Murder! Too Close To Home

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

February 16, 1997

Allen had immediately called Frank and I into his office the next morning. We had by that time of course both heard what had happened and were chomping at the bit to get working on the murders. Allen had apparently been up all night, exhibiting pronounced bags under his eyes even as he exuded the substantial energy typical of his term as prosecutor.

"I'm sure you guys have heard about the murders last night," he started. "I've had Ellen compile a list of the clues collected by the Sheriff's department up to this point, which are few."

Handing us both a single sheet of paper each, I was taken aback by just how little in the way of information was listed.

"Last night," he summarized, "one Abby and Tyler Lettermen, man and wife, were shot in their own car west of town. Background checks on the couple reveal no previous criminal activity or trouble. It looks like it could be some sort of pre-planned, execution style murder. We are going on the assumption for now that the victims were random."

"We think the perp used a stolen car as a decoy to lure the couple into helping a broken down motorist. He or she apparently got in the back seat, pulled out a gun, and shot them point blank in the back of the head. With the rain we had last night, we were lucky the K9 unit could find anything at all, but they did pick up the scent of someone starting at the vivtims'car and going about thirty feet west."

"We also found an abandoned car this morning about five miles away on Langdon Creek Road. The K9 units returned and they again found a scent, once again tracking another thirty or forty feet where the scent again disappeared. Apparently another vehicle was stashed there, although we have no idea what it was. The gravel road yielded no tire treads."

"We're at a dead end on that for now," Allen continued, "And there were no hair, fibers or prints left in the car. The doer must have been wearing gloves and a hat of some sort. Also, there were no shell casings to test, either he policed the brass or a revolver was used. The size of the holes indicates that it was probably a .357, we'll know more when we find the slugs."

"There were only two real clues of any merit, but they aren't much. There was a minute amount of soil in the back of the victims' car, which was otherwise spotless, and we have sent that off to the state to analyze."

Turning to the evidence list in the back of the file, he handed us another sheet of paper.

"The other piece of evidence is copied there."

Looking at the second sheet, I found what appeared to be a copy of a business card. The single word in block letters in my mind immediately indicated an amateur's attempt at attention. A professional wouldn't be bragging about his identity.

"Ghost," I read out loud, not liking the direction the investigation was already taking. A perp throwing out a name to us like this showed bravado...or stupidity. Neither one were a good thing where peoples lives were at stake.

"What will be our part in the investigation?" I asked, knowing the Sheriff's department usually took the lead. Allen rose from his chair, walking a few steps to stand in front of the window with his back now toward us.

"I'll be activating the new Major Crimes Taskforce for this case. As you know, we've been working out the logistics of it for the last six months. We're ready now, and this is exactly the type of case we have set this up for. We'll have the best of the available talent working together as one unit, an impressive amount of talent. Gabriel, you'll be taking the lead with the unit, handle the day to day decisions."

Thanks I thought, but kept my thoughts to myself.

The Major crimes taskforce had been one of the hallmark points of action for Allen Vanguard's second run for office. The main strength of the idea was having people from both of the policing agencies in the county as well as investigators from the prosecutor's office working together on larger or more serious crimes, all overseen by Allen himself.

Negotiating with the other agencies had turned out to be the major hindrance to completing the task force, as each in turn dug in their heels at what they saw as an intrusion on their turf. Allen being no slouch when it comes to digging in when he thinks something is right, finally overcame their objections with sound reasoning and assurances that he wasn't trying to replace their authority.

"We are of course hoping something breaks soon," Allen continued as he turned from the window. "We are concerned with the public's reaction to these murders, so we have opted to keep the facts close to our vest for now. So far we have been able to keep this out of the news, releasing it as a two-car crash with fatalities from out of town. As of now that story is holding. I'm concerned that this may be the start of something, although maybe I'm just being paranoid."

"It definitely has the earmarks of someone with a plan," I said, "It seems too exact for someone on a lark. Dropping that card in the car like that...someone is trying to make a name for himself. Maybe we should check other departments in the tri-state, see if the word "Ghost" has ever come up in another murder, or any crime for that matter?"

Allen walked back to his desk, making a note on his ever-present file card. Looking up at Frank, he asked if he could get on that right away. Frank nodded, always ready to dig into a clue.

We disbanded and headed toward our individual desks to get a start on the case.

Although murder is never a good thing to have on the table, I did not like the sound of this particular one at all.