Deadly Waters

by T. Alan Codder

  “But you have no idea how long that may take?” Steve asked.

  “It takes as long as it takes. If someone’s story at the plant doesn’t check out, or the medical examiner finds something useful, it may only be a day or two. But it could just as easily take weeks or months, or we may never find out who killed him. It’s too early to say.” He paused then decided to throw them a bone. “Most criminals are stupid, otherwise we wouldn’t catch them, but still, figure a few weeks, minimum.”

  “So, you might catch the guy before the festival?” Rudy asked again.

  “Maybe, maybe not. I have no way of knowing until we get some threads to start pulling on.”

  “Just do the best you can, Sean,” Evie said.

  “You have my word. If we can find even a hint, we’ll have something to start with. We’re not going to let this rest, Ms. Wirick. I’m confident we’ll catch him, eventually.”

  “I don’t have to tell you, Sean, that when word gets out about this, people are going to be shocked,” Josh said. “Stuff like this just doesn’t happen in Brunswick. I know you’re still trying to get your feet on the ground, but we need this wrapped up as soon as possible so people don’t lose faith in your ability to keep the town safe. I think I speak for the entire city council when I say we’re behind you one hundred percent, but this is probably going to make or break you.”

  Sean’s lips quirked into a lopsided grin as he leaned back in his chair with a humorous snort. “No pressure then.”

  His four guests chuckled. “No, no pressure,” Evie said. “If you need anything, any additional resources, we’ll try to get them for you. I understand how tough this must be.”

  “Thank you for the offer. I might have to authorize overtime for this.”

  “Do what you have to and don’t worry about the overtime,” Steve said. “We want to keep Rudy happy and try to get this wrapped up before the festival.”

  The conference phone on the table began to ring.

  “Sean,” he said after pushing the button.

  “WRAL is here with a camera,” Kim’s voice came over the speaker. “They’re in the lobby and would like a statement.”

  “I’ll be right there,” he said then ended the call. “Word travels fast down here. Anything else before I go face the wolves?”

  “You want me to talk to them?” Rudy offered.

  That was the last thing Sean wanted.

  “Thank you, mayor, but no. I’ll handle it.”

  “We won’t keep you then,” Evie said as she rose from the table, the men following her lead.

  As the mayor and the members of the city council hung back, Sean walked into the small lobby.

  “I’m Sean McGhee, chief of police,” he said to the attractive, raven haired woman, dressed in a dark blue pant suit with a bold red blouse opened just enough to show a hint of cleavage.

  “Ronda Russell, WRAL News. I’d like to get a statement from you about the death of Boyd Thacker.”

  “Let’s step outside,” Sean suggested, stepping past Ronda and holding open the door for her and her cameraman.

  Getting her outside would give his guests a chance to escape, and if he was lucky, the cold would make Ms. Russell a little less inquisitive.

  This was going to be a new experience for him. He’d never spoken on camera before, but in his work with the Boston PD, he’d seen his captain do it several times, often on cases he was handling. His task force had busted a major credit card laundering scheme, and then later, a child pornography ring, both of which had been big news. While the investigation was going on, Captain Beeler had spoken to the press several times, but had said little, always falling back on the ‘we can’t comment on an active investigation’ line when he didn’t want to answer questions. If it worked in Boston, it should work here.

  Sean stepped to the side so there was a featureless brown brick wall behind him.

  “Will this do?” he asked as Rudy and the city council members stopped behind the cameraman to watch.

  Ronda smiled. “Perfect.” She turned to the camera and cleaned her teeth with her tongue. “Three… two… one. I’m here with Sean McGhee, newly appointed police chief of Brunswick,” she said, speaking to the camera. She turned to Sean. “Is it true the body of Boyd Thacker, the riverkeeper who had accused Brunswick of causing several fish kills on the Siouan River, was found dead earlier today in the Brunswick wastewater treatment plant?”

  She tipped her microphone toward him.

  “A body was discovered earlier today, but we have no confirmation on the identity.”

  She brought the mic back to her lips. “It was found at the wastewater plant?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “Any idea of how or when the person died?”

  “Not at this time. We’re awaiting the results from the Siouan County Medical Examiner’s office.”

  “Any idea of when that’ll be?”

  “You’ll have to contact the medical examiner’s office.”

  Ronda fumed a moment, obviously annoyed Sean was being so terse.

  “Are you familiar with the accusations Mr. Thacker made against the city?”

  “I am.”

  “Do you believe that has any bearing on his death?”

  “As I said, we don’t have a positive identification of the body. Until we have a positive ID of the victim, and we know when and how the victim died, anything I tell you now would be pure speculation.”

  “Any idea on when you will be making an arrest?”

  “When we have all the facts of the case, if an arrest is warranted, we’ll make it at that time.”

  Sean watched as Rudy fidgeted, and then returned his attention to Ronda.

  “Is there reason to suspect Mr. Thacker was murdered?”

  “Until we get the results from the medical examiner, we’re not assuming anything, including the identity of the victim.”

  “Could it have been an accident?”

  “As I said, until we get the results from the medical examiner, we’re not assuming anything.”

  Rudy stepped forward to stand beside Sean. “Hello Ronda. Rudy Klinger, Mayor of Brunswick. We have every confidence Chief McGhee will apprehend the responsible party or parties within a couple weeks.”

  “So, the deceased was murdered?” Ronda asked, her eyes lighting up. “Is the deceased Boyd Thacker?”

  “That’s what I—” Rudy began.

  “There’s no confirmation at this time the deceased was murdered, nor do we have confirmation on the victim’s identity,” Sean said, his voice firm as he spoke over the top of Rudy and cut him off. “That’s all,” he said before stepping away.

  “What about you, mayor? You seem to—”

  “No, no, that’s all,” Rudy said, stepping away as well and following Sean into the station.

  “You want to run this investigation?” Sean growled, glaring at Rudy when he stepped into his office.

  “I don’t know what you’re so mad about.”

  “I just told you this could take months, and you get on the television and start running your mouth about murder and having arrests made in a couple of weeks.”

  “Well, unless you think he went swimming with weights on, it looks like murder to me!”

  “I think we should wait for the facts before you start blabbing it all over television. We don’t know if he drowned there or was killed in some other way. We don’t know shit, and you’re compromising the investigation by releasing information that might tip the guy who did it that we’re looking for him.”

  Rudy fumed. “Okay, I’m sorry. It just seems obvious to me that having the weights tied to Thacker’s body means it’s murder.”

  “But she didn’t know about the weights or she would have asked about them. We also don’t know if the stiff is Thacker, and a couple of weeks? I never said that.”

  “Wasn’t that the ID you took from the body?”

  “If I hand you my driver’s license, does that make you Sean
McGhee?”

  Rudy stared at him a moment. “Okay, I see what you’re saying. But for the rest, you just told us it would be a couple of weeks.”

  “I said at least a few weeks. I also said it could take months, but I guess you didn’t hear that part.” Sean sighed. “Mayor, I suggest in the future, you let me talk to the press about ongoing investigations. If they choose to, they can make us both look like idiots because we can’t get our stories straight.”

  “The people are going to want reassurance that—”

  “How about we catch the guy that did it and reassure them that way?” Sean interrupted. “You’re making that harder for me to do.”

  Rudy glared at Sean a moment then softened. “Okay, you’re right. I messed up. Just try to get this resolved as fast as you can.”

  “I’m going to pretend you’re not implying I’d do anything else. How’d you find out about this, anyway?”

  “Maggie called Perry Whipple, her boss and the city public utilities manager. He told me.”

  Sean sighed. The grapevine was alive and well in Brunswick.

  Four

  After Mayor Klinger and his city council entourage left, Sean turned his attention back to his budget. They had adequate funding to operate, but there was nothing in the budget to upgrade their computers, and he couldn’t find any place where he could move money around.

  He was typing away on his computer, his personal laptop so he didn’t have to use the ancient piece of shit the city provided, writing a proposal for the city council to upgrade the computers in his office, when Fish rapped lightly on the door frame.

  “Chief, you got a minute?”

  “Sure. What’s up?” Sean asked, looking up from his task and pushing the laptop to the side of his desk.

  “I’m about to leave, but I thought you’d want to see the medical examiner’s preliminary report.”

  Sean took the folder and placed it beside his laptop to look at after Fish left.

  “Have a seat,” Sean said, motioning to a chair.

  Fish folded himself into one of the oak and brown leather guest chairs. Bill Horton may not have had any use for computers, but he didn’t mind spending money on nice furniture for himself.

  Sean’s office wasn’t lavish, but it was nicer than the rest of the station, with dark wainscoting and fresh paint to cover the shadows left behind when Bill removed the many photos taken of him during his long service to the city. The only decorations left after Bill’s departure were the American and North Carolina flags flanking the window and a couple of paintings of the city from a local artist.

  “What did the report say?” Sean asked.

  Recently married, with a baby on the way, Sean had heard through the grapevine that Fish was applying for positions in other police departments. He’d hate to lose him, but he also knew if Fish cracked this case, it would be just the thing he needed to get himself snapped up by another department.

  “Not a lot. The ME couldn’t determine how long Thacker had been in the ditch, but his best guess was between four and seven days. There was no water in the lungs, so he was dead before he was dumped in there. The report also stated he had some broken bones and torn ligaments, though he couldn’t tell if that was the result of him being run through the mixer or was done before he was chucked in the ditch. There was also trauma to the head, probably caused by something like a wrench, or other long handled, thin object. The ME said the head trauma was inconsistent with the damage to the rest of the body and was likely the cause of death.”

  “So, he was probably killed somewhere else and then brought in and dumped in the ditch. Do we have confirmation it’s Thacker?”

  “That’s what it looks like, and no, no positive ID yet. That should come in a few days, but I’m working on the assumption it’s actually Thacker.”

  Sean’s face twisted in a grimace. “I don’t know if having him killed somewhere else makes this easier or harder.”

  Fish shook his head. “Me either. I spoke with both the dayshift and nightshift operators, the two lab people, and the maintenance crew. Nada. Tomorrow I’ll speak to the rest of the operators.”

  “You’re thinking they’re clean?”

  Fish shrugged. “They don’t seem to be hiding anything. Every question I asked, everyone answered plainly. I didn’t get the sense they were lying or trying to hide anything. To be honest, they seemed as surprised and confused as anyone else that Thacker was there, and nobody has a clue how he could have gotten into the ditch. Every last person said there was no way the body could have come in through the normal process and that he had to have been dumped. They showed me, and I have to agree. Not only that, but everyone was pretty consistent in saying an operator would have a tough time pulling it off.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because they spend most of their day in the office, watching the…” Fish paused as he looked at his note pad. “SCADA system.” He pronounced it Skay-Da. “That stands for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. That’s the system they use to run the plant.”

  Sean nodded. “I’m familiar with it.”

  “Anyway, they spend most of their time in the office unless there’s a problem. Normally, the only time they’re out is when they do rounds.”

  “And they couldn’t have dumped the body then?”

  Fish made a face, his features twisting in doubt as he slowly shook his head. “Not easily. They usually walk the rounds, so they’d have to carry the body from the parking lot, assuming they had it in their car, all the way to the oxidation ditch where they found him. I wouldn’t want to have to carry a body that far. It has to be at least three hundred yards. Not only would it be heavy, but there’s also the chance of being seen. That, or drive their car up there, but that would look totally out of place and someone would’ve probably noticed. Also, nobody could remember anyone taking the Gator or one of the plant trucks on rounds in the last week.”

  Sean rubbed his face with both hands, his fingers sliding under his glasses to massage his eyes.

  “Well, he got there somehow. What about the maintenance guys?”

  Fish flashed a grin. “They admitted it would be easier for them because they always go in a truck so they’ll have their tools with them.” He looked at his notes. “Kevin Harbaugh was up there with his truck recently, but he couldn’t remember the exact day. He said he’d look it up and get back to me.”

  “What do you do when you need to have a forensic team go over something?”

  “Don’t know. Never had to have it done, not since I’ve been here. Call the county I guess,” Fish said.

  “I’ll take care of that tomorrow. I’ll have them go over the vehicles at the plant, with a special emphasis on Harbaugh’s truck. We’ll see if we can find something there.”

  “You think someone at the plant did it?”

  “We have to start somewhere. Wouldn’t you agree they’re the most likely suspects? They’re the ones with the easiest access to the facility.”

  Fish shrugged. “I suppose. I sure didn’t get the sense anyone there was anything other than shocked and surprised they’d found the body, though. If anything, they were upset this was going to be another blow to their reputation. They were pretty upset they were blamed for something they didn’t do, the fish kills I mean, and were afraid it was going to happen again.”

  “I can understand that, but until we figure out how the body got in there…” Sean said, allowing his voice to trail off before he shrugged, his palms up, silently questioning if there was anything else to do.

  “If we assume it’s someone at the plant, at least we have a starting point. If it wasn’t someone there, then we’ll have to expand our search to all the people who have access to the place.” The look on Sean’s face made it clear that wasn’t something he enjoyed thinking about.

  “I’ve also looked at the logs,” Fish continued. “Nobody signed in off shift, though I suppose you wouldn’t if you were there to dump a body. Speaking of which,
you’re the computer expert. Is there any way we can get the security video off the computer at the plant? Maggie said I could watch it there, but she doesn’t know how to get it off the computer so I can bring it back to the station with me. I’d also like to get a copy of the gate codes, but she didn’t know if those are even logged. The gate is usually left open during the day, but it’s closed at night and on the weekends, and you need to enter a personal code to open it. I’d be interested in seeing if anyone showed up off hours and didn’t sign in.”

  Sean bobbed his head in agreement as Fish made his request. “There’s probably a way but I’ll have to look and see. I don’t know about the gate though. That will depend on how their system is set up, but I’ll look into that too.”

  “Thanks. It’ll be a relief not having to sit down there and stare at days of video.” Fish grinned. “It’s kind of nice having an in-house computer expert. The guys at city hall are useless for this kind of stuff. I know, because I asked for their help one other time to unlock a stolen laptop. They said it couldn’t be done.”

  Sean shook his head in sympathetic frustration. “There’s always a way. Yeah, I’ll stop by the plant tomorrow and pull the video, and the gate codes if they’re available.”

  “Thanks, chief.”

  “You need anything else?” Sean asked.

  “No. To be honest, my brain is mush and I’m ready to call it a day.”

  Sean glanced at the clock in the lower right corner of his computer screen. “You should have gone hours ago.”

  “I know, but I wanted to talk to the night shift operators and get the preliminary report from the ME.”

  “You’re cleared for overtime, so make sure you put it down.”

  “Yes, sir, I will.”

  “Go. Spend time with your wife. You’re not going to have the chance once junior arrives.”