Cold Case 8-8: Pieces of Mind

[valrush]

COLD CASE: PIECES OF MIND

Paul Cooper introduces Lilly to a witness to a double homicide from many years ago; a witness who has not spoken a word in over 40 years.



DISCRETION ADVISED DUE TO SEXUAL CONTENT:

PREVIOUSLY ON COLD CASE

Vera and Jeffries were out walking the street. “You said your yearly physical is next week?” asked Vera.

“Don’t remind me. Talk about a pain in the ass, literally,” Jeffries replied.

“Well, I wouldn’t bring it up at all, except I could have sworn your yearly physical was last month. Is something going on?”

Jeffries stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. “Nobody else knows, but I have to go in for more tests. The doctor found something on my chest x-ray; it’s probably nothing, but at my age they like to be cautious. I say I’m already old; why waste the time I have left?” They started walking again. “I don’t want anyone else to worry, so don’t say anything.”

“Have it your way,” said Vera.

“Nick, I’m serious. I don’t want anyone to know until I know what I’m facing,” insisted Jeffries.

[valrush]

1

The following story is fictional and

does not depict any actual person or event.
 
Aretha Franklin: “Think”

 
January 10, 1966
 
Brandon Lake, 5 ft. 7 in. with light brown hair, could stare down his opponent all he wanted; it wasn’t going to change his situation. Once the white rook took his black queen he knew he didn’t stand a chance. First came black king to Queen’s Rook six, then white queen to Queen’s Bishop four putting the black king in check, black pawn to Queen’s Knight five, white pawn to Queen’s Knight five, another black pawn to Queen’s Knight five. “So tell me which feels worse: losing to a new student,” said his opponent as the white queen moved to Queen’s Knight five taking the pawn and trapping his king, “or losing to a girl. Checkmate.”

Brandon stared at Shawna Miles across from him, 5 ft. 5 in. with light blonde hair, for a moment. From the waist up she was dressed the same as him: a white button-down shirt and a red sweater vest with a golden three-leaf clover near the right breast. The brown trousers and brown skirt were all that differed for the male and female student uniforms at Clover Hills.

Then he took another look at the board, “Wait, are you sure? I can still take your—“ Then he saw that it wouldn’t help. Shawna’s queen was one space away from his king. Even if he took out her queen, however, her knight was two squares down and one to the right; he would only be in check again. He had no choice but to admit he was trapped. “Good game, I guess you beat me.”

“You mean I beat you again. Maybe it’s time to admit that chess isn’t your game,” Shawna replied.

“I’m starting to think she might be right,” said a spectator behind Brandon.

Brandon jumped around to see Alex Bell, with his greasy black hair and glasses, hovering over them. “Is that your way of challenging me?”

“I’m just saying she hasn’t beaten me three times in a row,” Alex insisted.

“And as much as I’d like to make it four; I have calculus in twenty minutes,” said Shawna. She picked her red backpack off the floor and left the white room filled with chess tables.

Alex took the seat across the board from Brandon. “I should have known I was in trouble earlier. I couldn’t get her castled king out of the corner to save my life,” said Brandon.

“Look, I was just joking with you before, but we are friends so I think I need to say it. These walls have eyes; if you keep losing to her the coach might just give her your spot on the chess team,” Alex warned.

“I’m just having some bad luck is all. Besides, I have other irons in the fire around here,” Brandon responded.

“Well, be prepared for another fight. Rumor has it she’s trying out for that too,” Alex explained.

“So what? There’s two spots open; at the risk of sounding arrogant I’ll just get the one she doesn’t,” said Brandon.

“You two on the same team; that doesn’t spell civil war at all,” Alex laughed. Then the chess pieces started moving between them.

Cold Case Soundtrac: “The Park”

Brandon Lake’s body was found on top of the body of Shawna Miles in the center of the checkered floor on the first floor of the school building; both appeared to have suffered serious head trauma.

[valrush]

Paul met Lilly at a section of Fairmouut Park where a series of chess tables were set up. “Paul Cooper, this is my partner Scotty Valens and my lieutenant John Stillman.”

“So you’re Lilly’s father?” asked John. He was holding a case file in his right hand.

“Not for as long as I should have been, but yes,” said Paul. They walked for a few feet until they came to a gray-haired man in jeans and a blue coat sitting at one of the tables. Almost all of the pieces were off the board except for the four rooks at the corners, a white king laying on top of a white queen in the center, and a white pawn in the fifth square on the second row from the bottom. His ‘opponent’ appeared to be no more than an opened book. “That’s him. Don’t worry he’s harmless as long as you don’t touch the board.”

“Does your friend have a name?” asked Valens.

“Probably, though I wouldn’t bother asking him too many questions. He doesn’t talk; he hasn’t ever since I’ve been coming here, and I’ve been coming here for many years. He just comes here every day, sets up the board exactly like that, and then leaves when the sun starts to go down,” Paul explained. “Then awhile back I actually got a glance at that book. Best I can figure it’s some kind of high school yearbook.”

“’In memory of Brandon and Shawna; Clover Hills school will not forget you’,” John read aloud.

“’Clover Hills’? I’m guessing that’s a private school,” said Scotty.

“Even more elite than that; according to this file it was more like a prodigy school,” Stillman explained. He flipped through the file until he came to a photograph of two bodies. “Meet Brandon Lake and Shawna Miles; both were fifteen years old and freshman students at Clover Hills High School for Intellectually Advanced Youth. The bodies were found on the first floor of the main school building on the morning of May 30, 1966; cause of death in both cases was blunt force trauma to the skull caused by this.” John flipped to another picture of a wooden pedestal with a metallic chess pawn mounted on it.

“I’m no shrink, but I figured you people being cops might know something that could help this guy,” insisted Paul.

“I don’t know how much we can help since the case was never solved,” Stillman informed.

“A school full of geniuses and yet someone didn’t know a trophy to the skull was a bad idea,” Scotty added.

“It’s as good a weapon as any other. Boss, go back to that other picture,” Lilly insisted.

“Why, what are you thinking?” asked John as he flipped backwards.

“Brandon’s body was found on top of Shawna’s… just like the king is lying on top of this queen on the board. Their heads are even touching like in the picture,” Lilly noticed. She took the picture from the file, bent down to the old man’s level, and flashed a badge. “Sir, my name is Lilly Rush; we’re police officers. Did you know them?” She flashed the picture in front of him. The man moved forward suddenly and stood the king and queen pieces back up in the center of the board. “Okay, and who is this? Is this the person who hurt your friends?” Lilly was pointing at the white pawn and the man shook his head. “Who is this?” The man took the pawn and tapped his wrist with it. Then he sat it back down and put the king and queen back the way they were. “I think he was there that day. This isn’t a memorial; it’s a crime scene.”

[valrush]

2

John Stillman, Nick Vera and Kat Miller were carrying two white file boxes to Vera’s desk. “So that’s why Rush and Valens were playing chess when I came in?” asked Vera.

“The department shrink seems to think it’s some kind of post-traumatic stress reaction. Actually saying what happened is too painful for him, so he can only communicate through the chess pieces,” John explained.

“I can understand witnessing a double murder being traumatic, but to not speak for 44 years?” Miller asked stunned.

“I don’t fully understand it either, but he seems to trust Lilly and Scotty. That’s why I want every possible lead run through them: names, places, dates, anything at all that might trigger this guy’s memory. Meanwhile, we’ll start looking through these boxes trying to figure out what that might be,” Stillman insisted.

“What do we know so far? Any family?” asked Vera.

“Trying to locate next of kin for both of them has been difficult since school records indicate that all immediate family lived out of state. Clover Hills was a boarding school apparently; the files say that the school had just completed construction on the new female dormitory in the fall of 1965. The first female students arrived a few months later,” John explained.

“Shawna was one of the first; that couldn’t have been easy,” Miller added.

“Are you saying we might have another Morris Kitchner on our hands? Better warn Rush,” Vera asked.

“I don’t think so. Unlike PMI it sounds like this place was preparing to let girls in for some time,” insisted John.

“Well here’s something. An account of the personal affects recovered when they found the bodies found a note in Shawna’s backpack: ‘If you’re curious, meet Miss James tonight. Remember, you have options.’ The file says they attempted to interview a Lydia James, another student at the school, but her mother got her a lawyer pretty fast,” insisted Miller.

“Teenagers passing notes; old school text messaging. They even did that in genius school?” asked Vera.

“They were smart; that doesn’t mean they weren’t young,” Miller replied.

“Did they find anything like that with Brandon?” asked Stillman.

“Not according to these files,” Miller responded.

“Well, if it was just Shawna that was causing trouble why go after Brandon?” asked Vera.

“If that is the case there’s one person who might remember. A woman the cops interviewed back in 1966, Cynthia Gayle; newly appointed Dean of Girls at Clover Hills,” said Miller.

“Well, run the names by Bobby Fisher out there and see what happens,” said Stillman.

Vera and Miller went to find the others. “Speaking of missing pieces where is Will?” asked Miller.

“He called this morning and said he was taking a ‘personal day’, whatever that means for him,” Vera replied with a crack in his voice. But no matter what he could not tell her about Jeffries’s potential condition; he had promised him after all.

Lilly and Valens were seated across from the witness in the conference room with a chess board. “What about enemies? Did Shawna or Brandon have any confrontations with anyone?” asked Scotty. The man took the white queen and placed it three columns from the left and one row from the top of the board. Then he picked up a black pawn and placed it two columns from the left and two rows from the top. “Shawna had words with the black pawn.”

“Maybe more than that; in chess pawns capture on one of their immediate forward diagonals,” Lilly explained.

“Can you tell us who the black pawn is? … … Right, stupid question.”

Miller and Vera stepped through the glass doors. “Try asking about Lydia James or Cynthia Gayle,” Miller suggested.

“Is the black pawn Lydia James?” Scotty asked. There was no response from the witness.

“Is the black pawn Cynthia Gayle?” asked Lilly. The man shook his head. Then he placed a black bishop two rows down and two columns over from the queen. Lilly made a note in her pad.

“Bishops move diagonally, right? So a black bishop on a direct diagonal with a white queen means… maybe Cynthia threatened Shawna?”

“Well, maybe there is hope for you with this game,” said Lilly.

“We need to find Cynthia Gayle,” Vera insisted.

[valrush]

Cynthia Gayle lived in a house outside of Philadelphia. She still had her red hair but it was shorter than the photograph of her that Vera was holding would suggest. “Yes, I remember Shawna. I taught English Literature at Clover Hills right up until 1966 when I was named the new Dean of Girls when the school integrated,” explained Cynthia.

“Integrated?” asked Miller.

“I know, you hear that term in the 1960s and everyone assumes racial integration, but making Clover Hills coeducational wasn’t too much different. Not everyone responds well to change at first, but in the end we were the first school of its kind to admit female students provided they passed the minimum IQ requirement. And I’m quite proud to say that we accomplished this feat a full nine years before those dumb bastards at Harvard,” explained Cynthia.

“Exactly what kind of school was Clover Hills?” asked Vera.

“We were more like a small college than a high school really. Students could pick and choose their courses provided they met the minimum number of credits they needed; we also fed and housed them. Extracurricular activities consisted of things like chess team, debate team, ‘Knowledge Quiz’ team—“

“Knowledge Quiz team?” asked Vera.

“Rival schools would put four players up against each other while they were asked a series of questions,” Cynthia informed.

“It’s kind of like those ‘Brain Buster’ tournaments they show sometimes on the local news stations; my daughter used to watch them,” Miller added.

“In other words, the nerd Olympics,” said Vera.

“Put it this way, at Clover Hills the ‘rebels’ were the ones who tried out for drama club,” Cynthia explained.

“Did Shawna have any connection to Brandon Lake, the boy that was killed?” asked Vera.

“I do remember him vaguely, but beyond that I can’t really help you. Male students were out of my jurisdiction,” insisted Cynthia.

“Was Shawna a particularly difficult student? Did she get into a lot of fights?” asked Vera.

“No, one fight would have gotten her expelled; all the students knew that rule,” Cynthia explained.

“Did you ever have any other reason to treat Shawna harshly?” asked Miller. Cynthia said nothing. “We have a witness, Miss Gayle, who seems to suggest that you two didn’t get along.”

Cynthia stepped backward and folded her arms. “Well, I don’t know what this witness is implying, but I only wanted success for my girls. I never once harmed a student.”

“Well, if you knew your girls so well, then you can tell about Lydia James. She was interviewed briefly by the police in 1966. Did Shawna ever have a confrontation with her?” asked Miller.

“Shawna never had issues with the girls as far as I knew. No, the only conflict I ever remember Shawna having was with a young man by the name of Daniel Price,” Cynthia informed.

“I thought you didn’t know the male students,” Vera responded.

“I only became familiar with the ones that had issues with my girls. Like I said, not everyone accepts change right away…”

[valrush]

Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs: “Wooly Bully”

 
“I was walking across the floor one day at the start of the spring term. I saw Shawna putting a book in one of the lockers along the northern wall. That’s when I saw a dark-haired boy who was a little taller than Shawna approach her. ‘So blondie wants to fight me.’

“’What are you talking about?’ asked Shawna.

“’Knowledge Quiz team; I saw your name on the signup sheet outside of Mr. Dansworth’s class. You are Shawna Miles, right?’ asked Daniel.

“’Maybe, what’s your point?’ Shawna responded.

“’I just thought I’d tell you not to waste your time. A little girl like you won’t stand a chance against me,’ he said.

“’Is that so?’ Shawna spat back.

“’Pretty girls cave under pressure; it’s a well known fact. I just don’t want to see you embarrass yourself,’ Daniel insisted.

“Shawna stepped away from the locker. ‘If it is a ‘fact’ why are you wasting your time on me? Shouldn’t you be trying to scare one of the boys trying out for the team?’ asked Shawna.

“From a few lockers down a light brown-haired boy walked up to them. Come to think of it, that might have been Brandon. Yes, it was, because I remember the conversation that followed. ‘Seriously, there are two spots open on that team. You don’t need to resort to this; unless you’re really afraid of losing.’

“’Shut up, Brandon. You ought to be thanking me for giving you one less person to worry about,’ said Daniel.

“’I’m not that worried about her, and judging by what I just saw I’m not worried about you either. So thank you for that,’ replied Brandon.

“Daniel shook his head. ‘Whatever, it’s not like she’ll last long in this school anyway. If you ask me this whole experiment is a waste of time; they should just send you hens back to Home Economics class where you belong.’

“That’s when I felt compelled to step in. I walked over to the group of students and calmly asked ‘is there some problem here?’

“’No Miss Gayle,’ said Daniel.

“’Then let’s keep it that way. Move along!’

“He moved along, but not before looking back at Shawna and saying, ‘You’ll regret taking me on, princess.’.”

[valrush]

“So you’re saying Brandon and Shawna both had words with this kid,” said Vera.

“If that’s true we need to find him. Do you have any idea where he might be?” asked Miller.

“From what I’ve heard through the Clover Hills grapevine through the years he went into medicine if you can believe that. You’ll find him at Temple Hospital,” informed Cynthia.

[valrush]

At Temple Hospital, Daniel Price met Vera and Miller in the lobby. He had gotten a little heavier since the picture they had and his hair was now completely white. “Glad you finally decided to join us,” said Vera.

“Well, when a kid decides he wants out a week early, what can you do?” asked Daniel.

“You’re an OB-GYN now. That seems like an interesting career choice for you,” insisted Miller.

“Why would you say that?” asked Daniel.

“Shawna Miles and Brandon Lake; two kids who were killed at Clover Hills school when you were there,” added Vera. “We have new information that says you had a confrontation with them. Especially Shawna.”

“Brandon and Shawna? You’re really here about a 45-year-old case. This ought to be entertaining,” Daniel replied.

“Does Knowledge Quiz team ring any bells? It should since that was what the fight you and Shawna had was about,” insisted Miller.

“We’ve heard you didn’t exactly like having a girl as your competition; something about Shawna going back to cooking school and if she crossed you she’d regret it,” added Vera.

“That’s why you’re here! Come on! It was a contest; I was just trying to scare them! It’s called trash talk; it’s part of any competition!” Daniel explained.

“Well, in homicide we call it a threat and motive,” Miller responded.

“Motive? Those kids were killed like four months after that stupid fight. Why would I wait that long?” Daniel demanded.

“Maybe you just snapped one day,” said Miller.

“If anyone understood competition it was Brandon and Shawna. In fact if we hadn’t known any better we would have sworn they had killed each other,” said Daniel.

“We?” asked Vera.

“My wife and I. We met because of that quiz team. I remember three guys and two girls tried out for two open spots on the main team, but that first practice was basically Brandon vs. Shawna…”

[valrush]

The Chiffons: “One Fine Day”

 
“I remember there were five desks with bells on them. We rang in with answers as Mr. Dansworth read questions. The try out started out with something like, ‘In Astronomy what is the name given to the star closest to our solar system?’

“’Alpha Centauri,’ point Brandon.

“’In Literature how many sonnets is Shakespeare credited with writing?’

“’154,’ point Shawna.

“’In Mathematics what is the relationship between the two linear functions x^3+2x and 3x^2+2?’

“’Integral and derivative,’ point Shawna.

“’In U.S. History, what is the name of the legislation that enacted prohibition?’

“’The Volstead Act,’ point Brandon.

“That went on for the better part of an hour. Don’t get me wrong; I knew a lot of those answers. Those two were just speed demons. They were on their feet and sweating by the end of practice. I don’t know if they were trying to make a point to me or each other, but either way I got the message.

“Anyway, since I figured I was out of the running for this thing; I thought I might as well just sit and look at the brunette two seats over from me. I guess she must have had the same idea because I soon noticed her looking back.”

[valrush]

“Young geniuses think they know it all, but even they can’t predict the future. Back then if you had told me that I would marry Lydia James I would have just laughed at you,” explained Daniel.

“Lydia James?” asked Miller.

“Yeah, from Declan, James, Goldwell, and Clayton, the big law firm,” Daniel replied.

“So you know a lawyer. That’s good for you since your story doesn’t exactly clear you. There were two spots open and you didn’t get either one of them,” Vera insisted.

“They didn’t get rid of me so easily; the team still needed alternates. Lydia and I got those two spots,” Daniel added.

“What about the other male student? It sounds like he really got left out in the cold,” asked Vera.

Daniel laughed for a moment. “Alex Bell. If you want to talk to someone who ‘snapped’, you should try him. I wish you luck with that.”

“What do you mean?” asked Miller.

“I don’t know what it means, but after they found those bodies Alex just walked around the place like a zombie. He never said a word to anyone; not even on the oral Chemistry final he ended up failing. Then when school started up in the fall he wasn’t even there. Rumor was his family sent him to some mental hospital,” Daniel explained.

[valrush]

Back at the station Scotty and Lilly were looking at crime scene photographs. “So we haven’t spoken about your father in awhile. How has the family situation been?” asked Scotty.

“Better. We’re having dinner together regularly. Finn has calmed down now that he knows I’m staying; in spite of it all he says he still wants to be a cop,” Lilly informed.

John Stillman walked up to them. “It doesn’t look like we’re getting anything out of that History teacher; Elvin Dansworth has been in the ground for the past ten years. However, we may have a name for our chess player.” He opened a file in his hand. “Alex Bell, former Clover Hills student. According to the information I’ve been able to find he left the school shortly after the murders, and somehow ended up at what was then the Kirkbride Mental Hospital of Philadelphia in the summer of 1966.”

“Alex Bell? … Why don’t I like that name?” Scotty sighed as he began shuffling through the pictures.

“What are you looking for?” asked John.

Scotty came to the picture in question. “That, the chess trophy that became the murder weapon; it had a name plate on it: ‘CLOVER HILLS 1966 CHESS CHAMPION: … ALEX BELL’. Our guy just went from witness to suspect.”

[valrush]

3

“Are you Alex Bell?” Lilly kept asking repeatedly. But the old man did not move, and neither had any of the chess pieces for some time. “Is the white pawn Alex Bell?”

“We’ve been doing this all night, Lilly. I think it’s time to just go for it,” said Scotty. He took the picture of the trophy and slapped it down in front of the old man. “Do you recognize that? It was used to kill those kids. It has a name on it, Alex Bell. So we’re going to ask again. Are you Alex Bell?”

The man stood the white king and queen in the center of the board. Then he placed the white pawn in the second row from the bottom and five columns over as it was originally. Then he took the picture and walked it across the board. He struck the queen first and then the king and laid them back down. “Yes, the trophy killed them, but who had the trophy? Is this white pawn Alex Bell?”

The man took the white pawn from the board, touched the photograph with it, and placed it back where it was. Then he took the picture and struck down the queen and king once more. “So… you are Alex Bell, but you didn’t kill them?” asked Scotty. The man nodded.

“Then who did, Alex? Was it Daniel Price? We know he had a fight with Shawna,” asked Lilly. Alex shook his head. He placed the white queen three columns from the left and one row from the top, and then placed the black pawn two columns from the left and two rows from the top. Then he moved the black pawn to the last row and replaced it with a white knight.

“What the hell did he just do?” asked Scotty.

Lilly could only stare for a moment. “I’m not sure. Well, … in chess when a pawn reaches the last row it can become any piece it wants except for a king. But because it is so powerful the pawn usually becomes a queen; in fact they call it queening. And in any case it wouldn’t switch sides.”

Scotty sighed. “Alex, do you remember Knowledge Quiz team?” Alex placed the white pawn on the third column of the southernmost row. Then he placed the white knight next to the pawn, then the queen next to that, and the king next to the queen. Then he picked up the other white knight and the black king. He placed the white knight next to the white king and placed the black king four columns from the left and two rows from the bottom.

“Okay, we have Alex, Daniel, Shawna, and Brandon. According to what Vera told us that must make the other white knight Lydia James and the black king Elvin Dansworth,” Lilly reasoned.

White pieces started moving rapidly. Alex placed the king, the queen, and the pawn along the easternmost column on the second, third, and fourth rows from the bottom respectively. Then he placed the knights on the second and third rows from the bottom and one column in from the right. “More quiz team stuff?” asked Scotty.

“If it is, where was Elvin Dansworth?” Lilly added.

Alex picked up the black king and his lips started to part. His face was starting to turn red. “De…”

Scotty and Lilly jumped back in shock. “He’s speaking.”

“Elvin Dansworth, what about him?” asked Lilly.

“D-de… story… er.”

“What?” asked Lilly.

“De… sssstroy… er!” Alex wrapped a hand around the head of the black king and began twisting violently. The head broke off and Alex threw the broken pieces at the wall.

[valrush]

John Stillman entered the conference room. “Rush and Valens.” Lilly and Scotty got up and left the room.

“This better be important; we were on the verge of a breakthrough,” Lilly informed.

“It looked more like a breakdown. What the hell just happened in there?” John asked.

“I don’t know about Brandon or Shawna, but he definitely had an issue with that History teacher,” Lilly replied.

“Elvin Dansworth?”

“Yeah, we mentioned his name and he actually spoke,” Scotty added. John stopped dead in his tracks. “That was basically my reaction. He said one very broken word, ‘destroyer’. I don’t know what the hell it means, but obviously that guy did something to piss him off. So, what’s your news?”

“Locating family for Shawna was a bust, but we found Brandon’s younger sister. She’s here and she’s asking for you two,” insisted Stillman.

“Can’t you put Vera and Miller on that?” asked Scotty.

“They’re at the county records office looking for anything related to Clover Hills. Besides she asked for the ‘lead detective’ on the case, and since you two are the joined at the chessboard to our only piece of evidence I figure that’s you,” Stillman explained.

They walked up to a white-haired woman in a red dress seated at one of the desks. “Lilly Rush and Scotty Valens, meet Carla Guest, formerly Carla Lake. That’s partly why it took so long to find her. That and she just flew in from Chicago,” said John.

“I must say, I was a little surprised when I got a call saying you were reopening my brother’s case. He’s long dead after all,” said Carla.

“Well, a witness has come forward with new information,” Lilly explained.

“That’s sort of why I’m here. When I heard from Mr. Stillman that you were reopening the case I started rummaging through my attic looking for some of Brandon’s old things that I still had. I came across this,” Carla explained as she handed Lilly a brown, leather book. “The first page has a message: ‘This journal is property of Brandon Lake.’.”

“Brandon kept a diary?” asked Scotty.

“I don’t know what’s in there, but I thought maybe there was a slight chance you could use it,” Carla insisted.

“You never read your big brother’s journal?” laughed Scotty.

“I never thought it would be worth reading. He was such a geek when we were young. I figured it was mostly full of school notes, but if you can find anything in there that would help you you’re welcome to it.”

“We appreciate the help, but you flew all the way from Chicago just for this? You could have just mailed it,” insisted Lilly.

“Detective, my parents divorced two years after my brother was killed. Fortunately, I’ve never experienced this, but I understand that’s what happens to a lot of couples who lose young children. That’s why I’ve decided to stay in Philadelphia until you figure out who broke up my family,” Carla explained. She left a card on the desk and walked out of the building.

[valrush]

The next morning Vera was seated at a desk thumbing through Brandon’s journal while Miller was studying an extra large piece of paper. Lilly and Scotty entered from the conference room. “Mr. Bell, still won’t eat; he just sips from the water glass every few minutes,” explained Lilly. “What did you find?”

“Blueprints for the first floor of Clover Hills; I got them at the county records office yesterday. I’m on my way to solving the mystery of those clustered chess pieces in there,” Miller explained. “The bodies were found in the center of the first floor as Alex noted with the chess pieces. If we assume that the chessboard is a visual representation of the first floor of the school and that he was reenacting the murders for you yesterday, then that would put the trophy case where the murder weapon would have been stored here along the western wall. The blueprint seems to suggest the same location,” She placed the photograph of the bodies in the center of the blueprint and another picture of the floor with a mound of shattered glass on it on the left of the blueprint.

“I’m following you so far,” insisted Lilly.

“All of those pieces are clustered around the lower right corner of the board. According to the blueprint, the southeast corner of the first floor would have been… the boys’ room?”

“What is he trying to say in there?” asked Scotty.

“Wait, I think I know,” said Vera as he flipped backward through the journal.

“Oh yeah, you found something interesting in that book of ‘school notes’,” Scotty replied.

“School notes my ass. Little sis didn’t know her brother half as well as she thought. Here it is, just listen to this…”

[valrush]

Herman’s Hermits: “Wonderful World”


February 17, 1966
 
“One term of Biology could not have prepared me for this; today was the closest I have ever been with a girl. But I couldn’t exactly sneak her into my room in broad daylight so we had to improvise. I had to wait for Shawna to make the announcement. ‘We’re clear,’ she whispered. I opened the boys’ room door and Shawna bolted behind it.

“I didn’t have time to speak before it started. The next thing I knew I was pressed up against the red tile wall and we were kissing. My heart raced and my breathing hastened. It was kind of scary but exciting at the same time. She slowly moved her hands down my back as I cupped her right breast in my hand.

“She seemed willing enough so I thought I should go for it. I started to undo the belt at her waist, but that’s when she pulled back. ‘Wait, we have to stop,’ she said breathless. I tried to say something, but Shawna had already burst through the door.

“I followed out and chased her down the hall. ‘Shawna, you have to be more careful; you almost got us caught.’

“’I was being careful. It’s not that I don’t want to, but there are some practical issues to consider. Like for starters, where would we hide the kid?’ asked Shawna.

“’That doesn’t necessarily have to be an issue,’ said a male voice. I jumped out of my skin when I saw Daniel and Lydia standing behind us.

“’Gees, give me some warning next time,’ I said.

“’Yeah, have you been spying on us?’ Shawna added.

“’What spying? A girl coming out of the boys’ room would drawn anyone’s attention. I’m not judging, but I usually refer to sneak into Daniel’s dorm room first,” insisted Lydia.

“It took a few seconds but I finally put it together. ‘So you and Lydia have…’

“Shawna started to speak, ‘Don’t you worry about…’

“’I don’t need to worry as long as I have these,’ Lydia said as she pulled what looked like a medicine bottle out of her pack.

“Shawna looked closer at the bottle. ‘’Enovid’. Aren’t those illegal for us? How did you get those?’

“’Lydia, I thought you were going to hide those in your room. You’ll get busted just waving them around like that,’ Daniel said hurriedly. Lydia put the bottle away as Daniel started writing something in a notebook he was carrying. ‘We shouldn’t even be talking here.’

“Daniel handed Shawna the note and we both read it. ‘If you’re curious, meet Miss James tonight. Remember, you have options.’.”

[valrush]

“That explains the note found on the body,” said Vera.

“So Brandon and Shawna were a couple,” Miller added.

“As much a couple as two horny teenagers can be. What is Enovid anyway?” asked Scotty.

“I figured you would ask so I looked it up. I had to do some digging since it’s been off the marked for 23 years, but in 1961 Enovid was FDA approved for oral contraceptive use,” Vera explained.

“The pill. You had to be married to get that back them. How does a fifteen-year-old girl get birth control in 1966?” asked Lilly.

Vera shook his head. “I’d say that’s a good question for Lydia James.”

[valrush]

Daniel and Lydia Price-James lived in a two-story, brick house outside of the city. Lydia’s hair had gotten shorter since her younger days and was now a darker shade of gray. “I almost fell over when Daniel said you were here about Brandon Lake and Shawna Miles. Until now I had almost forgotten their names,” Lydia explained.

Two red sofas were placed on opposite sides of a glass coffee table. Miller and Vera sat on across from Daniel and Lydia. “Well, when new information comes in we have to check out every lead; especially when the people we talk to don’t tell us the whole story,” insisted Vera.

“What?” asked Daniel.

“New evidence has come forward that suggests that Brandon and Shawna were more than quiz teammates and that you both knew about it,” informed Miller. “We know about the Enovid too.”

They were expecting a little more of a surprised reaction from that, but Lydia and Daniel didn’t even fidget slightly. “Lydia, the note the police found on Shawna’s body suggests that you were supplying the pills to Shawna, but who was supplying you?”

“Me,” said an elderly woman in pink sweats as she slowly walked down the stairs. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Emily James, Lydia’s mother, and that note was about me not Lydia.”

“I thought calling Lydia ‘Miss James’ was weird,” said Vera.

“You seem pretty willing to cooperate now. Where was this in 1966 the first time the cops talked to your daughter?”

“My daughter had a right to a lawyer. I was protecting her,” Emily explained. Vera folded his arms and shook his head. “Fine, I was protecting us; I thought I would be on the hook too if Lydia said anything. But when Daniel said some cops were reopening Brandon and Shawna’s case; Lydia assured me that there was a statute of limitations on illegal distribution of a controlled substance. So yes, I got Enovid for girls at Clover Hills.”

“We’re homicide. There’s no statute of limitations on murder,” Vera informed.

“Murder! What would we have gained by killing those kids?” asked Emily.

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Miller added.

“Nobody gained anything from their deaths. In fact, I lost my job after those kids were killed. We all did. No parent wanted to send their kid to school with a potential serial killer; the entire staff was restructured,” Emily explained.

“You were a part of that staff?” asked Miller.

“Yes, I was the onsite medic for the girls’ dormitory. I had a small home/office behind the main building; the boys had one as well,” informed Emily.

“I’m assuming you didn’t just pull these pills out of your ears. Who was supplying you?” asked Vera.

“I could dig up my scrapbook from the attic and give you about fifteen suppliers, but it wouldn’t do you any good. All of my PPFA contacts from those days are long dead,” Emily informed.

“PPFA?” asked Miller.

“Planned Parenthood Federation of America,” Emily explained.

“Planned Parenthood, as in the abortion people?” added Vera.

“That’s not all they do, and that was never my project. My goal was to educate the young people of Clover Hills and offer them a safer alternative so that it wouldn’t get that far,” insisted Emily.

“I have a really dumb question; what would drive someone to help underage girls get the pill?” asked Miller.

“Do either of you have children?” asked Emily.

Vera turned to his left and stared at the wall. “I have a daughter; she’s about thirteen now,” Miller finally spoke up.

“And you look quite young, so maybe you can relate to my story. In 1966 Lydia was fifteen; I was thirty-one. Do the math. Then when my family found out they threatened to send me away to some convent. But even then I knew I wasn’t about to just give up my child so I ran away from home and hitchhiked all the way to Philadelphia. Do you think it was easy being a single mother in 1951?” asked Emily.

“It’s not easy today,” Miller replied.

“Exactly, and we didn’t have half the help there is today. I can’t tell you how many crap jobs I worked just to afford some dirty slum and eventually put myself through nursing school, and the only friend I had was a three-year-old. That’s why, when Lydia told me she was interested in Daniel, I decided to get her Enovid. I always knew Lydia had a bright future ahead of her, and I did not want her to go through what I did,” Emily explained.

“So, in a roundabout way you were trying to protect your daughter. But what about the other girls?” asked Miller.

“It started out that way, but when Brandon and Shawna came to me I soon figured that as a nurse I had a responsibility to protect all the girls there,” Emily added.

“What if the school had found out? You weren’t afraid of losing your job?” asked Miller.

“That’s why we had to be extremely secretive,” said Emily.

“Speaking of the staff, what can you tell us about Elvin Dansworth?” asked Vera.

Emily and Lydia laughed. “That was one of the people we had to avoid. Some people today oppose contraceptive use. Multiply that by about 1,000 and you have 1966, and Elvin Dansworth was the most conservative person at that school. If he had

caught on we were all done for. That’s why we had to form the Chess Club in the first place.”

Vera’s ears perked up. “The Chess Club?”

“That’s what we called ourselves; actually the name was Shawna’s idea. Everything had to be very cloak and dagger; we even had code names. “

[valrush]

The Searchers: “Love Potion Number 9”


“What you have to understand is that back then sex education in any school was almost nonexistent; everyone just assumed that parents talked to their children about it. But in actuality I found that half of parents didn’t want to even acknowledge that their children had sexual thoughts, and the other half didn’t know an ovary from an olive. So my first goal was to tell the truth to anyone who came to me.

“That’s how that meeting started. I handed them some information. We met in my office; it was Brandon, Shawna, Lydia, Daniel, me, and another boy. Alex… Bell I think his name was. Anyway, I knew there were a lot of myths out there so I tried to dispel them. ‘Another myth is that you can’t get pregnant if it’s your first time. The bottom line is that doing it is doing it; if a male privates enters a vagina, a pregnancy can occur.’ I explained.

“That got a few laughs out of some of them. You know teenagers; it was probably the first time they had ever heard an authority figure say ‘male privates’ before. But I continued while waving a pill bottle in the air, ’That is unless the girl uses these. This is Enovid; the oral contraceptive pill that the grown-ups don’t want you to know about. It’s a combination of hormones that will prevent egg production. Should a girl choose to engage in sexual activity she must remember to take one pill everyday at approximately the same time every day to optimize its effectiveness.’

“That’s when Brandon started taking steps backwards away from us. Then Shawna got up to speak. ‘Now, I’ve been thinking about a code name for our little group. Since we all play chess here and Alex just won that tournament—‘

“’Hit the floor,’ I whispered when I saw the flashlight of the night security guard going past my window. Everyone dove for cover.

“’So what were you thinking?’ asked Alex as we returned to our feet

“’The Chess Club.’ Shawna said. ‘I’ve even thought of our code names. Memorize them and destroy these notes.’

“Shawna started handing out slips of paper to everyone, but when she got to Brandon he just waved her off. ‘I don’t know, Shawna. These classes with Miss James are one thing, but the pills will get us kicked out of school or worse.’

“’So we get to be safe but no one else. I can’t do that, Brandon; I can’t stand by while there are probably other girls here who need help,” Shawna insisted.

“Are you trying to get expelled? Seriously, you quit the quiz team, you didn’t show p for History class again yesterday, and now this. What is going on, Shawna?’ Brandon asked. Shawna turned to Alex and then back to Brandon, but she never said a word. “Well, you can run around the school playing ‘Get Smart’ all you want, but I’m leaving.’

”He stormed out of the room. Alex got up and followed him saying, ‘Brandon, there’s something you should know.’

“Then Shawna chased after him yelling, ‘Alex, wait!’.”

[valrush]

“That’s how it worked. If one of us thought we knew someone who might be interested they would send a coded message to Shawna, she would get the pills from me, then she would pass them off to another of our people who would then slip them to the interested girl,” Emily added.

“I remember that now. Lydia and I were the ‘white knights’,” Daniel added.

“I was the ‘white bishop’. Shawna thought up the plan so she was the ‘white queen’. Brandon would have been the ‘white king’ had he stayed,” Emily explained.

“What do you think Shawna meant by other girls needing help?” asked Miller.

“The pill was intended as a precautionary measure, but it became so much more than that. Contraceptives give people freedoms and choices they might not have otherwise. I think Shawna picked up on that; the girl was the Sexual Revolution before it even had a name,” Emily explained.

“What did Alex know that Brandon didn’t?” asked Vera.

“That I couldn’t tell you. I couldn’t even tell you why Alex was there in the first place. Brandon had Shawna, Lydia had Daniel, but Alex didn’t have a girl as far as I knew,” Emily insisted.

“Thank you for your time, Miss James,” said Vera. He and Miller left the house and Vera entered the driver’s side of the police car. “Well, that explains the chess obsession. The white pieces represent the Enovid conspiracy.”

“Except the white king; Brandon didn’t want to be a part of it,” added Miller.

“I’m thinking something happened that convinced him to join, and I’m not liking where the road leads. Emily said that Shawna quit the quiz team and that she was ditching History class. Those activities had one thing in common,” Vera informed.

“Elvin Dansworth,” added Miller.

“It keeps coming back to this guy we can’t talk to,” said Vera as he started the engine.

“Well, we know about the conspiracy at least. I’ll call Rush and Valens and let them know it’s back to the chessboard,” said Miller as they drove away.

[valrush]

That night Lilly and Scotty brought Alex back into the conference room where the chessboard waited. “We brought you back in because we learned something about you today, Mr. Bell. It seems that you were an activist in your younger days at Clover Hills,” informed Scotty. Alex said nothing.

Lilly took the seat across from him. “The Chess Club, Alex, do you remember that? It was Shawna’s name for your group that was helping girls get birth control.” Alex took two white knights, a white bishop, a white pawn, a white queen, and a white king and lined them up in a row across the center of the board. “That’s right: it was Daniel Price, Lydia James, Emily James, Shawna, and you. But not Brandon; he wanted no part of the Chess Club,” Lilly said as she took the king from the board.

Alex stood up, retrieved the white king from Lilly’s hand, and slammed it back down on its original square. “Maybe Vera’s right. Alex seems pretty insistent that Brandon was in on this,” insisted Scotty.

“Okay, maybe the white king was there. But we need to talk about the black king. Why was Elvin Dansworth the destroyer?” asked Lilly. Alex turned red and started to sweat. His heart was beating through his blue and white striped shirt. “You want to tell us Alex; I know you do. You came close before. You called him ‘destroyer’. Why? Did he bust up your group? Did he threaten you? Did he threaten Brandon and Shawna? We need to know!”

Alex stood up. “Sit down, Mr. Bell!” Scotty yelled.

“I … re-member. I got … them k-killed.” He picked up the chair.

“What do you mean? We can help you, but first you have to put the chair down!” insisted Lilly.

But instead he hurled the chair at the glass door shattering it. “I … de-sssserrrve … th-this.” He picked up one of the larger glass shards.

“ALEX NO!!!” yelled Scotty. He bolted upward but he was not fast enough to stop Alex from shoving the glass into his throat. Scotty ran over shouting, “We need a medic in here!”