Black Velvet Ch. 03

"Ditto that for Lt. Masters." said the Police Union Rep.

"Well, you Union guys are mighty hostile today, arentcha?" drawled LaCroix, trying to smile and sound friendly and joking. He was met with total seriousness, and silence.

"Mr. LaCroix," said the Police Captain Union rep, finally breaking the awkwardness, "this whole thing is already out of line. No one did anything wrong; the Police had the right to hotly pursue the violent troublemakers back onto Campus."

"I will also say this:" he continued. "If and when you bring Captain Croyle, Commander Troy, or Chief Moynahan in to be questioned, I will be right here as their reps, also. And I can assure you that all of their rights will be protected. I don't know if it's because you're new, or if you're up to something, but this getting out of line, and out of hand. Let's go, guys."

With that, the four of them got up and left the room, leaving LaCroix by himself. He wasn't fazed; there were more Boards of Inquiry coming... and the real target was the Iron Crowbar, of course.

Part 15 - Maneuvers In The Night

As Laura and I slept at 2:00am, Saturday, February 11th, her magnificent ass pressing into my abs and groin, the cellphone went off. It was an alarm.

It was neither my personal nor Police cellphone, though. It was Laura's personal cellphone, and the alarm was notifying her that the Psychology Building alarms had been triggered.

Bowser was barking furiously, and I went down the hallway to hush him up. Amazingly, Carole had not awakened. I pulled her covers over her to her upper chest, told Bowser to get in his basket (he complied), then came back to the bedroom.

"You're about to get an alarm, too, darling." Laura said. Sure enough, my Police cellphone began going off, and I stopped it immediately. Bowser did not bark.

I called Headquarters, and the Duty Desk told me that the backdoor of the Psychology Building, facing north and nearest the parking lot, had been jimmied open. Campus Police had gone in, but found no one.

"Okay, I'll be right there." I said. "Call Captain Ross, and tell her to bring night vision gear and all her armor and meet me there."

"I need to go, too." said Laura. "I'll keep back, but I need to be there... my alarm was not only for the building, but the secret basement."

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

At the backdoor, there were a number of Campus Police officers, including Lt. Bill Hanson in plainclothes, having been rousted out of bed. Also there were Sergeant Rudistan and Sr. Patrolman Morton, wearing heavy armor.

"No one in the building, sir." said Rudistan. "Every door that was not locked was tried, and we also used an infrared camera to get heat signatures. Nothing in there but a few computers left on and the water heater."

"Where are we getting infrared cameras from?" I asked.

"Gift from the FBI, sir." said Rudistan. "They say it was for you finding their drone. I'm not asking questions."

"Then I sure won't." I said. "Okay, since this is my wife's office building, and since she's right behind you, I can tell you that only Captain Ross and I can go in for the moment. Only come running if we call you, or if you hear shots fired."

With that, I put on my night vision goggles and helmet, then led the way inside in the manner of clearing a building. Cindy was right behind me.

I went into the janitor closet, and activated the secret door in the wall. It opened. The elevator inside was still dead; it had not been re-activated since the night we found Dr. Heinz's body below. But there were stairs behind the elevator. I turned on my blacklight, which was faintly purple, but gave good vision to these night-vision goggles, and I slowly went down the stairs.

Getting to the bottom, I peered down the long hallway. There was nothing in the pitch blackness, and the night-vision devices picked up nothing. Cindy whispered right in my ear "No infrared, either." I nodded and moved down the hallway, Cindy covering. I thrust my arms, holding my gun, into the main lab room, then looked around. It was empty.

I crouched down, taking a defensive posture in the doorway. Cindy moved past me, into the office behind the lab, then she took a defensive posture as I went in and cleared the bedroom by the office, the last room needing searching.

"All clear." I said out loud. I turned on a light switch as I took off my night-vision goggles. The light came on. I looked at the wall where the passage to the clock tower had been, and had been sealed up by me.

"No signs of anything in here." said Cindy, shining a fluorescent light on the floor. "Just our footprints. But there's other footprints from the stairs we came down into the main lab, and around this office area."

We went back in the main lab, looking around. It was eerie in its silence, with the fume hoods not working.

"Yep, someone's been here. I said. "Check out the wall over near the fume hoods." Cindy looked, seeing the gaping holes in the wall. Heavy powder was on the floor below.

"Looks like there may have been a wall safe in here." said Cindy. "Or at least a box to hide things. It was ripped out."

"Yes, but there was nothing in it." I replied.

"How do you know?" Cindy asked incredulously.

"Because I found that box many months ago, and yes it was just a thin aluminum box with a passcode to unlock it." I replied. "There was nothing in it then, either."

"So what is this about?" Cindy asked. "It reminds me of the Westboro home break-in."

"That's exactly what it's about." I said. "Whoever came in here was looking for the recipes for Ned's drugs, which is what they were hoping to find in Westboro's home, and in Thomas P. Cook's office, which once was Henry R. Wargrave's."

"And your home, the Cabin?" asked Cindy. "Will they try there?"

"I doubt it." I said. Just then, we heard footsteps coming down the hall.

"Don?" called out my wife's voice. "You there?"

"In here." I said. Laura came into the lab room and made the connection easily.

"Someone after Ned's drugs?" she said.

"Yep." I said. "Or recipes for them. Which, as you know, don't exist any longer. They trashed this place like they trashed your office a while back."

"Think it's Melina?" asked Cindy, causing Laura to look up at my cousin sharply.

"No." I said.

"If it's her," Laura said, "then it's in spite of my telling her there was nothing here, and even letting her look around to her heart's content. By the way, darling, how much does Captain Ross know about this?"

"Everything." I said. "She has a Top Secret clearance, but I would've told her most of it anyway. I also told her about the rescue mission to get you back, and Sergei Molotov's most timely demise and how that was accomplished."

"And I'm very happy that succeeded and you are okay, Laura." Cindy said.

"Thank you. And I understand." said Laura. "Now let's get the hell out of here before everyone upstairs and outside comes in for us."

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

"Well," said Cindy, "at least that was fun and exciting, clearing a pitch-dark underground passage with the finest shooters in the CIA possibly waiting for us."

We were now in my office, having come to Headquarters after wrapping up the intrusion into the Psychology Building. Laura had inventoried her office and clinic, and found nothing disturbed, as well. Other professors would be asked to do the same at a more respectable hour of the morning.

"True." I said, also still feeling the rush from the danger. "So if not Melina... who? And by the way, I do think Melina was behind the Westboro home party and the trashing of Laura's office."

"Just one more thing for us to have to look at." said Cindy. "Don?"

Cindy's comment had me going into a reverie. "Yes... for us to look at... and distract us. Oh shit! Where is Michael Burke staying?"

"Uh, his townhouse, which is near the River Valley subdivision." Cindy replied. I was already using an app to ping Burke's cellphone... and finding none. Anywhere. As in anywhere on Earth.

"C'mon, let's go!" I said, getting up and tearing out of my office.

Cindy struggled to keep up with me as I ran down the hall to the Duty Desk. The Sergeant and Patrolman looked up at us as we rounded the curve a bit hastily.

"Sir?" asked the Sergeant.

"Get on the radio." I said. "Send patrol units to Michael Burke's home." I gave them the address. "Radio back if there is the slightest abnormality there."

I told Cindy to get her armor and I went and got mine. Then we headed out in my Police SUV, blue lights burning.

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

"The door is cracked open, sir." said Sergeant Rudistan, who'd been driving nearby when the alarm went out. "We're waiting for backup before going in." Just then, two other Patrol cruisers came up.

"You've got backup." I said. "Go!"

Rudistan went in first, followed by Morton. Standing in the doorway, I heard "Clear!" then "Clear!' as they went through the rooms. Then... "Got something!"

A moment later, Rudistan was at the door. "Come on in, Commander. It's bad."

"Crap." I muttered as I followed Rudistan to the second bedroom, which had been made into an office for Michael and Jeanine.

In the middle of the room was a chair. Sitting on that chair was Michael Burke, with his eyes closed. Draped around his shoulders was a shawl of black velvet. On the floor, next to the chair and under his right hand, was a revolver, a .357 Magnum. And on his temple, right in front of his ear, was the entry hole of a bullet wound.

Michael Burke was dead.

To be continued.

Conclusion is next. Not all answers will be given, but puppy points for figuring out what is going on...