Title: JACKed Up! (Part 3 of 6)
Author: Walt
Rating: T
Disclaimers: See Part 1
The question for Joe and Olivia was who would then kill Shannon, attempt to kill B.J. and try to frame Carolyn for both. Joe and Olivia would get stuck for a while and take a break, only to get called when another man is found dead early that Sunday morning on the boardwalk next to the East River around the entrance to such at 78th street and The FDR Drive, with his being stabbed four times in the back along with his being kicked in the head twice and twice more in the stomach.
"Quinn Robbins", said Joe to Olivia, with the Detectives also finding a note that said "You've been JACKed up!"
"How are these two related, if they are at all?", asked Olivia, puzzled as to why he and Shannon King would get that note, with Joe realizing how before replying to Olivia, "He was one of the 'suits' of the parent company of (place call letters here)-FM, and if I'm right was one of those who ordered the change on Tuesday night to the Jack format that's called Craig."
A trip to the morgue saw Quinn's widow Willow with Joe and Olivia, with Joe informing Willow about the note found.
"I can't believe someone would actually go as far as to kill him. He was simply following orders from those above him", said Willow to the Detectives.
"I hear you. I understand the oldies station in Chicago where I'm from also flipped at the same time, and I had quite a few relatives call me when that happened, and they were quite upset", said Joe to Willow.
"I'm sure they were, and it's probably not even close to what it is here", replied Willow, who after taking a deep breath continued, "Anyway, he was going for his normal run near the boardwalk, and I happened to be up to see him off around 5:00 this morning."
"Awfully early for a Sunday", then said Joe.
"It is early, but he liked to do it then when possible, then if he had to be up well into the night take a nap later in the day if possible or necessary", replied Willow, who again paused to take a deep breath before continuing, "We were equally shocked when we found out Shannon King had been killed, as I know some people think in some way she is responsible for what happened because of B.J. leaving after next year."
"How does B.J. fit into all of this", then asked Olivia, with Willow replying "Quinn warned me when the flip happened on Tuesday. They actually wanted to flip the station B.J. does his show on to the JACK format, however, B.J. specifically has it in his contract that he can block a format flip if he wants to, and he made it clear that if they put the JACK format there, he would leave and his satellite deal would kick in immediately. He feels the company betrayed him when the FCC started investigating the company over what happened with Shannon King and the championship game a year ago on TV, and B.J. made it clear he was going to 'send a message' to get even with some people."
"Then why not let B.J. leave if that was that big an issue. I understand outside his show the ratings were not very good", then said Joe.
"They weren't, but it didn't matter. Even if the flip had been successful on B.J.'s station, if B.J. left before his contract was up, they would lose over a year of revenue from his show, and that would severely hurt the bottom line", then said Willow before pausing again and continuing, "The reason they flipped (place call letters here)-FM as fast as they did was because late Tuesday morning, two hedge fund operators who funds are major shareholders in the company told the Chairman they had heard rumors that a competitor was going to flip to JACK on Wednesday morning at 6:00 AM. They basically told him they had until 3:45 PM to flip one of their stations to JACK on Tuesday, or they were going to dump all of their stock in the company at the close of business that day."
"How big a share are you talking about?", asked Olivia.
"Enough to where if they dumped the shares, it would have caused a huge drop in the stock price, causing other shareholders to dump their stock in a massive panic", said Willow.
"Oh?", said Olivia.
"Yes. Basically, a couple of hedge funds are the top shareholders of the company, and then several retirement funds have major shares. They also would have sold off very quickly if the hedge funds did", then said Willow.
"And you know all this because?", asked Joe.
"The accounting firm I work for has the parent company as its top client. Quinn and I met when he came over three years ago on some business matters. One thing led to another and we got married just over a year later. We were going to celebrate our second anniversary in a couple of weeks", then said Willow, unable to hold back tears at the end.
"I'm so sorry for your loss", then said Olivia.
"Thank you", replied Willow, who then paused for a moment before continuing, "This has been such a tragic time the last week."
"What do you mean?", asked Joe.
"Ken Jones died on Wednesday, not even 24 hours after the format flip", then said Willow.
"I forgot about that. He was with (place call letters here)-FM since the station first went oldies years ago", then said Joe.
"37 years overall, including all 35 as an oldies station. He actually joined the station shortly after his daughter Savannah was born", then said Willow, who again paused before continuing, "He and Rick Johnston had been there during the entire time the station had been oldies, as Rick joined about three months before the station went to oldies."
"That's amazing. Two people at the same station for 35 years like that", then said Olivia.
"Yes", then said Willow, who then added, "I'm sure the fact Ken having lost his wife five months ago followed by this and on top of it B.J. going on Wednesday morning after the flip happened and the oldies jocks were fired as they were about how happy he was about that had to have killed him."
"B.J. was happy that the oldies station flipped?", then asked Olivia, with Willow replying, "You better believe it. B.J. not only blocked the flip to JACK on 'his' station, but he was gloating about it Wednesday morning, saying basically how 'those old farts got what they deserve', to put it mildly, though it was much worse. He really hates the management of the parent company, and many of his listeners who have no idea of how much the oldies station meant to so many people were happy with him."
"Then how come Quinn was looked at as the 'bad guy'" by a lot of people on this?", then asked Olivia.
"Quinn was simply the General Manager of the station, and was following orders from up above and basically from the hedge fund operators who threatened to dump their stock. The people who ordered this are not from New York as I am and have no idea about the history of the station, but at the same time, I also know this was a matter of survival. The company had would have had to do something anyway at some point to show the radio end would be able to survive the loss of B.J. after next August."
"Understandable", then said Joe, who then asked if she knew of anyone who had a grudge against Quinn.
"Right now, probably the many fans of the oldies station who have been posting constant messages about the flip on a special section of a message board a lot of radio professionals and enthusiasts post at", then said Willow, adding, "I seriously doubt any of them would have a big enough grudge to kill him. I definitely could understand someone trying to kill B.J., however, even before Ken Jones died for the way B.J. blocked the format change on his station and essentially forced his and the firings of everyone else at (place call letters here)-FM."
"Anyone else?", asked Olivia.
"I doubt it. It's been a mind-numbing week between the format flip, Ken Jones' death and now this", then said Willow, with Joe and Olivia done with her at that point as Willow was about to completely break down, thankful she held it together as long as she did.
After that, M.E. Rogers comes out and asks for Joe and Olivia to come in.
"The stab wounds didn't come from a knife. It appears whoever did this was wearing stiletto heels and used them as a weapon", said Rogers to Joe and Olivia.
"Like in the Quinones murder last year?", then said Joe.
"Yes. What I suspect happened was whoever did this knew this was your victim's normal route when he was running, and was able to first trip him up and then jump on his back, driving the heels into his back deep enough to kill him and doing so without falling and being injured. I'm surprised no one saw what happened", said Rogers to Joe and Olivia.
"With where it happened, anyone on the FDR Drive would probably have missed seeing it", replied Joe.
With forensic officers still going over the crime scene and no witnesses coming forward at that point, Joe and Olivia talk to Warren Altman, Chairman of the parent company of (place call letters here)-FM at his home, a huge penthouse apartment on Central Park West that runs from 71st-72nd street.
"How awful a week, and to think we are looking more and more like the bad guys in all of this", said Warren to Joe and Olivia upon being told by the Detectives of what happened to Quinn Robbins.
"As in flipping the (place call letters here)-FM to what you're calling the Craig format?", asked Joe.
"Yes, but as I'm sure you know by now, we didn't want to do it there. We wanted to do it on B.J.'s station, but he was able to block us by threatening to leave, which was his right through his contract. We could not wait on flipping one of other stations because of the hedge fund operators who have major chunks of stock threatening to sell unless we flipped one immediately as we did", then said Warren.
"You had one other station you could have flipped, why didn't you do it there?", asked Joe.
Warren then responded by saying, "Simply because that other station while the ratings were much lower than (place call letters here)-FM reaches a lot of women 18-40, who are very popular with advertisers and much more than on an oldies station that mainly reaches people over 45 these days. Billing is much more important in a lot of ways than ratings these days, and we would have had a lot of ad buyers angry with us if we flipped that station, not to mention those listeners, albeit of course not anything like what we are dealing with because we flipped (place call letters here)-FM. Being unable to flip B.J.'s station because he would have left immediately, we had no choice but to flip (place call letters here)-FM. I tried to explain to Savannah Jones after her father Ken died on Wednesday afternoon, but she was so furious that myself and the rest of the management were personna non grata at her father's funeral yesterday since she thinks the stress of his being fired like that along with B.J.'s remarks the morning after killed him."
"Couldn't you have done it differently?", asked Olivia.
Warren then said, "Actually, we couldn't. The hedge fund operators who own major stock in the company wanted the flip done immediately, and were prepared to dump all their stock if it didn't happen before the market closed on Tuesday. That would have been a financial disaster for us, as there would have been a mass sell-off in extended trading that night and again the next morning. If that happened, it would have severely hampered us in many ways, including on the TV side. We really didn't have a choice."
"What about B.J.? Did you talk to him after Mr. Jones died?", then asked Joe.
Warren then said, "We tried to, but he doesn't trust us at all. He blames us for 'having' to go to sattelite because we wouldn't bend over backwards for him when fines started rolling in for old obscenities after Shannon King did her little act a year and a half ago. Frankly, if he weren't such a 'cash cow' for the company for as long as he has been, he would have been fired long before now, and especially after Ken Jones died."
With that, Joe and Olivia were finished with Warren, getting notice at that point that forensic officers found several strands of much darker hair that appeared to also be a bit wavy at the scene of the murder of Quinn Robbins. They also find a trail of red that had suggested what M.E. Rogers had said about it most likely being a pair of heels, with the blood becoming less and less as the trail suggested whoever did this went north as the trail ended around 79th street or so.
"Look for a pair of heels discarded somewhere", said Joe to the forensic officers over the phone while he and Olivia head back to the crime scene. Once there, they headed north until reaching a set of steps that led to an exit around 81st street and East End Avenue that was very steep, since at that point the boardwalk goes above the FDR Drive.
"Geez, I had forgotten about these steps. No way anyone could have gotten up all of these in heels very easily, especially if whoever did this was running", said Olivia to Joe as they walked up the steps.
"Looks obvious, but you know this because?", then asked Joe.
"While in college I had a boyfriend who used to live on 83rd and East End. We'd come this way sometimes, and while it was very nice, the steps were murder on my feet if I had heels on. Thankfully that wasn't often", then said Olivia to Joe.
"You're not kidding on these steps, and I'm in good shape", replied Joe.
No evidence is found on the steps or on the boardwalk, but as they walk across the boardwalk, people walking their dogs do note having seen a woman with dark, shoulder-length hair running north on the boardwalk, having come from the steps.
"I was jogging like I often do early in the morning, and she ran right past me, like someone had just tried to rape her or something, and I didn't want to touch her as she looked like she'd freak out at any moment. She also was staggering in a pair of boots with very high heels. She couldn't be from around here as no woman usually ever goes up or down the steps in what she was wearing", said a witness who identified herself as Karen Evans.
"Anything else you can tell us Ms. Evans?", then asked Joe.
"She was wearing a black shirtdress that had a very short skirt. Looked like the kind I used to wear as a teenager about 15 years ago", then said Karen.
The detectives thanked Karen, with other witnesses basically confirming what they saw, with Joe and Olivia then getting word of someone matching the description of the woman lying on a bench in a part of Carl Schultz Park that is only accessable by going through a tunnel under a bridge, about a block south of Gracie Mansion on 87th street. There they find the woman asleep with her hair a mess, wearing the dress and mentioned with a pair of black, stiletto heeled boots that appeared to have been partially kicked off in her sleep.
"Rise and shine", said Joe to the woman with Olivia also there.
"Huh? I was just looking at what used to the hospital I was born in. It was torn down a couple of months ago", said the woman (referring to what in real life had been Doctors Hospital on East End Avenue, running from 87th-88th streets which later would be Beth Isreal North before closing with the building demolished in the spring of 2005), then putting her hands over her eyes as it was a bright, sunny Sunday morning while the boots she was wearing came off completly, her still in a bit of a daze.
"Who are you?", then asked Joe.
"Savannah Jones", then said she.
"Will you please stand up? You are under arrest for the murder of Quinn Robbins", then said Joe as he read Savannah her rights while she was still in a bit of a daze at first before realizing what happened.
"What?" was Savannah's recation once she realized she was being arrested, staying silent otherwise while being transported to the 2-7. While getting her into the squad car, Joe and Olivia notice scratches on Savannah's neck.
(continued in Part Four)