Environmental Hazards Ch. 02

This story is part of an ongoing series. The chronological order of my stories is now listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

Part 6 - Abandoned Ship

"Oh, wow." said Cindy. "They took their ball and went home. If ever there was a suspicious action..."

"But a perfectly legal one." I said.

"Damn, we should've had people watching the place last night." said Ruger.

"Wouldn't have mattered." I said. "They have every right to close up shop here and go back home. We had no legal way to stop them."

"Evidence removal?" asked Kimberly Wesson. "We could've forced them to keep their stuff in place, impound the place."

"On what grounds?" I asked. "That's a teachable moment. We'd have had to have probable cause. We already have their records, and we'd have to show a lot more to force them to keep the physical property here, and by that I mean the instruments and equipment."

"So what do we do now?" asked Steve Ruger.

"We continue as before." I said. "We'll go on up to the Pine Valley establishment, look around. Then to that abandoned film manufacturing facility. Meanwhile, I'll have my friends in the FBI and SBI go visit their home facility with a warrant requiring them to preserve ALL records and destroy nothing, then ask why they moved from here."

Once outside, I said "Chief, can I ride with you?"

"Sure." said Soltis, surprised. I then turned to Cindy, handing her the keys to my SUV.

"Cindy," I said quietly, "take the SUV back home and bring down the Black Beauty. While you're there, check in at Headquarters; I talked to Myron last night, and he will have some data for you to bring back. And see what's going on, especially making sure those rowdy Detectives up there haven't destroyed my Police Department."

Cindy grinned, then took the keys and drove off.

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

Friday, March 24th. When we arrived at the Pine Valley project's trailer that was its main on-site office, we were confronted with a number of hostile looking men. The foreman came out said "You've got to have a warrant to be on these grounds. Otherwise, get lost."

"We were hoping for a bit more cooperation than that." said Chief Soltis. I had stayed in the car as he confronted the men.

"You want cooperation, get a fucking warrant." snarled the foreman. "If you try to come onto this property without one, I'll have my boys shoot to kill you. Now get your asses out of here."

"We'll be back." said Soltis. He turned and got back into the car. "Wow. So what's next?"

"Act like we're going back south to Midtown." I said. "But double back on that county road just down the road, and we'll sneak around to that photography plant."

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

Clouds were beginning to form overheard, dimming the sunlight giving the gray façade of the buildings of the plan an even more colorless hue. We'd driven up the facility, then around a two-track path around one side of the fence surrounding the place so that we were not immediately visible to anyone driving up.

"Definitely abandoned." said Chief Soltis. I was looking at the road coming up to the facility, and through the fence as the road went inside. Ruger and Wesson were watching me intently.

"Yes, and no vehicle traffic in the very recent past." I said. "Which is good. Let's see if we can find a hole in the fence. Chief, you want to stay here with the cars?"

"Sure." said Soltis. "I'll sit on the horn if anyone comes up."

I began walking around the fence, but it was in decent repair all the way around. There was a railroad siding that went along the back fence, but the gates crossing the railroad offered no place to crawl under.

"You guys up for a little extracurricular activity?" I asked, holding up some metalcutters.

"No wonder you get the results you do." said Wesson. "I'm game."

"Me, too." said Ruger.

I made a cut in an obscure part of the fence large enough to get through. Once we were inside, I reconnected the fence with metal wire clips.

We made our way over the grounds. The buildings were all locked, save for one building that had a series of vats for mixing chemicals. One could still smell the acids. Going back outside, I pointed out some places on the ground. They were pipes to underground storage tanks for the processing waste chemicals.

I pried one of the lids off with my crowbar. It was the size of a manhole cover. We could see down into the tank below. It was nearly full of a purplish-black liquid.

"Yep, they left the contaminants here." I said as I replaced the lid. Then I explained:

"Bexall got into some trouble with one of their plants on the eastern side of the State." I said. "I looked up the reports last night, and did the Lexus-Nexus search to read the press reports. Chemicals used in photography are extremely dangerous and poisonous; dangerous silver compounds are the main problem, but acids and other agents can also be a problem if they get into the groundwater."

I continued: "What happened was that Bexall would build a plant, run it to make its products, and dump the wastes into huge underground storage tanks. When the tanks were full, they'd just move their manufacturing operation to another location. This whole property is worthless because it's so contaminated, and anyone who buys the property becomes immediately liable for the entire cleanup, which could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars."

Ruger said "So... do you think this facility is putting stuff into the groundwater?"

"The correct term is 'leaching'," I said, "and yes, I think it's possible stuff is leaching out of the underground tanks and into the nearby grounds. It might even have reached the point where it's getting into the groundwater, and ultimately into the River. But the key here, guys, is that if contamination is leaching or leaking out, the first area to be affected will be directly downstream... Pine Valley."

"Wow." said Kimberly Wesson. "Another Love Canal."

"Wow, indeed." I said. "How does a youngster like you know about Love Canal?"

"I had a relative, a great aunt, that was directly affected by it." said Kimberly Wesson. "To this day, all my old relatives that are still living talk about it, and use a lot of curses in doing so."

"I hear that. And yes, this could be the same thing if we don't take action now." I said. "All right, let's get out of here. We have a hell of a lot of work to do. And don't take offense when I say that this is beyond your jurisdiction, and I'm about to take the case over."

Part 7 - Depths of Corruption

At 10:45am, Cindy made it back, driving the Black Beauty. To have made it in that time, she would have had to drive at speeds that are... well, illegal.

"Myron gave me a jump drive and a package of papers for you." Cindy said. "They got the cellphone records for Jimmy Shell last night."

"Wow, we don't even have the warrant for those yet." said Chief Soltis.

"I know, and something is wrong with that." I said. "You don't just have a corrupt Police Department to clean out; it extends to the Court system."

"Worse than that." said Lt. David Krueger, coming into our meeting in the conference room of the Precinct. "I did finally get the warrant and got the records. But here's the thing: I sent them to Myron at his request... and my list is not the same as his. He has several more records than my list."

"Well, let's compare those now." I said, putting the jump drive David handed me into my laptop. After checking for viruses and finding none, I brought up the files for a side by side comparison.

"They're mostly the same." I said. "Except Myron's list has several entries to and from two entities. One appears to be someone at the State EPA. The other... a legal firm. Ditcher, Quick & Hyde. So he did try to contact a lawyer."

"I can't wait to find out who in the State EPA he contacted." said Cindy.

"Me, neither." I said. "And it is very likely we will be making an arrest of that person."

"What do you mean?" asked Chief Soltis.

"I mean..." I said, halfway in a reverie, "that the State EPA person may have tipped off either FENL, Forbes & Sehgal, or the Pine Valley project people to Shell's call."

"Shell called the State EPA's main number, which is a switchboard." said Krueger. "There's no way to tell from these records which specific number he called."

"There's no extension that he dialed?" asked Cindy.

"Actually," I said, "yes. It's here in the metadata. His phone dialed the number 7002."

"How did you get that?" asked Krueger. I just looked over at him and did not answer.

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

"What else did Myron tell you?" I asked Cindy when we were alone in the room, as Chief Soltis took a potty break.

Cindy took out her bug killer and turned it on. "Myron and Mary have amassed more information in a few hours than Krueger and his team have in a day and a night. The Mouseketeers determined that M&C Project Development is composed of Morelli and Cook... yes, our own Thomas P. Cook, and mobster wannabee Jerry Morelli. They also found that WorldBankTrust backed Dakota Partners Trust."

"They cracked into Nevada corporations?" I asked.

"No sir." Cindy said. "It was all done in this State, and everything the Mouseketeers obtained was right there in the public records, from the land purchases, to the loans, to the development project itself, to the applications with the various State agencies, including the State EPA. What I don't understand is why Krueger has not gotten this information."

"David does not have the Power of the Crowbar behind him as Myron and Mary do." I said. "Furthermore, he and Chief Soltis are playing it by the book. They're trying to clean up corruption, and are understandably leery of coloring outside the lines themselves. But that's okay... this is about to become a State case."

Cindy said "Myron found out that the backers of M&C Developers bought options on the Pine Valley land totaling about a million dollars, which was deducted from the purchase price when the options were exercised. Standard real estate stuff there."

"Is a million dollars a lot or a little?" I asked, knowing the answer but wanting Cindy's expert opinion, as she was well-versed in real estate activities.

"For that amount of land, it's not very much, actually." said Cindy. "The interesting thing, at least to Myron and to me, is that one would think the rest of the land in Benning County would go up in value. But that didn't happen. No one stepped up to buy the farmland, which is really poor farmland and has been since the Great Depression if not longer."

"That is curious." I agreed. "So, what else?"

Cindy said "Mary was also very thorough. She checked the State EPA people that might've heard from James Shell. She checked to see if FENL or the Engineering firm was contacted recently by the SEPA, and two people did so. One is from the Department that does annual inspections of labs. Her name is Beverly Carter. The other... is the Department that would investigate dumping and spilling of wastes, their criminal law enforcement division. Guy by the name of Keith Rollins."

Cindy then said "Mary also found that the lawyer Shell contacted was named Jessie Quick, junior attorney, and daughter of the 'Quick' in the firm's name. She made a few phone calls too... to someone out of state named 'George Glass', and to Robert Ferris, the Chief Chemist of Forbes Environmental National Laboratories... on his personal cellphone."

"Hmm... 'Glass'." I said. "He's PCGW. Okay, this party is just getting started."

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

"Guys," I said, "you've done a great job. I have really enjoyed working with you, and I think you're going to have great careers. And I'm going to keep you in the loop as much as I can. But this investigation has crossed county lines now, and so I'm taking it over in my capacity as SBI Reserve Inspector."

"We understand." said Chief Soltis. Nevertheless, Steve Ruger and Kimberly Wesson looked very disappointed.

"Is there anything we can do to keep helping?" Wesson asked.

"Yes." I said. "Keep going through that lab data. Also, we're going to go into Midtown and interview the lawyer James Shell tried to contact. Follow my lead, and I'll show you how I get the truth out of people... hopefully without using a crowbar."

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

Jessie Quick was in her mid-twenties. She was slender, almost wiry, and fairly athletic. Her brown hair hung a bit limply down to her shoulders. She was an attractive girl, and most people would think she was a bit dumb and would think they had the advantage of her. But I could see something in her eyes, a shrewdness, a thin bit of electricity... and I knew I was dealing with a worthy potential adversary.

"How can I help you?" she asked after Ruger, Wesson, and I took our seats in her office.

"Thank you for spending a few moments with us today." I said. "Ms. Quick, do you know a man named James Shell. He went by the name 'Jim' or 'Jimmy'."

"Yes." said Jessie. "He was murdered yesterday. I saw it on the news."

"How did you know him?" I asked.

"He contacted me professionally." said Jessie. "And so you'll understand when I say that our conversation was privileged."

"You know he's dead." I said. "You also know that what he discussed with you might help us find his killer or killers. So claiming attorney-client privilege is not going to hold up. Having said that, I don't want to force you; I'd much rather have your cooperation."

"You seem to know a lot already." said Jessie. "So I think you know that if I discuss any of this with you, I'll end up like Jimmy Shell did. Dead."

"Yet you had no problem telling your friends in 'Proactive Citizens of Greenworld'." I said, my eyes boring into hers, and seeing her shock.

"Oh... you've been illegally looking into my phone records?" she asked angrily.

"Not illegally." I said. "Dead bodies are excellent probable cause for warrants for phone records... Mr. Shell's to you, yours to George Glass, a.k.a. Brent Glass, a.k.a. Brent Crow, of the PCGW, and to Robert Ferris of FENL."

"There's no crime in that." Jessie Quick said sharply.

"That depends." I said. "So why don't you tell me what Jimmy Shell told you... and if he gave you any proof of what he talked about, why don't you put it into my custody before you go into hiding, as you are planning to do."

"You're pretty sharp, for a cop." said Jessie Quick, peering at me. "Hmmm, Troy... same Troy that solved the murder of Linda Ferris?"

I smiled. "No, that Detective Troy is much better than I am. But I'd like to think I'm fairly good. I lived in Midtown when the Crown Chemicals attack and the Ferris murder took place, but I'm aware of those cases. So, Jessie, let's not kid around...

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

Cindy and I were speeding towards Midtown in the Black Beauty.

"They're uploading the data Jessie Quick gave us." I said, having delivered the MPD Detectives and the evidence to their Precinct. "And making copies of the paper reports. Basically, Jimmy Shell had some pre-screening data showing the Pine Valley samples needed to be diluted by a factor of 500 to run on the GC without pegging it. But the actual samples that were run came up totally clean, almost as if blanks were run instead of the samples, and no dilution listed. Shell kept copies of the reports as well as the raw data and the pre-screenings, and had accumulated several such sets of data."

"Enough to make arrests?" Cindy asked.

"No, but enough 'probable cause' to get more warrants." I said. "And maybe enough to get a Court to order a full re-testing of the Pine Valley project."

"Which would devastate the investors in the project." Cindy said.

"Exactly." I replied. "Easy to see the motive now, isn't it?"

"Absolutely. So what's next?" Cindy asked.

"We stop by the State EPA office." I said. "We talk to Beverly Carter and Keith Rollins. Especially Rollins..."

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

The Midtown Detectives met us outside the State EPA facility. We went inside and split into two teams. Cindy and Steve Ruger went to see Beverly Carter; Kimberly Wesson and I went to the office of Keith Rollins.

Beverly Carter was a middle-aged black woman that reminded Cindy of Louise Belfort of the 'Fake Badges' case. She seemed to be nice enough, and answered questions readily.

"Yes, I go around to the various laboratories that are State-certified, and inspect them." said Beverly Carter.

"When did you last visit Forbes Environmental National Laboratories?" asked Cindy, peering at the woman's face as she spoke.

"About ten months ago." said Beverly. "They are nearing their time for their next inspection. In fact, I called them about that just a few days ago, but we have not yet arranged a time."

"So you don't give surprise inspections?" Steve Ruger asked.

"Sometimes we do," said Carter, "if we get word of something suspicious going on. We've surprise-inspected Dave Magdalene twice, and his labs failed our inspections both times. Other than that, surprise visits are rare."

Cindy said "Were you ever contacted by a James Shell? He goes by the name 'Jimmy'."

Beverly gave a short smile. "I probably should not blurt this out, but he was the guy who made a whistleblower call about Dave Magdalene, that resulted in our second surprise inspection. We didn't even know Magdalene was running another lab until we got that call."

"And Jimmy contacted you personally?" Cindy asked.

"Yes." said Beverly.

"Did he ever contact you about any other lab?" Cindy queried.

"No." said Beverly.

"So you inspected Forbes Environmental National Laboratories in the City?" asked Cindy.

"Yes."

"What about their annex northwest of Midtown, near the Pine Valley project?"

"No, that was not considered a separate facility, just an annex, like a mobile field office would be." Beverly said. "But all of their data run there has to be on file in the main lab, or saved in their computers, should I ever ask to see it."

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

Meanwhile, Detective Wesson and I were not having as easy a time.

Keith Rollins was black, short, and was that 'pear' shape that bespoke of an unhealthy body and lifestyle. His face was roundish, and his eyes looked like they were permanently really wide, as if he were perpetually surprised.

"Mr. Rollins, I am SBI Inspector Troy and this is Midtown Police Detective Wesson." I said. "We appreciate you giving us a few minutes of your time."

"What's it about?" Rollins asked, seeming laconically. leaning back in his chair facing sideways to us and looking over his right arm at us.

"We're doing some follow-up on a case." I said, being non-revealing as I possibly could. "Let me ask this: are you the person in the State EPA that handles finding spills and violations of the law with regard to environmental regulation?"

"I'm part of a team that does preliminary investigations of that." Rollins said. "If we find a crime, we have to bring in the SBI, as you know."

"Yes." I said. "Mr. Rollins, do you know a James Shell?"

"That name is not familiar to me." said Rollins.

"He goes by the name Jim or Jimmy Shell." I prompted. "You sure you've never heard of him?"

"The name is not familiar to me." Rollins repeated.