Just Out! Killer Camp: A Ricky Burns Mystery - By C. K. Laurence & Jerry Lyons

 

Jay and Ricky were having lunch in a little out of the way deli. Ricky called the meeting because he had things to tell him that he didn’t want Collette to hear.  Carter had come to him a couple of days after the fire, when he learned the trailer that burnt down belonged to Terri Riley. When he realized it was the woman that Karen had cheated on Barb with, he knew just how badly he had screwed up and he had to come clean to Ricky. It’s not like he knew it was going to be Terri’s trailer when he told them how to burn one down, but he should have been reporting everything regardless of whether or not he thought it was important to the case. The reason he gave was they’d come to him about burning down an abandoned trailer for the insurance money. He’d lied about the reason his cap was lined with tin foil, which was an enigma to him. There was no way to know how many other things Carter hadn’t been straight with him about and more and more he thought Carter was just untrustworthy. He was sure that Carter was hiding even simple truths.  Ricky knew how dangerous this case had become and he felt he had to confide in people who would do the right thing if anything happened to him—and with each day that passed, he became surer that his life was in serious danger.  “So you’re saying that the tin man has definitely gone off the reservation and you don’t know what he’s not telling you or what he’s telling you that could be lies?”  “Yup. That’s about what I’m telling you. Those rednecks are bad people. They wouldn’t think twice about killing anyone who crosses them. They gave me that warning shot that messed up my pretty face believing that would get rid of me. Now they know I’m not going anywhere. Carter has lost his way. I can’t trust him about anything at this point and I’ve got to solve this murder.”  

“Ricky, don’t be a hero. I can drop this case and be done with all of it. Nothing’s worth losing your life.”  ​“Um, ‘Ricky don’t be a hero, don’t be a fool with your life’—wasn’t that a song from the seventies, Jay? Not going to happen. I’ve never walked away before and I’m not going to walk now. I just wanted you to know the situation and make sure Collette doesn’t know anything about it. Between this case and Becky’s incessant calls, she’s already upset enough. I’m meeting with Bill Sewell and Carol Brooklyn tonight to give them what I know. I can’t go to the police up there in Okeechobee because I think about half their force is involved in the camp. I’ll be careful, but I want you to be careful as well, and keep an eye on Collette.”  “Okay. I’m not happy about it, but I’ll play it your way.”  “I’ve got the police patrolling your office regularly. If you have any kind of problem, you’ve got Carol and Bill’s numbers. Call them.  When Ricky called Carol about meeting up that night, the first thing she wanted to know was if darts were involved and did he have plenty of money. She agreed to call Bill and meet him about seven in a bar that didn’t have a dart board.  After catching up over a few drinks and having some laughs, Ricky got serious and started filling in the details of the case.  

“I can’t go to the Okeechobee cops because a good number of them belong to the camp. They’ve already taken a shot at me, burnt down a trailer, and although I don’t know what their end game is, they’re sure as hell playing for keeps. I wanted you to know everything I know and if anything happens to me, make sure all the right people know.  “Also, I want you to keep an eye on Jay and Collette. I know you’ve already got a patrol over there, but now that the red hats are involved, I need some peace of mind so I can do my job without worrying about them all the time.”  Ricky went into the details and Bill and Carol asked plenty of questions. When they were comfortable that everyone knew their parts, they had one more drink toasting Ricky and assuring him they’d see to it he had a proper burial. They also promised to watch over Jay and Collette... The fire, and Carter’s part in it, bothered Ricky more than he thought it should. His first instinct had been to pull him out of the camp and treat him like a cabana boy. He could run errands and do research that didn’t put him near the red hats. After arguing with himself for a couple of days, he decided to let Mr. B stay with the red hats for anything he might retrieve. Of course, he'd have to discount a good part of what he told him, but at least he’d have someone inside the camp. Maybe his conscience would kick in and he’d actually keep his role straight. That would be a long shot though.  Ricky was on his way to Barb/Bob’s’ house to see if maybe she knew something about the fire. He didn’t know whether they were just trying to go up a notch in the attempts to frighten the lesbians and it was a coincidence that it happened to be Terri Riley’s trailer; or had they chosen Terri’s trailer to send a specific message. It was an awfully big coincidence that it was her trailer and Ricky had never believed in coincidence. There had to be an underlying reason...

~~~

I woke up at 3 AM, my heart racing with adrenaline, I was remembering that I and other women were in a fight with many men chasing, but at the close of the dream I asked if anybody wanted to go to have something to drink... Immediately I was confused. So was the fight real? Suddenly I understood. I had read and finished Killer Camp, the new Ricky Burns Mystery right before I turned out the lights... It was not what I had expected even though I knew the theme before I started to read...

I stayed there in bed, thinking about the book and how and what I would write about it. Suddenly, I recognized a theme: I wanted to analyze the true victim of the story... Or was he? I'm still not sure...

You see, although written as a mystery, with new characters based upon the latest case that had come to His lawyer boss and Ricky, working as his Investigator, I was reading... True Crime... I don't really like True Crime. Just the fact that it is real rather than fiction, doesn't allow me, the reader, to sink into the mystery, to look for the clues that the writer had "created" and try to figure out what was going to happen before the end of the book...

True Crime books, while maybe establishing a setting, such as Killer Camp, and adding a number of random characters surrounding the story, the basic storyline is based upon Truth... Not Fiction... The Reality of Life is what I want to escape, often, when choosing which book to read... But, as most of us know now, True Crime is TOO alive and well in America--in an unprecedented way. One I, and all potential readers of this book, have been living in since around 2015...

The book starts quite differently. A murder has already been committed. A woman was arrested, found guilty and imprisoned. A new lawyer has been hired to appeal the case, based upon having ineffective counsel. Jay Kirshman as been hired; Ricky Burns has already started gathering preliminary information by interviewing the previous lawyer, who Ricky quickly determines is a "dud," and goes on to find that he doesn't even have an office, but works out of his home! There certainly was bound to be enough documentation to ensure the case could be opened again!

Of course, the next action Ricky wanted to concentrate on was where the body of Karen Rogers' body was found on a family farm. When he got there, however, he immediately saw there were signs of no trespassing and mean dogs. He continued on, seeing two older men. One was the father of the man he wanted to talk to, who quickly aggressively pointed out his lack of attention to the signs and that he might get in trouble that way... Immediately, based upon how the man talked, he realized that he had met his first "Redneck." 

As he quick-stepped back to his car, he remembered Jay warning him that this was Redneck country, how mean and nasty they were, and to be careful. Ricky had smiled at him and talked about when he was facing other criminals in the city and was sure he'd be able to deal with these guys... Now, he wasn't so sure, going over what had just been said...

One of the guys looked hard at Ricky. “Don’tcha know how t’read, boy? Yer trespassin’.” “Yeah. I noticed, but there was no other way to get here without trespassing.” “Think yer funny? What you lookin’ fer—a beatin’?” “Nope. I’m looking for Bennie Arnold. I’m a private investigator working for the attorney who represents Becky Collins. She’s appealing her murder conviction and I just need a few minutes with Bennie.” “I’m Bennie’s paw, Harry. Bennie’s been going through a rough time. He got hooked onto drugs and is in a bad way. He ain’t talkin’ to no one. So git back into yer automobile and git the fuck off our property. Now.” “You’re Becky’s uncle. I thought surely you’d be more interested in helping her.” The old man stepped over into Rick’s face while the other guy picked up a shovel and started towards him. Ricky thought it was an awful time for him to have left his gun in the car. “Becky’s paw is my brother. I never liked my brother or any of his kin. And I’ll tell ya one more thing. If I see ya around here again, I’ll put ya in the ground and no one will ever find ya. Ever!”

After reading about 50 pages, I began to see the routine clues that readers find in a mystery, but these clues seemed familiar, too familiar. Soon, discussions began about the woman who had been murdered, having been involved with both women and men, that she had money which was often used to buy gifts for men with whom she was involved, while she might also have another lover, a female, with whom she was in love. Soon Ricky was visiting The Lez-be Friends Trailer Park, where Terri Riley lived. She had been identified as being a former connection with the victim. 

But as he was beginning the discussion, he was having trouble concentrating because of the close gunfire, sounding much like target practice, that he could hear in the background. Finally, he asked about it and learned that it was a group on a farm very close to their Park, who were constantly harassing those living there. Ricky asked about who they were and Terri lumped them all as "white supremacists," then made them more readily identified as:

...They constantly play creepy little games like knocking our trash pails over, throwing garbage onto our lawns and wiping excrement on our homes. Tough guys going after women. Little minds, lots of games.” “Who’s doing it and why?” “White supremacists. They’re all over the place, practicing for the revolution. They’re an uneducated, ruthless group of rednecks. Talk about your basic trailer trash. We could move, but to where? We’re a little concerned that they’ll eventually accidentally start shooting us, but to date, we’ve managed to come and go without incident except for an occasional tossed garbage can and smashed mailbox. Some way to live, huh?” “I’m from New York where it isn’t as obvious, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. The United States has become an angry place since 2016. I hope I live to see the pendulum swing back.”

And then I read a name...then another name... and I realized that this novel is a fictionalized background story, pre-January 6th Attack on the Capitol! So I honed in on a new character that had been introduced into the investigation team, based upon a friend of a friend type of thing where somebody needs a job...

Supposedly, Jay would be hiring somebody based upon a request of a friend, but he would hopefully be "backup" for Ricky given what they were learning about the people who were potentially being investigated as to who actually murdered the woman. As the character was described, almost immediately I had a picture of a young boy, just 17, who had committed murder during a protest... But, the character was older, had worked as a guard in a prison and was thinking about becoming a PI... As soon as Ricky saw him, he was...concerned...

What begins thereafter is the birth of a killer... a wolf in sheep's clothing... or a sheep trying to be a wolf, a self-absorbed man in a generation where selfishness is normal, based upon their home environment, and everything is viewed from their own perspective. I knew him right away. The authors intended him to be recognized. He is the individual who is confronted with meeting a breed of individuals who have gone too far during their entire lives, being who they wanted to be and creating lies about anybody who opposes their own beliefs... You know, readers, you might have heard a few testify at the Congressional Hearing on the January 6th Insurrection... The ones who said they thought they were doing what was right and had to be done... The ones who were so inundated by those who had created a false life in which to live...

Killer Camp was a location, supposedly one of many around America, where men are preparing for a revolution... There is talk about it in secret groups on the Internet. Within the Camp, there is constant pressure to assimilate--the character is being transformed within a few hours for readers, but it was days, weeks, perhaps even longer for some to become this individual, the one who is so prepared to kill, to protect himself, that nothing, and nobody else matters... This is Killer Camp. 

We talked about it beginning in 2015 or thereabouts. But these militia groups have been around for many years hiding their thoughts, their own values, but slowly infiltrating... until they are consumed, with an ultimate leader who frees them to act...

Key in the book is the fact that there are police officers who are embedded with those living and planning a revolution at the Killer Camp. Thus, confusion surrounds the thinking of the latest victim. The victim that they know better than the victim knows himself...

Laurence and Lyons have taken a major step in writing this book. They joined the many writers who are reporting what they see as is happening in today's world. They, like the actual victims involved in the January 6th Insurrection, have documented their own involvement, have determined that they must speak out. The Importance and the Impact of this book is significant, far-reaching; and, yet, sadly a commentary on the damage, the danger, of what one or more, perceived, strong dictatorial leaders can do to the mind of a young, very insecure mind... 

Today, Tell Yourself There Will Be No Revolution! Today, Vote to Ensure that Those Who Hate--those who TEACH Hate Will Not Succeed...

Read Killer Camp. A must-read. If you are still unsure about how the split of America has occurred, then you need to see how a young impressionable man/men can be affected by lies, hate, constant planning for revolution/war, learning how to shoot to kill, carrying a weapon that has no value except to kill... This book is not a Mystery! It's happening right now, Readers... The Mystery is How It Is Happening in America! 

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