Eye for Eye

by J K Franko

  5.1 This goes to the element of opportunity. If you are not near the victim at time of death or disappearance, you do not have “opportunity.”

  5.2 Verifiability of the alibi is critical. Multiple people—at a party or an event. On video or CCTV. Must be able to prove you weren’t anywhere near the victim.

  5.3 The further from the crime scene, the better, both in geography and time.

  (Page Three)

  6. USE UNAVOIDABLE INTERACTIONS WITH THE VICTIM AS OPPORTUNITIES TO MISDIRECT.

  6.1 It is inevitable that, in organizing the murder, there will be some traceable actions that must be taken and contacts that must be made, including with the victim.

  6.2 Use these necessary connections as opportunities for misdirection by implicating other individuals who have a stronger connection with the victim than you. This will take attention away from you and serve to further confuse the homicide detective.

  In other words, not only do you not want to have a motive, but you should try to leave breadcrumbs that point to other people as having a motive.

  * * *

  Susie smiled to herself as she closed the folder, placed it inside the safe, and locked up.

  Cute. Very cute.

  There were definitely good points in Roy’s Rules. The whole idea of even making a list was so very typical of him. All planning, analysis, and strategy.

  Susie knew better. You could plan all you wanted, but in the end, sometimes you just had to do shit. Another smile crept across her face as she recalled the words of boxer Mike Tyson: “Everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the face.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Between work, life, and going to coffee houses to use the Wi-Fi, it took several days for Roy and Susie to finish their respective research projects.

  They set aside a Saturday morning to debrief over coffee, toast, and the two burner laptops.

  Susie went first.

  “Harlan was born Joseph Alan Harlan on April 1, 1994. His father is Joseph Alan Harlan Sr., a Texas senator and a lawyer. Mrs. Harlan died when junior was young. He was raised by Dad—an only child.

  “I got a lot of the early life stuff from articles about his dad. There isn’t much about the son online, at least not before the rape. Although I did find some pictures of him with Dad at different political functions. Campaign stuff. Barbeques, that kind of thing. Then there’s this... ” She showed Roy her screen, “A picture of him playing football. Nothing noteworthy. No mentions of honors or anything when he graduated.

  “As for the rape, I didn’t get into the details of the case, as that’s your job, but some of the articles do contain background information on him, so I went through those. He was a junior at UT at the time. He did one year at Austin Community College, then transferred in. No indication of whether there was any influence from Daddy involved—no speculation about it, either. Which means that it may have been on merit.

  “There’s a bunch of pictures of him in connection with the trial. There’s actual shots in court, one that looks like it came from a UT yearbook, and this one with Dad at a press conference.

  “Anyhow, his major at UT was poli sci. He wasn’t in any frat that I could find mention of.

  “Um, he lived in an apartment north of campus with two roommates—a Frank Stern and a Marty McCall. This becomes relevant in a minute.

  “He must have also been dating a girl at the time of the rape because one article says that his girlfriend ‘refused to comment’ on the situation.

  “Since the trial, he’s graduated—a year late—and finished his degree at ACC with a major in poli sci and a minor in government affairs. There was one piece in the Austin Herald talking about a protest at UT—anti-rape stuff—kind of focused on his case, so I’m guessing he couldn’t finish his degree there because of what happened.

  “He’s now working at a startup in Austin called Procurex Systems. They build back-end procurement technology for governmental entities—cities, states, and so on. The company was founded by Frank Stern—the former roommate—who is also the CEO.

  “But, get this, Procurex recently sued a Seattle-based firm called TrueData Technologies—founded by, fanfare please, none other than Marty McCall. The other roommate. The suit claims that a lot of the code being used by TrueData, along with part of the system’s design, was stolen by McCall from Stern and Procurex. The suit is pending in federal court in Austin.

  “Harlan works for Procurex as a government contracts manager. So, he’s not C-Level, but that may be due to optics issues—the kid’s had a shitload of press coverage. I wouldn’t want him meeting with clients either. I couldn’t find anything on whether or not he owns any part of the company. But, with a daddy in the Senate, I’m guessing that Joe, Jr. can give, or claims he can give, Procurex a leg-up in getting contracts with different governmental entities.

  “Oh, and that’s not all. I also managed to dig up some info on the Whole Foods incident. The basics are that Harlan was shopping at Whole Foods when he was confronted by Tom Wise in the parking lot. They argued. A fight started. Joe went down and security guards had to pull Tom off him.

  “Harlan pressed charges. The thing actually went to trial. Pretty quickly, too—there wasn’t much to it. The DA went for aggravated assault, but the jury found Tom guilty of plain old assault—which I believe is a class A misdemeanor—and he was fined a thousand dollars.

  “And, get this. The Austin Herald interviewed some of the jurors after the trial, and quote, ‘When asked if they felt justice was done, juror Mildred Crane responded, Not really, he should have hit the little bastard harder!”

  Roy laughed. “Go, Mildred.”

  “Of course, there was also a civil lawsuit for damages. It was dismissed right after the criminal case was resolved. It settled. But, there are no details—undisclosed terms, blah, blah, blah.

  “Something else I also found that I think is interesting,” Susie added, typing on her keyboard and turning it slightly so they could both see the screen. “Check this out.”

  She tapped the touchpad and a video started playing, full-screen, on YouTube. Using her finger, she scrubbed to minute 2:32, then released. After a moment of wheelspinning, the video jumped forward and started.

  Joe Harlan Jr. was standing on a stage. He was wearing blue jeans, sneakers, a t-shirt, and a wireless mic. A banner up behind him read “Longhorn Startup.” Then, he started speaking.

  “For each of the last six years, the Government Accountability Office reports that the Pentagon has overspent its budget. This last year, the amount of overspending was $295 billion. Yes, that’s billion with a ‘B.’

  “Most of you have probably heard stories about $600 toilet seats and $7,000 coffeemakers. But these are anecdotes. Symptoms.

  A recent spot audit of the Army found that, of twenty-eight procurement contracts reviewed, eleven of the files contained no information detailing the basis for procurement decisions. The process is broken. And it is costing all of us hard-working taxpayers money.

  “My name is Joe Harlan Jr. My team—Marty McCall, Frank Stern, and I—have a solution to that problem. Our solution is Procurex.”

  The video continued for another two minutes, pitching Procurex and explaining how their online platform created a process for procurement decisions that could be handled, tracked, and stored online. After Joe finished speaking, the three founders answered questions moderated by Dr. Bob Metcalfe—co-inventor of Ethernet, a UT Professor of Innovation, and the moderator of the event.

  Harlan was poised. Eloquent. He was funny, likeable, and he and his two partners seemed to have a good rapport. The video was a little window into their world before the rape allegation and subsequent lawsuit had set it on fire.

  “Okay. So, I’ve seen a lot of pitches. That was a solid nine out of ten,” Roy said, pointing at her screen.

  “He presents v
ery well, doesn’t he? Seems like such a waste—everything that’s happened,” Susie said thoughtfully, and then added, snapping out of it, “Anyway, that’s all I have on Harlan. But,” she added, teasingly, “the investigative reporter in me did a bit more.”

  Roy raised an eyebrow.

  “Well, I got to thinking that the issue here is around whether he raped her. Ultimately, it comes down to a credibility thing. So, I did a little research on Kristy Wise, as well. You know, just to see what’s out there. And, there isn’t much, although every little bit—”

  “Seems appropriate,” Roy finished for her.

  “That’s right,” she agreed with a smile.

  Despite the fact that their research was ultimately leading to attempting murder, Roy would have put money on the fact that his wife was enjoying herself in a way he hadn’t seen in a long time.

  “So, she is not a public figure in any way, shape, or form either. A lot of what I found on her also stemmed from stories about the rape case. Dad is in real estate investment. Mom stays at home. Kristy’s an only child. Honors student at St. Stephen’s. Freshman at UT when all this went down. Here’s a photo.” She tapped her mousepad.

  “Cute girl,” Roy said, looking at the photo. He saw the same ice blue eyes as the mother, sandy blonde hair. High cheekbones. Attractive. “Favors her mother.”

  “No boyfriend at the time. Was studying biology, pre-med. She was on the lacrosse team. Also something about the Model UN. No arrest record. No claims or mentions of drug issues, or alcohol, or any kind of prior claims of harassment or date rape or anything along those lines.”

  Susie shook her head. “In summary, just a nice, bright girl starting her college career at UT. Nothing to indicate otherwise,” she concluded with a shrug.

  “Okay,” Roy said. “Good idea to do some checking on her. This is great stuff,” he added enthusiastically, “but then, I didn’t expect anything less.” He chased the words with an admiring smile and then sat up in his seat. “So, the rape…

  “From a factual perspective, it’s pretty straightforward. I have some of the same stuff. Kristy was a freshman at UT. Good student, not amazing, but top ten percent at her high school, which was good enough to get her into UT.

  “There was a lot of media coverage of the case, so there’s a decent amount of detail there.

  “Harlan and Kristy met during the first week of classes. They hung out with a lot of the same people. One of her close friend’s family was friends with Harlan’s. That seems to be the initial connection. Harlan Jr. was a junior at the time, as you said.

  “They saw each other periodically. Never dated, but went out together as part of the same group.

  “So, it’s Halloween 2015. They’re all out partying. Kristy calls it an early night. She says she’s not feeling well. Harlan offers to walk her back to her apartment. He does.

  “Security footage shows them both entering the apartment building at around 10:15 p.m. From the body language, their proximity to each other, the gait of their walk, everything still looks fine between them. But, unbeknownst to both, Kristy’s roommate—a girl named Bethany Rosen—decides to call it an early night, too. Security footage shows her entering the building roughly forty-five minutes later, at 10:56 p.m.

  “She states that when she entered the room, she saw Harlan and Kristy on the living room floor. Kristy’s naked from the waist down. Harlan is just rolling off her. He’s still wearing a condom. Then, in a stream of apologies about overstaying, he can’t get dressed fast enough.

  “Now, according to Rosen, Kristy is out cold. Unconscious. Not moving. Her testimony states that, at first, she ‘thought she was dead.’ So, she loses it. Pulls out a can of mace, starts yelling at Harlan. Calling him a rapist, murderer, and so on, and pretty much chases the guy out.

  “Then, Rosen tries waking Kristy, but can’t. Starts to ‘freak out’—her words—and calls 911. Medics arrive. Take Kristy in. Apparently, she’d ingested roofies, but they’re able to detox and stabilize her.

  “Of course, she remembers nothing. The rape kit comes up with no semen although they do find some of Harlan’s pubic hair on her—but that’s consistent with what Rosen saw, so no surprise there.

  “Given the hospital report, the girl’s memory loss, and Rosen’s statement, the police get involved. Harlan is arrested and charged with sexual assault.

  “At trial, his lawyers try to prove consent by offering evidence of these three tweets posted by Kristy on the night of the incident.

  10:22 p.m.Feeling better. Love Halloween. Be safe everyone!

  10:24 p.m.Found someone special. Chivalry is not dead! Gonna get funky tonight!

  10:31 p.m.Reward your prince charming. Life is short.

  “Harlan claims at trial that, when they started having sex, Kristy was conscious and consenting. He claims she was fine until they finished. And that they both fell asleep on the floor until just when Rosen came in.

  “Which meant that the trial became a simple case of credibility. Did she or didn’t she consent on the one hand, and did he or didn’t he know that she was unconscious or unable to resist on the other?

  “The jury went with him. And here’s a quote from the jury foreperson that kind of sums it up. It was very close. Very. Maybe he posted those messages; maybe she did. We don’t know. But, in the end, we weren’t convinced that he knew she was unconscious. Or when. How can you prove what’s inside someone’s head? I don’t know. They just didn’t prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.”

  Susie allowed her mouth to fall open and pulled a face. “Shit! What about the fucking hospital report? The roofies?”

  “I know,” Roy agreed with a hopeless shake of the head. “It’s nuts. But you know as well as I do, the system isn’t perfect.”

  “No wonder the Wises were so pissed off.”

  There was a long pause as they both processed what they had just shared with each other. Then, Roy looked up, serious. “Do you feel like we’ve got enough, Suze? It’s a classic ‘he said, she said’—and a jury heard it and then found for ‘him.’”

  “Fuck,” Susie whispered. She was frustrated. “Where the hell are we going to get better information than what we’ve got?”

  “Well,” he said. “I have an idea.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  People can be divided into two categories. Some just stumble aimlessly through life, careening from event to event. They don’t plan, and have no specific direction or goals. You could call them free spirits, or bohemian. I prefer “stumblers.”

  There’s nothing wrong with being a stumbler, per se. In fact, because they don’t think ahead, stumblers lead relatively carefree lives. They don’t worry about or sweat the small stuff. They are free from thinking about the consequences of their actions. Of course, as a result, they often tend to ignore the impact that their actions might have on others. They are quick to forget those who have trespassed against them, but equally quick at forgetting their own trespasses.

  Being a stumbler does have its consequences, however. For a stumbler to be successful—for life to yield a satisfactory bounty—they must have strong improvisational skills. Be able to think on their feet.

  The other category of people is made up of “planners.” Planners set goals, work toward objectives. They keep lists and diligently maintain them so that they can serve as a roadmap for life. Some of their goals are ambitious, others less so. And thus planners must also become “prioritizers”—something stumblers never have to attempt because, well, they don’t plan.

  Planners are at their happiest when they have a list of things to do, and they take great pleasure in systematically completing tasks on their list, be they big or small. (As a planner, I actually keep a second list of ‘completed items’ just to track what I’ve accomplished.)

  It’s very easy to get wrapped up in your objectives and ticking items of
f your list. And, it’s hard work prioritizing and making sure you are focused on long-term goals.

  This may seem somewhat simplistic, but it’s a perspective as old as time.

  Over 2,500 years ago, a Greek named Aesop wrote about planners and stumblers, only he used a metaphor.

  In Aesop’s fable, the grasshopper is a stumbler: enjoying life, carefree, not thinking ahead. The ant is a planner: hard-working, diligent, saving up for winter.

  And so, it comes to pass that when winter arrives, the grasshopper is unprepared and has no choice but to beg the ant for food, but he is turned away and dies.

  Aesop was definitely pro-ant. Pro-planner.

  Ultimately, stumblers and planners all end up in the same place. The graveyards are full of indispensable ants and mindless grasshoppers. Winter comes for us all. (Fucking Arya Stark...)

  Perhaps.

  But, it takes a planner to get away with murder, and Roy and Susie are planners.

  They made a plan, put together their lists, and each began working toward completing tasks on those lists. To be fair, Susie’s list was far simpler than her husband’s, and therefore her day was shaping up to be much easier than Roy’s.

  They rose early because he needed to get to the airport. They shared coffee and talked about their plans for the day, oblivious to the morning talk show yammering in the background.

  After yoga, Susie went shopping—buying items, many for cash, from the list they had laid out together in advance. Some of the items were for keeps and could be bought using traceable means, i.e. a credit card. But others were strictly cash only.

  This is the list Susie shared with me (“C” stands for cash purchase):

  XXXL Duffle bag — C

  Weekend size duffle bag — C

  Quikcrete bags (4) — C

  1-gallon jugs of water (6)

  20 ft. of anchor chain — C

  Small padlocks (5) — C

  Handheld GPS

  Magnetic compass

  Wetsuit, men’s size M