Earnest Pace, because murder is bad for business

Chapter 3

The crowd pushed in closer than they had all day. Some sat on the lunch table stools right in front of the instrument of their choice like it was musical buffet time. Others angled to the corners to keep an eye on the competition, or lack thereof. The drone of the auction chant carried on.

Standing in a small group off to one side, keeping to themselves, was a handful of law enforcement officers in and out of uniform. They were watching the auction for the curiosity of it, taking a break from the routine that marked their days. The same building designated for the school district surplus was also home to the task force investigating an ever growing string of serial murders. The building had been divided right down the middle with a chain link fence installed incongruously across the front hallway just past the principal's office. The offices and a half dozen class rooms had been outfitted for the purpose. The annex was the only building available on short notice to handle the dozens of officers, detectives and support staff that had been marshalled to answer the public outcry for justice.

The Matron Murders is what the news had taken to calling it. It had only been front page news for a few months but once the dots started getting connected detectives working backward had realized they had been going on for over a year. The profile of the victim had a lot to do with it because the killer preyed on those who had been victimized so long already that when death came it was not noticeably different than life. The certain count was up to 17 at that point. All were women well past youth and beauty. All had lead long lives of just surviving abuse and outlasting their abusers. Most had no one by the time the end came, so no one reported their deaths as suspicious. On the day they disappeared most were only barely noticed. On the day they reappeared as a body in the woods most were thought to have taken their own lives or maybe just failed to thrive of natural horrible causes. Several bore such obvious scars of abuse that the coroner's office just missed the cause of death. Others were originally correctly labeled as suspicious deaths but nothing more.

Eventually it was the coroner's office though that saw the pattern. All died of acute alcohol and barbiturate drug overdose. The despair writ plain on their bodies was the red herring that fooled many into thinking they had taken their own lives. It was drug toxicology that revealed the impossible identical pattern in each death. All had been intoxicated with the same Bueno Grande brand of tequila and all had overdosed on the same prescription sleeping pills.

Once it was understood and revealed the public clamor was incessant. "These are our mothers and grandmothers" politicians trumpeted as the outsiders tried to besmirch the incumbents in the latest election cycle. "These women each gave life to someone who turned their back on them. We owe it to them to bring their killer to answer."

Into the room walked another detective of tall ramrod bearing. He still wore his hair in a USMC regulation brush cut although now it was all grey rather than the jet black it was the first time that cut was applied. He wore the dark slacks and a sports coat that seemed to have been issued from the same dispensary to all of them but only he added ever shiny patent leather shoes and a name tag on the pocket. With his pressed white dress shirts he managed to achieve a look more Mormon missionary than police lieutenant in charge of the biggest task force in state history.

Joining the group he at once acknowledged their interest with a bob of his chin and then sent them back to work with a pointed glance at the door. Break time was over he clearly let them know in the way that only a well respected and understood team leader can do. As they went back to their side of the building though Lieutenant Edwin Sorenson stayed to watch the auction.

Sorenson was no stranger to auctions. He had been to many Earnest Pace sales and knew the man well. In the grudging way that so many did he respected Earnest's hardcore, take no prisoners attitude while at the same time knowing that after shaking hands with the guy he better count his fingers. Lieutenant Sorenson had been to several estate auctions over the years chasing his one private passion, antique clocks.

Sorenson looked on from near the back as the auction sale neared its zenith with Earnest firmly in charge. Soon the vulnerable looking bowed instruments were to come up.

"Lift em up high boys so everyone can see what we're selling" he said as the violas came up for bid. Two men held up 7 violas by the necks like they were offering so many dead rabbits at a farmers market. "Buyers choice, high bidder take your pick. Who'll start me off?"

Hands went in the air fast with fingers thrust upward. Looking at none in particular Earnest called out a number he thought would be a good place to roll up from. "I've got you in the back at one hundred, who'll be two, two is bid and now three, three and four, four and now five hundred dollars for first pick. Better bid again or he might take em all. Four fifty is bid and now five, five, five." So it went finally stopping at $1700 for first choice with the buyer taking two. Earnest was smiling now because he knew his commission on today's sale was going to top any school district sale he had ever held.

While the first bidder made his selection he said on the mic "Good to see you lieutenant Sorenson" which won him a nod from the man. And then without skipping a beat he looked back to the underbidder and said "He's got his, you were my back up bidder, I have to let you get next pick before I ask the rest of the room." The unspoken threat of renewed competition cause the man to make a hasty choice of the remaining violas. "Anyone else?" Earnest polled the crowd. "This time put em all together in one lot for one money" he said.

"No" shouted three folks in the crowd including a man with his daughter who looked to be a bookish 12 or 13 year old And thus confirmed by demand Earnest cranked up the same process again, achieving the same prices from the folks who had expected a better deal for having waited to third fourth and fifth choice.

It was like that all the way through. Pianos that would not bring a hundred bucks at an estate sale brought five hundred from this heated crowd. Things that normally might not find a buyer at all would just be lumped in with the next lot. A broken xylophone with a couple of bells missing, sold to spirited competition. There were no lonely old maids at this sale. A new home was found for all.

And then it was that all the ladies of the string section were sold. All the full figured string basses and the petite curved violins had new owners. It was time to make some real money. It was time to find them new partners.

"Boy's" he said to his floor staff "I have had a lot of interest in these bows. I don't know much about them but folks have been very particular about them so here is what we are gonna do. I want you to hold up just one at a time and we are gonna sell it. Then I want you to hand it to the winning bidder directly. Now everyone I am putting you on the honor system and we have Leutenant Sorenson of the task force watching so be sure to pay your bill or the county will know right where to find you" he said the last with a grin and a wink to Sorenson. "But really folks, these all look just the same to me and we wouldn't want any mix ups. Here we go!"

The bows were of far superior quality to the instruments. There we half a dozen men in the crowd who now became completely focused on the auctioneer and one another. This was the main event, the shootout at the ok corral. Everyone else in the room could feel the tension and everything got very quiet.

"Start me out boys." Earnest flashed a devilish smile that never touched his eyes. "All I know is I have heard that these bows are all by good makers and from wood that doesn't exist any more since the trees are all extinct. That's gotta make em worth something"

The first bow started at five hundred dollars and went in one hundred dollar licks all the way to seventy seven hundred. And that was the cheapest of the 18 bows sold that afternoon. Each got a full hearing of two or three minutes rather than the thirty seconds allotted things up to that point. By the time it was finished the bows had funded a couple of teacher's salaries for the year and made a very handsome commission for the auctioneer. The buyers were tight lipped about their feelings but all were dealers who routinely made handsome profits through their knowledge and connections in the world of symphony music. Not a single one of them put down a bow once handed them but rather cradled them like newborns in the crowd.

"Thank you and don't forget to pay your invoices before you leave today" he announced. "We'll see you all next time."

Earnest climbed down from the podium still energized by the thought that today's sale had unexpectedly hit six figures and he would be able to catch up on bills and back taxes for the first time in many months. He had a sincere smile for the first time today as he started working the crowd, chatting with familiar faces and congratulating notable buyers on their winnings. Looking over the line of buyers waiting to pay the cashier he saw Sorenson's broad back as he walked out the main doors.

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