Disappearing Act Ch. 01

"Yeah, as Chief Inquisitor for your Witch Trial at Salem." said Jack, teasing me. "Seriously, yes, he's up for his next level. How did you know? Did you look up his file?"

"No. It's his reticence to help in this case." I answered. "He fears it'll hold up his promotion."

"I can reassure him about that." said Jack.

"Let me do it." I said. "As someone once told me, you're a blunt instrument, and I'm a surgical scalpel."

"Sounds like something P. Harvey Eckhart would say about me." Jack said witheringly as he led the way into the hall, leaving me wondering if he knew that for sure, or had just struck lightning... after all, it had been Eckhart that had told me that...

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

"Clark, this is Donald Troy, our Consultant over in the University Town." said Jack Muscone. "Don, this is Clark Webster, chief of our Missing Persons Department here in the City. I'll leave you two to talk about the case. Come see me before you leave, Don." I shook hands with Clark Webster, who had curly dark hair and a long, thin nose, the perfect stereotype of a political bureaucrat.

"So this is about the Tolson-Mason disappearances?" asked Webster as we sat down. He had a way of talking that sounded rapid even if it wasn't. In response, I employed my semi-Southern speech to slow down even more.

"Why, yes it is." I said. "Just a last check of it as a cold case before the seven year mark hits... and they're declared dead."

"If I may ask," said Webster rapidly, "why did you become interested in this case again? What brought it up?"

"Well," it happened in my local jur- er, home county." I said, suddenly remembering that Muscone had made a point to introduce me as an FBI Consultant and not the Town & County Police Commander. "And I was asked to glance at it by the Governor of the State." Name dropping. Yes, I did it.

"Oh." Webster said, and I saw the concern on his face.

"Let me reassure you, Agent Webster," I said, "that this case, no matter its disposition, is not going to have any bearing on your upcoming promotion. Of course, if you choose to not help me... well, that might have a negative impact for you."

"I see." said Webster. He peered at me, then opened a desk drawer and pulled out a file. "Okay, I might as well trust you. Muscone is the Big Boy around here, and if he personally brought you in here, that means something. So tell him I helped you, if you don't mind."

"Sure." I said. "So what do you have on the case?"

Webster said "This was the worst case of my entire career. Almost got my boss fired over it, and I've lived in fear for years that it'll keep holding me back from any advancement. Now the local police in your Town did a good job investigating, but they had no idea how those two people just disappeared into thin air. I thought that something had to have been missed, so when we went in there, we really left no stone unturned. But it was on the up-and-up, those two just disappeared, magically vanished out of that bedroom into thin air, and have never been seen again. That just doesn't happen in this day and age."

"Unless they were murdered somehow, and the bodies not found." I said.

"And their bodies were gotten out of there... how?" asked Webster, then caught himself. "Sorry. I'm not trying to be a smart-ass with you about that, Don... it's just frustration. But believe me... my team and I went over that and every other possible scenario. All the stories held up, people took polygraphs and no one failed... and no trace of these two or anyone matching their descriptions showed up, nor any bodies matching the descriptions. No leads whatsoever."

"I believe you." I said. "But nothing at all stuck out as unusual? What about the insurance company?"

"You're not working for or with them, are you?" Webster asked. I shook my head. "Yeah, they were weird about it. I can understand they won't pay until the seven years are up, but they started interfering with our investigation, then started intimidating witnesses about talking with us. Almost landed in hot water with the U.S. Justice Department and the State Insurance Commissioner over that."

"What did they do?" I asked.

"Nearly three years ago, they kept trying to get us to investigate leads of the two people that disappeared being alive and in other places. A private dick that one of the families hired sent us word that it wasn't those two, but imposters hired by the insurance company to pretend to be the two people. I wasn't personally on that, but some of our agents looked into it. It's here in the file, and the file says the leads were checked out but came to nothing, and that there was some indications that the insurance company may indeed have hired imposters to pretend to be the deceased-- er, the missing people."

"Any idea why the insurance company did that? And why they were interfering so strongly in the first place?" I asked.

"No." said Webster. "But I didn't get much chance to investigate that. My superiors investigated the claims they were elsewhere, and the claims came to nothing. Then I was told to find the missing persons, and that my job didn't go farther than that. I was told the Insurance Company was the State's problem to handle."

"And to some extent, that's true." I said. I examined the file that Webster extended to me, and when I was finished, I handed it back, saying "I appreciate your time today, Agent Webster."

"By the way, who are you working for?" Webster asked. "Jack said you were an FBI Consultant, but for who? Him?"

"Oh, that..." I said, "Well, I do work with Jack, but on this case I'm investigating as part of the Town & County Police Department."

"Troy..." mused Clark Webster, then his eyes lit up with understanding... and shock. "Whoaaaaa, you mean you're the Iron Crowbar?!? I... I had no idea... Jack never said anything..."

"Can't imagine why not." I said with a shrug. "Thanks for your help."

Back at Jack's office, I said "Why didn't you tell him who I was?" I asked.

"He was already shitting his pants about this case and his promotion." said Muscone. "If I told him that the Iron Crowbar was coming in, he would've had a heart attack."

I laughed. "Geez, am I that bad? No, don't answer. Let me take you to lunch for your help with him, though..."

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

As we ate lunch at a small but decent pub in the City, Jack was saying "One thing I didn't mention earlier: We think Susan Wexler might have something on Wargrave, and maybe a tie-in to your boy, the Consultant. But she won't give us anything more than she originally gave. She just says it's all in the Iron Crowbar's hands."

"Her confidence in me is touching." I said sardonically. "But I wish she'd give you guys more. I'm sure she could if she wanted to."

"That's the way it is with these guys." Jack said. "They think they're doing the right thing holding something back. But if they don't get it out... they might well be buried with their knowledge."

"Yep." I said. After we finished, I paid the bill. "Okay Jack, I'll drop you off then go back home. The party never stops in my Town & County. I've got to help my Bulldog buddy and my mom solve this cold case."

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

After dropping Jack off, I was on the road towards home, when it hit me. I got on my phone.

"Jack," I said to Muscone after he picked up the phone. "You said Susan Wexler said that everything was in my hands?"

"Hold on a second." Jack said. He then came back on the line and said "Her exact words were, and I quote, 'It's all in the Iron Crowbar's hands.'. Why? You think that means something?"

"It might." I said. "I'll check on something when I get home, and let you know."

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

I did not go directly to Headquarters, but first stopped by The Cabin. I went into my small office and got out two things: the laptop that I never connected to WiFi, the Internet, or anything else; and from my safe I obtained the DVD that Susan Wexler handed me, which contained the video files of her and me having sex.

Inserting the DVD into the 'virgin' laptop, I looked through the file system. The DVD files of the sex videos were all there, in order, and could be played in sequence by an app. Using some other software to check the files, I found what I had hoped: five of the files were not part of that sequence. They were data files of information!

As I used other special apps to read the data on the files, I realized what Susan Wexler had given me. There were some leads to Wargrave's various smuggling transactions, but not much. I might could get a start looking into things with the information, but there needed to be more.

And then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw it: the jewel case that the DVD had come in. On the front it said 'Iron Crowbar', then 'R.E.M.'. R.E.M., of course, was the band out of Athens, Georgia that had made it big in the 1980s and '90s. It therefore made sense that a couple of files had been songs, including the group R.E.M.'s "Stand."

I picked up the jewel case and examined it very closely with my rectangular magnifying glass.

"Oh my God!" I gasped. "There it is!"

To be continued...