Brodricksburg Pt. 03

"I have some questions about what she was doing with the Commissioner last night," Ross said.

"I have already questioned Mrs. Hobbs so there is no reason for you to question her again."

"I am your superior officer. I will question anyone I feel I need to question," Ross growled.

"Take it up with the Chief."

"This insubordination will cost you, Sergeant Hanratty," Ross said and then walked away.

"He's right, you know. He can question anyone he wants," I said.

"I know but I just wanted to piss him off. Are you worried that he will find Carrie before we do?

"No."

"You're not worried?"

"Not yet," I said. "You got anything for me?"

"Yeah. Earlier today I went into the com room and looked to see where Captain Ross was. His car was on Tenth Street across from the Black Lantern Apartments so I drove over there. I watched his car from a distance. I spotted him exiting one of the apartments and returning to his car."

"Did you get the apartment number?"

"Better than that. I also got the name of the tenant," Hanratty said. "The apartment is occupied by Daniel Lucia."

"Lucia? Wasn't he Captain Ross' snitch on that drug bust he made last year?" I asked.

"That's the guy."

"What made you follow Ross?"

"I got suspicious this morning when he wouldn't identify the witness that identified you as the person that ran out of the house after Commissioner Buske was shot. I figured that Ross' might want his witness to make a quick exit out of town so that I couldn't question him."

"Good job."

"I have Lucia under surveillance. If he tries to leave town he will be picked up. After Ross left Lucia's apartment he drove over to Mitchell and Horne then I followed him back here. You know that Ross will probably have every cop in the city looking for Carrie?"

"Probably. Try to stay of top of that. If anyone finds her I want you to get to her before Ross does."

"I'll take care of that. The guys in the com room dislike Ross almost as much as I do. I'll have them let me know if Carrie is spotted before Ross finds out." (I'm dense. How will the boys in the com room know if she is spotted? It's not like they had a way to trace her, is it? Does 'spotted' mean a call from an officer?)

"Thanks."

Hanratty headed over to the com room and I turned on my laptop. I was opening my e-mail when Hanratty returned. The only new e-mail was an ad for a resort in the Berkshire Mountains called the Porches.

"Carrie's car was found," Hanratty said as he approached. It's parked in the public parking lot on First Street. The car wasn't locked and her briefcase was still inside the car. There was nothing else in the car. I told the officer to lock up the car and bring the briefcase into the office. This doesn't look good."

I didn't say anything.

Hanratty went off and got us both a cup of coffee while we waited for the officer to bring in Carrie's briefcase.

Officer Thompson arrived ten minutes later and handed the briefcase to me. I took a quick look inside and smiled. "Good girl."

"What?" Hanratty asked.

"Nothing. I have to take this home and study the contents. I'll talk to you later."

I shut down my laptop and put it into my briefcase and picked up Carrie's briefcase and headed out to my car.

Back at my apartment, I made a close examination of the contents of Carrie's briefcase. After making a few phone calls I sat back to wait.

*****

THE MEETING

*****

Chief Pasiak arrived at my apartment at 5:30. "When the hell are you and Carrie going to get back together?" the Chief asked as he got a beer out of my refrigerator.

"Soon I hope."

"If you don't, my wife is going to come over here and straighten you out."

"That won't be necessary."

The Chief had just settled into a chair when Agent Van Horn arrived. I told Kyle to get himself a beer before we started.

"Are we all here now?" Chief Pasiak asked.

"Not yet. We're waiting for one more person," I said and as if on cue there was a knock on the door.

I opened the door and Hanratty entered the room. He looked at the Chief and then at Van Horn. "What's up?"

"Get yourself a beer and then I will explain."

"Kyle, Sergeant Hanratty is my partner and is here because he is the only officer on the Brodricksburg police force, other than Chief Pasiak, that I know I can trust. I think you will understand why I say that as we get into this.

"Rich, this is Kyle Van Horn. Kyle is a Field Agent for the FBI out of the Philadelphia office."

Hanratty reached over and shook Kyle's hand and then sat on the sofa. I was pacing back and forth in front of them trying to think of how to begin.

"Gentlemen, we have a mess on our hands. A case that started with me trying to find out if a city official from Brodricksburg was accepting bribes to influence the awarding of contracts has grown to include two murders, fraud and conspiracy involving Commissioner Buske, Mayor Gargas, Richard Mitchell of Mitchell and Horne, Superintendent of Schools Robert Kelley, Stephen Farlow, George Kasperek, Congressman Freewater and our own Captain James Ross."

"Holy shit," Hanratty muttered.

"Exactly," I said.

"You better start explaining all this, Brian," Chief Pasiak said.

"This all started several years ago when Superintendent Kelly contacted the State Department of Parks and Recreation to ask about the possibility of purchasing 300 acres of the land that is part of the Fort Brodrick State Park. Mr. Kelly was told that the state could not sell land from a state park unless the legislature voted to close the park and then the land would be sold at auction.

"About that same time, George Kasperek bought 250 acres of land at the Northwest corner of Munt Street and River Road. Mr. Kasperek had hoped to build high-end houses on the land until he found out that the federal government owned a 250 foot wide right of way right through the middle of his development. The right of way was the land that had been owned by the J&J Railroad and reverted to the feds when J&J went out of business. Kasperek and his lawyers, which happen to be Mitchell and Horne have been trying to find a way to purchase that right of way from the feds ever since.

"Then, a little less than a year ago, George Kasperek contacted Donald Boland and wanted to purchase his land out on River Road. Mr. Boland turned him down. Last January Mr. Boland was found dead from a single gunshot wound to the head. The interesting thing here was that Captain Ross was the first on the scene when I should have been the first to be called. Ross had labeled Mr. Boland's death a suicide before I was able to investigate. Ross then released the body to the coroner before I had a chance to have the state crime lab boys take a look. By the time the state boys got there the crime scene was contaminated and they couldn't find anything to prove that it wasn't suicide. My gut feeling was that Mr. Boland did not kill himself.

"A few weeks later the Chief asked me to see if I could find out if Commissioner Buske had possible accepted a bribe from Comprehensive Supply Corporation to influence the awarding of purchasing contracts. This was based of information provided to us by Agent Van Horn." That last bit was to bring Hanratty up to speed.

"What I found out was that Commissioner Buske attend a conference in Las Vegas apparently as a guest of CSC although the Commissioner's expense report covered that up. From my investigation I found out that Commissioner Buske attended the conference with his gay lover. I tried to stake out the Commissioner's house so that I could follow him and see if he met with his lover in town but somehow Captain Ross got suspicious so I had to change my tactics.

"I went and had a conversation with Stephen Farlow of Farlow Real Estate. Farlow is - or rather was - the Commissioner's lover. Farlow told me that CSC gave the commissioner ten thousand dollars and tickets to some of the top shows in Vegas."

"Why didn't you arrest the Commissioner then?" Van Horn asked.

"If I did, Farlow would have denied everything. We would not have had a case."

"Anyway, I was still trying to find something that I could use to get to Commissioner Buske when I started having problems in my marriage. Some woman kept calling me and implying to me that Carrie was fooling around. This woman seemed to know every move Carrie was making and was able to make me wonder if maybe she was fooling around on me. The rift this caused in our marriage made me lose my concentration at work and I let things slide on my investigation until Carrie got a restraining order to keep me from contacting her. At that point I sank myself back into my work and the phone calls started again.

"One call told me that Carrie and her lover were going to meet at a house out on Munt Street. So, like a fool I went out there to see if she was really going to meet some guy out there. Carrie did show up and a few minutes later two black and whites showed up.

"I was set up. Someone wanted me at that house that night. They wanted me to be caught spying on my wife so that I would be arrested for violating the restraining order. Luckily I never got close enough to the house to be seen.

"I went back to the house the next day and that's when the rest of the story started to unfold. Mr. Izzo, the owner of the house, told me that Carrie had been there with Stephen Farlow to close a deal for an option to buy his land. Carrie was there for work, not to meet a lover.

"That is when I learned about Kasperek's problems with the 250 foot right of way on his property. Mr. Izzo told me that all the of properties along the old J&J Railroad path had the same 250 foot right of way running through their property.

"After that I was able, with Hanratty's assistance, to find out that Stephan Farlow had either written an option to buy or was in the process of doing it for every property along River Road between Munt St and Grayson Road. All of these properties have one thing in common. The J&J right of way runs through the property.

"One night I followed Stephen Farlow after he had met with one of the homeowners on River Road. He drove out to the Brodricksburg Inn where he met with Commissioner Buske, Mayor Gargas, Richard Mitchell of Mitchell and Horne, Superintendent of Schools Robert Kelley, Stephen Farlow, George Kasperek and Congressman Freewater.

"The bartender told me that they had been meeting out there every week like some kind of club. He referred to them as the Thursday Night Club. Shortly after I had arrived, Captain Ross showed up. I am not sure but I suspect his job was to make sure that people like me didn't go bothering the rest of the club members during their meeting."

"So just what do you think is going on, Brian?" the Chief asked.

"My guess is that they are planning a land deal that will make them all very rich. This is my best guess. Superintendent Kelly has known for several years that the city of Brodricksburg cannot purchase land in Fort Brodrick State Park for the new schools he wants to build. So why does he keep pushing that as the best site for the new schools?

"Because it has allowed his friends in the Thursday Night Club to put options to buy on over five hundred acres of land along the River Road while no one is paying attention. They have to know about the problem caused by the J&J right of way because George Kasperek is part of club. I think that because of the J&J right of way they are getting the land for a lot less that it would have cost them otherwise. The question then is, what can they do with the land if they can't get the federal government to sell the right of way to them? I believe that somehow Congressman Freewater has found a way for them to get the J&J right of way lands released to them. They will either buy the land from the government of possibly get some sort of long term lease.

"Carrie told me that the school board is going forward with a five hundred million dollar school bond referendum on the November ballot. It is no coincidence that the options to buy all come due the end of November. Once the referendum is passed our little group will then exercise their options to buy the land along River Road. Once the land purchases are complete, Superintendent Kelly will announce that the State will not sell the land at Fort Brodrick State Park to the school board so the city will have to scramble to find another suitable location. Suddenly there will be 500 acres of land available along the River Road."

"Son-of-a-bitch," Chief Pasiak said. "Those bastards will make millions if they can pull that off."

"But why was Commissioner Buske killed?" Van Horn asked.

"I am guessing that Farlow must have told Buske about the conversation he had with me about their trip to Vegas and Buske told the others thinking that they would find a way to protect him from me. In the end I think the others worried that Commissioner Buske might get his nuts caught in a ringer because of the bribes he took from CSC. They decided that the Commissioner was too big of a risk to their River Road land deal so they had him killed. And what better way to get me out of the picture than have me framed for his murder."

Chief Pasiak looked at me. "What about Carrie? If her boss is involved in this, as it looks, is she in any danger?"

"She disappeared this afternoon," Hanratty said. "We found her car downtown with her briefcase in it but there was no sign of her."

"Brian, why didn't you tell me this sooner?" the Chief asked.

"If we can put these people out of business quickly Carrie will be okay," I said.

"I'll have to take your word on that," Chief Pasiak said.

"This might interest you," I said. I opened Carrie's brief case and pull out her files. Inside she had every file pertaining to the option to buy contracts for the properties along River Road.

"These files will make it clear that Farlow and the Mitchell and Horne Law Offices are involved in this scam. Now we just have to prove that Farlow was acting as an agent on behalf of the other members of the Thursday Night Club."

"We are going to have to act fast," Hanratty said. "After their attempt to frame Lt. Hobbs failed, I am sure they will be looking for ways to hide what they have done."

"This is what I think we need to do from here," I said. "Kyle, we need you to see if you can find out who Congressman Freewater is working with in Washington on getting control of that right of way land. Hanratty, I need you to pick up Daniel Lucia without letting Captain Ross knowing we have him."

"How bout if I drive him down to Bucks County and ask the state boys to hold him for us?" Hanratty replied.

"Good idea. We need to do the same with Stephen Farlow. I think they are the weakest links. We need to keep Ross from catching wind of what we are up to," I said.

"I'll take care of Ross," Chief Pasiak said. "I think he needs some training if he wants to be Chief of Police. I know of a great class he needs to take that is being offered by the FBI in Quantico. I believe Agent Van Horn could help get his application fast tracked. I'll have him out of town by Monday. Sergeant Hanratty, I want you to personally pick up Lucia and take him down the Bucks county substation. I know Captain Hastings down there. I'll call him and give him a heads up so that they will be expecting you."

"Yes, sir. I'll take care of that tonight."

"Now, about Mr. Farlow," Chief Pasiak said.

"I'll take care of Farlow," I said. I want to question him myself before I take him down to Bucks County."

"Okay, make it happen," the Chief said. "Agent Van Hone, how soon do you think you can find out something about Congressman Freewater's activities in DC?"

"I'll make some calls tonight and should be able to have something by the middle of next week."

"I guess that's all we can do right now," the chief said. "You're right, Brian, this is a real mess."

*****

Hanratty stayed behind when Chief Pasiak and Agent Van Horn left. He stood looking at me for a long time before speaking.

"You don't seem overly concerned about Carrie's welfare," he said.

"Should I be?"

"She's your wife and she is missing, I would expect that you would be very concerned."

"There is too much going on right now for me to waste time worrying about her," I said.

"I know you better that that, Hobbs. If you thought Carrie were in danger you would do everything in your power to protect her. I think she left town and you know where she is."

"Why would you think that?"

"I caught the end of that little conversation you had with her about the Flintstones this morning. When you asked her what would Fred do to Wilma if he caught her messing around with Barney, that was a hint to her that she was in danger. When she told you that Fred would never find her, that was Carrie's way of telling you she understood the message and that she would go somewhere to hide."

I said, "Really? You got all that from our conversation?"

"Say what you want but I know you. I know both of you too well. Besides, if someone had abducted Carrie they would not have left her brief case in the car. She left it there for you."

I couldn't help but smile.

"Hanratty, you are going to make a good detective some day," I said. "Are you after my job now?"

"I'll take your job when you make chief."

"Okay, let's do this," I said. "You go grab Mr. Lucia and I'll go have a talk with Stephen Farlow. I will probably see you down at the Bucks County substation later tonight.

*****

Stephen Farlow

*****

It was almost nine o'clock when Stephen Farlow turned into his driveway and his garage door began to open. I had parked my car a block away so that it would not be noticed and I had been in the bushes next to his house for nearly an hour waiting for him to get home. I moved into the garage as Farlow pulled his car in and managed to stay in his blind spot until he got out of the car.

"Jesus Christ, Brian, you scared the shit out of me," was Farlow reaction when he saw me. "What are you doing in my garage?"

"We need to have a little talk," I said.

"About what?"

"Let's go into the house," I suggested.

"Why are you here?" he asked as I followed him into the house.

"I just thought we should talk about your friend's murder."

"Oh, shit, you did kill Glen, didn't you?"

"Now who told you that I killed your lover?"

I could see that Farlow was looking around as if trying to find a way to get away from me.

"Stephen, why don't you just sit down and talk to me? You must know that if I have to chase you it will probably hurt when I catch you."

Farlow slowly sat down on the sofa. "What do you want?"

"First I want to know who told you that I killed Commissioner Buske?"

"Captain Ross told me that this morning. He said that they had evidence that you had killed Glen because you thought he was having an affair with your wife."

"And you believed that?"

"He said he had evidence."

"Come on now, Stephen, you and I both know that other than his wife, Commissioner Buske wasn't interested women. Why would I ever think he was having an affair with my wife?"

"I don't know. I thought it was strange but Captain Ross said..."

I cut Farlow off. "Forget about what Captain Ross said. He was wrong. So, if I didn't kill Buske in a jealous rage who else might have had a motive to kill him?"

"I don't know?"

"Let me help you think this through, Stephen," I said. "Commissioner Buske was taking bribes from CSC to make sure they won the automotive parts supply contract with the city. You found out about it when you were in Vegas with him. You thought it was funny that they gave him ten thousand dollars to use while he was at that conference with you last October. Did you happen to mention to the Commissioner that you and I talked and you mentioned that we talked about your trip to Vegas?"