It is Wednesday Story Day again, and last week we got a little hint of Larry’s fears regarding the possible red tape that might be involved with the local police. It didn’t take long for the sergeant to ask questions regarding who shot first.  So Larry is off to the hospital to have his wound attended to, and Andrew is driving to meet him there. Let’s go into the ER where Larry is waiting for an attendant. Andrew was pretty quick in getting there as well.

 

“you pick up my ID and gun?”

“The sergeant kept the gun. I asked him, ‘why.’ And all I got was some mumbled thing about evidence. Here’s your ID.”

“Damn, Andrew. I knew these locals were going to be pissed about shooting some of their constituents.”

“Maybe those thugs were from out of town.”

“Yeah, let’s hope so.”

“Anyone see you yet?”

“One of the nurses says the Doc will be here shortly.”

“You have stopped bleeding, which is good.”

“You better not be caught looking at my wound. They might charge you with practicing medicine without a license in this state.”

“That’s funny. Who’s this guy coming up the hall?”

“A suit? Not the doctor, I’m sure. Looks like someone from the DA’s office.”

“Excuse me, gentlemen. Would one of you be Larry Dunfee?”

“Yeah, that’s me. The one with the bullet hole in the shoulder.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Well, I have been better, Mr. uh. I don’t believe I got your name.”

“My apologies. Spenser Taggett, Assistant District Attorney for Reno. Here’s my card.”

“Nice to meet you.  What can I do for you?”

“I was contacted by the Reno police and decided I would look into this case myself. You know professional courtesy.”

“I can appreciate that, thank you. By ‘case,’ I wonder what you mean?”

“Well, Mr. Dunfee. Two of Reno’s citizens have been murdered, and the police believe you are the shooter. We need to do an investigation to determine if your lethal force was justified.”

“Reno huh. These guys weren’t from out of town?”

“We have yet to determine their specific living arrangements. They both hold Nevada driver’s licenses with a Reno address.”

“Same address?”

“Yes, why?”

“I’ll bet the licenses are counterfeit.”

“Yeah worth looking in to.”

“Have you contacted the chief in Boston?”

“No, not yet. I wanted to get some information from you first.”

“Okay. What do you need?”

“Tell me why you shot those guys?”

“They were trying to kill Andrew and me.”

“How do you know?”

“This wound gave me a heads up.”

“You sure it was the same guys trying to kill you?”

“What do you mean?”

“The report says you were shot on the highway and then got down to the access road. How were you sure the guys were the same?”

“The SUV was the same and coming at us like a freight train.”

“We do know that these guys work for a construction contracting company with no priors or arrest record.”

“You check on the owner of the company?”

“Yes. The SUV is registered to Worldwide Enterprises.”

“Check into who owns the company. I’ll bet it doesn’t exist.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I believe these were guns for hire, and the construction company thing is a front.”

“Interesting. Okay, I’ll take that under advisement.”

“You gonna charge me?”

“Not at this time, Mr. Dunfee. If I get additional information that may change. For now, I’m going to ask you to stay in the neighborhood. I’m listing this as possible self-defense, but if I have reason to change it, I don’t want to try and find you.”

“How long do you think?”

“A week ought to do it. “

“Can we go to South Lake Tahoe?”

“Yes. I would appreciate a call with your temporary location and check-in once a day.”

“No problem. How about my weapon.”

“We would like to keep it for you until you are completely cleared.”

“Fair enough.”

“Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Dunfee. Your attitude goes a long way in making me want to believe your story.”

“Thank you, Mr. Taggett. I think you’ll find my story to be the truth.”

“I must admit the bullet wound does go a long way. What does the doctor say?”

“Haven’t seen him yet.”

“I’m going to need a copy of his report just so you know. He’s going to ask you to sign a waiver for that.”

“No problem.”

“Okay, then. I hope you heal fast. We’ll be in touch.”

“Want my phone number.”

“I have it from the police report.”

“Okay, then. I look forward to your final decision.”

“Goodbye, Mr. Dunfee.”

 

 

 

 

It is Wednesday Story Day again, and last week an SUV was barreling down on Larry and Andrew who just slid down a hill to the freeway access road. We were there when Larry yelled at Andrew to take cover in a ditch. He then opened the door of the car and used it to steady his aim. We left when Larry fired six rounds from his 9mm Glock 17 at the SUV. We better get back to see how effective Larry’s Last Stand was in stopping the vehicle.

“Holy shit, Larry.”
“Not sure about the holy part. Looks like these guys won’t be coming after us for a while.”
“I didn’t see the whole thing. Did I hear right? Did that big ole SUV flip a couple of times before ending up on its side?”
“Yeah. Lucky for me too. Had it kept coming, I would be part of it now. Stay back, Andrew. Those two guys look like they have had it, but you never know.”
“How many shots did you take.”
“Not sure, Andrew. I don’t count. I know I hit both the driver and the passenger before the thing went over.”
“Did you shoot at the tires and give them a blowout?”
“Not enough time. Besides the way tires are built today, they have some blowout protection. They probably would have run me over before going flat.”
“You going to check them?”
“Yeah. Just trying to get my legs back and make sure there is no fire.”
“Looks pretty quiet except for the steam coming from the front.”
“I must have hit the radiator too. Well, here goes nothing. Stay here. You have your cell?”
“Yes.”
“Give 911 a call. Tell them it’s not an emergency, but we don’t have the local police number. Tell them we are from police from Boston and have a weapon. We believe there are two gun-shot fatalities.”
“Okay. Be careful.”
“Yeah. I’ll talk my way over there. Okay, Larry take an angle of approach that will keep the car between you and the perps. If you can’t see them, they can’t see you. That’s right. Now you are at the back of the vehicle you need to go forward to the front. The driver’s side is up. The two of them should be in a heap in the passenger’s side. Wait I see an arm out the window. Okay, be still my heart. It looks like the driver has his seatbelt on. Makes sense he would still be in the seat. The question, is he alive? Okay, weapon up and ready.  Approach the danger with caution. Shit, I didn’t check the magazine. There should be enough bullets left since I don’t believe I fired that many. Well, no time to check now. Keep going. No sign of movement. Look in the driver’s window. Yikes. What a mess. Must have hit both with the first shots. A couple of automatic weapons in there too. Not going to touch anything. Gotta sit down. No, go back to Andrew and wait for the first responders. The word fatalities will bring them out in droves. Better put my weapon on the hood of the car too. No way do I want to be shot holding my piece.”
“Those guys done for?”
“Yup they both are gone.”
“You sure?”
“Go look if you don’t believe me.”
“No that’s okay, I’ll take your word. What are you doing?”
“I’m putting my gun and ID on the hood of the car.”
“Why?”
“Those guys are going to be coming in hot, and I don’t want them to think I might be worth a couple of shots.”
“Oh. The dispatcher was very nice. She said she understood the situation and would send help.”
“You told her we were cops?”
“Yeah. Told her those guys were trying to kill us.”
“Good thing those guys has some automatic rifles with them.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, normally one asks questions first and then start shooting. I started shooting first and was relieved to see those guns.”
“I never thought of that. They definitely were out to get us.”
“We know that, but let’s just say we are alive because we did not follow protocol. Since you were down in that ditch leave the description of the event to me.”
“Yeah of course. You seem worried.”
“The cop in me is asking the question, ‘What makes you think the occupants of that SUV were trying to kill you?’ That would be a logical question when trying to determine if lethal force was appropriate.”
“You saw their weapons on the road. You said so.”
“Did you see them?”
“The guys? Yes, I remember saying how ugly they were. I don’t remember weapons. No, I was too busy being scared. Besides, I was on the other side of the car.”
“So now you see why I’m glad there are weapons in that SUV. It would only have been my word. I could have imagined the whole thing and killed a couple of delivery men.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Yeah. I know. I made the right choice to save you and I. Protocol would have me wait until they fired first.”
“Sounds stupid to me.”
“in hindsight to me as well. Just let me do the talking.”
“I’ll say I saw the weapons.”
“No lies. Please. Listen, I hear sirens. You have any water? I sure could use some.”
“You better sit down, Larry. You aren’t looking so good.”
“Yeah, I feel a little dizzy.”
“Here lay down. Put your feet up on the running board. You are in shock again. The excitement is over, and your body is telling you to cool it.”
“Yes, this is better. Water?”
“Here you go, Duke.”
“Duke?”
“My hero.”
“Stop.”

 

 

 

It is Wednesday Story Day again, and last week we got a line on a brand-new suspect in the murder of Rafferty. No, it is not a lawyer. It is a banker. Although most of us would like to know who killed Sandusky, it is good to hear we may get to the bottom of the Rafferty incident. As a side note, Craig Boyack mentioned last week that this series had no title. I did ask him if he had an idea and being the talented author that he is he proffered, “Professor Rafferty and the Mysterious Heart Evaporating Whatchamacallit.” I thought his offering to be perfect with one change. Instead of Rafferty, the dead guy we would substitute Andrew the live former ME in the title. Craig agreed, and so we have, “Professor Andrew and the Mysterious Heart Evaporating Whatchamacallit.” Let’s get back to Larry’s office since he was going to check the phone records of Mrs. Rafferty and Ned Dixon to see if they had contact with each other.

 

“So the phone company said it would be a couple of days until we get the records.”

“That’s crap. Larry. We should have access to them online.”

“Yeah, I had to Bogart my way into the supervisor level. I pulled the obstruction of justice card.”

“Good one. Did it work?”

“Yessir. We have the online access codes, but I had to electronically sign that the scope of the investigation only covered Janice and Ned.”

“Seems fair. Nothing like pushing your nose into where it doesn’t belong.”

“If we were the Feds that wouldn’t be necessary.”

“Well we are not, and in today’s climate I’m grateful for that.”

“Do I detect some political leanings, Andrew?”

“No. Just can’t stand the baseness of the level of social dialog that is represented by Washington is all.”

“Okay. Here we are. I have Janice’s call records for the last six months. Let me do a search with Ned’s phone number to see if there are any matches.”

“That is a slick program.”

“What? I just took Janice’s cell records and exported them to Excel and am now doing a search.”

“Clever guy you are Larry.”

“Shit. Er, excuse me. There are no matches.”

“That is damn typical. Could we have an easy time with anything? Hell no.”

“Let me go the other way with Ned’s records.”

“Worth a try. What number are you using for Ned?”

“His office number.”

“Come on Larry no one in their right mind would call from the office. We need his cell number.”

“I have that right here.”

“Go back to Janice’s records and search incoming by Ned’s cell number.”

“Gotcha, Andrew. You are like a professor you know that?”

“Anything?”

“Well lookie here. Two hits.”

“Let me see. Humm the first the night before Rafferty hit the tree.”

“The second two days after. Look at this Andrew. The calls were less than thirty seconds both times.”

“Looks like not much talk. Maybe just confirming events.”

“Let’s do a run on Ned’s number and see if Janice made any more calls to him.”

“Could be interesting.”

“Well, there are no matches.”

“Just tells me that maybe they had a meeting or two and didn’t do much on the phone. We do know they made contact with each other by these calls and that is one thing. We are going to need some advanced sleuthing to determine if they met.”

“Don’t you think they will meet again?”

“I’ll bet they will wait until things cool down.”

“Just a hunch but don’t you think they would do any meeting out-of-town?”

“Good point. Gives us an opportunity to check airline reservations.”

“Man, this will be like finding a leopard in a Jason Pollock painting.”

“You amaze me, Larry. The fact you even know what a Jason Pollock is blows me away.”

“I lived with Gloria. She taught me a lot.”

“You search. I’ll get us some coffee.”

“Make mine a Latte.”

“Ha ha ha. You got it.”

It’s Wednesday Story Day again, and last we were given a hint by Gloria that more or less confused me. I don’t know about you, but I wish she would just spit out who killed Rafferty. Well too bad for me she just didn’t. Instead, she came up with some kind of insect parable that further confounded the issue. Let’s join Larry and Andrew as they try to figure out what Gloria said.

 

“So, she basically told us none of our suspects killed Rafferty.”

“I don’t know, Andrew but sometimes you amaze me with your observations.”

“What I’m just trying to help.”

“Give me some help on the insect thing.”

“She was not talking about an insect. She was saying the person we are looking for is someone we would not suspect due to his or her lack of involvement in the case.”

“Ah. So my interpretation regarding someone little as having no power is really someone not involved in the case.”

“Rafferty case. Not necessarily in the Sandusky case.”

“So it could be someone who Knew Sandusky but seemingly not involved with Rafferty.”

“Bingo.”

“If I think of everyone involved one way or another in the Sandusky and Rafferty case there is only one name that jumps out as having no involvement with Rafferty.”

“Who is that?”

“Ned Dixon, the bank manager.”

“Ned Dixon? How could he be involved?”

“Think about it. Had Louis been able to prove the machine in that is to say Rafferty signed the paper saying it was good to go.”

“Yes?”

“There would be no bankrupt company.”

“How’s that help Dixon?”

“Remember when Dixon told us he authorized the payments on the loan to stop.”

“Yeah, that was six months ago.”

“He said Louis was working for Cortez but never collected on the development funds for which Louis had a signed contract.”

“So what would have happened if the contract was honored?”

“I guess the company would prosper.”

“Right, and where would that leave Dixon?”

“He would not be able to sell the company.”

“And not pocket the loan payback amount.”

“Wait. Dixon is a trustee along with the bank.”

“You believe that? I think he is skimming money off of Sandusky’s trust. He told us it was worth fifteen million. How easy would it be to take some for himself? If the company was going strong, there would be no sale and no opportunity to skim.”

“Still seems like a risk for a banker. He doesn’t seem like the skimming type.”

“Well, we need to make the connection to Rafferty.”

“That’s a no brainer if what you are thinking is true.”

“Talk to me.”

“He wanted Rafferty to falsify the engineering study to say the machine wasn’t working.”

“I thought Cortez did that.”

“So says Mrs. Rafferty.”

“Humm. She did say her husband said, Cortez. Why would she lie.”

“To cover for someone else.”

“Like Dixon?”

“OMG. I see where you are going. I wonder if they ever talked or knew each other.”

“We need the phone records of Dixon and Janice Rafferty.”

“Damn.”