Unresolved Ch. 01

Muscone about jumped out of his skin, then he got out his cellphone and pretended to punch buttons on it. "I don't know what's holding up that firewood order I made." he said. Laura chuckled and I just grinned.

"Maybe Bob Rovers is going to personally deliver that firewood." I said. "I'm fully expecting him and his team to appear here, and pretty soon..."

Part 7 - Hot and Cold Pursuit

*Whirrrrrrrr*

3:00pm, Thursday, April 18th. Captain Perlman drove into MCD, followed by me. All of the MCD Detectives, including Geiger, were around the whiteboards, which Detective Julia Rodriguez was updating.

"Okay, guys, what have you gotten so far?" I asked.

"A big stone wall, sir." said Julia as I pulled up a chair and sat down as part of the Ring of Detectives. I had Julia sit down in her seat as she began her narrative: "I went over to the Pi Omega Sorority with Joan Laurer, who was in civilian clothes. We were not allowed inside, and when I asked to speak to the president, Lea Pinkerton, we were told she was 'unavailable'. I asked to speak to someone who could talk to us, and the girl at the door, who was looking very worried, said that if we gave her a number, she'd see if someone would call us. So I gave her my TCPD card."

"That's not good enough." I said. "Captain Perlman, lets get with ADA Patterson and get warrants to enter the Pi Omega Sorority House, and also to pick up their leadership for questioning."

"What's the probable cause?" asked Tanya.

"Persons of interest in a double murder case." I said. "And not being very forthcoming about talking to us voluntarily. Okay, what's next? Did someone go to Wendy Withers's dorm room?"

"I did, sir, with Theo and Patrol Officer Lisa Burrell." said Joanne Warner. "We asked at the desk to see Wendy's room, and the girl at the desk called that floor's Resident Assistant, who led us there and let us into the room. It was empty. Wendy's bed had not been slept in, and her roommate's bed was hastily made up, and her roommate had left her books on the desk as if she'd dropped them off and then left again. There was nothing of real interest, except Wendy's calendar had been marked for the evening before with the words 'Pi Omega dinner'."

"No cellphones?" I asked. "The roommate's purse was gone?"

"No, there were no cellphones in the room at all." said Joanne.

"Okay." I said. "Keep going."

Joanne kept going: "We also went to the Baptist Center, sir. The Campus Minister wasn't there, but his secretary was. She said she knew Wendy, and said that while she didn't know her very well, Wendy seemed to be a nice girl. She only went there on Sunday evenings, so we'll have to wait until then to go there and see what her fellow Baptists have to say."

"What about Stephen Henry's residence?" I asked.

Julia Rodriguez said "We went there right after we went to the Pi Omega house, as the apartment is fairly close by, on the same street a few houses east. It's a four-bedroom apartment. We had a warrant, but one of his roommates was at home and let us look around before we showed it."

Julia continued: "He said Stephen was a fairly quiet guy, a typical science-loving nerd, and an Astronomy major. The roommate said Stephen had a girlfriend, but she didn't come over to his apartment very often at all. I showed him the picture of Wendy, and he said that she wasn't the girlfriend. Then I showed him a photo of Dottie, and he said she was the one. I asked if Stephen ever had more than one girl over, and he said he saw just the one, that being Dottie."

"Good." I said.

Julia went on: "Stephen's room was pretty cluttered with laundry, dirty and clean, and papers all over his desk, all Astronomy-related. But nothing unusual in his drawers. We also did a very perfunctory look at the other bedrooms and the living room, but found nothing that you'd call a 'strangeness', sir."

I grinned, then asked: "You didn't find an engagement ring?"

"No sir." said Julia. "Unless he'd hidden it really, really well, it wasn't in his room."

"Okay, good job." I said. "What else are you doing, going forward?"

"The Glee Club meets this evening, sir," said Julia, "so I'm going to go over there and ask them if Wendy is missing, then work up to the fact she's dead. I hope to get background information, or see if anyone knows much about her."

"Anyone try to find her dorm room roommate?" I asked. "Cellphone pings?"

"Yes sir." Julia. "Her name is Sophie Westbrook. We got her cellphone number, also, and called it. No answer; it went to voicemail. We've given the number to Myron to see if he can get a ping."

"You dialed from a Police phone?" I asked.

"My Police iPhone, sir." said Julia.

"That'll show 'Blocked' on the incoming cellphone," I said, "so she probably won't answer it. Get with Myron, see if he can get a ping on where the cellphone actually is. Then go find her and talk to her. You don't need a warrant to do that, but if she refuses to talk to you, bring her in for further questioning."

"Yes sir." said Julia.

"So... Stephen Walter Henry. Anything else on him?"

"What we've confirmed, sir," said Julia, "is that he was not a part of any Fraternity, and he did buy an engagement ring. Roy?"

"Sir, I interviewed Professor Stephanie Steele." said Roy McGhillie. "She knew Stephen, but he was Dr. Stoddard's student, not hers. Dr. Stoddard is the Head of the Department of Astronomy, and Assistant Head of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Dr. Steele said that Stephen had a girlfriend named Dottie, but couldn't remember her last name. Dr. Steele said that Stephen was a nice guy, had a National Merit Scholarship, was an Eagle Scout in Troop 223 in Rocktown, and the kind of guy that would help anyone that needed help: he often tutored other students in science-related subjects."

"An Eagle Scout." I said. "Damn shame to lose a guy like him. So, no connection to Wendy Withers?"

"Not that we've found yet, sir." said Julia.

"Okay." I said as I stood up. "I think the girlfriend's full name was 'Dottie Smith', and we need to find her, too. I'm starting to get concerned about these missing girls."

"Yes sir." said Julia.

As I left, I said "Y'all are doing great work, guys. Keep it up..."

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

5:20pm, Thursday, April 18th. I was in my office when there was a knock on the door, my assistant Helena having left for the day. It was Cindy Ross. I had her come in and sit down.

"Where's Alison? Cindy asked as she sat down in a hot chair.

"No idea." I said. "And it's not my day to babysit her."

"So what are you up to right now?" Cindy asked.

"Oh, I've been hacking through the SBI databases." I said. "They did the investigation on Susan Phillips twelve years ago. Well, if you want to call it an 'investigation'... I'd call it a 'clusterfuck'."

"I'd call that 'par for the course' for the SBI." said Cindy. "Was it incompetence? Or a very competent cover-up?"

I smiled. "That might be more like it." I said. "First of all, guess who the lead investigator was."

"Ferrell?" asked Cindy.

"Close." I said. "Actually, it was Agent Michael Horner, who became the SBI Public Relations Director under Jack Lewis. But Ferrell was one of the investigators, and he was the lead investigator in the Kitty Summers case eight years ago."

"Whoa..." Cindy said. "The SBI investigated the Summers case, too?"

"Sort of." I said. "After Kitty went to KXTC, they opened a file on it, probably to cover their ass. Horner had moved on to the Public Relations Department by then, so Ferrell took up the bit. But it came to nothing."

"And the files weren't conveniently erased, and the notes 'disappeared'?" Cindy asked.

"That's where my hacking comes in." I said. "The SBI at the time had this very interesting way of doing things. Kind of like a company having two sets of books, which is legal; or like Army soldiers having a permanent file that followed their careers and a second file that was at the current company headquarters, which may or may not become part of the permanent file."

I continued: "In both of the cases, especially Horner's investigation of the Susan Phillips case, they kept pretty good records... but both cases pretty much ended abruptly, and with little explanation. But they kept some CYA notes, again Horner much more so than Ferrell, where they were essentially ordered to stand down and end the investigations."

"Why?" asked Cindy.

"That, I don't know." I said. "Based upon patterns of other cases, it looks like some Big Boyz came in and told them to shut it down, and Jack Lewis would've said 'Yes sir, three bags full' and shut it down. But before they did, an entry was made in the SBI file on the Phillips murder case that the Tau Fraternity and Pi Sorority had an annual initiation ritual together. No details, but we're starting to hear about it more and more."

"Cool beans." Cindy said. "What I came in to tell you about is that the Chief went to City Hall for a meeting with the Sheriff, the Mayor, and Jack Muscone. Any idea what it's about?"

"Ah, curiosity killed the cat." I said, teasing my cousin.

"And satisfaction brought him back!" replied my cousin, giving it right back to me. I laughed.

"Touché." I said. "I knew the Chief left, but I did not know to where nor why. How do you know?"

"Secret source." Cindy said. "Not really. I talked to Chief of Staff Oswald. We were discussing budget items, and he mentioned the meeting. Asked me if I knew what it was about, and I said I didn't have a clue."

"Hmmm." I said. "Well, if Muscone weren't there, I'd say it could be about the Council meeting Tuesday night. Reginald B.F. Lewis got really ugly with the race card and his attacks on Mayor Allgood. Edward Steele ripped him a new one for it, and Dagmar Schoen later really got ugly with Kelly Carnes."

"I don't get it." Cindy said. "Lewis is not going to get three precincts that way. And the attacks on the Mayor are getting stale, too. People are tuning out."

"The militant Left is not tuning out. At all." I said, my voice connoting emphasis and warning. "They're as rabidly hateful of Daniel as ever. And I doubt it'll ever let up... for example, the hatred for Governor Jared is as relentless today as it was the day he got re-elected."

"So you have no idea what the meeting in City Hall is about?" persisted Cindy. "Yeah, I'm curious. I also have a vibe about it. Something's not right."

"I agree." I said. "Oh... one more thing, that might be a tie-in." I discussed the rumors that groups wanted to get rid of the Council altogether, then added "The ratcheting up of the rhetoric at Council meetings, public and private, may be intended as a prelude to ratcheting up a campaign to get support for eliminating the Council."

"I haven't gotten past the part yet where someone wants to eliminate the Council." said Cindy. "Why in the world would anyone want to do that? So they can replace it with equal-population Council districts?"

"That was my first thought, too." I said. "But no, the idea is to eliminate it entirely and completely. Mayor and Town Assembly would be all we'd have."

"What does the Charter Commission think of that?" asked Cindy.

"We don't." I said. "We haven't. I heard rumors, and the Rev. Joseph Williams had heard whispers, too. But nothing organized."

"Okay, then." said Cindy, beginning to get up. "I'll leave you to your hacking."

"Before you go, riddle me this." I said. "What have you got against Alison McFarland?"

Cindy plopped back down into her chair. "You noticed, eh? What am I talking about? Of course you noticed."

"I noticed." I said. "And I think she's been a godsend with respect to these murders, and could be helpful in the future. But if you have a problem with her, I need to know before I trust her."

Cindy nodded. "I appreciate your trust in me." she said, knowing that was what I'd just implied. "My issues with her are twofold: first, she may only be doing podcasts, but ultimately that makes her a journalist, and I know what you think of those; and second, it goes back to the 'Miss Physical America' days."

Cindy went on: "When she came in, she either couldn't or wouldn't do what we did to get hard core bulked up. So she tried to create a division for fitness and yoga, but that wasn't what we were about, so her idea never was given any support. Then she sort of wormed her way into being the hostess, and interviewing girls for the camera, which is another reason I think she has desires to be a journalist." I nodded.

"And as you have likely figured out," Cindy continued, "a lot of the girls in the competitions were lesbians, or at least bi. Alison wasn't, and seemed to get offended when any girls came onto her. I never did, but my now-gym-partner Ariel did, and Allison allegedly went to H.R. with a harassment complaint, an unwarranted complaint. Alison left shortly afterwards, and had some harsh things to say about the company once she'd left, which of course rankled me and the other girls."

"I understand." I said. "So keep her out of your gym, and I'll work with her on these murders and her podcasts."

"Sounds like a plan." Cindy said. She excused herself and left the office. I got back to work...

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

9:30pm, Thursday, April 18th. I was still working on my computer in my office when I heard Detectives Julia Rodriguez and Theo Washington talking as they came down the hall to MCD. I called Julia's desk phone and asked her and Theo to come to my office, which they did.

"Hi, guys." I said as I had them sit down. "How did it go?"

"Great, sir!" said Julia. "We went to Glee Club!"

I grinned, then Julia said "Seriously, sir, we finally got some good information. When we got there, someone had recognized Wendy Withers as the murder victim, and everyone was lamenting about that. And when they saw us, some of them groaned, as they knew our presence was confirmation of their worst fears."

I nodded. "How willing were they to talk to you?"

Julia said "The students were willing to, and did. The professor, her name is Glenda Sheehan, was much less happy about it. She made a point to ask if we weren't out of jurisdiction on Campus, and I told her we go out of jurisdiction to talk to people all the time."

"Excellent." I said. "So... what did you find out?"

Julia said "Overall, they all liked Wendy well enough, but no one admitted to knowing her particularly well or hanging out with her beyond Glee Club. No one knew of any problems she had with anyone, and no one knew if she had a boyfriend... or girlfriend, as the case may be."

Theo took it up: "There were a couple of black guys there, and they opened up to me a bit more than most of the others did. Their names were Steve and John. They said that almost everyone in Glee Club would ask Wendy why she had pledged the 'nasty' and 'skanky' Pi Omega Sorority, especially since she was a proudly Christian girl and attended Baptist Center functions. They said Wendy was pretty defensive about it, about being a Pi O pledge."

"Is the Pi Omegas's reputation bad?" I asked.

"Apparently so, sir." said Theo. "Steve told me that a running joke was that the 'Pi' stood for a pie, meaning a vagina, and an Omega underneath it was a bowlegged woman or a woman spreading her legs. Overall, the Pi Omegas apparently do have a reputation for giving sex, and all the Fraternities want to party with them."

"Any particular Fraternities?"

"All of them have had events," said Julia, "but the ones they do the most with are the The Taus and the Kappas. I will also say this: Professor Sheehan pretty much let us talk to the students, but when they started talking about the Taus, she began shutting us down. She told the students they shouldn't talk rumors."

"Okay." I said. "Any luck finding Sophie Westbrook, Wendy's roommate?"

"No sir." said Julia. "I called Myron when we arrived at the Glee Club, but he said it was 'no joy' on Sophie's cell signal. Ditto that for Dottie Smith."

I nodded. "Okay, then. That's great work, both of you. And Julia, you've had a very long day. Y'all go on home, and if you a little late tomorrow morning, I'll have no problem with it."

"I'm getting too keyed up to sleep." said Julia. "I really feel like we're on the right track, here."

"We can ride those tracks out of the station tomorrow morning." I said. "Go home. Get some sleep." My instructions were swiftly obeyed.

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

When I got home to the Mountain Nest, the kids and dogs were in their beds and sound asleep, as growing children and redoubtable dogs should be at that late hour. As I came in and took my armor and Police belt off, Laura asked if I wanted a drink. Scotch and soda was my choice, and Laura had a 'Godmother' - vodka and amaretto.

We sat down on the sofa against the wall and cuddled. "Any progress on those murders?" my wife asked me.

"Yeah, they're making some headway." I said. "Julia Rodriguez has done a really good job." I then told Laura what we'd discovered to this point, and asked "Anything you can add to this?"

"You'd think the sex professor would know more about what's going on sexually on Campus." Laura said. "But in reality, I don't. Wendy Withers's death and her connection to the Pi Omegas brought up a discussion with some of my students, and I was surprised to learn about the Pi Omega's and the Tau's holding what was called an 'initiation ritual' together."

"I've been hearing bits and pieces about that today." I said. "What did you find out?"

"It's like Fight Club." Laura said. "The first rule of the initiation is that nobody talks about it. What I can tell you is this: you know the Sigma Epsilon Chi unofficial Fraternity? The one that requires very large cocks to be a part of?"

"Yeah. I don't qualify, sorry to say." I said wistfully.

"And there's no shame in that; very, very few men do." Laura replied. "Well, you probably remember their so-called Secret Society of women that service the well-hung men." (Author's note: 'Case of the Murdered Chessplayer', Ch. 03.) "I've sometimes participated in those rituals, and enjoyed taking those large penises inside me, but I did not know until today that those women have a rule that no Pi Omega member can ever be a part of their group. Likewise, the Libertine and Hedonist swing clubs don't let those women into their groups if they find out about them."

"Why not?" I asked, pretending idle curiosity and not having to pretend tiredness.

"Because they are true skanks." said Laura. "They are local versions of England's 'Pinks', women who have all kinds of nasty sex without regard to hygiene nor safety. They pull trains, indulge in anal sex immediately followed by oral sex, and a lot of stuff that Rita does not and would never allow in her clubs. The Pi Omegas look like the belles of the Campus on the outside, but in reality are fertile grounds for STDs and worse."

"Well, don't be so ambivalent in describing them." I quipped. "So... why is a girl like Wendy Withers pledging that Sorority?"

"I've heard some discussion," Laura said, "that many of these women become professionals, and by that I mean business professionals. They are usually aggressive in the business world, and rise to top levels before the glass ceiling confines them. So maybe Wendy thought she'd get ahead in the business world being part of them."

"Or was told she would be." I replied. "And to your point, some of these women would be ideal for doing what they would need to do on behalf of another certain 'Company' of which you might possibly be aware." I said drily.

"Why, darling! Why in the world would you think of a thing like that?!" Laura asked, though with a smile and a twinkle in her eye.

"I dunno." I said. "But Wendy Withers does not seem to be CIA material to me, though I'm much less of a judge of character on something like that than an expert like my lovely wife. And I do observe that Wendy does not seem like the go-get-'em business type, either."