The Cult of the White Owl

by Barbara Lefka

  Jake patted Priscilla’s hand his thoughts still on Richard… she moaned from the sedative the medic gave her and held on to Jake’s fingers even though mentally out of it.

  The doctors in the emergency room gave her top priority, with Jake pacing outside her door, while they examined her.

  “Sir, you can come in now, she is awake and ready to be discharged. This is one strong gal.” The doctor smiled at Priscilla and said, “I’ll sign your discharge papers and you can go home.”

  “Home, I don’t want to go home, Jake where can I go that’s safe?”

  “Let’s get out of here and I’ll put you in protective custody. You are the first would be victim that lived. You have to be a fountain of information, if I can figure the right questions to ask. But all that can wait till tomorrow when you are not as stressed. You can sleep at my house tonight and I’ll put a police officer on guard.” Jake led her to his car as he told her his plans.

  “Drive to my house officer, and use the radio phone to call the station for a detail to stand guard outside. Check on Murphy and if he thinks the Smith house is secure he can leave, but replace him with a beat cop as well. We don’t want any scavengers. You stay near by till you are replaced I am not taking any chances with Mrs. Smith’s life.”

  “Yes sir, I will get right on it,” said the officer picking up the car radio phone and contacting the precinct.

  When Jake and Priscilla entered the house the telephone was ringing loudly in the kitchen. Jake left her in the living room and rushed to answer.

  “This is Babs Babinsky, Assistant D.A. Jake, I just heard about Richard, what can I do to help?”

  “Thank you Babs but there is nothing except some shut eye right now. I have Mrs. Smith with me and I will put her in protective custody tomorrow or later today considering the hour. Please call the commissioner to meet me at headquarters and you as well as his special assistant, so we can make the funeral arrangements. It will be a big one, with every dignitary in the state in attendance. Good night Babs and thanks for calling, I will see you later.” Jake hung up and made Priscilla comfortable in the guest room and climbed the stairs to his bedroom and sleep, sweet sleep.

  The bedroom extension telephone was ringing loudly in his ear,” I thought I answered that darn thing, why is it still ringing? I must be dreaming.” Jake turned over and put the pillow over his head to cut out the raucous sound.

  “Jake, Jake wake up. Your wanted on the phone. It’s the precinct, they want you.” Priscilla touched his shoulder and Jake sat up in bed.

  “Okay I’m up, could you put the coffee on, you’ll find all the fixings in the kitchen?” Jake waited till she left the room before answering the phone.

  When Jake and Priscilla arrived at the station the commissioner and the mayor were already there and Babs Babinsky walked in at the same time Jake and Priscilla did. Everyone stood up and offered their condolences to Priscilla with so much sympathy that she burst out crying again.

  Jake felt it was better for Priscilla to wait with Annie in one of the interrogation rooms. She had little or no input in making the funeral arrangements. Those arrangements were in the hands of the Philadelphia City Hall.

  “Do you think she will be okay?” Babs asked concerned.

  “It is finally sinking in, that the bomb was meant for her. Richard was killed by mistake.” Jake had everyone’s full attention. “Driving over to the station she told me how the mistake could have happened. Richard was in a hurry he had told me he would be at the station in twenty minutes. His last words to Priscilla were,“Hurry up.” He then grabbed her car keys off the table because she was parked behind his car and he did not want to waste the time moving both cars, so he took hers. It was damned lucky they both weren’t killed.“

  The commissioner agreed, “the fates were with Priscilla and it was a good thing because we finally have a break in the case, a live witness!”

  “Yes commissioner and Tony McCane in custody. But we are all here to send Richard off in style. I suggest a corps of police officers in dress blues, a parade of motorcycle police officers, state troopers in cars, and horses on parade, plus private cars for the dignitaries. Cordon off the streets and we will hold the service at Independence Hall.

  Those are my suggestions, now if you will excuse me I have to question my witness and interrogate McCane and bring justice for my friend Richard. Not necessarily in that order.” Jake left the commissioner and the rest of the company in the conference room with their mouths open at his curt instructions and exit from the meeting. He then proceeded to the interrogation rooms, basically relived to get away from the responsibility of making further suggestions.

  “I have no idea why you are interrogating me I have told you all I know.”

  McCane said wringing his hands in a nervous gesture.

  “Now you know that isn’t true. You lied to my face. You lied to my detective. Why don’t you come clean and make it easy on yourself? We have you at two crime scene’s, you photographed both victim’s half nude. You denied knowing the dark skin man in the photographs and yet there he was in your studio intimately posing with the victims and you called him by name, Alain.” Jake was sitting across from McCane reiterating his facts one by one with the hope of a melt down.

  “Alain, yes I know him. He worked for me when he arrived from Russia a few months ago. A magnificent talent. He could make a photograph come alive. I originally hired him as a model but he was too distracting to the girls. I never got any work done,” McCane appealed to Jake. “The girls and even some of the male models were always glancing at him and did not pay attention to my directions. He lacked discipline and enjoyed the limelight. If he was photographing or posing, it did not matter, he was too upsetting. I finally had to tell him he could not work for me any longer, nothing was getting done.” McCane finished and asked for water.

  The door opened and water was brought in, Jake lit a cigarette and offered the pack to his adversary.

  “You say he arrived from Russia a few months ago and yet he was in your studio ten years ago by your own reckoning when you were shown the photograph. Why did you lie? You said you did not know him, you lied!” Jake rocked back on his chair and stared hard at McCane.

  “I want my lawyer. I know my rights. I want my lawyer. I am not saying another word till I see my lawyer.” McCane folded his arms across his chest and clamped his lips shut.

  The chair Jake was sitting on crashed against the wall as he got up in disgust and left the room.

  Murphy met him in the hall and asked if he could have a go at him.

  “Let me try a different approach. He admitted he gave Alain a job a few months ago and knew him about ten years ago. I am curious about the snapshot we found in Natalie’s house. That could tie Alain, what’s his last name?” Jake shrugged. “I can find out. Let me question him about Alain.”

  “Go get him, I’ll be watching in here,” Jake said moving to the mirrored room where he could watch and listen to Murphy’s interrogation.

  “I see you have water Tony, can I get coffee, cigarettes anything else for you?” Murphy was trying to be hospitable and gain his trust.

  “Listen man, all I want is my lawyer and to get out of here. That would suit me just fine.” He put both hands flat on the table and pushed himself up,

  “Now sit on down their son, you are not going anywhere with or without your lawyer. Things look bad for you I’m afraid.” Murphy put his hand on Tony’s arm. “Look at it my way and take it piece by piece. Most important you were at both crime scenes. What did you see? What aren’t you telling me? Are you covering up for some one? I hope their worth it cause you’ll be going away for a long, long time.” Exasperated Murphy pushed harder. “Don’t be a fool. Tell me. Make it easy on yourself. I personally think you are an innocent victim of circumstance, get it off your chest.” Murphy lit two cigarettes and handed Tony one. “Let’s st
art with the dark skin man, Alain. Alain what? Last name?” Murphy looked at Tony for an answer.

  “Alain Kowanov, Alain Kowanov. I don’t want to go to jail, detective. If I talk will I be implicated? I didn’t know anything criminal was going on. l gave Alain the studio evenings for nude photo sessions for a camera club, or so I was told. Alain was the assistant tennis pro at the country club during the day where the ladies in the photos belonged. The women were all members and hung out at the club together. They played tennis and some took lessons from Alain who was the assistant pro, as I said. When they weren’t playing tennis or having their three martini lunches they played backgammon for pretty high stakes. They were a pretty close group with plenty in common.”

  “I get the picture Tony, bored housewives meet tall, dark, and handsome. A mixture for disaster.” Murphy sat back on his chair and thought this was the link the chief was looking for. The connection. McCane was talking and needed to be asked the right questions. Murphy was contemplating his next step, when Detective Burns came in to relieve him.

  “Chief wants to see you pronto Murphy, I’ll take over for you.” Murphy nodded to Tony and left the room to Burnsey.

  “How are you doing there Mr. McCane? Is there something I can do for you until Detective Murphy get’s back?” Burnsey sat down on the vacated chair.

  “I want my lawyer and I want to get out of here. My business does not run itself you know.”

  “I am sure of that, and you have some business, that’s for sure.

  All those gorgeous models, wow.” Burnsey gave a low whistle.

  Tony McCane laughed in spite of himself and seemed to settle in his seat more comfortably. Burnsey seemed to be an old acquaintance who just dropped by to keep him company till they started questioning him again. “Yeah, it was always my dream as a child to take pictures of beautiful women dressed to kill. If you’ll pardon the pun.”

  “Good one. But I was just wondering with all the beautiful girls running around the studio, why pick on society dames?” Burnsey leaned toward him intimately.

  Tony McCane inclined his head closer to the detective, “Money!”

  “Money, I did not think money entered in artistic achievement.”

  “It does when blackmail is involved.” Tony admitted with a sly smile on his face.

  “Blackmail, you or the society women?” Shocked at what McCane was revealing.

  McCane sat back away from the table, afraid he had said too much, a Freudian slip or was it. “No more. I want my lawyer.”

  “How about those Phillies?” said Burnsey pushing the pack of cigarettes toward his would be informant.

  “Done! I’m done.” Tony took one of the cigarettes that fell from the pack. The detective offered his lighter and they looked into each other’s eyes over the flame.

  Guilt was written all over McCane’s face. Burnsey knew what he had said and McCane realized he revealed too much.

  ‘You know detective you could have all the beautiful women you want, even the society dames, if you would do a favor from time to time for the White Owl.” McCane said whispering close to Burnsey’s ear.

  “Wow here you are one step from the electric chair and your propositioning me, but how do you know I am not already a member? Everyone wears masks don’t they? How about those Phillies?”

  CHAPTER 10

  “Chief why did you take me away I was really getting somewhere.” Murphy was puzzled.

  “I pulled you away because Carter is weeping buckets in my office saying he is guilty for withholding evidence. I want you with me when I question him. Let’s go.” Jake and Murphy walked briskly toward Jake’s office, passing Annie holding Priscilla’s hand trying to comfort the terrified woman.

  “What is going on Mr. Carter? Why are you so distraught,” Jake asked pulling up a chair next to the weeping man.

  Murphy poured a shot of whiskey for Carter, from the bottle in Jake’s desk. “Here, maybe this will help.” Murphy placed the glass near Carter’s hand, and withdrew to the window.

  “Chief Guiliani I have a confession to make, but in my own defense I thought it was some crackpot trying to extort money from me.”

  “Who was trying to extort money from you? Did you get a name?” Jake asked leaning forward.

  “No name just a title, The White Owl, I laughed at the guy. I told him I was too busy for his nonsense and then I hung up. He called back, it was amazing he kept getting through to me, my phone calls are screened, but somehow he did and there he was again, threatening me.” He downed the whiskey in one swallow and looked to Murphy for a refill, which he obliged, Jake gestured to leave the bottle.

  “He said he had damaging photographs of my wife that would ruin my chances of ever becoming governor of any state, let alone Pennsylvania.” Carter sipped at the second whiskey.

  “I asked where are these so called pictures and what was she doing that was so damaging, robbing a jewelry store?” Carter was now under complete control the liquor was working on his nervous system.

  “He said Oh no Mr. Carter much juicier than that, she was writhing in the arms of her lover, and I have it all on film.”

  “What did you do?” Jake asked.

  “I hung up on him.” Carter looked at Jake with tears running down his cheeks.

  “It is all my fault, he warned me that there would be consequences, dire consequences but I just laughed. I am so guilty, and my wife is gone and I could have saved her.”

  “How much did the blackmailer try to extort from you?” Jake asked watching Murphy taking notes by the window.

  “Now after what happened I would have paid everything he asked for mortgaged my house to the hilt, sold the car anything.

  He asked for $100,000.00 in untraceable $100.00 bills.” The office was silent as Carter stopped talking and Jake and his detective stared at him.

  “Why did you withhold this information at the time of your wife’s death? Why are you coming forward now?” Jake lit a cigarette and exhaled the smoke toward the ceiling, waiting for his answer.

  “At the time of Daphne’s death I was so shattered I did not think about it, and she was gone, so I guess I was trying to hold on to the shreds of my career, but recently I received a letter from The White Owl threatening to go public with the pictures of Daphne in her salubrious state if I did not pay what was demanded in the first place.

  I am finished politically anyway so let the chips fall where they may, if I can be of some help catching the son of a bitch. I am your man. He murdered my darling wife, and I did not take him seriously. I feel as guilty as the so called White Owl.”

  “Have you told anyone about your decision to resign as councilman?” At Carter’s negative answer, Jake continued his trend of thought. “Well don’t. let’s keep this between ourselves for now and let me plan how to trap this guy into revealing himself. Go home or to the office and act normally. If he gets in contact with you again, stall him. Just act as normally as possible, after all you are still grieving, that is in our favor.” Jake walked the councilman to the door; “One more word to the wise; you never pay a blackmailer, because it never ends.” Jake stood there watching him walk away, a man apparently shattered by guilt and loss.

  “Murphy do you know if the mayor is in his office?” Jake questioned as he reached for the telephone on his desk and started dialing.

  “Yes, are you calling him?” Murphy asked puzzled at the question.

  “Sorry Murphy just thinking out loud. Yes, hello Gerry, I wonder if you can come over to headquarters as soon as possible, I need to ask you some questions. No, this is not an arrest, very funny. I just need some clarification. Thank you, see you when? An hour, see you then.” He hung up.

  “Murphy I think we should go back to interrogating Mr. McCane. Are you ready for your next session with him? I am going to leave it up to you to pull out what he knows. You are doing a
swell job so far. Also see to it that Mr. Carter’s telephones are bugged, house and office and use an outside source.”

  Murphy looked at Jake, “Do you suspect a mole in the department?”

  “Something is going on and I don’t want the department involved, if I can help it. Let’s just keep it on the q.t.”

  They left the office together heading for the interrogation room, where McCane was waiting with Burnsey. He refused to answer any more questions until he could talk to Murphy again. He did not want to confuse matters by messing up any deal he might make. He felt very fragile right then.

  Murphy walked into the interrogation room and relieved Burnsey and gave him the message that the chief was waiting for him.

  Then Burnsey took Murphy aside and brought him up to date on his conversation with McCane. “He practically admitted blackmail.”

  Jake greeted Burnsey, “I want you to accompany me when I talk to our star witness. She is our only victim still alive.” Jake pushed the door open and was startled to see Babs Babinsky sitting with Annie and Priscilla.

  “Babs good to see you, but surprised. Richard rarely got involved with the day to day questioning of witnesses and suspects, he waited till the report was on his desk.” Burnsey stood behind Jake as he pulled up a chair. He pulled out his notebook to take notes in case anything significant was said.

  “You don’t mind a little note taking ladies. It is always good as a history or at least a reminder.”

  “Priscilla, did you pose nude for Tony McCane or one of his subordinates?” Jake went right to it, addressing the gorilla in the room. “Now be careful what you say, we have corroborating evidence that you were a participant.”