The Babymaker Ch. 02

I nodded. "True, and you're correct to look for things like that, but let's not automatically assume anything. Even so, I'll need to have a few words with the Linders in my capacity as an SBI Inspector. Okay, what else do we have?"

Mary Milton said "We're running standard checks on all of Town Fitness Center's clients; that should be done by this evening. We've already done his co-workers, and found nothing. We prioritized Carl's clients, then Wanda's, and looked harder. So far, nothing's popped. We're finding nothing out of the ordinary, except that all of Carl's client's were women. I can also say that neither of the Linders are members of Town Fitness Centers. We'll continue to dig."

"So no connection through there." I said. "Okay, keep looking..."

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

3:30pm. Senior Detective Joanne Warner enthusiastically rolled the whiteboards into MCD as Lt. Jerome Davis said "Okay, Joanne twisted my arm, so it's time for whiteboards. Julia, run us through what we have."

Julia first put up Carl's photo in the top left corner. Next to it, she put up Wanda's photo. "Carl and Wanda. She's a full thirty years older than he is... er, was."

She put up a photo of Ariel... and Cindy. "Wanda's partners in Town Fitness Centers, where Carl also worked."

"Wow, is Commander Ross a suspect?" asked Joanne disbelievingly.

"She was here at Headquarters all morning." said Theo Washington. "Her pic is up there just because of the Fitness Centers connection... and her little rampage on your cellphones."

"And unfortunately, we can't completely rule her out." said Roark Coleman. When they looked at him, he said "Don't get me wrong, I don't think she's behind anything like murder. But we can't completely rule her out yet."

"Okay, Roark." said Joanne Warner brightly. "But you get to take the crowbar beatdown... the red crowbar beatdown... when Commander Troy sees this."

"Okay, next is Danielle Linder and her husband, State Representative Lamar Linder." Julia said, putting their pictures on the board below Carl's.

"She's a good bit younger than her husband is." Theo Washington said. "I can see her stepping out on him, and he found out about it and did something about it."

Teddy Parker said: "And remember that Wanda is 30 years older than Carl. By all accounts they were madly in love and 'getting physical' in her office at the gym at times, but he still might've wanted someone younger on occasion."

"Carl was a player when he was in college, too." said Julia. "He impregnated that girl Stella after cuckolding her boyfriend Jeremy and deflowering her." (Author's note: 'The Knave of Jacks', Ch. 01.) "This could possibly go back that far, to an enemy Carl made by stealing some guy's girl while in School, or afterwards."

"Mannnn..." George Newman said under his breath. "We're just getting started with all this." There were murmurs of agreement.:"

"And to that point," Julia said, "I'm not going to put up all of the employees of Town Fitness Centers nor Carl's clients through them, unless Intel Branch finds something really juicy. Anyone else we need to put up here?"

"Not yet," said Joanne, "but I can't help but think there's more to this. Something we don't know yet, that we haven't found out yet. Like George said, we have to go back in time, and we also have to go wider in present time."

"I'll just say this." said Teddy Parker. "We all know Wanda and Ariel, and consider them friends. And most of us know or at least have met Carl. Having said that, I'll say again what I said a bit earlier: we gotta look at the spouse, here, and consider that Wanda was somehow involved in this."

"And you just volunteered yourself to investigate that path." said Lt. Jerome Davis. He then said: "Commander Troy told me that he'll work the Lamar Linder angle, since he, Commander Troy, is an SBI Inspector. He may ask you, Julia, to work with him on that, so be ready to drop everything and go with him." Julia and Teddy nodded at their assignments.

Jerome: "Intel is working on Carl and Wanda's client list, and they'll let us know if they find something worth pursuing, as in seriously interviewing someone. When they do, you run with the rock on that, Theo. And until we get something in present time, let's look deeper and wider. Roark and George, start working back in time, back to Carl's college days. Joanne, you'll work with Theo on anything that comes up, but in the meantime, use your Federal connections to see if there's anything at that level. It's a longshot, but let's be able to tell the Iron Crowbar that we've covered all the bases..."

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

Meanwhile...

"Yes, this is Inspector Don Troy with the SBI." I said into the phone. "May I speak with Representative Linder, please?... yes, please do take a message: tell him that Inspector Troy of the SBI needs to talk to him as soon as I can. It's urgent, and it will be in his best interests to give me a call back... thank you."

I was in my office, sitting behind my desk. In front of my desk were Tanya and Teresa. "That was Lamar Linder's office in Lexington. They said he's in Midtown." I said as I dialed another number, then put it on speaker: "Hello, this is Inspector Troy with the SBI. May I speak to Representative Linder, please?"

"I'm sorry, sir, he's at his Campaign office in Lexington." said the woman on the phone.

"You say he's at his office in Lexington?" I said inquiringly. "Funny thing: I just called there, and they say he's at his Midtown office."

"Uh, sir," said the woman, a bit shakily, "all I know is that he's not here, and I was told he was at his home office in Lexington. Can I take a message for Representative Linder?"

"You sure can." I said. "Again, this is Inspector Don Troy with the State Bureau of Investigation, and I need to speak with Mr. Linder immediately, as soon as possible. Please tell him that it is urgent, and that it's very much in his best interests to contact me as soon as possible." The woman said she'd relay the message, and I disconnected.

"I've seen that look before." Tanya said, observing me. "They're running you around, and you're getting pissed."

"I'm not amused, for damn sure." I replied a bit moodily.

"Should we put out an APB for him?" Teresa asked.

"Not yet." I said. "I'll give him a chance to get back with me. If he's innocent, I'd think he'd call, just to find out why an SBI Inspector wants to talk to him. And an APB lets the Press know what's going on, and I really want to keep as much as possible away from them."

Tanya was on her tablet. "I'm bringing up Linder's campaign website." she said. "Maybe his schedule of appearances is on it."

"Good thinking, Lady Ironside." I said, making Tanya grin.

"Oh... wow." Tanya said. She turned her tablet around for Teresa and I to see. "Error 404 message. The website is down."

I picked up my landline phone and dialed a number. "Hi Myron. I need you to get into State Representative Lamar Linder's website. It went down, and I need to see if his schedule was on it before it went down. Also, if you can find out the time the website went down, I'd appreciate getting that, too... okay, let me know."

I hung up the phone. "Sometimes the last image of the webpages are saved, that can be accessed, and nobody is better than Myron at getting that."

"Could it be a legitimate coincidence, sir?" Tanya asked.

"No." said Teresa. "We have two coincidences: his people telling Don that Linder is in the other place, and now his website goes down. And when we have two coincidences, we have none."

"Exactly, Iron Wolf." I said. "You guys are good."

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

4:15pm, Tuesday, September 29th. Myron Milton came to my office, and I had him sit down. Teresa was also in the office.

"Sir," he said, "You said you called Linder's offices at 3:35pm. The website went down at 3:36pm. I did get an image from 3:00pm, and he has one scheduled appearance: tomorrow night at the Lexington Kiwanis Club meeting."

"I wonder if that'll be canceled." Teresa thought out loud.

"It doesn't matter." I said. "Tomorrow night is wayyyy too much time for us to wait." Then I thought of something. "Okay, thanks Myron. You can go. You too, Iron Wolf. I've got some things to do." They moved out smartly.

I took out my personal iPhone and speed-dialed Alison McFarland. "Hi Alison." I said.

"Got a scoop for me?" Alison asked.

"Not yet." I said. "I called because I need your help. And I know you're brilliant enough to figure it out, so I have to ask that this be off the record, or at least embargoed unless and until I say you can release it."

"I'll take 'embargoed'." said Alison. "What's up?"

"Can you quietly get me State Representative Lamar Linder's whereabouts for tonight and tomorrow?" I said.

"Hmm, sure, I'll see what I can find." Alison said.

"Thanks. I'll owe you two favors now." I said.

"Hmmmm, I might just have to ask for one of those favors... in bed." Alison said flirtatiously...

Part 10 - Collateral Damage

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" said the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Wednesday, September 30th, from the anchor desk at the KXTC studios. "There are breaking developments in the murder of Carl Ryder on Monday! Let's go to reporter Pat Stellum for more on this important story!"

The screen switched to Pat Stellum, who was in the parking lot of the building just east of the strip mall that contained Town Fitness Centers, with the gym clearly in the background.

"That's right, Bettina!" said the balding Stellum, whose face looked a bit like Al Capone, his lips almost womanly and too full, and smiling broadly. "Carl Ryder was an employee of Town Fitness Centers, which is owned by TCPD Commander Cindy Ross. Channel Two News has learned that the Town & County Police subpoenaed Town Fitness Centers for their client list, and Town Fitness Centers gave that list to the Police without contesting the subpoena in any way!"

"What does this mean for the gym's customers, Pat?" said a smiling Bettina as the monitor went to a split-screen.

Stellum: "What it means, Bettina, is that if you are a paying customer of Town Fitness Centers, they have given your name to the Police. Let me clarify further, Bettina: if you are a customer of Town Fitness Centers, Commander Donald Troy's TCPD is investigating you! It means that Commander Donald Troy believes that you are a murder suspect!"

Stellum: "A standard Police investigation will mean that every customer of Town Fitness Centers whose name was given to the Police is having their credit checked, their finances investigated, and their recent whereabouts probed via cellphone pings. If you are a customer of Town Fitness Centers, its owner just gave the TCPD your name without a fight so that the Police can tear into your lives as the suspects they consider you to be! Back to you, Bettina."

"Thank you for that important information, Pat!" a brightly smiling Bettina said as the screen came back to just her. "That's Pat Stellum, our new investigative reporter. And now let's go to our new political reporter, Carl Lemay! Welcome to the team, Carl!"

"Thank you, Bettina! It's great to be part of the team!" said Carl Lemay, who was black, and Lester 'Penis' Holder's replacement. "Channel Two News has learned that the US DOJ Civil Rights Division's lawsuit against white Town & County Mayor Daniel Allgood has been moved to the Court of Federal Judge K.M. Landis."

Lemay: "The lawsuit was moved to Judge Landis's Court because the Town & County is directly under his circuit, while Judge Taney covers the Midtown circuit. But political experts are suggesting that it was moved to Judge Landis because his rulings have often been hardline Conservative, while Judge Taney is considered to be a reasonable, moderately left-of-center Judge."

Lemay: "And in the local races, as we head to early voting that begins October 12th and runs through October 30th, former Board of Inquiry member Bruce Finneran is polling strongly against SBI Director James Goodwin in the race for Inspector General, especially in the majority-Minority districts! Many in the Black Community believe that only Mr. Finneran will have the ability and the fortitude to stop Commander Donald Troy's reign of Police brutality against People of Color, and will work diligently to have Commander Troy terminated from the TCPD. Mr. Finneran has been strongly endorsed by KXTC Channel Two News for the Inspector General post. Back to you, Bettina!"

"Thank you for that good information, Carl!" Bettina said brightly as the screen came back to her. "And yes, to reiterate: KXTC has strongly endorsed Bruce Finneran in the extremely important Inspector General race..."

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

"Well, Carl Lemay has shown he's a 'team player' for KXTC." said Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle as she, Sheriff Griswold, Chief Moynahan, Captain Tanya Muscone, ADA Paulina Patterson, and Your Iron Crowbar drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room.

"Pat Stellum, too." said Tanya. "But he was smiling way too much as he threw Cindy and her business under the bus. It looked like he was enjoying it in a personal way."

"Bettina, tooooooo." said Chief Moynahan. "And that was really dirty poooool to report that the way they did."

"I know We the Police have the right to make basic inquiries like we're doing." Teresa said. "But the way that fat asshole Stellum worded it, making it sound like Cindy just couldn't wait to give us their names, will hurt her business. People won't connect the dots that we had to subpoena the gym to get the names, nor will they care that we're investigating a murder."

"Spot on." I said. "I totally agree with that. I had not wanted to get the warrant, because I knew the Press would find out. If Cindy had quietly given us the names voluntarily, the Press wouldn't even know about it now."


"Why didn't she give you that information voluntarily?" barked Sheriff Griswold.

I said "Because Ariel, and maybe Wanda, didn't want to, sir. They're partners in the business, albeit minority partners, and Cindy had to respect their wishes. However... there is a silver lining to that cloud: any customers who start yelling and screaming will quickly go to the top of my suspect list, and we'll be digging a lot deeper into them than the vast majority of the others."

Teresa said "I want to know why they were touting Finneran so strongly. I know they support him and they endorsed him, but that seemed over the top... and they didn't mention any other candidates."

"Nor gave any actual poll numbers." I said. "And yes, that's what I've been wondering about, why they did that. I suspect there's something to it, but damned if I know what..."

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

"Hello and welcome, to Fox University Sunrise!' said Catrina Pierce at 8:00am from the KFXU studios. "I'm Catrina Pierce, and with me as always is Meredith Peller. We'll be joined by Priya Ajmani shortly. Good morning, Meredith."

"Good morning, Catrina. Good morning, everyone." Meredith said. "Here's what's in the news. With early voting in the State set to start less than two weeks from now, candidates are making strong pushes and many appearances across the State. Candidate for Lieutenant Governor Corey Coons is appearing in Southport and Jacksonville today, bringing his message of Equal Justice for People of Color and defunding the Police to the State's second largest city."

Catrina: "But not all candidates are active. Democrat candidate for Governor Hoyt Stenson has no live appearances scheduled for the rest of the week nor this weekend, and his opponent, Sharon Marshall, continues to accuse Stenson of dodging a live debate with her on live television. And in the local race for Inspector General, SBI Director James 'Curly' Goodwin leads NAMbLA member Bruce Finneran by a whopping 66-32%, with only 2% of respondents saying they are undecided, according to data provided by Clear Call Polling. And in a related story, let's go to Alison McFarland of the Town & County Examiner. Thank you for joining us, Alison."

"Thank you for having me, Meredith and Catrina." said Alison McFarland, her head framed by her mane of blonde hair as the camera panned out to show her sitting on the 'hot seat' chair next to the sofa the hostesses were sitting on. Alison turned to the camera and said: "The Town & County Examiner has learned that Karl Frazier's Public Policy Polling has severed all ties with KXTC Channel Two News. Karl Frazer gave the Examiner this comment. Roll tape."

Tape rolled, showing Karl Frazier saying to Alison: "I've severed my company's relationship with KXTC because they were attempting to force me to dishonestly report false numbers in the Goodwin-Finneran race for Inspector General. As you know, Alison, KXTC has endorsed Finneran, really going 'all in' with their chips on him, but I could not report with any sense of integrity that Finneran is even close to winning the I.G. race. And so, for the sake of the integrity of political polling, I've stepped away from that toxic relationship..."

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

"And there it is." I said as Teresa, Tanya, Paulina, the Sheriff, and I watched in my office. "That's why KXTC was going bonkers praising that pedophile Finneran. They knew Frazier had broken them off, and was going to lower the boom on them publicly."

"Wowwwwww." said Teresa. "I can appreciate Frazier's integrity on that, but won't they sue the crap out of him for it?"

"I doubt it." growled Our Sheriff. "I don't have to be the Iron Crowbar to see and remember how Frazier was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with having to report on Finneran. I suspect he began recording his conversations with KXTC on that. And I don't think KXTC wants the publicity that will come of a lawsuit."

"So what will KXTC do for polling?" Tanya asked. "After this, I don't see that any polling agency would be willing to put out blatantly false data for them."

"Ohhhh," I said, "they'll just hire 'Expert Polling Services'... same place they find those 'experts' (air quotes) Bettina is always referring to."

"Holy shit!" Tanya exclaimed, looking up at the TV monitor. "Look!"

We'd stopped watching to talk during the commercial break, but when Fox University Sunrise returned, Catrina fed into Priya.

"Thank you, Catrina!" said Priya, who was standing inside Town Fitness Centers. It was who was standing next to her that caused Tanya to use adult language: Cindy Ross. Priya said "I'm here with Cindy Ross, the majority partner of Town Fitness Centers. Thank you for joining me, Cindy."

"Thank you for making time for me, Priya." Cindy replied.


Priya: "The murder of Carl Ryder is heartbreaking for his wife and your entire company, Cindy. I knew Carl and I know his wife Wanda, and I'm devastated by the loss of a really good young man."

"Thank you, Priya," Cindy said solemnly. "Yes, we're all devastated, and on behalf of all the employees here at Town Fitness Centers, I'd like to express my condolences to my friend Wanda on the loss of her husband. Words just can't express how we all feel."

Cindy: "But what I want to address with you is a viciously disingenuous, hateful report by your competitor KXTC. Carl Ryder was murdered, and he was an employee here, and it's the Police's duty to investigate his death and hopefully find and arrest the despicable slugs that did this to him. As such, they subpoenaed the names of Carl's clients as well as those of his wife, and also subpoenaed the names of our other customers."

Cindy: "As a Police Officer, I'm aware that we were obligated to comply with the subpoena, and I did so. I want people to know that the Police routinely check the records of associates of a murder victim. When the Police stop someone for speeding, they run a check on that person to make sure that person isn't wanted, or has a suspended license, things like that. A routine check is standard procedure by the Police, and does not mean that they consider everyone a suspect. So take KXTC's report for what it is: standard sewage from the potty mouths of the most biased, most dishonest news network in the State, KXTC..."