Exigent Circumstances Ch. 01

"What?!" I said, almost to myself. "He's not supposed to be driving a vehicle."

"Maybe he wasn't, sir." Julia Rodriguez said. "He might've been the passenger, and the Sergeant driving had him issue the citation."


"Which in itself is in violation of our protocols." I said witheringly. "In fact, I'm wondering if this citation is for real, or if it was issued by a rogue cop or someone impersonating a Police Officer. We've had problems like that before, like with Bryce and his dog-killing ways, and Swamp Frogs, notably the attempt to kidnap my daughter. And Energy Dynamics is a Big Boy company." (Author's note: "Going Rogue', Ch. 01-02 for Bryce; 'A Death In The Family', Ch. 01-02 for Officer impersonation; 'Eyes Only', Ch. 04 for Energy Dynamics.)

Julia said "I wish we knew for sure. We really need to get an APB out on this. Whoever took her might be raping her, or worse, and we're sitting here without a clue." Her words brought a pall of silence to the group.

I said "Go ahead and put out a BOLO (Be On the Look Out) based on what we know. Description from her license as well as clothing and shoe sizes, age low to mid-twenties." Julia shooed Roark out of the way so that she could get on the computer and put out the BOLO.

A moment later, Captain Claire Michaels came up to me. "Sir, I've called for the warrant. They're contacting Judge Doss now. The night clerk at the Courthouse didn't like my story in making my request."

I didn't say anything, but favored Claire with my most withering look, which all but accused her of not giving her best effort to get the warrant. Claire then said "Sir, I also tried to get the name of the tenant in that apartment. I called the public number of the office, and got a voicemail. I left a message."

Claire: "I asked a couple of people living here, that were rubbernecking to see what was going on, if they had a number to the office. One gave me the public number, but one woman gave me a number given her and other tenants, and also gave me the emergency maintenance number. I called both numbers and got voicemail messages. I left my name and number as Police on the office numbers, but I pretended to be a tenant on the maintenance call. No return calls from anyone, so far."

Claire: "I also called in to Intel, and asked Terry Halston to research that apartment address and the apartment complex's owners. That address is not used---"

*BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!*

It was my Police iPhone. "Ah, it's Magistrate Judge Doss." I answered it. "Commander Troy... hello, Your Honor... yes, I need a warrant for---... yes, a woman appears to have been kidnapped... we can't reach them, Your Honor... I need her ID very badly, Your Honor, and I need to tell you I did enter the apartment under exigent circumstances to get an ID... yes, we think we have one, but I need the warrant for a more thorough search of the apartment and her vehicle..."

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

At 1:40am, Molly and I pulled out of the parking lot. I said "I'll drop you off at home, so you can get some sleep."

"No, I'll come to Headquarters with you." she replied. "There's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Claire Michaels?" I asked. "I saw you talking to her."

"Yeah." Molly replied. "I can't believe how different she is, what she has become. I remember when she was here before going to California. She was even the leader of the SWAT Team back then, wasn't she?"

I nodded, and Molly continued: "Well, California values have really fucked her up. I could see how agitated everyone was, knowing that there had been a kidnap victim that was likely being brutalized right now, and Michaels is whining about a warrant. You came up, and I didn't need Cindy's vibes to feeeel their relief. They paid attention to you while all but being disrespectful to her. And it was a two-way street; she just about took Coleman's head off, and he fired back hard."

"Yeah, she doesn't like Roark, and the feeling is mutual." I said. "What did you think of him, by the way?"

"He has good... imagination, I'll call it." Molly said. "He observes a lot, and he makes good deductions for the most part. Seemed good with evidence collection and preservation. But I can see where his personality can grate on people."

When we got to Headquarters, I did not go to my office. Instead, I went the other way down the hall to the front of the building, and to the Duty Desk. Sergeant Cole and Patrolman Jim Madison were on duty.

"Let me ask you guys a question." I said. "When you call for a Medical Examiner to go to a crime scene, who do you call?"

Sergeant Cole said "During business hours or if there's at least two hours of daylight in the summer, we call Martha. If it's night, we call Kendell Ramsey."

"Do you have their numbers here at the Desk?" I asked.

"Yes sir." said Madison. "They're here on the bulletin board, and they're in the front of the Duty Desk Operations Manual." He pointed out both. I photographed both with my Police iPhone.

"Excellent." I said. "Okay, who was at the Duty Desk on 2nd shift?"

"Sergeant Clark, annnnddd... Officer McElwane, sir." said Sergeant Cole, pretending to look at the log book.

"McElwane?" I said. "Isn't he restricted to daylight hours?"

Sergeant Cole said "We went into Holiday overtime mode at 4:00pm yesterday, and McElwane wanted the overtime hours. He wasn't on patrol, just here at the Desk."

"Okay, then." I said. "Thanks. Oh, one more thing. Sergeant Cole, do you have any relatives in this area with your last name 'Cole'? Brothers? Daughters?"

"No brothers, two sisters." Sergeant Cole said. "And two teenage sons but no daughters. Why?"

"A young female with the last name 'Cole' came up in our new case." I said. "I was just taking a long shot by asking." Cole nodded.

I left the room and went back down the hall to my office. Molly had made coffee in my office's coffeemaker. She poured us both cups and we sat down, me behind my desk, and her on the sofa against the side wall, the large USGS map of Lake Donald Troy in Fillmore County above her head.

"Your Officers are very professional with crime scenes." Molly said. "I was watching them tonight. What do you do when the Media shows up?"

"The... the Media..." I whispered, stunned. "You know, I didn't even notice, but you're right: the Media did not show up at the scene! I wonder why not?"

Molly said "Oh, so that's abnormal?"

"I daresay." I replied. "KXTC usually shows up just to fuck with us, if nothing else." I was all but in a reverie.

"Maybe they're on Holiday weekend time, too." said Molly. She took out her Police iPad as she said "So don't look the gift horse in the mouth. In the meantime, I'm going to tell the NCPD to take your BOLO seriously, and for them to patrol around Mystery Lake, and put up a few drones up there."

"Good idea. Have them patrol the Fucking Field, too." I said as I got up. "I'm going to go check in with Team Teddy. I'll be back in a minute." Carrying my mug of coffee, I exited my office and went to the MCD room. Roark and Julia were at their desks. Teddy Parker had his own (small) Lieutenant's office, but he was sitting at his old desk in MCD, typing on his laptop as Roark and Julia typed away at their computers on their desks.

"Whadda you guys got?" I asked as I brought the rolling hardback chair from the back corner up to their desks and sat down.

Teddy Parker said "I'm writing up my report, and also a Memorandum For The Record. If you had not come up, sir, we still might be standing there waiting for a warrant." I nodded, realizing that his complaint and derision were directed at Captain Claire Michaels.

Julia Rodriguez said "The BOLO is out, and I'm writing up my report now. I'm also directing patrols to check on areas where the girl might've been taken. Point Hollow, the Observatory Road, the farm fields to the south and west..."

Roark Coleman said "I'm running database searches for crimes and maybe serial killers, where a lock was sabotaged as part of the means to stop the victim from getting into her home. I'm running one State-wide, one for jurisdictions in the Tri-State area, and then one against the FBI and Missing Persons databases. If anything comes up, it may give us a clue to where the girl was taken."

"Good thinking, and that'll be good info to have if you get any hits." I said. "For the future, though, remember that anything we do against a Federal database will be seen by the Feds and possibly acted upon by the Feds."

Teddy Parker said "Sir, do you really think the FBI is watching us that closely?"

"Maybe not the FBI itself." I replied. "But someone in the Federal Government probably is. The Federal Intelligence Community is not to be trusted, especially with Derrick B. Harland eager to send his Swamp Frogs in here to shut us down."

"Any luck on your search, Mister Roark?" Teddy asked Roark.

"No sir." Roark replied. "The closest I'm getting is a series of incidents at a dorm on the City University campus three years ago. Someone was penny-ing in girls, and some also had toothpicks or nails driven into the locks so that they couldn't be unlocked either by a key or from the inside."

"What's 'penny-ing in'?" asked Julia.

I said "It's where a dorm door is pushed hard and pennies inserted into the space between the door and the jamb. The deadbolt lock or the catch is pushed against the side of the slot so that the door cannot be unlocked nor opened. Due to the extreme risk of being unable to get out if there was a fire or injury to a person, every School in this State, and most nationwide, have a policy of immediately expelling anyone caught doing it. And that's in addition to the felony criminal charges they'd face."

Roark said "Well, there have been very sporadic incidents of locks being sabotaged to facilitate kidnappings, but no patterns. I'm afraid it's going to be 'no joy' on this one."

"It was a good try, Mister Roark." I said, then raised my voice somewhat and said "In fact, I was very impressed with all of you at the crime scene tonight. You made sure to process it correctly, and you also had some good imaginative ideas. Y'all keep that up."

"Thank you, sir." Julia said. Then she let it out: "Sir, do you think this girl has a chance to be released alive? Or maybe escape her kidnapper?"

I said sadly: "Well, there's always a chance. But to be candidly honest with you all, I think she's going to be killed, if she hasn't been already." Sensing the air going out of the balloons of hope in my Detectives, I added: "I don't think this was just a kidnapping in order to commit rape. I think this girl was singled out and stalked, and the intent was to kill her."

"Why do you believe that, sir?" asked Teddy Parker.

I had an attentive audience as I replied "That TCPD ticket on the bulletin board, in a room totally devoid of any other information that could confirm her ID. It reminds me of when we were trying to pin down Katherine McAfee's identity, and getting roadblocks thrown in front of us." (Author's note: 'Climate Injustice'.) "That turned out to be the Swamp Frogs when McAfee's body was found at Mystery Lake." (Author's note: 'Mystery At Mystery Lake', Ch. 01.)

Me: "More bodies were found recently, and while we need proof to get convictions in Court, I don't need that proof to see and believe what is going on, and who is behind it. I will add to it that KXTC did not show up at the crime scene. That is... a strangeness in and of itself."

Me: "So we have this crime tonight. It should be obvious to all of you that the killer anticipated the woman's arrival, and he... I'm assuming it's a 'he'... sabotaged the door and was lying in wait for her. He might have just killed her right there at the doorway, but someone was with her. He was stabbed to death, and the killer dragged the woman off."

Me: "So that leaves us to ask whether or not this is a professional killer who was hired to wax that girl, or if it was a crime of passion by an obsessed stalker. If it's the latter, then yes, he will likely use her for sex for hours, even days, before killing her. But if he meant to kill her from the get-go, he might rape her to make it look like a crime of passion, but he won't take a lot of time."

Me: "If I'm right, then I won't be surprised if her body is found before sunrise, certainly by noon." Having sufficiently depressed my Detectives while exercising a 'teachable moment', I said "Okay, let me go check with Intel."

I got up and left MCD, and went around the hallway to the Intel room. It was relatively dark in there, but one lamp illuminated the station where Ranger Terry Halston was working. To my surprise, Captain Claire Michaels was also in the room.

"Still 'no joy' on getting a return call from the apartment people, nor the emergency maintenance people." Claire said. "I'd hate to be living there and have a water pipe burst. And Terry here is having no luck at all tracing this girl's ID for more than what we have."

Halston kept his eyes on his monitor as he said "I gave up on that for the time being. Right now I'm looking at video footage, starting around the Garden Spot Apartments. They have surveillance of their entrance to their parking lot from the street and all the parking lots. But it's all internal, and as Captain Michaels said, we can't get ahold of anyone that works there."

I said "Captain, go ahead and get a warrant for that video footage, and it can be served the minute that office opens." Claire nodded and started typing on her iPhone. I then asked "Any luck on footage further out?"

"Maybe, sir." said Halston. "The garbage truck access road comes out near University Avenue. No direct camera coverage, but an older black Ford Ranger truck with a camper top turned south onto University Avenue. It's car tag is partially covered with mud, but we have a partial of the last three numbers. I have it as far south as Hotel Row, but then I lost it... wait... there it is. It went into Coltrane County."

After a few moments, Halston said "It doesn't show up on the cameras near the old Asylum, nor further down. He could've taken the county road towards Nextdoor County."

"Or parked anywhere in that area." I said. "Captain, give Coltrane County and Nextdoor County Law Enforcement a call. Tell them we think the perp may have brought the girl into their jurisdiction, give them a description of the vehicle and the girl, and re-iterate the urgency of the situation by making sure they understand they are talking to a Police Captain."

"Wilco, sir." Claire said as she took out her Police iPhone.

I headed back to my office to tell Molly. Just as I was about to speak, I saw her curled up on the sofa, sound asleep. I turned off the overhead light, leaving the soft, dim lamp on my desk as the only illumination, then quietly sat down behind my desk and began typing at my computer...

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

5:15am, Saturday, July 2nd. The call came in.

"They found her, sir." Detective Sergeant Julia Rodriguez said over the phone. "She's dead..."

Part 4 - The Investigation In Earnest

8:00am, Saturday, July 2nd. Lt. Teddy Parker, Detectives Julia Rodriguez, Roark Coleman, and I returned from the crime scene. As we gathered in Classroom 'E', I put the large bags full of McDonald's breakfast sandwiches on the table, making sure to take one for myself. The rest would be gone by the end of the meeting.

Chief Moynahan had come in and joined us at the table. Also present were me, Captain Claire Michaels, Lieutenants Teddy Parker and Mary Milton, CSI Supervisor Yolanda Grissom, Detective Sergeant Julia Rodriguez, Detective Roark Coleman, and Auxiliary Officer Terry Halston. And just as we got our coffee and breakfast sandwiches and sat down, Deputy Chief Tanya P. Muscone and her husband, FBI Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone came in. And the door had not yet closed when Command Deputy Sheriff Cindy Ross and FBI Special Agent Tim Jenkins came in.

"Where was she fouuunndd?" drawled the Chief.

I said "Some of you will remember the cooperative community on land just north of 'The Vision' property in Coltrane County. Tomoko Shimono's body was found there." (Author's note: 'We'll Always Have Paris', Ch. 03.)

Me: "It looks like the perp was taking her there, but the property is fenced in and there is a locked gate across the road. So when he couldn't get inside, he just dumped her body on the road in front of the gate. The CSIs found a good number of tire tracks that will give us a good identification... if we can find the tires, and attached to a truck."

"O-kayyyy, let's start from the top." said the Chief. "Whoooo are our vic-timmmms?"

"Lead the way, Ranger Halston." said Lt. Mary Milton. I saw Claire Michaels's eyes flash anger; she did not like it when nicknames were used, and especially Halston's designation of 'Ranger', taken from him having been an Army Ranger. And that, tweaking Claire, was a major reason Mary used his nickname like that.

"Yes ma'am." said Ranger Halston. "First, the first victim, the male. His name is Mark Wayne Cooper, and he's 24 years old. He graduated from State Tech two years ago with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. And it was surprisingly hard to find this, but he had a Minor in Fluid Dynamics."

"The bane of my existence as a Chemistry major." I said. "But why was it so hard to get that information?"

Halston said "The routine check by normal methods did not come up with it. I always try to confirm those reports with an in-depth, behind-the-scenes check, such as full transcripts and student files that I'm legally and physically able to access, but a lot of people will not routinely access. For Mr. Cooper here, they tried to put the records behind a firewall, but those are easy to get around by accessing backup files."

"So that's how you do it." Jack Muscone said.

"Oh, that's nothing." Mary Milton said.

I said "Let's keep going, before Mr. Muscone here has a stroke."

"Yes sir." said Halston. "Upon graduation, Mr. Cooper was hired by Energy Dynamics, and has been with them since. I don't have anything on what his normal duties at the company were; we'll have to call their HR department, or more likely, go visit them to get anything like that. He lives... lived... in an apartment in the northeast of Town that used to be rented to college students, but more and more are being rented to longer-term, more permanent residents."

Jack Muscone said "He lives here? In Town? Isn't Energy Dynamics down in Rivers County?"

"Not anymore." I replied. "After our adventure down there at the nuclear power plant," (Author's note: 'Eyes Only', Ch. 03-04.), "Energy Dynamics really scaled back their operations there. They might still be doing some really Top Secret stuff in their labs there, but their corporate offices are up here, in the revitalized eastern part of Town, And a lot of their basic engineering work is done here now."

Halston picked it back up: "He also had a Top Secret clearance, but no compartmentalizations---"

"What does that mean?" asked Captain Michaels.

I said "When someone gets a Top Secret clearance, it doesn't mean they have access to any and every piece of data classified Top Secret. If a program is compartmentalized, the person has to be cleared to have access to that program or data."

"Then why get a Top Secret clearance?" Claire asked. "Why not just Secret?"

"For several reasons." I said. "First of all, if he happened to come across something Top Secret as part of his normal work, they don't have to go nuts about it. Second, there may have been times they needed to give him access to Top Secret information. Several of us in here have Top Secret clearances, though we don't need them very often. Okay, Ranger Halston, keep going."