Newsgroups: alt.ql.creative From: JC924@uacsc2.albany.edu Subject: Roundtable B Story #1 Message-Id: <16F567657S86.JC924@uacsc2.albany.edu> Organization: University at Albany, Albany NY 12222 Date: Mon, 07 Feb 94 08:24:55 EST Here is the first story from Roundtable B. "MURDER IN DETROIT, 1968" BY JEFFREY M. COHEN PROLOGUE When Sam recovered from his leap, he found himself in a dark alley. To his horror, he saw that he was standing over a dead body and holding a gun in his hand. As Sam stared at the body, he heard footsteps approaching from behind him. Turning, he saw a uniformed policeman walking toward him. "Oh boy," he said to himself. ACT I Terrified, Sam looked around, seeking a way out of the alley. As the policeman approached, Sam's panic mounted and he vainly tried to hide the gun behind his back. "Are you OK, Lieutenant?" the policeman asked, as he came up to him. Sam let out a sigh of relief as he realized that he was a police detective investigating the crime. To give himself a chance to recover, Sam leaned over to look more closely at the body. "Who is the victim?" "Lieutenant! What's the matter with you? That's Andy Boyle, he's a cop in your division! He was shot with his own gun. You have it there in your hand." "Sure," said Sam trying to cover up his mistake, "I meant, what happened here?" "I don't know," answered the policeman, looking at Sam strangely. "You called it in. You said that you were passing by, heard a fight and saw someone running from the alley. Don't you remember?" "I just wanted to see if you had found out anything new." "Boyle's partner, Rick Savage, got here as soon as he heard the call and he and a couple of other uniforms went to canvass the area." Just then a detective and two uniformed officers entered the alley, pulling a handcuffed young black man behind him. "Here he is," said the detective, who Sam assumed was Savage. "Lieutenant, meet Danny Smith, Boyle's 'snitch'. I found him hiding behind a dumpster down the block and he has Boyle's wallet on him." Smith was obviously terrified and when he saw Sam he began to tremble and look around wildly. "I didn't do nothin' and I didn't see nothin'," he kept saying over and over. "Take him into custody," ordered Sam. Just then, Sam heard the familiar sound of the imaging chamber door opening and Al appeared in the alley. "You've got the wrong man, Sam" Sam gestured to Al, told the remaining men that he was going to search the alley again and walked into the shadows at the end of the alley. "What do you mean 'the wrong man' and where am I?" he asked his holographic friend. "It's 1968 in Detroit and you're Lieutenant Robert Burns, Homicide Detective. Ziggy is 97% sure that you're here to clear Smith because his conviction starts a riot in Detroit and many people are killed. You've got to find the real murderer." ACT II Returning to the Police Station, Sam looked in a mirror and saw a middle aged, balding man with a paunch; the stereotypical "flatfoot." Not knowing how to proceed, Sam decided to begin the investigation by talking to Savage. Pacing back and forth in the Lieutenant's office, Savage was obviously very angry. "It's my fault," he said angrily. "I should never have let him go out on this alone." "What was he working on?" asked Sam. "He was working on a very big case that he said was going to make his career. He wouldn't tell me anything about the case except that I was better off not knowing. He was to meet Smith last night because the snitch supposedly had some crucial information. He said that, if this information panned out, it would be over, one way or another." "Why do you think Smith killed him?" "Andy didn't trust Smith; he was a drug addict and would do anything to support his habit. I guess Andy and Smith had a fight, Smith grabbed Andy's gun, shot him and took the opportunity to steal his wallet and run away. By the way, what happened to Andy's notebook? He wrote all of his leads and plans in it and kept it with him all of the time." "No one found a notebook. I guess we can assume that the killer must have taken it, but Smith didn't have it on him." Savage asked to be in charge of the investigation and Sam reluctantly agreed. Sam then went to talk to the Smith. In the interrogation room, Smith was very afraid of Sam and refused to say anything. Sam tried to calm him down, but Smith kept repeating, "I won't say anything, I won't say anything!" Returning to his office, Sam pulled out Burns' wallet and, following his usual procedure for finding out about a leapee, he used the driver's license to find his address. Luckily, he also found a car registration, so he is able to find Burns' car in the parking garage. Later, at Burns' apartment, Sam was amazed at how fancy it was. Hanging up his trench coat, Sam found a notebook in the coat pocket. "Oh my god," he said to himself, "this is Boyle's notebook. Burns must have found it in the alley and picked it up." As he was reading it, Al appeared. "Thank goodness you're here," said Sam. "You won't believe what I've found out. Burns found Boyle's notebook. I've only read a little of it, but it says that Boyle was investigating a case of police corruption and was going to confront the perpetrator with what he had found." "I know," said Al. "According to Ziggy, evidence linking a police detective to drug dealers is uncovered after the riot. Although they didn't know which detective was the one, Smith is exonerated. Unfortunately, the damage from the riot has already been done." "You'd better sit down for this part," continued Al. "Years later, they do find out which detective commited the murder. The detective is Lieutenant Burns!" Sam was stunned. "That means I'm a murderer!" ACT III Sam's first impulse was to just turn himself in. Talking it over with Al, however, Sam realized that he couldn't just give himself up. If he did, who would believe him -- why would a cop just confess to killing another cop when there is a perfectly good suspect to pin it on? Even if he did give himself up, when the real detective returned to his body, he could probably figure out a way to get out of it. Finally, the detective is so high up in the police department that there might very well be a cover up. The problem is to gather enough evidence to convict Burns so that there is no way for him to get out of it or for there to be a cover-up. Compounding the problem is the fact that Sam cannot gather the evidence himself, because no one who has any relevant evidence would talk to him since he is the killer. They would think he was trying to cover it up. The only witness, Smith, is certainly not going to talk to him. Sam paced back and forth in the living room of Burns' apartment. "Will you sit down!" exclaimed Al. "You're driving me crazy." "How can I sit down. I'm not used to this; most of the time when I leap I'm one of the good guys and can do something to help whoever I was supposed to help. This time I have to figure out a way to catch myself in order to accomplish what I'm supposed to do. It's hopeless!!" "That's it!" yelled Al. "You don't have to catch yourself, let someone else do it for you." "Who?" "Boyle's' partner, Savage. He's leading the investigation. Why don't we make it a little easier for him." "Yes," said Sam, suddenly more optimistic. "If we send him the notebook along with an anonymous note suggesting that he investigate Burns and talk to Smith, then he'll be on the right track and will probably be able to close the case himself." "I'll go back and get some more information Ziggy has gotten from the newspaper accounts and we can feed Savage evidence which will incriminate Burns. If Smith is convinced that there is enough evidence to convict Burns of corruption, then he may testify about what he saw in the alley." After several days, Sam began to get impatient. Even though he was sure that Savage was investigating him, Sam began to worry that there won't be enough direct evidence to charge Burns. "Will you calm down," pleaded Al when they next got together. "Savage is doing a good job and we still have two days before the riots break out." "No, " said Sam. "He should have closed the case by now. Either he doesn't have enough evidence or he's too scared of me to arrest me. I've got to do something. Al, does Ziggy know who the drug dealer Burns' was working for was?" "Yeah," said Al cautiously. "What do you have in mind?" "Just get his name and where I can find him. I'm going to finish this thing right now." "Sam, I don't like it when you get like this." "Never mind, just get me that name and address." When Al returned with the information, he asked Sam why he wanted it. "I'm going to pay a visit to the drug dealer. I know Savage is having me followed. If he can catch me "red-handed" it will be over. "I don't think this is such a good idea, Sam. This isn't a TV show, you could get hurt or worse!" "I don't have any choice. We're running out of time and lots of lives are at stake. I've got to do this!" ACT IV "Sam, I've got a bad feeling about this. You don't want to mess with these guys. They don't kid around. If they smell a rat, they'll kill you rather than take a chance." Sam drove up to the deserted warehouse with Al sitting in the back seat complaining all the way. By this time, Sam was ignoring Al, but he had a worried look on his face as he stepped out of the car. "What does Ziggy say about this guy, Al?" "Not much. He didn't get much press until he was arrested after Burns confessed. Apparently he was fairly high up in the drug trade in Detroit. When he was arrested, there was a gun fight and he was shot, but not until he and his men had killed three cops. These are not nice people!" "I guess the direct approach is best," said Sam as he walked up to the front door of the warehouse. A few minutes later, he was in the small office at the rear of the empty warehouse. Seated on an old office chair with his feet up on a beat up desk was a large man dressed in a white suite. His face was so fat that his jowls hung down hiding his neck. "What are you doing here?" asked the man everyone called Jimmy the Cat. "I thought I told you I would get in touch with you when I needed you." "I had to talk to you. I think they're on to me. That cop that was killed last week claimed to know about our deal. I took care of him, but now his partner is sniffing around and getting closer and closer." Defying his name, Jimmy ponderously rose from his chair and peered into Sam's face. "What do I care? Your the one with his neck on the line. You covered our tracks like I told you, didn't you?" "Well, uh," Sam stammered, trying to think of something to cover up his complete ignorance of what Jimmy was talking about. "Of course, but you never know how something like this is going wind up." "Where did you put the stuff?" "The stuff?? I, uh, well, it's like this..." "Hey, what's going on here? Are you trying to pull a fast one on me? Guys, you know what to do." "Sam," yelled Al. "Watch out behind you!" As Sam whirled around, he was grabbed by two of Jimmys goons. He tried to fight them off using his knowledge of the martial arts and was holding his own when he felt a gun pressing on the side of his head. "I think maybe you should give up, Burns," said Jimmy with a scowl. "I should kill you right now, but I think maybe you should sweat a little." Just then the main doors of the warehouse were smashed down by a SWAT team mini-tank and dozens of police swarmed into the warehouse. Before Jimmy had a change to do anything, Savage burst into the office. "Drop it, Jimmy. You can't get away." "Oh yeah, well maybe I'll just shoot your friend here. You let me get away and I'll let him go." "Don't tempt me," Savage said with a wry smile. "After all, Burns is not only a a crooked cop but a creep to boot. He killed my partner, so maybe I'll just let you save the state some money." "Sam, you have to do something!" pleaded Al. "Not only is your life in danger, but if Burns is killed and can't confess, Smith may still be convicted of murdering Boyle." "Wait," yelled Sam, desperately. "You let Jimmy go and I'll confess to killing Boyle. With my confession, you should have all you need to wrap this case up." Savage agreed and put down his gun. The drug dealer let Sam go and made a run for it. He made it to a car, but was gunned down as he was speeding away. Epilog As Sam was being led into the police station, Al appeared. "You did it, Sam. Not only was the riot prevented, but you also saved the lives of the three cops who were killed arresting Jimmy the Cat." Just as Savage was booking Sam, the kid, Smith, was being released. While Sam was being led away, Savage went up to Smith and asked "Hey, kid, do you know who might have sent me Andy's notebook?" "Beats me, all I know is that I saw him put it in his pocket after he shot Boyle." said Smith pointing to Sam. They both looked over at Sam, who winked at them just as he was engulfed in a blue flame. "Billy, you come out of that room this instant!!" As Sam's head cleared from the leap, he realized that the pounding that he heard was someone banging on the door of the room that he was in. He was seated at a desk in what was obviously a bedroom. On the desk was a computer. Looking at his reflection in the monitor, Sam saw a teenage boy with glasses -- the typical computer nerd. "Billy, you come down to dinner right now!" yelled the woman outside his door. "All you do is sit in front of that computer day and night. It's not normal" Sam looked back to the monitor and saw the words that the kid had typed before Sam leaped. On the monitor, in large letters, were the words "OH BOY!" ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Jeffrey M. Cohen Voice: 518-442-3510 Office for Research (AD 218) Fax: 518-442-3560 The University at Albany E-mail: JC924@finabus.fab.albany.edu State University of New York or 1400 Washington Ave. JC924@uacsc2.albany.edu Albany, NY 12222 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++