Roger Stelljes - The St. Paul Conspiracy

Viper took a long shower, letting the hot water loosen up his muscles. He slowly massaged the Head and Shoulders through his short hair. He wondered if the police, in particular McRyan, would connect the dots. McRyan, or possibly that fat fuck Lich, could put it together, tying Jones to Daniels.

A full breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and juice as well as a chance to read the paper, gave him a feeling of normalcy. But he couldn’t get McRyan, Knapp, Jones, Daniels, and Cross out of his mind. He took a look at his watch, 9:45 a.m. He was to meet with the boss at 11:00. But first, some important business, in case the dots started getting connected.

He went to his office and placed a call to a contact in Switzerland. His encrypted phone system prevented tracing. Moving a little over $100,000, he would have that much more money if he had to run. This was in addition to the five million he had in other accounts. This would be a necessary task for the next few days. If he had to run, he wouldn’t be able to take much with. His wallet and the account numbers would mean he wouldn’t want for much once he was in hiding.

He looked at his watch again. Time to go. On the short drive into the office, McRyan, Knapp, Jones, Daniels, and Cross ran around in his head. Dumb luck all of this had happened really. Cross had been perfect. They pulled the plug on it in time. They made a ton of money on it. In a few years, they would all be retired, living the good life. Then Jones had to go and somehow find out about Cross, and it all started.

Viper parked in the basement and took the elevator up to the top. He waved to the boss’s receptionist and walked on in. He declined coffee and sat down in front of the desk.

“So we’re in at McRyan’s and Kennedy’s place?” the boss asked.

“Yes.” Viper replied.

“What about following them?”

“We’re doing that as well.”

“Let me know what comes of that.”

“Always.”

Mind mapping was something Mac had learned from his dad, who used it when a case got too complicated and he needed to see all the parts laid out to see how they might fit together. The elder McRyan would sit at the kitchen table or at his old roll-top desk with nothing but a pen and notepad. He would put whatever was perplexing him down in the middle of the page and jot all his pieces of information down around this question. More often then not, it worked- one of those little things that made Simon McRyan who he was.

Mac figured if it was good enough for the old man, why not him. He picked the technique up and used it. It had been great for him in school, especially on essay exams. He would lay the issue out in the middle of a piece of paper and jot down, around the page, the points he wanted to make in answering the question. He’d quickly get it all on the paper, number the points in the order he wanted to make them, and then write. Given his grades, it was more than effective as a tool. He hadn’t used it much since school, but if ever there was a time, it was now.

So, in the middle of his lined notepad, he wrote, “If not Knapp, who and why?” He wrote Daniels down to the left of the question. He wrote Jones on top and Mason Johnson to the right. He spent the afternoon working it, jotting down notes around each one of the names.

Next to Daniels’s name he jotted down everything he could recall about her that seemed relevant. Grew up with Jones in Bristol Ohio. Had recent contact with her. Investigative reporter.

Next to Jones’s name he wrote CFO at PTA. Grew up with Daniels in Bristol. Recent contact with Daniels. Didn’t fit profile of other victims.

Under Senator Mason Johnson, he wrote: How’d he fit in? Did he kill Daniels? If not, who did? Did he commit suicide?

Down in the lower right-hand corner, he wrote in quotes, “If someone had the resources to kill Daniels and Jones, in the same night no less, did they have the juice to kill the senator?” He made a note to call the Wright County Sheriff.

What about Knapp? Was his assassination part of this?

Mac got up and paced the homicide division, looking down at the notepad. Occasionally he would stop and jot down little notes as he took his tour. Stopping at the vending machines, he bought a Diet Coke and some Doritos, and walked back to his desk and plopped himself down in his chair. The Doritos were quickly devoured. He slapped his hands together, cleaning them off and took another look at the Jones file. Became CFO at a young age. What did Patrick say happened? The old CFO had died? What was his name, Stephens or something?

Mac pulled his chair up to his computer and did an Internet search of the Pioneer Press archives. It took a few minutes, but he found it.

JAMES STEPHENS, PROMINENT CFO, DIES IN SHEPARD ROAD ACCIDENT

James Stephens, 54, died last night in a one-car accident along St. Paul’s Shepard Road. Mr. Stephens was returning home from Peterson Technical Applications, where he was the CFO for the past ten years. The accident appeared to be caused by the slick roads resulting from yesterday’s snowstorm. St. Paul Patrol Officer Fred Barrett stated that the car apparently hit a patch of ice while traveling west on Shepard, just prior to the stop sign at the end of Shepard and the beginning of Mississippi Boulevard. His vehicle, unable to stop, went through the stoplight, over the embankment, rolling over and coming to a rest upside down thirty-feet below on the west bound lane of West 7th Street. Mr. Stephens was rushed to United Hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival. Stephens is survived by his second wife, Yolanda, and two sons, James, Jr., of Washington, D.C., and Jeff of Seattle, Washington.

Mac tracked down Barrett. “I tell you, Mac, it was pretty horrific. He went over that embankment, rolled a few times. The car was crushed. He didn’t have a chance, even with the airbag deploying and his seatbelt.”

“Anything unusual about the accident?”

“Not that I recall. Roads were icy as hell that night, and you know how Shepard gets. He got going too fast in the snow, hit that patch of ice, and that was all she wrote.”

It was a dead end. Shepard Road could get nasty, and Mac remembered at least a couple of times when he almost lost it driving along there. He wrote Stephens’ name down on the bottom of the page anyway. CFO for ten years at PTA. Jones took over for him. That’s how someone so young got the gig.

He kept going around the page, jotting down little notes and theories. Daniels, dating the senator. Maybe he said something to Daniels? But why kill Jones then? Maybe Daniels mentioned something the senator said to Jones. Jones told somebody who didn’t like it? Mac shook his head. They’d never get to it if it followed that path.

He looked around the notepad, twirling his pen like it was a baton. How about reversing it? Something Jones said or knew? What would she know? Why would she tell Daniels? Mac stared at the ceiling, running things through his head. Daniels, Jones, the senator. What’s the connection? To kill them, you wouldn’t do it on a whim, by the seat of your pants. No, it would take planning. To kill all of them you had to have resources, money, people, and intelligence.

He took another look at his page, going around the question clockwise. Daniels, Jones, Johnson, Stephens… Mac drew a dotted line from the bottom of the page from Stephens to Jones. They worked together at PTA. Daniels was a reporter, specializing in politics and business. Mac thought about the DVDs of her work, white-collar crime and political news. Resources means money and people. Who has resources? Who has money? Who… has… people…? “Shit.” Mac said under his breath as it crystallized before his eyes.

He pushed himself out of his chair and walked over to a window that looked a few blocks south to the center of downtown St. Paul. Mac stared at the tall building for five minutes. He admired the combination of glass and stone. He looked at the letters on top of the building, illuminated in the late afternoon dim. It was impressive, holding a prominent position in St. Paul’s skyline. He went back to his desk and wrote the letters down in the upper right hand corner of the notepad, between Daniels and Jones.