Ecuperating - Chapter 4

The email from Fred and from the NYPD came in almost at the same time. Fred was right. There wasn’t much on the molester. No one really cared, evidently. The half thumbprint was there and Jayne carefully transferred it to her morphing program. There was similar information from the NYPD. They, too, didn’t spend a lot of time attempting to solve the crime.

It was a Mafia family, after all, and who wanted to spend tax money on it? They were happy to get the inquiry, for it showed that the still open file had some recent activity on the case. That would help come budget time. Jayne carefully transferred the half thumbprint from the New York case into her morphing program also.

And the truth shall set you free! Jayne thought as she slowly brought the two prints together.

“Holy shit!” Jayne exclaimed aloud. “They are from the same guy!” She checked them again, getting even more excited. “Now what?”

Jayne looked at the clock. Only two in the afternoon. Fred would still be at work. Jayne called the police station in Newberry and asked for the chief.

“Hey there, Fred!” Jayne began. “I just got your e- mail and the one from NYPD too. Guess what? The print is from the same person! They fit together perfectly!” She couldn’t keep her excitement out of her voice. “Wow!” Fred shared her excitement. “You mean it

was the same guy?”

“It sure looks like it! But, I need your expertise again,” she said. “What shall I do now? So I have a print. Big deal. Unless I can find out who it is, I have nothing at all. Do you have any suggestions on where I should go from here?”

“The best bet would be to check data bases to see if there’s a match anywhere,” Fred suggested. “What data bases?” Jayne asked. “NYPD for a start,” Fred informed her. “Interpol for another. Michigan State Police, Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines and there’s probably others. Even databases from other countries. And that print may not be too clear, you know. The more it is copied, the fuzzier it becomes. You may get hundreds of possibilities back from any inquiry.”

“Wow!” Jayne seemed disappointed. “That’s a lot to check. Think they would help out?”

“Janie, Sweetheart! You have come to the right guy! Actually, 9/11 has helped a lot for something like this. The Feds have a lot of money these days. And their cooperation is great. They will be glad to help. Send that print along to me and I’ll send it from my office. They won’t question its authenticity that way. I’ll have them send the information directly to you. Just keep me in the loop! OK?”

“You got it, Fred! Thanks a lot! I owe you another one!” Jayne laughed. “I’m going to hold you to that!” Fred informed her. “And I’ll pick the place. I think the steak house in the Excalibur would be nice, don’t you!”

“Fred! How the hell.!” Jayne began. But Fred had hung up with a chuckle.

Jayne smiled as she hung up the phone. What a smart ass! She thought. She knew better than to believe he’d come all the way to Vegas for a meal. But, stranger things have happened. Damn! He might just do it! Jayne finished packing her car for the trip out west in the next two days.

The information on the inquiry from Fred came about 3 in the afternoon on the day before she decided to leave for the winter. She had called Hal Grover to take care of her home here in Michigan for the winter. There were 27 possible matches on the print. When she discounted all those who were not born before 1945 she only had 7 left.

Three of those were from countries other than the United States. That left four. One of those had died before 1983. Only three were left. Joshua Adams was a retired schoolteacher and was in Florida. Richard Anderson was in a home for the elderly in North Carolina suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s.

Eric Tanner had been on Pan Am flight 103 in 1988. Also, Eric Tanner had been born in Seney, Michigan, grew up in Grand Marais and at the time of his death, lived in Newberry, Michigan. Jayne felt she had found her man.

Asking the Merchant Marine in England for their database was an afterthought on a suggestion by Fred. All the names from American databases didn’t fit her timetable. The name Eric Tanner came from the English Merchant Marine database. It seems Eric Tanner had been a freighter captain during WWII and saved an entire German submarine crew from certain death in the middle of the Atlantic in 1940.

Evidently, when an investigation was being held after the “Sea Princess” docked in England, Eric was fingerprinted by MI-5 and his prints were still on file there. Nowhere else did he have his prints on file. She found he had quit the Merchant Marine in 1944 and retired to Grand Marais, Michigan. She had an idea where to go from here.

I wonder why there are no prints for him with the American Merchant Marine? Jayne wondered.

Jayne checked her phone numbers and called McNabb Investigations in Marquette, Michigan. She had used McNabb several times in her quest for information for her books, and felt he would be able to come up with all the information she would need on Eric Tanner.

“McNabb Investigations! How may we help you?” The pleasant voice of Shirley Johnson came across well.

“Hi Shirl!” Jayne said brightly. “This is Jayne Rice. Can I talk to Carl?”

“Janie girl! Where in hell have you been? We haven’t seen anything of you all summer!”

“Sorry, Shirl. I’ve been busy finishing up my last book. And it was another best seller! Can you imagine that?” Jayne added.

“Happy for you, girl friend!” Shirley said. “Yup. The man is in. I’ll put you through.”