Chapter 26
from March/April 2001 Grain Journal
Bob
Alsup, chairman of the board at Northern Star Farmers Cooperative,
has hired ex-Assistant Manager Gil Maier as a farm hand. The chairman
has made it clear to Gil that he would like him to continue his
investigation into suspicious activities at the cooperative, including
the disappearance of corn and soybeans and the mysterious death
of football star Marcus Grover five years earlier. Maier has searched
slain Superintendent Sollie Finkel's house and found a postcard
from Michelle Lofgren, daughter of Board Member Eddie Lofgren and
Marcus Grover's high school sweetheart. Michelle had disappeared
from the town of Monrovia shortly after Grover's death and had not
been heard from since.
Chapter 25
from January/February 2001 Grain Journal
Following
the apparent murder of Sollie Finkel, the superintendent at Northern
Star Farmers Cooperative, Monrovia Detective Lt. Steven Kellerman
questions Assistant Manager Gil Maier. During the interview, it
becomes apparent to Gil that he has become a suspect in the murder.
Gil is told not to leave town. Next, Bob Alsup, the cooperative's
chairman, has insisted on a meeting with Gil at Loretta's cafe.
Chapter 24
from November/December 2000 Grain Journal
Sollie
Finkel is dead. Gil Maier and Johnnie Littlefeather have recovered the
elevator superintendent's body from inside a concrete tank at the Northern
Star Farmers Cooperative elevator, where he had been engulfed in corn
and suffocated. To Gil, it was pretty clearly murder _ Sollie's lifeline
cut, his ladder into the tank pushed away from the hatchway, his lockout
device forcibly removed from the sweep auger controls, and the sweep auger
running, pulling the superintendent down into the grain. Now, Gil faces
police questioning.
Chapter 23
from September/October 2000 Grain Journal
Superintendent Sollie Finkel has apparently
been engulfed in grain in a concrete tank at the Northern Star Farmers
Cooperative elevator. He had been checking out a hot spot the grain
temperature monitoring system had registered inside the tank when
someone apparently forcibly removed Sollie's lockout device from
the sweep auger control for the tank, cut Sollie's lifeline, and
switched on the sweep auger. Now, his coworkers are desperately
attempting to find Sollie and remove him from the tank, using a
pneumatic conveyor to remove the grain that has engulfed him.
Chapter 22
from July/August 2000 Grain Journal
After Assistant Manager Gil Maier's disastrous
attempt to follow a load of stolen soybeans to Minnesota, General
Manager Ole Torvaldsson has fired Gil and given him an hour to get
off of the property of Northern Star Farmers Cooperative. Meanwhile,
Sollie Finkel has gone into tank number three to check out a hot
spot registering on the grain temperature monitoring system. He
appears to have become trapped inside the tank after someone apparently
forcibly removed Sollie's lockout from the tank's sweep auger controls
and switched on the auger. A winch tripod set up on the elevator
roof holding a lifeline appears to have been cut.
Chapter 21
from May/June 2000 Grain Journal
After an unsuccessful attempt to track
down the delivery of a stolen truckload of soybeans to a feed mill
in Minnesota, Gil Maier returns to the Northern Star Farmers Cooperative
elevator in Monrovia to hear that General Manager Ole Torvaldsson
is on the warpath, presumably over his assistant manager's unexcused
absence from the office. The following morning, Gil arrives at work
to find Torvaldsson, Superintendent Sollie Finkel, and the strange
technician Calvin Fogerson huddled around a printout from the elevator's
grain temperature monitoring system. The system has recorded an
unexplained rise in temperature in a portion of one of the elevator's
concrete grain tanks, possibly indicating some corn going out of
condition.
Chapter 20
from Mar/Apr 2000 Grain Journal
After following a load of apparently stolen
soybeans through the night from Northern Star Cooperative to a soy
crushing plant in Mankato, MN, Assistant Manager Gil Maier is attacked
and left unconscious. He awakens before dawn to find his pickup
truck in a ditch aand the spark plugs missing. After making his
way downtown, he contacts the coop to find out that Gerneal Nanger
Ole Torvaldsson is furious with him after meeing with board member
Eddie Lofgren. Another call reveals that an outfit called Blue Dky
Fams had made a soybean delivery to the Minnesota plant overnight.
Chapter 19
from Jan/Feb 2000 Grain Journal
Gil Maier, assistant manager at Northern
Star Farmers Cooperative, has followed a semi-load of apparently
stolen soybeans to Mankato, MN, where it is taken to Union Feeds
and Milling Co., a large soybean processor. Watching from the edge
of a vacant field, he turns around to encounter a dark figure, which
is the last thing he remembers.
Chapter 18
from Nov/Dev 1999 Grain Journal
Gil Maier,has been lying in wait to discover
who might be stealing grain from Northern Star Farmers Cooperative's
grain elevator in Monrovia, IA. His efforts have paid off, as a
pair of thieves have pulled up to the elevator with a semi-triuck
under the cover of darkness and now are loading soybeans into it.
Because the men are masked, he can't tell who they are.
Chapter 17
from Sept/Oct 1999 Grain Journal
Gil Maier and Sollie Finkel suspect that
whoever is stealing grain from Northern Star Farmers Cooperative
prefers to strike on Tuesday nights when Sollie habitually takes
part in a poker game at the Monrovia American Legion post. This
Tuesday night, Gil plans to lie in wait for the thief and follow
his truck, hoping to determine who is behind the scheme.
Chapter 16
from July/Aug 1999 Grain Journal
Gil Maier, assistant manager at Northern
Star Farmers Cooperative; Coop Chairman Bob Alsup; and Board Member
Curly Petersen are visiting with Carl Kershaw, who was principal
of Monrovia High School at the time football star Marcus Grover
plunged to his death from the roof of the Monrovia elevator. Apparently,
Carl had anticipated their visit, alerted by newspaper editor Tom
Hassekmaier, who has been showing a strong interest in the mystery
surrounding MarcusÕ death.
Chapter 15
from May/June 1999 Grain Journal
On a weekend fishing trip to Lake Okoboji,
IA, Gil Meier, assistant manager at Northern Star Farmers Cooperative;
Coop Chairman Bob Alsup; and Board Member Curly Peter-sen decide
to pay a surprise visit to the summer home of Board Member Eddie
Lofgren, which is located on the lake shore. They spot EddieÕs wife,
Helen, working in the yard, but as she sees the three men approaching
the boat dock on the property, she runs inside and slams the door.
Chapter 14
from March/April 1999 Grain Journal
A staff meeting at Northern Star Farmers
Cooperative to finalize plans for a bulk weigh scale project at
the Pottawatomie branch is interrupted by the arrival of Cletus
Hale, the state warehouse inspector assigned to this part of Iowa.
He's at the elevator for his periodical audit of grain inventory
and records. Dottie, the bookkeeper, lets slip in conversation with
Cletus that she always bakes her co-worker's carrot cake recipe
for him. Assistant Manager Gil Maier's suspicions are aroused, and
after Cletus leaves to measure grain in the elevator's storage tanks,
Gil confronts her.
Chapter 13
from Jan/Feb 1999 Grain Journal
The Capital Expenditures Committee at Northern
Star Farmers Cooperative is meeting at the headquarters elevator
in Monrovia, IA, to review plans to add a bulk weigh loadout scale
at the coop's branch elevator in Pottawatomie. As board members
and management staff review a computer schematic of the design Calvin
Fogerson developed with the building contractor, Assistant Manager
Gil Maier receives a phone call from the editor of the Monrovia
Beacon.
Chapter 12
from Nov/Dec 1998 Grain Journal
Assistant Manager Gil Maier and Superintendent
Sollie Finkel have agreed to work together to discover what is happening
to grain Sollie alleges is being stolen from Northern Star Farmers
Cooperative on a regular basis. The plan is for Gil to keep watch
on the main elevator in Monrovia while Sollie attends his regular
Tuesday night poker game, the night Sollie believes the thieves
are likely to strike. Meanwhile, Gil is continuing his investigations
into the strange occurrences at the cooperative on his own.
Chapter 11
from Sept/Oct 1998 Grain Journal
Late in the evening, Assistant Manager
Gil Maier has caught Superintendent Sollie Finkle on the roof of
Northern Star Farmers Cooperative's headquarters elevator, measuring
grain levels inside one of the concrete tanks. Someone is stealing
grain from the elevator, Sollie tells Gil, and at least one inside
accomplice is using inflated shrink numbers to cover up the theft.
Chapter 10
from July/August 1998 Grain Journal
Russell Engle, an old army buddy of Gil
Maier and now a Chicago police detective, has examined football
star Marcus Grover's suicide note and believe be a forgery. Russ
says that Grover's death may have been a homicide. As evening falls
over Monrovia, IA, Gil has spotted someone moving around on top
of the Northern Star Farmers Cooperative elevator and decides to
investigate.
Chapter 9
from May/June 1998 Grain Journal
Gil Maier has started his quiet investigation
into the goings on at Northern Star Farmers Cooperative at the obvious
place, the Monrovia Beacon newspaper, where he obtained clippings
related to the death of Marcus Grover five years ago. Surprisingly,
the editor had managed to obtain a copy of the suicide note found
in GroverÕs high school locker and had reprinted it.
Chapter 8
from March/April 1998 Grain Journal
Everyone including Assistant Manager Gil
Maier's Uncle Arthur, a farmer in north central Iowa, is telling
him strange tales about Northern Star Farmers Cooperative, its General
Manager Ole Torvaldsson, and Board Member Eddie Lofgren. Gil has
vowed to get to the bottom of all the mysterious goings on, including
the apparent suicide of football star Marcus Grover five years earlier
and the strange behavior of many of his coworkers.
Chapter 7
from Jan./Feb. 1998 Grain Journal
Gil Maier and Ole Torvaldsson have met
over lunch with Bob Alsup, chairman of the board of Northern Star
Farmers Cooperative, and board member Eddie Lofgren, who seemed
to play a role in the events surrounding the death of Marcus Grover
five years earlier. During the meal, Eddie hints that Gil could
profit from speculative investments on the commodities markets,
but Gil shoots down that idea by citing the coopÍs prohibition of
that sort of activity.
Chapter 6
from Nov./Dec. 1997 Grain Journal
Gil Maier and Ole Torvaldsson are on their
way to meet with Bob Alsup, chairman of the board of Northern Star
Farmers Cooperative, and board member Eddie Lofgren for lunch at
LorettaÍs Cafe. Gil already has been informed about EddieÍs volatile
personality and his role in the tragic tale of high school football
star Marcus Grover Ü EddieÍs daughter, Michelle, had been dating
Marcus, before the youthÍs apparent suicide after Eddie had forbidden
her to see the boy. After MarcusÍ death, Michelle disappeared from
town.
Chapter 5
from Sept./Oct. 1997 Grain Journal
Assistant Manager Gil Maier has heard the
strange and terrible story of Marcus Grover from Superintendent
Sollie Finkel. Five years previously, Grover had been the town of
MonroviaÍs football hero, leading the high school varsity Buccaneers
to an undefeated season and earning a full scholarship to the University
of Nebraska. But the following spring, Grover fell to his death
from the top of Northern Star CooperativeÍs headquarters elevator
in Monrovia, an apparent suicide following some sort of "girl
trouble."
Chapter 4
from July/August 1997 Grain Journal
Gil Maier has been meeting the staff at
Northern Star Farmers Cooperative during a puzzling first day on
the job. Among others, heÍs met bookkeeper Sherry Kraus, grain merchandiser
Howie Carr, and the flamboyantly athletic handyman Johnny Littlefeather.
Now heÍs on his way to the headhouse to meet up with superintendent
Sollie Finkel, thinking about general manager Ole TorvaldssonÍs
admonition that Sollie can have a few ñqueer notionsî at times.
Chapter 3
from May/June 1997 Grain Journal
His first day on the job at Northern Star
Farmers Cooperative as assistant manager, Gil Maier arrives at the
flagship elevator to spot General Manager Ole Torvaldsson on the
phone with his broker in Chicago. Torvaldsson is hunched over a
small laptop computer, and when the call is through, he carefully
places the portable computer in a wall safe. That piques Maier's
curiosity, but since it is his first day, he decides against bringing
it up right away.
Chapter 2
from March/April 1997 Grain Journal
Ole Torvaldsson, general manager at Northern
Star Farmers Cooperative in Monrovia, a town of 5,000 in north-central
Iowa, has hired Gil Maier as assistant manager. Maier comes from
a military background, having served as an MP in the Army in Germany
and gained a small reputation back in the States for having cracked
a ring of drug dealers operating out of military bases in that country.
Chapter 1
from Jan./Feb. 1997 Grain Journal
The opening to Grain Journal's murder mystery
set at a Grain Elevator in Monrovia, Iowa. Written by Ed Zdrojewski.
