Consent of the Governed Ch. 04

Teresa said "And nothing on the Assembly passing the Budget with full Police funding. Not even any 'Red and Green Crowbars beat up Assemblypersons trying to fleet the jurisdiction to avoid having a quorum' stories."

"Interesting, that." I replied musingly.

*KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* *KNOCK!*

The door opened to reveal FBI Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone. His face looked haggard and worried. "Don, can you come to the Main Conference Room? Just you?" he said...

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

Standing in the Main Conference Room were my wife Laura and FBI Special Agent Tracy Stone. Laura was wearing heels, and thus was right at my 6'4" height. Tracy Stone was not quite as tall as Teresa, and Tracy's athletic body and legs were a bit more slender, making her look even smaller next to Laura.

Of course Teresa came in with us, at my insistence. I sat in my normal seat, to the left of the near-end seat the Chief would normally sit in. Laura sat to my left. Tracy Stone sat in the seat to the right of the near end, across from me, and Jack Muscone to her right. Teresa sat to his right with a seat between them; although we expected no trouble, she instinctively always sat in a place where she had the advantage to protect me, should the need arise.

Tracy's face looked as worried as Muscone's, and I was getting a vibe, a bad, bad vibe as Jack began speaking.

"I know none of you will speak of the improprieties you are about to hear." Muscone said. He paused as we nodded, then he said "The other day, when Clark Webster was here, it was insinuated that we were watching Carmela in extralegal ways. I have to tell you now that we planted listening devices in his office as well as his home, and have been listening in on his conversations."

Muscone: "We were hoping Carmela would say something that would lead us to the girl Tamara. Clark Webster applied for warrants for the bugs, but Federal Judge K.M. Landis, usually friendly to us, shot the applications down, citing lack of clear probable cause. I had some people plant the bugs anyway."

"And you got something? Where Tamara is?" Laura asked. I shook my head vigorously in disagreement.

"No." I said. "They wouldn't be here telling us about this if they had information on Tamara. They would be acting upon it. And judging by the solemn Federal faces I'm seeing now, it's something bad, really bad... isn't it?"

"Not much gets past you." said Jack Muscone. "I'm used to you, but Tracy may not be."

"I have seen enough to know that I have seen too much." Tracy said. "You're right, sir, it's bad. And because we don't have warrants, none of this is actionable. Legally, anyway." She turned to Muscone, who had brought out a burner cellphone.

Muscone said: "We don't know who Lionel Carmela was talking to, but we heard clearly what he said. And you need to hear it, too." He started the audio file.

Dr. Lionel Carmela's voice was unmistakeable as he said clearly: "I am not playing around any longer. We need to get a message to Fredricson, telling her that if she does not resign from her University position as well as from the Staff of University Hospital, and drop her lawsuit against me, then she is going to find her daughter's dead body lying on her doorstep...

To be continued.