Secret Sins: Murder in the Church (7 page)

BOOK: Secret Sins: Murder in the Church
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Lisa West

Lisa West is the fifty-three year old wife of Cornelius
West and they have been
married for
twenty-seven years. They have an eighteen
year
old daughter, Shonease. I knew what profession he worked in and the risks that are part
of the job. When he was a street cop when we first married and I worried constantly. As
he began working himself up the latter became less apprehensive because he remains at the
precinct the majority of time. Cornelius was promoted to Captain a couple of years ago, and
it was at that stage of his career he decided he needed to be more closely connected to his
officers and their day to day duties as street cops. My life was worry free until he started
doing his random ride-a-along once a month with one of his officers.

I was about to plug in the vacuum cleaner when the monthly emergency test sirens
cried out. I continued to vacuum the floor. Between the vacuum cleaner and the sirens I
didn’t hear the doorbell or the telephone ringing. When the emergency sirens completed
their test I heard a loud banging on the door. I yelled, “One moment please!” I turned off
the vacuum, and the telephone was ringing. The banging continued as I decided to answer
the phone
first, “Hello…Oh
my God!” I hung up the phone and rushed to the door to find Virginia Breeze and two
police cars.

I
opened
the
door,
and
Virginia
rushes
in and I ask in complete panic, “What
happened?”
Virginia said, “Come on and I explain on the way!”

I grabbed my purse and Virginia, and I left with one police car in front of us and
another

 

behind. Our motorcade zoomed through every through every
stop sign, red light and
major intersection.

Cornelius and I r e me mbe r e d Virginia before she became connected with the NSA.
Virginia
tells me, “He was airlifted to St. Matthew’s Hospital after the shooting.”
I could feel the tears welling up, “What exactly happened?”
“We went to B. Mosley Mortuary to investigate a case,” replied Virginia.
I could help myself, but I had to interrupt, “That Ray Murdock case?”
“Yes. Captain West’s shooting
had
nothing to do with the Murdock case,” Virginia
paused for a moment as she
makes a sharp turn into Kingshighway, “At this point I don’t
think so.”
I could tell from the tone of her voice she didn’t believe that story any more than I
did, but I held my tongue. My thoughts were on Cornelius and my daughter, Shonease. I
took
out my cell phone called and there was no answer, and commented, “Pick up for
heaven’s sake.” He voicemail picked
up, “Shonease come to St. Matthews Hospital. You father’s been shot,” I spoke into
her voice mail.
Virginia asks, “Where is she?”
I said, “She’s probably with her boyfriend, Troy.”
“That’s the second time today I’ve heard the name Troy,” said Virginia as she squalls
her tires as she makes a sharp turn into the emergency entrance of St. Matthew’s Hospital.
“You should. Troy is the son of Brad Mosley,” I said.

Knights of the Black Circle

“Time is important and of the essence” proclaims the Sovereign from the front of an
altar. The
Sovereign identity
is
a
closely
guarded
secret as is the membership of the
Knights of the Black Circle. The Sovereign is wearing black hooded cloak with a golden
lion stitched on the front. There are seventy people gathered in the secret catacombs of
the Knights of the Black Circle building and they are wearing solid black cloaks.

A man enters wearing a gray hoodie and he lays his gun upon the altar, “It is done,”
he said. The man stood at attention as if awaiting orders.
The Sovereign’s phone rang, “Yes. Yes. Yes. I understand.” He turns to the man in
the gray hoodie, “You weren’t to injure any bystanders and no one was to identity you.”
“They go into the way,” and they he walks
away and kneels in front of the seventy members.
The Sovereign’s cell phone rings
again, “Yes,” then he puts the cell phone into the
pocket of his cloak. He points to the young man in the gray hoodie and picks up the
gun
from
the
altar with a glove gloved hand and asks, “Are you ready to be initiated
Apostle?”
He stands and faces the leader with his hand folded in prayer, “I am ready,” said the
man in the gray hoodie gets up and faces the Sovereign Leader, “Lay on the altar.
The Apostle lay’s down on the altar and a group
of
eleven
people join the leader
and surround the altar. A large theatrical screen lowers itself in front of the
membership.
There
is a complete view of the activities within the circle for all to see. The Sovereign
Leader says, “You have failed in your mission.”
The Apostle yells, “No way. I saw Captain West fall dead!”
“He lives,” said the Sovereign Leader.
“He lives,” chanted the eleven around the altar. “You failed,” chanted the other members.
The
Apostle realizes he may be in trouble
and tries to get up from the altar and the eleven hold him down as he beseeches the
Sovereign for mercy, “Forgive me…I can make this right!”
The Sovereign puts his hand on the Apostle shoulder in an attempt to calm him, “I
forgive you.”
“You’re forgiven,” chants the eleven.
“Make him an example,” chants the membership.
The Sovereign Leader reaches under the altar and pulls out a black wool sack and
someone wearing a red hooded cloak comes over carrying a bright yellow and red snake
and places the snake in the bag and the Apostle eyes fill with terror, “I thought he was
dead!”
The eleven held him down as the person in the red cloak comes over chanting,
“Blessed is the silence,” and he stuffs a giant sponge into the apostle’s mouth to muffle his
screams.
The members chant in unison, “Blessed be the silence!”
The Sovereign Leader whispers into the Apostle’s ear, “You are forgiven.” The words
are amplified and echoed by the sound system, “You are forgiven”
The Apostle calms down and the eleven release him. Suddenly, the Sovereign Leader
slips the open end of the black sack over the Apostle’s head and tightens the ends.
He screams and squirms to no avail until there is silence and he lays motionlessness
and limp.

Detective Virginia Breeze

Lisa West, Commissioner Horton and Chief Wilson and a host of uniformed police
officer wait outside the Urgent Care Unit of St. Matthews Hospital. Shonease sits next to
her mother, Lisa and Troy stands next to Shonease.

A man wearing blue surgical scrubs comes
out, “Mrs. Cornelius West?”
Lisa and Shonease rush to the doctor, “Right here!”
“Hello, I’m Dr. Thomas.”
Commissioner Horton and Chief Wilson walkover over and stand next to Lisa, “How
is he?”
“Captain West will be OK. Good thing he was wearing his vest otherwise, I would
have been must worse.”
Everyone breaths a sign of relief and Shonease asks, “Can I go in and see my Dad?”
Everyone was paying close attention to Dr. Thomas, “The vest caught the bullet. He
just has a couple of bruised ribs. We’ll need to keep him overnight to observation.”
“Like hell you are!” Everyone turns to see Captain West standing in the middle of
the floor in a hospital gown.
Lisa looks smiles at Cornelius, “No problem.”
Captain
West yells, “Where’s my
clothes?

Denisha Logan

People
think
I
got
it
made
just
because
my father
is
Chief
of
Police,
Darnell
Logan. But, let me tell you this, whom I am may have gotten me in the door, but it is my
abilities that keep my here. I have not been handed anything on a silver platter. If anything,
I have to work much harder and constantly keep proving myself to others especially my
boss, Tom Johnson.

There are people that get employment through more modern channels while others
less conventional channels. In Tom Johnson’s case it was a questionable channel. How
do you explain an unqualified department head? I’ll tell you, but on second thought I
won’t tell you. Some people sleep their way to the top, but that is not the case with Tom
Johnson, Tom could not get his dog to sleep with him. I normally work days, but sometimes
my job requires an occasional evening and this is one of those evenings. I work for the
police department, but I am not a law enforcement officer. I am a Network Intelligence
Specialist and I investigate crimes involving computer networks.

A
large utility
truck
pulls
up behind
my
car on
the
parking
lot
of
the
main
precinct and I
glance out my rearview mirror and see that it is
D’Metric Klein. We have been seeing one another for about two months and my father is
the only reason I still see him. Daddy always tells me, “Troy does not have a J-O-B and
D’Metric got a good job working for the electric company.”

Troy and I broke up and he’s seeing Captain West’s daughter, Shonease. Let me tell
you, Captain
West
is
not
happy
about
it.
What
I
like about
D’Metric
is
he
is
very
gullible and I need that right now in order to get something done.

I got out of my car and looked up at the
normally pretty skyline o f St. Louis, but the night felt humid and looked cloudy. I climbed
into D’Metric’s truck
and we snuggle and talk, “I need you to do this
and I want ask for anything else.”

D’Metric responds reluctantly, “It’s too risky and what if we get caught?”

“It’ll take
fifteen minutes
and you
flip the power back on,”
I instruct him with a
devious smile, “I make it worth your while.”
Unenthusiastically, D’Metric agrees, “I’ll wait five minutes and then turn the power back
on.”
There is a distant clash of thunder as I happily smile at D’Metric, “Thank you. Thank
you.” I happily jump out of the truck, and fling my heavy knapsack over my shoulder.
D’Metric leans down in my direction and holds his hand up to me, “Five minutes.”
“That’s all I’ll need and I may not need that much time,” D’Metric.
I slam the door shut and I watch D’Metric do a perfect U-Turn in his big white
Utility Truck on the crowded parking lot. This lot is always crowded with cars even though
there may not be that many people in the building. I hear another clash of thunder, but
it seems a little closer this time as I rush into the building.
I see my boss Tom standing in the hall talking to a Network Administrator as I walk
into my office and close the door. My office door is the only door with a lock and Tom
hates it. This used to be his office, but because of the sensitive nature of my work, he was
forced to give up his office so I could have it and he has to work out of a cubical like
almost everyone else. Tom has had it in for me from that point on.
I quickly unzipped my
bag and crawled under my desk to connect my computer
and the network server to the portable battery generator. The last step is to power up
and wait for the completion of the start-up routine. While I wait I hear a knock at the
door and I know who it is. I tuck everything under my desk and out of eye shot before I
got up to open the door, “Hay what’s up.”
“I didn’t realize you were working tonight,” says Tom.
“We’ve had a lot of system problems, and I need to get caught up on a few
things,”
I
explained.
“I’m upgrading the software on the primary systems, and it’s going to take all night,”
said Tom, and without
much thought he
added, “Your system is not connected
on the
same server as everyone else’s at the moment.”
Tom has been trying to get access to my server with little success since day one, so
if he thinks he will wire my system to his well I’ve got a surprise for him. There was a
momentary
pause between the two of us before Tom finally breaks the silence, “Your
system will be connected directly to the main network by morning.”
I demand, “By whose authorization?”
Tom clears his throat, “The new network subcontractor, Data Spink.”
“I’ll need to talk to the Government agencies whom this system belongs to before I
can give you access because you don’t have the security clearance.”
“Too late now,” laughs Tom.
I
looked
down in
disbelief, “I’ll
let
you
take that
up
with
the
FBI, ATF
and
Homeland Security, but for now you’re not getting access.”
Tom turns to leave, but stops and turns back to me, “I almost forgot to mention that
we already got access to your office via the floor tiles.”
I looked down at the white floor tile. It the kind used in computer rooms. All you
need is a double floor plunger to pull them up. I felt as though someone has just dropped
a grenade in my lap. I looked up at the ceiling tiles.
Tom says, “Yes. We went that way also,” and he continues, “You see? You may have
driven me out of my office, but you’ll never have my job, the power or authority.”
At every turn, Tom tries to run me over, but I refuse to let him get the best of me.
I looked at my system, and it was waiting at the login screen. Tom entered without
so much as a polite knock.
“I want you off my system in five minutes, so the new software can download.” He
slams the door as he leaves.
I begin to login and suddenly the building loses power, “Thank you D’Metric I owe
you one.”
Quickly typing and going through various
access points to gain access to locked criminal files
of
from Interpol,” OMG!
Virginia’s
not going to believe this.” I pulled a small Data
Storage device out of my bag and inserted
it into the small slot in the computer. I copy
everything.
Tom begins banging on my door, “Open
up!”
The little blue light flashed on the Data Storage Device as it copied each file and
Tom continued banging like a madman at my door, “Open up or I’ll have it broken down!”
Staring at the computer screen, “Hurry,” I said. “Hurry up.” A message displayed on
the screen, ALL FILES COPIED SUCCESSFULLY!
I pulled out the data stick and shoved it down my bra. I logged out of the computer and
crawled under the desk and disconnected
the computer from the portable generator and
back into the sockets in the wall.
Tom is still banging and yelling at the door, “Denisha, open this door!”
I hung the bag on my shoulder and opened the door and asked, “What happened to
the electricity?”
Tom rushes into my office and looks at my computer, “What were you doing?”
This is the way I planned it, and D’Metric was right on time. I ask, “I wonder why
the diesel generator didn’t kick in?”
Tom started pressing the keys on the keyboard
to
no
avail,
but
he
had
already
decided that I was up to something.
I said, “I lost everything I was working on!”
Tom tried to play off his suspicions, “That’s why
you
should
keep
saving
every
three to five lines.”
I turn to leave, and Tom looks at me, “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Home,” I said and turned and left.

CHAPTER 23
Denisha Logan

As soon as I began taking direct orders from Virginia and the NSA, I knew Tom
would be a problem and, so he is. I lost no time getting out of that building. I have enough
flexibility in my work that it matters remarkably little where I do my work, but that the work
gets done.

My iPhone keeps sounding my all too familiar ringtone; I shot the Sheriff, by Eric
Clapton. That’s the ringtone for my boss Tom, and my
iPhone
has
been
ringing
and
beeping since I left the office. Ordinarily it would take thirty minutes or more to get home,
but Tom scared the hell out of me and I put the pedal-to-the-floor and got out of there. I
glance around at the crowded parking lot of the Chow Mein House and I throw the Jeep
into park and turned off the ignition. I started to go to D’Metric’s, but I can’t because his
system is not setup for my work, so that gives me little choice. Retrieve the files and
forward the information to Virginia A.S.A.P. The Chow Mein House is a little hole in the
wall Chinese

BOOK: Secret Sins: Murder in the Church
12.25Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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