The Stolen Dozen Ch. 02

The bed was stripped bare, as was the pillow, and there was no blanket. WHY! It made absolutely no sense because there were linens in the utility closet. Whoever he was, he could've made up that bed the same as the six others, but he didn't. WHY! I opened the closet door, expecting to find the kids clothes. There was nothing there. WHY! No kidnapper would take their clothes with them, and their suitcases were gone. WHY! When you go into the bathrooms, living room, dining room, and kitchen, you find everything in Perfect order. The guy was a neat freak. That's the only conclusion I could come up with. I can't figure out the last bedroom. Why didn't he make the bed? Was he telling us the kids were dead? Honestly, I think he was. It is the only logical answer I can come up with. Everything else makes no sense to me."

"Well, we'd better go out there and make our own assessment of the crime scene, and make our report back to HQ. They will tell us how they want us to proceed."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you about the car."

"What car?"

"The kids drove up here from the Bronx in a new Plymouth Fury, and parked it behind the cabin in the appropriate parking area. Whoever did this to them never saw it. I don't know how, I surely don't know why, but it's still there, untouched. I don't know where the keys are, and I know I didn't touch the car. But it sits there behind the cabin, like the kids left it."

"That's good to know. Can one of you guide us to the cabin?"

"That's my job," Steve said. "Good luck with your phone calls, Dave. I don't envy you at all."

"I've never had to do this before, and I don't like it one bit."

When he was alone, and gathered his wits about him, Dave picked up the phone and dialed Robert and Sistine Riefsnyder's home phone number. It was picked up on the first ring.

"YES!"

"Mr. Riefsynder, this is Dave Kelly, from Tobyhanna State Park."

"YES! What's going on there Mr. Kelly?"

"Mr. Riefsynder, it is my sad duty to report to you that in our opinion, both your daughter and your son-in-law have been killed by a person or persons unknown to us at this time. We have not found either body at this time and a search for them will begin in about a week. I am going to put an ad in the paper and ask for 600 volunteers to search the entire park for their remains. This is the first time anything like this has happened in my Park, and I will do anything and everything in my power to bring this person or persons to justice. I am so sorry for your loss. I now have to call Mr. Graziano and inform him of his sons passing. Goodbye Sir."

"Mr. Kelly, you don't have to do that, Mr. Graziano is 4 feet in front of me and we both know our kids are dead. What is going on up there now?"

"At this moment, the sheriff, and state police are at the cabin investigating. I know they are going to want the owners to come up and take stock of what is missing from the cabin. It will give them a starting point for a proper investigation."

"You may tell the sheriff, on behalf of Mr. Graziano and myself, that we will be up there, in force, Saturday morning. Only the owners will enter the house to verify what is there, and what is missing."

"By the time you get here Saturday, the police will have inspected the automobile, and you will be able to take it home with you."

"He destroyed our children and left a new car?"

"I don't know why either, but it is still there, right where the kids left it. We just don't know where the keys are."

"That's interesting."

"Yes, we thought so, too."

(It is a little-known fact, that during the 1950s, 90% of all homicides, in the United States, were solved by local police departments, not by State Police, or the FBI.)

Lenore Graziano and Sistene Riefsynder were inconsolable, when they heard the news of their children's deaths. Why would anyone want to kill two innocent children? They had nothing of value with them, except the car, which the assailant left behind. He took their children, something that came from their bodies, and he was going to pay dearly for that. Sistine could see it in her husband's eyes. The mild-mannered insurance sales man was gone. The Marine was back. He was making phone calls to the men in his command that he kept contact with, and the word was going forth, someone had hurt a Marine family, and that someone was going to pay.

Lenore could see it in Anthony's eyes, also. However, by tradition, if someone hurt an Italian family, the family took care of it. Anthony only had to make one phone call, to her brother, Joseph. There was a good reason why no one talked about what Joseph did, because what he did no one wanted to know. Not his mother or father, nor his brothers or sisters. Ignorance was bliss when it came to Joseph. He drove around in a very good car, but not a great car. He lived in a very nice home, but not a great home. Everything he did was just below the level of greatness, but above the norm. However, if you ever needed anything from Joseph, it got done the next day, not the day after. If you wanted tickets to the Yankee game, they would behind the Yankee dugout. You wanted an autographed picture of Joe DiMaggio, you got a picture with him, signed. It didn't matter what you wanted, you got it.

Anthony was so afraid to ask for a better job, he never asked, so he never received one. He never wanted to owe Joseph anything for which he might one day have to repay him something. However, today, he called him, and asked for his help.

Joseph was up in arms for two reasons. (1) They killed his nephew and his niece. (2) They did it in his home.

Legally, it was in the name of five families, but the five families knew who the real owner was. The men knew who used the cabin, why they used it, and what for. They were Italian after all, and 'Ignorance was Bliss.'

Joseph called the 'consigliere' to advise him of the situation, and ask his counsel.

He was told to remain calm, gather every ounce of information he could, from every available source, and report back to him. Do not take any independent action.

Joseph acknowledged, and said he would not do anything out of bounds.

Joseph was not a man of action. He was like a Colonel in the armed forces. He directed battles; he did not fight in them. He didn't mind standing by the side of the battlefield watching what was going on and gathering intelligence, he was good at it. No, he was great at it. He made his living at it. Very few people in this branch of 'The Family' were as good as he is, and that is why so many people deferred to him. He was so powerful he no longer needed a bodyguard, and no longer carried a gun. They were no longer necessary. His stock and trade was commerce, between 'The Families', and any outreach from them was BUSINESS. No-one interfered with BUSINESS.

Joseph hired a Greyhound bus for the members of the family to travel to Tobyhanna Saturday morning, instead of everyone driving their personal vehicles. He also had several jeeps made available for them at the state park so the five owners could go to the cabin and take inventory. The remainder of the family would stay at the Rangers station and speak with the representatives of the Sheriff's office, and state police to determine how their investigation was proceeding.

The bus left Parkchester at 7:15 AM and arrived at Tobyhanna State Park at 8:55 AM. It pulled into its assigned spot, and disgorged its passengers, who were not in a good frame of mind.

Robert Riefsynder led the way to the Rangers office, where Ranger Kelly, Sheriff Henry Fond, and state police officer Mort Singer and their aides were there waiting for him and the family members that were with him.

The greetings were perfunctory, and Robert said, "Tell us what the fuck is going on here."

"The only evidence we found in the cabin were four small light stains, on the large carpet in the living area. I'm afraid we had to destroy it by cutting holes around those areas to take the evidence to the laboratory. There was no other way for us to do it."

Joseph said, "Fuck the carpet, what did they find?"

"All four were semen stains of different blood types. We now know, for certain, that we are looking for more than one man. Whoever did this to your children, did it in a concerted act. They overpowered them, and God only knows what they did to them afterwards. We know for certain Carolyn was raped multiple times."

Robert Riefsynder's blood pressure set new records that moment, as he pictured his baby girl being violated. Here, in one of the most pristine environments you could ever imagine, her life was ruined, and then taken from her. He would find a way to make them pay.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Anthony's.

"Bob, wherever your mind is right now, I am right alongside you. What they did to your baby girl, they also did to my son. They are both gone, we will get them, not the police, we will get them, and in some basement in the Bronx, they will pay with their lives, I guarantee it, with my life."

"You are a great friend, Anthony. Between your people, and my people, they can't hide. This planet isn't large enough. Even if they go to the bottom of the ocean, I swear to you I will fish them out, cut them up, and use them as bait."

"I didn't even know Marines could fish?"

"Don't you start with that Marine bullshit."

"I transported you guys, all over the Pacific, and all you did was throw up over the rail."

"Okay, you two, not now. You can play these games at a better time, and at another place. Right now, we need each other."

"Nicky, you always were a pain in the ass."

"Gee, I thought I left my bayonet at home."

"You can always tell someone who was in the Army, no sense of humor at all."

"They walked my sense of humor out of me, all the way from the Bay of Biscay to Berlin."

"Bitch, bitch, bitch, all he ever does is Bitch. We are the ones that really had a tough. We had to fly over Germany and get shot at every night, by radar guided guns, and searchlights. All you guys had to worry about was single shot rifles, and the occasional Panzer. We had a drop bombs on factories that were making the bullets that was being fired at you, and you are standing here being ungrateful."

"You know between the 44 of us, we could probably fight World War II all over again, and come out with a tie, as to which one of us really won."

"It was the Submarine Service, gentlemen. We lost fewer boats, and fewer men than any other service, and we came out smelling like a rose."

"Who let him in on this discussion?"

"He came on the bus with us."

"Someone missed your boat with a depth charge, John."

"It sure wasn't for lack of trying, that's for sure. We ran the Bongo Straights so many times, we made it crooked."

"Gentlemen, if you are finished with your war stories, we are ready to head out to the cabin to see what's missing, and what still there. What we would like the rest of you to do is to begin a sweep of the grid 1. That's not a joke. Ranger Kelly has broken up the 5440 acres of Tobyhanna State Park into grids. Next Friday, we are going to search each grid with up to 600 trackers, looking for the remains of your children. If we don't find them, it means they either took the remains with them, which is highly unlikely, or they submerge them in the lake. If they did that, we will rake the bottom of the lake until we find them. For now, though, we would like you to spread out in grid 1, and search for anything that looks out of place; disturbed earth, scrapes on the ground made by shoes, pieces of cloth, anything that looks like it could have been made by a fight. Anything out of the usual, we need to know about it. Take a canteen of water with you, keep yourself hydrated, if you have a problem call out and someone will come and get you. Deputy Profolino will lead you to your starting places. Good hunting to you all."

As they were standing outside the front of the cabin, Joseph said, "It's to clean, someone cleaned it, since the last time I was here."

Sheriff Fond said, "I knew they were neat, but I didn't think they were that neat."

Joseph asked, "What are you talking about, Sheriff?"

"You will see it as soon as you walk inside. Everything is Perfect. Not one thing is out of place. Every chair, couch, table, piece of silverware, glass, cooking utensil, is perfectly positioned. Everything in the utility closet is in Perfect order. Everything in every bathroom is in Perfect order. That's the problem here. They left everything in Perfect order. They did not leave us one scrap of evidence, except those for stains on the carpet, which they apparently missed when they were cleaning up. I guarantee you they looked, and it was an oversight. Otherwise, they would have ditched the carpet. It was their only error so far. Now you tell us they even cleaned the outside of the cabin?"

"Absolutely, they definitely dusted it down. There are no cobwebs, no dust between the logs, nothing. It looks like they just finished building it."

"Sir, would you walk around the exterior and check the entire perimeter of the cabin to see if they did it all."

"Right away."

He didn't go alone, all five of them went. They didn't do a cursory inspection, they did it in detail. From the roof, to the timbers that made up the length, and width of the cabin, to the decking they were walking on, they checked it all.

When they returned to the front of the cabin, Joseph said, "Sheriff, they took a brush and brushed down every inch of this place, from the roof to the floorboards. Whoever did it, was insane. He had to know that the kids did not climb to the roof to leave evidence against them. Why would he take a chance on breaking his neck to go up there and clean?"

"I've got a better one for you, if he went up there to clean, how didn't he see the car?"

"I have no idea, and that makes no sense to me at all. Why leave a $2500 car sitting there, when you can easily sell it anyplace, at any time."

"Okay, now for the hard part, let's go inside, and find out what's missing. Here's paper and pencil for each of you gentlemen. If you find something missing, write it down, and mark the location where it is missing from."

Joseph started delegating as soon as he stepped in through the front door.

"Nicky, kitchen and dining room. John, guest one and two. Leave guest three for me, and Mel. Dom guest four and utility. I will take the Masters. We will all go over the living room, with an eye towards the baseboards. Go!"

The authorities watched as Joseph's commands were followed to a 'T', and without rebuttal. He was definitely their leader.

25 minutes later they were finished, and assembled in the living room.

"Okay gentlemen, hand over your sheets and we will keep them and make copies."

"No, Sheriff, we will keep these so we can replenish our stock here. We will read off what's missing and you can copy it down, either here, or back at the ranger station."

"I'd rather do it here, because it's early, and I'd like to investigate the area to see what I can find."

"That's fine, here goes. We are missing nothing, except linens, and soap. We are missing 10 queen-size sheets, 16 pillowcases, 38 bath towels and 26 bars of soap. Whoever they were, they were very hygienic."

"This case gets curiouser and curiouser by the second. Now we can surmise how they cleaned the outside of the cabin. They tied together some bath towels and just brush them along the outside, removing everything as it went along. It would seem easy enough, and not labor-intensive. But we are still wondering WHY they would do it? It still makes no sense. 10 queen-size sheets and 16 pillowcases, that doesn't match up at all. It should be 20 pillowcases for 10 sheets. And where is the blanket? Did you find the blanket?"

"Yes, Sheriff, it was in the bottom of the dresser."

"Bring it here please, we will take it to the lab and have it processed."

"26 bars of soap, and the kids were only here for two weeks. We know that stay was shortened by quite a bit, so who the hell we used all that soap?"

"Okay, it's time to stop thinking, and start looking. The inside of this cabin is nearly sterile, so we can close it up. I wouldn't use it again for some time, just in case you might get some uninvited guests again. I noticed you didn't have any firearms locked up here in the cabin for hunting. That's a good precaution, for when you're not here, but when you're here, after what's happened, you might want to reconsider that."

Joseph said, "We definitely will."

"Good. I'm going to look around outside, and see what's there."

"Except for the fire pit, everything is too clean out there, Sheriff. It looks like it's been picked over."

"That's funny, I thought the same thing. I'm going to check the pit to see if there's any remains in there."

"I've got shovels in the utility room."

"That would be helpful, thank you."

"Dominic, grab every shovel we have."

There were six shovels and eight men. The sheriff was the first to grab a shovel. Steve Sherman grabbed it away from him, and nearly got killed for doing so.

"Sheriff, you're old, I need you to live another six weeks, so you can walk your daughter down the aisle. I'll dig, you watch."

"I'll pay you guys $500 a man to dig me a hole, 6 feet deep, and not watch me shoot this bastard in the head, and watch me drop him in it."

"Your daughter would miss me."

"I would buy her three other ones to make her happy."

"Where would you ever find someone like me?"

The sheriff was stumped. Sherman had him, because in the entire world, God would never have made two, exactly like him, no less three.

Joseph said, "Would it be all right if they started digging now?"

Henry said, "Yes, begin. Please keep your piles close behind you, so we can sift through them to see if there are any fibers or metal Included."

Henry asked, "Joseph can you drive one of those jeeps?"

"I did it for three years, in Europe."

"Will you take me back to the ranger station, please, I have to make a few phone calls."

"Let's go."

"Idiot Face', you are not in charge."

"Sir, I would never assume a position of authority, except over your daughter, and then not often."

"You see, Sheriff, he's not totally ignorant."

"Maybe there is some hope for him, Joseph. My daughter does take after my wife, God rest her soul."

"I'm sorry to hear that, sir."

"I'm not."

"Oh yes you are. I can tell."

"Let's not take the road back to the ranger station. Let's see if it's smoother going through the forest."

"Do you have a compass with you?"

"I never leave home without one."

"If we get stuck, you are walking out, because you are wearing boots. I'm staying with the Jeep, because I am wearing street shoes."

"Let's stick to the road."

"I think that's a better choice."

Back at the cabin, the digging was proceeding at a furious pace. The sheriff's deputies, and the state police officer, had already determined that liquid oil had been used as a fire starter for whatever had been thrown into the conflagration, and a lot of it. Everything they were taking out was sticky. The earth, the grass, the roots, the detritus, everything was sticky. Someone was taking no chances, that anything could survive inside the heat, which would be produced.

They were almost right, until Nicky's shovel hit something metallic, and everyone stopped.

Deputy Singer said, "Don't move that shovel. I'm going into the pit and moving around it with my bare hands. I want to know what you hit."

John said, "Don, go into the utility room, and bring out some towels, just in case he cuts his hands."

Don was off like a shot.