Dream within a Dream Ch. 01

"Well," Laura said, "you were under tremendous stress at the time you underwent that process, you've been subjected to levels of these drugs for some time. Tell you what, after you get this Priemus thing worked out, come to my office Wednesday morning, and I'll run the usual battery of tests. It'll be for my research, too, and you're due in for that anyway. And then you can walk down the hall and talk to Bonnie Karpathian about the Black Widow case."

"I am not looking forward to that." I said.

"I understand." Laura said. "Anyway, come on up to bed and get a few hours sleep, okay?"

"I'll be there in a minute." I said, and Laura knew that 'a minute' would not be a minute as I said "You'd be surprised how hard it was finding the names of the two people with Priemus the night of the murder. I finally got a 'Danny Ellis' and his wife 'Dora Ellis'."

"What happened to them?" Laura asked.

"Danny went to prison for his role in the murder." I said. "Surprisingly light sentence for accessory to murder, then paroled out after just three years for good behavior and jail overcrowding. That issue of early releases was what got the Democrat defeated and Val Jared elected Governor, by the way."

I went on: "Anyway, Ellis got out, then got blown away in the City during a drug raid... led by one then-Lieutenant Susan Wexler. One of her officers shot Ellis. It was ruled a good shoot, but records after that are sealed, and I don't have time to bust through that right now."

"What about his wife?" asked Laura.

"Dora Ellis." I said. "Turned State's Evidence in the crime. Blamed Priemus all the way. Said her husband was abusive towards her and she was too scared to not go along with them, but her husband was just Priemus's lackey, too. Husband corroborated that he was abusive towards her, surprisingly enough. She said Priemus led the whole thing, acted like a savage beast the entire time, and she was as scared of him as she was her husband. Divorced the husband while he was in jail, then went off the grid. Hasn't shown up since."

"Remarried?" Laura asked.

"Maybe," I said, "though I've found no record of that yet. I'm missing something..."

"You're tired." my wife said. "Come on, it's bedtime." I relented, closing down the laptop and letting my wife escort me upstairs to bed.

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

"Commmannnderrrrrrr..." I heard the voice say as I thought I was sleeping.

"What, Angela?" I asked in my dream state.

"She's not what she seems." said Angela's voice. "What was her maiden name, by the way?"

My eyes popped open. I was in my bedroom, my wife asleep beside me. I sat up, then got up and rushed back downstairs. I think Laura woke up, but she didn't come after me.

I got onto the computer and looked. Dora Ellis. It took a while... her DMV records seemed to be missing in this State, but a blanket search found DMV records in California...

"Oh my God." I said quietly. Her maiden name was 'Dora Boxman'... she was the daughter of one Henry Boxman of San Francisco... whose name had been on the Black Widow's list...

Part 4 - The Long Wait

6:00am, Tuesday. I'd called the Chief and asked him to come into his office early.

"You want to go down to Jacksonville to try to talk to Priemus before they execute him?" Chief Bennett asked.

"Yes sir." I said. "I've uncovered information that I need to ask him about before he's executed tonight."

The Chief peered at me. "Don, you were up all night working on this, weren't you?"

"Yes sir." I said.

"There is no way in hell I'm letting you drive, then." said the Chief. "Of course you'll take Captain Ross, and I'll personally work with Croyle and Perlman on anything they need. But I want you to take Martin Nash, too. He and Ross can take turns driving."

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

To get to Jacksonville, the easiest and fastest way was to go by the four-lane highway to Midtown, then the Interstate towards Southport. Martin Nash was driving, and at 9:30am we arrived at the State Capitol. I'd called ahead for an emergency appointment with the Governor, which he'd quickly accepted.

As we were ushered into the Governor's private office (as opposed to his public office with the big conference table), I said "Governor, may I introduce my partner, Captain Cindy Ross?"

"Why you certainly may!" exclaimed the Governor. "It is such an honor to finally get to meet you, Captain. I've heard so much about you and your accomplishments."

"Thank you, sir." Cindy said politely as she shook the Governor's hand. "And this is Detective Martin Nash, one of our best officers on the Force."

"Ah, yes, I think I've met you, Detective Nash." said the Governor. "But it was at a reception with FBI officers in the City, if I recall."

"Yes sir." said Martin Nash, who then quickly added "My girlfriend works with the FBI and I escorted her to the reception."

"Ah, I see." said the Governor, and I'd noticed his eyes squinting, as if trying to remember something as he peered at Nash. Then Jared remembered our presences.

"Ah, please, sit down, have some breakfast with me." said the Governor, directing us to a table where there were four place settings. Some eggs, bacon, biscuits, and fruit were on the side table. This was not ceremonial: the Governor filled his plate and made sure we did the same. I was hungry and took the opportunity to eat a good plate full of eggs and bacon, as did Martin Nash, following my lead. Cindy stuck with the fruit.

"So, Commander," said the Governor, "I'm glad you were able to come early. Things are going to explode later today as that execution in Jacksonville draws near. The Media always makes a huge mockery of Justice, making us look like butchers for following the law and carrying out a death sentence. They love to concentrate on my role as Governor, which will be to confirm that no clemency is being given and telling them to proceed."

"I understand, Governor, and I appreciate you making time for us." I said, "And the execution is why I'm here. I have two requests of you, related to each other. I really need to talk to Lance Priemus before he is executed. Can you get me a pass to see him? And can you delay the execution for any length of time so I can spend some time talking with him? It's vitally important to one of my cases."

"I'm sure that it's important, since you came here like this." said the Governor as he ate. "I can try to get you a pass to see him, but the Prison System can deny you access anyway. It's a pretty rigid system when someone is on Death Watch, which started 24 hours before the time of the sentence being carried out."

"What about a delay?" I asked.

"That... is far more difficult, I'm afraid." said Governor Jared. "A stay of execution may come from the State Supreme Court or the US Supreme Court, but that's not likely. Judge Leahy of the Appellate Court in your area is usually rabid about issuing stays of executions, and the State Supreme Court has to rap his knuckles and override him. But he actually announced he'd be taking an extended weekend out of State, and won't be back until Wednesday. I'm really stunned at that one."

The Governor continued: "As to me, I could stop the whole thing, give him clemency, commute his sentence to life in prison. But there's two reasons why I have to reject doing that. First, you all know I ran for Governor as a law-and-order candidate, and I believe in the Jury System and the Courts that gave this sentence, and I believe it should be carried out. If I try to delay it, that might open the door to a rush of appeals and make a mockery of the whole process."

"What if he's innocent?" I asked. "What if he was set up?"

The Governor peered hard at me. "I know you're not one of those wishy-washy types that would ask that just to delay or hinder the sentence from being implemented. And you're probably the only person in the State right now that I would even listen to if you have some evidence to back up your assertion." Nash and Cindy were peering at me as hard as the Governor was.

"Well, sir," I said, "it's not really an assertion. There are some strangenesses, some issues that I've found, but I don't have anything solid that I could take to a Court to get a stay. And no, I wouldn't tax your patience to take my word on a whim."

"It's too bad about the timing." said the Governor. "But I'll call down and try to get you inside to see him."

"I'd appreciate it." I said.

"Maybe you could pretend to be a preacher and get access to him." said Cindy.

"Except that all three of those preachers already down there know me personally." I said. "So Governor, what is the second reason you said you can't stop the execution?"

"Purely social politics." said Jared. "Black civic leaders were all over this case from the beginning of it. White-on-black crime. Priemus actually got the 'aggravated murder' and the death penalty because the victim was a police officer, but the Black civic leaders concentrated on the skin colors... they don't have that many white-on-black crimes anymore, since the FBI all but wiped out the Ku Klux Klan decades ago."

"So they really pushed this one hard." continued the Governor. "Reverend Williams is the only one making a case for Priemus's innocence. And if I were to even delay the execution for anything but hard evidence showing his innocence... I don't have to spell out what the Media will make of that, do I?"

"No sir." I said emphatically. "You do not."

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

It was already beginning to be a madhouse at the State Prison at Jacksonville. A gathering of people, mostly young, were outside. They bore signs that protested the death penalty in general, some of them calling Governor Jared 'the butcher of Westphalia' and such stuff. There was also a group of mainly blacks, who were eager to see Priemus die for murdering a black police officer, and their signs were pretty ugly towards him. Fortunately, the well armed guards were able to open a corridor so that we could drive my Police SUV inside the compound.

That was the easy part. Once inside, the Warden of the Prison came up to us.

"The Governor called, but unfortunately it's out of even my hands. Only lawyers and clergy meet with the prisoner. His family will get to see him about 9:00pm tonight, but that's it." said the Warden. "I'm sorry, but once that Death Watch clock starts, it's really tough."

"I understand." I said to the Warden, then turned to Cindy and Martin and said "We're stymied." We were shown into a waiting room, which had magazines and a television, which was showing one of the cable news networks. We sat down to wait.

"Okay, Commander," Cindy said quietly, "you slept most of the way to Midtown, then to here. What's up with this?"

I said "I'm not saying he's an innocent man, but I think Priemus was set up to take a fall. I think he may have been drugged, and either participated in the crime not knowing what he was doing, or he was unconscious and they jacked him off and put his semen in the dead woman's vagina. The license plates mysteriously changed from the time the car left the parking lot at the bar to when they were pulled over. Priemus's appeals have been expedited and squelched like none I've ever seen before. And last but not least, Appellate Judge Leahy took vacation time right when this was happening, which is a 'Jupiter leaving its orbit' kind of strange."

Martin Nash said "With respect, Commander, that's a pretty large number of people conspiring to put a man to death."

"Yes." I said. "And I am wondering why they're bothering to go through with the whole thing. Hell, it'd have been easier to shoot the man in the back of the head, dump his body, and be done with it. The guy was on the periphery of a drug cartel; it'd be attributed to a drug-related execution."

I got out my iPhone and showed my officers a photo. "This is Dora Boxman Ellis, the woman who turned State's Evidence on Priemus. She may show up around here, and I'd be greatly interested in talking with her. So if you see her, give me a head's up."

Just then the Reverend Joseph E. Williams, black pastor of the A.M.E. Church in my Town came into the room. He was wearing a light grey suit similar to what I often wear, with a black shirt and his white clerical collar around his neck.

"Why Commander Troy!" he exclaimed. "They said you were here." He surprised me by turning our handshake into a hug. "Hello Captain, Detective." he said to the others. "Why did you all come down here?"

"I'm hoping to talk to Priemus before they execute him." I said quietly. "Anything you can do to help me with that?"

"Uh, let's sit down over here." Williams said, leading me to a nearby table that had a couple of chairs. Once we were seated, he said, his voice barely above a whisper, "There is no way I can get you inside to talk with him. The prison is on lockdown. He's isolated in the death chamber area. He wants to talk to his lawyer alone, but they won't allow it; there is always someone in the room with them. I've sat with condemned men before, and I've never seen anything like what is going on here now."

"Why do you think that's happening?" I asked.

"I have no idea." said Williams. "Look, Commander, I know you've been investigating that White Supremacy group that Malone was part of. I know it, the whole black community knows it. And they're saying Priemus was part of that group and that is why he raped that black officer's wife in front of him then murdered them both. But I don't buy it, not all of it. And I don't want to see an innocent man go down for something he didn't do, not like this."

"Do you think you can ask him some questions for me?" I asked, hating to do this, but desperate to somehow get a question to Priemus. "Just one, really. Ask him who his ultimate boss was, who the 'Shadow Man' is. I think he'll understand if you ask it that way."

"I'll try, Commander, I'll try." promised Williams. "I don't know if I can get any alone time with him, though. Chaplain Ikea sticks to him like glue; I don't know why. Then Pastor Westboro comes in and out. He was one of the pastors of First Baptist when Priemus attended services there, and he came down right when I did. I've been trying to help the lawyers get Priemus a stay, but it's been so tough that even your crowbar can't pry us anything to crawl through."

Just then another figure came in, wearing a clerical collar, tall and slender, curly hair a bit messy. It was the ever-loathsome Steven Ikea. I had not seen him since the day I physically destroyed him at Ward Harvester a year before.

"The Lord's blessings upon you, Commander Troy." Ikea snarled sarcastically. "May He forgive you your hideous sins. Still carrying that filthy instrument of the Devil, I see." He was talking about my red crowbar, which the prison officials had allowed me to bring inside with me. In fact, we were still armed with our guns, too.

"And about to use it on you again, Ikea." I replied.

"Your day will come, Commander." said Ikea levelly. "And it will be a glorious day watching you receive the Lord's vengeance for your iniquities. The Lord will smite you down as you helplessly wave that crowbar in defeat."

"Ah now, Chaplain Ikea," said another voice, belonging to the man that had entered the room. He was wearing a black shirt and black pants, and the white clerical collar. He was taller than Ikea, as tall as me, and his beak nose under the spectacles he wore was unmistakeable. It was Pastor Raymond Westboro of the First Baptist Church, and Town & County Councilman as well.

"Forgive the Commander his crowbar." said Westboro. "It is his Palladium. What would he be without it?"

"Yes, Pastor." Ikea said shortly, looking darkly at me. "If you'll excuse me." With that, Ikea stalked out of the room.

"I'll go see if I can get a word in with the prisoner." said Rev. Williams quietly as he got up. He also left the room.

"Ah, Commander, Captain, and Detective Nash." said Westboro, his bright eyes looking over us. "I must say I'm surprised to see you here. Protesting the execution of the prisoner?"

"No, Pastor." I said. "We were hoping to talk with the prisoner before his sentence was carried out. He once operated in our County, and I was hoping he'd clear up a few small things before he meets his Destiny."

"Ah yes, I remember." said Westboro. "He seemed to be such a stalwart member of our Flock. His fall was most saddening. He has repented of his crimes, and the Lord Jesus's forgiveness will shine for all to see as he goes to his Reward. But you, Commander, you're not a forgiving man, are you?"

"Depends." I said. "But my job is to enforce the Laws of the State, solve crimes, and protect the good People of the County... many who attend your church, Pastor."

Westboro chuckled. "Yes, that is true. By the way, they're serving lunch in the cafeteria, and I do suggest you eat, as they will not serve dinner due to the impending execution. If there's anything I can help you with, please let me know." He left the room.

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

It was a long wait. We did eat lunch in the last half hour the cafeteria was open. I noted that a number of off-duty guards were eating, as well as some staff and people who had been allowed in to watch the execution.

I did stroll down the hallways. looking around. As I came to the area that was the first locked-door checkpoint to the jail, I noticed one man staring me down. He was a bit overweight, but probably fit enough underneath like Sergeant Rudistan on my Force, but his face was chubby and he had a drooping mustache like Dick Ferrell.

To my surprise, the other guards melted into the interior of the prison, leaving this man 'alone' with me, albeit on the other side of the door of iron bars.

"People usually try to break out of here, not into here." he said. "Don't even think of trying it, Mr. Iron Crowbar."

"Trying what?" I asked affably.

"We're not idiots, Commander." he said.

"You have the advantage of me. What's your name?" I asked.

"I'm Watch Captain Lockhart." he said. "This is my prison. I am in charge here, I run it. And you're not getting inside... unless you want to commit a crime and come in wearing an orange jumpsuit instead of carrying that red noodle in your hand."

The effrontery was amazing, I thought to myself. What was up with this guy? And I knew I had something of a reputation around the State, but he seemed to really know who I was and why I was here.

"I'll pass on that." I said. "You have a nice day, Captain Lockhart. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again soon."

"For your sake, you better hope not." said Lockhart.

Going back to the main room, I saw Nash and Ross playing chess on Cindy's cellphone, taking turns with their moves. They looked up at me as I came in.

"Well, no chance of seeing Priemus." I said. "They have encased him in hoops of iron, and there is no way to pry him out to talk with him."

"What were you hoping to get?" asked Cindy.

"Names." I said. "The Shadow Man's name, in particular. Maybe some top lieutenants in the organization."

Nash asked "Sir, do you find it suspicious that there are no less than three Reverends here with him?"

I replied "Ikea is the one I'm not feeling. I can understand Westboro, who knew him before, and Priemus may still be a member of First Baptist. Williams has been working on the legal angles of the case. Ikea? That's the strange one."

"He hasn't learned any manners since the last time you saw him... and whipped his ass." Cindy said.

"Which I think you witnessed despite being on restricted duty, if memory serves me correctly." I said. Cindy knew full well what I was saying by that. Nash didn't know the whole of it, nor of what Cindy had been carrying slung on her shoulder, nor what had happened in the metalworks classroom of Town High School later that night.