“Give me the man and I will give you the case against him,” is a translation of a phrase popularized by Stalin-era officials. Lori Pope’s office is starting to look like they’re taking lessons from the Soviet-era secret police and their operations behind the Iron Curtain.”
The most unfortunate victim in this whole conspiracy is probably Malcolm Pointer. According to Wetzel, Pointer was just a regular guy who was looking to find love. You’ve already heard Wetzel’s account of this meeting. She went to have tapas for her birthday. Malcolm bought her a glass of wine after her colleagues left. The rest, shall we say, was a very short history.
Soundscape of Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, is heard in the background which included honking cars and general city noise. Heels clicking on pavement.
In five minutes, I’m going to interview Malcolm Pointer’s girlfriend.
Yes, you heard that right, girlfriend, and I don’t mean Tia Wetzel. I was as surprised as you probably were to hear of her existence. According to her, Malcolm wasn’t looking for love. His relationship wasn’t open. This wasn’t polyamory or ethical nonmonogamy. Pointer’s reason for pursuing Wetzel may shock you.
This is The Murders Began, and I’m your host, Blake Hardin Tatum.
I’m on my way to the apartment Sunshine Whittington shared with Malcolm Pointer. Ms. Whittington lives in one of the newly renovated downtown buildings. I love the idea of making what’s old new again. The last time I interviewed someone here it was still an office building full of attorneys and other professionals. A lawyer involved in the Sheila Harrison Grant case met with me when the now former federal judge allegedly left the county taking her daughter from foster care along for the ride.
Soundscape of an elevator pinging, shoes on carpet, a knock and answer.
“Thank you for having me in your home at a time like this. I’m sorry for your loss.”
“I hope that you can bring Malcolm’s killer to justice.”
“Can you tell the listeners who you are.”
“My name is Sunshine Whittington. I’m thirty-eight years old.”
“Where do you work?”
“I’m a nurse anesthetist at MetroHealth.”
“How long were you in a relationship with Malcolm Pointer?”
“Three years. It would have been our fourth anniversary this month.”
“Were you aware he was…dating outside your relationship?”
“If you mean, his relationship, as it were, with Tia Wetzel, then yes, I knew about it…from the beginning.”
“I know this may be a probing question, did you have an open relationship?”
“No.”
“How did Malcolm come to date Tia Wetzel, then?”
“It’s a deal he made with the prosecutor’s office.”
“What did he get in exchange for betraying you?”
“Betrayal is an interesting word. It felt like the lesser of two evils at the time. The prosecutors, they agreed to close an investigation they were making into some alleged noncompliance with state financial reporting laws.”
“What was his job?”
“He was a senior compliance manager at Society Bank.”
Let me pause for a moment. I want to connect the dots for you listeners. I mentioned in an earlier episode that Tyisha Cooley was a compliance officer for Society Bank. Occam’s razor leads me to assume there’s no coincidence that two people from one small bank department have caught the attention of the prosecutor’s office. Let’s get back to my interview with Sunshine Whittington.
“Did you know him to be dishonest?”
“Never. He was a type A rule follower and made for that job.”
“What possessed him to assist the prosecutor’s office?”
“Like every other free citizen, he didn’t want to go to jail. He was ninety-nine percent sure that an investigation would turn up nothing. But he’s human. His entire department is filled with humans. We all make mistakes which come to light under a microscope. I work in surgery and our malpractice insurance is sky high because we’re not perfect, even though the law acts as if we’re supposed to be.”
“What was he asked to do?”
“Take Tia Wetzel on a few dates.”
“Did they tell him why dating someone was necessary, or how long this would last? What was his guarantee that this would be the end of the so-called investigation or any future requests?”
“There was none. I thought he was naïve to think it would be. Blackmail can’t end without violence. Either the person blackmailing has to die or the person blackmailed has to die or some other stalemate has to come about. That’s the only logic that works. I’ve thought about it a lot. In this case, Malcolm was the one to die.”
“You don’t think Tia Wetzel is the murderer?”
“She thought she was going to get a boyfriend. An employed, nice guy. Not a drug dealer.”
“When you say not a drug dealer, what do you mean?”
“I heard your other podcast. That’s why I contacted you. It made more sense once I put two and two together.”
“What was your sum?”
“Tia Wetzel has been…unlucky in dating. That drug dealer landed her in all the hot water. If she was poking around, thinking about suing the police or the county or the prosecutor’s office or whatever, then she had to be feeling better in some respects. My guess was that she, like the rest of the women in her age bracket, was pretty desperate for a relationship. What’s that statistic? That a woman past forty has a better chance of being killed by a terrorist than finding a mate? I’m sure it was easy enough to pick her up.”
“What do you think the endgame was, then. He was going to date her, and then what was going to happen?”
“If they were going to frame him, then I can only assume the plan all along was to kill him and frame her. It made zero difference what he did.”
Sunshine Whittington starts crying, choking out a few more words. “Once the prosecutor’s office had zeroed in on him, his time left was a ticking time bomb. Tick. Tick. Tick. Boom.”
Neither one of us had to say out loud that the bomb had been detonated.
This has been The Murders Began, and I am your host, Blake Hardin Tatum.