Riverside's Perfect Murder

Dimethyl mercury?

Joe went upstairs to the detective's area. He got a few funny stares but nothing he couldn't handle. There was an empty desk, so Joe sat down and began to work on the computer. He had his login from downstairs and was able to sign in with no problems.

Several hours later he headed out. Joe decided this case was going to take a while, and he wanted to get home before Abby threw out his dinner. He would already catch hell for being late, but he had called and explained. Not that it would do any good. He was still in for a tongue lashing.

The next morning he arrived in a sports coat, not his regular uniform. If he was going to play detective, he would look the part. Rita was in her office when he entered the floor. She waved for him to come in. She looked him over and nodded approval. "You look the part, now. What did you find out?"

"Not enough. Mrs. Wilkes has a joint account with Mr. Wilkes, but there is no money. There were many months when they overdrew the account. I believe she may have a safe deposit box but have not been able to verify that. I saw a charge for a small box some months ago. It appears to be at the same office."

"Interesting. Anything else?"

"Yes. There is a two-hundred-thousand-dollar life insurance policy on Mr. Wilkes' life, but only if he gets killed on the job. The beneficiary is Mrs. Wilkes."

That got Rita's attention.

"Yeah, I found that interesting as well. Motive?" Joe said.

"Maybe, but it is sure interesting. I need to revisit Mrs. Wilkes. Do you want to come?"

"No need unless you want me to go with you. I want to go back to the scene and check on a few things. Did Frank manage to get any pictures of the guy off any cameras?"

"Not exactly. The guy is on camera, and we can see he went into the Carson Hotel, but never comes out."

"Staying there?"

"No one saw him or anyone looking like him. We never get a clear picture of his face on any camera. Frank is still looking for any other street cameras that might have an angle. It's like he knew where all the cameras were. Frank says the man never looks like he is in a hurry. It looks like he strolled out of the bank and walked across the bridge. 

"He has a bag of money and a gun when getting on the bridge, but he doesn't when walking into the hotel. We thought about dredging the river but with it so full right now and the current and no proof anything is in the river we can't. Maybe later when the water recedes for what good it would do then."

Rita seemed disgusted with the lack of progress Frank had made.

"I am sure Frank is doing the best he can. The mystery man knew what he was doing." Joe said.

"I know."

"I'll see you later," Joe said as he turned to leave.

"Do good things. Learn something."

Joe turned back. "Yes, Miss Rita." From outside her office, Rita could hear the other detectives repeating, "Yes Miss. Rita," and laughing.

It was going to be a long day, she thought. "Quiet," she yelled — a very long day.

Frank called in around ten that morning. He was out canvassing the neighborhood around the bank. Frank had the best of the low-quality pictures available and was showing them all over. Yes maybe people saw him, no they didn't see where he went, and no they didn't think they had seen him before.

It was shortly after that her phone rang again. James, the medical examiner. "What did you find out?" Rita asked harshly.

"What no 'hello' or at least 'a good morning; this is detective Rita how may I help you'?"

"Go suck an egg. I saw it was you. Now, what do you know?"

"Such a moody, beautiful princess this morning." James always called Rita "beautiful" like it was her name. She could never tell if he meant it or was trying to get under her skin. She always assumed the latter.

"I'll moody your ass if you don't hurry and tell me what you found out."

"OK, OK. Touchy. Your man is dead like I told you at the scene." Rita rolled her eyes. She knew he was coming to the but.

"But the best part is, I was right not that you should be surprised at that; What may astonish you is the victim would have been dead shortly without the headshots. He had been poisoned with mercury."

"Mercury. How?"

"In the bullet that hit his leg. My guess is. It is an organomercury compound. Some very nasty stuff. It's known to have killed the researcher who helped develop it."

"How would someone get ahold of something like that? Could anyone make it?"

"Well maybe. More likely steal it. There are chemical plants which still make the stuff and the amount needed wouldn't even be missed. We are talking about a drop from an eye dropper would be enough. Wicked bad stuff, beautiful."

Rita didn't even mind the comment.

"Another interesting tidbit," he continued. "There was not a trace of the stuff around the three cameras that were shot out. I checked with the forensic team. I wanted to see if anyone encountered any. No one has. There was none in the headshots either. Only the leg wound contained any, and the body already absorbed it by the time he died. As it turns out, the headshots were a mercy killing. Poor bastard was a dead man walking or in this case lying on the floor. He would have died an ugly death."

"Any chance he absorbed the mercury anywhere else?"

"Not likely. We are not talking about an old thermometer or a fluorescent light bulb here. It's a man-made chemical. A neurotoxin of the nastiest kind."

"Thanks, James. Anything else?"

"No beautiful. I thought you would want to know right away."

Rita hung up without saying goodbye. Joe was right. I am ruling this a homicide all the way. She dialed Joe's number.

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The local news report came on at 6:00 as it did every evening. The man was sitting in his small apartment watching intently. Detective Rita Rawlins gave a brief report of the bank incident as well as a plea for help if someone saw anything. The phone number repeatedly moved across the screen. Behind Rita off to the right was a thick dark man, fiftyish, with a sportscoat and an old tie. That must be officer Joe Powell the man thought. They were fishing for bait. Should he give them some or let them flounder a little longer? Maybe just a little he thought and put on his coat to take a short walk.            

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