The Murdered Football Player Ch. 06

"My hat." I said ruefully as I looked at it. "Now this fucking pisses me off!" That brought some laughter and some gasps of disbelief.

"Okay, folks, start collecting evidence." I said, as the weariness of my post-surreality high began overtaking me. "Perlman, you're in charge of this investigation, not just the crime scene but the whole damn thing. The first thing I need is bullet calibers and shell manufacturers, that'll tell us something about who's shooting at us."


"Yes sir." Tanya said, taking charge. "Pete, let's start getting statements from people on the patio. Let's get a crime lab out here, Teresa. Cindy, Molly, see if anyone's been hurt. Theo, Martin, call the hospitals and clinics around here, alert them to a possible gunshot victim if Don's shooting was good..."

Jack Muscone whispered to me "Don, any idea who the hell did this?"



I was still coming off my unreality high, but I was able to say in a faraway voice "No, but three groups of suspects come to mind, someone who wanted to scare us, send us a warning, but not kill us... we'd be dead if they'd aimed worth a shit."

"Three suspects?" Jack said. Tanya had paused from order-giving to listen.

"Yeah... first, the dirty agents of the SBI, particularly certain elements of the Narcotics Task Force; second, someone from The Vision, who in my opinion was behind the murder of Jeff Jackson; and third...

"... Mr. Cleanup."

Part 33 - Police-capades

On the next Monday, Janet and Tom Riordan voluntarily came to Police Headquarters in the company of their lawyers to answer to the material witness warrants that were out for them.

Janet looked hot in a silver-gray blouse and black skirt and black high heel pumps. Her lawyer was a very high priced older man from the law firm of Chase, Lynch and Berry, and I found out soon enough that The Vision was paying for his services.

Tom's lawyer was actually a University Law School professor named John D. Clifford, who was asked to help by a billionaire University alumnus whose requests one does not refuse.

As expected, both invoked their 5th Amendment rights and refused to answer questions, and we had to let them go as we did not intend to arrest either of them. The Chief was watching Janet's "interrogation" with me behind the one-way glass of Interrogation-1.

On the way out, I made a point of being in the hallway. "Au revoir, Mrs. Riordan." I said. "I'm certain I'll be seeing you again, and soon."

"I certainly hope so, Mr. Iron Crowbar." Janet Riordan said, her eyes sparkling and a mischievous smile on her face as she passed by me. Her husband's look at me as he passed by a few seconds later was filled with venom.

After they left, I suggested to the Chief that we visit the Nextdoor County Police Department, where he could have lunch with his friend and their chief, while I consulted with one of their detectives over the Janet Riordan case. He agreed readily enough.

-----------------------

"Griswold, you old coot, you're still alive, much less police chief?" the Nextdoor County Police Chief said as he shook hands and hugged Chief Griswold.

"You slimy rascal," Griswold fired back, "when you are my age, look this good you will not, hmm?"

After their bantering and Griswold introducing me, we went into the Chief's office. The office, and the building, were much older and not as nice as our relatively new Headquarters facility, and I reminded myself to be grateful for what our Town & County had.

The other chief said in reply to a question "Yes, I got that message about wanting us to watch for the Riordans, but I didn't understand it, they're fine, upstanding people. What was up with that?"

"Oh, we need to talk to them as possible witnesses in that football player case." Chief Griswold replied. "They actually came in voluntarily this morning. In fact, that's why Don is here... Don, what did you want to ask the Chief about?"

"Yes, sir, I'd like to have one of your detectives consult with me on some side issues of the case." I said as I handed the NCPD Chief a slip of paper with a name on it. The chief looked up from under his eyebrows at my chief.

"Damn, Griswold, this guy is every bit as good as I've heard." he said, picking up the phone. "Ask J.R. Dixon to come in here, please."

A moment later the side door to the Chief's office opened. Griswold gaped in surprise.

"Chief Griswold," I said, "let me introduce you to Nextdoor County Vice Detective J.R. Dixon, a.k.a. Janet Riordan.

"Well, look what the cat drug in." Janet said, her lovely hands on her hips as she stood in the doorway, her eyes full of contempt and amusement as they bored into me. If she'd been surprised at seeing us, she didn't show it; she was good, damn good, I thought to myself. She was dressed the same as earlier this morning... except affixed to her belt was a badge of the Nextdoor County Police.

-------------------------

The chiefs were off to lunch as Janet and I sat and talked in a spot near the big lake, spreading a blanket and sitting on it and enjoying the beautiful weather. The sexual tension between us was very strong.

"So, how did you know I'm a cop?" Janet asked.

"Well," I said, "I know that you and your husband have children, but when we visited your nice home on the lake, there was not only no sign of any children at all, there was no personality in that house at all. Ergo, you may own the house, but it's not where you live on an everyday basis. Sure enough, your husband does own that house, and you and he use it to entertain other alumni... and perhaps for some of your swinger parties."

"True enough, but how does that link me to being a cop?" Janet says, "My two identities have been kept secret from each other for years."

"Well, hardly... Dixon is your maiden name. Anyway, you were working in the sex industry under an alias when The Vision people found you. They helped you to get out of the sex industry, and you became a Vice cop and began helping take drug dealers off the streets, drug dealers who were getting women on drugs and turning them to prostitution. And when your DNA came up on Jeff Jackson's body, I had my I.T. whiz run some research on you, and found one "J.R. Dixon" had been to the Police Academy, etc.

"I realized you were specifically with the Nextdoor County Police when they wouldn't help us keep an eye out for you... they're not dirty like Coltrane County, so the only logical answer was that either you or your husband was known to them and protected by them... and so from there came to see you today. The only question that remains is: are you a mole for the police within The Vision, or are you The Vision's mole within the NCPD?"

Janet took a device out of her purse and scanned me. "You're not wearing a wire, but turn off your cell phone." she said. I did so. The device she used was similar to the one Jonas Oldeeds had, which I'd purloined. The obvious deduction was big-time money, and that meant...

"Ah, never mind." I said. "You're The Vision's mole in the PD."

"Well, just so we're clear," Janet said, smiling, "I made sure they knew that I would never do anything to bring harm to any of my fellow officers, nor other police officers. That got sorely tested when you came along and had your way with me in my own bed."

She continued: "But The Vision understands my position, and while I'm grateful to them for saving me from a very ugly past life, Harvey only asks for information from time to time... the kind of information that only the police can provide. The Vision truly is not harmful, like the FBI thinks it is."

"I doubt Jeff Jackson would agree with your assessment." I said.

"I'm not going to say anything about that, not on the record, off the record, or playing games like 'hypotheticals', and so on." Janet said. "But that racist Jefferson Davis Jackson won't be raping that sweet young girl Candy or any other girl ever again."

Janet then said, lowering her voice, which penetrated with chilling intensity: "Don, the Vision is a great organization that has helped so many people in so many wonderful ways... but we're not about to let anyone destroy that, nor us, especially not the pathetic FBI. Mr. Eckhart is a wonderful man, and a powerful man. He knows a lot of things, and makes it his business to know what is going on around him and in this world. He is incredibly loyal to his friends, to those who help him; and he can likewise be very... problematic for those who cause him or his friends pain. He thinks very highly of you, Don, and he has for a very long time. Stay in his good graces, Don."

"A long time?..." I asked, then fell into a reverie. But Janet brought me back.

"Let me tell you something." Janet said, lowering her voice even more, her eyes boring into mine like fire. "We own Nextdoor County. We own Coltrane County. We own a bunch of local, town or county police in this State and a lot of other States. We own a third of the SBI, and our enemies own another third. But we don't own your County, Don. We can't seem to get in. And don't give yourself airs, it's not the Iron Crowbar that's in our way... it's someone else, someone with an iron grip on that County that even you have not yet perceived."

"Oh really?" I said.

"Well, maybe you have. Enough of that." Janet said, reaching over and unbuckling my pants. "It's time for me to get what I came out here for. I want your cock deep inside me, and your sperm searching for my waiting eggs..."

After pulling my cock free of my pants, helped by me lowering them down my legs, Janet sucked me voraciously for a few seconds until I was iron hard, then she straddled me. We both moaned as Janet impaled her sopping wet cunt onto the full length of my little 'iron crowbar' and began giving me one hell of a hot fucking...

Part 34 - Epilogue

The University won their game the next day, Saturday, in not only an upset win but a 35-0 rout. The players were clearly motivated by and playing for their fallen comrade Jefferson Davis Jackson.

Neither Dr. Laura Fredricson nor other eminent psychiatrists could break the hypnotic spell Tommy and Candy were under, though they were able to give affidavits that Tommy and Candy had been brainwashed and their statements were of unreliable value.

Still, lawyers for both of them, provided by P. Harvey Eckhart's 'The Vision', made mincemeat of the prosecution when D.A. Krasney took it to trial. Paulina Patterson told me that jurors had actually erupted into fisticuffs during their deliberations, but after the 7-5 hung jury verdict, Krasney opted not to have a re-trial and thus let the case fade away for the time being.

All of that was in the future. On this day, just hours after my lunch fuck with Janet Riordan, I arrived home at The Cabin, instinctively feeling and knowing that something was wrong. A motorcycle was parked against the garage wall near the steps to the front door. Instead of going into the house, I went along the narrow walkway around the garage to the back deck. Someone, an older man, was sitting on one of the chairs, enjoying the afternoon view. The white shock of hair told me who it was.

"Ah, it's a lovely view, Don." said P. Harvey Eckhart. "I've been enjoying it while waiting for you."

"How are you, Dr. Eckhart?" I said politely.

"Pshaw, son, I've told you to call me Harvey; now indulge an old man, will you?"

"I'm tempted every time I see you to call you 'Gruff'." I said, smiling. "Getting to 'Harvey' is going to take time."

"Har!" said Eckhart. "And I don't need to ask you to sit down on your own deck behind your own home, but do so, please."

I sat in the iron-weave love seat that Laura and I usually sat together upon, next to Eckhart in his own chair that went with the metal mesh table. He was wearing a black sportscoat and slacks, a light blue shirt, and comfortable black shoes, almost slippers.

"So... Harvey... to what do I owe the pleasure?" I asked. "Is this a follow-up to my visit with Janet Riordan today?"

"Janet says she enjoys you." Eckhart says. "She and others have told me that your penis size is, and to quote her, 'more than adequate'. That's good, it's a curse upon a man that has a small shaft. Ted Crenshaw, Steven Ikea, Jack Lewis, always trying to compensate for their small shafts."

"You should probably be having this conversation with my wife, for the sake of her research." I said.

"Ha! Yes, your wife is a lovely woman." Eckhart said. "She really is out of your league, as that Warner girl said, and you are indeed a fortunate man to have won her heart as totally as you have. But I'm not here about her. I wanted to tell you a couple of things, and tell them to your face."

"First, I reiterate that The Vision is an organization for good, and that I want to help you in any way I can in the upcoming turmoil you're about to have in your life. I can be of great value to you."

"But will the price of that be too high for me?"

"That is for you to evaluate." said Eckhart. "The second reason I came here was about that shooting at the Irish Pub the other night. That was not me, nor anyone associated with The Vision."

"I believe that." I said sincerely. "As you probably know, a body was found with window glass and a bullet from my gun in his head. He was a low-life drug addict, probably doing that job for his next fix. You use a much higher class of people in your work, Harvey. Even Gruff was higher than that dirtbag."

"I appreciate that you've made that observation." Eckhart said. "Now I just have one question that is really annoying me: this is a lovely home, but why do you have bulletproof glass in those windows, and of such high quality? That was certainly no cheap job, and even your wife likely does not need that kind of protection."

"I don't know." I said. "It was there when I bought the place. One of the previous owners must've installed it, but I have to say I'm glad to have it with my rogue nephew hanging around.... oh, by the way, Harvey, if you truly want to be on my good side, let me know where he is as soon as you find out... even if he has given you some of his drug recipes in the past, I will be in your debt if you deliver him to me... and I'll be your enemy forever if you don't."



"I would love to help you in that direction." said Eckhart. "It wasn't me that had any association with him, though I make it a point not to know what some of my underlings and their intermediaries do. I'm sure you understand. Of course I've been looking for your nephew, too, and he is surprisingly hard to find. Wherever he has hidden himself, it is a wonderful hiding place, I must admit."

He got up. "Well, Don, I'll come visit you here this time next year. It's going to be quite a year for you, if I don't miss my guess."

"And you never do." I said, very sure.

"I'm glad you realize that. I just wish that... someone else realized it. Oh well, au revoir, my young friend."

"Before you go," I said, "allow me to compliment you on an excellent plan. Hypnotizing Candy and Tommy to ease their pain of Jackson raping her is probably not kosher, but having Tommy 'confess' to Jackson's murder, then having your lawyers ready to go to save him, that's definitely a excellent piece of work. Very well done, and not a damn thing I can do about it."

"Obviously I will never admit to myself nor my organization being responsible for any such things," Eckhart said, "but I share your appreciation for that plan, and I hope you share my concern for the feelings of my young disciples Tommy and Candy. Wonderful young kids, they don't deserve for their lives to be filled with pain and anguish."

"I'm sure." I said.

"Again, au revoir, my young friend." Eckhart said. "I'll be speaking with you again soon, I'm sure."

"Auf wiedersehen." I said as he ambled off. A moment later I heard the roar of the motorcycle as Eckhart descended the mountain road with unbelievable speed, way too fast for any measure of safety.

A moment later the back door opened and Laura joined me in our seat. She had brought me a single-malt Scotch and wine for herself.

"I heard that Tanya Perlman turned down the offer to be head of the State Crime Lab." Laura said, deliberately not bringing up P. Harvey Eckhart's presence on our back deck.

"Yes, she did." I said. "She was polite enough, but said she wanted to remain a Detective here. Then, of course, she came back to me and complained yet again that she wants to be solving cases with us, so I promised that I would get her more street time that way."

"What I heard," said Laura, "is that she wanted to stay here to continue working with you. And I certainly can't blame her for that."

I said nothing as I took a sip of my Scotch. Mmmm, one of the good things in life.

"So," Laura said, after a few minutes of reflection, "that was a very interesting moment with Dr. Eckhart."

"Yes." I said. "P. Harvey Eckhart is to spiritual self-help what Jonas Oldeeds was to tele-evangelism. Both created huge empires... and both are snakes in the grass. But Eckhart is sure that this next year is going to be... interesting for me."

"Yes." said Laura. "Some people think he's psychic. Do you believe in psychics, darling?"

"I don't know." I said. "Sometimes I think you're reading my mind."

"Mmm, and I feel the same about you at times." Laura said. "So what am I thinking right now?"

"That we should go inside and make love before the baby wakes up."

"Ooooh, you are a mindreader!" Laura said, then pulled me to her for a deep kiss. We got up and headed inside, my cock already throbbing with lust for my beautiful wife...

Finis... for now.