Note: See Part 1 for disclaimers.
THE ONLY EASY DAY IS YESTERDAY
"The Journey of Jeremy Keller"
Part 4
It was an old house in one of the more affluent parts of town. The
local police were able to gain access once agent Ropper found the place.
It was difficult to find. They had to track every receipt in Newbury's
house. One receipt finally led them to the security company who led
them here.
The house was an old seaman's home with large rooms and
porches wrapping around both floors. On the roof was a classic widow's
walk. The lawn looked like it had not been mowed in weeks, and the
rest of the gardens were totally unkempt. Inside, the house was
completely closed up. The furniture was covered and most of the utilities
were turned off.
"What are we looking for?" one of the detectives said as the crew
slowly fanned out in the house.
"Anything that will give us a clue as to who Greg Newbury was
and who may have wanted him dead," Anita said as she walked slowly
into the parlor.
There was nothing unique or personal in the house until the team
searched the basement. Half of the basement had been bricked up, and a
large locked iron door was the only way in.
"Well ma'am, what do we do now?" Detective Fischer asked.
"That's easy." She then produced a large envelope from her purse.
In it were a number of items from Newbury's house, some of which were
keys.
The door opened on the third try, revealing a vault of personal
items. One wall had a large collection of high school year books dating
back to the twenties. There were stacks of old photo albums in another
area. The center of the room held racks of paintings, each painting
carefully wrapped and catalogued. To one side, was a collection that
looked like it was recently accessed. Dozens of swords stood in a
wooden rack, only their hilts showing for easy access.
The rack of swords was not only dusted but cleaned and well
maintained. It did not look like it was in a forgotten storage vault, but in
a well kept museum. There was one empty slot at the top of the rack and
several empty slots together on the bottom.
One of the detectives reached for a sword, but agent Ropper
stopped him. "Please don't touch anything. I want these swords dusted."
"Dusted, what do you expect, to prove Newbury was here? We
can already do that." Detective Ficsher said.
"No detective, I want to see if we can tie these swords to anybody
else." She then looked at the rest of the room. "Well, it looks like this
room should be able to tell us everything we ever wanted to know about
the Newbury family."
Just then Agent Ropper's cellular phone rang but cut out as soon
as she answered it. "They'll call back. Detective, get a print team down
here. Let's see what they can come up with." The phone rang again as
she climbed the stairs out of the basement. This time the connect
maintaned.
"Agent Ropper?" said a familiar voice.
"Yes, sir."
"They've found Newbury's car. Your tickets will be waiting for
you at the airport, and a fax is transmitting now. Good Luck Agent
Ropper."
"Thank you, sir."
---
Three airports and a long road trip with an agent from the regional
office later, Anita Ropper arrived at the scene. It was in the middle of
nowhere, a lonely two-lane road and a tall bridge over a wide river.
Rescue and emergency equipment lined the road on either side of the
bridge. Food service and other amenities were also set up near the bridge
for the workers.
After parking at the end of the line, Anita and her new partner
approached what looked like the command center. Sheriff's deputies and
state police officers gathered around a van talking to a man in a diving
outfit. One of the older men saw the two approach and came out to meet
them. He went directly to the tall clean cut young agent, a well tanned
healthy young man.
"Agent Ropper I assume," he said holding out his hand. "I'm
Sheriff Bigalow. I'm in charge of this operation. Your people alerted me
that you'd be coming."
"To bad they didn't describe me," Anita said. "It would have saved
you from looking like a fool."
The Sheriff looked at the short African American woman standing
next to him. He swallowed hard once, then forced I smile "Sorry about
that ma'am, my mistake."
Anita shook the Sheriff's hand and said, "No problem Sheriff, I'm
used to it." she then indicated her partner. "This is Special Agent
Bateman our office liaison for your district."
The two exchanged greetings, then Ropper spoke up again.
"Well, what do you have? The report said that you had the guy we were
looking for."
Bigalow looked a little defensive. "Not exactly, what we have is
the car. We just assumed that the body would be in the car."
"What exactly do you mean, Sheriff"
"Let me show you." The Sheriff then escorted them to the bridge.
He pointed out the hole in the bridge fencing and the large crane mounted
on a barge two hundred yards down stream. "That boy was really flying
when he went through the bridge. My deputies swear they thought he
was actually going to make it across." The Sheriff lifted his hat and ran
his fingers through his thinning, gray hair.
"Damnedest story I've ever heard. They said he was shifting gears
right up to the end. What a way to commit suicide."
"You mean he is dead."
"Of course he is. Nobody could have survived that crash,
especially at those speeds. His body must of washed out when the door
popped open."
"So you don't have a body?"
"Not yet, its just a matter of time. We're already dragging the
river below the car. We'll pull him out soon, I'm sure of it."
"How long before they bring the car up?" Agent Bateman asked.
"We've got a cable on it now. It should be coming up any
minute."
Before long, the red bumper of the Z28 broke the surface of the
muddy water. The whole car was soon hanging from the crane. The front
end was folded and bent up; the roof was dented and the front tires were
blown. The driver's side door was open, and the car's trunk was popped.
Ropper turned to the Sheriff, "Tell everyone to stay away from that
car until I get down there and look at it."
"You want to go down there now?" Bigalow asked in disbelief.
"They'll be bringing it over here right away."
"Sheriff, the more we move the car, what little evidence that is left
could be lost. Now that car and the barge stay right where they are until I
can inspect it; is that clear." Ropper spoke in very hushed, clipped tones
so that nobody but Sheriff Bigalow and Agent Bateman could hear her.
"Very clear," The Sheriff said and quickly turned toward the bank
and flagged down one of his men in a small fishing boat.
Water continued to spill from the car as the three approached it on
the barge. Anita looked under the car and into the open door. She then
signaled the operator to lower the car to the deck.
"Sheriff, did your divers search this car or in anyway alter its
condition?"
"Absolutely not. We may look like hicks, but my people are
absolute professionals."
"Then you may as well call off your dragging operations."
"Why is that?"
Ropper pointed to the trunk and the keys hanging out of the lock.
"I don't think a dead man would have cared what was in the trunk."
"That's impossible. No one could have survived that drop."
Ropper then pointed to the interior. The seat belt had been cut by
a very sharp instrument. "And look at the damage to the door," she said
pointing to the inside panel of the driver's side door. The plastic interior
panel had very distinctive foot shaped dents in it. "The way this thing
landed would have wedged the doors shut. He had to force his way out."
"You mean after kicking his way out of the car, the man took the
keys, opened the trunk, retrieved something and swam away?" the
Sheriff asked in disbelief.
"It certainly appears that way; doesn't it?"
After returning to shore, Agents Ropper and Bateman met with
the rest of the officers. "Well, what did this man look like?"
The men all looked at each other rather sheepishly. "Ah, ma'am,
we never saw him."
"He was in the car the whole time, and nobody approached him
since your bulletin said armed and extremely dangerous."
Ropper tossed her pen up in disgust.
"Agent," one of the men volunteered, "I was on the bridge when
he went over. I think he was white."
"Well, that really narrows it down."
To be continued.................