The Line

"No, I guess not, but this is definitely not standard. Are you really sure that you want to do it this way?"

"Yes, in fact I will all but insist on it. I have been misquoted by various people over the years and like to have a record of what was said. Memory is such a strange thing, isn't it"

"Yeah, well ... O.K. Let's start."

The officer didn't even seem to notice that the camera picked up both him and me as well as one of those nice "Atomic" clocks that are updated by NIST's (National Institute of Science and Technology) real atomic clock in Fort Collins, Colorado.

"Luke, how come you weren't playing the game with your brother and sisters?"

"I didn't feel up to it tonight. I was feeling a bit down, since I have two friends in the hospital intensive care unit. I decided to try to forget it for a bit and get a drink at a local bar."

"What bar?"

"Kelly's on Park street."

"O.K. go on."

"I ordered a rusty nail and sat there drinking it when a pretty girl came over and started talking with me. She seemed like a nice girl so I was happy to buy her a drink, and talk to her. The conversation got very friendly and she suggested that maybe we could take a walk in the park. I agreed, paid the bartender for our drinks and we walked to the park. She really was very friendly."

"About what time was this?"

"Maybe an hour to 70 minutes before I called you. It took you about twenty minutes to get here so I'd have to guess that it was about ninety minutes ago. I'm not sure but.... Wait, I paid for our drinks with my credit card that transaction will be recorded on their computer and on the receipt. Let me find it." I rummaged around in my pocket, pulling out a mixed mess of papers, money, and my car keys. I knew right were it was, but went through the process of going through some of the papers. It was right there. I handed the slip to the officer.

"It looks like you paid for the drinks about 88 minutes ago. Can you give me the girl's name?"

"She said her name was Nancy Gilbert, or Galberth, or something like that. I can't be sure."

"What did she look like?"

"Let me see, she was about two inches shorter than me so that would make her about five foot three inches or so. She was a brunette with pretty eyes, but I can't remember the color of them. She wasn't overweight but wasn't scrawny either. I can't be sure about her weight."

"What happened then?"

"We entered the park on the corner entrance nearest Kelly's bar. Where the path splits we took the left fork. We weren't in a hurry. We were just enjoying being together. We'd been walking for about four minutes when there was the noise of someone coming up behind us. Having had two friends attacked and put in the hospital I feared the worst. I told Nancy to run for it, thinking I could buy her some time to get away. Boy, was I wrong, it wasn't one person it was several. How many I'm not sure. I sort of think I recognized the voice of the leader, but I can't be at all sure because I was shaking in my shoes. When I heard the leader say something like 'get him' I'm afraid that I turned and ran. As I started to run I could hear what sounded like a large dog, or something, come out of the bushes and go after one of them and that just made me run faster. I ran to where I parked my car, got in and drove here as fast as I safely could. I was shaking so badly I wasn't sure I could keep it on the road.

"Why didn't you park your car in Kelly's parking lot?"

"For a couple of reasons. One; it's sort of habit. I enjoy running and walking, so when I go someplace where I won't need to carry anything back to the car I try to park it so that I can stretch my legs a bit. The second reason is that my car, even if it's old, is a tool that I need to depend on. I didn't want to park it where some drunk might damage it.

When I got here my brother gave me a large glass of brandy to help settle my nerves. Then he reminded me that I needed to report what had happened. That's when I called 911."

"Have the rest of you been here all evening?"

"Yes, officer."

"Is there any way to verify that?"

Pete responded, "I think so, the pizza was delivered at about five thirty. We had started playing just about at the time the delivery was made. None of us have been out since then. You can check that if you want. Our cars are in the driveway. We've been having light showers here and you will find that there should be some dry areas under our cars and the engines are cold. The only car that has run is Luke's." Beside that, do you have any idea how long it takes to get this far along in a game of Risk? We have only half a pizza left and there were only three of us to eat it. I don't know about you, but I can't eat half a pizza by myself in a short period of time."

"O.K., When your brother, Luke, got here how did he seem?"

"He was badly shaken. In fact I can't remember seeing him this shaken before. He is normally an excellent driver, but he even scraped my mailbox on the way into the driveway. Only now, after a good stiff drink, has he stopped shaking. As a side question, why are you concerned about where we have been? It's Luke who was attacked."

"I'm afraid that there is more to it than that. We also got a call from the hospital's emergency room with reports of a serious attack on a group of people in the park at about the same time you say people were after you. Several of those people are being kept in the hospital and they all say that Luke is the one who hurt them."

My brother, Pete, jumped into the conversation, "You're joking, right? Did I hear you say that several people all claim that Luke attacked them? Even if Luke were a violent person, which he definitely is not, he couldn't take on a group. It could make sense only if they were all four feet tall and weak but if they weren't how could one five foot five inch person go after a group? This has got to be some sort of a sick joke. What kind of weapon did they say they were attacked with?"

"It's no joke! But, here is where it gets very strange. They claim that he sliced them with some kind of edged weapon. The EMTs were quite steadfast in their claim that the wounds were from a large animal not a weapon. The wounds all started out with a puncture followed by a ripping action. There were no smooth sharp edges according to the emergency people. To sort this out, we would like to get the clothes and shoes you are wearing Luke. That much blood can't be shed without getting it on whoever did it. We would also like to take your car to look for trace evidence of blood."

"Hey, Pete, can I borrow some clothes and shoes and can you give me a ride back to school tomorrow morning? I'm not legal to drive now and really want company tonight."

"Sure Luke. I'll get you some clothes and slippers so they can have the shoes as well. Is that acceptable to you, officer?"

"Yes, I suppose it is. Luke, are you willingly allowing us to take the clothes and car for investigation?"

"Yes, if it will help to clear this up. I'll have you sign a receipt for the car and clothes and allow you to investigate them for the next few days; however by the beginning of next week I will need the car back. Pete, can you draft a quick release for me?"

"Sure thing Luke. I don't have my notary seal or boiler plate forms here but I can give you a legally binding conditional hand written release in about ten minutes."

The detective, Mark Fabrizzio, suddenly seemed to take a renewed interest, "Pete, are you a notary?"

"Yes, as an attorney I've found it useful to be able to notarize papers that need to be signed by clients."

"I don't remember hearing your name before."

"That's probably because I do my work over in Smithton. Most of my work is civil. I did some criminal work at first, but I didn't like it. Too often I found myself successfully defending people I later learned were truly guilty. I won't do that again!"

During this conversation I had gone into the other room to change. Upon returning I said, "Here are the clothes, underwear and shoes and car key, officer. Be careful with the old car, it's all the transportation I have until I graduate and get a job."

"Thank you Luke. I imagine anyone who was involved in as viscous a fight, as seemed to have happened in the park, would have picked up scrapes and bruises. Would you mind taking off your shirt and rolling up your pants so that I can see if you have recent bruises, scrapes, or cuts?"

"No problem Mark, but I'll simply strip down to undershorts. These folks are, after all, my brother and sisters." Having said that I stripped down to my shorts and turned slowly around for the detective to get a good look.

"I sure don't see any signs of bruising. You are obviously in very good shape. What kind of exercise do you do to keep so fit?"

"I run a lot and enjoy calisthenics. I find it to be a nice way to get the cobwebs out of my mind when I have been studying too intensely. I suspect the fact that I'm a good runner is what kept me from getting badly hurt tonight. Do you have any other questions for us?"

"No, I don't think so; however, I would appreciate it if you would not go any further from your dorm than you are right now, until we have the investigation wrapped up. Here is my business card. If you remember any other details please phone me."

"Detective, as a side thought, is it possible that the people who were after me attacked my friends who are in the hospital? Is someone looking at that possibility? Have Mary Wright and Jeff Smith, my friends in the hospital, gotten well enough to provide statements yet? Maybe the attack on them, the attempted attack on me, and the attack on these other people are somehow related."

"We have someone working on that. We will be in touch."

Pete got up and escorted the detective and the sheriff's deputy to the door. When he returned I motioned to them to be still. Going to my overnight bag, which was stashed under the bed I was going to use, I retrieved a field strength meter, a.k.a. an r.f. sniffer. I turned it on and compared the levels to those I had recorded earlier in the evening. I then started to talk about various trivia while taking the readings again. It appeared that no r.f. "bugs", and no voice activated r.f. bugs, had been left behind. Next I took a multimeter and went to the phone. I checked to make sure that the line potential was still at 48V and that the phone was drawing the same current that it had earlier that day, when it was taken off hook. I informed my siblings "I don't see any sign of "bugs". Of course I'd need readings from a time domain reflectometer to be sure, but my bet is that the line is clear. It was a long shot that they could have gotten a court order to allow one in this short a time; but I would rather be safe than sorry!"

* * * * * *

On the way back to town the two lawmen were in conversation.

"Mark, how are you going to reconcile the story that the guys at the hospital are telling and what we just saw and heard?"

"I don't know Jack. I know that park. I was there to look over the spot those other kids were jumped and the light there is minimal. In the dark, without a flashlight, I couldn't identify anyone by sight. There are several other things that I find bothersome. According to the kids who went into the hospital tonight the attack took place so fast that they couldn't keep track of the attacker, or attackers. From what I have heard of their injuries I don't see how one person could do what was done. I also don't see what weapon could be used that would create the kind of wounds that have been reported."

"Mark, you know that I checked the car hoods before we went up to the house to see if they had been run. The only car that was run is Luke's. I'm not normally a betting man, but I would be willing to wager that we will find no trace of blood in the car or on the kid's clothes. There is another thing. I know, by reputation, some of the kids who are reported to be at the hospital. They are a rough group and would have much longer rap sheets if they didn't have family members who have a lot of "pull" with the city government.. Based just upon their reputation, I would have no trouble believing that they were the instigators of whatever happened. But, I can't think of any way to make the evidence we see in front of us make any sense at all."

"Yeah, I'm in the same boat. Let's hold off any judgment until the forensic team gets to look over that car and those clothes."

*

The manila envelope landed on Mark Fabrizzio's desk at about 10 a.m. the following morning. There were three preliminary finding sheets and about a dozen 8x10 photographs enclosed. The photographs showed some of the kid's wounds. It didn't take an expert to recognize that the wounds shown were the results of a large animal attack. Some of the claw wounds were two inches deep, according to the notes on the back of the photos. The doctor made special care to include a copy of the X-ray of the wrist clipped to a photograph of the wrist of one of the wounded. It showed one, and only one, bite mark on the wrist but the internal damage showed that most of the small bones in the wrist had been fractured and the end of both the ulna and radius were both badly splintered. The doctor had noted that he had never seen this much damage from a bite. To Mark, it was obvious that no college kid did this. Mark then turned to the preliminary forensic reports. The first one he looked at came from the forensic medical examiner's examination of the wounds inflicted on the men who were admitted to the hospital the previous evening. The contents were unsettling. It contained words like "...the spacing of bite marks is far too wide for any known dog breed except English Mastiff...", "....the lacerations are characteristic of a large animal attack...", and "...the force exerted on the damaged joints that have been reviewed so far exceed those caused even by the average trained martial arts students...". These facts seemed to rule out the sworn statements of the injured men and that of the girl , Nancy Gilbert.

The second sheet from the envelope was just about as confusing as the first. According to the forensics team the use of luminol on the clothes that belonged to that kid, Luke, showed no signs of blood. The clothes were also reviewed to make sure that they had been recently worn. What was found consisted of normal daily dirt and dust, a few hairs and sweat deposits. Again, it would have been impossible for someone to have caused the damage that had been done without picking up some blood.

The third sheet from the envelope was the initial forensics report on the car. There were two major conclusions. One, there were no traces of blood in the car. Two, it was obvious that the car hadn't been cleaned in a while.

Detective Fabrizzio decided to wander into Detective Jim Wood's office. "Hey Jim, you're handling the attacks on Mary Wright and Jeff Smith, aren't you?"

"Yeah, do you have something new for me?"

"No, but I wanted to know if you had looked at the possibility that there was some sort of linkage between last night's attacks and those on Wright and Smith."

"I've been thinking about that all morning, Mark. The only connection I've been able to think of, I can't prove. Knowing some of the kids who ended up in the emergency room, last night, I would suspect that they would be perfect suspects for the beatings of Wright and Smith. Unfortunately, Wright has been unable to definitely identify who beat her. Smith is now out of his coma, but the docs are still unsure if he will be mentally o.k. after the beating he took. At this time his memory is very poor."

"I'm at a loss on how to get a firm identification of the attackers. It would make sense to me that the kids brought into the emergency room last night were the aggressors, but they all are telling the same story. What they haven't been able to tell me is why eleven guys were wandering around the park carrying baseball bats at that time. It was too dark for baseball and they had no ball or gloves. Obviously that had other uses in mind for those bats! The bartender has, reluctantly, given us a statement that they left the bar as a group. The bartender told me that he is concerned for his safety. He says that anyone who crosses any of the guys in that group, gets hurt. He doesn't want trouble, but he is very concerned about the things going on in the park. The park is awfully close to his bar and he doesn't want to loose customers because of a group of thugs.. Tell me about the kid who phoned about the attempted mugging."

"This is going to be a strange one Jim. I've checked with the school and found out that this kid is really something. He is taking some of the hardest courses the school has to offer, and is running a 3.95 average. His teachers say he is polite and has never shown aggressive tendencies. He is considered to be considerate and honest. Neither his car nor clothes show any signs of blood and, except for the girl who led him to the park, we can't identify anyone who might have been with him in the park last night.

His story checks out with the bartender. The girl he was with admitted that he did tell her to run to safety when it was obvious that others were tailing them. He high tailed it to his brother's house, he says for safety, after the attempted attack on him. I can't fault him for that; however, the alibi presented by his brother and sisters seems almost too perfect. Of course, the fact that his brother is an attorney may be responsible for his answering so clearly and completely. When was the last time you knew of someone demanding a signed receipt for a car and clothes that we needed to check in the forensics lab? The other funny thing is that when I asked to tape the interview, he said that he would also tape it. His brother supplied a video camera and it ran during the interview. It wasn't until we were ready to leave that I noticed that there was one of those large faced "atomic clocks" behind us with both time and date showing on it. That tape, if kept by the brother, is first class evidence. Oh, before I forget it, here are the photos of the damage to the kids who showed up in the emergency room last night. It is obvious that the wounds are not the result of an attack by a human. There are very few animals capable of inflicting such wounds and most of them don't live anywhere near here."

"Mark, what did you say the lawyer's name was?"

"Pete Slovenski, why?

"Man!, I've heard about him. According to my brother, who's a cop in Smithton, that guy is as sharp as tacks and as honest as anyone he's ever met. The police, over there, have a lot of respect for him. You know, he stopped practicing criminal law after he found out that he had successfully defended a guy against a charge of murder and then later found out that the guy was really guilty. He said he would never again defend criminals for fear of getting a guilty one off the hook. I've heard tell that when he graduated from law school that the U.S.Justice Department, the state attorney general's office and half a dozen large corporations wanted him to join them. He turned them all down and settled for a small private practice. He's not into the law to make money, and that is very unusual."

"Yeah, that must be him. I'm now stuck with eleven people, that I don't think I can trust to tell me the time of day, saying one thing; and, Luke, one individual that I really want to believe, saying the other. To add to the complication, the forensic evidence seems to say that Luke is telling the truth. The baseball bats all had the fingerprints of one of the gang on them. But, if Luke is telling the truth and the forensic evidence is correct we may have a very dangerous animal on the prowl. But that doesn't make any sense either. We haven't received any reports of livestock or pets being mauled by some beast. I need to think this one over. It promises to be a real puzzler."