A Hole In One

by Paul Weininger

  Pratt told her everything about the peculiarities Todd noticed about the Rabbi: his major error in the prayer by not saying the Hebrew word for Lord our God; the birthmark on his neck that Todd never noticed in all the years he knew him; and the testimony he received from Bloom’s neighbors.

  She very carefully asked the next question of Pratt, “I heard you told the marshal that you think the Rabbi was having an affair and murdered the woman’s husband. Where did you get that idea, since the husband hasn’t been reported missing?”

  “Not yet, anyway! Excuse my language, but I will admit that my answer to the marshal came out of my ass. I needed to tell him something. Knowing his reluctance to involve himself in hard investigations such as homicide cases, I told him what I thought would satisfy him at that moment. I first heard that theory from a witness, but it was just conjecture.”

  “Detective Sommerville from Flagstaff also interrogated the Rabbi’s neighbors and they told him about seeing the Rabbi straining to bring out a large bundle into his backyard and placing it onto a bed of leaves and then cover the bundle with more leaves and pine needles and setting it ablaze. This is where we found a man’s skull. According to the coroner, the rest of the body had been completely burnt to ashes, but he was able to identify a human skull. The skull had a bullet hole in the forehead and four teeth left in the lower jaw.”

  “So, Detective,” the D.A. asked, “what new factual evidence can you bring me? You arrested the Rabbi for murder-one, didn’t you?”

  “When I said ‘not yet,’ was referring to additional information we received since that time. I learned that the person I assumed he killed is according to his wife, on one of his frequent skiing trips to some cabin up in the Colorado mountains, possibly with a friend. According to his wife, he isn’t expected back for a few weeks. Jules told his wife, Carol, that there would be no TV or cell phones in the cabin. That to me was somewhat suspicious because his wife had already confessed to me that she and the Rabbi were having an affair and he may have wanted the husband out of the way. He wasn’t reported missing, so until he turns up it’s still a possibility.”

  “Is that it, Detective?” asked the D.A.

  “No ma’am,” Pratt replied. “I also learned some interesting information from a retired Rabbi Isaac in Scottsdale, who gives Hebrew lessons from his home. He believes that one of his clients looks a lot like Rabbi Bloom if he were to clean himself up. A guy named Richard Straub who lives here in Sedona. It may be possible that a doppelganger like him may have killed the Rabbi to take his place. If that’s the case then I already arrested the doppelganger and it may not have been the Rabbi. Either way, we arrested the Rabbi for murder or someone imitating the Rabbi who killed someone and tried to blame it on the Rabbi.”

  “Well, there’s a theory that makes absolutely no sense. Why would someone kill a Rabbi to replace him, when that same person could have gone to a theological seminary and study to become a Rabbi himself? What’s in it for the killer? Also, if it is a doppelganger who committed murder to replace the Rabbi, then the cadaver must surely be Bloom, don’t you think?” she asked.

  “I don’t know what the motive might be,” Pratt sheepishly replied. “Maybe the money and prestige of the position. I was hoping you could get your investigative team to research that. Perhaps they can find an answer. I do have proof that there was a dead body in his backyard. I suppose it’s also possible that the Rabbi is starting to get early Alzheimer’s or dementia and is doing crazy things. According to one of his congregants, the Rabbi’s been acting very oddly lately. I ruled that out though because neither Alzheimer’s nor dementia can create a birthmark or kill someone. Now, I’m not a psychiatrist and maybe that is a possibility, but I don’t think so.”

  “And neither do I,” agreed the D.A.

  There was no question that the police had found a dead body in Rabbi Bloom’s backyard. But did Bloom kill someone or was he the victim? Did someone else place a corpse in the Rabbi’s backyard?

  The next day, D.A. Stanford acquired subpoenas from the court to search old green pickup trucks and began an investigation of the possible killer. The greenish pickup seen around the shootings was the best clue she had so far. The written documentation she was given about older green pickup trucks still on the road today provided her with seven owners within fifty miles of Sedona, if the vehicles hadn’t changed hands:

  Jason Carlson—An eighty-six-year old who keeps his pickup in a garage and refurbished it two years ago, but it still can’t run.

  Phyllis Burke—Her truck was painted yellow in front and old green in back, used to pick up her kids from school; an unlikely killer.

  Phil Babcock—His truck was in an accident two years ago and has been repainted blue.

  James Bell—A police officer that says he only uses his truck for fishing trips and campouts.

  The Greenery Landscaping Company—Owner of an old green truck which employees used for work.

  Bill Archer—A nineteen-year old who uses his truck to drive to school, normally in school from 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

  Paul Buchman—A forty-five-year-old Black man who uses his truck for church functions and works as a part-time custodian.

  All but the last three on the list had solid enough alibis to rule them out immediately. She questioned each of the rest regarding their whereabouts on the dates when the four golfers were shot at.

  Paul Buchman was questioned first as to his whereabouts on the dates of the shootings. His alibi was that he is the custodian of the Presbyterian church in town and was at the church all day with the minister or rehearsing with the church choir on each of those days. His story panned out and he was removed from the suspect list.

  Bill Archer was next to be questioned and claimed that he was in school each of the days in question, which was confirmed by his teachers. He too was removed from the suspect list.

  The Greenery Landscaping Company was the last of the three to be in the crosshairs of D.A. Stanford. She decided to interview the owner of Greenery Landscaping, Joe Rung. She called, set up a time with him, and drove over to his landscaping and garden shop. To begin her questioning, she asked “Mr. Rung, have you recently heard or read about the arrest of Rabbi Bloom for murder?”

  “Yes, I have, why are you asking me about the Rabbi’s arrest?”

  “I’m asking you because an old green pickup was spotted at the scene, and you have such a truck registered as a company vehicle. Is that truck used by any one of your employees in particular?”

  “Well, it was used pretty much exclusively by a guy by the name of Richard Straub, but not now. He quit the job a few weeks back and I haven’t heard from him since.”

  The mention of Straub’s name hit the D.A. with an electric jolt. This was the same guy Detective Pratt mentioned who looked a lot like the Rabbi. Composing herself, she continued with her questioning.

  “Did Mr. Straub ever mention Rabbi Bloom to you?”

  “Not by name, but he did show me a photograph several months ago of a Rabbi who appeared in the Sedona Times Herald last December or January. The photo was of this Rabbi Bloom being ‘feted,’ I think that was the term they used, at some special charity event. He asked me to look at the picture and see if I saw a resemblance between the Rabbi and him.”

  “And what was your answer?”

  “Considering that Richard has a lot of facial hair and looks more like a gangster biker than a Rabbi, I didn’t notice any particular resemblance, no. However, not to upset him, I said, ‘Yes, he looks a little like you.’”

  “What was his reaction to your response?”

  “He seemed pleased and smiled.”

  “Did you permit Richard to take your truck to and from home as well as use it at work?”

  “Well, I did, but one day a while back as I just mentioned, he called to tell me he quit and would leave the truck somewhere and let me know where he left it.”

  “Do you know where he went?”

  “No, I don�
��t.”

  “Did you ever get your truck returned to you?”

  “Yes, the police recovered it and after they went over it, it was returned to me within about four days.”

  “Did Richard Straub work during the day that the Rabbi was arrested for murder?” she asked Rung.

  “Yes, I’m pretty sure he did. He was pretty dependable.”

  “Do you happen to keep invoices that would tell us where he was doing Greenery Landscaping work that day?”

  “Let me check my records for a minute in my office.” He returned more like five minutes later, since his administrative skills left something to be desired. She saw his papers in disarray on his desk; it took him awhile to find what he was looking for.

  Upon his return, he told her, “I had him do two lawns in Flagstaff on Bellmawr Street and a cobblestone walkway from the driveway to the front door on the same street but a couple of houses down.”

  She asked, “Is it possible that while working on one of his assignments that he could have left for an hour or longer?”

  “Sure, he could easily leave the worksite, telling the owners that he was going to get some lunch, make a phone call, run errands or whatever, and then go to a public bathroom to wash up before he returned. None of my workers are permitted to use the indoor facilities at our clients’ homes even if they permit it. So yeah, he could have been gone for a couple of hours and the client wouldn’t complain if the work got done.

  “Thank you, Mr. Rung. I’ll send you a subpoena if I want you to testify in court as to what you told me today. I’ll also try and give you enough prior notice so that you can make plans before you are called to attend.”

  “I’m not sure I want to attend if it involves Dick Straub. He might have something dangerous in his mental makeup, based on how he looks, dresses and sticks to himself.”

  “Mr. Rung, you’ll have no choice if you’re subpoenaed by the court. You can’t say no to the court. You do understand that, don’t you? If you fail to show up when subpoenaed, the court will hold you in contempt and may place you under arrest.”

  “Yes, I do understand, and hearing all that, I will definitely show up. Or perhaps I might be safer if they placed me under arrest.

  ◆◆◆

  Upon his return from the skiing trip, Carol had told Jules about Pratt’s interest in finding him up on the slopes to question him. Jules said, “Fuck him. He has nothing to question me about and I’m not going out of my way to let him know that I’ve returned from my damn trip.”

  Two hours later a marshal’s deputy arrived at their home. Carol answered the door and seeing a man in uniform asked him “What can I do for you, Marshal?”

  “Are you Mrs. Jacobson?” asked the deputy.

  “Yes, I am,” she replied.

  “Mrs. Jacobson, I’m not the marshal, but as a deputy I’m here to serve you a court subpoena,” he said as he handed her the papers. “Is your husband home? I have a subpoena for him too.”

  “No, he’s not home right now, he left to go skiing again.”

  “Do you know where he went skiing?”

  “No, I don’t. You see he always picks a different cabin in the mountains, pays the owner cash and doesn’t take his cell phone with him.”

  “All right ma’am, when he returns please ask him to contact Marshal Whitaker’s office. We have a subpoena for him to appear in court, too.”

  “All right, I’ll do that, deputy.”

  She returned to the living room and approached Jules, who had been sitting on the couch, listening. She told him what she had done to help him delay having to appear in court. They still didn’t know what the court wanted from them, but he felt it was best the two not appear on the same day. As Jules put it, “So the lawyers don’t try and pit us against each other. Those accusations of you having an affair with the Rabbi is probably what they’re after.”

  Now, Carol and Jules sat silently in their living room for a moment, both feeling incredibly nervous about having been subpoenaed to appear in court. Neither of them knew what they were going to be asked.

  “Do you think that I have anything to be worried about, Jules?” Carol asked him.

  “Why should you be worried, you did nothing wrong did you?”

  “Of course not,” she replied.

  “Then go into court when required and give them whatever answers you can give. As far as for my attendance in court, as far as they’re concerned, I went on another skiing trip. If they find me, I’ll comply with their subpoena and appear in court as required.”

  “But what will people think when they hear that you went skiing again?”

  “I don’t care what they think of my skiing habits.”

  Twenty-Four

  As the trial began, the court resembled all TV courtrooms, very quaint, as if Clarence Darrow were about to enter, yet bigger and more modern, with enough rows to hold one hundred people leaving standing room only. The paint on the walls was a light gray and there were two rectangular tables on each side of the front of the courtroom. The defendant’s table on the left side held four chairs, as did the prose-cution’s table on the right. Each table had two mics on it to enable the counselors to respond without having to stand up at a podium right in front of the judge. There was also a large tumbler of ice water and four glasses on each of the two tables.

  The justice’s bench had three steps for the judge to climb up to his leather armchair, the back of it raised higher than his head. From this vantage point he could see the entire courtroom. The jury section had twelve leather armchairs located to his left. LED lighting made the room bright with what appeared to be sunlight, though it was composed of fourteen recessed light fixtures. The floor was made of dark stained oak. The bench where the judge sat was made of Brazilian walnut and looked like an exquisite piece of furniture. The room was centrally air-conditioned. The court had been renovated less than five years earlier.

  Due to the city of Sedona being as small as it is, the court’s docket was not normally remarkably busy, but on this Monday the court was packed with newspaper reporters and TV reporters, along with their camera operators, from all the cities in Arizona. The group was split with seventy percent men and thirty percent women.

  The vois dire process for picking a jury involved twelve jurors plus three alternates. The alternates would sit in during all the testimony provided to the jury and the showing of all exhibits of evidence, but would not be permitted to deliberate with the jury.

  Alternates may be used in case a juror is dismissed by the judge if he or she gets ill and must resign from the jury or is rejected by either the prosecution or the defense. There were approximately seventy-five people called for jury duty, but the defense rejected everyone living in Sedona, out of concern that the local TV and newspapers had influenced the jury pool.

  Albert Jaxson was the defense attorney for Rabbi Bloom. He insisted on a different venue and requested that the trial be held in Scottsdale, where the vois dire jury pool would not be as affected by the media publicity of the case, as opposed to the public in Sedona, which read or heard about the case daily.

  The D.A. objected to the venue change requested by the defense counsel, countering the prosecution would not object if the court were willing to provide buses to bring a jury pool from Scottsdale. They were then to be put up in a hotel in Sedona with meals, for the period of the trial. If it took longer than four weeks, the busses would return the jury back to their homes for weekends with their family. The jurors had to return by a specified date as assigned by the court.

  Judge Eustice Garnett upheld the prosecution’s alternative as reasonable. He did not wish to have the case appealed should the verdict go against the defendant and a biased jury became an issue. Defense Attorney Jaxson agreed that the prosecution’s alternative of importing a jury from Scottsdale, was acceptable. The judge excused the remaining jury pool citizens from Sedona who had been waiting to be questioned. Seventy-five people, all living in Scottsdale, were issued Jury
Duty notices and were brought by two air-conditioned busses. Some were excused by the judge because they would not be able to remain in Sedona for the length of the trial, like medical professionals; others were dismissed for illness, disabilities, or work requiring their presence at the job. These were usually CEOs or VPs of companies. This left fifty-three people in the jury pool.

  The vois dire process was uneventful, as each side ruled out who they believed to be anti-Semites, racists, or those with some other form of bias. Those were the issues the attorneys had to discover through their carefully targeted interviews of each juror.

  A jury of twelve, plus three alternates, was eventually chosen to sit for the trial. The rest were all taken back to Scottsdale by the two busses. Then the busses returned empty to Sedona in case the trial were to end quickly.

  The court clerk faced the courtroom gallery of 120 people, including the media, and hollered out “Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Department One of the Sedona Criminal Section Court is now in session. All rise! The Honorable Judge Eustice Garnett, presiding.” Judge Garnett entered the court, sat down and the clerk said to the gallery, “You may be seated.”

  Seated on his throne, the judge welcomed the gallery and jury. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Calling the case of the People of the State of Arizona to be referred to as the Prosecution versus Rabbi Bloom, the defendant. Are both sides ready?” he asked.

  “Ready for the people your honor,” replied District Attorney Stanford.

  “Ready for the defense your honor,” answered Defense Attorney Jaxson.

  “Will the court clerk please swear in the jury?” said the judge.

  The court clerk directed the jury, “Will you all please stand and raise your right hand,” which they all did. “Do each of you swear that you will fairly try the case before this court, and that you will return a true verdict according to the evidence and the instructions of the court, so help you God? Please answer with “I do.”