Peril in the Pines Ch. 05

Dolan cut in. "I don't want to talk about it until the commander gets here. This is the sort of thing that could get him a legislative hearing on top of criminal trials and who knows what else. People get murdered over less. I was so anxious to see if there really is a mole in our department, and now that I see this picture I'm almost wishing I didn't know."

We sat back and made small talk until the Commander came through the door, so tall that he had to duck his head to clear the door frame. He looked surprised to see the Sheriff, but forced a smile and shook his hand. The Sheriff introduced Vince and me, and I got up and offered him my chair. I think he'd have been more comfortable to stand, but he accepted and sat down. Up to this point, he hadn't looked at the TV screen. Once he was settled in the chair, he turned toward it. "Hey, that's Ralph, isn't it?"

Dolan looked miserable. "Yes, unless he's got a twin brother."

"Well, suppose you tell me the story. Start at the beginning. I want to hear it all. Don't leave out anything."

The Sheriff said, "Jack is the only man who's been through it all from the beginning. Go ahead, Jack, take it from the top."

I glanced at the Sheriff, who was seated on the sofa looking at me. He winked at me and gave a slight movement of his left hand, which I could see held a small recorder. "Commander, this all began before I'd even joined the Sheriff's department. I was out in the woods with my fiancee for a picnic, and we were shot at." From there, I laid out the whole scenario, ending up with getting the CID involved and using my office as a secure receiving post for the audio and video transmissions.

Dolan picked up the story then, explaining that the CID was trying to find a leak that was tipping off various suspects before their places were raided, and why the man in the left hand picture was the last guy they'd have suspected. In fact, he said, there must be more people involved.

The commander looked at all of us before he said anything. "Here's what we're going to do. I'll be in the office of the FBI's Special Agent in Charge for the state, this afternoon. We're going to turn everything over to the feds and let them do their thing. We must all keep this in strictest confidence. The feds will have our heads if we let this leak out, and I will if they don't. They can be hard to work with, and they may want to shut you out of it, even though we have several homicide charges here to hang around the necks of the people running the brickyard, as you call it. Just be patient and eventually we'll have enough evidence from their investigation to make all of the criminal cases that will come out of this.

"You've all done a great job on this case. Now you've uncovered a serious problem in my department and I'm sure you understand that it's going to cause me a lot of headaches until I get it straightened out. It'll probably turn out that none of you will get your pictures in the paper, because the FBI likes to consider that their perk, but after this is all over I promise that you'll get commendation letters that can go into your personnel files, and take home to show your families. And even use in a re-election campaign, Sheriff. In the meantime, you have my thanks. Ask anybody who's ever worked with me and they'll tell you that I don't forget my friends." He started to leave and then turned back to add, "Or my enemies"

The commander left. The Sheriff turned to me and said, "It looks to me as if this wraps up our case on the brickyard. We'll open new case files on the homicides, and they'll be left in abeyance until someone is convicted of a felony. Then we'll add a reference to each case file showing that conviction, and the homicides will be charged to the perpetrators as murders arising from the commission of a felony, and they'll go to the county attorney for prosecution.

"Now I've still got one question. Who are the people in these photos?"

Dolan sighed. "The one on the left, who acts like the boss of the outfit, is Deputy Commander for Internal Affairs. He's a miserable SOB, but I can't understand how he'd have the connections to the crooks who are their customers. That's why I think there are others involved in this, probably detectives in major crimes or narcotics, or both. The guy on the right looks to me like a long time patrol officer who retired last year. I'm dead sure of the IA guy, and less sure of the other one. But they'll use facial recognition software and make a positive ID. If that is the retired guy, he'll sing like a canary to protect his pension and they'll get all the rest of the guys from him."

The Sheriff nodded, and said, "Well, the commander said it all. This was handled very well by you guys, and it's good to see that teamwork still wins ballgames. Anything you need, Dolan, you know where to find me." With that as his exit line, he departed.

I nodded to Dolan, said "Ditto," and Vince and I left as well.

As far as I could see, the brickyard case was was all over. But sometimes it's impossible to see everything.