The Lace House Murder: A Sled Investigation Novel

By Mike Gilmore

South Carolina Governor Rick OShay holds the highest approval ratings most citizens of the state can remember for several generations. His entry into statewide politics offered a fresh experience from old established political power.
Now into his second term, he is determined to hold back cost by state politicians looking after their own special interest. On the evening of his twenty-fifth wedding anniversary celebration, within the beautiful surroundings of the Lace House on the governors complex in Columbia, someone decides OShay will not complete his term in office.
Tommy Marks, senior investigator with SLED, South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division, and his partner Cathy Motts, are thrust into an investigation creating shock waves across the country. Facing pressures from high-ranking state politicians plus federal investigators wanting to remove SLED from the case, the two investigators race against a time limit to find the killer. Every person attending the party is a suspect including the highest elected officials in the state government.
The Lace House Murder stays inside South Carolina but weaves fact and fiction together into an exciting narrative. When you are finished reading the book, you will be asking about the sequel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496947710

Mike Gilmore

The Diplomat is the third Levels of Power novel by Mike Gilmore. He receives his ideas for portions of the novels by closely following our national politics and world events. He works in the daytime for a world-class manufacture of plumbing fixtures and in the evenings writing novels. In addition to the Randy Fisher novels, he has written The Toilet Salesman. An autobiography about selling plumbing and electrical products in the real world. He lives in South Carolina with his wife and two cats.

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© 2014 Mike Gilmore. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 10/22/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-4772-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-4771-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014918646

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Author Acknowledgments

Michelle Langdon is a dedicated member of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s staff working inside The Lace House on the governor complex in Columbia.

I wish to thank her for her invaluable assistance is obtaining permission from the State of South Carolina to use the picture of The Lace House on the front cover of this book.

Chapter 1

The State House

Columbia, SC

Friday, April 3, 2015

9:00 a.m.

The grass on the South Carolina State House grounds had turned green from the warm sunshine and lengthening daylight hours. In the summertime, to the many retired citizens of the Palmetto State, the land making up the State House complex was a delightful place to spend the early morning hours before the afternoon heat forced them back inside to the cool air conditioning of their homes or apartments. Others appreciated the quiet evening sitting around the beautiful State House building after the government offices closed for the day or on the weekend.

Landscaping crews employed by private contractors were busy all around the lawns of the State House building repairing the damage from the recent cold winter. South Carolina never receives the terrible winter snows typical of the northern part of the country, but a late freak winter ice storm had wreaked havoc on the Crepe Myrtle trees and the Azalea bushes that decorated the grounds. Nearly a dozen men and woman in their brown one-piece uniforms with front zippers scurried about the grounds working wonders to prepare the landscaping for the summer tourist season. With the sun raising the temperature a little higher each, the blossoms on the plants were almost ready to burst open and add more color to the landscaping.

Gervais Street provided the northern border for the State House grounds. To the east lies Sumter Street, connecting to Pendleton Street on the south, and, finally, Assembly Street to the west completing the circuit around the complex. The distance, north to south, across the land mass is 349 yards, and east to west measures 324 yards.

The grounds are dotted with over thirty monuments and markers, each describing a small part of the state’s colorful history. From Gervais Street, perhaps the dominate monument pays homage to the solders of the Confederacy. No true spirit of South Carolina could allow their state’s heritage to slip away with the passage of time.

The monument stands nearly thirty feet tall, starting from a square mass of layered granite and rising to become a column with a confederate soldier proudly capping the marble. The two inscriptions on the monument describe with great dignity the fate of the soldiers dressed in gray and butternut-colored uniforms.

The north side inscription reads: This monument perpetuates the memory of those who, true to the instincts of their birth, faithful to the teachings of their fathers, constant in their love for the state, died in the performance of their duty…who have glorified a fallen cause by the simple manhood of their lives, the patient endurance of suffering, and the heroism of death…and who in the dark hours of imprisonment, in the hopelessness of the hospital, in the short sharp agony of the field, found support and consolation in the belief that at home they would not be forgotten.

The south side inscription reads: Let the stranger, who in future times reads this inscription, recognize that these were men whom power could not corrupt, whom death could not terrify, whom defeat could not dishonor, and let their virtues plead for just judgement of the causes in which they perished…Let the South Carolinian of another generation remember that the state taught them how to live and how to die, and that from her broken fortunes she has preserved for her children the priceless treasures of her memories, teaching all who may claim the same birthright that truth, courage and patriotism endure forever. – William Henry Trescot.

Behind the monument to the Confederate soldier lies a paved sidewalk leading back to the first set of steps to the State House Building. Six or seven wide stair steps bring the visitor to a landing and a bronze replica of George Washington, created in 1857 from the original marble statue, which sits at the capital in Richmond, Virginia. The walking stick originally cast with the statue was broken during the transportation to its current location.

The west side of the capitol grounds displays the oldest monument. The iron Palmetto Regiment Monument consists of a base with a Palmetto tree affixed to the top. Erected in 1858, the Palmetto Regiment Monument honors the soldiers of the Palmetto Regiment for their service in the Mexican War. From the onslaught of General Sherman’s troops, some portions of the monument sustained damage in 1865, although the tree itself escaped major damage.

During the Revolutionary War, the British sailed into Charleston Harbor with the intentions of capturing the port city. General William Moultrie and a force of Patriot Soldiers stood behind an unfinished wall made from Palmetto trees and prepared to defend the city. The British, under the command of General Charles Lee, warned Moultrie that his men would die from the British gunboat shelling of the fortress. Moultrie replied that he would fight among the rubble of his fort.

For nine hours, the British lay siege with their cannon fire, but in the end, Moultrie prevailed. The Palmetto logs absorbed the impact of the cannon fire from the British ships, much as a sponge absorbs water. Moultrie’s own cannons inflicted so much damage to the British fleet that the foreigners withdrew from the battle.

On the Southeast side of the capitol grounds, sits the Confederate Women’s Memorial dedicated on April 11, 1912. The sculptor was Frederic W. Ruckstull. With the memorial called the Angles of the Confederacy, the inscription on the northwest side reads, In this monument, generations unborn shall hear the voice of a grateful people testifying to the sublime devotion of the women of South Carolina in their country’s need. Their unconquerable spirit strengthened the thin lines of gray, their tender care was solace to the stricken. Reverence for God and unfaltering faith in a righteous cause inspired heroism that survived the immolation of sons, and the courage that bore the agony of suspense and the shock of disaster. The tragedy of the Confederacy may be forgotten, but the fruits of the noble service of the daughters of the South are our perpetual heritage.

Perhaps one of the most inspiring monuments, located on the east side of the State House Building, is the African American History Monument, unveiled on March 26, 2001, making South Carolina the first of fifty states to have a monument dedicated to black history on the grounds of its State Capitol. Designed by Ed Dwight, the centerpiece is a twenty-three-feet-tall granite obelisk flanked by two curved granite walls, which depict historic scenes of African American history in South Carolina. Inset in a large stone in front of the centerpiece are four rubbing stones brought from the Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Ghana in Africa. Some believe that rubbing a stone from home can take one back there in spirit.

As a person approaches the building from the north side, the immense stairway fills your vision. Behind the stairway are the twelve Corinthian columns. The forty-three-feet-tall monolithic columns weigh thirty-seven tons each and are, perhaps, the largest in the world.

On the west and south facades of the State House building are six bronze star markers. They mark the six locations where, on February 19, 1865, the State House came under fire by artillery cannon from General Sherman’s gun batteries.

The State House dome reached completion in 1902 and later became part of the 1995-1998 renovation project to modernize the State House. Forty-four thousand pounds of copper cover the dome’ exterior. The dome visible from the outside is not the same dome viewed from inside the State House lobby. The interior dome is beneath the exterior dome, but slightly offset to allow its positioning to be in the center of the lobby. The building is 300 feet long, 150 feet wide, and 180 feet high from ground to the top of the dome.

The large outside stairway brings a visitor into the second-floor portico level or Main Lobby. State employees can access both the House and Senate Chambers from this level. Perhaps the most beautiful room in the State House is the Joint Legislative Conference Room, which serves as the library. The main features are the chandelier, mosaic glass windows, and spiral staircase.

The first floor or Lower Lobby consists of marble floors and walls, native granite stone columns, and a beautifully detailed arched ceiling. The east wing of the Lower Lobby houses the office of the South Carolina Lieutenant Governor.

As would be expected of any government building, the Office of the Governor was the busiest this day. With the Governor’s office located in the west wing of the Lower Lobby, the building always took on extra energy when the state’s chief executive was in the building. Today was no exception, as Governor Rick O’Shay was holding court in his private office surrounded by his most trusted staff members.

From the entrance to the private domain of the Governor’s Office off the lobby of the lower floor, every visitor needed to get past the main receptionist and the two South Carolina State troopers who also act as the personal bodyguards for O’Shay. Hank Holloway was forty-one years old and a twenty-year veteran of the law enforcement agency. Still maintaining his high school weight at graduation, either Hank or his deputy, Trooper Jack Ford, would accompany the governor on all trips in and outside the state. Ford, younger than Holloway by ten years, would double as the governor’s driver in the state-owned black GMC Yukon. Both men occupied new wooden desks behind a glass-framed wall and controlled the electrical switch for the only door into the inner sanctum for the governor and his staff. Both the glass wall and the clear glass door were made of bulletproof glass. The door opened outward, making it almost impossible for anyone or anything to force it open and threaten the people on the protected side.

The receptionist would carefully check the schedule on her desktop computer screen for all appointments for the governor, his chief of staff, or other members of O’Shay’s executive team. Holloway and Ford would also have the schedule for any meetings on their own computers to verify the appointments with the receptionist.

On the wall behind the receptionist was the state seal, which was a large circle containing two ovals. The left oval is the palmetto tree with a fallen oak at the base. The right oval is the goddess Spes, meaning hope walking on the beach at dawn over discarded weapons. Branches of the palmetto tree connect the two ovals. The state’s two mottos surround the two ovals. On the left is Animis Opibusque Parati, meaning, Prepared in Mind and Resources. On the right is Dum Spiro Spero, meaning, While I Breathe I hope.

The blue background with a palmetto tree and white crescent make up the South Carolina state flag. The Stars and Stripes of the United States and the South Carolina state flag frame the state seal.

Behind the reception area is a small waiting area with a sofa, two end tables, a coffee table, and several overstuffed leather chairs. The walls have a pale crème color paint, and portraits of historic scenes from the state’s history add the final decorative touch.

A hallway leads out of the waiting area into an open space with more doorways leading to offices further into the depth of the governor’s office. Three of the doors lead to the chief of staff, the governor’s press secretary, and the governor’s personal aid. The fourth door leads into the office of the governor’s personal secretary, who safeguards the entrance to the private office of the governor himself.

All the offices for the governor’s senior staffers were empty at this moment. Governor O’Shay always kept Friday morning in reserve for a meeting with his private staff. Here they would recap the week’s events and make any last minute changes for the next week’s schedule. Today was no exception.

The largest room in the west end of the lower level was the governor’s office, which was even larger than the conference room, since this room represented the state of South Carolina and it’s most powerful chief executive. Located in the corner of the building, the room’s two exterior walls were white-painted bricks with windows rising from waist high to the ceiling. As with the receptionist’s office, the exterior windows were bulletproof glass, but covered with wooded adjustable shutters to provide privacy for the room’s occupant.

Rick O’Shay commanded his audience from behind his massive oak desk set across from the corner where the two exterior walls joined. The fifty-year-old governor looked smaller behind his desk than his six feet, two inch frame, as he held sway over the Friday morning meeting. At two hundred and thirty-five pounds, O’Shay was in fit condition, helped by a daily morning exercise regimen and a constant watch on his diet. Even now at the early morning hour, he munched on an apple while others in the room helped themselves to the coffee and sweet rolls brought in by Denise Reilly, his personal aid.

O’Shay had been born in upstate South Carolina, near Clemson, and attended the local school system and then went on to the University of Clemson, where he earned a B.S. in Business Administration. He started to work full time for his father’s construction business while furthering his education and earning an M.B.A. in Business Administration.

O’Shay Construction, Inc. participated in both residential and commercial projects and did very well for many years. Their construction of single-family homes included custom construction projects and they developed several large communities of starter homes built on speculation. They would always have nearly a dozen new homes available for sale. As the housing market entered the boom after the turn of the century, they could barely keep up with demand and potential homeowners went on a waiting list.

Two things happened in the life of Rick O’Shay early in 2006. First, his father passed away and the operation of the business became his to run. A few weeks after the funeral, he took time to make a complete assessment of the business and the economy. His chief financial officer made an interesting comment during a meeting about how a majority of the homes under construction in one of the starter home subdivisions had extremely low down payments from the new owners. The financing of new home construction had entered a new phase for their business.

Rick made a decision to start backing off new home construction, even though demand was near a record high. As he closely watched, banks continued to loan money to people who could barely make the mortgage payments. In a surprising move, while the housing market was at the apex of the building cycle, Rick accepted an offer from a larger national home building company to sell O’Shay Construction, including the commercial division.

With more money than he could spend in a lifetime, Rick looked for a new area on which to focus his interest and energy. In the summer of 2006, he decided to run for the office of mayor of Anderson, South Carolina. Anderson was the largest city closest to Clemson and his old company had built several new home communities in the area. The O’Shay name was well known and respected.

Rick won over his Democratic contender in a landslide. Now energy formerly used to build new homes went into running a city of less than thirty thousand residences. He quickly earned a reputation as a fiscally conservative politician and when the housing market crumbled in 2009, the city of Anderson was operating in the black, with money to spare.

In 2010, members of the South Carolina GOP approached O’Shay with an offer to run for the Third Congressional District and represent the area in Washington, DC. The offer tempted the Anderson mayor, but O’Shay’s interest lay toward Columbia, where politics in the state capitol was heating up. The state had been a Republican stronghold for years and the current governor was nearing the end of his second term. Already several high-ranking prominent Republicans were setting the governor’s mansion as their goal and the upcoming elections looked like a race among some of the state’s political titans. The problem with titans is there can only be one and it appeared the leading contenders intended to destroy each other with negative campaigns.

Rick was relatively unknown outside of upstate South Carolina, so when he filed his papers with the state’s election commission, he was like a breath of fresh air blowing across the political landscape. In a surprise to his rivals, he won the primary election by easily defeating the other top candidates and moved on to win the general election in November of 2010. With his wife, Evelyn, by his side on the steps of the State House building, on January 12, 2011 he became the state’s 116th governor. When re-election came around in November of 2014, O’Shay easily defeated his Democratic challenger and settled in his office at the State House for another four years.

Rick tossed the apple core into the plastic bag lining the small wastebasket next to his desk and leaned back in his custom swivel chair until the hinges reached their stops. He assumed his customary relaxed position with his feet placed on top of his desk. He already had his suit coat off and placed his inter-woven fingers together in his lap as he surveyed his personal staffers already gathered for their usual Friday morning meeting.

He looked first at Denise Reilly, his personal aid, and both the youngest and newest member of his inner circle. Alright, Denise, what’s on tap for today?

Denise was ready for the question. The twenty-six-year-old African-American came on-board with the governor during the third year of his first term. She was single, stood five feet, four inches tall and kept her weight below 120 pounds. She wore her black hair in a short cut and since her hair had little natural curl, she decided the Hallie Berry look fit the shape of her face and light complexion.

You’ve got the Lt. Governor here at 10:30, followed by the Senate leader at 11:15, and then lunch with Larry Cullum in the executive dining room at noon. Immediately after lunch, you give the award to the winner of the State Spelling Bee Contest in the library. At 2:30, you meet with the Speaker of the House and whenever you’re finished with her, you are free for the balance of the day.

She looked up from her notepad. Remember, you told me to keep your afternoon short so nothing would hold you up here late and you would be home for the party. Mrs. O’Shay has sent me numerous emails reminding me that you have an important function at home tonight.

The group all broke up in laughter, with O’Shay laughing the loudest. His twenty-fifth wedding anniversary celebration had been on the books, in reality, for twenty-five years. The planning for the celebration officially hit the scheduling calendar immediately after the last election, when he knew he would occupy the governor’s mansion for another four years.

O’Shay still had a smile on his face as he picked up the conversational thread. Thank goodness for the party. Except for the winner of the spelling bee, this working day would be a complete bust. I love being the governor, but I hate state politics.

He started to look over toward his chief of staff, but snapped his head back to Denise. You make sure you pull me out of that lunch meeting with Larry Cullum on time. I know what he wants and I do not want to spend one extra minute with him. He is an old family friend and I will see him tonight at the party, but I cannot give him any special help with the construction contract for the new prison. He will just have to be the lowest bidder and win the contract legitimately.

Denise smiled politely. Yes, Sir. I will step in and rescue you on time.

Another round of laughter followed, as O’Shay now looked to Coleman Young. The other African American in the room was forty-six years old and had been with O’Shay for over fourteen years. He had been the chief financial officer who had warned O’Shay about the lopsided debt-to-equity ratio with the many new homebuyers years ago and helped O’Shay avoid the shattering of the housing market. O’Shay made millions from company sales and rewarded Coleman by retaining him when O’Shay became mayor of Anderson.

Coleman always worked in the background, avoiding the press and public. South Carolina was a very conservative state and a gay black man might still be a little hard to swallow for some of the voting constituents. He did not yet know where O’Shay would go after the end of his second term as governor, but he suspected O’Shay had his eye on a spot in the nation’s capital. Wherever O’Shay went, Coleman Young would be one-step behind.

Coleman, where are we with the investigation on the State Retirement System?

Coleman knew this question would come up in today’s meeting. Like Denise, he was ready. He shifted his short slender frame within his chair and lowered his head to consult his note pad. Everyone could see the outside light reflect off his bald head. Only a halo of hair remained from his youth. The Inspector General’s investigation is underway. Per your instructions, I have kept my fingers out of the books, but my eyes in. Looking over the shoulders of the investigators, I feel our dear Lt. Governor will have some difficult questions to answer somewhere down the road as the investigation develops. As I said, I kept my fingers out, but I fear Aubrey Lewis’s fingers are all over this growing mess.

O’Shay drew in a deep breath of air, as he contemplated the mess with the state’s thirty-five-billion dollar retirement fund. Late in his third year as governor, quiet rumors began to circulate that the books for the retirement funds were out of balance. When a new state treasurer came into office a few months ago, the Treasurer’s office immediately launched an investigation through the office of the South Carolina Inspector General. The initial report claimed former members of the South Carolina Retirement System Investment Commission (RSIC) had thwarted earlier investigations. The report contained strong language, such as public corruption, securities fraud, mail and wire fraud, common law fraud, states ethics violations, and breaches of fiduciary duties.

Looking back at his trusted senior advisor, O’Shay asked his next questions. How much money could be missing?

Coleman shook his head. Still too soon to know with any certainty. A low figure of half a billion seems to be favored by the investigators, but we won’t know for some time.

Rick nodded his head. Alright, that is your number-one priority. This mess started before we came to Columbia and I will be damned if this administration gets a black eye from the outcome of the investigation. I want it known that we are doing everything possible to find the underlying cause of this. I think before the investigation is over, several people will be going to prison. They may be one of the first to live in a cell at the new prison to be constructed.

That last comment earned another round of quiet laughter. O’Shay looked over toward his press secretary. Curtis Wright was ten years younger than Coleman Young and a carryover from the previous governor. O’Shay would have given the job to his gubernatorial campaign manager after winning the first statewide election, but his trusted friend came down with cancer and could not handle the stress of the workload.

While he missed his friend, who passed away over a year ago, O’Shay was indeed happy with Wright’s performance. He was personable and respected by the press, and his experience with state government affairs had prevented O’Shay from making several PR blunders in his first six months in office. Curtis had earned his spot in O’Shay’s inner circle.

"Curtis, I want to keep feeding the press anything that will show we are on top of this investigation. Nobody from this office will do anything to impede the investigation. In fact, it will be the opposite. All