Chapter XIII

nbeknownst to the others, Len and Melinda had entered the office of Lane Wardlow, and heard the last couple of sentences.  They too had noticed the odor of the house, but with the smell of the animals, didn't think too much of it.

But it was certainly a smell of death.  Not of a rotting ripe corpse, but of a corpse long dead.  The flesh had turned back to the dust in which it lay, but the odor remained.  Hardly susceptible to discovery unless someone knew what that odor was.  But mixed with the odor of the animals, it was hardly detectable.

Russell was going to be a hard catch.  He operated on cash alone, had no mortgages, had no credit cards, and only one not so good vehicle.  The Detectives had their jobs cut out for them.  It was certainly going to be a chore locating him, and with him being officer turned rogue, it would be even more of a chore bringing him down.

There was no doubt whatsoever that he was armed.  And they could only guess at what his danger level would be.  They did correctly figure out that he was either in flight mode and running, or, he was preparing for same.

When they headed to his house, Len and Melinda stopped around the corner and proceeded on foot through the alley behind the house.  The Adams property was fenced at the alley with merely a walk-in gate.  It was a sturdy fence, six feet in height, and fabricated so as not to allow visibility through it.  When they reached the gate which was secured with a latch from the inside, they waved at Sharon and William.

William proceeded to the front of the house and parked then affirmed to Len that the Adams vehicle was in the driveway.  All the blinds to the house had been closed, and as they walked up to the house past the car, William felt the hood.  It was cold, probably hadn't been driven that morning.

They listened carefully for the sound of someone in the house, but was hampered by the fuss kicked up by the dogs.  One of those dogs was a yapping little mousey looking thing that never stopped.  A second and third ring on the doorbell, and the front door opened to them.  They looked into the eyes of Len and Melinda.

"The back door was unlocked" Len said.  "It opened easily so we cautiously entered and cleared the house."  There is no one home, and none of the appliances are warm.  There's no food left out as if someone left in a hurry.  But there is some open space in the closet that was filled with clothes yesterday when we were here.

"He's flown the coop then." William sighed.  With him already gone, it would be much harder to locate should the need arise.  Currently, there was nothing he was wanted for except questioning in two matters: One, the disappearance of the weapons and two, how he got out of jail with no record of him ever being there.

Sharon suspicioned that Nancy had been complicent in that second situation and wondered what other 'favors' she had done for cronies of hers over the years.  It was time to do some investigation in that direction.  After a quick look around and noticing some type of box had left a square imprint in the carpet of the closet, she felt nothing was out of place.

But she certainly agreed with William.  The house would be torn apart bit by bit until they located the origin of the odor.  That would take some time and some doing, neither of which they had opportunity for at the moment.  A loud call of someone was at the door, and Sharon poked her head around the corner to see Lane and Victor coming in.

Lane had picked him up from the airport updating him in on much of the content including that of Williams experience.  Victor wanted to take another look at Walters house, so Lane drove him by there and walked through it with Victor.  It had been a few years since Walter's wife had died, and he had never re-married.  As as result, the house also was quite handily decorated in true 'bachelor' form.  The difference was, his house didn't smell like the Adams house.

It had fallen to Victor to get Walters' house cleaned, have the estate sale, and to finish out the final proceedings of Walters life.  While he had never re-married, he did claim several of the children of his fellow workers as his 'grandchildren' and they loved him.  He doted on them, spoiled them, protected them.

Because of that, they had lavished him with things of their own making as they grew up for "Grandpa Walters."  Those things are what cluttered Walter's house.  But, there were two things that Victor could see that was missing from the home of Walter Bension.  Two things Walter valued.  Two items that Victor himself had given Walter for some occasion of celebration, both of which had disappeared since the first time Victor had visited the house immediately after Walter had died.

One was an extremely expensive carving of an eagle in Cocobolo hardwood.  He'd had a special shelf designed for it, glass enclosed with a dim light to keep it visible even at night.  When Victor first walked into the house after learning of his brothers' death, it was there, but now, three weeks later, it was one of the first things he saw that was not right.  The eagle was missing from the shelf in which it had resided for years.  In it's place was a cheap porcelain image found at a dime store somewhere.

That did not set well with him, but he just tucked that bit of information under his belt for retrieval at a different time.  He had a picture of Walter with it on his birthday some five years ago.

The second was a briefcase.  It also was expensive, and he had purchased it for another birthday of his brother.  That was almost seven years ago.  He had placed into it his most valuable papers and it sat next to the wall behind his night stand.  The carpet showed the imprint of the case, but it was gone.

Now, a few weeks after burying Walter, Victor was back in town during one of his many visits.  His mission was still the same, and that was cleaning up the corruption that had settled like an elastic hair net over the little town.  There was no shaking it off.  There seemed to be no way of stopping it.  There didn't seem to be any way of getting through it.  He was ready to spend his last dollar and his last breath in finding out who ordered the murder of his younger brother, Walter Bension.

Walter had been involved with William on several occasions, both during and after the deaths of the culprits in the Crawley Caper.  He had made the voyage to Las Vegas with Lane and some others, armed and ready to fight for justice.  And he had saved William from being shot point blank.  He had come to care for William, especially after he learned who he really was without the strings of hypnotism attached.

He had seen William prosper the town with the Real Estate company left to him by Roy Planter.  How the company itself took off and became very profitable.  He had seen William at some of his lowest points in life and in some of highest points.  He respected William a whole lot.  And although Walter had spoken quite a bit of William to him, Victor had never met William.

When Victor met William after he had been released from the control of Tack, he instantly liked him.  He saw the goodness in William that Walter had described.

Now, they were walking into the house of Russell Adams, and the first things that caught Victor's eye was the eagle.  It had been placed with prominence on the mantle of the fireplace which had been built by someone without skill in laying brick.  Victor noticed it when he walked in the door.  But what drew him to the fireplace was the eagle.  He looked at Lane and related the story.

"On the bottom is a gold tag, and under that tag is my initials, VB, given to WB, happy birthday."

Lane picked up the eagle, turned it upside down and removed the gold sticker.  He showed it to the others, then Victor said. "I want that back."  Lane simply handed it to Victor who then said "and, I also want the briefcase back."

"Sir, we didn't find a briefcase, but we did find what looks like the imprint of a box on the floor of the closet.  Could it have been the briefcase?" Sharon asked.

"Could possibly be." Victor surmised.  Then he stated, "Sharon.  I want you and Melinda to take Nancy to lunch.  Talk to her, see what you can find out.  Mention the affair with the Mayor and be sure to mention the mystery of Russell's instantaneous rise to Chief of Police.  Learn if you can how it came to be that he was placed into that position, then how he got out of jail without any paperwork.  You might even mention that the paperwork you filed is missing."

"Will do sir" replied Melinda who turned and looked at Sharon.  "You ready to go?"

A quick nod to the affirmative, and they walked out the door.  A dirty, rough looking man with beard and long hair was walking on the sidewalk near the car that Len and Melinda had parked around the corner.  They glanced in his direction but no recollection of familiarity surfaced.  They merely said "Hello," entered the car and drove off.

But the beareded man knew them.  Russell was getting all the information he could about what was going on at his house.  He was glad he had the van already loaded and parked a few blocks away.  All he had to do now was pick up Nancy and go see the Mayor, then they would be free to do whatever they wanted.

Nancy wasn't in the mood for a chat with the girls at lunchtime so she refused the invitation.  No one was aware of her intentions, but this was to be her final day at the office, and she would retire without notice.  She sure didn't want anything messing up the day or the schedule her and Russell had planned.  She was still in the information gathering business but it would end in a few hours.  She usually communicated the goings on of the Police Station several times per day to the Mayor, and he had rewarded her handsomely monetarily besides the physical rewards.

There was no doubt in her mind who the Kingpin of the corruption of the city was, and she had enough knowledge of him to blackmail him for years and years.  What she didn't know was that the Mayor already suspected her plans and had a solution to the problem already intertwined in the cogs of 'justice.'  He knew where she had planned on living, and the place was already paid for.  His pal in San Diego had helped her procure the perfect place in which to die.

But she didn't know about this, and so, it would be just a matter of time before he was free and clear of this little bur in his saddle.  They had experienced some pleasant times together many times.  But it was time to use the sharp blade of 'justice' to sever from him this little cancer.

And, he had promised a nice surprise to Russell when he finished that job.  "Things were looking up for me" the Mayor thought.  He thought the time had come that he would be found out, but his inside man at the Police Force had covered for him.  He owed that man big time, and, he saw to it that he was the new Chief of Police.  And, it had a nice ring to it; Chief of Police, Jason Perry.

And Chief Perry had some excellent connections with the lawyer, Layne Wardlow, and even William and the Team within the FBI.  Nice.  Very nice indeed!

Now that he had Tack disposed of, Rice was also gone, as well as Nancy and Russell about to be gone, he could breathe a little easier.  His biggest obstacle had been Walter Bension.  Walter was so clean and honest, he could not find any charges to bring on him or even weaknesses to exploit.  His reputation proceeded him everywhere.  So, he put Tack on him, and told Tack to deliberately get rid of him, which he had done.

That was one of the things Tack failed to regurgitate when that Sharon lady threatened to literally skin him alive.  He was astounded that Tack had been such a coward of her.  That night Tack was found dead in his cell of 'suicide.'  It raised some eyebrows, but, it looked good so suspicion was very small.  Mainly because he was disliked so badly.  It was very little effort, and quite easy.

He had merely had his pal on the inside drop a sleep agent in Tacks drink the night he confessed.  When he had fallen into a deep slumber, his pal picked him up, and laid him with his head wedged in the toilet face down and his throat on the edge effectively cutting off his air supply.  Voila!  Suicide!  And best of all, no more questions!

Not even Nancy had questioned it.  And, had Victor not placed Tack in the 'sound proof room' which was merely a cell with padding stapled to sheets of thin plywood that only looked sound proof, it might have saved him.  As it was, it played a very important role in Tacks demise.  It hid from view his murder, and in the morning hours, only one prisoner was awake that saw Chief Perry in the cell with Tack.  That man was Russell Adams.

So, it was no surprise to Russell when he was released on his own recognizance.  But, with his own crooked schemes, it would not be a surprise to the Mayor, that Russell had big plans on blackmailing him.  The question here was who would live the longest thus being able to carry out their schemes?

Back at the precinct, Nancy was being belligerent.  No amount of coaxing could get her to go to lunch with them. Sharon and Melinda finally left her alone, and visited the ladies restroom.  Unaware that Melinda and Sharon were in there, Nancy stepped to the hall right right next to the door to the rest room and dialed.  The man on the other end of the line only listened while Nancy spoke of the girls wanting to take her to lunch, and were really quite adamant about it.

The voice on the other end of the line said "good for you in refusing to go with them.  They must have something to ask you.  Don't tell them anything."

"I won't.  You can be sure of that!" she said.  She closed the lid to the flip phone and turned around to see Melinda Mathers and Sharon Travis within touching distance and had heard the conversation.  Her face went white, and she stammered "if you'll excuse me, I need to use the restroom."  But, she could tell by the looks on their faces, she was already in too deep to shake them off now.

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