“Booker, just slow down on the chat guy idea. That crazy b-tch got to you. All that screaming drama about Rancid and the threats. We can’t verify
anything she said except through a long assed session, not by me by the way, of somebody going back for months or years scribbling down threats the
guy made on the internet.”
“And Crudo you’re overlooking the killing in Gallup, the guy that got knifed. He was a Rambler chat guy. Could be the same killer. Neither time a gun,
at night, no witnesses, sneakaway kinda thing, no car spotted.”
Prescott P.D. office rear cubicles was not a good work environment now that the new thermo-rules were locked in. 78º with 70 % humidity was not
holding in the space and everybody with a nose knew it.
“You want her back down here? She’s totally conked out about this Rancid guy. That’s all we’re gonna get from her.”
“What else we got? A burned out Dodge four by, a vic with a arrow in his chest, no witnesses, no eyeball, no prints, no nothin’, that’s what we got. I
say we just go shake this Rancid down about this and the Gallup thing. If we don’t like him we move on. Better than sittin’ here on our asses.”
“Well, let’s go see the geek, see if he can find the guy. I don’t wanna have to deal with the widow Ramit again if I can help it.”
They went up two floors and found the tech office and officer Keith Landrum.
“Hey Keith, we need you to try to find this internet chat member ……”
“Whoa, first tell me what happened. I don’t need to read the whole sheet but it would help if I knew what went down.”
“Okay, East Prescott, two nights ago somebody walked up to the vic’s house just after dark, broke a wind wing on a Dodge 4 by, laid down some
accelerant, threw in a couple of road flares, stepped back in the shadows. The vic in the house finally heard the fire, ran outside, got a arrow in
the chest, dead in seconds. Killer walked away. No witnesses, no car, no prints, nothin’. The vic’s widow thinks the killer might be a member of a
chat board, AZRamblers, by the nickname of Rancid who was a chat enemy of the vic, one Howard Lerch, married male Caucasian, age 43, plumber, now
deceased. His handle was Ramit.”
“Okay, got it. Check back at the end of the shift.”
Minutes after the Prescott Valley Tribune hit the streets AZRambler chat board lit up with the news.
HIGHCENTER: Ramit is dead. Whoa! Who thinks it’s a Rambler?
PhilT: Gotta be Rancid or Crumplestilskin.
Carver: I can’t believe it. Why does everybody think it’s one of us? Bet its just a Nugent groupy all methed up and lookin’ for something to do.
HIGHCENTER: It’s a Rambler. Wanna bet? Hundred bucks.
And so it went from that moment until about 3 PM when Kermit announced a change for off roading in some protected areas in the Chiricahuas and Howard
was shoved to the back burner until the thread ran out about dinner time.
Detectives Booker Talon and Manuel “Crudo” Ortiz went to lunch. Booker had the floor. “What’s with these chat things anyway? You tellin’ me that they
never met, don’t know each others real names and they want to kill each other?”
“My brother in law is just stuck to that computer for a biker’s chat forum. He says they fight a lot but they help each other too – they do charity
work for kids, they help members in emergencies, provide support for accident victims, that kinda thing but it’s only natural that some of those
hardcases will find reasons to rumble, especially on a keyboard, not with knives or fists.”
“You think there’s enough record of intent, motive on a suspect’s computer to cause the D.A. to hold a guy like this Rancid we’re after?”
“Not my field bro, I just go where they point, hook em and book em.”
At 4:30 they went back to tech.
“Here’s the deal. Your guy’s name is Ralph. Don’t have the last name yet. He lives in Glendale, works in Phoenix. He’s a mechanic at Great Southwest
HD Offroad. He’s probably not your man. Most of the Ramblers don’t think he’s smart enough to off a guy and do his ride like your guy did. Takes a
cool thinker and Rancid is definitely a hothead. Here’s a picture of him standing by a high rise tricked Jeep.”
They checked out a car for a road trip, got the proper chits, called ahead to pick up a Phoenix detective on the way to the offroad store. The
detective’s name was Buddy Weston and he was pleased to get out of the office and out doing something interesting.
Great Southwest was big, four bays, equipped to trick very heavy offroad specials for heavy hitters. Ralph Franklin was called to the office for a
little sitdown with the police. Booker stepped outside, called his office and asked them to run Ralph Franklin, call him back.
Franklin said “Is this about Ramit, the Ramblers? Because if it is, you all better watchit. You try to put this on me, just because of my beefs on the
board, you’re gonna get sued big time.”
Weston said “Mr. Franklin why don’t you make all this go away and tell us you were bowling all night on the 3rd with a bunch of friends. That’s really
all we’re curious about. Somebody murdered Howard Lerch about 8:30 that night. There’s about 6,500 members of your chat group who know you two were
enemies. That’s a lot of people who have no reason to lie who would tell a judge or jury they knew you had intent and motive.”
Crudo piped in “Rancid, my man, I think Mr. Weston here could round up a warrant for your place in Glendale. We could run out there and who knows what
we might find. We would be lookin’ for accelerant, flares, a compound bow. What can you imagine might happen to you if we found any of that stuff in
your chimney or under your floor? What would make us suspicious about the fact that they were hidden, not just laying out in plain sight? You might
want to think about calling your boss in on this one. Your severance pay wouldn’t touch a small part of your bail bond cost but a guy’s gotta try.”
“Okay, okay, I have a bow. It is hidden in the garage rafters but that’s just in case somebody saw it, wants it bad. It’s a really fine bow – it’s up
high so kids would have a hard time getting up there, lots of kids in our neighborhood, bad kids, gangs even…”
Booker’s phone rang. “Okay, thanks. Ralph, just got your sheet from my office in Prescott. You want to tell us about the stolen property thing four
years ago?”
“Wasn’t my stuff. Look it up. I bought some stuff from a stranger that turned out to be stolen property, mostly tools, big stuff, pneumatic stuff. You
can’t trace that and I would have no way of knowing if it was stolen or not. They sent me home, look it up.”
“Where were you Ralph? Just tell us where you were?”
“I was at a friend’s house in Glendale. All night.”
“Would your friend verify that for us?”
“I’d rather not ask. He has nothing to do with all this. Look, that’s not fair, that’s a cheap shot. Why would he have to talk to you? Just to
embarrass me? Is that what this is about? To embarrass me?
Booker’s phone rang again and he stepped outside. When he came back in he said “Prescott has somebody in custody who has confessed to the Lerch
murder. Looks like you’re in the clear Mr. Franklin. Thanks for your cooperation.”
In the car, on the road Booker filled in the other two officers. “Gallup P.D. picked up the knifer last night. It was a robbery that went south. And
the Lerch killer lived two doors down. He was a walk-in, confessed. Turns out he was the former owner of the Dodge and they had a long standing beef
going about the vehicle, the sale.”
Crudo said “I told ya, I told ya, wait till I tell my cuñado Carlos. Chat people love to woof and woof but it’s all talk. They do a lot of good,
overall. Carlos is gonna love this one.”
[Edited on 8-17-2011 by Osprey]
[Edited on 8-17-2011 by Osprey]sancho - 8-17-2011 at 03:20 PM
I read most of it, but the intent/reference
escapes me, maybe I'll try againOsprey - 8-17-2011 at 04:13 PM
Well, at least you didn't fall asleep. How about "Could chat board animus lead to personal violence?"sancho - 8-17-2011 at 04:43 PM
Thanks for dumbing it down, for myself and I
would bet at least one other,
Much better Osprey, had to Google animus, good
question. Posters do take things personally, it's
only natural. It is best to develop some thicker skin
to get and receive the occasional jabs. It is best not
to get too lathered up over slights. Violence? I
suppose. Look at road rage while driving, that is a lot
shorter communication moment, than reading an offensive
post aimed at oneself. But hopefully not, there's enough of that
around, and I imagine some have reconsidered their
offensive posts
after having pushed the send button,
I have
[Edited on 8-17-2011 by sancho]
[Edited on 8-17-2011 by sancho]Osprey - 8-17-2011 at 04:50 PM
I'm gonna guess Sancho is a man who studies things carefully before he makes decisions. We need one helluva lot more Sanchos. Thanks amigo.Martyman - 8-18-2011 at 03:28 PM
Very Entertaining again! Thanks for posting your stories.CaboRon - 8-19-2011 at 03:41 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by sancho
I read most of it, but the intent/reference
escapes me, maybe I'll try again
What's a "Vic"?Osprey - 8-19-2011 at 05:45 PM
Thanks for the bump Ron. It means "victim". At least that what I get from the TV cop shows.Pescador - 8-22-2011 at 11:28 AM
If anyone thinks that there is no push to get everyone to agree with your view they just need to spend a little time on the OFf Topic area where
conformity is the name of the game and anyone that does not agree with your view of the world is quickly branded as a very negative thing. As usual,
Osprey, by using fiction, gives great insight into the way the psyche or works. I had a guy who disagreed with something or other that I posted once
and the next thing I knew, there were several messages sent by IM's that I better be careful because it was easy to set my house on fire and that no
one would know anything. When I came that year, I did find some small evidence that in fact someone had tried to start a fire on the property with
kindling, matches, and some oily type of substance. It was at that point that I realized that not everyone was dealing with a full deck and that the
internet was probably not a medium of free flowing ideas but more of a medium of expression for those frustrated wanabes who had no other outlet.
