Death Of A CPA Pornstar

By Gary Michael

DEATH OF A CPA PORNO FILM STAR is an intriguing novel about two simultaneous murder mysteries. One involves a serial murder of ten yong beautiful women and the othe is the death of a prominent Certified Public Accountant who had led an unusual secret double life. Could these seemingly independent cases be connected? Lt. Green of NYPD calls in Professfor Kent to help solve the case.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gary Michael
• Release date: May 28, 2010
• ISBN: 9781370099771

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DEATH OF A CPA PORNSTAR

by

GARY MICHAEL

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Published by:

Gary Michael on Smashwords

Copyright © 2010 Gary Michael

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. The characters and events in this book are fictitious and any similarity to any real person living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

Cover by Sagit Costa – website – sagit-costa.com

ISBN 978-1-4357-3547-7

DEATH OF A CPA PRONSTAR is available in print under the title DEATH OF A CPA, from LULU .com

The title of this ebook is more descriptive of the main story line.

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my family and to my ten thousand accounting students.

Contents

Chapter 1 Death

Chapter 2 The Partners

Chapter 3 Professor Kent

Chapter 4 Candy

Chapter 5 Funeral

Chapter 6 The Actress

Chapter 7 Accounting Investigation

Chapter 8 Accounting Situation

Chapter 9 Tax Return

Chapter 10 The Clients

Chapter 11 Accountants’ Cover Up

Chapter 12 First Amendment Flicks

Chapter 13 Serial Killer Entrapment

Chapter 14 Polygraph

Chapter 15 Blackmail

Chapter 16 Coroner’s Final Report

Chapter 17 Swiss Army Knife

Chapter 18 Realization

Chapter 19 Palomino Stallion

Chapter 20 The Media

Chapter 21 Solved

*****

Chapter 1 Death

There was no question that Ruth Hopkins Ford would have preferred to have been a fashion model instead of a secretary. She certainly had the figure and the striking good looks to be a top model. As a teenager she had imagined herself on the cover of Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Seventeen, or even Playboy. Although she wasn't sure she could dress the part for magazines like Playboy. From early childhood everyone commented on her extraordinary good looks whenever they met her. She still wore her jet black wavy hair, the way she did as a high school cheerleader, at shoulder length. Her fair skin tone and bluish green eyes, petite nose, high cheek bones and well formed lips were ideal for a model. Her mother had encouraged her dreams by giving her ballet lessons, entering her in child beauty contests and hiring a promotional agent. The agent regularly sent her to advertising jobs promoting clothing, toys, brands of candy and ice cream. Ruth enjoyed the work and fondly remembered receiving the clothing and shoes she modeled as a fringe benefit. She had a collection of silver award cups and statues from the numerous beauty contests she won as a child and teenager. To this day her mother proudly displayed every award and certificate in her living room. Ruth wouldn’t dream of taking these mementos of past glory from her mother as it gave her so much enjoyment. To her mother’s credit all of Ruth’s modeling fees were put in the bank for her future education.

The only problem she had was her figure. True, it was proportioned and trim; but she was just too short. When she was sixteen she came in third place in the state Junior Miss America beauty contest. The winner and the runner up were both a head taller than she was. Her growth genes quit on her at a mere 61 inches, only five feet one inch tall. Ruth knew that the fashion houses wanted taller models so she came to peace with herself and gave up dreams of being a model. After high school she entered a two year business college and concentrated on office skills.

Upon graduation from college, she became a typist for Hastings, Mandel and Smith Certified Public Accountants. Now at age twenty three, Ruth was an executive secretary at the highly respected middle sized CPA firm that had audited major industrial and commercial companies such as Roosevelt Electronics, Manhattan Builders, and the Original Olive Oil Co. Ruth knew that her pretty face and appearance got her the job of receptionist\typist right out of college as the CPA firm wanted to make an impression on clients when they came to visit. Nevertheless, she was confident that it was her efficient secretarial skills that maintained the job and later caused Mr. Hastings, the senior partner, to promote her to executive secretary.

She was pleased to be working in Manhattan at the main office. The accounting firm had branch offices throughout New York and New Jersey. Last January, it expanded into Massachusetts by merging a small, but highly respected Boston CPA firm, into the organization. The company was expanding and she expected to enjoy both a long and interesting career. She was happy with her job, but there was one negative aspect to it. That was the way that one of the partners, Richard Smith, would sneak desirous looks at her whenever he thought she couldn't see him. Despite Smith’s ability with numbers he never caught on that Ruth had a small mirror resting on the corner of her desk from which she could discreetly observe activity to the rear of her office in order to keep Smith at arm’s length. Richard Smith was considered by most people to be short, even though he was five inches taller than Ruth when she wasn't wearing heels. Recently divorced, Mr. Smith was introverted and at times moody. She was convinced that had she not been living with Fred when she began work, he would have hit upon her, but in an apparently innocuous way to avoid a sexual harassment situation and lawsuit. After all he was a conservative accountant who naturally worked to avoid negative legal actions.

It was another Monday morning and Ruth was confined inside a noisy and jostling subway car counting the minutes until she could escape from the noise and crowds of the subway. Even though it was a cool late October day on the surface of the city, the subway was uncomfortably warm and muggy. To occupy her time while making her routine trip to Manhattan she thought

about her job and about how her life had changed since marrying Fred Ford. Since they had lived together for two years before the wedding not much had changed in their physical and day to day relationship. She had added his family name onto her maiden name. The major change had been in the attitude of her parents. They always seemed to have a problem with her. First they were unhappy that their daughter was living in sin and that Ruth was supporting Fred while he finished his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. Fred's graduation made them happier, and when he landed a good paying job with Digital Electronics they became ecstatic since Ruth and Fred had previously agreed to marry Ruth when he graduated and became employed. The wedding was modest but festive. In addition to relatives and friends all of Ruth’s co-workers from Hastings, Mandel and Smith CPAs came to her wedding. Mr. Hastings made a very moving speech comparing Ruth to his lovely wife of nearly fifty years, Mildred. Fortunately for Ruth, Richard Smith behaved himself at the wedding. He had come with an attractive female cousin.

Immediately following the wedding her parents began bugging her about giving them a grandchild. Ruth had no desire to accommodate her parents. She and Fred both had careers and financial goals. They wanted to travel a little and to save up to purchase a nice house on Long Island. Had her parents really wanted grandchildren they should have given Ruth brothers and sisters. If so, her siblings could be producing the requested grandchildren. At twenty three she wasn’t in any hurry to assume the responsibilities of motherhood nor did she want to risk losing her figure as a result of pregnancy.

Fred loved her very much and concurred in postponing having children. He knew someday they would have several beautiful children because they would take after Ruth in looks and after him in height. He was aware of the sacrifices his wife made for him in order to earn his degree. It took an unusual woman to take over the support of a student without the guarantees of getting her MRS degree. Fred had no trouble in dismissing her one short coming. Ruth was a little high strung and had an involuntary startle reaction when taken by surprise or frightened in which she would react by screaming loudly. The intensity, pitch, and duration depended on the event. Mice and snakes were her second highest level of uncontrollable screaming. The highest level came from scary movies. Fred knew he could not take his wife out to movies because she would always disturb the rest of the audience with her screams. Since she persistently claimed to love horror and thriller movies he would rent videos for home viewing. Their neighbors had grown accustomed to Ruth’s screaming while watching a video and laughed off her screams. They insisted on being warned in advance whenever Fred brought home a video and imposed the condition that Ruth would not watch videos after 11 p.m. At work she would invariably bolt upright and shriek, what! whenever someone would come alongside her desk while she was typing to ask for something, thereby breaking her intense concentration. The main reason she had mounted the small mirror on her desk was to give her warning to approaching people, yet she was often taken by surprise. Such outbursts were tolerated at the office because the partners had never had such an efficient secretary. She could type 90 error free words a minute, from handwritten rough drafts, while editing grammar errors and correcting spelling mistakes. Even financial statements and schedules seemed to be created spontaneously on Ruth's word processor. Not to mention that the partners were pleased with the favorable image Ruth presented.

She dutifully climbed up the crowded maze of underground corridors and escalators to the surface where she achieved a sense of freedom from the claustrophobic feeling generated by the mass of commuters. On the streets the people dispersed allowing her a reasonable space to walk and to enjoy the refreshing fall breeze. She grasped her umbrella like a walking stick and smartly marched toward her office in the Majestic Tower. Predictably the store windows had pumpkins, scarecrows, brightly colored fall leaves in oranges and reds, and of course the latest trendy fall fashions. Surely in another week the window displays would miraculously change to Pilgrims and turkeys, and then without missing a beat the windows would all welcome the Christmas season.

The coming of Christmas meant that bonuses were near. Two years ago she joyfully received a week's salary as a bonus, with much appreciation because she had only been employed at Hastings, Mandel and Smith for six months. On the first anniversary of her employment, which coincided with her wedding, the firm gave her two week's salary as a bonus, a ten percent pay raise, a promotion to executive secretary and a microwave oven. She smiled as she remembered that kindly old Mr. Hastings, the senior partner, had added a personal note stating that he hoped that the microwave would minimize cooking time and thereby allow her to stay at work late when necessary without undo concern for her husband’s dietary needs. Mr. Hastings made everybody happy at the office. Perhaps it was his grandfatherly image that made the office special. Although he was sixty nine years old, he didn't intend to retire until he was at least seventy five. When asked why he wasn't ready for retirement he would respond that he loved his work, and besides his father was still active volunteering his services at a hospital at age ninety two. Mr. Hastings always knew the right thing to say at the right time and always understood. His charm and outgoing caring personality dispelled the stereotypical opinion that CPA offices are dry, dreary, dusty, dingy places definitely without character. Hastings, Mandel and Smith was a fun place to work. True there were pressure times but everybody worked as a team with respect for one another. No matter how often she spoke enthusiastically about her work and her office associates, her friends would pooh-pooh her comments and say that nothing ever exciting or worth talking about happens in boring accounting offices.

Ruth was usually the first to arrive at the office and she accepted the responsibility for unlocking the large glass door. The firm’s name was displayed attractively in raised aluminum block letters. Every Monday after hanging up her coat, she would get a clear glass pitcher from the mini kitchen, fill it with water, and make the rounds of the partner’s exterior offices which ran along the northern and eastern sides of the building, to water the plants after the imposed drought of the weekend. A second filling of the pitcher was necessary for the plants located in the central core of offices for staff accountants and the office staff. Monday morning routine was all so predictable to Ruth.

This day, upon swinging open the oversized glass door, Ruth let out one of her involuntary, not so little, screams. Ruth even surprised herself more than usual, as nothing physical seemed to initiate her involuntary action. She wondered what had triggered the scream. She quickly scanned the office as she slowly removed her coat and walked to the coat closet next to the mini-kitchen. Something was not normal, but what? There was an unusual odor in the air that she could not identify. It was a stale, or spoiled heavy scent. Ruth walked over to the air ventilation controls to verify that the system was operating. It was fine. The next logical source of the smell was the kitchen or the private bathrooms. Nothing had been inadvertently left out on the counter to rot over the weekend. Since she was already in the kitchen she decided to fill the floral pitcher with water to water the plants in the partner’s offices while she searched for the source of the smell.

Suddenly she knew the odor's source! Ruth again let out a hysterical howl and wail, the likes of which had never been heard anywhere within the Majestic Tower complex. She stood shaking from the ends of her hair to the tips of her toes and bellowed constantly. The glass water jug shook violently while frozen in her left hand. The water was forced by centrifugal force upward and outward with each bellow until it soaked Ruth’s dress from her breasts to her hem line before cascaded down to the caramel colored carpeting beneath her.

Carlos Ramos was walking down the hall to the office thinking about an Excel spreadsheet problem that he had left unsolved the previous Friday, when Ruth's shrill voice raced at him like a blast of hot air. He