18. The Net Closes

Sheriff Ericsson comes into the office almost on time whistling happily on Friday morning. He says, “Good morning, Sue, beautiful day. It’s cooled off a bit. Fall will be here soon.”

Sue replies, “Good morning, Sir. Yes, I think it might be a little cooler this morning. The coffee’s ready, I’ll bring you a cup. You’ll be happy to learn Judge Laura Mae Hopper gave us the search warrant for Ralph Hess’s handgun. I had to tell the judge you have evidence Ralph Hess is embezzling city money. She gave you the search warrant and will keep quiet until you have Hess in custody. Shall I give the warrant to Wilson and tell him your plan for getting Hess’s gun without tipping him off. Hess won’t suspect you’re going to check it to see if it’s the gun used to kill Glen Lund?”

“Tell Wilson to come to see me. I’ll tell him about my plan.”

“Yes, Sir. Wilson’s the right deputy for this delicate task. He’ll chat Hess up and Hess will give up his gun to get rid of Wilson. He won’t suspect what you have planned.”

When Wilson comes to see the sheriff Sue hears the sheriff giving Wilson instructions. She has faith the sheriff is telling Wilson what she suggested.

Ten minutes after leaving the sheriff’s office Wilson goes into Ralph Hess’s office and says, “Good morning, Ralph. I hate to interrupt your work but I have a story you aren’t going to believe. Before that, did you watch the Tiger game last night? I can’t believe how they managed to blow a four-run lead in the last two innings. Do you think the manager should be fired?”

Hess replies with a puzzled look on his face, “Yes, I watched the game. I couldn’t believe how they fell apart in the last two innings either. Maybe the manager should be fired if he can’t stop a collapse like they had last night. Now what is the story you have I’m not going to believe?”

Wilson says, “Oh, yes. I almost forgot why I came to see you. You aren’t going to believe what the State Police have us doing. There was a murder in Saginaw over a year ago. The local police there haven’t been able to solve the case so they turned it over to the State Police. The State Police are now on a wild goose chase looking for the gun used in the murder. And, would you believe some nutty judge gave them a warrant to check all the 9 mm Glock handguns in half the state. Do they have any idea how dumb that is? I’ll bet there are 50 or more in our county alone. It’s going to take me weeks to run all these down and collect a slug to be sent to the State Crime Lab. We don’t even have the special equipment to collect a slug without damaging it so it can’t be matched to any other slug. What a waste of our time. Most likely the gun used in the murder belonged to some drug dealer in Saginaw or Flint, not one of our citizens.”

“Why are you telling me all this, Wilson?”

“Right, well, when I printed out the list of all our county residents who have 9 mm Glocks registered with the State you are on the list. Since your office is so close I decided to start with you. I know this is stupid and a waste of your time and my time, but I have to ask you for your gun so it can be ruled out for the murder in Saginaw. Do you happen to have it with you or do I have to go to your home with you to get it? We are required to stay with the gun owner after we ask for the gun until we get it. If you have it with you I can have it back to you by lunchtime.”

Hess stares at Wilson and after a few moments hesitation says, “I have it here. Let me give it to you.” 

Wilson watches Hess closely as Hess opens a desk drawer, takes out his gun, and hands it to Wilson saying, “There’s ammo in the clip but not in the chamber. Be careful anyway.”

Wilson says, “Thanks, Ralph, I’m sorry to have to bother you with this silliness, but I have to follow the judge’s warrant. I’ll get this back to you as soon as I can.”

On his way back to the sheriff’s offices Wilson calls Deputy Towner and asks Towner to get a pail of sand and meet him in the basement. Wilson gets two pair of ear protectors and goes to the basement. When Towner arrives with the pail of sand they put on the ear protectors and fire two bullets into the sand. They dump the sand on the floor and sort through it until they retrieve the two slugs. Wilson says, “We may not have all the fancy stuff the State Crime Lab uses but we can do the job anyway. Let’s put these into an evidence bag, label it and go see if you can match these to the slug killing Glen Lund.”

An hour later Wilson goes to Sheriff Ericsson’s office. Sue shows him in immediately when she sees he has a big smile on his face.

Wilson walks in and says excitedly, “I got Hess’s gun and we checked a slug from it against the slug we found in Lund’s car. Do you want to hear how I got Hess to give up his gun without hesitating? It’s a good story.”

“No, Wilson, I want to know if the slugs match. Is Hess’s gun the murder weapon or not?”

“Okay, Towner checked the slugs and he says they match. Of course we’ll have to send them to the State Crime Lab for confirmation that’ll stand up in court, but Towner’s convinced they match.”

“That’s good news, Wilson. How did you and Towner check the slugs so quickly? We don’t have a lab for that sort of thing.”

“We don’t need a fancy lab, Sir. We fired two slugs into a pail of sand in case one got damaged too badly to compare. Both were fine when we took them out of the sand. Towner has experience comparing slugs. He knows what to look for even if he only has a magnifying glass. He’s like Sherlock Holmes.”

“Alright, I don’t need to know all the details. I’ll take your word Hess’s gun is the murder weapon. Now we have him for both embezzling and murder. Let’s go arrest him. Prosecutor Alan Quick issued a warrant for his arrest. I’ll do the arresting. You back me up in case he tries anything funny,” says the sheriff.

An hour later the Sheriff and Wilson are back in the sheriff’s office. The sheriff says to Sue, “We did it. Hess is behind bars. And I did it without any help from Pam Lafave. Before you ask, I did read him his rights, Wilson reminded me and he heard me.”

“Yes I did, and I can testify to that in court,” says Wilson excitedly.

“I doubt the prosecutor will need you to testify, Wilson, but I’m glad you can in case he does.”

Sue says, “Did you have any trouble with Hess?”

The sheriff answers, “No. I had him in cuffs before he knew what was happening. He figured it out though. You should have seen the look he gave Wilson when he realized he had fallen for Wilson’s crazy story. As soon as we got him behind bars he wanted a lawyer. I suggested I call the Mayor for him. At first I thought he was going to say yes, and then he thought about it. He said no, he wants someone else. He must realize Paul Waters would sell him down the river to get even for the mess he made of the city finances.”

“Sheriff, is it okay if I call that new young lawyer Karl Katz? He seems like a nice man and representing Hess would get his career started,” asks Sue.

“Sure, why not. Tell him he can go see Hess in the County Jail. It’s up to Hess if he wants him as his lawyer,” replies Sheriff Ericsson. The sheriff pauses as he thinks. Then he says, “Sue, get Paul Waters on the phone for me. While I’m talking to him please call Trudy Lund and tell her I’ve caught Glen’s killer. I want to keep on the mayor’s good side. If I give him a heads up he’ll have time to decide how he wants to handle the news of the city money being embezzled by Hess. The computer systems administrator’s notes said he found no record of any audit of the city finances for the last few years. If the mayor knew, he’s going to have to answer for being careless for letting Hess get away without the audits the State requires.”

“Yes, Sir. Do you want me to alert Mary Jane Bloom?” asks Sue.

“No, let’s leave her in the dark until her sources tip her off. If she calls you about it tell her she’ll have to make an appointment to see me for the facts. And when you’ve finished talking to Trudy tell the deputies not to say anything to Mary Jane Bloom. They are to tell her she’ll have to talk to me. Let’s see if she’ll apologize for how she’s treated me the last few weeks when she comes to my office.”

Turning to Wilson the sheriff says, “It’s almost time for lunch. Call Towner and ask him to join you and me for lunch to celebrate solving this case right after I talk to the mayor. This is worth driving out to the Dinner Pail. I can taste the pecan pie already. I may have two pieces today. Sue, we may not be back for two or three hours. You can say we are on road patrol.”

“Yes, Sir. I’ll get the mayor on the phone for you, and then I’ll call Trudy. Have a wonderful lunch. Maybe I’ll ask Trudy to lunch today.”

After the sheriff and deputies leave the building Sue calls Pam Lafave. She says, “Pam, it’s over. Everything went just like you suggested. The sheriff is tickled pink thinking he solved the case without your help. How about coming into town and having lunch with Trudy Lund and me. The sheriff will be out celebrating for several hours. We can have a nice lunch at the Harbor Deli and celebrate too.”

Pam replies, “I’d love it. Is it alright with you if I invite Mary Anderson to join us? She played a key part we can’t discuss, but she deserves to celebrate.”

Sue says, “Yes, I’ll call her and invite her while you’re driving in. Mary’s a good friend of Trudy’s. Trudy will like having Mary join us and learning Mary helped catch Hess even if Mary can’t say how. Meet us in 25 minutes at the Harbor Deli.”