Environmental Hazards Ch. 03

"Yes, Priya," said Hardwood, who was also in front of the State Crime Lab building. "Five-Alive News has learned that the technicians of all of the State's Crime Labs have received threats in their homes yesterday or their places of work today! The notes say the same thing, and I will read this one to you. It says: 'If you run any samples or testify in Court about them, you and your entire family will be killed.'. The SBI and FBI are investigating the threats, and it is believed that elements of Organized Crime, possibly tied financially to the Pine Valley project, are behind the threats. As of right now, it's too dangerous for these technicians to risk their lives running those samples, much less having to testify in Court about the results..."

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

"The prep guys worked overtime Saturday night and all through yesterday," said Tanya Perlman as we sat in her office, "and got all the preps done. But now we have the situation of the threats. Whoever runs the samples could be called to testify, and they and their families are under direct threat now. Most of these guys are kids right out of college; I can't have them having this burden upon them."

"Man, that's brutal." said Jack Muscone. "And you know, we haven't even gotten near any Organized Crime yet."

"We will," I said, "if those tests show up positive for contaminants. Pine Valley will be all but dead as a project, and untold millions will be flushed down the drain like those Bexall chemicals. And there are probably politicians and money people involved in this... maybe even Superior Bloodlines was involved, hoping for some cash inflows."

"Well," Tanya said "I'll be glad to witness and supervise, but I cannot run the tests. Slight mobility issues."

"Then you can watch me run them, then testify in Court about them." I said.

"Don, are you sure?" Muscone said. "I'm not worried about you, but your family."

"My family has been under threat since the day I married Laura and we had Carole." I said. "Both Laura and I have always been targets and we're aware of the situation. I anticipated this, and I talked to her Saturday night about it. She knows the Game, and we're going to play."

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

Jack Muscone took a cellphone call as he, Tanya, J.R. Barnes, and Norm Chow witnessed me running the wet lab samples. J.R. Barnes was certified and had volunteered for the hazardous duty of being witness, data checker, and backup if needed.

I'd set up the atomic absorption spectrometers to run the metals tests, including the Eight RCRA metals, and started it up. The blanks and standards ran well, and as the samples ran I turned my attention to more labor-intensive work. Muscone was getting updates and relaying them to me.

"Paul Brandon is out on bail, with ankle monitoring. He's being defended by Forbes & Sehgal lawyers." Jack said. "They've really dug in over this. Brandon's lawyer is claiming that the papers we took earlier can't be used against him, as it would violate his Fourth Amendment rights. The Company is claiming the same for themselves."

"He doesn't have a shot in hell with that." I said as the sample I was titrating began going from clear to purple. The test was for iodide, but the chloride test was being run as a discriminator. Since it was positive, I would have to run a further, iodide-specific test.

"But does the company?" asked Tanya.

"Everything was taken under a warrant." I said. "And the warrants were fairly open-ended, as we were searching for a motive for Shell's death. I cannot conceive of that attempt at defense working."

"Sir," said J.R. Barnes, "what happens if these results are positive? Isn't it just their word against ours?"

"We'd have to have more samples taken, then those sent to another lab for testing." I said. "And I can't run the next set myself."

"The FBI could run them, if you ask." said Muscone.

"As long as Les Craig is not in charge of the FBI lab." I said. Jack understood my broader meaning: the FBI was internally split. "We'd have to have some serious controls and witnessing of the tests. Forbes & Sehgal lawyers should want that, also."

"The standard procedure," said Tanya, "is to get a disinterested, third-party lab to run the third set of tests. Whoever they agree with will be considered correct. They'll have to run their tests in a legally defensible way."

"Will their testers be subject to being targeted by the Mob?" I asked. The looks I got back said volumes more than any words could.

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

"Okay," I said as I put a collection of capped bottles in the incubator, "the Biochemical Oxygen Demand test has been started. It has to be read again in five days, so I'll be back Saturday."

"Why five days?" asked Jack Muscone.

"The test measures how much oxygen is taken out of water by chemical pollutants." I said. "They guy who invented the test was French, and five days is the amount of time the water in the River Seine flows from Paris to the ocean."

"Figures you would know that." said Tanya with a teasing grin.

"Okay, let's go see if the AAs have run the RCRA-8 metals." I said. The RCRA-8 metals are: Arsenic (As), Barium (Ba), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Lead (Pb), Mercury (Hg), Selenium (Se), and Silver (Ag).

We went over to the metals lab area. I read the results. I emitted a low whistle. "Ho-leee shit." I said. "We ran duplicate preparations, and they both come up the same. Pine Valley is off-the-charts contaminated."

"I need to call my boss." said Jack, after looking at the results I showed him.

"I need to call the Governor and SBI Director Conlan." I replied. "This one is going to be 'big'. In the meantime, we've still got a lot of tests left..." It would be an 'all nighter'.

Part 14 - Courage v. Fearlessness

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the lovely redheaded MILF at 7:00am, Tuesday, March 28th, from in front of the Federal Building. "Channel Two News has learned that a Federal judge has shut down the Pine Valley development project near Midtown, after preliminary tests run at the State Crime Lab here in our County showed dangerously toxic levels of poisonous metals, including arsenic, silver, and lead, in the ground and water of the development site!"

"Channel Two News has also learned that in spite of death threats, TCPD Commander Donald Troy, twice Medal of Valor recipient and a former chemist who is certified to run samples in the State Crime Lab, personally ran the samples taken at the Pine Valley site, and is prepared to testify in any Court case that arises from the results."

"The SBI and FBI are now investigating Forbes & Sehgal Engineering and their wholly-owned subsidiary Forbes Environmental National Laboratories, for possible fraud in giving false test results to the developers of the Pine Valley project, M&C Project Development Corp.

Bettina went on: "A spokesman for the Proactive Citizens of Greenworld, George Glass, issued a statement saying, and I quote: 'The destruction and contamination of our land is bad enough, but this development on top of land and water that could kill and severely harm children shows that Corporations, Big Banks, and even Environmental Engineering firms value the almighty Dollar over the safety of our children!'."

More Bettina: "Democrats in the State Legislature blasted the Governor on Twitter, saying that this shows a need for a much stronger, more well-funded State EPA. Governor Jared fired back at the Democrats, saying one State EPA Official took bribes to keep silent about the false results, and that official also informed Forbes & Sehgal of a whistleblower who reported the contamination."

Yet more Bettina: "That whistleblower, James Shell, was a Forbes Environmental National Laboratories employee, whose murder was the starting point of the investigation that has led to the exposure of a major scandal and an environmental disaster. Governor Jared and SBI Director Tom Conlan praised Commander Donald Troy for his leadership in investigating these crimes."

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

"I really, really wish," said Cindy as we sipped coffee in MCD, "that Bettina would not have blared it out out the world that you ran those tests, Commander. She might as well have phoned the Mob and told them."

"Doesn't matter." I said. "They're going to know, one way or the other. It's probably better that everyone else knows, too."

"Still," said Teddy Parker, "that took courage, Commander. The Mob don't play."

"Neither do I." I said. "Okay, I've got a ton of work to catch up on. Angels, meeting at 8:15." With that, I left the room for my office."

"He'll never let us take a risk he can take on himself." Cindy said in the silence of the room.

"This is semantics," said Teresa Croyle, "but that's not courage." The room fell silent.

"What is it, then, ma'am?" asked Joanne Warner.

"I'll answer with a question: what is the definition of courage?" Teresa asked.

"Uh... acting in spite of fear?" said Joanne.

"Sound about right." said Teresa. "Now... have you ever known the Iron Crowbar to show fear?" After a pause, she continued: "There's courage, and then there's fearlessness. Commander Troy is fearless... and we're going to have to protect him from himself in these times he gets fearless."

"Won't be the first time, either." said Cindy Ross, who'd earned a Medal of Valor and nearly lost her life doing just that. She did not mention Teresa's own fearlessness and need to be 'protected'...

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

The Angels meeting was cancelled when the Mighty Miltons showed up in the door to my office, wanting to share information with me. I had them come in, with Cindy sitting on the sofa behind them in the hot chairs.

"Chief Moynahan asked us to look for Paul Brandon's phone records and go through his finances as a courtesy to the SBI and the Governor himself." said Mary. "So we did."

"That's fine." I said. "I just hope Captain Ross and I are hearing what you found first."

"Yes sir." said Myron, "and as soon as this meeting is over, with your permission we'll send our data to State Attorney Stiles."

I nodded. "Okay, whaddya got?"

"First, the call from Keith Rollins came to Brandon's direct office line by direct-dial instead of through the switchboard." said Mary. "Keith would have had to have been given the actual full number, which is not public. There have been cases in Courts where something like this is enough to show intent. In this case, the intent was to receive information about any whistleblowers from the SEPA official. Beverly Carter called through the main number and was connected to the extension."

"And we now have Keith's confession that he called Brandon directly, so this will simply supplement that." I said.

"Yes sir. On to Brandon's finances." said Myron. "This guy has some tangled webs he has woven over time. He has more money than a Lab Manager should, for sure. He did not inherit any money that we know of. He was Manager at a place called Dreschel Advanced Chemistries, which went bankrupt. He apparently made a loan to Robert Ferris, who is Chief Chemist at FENL, and has been getting monthly payments back on that. We have records of the large sum of money transferred to Ferris's account and the payments back. Brandon has been getting other regular payments, though, which are harder to trace, and he's written some checks to some strange entities, as well."

"Last, but not least," said Myron, "he's gotten some enormous bonuses from Forbes & Sehgal, the parent company. Three times as much as anyone else in his relative position in the company, and almost as much as Forbes himself... and Forbes is a full partner, of course."

"Yep, lots of stuff to keep looking into." I said. "You have warrants? This is all clean and aboveboard?"

"Yes sir." said Mary. "Ms. Stiles got us a specific warrant for the finances of Brandon, Forbes, Sehgal, and the other top brass at Forbes & Sehgal Engineering."

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

The meeting convened in the SBI's Westphalia offices at 11:00am, Tuesday, March 28th. It was a big meeting for everyone to get their our collective ducks in a row. The U.S. Attorney that I remembered from the Black Badge case was there. He was a tall, slender black man named John Jones. Special Agent Martin Nash was the FBI representative.

Also present were State Attorneys Glenn Alberts and Jenna Stiles. Then came SBI Director Tom Conlan, me, Cindy, Midtown Police Chief Soltis, and City Detective Thomas 'Sapper' Warren.

"First of all," said SBI Director Conlan, "I want to congratulate Inspector Troy and Captain Ross for the outstanding job they have done on this case." The room was filled with the sound of applause, which I acknowledged modestly with a couple of nods.

Conlan then said "I have asked State Attorney Stiles to take the prosecutorial lead on this case for the State. We're not sure exactly which Superior Court will have jurisdiction, and the Feds are involved in a lot of it, including the plane flight from Acropolis City that crashed in the Iron Crowbar's home Town. So, Jenna, would you lay out what we have?"

"Thank you, Director." Jenna said. She activated her computer, which was tied in to the projector on the ceiling and beamed onto the screen against the wall at the end of the room. "We're putting together a chronological time line. It started with James Shell going to Jessie Quick with evidence that the Pine Valley project was badly contaminated. He then called Keith Rollins, who arranged for a weekend meeting but immediately called Paul Brandon and told him about the whistleblower call."

Jenna continued: "Rollins said in his confession statement that Brandon told him to arrange the meeting, get the evidence from Shell and retain it, and that Brandon would take care of the rest. Rollins claims that before he could tell Shell that, Shell was murdered."

"After that, the Police came in, and they requested the help of SBI Inspector Troy, who I might call 'Commander' because that's the first name that I know him by." Jenna said, getting some tepid laughter. She went on: "Among the massive amounts of data we seized, there are two lines of inquiry that have developed. First, that Pine Valley samples reported as showing the ground and water to be clean contradicts the findings of the State Crime Lab. The Federal Court has agreed to a third party lab contracted with the FBI to run those samples, and the Deputy Director of the FBI is personally over seeing that."

"Wow, heavy artillery." said State Attorney Glenn Alberts.

"Simply matching the heavy artillery the other side is using against us," I said, "which includes a U.S. Senator." Alberts looked shocked, as did some of the others. Martin Nash looked like he wanted this conversation to move along.

"I can't speak to that, Commander," said Jenna Stiles, "as I have no proof of a connection. But moving along, the second line of inquiry has to do with financials. SBI Agent Norm Chow and Commander Troy pointed out to us certain monies being siphoned out of labs, and also other departments, by charging the departments for salaries that are not actually being paid. This extra money seems to be added to a few people's bonuses, and may also be financing junkets to Hawaii and the Caribbean---"

"And political contributions and other kickbacks to aforementioned politicians." I said. "Proof to follow... eventually."

"I certainly hope we can find some proof of that." said Jenna drily. "We're also digging hard into the financing of the Pine Valley project. I can't say much more about that right now. But what's important in the here and now is to get our ducks in a row for the preliminary hearings. Commander Troy, you'll be on the stand... and wearing a bulletproof vest, I hope."

"How about a Knights Templar suit of armor, made out of kevlar?" I joked, which drew laughter.

"If it keeps you alive, go for it." Jenna replied.

Part 15 - Drive To The Finish

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" asked the Bailiff.

"I do." I said.

"You may be seated." said the Bailiff. I sat down in the witness chair of the Superior Court room of presiding Judge Rodney K. Watts. Not only State Crime Lab techs had been threatened; Judge Watts was a man who, like me, did not play.

Jenna Stiles first established my credentials for running the lab tests. The defense lawyer challenged the credentials.

"Your Honor," said Stiles, "As the documents we've submitted show, Commander Troy has a ACS-Certified 'Bachelor of Science in Chemistry' degree, not just the regular Bachelor's degree. Furthermore, he was employed in a lab contracted to run evidence data with its requirements of legal defensibility. And his record as Police Commander, with two Medals of Valor and one Distinguished Service Award, is unmatched in this State."

"Not every day that I see a Police Officer this well-qualified to testify on lab evidence." said Judge Watts. "These credentials are accepted."

Then the Defense lawyer tried something unusual.

"Your Honor," he said, "Commander Troy has been the lead investigator in this case. He cannot possibly be impartial about the tests that were run."

"Your Honor," said Jenna Stiles, "that is ridiculous. First of all, the Commander's running of the tests were witnessed, and we are prepared to bring several persons, including the State Crime Lab Director, and an FBI Special Agent In Charge, to testify to the veracity of these test results. Furthermore, Your Honor, Commander Troy is under no obligation to be impartial, at all, provided the tests are run correctly and accurately."

"That is very true." said Watts.

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

As the hearing went on, one thing became obvious: the Defense lawyers were constantly trying to get the names of anyone and everyone associated with the investigation of the case. They asked for not only Detective Wesson and Ruger's names, but the names of every State Patrolman that worked with us to interdict the trucks, and every Uniformed Policeman that had any involvement with the case.

But most of all, they were ceaselessly asking who had prepped the samples I'd run. Finally, Judge Watts had had enough. "Approach the bench." he said. Of course I listened in while sitting in the witness chair.

"Stop asking for all these names." said Watts. "You have been provided with the pertinent information for this preliminary hearing, and will be provided with what you need for the trial... which I can already tell you is going to happen after my ruling on this hearing."

"My client has the Sixth Amendment right to face his accusers in Court, Your Honor." snarled the Defense counsel. "I insist that my client's rights be protected and honored, and that those names be given to us immediately."

"Your Honor," said Jenna, "they only want the names so they can intimidate the witnesses. The State Crime Lab techs were threatened, and now they---"

"Prove it!" yelled the defense lawyer. "Prove that my client intimidated them, and that he wants to intimidate the others! I demand proof of that slanderous accusation!"

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

I thought for a second that Judge Watts might actually use that gavel on the defense attorney's head.

"I have had enough of this." said Watts. "Your client has the right to face his accusers... in his full trial, not at this preliminary hearing nor at the Grand Jury hearing."

"Your Honor, I want a continuance of this hearing so that I may appeal that incorrect ruling."

"De-nied." Watts growled. "Defense counsel, do you have questions for the witness on the stand?"

"I sure do." said the lawyer. He turned to me as Jenna went back to her table. "Commander Troy, were you threatened in any way for running those tests?"