"You knew what happened with Connie Chang." I continued. "You kept hiring her even though Steve hated her guts. He didn't quite understand why you kept bringing her back in, but he was so in love with you that he overlooked it, or else you gave him a quick fuck to appease him-"
"Commander, that's inappropriate!" gasped the lawyer.
"Is it, Counselor?" I asked derisively. "What's really inappropriate is that Betsy here kept bringing Connie back into Steve's presence, knowing Connie was looking for a chance to kill Steve. Who else made sure of the schedules so that Connie was on set? But more importantly: who else but Betsy here could arrange to make sure Steve wore a belt that was exactly like Connie's with the knife in the pouch?"
"I loved Steve." said Betsy.
"You have a funny way of showing it, lady." I said. "You were fucking Rod behind Steve's back; in fact, you kept hiring Rod even after Steve said Rod wasn't needed. I don't know if Steve knew that, but I also know it was Lisa, not you, bringing Steve plates of food, which you'd be doing if you cared a whit about him. Lisa was the one working her ass off to make Steve's job and life easier, while you were skimming money off the top of his business, not to mention hiring people he didn't want. The FBI and my own Detectives are looking into Steve West Films's finances, Betsy; I can't wait to see what they find."
Betsy's face had become sullen as I poured it on. "So I have you for conspiracy to commit murder, Betsy. You're under arrest on that charge. Officer Green, take her to the same detention cell Connie is in." Officer Lydia Green followed my instructions to the letter.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I spoke to Connie in Interrogation-1 one more time, with her lawyer present.
"Connie," I said, "I've just arrested Betsy for conspiracy to commit murder. I know she helped you to get to West and murder him, so that she could take over the company. But Connie, there's only one deal on the table, as ADA Washington here will tell you. Either you take his offer, or she will, and her testimony will be more than enough to get a death penalty case for you."
"You're full of it!" gasped Lynch. "Connie, don't say a word, not one word."
"Connie, you're all alone here." I said, my voice harsh and severe. "Everyone else is going home, leaving you to your fate. They don't give a shit about you; hell, they'll let you rot if they can just get themselves away from here."
"Stop it, Commander, that's police harassment." said the legal beagle. "I want to talk to my client alone... now."
"Counselor, it's feeding time here at Headquarters." I said. "Your client is going back to her cell. You can talk to her again after she eats. Officer Green, take Connie back to her cell." Officer Lydia Green escorted Connie back to her cell.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"You better not say one fucking word." whispered Betsy as they ate their eggs and hashbrowns. "They have no chance of proving anything on me, and if you keep your mouth shut you'll likely get off, too. But if you say a god-damned thing, they'll get you in prison. They'll carve you up like you carved up Steve. I'll make damn sure of it." Connie said nothing, and Betsy sat back, lost in her own thoughts.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
At 2:00pm, Connie broke. "I will accept your offer." she said, meaning the 25-to-life with parole on the table. She silenced H.J. Lynch and stated a confession, detailing her actions in murdering Steve West, including swapping the belts.
"What about Betsy?" I asked. "Did she help you?"
"I did this alone." Connie said. "I committed this crime, without help. There was no one else involved, at all."
"She's taken the deal, Commander." Lynch said, his voice gravelly. "That's all you get." Again I wondered why this guy was working so hard to protect these guilty clients; it was not just zeal for the law or hatred of Police. But I'd have to think about that later.
"Good enough." I said. "Miss Chang, I'm sorry about what happened to you. I'm even sorrier that you reacted as you did. Keep safe in prison and mind your manners, and when the time for your parole comes, I'll give a good word for you." I got up and left, leaving Franklin Washington to do the paperwork with Connie."
Part 12 - Aftermath and Solution
An hour later, Betsy was released. Without Connie's cooperation, there was no chance of proving what I knew to be true about Betsy's role in the crime. But I had what I wanted: Connie's confession.
"See you around." Betsy said to me, sneeringly, as she gathered her belongings at the Processing front desk.
"I hope not, Betsy." I said. "You're a very intelligent person, and I expect you will do well in whatever you do in life. But make sure, Betsy, that you don't do it in my County while I am a Police Officer on this Force. I'd suggest you never enter my County again." Betsy and her lawyer both glared at me, but I think she understood the seriousness of my admonition.
Jay was taken to County Jail for processing and preparation for being taken into Witness Protection. The rest of the porno set cast and crew were brought back to Headquarters, having had to check out of the hotel. My wife Laura had arranged to swap their flights for ones later in the evening, and had also arranged a shuttle to take them back to the City to catch those flights.
"See you around, Commander, Lieutenant." Callie Carrington said to me and Cindy as she left. "This is one hot rockin' County. I'll be back; it's been fun, here."
"Just don't bring a porno set crew with you." I said. Cindy and I watched as the group left and loaded into their shuttle van.
"She was a great piece of ass." Cindy said when we were back in my office and alone. "But I think I'm happy to have what I've got at home."
"Jenna's happy with what she's got, too." I said. "Laura and I swap, but that's not for everyone."
"Neither is porn." said Cindy, most astutely. "Okay, where do we go to celebrate solving this case?"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I called for barbecue to be delivered to the Mountain Nest, and we had an impromptu party Sunday evening. Laura had said she wanted to entertain at the Mountain Nest, and she seemed to enjoy doing it tonight. Present were her, myself, our babies Carole and Jim, Bonnie Karpathian, Cindy, Jenna Stiles, Tanya and Baby Pete, Tim Geiger, Theo Washington, Franklin Washington, Molly and baby Ross, and of course my mother Phyllis. Molly was going to have to drive back to Midtown tonight, so this was a farewell party for her. Leonard Sharples had not been invited.
"You know the deal, Commander," Cindy said after we ate, "I ask how you solved it, and you tell us. So, how did you solve it?" A chorus of encouragement came my way.
"Well," I said, "after I dealt with the military-style crushing of those poor porn stars, I noticed quite a few things. Of course the crime was extremely brutal, but after hearing the stories I realized that it had to have been done in a very, very short amount of time. I also knew that we had to act fast before everyone fled the jurisdiction. It was the speed required to get this solved that made it challenging."
I paused, then continued: "It was a fairly easy process of elimination to understand that only Lisa, who found the body; Jay, who had used the bathroom; and Connie Chang, who was last in the food line and by a good bit; could have had the opportunity to commit the crime. I certainly could not eliminate Jay, but I put myself in his place: if I was going to murder Steve West, wouldn't I want to be seen going to the restroom, or create some sort of alibi? Jay had absolutely none; in fact, his actions were such that he almost became the primary suspect."
"Almost?" Cindy said, rather acerbically. I understood what she meant.
"Yes," I said, "but unlike what idiots like Sharples would do, we continued to look, knowing that it wasn't that simple." Even Geiger smiled at my insult of Sharples.
"I saw the knife in West's groin, and I made two deductions: first, that whoever had done this had some deeply personal hatred to leave the knife in his groin like that... with all due respect, Bonnie and Laura, I don't need the considerable expertise of the University Psychology Department to see that one..." Everyone laughed.
"And second," I went on, "I correctly surmised that the knife could've been brought in secreted in a belt. We'd seen something like this before with the Brody/Black Badge case, so we had experience and knowledge there. But I thought I was wrong, because our killer very astutely had thought of that, also... and had changed her belt with Steve West's. That was an excellent touch on her part."
"Do you really think Betsy helped Connie with that? Getting Steve to wear the same kind of belt so that Connie could change it out?" asked Franklin Washington.
"It's certainly a logical possibility, and Betsy's face when I mentioned it was not one of innocence." I said. "But it's impossible to prove without a confession somewhere. At any rate, as I interviewed the suspects, a few threads kept popping up. One was that Steve adored Betsy, but his love was not exactly reciprocated. I could tell that from hearing that Lisa, not Betsy, was thinking enough of Steve to make a plate of food for him while he worked."
"That's a good observation, Son." said my mother. "Very small thing, easily overlooked, but you caught it."
"Definitely easily overlooked, and I don't mind admitting it." Cindy said. Tanya and several others nodded.
"Thanks, Mom, but let me get back to the story. Seeing the knife in West's groin suggested to me, as it did to Bonnie, that there was a sexual nature of this crime, and one of personal wrongdoing. So I'm already thinking that West abused one or more of his porn actresses, and this was payback. I asked a lot of questions in that direction, as you'll recall."
I went on: "I also had made an observation of the plates on the floor. That gave me the idea to ask if Lisa, who everyone said was carrying the food, had dropped them there. It actually was a way to exonerate her: if she sees the body, drops the food, and stays immobilized, that would be very natural. And indeed, it was Connie Chang herself that said she observed Lisa standing between two plates of dropped food."
"So that left... Connie." I said. "I didn't see how anyone else was left alone in that short a period that could've carved up West. So I haven't even left the crime scene and I'm looking at Connie as my primary suspect. I let everyone else think it was Jay to keep Connie from realizing I was on to her."
"But I didn't have motive for Connie and I need that... and in a very short time." I said. "As soon as we released these people, they'd be long gone and never seen again, so we didn't have days to research this. But there I had some good fortune. I think most of the people there had an inkling that Connie was guilty... and why. But as was pointed out to me by Jay, snitches are dealt with harshly in this Mob-dominated industry. Even if it was for the good, anyone who said it was Connie might have been in trouble themselves."
"Having said that, I realized everyone was giving me clues by telling me how harsh the porn industry was. Yeah, it is... but Jay, Lisa, and Callie all made points to say it. So, what with the knife sticking out of West's groin, I'm again thinking to look for someone who was abused or wronged by West, someone who was treated harshly by the industry, particularly Connie."
"No wonder you found that tape so fast." Cindy said. "You knew who to look for."
"Exactly." I said. "And as soon as I found it, I knew we had motive as well as means and opportunity. I then began interrogating her, having Cindy sit in so that I could mention martial arts. She fell hard for that; her face gave her away, and she admitted being a brown belt. So I knew from that second on that I was right. After that, it was just a matter of getting Connie to confess, and that was tricky in and of itself."
"How did you get her to confess?" Franklin Washington asked. "I really thought her lawyer would keep her from confessing, and he definitely had chances with a well-picked jury."
"Yes." I said. "What I did was turn to my wild card: that Betsy was involved. I had Betsy put in the same holding cell with Connie, and they did have some brief words. I think Betsy let Connie know about what happened and would happen to snitches. Now Betsy was never going to talk; she was well aware that there was virtually no way I could prove to a jury that Betsy was involved. But I thought Connie might break and throw Betsy under the bus. Well, Connie confessed but wouldn't implicate Betsy. So Connie gets a reduced sentence, she'll be out of jail in ten years, maybe less, and she gets to live since she did not snitch on Betsy."
"You were right about nobody caring, either." Cindy said. "Nobody at all asked about Jay or Connie when they were being outprocessed. They might have heard that Connie was the culprit, but they didn't ask about Jay, either. Out of sight, out of mind." Laura was nodding at that.
"Yep." I said. "it's a harsh industry, and everyone looks out for number one exclusively. Any other questions?"
"Just one." Tanya asked. "I still don't understand why you eliminated Jay as a suspect, and especially how you thought he saw the crime take place." There was a murmur of agreement with the question.
"Let me first say," I replied, "that I did not eliminate Jay as a suspect. In fact, I kept him separated and isolated in a holding cell because it was as likely as not that he had done it. But I still was looking at Connie, and had I disproved her as the killer, I'd have been right back to him. But of course, Connie began standing out like a lighthouse on a stormy night."
"As to him seeing it..." I said, "that was something of a longshot, but I realized that he did see it and likely immediately knew that he himself was in trouble. He couldn't join the group from the other side; people might notice how late he joined. He then said he was taking a dump instead of peeing, to make it sound like he was in the john longer than he was. He was scared shitless, pun not intended, and tried to bluster about taking the Fifth immediately, hoping others would do the same and not mention that he was not with the group.
"He had to see where he stood, and found he was alone without help. In other words, it occurred to me that his own actions suggested he may have seen something. Had he not, I doubt he'd have blustered so much. So I brought it up and his eyes lit up, and so it goes."
"I want to sit next to you at the blackjack table." said Franklin Washington.
"I want to thank you for going along with me during the interrogation process." I replied.
"That reminds me," said Cindy, "I appreciate Franklin for sitting in, but he's normally the Vice ADA. Why did you have him instead of Paulina, Commander? And for that matter, why did you send me out after the martial arts discussion?"
"I wanted Connie to feel very alone and abandoned." I said. "If she'd seen the sympathy on your face, on Tanya's face, or Paulina's face over the way she was raped, she might feel she could use that sympathy to her advantage. Ergo, I stacked the deck with men."
"Smart." said Bonnie Karpathian. "Absolutely politically incorrect, but smart to do."
"I was willing to go to a jury though, Franklin." I said. "Juries are smarter than people think they are, and I was willing to take chances that they'd see it was premeditated murder despite the mitigation of the rape. I was more concerned about the 'guilty but insane' attempt that Lynch was going to try, and yes, that is what he was going to try."
"Well, you've racked up another one, Don." said Tanya. "And in 24 hours. I think I'll take baby Pete home and let you guys get some sleep."
"I do have some questions." Cindy said. "One of them is: 'Why did Steve West hate Connie Chang so badly?'. And-"
"You and I will talk about that tomorrow." I said to Cindy.
Part 13 - Epilogue
"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" said the lovely redhead reporterette at 7:00am on Monday morning, reporting from in front of the warehouse where West's body had been found. "Channel Two News has learned that one Steve West, owner of adult film company 'Steve West Films', was found dead at this location on Saturday morning. On Sunday morning, Police arrested one Connie Chang, one of the actresses in Mr. West's various adult films. Channel Two News has confirmed that Miss Chang has confessed to the murder of Mr. West. No other persons are implicated in the murder."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The next day I sat with Jack Muscone and Cindy at the Cop Bar, where Jack was enjoying a "Jack's Double Cheeseburger", his most very favorite menu item, so much so that the owner of the bar named it after him.
"I heard John Cummings is selling his business to the Cosby Brothers." Cindy said. "John's moving to near Lake Amengi-Nunagen to run a store up there, and Joanne is pissed off about it."
"I heard a couple of rumors myself about that." I said. "Katherine Woodburn successfully ran him off."
Cindy sighed. "Out of the frying pan, into the fire. I thought Nathan Allen was bad-"
"Well," I said, interrupting her, "Katherine Woodburn hasn't raped any underage girls that we know of."
"True." Cindy said. Jack just kept eating his double cheeseburger, so I brought the point of the lunch to the fore.
"Cindy," I said, "you asked yesterday about why Steve West hated Connie Chang so badly. I have a possible answer for you, which is what I wanted to talk to Jack about, also. So let me ask, Cindy: did you notice any other peculiarity about Steve West Films?"
"I did notice that Connie was the only non-white in the group." Cindy said. "No blacks, no Hispanics, either. But that's not totally unusual in the porn industry, so I've learned from research this morning. Blacks have their own porno companies, and interracial scenes are usually done by the bigger industry companies."
"True." I said. "But we have four points of interest here. First, Steve West Films, or I should say Steve West himself, was white-only. Steve hated Connie precisely because she was an Asian woman. Second, the shady company that helped finance Steve West Films, has been discovered. I'm sure Jack has heard of them." I named the company.
"Oh, yes." Jack said knowingly. "They have associations with the Superior Bloodlines group. We think West's financiers have been doing some money laundering for Superior Bloodlines out in California, and it's more than a coincidence that West went to them for money... or maybe they even went to him to have someone to launder money through. My people will certainly be working on that."
"Yes." I said. "And what's more, that partially explains why nobody wanted to talk to us. They're not afraid of the traditional Mobs over snitching; that was a crock from the get-go. However... if it's this Superior Bloodlines group, the guys who were behind two people being found hanging on meat hooks, as happened in our Black Badge case, then I can understand their fear.
I paused and then said "It really is too bad that I couldn't detain Betsy here. I think she knows a lot more than she was letting on."
"Callie, too." Cindy said. I peered at her as she said "Callie knows a hell of a lot more than she's saying, too. And she didn't get to be an independent and relatively wealthy porn star just by being better in bed than the rest." I just smiled and nodded. Jack caught on, too.
"I think Cindy's been learning a lot more from you and your mother than she let's on, Don." said Jack.
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