Angels & Imperfections

  Chapter 32

   

  The press was in hog heaven with the Whitaker Trial. We had network and cable television coverage and all the media attention was the talk of the town. Tony and I were temporary pop idols again, the hero cop and his private detective sidekick. We were besieged by reporters and those parasites who love celebrity. I had not missed the attentions of the media over the last few months. I really hated getting it now.

  Christine was overwhelmed with phone calls, most of them from media types or people who just wanted to speak to someone famous. We hired an answering service.

   

  Tony called on my private line and asked me to come see him in his office. He said it was official business, and we could both avoid the media if I came downtown, to the Tyler Police Headquarters. When I walked in to Tony’s partitioned office, he was reading the newspaper. I could see the front page.

  “I swear, if I see my picture in the paper, one more time, I’ll go see a plastic surgeon,” I said.

  “Lot of good that’ll do you, J.W., you’ll end up looking like a comic cartoon of yourself.”

  “I’ve never seen a photo in which I didn’t look pasty and fat. The media makes no attempt at being flattering.” I said.

  “Get over yourself. Of course, if you looked like me, you’d have no cause to whine.”

  He grinned.

  “Tony, if I looked like you, I’d wear a bag over my head.” I observed.

  “J.W., sit down. I’ve got some bad news for you this morning. Did you see the story about the unidentified DB found in an alley by the waste management people, early this morning?”

  “Male, Caucasian, mid-twenties, single gunshot wound to the head?  Yeah, I did. Let me guess, you have identification.”

  He nodded, silently.

  “Is it Edward Nordstrom?”

  “…Yep.”

  “I was afraid of that.”

  Tony nodded again “Now we have a full blown homicide investigation. This should help bring some things into focus, pretty quickly. We have detectives interviewing all of his known associates, including his boss, one Walter Farley, and his boss, Ted Simpson.”

  “Walter brought it on himself.”

  “Whoa there, pardner, we don’t have anything on him, yet.”

  “Not yet, but the guy will make a mistake. He’s a loose cannon. Now, it’s just a matter of time.”

  “J.W., you need to watch your back. Nordstrom’s body was found in the same alley where you shot that guy Hudson. He wasn’t shot there, he was dumped there. Does that send a message?”

  I nodded my silent response.

  “I have a connection with you, J.W., and you’re going to be treated as a suspect because of your connection to the previous shooting in the same alley.  I have to bow out of this investigation. You caught a break though; the preliminary on the body suggests Nordstrom was probably killed late yesterday afternoon, or early in the evening. You didn’t hear that from me, J.W. Oddly enough, as it works out, Christine and I are your alibis for that time. I believe Christine was with you all afternoon, and the three of us had dinner together, after Nordstrom didn’t show up for his appointment. I can’t say anymore. I have to direct you to the detective in charge of this investigation.”

  “OK, I understand. Thanks, Tony, I never intended to complicate your life with this mess. I see what you’re doing for me here, and I appreciate it.”

  “No sweat. The department respects you. They won’t get onto me for treating you with some courtesy, especially while all this media attention is going on. Are you ready to give a statement? Go to the third desk on the right, on your way out. Ask for Detective Reynolds.”

   

  Detective Reynolds was about thirty five. He was at least six feet tall and appeared to be a recovering steroid user. He had the kind of heavy muscling that comes from spending all your free time lifting weights. He also had a pronounced brow and visible acne. His head was shaved, a popular look for cops these days. He had drifted away from the norm though. He sported a dark handlebar moustache, waxed and twisted, with a little soul patch under his lower lip. He had taken off his Jacket and he had his shirt collar unbuttoned with his sleeves rolled up. He wore no tie. The whole effect reminded me of the strong man in the circus. Of course the circus strong man didn’t carry an H&K .40 calibre semi auto, in a shoulder holster.

  “…So, you’re saying you never actually met Nordstrom, but you did speak with him on the phone. On what days and at what times did you speak to him?”

  “I spoke with him only one time, the day before yesterday. He called me. We set an appointment time for 6 PM, yesterday evening. We were supposed to meet in my office. He didn’t show up for the appointment.”

  “Did he say why he wanted to meet with you?”

  “He indicated he wanted a job.”

  “Are you hiring?”

  “I’m often in need of people, usually part time, but these days I have more work piling up than there are people to do it.”

  “Where were you, from say, 4:00 pm until about 8:00 pm, yesterday?”

  “I was in my office from about 2:30, until about 7:00 pm. Then I went out to dinner with friends.”

  “Did anyone see you at your office?

  “My Office Administrator, Christine Valakova, was constantly there. I had appointments there with an insurance company representative at 3 PM, another appointment at 4 pm with the client of an attorney for whom I do some work. Like I said, I was at the office from about 2:30 until about 7:00 pm.”

  “I’ll need the names and contact numbers for those people.”

  “OK, I’ll be happy to provide them.”

  “You said you went out to dinner with friends. Who did you have dinner with?”

  “…With Christine and Tony Escalante. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Tony came to the office at about 5:45.”

  “Detective Lieutenant Escalante?” He asked.

  “That’s right. He and Christine were both with me from about 5:45 until about 8:30 last night. Of course there were a lot of people at the restaurant who saw us together. We seem to attract a lot of attention these days. Oh, I also have the credit card receipt.”

  “OK, no further questions at this time. I expect you’ll be available if we need to ask additional questions?”

  “Yes, I will, Detective Reynolds. I’m not going anywhere.” 

   

  As I was driving back to the office I reflected on how Walter Farley had come into our lives. I started wondering about how he had come into the life of Ted Simpson.

  A few hours later, as my research began to pay off, I figured I knew.

  It seems when Walter had been working for the competing oil company up in Oklahoma, he had engaged in a little corporate espionage. At that time, doing horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing of hard shale was a new use of an old technology. Whoever had the latest scientifically proven technology had a distinct advantage over the competition. Walter was fired for “mishandling” sensitive technical data. He must have shopped that data to Simpson. No wonder Simpson Oil and Gas Company got a technological jump on the industry!

  Now the question was how Walter had approached Simpson, and why Simpson trusted Walter.

  …After all, “Once a thief…”

  Yet, Ted Simpson had told me he valued Walter for his loyalty. Why would Ted Simpson expect Walter to be loyal to him, when he had proven to be treacherous to others? Had Simpson really provided the start-up capital for WWSA? Why would he do that? Had he funded WWSA as a payoff for the stolen technical data? Had he bought Walter’s loyalty? Could Walter be loyal to anyone other than himself?

   

  My phone rang. It was Tony.

  “I just got a call from a friend in the Sheriff’s Department, J.W. You’re not going to believe this. After sitting in the County jail for the last several weeks waiting for his trial date, somebody just now bailed our friend Orlando Cruz, out of jail!”

&nb
sp; “Really, who made his bail?”

  “It was a local attorney. Apparently he’s been retained to represent the little peckerwood.” Tony indicated.

  “That’s odd. I didn’t think he had anybody who would be interested in helping him.”

  “I didn’t either, J.W. And, it’s no small amount of money. His bail was set at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Somebody had to come up with twenty five thousand dollars in cash, to bond him out. It’s even stranger, because he’s been sitting in jail for weeks. His trial is only a couple weeks away. If somebody was going to bail him out, why did they wait all this time to do it?” Tony wondered.

  I thought about it.

  “Thanks Tony. The bad news is he’s on the loose, here in Tyler. The good news is we know about it in time to warn the Murphys.”