S R Murders-30

Silent Radio Murders1

By Andy Stephenson and Geri Fitzsimmons2

Chapter thirty3

Cody Vaughn had been disappointed when he missed the Sergeants the previous day. The rookie detective hung in at work until well past five, but they remained closeted with the Captain and so off limits.4

The young man, finally giving up, had gone home to his mom’s sirloin roast and his dad’s lecture about youngsters wasting their youth on too many electronics. He hadn’t been able to escape to his own quarters until nearly eight; so he’d still been online well after midnight. Still, at twenty-five his metabolism could hack it. This was an age when his peers were out until the middle of the night on ‘Play’ dates with boys or romancing the ladies.5

Now, this morning, the knowledge he was bringing only Brad Benson up to speed on a day and night of research, wasn’t fully satisfying. He had hoped to impress Joe Farley. Only Farley had an early court appearance on an unrelated case and then was on time off for the remainder of the day. 6

“If we get this creep,” Cody remarked as he lay out his research papers on the metal table in the interview room, he’d commandeered for his presentation. “I hope I get to testify. I’d like to help fry his ass.” He took care to make neat piles, after all Captain Taylor or one of the lieutenants might pop in. If he’d know Farley wouldn’t be here—he wouldn’t have bothered with the printouts. Since he’d already done so, it was his nature, to proceed properly.7

“I’ll bet this guy marks his kills, ” Cody said as he popped a tab on a fresh Coke. He proudly surveyed his labor when Brad Benson whistled.8

“Hope you didn’t put in for too much overtime?” Benson said. He rubbed his forehead as if anticipating the work he would now have to put in reading the stuff and deciphering how much was overkill. 9

“I left at five thirty.” Cody didn’t admit to the homework he’d done. “If you want I can give you the particulars. I could save you some time by condensing the important stuff.”10

“Go to it.”11

“Right.” Cody tapped the top of one folder and said, “First I located better than a forty thousand City residents that receive their prescriptions of Norvac through the mail. Then about fifteen thousand in Jersey City and another twenty thousand in South Jersey and…”12

“Wait a minute.” Benson raised both hands palm up. “Hold on.”13

“Sounds impossible don’t it?“ Cody grinned and rotated his head of tight ash blond spikes side to side. “It would have been before the computer age. Now I was able to cut those numbers considerably. I was able to narrow it down to fifty names who fit the following criteria. Unless he has someone else ordering the drug? 14

“Male, under fifty cut out about seventy percent of those thousands.15

“Relocated to area in the last two years, brought it down quite a bit too.”16

Benson finished his coffee, called a halt to get another and finished that before Cody finished the first half of his presentation.17

“No matter how clever people are they have some stupid traits. “ Cody lifted his shoulders in a arrogant shrug. “Take using aliases,” was followed by a short laugh, “so many will keep their initials or even part of their birth name and when requiring a number of aliases they will set up a pattern. I discovered ninety seven names that look promising for multiples—different doctors prescribing for a similar patient who ordered from the online companies and had their proscriptions delivered to post office boxes.”18

“They deliver to boxes?”19

“Sure, this is non-narcotic and paid for in advance. A lot of people in the city figure a private box is safer than their apartment mailbox. And apparently our killer is not hampered by a lack of finances, so this seemed a logical search.”20

“Makes sense.” Benson was getting a bit stiff and his empty stomach reminded him he’d forgone breakfast and now it was nearing one. “How many of these possibles have you narrowed to top priority?”21

“Twenty-two.”22

Twenty-two? The kid had shrunken thousands into twenty-two? Benson openingly breathed a sigh of relief. Then said, “Tell you what Cody. That we can handle. We will grab a bit of lunch and start checking on the first couple on your list this afternoon. If nothing comes of it, we can split the rest up and hand the assignments out in the morning. “23

“You want me to go with you?” From the look on his face, Benson could see the idea pleased the young officer.24

“Sure, you might as well do some field work.”25

“Field work?” Sandra May Hart repeated what her companion said. She sat back in the comfortable seat. The fact she was not perched in the bleachers, only admitted to seating just to the left of first base, had been a pleasant surprise. She had a marvelous view of the entire diamond. 26

Desperate to keep their conversation going she remarked, “If you guys are out of the office most of the time, no one can keep track of you—what a dream job.”27

“Sounds great,” Joe Farley agreed then laughed before he admitted, “But it doesn’t exactly work like that. In reality it’s more like being on call twenty-four seven. With the advent of wireless communication you have no place to hide.”28

“They wouldn’t call you here?” The idea that anything else unforeseen should interrupt their first date made her frown. “You’d have to leave in the middle of something?”29

“Not likely. I’m off duty but officially if a situation arose that required my attention, I would get a summons.”30

“That sucks.”31

“Don’t fret. It’s not likely to happen.”32

Then abruptly, for no apparent reason, Sandy gave a short sinister giggle.“What’s so funny?”33

“Don’t ask.” She laughed again. “I was just considering something cruel.” Like getting beeped in the middle of an orgasm, she thought but didn’t expand. 34

Getting Joe in a talking mode hadn’t been the easiest task. He’d replied in short sentences or one-word answers since he picked her up. Apparently this dating attempt was making him uncomfortable. 35

She hadn’t been in the pleasantest mood herself. He’d pissed her off when he called in the afternoon and asked her to meet him out front of her place, because he was going to be running late. She’d gone to all the trouble of fixing an early dinner only to have him call when it was half done. He was tied up and couldn’t make it. No explanation just a quick request like they were only good buddies. Maybe that’s all he wanted? Should she try to put things back the way they were? Could she?36

“I’ve only been at the Stadium once before,” she said, “with Matt and his wife. We climbed so high in the bleachers I figured Heaven was the next step up. Other than that a Little League field was the closest I ever managed to get to an actual game that didn’t come through a camera.”37

“I don’t bother to come myself much anymore unless Neil invites,” Joe admitted. “With my finances right now, we’d be sitting above Matt. It’s a damn shame too. I can remember as a kid coming here with my dad three out of four days when the Yankees were playing at home. We didn’t have the best seats in the house—but we could afford hotdogs.”38

“Hotdogs?” Sandy uttered wistfully.39

“Damn I forgot. We missed dinner didn’t we? We have a half hour before the first pitch. Let’s get something? “40

“We could wait for the vendors?” 41

“Hey, come on we can splurge on something better than hotdogs. Remember Neil paid for the tickets.” He took her arm and pulled her to her feet. “Besides I was only kidding. New York awards its officers top dollar.”42

A pitchers’ duel meant hitters on both sides were neatly shut down and there were only rare moments of excitement. A mere total of three runs, bought with singles and sacrifices, managed to be pushed across the plate. There was not much action provided to draw noise from the crowd. 43

Sandy succumbed to Yankee addiction shortly after she became a waitress at Mallory's. In spite of the thrill of being on a date with Joe, she couldn't help losing herself in the game. One inning quickly turned into another, as one out followed another, while Sandy gobbled hot popcorn, swilled cold beer and squeezed Joe’s arm or pounded his shoulder in response to a play.44

On the diamond, pinch-hitting in the ninth spot; the crafty Giambi drew a walk.45

“Yes!” Sandy clapped and jumped up beside the leaping Joe. The unexpected, two out, two strike hit off the bat of the interloper Johnny Damon hung a moment dancing in the air before it sailed over the wall.46

The stadium exploded with the cheers of the fans as Giambi left second base pounding for third. The speedy Damon was already past first and heading for second. 47

“Slow down,” Joe yelled. “It’s over the wall. You can both stroll home.”48

With the Yankees trailing by one run in the bottom of the ninth, the ex-Boston Red Sox’s two run homer sealed the Yankee victory and assured him of a new place, albeit temporarily, in the hearts of the New York fans. As the centerfielder crossed the plate to be piled on by his new teammates, Joe caught Sandy in a joyful hug and Damon won an enduring place in her heart as her forever-favorite player. 49

When Joe spontaneously kissed her, she promised herself that she’d kill anyone who dared boo Damon again.50

Shortly, the same amount of people who leisurely spent several hours filling the Stadium to capacity sought to evacuate in less than ten minutes. 51

“I was so afraid we were going to lose,” Sandy said as they were shoved along towards the exits. 52

“I think this year may be our year,” said Joe. Using his larger frame to block the shoving bodies, he managed to prevent Sandy from being squashed.53

Once again they were old friends caught up in their excitement as they discussed the play by play of the game. 54

As Joe maneuvered the car toward Sandy’s apartment, she worried how the date would end. Did she expect too much, too fast? Men were supposed to be the pushy ones; she contemplated, ready to dive into bed at a woman’s first sign of acceptance. Why were things so different between them? 55

Neil had confided in her, that because Joe’s work let him glimpse the worst life had to offer, he attempted to limit the people he trusted. A high school sweetheart who eventually became his wife then tossed him out after fifteen years, further limited his desire for future commitment.56

She sighed as they pulled into the unexpected empty parking space in front of her building. Things were looking better, she thought and offered, “Come up for coffee?” She made the offer casual so if Joe didn't want things to progress too far, refusal wouldn’t be that big a deal. 57

“I've got a busy day tomorrow, but I guess I could come up for a minute.”58