Fatal Encounters, Chapter 32
by Irv Pliskin
She led him to the large conference room, where the papers were laid out on the massive polished mahogany table. She pointed to an upholstered executive chair. He sat down and took the little soft sided bag and put it on the table. He unzipped it, pulled the cover back. The banded fifty dollar bills in packages of l00 were very impressive. He pushed the bag towards her.
“Here,” he said. “it is all there, but you better have someone count it to make sure I haven't made a mistake.”
“May I take it into the office where we can count it by machine? It will be considerably easier.”
“Sure, I trust you. I don't think you are about to rip me off. Go ahead.”
She came back in about fifteen minutes, during which time he had read and reread the documents and knew that the car was his and ready to go.
“Robin, I'm afraid that you made a mistake in the count,” she said. He started to frown. “Relax it is all there, but you overpaid us by $l0. Here it is. The car is yours as soon as you sign these forms.”
Carl signed the papers and stood up. “Good, are you ready to go to dinner now?”
“In just a few minutes, I need to take care of few things. Why don't you go check out the car. Check it out and make sure you know where everything is, and I'll meet you shortly. As we go to the restaurant, I'll give your our new car orientation lecture. It is de rigueur in this dealership.”
Carl checked out the automobile. It was, he felt, a beauty. It was a little less pretentious than the Town Car, but he really didn't need all that vehicle. This car tended to blend in a little more comfortably, and it had all of the basics luxuries and much more than he needed. He was working the radio, checking the reception of far off stations when she came to the car.
Following her instructions, he drove the ten miles to the restaurant. She was somewhat amused when she realized he had booked the Candlelight Romance Dinner for them. The Candlelight romance dinner included a three hour sojourn in a private suite. As she sat down in the plush upholstered chair in the reserved room, she said to him:
“This is lovely Robin. But we won't be able to take advantage of the three hour stay in the special suite. Sorry to disappoint you, but I really won't have time for that tonight.”
He grimaced. ”Well, you can't blame a man for trying, now can you? Perhaps some other time. After all, you are a very exciting woman.”
“Not really, I am quite ordinary, but thanks just the same.”
She agreed to have the Chateau Briand for two, and ordered her appetizers and vegetables with great care. The meal was superb. The solid silver tableware elegant The napery sparkling white. Carl ordered a fine cabernet, and they enjoyed it all.
After the appetizers, she turned to him and asked: “Do you know anything about the history of this place, Robin?”
“All I know is that it was highly recommended, and that it is pretty strange looking place for Reading Pennsylvania.”
“It is unusual. Truly. And you seem to have found out that it has a wide assortment of dining options. This Candlelight Romantic dinner is one of them. Well, the place was built by a man named George Heister as a honeymoon cottage back in 1931. He had a huge inheritance, and even then, in the heart of the depression managed to build this elegantly. It was copied in every detail from the original Norman Castle in Shropshire England. The original was built in 1240, I think. It is still standing.”
“That's very interesting,” Carl said. “I have loved Shropshire ever since I read Houseman's book of poetry.” He stopped and thought for a moment. and then quoted: “Loveliest of trees, the cherry now, is hung with bloom along the bough...” I may even have seen it the original cottage when I was in England. I had a friend there some years ago. We spent some time in London around Harrods and Hyde Park. For us it was quite an adventure.”
“Well,” Judy went on, obviously impressed, with his knowledge of the famous Victorian poet, “I am sure it was. But the interesting part of this story is that George's wife didn't like the place. They used it only as a summer house, and chose to live somewhere else. Mr. Heister sold it in the early fifties to a group of investors who turned it into a restaurant. The current owners, Mr. and Mrs. Quade have owned it since the late 70s. I think 1978. They still run it. They do a great job, don't you think?
Dinner was a huge success, but after they finished their dessert and a glass of brandy, Judy said that she had to get back. She had a very important meeting early in the morning. Carl asked if she could miss it and spend a little more time with him.
“Sorry, not tonight. The meeting is very important. By the way,” she asked, ”How come you paid cash for the car? Not many people have that much liquidity.”
“Good question,” Carl answered. “I'm a dealer in rare antiquities: furniture and paintings and other artifacts. And I also buy and sell liquidations. All of those activities require ready cash. So I always have cash on hand. They don't even take Cashier's checks. So i deal with cash and have a lot of it around, sometimes. I have just made a very profitable deal, and this money is as a result of that.”
“Well, aren't you afraid that someone will knock you off and take your money?”
“Not really. I keep a low profile even though some of my customers have accused me of piracy. I have a little of the swashbuckler in me, but not a lot. This is the most flashy car I would drive regularly. And I dress and try to live simply. And of course, as a former pirate, I have a protective weapon. It is in the safe with the balance of the money. If you get me to open the safe, I'll get the gun before you get the money. Believe me. I am very well equipped to protect myself and my belongings.”
Judy had Carl drive her back to the dealership, where she made sure he did not follow her back to her home, high in the hills above Reading.
Although she had had a lovely dinner, and had told him so, when she kissed him on the cheek before she left the car, she had a very strange feeling about Robin Boberts. It was a niggling feeling, that she felt she should check out in the morning.
As soon as she got to work in the morning, Judy had the security people at the dealership pull the security tapes made by the hidden cameras, for the time of the meeting with Rogers. She took the tapes to her desk, and called the chief of detectives, an old friend of hers. She told him about the man who came in with over twenty thousand dollars in cash to buy a car right off the floor.
“Bill,” she said, “he may be completely legitimate. But I have a tape of the man, and perhaps you'd like to see it. It may mean something to you. I just get a very strange feeling, that I've seen the man before, but I don't know where.”
“Okay Judy,” Bill said. “I'll send for the tape, and we can check it out. I've always trusted your instincts. We'll get it later today.”
Judy's detective friend, Bill Charger, found the surveillance tape on his desk when he came back from an interview late in the afternoon. He was about to plug it in and play it when he got a call that there had been a homicide at the Vanity Fair discount showrooms and that he was needed right away.
He raced to the site, and did what he had to do to organize the investigation--it was cut and dried. The killing was the result of a conflict gone bad between two employees over a flirtatious woman. Detective Charger got back to his office about closing time. He saw the tape and decided it could wait until the morning. He trusted Judy's instincts but he didn't think it could be that important.
He suspected he would recognize the man as a small time felon who had suddenly come into some money due to an illegal act and Judy had sensed this. Checking it out certainly did not have to happen instantly.
He got to his desk early the following morning, and plugged the tape into his player. As soon as he saw Bobbert's face he thought it was familiar, but he couldn't place it either.
He froze the picture on his screen, and then went to his wanted bulletins file and started leafing through them. He came to the bulletin on Carl Rogers, suspected serial killer, saw the similarities and stopped and compared. These men certainly appeared to be the same person. Holy Christ! His friend Judy might have been in real trouble. Alarmed, he picked up the phone and called the number to contact in the State Police Detective bureau.
The phone rang twice and was picked up. “Godowsky, State police detective bureau,” the voice said. “How may I help you?”
'Godowsky? Are you new there?”
“No just helping out. Who is this please?”
“Bill Charger, chief of detectives in Reading. Isn't this Hallen's office?”
“Yes it is sir. . Detective Hallen is not available at the moment, Detective. May I help you with something?”
“I think I have a make on somebody you are looking for, a guy named Rogers.”
He could hear Godowsky's intake of breath.
“Christ, I hope you have the bastard in custody.”
“Sorry no. But we think we have an ID picture and we think it is the same guy. Have Hallen call me when he comes in and I'll tell him about it.”
“If you would, detective, you can tell me about it. Jerry and I are working on that case. That's how I'm helping out?”
“You a detective too?”
“No sir. I'm a uniform, but I have been working on this with Detective Hallen for the past few weeks. I guess I'm a runner and researcher and so forth.”
“Okay. We seem to have a photo from a surveillance camera that looks like your man. He was signing car contracts in an auto showroom where they routinely make tapes of their customers. We can probably find a couple of other photos too. They make tapes of the showroom as well as the board room. Have Hallen call me, will you?”
“You bet. I'll find Detective Hallen and he will be back to you almost immediately.”
“Let me have your number please.”
Godowsky wrote the number down, and thanked the detective.
As soon as he hung up, he went to the men's room and stuck his head in the door. Hallen was at the sink, washing his hands.
“Boss, we just got a call I think might be important.”
“Really? Tell me about it.”
Godowsky did.
“Jesus Frank, you could have come and gotten me. This does sound important.”
“Boss, I would have, but what you were doing in there, is important too and I didn't want to interrupt you. You are entitled to a little time, and since he didn't have the guy in custody, I didn't think it would matter.”
“Well, thanks for your consideration. I do appreciate it. I want to tell you something Frank. You are a hell of a lot of help around here, and you are an asset to this office.”
Godowsky smiled. “Thank you.”
“Let me finish. When you come in tomorrow wear civvies. I've been in touch with the chief and your are now permanently assigned to this office as a detective Junior grade. Congratulations.”
“Oh my God,” Godowsky said. “That's more than I could ever hope for. Jesus thank you. ˆI promise you I won't let you down.”
“No, I don't think you will. Should you ever, I'll let you know. There is a trial period, you're on probation in the job for three months, but I think that won't be a problem. So welcome, Frank, welcome to the detective bureau. We'll find a space and desk for you in the next week or so. And I think you've earned it.”
Hallen picked up his phone and dialed the number in Reading. When he got an answer he asked for Bill Charger.
“This is Charger.”
“Jerry Hallen, how are you Bill?”
“Great, just great. I see that cop , what was his name, Gojefsky, something like that gave you my message.”
“It's Godowsky, Bill, and he has just become a Detective third grade. He just made the cut.”
“Good for him. He sounded damned efficient, and he managed to get me to tell him what I wanted you for without being pushy or obnoxious. Sounds like he can be a good man.”
“I think so too. So tell me, what's up?”
Charger told him about Judy Wells and her dinner with a customer. “This is a very bright lady, Jerry, top sales person in one of our outstanding car dealerships. Gal has great instincts. She thought there was something strange about this customer, a guy named Robin Boberts. When I put his name into the system, I couldn't find anyone with that name anywhere in the state. She thought it was strange, that he bought a new car for cash, hard cash. She had the surveillance tape sent to me and when I looked at it the guy looked familiar. So I checked my wanted file and I found this guy Rogers. He looks much like him.”
“Can I talk to this lady today Bill?”
“I can give you her number.”
“No, I want to come over there as soon as possible, see the pics, verify them, and talk to this lady, face to face. Can I do it today?”
“I don't know. I'll call her and get her schedule and get back to you. It is more than likely that she will be available.”
“Good. Here's my cell phone. Frank and I are leaving now, I want to get there as soon as possible. When you talk to the lady, tell her to stay away from that guy: we think he is dangerous as hell. If I can't see her, call me on the Cell, I can always turn around and go back home.”
“Is this really that urgent, that you're gonna drop everything and come here to Reading right away?”
“It is. You can bet your ass it is.”
Hallen was already on Pennsylvania Route 22, headed west towards Reading, when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his shirt pocket and handed it to Godowsky.
“Detective Hallen’s phone, Godowsky speaking.”
“Congratulations, Detective. This is Bob Charger. I understand you just got that promotion. Congratulations. You have to be a good man for Hallen to support you.”
”Thank you, sir. I think I am damned lucky.”
“Hmm. Well, I got in touch with Judy. This is her morning to sleep in. She doesn’t go into work until this afternoon since she works until closing at 9 P.M. I got her out of bed. Where are you fellows now?”
Godowsky gave him a mile marker number on the highway.
“Okay. It’s 7:20 am now, and you are about an hour away. Why don’t you come to the station house and check the pics. I’ll have Judy here by the time you get here, and if the pics check out, which I suspect they will, we can all go out for some breakfast and talk. Have you guys eaten yet?”
“No, we haven’t.”
“Neither have I. Judy hasn’t either. Will that be okay with you fellows?”
“Think so, but let me check.”
Godowsky put his hand over the mouthpiece of the cell phone and asked Hallen. Hallen shook his head yes.
“That would be fine.” Godowsky said into the phone: “Detective, that would be fine.
“Do you know where the house is?
Godowsky asked Hallen. Hallen shook his head yes.
“Yes, we know where it is, thanks. We’ll see you in about 55 minutes. Will that be okay? Right. Thanks again for calling.”
He clicked the phone off and handed it back to Hallen who put it in his pocket.
When Hallen and Godofsky walked into Detective Charger’s office he was sitting with a striking lady. She was impeccably dressed in a striped gray business suit, and was wearing a men’s pink button down shirt and a distinguished striped rep tie. Her nails were carefully manicured, and her lip gloss was perfect. She looked as if she were going to attend a board meeting and a very important one at that.
Charger stood up. He put out his hand to Hallen. “Jerry, how are you? Nice to see you. I would assume,” he said, turning to Frank “that you are Godowsky, newly appointed to the state police detective bureau. Congratulations. Nice to meet you.”
Godowsky shook his hand. “It’s Frank, detective. Nice to meet you, too.”
Charger turned and made a gesture towards Judy.
“Gentlemen this is Miss Judy Wells. She’s the concerned citizen who sent me the surveillance tape because she thought there was something strange about it. Judy, these are detective Hallen and Godowsky of the state police.”
“Pleased to meet you,” she said.
The detective acknowledged her greeting and shook her hand.
“It was nice of you to contact Bob here,” Hallen said. “If this is our man we will be very grateful indeed.”
They went into a large interrogation room, where there was a table and chairs and a video tape player. Charger slipped the surveillance tape into the machine and turned it on. Hallen and Godowsky watched as Rogers walked into a large room at the dealership and sat down and began to look at papers.
They watched as he put his attaché case on the table, opened it and revealed the banded stacks of money.
“Well,” Charger asked. “Is that your guy?”
“Certainly looks like him. Would be great if we could get some hard evidence. Fingerprints or DNA samples. Any chance of prints Miss Wells?”
“Please, call me Judy detective. I don’t really know. But he did handle those papers there, and we merely slipped them into a folder in a drawer. Do you think you could get prints from them?”
“We can try. Assuming that this is our man. Let’s get that material and have a tech go over it for prints. Bob, can you send a tech over to the dealership and go over those forms and see what he gets?”
“Sure.”
“Well, let’s get started, then.”
Judy said. “Let me call the office and have them pull the folder from the file. It will be held by the office manager, and I’ll tell her not to touch it except to take it out of the drawer, okay?’
“Yes, ma’am,” Hallen said.
“Meanwhile, after you make your call, we can go get some breakfast and then we can go somewhere and talk about this man and what you know.” Will that be okay?”
“After we eat breakfast we can come back here,” Charger said. “Is this room okay for an interview?”
“Perfect, just perfect.” Hallen said.
“Good, by that time we should have some copies of prints that we can fax to your people for comparison. And while we talk we can wait for their confirmation. Shouldn’t take too long, should it?”
“Almost instantaneous. We’re using Cogent Fingerprint Technology, and the computer will tell us almost instantly if we have a match,” Hallen said.
They went to a nearby restaurant that featured a breakfast buffet, and each had a full breakfast. Hallen decided that they could put off any interview of Judy until after they had confirmation, but he was almost certain that the man on the dealership tapes was Rogers, their wanted culprit.
But, although time was important, by now enough time had elapsed so it was not critical. They were fairly sure that their quarry had moved on. He had not stayed in Reading after his dinner with Judy. She had not encouraged him enough to keep him hanging around.
When they returned to Charger’s office, the techs had already been there. They had several prints, from different people who had handled the papers, so they had to be checked. Godowsky faxed them to the fingerprint department at the state police and called to tell them what he needed. He joined the group in the interview room as Judy started to recount her contacts with Rogers.
“Well,” she said, “He called himself Boberts. He said his name was Robin Boberts, and soon after we began to work together at finding him a new car he asked me to call him Robin. He was my first customer of the morning. He came in a taxi in all that rain the other day and told me that he needed a car, a new car, that afternoon. ‘Was it possible?’ he asked. I told him it was certainly possible if we could determine what he wanted. And, we did.”
“What did he want?” Hallen asked
“Well, he said that a Lincoln Town car was too flashy, but he wanted the same comfort and reliability you got from them, so he asked about a Mercury Grand Marquis. We had one on the floor that I assured him would meet his requirements.”
“What happened then?” asked Hallen.
“We walked over and looked at it, and he decided to buy it.” Judy said.
“And then he reached into his pockets and took out $5000 in cash and asked if that was a sufficient deposit.”
“After we decided on the car,” Judy said, ”and I accepted his cash deposit he hit on me. Nicely, of course, but a definite hit. He asked me to go to dinner with him to celebrate his new car. At first I said that it was against my rules to fraternize with customers.” She took a drink of water.
“He insisted. Not nasty, you understand, but persistent. I would not have even considered it at all but my significant other is away at a medical convention, and she won't be back for another week. It is lonely eating alone, and so I said I would think about it. And that I would let him know when he called to check on his car status later that afternoon. When he called at 4 or so I decided, what the hell and said yes, I would have dinner with him, but that was all. He agreed and he did it up, really did it up. He had found out about the Castle, and made a reservation there.”
“The Castle?” Godowsky asked. “What's the Castle? Sorry to interrupt.”
“No problem, officer. The Castle is the Stokesay Castle our famous landmark and multi-star restaurant. Robin ordered the Candlelight Romance dinner, which includes three hours in a private suite and the best steak dinner you can find anywhere, even if you got to Philadelphia to Ruth Christ or Le Bec Fin. We had a nice dinner, and he talked a lot, but not about important things, I don't think. I think he was disappointed that I wouldn't stay in the suite with him, and I insisted that I had to get back for an early meeting the next day. But he respected that too, so it all came out alright.”
“I'm happy it did,” Hallen said. “If it had worked out badly, and if he is our man, which I think he is, it could have been very bad for you.”
“Really? Why? In what way?”
“Well, the bastard has a tendency to kill women. In very bizarre ways.”
Judy put her hand over her mouth to stifle the “oh” of surprise. Her eyes widened.. “Are you sure. He didn't seem that nasty, just a bit strange.”
“As soon as we get the fingerprint results, we'll know. But yes, I think I am sure that he is the one. A real menace to the ladies.”
At that point, the phone rang. Bill picked it up and said: “Charger.” He listened for a moment. “Jerry, it's the fingerprint lab for you.
"Thanks,” Jerry said and took the phone.
“Huh huh, huh huh . Fine, thanks very much indeed. That clinches it for us. Thanks.”
He put the phone down, and looked at Judy. “Miss Wells you are a lucky lady. That was our killer. We know him as Carl Rogers, although we believe he uses lots of names. We got a perfect match and several digits and some very convincing partials. He's our guy alright. Frank and I are going to have to get down to some serious questioning of you, if you don't mind. Maybe you can help us get this guy. Everything you remember, anything you remember, even if it's only that he scratched his left ear with his right hand will be important to us.
So we have to work at this in earnest. Will that be okay?”
“Certainly, anything I can tell you that might help you will be okay.”
She gave them a lot of information to digest. Money talk, true or false. Did he have a weapon with him with his money? They knew he had an arsenal, but had he carried a gun with him when he left the spider hole?
She told them plenty to worry about, plenty to digest.
After several hours, Jerry and Frank felt that they had enough to work with, and said that they had lots of work to do. They thanked Judy Wells, and asked if they could stay in touch. She said “Yes, indeed.”
They thanked Charger and started home. Frank knew he would have a pile of paper work to do to quantify the information they had gotten.
As they swung on to Route 22, headed East, towards Easton and home, Frank's cell phone rang.
“Hello,” he said.
“Frank? Frank?” It was Regina.
“Hi Darling, how are you?”
“Where are you Frank?”
She blurted the question. He heard panic in her voice.
“Me? I'm on my way back to the area. What's the matter? What's got you so upset? Where are you?”
”In your apartment, Frank. I need you, I think. Oh my God!”
“Take it easy Regina. Tell me what's happening.”
“Frank, I called my phone to check messages and there was one there from the Dream Girls. The bouncer, the man they call Fist, was on the phone. He said to get my ass back to work. Who the hell did I think I was just taking off? He said they were coming to get me and if I wasn't there, when they did get me they'd beat me half to death and ship me off somewhere to work tricks. Frank, Frank what shall I do? I'm really scared.”
“Take it easy, darling. Take it easy. First of all, don't leave my place. Keep the doors locked and the windows, too. If anything happens before I get there, anything at all, dial 911 and say officer needs help and you'll get action so fast it will make their head spin. You got that? I'll call and see if I can't get a car to sit by and watch until I get there. If you see a unit outside, just stay where you are, don't even let them in. Got it?”
“Yes”.
“Now, relax. Do what I told you, lock up securely, and let me make some calls. I'll call you back. The phone will ring twice. And then I'll hang up. I'll call back, instantly. On the third ring, answer it. That's our signal. Got it?”
“Yes, I do.”
She rang off.
Hallen glanced over and looked at Frank. “What's going on?”
Frank told him. “You did just fine, there,” Hallen said. “Let's see, Regina's place is on the way to yours, isn't it?”
”Yeah, it is.”
“Well let's check it out first.” He put his foot down hard on the accellerator and switched on the police siren in the car. They picked up speed and charged down the highway.
