Murder on the Hudson - 3. Chapter 3

Jason and I stared at each other in disbelief. Not only was there a murderer in the house, he was a serial killer to boot.This was hardly the fun-filled, sex-filled weekend either of us had envisioned.

“This better stop happening,” Jason said. “There’s only room for this one body, and no more, in the deep freeze.”

We weren’t even going to bother to examine the body. It was obvious that poison was the murder weapon. But our training did require that we take a cursory look at the corpse. I saw it first.

“Look there, Chief,” I said. “He’s got a tiny needle prick on the back of his neck. He was either injected with poison or forced to swallow it after the contents of the needle disabled him. Let’s get him into the freezer while the others are all at the pool and then we’ll have to do the interviews again,” I said. Then as an afterthought I added, “But Chief, some of the guys are going to want to bolt out of here and I don’t see how we can stop them.”

“I’ll be forced to have them arrested on suspicion of murder. I’d hate to do that, but I’ll have to, and I’ll have to face the music about my being here,” the chief lamented.

“Not necessarily,” I consoled him. “We can make sure everybody gets dressed, and as far as the community at large is concerned, a bunch of bachelors were having a pool party.”

“It’s a stretch,” Jason sighed but we don’t have many options, and I can’t ignore my duty as a police officer.”

“Nor can I,” I added quickly. “Now let’s freeze the body until we can get an autopsy performed.”

We carried Barry’s body down the stairs and as we reached the bottom, I heard a little screech. I had forgotten that Larry was in the kitchen and he could see us. He ran over to see who we were carrying and screamed again. “Oh my God, it’s Barry. Is he dead?”

Yes,” I answered. “Now help us get him into the deep freeze with Abel.”

We had to really push hard to get the freezer cover shut, even after laying the bodies in a sixty-nine position. I told Larry to get back to his duties, whatever it was he was doing, and Jason and I went out to join the other men at the pool. The sight which awaited me was the opposite of what I saw yesterday. Nobody was in the pool. To a man, they were seated on chairs and lounges around the pool talking in hushed tones. That made it easy for the chief to address them.

“Listen guys,” Jason began, “there has been another murder.”

I heard a collective gasp. “It’s Barry this time,” the chief said. Elroy screamed.

“No, it’s not possible,” he cried. “We fucked each other just a few hours ago. I’m sorry. I can’t stay here another minute. I’m leaving and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

“Yes I can,” Jason said. “I can have every one of you arrested on suspicion of murder. Now sit down and listen to me. This whole matter is more than out of hand. I want you all to go to your rooms and get dressed. Then I’m going to call in the police. As far as anyone is concerned we are a bunch of bachelors at a Labor Day pool party and barbeque. No one is going to utter a single word about sex. Is that clear? That way we can have the bodies removed for autopsy. You will all be questioned, but at least you’ll be released on bond until you are needed again.”

“Yes, yes, do that,” Ian said. “Then at least we can have some police protection and get our sorry asses home.”

We were all glad to get dressed and start the process of a full blown police investigation. We hurried to our rooms, got dressed, and packed our few clothes in anticipation of a quick ride out of this hell. I think I was the first one downstairs.

I suddenly realized that I was parched, so I went into the kitchen to get a cold drink. The kitchen was empty and I assumed that Larry had gone upstairs to dress. But if he did, who told him to do so. He was nowhere near the pool when the order to dress was issued. Still, the house wasn’t so big that he could not have been informed by someone.

This time the men gathered in the living room. Monte took a head count. “Where’s Conrad?” he asked. Conrad had shared a room with Grant and Harry, so Harry spoke up. “He had to take a crap and said that he would be right down.”

“Where’s Larry?” I asked.

“In the kitchen as far as I know,” Monte answered. I took a quick trip to the kitchen and Larry was indeed there, preparing lunch. I returned to the living room just as Jason pulled out his cell phone and called his next in command. The chief walked into another room but I could hear him giving muffled instructions to whoever he was talking to.

“There will be two detectives here in fifteen or twenty minutes,” he told us, “so sit tight.”

We all sat down in total silence. Not a word was spoken for about five minutes then suddenly Jason blurted out, “For God sakes, how long does it take to dump a load?” He looked straight at Harry. “Go see what’s taking Conrad so long will you?” he ordered Harry, who rushed upstairs.

It was only a moment or two later when we heard a blood curdling scream. Harry started to yell, “Jason, Jason, come up here on the double.” Everyone ran upstairs, but they allowed Jason and I to enter Conrad’s room first.

“In the bathroom!” I heard Harry instruct us. Jason ran in first and I was close behind him. He stopped short and I nearly knocked him down. There was Conrad in the bathtub. The bathtub was full of water and Conrad’s head was below the waterline, an apparent drowning victim. In light of the circumstances nobody could believe this was a drowning accident. The conclusion was obvious, MURDER!

“OK everyone,” Jason yelled. "I want you all back downstairs immediately and in the living room. We’ll wait for my men there. In the meantime, don’t go anywhere or do anything unless someone is with you. Never let yourself go solo anywhere and that includes the bathroom. Is that understood?” To a man they all nodded their heads.

“Ken, you stay here with me and help me with the body,” the chief said.

We drained the tub and dried the body as best we could. Then we lifted him out of the tub and on to the bed. We examined the body and found the tell-tale pin prick on the back of his neck. Jason covered him with a sheet and we were about to go downstairs when I said, “Jason, we have to protect Don.”

“Why Don?” Jason asked.

“The guys are getting murdered alphabetically. The first victim was Abel, then Barry and now Conrad,” I forced Jason to observe.

‘That could be a mere coincidence,” Jason said. If you are correct, you and I are the last two victims and Monte is the murderer.”

“I am Monte’s alibi, at least for Abel. There is no way Monte murdered Abel, unless he has an assistant. Besides, I can’t imagine what his motive would be. And if he was planning a weekend murder spree, why invite two cops? On the very first night, the murderer could have gone from room to room and done away with each of the inhabitants in his sleep. Why is he working it one corpse at a time? Frankly nothing makes sense to me,” I complained.

Jason agreed with me and we went downstairs and headed for the living room. It took Jason and me about two seconds to realize that Don was not in the room.

“Where the fuck is Don?” the chief screamed. “I told you nobody is to go solo.

“He was right behind me on the stairway,” Grant observed. “I am so upset, I didn’t realize he was gone.”

I pulled Jason aside. “Remember when we took Barry’s body downstairs, Larry spotted us from the kitchen. He was in the kitchen when the others came downstairs. I have a terrible feeling.”

“You guys stay here in the living room. If someone needs to go to the bathroom, take another man along with you. That’s an order,” Jason said.

He and I left the room and headed for the kitchen. We had to pass the foot of the stairs and from there we could see Larry washing some serving trays. I had a hunch and walked around the staircase. As is often the case in older homes there was a door to a storage area on the side of the stair case.I tried to open it but it was locked.

I went into the kitchen and asked Larry if he had a key to the storage closet under the staircase. “All the keys are on a key rack in the mud room,” he said. “I’ll get it for you.” He returned quickly with the key and the three of us opened the door. As soon as we did, Don’s body tumbled out. A large kitchen knife protruded from the victims back.

“Shit and shit again,” Jason muttered. “I can’t even prevent a murder under my own nose.” He took out his handkerchief and removed the knife from the body. “Get me a big plastic bag for the knife, and a table cloth to cover Don with,” he ordered a sniveling Larry, who did as he was asked. By now the others were gathered around us and most were sobbing and crying. Monte was the worst of them.

“How could this happen to me?” he cried over and over.

We hustled everyone into the living room, and I yelled to Larry, “Forget the fucking kitchen jobs. You stay with us.” Then I yelled at Elroy, “And you, don’t leave my side. Attach yourself to my hip and stay there. Is that understood?” Elroy nodded numbly at me.

I counted heads and all the survivors were accounted for. We found seats in the living room and everyone sat quietly waiting for Jason’s men to show up. I didn’t realize it at first, but I was holding Elroy’s hand tightly, and he was sobbing. “I’m so thirsty,” he said.

Larry jumped up “I’ll get you some water,” he said.

“Sit your sorry ass down,” I commanded. In my head Larry was the prime suspect. He had once shared Monte’s bed only to be replaced by all these others, and he was one jealous dude.

I was still holding Elroy’s hand and I took him into the kitchen with me. I opened the fridge and found a pitcher of Crystal Lite. I poured him a glassful which he gulped down, and I took him back into the living room. When we got back, Elroy said that he had to pee.

Remembering Jason’s instructions, Francis said that he would take him to the bathroom. I wasn’t about to let E and F go off together so I said, “Sorry Francis, no way Ian, you go with Elroy.” I figured that the letter I was far enough away from the letter E. “Don’t let go of him for a second,” I ordered Ian. “I don’t care if you need to hold his cock while he pees. Is that understood?” They both nodded and headed for the john.

Just as Elroy and Ian returned to the living room, the doorbell rang, and Larry went to answer it. He let in two very ordinary looking men who shook the chief’s hand. Then the three of them went into a huddle. One of the two detectives pulled out his cell phone and made a whispered call.

“They’re sending for ambulances to remove the bodies and take them to the county morgue. I don’t think there’s enough vaults for all of them. We may have to use a local mortuary also,” Jason said.

The two detectives looked around the room. They were eying the half-naked hunks and neither had any doubt as to the true nature of the gathering. I couldn’t tell anything about what one of the detectives was thinking, but the other had a look of sheer disgust on his face. I couldn’t help wonder what he was thinking about his boss.

Finally, one of the detectives addressed the assembled suspects including me and the chief. “After the bodies are removed, I’m sending for four cars to take you all down to the station, two to a car. You can ride down with us, Chief. Every one of you (he looked directly at the chief and then at me) are under arrest on suspicion of murder.” He read us our rights and informed us that we could call an attorney from the station house. This was surely not the weekend I had signed up for.

The media shamelessly pay cops to inform them of breaking news. As a result, Monte’s place was swarming with TV and newspaper reporters as the bodies were being removed. By the time we were all being placed in police cars, there were even more of them. I chose to ride with Elroy. I still worried that he was the next victim. He cried the whole trip down and leaned into me. He placed his hand on my crotch, I guess for comfort, and I got hard.

As for me, I called one of the best public defenders I had ever met in my years as a detective in New York. He had difficulty believing my story, but agreed to come up to Nyack first thing Tuesday morning. I forgot about the holiday. It looked like we would be languishing in jail for the rest of today, Sunday and Monday morning. We couldn’t even hope for a judge to set bail for us.

We were each assigned separate cells "No more hanky-panky this weekend", I thought. Each cell had one barred window so at least we could enjoy some outside sunlight. Monte was on one side of me and Jason was on the other. I was a bit surprised that Jason was considered a suspect by his staff, and I questioned him about it.

“I insisted that we all have equal treatment, and that includes me and you,” he explained to me. “Just because we are police officers doesn’t give us immunity from suspicion.”

That night, as we were preparing for sleep, I could hear crying and sobbing coming from the various cells. I really felt sorry for these guys. They were frightened and feared for their lives. I am sure that none of them had ever seen the inside of a jail before. I glanced across the hall and I could see that Harry and Francis had put their arms through the bars and were holding hands to comfort each other. I don’t know why but I suddenly felt like a mother hen to a bunch of little chicks. I felt a duty to protect them. That desire sent a warm feeling through my body and for the first time in a long time I fell sound asleep without sex and without whacking off. However, my trained ear did hear jerking off from other cells.

About four o’clock in the morning, I heard a terrible commotion. I jumped off my cot and could see two guards peering into Elroy’s cell. Elroy was two cells down from me on the other side of Monte and I couldn’t see a thing, but Harry across the hall yelled out, “He’s dead! He’s covered with blood.”

I was thunderstruck. What now? All the suspects were locked up in their cages, so it could not have been any one of the incarcerated men. Could someone, who was not at the party, be the one committing the murders? That was a strong possibility. Now it was my turn to have an overwhelming desire. I longed to question the police officers on duty at the jail this night. They were now prime suspects to a murder along with the rest of us.

As the body was being removed, Jason said, “Ken, can you hear me?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“This latest murder kind of let’s us all off the hook,” Jason said. I’ve never had a case like this one in my whole life.”

“Neither have I,” I had to admit.“. Do you know how he was murdered?”

“Yes, one of the guards told me,” the chief answered. “He was stabbed in the chest, and once again his penis was lopped off.”

“God, this is so gruesome and so bizarre,” I managed to respond.