Rip Tide - Robert F Clifton (red white and royal blue hardcover txt) 📗

“What I'm going to do is send my people to Toronto immediately. I want a deathbed deposition. Therefore, to assure that it is taken legally and correctly, I'm sending Ted Watkins, a video taping crew and a stenographer. That way, what your witness has to say will be recorded two different ways. Meanwhile we'll contact the Toronto Police and have someone meet Ted at the airport. By, the way, I'm chartering a private plane in order to get there quickly. From what you have told me, this Mr. Bule is in bad health.

Once Ted has the deposition he'll call me. I then will notify you and you can serve both your search and arrest warrants for, Derrick Butler, A.K.A.Daniel Barns or Dominick Desilvio and John Hanes. I have someone in municipal court right now getting the arrests warrants signed by the judge. I understand that you already have a search warrant for the Hanes residence”.

“Yes sir”, Wallace answered.

“Very well, let's put things into motion. I'll call you just as soon as I hear from Mr. Watkins”.

“Thank you Mr. Elroy.”

Back at headquarters Wallace briefed his squad members and alerted C.S.I. to stand by. He didn't tell them where they would be going or what they were to do. Instructions to them would be given at the time of the arrests. By five pm. they called to have sandwiches and coffee delivered from the Jewel Restaurant. After eating that sat staring at the office door of Captain Wallace. At the same time Wallace stared at the telephone on his desk that did not ring. A county detective arrived and handed the arrest warrants to Sergeant Stiles.

At seven forty five p.m. Wallace almost jumped out of his chair to answer the telephone. “Captain Wallace”, he said loudly.

“Captain? Jim Elroy. We got what we wanted. You can serve your warrants whenever you're ready”.

“Mr. Elroy, I'd like to make the arrest tomorrow morning”.

“Why then?”

“When I execute the search warrant I want the C.S.I. crew to be able to see what they're doing. At this stage of the game I don't want anything missed or mishandled as it could be in the dark”.

“That's understandable. Hey, it's your case and your investigation. Do it your way. Nonetheless, let me tell you what Mr. Bule had to say”.

**********************

At eight forty five in the morning of the next day Detectives McKenna and Myers along with two uniformed officers served an arrest warrant for Derrick Butler at his home. Sergeant Stiles and Captain Wallace stopped John Hanes in his drive way just as he was getting ready to drive to his office. Once he was taken into custody both the arrest and search warrants were issued. Lieutenant Campo and the C.S.I. technicians began searching for evidence related to the Pauline Harris homicide.

Returning to headquarters Wallace fought off the news media, including his ex-wife as they bombarded him with questions. He and Frank Stiles sat drinking coffee as they waited for I.D. to call and tell them that the booking sequence for Butler and Hanes was over.

Shortly after ten A.M. Wallace received the call and had Derrick Butler moved to an interrogation room. When Wallace and Stiles arrived there they found Butler seated, angry and insolent. Butler looked at Wallace and said, “You guys are getting to be a pain in the ass. First, you arrest me on some bull-shit prostitution complaint, being an inmate of a disorderly house and now I'm charged with some chicken-shit conspiracy charge. You can't prove either. I want my lawyer and I know that I'm entitled to one”.

“Yes you are. However, you and I are going to talk first”.

“ I know that I don't have to say anything to you or anyone else”.

“Ah, I love it when dip-shit's like you pretend to know the law and their rights. Very well. Sergeant, read Mr. Butler or is it Desilvio? his rights”.

Butler sat up suddenly in his chair when he heard the name Desilvio. Who is this Desilvio guy?', he asked.

“You are. You are also a pimp. A pimp that has been busted in Baltimore, Philadelphia and now in Nautilus Beach, New Jersey. I forgot to mention that as a result of those prior arrests you neglected to register with us as a past criminal which is another violation of the law”, said Wallace.

“Just another chicken-shit charge”, Butler responded.

“In your opinion. In my opinion and my opinion is what counts at the moment it's another reason to hold you”.

“I'll make bail and be out of here within an hour”.

“I don't think so. I'm charging you with Conspiracy To Commit Murder, along with the charges the Vice Squad has on you and the fact that as an ex-felon you might be viewed as a security risk. I doubt is any judge will grant bail. If they do you can bet your ass it will be high.”

“Murder? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Does the name Homer Bule mean anything to you?”, asked Stiles.

Butler's face turned extremely pale. “What about Bule?”, he asked.

“We found him. Guess what he told us. Would you like me to recite the events that took place on the night of June the nineteenth when Pauline Harris was strangled to death?”, asked Wallace.

“Right now, you're in deep shit boy. You could be facing thirty years to life. Of course there's always a way to get a lesser sentence', said Stiles.

“How?”, asked Butler'

“Turn State's evidence. Testify against Hanes”.

“How do I know the prosecutor will go along with that?”

“Trust me. He will. Now, shall I call for a stenographer to take your statement or your lawyer?”

“I'll give you what you want”.

Just after noon Derrick Butler, alias Daniel Barns, Dominic Desilvio initialed each of the five typed pages of his statement related to the Pauline Harris homicide. He signed the last page with three different signatures.

Looking at his wristwatch Wallace noted the time. “Let's break for lunch. You know by now Martha Hanes has called Wilbur Sims, their lawyer. We'll go to lunch take our time and deliberately piss off the attorney who won't allow his client to say anything or answer any questions”.

“Where are we going?”

“I don't know. Let's try the Cottage Court. I'm in the mood for fried oysters”.

“You buying?”

“Naturally, you cheap bastard”.

By two o'clock that afternoon Captain Wallace and Sergeant Stiles entered the interrogation room where John Hanes sat beside his lawyer, Wilbur Sims.

“Sergeant for the benefit of Mr. Sims and his client, read the Miranda warning to Mr. Hanes.”, said Wallace.

When Stiles was finished Wallace looked at Sims and said.”Instead of wasting your time and my time with you objecting to any question I might ask I'm not going to ask any questions. Instead, I'm actually going to do you a favor counselor. I'm going to tell your client sitting there exactly what he did and what we know he did.

Let's start with the afternoon of June the ninth of this year.

At that time there was a fashion show given to a company here in Nautilus beach for a convention. One of the members of that convention was a Mr. Homer Bule. He viewed the models, paying particular attention to a young lady, Pauline Harris.

He paid so much attention that he was approached by another model. A blond. Martha Hanes. In a conversation between Martha Hanes and Homer Bule it was mentioned that the models were available for private showings. Bule immediately jumped at the chance and requested Pauline Harris. A price was mentioned and agreed upon. Only there was a problem. Mr. Bule the C.E.O. of a corporation couldn't be seen in an adulterous situation. That set into motion two things. The first was that for seven hundred dollars the young model would do the private showing at the home of John and Martha Hanes. Second, since Bule couldn't be seen cheating on his wife he was a perfect candidate for extortion. So it was decided to have Bule use the spare bedroom where hidden cameras and listening devices were situated.

Derrick Butler persuaded Pauline Harris to give a private showing at the Bayview address. Being young and naive she assumed that she was to model the dress she had wore during the show. When Butler picked her up and drove her to the Hanes residence she was wearing a black, Kalinka outfit. When she got in the van she handed the handbag to Butler. Who later gave it to his wife since it was loaned to the modeling agency.

Upon her arrival at the house ,Martha and John here tried get Pauline to engage is sexual acts with Buel. She refused. As the three of them argued Derrick Butler was downstairs in the small video equipment room getting ready to catch any and all acts on a cassette. I would imagine the first thing he recorded was Homer Buel getting undressed. Bule, then nude, got on the bed.

Outside that bedroom door Martha, John and Pauline continue to argue. John begins to loose patience and threatens the young model. Martha opens the bedroom door and shoves Pauline into the room. At that time Pauline, in a loud voice says, “No, I won't do it!”

Angry, John rushed into the room, grabbed Pauline Harris from behind and lifted her up off of the floor. In a rage he turns her, grabs her by the throat and fractures the hyroid bone in her neck which strangles her to death. Then, he is faced with two problems. A dead body and a direct witness. What to do. Easy, instead of demanding money from Bule he demands silence. Bule's silence in exchange for his attempted adultery and ruined reputation. As for the body, that's easy too. Take it out on the boat and dump it overboard. But, where? Along the beach? Too many places and people. It's after nine at night and the Coast Guard has a tower on the boardwalk in the Inlet, that registers every boat registration number passing by, so going out into the ocean is out of the question. Then, what? Ah, it's full moon and high tide. As a local boy who swam off of the beaches of the island and as a sports fisherman with a boat he is more than familiar with the rip tide that rushes out of the headwaters of Great Bay. Drop a body there and the rip current would do the job and quickly take it out to sea. Hopefully there it would disappear. However, he forgot to take account the fact that the New Hampshire Ave. jetty had been extended, which changes the flow of water at that point.

What happens next is that Butler rushes upstairs and stands, watches and listens as Martha and John give Bule the alternative. Keep quiet or else. As Bule rushes to get dressed he sees Hanes and Butler carry the body of Pauline out the back, and through the sliding glass doors. John Hanes thinks of everything. One of the things he had installed was a motion detector on his dock. When anything moved at night, bright lights instantly came on and illuminated the dock and the boat tied to it. When Hanes and Butler caused the lights to go on, Homer Bule read the words on the stern of the boat, “U Owe Me”.

Bule, dressed and scared is leaving. As he does he turns at the sound of twin engines in the boat starting and running. He also sees Derrick Butler tossing the lines from the boat to the dock.

So, then at the helm is the local sportsman, winner of many tournaments and most important an expert when it comes to the knowledge of the local waters. He pilots the U Owe Me from his dock to about one mile past Sebastian Island Bridge. How do we know this. Allow me to explain what I think happened next. Once a mile past the bridge Hanes put the engine in neutral and waited until there was a definite sign that the tide was turning. When it