Murder on the Hudson - 6. Chapter 6

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 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 it 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’s 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 my 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 very 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 from 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.

Unfortunately, my euphoria didn’t last long. Larry started sleeping around with cast members, and he left me.