The Racetrack Murders

Prologue

Getting Even, Gail’s Way

It was time for Gail Trini to make sure that everyone at the Floral Hill Racetrack knew that Gail pissed off about the death of her horse, Gail’s Way.  The horse was a gift from her grandfather who passed away in an accident with another horse.  If grandpa had lived, he would have never let Gail’s Way be euthanized by the Vets at the Floral Hill Veterinary Center.  He would have taken care of Gail’s Way himself, and all would be fine. 

At the racetrack on the day of the big race,  the car traffic had slowed in the park as well as the foot traffic into the park through the Mayfair Ave gate, which only allowed foot traffic one day a year for the Floral Hill Stakes.  The time was right.  Gail walked back to her SUV,  lifted the rear seat and took out the gun bag with everything she needed for the next few minutes. 

Gail had used her badge from the Veterinarian Center to enter the racetrack and was waived through the gate by one of her colleagues.  Entering the racetrack this way was a normal regular task for Gail to deliver supplies or medicines that were needed by the Vets she worked for, sometimes multiple times a day.  Today was going to be different. 

She locked her SUV and  walked with the gun bag facing down against her side,  in case someone had prying eyes.  She would come back for her SUV later.  Gail had a plan for the SUV, and she was able for find a spot that could be seen from Grandpa’s back porch, which was now her home.  She walked over to the rail of the practice track and maneuvered  to the side of the supped up pick-up truck.   Gail then crawled under the pick-up where she would set up her shop for the next few minutes.  She had spotted the pick-up upon her arrival and thought that it would be a perfect spot to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting crowd.

Gail did not expect to have mud and dirt under the pick-up truck.  She expected grass, but the plan was hatched and there was no going back at this point.   She carefully took out her gloves, no need for her  to leave fingerprints on the gun or clips.  Then she locked in the first clip into the gun.  Gail had seen a U-tube video where you take two clips and tape them together in order to just flip it over and you can continue shooting at the intended targets.  Looking across the field, Gail had a sinking feeling that the plan was off, just a little, but she would adjust.

 Her line of shot should have been better from her vantage point, but it would all work out in the end.  Gail then checked her pockets for the magnets she would need in a few minutes, and they were right where they were supposed to be, in the pocket of her jeans.

Gail estimated that the capacity crowd to be about 80,000 at the racetrack, were about 140 yards from her location.  She pressed the stock tightly against her shoulder to lessen the impact of the recoil on her shoulder.  She pulled the trigger, and the gun fired in rapid succession.  But her aim on the first 30 bullets was off.

Gail did not account for the guard rail on the other side of the actual live track that took most of the first rounds she fired, and that was what was off in the plan in her mind.    But the crowd in the stands did see people going down in the cackle of gunfire.  People were running in all directions looking for the fastest way to safely exit the track.

Gail released the clip and turned the clips that were taped together, it locked it.  Gail did not have a clear line of sight to the crowd, but she did have a clear view of the two exits.  Gail looked up and saw the windows of the grandstands.  The very same windows grandpa and her sat behind on many occasions watching the horses that grandpa had trained.

Gail immediately knew if she took out the glass on the grandstands, they would fall in shards and create the havoc she wanted, plus it was possible that she could hit someone sitting in the Upper Level Blue Seats area, which was the most expensive seating in the racetrack.  Then she could fire the next two clips toward the exits.  The plan was coming forward in real time now, and Gail was the one in charge of the plan.

Gail raised her gun and fired the next 30 shots into the windows of the grandstands.  Shards of glass rained down the unsuspecting crowd below.  There was disbelief as loved ones vanished before one’s eyes on what was supposed to be a spectacular day.  No one knew which way to turn from the horrible glass storm that had been unleashed.  An ungodly horrific situation, but one that Gail had been planning since the death of Gails Way.

Gail slapped in the second set of clips and started firing at the exits, first on the left side of the grandstands and then on the right. The results were devastating to those in the crowd for what they assumed was going to be a fun afternoon.  It did not turn out that way because Gail had got her way.  Gail’s Way.

Gail took the magnets out of her jeans and placed them on the gun and then placed the gun on the catalytic converter on the pick-up.  With that task completed, she rolled out from under the truck.  She would come back for her SUV in about a half hour after she completed her transformation.

At the same exact moment as the cackle of gun fire erupted, every law enforcement radio squawked with a message from the Franklin County ESU commander, “Active Shooter,  get some eyes on it”.  The county ESU was deployed at the track for this major race with the large crowd and dignitaries present for the festivities. 

There was an ESU team on the roof of the grandstands and other members among the crowd.  They all received notice at the same time as all the other law enforcement officers and started scanning the terrain through their binoculars for the source of the gunfire to eliminate the source of the gunfire.  The State Police, FBI, Secret Service and the City ESU responded immediately to the scene from their stationed positions.   All eyes were looking for the shooter, but it was done in 120 seconds.  But Gail was on the move before most officers could get their binoculars out or start their vehicles.

One of the most devastating injuries was Detective Galvin.  His shoulder was severely injured by a piece of falling glass.  And it was his right shoulder, if he did survive, he would never be in a position to shoot his weapon again, he was right handed.

Gail would not find out about the devastation she created till the newscasts later that evening.  She knew she fired 120 bullets in less than two minutes, but she was not about to stick around and do a body count at this point.  Gail also knew that she could not stick around very long or she would get caught or targeted as the shooter.  That was something Gail was looking to avoid at all cost.  Gail wanted to hide in plain sight and she had a plan to accomplish that formula.

Chapter 1

The Challenges of everyday life

On the Sunday, the day before Kelli was to return to work after her maternity leave, the whole O’Brien family  went to Judge Brennan’s for a bite to eat.  Even the newborn Kelly O’Brien was there in her in a stroller.  At five weeks old, this was the baby’s first excursion out with her parents and siblings.  She was sleeping in the stroller while the rest of the family enjoyed some good pub food, and the parents enjoyed a couple of draft beers.  Having a cold one was not a problem for Kelli.  Kelli always dreamed about breastfeeding, but she was unable to produce the lactation to nourish a child.  All the children were raised on store bought formula. 

They were greeted by the owner Don Burke upon arrival at Judge Brennan’s and he offered them a table with a great view of all nine tv’s with sporting events  and shows for the day.  Their waitress, Colleen,  was the daughter of their family friends, the O’Shea’s, who lived in the West End of Floral Hill like the O’Brien’s.  Little Kelly slept through all the festivities at Judge Brennan’s on that Sunday, but her mom had to return to work the next day.  Sitting duties would be shared by both her grandmothers and Ken would have a day with his new daughter all to himself.

Monday was Kelli’s first day back at work after having her new baby, Kelly with a “y”,  just to differentiate her from her mom, who given name was Kelli, which was shortened from Kellianne.   

On that Monday that morning, Kelli awoke at 3:45 in the morning just to hold her new baby, Kelly.  Kelli could not think of anything better; her life was great.  Married to her high school sweetheart, and having her dream job in the Village of Floral Hill, Kelli and her family had it all.  Kelli’s parents lived around the corner.  Her husband’s parents lived diagonally across the street, and Ken and Kelli owned the house that backed up to the Floral Hill Racetrack.

It did not hurt that the love of her life, Ken, was the principle at a major  successful hedge fund that was respected throughout the financial services industry.  Just like Kelli, Ken was an overachiever, in different ways than Kelli.  Ken was able to ingest everything he heard and turn it into knowledge, and in the investment business, that is just what you needed to gain one particular advantage, and Ken’s secret sauce to give him that advantage.  Ken had two partners, one active in the firm and the other an investor.  Ken was almost finished with the buy-out of both of his partners.  He had future plans for his Hedge Fund the Skylight Fund LLC, once he was free from the entanglements his partners had placed on him.  Ken knew where he was going to take his business and make it grow.

Ken knew his stakes in his business, valued in the multi-million dollar range was enough to last lifetime.  Managing his hedge fund business was natural to Ken, and he had a great team of professionals on his staff, which allowed him to work from home a couple of days per week.  His challenges were his wife Kelli, his son Ken Jr., daughter Colleen and now, the newly born Kelly, who he thought looked like his wife Kelli.  So much so that he wondered whether he had anything to do with the creation of this little creature.  But he smiled every time he thought about it because the other two kids, Colleen and Ken Jr. looked just like Kelli.  And according to Ken, that was a wonderful thing.

Ken just smiled at his challenges.  Ken loved challenges and believed that his wife Kelli was put on this earth to give him more challenges than he could handle.  But you could not wipe that smile off Ken’s  face on that Monday.

Kelli took the baby Kelly from her crib and moved her into bed between her and Ken.  It was now 4:15 in the morning, and Ken knew he was not going back to sleep.  To him it was fine, he and Kelli put the kids down early and they were in bed by 9:30 pm every night.  They knew the kids were going to be racing through the house by 5 AM.  Today was going to be a good day; until Kelli’s cell rang at 5:05 in the morning. 

Dispatch:  “Hey Kelli, welcome back, we have a call for a body and a fire at Stable 23B at the racetrack.  Protocol  Ten says that detectives need to be awakened, and I believe that you are on call for today, correct?”

Kelli:  “Thank you, yes,  Christine, am your first call today or have other notifications gone out before me?  I will get there shortly.”

Dispatch:  “No you were the first call; do I need to wake anyone else?  The FHFD is already on their way with the complete ensemble, three engines, a ladder and an ambulance, per Firecom.  We were short staffed last night on our side last night, so SGT Viscusi had to take a tour and is also on his way to the scene.”

Kelli:  “Not really but let Matt know I will running over and see what is up at the track, if I need anything or anybody else, I will let you know.  Firecom, Alert and Rescue have been notified?”

Dispatch:  Firecom has been alerted and they have never miss a beat to my knowledge.”

Kelli:  “Gotcha on that one.”

Kelli was promoted to Lieutenant to prevent the county from hiring her away from Floral Hill.  Sal Morabito’s promotion at the Frankin County Police Department left a void in the ranks.  His first choice to replace himself was Kelli O’Brien of the FHPD.  The commissioner, Steve Stanzione was not the least bit interested in that conversation.

Steve was able to rally the Floral Hill Mayor and Board to promote Kelli because everyone knew that LT. Quinn was retiring at the end of the year.  When Steve promoted Kelli, he already knew she was pregnant because she shared that information with him before the board meeting.

What Steve sold to the Mayor and the Board is that this is the best thing for Floral Hill because Kelli could replace LT. Quinn at the end of the year and she would be next in line to replace Steve as Commissioner in a couple of years when his daughters were finished with college.

Everyone on the board knew Kelli, and they knew she did not take crap from anyone.  Promoting Kelli was going to cost the Village a few more bucks, short-term, but it would make any changeover easier in the longer term, and Kelli was a hometown girl having spent her whole life in the Village of Floral Hill.  She knew the Village and the people in the Village and how the Village operation worked.  Everyone loved Kelli and nobody wanted to be on her wrong side.  Kelli was a star athlete in high school and everyone in town knew who she was because of her high school  and police career.

Being popular was not important to Kelli, all she cared about was being loved by her husband, kids and the rest of her family.  And her kids thought she was a superhero on days when  it was her day to do the drop-offs at school or events.  Everyone in town wanted to be close to Kelli because of who she was, and who she was going to be in the future.  Everyone saw the future Kelli as a rock star in the Village.  The mayor of the Village wanted Kelli to run for mayor in the next cycle in May, but Kelli was not interested in that conversation.

Danny Bennett  was in a deep sleep when his pager  rang loud and clear.  Maria , his wife,  gave Danny  an earful  about the pager chirping all night  long.  Then Danny got up to figure out where he was going at five in the morning.  Fire burning at barn 23B.  Danny  knew exactly where that was from the training  that he put his men through at the track just for this situation.  He needed  to get to the track first to get eyes on the situation.  Danny  always moved with complete composure, because if you make a mistake early in fire situations, they seem to multiply as the day or night goes on.  It is always best to have your better wits with you as you engage in a fire.

Danny needed to utilize the Turnpike entrance for the racetrack at this hour because all  the other entrances were closed.    Danny had his  lights flashing and sirens blearing so Russ at the gate waived him through without a pass.  Russ knew who Danny was from his years manning the gate at the racetrack.  Russ was also aware of Danny’s credentials in the FHFD.  In addition, Danny had a larger than life personality that no one could forget, in a good way.

But what Danny stumbled upon left him dumbfounded from the view of his front window of the SUV, the barn at 132B was ablaze.   He had eyes on the barn and stopped his truck and picked up his squawk box and contacted dispatch. 

Bennett:  “Hey Chris, did you say 23B or 132B?  Can you confirm?”

Dispatch:  “Yep, I just put it out to Firecom.  You should get a squawk in a moment on that one.”

Bennett:  “It appears at 132 is on fire and it is out of control  Could they have given us the wrong destination.  132B is burning out of control, and Floral Hill FD would need assistance to put down two fires.  Firecom will need to activate squad seven if there are two fires, I do not have the manpower or equipment to handle two fires at one time.”

Dispatch:  “Understood, are you contacting Firecom or am I?  Dispatch wanted to know.

Bennett:  “You need to put this out to Firecom, I am still driving and I horses running loose all around me, tell Firecom to put this out to Squad Seven, I do not have the manpower to cover both fires, and we need to be concerned with the fire spreading to other barns like we saw about 15 years ago.  We lost a lot of horses in that fire.”

Dispatch:  “I will alert Firecom.  Where are you responding, 23B or 132B?”

Bennett:  Following the original plan, 23B, Squad Seven needs to respond to 132B.  I need to get eyes on 23B to fully assess the situation we have here, are we clear on that?”

Dispatch:  “Yes, clear, I will contact Firecom for Squad Seven to respond to 132B.  Firecom has been notified, but I will update them immediately.”

The problem with these barn buildings is that they are old, they are made entirely of wood, and they are filled with dry hay for the horses to eat and do their business unencumbered.   Not a good recipe for a fire.  There was also concern that the ambers floating in the air could spread the fire to other barn buildings in the racetrack and the general surrounding around the racetrack and the neighborhood.

Chapter 2

The Shadows

One of the biggest parts of the Floral Hill Racetrack is the “shadows”,  the area behind the practice tracks and the stables where the racetrack workers lived, and you could have families living in the shadows.  That was how it was designed when Auggie Vanderbilt authorized the construction of the track.  The open land that the racetrack was built upon was one of the largest pieces of free space in Franklin County, part of the Franklin Plain at the time. 

Today Floral Hill  remains the largest racetrack in the country in terms of area.  You need all these 140 acres of space to train the horses, and the track added heating to the track to keep I running year round.  Yes you needed all the space for the horses.  Horses need the space, and Floral Hill provided the space and workout conditions all year.  At one and a half miles, it was the largest in the country.  And there were two practice tracks of equal size on the property.

In the “shadows” of the racetrack there were apartment buildings, deli’s, restaurants, and daycare all the benefit of the track workers.  But the hardest part for all the teammates that worked at the track was moving around 1,200 pound horses without injuring anyone else. That was a challenge by itself.

In addition, there were owners, trainers, exercise riders, jockeys, and stable mates.  Everyone had a say in how this horse had been expected to perform in the next race.  Trainers and owners  would send their horses to Florida, Delaware, Kentucky or all the way west to California if they could get a good race.  But the stakes races was where you made money.  They did not want to throw a real true thoroughbred into a claiming race, especially if you really liked the horse’s chances for a win.  And it you could get some stud fees or fold fees; the end justified the means, as long as you kept 10, 20 or 30 horses in your stable at one time.

There were hundreds of people who just worked in the establishments in the shadows.  Just between the two deli’s and two restaurants there were over a hundred employees.  Add to that the hotel on the property and apartment complex and the number of employees skyrocketed.  This was an unintended consequence of the racetrack family, and everybody knew everyone in the shadows.

The shadows were low cost to the workers at the racetrack, and profitable to the racetrack.

The track provided multiple services in “the shadows” to the lesser end of the spectrum for employees.  Most of the employees were immigrants from some of the world’s poorest countries who came to the United States looking for a better life.  Richie was one of the immigrants who took advantage of the services offered in the shadows of the  racetrack when he first arrived in America. 

The shadows of the racetrack had multiple delis, a café, restaurants, apartments, and medical facilities if you needed to use those services.  In addition, they had sports leagues and teams you could join if you wished to participate in the sporting events.  The local Floral Hill Police Department patrolled the shadows as well as the rent-a-cops the racetrack hired to keep everything in check.

The Floral Hill Fire and Rescue also provided services to the employees of the racetrack that lived or frequented the area.  Generally, there were not any serious health problems, but the FHFD was ready to respond to any emergency.  The people that lived in the shadows of the racetrack could call 911 or use one of the call boxes that still existed on the racetrack property.  For the most part, those that lived in the shadows wanted to stay anonymous as possible because they were mostly undocumented immigrants.

The trick to “the shadows” was you needed to pick your time for moving around and you needed to avoid certain areas, especially as a woman or a child.  Going to the deli or restaurant during the daytime would be fine.  After dark, you were on your own in “the shadows” of the racetrack.  There were problems after dark which is why the Floral Hill Police kept a car in the shadows overnight.  This presence kept things quiet in the shadows.

The shadows was the part of the racetrack that no one wanted to enter unless they needed to utilize the services to make a living.  With five miles of roadway and many establishments for the workers at the racetrack to go to there was always something to do in the shadows, soccer or touch football.  In order to keep all these horses, trainers and owners happy, the Floral Hill Racetrack kept this area operational year round.  If they could keep the stalls full of horses, the track was making money all year round.

Richie Hughes had married very well and could afford to live outside the means that the track provided.   His wife, Yvonne Hughes was the head nurse on the day shift for neo-natal care at the local medical center.  Yvonne had seen it all as a nurse in neo-natal care unit and almost all of her outcomes were highly successful.  She prided herself on getting all the infants out of the unit and home with their parents.  Yvonne was very proud of the life that she and Richie had accomplished over the years, for them and their children.

Richie had taken advantage of the services in the shadows years ago, but once he married Yvonne, his life changed so much for the better.  They had two children and a home in a nice neighborhood, not very far from her parents and her siblings.  The Hughes were able to get back up from Yvonne’s siblings, and they reciprocated when necessary watching the kids.   

Richie Hughes took the bus to work every day.  It was only a twenty minute bus ride  to his job at the Floral Hill Racetrack, but he needed to do it at 4:30 AM.  His goal was to be home to get the kids off the bus while his wife, a Registered Nurse and one of the Head Nurses at the medical center made most of the money for the family.  Richie’s wife is gorgeous, nobody doubted that  Richie married up in the world.  Yvonne Hughes as a head nurse who  worked at the local county medical center for many years.  She had worked her way up to head nurse  over the years and their two kids were the center of their life.  Her job covered the health care and allowed the Hughes’ to have a nice home in a nice neighborhood, but they kept expenses in check by having only one car, for Yvonne.  Richie and Yvonne, nee Greene took meticulous care of their kid and all their belongings.