Break-In Ch. 04

This story is part of an ongoing series. 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, racism, 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 16 - Wrench In The Gears (continued)

I could not believe what I was hearing.

"I cannot believe what I am hearing." I said. "Like I just said, we don't even know if this isn't a self-defense shooting."

"We don't think it is." Savannah said. "I'm taking it to the Grand Jury. And I expect your Police Department's full cooperation. If you won't work with us, then I'll bypass you and go directly to Captain Michaels."

"Curb your dog, Walters." Teresa said venomously. "Neither she nor you dictate terms to us."

Miriam fired back "But your vaunted Police Commander thinks he can dictate terms to me on who I assign to cases."

I stood up. "I'm not rehashing this. It's your political funeral, Miriam. And I won't be helping you in your attempt to lynch an innocent man; in fact, if you do indict him, I'll be fighting you all the way. Excuse me, Chief." With that, I went to the door and exited the room. The Chief did not attempt to stop me...

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

I went back into Classroom 'E' and stood at the end of the table as Teresa came in a few seconds later. "Everyone, listen up. Walters and Fineman want to take this to the Grand Jury, and indict Stanley Locklear for murder."

As gasps went through the room, I said "Commander Croyle, you are my witness to this. I am ordering all of you, and all of MCD, Intel, Vice, and the Uniformed Officers, to not cooperate with D.A. Walters nor ADA Fineman on this case. No one, and I mean no one in the TCPD not named 'Chief Moynahan', is to even speak to ADA Fineman, on this case nor on any case in the future. Ever."

Me: "If ADA Fineman attempts to contact you or speak to you, you are to tell her that Commander Donald Troy has personally ordered you to not speak to her, and you're to report the contact directly to myself or Commander Croyle. Directly to us. You can cc: the email to your direct chain-of-command boss, but that email should be addressed primarily to me. Captain Michaels, I am expecting you to not only comply yourself, but to enforce my orders with everyone under your command. Are my orders clear?"

"Yes sir." Claire said.

"Good." I said, then sat down. "Okay, any new ideas in the few minutes we were gone to deal with the trash?" I saw eyebrows lift at that; the Detectives were realizing that their Police Commander was more than a little furious with the District Attorney's Office.

Theo said "Sir, we were discussing Tom Maple being a Big-Boy-wannabee, and you didn't like the idea?"

Teresa glanced over at me and held up the piece of paper. I stated out loud what I'd put on that piece of paper, saying: "Your ideas were very good, and I agree with some of it. But I suspect that it's the other way around: BigPharmaCorp brought in Tom Maple with the idea he'd become a Big Boy, but he ended up rejecting them."

Me: "He left after two years, and never went back. But he did see some things in his associations with them, or maybe they taught him those things and he left anyway."

Me: "He went back to School, he made new contacts, he really prepared for his new career and new business. While in grad school, he did not associate with the Taus, who were the sons of the Big Boys; he despised them. But he did associate with their sorority equivalents, the Pi Omegas. That might've been to get the easy sex he was getting from them, but there were contacts to be made there."

Me: "While I think he and Tia might have a real and loving marriage, he certainly did well for his business by marrying her, so that was a good idea of yours, Mr. Roark. And yes, Tom may have known Marla in undergraduate school, and they were having sex for years. But Marla was not a good wife for Tom's future and he knew it, probably from the time he was an undergrad, so he never married her."

Me: "For her part, Tia knew where her bread was buttered, so she may have known her husband was banging Marla as well as other women, and just said nothing. And I have no evidence for this, but Tom might have been tapping Harriet Hogue as well as Marla. For him to tell her to give up the partnership in favor of her husband, and take the much lesser role of the company president, and for her to do it? Yeah, someone had someone wrapped around his finger... well, maybe it wasn't his finger."

Everyone laughed at that, then I continued: "And the inferences from that start piling up: it occurs to me that Marla asked Tom to consider bringing Stanley into the company, and he did. And I would not be a bit surprised to learn that Harriet, and possibly Tia, too, demanded of Tom and Chuck to chuck Stanley, not only as a potential partner, but from employment in the firm, out of hatred for Marla."

As everyone nodded as they considered all that, I went on: "But... we have absolutely no proof that anything that leads to an intent to murder Tom and Chuck... yes?"

Joanne Warner had held up her hand. When I called upon her, she said "Sir, we still have discrepancies in Stanley and Marla's stories, and that means someone is lying to the Police at the very least. I'd like to have at least some of us Detectives continue to pursue this case."

Teresa replied "How do you propose to do that? Especially if we can't get a warrant to obtain company data?"

Joanne said "We can still go into Maple & Hogue, and interview all of their employees. And if Tia Maple or, more likely, Harriet Hogue tries to stop that, then we make an arrest for obstruction of justice, or at least interference with a Police investigation. And then we have probable cause to get warrants for their finances."

Roark Coleman raised his hand (what is this, fourth grade? I thought to myself). I nodded to him and he said "Sir, I'd also like to pursue this angle of the marriage counselor, why Mrs. Locklear continued to see him even though Mr. Locklear broke it off, and maybe further investigate the money she was paying him with. I speak as a Town & County Public Service employee when I say the amounts Dr. Frost was charging was a LOT for a County Librarian to be able to pay out of that County salary."

Everyone laughed at that, and I said "I am the choir and you are preaching to it when it comes to our pay. And you guys are earning yours with the good ideas I'm hearing. Okay, y'all can keep looking into it. Lieutenant Davis, you are in charge of the continuing investigation. Lieutenant Milton, work harmoniously with Lieutenant Davis and his people. Captain Michaels, wash your hands of this. I have something else I want you to be working on."

"Sir," said Teresa, "is there anything in particular to which you'd like to draw the Detectives's attention? Like who you think might be the guilty party here?" Creating trouble with that question, she was. Succeeding, she did.

"All right." I conceded. "There are five possibilities here. What are they?"

"He's guilty, she's not." Joanne said quickly, a little too quickly.

"She's guilty, he's not." Roark replied in retaliatory response.

"Neither are guilty. It was a tragic accident." said Jerome Davis.

Theo said "All that's left is 'both are guilty', so I'll take that for the fun of it."

"So what's the fifth?" Claire asked.

Teddy Parker quipped: "What Marla should have taken when Commander Troy asked where she put the bullets. That was the first time I've ever seen someone's eyes literally bug out of their head." Everyone erupted in laughter over that, including me.

"Seriously, split Theo's answer in two." I said, getting everyone back on track. "The fourth overall possibility is that both are guilty and they are in it together. And the fifth possibility is that both are guilty, but each of them did not realize the other was guilty... that they acted separately." Everyone nodded as they considered those new ideas.

I got up. "Captain Michaels, Commander Croyle, you're with me. The rest of you, go to work. And don't twist facts to suit theories..."

Part 17 - Come To Jesus

Ten minutes later, the Police Chief called me, Teresa, and Claire Michaels into the Chief's Conference Room. Waiting for us were the Chief, the Sheriff, Deputy Chief Muscone, and Chief Deputy Sheriff Ross. We sat in our 'normal' places: the Chief at the end, me to his left, the Sheriff to my left, Tanya to the Chief's right and Teresa across from the Sheriff, and Cindy wedged between my other two Angels. Claire was 'invited' to sit at the far end, in front of the monitor on the wall behind her.

"Okayyyy, Cap-tnnnn." drawled the Chief. "We are meeting with you about three thinnnngs. First, Detective Washington's grievance against yoooo for the per-ceeeeved accusation of insubordi-nay-shunnnn. Second, the situay-shunnn regarding the Detective partnerships. And thirrrrd, Loo-tenant Davisss. Commander Muscone?"

"Yes sir." Tanya said. "Captain, I've been in discussions with the Union as well as the Captain's Union. They agreed with me that this is a very small issue. They also agreed with what Theo said in making the grievance: that he was doing it to protect himself from you, because you made what he considers a false accusation against him and you outrank him."

Tanya slid a document down the table, and Teresa helped it along to Claire. Tanya said "That is a statement by you that you're not going to take further action against Detective Washington over the perceived insubordination. It does not say you were wrong in any way, just that you're not going to press it going forward. Once you sign it, this matter is closed all the way around."

Claire made sure to read the document thoroughly, and before she made a move to sign it she asked "What if another insubordination with Detective Washington comes up? And another? I can't use this incident to show a pattern?"

Teresa said "Captain, you really need to choose your spots and your battles much more carefully. If you're going to nitpick every little time someone doesn't answer a question in the manner you like, then this will become a major issue with the Union... and you will totally lose the support of the Police Officers under your command."

Claire said "As I said before, the reason I did that was because I perceived it to be part of a continuing problem with the MCD Lieutenant's lack of decorum and leadership."

"And we will discuss that in a minute." I said. "For now, you need to decide whether or not you're going to help resolve this first issue by signing that document. As Commander Muscone said, it's not an admission in any way that you were wrong; in fact, I would not allow you to sign it if it was. It's your call either way, but make a decision."

Claire signed the document, and it made its way back to Tanya. "Thank yoooo, Captain." Chief Moynahan said. "Commander Troy?"

"Thank you, Chief." I said. To Claire I said "I allowed you to make most of the partner changes you wanted, the exception being J.J. Perry and Grubby Paul. However, it has not worked out at all---"

"With respect, sir, I disagree." said Claire. "I think there are some positive results from it, so far. And we haven't given it very much time. I believe over the next few months it will really work out well."

"You're not getting those few months." I said. "I had to tell the Chief and the Sheriff that I made a mistake, that I was wrong. And where I was wrong was in not anticipating the incredibly bad morale the changes produced. The morale of the Detectives is as shredded as the old blanket my dogs sleep on."

Teresa said "If I may, sir?" I nodded, and Teresa turned to Claire and said "Captain, Police Officers all over the Nation are retiring, retiring early, or resigning, because of a climate in some cities that is incredibly hostile to Police. But not here. The only Officers we've lost in the last few months are retirements after years of public service, or dirtbags that are not worthy of wearing the TCPD uniform."

Teresa: "And a lot of the reason for that is because of that man right there." She pointed at me, then continued: "They know, as I know, that Commander Troy has their backs, he is right there with them, and he is not playing the politicians's games with our Officers's lives. We get more applications out of the Academy than the next ten Police Departments put together. People want to work here."

Teresa: "So when I find out that Detectives in this Police Force are putting out résumés, looking for work elsewhere, that they are not only willing but seeking to leave a Police Force where they could be learning from the Iron Crowbar, this Sheriff, and this Police Chief... then I know something is badly wrong. And the damaged morale based upon and caused by the partnership changes are what's wrong."

Claire looked defeated as she nodded. "I thought it would do a lot of good, and bring our junior Detectives up to speed faster."

Sheriff Griswold growled: "Rest assured, the Iron Crowbar will get them up to speed faster than they'll get each other there. And the Chief and I had to admit that we've made a mistake, also... we've tried to get the Iron Crowbar to sit back and delegate, and not micromanage. But when it comes to teaching, as well as making sure it's done right the first time? He's the very best at that. The very best."

I said "And that's because I learned from the best... you, Sheriff."

"Good asskissing skills, Crowbar." the Sheriff growled. "Now fix this mess."

"Yes sir." I said. "Captain, it's not that your idea was bad, just that the unintended consequences were more harmful than any good that was done. So I'm going to reverse myself and reverse you, and go back to the old partnerships."

I continued: "We can do this one of three ways: first, you can go in and tell them; second, I'll go in and tell them; and third, we'll quietly tell the Lieutenants, and they can tell their Detectives. That's the most 'face saving' way."

I was testing Claire. The 'right call' would be for her to '(wo)man up' and tell the Lieutenants that the partner swaps were being reversed. Instead, she said "I'll take Door Number 3, sir."

"Gooood!" said Chief Moynahan, mostly just to move things along. "O-kayyy, now for the big one. Lieutenant Davis. Why in the worrrrld would you want to replace him as MCD Lieutenant, when he is doing an out-stand-innng jobbbb?"

"With respect, Chief," Claire said with alacrity, "I do not agree with you that he is doing a good job. And as one example, if I may." We all nodded, and she said "This thing with the partnerships, sir. I understand what you've said about them and the morale issues. But that's my point: a good Lieutenant and a good leader would have gone in there, made the changes as I instructed, and would've quelled any issues about it. But Davis did not do that, and now I'm being told a good idea is being squashed because he allowed poor morale to fester."

Claire: "And this is not nitpicking when I say that Davis's insubordination in not meeting the timeline I set for turning in his paper, as well as totally ignoring what I wanted and giving me a load of crap... that's not minor, sir. I just don't think there is any order nor cohesive structure in MCD unless I, Commander Croyle, or Commander Troy go in there and lead them directly."

Claire: "And I believe I said this earlier, but I need to say it again, sir: no, I wasn't here when Davis was installed into the Lieutenant's position in MCD. But if I had been, and if I'd seen what I've seen in the months since I did get here, Davis would be just about the last person I'd have put in the MCD leader's slot. And my observations now are that he was too young and inexperienced, and he's not handling the job."

I glanced at Tanya, who said "Like you said, Captain, you weren't here when he was promoted and put in the slot. The rest of us in this room were, and it was our consensus decision after much observation, deduction, and debate that Jerome was the best one for the job."

Teresa said "And I think we all agree that Jerome has risen to the challenge, grown into the role, and is doing a very good job. Perfect? No, but none of us are. But you'll really have to show me where he's failed."

All eyes went to me. I merely said "Captain, if we did replace Davis, with whom would you replace him as MCD leader?"

Claire: "Up to today, I would unequivocally have said Detective Warner. She's experienced, she's skilled, and she has good leadership qualities. I did see your dissatisfaction with her interrogation techniques, sir, and I am disappointed by that, also. But in the overall, I think she'd do better than Davis is doing."

I said "Yes, my disappointment with her interrogation skills and techniques cannot be overstated. But none of us are up to the Sheriff's standards on that, and fortunately he's agreed to give us some good training on that."

"Har." barked Griswold. "Your modesty about your own skills is a human trait, Crowbar. I will excuse it. You're the best damn interrogator I've ever seen, and a lot of that is because you're the best damn Detective I've ever seen, and you know what to ask. And yes, I'm ready to give that training whenever you want me to."

"Thank you, Sheriff." I said. "But back to Davis. I'm trying to understand, Captain. Make me understand."

"At this point, sir," Claire said, "I'm not sure there is anything I can say that will change your mind." That was a cop-out answer, pun not intended. But I decided to let it go for now.

"Then Lieutenant Davis will remain where he is." I said, then abruptly changed tack: "You never were Captain of Detectives, were you, Teresa?" I asked.

"Nor were you, Don." Tanya said with a twinkle in her eye. A red crowbar was waved in her general direction.

"Touché." I replied. "But here's my point. There is one other issue, and that's the District Attorney's Office. In general, no one that I outrank is to have any contact with ADA Fineman on any case, at all. No help with trial prep, no nuthin'. And specific to this Maple and Hogue case, I want to shield you, Captain Michaels, from any potential issues."

I continued: "So what I'm going to do is have you, Captain Michaels, essentially do Commander Croyle's job, and lead the Uniformed Officers and their leadership for a while. Commander Croyle, I want you to play 'Acting Commander', and essentially do my job, which does mean you're going to oversee the Detectives on this current case."

I went on: "That way, you'll both get good cross-training, and prepare for your possible futures. And it'll give the Detectives time to calm down after the last few weeks of tension. In the meantime, Chief, Sheriff, I'm going to work on that side issue I talked to you both about earlier. I really need to devote some time to it, to at least get my ducks in a row and decide how to proceed."

"Sounds like a plannnn." drawled the Chief.

"I agree." barked the Sheriff. "And if you need Cindy's help, Don, just let her know. She's just twiddling her thumbs in her office at City Hall, these days." A green crowbar was waved in Our Sheriff's general direction.

"Sir," Claire Michaels asked, "how long will I be doing that? Working with the Precincts?"

"Not long. Definitely no longer than August 1st." I said. Then, knowing what she was really asking, I said "This is not a punishment of you, Captain. Just something we need to do, and something that hopefully will be to everyone's benefit in the long run. Treat it as the training exercise that it is..."