For All Nails #123:  Waste Management


Madison Public Library [1]
Miami, Georgia, SC, CNA
9 October 1974


Marian Paroo was a precoccupied woman.  Her regular duties 
were not very onerous this Wednesday morning -- keeping half
an eye on the high-school students in the corner, fetching
the last month's supply of the _Flaglerville Daily Liberal_,
_New York Herald_, _EUM Hoy_, and _Mexico City Times_ for 
Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, and fielding a few stray queries from 
other patrons.  That left her plenty of time to worry about 
the big school board meeting tonight, where the youth gambling 
problem was finally going to be discussed.

She liked the Jacksons, a couple in their thirties, clearly
quite fit and healthy and quite in love with each other.  Mr.
Jackson sailed around the Caribbean on his boat, but had a keen
interest in current events -- he had been stopping in for years
to catch up on the papers whenever he returned to this, his home 
port.  His new wife (Esther?) was Scandinavian, Marian thought.  In 
fact, they seemed to be speaking _her_ language now, and quite 
animatedly too.  She might even have to quiet them down at this 
rate, for all that Mr. Jackson was a generous Friend of the 
Library.  What could be so interesting in an old out-of-town 
newspaper?

*************

New York _Herald_
Page C2, City section
26 September 1974

ARSON VICTIM IDENTIFIED AS RADICAL PUBLISHER

Militia sources say that the man killed in last Sunday
night's suspicious fire in Lower Midtown was a well-known
figure in radical and Jeffersonist literary circles.  Steven 
Taylor, 37, was publisher of the Justice Press, best known
for the best-selling and controversial historical monographs
of Joan Kahn.  Miss Kahn herself was reportedly able to identify 
Mr. Taylor's body in spite of the effects of the fire [2], which
appears to have been deliberately set in Mr. Taylor's offices by 
persons so far unknown.  Mr Taylor was also shot several times [...]

Miss Kahn's theory that Mexican secret agents were responsible
is "being given due consideration" by the NYMFB, CBI, NYMM, and 
NYPM [3], according to sources familiar with the investigation.  
Declining to be identified, a law-enforcement source pointed out 
that other potential suspects include Mr. Taylor's contacts in 
Jeffersonist circles known for their violent rivalry, and also 
radical anti-Platonist [4] groups.  Mr. Taylor was a well-known
public supporter of a male domestic partnership ordinance similar
to that recognizing Sapphist partners in Brooklyn...

*************

"Oh, Jesus, Phil, I _killed_ this poor asshole!"

"Astrid, ssh... I doubt anyone here knows Swedish, but 
we _are_ in a library, remember.  You didn't kill him, 
you just tried to get information we need, that the world 
might need."

"It's that [expletive] Scott-Adams, I'm sure of it.  This 
kind of [expletive] has Michael Scott-Adams written all
over it."  As a native speaker, Astrid naturally had 
a greater command of Swedish invective than did Felipe, who
was her devoted student as well as her devoted recent husband.
(Even in the library Felipe's concentration was improved by 
Astrid use of the same intense whisper she employed for their
"language lessons" in bed.)  He didn't recognize very
many of her specific Swedish profanities, but their general 
drift was clear from context.

"Who's Scott-Adams?"

"Michael Scott-Adams, he's one of F&F's [expletives] in 
the CNA, they must have made him station chief in New York.
I met him a couple years ago.  A physical coward, if you
can believe it in _this_ business.  Always greasing the 
boss, making himself look good, never with the [expletive]
guts to take a job on himself.  I was thinking some fucking
_professional_ would be doing this.  He probably hired some
local [expletives], to save money.  And now this stupid
Jeffie is dead, and it's my fucking fault!  They burned 
down a fucking building to destroy the body, and didn't
even destroy the [expletive] body!"

"Well, we'd better find out how the investigation went.
Here, you take the odd-date _Heralds_ and I'll take the evens..."

*************

New York _Herald_
Page R1, Region section
30 September 1974

NJ MILITIA ARREST SEVEN IN MURDER PROBE

(Secaucus, NJ) -- Seven men with extensive criminal records
were arrested here Saturday in connection with the apparent
murder of Patrick O'Rourque, 46, and Giancarlo "Fingers" Cianci,
52, both of New York.  The two victims were discovered Thursday
in Skralenburgh [5], New Jersey, partially concealed in the 
ferrocement [6] foundation of the new University of New Jersey sports
stadium currently under construction there.  Both decedents were 
well known to the militias -- in particular Cianci had three previous
convictions for burglary.

Deputy Province's Attorney Gordon Clapp soon announced an extensive 
indictment detailing how the so-called "Secaucus Seven" forcibly
detained the two victims at separate locations in Hoboken, holding
them inside a delivery locomobile in which they were then strangled,  
brought to Skralenburgh, and deposited at the construction site.  It 
seems clear from the specificity of the charges that at least one of 
the suspects is cooperating with authorities.  Militia sources say the 
murders are probably connected to the Orange Order or other criminal 
organizations [...]

*************

"Here we go, Astrid, these might be your man's outside contractors."

"Hmm... Yeah, looks right.  Two career yeggs, one a burglar, offed 
for no particular reason right after the fire.  If [expletive] Mike 
Scott-Adams paid for this job too, he kicked the duck again.  You can't 
just hire the Order to do this kind of shit any more in the CNA, damn 
it!  There're so many CBI informants up and down their organization 
that you can't trust anybody.  Well, now Mike's going to see just how 
good his cutouts _were_.  With seven hired thugs singing like birds, 
they'd better _really_ have only known what they needed to know--"

"Actually, Astrid, I don't think Mike needs to worry about it any more..."

*************

New York _Herald_
Page C14, City section
4 October 1974

BUSINESSMAN DIES IN FREAK ACCIDENT

The New York Municipal Militia have ruled out foul
play in the death of Scott Michaels, 43, an account
executive employed by United Dry Goods on Broad
Street.  Mr. Michaels apparently fell into the path
of a road-levelling machine on West 4th Street Tuesday
morning [...]

*************

"Yeah, that's him all right.  And professionally done,
too, I'll bet it was F&F itself cleaning up after his 
mess.  At least it saves me the trouble of going to 
New York and killing the fucker myself.  So there's
four people dead, then, and one of them completely 
innocent."

"Did your people get the secret information at least?"

"Nope.  Our regular update from F&F just said 'negative
report on your request investigation in nyc'.  Destroyed 
in the fire, maybe?  Unless maybe they _did_ get it and 
F&F doesn't want to tell us about it [7].  Felipe, are we 
in the wrong business?"

"I don't know, my love.  We work for the big people,
and the big people aren't gentle with the little people
who get in their way.  But somebody's got to do it."

"Do you think that librarian would mind if you held
me for a minute?"

"Marian?  She's an old friend, I don't think she'll
mind at all..."

*************

Notes:

[1] Not named after the Jeffersonian statesman James Madison,
    of course.  The story of the Miami library's endowment by
    small-town philanthropist Meredith W. "Old Miser" Madison
    will be familiar to some readers and may safely be ignored
    by others.  Don't forget that FANTL Miami is a small sport
    fishing port, a suburb of the much larger South Beach and 
    Flaglerville.

[2] See FAN #122, "The Unforgettable Fire".

[3] New York Municipal Fire Brigade, Confederation Bureau of 
    Investigation, New York Municipal Militia, and New York 
    Provincial Militia respectively.

[4] A Platonist is the male analog of a Sapphist, though the
    political interests of the two groups are not as identified with
    each other as they are in OTL.  Both sadly suffer from bigotry 
    and even violence as they do in OTL, though in the CNA public
    acceptance of Sapphists is much more widespread and is even
    institutionalized in Brooklyn City.  The Reform and Justice
    Party is particularly prominent in urging official toleration
    and recognition of what we would call "alternative lifestyles" 
    as long as these are "family-oriented" -- they are lately 
    beginning to make inroads in Manitoba among some overt 
    Turnerites.

[5] The CNA's distaste for Native-descended names has removed 
    some of the most charming geographical nomenclature of northern 
    New Jersey, but as some compensation more Dutch names have survived.  
    Skralenburgh (called Schraalenburgh before the PoD) is OTL's 
    Haworth.  The Meadowlands were filled earlier than in OTL, due 
    to the CNA's more extensive development of "streetcar suburbs".

[6] As in OTL, the introduction of steel bars into concrete 
    structures was a key enabling technology for skyscrapers,
    large dams, and so forth.  The Secaucus Seven appear to have
    underestimated the difficulty of completely concealing large
    objects in still-wet concrete densely packed with rebar (far
    from their only mistake).  In OTL, the Teamsters Union leader
    Jimmy Hoffa (who disappeared in 1975 and is presumed to have 
    been murdered by some of his associates in organized crime)
    is widely rumored to be buried under New Jersey's Giants Stadium.
    Of course, those that know don't say, and those that say don't
    know. 

[7] This seems in fact to be the case, as in FAN #122 Paddy _did_ 
    leave the fire with the contents of the safe and these 
    contents presumably got to Mike before (or during) Paddy's
    demise.  On the other hand, it may be that Kenny "The Stick" 
    Lay, the getaway loke driver, absconded with the proceeds of 
    the enterprise before it collapsed upon his erstwhile colleagues.