay." I said. "Is that your Campus Police tablet?"

"Yes." said Stone.

"May I use it to bring up some video for you?" I asked. Stone handed me the tablet, and I brought up the video of my interview with Carole, which Julia had uploaded to the evidence servers already. I had Detective Stone watch it.

"As you can see," I said when the video ended, "we have contradictions between Carole's testimony and the evidence, particularly with regard to the color of Dr. Steele's purse."

"Dr. Steele's ID was in the purse we found!" said Detective Stone. "It was in her locked office!"

"Let me play Devil's Advocate with you for a moment." I said patiently. "Why would Dr. Steele put her wallet with her ID into the blue purse and leave it on the desk with the alleged murder weapon also in the purse? And to that point, just when was Dr. Steele alone and able to accomplish the murder? She was with two little girls, then her class of students and those girls, then those girls again when the body was found."

"How do you know Dr. Steele didn't bring that purse with her in the first place?" said Stone.

"Because that witness told me, and told you through that video, that she saw Dr. Steele put her black purse in a desk drawer." I replied.

"Your witness is what, six, seven years old?" replied Stone. "And you're going to take a little kid's word for that?" I saw Tarleton and Stone look wide-eyed at that.

"I take her word for it," I said, "because when she was four years old, she made an observation at a crime scene that helped solve the case. The Apple Grove Police Department gave her a citation for it." (Author's note: 'Return To Apple Grove'.)

"And that girl is the girl that made the observations that directly led to the largest drug bust in this State's history, to the tune of four hundred million dollars." I continued. (Author's note: 'Schoolhouse Rock'.) "That girl took down Marcie Harper and her operation. She was given a Citation by the State Legislature as well as the TCPD for that. So yes, I tend to trust what she tells me."

Just then, Carole appeared in the room. "Here Daddy." she said, handing me my red crowbar. "You're about to need this."

"Okay, but why?" I asked.

I quickly found out. Dr. Lionel Carmela burst into the room.

"WHY IS THE TCPD HERE?" Carmela yelled, his face beet-red with furious anger. "AND ESPECIALLY YOU, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" he yelled, jabbing his finger at me. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE, YOU GOD-DAMNED SON OF A BITCH?!"

Carole had moved behind me as I slowly rose to my feet to meet the threat of Carmela's violently angry entry to the room.

"I'm investigating a murder." I said quietly. "What are you doing here?"

"You are out of jurisdiction!" Carmela yelled. "You have no place here! I demand you leave, NOW!"

"He has jurisdiction." said SBI Agent Terence Johnson. "And the SBI welcomes the assistance of the TCPD in this murder investigation."

"THE HELL HE DOES!" yelled Carmela. "I demand you leave, Troy! IMMEDIATELY!"

"And how are you going to make me do that, Carmela?" I asked, tapping my crowbar in the palm of my hand.

"You need to leave, sir." said Tarleton to Carmela, but Carmela pushed him back.

"And what is that fucking child doing here?" snarled Carmela. "Get out, you little piece of shit!" He made a move towards Carole, as if to physically grab her...

To be continued.