Case Of The Executed Evangelist Ch 04

The Case of the Executed Evangelist

by The WifeWatchman

The order of my stories to read is:

Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series.

Case of the Executed Evangelist series.

Feedback and

constructive

criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

There is a lot of background information mixed in with the hot sex. Please bear with it, as the information is important to this story as well as upcoming stories. Thanks in advance.

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 12 - The Gun That Got Away

5:00am Monday morning.

We were in the main conference room. Present were a very sleepy and disgruntled ADA Paulina Patterson, Police Chief Griswold, Detectives Cindy Ross, Hugh Hewitt and Teresa Croyle, Senior Technician Myron Milton, Captain Harold Malone, Crime Lab Supervisor Tanya Perlman, University Police Lieutenant Brittany M. Maxwell, and FBI Special Agent Jack Muscone. And myself, of course, having called them all in.

"Thank you all for coming so quickly." I said. "Time is of the essence if we're to have any hope of recovering the rifle that was fired from the RV."

"We're obviously not sleeping on it, so don't keep us in suspense." Paulina Patterson said. "I've already called the Night Judge at the Courthouse to be on standby for warrants, so this better be damn good." I loved Paula's feisty attitude when she was sleep deprived.

"Well, obviously the rifle was smuggled out on the one vehicle that left the premises after the shooting." I said, seeing if any lights came on in any eyes. Maybe it was just too early in the morning, but none did.

"But... no vehicles did leave." Teresa Croyle said. "Captain Malone shut it down instantly." By her voice, I could tell that Teresa Cunt still had vestiges of loyalty to Malone, though she herself was a good and honest cop.

"Yes, he did." I replied, "but one vehicle did leave after the shooting:

the ambulance that carried Jonas Oldeeds to the hospital!

"

I counted fifteen seconds of frozen silence.

"Holy shit." Captain Malone gasped, the first words to break through the dumbfounded looks etched on everyone's faces. "You're saying the rifle was in the ambulance itself?"

"Yes." I said. "By Conan Doyle's Law, it's all that's remains, therefore it must be the truth."

I continued: "Myron and I have been here for the last hour looking at videotape. It's University Hospital ambulance number 375. There's a lot more to it, but for now we've got to try to find it and pray that the rifle was spirited out on that ambulance and that it might still be there. Paulina, call in for that warrant now, say probable cause is video evidence that I shall provide forthwith. Britt, call out your Campus Police and send them to the hospital for a search. You have jurisdiction, obviously."

"You're officially invited to the party, and if anyone whines about jurisdiction, just send them right along to me.... and let me borrow your crowbar." Britt Maxwell said, her eyes twinkling.

"No problem." I replied. "Hugh, Officer Pete Feeley has rounded up ten night shift uniformed officers. Take them to the hospital now, fuck the jurisdiction issues, and start looking for that ambulance, but you can't search it until Paulina says she has the warrant in hand. Tanya, did you call up a Crime Lab team?"

"Sure did, and the bomb-and-gunpowder-sniffing dog, Sergeant Seymour." Tanya replied.

"Excellent. Cindy, Teresa, we're going to go try and find two orderlies that were in that ambulance when it left. Some of Hugh's uniformed men can help once the ambulance is found. Myron has stills of their faces from the video that he has sent to our mobile phones."

"No." said the Chief, stopping everyone for a second. He pointed at me. "YOU stay right here for a moment. You stay here too, Agent Muscone. The rest of you get out there and kick ass."

Everyone scrambled to leave except Paulina, who was sitting in her chair and calling the Court for the warrant. Myron, Captain Malone, and Jack Muscone also remained.

"Okay, explain everything to me from the top." Chief Griswold said.

"Okay, but first: Myron and I have been here for an hour, and he put together this video for me. Myron, send a copy to Paulina to forward to the judge for the warrant. Then play it here on the screen in this room."

Myron complied, and the video was from one of the front rows, slightly to the right of Oldeeds and facing Mrs. Oldeeds and the seated guests on the stage.

"Okay," I said, as Paulina, the Chief and Jack Muscone watched with great interest. "You can see right here where Oldeeds is being shot in the chest. There's the sudden bloodstain on his shirt... he looks left, at his wife.... takes the second shot to the head..." Paulina grimaced at the sight.

"Okay, there's Ikea catching Oldeeds and easing him to the floor... there's the doctor that came up to try to help.... ah, there it is, now the ambulance is driving up right behind the tent.... we can see right here the number "375", it's a University ambulance and not a Town & County EMS ambulance... we see these two orderlies come up, almost stumble as they stop short, then come over.... they reach down and put Oldeeds on the stretcher, and get him into the ambulance immediately, practically over the doctor's objections... and there they go out of the picture. Fortunately, the video quality was very good."

"Wow." said Jack Muscone. "But... but why do you think the rifle is in the ambulance? Were the shots fired from the ambulance?"

"Just one shot was fired from the RV." I said. "Myron, run file 2."

As the video came up, I explained. "This is a static camera on a pole to the west, or left of the tent, which would be to the stage's right. It doesn't show much of the tent, but it had a great view of the parking lot. Notice the front of the ambulance right behind the RV."

"First, there is fairly clearly no rifle shot from the ambulance. Second, we'll have to enhance the video, the quality was not great so I'd be surprised if we get smoke from the gunfire, but what's important here is that the ambulance is parked next to the RV.... okay, there's a bit of commotion around the edges of the tent, which is when Oldeeds was shot.... okay, here comes the ambulance... notice the unbelievable speed with which it responded!"

"They got a radio call immediately." the Chief said.

"From the reports submitted, which I re-checked," I said, "

no one admits calling for the ambulance.

No one. And it gets better. Myron, show the time-synchronized videos."

Another video came on, a split screen of the static camera and another one inside the tent.

"I believe this time sync is correct, and it shows that the ambulance began moving

before

Oldeeds's head shot." I said. "My opinion at this point is that no one knew enough to call for an ambulance.

It came up of its own accord.

"

"What does that mean?" Jack Muscone said, his eyes showing sheer disbelief.

"I'm thinking that the shooter fired from the RV then bolted to the back of the ambulance, dropping the unfired cartridge in his haste. The fired shell was still in the bolt of the rifle, of course, so the perp did not look around and notice the unfired cartridge."

"But what about the second shot?" Chief Griswold asked, his voice not hiding his inability to fully grasp what he was hearing.

"There

was

no second shot from the RV, Chief." I said. "Now watch as the ambulance moves out

immediately

and is pulling up. I imagine the shooter is concealing the rifle during these few seconds. Out pops two orderlies, likely one of them being the shooter, as the ambulance driver was already behind the wheel... and there they go... they collect Oldeeds and whisk him off."

"I am truly stunned." Paulina said. Was that worship in her dark eyes? "Don, you are amazing."

I smiled. "There's more. Let's watch the first video again, shall we?" Myron started it up, the one from inside the tent. "Notice that the ambulance pulls up to the back of the tent, and that's where the exit is, so they were lining up and could get no closer.

"But watch the orderlies! They go towards the

side

of the tent, as if they were going to go around it.... they literally stumble and change direction, moving back to their right and sideways to the stage, where they look at each other... hesitate... then finally pick up Oldeeds and take him out of there. So... where were they originally going?"

They had no clue, so I said "Myron?"

"They were going to pick up

your

dead body, Don." he said.

"Yep." I confirmed. "Guys, this proves the RV shooter was gunning for me, not Oldeeds. The shooter fired, saw me fall, thought he'd gotten me. He and his partners drive the ambulance up and see a commotion, but they're planning to go get

my

carcass. They literally stumble onto Oldeeds, and they're stunned to find another body. Perhaps they know by now that I'm alive, but until they got to the tent...

they had no idea that Jonas Oldeeds had also been shot.

Jack Muscone's small eyes were staring lasers at me. "Brother," he said, "if you had lived 400 years ago, they would be burning your ass at the stake right now."

"Who knows, maybe they did." I replied. Muscone still stared at me. Captain Malone just shook his head.

"You figured all of that out in less than two hours?" Muscone said, still stunned.

"Well, once I realized that there

had

been a vehicle that left the grounds and that the ambulance was that vehicle, everything else was easy to find. As James Clavell wrote in his book

Sho-gun

, "it is easy to find the solution, once given the answer."

"Get your butt down to the hospital." Chief Griswold ordered, simply unable to articulate any further words. Malone, Patterson and Muscone were likewise silent with shock, and admiration.

Part 13 - Arrests

As the quality of light began getting better in the dawn, I arrived with Myron in tow at University Hospital. As expected, the Hospital Administrator complained about jurisdiction until University Police Commissioner and Provost Marshal Dexter Robinson showed up and threatened to arrest the Administrator if she continued to obstruct justice. Britt had called him "just in case", and rightly so.

"We found 375 in the back parking lot with other ambulances." Britt told me as I walked up. "The dog sniffed all of them, and got excited in 375. He found a concealed panel on the left side of the ambulance, but it was empty."

I saw the dog in the distance with his handler and walked over. I loved meeting the K-9 sergeants. "Hi, who is this?" I asked the handler.

"Sergeant Seymour, sir." the handler said. "He found a hiding place, but no rifle, I'm afraid." Sergeant Seymour was a German Shepherd, healthy and happy to be getting attention. He was our K-9 Corps' youngest dog.

"That's okay." I said. "Can I give him a treat?"

"Sure." the handler said, giving me a treat to give to Sergeant Seymour.

"Hi, Seymour!" I said, giving him the treat and patting his head. "You did a great job today, Seymour! You're a great dog!" Sergeant Seymour panted happily, his tail wagging mightily.

As I petted Seymour, I gave orders: "Myron, secure the ambulance's GPS, then get Britt's people to help and secure the radio transmissions to and from this ambulance on Saturday." I'd hardly finished as I watched Myron literally run towards the ambulance in question.

"Why the GPS and radio logs?" Britt asked.

"I suspect this vehicle left and went somewhere else after they brought Oldeeds in on it." I said. "They had to get rid of the rifle. They probably did so while taking it to be washed down."

"The Hospital has a contract with the County Maintenance facility, which is on the east side of the mountain ridge, near the cemetery." Britt said. If one went east, as towards the City, the Maintenance facility was just off the main highway. The cemetery was on a hill further southeast.

"We're lucky, Britt." I said. "I was worried that it was a fake ambulance and would have disappeared by now."

"No, the Hospital Staff would've immediately noticed that and called the police." Britt said. "They had a scandal about that some years ago, when a private company ambulance tried to charge the Hospital for patients that were never delivered. They've been very watchful and keep meticulous records now. No. 375 was logged in at 12:07pm, right after the shooting."

Just then Teresa Croyle walked up. "You called me?" she said shortly.

"Yes." I said. "Call Steven Ikea and bring him down. When you find the perps, let him personally make the arrests."

Teresa looked shocked, but got her cellphone out as she walked away towards the Hospital.

"Are you kidding?" Britt said.

"The man's beloved idol died in his arms." I said. That did not mollify Britt Maxwell, who continued to stare at me. But she asked nothing more.

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

At 7:30am I received some incredibly good news. The two orderlies had been arrested, one at the Hospital, another in his University dorm room, and the driver had been apprehended at his home. They all had been brought in and were being processed under freshly printed arrest warrants.

To say that the Headquarters was buzzing would be an understatement; word of my discovery followed by the arrests had spread like wildfire among the Force... and outside of it also.

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" the redhead reporter blared precisely at 7:00am. "Channel Two News is following the fast breaking story that arrests are being made in the murder of world-renowned minister Jonas Oldeeds!"

"We are just learning that search warrants as well as arrest warrants were issued and that an ambulance, believed to be the one that transported the late Rev. Oldeeds to the hospital, was impounded and is being searched by State and local crime lab teams. The search on University property is being headed by Campus Police Lieutenant Brittany Maxwell, and University Police Commissioner Dexter Robinson is also on the scene and is being apprised of the situation. Channel Two News will bring you any new fast breaking developments as they occur..."

The SBI, including Dick Ferrell, had stormed in moments later, and tried to take custody of the arrested suspects, but we were having none of that. Steven Ikea actually stood up to them and said that they were his busts (ah! good idea on my part to let him make the arrests,

n'est pas?

).

Then Britt Maxwell backed up Ikea by "suggesting" to Ferrell that he leave... and Cindy Ross was right behind her and extremely eager to start some trouble. Agent Carter Fischer was openly stunned at what had transpired in the last few hours, and as it sank in that we had succeeded where the SBI had utterly failed, the looks I received from him and other SBI agents at Headquarters would've been fatal if looks could kill.

I retreated to the empty office next to Paulina Patterson's, hiding away and letting all the processing and paperwork happen, mentally preparing for the questions I was going to ask the perps as I struggled to put the full picture of these events together. The door opened and Paulina Patterson walked in as I stared out the window.

"So," Paulina said, sitting in a chair on the other side of the desk, "why did these guys try to kill you? Is this your bad nephew at work again?"

"That's what I'm thinking about now." I said. "If it's what I think it is, we might have gotten Ned's moles in the Hospital. But the problem is... I'm not sure Ned just spontaneously did this...."

I felt as much as heard Paulina get out of her chair and come around to my side of the desk. She sat her gorgeous ass on the edge of the desk, "inappropriately" close to me. She was wearing a gray sweater and gray slacks and high heel gray pumps. Out of the corner of my eye I admired her shapely, pretty brown feet in the high heel pumps.

"That was an incredibly impressive thing you did this morning." Paulina said, her voice husky and warm. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Thanks." I said, looking up at her face. She was incredibly beautiful, and I felt my loins stirring not only at the physical sensations of her nearby, but of the intense sexual chemistry that was forming as our eyes locked.

It only lasted a few seconds, then Paulina stood up. "I'll see you in Interrogation-1." she said as she let her hand caress the back of my neck and my shoulder before turning away and leaving.

"Be there in a minute." I replied, still feeling the heat of that moment deep inside me.

Part 14 - The Interrogation

It was 1:30pm. All three suspects had immediately asked for lawyers upon being read their considerable rights, and early questioning had proved fruitless.

The driver was an older man, had white hair and a white beard, could be Santa Claus during Christmas festivities, and had not said a word except that he wanted a lawyer.

I immediately recognized one of the orderlies as "Skinny Beard" from the Barry Bounel raid during the Case of The Murdered Lovers, the guy who'd been sexually servicing Bounel when we raided his dorm room and recovered Steven Ikea's stolen gun. He was weak; I knew he would break quickly.

It was the last man that interested me. His name was "Gruff" for his raspy voice. His hair was cut short into a flat-top crew-cut, and his hair was white, dyed white as he was only in his late 30s or early 40s. He was short and slender. He was believed to be a homosexual, but more importantly he was regarded as being near-psychotic, though he'd passed every psychological test and was cleared to work at the Hospital.

I'd been reading up on him and trying to trace his hospital movements over the last several months. When I had finished my research, I was sure that we had just placed under arrest the "mole" that had been feeding my nephew Ned information from the hospital.

So here I was at 1:30pm, ready for mental and verbal battle. I entered Interrogation-2 alone, knowing that eyes were watching us through the one-way mirror and that we were being recorded.

Gruff was sitting at the table, his hands handcuffed in front of him. He had asked to speak to me, and me alone, and he had agreed to talk to me without his lawyer present, even signing the written waiver presented to him by Paulina.

"Well, well, well." Gruff said. "You're a lucky man, Detective Don. May I call you Don?" His voice was full of sarcasm.

"Whatever." I said. "It wasn't luck that you didn't kill me with that shot."

"I was talking about figuring us out." Gruff said. "But you have no idea how lucky you've been this last year." Gruff was playing psychological games with me, I noted. Nothing I couldn't handle, but why was he bothering?

"So, do you know this man, Gruff?" I asked, showing him the photo of Ned on my cell phone.

"Brother, you know I do." he said, and I could tell that the psychotic edge was showing up. "And you know I'm not going to say anything about that man. I don't want to end up shredded into little pieces. That is one fucked. up. dude. Just like you are, brother. It runs in the family, don't it?"

"What about the driver and the other orderly in the ambulance?" I asked. "They with him, also?

"Naw, the young guy is hooked on drugs, he has to be a male prostitute just to get his fixes. Your family man forgave him ten percent of his debt to ride in the ambulance with me and help pick up the body... and it was supposed to be your fucking body, Uncle Donald."