The Tale of the Crow's Crest

The Tale of the Crow’s Crest

Frank Taggert looked at his watch, it was 6:46 in the morning and Doris was late again. This had been the seventh time this month and something had to be done about it. Doris really needed to explain herself this time, Taggert thought to himself as he anxiously played with his keys. They had a special appointment today and couldn’t be late. However, this little problem may push them over the limit. Just then, the door opened, and Doris stepped in out of the rain, a sopping wet Time magazine above her head in a poor attempt to keep her dry.

“Doris, I told you I needed you here at 6:30 what happened? Never mind that we have to go or we’ll lose it all, our clients, our business, and maybe our lives.” Taggert said. He wasn’t always this stern, in fact, Doris remembered back in the early days when Frank was much more debonair. Frank Taggert was a charmer, that’s what brought her to his investigative firm. Little did she know that eight years later he would be shouting at her like an old married couple. But they weren’t married they were both single each waiting for each other, but now it was too late the honeymoon was over before it began.

Doris and Taggert finally entered the car. He made sure she fastened her seatbelt before he took off. Taggert knew they were late but it was raining pretty hard and it wouldn’t do them any good at all if they got into an accident and even more late. He cursed at the windshield wipers because they were acting of their own free will when they decided they wanted to swipe on their time no matter what setting he chose. He was used to this though but would never give up the old Buick. His grouchiness lasted the whole car ride, and it wasn’t going away anytime soon.

They were meeting with Kathleen Harding of Harding & Associates. She was the most affluent woman in the entire city and the epitome of pro-anything involving female rights; which was the exact reason he’d brought Doris along. Of course she shook Doris’s hand first and kind of pretended Taggert wasn’t there which was fine with him since he wasn’t very good at hiding his bad mood anyway; but his politeness wouldn’t allow him to be rude and neither would his bank account. This meeting could make or break the business.

“Ms. Harding”, he nodded to her.

“Mr. Taggert.”

Doris apologized for being late as they walked to the conference room of the fancy-shmancy building on the 28th floor.

Kathleen began to talk, “Let’s make this simple, children. My firm requires a new investigative department and that department needs to have a certain amount of, well shall we say autonomy. Your firm has been known to take certain liberties that are not considered to be popular to many folks, but that get the job done. That is what I need.”

Taggert and Doris looked at each other slightly confused, but only as a rouse to offset their not so legal affairs.

Kathleen interrupted, “There are people after me, people from my past. I must know who they are. They must be stopped at any cost. I am a very wealthy and powerful woman. So will you help me?”

Taggert and Doris both looked at each other, bluffing again, as if they had any other cases to take and simultaneously accepted the job. On the way out Taggert noticed a crest that hung above Kathleen’s office, it was a crow flying over a battlefield of dead soldiers. Taggert’s curiosity got the best of him and he had to ask.

“So what’s the origin of the crest, it seems…upbeat?” Taggert noted with a wry smile.

Kathleen replied, “It’s my family’s crest, my uncle brought it in just before I started winning big cases. Some have said it’s a warning not to go against a Harding, others say it’s a curse. I’ve looked it up and the best thing that I could come up with was Morrigan.” Taggert gave her a quizzical look. “Morrigan was a Celtic Crow Goddess. She was associated with war and death on the battlefield. She was queen of phantoms, demons, shape-shifters and patroness of priestesses and Witches. Her name means “great queen” in the old Irish language. Whatever it is it’s been working. Did I spook you out enough yet Mr. Taggert?”

“I’ve seen a lot of things in this business over the years Ms. Harding, and a little ghost story isn’t going to do much to change my constitution.”

“Good, now get busy. You will have full access to my staff and let me know what your budgetary requirements are. I need this handled as quickly and as quietly as possible, otherwise, it’s the end of the world, you know?”

Taggert raised an eyebrow at that and rolled his eyes. Sarcasm was his thing. When they returned to the office he immediately started looking for public records of family members and Doris was set to the task of looking through past court cases involving Ms. Taggert’s wins. She had won a lot of money for some not-so-savory people and the wronged parties were definitely not going to be fans of her work.

After hitting dead ends at every turn and too many late nights and carry-out, he knew he needed to come up with a new game plan. Taggert was leaning back in his chair with his feet up on his desk looking dejected and wracking his brain for where to look next. Doris walked in and said she might have found something in one of the files she was looking through.

“Frank, Frank I think you need to look at this.” Doris said.

“It couldn’t possibly be a lead could it?” Taggert challenged Doris sarcastically.

“Well, I’m not exactly sure, but it seems that Winston Pharmaceuticals, you know the company that Kathleen won the big class action suit for that penis drug? Well I’ve cross referenced the expert witness list for that case with employee records for Winston Pharmaceuticals and it seems like there was a conflict of interest. Several actually.” Doris smiled.

“So, you think that this penis suit was a bunch of angry employees getting back at their bosses.” Chuckled Taggert, “And now someone is afraid that Harding is going to find out and either extort them or have them all sent to prison.”

“Sounds about right!”

“Okay” Taggert said reassuringly, “Let’s get some more evidence and plant some breadcrumbs, see where they go.” Doris provided Taggert with a list of all of the expert witnesses who testified in court. If it hadn’t been for them Harding would have lost that suit so he felt like they were getting warm.

The next day, Doris went through the list and added the addresses. Taggert planned to do the interviews alone in case any additional business came into the office. There were thirty-three of them. He drove out to see the first witness. It was in a neighborhood that looked a little worn and shabby.

Ms. Studebaker gestured Taggert in with an offer of something to drink and then disappeared into the kitchen to get some lemonade. Taggert was examining everything he could get his eyes on to see if there was anything suspicious, but he mostly just saw pictures everywhere of Ms. Studebaker with a man who appeared to be her husband. She returned with the lemonade and he asked her if her husband was around. She told him that she was a widow and lived alone now. He thought she looked a little young to be a widow but didn’t mention it.

“I know what you’re going to ask me Mr. Taggert.” Ms. Studebaker said as she pulled a cigarette from her cigarette case. “Would you mind?” Ms. Studebaker motioned to the lighter on the table and Taggert obliged.

“I don’t know what you are presuming Ms. Studebaker, but I only have the most decent of intentions. A woman’s life is at stake here.” Taggert said as he absentmindedly dropped the lighter into his pocket.

“It’s not just one life, it’s all our lives. I worked for Winston Pharmaceuticals, yes. My husband also took the infamous Sustana and then he died. I was on the witness list and did testify that Sustana causes these cases of instant death and I did profit from the class action suit against my former employer, but Sustana is not responsible for the instant death cases.”

“So, what did your husband die from?” Tagert inquired.

“The coroner said it was a natural death. That means it could have been anything from cancer to a heart attack or taking a drug like Sustana.

Taggert tried to unhear what he heard, but knew that was impossible. His employer Ms. Harding’s biggest case in her career was a fluke? The evidence was falsified. This would definitely be a cause to want her fortune, maybe even to want her dead.

“Mr. Taggert everything was on the up and up. Until she came around.”

“Who?”

“You know who, Mr. Taggert. Ms. Harding. Didn’t you know she was Winston’s council prior to the class action?” Ms. Studebaker smiled and took a long drag on her cigarette. Then she began to laugh, the laugh turned into a cough. Then she fell on her back to the floor coughing and collapsing. Then no sound came out, but there was movement as something filled her throat. Ms. Studebaker’s mouth thrust open and out peeked a black beak followed by the complete body of a crow. Taggert was astounded, where did the crow come from and how did it get out of Ms. Studebaker’s mouth? It must have broken her jaw clear off.

“This isn’t what I signed up for.” He put his hand to his face.

When the crow was fully out of its chrysalis it took a few steps, shook off some excess bile and bodily fluids, and stared at Taggert. Taggert stared back at the crow. Then it came to him.

Taggert ran to his car and called Doris. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself” replied Doris. “How’d it go with Studebaker?”

“Just fine, I got just what I needed. Look Doris?”

“Yeah Tag?”

“I just, well when we finish this thing I’d like to go on a nice long vacation with you.”

“Really?” Doris said with excitement.

“Yeah, I know there has been something between us for a while, but I’ve never let it happen and it’s all my fault.” Taggert said sadly, “so I want to make it right. I want there to be an us.”

“Ok Taggert just hurry back, I’ll get the office in order. Nice work on solving the case.”

“It’s not over yet Doris, I got to get the money first. I…I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Bye.”

Taggert raced downtown. He had to see a woman about a crow. It was so late he didn’t even bother about going into the garage and just pulled up front; surprisingly the building was still open. Taggert walked in; nothing wild and crazy yet. No thunderstorm marshmallow man on the rooftop. This may be just an over reaction, but either way Ms. Harding is involved in some kind of cover-up that has to do with this class action lawsuit and he needed to know how far down the rabbit hole it went.

Taggert arrived on the 28th floor and all was quiet. It seemed like everyone had gone home. This was a perfect time for an investigator to do what an investigator does…investigate. He started at finance to check the records that would link Ms. Harding to Winston Pharmaceuticals, but the files were missing. It was clear though that there used to be files where they were supposed to be, but somehow, they weren’t there. This was not a coincidence.

The last place to look was Ms. Harding’s office. Taggert was loath to go into that place. He didn’t want to admit it, but the last time he was in there that place gave him the hebejebes, but in order to know what was really going on he had to do a full investigation. He stepped up to the double doors to Ms. Harding’s office and reached for the handle.

Both doors suddenly flew open knocking Taggert on his back. Then the forces of gravity seemed to be defied as Taggert was thrown into the room by some unseen force; the doors closing and locking behind him.

“This is definitely not the hello I’m used to.” Taggert managed to get out.

When Taggert looked up, he could not believe his eyes. It was Ms. Harding floating five feet in the air.

“Hello Frank, I knew you’d be a problem.” said the crazed Ms. Harding “You’re a meddler. You meddle. I gave you an impossible task and yet you got too close for comfort. All you had to do was look through a few files and collect some cash.”

“Hey there, Ms. Harding. I don’t want to interfere with your plans of world domination or anything, but I kinda live in it so I at least need a house and a Chinese place for carry out.” Taggert said trying to keep his cool while trying to find a way out of this situation.

“It’s not world domination Frank it’s world destruction, death to everything and everyone. I am tired of waiting for the battle Frank. It’s here and it’s now.”

Taggert surveyed his surroundings it looked just like Ms. Harding’s office, just with more lightning. Then out of the corner of his eye, he spotted it. The crest. It sounds crazy, but there must be some kind of curse on it. But how could he destroy it? As he tried to push himself up off of the floor, Taggert felt something in his pocket. It was the lighter from Ms. Studebaker’s house. He must have inadvertently taken it. Taggert gave one more look around Ms. Harding’s office and noticed a stocked bar in the corner.

“You can’t imagine what it’s like, Frank; waiting centuries for the right time, for the right people. I’ve had enough.”

“Well, if it’s anything like the social security office, I know what you mean. Those guys really need to get it together over there.” Taggert continued in an attempt to distract Ms. Harding long enough to make it over to the bar.

“Very funny Frank, very funny. I bet you’re wondering how I did it. How it all began.”

“You know, that was the first thought that popped into my head when the doors flew open.”

“Before I arrived, Ms. Harding was working for Winston Pharmaceuticals covering up their dirty laundry. The only problem was Winston Pharmaceuticals wasn’t dirty. Their drugs were effective, the side effects were minimal, and the profitability of the company was strong. Ms. Harding was about to lose her job as their council for a less experienced, less expensive attorney.”

“Riveting.” Taggert made his way to the bar and casually took a seat, loosening his tie.

“Oh, it gets better. One night, I hear a desperate cry for help. It was Ms. Harding. I felt so much pain and sorrow for her; I could not let her suffer any longer. So, I decided I would make her the most successful attorney in Chicago. I started by killing men who were taking Winston Pharmaceutical’s Sustana drug. It was easy. When I kill, I don’t leave a trace.” Taggert sorted through the liquors on the bar while she continued with the story. “Once the men started dying, Ms. Harding had a little more work to do around the office. That soon got boring. So I figured Ms. Harding, with the evidence that she had collected, should sue Winston Pharmaceutical for killing all of those men.”

“How ironic. Would you like a drink? I’m pouring.”

“No, thank you but help yourself. Obviously, Ms. Harding won the case and by that time her dirty deeds had given me the power to return to earth and have death and destruction reign over all.” During her little speech, Taggert had slowly inched his tie into a bottle of Bacardi 151.

“Wow, who would’ve thought that all you needed to destroy the world was a single class-action lawsuit? But you know what else works? Rum.” He lit the bottle up and tossed it toward the crest on the wall behind Ms. Harding. The room fell silent and Ms. Harding fell to the floor.

Taggert ran up to see if Ms. Harding had survived. She was breathing which was a good sign. He tried to wake her, “Ms. Harding. Ms. Harding, can you hear me? It’s Frank Taggert.” He heard some mumbling and then Ms. Harding spoke.

“Ms. Harding? That’s my mother. Call me Kathleen.”

“Well Kathleen, it seems like you’ve been through a lot and I think you’re going to need some rest. You’re also going to need some legal representation.”

“What are you talking about? I am a lawyer.”

“It’s a long story.”