Teddy Bear Story

"Everybody just calls him The Spider. Like the tattoo."

Detective Green held up another picture. "This is a picture of The Spider coming out of Room 221 of the Royal Arms motel on Thursday, March 24 at 4 pm. Is this the room that you met with Mary Crawford on that day?"

"Yeah, I think that's the one. Yeah, I'm sure it is."

"Can you tell us when you left her room?"

"Sure, it was a three o'clock. I met her there at one and left at three. Then I walked down to PeeWee's Lounge and had a beer."

"Okay, Mr. Jefferson. We have evidence on a security camera at PeeWee's that you entered there and ordered a beer at three fifteen. Video from the Royal Arms shows The Spider entered Mary Crawford's room at three thirty, and left at four. The hotel maid noticed at five thirty that the door to Room 221 was open, and she entered the room to check. She found Mary Crawford nude, lying across the bed with a needle still in her arm."

"We believe, Mr. Jefferson, that other than her killer, you were the last person to see Mary Crawford alive."

"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Jefferson. You are free to go."

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Ralph Johnson, Assistant District Attorney

"Detective Green, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company this morning? Would you like some coffee? Sheila, would you bring Detective Green a cup of coffee?"

"Thank you. I'd like to bring you up to date on our investigation on the Mary Crawford case."

"Mary Crawford was working part-time at the Kwikee-Mart, and trying to support herself and her two children. She started turning tricks to make more money. She was found in the Royal Arms motel, naked and dead from a drug overdose. We found no evidence that she had ever used drugs before. The drug in the syringe was heroin, a nearly pure form. For a first time user, it would be a fatal dose. Forensics was able to lift finger prints from the syringe. They were not Mary's prints, she did not inject herself."

"The partial set of prints we lifted from the syringe was sent to the FBI lab, and we got a match on Mario Hernandez. The FBI was also able to use facial recognition software to match our security camera photo to a mugshot of Hernandez. They also confirmed the spider tattoo on his neck."

"Mr. Hernandez has an extensive record of drug dealing, drug smuggling, and racketeering. He was released from Federal prison two years ago, and immediately disappeared. Our initial sense was that he had returned to Mexico. Evidence from security cameras at the Royal Arms motel, and the Kwikee-Mart indicated that Hernandez was back in our area, going by a street alias of The Spider. He has set up a network of drug dealers working for him, and a stable of prostitutes. He gets his girls addicted to heroin, and they will do whatever he demands to keep getting their drugs. His dealers are generally teenagers, and they hang out around schools selling to kids. Vice and the Federal Fugitive Task Force have been trying unsuccessfully for months to get a handle on this guy. He has been very elusive, never staying in one place. We think he has picked up a lot of tricks from the Mexican cartels."

"At the Royal Arms, we got a shot on their security camera of Hernandez' car, a 5 year old Chrysler 500, and his license plate. The tags came back registered to Jeffery MsElroy, deceased. We put out a APB to locate the car, with a do not detain. We wanted to find Mr. Hernandez, and set up a stakeout."

"A patrol car spotted his car parked at the Vista Hills Apartments. Detective Williams and I set up a stakeout to watch for Hernandez. We also had a cruiser with two uniformed officers close by where they couldn't be seen. We had been in position about an hour when we spotted our suspect leaving an apartment and walking toward his car."

"Detective Williams and I notified our backup, pulled our weapons, got out of the car and approached Hernandez. I gave the order, 'Freeze, Police'. Hernandez reached for a weapon from his belt and started to crouch down into a firing position. Detective Williams was the first to fire, getting off two shots, and I fired twice as well. Hernandez was hit and went down without firing a shot, though he did have a gun in his hand, a Smith and Wesson .38 Special. He was pronounced dead at the hospital, having been stuck twice. On the left side of his neck was a tattoo of a spider that matched the photograph from the Royal Arms security cameras."

"Our conclusion is that Mary Crawford propositioned Mr. Hernandez in the Kwikee-Mart, or else he had heard of her activities there. She offered to meet him at the Royal Arms at three o'clock. Hernandez saw an opportunity to add Mary to his stable of prostitutes. All he had to do was get her strung out on heroin, and she would do whatever he wanted. But he miscalculated the dosage for someone who had never used drugs. As soon as the drug entered her body, she went into convulsions, and her heart stopped."

"We never found out why Hernandez was at the Vista Hills apartments, it could be one of his girls lives there. He may have been hiding out in her apartment. Vice is working to round up his dealers and hookers."

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Susan and I had been living with Grandma Gail for about a year. We were going to spend the weekend with Daddy. He would always come to Grandma Gail's house to pick us up Saturday morning right after breakfast. He said we were going to have a picnic this afternoon, at the park with the playground with the swings and slides. There was a pond there and we could feed the ducks. He said we should bring our favorite dolls and our teddy bears. We drove to Miss Emily's house, and picked up Miss Emily and Abby. Abby brought her favorite dolls and animals too. Abby had a brown bear with a silly hat. She called him Yogi. She had a yellow bear she called Poo. She had an Annie doll as well, but it wasn't handmade like my Annie.

We had a wonderful picnic. Miss Emily had packed all of our favorite foods. Susan and Abby and I lined up our dolls and bears so they could have a picnic too.

Before we were ready to leave, Daddy got us all together and said he had some important news to share with us. He said he and Miss Emily were going to be married. She would be our new mommy, and Abby was going to be our little sister. He had talked it over with Grandma Gail, and with Mrs. Rabinowitz, and he wanted us all to live together in Miss Emily's house. He also said in a few months we were going to have a little brother.

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Now, every week if the weather is good, we go to the park, feed the ducks, and have a picnic. Then we go see our Mommy, and leave her fresh flowers. Daddy comes with us, and he cries. He tells Mommy that he still loves her and apologizes for leaving her. I guess some things you can never get over.

We learned in time to call Miss Emily 'Mom', but she was never our Mommy.

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Blondie still remembers the day the teddy bears had their picnic.