Cold As Ice Ch. 01

"Supposedly drugs," said Sharples. "Why are you here, Lieutenant?"

Teresa ignored the question and replied with one of her own: "Sergeant, where is your warrant for the raid?"

"YOU have one, don't you Lieutenant? That'll cover us." Sharples replied, something of a smirk on his face. McCombs grinned at the look of disgust on Teresa's face.

"You sent this email two minutes before the raid started, Sharples!" Croyle snarled. "That's unacceptable. You're going to be suspended for this."

"Detective Sharples acted correctly, Lieutenant." McCombs called out. "He notified-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, MCCOMBS!" Teresa shouted, causing everyone to look over at them. "You speak to me only when spoken to, Sergeant! Shut your fucking mouth NOW!"

"Oooh, temper, temper!" McCombs teased, then snarled "You can't talk to me that way-" He shut up when he noticed eight SWAT officers swinging their weapons around... to point at McCombs. He wisely shut up.

"Purvis," Teresa said, "call in a Crime Lab team. All the K-9 Corps dogs, too. See if you can find any contraband. Interview these suspects. Sharples, what the hell are you doing?" Sharples was removing beers from the cooler.

"Looking to see if anything besides beer is in this cooler." said Sharples. Teresa couldn't fault him for that one, saying nothing as Sharples dipped his hand in the ice-water mixture. "Nothing there. Lieutenant, you might want the Crime Lab to analyze these beers to see if its really beer in them. McCombs, give me a hand with this." He and McCombs took the ice chest towards the door as Teresa turned and began giving the other officers instructions.

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

"I'm telling you, Lieutenant," said Dirty Lennie, "we're allowed to to sit back and have a couple of beers before going home after our shift is over. Beats going to a bar and getting jacked by their high prices. We were just kicking back when you guys came swarming in. There ain't nuthin' goin' on here. You got it all wrong."

"You better hope and pray that we do, Lennie." Teresa said. It was nearly 3:00am, and nothing had been found. "The last thing you want is for me to haul you to jail, where the Iron Crowbar will be waiting for you." She saw Geiger approaching.

"Ma'am, all the stories match." he said. "They say they worked the 2nd shift, then sat around having a beer like they always do before going home. They all said this was easier than trying to meet at a bar. The Crime Lab hasn't found anything, and the dogs haven't found any drugs or explosives."

"Shit." Teresa said quietly. "Okay, transport these bozos to Precinct Two's holding cells, but we'll have to let them go in the morning if we don't find anything."

"Two of them have already demanded we let them call their lawyers," said Purvis, walking up, "and they're demanding to either be arrested on a warrant or be let go. They're pretty knowledgeable about the law."

"Drug perps usually are." Teresa said. "But we can detain them on suspicion, based on the warrant for the raid. But we do have to let them call their lawyers at the Station. Go, take them to Precinct 2 and let them 'lawyer up' over there."

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

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" blared the lovely redhead reporterette at 7:00am sharp. "Channel Two News has learned that the Town & County Vice Squad raided a warehouse in the southern part of Town, but came up empty-handed. Detective Sergeant Sharples of the Vice Division spoke with me earlier..." The film of Sharples telling Bettina that no drugs had been found was played. Sharples was saying that sometimes raids end up producing nothing, but that he would continue to investigate and hoped the next raid would prove more fruitful...

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

"Sir, I don't know what happened." Teresa Croyle said. "It was good intel, damn good. We had no trouble getting the warrant. And then, there was just nothing there. Sharples only got there seconds before we did, as near as I can tell."

"I agree, it was good intel." I said. It was 7:15am and Teresa and Christopher Purvis were in my office, sitting in the chairs at my invitation. Coffee had been poured and was being consumed as I continued: "Two independent sources confirming it, and then Sharples was there too, probably getting something from his own sources. By the way, did the Crime Lab check the beer bottle contents?"

"Yes sir. It was beer." said Purvis. "Sharples was looking for drugs, and we didn't find so much as an aspirin or a leaf of weed, much less anything more. We, of course, were looking for diamonds, but the truck that had just come in and its contents came up clean. We'd have to search every box in that warehouse if they were hidden there, but the intel was that they were coming in on that truck. We've impounded the truck, and the Lab guys are taking it apart to the wires and bolts. They know where to look, including behind the speedometer and such hiding places. Nothing so far."

"Yeah, this one was just a 'bad Buddha'. Happy April Fools' Day to us." I said. "You guys still did good, and I want you to keep your eyes and ears open and see if we can get the next one."

"Think there will be a next one, sir?" Teresa asked, her voice matching the skeptical look on her face.

"Maybe." I said. "We might have spooked them off, but at the same time this might have been a dry run or a false flag, and they'll go with another shipment soon, in another way. We can only hope for that, and get them next time. In the meantime, check any sources that have knowledge of who was supposed to receive the gems and see if they got their shipments. Okay, Purvis, go home and get some sleep. Croyle, you and I have one more item of business. Go get Sharples and escort him in here."

"Yes sir." said Teresa. She and Purvis left the office and I called Cindy Ross out of the MCD room to sit in. Moments later, Teresa had a whining Sharples in tow.

"What the heck, Commander?" Sharples complained. "I ain't done nothing wrong."

"Oh really?" I said. "Not giving your Vice Lieutenant ample and timely notice is the same as not giving notice at all. You also didn't get a warrant, and only Lt. Croyle happening to have one saved you from an illegal warrantless raid. I also want the full story on how you developed the intel to make the raid, and why you didn't come to Lt. Croyle, Lt. Ross or myself before going on that little rogue raid."

"My intel came from a C.I., Commander," snarled Sharples, "and you know I can't and won't tell you who that is, per protocols. As to the rest, I want a Union rep before I discuss that or answer any questions." At that, Cindy rolled her eyes, and Teresa looked like she wanted to find a crowbar and use it on the overweight Sharples.

"Why do I suspect..." I did not finish the sentence but picked up my phone on my desk. "Helena," I said into it, "when the Union rep comes in, send him straight on in." Hanging up, I said "I know you've called him already, Sharples."

Sharples was about to sit down, but I stopped him. "I didn't say you could sit down, Sharples. You'll remain standing until the Union rep gets here."

"Whatever, Commander." Sharples said. Seconds later, the door opened and in walked the Union rep, and older man that looked like he was once a thug for Senator 'Coffin' Cerone in Southport, but now wearing a very expensive suit.

"Commander," said the Union rep, "are you harassing this officer again?"

"You know I'm not." I said. "He's not bleeding." The rep looked at me as if I'd said something dirty about his mother, mixed with total shock. I then said "All right, state your case before I get bored and kick you out."

"Detective Sharples acted appropriately." said the rep. "He notified his superior before making the raid--"

"Three minutes beforehand is not notifying me in advance!" Teresa broke in, worn to anger.

"The regulations don't state how far in advance he should tell you, Lieutenant." snarled the rep. "And I'll thank you not to interrupt me again."

"And I'll thank you not to address my Lieutenant in that manner again." I told the rep. "She's right."

"Again, Commander," insisted the rep, "the regulations only state advance warning, not how far in advance. Detective Sharples developed a lead and had to act quickly upon it. Why, Commander, you do want your officers to solve crimes and arrest the criminals... don't you?"

"Sharples' actions needlessly put the lives of officers at risk." I replied. "Including his own life. I don't want an officer getting hurt or worse because this guy can't do the right thing and notify his superiors in an ample amount of time beforehand. And I haven't even started on his lack of obtaining a warrant yet."

"There was a warrant for the raid, provided by Lt. Croyle." said the rep, his voice smooth and oily. "It covers Detective Sharples, and you have nothing there."

"We'll see about that." I said. "I'm going to-"

"This is just another persecution of this officer doing his job, and doing a very good job." said the rep, cutting me off as he knew what I was about to do.. "We've had to grieve your persecutions of him several times already, Commander. I know you're jealous of the fine job he's doing, but-"

"You're full of shit, asshole." said Cindy. "The Commander's record makes Sharples look like the fat piece of shit he is-"

"You're out of line, little girl." said the rep, his voice not angry but amused and reproving, as if he were reprimanding a child.

"So are you, mother fucker." I said with cold anger to the rep, standing up behind my desk. "If you address Lt. Ross like that again, I'll whip your fucking ass so bad you'll never walk right again, regardless of the consequences." He again looked at me with a shocked face, and this time he could see in my eyes that he'd crossed the line.

I said "I'll decide whether or not to suspend Sharples within 24 hours, but for now, this is a direct order in the Union rep's presence, to be followed by a written order from the Acting Chief of this Police Force, supplementing the regulations: Detective Sharples, you are not to conduct a raid upon anyone at any time, unless you have notified your superiors and gotten their permission, and have done so at least one hour in advance. Furthermore, you will conduct no raid at any time without having properly obtained your own warrant in a proper manner beforehand. Am I clear, Sharples?"

"I will follow the written regulations." said Sharples. "I will conduct raids upon probable cause, as any other officer is expected to do."

"That's insubordination." said Teresa Croyle. "Commander, I request that you suspend Sharples for that."

"Detective Sharples is correct, Commander." said the Union rep. "The Union will fully support his actions last night, his statement this morning, and there will be a grievance filed for your persecution of him today."

"So be it." I said. "Sharples, you're on restricted duty until the grievance is decided and settled. You're to work at your desk only, and you are prohibited from carrying a service weapon or using a firearm while on restricted duty. You will turn in your service weapon to the Armorer immediately upon leaving this office, or you can leave it here with me and I'll give it to him. Either way, you're on desk duty. Lt. Croyle, Lt. Ross, escort Sharples to the Armorer."

"Don't bother." said Sharples. He took his service weapon out, carefully and slowly, and placed it on my desk. I unloaded it as Sharples said "I might as well go home until the grievance is heard."

"Have a nice day." I said derisively, a dismissal that included the Union rep. He left with Sharples.

"Cindy, take this to the Armorer." I said. She took the gun, magazine and bullets downstairs to the secure areas where the Armorer was.

"Thank you, sir." said Teresa. "Please do suspend him, though."

"He'll be back by Friday morning." I said. "Enjoy the two days of peace."

"What do you mean he'll be back?" Teresa asked. "He didn't get a warrant, he was insubordinate to you..."

I held up my hand. "Teresa," I said, "they're going to have the grievance hearing tomorrow if not today, and he'll be found to have followed regulations and have done nothing wrong. The Union will want me censured for my actions against him, but the arbiter won't bother with that. He'll just say Sharples is on full, unrestricted duty again, with his gun. They'll say that your warrant covered his actions, which technically is true as much as I hate it. Once again, he skates by."

"God fucking damn it!" Teresa gasped. "How the fuck can we get this son of a goddamned bitch out of here?"

"Patience, my friend." I said, leaning back in my chair. "In the meantime, what I want you to contemplate is this: why does the Union so aggressively support Sharples? Why him? And then I want you to contemplate, and then quietly investigate, how Sharples found out about your raid and jumped your claim, so to speak..."

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

Later that day, I had a visit from Myron Milton in my office. Cindy was there to hear the story as I had Myron sit down.

"It looks like Sharples simply accessed the files." Myron said. "Didn't try to hide it, either. He just went in and looked at them."

"I guess they're standard security," I said, "and anyone in Vice can look at them?"

"That's correct, sir, but it didn't matter." said Myron. "Lt. Croyle has tried to find ways to cut off Sharples from having access, but he's filed grievances with the Union whenever she cuts him off formally, and when she compartmentalizes things on a 'need to know' basis, someone keeps giving Sharples access. Sometimes it's Deputy Chief Brownlee himself, but sometimes it's someone we really can't trace. Maybe Sonali is doing it, but that would mean she's better than Mary and I think she is."

"And in any case," I said, "if we try to hit Sharples with accessing unauthorized data, he simply says it's Vice data, he's part of Vice and legitimately accessed it as part of his job. We just cannot get anything on the son of a bitch."

"It shouldn't be this hard to get rid of that clown." Cindy lamented, her voice as cold as the ice blue of her eyes. "Even with the Union backing him up. There should be some way to get rid of him."

"Hell," I said, "there are incidents in the Federal Government of people actually breaking regulations but not being fired for years because of red tape. In our case, Sharples colors within the lines... just barely, but he stays within the lines. So, Myron, anything else?"

"I took the liberty of checking his Police cellphone, which Internal Affairs keeps logs of... and they do that for all of our police cellphones, as well." Myron said.

"Is nothing sacred?" asked Cindy in a joking but withering voice.

"No ma'am, nothing that is police issue is private at all." replied Myron, straight deadpan, as if Cindy were being serious. "As to Sharples, his police cellphone is the only one he's known to use. He sent the email to Lt. Croyle, then sent a one-word text to Sergeant McCombs. Just a capital letter 'O'. Just the one letter."

"Maybe he was about to type something and got interrupted?" Cindy asked. "Or accidentally hit the 'send' button?"

"No ma'am." said Myron. "I've checked back. On several occasions in the past, McCombs and Sharples have sent each other texts with either an 'X' or an 'O'. Way too often to be a coincidence. And before you ask, Commander, I did check the dates and times, and they correspond to police raids or other actions at the time, including the raid on your pornstar friends back in December. That was an 'O'."

"I see, said the blind man." I said. "Okay, thanks Myron. I want you to monitor Sharples' text messages, and let me know if we get any more strange ones."

"Wilco, sir." Myron said. He excused himself and left.

"Wow, something we can use on him?" Cindy asked hopefully.

I just shook my head. "No warrant to get that information; technically, we don't have any of that. Clearly those dirty birds are communicating something, but I don't know what it is... yet."

Part 5 - The Sacred And The Profane

On Thursday morning, April 2nd, two men were escorted into the main conference room. They looked like retired mafia thugs in expensive suits. One of them was the Union rep who had ruffled my feathers the day before. The other was a Police Union lawyer.

I came into the room with ADA Paulina Patterson as my counsel and advisor. As I sat down, the Union lawyer said "Commander, Senator Cerone is a friend of mine. He said to tell you 'hello'."

"Give him my greetings when you see him again." I replied. Cerone and I were anything but friends; the politenesses were a mere front.

Deputy Chief Robert Brownlee was present, at the request of Sharples and the Union rep. And I was surprised when Sharples came in, not by his presence but the man who came in behind him: Sheriff Daniel Allgood was personally attending this grievance hearing.

"Why Sheriff," said the Union rep, the one that had been in my office the day before, "I'm surprised to see you here."

"Consider me to be here on behalf of the Town & County Council." said Allgood with alacrity. "They're getting tired of your officer making problems for the other officers on the Force."

"That's hardly a way to start this hearing." said the last person to enter the room: the arbiter. He was an older man that never quite looked directly at anyone, his eyes were shifty and he acted as if he knew more than anyone else in the room... and that he knew something we didn't. He was sent by the State to arbitrate the hearing, and I knew the game was rigged for the Union the moment he entered the room.

The arbiter said to Allgood "We're here to resolve our differences, not escalate them." His words fooled no one present.

I had asked that Lt. Croyle be at the hearing, but Sharples and Brownlee had vociferously and bitterly protested that, and the arbiter quickly agreed with them. Rigged, rigged, rigged, I thought to myself.

I gave my side of it, that Sharples had not informed his superiors of the raid in a timely enough manner, which endangered the lives of all the officers present including himself; that he had not gotten a warrant for the raid at all, and could not have just assumed Lt. Croyle would have one or even be on the scene; furthermore, he had been insubordinate in refusing to accept my order (which I'd since put in writing, to again be rejected by Sharples) supplementing the regulations by clarifying the timely manner and his need to get a warrant himself in the future."

The Union lawyer carefully attacked my arguments. Then the Union rep asked the arbiter to enter into the record the previous and successful grievances by Sharples when we'd tried to discipline him in the past. Despite Paulina's vociferous objections, the arbiter eagerly said he would accept that 'evidence' into the record and give it strong consideration.

The arbiter said "Does anyone have anything else to say before I give my ruling?"

"You're not even going to take time to consider this?" I asked, making a point to show the game was rigged.

"I'll make my decision in my own time, Commander," said the arbiter in an ugly, menacing voice, "and I'll thank you to not tell me how to do my job. You stick to doing your job, which you've consistently done poorly in regard to Detective Sharples."

"You're biased." said Paulina. "I demand another arbiter."

"Denied." said the arbiter simply. "Now, let's-"

"I have something to add to the record." said Sheriff Allgood. As eyes turned to him, he said "I have been in discussion with the Town & County Council over the matter of Detective Sharples' utter lack of professionalism and his failure and refusal to follow procedures. The District Attorney's office has complained formally to the Council about the cases Sharples has destroyed due to technical violations of the Constitution and the law.