Murder on the Front Nine

by Steve McMillen

  Chapter 27: The Judge

  Judge Cadium is scanning the obits in The Sun News and he whispers to himself as if there may be someone else in the room with him, which of course there isn’t, “Oh, my god, that’s Rusty from the restaurant. Yes, the same Rusty who gave him the old coins. The same Rusty who said he trusted attorneys. He really doesn’t know what to think or if he should contact anyone about the coins he still has in his possession. Someone else has died who was involved in some way with the map and the coins. His mind is going in several different directions at the same time.

  He does not have to worry about making that decision very long. He receives a call from the local police that same morning.

  Officer Dick Smoltz calls to inform him, “We found your business card in Mr. McRichards’ coat and we thought you may be his attorney.”

  The judge hesitates for a second and then replies, “I was doing a small job for Rusty. How can I help you?”

  Officer Smoltz continues, “Judge Cadium, we have been unable to locate any next of kin for Mr. McRichards. All we have is his driver’s license. Can you come down to the station and ID the body?”

  “No problem, officer, I will be down right after lunch.”

  “Thank you judge, I’ll see you then.”

  TC did not realize retirement was going to be this stressful. After his wife of thirty years passed away two years ago, he moved from Maryland down to South Carolina and the Pawleys Island area of the Grand Strand. His plan was to relax in the sun, walk on the beach, spend time on his boat, search for sunken treasure, have a few drinks, maybe meet a new soul mate, eat in some great restaurants, and live the good life. He can kiss those grandiose plans good-bye.

  His new best friend Trever Byers is dead and he withheld information from a police officer. He meets Rusty McRichards in a coffee shop one day and now he is dead, reportedly killed by a hit and run, drunk driver while crossing the street. He is beginning to get a complex.

  As TC enters the police station in Murrells Inlet, he is not sure what he will tell Officer Smoltz. The officer on duty at the front desk calls Officer Smoltz and then tells him to go down the hall and it’s the last door on the right.

  He enters the office, shakes hands with Officer Smoltz and sits down.

  “Judge Cadium, it is very nice to meet you. We don’t get many federal judges in our little town. Thank you for taking the time to come down this afternoon.”

  “Retired federal judge and I’m afraid I didn’t know Mr. McRichards very well but if there’s any way I can be of help, please let me know. By the way, I really enjoy your little town.”

  This produces a huge smile from Officer Smoltz. “Well, before we get down to questions and answers, let’s get the ID of the body taken care of.”

  The officer leads him down a hallway to a make-shift morgue and shows him the body.

  “Yes, officer that is Rusty McRichards.”

  “Thank you judge, that was easy, now let’s go back to my office.”

  Back in his office, Officer Smoltz continues, “We went to Mr. McRichards’ condo but no one there seemed to know him. His closest neighbors are out of town and no one seems to know when they may return. Since we found your business card in his coat pocket, I called you. How long have you known Mr. McRichards?”

  “Not long, I met him at a coffee shop along the beach, but he did not say much about his personal life, let alone his family.”

  The next thing out of Officers Smoltz’s mouth blows his mind. “Well, since you seem to be the only person who knows him and you seem to be his attorney, I would like to give you his personal effects to hold until we locate any family. I’ll have the body moved to the morgue in Conway. Will that be a problem with you?”

  “Not at all.”

  Officer Smoltz hands him a plastic trash bag, which contains all of Rusty’s personal effects. He can’t wait to see if the coins are in the bag. He says good-bye and leaves.

  As soon as he gets to his car, he starts going through Rusty’s things. The suspense is killing him. He checks the side pockets and the inside pocket of Rusty’s sport coat and finds nothing. It is the same old sport coat he had on the day he met him at the coffee shop. He then sticks his finger in the lapel pocket and low and behold, he finds his business card with the other coins scotch taped to the back of the card. No wonder the coins were not mentioned. The police never found them.

  He cannot believe his eyes, how did the police miss this. He doesn’t know and doesn’t care. He now has all the coins that Rusty discovered and the police don’t know about any of them. They only found the first card that he gave to Rusty and not the one that he wrote the receipt on and gave him.

  He throws Rusty’s belongings in the back seat and drives home to plan his next move. Life is becoming very complicated for him right now. So far, besides himself, anyone who has any connection with the coins or the map is dead. He is certainly glad he never told Freddy what they were doing that day or that he had drawn a crude map and mailed it to Trever.

  Chapter 28: Trever

  (Earlier)

  About two weeks after he is hired by Dean Rutland to do consulting work for Senator Brazil, Trever Byers is contacted by Fred Park of The Justice Department. They want him to be, clearly, a double agent snitch.

  It seems the Justice Department is looking into possible illegal campaign financing allegations against Senator Brazile. They need someone close to the organization to help with the investigation. Trever is probably as close to the senator’s inner circle as they are going to get. Since he is a die-hard Republican Conservative and Senator Brazile is a die-hard liberal Democrat, Trever has no problem taking the job. Of course, Dean did not ask Trever’s political affiliation when he hired him for the consulting job. Trever can now double-dip. He receives a paycheck from both parties.

  Senator Brazile wants him to look into what consequences might occur along the Carolina coast if offshore drilling was to take place. In addition, the Justice Department wants him to see if someone may be trying to influence Senator Brazile with illegal campaign funds.

  He is in seventh heaven: He is receiving a nice pension from ATF, Brazile’s office is paying him a consulting fee, and the Justice Department is paying him to spy on Brazile. Life is good!

  He loves the Carolinas, and he loves being near the ocean. He spends a lot of time along the coast meeting with environmentalists, marine biologists, and tourism representatives from the Outer Banks in North Carolina and the Grand Strand area of South Carolina.

  They take him deep-sea fishing and show him areas of concern. Someone is always taking him out to dinner for fresh seafood and drinks every evening. He also finds time to play some golf, which is his real passion, and the courses along the North Carolina coast and the Grand Strand area around Myrtle Beach are some of the most beautiful courses in the world. Life could not be better!

  He is planning to play Bald Head Island again tomorrow and meet his friend Judge Cadium for lunch to discuss a treasure map which the judge mailed to him. He and the judge are self-proclaimed salvage consultants, even though they have never found much in the way of treasure. They do have a great time searching.

  Trever sends out two communiqués. One to Dean Rutland, which says, like several of the others, that offshore drilling itself will probably not be a problem, but any type of a spill will be devastating to the Carolina coast. Damage to marine life, coastal wildlife and tourism, especially in the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina and the Outer Banks region of North Carolina, could run into the billions of dollars. He tells Dean he is preparing a detailed report, which should be ready in about two weeks.

  His second message goes to Fred Park, his contact at the Justice Department. He tells Fred he is looking into the illegal funds issue as much as he can without making Dean or the senator suspicious. So far, he has found nothing.

  What bothers him most is that he has not been contacted by someone from the oil industry to give their side of the story.
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  There have been several press releases in the local papers about the oil industry’s take on offshore drilling and the huge savings it will bring to the American people, but no personal contact from anyone directly to him.

  It is common knowledge that he is in the area and that he is working for Senator Brazile. He is to give the senator his opinion on the pluses and minuses if offshore drilling was to take place.

  No one from the oil industry is giving him their take on the pluses and minuses and he is not about to ask them for their opinion. If they are not concerned then he is not concerned. He will give the environmental, marine, and tourism side of the equation only.

  His only thought is that big oil knows the only shot they have to get to Senator Brazile is through illegal campaign funds. So far, he has been unable to prove that theory.

  He is going to suggest the Justice Department look into Dean Rutland’s bank account and see if it leads them anywhere; follow the money.

  He never gets to make that phone call.

  Chapter 29: The Senator

  Senator Brazile pushes the phone button for his secretary Connie Smith. “Yes senator, how may I help you?”

  “Connie, see if you can find Dean and tell him I need to see him right away.”

  She has been with the senator for a long time now and she can tell by the sound of his voice that R. Gene is upset. She calls Dean’s cell phone and gets his voicemail. She leaves a message. She adds 911 at the end.

  Dean Rutland has been thinking about how he will let Gary and Barry know that he has a life insurance policy but has been unable to come up with a plan. He notices his cell is vibrating so he checks and gets Connie’s 911 call that the senator needs to see him post haste.

  He is in the next building so he proceeds to Senator Brazile’s office to see what fire he has to put out this time. If it weren’t for the extra money he gets from Gary Sherman, he probably would have left the senator a long time ago.

  When he arrives at Senator Brazile’s office, Connie smiles and motions him to go right in. When he gets inside, the senator calls Connie and asks her to hold his calls and he is not available to anyone, except the president.

  Dean had been with the senator for more than ten years and he cannot ever remember a call from the president when he was in the room, so the odds of that are not very good. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking.

  The senator motions for Dean to sit down and then he gets right to the point. “Dean, I think we may have a problem.” The senator’s hands seem to be playing with everything on his desk.

  Dean is always amused when he uses the word we when he really means he has a problem.

  “What’s the problem, senator? Has the press found out about your earmarks for the next budget?”

  Senator Brazile informs Dean he received an anonymous, unlisted call on his private answering machine saying an investigation into illegal campaign contributions is very probable.

  “Have you heard anything?” Brazile asks.

  The question catches Dean off guard, but he does not waver, “No, senator, I haven’t. This is news to me.”

  “Well Dean, you’re in charge of that. Look into it right away and get back to me ASAP,” he snaps.

  “Why the concern, senator, we’ve had audits before and nothing has ever come of them.” He studies the senator’s nervous hands and wonders why he is so concerned.

  “I was told that the person who was looking into this was Trever Byers. However, in case you have forgotten, someone murdered him not too long ago. He was supposedly working for Justice as well as for us. If that is true, I am really going to be upset with you and the Justice Department. You for hiring the guy and Justice for hiring him to spy on me and for thinking I am doing something illegal. I want answers.”

  He slaps his hand hard on the desk and stands abruptly.

  “I’m on it, senator,” Dean says as he marches out of the office.

  Connie is not happy with Dean Rutland as he leaves the senator’s office. He is in such a huff; he does not even give her a second glance. The main reason for her displeasure with him is that Connie and Dean have a semi-relationship going on. Semi to her means only when she wants it to be.

  As Dean leaves the senator’s office, he is confused. Why did the Justice Department recruit Trever Byers to work for them? Worse yet, do they know something about Trever Byers’ death, not reported in the papers?

  Of course, the fact that Trever is working for the senator as a consultant is not a secret. Who tipped off Justice that there might be a possible problem? Gary Sherman? Maybe he wasn’t sure he was getting enough bang for his buck.

  Therein lies the problem. He’s not getting any bang for his buck. Dean is channeling all the money from Gary Sherman into his own bank account and not to the senator’s campaign account. Therefore, you might say he is double dipping. He keeps the senator’s money and the money Gary pays him under the table.

  He figures that if the senator never gets the money, there is no way he can be involved with illegal campaign financing. Therefore, eccentrically Gary Sherman has hired Dean as a front row lobbyist. He does not know if that is illegal or not and he figures Gary Sherman will never know the difference.

  He needs to try to figure out what Justice knows. He remembers a woman he dated a few times named Liz Woodkark. She works for Justice and maybe he can get some answers from her. They parted on somewhat friendly terms. Actually, Liz dumped him when she caught him with another girl on a night he told her he was too tired to go out. Maybe she has forgotten about that.

  He finds Liz’s number and calls her, “Liz, Dean Rutland, how are you?”

  “Dean Rutland, I’m surprised you’re not too tired to call me.” ( She has not forgotten).

  “Liz, I’m just calling to see if you can help me with a problem Senator Brazile is having.”

  “So, Mr. Rutland, what is the senator’s problem?

  “Liz, the senator is hearing rumors that the Justice Department is going to investigate him for campaign finance abuse. Now I know you are not allowed to relate any inside information but if you did happen to hear anything about it and you replied no comment, I will consider that an affirmative answer to my question.”

  “Dean, if I do give you an answer to your question, does that mean you may take me out for that dinner you were unable to make the last time?”

  “Liz, no matter how you answer the question, I would love to take you out to dinner.”

  Liz hesitates for a few seconds and then says, “Dean, I have no comment about your question.”

  He has his answer. “Liz, I’ll call you next week, keep the weekend open.”

  He now knows that Justice is looking at the senator and possibly looking at Dean himself. He hopes after dinner and drinks at his place, Liz will provide him with more information about the inquiry. Politics is a dirty business but hey, someone has to sacrifice. Moreover, for an older woman, Liz is a real fox.

  After Dean leaves his office, Senator Brazile locks his office door. He goes back to his desk and calls Connie.

  “Make sure I’m not disturbed, Connie, I’ll call you back when I’m ready for calls and visitors.”

  Connie thinks this is a little strange. He did not add, unless the president calls. She wants to call Dean to find out what went on in the meeting but she does not think that would be a good idea while she is at work. Dean did not even look her way when he left, which also is strange.

  The senator sits down at his desk, gets a key from his top middle desk drawer and unlocks the bottom enclosure on the left side of his desk.

  He stares at the .38 Special hooked to the inside of the door, which makes it easy to get to in case an unwanted intruder breaks into his office and forces him to unlock the desk door. He pulls out a large gym bag which he told Connie held of all things, his gym clothes. He accidentally had it out on the desk one day when she walked in unannounced. Connie looked at him funny, but she did not pursue a line of questioning. She is a
good employee and knows when to keep her mouth shut. From that point on, he never gets his gym bag out without first locking his door.

  The senator opens the bag and nervously touches around $800,000 in cash, mainly $100 dollar bills neatly packaged in $5,000 packets. He turns the bundles over in his hands, then shoves them back in his gym bag, locks it in the desk and goes to his private washroom to wash his hands. This was what the Ssenator was concerned about when he called Dean to his office. He has been collecting cash for his retirement and walking around funds for several years. He is concerned this is what the Justice Department is looking into. He does not want to get caught with his fingers in the cookie jar.

  The senator devised a plan to receive payment for the earmarks he gets into Senate bills. When someone comes to him with a request for money, he will first read the entire request and decide if it makes any sense and if he thinks he can get it through the system without a lot of trouble and backlash. He does not accept every request and he does not ask every person or organization to give to his retirement and walking around fund.

  Once the request is accepted and he decides he needs a donation, he will call the person into his office and let the other party know what he is looking for but in a roundabout way, so as not to be too forward with his request for a donation.

  Let’s say someone wants $500,000 for a new library, the senator will ask for a $5,000 cash donation for his campaign fund once the earmark is approved and the money is received. Therefore, he receives the donation after the benefactor receives their money. If he received the payment before, that, by law, is a bribe. The senator doesn’t want to know and doesn’t care where the $5,000 comes from as long as he gets his donation.

  In the end, the requesting parties get their earmark and the senator gets his donation. It would not be easy to prove otherwise. All transactions are in cash and there is no paper trail. All of his requests come from constituents who do not want the wrath of Senator Brazile to come down on them. Besides, they just received a nice big earmark and if they ever want another one, the cost of doing business to them is very small.