Bradenton dodged a bullet. That’s what the talking heads on TV news were saying after the electricity came back. At the eleventh-hour Hurricane Ian decided to verge East and hit Fort Myers instead of Bradenton. The weather experts talked about tracking models and water temperatures and such, but many of the Freedom Village residents knew the truth. Bradenton was the home to some ancient Native American burial grounds, or middens. These sacred grounds have the mystical power to deflect major hurricanes from the city of Bradenton!

Detective Dix Tracy had heard this hurricane theory and although she was quite logical and analytical in her crime investigations she had decided to go with the Native Americans in this case. It seemed to produce results.

Unfortunately the murder investigation was NOT producing results and Dixie was depressed. A rule of thumb for murder cases is that if you didn’t have a good idea who the killer was after the first week you probably would never solve the crime. It had now been two weeks and they were nowhere. Her partner was still after Jacko Bryan, but even Franks knew that Jacko had not killed the guy. To make matters worse it turns out they didn’t even know who the victim really was. To be more exact, the accountant Doug Fairhaven had a past that only went back to 2002, when he entered college. Earlier than that there was no evidence that he existed at all – no parents, no birth certificate, no high school, just nothing. The Crime group at FDLE was assisting in this part of the investigation, but so far without success. But the toughest blow of all was that she only had one more day before the case was taken away from her.

Hardnose, the owners of Freedom Village, had finally got around to sharing some information. The lawyers had informed them that based on Fairhaven’s final report they were ruling out Freedom Village as the source of any serious bookkeeping problems. “Small stuff only.” the lawyers said. Instead, they had received an inside tip about serious problems at their Jacksonville community, which just happened to be where Fairhaven was scheduled to visit next. Captain Benson had let them know this morning that because the case now was inter-county, Bradenton PD would be turning it over to FDLE tomorrow. Dixie had a feeling that was the wrong thing to do, but without any real leads she had no leverage to keep the case.

So, a last-ditch effort. She assigned Patrolmen Lewis to man the phones and go over the murder files one more time to see if he might see something she or Franks had missed. Dave Franks was to go over to Anna Marie Island and try to pick up any new information about The Hammer and his cronies. Then he could treat himself to an expense account oyster dinner at AMOB while he talked again to the staff at the restaurant.

Tracy herself would go back to Freedom Village just before dinner to see if any of her contacts there had anything new – like perhaps an ID on one of those mysterious hall-walkers.

At four O’clock Dixie was at the Colonial front desk talking to Sandy the Concierge. Her phone buzzed; she took a quick look at the screen and saw it was from Patrolman Lewis. She quickly excused herself and moved away to take the call. “What’s up Lew?”
“Dixie we just got a fax from FDLE about the DNA testing on Fairbanks. I think you’d better come right in; I don’t want to talk about it on the phone.”

Lewis sounded so concerned Tracy took him at his word. “I’m on my way, I’ll see you in 15 minutes.”

Tracy used the siren and it was only 10 minutes till she and Lewis were huddling as she read the Fax. He said “Dixie, how could this be? Do you think this info is wrong?” She replied “I need to call my FDLE contact right now. Keep this between you and me for now. If ANYBODY asks about this fax just tell them I received it and that’s all you know.”

An hour later Tracy came back and told Lewis there was no mistake. “You and I are going to talk to Captain Benson right now. After that I’ll call Dave.”

So, at 7 O’clock Dixie was sitting alone in her office and Lewis was out front. Dave Franks came in just as Lewis was going out the door and asked him what was going on. “Don’t know, Dixie received a fax and started acting funny. She’s sending me back to Freedom Village with some more questions for The Hammer. She’s in her office.“ he said on his way out.

Dave went to the Detective room and said “Hey Dix, I was getting ready to have a drink. What’s so hot that it couldn’t wait till morning?” She replied, “We’re finally getting somewhere Dave. The Staties got a hit on Fairhaven’s DNA at last. Sit down and let’s talk about it.” Franks remained standing, but tensed up. “Oh, I thought you might have something concrete; you know that DNA lab makes a lot of mistakes.” Tracy replied, “Not this time Dave, they checked and double-checked. Fairbanks was the brother of someone in the Bradenton Police Department, and I’m sure you know who.”

“Stop right there, Dixie, we’re partners. This can’t go out of this room.”
“We’re not partners anymore Dave. I talked to the head of the State Crime lab and not only does the DNA match, but they have a conclusive ID on Fairbanks. He was born Douglas Franks, in New York City. He was 38 years old when he died, just one year older than you Dave. He was your brother and you cut his throat. Before I arrest you, maybe you could explain why you murdered your own brother?”

Dave had pulled his revolver out and was holding it by his side. “It was his own fault, Dix. When we were younger he decided that both of us should leave the mob and start new lives. He changed his name and enrolled in Florida State University. I moved to Atlanta and went to Cop school there, but kept my own name. Everything was going good for me here in Bradenton until he saw me at the Oyster Bar one night. He told me he’d found out I was still working with the family and that he was going to turn me in. The next day I caught him as he was entering the elevator and killed him there. The sic tyrannus thing meant nothing, I was just making sure his face didn’t look like me. He was a traitor, Dix. I had no choice but to stop him.”

“Wrong Dave, you did have choices, you just made bad ones. Becoming a detective while reporting to a criminal mob was one bad choice. Killing your own brother was another. And taking that gun out of the holster was maybe your worst choice of all. Dave Franks, you are under arrest for the murder of your brother, Doug Franks. Drop your weapon and put your hands on the desk.”

Dave had a terrible look on his face but he kept the gun in his hand. “Dixie, you’re forcing my hand, just like Doug did. You know I can’t let you go now. Let’s go for a ride.” With these words he aimed the gun at Dixie.

Suddenly, from the doorway Captain Benson shouted “Don’t make a move, Franks. Drop the weapon to the floor NOW.” Dave made another bad choice, the last one he would make. He spun around and took a quick shot at the doorway but the Captain had already moved. He saw her and also got a glimpse of Patrolman Lewis. He moved his arm to take another shot at Captain Benson when Lewis shot him in the heart.

Dave Franks didn’t dodge the bullet.