Case of the Parole Officer Ch. 03

"As you can see, Mr. Spratt," I said, "Mrs. Myers has been arrested, and she is now cutting a deal. She is telling us everything she knows about her collusion with you to steal the valuables out of her husband's home, including the phone call you made to her to get the combination to the safe. We have the phone records for that, also."

Spratt was not watching. He was bowed over, his head on the table. He was sobbing.

"I tried!" he gasped. "I tried to go straight!"

"Why did fall into this?" I asked.

"My client has invoked." said the lawyer.

"He'd better consider making a statement." I said. "He is in a world of shit right now, Counselor. Revocation of his parole, and we're going to add the Myers burglary to it. The judges around here like to give consecutive sentences, so we're talking a long, long time before he even gets a chance at parole again."

"I need a moment with my client." the beagle said, resignation in his voice.

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

Prosecutor Paulina Patterson met me in the anteroom to Interrogation-2.

"She confessed all, gave us a statement." said Paulina. "The question is, what do we do with her? Technically, it's her own stuff that was stolen. The conspiracy charge might stick, but it could be tenuous with a good lawyer."

"I think I can help you make a decision." I said. "Let's go inside." We went into I-2, where Cindy and Erlene were waiting.

"Mrs. Myers," I said, "how long do you have to live?"

"Wha..." said Erlene, her eyes again blazing. "How... how did you know?"

I looked at Cindy and Paulina. "Cancer." I said. "I'd guess melanoma, metastasized to other organs of her body. She's been undergoing treatments, to no avail."

All eyes were on me, and all registered shock.

"ADA Patterson, I'd suggest full immunity for this suspect if she cooperates and gives a full confession and statement implicating Howard Spratt in the burglary of her home. It'll need to be recorded; Mrs. Myers may not live to see the trial."

Paulina agreed to the deal. Cindy came with me as Paulina remained behind with Erlene (and Sr. Patrolman Morton) to do the paperwork and arrange the taped testimony.

"Obviously, I am still not at your level." Cindy said. "How did you know she was sick?"

"She's wearing a wig, her skin color is not quite right, and her illness was part motive for the crime." I said. "She's been sunbathing for days on end for years... decades. You can see it in her skin breaking down now. She developed a melanoma, and the rest is not hard to deduce."

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

Back in Interrogation-1 I had a much more amenable Spratt and Spratt's lawyer to work with.

"What will you offer us?" the attorney asked.

"Well," I said, "I can't promise anything. But I might, just might, get the D.A. to reduce the charge to receiving stolen goods. And if you're really helpful, and Mr. Myers gets his stuff back, and I fill my jails with bad people whom you have given to me, then I might possibly persuade the D.A. and the judge to give you one more year in a halfway house, then a few more years of parole."

I continued, more for Cindy's education than anything else: "I know your parole officer Ryan Frost dragged you into this, threatened to revoke your parole if you didn't do it. You throw him under the bus and I'm on your side in this whole thing. You've made a step backwards, Howie, but not necessarily off a cliff. Now Ryan Frost... that bastard is going down hard, and you're going to help me rip him a new asshole."

Rarely have I seen a look of gratitude on a criminal's face like I was seeing on Spratt's face at the moment. He began talking.

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

As Lieutenants Tanya Perlman, Teresa Croyle and Wes 'Coldiron' Masters planned their operation to take out the fencing operation, Cindy and I talked in my office.

"I feel like we went in circles." Cindy said. "You busted Frost, he gives us Spratt, but not enough, so we go to the other end and get Erlene Myers and she rats out Spratt, who then gives us Frost again.

"Yes." I said. "And it was you that busted Erlene, which was brilliant work. I've already sent emails to the Chief... cc'd to the Sheriff and the Mayor." Cindy smiled shyly, blushing.

"And you're right." I said. "It was the fencing operation and Ryan Frost I want to destroy. We'll get the fencers tonight; Teresa's already confirmed Spratt's information with C.I.s. And Frost, he's going down very, very hard. And sometimes we have to go in circles and get 'A' to rat on 'B', who rats on 'C', who then rats on 'A'."

"It was an interesting case." said Cindy. "How did you get onto Frost's part of it? Because he was so many people's alibis?"

"That was part of it." I said. "I don't think he realized it would be a red flag when so many alibis were coming right back to him. But what really gave him away was that one of the criminals, Grumby, was shot and killed at the scene of his crime... and Frost forgot to erase that log entry of the surprise inspection. Of course that log entry couldn't be true since Grumby had died and we knew it. Then we start looking into Frost, find the sexual abuse allegations, and it was all too easy to go on from there."

"I was right about Erlene being suspicious." said Cindy. "But I never quite understood a motive."

"I think she told you." I said. "She was bored with her husband and her life, and that life was close to coming to an end. She said she got her Fine Arts degree as an 'M-R-S' degree, then she charms and marries the up-and-coming Hamilton Myers at an art event. But she had no clue about the Greuze, and even with him telling her it's a replica, a Fine Arts degreed person should've had a clue. If this local cop on the beat could see it was real, certainly she should have. And then you realized that she had to have given Spratt the safe code."

"Yeah, 'local cop on the beat', my ass." Cindy said, the sarcasm of her voice coming through strongly. "The Iron Crowbar is an art expert, too. Geez, criminal here have no shot."

I smiled. Cindy could not know the real reason I knew about the Greuze, and it was not any kind of art expertise. I don't know shit from shinola about art. I just know the research I had been doing of a certain Consultant of Crime...

"So why didn't she just give him the alarm code too, and he could've just used it?" Cindy was asking. "Why bother defeating the alarm?"

"To make Frost's alibi of him more valid." I said. "The methods of defeating the alarm led us to Spratt... and then he had an alibi. I think we've had previous cases like that. Like Tantalus in Hades... we are led almost to the mountaintop, only to be disappointed. But that didn't work either. Too many people with Crowbars around here, figuring them out."

Cindy thought a moment, then said: "There's one more thing. The bugs in Diane and Lita's homes. We've found bugs in three more of Frost's parolee's homes, also. Those things are not cheap, and you don't just buy them off the street, as you well know."

"Yes." I said simply.

"So I was wondering where Frost and even Carter could have gotten those devices." Cindy said. "Do we have a mole somewhere? Or maybe the Sheriff Department?"

"I doubt that County Law Enforcement was the source of those bugs." I said. "Now who does have the resources to obtain those, and would have an interest in Frost and Carter planting them in parolee's homes?"

Cindy's eyes lit up, and she nodded.

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

The TCPD's SWAT Teams, followed by other heavily armed and armored police officers, swarmed a warehouse on the West side of Town, just south of Ward Harvester and other industrial concerns. It was a building owned by one Thomas P. Cook and rented to a consortium of 'merchandise distributors', but really a fencing operation run by 'The Teacher' from the Tenderloin District.

The TCPD took out a big-time six-man fencing ring and recovered the loot from sixteen recent burglaries, including Mr. Myers's paintings and all but three of his guns. Other guns and valuables, such as silver, were recovered. But the cash was gone... as was the set of old books on the Trojan War.

Of course 'The Teacher' would never be implicated, but I suspected he would not be very appreciative of my actions.

And neither was the Town & County Council. While taking out the fencing ring looked good for the Police Department, the revelations of Sarah Carter and Ryan Frost being implicated in sex abuse of parolees meant that more women were coming out of the woodwork... and so were wily, money-hungry, 'ambulance-chasing' lawyers, eager to file lawsuits against the County for the actions of the parole officers. The Council would have to fight the lawsuits, costing money.

Politicians, I thought bitterly to myself. The bastards don't give a shit about stopping crime; they only care about their worthless reputations and getting re-elected...

Part 15 - Single Malt Scotch

I was on the back deck of The Cabin, watching the beautiful sunset and waiting for the news of the raid to happen, which wouldn't be for another hour. I heard the crunch of gravel; a car was coming up. I suspected who it might be, and I was ready.

Indeed, it was Chief Bennett who came around on the walkway. As he came up to me, he extended an object in a brown paper bag.

"Peace offering." he said. I pulled out the bottle of 18-year-old Highland Park single malt Scotch.

"Accepted." I said. "Have a seat." As Bennett sat in a chair to my right, I took the two glasses on table between us, which I'd brought out in preparation of this expected event, and poured two most very healthy shots of the aromatic liquid into them.

"Salud." I said. We clinked glasses. I pretended to drink until I saw that he really was drinking his shot, then I downed mine. I poured two more.

"I guess you regret steering me into the Chief's chair, eh?" he said.

"Not at all." I said. "I sure as hell didn't want it, and you're a good cop and better administrator. And you're not perfect, as none of us are. Lord knows I'm not."

"Well," said Bennett, "I guess I have fucked things up, huh?"

"Nah, not really." I said, watching the sunset as he was. "You just learned something. Mostly to not listen to that piece of dog shit Robert Brownlee."

"True, true." said Bennett. "And thank God the Sheriff doesn't have a crowbar. It hurt bad enough as it was." I smiled and drank. This was one of my favorite brands of Scotch.

"Well, Commander," said Bennett, "you're right, as always. I believed Brownlee. And it's because I wanted to... especially about Captain Ross."

"If you want peace between us, Chief," I said, "I need to know what you have against her, and why."

"It's a long story." said Bennett.

"It's a full bottle of Scotch, and plenty of time to drink it." I replied. Bennett chuckled briefly, then got serious.

"I would imagine you already have figured a lot of it out." said Bennett. "So I'll lay my cards on the table, and we'll go from there. I'm a religious man, not some fanatic like Ikea, but I believe in Jesus and the Bible. And when Ross was hired onto the Force, there were rumors that she was a... homosexual."

He continued: "Maybe I was looking for faults, but I always found her to be too reticent, not putting herself out there as most Detectives do. She did her job, but seemed to try to not be noticed. At the time, Captain Malone ruled Vice, and that fanatic Ikea was throwing his weight around. Croyle was definitely earning her name 'Teresa Cunt', and MCD was an even worse wreck. Everyone thought Croyle and Ross hated each other, too."

"Appearances can be deceiving." I said. Bennett nodded, then went on:

"Perlman was pretty good at crime scenes, and Malone was wary of her, but Griswold shielded her. And Ross, too. But that wasn't the only problem. After the merger, the arrangement between Detectives and Officers didn't go over too well. For example, I'd been a Patrol Officer for years, put in my time on the streets. Made Sergeant, then the merger happened, and to save my job I went into Administration. I was told it'd be good for my career, and I did make Lieutenant. And I guess it did help me get the Chief job."

"Yes, it did." I said.

"Anyway," said Bennett, "I didn't have a whole lot of respect for the Detectives, and especially Ross. A lot of other uniformed officers don't like it that the Detectives get where they are right out of the Academy, just as some senior military enlisted don't like 22-year-old boys outranking them as Lieutenants. You know that deal." I nodded.

"And then Griswold hired you, and oh my God how the shit hit the fan." intoned Bennett. "Everyone knew you were different, and when you beat the living shit out of Molotov, there were a lot of amazed people in the Force... and a lot of scared ones, too. And I guess you knew Ross was related to you, because almost from minute one you were bringing her along with you... even though she tried to hide herself from you."

"No, I didn't know for some time that she was related to me." I said. "I just saw in her what you didn't want to... competence, regardless of her orientation."

"Some people thought, and still do think, that you're no friend of the homosexuals." Bennett said, peering at me. I made sure to let nothing in my face nor eyes give anything away.

"I believe in the smallest minority of all." I said. "The Individual."

"Anyway," he said, failing to read me, "I've just never had much for Ross, regardless of who she is fucking. And I still am not sure she can handle the job you put her in, especially when you're gone. But I worked out a deal with the Sheriff, which I'll make with you too, if you'll accept it: I'll let you run the Force, your way, and I'll handle the public relations and the administration, and the Sheriff and the Council, and I'll keep Brownlee out of your way, and hopefully out of trouble. You run those boring meetings, catch the perps, train the Detectives and Officers, keep me informed so I don't get ambushed by the God-damned Press, and I'll make sure you have what you need to clean this County up. Deal?"

"I see you've done a wise thing: in the end, you listened to Chief Griswold instead of that idiot Deputy Chief Brownlee. Very wise." I said. "You have a deal... Chief." I shook Bennett's hand.

"Nothing gets by you. Yes, Griswold gave me some rather straightforward advice." said Bennett. "Well, I better get home. Don't drink too much of that stuff in one sitting, you've got a raid to monitor."

"See you tomorrow morning, Chief." I said. Bennett left. I looked out over the Town as darkness began to rule the night. I could see the tiny, bright light of a train coming out of the western horizon.

Since the day Karen Warner Harlan had surprised me in the University Coach's office, I'd always made sure my back was covered. Tonight, my mother had been inside The Cabin, watching over me. She now came out onto the deck.

"Cindy is a brilliant and extremely capable young lady." said Phyllis as she sat down beside me on the metal mesh love seat, pressing her hip into mine. "I don't understand why Chief Bennett doesn't see that."

"He wasn't all wrong." I said. "Cindy kept her orientation a secret for a long time. She tried not to do too much and let herself get noticed, and then have her secret come out. And it worked... until I came along. I had to let her know I was aware of her orientation when I asked her to check with contacts in her world about something. But once she realized I knew and that the world had not come to an end, she began letting go of her fear. You weren't here yet, in those earliest days. But since you came here, I suspect Cousin Cindy's work with my favorite Auxiliary Policewoman helped a lot, too."

"Oh, it has." my mother said. "But that's the one thing you do so much better than me. Like Sherlock over Mycroft: you take action. Oh, I can see things as well as you and understand them, maybe better since I'm older and have the experience of being an Apple Grove housewife..." I laughed out loud at that one as she continued, "... but you know what to do about the things you see. You fix things. You find the solutions. I thought you'd made a mistake about that Chief Bennett, but now I see you might be right about him."

"We'll see." I said. "Anyway, at least I don't come up with hair-brained schemes like you and Cindy do." I was teasing my mother, and got slapped on the thigh for it.

"My dear son!..." my mother exclaimed. "Who let himself get kidnapped just to bring down Henry Wargrave? And who--"

"Okay, Mom, I get the drift." I said. "Here, have some Scotch..."

Part 16 - Epilogue

It had happened too fast. He'd not been warned; he'd had no time to warn The Teacher nor anyone else, and the Iron Crowbar's officers had raided and taken out the fencing ring so carefully and painstakingly established.

And on top of that, Sergeant Sharples, now known as the 'Fat Boy' around Police Headquarters, was actually making some progress on the child trafficking case... getting too close for the comfort of too many too-important people.

And then there was the meeting between one of his lieutenants in his organization, meeting with one of Gresham & Mason's most powerful attorneys. "The Iron Crowbar has directly told two of my lawyers that he is aware we are working with your boss." the legal eagle had said. "I don't know if that bastard is bluffing or not, but my people are becoming concerned. This fucking little local cop has been showing up too close to us, and way too often. Something needs to be done."

He poured himself a sherry and drank, enjoying the aroma as well as the flavor of the rare and expensive brand. After draining the glass, he thought about his plan to distract his nemesis, the Iron Crowbar and gain revenge upon him. It was beginning to get... serious.

He was tired, he realized. He'd solve these problems tomorrow, the day before the July 4th race. He allowed himself a bit more sherry, barely covering the bottom of the glass. Choosing not to disturb the woman sleeping in his bed, he took that glass up to the second bedroom, as well as a book... one volume of a very rare set about the Trojan War, purloined by his agent Ryan Frost from the home of that damned professor who'd refused to sell the books at any price.

Crime does pay, and handsomely, he thought to himself as he opened the tome and began to read...

Finis.