A Day in the Life Ch. 02

The chronological order of my stories is listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

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Part 8 - Interrogations

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" screamed the lovely redheaded reporterette from the street in front of Police Headquarters at 7:00am, Wednesday, September 9th. "Channel Two News has learned that the Town & County Police Department has obtained information overnight that should lead to the solution of a body that was found at Ronald Reagan Park yesterday morning, and also a shooting that occurred near the intersection of Jefferson and Riverside Avenues. KXTC reached out to Commander Donald Troy, but he declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation."

"Speaking of the Media," I said as we watched in MCD, "where are my aspiring young journalists?"

"Right behind you, Commander." said Alison Sweet as she came in, Chris King following right behind her. "Sorry we didn't get here sooner."

"That's okay. And you'll definitely want to be here this morning." I said. "We're going to put these two crimes to bed, put some criminals in jail, and then have a little celebration dinner... though this one might be just a pizza party at my Cabin."

"You've solved it?" asked Teddy Parker incredulously.

"Did you guys not get my forwarded email of the lab results?" I asked.

"Uh, yes we did." said Detective Joanne Cummings as she stared into her computer laptop screen. "And yes sir, I think I see where this one is going."

"Yep." said Tanya Perlman as she looked over Joanne's shoulder at the lab results. "We probably should've seen this one yesterday, even before these results came in."

"I... I don't get it." said Parker, looking at the lab results.

"What was your major in college, Parker?" asked Cindy Ross.

"Criminal Justice." said Parker.

"If it had been Chemistry, like the Iron Crowbar here," said Ross, "you'd have had a chance to see it. As it is, this is one the ladies will see before the guys will. Alison, Chris, take a look."

The students looked at the results. "Ohhhh." said Alison. Chris remained befuddled.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I was watching from the darkened anteroom as Parker and Torres interviewed Carlos Domingo. In the anteroom with me were Cindy Ross, Tanya Perlman, Alison and Chris, and Timothy Geiger from Vice.

Domingo's Chase, Lynch & Berry lawyer was also in the Interrogation Room, doing the talking, as Carlos had taken the Fifth and so could not speak.

"Your client is on tape shooting a woman at the scene of the crime." said Parker. "We have facial recognition technology confirming this."

"I have several good people that will testify that Carlos was at a party nowhere near that crime scene at that time." the lawyer said in a smooth but oily voice. He was an older man, Hispanic, graying hair over the ears, and wearing very expensive gold-framed spectacles. His thick mustache was also graying in the middle but not the edges... suggesting some coloring around said edges.

"Your technology is wrong." said the lawyer. "So where is the body of this woman, eh? Where is the gun used to shoot her? I have multiple witnesses. You have absolutely nothing." The lawyer was getting a smug look on his face.

"So where are these witnesses?" asked Parker. "Why haven't they come forward to exonerate your client?"

"You will learn of them at the proper time." said the lawyer. "Now if there is nothing else, I demand you release my client immediately."

"That's not going to happen." said Parker. "He's going to be charged with murder. He'll be arraigned later this morning. Now if you have witnesses, tell us who they are so we can ask them about it. If you have proof of his innocence, now is the time to tell us about it."

"We do not have to prove anything." said the lawyer. "It is for you to prove my client's guilt, which you cannot do. Again, no physical evidence. The time-stamped tapes are vague and unclear. The Facebook tape is not timestamped and will not be admissible in Court. Again, where is this person's body that you claim was shot and killed?"

I knocked on the glass. Parker came to the door and I told him and Diana to come out of there. We went down the hall to Classroom J, where I began speaking.

"Okay, guys, I'm going to have ADA Patterson give you some very serious training on interrogations." I said. "But until then, let's let them sweat for a few minutes in there. I'm fully expecting this guy's father to show up--"

No sooner said than the Duty Desk Sergeant knocked on the door and looked in. "A Manuel Domingo is here. He's angry and is demanding we release his son immediately."

"Ask him to go into Interrogation-A, and I'll be there in a minute." I said. "Alison, Chris, you go with Parker back to the Interrogation anteroom. Parker, wait until I get back before going back in..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When we got down there, Domingo had refused to go into Interrogation-A, and was all but threatening my officers. His lawyer was with him, trying to calm him down.

"Mr. Domingo, I am Commander Troy." I said to him. "How can I help you?"

"Where is my son, you filthy cabron?" the man snarled. He was short, with a balding head and a mustache, and he acted like a thug who owned the world.

"If you'll step into this room, I will explain everything--"

"You will shut your fucking mouth and you will release my son!" the man shouted, putting his (index) finger right up into my face. I stopped Cindy by handing her my red crowbar.

"Hold this, would you, Captain?" I said. "And give me a couple of minutes alone with him. This way, Domingo."

"You do not tell me what to do, cabron!" the man snarled. I grabbed him and pushed him towards Interrogation-A. Cindy stopped his legal beagle from following. Sergeant Rudistan opened the door to Interrogation-A and I pushed Domingo through it, and Rudistan closed the door behind us, leaving us alone.

"You son of a-- UHHK!" Domingo said. I had rushed him, slamming him against the wall. I grabbed his shirt collars in my fists, using my knuckles to pressure his neck, cutting off blood flow and air.

"Shut the fuck up, you piece of dog shit!" I snarled into his face, looking down at him. "You do not come into my Police Headquarters and demand anything of me. You do not come into my Headquarters and put your fucking finger into my face! You show me some fucking respect, or I will beat the living shit out of you!"

With that, I released one collar, bunched my fist, and slammed it hard into the man's soft midsection. He was bent over, gasping and coughing. He had not learned, as he said "When I am done with you, you will be lying dead on the street-- UKK!" I slammed my fist into his midsection again. He bent over, vomiting onto the floor. I pushed him down to his knees.

"You will be the one lying dead, and right here on this floor in your own puke if you say another word, shit eater!" I snarled. Grabbing his collar at the back of his neck, I pulled him back to his feet. I opened the door and violently pushed the man outside into the hallway.

"Get this piece of garbage out of my Headquarters!" To the stunned lawyer, I said "What do you have to say?"

"I apologize for my client's anger." said the man. That was a much better start. "He is simply worried about his son."

"He'd better be worried. Very worried. I said. "His son is about to be charged with murder. Now are you here to see the son?"

"That would be best, if I could see him?" the lawyer said, seemingly unfazed by any of what was going on around him.

"Sergeant Rudistan, take this lawyer to see Carlos in I-1." I said. "Desk Sergeant! Get someone to clean up the fucking mess in I-Alpha." I looked around, seeing that Manuel Domingo was still in the entrance lobby, which irritated me.

"And why is this piece of shit still in my Headquarters? Did I stutter when I said to kick him outside?" Officers rushed to get Domingo out of the building before I had the chance to take the red crowbar back out of Cindy's hands...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"You okay?" Cindy asked me as we went back down the hallway.

"Yeah." I said. "Had to teach that bastard some manners, though. And it was more than that; I had to show him who the alpha-dog is around here, and it ain't him. It was a matter of manhood."

"You men and your pissing contests." Cindy said as we passed by the door to Vice. I looked inside, seeing everyone assigned there busily working at their desks as Cindy continued: "I think you defended your turf pretty well, but speaking of pissing contests: you could've pissed in his face and made a bigger mess in I-Alpha."

I laughed. "I'll keep that one in mind for the next time that bastard gives me shit." I said.

"So what's next?" Cindy asked.

"Let's get this wrapped up." I said. "I wasn't kidding. It's time to charge Carlos with murder. Let's get Paulina out of her office."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"They're arguing in there." said Parker as he, Torres and the students watched. "We can't listen in, as it's privileged, but it's pretty heated."

"All right, guys." I said. "I've got the tapes loaded, and the lab reports here. Alison, Chris, watch this closely. I'm going close this bastard out, once and for all." I again handed Cindy the red crowbar, then followed Paulina into the Interrogation Room, Torres following me. All conversation in the Interrogation room immediately ceased.

"All right, guys," I said as I sat down next to Paulina, "this is Assistant District Attorney Patterson, and I am Commander Troy. I will re-read you your rights, Mr. Domingo." I did so, then had Torres repeat the words in Spanish. Domingo refused to acknowledge the rights had been read, but since he'd taken the Fifth, I could understand. I just said "Let the cameras and record show that you've been re-read your rights in English and Spanish, and that you have legal counsel present."

"What is the point of this, Officer Troy?" asked Carlos's Chase, Lynch & Berry (CLB) lawyer.

"You know my title is 'Commander', Counselor." I said to him. "I suggest you show me the respect of using it. And the point of us being here is to make it official: Carlos Domingo, you are being charged with the first-degree murder of one Raoul Martinez, a human being."

"Who the fuck is that?" asked Carlos. The other lawyer, who had come with the father Manuel, bent down and whispered something into Carlos's ear.

The CLB lawyer tried to keep his voice smooth and condescending as he said "What is this silly business? First your Detectives were saying Carlos murdered a woman. Now you say some man? This is ridiculous and I demand you stop this charade and release my client!"

"Not gonna happen." said Paulina. "Commander Troy has put together a case that just might get your client the death penalty."

"Stop it, stop it!" intoned the CLB legal beagle. "I am so tired of these shenanigans from Officer Troy. Bullying innocent people in his custody, exercising police brutality on Bryan Thatcher, and now this browbeating of my innocent client."

"Are you finished with your crap?" I asked levelly. "If so, I'll get down to business showing my case."

The lawyer leaned back as if ready to hear a contemptibly false story. "Okay, where is the body of this person my client supposedly killed? Where is the gun? Where is your evidence?"

"The body is in my morgue in the basement of the Crime Lab building." I said. "He was pulled out of the River yesterday, after efforts were made to hide the fact that Raoul was a man pretending to be a woman. Let's watch some TV, shall we?"

I pressed the remote and the TV came on, showing the Facebook video. "The person who shot this video has given us an affidavit and will testify as to the time of the taping. It will match the other time-stamped tapes showing the same thing. You may try to have it struck as evidence, but I think it'll be included."

I played the video, then stopped it at a point where Carlos was kissing the woman. "Carlos!" I said, "here you are kissing another man! Oh, he may be dressed as a woman, but that's a man, Carlos! Are you a ho-mo-sexxxx-ual, Carlos?" Carlos's face was beet red, and I could see anger was welling up inside of him. I knew Cindy was going to be pissed at me for that, also, but I had a case to solve and resolve. I played more tape.

"So here one of your buddies comes up and whispers something to you." I said. "Oh, we know who he is and we have a warrant out for his arrest, and I'm willing to bet he'll turn State's Evidence and testify against you, Carlos. And what will he say? I'm willing to bet he's going to say he told you that this 'woman' you'd been dating actually was a man... a transvestite."

I played more tape, showing the shooting. I said "It's a funny thing... we can see where the wounds are.. and they match where the male in my morgue was shot. So I'm betting this so-called woman was holding out on sexual intercourse, but he wast giving you really juicy, wet blowjobs, am I right? So you were letting another guy suck your cock, Carlos?"

"Stop badgering my client." said the Chase, Lynch & Berry lawyer.

"Badgering?" I said with a sardonic laugh. "Are you frickin' kidding me? What's going to happen when Carlos's father finds out that his son was dating a tranny fag? What'll happen when everyone Carlos knows finds out about this? And you say that *I* am badgering him?"

Carlos's face was no longer red with anger, but much more pale with fear as he realized his predicament. "What... what can I do--"

"SHUT UP!" screamed the CLB lawyer. "You've pled the Fifth!"

"Perhaps, Carlos," said the other lawyer, much more quietly, "you should name me as your legal counsel and ask this gentleman to leave." The CLB lawyer was almost gasping, but said nothing. Carlos just nodded, then turned to me and said "He's my lawyer now." The Chase, Lynch & Berry lawyer got up to go, and I could not resist taking a shot.

"Another lost client." I said. "And no police brutality of him at all, dontcha know?" The lawyer looked daggers at me, then left.

"I need a moment with Carlos." said the lawyer.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In the anteroom, there was almost an explosion, which ultimately boiled down to one question:

"So the guy in the river was the woman Carlos shot?" gasped Chris.

"Yep." I said. "The two cases are really one. The lab report confirmed that traces of eyeliner and lipstick had been found on Raoul's body, as the the bismuth and titanium compounds are ingredients of makeup. It's pretty clear what happened-- oh, they want us back inside..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"What can we do?" asked the lawyer, his voice nearly a whisper. "What is the best we can do for my client?"

"Second degree murder." said Paulina. "Act of passion. Twenty years without parole, or twenty to life with possibility of parole in less than twenty for good behavior, but risking longer than twenty."

"What about keeping this quiet?" said the lawyer. "If my client takes that, can this be kept from becoming public?" Paulina looked at me.

"If you plead guilty at the arraignment this afternoon," I said, "then maybe, just maybe, we can get this past the Media. But I can't promise anything at all. If the Media gets onto it, there is nothing I can do to stop them from reporting on it."

"Can you conceal the details of... of the nature of the victim?" the lawyer asked.

"No." said Paulina. "We're not going to publicize the lab reports or police reports, but they'll be there if the Media happens to look for them."

"If you plead guilty," I said, "my report is simply going to say you murdered Raoul Martinez, and I'll put as few details into it as I can get away with. ADA Patterson will be working with the judge on the plea agreement. But the bottom line is that you confess to the crime, plead guilty at the hearing, take your 20 years, and then we go from there."

"And you need to understand that the judge may not accept a plea deal." Paulina said. "Usually they do, but they're not required to. All I can do is present it to the judge and hope it works out. But it's your best shot. Go to trial, even take time to let this linger, and the Press will be all over it..."

Part 9 - Solution

At 5:30pm, the pizza party commenced at The Cabin. Laura had called to excuse herself, saying that little Jim was feeling much better but still needed to rest and be monitored by her.

Present at the party were: Alison, Chris, Teddy Parker, Joanne Cummings, Theo Washington, Tanya Perlman, Timothy Geiger, Cindy Ross, Paulina Patterson, and myself. Teresa Croyle and Martin Nash had previously-made appointments. Also present were my mother Phyllis, Chief Bennett, J.R. Barnes and Christina Cho of the Crime Lab (who I practically had to kidnap to get her to attend), and Molly Ross Evans, Cindy's sister and heavily pregnant with my child.

"Wow, that was just amazing." said Alison to Cindy and Molly within my hearing. "How did he put that together? Does he do things like that all the time?"

"He'll talk about it in a few minutes." Cindy said. "And yes, he does things like that all the time. This case actually was relatively easy, compared to some that he's solved before."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"So Mom," I said as she passed by, "I haven't seen much of you in ages. What have you been up to?"

"Up to no good as usual, as you would say whenever I asked Elizabeth that." my mother said with a teasing grin on her face. "But seriously, I've been doing some babysitting of my new great-grandchild, finding handsome young men to... uh, ah, to 'date'... and visiting with friends, chatting with them. Completely uninteresting to men like you."

"Yeah, right." I said, grinning. "How's that new baby situation going to be resolved?"

"Oh, Jeanine will have him, and take him up to Lake Amengi-Nunagen when she's feeling stronger. She's still not one hundred percent after that very tough delivery, you know." Phyllis said. "Todd has been spending time with the baby, and will hope to have some custody of the child, especially when he reaches school age. Todd has full custody of little Doug, you know, and I'm helping with that when I can. Teresa has also been very motherly towards little Doug, which I'm very glad to see."

"Good." I said. My mother then excused herself to talk with Cindy when my partner came into the room. I used the opportunity to get some pizza and talk with Tim Geiger. Opportunities for Vice Detectives to talk with the Commander directly were fewer than either side would like, so I got Geiger to open up and talk about a few of the drug cases he was working on. Fortunately, there was not much traffic into or out of our Town & County.

"Commander," Geiger said, 'it may be a huge coincidence, but we were just looking into Domingo Shipping as a possibility for some backdoor smuggling. Not much, probably not drugs but contraband, but this murder case may have nipped their operation before it even got started."

"That's very possible." I said. "I'm sure you're going to keep looking into them. Even if they close off the pipelines, you guys might get onto something that leads us to other perps."