Prostitutes in Three Piece Suits

Part 2

 

Detectives David Starsky and Ken Hutchinson pushed their way through the crowd of spectators standing in the hallway and walked into Jonathan Welles’ office. The victim was still in his chair, his head thrown back against the brown cloth. Blood from the gaping wound in his throat had pooled in the chair and dripped to the plush gold carpet, turning it a horrid green. Welles’ eyes were staring up at the ceiling through his black horn-rimmed glasses and his hands flopped loosely over the arms of the chair.

Hutch walked further into the room to get a better look at the corpse, carefully avoiding the blood stain on the carpet. Welles’ mouth was open, and for a moment, the blond detective thought his tongue was hanging out. He bent closer then straightened convulsively and put a hand to his own mouth as he realized the truth. The color drained from his face and he turned away, struggling to keep his stomach from emptying its contents.

Starsky shot a questioning look at Hutch then took a few steps closer to the body. He gave a small grunt of disgust and grimaced when he saw what had caused his partner’s reaction. Apparently not satisfied with a simple homicide, the killer had mutilated the victim and shoved his penis in his mouth. Starsky shook his head and looked at his partner.  

“I hope he was dead before that little adventure. It hurts me just to look at him. One thing’s for sure: somebody was pretty damned pissed at him.”

“You got that right.” Hutch turned to the police photographer. “Get some Polaroid’s while we’re waiting for the coroner. Then put someone on the door. I don’t want anyone going in or out of this room.”

The photographer nodded and went to work. Hutch walked over to the uniformed officers guarding the door.

“Who found him?”

The officer motioned with his head. “His secretary did. She said she came in early this morning, but didn’t go into his office right away. She spent the last five days moving and wanted to catch up on her work before he got here. She was going to put the mail on his desk so he could work on it and saw him sitting in the chair. She said she thought he was asleep at first, until she noticed the blood. One of the other secretaries heard her screaming and came to investigate. They closed the door right away and called the police from the secretary’s phone. No one else has been in there, and the secretary says she didn’t touch anything, except the mail.”

Starsky nodded. “OK, where is she?”

The officer pointed to the left. “She’s in there. It’s Daniel Hodson’s office. There’s a female officer with her.”

Starsky and Hutch walked into the next office. Hutch stopped as he saw the distraught woman sitting on a small couch. He glanced at Starsky then walked over and sat down next to her.

“Ms. Peterson, do you remember me? I’m Sergeant Ken Hutchinson, with the BCPD.”

She dabbed her eyes with a Kleenex and looked up at him. After a few moments, she frowned and nodded.

“I remember you. You tried to get Mr. Welles in trouble, and he said you were very rude to him. I hope you’re happy now. Somebody killed him!”

Hutch flashed back to the first time he saw the offices of Welles, Kelly, and Hodson. Welles had been implicated in the attempted hit on Starsky, and had bailed Jenny Brown out of jail. The blond detective had come to the office looking for the identity of Starsky’s attacker, but ran into a brick wall with Welles. He remembered their last words to each other.

“I’m afraid we have nothing further to discuss, Detective.”

“No, but I do want to thank you for clearing up one thing for me.”

 “Oh, what is that?”

 “My confusion about prostitutes. Now I know the high priced ones can also wear three piece suits.”

The blond detective kept his voice gentle, but firm. “Ms. Peterson, I know you think your boss was a wonderful human being, but there are things you don’t know about him. Are you aware that he was facing indictment from a Federal Grand Jury for conspiracy to commit murder? This firm represented several subsidiaries of Gunther Industries, and Mr. Gunther has been convicted of serious crimes. When I came here that day, I was investigating the shooting of a police officer. Jonathan Welles was linked to the person that paid for the hit. Now, we’re trying to find the person that killed him. The two could be related. So, it would be in your best interest, and your boss’s, to cooperate with us.”

Mary drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair. “I don’t know anything about that. I never saw Mr. Gunther. I was simply Mr. Welles’ secretary. I took his phone calls and typed letters for him. I can’t understand why anybody would want to kill him! If he was so horrible, why didn’t you put him in jail?”

Hutch shook his head. “It wasn’t up to us. After Gunther was convicted, the Feds took jurisdiction. If we think he was murdered because of his involvement with Gunther, we’ll have to turn the investigation over to the Feds. But until then, it’s our case. We need you to be truthful with us and to tell us everything you know. Can you do that?”

Mary looked around the room at the other officers then nodded. “I’ll try. What do you want to know?”

Hutch breathed a sigh of relief then looked at Starsky. The brunet took over the questioning.

“You told the officers that you came in early today. Can you tell us what time that was?”

“I got here exactly at seven o’clock. Mr. Welles gave me most of last week off so I could move into my new apartment. I came in early to catch up on my work.”

“Did you see anyone go in or come out of Mr. Welles’ office?”

She shook her head. “No, I didn’t see anyone at all. Most of the other people come to work between eight and nine. I was counting on the peace and quiet to catch up before Mr. Welles got here. It gets pretty hectic around here after everyone comes in.”

Starsky checked his notes. “And you didn’t go into the office until around nine, right?”

“Uh huh. I had finished going through the mail and wanted to put it on his desk. I had a fresh pot of coffee made, but I didn’t take a cup in because Mr. Welles liked to pour his own.”

“And you said that you thought he was just asleep when you saw him?”

She nodded again, tears glistening in her eyes. “The lights were dimmed and I just thought he’d pulled an all-nighter, until I saw all the blood. I knew then that he was dead.”

“This is very important, Ms. Peterson. Did you touch anything at all in the office?”

She shook her head vehemently. “No! I dropped the mail then I started screaming. Julie Fort, Mr. Hodson’s secretary, heard me and ran into the office. She pulled me away and we called the police from the telephone on my desk.”

Starsky thought for a moment. “Was it usual for Mr. Welles to work all night?”

“No, he’s worked very late occasionally, but I don’t remember him ever staying all night long. That’s why I was so surprised to see him here.”

“Do you remember seeing anything unusual when you came in this morning? Was anything out of place, or missing?”

Mary was quiet for several minutes. “I don’t think so. The whole place seemed deserted. I didn’t see anyone at all, and I know there wasn’t anything missing from my desk.”

Hutch asked a question that had been on his mind. “Was Mr. Welles in the habit of leaving his door unlocked?”

She nodded. “I was always cautioning him about that, but he said the main doors to the firm were locked and so were the entrances to the building. He said there was no need to keep his office locked. The whole staff was accustomed to going in and out of his office throughout the day. If he locked his door, he would have to get up a hundred times to let them in.”

“So, it was common knowledge that his door wasn’t locked.”

“Yes. Very few of the inner doors are locked during the day, and a lot of them stay unlocked all the time. We’ve never had any problems with break-ins or anything like that. We don’t keep many valuables here, and what we do keep is locked in a safe.”

Starsky walked to the door and looked out at the people milling around in the hall.

“Who would have the most contact with Mr. Welles on a typical day?”

Mary shrugged exasperatedly. “Everyone had contact with everyone! This place is like Grand Central Station most days. I have an appointment book that I use for his meetings with clients, but I could never remember all of the people that passed through this office on a given day. If Mr. Welles was on the phone, or in a meeting, his door would be closed. Otherwise, it stayed open and there was a steady stream of traffic in and out of his office.”

Starsky grimaced. “OK, then could you tell me who spent the most time with him?”

Mary sighed. “I guess the law clerks would. They work for all three partners and are constantly coming and going.”

“How many are there?”

“At the present time, we have four. There were seven but three of them graduated law school last semester and are in the process of taking their bar exams.”

“Do you know if they’re here today?”

“They should be. Their schedules are even worse than mine. I can give you their names, if you’d like.”

Starsky gave her his notebook and pen. “Just jot them down there, and we’ll see if we can find them. You’ve been very helpful, Ms. Peterson. You can go home now, if you’d like. If we have any more questions, we’ll be in touch.”

She handed the notebook and pen back then stood up. “Thank-you, Detective. I would like to go home. It’s been a horrible, tragic morning. I hope you find the person that did this. I know you won’t believe this, but Mr. Welles was a wonderful boss and I’m going to miss him very much.”

Starsky and Hutch watched her leave then Hutch turned to his partner.

“I wonder if she would have been as cooperative if she knew you were the cop that Gunther tried to hit.”

“Probably not, which is why you didn’t tell her, I take it.”

Hutch simply shrugged and took the notebook out of Starsky’s hands. He read the names she had written down.

“Let’s get these clerks together and see what they know about our recently departed mouth piece. I’m curious to see if they thought as much of him as Ms. Peterson did.”

They walked to the hallway and Starsky called out the names in his notebook. The four clerks raised their hands in response.

Starsky moved closer to them. “OK, ladies, let’s go into Ms. Peterson’s office so we can talk.”

After they were gathered around the secretary’s desk, Starsky started the questions again.

“Let’s start by introducing yourselves, so we know who is who.”

The four women responded with their names.

“That’s good. Now, can each of you tell me the last time you saw Mr. Welles?”

Vega, Madge, Nat and Bethany all replied that they had talked to him the day before.

Hutch scratched his head. “So, none of you saw him after eight o’clock last night?”

The four shook their heads. Vega piped up. “We usually work later than that, but we had a very busy day, and decided to take off early. I didn’t see him at all after dinner, which would have been around six o’clock. I was in Mr. Hodson’s office most of the afternoon.”

“And none of you saw or heard anything unusual before you left?”

Madge shook her head. “We finished up our work for the day and met in the break room for a soda before we left the building. People were trickling out slowly. I’m afraid our work day doesn’t end at five o’clock like normal businesses. We’ve stayed as late as ten or eleven and there were other people still in the building when we left.”

Starsky frowned. “So, you’re saying that anyone could come and go as they pleased and no one would notice?”

Madge tilted her head. “The main lobby has security and you have to sign in and out, but it’s not exactly Fort Knox around here. Most of the businesses don’t require passes or identification cards. The exits to the building are locked after seven, and the alarms are activated, but the only exit that has a twenty-four hour guard is the main one. If someone wanted in bad enough, they could get in.”

Starsky muttered under his breath. “Terrific.” Then he changed the direction of his questions.

“Ms. Peterson was very upset by what happened. She said Mr. Welles was a wonderful boss. Do you ladies agree?”

All four women laughed uproariously, shaking their heads. Starsky gave his partner a wry look.

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’. So, what was he really like?”

Madge curled her lip. “He was a pervert.”

Vega nodded. “He was a slimy little creep.”

Nat agreed. “He was a disgusting little letch.”

Bethany shuddered. “He was a reprobate with delusions of grandeur.”

Hutch raised an eyebrow. “Don’t hold back, ladies. Tell us how you really feel.”

Madge shrugged. “Welles thought he was God’s gift to women. He targeted the clerks because we have the most to lose. If you refused to do the horizontal mambo with him, he threatened you.”

Starsky frowned. “How did he threaten you?”

Madge lowered her voice, mimicking Welles. “If you dare file a complaint against me, I’ll see that you never work in a reputable law firm again.” She went on in her natural voice. “He was always saying that. We’ve had male clerks before, and he was always encouraging and helpful toward them. But let a woman walk through the door, and he immediately turned into Don Juan.”

“Did you ever complain to the other partners?”

Bethany shook her head reluctantly. “We just tried to stay out of his way. If there was any one else around, he was the perfect gentleman. So, we made sure that we were never alone with him for very long. If this was a private practice, we wouldn’t have stayed, but Mr. Kelly and Mr. Hodson are very talented attorneys and we can learn a lot from them. When I first started, Mr. Hodson hinted that Welles had some eccentricities, but he never came right out and said he was a letch. I have the feeling they knew, but didn’t pursue it because they were afraid of a scandal. So they looked out for us the best they could.”

Hutch looked steadily at them. “I take it that he made unwanted advances on all of you?”

They nodded, fidgeting uncomfortably.

“Did any of you ever quarrel with him?”

Bethany slowly raised her hand. “I did. He cornered me in our break room yesterday and made some very lewd suggestions. It was the second time that he came on to me, and I’m afraid I just snapped.” She lifted her head in defiance. “I told him that I was here to learn, not to be accosted by the likes of him. I told him exactly what I thought of him, but he just laughed like he always did. He made it plain that he wasn’t afraid of me then just walked out the door. I ran back to Mr. Kelly’s office and stayed there the rest of the day. I told Madge, Nat, and Vega about it before I left last night because I was still upset. I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer and I was afraid he really would get me fired.”
            Hutch nodded. “I can understand why you were upset. What did you do after you left?”

“I went home and called my grandfather. He helped me get the job and when I told him about Welles propositioning me, he was furious. He swore that he didn’t know Welles was like that or he’d never gotten me the job. We talked for a while and then I went to bed.”

Starsky looked at his notes again. “You’re married, right? Did you tell your husband?”

She shook her head vehemently. “Are you kidding? If Richie found out, he’d make me quit in a heart beat. I didn’t want to start all over and I was afraid that I wouldn’t find a position with another firm. I begged grandfather not to tell him, either. He said he wouldn’t if I promised to file formal charges if Welles tried anything again. I said I would, although we both knew it wouldn’t do any good.”

“And you didn’t come back here after that?”

“No! I locked up my apartment and went to bed. Richie called me about 11:30 last night and we talked for about an hour. He’s due home this afternoon. You can ask him about it if you want to.”

Starsky closed his notebook and put it in his pocket. “I think that’s all for now, ladies. If we have any more questions, we’ll be in touch. And if you can think of anything else that will help, please don’t hesitate to call. Oh, I guess we don’t have to tell you not to leave town.”

Madge arched her eyebrow. “Why would we want to leave town? This job just got a whole lot better.”

As each of the clerks left, they stopped at Welles’ office door and took a final look at the attorney.

Madge studied the body in the chair. “Ding dong, the wicked letch is dead. I don’t think your status will get you out of this one, Johnny boy.”

Nat grinned at the body and turned half-way around. She slapped herself on the rear and then blew him a kiss. “Kiss this, sweetheart.”

Vega looked in and put a hand to her ear. “What’s that, Mr. Welles? You need a fifty page brief typed up by tonight? Sorry, no can do. I have a date with my hubby and you know how he hates to be kept waiting.”

Bethany was the last one to view the body. She shook her head slowly as she looked at the object in his mouth. “Well, you know what they say. Anything more than a mouthful is a waste.”

Starsky and Hutch stood there, stunned, as the procession slowly made their way out of the room. Starsky rubbed his face and turned to his partner.

“Well, which one do you think did it?”

Hutch ran long fingers through his hair. “Any, all or none of the above.” He turned to gaze at his friend. “Now ask me if I care.”

“You’re never going to let it go, are you?”

Hutch paced agitatedly around the room. “Why should I, Starsk? Jonathan Welles knew what he was doing when he bailed Jenny Brown out of jail. By the time I got back with Gunther, she disappeared. I’d bet the farm that he knew where she went, if he didn’t help her get there personally. If the counselor had lived, he’d be in front of the Grand Jury in a few weeks. He was a slimy little shyster that was in Gunther’s back pocket for God knows how long. I’m a cop. I’ll do my job and find out who murdered the sick son of a bitch, but don’t expect me to be sorry that he’s dead. As far as I’m concerned, when we do find who did it, we should pin a medal on them instead of putting them in prison. They just saved the tax payers a whole lot of time and money.”

Starsky laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I guess I can understand where you’re coming from. I know you don’t want to put any of those women in prison, but if one of them did kill Welles, what they did was as wrong as what he did to them. They could have formed a united front and went after him the legal way.”

He gazed through the door at the dead man. “Besides, like you said, his death could be related to that mess with Gunther. The old man could have given Welles the kiss of death before you went after him, but didn’t have the chance to go through with it.”

Hutch nodded and shrugged. “Well, if that’s the direction this case takes, we can turn the whole mess over to the Feds and go on with our day. As much as I’d like that to happen, I think we’ll find out that Welles simply met his match, finally.”

Starsky sighed. “You’re probably right. Well, this ain’t getting us any where. The coroner should be finished by now. Let’s turn the scene over to the lab boys and get out of here.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice. Lead on, Mac Duff.”

Hutch took a final look at the body. “I sure nailed it when I called you a prostitute, didn’t I, Welles? As far as I’m concerned, you got what you deserved.”

 

Three weeks later, they were no closer to finding the person responsible for Welles’ murder. Each of the four law clerks had iron clad alibis, and no one else in the firm admitted to carrying a grudge against the lawyer. The two detectives were beginning to believe the hit was ordered by someone connected to Gunther, but were unable to prove it. Captain Dobey called them into his office that morning, asking for an update.

Starsky spread his hands out. “We’ve got nada, Cap. There were so many finger prints in that office that the lab said it was impossible to separate them. We found the knife that was used, but it was wiped clean. The blood on the blade matched Welles’, so we know it’s the murder weapon, but that’s all we know.”

Dobey frowned. “What about those law clerks? Have you gotten any more information out of them?”

Hutch shrugged. “They all admit to despising the scumbag, but swear they didn’t have anything to do with his death. All their alibis check out. We even checked out Richie Rawlings. He swears that he didn’t know anything about Welles until after he was murdered. We’ve gone through the video tapes of the main entrance for that night, but like the clerks said, the building isn’t that secure. We’ve got the secretary going over the tapes for between nine and eleven that night to see if she recognizes anyone, but we aren’t holding our breath.”

“Do you think it’s possible this was a professional hit?”

Hutch shook his head. “My gut tells me it isn’t. A professional would have used the knife, but he wouldn’t have mutilated the body. The ME says that was done after Welles died, so that tells me the hit was personal. Somebody hated that little creep and wanted the whole world to know what he thought of him.”

Before Dobey could ask another question, the phone rang.

“Dobey.”

He listened to the voice on the other end. “Yeah, he’s here. Do you need to talk to him? Oh, really? Yeah, I’ll tell him. We’ll get back to you.”

He put the receiver back on its cradle and gazed at Hutch. “That was the warden. Gunther wants to talk to you.”

Hutch narrowed his eyes. “There isn’t anything that man could say that I would want to hear.”

“He says it’s about Welles.”

An hour later, they were on their way to the penitentiary. They signed in and went to the building where Gunther was housed. Starsky stopped the blond with a hand on his chest.

“You don’t have to do this, you know.”

“Yes I do. If Gunther knows about the hit, that means he paid for it, or at least set it up. And that means we turn the whole thing over to the Feds.”

“What if he’s just stringing you along?”

Hutch looked exasperated. “Why would he do that, Starsky? He’s not going to try anything in a Federal Pen. If he wanted me dead, he’d just put out a contract on me and sit back and watch.”

“He’s crazy, Hutch. He loves to manipulate people. The scum knows how much you hate him, so he might be using Welles as a way to rattle your chain.”

“Then that’s a chance I’ll have to take. I want to hear what he has to say.”

They stopped in front of the main gate and waited for the guard to let them in. Two armed guards escorted them to Gunther’s cell block and waited for the gate to open. As Starsky started through, Hutch held up a hand.

“Oh, no you don’t. You stay right here. I’m not letting you get anywhere near Gunther.”

Starsky protested. “Hutch, the man’s in prison. He’s unarmed and there’ll be a guard right outside the room. He can’t hurt me now.”

“I don’t care. I’m going in alone and that’s that. You can wait here, or in the car. It’s your choice.”

Starsky grumbled under his breath. “Fine, I’ll wait for you by the guard’s station. But, you be careful, damn it. He’s just crazy enough to try something in front of the guards. Don’t trust him for a minute.”

“I won’t, buddy. I haven’t forgotten how many people he’s killed. I won’t be long.”

The guard let Hutch in the room then went to get Gunther. A few minutes later, the felon entered the small room. A small table with a chair on each side sat in the middle of the room. The two men stood silently for a time, looking each other over.

Gunther spoke first. “Good evening, Detective Hutchinson. It’s nice to see you again.”

“I’m not in the mood for small talk, Gunther. You said you had something to tell me about Welles. What is it?”

The older man smiled. “Straight to the point, as always, eh Detective? Very well, I’ll get right to it. I know who killed Jonathan Welles and why.”

“OK, I’ll bite. Who killed him?”

Gunther waved an admonishing finger. “Not so fast, Detective. I’d like to tell my story in my own words, if you don’t mind.”

Hutch sat on one side of the small table and motioned for Gunther to sit on the other.

“I’m all ears.”

Gunther sat down. “I’m glad we can be civilized with each other, Detective. Now, on with my story. Bethany is the granddaughter of a very good friend of mine. When William told me that she was in law school and was looking for a job as a clerk, I sent her to Jonathan Welles. I knew of his propensity for beautiful young women, but I thought the fact that she was married would deter him, not to mention that I was a friend of the family. When William came to visit me a few weeks ago, he was furious. Bethany had called him the night Welles made advances toward her and she was very upset about it. When he found out that it was the second time, he wanted to go down to the firm and confront Jonathan himself. William is sixty years old and not in good health. I felt responsible because I had gotten Bethany the job, so I told him I would take care of it. And I did.”

“So you put out a contract on Welles. Who actually killed him?”

Gunther smiled and shook his head. “I won’t give you that bit of information, Detective. It wouldn’t do you any good, anyway. The person I hired is out of the country and is somewhere safe, away from the threat of extradition. I’ll sign a statement admitting my part in the murder, but I won’t implicate anyone else. I’ve already been sentenced to life imprisonment, so one more homicide won’t make that much difference.”

He sat back and gazed at the blond detective. “Consider it a freebie, for old time’s sake. Besides, I didn’t want you to think Bethany or any of her co-workers was responsible for the murder. They certainly had enough reason to kill the man, but they’re much too civilized to go through with it.”

“I see. So, the mutilation was a message, correct? You wanted the clerks to know why he was murdered.”

“Exactly. Jonathan Welles was a despicable human being. He preyed on beautiful young women and used his status to intimidate them. He could have scarred Bethany emotionally for life, but didn’t care. Killing the bastard wasn’t enough. I thought the punishment should fit the crime.”

He got up and walked to the door. After he knocked on it, he turned back to Hutch.

“I’ll give my statement to the warden and sign it. He’ll have it on your desk by tomorrow evening. Good day, Detective. It was nice seeing you again. And, give my regards to Detective Starsky. You two have been formidable opponents. I look forward to matching wits with you again, in the future.”

Hutch stared as Gunther was escorted from the room. “In your dreams, punk.”

He ran a hand over his face then walked back to Starsky. The brunet looked at him quizzically.

“Well, what did he say?”

“He admitted to putting the contract out on Welles. He said he did it as a favor to Bethany’s grandfather. The perp that actually took Welles out is long gone, though. According to Gunther, he’s sunning himself on some island out of our reach.”

“Do you believe him?”

“Considering everything else he’s done, damn right I believe him.”

Hutch stared thoughtfully in the direction of Gunther’s cell then shook himself. He turned to his best friend.

“Come on; let’s go home.”

 

 

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