The Babymaker Ch. 01

"They don't teach Civics in our Public Schools anymore, Sheriff." said Teresa. "I'm stunned at what my kids tell me that they're being taught in school."

"That's true." said the Sheriff. "Anyway, to answer your question, Ted Mason is leading Savannah Fineman... 39-31%, with a whopping 30% undecided..."

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

Between the Bettina broadcast and the Angels Meeting, I did what I normally do during that time: I went over the duty logs from the night before. And I saw an entry that Police had responded to the burglar alarm at Town Fitness Centers at 2:00am.

TCPD Officers had been patrolling nearby; indeed, one car was parked nearby at my 'suggestion' to Teresa and 1st Precinct Captain Hewitt. The fire exit door had been jimmied open, probably with a crowbar (how dare they, I thought to myself), but had fled before the Police arrived, literally a couple of minutes later.

I remembered that side exit door... from that landing outside, the Reverend Jonas Oldeeds had been assassinated at long range by one of the best snipers in CIA history. (Author's note: 'Case of the Executed Evangelist' for the murder; 'A Case of Revenge', Ch. 05, for the full solution.)

As I reminisced, two of my Angels came in with the Sheriff and parked themselves. I said "Let's watch some TV." and turned on the Fox Eight broadcast:

"Hello, and welcome to Fox University Sunrise!" said Catrina Pierce at 8:00am. "I'm Catrina Pierce, and with me are Meredith Peller and Priya Ajmani. Good morning, ladies." After they said good morning back and chit-chatted, Catrina called upon Priya to give the news.

Priya: "In a heartbreaking story, Carl Ryder was shot to death yesterday after being run off the northbound Bypass road. Carl was an employee at Town Fitness Centers, which is part-owned by his wife Wanda. Police also discovered that Carl's home was broken into and ransacked at about the same time he was attacked, and Police believe that the criminals took his keys from his car and used them to enter his home."

Meredith: "Police have not determined the motive for the crimes, but experts believe that he may have made enemies in the past. As a college student at the University, Mr. Ryder was involved in the case where student Jeremy Moreland was attacked. Mr. Moreland died of his injuries after his parents won a lawsuit against the State Right to Life Committee to remove his life support." (Author's note: 'The Knave of Jacks', Ch. 01; 'In Black And White', Ch. 01.)

Catrina: "Sources tell Fox Eight News that Carl Ryder was popular with his co-workers and customers at Town Fitness Centers. The Town & County Police have issued no statements on the case, saying that it's too early in the investigation to determine the root causes of the crimes."

Priya: "And in other news, with early voting beginning October 12th, the State as well as local races are very close. Let's bring in Peter D. Gordon of Clear Call Polling. Peter, how are the big races shaping up?" The camera panned out to show Peter D. Gordon sitting in the 'hot chair' in the studio with the ladies.

Peter Gordon: "It's a mixed bag, ladies. Sharon Marshall leads Hoyt Stenson, while Corey Coons is running roughshod over Ruby Russell. Mayor Daniel Allgood and the Democrat he defeated in the last Mayoral election are evenly divided with a large undecided segment, but in what may be the biggest race this cycle, SBI Director James 'Curly' Goodwin is destroying NAMbLA member Bruce Finneran by nearly 60 points among likely voters."

Priya: "So despite our competitor KXTC strongly backing Bruce Finneran, he's losing big?"

Peter: "That's right, Priya. KXTC's endorsement of Finneran has not helped him at all, and his name on the Democrat ticket could drag down other candidates, such as Eldrick X. Weaver and Edgar Silas..."

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

"That's the advantage of going second." I said as the Sheriff, Teresa, Tanya and I watched in my office. "They watched Bettina's propaganda------ er, broadcast, and were able to not only have Peter Gordon give the real poll numbers, but they could take shots at Finneran, and KXTC's endorsement of him."

"They also didn't say one word about Cindy." Teresa noted. "Is that because of her close friendship with Priya?"

"Likely." I said. "Okay, Sheriff, do you want to stay for the Angels Meeting, even though you will never qualify as one of my Angels?" My Angels giggled.

The Sheriff stood up as he said "Yeah, I'll let you get to it------"

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

It was my Police iPhone. "Troy." I answered.

"Sir, this is Myron Milton. Can Mary and I come up to your office for a moment?..."

Part 7 - Making Progress

The Sheriff stayed; my Angels got out. When Helena admitted Mary and Myron, I had them sit down in the hot chairs with the Sheriff on the sofa behind them. For the record, Mary's hair was very bright pink today. "Whaddya got?" I asked them.

Myron brought out the gym bag found in Carl's car, in an evidence bag. He also brought out the small computer box found in the bag.

"Sir," said Mary, "we analyzed that small computer box. It's technically a laptop, with a screen and keyboard, but it's specially made."

"Custom job?" I asked.

"Er, no sir." said Myron. "Well... let me put it like this. It looks like the motherboard was CNC-machine drilled... and by that I mean that someone programed a machine to cut out this and many other boards. The components do not appear to be a hodgepodge of individually bought parts, but all from the same company. My guess sir, is that it's one of many similar devices, either made by the Government or under contract for it."

"Okay, convince me." I said.

Myron: "This box doesn't have a lot of computing power nor RAM, but it has a boatload of storage. A hundred terabytes total."

I emitted a low whistle. "My God. For a personal trainer to have a device with that much storage is a... 'strangeness', for damn sure." I said, knowing that a terabyte was 1024 gigabytes. One or two terabytes was what most individuals had with the newest home computers.

"Yes sir, it is." said Mary.

"Now, sir," said Myron, "we'd like for you to examine the gym bag." I noticed the slightest of gleams in their eyes, and realized something was going on. Maybe they had a bet going on?

I put on latex gloves and took the bag from it's evidence bag. "The sides are stiff, as if they have cardboard in them to keep them upright." I said as I looked at it. I then followed where the small wire went to the inside of where the carrying strap snapped onto the bag.

"Hmmm," I said as I looked at the outside. "This button on the strap looks like abalone, but there's a tiny circle in the middle that's clear." I unsnapped it, seeing Mary begin to smile as I examined the other half of the button, that was attached to the bag. "Oh yeah, clearly a camera in that hole in the middle. Really tiny, though."

I looked up, then said "So yes, Myron, I agree with you that this is likely U.S. Government issue, more specifically from within the Intelligence Community. So... who won the bet?" Myron, Mary, and the Sheriff all broke out laughing at that, especially Mary.

"I did, sir," said Mary, "though Myron thought you'd find it, too, just not as quickly as I thought you would. Anyway, sir, we have the stored contents of the computer for you to watch, but I have to warn you that the Sheriff is not old enough to legally be allowed to view it."

"Har!" barked the Sheriff, his handlebar mustaches twitching merrily as I chuckled.

"Okay, let's watch some TV." I said as Mary closed the blinds to the windows to the anteroom, then came behind my desk and closed the blinds to the window to the outside.

The video began playing. On her knees was a gorgeous woman with long, flowing blonde hair, her head resting on her crossed arms, her ass high in the air. Kneeling behind her, holding her hips and deeply fucking her dog-style, was Carl. His large penis was pistoning in and out of the woman's obviously wet hole, and his groin made loud slapping sounds as it smacked hard into her bare, lovely ass.

Carl groaned, and I saw that his thrusting cock was beginning to be coated with frothy white semen. He was coming inside her, blasting his seed into her magnificent body. He pitched forward, riding her flat to the bed as he ejaculated his full, potent load deep into her stretched, receptive vagina.

"That's just an excerpt." said Mary. "The whole video starts with them undressing, followed by rather brief foreplay, then sex. After that, they talked a few minutes, but we couldn't make out what was being said. They had sex again in the missionary position, and he came in her again. Then they got dressed and left, and it was more like a business transaction had occurred than a love affair. There was never an exchange of money, at least not on camera."

"Hmmm." I said. "Do you recognize the woman, Mary? Is she a known prostitute?"

"You know, sir," mused Mary, "I feel like I've seen her before, but not as a prostitute that Vice became aware of. We haven't shown anyone else the tape, but I sent Penny Scott a still frame of just her face, and Penny's putting it through facial rec now."

"That's fine." I said. "But for now, let's keep this completely under wraps. We have knowledge that people don't know we have. And come to the meeting in Classroom 'E' at 9:00am., but don't mention the bag, nor its contents, especially the computer.

I then said: "You're welcome to come, too, Sheriff, despite not being old enough to view this material."

"Why, thank you very much, young Crowbar." the Sheriff growled. "Thanks for letting me be in charge for a while." Mary was almost rolling on the floor with laughter, and Myron was blushing but also laughing, as was I...

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

9:00am. The Sheriff, Chief, Me, Teresa, Tanya, Jerome Davis, Mary Milton, Myron Milton, Micah Rudistan, all of the MCD Detectives and Intel personnel, and Joan Laurer from Vice were in Classroom 'E'.

"How about I let yoooo be in charge for a while, Mis-ter Crowbarrrr." drawled the Chief, who'd obviously heard about the repartée in my office with the Sheriff.

"Thank you, sir. Most kind." I replied with a grin as Mary Milton began laughing. "Okay, let's get serious, folks; we have work to do. First, any new information?"

Senior Detective Christopher Purvis of Intel, our financial guru, said: "Yes sir, I have a workup of Carl and his wife Wanda's personal finances. They file their tax returns jointly, and have had them professionally done since they married a few years ago. That is very understandable, as Wanda has a legal partnership in Town Fitness Centers, as well as her and Carl's incorporated company, called 'Best Fitness Solutions LLC'."

Purvis: "Best Fitness Solutions, LLC's incorporation paperwork with the State says that they are a fitness company that makes fitness videos as well as tailoring fitness programs for individual clients. It's basically a passthrough entity, and any money they've earned has gone straight through and into their personal bank accounts. I'll 'circle back' to that in a moment."

Purvis: "Their personal finances are in relatively good shape, with only their mortgage and car payments for her car, as his was paid off. They pay off their personal credit cards, one Visa and one Mastercard, every month, and don't generate a lot of expenses to begin with. Wanda has a Town Fitness Centers credit card, also. Neither of them have amassed any sudden big debts and then paid them off, nor had any large windfall deposits of cash in these personal accounts that I can't see and explain."

Purvis: "Carl gets a salary as an employee of Town Fitness Centers, and also is paid through the company for any clients that hire him as a personal trainer. Those clients are not itemized on his pay stubs nor his taxes, so we don't know who they are. He did not list any additional income, as in private clients that might've hired him separately from within the company."

Purvis: "However, there are occasional cash deposits into their joint bank account, and always for an even $500 or $1000. I determined that these deposits are from their LLC passthrough company. They're technically legal, and they've paid their taxes on them, but I have no further information from their public filings."

"What about Town Fitness Centers?" I asked... and the room suddenly somehow went even more dead quiet than it already had been.

"Er, sir... I didn't want to look into them without your explicit instructions, or the Chief's." said Purvis. "I've heard that green crowbar beatdowns hurt even more than red ones do."

I nodded. "I've heard those rumors, too, though I've never been on the losing end of one. And you're correct, Mr. Purvis: with Deputy Chief Ross being the majority owner of Town Fitness Centers, we'll have to handle that at a higher level. Okay, anything else?"

"Yes sir," said Lt. Mary Milton. "First, on the Town Fitness Centers break-in last night: cameras in the area recorded nothing at all; no humans driving or running anywhere. Cameras inside briefly showed a person masked and wearing dark clothes come in the back door, then running back out just seconds later; apparently they knew the Police were already approaching. We'll keep looking into that." I nodded.

Mary continued: "We tried tracking where Carl's cellphone went yesterday. It was pinging from his home, then it went offline, completely, as if he'd put it in some kind of shielding that would prevent its signal from reaching the cell towers It was offline for three hours until noon, right before he made his final phone call to his wife."

"What about the car tracking? The THEFT light tracker?" Tanya asked.

"Ma'am," said Myron Milton, keeping his voice as polite as possible, "those can't really be used to track a vehicle's past actions, not like a GPS system in a car. We can find a car's location with it, and track it once we're locked on and following it. But nobody that I know of keeps that metadata, not like the way the Government records and keeps the metadata of every cellphone call made in the country."

"That's true." I said. "Anything else?"

"What about GPS?" Tanya asked.

"He didn't have one in his car." said Myron.

"Okay, good report." I said. "Anything else?"

"Yes sir." said MCD Detective George Newman. "Roark (Coleman) and I interviewed the employees at Town Fitness Centers, particularly his fellow personal trainers. Everyone said he was well-liked, no enemies, no altercations with anyone that anyone knew of. We also determined that his wife Wanda was there all morning, and on the floor of the co-ed side with customers all morning."

Newman: "One caveat to this is that they also told us that Carl didn't really hang out with anyone, except his wife. He would stay at the gym with her or go home with her rather than go out for a beer or drinks with the others. They said he was totally devoted to her despite their age difference and what they said were the 'very lovely women' that asked to work with him."

"That's good to know. Good work." I said. "Okay, folks, here's what we need to do going forward. Lieutenant Milton and Lieutenant Milton, I want you and your people to continue working to get cellphone metadata, and expand your search to trace any cellphone, burner or otherwise, that has communicated with either Carl and Wanda's cellphones. I also would like to see a record of where Carl went for the last several days, as far back as you can."

Me: "I'm going to get Carl's client list from Town Fitness Centers, via warrants if they won't voluntarily give us that information. I want you guys in MCD to get ready to go interview people when I have names for you. We will want to be as discreet as possible about it. This is an initial investigation, not a forensic audit of them."

Your Iron Crowbar: "Mr. Rudistan, Mary Milton is going to send you a photo of a woman that we've obtained, who we think may possibly related to the case. See if Vice recognizes her as a prostitute or in any other way. And no one else in here is to ask Lieutenant Rudistan nor either of our Lieutenants Milton what that's about until the woman is identified. Do I make myself clear... especially to Captain Muscone and Commander Croyle?"

"Yes sir." Teresa said immediately. Tanya's confirmation was slower in coming, but as my eyes bored into her, she said "Yes sir."

"Okay, I have a particular mission for you, Detective Rodriguez, and I want you to take Detective Laurer with you. You're going to go interview Wanda. If she balks at giving the interview or answering any of your questions, bring her here to Headquarters and put her in I-A or I-B, and let me know. And stay here a moment. Chief, I'd appreciate it if you stay, too. Everyone else can go."

As people got up to go, I said with a grin: "Sheriff, of course you can stay also, if you like."

"Why, thank you for letting me be in charge again, Crowbar." growled the Chief merrily.

"Must be some inside joke going on about that." I heard Jerome whisper to Rudistan as they exited. Rudistan nodded jovially in agreement.

Once it was only Julia, Joan, the Chief, the Sheriff, and me, I fiddled with my ink pen in my pocket, then told Julia what questions I wanted her to ask and get answers for, as well as any other questions she had on her own based on her own experience and instincts.

"Joan," I said, "this will be excellent experience for you to get, so learn from it. Also, you are there as Julia's bodyguard. She can take care of herself, but Wanda and Ariel are fitness gurus and may know some martial arts. And their partner, Commander Ross, may be there, and she definitely knows how to fight."

"And to that point, ladies," I continued, "Commander Ross outranks you, but if she tries to interfere with your interview in any way, Julia you get out your cellphone and call me immediately. And Joan, you text me the word 'Help', just that word."

Julia and Joan's eyes were wide with shock. So were Chief Moynahan's. But Sheriff Griswold just sat back with a look that showed my words were a few steps behind his vision...

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

At Ariel's apartment, Julia knocked on the door. It opened to reveal Cindy Ross, who was holding her green crowbar.

"Ma'am, may we come in?" asked Julia. "We really need to interview Wanda."

"Let's see if she's up to it." Cindy said as she stepped to the side to admit the Detectives. They all went into the main room. Wanda was in a chair, her eyes a bit puffy from sessions of crying. Ariel was at the doorway to the bedroom.

"Wanda," said Julia, "we're very sorry to have to impose on you at this time, but we really need to ask you some questions to help us find your husband's killer." Wanda nodded, and extended her hand for the Detectives to sit on the sofa, which they did.

"Can't this wait?" Ariel said quietly but harshly. "She just lost her husband."

"Yes ma'am," said Julia politely, "but time is of the essence if we're going to find his killer... and all of your lives are possibly in danger, also."

"What do you want to know?" asked Wanda.

"Ma'am," said Julia, "When was the last time you heard from your husband?"

"He called me right before..." Wanda said, then her voice broke "... before he was run off the road."

Julia said "And before that? When was the last time you saw or heard from him?"

"When I left to go to the gym that morning." Wanda said. "He stayed at home."

"Did he normally go to work with you? At the same time?" Julia asked.

"Sometimes." said Wanda. "Sometimes we rode to work together, sometimes he'd go in earlier, sometimes me earlier."

"Why did he not go in early yesterday morning?" asked Julia.