Four Square Ch. 02

"That's incredible, Lester." said Bettina. "And very disturbing. Who is responsible for this?"

Holder said "Responsibility for this racial discrimination starts at the top Bettina. The Board of Commissioners is controlled by illegitimate Mayor Daniel Allgood, who stole the Mayor's race from rightful winner Eldrick X. Weaver; and the Charter Commission is chaired by Commander Troy, who also has a poor race relations record. And, of course, Donald Troy is the father of a halfbreed child."

Back to Bettina: "Thank you, Lester, and we look forward to the insightful report of your hard hitting investigation! And our viewers will not be surprised to learn that Commander Donald Troy has refused to respond to repeated requests by KXTC for comment."

More Bettina: "And in State news, State House Democrats and Republicans are continuing to push their probe of Governor Val Jared for sexual harassment and for possible violations of the law in his treatment of undocumented workers. They cite Commander Donald Troy taking the Fifth in order to not incriminate the Governor as a reason for continuing the investigation. Dr. Adam S. Keller of the City University Rodham Foundation for Political and Social Change said this. Roll tape."

Tape rolled, showing Keller saying "Commander Troy's dishonesty and hiding behind the skirts of the Constitution to hide the truth about Governor Jared is all the more reason we need to thoroughly investigate Jared for any violation of the law, any at all, for which we can impeach and remove him from office. The People of this State deserve better than the lack of integrity shown by Governor Val Jared and Commander Donald Troy..."

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

"And those guys are your friends." Tanya Perlman said jokingly as we sat in the Chief's Conference Room drinking coffee.. "I'd hate to see what the people who don't like you are saying."

"It's what that bastard Holder is saying about Tasha that is pissing me off." said Teresa, who knew what her adopted son Jack had said to Tasha the day before, and was seeing an unfortunate pattern.

"They're trying to goad Commander Troy." said Chief Moynahan. "Don't let them get to you, Commander." I just shrugged my shoulders.

"I can't believe the Black Community accepts what Lester Holder is saying." Cindy said. "It's not just Don he's insulting, but Paulina and Tasha, too." That caused me to peer at her for a second, then go into a reverie.

"No, many of them don't like it." said Sheriff Griswold. "But anyone who says anything that's not in lockstep with the race hatred message of Lester Holder and Maxine Watts will be vilified, if not threatened or worse." There was general agreement.

"But everyone knows that Commander Troy testified, and only those who don't want to believe it refuse to believe he's telling the truth." said Teresa. "But Keller and KXTC are ramping up the attacks on him, calling him dishonest, trying to tie him to Jared. Why?"

The moment of silence that followed was finally broken when the Chief asked me "Nothing to say, Commander?"

"No sir." I said. "I've got four dead bodies in my Morgue and four cases to help our Detectives solve. I'm only in here listening to the traitor Bettina and the race-baiter Holder's excrement because there's coffee in here, and the Sheriff won't let me drink any if I don't stay and listen to the crap." Everyone chuckled, and the Sheriff's mustaches twitched merrily.

"Which reminds me..." I continued, getting out of my chair, "I need to go bug the shit out of Jack Muscone about why we have not heard back from the FBI at all on those fingerprints Cindy sent them."

"Please don't." said Tanya, her voice connoting something like sadness, but also warning.

"Do you want to call him? I asked moodily, staring down at her, "or is there someone else I should call?" And Tanya definitely felt the heat of everyone's eyes upon her.

"I hate being put in the middle like this." complained Tanya. Then she said "I wasn't going to say anything, but I think he's going to come visit you this morning, Commander."

"I'll be eagerly awaiting his visit." I said. "If you'll excuse me, Chief, I'm going to get started on these cases..."

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

*Whirrrrrrrr*

At 8:00am, Captain Tanya Perlman drove into MCD, followed by Timothy Geiger on foot, carrying his notebook. "Sit there, opposite Parker." Tanya said. Geiger had almost a guilty look on his face as he came in and sat down. The banter of the room had stopped, and now it was virtually and oppressively silent.

"There's a meeting in Classroom 'J' at 10:00am, to discuss the four cases we have." Captain Perlman announced. "Be ready with what you have." With that, she drove out of the room."

The awkward silence in the room was broken by Jerome Davis, who said to Geiger: "I don't know what they do in Vice, but in here we make Navy coffee. The secret of that is to not empty the grounds when making a new pot. Just keep putting fresh on the old ones until you physically can't put any more in."

"And we also have Commander Troy's rules." said Julia Rodriguez. "Most companies say to make a fresh pot if you empty the pot. But the Commander says that could be a waste of coffee if no one else gets any. So leave it empty, and if someone wants some, they'll make the next pot."

"Leave it to Commander Troy to analyze things like that and do it differently." said Theo.

"Oh, he definitely does not feel obligated to follow the rules of dogma." said Joanne. "You should hear some of the Army ROTC stories he told me."

"What is Commander Troy's second rule?" asked Geiger.

"The one I'm sure you've heard already." said Julia. "If the Chief wants to see him, don't even let him get down the hallway without telling him." Geiger nodded. Everyone got busy preparing for the meeting, including updating the two whiteboards, which had lines splitting them into two halves each, for each of the cases...

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

Sure enough, at 9:00am, FBI Special Agent in Charge Jack Muscone came to my office. Offers of coffee or water were politely refused. As he sat down, he reached across the desk and handed me a file folder with sheets of paper inside... and a 'TOP SECRET' placard stapled to the front.

"Couldn't email us this?" I asked, somewhat jokingly.

"It's your eyes only." said Muscone. "Well... anyone with a Top Secret clearance can see it. The fingerprints Commander Ross sent in... is this guy.

I opened the file and perused it. "Thomas Waring. Forty years old. Lieutenant Commander, US Navy. Former Navy SEAL, then Annapolis. Naval Intelligence. Ah, he worked with Admiral Keating when Keating was a Navy Captain. Last assignment was... Office of Naval Intelligence, ONI, Washington, D.C."

I closed the file, then said "So he was part of the Intelligence Community. Was he a Swamp Frog, or a Guardian of Justice?"

"He was a 'good guy', as far as we can tell." said Muscone. "Loyal to Keating, for damn sure. Anyway, when his name popped up as dead and in the trunk of a car, and especially in the very last County on earth they would want him to be found in, the alarm bells went off. They wanted to come in and shut your investigation down completely, but I convinced the FBI Director, who convinced the Director of National Intelligence, Brendan Chapel, that you are a pit bull that would not let go, and that having you work with us is infinitely better than getting you offended and your hackles up."

"No doubt about that." I said. "So, who are they sending in to 'help' us investigate?"

"No one." said Muscone. "I'm sure your 400 years of experience has it figured out already."

"So they're going to have Melina handle it?" I said. "Or is it Laura? Or both?"

"Or Callie Carrington will work with us in Laura's stead." said Muscone. "The first question is why Waring was here in the first place, and then who killed him."

"Oh, now that's an 'Easy Button' answer." I said. "If he's a 'good guy', then he was sent down here to pursue Trent and Quint, who are well-trained in Special Operations, such as Green Berets or SEALs, and represent a clear and present danger to a lot of people in these here parts. If Waring is not one of us, then he might've been sent down to help them, and was killed by someone else."

"Four hundred years ago." said Muscone, in confirmation. "We think he's a good guy, though one never knows, these days..."

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

It was my personal cellphone, and it was my real boss, my wife Laura. I answered it.

"Am I interrupting anything, Darling?" Laura asked.

"I've got Jack Muscone in here." I said. "He'll forgive us for interrupting if we buy him a double cheeseburger at the Cop Bar. Whassup?"

"I followed up with Eastside Elementary." said Laura. "I don't know what you did, but they hastily solved the problem."

"I didn't do anything, to be honest." I said. "I've had no time, what with these four cases and all. What did they do?"

"Mr. Fogle was sent to be principal for the rest of the year at one of the elementary schools that feeds the County High system." Laura said. "In exchange, we got Mrs. Keaton, who I already know, and who is a damn sight better than Fogle."

"Good." I said. "How did Mrs. Carson, the Assistant Principal, take the news?"

"I don't know this for sure," Laura said, "but I think this swap is to fix the short-term problem that involved the Iron Crowbar's daughter, and they promised Mrs. Carson she'd be a full principal somewhere next school year."

"Cool beans." I said. "You happy with that, or do we still need to move Carole somewhere?"

"I'm happy with it, for now." Laura said. "I'll see you later this morning."

We disconnected the call; if Laura was happy, I was happy. I said to Jack: "Laura said she'd see me later this morning. So I guess she's going to be part of this investigation, though that's not what the phone call was about."

"And you definitely will be paying for that double cheeseburger," said Muscone, "for making me all hungry now..."

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

I went into MCD, following Captain Tanya Perlman, and immediately caught the very negative vibe. Detectives were at work at their desks, but there was no chatter or banter at all.

"Okay, folks," I said, "the whiteboard on the car dealership can come down. Detectives Warner and Davis, you will be assigned to that case, and you will find out shortly that there are aspects to it that you cannot and will not discuss with everyone else. Captain Perlman?"

"On the nursing home case," Tanya said, "I'm reassigning that to Geiger and Washington, because of the likelihood that drugs are involved. On the professor's death, Parker and McGhillie. And on the sexual roleplay case, Rodriguez will be working directly with me. Adjust accordingly for the meeting, still at ten o'clock, Lord willing and the Creek don't rise."

"Hey, that's my line!" I said with a grin. "Guys, I'm going to be heavily involved in this car dealership murder, but I'm here if you have any questions about your cases, and I'll definitely be sticking my beak in and getting reports from you all. It's going to be busy, but that's the way we like it. So carry on, and let's get all of these cases cleaned up."

Detectives got to work. Theo went to the coffee machine in back, followed by Parker. "Looks like you got the short straw today." said Parker. "Watch your back, and get real backup at the slightest sign of trouble."

"Roger that." Theo said.

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

"You and Molly have been invited to join us at the FBI meeting at the Federal Building at 1:00pm today." I told Cindy after coming into her office and closing the door behind me. "I guess they want a double dose of hot blondes today."

"Triple dose." Cindy said. "Callie has already called me. She and Laura are going to be there, too. What's going on?"

"The body you found at the car dealership has been identified." I said. "He's a Navy Intelligence Officer. We'll talk more later." I turned to go, then turned back and said "Oh. It's going to be a quadruple dose of blondes today. Joanne will be there, too..."

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

At 10:00am, Classroom 'E' filled up with Detectives, Data Gurus, my Angels three, me, and the Chief. We'd changed the location at the last minute.

"It's your meeting Commander." said the Chief.

"Let's get right to it." I said. "Who wants to start?"

"I will sir." said Lainie Everett, the MCD data guru. "I gathered data on David Lang, Ashwarya and Tanu Subramaniam, and Amit Anand. They are all employees of Audial Security Solutions, which develops software involving listening devices, be it recording sounds, cleaning up static and clutter, voice recognition, and compression storage. Their main office is in the City, and their facility here is a satellite office with ties to the University."

"Who are their clients?" I asked.

"The partnership with the University is a joint research venture." said Lainie. "Their City office is in the same building that houses the nearest offices of MegaTech Industries. MegaTech's home office is in Silicon Valley, in California."

Lainie continued: "David Lang was the Business Analyst and Lead Developer of a team that is composed of Ashwarya, Tanu, and Amit. I couldn't get any more, especially about what they might've been working on."

"No surprise there." Julia Rodriguez said. "They clammed up tight when we asked about that."

"Yes. Yes they did." I said. "Keep going, Lainie."

Lainie said "David Lang, 34 years old at the time of his death, grew up in Ohio, but attended the University here and obtained dual Bachelor degrees in Business Administration and Computer Science. He was single, never married. He sometimes ran up a few hundred dollars in debt, but would pay it down pretty regularly."

Lainie went on: "He bought a Ford GT, which is probably why he's had a string of speeding tickets, but no DUIs, and he was making his car payments on time. He lived in the same apartment complex as the members of his team, but not the same building. Apparently the company subsidized the apartment payments as one of the perks of working there. He did have one other large item on his credit card, but it was paid off: an engagement ring, which was in his small gun safe in his home with some papers but no guns."

Lainie continued: "Ashwarya is a birthright American citizen, born here to legal immigrant parents. She's 28 years old, and she graduated from State Tech with a Computer Technology degree, which I understand is mostly a programming degree. Her husband Tanu, age 27, is an H1-B immigrant, who also attended State Tech and graduated with a Computer Engineering degree, which means he could build computers as well as program them. They apparently met at School, and married shortly after graduation."

Lainie went on: "Amit is 31 years old and a naturalized U.S. citizen. He graduated from the University with dual degrees in Physics, concentrating on the principles of waves and wave energy; and Computer Science, which is a basic programming degree. None of them have any debt to speak of; it seems their company paid off any outstanding student debt once they worked there three years." That got some murmurs going.

"Wow, that is some sweetheart deal." said Mary Milton. "How did I miss out on that?"

"Chief, can we get the TCPD to pay off our student debts?" asked Roy McGhillie.

"Only Commander Troy is eligible for that." said the Chief.

"He's joking." I said quickly. "He knows I had no student debt when I graduated, thank the Lord. But let's move on. Good report, Lainie. Does anyone have anything to add to this?"

"Er... yes sir." said Tanya. "I reviewed the videos they made."

"Just give us the R-rated version... if that's possible." I said.

"I'll try, sir." Tanya said. "We secured 16 DVDs, each a separate video of Ashwarya having a sexual encounter with David. Twelve of them were in the presence of Tanu, and four were of them alone. We also found six DVDs in David's apartment when we searched it. Four were of David and Ashwarya having sex in his bed, and two were of them having consentual sex in an office, apparently his office. Tanu wasn't in any of those videos.

"Any of them rape roleplay?" I asked. Everyone else in the room was silent, either fascinated or nauseated at the discussion.

Tanya replied: "As far as I could tell, none of them were rape roleplay, none showing either her or him tied up or restrained or being forced in any way. Only the last one, in the camera, that showed Amit hitting David and killing him, was a non-consentual roleplay scenario."

"Hmmm, that could be key." I said. "Anything that caught your eye as being out of the ordinary, Captain Perlman? Beyond the obvious of the wife watching and the roleplay, and of course the death?"

"Uh... not that I could really see, sir." said Tanya. "But something was nagging at me as I watched some of them. Maybe you could see something if you... er, reviewed the evidence, sir." There were some chuckles in the room as that was said.

"Maybe I'll let my wife do that." I said.

"So, Commander," asked the Chief, "are you ready to write this off as a tragic accident?"

"Rodriguez? Perlman?" I asked.

Julia and Tanya looked at each other, then Julia said "No sir. I think we need to find out a lot more about these people. I would like to go interview their co-workers, then maybe interview them again."

"I agree, sir." said Tanya.

"Outstanding." I said. "I'm happy to hear that. No, this case is nowhere near finished, Chief. After the coworker interviews, we will be re-interviewing all three of these people, and I have a few... extra... questions to ask them."

"Uh oh." Cindy said quietly. "Somebody is in deep kimshee."

"We'll see." I said. "Okay, let's move on. Let's talk the Boddiker facility and the Fitch case."

"I have that, sir." said Sonali, our other Data Guru. She began her report: "Robert Fitch was a stock broker with one of the major brokerages for many years. He also traded for himself, and made even more money. He retired five years ago, and he and his wife Alice had enough cash money to live comfortably for at least three more decades. He also made a will that left his money to his wife's use in her lifetime, then would be distributed to several charities, with a large portion going to 'The Vision'."

"How did you find that out?" asked the Chief. "The will hasn't been probated yet."

"Because, sir," said Cindy, "the Executor of the will... is Dr. P. Harvey Eckhart, or 'The Vision' itself in the event of his death preceding Mr. Fitch's."

"So what is the problem?" asked the Chief.

Theo Washington said "Sir, Mr. Fitch began showing the signs of Alzheimers about two years ago. According to the Boddiker Hospice staff, he didn't remember his wife's name anymore, couldn't tell time, stuff like that. But he was still relatively healthy and mobile physically."

"And this morning," Cindy said, "a lawyer tried to probate the will.. or what he said was the will... on behalf of Jefferson and Rhonda Gray. The lawyer was Nathan Masterson, who showed a Power of Attorney from Jefferson Gray, and who was named Executor in the will."

"We have to stop that---" started the Chief, but Cindy smiled... an evil smile very similar to what her cousin was known to exhibit at times.

"Sir," she said, "my father does not let the grass grow under his feet. His lawyer, Cy Hart, was there when the Courthouse opened. We now have two wills submitted, and the Police and the Courts have to determine which one is valid."

"Is that going to be a problem?" asked the Chief.

"The one submitted by Masterson is the later-dated will." said Cindy.

I said "How much money are we taking about, in Mr. Fitch's estate?"