Eyes Only Ch. 03

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.

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Part 10 - The Sloppy Second Crime Scene

Thursday, October 22d, 2:40am. I drove up to the scene in my Police SUV. A couple of Police cruisers near the road had their blue lights flashing so that motorists could see them, but there were other cars without the lights in the field some 150 feet down a dirt road that eventually would lead between the cemetery on Cemetery Hill and the Pet Cemetery to its east.

"BDSM... as you foretold, Commander." said Cindy Ross, who'd just gotten here before me. Sergeant Rudistan came up and led us to the body. A couple of klieg lights were set up to illuminate the immediate area. They were visible from the highway, which made me wonder how long it would be before the Media arrived.

"Rudistan, put out word that any Media that come are to be held back at the road." I ordered. "If they try to come closer, take great pleasure in placing them under arrest and hauling them off to County Jail." Rudistan called it out on his radio as Cindy and I began looking at the body.

"Have y'all taken any pictures yet?" I asked.

"Yes sir." said one of the Patrolmen. "Using our iPhone apps. I've already transmitted them to Headquarters."

"Good work." I said, looking at the body of the man dressed in BDSM leather straps and leather short pants that were no more than underwear. "Okay, he's an Asian man, late 20s, I'd guess... oh geez, what happened to his eye?" I was looking into the socket where the man's left eye should be. "Have you found this guy's eyeball anywhere around here?" I called out.

"No sir." said Rudistan. "That's why I called you in. Looks like the perps kept that as a memento of their evening."

"They took the whole eyeball." I said as I shined my flashlight into the eye cavity and peered inside. "Maybe even the optic nerve, or some of it."

"That is strange." said Cindy. "Some kind of BDSM ritual gone bad?"

"No data yet, Watson-- oh, I take that back." I exclaimed. I'd just turned the body over on its side, and saw the wounds. "Big knife wounds to the lower back, looks like someone cut his kidneys and spine... just like our boy Collins at the Cub Club."

"Like I said: your power of prognostication at work, Commander." Cindy said. "I'm definitely theorizing this crime is related to that one."

"Yeah, I think we can safely make that assumption." I said drily as I eased the body back onto its back as it originally was.

"Something else was strange, Commander." said Sr. Patrolman Morton. "I was going to take this guy's fingerprints on my app for ID purposes, since he has no I.D. or wallet on him. But his fingers have something on them."

I shined my flashlight on the dead man's fingers and saw that they were glistening as if wet. I sniffed the fingers. "Banana oil." I said. "Yes, this is a strangeness."

Cindy sniffed the fingers of the left hand as I examined at the right hand. "Oh geez," I said. "Look at this, guys: the knuckles of three of his fingers on his right hand have been crushed. And one of his fingernails ripped out."

"Bruising all over the face, neck and body, too, sir." said Morton. "Somebody worked this guy over."

"Yes." I said, seeing what Morton was saying. "Okay guys, who called this in?"

"If I may begin at the beginning, sir..." said Rudistan in his semi-jovial voice, which denoted that he had a story to tell.

"Sure." I said.

Rudistan began: "At about midnight the Precinct Two Duty Desk got a call that someone had been kidnapped from the Whippet's Club parking lot. We went over there, where their security man Reynolds showed us the tapes. Two guys in masks sprang up on this guy as he left the Club, threw him into a black van, and drove off."

"Reynolds gave us a copy of the digital recording." said Morton. "But we also had our own guys take the evidence, as well."

"Good." I said. "So this body is that of the kidnapped guy?"

"Yes sir, at least we think so." said Rudistan. "We could see it was an Asian man dressed in BDSM clothing on the tapes, and it matches what dead guy is wearing. We also talked to several people inside that said they saw the guy talking with different people during the evening. He's apparently a regular there, named Roy Chen."

Rudistan continued: "So we were on the alert for a van, and Precincts 2 and 3 were running stepped-up patrols. Then the Duty Desk radioed in and said that someone driving by on the highway saw car taillights out here and called 9-1-1 for the Police, thinking some kids were going to vandalize the cemetery. So Morton and I came out, followed by another two patrol cars and searched around, and we found the guy."

"Excellent." I said. "Ah, here comes the Crime Lab." As the Crime Lab people came up, I instructed them to take pictures of the eye socket, the damaged right hand, and the oily left hand fingers.

"Morton," I said, "did you take fingerprints?"

"No sir." said Morton. "I wanted to let you and the Crime Lab see the strange oil on them first."

"Good thinking, I'm glad you did that." I said. "But as soon as the Crime Lab takes samples, go ahead and take fingerprints. If that Roy Chen guy has prints on file, I'll bet this body comes up as him."

Just then I heard the squeal of rubber on the highway. The KSTD News van had barreled into the area at too high a speed, nearly hitting a Police cruiser. That got uniformed officers yelling and shoving at Bettina and her cameraman, who were screaming back at them. It was about to get ugly.

"Well, Crowbar 2," I asked my partner, "should we intervene in that debacle over there?"

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

At 6:30am I came into MCD in my gym clothes. I had worked out with Sergeant Tate of the ROTC cadre, then ran with the cadets that were being prepared for Advanced Camp the next summer. And while I thought I'd been in decent shape, I found out quickly that I was not where I needed to be.

"Anything new on the murder last night, Ms. Cummings?" I asked Joanne, who had been the Detective that came out to the crime scene, and therefore had the honor of being assigned the case.

"No sir." said Joanne. "We're re-submitting the fingerprints to the FBI and asking for information about him. The app came back to Sr. Patrolman Morton that it was one Xinhua Chen, who goes by the name of 'Roy'. Nothing else about him, though... no criminal record, no other reason why his prints are on file."

"Interesting." I said. "I'm going to go get cleaned up. Joanne, check on the phone number of whoever called in the tip of the car lights at Cemetery Hill. And forward anything from the Crime Lab to my inbox."

"Yes sir!" Joanne said happily, full of youthful vitality as well as excitement in having a case to solve.

I went to the Police locker rooms and showered and shaved and dressed in my uniform. When I got back, Cindy Ross had joined the MCD coffee klatch. Despite her physique, she looked tired.

"Up all night, Captain?" I asked as I poured myself some coffee and topped off her mug.

"Yes sir." said Cindy. "I should've hit the couch like you did for an hour or two, but I stayed up and did some paperwork. I came to get you for a morning workout, but you weren't there."

"No, I've been 'invited' to work out with the ROTC cadets." I said. "Crowbar battles with you are good, but I need the aerobics of running with them even though it's killing my knees."

"Paratrooper's knees." said Martin Nash, his voice connoting a total lack of sympathy. "Sandra's dad has them. He was on jump status for fourteen years. Now he can hardly walk, much less run."

"Yep." I said. "I didn't jump as much, being in the Reserves, but I still feel the pain."

"You'll feel a lot more pain if you return to our workouts." hinted Cindy as she sipped her coffee.

"Sounds sooooo inspiring." I quipped. "I think I'm going to keep working with the ROTC kids. You can teach Detective Cummings and these other Detectives what you've been teaching me."

"I would love that, ma'am!" gushed Joanne.

Our banter was stopped by the newscast at 7:00am. You know what that means... the one... the only... Bettina!

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the lovely redheaded reporterette at the crime scene field near the cemetery, the gusting wind blowing her dark red hair around. "Channel Two News is bringing you coverage of the murder of a young man last night. His body was found here, just north of Cemetery Hill, about fifty yards from the road. Police say an anonymous tip led to the discovery of the body. He was stabbed to death, but Police are saying no more, including the identity of the young man."

Bettina continued: "This comes on the heels of a kidnapping from the parking lot of Whippet's, a Club south of what's called the 'main drag', which is MLK Drive in the Tenderloin District. A young man was forced into a black van by two men. Police are not saying if this kidnapping is connected to the body found this morning east of Town, nor if either of these crimes are connected to the earlier stabbing death of David Collins at the Cub Club several nights ago."

Bettina was not finished: "And Channel Two News has now confirmed through multiple sources that Police Chief Harold Bennett submitted his resignation to the Town & County Council at their meeting last Tuesday night. Chief Bennett is taking a position with the State's Department of Justice, though we have not yet learned the specifics of that position. Commander Donald Troy declined to comment on the resignation nor if he would consider taking the Chief's job himself. And now let's go to Nick Eastwood for the Homecoming football game report..."

The room was totally silent, all eyes on me. Then Theo said "Commander, is she saying you're not commenting without her asking in the first place?"

I smiled. "No, she's good on this one." I said. "She tried to ambush me at three o' clock in the morning at the crime scene by asking me about that. Didn't seem to even care that there was a dead body fifty yards away. So she did ask, and I did decline comment."

"Well, I guess the cat is out of the bag now." said a voice. Chief Bennett was entering the room, and he had two boxes of doughnuts for us.

"I don't know how the Media got ahold of the story so fast," said Chief Bennett, looking pointedly at me, "but it's true. I'm taking a position with the State. I just wanted to bring these doughnuts as a token of my appreciation of all the good work you guys have done for me."

"So what are you doing with the State, sir?" asked Martin Nash as everyone tried to be polite in making a mad dash for the doughnuts.

"It's an upper level management situation." said the Chief. "I can't go into the details now, as the Governor will be making an announcement about it soon and it's embargoed until then."

"He's going to be a Police Chaplain with Steven Ikea in the SBI." I quipped. Everyone laughed.

"It would certainly take the Patience of Job to work with that buffoon." said the Chief, drawing more laughter. "Okay, you guys carry on. Commander, can I see you in my office?"

I followed the Chief into his office, closing the door behind me. "No, Chief, I am not the one who leaked it to the Media. Scout's honor." I said, making the Boy Scout sign with my fingers.

Bennett stared at me a second, then said "I actually believe that. You were an Eagle Scout, weren't you?"

"Yes sir." I said. "And I don't know who did leak it. I'd suggest someone on the Council or associated with its members."

"Or the Sheriff, or the Fire Chief, or Deputy Chief Brownlee." said Bennett. "It could be anyone. So what do you have on last night's murder?"

"Not much yet, sir." I said. "Looks like it might be related to the Collins killing at the Cub Club; the fatal wounds to the back look very similar. This guy was BDSM, not Punk, but we're looking into how the crimes could be related."

"Any chance it's that thug T-Square?" asked Bennett.

"I doubt it, sir." I said, wondering why he'd ask that. "But if I find any data that connects him to these crimes, I'll act on it."

"All right, get back to it." said Bennett. "By the way, I am still officially here until December 31st. After that... unless the Council has hired someone, and we all know how fast they are..."

Whaddya know, the Chief made a funny! I thought to myself, but held my tongue as he said "... then you'll be Acting Chief again. I'll try to get Captain Harlow up to speed on Admin things, but you're going to be dealing with Brownlee again. And he really is gunning for this Chief's chair."

"I understand, sir." I said as I got up to go.

"I hear you're good at predicting things." said the Chief. "So who is going to be the next Chief?"

"I can tell you this," I said with an enigmatic smile., "it will not be Robert Brownlee."

Part 11 - Strange Twists and Turns

"Okay, this is interesting footage." I said as I watched the Whippet's parking lot footage. "Yeah, that looks like Velasquez opening the door of the van as the big man grabs the Asian from behind, puts a cloth to his face..."

Cindy said "Myron, put on the tape from inside the club." Myron did so. Joanne and Theo were also in Classroom 'E', watching with us. "This shows our guy Chen talking to several people. I don't see anyone spiking his drink or anything."

"Who is that Asian woman he's talking to?" I asked. "She looks like she's the queen bee of that group."

"Her real name is Tomoko Shimono. She was a Japanese exchange student at the University, then applied for U.S. citizenship." said Myron. "According to what Reynolds told Rudistan, they call her 'Asa Akira' behind her back, because she looks like the Asian porn star."

"Yes, she does." I said, getting a few looks. "What? So I know what a porn star looks like... my wife studies this stuff."

"Yeah, right." retorted Cindy, earning a disapproving glance from her immediate superior Officer.

"At any rate, Chen seems pretty smitten with her." I said. "I think she might should become a 'person of interest' that we should talk to in a professional way... our profession, not hers."

"What is her profession?" asked Joanne.

"The World's Oldest, I would imagine." said Theo.

I was already typing on my laptop, bringing up the information through the Federal portal. To my shock, the screen went red and the words "Access Denied. Top Secret: CENTURION. Eyes Only." appeared. I quickly disconnected and attempted to access her files through the State's portal. It came up blank.

I said "Whoa... says there's no information on her."

"Nothing?" Cindy asked.

"Nope, database empty. Completely off the grid." I said. "Well, that discourages me from thinking she's a professional sex worker."

"She should be coming up as a former foreign student." Cindy said, furiously typing on her own computer. "Wow... no visa status, nor pending citizenship status."

"It's a strangeness." I said, my feeling of foreboding increasing. "Add her to your APB list."

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

At 10:00am there was another meeting in Classroom 'E', with Captain Ross, Lt. Perlman, Detectives Nash, Washington, Parker and Cummings, Myron Milton, David Krueger, and me.

"Sir," said Joanne Cummings to start off, "I checked on the phone number that called to the Duty Desk about seeing the cars at Cemetery Hill. It was a pre-paid phone, purchased from Wal-Mart with cash."

"Maybe that means it's someone who wanted the Police to know, and to find the body." Theo asked.

"Maybe." I said. "What have you guys found out about Roy Chen?"

"Sir, he was virtually off the grid." said Joanne Cummings. "I couldn't come up with anything for him, so I asked Myron and David for help."

"We dug deep." Myron said. "I don't know why this was buried so deep, but he graduated from State U., which is the Commander's School's arch-rival. Chen then went to our State Tech for a Masters in Engineering."

"What kind of engineering?" I asked.

"Officially, Mechanical Engineering, which is State Tech's highest quality program." said Myron. "At State U. he was a double major in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Graduated with both degrees in four years."

"Great major, Chemistry." I said. "Heck, Chen might even have used that to become a Police Commander one day." Some of the people in the room laughed; others did not understand that I was Chemistry major myself.

"Is he an American citizen?" I asked.

"Far as I can tell." said Myron. "Has a U.S. passport, but I can't get any further records about it."

"So you had trouble finding that about his degrees, Myron?" I asked. "What else did you have trouble finding?"

"It really did get tougher, a lot tougher." Myron said. "Chen worked for a company called 'Energy Dynamics, LLC'. I got that from IRS tax records, as well as information that the LLC is a holding company for a company called 'Energy Dynamics Corp.'. But trying to find a location for 'Energy Dynamics Corp.' was brutally hard. It was David who found it for us."

"Ah, so desu ka?" I said, with some admiration in my voice.

"Hai!" replied David. "I reasoned that they were a research firm and realized that they might use a lot of energy, and so might set up near a power plant. The State's power company, StatePowerCorp, has two nuclear power plants, one on the River in the county southwest of Coltrane County, Farmdale County. The other nuke power plant is on the river that flows north into the City; the plant itself is south of Eastphalia. The other power plants in the State are natgas- or coal-fired."

"So Energy Dynamics is set up near the nuclear power plant." I said, already beginning to slip into a reverie.

David replied "But they're actually set up just across the county line, in Rivers County, which is north of Farmdale County and west of Coltrane County. Rivers County is 'the county between the rivers', the other river being the State Line. They're both extremely rural counties with mostly farms."

David continued: "I found out that Energy Dynamics has on-site living quarters and some amenities, and StatePowerCorp built some facilities for them and house their employees there. But most of the State employees commute to the suburbs northwest of Midtown, or live here in our County."

I said "If memory serves me correctly, a few employees live in Farmdale Village, the County Seat of Farmdale County. Tiny little town. Rivers County's county seat is Valley Villages, which they tried to make into a retirement community with golf, tennis, golf carts on the roads and such. Kind of like 'The Villages' in Florida. It's a great place, but it didn't grow all that much after it started up."

"So why was this so hard to find?" asked Theo Washington. "I mean... no disrespect to anyone here..."

David Krueger replied "Energy Dynamics is making a point to stay off the radars of public scrutiny. I found this by going through the StatePowerCorp's records, which are public, and finding the bills from 'Energy Dynamics, LLC.', which again is the holding company for this entity."

"And then I made a few 'discreet' inquiries." said Myron, which meant he hacked somebody. "What you'll really like, Commander, is that a good number of years ago they had several partnership contracts with Dynacorp, the company of the late Anthony Warner, which his son sold to BOW Enterprises."