Case of the Fake Badges Ch. 03

"That's the rub." said Mary. "Nothing specific. Just general notes, such as contacting and being friendly with certain dock workers, stuff like that."

"Oh wow." I said. "Now that is important. So what else?" I asked before Cindy could tell me to spill it.

"You'll love this, Commander." said Mary. "I had to dig pretty hard, but Stevie Johnson's mother's maiden name is 'Allen', no relation to the late Senator."

"Oh, wait!" I gasped. "Louise Belfort... her maiden name is 'Allen' also."

"Damn!" said Mary, a gleam in her eye. "You scooped me, sir!"

"You're not the first he's done that to." said Cindy, with the merest hint of asperity in her voice. "At least you didn't lose a hundred dollars betting on it."

"Seriously, that's great work, Mary." I said. "And it is a solid connection for this series of Badge cases. Now what it means? Not so sure yet."

"'Yet' being the operative term." said Cindy. A red crowbar was waved in her general direction.

"So Louise Belfort is Stevie Johnson's aunt." I said. "That do make some sense. Okay, David, dazzle me with more sparkling news."

"Just that Stevie Johnson has a good bit of money spread over several bank accounts." said Krueger. "All cash deposits of no more than $2000 at a time at any one bank. I'm doing a workup to show that he's actually getting over $10,000 and spreading it out to avoid Federal deposit reporting laws. If you want to, we can have the IRS go in and seize his assets under those laws."

"Johnson is not exactly the brightest bulb in the string." I said. "Okay--"

Just then the Duty Desk Sergeant peeked his head in the door, having knocked. "Sir," she said, "this is FBI Special Agent Jack Muscone. He says he needs to talk to you." The FBI Special Agent in Charge himself came into the room.

"Yes, come on in Jack." I said. "Well, Crowbar 2, it must be big. I expected a phone call later tonight; instead we get the big guy himself in our Conference Room within minutes."

"I just got here." said Jack. "Drove in from the City."

"Quelle suprise." I said. "Okay Myron, Mary, and David, you can head out now. Go home; pick this up tomorrow." Myron, Mary and David left, after Mary introduced David to Jack Muscone.

"Do you know what kind of bonus I would get if I could steal those three away from you and bring them to the FBI?" Jack asked as he sat down.

"You would never spend a dime of it on a double cheeseburger," I replied, "because I will beat you down so hard with a crowbar if you try, that you would--"

"Okay, I get the picture." said Jack. "So you were obviously expecting to hear from me. Any place we can go to talk that's secure?"

"Yep." I said, taking out my bug-killing device and activating it to prevent I.A. or anyone else from listening. "Cindy, Jack is going to tell us that Sebrovsky cut a deal with the FBI after being arrested in New York City. Sebrovsky came down here to penetrate the Southport Mob. I might even suggest he was trying to get in with the Oldeeds Group, again as a mole for the FBI, which is why I stopped you from going there a few minutes ago." Cindy just looked over at Jack, her eyebrows going up in a 'He got you again.' signal.

"Four hundred years ago..." said Jack. "Okay, that was probably an easy one for you. He was importing underage girls from eastern Europe, girls that were forced into prostitution once they got here. The FBI in NYC has busted several of these rings in the past few years, and they keep cropping back up. But we really nailed Sebrovsky to the wall; we had him cold for years of prison time."

Jack continued: "He worked out a deal to go undercover for us. And he lived up to his side of it; he brought us some really good information about the Mob down there. I might even suggest his information helped Jimmy "Coffin" Cerone decide to clean up and go into politics."

"The words 'clean up' and 'politics' do not belong in the same sentence." Cindy said. Jack laughed, which for him was something of a bark.

"True enough." Jack said. "And yes, Sebrovsky was trying to get in with the Oldeeds Organization, but they pretty solidly rejected him. Maybe they knew who he was, maybe not. Anyway, he has just been found dead, and we think someone found out who he was and killed him."

"I agree." I said. "Except that someone knew for a good long time who and what he was, but only now moved to exterminate him. Which fits."

"Into what?" Jack asked.

"Let me fill you in on all these Badge cases we've been working on." I said. I proceeded to do so. Cindy listened intently, which was good; I hoped she'd figure it out.

"Wow." said Muscone. "So you think someone waxed Sebrovsky just to plant a badge on him?"

"Just like they killed our C.I. and planted your buddy Ferrell's badge on his body." I said. "We're really starting to get a pattern going here."

"So maybe we need to bring in some people and have some... conversations... with Louise Belfort and Ferrell." said Jack. I knew he was relishing the chance to 'talk' to Ferrell.

"No, not yet." I said. "Please don't do that at the Federal level, either. First, just what are you going to ask them about? No proof at all that any of them murdered anyone. Second, we need to see where this is going. I get the feeling our perps are not finished yet."

"Does this mean you expect more people to die?" asked Cindy. "If you know anything and we could stop that..."

"Yeah, I know." I said. "And I wish I could see ahead that far. But I have no idea what they're up to, besides 'up to no good'. I was halfway expecting Louise Belfort or Lockhart to come over all dead, but so far they're not."

In the silence I said "Tell you what, Jack, why don't you take us to dinner, expense it to the United States Government. Cindy, is Tanya Perlman still here?"

"I'll see." she said. "Particular reasons why?"

"Oh, so she can have dinner with Special Agent Muscone and her two favorite TCPD Officers." I replied. "Particularly Special Agent Muscone."

"What, playing matchmaker now?" growled Jack. As Cindy went to check and indeed found Tanya in her office, Jack whispered to me: "Don, there's one more thing. We got some word from the grapevine that Coach Bronson, who was fired by the University today, is looking at filing a Federal lawsuit, claiming that you sent your School some video of their practices."

"You're kidding." I said.

"No." said Jack. "He's also made contact with the Assistant Commissioner of your Conference, trying to get them to investigate. I don't know what it's about, but your name pops up more than either School's. Looks like they're gunning for you, for some reason."

"Cool beans." I said. "We'll fuck him up pretty quickly."

"Look," said Jack, his voice dropping in warning. "Don't take this lightly. The fact that I, an FBI agent, is hearing about this and telling you about it should be your first warning that this is not a little thing."

We were interrupted by two of my Angels coming up the hallway. "Hi, Jack!" said Tanya, her cheeks rosy and her smile bright as she greeted Muscone. His face showed his delight in seeing her, as well.

"Matchmaker, matchmaker..." I whispered to Cindy as we followed them at a distance down the hall to the exit. Cindy burst out laughing.

Part 15 - Heartstopping Actions

Tuesday, November 3d. The newscasts were devoid of interest. Both KXTC and KSTD covered the University coach's firing with interviews of players commiserating, and Coach Mel Groves being promoted to Interim Head Coach. Coach Groves was an elderly black man who had been the Special Teams coach for years. Knowing that he was going to retire, and to reward him for his years of coaching service to the Bulldog players, he was given the gift of leading the team through the rest of the season.

The morning was spent going through reports. I re-read all the autopsy reports from the Badges cases, the Crime Lab reports, David Krueger's reports on where the money was going. He had found that Dr. Paul Wicker had not had any connection to any of the principals of the Badge murders.

I put that aside, and cleared my mind by looking at a separate case. I pulled up the Jack Burke files on the computer dedicated to the task, entered the correct passwords, and examined the sex tapes. As a precaution, my anti-bugging device was on; it would block the radio signal out of this computer so that it could not be picked up.

I watched as Jack Burke fucked a hot blonde middle-class housewife, then the Trish Donolan tape, then a tape of Burke fucking one of the most beautiful women in this County, the wife of one of the County's wealthiest men. This was the kind of woman that would make a man's heart stop. And they were grinding it hot and heavy, which was pretty heart-stopping in itself. Still... no clues that I could see.

Just then I got a phone call from SBI Director Jack Lewis. "How can I help you Director?" I said. "And no, no political contributions."

Lewis chuckled. "No, Commander, this is a professional call. I understand you have been looking into the murder of a guy named Sebrovsky. I'm going to have to ask you to drop the investigation of that one."

"You might want to reconsider, Director." I said. "The FBI has already gotten involved in it. You may want me around just to make sure they don't crawl around where we don't want them to."

"Oh Lord, you say they're already involved?" Lewis asked, frustration creeping into his voice.

"Yes, Director," I said, "and they came to me, not the other way around."

"Okay, then." said Lewis. "If that's the case, then there's no point pulling you off of it now. Keep Conlan and myself in the loop, though, okay?"

"Sure." I said. Lewis hung up.

I felt cooped up, so I called Cindy on the phone. "Captain Ross," I said, "I am going to go on patrol. Yes... yes... no, look, I'm going to go re-visit a couple of crime scenes... no, you don't have to come. I'll be in my SUV, so it'll be okay... yes, you can contact me by vehicle radio, my walkie-talkie radio, or my cellphone."

I got up and headed out. I began riding around. First, I went along College Avenue to University Avenue, then down some side streets south of Courthouse Square but north of the roads that led to Smith-Morra Pharmacy, the tailor shop, and Bishop's Pawn Shop. There were several apartment complexes along this road, in various states of age and repair.

As I got near Riverside Drive, driving slowly, I saw to my left the apartment complex, built a couple of decades before. I remember searching Jack Burke's apartment in that complex after his murder... the apartment where he'd made all those sex tapes. I let my energy flow, trying to feel if I was on the right track, to see what the Universe was telling me.

Then I sensed something else... a presence. And not a good one. I felt a malevolent presence, as if it were watching me, and trying to read my mind. I looked around the street, looked in all my mirrors, but didn't see anyone; no one really walked along this street.

I had not stopped, but had just driven slowly. I got to Riverside Drive, turned north, and back to College Street, the east-west street that formed the southern border of Courthouse Square. I noticed a lot of old people on benches in the park, slowly ambling along the streets, some sitting at the outdoor tables of the restaurants and bistros.

Circling around, I came along the north side of the Courthouse Square complex, seeing the State Office Building and the Federal Courthouse and Office Building, remembering in my mind the motorcyclist that had been shot at some nights before. As always, I wondered who had shot at the motorcyclist, hitting the vehicle instead, but more importantly: why?

I then drove on the street just north of Courthouse Square, along the backside of the State Office Building, then the Federal Building. On the other side were the backs of strip malls. Continuing east, I saw the County Courthouse and the newer building right behind it to my right, then further down the backside of First Baptist Church. A little further along there were some apartments as I was nearing the School, and on the left was the Bus Station...

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

"Captain Ross!"

The voice was Deputy Chief Robert Brownlee's, and he was practically shouting down the hallway at Cindy Ross.

"Wha-at?" Cindy said derisively, turning as Brownlee was practically running up the hallway.

"That's 'What, sir?' Captain." Brownlee said.

"What do you want of me, Commander Brownlee?" Cindy asked, her voice withering.

"Why did you cross the line into my territory and rent the Junction Station Depot for December 4th and 5th?" snarled Brownlee, holding up several papers.

"Because it's for the Orange Order, I was put in charge of the logistics, which includes renting the Depot, and so I did." replied Cindy. "If you have an issue with it, you can talk to the Chief or Commander Troy about it."

"You're still supposed to go through me for requisitions like this." Brownlee said, his face getting redder. He shoved the papers at Cindy... and dropped them. As he reached down to get them, he grunted, and massaged his left shoulder and upper arm with his right hand.

"Problem with your shoulder?" Cindy asked.

"Yeah, it hurts. My whole arm hurts." said Brownlee. "Never mind that. If you're going to break the rules and bypass me, then you can take these to Harlow yourself."

"As you wish." said Cindy, quickly taking the papers and walking down the hall past the MCD room. She had what she wanted; Brownlee had just told her to bypass him. Of course, she knew he'd lose the paperwork for the reservation and not make it, which is why she did it herself in the first place, and she'd avoided bothering Don about it. All in all, a good day.

But Brownlee had dropped the papers because he'd lost strength in his arm; she knew that from being a trainer at her gym. Why did that happen? she wondered to herself.

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

At 11:05am, my cellphone rang. "Commander," said Cindy Ross's voice as I answered, "another Badge case. Midtown."

"I'll be right there." I hurried to Headquarters. Cindy was waiting outside, and she simply got into my SUV. We pulled out and headed for the road to Midtown.

"Director Conlan called." Cindy said. "You weren't there so Helena transferred it to me. A body of a woman was found in Midtown's Lower Riverside district, called the 'Red River' District. That's a pretty bad area, like our Tenderloin District: lots of strip clubs, bars, drugs."

"Yeah, so I've heard." I said.

"Oh that's right, you lived there." Cindy said. "I don't know why I keep forgetting that, but I do. Anyway, a badge was found in in the woman's pocket. Midtown Police badge. You remember Detective Frank Soltis, who was on Captain Moynahan's team with Molly down there?"

"Yes, I do." I said. "His badge?"

"Yep." said Cindy. I turned on the blue lights and sirens. We would make record time to Midtown...

To be continued.