Internal Affairs Ch. 15

Peter awoke with a terrible need to use the bathroom. There was absolutely no schedule in his life of late. I didn't help that he was unable to sleep through the night for some reason. It might have to do with two women in the bed with him moaning all night.

He had at least slept well the night before. He went to bed early and even Trish fell instantly asleep. Neither of them seemed to have missed their goodnight kisses.

They took turns in the bathroom that morning beginning with Peter. After his shower he dressed in very casual clothing. He wore very cheep work clothes from Walmart's house brand line.

After the shower he used the ten dollar electric hair trimmer on his hair and beard. When he had finished every visible hair on his body was the same length. He looked like an egg which had been dropped on a the floor of a house with a short haired dog.

He and Trish left the motel room with their luggage. He hoped he would have no need for the room at the end of that day. Since they only had one car the decision to work together had been easy. They could work together on the interviews, if they didn't step on each others toes. The first decision to make was where to start. Their first decision of the day was to decided, not to decide till after breakfast.

Since Trish was driving, she found a fast food joint for breakfast. From the drive thru window, her GPS directed them to a neighborhood park. The two of them sat in the park and ate breakfast inside the small car. The view was of a few mothers watching thier small kids play on the jungle gym.

"So which of the camera crew do we go for first?" Trish asked.

"Let's get Jerri first. She, Silvia and Ada Fine share a common alibi. Hers is going to be the least likely to have changed. That is if she was telling the truth and can remember it." Peter said.

"You know Miles was shot. so either of the women could have managed it. I'm sure there was conflict, since Miles wasn't likely unhappy with Jerri. After all, according to Louise, Miles knew that Jerri was the one who turned her on to women. Her uncle was mostly likely old school." Trish said.

"True, but that seems like a pretty weak motive," According to Peter.

"If she is a radical feminist, she wouldn't need much of a motive," Trish said.

"Well we can assess her probability, but my money is still on Silvia somehow," Peter repeated.

"Trish when we get to the house you make the introductions," Peter demanded.

"Sure boss," she said.

They rang the twist bell handle sticking out a hole in the door. That handle was attached to the bell hanging inside the door. It might have been more turn of the century than the forties, but it was old for sure.

"Good morning," Trish said to the plain looking woman dressed in a kind of smock over her dress who answered the door.

"Come in, we have been expecting you," The very modern looking woman holding the video camera said.

"I assume you are Jerri," Trish said. "I'm Trish and this is my associate Peter."

"Nice to meet you both," she said.

"We need you to concentrate, could you put that camera down please?" Peter asked from behind the thick rimmed glasses he wore. The glasses had been supplied by the DOJ equipment room. They were tinted just enough to distort the color and shape of his eyes. He also wore a hard rubber molar guard in his mouth which distorted the shape of his teeth and cheek bones. Both items were uncomfortable, so he hoped they could finish the interview with Jerri Quickly.

"Sure, so what do you need," Jerri asked aiming her question at Trish.

"How did you and Miles Adair get along?" Peter asked. He was trying to ruffle her feathers just a little.

"I had very little to do with Miles. I knew him of course and I filmed him a very few times when Eddie couldn't. Mostly Eddie did the out in the woods filming and I filmed the office work and the planning." Jerri said.

"We are going to see Eddie after we leave you," Peter said.

"How did you and Louise get along," Trish said.

Jerri looked at her a long time probably trying to decide what she knew. "Louise and I got along fine. So did Professor Fine and I."

"Did Miles get angry when he discovered you had seduced his niece?" Trish asked.

"Not at all," Jerri said. "I stayed with Louise several night, and he never said a word. You really don't think I killed him do you?" she asked.

"Right now everyone and no one is a suspect. You know it does seem strange that three people, who had close contact with the victim, all have the same alibi," Peter said.

"It might seem strange to you, but that's just what happens sometimes. As Freud once said, 'sometimes a turkey Sandwich is just a turkey sandwich." she said. "Sometimes it just happens."

"Not as often as you might think," Trish said.

"So, do you have any idea who might have wanted Miles dead?" Peter asked.

"I thought that they had about decided that it was a moonshiner or pot farmer," Jerri said.

"I don't think so, but it's possible. We are going to give it a few more days then call it a lost cause," Peter said. He stood abruptly then added, "Thanks for your help."

In the car Trish said, "So is she a suspect."

"Everyone is. On a scale of one to ten, she is about a three based on motive and alibi. Maybe we will have better luck with Eddie, but I doubt it. We are just covering all the bases."

"They are fully invested in the Moonshiners/pot grower theory," Trish said.

"It has an appeal on many levels. It is a better TV angle than mistaken identity. Of course no one wants it to be one of the crew. That would be really bad for business," Peter said.

"I guess. So where too," Trish asked.

"According to Silvia, Eddie is filming the removal of a tree. The star of Homefront is a landscape contractor," Peter said. When thy arrived on scene he added, "He doesn't use reel type mowers or hand saws I see. So he isn't all that authentic."

"Eddie," he said to the man holding the camera.

"Yes you must be Trish and Peter. Silvia said you were coming to talk about Miles." he suggested.

"Yes we are," Trish answered. "So what can you tell us. Did Miles seem to be worried about anything near the end?"

"No he seemed confident, but careful. He mentioned that there were strangers who might be dangerous. I was surprised when someone managed to get close enough to shoot him," Eddie said.

"Yes we are working on the theory that someone he knew pulled the trigger." Peter.

"Could be anyone," Eddie agreed.

"It's a good thing you were on the road when it happened. Since you were spending a lot of time with Miles. All retired cops think they know everything," Trish said. She was getting the feel for the interrogations.

"He was very knowledgeable about the gold mining. He also kept me in the loop, so I didn't have to drag shit out of him. He was one of the better people I have worked with," Eddie said.

"So who killed him?" Peter asked.

"Just some random moonshiner," Eddie said. "That's what I think. Miles always said that if we had trouble it would most likely be from moonshiners, pot farmers, or a pissed off land owner. Since he had paid the land owner for the mining rights, it seems likely to be one of the others," he said.

A few more questions and Peter gave up. Eddie knew very little it seemed. Since he was a video man he might be able to doctor his alibi file, but he just didn't seem to be hiding anything. Besides he thought Miles was still at his house. They were suppose to drive up together the next day, but Miles left early.

"So Silvia is the next one for us to interview," Trish said.

It was almost time for dinner when Peter and Trish arrived at the hotel room belonging to Silvia. She most likely realized how the interrogations were run. Being on her home field, even if it was a rental, made it much easier to refuse to cooperate.

The first thing Peter did was to move the interview to the coffee shop. It was empty enough inside the coffee shop so that they could sit alone far from the other customers.

"Now you have your coffee, can we get on with it," Silvia demanded.

"Did you kill Miles Adair?" he asked.

"Of course not," she said. She stopped just as soon as she answered. She obviously intended to volunteer nothing.

"So, do you know who did kill him," Peter asked.

"If I knew who killed Miles, I would tell you. I really did like him," Silvia. It also cost us a lot of money. We had to take a dead loss on all the cost of production. We managed to salvage the first shows but we won't have a second season. That's a big deal.

"Do you have any idea who we should look at?" Peter asked.

"Not a clue," Silvia said.

"Well, there is one thing I need to ask you about. I'm hoping we can solve the problem before I need to get the Police to look into it," Peter said.

"Are you threatening me?" Silvia asked.

"Yes," Peter said then shut up.

"What do you think you know?" Silvia asked.

Well I know for a fact that you drew 50k from the bank. You don't seem like a drug salesman, so I have to assume it was most likely to pay someone to kill Miles. It wasn't found because the timing was all wrong for the local police. Once I put them onto your finances it will all unravel," Peter said.

"You can't prove I had anything to do with Mile's death, because I didn't." Silvia said. She also opened her purse and showed him fifty k in cash. It was for a business investment that got canceled. I was going to produce the show's second season myself.

"Well, I'm going to have to let the DOJ or the local police figure out about the money. No cop likes that much cash in a handbag. They are going to turn your life upside down looking for that money. The reason they will do that is I am going to claim you are giving aid to a terrorist organizations."

"Do I have your word that if I tell you, you will keep it in confidence," Silvia asked.

"Of course," Peter said.

"Like you said Miles was a former cop. I asked him to pay a man to keep a secret. He did that and a few days later he was killed. The man he paid lived three hundred miles from where Miles lived. He also lived seven hundred miles from where Miles was killed. I don't see how he could have had anything to do with Miles' death," Silvia said.

"Write down where I can find him. I don't need to know what you were paying him to keep quiet, just tell me where to find him. I will try to interview him and if it checks out, you have seen the end of me." Peter said.

"Then I'm sure I won't be seeing you again," Silvia said.

"Did you know Jerri and Louise were sleeping together. She seduced Louise," Trish said.

"That has nothing to do with me," Silvia said.

"Unless you planned to use her as a way to add drama to the show. Louise told me that you guys were all about the drama." Trish added.

"What has that got to do with Miles' death?" Silvia asked.

"Truth is you just never know," Peter said. He had no idea what difference it made, but he was not going to allow her to intimidate Trish either.

Trish was back behind the wheel of the Lincoln when she said, "I think she is lying."

"Hell they are probably all lying. This trip was all about gathering information. What we do with it once we analyze it, is where the art comes in," Peter said.

"I have a feeling that you aren't kidding. You have a feel for this shit don't you?" Trish asked.

"Well I have some unique incidents in my back ground that makes it possible to weigh all the possibilities," Peter said.

Two hours into the drive home they stopped at an economy motel. The owner seemed to be Persian. The motel itself seemed to be more upscale than the mom and pop version of a middle eastern motel. The lobby didn't smell of exotic food for one thing, thank god.

Peter and Trish finally made love that night. Since the mission was accomplished, Peter wasn't nearly as wound up. Relaxing was the secret to making love, at least it was for Peter.

The next morning they took turns in the bathroom. With Trish it took over an hour just to get her in and out of the bathroom. Since the interviews were over, they were in no hurry to get out the door of the motel and on the road.

On the way back to the highway they almost passed a Waffle House. Instead of driving by it Trish did an abrupt turn into the parking lot. Peter found the food adequate, Trish on the other hand ate like a lumberjack. She usually did he active sex mused.

"At least you have a good appetite," Peter commented.

"I like breakfast, after sex," she said.

"I'll bet you love the Sunday brunch in those fancy places in your usual world," Peter said.

"What do you mean by that?" Trish asked.

"Go into any breakfast restaurant, especially high end ones, on a Sunday morning. You well find several couples where either the man or the woman is in jeans. The other half of the couple will be in his or her fancy date outfit. " Peter said with a laugh.

"Ah I see. I will have to remember to carry a pair of jeans and sweat shirt when I go out henceforth." Trish said very seriously. "So now do we go home?"

Trish often changed subjects abruptly. The new subject never failed to catch Peter off guard.

Well it's either that or we push on to the south-land again. The murder site is two hundred miles closer than the university was. Unfortunately both are almost a thousand miles from Michigan," Peter said. "We can go home and rest up and help Iva with the work for a while. We can also make better plans after I have digested this latest stuff. There is almost certainly something I'm Missing," Peter said.

"Something we are missing, I'm a full partner," Trish said angrily.

"What has got your cage all shaky?" Peter asked.

"Oh, Just the blank future after all this time. For some reason nobody wants to hire me," she complained.

"I certainly can't understand that," Peter said looking out the window. "You do know your people skills need work."

"I know but I'm just not good at that kind of thing," she said. They began their drive for home late that morning. The two of them spent one more night in a trucker's motel along the interstate highway.

Peter held her all night the night. She didn't give up a thing, but he knew she was hurting. She cried but it was very ladylike. Tears leaked from her eyes but she remained calm.

Since Peter's plans for the investigation's future were very fluid, he allowed himself to over sleep. The two of them left the motel around 10am. They had coffee in their room from the brewery machine supplied with the room. It made one cup of coffee at a time, so it was a time consuming process for Peter.

"This coffee in this wasn't bad just a lot of trouble," Peter said to no one at all.

"This from the man whose coffee ritual is more labor intensive than the whole gold digger operation was," Trish said.

"True, but I make several cups of coffee at a time. This is the whole thing for one single cup of coffee," Peter explained to her.

"Yes but each cup is fresh," Trish said defending her position.

"How stale can your coffee get in ten minutes," Peter said.

"We should decide to disagree before world war three breaks out," Trish said in her dead voice. Even that harmless comment was out of character for her.

"Fair enough we have a long drive home, so let's get to it," Peter suggested. The drive wasn't all that long at all for a trucker, but it was for them.

They drove most of the day to arrive in Detroit in time to advise Iva in person that they would be returning to the office the next day. They also really wanted to see Helen.

"So did you miss us?" Peter asked Helen.

"Let's see. I had time to clean my house, So not really. You have only been gone a couple of days. Now I might have gotten horny, if you had been gone longer," she said with a smile.

"Do you want to go out for dinner or should we bring something over?" Peter asked.

"Let's eat take out," Trish suggested while standing in front of Helen's desk. She looked like a kid called into the principals office.

"Find something other then pizza and you have a deal," Helen agreed.

"I need to go by the apartment to be sure it hasn't been broken into or anything," Peter said.

"Then you two do your little thing, whatever that is, then come be a geek bearing gifts. I will throw the junk in the corner to make room for our feast. You Peter Sims can play with your computer and plot after dinner. Trish and I will find some way to amuse ourselves," Helen said smiling at Trish.

"Have I just been told to sleep alone tonight?" Peter asked with a smile.

"Not at all, just to allow us some girl time," Helen explained.

"We need some structure once this case is finished," Trish said.

"What kind of structure, like a schedule?" Helen asked.

"Yeah, am I allowed to be here on odd days of the month," Peter asked with a laugh.

"Nothing like that, I just think we don't need three separate apartments," Trish said."

"Trish you don't even have one apartment," Helen said.

"Well I want one now," Trish said. "I passed the bar, I'm sure I will get a job soon. In the meantime I have a little trust fund income. I would pay my share of the expenses. I just think we should all move in together. We can get our itches scratch safely."

"Well it would solve that awkward first date thing," Helen said. "I don't know about Peter?"

"Yeah what about Peter. What's in it for me." Peter asked.

"Clean clothes, hot food, and hot and cold running sex, what more could any man ask for?" Trish commented.

"Well, I have to admit it sounds good. It's not like I'm giving up my dream apartment or anything," Peter said. The truth was that it was a small upgrade. The downside was he would be expected to fix the dripping sinks and her house badly needed painting. He would also likely need an automobile to get around. For him it would be a lot of trouble for sure initially, but it did have the washer and dryer. The move also had the hot meal thing going for it. Peter decided to leave it to Helen, he would just go along.

Helen said, "The problem is that there is only one full bath."

"If we are all going out to dinner at the same time, that could be a problem," Peter said reasonably.

"There is that half bath in your bedroom," Trish said to Helen. "So there won't be any accidents."

"You are persistent, but if we do this we are going to need rules," Helen said.

"My god do you intent to have a no shoes in the house rule. If you do it's deal breaker," Peter said.

"No but one rule is you keep your shit in your own space. You also must clean up after yourself," Helen informed Peter sternly.

"Oh I see," he agreed. "So what do you think?"

"I don't know it will probably work," Helen said. "But you two get this straight I'm your lover, not your mother."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Trish said.

"So sit down and figure what it's going to take to make this work money wise," Peter demanded.

"I can tell you right now the fixed expenses run just under $1,500," Helen said.

"Part of the appeal was home cooked meals," Peter said.

"It might have been home cooked meals, but there was nothing about me being the one who cooks them. You can use my kitchen, if you want. But only if you clean up after yourselves," Helen said.

"Why are you being such a hard ass Helen?" Trish asked.

"Because I have raised two kids and now I'm free. I am willing to have you two as roommates, but like I said I'm not going to be your mother."

"Works for me," Peter said.

After a week Peter enjoyed everything about his new living situation. That only thing he didn't like was giving up the apartment. He had a feeling that he would be regretting it. He might even have kept it except that the women talked about a lack of commitment as if that were a bad thing.

The three of them lived and worked together for several weeks mostly because he couldn't seem to catch a break at work. The volume of new cases was just awful. Since he didn't have a clue where to go next on the gold digger murder, he just kind of drifted along until deep in February.