Return To Point Hollow Ch. 01

"Sounds like a normal Wildcat dorm room!" interjected Commander Cindy Ross. The room burst into laughter.

"Touché" I said witheringly, though with a grin, as a red crowbar was waved in Cindy's general direction. "Go ahead, Theo. We'll see if she's talking trash like that on October 27th." A green crowbar was waved in my general direction.

"Yes sir!" said Theo with his movie-star-handsome grin, as his cousin was the Heisman-Trophy-winning member of the Wildcat varsity football team. "Point being, there were a few clothing items that looked more suited for Hallowe'en parties than normal wear, and some hard rock band magazine pages on the wall... bands that are known for Satanist songs. She also had a iPad tablet, which I confiscated."

"Thomas Hall also lived in a dorm room." said Theo. "His roommate was a pre-Law English major, and in spite of that he let me look around. Hall's side of the room was a bit cluttered, and he was a gamer. Most of his books were computer-related, but there were a couple of others... and they were introductions to Satanist culture and society. He also had a laptop computer, which I confiscated."

Theo: "Aaron Bennett lives in an off-campus apartment on the west side of University Avenue, over one of the bars there. He's behind on his rent. The apartment was a mess, and I don't think it was ransacked; he just lived that way. No literature on Satanism, but he also was a gamer, and some of the games were Satanist-related. He had a number of Chemistry textbooks, and a couple of Dr. Mickelson's books on Sigma radiation and Titanium-44.

Everyone looked at me, and I said "Titanium-44 is a by-product of exploding stars, and it's neatest feature is that it decays into antimatter, which then touches matter and is annihilated with a huge release of energy that can be detected and even tracked. It's a big astronomy thing right now in the study of black holes." Seeing the look of sheer boredom on Savannah Fineman's face, I said "Keep going, Theo."

"Yes sir." said Theo. "Bennett's gaming device was an Xbox, but he had a laptop, and guess what?"

"You confiscated it!" said a chorus of Detectives.

"I sure did." said Theo. "Okay, Stephen Wilson lived in an apartment near where Stephen Walter Henry lived, south of Campus and Fraternity Row. I executed the warrant to look at his room, and one of his two roommates was there and let me in. No Satanist material, but he had a lot of Biology books, being a Biology major. He may be studying with Dr. Mickelson, as some of the papers on his desk were about Sigma radiation. There was no computer nor tablet in his room. But the strange thing is that he had the same book on Titanium-44 that Bennett had."

"No-teddd." sang Captain Perlman, who was making notes.

Theo: "Ashley Perez lived with two other girls in an apartment off University Avenue. The other girls are University students, and Ashley lived alone in the apartment over the summer, while the other two were in and out. Her room was small, clean, and only had books related to her Town Technical Institute studies. No computer or tablet that I could see. Her roommates said she was friendly enough, but kept mostly to herself, never brought a boy home... nor a girl, for that matter... and didn't go out very much. Maybe because she had very little money."

Theo: "Anthony Brown lived in the office of his auto shop in Midtown. The other guys that worked there said he was a good dude, and was really driven to make his business succeed. Right now I have no social contacts for him at all. Midtown Detectives Nell Bell and Steve Ruger looked through his office where he slept. Very few personal belongings except clothes, a chess set, and a couple of chess books. They did not confiscate his workplace computer, because the Midtown Detectives were not clear if our warrant covered their actions."

Theo: "And Irene Ward was a Pi Omega before that Sorority got shut down. She was not implicated in the Blassingame-Dougherty situation, but her name as a Pi O member was scrubbed from the University's records. Her drivers license lists the Pi O house as her address, but it was shut down, and she's not living with her parents. We're going to have to look harder into her."

"That is great information," I said, "especially in as little time as you've had. Keep at it. Anything else?"

Jerome Davis said "Roy, you got anything on how those twelve people went from Point Hollow to Point B?"

Detective Sergeant Roy McGhillie said "Yes sir. Some of those tire impressions matched to common Ford Econoline 350 van tires. We checked the video of all vehicles crossing the State Line River at the Hammondsville Road Bridge, the main road west. At 5:30am, these two black vans crossed the bridge within half a minute of each other." He was showing video from the cameras overlooking the road near the State Line.

"The car tags on both vans were reported stolen from cars, as in sedans, several months ago." continued Roy. "These vans did not cross back into our State by that same route. We put out a tri-State alert on them, though they'll probably change the car tags again. Maybe we'll get lucky."

"Good report." I said. "Next?"

Christopher Purvis connected to the monitor. "After reviewing the CSI tapes from this morning, it looks like the six people that died were sitting in a circle. There may have been some kind of small grill or fire pot they were sitting around, but there are no traces of it at the crime scene that we could see. What we did see was a number of footprints around that circle of people, as if there were other people there, but standing behind the six that died. We are working on determining if any of the prints match the shoes of the 12 that were taken to the Hospital."

"What's the holdup with that?" barked Savannah Fineman. "You couldn't have gone to the Hospital, and compared the shoes to the markings there?"

"No, Ms. Fineman, we could not." Captain Tanya Perlman said with great alacrity, and some anger. "All of the shoes and clothes were bagged as potentially being contaminated with dangerous substances. The Crime Lab has them, and we'll make the proper comparison when we are safely able to."

"O-kayyyy." said Chief Moynahan. "You have all done an outstanding job on this. And I know you'll continue tooooooo. Is there anything else?"

"Yes sir." I said. "Some assignments; things to look into. I need to know more about that 'World Outreach Church'. What is it, who runs it, what it's about. I need to know if any of these people, especially the Biology students, were students of Dr. Mickelson. If so, I might have to personally interview him; he's quirky and might not talk to any of you."

I continued: "I need y'all to dig deep and find any connection at all between these eighteen people. It's bad to assume, but I think we can safely surmise that all eighteen were at Point Hollow and were affected by the same thing, whatever that 'same thing' is. Stating the obvious, if we can find out why they were all at Point Hollow in the first place, we might can determine why they were killed or injured." Everyone nodded. Tanya was furiously making notes.

Chief Moynahan said "There is one more thing. I am in the process of notifying the next of kin of both the survivors and the deceased. Until that is done, I absolutely do not want to hear the names of these people on the news. Do I make myself clear on that?"

"Yes sir!" came a chorus of voices.

"I have one last thing, too." I said. I steeled up, then said with authority: "I want everyone in here to know and understand that the District Attorney's Office is not the boss of us! No one, not the D.A. nor anyone in that office, has any power or authority over any Police Officer, from the Chief down to the newest rookie Uniformed Officer. They are supposed to work with us, not over us. If there is any problem, any at all, bring it directly to me personally. That's all I have, Chief."

Savannah Fineman's face had been wide-eyed with shock when I said that, but was now turning to deep anger. She got up and swiftly left the meeting as the Chief dismissed the rest of us...

Part 6 - Into the Night

At 9:00pm, I packed up my laptop in my travel bag and secured my office. As I walked out into the hallway, I could see that the lights in both MCD and Vice were on. Going into MCD, I saw that all the Detectives were there, as well as Lieutenant Davis, Lieutenant Rudistan, Lieutenant Myron Milton, and Precinct Captain Hugh Hewitt, all at desks working on the computers, helping gather data.

"Now hear this!" I said loudly. "Go home, people. This will keep until tomorrow morning. I am going to tell the Duty Desk to call me if there is anyone still here at 10:00pm. If there is, I will be back, and I will physically kick your asses out. Now go home. If you try to come back in before 6:00am, I will be in your face. Now go! Scoot!" People started packing up to go.

I then went into Vice, where Lt. Mary Milton and the Vice Detectives were at their computers, and joined by Lieutenant DeLong and our electronics CSI, Mark Walker... and Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle. "I thought I'd lend a hand gathering data on these people." she said when I looked at her.

"Understandable." I said. Then I raised my voice and said: "But all of you, go home now." I repeated my 'threats' I'd told the people in MCD.

I knocked on Tanya's door and peeked in. She was at her computer, and she looked exhausted. I told her to get her Tank in gear and go home. She needed little persuasion to comply...

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

I arrived home at the Mountain Nest. Jim, Ross, and Ian were drawing plans for the fort they intended to build in the woods above The Cabin. Laura was sitting on the far-side sofa, talking to Molly as Molly sat in my rocking chair by the window. Carole normally could be found reading or drawing something, but tonight she was just petting Bowser.

When I came in, Carole rushed to greet me. "I was worried about you, Daddy!" she said as she hugged my legs. I looked up and saw surprise on Laura and Molly's faces.

"Why don't you help me take the dogs out." I said to Carole. Two outstanding dogs almost magically appeared at the back door. Carole and I went outside, following the dogs down the steps to ground level. As they went to inspect their territories and do their business, Carole and I sat on the metal mesh loveseat on the patio.

"Why were you worried about me?" I asked.

"You were at that haunted house today, Daddy." said Carole. "That's a bad place."

"Point Hollow?" I said. "I agree, it's a bad, bad place. But why were you worried about me? I was okay."

"I don't know, Daddy." Carole said. "I'm glad you're o-kay. Is Aunt Cindy o-kay?"

"Yes, she's fine." I said.

"She should be careful at Point Holl-owww." Carole said.

"We always are." I said. "Listen, if you have any dreams or bad feelings, you tell me as fast as you can, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy." Carole said. "And I'm glad Aunt Molly is staying here tonight."

"Me too." I said. "So how was school today?"

"Pretty good." Carole said. "All the teach-ers are happy about the new School Board. They said you were the reason for it."

"So I'm doing good in a poll of second grade teachers?" I asked. Carole giggled loudly at that. Then Bowser and Buddy trotted back up, and I told Carole we had to go back in. Daddy's popularity in the polls dropped significantly when the word 'bedtime' was mentioned...

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

Once the kids were in bed, I sat down in the rocking chair with a Scotch as Molly had moved to the near-side sofa. "I'm staying in the guest room tonight." Molly said. "Cindy asked me to stick close by, but she wouldn't say why."

Laura said "All twelve of the people you found over the State Line are recovering. Your Officers should be able to talk to them tomorrow. Dr. Morgan agrees with Martha the M.E. that all eighteen people inhaled something poisonous, and the six that died succumbed to something else that was injected into them. The twelve in the hospital had no injection marks on them. The lab tests are still ongoing."

I nodded. "That sounds about right, from what I've seen and heard today. And I thought the Hospital handled the mass casualty event very well."

"Thank you." said Laura. "That was one of the many things Dr. Cordell did to improve things. We are all really sorry to see him go, though I understand why. Replacing him is going to be hard. Oh, that reminds me, Dr. Wellman is going to interview Donny Tate, but it might be for the Assistant Administrator job, handling the books and the finances."

"Good." I said. "I hope that works out."

"What's going on with this case, Don?" Molly asked. "And why are the DAs sticking their noses into it?"

"How'd you know about that?" I asked.

Molly said "I called Chief Moynahan to offer our assistance with anything you guys might need. He mentioned arresting the DA and an ADA and bringing them to my jails to hide them. He told me they're really sticking their beaks into it."

I said "First, I'll tell you what's going on." I did so, repeating the story helping to get and keep it fresh in my mind, and putting the ducks in a row. Then I said "Walters didn't send Paulina, who knows us and is familiar with how we do things. She sent Fineman, instead. And Fineman rubbed my people the wrong way... especially the Chief."

Laura said "Why the intense interest? Political ramifications of the mass casualties?"

"Maybe." I said. "But I can't worry about them right now. I have one mystery to solve already."

"Any clues, so far?" Molly asked.

I shook my head. "No. Not enough data yet." I said...

Part 7 - Ambushed

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Thursday, October 3rd, from near the weather station on the cliff above and east of Point Hollow. "We are bringing you continuing coverage of the deaths of six persons and the sickening of twelve others at the Point Hollow estate!"

Bettina began: "Six persons were found dead at Point Hollow early yesterday morning. HAZMAT teams were called to the scene to investigate the possibility of lethal contamination and to recover the bodies, which were taken to the State Crime Lab for autopsies. The Town & County Police began an investigation, but so far remain clueless as to what transpired that led to the deaths."

Bettina: "A more extensive search revealed twelve more persons, all still alive, across the State Line. Those persons were rushed to University Hospital, which implemented its mass casualty and hazardous materials protocols. Channel Two News has learned that all twelve persons are recovering."

Bettina: "The Town & County Police have not released the names of the six dead persons, pending notification of next of kin. And neither the TCPD nor the Public Health Department have released any information about what caused the contamination that might have harmed eighteen persons, and so far have not responded to KXTC's repeated requests for comment. For all we know, the entire Town & County may be in danger from the same unknown agents that killed six people and harmed twelve others."

Bettina: "And while the TCPD is struggling to solve these cases, Commander Donald Troy and Deputy Chief Cindy Ross will be facing a Board of Inquiry over their alleged Police brutality in arresting six persons. Commissioner Finneran is expected to be named the Chief Investigator. Commander Troy may can avoid responding to KXTC's requests for comments, but he'll be forced to answer Commissioner Finneran's tough questions in the Board of Inquiry..."

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

"We're 'clueless'." Cindy Ross said acerbically as we drank coffee and watched in the Chief's Conference Room.

"Welcome to the world of 'instant gratification'." replied Teresa Croyle.

"No, welcome to the world of agenda-driven Media hatred for the Police." I replied.

"It's Crowbar's fault." growled Sheriff Griswold. "He's too damn good for his own good. Now everybody expects instant answers!" I noted his mustaches were twitching with amusement; I was being ribbed.

"Speaking of instant answerrrrrrs," drawled Chief Moynahan, "what are we doing this morning about this case?"

Tanya Perlman said "We'll be sending loddy-doddy-everybody to the Hospital to interview the twelve survivors as soon as we can. I'm expecting the toxicology and chemical tests to come back from the State Crime Lab, and hopefully Martha the M.E. will have more for us. And then we can have a big meeting to get all the data out there for you guys to look at."

Cindy said "We're going to have to have a Press conference at some point. We're getting Statewide and even national news interest over this. I've already had Captain Damien Thompson implement our media control plan."

"I wish we could control them." I said sourly-------

*BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!*

It was my personal iPhone. I answered it, and it was the Intendent, Adele Peabody. "What?!" I gasped. "Okay, thank you for calling me."

"What is it?" asked Cindy, as everyone saw the shocked look on my face.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've been ambushed." I announced. "Silas is convening the Board of Inquiry at 9:00am this morning, as originally scheduled."

"What!" yelled Sheriff Griswold, becoming red-faced. "He told me he would postpone it until tomorrow!"

"Yes sir, it's pretty easy to see what Silas and Finneran are up to." I replied as I dialed a number on my iPhone. "Hi Mike." I said to my attorney, Mike G. Todd. "They did not postpone the BOI like they promised to. It's on for today. 9:00am... yes... yes, put our plan into effect... okay, bye."

As I disconnected, I said "If you don't have a semi-formal jacket with ribbons here at Headquarters, go home and get it. The Board of Inquiry is at 9:00am... today."

"I needed that like I need a hole in the head." Cindy said, getting up. "If you'll excuse me, Chief..."

"By all means, Ms. Rossss." said the Chief. "You're all free to go, except the Sheriff. I want him to have another cup of coffee and calm down..."

"Yeah, that might be a good idea." growled the Sheriff as we all got up to go.

"Hey guys," I said, "let's not tell anyone that we know about this. Let Silas think he's fooled us, and we'll turn the tables on him..."

"I love the way you think, Crowbar." growled the Sheriff. Yes, he was one pissed-off old man, and one should never piss off old people...

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

I'd canceled the Angels Meeting, but I had KFXU on my television monitor. As Catrina and Meredith began their broadcast with the Point Hollow story, Cindy came into my office, and we watched it together.

"And we have with us Public Health Officer Beth Paige. said Catrina Pierce as the camera panned out to show Beth Paige in the studio's 'hot seat'. "Beth, what can you tell us about this situation? Is the Public in danger?"

"Thank you for having me on, Catrina, Meredith." said Beth Paige, who for the first time in my memory was wearing her dark blue uniform jacket with her badge (yes, the Public Health people have them), ribbons, and two stars on her shoulder epaulettes.

Beth said: "I don't think there's cause for concern for the general Public. We believe that all 18 persons were at Point Hollow when they became ill, and the Police are investigating if the ones that died succumbed for other reasons, such as an overdose of drugs they may have ingested."

Meredith: "Beth, initial reports were that a foul odor was detected at the crime scene, and your HAZMAT team did find poison contaminants at the scene. Can you give us more information on that?"

"We're still waiting for the autopsies and toxicology reports," said Beth, "but we do not believe there has been any spread of any contaminants beyond the local area. The Police have secured the crime scene, and any trespassers found at Point Hollow will be arrested, and we are further asking the Public to not go in or near Point Hollow..."