Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

I’m Lieutenant Deviled Yeggs.  I work homicide in the big city of Tracy.  Working for me are my old partners: Detective Sgt. Jim Wednesday and Detective Poached Yeggs, my nephew who is slowly becoming a good detective.

In my office, I had a crowd.  We had a series of murders of low-level Rotten Apple thugs.  Not even a lieutenant.  Only one of them was a member of the Apple family.  But it was enough to have Organized Crime worried about a gang war with the Leafy Greens of Stout County.  We called Tuesday Wednesday, Jim’s wife, and she asked a few contacts.  And she had something that would give us something to work on.  She had called this meeting.  She had fifteen cases of her own to solve.

Besides our visitor, Captain Hart was present, and from City Hall, Lt. Tagliolini and Georges Evident were there.  I had my usual summertime crew: Jim Wednesday, Poached Yeggs, and our unofficial detective Sophia Yeggs, my daughter who still has the goal of being my boss someday.

Sophie was sitting next to Gisele, whom Sophie calls Aunt Gisele – no relation.  After their weird honeymoon that Gisele and Captain Hart had in Thailand, Gisele has had purple hair ever since, but Captain Hart has finally let his green hair grow out long enough to get it cut off.  He looks almost normal, but now that he is married to Gisele, he has been nice, and that worries everyone in the precinct.

I thanked everyone for coming.  I mentioned that Undersheriff Tuesday Wednesday has some promising information that might relate to our unsolved cases.  It gave us a person of interest and a new line of questioning, even something new to look for in the security footage around the scenes of the murders.

Tuesday smiled, “Other than my strange new title, I think I know everyone here, but I would like to introduce you to the former enforcer for the Leafy Greens.  Turnip thought she was getting a little out of control, so he cut her loose, and she might be here, killing off people to start a gang war, or killing some low-level people that might not be missed to impress the very impressionable Empire Apple.  She might be auditioning for the enforcer job here in Tracy.  First, do we know if any of those who were killed had been bad boys?  You know, bad boys in a Rotten Apple sense?”

Tony Tagliolini nodded, “But just a couple out of the six.  One was one of our confidential informants, but he rarely gave us much of anything useful.  He was a dud for us, but Empire may not have known that he was not giving us useful information.  One other guy was suspected of skimming cash off the top.  If Empire knew how much money and it was more than a few broken bones that would correct, he may have wanted him dead too.  But the other four, including the only woman, were loyal to Empire for all we know.  But, we don’t know everything.”

Tuesday nodded, “Thanks, but that doesn’t really eliminate that motive, if it were more than two of the six being known naughty crooks, it might point to an audition, but we still have to consider the angry ex-employee trying to cause trouble for her old boss.”

Tony asked, “Her?”

Tuesday advanced to her next slide on the presentation.  “Meet Shelly Dye, former enforcer for the Leafy Greens.”

Poached asked, “What on earth is that on her head?”

Tuesday said, deadpan, “Her hair.  Yes, it looks like the bottom half of a globe.  She is white, or maybe mostly white, but she has an Afro Flattop.”

Captain Hart said, “Afro flattop haircuts go straight up like a stovepipe.  That is like the old-style afro, almost like a basketball on her head, with the top cut off.  And I have recent experience with green hair.  That is the greenest hair that I have ever seen.”

Tuesday shrugged, “I introduced her as Shelly Dye.  I think the green is out of a bottle.  I think she wanted to fit in with the Leafy Greens, none of them with green hair, by having something green.”

Georges groaned, “It makes no sense though.  Hitmen and mob enforcers are these invisible people who slip in and slip out and no one knows they were there.  This woman is shouting, ‘Hey, look at me!’”

Tuesday shook her head, “And that is why Det. Wolfe could not wrap his head around her doing the deed in Stout County.  He kept thinking it was some invisible person and they had Shelly Dye distract people with her wild haircut.”

Gisele cleared her throat.  “I do not want to disagree with my husband, but her hair bushes out to her shoulders.  That is more medicine ball than basketball.  Yes, dear, I can see it in your eyes.  You meant the shape, not necessarily the size.”

There were a couple of stifled snickers.

I asked, “Do you have a good background on Ms. Dye?”

Tuesday nodded, “She was the daughter of an unwed teenaged mother.  And her name on her birth certificate is Shelly.  It is not derived from Michelle, Rachel, or Shirley.  The mother would have one-night stands until a guy came along and stayed for a while.  One of those men had a son who was a couple of years older than Shelly.  The boy’s father passed away after being a father figure for a little over a year.  As she reached her teenaged years, her stepbrother molested her.  Some of her mother’s boyfriends would also molest her.  Her mother would get angry, thinking Shelly was stealing her mother’s boyfriends away.  At this point, she started taking long walks in the woods to work out her anger, but it resulted in dismembering insects.  Then she moved up to squirrels, rabbits, and larger animals.  She got skilled in inventive ways of snaring them and killing them.  It is odd that she claimed innocence in all these crimes, but when she and I had long interviews, she opened up in basically confessing to the pattern that is often associated with serial killers.  She is one sick woman.  I have no idea why Detective Wolfe had a blind eye for her.”

I took over.  “Poached, you and Georges can tag team through the videos that we saved near each crime scene.  Jim and Tony, maybe canvas our confidential informants focusing on Shelly Dye.  Try to find out why we have not had an escalation to a gang war.  Sophie, this is an active series of crimes.  We cannot have you actively investigating but keep your thinking cap on.  Captain Hart, where could someone who has such a conspicuous hairdo hide?”

Poached spoke up.  “When you loaned me out to Vice, I went to some seedy parts of town.  There are places that would welcome her, and she would blend in.”

Captain Hart nodded, “Yeah, I know some of those places.  I think we can get Polly Pulice to infiltrate.  Maybe not ask questions.  Those folks are skittish.  She might just sit in the corner and drink ginger ale and watch who comes and goes.  Tony might loan us a couple of younger people that could do the same.”  Tony nodded.

It took a few days, but our corner stall lookouts found her.  Polly caught her and trailed her to an apartment building.  The next day, others in street clothes walked behind her to a different club, where one of Tony’s men watched her, trailing her to a different apartment building.  In a week of keeping a tail on her, she stayed with one friend or another, but never in the same room two nights in a row.  She always emerged wearing a new set of clothing, but she never carried a suitcase.  If we ever lost the tail, it might take a long time to find her again.

In the meantime, Georges and Poached found our green afro flattop at every crime scene, and with two of them, she was seen walking into the alley where the crime occurred, holding hands or hugging the victim.  Her MO was strangulation.  It seemed she lured them with romance; then she killed them, up close and personal.  Tuesday said that she used strangulation with some victims in Stout County, but she used the typical execution style shooting also.  Tuesday’s thought was that Turnip Greens wanted some of them gone, but with others, he wanted to send a clear message and made it an obvious mob hit.

We had enough to bring her in.  Even knowing where she was, she was hard to catch.  She was extremely fit, stronger than the average woman her size.  Since Poached and Jim would be the first to interrogate her, the two of them brought her to our precinct.  Jim had Shelly cuffed and was pushing through a crowd into the precinct.  Somehow the entrance through the parking garage was blocked.  It was some unscheduled service to the elevator.

As they approached the front door, a man in dark clothing pushed his way forward and drew a weapon.  Jim turned to shield Shelly and Poached went for his taser.  He did not want deadly force in such a crowd.  The man got off three rounds before Poached could bring him down.  Jim took one round in the leg, another in the arm, and the third hit his vest.

Poached yelled for everyone to back off.  He did not have to call the signal for ‘officer down.’  Guy Weiss was already running out, shouting orders to all the patrolmen on the first floor.  Shelly was rushed into the building along with the person Poached had dropped to the ground.  Guy called 911.  The EMT that we keep in our office was quickly dealing with Jim’s wounds.  The arm wound was superficial.  The vest did its job, but Jim might have a cracked rib.  But the leg wound hit an artery.  The EMT put pressure on the leg wound and guided Poached through the bandaging of the arm.  I came out to tell Poached to go with Jim.  The weapon used on Jim and two rounds were found.  The leg wound had no exit.

It was later learned that the third round had hit the femur and a bone fragment had nicked the femoral artery.  Jim went into surgery.  He would survive, but he would be on medical leave for quite some time.

Now with two people down and two people to interview instead of one, I took Shelly while Captain Hart took our unknown assassin.  The unknown assassin turned out to be the brother of one of the victims.  He was also a soldier level employee of the Rotten Apples.  He said it was strictly revenge, but I worked a different angle.  I told Shelly how the Rotten Apples took care of business.  They were afraid that she would talk.  After an hour or two, she had been softened up.  Tony Tagliolini relieved me, while Georges Evident tag-teamed with Captain Hart.

Our assassin would not give up anything other than the revenge for his brother’s death, but Shelly was a different story.  Instead of going straight to the hospital, Tuesday came from her office directly into my interrogation room.

She pulled out photographs from her wedding.  She made sure that Shelly recognized Jim as being her husband.  Then she leaned in close.  “Forget the last six murders here in Tracy.  My husband is in surgery right now, fighting for his life, because he took two bullets that were meant for your slimy butt.  I have fifteen murders in Stout County.  You give me those, and I can work out a deal.  The other six are just a piece of cake.  Maybe think of them as flushing the toilet to get rid of some bad food that you ate.”

Shelly was shaken.  She had bought my idea that the gunman was sent by Empire Apple to keep her from talking.  Now she knew how the police treated cop killers.  She finally broke.

She told them that Empire had questions about the loyalty of those six, and if he did not have to deal with them anymore, he would be happy.  And a happy Empire might hire her.  Just careful enough of wording to not guarantee Shelly a job and deny that he ever said to kill them.  He knew that she knew what he was saying, but deniability would keep Empire from going down.  But it did seem Empire was getting sloppy.  He was too brash, too impulsive, and his Ivy League education made him think that he knew how to slip through our fingers every time.

I was starting to wonder if we should not leave Empire in charge.  His criminal interests were being thwarted by Tony and his crew, at least limited.  He would do better to take his cash reserves and buy a legitimate business with the personnel he was losing and the reduced cash flow.  Even Fuji Apple and his sister Paula Red made crime pay better than Empire.  The only real money maker was Empire’s wife, Envy Apple.

And by the way, Envy and her girls no longer have pink hair.  With Pink Lady’s Freedom cider selling so much that the stores could not keep it on the shelves, and Pink’s picture on the bottles with her pink hair and victory pose…  Having prostitutes with pink hair seemed wrong.  Envy’s girls went back to their natural hair color or green hair and Envy went with orange hair.  That may be her downfall.  Everyone knows not to mix apples and oranges.  Hannah’s challenge to Pink had worked.  It was her name, and she took it back from evil doers.

When Jim woke up from the anesthesia, Tuesday was by his side.

Jim whispered, “I’m glad you’re here, but why aren’t you at police headquarters trying to grill the suspect?”

Tuesday snickered, “I’ve already closed fifteen cases today.  Do you want more out of me?”  Then she leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. “But if it meant having fifteen open cases, next time don’t guard a killer that had already killed over twenty people.  I don’t want to lose you.  And when you are healthy, I want to try to have a baby again.”

All Jim could say before he drifted back off to sleep was, “Babe!”

I had one item of unfinished business.  I called Guy Weiss into my office.  “Guy what was that elevator repair thing all about?  Why did you let them work on the elevator when we had a high-profile suspect coming in?”

Guy replied, “We did not have any elevator repair, Lieutenant.  Someone put up a sign at the garage entrance and a barricade.  It looked official but it was bogus.  If Jim and Poached had called my desk, I would have told them so.  As for the crowd, I told them to disperse.  Half of the crowd ran to their vehicles.  The rest were a couple of legitimate news crews.  I think the bogus elevator repair guys came around to hide the assassin until the last minute.  No one made any noise.  And our street camera went out two days ago.  I put in a work order, but the camera repair guy says he’s backed up.”

I asked Guy what he thought.

Guy shrugged, “The whole thing sounds like a setup.  Shelly may not have detected the tail, but someone got the news back to Empire.  They find a way to break that camera.  They ‘detain’ the camera repair guy.  They listen to our radio chatter and realize Shelly has been caught, and they set up the assassination with gear that they had stowed somewhere close to here, with the news outlets on speed dial since no one from here let them know.  That does not sound like a brother as a lone gunman seeking revenge.  And I am going to be so glad when Charlie shows up next week.  I am going to need to get a promotion if I keep doing the desk sergeant job.  You know, I have to save up for a honeymoon.”

I laughed, “Guy, your assessment was very good.  You will make a great desk sergeant.  But, sadly, I have only one alternative to your summation.”

Guy asked, “What did I miss?”

I shrugged, “Maybe nothing.  But an alternative is that Tony has a leak.  I have heard rumors, but there has been no evidence that has surfaced.  Good work, Guy, I will let the Commissioner know you are doing a good job.”

Guy brightened, “Thanks.  I have to get back to the desk.  I was trained as the backup and now we have a rookie patrolman downstairs.”  With that, Guy was on the run.  Seeing him run made me feel a bit better.  Guy had options.  That report was well thought out.  He might make an okay detective.  He would make a great desk sergeant.  Everyone has been impressed since he has been on desk duty limitations.  And if his endurance running gets better, he could go back to patrol.  Polly says she is tired of breaking in rookies.

I turned to Sophie, “Sophia, how was your summer?”

Sophie smiled, “It was better than being suspended last year.  I didn’t make any contributions to the Cold Case file, but I got to be here and help.  I tell you, Daddy, I am glad that the summer is over.  I worked days either here or at the Tensie Lab.  It is so freaky with her not there, but Blaise says the lawyer calls once a week to check up on projects.  With Tensie gone, the lawyer thinks things will slip, but not with Blaise in charge.  We might need to hire someone else to keep up though.  Aunt Tensie would think things through during the day last school year and then talk to Blaise about her ideas.  Without her ideas, things may get slower and with school they will definitely get slower.  Easter thinks he knows of a friend of his at the university that is inventive and needs extra cash to finish graduate school.  But then, my night job has been at the Snazzy Taz a few nights each week.  That comes to an end with school starting, except for special occasions, and helping you comes to an end.”

I asked, “How is Emmett?”

Sophie seemed to glow, “He’s wonderful, Daddy.  When he decided to take charge of our relationship and our plans for the future, he has been more driven than ever.  And he supports the idea of me becoming your boss someday.  With him taking charge of the ‘us’, it gives me the freedom to follow my dream.”

I thought Sophie was being hard on herself.  She connected three cases as the would-be Andrews Sisters, but I was glad she was going back to school myself.

Credits

Floyd “Flattop” Jones was a hired gunman and one of Dick Tracy’s most memorable foes.