Point Hollow Ch. 04

"What about the missing guy the FBI is trying to find?" asked Agent Norm Chow.

"It's been long enough that he's either dead or he was the perp that kidnapped and hurt the other students." said Ferrell. "But maybe we'll force these perps to tell us what they know about him. If they're involved, it's another coup for us at the FBI's expense."

"What about the 800-pound gorilla in the room?" asked Agent Ted Ruble. "What about the Iron Crowbar?"

Ferrell smiled. It was an ugly smile. "Word is that he's not patrolling the Point Hollow area because he thinks they won't go there after the students disappeared. We're going to humiliate him that way. But if he does show up... he'd better have a hell of a lot more than one machine gun, that's for damn sure. We're going to light his ass up like a Fourth of July fireworks show. And then... I'll spit in his face when he's dead."

As the meeting broke up, Ferrell had Sharples stay behind. "Did you have your contact leak this to the TCPD?"

"Yes sir, I sure did." said Sharples. "He's ready to bust the Iron Crowbar... with extreme prejudice, if you get my drift..."

Part 23 - Gathering Storm Clouds

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the lovely reporterette at 7:00am, Tuesday, May 10th, from in front of Police Headquarters. "Channel Two News has learned that Federal Marshals brought Dr. Ben Ellman here to Police Headquarters within the last couple of hours. Dr. Ellman is considered to be a material witness in the case of the disappearing students, and he was brought from Tennessee on a warrant issued by Judge Rodney K. Watts of the State Superior Court."

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

8:00am. Ben Ellis was in Interrogation-1. He had immediately asked for a lawyer upon arrival, and H.J. Lynch of the firm of Chase, Lynch, and Berry, P.C. was representing him. I had hoped Ellis's trip was long and exhausting, and that he'd be agitated. But it was hard to determine who hated me more at the moment: Ellis, or his CLB legal beagle. Paulina Patterson was in the room with me. You do not need three guesses to get it right that Sergeant Rudistan was the Uniformed presence.

"What the hell is this about, Troy?" thundered Lynch when I came in. "Harassing citizens again, coercing and intimidating them, yet again. Chasing this man across half the United States, humiliating him by arresting him and having Federal Marshals bring him in like he's some kind of common thief in the night... Now why are you exercising your police brutality upon this good man?"

"If you're done with the B.S. theatrics," I said, "I'll tell you why I had Dr. Ellman brought in. He was supposed to return yesterday; he did not. He is a material witness in the disappearances of six students. Now, Dr. Ellman..."

"I demand that I be released immediately, or else formally charged with a crime." said Ellman, hostility dripping in his voice.

"A warrant was issued for your arrest, Dr. Ellman." I said. "And you are now under arrest as a potential flight risk. What were you doing in Nashville, by the way?"

"I intended to interview for a position at Vanderbilt." said Ellman. "I did the same at the University of Tennessee, and a friend said he would set me up for an interview at Vanderbilt while I was in the State."

"Who was this friend?" I asked.

"I'm not a rat; I don't narc on friends." said Ellman. "Now with what am I being charged?"

"You're not yet being charged with anything." I said. "You are being detained as a flight risk and being an uncooperative but material witness."

"You didn't give him a chance to come back, Troy." growled Lynch. "He didn't even know he was being sought, so how could he be a flight risk?. And I don't blame citizens that don't cooperate with abusive cops."

"Good!" I said. "So Dr. Ellman should be cooperating with me. Dr. Ellman, I want to ask you about your trip to collect samples---"

"I demand to be released immediately, or else charged with a crime." said Ellman. He turned to his lawyer and said "Do I have to put up with this bastard's crap if I'm not charged with a crime?"

"Don't worry, Dr. Ellman." said Lynch. "We're the first case when Court goes into session at nine o'clock. I'll have you out of here in five minutes."

Paulina turned to me and said "Just do it." I got out the card.

"Dr. Ellman," I declared with authority, "you are under arrest as a person of interest in the disappearance of six students, the sexual assault of three of them, and the continued disappearance and possible death of one of them. You have the right to remain silent. If you give up the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a Court of Law. You have the right to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any and all questioning. If you so desire but cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you by the Court at no charge to you. Do you understand these rights as I've read them to you?"

Ellman refused to answer. I held up the card to the camera over the one-way glass and said "Let the record show that I have mirandized Dr. Ellman and advised him of his Constitutional rights. Now Dr. Ellman..."

"I wish to confer with my lawyer." said Ellman. He obviously was prepared with the maximum time-wasting runarounds, but Paulina and I got up and left, and Rudistan guarded the other door from the outside.

"Think he did it?" asked Cindy in the anteroom as we watched them talk, though prohibited from listening in. "His actions are certainly suspicious." She then added "That's not meant to deny him his rights, but still..."

"I know what you mean, Crowbar 2." I said. "And I agree that his actions are pretty suspicious. Something is not right, here, though it may not be this disappearance case."

"What do you mean, Mr. Crowbar?" asked the Chief, who was also watching along with Teddy Parker.

"He's making sure to legally protect himself from something." I said. "He was looking for jobs in Tennessee, meaning he wants out of here, permanently and soon. He did not come back yesterday, as he was expected to do."

When we came back in, the lawyer Lynch said "My client has not yet invoked the Fifth, but reserves the right to do so at any time. Until he does, you may ask questions, and he will give truthful answers, provided I agree that it is okay to answer."

This guy must think I'm stupid, I thought to myself. He just wants to know what the charges might be against his client, via the nature of my questions.

"I just have a few questions at the moment." I said, my own need for answers outweighing playing games with the legal beagle. "When the six students went to Point Hollow, what were the arrangements to get them and return them to the University Campus?"

"I don't know." said Ellman. "You'll have to ask Dr. Mickelson."

"You went to the nuclear power plant site to take samples?" I asked.

"South of the facility, along the River." Ellman said.

"And when and how did you get back?"

"Sunday. By the vans that took us there." said Ellman.

"And you didn't see any of the six missing students at any time after getting back?" I asked.

"No." said Ellman.

"All right." I said. "That's all I've got for now. "Paulina, at the least we'll need this man to be under house arrest, ankle monitored."

"Oh come on." said the lawyer Lynch. "For what?"

"I'm going to have more questions for Dr. Ellman, and soon." I said. "And he's absolutely a flight risk."

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

"Ellman is under house arrest, ankle monitored." said Paulina in my office when she got back from Court. "Judge Folsom was less than amused at the scarcity of your reasons for holding him, and Lynch fought like hell. It was the flight risk situation that saved us from having to let him go."

"I appreciate it, and your hard work on it." I said.

"So," said Paulina, asking on behalf of Cindy, who was also in the office, "what gives? Why hold him?"

"What I said was true: he's a material witness to this case. We'll get it all ironed out tomorrow. We've got a drug bust lined up for tonight, then tomorrow I'll bring in the FBI and see if we can't help them find Danny Cantrell..."

Part 24 - Evil at Point Hollow

It was cloudy, the sun obscured as it was setting on the evening of Tuesday, May 10th. The two men were under the trees in the Hollow. One looked over the rise of the land towards the house. There was a figure in the window of the lighted greatroom.

"Okay, you stay here." the man said to the other man in the trees. "I'll be back in a minute."

The man climbed up the trail to the land that was in front of the house.

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

"All right, let's go." said Ferrell. "The drop will be soon."

The agents got into the two ubiquitous black vans, with regular State car tags instead of State Government tags. The drove to the road leading up to Point Hollow and turned north. The men were heavily armed with military-assault-grade weaponry... and not all of it was meant for the drug perps.

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

He did not see anyone as he neared the front of the house. The wind was flowing through the trees, creating eerie whispers that seemed to call out to him. He ignored the atmosphere, concentrating on his task.

He saw no one as he approached the window. Looking inside, he saw what he wanted to see: his target. The Iron Crowbar. He was in the window, facing sideways, apparently talking to other people.

He took out his silencer-equipped semi-auto pistol and took careful aim at the red head above the trenchcoat. He gently pulled the trigger.

He heard the tinkle of the breaking glass of the window and saw the Iron Crowbar falling as he turned to run back to the copse of trees. He heard the beginnings of voices shouting from inside the house, but he knew it was too late...

To be continued.

So, dear readers... what happened with the disappearing students? And will the TCPD have to solve this and other problems with their Commander dead by an assassins' bullet? Who fired the shot? And what will happen next? Has the Consultant won, despite all efforts to stop him?