A Murder in Mayberry

Part 4/3) A Visit to Agent Richard Long

It was a miracle - a miracle that Agent Richard Long was still living. Not because of his age, but because of being shot twice in the line of duty. He was eighty-eight years old and still living in his own home in Cary, North Carolina, eleven miles from the FBI field office in Raleigh where he used to work. He retired twenty years ago but had something in common with the Wild Bunch. He was still a viable resource for other officers who sought his advice on missing persons cases after he retired. Not so many visited these days, but about once a year a detective or a reporter following up on a cold case would come around and want to hear his thoughts on the evidence.

Agent Long wrote a manual in the 1970's on evidence collection that was still used today to teach rookie officers. One of his lesser known cases publicly was one early in his career and one he never solved - the abduction of a baby who was kept ten days and returned. Though he was revered in the police community, many of his peers thought he got this case wrong. They thought the babysitter was the kidnapper.

"She was beautiful, that is why," said Agent Long to Izito. "Your mother was beautiful, and people thought she bewitched me."

"Did she?" asked Shiela who used bewitchment herself more than once when she had been in trouble.

He paused before answering, mostly to appreciate a pretty lady, and looked directly at Shiela. "Yes, I was bewitched - by her beauty and character and honesty and sense of complete pureness. That woman did not have it in her to harm another human being, much less a baby. And besides, I was happily married, and though Naomi had a child, she was not attracted to me or any other man. She was a lesbian."

"What?" said Izito. He was stupefied.

An awkward silence followed, finally broken by Agent Long. "I'm sorry son. I did not mean to upset you. I thought you knew. Though in those days, and even in these days, this is not information people always volunteer. Privacy is important to some people. I am sorry again if I revealed information to you that is upsetting."

"No problem, I'm not upset," Izito said, though he was. "Just surprised. She never told me."

Agent Long who had not said the wrong thing at the wrong time in a long, long time quickly changed the subject.

"It was the necklace. That's how I knew Naomi was innocent."

"This necklace?" asked Izito handing the necklace to Agent Long.

"Hand me my glasses, there on the table, darling," Agent Long said to Shiela.

"Why sure, honey," said Shiela thinking how handsome Agent Long must have been in his day.

Agent Long examined the necklace closely. "Yes, this is it, though this is not the actual necklace. This is a copy, probably the one I gave her to remind her. To remind her of why I knew, even if no one else did, that she was innocent."

"How did you know?" asked Shiela.

There were many reasons and he began to list them.

"Because it was a necklace found in souvenir and gift shops across the state, and she never went anywhere. Though it was a souvenir, the necklace was not cheap. It was sterling silver. Naomi had limited income, which was why she was babysitting. The necklace was used as a decoy to distract an otherwise diligent, observant, but bored mother during the only free part of her day. Someone who knew her and watched her knew that a package wrapped in tape and multiple boxes would distract her just long enough to steal a baby. If Naomi was lying about it all, that meant the baby was dead. She would never have had the time to create such an elaborate ruse or be able to hide the body. And she didn't, because the baby was returned."