Case of the Fake Badges Ch. 01

"Yes ma'am." said Parker. "She moved to the City after the divorce, and has since just about fallen off the grid. We've asked the City Police to help trace her. They think she went into running an Escort Agency or some kind of drug or underground barter operation."

"Good stuff." said Lt. Perlman. "Okay, Theo, what about you?"

"I looked into Ben Knight." said Theo. "He worked for the City Police Force, and was assigned mostly to their Northwest/Airport Precinct. Absolutely unexceptional record; nothing bad, but nothing good. He wasn't fired, he left of his own accord about four years ago after six years on the City Force.

"For two years we don't have anything on him. Then two years ago, he and Richard Norris formed Norris Security Services, LLC., here in our Town. They apparently contracted with T-Square's holding company to do security for several of his dance clubs. They basically were plainclothes undercover security, just hang out and monitor the clubs. Then they hooked up with Quintus Bishop for the last fifteen or sixteen months, so they were holding down two jobs. Quintus paid them in cash, but they still reported the income, complete with a 1099 statement on last year's tax returns."

"What about the safe?" asked Cindy. "Did you get into it?"

"Yes ma'am." said Sergeant Rudistan. "We found the envelope and decoded the number, and it worked. There were several car titles in there, but almost no cash. Just the petty cash box for the pawnshop, which had about $1500 in it."

"Whoaaa..." said Cindy. "My understanding is that Norris escorted Quintus in with a large chunk of cash."

"Yes ma'am." said Theo. "And that money is missing. Quintus kept his money in a small box that looked like an ice chest. Packed right, he could have several hundred thousand dollars in it. He would keep it at home in his safe there, and he and Norris or Knight would transport it to and from the pawn shop. Both men would've been heavily armed during transport, as both men and Ben Knight all had concealed carry permits."

"That is a lot of cash to be moving, especially every single day." said Tanya. "I'm surprised someone didn't move on him earlier."

"And let's add to it," Cindy said, "that even with title loans, that's a lot of cash to have on hand. Gotta wonder if something else is being bought and sold... Did anyone find drugs at the place? Anyone take a drug dog through there?"

"Yes ma'am." said Rudistan. "Sergeant Stonewall was brought in. He did not alert to anything in the store. No traces, no residues."

"Still," Cindy said, "there's gotta be something else to all that cash on hand. They may just deal the drugs from elsewhere."

"We're working on that thesis, ma'am." said Tanya. "I touched base with Lt. Croyle, and she's going to have Purvis and Geiger look for threads attached to any of these guys. We're also giving David Krueger the information on all these guys, and we'll see if he can find some financial correlations."

"Good." said Cindy. "So are there cameras at the pawnshop?"

"Yes ma'am, there are." said Parker. "But they were non-operational before business hours began, according to Mr. Knight. I might add, ma'am, that I checked with University Hospital, all the local emergency clinics and operational places, and no one besides Mr. Knight came in with any chest injuries, bruising, or the like. The perp got away even after being shot in the chest, vest or no vest, and hasn't shown up anywhere locally to get medical attention."

"What about Norris?" asked Cindy. "Anyone look for him?"

"Yes ma'am." said Rudistan. "We went by his home address, no one was there. According to Knight as well as tax records, they basically ran the business out of Norris's home, and they have no office to speak of. And Norris's personal car was the one that drove him and Quintus to work and home each day, and it was in the garage."

"I'll play Commander, here," said Cindy, "and say 'Do I even need to tell you to put an APB for him out there?'."

"Already done, ma'am." said Tanya.

Rudistan continued: "The Data Guyz are working to see if he had a cellphone, and if he does they'll get a warrant to start tracing pings."

"Cool beans." said Cindy. "Okay, so why are you here, Myron? Trying to get into field work with us?"

"No ma'am." said Myron with a grin. "And in all seriousness, I've been looking into that badge that was found at the scene."

"Oh yeah, that." Cindy said, remembering. "What did you find out about that?"

"The Director of the State Housing Authority is a woman named Louise Belfort." said Myron. "She was appointed to the post three years ago by Governor Jared. She'd been a career bureaucrat there in various administrative capacities for the four years before that, and had worked in the City Housing Authority (CHA) before that. She was basically in control of the Projects in the City."

Myron continued: "She has nothing more than traffic tickets on her record, but she's had maxed out credit cards in the past... then they get paid off all of a sudden... from $2000 in the hole to nothing, just like that. Happened six times in the last eight years."

"Nothing actionable," said Cindy, "unless there's more you haven't told us yet."

"No ma'am." said Myron. "I haven't had a real chance to dig deep there. But I did find that her career has been checkered; by that I mean up and down. She got good reviews while in CHA, then suddenly got two bad ones. Turns out she had a new supervisor, who was white, and she's black. She made a complaint that he was racially and sexually biased, so she was transferred out of there. Her next supervisor was black, and she got good reviews again."

Myron continued: "She then sparred with former City Police Captain Susan Wexler. Wexler was sending drug raid parties into Ms. Belfort's Projects in the City, and Ms. Belfort very publicly claimed the raids were racially motivated and without legal merit. So she, or more accurately her Department, sued Cpt. Wexler and the City Police. The suit was settled, with Cpt. Wexler being exonerated of racial impropriety, but the judge did agree that there was insufficient legal basis to continue the raids without much stricter warrants."

"After that, Ms. Belfort took an offer to work with the State Housing Authority. Her jobs were largely bureaucratic, pushing paper from one side of her desk to the other. She got the standard marks in reviews, got her COLA raises and standard bonuses. Some people were surprised that Jared nominated her for the Director post at SHA after he was elected Governor, but he did."

"Photos?" asked Cindy. Myron projected a couple onto the screen, showing an attractive black woman, not fat but not fit, medium height, now showing signs of age as she was in her late forties to early fifties.

"So why would her badge be found at the crime scene?" asked Tanya. "The intruder was described as a male, and bigger than Ms. Belfort is, at least from what these pictures show."

"Wait..." said Cindy, who was all but in a reverie. "Myron, you said a white male supervisor gave her bad reviews. Who was that supervisor?"

"Let me look it up..." said Myron as he typed rapidly. "His name was... holy cow, ma'am.... his name was Richard Norris!"

Cindy looked meaningfully over at Tanya. "Shall I play Commander and ask what we think of multiple coincidences?" she asked happily.

"Keep this up and you will be Commander." Tanya replied.

"Especially after they make Commander Troy Police Chief." Rudistan said mischievously.

"Not gonna happen." Cindy said. "For either of us. Okay, Myron, grab your digital shovel and dig deep into Richard Norris. Get with the FBI if you need to. And if you come across something and need a warrant, let me or Lt. Perlman know; I think we've got enough of a connection that Paulina can get us whatever we need. Okay, Lt. Perlman, keep on top of this. Get me the ballistics report and any Lab report of the cartridges as fast as you can. Meanwhile, I'm going to use my SBI Reserve status to check up on SHA Director Louise Belfort..."

Part 4 - The Belfort Badge

"Thank you for seeing us on such short notice today." said SBI Inspector Brittany M. Maxwell, dressed in a gray pinstripe suit with a pale yellow-orange blouse and high heel gray pumps.

"My pleasure, Inspector," said Louise Belfort. "But may I ask why you are here? Is there a problem with my agency?"

"Not that I know of." said Britt. "This is Lieutenant Cindy Ross of the SBI. Lt. Ross?"

"Ma'am," said Cindy, dressed in a navy jacket and skirt with a light blue shirt and sensible shoes, and her SBI Reserve badge on her belt, "do you have your State badge in your possession?"

"Uh, why yes, it's in my purse." said Belfort.

"May I see it, please?" Cindy asked.

Belfort reached for her purse and began rummaging in it. "So what is this about?"

"I'll explain in a moment, ma'am." Cindy said. Louise Belfort pulled out a wallet from her purse, which contained her State Housing Authority badge and ID card. She extended it to Cindy, who examined the badge under her magnifying glass. Then Cindy pulled out a small device that was an RFID reader. It showed the badge was genuine, and was Louise Belfort's.

"Ma'am," Cindy said, "have you misplaced or lost your badge and had it replaced recently?"

"No." said Louise Belfort. "That pretty much stays in my purse. The detector at the entrance to the building can read it inside my purse, so I don't bother taking it out. It's been in there for... well, for a long time." They were in the State Office Building in Westphalia, south of the City. The City refused to allow the State to have any office buildings within the City limits, as part of their schism with the State, so Westphalia was the State's closest base of operations to the City.

"I see." said Cindy. She drew out the badge found at the Bishop Pawn Shop crime scene, still in an evidence bag. "This badge was found at a crime scene in my County. It appears to be genuine, as is the one you just showed me from your purse. Do you know of any reason why this would show up at a crime scene across the State? Any duplicate badges that might have gone missing, anything at all?"

"Uhh, no," said Belfort, staring at the badge in the bag. "No ma'am. The one I showed you from my purse is my badge. They may have a duplicate in storage or something in case I lose this one, but don't really know."

"We'll check on that." said Inspector Maxwell. "I'm concerned that someone is forging State badges, so we're going to have to look into it. If any of my officers come to ask you more questions, I'd appreciate it if you cooperate with them."

"Of course, Inspector." said Belfort. "Please do let me know if you find anything out of the ordinary. This is... distressing... to find what looks like my badge at a crime scene."

"I'm sure it is." said Cindy. "Just one more question: you were once supervised by a man named Richard Norris, is that right?"

Louise Belfort's dark eyes flashed and her face turned a bit ugly. "Oh yes. I had... problems with him."

"Yes ma'am, I know." said Cindy. "I just want to know if you've heard from him or of him recently, and if you might know where he is right now."

"No, I haven't heard anything of him for years." said Belfort.

"Thank you for your time." Cindy said. She and Britt made their goodbyes and left the office.

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

"I've got to be getting back." Cindy said. "Today is Don's birthday, and his wife is planning a surprise party for him this evening. Want to come over?"

"I'd love to, but I can't." said Britt. "I have a conference call with the SBI Director, the interim Attorney General, and the Governor. And I have to start looking into this badge business."

"So what did you think of Louise Belfort?" Cindy asked.

Britt thought about it, then said "She seemed surprised, but... how to say it... unconcerned. What did you think?"

Cindy replied. "The badge in her purse... was brand new. No nicks that would inevitably happen with age, even if it was left in her purse. The one at the crime scene did have some tiny nicks. I don't know for sure what it means yet... but there's something about Louise Belfort that is not adding up."

After dropping Britt off in the City, Cindy got on the highway to return home. As she traveled, she realized what she had been missing. She got out her cellphone.

"Tanya!" she said after calling Perlman. "Listen, I need you to do something... immediately!"

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

4:45pm, still Monday, October 26th. Cindy's SUV flew through Town like a streak, the blue lights flashing. Coming up to Police Headquarters, she went in the employees' side door. Lt. Tanya Perlman was there to meet her.

"Just in time." Tanya said. "Looked like he was about to bolt."

"And the money?" Cindy asked.

"Not yet." Tanya said.

"Where is he?"

"Interrogation-1. And by the way... guess who else came in." Tanya nodded towards the door... of the Commander's office.

"He's back already?" Cindy said.

"Yep." Tanya said. "He doesn't know about this arrest yet. And you're to go right on in."

Cindy went through the empty anteroom, knocked on the door, and went on in. There he was, Commander Troy, behind his desk. Wearing his "black" uniform.

"Ah, Captain Ross." I said. "Come on in. I was just looking at this report of the cartridges in Ben Knight's gun." I extended the report to her. "You were right to ask about them. Hand-reloaded with light loads. Something I'd expect to find from Hamilton Myers's cowboy shooting competitions."

"Ah yes." Cindy said as she looked at the report. "Oh, and happy birthday, sir."

"Thank you." I said as I collected the files that I'd been perusing. "As you can tell, I've been looking at this Bishop Pawn Shop robbery. I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed."

Cindy smiled at me, and I realized that she knew something. She just crooked her finger at me in a 'come on' gesture. I got up and followed her down the back hall.

"A birthday present for me, Ms. Ross?" I said.

"Let's find out." Cindy said.

"You'll have to tell me about your conversation with SHA Director Belfort." I said as we entered the anteroom to Interrogation-1."

"Sure." she said. "But let's handle this first." We looked through the one-way glass and saw Detectives Theo Washington and Teddy Parker interviewing the murderer of Quentin Bishop...

To be continued.

Dear readers, do you know who murdered Quentin Bishop? Answer next chapter... and a lot more, as well!