Return of the Black Widow Ch. 04

"The third murder cemented it for me." I said. "But let me start at the very beginning, chronologically." Everyone settled in for the story.

"The first thing I noticed at the first crime scene, the Reece Patrick scene, was that the apartment manager had been called." I said. "This was an indicator that someone wanted this crime to be found, and very quickly. As I've said a ton of times, it's very important to ask who called in the crime, as it might be the criminal that called it in; and at the very least we might gather some valuable information."

"In this case, Karpathian called on a burner phone." I continued. "We didn't know that yet, of course. And when we got to the scene, we found what very much appeared to be the work of Angela Harlan, the Black Widow. It was obviously a copycat crime, but what was immediately running through my head was that this was meant for me, for Donald Troy, to see. A whole list of possible suspects went through my head, from SBI enemies to acolytes of Pastor Westboro. So I waited for data to show just how much this copycat knew, and it turned out the copycat knew everything."

I went on: "This showed me that the suspects were limited. Not that many people knew the full Black Widow story, especially about the chemicals she used, the grease paints and lipstick, and so on. But the Copycat also made sure to use a condom, which suggested she didn't want to get pregnant -or- her DNA might be on record. Unfortunately, that put Police Officers on the list of suspects, but while I didn't think it was any of you, and most of you had alibis without even knowing it, I couldn't exclude the possibilities."

"As we investigated the Reece Patrick case," I said, "we came across some interesting things concerning his parents. But there was nothing to show a motive there -and- a relationship to the Black Widow."

"Then Bonnie Karpathian showed up. It was logical to want to consult her, at least at first, because she'd studied the Harlan crimes. And then she started to... shall we say... throw herself at me a little bit. And she had a book coming out, and these new cases would really feed into that. So to answer your question, Joanne, I'm not sure when it really started creeping into my mind about her, but at some point I started having a lot of puzzle pieces at the same time just asking to be put together."

"So we had our second murder." I continued. "And it actually began clearing things up. University student, but no other correlations to the first victim. I began looking at these cases as separate crimes of opportunity and convenience, and again the only motive I was seeing was one of getting attention."

"The third killing was really instructive. No blow to the head, which exonerated the Green Crowbar, here." I said, looking at Cindy, who glared back at me as everyone else laughed. "Limited use of the grease paint and lipstick, and all that. And the guy was impotent; he couldn't even get it up to have one last bang before he died, poor guy. But then Bonnie Karpathian was at the scene, having gotten the Sheriff to bring her to it. And that was probably when I knew for sure it was her. But getting proof, or even a search warrant, was a different matter entirely."

"So," I finished up, "I told the Chief I would no longer personally investigate these crimes, and made sure that got back to Karpathian. I was hoping it was cause her to not bother killing any more people, but she went crazy and kidnapped Callie, then called me in to the warehouse where Pete Feeley was killed. That was easy enough to handle once I took the firing pin out of my gun so she couldn't use it against me."

"You thought she might've had an accomplice in the first crime, but not the others." Teresa said. "Any ideas on that?"

"I've been scanning missing persons reports in the area, and I asked the FBI to keep on the lookout. I've also looked for reports of unknown bodies being found. So far, no joy on any of it. So it's possible that an accomplice is still out there."

"And the motive?" asked Cindy. I turned to Laura.

"I haven't talked to her," said my wife, "but Dr. Yates did talk to her, and I've seen some of the interrogation reports and tapes. She reacted when she was told her book on Angela Harlan had been stopped from coming out until after her trial. If she's convicted, she can't profit from any books published that concerns her conviction, so for this book to be delayed takes that from her. So we can reason that book sales were part of it."

"However," Laura continued, "and as I think most of you know by now, Dr. Karpathian was definitely stalking my husband to the point of obsession, and was using murder as a means of trying to get his attention. Looking back with perfect 20/20 hindsight, we can see places where she was trying to get his attention, but with the Westboro case and all that was part of that, his time was totally occupied. But even afterwards, Bonnie thought she wasn't getting any attention from Don, and I think she'd long since had ideas of getting his attention through the Black Widow crimes."

I nodded. "And after all I've done to acquire a good, clean reputation... winning the Police Boxing Matches and all..." Everyone laughed as Cindy scowled at me.

"You think your back hurts now, just wait until I win back my title." Cindy replied.

"Your title?" replied Teresa Croyle, her voice the very essence of mock shock. "Yeah, keep on counting those chickens before they're hatched, sister."

"And you are going to do something about that?" Cindy shot back. Teresa's eyes were gleaming, but it was Todd's eyes that gave away to me what was going on. Aikido was going to rule, come next Spring...

It just might not be my Aikido skills doing the ruling...

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

Molly and the boys were staying at the Cabin, so she, Cindy, Teresa and Callie were talking in the greatroom after the party at Cindy's was over. I was on the back deck while Laura was tending to Carole, who had decided to throw Jim's toys down the stairs and was now in 'time out' with her mother, and absolutely hating not being able to know what was going on.

The doorbell rang, and Cindy went to answer it. She was shocked by who it was, but admitted the new guest, and said that I was on the back deck.

A moment later, as I sat on the metal mesh loveseat and watched the light of a train come out of the western horizon, I heard someone come up to me and put a package down on the metal mesh table next to me.

"Have a seat." I said, pointing to the chair on the other side of the table as I took the bottle out of the package. It was a bottle of single malt Scotch, the same brand I'd once gifted to Henry R. Wargrave. I opened it, poured two shots into the glasses I'd brought out in anticipation of just this occasion, and let the guest choose which glass to take.

"Salud." said Daniel Allgood as he downed his shot. I then downed mine from the remaining glass and poured two more shots.

"Good stuff." I said.

"Well," Daniel said, as he settled into his chair and looked out over the Town, "I guess I got my comeuppance and then some. I had no idea when Bonnie Karpathian kept asking me about the crimes and wanting to see the scenes, that she had ulterior motives."

"That's understandable." I said. "And you really did think she could help."

"And I do owe you a big apology for the way I treated you." said Daniel. "I'm just glad you didn't give me a crowbar spanking for it."

"Naah." I said. "The results of the case did that. With regards to Bonnie, you thought you were doing the right thing. With regards to the rest of it... well, this Scotch is good stuff. Mighty good stuff."

"I've learned my lesson." said Daniel. "I'll keep out of your way. I was even thinking of resigning as Sheriff. Melina and I talked about that, and a lot of other things. It might be time to find new ground, set new roots."

"Nooooo, don't do that." I replied. "Despite this last hiccup, you've done just fine as Sheriff, and you'll continue to do so. Besides, what would you do if you resigned? You've always been a police officer."

"Yeah." said Daniel. "That's what Melina said, too. She wants me to stay on, too. She says she can do her new job, and I know you know what that is, from here. She claims to want to raise the kids near their cousins, and all that. For me, though, it's the politics of it. This whole Brownlee thing, and Loran Michaels, and then there's the corrupt Members of the Town & County Council. And there seem to be no inroads to negotiations, to acceptable compromises. Everyone's definition of 'compromise' is 'you give me what I want, period'. And only Republican pussies accept doing that."

"You're right, especially about the Republicans. Tell me, Daniel," I said, "are you and Scott Peterson friends?"

Daniel turned and peered at me, then said "Yeah, we are. When I was in the Police Force and in charge of I.A., I was going to bring him in there with me. Then you got me to run for Sheriff, and he took the Public Relations role. How did you know we were friends?"

"The way you got mad at me when I got those photos of him with Priya Ajmani." I said. "And a lot of your subsequent anger at me has been related to what's going on with him. So... are you ready for me to tell you what we're going to do about Peterson, Brownlee, Loran T. Michaels, and the Town & County Council?"

Daniel peered at me again, then shook his head. "When it comes to you, Iron Crowbar, I have seen enough to know that I have seen too much. So... what are we going to do?..."

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

Sunday night, August 14th. Laura and I were getting ready for bed. She handed me a package in a plain brown wrapper. I opened it to find a book... Dr. Bonnie Karpathian's book on Angela Harlan, entitled 'The Black Widow: History of a Serial Killer'.

"There won't be many copies of that in circulation." Laura said. "The University Library will get two, Dr. Yates and I got one each, and I got this one for you, if you want to read it."

"Actually..." I said, "I do want to read it."

"Think it'll help you understand Bonnie?" Laura asked.

"No." I replied. "I'm hoping it'll help me understand Angela."

Laura got onto the bed and snuggled into my right side. "She's always been your 'Nemesis', hasn't she?"

I paused, then said "I don't want this ever to reach Tanya Perlman's ears, but I've always wondered what might've been if Angela had not gone bad. And then, in the aftermath of taking down Westboro and what happened to me with Casey Walker, I wondered if something was done to help Angela go bad. I do know that she was one hell of a Detective before she started killing people in her unique fashion..."

"How would he have done that? The Consultant, that is..." Laura asked, and I sensed her wariness.

"Oh, all these specialized drugs going around." I said. "Ned's fertile mind created a ton of them, and then there's what Dr. Eckhart is capable of doing. And then on the far end of this spectrum... what happened to me."

"Tell you what." Laura said. "Come to my office tomorrow. It'll be safer to talk there. Now..." she said, nuzzling my neck as her hand went for my groin, "let me show you why no Black Widow can hold a candle to me when it comes to fucking your brains out, Mr. Iron Crowbar..."

I did not resist the demonstration...

Part 17 - Aftermath

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" yelled the lovely redheaded reporterette at 7:00am, Monday, August 15th. "Channel Two News has learned that Lieutenant Scott Peterson, Public Relations Officer for the Town & County Police Department, will move to an equivalent role in the Sheriff's Department, as Public Relations Officer for the entire Public Safety Department!"

"Lt. Peterson will likely be promoted to Captain to go with his transfer, per a statement by Sheriff Daniel Allgood." said Bettina. "Asked if Lt. Peterson would still be the Police Department's spokesperson, Deputy Chief Della Harlow said that she expected the Police Public Relations role to be filled in the near future. As the position is technically a Captain's position, it could be filled with a Captain, or a Lieutenant promoted or brevetted to the Captain position."

"Or a Precinct Captain promoted to Captain." I said as we drank coffee in the MCD room.

"And in other news," said Bettina, "another hat has been thrown into the ring to fill the vacant Council position left by the death of Pastor Raymond Westboro last June. Sheila Sorrells, who is the local representative of the State Organization for Women, the SOWs, announced her candidacy at a rally for Jenna Stiles this weekend. Ms. Stiles is running for District Attorney against incumbent Gil Krasney, and both women are pointing out the serious mistreatment of women with regards to law enforcement and prosecutions."

"And speaking of the elections," Bettina said, "Channel Two News strives to bring you minute-by-minute coverage of all the important races! In the Governor's race, incumbent Val Jared's lead over SBI Director Jack Lewis increased by three points, to 54-42, as the SBI Director came under fire for a conspicuous lack of presence in the recent cases of the copycat Black Widow killings as well as the Pastor Westboro Syndicate investigations that continue to this day. Director Lewis said that local police solved those crimes, but the SBI will have a stronger presence going forward in protecting the rights and lives of the State's citizens."

"That's all we need." I said as I filled my Airborne School mug with coffee, and added pollutants (cream and sugar).

"Would someone explain to me again how SBI Agent Sharples was protecting the rights and life of one local Police Commander at Point Hollow?" Cindy inquired as she sipped her coffee from her mug.

Bettina continued: "In the local races, Gil Krasney continues to lead Jenna Stiles by a 54-44 percent margin. Experts are saying that Ms. Stiles's campaign needs a boost, as well as a fresh infusion of cash, but that Sheila Sorrells's campaign for the Council might take needed dollars from the Stiles Campaign. And now to Sports, where the Bulldogs are in Summer Camp. Let's go to Nick Eastwood! Nick!"

"Thank you, Bettina!" said the smiling face of Nick Eastwood, causing (most of) the women in the room to watch with more avid interest. "The Bulldogs, under first year coach Ted Thrasher, believe they're going to have a much better season this year, and with the Wildcats game here at University Memorial Stadium in late October, the Dogs might have a chance to reach the Conference Championship game..."

"Where are those 'experts' when we really need them... to correct Mr. Eastwood's wishful thinking?" I asked out loud.

"He must have a source within the Captain of Detectives' Office." Cindy replied. "The Wildcats are going to get 'Dogged' out this year!"

I just turned and looked at the Green Crowbar, and said "Sounds like you want to put a whole lot of money on that, Captain."

"Uh, not all that much." said Cindy. "Police Captains don't get paid as much as Bettina's 'experts'." Joanne Warner laughed out loud at that.

"No doubt about that." I said. "But we shall see who 'dogs' who out this October... right Theo?"

"If my boy Jamaal has anything to do with it." said Theo, flashing his movie-star-handsome grin. A green crowbar was waved in his general direction, which got her stared down from the side by the holder of the Red Crowbar. Everyone laughed when Cindy all but gasped when she saw me looking at her so sternly...

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

"You know the deal by now." Laura said, handing me a document. "It says you won't reveal what I'm about to tell you here and now, yadda yadda yadda..." The document did indeed say that, and I signed it.

"Okay." Laura said. "Here's the larger situation about Ned's drugs as well as some of the others that we use from time to time. I'm sure you know that Intelligence Agencies of many nations have researched the use of drugs to enhance interrogations, as well as brainwash people, for lack of a better term.

"The Soviets did a good bit of work on the post-hypnotic triggers in the 1970s. It is the fruits of that research that Dr. P. Harvey Eckhart was able to obtain and, with the use of chemical enhancers, achieve several breakthroughs in this arena. You saw it with Eleanor Burke and your devastating use of her to eliminate your nephew Ned and rescue Jeanine's baby." I nodded.

"The problem we found with these techniques is that they tend to wear off over time." Laura continued. "It was rumored that during the Cold War the Soviets had several Americans in this country that could be triggered to attack power stations and some such. We were able to obtain the names of some of these people during the Yeltsin Era, and when we went to trigger them, we found that they didn't respond... the triggers were no longer effective."

"How long would you say a technique lasts before it wears off?" I asked.

"It could be months, it could be years." Laura said. "One thing... it's virtually impossible to reinforce. The same codewords have to be used, and of course if they're used during a second treatment, the words actually 'activate' the person."

I could see the flaw in that, but I said nothing. Instead I asked "So a person with one treatment will, over time, lose the efficacy of that treatment."

"That's right." Laura said. "But Eckhart has been able to combine hypnosis and certain drugs to replicate the effect, at least temporarily. We, the Company, were able to get most of that information from moles within his organization.

"Oh, of course." I said immediately, before I could stop myself. "And she has a Fourth Rune, doesn't she?" That earned a dark look from my wife.

"Damn... nothing does get by you, does it?" Laura said, more to herself than to me. "I should've known you'd make that connection."

"I am what I am." I said. "And she's your sister, and I was married to her for only eight years. By the way, I will not hold myself accountable to that document when it comes to this... I'll tell my uncle if she tries to get any more information from him... or if I catch any more of your moles."

"Fair enough." Laura said. "Eckart already knows about her, though. He started feeding is false information through her, and once we realized it, we had her pull back from associating with him too much... including selling her half interest in his daughter's gym. Funny thing, though... he never seemed to be angry about any of it."

"No, he knows the Game." I said. "And to be honest, I think he plays it better than most of you do."

"Yes, and so do you." Laura said, peering hard at me. "At least you think you do. So... you didn't destroy Ned's pain-causing drugs, did you?"

As I looked back at her, my wife said "Oh come on, you don't think I didn't realize what was going on with Steven Moschel, though he certainly deserved it. And while there was no official tests on Pastor Westboro's body after his death, I did have my people secure extra blood and tissue samples... and do you want to guess what we found?"

"I don't have to guess." I said. "And I apologize for having to deceive you on that. That being you personally. But I had to keep those drugs because I knew of the upcoming battle I was facing. I knew I'd have to break someone to get the goods on Westboro. Moschel's actions that led to Amy's death made him a candidate to test the drugs. And yes, Pastor Westboro had to go to his death in pain... or my work would've been in vain. And of course..." I paused, then said, "the self-test worked, as well."

"What?!" Laura exclaimed. "You tested those drugs on yourself?"

"The tiniest bit." I said. "And yes, I knew they were going to be all too good when I injected much more into Moschel and Westboro."