If you haven't read the prelude or the previous chapters you might want to scroll down and read them. Please let me know what you think. SYNOPSIS: Jason Franco is an aspiring novelist stuck in a dead end job working for a newspaper in a small town where nothing exciting happens until someone rapes and murders a young woman only eighteen years old. All evidence points to the woman's boyfriend who confesses to the crime. Jason is assigned to write a follow-up story for the paper and soon suspects that the local police are covering up for one of their own. Jason enlists the help from a high school classmate who works at the state crime and the two soon fall in love. Jason and his girlfriend, Tina, follow the leads, and Jason finds himself a target for the rapist turned murderer. An attempt on Jason's life puts him in the hospital as the alleged rapist commits suicide. An unexpected turn of events put Jason back in the cross hairs of a different killer. Ms. Maria Diaz, Teacher, Torrington High School Tuesday, June 30, 2015 It was with trepidation that Jason called his old homeroom teacher, Ms. Diaz. After the scene at the Chinese restaurant, he was certain that she hadn't forgotten the prank he pulled on her when he was in her class. Finally, he called her and asked if he could interview her. She agreed if he'd meet with her at the school during her lunch break the next day, Tuesday. They agreed to meet in the teachers’ lounge. Jason arrived just as Ms. Diaz was sitting down to enjoy her sack lunch. She motioned for him to sit down opposite her at a small table for two. Jason bought a soda from a vending machine and joined her. He sat down and turned on his pocket recorder. “Ms. Diaz, it’s good to see you again. Thanks for letting me interview you.” Jason looked around. “Wow. I’ve never been inside the teachers’ inner sanctum lounge. Nice.” “Don’t waste my time, Jason. I’m not in the mood. It’s been a tough day. What do you want?” “I want to ask you about Art Rudd. Did you have him in class?” “Yeah, I remember him. He was a bigger pain in the ass than you were; a smart kid but always in trouble. He seemed to have unresolved issues.” “Could you tell me something about him?” “No.” “What?” “Look here. When you were in my class, you pulled that prank and embarrassed me in front of my peers. Now you ask me for help to write a story. I won’t help you unless you apologize.” Jason sat back. “Oh, that. I’d hoped you’d forgotten about that. Actually, I’m really sorry. I sincerely apologize. It was a stupid and immature stunt.” “I don’t accept that apology.” “What can I do to make up for my behavior?” “Jason, you embarrassed me publicly. Nothing short of a public apology will make up for it.” “If I promise to print an apology in the paper, will you talk to me now? I’m pressed for time. I’ve a deadline.” Jason lied. Ms. Diaz thought about it. “Well, okay. I don’t want to have a second meeting with you.” “Thank you. I promise to print the apology. I’m sorry. Now, about Art Rudd.” “Okay. As I said, he was a bigger pain in the ass than you were. He arrived some time in sixth or seventh grade. I didn’t really know him until he was in my homeroom his sophomore year. I knew him by reputation before that.” “What reputation?” “He was a bright student but was a social misfit. He didn’t get along with his peers, especially girls. He was quick tempered – always in fights. As I recalled, he had only one friend. No girlfriends. He didn’t even go to his senior prom.” “Who was his friend?” “They were like two peas in pod, both trouble makers. Give me a minute and I’ll remember his name.” “Did Art play any sports?” “Javier Radcliffe! His friend’s name was Javier Radcliffe.” “Javier Radcliffe. Do you know where I can find him?” “No. I know that he and Art enlisted in the Army. When Art came back for the service, he was much nicer. He matured. The Army was good for him. I don’t know what happened to Javier. He and Art didn’t come to their five-year class reunion. They both played sports. As I recall, they were wrestlers. They weren’t the team sports type.” Jason continued to ask questions until Ms. Diaz had to return to her class. “Jason,” Ms. Diaz called from the doorway as she was leaving. “I expect to see that apology in the paper. Oh, and tell Tina I said ‘Hi.’” She started to leave but stopped in the door way and turned around. “That's if she hasn't broken up with you.” She smiled and left. #### | |
0 Comments
I wrote a post about #SarahThomas being hired a a full-time NFL official back in April. At the close of the article I asked, “What can we expect next from the NFL?” Well, here it is. Jen Welter was hired by the Arizon Cardinals. She is the first female to hold a coaching position in the NFL. She will work with the team’s inside linebackers throughout training camp and the preseason. Apparently, there's no truth to tht rumor that she said she would rather handle tightends. Previously, she played running back and special teams for the Revolution, becoming the first female to play a non-kicking position in a men’s professional football league She also played professional football with the Dallas Diamonds of the Women’s Football Alliance. In my other post, I talked about the “glass goal line” being crossed and that we could expect more from the NFL. I know several women who could easily play on the front line. They may tip the scales at 300 pounds. I predict that we will soon many professional athletes coming out of closets. I think the NFL is ready for #transexuals, #cross-dressers and closet #Republicans. Of course, #JoeNamath might have been the first to wear panty hose in 1974. SarahThomas was hired as a line judge for the 2015 season. She has a number of firsts: the first woman to work college games in 2007, first female official on the FBS level and the first to officiate a bowl game. You may also recall Patricia "Pat" Palinkas was a placekick holder and Katie Hnida was a kicker. They were to first two female professional football players in a men's league. Georgia Frontiere was the owner of the NFL Rams for three decades and the first woman to take control of a league franchise. Shannon Eastin was the first woman to work regular-season NFL games in 2012 as a replacement official. For more laughs visit http://monteranderson.wordpress.com.
If you haven't read the prelude or the previous chapters you might want to scroll down and read them. This the second and last part of chapter 15. Please let me know what you think.
SYNOPSIS: Jason Franco is an aspiring novelist stuck in a dead end job working for a newspaper in a small town where nothing exciting happens until someone rapes and murders a young woman only eighteen years old. All evidence points to the woman's boyfriend who confesses to the crime. Jason is assigned to write a follow-up story for the paper and soon suspects that the local police are covering up for one of their own. Jason enlists the help from a high school classmate who works at the state crime and the two soon fall in love. Jason and his girlfriend, Tina, follow the leads, and Jason finds himself a target for the rapist turned murderer. An attempt on Jason's life puts him in the hospital as the alleged rapist commits suicide. An unexpected turn of events put Jason back in the cross hairs of a different killer. Interviews of Rape Victims Tuesday, June 30, 2015 (Cont. Part 2) Three of the rapes on Jason’s list happened in Casper, home to the University of Wyoming where Jason went to college and Tina's alma mater. Jason hadn't been back since he dropped out of college. He thought it might be fun to see the old campus. When he called campus security, he was referred to the Casper police. Chief Huggins, the CPD Chief agreed to meet with Jason on the following Monday because Independence Day would be celebrated on Friday since July Fourth was on Saturday. Jason e-mailed the list of rapes to him. On the drive to Casper, Jason kept thinking that the serial rapist may have driven the same route. The office of the Casper Chief of Police was like Chief Cruse’s office décor. Jason guessed they must have attended the same seminar on decorating offices. Chief Craig Huggins looked and dressed like Wyatt Earp including wearing a pair of pearl handled colt 45's. After introductions and exchanging business cards, Jason got right to the point. “Chief Huggins, as I said in my e-mail, I’m doing a story about a possible serial rapist. Several rapes have occurred within a two hundred mile area, all with the same MO. Three of them occurred in Casper. I want to ask you about those. Do you recall those rapes?” “Yes, of course. I got your e-mail and pulled those files. You’re correct. They're similar. We've no suspects so these cases are still unsolved. All three involved co-eds: two white and one African-American.” “Were all three outdoors and at night?” asked Jason. Chief Higgins sifted through the files. “As a matter of fact, they were. That’s unusual here. Most of our rapes involve alcohol or drugs and happen indoors and at night. Most don’t involve violence.” “These three did,” said Jason. “All outdoors. The victims were beaten unconscious. All had their pants pulled over their heads and panties taken.” Chief Higgins reviewed the files again. “Yeah. One vic was in a coma for three days.” “Chief, I’m looking for clues that may not be common to all three but that might help us identify the serial rapist. In all these cases, the victims didn’t see their attacker. They were attacked from behind, knocked out.” “Hmm. You got me thinking. Knocking a person out isn’t easy, especially if they're moving. Sometimes an attacker misses. I’m wondering if we have any reports of an assault where the vic wasn’t knocked out. Hold on.” Chief Higgins called in another officer and explained what he was looking for. After the officer left, Chief Higgins continued, “You know, ninety percent of all campus rapes occur under the influence of alcohol. Of the women who are raped, only ten percent report it. About a third of the rapes take place on campus. Most victims knows their attacker. In these three cases, the women couldn’t ID their attacker. Here’s another odd thing. Most rapes occur on weekend. These three happened during the week.” “Some of the others on my list did happen on weekends.” “Now the case of Sandy Cameron in 2008,” continued the chief, “happened in the Wilkins State Park. The vic was jogging alone just before dark. She was hit from behind, dragged into the woods and raped. Another jogger found her and called 911. By the time the ambulance arrived, she was conscious. She never saw her attacker; however, she did say that shortly before she was attacked she passed a man on the jogging trial.” “Did she describe the man?” The chief shuffled through the file. “Here it is. Yes, she described him as average height and build. He wore all black; black hoodie, black pants and black shoes. She couldn't be sure of his ethnicity.” “Could be her attacker or a witness. Did you talk to this guy?” “No. We couldn't ID him. I know that trial – a lot of switchbacks. The guy could've cut through the woods and waited to ambush her.” “Was her rape kit tested?” Chief Higgins scanned the report. “No, not yet. We have a backlog.” “Chief, that was over six years ago.” “What can I say? We don't test them here. Rapes that include murder get priority. If we had a suspect, we might be able to bump up the priority.” Jason shook his head. “If you tested it, you might have a suspect.” Chief Higgins shrugged his shoulders. “Now the case of Beth Alton, 2009 is different. We did get DNA.” “Oh, great. Any match?” “No match. No suspect. Very similar case. She was hiking alone, was attacked from behind and knocked out.” “How did the DNA show up?” “The vic had braces on her teeth. A piece of a glove caught on them and tore off. It had the perp's blood on it.” “But no match in the system?” “Nope. It's been five years. Maybe we should try it again. Maybe the perp's in the system now.” “What about the case of Jill Stone?” Higgins opened another file. “Jill Stone, 2010. Similar. Outside alone. Attacked from behind. Knocked out. Higgins scanned the file for a moment. “We got DNA in that case too. Apparently, before she was knocked out, she tried to fight off her attacker and scratched him. Again, no match to anyone.” “Did you compare the DNA from Stone to the DNA from Alton?” Higgins scanned the report. “Nope. But I will and get back to you with the results. If they match, then that would confirm that we have a serial rapist.” “I spoke to one victim who said she smelled WD-40. Did any of these victims say anything like that?” “No. But WD-40 is rather common. We use it her in the department to rustproof our weapons. I'd guess half the gun owners in Wyoming use it. Anything else?” “A couple of witnesses reported seeing a white car.” Chief Higgins scanned through the files again. “Nope. No vehicles reported. Anything else?” “No, Chief. Thanks. Please contact me when you compare that DNA from those two cases.” As Jason stood up to leave, the officer that the chief told to check on assaults entered. “I have that info you wanted, Chief. One assault was reported off campus during daylight. Young woman in a rural area. A perp came up behind her and tried to hit her. She wasn't hurt and out ran him.” “Did she describe him?” asked Jason. “Yeah, average height and weight. All dressed in black. Wore a ski mask.” The officer handed Higgins the report. “I made two copies.” Chief Higgins handed one copy to Jason. #### If you haven't read the prelude or the previous chapters you might want to scroll down and read them. This is another long chapter, so I'll post it in two parts. Please let me know what you think.
SYNOPSIS: Jason Franco is an aspiring novelist stuck in a dead end job working for a newspaper in a small town where nothing exciting happens until someone rapes and murders a young woman only eighteen years old. All evidence points to the woman's boyfriend who confesses to the crime. Jason is assigned to write a follow-up story for the paper and soon suspects that the local police are covering up for one of their own. Jason enlists the help from a high school classmate who works at the state crime and the two soon fall in love. Jason and his girlfriend, Tina, follow the leads, and Jason finds himself a target for the rapist turned murderer. An attempt on Jason's life puts him in the hospital as the alleged rapist commits suicide. An unexpected turn of events put Jason back in the cross hairs of a different killer. Interviews of Rape Victims Tuesday, June 30, 2015 The next day when Jason arrived at work, Mary handed him a can of insect spray. “You’ll need this.” “What’s this?” “Insect spray. It’s better than pepper spray. This sucker will spray fifty feet. Aim for the eyes.” Jason noticed an identical can on Mary’s and Zac’s desk. “Is this really necessary?” “You bet,” said Mary. “I’m not going down without a fight.” “This is even better,” interjected Sean as he exited his office carrying a pistol. “This is my old Army forty five. I smuggled it out of Vietnam. It can stop a charging bull in its tracks. Do you have a gun?” “No,” answered Jason. “I can loan you one if you want.” “No, thanks. That’s a too extreme for me. Besides, Tina offerred me one.” “Okay,” said Sean. “It’s your neck.” Jason decide to write a few stories for the front page so he would have time to check all the rape victims on his list. The stories didn't take long to write. He had been going over them in his head for days. It was a simple take to put his thoughts on paper easier than he thought it would be. Maybe he was becoming a journalist. Jason looked over the list of rape victims. The closest, after Torrington, was in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, a forty minute drive. He called the Scottsbluff police department, but the chief said the case was still open, and he refused to discuss it. Jason already knew the victim's name was Carmine Evans. On a chance, he checked the online white pages and got her telephone number. Carmine's father answered the telephone and explained that his daughter was at school in Florida. He said he would pass Jason's number to her and she if she wanted to talk to Jason she would call. A few minutes later, she did call Jason. They connected on Skype. She appeared to be in her early twenties. She wore a sweatsuit. Her hair was brown but with long light blue curls and dark blue bangs. She had two rings in her lower lip. “Carmine, I'm a journalist with the Torrington Star-Gazette. I'm investigating what I believe is a serial rapist. I like to record this interview with your permission. If you're not comfortable with that, I won't.” “No, go ahead. I'd like to help anyway I can.” “Okay. Just tell me what happened in your own words.” “I'm a little nervous. I'm studying astronomy here at Florida State. I have always been fascinated by the stars. Scottsbluff's a great place to go star gazing. The night I was attacked, I took my telescope and drove my mom's car up near the top of Scottsbluff. It's supposed to be closed after dark but I know a bike trail wide enough to drive a car up there. I set up on the farthest side away from the town lights. It's the best spot for star gazing.” “Then what happened?” “I don't know exactly. I was hit from behind and knocked out. When I didn't come home, my dad came looking for me. He found my car and called 911. Then he found me.” “I know this is hard,” said Jason. “But can you tell me what your attacker did to you? It would help to identify this attack with others.” “Sure. He took off my shorts and panties. He put my shorts over my head. I guess he took my panties.” “Did he beat you?” “Yeah, to a bloody pulp. I woke up when my dad found me but I couldn't see out of my left eye for three days. He broke my nose too.” “So you were unconscious while he raped you?” “Yes.” “Did you see anyone else on Scottsbluff, any cars?” “Not really. Just the usual kids making out. No, I didn't see anyone out of the ordinary.” “Do you think that your father might have seen some thing?” “The police asked him that. He said he passed three cars as he drove toward Scottsbluff: a black van, a red pickup, and a white four door car. The police later found the pickup but it was a couple of teenagers who were making out up there.” Carmine stopped to take a drink of water. “Does that help?” “Actually, a white car has shown up in other rape cases. It might be the rapist.” “I'm glad I could help.” Jason decided to try and contact Molli Roper and Cate Smith. After a search on the internet he discovered Cate Smith relocated out of the state; however, Molli Roper still lived in Douglas. When he called she hung up on him. Douglass was an hour and forty minutes drive, so Jason decided to drive over and attempt to talk to Molli. Douglas was about the same size as Torrington and was also the county seat. Jason had been there before when he attended the Wyoming State Fair. Jason located Molli's address and knocked on her door. A young boy answered and told Jason that his mom was at work. She was a waitress at a local diner. Jason drove to the diner. It wasn't hard to find Molli – there were only two waitresses, and they had name tags. Jason sat down at a booth and Molli walked over to take his order. Molli was a plump, medium height woman. She had blond hair with blue highlights with the ends tinted in dark blue. When she smiled, Jason saw that she was missing a couple of teeth. “Are you Molli? Molli Roper?” he asked. “Yes,” answered Molli. “Do I know you?” “No, No. I'm a reporter with the Torrington Star-Gazette, and I would like to talk to you about your attack back in 2010. I'm investigating a serial rapist.” “I weren't attacked,” Molli replied. “I had a roll over accident in my ATV.” “Maybe you did, but I have reason to believe that you were raped.” “I ain't going to talk about it.” Molli started to leave. “Let me show you something.” Jason put a picture of Angie on the table. It was a picture from her yearbook. “This girl was raped and murdered in Torrington two years ago.” Molli stopped and looked at the picture. “I remember reading about it.” Jason placed another picture of Angie on the table. It was from the autopsy. “This picture is what she looked like after her attacker beat her. Maybe the same guy beat you like that.” Molli shook her head. “Okay, I'll talk to you. Just let me tell my boss.” Molli left and returned a few minutes later. She sat down opposite Jason. “I don't know if I can help. I never saw my attacker.” “Why didn't you report it? Ashamed? Embarrassed?” “No. Scared. I thought the guy might come back and kill me; maybe my whole family.” “I get that,” said Jason. “but any small detail might help. This guy has raped maybe fifteen women.” “Oh my god,” said Molli as she covered her mouth. “I didn't know.” “Right now, no one knows for sure, but he may have. He beat this girl severely before he raped her.” Jason pointed to Angie's picture. “Did that happen to you?” Molli started to sob. She nodded her head. Jason drove home the point. “These women were all beaten. The rapist put their shorts or jeans over their heads to cover their faces. Did that happen to you?” “Yes. Yes. I had on a skirt. When I come to, it was over my head and face. My panties were gone too. My face was so beaten that I couldn't hardly see.” She pointed to her missing teeth. “He knocked out some of my teeth. I managed to get home and call 911.” “Can you think of any details; however insignificant they may seem? It might help.” Molli thought for a moment. “Smelled WD-40. You know that stuff. We use it at the diner. It's a very distinctive order. It was weird.” Molli and Jason talked for another fifteen minute and then Molli said she had to get back to work. She gave Jason her number. #### With so many #Republicans running for #president, I feel that voters should be allowed to vote against certain candidates. Even with so few #Democrats running for president, many Democrats are against #HillaryClinton. It could work in a number of ways. One way would be for each voter to have one vote “for” and one “vote” against. When the votes are counted, the negative votes would be subtracted from the pro votes. Here's an example how it might work. If there are a hundred voters and three candiates, there should be 100 “for” votes and 100 “against” votes. One candidate might get 51 “for” votes. Normally he/she would win the election. However, suppose she/he also received 30 “against” votes while another candidate received 30 “for” votes and no “against” votes. Then the second candidate would win—30 to 20. While the second candidate clearly did not have the majority vote, fewer people would be upset with his/her election. Another way it could work is for each voter to vote either “for” OR “against”—one vote. In the above example, there would be 100 votes either for or against. Let's say one candidate received 30 “for” votes and 30 “against votes” while another received 25 “for” votes and zero “against” votes. The second candidate would win. We actually do this in votes on referendums, voting “yes” or “no”
Here is a list of some of the Republican candidates: #JebBush, #ChrisChristie, #TedCruz, #LindseyGraham, #MikeHuckabee, #BobbyJindal, #RandPaul, #RickPerry, #MarcoRubio, #RickSantorum, and #DonaldTrump. The Demonstrates have #HillaryClinton, #MartinO'Malley, #BernieSanders, and #JimWebb among others. Use one “for” vote and one “against “ vote and tell me how you would vote. I vote “against” Trump. I'll hold my “for” vote until after the primary. How about you? If you haven't read the prelude or the previous chapters you might want to scroll down and read them. Please let me know what you think.
SYNOPSIS: Jason Franco is an aspiring novelist stuck in a dead end job working for a newspaper in a small town where nothing exciting happens until someone rapes and murders a young woman only eighteen years old. All evidence points to the woman's boyfriend who confesses to the crime. Jason is assigned to write a follow-up story for the paper and soon suspects that the local police are covering up for one of their own. Jason enlists the help from a high school classmate who works at the state crime and the two soon fall in love. Jason and his girlfriend, Tina, follow the leads, and Jason finds himself a target for the rapist turned murderer. An attempt on Jason's life puts him in the hospital as the alleged rapist commits suicide. An unexpected turn of events put Jason back in the cross hairs of a different killer. Naomi Martini and Art Rudd, Siblings, Nine Years Earlier Naomi called twice for Art to come down stairs, and when he didn't answer, she climbed the stairs up to his room. He was lying on his bed with his hands clasped on his chest. “Sup?” asked Naomi. “Oh, nothing,” answered Art. Naomi sensed something was wrong. She ambled over and sat on Art's bed next to him. “What's wrong? It's Saturday. Why aren't you hanging with Javier?” “He's got a new girlfriend. They don't want me hanging around.” “Well Javier's romances don't last more than three weeks.” Art chuckled. “True. Why can't I find a girl. Everyone at school is hooked up except me.” “I doubt that but don't worry, you'll meet someone someday.” “But I want a girlfriend now. I have these urges.” “I know lil' bro. That's normal at your age. Remember, the psychiatrist said this would happen. She told you what to do. Are you masturbating?” Yeah, but that gets old too. The girls at school just don't like me.” Naomi smiled. “You're a great guy, Art. You just haven't learned how to treat women yet. At our next session we'll talk to Dr. Petil about it. I'll help you too.” Naomi leaned forward to kiss Art on the forehead. He slipped his arms around her back and pulled her down on top of him. “I want to have sex with you. No one will know.” “Let go of me, Art,” said Naomi in a clear, strong voice. “It can't be like that between us. You're my brother.” “I know. I know. I know a couple of guys at school who sleep with their cousins. One guy even gets blow jobs from his sister.” “Let go of me, bro. I don't want to hurt you.” Art loosened his grip, and Naomi sat up. She sighed and patted Art's chest. “I guess you're old enough to know truth. Sit up. I want to tell you something.” Art got up and sat next to Naomi. “Why can't we have sex?” Naomi sighed again and took Art's hand into hers. “Here's the thing, Art. I don't like guys. I'm gay.” “What? I didn't know. Since when?” Naomi laughed. “I guess since I learned the difference between boys and girls. Have you ever seen me with a guy?” “No. I didn't know. Do you have a girlfriend?” Naomi shrugged her shoulders. “Not a steady. Certainly not here in town. I have a couple of friends in Cheyenne. We hook up a couple times a month.” “Oh. Does dad know?” “No and I don't want you to tell him. You can't tell anyone.” “Why?” “Torrington's a small town. I'm a cop. It's a male dominated career field. They won't accept a lesbian cop. Might hurt my career. I'll come out one day but not now.” “Okay. I won't tell anyone. I promise.” “I'm trusting you with this. You're old enough now to handle it. I've always had your back and now I want you to have mine. Deal?” Art nodded. “Yes. I do. I have your back.” “Okay then. Come down stairs if you're finished with your pity party and let's make lunch. I thought I'd make pizza.” They both started for the door. “Would it be okay if we ordered pizza? Your pizza sucks.” Naomi laughed. “Let's not get carried away with this new level of sharing, okay? We'll order pizza.” They started down the stairs. “So why does this guy you know get blow jobs from his sister?” “He said that she wants to practice.” They both laughed at that. #### I need to be serious for one moment to make everyone aware of a very serious aliment—Lack of #Humor. This disease affects millions of #Americans and many more outside of the United States. If left untreated it may result in a decline of a sense of humor, boredom and ultimately the death of any sense of humor. People who suffer for this aliment perfer to be called Humorously Challenged (HC) or Humorously Impaired (HI).
Symptoms: Everyone should learn to recognize the symptoms and to help those unfortunate people who have trouble laughing. Friends and families do not let friends miss out on the joke. This is a curable and preventable illness. Often there are early symptoms that give clues to the on set of this disease. Those afflected say things like “I don't get it.” or “What's the punch line?” or even “Is this a joke?” In the early stages victims are usually the last person to get the joke. They might even fake a laugh and nod their heads as if they understand. They can't remember punch lines. In the more advanced stage, they can't even remember jokes. Cure/Treatment: If you or your loved one is Humorously Challeged, don't give up hope—there is a cure. It takes a long time and requires a commitment to accomplished the cure. Here are the steps: 1. Reassure the patient that they are not alone. Millions suffer in silence, afraid to let anyone know. Only recently have victims admitted that they don't understand humor. That's progress. 2. Tell the pateint that they are loved in spite of being HC. 3. The treatment starts with simple jokes. In terms the patient can understand, explain the punch line. Research shows that starting with knock-knock jokes works best. 4. Once knock-knock jokes are mastered, advance to more complex jokes like straight line-punch line jokes. Avoid satire at all costs. 5. Once the patient is comfortable with the above jokes, show the patient movies like Airplane, Blazing Saddles, Naked Gun, National Lampoon's Vacation, and Young Frankenstein. These might require repeating. 6. If the patient is comfortable with the funny movies, move onto TV shows. Most sitcoms are okay. Old shows like I Love Lucy or Friends are good too. Avoid shows that require a more sophisticated sense of humor like Saturday Night Live (#SNL) or #TheDailyShow. 7. Evenually, the patient may be able to go to a comedy club or even repeat a joke. 8. No one is ever completely cured and relapses are possible. A daily supply of jokes may off set or prevent this. One source of humor is my blog at http://monteranderson.wordpress.com. Side Effects: As with all cures, there are side effects. If over stimulated, patients have been know to laugh at anything. Sometimes they start to laugh before the punch line. They may even laugh at inappropriate times or at bad jokes. There is also the possibility of pulled stomach muscles, injured funny bones, coffee or milk pouring from the nose, and self-inflicted wounds caused by slapping knees or foreheads. Never eat or drink while laughing. My hope is that one day no one will be Hunorously Challenged, and we can put an end to this terrible affliction. (Chapter 13 Cont.)
The meeting broke up and everyone started working. Zac handed Jason a couple of printouts. “Jason, I might have found one of the full names of those two women who were raped but didn't report it.” Jason stood up. “Great! Show me.” Zac pointed to the first page. “This one is Cate S., full name is Cate Smith. I checked newspaper files and on that date she was admitted to the hospital in Douglas with multiple face injuries. She said she was assaulted but not raped. No one was arrested because she couldn't identify her attacker. “What about Molli R.?” “Well I found a lot of Molly's with a y and one Molli with an i but her last name doesn't start with an r.” “Where?” “In Douglas. She was admitted to the county hospital with multiple face injuries on that date. She said it was an ATV roll over accident. Real name is Margaret. She might be the right one. Maybe the rapist got her name wrong. “I don't think so. He didn't make any other mistakes. Maybe she changed her name.” “Or got married,” said Mary who was listening. “That's I!t That's her,” said Jason. After forty five minutes, Jason headed to Paulo’s house. Right on time, Paulo’s call came through. Jason turned on his pocket recorder and put the telephone on speaker. “How are you doing?” asked Jason. “I’m okay. You asked me if I ever had a run in with any of the police. At the time I couldn’t remember anything, but later I did remember an incident. It happened a few years ago. It wasn’t a big deal but maybe it’s important. We did have a run-in with officer Rudd.” “What happened?” “It was right after Angie and I became intimate. We were parked up by the Hill Top Inn. The place is vacant, but a lot of kids go up there to make out. We were in the back seat making love when he came up to the window and shined his flashlight on us. He scared the shit out of us.” “What’d he do?” “He made us get dressed and get out of the car. He started telling us that he would tell our parents. He also said that since Angie was under age, I could be convicted of statutory rape and become a registered sex predator. He called me a pervert.” “Then what happened? Did he arrest you?” “No. He said that he would let us go with a warning if Angie would show him her tits. Before I could protest, Angie pulled up her tube top and showed him.” “What did Rudd do then?” “He just laughed. He called her a slut and drove off. Later, I checked with other kids, and they said he did that to them too. After that, we made sure we were indoors when we made love.” “When did that happen?” “It was the middle of our junior year, so that’s like almost four years ago. He’s the one who's a pervert.” “Did anything else happen?’ “No. True to his word, he never reported us.” Paulo asked to talk to his mother, so Jason handed her the phone and left. Sean was on the phone when Jason returned, but he signaled for him to come into his office. He hung up and looked at Jason. “Did you talk with Paulo? How’d it go?” “He said disturbing things about Rudd. I’m just not sure it’s relevant. Here.” Jason handed the recorder to Sean and Sean turned it on. Sean listened to what Paulo said about Rudd. “Jason, who committed this crime?” Sean thought for a moment. “We’re dealing with a serial rapist; probably a psychopath. If I’m right, he’s raped several women in Wyoming and adjacent states.” “Maybe,” said Sean. “And if he’s a psychopath, then there has to be previous tell-tail behavior. Psychopathic killers, for instance, may torture and kill small animal, sometimes the family pet. A psychopathic rapist probably has committed crimes like indecent exposure or maybe has been convicted of sexual assault.” “Are you thinking of a registered sexual predator?” “Exactly. I don’t know why the police never looked into that angle.” “It would’ve been someone close by. They had to know both Paulo and Angelina. He also knew that Mrs. Littlefield wouldn’t be home until eleven at the earliest. I’ll start checking on the registered sex offenders.” “No. I’ll have Zac do it. You need to keep writing the stories.” Sean rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. “Perhaps you need to look into Rudd’s character.” “How do I do that?” “The best way to learn about someone’s character is to talk to a close friend.” “Who is Art’s best friend?” “I don’t know. You’re the journalist. Find out. What else is missing?” Jason thought for a moment. “I’m troubled by this whole deal of lacking witnesses. Then there’s the time of the murder. It’s not like it was two in the morning. The time of death was between ten and ten thirty. Paulo says he left at nine thirty. Someone must have seen Paulo leaving or returning. They might have seen his car. If Paulo isn’t the rapist, then someone might have seen a person lurking about the neighborhood around ten.” “You’re right,” replied Sean. “If Paulo stayed home after nine thirty, someone might have seen his car parked there; someone waking their dog maybe.” Jason continued, “Then there’s the stab wound; one wound between the ribs directly into the heart. That's not a crime of passion. If Paulo was angry there would've been dozens of wounds. The wound was precise.” “Are you thinking the killer was someone with military training or martial arts?” asked Sean. “Could be national guard or ex-military.” “Yeah, or even medical training.” “Like an EMS person?” “Could be.” Sean called Zac into the office. “Zac, find out how many registered sexual offenders live in a two hundred mile radius of town. We don't need the pedophiles. See how many are in the National Guard or are ex-military or have medical training. Look for someone who committed sexual assault or stalking.” “Got it, boss.” Zac left the room. Jason waited for Zac to leave. “Zac has been working hard. How many more hours does he have to do to complete his community service?” Sean laughed. “He completed that about a week ago. I just haven’t told him. I can’t afford to pay him.” Everyone was working late. Sean sent Zac to pick up pizza. Zac left and returned immediately. “You guys need to check your cars. Everyone piled out of the building into the side street where Sean and Jason normally parked. Both cars had four flat tires. “Holy crap!” said Jason. “Someone slashed our tires.” “Yeah,” said Sean. “We may have pissed off the TPD.” Sean unlocked his car and opened his truck. He shook his head and closed it again. “Hell. Did they have to slash all four tires?” “I’ll call my friend, Sylvester, tomorrow. He’ll take care of it,” said Jason. “I’ll drive you guys home,” said Mary. “No sweat.” #### If you haven't read the prelude or the previous chapters you might want to scroll down and read them. This chapter is little long, so I'll post it in two parts. Here's the first part. Please let me know what you think.
SYNOPSIS: Jason Franco is an aspiring novelist stuck in a dead end job working for a newspaper in a small town where nothing exciting happens until someone rapes and murders a young woman only eighteen years old. All evidence points to the woman's boyfriend who confesses to the crime. Jason is assigned to write a follow-up story for the paper and soon suspects that the local police are covering up for one of their own. Jason enlists the help from a high school classmate who works at the state crime and the two soon fall in love. Jason and his girlfriend, Tina, follow the leads, and Jason finds himself a target for the rapist turned murderer. An attempt on Jason's life puts him in the hospital as the alleged rapist commits suicide. An unexpected turn of events put Jason back in the cross hairs of a different killer. Finding Molli and Cate, Rape Victims Monday, June 29, 2015 Jason came out of Sean's office and saw Zac sitting at his desk. “Zac, I have job for you.” He handed Zac the list and pointed to the names of Molli R. and Cate S. “Think you can identify these two women?” Zac looked at the names. “Hmm. The first names are not common spellings. That'll help.” “The dates there may be the dates they were raped. They may not have reported it as a rape but the rapist usually beats up his vics. They probably were treated in the emergency room of a hospital the same day or the next and reported the attack as an accident. The women would probably be between fifteen and thirty. They both live in the southeastern corner of Wyoming, the northeastern corner of Colorado or the southwestern corner of Nebraska.” Zac shook his head. “Oh boy. That's not much to go on. I'll see what I can do.” By midnight Sean and Mary had the newspaper set to publish. It would be a llate. Mary departed for home while Sean retreated into his office to leave Jason and Zac to do their thing. Jason worked on making videos while Zac set up websites and accounts. In no time Zac had Paulo signed up on Facebook, Linked In, and Google+. He also created a website called Saving Paulo. On each site, Zac posted links to the videos that Jason made. Jason also created a slide presentation and posted it in numerous places with links. Within thirty minutes they started getting hits and likes. Jason’s story covered the front page along with a photo of Paulo. The headline read “Paulo McAdams Is Innocent.” The story under Jason byline read: The Torrington Star-Gazette has discovered that Paulo McAdams who was convicted of murdering his longtime girlfriend, Angelina Littlefield, last month was the victim of a miscarriage of justice. The paper’s investigation uncovered that key evidence was improperly processed. Paulo McAdams was charged with raping and murdering Angelina Littlefield on August 15, 2012. He was pressured into a plea deal for second degree murder even though he was innocent. During the autopsy, the medical examiner found pubic hairs. The hairs were sent to the state crime lab for testing but never tested. The test was never done because the Torrington Chief of Police, Captian Jeri Cruse, called the crime lab and asked them not to perform the tests. He told them that since McAdams confessed in a plea deal, the tests were no longer needed. A DNA test of this evidence would prove that Littlefield was raped and killed by someone other than McAdams. This lapse by the police department is either ineptitude or a cover up to protect one of their own.” Jason left the office around three in the morning to get some sleep. It was a waste of time. He was too psyched up to sleep. He returned to the office shortly after seven. Mary wasn’t in but Sean was sitting at his desk. Jason strode into Sean's office. Sean looked like he’d been up all night. He was still wearing the same clothes with a couple of new coffee stains. He had bags under his eyes. Jason started to speak but Sean put his finger to his lip to shush Jason. Sean pointed to his couch. Zac was asleep on the couch with a pillow over his head. “He’s been up all night,” whispered Sean. “He just laid down about thirty minutes ago. He’s done one hell of a job. I’m proud of him.” “So how’s it going?” whispered Jason. “Well, the phone has been ringing off the hook since about six this morning. I finally just left the phone off the hook so Zac could sleep. I’ve got a couple hundred e-mails. I would say things are going well, thanks to you and Zac.” The Star-Gazette website had over 10,000 hits by noon. By three they were approaching 100,000 hits. Sean started getting calls from the mayor and every other agency in town. Soon the media in Cheyenne was calling. Sean called for another staff meeting for four that afternoon. Once everyone was settled, Sean started the meeting. “Zac, tells us what we have, please.” “Sure, grandpa. On Saving Paulo’s web site we have over 150,000 hits. At least 76,000 have signed up for updates and over 97,000 have signed our petition. If I add all the hits on all sites, we’re approaching 235,000.” Sean whistled. “Unbelievable. What’s the population of the State?” “Over five hundred thousand, close to six,” answered Mary. Zac frowned. “Boss, these are not just from Wyoming. These are from all over. Some are from overseas.” Jason jumped in, “When people want to correct an injustice, they petitions authorities anywhere.” Sean thought about that for a moment. “Elected officials don't care about signators who can't vote. So did only the Wyoming residents sign the petition to the Attorney General?” Sean’s question was met with silence. Finally, Zac answered, “We couldn't limit signatures to just the state. Anyone who wanted to sign could and did. Does it matter?” “I don’t know,” answered Sean. “I guess it doesn’t matter. What else?” “The story in the paper made a big impact,” answered Zac. “People have been visiting our web site and leaving comments. Do you want to hear some of them?” “Not just yet,” answered Sean. “Print them and I’ll read them later. Jason, I want to run a front page story every day until Paulo is released. I don’t care how long it takes. We need to keep this issue alive. Mary, you make sure every news agency gets copies. Zac, you continue to work your magic with the social media. We’ll meet every afternoon at four.” As Jason, Mary and Zac started to leave Sean’s office, he stopped them. He stood up and leaned on his desk with his head bowed. After a moment he raised his head and sighed. “Here’s the thing…. I can’t pay OT.” Mary was the first to answer. “No one asked you for over time.” Zac and Jason echoed Mary’s remarks. By noon the next day, the Saving Paulo’s web site had over 400,000 hits. They now had over 150,000 signatures on the petition for the Attorney General. The hits on all sites was approaching 500,000. Sean kicked off the four PM meeting. “I had a call from the Attorney General on my private phone.” “How did he get your number?” asked Mary. “Probably from Jeri. He called me too. I guess we're no longer friends. He had very harsh words for me.” “Duh,” replied Zac. He held up his right hand and made an “L” sign for loser. Sean just shook his head at Zac gesture. “Anyway, the Attorney General was very angry with me too…with us. He said we should’ve contacted him first before releasing the story.” “I knew it,” said Jason. Sean gave Jason a stern look. “As I was saying, he was very angry. He wanted to know how we found that the pubic hairs were not tested.” Jason jumped up. “It’s on the lab report. That’s available to the public.” “Well, sort of,” replied Sean. “The pubic report doesn’t say why the tests weren’t done. It just shows that it wasn't done. In particular, the Attorney General wanted to know how we found that Chief Jeri requested that those tests not be done. That's not in the public domain.” “Holy crap!” said Jason. “That came from Tina and Dyanna at the crime lab.” “Dyanna?” asked Mary. “I know Tina's your high school classmate, but who's Dyanna?” “Oops,” said Jason with a frown. “She's my other CI from the crime lab. She's Tina's roommate.” “I'm sure glad that I'm not one of your confidential sources,” kidded Zac. “Are they in trouble?” asked Jason. “They might be. You had better call them,” added Sean. “Okay. I’ll call when we’re done here.” “No. No. Call now. Don’t wait,” Sean insisted. Jason pulled out his cellphone and dialed Tina. After a few rings she answered. Jason told her about the Attorney General. “I figured as much,” replied Tina. “All hell has broken loose here. The Attorney General had a meeting this morning with the head of the DCI and his deputies including the head of our lab. They have us going through all the files and looking at every case out of Torrington.” “Are you and Dyanna okay?” “Yeah. Nothing connects us with you. Anyone in DCI could pull up that information.” “Are you sure? What about the sign in book and ID picture?” “OMG. I forgot about that. Yes, if they check the log they will see your name. Your picture is on file too. Let’s wait and see.” Jason frowned. “What’ll you do if they find that you’re my source?” “Don’t even worry about it. Now days there’re plenty of jobs for biologists. We knew the risks.” Jason thought for a moment. “Isn’t there a law about firing whistle-blowers?” “No, cowboy. That’s a Federal law and doesn’t apply for state agencies. Gotta go, love.” Jason hung up. When he looked up he noticed all eyes were on him. “You all heard?” “Yeah,” said Sean. “Now I’m sure that the Attorney General might tap our telephones.” “Cellphones?” asked Jason. “Maybe,” answered Zac. “If you like, I can get devices to encrypt our calls.” Sean thought about it for a moment. “Go ahead. Meanwhile, we should avoid using the telephones.” Zac raised his hand and when Sean nodded he said, “I can set up something to record all telephone calls. Might come in handy if we are threatened.” Sean thought about it for a moment. “We have to tell folks that calls are recorded.” Zac laughed. “No sweat. It's an automatic voice. It would say that we are recording the call to improve customer service.” Mary agreed. “I like the idea.” “If the phones are tapped and we stop using them,” said Jason. “They'll know we know. We should continue to use the phones but not talk about the murder.” “Any way,” continued Sean. “The Attorney General used pretty foul language on the phone. When I asked if I could quote him he hung up. We might be winning. Zac, can you set something up on our website to get donations for Paulo’s legal costs?” “Yeah, no problemo,” replied Zac. “You’ll need to open a bank account and give me the account number. Pay Pal would be the safest way.” “What are you thinking?” asked Jason “Paulo is going to fire his lawyer, that hack, Patton. I’ll open an account first thing tomorrow.” “Grandpa, we don’t need to pay for a lawyer. I’ve three emails from lawyers who want to help for boners.” Mary marched across the room and slapped Zac on the back of his head. Sean laughed. “You mean Pro Bono. I don’t trust those lawyers. Paulo needs a lawyer can control; one who works for us. We don’t want a lawyer who is looking for publicity.” “What about Mrs. McAdams?” asked Mary. “I already discussed it with her. She agrees. As soon as we hire one, Patton’s gone.” Sean’s cellphone rang. He looked at it and said, “It’s Paulo’s mother. Stay put. Hello, this is Sean.” Sean nodded his heads a few times. “Okay. I’ll tell him.” Sean hung up and looked at Jason. “Paulo want to talk to you. He’ll call home in one hour. Be there. I’m guessing their phones aren’t tapped.” #### If you haven't read the prelude or the previous chapters you might want to scroll down and read them. Please let me know what you think.
SYNOPSIS: Jason Franco is an aspiring novelist stuck in a dead end job working for a newspaper in a small town where nothing exciting happens until someone rapes and murders a young woman only eighteen years old. All evidence points to the woman's boyfriend who confesses to the crime. Jason is assigned to write a follow-up story for the paper and soon suspects that the local police are covering up for one of their own. Jason enlists the help from a high school classmate who works at the state crime and the two soon fall in love. Jason and his girlfriend, Tina, follow the leads, and Jason finds himself a target for the rapist turned murderer. An attempt on Jason's life puts him in the hospital as the alleged rapist commits suicide. An unexpected turn of events put Jason back in the cross hairs of a different killer. Staff of the Torrington Star-Gazette Monday, June 29, 2015 Early Monday morning, Tina dropped Jason off at the airport so he could catch the shuttle van back to Torrington. When he entered the newspaper office, Sean was standing in the doorway of his office. “So how did you make out with your informant from the crime lab?” Jason froze. How did Sean find out. Sean laughed. “Jeez, Jason. Do you play poker? You’re bright red. You're just supposed to interview her, not sleep with her.” Mary and Zac started laughing. “Did you get some pussy?” asked Zac. “Shut your mouth, Zac,” yelled Mary as she marched over and smacked him on the back of his head. Jason didn’t answer but strode straight into Sean’s office, sat down and updated him. When he was done, he said, “Bottom line--we need to get those pubic hairs tested for DNA. I do believe it’ll clear Paulo.” “You’re right. Good work.” Sean reached for his cell phone and dialed Chief Cruse’s number. “Hey, Jeri. We're just discussing the Littlefield case. You know that the pubic hairs found on Angelina Littlefield were never tested for DNA. We should get them tested. You know, to close any possible loop holes.” Sean listened for a minute and then said, “Okay, thanks.” “What’d say?” asked Jason. “He said that it’s up to the defense lawyer. His hands are tied.” “Do you believe him?” “I don’t know. Maybe he’s right. Let’s talk to Paulo’s lawyer.” “He said he didn’t want the hairs tested.” Sean dialed up Paulo’s lawyer and after talking with him he hung up. “You were right. He says he doesn’t want to test the pubic hairs because if Paulo changes his plea and if the pubic hairs turn out to be his, he could end up on death row.” “That’s crazy. It could clear Paulo.” “I know. It just confirms what I thought about Paulo's lawyer – he's an idiot.” Jason and Jason sat in silence for a few moments. Finally, Jason asked, “Now what?” Sean sat up straight. “Zac, get in here. Mary, you too. Staff meeting. Now.” Sean waited until everyone was in his office. “We need to talk strategy.” He turned to Jason. “We need a public outcry. I want you to write a story accusing the police of bungling the case. Zac, we’re going to accuse the police of injustice in the Paulo case. Can you use social media to create a stir that will embarrass the DA in Cheyenne?” Zac smiled. “Can I? You bet. I’ll work with Jason and we’ll publish a story that will cause a public outcry like the Arab Spring.” Zac held up his hands and spread them as if reading a headline. “Torrington police inept. Innocent man jailed for murder.” Sean pumped his fist. “Okay. Jason, write the story ASAP. Zac, show me what you’re going to send. I want everything to go public tomorrow morning.” Jason stood up. “Wait. Wait. Are you serious? This is a big step. We need to discuss this further.” Sean smiled and leaned back in his chair. “Okay, let’s discuss it.” Jason sat back down. “We need to consider the ramifications of accusing the PD. If we’re wrong, we could be sued. We could also be charged with fraud or obstruction of justice.” “What?” said Mary. “I’m not going to jail, not even for you.” Sean smiled. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” “What are we trying to accomplish?” asked Jason. Sean leaned forward. “We want the PD to get those pubic hairs tested for DNA.” “Then it may not be necessary to accuse the PD of anything,” said Jason. Maybe we can get a court order. Maybe we can talk to the Attorney General.” Sean shook his head. “That’ll take too long. Meanwhile, an innocent man sits in prison. Besides, we already know the answer.” Mary spoke up again. “Dad, you’ve always reported the news objectively without taking sides. This is different. It’s one thing to report the news, but it's entirely different to use the newspaper to incite the pubic to pressure a government agency to do something. It’s not right.” Sean stood up. “Those are all good points. The TPD may be totally innocent at the very least or they may be abusing their power. On the other hand, there may be a cover up. We’ll put it to a vote. How many of you sincerely believe that Paulo is guilty as charged?” No one raised their hand. Sean clapped his hands once. “Okay then. In the name of justice, let’s do this. Jason, you write the story. Try to keep from directly accusing the PD of any crimes if you can. Zac, you work your magic on the internet and social media. Mary, you keep the coffee coming and man the phones.” Zac was excited. “We need something like the ice bucket challenge. We need to grab people’s attention.” “Like what?” asked Mary and Sean. “How about we show someone in an electric chair with the caption, Save an innocent life,” answered Zac. Sean frowned. “Paulo’s not on death row.” “No one uses the electric chair anymore…I don’t think,” added Mary. “Okay, okay,” said Zac. “Let me think of something. What do we want people to do?” “What do you suggest?” asked Sean. “You’re the expert.” Zac thought for a minute. “We need a call to action with a lot of action buttons. People should share with their network or re-tweet the message. We’ll have a petition to the AG for them to sign. I can set up an action button to send e-mails to whomever.” “Start with the Attorney General,” said Sean. “If that doesn’t work, we’ll try the governor. Jason came up with several ideas and ran them pass the group. They agreed to use a picture of Paulo and super impose handcuffs and leg chains on it. Zac wasn’t too happy about it but it was the best he could do on short notice. It didn’t take Jason long to write the story. Sean approved immediately. Jason worked with Zac to make various versions for different social media. They decided to post something on Twitter, Linked In, Instagram, Pinerest, Tumblr and Google+. Sean approved everything that Zac and Jason put together except for minor changes. He added the Star-Gazette logo to everything and a statement that the Star alone was responsible for their content. While Sean was reviewing the posts, Jason printed the list of rapes. “Then there’s this.” Jason handed Sean the list. “Tina and I along with another CI did a some research and came up with a list of rapes with similar MOs. We should check them. It’s possible that there is a serial rapist.” Sean read the list. “I remember a few of these cases. You said the names are on Register Cliff?” “Yeah. Here's the odd part; once a yesr flowers show up at the base of the list. What type of sicko commenerates rapes?” Sean thought for a moment. “He's not commenerating his rapes, he's commenerating the fact thast he hasn't been caught.” Sean sighed. “The TPD didn’t even consider a sewrisl rapist. More and more they seem like the Keystone Cops.” “Who?” asked Zac. “Never mind,” said Mary. “I’ll explain later.” “Jason, you're not getting side tracked are you?” asked Sean. “We started trying to prove that Paulo is innocent. Now you're searching for a serial rapist.” “I'm certain that a serial rapist killed Angie. If I can prove that then it proves that Paulo's innocent.” “And what if you find this serial rapist and discover that he didn't rape and kill Angelina? What then?” “Then at the very least we have exposed a serial rapist.” “Okay,” said Sean. Sean looked over the list again. “What's with Molli R. and Cate S? “We couldn't find a match. Tina thinks maybe they weren't reported.” “Check them. See what you can find.” #### |
AuthorMonte is the author of several e-books on Amazon and smashwords.com Buy Monte's e-books: The Throuple Private Eye--Business is Booming. The Throuple Private Eye--Hate Crimes A Head for Murder The Register cliff Rapist The Clone Murders, Archimedes of Syracuse: Leonardo da Vinci's Mentor, Leadership for New Managers: Book Two FREE E-BOOKS: Angels and Gargoyles LINKS linkedin.com twitter.com brandyourself.com Archives
March 2023
|