The Other World Ch. 03

This story is part of an ongoing series. 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.

Part 11 - The Crime Scene

"Troy, Commander, Badge No. 1-6-4-0." I said as I came up to the Police cordon around the club 'Punk'.

"Thank you, Commander." said Patrolman Culver, who made the notation as he said "Captain Ross asked me to tell you that she's already here with Lt. Masters. They're inside."

"Thanks." I replied. I went through the parking lot, which was ablaze with bright blue LED lights. There were a number of Punks talking to Uniformed Officers, giving their stories. In the eerie blue lights, I felt like I was truly in another world.

Going inside, Patrolman Johnson saw me at the door and guided me through the main club room to the back. Captain Ross, Lt. Masters, and the Crime Lab team were standing near two dead people on the floor, both women. They were both in their early 20s, wearing leather and other 'Punk' clothing and makeup. One girl's hair was dyed pure white; the other was normal black... but her metallic blue wig was lying on the floor next to her.

"Whaddya got, Ross, Masters?" I growled when I came up.

Masters spoke up. "Sir, the story I'm getting in bits and pieces is that six people, four women and two men, all in their early twenties, went to the back room right past the bathrooms down this corridor behind me." He turned and pointed at the corridor, which was at the right rear of the room. "We think they bought drugs in that back room, and either used them there or brought them out here in their purses."

"And where are those purses?" I asked.

"We've got 'em bagged and tagged, sir." said J.R. Barnes.

"Good." I said. "You were saying, 'Coldiron'?"

"Within a few moments of coming back, they all began convulsing." said Masters. "They knocked over the table and their drinks. The Crime Lab is trying to get samples from the floor. These two didn't make it; the other four have been rushed to the Hospital.

"Secure the glasses they were drinking out of." I said. Barnes said they'd already done so. "Damn," I said to Cindy, "they must've gotten copies of Chief Griswold's book before we did."

"Yes sir, we did." said Christina Cho who had just come up after giving some bagged evidence to Officers to transport to the Crime Lab. "I've only made it through the second chapter, though."

"You're one chapter ahead of me." I said. "And Ms. Cho, why are you here in the Tenderloin District after dark? I could have sworn my standing orders on that were clear."

"Sir," said Cindy, rescuing Christina, "I gave her permission to come down. They're short-staffed, and she's staying with Uniformed Officers at all times."

"O-kay." I said, not very happy about that, but knowing that I was not going to chew out my Captain here in front of everyone. "Anything of interest pop out at you, Ms. Cho?"

"Yes sir." said Christina. "These people were seated near the back area. We think they were the first to go in and get drugs."

"Hmmm, that's interesting." I said thoughtfully.

"Sir," said Masters, "when they started convulsing and going down, I'm told it was a mass panic for the doors. I'm surprised no one was trampled. A few stayed behind to try to help the stricken people, and they've given us their statements. We searched them as a matter of routine, and none of them had any drugs on them."

"Was Kevin Greeley here?" I asked

"Yes sir, and he stayed and didn't run." Cindy said. "I asked him to go to Police Headquarters with Rudistan and Hicks, but told him he's not formally under arrest."

"Why do that?" I asked.

"I thought we should get his interview on a better camera than the mobile ones." Cindy replied.

"And a good thought that was." I said "Is there any video footage we can obtain?"

"No." Cindy said. "Kevin said they hadn't had a chance to install any yet. But I heard from Mary earlier that one of the reasons the Cub Club fell out of favor was because people knew they were being videotaped from every angle. Kevin was going to have coverage of the bar area and the entrances, but like I said, didn't have any installed yet."

"Also," Cindy said, "we'll talk privately about this some more later. I don't want to say anything here."

"Gotcha." I said. I went down the restroom corridor and to the back room. Our excellent drug dog, Sergeant Stonewall, was checking out the place.

"He alerted at the table where the six sick people were." said his handler. He showed a little bit of interest at a couple of other tables, but for the most part nothing else. In here, though, he's a bit agitated. That suggests he's sniffing something, but it's confusing him."

"How does a drug dog get confused?" I asked. "And that's not a rhetorical question. What happens there?"

"Yes sir." said the handler. "Usually it means he's sniffing something that he knows he should alert for, but it's not one of the drugs he's really trained for. I've seen this a couple of times when there were some pills of a really refined, potent drug. Stonewall barely got a scent, and it was an unknown to him."

"I see." I said. "Well, the drugs were certainly potent enough to kill two people tonight. Is he done?"

"No sir." said the handler. "But you can pet him." I grinned, seeing that the handler knew my intentions well by now.

"Great dog, Stonewall! You are a great Police dog!" I said as I petted the handsome German Shepherd on the head. Stonewall just looked up at me happily.

"Let's take Stonewall for a stroll towards the back door, or have you done that already?" I asked.

"Not yet, sir." The handler led the way into an employees room, which had a door to the back parking lot. Sergeant Stonewall sniffed around, then he suddenly alerted at something under the sofa. He barked as he pawed at the floor.

J.R. Barnes got on his knees and shined a light under the sofa. He asked if we had something that could reach under the sofa.

"You betcha." I said... as I handed him the red crowbar. "There are useful reasons why I carry this thing."

"Yes sir, it'll be perfect." J.R. said. He reached under the sofa and used the crowbar to roll out two large capsules, pink and black in color, then bagged and tagged them. I sniffed at them in the bags.

"Wow, they smell potent." I said. "Good job, J.R. Good job, Stonewall!" J.R. handed me back my red crowbar. Stonewall wagged his tail as his handler gave him his favorite toy tennis ball to play with.

Coming back to the main room, I said to Cindy "Okay, I'm going to Headquarters."

"I'll come by here after the bodies are on their way to the morgue." Cindy said.

"Impress upon Lt. Masters and all Uniformed Officers that the Police Commander will appreciate police reports submitted in as timely a manner as possible, though accuracy is more important." I said.

"Wilco, sir."

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

At 2:20am, Saturday, March 4th, Cindy came into my office. I was on my computer, reading early police reports.

"Martha just got to the morgue." Cindy said. "She's starting the autopsies now."

"Good. I called the Hospital." I said. "It looks like the other four are going to make it. Their bloodwork is on its way to Martha, and to the State Crime Lab."

"Good. I'm glad they survived." Cindy said.

"I did get one tidbit from one of the Hospital nurses." I said. "She said that the Police injected the standard anti-opioid injection at the scene, which helped two of them. But the other two weren't helped by that, and Dr. Morgan realized what was going on. He gave them atropine, and they pulled out of it."

"Atropine?" Cindy queried.

"Yep." I said. "That's what the Army gives for exposure to nerve gas. It's also the indicated antidote for some particularly powerful insecticides, which are about the same thing as some nerve agents."

"Oh, geez." Cindy said. "Another nerve agent attack by the White Supremacists?"

"I don't know." I said. "This was not a Black club they were attacking, though, so I'm not sure it makes sense in that light. Plus, we don't have any data yet, so let's not jump to conclusions. Okay, you wanted to tell me something in private about camera footage?"

"Yes sir." said Cindy. "Of course everyone and their brother has a smart phone these days, but the club had a warning to not use them for taping things. But when those kids started convulsing, a few people might have taped it. The Mouseketeers will be looking for it on Youtube, and we're asking for anyone with tape to come forward anonymously. But what I really wanted to tell you was that our two deep undercover people were wearing concealed cameras, and they may have gotten a little bit of footage."

"Great!" I said. "Where are they?"

"No contact yet." Cindy replied. "They did exactly what they were supposed to do in a situation like that: they ran out with everyone else. We'll probably hear from them tomorrow morning, well, later this morning, to arrange a pickup to bring them in."

"Okay." I said. "Yeah, be sure to protect their identities; that's more important than anything else. They can take their time getting whatever they got to us."

"Did I just hear that right?" Cindy asked. "You're not interested in what they have?"

"Not to the point they should be exposed or burned in any way." I replied.

"C'mon, spill it." Cindy said. "I know you well enough by now, and I'm sensing the vibe from you. Those gears are already turning in your head."

"Yes, yes they are." I said. "I can almost make a prediction or two: this is going to publicly look like an overdose case. More privately, the FBI will be jumping all over it as a nerve agent attack... maybe. And all of that is just a blind: this is being done for some other reason."

"Which you think is...?" Cindy prodded.

"Not sure yet." I said. "Let's go talk to Mr. Kevin.

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

Kevin Greeley was in Interrogation-A. Cindy and I went in, with Patrolman Johnson as the Uniformed presence.

"Kevin, Kevin, Kevin." I said. "I am seeing you in my interrogation rooms entirely too often, these days.

"I totally agree with that." said Kevin. "I know you have to ask me questions, so can we just get it overwith?"

"First, we're going to do this the right way." I said. I took out the card and read Kevin his rights from it. He said he understood the rights.

"So," I said, "where were you tonight when this incident started happening?"

"I was at some of the tables near the bar, which is on the other side from where those people were." said Kevin. "I was going through, mingling and greeting my guests, as I've done almost ever night since the club opened."

"And when those people at that table in back started dropping like flies, what did you do?" I asked.

"Some others were giving first aid, so I called 9-1-1." said Kevin. "People were running for the doors, so I stood near the bar so I wouldn't get run over."

"Okay." I said. "I'm going to need a list of every employee of yours that was there, and you need to let them know that their being proactive in getting their interviews with me overwith will be much less painful than me having to chase them down. So, here are some more questions for you: first, who is backing your ownership of the club?"

"First State Bank of Midtown." said Kevin. "I know, I know, that's the public story, and I'm sure you'll get at the truth. My real backers are a man named Jerry Morelli and someone named Franklin Gray. I don't know much about Gray; he's sort of the silent, shadow partner. Morelli is the one that was going to use the clubs to bring in drugs. I don't know that officially, but I could figure it out. I never saw any drugs brought in, but I was making a point not to see anything."

"I get that." I said. "So Kevin, was opening a Punk club and a Lesbian club your lifelong dream? Or did someone approach you with the idea?"

Kevin thought for a moment. "I'd say somewhere in between." he finally said. "Sure, I've thought about opening something, and I've talked with others but nothing ever came of it. Then someone approached me at Whippets and asked if I was interested in opening a couple of clubs. I have no idea who he was. We talked a while, then he got my number, and one of Morelli's people called me the next day."

"What about Ken Eidex?" I asked.

"No, he's not involved with this at all, at least not that I know of." said Kevin.

"Captain, do you have any questions for Mr. Greeley, here?" I asked.

"Yes sir." said Cindy. "Do you know a man named Leonard Lotz?"

"No, but... where have I heard that name?" Kevin asked himself, his face showing his struggle to remember. "Oh yeah, he was on television. Bank robber that escaped the Asylum. To answer your question: no, I don't know him at all."

"That's all I have, sir." Cindy said.

"I have one more thing." I said as I handed Kevin my card. "Kevin, the next time you see Leonard Lotz, tell him to get in touch with me immediately at the number on the card. His life is at stake. Okay, you can go. Stay in the County, and let the TCPD know if you leave the County for any reason."

Kevin was visibly shaken up, but he got up to go. As he did, I said "Kevin, you be careful, too. There might be people that would be happy if you came over all dead. Watch your back, protect yourself. If you want Police protection, now is the time to ask for it."

Kevin looked more shaken, but he said "No, that would look bad. I'll be careful." He went to the door and exited the room.

Cindy had also shown shock at my words about Lotz, but she held her tongue... until we got back to my office.

"You let him walk after he lied about knowing Leonard Lotz?" Cindy asked, almost angrily. "And how did you know Kevin knew Leonard?"

"It was a bit of a longshot," I said "but it made sense that Lotz is in the Punk World, the 'Other World' as even they call it themselves sometimes. Kevin immediately said Lotz was a 'bank robber'... that part has not been emphasized in Les Craig's desperate news messages because Craig wants us to think Lotz is a mass murderer or something. So I put that little message out, through Kevin. I am far, far more interested in finding Lotz before Les Craig does, and I hope that message gets to Mr. Lotz... before Les Craig gets to him."

Part 12 - World of Data

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" blared Bettina at 7:00am, Saturday March 4th, with the club 'Punk' as her backdrop. "Channel Two News is following the developing story of two deaths at the new Punk Scene club called 'Punk'. Sources tell Channel Two News that the two girls, whose names have not been released by authorities, died of drug overdoses. Four other persons were rushed to University Hospital with similar overdose symptoms, but doctors were able to save their lives."

"The Town & County Police Department put out a statement, saying that the deaths and injuries could have been caused by a bad batch of drugs, and warn anyone who might have bought drugs at 'Punk' last night to not take them, lest they also be injured or killed. The Police request that anyone who may have purchased drugs at 'Punk' bring them to Police, and they will receive immunity for having the drugs..."

I was drinking my coffee in MCD as I listened to the broadcast. Cindy was in her office, probably, and hopefully, getting in a nap. No one else was expected to be here before 8:00am shift change, when the Chief's meeting would begin.

"Well, Mr. Crowbarrrr," I heard the gravelly voice of Chief Moynahan say as he came into the room, "it looks like things took a turn for the worrrse." I poured him a cup of coffee.

"Yes sir." I said. "I'm waiting for the autopsy results and the preliminary toxicology reports. If this is what I think it is, then it's even worse than 'worse'."

"Bad batch of drugs?" asked the Chief.

"No sir." I said, my voice deadpan flat. "Murder. Intent to kill. Poisons substituted for drugs, or else the drugs were intentionally made to be lethally potent."

"Wow." the Chief said quietly, then said as he sipped his coffee. "You know, it's funny. If I'd asked my Midtown team what was going on, they'd say an overdose of bad drugs. Almost every other Detective here would say the same thing. But when I ask you, Mr. Crowbar, half the time I end up getting an answer I totally do not expect. And that's a good thing, actually."

"It's how I'm reading the riddle, Chief." I said. "But we need more data."

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

The meeting in Classroom 'E' did not start until 10:00am, as we had to wait for information, then had to process it as it poured in all at once. Present at the meeting were: Chief Moynahan, Your Iron Crowbar (moi), the Green Crowbar (Cindy), Commander Harlow, Captain Teresa Croyle, Lt. Wes 'Coldiron' Masters, J.R. Barnes, Detectives Joanne Warner and Jermaine Davis, Vice Detective Christopher Purvis, and the Mouseketeers: Detective David Krueger, and Myron and Mary Milton. Also invited and attending were SBI Crime Lab Director Tanya Perlman and FBI Special Agent in Charge Jack Muscone.

"Lead the way, Mr. Crowbar." the Chief said.

"Yes sir." I said. "First, let's hear the autopsy report and toxicology."

"I'll start." said Tanya. "Tests aren't complete yet, but the capsules found appear to be very highly refined and potent drugs. Some sort of refinement of heroin that is extremely powerful and can keep a person high on it for weeks, months, maybe even forever."

"Didn't Dr. Robin Grayson have something to do with research like that?" asked Joanne Warner. "We came across that with the Cubbard case."

"Yes." I said. "I think Dr. Grayson's college professor did some work where mice on his refined heroin stayed high until they died."

"Except that the stuff in these drugs was poisonous to the human body." said Tanya.

"Did you find any other chemicals?" I asked. "Anything that might be rat poison, or something more potent?"

"No sir, just the drugs." said Tanya. "But some of the blood tests on the kids in the hospital had breakdown products like those found from ingesting rat poisons. But it's not agents like the mothballs you found."

"Sir," said J.R. Barnes, "I have something on that, also, from Martha's autopsies."

"Good." I said. "Just tell the autopsy story from start to finish."

J.R. started: "The two dead girls are named Lena Hill, age 21, and Kate Noll, age 22. Both University students, both part of the Punk scene for a couple of years. Martha says both ate dinner about three and a half hours before they died. Their blood alcohol levels were 0.08 and 0.07, but Martha warns the acute ingestion of the drugs might have spiked that number a bit."

J.R. continued: "The girls had been injected, or injected themselves, with a drug directly into the bloodstream. Preliminary tests show positive for heroin, and the dosages were off the charts. Lena only weighed 122 pounds, so if she took the dose in a back room or the restroom, I'm shocked she got back to her table. Kate weighed 150 pounds; she was a bit bigger than Lena."

J.R. went on: "The other four at their table, whose names are in the write-up and are all longtime members of the Punk crowd, only popped pills and there was no evidence on them that they had been injected with anything. That's what saved their lives: they had not absorbed the lethal doses that these two girls did. All four of the survivors had varying amounts of an amphetamine-like compound in their bloodstreams, but two of them had an additional compound that came positive for a substance called 'captan'."