Black Velvet Ch. 04

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 16 - The Crime Scene

4:00am, Saturday, February 11th. We were at the townhouse of the now-deceased Michael Burke.

"The neighbors are either irritated or enormously curious, sir." said Sergeant Rudistan. "But no one in this building nor the ones in the area heard a shot. Not even any reports of a slamming door or car backfire."

"I'm not surprised." I said. "Detective Davis! Welcome to your first case. Tell me about this crime scene!" Detective Jerome Davis had been called in by me, and had arrived quickly. I wanted to see how he'd react, and so far, so good: he had some nerves, of course, but he was also excited about getting this crack at a case, and he showed confidence, as well.

"Good grief." said Davis, looking closely at the entry wound. Then he went around to the exit wound, then looked around on the floor, and then the far wall, where there was a small hole. He then went and looked at the hole in the wall more closely, and the floor below it.

"Sir, there are two exit holes, side by side, you can see them if you look." said Jerome. "There's no blood on the floor on the left side of the body, and there should be some if he was shot right there. And that hole on the wall looks like it was scraped or punched out... too much dust on the floor beneath it."

"And that means?" I asked the young Detective.

"Sir, I don't think he was shot where he's sitting now." said Davis.

"Captain Ross," I said, "that is excellent work by Detective Davis." Cindy nodded and gave Jerome a little smile. "Anything else, Davis?"

"Not without touching stuff, sir." said Jerome. "Did I miss anything?"

"Not really." I said. "I'm noticing two things: First, if Michael had shot himself and was holding the gun loosely enough that it came out of his hand, then the backfire should've pushed the gun away from the chair. If he was death-gripping it enough to keep holding it, he should still be holding it. The gun right were it is doesn't quite fit either category."

"Also," I went on, "maybe the first shot was from a small-caliber gun, maybe a .22 Magnum auto-pistol with silencer attached, and the second one by the .357 magnum. If that had been reversed, the second bullet would've followed the first's path, since it's smaller and would've bounced off the edges of the wound channel. As it is, the second bullet dug out fresh material and slightly altered its path. But that is damn good seeing that second wound, Davis."

"It's really that fake hole in the wall that got me, sir." said Davis. "Why fake that? except to complete the picture they wanted us to see, maybe..."

At that moment, Martha the M.E. arrived. "Body is still warm." She said. "Wound is... what the heck?" She began noticing the exit wounds.

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

"Oh my God." Todd said quietly as he looked at his father's face. Michael was now in a body bag on a gurney, and I'd allowed my nephew to look when he arrived. It was now 4:40am.

Todd turned his head and put his hand over his eyes. "First Jeanine, and now my dad." he said. "Who is doing this, Uncle Don?"

"I'm not sure," I said, "but I don't think your dad's killers are the same as Jeanine's killers. Maybe connected to the same group, though."

Just then, Jack Muscone and Martin Nash arrived. "We just heard about it." Muscone said. "What happened? Wasn't he being guarded?"

"He wasn't shot here." I said. "You can check the Crime Lab photos and video, and you'll see what Detective Davis saw." Muscone looked at digital photographs as I explained what had happened.

"So... where was he killed? When? And why?" Nash asked.

"Why is easy: to keep him from talking to the FBI." I said. "When? Recently, as in earlier this morning. Where? No... frickin'... idea."

"Sir," Cindy said, "Myron just called. All cameras in the area blanked out earlier, as did those in River Valley subdivision. So maybe they had some kind of camera-jamming device, and took Michael to the golf course there."

"Interesting." I said to myself. Then to Cindy I said "That's very possible."

"What about the black velvet, sir?" asked Cindy. I looked at the shawl, which had no blood on it, and was now in an evidence bag.

"It's a dodge." I said. "But it was a stupid thing to do... this shows that someone with knowledge of the black velvet cases did this, either to get in my face, get my attention, or mislead me. Well, they have my attention."

"Why do you think that, sir?" asked Cindy.

"Detective Davis, why do I think that?"

"Because there was no blood on the shawl?" offered Davis. "It was put on him after they put him on the chair. That's all I can see."

"I don't know if it's beginner's luck," I said, "but you are batting one thousand today, Davis. Here, hold this." I handed him the red crowbar. Davis looked stunned. Still he examined the red crowbar, tapped it in his hands.

"Feels good, sir." Davis said.

"You may get one just like it if you keep this up." I replied. I saw Cindy go over and fist-bump Jermaine.

"This is... awful." said Detective Nash. "The Director is going to tan my hide over this."

"No, I'm not." said the Deputy Director of the FBI as he came into the room. "But I do want to know what happened, and how they got to him."

"Sir," I said, "let me and my people wrap this scene up, and then we'll talk about it in my office, or over breakfast, whichever you prefer."

"You're getting to be like Tanya Perlman." Cindy said. "Eating after looking at a crime scene like this." Jack Muscone laughed about as heartily as I'd ever heard him laugh. The DepDirector looked as if the joke had gone over his head.

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

We went to the Country Breakfast Diner, arriving just before it opened. Jack Colby let us in, anyway. While waiting in the private back room for the food to get out, I told the FBI Agents what was going on."

"Captain Ross and I got an alert that the Psychology Building alarm had gone off. Since that is where my wife's office is, we went down there and searched the place. Once again, it was probably perps looking for Ned's drugs... but not finding them, as they no longer exist. Fortunately, there was no damage; I think we got there pretty early."

"Anyway," I continued, "we can now say that was a distraction. While we were busy, someone managed to get Michael Burke to leave his home without telling anyone, and they took off with him, using some device to kill all our cameras."

Cindy had been well-taught to never mention our own bug-killer devices, so she said nothing as I continued: "So they shot him, twice, with different guns, then took his body and one of the guns back to his apartment."

"And nobody saw anything." said the Deputy Director.

"It's possible that all the streetlights were taken out, as well as the cameras." Cindy said.

"That's a good thought." I said.

"Do I get to hold the red crowbar?" Cindy asked, perhaps jokingly.

"Of course not." I replied witheringly. "That's why I gave you the green one. Jerome surprised me at how good he was. I know you're that good." Cindy blushed, but smiled happily at the compliment.

"What bothers me," said the DepDirector, "is that this man was in danger, and he knew it. We gave him one of those 'life-alert' type buttons he could push, like the one you have in your belt, Don. Why didn't he press it?"

"Maybe he did." Jack Muscone said.

"Those things cut through just about any dampening field, as the Commander well knows." said the DepDirector. "We also had surveillance on the townhouse. So what does that tell, you, Don?"

"It tells me you are thinking he snuck out willingly." I said. "And you want me to agree with that hypothesis. And right now, I don't have anything to suggest disagreement. By the way, your guys watching the back of the townhouses... it's almost impossible to really watch. It'd be easy enough to sneak in or out... and even to carry a body into the place."

"Yes, I know." said the DepDirector.

"What about that velvet shawl?" asked Muscone. "We've been monitoring those murder cases, and are looking to see if any similar ones occurred outside your State. You don't think this is related to them?"

"Only in that I'm investigating those cases, and the shawl was left just for my benefit." I said. "I don't believe the same person nor group is behind the Black Velvet serial killings and also the Burke killings."

The DepDirector was sitting there, lost in thought. Cindy's eyebrows arched up as she watched him; now I knew how it felt to watch someone else go into a reverie. Finally, he came out of it and looked over at me.

"Sir?" I asked.

"Commander, let's you and I speak outside while these guys eat." said the DepDirector. We went straight out the back door, which was normally only an emergency exit.

Once outside, the DepDirector said "One other thing just occurred to me. Maybe whoever came to pick up Burke told him that he could go avenge his son Jack's death, maybe by attacking your wife."

I nodded. "It's a thought, sir." I said. "But I think he'd be skeptical if it was someone pretending to be the FBI and then saying that."

"My point exactly." said the DepDirector. "Your wife was distracted along with you, since it was her office that was broken into and the alarm set off. Then they go and get Burke."

"I can raise a lot of objections to this, sir." I said. "But since we're out here alone, let me ask you to consider that if someone came to his door, flashed an FBI badge and said they were taking him and Todd to safety because of a possible threat, and maybe that threat is from a former CIA Deputy Director... he might go with them, and not press the panic button."

"And that means?"

"You have a mole, a traitor, within your FBI ranks, Mr. Director." I said.

Part 17 - Maximum Coverage

Although I did not want to do it, I felt the need to give a Press Conference. I thought I would get questions about Michael Burke. But then I realized that I should not be surprised that the Press was only interested in sex and scandal.

"Commander, are teachers and students having sex at Walnut Prep?" yelled Priya Ajmani in the Press Room.

"I have no idea." I said. "And I'm not investigating that, though others are."

John Hardwood then bulled his way in: "But the autopsy report shows Ms. Holmes and Rob Dortmund had sex. So aren't you lying when you answered Priya's question that way."

"Listen, jerk, if you accuse me of lying again, I'll have you thrown out of my Police Station." I said angrily. "Or maybe I'll arrest you." That shocked the room into near-silence.

"But just so we're clear, here." I said, raising my voice to make sure all could hear, "it is my belief, based upon the autopsy of this case as well as other Black Velvet cases we've found, that Rob Dortmund and Lenora Holmes were kidnapped and forced to have sex. So you cannot reasonably extrapolate from the forced sex that any other teachers or students are having sex at Walnut Prep nor anywhere else... and it would be dishonest journalism to make that extrapolation and say it on the air. In fact, it might be libel. I know you in the Media don't care if what you report is the truth or not, and one day you'll be made to pay in Court for your lies. But you can't say I haven't told you on this matter."

After a moment of hatred-filled silence, Priya finally stepped up to ask: "So you're saying that students and teachers are not having sex at Walnut Prep?"

"You're trying to put words into my mouth that I neither said or implied." I replied. "And I'm getting a bit tired of KSTD's dishonest journalism and attempt to ask trick questions here. Okay, someone besides KSTD want to ask an honest question?" The room remained quiet... as if they didn't know what an 'honest question' was.

Finally Bettina Wurtzburg spoke up: "So, Commander, you believe these black velvet cases are a serial killer at work?"

"Yes, Bettina." I said. "We're just beginning to uncover past murders with similar patterns. As we develop the cases we'll know more."

"Commander, Tim Sioban, KSB News in the City." shouted Tim. I nodded at him. "A number of these black velvet cases have been found to be around the City. Do you think the Black Velvet Killer is from the City, or in it now?"

"I don't know." I said. "I would caution residents of the City and its suburbs to be careful, though. Now that this is coming out in the news, this serial killer may strike again, just to get more publicity for himself."

"You're sure it's a man?" sneered John Hardwood. "Your last serial killer was the Black Widow, a woman, who killed one of your cops." I heard muffled gasps from the room. Hardwood had stepped over the line, even by the media's standards (such as they are).

"I'd say from the semen in Lenora Holmes's vagina that this serial killer is a man." I replied, not rising to Hardwood's bait. "Yes, Bettina?"

Bettina asked "Commander, a black velvet shawl was found wrapped around Michael Burke's body. Is he considered one of the serial killer cases?"

"It's way too early to draw such conclusions." I said. "But I will say that his death does not fit the serial killer's patterns."

"What are those patterns?" asked Meredith Peller.

"Obviously I cannot and will not talk about details like that, especially at this early stage." I said. "Only that people need to be aware of their surroundings."

"Commander," said Priya, "were Jeanine Burke and Michael Burke killed by the same person or persons?"

"I don't know, Priya." I said. "If I did, that would mean I knew who they were, and I'd be going after them now instead of standing here talking to you."

"The FBI was supposed to be protecting Michael Burke." said John Hardwood. "And they obviously failed at their job. Can you elaborate on that?"

"I don't accept the premises of your question, and you'll have to ask them about anything to do with their role regarding Mr. Burke." I replied.

"Sir, is Michael Burke's son Todd a potential target of these killers?" asked Meredith Peller. "After all, wasn't there an assassination attempt upon him last year?"

"There was an attempt last year, but we believe that was Pastor Raymond Westboro's work." I replied. "We have advised Mr. Todd Burke to take precautions, and he is doing so, but we do not believe there is a specific threat against Todd Burke nor his family."

"Does that family include you, Commander?" snarled John Hardwood. "Are you a possible target?"

"As much as you hope that is true, Mr. Hardwood," I said, "I tend to doubt it. But if you want to be hired as my personal bodyguard and take a bullet for me, we can arrange that."

That offended Hardwood and the Media snowflakes, and pretty much concluded the press conference.

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

"Those Media people are absolutely dis-gust-ing." said Chief Moynahan as we sat in his office, along with Della Harlow.

"But useful." I said. "Walnut Prep now has some counter to the Media's attempts to generate a scandal."

"Might not make a difference." said Della. "It is very unlikely that any proof of sexual relations between students and teachers will come up, unless someone snitches, and so far every person that has been questioned has immediately taken the Fifth. Parents are also strongly objecting to us talking to their minor children without their permission, which they aren't giving."

"But the problem," Della continued, "is that people aren't waiting for the proof. Over one third of Walnut Prep's students have been taken out of the school and are enrolling at other schools now, and I'd expect a lot more to follow. The Walnut Prep people can't sustain themselves at those loss rates."

"True." I said. "It's likely this will kill them. They'll have to close their doors, maybe start again elsewhere under a new name."

"Okayyyyy," said the Chief. "So, this serial killer... this won't be solved today, will it, Mr. Crowbarrrr?"

"No sir." I said. "I have the bad feeling that we're just getting started on this one..."

Part 18 - A Matter of Family

On Sunday, February 12th, Todd and Barry Oliver went down to State Women's Prison, where Todd told Eleanor Burke that Michael Burke was dead. Teresa kept the kids at The Cabin, along with Cindy and Molly and her boys. Laura and my mom kept Carole and Jim at the Mountain Nest, along with Buddy and Bowser. It had been generally decided to minimize contact between little Jack Burke and Bowser... too much mutual dislike, there.

As for me, I was flying west in an FBI-provided jet, similar to the ones of superlative comfort that my wife had provided us in the past when such transportation was needed. With me was FBI Special Agent in Charge Clark Webster, head of the Missing Persons Bureau in our region.

"We'll have a couple of Agents from the L.A. Missing Persons Bureau join us when we get there." said Clark. "And you said you have a couple of friends in the LAPD?"

"Yes." I said. "Both used to work with me in the TCPD. As it's their jurisdiction, they'll take the lead in getting the kid back, then the FBI can cover it when we bring him home."

"And we got the warrant from the Federal Judge, as well." said Webster.

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

We were met at the airport by Lieutenant Claire Michaels of the LAPD's Major Crimes Division. Our MCD encompasses all non-Vice crimes; theirs is for the really big stuff. Claire came up and gave me a very warm hug, which I returned.

"You're looking great!" I said.

"So are you, Commander." Claire said, then added with a grin: "And rocking Captain Ross's world in the Police Boxing Matches, I heard." I could not help but smile at that.

"Ah yes, bucket list item crossed off." I said. "So how is LA?"

"Very exciting." Claire said. "It's Sunday, but some of my people will be in the office, and they want to meet you."

"Uh oh." I said. "You didn't tell them all the bad stories, did you?" Claire laughed.

"Maybe a few." she said.

I introduced Clark Webster, who then said he was going to the FBI offices to check in with their people. Claire and I went to LAPD's headquarters.

Once admitted to the controlled areas, Claire brought me in to an open area with a lot of desks. Our MCD, but much bigger.

"This is Lieutenant Tal Shiarr, our I.T. and Data expert." Claire said. I shook hands with a bald Asian man, very tall for an Asian at that.

"And this is Lieutenant Provino, who's the boss of bosses around here." said Claire. Provino was short, stocky, had graying hair, and his way of talking reminded me of Chief Moynahan.

"Ah, so at last we meet the famous Iron Crow-barrrr." said Provino. "Oh yes, we heard about that Moriarty type fellow you took down... solved about six of our outstanding cases out here."

"Glad I could help." I said.

"Oh, and you know this ball of fire." said Claire. I barely had enough time to brace for impact when Lorena Rose practically jumped into my arms.

"Commander! Its so good to see you!" Lorena said as she hugged me. I hugged her back.

"You too, Lorena." I said. "And what, Detective Sergeant now?"

"And up for Lieutenant soon." said Claire. "In Vice, though."