Mary Lou Nelson

The Following Novel Is Based Upon Actual Events In Someone's Life.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: THE CONTRACT is now offered as a free novel. I am free to do this. Readers are encouraged to redistribute this novel to friends. Film rights are still reserved by the author. (If you can afford to make a movie, you can pay me!)

For more understanding of reserve insurance fraud murders, go to:http://www.texas-justice.com
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THE CONTRACT

By Mary Lou Nelson

The homicides and suicides are a national secret. The deaths are an integral part of the economic system. The organization is huge. All levels of government are corrupt.

One man must struggle for his life and his sanity. His life has been sold for THE CONTRACT!

Introduction

My name is Ralph Singleton, and this is my story. The manuscript begins in 1997. It reverts back to 1945. The complete story begins at a time far in the past of the cultural unconscious of humanity. It begins at a time when extinct civilizations engaged in human sacrifice. Unlike other writers of the horror genre, I want to demonstrate the false sense of power and the arrogance created by human sacrifice, instead of promoting it. The story deals with a method of human sacrifice in use today.

The story you are about to read is entirely the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to anyone, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All information presented is entirely the author's opinion. This story does not intend to disparage any person or organization which is innocent of wrongdoing. No organization or individual is to be considered guilty of being directly involved in a criminal enterprise. The secret crime of Fatal Accident Reserve Insurance Fraud is due to flaws in our legal, governmental and economic system of checks and balances.

CHAPTER ONE

1997

Sheila had been going to the casino with Mary very often. Mary's daughter Susie had also been going to Sheila's day care, until this year. Mary limited her gambling, and wasn't interested in excess. Mary wasn't very interested in her husband George either.

Sheila and Jane had been busy, "working on" Mary. They introduced her to Cindy. Sheila trained Mary on the intricacies of the "program."

Mary's husband George had been depressed. It was something that had been building for the past three years. He said it was an empty feeling. Life was meaningless. There didn't seem to be any reason to go on living. He was also becoming very confused.

Even George's six year old daughter Susie was no consolation. She was just a chore. His wife Mary took care of her very well. Susie didn't seem to need him very much.

It seemed that nothing was good enough for Mary, lately. Often, in their conversations, she would tell him that he had told her something he didn't remember saying. Could she be deliberately trying to confuse him?

George had even suggested to Mary that they would be better off if he were dead. Credit life insurance would pay off the mortgage. Mary and Susie would collect Social Security and other life insurance benefits.

Mary didn't respond to his suggestion. She did say that she seemed to be "falling out of love" with him. She suggested that they see a marriage counselor and hypnotherapist named Cindy. Mary's friend Sheila had suggested Cindy. Cindy might even help with George's depression.

Mary had been spending a lot of time with Sheila, lately. Sheila had operated the home day care where Susie had stayed, from age one and a half to kindergarten. Sheila had been operating the home day care for eleven years. She usually had the state limit of five children at all times. She was a trusted friend to many of the parents of her former wards.

Susie now went to a kindergarten program. Mary and Sheila were still good friends. They went out together at least twice a month. It was a "girls' night out" she told George. Sheila and Mary had been talking on the telephone more and more lately.

On one of these nights out, Mary told Sheila that she wished she had a way to end her marriage with George, without losing all the "perks." She didn't want to be another divorce statistic female, with a lower standard of living than she enjoyed when she was married. Sheila said that she understood. Sheila made a call on her cell phone. She told Mary that they had an appointment at nine tomorrow morning.

The next morning, Sheila took Mary to her attorney's office. Sheila coaxed Mary into signing a bevy of legal documents, all undated. Sheila reminded Mary of her widow's Social Security benefits, and the credit life insurance that would pay off her mortgage. Mary agreed that she would release her claims for her husband's "accidental" death to Sheila's attorney. She also released Susie's derivative claims for the same unfortunate accident that would occur someday.

The next day, George agreed to the marriage counseling. Perhaps it would help with his depression. He certainly didn't need a broken marriage, along with depression. He would also ask Cindy about his confusion. Things seemed to be happening around him that he didn't understand.

Cindy was strange. She had at least two different office locations. George asked Cindy for a business card, which she was very reluctant to give it to him. She referred to the names of her businesses as "just something I go by." George couldn't find Cindy's name or businesses anywhere in the Elizabeth telephone directory.

George asked Cindy if he should take Prozac. He had read in a magazine that it was very effective for depression. Cindy told him that Prozac "interfered with the program, but the program can be effective anyway."

George decided to refrain from seeing a psychiatrist about Prozac, at least until he had given "the program" a chance.

Cindy had said that she used "whatever works. There really isn't any specific school of thought that I adhere to. I have twelve years of experience in marriage counseling. I've learned what works and what doesn't."

Cindy told George that she used to live and work in California. She said that business used to be very good for her there. George asked her why she left. Cindy said that times had changed in California. Cindy began the counseling program. She never mentioned California again.

[California enacted strong anti-insurance fraud legislation in 1994. It is the only state in the United States to require that a specific portion of all automobile liability insurance premiums be used to investigate fraud.]

Cindy said that they would begin hypnotherapy at an appropriate time. This was usually after the first two or three sessions.

The marriage counseling seemed to be helping his marriage, but not George's depression and confusion. Mary had become so sexually active that George began to have occasional problems with impotence. Mary said that they should continue the program with Cindy.

George was beginning to be less confused. It was becoming increasingly clear to him that there was one simple solution to all of his problems. He would talk to Cindy about it. Everything seemed to make sense when she spoke.

"My marriage is much stronger now, but my life is still meaningless. I really don't have any reason to go on living. Mary and Susie would be fine without me." George said.

Cindy's response didn't surprise George. He seemed to expect it.

"Are you certain that you are committed to suicide?" asked Cindy.

"Yes," said George.

"We can begin the hypnotherapy." She said.

George sat in his car, waiting for the planned call from John on his cell phone. He was at the Cool Spot curb market. When he received the planned telephone call, he was to go down the entrance ramp to Interstate 58 south. The speed limit there was seventy miles per hour.

There had been weeks of preparation for this day. Cindy had contacted John, who handled all of the highway logistics. John had the gasoline tank and fuel line of George's car coated with battery acid. After two weeks of corrosion and metal fatigue, the metal would rupture in a collision. The car was very likely to explode. The gas tank was full.

George had been taking the anticoagulant medication coumadin. Coumadin is also used as a rat poison. In low doses, it is beneficial to cardiac patients. It prevents the blood from clotting. Coumadin would serve George's purposes well. Lacerations and internal hemorrhaging would bleed uncontrollably. There would be no test for coumadin in the autopsy. George had no history of heart trouble or high blood pressure. He was forty-two years old.

George was three miles from the Elizabeth city limits. He was headed away from Elizabeth. The countryside became increasingly rural on George's planned route.

It was 10:42 Wednesday morning. George had a lunch sales meeting scheduled in Marshall, twenty-eight miles away, on Interstate 58 South. John had been very specific about the time. He said that it was critical.

Six miles away, Randall and Steve waited in other cars. John had recruited them at the dirt race track in Smithley. They were both good race drivers. But, for every successful professional NASCAR stock car driver, there are a hundred like Randall and Steve. Their full time night jobs couldn't begin to pay for the maintenance of their expensive stock cars. They had found a way to fuel their racing ambitions with John.

John had a pool of fifteen to twenty drivers, on call, for events like today's staged accident. Sometimes, it took several days like this one, to align the perfect opportunity. A candidate like George would be escorted whenever he traveled on business, until the right opportunity presented itself.

There would be another call from John. When the call came to Randall, they would begin traveling in George's designated lane. He saw John drive by.

"Time to go" was all that Randall and Steve needed to hear. George entered the highway and got in front of the designated tractor-trailer rig. Randall took his position in the lane alongside the big rig. Steve pulled his car behind the tractor-trailer.

John had been on the northern outskirts of Elizabeth. He had been waiting for the tractor trailer. It had to been on his list of vehicles owned by companies in the syndicate. These were profitable companies, with high insurance limits. The financial officers for these companies' liability insurance carriers were known to be cooperative. Everyone cooperated in the syndicate.

George received his call. He drove toward Marshall. A lead car was a half mile ahead. Four miles down the road, John was in the same lane.

George drove down Interstate 58 South at the planned seventy-two miles per hour. He felt calm, and at peace with himself. He knew that his reflexes wouldn't interfere at the critical moment. Cindy said that her hypnotherapy was "100% effective, with someone who is committed."

Cindy had confided to him that her job was much more difficult, when someone did not "want to do the right thing for his family."

George thought of himself as a brave hero for his daughter, Susie.

George saw Randall and Steve in his rear view mirror. They blinked their headlights at him. Steve pulled in behind the tractor trailer, at an annoyingly close distance. George positioned himself immediately in front of the truck. One half mile behind, four other cars interfered with traffic. Except for Randall, Steve and the truck driver, there would be no witnesses.

George waited until the truck was close, then decelerated more. The front grill of the truck filled his rear view mirror.

"Lock her down!" were John's instructions.

George extended his right leg and pressed down hard on the brake pedal. The truck driver had no time to apply his brakes. The truck's windshield was covered in flames. The truck driver would suffer smoke inhalation and second degree burns, along with back and neck injuries.

George had massive internal bleeding, from the force of the impact and the effects of the coumadin he had been taking. He lost fluid from the third degree burns on the back of his head. The coroner's finding was fluid loss.

George was pronounced dead when the paramedics arrived. It took them eighteen minutes to reach the accident scene. The accident location was twelve miles from the nearest paramedic facility. The ambulance had been delayed while traveling on the Interstate. Two different cars had been stopped on the shoulder, with their hoods raised.

The highway patrolman dutifully filled out the accident report form. The report would be a careful construct of inconsistencies. He had orders to follow. He received specific instructions how to fill out the accident report.

"At least the wife and child will be taken care of," the officer said to himself as he wrote out the traffic ticket for the truck driver. The ticket would be quashed by a prearranged judgement.

The truck driver had already given his statement to his attorney, a month before John's death. It was merely a matter of dating it for two days after the accident.

Credit life insurance paid off the mortgage on Mary's house. Mary would also collect $1278.00 per month from Social Security for Susie. This would continue until Susie's eighteenth birthday, or up to age twenty-two, as long as she enrolled in school full time. If Mary did not remarry, she received three-fourths of George's Social Security full retirement benefit. She could retire at age sixty and begin collecting this benefit from George's death.

Two attorneys would aggressively file suit on Mary's behalf. The liability insurance carriers of the two trucks directly involved in the collision would each create a one and one half million dollar contingency reserve account for Joan's claim, since the specific truck's fault would be determined at a later date.

Both trucks would be held at fault, in separate legal actions. The highway patrolman's accident report was a carefully constructed constellation of ambiguities. He was well paid for his incompetence. Since only one truck could be declared the cause of the accident, the case stagnated in a legal purgatory. Joan would never collect an insurance liability settlement check for John's death. She had not expected to.

The pair of contingency reserves would remain intact. The million would be held in escrow accounts, separate from the daily transactions of the insurance carriers. An electronic funds transfer system existed between the attorneys' and insurance industry offices. Funds could be transferred between them without a paper trail. Documentation could be created to suit their needs.

The lion's share of the three million would disappear into an electronic black hole. Neither the attorney or adjuster knew exactly where it went. They only knew that government agencies were facilitating their criminal enterprise. They were profiting well from their operation, so why ask questions?

Mary never collected the contracted 45% of the liability insurance settlement. The attorney never received his 55%. There was still substantial cash made from the money laundering scheme. The attorney had already agreed to pay Cindy $17,500 in cash. John received $34,000. This was distributed among his accessories, including the drivers of the two vehicles on the Interstate with their hoods raised. The delayed ambulance driver made himself $1000. Mary's friend Sheila pocketed an $8,000 finder's fee. The highway patrolman made an extra $500, for his unintelligible accident report.

But the greatest reward to all of the participants came from the power of deception. Imagine being able to manipulate all of societies restraints, laws and values! Imagine being able to destroy a human life while playing the role of preserver and protector!

1992

Cornelio Menchez had four children, from age two to ten. They were his most precious possessions. They were almost his only possessions. Cornelio had married somewhat later in life than his peers, at age 27. He had waited to marry, until he could provide well for his family.

Cornelio had saved until the age of 26, when he bought his own tractor. That made him a self employed subcontractor to the landowners, instead of a simple laborer. His tractor had been lovingly placed in the shed each night, including the night before. Cornelio had almost been killed, trying to put out the fire and save his tractor. If there had been an arson investigation, the trail left by the gasoline accelerant would have been discovered at the fire scene.

That was five years ago. Now 40 years old, Cornelio was exhausted by the day's labor. His pay was just enough to feed his family. He and Maria practiced the rhythm method, praying that there would not be another child. With their exhaustion, they had sex so infrequently that there was very little reason to fear another pregnancy.

Cornelio and his wife, Maria, had been talking to father Sanchez about their impoverishment. Maria's friend Juanita had sent them to him. Juanita used to live on the same street as Maria. Juanita had a modern, three bedroom house for herself and her three children. Her husband,corroborated been killed in the United States two years before.

Father Sanchez had once been an ordained Catholic priest. That was before he was caught with the recent widow of one of his parishioners. His bishop's discovery of various accoutrements for demonic ceremonies ended his official priesthood.

But, Father Sanchez still wore the robe of a priest when it suited his purposes. He had found a unique niche, in this slum on the outskirts of Mexico City. He performed a dual role, for both the Higher and Lower Powers. He was the leader of his coven.

Father Sanchez had a harem of five widows to service him. He had made them all wealthy, by local standards. They were all very willing to express their gratitude. Two had joined the coven.

Cornelio agreed to the covenant. A member of the coven, skilled in trances, would visit Cornelio several times. The methaqualone would help to place Cornelio into a deeper state of hypnosis. His resolution was fortified by the post hypnotic suggestions. He knew that he would be brave when the time came.

Pesos came flowing immediately to Maria. She was able to buy new clothes for herself and her children. Cornelio's green card would be waiting for him at the border.

Cornelio was sent the United States, with all arrangements made. There was job waiting for him in a South Central State. He would work as a member of an electrical contractor's crew, in a city called Elizabeth. His job had been arranged by the Field Operations Manager for the electrical contractor. The Field Operations Manager was a trusted friend of the company's owner.

"It's time." Maria said. It was Cornelio's weekly telephone call home.

Maria gave her telephone receiver over to the coven member who had hypnotized Cornelio. The hypnotist spoke to Cornelio for a half hour, renewing the commands he had given Cornelio.

Cornelio had worked for the electrical contractor nearly a year. He earned $10.64 per hour, as an electrician's assistant on the Interstate highway crew. Records, for the insurance claim, would show that he earned $20.87per hour.

Cornelio's supervisor planned the day carefully. Cornelio would be given the job of unrolling cable along the shoulder of the Interstate. This would be done in a curve, where the orange barrels were on both sides of the southbound lane. The fifty-five miles per hour speed limit was never followed. No one had ever been given a speeding ticket for violating it.

Fifty-two year old Sam Smith didn't notice the Firebird that pulled along beside him and maintained the same speed. He was too busy talking on his cellular telephone to one of his clients. Sam didn't notice the Mustang in his rear view mirror. It was almost too close to be comfortable, but not quite. The Firebird and Mustang surrounded Sam for three miles. There were no other vehicles, within a mile, in the southbound lane of the Interstate.

Several large pieces of earth moving equipment were parked on the shoulder of the median, just behind the orange barrels. Traffic veered to the right, avoiding the uncomfortable proximity of the huge equipment. This was just before the curve . Cornelio stood with his back to traffic, at the white line on the shoulder of the road.

Just before Sam reached the curve where Cornelio was standing, the Mustang pulled up close. When they reached the curve, the Firebird pulled within three feet of Sam's door and honked his horn. Sam looked to see the driver of the Firebird aiming a pistol at him. Sam dropped his telephone and swerved to the right.

Sam saw Cornelio's bloody face suddenly appear, flattened against the windshield. Sam slammed on his brakes and Cornelio's body slid quickly back down the hood. Cornelio rolled down over the grill of Sam's New Yorker, then disappeared underneath the front of the car. Sam would never forget the thumping underneath his feet. When Sam stopped, he could see the body fifty feet behind his car.

The accident report would show that Cornelio had been just inside the white line from the traffic lane. Orange barrels had been strategically placed to allow for a swerve to Cornelio's position. The Firebird and Mustang vanished down the highway. The Highway Patrolman dutifully wrote down Sam's story about the other two vehicles. Then, he arrested Sam for vehicular manslaughter.

Father Sanchez and the coven had been anticipating the news. They began a twenty-four hour celebration. Another soul had willingly sacrificed itself.

1945

James Singleton was nineteen years old, nearly twenty. World War Two was finally ending. His unit, in Germany, was finishing the conflict that so many had died for. James Singleton had been spared the first two years of the United States' entry into the war. He had taken advantage of a United States' Army program which financed his first two years of college. Due to the causalities of 1942 and 1943, the Army had ended the program and drafted him.

Now, he was helping to open another concentration camp. The quicklime on the bodies suppressed the smell of death. The smell of urine and feces was stronger, despite the stacks of bodies. Besides, the corpses had been dead for only a few days. The smell wasn't as bad as the German corpses he had encountered in the woods. These had been dead for a week or more. He had vomited after falling over one of them.

He opened three of these camps, in early 1945. James saw the piles of bodies, the gas chambers and the overworked gallows. At the first camp, he could not understand how human beings could do this to one another. At the second camp, it didn't seem so incredible. By the third camp, it was just something that had happened.

The Allied high command, and the leaders of the Allied nations, knew about the Nazi extermination programs. Many members of the Allied press also knew. But, there was no publicity about the concentration camps, until they were liberated. The Allied generals cited that it would have taken resources away from a military victory. Efforts to stop the holocaust would be put to better use in strategic operations.

The free world was completely uninformed of the holocaust, when it might have been stopped. The upper echelon of society considered it privileged information. No one considered that exposure in the press might have prevented some of the slaughter. After all, even the Nazis could have been embarrassed that the "master race" had resorted to genocide. It could have helped the Allied cause, among the African and Latin American nations that were not involved in the combat.

The facial expressions of the Nazi personnel at the camps were unexpected. The Final Solution program was a secret. The Jews had been told that they were going to internment camps, for their own protection. The Nazis had kept the true nature of the Jewish displacement a secret, right up to the moment of the executions of the Jews. The Nazis had learned to maintain a positive, upbeat attitude and demeanor. They wanted to impart the feeling to the Jews that they were fortunate to be taken to a place of safety.

What had motivated the Nazis? There was certainly the benefit of financing the war effort. The personal effects of the Jews, and the gold from their teeth, must have created some boost in the economic moral of the German people. Or, was it a sense of power creaked by causing so many helpless victims to die? The "Final Solution" had been conceived when the fortunes of war had turned against the Nazis.

James Singleton was somehow impressed and awestruck at the power of those who had firsthand experience in carrying out the extermination program. Underneath their facade, their was a reptilian manner of movement and speech. They moved like fat snakes and lizards, slowly sliding and creeping wherever they went. All speech and movement had to be thought out, to protect their victims from the truth.

All James Singleton wanted was for the war to end, so he could return to Sarah. He had met Sarah while he was in basic training. She was at a USO dance in Smitham, North Carolina. This was a small southern city, far from his home in Gary, Indiana. He had fallen in love with her, the bright daughter of a local doctor. She had auburn hair, and was one of five children. She had a provincial Baptist upbringing.

Sarah's mother had been concerned that Singleton might be a cover for a Jewish name. James had a three syllable last name, and had grown up in the northern United States. While James was liberating Nazi death camps, Sarah hired a private investigator to determine James' ancestry. It was verified that he was a fourth generation American, of the Lutheran faith. Sarah had to persuade to her mother that Lutherans were an acceptable Protestant denomination.

James Singleton had been surprised, after his North Indiana upbringing, that all of the Southerners wore shoes.

After the war, James completed his college education. Sarah bore him three healthy children, a daughter and two sons. Ralph was the first son. Tom was Ralph's younger brother.

Sarah was mortified that she was the only one of her five brothers and sister without a college degree. She attempted to attend college, part time, while all three children were in elementary school. This was in spite of the fact that her husband's paycheck was sufficient to support the family.

Ralph and Tom had a furious sibling rivalry. There was constant squabbling in the back of the family sedan.

"Don't cross that line!" was a familiar refrain from the back seat of the family sedan.

Adolescence separated Tom and Ralph even more. Ralph grew up with the Beatles, and the positive sound of middle 1960s soul music and rock and roll. Tom's high school prom featured a disco glitter ball.

Ralph and his father became very distant. The Vietnam war raged throughout Ralph school years. His father, a World War Two veteran with a Purple Heart, could not understand his son. Ralph registered for the Vietnam draft as a conscientious objector. "Thou shalt not kill" had been embedded in Ralph's mind during his Sunday school classes in the local Presbyterian Church.

1973

"Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh. NLF is going to win." The group of antiwar protesters chanted. (For the younger generation, the NLF was the National Liberation Front. It was the political arm of the Viet Cong, enemy of the South Vietnamese and United States military forces in the Vietnam War.)

Ralph didn't join them in that chant. He didn't come to praise the enemy, but to protest the war fought by both sides. He went to the last mass antiwar demonstration, opposite to Nixon's 1973 inauguration parade.

Like his father, Ralph muddled through college, graduating in 1976. Several recent college graduates committed suicide that year. They were despondent from seeking nonexistent jobs. Ralph found a career as an assistant department manager in a department store. The department store chain had required only a high school education for new managers, before that year.

Ralph became part of a new phenomena in the economy of the United States. He was underemployed. He struggled to concentrate on supervising the shirking department employees. He tried to forget the high level of business thought he had been exposed to in college. He read and wrote letters for his boss, who was hypnotherapist illiterate. Ralph also struggled on the small salary that retail management provided in the late 1970s.

Tom's career went differently. When Tom graduated from college, his father found him a job on the labor force of Thomison Industries. James Singleton was a Sales Manager for Thomison. Strongly unionized, Thomison Industries was the highest paying employer in the county. Two years later, Tom became a sales representative for a friend of Sarah Singleton. Tom went on to develop a very successful career in sales.

Tom started a family early. His wife had her first child six months after she and Tom graduated from college. Tom had met Monica while he was in college. She was engaged to Alvin, when she was introduced to Tom. Alvin had been Tom's best friend, since the eighth grade.

Ralph was an underachiever. He left the confinement of the department store to work as a commissioned carpet cleaner in Elizabeth. The freedom of the company van was exhilarating, compared to the confinement of the crowded discount department store. His income was the result of his own efforts! This worked well until "Supply Side" economics whittled down his rewards and energy. The customers expected more and more for their dollar, while Ralph received less and less. It was as if an unseen hand was limiting Ralph to subsistence earnings.

Twelve years after college, Ralph was driving a snack food truck. He had already been passed over for promotion to route supervisor. His attitude of questioning authority probably had something to do with it. The person selected was four years younger, as well.

1988

"So, outside of your immediate family, you don't maintain any close friends or personal relationships? You are friends with the people you work with, but no one else. Is that right?" asked DR Tosbic.

That's right" Ralph answered. Ralph Singleton hated this stupid personality inventory of DR Tosbic. There didn't seem to be any reason for it. Except that Ralph's wife Jane had wanted it.

"To understand my husband better," Jane had said.

Ralph was seeing DR Tosbic, a clinical psychologist, at the local county mental health facility in Elizabeth. DR Tosbic was treating Ralph with relaxation training and biofeedback. The doctor had managed to pad his bill with the personality inventory.

Ralph had been in an automobile accident, six months earlier. A frantic housewife had slammed into the back of Ralph's snack supplies route truck. She was driving about fifty miles per hour when she looked up from the soft drink cup in her hand and saw the back of my truck. Six feet of skid marks. Her nose was crushed by the steering wheel of her car. Fortunately, that was the extent of her injuries.

The driver's seat of Ralph's step van rested on a hollow metal post, four inches in diameter. The seat was whipped back and forth by the force of the collision. Fortunately, Ralph was wearing his seat belt. The seat stopped, with Ralph reclining backwards at a forty-five degree angle. His head had missed a metal post by a couple of inches. Ralph was very glad to be alive.

The highway patrolman who wrote the accident report asked the witnesses if they had seen Ralph slam on his brakes. He asked Ralph the same question. It took some convincing, but the officer finally wrote the housewife a ticket for "unsafe movement." The accident was unquestionably her fault.

The officer asked Ralph if he wanted an ambulance, or a ride to the hospital in his patrol car. Feeling glad to be alive, and responsible for his route, Ralph declined. With the seat somewhat re positioned, he managed to bring the truck back to the snack food company's terminal. The terminal was on the other side of Elizabeth, eighteen miles away. Ralph had finished his deliveries, and had been on my way back to the terminal, when the accident happened. The other route salesmen were very surprised to see him return to work the next day.

"You could have retired!" one of the other route salesmen said.

"They can't tell if you are really hurt or not with a back injury" a salesman, nicknamed Froggy, said. "No one would have questioned your being hurt, with the way that seat looked."

"You don't know how many times I've been sitting a stop light, wishing that would happen to me," chimed in another route salesman.

"My friend Tom Hopkins got hit like that, and he didn't work for four years. Everywhere he went, he wore that neck brace." Froggy replied.

It was the next morning, while the salesmen were loading the trucks. Ralph's supervisor was going to assist him on the route that day. Except for some soreness, he didn't feel that bad. With the debts that Jane and Ralph had, he couldn't afford to stay home. He would have to be out a week, before Workmen's Compensation kicked in at two-thirds of his regular pay. No way!

The following day, Ralph really did begin to hurt. Hot burning pain in the lower back, below the belt line. A very sore left shoulder, with some burning and tingling in the left arm. There was a lot of pain from what Ralph would later learn was sciatica, a painful nerve running down the outside of my left leg.

Three days after the accident, Ralph sought the services of a law firm that specialized in personal injury cases. An insurance adjuster had been calling Ralph at work. She had been implying that if Ralph didn't settle the personal injury claim immediately, he could be fired from his job.

Ralph was in serious pain. The chiropractor recommended by a friend of Jane required that Ralph have an attorney on file, in order to be treated. He had referred Ralph to the firm of a young attorney. The young attorney would accept the case on assignment. The law firm he represented would receive forty percent of the insurance settlement proceeds.

"This statement means that if there is any evidence of fraud, we will discharge ourselves from representing you and your claim. But, looking at you, I don't think that will be a problem," the young attorney said.

The chiropractor and attorney both assumed that Ralph's injuries were very limited, since he had not left the accident in an ambulance. They had both also stated that it wasn't unusual for symptoms of a back and neck injury to manifest themselves days later. Ralph was beginning to develop a large constellation of symptoms.

After three weeks of treatment with the chiropractor, Ralph was somewhat improved. The low back burning and pain were gone. But the strange tingling and burning of Ralph's left arm and leg remained. The chiropractor released him, stating that he "could not justify further treatment."

A few days after being released from the chiropractor, the back pain returned. Ralph told his attorney that he was not fully recovered from the accident. The attorney implied that Ralph might be malingering. Furious, Ralph dismissed the young attorney and found another attorney. The other attorney was an old litigious dog. He referred Ralph to a well known orthopedic clinic, and the surgeon who operated it.

The young attorney Ralph had previously retained was enraged. He couldn't believe that someone would have the audacity to dismiss him. Especially after he had explained to Ralph about the close relationship he had with the insurance adjusters. Ralph had made an enemy. Or enemies.

Jane worked in an insurance office herself. He friend Samantha worked in insurance claims. Jane told Ralph that a $25,000 contingency reserve had been placed to cover Ralph's accident. Ralph ignored this information. He knew that he could not receive that much money.

Since Ralph had not left the accident scene in an ambulance, the surgeon had said that he was just shook up. He said that Ralph could not be hurt too seriously, since there was no medical justification for surgery. The surgeon said that the chiropractor's x rays were not very good, so he made his own. Ralph couldn't tell the difference.

After being treated by the surgeon for three months, Ralph was released. Ralph complained to the surgeon that he was still in pain. He expressed fear that he might be becoming addicted to his medications. Ralph tried to be as honest as possible to the surgeon, not wanting to be considered a fraud case. Ralph told him that he was a reformed alcoholic, with four years of sobriety. When the surgeon discovered that Ralph had been treated by a psychiatrist fifteen years earlier, he noted that Ralph's problems must be stress related.

The chiropractor had mentioned that Ralph could claim that emotional trauma had caused his symptoms. There was only one problem, Ralph really hurt like hell. He didn't want a therapist trying to convince him that my pain was psychological. (Later, Ralph would learn that all physical pain takes its toll on the health of the nervous system. Biochemically, pain and emotional stress are virtually the same. Pain is stress, and stress irritates pain.)

That is how Ralph arrived at the office of DR Tosbic. He was a county mental health clinic hack, with no human insight. He did a psychological evaluation, which became a large portion of the insurance claim files. He considered it very important to note that Ralph had no close personal friends, other than his wife. Ralph had always been a loner, and hadn't thought it to be such an abnormal state. Although he seemed to have a good marriage, Ralph and Jane were not soul mates

At one appointment with DR Tosbic, Ralph brought a long list of symptoms related to the back injury. These included strange tinglings on the sole of the left foot, etc. DR Tosbic stated that making out and bringing the list was a "sure sign of hypochondriasis."

A few months later, Ralph would discover a popular paperback, using research based upon the experience of backache sufferers. A list of symptoms was recommended.

On the same day the DR Tosbic accused Ralph of hypochondria, he mentioned that Ralph could purchase his own galvanic skin response device at any Radio Zone Store. DR Tosbic left Ralph alone in the therapy room, connected to a biofeedback device. The device gave out a low, smooth hum to indicate calmness. When DR Tosbic reentered the room, the biofeedback device screamed with a reflection of Ralph's anxiety in his doctor's presence. Ralph purchased his own biofeedback device at Radio Zone the next day. He canceled all future appointments with DR Tosbic.

The biofeedback training was useful in managing Ralph's chronic pain. The relaxation training helped Ralph to overcome the addiction to the orthopedic surgeon's prescriptions.

DR Tosbic's personality inventory and notes said something else. And DR Tosbic had been sure to note that Ralph had no close personal relationships, other than his wife. DR Tosbic had noted that Ralph's lack of friends was a very significant factor in the personality evaluation. These notes were released to his attorney. The insurance adjuster, who had followed Ralph's case with both attorneys, received a copy. The notes were released to the insurance company of the lady who had caused the accident. They were filed away, somewhere in the insurance and attorney offices.

Ralph joked about his parents' attitude toward his childlessness. It seemed that they didn't care about him at all. All they were interested in was when he could supply them with grandchildren.

Ralph tried not to let his failures bother him. At least he was on the road, away from the mind set of the 1980s office workers who were flocking in to Elizabeth. Elizabeth was becoming a regional financial center. Ralph thought that the brick walls surrounding the new developments were ludicrous. They appeared to be defense fortifications for the new homes being built. These homes were not the split-levels and one story ranch homes built during Ralph 1960s childhood. These were three story palaces with five, six or even more bedrooms.

Ralph muddled through life, while his brother Tom seemed to be the master of it. After ten years of sales work in central Texas, Tom built a home on the face of the Blue Ridge Mountains. between Altamont and Marville. Tom commuted by air to his sales appointments during the week.

Ralph had very little contact with his brother, during this time. Ralph did receive a round robin letter in the mail. It was circulated by Tom, for all of Tom's eleven cousins to tell their personal stories. They could write whatever they wanted to about their lives. Tom said he might use it for a group biography one day. Embarrassed with his failures, Ralph didn't submit anything. He sensed that their was something vaguely malevolent about Tom's motives for the letter, but he could not understand what they were. He mailed it to the next cousin on the list.

Ralph remained in Elizabeth. He lived about an hour's drive from his parent's home in Flagton. His father still liked for him to visit, in spite of his prodigal son's failures. He always inquired how Ralph work was going. Strangely, he seemed to encourage his son's mediocre route sales career, especially driving a company vehicle.

One conversation with his father struck Ralph as being very strange. Ralph mentioned the 1960 U-2 incident. Gary Powers had been shot down over Soviet territory, in a spy plane.

"It cost us a lot of money to get him back. He was ordered not be captured alive," Ralph Sr explained. "He was being very well paid for the risk he was taking. His family would have been well taken care of."

It sounded to Ralph as if the incident had been planned. Years later, Ralph would learn of Gary Powers statements that he was shot down because of information supplied by a defector to the Soviet Union. That defector was a US military radar operator named Lee Harvey Oswald.

The Gulf War didn't seem to change life for either Ralph or Tom. At first, Ralph thought that it would be fought like the United States had fought World War Two. Winning the preservation of freedom and democracy was the top priority. The slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Iranian dissidents, Shi'ites and Kurds changed his opinion.

The Allied forces had achieved total victory, yet allowed Sadam Hussein to remain in power. The forces opposing Hussein believed that they would have the support of the United States military in overthrowing him. Instead, they were abandoned. Hussein was allowed to slaughter hundreds of thousands of his enemies inside Iraq, while the world did nothing in the name of military "restraint."

It looked like Vietnam with a new face. War on the annuity plan. The United States Air Force could come back every five years and pick up a check for bombing the place.

CHAPTER TWO

1996

Ralph was forty-two years old, with an six year old son, Mark. His wife, Jane, earned the majority of the household's income.

Jane had been more sheltered than Ralph from world events and popular culture of the 1960s. The eldest of three children, she was often held responsible for her younger sister and brother. Jane was sheltered from the Cold War conflict and social upheaval of the 1960s. She wasn't sheltered from her father.

Jane's father's history was much like Ralph. Carl was the son of skilled laborers, but in a small southern town. The war and G.I. Bill allowed him education and upward mobility, in an era when the two were nearly synonymous. Carl's engineering and electronics education allowed him to enjoy the data processing boom, beginning with the first Univac computers. His exceptional income gave him absolute power over his family. His wife, Beverly, obeyed his every whim. She didn't question him wanting to be alone with one of his two daughters every Saturday afternoon. She didn't question the bloodstains or the semen on the towels, either.

As her parent's marriage crumbled, Jane assumed more responsibility for her siblings. Beverly was spending more and more time at the new Mall, spending more and more of Carl's paycheck. Jane was left to mind her sister and brother. Unable to punish them, she learned to control them with a scowl and angry mood.

Jane found it easy to fall in love with Ralph. He was interested in her, more than her 38DD breasts. He treated her with respect. She was able to suppress her memories of the pain and degradation of her childhood. Ralph seemed to make her forget about her anger, and desire for revenge.

Ralph discovered news reports about Prozac's effectiveness. That led him to the office of DR Saxon. Dr. Saxon had treated Ralph with Prozac for chronic mild depression. It had been a miracle drug, ending the occasional suicidal thoughts that had plagued Ralph for thirty years. However, Ralph still had difficulty concentrating.

After a year of treatment with Prozac, Dr. Saxon asked Ralph if he had problems carrying multiple complex adult tasks. Ralph said yes, he did. Ralph also told about having problems with higher mathematics in school. These problems existed, despite having exceptionally high IQ scores. At thirty-eight years old, Ralph was diagnosed with Attention deficit Disorder. Ralph was placed on Ritalin. A year later, DR Saxon prescribed Dexedrine.

To Ralph, stimulant medication was another wonder drug, like Prozac. He could perform his work with much greater acuity than before. His son, Mark loved the improved attention when they spent time together. His wife seemed more pleased with their lovemaking.

A forty-two year old underachiever is still a loser in the eyes of employers. At that age, failure to achieve any significant success meant that it would never occur. Ralph would never become a success. He would always remain at the same level. He couldn't expect more than his current $325 per week income. It seemed as if an unseen hand was keeping his income at a subsistence level.

Jane earned $485 per week, in the office of a local property and casualty insurance firm in prestigious South Elizabeth. She was very disappointed with Ralph. After nine years of marriage, he wasn't earning any more than he had when they met. And Ralph Jr had a college education! Her mother had spent Jane's college money, soon after the divorce.

Jane managed the family checkbook. Ralph accepted that they were chronically short of money. He and Jane had five credit cards between them. Whenever they seemed on the verge of being unable to pay their monthly minimums, more credit would magically appear. Either the limit on one of the cards would be substantially increased, or a new card would be approved. They were almost $93,000 in debt for credit cards. This was in addition to the mortgage on their small patio home, and payments on Jane's car.

Jane often expressed her frustrations when she talked to her friend Sheila. Sheila was the home day care operator who had kept Mark for them, a few years earlier. Sheila had become a close friend of Jane's. They often went to the casino together.

It was a small casino, in a smaller city north of Elizabeth. A nearly vanished tribe of Native Americans had resurrected itself, near the town of Flagton. They also resurrected the 1822 treaty that gave them a claim to three billion dollars in developed real estate, thirty miles north of Elizabeth. After four years of court battles, the Native American tribe was given another square mile to add to the existing three square mile reservation. The casino could be built on the added square mile.

Sheila's husband, Ken, had a substantial middle class income. He was a supervisor for an electrical contractor. It was good that he had high earnings. All of Sheila's income went to the casino. Jane was more moderate in her losing, since her husband had a lower income. She never lost more than she thought she could afford.

Jane had some other friends, too. They were Dan and Michele. She had met Dan at work. Dan invited Jane to a party at their house. Mark stayed home with Melissa.

The "party" was actually a multilevel marketing promotion. Instead of being outraged at the deception, Jane was interested in Dan's and Michele's spiel. She purchased some of the products. Dan and Michele invited her to a seminar, where Jane could learn more about the opportunities in the multilevel marketing organization.

Sheila knew about the meeting. Sheila encouraged Jane to attend. Sheila said that she had heard about many people who had discovered wealth through the organization.

After the meeting, Jane told Ralph Jr about the speakers. She told him that many successful people in the program worked only a few hours a week. The motivational speakers talked about how they had so much time and energy for their families.

Jane explained that she wanted to become a distributor with the multilevel marketing organization. A distributor could purchase the products at a fifty percent lower price than a bottom level marketer. Of course, all of the speakers at the meeting had entered at the distributor level. She also said that a good credit rating was essential. The cost to enter the organization at the distributor level was $34,000.

Jane told Ralph that Dan and Michele had invited them both over. Sheila could keep Mark for a few hours, for such an important meeting. Jane said to keep an open mind about Dan's and Michele's beliefs. Ralph Jr had grown up attending a traditional Presbyterian Church. Dan and Michele were Scythians.

Ralph knew very little about the Scythian theosophy. What little he did know came from selling life insurance, years earlier. Any association with the Scythian movement by an applying customer meant that an application for life insurance would be denied.

The mortality rates for Scythians didn't match the death figures for the general population. Especially the rates for suicide and accidental death. There were frequent death claims among the Scythians after the initial two year exclusion of suicide for life insurance claims.

Ralph was not interested in Dan's and Michele's opportunity. He and Jane could not possibly obtain another $34,000 in available credit. Besides, he had seen enough of flimsy sales opportunities. Many of Jane's and his financial problems could be traced to his attempts to earn a living on sales commissions years earlier. He remained doggedly determined to make the most of earning an hourly wage.

Jane managed the household finances. Ralph Jr trusted her. Besides, any question of Jane's financial decisions brought on a reminder of Ralph Jr's many career failures.

Mark had stayed at Sheila's home day care, from the age of two until he was five years old. Mark loved his daddy. Ralph had the benefit of being able to spend many hours with his son, during his son's early years. He had made the time available, although it interfered with any possibility of his financial success. Ralph had already resigned himself to the fact that there wasn't much possibility of his financial success, anyway.

"That boy sure does love his daddy!" Sheila often remarked. Ralph had come every afternoon to get his son.

"I've seen children close to their mothers, but never a young son so attached to his father." Sheila said.

"Yes, I was able to spend a lot of time with him during infancy. I changed more diapers than Jane did." Ralph beamed with pride.

"You should protect your relationship with your son. That emotional bond is very valuable." Sheila advised.

Just before Mark was to leave Sheila's day care for kindergarten, Ralph saw Sheila's husband Ken. It was a rainy afternoon. Ken was the foreman of an electrical contractor's crew. He oversaw the wiring of the lighting system, for a new section of Interstate highway. It was being constructed on the North side of Elizabeth.

Ken told Ralph that he had been working sixty-five hour weeks, lately. Ken did not like working on the Interstate. He said that one of his Mexican laborers had been hit by a car, about a month before. The laborer had been killed instantly. The laborer had a wife and four children, in Mexico.

Ralph said that it must have been terrible to loose a man that way.

Ken said that it was. However, he added, the widow and children did receive a large insurance settlement. This was especially true in "peso land."

Sheila glared at Ken with a silencing scowl.

"Let's change the subject to something else." Sheila said resolutely.

1998

Sheila met Sam at one of the roulette wheels in the casino. They had both been losing, but having a good time. Sam ran out of money before his luck could change for the better. So, Sheila loaned him fifty dollars. Sam won back enough of his losings to play blackjack for three more hours.

Sheila bought Sam a few drinks. He was ten years younger than Sheila's forty-eight. Sheila had remained slim and moderately attractive. Sam was an average looking man, a little below average in stature. Sheila and Sam went to a motel room after the drinks.

They met at the casino at least once a week after that. Sheila would "loan" him enough money to continue playing as long as he liked. Then, they would go to a motel room. Sheila didn't demand too much of Sam's time or affection. She appeared to be satisfied with his "quickies."

Sam had a wife and two children, ages six and nine. He loved his wife, Nancy, despite his affair with Sheila. Nancy had married him when they graduated from college. They had a nice, two story home in the suburbs of Elizabeth. It would have been appropriate, at Sam's present career level, for them to be moving into one of the new three story palaces being built in the suburbs around the city. It would have been expected, if not for Sam's gambling.

Sam was a successful banker at Nomed Bank. Nomed Bank was one of four large national banking concerns located in Elizabeth. During the 1980s, the four banks achieved national prominence. This had been the result of higher credit card interest rates. The legal limit on the interest charged on credit card debt was nearly doubled, during the double digit inflation of the 1970s. High inflation was eliminated in the 1980s. Credit card interest rates limits were not reduced proportionally, but allowed to remain at the same high level. Laws against usury, or charging excessive interest, were virtually obsolete.

The four banks also thrived by swallowing the many troubled Savings and Loans that were available in the 1980s. They "rescued" many of the institutions from collapse. The press never publicized that the savings and loan collapse had been the result of a change in the capital gains deduction for commercial real estate ventures. The United States congress had eliminated the deduction, without notice. There was no safety net of time for the savings and loan institutions to accommodate the new law. Many commercial real estate values plummeted to two-thirds or less of their original values.

The Savings and Loans absorbed the losses as best that they could. Many could not. Many banks became wealthy by salvaging these institutions. The reduced competition didn't hurt the banks, either.

Savings and Loans are regulated by state governments, while banks are under federal control. Many Savings and Loans executives, seeing their fortunes and careers lost in the vacuum, had pilfered the assets of these institutions before the federal banking regulators took charge.

The resulting discoveries of improprieties and embezzlement became the source of the "S & L Scandal" of the 1980s. The conventional press never analyzed the situation fully. The public was never informed that it had been staged by the immediate elimination of the capital gains deduction for real estate ventures.

On one of their trysts, Sheila told Sam that she wanted to videotape their lovemaking, just for "kicks." Sam agreed. Sheila brought her cam corder to the motel room and filmed their rendezvous.

Sam's boss had become increasingly aggravated with Sam. It seemed as if there was nothing that Sam could do to satisfy his boss's demands anymore. Sam had been manipulating the accounts he managed for years, to boost his annual bonus. Now, the real performance of the accounts was manifesting itself.

One of Nancy's old friends had been becoming more involved with her, lately. Nancy poured out her troubles to Veronica. She expressed her exasperation with Sam's gambling. She confided her suspicions that Sam was having an affair. Veronica listened and comforted her as best she could.

One day, after Veronica had been visiting at her house, Nancy found the video tape in the inside pocket of one of Sam's coats. Nancy was hysterical. She went to Veronica's house and told her what she had found.

Veronica said not to confront Sam with the video yet. She told Nancy that there were better ways of getting even. Besides, death is always more profitable than divorce. Nancy listened, as Veronica gave her the outline of the plan. Veronica had been probing Nancy for weeks, to see if Nancy would be willing to cooperate with such a plan. Nancy agreed.

Nancy was trained in methods of coercion. She was given hypnosis sessions, to program her to manipulate Sam. Her every thought and movement appeared to be normal, while she actually obeyed the heinous agenda. Sam was becoming very confused and depressed.

Sam was losing more and more money to gambling. Sheila had introduced him to John, who was willing to loan him larger sums of money. Sam found himself betting double or nothing with John. John became more commanding over Sam, telling how to bet and what games to play.

Sam's boss had given him a final warning. It concerned a group of accounts that Sam had managed. Sam had been manipulating them for years, without ever being questioned. Only a few of the serious problems with the accounts had manifested itself. Sam was told that he would be fired if more problems arose.

One weekend, the children were sent to Nancy's mother's house. A hypnotist spent the weekend programming Sam, while he was under sedation. He was given several post hypnotic suggestions, to be triggered by commands from Nancy or John. Sam would not have any conscious recollection of the weekend.

Two weeks later, Sam's boss told him that there was to be an important meeting the following Monday. Sam was to bring all of the files for the group of accounts his boss had warned him about.

That weekend, Sam gambled heavily. John said that Sam had nothing left to bet with but his life.

"All right. I'll bet my life." Sam said.

John agreed. It was the ultimate gambling thrill, to bet his life. Sam had never felt such exhilaration as that moment.

Sam placed the bet and won. He used the winnings to gamble more, until that money was all lost. Sam had gotten such a thrill from the last time that he bet his life, that he bet it again. This time he lost.

Sam, John and Sheila went to the parking area of the casino. There, Randall and Steve appeared, like reinforcements for John. John told Sam to drive toward home, and that Randall and Steve would escort him in their cars. Sam obeyed John. It all made sense. He had gambled his life and lost. This was the code he would live and die by.

Five miles down the Interstate, Randall blinked his lights. Sam was in front. Sam pulled in front of a tractor-trailer. Randall pulled beside the truck, and Steve tailgated its rear. Sam mashed the brakes. He never shirked a bet.

Sam's sedan did shirk its bet. Instead of being held and crushed by the truck's cab, it was pushed off the edge of the highway. It tore through the guard rail, and rolled down an embankment. The car came to rest with its underbelly up and Sam inside the upside down car. Sam was seriously injured. Sam had followed John's instructions not to wear his seat belt.

The ambulance arrived twenty-two minutes after the accident. It took eighteen minutes to remove Sam from the wreckage. The onlookers saw the paramedic insert an intravenous plasma supply into Sam's arm. One of the onlookers remarked that Sam would have bled to death without it.

Sam regained consciousness, when he was pushed into the ambulance. Sam looked up at the paramedic, through his remaining eye.

"I don't want to die." Sam said.

"Don't worry, we wont let you die." The paramedic replied.

If the onlooker who commented on the plasma had been more astute, and able to see in the dark, he would have noticed that there was no flow of plasma through the tube to Sam's arm. The plasma bag remained full. If someone had looked closely, they would have seen that the intravenous needle was inserted pointing toward Sam's hand, opposite to the direction of blood flow to the heart.

"We're going to take good care of you," the paramedic reassured Sam.

The paramedic carefully removed the plasma bag from its hanger behind Sam's head. He replaced it with a larger, empty bag. Sam had not been conscious, to feel the pain of the larger diameter needle that was inserted when he was in the wrecked car. The darkness obscured observation of the large diameter tube, running from the needle.

The paramedic did not rehang the bag. Instead, he placed it on the floor, beside the front wheels of the stretcher. Gravity, and Sam's remaining blood pressure, began filling the bag with Sam's blood.

The accident location was a twenty minute drive to the hospital, in a speeding ambulance. It would find the route to the hospital obstructed by two minor accidents that had just occurred. Traffic would be jammed at these accidents, and it would be time consuming and difficult for a motivated ambulance driver to negotiate around them. The driver of Sam's ambulance had motivation to arrive as late as possible at the hospital. The ambulance arrived thirty- five minutes after leaving the accident scene. Sam was pronounced dead on arrival.

Nancy was at home, asleep, when the officers came. They told her that John had been killed in an accident. Nancy displayed the proper hysterics for them. Then, she went back to sleep.

CHAPTER THREE

Sheila and Jane had been going to the casino at least once every two weeks. Ralph asked Jane about her spending at the casino. There seemed to be very little money for household expenses, between the casino excursions and the next paycheck's arrival. Jane explained that she enjoyed getting out. since she earned the majority of the household income, he had no cause to complain.

Ralph said that he wondered if Jane wasn't becoming a gambling addict. Jane said no. Jane said that she never spent more than seventy-five dollars per casino excursion. Her friend Sheila, on the other hand, was an addict. Jane said that Sheila had lost thousands of dollars at bingo. Ken and Sheila had some serious fights about her gambling. Sheila had spent most of their savings.

Things had changed for Sheila and Ken, recently. Jane said that Sheila and Ken didn't seem to be having problems with her gambling now. Sheila wasn't spending any more of their money, somehow. Jane didn't say where Sheila's gambling money came from.

Financial problems had created an extreme strain on Ralph and Jane's relationship. Lovemaking was once a month, at best. They spoke to each other in strained voices.

Ralph convinced Jane that bankruptcy was the best solution for their problems. They even went to an appointment with an attorney who specialized in bankruptcy. They paid her a retainer fee. Ralph and Jane never followed through on the bankruptcy filing. They didn't have the thousand dollars cash necessary for attorney and court costs. That money disappeared after a couple of more gambling excursions.

Ralph needed refills for his Prozac and Dexedrine. They did make an improvement in his ability to perform his job, even if his age obscured his accomplishments. Although he never used the credit cards without Jane's approval, he thought that she would not object. He knew that there was at least another fifty dollars available on one card. He spent it.

Jane attempted to use the same credit card to deposit money in the joint checking account. The transaction was denied.

When she confronted Ralph about the credit card, he boldly admitted spending the money. He said that it wasn't necessary for him to ask permission to spend their money.

"But I had plans for that money!" Jane shrieked. She slapped Ralph. His glasses flew from his face across the room. The metal frames were a twisted knot. They would have to be replaced.

Jane stormed out of the house. She did not return until three o'clock the next morning. She said that she had gone with her friend Sheila to meet a friend at the casino.

Jane had called Ralph's father, and spewed out her frustrations with Ralph to him. She told him that Ralph was finally getting medication for his under achievement, but he was still an underachiever. She said that she couldn't take being married to Ralph anymore.

Ralph's father said that he understood. He wanted his grandson Mark to be taken care of. He would help Jane to pay for a divorce from Ralph. He told Jane to call her friend Sheila, since they both lived in Elizabeth. Ralph's father said it was a shame that Ralph was taking addictive medication.

Jane called Sheila, and repeated the story of her problems with Ralph. Sheila suggested that they meet a friend of hers at his house. So Sheila and Jane went to see Sheila's friend Charles.

Charles was a paralegal. He worked for one of the large personal injury law firms in Elizabeth. He had a computer connection at home to his office. While waiting for the arrival of Jane and Sheila, he looked up Ralph's name on the law firm's data base access, out of curiosity. There it was, in an old file. There was a record from Ralph's accident, years earlier. Charles quickly read over the file.

When Sheila and Jane arrived, they sat down at the dining room table. Charles asked Jane "How would you like to get rid of Ralph and be rich, too? You could save your credit rating, without declaring bankruptcy."

"I would like that very much. But how can I do that? I make more than he does, and Family Court bases child support on the proportion of income that he has been providing." Jane said.

Charles explained "Well, you won't have to worry about child support if we help you. In fact, you won't have to worry about divorce court or Ralph either.

"Jane says that you like mystery novels. What if I told you that there were many mysteries that were never known, that were never questioned. These mysteries do not exist in the mind of the public. In the end of your mystery novels, all of the clues are resolved. In real life, many questions are never asked."

"What do you mean?" asked Jane.

"United States highway fatality rates have decreased seventy-three percent since 1959. Europe has twice the fatality rate as the United States, right now. Anti-drunk driving efforts, highway and vehicle safety programs have been very effective.

"The liability insurance companies make money on claims, whether they are legitimate or not. If they can prove a case of fraud, they are allowed to keep the recovered funds as an additional bonus. If the case isn't questioned, it can be used to justify high insurance premiums. Usually, only the most blatant cases of fraud, involving minor personal injuries, are investigated and prosecuted. The rest of the claims become a source of justification for higher rates. The higher the potential payout of a claim, the more valuable it is to the liability insurance company. The higher the claim, the less likely it is to be questioned.

"In spite of the shortage of deaths and serious personal injuries, automobile liability insurance premiums have remained stable. That is because there are an increasing number of fatalities which are caused by suicide, masquerading as an accident. These fatalities are among a select group, people with dependents. There is much less value to a death, without dependents. Youth of the victim is helpful as well. Claim payouts are also based upon years of potential life lost.

"It is true that insurance companies receive a windfall from catching cases of blatant fraud. So, they concentrate their efforts on fraudulent cases of minor injuries and damages. The insurance companies profit from all fraud, whether the criminals are exposed or not. Fraud provides the basis for premiums for liability insurance, just as much as legitimate claims.

Charles continued "Every day, someone in the United States kills themselves. They get in their car, and cause an accident with another vehicle. The accident appears to be the other party's fault. There is often controversy surrounding this type of claim.

"You would certainly not wish to face a courtroom in order to receive the proceeds of your claim for Ralph's death. We know that you would be well rewarded for his death, even without a liability insurance claim settlement.

"What our network of people does is to assist mothers like you. We find men with dependents, and their unhappy wives. If the men have any history of depression, that helps too. We persuade these men that it is the best interest of their families for them to become a fatality claim. And, we help them to become a fatality claim. We focus on men, because they are four times as likely as women to commit suicide." Charles explained.

"Five times, thanks to us!" Sheila joked.

Charles laughed and continued, "What our organization does, Jane, is to provide stability to the national economy. People might lose confidence in their financial institutions.

"Many of America's most successful corporations cooperate with us. We help them to generate a substantial cash flow. We are responsible for keeping many of them in business. Companies that attempt to thwart our objectives find out quickly how powerful we are. With our interwoven information system, between government services and industry, we can bring the mightiest industrial giants to their knees. Ordinary people, just like you, supply us with the confidential information needed to manage our empire. Information is power, in today's economy. We control it.

"Beginning today, we will give you fifty dollars a week to supply us with requested information from the files in your office. It will be directly deposited into your checking account, if that suits you.

"There is no documentation that we can not duplicate. We traditionally supply a check stub statement showing double the actual income of the deceased. If your husband earns eight dollars an hour, we will show documentation in the claim, for sixteen. No questions are asked.

"We seek out prospects, with dependents, who might be persuaded to become a highway statistic. We need the help of spouses who are willing to cooperate. We are particularly interested in wives of candidates with a history of depression." Charles finished.

"Ralph had problems with suicidal thoughts all of his life. But, he is taking Prozac now. He says that he doesn't have suicidal thoughts anymore." Jane explained.

"That's okay. Our records show that Ralph doesn't have any close personal friends, besides you. Is that correct?" Charles asked.

"Yes," said Jane. Jane thought about what a powerful organization this was, to have all of that information. How did they know that Ralph didn't have any close personal friends?

"That's too bad." said Sheila. "Friends can be easily persuaded to assist us. It doesn't take that much money to convince them to push their best friend out of the door of a fast car. The coroner doesn't check for bullet wounds in a wreck, anyway."

"This is the perfect crime, because it is not a crime on paper. It doesn't exist. You will not think of yourself as a criminal. You are doing what is right and just, for your family and your country. You are the one who is right, and Ralph is wrong. The only time for you to act as if Ralph is doing the right thing is when he is following our agenda. You are to be his best friend. You must always act like you are his best friend, even if it means pretending to help him avoid being killed. Eventually, our agenda will prevail. I am sure that you will carry out your responsibilities successfully.

"Of course, you will be required to release your liability claim for your husband's death to our attorney. You will still receive substantial Social Security benefits as a mother and widow. The mortgage will be paid off by credit life insurance. You will receive other life insurance benefits as well." Charles explained.

Jane was impressed at the organization's information resources. She had not told anyone about what she had read from her husband's annual Social Security Statement. In fact, this had been completely confidential information between her husband and the Social Security Administration. So, Charles was able to obtain confidential information in Federal Government files! Jane had a secure feeling, knowing that she had the power of her government supporting her. It didn't seem like a crime at all!

"I have prepared all of the necessary paperwork for your liability claim for Ralph's death. Dates and details will be added at the appropriate time. You will assign all proceeds of the claim to my attorney. We will pay you $7000 immediately for signing these papers. You will also receive a $10,000 bonus when we have received payment for the claim." Charles offered.

Jane enthusiastically added her signature to the forms Charles presented. It was like a murder mystery! She was signing a contract on Ralph's life!

Jane and Sheila said good night to Charles. Charles told that he would not be in contact with them until after Ralph's accident. Jane said she hoped that they would see each other soon.

Ralph Jr was glad that the fights with Jane had ended.. There was now enough money in the house, even after a casino binge. Jane seemed more distant, but Ralph Jr didn't care. It was just such a relief not to be arguing anymore.

Jane seemed in control, the way she liked to be. She doted over Mark, trying to be an excellent mother. She had always been better at disciplining their child. But, time with Ralph Jr was fun time for Mark.

Jane was very excited about her friend and coworker, Alicia. Alicia was dating a doctor! The doctor had a son from a previous marriage. The son was named Carl. Carl's mother was dead. She had committed suicide. Despite treatment, with state of the art antidepressants, the doctor suffered from depression.

Jane and Alicia were becoming fast friends. Mark and Carl were the same age, and attended the same school. Jane and Mark went with Ralph to a local park festival. They met Alicia, Carl and the doctor there. Ralph met the doctor. The doctor walked with his head down, and shuffled along. Ralph knew that they didn't have much in common. In spite of his career frustrations, Ralph still had a zest for life.

Jane had wanted Ralph to go with her to a marriage counselor. She said that she was "falling out of love" with him. She said that a friend had recommended Cindy. Cindy was a marriage counselor and a hydrotherapist. She had practiced for years in California, before coming to the South Central United States.

Jane's insinuations that she wanted a divorce from Ralph did not have the intended affect. Jane and Sheila thought that the threat of divorce would make Ralph severely depressed. Instead of despondency, Ralph was secretly elated. He could leave Elizabeth!

The Elizabeth newspaper had mistakenly printed an article sometime before, showing per capita incomes for the four metropolitan areas of the state. Of the four metropolitan regions, Elizabeth had the lowest per capita income. This was despite its higher population and glittering facade! The other areas of the state produced wealth from manufacturing and production. Elizabeth produced almost nothing tangible, only financial services. These required labor and products from somewhere else to have any real value.

Elizabeth's supply side service economy for the banking industry created poverty for the general population! It appeared to Ralph that the banking interests might actually be influencing the practices of Elizabeth's non-banking businesses! A company that offered its employees and opportunity to earn overtime, at one and one-half times their standard wage, usually announced within a month that it would no longer do so. Ralph believed that perhaps some bank loan officer, looking at a monthly statement, called and admonished the offending businessman for "overpaying" his employees!

Ralph had also learned, from his failed attempt to earn a living selling insurance, that the further away from Elizabeth he went to solicit customers, the higher the average wages! Elizabeth's banking industry thrived on the work of housewives. They were forced to build careers at the banks, to compensate for their husbands' lack of compensation.

Ralph also missed the woods and fields from his childhood. He had grown up in a developing rural area, near one of the state's other large cities. Elizabeth's two million population had swallowed up the rural areas of the surrounding counties.

Jane told Ralph that she was falling out of love with him. Jane asked him to go to marriage counseling with someone a friend had recommended.

Ralph went to see Cindy, the marriage counselor, once. Jane had already been to an appointment with Cindy. Cindy had said that his Prozac probably would not interfere with her program, but that the Dexedrine might. Cindy said that hypnosis would be beneficial.

Ralph didn't like Cindy. She had a certain air about her, like he was an object. There was something reptilian about her emotions. Everything she said and did seemed cold and controlled. Since most of Ralph's and Jane's fights had been about money, he couldn't understand paying one hundred and fifteen dollars an hour for Cindy's services. Jane received only fifty percent reimbursement from her insurance benefit package. Ralph's benefits were too limited to cover marriage counseling and hypnosis.

Jane continued to see Cindy. Jane became very different. Her sex drive had increased dramatically. She even enjoyed giving oral sex! Before, Ralph had enthusiastically given her hours of oral attention. Jane had not been interested in returning the favor.

"You like it, and I like it too!" she exclaimed after giving him her oral attention.

It was odd, the way she said that. Her speech was almost robotic, as if she were programmed to say it. It was as if someone else was speaking through Jane. It didn't sound like the Jane that he knew.

Ralph changed jobs, again. He was working on the survey crew of a large engineering firm in Elizabeth. The company operated two crews. At first, he was assigned to work on Jim Fess's crew. Jim had been surveying since he was twelve. Jim's father had been a licensed surveyor, in Delaware.

Jim gave the crew a lecture one morning. It concerned safety around heavy earth moving equipment, especially pans. Equipment manufacturers call pans scrapers. In field construction work, scrapers are known as pans. These machines can scrape up and haul thirty cubic yards of earth in a load. A loaded pan can haul up to a seventy-five thousand pound load. The machine weighs thirty thousand pounds. This becomes a combined weight of over one hundred thousand pounds.

The drivers usually have a set route hauling their loads through a project. They travel as fast as the loaded machines allow. The turning response of the pans is slow, and so is the braking response. The pan operators don't have time to stop, if a man on foot suddenly appeared in their way.

Jim told a story about one surveyor, on a Delaware site where he had worked. A pan had rolled over the man. It had been a closed casket funeral. They couldn't separate the remains from the earth the man had been ground into.

Jim also told them about a state inspector on another project. There had been a cave in of excavated soil. The man had fallen into a deep trench that had been filled with loose soil. The apparently solid ground had given way under his feet. The surrounding soil fell on top of his supine body. His head and shoulders extended above the soil, but there were several feet of soil on top of the rest of his body. The inspector was talkative, and complained a little about the pressure he felt on his abdomen.

When the soil was removed from around the buried inspector, he died. The compression, and subsequent release of compression, of his internal organs had killed him.

Jim also talked about his four children. He told how he had been the founder of a father's rights group in Delaware. He had even been on a nationally syndicated television show, to discuss father's rights.

Jim had custody of his four children. He took as good care of them as he could, working sixty hour weeks. Jim lambasted and condemned his three ex wives. He said that he couldn't understand a man giving his life for a "piece of tail."

Jim had hated his father. His father had acquired a twenty- year military pension, before he became a surveyor. He had been very abusive toward Jim, hitting him whenever he made a mistake while surveying. It had helped to make Jim a very good, but neurotic, surveyor. Jim went to his father's funeral to have a moment of rejoicing.

But Jim didn't like Ralph. No matter what Ralph did, Jim didn't want him on his crew. So Ralph was assigned to work with Bob.

Ralph was assigned to work on Bob's crew. Bob was ten years younger than Ralph. Bob was different from Jim in many ways. Jim had been sent to work in cooperation with the grading contractor of the largest housing development project in Elizabeth. Bob was assigned to work on a huge sewer line, along a wild creek, in an adjacent county.

Bob had long hair and a reckless attitude about other people's opinion of him. Even when he came to work on Jim's project, he was given "briar patch" work. He would be given survey assignments in back areas of the project, out of view of the public and other construction personnel.

Ralph and Jane's relationship seemed to have stabilized. Ralph believed that although Jane didn't love as much as she once had, they could make the marriage work and raise Mark in a two parent home. While Ralph's paycheck didn't match Jane's, it brought in the additional income needed to maintain the household.

Jane was becoming impatient. She wanted more money for gambling, and none was coming in. What good was it, to agree to sell Ralph's life? She might as well dump Ralph, and find some wealthy older man to murder.

Jane had a conference with Cindy and Sheila.

"We need to do something with Ralph. It's been months since I met Charles, and nothing has happened," said Jane.

"Oh, things have been happening. You just don't know about them." Sheila explained.

"Well, I've been waiting for my turn, too. Is there any reason we can't have a programming session?" Cindy inquired.

"No, there isn't. You and Jane set up a couple of days, and go ahead. I will make the necessary arrangements to put the programming to use. Jane, we will try to arrange for Ralph to have an accident surveying. He could be standing on a public highway, doing survey work. That might create a liability for the offending driver and Ralph's employer. We like to arrange double jeopardy situations." Sheila explained.

"Good. Jane, can we set up next weekend for the hypnotic programming?" Cindy asked.

Jane had collected several of Ralph's wage and check stub statements, as well as his annual income tax returns. Perfect duplicates would be created, showing Ralph's income to be twice what it actually was. The duplicates would be submitted with the fatality claim for Ralph's death.

Sheila's statement about her observations of the deep emotional bond between father and son would double the value of "loss of companionship and emotional suffering."

So, Cindy and a companion went to the Singleton home. When Ralph had gone to sleep on Friday night, Cindy's cohort gave him an inhaled anesthetic. Then, another sedative was injected. The stupor would be maintained for the next two days. Ralph's conscious mechanisms to control the input to his brain would be incapacitated. He would be very receptive to the hypnotic trance. Post hypnotic suggestions would be more effective. On Sunday night, Ralph Jr awoke.

"What are we planning to do this weekend, honey?" he asked Jane.

"This weekend, it's over. It's Sunday night!" Jane said. She looked at him, evaluating his condition.

"Oh yeah, that's right," said Ralph Jr. He didn't want to admit he didn't know where two days had gone. Somehow, he knew that he must obey Jane's orders.

Mark had taken his bath. He was ready for a bedtime story and tuck in. Mark had been kept busy, staying at a friend's house the entire weekend.

For the next five days, Ralph felt a bit groggy. He felt a little dizzy when he stood up. The hot sun had the same effect. He didn't tell anyone that he felt as if he had been drugged or poisoned. That would be a sure sign of psychosis, and the need to change his medication. He had the intuition that he needed his antidepressant and stimulant medication to survive.

Somehow, Ralph managed to survive that week. He was given more than the usual amount of exposure to commuter traffic at work. Every day, they were assigned highway work. The two way radio blared constantly with Bob's caustic voice. Ralph used more Dexedrine than usual that week. The stress and challenge of the traffic had somehow increased his will to survive.

On the following Saturday evening, Jane said that she wanted to talk with Ralph. Jane asked Ralph Jr, "How would you like to make your son rich?"

Dazed but skeptical, Ralph replied, "That would be wonderful, but how? I've had enough of fly by night, commission only, sales jobs."

"Sheila has introduced me to a huge network of people involved in insurance fraud. You wouldn't believe how many people are involved." Jane said.

"Like whiplash? But I've been through that hassle, with the wreck I was in. I really don't want to go through that bull shit again." Ralph replied. "Besides, if we file for bankruptcy, we will be fine. It's just all of this high interest credit card debt that keeps us broke."

"But Dan and Michele say that I wont be accepted as a multilevel distributor, if we file for bankruptcy. I know how we could pay off all of our debts, and make our daughter rich. The network of insurance fraud people doesn't bother with whiplash. Too many questions." Ralph said.

"You're right. Aren't you tired of all the hassle life has given you? We could end these problems. The people that are involved in insurance fraud want fatalities." Jane said.

"But we don't have enough life insurance to even pay off our debts." Ralph said.

"I know that already. This group of people is very well organized. They do car accidents. They handle everything. But, they only want people who can give them valuable claims." Jane said.

"Oh, like your father? He's rich and old. But, how would they set it up? Besides, we don't need the money that bad. Even if it looked like an accident, it would still be murder. I can't do it. I don't want to spend eternity with Hitler." Ralph said.

"Oh no. At my father's age, it wouldn't be worth much. If something happened to you, we could collect for all of your future income, until Mark became an adult. They want people who have decided to end their miserable lives. Even if they were just hurt, once they got in the ambulance, it would be all over. Besides, when you die, you automatically go to heaven. Pleeeeeeease!" Jane implored. She was filled with anticipation and passion for her objective.

Groggy and confused, Ralph could only repeat, "But I don't want to spend eternity with Hitler."

The conversation ended. Jane understood that the hypnotic programming was not always one hundred percent effective. Ralph was not willing to fully embrace the idea of sacrificing his life for Jane's fortune. It remained to be seen, what degree the post hypnotic suggestions would be effective. As Cindy had guaranteed, Ralph had absolutely no memory of his missing weekend. He would even block the conversation he had just had with Jane about causing his own fatal accident. He would not remember many of the things that Jane said, while the posthypnotic suggestions remained partially effective.

Ralph increased his dosage of Dexedrine and his thoughts cleared. He knew that DR Saxon wouldn't like it, but he was still in the middle range of adult dosage for Dexedrine. Besides, it might even help him to get a promotion on the survey crew. It would certainly assist in dodging traffic.

Ralph was assigned an unusual amount of highway work with Bob. The large sewer line went through dense thickets and woods, occasionally crossing a rural road or highway. These roads were heavily traveled by rural and suburban commuters to Elizabeth. These travelers were always in a hurry, since they had an hour's commute through heavy traffic to get to their jobs in downtown Elizabeth.

Surveyors used heavy nails or large metal pins, placed in the ground, as landmarks. Surveyors return to these "points," as reference marks for new surveys. These nails are often disturbed or removed along roadsides. In the county where Bob and Ralph were surveying, many of these points were disturbed, or missing after a few months. Others were located in the center line of a paved road. In either case, Ralph would be exposed to fast moving, impatient traffic. He would have the dual responsibilities of monitoring his own safety and performing his survey duties.

His "friend" and supervisor, Bob, would often assign Ralph the job of looking for missing nails and pins. Other times, Ralph would be working his way up and down the center line of the road, while Bob measured Ralph's position with a surveying instrument. Ralph had to remain still, and concentrate on keeping a six foot rod perfectly level, while Bob took his measurement "shot."

The two way radio would frequently be filled with Bob's barking and growling commands. The radio picked up its share of static along the highway as well.

Jane had insisted on preparing a Thermos full of coffee for Ralph every morning. Ralph noticed that even the smallest scratch or razor nick would bleed almost continuously. It was as if he were becoming a hemophiliac, with blood unable to clot.

(Months later, Ralph would reevaluate his work with Bob. Ralph would understand that he had been given the posthypnotic suggestion to ignore traffic while listening to a two way radio. If Ralph had been killed by a commuter, there would have been no limits on the amount of Jane's lawsuit. If Ralph had been killed anywhere on the job, other than a public roadway, there would have been Workmen's' Compensation limits, which are very low. It would have been the difference between unlimited liability for a death caused by a private vehicle, and limited liability for a death in the work place.)

Ralph was supposed to be in a constant state of confusion. But, Dexedrine and the adrenal rush of dodging traffic all day, gave him a new zest for life. He actually enjoyed the challenge!

The dynamics of Attention Deficit Disorder are such that it may be a recessive gene, from our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Instead of focusing on tediously tilling the soil, hunter gatherers jump from one challenging situation to another. Fight or flight is the normal state of mind, providing an inner calm. Instead of being confused by life and death situations that interfere with normal activities, people with Attention Deficit Disorder often thrive. They become very focused on all of their activities. Peripheral activities, not directly related to survival, become easier when the Attention Deficit Disordered person is also confronted by a life or death situation.

One problem, which is common to both Attention Deficit Disorder and Learning Disabilities, is social naivete. Where friends knew intuitively what to say in social situations, Ralph would often blurt the wrong thing at the wrong time. Others could navigate the shark infested waters of an office environment. Ralph found it important to work away from complex social situations. This helped to make his college education useless in the socially competitive office environment of downtown Elizabeth.

The most common denominator for Adult Attention Deficit Disorder is the inability to concentrate on two different complex adult activities at the same time. Ralph could focus very well on one activity at a time, but not two. Dexedrine diminishes this problem, but does not eliminate it.

There is an exception to the general state of confusion exhibited by people with Attention Deficit Disorder. Because of the hunter-gatherer nature of Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, there is the occasional display of hyper focus. Just like a Neanderthal fleeing from a saber tooth tiger in the forest, a person with Adult Attention Deficit Disorder can suddenly focus superbly on a multitude of factors. While fleeing from the saber tooth tiger, our Neanderthal friend would quickly navigate over fallen trees, streams, etc. It was survival of the fittest, and the most adept at improvising in emergencies.

Ralph would often be in a fight or flight state. Fortified with Dexedrine, Ralph managed to negotiate Bob's irritating commands, the heavy traffic and survey measurement duties. He did wonder why he was continuously placed in such unnecessarily demanding situations, but he considered them a challenge.

Ralph managed to survive. DR Saxon did not like the increased Dexedrine dosage, but obliged. The correct dosage of stimulant medication varies from individual to individual with Attention Deficit Disorder. In some cases, even methamphetamine is available for patients who do not respond to Dexedrine. Ralph's dosage of Dexedrine was still in the moderate range, but approached being unusually high.

Ralph appeared calm and in control when he saw DR Saxon. He didn't tell DR Saxon about the unusual things that were happening to him at home or at work. Somehow, many of the strange things were quickly forgotten, especially in the chaos of precision survey work, while he also avoided being smashed by a car.

Jane was again becoming frustrated with her lack of success in causing Ralph's untimely demise. She asked Ralph how he was feeling at work.

"Not too bad. Traffic is hell, but it keeps me hopping." Ralph replied.

"So I guess you're able to work safely, without any chance of an accident?" Jane said.

"Yea, there's no chance of an accident. I care about Mark too much to let that happen." Ralph said, beaming with paternal pride.

Ralph told Jane about the news of the suicide of his childhood friend, Bill Jefferson. The son of a dentist, Ralph's mother had encouraged the friendship. While Ralph was experimented with marijuana during his late teens, he remembered his friend Bill used hypodermic syringes. During his thirties, Bill had been in a detoxification center twice. He was addicted to crack cocaine. At the age of forty, with three children and a separated wife, Bill removed part of his head with a shotgun blast.

"Such a waste!" Jane sighed, when Ralph told her about Bill Jefferson.

Ralph worked in surveying for nearly two years. He saw that younger men, with less knowledge of surveying than he had, were being promoted. He mailed resumes to several different local engineering firms, hoping for a new opportunity in construction field work.

Bob talked about a large construction project he had been on, in mountainous terrain. Bob said that two deaths had been part of the calculations and estimates in the bidding for the project. Bob said that two backhoe operators were expected be killed. If they weren't, the project had not met its "quota." Bob said that it messed up the insurance rates, if there weren't enough fatalities.

"You didn't hear anything, you didn't see anything." Bob admonished to Ralph. That ended the conversation.

When Ralph got home that evening, Jane asked him about his day. Ralph told her about the strange conversation with Bob. Jane seemed filled with anticipation, as if expecting the right words to come from Ralph's mouth. Ralph had nothing more to say.

During the middle 1990s, Ralph had been undergoing a metamorphosis. He found himself rejecting the values of his time. He began to embrace the idea that the times he lived in were not good, in spite of the prosperity. Many of the next generation seemed preoccupied with causing their comrades to fail, in the mistaken belief that this would help them to succeed. He reverted to his core values; belief in freedom, peace and Christian values.

He began to believe that many of the successful and prosperous people of Elizabeth were frauds. They had gained their wealth at the expense of the "downsized" and underemployed members of his own generation.

It seemed as if his generation was being punished for rejecting the Vietnam War. His younger brother and cousins had not been contaminated by the questioning of authority that the Vietnam War era bred. Those who were just a few years younger than him were given the reigns of power by his parents' generation. The younger brothers and sister did not question authority. They did not question the assassinations of the 1960s. They did not care.

Ralph had read several books about the JFK assassination. He understood that all of the assassinations of the 1960s had one common denominator: opposition or impediment of the Vietnam War. JFK had been planning to pull out of Viet Nam by 1965. RFK had openly opposed the war. Martin Luther King had enjoyed FBI protection for fifteen years. Three months after speaking out against the Vietnam War, the agent assigned to guard him took a "coffee break." The FBI agent was never reprimanded for going to the coffee shop at the Memphis motel.

Even the assassination attempt on former Alabama governor George Wallace had a Viet Nam connection. If George Wallace had been able to run as a third party candidate, in 1972, then he could have taken some electoral votes away from Richard Nixon. George McGovern, the peace candidate, might have won.

In 1973 and 1974, billions of dollars of United States war materials were dumped into the hands of the failing South Vietnamese government. The arms manufacturers would have been denied much of their profit from the war. Fortunately, many of the munitions were never used. They were captured by the invading North Vietnamese forces. At the end of the war, Hanoi controlled the third largest arsenal in the world. These were munitions manufactured in the United States.

The assassination of former Beatle John Lennon was for the aims of the military industrial complex. John Lennon's popularity and politically charged songs could have greatly influenced the 1980 election. He might have been instrumental in preventing the election of Ronald Reagan. More important to the military industrial complex, John Lennon might have foiled the election of former CIA director George Bush as Vice President. If the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan had been successful, would the Gulf War have occurred sooner? Or would the United States and Soviet Union had one last, serious regional conflict like Vietnam?

It is also true that there were, and are, dissidents among Ralph's younger peers. But they were not handed economic power from the generation who had fought World War Two. That was reserved for those who believed that war and corpses created prosperity.

CHAPTER FOUR

Rick Hall, an Assistant Project Engineer with Striate Engineering, called Ralph for a job interview. Rick had received one of Ralph's unsolicited resumes in the mail. Rick said that he was very excited about having someone like Ralph come to work for him. Rick told Ralph that he had already done a background check on him, using the Internet, and that Ralph was just what Rick was looking for. As an Engineering Technician, Ralph would be provided with a pager, company gasoline credit card, and a company pickup. The pickup would also be available for limited personal use.

Ralph thought that Jane would be very happy with his new job. They wouldn't have the expense of maintaining and insuring Ralph's ten year old Dodge Colt. Ralph would have a more complete benefit package, as well as more much income in the coming spring and summer months.

Ralph was elated about finding the new job. He thought that he might earn back Jane's respect. His marriage could be saved!

When he gave Jane the news, she seemed unimpressed. It almost seemed as if she had already known about the new job. She almost seemed disappointed.

Rick Hall had career problems. Two years before Ralph came to work at Striate Engineering, Rick had been caught up in an internal company scandal. All of the Engineering Technicians under Rick's supervision had been caught over billing clients. They were all fired. The auditors who investigated found no improprieties on Rick's part. The lost reputation of Striate's Elizabeth office cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars of annual business. Instead of being mercifully fired, Rick was left to languish at the Assistant Project Engineer level. Rick had not had a raise in pay for two years.

Rick had heard about the fatal accident fraud organization from a construction site supervisor that he had known since their college days together. Rick had wanted an opportunity to make extra money from crime. Now, he had one.

Ralph's job, working for Rick, would be to test concrete and soil being placed at construction sites. Some simple tests would be performed, to verify that the concrete and soil placed met the project specifications. The concrete would be tested, and laboratory samples made, to make certain that it was strong enough to support the structure. The loose soil, placed as fill material to create level ground, would be tested on the site for compaction.

The reader has probably seen a long depression running through developed land or a paved area. This is the result of loose soil placed above a utility line excavation. The soil was not compacted. The loose soil settled, and created the depression. Soil and concrete engineering technicians are responsible for monitoring the compaction of loose fill soil to prevent settling.

Because of Rick's lack of oversight, which created the over billing scandal, Striate Engineering's Elizabeth technicians had to scramble for small construction projects. Their competitors had the luxury of monitoring the same large project from morning until afternoon. The Striate technicians would perform tests at three or four projects every day. They were frequently late in arriving at scheduled construction events. They had to unpack and pack up equipment at every site they visited, as well as write a one page technical report of their activities at each site.

Rick had learned to manage his fleet of five pickup trucks, routing them around the Elizabeth area. His technicians learned to drive in traffic, much faster than the ten miles an hour above the posted speed limit that local law enforcement allowed.

One evening, Ralph and Jane were having one of their usual terse discussions, Ralph was talking about how his career opportunities had brightened. The were more opportunities, he said, by becoming an engineering technician. There were various skill level certification programs available. In the career of surveying, if someone didn't have a surveying degree and license, one was just a "field hand."

Jane was musing, lost in her own thoughts. She told Ralph that the opportunity she wanted was to become a distributor with Dana and Michele. Ralph's career didn't matter. But, she said she was glad that he had been given the use of a company truck.

Ralph said that he could understand that Jane wanted a better life, but that their combined incomes were more than adequate for themselves and Mark's support. Ralph said that he couldn't see the family becoming rich, unless a miracle happened.

"Unless it happened in the company truck!" Jane suddenly blurted. Then, she quickly ended the conversation. Then, she asked Ralph to wash the dishes and mow the lawn.

Two years after Ralph's "lost weekend,'" Jane contacted Sheila and Cindy. They had a meeting at one of Cindy's offices.

"How is Ralph doing?" asked Cindy. "He isn't remembering too many things, is he? Posthypnotic suggestions not to remember are usually very effective. Creating a death is a lot trickier."

"The posthypnotic suggestion to be a pedestrian fatality didn't work. But, he isn't remembering too many things. He does just like you programmed him. He becomes nervous and confused whenever he starts to remember or analyze the situation. If he tried to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together, he would go crazy." Jane said.

"That's what we want to happen, if there isn't an accident," said Cindy.

"But what can we do to have an accident? We're already in the hole for the weekend you spent programming him. We need something to make an accident happen." Sheila said.

"I could try to hypnotize him while he is at work. That way, he could have an accident almost immediately. That has worked for me before, with other clients. How much Dexedrine did you say that he was taking, Jane?" Cindy asked.

"He's up to fifteen milligrams, three time a day." Jane answered.

"What! When we first met, he was only taking a total of twenty milligrams per day! Now, he's taking forty-five! I thought that he was on low dose Dexedrine for residual Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. Can't you convince him that's an abusive dose?" Cindy ordered.

"I doubt it. The more work, traffic and stress we put on him, the more he takes." Jane said. "Well, try to get him to cut down. But, we don't want DR Saxon asking too many questions." Cindy stated.

"I need a claim!" Sheila barked.

"If he had a wreck in the company truck, due to being in a hurry, then Striate Engineering would be liable for negligence, as well as the general contractor for the project that Ralph was en route to. Negligence would mean punitive damages for Striate, along with the usual pain and suffering. Striate is a national, forty-million a year company." Jane said.

Jane had been learning a lot about their enterprise during the previous two years. She had been conferring with Rick Hall about all of the nuances of managing a fleet of five pickup trucks, driven by the engineering technicians for construction testing. Rick had been very glad of his opportunity to become a member of the fatal accident fraud organization.

"I know that weekend you programmed him cost us a lot of money. The sedative alone was over a hundred dollars." Sheila whined. "If we could increase the value of the claim, wouldn't it be worth another weekend?"

"Yes, being forced to speed, by Striate's unrealistic schedule, would create punitive damages. The wreck could be his fault, but there would still be an exceptionally large liability claim. It would certainly be worth my while." Cindy replied.

Rick Hall had been contacted. At last, he had his chance! With the fleet of five vehicles at his disposal, he could make millions in the fatal accident racket. A unique glitch in the law made his opportunity uniquely prosperous. The widow and children could sue the general contractor of the destination site, with no regard for the amount previously collected from the Striate's insurance company! This could also help to generate sales opportunities for the companies which insure general contractors and other businesses for liability.

"See what can happen," the liability insurance salesman could say. "Here is a million dollar lawsuit by the widow of a soil and concrete engineering technician. He was on the way to the project when the accident happened! The general contractor maintained high limits on his liability insurance coverage. We paid it off. What would happen to you, with your present low level of coverage? You would be wiped out!"

Accidents could be arranged for technicians on the way to projects with heavily insured general contractors. It was a very prosperous situation for almost everyone involved.

Another "lost weekend" was arranged. Like before, Ralph was given an inhaled anesthetic when he went to sleep. He was continually sedated and programmed for forty-eight hours. Again, he woke up on Sunday evening, not remembering anything. It was another five days before the sedative wore off. Ralph had to stop and collect himself several times a day. Especially during the midday heat.

Ralph did not want to confront DR Saxon with another increase in Dexedrine dosage. He fortified his present regimen with nine cups of black coffee a day. It helped him to overcome the effects of the sedative and his insane work schedule.

Ralph was intuitively aware that people were trying to kill him, on the road while he was at work. He sensed the strange emotional states of Jane and Rick. It was as if they were in another dimension, when they spoke to him. Seeking answers, he called his cousin. His cousin was a detective with the Elizabeth City Police Department. He explained all of the bits and pieces of information that he could recall. But, Ralph's memory of his conversation with Jane, regarding the insurance fraud network, had been blocked by posthypnotic suggestion.

"Sounds like there must be some illegal dumping going on. I don't want to talk about it. You should call my supervisor, Frank Johnson, tomorrow morning. Tell him what you just told me." Ralph's cousin Wayne said.

Ralph wrote down the telephone number of Frank Johnson. In his hectic workday, Ralph forgot to call. It didn't seem to matter as much. Now he had a clue about what was going on. Illegal dumping.

Jane had been mixing coumadin into Ralph's morning coffee for two weeks.

Ralph knew that strange things were happening. On the Tuesday following his last lost weekend, he went to pick up Mark at school. He was driving the Striate Engineering pickup. At three different intersections on the way to Mark's school, grinning young drivers of high horsepower cars pulled out beside Ralph. They came from intersecting side streets. They escorted Ralph to Mark's school, on the four lane road with its forty-five miles per hour speed limit.

Ralph found Mark at the school, and they began the drive home. Another high horsepower car pulled beside them. The driver looked into the car, and saw Mark. He looked surprised. Then, the driver looked at Ralph. The driver grinned, nodded his head and sped away.

At the Striate office, the next day, one of the senior engineers spoke to Ralph. Although Ralph had never met the man, he spoke as if he knew Ralph very well. The senior engineer asked Ralph how he was faring in the hot sun of late May. Ralph said that he knew how to protect himself in hot weather. The engineer said that was good, since it took about five days to get used to it. Ralph was perplexed by what the engineer said. Hot weather began in early April, in Elizabeth's latitude. It had been three days since the anesthesia from his lost weekend.

Life was becoming more and more unreal for Ralph. On that same evening, Ralph was in his driveway, cleaning the Striate pickup. It was dusk, about seven PM. There was an Elizabeth Water Department service man working three houses up the street from Ralph. He was pushing a very long, snakelike, wire down into the water line. Ralph estimated that the man had pushed enough wire into the line to reach Ralph's house. The man noticed Ralph's interest in him, and stared back with a frightened, reptilian scowl.

[The reader is provided with a diagram, illustrating the following segment of text. It is at the end of the next three pages.]

As part of the planning for the second weekend of hypnotic programming, Jane had contacted Rick Hall, and told him what needed to be done. Rick would schedule Ralph Jr to pass through the intersection of Int estates 66 and 58 South in Elizabeth. At this location, the merge lane from Interstate 66 became a third lane for Interstate 58. One half mile further south, Jetty Road had an interchange with Interstate 58. The entrance ramp for Jetty Road merged directly into the third lane of Interstate 58.

The Straite Engineering office was located two miles west of the intersection of the two interstates, just off Interstate 66.

On Monday evening, two weeks after the last weekend of hypnotic programming, the secretary at the Striate office telephoned Ralph with the next day's agenda. Ralph would travel to a construction project in Salisville, thirty miles north of Elizabeth on I-85. Ralph was to get there by eight AM, perform some soil compaction tests, and leave the project no later than ten-thirty AM. Then, he was to go to the Striate office, to pick up directions to a project at the Elizabeth airport. The Elizabeth Airport was located on the South side of Elizabeth, on Interstate 58.

Ralph was to arrive at the airport project at exactly twelve noon. When he arrived, he was to walk down into a deep trench excavation. The trench was being refilled with soil, where a buried sewer pipeline had been placed. Ralph was to go into the trench, and obtain a fifty pound sample of the soil at the bottom. This was to be done while the earth moving crew and project superintendent were out to lunch.

The Striate secretary reminded Ralph that he should have his pager on at all times.

Ralph sensed the evil that surrounded him. The instructions from the secretary were odd, and unnecessary. But, Ralph went to the Salisville project, as he had been ordered to do. He felt that there was something diabolical in the way that he had been ordered to detour from Interstate 58 on his way to the airport. At the Salisville project, Ralph thought that there seemed to be something demonic in the faces of many of the construction workers. He couldn't understand why.

Ralph left the Salisville project at ten thirty, as planned. The project was on the other side of Salisville from Interstate 58. Like many small cities in the "New South," the growth in its prosperous population and automobiles exceeded the infrastructure of roads and utilities. The road around Salisville, from the construction project to Interstate 58, was a jumble of chaotic traffic. There was road and utility construction on the road, which had originally been a horse and wagon route from outlying farms to churches and stores.

It was almost eleven-fifteen when Ralph reached Interstate 58 in Salisville. He had more than an hour's drive, directly on Interstate 58, to the construction project near the Elizabeth airport. Detouring by the Striate Engineering office, and returning to Interstate 58 would take another forty minutes. So, Ralph decided that he would go directly to the Elizabeth airport vicinity, and call for directions when he got there. Surely, someone could explain the location to him over the telephone in less time than it would take to get the directions from the office in person.

The secretary had sounded matter of fact, to Ralph, in the way that she had told Ralph about coming for the directions. This almost seemed odd, given that it was such an unusual request. The Striate field technicians were chronically late, yet he was being told to take an unnecessary detour.

Ralph approached the Interstate 66 and 58 cloverleaf. Although it was noon, on a weekday, there was no traffic near him. He saw, in his rear view mirror, a cluster of cars that seemed to be blocking traffic. As he passed under the Interstate 66 bridge, a tractor-trailer approached in his left lane. It must have been traveling at least fifteen miles per hour faster than Ralph's sixty. It screamed past Ralph, then pulled right into Ralph's lane. Then, it slowed down to match Ralph's speed.

Another tractor-trailer approached Ralph in the same manner. It pulled beside Ralph, and matched his speed. It was easy to read "Ace Truck Renting and Leasing" read the sign on the side of the trailer.

A third truck approached, and maintained a position behind Ralph, in his lane. Because he had not detoured by the Striate office, Ralph was not in the merge lane from Interstate 66. Instead, he was in the central traffic lane of Interstate 58. The merge lane, from Interstate 66, was on his right. The passing lane of Interstate 58 was on his left.

A faded yellow pickup truck entered the scene from the merge lane of Interstate 66. There was no other traffic near Ralph. The escort cars a half-mile behind him were blocking any potential witnesses from the scene.

Ralph realized that something was very wrong with the situation. He had a strong sense of paranoia, from all of the odd occurrences that had been happening.

Ralph came to the underpass from Jetty Road. He saw a tractor-trailer coming down the ramp, into the merge lane from Interstate 66. At first, he thought that there was a comfortable safety margin for the merging tractor-trailer. Then, he realized how fast the truck was traveling. With the pickup's windows rolled down, Ralph could hear the screaming truck racing down the ramp. The truck would reach the base of the ramp immediately before Ralph! Ralph was surrounded, and headed for a collision course with the merging truck. Ralph could see that his right of way wouldn't matter very much, since his pickup could be smashed in a jumble of four tractor-trailers.

The drivers of the trucks must have expected something different from Ralph. Without the warning use of brake lights, Ralph downshifted the truck. Before the pickup and the tractor-trailer behind Ralph could react, Ralph slipped between them. There was just enough room, straddling the white line that separated the lanes, for Ralph to escape.

Ralph attempted to catch up with the cluster of trucks. He hoped to get the number of a license plate. He saw the driver of the pickup extend his arm up, out of the window. The pickup driver rotated his arm, with his forefinger extended. With the signal from the pickup driver, the trucks sped off before Ralph could make a positive identification.

Ralph took the next available exit from Interstate 58. He was pumped with adrenaline, wanting to tell his story to someone who would listen. They were trying to kill him, because of what he knew about illegal dumping! He knew that the Elizabeth cops couldn't do very much, and that the situation exceeded their jurisdiction. So, Ralph drove the Straite Engineering truck to downtown Elizabeth. He stopped at a pay telephone booth, and looked up the address of the Elizabeth office of the FBI.

The FBI office was located in one of the many bank owned office high rise buildings in downtown Elizabeth. Ralph parked the truck on the street, looking all around him. He trotted to the office building where the FBI office was located. It was odd, that after the escape from the staged fatal accident, none of the assassins from the illegal dumping operation were following him.

Ralph went to the fourth floor office of the FBI. Inside the office door was a small room. There was a barred window, about a foot square, on the right side of the room. There was a woman behind the bars, sorting mail. Ralph went to the window, and told the woman that he needed to speak to an FBI agent. Ralph had some information about illegal dumping.

A young man came out of the doorway that was beside the barred window. Ralph told him that he had some information about illegal dumping, and that somebody was trying to kill him because of it. Ralph said that he was interested in the witness protection program.

The young man went back behind the door, telling Ralph to wait right there. Soon, another young man, very sharply dressed appeared. He said that he was a special agent for the FBI, and showed Ralph his identification. He patted Ralph down, saying that it was necessary to search him for weapons. Ralph, the first young man and the special agent went through another door that was on the opposite side of the room from the barred window.

There was a large table in the middle of the room. The table could seat eight people comfortably. The special agent said that they could speak freely inside the room. Ralph described the incident that had just happened on Interstate 58. He told about the construction project on the North side of Elizabeth, where Ralph expected that the illegal dumping was happening.

The agent listened to Ralph's story, and asked about his employment. Ralph produced one of Rick Hall's business cards that he carried. The special agent took the business card and left the room.

When the agent returned to the room, he thanked Ralph for coming to him. He told Ralph that the meeting was over, and that it was time for him to leave. Ralph asked the agent how he could get in touch with him, and what he should do. The agent simply said that Ralph should leave.

In spite of Ralph's delusion about illegal dumping, Ralph was becoming aware that many of his enemies were civil servants for various government agencies. Ralph was wondering what to do next when he reached the street. He was planning to go to the Elizabeth Gazette and tell his story to a reporter. From the street door of the office building, Ralph could see the Elizabeth Gazette building. Between him and the Elizabeth Gazette building was a gauntlet of public servants' vehicles. There were police cruisers or ambulances at every street corner between him and the Elizabeth Gazette building.

Ralph returned to his Striate Engineering pickup and drove away from the Gazette building. There was one way that he knew of to create a record of the incident on the Interstate. Ralph drove to the main office of the Elizabeth Police Department.

The officer behind the desk at the Elizabeth police department told Ralph to wait there. Then, he told Ralph to go to another office, across the foyer. Ralph went there, and explained his story. The officer asked to see Ralph's identification, and Ralph gave him his driver's license. The officer keyed in Ralph's driver's license number into the computer. He appeared surprised when there was no criminal record on Ralph.

The officer explained that Ralph would have to wait there, for an on duty patrol officer to take his statement. Ralph waited for twenty minutes. Full of agitation and fear, Ralph said that he was going back to the Striate office with the pickup. Ralph said that he would stop at a police station on the way and give his story.

Ralph headed back in the direction of the Striate office, and stopped at the nearby police station. The officer behind the foyer window said that it was a shift change, and that she could find Ralph an officer quickly.

Ralph met the officer in the parking lot. Ralph described how the trucks surrounded him on Interstate 58. He told about the speeding truck on the ramp at Jetty Road. Ralph made certain that the report included the observation of the driver of the pickup truck rotating his arm, with his index finger extended, to signal the other drivers.

Unfortunately for Ralph, he included in the report his belief that someone was trying to kill him because of what he knew about illegal dumping. He showed the officer Rick Hall's business card. The officer kept pointing to the business card, and asking Ralph if he had the names of any suspects. Ralph said that he had nothing conclusive.

The officer also asked Ralph if he was taking any medication. Ralph told the officer that he took Dexedrine for Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. The officer dutifully included this information in his report.

So, on May 28, 1998, Ralph made the first known police record of a staged fatal accident attempt. Although his credibility was shattered, he described what was unmistakably a deliberate attempt to cause a fatal accident involving the company vehicle that he was driving.

He returned to the Straite office at around three-thirty that afternoon. Rick Hall, and the chief project engineer, Bruce Johnson, were waiting for him. There was a meeting in Rick's office.

Bruce Johnson told Ralph that he didn't know anything about the incident on Interstate 58. He said that the first that he had heard about any problem was when the supervisor of the airport project called at two o'clock, wanting to know where the engineering technician was.

Rick asked Ralph where he had gone. Ralph told him about going to the FBI office in downtown Elizabeth.

"I know," said Rick. "Where did you go after that?"

Ralph told Rick and Bruce about filing the incident report.

"An incident report!" exclaimed Rick "But, that's a public record. This is our first job for this new client. Their account could be worth millions to us. We don't want anything to jeopardize our relationship with this client."

By the way, how did you manage to avoid an accident?" Rick asked.

Ralph told Rick and Bruce how he had downshifted the truck and maneuvered between the tractor-trailers.

Ralph sensed that he was in peril, there at the Striate office. He knew that he had to appear to be willing to cooperate with Rick, if he wanted to leave the building alive.

"What can I do to help win this new account?" Ralph asked.

"Well, for one thing, you can stop acting so afraid at construction sites. Is there a site where you can be relaxed? Is there somewhere that you can concentrate on your work, and not worry about what is going on around you?" Rick asked. His panting voice was raspy.

"I doubt it, after what I have been through today. I will try to not appear to be so paranoid. But, there is no way that I will let my guard down." Ralph said.

"You need to understand that, no matter what we do, we would be particularly ungrateful if you went to the media. This would ruin Striate Engineering's relationship with the new client. Striate's relationship with this new client is very important to us." Rick finished.

"We can't allow our technicians to take off in our trucks when they are on the way to assignments." Bruce began. "You are to be suspended tomorrow, without pay. You can take the truck home for transportation tonight, but you have to bring it back tomorrow morning. We need it to cover the jobs you will be missing." Bruce explained.

Ralph went home to Jane. He began telling her about what had happened to him that day. It seemed as if she already knew. She was furious.

"Why don't you just leave!" she said.

Why didn't Ralph leave? Because he was completely confused, and he still wanted to be there for Mark. He didn't know where to go. He didn't have any close friends to move in with. Besides, he was completely exhausted from the day's stressful events.

Ralph returned the truck the next morning. There was no one there to take him back home. So, Ralph began walking the seven miles home.

Ralph had begun to realize that secrecy was the primary weapon of his enemies. Ralph was very afraid that something might happen to him on his way home. So, he walked down the grassy median of the boulevard in front of the Striate Engineering office. He was visible to all four lanes of light traffic on the road. If they were going to kill him, it would have to be in the open, in front of witnesses.

On the walk home, Ralph saw several cars drive slowly by him. The drivers were talking on their cell telephones. Ralph turned off the two lane highway, and cut through the parking lot of a grocery store. One of the engineers from Striate just happened to be going into the store. He asked Ralph if he could give him a ride home.

Ralph started to get into the car. But, still full of paranoia, he declined. He began walking down the two lane road that led him home. Years later, Ralph realized that the four lane boulevard he had been walking on led directly to the police station where he had filed his report the day before.

There was a construction crew, laying pipe for a water line on the two miles that Ralph had to walk on the two lane road. Construction equipment filled one lane of the road. The construction crew was controlling the one lane of vehicle traffic. It was odd, but it seemed as if the traffic was being diverted to make Ralph's walk home safer.

Ralph reached the other four lane road that led toward home. He began musing about what Rick Hall had said about going to the media. Ralph began to wonder what media, and how, he could tell his story to the press. He walked across Interstate 58, on the bridge for the four lane road. The area was filled with fast food operations and convenience stores. And coin operated telephones.

Ralph went to one of the telephone booths and looked up the local telephone number for the Sierra Club. He would tell them about the illegal dumping! He had found someone who could do something about all of the strange events going on in his life.

When Ralph went to the open telephone booth on the street corner, there suddenly seemed to be a hive of traffic activity around him. A van, its roof bristling with and radio receiving devices, pulled up beside the curb, near the telephone booth. The concave radio receiver turned toward him.

Ralph had second thoughts about calling the Sierra Club. Maybe there was something else going on, not related to illegal dumping. His cousin's credibility, as a member of law enforcement, was certainly questionable. There was certainly an air of evil with Jane, Rick Hall and many of the other people he had been in contact with.

Life with Jane was becoming very strange, too. There had been the swelling and tenderness of Jane's vagina, after a "casino" trip. Like she had debauched herself beyond comfort. Ralph's hypnotic programming not to remember anything to do with insurance fraud still remained effective. He still could not understand the cause of his troubles. So, he grasped at whatever made his situation plausible. Freud called paranoia a search for order. Ralph was searching for order in a paranoid situation. He could only understand that a diabolical force was at work.

So, that was it! Jane must be involved in some sort of satanic activity! Whatever demonic cult that she was involved in must want Ralph out of the way. He was interfering with the agenda. Years later, Ralph would find some vague references to cults involved in fatal accident insurance fraud by cult deprogrammers.

Something else, very strange, had happened to Ralph two weeks before this day. He was walking up his street, to bring Mark home from a playmate's house. In the road in front of him lay a dead cat, secure in a red plastic mesh wrap. He looked up and saw an Elizabeth Animal Control vehicle driving away.

One evening, a week later, Mark called Ralph and Jane to the back door foyer area where they kept their six month old beagle. The usually gentle and playful dog was snarling and growling at Mark. Ralph leaned down to examine the dog, and it snapped at him. Jane thought that the men were just being fearful, and reached out to pet the puppy. It bit her finger, drawing blood.

Ralph called Animal Control, and an officer came to their home. The Animal Control officer said that it appeared that the dog had distemper. The disease is not communicable to humans. The puppy would be etherized by Animal Control. It would probably die in a few days, anyway. There would be an autopsy examination for the possibility of rabies.

Jane cleaned her wound and treated it with antiseptic and a bandage. The Animal Control officer told her that she would be informed if there was any need for her to undergo treatment for exposure to rabies.

Ralph returned to Striate Engineering the next day. Jane brought him in her car. She was much more content than she had been the night before last. She even kissed him good bye.

Rick gave Ralph what appeared to be an all day assignment at a large construction site. Ralph went to the site and began his day's work. At ten-thirty, he received a page from Rick. He was to finish whatever work that he was in the middle of, and go to a different project on the other side of Elizabeth. He was to arrive at the other project at precisely twelve noon. He was to get another fifty pound soil sample from the bottom of a deep trench.

Rick's tone was matter of fact and calm, as if he were trying to convey the attitude that there was nothing unusual about the assignment. OSHA regulations forbid entering a trench more than four feet deep, without the sides being shored up. Besides, he imagined that he could be in the trench, getting a soil sample, when an equipment operator returned from an early lunch. The operator might start pushing soil back into the excavation, burying Ralph alive.

The project superintendent would be at lunch while Ralph was being buried alive. At the time, Ralph was not aware of the exception to Workmens'' Compensation coverage during the absence of the project superintendent. Ralph sensed that there was something very sinister about the whole situation.

Ralph completed his report for the tests he had taken at the project that he was leaving. He loaded his equipment onto the back of the truck, and left the site in the direction of the other project. Part of the route to the other project was on Interstate 58. The closer he came to the entrance ramp, the more Ralph became afraid. On the way there, he lost his nerve. He also lost his mind.

Ralph didn't know what to do or where to turn. He could simply disappear to somewhere else in the United States. But, he didn't know anyone, or anywhere else to go. But, he didn't know anyone, or anywhere else to go. And, he had lost a substantial part of his sanity. The emotional distress of his conflicting loyalties ravaged his mind. He wanted to keep his job and provide support for his daughter. But, he knew that something terrible would happen to him if he followed the instructions to go to a certain location, by a certain route, and arrive at a certain time.

Ralph stopped at a fast food restaurant, near the entrance ramp to Interstate 58. There was a pay telephone booth in the parking lot. Ralph made a long distance call to Flagton.

"Dad, I think that Jane has a murder contract on my life." Ralph spoke into the telephone.

"Where are you?" his father asked.

Ralph told his father where he was. Ralph was afraid to take the Striate Engineering truck back. In fact, Ralph was afraid to do anything.

CHAPTER FIVE

An hour and a half after his telephone call, Ralph's parents arrived. The first thing that Ralph's father asked Ralph was if he was taking any drugs. Ralph showed him his Prozac, and a recently filled prescription bottle of Dexedrine. His father tried to take them from Ralph. Ralph refused to give them to his father.

Ralph poured out his confusing attempt at a story to his father. Meanwhile, Ralph's mother was calling someone on her cellular telephone.

A few minutes later, an Elizabeth municipal police officer arrived. He wanted to talk to Ralph, alone. They went inside the restaurant and sat downs across from each other in one of the booths. Ralph attempted to be as coherent as possible. The officer was only interested in Ralph's propensity for violence. They returned to the parking area, where Ralph's parents were waiting in the car. The officer spoke to them and left.

Ralph did have the presence of mind to call the Striate Engineering office and to tell Bruce Johnson where he was. He told him that he would stay there until someone came to get the pickup.

Bruce and the secretary arrived. Before he left with the pickup, Bruce told Ralph to call him about getting his job back after he "got himself straightened out."

Not knowing what else to do, Ralph began walking toward the Interstate 58 ramp. He had decided to start hitchhiking toward the Pacific Northwest. He knew that he had lost his job and his marriage. At forty-four years old, starting over somewhere else was better than staying where he was. Even if it meant going without his Prozac and Dexedrine. Jane's health insurance benefits had made that possible.

His father began walking along beside him. He was pleading with Ralph to stay, and get some psychiatric help.

"You're not my father!" Ralph said over and over. Ralph was aware of his father's facade. Somehow, he sensed that his father might be in league with his enemies. He also sensed that his father wanted to keep him alive.

Ralph's mother appeared in the car, with Jane beside her. Jane got out of the car, and walked toward Ralph with her arms outstretched. The woman who had abused him wanted a public hug.

"You're not Jane!" Ralph shouted. He sensed her falseness, and the demonic spirit that possessed her. Jane and Ralph's mother left.

Ralph was getting tired. All that he wanted was to go somewhere that he felt safe. He wanted to get away from Elizabeth and Jane.

Ralph's father finally persuaded Ralph to come to his parent's home for the night. Ralph got in the car, and they rode to Flagton. On the way to Flagton, Ralph's mother blurted out that his father should remove the special telephone line from their speaker telephone. The line was connected to Ralph's brother Tom's home. She said to Ralph that she hoped that he could "get better, and expose them for the frauds that they are!"

Ralph's father told his mother not to say any more to Ralph about "that." Both of Ralph's parents tried to talk to him, but told him that they couldn't make sense out of anything that he was saying.

Ralph did say something about Satanism. His father whipped his head around from the driver's seat and looked at Ralph. "What makes you think that there is any Satanism?" His eyes flashed.

Ralph told about Jane's dog bite. From an old black and white horror movie he had seen in his teens, Ralph had the idea that Satan sends his dog to bite whomever he wants to possess. Once bitten, the person's soul belongs to Satan. It had seemed as if Jane had almost wanted the puppy to bite her.

Ralph suggested that they get in touch with his brother Tom as an "interpreter." Since they had spent their childhoods together, perhaps he could understand what Ralph was trying to say. Ralph's parents said that they could not understand him.

Tom was contacted. Since it was late afternoon, nothing else would be done that day. Ralph Jr was hoping that he could simply stay in Flagton. He could start his life over there, and still be close enough to Elizabeth to see his son regularly.

Ralph spent the night in a guest bedroom in the basement of his parents' home. There was a small bookshelf standing against the cinder block basement wall. It was filled with old books, and a stack of Boy's Life magazines from Ralph's childhood. On top of the bookshelf was an open wire bound notebook. It appeared to be full of notes from the short story writing classes his mother had taken at a local community college. The teacher had been a part time retiree, who was noted for his volunteer efforts to teach writing to inmates of a nearby prison.

In the middle of one page was something written in a different handwriting from the rest of the entries in the notebook.

"Let the unreal seem real. Let the familiar seem unfamiliar. This leads to a trust accident."

Considering all of the things that had been happening to him, this inscription didn't surprise Ralph. What excited him was that it might be the first concrete evidence of a conspiracy to cause him to die in an accident. He tore the page from the notebook and carefully folded it into his wallet.

They drove to meet Ralph's brother Tom in the early afternoon of the next day. Very little was said on the journey. Tom had been on the telephone all morning, trying to find a psychiatric facility for his brother. He had finally located one in Altamont. Tom's home was located on the way to Altamont, about a hundred miles from Elizabeth. It was another fifty miles to Altamont, from Tom's home in Newcastle.

Ralph rode in the back seat of his parents' car, on the way to Newcastle. Ralph's mother said that her father and her had something to argue about. They spoke in metaphors.

Ralph's father said, "I am a hawk, circling in the sky. I see a tiny sparrow sitting on a tree branch. I am about to swoop down and eat the sparrow."

His father also told about a river rafting trip he had taken with Tom on the "Little Devil" River. His father told Ralph that he had to be careful, coming down the other side. He said there were some tricky places there.

Ralph's mother warned him that they were going to get Tom's assistance, and to be careful of the "Little Devil." She told Ralph that sometimes people who pretended to be his best friend really were not.

Ralph wondered what subliminal messages must be played on the speaker telephone beside his parents' bedside. What could cause his conventional, proper parents to speak in strange metaphors? Nothing more had been said about disconnecting the special telephone connection to Tom's house.

The argument between his parents seemed to end when his mother said that she was afraid of the possibility of violence. They would take Ralph to a hospital.

They met Tom at a fast food restaurant in Newcastle. Tom pretended to be glad to see his brother. Tom chatted with his father about Tom's children. Tom and Ralph Sr were very excited about the future career opportunities for one of Tom's sons. He had left college, and was in training to operate a pizza delivery franchise.

Tom and Ralph's father also discussed Ralph's cousin Bill. He lived in Smithville. He worked as a house painter by day, and operated a convenience store at night. James told Tom that Bill was becoming tired of life.

For some reason, Tom had great difficulty in finding a treatment facility for Ralph. Tom and Ralph rode in Tom's car to Altamont. The parents followed in their car.

On the way to Altamont, Ralph told Tom that he wondered whose side Tom was on in all of this, Ralph's or Jane's. Tom had assured Ralph that he was on anybody's side but Ralph's. He listened as Ralph attempted to tell him vaguely about a murder contract on his life, perpetrated by Jane. Tom sounded very sympathetic and understanding. Ralph thought that Tom gave some credence to the murder contract theory, and that living with Jane had driven Ralph insane. Ralph didn't say anything about the note he had found.

Ralph was beginning to accept that being placed in a psychiatric facility would help him. His family was alarmed at Ralph's belief that Jane was trying to have him murdered. Ralph wanted somewhere to recuperate from the abuse he had suffered, and the devastating conflict of his emotions and loyalties at work. He had wanted desperately to succeed at Striate Engineering. But, his intuition screamed that Rick Hall's demands for Ralph to be at a specific location at a specific time, were malevolent. It would be impossible for him to succeed at the life he had wanted to live in Elizabeth.

Ralph was interviewed by a nurse, in the emergency room of the hospital. The nurse also spoke with Ralph's brother, away from Ralph. After his parents paid a thousand dollars to the hospital, Ralph was admitted. He would be placed on the psychiatric floor of a general hospital.

When Ralph saw his hospital room, he panicked. It was a corner room, with windows looking out over the town of Altamont and the mountains beyond. He could see several rooftops from the windows, where a marksman could set up a sniper's nest. He explained to the psychiatric technician that, although they might not believe him, people had been trying to kill him.

The technician explained to Ralph that he was in the safest place he could be. The windows were made of bullet resistant glass, to prevent suicide attempts. The world would be protected from Ralph's delusions about his wife's murder contract, and Ralph would be safe from the world. Ralph slept peacefully that night, in the room he named the "JFK Suite."

The hospital was a pleasant change for Ralph. Fortunately, he knew how to skate around the staff and doctor's attempts to recruit him for electro convulsive therapy, or ECT. A very profitable procedure for the hospital, it could have left Ralph with little or no memory of his immediate past. But Ralph knew not to say anything that might hint of suicidal thoughts. That would be all of the justification needed for a few sessions of ECT. An electric current would be sent through Ralph's brain, causing him to have a seizure. Just as many people recovering from a brain injury are happy, ECT is known to relieve depression, sometimes.

Ralph's father couldn't understand why electro convulsive therapy wasn't used. He had heard that it did wonders in cases like Ralph Jr's.

But Ralph's Prozac prescription was continued in the hospital. He was no longer prescribed Dexedrine, but was given another antidepressant known to help with attention deficits. It was not as effective as Dexedrine, but Ralph didn't care. He didn't need to be constantly on his guard in the hospital, for attempts to set him up for a fatal automobile accident. It was a therapeutic environment for Ralph. He was also prescribed anti-psychotic medications. One was for schizophrenia, and one for bipolar disorder. The schizophrenia medication was discontinued after Ralph's first ten days in the hospital psychiatric ward.

Ralph gave his money and the strange note from the notebook in his parent's basement to the security guard. It would be locked up in the hospital safe, until Ralph left the hospital. He tried to talk about his strange experiences with one of the hospital staff members.

"You and your wife were having financial problems for a long time?" one staff member asked.

"Yes," said Ralph.

"Have you noticed yourself becoming braver?" the staff member asked Ralph.

"Yes," Ralph exclaimed.

Were these diagnostic questions that were being asked? Ralph had always had an interest in clinical psychology, and had never heard of financial distress and bravery as being relevant to a diagnosis. But, Ralph was accustomed to a vague sense of unreality at this time.

His personal therapy sessions were managed by one of Altamont's young psychiatrists. At one session, Ralph was trying to explain the scope and depth of the syndicate that was trying to have him killed. The therapist told him that this was an example of delusional disorder. Ralph had only bits and pieces of information, and was trying to make sense of it all.

"This is an example of delusional disorder," the psychiatrist said. "The person with delusional disorder takes bits and pieces of tidbits of information, and tries to create a logical consistency to all of it.

"You really have to have your shit together to be able to talk about this stuff. So, while you are here, SHUT UP!" the psychotherapist said to Ralph with a smile.

Ralph stayed a month in the hospital psychiatric ward. Every day, his doctor asked him if he still believed that his wife was trying to kill him. His doctor was not the one who had tried to communicate with him in group therapy. Eventually, Ralph realized that his release depended upon not believing that Jane was involved in a contract on his life. He said that he believed that Jane wasn't trying to kill him. He said it so many times, that he began to believe it himself. At least, he learned to block out the memory from his conscious mind. Besides, Jane was in Elizabeth, and he was one hundred and fifty miles away in Altamont.

Ralph also knew, intuitively, not to say anything about his suspicions involving mind control. He didn't say anything to his doctor about the note in the hospital safe. He didn't say anything about the dead cat, left by Elizabeth Animal Control, or the beagle's distemper.

Jane, Sheila and Cindy were in a very secure position. The only conviction in United States history for the criminal use of mind control and hypnosis is the case of Charles Manson. The grisly murders by his cult members, and the resulting publicity, forced the prosecution to charge Manson with conspiracy to murder. Manson was never at the scenes of the murders, or directly involved. His brainwashed followers were carrying out his will.

It wouldn't be difficult for someone saner and more sophisticated than Charles Manson to use mind control and hypnosis for criminal purposes. The gullible public of the United States wouldn't question whatever news stories were concocted to explain the crimes. After all, the US public never considered the assassins of Robert Kennedy, John Lennon or Ronald to be brainwashed robots. Why should they believe that many unreported criminal activities, such as staged fatal automobile accidents, could be the result of hypnosis and brainwashing? A perpetrator creating such a crime without publicity could operate without fear of law enforcement. Who would believe that Cindy was hypnotizing depressed fathers to cause their own fatal automobile accidents? Anyone who reported this kind of activity would be labeled as insane.

After three weeks in the hospital, Tom visited Ralph. He asked Ralph how he was doing, and made small talk. Tom also questioned Ralph about his belief that Jane had been trying to have him killed. At this point in time, even Ralph was beginning to believe that there wasn't a contract on his life. Tom said that he was glad to see Ralph recovering so well from his psychotic episode.

A few days later, Ralph was released from the psychiatric unit of the hospital. He was still expected to go to the outpatient day therapy sessions. He moved in of the spare bedroom of his friend Donna's mobile home. He had met Donna while he was in the hospital. Donna had been depressed, after being beaten by a man that she had been married to for a few months. It was her fourth marriage. She was a few years older than Ralph. Although he liked Donna's friendship, there was not any sexual attraction on his part.

But Ralph did have an affair. He had met her in the psychiatric unit. She had been admitted there several times before. She had worked for twenty years at a paper mill about thirty miles from Altamont. She had retired with full insurance benefits.

The first weekend that he spent with Beth, he realized that she was heavily addicted to pain relieving medication for the back problems that had developed while working in the paper mill. The hospital had not treated her for this addiction, since it did not interfere with the filing of a claim for psychiatric benefits.

After three weekends with Beth, Ralph understood why three husbands had abandoned her. She had no problem with vaginal tension for her own pleasure. When it came to his pleasure, it was like trying to gain friction in a vacuum. He never saw her again, after the third weekend.

But the first kiss with Beth had been magical! After eighteen years of fidelity to Jane, her spell was broken. The first kiss with Beth brought excitement and confidence back to Ralph. Ralph wasn't afraid to stand up to Jane. In fact, he found that he simply didn't care about Jane at all anymore. Mark was still important to him. Jane's welfare was not important.

Donna had not been as sophisticated as Ralph in understanding of the economics of psychiatric hospitalization. Although her first electro convulsive therapy session worsened her depression, she was given three different series of eight daily treatments. She was never the same person, after ECT. Her talent for painting, which had won her first prize at a regional fair competition, would never return. She couldn't remember how to mix colors or paint to express depth of perception. Her short term memory was obliterated. She needed Ralph to drive her around Altamont in her car. She found it impossible to drive. She found herself getting lost and not knowing where she was. She had lived in the Altamont area her whole life.

After the month of outpatient therapy, Ralph found a job very close to the trailer he shared with Donna. Ralph did not have a car. The job paid sufficiently well to support Ralph, and allowed him to begin sending a monthly child support stipend to Jane. The job was in a warehouse, where all injuries or death's would be covered by the limitations of Workmen's Compensation insurance.

Ralph had also arranged to make a weekly telephone call to his son, Mark. Ralph believed that he was on his way to recovering his life from its recent devastation.

But Donna's divorce attorney had other plans. He advised Donna to evict Ralph. Donna's estranged husband might use Ralph's cohabitation as a defense in her lawsuit against the man who abused her.

Ralph moved into an ancient boarding house, near the downtown district of Altamont. Altamont had one-fifth of the population of Elizabeth, and no suburban development. Altamont's downtown area could easily be traversed on foot.

Ralph found employment through temporary agencies near the boarding house. He also came into a small inheritance at that time. Ralph bought a used car. Ralph didn't know why, but for some reason he was attracted to an ancient behemoth of a car, instead of smaller deathtrap with better gas mileage.

He found a job working at a foundry, making parts for railroad equipment. It was a third shift job, working ten and eleven hours at night, for six days per week. Ralph suddenly found himself with a very substantial income.

But the racket of the boarding house proved to be his undoing. It was impossible for him to get enough sleep in the daytime there. After three weeks, Ralph resigned from the job.

Jane talked to him during his weekly telephone calls to Mark. Often, she would talk more than Mark did. On one of these calls, she mentioned her knowledge of the exact amount of Social Security benefits that she and Mark would receive if Ralph died. On another telephone call, she told him how disappointed she was that Ralph had left his job at the foundry. Ralph couldn't remember telling Jane about leaving the job.

The used car made it possible for Ralph to have a monthly visitation weekend with Mark. Once a month, Ralph made the two and a half hour drive to Elizabeth. Ralph's parents were kind enough to provide Mark and Ralph with a nearby place to spend their visitation weekends at their home.

On his first weekend visit, Jane talked endlessly about her friend Alicia and her doctor husband. Ralph asked her why she was so fascinated by her friend, Alicia's, husband. Her answer didn't surprise Ralph, although he didn't fully understand it.

"You became less interesting to us. We've become more interested in him." She blurted.

Ralph would remember that response.

After four months in the boarding house, Ralph's friend Donna asked him if he would like to move back in with her. Donna had recently made her first court appearance in the battery case against her estranged husband. He arrived in court with another ex-wife in tow. There wouldn't be any cohabitation issue.

At this time, Ralph had stopped taking the medication for bipolar disorder. It irritated his attention deficit, and made him sluggish. One frequent side effect of many anti- psychotic medications is weight gain. Ralph had gained thirty pounds in the thirty days that he had been hospitalized. Ralph developed high blood pressure as a result of this weight gain.

Ralph didn't tell his doctor that he had stopped taking the medication. His doctor was the same one who had visited him daily at the hospital. The doctor didn't notice any difference in Ralph. Ralph had stopped taking the anti- psychotic medication, and had remained sane. That meant that he had never been clinically psychotic, in the first place. He had not had a chemical imbalance in his brain. He had only suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and confusion, from the events in Elizabeth.

Ralph went from temporary job to temporary job. After about three weeks, in jobs where Ralph had felt safe and secure, he would get notice that he was being laid off. Finally, he found a job in a manufacturing facility for heavy earth moving equipment. He was a material handler, moving huge metal assemblies on hooks and chains about the plant. One had to be cautious, or there could be collision between two half ton parts with someone sandwiched between.

Ralph felt safe. He wanted to forget everything that had happened to him in the past three years. Besides, confessing that there might be a conspiracy against him could now get him involuntarily committed to a mental hospital. In genuine cases of psychotic paranoia, the delusions are so changeable that the person's behavior is impossible to predict. Violence may occur. The deluded person decides to kill his tormentors, before they kill him.

Ralph had filed for conscientious objector draft status when he was eighteen, during the last year of the Vietnam War draft. He generally believed that it was wrong to take another human life, especially in such a useless war. The draft ended before he had to prove his convictions.

Ralph had to convince himself that there was nothing to be concerned about. Saying the wrong thing to a family member could lead to him being hospitalized and treated as a permanently potential violent threat to Jane. Without being a threat to anyone, Ralph could lose his freedom for saying he believed that there was a conspiracy to kill him.

Ralph answered a classified advertisement in the Altamont newspaper for a soil and concrete engineering test technician. The job was based in Marville, sixty miles away. He went to Marville for the interview and was offered the job. He would be sent from the Marville office of AF & R Engineering Consultants to jobs in the Marville area. He would not be provided with a company pickup, but would be well reimbursed for the use of his own car. This arrangement meant that Ralph would be as safe as any other traveler on the public highway. Being killed in his own car did not have the same potential rewards for Jane as being killed in a company owned pickup truck.

Ralph left his friend Donna's trailer and moved to Marville. Ralph's new job assignment would be to monitor the placement of fill soil on a huge project in Altamont. He would commute to the Altamont project and report to the Marville office of AJ&R, daily. The project in Altamont involved removing the top of a small mountain. The removed soil would be placed around the sides of the mountain. This would create a level pad to support a large shopping complex.

Ralph tested and measured the fill soil being placed on the sides of the mountain. If the fill soil was not compacted, it would settle after construction of the buildings and parking area was completed. Ralph used a density test gauge to measure the compaction of the fill soil.

The density gauge is enclosed in a hard plastic casing, painted bright yellow or red to make it clearly visible at large earth moving projects. The casing of the density gauge is about sixteen inches long and ten inches wide. It stands ten inches high. There is a two inch diameter metal tube which extends a foot above the casing. A probe rod rides up and down the tube, through the casing, and down to eight inches deep into the soil. The probe rod senses the soil density at the eight inch depth, below the surface of the soil.

Ralph spent the winter and spring of 1999 working on the Altamont project. Ralph had contacted some Attention Deficit Disorder support groups, and found a new doctor to treat his Attention Deficit Disorder. Ralph knew that he could not handle the demands of the project without the benefits of Dexedrine. He workday began at Five-Thirty AM, when he left his Marville apartment to drive to Altamont. He returned to his Marville rented room at about Eight or Nine PM. The Altamont project was behind schedule, when Ralph began working on it. The grading contractor's crew worked on Saturdays. So did Ralph.

The hours were long. Ralph had to complete about an hour or more of paperwork, after the earth moving crew left the project at Five PM. It would not have been possible for him to satisfy those demands without his Dexedrine prescription.

The engineer that Ralph reported to was very congenial. He was insistent that Ralph have his one Saturday a month off from the project, for visitation with Mark.

"That relationship is very important" the engineer would say.

By mid April of that year, the soil from the top of the mountain had been placed around the mountain's sides. Due to Ralph's vigilance and motivation, the delayed project would still be completed on schedule. There was a special clause in the grading contractor's contract for this particular project. The clause stated that the grading contractor would be allowed to charge for additional earth moving work, due to the effects of rain.

Rain can cause problems for any large earth moving project. New soil fill cannot be placed on top of soupy mud. The loose muck must be removed, exposing firm soil to place new fill dirt on top of. The talented grading equipment crew knew how to tilt the surface soil to maximize the drainage problems of the project. In spite of the conflict of interest of the grading contractor's crew, Ralph managed to make certain that the soil was placed with the firmness specified for the project.

Like fill dirt, concrete that is poured on loose wet mud will not support its own weight. The concrete will crack and separate into sections, making it useless. The surface soil that new concrete is poured on must be very firm.

The last weekend of April saw torrential rains in Altamont. The deluge did not drain from the flattened mountaintop, especially with the expert assistance of the grading contractor's crew. When Ralph arrived on Monday morning, he saw water standing as much as four feet deep on his pet project. The earth movers had a bonus week of drainage and mud removal work from at the Altamont project. Ralph had a problem.

Ralph had to make certain that the soil that had originally passed his tests had remained solid enough to support the concrete that was to be poured on it. The added moisture from the poorly drained rainwater had destabilize the solid surface soil. Much of the surface soil that had passed his previous tests could no longer pass. The failed soil would not be suitable for the placement of concrete. Ralph was no longer the hero of the project, but the villain. The general contractor faced serious financial penalties if the buildings were not completed by July First of that year.

The superintendent of the project, Artie Blankenship, blamed Ralph for the delays caused by his failing tests of the surface soil. The concrete could not be poured until the soil met minimum specification standards. Ralph would not cheat and provide a passing test result, when he knew that the structure would be completely unsound.

A new man joined the grading contractor's crew during the first week of May. He had just moved to the area. He was in his middle twenties, and was well muscled. He paid particular attention to Ralph, saying that he wanted to get to know him. Ralph sensed that the man's apparent warmth hid something malicious.

The man was very interested in Ralph's soil compaction testing equipment. Ralph explained how the density gauge measured the density and the moisture content of the soil, and Ralph interpreted the results. Ralph explained how he was licensed to operate the gauge. Ralph told him that it was the source of Ralph's livelihood. Ralph joked that he would guard it with his life. The new man seemed very interested in what Ralph said.

Ralph and the new grading crew member talked about fishing conditions in the Altamont area. He told Ralph that one reason they had come to the Altamont area was to catch a smallmouth. He looked at Ralph and grinned.

By the end of May, the animosity of the project superintendent toward Ralph was obvious. It seemed that Artie was creating situations where Ralph would mistakenly approve the compaction of soil in a substandard location. It seemed that Artie was trying to wear down Ralph's guard. Ralph was becoming concerned about his safety. The cautiousness he had left behind in Elizabeth returned. He began to watch for professional and personal booby traps.

On the last Saturday of May, Ralph was testing the subgrade soil for the side drive of the shopping complex. The thirty-five foot high cinder block walls of the main building had already been erected. Ralph was intently testing soil near the front corner of the building. There was a steep embankment along the edge of the drive area that Ralph was testing, fifty feet from the wall of the building. The grading crew was operating their heavy equipment along the front of the building, near Ralph. The building corner hid the operating earth moving equipment from Ralph's view. He could hear the roaring of the pans, as they carried loads of soil around the site.

Ralph sensed that he was in danger. Artie Blankenship, the project superintendent, was not expected to be on the site that day. Workmen's' Compensation insurance limitations would not apply. The general contractor and the grading contractor would be separately liable for damages from Ralph's death. There was also the possibility of a third suit against the investors in the project. There would be no limit to the amount of damages to sue for in the event of Ralph's death. Ralph's death would be worth several hundred thousand dollars, possibly more than a million!

Ralph was using his expensive soil density testing equipment near the edge of the embankment. He was around the side of the building. The grading crew was working in the front of the building.

The earth moving crew was using a pan to remove mucky soil from the front area of the building. A pan is also called a scraper. A scraper is a piece of earth moving equipment which can scrape up to thirty cubic yards of soil into its hopper. The combined weight of the machine and its load can exceed one-hundred thousand pounds.

The scraper removes soil from one location and carries the soil to another area where it dumps its load. The machine has a slow reaction time for turning and stopping. If an obstacle appears suddenly in front of a scraper traveling at full speed, the operator does not have time to prevent impact. Usually, this doesn't matter for the safety of the operator of the equipment. The obstacle is obliterated.

A scraper looks like a grasshopper, from the side view. Its design is like an ant. The cab/tractor unit in the front is connected by a hitch to the rear section. The rear section scrapes up soil, carries and dumps the load. The cab cage does not provide complete protection for the driver in the event that the scraper turns over. A scraper can negotiate uneven ground, but only at a slow rate of speed, with a careful driver.

Ralph was concentrating on his tests along the edge of the embankment. He had been asked to test in the area about twenty feet from the edge of the building. But, he felt safer working forty feet from the edge of the building This was also about ten feet from the edge of the embankment. He remembered what the surveying party chief, Jim, had said about staying out of the path of moving pans. He knew that the pan operators would not dare drive so close to the edge of the steep slope.

Suddenly, a loaded pan rounded the building corner. Its line of travel was aimed directly at Ralph. The driver was the new grading equipment crew member. He was standing up in the open cab, to have a better view of his target. Ralph abandoned his twenty-four thousand dollar soil compaction testing equipment. He ran at a right angle to the direction of the pan, and dove over the edge of the embankment. He was safely out of the path of the pan. The pan crushed his test gauge.

The pan was moving at a forty-five degree angle to the edge of the embankment. The pan operator tried to turn away from the edge of the mountainside. The cumbersome machine could not respond to the adrenalized agility of its driver. The pan's tires slid on the soft, slick surface mud which had been "gravy" money for the earth moving crew. One of the front tires of the cab section slid over the edge of the embankment. The hillside edge was filled with loose, un compacted mud. The right wheel sunk two feet into the ground at the edge, creating a sharp tilt for the cab. One of the tires of the loaded rear section of the pan slid over the escarpment, too. The weighted rear of the machine levered it to roll over.

As the pan began to turn over, the driver looked at Ralph. Ralph could see him mouth an obscenity at him. He couldn't hear the man's voice above the screeching of the overturning machine.

The driver attempted to leap to his left, away from the rolling metal monster. His foot caught on the handle above the drivers seat, used as a hand grab to climb into the cab. The pan rolled down the hillside, with the operator hanging inside the cab. The pan rolled with the driver trapped in the cab. Ralph expected to see the driver's corpse in the mud where the pan rolled over it. Ralph was surprised to see the pan roll upright, with the alive driver hanging upside down in th cab. He tried to pull himself up to free his snagged foot. The ladder rungs beside the driver had kept the weight of the pan from bearing down on him.

The pan rolled again, and the driver tried again to free himself. As the pan began its third roll, it struck a jutting boulder. The front section bounced up in the air. The driver was flopped in front of one of the side supports of the front section of the pan. With the next roll, the full weight of the pan would bear down on him. The driver screamed as he saw the ground come up to meet him.

When the driver's face appeared after the third roll of the pan, it was impregnated onto the side of the machine. The body was crushed flat against the metal. The driver's final grimace appeared to be painted onto the yellow steel. His face was like a bizarre demonic mask. Ralph vomited when he saw the driver's intestines hanging down by the upside down head.

The pan came to rest on level ground, two hundred and fifty feet below Ralph. The pan was in an upright position, with its engine still running. The steel machine did not appear to be damaged. It looked like the other piece of dirty earth moving equipment at the construction project. Except for the mutilated remains of the driver impressed onto its side.

Within three minutes of the accident, Artie Blankenship appeared. Instead of being off the construction site, he had been inside of the new building, where he could not be seen. He ran toward Ralph, who was walking toward the bloody and muddy scraper. Artie had a half full beer bottle in his hand.

"I thought you were supposed to get killed!" said Artie. He looked at Ralph in anger and amazement.

"Nobody was supposed to get killed. The man violated all of the rules of safety and common sense and got himself killed," said Ralph. Ralph didn't know what Artie was talking about. Ralph didn't know what Artie had been led to believe.

After the truck incident, on Interstate 58 in Elizabeth, Jane had circulated an interpretation about Ralph's State of mind. She told the other members of the syndicate that Ralph had consented to the suicide accident scheme, but chickened out at the last second of the staged accident attempt. She said that it would upset Ralph's commitment to causing his own death, if he had to discuss details with anyone. It would be better if Ralph's death were a surprise, where he didn't have any conscious knowledge. Besides, wouldn't it show his acceptance of the need for secrecy, if he didn't discuss the plot to kill him?

The hypnosis must have been effective, Artie and others believed. Ralph had no recollection of having been hypnotized. People like Artie failed to understand that posthypnotic suggestions to forget are a common parlor trick. Overcoming the strongest instinct of the animal kingdom, the will to survive, is very difficult through hypnosis. Ralph had allied his will to survive to his personal beliefs. He was unwilling to die until the day came when he saw the beginning of change in the society in which he lived. He knew that his own values needed to survive. He wanted to see the day when the American people awoke to the fact that their corporate economy was being manipulated by frauds.

With the incentive of a twenty-thousand dollar bounty on a successful fatality claim for Ralph, people like Artie were unwilling to question the logic of believing that Ralph actually wanted to die. The syndicate is such an ingrained part of the economy of the United States, that they assumed that Ralph knew that he must die. If Ralph didn't cooperate, he would find it nearly impossible to earn a living using his real name and social security number anywhere in the United States.

Artie climbed up onto the cab of the pan and turned the key to "OFF." After calling 911 on his cell phone, Artie went to the construction site office trailer. He got all of the forms and the procedures manual for an on site fatality. He called the grading contractor, and his supervisor.

The ambulance arrived in a few minutes. They stopped beside the bulldozer parked at the front of the site. The bulldozer driver dismounted and walked over beside the driver's window of the ambulance.

"Where's the dead soil tester?" the grinning ambulance driver snickered.

"It aint the soil tester. The mother fucker jumped! The pan rolled down the mountain, with our boy on it!" the bulldozer operator explained.

"Damn! I can't get that in ground pool, now!" the ambulance driver exclaimed, as he drove in the direction of the bulldozer driver's pointing finger.

The ambulance was driven across the site, to the base of the hill where the pan and the body lay. The paramedic confirmed that the driver was unquestionably dead. An Altamont police officer arrived on the scene. He questioned Artie and the ambulance driver about the accident. He asked Ralph why he had not tried to stop the man from going over the edge of the slope. Ralph told the officer his side of the story. The officer said that it appeared that Ralph had been negligent, but that there wasn't any criminal wrongdoing on his part. The officer said that if it hadn't been for Ralph, the driver would still be alive.

The ambulance driver and paramedic borrowed a prying tool from the general contractor's tool trailer. They carefully scraped and peeled the remains of the operator from the side of the pan. They managed to remove the corpse in one extended piece. Ralph would always remember the driver's flattened face looking up at him with a muddy grimace, almost like a smile. Then the paramedic zipped up the body bag.

Ralph knew better than to report to the Altamont officer that the driver had tried to kill him. That might get up him locked up as a dangerous psychotic, again. Instead, he told the officer exactly what had happened, without impugning attempted murder. The officer chose to interpret Ralph's story as a simple, unfortunate accident.

Ralph called the project engineer for AF & R at his home in Marville. He told him about the accident, and the loss of the nuclear density gauge.

"You mean that Artie was on the project site?! He was supposed to be gone," the engineer said excitedly. Then, the engineer collected himself and began asking more expected questions.

Ralph told his supervisor that he wanted to be taken off the project. Ralph believed that his integrity in reporting substandard soil conditions had placed his life in danger. If the project was not completed by the July First deadline, there was a hundred thousand dollars per month penalty for the general contractor. Artie Blankenship had plenty of motive to eliminate Ralph in a construction site accident.

Ralph could still not be conscious of the real motive for the murder attempt. He was aware that people were trying to kill him. He was thankful for his experience in avoiding the truck driving assassins from the illegal dumping operation. At least he had the safety consciousness to protect himself in these situations. His grumpy survey party chief in Elizabeth, Jim, had taught him well about safety on foot when working around pans.

CHAPTER SIX

Ralph was living in a weekly rate motel in Marville. He had bought a used lap top computer. He went on line.

He had only one brief affair after leaving Jane. He had met Beth in the hospital in Altamont. One night with her, and he knew why she had been divorced three times. She had no problem maintaining vaginal tension for her own pleasure. After her orgasm, Ralph could not achieve ejaculation in the slack void. When she asked him to make love "only when it was natural" (meaning almost never) he left and never saw her again.

Ralph didn't have many options for meeting women. He had been working up to seventy hours per week on the big project in Altamont. Since he didn't drink, bars were of little interest to him. Ralph remembered the bar hopping days of his youth. Before he met Jane, he had gone carousing at least two nights a week. But, the typical ration of available women to men in most bars in Elizabeth had been about one to four. Jane had been the girl next door in an apartment complex he had lived in.

Ralph checked the on line personal ads on one of the Internet search engines. Ralph checked the personals for the Marville area, for interested women between forty and fifty. His database search yielded eighty names! Ralph had made an exciting discovery, for a lonely man his age. His romantic options via computer were extraordinary. He was no longer chained to Jane.

Ralph emailed and talked on the telephoned to several of the women. They were all an improvement over Jane's tyrannical nature. But, he never found one who excited his romantic nature, until he called Bianca.

The genuine smile in her photograph caught his eye. She looked like she just wanted to make someone happy. Ralph was almost forty-five years old. She was seven months younger.

Bianca was everything her smile promised. She lived in Fountain Court, a small town twenty miles south of Marville. He husband, Joe, had died four years earlier. She had placed her Internet ad just two weeks before Ralph found it. She had started wanting to meet a new man only recently. Ralph found himself to be the lucky choice.

Bianca said that she had posted her ad for about two weeks before she met Ralph. Ralph loved her melodious voice on the telephone. On their first date, she drove around Marville. They dated and talked until two AM. He enjoyed every minute with her.

Bianca had a small frame house on the five acres she had inherited from Joe. Joe had worked at Bevalique Tire Manufacturing. Bevalique made the majority of the high performance sport tires in the United States.

Bianca explained that she and Joe had loved each other very much. They had raised a son, Brad, who had started his own family now. Brad lived on the same five acres as Bianca, in a double wide trailer.

Joe had worked grueling twelve hour shifts at Bevalique Tire. These were rotating shifts, eight days on first shift, eight days on second and eight days on third. After four days off, the cycle resumed. Bevalique Tire was the highest paying manufacturer in the Marville area. Bevalique Tire also had a high ratio of management personnel, to oversee the labor force. Joe and the other manufacturing employees had to produce enough to support themselves and their overseers.

Joe had been a blue collar baby boomer. The high unemployment of the 1970s had made him voraciously hungry for an opportunity. When Bevalique Tire opened up its manufacturing operations in the Marville area in 1982, he jumped at the chance. Neither he nor Bianca ever questioned the price that prosperity might have.

After ten years of the Bevalique Tire workload, Joe fell ill. Ultimately, he lost over half of his pancreas, and a section of his small intestine. He was totally incapable of having the physical stamina to continue working at Bevalique Tire. His attempt to return to work, after the surgery, was met with a mild heart attack. He applied for Social Security disability benefits. They were denied.

Two months after Joe's second operation, he went to a scheduled visit with his doctor, who specialized in internal medicine. The doctor was the son of a prominent Marville doctor, who had practiced in Marville for over thirty years.

Bianca went with Joe on that appointment. Joe had been complaining to her of pain in his left shoulder and arm. A year earlier, Joe had been rushed to the Marville Hospital emergency room. He had a mild heart attack, then. It had during been his last attempt to return to work.

Bianca sat with Joe, as Joe told his doctor about the pain in his shoulder and arm. The doctor told Joe that he was just getting older, at forty-three years old. The doctor told them that Joe's pain was merely arthritis. The doctor said that the forty-two year old Joe was just growing older.

Three days later, Joe's body was delivered to the morgue at Marville Hospital. Joe's doctor performed the autopsy. The cause of death was myocardial infarction, more commonly known as a heart attack. Joe's doctor told Bianca that he had examined his medical records for Joe, and everything was in order. The doctor said that there was nothing that he could have done.

Three years after Joe's death, Bianca had recovered enough from her grief to be emotionally prepared for a malpractice suit against Joe's doctor. She found that the Statute of Limitations had elapsed on her malpractice case. Friends had told her that there was no question about the doctor's negligence.

Bianca and Joe had secured the services of an attorney, for the denied Social Security benefits. Joe had been out of work a total of nearly two years. At the time of Joe's death, Joe's Social Security Disability claim was finally approved. Bianca was told not to cash the first check, which arrived a week after Joe died. The attorney's fees nearly equaled the previously unpaid Social Security benefits. Bianca received three hundred dollars for Joe's eighteen months of disability.

Bianca worked at another manufacturing plant near her home. She did not work rotating shifts. Her income was sufficient to support her. Joe's doctor had allowed Joe to die, when all of Joe's and Bianca's savings were completely depleted. Joe's insurance only paid eighty percent of his massive medical expenses. Was it just an odd coincidence?

Ralph was blissfully blocking out all of the strange things that had happened to him. In spite of the incidents at work that summer, he didn't want to believe that his life was for sale.

And Bianca made him forget even more. She invited him to her house, for a spaghetti supper. She popped in the video, Great Balls of Fire, the Jerry Lee Lewis story. They made love for the first time. Two months later, he watched the movie for the first time.

Ralph moved in with Bianca, and they fell deeply in love. Joe had respected and loved her. Bianca had been spared the pain of a bad relationship, like Jane and Ralph had. Bianca was a strong willed, self sufficient person. She understood people very well. She had a mind of her own.

Strange things were happening to Ralph at work, again. He still blocked out the origin of his problems. Ralph remained oblivious to his own unconscious knowledge of Jane's ties to the insurance fraud syndicate. He still believed that the incident in Elizabeth was due to his knowledge of an illegal dumping operation. Ralph believed that the death in Altamont was the result of his failed test results delaying the completion of the project.

Ralph's job with AJ & R Engineering had deteriorated rapidly after the death in Altamont. It seemed that many people, at the construction projects that he was sent to, believed that he had been responsible for the death. Before, most of Ralph's paycheck came from overtime hours. After the death, Ralph found himself fortunate to be paid for thirty hours a week.

Ralph went to work for a grading contractor that he had been assigned to monitor by AJ &R. He had been assigned to test the contractor's work of compacting the soil at a large industrial complex under construction.

While he was testing at the site, one of the earth moving equipment operators remarked at how adept Ralph was at being aware of the location of the moving heavy equipment, while Ralph performed his tests in the open soil. Ralph was grateful for the instructions that Jim had given him, when Ralph worked for the crochet survey party chief at the engineering firm in Elizabeth.

Ralph was disappointed, working for the grading contractor. He was given very little opportunity to gain experience operating the heavy equipment. The grading contractor also raced his own stock car. He had run in several NASCAR races. He had not won any races, or any prize money.

On his first day there, the bulldozer operator came to work very excited. He was the company owner's cousin. The cousin was very excited about an accident on Interstate 58, the day before. There had been four deaths! The bodies had been burned beyond recognition. The grading contractor's father said that the bodies would have to be identified by dental records. The grading contractor smiled at his nephew, the bulldozer operator.

Ralph's primary duty for the grading contractor was to check grade. He would measure the elevation of soil being placed and compacted, and quickly calculate the amount of additional fill necessary to meet the subgrade elevation specified.

Ralph also operated the compaction equipment, when needed. This was either a smooth or sheepsfooted vibrating rolling drum, attached in front of a built on tractor. By rolling the equipment over loose soil, placed as fill, the soil could be compacted. This prevented settling when the building was constructed on top of it. The reader has probably seen a parking lot with a crevice in it that follows a utility line underneath the pavement. This depression is the result of not compacting the soil that was replaced above the utility line.

The grading contractor gave Ralph very little work from Monday to Friday. Then, on weekends, Ralph was kept very busy. The superintendents for the general contractors of the construction projects would not be at the construction sites during the weekends. There would be no representative of the general contractor on site, while Ralph was working.

Ralph didn't know at the time, but the absence of the general contractor's representative made the general contractor liable for negligence. There would be no limitations on the amount of the lawsuit if Ralph were killed. Workmen's' Compensation limitations would not apply.

On one of these Saturdays, Mark was working at a large commercial project. The grading contractor had asked a subcontractor to assist in completing the work. The subcontractor owned a small earth mover. Ralph was to operate the roller, compacting the fill soil.

The subcontractor was cold and steely eyed. He didn't shake hands when Ralph introduced himself.

Ralph noticed that the seat belt of the roller would not unroll, so he couldn't use it. When operating a roller, it is very important to maintain some level balance between the rolling drum and the tractor unit. If the drum became suddenly sharply tilted, it could flip the roller over. A man would be crushed, if he fell in the path of its fall.

At several locations that day, the subcontractor placed loose soil three feet deep, beside previously compacted soil. This created the appearance of safe level ground, which was actually very hazardous. One wheel of an axle would be on solid ground, while the other would sink down two feet. This could cause enough tilt to turn the roller over.

There were several places where Ralph nearly turned the roller over that day. There were places where loose soil had been placed beside compacted soil. The subcontractor had leveled the ground, to make it appear consistent. Then, the subcontractor told Ralph to back up quickly over a mound of earth. The was a deep crevice in the mound, filled with loose soil. Ralph backed up slowly and carefully. He managed to avoid turning over the roller.

Ralph's precautious nature kept him from having an accident. He believed that the subcontractor was simply a rival for the work being performed. He had thought the highway incident had been due to illegal dumping. He believed the Altamont death had been because Ralph delayed completion of the project.

A few days later, Ralph was working with Doug, the grading contractor's nephew.

"You can lose, but you can't win." Doug said. "I don't need to work. I can live on forty dollars a week if I have to. But, I like to hunt. I just spent fifteen hundred on a new deer rifle and scope. You see that hill over there?" Doug asked.

"Yes," said Ralph. They were looking at a hillside, three- fourths of a mile away.

"I can drop a deer from here with that rifle. Yea, I can drop him from here," said Doug.

Doug continued. "You can lose, but you can't win. I went to high school with a boy named Bobby Abernathy, down in Newton. He is a paraplegic. He done it right, too. He locked her down in front of a dump truck with a full load. Snapped his lower vertebrae. He works his ass off, too. Does carpentry. Works harder than the son-of-a-bitches that can walk. Yep, he done it right. Locked her down. Remember to lock her down."

The day after the conversation with Doug, Ralph was told to drive "Old Red." Old Red was the small pickup truck with the one hundred gallon tank of diesel fuel located directly behind the cab. When Ralph got in the pickup, the seat belt wasn't working. The seat belt would not unroll from its retainer, the same way that the seat belt had not worked on the roller.

Ralph was told to drive the pickup to a project along Interstate 58, which connected Marville and Elizabeth. Ralph drove carefully, avoiding situations where he could be wedged in between trucks. Ralph arrived at his destination safely. The rest of the grading crew was already waiting at the site. They were surprised and irritated when they saw him.

Ralph had a weekend visitation with his son. He picked up Mark one Saturday morning. It was summer. Ralph and Mark spent the day at a swimming pool. They played the game of shark and fish. One person would be a shark, attempting to tag the other. When that person, the fish, was tagged, he would become "it."

"Here fishy, fishy." Mark said. "I wont hurt you. Come to my little cove and play with me. I'll be your friend. Oh, please fishy fishy. Wont you come and play with me?"

On the way back to Marville, Ralph thought about how he and Mark had played. There was something about Mark's demeanor, while they played shark and fish. Ralph couldn't quite grasp the situation, but there was something about Mark's attitude that bothered him deeply. He knew that Mark's attitude was a reflection of the emotional environment at home, with Jane'.

The following weekend, Ralph made his weekly Sunday night telephone call to Mark. After he spoke with Mark, Jane said that she wanted to talk to Ralph. Jane said that she thought they had an agreement for more child support than Ralph had paid that month. Ralph had been paying handsomely for child support, while he been earning an extraordinary income at the project in Altamont. After the death in Altamont, Ralph's income had declined dramatically. Ralph had reduced his child support payments proportionally.

The conversation over the telephone, with Jane, became a heated argument.

"Fuck your agreement!" Ralph said.

"No, fuck you..." Jane said, in a low, guttural tone. There was a deathly air in her voice.

The deathly tone of Jane's expletive left no doubt in Ralph's mind of Jane's intentions. All of his repressed memories began to come back to him. He knew that the grading subcontractor's booby traps had nothing to do with work rivalry. The subcontractor had been sent there to kill Ralph!

There was also the incident in Altamont. A company vehicle had been used in the backfired attempt to kill him. It had been on a Saturday, and the project superintendent was not expected to be on the job site. Workmen's Compensation liability limits would not apply, in the project superintendent's absence from the site.

The incident on Interstate 58 in Elizabeth had the same common denominator. He was in the Striate Engineering pickup truck, on the highway. Workmen's' compensation limits did not apply there either.

Bianca's love helped to dissolve many of the posthypnotic suggestions to forget the things that Ralph knew. Ralph remembered how Jane had asked him to cause his own fatal accident. He remembered her telling him about a "huge network of people involved in insurance fraud."

Sitting across from Bianca at the supper table, Ralph poured out his story. Bianca listened and believed. Ralph didn't know about the hypnosis, yet. But he did know about the staged accident attempts in Elizabeth, Altamont and Marville. Each one had the same common denominator, a company vehicle! Then, he remembered when Jane had blurted out "Unless it happened in the company truck!"

There was a contract! It called for him to die in a company vehicle, outside of Workmen's Compensation liability limits. Of course, his relationship with his son was an important factor. The emotional loss of companionship of Mark's father would be a large element of the fatality claim. The engineer at AJ & R had emphasized that visitation with Mark was very important. Sheila had said that Ralph's relationship with his son was "very valuable."

Ralph explained the system to Bianca. This was murder, made to look like suicide, made to look like an accident. Ralph also explained his personal beliefs about the United States military industrial complex. Staged wars, staged assassinations and staged fatal accidents were all the same sort of thing.

Bianca told him about Joe. Joe had liked to go hunting, in what little time off he had. Joe had always told her something. If you were hunted by an enemy, not to be the hunted. To turn on your enemy and become the hunter. Ralph made up his mind, then, to be the hunter of Jane and the fatal accident syndicate. No matter what they sacrifice, he would expose them.

It seemed to Ralph that whatever programming he had been given had diminished his fear of death. He remembered the hospital aide who had been so interested in how Ralph was becoming braver. He wasn't afraid to die for what he did believe in, a free and just society. He was terrified of dying for the benefit of the fatal accident insurance fraud syndicate, and Jane. Ralph wasn't willing to die to pay for Jane's gambling habit. His life for a poker game! Some of the profits from his death would also be used to finance more killing!

It was like the holocaust. Confiscated property of the Jews had helped to finance the buildup of Germany's military industrial complex. As the war continued, more Jewish property was confiscated in the conquered countries. This continued to help finance the German war machine. What was the Final Solution, but confiscation of the remaining personal effects and property of the Jews? Was there any difference between the fatal accident fraud planned for Ralph, and picking gold from the teeth of Jewish corpses?

It seemed to Ralph that he was battling the same demonic forces that had driven the Nazis. Perhaps there was a "national security" connection to all of this. Ralph researched, using the Internet, for more than a hundred hours. He searched for documentation or acknowledgment of the crime of fatal accident liability insurance fraud, but came up empty handed. How could there be such a total blackout of this information? He knew that there was a huge network of people involved in insurance fraud, but the "free press" of the United States ignored it.

Ralph left his job with the grading contractor, to accept manufacturing work through a temporary employment agency. After work, Ralph used Bianca's computer to contact law enforcement nationwide about Jane and the contract on his life. But nothing happened. Ralph sent Jane a letter, telling her how he had become aware of the contract on his life. He thought that surely the syndicate would not be interested in killing him, when he could leave a written record of the conspiracy behind.

Ralph contacted the state's insurance fraud hot line. This put Ralph directly in contact with the state's investigation bureau. Ralph prepared a four page summation of his story. He omitted his stay in the psychiatric unit. The entire story was logical and believable, when the illusion of insanity was omitted. He faxed his story to the state capital office of the state investigation bureau, and awaited a reply. He was told that his case was outside of their jurisdiction.

Ralph web surfed for hours on Bianca's computer. He emailed his story to every contact that might be interested. One such contact was a web site that purported to be a national clearinghouse for fraud information. It had its own fraud hot line.

A contact from the fraud information clearinghouse called Ralph the day after he sent an email describing the contract on his life. The lady who called him wanted all of the details of the suspected contract. Ralph was excited that at last there might be a professional investigation. Ralph lamented to the caller that he was most upset that his death would help to finance more killing. He heard the woman snicker. Nothing resulted from the contact with her, that Ralph was aware of.

Ralph remembered what Rick Hall had told him. He said that they would be "especially ungrateful" if he went to the press. Publicity might be the only weak point, Ralph thought.

Ralph called the Marville office of his congressman. The congressional office assistant was very cooperative, and interested in Ralph's situation. The congress man's assistant listened, as Ralph told about his frustration with law enforcement. The assistant said that someone else, who worked in the congress man's office, knew about the fatal accident fraud organization. He said that she would have someone for Ralph to contact the next day.

Ralph called the congressman's office the next day. The assistant gave him several telephone numbers, leading to the head of the State Highway Patrol. Ralph thought that surely the Highway Patrol would want to prevent highway fatalities. Ralph called the first telephone number. He was then directed to Colonel Little's office. Ralph spoke briefly to Colonel Little, then faxed him his story.

Ralph had never seen so many Highway Patrol cars, as he saw on his way to work the next day. But, that didn't make any sense. If the Highway Patrol was truly interested in investigating the syndicate, why were they swarming around him on the Interstate? Or, were they buzzards, waiting to see who could be first to collect the bonus for filling out the successful fatal accident report?

Ralph had faxed the Marville office of the FBI with his story. When that produced no response, Ralph faxed the Fenton office of the FBI. Fenton is a larger city than Marville. The Fenton office administered the Marville office of the FBI. Ralph received no response from the Fenton office either.

The state governor's victim assistant program offered to help crime victims to stimulate action by law enforcement. The director was kind enough to listen to Ralph, and read the four page story he faxed to her. She called the Fenton office of the FBI, to inquire about Ralph's file.

Ralph called the director of the victim assistance program back the following day. Her voice quivered, as she told Ralph what had transpired. She explained that the FBI was required to maintain meticulous and secure records of all information it received. She told Ralph that the Marville and Fenton FBI offices of the FBI had no record of Ralph's faxes. Apparently, Ralph's faxes had ended up in the FBI's "file 13."

So, Ralph faxed his story to the press. He sent his story to all of the major newspapers in the region. He also sent his story to the national press and media. But, nothing happened. He made certain that Jane knew about the many files that must exist with law enforcement agencies and the media. Surely, she would give up on the murder contract now.

Tom sent Ralph an email. Tom was furious that a security guard at Jane's office building was investigating Ralph's allegations. (Ralph wondered what had happened to all of the other law enforcement agencies he had contacted.) Tom warned Ralph that if he didn't stop pursuing his paranoid delusions, he could be involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility. Tom told Ralph to stop his "ridiculous campaign against Jane."

Ralph told Bianca about the email. They talked about the risk he was taking. There is no psychiatric diagnostic distinction between delusional paranoia and justified paranoia. If someone suspects that family members are conspiring to use devious means to kill them, then that must be paranoia! One of the diagnostic criteria for delusional paranoia is the belief that one has been poisoned. Without medical or law enforcement substantiation, a person who has been subjected to an undetermined poison is considered crazy.

Ralph wondered how many familial murders modern United States psychiatry must be an accessory too. Beginning with the Biblical Cain and Abel, murders between family members have been an historical part of human society. There are many historical and literary precedents of family members using devious means to murder each other for financial gain. Yet, it is only in our enlightened modern era that this kind of suspicion is met with an appointment for a psychiatric evaluation. Without the conclusive evidence of a videotape, showing the perpetrator providing an undercover officer with a pistol, the potential victim of a family murder conspiracy is considered a dangerous psychotic.

Even if Ralph had been aware of the two weekends of hypnotic programming, it would have been a sure sign of insanity to report it to the press or to law enforcement. Despite research which validates Ralph's experiences, any statements alluding to the criminal use of hypnosis would have subjected him to ridicule. Ralph could still not remember being hypnotized, but the post hypnotic suggestions had not been powerful enough to override his will to survive.

Ralph had to give up Dexedrine. His present job did not offer health insurance benefits, and he didn't have the money to pay for insurance or health care. He substituted Saint John's Wort for Prozac, and large doses of caffeine for Dexedrine. He knew that he didn't need the Dexedrine as much any more. His anger from knowing that his life had been managed by the syndicate kept his adrenal glands pumping. He was aware of the conspiracy, and would not allow himself to be blindly manipulated into a staged accident situation. He thought.

While Ralph was working at the manufacturing plant, a new coworker arrived. The new coworker was an exceptionally muscular young man. He stared at Ralph often, as if analyzing Ralph's movements. But one day, the new coworker walked by, talking to someone else.

"Aint no way, here. The street is too far away," the muscular one said. The pair walked away.

The companion of the muscular young man worked in Ralph's department. She brought her Bible to work. She studied her Bible during lunch hour.

She began a conversation with Ralph and his supervisor.

"Aint no way I could jump out of an airplane. I would be too scared on my own. I would need someone to push me, and to pull my rip cord. How about you? Don't you need someone to push you out of the plane?" she asked Ralph.

Ralph realized that she was part of the syndicate. He answered that no, he didn't need someone to push him out of the plane. Filled with rage, Ralph said that he would not only jump, but that he would pull the other person out with him. Ralph said that he would jump and pull the other person out with him. Ralph would pull his own rip cord, and let the other person fall. Ralph would happily land beside the flattened remains of his assailant.

The young woman who asked the question looked at Ralph. She held her hands together, as if she were in prayer. "Shush!" she said to Ralph.

Ralph didn't care about his pacifism as much as he once had. He realized that the syndicate wasn't going to take "no" for an answer. He knew that its members were really cowards, taking advantage of a vulnerable person. He had been all alone, on foot, when the pan operator had attacked him with the hundred thousand pound vehicle. Ralph understood that he would have to make the syndicate members as afraid of him, as he was of them.

Ralph's relationship with his supervisor, at the manufacturing plant, began to change after that. She had praised Ralph's work and productivity before the new coworker arrived, but now he was too old and slow. Ralph knew that he wouldn't have that job much longer.

Months later, when Ralph called the temporary employment agency that had sent him there, he was told that they couldn't assign him to any jobs. Their records showed that he had quit without notice. But, Ralph had found another job, and then called the temporary employment agency. He had not quit without notice. Ralph told them it wasn't true, but he knew it was pointless to argue.

Ralph knew that he couldn't blame his own career failures for the contract on his life. The doctor husband of Alicia made more than a hundred thousand dollars a year. But, he was just a much of a target for murder as Ralph. Perhaps more so. It wouldn't matter if the doctor died in his personal vehicle. There would be a high enough price on the doctor's life, without the need to sue an employer.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Ralph called his state's Department of Insurance, Fraud Investigations Division. The agent was very interested in what Ralph had to say. He listened as Ralph told his complete story. Ralph mentioned that he thought the hydrotherapist and marriage counselor, Cindy, might be involved.

"I sure would like to talk to that hydrotherapist," the agent told Ralph over the telephone.

He instructed Ralph to send him his four page story in the mail. He told Ralph to be sure to use registered mail, and to mark the envelope "Personal and Confidential, Agent Donald Mathison."

Ralph did as he was instructed. He called the agent's office a week later. The secretary said that the agent was in a meeting. She said that he had left a message. She told Ralph that the crimes he was reporting were outside of the jurisdiction of that department.

Ralph called Crime Stoppers. He was referred to a Marville County Sheriff's Department detective. The detective seemed very interested in Ralph's story. He was especially interested in what had prompted Ralph to become aware of the conspiracy to kill him. Ralph told him that it was the love of a good woman. Strangely, the detective groaned when Ralph told that he had been referred to him through a call to Crime Stoppers.

The next day, Ralph was driving to work on Interstate 62. While traveling at seventy miles per hour, in a seventy miles per hour zone, a gasoline tanker truck approached at a much faster speed. It pulled along beside Ralph and maintained Ralph's speed. After about two miles of this, the tanker pulled in front of Ralph. The tanker was uncomfortably close to the front of Ralph's car. Ralph slowed his speed. Ralph slowed his speed down to fifty- five miles per hour, and the tanker stayed at the same close distance ahead of Ralph's car. Curious, Ralph accelerated his speed gradually. The tanker maintained the same distance from Ralph. Ralph slowed again, and the tanker slowed, too. For fifteen miles, the tanker stayed closely in front of Ralph. The tanker maintained Ralph's varying speeds. Ralph turned off the Interstate at his exit.

The gasoline tanker truck had behaved exactly like the three trucks in Elizabeth. The truck had behaved exactly as he had described the Elizabeth incident to the Marville County Sheriff's Office detective. Exactly.

Ralph tried to call the detective during the lunch break at work that day. He wanted to report the incident with the gasoline tanker. The detective wasn't in, but his secretary was.

"Detective Jones has been expecting your call. He will be glad to talk to you about whatever it was that you thought you saw today. Leave me your number, and he will call you back," the secretary said.

Ralph explained that he didn't want to be interrupted at work. He said that he would call again.

Ralph didn't call back. He understood that it had been a staged situation on the highway. It was staged to discredit his story about the incident in Elizabeth. The situation on the highway was staged to make him look foolish and paranoid. No one would use a gasoline tanker in a staged accident. The driver of the truck would be immolated, along with the intended victim. Even an empty tanker has sufficient fumes inside to cause an incendiary explosion!

So, the cops were in on it! They had created a situation where Ralph would appear to be a raving lunatic, for reporting the attempts on his life! What made them try so hard to cover up the staged fatal accidents? Was it corruption, or just that investigating fatal accident insurance fraud was too difficult? Without public knowledge of the crime, the cops had no reason to report the deaths factually.

Ralph did comfort himself with the knowledge that at least his reports to law enforcement were probably costing Jane and her cohorts some serious bribes.

The warehouse that Ralph was now working at was a minimum wage safe haven. There was no possibility of Ralph being killed, without Workmen's Compensation limits applying to the claim. Ralph even began toying with a manuscript, to tell his story. He felt secure and brave against his enemies.

Ralph was curious if any one else might be aware of the fatal accident insurance fraud organization. He struck up a conversation with one of the truck drivers, who pulled into the loading dock. Ralph asked the driver, who called himself Winchester, if he had ever heard of a staged fatal accident. Ralph said that he wanted the information for a book that he was going to write.

"Do you mean when cars pull close in front, beside and behind my truck? They squeeze you in, so that you have no where to go?" Winchester asked.

"Yes, The driver in front slams on brakes and gets killed, doesn't he?" Ralph asked.

"The car in front of the truck gets right up under the cab. These accidents are almost always fatal." Winchester replied.

"Who do you think is behind this? Is it the insurance companies?" Ralph asked.

"High level corruption. You write your story, and try to get on the news. I wish you luck. But, this operation is backed by high level corruption. That's why there is never any publicity." Winchester finished.

The driver would not tell Ralph any more. Ralph loaded Winchester's trailer, and the driver left the warehouse.

Another warehouse worker took an interest in Ralph. Young, and very muscular, he smiled and acted friendly toward Ralph. The other worker was usually in the company of one of the other young men at the warehouse. They often looked at Ralph, whispered and laughed to each other.

The muscular young man approached Ralph one day, and began a conversation. He started to offer Ralph a cigarette. Then, he said that he knew that Ralph didn't smoke. He said he knew that Ralph used to smoke, but had quit years ago.

The young man began talking about Ralph's opportunities. He wanted to know if Ralph would be interested in making four or five times as much money as he was making now. The young man told about a truck driver he had spoken with, who made eighteen dollars an hour. The truck driver had said that wasn't enough.

Instead of avoiding the subject, Ralph began talking about his wife's suspected contract on his life. Ralph said that he wasn't interested in making more money. That would only be more incentive to kill him. A high income would make it profitable for him to be killed while driving his own car. He knew that now he could drive his personal car without being harassed. If he made more money, that might not be true. It wouldn't be necessary to be driving a vehicle that belonged to a corporate "deep pocket." Ralph would be the dead, deep pocket.

The muscular man asked Ralph who had custody of their son. Ralph said that it was still considered joint custody, at that time. The young man said that was good. He asked about how much money Jane made. Ralph told him that it was at least twice what he was making.

Then, the young man asked Ralph if he would like for Jane not to be a problem anymore. Ralph said sure. It would be better to make Jane the hunted, and him the hunter.

"I think that I can hook you up like that," the young man replied. The conversation ended.

The young man was surprised at work the next day. Ralph gave him an envelope. It contained a copy of a letter that Ralph had mailed to a private insurance fraud investigation organization. The young man's supervisor also had a conference with him. He explained that the warehouse company had a fleet of its own trucks. Accidents, and higher liability insurance rates, were bad for business. The supervisor told the young man that he would be keeping an eye on him, for any suspicious behavior around Ralph.

Months later, Ralph saw the young man working at the Marville public library. When the young man saw Ralph, he lowered his head and slinked away. Was it a coincidence, or did someone place him there? The young man could "loose" books that might be a bit too inflammatory, or reveal the mechanisms of Fascism. George Orwell's 1984 would have to go.

Tired of minimum wage, Ralph went to work for a Marville surveyor. Surely, Jane had given up on her contract. With the files that law enforcement had, and the press as well, Ralph could not believe that she would be so bold.

It wasn't long before he knew he was wrong. One day, some survey field work was scheduled at a large project, beginning at noon. The project superintendent had left for lunch.

When the survey crew arrived, there were several pieces of earth moving equipment on the site. The machines were all parked, not operating. Ralph and the crew began surveying in the three cleared house lots that were scheduled to be surveyed. Three of the earth movers began puffing black diesel smoke. There were two pans, each scraping up and carrying thirty cubic yards of earth. There was also a bulldozer.

The pans and bulldozer began operating in the same three lots as the survey crew. Ralph suspected that all of this activity was for his benefit. Ralph was assigned the task of marking survey stakes and hammering them into the ground. This left him behind, and separated from the other two members of the survey crew. But Ralph was experienced at this sort of ruse. He knew to be aware of the proximity of the earth movers at all times. He stared up at the equipment operators, when they approached him. He even managed to sneak an extended middle finger, aimed at one of the equipment operators. The pan operator glared at Ralph. Ralph wondered if he the man knew about the death in Altamont.

At Twelve-Thirty PM, a large late model SUV arrived. The project superintendent, and two other supervisors employed by the general contractor, poured out of the van. They walked very quickly toward Ralph's position.

The general contractor's management team pulled out a set of blueprints and began discussing them with the grading contractor and the survey party chief. The earth moving equipment in operation found its way to the house lot furthest away from Ralph. The earth movers avoided Ralph, after the superintendent arrived.

At the end of the workday, the survey crew was traveling back to their office. Ralph's team mates began talking about the death of a carpenter. It had happened at another construction project, a year earlier. It had happened on a Sunday, during high winds. The house frame had collapsed on the carpenter. He had three children. The carpentry contractor, who had employed the deceased worker, went out of business soon after that.

After that incident, Ralph couldn't concentrate very well on surveying. He was busy concentrating on possible hazards. The other survey workers shunned him.

Finally, the owner of the survey company fired Ralph. He explained that it was due to a lack of available work. Ralph believed this, since the survey company's available work had been steadily decreasing since he had come to work there. The surveyor explained that business had been very good for years, but suddenly it had slowed down. He said that he had expected to begin some large projects when he hired Ralph. The surveyor said that projects he had bid on had not been contracted to other surveyors. The projects had simply been canceled.

Ralph was accustomed to being fired. With the healthy Marville economy, and proper management of the truth about his past, he could find work within a week. Other aspects of his exit interview concerned Ralph. He knew that the contract on his life was the result of a flaw in the system of financial checks and balances in the United States financial system. Could the financial interests who were attempting to manipulate his life and death have the power to cancel large construction projects?

The truck driver, Winchester, had referred to high level corruption. Jane had told him that the network was huge. Could the people who were controlling the syndicate be top level executives and corporate board members? Ralph had thought the syndicate was controlled by greedy personal injury attorneys. But, in order to control the media and economy the way that the syndicate appeared they did, control must come from a higher level.

Ralph continued to research for possible clues to the origin of the syndicate's power. By web searching, he came across a site describing Satanism. There are four levels of Satirists. The first are dabblers, with an interest in the occult from popular culture. The second are known to be dangerous. These are lone psychopaths and serial killers, who dabble in the occult to enhance their own mystique to themselves. The third level of Satirists portray themselves as members of a socially acceptable church. It was the fourth level of Satanists that fascinated Ralph.

The highest level of Satanists practice in secret. They derive personal power from their negative spiritual activities, enhancing their careers. Various interpretations of the devil, from many different cultures, describe a creature whose hallmark is deception. Things are never what they appear to be, with the Magus.

Deception has been fundamental to many death cults throughout history. Members of the Thuggee cult of India would become friends with travelers. Then, at a secluded section of road, they would throw their special turbans around the neck of their new found friend. A heavy coin insured that the cloth would find its desired mark. If the Thuggee was sufficiently skilled, his comrade would never know of the deception until after his last breath was taken.

The highest level of Satanists want to master the art of deception. Ralph remembered coworkers, whom he knew to be part of the fatal accident fraud syndicate, studying their Bibles during lunch breaks at work. Was this to understand the word of God, or to master the manipulation of it?

The highest level of Satanists are involved in high level corruption. Why else would they be so diabolical in their crimes, if it weren't part of some antihuman spirituality? There were surely more directly profitable crimes for them to be engaged in.

Jane and her friends had attempted to dupe him to sacrifice his life for her profit. Many covens consider the highest act of sacrifice to Satan to be suicide. Why else would the perpetrators have expected him to cause an accident through an act of his own volition? It would be another soul for Satan. Without an act of his own will, his soul would not go to Satan.

On a spiritual level, Ralph had found a working model of the origin of the syndicate. Only a Satanic, antihuman spirituality would capitalize on profiting from the love between a parent and child. High level evil guided the minds of the leaders of the syndicate.

If the members of the syndicate were objective, they would realize that the operation was a flimsy commission sales scheme. Their combined efforts exceeded the combined rewards. Only the higher up members, like Cindy the hypnotherapist and some of the attorneys, truly profited from the operation, along with a few of the solicited housewives. The rest were pawns. They were manipulated into becoming accessories to murder. Was the ultimate goal of the syndicate to absolutely corrupt the all of Christian values of the general population, by making a vast number of people accessories to murder?

Ralph explained to Jane another hypothesis he had about the origins of the syndicate. During the Cold War, several United States agencies had huge secret budgets. These were known as "black ops" [operations]. These budgets were undoubtedly cut dramatically with the fall of communism and the USSR. Another source of funding was needed, to replace the US Congressional source. Why not use clandestine domestic operations to finance themselves? Many members of the former Soviet KGB (secret police) had turned to crime with the fall of communism. What more logical alternative to spy work, than a top secret crime?

Perhaps there was a connection between the interest in mind control and hypnosis by clandestine government agencies, and the occult. There had been a rise in interest in both, during the last half of the Twentieth Century. While the administrations of conventional church congregations censored their ministers from confronting the public with the evil that surrounded them, the forces of Satanic control of society were gaining power.

Ralph's personal beliefs encompassed a broad range of positive spirituality. He felt comfortable with Zen Buddhism and Christianity. He certainly never adhered to a fundamentalist, literal interpretation of the Bible. Yet his understanding of the events that had been affecting his life seemed to lend itself to a fulfillment of the many of the prophecies of the Book of Revelations. It seemed as if no one could buy, sell or borrow without the mark of the beast on their forehead (Revelations 13:17). The hypnosis and brainwashing of the perpetrators that conspired to kill him seemed to fit the prophecy. The secret manipulations of Ralph Jr's career and finances also seemed to be manifestations of the prophecy. The readers of this text can judge for themselves.

The day after Ralph was fired from the surveying company, Jane had scheduled a child support hearing in Marville. Ralph came to the hearing, feeling elated. The surveyor had actually helped him prepare for the child support hearing. State guidelines would be applied to determine Ralph's child support obligation. It would be proportional to his income. Without a job, Ralph's child support obligation would be based upon minimum wage.

When Ralph's name was called for consultation with the state child support counselor, Jane was not there. The counselor asked him if he still worked at Wacuta Manufacturing. One of the highest paying employers in the Marville area, Ralph had worked there for one day, for one twelve hour shift. Ralph had stayed in bed from exhaustion the entire next day. That had been three months earlier. Jane had scheduled the child support hearing based upon his employment at Wacuta. Ralph explained that he was unemployed. Ralph also said that he had been paying regular child support, based upon his income.

The interviewer began asking questions about Jane. Ralph laughed, and said that her occupation was killing people. Ralph said that Jane had not come to the hearing because she didn't need the money. She had probably successfully killed someone recently.

The hearing ended, with the counselor discreetly advising Ralph to continue paying regular child support.

Bianca still loved Ralph, but the incredible situation put a strain on their relationship. It was so much easier before he knew about the conspiracy to kill him. All he had to do before had been to earn a living and show love to Bianca.

Ralph had to laugh at news stories about wives and other family members arrested for conspiracy to commit murder for hire. It seemed the only cases that were ever publicized or prosecuted were unquestionable. The conspirator would actually have to give the intended murder weapon, usually a pistol, to an undercover law enforcement agent and make a promise of money before there could be a successful conviction. If the transaction was video taped, there could be a successful conviction..

Ralph continued to contact law enforcement, although he knew it would be futile. One officer from the best state insurance fraud investigation agency in the United States wanted to know if Ralph could name any of the "body shops" involved.

One law enforcement officer said to Ralph, "We would like to help you, but you're not dead."

Ralph knew that he needed his story publicized. If the public knew about the insurance fraud syndicate, then it would be forced to disappear. If enough people knew about Ralph's situation, then the contract on his life might be voided. How could the insurance carrier pay for Ralph's death claim, with Ralph's published article about fatal accident liability insurance fraud contract staring them in the face?

Ralph remembered what Rick Hall, his supervisor at Striate Engineering, had said. He remembered him saying that they "would be particularly ungrateful" if Ralph went to the media. That was the only way to expose the syndicate! There was no hope with law enforcement.

"They're going to kill me anyway." Ralph thought to himself. "I may as well make them pay for it!"

But how could he expose the organization? The true story would never be published, unless there was some law enforcement substantiation. But what if he wrote his story as fiction?

So, Ralph wrote his story. He changed names to protect the guilty. The only innocent ones were himself, Mark and Bianca. He wrote his story as an article/short story combined. He began looking for a magazine that would publish it. He searched the Internet, and discovered that there was thousands of e-zines available to publish his story. After numerous rejections, he found a horror story e-zine, based in Sweden, that would accept his story.

The backbone of his story showed that fatal accident liability insurance fraud is a common crime in the United States. He graphically described a successful fatal accident and its financial rewards. Then, he told the story about him and Jane. He told about how she had asked him to cause his own fatal accident. He described his escape from the attempted accident on Interstate 58, and how the police and press had ignored him. Ralph also mentioned Jane's friend Alicia, and how her prosperous husband was also a target for the syndicate.

Ralph included a short essay about the corporate incentive to maintain the clandestine criminal enterprise. He explained how highway safety efforts and decreased drunk driving fatalities had created a shortage of expensive automobile insurance death claims. The automobile liability insurance industry needed expensive death claims to maintain their rate structure. Ralph did not know about the reserve insurance fraud scheme, then. He did not know about the Yogurt Shop Murders or about Eric Moebius. He did not know about the spree of staged fatal accidents and staged murders in Texas in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Ralph described the aura of death that surrounded Jane. He included a sentence about her group's "interest" in the depressed doctor husband of a friend of hers.

The e-zines that specialized in true crime stories rejected his fiction. The conventional social commentary fiction magazines rejected his fiction. But the horror story e- zines swallowed it up! A reader even gave his story a 4.25 star rating on a 5.0 scale! This was for Ralph's first published story!

But the reader also criticized that he had not told enough about the techniques of coercion used against him. The reader was married, the mother of two children. She said that her husband would never respond to a simple request to cause his own fatal accident. She wanted to know more about how a husband might be persuaded to make the ultimate sacrifice for his family.

To defame his estranged wife's criminal reputation, Ralph sent copies of his stories to all of the perpetrators he could. He wrote "Published!" on the front pages. He emailed a copy to Rick Hall and Bruce Johnson at Striate Engineering. The project engineer at AJ& R received a copy.

Ralph's relationship with his son, Mark, had been shattered. Jane had stopped all contact between Ralph and his son. Ralph had no way of telling what results his efforts to tell the world about Jane had. He had hoped that, at least, she would give up on her contract on his life. Especially if reporters started calling.

Ralph's father called him frequently, always wanting to know how Ralph Jr's relationship with Mark was progressing. But Ralph was not seeing Mark anymore. Jane had carried her portrayal of Ralph Jr as a dangerous psychopath to the extreme. She refused to allow any more visitation between Ralph and Mark. Ralph was too afraid of Jane's influence with the Elizabeth Police Department administration to force the issue. He was afraid of an involuntary commitment to a psychiatric hospital. Or, Jane could shoot him on sight and claim that it was self defense.

Christmas came. Ralph's father called, and said that he wanted to see Ralph Jr. His father wanted to meet at a restaurant, in Marville. He wanted to meet Ralph alone.

Ralph said that there was no need to meet at a restaurant. His parents could come to his home with Bianca. Marville was ten miles away. This was Christmas, and Ralph wanted to introduce his parents to the new love in his life.

Ralph's father acted very strange, on that Christmas visit. He stopped his car in the driveway at his son's home. He was extremely reluctant to leave the car. Then, he was reluctant to leave the driveway to come into Bianca's house. Finally, he came into the house for a Christmas visit. He said that he didn't need to use the bathroom. Ralph's mother laughed that her husband had stopped at a nearby roadside store to use the restroom. The store was five miles from Ralph's and Bianca's house.

After much persuasion, Bianca persuaded Ralph's parents to join them in a Christmas meal. His mother told Ralph Jr how they were going to visit Mark the next day. They could visit Mark, but Ralph Jr could not. Ralph's mother took several Polaroid pictures of her son. She said that Mark didn't have any recent pictures of his father, to remember him by. With their mission accomplished, the parents left to visit their other son's home that evening. Tom was expecting them.

Ralph had some outstanding College Foundation loans, from a failed attempt at returning to school six years earlier. With his child support obligations, and frequent job changes, Ralph had not made a payment in months. Besides, the government was failing to protect him. Hell, they were in on it! Ralph had decided the defaulted College Foundation loans would make his death less profitable. It would be impossible for Jane to claim that Ralph had earned fifty-thousand a year, when he had defaulted on paying two hundred dollars a month to the College Foundation.

Ralph's father called him. Since Ralph had ignored the duns from the College Foundation, the collectors had focused on James Singleton. At least he had a listed address. Ralph's father asked him what he was going to do about the loans. Ralph told his father to ignore the bill collectors, and to let the loans go into default.

"This involves the Federal Government. They can be very expensive to fix things with." Ralph overheard his father mutter to himself over the telephone.

Ralph never heard any more about his College Foundation loans. He received his Federal Income Tax refund a few months later. Apparently, his father was paying on the loan. Otherwise, his refund would have been confiscated. What appeared to be an act of generosity for a prodigal son was actually attempted murder.

Since Ralph had moved in with Bianca, there was no public listing of his known address anywhere. James called him, wanting to know his mailing address. His father explained that he had some income tax forms to forward to his son. Ralph Jr had included his return address on each envelope containing his child support check. He had also given Jane his address and telephone number by telephone.

Two weeks later, Ralph received a certified letter from an attorney who represented Jane. It was notification of a lawsuit against him, for Jane to have full custody of Mark. The outside of the envelope showed that it had been returned, from a wrong address, on two previous occasions. There was no mistake about it. "Jane's" attorney worked for his father. Ralph reread the note that he had saved from his parents' basement:

Let the unreal seem real.

Let the familiar become unfamiliar.

This leads to a trust accident.

The attorney's letter alleged that Ralph was a dangerous psychopath. The attorney alleged that Ralph should pay for the cost of the suit, since Jane was impoverished.

Ralph responded to the attorney's letter. He said that if Jane wanted custody of Mark, that he was not in a position to contest it. Ralph said that he could not possibly pay for the lawsuit, and that Jane's income was substantially more than his.

The attorney responded with notice of a court date for a child custody hearing. Ralph called his father, and told him about the attorney that was harassing him. He mentioned the court date to his father.

"That's just an excuse to get you up to Elizabeth," his father replied.

Ralph ignored the comment. He wanted to keep some of his cards hidden. Ralph Jr knew that his father must be behind the attorney, since Jane had his address, and could easily have given it to the attorney. Ralph's father did not have his address at Bianca's.

Ralph went to the custody hearing, representing himself. The bailiff called the case. The judge asked Jane's attorney where Jane was. The attorney explained that she was waiting in the lobby. He opened the door, and she marched into the room. She had a look of fear and anxiety on her face. Although Ralph had passed through the courthouse metal detector, and had no history of violence, Jane pretended that she was terrified of Ralph attacking her. She was terrified of an attack in a county courthouse, filled with Elizabeth law enforcement officers! Her theatrics terrified Ralph.

He made no objection to Jane's demand for custody, stating that there was nothing to contest. He placed his previous letter, giving Jane custody, in evidence. He also submitted a recent paycheck stub as evidence of his own impoverishment. Jane had custody, and Ralph did not have to pay court costs and attorney's fees.

After the hearing, Jane's attorney told him that there were some papers for him to sign. Jane was there, with her friend Alicia. They were all to go to the Family Court Conference Room, room number 4000 in the Elizabeth County Courthouse. But, the attorney led the way into Room 4002, Adult Probation and Parole.

Ralph looked into the room before entering. There was another door on the other side. It had a bar to allow passage from inside the room through the door. He could also see the back side of a locking mechanism on the door. The door could not be opened from the other side without being unlocked on that side. The open door where Ralph was standing also had an inside lock on it. The room was an extension of the jail, which was on the other side of the back door of the room!

It was a trap! Ralph's statements about the fatal accident fraud syndicate were going to be used as a ruse for an involuntary psychiatric commitment! Ralph turned away from the door, and walked back into the hallway. He walked rapidly to the elevator, and left the building. His heart was racing.

Ralph took an alternative route back to Marville. It brought him across the state line much sooner. He didn't stop until he was safe at home with Bianca.

Ralph Jr surmised that he would be forced to sacrifice his relationship with his son. That was the price that he would pay for exposing the fatal accident liability insurance fraud organization. He realized that his family would use any possible ruse to have him involuntarily committed. The more lucid he became about the murder syndicate, the more they wanted to have him committed. He felt certain that this time he would not escape electro convulsive therapy. His memories would be obliterated, like his friend Donna in Altamont.

Perhaps the syndicate members who had trained Jane had warned her what might happen, if things went wrong. Ralph wondered how many psychotic massacres, "going postal" being the popular term, might be due to someone like him waking up to what was going on.

If he had not used a computer and telecommunications, would he have resorted to violence? But, this was a definite case of the keyboard being mightier than the sword. Ralph could tell his story to the world, over the Internet. The secret crime syndicate would be a secret no more.

Ralph believed that he must have been successful in ending the contract on his life by now. After all, he had his story published! He had waited two months, from the time of submission to the release of publication of his article. The situation had given new meaning to the academic phrase "publish or perish."

Ralph felt secure in accepting a new job, even though it involved company vehicles. He worked as a furniture mover. After two months as a helper, he would be given a DOT physical and a permit to drive a furniture van. Surely, no one would attempt a staged fatal accident against the huge furniture vans.

But, it wasn't long before he suspected that he was wrong. One of the salesmen at the furniture store was very interested in Ralph. He always asked Ralph where he was going, when Ralph rode with the drivers to help make deliveries. The salesman said that he couldn't wait for Ralph to pass the DOT physical. The salesman said he had great plans for Ralph.

The store was locally owned. Its warehouse was two and a half miles away. The vans traversed this route several times a day, bringing furniture for assembly, delivery and display between the warehouse and store. It was a curving, two lane road with a forty-five mile per hour speed limit. Someone familiar with the route could drive up to sixty- five on the road, comfortably. Although Ralph had not taken his DOT physical, he was still permitted to drive the vans between the furniture store and the warehouse.

A prison work van joined him on the road, while he was driving his car to the store one morning. Ralph didn't know why he remembered it, but he did. Maybe it was the way the guard driving the van looked at him, with a look of interest and concern. He saw the van again, that morning. The van was parked on the side of the road, as he was driving from the store to the warehouse. Two prisoners and the guard/driver were in the van.

Ralph filled the truck with heavy furniture, and began driving back to the store. The county prison van appeared. It was parked on the side of the road facing Ralph, as he rounded a curve. The van was parked with one side blocking half of the lane to Ralph's left. The road continued to curve behind the prison van. One prisoner was picking up trash on the opposite side of the road from Ralph. The other prisoner was in the narrow ditch, which was against a high bank on Ralph's right. The prisoner in the ditch flashed an angry glare at Ralph.

A tractor-trailer suddenly appeared rounding the curve behind the prison van, approaching Ralph from the opposite direction. But, Ralph had already reacted. His experience with the previous staged accidents situations in Elizabeth, Altamont and Marville made this situation easy. Ralph stopped a hundred feet in front of the prison van. The tractor-trailer driver also reacted. He skidded to a stop a few feet behind the prison van.

Ralph knew that the contract on his life wasn't canceled. The prisoner in the ditch had known that he was being used as a live decoy, to force Ralph into a head on collision with the tractor-trailer.

Ralph found another job the next day. He sent the following letter to the owner of the furniture store:

May 23, 2000
Ralph Singleton
103 Maplewood Lane
Fountain Court, SC

John Burton
Burton Furniture
Marville, SC

Dear Mr. Burton:

I regret that I find it necessary to resign my position with Burton Furniture. My continued employment with you could lead to a disastrous situation for both of us. I could lose my life, and you might lose your store.

For the past four years, I have managed to avoid the completion of a murder contract on my life. The contract requires that I die in an accident involving a company vehicle. I have escaped several staged fatal accident attempts.

My estranged wife initiated the contract. She is involved in a huge organization involved in fatal accident liability insurance fraud. The insurance industry and law enforcement ignore this type of murder. The fraudulent insurance claims help to maintain present liability insurance rates.

Thank you for the brief period of employment I enjoyed with you.

Sincerely,
Ralph Singleton Ralph Singleton

Ralph also wrote the following letter to Jane:

May 23, 2000
Ralph Singleton
103 Maplewood Lane
Fountain Court, SC

Jane Singleton
518 Johnson Court
Elizabeth, NC

Jane,

As you probably already know, I have left my job at Burton Furniture. I sent the owner of the store a letter, telling him about the murder contract.

Under no circumstances will I accept another job involving company vehicles. I will not work where my employer's liability for my death exceeds Workmen's' Compensation limits. No matter what.

Sincerely,
Ralph Singleton

Ralph continued to seek out information, and to publicize his story on the World Wide Web. He became interested in all of the information related to mind control. It was amazing how much technology was known to exist for mind control purposes. There was an effective hypnosis machine, with a 1976 United States patent. There was the electromagnetic wave machine from the former Soviet Union. It could put a large room full of people to sleep in five minutes!

Implant technology had existed since the 1950s. It began with the placement of a tiny radio receiver inside of a tooth filling. The technology later progressed to a tiny receiver that could be implanted into the subject's brain, via the nasal passages.

Ralph still had no direct recollection of having been hypnotized. He knew about the conspiracy for him to die in an accident. It had seemed odd that the perpetrators had always appeared to expect some act of Ralph's own volition, causing his own death. Perhaps this was to maintain their delusion that they were assisting suicide, not murder. Or, did they know about some mind control technique that was being used on Ralph to make him cause his own death?

The perpetrators had always wanted Ralph to have a two way radio, cell phone or pager in operation and close by to Ralph when they staged their fatal accident attempts. Were they attempting to send him a subliminal signal, by altering the communications devices? The smugness of the perpetrators in expecting him to cooperate in his death amazed Ralph. The most terrifying dimension of the whole situation had been the absolute confidence of the perpetrators. They acted as if they believed that Ralph's death in a staged accident was inevitable and expected.

Ralph also remembered something about his two lost weekends. How he had awaken on Sunday evening, believing that it was Friday night. He remembered feeling the wooziness of sedation or anesthesia wearing off the following week. He had suppressed these memories from his consciousness, for they could be construed as signs of mental illness.

Ralph found the email address of a Denver psychiatrist who was interested in mind control. The psychiatrist specialized in distinguishing between true mental illness and the effects of various forms of mind control on their subjects. Ralph sent the following email to the psychiatrist:

Dear DR Fordson:

How do I find out if I have a brain implant? I have good reason to suspect that this may be possible. I have very little money. Are there organizations that might help me?

Proof of a brain implant would help me to expose a large network of corruption involved in fatal accident liability insurance fraud.

I have attached an article which I wrote, concerning the fatal accident fraud organization. It should explain the operation, and how there was an attempt to coerce me to cause my own fatal accident. In addition, the perpetrators of these staged accidents have expected me to commit some act of my own volition to cause my own death.

There were two weekends, when I lost a period of time. I awoke on Sunday night, believing that it was Friday evening. I had absolutely no recollection of the previous two days.

The perpetrators of these incidents have always wanted me to have a two way radio, pager or cell phone operating nearby. Could these be used to relay a subliminal signal?

Thank you for your interest.

Sincerely,
Ralph Singleton

Ralph didn't expect a reply. The words, "no money" were usually sufficient to end communication with most private World Wide Web contacts.

Surprisingly, DR Fordson did reply a week later:

Dear Ralph:

I have had a chance to read your material. I have read something akin to this by an attorney Mobius about five years ago. You might try to search under his slightly unusual name.

Unfortunately, I don't remember all the details.

You don't give an account of a time when an implant might have been inserted. There are also ways to induce post hypnotic suggestions with sedation. This might fit your story better.

People engaged in criminal activity do so repeatedly. A surveillance of the ex-wife might shed some information on this.

Well done for avoiding the trap.

If you still want to seek evidence for a possible implant, the first thing is to have the relevant rays. The nearest doctor I know who might listen to you is Donald Manning, a friend of mine: email: donm@poll.net

Kind Regards,
TF

Ralph couldn't believe his luck! The doctor had been willing to examine his story, free of charge. The doctor had provided Ralph with a written statement, accepting the criminal conspiracy and ignoring the diagnosis of paranoia! Not only that, but now Ralph had the final clue!

Cindy! The hypnotherapist had figured prominently in Jane's attempts to coerce him. When Bianca saw the doctor's letter, she remarked that hypnosis was a much more feasible method of mind control than an implant. Bianca said that an implant would be very expensive, and the surgery could be performed by only a few trained physicians in the world. There were far more hydrotherapist who could use their skills for criminal purposes. Hypnosis would be relatively inexpensive and accessible, compared to a brain implant.

Now Ralph understood the whole picture, or thought that he did. The horror story e-zine was published monthly. Two weeks after Ralph's article was published, Ralph Jr called his mother and father for a chat. Previously, Ralph Jr had to leave a message on their answering machine, and to wait for a return call. This time, his father picked up the telephone on the second ring. Ralph Jr called again two weeks later, and his father picked up again on the second ring.

Six weeks after Ralph's short story had been posted, he received the following email from his brother Tom:

Subj: Internet stories
Date: 5/24/00 5:21:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: single@elected.net (Singleton Family)
Reply-to: single@elected.net
To: Mordecai@hooray.com

Dear Ralph:

I wanted to send this through my family email address, since I feel it's more private.

I know you want to get the story out there, but this current approach may not get the results you want. If you still feel strongly about the whole thing, perhaps a notarized letter/statement placed with a few people you trust would be a wise way to have it documented, then you could get on with your life.

According to Mom and Dad, things sound a bit smoother with you and that's great news.

Save this email address in case you ever need to reach me.

You also have the telephone number (all snail mail addresses have been changed --stupid 911.)

Yours,
Tom

Ralph Jr was confused and angry by this letter. What was going on? Tom wasn't interested in the danger to Ralph's life, only in suppressing publicity. What was particularly curious was the statement about the notarized statements? It correlated with Jane's repeated barrages about Ralph not having any friends. How would Tom know about the only means, acceptable to the syndicate, for canceling the murder contract?

Ralph attempted to verify the access to his web postings on hooray.com. He had absolutely no success. Why would Tom's cohorts be so interested in the hooray.com search engine? Ralph Jr had been using the hooray.com engine frequently in his research. Hooray had the best anti-cult and mind control links on the Web. Could Tom's friends be attempting to create a suit against Ralph Jr and hooray.com, in retaliation for publicizing the truth?

Did "then you could get on with your life" mean that the contract was no longer in effect? Perhaps the letter he had sent Jane, after resigning from the furniture store, had succeeded in ending Ralph's torment. But were the perpetrators trying to placate him, so that they could succeed with other fatalities? Did getting on with their lives mean for them to continue killing? Ralph's naive conscience wouldn't allow it.

Ralph tried to find his brother's address on internet White Pages. He had no luck. Tom Singleton's telephone number and town were all that were listed. Tom was the only listed Singleton for hundreds of miles without a published address.

Out of curiosity, Ralph attempted to look up the hypnotherapist Cindy's address. He found the name of her company listed with a telephone number and zip code in the Elizabeth directory. Her name and street address were omitted. She was the only hypnotherapist in the directory who did not publish her name or address.

Ralph followed his brother's advice, and placed notarized statements with friends, just to be safe. He wondered how effective they might be, if he was dead? Wouldn't the organization "persuade" his friends that it was in their best interests not to say anything? Ralph decided that a copyrighted manuscript, refusal to work driving a company vehicle and his limited income were the only sure ways to make Jane and the syndicate take no for an answer.

But Ralph was most excited about the paragraph in Tom's letter relating to his father. Ralph remembered the note that he had found in his parents' basement, the night before he was sent to the hospital in Altamont:

"Let the unreal seem real, Let the familiar seem unfamiliar. This leads to a trust accident."

Ralph had kept silent for a year about the note. He had said very little to Bianca or anyone else about it. Who would believe that his father would sell his own son's life? Yet, there was only one conclusion that Ralph could reach, based upon the bits of evidence that he had pieced together. Tom and his father were behind the contract on his life!

Ralph remembered the round robin letter that Tom had circulated among his cousins, thirteen years earlier. Could Tom's involvement have preceded Jane's? How long had Ralph been a prospective target for a fatal accident? He remembered the psychologist, DR Tosbic, and his interest in Ralph's lack of any close personal friends.

Ralph felt saddened to realize that Jane must have loved him once. How long had she held out against his father's and Tom's solicitations to kill Ralph?

Ralph remembered his childhood and teenage years. He remembered hearing his father vaguely mention something to his mother about going to a funeral for one of the salesmen who worked for him. Ralph recounted four different occasions when he had heard something about the death of one of his father's underlings. This was during the 1960s and early 1970s.

The "huge network of people involved in insurance fraud" that Jane had told about was not perfectly organized. It appeared to Ralph that there were many different groups. He had seen Web pages by cult deprogrammers that alluded to the crime being committed in covens. Confused cult members were driven to a profitable suicide by automobile. Covens, NASCAR "wannabes," paramedics, cops and ordinary working people were all involved. Ralph assumed that everyone who was involved in corruption in turn of the millennium America might be aware of the fatal accident liability insurance fraud scheme. To Ralph, it seemed that nearly everyone was involved in corruption in the new millennium America.

Because he lived in Bianca's home, Ralph location was unlisted. His father, on the other hand, was a self- employed part time salesman. His father's name was listed in the Flagton telephone directory, without the Sr attached. Someone had been calling Ralph Jr's father, and it was related to Ralph's published story.

Some of the calls would be from irate members of the syndicate. Ralph had emailed his published story, with references to the publishing magazine's web site to many of the people on his list of suspects. He had emailed his story to Rick Hall, and other engineers at Striate Engineering. In fact, he had emailed his story to all of the perpetrators whose email addresses he could recall or locate. He wanted them to know that the media blackout of their crime was being broken.

There might also be calls to his father from members of the syndicate who had heard about the story. The e-zine had a circulation of at least thirty-thousand. Perhaps word of the story had spread.

But there was another group that Ralph thought of. The story exposed the fact that there was a fatal accident murder contract Ralph Jr's life. What if the story was actually generating more interest and more perpetrators to attempt to create a staged fatal accident? There were many more people who would accept and take advantage of corruption, than to become motivated to stand up to it.

"This current approach may not get the results you want." Tom had said in the email he had sent.

Ralph decided to follow the philosophy of Bianca's deceased husband, Joe. He wanted to make the hunter the hunted. Now he understand that his father had been involved in the fatal accident scheme for decades.

Ralph called his father, ostensibly to wish him a happy Father's Day. His father answered the telephone on the first ring. He didn't want Ralph to talk to his mother.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Even with poor grades, James Singleton's, BA, from a low rated college was very valuable in 1949. The United States held fifty percent of the world's manufacturing capacity at the end of World War Two. Virtually all of the other developed nations of the world had their manufacturing infrastructure flattened by bombs. The war had forced the United States to rebuild its manufacturing infrastructure, from the rust of the Great Depression.

James Singleton had joined Thomison Industries in 1958. The job paid less than its competitors, but it also offered a company car for business and personal use. There was also a lot of job security with Thomison. The company was very cash rich.

Michael Thomison's great grandfather had owned a railroad in the developing west of the 1880s. The United States government gave him thousands of acres of land, as an incentive to expand the railroad line. The railroad line had eventually been bought out by one of the major national concerns. The Thomison family had a steady stream of secure cash from leasing the western lands to ranchers, farmers, timber and mining interests.

In 1963, James Singleton had been made a sales manager with Thomison. The prosperous times, and the inflated value of his education, had made him a success. He was secure in his job, but dissatisfied with his income.

James found an opportunity to supplement his mediocre salary in 1965. Sam Dontee was an attorney. He was two years younger than James' forty. Sam had recently been instated on the Board of Directors of Thomison Industries. Sam invited James to lunch.

Sam asked James how he felt about his career with Thomison Industries. Sam already knew that James would express some frustration with his career. Sam had recently made certain that James would be passed over for a much deserved promotion.

Sam also commended James for his integrity as a sales manager for Thomison. Sam said that he knew of the many temptations that might come his way. Sam said that he knew that James had never yielded to temptation to manipulate a salesman's career with Thomison for his own personal gain.

James joked about how he had grown up in the Chicago area in the 1930s. He had seen enough gangsters imprisoned or killed by their own. James said that he wanted to live his life "above reproach."

Sam said that he understood. Sam said that there were ways to make extra money that the public had never thought of. Sam asked James if he would mind making extra money illegally, if no one ever knew. James said that would be fine.

"Your reputation for honesty is very valuable. If you could gain an extraordinary second income, without compromising your appearance of integrity, would you be interested?" Sam asked.

"Certainly," said James. "Everyone has their price. What would I have to do?" .

Sam explained that he was very interested in a certain young salesman who had come to work for Thomison two years earlier. The man's poor record of accomplishments had almost resulted in the young man's termination a year earlier. This year, the young man's sales record clearly placed him as an acceptable employee.

Sam explained to James that he was to follow Sam's instructions regarding supervision of this agent's career. Sam said the young man was just what he was looking for. He had three young children.

"But I have three young children. Why weren't you interested in me?" James asked. Sam had not explained the intention of his interest in the young salesman.

"We were interested in you, five years ago. But, your wife didn't want to participate in the program." Sam replied.

"What! My wife didn't want me to be a winner?" the uninformed James asked.

"We select candidates for a program which you might not want to be a subject in. We find wives who are more willing to be wealthy widows than happy hausfraus. Mr. Thomison has a very deep pocket, going back to his great grandfather's railroad. The railroad didn't last, but the land grant for building it did. President Cleveland was a good friend of the family." Sam explained.

Sam continued, "We select candidates who are likely to cooperate. The young man we have selected has a record of intermittent success and failure. His father and uncle both committed suicide. We want this young man to provide us all with a supplemental income, from a highway fatality claim."

"In that case, please excuse my outburst of professional rivalry." James laughed.

Sam explained to James how he was to manage the young man's "career." There was a client base that had been selected, to help justify a large salary increase for the young man. The young man would have a meteoric rise in his professional standing. It would be followed be just as meteoric a fall. He would be a falling star, to extinguish itself in its own momentum on the highway.

In 1966, Sam advised James to "spread his money thin." There was no sense in attracting the IRS's attention to his recent windfall.

James and Sam's next success came four years later. It was another father of three children, with a very sheltered background. The LSD his wife slipped into his tea was effective in assisting Sam and James attain their goal. However, it also required buying the silence of the man's brother. The brother had received an incoherent telephone call an hour before the accident. Sam and James decided that psychedelic drugs were too risky to be used again.

The 1973 and 1979 oil shortages and recessions began Jame's most profitable era. The declining world economy was a bonanza for James Singleton. The ability of the United States to produce a better educated work force than its fast food franchised economy could assimilate was fertile ground for James. In order to allay suspicion, James had to "subcontract" to other sales managers the many frustrated young men who came to his frequent job interviews. He referred these prospects to his competitors' sales managers who were part of the syndicate. They proved to be of benefit to the accident industry.

The 1980s were even more extraordinary. The national fifty- five mile per hour speed limit, and the effective decrease in drunk driving related deaths, began a shortage of highway fatalities for the insurance industry. Corrupt adjusters were helping to increase the acceptable settlement amounts of the death claims.

Electronic communications came into its own in the 1980s. A credit report could be instantly accessed. Low level civil servants, in government agencies like the Social Security Administration, became valuable resources for information about the life history of prospective fatalities. Lives and families could be magically managed, without either spouse being aware. Couples with a poor credit history would have mortgages approved, only to have the husband loose his job a year later. With state of the art word processing equipment, evidence of high incomes could be produced for the cooperating insurance adjusters.

In 1984, Michael's son, Jim Thomison, sold his interest in Thomison Industries. Liability claims, labor disputes, fuel costs and environmental and safety regulations made the manufacturing concern a drain on the Thomison's cash resources.

Thomison Industries became one of the many merged companies of that era. Jim Thomison had seen his profits dwindle, as the insurance premiums for his sales force climbed. Thomison Industries had relied on high horsepower company cars, as a benefit to attract its sales force. The salaries and bonuses were below industry standards. Although his taxable income remained in the bottom third among his peers, James never complained about his salary at Thomison.

Thomison Industries was purchased by its own Board of Directors. Many members, like Sam Dontee, sat on the boards of other Fortune 500 companies. Jim Thomison's son opened a hotel on the family ranch in the Colorado Rockies.

James Singleton retired in 1990. He continued part time sales work in the Flagton area. He said that it kept him active, to earn some of his livelihood.

Tom took up the lead in the family's interest in the syndicate. There was no problem in recruiting cohorts, among the generation who had spent their teenage years under the Reagan/Bush regime. Corruption was a natural part of society. It was something to be expected.

Reagan played his role well, under the guidance of former CIA Director Bush. They created a crisis of homelessness. Hundreds of thousands of patients had been released from state psychiatric hospitals. Reagan vetoed the building of community treatment centers. Fifteen years later, there would be public demand for a return to the state administered psychiatric dungeons. But, terre were far fewer homeless to be hospitalized. No one questioned the disappearance of tens of thousands of homeless from New York City. No one knew, or wanted to know.

Tom leaped into the technology that became available in the 1990s. There was a wide variety of occult and mind control methodology to choose from. It didn't matter to Tom, where it came from. Only that it helped to recruit and coerce the fathers of young children to end their lives in the prescribed manner.

The many cohorts available did not improve Tom's chances for success. With increased awareness of the fatal accident syndicate, by word of mouth, more young fathers took defensive measures. The construction industry had become almost completely void of American born fathers. Even the Mexican laborers who flocked into the 1990s construction boom had few fathers of young children among them. Those that were fathers protected themselves by joining special construction crews. The crews consisted entirely of fathers of young children. If any of the crew members had attempted to stage a fatal accident against one of the other members, he would have found himself to be a target.

In spite of the commonplace knowledge of fatal accident insurance fraud and money laundering, there was no mention of the crime in the media. Nothing had been published on the subject, before Tom's brother Ralph's e-zine horror story. Word of the syndicate spread to college campuses nationwide. It was nearly impossible for someone to graduate from college without being aware of the fatal accident fraud syndicate.

There were many people eager to join Tom in profiting from death. There were few who were interested in becoming profitable fatality statistics. The offices of downtown Elizabeth had many frustrated personal injury attorneys. If only the laws enforcing the wearing of seat belts had not been enforced, they lamented! The 1980s had been bad enough, with the effectiveness of the anti-drunk driving organizations. The attorneys had spent a third of their lives preparing for their specialty, and there weren't enough deaths and serious personal injuries available to pay for their country club memberships!

Tom had followed his brother's, sister's and cousins' careers for decades. Tom's sister had the unconscious intuition that it would be better for her not to provide a substantial portion of her household's income. Her husband had somehow known not to be a financial success, until his children were in the middle teens.

Tom desperately wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. His father had been instrumental in developing the fatal accident fraud organization throughout the Elizabeth region. He had nurtured it, and seen it grow, into a huge network of corruption. The majority of the church going citizenry never knew that the somber person beside them in the pew was a murderer.

Tom had spent twenty years influencing his brother's life. He had monitored and manipulated his brother's finances and career. Some of the successes and failures had been Ralph's own doing, and some were the result of Tom's interest. Tom had quickly recruited Sheila, within a month after Mark had been placed in her care. The most frustrating part of the program for his brother had been Ralph's religious use of birth control. Ralph had not produced a dependent until his late thirties.

Tom never gave up on his brother. There were several occasions when Tom had to persuade Jane to persevere. He reminded her that she would someday become wealthy from her underachieving husband's death. The more that Ralph attempted to expose the syndicate, the more Tom became unyielding. The ultimate degradation would be for his deceit to be successfully exposed. He could never admit defeat. The success of the syndicate depended on the absolute confidence of its members in successful deaths.

Human sacrifice creates an absolute sense of power. As priests in many ancient civilizations knew, power over their subjects would come from the populace watching a willing, hypnotized subject step into a blazing pit. The subjects were convinced that they were the lucky, honored ones. The public watched in awe, as the priest commanded the entranced subject to step into the fire.

Tom could never give up on Ralph. That would make Tom responsible for beginning to dissolve the interconnected evil his father had so carefully spun. The organization needed Ralph Singleton's fatality claim, or it could die. Ralph had to loose, so that Tom could win.

Lester Jenkins lived on Spotkins Road, eight miles from Flagton. He lived with his uncle, Zack. Zack was forty- four. Lester was thirty-two years old. Lester laid tile flooring for a living, when he felt like working. His twenty-two year old trailer was paid for. It was a legacy from his deceased mother. His father's legacy was a faded photograph that Lester's mother had saved. Lester's brother, Ron, lived in an apartment in Flagton. His brother had ambition, with two years of college and a job in sales. His brother even knew how to operate the home computer he had in his apartment!

Lester came to visit Ron one Saturday, and to drink Ron's beer. Ron showed his brother how his computer worked. He showed his brother how he didn't need to buy the Flagton Gazette, anymore. Ron got all the news he wanted for free. He showed Lester the Flagton Gazette, published on the Internet.

Lester said that he sure would like to tell the people of Flagton how mad he was. The county made him pay property taxes on his trailer and the four acres of land that Lester had inherited. Property taxes! He was just a poor working man. He didn't pay taxes on the money he earned, so why should he pay taxes on his property?

Ron had enough beer in him not to object to the self- incrimination of his brother's statement. He showed his brother where he could express his opinion, in the Flagton Gazette Forum.

They accessed the site page for the forum, Lester saw his neighbor's name listed. There was a posting by James Singleton, who lived a quarter mile up Spotkins Road from Lester.

James Singleton had built his house on Spotkins Road in the summer. Lester's home was not visible from the road until the following winter. The road frontage of Lester's dirt yard was covered in short scrub oak trees. James called the county sanitation department to complain. Lester was forced to move the three abandoned cars in his front yard. They were out of site of the road now, behind his trailer.

Lester had been in prison. He had been charged with manufacturing marijuana with intent to sell. Lester explained to the judge that the marijuana plants in his back yard were not for sale. They were for personal use by Lester and his fifteen year old nephew. His nephew didn't have any money to pay for pot.

Lester had suspected that Mr Singleton had reported him. Mr. Singleton had seen Lester smoking a joint at the Jenkins rusty mailbox, a week before he was arrested.

Lester didn't mind prison all that much. It was three free meals a day. He joked that he was "trisexual, anything on two legs and sometimes four." Lester and Ron were very interested in seeing James Singleton's posting. They read the posting placed by James Singleton.

Fatal Accident Liability Insurance Fraud:

My name is James Singleton. I believe that my wife is trying to have me killed. She wants me to have a fatal automobile accident, which appears to be someone else's fault. She even asked me to cause my own fatal accident. She said that she is a member of a huge network of people that is involved in insurance fraud. She was introduced into this network by her friend, Sheila, at the casino in Flagton.

If you have any information about this organization, please contact me at: Mordecai@hooray.com

Ron let out a long whistle. He explained the idea of fatal accident liability insurance fraud to his brother. Ron explained that the police never report the real crime. They write reports that create unsuccessful claims. Ron explained that the insurance company adjusters didn't want to know about it. They are glad to have the claims end up in reserve fraud limbo. Ron said that the right death, in the right place at the right time, could be worth millions. Ron explained to Lester that a hit on James Singleton would probably be worth about twenty-five thousand to the person who successfully killed him.

Lester was impressed. He couldn't believe the opportunities for crime that educated people have, in the United States today. Lester had learned a lot about different crimes in prison, but nothing like what his brother described to him. The police were interested in arresting people for the crimes that Lester had learned about in prison. That is why some people went to prison for committing them.

Prosecuted crimes certainly didn't pay as well. Why, one good accident hit could be worth millions! The cops would even corrupt the accident report, to insure an unsuccessful death claim! Lester could hardly believe it, a crime where the cops helped! Even if a hit on James Singleton was only worth five figures, it was a welcome opportunity for revenge on his nemesis.

Ron tried to explain to his brother that a hit on James Singleton needed to be cleared through channels. Lester needed to arrange his contract for services through the syndicate. But Lester wasn't listening. He drank his eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth beers of the day while his brother described their new found opportunity. Another marijuana joint, and Lester was sure to forget about getting the syndicate's approval. His brother woke him up the next day at noon. Lester had slept in the recliner that he had passed out in.

Lester went home in his oversize pickup that afternoon. He didn't remember all of the details from the conversation with his brother about Mr. James Singleton. But, he did remember that there was a price on his neighbor's head! An illegal reward for James Singleton to die in an automobile accident! Lester knew that he was just the man to pull it off. Lester didn't mind that he might go to prison for a couple of years, for vehicular manslaughter. He could look up his old friends. Besides, there would be a bundle of money waiting for him when he was released.

Lester told his Uncle Zack about the opportunity. Zack Jenkins was skeptical. He had experience with insurance fraud. Zack had claimed that he hurt his back and neck in an accident in the Flagton Walmart parking lot. The insurance adjuster had denied Zack's claim! That crooked insurance adjuster had said that there was no sign, at all, of any damage to either vehicle. He said that any car would show damage, if there was more than a five mile per hour impact. That crooked, lying son-of-a-bitch adjuster denied the claim!

Zack was working at the Tastee Treat franchise restaurant in the strip mall beside the Walmart in Flagton. The driver of the other car said that Zack had run out from the restaurant and gotten into his car, after the other driver had backed his car against Zack's rear bumper. Zack's time card did show that he was clocked in, on Tastee Treat's payroll, at the time of the accident.

Zack had stayed home, claiming to be disabled, for two weeks. Finally, he accepted that the adjuster was going to deny the claim. Zack had called the insurance office twice a day. The adjuster had finally warned Zack that if he contacted the insurance claims office again, he would be prosecuted for insurance fraud. Zack had overheard the adjuster whispering to his secretary. The adjuster said something about somebody helping to make it look like they prosecuted fraudulent claims. He heard the secretary laugh.

He was mad that he had lost his job at Tastee Treat. He had perfect attendance until the time of the accident. Zack had been employed there for two months.

Lester finally convinced Zack that they had a legitimate opportunity by killing Mr. Singleton, after Zack repeated the insurance adjuster fraud story to Lester for the fourteenth time. Zack realized that there might be opportunity in insurance fraud, after all. He just needed to work smarter, not harder, than the two weeks that he had laid in bed calling the insurance adjuster.

Lester and Zack developed a plan. Their alcohol and marijuana damaged brains become clear and focused, as the killer instinct took over. They understood that the accident had to be declared one hundred percent Lester's fault. Lester thought that was hilarious, that he had to make sure that it was his own fault. He had wanted to kill James Singleton for years.

Lester explained that there really wasn't any need for James to be in his car at the time of death. "Road kill" would be much easier, and more reliable. Unprotected flesh and bone is much more vulnerable, without being encased in steel.

Lester and Zack decided to carry out their plan the very next day. James Singleton went to his mailbox on Spotkins Road every morning, between 9:00 and 9:30. Lester and Zack would get up, at least an hour earlier, and set the trap.

James. Singleton's mailbox was located at the end of a straight section of Spotkins Road. The road curved, downhill, toward the Jenkins' place. In order to have a high rate of speed, and to be certain of a quick kill, Lester would have to come from the straightway. Singleton would have to be distracted.

James Singleton opened his mailbox at 9:17 that morning. His blood pressure rocketed, as he saw a week's junk mail addressed to the Jenkins in his box. The Jenkins must have let their rusty mailbox fall from its rotten post, again. It was probably lying in the weeds and vines that surrounded it.

James Singleton started walking down Spotkins Road, toward the Jenkins place. He walked in the center of the right lane. Only about twenty cars a day traveled Spotkins Road, along with the school bus run. There wasn't likely to be any traffic at that time of day.

When he came within a hundred feet on the entrance to the Jenkins driveway, he could see Zack in the front yard. Zack was bent over the old Jenkins van, which ran occasionally. Zack looked up at Mr. Singleton, then bent over again to see inside of the hood. James Singleton started to shout for Zack to come to him. Suddenly, the van's horn started blaring loudly. Zack started walking toward Mr. Singleton, with the van's horn blaring behind him.

Lester's pickup was fitted with a solid steel bumper, mounted to the truck's frame. The bumper had a wench attached to it at one time. Lester had sold the wench, when he was low on cash. The two forks of the wench attachment still protruded eight inches up and in front of the front fender. Lester's worn, but oversize mud tires brought the fender to hip level.

The disturbed and irate James Singleton walked slowly toward the entrance to the Jenkins' drive. He was standing with his back to the oncoming traffic lane. He didn't hear the roar of Lester's truck, as it rounded the curve behind him. He did hear the sound of the moving truck, until Lester was in striking distance. He turned, and the pointed ends of the wench caught him just above the waist. James Singleton's head protruded above the truck's hood. The head spewed blood from its mouth, across the top of the hood. The truck skidded to a stop, making the appropriately long skid marks.

Lester walked to the Singleton's house, to call 911. The Jenkins didn't have a telephone. After much pounding on the door, and cries of "Help, your husband is dead! We killed him in an accident."

Sarah Singleton called 911 to her house. Sarah Singleton didn't want to answer the door to the bearded and shirtless Zack Jenkins. Zack's pot belly hung a foot over the unbelted waistline of his jeans.

The first civil servant who arrived was a deputy sheriff. He was ready to arrest Zack Jenkins for disturbing the poor Mrs. Singleton. The excited and angry Zack finally persuaded the deputy to drive around the curve on Spotkins Road. With Zack in the back seat, he rounded the curve. There, he saw the Jenkins' truck parked on the road, near the front of Lester's driveway. The corpse of James Singleton was propped up on the forks of the wench brace. The upper body and head were tilted back, with the stretched skin forcing a bloody, demonic grin on the face. The deputy called for an ambulance.

Lester had discretely disposed of the empty quart beer bottle he had been celebrating with.

While Zack went for help, Lester had stayed behind, admiring his handiwork. The partially disemboweled James Singleton was mounted on the front fender of Lester's truck, his feet on the ground. Blood covered the dead man's clothes and the hood of the truck. It reminded Lester of the deer he had killed last winter.

Lester had also taken a couple of trophy pictures, while Zack was gone to get help. He thought twice about the idea of eventually having them framed, and hung in his living room. He would have to be content with storing them under the family Bible.

The county Sheriff's Department took plenty of pictures. The deputy was a distant relative of the Jenkins, on the mother's side. He said that it was a shame that it happened. He knew that Lester must be terribly emotionally upset. It must have been a horrible emotional experience, to helplessly watch another human being die such a grisly death.

The forty feet of skid marks did show that Lester had exceeded the thirty-five mile per hour speed limit on Spotkins Road. Also, pedestrians are always considered to have the right-of-way. Lester would be charged with vehicular manslaughter. Still, the deputy understood how remorseful the sobbing Lester must have felt.

The ambulance arrived from the opposite direction of the Singleton home on Spotkins Road. As they approached the scene, the paramedic and driver couldn't tell who the dead man was. In front of the truck, they saw a man leaning backwards, with a huge smile on his face. His shirt was a solid red.

Singleton's corpse appeared to be leaning back, giving a huge belly laugh. As they came nearer, the driver and paramedic saw that James Singleton was giving a ghastly guffaw at the irony of his own death.

James Singleton's son had refused to be drafted as a killer. He had not cooperated with the syndicate in any way, even when he had an opportunity to have Jane killed in his place. Yet the syndicate had driven his son to kill him by proxy.

CHAPTER NINE

[The following chapter includes the author's personal opinions regarding the Yogurt Shop Murders and interviews with Eric Moebius. These opinions are based upon the author's interpretation of material related to the case.]

Jane continued to pursue her custody case in Elizabeth. Ralph had already offered to accept her terms of visitation. He knew that he would be excluded from seeing his son. There was no sense in pursuing a lost cause.

But Jane's attorney continued to schedule custody mediation meetings. Ralph's tear were mixed with laughter when he read the notices. Ralph was told to meet the mediator in the Criminal Courts building, when this was a civil case. Ralph had a strong sense of foreboding about going to the courthouse in Elizabeth. Why did they continue to insist that he come to meetings at the courthouse, when he had offered to accept their terms of visitation? Ralph knew that they would win their case, and that it would be hopeless to attempt to visit his son. With Jane's theatrics in Elizabeth, Ralph expected that the Elizabeth police would gun him down as a dangerous psychotic.

Ralph remembered his friend Jackie from years earlier. Jackie had attempted to maintain excessive child support payments by writing bad checks. He succeeded in placing funds in his bank account before the checks cleared. This worked for a while. When the scheme collapsed, Jackie was arrested.

Ralph didn't recall seeing Jackie despondent. That is why the news of Jackie's suicide surprised him. Jackie had not survived his first night in jail. The guards had neglected to remove his shoelaces, or to put Jackie under a suicide watch.

Jackie's ex wife did not have to be concerned about securing child support payments any more. The monthly Social Security check was more than the court ordered child support payments had been. She was grateful to the Elizabeth Police Department for allowing her husband to support their child so well.

Ralph learned from the contacts he made on the Internet. One friend explained that psychiatric insurance claim billing was used as part of a money laundering scheme. When the opportunity arrived for Ralph to elect health insurance coverage through his work, he declined it. That would eliminate a crucial element of Tom's scheme. Without the power of psychiatric corruption, the threat of a staged fatal accident was minimized. There was little incentive for psychiatric corruption. Ralph's medical expenses would be a burden on the state.

A Texas reader of his short story had contacted him.

"We have a similar scam here in Texas. It is called site specific murders. People are killed in armed robberies as part of an insurance fraud scheme. One attorney tried to expose it. He was disbarred and had to run for his life!" the reader's email said.

Ralph searched the Internet for information about the site specific murders in Texas. He found it at: http://www.antishyster.com/eric.txt. He read the interview with Eric Moebius in one sitting! Everything that had happened to Ralph was corroborated by Eric Moebius! It was nearly the same modus operandi. How could there be so much similarity between Ralph's experience and the interviews with Eric Moebius?

Ralph replied to the Texas reader. "Oh my God! My brother lived in central Texas at the time of the murders! He hastily moved his family to this area soon after the murders! The highway fatality rate for this county rose dramatically soon after my brother moved here!"

Eric Moebius was a former Assistant Attorney General in Texas. He had been hired by the League of Latin American Citizens (LULAC) to pursue cases of reserve insurance fraud. Members of the Hispanic community had been defrauded from the proceeds of catastrophic insurance claims. The claimant had been deceived by their attorney into signing over the proceeds of their claim to the attorney. This occurred after the claimant had been told that the claim was lost.

The attorney, in turn, used electronic transfer to acquire the still existing contingency reserve money the insurance carrier held for the claim.

This was the mechanism that created the huge insurance fraud syndicate! The insurance claim money was not even received by the families of the deceased! The families were coerced and intimidated into accommodating the killers of their loved ones!

Eric Moebius pursued reserve insurance fraud like the pure evil it is. He focused his attention on the Yogurt Shop Murders. Four beautiful teenage girls were raped, murdered and mutilated in a yogurt shop in Austin, Texas in 1991. Moebius alleged that this was a case of reserve insurance fraud and a site specific murder.

Eric Moebius had been warned by his attorney to avoid the Austin courthouse. Threats had been made that Mr Moebius would be arrested there. The threat involved Mr Moebius apparent suicide while in jail. Like Moebius, Ralph avoided the Elizabeth courthouse. Had Ralph's "suicide in jail" been the motive for the unnecessary custody hearings that were scheduled?

Ralph's survival instincts had served him well. In another published interview at WorldWide Newslink, Ralph read Moebius' opinion that the killers seemed to require a violation of trust with their victims. This had been Ralph's experience, that the killers seemed to worship deception. It corroborated the note he had found three years before.

"Let the unreal seem real. Let the familiar seem unfamiliar. This leads to a trust accident."

Were these murderers any different from the Thuggee cult? It was a mark of success for a Thuggee to completely deceive his victim. The victim never suspected his friend until the turban ligature was pulled tight around his throat. The Thuggee cult thrived during a time of total corruption in India. The cult's existence depended upon the cooperation of the Islamic overlords. The cult's existence was denied for centuries. With exposure of the cult, it took the British only two years to eliminate it.

It had been a less eventful year than when Ralph worked in construction. Although some coworkers were involved in the insurance fraud syndicate, there was little they could do to harm Ralph. Ralph laughed at their attempts to psychologically harass him. Their remarks regarding his lost custody case in Elizabeth were painful, but not overwhelming. Ralph had said nothing to anyone at the factory about the case, but several of his coworkers indicated their awareness of it.

Ralph worked alone in a room in the factory. The plant had a unique feature. The workers were monitored by video cameras strategically placed in the building. The equipment he operated had few hazards, none of them fatal. Anything that happened in Ralph's room could be recorded.

A new machine was purchased for Ralph to operate. It was much larger than necessary for the job requirements. It was four times as large as the piece it replaced. Like its predecessor, this machine had the potential to kill Ralph. The original safety guards had been replaced. If the single wire safety mechanism failed, Ralph would be drawn between two fifteen inch wide steel rollers. One wire stood between Ralph and certain death.

Ralph confronted his supervisor, Ed, about the machine. Ralph presented Ed with evidence supporting Ralph's knowledge of the existence of the staged fatality insurance fraud syndicate. Ed told Ralph he was interested and would look into it.

When Ed saw Ralph the next day, he told Ralph that he had looked into Ralph's allegations. Ed repeated how interested he was that law enforcement was involved in the cover up. Ed expressed surprise that such a huge operation had never been exposed..

The new machine was not completely installed and operational. Ralph made certain that Ed knew that Ralph was not deceived. As a reminder, Ralph wore a personal siren on his belt. If anyone attempted to muscle Ralph into the machine, all of his coworkers would hear the screaming box.

Another coworker, Jack, had suddenly taken an interest in Ralph. Ralph had told Jack that he was not authorized in Ralph's work area, but Jack insisted in spending time there. When Ralph discussed the matter with Ed, Ed told him that he should expect the best from people.

Jack came into Ralph's room, saying that he was looking for a piece of equipment. An unusually urgent work order had been placed, making it necessary for Jack to have that piece of equipment immediately.

Ralph was cooperative. He went to the bin where the piece of equipment could be found. Jack had placed himself behind Ralph, where Ralph would be bent down with his back turned to Jack when he picked up the piece of equipment. With years of survival experience, Ralph casually stared at Jack as he reached behind himself and picked up the piece of equipment.

"Let the unreal seem real. Let the familiar seem unfamiliar. This leads to a trust accident."

There would be no trust accident. Ralph knew what was real and what wasn't.

THE END

Worldwide Newslink Exclusive The Yogurt Shop Murders

by Mack White

Austin Homicide Detective Robert Merrill holds a gun "in the proximity" (Merrill's own words) of suspect Michael Scott's head during his "confession" to the Yogurt Shop Murders.

NOTE: The opinions expressed in the following article are those of the interviewee, Erik Moebius, and not necessarily of the staff and management of Worldwide Newslink or its web host. For legal reasons, certain names have been deleted from the article.

On December 6, 1991, firefighters responded to a fire at the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop in North Austin. Inside, they found the burned bodies of four young women-- Sarah Harbison, 15; Jennifer Harbison, 17; Eliza Thomas, 17; and Amy Ayers, 13.

The four girls had each been shot in the back of the head, and their bodies burned.

Firemen were sworn to secrecy regarding the details of the crime scene. However, in an Austin American-Statesman story, firemen reported that when they entered the shop they found the bodies of three of the girls piled atop one another. The fourth victim, Amy Ayers, was found in another part of the shop a half hour later. The significance of this will become apparent later.

The murders shocked Austin to the core and drew national attention. The Austin Police Department set up a special unit to investigate the murders. Yet, over the years, this investigation--or lack of one--would cause considerable controversy.

Early in the investigation, it came to light that Homicide Detective Hector Polanco brutally beat a suspect in the case, in an attempt to get a confession. Then it began to emerge that detectives were using the yogurt shop case as an excuse to harrass and persecute the Austin counter- culture, in particular the "Goths," young people known for their dark clothes and occult interests. This, of course, was a complete investigative dead end.

Then, in the summer of 1992, the yogurt shop investigation began to focus on three men: Carlos Saavedra, Alberto Cortez and Ricardo Hernandez. Authorities located and arrested Saavedra and Cortez in Mexico in October 1992. According to the Mexican police, Saavedra confessed to the November 1991 rape of an Austin woman, as well as to the yogurt shop murders.

According to the confession, Saavedra said he attempted to rob the yogurt shop, but when one of the women recognized him, he raped and shot them. He also said he did the crime alone while his friends waited outside in a car.

However, Saavedra soon recanted the confession, telling reporters it had been coerced. The interrogation, it seems, had involved the use of a Coke bottle filled with water and cayenne pepper, which was poured down Saavedra's nose until he "confessed." Saavedra denied any knowledge of who killed the girls.

Over time, the investigation shifted away from the Latino men to Michael Pierce, Forest Welborn, Robert Burns Springsteen, Jr. and Michael James Scott. On September 14, 1999, police took a written confession from Scott in which he stated that he, Pierce, Springsteen, and Welborn had murdered the girls.

Eventually, Pierce, Burns, and Springsteen were indicted by a Grand Jury. To date, Welborn has not been indicted.

In April 2000, a .22 gun belonging to Pierce was tested by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) and found not to be the gun used in the yogurt shop murders.

Then, in June 2000, a photo of Scott's "confession" was made public. In the photo, Homicide Detective Robert Merrill can be seen holding a gun to Scott's head. Merrill denied threatening his life and claimed the confession was not coerced; however, under questioning, he smirkingly admitted that he had held a gun "in the proximity" of Scott's head and that this might be construed as coercion by most reasonable persons.

In August 2000, the Austin American-Statesman reported that DNA tests conducted by the Texas Department of Public Safety excluded the four suspects.

It has also been reported in the American-Statesman that a member of the Grand Jury which indicted the three men has written a letter to Judge Michael Lynch asking to have the prosecution investigated. Recent news reports, she said, have caused her to question whether or not the indictments were "obtained by deception or withholding of evidence."

Also, Robert Springsteen, Sr., father of one of the suspects, reported on his website that three more Grand Jury members have expressed similar doubts about the indictment process to Judge Lynch. To date, the aptly named judge has not seen fit to initiate an investigation.

Moebius believes the prosecution of these young men was intended to be an easy one. It has begun to unravel, he says, due to his and others' efforts to persuade the suspects to get rid of their court-appointed lawyerslawyers he alleges were under the control of a prominent Austin lawyer, hereafter referred to as "Lawyer M"--the man Moebius believes instigated the murders and coverup.

The Autopsy Reports

Shortly after the murders occurred, the autopsy reports of the women were sealed. According to Erik Moebius, a former Assistant Attorney General of the State of Texas who has conducted an independent investigation of the yogurt shop case for the past several years, these reports should not have been sealed in the first place.

In an interview with this writer, Moebius stated: "Autopsies are public documents. By law, they must be made public. I have since talked to the coroner who conducted the autopsies. He was shocked to discover that his autopsies had never been released to the public. As he told me, 'Those are public documents! They can't order them sealed!'"

Moebius believes the autopsy reports were sealed to cover up involvement of a police officer in the murders. He has also alleged in numerous interviews and articles available on the Internet that the murders were part of a criminal scheme called "insurance reserve fraud."

Recently, the Austin American-Statesmansuccessfully sued to have the autopsy reports unsealed. However, the details of these reports have not been made public--until now.

Moebius supplied this writer with copies of the autopsy reports. Following is a summary. It is grim reading, but necessary for an understanding of what happened in the yogurt shop that night.

Sarah Harbison's nude body was found gagged and with her hands bound behind her back with a pair of panties. Her body was severely charred, and there was an abrasion in the upper portion of the vulva and the vagina. She had been shot through the back of the head. A .22 lead bullet was recovered from her brain.

Jennifer Harbison's nude body was not bound, but her body was found with her hands behind her back. Her body was severely charred, and she had been shot through the back of the head. A .22 lead bullet was recovered from her brain.

Eliza Thomas' nude body was gagged and her hands bound behind her back with a brassiere. Her body was severely charred, and she had been shot through the back of the head. A .22 lead bullet was recovered from her brain.

Amy Ayers's nude body was found with "a sock-like cloth material wrapped around her neck with a half hitch in the back." Her body was not severely charred, but covered in second and "very early" third degree burns over 25 to 30 percent of its surface. She had been shot through the back of the head with the same .22 caliber gun used on the other girls, but the bullet did not enter the brain. However, a second gunshot of a caliber not specified in the report caused severe damage to the brain. This bullet exited the right lateral cheek and jaw area. No mention is made in the report whether or not this second bullet was recovered from the crime scene. Moebius contends that the damage caused by this bullet is consistent with that of a police-issue .38 caliber pistol.

Whereas the cause of death for each of the other girls was determined by the coroner to be a .22 gunshot wound to the back of the head, the cause of death for Ayers was listed as "a result of gunshot wounds of the head (2) and asphyxia due to ligature strangulation."

Also, unlike the other girls, Ayers' fingernails were cut for examination purposes, and fingerprints taken.

What is the significance of all these ugly details? Erik Moebius interprets them as follows:

All four girls were shot one by one in the back of the head by a .22 gun. This low caliber weapon was evidently chosen for its relative low sound.

Three of the girlsthe Harbison sisters and Thomasdied upon being shot. However, when the .22 bullet struck Ayers' brain, it did not penetrate deeply enough to kill her, thus necessitating the attempt to strangle her.

Believing Ayers to be dead, the killers placed her body in a pile with the other bodies. The autopsy reports reveal an enormously high BTU output from the accelerant, indicating the probable use of gasoline to burn the bodies. With the fire about to consume the shop, the killers then departed the scene.

Ayers, however, was still not dead. Pulling her 110-pound frame out of the pile of bodies, she managed to crawl away to another area of the blazing shop, where it was discovered by firemen a full half hour after their arrival at the shop.

Moebius contends that the discovery of her body, still alive when firemen arrived, necessitated a clean-up operation.

"Only a cop could have gotten in there," says Moebius. He theorizes that the firemen may have been ordered away from the scene to allow a police officer to shoot Ayers in the head with a .38 revolver. The gun's report could have been explained away as a small explosion inside the still burning shop. (See NOTE 1 at the end of this article.)

Insurance Reserve Fraud

Erik Moebius has practiced law for over 20 years. He was an Assistant District Attorney of Bexar County in San Antonio from 1979 to 1980, and an Assistant Attorney General of Texas from 1983 to 1988.

In 1994 Moebius was disbarredan action he says was initiated by [Lawyer M] in retaliation for Moebius' refusal to stop representing clients who had been victimized by "insurance reserve fraud." Moebius alleges that [Lawyer M] is a practitioner of this type of fraud, of which the yogurt shop murders are only one example.

Moebius explains that insurance companies keep a certain amount of money in reserve for catastrophic death claims. Normally, if there is no such claim, this money is rebated at the end of year to the policy holders. But, in a reserve fraud scheme, the insurance company, in collusion with other parties, intentionally creates a catastrophic death claim. The rightful recipient of the claim, however, never sees the money; without their knowledge, the person is "separated" from the claim, with the money instead going elsewhere to be laundered. In this way, a few million dollars can be turned into many more millions of dollarshence the high profit motive for those participating in reserve fraud.

An example of how a person can be separated from a claim, cited by Moebius, is the case of Herman Garcia, who was injured in a head-on collision in a highway construction zone in the 1980s. Herman was removed from the construction zone by air ambulance and flown to Brackenridge Hospital, where he lay in a coma. Garcia's mother says that, within days of his arrival at Brackenridge, a hospital administrator recommended Austin attorney Michael A. Wash to her.

Mrs. Garcia: "At first, no one knew if Herman was going to live. Within days, Herman stabilized, although he remained in a coma. It was then that this administrator called me into her office. She gave me her business card with Michael Wash's name written on it. I still have the card in my wallet. She told me, 'The other side already has two attorneys, you need one now. Here is a good one.' She handed me her business card with the attorney's name written on the back. Then she demanded that I call the attorney right away. She even told me where a pay phone was down the hall. I did as she told me. What did I know?"

In January 1991, Mrs. Garcia says, Wash fraudulently told her that her son no longer had a viable claim relating to his severe brain injury. At the same meeting, he instructed her to sign additional contracts on her grandchildren's derivative claims related to her son's permanent injury.

Moebius: "At the moment her attorney instructed Mrs. Garcia that her son no longer had a claim, she believed him. A more experienced individual would have immediately recognized the contradiction. If the attorney was telling Mrs. Garcia the truth about her son's claims, if her son's claims were in fact extinguished, then the grandchildren's derivative claims would likewise be extinguished. Yet at the same moment her attorney took contracts from Mrs. Garcia on the grandchildren's derivative claims, he told her that her son's claims were extinguished."

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Worldwide Newslink Exclusive The Yogurt Shop Murders

by Mack White
Page 2

One month later, Mrs. Garcia discovered that within days of being told her son no longer had a claim, her attorney and the attorney and adjuster for Nationwide Insurance covertly perfected an appeal on her claim, consummated a "settlement" of all her claims, including the children's derivative claims, then canceled the appeal that had just perfected.

"This activity," says Moebius, "took place on claims that Mrs. Garcia had been led to believe were extinguished. Mrs. Garcia was shocked and distressed to learn that her attorney had somehow separated her from her claims and then allowed third parties to make use of her claims, all without her knowledge or permission. Even more distressing, Nationwide and another carrier had issued checks to her former attorney with all moneys going from Nationwide's accounts to third parties unknown to her. Mrs. Garcia, believing that her claims were extinguished, never received a dime."

Mrs. Garcia sought out Moebius in February 1991. Moebius agreed to bring suit on her behalf, naming Nationwide, Nationwide's attorney and adjuster, and Mrs. Garcia's former attorney as defendants.

"In effect," says Moebius, "after Mrs. Garcia's son was injured on the site or premises of a construction zone, and after Mrs. Garcia's attorney brought suit ostensibly on her behalf, Mrs. Garcia was fraudulently separated from her claims. Mrs. Garcia's logical assumption was that only she could make use of those claims. However, she discovered she was wrong. Her claims were used post separation by third parties to transfer moneys from the insurance company's reserve account to her attorney's trust account. In short, all moneys that moved from one account to the other moved through her claims unreported--and tax free!"

Moebius says it was at first hard to understand how third parties could launder or move funds from one account to another through Mrs. Garcia's claims, all without her knowledge or permission. "Because the account to account transfer was accomplished through the covert and unauthorized use of Mrs. Garcia's personal injury claims," he says, "the account to account transfer was a non-taxable transfer. This one aspect--the fact that the account to account transfer was non-taxable and done through the agency of an attorney--is unique to personal injury and wrongful death claims and makes such transfers ideal for money laundering."

Even more troubling to Moebius was the possibility that a person could be intentionally injured or murdered on a specific site with the motive being the creation and pirating of a wrongful death claim or personal injury claim in order to launder money.

Moebius says this is more than a possibility; he cites the death of Diana Havner in an E-Z Mart Store in Sulphur Springs, Texas, as an example of murder perpetrated intentionally to generate a "site specific" death claim.

Within days of a new owner purchasing the E-Z Mart store, Moebius says, the silent alarm system was removed, the phone was altered so that out-going calls could not be made, and signs were placed over the windows. Also, a check cashing service was added, which increased the amount of money on the premises. Simultaneously, the drop safes were removed. Moebius says these changes increased security for the murderer, while at the same time making it likely that the murder of any employee on the site would be credited to the motive of robbery.

"Four months after buying the store," says Moebius, "a period of time that may have been used to conduct the temporary placement of money inside the participating 'host' carriers (called 'lag time'), Diana Havner was abducted, raped, and murdered. Once she was murdered, her death claim on the specific site had been created. Because she had two children, additional derivative claims were likewise produced, creating a total of three personal injury, site specific death claims.'"

In addition to Mrs. Garcia, Moebius also represented the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). In the early 1990s, LULAC had noticed a statewide pattern of reserve fraud--specifically, severe injury cases including murder and arson in which people were intentionally injured, murdered or burned on pre-selected premises with the intent of creating personal injury claims. The claimants were often "separated" from their claims by attorney fraud or court action, in the same manner as Mrs. Garcia had been. More often than not, the victims were Latino--hence LULAC's involvement in the matter.

"Notably," says Moebius, "their claims were left open and susceptible to covert settlements, like the covert settlement Mrs. Garcia experienced. In other words, the plaintiffs would be artificially and fraudulently forced into a 'loss' but the defendants would not gain an outright win. Nor would the defendants complain about the denial of an outright win, even when an outright win was a mandatory legal consequence of the court's ruling against the plaintiff. The fact that a defendant would refuse to seek an all-out win even when it was his right, suggested that other motives were dominating the proceedings."

Moebius says he was never permitted to try Mrs. Garcia's case, or even to get the deposition of Nationwide's lawyer. Nor was he ever permitted to file interrogatories and requests for production on either party. 'This was a remarkable achievement for my antagonists," he says," considering the fact that in the intervening three years, I had gone through two state courts and two federal courts seeking to do just that. At one point, less than three months after the girls were murdered, Jonathan Cluck, the attorney for Nationwide, told me that 'all hell will break loose' if I was ever permitted to take his deposition. By January 1994, I had served over 18 separate notices to depose Jonathan Cluck, Nationwide's lawyer. Each and every judge denied me the depositions of these parties. The judges would either provide questionable reasons, refuse to give reasons or issue orders that no discovery could be conducted; instead, they denied me all discovery and assessed enormous sanctions against me."

These obstructions, he says, were all traceable to attorneys [Lawyer G] and [Lawyer M], who in this same time period were the defense lawyers in the yogurt shop case. In addition, Moebius says, [Lawyer M] and [Lawyer G] subjected him to non-stop 'preemptive' disbarments and attempted arrest activity, and even attempted unsuccessfully to try his wife for fraud on the grounds that she had helped him evade arrest. Furthermore, he alleges that [Lawyer M] has used blackmail to control the actions of numerous judges and other officials in Central Texas. (See NOTE 2 at the end of this article.)

This "highly unusual" intervention of [Lawyer G] and [Lawyer M] eventually lead Moebius to wonder if there was a connection between the yogurt shop case and the reserve fraud cases he was attempting to try. He also noticed that [Lawyer M] was often at the center of other suspicious cases.

For instance, Moebius implicates E--- G---, another developer represented by [Lawyer M], as the arsonist in another reserve fraud scheme, the Lost Creek Condominium fire which occurred in 1989 in Austin.

In an interview posted on the AntiShyster website, Moebius was asked, "Did G--- a get into financial problems prior to the fires, in the process of conducting development or land purchases in advance of the FM Properties development?"

Moebius answered, "G--- had just purchased the four corners of William Cannon and MoPac South, in the FM Properties development area of Austin for $2 million dollars when the bottom fell out of the Austin land market. . . . G--- had a call on his notes. On $400,000 worth of notes to be exact."

The date of the call was October 27, 1989-the same day as the four-dwelling "Lost Creek Condominium Fires."

In time, Moebius came to believe that reserve fraud, or the site-specific death scheme, is a very widespread practice, with international implications.

He writes: "FM Properties, an entity represented by [Lawyer M] of Austin, has experienced the murders of 26 of its employees in Indonesia, with all murders taking place on FM sites or being conducted in trucks or shipping containers owned by FM Properties. Even these murders can be 'insured' here in Texas, allowing money to be downloaded through death claims that take place half a world away."

The Yogurt Shop Murders

One important difference between the Garcia case and the yogurt shop case, contends Moebius, is that the latter did not involve a separation of the claim from the true owner. Instead, he says, a plaintiff had to have participated in the fraud.

In a previous interview posted on the AntiShyster.com website, Moebius stated that the stepfather of the Harbison sisters may have been such a participating plaintiff.

"If [he] was 'plaintiff participating,'" says Moebius, "he would allow the claims of the Harbison children, and even his claim and his wife's claim, to be used to launder enormous sums of reserve fraud moneys out of the reserve accounts held by the mutuals."

In Moebius' opinion, the stepfather's movements prior to the murders were highly suspicious. Moebius told this writer: "This murder was about betrayal and power. Minutes before the murder began, . . . the stepfather of two of the murder victims, dropped the youngest victims off at the site. In subsequent statements, [he] explained that the girls had been dropped off to help with the clean-up as they were on their way to a movie. There are no movies at that time in that area. (See NOTE 3 at the end of this article.) [He] subsequently stated that the two youngest were dropped at the site to help with the clean-up. Yet [he] dropped the two youngest off, turn around and left. If you bring two girls to the site to turn a ten-minute clean- up into a five-minute clean up, why leave? Not one of the parents were looking for their daughters that late Friday night. That is inconceivable to me. These murders took place after closing time on a Friday night. Nine times out of ten, it could be expected that parents, grandparents, brothers or sisters, someone would show up. And the use of multiple victims would grossly enhance that probability. All of these girls had parents."

Moebius continues: "At the outset, these appeared to be complicated murders. They appeared to have been grossly premeditated and carefully crafted. After all, they took place on a public site, immediately after closing time, on a Friday night, and consumed almost an hour. Two of the girls, the two youngest girls, were dropped of by . . . the stepfather of the two Harbison girls, moments before their murders began. And yet the murder scene suggested that their arrival had been anticipated. The murders of all four girls were "harmonious" in that they were all murdered in the same manner. The murders the two youngest girls did not seem to be an after thought. Their murders were easily integrated into the murder scheme as if all four murders had been planned. As if the delivery of the youngest two had always been part of the entire scheme."

As for the actual murderers of the girls, Moebius has this to say: "This site, this murder site was obviously the result of a cooperative effort. A viewing of the aspects of the site and the crime strongly suggest an extremely cooperative effort, one done with great planning. This is a significant aspect, for it is obvious that these murders were planned a long way out. These were grossly planned murders. That means that you have a murder site which tells you that there was a preexisting "cohort" or group of people, very presumably men and definitely mature men who have engaged in substantial criminal activity before. This murder was not accomplished by virgins or someone acting on the spur of the moment."

Moebius further contends that the girls knew their murderers, or at least one of them. He identifies an "unemployed gambler" as one likely suspecta man who "lived seemingly rent free in a condominium" behind the yogurt shop, and who "spent night and day for six months hanging out at the yogurt shop, building trust with the girls."

Moebius says this man moved out of his condominium the day after the murders, then one week later "showed up with $40,000 cash, according to his girlfriend and her mother." The girlfriend also noticed a marked change in Mike's behavior following the murders; after he threatened her life, she fled to Oklahoma.

Moebius also identifies a man he calls "Mike" as a probable accomplice in the murders. On two occasions when Moebius was a guest on the Joyce Isaacs Show on KVET Radio, Mike called in to the show and displayed an intimate knowledge of the crime scenefour years before the autopsy reports were released.

In a transcript of the program obtained by this writer, Mike also claims to have known the Harbison sisters' parents and to have worked as a driver for a limousine company which had been hired by Brice Foods, the company which owned the yogurt shop.

Brice Foods was the defendant in a 1999 fraud trial, which Moebius says threatened to unravel the yogurt shop case.

Moebius explains: "The [murder] site is simultaneously connected and associated with two conspiracies or cooperative crimes. The murder conspiracy and the massive Brice Foods investor fraud conspiracy. Nine months before these girls' murders, Brice Foods (the employer of two of the girls) began a massive swindle, a fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy (cooperative crime) which ran for years and resulted in the theft of $20 million in stolen investor funds. The Brice fraud was a hard hitting, lie in your face, massive swindle. And despite three lawsuits and one jury verdict specifically finding fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy, the money, all of the $20 million remains unaccounted for. The money has been successfully concealed. But, does this mean that the two conspiracies, the murder conspiracy and the investor conspiracy, are related? The initial answer has to be 'maybe.' Two massive criminal events involving the same site, conducted during the same time period by the same people, with the subsequent civil litigation (wrongful death and investor fraud) being populated by the same attorneys."

"[Lawyer R]," says Moebius, 'played a prominent role in the yogurt shop wrongful death case, supposedly obtaining a "settlement" of $12 million. [Lawyer R] also played an extremely prominent role in the Brice case as [Lawyer R] had his court reporter B--- B--- pose (pretend) to be an investor who was stung. Playing this role, B--- B--- contacted over 100 investors, asking all of them to join a suit that [Lawyer R] was filing on B---'s behalf, suing the Brices.

"[Lawyer R] then went on to lie to all of his 80 clients in order to get them to settle for pennies on the dollar. This settlement occurred within days of a jury returning with a fraud, conspiracy and securities fraud verdict in San Antonio against Brice's corporate officers on the Crescendo Investments v. Brice Foods case. And that jury verdict was issued on October 5, 1999. Within hours of the jury verdict coming down, Detective Paul Johnson announced that he had solved the Yogurt Shop murders and asked for the arrests of these four boys. So October 5, 1999 is an extremely important date. Of all the days, of all the almost 3000 days that had passed since these girls murders, APD chose the hour after a San Antonio jury convicted the Brice group of fraud. $20 million disappeared during the same time frame that the $12 million 'insurance' settlement appeared.

"And this so-called settlement has always been suspect. Extremely suspect. What insurance company pays for the criminal conduct of third parties? How was Brice Foods responsible? There was no 'murderer in hand.' As a result, no one act or omission could be identified as having 'caused' the murders. There is no insurance liability, no causation."

A Crime Against Humanity

"Murder is an intentional act," says Moebius. "As such, it has motive. And motive often determines the manner in which the murders were conducted. Motive determines the identity of the victims, the timing of the murders, the location of the murders, the manner in which the murders are accomplished. So understanding motive is essential to understanding the murders."

Can a murder have more than one motive?

"Yes," says Moebius "Complicated murders, murders in which money is the primary motive, grossly premeditated murders in which money is the primary motive, can have the additional appearance of extraneous motive. A sort of "ride along" motive or vanity motive that is designed to not only accomplish the primary, monetary motive, but also designed to reflect the craftsmanship of the murderer. Sort of a signature motive, something that tells the public at large something about the murderer."

So, not only does Moebius allege that the girls in the yogurt shop were murdered to create the appearance of a $12 million 'settlement,' he is also fairly certain that sexual sadism played a role in the crime.

"Why," he asks, "did the murderers and people setting up the murders of the Yogurt Shop girls stray from the normal 'no monkey business' approach and risk everything by spending so much time on the premises or site murdering these children? But for that indulgence, the children's murders would have been passed off as a 'normal negligence zone' event. Instead, it was immediately apparent that the murders were not walk in, walk out murders, which in and of itself suggested an inside job. Reports are plentiful in Austin that the firemen suffered extreme trauma from what they observed. If the overt presence of 'display' is in fact the case, then the co-motive of sexual sadism, being directed toward young females, is present. But for whom? A video camera? Visitors to the site?"

Moebius believes the girls may have been hired by the yogurt shop for their physical attractiveness. The yogurt shop, may have served as the backdrop to an elaborate setting where young women were displayed serving ice cream as an inducement to those whose money was being solicited for the money laundering scheme.

Moebius believes that [Lawyer M] is a sexual sadist and psychopath who, along with like-minded accomplices, staged the yogurt shop murders (and others) as much for the thrill as for monetary motive. He describes [Lawyer M] as someone who enjoys setting up murder scenarios in which the victim feels a betrayal of trust by someone close to them.

He is also, according to Moebius, addicted to the sense of power these murders give him--the power to destroy lives, the power to blackmail parents into letting him humiliate and murder their children, and the power to traumatize society with an unspeakable crime.

Moebius says, "These murders involved the premeditated murder of children. The slow, easy murder of children. The pleasurable murder of children. As such, these murders constitute a crime against humanity."

Summary

In 1988, two men, Chris Ochoa and Richard Danziger, were falsely convicted of the murder of Nancy DePriest in an Austin Pizza Hut. Twelve long years of imprisonment later (during which a prison beating left Danziger seriously brain damaged), DNA analysis vindicated the two men. At the time of his release, Ochoa stated that Hector Polanco (the homicide detective mentioned earlier) threatened him with Death Row if he did not confess to the crime and implicate Danziger. Polanco then dictated the confession to Ochoa, feeding him details to make it believable.

Another case is that of 12-year-old Lacresha Murray, who was falsely accused of murdering an infant she was babysitting. Using illegal interrogation tactics and a shoddy investigation by the county medical examiner, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle twice managed to convict the girl. However, after serving three years in an adult prison, she was recently released after a court ruled her interrogation by APD denied her the constitutional right to counsel.

Given this dismal history, we would have to wonder about the yogurt shop case even if we did not have a photograph of a detective holding a gun to the head of Michael Scott.

And these are just the cases we know about. How many other men and women are doing hard time in prison for crimes they never committed? How many have been put to death? And how many real murderers are still on the loose, due to the lack of any real investigation?

It is believed by Erik Moebius and others who know the yogurt shop case that the Austin police were paid off not to conduct an investigation, but rather to conduct a coverup.

I do not know if Moebius' allegations are true, but I do know they are more plausible than what has so far been presented by the District Attorney's office. Certainly, by their own misconduct in this case, these officials have left themselves wide open to charges of conspiracy and coverup. Thus, Moebius' allegations deserve serious investigation.

5/17/01 UPDATE: At this writing, Robert Springsteen Jr. is standing trial for the yogurt shop murders. On 5/14, his friend Roy Rose was jailed for contempt of court when he refused to testify. In a sworn AFFIDAVIT Rose described how he was coerced by Austin police into implicating Springsteen. Other witnesses have reported similar tactics by Austin police.

LINKS

Family Members Of The Men On Trial For The Yogurt Shop Murders

Law - The Letter vs. The Intent or What Is An Oath of Office Supposed to Mean by Robert Springsteen, Sr.

Letter to Texas Attorney General John Cornyn Here by Robert Springsteen, Sr.

An Open Letter to Elected Officials by the Family of Michael Pierce

Families, Friends Against Corrupt Law Enforcement Sign the on-line petition.

Texas Justice Website maintained by Robert Springsteen Sr.

ERIK MOEBIUS

A Preliminary Report on the Yogurt Shop Murders:
Racketeering and Money Laundering Through Site Specific Death Claims
by Erik Moebius
David Icke E-Magazine

The Bar, Insurance Fraud and Murder by Erik Moebius
Texas Justice

Interview with Erik Moebius
AntiShyster

Alternate theory arises in yogurt shop case
West Virginia Gazette

S.A. fraud case has `X-file' twist
Conspiracy-theory court filing reveals strange coincidences
San Antonio Business Journal

RELATED

People of the Heart

An Austin group advocating the release of Lacresha Murray, a 12-year-old girl falsely accused of murder and sentenced to 25 years. Using illegal interrogation tactics and a shoddy investigation by the county medical examiner, DA Ronnie Earle twice managed to convict Lacresha of killing an infant she was babysitting. However, after serving three years in prison, Lacresha was recently released again after a court ruled her interrogation by APD denied her the constitutional right to counsel.

Justice Denied: The Magazine for the Wrongly Convicted

Received 04-28-2004