Blood Contest

by P. K. Abbot

  “We need him to answer a lot of questions today,” Ryan said.

  “I had better Mirandize him then.”

  “You can read him his rights, Pete, but I am going to get those answers today,” Ryan replied.

  Mueller read Roshni his rights. At each prompt, Ryan shoved him to elicit a reply. When Mueller asked if he wanted an attorney, Roshni replied, “I don’t need a lawyer. I am not talking.”

  When he got to their squad car, Ryan pushed Roshni roughly into the backseat. Ryan got behind the steering wheel and drove away from the church. Within a few minutes, Ryan parked his squad car in front of his condominium.

  “What are we doing here?” Mueller asked.

  “We are going to find out about Black and about his connection to the murder before we go to the CSU.”

  “But it is not procedure, Billy.”

  “You read him his Miranda rights. Today it is procedure. Today we are getting our answers.”

  Ryan opened the back door of the squad car and dragged Roshni out of the car. He grasped the back of his jacket’s collar and stood him up. Then he took hold of Roshni’s wrists where they were handcuffed behind his back. He yanked his arms up behind his back and pushed him through the condo’s doorway. Mueller followed them into the condo.

  “Billy, you need to cool off. If you beat him, anything he gives you will never stand up in court.”

  “If we don’t beat him, we will never get a confession. And, without a confession, the Governor will put the heat on Burton, and Burton will look for a scapegoat – and by a scapegoat I mean you, Peter.”

  “I don’t care. If we are going to connect Black to Trey’s murder, we are going to do this the right way.”

  “You know about Black and the Governor?” Roshni asked.

  “Shut up,” Ryan yelled.

  “No, let him talk, Billy,” Mueller said. Then Mueller turned toward Roshni. “What about the Governor?”

  “Hey, we know each other,” Roshni said to Mueller. He looked closer at Mueller’s face and smiled. “We know each other from Iraq. You are that sniper who broke the nose of that lieutenant.”

  “Yeah. That’s right.”

  “And you got away with it,” Roshni said. “The brass did not convict you. They let you go but sent the lieutenant back to the States.” Now Roshni chuckled to himself and said, “You did the right thing, and got away with it. This may work for all of us.”

  “What about Black and the Governor?” Mueller asked again.

  “First thing first,” said Roshni. “I am going to need an assurance from you.”

  “No deals,” yelled Ryan.

  Mueller put his hand on Ryan’s chest as if to restrain him. “Let him go on, Billy.” Then he turned to Roshni and said, “What do you want, Roshan?”

  “I have evidence for you, but first I want your promise.”

  “If you do the crime, you do the time,” Billy interrupted.

  “It is not for me,” Roshni replied. “I am going to give you a recording. I want you to make a copy of it. If Black or anyone else attempts to suppress this evidence, I want you to promise that you will release the copy to the public, through someone like Cooper.”

  Ryan and Mueller stared at each other. Then Mueller turned back to Roshni and said, “Okay. We can do that. We will promise you that.”

  “Do you remember the large weapons heist in Iraq?” Roshni asked Mueller.

  “Of course I do.”

  “I was framed for that. I was forced to take the blame, so that Black could steal the weapons and still have the government reimburse him for the loss.”

  “I suspected that,” Mueller said.

  “He paid me very well for that. He kept me employed for all the years since then, but I had to separate from my family, and I had to stay hidden to avoid prosecution. I did not want to repeat that.

  Roshni continued. “When Black insisted that I attend a high-level meeting, I decided to protect myself. I made an audio recording of the meeting. I held onto it. I did not intend to use it unless I needed to do so, but, when Cooper revealed that my fingerprints were on a casing at Trey’s murder scene, I realized that I had been framed again. And this time I believed that the state police would find my body with a bullet in my head.”

  “Is that why you tried to rob the church today?”

  “It was time for me to run, to disappear. I needed money, and the church seemed like an easy target until that nun cracked me on the head.”

  “You said you made a recording of the meeting?” Mueller asked.

  “Yeah. There is a memory stick in my jacket pocket. The meeting is recorded on it.”

  Mueller retrieved the memory stick while Ryan left the room and came back in a few minutes with his laptop.

  Ryan took the memory stick from Mueller, plugged it into his laptop, and started to play the recording.

  The first sound on the recording was Lucien Black’s unmistakable, nasal voice.

  “Look at the photos, Jamie. The evidence is indisputable. Trey has been meeting Brandon Rush for months now. He is trying to keep the liaison secret, but he is not succeeding. Rumors about their affair are rampant. If we are able to find this much photographic evidence, how long will it be until the tabloids find it? His affair will kill your campaign, and we have to deal with it.”

  “I will talk to him,” the Governor said.

  “I have already talked to him, Jamie. I told him that the newspapers will portray his affair as tawdry. It will disgrace his family, ruin his daughters’ lives, and destroy your political legacy. But still he refuses to end the affair. He is thinking only of himself. He is a liability, and we must deal with him.”

  “How do you suggest that we deal with him?”

  Black paused for a moment, and then he went on. His voice was unsteady.

  “If Trey refuses to correct the situation, Jamie, then we have no choice but to do it ourselves. We must eliminate him.”

  “That is too far, Lucien!” Jamie roared. “Trey is my son. He is my only son, my only biological issue. How can you ask me to deprive my granddaughters of their father?”

  “Trey is your son only through biology. You know that, Jamie. Beyond biology, he is nothing like you. He does not have your drive, your interest in politics, or even your devotion to family. Your biological legacy exists already in those two little girls. When Trey’s secret is revealed, he will disgrace his own family and ruin his daughters’ lives as well. If he had to choose between his daughter’s welfare and his tawdry addiction, Trey would still choose his affair. You know that, Jamie. Trey is selfish, and he is weak. He is too weak to do what needs to be done. You will have to do it for him. You know that too.”

  “There must be another way. An intervention. If we reveal it together, if we stand with him…”

  “Interventions do not work, Jamie. At the very least, it will spell the end of his marriage and the breaking up of the girls’ home. It will also, without a doubt, spell the end of your political career. The Party’s base, those Bible Belt Republicans, will never accept this.”

  “They will despise Trey,” the Governor said.

  “And they will reject you. When his secret gets out, they will ridicule you because of him. All that you have worked for will be wiped out with a snigger.”

  “My legacy may be no more than a pipe-dream anyway, Lucien. Iowa is too conservative for an Easterner to do well. I am trailing Senator Thornton badly there. That little state may kill my campaign anyway.”

  “We can salvage Iowa if we are decisive. If we make it appear that a foreign power like Iran caused Trey’s death, we can offset a major part of Thornton’s advantage in Iowa and the Midwest.”

  “Trey’s death is not an option, Lucien.”

  “He will not change, Jamie. You know that he will not end his affair. He will continue with it until it is discovered, until he ruins your legacy, until he ruins your granddaughters’ lives. Are you willing to let him ruin your granddaughters’ lives?”<
br />
  “I need more time to consider this, Lucien. What you are saying is logical, but I need more time to wrap my head around it. I cannot decide now. I may never be able to decide to do this.”

  “We do not have more time on this,” Black said. “If you are to have a legacy at all, we must act on this before Trey’s secret is revealed. We must do this NOW. We have no other choice, Jamie. You know this.”

  The Governor made a low, guttural moan that grew into a primal roar. “All right. Do it,” he screamed. “You need to eliminate both of them together, but do Trey first. I do not want him to fear what is coming. Do it away from New York. I do not want the two of them linked together. And make sure that it happens very quickly. I do not want him to suffer.”

  A woman’s voice replied to the Governor. She spoke in measured tones in an educated, English accent. “I shall see to it personally, Sir. I shall be swift and painless with your son.”

  “Thank you,” the Governor said. Then the recording ended.

  “Who was that woman?” Ryan asked.

  “That is the voice of an angel,” Roshni replied. He chuckled a little to himself, and then he said, “That is the Angel of Death – Amnestris, Amnestris Pahlavi.”

  “Is that the Amnestris Pahlavi from Iraq?” Mueller asked.

  “The same.”

  “She was responsible for a dozen assassinations during the war.”

  “Quite a few more actually, but she is the same woman.”

  “And she is the one who murdered Trey Jamieson?”

  “Yes.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I was the driver of her Mercedes.”

  “Did she also kill Brandon Rush?”

  “No. She was not available that night. It was Elliott who killed Rush.”

  “The Governor’s driver?”

  “Yes. I was with him, but he drove the sedan. We followed Rush from his theater that night. He almost got away from us, but that bright blue color of his made it easy for us to locate him again. We caught up with him on Fifth Avenue, just past the Empire state building. Elliott drove the sedan into Rush’s Vespa and knocked Rush into the street. When he backed the sedan a few feet, Elliott saw that Rush was injured and could not stand. I remember that Elliott chuckled a little to himself. Then he slowly drove the sedan over Rush’s body. We could hear his bones snap under the Sedan’s wheels. I felt nauseous, but Elliott just laughed the whole time. He is one sick son of a bitch.”

  Ryan shook his head, and then turned to Mueller.

  “Pete, get our friend into protective custody with a 24-hour guard. I will make a copy of the audio recording. We will play it for Mike and Burton when Burton is back in the CSU.”

  “Aren’t you coming with me now to the CSU?” Mueller asked.

  “No. This is solely your arrest. I do not want to be involved with it. If Burton is going to fire anyone over this case, it is not going to be the officer who arrested the prime suspect. I am trying to save your job here, Pete.”

  Chapter 26

  Will Cooper sat under the bright television lights, making small talk with Governor Jamieson and waiting. The set director at last called out. “Five seconds, everyone.” He signaled to Will with his fingers – four – three – two – one. Then he pointed to Will to take it live.

  “Good evening. I am Will Cooper, and I am pleased to be talking tonight with the Governor of New Jersey, Governor Jamie Jamieson.

  “Governor Jamieson, it is a pleasure to talk with you tonight.”

  “Thank you, Will. I am honored to be here.”

  “You are the popular governor of the most populous state in the Union. Many politicians would consider that to be the crowning achievement of any career, and yet you are running for President.”

  “I am.” Jamie smiled at Cooper.

  “When you started your campaign, Governor, every analyst considered you to be the longest of long shots to win the nomination. You are a blue state governor in a red state party.”

  “I never felt that the campaign should be about me, Will, or that it should be easy. I have always felt that the campaign should be about ideas, about placing our message before the American people, and about giving them the chance to decide.”

  “Every poll indicates that the American people are responding very positively to your message, Governor. You have progressed from the longest of long shots to being one of the two front runners for the Republican nomination.”

  “Thank you.”

  “In the past ten days, Governor, you have also experienced unprecedented, personal tragedy. On Christmas Day, your only son was murdered. On the way to his funeral, your train was attacked by a gunman. At the reenactment of Washington crossing the Delaware, a second attempt was made on your life.”

  Jamie did not reply. He simply stared stoically at the camera. Then Cooper continued.

  “I want to express my sympathy to you, Governor, and ask you how you are able to cope with the tragedy of your son’s murder and these continuing threats to your life. How are you holding up, Sir?”

  “Thank you for your sympathy and concern for me, Will, but first let me express my condolences to the families of those who were killed or injured during the attack on the train and the bombing at Washington’s Crossing. Those people were innocent bystanders. Those people were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “But these killers murdered your only son.”

  “But I am not the one who experienced the greatest loss from his death. There are those who suffered more from Trey’s death than I did. My daughter-in-law, Susan, is now a widow and single mother at 29, and my two granddaughters are now without a father at only 5 and 7 years of age.”

  “I am sorry, Sir, but still you must be suffering from his death.”

  “I am, Will, but I do not have the luxury of giving in to my loss. After what Susan and the two girls have suffered, I must step up for Trey. I need to help Susan deal with her loss. I need to fund my granddaughters’ education, and I need to find more time to spend with the girls – to help them get over the loss of their father.”

  “Governor, I have said on this program before that I believe that the NJSP has been ineffective in their investigation of Trey’s murder and that they have also been negligent in providing the proper protection for you. I believe that the Secret Service should step in and replace the NJSP at this point.”

  “Thank you for your concern, Will, but I disagree on two points. First, while the Secret Service is an exemplary organization, they would bring a certain amount of national political baggage that would only impede the investigation of Trey’s murder. And secondly, unknown to you and to the public, the NJSP is very close to closing Trey’s murder case.”

  “How do you defend their lack of preparedness for the two attempts on your life?”

  “At the time of Trey’s murder, it is unreasonable to assume that the NJSP should have known that the Iranians were involved.”

  “That is a fair point, Governor. Why do you suppose that the Iranians chose to target you rather than Senator Thornton?”

  “It must be my message. America needs a strong defense. America needs to project strength into critical areas of the world, especially into the Middle East. This conflicts with Iranian interests.”

  “Governor, many people are concerned that continuing to speak out – continuing your campaign – creates great risk to your life.”

  “If I were to lose my own life in this contest, it would be inconsequential. What is important is that someone advances these ideas for the American people. It is the nation, the American people, who are important.”

  “Governor, for a moment let me step out of my role as journalist. Let me say that I am very impressed with your courage and with your statesmanship in this time of crisis. I am honored to call you my friend.”

  “Thank you, Will.”

  “In closing, let me ask this one question: If you could change anything in these recent events, what would it b
e?”

  “I would trade the prestige of the Presidency… I would trade my own life…for my son’s life. I would trade anything so that those two little girls could have their father back.”

  “Thank you, Governor.” Cooper turned toward the camera and said, “That concludes our broadcast. Thank you for watching. I am Will Cooper. Good night.”

  As the credits rolled, the director showed a very tight shot of Jamie. His face showed great loss, but also a grim determination and an inner strength. Tears welled in his eyes but did not flow. At that moment Jamie seemed so tragically human and so very relatable.

  It was a perfect performance.

  Chapter 27

  Monday, January 4

  On Sunday afternoon, Ryan made a copy of Roshni’s audio recording.

  At the same time, Mueller brought Roshni to the CSU without Ryan and booked him. After Doctor Ritter had examined Roshni and had determined that he was suffering from a concussion, Mueller arranged for him to be admitted to Central Jersey Hospital, where he could be treated for his concussion. Before leaving the hospital for home, Mueller had Roshni handcuffed to his bed, and he placed Roshni under a twenty-four hour guard with the state police.

  By 2 AM on Monday morning, Annie Morgen was the only nurse on Roshan Roshni’s floor. As the newcomer to the nursing staff of the hospital, Annie was working the graveyard shift by herself. She was speaking with the trooper outside Roshni’s door when Lucien Black and Governor Jamieson’s driver, Captain Elliot, arrived on the floor.

  Black and Elliot walked over to Annie, and Black extended his hand to her.

  “Hello,” he said. “I am Doctor Lucien Black. I work directly for Governor Jamieson.

  “I know who you are, Doctor Black. It is a pleasure to meet you,” she replied. “I am Annie Morgen.”

  “It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Annie. Are you in charge of this floor tonight?”

  “I am, but I am the only nurse here tonight,” she smiled.

  Black smiled back at her.