The Swap Ch. 05

Dinner was delicious; The Steakhouse truly had the best steaks in the State, much less the County, and the sides, salads and drinks were great, also.

After dinner, we formed our chairs into a circle so that I could tell how I solved the case: of course that was what everyone was waiting to hear.

"First, I'll tell you what happened, then how I came to the conclusions I did." I said. "Let's start with DynaCorp. Anthony Warner thought his business was slipping, and that might partly have been due to Willoughby and Sommes embezzling from him. We now know that Willoughby and Sommes had been embezzling from the company for some time, but we have also learned that they were stealing some of the information from the military contracts and selling that information to Chinese agents.

"Their main contact, a Chinese spy posing as a diplomat, was shot dead in San Francisco some months ago." I said. Author's note: See the Case of The Murdered Lovers, Ch.01 for the discussion of that murder. "After their contact was assassinated, Willoughby and Sommes got nervous and scaled back what they were doing... but the Feds, the FBI and the CIA, were already looking into it, and I suspect there was, and maybe still is, a CIA mole deep inside the company that was trying to root out the spies. I'm sure that treason charges will be coming against Sommes and Willoughby soon. And I certainly did not mind applying my crowbar to a piece-of-crap traitor."

"You knew he was a traitor then, at that time?" John 'Jack' Colby asked. He had joined us for the discussion after personally serving drinks and making bottles available for refills.

"I had a good inkling of it, but let's save that for another time." I said. Laura hid it well but I could see her discomfort, so I began to close this line of discussion. "Now that I've told you all that... forget every word of it! It matters very little in these murder cases." I said. There was a bit of laughter and a general buzz as I sipped my single-malt Scotch.

"About six months ago," I continued, "Karla Warner arranged to meet Robert Schelle, ostensibly on DynaCorp business. Karla Warner was much more involved in the business than she'd let on to us. She also had become aware that Anthony Warner was planning to divorce her as well as remove Katherine Warner Wilson from his company. She consulted divorce attorneys in the weeks leading to the murders.

"Karla did not meet Robert at the DynaCorp offices, but she did make the deliberate effort to meet him, and she began seducing him. Robert Schelle was a very sex-hungry man and was easily enticed into her bed. While Karla had to be careful about cheating on her husband as well as her lover Katherine Wilson, she was very experienced at adultery and took the normal precautions.

"It was Robert Schelle who was suspicious to the point of paranoia about being spied upon, especially by the Government. He told us that all those movies were favorites of his wife, but that was a lie: he himself loved all those movies and watched them unceasingly while his wife worked in her upstairs office. Theirs was a totally estranged marriage.

"Anyhoo, Robert and Karla began using burner phones to communicate. When they met for sex in cheap hotels nowhere near where either lived, they began talking about their spouses, whom they each hated. In my opinion it was Karla that steered Robert into the idea of murdering them. It was Robert's idea to murder each other's spouses, which he got from the Hitchcock movie Strangers On A Train.

They planned it fairly meticulously: Robert stripped the extension cord wiring and installed the high-voltage current outlet so that Karla could simply put it in the hot tub and fry Michelle. Robert also cut the hole in the Country Club fence to gain entrance, scout the grounds, then he fastened the fence up until he needed it that night. But it was Karla who visited the Club earlier that day and hid a golf cart near the site of the breach in the fence.

"Also, and this is one of the most important aspects of the case; I cannot stress it enough: Karla had to give Robert her spare set of keys to Anthony's car, so that Robert could disable the security system and hide in the back seat. It was when I realized that Karla had given the murderer the keys to Anthony's car that I began really getting my ducks in a row on both crimes.

"It also helped steer me to Karla rather than Katherine as the main suspect... Katherine likely would not have had keys to Anthony's car, especially since she wasn't driving it after her own car was stolen. If Karla were innocent, it would really be a risk for Katherine to take the keys and have Karla notice them missing. Last but not least, Karla was by far the more dominant and decisive of the two. So I felt comfortable looking much more closely at Karla in the early going.

"Question!" said Tanya Perlman, her cheeks rosy with interest as well as alcohol. "Why did Karla Warner single out Robert Schelle, clearly with a murderous intent? Why him?"

"Ahh, very good question." I said. "And so far we have no answer at all. Karla Warner hasn't said anything at all, and we have so far come up with absolutely no prior connection between Karla Warner and either Robert or Michelle Schelle. But she did seduce Robert with the intent of using him and/or his company in some way to gain full control of DynaCorp."

"I'll say more on this in a minute. Back to the murders." I said. "I was also going to say that the 'mob hit' was yet another example of Robert watching too many movies, but it might have worked if they had not been so sloppy in their execution of the crimes, nor trying to do them both in one night and having to meet rigid timetables for their alibis.

"Well, it all came to fruition last Thursday. Robert had a meeting that he knew would go late. Karla was going to be at the dinner, but was sure she could slip out the back unnoticed for half an hour in the middle of it; indeed, she got the schedule from Myrtle L. James, who runs her meetings as timely as a railroad.

"So while Robert was still at his meeting, Karla slipped out of her gathering, needing to worry only about Katherine Wilson, who worshipped the very ground Karla walked on. Karla drove to the Schelle's residence, which was not far away, found the extension cord that Robert had left ready for her, and threw it into the water, killing Michelle Schelle within seconds. Then she pushed the radio into the water to make it look like that was the culprit, put the extension cord back into the shed, and drove away."

"Question: why leave the extension cord there?" Britt Maxwell asked. "Why not take it with her and throw it in a garbage can somewhere."

"That's a good question, and I thought a lot about that very point." I said. "My guess is that Karla was on a tight timetable, needed to get back, and didn't have time to fool with looking for a trash can along the way. She was hustling as it was: she was said to be red-faced from embarrassment when she ran into the waiter... but it's more likely she was red-faced from the excitement of having just murdered someone plus having to hustle so quickly to get back to the Clubhouse.

"In addition to all that, she couldn't be seen with the cord; that would be a dead giveaway. Yet again, if the cord were found anywhere between the house and the Ladies Clubhouse, it conceivably could point back to her."

"And speaking of her red face and excitement, Tanya, I think she got a big thrill out of murdering Michelle Schelle, who was as far as we know a total stranger to her. Karla Warner has some demons deep inside her, I suspect, and killing someone gave her a rush. Did she plan to kill anyone before Robert came up with the idea of swapping spouses for murder? I don't know, but I suspect she loved the idea when it came up."

I paused, then continued: "As to the extension cord, I also think that Robert wanted her to leave the cord there. He had it set up so completely to look like he was the guilty party... but then he'd have an alibi of the highest order, leaving us utterly confounded. I think he might have wanted that cord left there to be found just to play us.

"And that's an idiot mistake when the Iron Crowbar is anywhere around." Cindy said. Despite the cheer of agreement, I knew that her remark was partly complimentary and partly needling. I love my team, I love my team, I love my team...

I continued, noticing my mother beaming at Cindy's compliment. "So Karla heads back to the Ladies Club, gets the waiter to bring a tray of waters, then crashes into him within moments of 10:00pm, giving herself her own alibi, any excuse if her dress had gotten wet at the Schelle's, and for her red face... if she even thought of that aspect.

"Meanwhile, Robert has left the meeting and hurries to the subdivision near the River Valley Golf Course. He goes through the fence, drives the cart to the back of the clubhouse, then gets into Anthony Warner's car and waits. This part was dangerous, as he might have been seen, but even more, the timing had to be good and he was hoping Warner would not be too late."

"Wow, what if that meeting had ended earlier?" Martin Nash mused, "and Warner had left already?"

"I asked Schelle about that." I said. "He said that if he had missed Warner at the clubhouse, he was going to try again at Warner's house that night, having a pass to enter the gated subdivision as well the codes to disable the home alarm and the house keys, all from Karla. And that brings up a second key point: Karla had to use the burner phone to call Schelle and see if the crime had gone off as planned. She knew she could not go home until it was completed. That is one reason she was still at the Ladies Club when you guys found her.

"But more importantly, I just happened to be in Robert Schelle's presence when she called, and I saw him take the phone out of his left pocket. Later, I would observe him take his cellphone out of his right pocket... he kept them separated. I knew then I had something in my theory.

"So, Warner obligingly comes out right after 10:00pm, Schelle shoots him then runs off to the golf cart and out through the fence. Not a bad plan at that point."

"So now let me tell you how I came to the conclusions I did." I said. "First, I have to admit that I had an advantage over all of you... I was the only person to visit both crime scenes that night and the next morning."

"Hell, no wonder you get all the wins." the Chief growled. Everyone laughed out loud.

"I admit it." I said, smiling. "But by going to both places, I noticed that both seemed to be staged events, as if they were both part of some play-acting happening at the same time."



"Aren't all murders staged?" asked Officer Pete Feeley, somewhat out of turn. It was an interesting point, though.

"In some way, yes." I said, "but this was different; follow me here. The Schelle incident was made to look like an accident, then as we found evidence of murder it all pointed to the husband... except, so sorry, he had an alibi. Then the Warner incident, staged to look like a pro hit, but then as we dig we find the likeliest top culprits, the wife and the sister have an alibi, so sorry.

"I was first struck by the RV pad in the Schelle backyard. That is what led me to begin looking for extension cord hookups from the house to a previously existing RV. And that led me to seeing that there was a power source that could deliver deadly voltage to the hot tub, certainly far more than that silly little boom box radio! And that led me to realizing that Dr. Schelle had been murdered.

"And at the Warner murder, I saw instantly what would've had to happen to make that 'pro hit' a reality... and that it truly wasn't realistic. Certainly that was not a hired hit, and the staging of it to look like one eliminated motives such as robbery. Certainly the knowledge of Anthony Warner and his movements that were needed to hit him right at that time was too much to be by a total and complete stranger on an off-chance or random shooting.

"Anyway, and perhaps because of the similarities in the crimes in my mind, I found myself looking at these two seemingly unrelated crimes as indeed related, and I set about on a hair-brained chase in trying to find a connection between the Warners and the Schelles. But there was none that was obvious until Myron came up with the burner phones, and we were able to establish those.

"I'm surprised they didn't change burner phones a few times." Laura said.

"Actually, I think they did." I said. "The records for the two numbers we found them with were recent and spotty. Myron felt like he had at least four more numbers from a few months ago and a few weeks ago, but those numbers haven't been used for a while. Any other questions?"

"I've got more questions in my mind than I can handle right now." admitted Martin Nash, "but the one burning at me right now is the motive for killing Mr. Warner. I can see the motive for Michelle Schelle, but why did Mrs. Warner think that killing Mr. Warner was the best thing to do?"

"That's one for pondering and discussing... good excuse for another Scotch!" I said, pouring another one into my glass. Others followed my example and refreshed their own drinks.

Recharged and re-fortified, I continued. "I can say this: the Warner side of the equation is indeed much more complicated than the Schelle side. I think Robert Schelle just basically snapped; his wife treated him like crap for the last couple of years, no sex between them and he being a very horny man, then her stringing him along on barely enough money to live while he struggled like hell, unsuccessfully, to save his fading company. Schelle also said that Karla told him that Michelle was getting tenure and divorcing him, but how she knew, I have no idea."

"If I may, son," my mother Phyllis interjected. "I would venture a guess that Dr. Schelle visited the same divorce attorneys that Mrs. Warner did. That new Women's Law Firm of Dewey, Cheatham and Howe has been getting quite a bit of business from unhappy women in this Town. While I doubt Mrs. Olivet nor her partners would say anything, there are eyes and ears in every office filled with workers. It is likely that Dr. Schelle told her lawyer that she was getting tenure... oh, I'm sorry Laura, but things like that are among the worst-kept secrets on a University campus... and thus the knowledge went to Karla and ironically right back to Dr. Schelle's own husband."

"I think I'm going to promote Phyllis to Captain." Chief Griswold said, his cheeks rosy. He'd been enjoying some select bourbons over the course of the evening. "Especially since she's the only one with any hope of keeping the Iron Crowbar under wraps, since I know he'll mind his mama." Everyone laughed again.

"I think you may well be right, Mom." I said. "As to the Warners... Anthony Warner visited lawyers dedicated to company acquisitions and split-ups. He wanted to buy Tim Olivet's company, he wanted his sister out of his company, he might have found out about Willoughby and Sommes and was going to kick them to the kerb. Which one? Who can tell, except that Warner was looking for legal advice outside his company, not from within it."

Martin Nash said "He did visit divorce attorneys, and it's likely he did so with the idea of divorcing his wife Karla. Maybe he thought she was in league with Willoughby and Sommes?"

"Nooooo, I don't think so, from what I saw and heard." I said. "Karla Warner had no love lost for Willoughby nor Sommes. I suspect Occam's Razor is the answer, the simplest solution: Warner found out that his wife and his sister were lovers, and he moved to eradicate both of them from his company and his life."

"But why kill him?" Nash asked, persisting, probably for his own thoughts more than anything else. "Surely not for divorce? After all, she could've fought him for half the company, and Courts don't look at lesbianism the way they once would have."

"But she was cheating on him with men also. He likely could've won, and he had the financial resources to take her to the cleaners. I also suspect he may have had some kind of trump card over her" I said.

"Another reason she may have resorted to murder is because of Katherine... she may have discovered his plans to cut Katherine out of DynaCorp, and I'm sure cutting her lover out of his company made Karla very angry at her husband. She's as in love with Katherine as Katherine is with her."

"Of course, Anthony was a fairly religious man-- uhhh...." I stopped a moment as the thought hit me.

"Here we go again." said Cindy, seeing that look on my face again. I came out of the reverie within a moment, though.

"Sorry about that." I said. "Another wild-ass, hair-brained thought on something entirely unrelated. Anyway, Warner was a religious man and might not have handled his wife and sister being lesbian lovers too well. But I don't insist upon it."

"All right, folks." the Chief said. "It's past my bedtime, so it's past your bedtimes. See you tomorrow morning at 6:00am. Clean up any paperwork on these cases so I can close the files by the end of the day. Don't worry about Willoughby and Sommes, the FBI has already informed us they want to speak with them, and they'll likely take them into federal custody soon."

As the gathering broke up, Cindy approached me. "Maybe we can talk more about this tomorrow?" she asked. "I've got some questions about Willoughby and Sommes, but I got the impression you didn't want to talk about it here in front of everyone."

Fantastic, I thought to myself. This woman was learning fast, both in her seeking the answers and in her discretion.

"Yes," I replied. "Maybe not tomorrow, but I'll be glad to talk with you about it soon. That's a promise." Cindy nodded and wished Laura and myself goodnight as we walked out together.

As I drove Laura's Mercedes back towards The Cabin, I asked her "Did you order the paternity tests I asked about?"

"Sure did." she replied. "Probably be Tuesday at the earliest, maybe Wednesday."

"Good." I said, "If I'm right, then that may be the real reason Warner started laying the divorce groundwork...

Part 24 - Unholy Unions

The young man slammed his big cock down into the beautiful woman beneath him. Her slender arms were wrapped around his neck as they deeply kissed, and her luscious, shapely legs were squeezing his sides like a vise as she climaxed deeply around his pistoning prick.

"Oh God, Seth, that was so good.... so good." the woman moaned as she recovered from her orgasm, shivering in delight. "You are one hell of a stud!"

"You're one hell of a woman, Aunt Katherine." Seth gasped, returning the favor as he pumped his lovely aunt, nuzzling her neck as his hard ass bobbed up and down, his prick slicing rapidly in and out of her.

"Oh yeah, baby... so good." Katherine said. "Just like our plan."

"Yeah, I know." Seth said, grinning, slowing down his thrusts as he looked into Katherine's eyes. She smiled back, a wicked smile.

"Yes, it was unfortunate that Karla chose to murder your stepfather like she did." Katherine said, not feeling unfortunate at all. "And now she's in the pokey, and the company is that much closer to being... ours." She kisses Seth, hard.

"And the best part is..." she continued, "is that idiot detective thinking he knows what is going on." She laughed, an evil cackle filling the bedroom.

"Well, he did solve the two murders. Glad he didn't look further." Seth said cautiously.

"Yeah," she continued, "the mighty 'Iron Crowbar' has no fucking idea that it was you who told your dad about Mom cheating with Robert Schelle, and also told him about Willoughby and Sommes embezzling from him."

"You were brilliant too, Aunt Katherine." Seth said. "You had your own car stolen so that Mom would rent another one, and you suggested she rent it in your name. She took one for you when you denied knowing that right in front of her. Then while she was gone, you made sure some of the other ladies noticed she was gone, pretending concern...