Alcohol Was Not Involved : A Shallow End Gals Trilogy

by Duncan, Teresa

  When all the members of the task force had arrived, Paul started the meeting with, “We see the end to this!” The room broke out into cheers. In the back of his mind he was thinking, except for the 13 bodies we are going to find tomorrow. He continued, “I would like to introduce everyone to Jack Simpson. He has been chosen by Devon to be the fall guy, and he has volunteered to pretend to be our POI.”

  Jack stood up, waved at everyone, and then sat down. Paul noticed Jack had taken out a little notebook and a pen. He was going to take notes. Paul walked over and took Jack’s notebook, “Nothing said in this room, leaves this room. Clear?”

  Jack was stunned, “Yeah, sorry, I… never mind.”

  Paul continued, “For the benefit of Jack, I am going to review what Devon has done, that we know about. Some of you have been in the field and have not been briefed on all of today’s news. One big item is that the FBI Lab has DNA from Ginger Hall. She escaped, and he did not have time to clean her. This is a huge break because other than the wife, who is living at least for the moment, we have no direct evidence on Devon, only on Jack. We are working on getting Devon’s DNA, but he will be extremely careful. Roger is going to do the first presentation. Then we will have Jack leave, and we will go into tomorrow’s assignments.”

  * * *

  Jack sat in the extra conference room in shock. “Oh my god!”

  Joy had listened to his story earlier and said, “Most men would not risk getting involved in this.” Jack had told her he had made up his mind, but the final decision would be hers. It was her life too. She had answered, “This Monster already put you in the game. I would want to be on the police team when the uniforms are passed out.” Then she had said, “Let’s go back to the nursing home, so I can use their kitchen. We’ll stop at the store first. These guys will need some protein in their guts to catch this guy. How ‘bout my famous chicken?” Jack gave her a big hug, and she saw tears on his cheeks. Joy squeezed his hand and said, “I am proud of you Jack.”

  He had answered, “I’m scared.”

  Joy said, “I know. You need to be. It will keep you careful.”

  He wondered if she would still feel that way if she had heard what he had just heard. Especially this last woman that was just used up and left to rot, all taped and bound to a chair. They said she probably died over a week ago from starvation, and it probably took a couple of weeks to die that way. He couldn’t imagine. She was a young, beautiful student. Her family was just now finding out. He was wiping tears. They had been on TV yesterday asking people to help them find their missing daughter. How is he going to be able to talk to this man and not let on he knows what kind of monster he is? Could he act that good? Devon had set him up to get blamed for all of this, and he was Jack’s lawyer? Oh my God! Agent Dance was right, this was the biggest decision he had ever made.

  * * *

  Ellen told Mary, Linda, and me to take a copy of the list of foreclosed HUD homes Devon was the asset manager of and start doing checks. She looked at me, “Calling this Trick or Treat is just a little “Mortal” at this stage don’t you think?” She was smiling, but I got the message. I think I do that to keep from thinking of it for what it really is. “You do,” Ellen said. She told us that it would probably take us most of the evening. She was going to divide her time between Agents Dance and Casey, and she wanted to try to enter Devon’s dreams later. She told us that he would be most vulnerable when he was dreaming.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 21

  * * *

  The meeting in the conference room ended at 9:45 p.m., and the task force people were noticeably happy to hear that reinforcements would be there in the morning. Maybe at least some of them could get a day off. They were all asked to be there for a 9:00 a.m. briefing at which time Chief Doyle would issue assignments. One officer had a baby due any moment, and Paul was hoping he would be the first to get some time off. Roger had put in a call to the local medical examiner to see how he was holding up. He knew that he was probably still there. “Sam. Dance here, what do you have there for me?”

  Dr. Samuel Frost spent about twenty minutes going over some of the latest results from autopsies and finished with a few quick observations on the new one brought in today. He ended with, “You know I called in the medical examiner from Indianapolis to help with this. Just the job of getting our findings to your boys takes a lot of time, and we are short staffed under normal conditions. This isn’t an excuse, but an explanation. I’m thinking if we don’t get any more bodies in here for the next two days, I can start to finish up some of this for you.”

  Roger asked, “The ME from Indy, what is his office situation?”

  Sam answered, “We were lucky to get him, from what I understand, and mind you we haven’t had a lot of time to talk. He is short staffed there too. They had that stadium collapse, remember. They were hit hard.” Roger said thanks and hung up. Tomorrow was going to be an impossible situation for the medical examiner’s office.

  Paul was in the office doorway, “Jack is settled in the little apartment off the kitchen. He has TV, bathroom, small fridge… he’ll be fine. I told him in the morning to just let Officer Ames know what he would like for breakfast, and we would get it to him. His little apartment is within eyes of the prisoner lock up. We should be able to keep him okay.” Then Paul said, “I can’t think anymore. I’m not sure what I should be doing right now.”

  Roger looked at his watch. It was 10:00 p.m., and he had been there since six in the morning. “We’ve been here sixteen hours. Why don’t you get some sleep?” Paul nodded agreement and walked away.

  Paul stood in the vestibule area by the back door waiting for the snow plow to finish the parking lot, so he could leave. As he watched the huge snowflakes drift from the sky, he thought of Ashley. They had been good together, they had cared about each other, and then, like the snowflakes hitting the window glass they had just melted away. The thought of her being in the hands of Devon had his blood pounding in his temples, his heart was fisted in panic, and he was helpless.

  Roger thought he would say goodbye to Jack before he left. He noticed eight post-it notes on Jack’s door thanking him for the chicken. Roger laughed to himself. Who brings chicken to the cops that take you into custody? Jack said, “Come in.” When Roger opened the door, he saw Jack returning the Bible to the nightstand.

  Roger asked, “Getting some fortitude?” as he pointed to the Bible.

  Jack looked at him. “If I tell you something, don’t think bad about me, okay? That is the first time I ever opened a Bible.” He looked scared, and Roger felt bad about the position he had put Jack in.

  “Well, now that you opened it, what do you think?”

  Jack thought for a minute, “Well, the words are funny; you know, hard to read. And I didn’t start in the beginning. I just opened it and pointed to some words and read them. You know, like maybe that was what I was supposed to read.”

  Roger nodded, “I’ve done that before.”

  Jack looked surprised, “I thought there were rules about how to read it.”

  Roger thought about that for a minute and said, “To me, it is supposed to be messages from God, lessons, I guess. So I think it is more important that you pay attention to what you have read, than the order you read it.”

  Jack looked thoughtful and said, “These aren’t the exact words, but I think what I read said that if my actions came from purity of heart, then they were the right actions to take.”

  Roger smiled and said, “That sounds to me like you found a fairly pertinent quote for today.”

  Jack said, “Yeah, I thought so too.” Roger told him he was going home and would see him in the morning.

  He handed Jack the post-it notes, “Looks like if you ever do open that restaurant, Joy’s cookin’ will be a big hit!”

  Jack smiled, “You said you are going home, but it’s a hotel isn’t it? Man, I never thought about how much you guys give up.” He was shaking his head.

  Roger got t
o the hotel, took a shower, and warmed up some soup in the microwave in his room. He had the urge to call Kim. He looked at his watch and decided it was too late.

  * * *

  Linda, Mary, and I had decided that even though we were capable of splitting up to do the foreclosure house check quicker, there was no way any of us wanted to do this alone. We decided we would rather take the whole night. The first house we went to did not have a garage, so we were hopeful. The electric meter wasn’t running, so it looked like this one was going to be a piece of cake. We walked into the house through the front wall and stood silently listening. Mary said, “I don’t smell anything.” Linda started walking cautiously down the hall from the living room. There wasn’t any furniture or anything in the house, but we looked in closets and in the shower stall trying to be careful. We all went to the basement at the same time, and there was an older man in a fetal position in the corner.

  Linda whispered to me, “Is he dead or sleeping?” I told her I thought he was sleeping.

  We moved in closer, and my heart just went out to him. Here it was December, he had a couple of jackets on, but he was shivering. There was a cart next to the wall piled high with junk. Probably everything he had in the world.

  I said, “I wish he had a warm blanket.” Suddenly there was a down comforter on him. Linda and Mary looked at me.

  Mary asked, “How did you do that?”

  I was as shocked as they were. “I don’t have a clue!”

  Mary said, “I wish he had some food.” Poof! There was a little table set up with a big bowl of stew and a glass of milk!

  Linda was squealing! “Let me, let me! I wish he had new clothes and good boots!” He was now wearing new clothes and new boots. We just stood there looking at each other. This is too much fun.

  I finally said, “I think we are evolving, and they just haven’t told us yet we can do this stuff.”

  I guess we just went nuts. There is no other explanation. Our mortal minds were in complete control. By the time we were done, about five minutes later, there was a bed, a stove, a refrigerator full of food, a working TV, and a closet full of clothes. I put a chandelier on the ceiling, Mary was steaming drapes, and Linda was putting up wallpaper when Ellen appeared.

  We heard, “Ah-huh!” We stopped and saw Ellen on the bottom step with her hands on her hips. “Vicki– define manipulation of mortal environment.”

  Me? Oh yeah. Well, humm. Then I just held my hands out and said, “This?”

  Ellen explained to us we could only leave the clothes we had put on him, some of the food, and the blanket. Everything else had to go. Then she said, “Okay, you put it there, you fix it!” Oh, it’s going to be like that. Okay, I concentrated on the refrigerator. It didn’t disappear, but it nearly ran over Mary as it shot to the other side of the room.

  I looked at Ellen, “Do I just wish I hadn’t done it?”

  “If you do that, it all goes. He doesn’t have a blanket, food, or clothes anymore.” Ellen was sitting on the bottom step smiling. She was enjoying our stupidity. Mary started frowning at the chandelier. It started shaking, and the old man woke up.

  He started looking around, then he looked at his blanket and clothes, then he ran over to the table, and started eating. We looked at Ellen in desperation, “What do we do now?”

  Ellen was shaking her head, “Now you know that rules are imposed for reasons. Have you learned this?” We were all nodding, and Ellen winked. Everything was gone except the food, the blanket and his clothes. The old man stopped chewing for a minute and then just continued as if none of it had happened.

  We all met outside of the house, and I was thinking, I bet if I had winked…. Ellen looked at me, “We just won’t know for a long time if that would have worked, now will we?”

  “No we will not!” I answered. EEE GADS….. I was actually looking forward to going to the next house.

  Mary frowned, “We are going to flunk this class aren’t we?” as she looked at me.

  “Hey! You did it too!”

  Ellen said we were developing faster than expected. Some things would happen. She was on her way to Devon’s house and hoped that she didn’t have to leave before she was ready. We get it.

  After Ellen left, Linda said, “You notice she really didn’t answer Mary’s question? We had better straighten up!”

  I looked at Linda and Mary, “It was fun though wasn’t it?” We all laughed as we headed to the next address.

  * * *

  It was 7:00 a.m. and Roger, Paul, and Chief Doyle were standing by the whiteboards changing a few forensic notations. The FBI Lab had sent confirmation that the dog hairs from Devon’s dog were a match to the hairs found at Nettie’s and Karen’s. Also a few hairs that matched had been found on the duct tape piece Roger and Paul had found at Ginger Hall’s site. Flea Bag was off the hook. There were also fingerprints on the tape that were being run this morning. Jack had provided fingerprints and DNA for them last night, and his prints were confirmed on the beer bottle and Visa receipt.

  They still wanted DNA from Devon to tighten the forensic part of the case. Roger looked at his watch and said, “I want to meet the new team in the other conference room first. Can we get a sign on that door and maybe a coffee pot or something? I’ve ordered enough breakfast from the deli for everyone, should get here at 8:45. We better make sure everyone has a good breakfast.”

  Chief Doyle said, “The DA is with us in this plan, but the Mayor is giving me grief. He’s worried this won’t work, Jack will screw things up, and he will look like a fool. He is up for re-election next fall, and this case is a thorn.” The Chief shrugged, “I’m happy just having one of them on our side.” He looked at Roger, “I know you have eight guys coming. How many of my guys can I let go home today?”

  “I think it’s safe to let at least six of them stay home today. I think tomorrow will be an all hands on deck type of day. Maybe you want to call them before the new guys see them. Just tell them to stay home.” Chief Doyle looked satisfied with Roger’s answer and left.

  Paul noticed the black cat sitting in the middle of the hall making people walk around it. “Uh-oh,” and he pointed. “Should we grab a cup of coffee and meet in your office real quick?”

  Roger was rubbing the back of his neck and was thinking about what he knew was going to happen today. “Looks like the day is getting started….”

  Roger closed the door after Paul and Ellen were inside. Ellen jumped up on the credenza. Roger sat at his desk and looked at her. “Should I call Kim?” he asked Ellen, and she winked at him. Paul looked at Roger, and shook his head with a facial expression that said, “Do you believe this?” Roger dialed Kim, and she answered right away even though she sounded sleepy. “This is Roger. Did I wake you?”

  Kim answered, “No, Mom did about five minutes ago. I’ve been reviewing my notes and getting ready to call you. It’s not good…”

  Roger’s heart sank, “Can I put you on speaker? It’s just Paul and the cat.”

  Kim answered, “The cat’s name is Ellen. Don’t ask! Yeah, speaker is fine.”

  Roger laid the phone on his desk and said, “Okay, I think I am ready.”

  “Mom and two of her friends went to all the foreclosure homes Devon is the asset manager for. Ray is still working on getting you addresses for those houses. Mom thinks Devon will get spooked if you guys find the bodies in the homes he owns first, so she thinks you should do the foreclosures first…..”

  Roger said, “Are you saying there are more bodies in the foreclosure homes?” He and Paul were staring at each other.

  Kim answered, “Yes, maybe he was dumping them on the highway because he ran out of houses? Here is the list: four vagrants, six cars, nine bodies.” She waited for his reaction.

  Roger said, “This is in addition to the thirteen bodies in the homes he actually owns, the one we found yesterday, and the six we already had?”

  Kim answered, “Yes, and Roger? There is one woman still alive but not by much.
Mom says Devon has been starving them when he’s done, less work than dumping them. This woman only has about six more hours. Somehow she has to be saved… please.” Roger could tell Kim was crying.

  Roger asked, “Do you have an address for her? I will send someone there now. We’ll figure out some way to explain knowing about her.” Kim gave him the address, and he hung up.

  “You did it again,” Paul said as he pointed to the phone.

  Roger said, “Ah damn!” Normally he wouldn’t have bothered to call back, but Kim had been crying. “Kim? I am so sorry I just hung up. Are you okay?….. Yes, I will the first minute I get. Thanks, goodbye.” He looked at Paul when he said goodbye. Roger looked at Ellen, “Is there a way to sort the foreclosure list out from the tax properties Devon owns?” Ellen was licking her paw; she looked at Roger and winked. Roger said, “Is there a way I can get the foreclosure list first?” Ellen winked again.

  Roger was still looking at Ellen, “When I am ready for the list do I just say that I am going to check to see if it has come in yet?” Ellen winked again. Roger said, “Ellen, you are a life saver.” She winked again and then vanished. Roger called Detective Ed Mars and told him about the woman who was still alive. Then he said, “Ed, this is a tip from a very reliable source, can you get paramedics there ASAP? I will explain later. Report only to me or Paul when you are done,” and he hung up. Roger rested his hand on the phone and exhaled, “Devon will be the topic at conventions for quite a while.”

  Paul looked at his watch and held it up as a sign to Roger. Then he said, “I am only speaking for myself, but I could not have dealt with today without that heads up we got last night.”

  Roger nodded, “I was just thinking the same thing. Our guys will be here any minute. I have a history with Dan Thor that hasn’t always been pretty. He’s Senior Agent – Indy, but I think I can play this our way. Just trust me.”