Murder on the Neches

By George Barclay

A chemical plant nurse is agrroted and shot. The plant physician is charged with murder. Case complicated by discovery of missing platium reactor whose design is vital to corporate and national security. Sandra takes the case and it goes to trial. Dramatic and surprise ending. Amusing, quick read, and absolutely ficticious.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Aug 31, 2000
• ISBN: 9781469707709

George Barclay

Dr. Barclay, BS Chem Eng., MD, ABIM, FACC is retired physician living onh a farm near Woodville, Texas. He is currently working on his seventh Sandra Learner mystery.

Book preview

Chapter 1

BEAUMONT, TEXAS 10 P.M., November 6,1987.

Come in. I was fixin’ to watch the news. It’s still early. Julie was clad in robe and slippers.

I ran out of gas back several blocks. May I borrow your car? He was smiling and handsome.

The keys are on my dresser. I’ll get them. Julie turned and started toward the back. He pulled a cord from his pocket, looped it over her head, and viciously pulled it taunt. Julie sank to her knees grasping at the cord. She struggled and went limp as her breathing stopped. She dropped to the floor unconscious.

He put on gloves, walked to the bedroom, and found the keys. Returning to Julie, he felt a faint pulse. He picked her up and carried her out to her car. It was parked in a winding driveway invisible from the dimly lit street. He placed her in the passenger seat. He returned to the door, turned off the light, and rubbed the handle.

He drove east through the tree lined streets, and passed under IH-10. After several blocks, he pulled up behind a dark van. Getting out, he opened the trunk of Julie’s car. With much effort he lifted a heavy box and carried it to the van. The back doors of the van opened, and a pair of hands took the box from him. The doors closed, and the van moved off.

Returning to Julie’s car, he drove east toward the river. City Stadium was packed as he passed. The crowd was cheering and bands were playing.

Chapter 2

HOUSTON, TEXAS 3 P.M., December 11,1987.

Sandra was sitting in her little office high above South Main in downtown Houston. Her feet were propped up on her desk, and she was reading the WallyStreet Journal. Gosh! thought Sandra, gold is $500, silver is $5, and platinum is $800 an ounce. If I’d just bought platinum instead of Exxon, I would have been rich by now.

Miss Lerner, came a voice over the intercom.

Yes, Betty?

There’s a lawyer, Adam Gardner, from Beaumont, Texas on the line. Say’s it’s urgent.

What kind of lawyer is he, Betty? Did he say?

Divorce lawyer, he says.

Put him on, answered Sandra, as she glanced at her watch.

Hello, Miss Lerner, came a well mannered voice.

Yes, this is Sandra Lerner, but I must warn you. I don’t need a divorce. Sandra laughed mischievously, took her feet off the desk, and snuffed out the tiny cigar.

That’s just my specialty, Miss Lerner. I limit my practice to male clients only. It’s about one of my clients; he’s in jail for murder. I want to engage your services.

Murder! You mean he got a Smith and Wesson divorce? Sandra was teasing. Actually, she was interested. There was a long pause.

Well, it was a Smith and Wesson, but he is charged with shooting his girlfriend. It’s sort of complicated. If you will assist me in the case, I’ll start from the beginning.

Mr. Gardner, when is the trial?

We start picking jurors December 28. There’s the holidays. We probably won’t go to trial until January 4.

Mr. Gardner, I am looking at my calendar. I can’t be there for the jury selection. You can handle it, can’t you? Just challenge all the women, and keep all the blacks you can. I can probably be there on New Year’s Day. That will be a Friday. It will give us Saturday and Sunday to get ready. Does that sound all right? It’s the best I can do with such short notice.

That will do, Miss Lerner. I want you for the trial. I haven’t gone before a jury in years. I usually just plea bargain.

"OK, Mr. Gardner. You have my services for one week starting January 1.

Now, tell me about our client."

Thank you, Miss Lerner. Our client is Dr. Newell Cranbes, an industrial physician with the Vidor Chemical Plant, forty-five, white, happily married, charged with the strangulation and shooting of the plant nurse at about 10 P.M. on November 6,1987.

Her body was found in her automobile in the Neches River at the Beaumont Yacht Club around 8 A.M. on November 7. County homicide investigation and autopsy revealed Julie Broadus, the victim, had been strangled and shot in the left temple with a 0.38 Cal. weapon registered in Dr. Cranbes’ name. The automobile was semi-submerged and Dr. Cranbes’ hand and fingerprints were found on the top of the car above the driver’s window. Autopsy revealed that she was three months pregnant.

Sandra interrupted. Did they do DNA fingerprinting and blood typing?

Yes, her estranged husband was type O. She was type B. The fetus was AB, and Dr. Cranbes was type A. They just did the blood typing. The DNA specimens were sent to California. The DNA of the fetus didn’t match with blood of either the husband or Dr. Cranbes. The technology is new, very expensive, and perhaps a little shaky.

Go on, said Sandra.

Well, if that was not enough, it had long been rumored that nurse Broadus and Dr. Cranbes were having an office affair.

How did the divorce come in? How did you get called?

Nurse Broadus was married to lawyer Neal Broadus, who suspected her of having an affair with Dr. Cranbes. When Dr. Cranbes gave nurse Broadus a $5000 Rolex watch last September, it was too much for lawyer Broadus. He moved out and filed for divorce. He named Dr. Cranbes as corespondent, and Dr. Cranbes engaged me as his lawyer.

Dr. Cranbes called me to represent him when they arrested him on suspicion of murder.

What happened to the watch? asked Sandra.

Monday after the murder, it was found in the top drawer of Dr. Cranbes’ desk at the plant by the Sheriff’s Deputy. The gate guard said she definitely had it on when she drove out of the plant Friday afternoon.

Anything else?

The key to the gate at the Beaumont Yacht Club. Dr. Cranbes was the only suspect that had one.

How important is it?

There are only two people working at the Vidor Chemical Plant that belong to the Beaumont Yacht Club. They are Dr. Cranbes and the plant’s manager, Lloyd McLaw.

What is Mr. McLaw’s blood type?

"I don’t know. It’s in the doctor’s office files. There are twenty-seven hundred male employees working out there, and fifty percent have Type A blood. I guess nobody really suspected Mr. McLaw; he’s a

very respected lawyer. Top management with Vidor Chemical Works are lawyers."

The guard checks everybody as they go out the gate?

Yes, security is very elaborate. They have a lot of problems with people taking valuables out of the plant. Once, an employee rode through the gate on a riding lawn mower.

Who drives his car into the plant besides the plant nurse?

I don’t know all those details, Miss Lerner. It’s a big plant. A railroad track runs through it, and there are contractors, concession trucks, tank trucks, and such going in and out all day.

Well, Adam, we might as well get on a first name basis, because I am coming to Beaumont on New Year’s Day. Please make up a list of suspects, a list of witnesses, and hire a private detective right now. Can Dr. Cranbes afford a private detective?

I think so. He lives in a big house and carries liability insurance.

Intentional murder with a handgun is not medical malpractice, Adam.

I am glad you are with me, Sandra. I would not have thought of a private investigator. I just defend husbands in divorce cases. It’s the wife that usually hires a detective.

I will drive to Beaumont on January 1, and check into the Hilton on Washington Boulevard. I will call you at 8 A.M. Saturday morning, and we can start work.

Sounds great to me. I’ll call the detective today. You think we ought to get one out of Houston, or use a local firm?

Are we dealing with the county sheriff or the city police?

County.

Local will be fine. Try to get a woman.

Is there anything else, Sandra?

Adam, did you see the movie The Great Houdini with Tony Curtis?

Yes, I did. In fact, several times on late TV.

Do you remember when they locked him in chains, handcuffed, put him in a safe, and dropped him into a hole in the ice?

Yes, I do.

How did he get out?

I don’t know. They just showed him after he swam out.

Adam, one more question?

Okay.

Where was our client the night of the murder?

Where he goes every Friday night. He has a camp house on the Neches River just above Steinhagen Lake. We call it Dam B. He is an avid fisherman. He was on Moon Lake with a crappie light at 10 P.M.

Any witnesses?

None that he knew by name. There was an elderly lady out there about 5 P.M. baiting her trot line.

Find her.

I’ll try.

Until January 1.

Right, said Adam.

Chapter 3

BEAUMONT, TEXAS January 1,1988 (Friday)

Sandra checked into