Sausage and The Law Ch. 01

Conservatives rose and applauded raucously. Democrats remained seated. Socialists among the Democrats booed and hissed.

Governor Marshall: "The damage to our University has been fearsome, but it -can- be fixed. I am calling for the defunding of the Climate Change Center. I am also calling for new laws to outlaw the illegal and unConstitutional documents requiring University Faculty and employees, University Hospital Staff and employees, and other State employees to pledge loyalty to the fraud of Climate Change as a condition of tenure, retainment, or employment!"

The Republicans rose in strong, sustained applause over that one. The Dems... sat on their hands.

Governor Marshall: "University Hospital is greatly fortunate to have the Teresa Croyle Trust, which has already funded research that has produced cures for a number of rare diseases. As you know, Teresa Croyle flew a Life Flight mission just before Christmas to bring twin siblings to the Hospital. The little girl is almost completely cured, and the boy is improving as well as providing doctors with data to make even better cures."

Everyone in the Chamber stood up and delivered a long ovation at that.

As the applause finally died down, Governor Marshall said "Recently, the University President and some Faculty Members have demanded that the Croyle Trust be seized and used for the Fraud of Climate Change. I am here to tell you... that money is hers, and she generously shares the profits of the Trust to help cure sick children. The money is -not- the University's, nor is it anyone else's."

Governor Marshall: "Hear me now: any attempt to take any part of that money will cause me to authorize and direct the SBI's Office of Financial Investigation to open a criminal investigation, and anyone not authorized by Ms. Croyle attempting to touch that money will, after a fair trail by a Jury of their peers, find themselves behind prison bars!"

More raucous applause, more by Republicans but with fairly strong Democrat support. In my office, I pointed across my body with my left arm and hand at Teresa and winked at her. She gave me a thumbs-up in reply.

Governor Marshall: "University Hospital came under the severe threat of a ransomware virus last year. Thanks largely to the efforts of Town & County Police Lieutenants Myron and Mary Milton and their boss, Commander Donald Troy, the threat was ended within a few hours."

Another round of huge applause from everyone.

Marshall: "But out of that threat, the threats upon the Croyle Trust, and the attempts to illegally force declarations of loyalty to the Fraud of Climate Change, good doctors are shunning coming to University Hospital and the University's Medical program. Dr. Leonard R. Cordell saved the life of an eight-year-old child during the ransomware attack, and was rewarded by a brutal and heartless insurance company working with the State Medical Board to strip him of his license to practice Medicine. That was dead wrong, and we must pass legislation to prevent heartless insurance companies from stopping lifesaving treatment of children just because a veteran U.S. Navy doctor chose to save the child's life rather than submit to a brutally ruthless decision of a heartless insurance company!"

That got strong applause from many Conservatives and moderate Democrats. The Establishment Elites did not join the applause.

Governor Marshall: "Because of these problems, I am calling for something that has not been done in this State since 1922... the creation of a brand new, independent postgraduate Institution. I want to separate the University Medical School program into an independent State Medical College, and transfer University Hospital to it as the teaching Hospital it was supposed to be and should be!"

That was a shocker, and the applause started slowly but gained steam for a moment.

After discussing more funding for what the Governor called 'Legitimate Functions of Government' and cuts for programs not deemed to be so, Governor Marshall then said "Our State Constitution is good... but it can be better. It's been amended 132 times since its last revision in 1964. I propose legislation creating a Constitution Commission to rewrite our State Constitution, streamline it, fix the problems, and to call for votes of the People that don't require a new Amendment every time the Legislature sneezes."

There was laughter and mild applause, then the Governor said "Be aware that a new State Constitution is not a license to codify every perceived entitlement or so-called rights that favor some groups while discriminating against other groups. This is to be a Document of Governance and of Individual Rights. The law setting it up must have safeguards, such as my approval of who is on the Commission, and perhaps the Commission Chairman's approval of who is on it."

That got very modest applause in the State House Chamber... and a much stronger response in my office. Cindy's ice blue eyes bored right through me as she said "I won-der who Our Governor has in mind for the State Constitution Commission Chairmanship. I wonnnn-derrrrr who it could beeeee."

"Don't look at me." I said. Then I noticed Our Sheriff's mustaches twitching most very merrily. Uh ohhhh...

Part 6 - Oh Yeah... A Crime!

Friday, January 7th. The Governor's speech had been pilloried by the biased, dishonest, and corrupt Mainstream Media as 'hate speech', 'racist', 'reminiscent of Adolph Hitler', 'clueless', and 'totally ignorant of the settled science of Climate Change'.

Dr. Jerry Moore and Professor Lionel Carmela made statements openly attacking the Governor over the Climate portions of her agenda. But one thing stopped: there was absolutely -no- more discussion of seizing Teresa's Trust. The threat of prison time had cowed Moore, Carmela, and anyone else who had any designs on the Iron Wolf's generous gift meant to cure sick children of their diseases.

However, Moore, Carmela, and Dr. Jan Camp retaliated by demanding that Dr. Laura Fredricson declare total support for Climate Justice, and that she sign the 'loyalty documents'. For two days Bettina, Amber, and Pat Stellum had railed against Laura, calling her an 'out-of-touch Climate Denier'.

So on Friday afternoon, when Laura called and said she wanted to get away for the weekend, I was amenable. "Where are we going?" I asked. "Lake Watchacoochie?"

"Uhhh," my wife replied, "I was thinking more in the line of you getting time with the kids at The Cabin, while I take some 'alone' time."

"Not alone, I hope." I said, feeling a sense of concern.

"No, I won't be alone." Laura said, but said no more. I figured she and Paulina would be going to the Lake or to a spa somewhere, so I didn't ask.

"Okay, I'll keep the kids." I said. "New Lego City will reach new heights."

An hour later Paulina Patterson came into my office. After I had her sit down, she said "Don, can you keep Tasha this weekend without me?"

"Sure." I said. "Going somewhere with Laura?"

"Er... no." Paulina said. "You know I've been dating Michael McGill for a while now. We're, uh... going to spend a weekend together... alone. He has reservations on the River Rose down in Southport, and we'll spend the weekend eating fine food, a little bit of gambling, and otherwise being romantic." (Author's note: 'Riverboat Gambler' for more on the paddlewheel boat River Rose.)

"That sounds like fun." I said. "Just don't make me have to come down there and solve another murder."

"I'll try to stay out of harm's way." Paulina said with a grin. "So is Laura going somewhere? Hot date of her own?"

"She called and said she was going somewhere, and not alone." I said. "I thought it was with you, but that's obviously not the case. And she would... and should... tell me who she is going to be with if it was an open-marriage tryst..."

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

3:30pm, Saturday, January 8th. I got a phone call from Lieutenant Teddy Parker telling me that a double murder had occurred in the Rio Linda Apartments southeast of Town.

As I drove south in my Police SUV, I was remembering the evening and night before. Tasha had spent a -lot- of time with the cats on the back deck, and they with her, despite the cold weather. She had also been 'clingy' with me, and gave me a big hug before following Carole up to bed. I wondered what Carole was going to tell me when she had the chance...

Putting that into its compartment of the mind, I considered this case. To make a short story long again... the University-City Highway, which we call the Nextdoor County Highway, comes into our County from the east. The University-Midtown Highway comes in from the south and becomes University Avenue. The Bypass breaks off from the Nextdoor County Highway and goes southwest and several miles south of Town before turning to go north on the west side of the River, eventually ending at North Street and the Hammondsville Highway going west.

Going south along University Avenue, the Cemetery is east of it when one goes south, and then Hotel Row begins on both sides of the Avenue. Farms then begin as the road becomes the highway to Coltrane County and Midtown. So the Cemetery and fallow land to its east is between the Nextdoor County Highway and the beginnings of the Bypass.

So what is east of the Nextdoor County Highway and Bypass interchange? Besides several farms, including J.P. McGill's property (Author's note: 'The Saga Continues'), there were apartment complexes south of the Nextdoor County Highway. They'd been built decades before, intended for off-campus renting by University students. But over time, the students shunned them as relatively poor whites, known in decades past as 'white trash', began moving in. The neighborhood and area swiftly deteriorated.

The drug gang known as 'The Smooth White Boys' sold drugs in this area, making good money. They'd also kicked the Black and Hispanic gangs out, using lethal force upon any other gangsters that dared try to move in on their territory.

At 3:50pm, I arrived in the area. I drove down the street, noting that it was lined on both sides with large oak trees that would be beautiful in Summer and Autumn. Behind the rows of trees were rows of apartment buildings, the ends facing the streets. They looked halfway like Military Housing. They were two stories each, housing eight apartments each. The doors to the apartments were inside, opening from a central hallway that ran down the length of the buildings. The backsides had doors opening onto porches or balconies.

The neighborhood wasn't the very worst I'd ever seen, but it wasn't all that great. Some trash could be seen along the road and in the yards. My telltale sign of a bad white neighborhood... cars and trucks on blocks... was upheld by several examples.

There were several Police cruisers, two unmarked POVs, the M.E.'s vehicle, two ambulances, and the K-9 SUV at the next to last building on the street, on the left side. I parked and strode up the sidewalk, seeing that the near end of the building was marked off with crime scene tape to prevent walking up the walkway and into that door of the building.

"Hello, Kevin." I said to Officer Kevin Buchannan, who was black, as I walked up. "Commander Troy, TCPD Badge No. 1-6-4-0. How's Henry doing?" Henry was Kevin's son.

"Thank you, sir." Buchannan said. "Kid's doing great. Growing like a weed."

I went inside the doorway. The crime scene was the first apartment to my right, and Officers and other persons were going out of the open door into the hallway. Everyone was wearing cloth booties over their shoes, and Lieutenant Teddy Parker came up and handed me a pair.

"Our new CSI Supervisor is insisting everyone wear booties." Parker said. "She doing a 360º videotaping of the room now, so we all have to be out of there or standing in place."

I went to the door and peeked in. The door opened directly into the living room. The hinges were on the right side, which put the door jamb and lock on the left side as I looked at it from the hallway.

There was a sofa against the far wall, directly opposite the door. A window to the outside was to the right. The kitchen and breakfast room were to the left, and between the sofa and kitchen was a doorway that led to the bedroom behind the living room and the bathroom behind the kitchen.

A long, low coffee table was in front of the sofa. Bags of Chinese takeout and a pizza box were on it on the end nearer the window. Sitting on the sofa were the two victims, a man and a woman, both in dirty jeans and sweatshirts. They'd both been shot in the chest several times, followed by coup de grâce shots to their foreheads.

"Just one moment, Commander." Yolanda Grissom said. She was wearing a white blouse, black skirt, and darkish green jacket, and booties over her flat-soled slippers. Next to her was Connie the Sketch Artist and Police Photographer. She was holding a videocamera to her chest as she rotated around in a 360º circle, videoing the room.

"Now point the camera where the floor and wall meets, and rotate again." Yolanda said. After Connie did that, Yolanda told her to make one more revolution, pointing the camera up at the juncture of the walls and ceiling. "Okay, you can come in, Commander."

"Thank you." I said as I entered the room, followed by Parker, Detective Sergeant Julia Rodriguez, Detective Roark Coleman, and members of the CSI Team. I noticed that the door stopped against a wall which created a space for two closets against the wall to the apartment hallway. One was a storage closet, and right next to the door was a smaller coat closet. Neat, I thought, those spaces created a little bit of a buffer from noise made by people coming into the building from outside.

"So what are you doing with the camera, Yolanda?" I asked, genuinely curious.

Yolanda replied "I'll feed the footage into my 3D-model program on the computer... I've given Lieutenant Mary Milton a copy of the program, by the way... and I'll feed other data like the ballistics data into it to get a projection of what happened to these people."

"Who are these people?" I asked Julia.

Lieutenant Joanne Warner popped out of the bedroom. Behind her, to my total surprise, were Vice Lieutenant Micah Rudistan and Detective-2 George Newman. Joanne handed me two drivers licenses as she said "According to these IDs, she is Sarah Sandstone and he is Geoff Gerard, and both IDs have this apartment as their address. His ID was in his wallet in his pants pocket. Hers was in her purse, hidden in a drawer of the desk in the bedroom."

Sarah was a very attractive woman in her early 20s, with light brown hair and a lot of blonde highlights and blonde streaks mixed in. Her body was an hourglass shape, like Amber Harris's but not as athletic. Her face had been pretty until the bullet hole in her forehead marred it. Geoff was stocky with black hair and a trimmed beard but no mustache. They both looked unkempt.

"And that's why we're here, sir." said Lt. Rudistan. "Ms. Sandstone here has a solid rap sheet for prostitution, drug possession, and shoplifting. Mr. Gerard was busted four years ago for drug distribution and did two years. He's on probation, which very nearly got revoked when he played 'Sovereign Citizen' during a stop eight months ago in Coltrane County. He was charged with Obstruction, FFI, and Resisting Arrest. Judge J.B. Stone in Coltrane County dropped the charges when he found out the two State Troopers that pulled Gerard over were Black."

"J.B. Stone." I said. "Now that is a name I have not heard in a good long while... thank God." (Author's note: 'A Case of Revenge', Ch. 06.)

"There's a whole pizza in the pizza box, warm to the touch." said CSI Tech Garst Gailey. "The takeout is warm, too."

"Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop." I called out, not particularly loudly, but with the authority of a Police Commander... oh, yeah. I am one.

In the ensuing silence I said "Since Supervisor Grissom is new, I need to make sure she is properly trained in my idiosyncrasies. Lieutenant Parker, what is always my first question at a crime scene?"

"Who called it in, sir." Teddy correctly replied. "And I do have that information for you. Several 9-1-1 calls came in between 2:30 and 2:40pm, reporting hearing shots in the area. We sent Patrol units into the area, and they first arrived at 2:45pm. They saw no activity in the area, but at 3:05pm another call came in to 9-1-1. The person refused to identify herself... it was a woman's voice, I heard the tape replay... and the phone came up as a pre-paid phone that you recharge minutes on at the Kroger Service Booth."

Parker: "That person said to go to Apartment 10B, which is this one. The door was halfway open, allowing the Officers to look inside, and they saw the bodies. They radioed it in, then entered and cleared the apartment under 'exigent circumstances' rules."

"Okay, so a pre-paid phone called it in when she, or a very light-voiced 'he', saw the Patrols, and directed them here." I said. "Kendell, does that match up with your temperature readings?"

"Sure does, Commander." said Field M.E. Kendell Ramsey, who'd been taking body temperature readings at different tissue depths. "These bodies have barely begun to cool, what with the insulation of these pullover sweatshirts.

"Jody, what do you have for me?" Yolanda asked Jody Taylor, our Ballistics expert, who was sticking thin colored wires into the bullet holes on the bodies. "Any idea what caliber the bullets are?"

"No ma'am, not yet. The entry wounds look like nine millimeter or thirty-eights." said Taylor. "Also, they were standing up when the first bullets impacted their chests, and I think they fell back onto the sofa. The forehead shots are at an angle from above, as if the killer stepped up to them and fired the insurance shots into their heads as they lay here. There's a bit of stippling on her forehead, too."

"That's interesting." Roark Coleman said.

"Let me get video for my program." Yolanda said at the same time. She took the videocamera from Connie and took the video footage she needed.

"What's that, Mister Roark? What was interesting?" I asked him.

"The coup de grâce shots, sir." Roark replied. "Why did the killer take the time? One would think he would---"

"You're sure it's a 'he'?" Joanne Warner asked, and quite snarkily.

"Or 'she'." Roark replied witheringly, rolling his eyes after turning away from her. "But my point is that one would think the killer would shoot and then run like hell to get out of here."

"That's what you get when someone is (air quotes) 'thinking' when he's not used to it." I heard Joanne mutter quietly to Rudistan, taking a dig at Roark Coleman.

"That is indeed an interesting observation, Mr. Roark." I said out loud. I then walked into the bedroom. There was a sliding glass door in the back wall that led to a patio enclosed by a three foot wall, and a window in the right side wall, just as there was a window in the right side of the main room.

The bed was unmade, but the room was otherwise fairly neat. I looked in the closet and found almost no clothes belonging to Geoff Gerard, and a lot of dresses and shoes that were Sarah's, from very dressy to business casual to the young club scene.

As I came back into the main room, I saw Joanne Warner bolt out into the hallway. She knocked on the door of the apartment opposite. No one answered. Joanne knocked again and called out "This is Lieutenant Warner with the TCPD. If anyone is in there, and you saw something, please talk to me."

Still no answer. Joanne asked George Newman to walk with her, and they went outside the building, then came back in a moment later.

"Someone is home in there." Joanne said quietly to me. "I saw the peephole darken, then lighten, then darken again. Someone's looking through it at what we're doing."