A Spoiled Dove

by John Bullaro

Agnes Crocker was filled with anger and sadness. Her home life was fraught with fighting and abuse her parents displayed in her presence. Gradually she knew her own life would not be a happy one, most likely ending in tragedy, or so her mind set said. In spite of these thoughts, that fall Agnes was voted Homecoming Queen for Lake View High School in Los Angeles. The next year Agnes graduated high school an honor student, a former cheerleader, and considered by her friends "most likely to succeed."

Agnes' blond hair hung loose, down to her shoulders. She was five foot six inches tall, and weighed 115 pounds, considered by the boys and men to be a beautiful young woman. Her home life was still turbulent and filled with parental angst. Her mother, Frances Crocker, died mysteriously. One Friday afternoon Agnes came home to find her mother gasping for air. She called 911 and by the time the paramedics arrived her mother was dead. The coroner said the death was caused by poisoning; Agnes suspected her father, Jack Crocker, had killed her mother but had no proof other than the rat poison she discovered under his bed. Agnes told police of finding the rat poison.

At the time of his wife's death, Jack was drinking booze heavily. The dying marriage and the loss of his construction job sent Jack into a downward spiral of emotion turmoil. Often, when in a drunken stupor, he'd take out his emotional angst by abusing Frances leaving her face, arms and abdomen with dark bruises.

When Agnes told the cops that she found rat poison pellets under her father's bed, they brought Jack in to interrogate him. His confused answers prompted them to arrest Jack. At trial the jury did not convict Jack. He was found not guilty for lack of direct evidence linking him to the murder. His defense attorney suggested Frances committed suicide because of an unhappy marriage and the abuse she suffered at the hands of Jack. Jack was rearrested for spousal abuse, found guilty, and sentenced to three years probation. In effect, Jack got away with murder.

Jack, angered by his daughter's cooperation with the cops, made her life miserable.

Finally she had to leave the house of her father, never to see or talk to him again. Three years later Jack died from alcohol poisoning. Agnes did not attend the funeral. The anger she felt for Jack prompted her to drop out of college. She eventually took a job as a waitress at The Tail of the Cock, a swanky restaurant on fashionable Sunset Boulevard, to pay her rent and put food on the table. It wasn't too long before she felt her job was leading nowhere so she enrolled in Anthony's Real Estate School to earn a real Estate license.

With her newly earned license she went to work for a Beverly Hills real estate broker. The broker refunded her real estate licensing tuition mainly because he wanted a beautiful woman on his sales staff. Agnes didn't disappoint — that year she was the office sales leader.

Agnes now had access to very wealthy male cliental. She began selling houses and office buildings, mainly to men, and in the process made a lot of money. One client, who took a particular shine to Agnes, offered her a lot of money to sleep with him. She saw a business opportunity and took the man's money.

Her marriage to Francis was mind numbing boring and highly stressful; little different from her parent's marriage, minus the physical abuse. She promised herself she'd leave the sex trade when she amassed a large enough nest egg to support a comfortable life style for herself; Jack was not included in her plan. What Agnes didn't factor into her plan was the fact that she and Jack live in a community property state, California, and that half of her assets belonged to her hated husband, Jack.

Eventually she and Jack moved to a very select neighborhood, Westlake Village, and cultivated influential friends. Jack stayed mostly in the shadows of the marriage. Handsome and not-so-handsome men, wealthy, and influential, many married, lusted after the beautiful real estate agent. Jack made no move to hurt her physically; he knew her success benefited him.

In her side profession with men, Agnes was cautious never to commit to one man, not when so many eagerly chased after her waving big bucks. She used her marital status as a wedge between her and the pursuing men. If she relented to go to bed with one man she made it clear she would never have a permanent relationship with him, which many wanted. This mantra only served to peak the ego of men who doubled down their efforts to capture her by giving her expensive gifts, money and even cars. Some offered to pay for her divorce should she want one, one man said he could have "Francis removed from the ranks of the living."

She told a story, which worked, that Francis was terminally ill and she couldn't bring herself to leave him when he was so helpless." Most of the men bought her story; some even congratulated her for being so thoughtful.

By the time Agnes was thirty-one year old she was a multi-millionaire. Unknown to her, police had her under surveillance for her sex business. As it happened, several men she entertained had disappeared and the cops found in their appointment diaries  Agnes's name.

One afternoon she received a phone call from an Assistant District attorney in the Los Angeles office. He told her she needed to come to his office the following day. And, he warned, if she failed to show up an arrest warrant would be issued./p>

The District Attorney's office was in Downtown Los Angeles on Spring Street across from the Superior Court House. When she arrived she told the receptionist she was there to see Max Sheldon, known to the people he prosecuted as Mad Max. Sheldon came out and thanked Agnes for coming and led her into his office.

He shuffled some papers around his desk then began to speck. "This won't take long. You told the police you have no idea what happened to these men after they left you."

He showed Agnes a paper with names of men she had as sex clients. He produced three pictures of the missing men which Agnes recognized as men she had sex with, for money, but stayed with her denial of knowing them, or even having sex with them. The Assistant DA said, "Agnes, we found one body we think is this man," pointing to one of the pictures. "In his pocket was a business card of yours. We believe he knew you, but you deny knowing him, is that the story you're sticking with. Oh, and your name was in his phone directory and on his cell phone directory."

"Mr. Sheldon, that's not a made up story, it's the truth. He could have gotten my business card from a friend. I bet my name is in many phone directories. You see, I sell houses to a lot of wealthy people and pass out hundreds of business cards. I never saw any of these men before this minute." She folded her hands and sat back in her chair giving the impression she was through talking, Then she offered, "Maybe my husband, Francis, knew these men."

The cops approached Francis and questioned him. They got nowhere with the interrogation. As soon as the cops left, Francis decided Agnes was a disloyal wife and decided to make her pay for her being disloyal. That night he fixed dinner for her and in  the pot roast placed several pellets of rat poison. After Agnes ate her meal she complained of stomach problems. Within twenty minutes of finishing her meal, Agnes was dead.

Francis raided Agno's rich bank account, which didn't have his name attached but which the bank accepted because Francis's an attorney wrote a declaration that marriage made it a joint account. He withdrew a large sum of money and the next day he booked a flight to Europe, first class of course. Within six months he was dead, shot by a Parisian hooker who stole his wallet stuffed with hundred dollar bills and took fifty dollars from his pants pocket.

Circle closed.

John is an Emeritus Professor in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Studies from California State University, Northridge, and a retired Lecturer from Cal Poly. For thirty-four years he has taught classes in Commercial Recreation, Tourism Planning, Management and Leadership, and Wilderness Survival. He earned his Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University in Organizational Development and Curriculum Design in Higher Education.

John joined SLO search and rescue team in 1994. He moved to Los Osos in 1993 from Southern California, and now lives in Atascadero with wife, Cynthia. He completed California's Managing The Search Function and the Air Force's Inland Search & Rescue Planning. He is a National SAR trainer, and an EMT. John is a current member of the Atascadero Writer's Club and can be contacted by calling 805-440-9529 or at JohnBullaro@slocoastjournal.com.

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