Chapter 16

"Ann, this is Betty, She had the same thing happen to her that happened to you," Ed said, "I'm going to show you the pictures that Bynum took. I used some software to black out her face. The pictures that I'm going to show you are the doctored pictures. I destroyed the disk that showed her face."

Ed started the computer and brought up the pictures. He went through them slowly, giving her a chance to review each one before going on to the next picture. When he got to the last picture she gasped.

"I though I got..." she stopped realizing that she had gone too far.

Ed looked at her, "Did you get the other disk out of Bynum's desk?"

She shook her head and reached into her purse. Ed tensed ready to grab her arm if she pulled out a gun. She pulled a computer disk out of her purse and handed it to Ed.

"I came back to the office to try and find this disk the night George was murdered. I found him on the floor and I looked through his desk and found this disk. I loaded it into his computer and saw that it had my pictures on it and took the disk. I left the office without anyone seeing me and George was found by the cleaning people."

She looked at Ed, "Can you erase my face from the pictures like you did on Betty's pictures? Can you hide the tattoo?"

Ed took the disk from her and loaded it into the computer. He pulled up the first picture and Ann looked away ashamed. The men on the pictures were the same men that had raped Betty. Ed used the software to hide her face and then erased the tattoo. Ann looked at the result and nodded. Ed went through every picture and did the same, each time waiting for Ann to give her approval. After he had made all of the changes to the pictures, he inserted a blank disk and copied the doctored pictures to the disk. He then erased the pictures from the hard drive and removed the disk. He went into the kitchen and got a pack of matches. Ed took the disk showing Ann's face out on the patio and struck a match. He held the match under the disk until the edge started the burn. Ed blew out the fire and held the disk, being careful to not touch the melting plastic until it cooled. He threw the disk into the trashcan in the kitchen.

"Ann, can you tell me how this all started with you?" Ed asked.

"George asked me to work over one night. My husband was out of town and I had no plans for the evening so I agreed to work over. George ordered some dinner from a Chinese carryout and went to get it. When he came back with the dinner, he told me that he would set it up in the conference room and call me when it was ready. I went in after he called and started eating. That's the last thing I remember until I woke up on the couch in his office the next morning. I was naked and George was sitting at his desk laughing. He asked me if I had fun the night before and showed me the pictures. I was so ashamed that I took off work for several days. George called my house and told me that if I didn't come in he would send a copy of those pictures to my husband's office. When I came back to work he made me have sex with him sometimes in his office after work."

Ed inserted the disk with Betty's pictures and pulled up the last picture, "Do you have any idea who this man is?"

Ann looked at the picture and shuddered, "Yes that's Earl Schwartz, the Police Commissioner. George told me that if I told anyone about the pictures Schwartz would have my husband thrown in jail. He said that the police could manufacture enough evidence to put him away for years. George took care of the investments of many of the prominent people in town and he was well known to all of the politicians in town."

Ed was stunned. The Police Commissioner was appointed a few weeks after Ed left the force. This was why he looked familiar. Ed had seen his picture in the newspaper. Ed pulled up the picture with the man's hand on it.

"Do you recognize this ring?" he asked, "This guy's face doesn't show on any of the pictures."

Ann leaned forward and looked at the ring, "Yes, I've seen that ring before. It's gaudy isn't it? That's Brian Fullman, the City Councilman. George took care of his investments too. He came into the office many times."

Ed looked at Ann, "Why are so many of the politicians and the Police Commissioner so close to George Bynum?"

Ann looked down and hesitated, "George took care of several trust funds and some of the union pension funds and university endowment funds. It was fairly easy for him to shift some of the gains into his friend's accounts. He would take a small percentage of each fund and give it to his friends. A small percentage of a hundred million is a lot of money. All he has to do is tell one of the large funds that they made 9% on their investments when they really made 9.35%."

Ed sat few a minute unable to talk, "How did you find out about this setup?"

Ann looked down at her hands, "When I threatened to go to the police, George told me the Police Commissioner and The Mayor and City Council were all in his pocket. That's when he told me that my husband could be sent to jail on trumped up charges if I told anybody."