The End of Summer: Book One in The Detective Bill Ross Crime Series

by Irving Munro

  Chapter 30- The sexual predator

  2005 - A Great Adventure

  Galina quickly settled in to her new waitressing job at the San Juan Sports Bar and Grill. She worked double shifts every day starting at 9am and after midnight, she would climb into the Airstream and cry herself to sleep.

  Pavel called her on her cell constantly but Galina ignored them. The LSU crew did not share with Pavel or Fran where Galina had gone, so it was impossible for them to find her and for Pavel to try to explain his betrayal. The crew shunned them both but still allowed them to stay in the apartment till the end of the summer. They all made it clear to Fran that her relationship with them would never be the same again and that when they returned to Baton Rouge, they wanted her out of their lives.

  Galina hoped that time would heal her pain and threw herself into working all the hours she could to keep her mind clear of the memory of that terrible day. That’s when Jim McCord entered her life.

  Each time he came into the bar, he sat in the same corner table. He kept to himself mostly but had an eye for the ladies. Galina watched him as he floated around the bar from table to table spinning his bullshit lines. She sensed that Jim was a bit of a rogue but despite him being much older and even a little dangerous, she still found him interesting. There was something about him she liked.

  The predator was sucking her into his web with well-practiced, artificial compassion. “Why do you look so sad? A beautiful girl like you shouldn’t be sad!” The words dripped off his tongue like a wolf salivating over an imminent kill.

  Then one day his sleaze ball tactics worked. She told him her story and the tears rolled down her cheeks. She felt that she needed to tell someone. It felt like her memories were boiling up inside her and she needed to tell someone to relieve the pressure. The predator saw this as the opportunity he was looking for; he offered her a Kleenex to dry her tears and touched he her hand. The feeling of her skin on his electrified him and he felt a tingle of excitement in his groin.

  “Each day will be better, Galina. You will get stronger and you will get over this!” It was the coup de grace. He had her and his heart raced at the prospect of the pleasure to come.

  ~

  Over the years, Jim McCord had a routine that he had established for his Pagosa Springs summers. He would have dinner with his wife, Mary and then bed her down for the night. The medications she took ensured that she slept soundly, leaving McCord free to go on the prowl. He didn’t do it every night and not on weekends. He typically went out Tuesdays and Wednesdays so that tongues wouldn’t wag and no gossip would find its way back to Mary’s ears.

  Jim’s habits were methodical. He made sure he wasn’t seen in the same bar on two consecutive nights and stayed sober enough so he wouldn’t run into trouble with police. The last thing he needed was a DUI. Jim McCord was not out looking to get drunk. He was out looking for some action to satisfy his sexual appetite.

  Over the next few weeks, Jim worked his charm on Galina. By the time mid-August rolled around, he made his move.

  One night, Jim met her on her night off and took her to another bar on the outskirts of town. She got drunk quickly and was drowning in his charm. He said that he would look after her. Galina agreed that was what she needed. She needed to feel the warmth again of someone who cared. She needed a shoulder to cry on to let out all the pain.

  After drinks, they drove back to the rear of the San Juan Bar and crept into the Airstream together. They sat on the bed; Jim brushed away her tears and stroked her hair. He kissed her softly on the cheek and neck and placed a hand on her breast. As he touched her, Galina pushed up into him, surrendering to his caresses. He undressed her slowly and took off his clothes. Their bodies combined, hands touching and exploring. He kissed her deeply and then slowly entered her. Their lovemaking was slow and sensual and she gave herself to him completely.

  “Oh, Jim, I never thought it could be like this,” she whispered in his ear.

  He waited until she fell asleep. Her breathing was soft and low and he felt good that she had obviously enjoyed the lovemaking of a master of the art. With the conquest complete, he dressed and left the Airstream.

  “Another notch on the belt!” he thought to himself as he drove home.

  After Jim McCord left the Airstream, Galina awoke, saw he was gone and cried uncontrollably. Her head cleared and the full realization of what had happened hit her like a runaway train.

  “How could I be so stupid? Jim just used me and I let it happen. I let it happen with that whore, Fran, and now this. How could I be so stupid?”

  Galina cried herself back to sleep. She felt like a lost soul adrift on the ocean and the sharks were circling.

  Chapter 31 - The doomsday prepper

  2014 - The Cold Case Investigation

  A week later, they were all back in the conference room. Tommy and Marie had written up their report on their trip to Pagosa Springs. Bill Ross had done considerable research on the Internet but nothing had popped up indicating that this might be a serial killer. Jack Johnson had interviewed everyone in Austin in the Riverside neighborhood.

  Jack sat at the head of the conference table and kicked things off. “I suggest that we take the next couple of hours to white board a timeline and then populate that timeline with what we know. We can then highlight any missing pieces in the sequence and develop a plan to target those for further investigation.”

  Bill stood up, walked to the whiteboard and said, “So let’s write down what we know for sure.”

  1. The body was discovered on Thursday, September 15, 2005.

  2. Jim McCord was tripping the light fantastic with Dawn Cohen the previous evening, September 14.

  3. Bobby McCord and friends were at the McCord house over Labor Day weekend and left Friday morning, September 9.

  4. The cleaning crew was in the home on the Sunday and Monday and completed their work on Monday night, September 12.

  5. We know nothing of the events at the house from Monday night until the body was discovered on the Thursday.

  6. We know Jim McCord returned his rented Ford to Hertz at San Antonio airport late afternoon on Thursday.

  Bill looked over his handiwork and said, “Now let’s create a list of supposition and speculation”

  1. We suspect that Jim McCord didn’t do it because we currently have no evidence to suggest he did.

  2. We are pretty sure that aliens didn’t do it, but we don’t know that for sure.

  3. We think that Mary McConnell may have “seen” the face of the dead woman and is suggesting there may be others. We think we might have a serial killer but we have no evidence to suggest that.

  “Now, let’s catalogue the work from the investigations we’ve done over the last couple of weeks. Jack, why don’t you go first with Jim McCord’s friends in Austin and your interview with Bobby?”

  Jack pulled out his notes and said, “Unfortunately, I got nothing of substance from the Riverside neighbors. The women felt sorry for Mary and her emotional problems and while many of them tried to involve her in social activities, Mary constantly found excuses not to participate.”

  “Jim’s golf buddies responded like golf buddies normally do. He’s a good guy doesn’t cheat (most of the time). I also talked with McCord’s son in Oklahoma, Bobby. Lately, Bobby hasn’t been able to come home to spend time with his parents. He loves his mother very much but he didn’t stray from the “party line” about his father. His dad was a cyber-security expert, a subcontractor with the U.S. government and travelled a lot. That’s about it from me,” concluded Jack.

  “I’ll go next,” said Bill. “I found the Vanderbilt connection. Jim grew up in Nashville but other than the rape allegation, there’s nothing to report. His father was a doctor and he worked in Vanderbilt Medical Centre, as did his mother who was a research chemist. They were killed in a plane crash when Jim was in his second year at college. He inherited close to $8 million from the estate. I got nowhere on finding other murder
s with similar modus operandi but I’ll keep at it.”

  Bill looked over to Tommy and Marie and asked, “Last but not least. What did you two dig up?”

  Tommy handed out their printed reports and walked the team through the content. He catalogued the meeting with Scott and Rachel Schultz and wrapped it up by saying they confirmed what Herman Lutz at Lockheed Martin had said about Jim’s character. They had even gone further to paint him as a womanizer. Clearly, Jim was not to be trusted.

  “Our next interview was with Luther Fisher,” said Tommy. “Based on the way that interview went, we we’re surprised that he even agreed to meet with us. He is without doubt a Doomsday Prepper. He had various guns on display and has survivalist magazines lying around all over his house. He was deeply suspicious of our motives for being there and behaved every second of our interview with him like he wanted us gone. He has a fancy telescope that I thought was pointed at the mountains but when I looked through the lens, it was pointed at another property on the other side of the valley. It was a cabin of some sort with an RV and boat parked alongside. When he saw me looking through the telescope he went ballistic.”

  “In addition, there were inconsistencies in what he told us. During the interview, Luther said that he thought that Jim McCord was an OK guy but that was because he ‘didn’t do anything bad to him.’ He made it sound like McCord let Luther Fisher be Luther Fisher. But then we met with Josef and Cornelia Jacobsen.”

  Before Tommy could continue, Bill Ross stood up with a look on his face like he had just won America’s Got Talent.

  “I knew that I recognized the name! Luther Fisher! Luther Fisher and Jim McCord were two of the three guys accused of raping the female student at Vanderbilt!”

  “Wow! Another piece of the puzzle!” said Jack. “But let’s continue with Tommy’s findings for now.”

  Tommy thanked Jack and continued, “When we met with the Jacobsen’s, it became obvious in the early part of the interview that Josef Jacobsen hated Jim McCord. He called him a liar and a cheat.”

  “His wife had even more interesting revelations!” continued Marie. “She told us that the McCords and the Fishers were best friends before Summer Fisher drowned in the lake at Navajo State Park in 2003. In the initial part of the investigation, Mary McCord was considered a suspect in her death because it was rumored that Jim was having an affair with Summer. The theory was that Mary deliberately drowned Summer in a fit of rage. Mary had been close to a nervous breakdown and is still receiving treatment today.”

  While Tommy and Marie were presenting their report, Bill had continued to Google Luther Fisher. When they finished, Bill spoke up.

  “According to Google, Luther Fisher graduated Vanderbilt with a degree in pharmacology and worked in the medical center for a couple of years. According to Who’s Who in Nashville, he inherited over $70 million when his mother died in 1999. His father had been a music executive in Nashville and died from a drug overdose a few years earlier. Luther quit his job and built a home in Pagosa Springs with some of his inheritance.”

  Jack nodded his head and said, “I say it’s time we circle the wagons on this and figure out where we are. Bill, why don’t you go first?”

  “From my perspective, it gets down to motive and opportunity,” began Bill. “I don’t see motive with Jim McCord. We might not like him but I don’t think he did it. Regarding opportunity, he could have tried to pick up a girl on his way up to Austin from San Antonio just to have her reject him. He freaks out, kills her and then dumps her body in plain sight. But the body wasn’t dumped. It was staged and when would he have had time to do that? Also, why would he pick up someone a few hours before he was due to meet Dawn Cohen for sex?”

  Bill continued on, “Luther Fisher had possible motive. He may have found out that his wife was having an affair with Jim McCord and wanted to hurt him. He finds some random girl, kills her and then somehow makes his way to Austin to put the body in McCord’s backyard. We need more evidence for this to be a credible option. There are still pieces that don’t fit. Why was the body staged?”

  Bill sighed and sat down at the table. “And the biggest question is who was she? We are still no closer on that and we need to be. That’s about it from me.”

  “I’m with Bill,” replied Marie. “Two weeks ago, we thought that Jim McCord held the key. I now feel that Luther Fisher is the missing piece. We need to sweat him some more and he’s not going to like it. He’s a Prepper and I would wager has enough firepower in that house to start World War Three. I also think that there is a connection to the drowning of Summer Fisher. I don’t know what it is, but we need to press Luther Fisher on that.”

  “I agree with both Bill and Marie,” said Jack.

  “I do too,” said Tommy.

  “I guess we will be making another trip back to Pagosa Springs,” continued Marie.

  Jack nodded and said, “Yes and this time, I will be coming with you. But before we head out there, there is more work we need to do. We need to go talk with Jim and Mary McCord. I will brief Chief Dunwoody and also Sheriff Gordon of Archuleta County, as we will need his help again. Bill, you continue with your research on the serial killer angle and check out the available information online regarding the drowning of Summer Fisher.”

  “Will do, boss,” replied Bill.

  Chapter 32 - Mary’s story

  2014 - The Cold Case Investigation

  After everyone had left the conference room, Jack called Jim McCord and set up a time to meet.

  Jim sounded stressed over the phone. “Do we need to involve Mary? She has been through enough. There’s no need to tell her about my indiscretion with Dawn Cohen, is there?”

  “I don’t make promises, Jim, but at this time, we don’t believe that your affair had any connection to the dead woman,” said Jack, deliberately trying to ensure that McCord’s guard would not be up. He needed McCord to feel less at risk in answering their questions.

  Jack hung up with McCord and stared at the phone. “You’re trying so hard to keep Mary out of this, McCord, could it be for other reasons than your infidelity? Let’s see what Mary has to say!” Jack then left his office and went off to the break room for another caffeine fix.

  ~

  The following morning Jack and Marie arrived right on time at the McCord’s home in Riverside for the meeting with Mary. Jim McCord opened the door after the first ring of the doorbell. “He must have seen us arrive and has everything planned out. He’s ready for us. Thinks he’s so smart,” thought Jack.

  McCord led them into the living room where Mary McCord was waiting. She was seated on their leather sofa with a pot of tea, cup and saucer on the coffee table in front of her. When she saw them enter the room she picked up the cup and took a sip of tea. She was shaking so hard that the cup rattled on the saucer when she laid it back down again.

  “Good morning, Mrs. McCord. My name is Jack Johnson and this is Detective Marie Mason. I’m sure Jim has told you the reason for our visit here today.”

  “Yes, it’s about the dead woman found out by our pool in 2005,” replied Mary McCord, looking tired, pale, and drawn. The stress and the medications over the years had taken their toll. Marie stepped in to pick up from Jack, as they had planned. She would lead the questioning of Mary.

  “We are collecting background information, Mrs. McCord, so that we can try to piece it all together, so please relax and don’t feel that our questions are in any way accusatory. We are simply here to gather what information we can,” began Marie.

  “Let’s begin with your friendship with Summer and Luther Fisher, your neighbors in Pagosa Springs.”

  Without warning, Jim McCord interjected and shouted, “What’s that got to do with anything?” He was visibly angry at this line of questioning.

  Jack Johnson jumped in immediately and cut McCord off.

  “As we said, Jim, we are trying to gather information. We have spoken with your neighbors both here and in Pagosa Springs to see if anyone know
s anything. Someone killed this woman and we plan to find out who did it! So please cooperate with us on this. ” Jack stressed the word cooperate for deliberate effect.

  Mary put her head in her hands and sobbed, “Summer Fisher died some years ago! We don’t have a friendship!”

  “Yes, but you did, didn’t you,” continued Marie. “It all ended when she drowned in the lake at Navajo State Park. Can you tell us what you remember about that terrible day?”

  Mary McCord looked decidedly uncomfortable, and her husband tried to come to her rescue again.

  “Is all this necessary? Do we need to dredge up the past?

  Jack drew him a look, and he backed down.

  Marie glared at Jim, looked back at Mary and pleaded, “Please, Mary, what do you remember?”

  Mary fought back tears and said, “We had parked the RV overnight by the lake. Jim and Luther launched the boat in the morning after breakfast. They went out on the lake for a day’s fishing while Summer and I had a lazy day.” The memories of 2003 were slowly beginning to resurface.

  Marie looked over her notes and said, “According to the police report, you and Summer had consumed quite a bit of alcohol. This was confirmed by the autopsy. Were you both drinking that day?” asked Marie.

  “Yes, but not all day.”

  Mary reached for the tea again and took a sip. Her shaking was getting worse and she needed both hands to put the cup back on the saucer.

  She continued on, “We had a glass or two of wine with lunch and then later in the day, as the sun went down, we decided to take the recliners out to the end of the dock where the boats tie up. Summer took a bottle of Chardonnay and two glasses in her tote and we set up to drink some wine and watch the sunset until the men came back from their day on the lake.”

  “Please go on, Mary, this is very helpful,” said Marie, trying to keep the conversation on a positive tone.