A Serious Man Pt. 02

I knew that there was no reason in the world for this crime to look like the personal horror that I had endured nearly twenty years ago. As I searched the remainder of the estate, I pushed that thought back into the corners of my mind. I could hear my team calling out search statuses. Again, the enhanced audio/video equipment paid off dividends. It took nearly forty minutes to complete a thorough check of the grounds. Other bodies were found scattered across the grounds and other secondary buildings. According to the mental count in my head, we had found seventeen bodies in all. Some were dispatched with arrows while others were taken out with headshots from up close. My guys were remarking that there wasn't any brass nearby. That indicated the killers were methodical and cleaned up after themselves. The scenes here would be talked about for years to come.

We had managed to develop this case without federal assistance, but I knew we would hear from the DEA, ATF & the FBI before the sun came up. It was just professional courtesy to include them in the investigation end now. I knew some people over there... so it wouldn't be too bad.

The estate itself held some interesting rooms, some to be expected in a criminal enterprise. You had the prerequisite pool room, with heavy wooden chairs spread around for spectators to watch a game or play cards. It looked like a businessman's library that was trying to be frat boy friendly. Lots of wood and thick carpet everywhere.

The garage was a car lover's dream. My guys reported at least six early model Cadillacs, three Porsches and a 1925 Mercedes. That was in addition to the huge barn-style garage on the south side of the 40 acre tract of land. That included a machine shop and two lifts.

The basement held a money room, holding fifty suitcases. The money counting machines (six of them) sat neatly on tables that sat in the middle of the room. A preliminary spot search of the first five cases showed they contained $ 2.5 million in shrinkwrapped bills. Each case. Which meant that we would be providing security for that room for quite some time.

Most surprising to me was the gun room. It was pretty large, with racks that held long rifles and automatic rifles. I knew the department's armorer would be salivating over the expected seizures from this room. From my brief visual observation, I saw at least $750K worth. With that level of firearms, no one should have been able to take out everyone. Even if they were remotely proficient, someone should have gotten off a round.

All of those thoughts tossed around in my head as I stepped out of the house through a side door and let the rest of my team move our assault vehicles out of the way. We didn't want to be blocked in by the other responding sections of the department. The narcotics guys were on scene, but we were holding off on allowing even them to start processing the scene. We had to get the forensic guys here, the homicide detectives, gang division and the Command Center RV. The callouts had gone out as soon as we cleared the last section of the estate. My first call was going to Lean-to. I needed him to alert the sheriff. This case was going to be a nutcracker. Seventeen bodies would stretch us, but not too much. But once word of this hit the public, he would get bombarded.

"Cale, whaddya got?" I heard his voice as I took my helmet off. I didn't expect him to be here already. Turns out Lean-to had beaten me to the punch. I walked over to the crime tape and asked him if he wanted to see the scene or watch the recording.

"Honestly? I'd rather chew glass based on what Lean-to told me.", replied the sheriff. "Let's walk over to my car and debrief there Cale."

We walked towards the sheriff's car and saw Lean-to coming down the tree-lined driveway. He wasn't coming slowly either. I told the sheriff that we might need to see what the rush was. His big Suburban slid to an angled stop, blocking access to the estate. We walked over to the driver's side and Lean-to told us that we were getting federal guests really quick.

"We expected that, given the amount of money, right Cale?" remarked the sheriff.

"But sheriff, we haven't made a request for aid, it's four thirty in the morning and we haven't even gotten all of OUR people notified yet." Cale blurted out. "So...sheriff, the question is how did they find out so quick?"

My head was beginning to hurt.