S8E8 Ace of Hearts

Mysteries to Die For

Welcome to Mysteries to Die For.

I am TG Wolff and am here with Jack, my piano player and producer. This is a podcast where we combine storytelling with original music to put you in the heart of a mystery. All stories are structured to challenge you to beat the detective to the solution. Jack and I perform these live, front to back, no breaks, no fakes, no retakes.

The rules for law and order create the boundaries for civil co-existence and, ideally, the backdrops for individuals, families, and companies to grow and thrive. Breaking these rules puts civil order at risk. And while murder is the Big Daddy of crimes, codified ordinances across municipal divisions, counties, states, and countries show the nearly endless ways there are to create mayhem. This season, we put our detective skills to the test. This is Season 8, Anything but Murder.

This is Episode 8, where witness intimidation is the featured crime. This is Ace of Hearts by Margaret S. Hamilton

“Ace of Hearts” is Margaret S. Hamilton’s third published short story set in New Orleans, a city she knows and loves, from the manicured acres of City Park to the potholed streets of the Lower Garden District. New Orleans is a city defined by food: fried oyster po’boys, Abita beer, beignets, and chicory coffee. A city of haunting jazz melodies and spectacular Mardi Gras parades. A city that survives adversity and thrives, like Calliope Hebert, the main character of this story.

DELIBERATION

Callie is on a tight timeline with no room for error. She needs our help if she’s going to find the flash drive and save her mother. There are the potential locations for the flash drive:

• House of Rising Sun Dress sign, outside the door to Mama’s apartment
• Krewe stiletto heel, in the dining room on the shelves
• Pin cushion, kept on Mama’s bedside table
• Lipstick tube, given by Mama’s sister
• Broken flashlight, stored in Mama’s bedroom

Here are the clues Callie has to work with:

• Ace downloaded business records from John Readon to a flash drive before he disappeared last Spring
• Mama sold the house and moved the family to the duplex. The furniture is new. Only personal items and Mama’s dress business were moved
• Callie saw Mama shove something into the side of the house when she was hanging up her business sign
• Callie’s aunt gave Mama the tube of lipstick when she came to the party
• The pin cushion was in the draw where Callie found the queen of hearts playing card
• The flashlight Callie tried to use when the lights went out didn’t turn on and sounded like there was something loose inside.
• When Callie asked her mother about the things Ace left, she didn’t seem to know where the information was. The only thing Ace said was “think about our wedding day.”
• The Reardon’s reported a rumor that the flash drive was hidden in the Krewe stilettos.

Where should Callie look for the flash drive?

About Witness Intimidation

Witness intimidation is as old as crime itself. And it actually is a crime – witness intimidation, witness tampering. From the attorney general of Pennsylvania comes the very recent case of Dushawn Ellis who was facing charges of human trafficking. While in jail, he put out a $20,000 hit on the witness. Ellis approached another inmate of the county prison who knew the witness and used that connection and the bounty to video chat with the witness and personally make the threat.

The witness held their ground and Ellis was charged with two counts of felony witness intimidation and one count of obstruction of justice. He was convicted by a jury in February 2024, was sentences to 8 ½ to 22 years. The original human trafficking was ongoing as of that time.

https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/taking-action/verdict-reading-man-found-guilty-of-witness-intimidation-for-ordering-20k-hit-in-human-trafficking-case/

https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/taking-action/reading-man-jailed-up-to-22-years-for-witness-intimidation-after-ordering-20k-hit-in-human-trafficking-case/

ABOUT Margaret S. Hamilton

Margaret S. Hamilton is the author of over thirty short stories, many of them set in the fictional small town of Jericho, Ohio. She has also published stories set in the Dordogne region of southwest France, Cape Cod, New Orleans, and 1950’s Cincinnati.

Margaret’s debut traditional mystery, What the Artist left Behind, is on submission. It was a 2019 Daphne Mainstream Mystery Finalist. She is writing the next two books in her Jericho Mysteries series about amateur sleuth Lizzie Christopher.

Margaret is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America, and blogs monthly on the Writers Who Kill blog. She lives in suburban Cincinnati with her husband and two standard poodles, Jazz and Louie. She is an avid traveler, gardener, and photographer.

Home - The Official Website of Margaret S. Hamilton

Writers Who Kill

WRAP UP

That wraps this episode of Mysteries to Die For. Support our show by subscribing, telling a mystery lover about us, and giving us a five-star review. Check out our NEW website m2d4podcast.com for links to this season’s authors.

Mysteries to Die For is hosted by TG Wolff and Jack Wolff. Ace of Hearts was written by Margaret S. Hamilton. Music and production are by Jack Wolff. Episode art is by TG Wolff. Join us next week for a Toe Tag, which is the first chapter from a fresh release in the mystery, crime, or thriller genre. Then come back in two weeks for our next original story where missing person is the featured murderless crime. It’s The Florida Man Cometh by Jim Winter