Simon Says: Case of Duty, Honor and Death (standard:mystery, 4044 words)
Author: pjlawton	Added: Oct 03 2004	Views/Reads: 3161/2300	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Winston Simon is hired to investigate an appearant accidental death at an Army post. Sometimes things just aren't always what they seem.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

interrupt.  “Silvia, I'm sure he was a fine soldier but why do you 
think he was murdered?” 

Reaching into her purse she handed me a letter with several highlighted
lines. I read, “Mom I may be in a little trouble. I don't want you to 
worry but I overheard something the other day.  There's something fishy 
about a new guy in my unit and he may be up to a something illegal. I 
did some discreet snooping but he may have seen me. I will take my 
suspicions to my CO tomorrow and let him figure it out.” The rest of 
the letter was personal stuff so I gently handed it back to her. 

I noticed she had more tears in her eyes as she said, “That letter was
written and mailed the day he died. Now do you see why I am a little 
suspicious?” 

I had to admit it was some coincidence. And, as a rule I didn't believe
in coincidences. 

“Okay Silvia, what exactly do you want me to do?” 

“Mister Simon I would like you to go to Fort Sill and find out what
happened to my son. I won't be able to rest until I know.  I received 
his insurance yesterday so I have the money to pay you. I don't care 
how much it costs; I want my sons killers punished.” She handed me an 
envelope. “Here is five thousand dollars. Let me know when that runs 
out and I'll give you more. How soon can you leave?” 

I told her that I could leave the next day. She thanked me a quietly
slipped out the door. 

*** 

I flew into Oklahoma City, rented a car and drove to Fort Sill. I could
have flown into the local airport but I wasn't a big fan of flying and 
only small planes flew there. If I had to fly, the bigger the better 
was my motto. 

Fort Sill hadn't changed very much since I had been here mobilizing for
Desert Storm. I knew where the Military Police station and Provost 
Marshall's offices were located. A few minutes after three in the 
afternoon I went into the MP station and asked to see the Company 
Commander. I had to briefly outline my business before the desk 
Sergeant would let me in but after a few minutes I was shown into the 
Commander's office. The Company Commander was a young Asian Captain 
named Woo.  He asked me to sit down and before I had a chance to speak 
he started right in. 

“Mister Simon, what can I do for you? I should be referring you to the
Public Affairs Officer but out of respect for his family I will give 
you a few minutes.” 

I again briefly explained my reasons for wanting to see him. 

“Mister Simon, Sergeant Jones was a good soldier and one of my better
Squad Leaders. We are all deeply saddened by his loss. All training 
accidents are unfortunate but one such as this is really bad for 
morale. I have written a letter of condolences to his mother, but I 
would also ask that you also express them to her on your return.” 

“Captain Woo has the investigation turned up anything?” 

“No, I'm afraid not. It looks to have been a terrible horrible accident.
It has been thoroughly investigated and the matter has been closed.” 

“Was the shooter identified?” 

“No, unfortunately there was a lot of firing during the night fire
exercise. It could have been any of several soldiers on the firing 
line.  The soldier that fired the fatal shot probably doesn't ever 
realize he did it.” 

“I understand he was shot in the back.” 

“Yes, he was. The men weren't wearing any body armor and the round
entered directly between his shoulder blades severing his spinal 
column. He died instantly.” 

“Captain, we have reason to believe that the shooting may not have been
accidental.”  I could tell from his look that he didn't want to hear 
this. “We also understand that he was requesting an appointment with 
you the day of his death. He had found out something and wanted to turn 
everything he had over to you.” 

I could see from his body language and hear from his tone that this
interview was just about over. “I did not see SGT Jones the day he 
died, nor did he request an appointment with. Now, if you will excuse 
me I have a training schedule to review.” 

Rising to leave I stopped. “Just one last thing, I would like to see his
personal effects prior to them being shipped home. I would. . .” 

“I'm sorry Mister Simon; there was a fire in the dormitory the day after
the shooting. I afraid all SGT Jones' personal property was destroyed.” 


How convenient I thought. Another coincidence; I don't think so.  I
wasn't about to let him get away that easily. “You didn't think that 
anything seemed a little odd? A man is killed in a supposed accident 
one night and all his personal effects are destroyed the next day.” 

He was angry now. “What I did or didn't believe doesn't matter. MPI,
Military Police Investigations has finished the investigation. It has 
been ruled an accidental death. Now, if you have any other questions I 
suggest you see the PA folks over at Post Headquarters. Good day Mister 
Simon.” 

I knew that he was completely shut down so further talking would
accomplish nothing. I decided to go the PA office and get a copy of the 
official investigation report. At least I could have something to give 
to Silvia. 

I was about to enter my rental car when a young female Specialist walked
past me. Looking around she motioned for me to fallow her around the 
corner of the building out of view of the MP desk windows. 

“Sir, I understand that you are here investigating SGT Jones' death.” I
nodded and she continued. “SGT Jones and I were friends, actually more 
than friends. I don't believe that his death was an accident.” 

“Why do you say that?” 

“Something was going on, he would not tell me what, but something was
definitely bothering him.” 

“Is there anything you can tell me, anything at all?” 

“Well, the day of the accident I did see Roy and Staff Sergeant
Rios-Tavera the new squad leader arguing. Actually more of a shouting 
match. As I walked up to them they both stopped and SSG Rios-Tavera 
stormed away. I asked Roy about it but he just shrugged it off and said 
he would take care of it. That was the last time I talked with him.” I 
noticed that she now had tears in her eyes. I guess they had been more 
than friends. 

I read the nametape on her uniform. “Specialist Sears, thank you for
talking with me. I am sorry for your loss. Can you tell me where I 
might find Staff Sergeant Rios-Tavera?” 

“SSG Rios just got off shift. I believe he usually goes to the Fitness
Center after shift to work out. You will probably find him there.” 

I thanked her again, climbed into my rental and headed for the Fitness
Center. Maybe SSG Rios-Tavera could shed a little light on the 
situation. 

I found SSG Rios working at the center but our conversation wasn't very
productive. Yes, he and SGT Jones had been arguing, but it wasn't any 
big deal. It was simply about work.  That was about all I was able to 
get out of him. Turing to leave I noticed something. SSG Rios-Tavera's 
shoulder sported a rather garish tattoo. It was a little red devil. 
Below the devil was a large D with a 9 inside. I didn't mention it but 
I had seen that tattoo before. Things had just gotten a little more 
interesting. 

*** 

I waited outside the Fitness Center to see if I could shadow SSG Rios
when he left. While I waited I called TJ on my cell phone. TJ is Tommy 
James, a Detective Sergeant with the city Metro Police, my ex-partner 
and my best friend. 

“Hey TJ, what's happening my man?” 

“Hey Sherlock, where in the world are you. Tried to call to set up a
ballgame this weekend but you voice mail said you were out of town.” 

“Well, you'd never guess in a million years, I'm in Lawton, Oklahoma.” 

“What are you doing out in the boonies. Always thought you for a city
man, guess you're just a closet redneck huh? 

”Hardly, let me fill you in. You remember the 9th Avenue Diablos right?”


For the next half hour I told TJ about everything that had gone down. I
asked him to check out the gang that the tattoo I had seen on SSG Rios 
represented. He said it would take a few hours and he would call me 
back. 

Just as I finished my conversation with TJ, SSG Rios came out and got in
his car. I moved out to follow. He wasn't hard to shadow; his attention 
was apparently on something else. All down the road he constantly 
talked on his cell phone barely even paying attention to his driving. I 
followed him for about 20 minutes. He drove out west of Lawton almost 
to the little town of Cache, Oklahoma. He turned off on a hard surfaced 
road named Crater Creek Road. After about a mile he pulled into the 
yard of a beat up old farmhouse, got out and went inside.  I waited 
just down the road for almost two hours but it looked like he was in 
for the night. Giving up I drove back to my motel. 

I was just finishing Chinese Take-Out and a beer when TJ called back. 

“Well Sherlock, just like you thought.  The Diablos got busted up about
6 years ago. Some new Jamaican gang came in and took over their 
territory. There was a big running gun battle and afterward all the 
Diablos were either dead or in jail. That is, all except their main 
leader, Jesus Rios-Tavera. He dropped out of sight and hasn't been seen 
since. There are currently two felony arrest warrants for double 
homicide out on him. I would like to get my hands on him; during the 
shootout he shot and killed two innocent bystanders, a 28-year-old 
mother and her five-year-old daughter.  One of these days I'm gonna get 
his butt, you can bet on that.” 

“Here had a brother right? I may be able to help you out there, at least
a little. Took me a few minutes to put it together but I knew the name 
sounded familiar. I know where his baby brother Miguel is; he's a SSG 
in the U.S Army here at Fort Sill. I talked to him just a little more 
than two hours ago. I had heard Miguel was one of the good guys, 
college education and all that. I didn't know he was in the gang, but 
he had the Devil tattoo. I guess you never know.” 

Suddenly TJ got a little excited, not something that happened very
often.  “Sherlock, there's two things you should know.  First, Miguel 
Rios-Tavera was never a member of the Diablos or any other gang. And 
second, Miguel is 100 percent certifiably dead! He was killed the night 
of the big shootout. I guess the Jamaicans mistook him for Jesus, they 
looked enough alike to be twins.” 

We were both silent for a few moments. The implications of what TJ had
just told me were starting to sink in. If Miguel was dead, then SSG 
Rios had to be . . . 

We talked for a few more minutes about how we were going to handle the
situation.  TJ said he would get copies of the warrants and a mug shot 
of Jesus and FAX them to me. I could them go to the local police and 
get some help. I should have them by the next afternoon.  Hopefully we 
would have Mister Rios-Tavera sitting in a jail cell shortly after 
that. 

After we finished I happened to remember something. One of the guys I
was with in Desert Storm, Jason Hill, had been a Lawton Oklahoma Police 
Detective. I wondered if he still was. I put a call through to the 
department and was told that Captain Hill had retired and was currently 
working as Police Chief for the Cache Oklahoma Police Department. I 
hadn't known he had made Captain, I guess he had done okay for himself. 
 I decided to call him the next day since it looked like SSG Rios 
wasn't going anywhere for awhile. 

*** The next morning I just lounged around the motel pool while waiting
for TJ's FAX. I did call Jason and set up an appointment for later in 
the day. After the usual hi how you doing chitchat I quickly outlined 
my reason for being here. SSG Rios' house wasn't technically in his 
jurisdiction but I figured he could smooth the way with the Comanche 
County Sheriff Department for us to take him, with their help of 
course. He told me he would be happy to help. 

The FAX came in a little after lunch and I grabbed it and headed to see
Jason. Along with the warrants and mug shots was a note from TJ. He 
said that the word on the street was that the Diablos were reorganizing 
and that they had a new supply of high quality cocaine coming in. It 
was also mentioned that the big boss was coming back. 

During my morning call to Jason we had decided that it would be better
to take Rios-Tavera at home then try to arrest him on Fort Sill. We 
figured we might as well keep the Feds out of it as much as possible. 
Anyway, with him being a Military Policeman it may have been a problem 
for us so we decided to us the old KISS method, you know keep it 
simple, stupid! Jason, a couple of Sheriff Deputies and I should be 
able to handle it without much problem. Boy, were we ever in for a 
surprise. 

I met up with Jason and we drove out to Crater Creek Road. We figured to
stake out the house and take Rios-Tavera when he pulled up. As we 
neared our surveillance point Jason reached under the seat of his 
unmarked police car and handed me a paper bag. Inside was a weapon. We 
had discussed it earlier and I told him I had not brought any of my own 
personal weapons with me on this trip. He told me he had an extra I 
could borrow.  I was expecting an old service revolver or some other 
back up gun. Was I ever surprised when I opened the paper bag? Inside a 
belt holster was a SIG-Sauer P-226 semi-automatic pistol. This was no 
old back up gun. 

Basically, the SIG-Sauer P-226 was manufactured to accept a
double-column magazine holding 15 rounds of 9mm Parabellum ammunition. 
It's the most advanced pistol in the SIG-Sauer line, and unquestionably 
one of the world's premier combat autos. Jason had a .40 caliber Glock 
for his service weapon but this SIG was his personal handgun and his 
favorite. I was duly impressed and appreciative and told him so. 

Arriving at the stakeout point we saw that something was already going
down. Rios' car, a big expensive SUV was there and so was another car. 
It was a Cadillac Sedan de Ville with Texas plates. We could see that 
several bags were in the process of being moved from the large car 
trunk to the back of the SUV. 

You didn't have to hit me in the head with a stick for me to figure out
what was going on. It was plain that the Caddie had been loaded down 
with drugs and they were being transferred to the SUV.  Just then Rios 
came out with suitcases. It looked like he was getting ready to run. We 
figured it was getting a little hot for him here so he was headed back 
to the city and his old gang hangouts. We weren't about to let that 
happen. Jason made a quick call to the Sheriff's Office but the closest 
Deputy was about 20 minutes away. We hoped that they would stay put and 
we wouldn't have to do it ourselves. There was one little problem; we 
didn't know how many folks came with the Caddie. *** 

Our plan was to hold back and wait for the Deputy Sheriff boys to
arrive. Unfortunately that didn't happen.  Later, we figured they must 
have had a police scanner because no sooner than TJ called for backup 
than three men care tearing out of the house. It was Rios and two other 
Hispanic males.  In hindsight I guess we could have just gotten their 
license numbers for an APB and let them go. I suppose that's the beauty 
of hindsight.  What actually happened wasn't quite that simple. 

Seeing them run for the cars, Jason slammed his car in gear and pulled
up directly behind them effectively blocking both cars. In seconds we 
were out with guns drawn. The three stopped and raised their hands. 
Maybe it was going to be easy after all, not. What we didn't see was a 
third man coming around the house with a very deadly sawed off shotgun. 


I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. It saved my life. I dove
to the ground just as the shotgun blast splintered the air. It was 
buckshot and shattered the passenger side window of our car. I felt a 
burning on my leg but didn't have time to worry about it.  Rolling onto 
my side I fired three times. At least two hit the shooter, one in the 
sternum and the other through the throat. He was dead before he hit the 
ground. 

I could hear firing from the other side of the vehicle. The other three
bad guys had pulled weapons and were attempting to take out Jason.  I 
crawled to the front of the car and lined up my sights on the first 
person I saw. It was Rios firing what appeared to be a MAC-10 
automatic. I fired twice; both shots were true. Rios went down and 
didn't move.  Suddenly I didn't hear anymore shooting. I carefully 
looked over the hood of the car. Jason was standing up in a shooter 
stance with his weapon pointed toward one of the men. The man had 
dropped his weapon and raised his hands.  The other man was down; he 
wasn't moving either. 

We quickly went through the procedure of checking the downed men and
handcuffing the other. Just at that time two Sheriff Department cars 
arrived, lights and sirens and all. Sorry boys, I thought, too late.  
Only then did I realize that both Jason and I were bleeding. One 
buckshot pellet had nicked the back of my leg as I dove. It wasn't deep 
but was bleeding a lot and now hurt like crap. Jason had taken a bullet 
gouge high up on his shoulder just above the clavicle through the meaty 
part of the neck muscle. It wasn't particularly dangerous but I 
imagined it hurt like hell. 

The Para-medics arrived and fixed us up while the Sheriff Deputies
unloaded the drugs. Looked to be about 200 kilos. Quite a haul if I do 
say so myself. That was a lot of nasty stuff that wasn't going to hit 
city streets plus several bad guys were out of business.  All in all it 
was not a bad day. 

*** I had to hang around for a couple of days before the County Attorney
cleared me on the shooting charges. I used that time to finish up my 
case. 

I called TJ first and let him know the outcome. He was disappointed that
he wasn't in on the end but was very happy that he could close a long 
open homicide case.  I then called Silvia. 

I told her that she had every right to be proud of what her son had
done. In a sense not only had he been instrumental in clearing a 
six-year-old homicide but he had also kept a bad street gang from 
reforming and pushing a significant amount of drugs on the street. 

In a tired sad voice she asked me one question for which I really had no
definitive answer. Was it worth it?  My only answer was, if it would 
keep one more child from joining a street gang, if it would keep one 
more child from becoming an addict, if one less child died from drug 
violence then yes I guess it was worth it. In her head she believed it, 
in her heart I'm not so sure. 

End 


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