The Ensigns of Detection Ch. 05

"I might add," I said, changing the tone of my voice to underlie the significance, "that Dr. Cubbard had arranged with certain entities of the Government as well as more secret organizations to use that research to create some new drugs... drugs that my late nephew Ned had once created, drugs that would be terrible weapons in the wrong hands.

"You see, I'd said before that Dr. Cubbard was looking for a way to stay on top... but just creating new pharmaceuticals and more profits for the company is not what some on the BigPharmaCorp board were seeking. They wanted to see that Cubbard was one of them, one of the true Elites that believe they control everything in this Nation and this World. And that is what Cubbard was going to provide by stealing patented processes and using them to create new drugs for the Government... and what our simple drug raid brought crashing down."

"You do like to kick the biggest hornets' nest you can possibly find, don't you?" asked Chief Griswold.

"The party is just getting started, Chief." I replied with a grin. "But let's get back to this story. Dr. Grayson did not know what was going on in Pennsylvania, and while Cubbard had tried to bring him into the fold, he soon saw that Grayson was too straight-laced to truly trust. But that was nothing compared to Dr. Laramie Wilkins. Wilkins did know what was going on... and was trying hard to stop it.

"Wilkins didn't know all of the details, but he knew some things: that Cubbard and his wife were using Mrs. Grayson to cajole her husband into helping them; that Cubbard was stealing research; and that Grayson was having a relationship with Emma Washburn. So Wilkins does something that I can understand, but I think was wrong to do: he went and told Mrs. Grayson about Emma, went and told Robin Grayson to stop seeing Emma, and also told Robin that his school professor's research was being stolen."

"Ah, so he was trying to make Dr. Grayson distrust both his own wife and Dr. Cubbard." said Joanne Cummings. "As well as expose the theft of intellectual property, and hoping the secret Government projects would be stopped."

"I think that was the intent." I said. "But what happened is that as soon as everything was exposed, Dr. Laramie Wilkins was eliminated. He was 'talked to' in the early morning hours of the day he died. And I suspect that he did not resist as someone stood behind him and shot him dead, rather than him taking his own life."

"Did they threaten his wife to make him do that?" asked Tanya Perlman.

"Possibly." I said. "Or else he was told or figured out the truth, which totally broke his heart: that his own wife Abby was one of the perps, and had brutally betrayed him."

Needless to say, that had everyone's undivided attention, and was one of those moments I enjoyed as I looked upon their faces.

"Oh, yes." I said. "Mrs. Grayson gave my Captain the clue: 'follow the money'. Abby Wilkins liked money. She had endured a lonely, unhappy marriage for years, but at least she had had her husband's money. Her husband had shown little interest in going for the big bucks or real leadership in BigPharmaCorp; he was in it for the love of the chemistry and the research, and only reluctantly took posts of authority in order to be able to continue his work without those above him fucking with him over money or pressuring him over processes to make the company money.

"So he told his wife about the stolen research, the fraud, the work for the Government that he despised happening," I said, "and Abby realized that he'd be fired one day for standing in their way. Maybe she was helped to understand that by someone else, as well. She may even have been told and cajoled into thinking she'd inherit all that money if she just went along with his removal..."

"I knew she had to be involved while observing the Wilkins crime scene." I said. "How could she have not been immediately awakened by that gunshot? If there was someone else involved, how could that perp get away before she came to investigate? And why didn't the perp eliminate her as a precaution? These are not the normally stupid perps like Dirty Lennie that we're talking about, here."

"So when Cubbard said he had an intermediary to the leader of this group of smugglers," I said, "I realized it almost had to be Abby Willkins. I immediately sent Captain Ross to her home, but I was culpably slow and we arrived way too late: she had also been eliminated."

"Don't even start with me on that 'too slow' business." warned Tanya Perlman.

"You were right about the broken heart, Cindy." I said to my cousin. "But it was his heart of which I was thinking. But her heart may have also been broken by betrayal... but she was not betrayed by her husband. Ergo, the possibility of a love affair."

"With Dr. Cubbard?" I heard a voice ask.

"No." I said. "With Elizabeth's partner in crime, or one of them: she's part of a group of four such criminals."

"One of them being my sister." said Seth Warner. As I looked at him, wide-eyed in the shock that he knew, he said "Commander, you are not the only one here with a wicked sister. I've known my sister Karen has been doing some very evil things, in addition to her uncontrolled nymphomania. She's one of that group, isn't she?"

"Joanne," I said, "I see why you like this guy. Brains as well as good looks." Joanne grinned and snuggled up with her fiancé.

"Our own 'Ken and Barbie' couple." said Todd with that wicked grin of his.

"Todd, you are being a bad young man!" admonished his grandmother Phyllis. "And yes, they are a wonderful young couple."

"So how does Michael Fulton relate to this case, Commander?" asked Julie Newton.

"He doesn't." I said. "First of all, Detective Nash did a fantastic job with that." A round of applause broke out for Nash, and he actually blushed.

"We'll have to do some cleanup in figuring out who moved Fulton's body to BigPharmaCorp." I said. "I suspect the reason was an opportunity to distract or confuse us. Of course, this Police Department is wayyyy too good to be fooled so easily."

"Modesty is a human trait, Commander. I will excuse it." growled Chief Griswold, "Of course you meant to say that this Police Department's Iron Crowbar is too good to be fooled." There was a loud acclaim at that.

"You mentioned the Security people helping us." said Joanne. "What was that about?"

"Ah, yes." I said. "Dr. Cubbard is hated by the Union, and also the employees. The factory workers hate that man very much, and so do the Security people. They had an idea we might get Cubbard, and so gave us as much help as they surreptitiously could without being caught and hammered by him."

"So what's going to happen to the Graysons and the Cubbards?" asked Cindy.

"Robin Grayson has immunity from prosecution, not that he knowingly did much." I said. "But he's paid the price already, having to watch his wife be raped, himself being tortured and nearly killed, and now his wife is divorcing him."

"And speaking of families," I said, "Lucy Covington Cubbard is trying to cut a deal with our District Attorney's office as well as the U.S. Attorneys, and appears very willing to throw her husband to the dogs, as he is no longer making money for her. Dr. Cubbard and his lawyers are working on things, as well. We'll see what happens to him."

Part 24 - Epilogue

After spending the early part of the day with us, Cindy was going to spend Thanksgiving evening with her father, Dr. P. Harvey Eckhart. She had invited Jenna, Teresa, and Todd to go with her, and they'd accepted.

I'd also been invited by my Uncle Harvey, but had said that after hosting this big party I would need downtime... and that Molly might come due any minute. I did tell Dr. Eckhart that this would be a good chance to talk with his great-nephew Todd Burke...

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

Jack Muscone's FBI team were having dinner Thanksgiving evening, as part of a larger party thrown by Jack's boss, the DepDirector, for those that did not have other family events... or families. Jack had invited Tanya, who'd accepted; little Pete was staying at the Cabin with the rest of the kids, with my mother and Mrs. Feeley keeping overwatch. Martin Nash had accompanied his girlfriend, Special Agent Sandra Speer.

"This is going to be weird." said Nash as they all sat around sipping after-dinner drinks. "I was thinking about the Commander solving this BigPharmaCorp case, and it was obvious in his explanation that he was holding stuff back."

"Not really." said Tanya. "He even talked about stuff we can't prove yet, which is unusual for him to do."

"Yeah," said Nash, "but I was thinking about this 'Consultant of Crime' guy, who he did not mention today. And that got me to thinking..."

"A dangerous thing." said Sandra, needling him. "Okay, seriously, what were you thinking about?"

"I..." said Nash, then let it out with a rush: "Ever since that Washburn case, when the Commander had that iPad but didn't tell anyone... I understand why to an extent, but... well, then we went to see that apartment manager, and he didn't tell us he had a warrant already... I don't care what anyone else says, I think he was wrong to do that..."

There was an awkward silence for a second, then Nash went on: "So it got me to thinking... the Commander's sister has been a criminal for a while, yet he doesn't do anything to bring her to Justice. She turned herself in once, but actually got pardoned and is back out."

"So?" asked Jack Muscone.

"Well, Chief Griswold has made efforts to get Commander Troy in with the current Governor Jared. The Governor pardoned the Commander's sister." said Martin. "And in this case, Elizabeth was identified as being involved, yet the Commander seemingly does nothing about her."

"We need proof to charge her with anything." said Tanya. "And so far we can't even really connect her to any crime at all. So what are you getting at, Martin?"

"Just this:" Martin said. "What if the Commander's sister is this Consultant of Crime, and he's covering for her?"

You could've heard a pin drop.

"Yes, he said it was someone having an affair with Emma Washburn, who was on the iPad," said Martin, giving away that secret, "but what if that was a dodge? Why won't he tell us everything he knows? Why the games with that warrant, and then the apartment burns down? Why hide that iPad, and only tell me about it when Dr. Grayson and his wife were attacked?"

"He says it's to keep others from interfering with his efforts to put together a case to bring this Consultant to Justice." said Muscone. "And to keep people from getting killed.

"With all due respect, sir" said Nash, "how has that worked out? A lot of criminals die on us instead of being taken in."

"And think of it." said Nash. "She and her group could've been behind a lot of these crimes, and the Commander is always leading us away from that. It's always something else, and always this mythical Shadow Man..."

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

Friday, November 27th, 1:30am. I was awakened from my sleep in the master bedroom of the Cabin by noises in one of the two guest bedrooms across the hall. I got up and put my pants on, and went to investigate. I found Laura in the bedroom with Molly, and in a doctor-patient kind of way.

"Darling," said Laura, "would you get a towel out of the bathroom? And get dressed, we're taking Molly to the hospital..."

Finis... well, you know...