Fatal Encounter, Chapter 19
by Irv Pliskin
“Oh my God,” Regina said. “Yes, I do. I do think I know how that happened.”
“Tell me,” Frank said.
“Yes.” she said. “My mother's husband is the senior clerk at the county court house. He has access to all sorts of records. Do you think he could have checked on the policy and decided that he could collect on it if he could prove that I was dead?”
“Yeah, I think that's a real possibility. Let me think about this a while, and then let's figure out what to do. I think we can get the son of a bitch on a case of fraud. How would you feel about that? How would it affect your mom? Better consider that before I do anything, don't you think?”
They ate their dinner, and she put the dishes in the sink. “I'll do them later,” she said. Let's go watch some TV.” Sitting on the sofa, arms around each other, she suddenly turned to him, dropped her hand in his lap and said...
“I've got a better idea than just watching the tube. I think I'd like to do a Monica. Would you like that?”
* * *
Carl knew he should leave the country now, while he had a chance. He could make it out of the country under one guise or another, and then just sort of slip away into some other world: Asia or Turkey or South America. There he could probably continue his bizarre habits and never be caught.
But as he thought about it he realized that that wasn't what he wanted.
He began to think that maybe what he had been doing all the time was looking for someone to catch wise, someone to be smart enough to find him, capture him and strap him into the electric chair.
If they could catch him. He didn't think that would happen. He was so far ahead of the dopes that ran the police that he was sure he was immune. Moreover, he had enough money to fight the case in court forever. All they had was circumstantial evidence, he was sure. Good lawyers could beat that. Ever since he had seen his picture on the TV he had been charged up, feeling excited that he was eluding all the cops in the world.
But the current events were puzzling. Someone must have discovered the underground bunker, and had realized he was gone. Now, he was on the run and feeling challenged. What really surprised him was that they knew he might be in the Allentown area.
Who had worked that out? Who could it have been?
How could they have known? Somebody had an idea about him - that was obvious. After they found that diseased bitch Clarissa floating in the water, they were on him almost instantly, like stink on shit. How did they know?
What was the clue?
As a matter of fact, who was this hound after him? He wanted to know that, too. Had he encountered someone smart enough to catch him and strap him in the electric chair? He needed to know. How the hell could he find out?
Well, he realized, he owned a sheriff. He was reasonably sure that regardless of what he did, Jefferson would be in his corner. He could contact Jefferson and ask questions. Jefferson had been bought for a hell of a lot of money, and then there were those video pictures of Jefferson with the woman. He might not be able to get to them only because he couldn't get into the house. It wasn't possible that anybody had found the room with the safes, and even if they did, how the hell would they open them without blowing them open. No, the pictures were safe, and he could use them as a threat if Jefferson became recalcitrant.
He could always threaten, and those pics had a lot of threat. They sure did. Even if this birddog cop had found them, which was unlikely, he could use them as a sword over the dumb sheriff's head.
He decided to find out as much as he could. A call would be appropriate, he felt. He would call and ask questions. What phone could he call from? He had to be they couldn’t trace the call directly to him. So the hotel was out.
He needed a phone where he would have privacy and make the call in some comfort as well. Too bad, the old phone booths had been taken away, with luck he might have found one that didn't smell of old piss and crap and was clean and comfortable.
But they were long gone, and pay phones would be going soon, he thought. Half the world was using cell phones, but that wouldn't do for him. Not now. The cell phone could be traced too easily.
He thought about it and then remembered that the New Jersey Turnpike gas stations had sections of outside phones for drivers who wanted to call from their cars. That would do for him, just fine.
The Turnpike was not too far away. He'd check it out in the morning and call Jefferson and get some of the answers he was certain the lard-ass sheriff could give.
In the morning Carl found a McDonald's with a large drive in just down the road from the hotel, and he ordered his breakfast there. The only thing one could say for it was that the drive in was private and the coffee was pretty good. The breakfast of juice and a couple of Egg McMuffins was filling. Though not gourmet, it would do. He drove down the North East extension of the Pennsylvania pike, and over the bridge to New Jersey. Once there, he left the pike to find a Commerce Bank building. It seemed that every corner had one of those, and he swapped forty dollars in cash for quarters. With his four rolls of quarters he drove to the pike again, and remembering where it was, drove north from exit four, then four or five miles to the rest stop gas station and spotted the outdoor phones. He drove up to one, and put in the money for a call to information.
He got the number for the sheriff's office in the Poconos, and called the operator on the phone.
“Listen,” he said, “I have to make a fairly long call. I don't have a cell, but I do have lots of quarters. Can I put twenty dollars in the box, and have you arrange that I won't be interrupted. Can that be done?”
She agreed, and his call went through.
Two rings and the phone was answered.
“Deputy Sheriff LaMont, how can I help you?”
“Deputy, I’m an old friend of Sheriff Jefferson, is he there please?”
“No, Sir. He isn’t.”
“Are you expecting him soon? I’ll call him back.”
“No sir. He won’t be here for some time.”
“Is he okay? He’s not sick is he?”
“No, sir.”
“Well, hell, what’s the problem?”
“How well do you know the sheriff, sir?”
“Very well indeed, we used to go hunting together, shooting birds.”
“How do I know that that’s true? Tell me something that only a friend would know.”
“Well, he shoots birds with the damnedest shotgun you ever heard of. He uses a Sarasqueta over and under, that he got as a steal for only 850 bucks with the custom barrel. The sucker is worth over l500 dollars, or maybe more. Special length. Isn’t that right?
“Yeah. Yes sir, you know the sheriff all right. But you ain’t gonna talk to him on the phone for some time.”
“Why not? Is he on a long vacation? He certainly deserves one.”
“Nah, that ain’t it. The poor bastard is in jail. And they ain’t even gonna set bail for him.”
“In jail?” Carl was really incredulous.
“Tell me about it?”
“Well, I don’t suppose you know him and his friend Carl Rogers, do you?”
“Yeah, I know them both. I hunted with them a couple of times.”
“Well, a state cop here, a detective name Hallen thinks Rogers is some sort of serial killer, and when Jefferson objected and tried to stop them from breaking into Roger’s place up on the mountain, it turned nasty. End of story, the sheriff is in jail, waiting trial.”
“No shit. Why did this cop, Hallen did you say? Think Rogers was a bad guy?”
“Well he claims to have seen him on a airplane with a broad that turned up floating in the river a little while later. And he’s been after Rogers ever since.”
“Hey, that’s interesting. Where is the sheriff, what jail? Maybe I can go see him.”
The deputy told him, and he rang off.
Rogers sat in his car, thinking about the conversation. Well, that explained it. How the hell did the cop see him and Clarissa on the airplane? One of life’s mysteries, he guessed. One of life’s mysteries.
Carl realized that Hallen had to have seen him and made the connection. As he recalled, the picture of him that sent him into his hidey-hole was an artist’s rendition. But the pictures in Allentown, they were photographic. Damn, was it possible that the son of a bitch had found his collection of videos? Nah. Not possible at all. He thought about his possessions; was there a picture of him somewhere in the house? He didn’t remember but he assumed that there must be, how else would they have gotten his picture? The room with the safes was too well hidden for anyone to find. Wasn’t it?
He drove to the next exit, left the pike and then took it back to exit four.
He would have to consider what he had learned and develop a strategy to deal with it.
Driving down the pike he felt a stirring in his groin. He needed a woman, and he decided he would find one. The shot seemed to help the clap. He was peeing more easily now, and feeling better. Well he needed to figure out how to relieve that sex drive of his, didn’t he?
Sex was sex, he thought. He needed it, but it was the challenge that was going to keep him excited and going and on his toes.
* * *
Frank felt that Regina had become somewhat introspective. His sensitivity antenna told him that something might be wrong, something troubling her.
He wondered what it could be. He was also somewhat reluctant to come right out and ask. What if she was having second thoughts and wanted out. He was so sure she was for him that the very thought was a horror. He waited until a commercial, as she was deeply involved in the JAG episode they were watching, and then said to her:
“Would you like something to drink? Do you have hot chocolate? How about popcorn?”
“Gee, that would be great. I have them both.”
“Good, I'll go make them. I promise I won’t miss much of the show. It’s a rerun anyhow, and I’ve seen it before.”
As the show ended he set the table and called her into the kitchen.
“We’re ready, do you want it in here, or out there?”
”The kitchen is fine.” she said. She walked in, kissed him on the cheek and said, “You really are something. You cook and make snacks, and you are absolutely terrific in bed, in every way. You are great.”
He felt his burden and concerns start to slip away, but he had to find out if his feelings were correct.
“Honey,” he said. “I get the feeling that something is bothering you. Am I right?”
She looked at him with some surprise and the said, “Yes, I’m afraid so. But how did you know?”
“Just a feeling, tell me about it.”
“Well you asked me what might happen to my mom if you went after her husband about the money. And I don’t know how to answer you, or what to think about it. I haven’t heard from her in a couple of years, but I don’t want to hurt her. I don’t know what to do, frankly.”
“Where is your mom now?”
“At home, I suppose, in Easton. That’s where I grew up. So far as I know she’s still there, living with that bastard, Garth Frauder.”
“Is that his name? Okay, here’s what I think we should do. I’ll check him out and see if he’s on the books at all. And then I think we should just drop in on your mom while he’s at work and see how things are going? We’ll make a decision about what to do after we see her. Is that okay with you?”
”Yeah, I guess so.”
“Good, we can tell her we are going to get married, and see what the hell is going on. I think I can get off tomorrow afternoon or certainly the next day. It can wait until then, can’t it? I have to go to Harrisburg tomorrow morning with Hallen, but we should be back in the afternoon. If not, the next day, okay?”
“Oh yes,” she said. “Oh yes. Oh Frank, I love you, I really love you.”
* * *
The meeting in Harrisburg went well. The state Attorney General thought about the problem for just a few moments.
“Listen, men. We can't touch the man's money until we arrest him. And even then, I don't think we can do much about freezing the money. But, we can contact the various institutions, by special letter and ask them to let us know when his account is activated, and where the activity comes from. If you send out the letter it may not be taken very seriously, but I'll have it come from my office, that should carry some weight. We'll send it all FedEx and demand receipts. That should make it easier to prove we've been in touch. I don't know about the banks around the world. Some may cooperate, but many won't, I don't suppose. Well, we'll do what we have to do. Give the list to my secretary and I'll make sure things happen right away. I'll keep you informed.”
They thanked him and decided that that was about the best they could ask. Knowing where Rogers was would be a real advantage. They would have to work it out from there.
Frank asked Hallen for time off that afternoon, and he agreed.
“Hell, man, you've been doing more than your share and putting in more than your hours. Take what time you need.”
“Thanks, boss,” Frank said.
He was not sure he should tell Hallen what he was going to do that afternoon. He thought about it and decided it would be best to find out more and then share his plans.
He decided, too, that he would go to Easton in mufti. Showing up in uniform might make the wrong impression and make Regina's mom very nervous. Trooper's uniforms could do that to some people, he knew.
Once they were in Easton, Regina directed him up the hill to the Lafayette College campus and then from there to Morgan Hill Drive, to her childhood home. On the way, she talked about her mom and dad. Her father had been a professor at the college. He had died suddenly of a heart attack, but he had provided for his wife and daughter as well as he could.
“I often wondered about their relationship,” Regina said. “My mom is something of an air head. She was very blond and very pretty, but even I knew she wasn't too swift. I guess a child shouldn't say such a thing about her parent, but some of the things she said and did made me wonder. I love her, but she doesn't always play with a full deck...It makes me wonder about myself sometimes, but I think I have my dad's genes, and he was smart as hell. ”
Frank smiled. “Hey, honey I am sure you inherited your dad's brains, because there is nothing stupid about you, believe me.”
They parked in front of the house, a handsome brick two story with a detached garage and a well-trimmed lawn. When they got out of the car, Regina took Frank's hand. “Hold my hand, Frank. I'm a little concerned about my reception.”
“Hey, you're with me, Nothing is going to happen to you, I won't let it.”
Frank walked up to the door, and rang the bell. Regina stood to one side of the door, so she could not be easily seen. After a few moments, he heard footsteps and the door opened on a chain. Frank could see a middle-aged blond woman, whose face was badly battered. She had a black eye, a swollen lip and serious contusion on her cheeks and neck.
“Mrs. Frauder?
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Are you alright, Mrs. Frauder?”
Before she could answer, Regina walked around him and looked at her.
“Oh my God, Mom! What happened to you?” she asked. “Are you okay?”
The woman put her hands to her face, covering her mouth and shrieked. “Regina. Is that you Regina? It can't be you. “
“Take the chain off the hook mom, Open the door.”
“Oh yes, yes. Just a moment.”
The door opened and the battered woman threw her arms around Regina. “It is you, isn’t it, Regina? It is you.”
“Yes Ma, it's me.”
“But Garth told me you went to California, and that you died in a boating accident in the Pacific Ocean. We never had a funeral, just a church service for you. But you aren't dead are you? You aren't dead. Oh my God, you don't feel like a ghost. Oh my God, Regina. I've missed you, I pray for your soul every day, I do. “
Regina walked into the house and closed the door. She took her mother by the arm and led her into the kitchen. Her mother was crying and muttering incoherently. “You aren't dead, you aren't dead. Oh my God, oh my God.”
“Mom, I’ve never been to California. He was telling you an imaginative lie. I'm here now, Mom, and I’m going to make some tea and you are going to tell me and my friend, Frank, here all about this. What happened to your face, start there, tell me what happened to your face.”
Regina took a towel from a drawer in the kitchen, wet it and carefully began to wash her mother's face. “Mom, tell me about it. Tell me what happened to you.”
“I can't tell you. Garth says if I tell anyone, I'll be really sorry. I think he'll kill me if I say anything. Why did he lie about you going to California and getting drowned? I don’t understand.”
“Ma’am,” Frank said. “You can tell us everything. I promise nothing will happen to you. I can make sure of it. So please tell us what has happened. And, I think I have an idea why he told you that cock and bull story.”
She looked at him, and shuddered. “You can't help me, You can't. You're a man, and you men stick together, and besides Garth is a very important man in the county. You can't help me. Oh dear. Oh dear. What shall I do? Regina, Regina!”
“Mom, Frank can help. Believe me. He's a state trooper doing detective work in the department. Now tell us what is going on.”
She poured tea, as her mother, hesitantly began to tell her.
“It's Garth. I don't know what to do about him, anymore. The other night he brought a strange woman into the house, made me leave our bedroom and sleep in your room. They spent the night in my bed, locked the door, and he even made me make them breakfast. I don't know what to do.”
“When I complained, he hit me in the face and gave me this blackeye and bruises. He told me if I told anybody, I'd be sorry. He's been like that for a while now...really almost ever since you've been gone. Where did you go? Why did you go? He said you are dead. What happened to you? Oh my God, Regina!”
They finally got, Angelina calmed down enough to talk to them. Regina told her that she had left because she couldn't stand being close to Garth. She did not tell her that she had been raped by him, feeling that that would only start a series of “if I would have knowns” and “I wouldn't have let that happen”denials.
She told them how her husband had come home one night, about a year after Regina had left, to tell her that Regina had gone to California and had had a boating accident and had drowned at sea. They couldn't find a body, so they had services here, never even went out there.” He was all broken up. Very distraught. I believed him, why shouldn't I?” she asked.
Frank asked her about what happened afterwards. Did she ever see any papers from an insurance company? Any checks in the mail?”
“We don't get any mail here, anymore at the house,” Regina's mother said. “It all goes to a post office box that Garth has somewhere near his office. He says it is easier for him that way. Should I be getting any mail? He says he can handle it all. He pays the bills now and takes care of everything.”
“Mom, mom,” Regina said. “I don't want you here in the house anymore. Pack a bag and you'll come with me to my house.”
“Why? If I leave here, Garth will be very mad.”
“Don't worry about that, Mrs. Dawson, or is it Mrs. Frauder? Don't worry about that,” Frank said.
“Pack your bag, Mom. We're going to my place in Allentown until Frank can sort some of this stuff out. I certainly don't want you beaten up again. You don't want that either, do you?”
“No.” she said. “No.”
“Good, we'll leave now.”
Frank was not quite sure how to handle the situation with Regina's mother. He decided to lay it all out for Hallen early that next morning.
Hallen listened carefully. “Sounds like you got a rattlesnake by the tail there, doesn't it? Well, I'll tell you what we do first. Put him into the computer and see if anything turns up.”
“Sure will, but he's got a state or city job. He can't have a record, can he?”
“Shouldn't have. Put him in, regardless. Let's see what turns up.”
“And then what boss?”
“Then you and I will go to a judge and swear out a fraud warrant. What this guy is doing is definitely fraud.
We may not get him on the assault and battery; Regina's mom may decide not to press charges. But damn it, we'll get him on the other charge, and I think we can make it stick.”
“While you run him through the system, see if he called in a missing person last night. I bet he didn't. You or I would. But I bet the bastard took a deep sigh and decided that he was better off without her in the house. Check it out, why don't you?”
Godowsky did as Hallen suggested. He put the name in the computer and waited for a search. In the meantime, he picked up the phone and called the Easton police. He knew a cop there he could trust to be circumspect and asked for him. He told his friend what he needed to know, and the friend checked and reported that there had been no inquiries.
“Hey,” the cop asked. “Isn't that Garth Frauder's wife?”
“Yeah, can you tell me anything about him?”
“Off the record, Frank?”
“Hell, yes.”
“Well, he's a real prick. Tries to pull rank and position all the time. He’s a pain in the ass. But, he has somebody important as a rabbi, and we have to walk careful around him. I hope the bastard is in trouble.”
“I don't know.” Frank said. “I've been asked by a detective to check him out. That's all.”
“You working for the detectives now? Aren't you on the street no more?”
“I'm on a TDY to the detective bureau for a special case. Running errands, and that sort of thing. You know?”
“Yeah, sure. Good luck.”
“Thanks pal, thanks for the info,” Frank said. And hung up.
The computer turned up Garth Frauder’s rap sheet. He had been arrested and charged with fraud on two separate occasions. He had been sentenced to serve time for one charge but the prison sentence was reversed on appeal. He was under the aegis of an important township official and that was how he got the job he now held. The troopers decided that his record had been carefully buried by his 'rabbi'.
Hallen and Godowsky looked over the 'rap' sheet and decided that the way to go forward was carefully, and get an indictment from a judge in an other area. They did not want to run into some corrupt official who would give them a very hard time. They took the information to a superior court judge they knew well and outlined their need. The judge
read the 'rap' sheet and listened to the story Frank told him.
“Ingenious bastard isn't he? That's some scam he worked on his wife's daughter. How did you tumble to it, Godowsky?”
”Judge,” Frank said, “I fell in love with the girl, and we started talking, and she told me how her money had suddenly stopped. So, I looked into it and found that this guy had faked a death certificate in order to subvert the money to himself. I just checked with the insurance company. All of the checks have been signed by Regina's mom, but she never saw them. So that's also fraud, isn't it?”
“It would be, if he doesn't have a written power of attorney. It is worse than fraud. It's larceny, big time.”
Warrant in hand, both wearing their uniforms, Hallen and Godowsky showed up at the Easton town hall, and found their way to Frauder's office.
A secretary tried to stop them from going in. “Do you have an appointment? Is he expecting you?”
“No,” Hallen said. “But stand aside, we are going in.”
“Oh no, you can't. He's in a private meeting with Mary Ann, one of our clerks here. You can't go in. He won't like it. He'll yell at me. He'll punish me.”
“Punish you? How the hell can he punish you? Don't worry about it, I'll make sure you are all right. Don't touch that phone either or I'll arrest you for interfering with a police officer.”
She trembled. “Yes, sir.”
“Sir,” she said as Hallen reached for the door knob, “officer, he keeps a loaded revolver in his desk drawer. Please be careful.”
“Thanks.” Hallen said and unbuttoned his holster. Frank followed suit. Hallen pushed the door open with a bang. Frauder, a large bodied man going to fat looked up startled. Marry Ann, bare to the waist was straddling him in his chair, he was fondling her. Frauder looked up, pushed her aside and reached for his desk drawer. Frank was already behind him, and slammed the drawer shut on his hand.
Mary Ann fell to the floor, squealing with shame and surprise.
“Get dressed young lady,” Hallen said to her, "and go sit over there in the corner.”
Frauder was holding his hand in pain, and started shouting, “What is this? What are you guys doing here. What's going on?”
“Garth Frauder? I have a warrant for your arrest.”
“My arrest? For what?”
“Fraud, grand larceny, assault and battery on your wife” Hallen said. Frank grabbed the man by his arms, pulled them behind him and snapped on his cuffs.
“You can’t do this. I'll have your jobs, you bastards. You can't do this,” Frauder yelled.
“Oh, but I can,” Hallen said. “As a matter of fact, I just did. Now shut up while I read you your rights, scumbag.”
