Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 05:30:47 -0700 (PDT)
From: Henry Brooks <hankster1430@bellsouth.net>
Subject: Murder on the Hudson Last chapter

Murder On The Hudson
Chapter Six

One of the guards approached Monte's cell, unlocked it, and asked Monte to
come with him.  A moment later I heard Jason's blood curdling scream.
Nobody had to tell me what had happened.  I just knew.  I wrapped Larry in
my arms and this time I sobbed.

Two guards returned to the cell block and removed Monte, Larry and me from
our cells.  He took us to the interrogation room, where Jason was sitting
at the table.  His head and arms were on the table and he was crying.  When
we came into the room, he looked up.  His eyes were red and swollen.  In a
very raspy voice he said, "The bastard got Ian too.  He smothered him in
the ER.  I've issued an APB for the apprehension of Norman Sharpe.  I don't
know if he's the culprit, but I want him behind bars.  In the meantime, I'm
putting Monte in my cell right next to your cell.  From now on whatever we
do, wherever we go, it's going to be together.  Not one of us is to be left
alone, not for one second."

The guards took us back to our respective cells just in time for breakfast.
Again we used the dog to test our meals.  The K9 sampled food from all four
trays before we dared eat anything.  The four of us sat pretty quietly all
day, not daring to speak.  We were more fearful than any of us had ever
been in our lives.  Then late in the afternoon, Norman came running into
the station house accompanied by two other guys.  They all demanded to see
the chief at once.

Jason had the guards put Larry and Monte in the same cell and took Jason
and me to the interrogation room.  When we got there, Jason gasped.  Norman
was standing there with two of Jason's top cops.  They all had the same
story.  They were all off duty from early Saturday afternoon until Tuesday
morning.  Norm had left the station house on Saturday and gone home with
Will, where he had stowed his fishing gear on Friday afternoon.  Sam had
driven and he picked up Will and Norm.  The three had driven directly to a
secluded lake in The Catskills.  Fishing had been good and Sam's van was
loaded with fresh fish on ice.

On the way home after lunch today, Sam turned on his police radio and they
heard about the APB which was out on Norm.  They drove directly to the
station house.  Our chief suspect was in the clear.

"You'd better get that fish on ice," Jason said to Sam.  "And take Will
with you.  Norm, you stay here.  I have some more questions and I'll get
you a ride home when we are through."  The other two cops left and Jason
asked the guards to leave him, Norm and me alone.  When it was just the
three of us, Jason closed the door.  The three of us sat down at the table.

"Your wife said that you went fishing Friday, but you were on duty Saturday
morning.  Do you care to explain?"

Norm definitely looked uncomfortable.  "I went into the city on Friday
evening," he said, barely above a whisper.  "I think you know why," he
added.

"Did you get lucky?"

"Yeah!"

"Well you need an alibi for Friday night.  I hope you have his name and
number."

"I'm afraid not, Jason.  He was someone anonymous I met in a back room.  I
swear, I took the last bus back at midnight and Will picked me up at the
bus station and took me to his house.  He can vouch for that."

Jason looked defeated.  "Do you have any questions?" he asked, looking
straight at me.

"Yes," I answered.  "Norm where did you study calligraphy?"

"At the community college about two years ago. Why?"

"I'm asking the questions, please.  Did anyone else you know take the class
with you?"

"Yes, my wife, but I don't see what that has to do with the guys who were
murdered in Mr. Barnes' house."

Norm referred to the murders in the house.  Didn't he know about the
others?

There was a pad and a pen on the table.  I handed them to Norm and asked
him to pen 201 River Street, just as he would if he were preparing an
invitation for Monte.  Norm reluctantly did as I requested.

When he was done, he asked if there were any more question.  If not, he
said that he really needed to get home and shower.

"One more," I said.  "When your wife needs to leave your kids with a
neighbor, who does she rely on?"

"Our next door neighbors, the Turners.  We return the favor when they need
a hand."

"Thanks," I said and nodded at the chief as if to say, I'm done.

Jason called a guard in and told him to get Norm home.  Another guard came
to take us back to our cells, but I requested another few private moments
with Jason.  When we were alone I recapped the situation with him as I saw
it.

"Chief, Norm is totally unaware of any murders that have occurred since he
helped remove the bodies from Monte's house.  His alibi for Friday night is
shaky, but Will did pick him up at the bus stop and he has been in the
presence of policemen since Will picked him up, so unless your whole force
are conspirators to murder, he's clean as a whistle."

"So where do we go from here?" Jason asked.

"I'd like to speak to Mrs. Turner or better still, if she knows who you
are, I think you should speak to her."

"What do you want to know?"  The chief looked confused.

"I want to know how often and when she had the Sharpe kids since Friday."

"There was a phone in the room.  Jason used the intercom and asked whoever
answered to get the phone number of the Turners who lived next door to
Norm.  In a minute or two, the phone rang and Jason wrote down a telephone
number.  He dialed and after two rings, Marge Turner answered the phone.
The chief identified himself and asked her the questions that I had
proposed.  The chief turned white as he listened to Mrs. Turner's answers.
He thanked her for her cooperation and hung up the phone.

"You'd better sit down," Jason advised me.  "Marge Turner hasn't seen hide
nor hair of the kids since Friday morning.  She saw Chrissy load them in
the car and drive away.  She assumed that Chrissy had taken the kids to her
parents' home in New Jersey for the long weekend.  Marge said that as far
as she knew, Chrissy never came back and the house is empty."

"Chief," I said, showing Jason the paper that Norm had written on.  "This
handwriting is totally different from the handwriting on my invitation.
Norm did not address Monte's invitations to this party.  Chrissy took the
calligraphy class with Norm.  When she was called in to the station, did
your guard call her home phone or her cell phone?  I assume you have both
on file.  The finger is pointing straighter and straighter at her."

A quick call confirmed that she had been reached on her cell phone.

"What would be her motive for multiple murders?" the chief asked.

"Hatred," I think.  "She's homophobic and she found out about her husband's
secret life.  I think it was she who addressed the invitations.  She
assumed that Norm would be at the party and not at the fishing hole.  She
decided to eliminate us one at a time.  She must have noticed that our
first names were alphabetically consistent.  By murdering one at a time in
alphabetical order she was daring the police to play her game.
Unfortunately, even though we guessed the sequence of murders, we were
powerless to stop her."

The phone rang and Jason picked up.  It was Norm reporting that his wife
and kids were gone.  Her closet was cleaned out, and most of the kids'
clothing was gone also.  He also said that on a hunch he went to his
dresser drawer where he kept the key to Monte's house and it was not there.

I signaled Jason that I wanted to ask Norm a question.

"Hold on a sec, Norm.  Ken wants to ask you something."

"Who addressed the envelopes for Monte's party?" I asked.

"I was too busy, so I gave the guest list to Chrissy and she did it this
time.  Monte is very generous.  He pays us fifty dollars an invitation.
Our tuition for the class was well spent."

"Thanks," I said.  "Norm," I tried to make my voice sympathetic.  "I don't
think your wife is coming back.  You'd better give us your in-law's address
and telephone number.  Your kids may be in danger.  And get yourself back
to the station.  Do you have another car?  If not take a cab."

"I'll have to grab a cab," he said.  "I'll be right down."  There was the
sound of utter defeat in his voice.

The next couple of hours were hectic.  Jason called the police in
Englewood, NJ and filled them in on what we knew.  We feared that
Mrs. Sharpe would be going to her parents to get her kids and start
running.  Yes, he knew that was irrational, but she was suspect to a series
of irrational murders.  He gave them the address of her parents, and the
plate number of the car she was driving.  The Englewood police hurried to
Chrissy's parents' home.  She had picked the kids up and left their home
more than two hours earlier.

State troopers apprehended her at the southern end of the New Jersey
Turnpike and she was taken into custody.  She confessed immediately to the
crimes, but it was several days before she was extradited back to Nyack.
In the meantime Norm went to get his kids and he arranged for a lawyer for
his wife.

I called my precinct and told them that I was involved in a murder
investigation, assisting the Nyack police and I needed another day to wrap
things up.  Monte, Jason, Larry and I were released and we all went back to
Monte's house.  Larry barbequed the steaks that he had removed from the
deep freeze two days ago.  It seemed like two years.  After dinner, Monte
asked me how in the world such a little woman could have managed so many
heinous acts.

"I think that when she gave Larry the drug, she gave Abel a lethal amount.
The autopsy will confirm that.  When he was unconscious, she pulled him out
of bed, and that's when he hit his head.  When she was sure that he was
dead, and his blood had stopped flowing, she cut off his cock and slit his
throat.  Thank goodness he was already dead.  Then she dragged him out into
the hall and tied him up with pillow sheets to Monte's door. The other
murders were by ingested poison, poisoned pellets or knife wounds.  We know
she had the keys to Monte's house.  It would have been easy for her to
drive up after dark on Friday and park a few streets away.  She was small
and lithe and she could easily have remained hidden from all of us.

"The jail is always open and she could have found plenty of nooks and
cranny's to hide in there also.  She must have known where the cell keys
were kept so she had access to us while we were sleeping also.  It was easy
for her to administer poison in our food, to blow a dart at us or to enter
a cell to stab a sleeping victim.  I guess we'll have to wait for her
confession to confirm all this.  One thing is for sure.  She planned this a
long time and she planned it well.  She must really hate Norm."

As I was speaking, Larry sat down beside me and rested his head on my
shoulder.  I put his arm around him and this set something in motion
between Monte and Jason.  Monte sat down beside Jason and kissed him full
on his lips.  "Thank you," he said to Jason, and Jason embraced Monte.  All
Jason's jealousy was gone, and their eyes met in fondness.

"Now guys, I don't know about you but I am really tired.  I need a good hot
shower and I'm off to bed."

Of course, Larry followed me upstairs.  When we were alone, he said,
"Please don't abandon me now that it's over.  Let me go home with you.
Besides being a great cook and housekeeper, I'm an actor and I think Monte
owes you his life.  That having been said, I think he'll finally give me a
part in one of his plays, so I won't be freeloading off of you."

"Do you have any other talents?" I asked, mockingly.

"You know I do," Larry stated firmly.  With that he pulled down my gym
shorts and went to work.  As my mind drifted higher and higher into
paradise, I became aware that I would never be lonely or alone again.
Larry's tongue caressed my body in such a pleasurable way, like nobody had
ever pleasured me before.  Was it because I loved Larry or was it because
he was just that good a lover?  I really didn't care.  I abandoned myself
to his love and to a life time of his companionship.

EPILOGUE

Larry moved in with me and changed my life.  I had never realized what a
void there was in my daily existence.  His love revived my spirit and my
will to live.  Even when we didn't make love, we slept wrapped up in each
other's arms.  That made us feel like we were in some sort of cocoon, warm
and safe.  This was a new and very welcome experience to someone who was so
much a loner as I was, and used to have slam bang, short period sex
adventures.

Gone too, were my fast food dinners.  I ate like a king now.  Even when
Monte gave Larry the lead in a new play he was casting, I always found
dinner prepared for me when I got home.  When Larry was acting I would
still go to my favorite bar and socialize with friends, but I didn't go
home with any of them.  Instead I went to the theater to meet Larry after
the show.

The mere sight of him sends shivers down my back.  He has made me into a
better, kinder human being.  I now volunteer in the rehab of many of the
individuals I have arrested.  I help them reform and start new and
productive lives.

I can't tell you how happy I am.  Everyone should fall in love.


The End