Four Square Ch. 03

"It must not be as hard as golf, though." said Carole. "Mommy told Marie's mommy that you are much better at being a Detective than playing golf."

"Well, Carole," I said, "some people are better at some things, and others are better at other things. But being a Detective can be very hard, and you will have to be very good to be a Detective when you grow up. And that means you need to do well in school. And that means you have to get a good night's sleep, right?"

"Okay, Daddy." Carole said, getting the 'hint'. "Nite nite..."

Part 13 - The Four Crimes

6:45am, Friday, April 12th. Cindy and I brought the coffee cups with The Masters logo to MCD, and issued them to all the Detectives. It is possible that Lt. Rudistan got one also for showing up in MCD.

"Whether Army or Navy coffee, it will taste better in a Masters coffee cup." I told everyone. As Cindy talked to everyone about our day at Augusta National, I took a moment to look at the updated whiteboards, noticing some additions.

Before going into the Chief's Conference Room, I went to my office and sent Coach Spurrier an email, thanking him for the tickets and including the selfie Cindy had taken of us with Mr. Fred Couples.

We distributed more coffee cups to the Command Group, then I presented Sheriff Griswold with the Masters-logo-engraved jigger glass. "Your bourbon will taste better in a Masters shot glass." I told the Sheriff, then explained the situation about the shot glass size. Sheriff Griswold was very happy at this addition to his shot glass collection, and his mustaches twitched merrily.

And then, it was all downhill from there...

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

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Friday, April 12th, from the KXTC anchor desk. "We are following the growing scandal in Midtown. Let's go to reporter Keith Madden in Midtown. Keith!"

"That's right, Bettina!" said Keith Madden. "After a whistleblower reported to the SBI's Office of Ethics and Review, the SBI-OER, that Governor Val Jared conducted an illegal phone call with the Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, State House Democrats have demanded a full transcript of the call. Some Democrats and Republicans are saying that the Governor discussed using the assets of the SBI's new Immigration and Drug Enforcement division, set to begin operations in July, and that that would be illegal because it constitutes using State funds before they are authorized. Let's go to our colleague Tim Sioban with KSB in the City. Tim!""

In an obviously taped interview, Tim Sioban said "We have with us Dr. Adam S. Keller of the City University's Rodham Foundation for Political and Social Change. Dr. Keller, has Governor Jared once again violated the law?"

Keller said "Governor Jared has shown no regard for the law nor the rights of women and undocumented workers, and this is just another example of it. We need the full, unredacted transcript of that call to determine the extent of Governor Jared's willful disregard for the law."

Sioban: "Is it illegal for the Governor to discuss future operations of a unit that has been budgeted for, but will not start up until July?"

Keller: "By making the call on a State Government phone, the Governor has in effect spent State money on an operation and a unit that is not yet constituted nor in operation. Furthermore, immigration is strictly a Federal pervue, and Governor Jared is illegally injecting himself and the State into that Federal jurisdiction, which I believe is criminally unlawful. It will be up to the State Legislature, through the impeachment process, to determine that a crime has been committed by Val Jared."

Sioban: "What about the SBI-OER? Could they investigate and find wrongdoing?"

Keller: "Inspector Britt Maxwell and Lieutenant Norm Chow of the OER are close friends of Commander Donald Troy, who took the Fifth rather than expose Governor Jared's harassment of two women that made credible claims of sexual harassment against the Governor. So I don't expect an honest investigation by them. It will be up to the State House, which has been far more honest in their investigations of the Governor's crimes, to carry this investigation through and obtain justice for the People of the State."

"What about another Independent State Counsel?" asked Sioban.

"Tim, we are way past Independent State Counsels." said Keller. "It is time for the State Legislature and State Senate to do the right thing and do their duty, which is to impeach and convict Governor Val Jared and remove him from office. The mistake of electing him must be corrected."

Back to Keith Madden live: "State House Democrats that I have talked to are demanding a Special Session of the Legislature to begin a formal impeachment inquiry into the Governor's phone call. Without that, any witnesses they subpoena can legally refuse to assist or testify in the investigation, and the Governor is encouraging them to stonewall the Legislature, saying that this whole thing is a ginned-up 'witch hunt'. Democrats are threatening to bring Contempt charges against anyone who refuses to testify, including having those charged with Contempt put in jail until they do testify. Back to you, Bettina!"

Bettina said "I'll bet Commander Donald Troy wishes he knew to refuse to testify before an official impeachment inquiry had been voted upon. And speaking of Commander Troy, so far he has utterly failed to solve four suspicious deaths in our Town & County that occurred last weekend. Sources tell Channel Two News that the FBI has been asked to take over the investigations because they are beyond the abilities of the local Police to solve. As usual, Commander Troy has refused to respond to KXTC's repeated requests for comment, and neither Commander Cindy Ross nor the TCPD Public Relations Office will update Channel Two News on the investigations..."

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

"For the record," I said, "Bettina is lying about me again. I could not refuse to testify, because it was not an impeachment inquiry but a continuation of the formal criminal investigation of the Independent State Counsel, which was investigating me as well as the Governor."

"I'll have Captain Thompson call out Bettina for that," Cindy replied, "as well as let everyone know that her continued dishonesty and KXTC employee Lester Holder's racist remarks about your daughter are the reason you refuse to respond to their so-called repeated requests for comment."

"Sound good." I said.

"You think that's going to help anything?" asked Chief Moynahan.

"We call out those liars for their lies." Cindy replied. "It's getting ridiculous."

"Let me consider what to do, before you do anythinnnng." said the Chief. "It might sound like we're picking nits, and whining about the small stuff."

"Chief," I said, knowing this had to be said: "Bettina lied to take a cheap shot at me to make me sound like I'm dumb and I didn't know what was going on. She immediately segued into an attack on the TCPD itself, as being too dumb to solve these crimes we're working on. So yes sir, it will help to call Bettina out, if for no other reason than having our Police Force's collective back in the face of those insults."

"He's right, you know." said the Sheriff, supporting me.

"We also should put out a statement defending the integrity of Britt Maxwell and Norm Chow." I said. "Oh... and just to make sure: y'all didn't call in the FBI while we were gone... did you?"

"Well 'bless your heart', as my daddy used to say." Teresa Croyle said, knowing I'd understand the hidden 'Southern' meaning of that phrase. A red crowbar was waved in her general direction.

"Nooooo, we did not call in the FBI." said the Chief. "But we did get some information while you were gone."

"I've 'suggested' to the Detectives that they be ready by 9:00am to get you up to speed on our progress." added Captain Tanya Perlman.

"Sheriff," I said, "what's with this new lie about the Governor?"

"Well, of course it's a frame-up and an outright lie." growled Griswold angrily. "It's not illegal to make a phone call, it's not illegal to talk to the Feds about cooperating to remove illegal persons from the streets, and that part about using future monies is old bullshit that they're trying to drag up again."

"But the Media is chanting the Democrat lies as if they are true," said Teresa Croyle, "and they, the Democrats, the Media, and the Establishment Republicans, are out for blood and really believe they can get Governor Jared impeached and convicted over this. I don't understand it, but political Midtown is at full boil over it."

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

9:00am, Friday, April 12th. It was a full house in Classroom 'E'. Detectives's tummies were full of doughnuts, washed down with coffee from their Masters coffee cups... except for two of us: I was still using my Airborne School coffee mug, and Sheriff Griswold was using his 'Klingon' mug he'd gotten at a Cosplay Convention at the Civic Center.

In addition to Cindy not being present, there was one other absence, which surprised me: Chief Moynahan was not there. So being in charge, I took charge. "Okay, Captain Perlman, whaddya got?"

"We'll talk about the Audial Security Solutions case first." said Tanya, and I noticed that her eyes were twinkling a bit more than normal... almost as much as Britt Maxwell's eyes always did. "Julia?"

"Thank you, ma'am." said Julia. "Our FBI friends helped us to obtain some data that clearly shows the relationship between Audial Security Solutions, which I can't call by their initials because it spells A-S-S..." The room broke out into laughter, then Julia continued: "... and MegaTech Industries. We'd pieced it together already, but the FBI took the ball and ran with it, and found that MegaTech's Liaison Officer to Audial was a woman named Mai Lin."

"Ohhh, don't keep me in suspense!" I said enthusiastically, realizing where this was going. "Show us a photo of this Mai Lin."

"I told you he'd figure it out!" said Tanya. Julia put the photo of an Asian woman onto the monitor, a woman who strongly resembled porn star Asa Akira... and someone else of my recent acquaintance in the vicinity of an armed nuclear weapon.

"Shimono. Will wonders never cease." I said, using another old Southern phrase. "So she's working for MegaTech?"

"Officially, she's a consultant, no pun intended." said Julia. "But she has worked with MegaTech for a couple of years now."

"Wow." I said, mostly to myself. "And she went after the BOW Enterprises technology that MegaTech was willing to kill for." By that I meant the Mutanix that she had hoped to purloin from Todd Burke and BOW Enterprises... and explode the nuke to destroy BOW Enterprises and my Town & County.

Julia continued: "I'll add that Audial has offices here, ostensibly to work with its University partners, but it also has a small administrative office in the City, in the Cannon Building. We believe that 'Mai Lin' met with David Lang and the other Project Managers over there, so that she did not have to come here."

"And the FBI gave us this information?" I asked. "Freely? and willingly? Team Lazarus?" The reaction to my question was immediate: I noticed a pang of pain on Tanya's face, and looks of awkward discomfort on the faces of some others.

"No sir." said Joanne Warner, with alacrity. "it was the Supervisory Agent of the local FBI Resident Agency that passed this information along to us."

"Nice to have a good hunting buddy, eh?" I said to Joanne, who frequently went hunting with her friend Melina Allgood. Joanne nodded vigorously in agreement.

"I have to add, sir," said Tanya and not happily, "that she provided that information without getting the permission from higher-ups."

"Easier to get forgiveness than permission, eh?" I said, trying to sound jovial. "She had plenty of practice at that... eight years worth of practice." Those would be the eight years of my marriage to Melina, everyone knew.

"Well, it helps to know that." I said. "And it's no suprise that Shimono is working with Indians... she was working with an Indian named Raji during a recent event here in the Town & County." That would be the nuclear weapon incident, and it was Raji's neck I'd broken...

"And Captain Perlman," I added, "I reviewed those tapes you asked me to, and I observed what I think you wanted me to observe... and you are right about that. But lets move on for now: any developments on the competing wills?"

"Yes sir." said Tanya. "Team Lazarus has been very helpful with that. They've begun a very deep Federal investigation of Jefferson Gray, looking for ties to his uncle, Franklin Gray of Superior Bloodlines. Their forensics analysis team has investigated the second will, the one submitted by the Grays and Masterson, and formally reported to Judge Folsom that Mr. Fitch's signature is inconsistent with his normal writing, while the signature on the first one appears to be genuine. What's in the will is also inconsistent with the time frame that it is dated, as well."

"Unfortunately," said Paulina Patterson, "that's not enough to actually disprove the second will as real. Nathan Masterson is being his normal self, a total asshole, and is calling the FBI's results biased and false because of Captain Perlman's engagement to SAC Malone, and her ties to the TCPD, meaning to you and Commander Ross and back to The Vision, yadda yadda yadda."

"Good grief." I said. "What's the likely outcome?"

"Judge Folsom, who is handling this personally," said Paulina, "has the power to choose which will he considers valid, but he and we know that the losing side could tie it up in appeals for years... like the Tolson/Mason insurance claims were tied up in Court for years. The other option is that the Judge declares neither will valid, and that Mr. Fitch died intestate, and thus the State gets to choose who wins, or may choose to keep all that money for themselves. That could be appealed, but it's likelier the two sides would go to some kind of arbitration, and both sides could get something out of it."

"Wouldn't the Grays and Masterson just fight that to the last ditch?" asked Theo Washington. "Especially considering the amount of money that's at stake?"

"You know..." I mused, "that might not be the case, and if Dr. Eckhart and The Vision help Mrs. Fitch with living expenses... which I happen to know will be the case... then she and the charities in the first will can be the walls of granite and hold out. But tell me, Paulina... would busting the Grays for Murder-1 help resolve the case, and quickly?"

Paulina smiled. "Maybe. They'd certainly not be allowed to collect. But Mrs. Fitch could still be shut out if the Judge goes for the intestate ruling."

"Maybe not." I said. "If the Grays are in prison, or put to death at Jacksonville State Prison, Masterson and the people behind him have no claim on the money, so they lose interest and move on, allowing Mrs. Fitch to win at arbitration. In any case, everyone, we need to prove the murder."

"How, sir?" asked Theo.

"With good interrogation techniques." I said. "Which I might add will also be used to crack open the David Lang case, pun not intended. Okay, anything else on the other cases?"

"No sir." said Roy McGhillie. "We went through everything Dr. Christian had in his office, and digitally copied everything to do with the Consultant of Crime into the servers. With respect, sir, I am about as sick of Pastor Westboro as you must be."

"Oh, I never tire of Pastor Westboro." I said. "Especially since he's dead now. But the knowledge you have gained, Detective McGhillie, will help you greatly in your career. Studying cases of the past help solve crimes of the future, and there is no better study than the work of the Consultant of Crime. Okay, off the soapbox. So you didn't find anything?"

"No sir." said McGhillie. "Dr. Christian left nothing that suggested he'd found Westboro's lost fortune, or if it even exists..."

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

"See how you like this." Cindy said, handing me a typewritten (actually laser printed) sheet of paper. "Captain Thompson put out the statement about Bettina, then one on why you won't talk to them. Every news outlet except KXTC has asked for you to put out a direct statement confirming what he said as your own sentiments."

"And they are." I said as I read the statement. "but it's not strong enough." I spent the next three minutes making the statement much, much stronger, then printed it out and handed Cindy the sheet with my initials in ink pen ink.

"I'll have to run it by the Chief." said Cindy. "He approved the watered-down version, and I think he's hoping this will go away. He also thinks we should let the SBI-OER defend their own honor."

"Their shots at me are one thing." I said. "But the shots at the TCPD are inexcusable and must be countered. And we need to defend Britt and Norm because of this new thing with the Governor. This so-called 'whistleblower' went to someone in their Office, and they're going to be in charge of the initial investigation."

"So why did pencil-dick... er, pencil-neck Keller attack them?" Cindy asked. "They're not going to lie, either way... are they?"

"No, they're honest above reproach, which is why Keller is attacking them." I replied. "Trying to frame the outcome, like they tried to force my testimony to incriminate Jared, and if I spoke the truth then it would be called a lie. Keller is trying to rig the game again."

"The truth doesn't matter to Jared's enemies." said Cindy. "I just don't understand why people can't see through this."

"Many do, but won't speak up and say anything." I said. "I often wondered if I was the only one seeing it... and then Jared got re-elected, defeating the most corrupt politician in State history, Jack Lewis, showing me that the People do see the corruption. And in the privacy, secrecy, and anonymity of the voting booth, they'll do the right thing."

"Then," I continued, "I realized that people don't stand up and speak out, that it takes something they don't have to do that, especially to stand up to the Swamp and fight it, and that those who are willing to do so are threatened, and they and their families are attacked... like U.S. Congressman Gowron and U.S. Senator Nunn, and Governor Jared. And some didn't survive, like Admiral Keating and LCDR Waring."

"And one day..." I went on, "the People are going vote against the most corrupt politician in all American history, and instead elect a President that the Swamp told them to vote against, a President that will stand up to the evil and the corruption. And then those enraged Swamp Elites are going to do everything they can to thwart the will of the American People and destroy that President. What's going on now with us is just a prelude, a child's game in comparison to the viciousness and ugliness with with the Elitists and their Media allies will attack that President, and thus wage war upon the American People and the Constitution..."

"I'll go run this by the Chief." Cindy said, pretty much ending my soliloquy.

"After you do, come back here." I said. "Let's talk about these cases..."

Part 14 - The Iron Crowbar Interrogates

My Detectives are good. They are well-trained, and by the likes of Sheriff Griswold, Chief Moynahan, Captain Perlman, and of course myself. But there is one area that they are not up to the level that I'd like them to be: interrogations. Good, clean, interrogations that get results. And I bear and take responsibility for that; if the learner didn't learn, the teacher didn't teach. So now it was time to teach some more.

"Jefferson Gray was denied bail." Paulina reported. "Judge Nance took a lunch hour on Wednesday, and Folsom snuck in and did the bail hearings himself. We showed the family link to Franklin Gray and the FBI's initial observations on that second will, and that Jefferson Gray is an extreme flight risk. Rhonda Gray got bail set at $1 million, and it was met almost immediately by Nathan Masterson, but we don't know who is behind him on that. She has ankle monitoring, though, and is at home."