The Murdered Football Player Ch. 01

Everyone nodded agreement.

"So, Strait," I said. "What happened to the clothes in the ditch from this morning?"

"The Sheriff bagged them and put them in the trunk of the car." Strait said.

"Did he take the evidence into the station?" I asked.

"Uh..." Strait said.

"No." said one of the other deputies. "When we got back he started barking orders for us to do things. I forgot about the clothes, but now that you mention it, so did he. He never came back and got the clothes, either." The other deputies all agreed.

"So, let's open the trunk and see if the clothes are still there." I said. "Where are the keys?"

"Uh, if they're not in the car with the sheriff..." Strait said. The keys were not in the ignition nor in the dead Sheriff's hand or pocket.

"Well, if you guys don't mind," I said, "I'll just try this key." I quickly and deftly snapped open the trunk of the car with my crowbar.

The bag was there, but it was empty. The clothes were gone. Unprintable curses flooded through my mind, though I remained outwardly silent.

"Okay, Strait." I said. "There's not much more here for me to look at."

"Thanks for coming, in spite of this morning." said Strait.

"Well... hopefully our counties won't have issues like that again." I said. "See if you can find those clothes, and let me know if you do."

Just then my cellphone rang. It was Detective Martin Nash. "We've got a positive ID on the guy." he reported.

I did not speak the entire drive back to Town. Hugh drove and Cindy sat in the backseat while I rode shotgun, totally lost in deep thought. Once at the Station and alone in the parking lot, I got on my cellphone to Tanya Perlman.

"Tanya, have Christina Cho do her magic and take triple samples of all evidence, especially for toxicology." I said. "Send one set to the University's Crime Lab immediately for confirmation workup. Classify and secure the third set-- stop asking why, I'll tell you later..."

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I entered the Chief's conference room just as Nash was telling the Chief and Captain Harold Malone the details.

"The guy's name is Jeff Jackson." Nash said. "He's--"

"Is that Jefferson Davis Jackson?" Captain Malone asked, interrupting.

"Yes sir, that's his full name." said Nash. Malone groaned.

"Jesus... I know his parents very well." Malone said, shaking his head sadly. "Chief, I'll call them myself and tell them."

"Sure thing." said the Chief. "Nash, tell me about him."

"Football player, 20 years old, redshirt Sophomore but the starting tight end for the team." Nash said.

"How was he identified?" asked the Chief.

"Didn't take fifteen minutes for students on campus to recognize him, then the Campus Police ran the name through the DMV." Nash said. "Definitely our guy."

"Good work, and give the Campus Police our thanks." the Chief said. "Malone, go call the parents, they'll have to identify the body at the morgue." Captain Malone left, his mood somber.

"So, Crowbar," the Chief said, "what did you find out about the dead Coltrane County sheriff?"

"He was injected with a drug, poisoned." I said. "Deputy Strait said he's calling in the SBI; this case is too much for him and his people. Strait appears to be honest, though too young and woefully inexperienced."

The Chief nodded. "Any thoughts? Motive? Was that murder related to our dead student?"

I looked the Chief hard in the eyes. "Yes sir, I believe it's related. The victim's-- the student's clothes are missing. I think someone killed the Sheriff to get the clothes out of his car. And Chief, they left the evidence bag while taking the clothes. That was an intentional message, perhaps for me."

"I'll take your word for that, but only you would notice and see it that way. But why would someone want to take the clothes at all?"

"Cleanup. I can tell you this, Chief: This is not some simple death from drinking too much at a party..."

Part 5 - More Obstacle Courses

At 9:00pm the meeting in the main conference room was convened. Captain Malone, myself, Britt Maxwell, Martin Nash, Diana Torres, Tanya Perlman and Cindy Ross were "invited", meaning expected, to attend by the Chief.

"Jeff's parents will be here tomorrow morning." Captain Malone said. "They did not take it well. Lieutenant, I want you to personally conduct their interview. And show them a lot of respect."

"Will do." I said, still in thought.

"Perlman?" the Chief said brusquely.

"Early toxicology shows that he had consumed some alcohol but was not even legally drunk. There are some medications in his system, including Viagra, but nothing illegal so far. Right now this could be anything from some kind of natural causes, such as a heart attack, or some drug reaction to medication. We just don't know enough yet."

"That's good work so far, Perlman." the Chief said. "Captain Maxwell, what did you get?"

"I interviewed all of the coaching staff." she said. "They said that there were no football team functions scheduled last night, no formal events, no sanctioned parties, no parties that they knew about. There's no curfew on the team this weekend and there wasn't one last night; in that, they're pretty much free to act like any other students on campus. They also all said that they knew of no one who might want to harm Jackson when I asked them, and they were surprised by that question and the idea that it might even be murder. Word has gotten around that he wasn't violently killed."

"Interesting." I said. "Tanya, once we get more info, look to see if he had some medical condition. The coaches might have known something but hid it so that the kid could play football. And please don't anyone tell Angela Harlan what I just said about her cousin. I'm not accusing anyone of anything just yet."

Tanya nodded and made notes as Britt Maxwell continued: "Speaking of Coach Harlan, he said he'd ask the team if anyone was with Jackson last night, and have them get in touch with me if they could shed any light on the situation. But that was as far as it went. He was reticent to go any further, and when I asked if I could address a team meeting, he got vague and made no promises."

"Crowbar, fill everyone in on what happened in Buford today." the Chief said. I did so.

"I don't mean this as a reproach." said Captain Malone, meaning it as a reproach, "but would those clothes have been found by the Coltrane County sheriff if you and Cpt. Maxwell had not gone onto their side this morning?"

"Yes, they would have been found." I said. "I think we were actually just in time to see the clothes. I suspect the Sheriff was called in by someone to go secure that scene... and that he was expecting to find the body as well as the clothes. The body was dumped there, I saw the indentation where it impacted. Then someone moved the body, but not the clothes, into our County and made enough noise and light that Mr. Coburn saw them."

"For me," Martin Nash said, "the question now is 'Where was the crime committed, in other words, where did he die?' If we could find a crime scene, it may go a long way to answering our questions."

"Coltrane County." I said, very sure. "It happened in Coltrane County."

"How can you tell that?" Cindy Ross asked, ever my foil and challenging me.

"Tire tracks." I said. "One set came up the dirt road into our county. They did not return. Multiple cars had come up to where the body was dumped with the clothes in Coltrane County. Most went back in the direction from which they came. One set of tire tracks went north, and there was no return set of tracks nor second set of tracks.

"Ergo, I think one car came north after picking up the body from the ditch in Coltrane County, drove over the county line, dumped the body, then drove east on County Road 2 and hooked up with a main road somewhere. The only other alternative would be that someone drove a long way south, or a long way east and south, to get to a point where they could circle back north. Now why the hell would they do that? So I surmise that the crime happened south of the two crime scenes."

"Damn, you're good." Britt Maxwell murmured.

"Could it have been drunk, scared kids riding around, not knowing what to do?" asked Captain Malone.

"Captain, I have reason to believe that this is not just some group of drunk, partying kids, at least not as far as dumping the body. This was the work of some cool and desperate people, and people that have someone else cleaning up behind them."

"How can you tell that?" asked Martin Nash.

"The death of the Coltrane County Sheriff shows us that." I said. "Let's look at it this way, without going into the weeds on 'whys' and 'wherefores': this kid is with a group of people and dies. They're panicking, not knowing what to do. They decide to dump his body in a ditch on a dirt farm road, then return the way they came That is just panic action, so far."

"Along comes a second group in one car, and we can surmise there's at least two persons since they moved a heavy body, and they move the body north into our county. That requires logical thought and intent, with some purpose behind it."

"Then the Coltrane County Sheriff is killed, and the clothes are removed from the evidence bag, which is left behind while the clothes were taken. Obviously that is well thought out. Same group of people? Maybe, but I'm inclined to believe the cleanup is being done by someone who is experienced and good at cleaning up messes." I said no more, even though a certain name was glaring in my brain like a neon sign.

"Okay, guys," the Chief said. "Now it's time for me to tell you the bad news. As soon as the news came out that this kid was a football player, my telephone exploded like a nuclear bomb. My hand is sore from having to hold that telephone receiver all frickin' day long. One call was from State Senator Nathan Allen, who is a total asshole, saying he got a call from the Coltrane County Sheriff as well as the State Senator for Buford and Coltrane County, both complaining about our guys. When I suggested he re-check with that sheriff-- as that sheriff had just been found dead-- the State Senator dropped the phone and I haven't heard from him since.

"Still, this thing is going to get very political, very quickly. Perlman, I know how driven you are and that you do this anyway, but I need you to work your team's asses off overnight to get as much data as you can before even more calls start coming into me tomorrow morning."

"Yes sir." Tanya said. "We're on it already."

"Okay, if that's it--" the Chief said, starting to get up.

"Sir..." Diana Torres said, then faltered before gathering her courage. "I... I know I'm a new Detective, but... why would someone dump a body, then move it and dump it again like that?"

"Detective Torres," the Chief said, smiling benignly, "that is why you are in this meeting: to get experience like this. Crowbar, I've been around a lot longer than Miss Torres and I'd love to hear an explanation for that, also."

"I only have one guess." I said. "And that is all it is, a pure guess: I think the first group of people that dumped the body, and the clothes, made sure they didn't cross the county line. But then someone else came along and moved the body but not the clothes, and that was on purpose: I think they did so because they wanted the body found in our County, which is the official crime scene, but left the clothes in Coltrane County to show us the body had been there first."

"And that means that someone wanted us, the Town & County Police, to be the ones with jurisdiction and working on this case, while some wanted anything but that. And that's yet another reason I agree with the Chief that this thing is gonna get political and just a little bit ugly before all is said and done."

"By which time more will have been said than done." said the Chief, one of his favorite quips. "Crowbar, your guesses are as good as most people's facts; I think you're spot-on about that reasoning.


The Chief continued: "Ladies and gentlemen, you never cease to amaze me with the great work you do. Go home and get some sleep. See you at six o'clock tomorrow morning."

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"So, Angela, what are the Police saying about my player's death?" Brian Harlan asked his cousin as he poured some wine into her glass.


"They don't have much data yet." Detective Angela Harlan replied. "They're waiting for the autopsy and toxicology report. They had me working on a drug case with Teresa Cunt... that's her nickname behind her back, she's bitchy but a good detective.

"Speaking of good detectives, what about that Lieutenant... Donald--" Coach Harlan asked, perhaps a bit too incisively.

"I've been here less than a month," Angela said, "and I can tell you right now that he is far and away the best detective I have ever seen. Every time he looks at me, I feel like he can see right through me, that he knows every secret I've ever had."

"So you think he'll get to the bottom of Jeff's death?" Harlan said.

"Oh yeah." Angela said, excitement rising in her voice. "Hugh was telling me that Don just looked at that dead sheriff for one minute and had figured out what very likely happened, and found where that sheriff had been injected with a tiny little syringe. And Martin was telling me that Don already has figured out that the body was dumped in one place, then moved and dumped in another."

"Wow." Harlan said, trying to think as he considered the situation. "And he has jurisdiction in the case? How does that work, especially if there was something happening in the other county?"

"Jeff's body was found in our County." Angela said. "Our police chief has jurisdiction. He could call in the SBI to assist, turn the case over to them, or let us, his detectives, handle it. He is most likely going to let Don and Martin handle it; the SBI may be a good organization in other parts of the State, but up here they are pathetic."

"Don't worry, Cousin." Angela said, her husky voice sounding sexy and seductive. "I'm sure that if anything comes up to cause you a problem, something else will come along... to distract us..." She raised her glass of wine as if making a toast.

Harlan peered at his cousin but was unable to fathom her. "I hope you're right... I hope you're right." was all he was able to say.

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"Were you good for Mommy today? Did you behave for your mommy?" I asked my daughter as I held her and fed her the bottle. I tried to talk in my regular voice instead of a falsetto baby-talk voice so that Carole would learn my voice better. Her eyes were looking up at me as she consumed the contents of the bottle, but I don't know if she was old enough to really see me very well.

"She was a very good girl today." Laura said as handed me a cloth for burping Carole, then prepared for bed. She was wearing a shimmering light blue teddy, no panties, and still wearing her high heel navy blue slides with thin straps, a clear signal that she wanted to be fucked tonight. And I was more than ready to service her.

We were in the main bedroom of The Cabin. I was sitting in the rocking chair in the back corner of the room, next to the crib. I watched my wife prancing around as I put the cloth on my shoulder and burped Carole. She was a good girl and did not spit up very much. I wiped her mouth with the cloth as she began moving her arms and legs around.

"Okay Carole, it's time for bed." I said, holding her a moment before getting up to put her in her crib. I thought that I was seeing something of a smile on her little face, though that may have been wishful thinking. I noticed as I lay her down on her back in the crib that she was beginning to grow hair on her once-bald head; she was going to be a raven-haired brunette like her mama.

"We need to talk about getting a baby-sitting maid." Laura said. "She can stay with Carole at your mother's house during the day, and help your mom with housework and stuff like that, and also stay in the crib room behind my office while I'm working."

"Sounds good to me." I said as I undressed. "But you don't want her staying here?"

"I had the impression that you didn't want too many other people up here." Laura said.

"Well, it'd probably be okay." I said. "And we can't impose upon my mom too much, no matter how much she says she wants to babysit and have us over there."

"You're right." Laura said, lying back on the bed and spreading her long, luscious leg after kicking off her shoes. "Why don't you come over here and get your late-night snack?"

"Don't mind if i do." I said and walked to the bed. I dove in between my wife's legs and began kissing her inner thighs. That didn't last long, as Laura very much wanted my tongue on her slit, and her hand was guiding my face into her sopping, fur-lined labes. I began to eat my wife's pussy, enjoying the sounds of her deep moans a I delighted in the taste of her womanhood.

"Mmm, you must've had a good day at work." I said as I came up for air between licks and laps.

"It was okay, pretty routine." Laura said, her voice nearly a whisper as she pulled her legs up and back even more, exposing her quim to my tongue's heated assault.

"What's got you so hot then, babe? New boyfriend?" I teased.

"No, just seeing you when you're on a big case." Laura admitted. "You really turn me on when you're 'in the zone' like you get on big cases..." A part of me wondered if that was true, or if she was holding back something. She sure wasn't holding back on how hot and horny she was.

I continued to eat my wife's pussy, delving my tongue deeper into her hot hole, slurping on her cunt like it was a big, juicy peach. I moaned into her pussy, letting the vibrations of my voice add to her pleasure, and I was rewarded with gushes of her tangy juices.

After long minutes of deeply eating Laura's pussy, bringing her to two very hard orgasms, she finally invited-- well, begged-- me to mount her and fuck her. As I rose to mount here, she opened the package and took out the condom. We were going to start trying to have another baby, but Laura wanted her body to recover from Carole and go through a full monthly cycle, so I had to wear a rubber during intercourse.

"It's only for a few more weeks." Laura said as she unrolled the condom down my throbbing, iron-hard shaft. I didn't say anything as I guided my cock into her swollen labes and penetrated her, then shoved my full length balls-deep into her hot quim.

"Oh GOD that feels so GOOD!" she gasped loudly. I began a fast, hard rhythm of fucking my wife, nuzzling her neck as I powered my meat into her with urgent, powerful thrusts.

I felt Laura's cunt clutch powerfully at me and I drove into her, feeling as if her cunt wanted to expel my cock and working hard not to be released. Laura was gasping and moaning as she came and I rode her through her orgasm, feeding her cock with all of the strength I could muster.

It was a pleasure to hotly fuck my wife. As always, I made sure to notice the smells and sounds and the touch of her, always grateful to be copulating with this incredibly hot, wonderful woman.

"Oh Laura... oh God, I love you baby!" I said as I clutched her and drove my cock into her with almost painful desire.

"Oh darling, I love you so much!" Laura said, "Now fuck me like you mean it!" As her voice and clutching hands urged me on, I fucked my wife with all the male power I could muster.

Laura's second deep orgasm wasn't long in coming, and after it exploded through her I felt my nut rising. The pressure was rising, beginning to build up in my cock and loins, demanding to be released. I continued to piston my cock furiously in and out of Laura, her loins humping up to meet my every thrust until, with a loud gasp of ecstatic pain, the dam burst. My mind fogged as my cock exploded, the pulses of my release rocketing through my cock as my semen filled the tip of the confining condom...