The End of Summer: Book One in The Detective Bill Ross Crime Series

by Irving Munro

  They reached the village of Volente on Lake Travis before ten after stopping off at the 7-Eleven on 620 to load up the cooler with ice, bottled water and beer. Marie and Shelly had brought sandwiches, chips and juice for Claire, so they were all set for the day. They got the Sea Ray launched, parked the truck and trailer and they were off.

  Once on the water, Shelly and Claire became fast friends. She let the four year old take the wheel of the boat as they sped across the lake. Claire was laughing and screaming at the top of her voice, “Look at me, Daddy!”

  Marie and Tommy sat back relaxing with a beer. “So, you grew up in Tyler. What was that like?” asked Tommy.

  Marie looked over the water, hesitated for a moment and then told Tommy about her early life in Tyler.

  “My dad was a cattleman. His parents owned a ranch that he inherited when they died. I have three brothers and I am the youngest. My earliest memories were of my dad teaching my brothers how to operate the ranch. They often involved frequent trips to the woodshed, as he would say, to teach them a lesson if they messed up, which in the eyes of my father, they did frequently.”

  “My father was a bully, a drunk and a gambler who lost the ranch in a poker game. When that happened, he went to work for another rancher who allowed my parents to rent a house on the property. Not soon after, my three brothers left and got jobs in manufacturing companies in and around Tyler.”

  “With my brothers gone, my dad took his anger out on Mom and me. Being ‘different’ from the other girls didn’t help. In the early days, he didn’t understand why I was different and then, when he eventually came to terms with the fact that I was gay, the beatings got worse. I knew that I needed to get out of there as soon as I was able,” said Marie as she grabbed another beer from the cooler.

  “I’m sorry, Marie, I didn’t mean to pry,” said Tommy, feeling a little uncomfortable.

  “I wanted to tell you. You weren’t prying. I needed to get it off my chest, I guess. As partners, we need to trust each other and I trust you, Tommy.”

  Tommy took a swig from his beer and asked, “Did you always want to be in law enforcement?”

  “No, just like you, I thought about the military. Not the Marine Corps, but the Navy. I almost signed up one day when the recruiters came to the high school. I chose the police instead and got a job with the Smith County Sheriff’s Office in Tyler.”

  Marie wasn’t done and as the beer flowed, she continued to tell Tommy about her life as a deputy in Tyler and the challenges of being a lesbian in a male-dominated profession.

  “In the beginning, I thought I had made a terrible mistake but as they say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. And I got stronger. When my father died in 2000, my mother and I rented an apartment in town. Soon after, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and I cared for her until she died a year or so later.”

  Tommy put his hand on Marie’s shoulder and said, “I’m sorry to hear that, Marie. That must have been tough for you. What brought you to Austin?”

  “Many people in Tyler talked about Austin. It’s the capital of the state but the talk was about what a great city it was and how it was possibly the most liberal city in Texas with a great music scene. I talked to my boss about my interest in moving to Austin and he reached out to the folks here in Travis County. A year later, I made the move and here I am,” concluded Marie.

  While Tommy and Marie were talking, Shelly and her first mate Claire found one of the many coves on Lake Travis and tied up along side other boats while they ate lunch. Music echoed around the cove from the many boats as everyone was hooping and hollering as they enjoyed the last days of summer. Claire was having great fun jumping off the deck at the back of the boat into the shallow water of the cove.

  “She’ll be tired tonight,” said Tommy as Claire yelled, “Watch me, Daddy!” for what seemed like the hundredth time as she cannon balled over Shelly who was trying to cool off with a quick dip behind the boat.

  While his daughter played, Tommy told Marie about his life in the Marine Corps. Not all of it, just the good parts about forming a trust in your brothers in arms and friendships that would last a lifetime. There was no way he was ever going to share some of the atrocities that he witnessed during his tours of duty in the Balkans. He still had nightmares about that. He remembered his father talking about the poetry of Robert Burns, the Scottish bard, and a line from one of his poems about man’s inhumanity to man. There was no more devastating example of inhumanity than the events of that war.

  As the day drew to a close and the sun began to sink toward the horizon, they headed to shore. They got the boat back on the trailer and drove back to town as Claire slept in her car seat in the back of the truck.

  Not much was said on the drive home, as nothing much needed to be said. It had been a great day and everyone was tired in a good way. Stories had been shared and in the sharing, a depth of friendship had been established.

  Yes, it had been a good day. When they got home, Tommy tucked Claire into bed, looked down at her rosy cheeks and kissed her on the forehead.

  “Sweat dreams, my love,” and with that, Tommy took himself off to bed, as tomorrow there would be more baddies to fight.

  Chapter 41 - We’re going on a trip

  2005 - The Killing

  Galina woke in the middle of the night. She felt sick and had terrible pain in her groin. Her eyes tried to focus and make some sense of what had happened and where she was. Before leaving the cabin, Luther had undone the shackles on her hands, so she was now just tethered by the single manacle on her right ankle. She rose from the bed, stumbled around and found a light switch. She went to the toilet and as she urinated, she felt a terrible pain. When she was done, she looked down and saw blood in the toilet bowl. The pain in her stomach was almost unbearable but she was starving and saw the fridge in the corner of the room.

  Galina ran to the fridge, opened it up and saw stacks of full salad containers. She grabbed one of the containers, tore off the lid and stuffed the salad into her mouth with her fingers. A nearby bottle of water followed to wash it down, which made the pain in her gut even more intense. Her eyes scanned the room.

  “Where am I? What is this place! Who is this sick motherfucker?"

  Galina tried to hold the tears back as she thought of her family. She was terrified and began to shake and convulse uncontrollably.

  ~

  Luther returned to the cabin midmorning. When he entered the Summer bedroom and switched on the light, he saw the bed empty, the fridge open and half eaten salad strewn on the floor.

  As he entered the room and closed the door behind him, she attacked. Galina had been hiding behind the door and she jumped on causing him to lose is balance and fall forward on to the floor. Using the power cord that she had managed to rip from the refrigerator, she wound it around his neck. As Luther gagged, Galina pulled on the cord with every sinew in her body straining with the effort. After a few seconds, the pain in her abdomen was too much for her to bear and she lost the power in her arms. Luther swiveled around and threw her to the floor. She tried to struggle to her feet but Luther slapped her with the back of his hand and she lay at his feet sobbing. He lifted her up back on to the bed.

  Galina had no energy left to resist. Panting, Luther reattached the wrist restraints and injected her with another cocktail of drugs.

  “Now you feel better, Summer. You’ve had a good night’s sleep and now we can plan the day,” whispered Luther as he caressed her, smoothed her hair and put her back on the bed.

  He lay down beside her and told her what he had planned.

  “When I saw you, I was so excited that you had once more returned to me, my love. But you were with Jim McCord again and you know that I must be the first to enjoy our games. Once we’re done, Jim can have his turn.”

  ~

  Luther met Summer when he attended Vanderbilt. He had never met anyone like her. As the relationship developed, Luther found, for the first time in his life, someon
e who truly loved him. It took time but he finally fell in love with her. He had never experienced love before. He loved Summer with every fiber of his being.

  After graduating, they wed and it was after their marriage that Luther’s base sexual needs began to seep into their lovemaking. In the beginning, he asked her to role-play the bondage, like a playful game. Over time, the games became more intense.

  As he became more sexually demanding, Summer reached out to Jim and Mary McCord and confided in them. Jim saw this as an opportunity to feed his sexual appetite and an affair with Summer developed. Thanks to his parent’s open relationship, Luther didn’t care about Jim and Summer’s affair, provided that he got what he needed first.

  When Summer drowned in the lake, Luther was devastated. He had lost the only woman who had ever loved him. For months after her death, Luther was a lost soul until he saw “her” walking around Pagosa Springs. In his mind, the young girl with the long blond hair was Summer. She had returned and was searching for him. He abducted her, drugged her, abused her, killed her and then “returned her to the lake” so that she might come to him again.

  To him, Galina was the return of Summer. Problem was, when she went with Jim McCord first, she broke the rules. Luther had watched her make love to Jim in the Airstream trailer. To Luther, this was not the way the game was played. He had to be first. He constructed a plan.

  “For the rest of the day, we will have our fun and then tonight, we will go on a trip. Jim McCord can have you this time but this will be the last. When you return to me again, there will be no more Jim. Just you and me my love. Just you and me.”

  He played with her for the rest of the day, his sick mind imagining that she was enjoying every moment.

  As Galina slept, Luther thought back to Jim McCord. He realized Galina wanted McCord more than him. Luther’s solution was simple: McCord could have her after he was done and then McCord would have to return her to the water. He knew that the McCord’s would be at their home in Austin after Labor Day and that the house bordered Lake Austin.

  The plan became very clear: after he was done with his enjoyment in the cabin, he would take Summer to Austin and leave her for McCord to enjoy. McCord would then know to return Summer to the water in the lake at the rear of his home. Somehow, in his demented mind, this all made perfect sense to Luther Fisher.

  When it got dark, he transferred Galina to the RV and secured her by shackles he had fitted in the vehicle. He took with him a couple of dresses, in case one got soiled, a hat, sunglasses and make up. He also had a gallon container of bleach solution, as he didn’t want to leave any traces of him being with her, given that he was leaving her for McCord.

  As he was making his preparations for the journey, Luther mumbled to himself. “If you hadn’t wanted to be with McCord, I would have returned you straight to the lake at Navajo State Park. All of this extra work was for you. You chose to be with McCord. It’s your fault. You changed the rules of the game. I will give you what you want this time, but never again. This will be the last time you will be with Jim McCord.”

  That night, the RV hauling the boat set out on the journey to Austin. It would take two full days, so all being well; he planned to arrive late afternoon on Tuesday, September 13.

  ~

  Everything did go according to plan and the RV entered the outskirts of Austin just after noon on the 13th. He was on the 183 entering Austin from the northwest. He then took the 620 toward Lake Travis and then left on 2222 before turning on City Park Road to his final destination, the Emma Long Metropolitan Park that sat on the shores of Lake Austin, downstream from the McCord home.

  Lake Austin was formed by the run off from Lake Travis via the Mansfield Dam. The dam was built across the Colorado River to store the water that fed Austin. Lake Austin was actually the Colorado River but the locals called it a lake. Many expensive homes had lakefront property and boat docks. One of these homes was part of the Riverside neighborhood and belonged to Jim McCord. Luther planned to stay two nights at the park. The second night, September 14th, he would leave Summer in Jim McCord’s yard for his enjoyment.

  Luther got to the park in the late afternoon, paid his fee for two nights and found a convenient place to set up. The park was deserted. One week earlier, it had been overflowing with campers and RVs enjoying Labor Day weekend. Now it was like a ghost town. It was perfect. No nosy neighbors to interfere with his plan.

  Luther spent the following day continuing to satisfy his sexual perversions with Galina. Later in the day, with Galina completely sedated, he began the process of washing her down. He shampooed her hair and gave her fingernails and toenails a manicure. The final facial makeup could wait until she was relaxing beside the pool. He also had the bottle of wine and the wine glass chilling in the RV refrigerator.

  Later in the day, as the sun began to sink toward the horizon, Luther launched the boat. Galina was still sedated but not to such an extent that she couldn’t stagger along with Luther supporting her as she went. She was dressed in the white cotton dress and Luther had the sun hat, sunglasses, and the wine and wine glass already in the boat. As the sun went down, the boat cast off and headed for McCord’s dock.

  A few minutes into their trip across the lake, Luther saw and heard a boat coming towards him as he headed north. His heart started to race and his mouth suddenly went dry.

  “Everything OK there?” said the officer on the police launch.

  “Yes, officer. It’s a beautiful night and my wife and I thought we might enjoy it on the lake,” replied Luther as both boats slowly passed each other.

  “Make sure those running lights don’t get obstructed and you folks enjoy your evening,” said the river patrol cop as he continued down river.

  “That was a close call, wasn’t it, Summer!”

  Twenty minutes later, they slowly drifted up to the McCord boat dock. Luther secured the boat on the opposite side of the dock from a suspended Malibu Wakesetter. Checking around to make sure that the coast was clear; he jumped up on the dock. With Galina still sedated in the boat, Luther went around the side of McCord’s house and located the TV cable box. McCord had boasted to him about the integrated security system he had installed in both of his homes and how the security system was part of the cable TV service. Luther located the exterior control box and cut the wires.

  Luther returned to the boat and lifted Galina on to the deck. He supported her as she staggered up the steps from the dock and up to the pool in the backyard. Once by the pool, he laid her down on one of the recliners and gave her one final injection of the drug cocktail.

  “Good bye, my love and enjoy your time with Jim. I will be waiting anxiously for your return.”

  He kissed her passionately and then placed a plastic bag over her head. He held it there and watched as she convulsed and died. He leant down and whispered, “I will see you again soon my love. I will be awaiting your return as my life is never complete unless you are by my side."

  Luther then returned to the boat for the makeup, sun hat, sunglasses, wine, and wine glass.

  With the aid of his flashlight, he combed her hair and tucked it up under the sun hat. He did her facial makeup, applied the bright red lipstick that been Summer’s favorite and made sure that her white cotton dress was perfect. He then uncorked the bottle of wine, pressed the glass to her lips to make a mouth mark and returned the glass to the table beside her. After half filling the glass with wine, he placed her right arm over the side of the recliner, just touching the top of the wine glass.

  Luther Fisher stood back to admire his work. It was perfect.

  “Good-bye, my darling,” he whispered in her ear. “We will be united again soon.”

  Luther Fisher then turned and walked back to the boat with the aid of his flashlight.

  In the distance, a man’s voice said, “I’m telling you, Ethel, there is someone in Jim’s backyard!”

  Chapter 42 - G Men

  2014 - The Cold Case Investigation

&nbs
p; The weather was beginning to turn in Austin. There were dark skies and heavy rain and the Monday morning commute was a nightmare. Bill Ross headed to the conference room with nervous anticipation. He expected the green light from Archuleta County DA for a search warrant of the Luther Fisher place in Pagosa Springs. When he walked into the conference room and saw Jack Johnson’s face, he knew that it was not going to be a good start to the week.

  “Bad news, team. We were turned down for the search warrant. The DA doesn’t think that there is enough evidence connecting Fisher to Galina and he doesn’t want us to go on a fishing expedition to try to get that evidence,” announced Jack. “We need to connect Fisher to Galina or we’re dead in the water.”

  The mood was somber as they all stared at one another, searching for a flash of inspiration. It came from Tommy Ross.

  “I suggest we look at this in a different way,” began Tommy, looking up from his laptop.

  “I am online right now looking at the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network (RAIN) and according to them, the Vanderbilt rape falls under Tennessee code 39-13-502 which is aggravated rape. Also, there was more than one perpetrator, the female student was injured and it’s likely that the sodomy was committed using some sort of foreign object, i.e., a weapon. According to Tennessee Code 39-13-502, that’s a Class A felony. We can get the FBI involved!”

  Bill Ross looked across the room at Tommy. He had a huge smile on his face and the brief nod of his head and wink conveyed it all. “Well done son,” he whispered to himself. “Diligent research and attention to detail will always be the corner stone of good police work!”

  “We can turn Jim McCord over to the Feds. We can tell them that he confessed to us about seeing Luther Fisher commit the rape. Whether he actively participated or just watched, he was involved and is therefore guilty!” added Bill.