Deliver Us From Evil Ch. 02

Tony Long added "And if so, why?"

I said "I have my suspicions that the Swamp Frogs are not behind the bombing in and of itself, but they are trying to help the perps who Geiger and Madden have been pursuing... and successfully, if this bombing shows us anything."

Karina White said "I'll get you what I can about the bombing from some ATF contacts I have. They have tremendous resources and data, and will be able to tell us generally who might be behind the attack. But I don't see this as a typical domestic terrorism attack. It looks like Geiger and Madden were specifically targeted."

"I agree." I said solemnly.

Britt Maxwell asked "If you need State resources, Don, just ask. But let me ask you this: where do we go from here?"

Tony Long said "The Feds wanted Geiger to turn over his notes of the meeting in the diner, and also any audio or video recorders he had, as well as his cellphone. He says both his and Madden's recorders were destroyed in the car fire, and his lawyer insisted the Feds get a warrant based on real probable cause and not made-up speculation in order to get his cellphone. And they're going to claim journalistic privilege, anyway."

I said "I'll have to talk to Geiger and see if there's anything he'll tell me that he won't tell the Feds. In the meantime, we might as well head home, Teresa. There's nothing else we can do here, anyway, and I suspect the Feds will try to follow us around... and they won't be discreet nor subtle about it..."

Part 10 - Kevin's Story

2:30pm, Monday, August 2nd. Teresa and I headed north towards The City. I made several sudden turns, and we both were watching carefully, but we saw no one following us.

"It doesn't matter, though." Teresa astutely observed. "This thing is a rolling electronic signature. They can just follow us with drones, or maybe nothing more than a ham radio signal receiver."

"True, that." I said. "Sooo, let's go hide for a few minutes." Instead of going into the City Center, or turning west for home, I went northeast towards the grimy Railyards District. Turning through several narrow streets, I then turned at a warehouse's open bay door and drove inside.

"One of Molinari's places?" Teresa asked as I circled around until the vehicle was facing the open door.

"I'd bet the mortgage that he knows about it." I replied as I checked the vehicle for bugs, finding none but not completely trusting the bug finder.

"One question." Teresa said. "Molinari and most of the Mobsters are Italian or some kind of European, and a lot of them are Catholic. Why is Molinari helping us so much?"

I said "Mobsters are professional criminals and treat it like a business. They do not like rapists and child molesters, and don't like priests that do those things. I suspect Molinari would like to see this quietly cleaned up for the sake of the Church and it's reputation, and he knows I'm the guy to do that."

Teresa said "I don't think even you can keep this genie in the bottle. If we bust O'Leery, the word can't help but get out. If we do anything (air quotes) 'extracurricular', that'll be all over the news, too."

"True." I said. "But the bottom line is that Molinari will be happy if we bust O'Leery, and the rest of the Church will get over it, in time. Okay, we have a few minutes. Let's listen to this." I took out the audio recorder Geiger had slipped into my trenchcoat pocket.

"I thought he might've slipped something to you." Teresa said.

"And a damn good thing he did." I said. "Otherwise, the Feds might've searched him and found it, and they'd have confiscated it."

We listened to the interview. Afterwards, Teresa said "Damn the luck. This 'Lana' woman has Madden's card but not Geiger's, and he's dead. And unless Geiger has the contact info somewhere else, Madden had her contact info... which was destroyed in the car fire."

"I don't think it matters all that much." I said. "This Lana woman may be real... or she may be a total red herring. Her story may be true, and she's scared and will go into hiding... or she was leading them on to draw them out so that her confederates could put the explosives and magic seat cushion in Geiger's car. She was telling them exactly what they wanted to hear, and I'll bet they were hanging onto every word."

Teresa reached for the mobile computer in the vehicle as she said "I think Alison said they'd confirmed Kevin Thomas is in prison. We can take a peek and confirm that."

I stopped her and said "Remember what you just said about ELINT signatures. Let's wait until the more secure connection arrives... ah, there it is now."

A dark vehicle was driving into the warehouse. It looked black, but as it circled around us and came alongside, we could see that it was dark green... and an O65 Imperial Crown!

"Ah, the Black Beauty." Teresa said as the car stopped. Cindy Ross and Callie Carrington got out of the vehicle. Cindy was wearing her 'black' uniform, and Callie was wearing a light blue western shirt and khaki pants.

"Hello, ladies." I said as we got out of my Police SUV. "No trouble getting here?"

"We weren't followed." Cindy said. "And no drones or anything like that. We ran 'radio silent', too. So... Keith Madden's dead?"

I nodded. "Yeah. How much did you hear about that?"

Cindy said "Priya called and told me that she'd confirmed it with Alison McFarland, and that Keith Madden had died when a car bomb exploded, and Geiger was lucky as heck that he didn't get killed, too. So what happened?"

I said "I'll tell you all about it when we get home tonight. Right now, y'all need to get back home. Where are Betsy and Ben?"

"At The Cabin, with all the family, including Teresa's boys." Callie said. "Laura called in the red alert and battened down the hatches about the same time you called and asked Cindy to bring the Black Beauty here. By the way, can I borrow it for a movie? Teenagers fucking in the backseat in an old car like that will sell very well."

"Let's discuss that later." I said...

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

After Cindy and Callie drove out in my Police SUV, Teresa and I got into the Black Beauty, me driving and Teresa in the shotgun seat. Teresa used the computer to search for Kevin Thomas. "Yep, he's in the Prison system up here, but he's scheduled to be released... this Thursday!"

"That's both good and bad." I said. "Okay, what's the LKA of his parents, Fred and Ginger Thomas?"

Teresa looked it up, and gave the address, then said "Thing is, there are absolutely no records on them from the time that Kevin was arrested until now. Nothing. No employment records, no tax returns. The house went into foreclosure, and a realty company bought it on the Courthouse steps, but no record of it being sold again."

"Okay, we've got to move fast." I said. "Let's go see Kevin before visiting hours end. Then tonight after dark, we'll stop by the Thomas's old residence, and see if anyone is there..."

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

Kevin Thomas was a tall, lanky, handsome young man with a full head of light brown, almost dirty blonde hair. He was wearing a gray jumpsuit, not orange, which denoted him as less of a threat risk than those that had to wear orange. He and other inmates in gray were separated from those in orange.

He was brought into the interrogation room and seated at the table opposite us. The guard asked if we wanted him cuffed to the table, and I said it wasn't necessary.

"Hi, Kevin." I said. "I'm Inspector Donald Troy with the SBI, and this is Lieutenant Teresa Croyle---"

"The Iron Crowbar?" Kevin asked. His voice connoted surprise, but sounded naturally cynical, and maybe unexpectedly whiney. "Wow. I never expected to be sitting at the same table as the big guy. What do you want with me?"

I said "I never expected to be sitting here with a guy like you, either. Former Eagle Scout, like me. Good grades. From a good family. But something happened, and knocked you off the path. And that's why I'm here."

"Yeah, like my parents gave a damn." Kevin said. "Oh yeah, they're allll religious and pious, but when the shit hits the fan... well, you know that Bible verse about visiting someone in prison? Well, you, Mister Iron Crowbar, have visited me more times than they ever have."

I said "And that's one thing I want to ask you about. But first... I know this won't be easy for you, but I need to know what happened that changed you. Did something happen between you and Cardinal O'Leery?"

Kevin's eyes had flashed anger as he talked about his parents. Now they became dull, still full of hate, but also of... defeat? He said "I can't talk about that."

Teresa said "Your life is in danger, Kevin. If you tell us now, it'll be out and there'll be no point in them trying to kill you. You're a danger to them only if they silence you before you tell the truth about what happened. They've already killed someone, just today."

Kevin said "And while my parents have abandoned me, won't even speak to me or visit me, they'll be killed if I say anything."

I said "Kevin, I want you to think about something. Your parents not visiting you... are you sure it's because it's their choice not to? What if they went into hiding to avoid being killed? Or worse... maybe the Enemy got to them already."

Kevin's eyes widened, and I pressed on. "You're getting out this Thursday. I can help keep you safe, maybe even some form of Witness Protection if you need it. And I'll find out the truth about your parents."

"All right." Kevin said. He reiterated his Boy Scouts story, then said "When I was in the Scout Troop, there were several boys in the class, so nothing ever happened. But when I became an adult leader, Cardinal O'Leery was meeting with me alone."

Kevin: "Almost as soon as I walked into his office, he locked the door then came over and began... touching me. He grabbed my crotch and then opened my pants, then got on his knees and sucked my dick. I was so stunned I just didn't move. I didn't get hard, either, and he gave up after a few minutes. He told me not to say anything, and that no one would believe me if I did."

Kevin: "I went home and told my parents I didn't want to be around O'Leery again. I didn't say it explicitly, but they should've gotten the hint. They gave me the spiel about insulting O'Leery if I didn't go to the meetings with him, and my father drove me in his car to the next one to make sure I went. At the time, I really thought my parents were in on it."

Kevin: "When I went into his office, Cardinal O'Leery was there, and there was another priest in there with him. I didn't know him; he was a younger guy, just out of Seminary. I thought it'd be okay, that O'Leery wouldn't try anything... but boy! was I wrong. They both attacked me."

Kevin: "I've worked out a lot while I've been in prison, but at the time I was younger, smaller, not as strong. They forced me to stand by the desk and pushed my belly down onto it, then O'Leery forced my pants down... and then he raped me. He sodomized me in the ass. I tried to kick and resist, but the other guy was just too strong to fight."

Kevin: "After it was over, O'Leery said that he'd enjoying fucking my cherry ass. He then said that if I said a word to anyone, he had a witness that nothing happened, and that no one would believe me over him. And he said that if I ever said a word about any of it, my parents would feel the pain."

Kevin: "I didn't go back home that night. I hit the streets. It was hard, and some bad things happened to me. I got really close to being hooked on drugs, but then started selling drugs and making a few bucks here and there. And then I did something stupid, and let two guys talk me into the store robbery. And you know the rest."

I said "Are you willing to testify against him?"

"If I'm still alive to do it." Kevin said. "But yeah, I'll make an open, sworn statement once I'm out."

"Thank you." I said. "Okay, we've got to do something to make sure you don't get fucked up here in jail---" At that moment, the guard that had brought Kevin into the room, a big burly guy that was the poster child of what a prison guard was expected to be, came into the room and up to the table.

"A note for you, sir." he said as he dropped what looked like a standard-sized playing card on the table. I worked hard not to show my surprise: on the card was the logo of the Wrangler Circus! The guard said "He'll be all right in here. Just have some of my friends at the gate to escort him out of here when he's released."

"Thanks, I'll do that." I said. As Teresa and I got up, I said "We'll be in touch, Kevin. Just watch your back."

"I've been doing that for three years." Kevin replied...

Part 11 - Crowbars In The Night

The sun was setting behind the tall buildings of The City and over the western horizon as Teresa and I sat on a bench at the Hank Voight Overlook in Joe West Park, watching the lights coming on along the North River.

"I know who Hank Voight was." Teresa said. "Who is Joe West?"

"He was a Central City Police cop." I said. "Lieutenant, maybe made Captain. All I really know about him is that he had a daughter named Iris. Iris West married a Police Scientist named Barry Allen, and they had twins."

"Ah." said Teresa. "And a fan of Police Scientists like you would know that."

"I read the papers." I said. "So what do you make of our present case?"

"We've got him." Teresa said. "We've got Cardinal O'Leery, especially if we can get Kevin Thomas to a Grand Jury or a Courtroom witness stand to testify against him."

"Yes." I said. "Before Alison left for home with Geiger, I told her that they'd done their job, and now it was in the hands of us LEOs. And to protect Geiger from further Fed harassment, she's going to public with this on her Unresolved podcast if I ask her to."

"Will that hurt us?" Teresa asked. "Will it put Kevin in further danger? And Alison and Geiger?"

I said "No. The bombing shows that the Enemy is completely aware of what's going on. They knew the Examiner peeps were onto them. I am not sure if this Lana person was for real, or if she was luring them into the trap, but we're past that now. It's 'game on'... and it's personal now."

Teresa nodded, then said "What I don't understand is the Federal Government's involvement in all this, especially the Swamp Frogs coming out. I get the ATF investigating the bombing, and what they may have originally believed to be a domestic terrorist incident. But that doesn't explain the FBI following Alison, Madden, and Geiger around, and now Madden is dead. And does Jack Muscone really not know what's going on? And if everyone else knows, why not talk to him about it?"

"Because I'm still pissed that they were spying on me about the Louella Hopper files." I said. "And to your other question, I do think he's aware by now. EAD Owen Lange would've told him about it, despite Muscone's protestations that he's being treated like a mushroom."

I continued: "As to why the Swamp Frogs and the other Federal Agents are so heavily involved, I have my suspicions that they're helping O'Leery for some reason, and I think we'll find out more about that in the next couple of days... wait, do you see that?"

It was almost completely dark, but I'd seen a shadow above the treeline to our south, and was pointing it out to Teresa.

"Bird?" she said.

"Birds flap their wings." I said. "That's too smooth. It may be a drone coming north from the Railyards area where we last gave off an ELINT signature."

Teresa said "They may have locked onto that burner phone you were making a ton of calls from."

"True that." I said. "Let's get out of here. It's dark enough that we can go visit the Thomases..."

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

Fred and Ginger Thomas's home was in the relatively wealthy southwest suburbs of The City, inside a gated community. We came up to the gate. The guard was about our ages, and had a belly on him. I flashed my SBI badge and ID, and Teresa was holding up hers, as well."

"Y'all undercover?" he asked.

I said "No, we're just going to talk to someone as possible witnesses. Why would you think we're undercover?"

"That's a heck of a civilian ride, there." the man said, referring to the Black Beauty. I flipped on the blue LED lights embedded in the front grill, lighting up the gate. The man laughed as he pressed the button to open the gate as I turned the blue lights back off.

As we drove down the street, Teresa said "This place reminds me of the Heritage Cloisters subdivision back home." Indeed, the houses were large, some with three garages, and the grounds were immaculately manicured.

She then observed: "They must have a lawn service do every home in the subdivision. Everything is cut and manicured exactly the same way. When I lived in the Heritage Cloisters, they wanted to do that for our subdivision, but the residents voted it down. The HOA fees were disgusting enough as it was."

I said "Definitely money, here, and the Thomases were keeping up with the Joneses. Okay, here's the house." I pulled into the driveway of a home on the right side of the road. The front yard rose almost steeply from the sidewalk to the front of the home, then leveled off. There were no lights on at all. Many other houses had outside streetlights lighting up the driveway and the houses, but the one at the Thomas residence was out.

We got out of the car and put armored vests on (mine under my trenchcoat), then locked the car. The two-car garage was to the left of the main home, and we went around the side, using Teresa's flashlight to see. The backyard was fenced in, but there were no dogs guarding it. The back patio was screened in. The door was locked, but it was a flimsy defense against the power of the red crowbar. There was no furniture on the patio nor out in the backyard.

I said "This home is considered abandoned, and the Thomases are part of our investigation. So we don't have to get a warrant to enter it. Let's put on gloves so we don't fuck up any other fingerprints nor leave ours." We put on latex gloves.

I picked the lock of the back door, and was about to enter, but Teresa grabbed my shoulder. "My day to play Rudistan." she whispered. "You are not going in ahead of me."

"Roger that. Ready?" I said, conceding the point. Teresa nodded. I threw it open and Teresa rushed past me and into the home's back den room, gun drawn as we began clearing it. The home alarm started beeping, and as Teresa covered me, I went to the alarm panel on the wall in the hallway and deactivated it with the manufacturer's code.

We cleared the rest of the house, which had basic furniture inside. It looked like it was staged to sell. When we were done, Teresa said "It's always been a good thing that you know the alarm systems so well. Do you keep up with the latest advances?"

"Oh yes." I said as I shined my flashlight around. "I still have the business, though I sell one system a year; two, tops. Okay, this house does not look lived in." I flipped a light switch in the hallway, and the ceiling light came on. "Electricity is still on, though."

Teresa said said 'There's at least a half-basement below us. We should clear it, too." The stairs down were under the stairs to the second level of the home. Teresa led the way as we cleared it.

"Ugh." she said once we determined we were alone in the basement. "Bad smell here."

I took two of the Todd Burke 5-minute air masks out of the pocket of my trenchcoat. We put them on and then looked around. There wasn't much stuff, but several standalone shelves were against the walls, and a wooden workbench was still in place.

"Let's go back upstairs. I have a suspicion that Martha the M.E. would recognize that smell, but I don't see where the bodies might be."