Murder Mysteries # 4

by Waggoner, Robert C.

  "Thanks Dan we're on our way now back from a stopover in Albany. Has the church representative arrived yet?"

  "Not sure about that, but I'll check with Em and get back to you," said Dan

  "Dan find out what motel Dr. Stone is staying in and ask Em to book me room for a few days," asked Stacy.

  The Church Rep.

  Dan had no more than hung up when Stacy cell tinkled a call was needing serviced. "Hi Stacy, the church representative has arrived and has Pastor Plenty with him. What shall I do with them while you're away," asked Em.

  "I'll be there in less than forty minutes or so. Put them in the kitchen. Feed muffins and coffee or whatever they like to drink. Entertain both Em and learn what they might be willing to tell you. Be clever girl. Also, Dan called and I asked him to find out what motel Dr. Stone was staying in. I need a room for few days it would seem. Our friend Ace plugged my drains up."

  "Okay I got it all. Looks like a busy evening and on into the night. Oh here comes Dan now. I'll have him entertain the two men for awhile. I'll go to the bakery for some snacks."

  Stacy sad to Ben, "That Ace guy Ben used plaster of paris on my water drains. That guy isn't very smart. He's throwing away a twenty five year career to harasses somebody he doesn't even know. Let's see now, we've got him for breaking and entering, destruction of private property, and who knows what all. While I've a few minutes I'll call my boss Ben."

  "Don't forget about the disguise he used. Where did he get his disguise? I'd bet he took it out of the evidence room on an old case he remembered. This guy needs to retire and soon," said Ben while Stacy speed dialed her boss back east. Then she remembered it was after midnight back east.

  "Can't an old lady get her beauty rest Stacy," said a wide awake Connie. "What up on your quest for the Murder by Delivery case."

  "As you know Connie we put a tracking device on Lieutenant Harmon's car. Deputy Dan followed the trace to my apartment. Dan quickly drove to my place and hid behind some bushes. He saw Harmon come out of my apartment dressed in Blue Coveralls with the business name of Western Heating and Repair on the back. Anyway, long story short, he took some pics, call a professional maintenance company to inspect. They found my drains plugged up with plaster of paris. It'll take a couple days with acid to free my drains up."

  "You have pictures of him. You're staying in a motel for a few days, I presume. Get me the name of the maintenance company and the individual who did the inspection. Next send me those pics. I'll take it from here. You carry on with the investigation. Let me know what that church guy has to say. Good night 'Super Sleuth'.''

  "Well, I'll be," said Stacy. She looked at Ben who glanced at her seeing a bewildered look on her face.

  "What's up Stacy, you look perplexed," said Ben.

  "She, Connie said to me 'good night Super Sleuth' Rory's the only one who called me that name. How did she learn that nick name anyhow."

  Ben was laughing out loud. "She could have heard that name from many people. Rory never made it a secret. Besides, and I know you don't really hate the nick name, it fits pretty well."

  "Okay, I've a ton of paper work to read over, a church guy from back east is in our office with Pastor Plenty and that stupid Ace is working his brain overtime to think of something else to make my life miserable."

  "I'll stick around for the interview with the church guys and then go home to make sure the kids did their homework. The wife wants a green house to enjoy flowers all winter long. I'm lucky to have a good pension as we sure can't save anything from my salary."

  "I'm not going to my apartment Ben. I've got an excuse now to buy some new clothes. I'll send the expense report to City Hall," she said laughing.

  When Stacy and Ben walked through the office door, they heard some raucous laughter from the kitchen. The laughter wasn't coming from her staff, but it must be that new representative with an obnoxious laugh. They stepped into the kitchen and the joyful whatever ended. Shawn Roberts stood up and held his hand out to Stacy and Ben.

  Stacy smiled and said, "Let's go to a conference room where we can discuss your reason for coming across the country to visit us," said a not so happy Stacy. Ben quickly decided he needed to go home and made his apologies to all. Stacy realized what he was doing. She envied him. Em was ready to take notes while Dan sat down unobtrusively at the end of the table. They were using the large conference room instead of her smaller round table.

  "Mr. Roberts, enlighten us to your visit. I've not had an opportunity to read the police reports concerning the homicide similar to this one in your church, well I presume it was or is your church," said Stacy.

  "Even though I qualify for being a pastor, I spend my time in our main office under the bishop. He briefed me to pass on certain information concerning the homicide and what might be possibly the reason or partial reason around the murder." Stacy saw him squirm a little as what he was about to say would be sensitive to the church.

  "Our church, which is aligned with other Christian churches, haven't accepted any homosexuals as pastors to a church. In this day and age of gay marriages and all gay activities being out in the open, our church has been pressured to accept gays as pastors. Our traditionalists forbid the acceptance of gays preaching the word of God." Shawn let that last statement settle into the minds of the US Marshal and her staff. Stacy was paying attention while Em was taking notes.

  Shawn Roberts continued, "About a year ago, we began to receive some disturbing information that a faction of religious wanabe pastors was forming a committee to challenge the church in open debate. At first we ignored the solicitations as not worth the time or effort. The news media was alerted and even though it never hit front-page news, a growing number of sympathizers were jumping on the gay bandwagon. My bishop was in a hot seat for sure. Our traditional body of elders and financial contributing church members were up in arms over the call for gay pastors to have their own church.

  In Texas the same thing was happening. Please remember, to become a pastor, it takes a master's degree. So you can see we're dealing with well educated people here. We received a copy of a formal challenge of debate. Here is a copy of the document." He passed it over to Stacy. "As you can see they've an acronym: POINT. Which as we now understand is "People Opposed International Tenets.''

  Stacy read the document quickly and would later read it more carefully. But in essence it demanded a formal debate at a university of choice. The moderator would be selected from a list of ten names. The remainder was rules and so forth. No names were mentioned. Stacy looked at the date and asked, "How soon after this document was received did the homicide occur?"

  Again Shawn squirmed and then said, "About a month. Like Pastor Plenty we had ordered some new pews for a church in Allentown. That's when a body was found inside the wooden crate."

  "I've yet to see the reports Mr. Roberts, but am I to believe the mutilation of the body prohibited the possibility of determining identification?"

  "That's correct. Fingerprints and dental records were missing. As with our case here, the victim was similar in age and build. The victim in Texas was young and female. Now, if I might suggest Marshall Foreham, I'll let you catch up on the reports. Meanwhile, I'll spend the night here and be available tomorrow at your convenience."

  "That would work well for me as I've a lot of reading to catch up on. Also, from the note that was passed to me, the autopsy will take place tomorrow afternoon on the body." Stacy stood up as the rest followed her lead.

  "Stacy," said Pastor Robbie, "this crime is taking a big toll on our attendance locally and across America. I hope you and your staff can solve this crime very soon. Please be careful. Apparently the perpetrators are playing for keeps."

  "Thanks for your concern pastor. With God on our side, we can't ever lose," she said smiling walking to the front door. With a wave they were gone.

  Emma said, "We booked you into the same hotel as Dr. Stone. You're her neighbor. Also, she said you must eat sometime and tonight at 8 pm
would be a good time to catch a bite. Dan will drive you. Do you want me to go shopping for you while you're reading and so on?"

  "That would be heaven sent Em. I'm size 6, if that helps. Shoe size is also a 6. I need some sweats to sleep in and whatever else you see that looks good. Follow me back to my office and use my bank debit card. Go to an ATM and as I'm a preferred customer, take out $500 to have a buying spree."

  After Em left, Stacy sat down to a mountain of paper work. Because a similar homicide was in Texas, she began there. The dates were not far apart from Plano and Allentown. Also the date of the debate document nestled in-between.

  Plano, Texas Homicide

  On July the 13th, the Methodist church on an early Sunday morning discovered a female body in a back storage room. Pastor Leeks was on an early morning cleaning binge as usual. His favorite broom and dustpan awaited him. However, when he opened the door, a body lay flat on its back on the cement floor. He called 911 without moving from his original position.

  Detective Rollie Thister was the lead investigator. The body was described as a middle thirties female. Nicely dressed and with a trim body. The fingerprints and dental were missing. Nobody to date has ID the body. No missing person matched the description.

  It all appeared very strange indeed, thought Stacy. Everything the same except the wooden packing crate. The cause of death was strangulation. No suspects, case is still open.

  Allentown Pennsylvania Homicide

  At the end of August, Pastor Ralph Beezer and two of his volunteer church members were taking apart wooden crates that contained new church pews. His church was but a stone's throw from Bishop Alex Fairweather's office. The second one they opened contained more than a church pew. It contained a male body minus the fingerprints and dental work. He died of strangulation. Detective Pat Ruddley was the lead on the case. No leads. No missing persons and no suspects. The case was open but at a dead end.

  Break Time

  Dan was with Stacy reading all the reports. It was close to 8 pm and time for dinner. Stacy called Marsha who said she just got to her motel room. I found your secretary Emma laying out your new clothes. Come girl let's eat I'm famished."

  Dan drove while Stacy was thinking how nice it was to meet up with Dr. Stone again. In just a short time, about two years, the two women had become friends. There was quite an age gap, but that really didn't seem to matter much to either of the two women. While flashing back, she felt a pang for Rory. He too was a big part of the team that solved so many homicides in Southern Oregon. Oh well, such is life as they pulled into the motel's parking lot.

  At the desk she officially signed in. The counter person said, "You must be special as to have a friend unpack your things before you arrive."

  "That's very true Bess," as Stacy saw on her food stained uniform. "But the cost is what I like best. She does it for free, my favorite price," said Stacy leaving a wide mouth desk attendant starring after her. "Oh and don't forget my body guard. Show him your gun Jim."

  Even Dan was laughing hard when they arrived upstairs to join Marsha and Emma who were chatting away like old friends. Stacy received a big hug and she thought there might have been a small tear at the corner of Marsha's eye. "Let's eat everybody. But where is a good question," said Stacy.

  "There's a Chinese joint two doors down. Lord knows if their chop suey is any good, but at this point, who cares," said Marsha leading out the door with Dan at the end making sure the door was locked.

  "Are you settling in alright Marsha," asked Stacy.

  "Yes, but slowly. I'm lucky to have a good staff with Cathy your friend blazing trail for me. The former pathologist left a filing system in a mess, but we'll over time computerize it all. Meanwhile, my new assistants are handling the autopsies just fine."

  "Time to order," said Stacy having barely glanced at the long list of Chinese dishes. Ninety percent were the same ingredients, but just put together differently. After ordering Marsha continue by say:

  "The university wants to show me off around the other faculty members. I asked to hold off until around Christmas so as I could get my feet on the ground. Oh well, it'll all work out. One last thing, we'll do the autopsy on the pew homicide tomorrow at 2 pm. Of course I'm a little curious as to what's happening with the case of the body at a church."

  Stacy gave a brief overview, leaving out the part about the faction known as POINT. At another time she'd involve Marsha, but not now in front of Emma and Dan. Dinner arrived and when it was over, all went to bed satisfied and full.

  When Stacy went to her room she found her new clothes were stacked nicely everywhere but on the bed. She smiled thinking Emma was a darn good find.

  Reports-Church Meeting-Autopsy

  The next morning, dressed in new clothes and feeling good, Dan showed up at 7:30 to drive her to work. Marsha was given a ride also. Dan drove by the Marshalls office so Marsha could see where they worked. Her office was but a short drive of about six blocks to the newly constructed Coroner's office and morgue.

  After dropping Marsha off, Dan went by a new bakery for some blueberry muffins and through Mc. Ds for a half dozen Egg McMuffin. Back at the office, all three sat in the kitchen having breakfast. Emma had already made coffee and hot water for tea. "Thanks for the help Em," said Stacy.

  "Glad to help. Marsha is nice Stacy. She's quite an improvement over Rudy what's his name."

  "Yes Marsha is a good one and with Cathy they'll be unbeatable. What we need now is to discover who killed the person in the wooden crate. Not only here, but in Texas and Pennsylvania as well. When I meet the church rep again this am, he's not going to like what I ask for," said Stacy smacking her lips of blueberry muffin.

  "Dan, I've a job for you this am. If Ben's not busy, take him to Portland to the warehouse in question where the new pew was shipped to. Names, places where same day delivery might have taken place. Some companies write down the mileage on each stop. Check that out too. Find out all you can about the driver and his helper. It seems logical to me that the body had been added after the assembly plant in Salem. Somewhere along the route from Portland to Eugene the body was placed inside. Also today, the Salem assembly supervisor is coming down to check out the crate. Okay, I've some reading to do so let's see what's happening after the autopsy this afternoon. Also Em, would you call the church and ask that Shawn Roberts come by at around 10 am would be fine with me. Also ask if Pastor Plenty would accompany him."

  About an hour later, around 9 am, Connie called. "Morning Stacy. I've some news for you. Detective Harmon has been relieved of duty for the time being. I sent the DA the pics of him in those blue coveralls. Those coveralls were evidence from a robbery years ago. His excuse was the act was simply a prank. We're going ahead with charges against him for breaking and entering, evidence tampering, using a city vehicle for illegal activities and whatever else they can think of. He'll do a few years in prison. It also appears the captain is retiring early. I talked to the mayor and he assures me a complete revamping of the police department is in order. He said it was time for new younger blood to occupy City Hall."

  "Thanks Connie. However, I'm still not comfortable with him able to follow me, call me, and any other things he might decide to do. I want an ankle bracelet on that guy. He could be really angry and think he's nothing to lose by assassinating me."

  "Let me see what we can do. I'll get back to you later today. Meanwhile I'll put a tail on him. Focus on the case Stacy. This particular case has far reaching implications if what you find is what I think it might reveal."

  Stacy sat back wondering just how smart the woman really was. She had an inordinate amount of foresight. That not only she was friendly and, up to this point, honest, she was downright helpful.

  She went to the loo and made a new mug of tea. Soon the two clergymen would be here. She felt sorry for Pastor Plenty. This crime would hang over his church for years to come. Stacy vowed she'd attend church as much as she could.

  Going back to her office, she
heard the obnoxious laugh from Shawn she'd heard the day before. Emma literally jogged back to Stacy's office. Shawn with long steps and Pastor Robbie hurry to keep up entered just as Stacy sat down at the round table.

  With the greeting aside, Stacy said, "Mr. Roberts I'd like a list of your church's hierarchy, or council members. In particular the individuals who help or set guidelines for the operation of all churches."

  Stacy saw Shawn Roberts sitting there frozen in time with his mouth half open. Pastor Robbie hung his head in prayer. Stacy continued. "Big donor's pack a lot of weight Mr. Roberts. I'll remind you that this is a triple murder case involving the Methodist Church. All victims were relieved of any ID. In order to solve these crimes, we must begin at the top and work down. These weren’t random killings. These were directed, or in other words, had church involvement written all over them. Now before you answer, let me say this, I don't speculate, but I'm reasonable sure the victims had a connection to the gay world."

  Shawn had recovered somewhat. His mind was churning and he wondered just how much he should say or not say. This conversation should be in front of the bishop. But the bishop sent him here instead of his portly self. He said:

  "Marshall there're a board of regents or council so to speak. They're not part of the international church, but command a lot of weight here in the states. However, to obtain a list would be the responsibility of Bishop Fairweather."

  "I see Mr. Roberts. I wonder then what they sent you out here to do?"