Murder at the President's House
Page 17
Standing unsteadily, the room seem to be spinning around like a top on a string and his vision got getting blurry that objects in the hotel room became morphed together. He falls back on the bed like a fallen tree crashes down in the forest and he passes out cold. Thunder and lighting would not be enough to wake him from his deep drugged sleep.
Several hours later Cradle awakes from being drugged by the killer. He sat on edge of the bed, his elbows on his knees, and rubbed his eyes to refocused them His vision is 100% clear and back to normal as he looks around the hotel room. He thinks to himself that there was something in the black coffee I drank, but how can someone get into my room in which I am the only one with a key.
Cradle looks at the clock on the mantle it is now 3:00 p,m, Wow! I have lost 5 hour since I saw the killer go into Harrods, plant a tracking device on her car, follow her for a bit and then get caught in a traffic jam. Richard Royster’s murderer is long gone now and I need to check out this hotel room and get back into my hot pursuit mode. He takes a shower, dress and packs his duffle bag to check out.
Fifteen minutes later, Cradle rode the elevator from the seventh floor to the Claridge’s lobby He reluctantly hands the card key to the first desk clerk but not without asking him a pertinent question, “ Did you let anyone have access to my room after I left this morning.” “Yes , a woman came in, said she was your wife and wanted to surprise you in your room.” Front desk clerk said. “What does this woman look?” “BTW I am not married.” Cradle replied. “She was average height appeared to be Hispanic and Middle Eastern descent in facial features with long red flowing hair.” Front desk clerk said. “That woman who let up in my room slipped a mickey in my coffee, I drank it and I was passed out for several hour.” Cradle stated. “ I am very sorry about that Detective Cradle.’ Front desk clerk responded. “ May I speak to your manager?” Cradle said. “Sure Detective Cradle.” Front desk clerk responded.
The hotel manager came out of his office to the front desk in a matter of minutes. “Detective Cradle I apologize for my desk clerk allowing an intruder in your hotel room that resulting you being drugged, since it was our responsibility to secure your room at all times Claridge will cover the cost of your stay. No charge on your credit card.”
“Thank you for your concern and generosity Sir.” Cradle said. The hotel manager hands a Claridge hotel bill with 0.00 charges to Cradle just like he had said. Cradle extend his hand and shakes the hand of the hotel manager. He flashes a large toothy smile as he walks out of the main entrance. Things are looking up for him in London. Now it was time to get on with tracking the killer.
Cradle gets into the Lincoln, the tracking system is flashing constantly and emitting a loud bell striking sound similar to that of the famous Big Ben. He t aps the red button to shut it off and the small screen shows the whereabouts of the killer in Paris, France near the Eiffel Tower. Cradle has quickly grown weary of the tracking process since he lost so much time with the drugging and being passed out. He resets his GPS for new coordinates from 30 Davies Street to that of Paris, France. According to the GPS, Paris is 5 hours ,10 minutes and 290 miles away from London.
Cradle had no clue or idea that he was going to get a European tour of tracking Richard Royster’s killer down as he drives down the street turning right on Brook Street, next right onto Bond Street, another right onto Bruton Street and at the end of the road making a left onto Berkeley Square. Keeping left on Berkeley Street, at the end of the road turning left onto Piccadilly, turning right into Saint James's Street. At end of the road, turning left onto Pall Mall, taking a sharp right turn onto Pall Mall, taking a slight left turn onto Marlborough Road and then turning left onto The Mall. Next, at the roundabout, taking the third exit onto Northumberland Avenue, turning left onto Victoria Embankment, continuing onto East Smithfield, The Highway and onto Leamouth Road for 3.2 miles. Now, taking a slight left turn onto Leamouth Road, turning left onto East India Dock Road, turning left onto A102 towards Lewisham, Blackwell Tunnel and continuing onto Rochester Way Relief Road for 3.2 miles. Cradle keeps right on M2 towards Dover, Channel Tunnel for the next 19.5 miles. Then, he takes exit 3 towards A229, Maidstone for 5.4 miles, at the roundabout, he takes the third exit towards the Channel Tunnel, V Crematorium for 0.5 miles.
Then 0.2 miles at the roundabout, he takes the first exit onto A229 towards Channel Tunnel, M20 and 2.2 miles turning left towards London, Ashford and 0.3 miles at the roundabout, taking the first exit to merge onto M20 towards Ashford, Channel Tunnel. For the next 30 miles he takes exit 11A towards Channel Tunnel, 1.7 miles he takes a slight left turn, 0.6 miles continue onto Folkestone-Calais.
He drives 33.9 miles along this country road,then keeping right for 1.1 miles merging onto A16 towards E15, A26 and for 4.1 miles taking the exit to merge onto A26 towards Saint-Omer, Arras. Then he drives for 96.2 miles before taking exit to merge onto E15 towards A3, Bordeaux, 1.2 miles keeping left to merge onto A3 towards A86 and keeping left for 1 mile to merge onto A3 towards A86, A4 and next 9 miles to exit left onto Boulevard Peripherique.
Next, Cradle drives another 3.3 miles before taking the exit to merge onto Quai de Bercy towards Paris-Centre, Porte de Bercy, 0.1 miles keeping onto Quai de Bercy towards Paris-Centre, Charenton-Bercy 2, 1.3 miles continuing onto Quai de la Rapee and 0.3 miles turning left onto Quai de la Rapee and 1.2 miles before turning onto Place de l’Hotel de Ville .
He goes for 302 feet before turning left onto Avenue Victoria in Paris, France at 9:20 pm He recalls from memory the last whereabouts of the killer was near the Eiffel Tower, so he reprograms his GPS system for Avenue Victoria to the Eiffel Tower which shows up on the screen to be 3.5 miles away and 15 minutes drive.
At this juncture in his trip, he is feeling very tired and weary from his long drive from London, he takes a sip of Coke Cola in which t he catches a second wind and decides to drive over to the Eiffel Tower anyway fighting back sleep.
Cradle make a right onto Boulevard de Sebastopol, then turning left onto Rue de Rivoli and keeps right for the next 2.7 miles. He makes a slight left turn at 0.2 miles into Place de Varsovie, turning left onto Pont d’lena and turning right at 0.1 miles onto Quai Branly and 0.2 miles turning left onto Avenue de Suffren. He makes a left turn at 0.1 miles onto Avenue Octave Greard and prepare to park the Lincoln at 0.1 miles near Avenue Pierre Loti.
He open the door, steps out of the Lincoln, walking left on Avenue Pierre Loti and walking 72 feet then taking a left on Avenue Pierre Loti. Cradle does not see a silver Aston Martin parked anyway near the famous Paris landmark, The Eiffel Tower.
Cradle gazes up at the beautiful, majestic Eiffel Tower which was named after a contractor, engineer, architect and showman by the name of Gustave Eiffel completed on March 31, 1889. It is getting late by the passing hours and Cradle is already dead tired, he returns to the Lincoln and inputs data for query information on the nearest hotel. Four Seasons Hotel George V on 31 Avenue George V 1.2 miles 8 mins away from the Eiffel Tower.
He went down to end of road 0.2 miles, turning left onto Avenue de La Bourdonnais, then turning right onto Quai Branly for 0.1 miles. He goes 0.3 miles before turning left onto Pont de l’Alma and driving another 0.5 miles before taking a left turn onto Avenue George V.
Cradle spotted the Four Seasons ahead, parks his Lincoln in the driveway out front of the hotel. He get out of his car began walking towards the main entrance of the Four Seasons, stops at the front desk to reserve a room for the night. “May I help you Sir.” the front desk said with a French accent. “ I would like to reserve a room for the night.” Cradle replied.
“ I have a standard room available on the 8th Floor.” front desk said. “Yes, that will work just fine.” Cradle replied. “The room cost $250.00 francs.” front desk responded. “Cradle hands the front desk clerk his Visa. “The front desk processes the credit card and hands him the key for room 800. “Thank you.”
Cradle said and walks away towards the elevator. He took the elevator to the 8th flo
or of the Four Seasons. He walked less than 100 feet, put the key in the door to room 800 and enters the room. Cradle flips on the light switch in which turns on the lamp on the night stand. He places his duffle bag in the chair,immediately he is stripping off his clothes, takes a nice hot shower and goes to bed. As soon as his head hits the pillow, he is out like a light.
Cradles awakes at 8:00 a.m. , rolled out of bed, goes into the bathroom, takes a shower and shaves. He gets dressed, places a breakfast order for room service consisting of scrambled eggs with cheese, croissant, orange juice and coffee. He finishes breakfast by 9:00, and sat at the small table brought in by room service drinking seconds of coffee and reading a USA today paper for Friday, July 29, 1993. Enjoying an interlude he sensed must be very brief.
Now it was time for him to leave and get back on the case tracking down the killer. Cradle left the room and waited for the elevator to take him to the hotel lobby to check out the fabulous Four Seasons. Minutes later he is back in the Lincoln with flashing red alert on his tracking, he pushed the button and the screen shows the killer is now in Budapest, Hungary.
Cradle reprograms his GPS from the Four Seasons, Paris to Budapest, Hungary. The GPS shows 13 hours 39 minutes and 928 miles to drive there. He departs Paris at 10:00 am and arrives in Budapest at 11: 40 pm. No question about it. Cradle is here in Budapest to captured Richard Royster’s murderer and close the case finally.
The tracking system screens shows the killer is over at Buda castle. Buda castle is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest, and was first completed in 1265. In the past, it has been called Royal Palace and Royal Castle.
Cradle drives his Lincoln over to the Buda Castle, he pauses at the main entrance and looked around spotting the silver Aston Martin parked there for the moment. Now, the killer turns the ignition and starts up the Aston Martin’s engine and speeds off like a bat out of hell. He trails right behind her, going 0.3 miles to the end of the road, turning right onto Tabor utca, turning left onto Miko utca, turning left onto Attila ut and then turning left onto Alagut utca. Then at the roundabout, taking the second exit onto Clark Adam ter, keeping right on Szechenyi Istvan ter and keeping left to cross the Chain Bridge. The Szechenyi Chain Bridge is a suspension bridge that spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest and the first permanent bridge in Budapest. Now a monument is a fascinating spectacle that has attracted many tourists to Budapest. Killer is driving with excessive speeds upwards to 120 miles per hour as Cradle continues to trail her across the bridge. The Aston Martin being driven by the killer creens off the highway smashing into side of the bridge midway between Buda and Pest. The car flips upside down in the air and hits the water hard and submerges in Danube River. Cradle stops and parks his Lincoln on the bridge, get out and walks over to the side of the bridge to see the killer’s car floating in the water.
The complexities in Royster’s professional life, including that of being a secret agent, plus the total ultimate surprise with direct acquaintances were caught off guard by his sudden untimely demise. Therefore, leaving no credible conclusion but that he was murdered to keep his silence.
The barbaric blood sport does not always die with the victim. In death, Richard Royster became something he likely couldn’t have possibly imagined in life: A hero and martyr to the Far Right.
Royster must be rolling over in his grave as his status as the ironic martyr of Reid administration, hero to the most extreme fringes of the far right.
Perhaps that’s the most compelling counterargument against all the conspiracists, the complete lack of iron clad proof that stands up to the scrutiny linking Royster or the Reid’s to any concrete nefarious plot.
Cradle is totally speechless from the events that just transpired. He had high hopes of bringing Richard Royster’s killer to justice but no such luck. The killer is dead and the case file is closed.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE A WEAPON OF CHOICE
CHAPTER TWO THE INVESTIGATION
CHAPTER THREE THE SEARCH IS ON
CHAPTER FOUR EXODUS
CHAPTER FIVE REQUIEM