Charlie's Mysteries

Mark was sitting in his office on North Broad Street in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He was listening to a recorded deposition in his office from his most recently taken deposition. This case involved a motor vehicle accident in which his client was the operator of the vehicle. Her vehicle had been sideswiped by a truck and then struck head-on by another SUV. She had to be taken by Life Flight to the trauma center in Newark, New Jersey.

Due to the nature of her injuries, the doctors there at the trauma center did not think that she was going to survive so he requested to have her deposition taken while she was in the hospital.

Her name was Cindy Lewellyn. She was a 30-year-old African American female who worked as a nurse. Her job required her to be on her feet all day. She was on her way home from her shift on the night of the accident. She was driving her Honda Accord in the middle lane doing about 55 to 60 mph. She was wearing her seatbelt as she had seen too many accidents with victims who had chosen not to wear one. She was actually on her way home from the hospital after telling the parents of one such victim that their son had died from a four-car motor vehicle pile-up on the Garden State Parkway North. She did not relish the drive home.

As Cindy was driving, she was listening to 101.5 on the radio. They were playing the new song from Destiny's Child on it. She was humming along in unison with the song. She had just put her signal on to move into the left-hand lane to pass the vehicle in front of her, which kept braking. All of a sudden, her vehicle was sideswiped from the right-hand lane by the truck and her vehicle spun around facing the other direction into the left-hand lane. It was at this point that her vehicle was hit head-on by the vehicle in the left-hand lane and did not have a chance to avoid the accident.

The man operating the truck, Michael Richards, was an employee of the company. He was in the process of transporting some paper materials to the warehouse. The other driver was Lucy Luck. She was a flight attendant on her way to New York and had taken a side trip to visit a friend before going to stay at the hotel to rest before her next flight out.

All three were taken on life flights to the trauma center in Newark. She was in the worst condition.

He listened and took notes while reviewing the file for most of the day on this case. It would bring in money for the law firm.

He had been in meetings all day when in his office walked a breath of fresh air. It was his daughter. She was in college at Jameson University studying for a Bachelor in Art. She looked just like her mother, God rest her soul. She had brown hair about shoulder length and it was wavy. His daughter had brown eyes like a cocker spaniel and she had this beautiful smile. Her laugh reminded him of bells being rung at a church during service. He smiled to himself.

"Hi, sweetheart! How was your day at school?"

She didn't even crack a smile. She just sat down.

"Charlotte, what happened today at school?"

"There was this brouhaha at school. They found the body of a student Dad. She was in the library and her throat had been slit. However, there did not appear to be any other marks on her body or any other clue. I am scared Dad."

He said, "Charly, don't be completely freaked out but be scared. Keep an eye out. I think I will go talk to your counselor at school and the school police to see if I can help."

"Dad, don't do that. I..."

"No, I will go talk to them. Chin up, Char. I might have a new mystery you can help me with."

Mark walked into the office at the main building on campus. He went to the Registrar's office to see if there were any postings regarding the murder and did not see any. Then he went by the office of the President. He spoke with her for a couple of minutes and then went to the building for Campus Police.

As he walked out of the building, the campus bus drove by. There were not that many students on it. Most tended to walk to their classes. The surrounding parking lots were almost full and the spots in front of College Hall were full.

Students milled about in different states of dress. He saw one student who appeared as if he had slept in his clothes the night before. As he walked by, he got a whiff of the alcohol and said to himself, "Yep, he drank the night before." Of course, the night before was a Sunday so it was still the weekend.

He walked towards the building that housed campus police and walked in. He saw Sgt. Marks and went up to speak with him. He had helped him out in a previous motor vehicle accident, which involved him going to court for a ticket.

"Hi Grey, how are you doing? My little girl came home to me and was rather upset."

"Sorry about that Mark. Many students saw that body and they should not have. It wasn't meant to be made public."

"Can you tell me what happened or let me know if you have an idea?"

"No, we are at a loss too," the telephone rang interrupting the conversation. "Please excuse me. Montclair Police are supposed to be calling to schedule a meeting between Montclair, Clifton, and Bloomfield."

Mark asked, "Why Bloomfield?"

"They had a similar incident at their college last month. They think it is the same guy."

"Well, I'll let you take your telephone call. I am going to just walk around and see what I see. See you in a little bit."

Mark smiled to himself. Grey was already deeply involved in the conversation. He did not even see him leave.

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

He walked up the road towards Ranier Building, past the amphitheater and the library. As he approached the building, he saw the food truck outside the front. He made some good food when you were hungry. In addition, it helped him not to go to the Rat. He is an Alumni of Jameson University prior to it becoming a university. He along with his deceased wife both graduated in 1967 and were married that same year. They had their precious bundle of joy, Charlotte the next year. In addition, neither one of them ever looked back with any regrets.

So much had changed since he went to school there. Hell, so much had changed since his daughter first attended school there. He was amazed. He looked at the immaculately manicured grass, and the paved sidewalks, the flowers on the side, and the many filled parking lots. He turned to enter the building.

The first thing he always notices is whether or not there are people sitting on the benches reading, talking, or writing. The next thing he notices is the bulletin board. It is a good barometer for what is happening on campus over the next couple of months and it gives you ideas for work and other things. He walked towards the two elevators in the back and pushed the button for the fourth floor. He would go up to the History Department and see who was around. He liked some of the professors there and had represented some of them for traffic tickets. The two doors opened and Prof. Alison James walked out. She saw him and stopped.

"Mark, how are you? I have not seen you since Jolie died," said Prof. James.

"I am doing fine. How's the husband, Chris, isn't it?" asked Mark.

"It's Chris. He is fine. Sick. He has H.I.V. We just switched his medicine." responded Alison.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I hope it goes well," said Mark.

"So why are you here business?" asks Alison.

"Business. You know my daughter, Charly. I believe you have her in class for Christianity Studies and for Historical Studies of Man's Development." Mark stopped waiting for her acknowledgment.

"I know her. What happened?" asked Alison.

"A student's dead body was found in the library. Her throat was slit," stated Mark.

"I had heard about that. Sad. Do you need anything from me?" again asked Alison.

"No, I'll let you know. I have a meeting," said Mark.

"Join us for dinner tonight. Chris would like to see you. Unless you are still phobic?" she questions Mark.

In response, Mark answered, "Touché! I'll see."