Chapter 14

Al and Bonnie had just finished dinner and were snuggling on the couch when the security system announced someone was at the door. When Al looked at the security monitor, he saw a large black man, holding up a policeman's shield. Al let him in and the man introduced himself as a detective Sgt. Daniels.

When they were all seated, Sgt. Daniels removed a small notebook from his jacket pocket and said, "Lieutenant Slavens has told me a lot of what has been going on, but I would like to hear it from you. Start with the Japanese men who visited your brother before he was killed, and continue until the Jones woman's body was found this morning."

Al and Bonnie took turns reciting the story of the last few days. When they came to be meeting with Katharine Jones, they portrayed it as being a recruitment meeting and didn't mention the dihedron virus. Al thought it would be better to get the hundred thousand dollars out in the open, so he told Sgt. Daniels about advancing the money to Ms. Jones. He told the sergeant that he had sent her the money personally, because the Finance vice-president's computer was down.

Sgt. Daniels was skeptical and he didn't try to hide it from Al and Bonnie. "OK, Mr. Green, suppose I buy what you're saying. Why couldn't this lady have just waited for her money until she came to work for you, or and least until the computer at Modern Electronics was up and running again?"

"Well, Sgt. Daniels," Al said. "Ms. Jones wanted the money before she turned in her resignation at Mitsutronics. It has happened in the past, especially in high-tech industries, that someone would be promised a job at a new company. The person would turn in their resignation, then the new company would change its mind. The old company would no longer want the individual because they knew the individual was looking and it would only be a matter of time before they left anyway. We are looking to start manufacturing our version of the dihedron. Ms. Jones was an expert in dihedron manufacturing. We needed her expertise and were willing to pay for it. We wanted her to start working for us as soon as possible, so I agreed to send the money myself. It's probably already back in my account, so it didn't really cost me anything."

Sgt. Daniels leaned forward aggressively. "Something isn't right here, Mr. Green. This whole thing smells bad. If I were a betting man I'd wager you're trying to hide something here. I don't know what it is yet, but I will find out."

Sgt. Daniels sat, staring at Al and Bonnie for a long time before saying anything else. It was an old trick, but usually an effective one. If you waited long enough, the person you were questioning would feel they had to say something. This could often be very revealing. This time though, it didn't have the desired effect. "Lieutenant Slavens tells me that you received an e-mail from Ms. Jones, saying that she had turned in her resignation at Mitsutronics. The personnel manager at Mitsutronics tells me they have gone through her boss's computer and there is no e-mail from her. How do you explain that, Mr. Green?"

"I'll let you explain it, Sgt. Daniels," Al grinned. "The e-mail I received from her had the e-mail she sent to her boss has an attachment. It's still on my computer. I'd be happy to show it to you."

Sgt. Daniels indicated that he would very much like to see the message in question, so Al took him over to his computer and brought up the e-mail. He showed him first the message that said she had turned in her resignation, then he brought up the e-mail she had sent her boss. He showed Daniels the time stamp, which showed she had sent the one to her boss at 8:01 PM yesterday and the one to him at 8:02 PM yesterday.

For a moment Sgt. Daniels suspended his distrust of Al. "OK, Mr. Green, is there any way to tell where the message was sent from?"

Al showed him the routing information, which had become so thorough over the years, it could even tell which computer on the local area network had sent the message.

Sgt. Daniels thought for a moment, then asked, "Is there any way this routing can be faked?"

"I suppose you could," Al said thoughtfully. "I have no idea how you would do it though. Why would anyone want to fake the routing on this?"

Sgt. Daniels didn't know how much he wanted to tell them, but they seemed to be cooperative, so he decided to go with the flow. "When we were at Mitsutronics earlier, they told us Ms. Jones had not been in the building yesterday evening. They were very adamant about it and offered to show us the entry logs, and even show us the videos from the security cameras. Either someone faked the routing on your e-mail, or Mitsutronics is trying to cover up the fact that she was there. Frankly, right at this moment, I don't know who to believe."

Saturday, August 18, 2035

It was just after 1:00 AM when the phone rang, waking Al and Bonnie from a sound sleep. They had gone to bed shortly after Sgt. Daniels had left. They made love, slowly and tenderly, enjoying each other to the fullest. They cuddled and petted and made love again. They had finally drifted off to sleep at around 11:30 PM, wrapped in each other's arms. Al was so startled by the telephone he knocked it off the bedside table in his haste to answer it.

"Al Green speaking," he mumbled.

"Did I wake you, Al," Lt. Slavens voice came from the phone.

"This is getting to be a habit, Art. What the hell you want now?" Al asked, a little more coherently.

Al could hear Lt. Slavens sigh into the telephone. "Al, I'm afraid there's been another murder. This time, one of the security guards here at Modern Electronics thinks the dead guy is Fred Nelson."

"Oh my God! Fred is the vice president in charge of research and development. What happened?" Al asked.

You could tell Slavens was under a lot of tension when he replied. "The body was found at the front door of Modern Electronics by one of the security guys. It was laid out in exactly the same manner as the Jones woman. The dismembered arms and legs were on either side of the body, and the severed head was sitting in the middle of the chest."

"What the hell are we paying those damned security guys for?" Al was nearly screaming. "Are these guys blind or what? Why the hell didn't they see someone arranging body parts in front of the door?"

"Don't be too hard on them, Al. They go on lunch break at midnight. The guys who dropped off the body had to know their routine. The security cameras caught everything on tape. A black Honda pulled up in front of the door at exactly 12:05 PM. Two men, dressed in black, with black hoods and gloves got out of the car and calmly started removing body parts and stacking them in front of the door. The whole thing couldn't have taken five minutes. Then, they just calmly got back into their car and drove away."

Bonnie had awakened and now had her hand on Al's shoulder, realizing he was upset, but not knowing why. Al patted her hand then turned back to the phone. "OK, Art, what do you want from me?"

Slavens sighed again. "Well, the security guard is a little iffy in his identification. Would you rather identify the guy, or should I call Mrs. Green?"

"For God's sake don't call Linda. Where do you want me go?"

Slavens seemed relieved. "The coroner hasn't arrived yet, and the body will be here for a while even after he comes. Why don't you come on down to Modern Electronics, and make the identification here?"

As soon as he hung up the phone, Al got up and began dressing. Bonnie demanded to know what was going on and when Al told her, she began dressing as well. Al thought about arguing with her, but decided it wasn't worth the effort.

Bonnie was visibly shaken as they made the drive to Modern Electronics. She held onto one of Al's hands, and was very quiet. When they pulled into the parking lot, it was as brightly lit as if it had been noon. They could see the pile of human body parts, and when Al instructed her to stay in a car she quietly complied.

Lt. Slavens walked up as Al was getting of the car. Sgt. Daniels was not far behind. They walked with Al to the body, then seemed as relieved as he was to move away as soon as the identification was complete. They walked over to Art's unmarked police car, where Sgt. Daniels took up a position leaning against the passenger door of the car.

Lt. Slavens was the first to speak. "Did you know this guy well, Al?"

Al shook his head. "No, I was introduced to him, and I've seen him around the building here on many occasions. I was always with Sam though, and never really had any reason to talk with him. I do know he has a wife and kids. Has anyone contacted them?"

Lt. Slavens waved his hand dismissively. "No, not yet. He had no identification on him, and the security guards didn't seem all that sure. We didn't want to call the wrong person. The security guards have addresses and phone numbers of all the company officers. We'll have someone go by and make the notification in a few minutes."

"Mr. Green, was this guy involved in this dihedron mess you were telling me about earlier?" Sgt. Daniels asked.

"Not to my knowledge, Sgt. Daniels. He would have been Ms. Jones's boss when she came to work for us, until we went into production, but as far as I know he had never even met her," Al answered.

"Any idea why anyone would want to do this to him?" Sgt. Daniels continued his interrogation.

"Not one. As I said, I hardly knew the man. Maybe Linda, my sister-in-law, will know more, but I would ask you to wait until morning before questioning her. She's been through an awful lot in the last few days."

Lt. Slavens sighed and stretched. "I think questioning of anyone can wait until morning. It looks like they're taking the body away, so why don't we let these people go, and try to get some sleep ourselves?"

Sgt. Daniels nodded his agreement, and everyone made their way back to their respective vehicles. Bonnie was waiting patiently for Al, but grabbed his hand as soon as he was in the car. They drove quickly back to Al's place, and quietly got ready for bed. The turned off the light at 2:30 AM, and held each other until they were both asleep.

Frank Faulkner awoke with a start. He thought he had heard something downstairs. He was always a light sleeper, probably from the many years he had spent in the Army. He slept even more lightly now since all the trouble had begun. He looked at to the clock beside his bed and saw that it read 3:35 AM He got quietly out of bed, picked up the shotgun leaning against the wall by his bedroom door, and walked quietly in the dark to the landing at the top of the stairs. He stopped and listened, but heard nothing. He was thinking he might have made a mistake, and was turning to go back to bed, when he heard a sound like something metallic hitting the glass pane in his front door. It was just a tap, but he heard it distinctly.