Murder! Too Close To Home

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

February 19, 1997

The first full meeting of the Major Crimes Taskforce was scheduled for 9:00 AM, but a short meeting of the minds between Frank, Betty and I to discuss the necklace had occurred at 8:30. Frank went off to contact the family to see if they could shed any light on the subject, and I walked Betty to the meeting room.

All in all I think I definitely got the better of the assignments.

All of us on the task force were of course very familiar with each other, all having worked together on more than one occasion. There was Frank and me, of course, Tucker and Larry from the Sheriff's department, and Betty along with Harry Clausing from the Allenville police department.

Harry was an unimpressive specimen physically, easily being around a hundred pounds overweight. A lieutenant in rank, he had long ago been removed from any type of daily patrolling, the resultant desk duty having culminated in a massive girth.

Harry was not a man to be dismissed easily though, having thirty years on the force under his massive belt. He had seen a little of everything over the years, and had been involved with solving many of the city's cases.

Overall I felt pretty good about the makeup of our group. If we couldn't solve this crime, I felt no one could.

We all busied ourselves with getting coffee, a number of the group bagging one or more of the bagels sitting on a tray as we waited for our leader to arrive.

The door suddenly exploded open as Allen Vanguard entered the room like a whirlwind, carrying with him an arm-load of folders.

Setting down the folders at his favored spot at the head of the table, he worked the room like the politician that he was, greeting everyone individually before heading to the side board to claim his own cup of coffee.

Frank was the last to arrive, showing me a note as he filled his own coffee cup and grabbed a bite out of a bagel before we sat down.

We all took our seats, and I spread my accumulated files and information out in front of me for easy access.

Allen had confided in me a few weeks ago that he was really excited about getting his new taskforce off the ground, a project that he had dreamt of for years. Getting the best of this county's investigators working together as a unit was a no-brainer, and he had been working tirelessly for months to get approval and funding for his dream.

When Allen had seated himself, he thanked all of us as a group for agreeing to work on the taskforce. He then started handing out the file folders to each member of the group.

"Ok people, whatawegot?" Allen started, "Does anyone know anything new on the murder of Abby and Tyler Letterman before we get to these files?"

I nudged Frank, who gave me a pissy look before speaking up.

"A few of us were working on the mark on the neck of Mrs. Letterman, trying to figure out what might have caused it. Betty came up with the idea that maybe she was wearing a necklace that the perp forcibly removed, so I contacted the family this morning to ask if that was a possibility."

"The mother confirmed that Abby always wore the same necklace," Frank continued, "A Celtic cross, given to her by her grandmother when she graduated high school. I asked if they had access to a fax machine and she agreed to find and send a picture of Abby that showed the cross. We should have it in a few hours."

"Ok, good work," Allen stated excitedly, "Anything else new?"

When no one spoke, he continued, "Let's go over the case file once, and then I will leave you guys to your labors. From here on out we will meet every two or three days as the case warrants. Otherwise, consider this your fulltime job for the duration... at least until we find the perpetrator of this crime."

"Ok, let's get started."

We spent the next hour going through the too-thin information, rehashing the evidence, trying for a new angle. Everyone was getting pretty frustrated when there was a knock on the door and Allen's assistant Ellen immediately walked in. Taking a thin file around the table, she leaned over and whispered a few words to the prosecutor before taking her leave.

Allen anxiously opened the file, reading it with a serious expression for what seemed like ten minutes before looking up.

"I have a report on the ballistics of the gun. They have matched it to a Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum revolver, previously used in a robbery in Allenville in December 1994. It was entered into evidence April 1995, and the last known location of the piece since then has been the Sheriff department's evidence locker."

He looked up with disbelief showing on his face, "People, this murder was committed using one of our own guns!"