Orbit Corbit: Orbit Series, #1

By R. D. Scott

Finding the truth sometimes means throwing out preconceptions.  Using intuition is a good tool, it should be used.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R. D. Scott
• Release date: Jul 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201675882

R. D. Scott

Retired policeman and retired private detective.  The golf got boring and writing took it's place.

Book preview

Other works:

GARY SUTTON

Insight

Home

Sightline

Evil Sight

Oversight

When Living Starts

CAROL TAYLOR

Hide and Seek

KIT CARSON

To Serve and Protect, Who?

PAULINE WARING

Sooner Sleuth

DAVID WALKER

Walker

KAREN TREMONT 

Star Roamer

AGGIE KIMBEL

Witch in Blue

Angel Tales

Henry Longfellow

Longfellow

Contents

CHAPTER ONE......It couldn't have happened that way

Chapter Two.....Cold Case Consultant

Chapter Three...Finding the problem

Chapter Four....The Great Art Heist

Chapter Five.....Crime Doesn't Pay

Chapter Six.......Reality hits the fan

Chapter Seven...It wasn't a game

Chapter Eight....Shenanigans, political style

Chapter Nine.....Stalking for profit

Chapter Ten......Under the influence

Chapter Eleven..I've been fired

Chapter Twelve.The program is over a ninety day period

Chapter One  

IT COULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED that way.  I said out loud to Mr. Cleveland, our math teacher, a forty something overweight man.  (Why can't I just think it instead of blurting it out.)  He had just described a cheating scheme for our end of year Math test, discovered when 3 less than intelligent students all received A's on their calculus tests.  The interesting and impossible thing was he claimed they must have signaled the answers to each other during the test.

"Oh-Oh, Orbit Corbit strikes again."  My so called best friend, Katie, said loud enough for everyone to hear.  Over the past two years she had spread that strange nickname to all her friends at Anderson High and anybody else that would listen.  Mr. Cleveland was exasperated, he didn't know who to address first, me or Katie.  He chose Katie.

Would you like to explain your comment Ms. Portland?  He was already frustrated, the next step in the cheating scheme would be to involve the school Principal, something he was loathe to do since the three students were not passing anyway and wouldn't qualify for graduation.

Yessir, Carol can tell how things work, it's like ideas circle in orbit around her head, until she finds the idea that fits, so Orbit Corbit.  The last time she did it was in Chemistry, she told Ms. Osgood that her planned experiment couldn't happen the way she wanted and suggested a different ingredient.  The experiment worked just fine then.  She announced smugly.

Ms. Corbit would you like to explain your comment?  He was now getting angry, I think the thought of talking to the Principal was scaring him.

Mr. Cleveland, the test required us to show our work and most of the problems had five steps, there's no way they could signal all the steps in all the questions without revealing themselves.  I saw him hesitate and the relief on the 3 cheaters faces was comical.  They thought they were off the hook. 

It was done differently. I told him.  Did your master copy of the test get photocopied in the supply room?  If so, all that someone had to do was hit the memory key on the copier and get a copy of things printed out that day. 

If he was as smart as he made out, he'd know they had tried to memorize the test questions and answers the night before the test.  He got it.  The 3 cheaters were escorted to the Principal's office and would probably be in detention for years and would not likely graduate ever.  That also gave me the distinction of having the highest grade on the test, legitimately.  The only problem would be the new stories told about 'Orbit Corbit'.  The good thing was that in three days I would graduate from Anderson High School and could think about college at the University of Texas even if it was only 6 miles away.  I wanted to go there, especially since they gave me a full academic scholarship, I had earned a 3.95 GPA, the highest in the Senior class.

Graduation Day, and I was ready to get away from high school.  I had just turned seventeen, but thanks to my academic skills, I had skipped the 5th grade.  I could probably have skipped more grade levels, I had one of those puzzle solving minds, but then I would be away from the few friends I had, plus the older kids would shun me as a geek even more than they already did.  There is no explanation for why or how my mind grabs puzzles and then almost as soon as I think specifically about the problem, an answer comes to me.

After the noon diploma award's ceremony that Saturday all the graduates were congratulated by all their teachers and counselors, only Mr. Cleveland wasn't there, I knew he always attended school functions and I didn't believe he would purposely miss this occasion.  So I asked Principal Harris what happened, where was he?  That's when I learned that he was in jail, he had been arrested last night for attacking and killing a woman.  According to what the police said he had waited outside her apartment and hit her over the head with a tire iron.

It couldn't have happened that way.  Was my immediate and unthinking response.  Principal Harris looked at me strangely and replied that the police had investigated and called him this morning to inform him of the arrest.

What do you mean it couldn't have happened that way? He asked me out of either concern or just curiosity.

Mr. Cleveland has arthritis in both hands, he would have been unable to hold a tire iron hard enough to hit anyone, he can barely hold a pen.  I answered, knowing that my teacher did everything in a careful way to avoid dropping things in class, even if we hadn't been told about the arthritis. 

Principal Harris quickly excused himself and headed for his car.  I was surprised he hadn't thought the same thing himself, he was aware of the arthritis.

Maybe it slipped his mind or maybe because the popular belief was the police couldn't be wrong.

At 5:00pm that same Saturday there was knock on the door and my Dad answered.  A man, six feet tall and dark hair, standing on our porch held up a gold badge and introduced himself as Detective Poe, with the Austin Police Department, then asked for me by name.  Dad was turning to yell for me but I was right behind him, I was always the curious sort, and he asked me what I had done.  With the look he gave me this was a chance to play with him a little.  I didn't want to disappoint him so I said it was just a prank with a guilty look on my face.  I didn't often get over on my Dad, so I came up with a wild answer.

One of the guys at school dared me to streak down the hallway wearing only a mask, so I did.  Nobody got hurt and everybody was laughing.  I told him.  He apparently didn't see the humor though, his face got bright red.  Maybe my joke was to much, so I quickly told him I was joking, it didn't really happen.

Carol, may I ask you some questions, please?  The Detective was polite, especially since he was chuckling, he got the joke.

Sure, what about?  Dad asked. He was standing right there and not even an earth mover would have been able to pull him away.

This is about Mr. Cleveland and Mr. Harris from Anderson High.  Your daughter's Principal came down to the station this afternoon and gave us some information he said came from her.  Does that explain why I'm here?  He was keeping the details to himself, but I understood, even if my Dad wasn't happy, I had to clue him in.

Dad, Mr. Cleveland was arrested yesterday for killing some woman and I told Mr. Harris that it couldn't have happened the way they said.  Dad knew immediately what must have happened and his face cleared up, I've used those words before with him.

Detective, Mr. Harris said that Mr. Cleveland hit a woman with a tire iron and  I told him it couldn't have happened that way, he's got severe arthritis in his hands, he wouldn't be able to hold a tire iron. I said. I can't give you any more because I would have to see the situation to discover other possible causes.  I gave him the only answer I could with the facts I had, it would be like working a puzzle with half the pieces still in the box.

I understand now.  Dad said, slightly relieved.  My daughter has been doing this all her life.  To get an accurate solution Carol needs to see everything and listen to the details, she has a compulsion, a quirk, to solve problems.  But Carol, you can't get involved with a police matter.  He was sort of saying no, I wasn't going to be allowed to help.

Why do you think she actually could help?  The Detective asked Dad.  He genuinely was interested.

My daughter has always seen things in a different way and she's never, in the last five years, missed getting the right answer.  Dad told him.  But I don't want her involved in a police investigation.

What do you think you'd see that we haven't?  The Detective had a very skeptical look on his face as he asked me that.

I have no idea until I get a look at the location, but if there's something there I should see it.  I told him confidently.

Mr. Corbit, I don't really believe she'd see anything either, but if you don't mind, could you and your daughter take a quick ride to the crime scene and dispel my doubts.  Dad was going to say no, I could tell, until I nudged his back and with a heavy sigh he finally agreed.  Dad told Mom we would be right back and to please hold dinner, I was going to try to help the police with something.  The Detective drove us about 8 blocks to an apartment complex on the other side of the school from our neighborhood and we followed him up to the second floor.  There was crime scene tape across the hall and door of one apartment.

"We got a call from another tenant about a body laying in the hallway and responding officers found the dead woman half in and half out of the apartment.  When officers arrived, Mr. Cleveland, a tenant who lived down the hall, was kneeling next to the body and when questioned said he had checked to see if she had a pulse, he said he had to move the tire iron from her