Grain Journal - July/August 2008 - (Page 21) Northern Star II FICTION SERIES – PART 22 Board Member Curly Petersen and Merchandiser Howie Carr have left to return to Iowa, Curly to take some sample World Genetix test strips to a contact Gil Maier has at Iowa State University to do further lab analysis on the product. Gil is now alone in World Genetix Salesman Ike Raynor’s apartment with Ike’s body cold and lifeless on the kitchen floor. Gil starts to call Chicago Police Detective Hal Washington but then thinks better of it. Instead, he calls for Internal Affairs, the branch of the department that investigates criminal activity within the police force, the same branch that had been investigating Detective Sgt. Russ Engle prior to his murder. After nearly half an hour of waiting, the apartment buzzer finally sounded. Still wearing Ike’s rubber gloves, Gil pushed the button to unlock the security door downstairs. When he heard footsteps in the stairwell, he quickly opened the front door, then stuffed the rubber gloves into his pockets before anyone could see them. Two uniformed police officers entered the apartment, a tall, thin black woman with short, graying hair and a stocky white officer with a big handlebar mustache. “I’m Lt. Sharon Jones, and this is my partner, Officer Roger Swanson,” the woman said. “I take it you’re Gil Maier.” Gil nodded his head. “You haven’t touched anything, have you?” the lieutenant continued. Gil acknowledged that he hadn’t. “I was military policy in the Army,” he said. “I know the routine.” “Then you also know that being here alone with the body puts you high up on the list of homicide suspects,” Sharon said. “Let’s talk about that,” Gil replied. “Momentarily, after we’ve had a look around,” she said. “We are going to be calling in a squad from Homicide and Detective Washington, as well, but I’ve taken the liberty of having a look-see myself first. Your adventures since arriving here in Chicago have attracted a lot of notice around the department, a lot more than you may realize.” “I’m glad to hear that,” Gil said. “To tell you the truth, I could have used a little more help from your department than I’ve gotten so far.” Sharon appeared to make a visible attempt to ignore Gil’s sarcastic remark. “Roger?” Roger Swanson pulled out a notepad and a small digital camera. Gil showed them into the kitchen. The two cops spent a great deal of time examining Ike’s body, being as careful as Gil had been to not disturb any potential evidence. Sharon dictated a lot of observations about the body and its surroundings to her partner, who busied himself writing notes and snapping flash photos of the scene from a variety of angles. When they were done, the lieutenant asked Gil to take a seat in the living room. Roger hovered nearby, still writing a flurry of notes. “So Mr. Maier, I think you should begin by telling me how you know Ike Raynor and what you’re doing in his apartment,” Sharon said. “I actually met Ike at my grain elevator in Iowa, more than a week ago now,” Gil said. “He was a salesman for World Genetix, which makes grain quality testing strips. These are used to test grain for genetic modifications; they have a stripe of ” “We don’t need a scientific lecture,” Sharon interrupted. “Just continue about Ike.” “Well, Howie Carr, our grain merchandiser, brought Ike in for a sales call to sell us some of his test strips,” Gil said. “He left a couple of boxes of samples for us to try out, and that was about it. It wasn’t until later that I found out Howie Carr had this relationship with Ike Raynor.” “A relationship?” the lieutenant asked. “An intimate relationship,” Gil replied. Sharon thought about that for a moment, then said, “I think maybe you’d better tell us about everything. In order. From the start. And don’t leave anything out, especially if it involves Russ Engle.” “It’s going to be a pretty long story,” Gil noted. “We have time,” Sharon commented. “Ike Raynor isn’t going anywhere. If he starts to smell, we’ll close the door.” Gil started with Russ Engle’s phone message to his home in Monrovia, IA and continued from there. This time, he decided not to leave anything out – there were still plenty of things he didn’t understand, and perhaps J/A GJ 21 http://www.grainnet.com/nsblog
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