Black Velvet Ch. 03

This story is part of an ongoing series. The chronological order of my stories is now listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

Part 11 - Shrouded in Velvet (Continued)

"The keys were missing from the ignition of Jeanine's car." I said. "She was running for her life, so why did she take them?"

"One of the perps must have taken them." said Jack. I shook my head.

"That's not a '400 years ago' thought, Jack." I said, somewhat acidly. I then leaned forward and said "They chased her down and killed her. Maybe they picked up the car keys in the woods... if they saw them. But they didn't open the trunk; her luggage was still there. No, they got the hell out of there just as soon as they got back to their car. And no, they did not take the keys."

"Holy shit." said Jack. "And you're not even close to finished yet... are you?"

"No, I'm not." I said, almost sarcastically. "Jeanine left her children with Teresa. She then drove back, knowing her husband was expecting her to be at that bridge."

"You said she was going to tell her husband she was leaving him." Jack said.

"Yes, and that was technically true." I said. "But I think Jeanine stopped where she did for another reason."

"And what's that?" asked Jack. I was now as sure as I was going to be that he was not bluffing, that he was genuinely confused.

I said. "To meet someone, someone else, not her husband. If she was scared of him for her children's lives, she would've been scared of him for her life, too. So no... she stopped there, took her keys by habit, then waited there... expecting an FBI car to come pick her up!"

"What?" Muscone said.

"She contacted the FBI about her husband's participation in this group, which may be part of 'Superior Bloodlines'." I said. "I expect her plan, and the FBI's plan, was that she would take her luggage when the FBI car got there, so she'd taken her keys out to unlock the trunk."

"But something happened." Jack said. "Another car?"

"Yes," I said, "and very likely when she saw the persons in the car pulling in behind hers, she realized she'd been ambushed, and she tried to run. But they were too fast, she hurt her ankle going over that little cliff into that ravine, and they caught her soon after. And I'll add this... I didn't see the keys, nor did the Crime Lab people up there, nor Sergeant Grover nor his handler. And that means someone else came and got them."

"Will you believe me when I tell you I don't know a damn thing about this?" Jack said.

"Yes." I said. "I've already read your mind, and that is a '400 years ago' trick."

"It sure as hell is." said Jack. "Do you think the FBI ambushed her?"

"No." I said. "It was some of these enforcers for Wallace Bedford, if I don't miss my guess."

"And you never do." said Jack. "Sooooo, was Michael also trying to come correct, and go to the FBI with his wife?"

"I don't think so." I said. "He'd have been there with her... and he'd be dead, too."

"Or maybe Michael was behind his wife's murder?" asked Jack.

"No, because I had Cindy download the GPS logs on Michael's car, while the Crime Lab teams were attending to the body and that crime scene. Very simple to do, but the locals up there don't really know how. Michael did go to the bridge over the big creek, really a river, and stopped. Then he drove down the road and found us. I tend to suspect he saw the LEO vehicles whizzing past him, not stopping to check on him... after all, a Lexus just sitting on the side of the road should generate interest... and he started putting it together and drove on down."

"Wow." said Jack. "Makes sense, but only after you explain it."

"I'll tell you more, Jack." I said. "The FBI just swooped in and took over the case. Took al the local evidence into Federal custody."

"Whaa?" Jack said. Then his face began showing anger. "I'm being kept out of the loop on this, and I don't like it. I need to ask some people some questions."

"Before you do," I admonished, "perhaps there's another way for us to play this..." I outlined my plan.

Part 12 - Civil Rights

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the lovely MILF redhead from in front of the Federal Building at 7:00am, Friday, February 10th. "Channel Two News has learned that Michael Burke, widower of Jeanine Burke, will be questioned by the FBI today. The FBI claims that this is a routine part of their investigation, and that Mr. Burke is not a suspect in the death of his wife."

"Channel Two News has also learned that the FBI has taken over the investigation into the murder of Mrs. Burke, citing their belief that this murder may be linked to a wider investigation. A Federal Court permitted this, allowing the FBI to take possession of all crime lab materials. The FBI declined to say what exactly that investigation was about, only saying it crossed State lines, and therefore came under Federal jurisdiction."

"In State news," Bettina went on, "Governor Val Jared has finally picked up the gauntlet thrown down by his Democrat opposition! He stated clearly in his press conference yesterday, the first one he's given in three weeks, that he will veto any measure that funds the SBI for anything more than a support role to local law enforcement agencies.

"Governor Jared further said that he is fully prepared to let the State Government be shut down if the Democrats continue to hold the budget and other bills hostage, saying people will be pleasantly surprised at how well they'll do without an overbearing Government intruding into their lives."

"The Democrats have not commented, appearing to be totally shocked by the Governor's sudden hard line. And not all Republicans are in lockstep with the Governor's position. Roll tape." The tape showed State Rep. Wilson Hammonds before a bank of microphones at the State Capitol, saying: "The Governor has placed our negotiations in an untenable position. We have to have compromise with our Democrat friends, and the Governor has recklessly made that more difficult."

Back to Bettina, "And last, the lawsuit filed by Citizens for Police Accountability against the Police was dismissed with prejudice by Judge Rodney K. Watts. Judge Watts questioned the group's standing to bring such a lawsuit, and also stated that the group did not give any evidence that was a basis for sufficient grounds to let the lawsuit proceed. Lawyers for the group, Jay Swenson and Ken Eidex, say they will appeal, and they also stated that they will explore new avenues to hold the Police accountable for their violent actions."

"Good morning, everyone." said FBI Special Agent Martin Nash as he walked into MCD and the coffee klatch. "Mind if I join your party?" He was greeted enthusiastically by the other Detectives, and they introduced Martin to Jerome Davis.

"Here to interview Mr. Burke?" Joanne asked.

"Yes." said Nash. "Routine follow-up questions."

"Why did you guys take jurisdiction from the locals?" Cindy asked, and fairly quietly.

"Uh, that came from 'on high'." said Nash. "I'm not really sure what's up with that. I'm assuming we'll be briefed soon."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Okay, just for protocol, I'm going to read you your rights, Mr. Burke." said Jack Muscone, as he and Martin Nash interviewed Michael Burke in Interrogation-C. Burke had his lawyer with him. I had warned the FBI Agents that the 'Ikea Rules' were not waived; and Patrolman Hicks was the Uniformed presence in the room.

After the formalities, Muscone said "So I need to get this clear: you and Jeanine were going to fake your deaths, then run away and hide somewhere."

"That was the original plan." said Burke.

"But she left home earlier that day." said Muscone. "And took her children."

"She said she was going into town to get some things... diapers and food for the kids." Burke said. "When she didn't return, I got worried. I drove into Beaver Ruin, but she wasn't there."

"You didn't try to call her." Muscone said.

"No." said Burke. "As I told Commander Troy when he interviewed me in Beaver Ruin, I knew my cell calls would be discovered if I made them. So I went home and waited."

"You didn't text? You didn't use the 'Find my iPhone' app?" Muscone said.

"Didn't think to do that." said Burke. "The app, that is. Texting is like calling."

"What bothers me," said Muscone, "is that you knew you and your wife were in danger, and you were going to fake your deaths to disappear... and when she really does disappear on you, you don't use every possible means to find her. Sorry, Mr. Burke, but that just doesn't compute."

"Well, it's the truth." said Burke. "Accept it, or prove me wrong. That's all I can say."

"It's all he will say." said his lawyer. "We're aware the the FBI likes to bully people with the 'lying to Federal agents' allegation. My client has made truthful statements to this point. If you don't agree, then we will stop the interview immediately, and you will have the burden of proving anything you don't believe to be actually true."

"We're not saying that." said Special Agent Martin Nash. "We're just trying to get the whole picture, here.

"Mr. Burke, let me ask this." said Jack Muscone, stepping over Nash's comments. "Why do you think your wife left your home much earlier, and left with the children?"

"At the time I didn't understand." said Burke. "But now I know she brought them down here, to my son, apparently to keep them safe. And that, of course, was the reason she left early: it takes three and a half hours or more to go down there and back."

"Yes sir," said Muscone, "but what I'm really asking... is why she brought her children down here and left them. The context of the question is that if she was going to disappear with you, how is she going to get them back?"

Burke paused, then went introspective as he thought about it. He then said "I don't know. I never spoke to her again, so I don't know what she had in mind."

"Mr. Burke," said Jack Muscone, "did you and your wife have any altercations, verbal or physical?"

"We did have some arguments, all verbal." said Burke. "Over the reasons we were going to run away."

"What were those reasons?" asked Muscone.

"At this point," said the wily lawyer, "I'm going to have to ask you to provide my client an immunity agreement in exchange for the details."

"We've got a small problem with that." said Jack Muscone. "We can't give you immunity for anything, when we have not exonerated you as the killer of your wife."

"What?!" snapped Michael Burke. "Are you accusing me------"

"No, Mr. Burke." said Muscone. "But we haven't exonerated you, either."

"At this point," said the lawyer, obviously liking that phrase, "you've just made my client a formal suspect. I am going to have my client conclude this interview, and if you press, I'll have him invoke."

"Let's not be hasty." said Nash. "We can------"

"Well, why not be hasty?" replied Jack Muscone, as much to Nash as the others. "If Mr. Burke won't cooperate, then he needs to invoke------"

"Jack," said Martin, "can we talk about this before continuing?" Muscone's beady black eyes peered hard at his subordinate.

Just then, there was a knock on the one-way glass, then the DepDirector opened the door. "Guys, get out here. We need to talk."

"And in my office." I said, coming up to them in the anteroom.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The FBI Deputy Director does not normally find himself in a local Police Commander's hot chair, but that is exactly where he was now. Martin Nash was sitting beside him, and Jack Muscone in the third hot chair, borrowed from Cindy's office. And speaking of the Green Crowbar, she was on the sofa behind them.

"Look," said Nash, "if he'd invoked, we'd have no chance of getting him to talk about Superior Bloodlines. That's what I wanted to prevent, him invoking. He could give us a lot of information on them."

"How do you know that?" asked Muscone. Nash looked over at the DepDirector, who looked at me, suddenly figuring it out.

"Oh, boy." the DepDirector said quietly. "You do know, don't you, Commander."

"I'm glad to see you're realizing it, sir." I said coldly. "What I am not glad to see is that your zeal to bust Superior Bloodlines is causing you to make some bad decisions. First, you are not trusting Jack Muscone, who is one of the best, most loyal persons you have ever been lucky enough to have working for you. Second, you apparently are not trusting me. Maybe you didn't believe me when I promised to help you take them down, but if you do want my help in doing that, you need to stop playing games with me."

"We're not playing games with you." said the DepDirector.

"You're not? And not with me, either?" Jack shot back, scorn and incredulity in his voice.

"No, they're not, at least not intentionally." I said. "So let's spell it out. Jeanine was going to meet the FBI and turn in her husband. She was supposed to meet you, Mr. Nash. Then after getting her information, you were going to go pick up Michael Burke, and indeed you would have given him an immunity deal in exchange for what he knew about Superior Bloodlines."

"But Jeanine's pursuers found her first, and they killed her." I went on. "And that complicates everything, especially for me. Jeanine is considered 'family' by me, and that's my lodestone over anything else to do with Superior Bloodlines. But I understand your motives, Mr. Director, and Martin's too. It's about family for you... isn't it?"

"How's that?" asked Jack.

"They kept us out of the loop, Jack," I said, "and tried to do things the way they did, including trying to lock down my finding out about Jeff Fuqua, the murderer of Jeanine as well as Terry Schultz, because family loyalty superseded good judgment. So... why don't I just tell the story, Mr. Director, and you correct me where I go astray, okay?"

I saw Cindy's eyes widen, then gleam as I said those words. I began:

"It was the 1960s, and what some consider to be the second Civil War was going on in the Deep South. Blacks were breaking down color barriers, including students enrolling in Ole Miss and other colleges. Whites were opposing them strongly, violently, and ways of life were at stake."

"Whites came from all over, from the North and Midwest, to stand alongside the Blacks." I continued. "One of those was a woman from Ohio... whose son and grandson are in this room now... yes, your mother, Mr. Director."

"She was giving a black student a ride home in Mississippi one night, when she was waylaid, run off the road. She and the black student were drug out of their cars, and she was thrown to the ground, her dress ripped open... and she was gang-raped by the Mississippi State Police officers than had pursued her."

"When they were done raping her, they told her to button her dress back up. But as she did, one of them put a double barreled shotgun in her face and pulled the trigger, blowing her head off." I said. "Then another of them shot the black kid in the head, or so they thought... the gun misfired and the boy was injured in the back of the head and lost his sight... but he lived to tell the FBI what had happened when they found them."

The DepDirector's head was bowed in the silence of the room. Finally, he looked up and said "My father didn't want want her to go, but she couldn't be talked out of it. I was eight years old, and I remember her leaving. My sister wasn't old enough to understand. And then I remember when the FBI came and told us they'd found her dead."

"And from that moment on, all I have wanted is to wipe those bastard racists off the face of this earth." he continued. "I vowed then to join the FBI and help them fight the white supremacists. And that is what I've done. Over time, I came to learn the true powers behind them. I've been on Wallace Bedford's tail for twenty years, then got onto Harold Malone."

"They kept promoting me, trying to distract me, give me other assignments." he said. "But I always kept my eyes on the goal. And then Griswold hired you, Commander. Griswold saw that you could defeat Malone and rid this County of the evil, but you did so much more... you found Westboro when no one else had a clue. He was behind so much of it, though for his own purposes, and you took that bastard out with very extreme prejudice." I just nodded.

"Then you helped us take them out at Providence Springs, and you've clued us in to a lot of what they were doing nationwide. They're desperate now, and we're so close. If I can take down Bedford, I can retire knowing I did my part to avenge my mother's death."

We all looked at Nash. He said "I always wanted to be in the FBI like my uncle. I don't think my mom wanted me to, though... when she told me the story about my grandmother, and that being the reason my uncle was in the FBI, I think she thought it would deter me. But it actually gave me purpose,"

"So, Commander," said the DepDirector. "I won't even ask how you know. And I know you promised to help eliminate Superior Bloodlines. But I also know you're at home here, and that you have other things to do, other crimes to solve. So yes, in our zeal, we went forward with the plan to bring both Michael Burke in without letting you know. Now how you figured out what happened there... I'm about ready to approve Mr. Muscone's requisition for firewood over that bit of black magic."

"Forget me. You better go talk to Michael Burke, make him understand the danger he is in." I said. "I do have to say one thing, though: Wallace Bedford has crossed my path and the people who I consider family's paths one too many times. When we take him out, I am going to give someone dibs on him. And that... will not be negotiable."

"Just one question." said the DepDirector as we all stood up. "Did Burke kill his wife? Or can we offer a deal?"

"I think you can give him full immunity. I said. "He's not the one. There were two men in the car that stopped behind Jeanine. One of them was Jeff Fuqua, who is now wanted for two murders."

"And the other?" asked Jack Muscone.

I gave a mirthless smile. "Time will tell on that."

The FBI Agents left the office. Cindy just looked at me. "Wow." she said. "Just wow."

I nodded. "I know how he feels, though." I said.

Part 13 - Mass Velvet

At 10:00am, still Friday, February 10th, I got a call from State Senator Moe Molinari (R-Westphalia). "Commander Troy, I have a friend, Mr. Richard Patrick, who is about to need your assistance."

I remembered Richard Patrick, whose son was killed in the 'Return of the Black Widow' case. Richard was a developer. "What's happened?" I asked.

"You'll be getting a call from SBI Director Conlan." said Molinari. "I'd very much appreciate it if you'll help us out."

"Yes, Senator, I'll do what I can." I said. Molinari said goodbye and disconnected.

Only two minutes later, I got the call from SBI Director Tom Conlan. "Don," he said, "there's a new development being built west of the City. They were clearing some land, and found six bodies... and four of them are wrapped in black velvet."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Cindy and I watched as the CSI teams from Westphalia's State Crime Lab processed the bodies. Five women, one man.

"Most of these bodies are decomposed, so we're going to have to do some work in the lab to lift some fingerprints or footprints. We'll see if we get any DNA matches as well, of course." said the lead technician to the county Sheriff, who was standing with us. He'd not been happy at our arrival, but when he was called by State Senator Moe Molinari, he became very cordial and cooperative. And I tried to let him take the lead on these murders in his jurisdiction.