Jupiter Rising Ch. 02

"Hmmm." I said. "Unrest? Pandemic?"

"I never could get anyone to articulate any defined threats." Selena replied.

"I haven't gotten anything definite, either." said J.P. Goldman. "But as you know, Don, frogs are being slowly boiled under the surface."

"Good way of putting it." I replied. "And changing the subject somewhat, anything going on with the Council, or about Town?"

J.P. Goldman said "Not at the moment. February is usually our least active month. The Promotions Ceremonies are on the 1st of the month, our Budget is done in the Fall, the schools are pretty much in rhythm during this time. The audience was sparse on Tuesday, and Carnes and Lewis didn't try to make any issues of anything."

Edward Steele said "I'm not expecting that to last, though. Carnes will gin up something once she realizes you're distracted with Stephanie's case."

For some reason, that struck me. "Distracted..." I muttered, going towards a reverie. "Distracting me..."

"Speaking of distracted..." said Edward Steele humorously.

"Yeah," I said as I came out of it, "I just realized something. But never mind that. What's going on with Town High basketball?..."

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

After dinner we sat in the formal living room (yes, we have one, just across from the dining room) and had after-dinner drinks. And we discussed 'business'.

"I still don't understand why they charged Stephanie with any crime at all, much less murder." Laura said.

"Neither do I," said Edward Steele, "especially since Carole and Marie said they were in her sight and she in theirs from the moment she picked them up from school until the body was found."

"I agree." I said. "There was no body in Stephanie's office before she and the girls went to her class, and the blood pool on the floor shows Dr. Stoddard was not dragged into the office from another location. Add to it the data of the autopsy report that Dr. Stoddard was likely killed during that hour Stephanie and her students and the girls were in the class, and I just don't see how you could be accused of doing it."

Laura said "I don't understand why someone took Stephanie's black purse, emptied its contents into another purse, put the gun in that other purse, then left with her purse. Why not just put the gun in the purse she brought with her?"

"Good observation." I said. "That's one of the 'strangenesses' about this case. Of course, Campus Detective Stone is saying Stephanie was carrying the blue purse all along, which offends Carole's fashion sense." Everyone chuckled at the joke.

"So what are the other issues in the case?" asked Edward Steele. He was obviously asking for a friend.

"Well," I said, "I'll keep working on it behind the scenes, while my Detectives investigate up front. The easiest way to prove Stephanie didn't kill anyone is to find the person who did kill Dr. Stoddard. And right now we have no leads. So if there is anything you remember that could help me, Stephanie, maybe pass it along through your husband, who is legally protected from having to testify against you..."

Part 11 - Driving While Media

10:30pm, Friday, February 7th.

"I can't believe it." Amber muttered to her cameraman as they came into KXTC's offices. "I got a tip from a normally good source that Police were ambushing Blacks on the street, and stopping and frisking them. But it turned out to be a red herring."

"True." said the cameraman. "I'm surprised they didn't send Lester Holder. Stuff like that is usually what he likes to go after."

"KXTC didn't send me." Amber said. "My source texted me. Like I said, he's normally reliable. I don't know what happened tonight."

"Maybe he got a bad Buddha." said the cameraman. "Hey, you want to go get a drink, or something to eat?"

"No. No thanks." Amber replied. "I'm going to head home. My sitter says the baby has been fussy, and he may be getting a cold."

Amber wrote up her report to Bettina and Burt West about the lead that wasn't, then gathered her things and went out to her car. As usual, she checked to make sure there were no tracking devices on it; since Commander Troy had appeared like a ninja in her home, she had been feeling very paranoid. And with Burt West and Bettina continuing to talk about Betty Morelli's baby in the newscasts, her 'Spidey-sense', which she'd always called her 'news nose', had been in overdrive.

She drove towards the residential neighborhoods north of Town but not as far north as the Heritage Cloisters and other subdivisions of the wealthy and powerful residents of the County. She'd been in contact with them about a publicity blitz over what they considered unfair school taxes vs. the amounts their district's schools were getting, and Amber knew she had several hot stories to come out of that.

She turned into the main road of her subdivision and approached the traffic circle. She saw the black car on the far side enter the traffic circle and slowed to a near-stop to make sure it was going to take the road to exit. She glanced right, then glanced back just in time to see the car driving right at her door!

*WHAM!*

The car slammed right into the driver side door of her car, T-boning her. The force of the impact sent her car sideways, and as the tires hit the curb, her car flipped over and rolled...

To be continued.