Mystery At Mystery Lake Ch. 01

Mary: "But one unofficial thing has developed, especially among the older female teams. When they play on League night, a lot, and I mean a lot of young guys show up. College-aged guys, mostly. And they mostly attend the Age-50 group. This has led to (air quotes) 'rumors and innuendo' of some May-December relationships... more like April- or even March-December relationships. That 50-plus age group call themselves the... uh, ah..."

My wife Laura spoke up: "Don't hold back on my account. I'm in that age group myself, and for two reasons: first, when I was injured in the Hospital bombing," (Author's note: 'Only Time') "it was recommended that I take up tennis or golf to help rehab my injured wrist. I quickly found that trying to hit a little white dimpled ball that is sitting still on the ground sticking its tongue out at me is very hard, and all I learned were some new curse words. How you lettered in Golf is beyond my comprehension, Cindy."

Everyone laughed, and Cindy made the 'muscles' pose. Laura continued: "So I've been playing tennis with the League. The second reason for my presence is that what's going on falls into my field of sexual psychology. The women call themselves the 'Hot Wives Tennis League', and for lack of a more accurate but more explicit term, they 'date' those young men, who compete for their attention."

"That's true." said Jason Folby. "Sherry and Charlene are two of the hottest and most sought-after women in the group, and Carl and Chris Bacon are two of the most popular guys. They work as a team, and they're called the 'Barbecue Brothers'."

"Why?" asked Claire Michaels, her voice sounding nauseated.

"Uhh..." said Folby, suddenly losing his voice.

Roark Coleman had no problems speaking up. He said "Because of their last name 'Bacon', and because they're known for 'spitroasting' the women they have encounters with."

"Can I get a definition, please?" Detective Sergeant Julia Rodriguez said with a grin, her voice connoting Rudistan-'ish' mischievous humor.

Roark replied "It's when the woman gives one man oral sex and the other vaginal sex at the same time---"

"That's offensive!" Lieutenant Joanne Warner yelled out.

"It's the truth." Roark countered. "That's what it means."

"It was out of line, Detective!" Lieutenant Warner yelled, throwing her rank around.

"Really?" fired back Lieutenant Teddy Parker, taking up for his Detective. "How is stating truthful information during a Police investigation out of line?"

"And I did ask." Julia Rodriguez said helpfully.

"Uh, guys," said FBI SAC Clark Webster, "I'm sure all this is interesting to Dr. Fredricson in her line of work, but is it relevant to the investigation of these victims? Do you really think these four witnesses are involved in the crimes?"

"One never knows, Mr. Webster." I said. "And it's always a good starting point for an investigation."

"I'd think the victims would be the better starting point." replied Webster. "Which is why I'm here. What do we know about them, so far?--- what?"

The room had gone silent at Webster's assertion that contradicted mine, an oppressive silence that let Webster know he'd 'erred'. I curbed my irritation at him, and said "Let's finish up with the witnesses first, please. Mary, Roark, Jason, anything else?"

"No sir." said Mary Milton.

Jason Folby said "Just that Carl and Chris have been with every woman on the Hot Wives 50+ team, and maybe some in the younger groups." I noticed he glanced surreptitiously over at Laura. Hmmm, I thought to myself...

"I like this guy already." said Roark Coleman. He and Folby fist-bumped, drawing a dark look from Joanne Warner and a skeptical look from Claire Michaels.

*CHIME!* *CHIME!* *CHIME!* *CHIME!* *CHIME!* *CHIME!*

Those were Police iPhones chiming, Police iPhones belonging to me, Teresa, Claire, Teddy, Mary, and Chief Moynahan. Mary said "It's Martha the M.E.'s autopsies on the most recent three victims, which she prioritized."

"Don't keep us in suspense." said FBI SAC Jack Muscone, using my own oft-quoted words against me.

Mary said "The six bodies found so far were in a line along the path, and it appears they were buried in chronological order. Our guys found them in reverse chronological order, so the most recent death, the one found buried last night, is listed as #1, the next two are #2 and #3, and so on down the line. Numbers 4 through 6 are older and already in a state of decay to the point they're mostly just bones with some cloth fragments that were probably clothing."

Mary: "Number 1 died as a result of fentanyl ingestion after she swallowed an oxycodone pill. Martha puts her age at 18 to 20 years old, and the time of death at around 10:00pm last night, that being Friday." Mary paused, winced, then said "She was repeatedly sexually assaulted. Semen was collected from her mouth, vagina, and anus, and Martha believes that multiple men raped her at the same time and over several hours."

A pall enveloped the room at that news. Mary went on: "She hasn't been identified yet. Fingerprints were negative, as was facial rec. She---"

Clark Webster interjected: "Was that the FBI's facial rec?"

"No." Mary said. "It was the State's 'Quick Look' database---"

"Are you going to submit a photo to the FBI, so we can use our facial rec on it?" Webster persisted. Mary glared at him. Mary does not like Federal Agents, and she does not like being interrupted.

"Just keep going, Mary." I said. When Webster was about to say something, Jack Muscone put his hand on Webster's shoulder and made a silent gesture to just let it go for the moment.

Mary continued her narrative: "Bodies #2 and #3 were fairly well preserved in their body bags. Martha estimates the death of #2 to have been between 14 and 18 months ago, and #3 between 18 and 21 months ago."

"Nearly the same time." Clark Webster interjected again. "There were multiple disappearances of young women from here around that time, wasn't there?" He knew there was, and I knew his question was to establish Federal dominance over us local LEOs.

Mary was getting tired of Clark Webster, and the anger and bitterness in her voice should have been a cluuuuue to him. She said "Fortunately, our Medical Examiners don't need Federal Agents to get results. Martha has tentatively identified #2 and #3, which we hope to confirm with DNA comparisons for #3." She paused and looked at me.

"Well?" Webster asked impatiently. "Who are they?"

I said "Let me guess. Number 2 is Katherine McAfee, and #3 is Tamara Lidell."

Mary smiled an ugly, withering smile towards Webster as she said "And we obviously don't need Federal Agents when we have the Iron Crowbar. Yes Commander, that's who they are."

"That's amazing, Commander!" exclaimed Officer Jason Folby.

"Good asskissing skills, kid." Sheriff Griswold said, his mustaches twitching merrily. Everyone except the FBI SACs laughed.

"No sir, that's... genuinely amazing." Folby said. He looked around the room and said "Am I the only one who is thinking that?"

"No." Cindy Ross replied. "But the rest of us are used to him. You're getting your first demonstrations of his capabilities." A red crowbar was waved in her general direction. A green crowbar was waved back in mine. My Detectives were either grinning or chuckling, as were Our Sheriff and Chief Evans.

I said "How did Martha make those identifications, Mary?"

Mary replied: "Katherine McAfee had to submit her fingerprints for a background check when she was hired by the Tax Office, and Martha did some forensic magic to get enough fingerprint and palm-print data from the victim to get a good match."

Mary: "And when Tamara Lidell disappeared, we got DNA from her hairbrush and are running a comparison, but that'll take a few days to get the markers, and a couple of weeks to get a solid match. They also got fingerprints from Tamara's room when she disappeared, and those appear to be a match, as well."

I said "Okay, with regard to Katherine McAfee, we need to get warrants and round up Sheldon Kibbing, Gavin White, and Kay Henn---"

*KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* *KNOCK!*

The Chief yelled "Come in!". The door opened to reveal Connie the Sketch Artist.

"Ah, Connie, come on in." I said. "Everyone, this is Connie, our Police Photographer and Sketch Artist."

"Hi, Connn-eeeee." my Detectives and my Angels (Cindy, Teresa, Tanya) chimed in unison. They were getting rowdy, which was my first clue that this meeting was getting a bit long.

After saying hello to everyone, Connie said "I'm sorry to bother you, sir, but the Fourier Transform on the photos the witness took is done."

"Don't keep us in suspense." I said, imitating my own oft-quoted remark. "Send them to Lieutenant Milton. Mary, put it up on the monitor. Connie, any luck on identification?"

"No sir, not through the State's facial rec system." Connie said.

"Send them to me. The FBI's facial rec systems are the best in the world." Clark Webster said, his voice both withering and triumphant.

Just then, the photos came up on the screen. I gasped in shock when I saw it. "GEEEE-Zuss God in Heaven!" I exclaimed as I rose to my feet. "Ohhh, shiiiiittt!"

"Don't keep us in suspense, Crowbar." growled Sheriff Griswold. Yeah, at that point he was just trolling me.

I said, my voice almost a whisper, "I'll send you the photos, Agent Webster, and you too, Jack. But I don't need the FBI's facial rec system to know who those bastards are. They are Gil Cox and Gary Fenton of the Jeff Bayport Rogue SEAL Team!"

Jack and Laura both groaned. Everyone else either looked confused or were waiting for an explanation.

I explained: "Some years ago, a Navy SEAL team under the leadership of Navy Lieutenant Jeff Bayport and Lieutenant David Carter had been sent home from Afghanistan after allegedly committing atrocities that included raping wives and daughters in front of husbands and fathers, then murdering the families. They were sent home and their actions essentially covered up." (Author's note: Previously discussed in 'Woman In Love', Ch. 03)

I said: "Cox and Fenton set up a business as Tactical Role Players, or TRPs. They would train teams in sizes from small to large, in things from small team operations such as capturing an enemy agent for interrogation or assassination to larger team combat operations. They also advertised their services to train security teams in active, aggressive defense, including specialized courses for drivers and the security of high-value targets."

Me: "Their original intent was to train law enforcement officers, military teams, and security personnel, but their reputations preceded them and they got very few customers. Sooooo, they began taking money from mercenary units and people that call themselves 'militias', and training them in whatever they paid for... infiltrations, domestic terror attacks, guerrilla combat, and such. And they've done well with that."

"Question, sir." said Captain Paul Price. "Why haven't the Feds shut them down?"

Jack Muscone replied "The public answer is that it hasn't been for lack of trying on our part. But the more sinister and real reason is that the dirty elements within our Government, who we call 'Swamp Frogs', have been hiring these guys and their teams to train the Swamp Frogs's teams."

Muscone: "Corrupt U.S. Attorney General Derrick B. Harland and former Director of National Intelligence Brendan Chapel really kept the TRPs in business by hiring them to train secret units, the same way Russia's President Putin had the Wagner Group until they turned on him and marched on Moscow."

I explained that Trent Ridge and Quint Starr were involved in the nuclear weapon incident ('The Nuclear Option'). Quint Starr and Trent Ridge had died in separate attacks on members of my family ('A Death In The Family', Ch. 03, 05). William Drew and Mort Springer had died in an attempt to kill a lot of people at Jack and Tanya's wedding ('Power of Love', Ch. 02-03). Shaun Stevenson and Parker Cassidy were also killed in attacks upon me and mine. And Lieutenant David Carter had disappeared after being involved in an attempt to kidnap Laura and send her to Beijing for 'questioning'. ('Long Cool Woman')

I said "So the Rogue SEAL Team really didn't stick together as one team, and they've been picked off piecemeal. And now Cox and Fenton have appeared within my sight. I am more than a bit surprised that Cox and Fenton are personally burying bodies, but there they are in the photographs, and they're clearly practiced at it. And it almost has to be them that buried the other bodies, as they buried the last one in perfect sync and symmetry with the others... in a line, about 25 feet apart, et cetera."

"Did they kill the people we found last night, or just bury them for the killers?" Molly Evans asked.

"That's a great question." I replied. "And the answer is 'no data yet'. They may have been hired to be 'Cleaners' and get rid of the bodies for someone else. And it's possible, but in my opinion unlikely, that they buried that body last night but did not bury the others."

My voice then turned lower as I said "I'll tell you this, though... it is very, very scary knowing that they are in this area at all. These are highly trained former Navy SEALs without any scruples, conscience, nor sense of a moral compass. We are all in grave danger."

As a chill went through the room, I said "Commander Croyle, put out the word. Loddy-doddy everybody in the TCPD is to wear armor while on duty until we get an idea of where these bastards are. Captain Michaels, procure those arrest warrants for Kibbing, White, and Henn. I want to see them in my Interrogation Rooms immediately if not sooner..."

Part 4 - The Action Step

1:30pm, Saturday, May 7th. Captain Claire Michaels came to my office. I had her get coffee for herself and sit down. "Whaddya got?" I asked when she was seated.

"We requested the warrants you asked for, sir." Claire Michaels said. "Judge Hannah Doss called me from her house; they had called her to confirm that the warrants should be issued, though I don't know why. She asked me why we wanted to arrest Kibbing, White, and Henn, and I told her that the body of Katherine McAfee had been found and identified, and that those three had been suspects in her disappearance last year. She said she'd call me back after reviewing that case."

Claire: "She called me back twenty minutes ago, and she granted the warrants for Kibbing and White. But she refused to issue a warrant for Kay Henn because, she said, we had not shown enough cause then nor now why Henn should be considered a suspect or even a person of interest in Ms. McAfee's disappearance and now murder."

I nodded and said "I hate to admit it, but that's true. Henn was the supervisor over Kibbing and White when they persecuted Ian Ebell and Patrick Plimer, but we never established a true, binding connection between her and the McAfee disappearance. So they're bringing Kibbing and White in?"

Claire said: "Yes sir, Officers have been sent to arrest them at their homes---"

A quiet knock on the door had been followed by Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle opening the door and looking in. I waved her on in, and as she sat down she said "...and Officers have gone to the homes. Sheldon Kibbing was taken into custody. He did not resist arrest, but he immediately said 'I want a lawyer' when they affixed the cuffs."

Teresa: "Gavin White was not at his home, and his vehicle was not in the garage. Calls to his cellphone go to voicemail immediately, and his voice-mail-box is full. However, his cellphone is not pinging from anywhere. Clark Webster had the people in the Federal Building... the secret people on the top floor that we're not supposed to know about... he had them try to get ping on the phone when they called it, and it was 'no go'. The phone is turned off and couldn't be turned back on." (Yes, the Feds can do that to your cellphone.)

I said "It's probably destroyed. At any rate, put out a national-level APB on Gavin White. When Kibbing gets here, put him in I-3 and let him call his attorney..."

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

2:30pm. Interrogation-3 still had that 'new interrogation room' smell, I thought to myself as I went into it, followed by Lieutenant Teddy Parker and FBI SSA Julius Jefferson. Patrolman Ben Jones was the Uniformed Presence, as required by TCPD 'rools'. Watching and listening from the anteroom were Chief Moynahan and FBI SAC Clark Webster. Everyone else was watching from the well-equipped Monitor Room.

Sheldon Kibbing was seated at the table, in the suspect's chair. He was now 27 and the stereotypical nerd: slender, a mess of black hair, thick glasses. (Author's note: 'Climate Injustice', Ch. 01, for more on Sheldon Kibbing.)

But it was who his attorney was that had my full attention: Nathan Masterson of Gresham & Mason, P.C., the powerhouse law firm of the Big Boyz, the political Establishment Elites, and the Swamp Frogs. He was a rabid Jew Hater, and with me being ethnically descended from German Jews that emigrated to the United States, he often called me hatred-filled epithets.

"Well, if it ain't the TCPD's Bar---" Masterson started, about to call me a 'Bar Code'. But he cut it off when he saw Federal Agent Julius Jefferson. Undeterred, he said "Why are you harassing... no, persecuting my client yet again?"

I did not respond, but introduced the others, then sat down and read Sheldon Kibbing his Miranda rights from the card. He did not respond when I asked if he understood the rights.

"My client invoked the last time you were exercising Gestapo interrogation tactics on him." Masterson said. "Direct your questions to me. Once again, Troy, why have you arrested my client and continue to subject him to this harassment?"

I said "A little over a year ago, we questioned your client in the disappearance of Katherine McAfee, who worked in the Tax Office with him. I told him and his butt-buddy Gavin White that if we ever found her body they'd be in a world of shit, and we'd be talking to them again. Well, Mr. Kibbing... we found her body."

I put in front of them photos of Katherine McAfee's body in the body bag being recovered at the scene. I said "The Medical Examiner has confirmed her identity through fingerprints, and we're acquiring dental records and running DNA tests, which will confirm her ID. So, Kibbing... where were you last night?"

"Don't answer that!" Nathan Masterson all but yelled. To me he said "I want to talk to my client." Jefferson, Parker, and I got up and went into the anteroom, Patrolman Jones went out the jail side door, and all audio microphones in I-3 were turned off.

"Kibbing looked a bit shocked when you said Ms. McAfee was dead." the Chief said.

"Yes sir, he did." I replied. "But it was Nathan Masterson's reaction I wanted to see, and I did. He did not react, at all. Not even a flicker of his eyelashes. And that tells me he knew, and knows, what this is all about. He shouldn't know, but he does."

Somewhat to my surprise, they were done within five minutes. We went back in and sat down. Nathan Masterson made a statement, his voice filled with arrogance and derision as he spoke: "My client had nothing to do with the death of that woman, and you have no evidence to connect him to her disappearance nor her death."

Masterson: "He also has invoked his Fifth Amendment rights, and neither he nor I will tolerate the continued abuse of his rights by continuing to interrogate him. I demand that you release him immediately, and that you discontinue any further intimidation and persecution of him. I'm taking him with me out of here, and if you try to stop us, I will sue you as well as file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division---"