Gods and Crowbars 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 - The Hunt Begins

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded reporterette from in front of the Courthouse complex on the east side of Courthouse Square, at 7:00am, Monday, April 10th. "The trial of former Town & County Police Detective Leonard 'Sergeant' Sharples for murder and attempted murder begins today!"

"Motions and appeals have been worked through over the past several months," said Bettina, "since Detective Sharples was arrested nearly a year ago at Point Hollow in the northwest corner of the County." (Author's note: 'Point Hollow', Ch. 04-05.) "The State Supreme Court upheld the decision to try Detective Sharples on all counts in one trial, though the murder of Scrawny Haskins was committed in Hamilton County while the attempted murder of Commander Donald Troy was committed here in this County. Superior Court Judge Patrick R. Folsom will be the presiding judge in what some are calling the 'trial of the century'."

"Commander Troy has said in a statement that he will appear and testify when called upon, despite being released from the hospital after back surgery just this weekend." Bettina said. "The Prosecution has not asked for a continuance, and a spokesman for the D.A.'s office said that they had no intention of doing so. The Prosecution has also confirmed that they are going for the death penalty in this case."

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

"Why does she keep calling him 'Detective' Sharples?" asked Joanne Warner in MCD as everyone drank coffee. "How about 'disgraced former Detective'?"

"To annoy us." said Captain Teresa Croyle, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "And to seemingly take Sharples's side, as if he's innocent and we're the guilty ones for daring to arrest that poor, innocent man."

"And a number of us in here are going to be called as witnesses." Captain Cindy Ross said. "So have your uniforms looking good. Okay, guys, at 8:00am shift change, all of 1st and 3d shifts, loddy doddy everybody, will be in the Main Auditorium. All of you need to be there, too."

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

If only the criminals knew that the entire Police Force was currently in one room... but they did not know. At 8:01am, Captain Cindy Ross mounted the stage in front of the assemblage of Officers. As the room came to silence, she pinned the microphone to her Uniform shirt and then pressed a button.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," she said, her voice carrying over the speakers, "the man you are seeing in this photo is former SBI Agent Richard Ferrell. He is wanted for a number of crimes. He was seen in Town this weekend, and an APB was issued for his arrest. All of you have been or will be sent an email with his photograph. Study that photograph carefully, get to know every wrinkle on this bastard's face.

"A priority of your duty patrols," continued Captain Ross, "is to be on the lookout for this man. Wherever you go, whatever you do, looking for this man in crowds, on the streets, in shops and restaurants, is your priority. Is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am!" said the group, in a not particularly coordinated fashion.

"I hope your eyesight is better than that response, ladies and gentlemen." said Police Chief Moynahan taking the stage. "Let me assure you, Officers, that this man is one of the most highly wanted and most dangerous men in the State, if not the Nation. He is a former State Agent and was the leader of the SBI's Narcotics Task Force. He is very well trained, especially with weapons, and he will be desperate if cornered. Captain?"

"You will all be briefed further on this man through your chains of command." said Captain Ross. "Detectives, both MCD and Vice, and your Data people, go from here to Classroom 'J'. Everyone else can go to their assigned duties."

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

FBI Special Agents Martin Nash and Lindy Linares, SBI Agents Norm Chow and Ted Orosco, and SBI Lt. Tanya Perlman were already in Classroom 'J' as the Detectives trickled in. Captain Ross came in and hooked her computer up to the projector. As stragglers came in, including Theo Washington, Lainie Everett and Timothy Geiger, Cindy turned a baleful eye upon them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there is no way any of you should be coming into this room after me." the Captain of Detectives said harshly. "You people need to start moving with a purpose. Is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am." said Theo, properly understanding what to do and say. Lainie looked shocked, and Geiger looked a bit irritated; neither said anything. The rest of the room fell silent.

"Okay, guys," said Cindy, putting up a slide. "Once again, this is Richard Ferrell, former Director of the SBI-NTF, and wanted for assault upon a State Agent, that being Lt. Tanya Perlman. He is also wanted as a conspirator in the attempted murder of Commander Troy, which was done by Leonard Sharples, and possible connections to the murder of Kevin Greeley. We now have some new things to tell you, and none of what is said here had better leave this room." She looked from face to face, locking eyes with every individual.

"Okay." Cindy said. "First, we're going to have our FBI friends tell us about the sabotage on the electric substation this weekend. Special Agent Nash?"

Nash got up and came to the front of the room as everyone looked around in bewilderment. This was the first they were hearing that the power outage had been anything but a simple interruption of service.

"Thank you, Captain." said Nash, seeing Cindy's mood and showing deference. "The FBI has found out some new information regarding the power outage over the weekend. The electric substation was sabotaged, and I'll reiterate what Captain Ross said that we need to keep this in this room. The sabotage was done by persons infiltrating as part of a general maintenance crew. They put shunts into the wiring that gave a false signal to the monitoring station, which ultimately resulted in an overload which caused the system to shut itself down. It took two hours to find the problem and repair it."

Nash continued: "We believe that Richard Ferrell was one of the infiltrators." He showed a picture of a badge belonging to a 'Richard Stevens', which was Ferrell, droopy mustache and all. "To accomplish this mission, he would have had to have some training by people who are familiar with the systems. While the systems aren't classified, getting the schematics they would've needed is not very simple for just anyone to do."

Nash went on: "The FBI, at least my team working on this, believes that this was a dry run for something Ferrell and his bosses are planning in the future. Of course we're having every one of StatePowerCorp's facilities being checked for sabotage, but we believe they were testing the security checks and defenses, which obviously failed here."

"There were no incidents in the County during the power outage." said Nash. "No break-ins reported, no traffic problems. University Hospital had no problems. We checked there because Commander Troy was there as a patient."

"If I may, Agent Nash..." Cindy said. Nash nodded, and Cindy said "The Hospital has emergency generators, which kicked in, but they also have good security. All doors except the front doors lock down during a power outage, and people can come in and out only through the front doors, which had manned security, and the Emergency Room, which also had manned security at that time. No one entered or exited during those two hours."

"What happens if there's a fire during the power outage?" asked Joanne Warner.

"That would qualify as one of 'those' days." said Cindy, to tepid laughter. "But to answer your question, I understand that the doors can be unlocked from inside, but there's a trick to it, and only certain people there, like the doctors and head nurses, know how to do it. But the fire evacuation plan mostly goes through the front doors or Emergency Room doors. Anyway, the point is that if Commander Troy was the target of an attack, it didn't happen."

"Agent Nash," said Detective Christopher Purvis, "has the FBI's facial recognition software found any other sightings or IDs of Richard Ferrell?"

"No." said Nash. "Not so far. And we have searched and are continuing to search. We found this ID from facial recognition software."

"Okay," Cindy said, taking back over, "let's talk about the next part of this situation. Ferrell was observed behind the State Crime Lab van that Lt. Perlman uses. Detective Joanne Warner gave chase, but Ferrell ran to a waiting car and sped off. The van was very carefully checked out, and it appears Ferrell was stopped before he could do anything to the van."

"So this is personal?" asked Theo Washington.

"Possibly." said Martin Nash. "Ferrell has a history with both Lt. Perlman and Special Agent in Charge Jack Muscone."

"True." said Cindy. "I personally don't understand why Ferrell would do this the way he did, but we're going to be watching for him much more closely.

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

I was sitting in the rocking chair at the Mountain Nest, looking out the window over the backyard, with Bowser in my lap getting the skritchins he loved. Buddy was asleep nearer the back door. The doorbell rang, and a moment later my mother guided Chief Griswold into the room.

"Hello, Crowbar." the old Chief growled. "Petting the dog. Almost as good as fishing."

"I'd say even better, Chief." I said. "Have a seat. Whassup?"

The Chief sat down on the sofa against the wall, which was to my left. Bowser had peered over at him, but did not leave his perch on my lap.

"You heard about the Ferrell sighting behind Lt. Perlman's van?" the Chief asked.

"Yes, I did." I said. "Any luck tracing the license plates?"

"FBI is working on that." said Griswold. "Fortunately, no tampering of the van was found, and now they're going to be keeping it locked in a secure area and checking it more often."

"That's good." I said. "So nothing was found, eh?"

Chief Griswold peered over at me, and Buddy looked up at me, also. "So," said the Chief, "sounds like you have ideas about that, Crowbar."

"Yeah, Bowser and I were thinking about that," I said, "and I suspect the reason they did not find any tampering is because Ferrell was actually getting something from the van... perhaps a note or some kind of information taped under the bumper. Ferrell probably had it in his hands when he ran to that car."

Chief Griswold barked a laugh. "That's Iron Crowbar thinking, there... and good hero dog thinking, too, Bowser." Bowser wagged his tail mightily.

"And that means," I said, "that someone inside the State Crime Lab building, possibly in the secret SBI areas in the basement, is in collusion with Ferrell, and is passing him information. He may pass that person information the same way."

"Have you told anyone about your ideas?" asked the Chief.

"Myron and Mary visited yesterday, and I told them." I said. "They may use considerable discretion in who else they tell while they're doing some checking around."

"Har." barked the Chief. "Well, the reason I came by was to ask if you're ready for the Sharples trial."

"Oh yes." I said. "Today they're working through the initial procedural stuff, then the introduction of physical evidence and the Crime Lab and Medical Examiner's reports and testimony. I go on the stand tomorrow morning."

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

As Captain Cindy Ross walked down the hallway towards her office, she saw her MCD Detectives huddled up around Joanne's desk, which was nearest to the Vice Room and front of the building. Curious, and getting a vibe, Cindy went inside.

"It's all wrong, ma'am." said Joanne, seeing Cindy come in.

"What's that?" asked Cindy.

"We don't understand why the FBI thinks the power station sabotage was a dry run." said Teddy Parker.

Theo Washington nodded and said "That doesn't make sense. That 'dry run' alerted us to their ability to do that to a power station, and of course we're going to upgrade security on all power stations around the State so they can't do it again."

"And it showed us that Ferrell was in the area, as well." said Joanne. "Even without sighting him at the restaurant."

Cindy pulled up a chair to join the discussion. "I get what you're saying. So what do you think was the reason for it? There were no incidents while the power was out."

"That we know of, ma'am." said Teddy Parker. "There could've been a home invasion or a business burgled and it wasn't reported to us for some reason."

"That's true." said Cindy. "So what was Ferrell's involvement?"

"The Vice Detectives are going to check with C.I.s." said Joanne. "They're also going to put out word about Ferrell and a reward for finding him, and to contact us with any information they get on him."

"Who'd you clear the reward with?" asked Cindy.

"The Chief told us about it." said Parker. "He told the Public Relations Officer to put out the word that a reward would be paid for information leading to the apprehension of Dick Ferrell."

Part 7 - Trial And Fire

One thing many people don't realize is that witnesses in a trial cannot be in the Courtroom before testifying. There is usually a 'witness room' where witnesses are held until they're called upon. I was standing in the witness room at 9:00am, Tuesday, April 11th. With me was State Attorney Jenna Stiles, who was one of the Prosecutors along with ADA Paulina Patterson.

"How's your back, Commander?" Jenna asked.

"It's fine." I said. "I've got on a back brace and the bulletproof girdle, so it should hold up okay."

"You can't take any medications for pain while you're on the stand." said Jenna. "We also think the Defense lawyers are going to try to keep you on the stand as long as possible, hour upon hour, day upon day, to weaken you and try to make you make a mistake."

"Bring it on." I said.

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

"The People call Police Commander Donald Troy to the stand." announced Paulina Patterson.

The Bailiffs opened the doors and I walked into the Courtroom. I had a flashback to the Jimmy Lawson case, where I'd deliberately dressed poorly and walked with a shuffle. (Author's note: 'Six Degrees', Ch. 04.)

Not today. Today I walked resolutely down the aisle, tall and erect, my head held high with great confidence. I was wearing my Duty Dress uniform with a white shirt and tie, twin rows of light blue piping on the sides of my pants and a thick band of piping on the wrists of my Uniform jacket. I was wearing my full complement of ribbons (which means I was wearing the scholastic ribbons, divisional ribbons and service ribbons as well as the ones representing medals). My badge and rank insignia were shined up and looked sharp and bright, and my black patent leather shoes would've passed any military inspection.

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

"I do." I said.

"Please be seated." said the Bailiff. I sat down in the witness chair, which fortunately was a hard, wooden chair with a tall back.

"Your honor, may I approach the bench?" asked the Defense counsel, H.J. Lynch of Chase, Lynch & Berry, P.C.

"Both sides, approach." said Judge Folsom.

Once up at the bench, Lynch said "Your Honor, I object to this witness. He just got out of the hospital. He has been under the influence of drugs after his very recent back surgery, especially morphine."

"Are you asking for a continuance?" asked Paulina Patterson, with as much derisiveness as she could put into her voice.

"No, I'm asking that this witness not be allowed to testify." said Lynch.

"That's a new one." said Folsom. He then said out loud "The jury will return to the jury room for ten minutes." The Bailiffs escorted the Jury out of the Courtroom. Meanwhile, Paulina went to her table and retrieved some documents.

"Okay, Prosecution," said Folsom, "what is your response to this?"

"I can't say those words out loud, Your Honor." said Paulina. "So I'll reply by submitting these medical documents. Commander Troy rejected the morphine machine while in the hospital, which stunned his doctors. He bore the pain, Your Honor. These documents will show that. The documents also show that Commander Troy's only received anti-inflammatory medications, antibiotics, and light sedation medication. He had no heavy narcotics at all."

Lynch was stunned, and he was not the only one. Judge Folsom looked over at me, still sitting in the witness box, as if I were some sort of alien from Uranus. "Commander, is this true? No morphine? At all?"

"That is true, Your Honor." I said.

"So you were not in pain?" asked Folsom.

"I did not say that, Your Honor." I replied.

"We'll take a ten minute recess." said Folsom. "Prosecution, Defense, come to my Chambers. I am going to verify this with the Hospital."

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

Meanwhile...

A meeting was taking place in a conference room on the third floor of the Federal Building, which had been swept for bugs three times beforehand. Present were SBI Director Tom Conlan, SBI Agents Norm Chow and Ted Crenshaw, FBI Special Agent in Charge Jack Muscone, FBI Special Agents Martin Nash and Lindy Linares, FBI Consultant and TCPD Captain Cindy Ross, the Deputy Director of the FBI, and retired CIA Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Directorate, Dr. Laura Fredricson.

"Mr. Director," said Tom Conlan, "Agent Chow has been assigned to the Ferrell case. Agent Crenshaw is working on Organized Crime angles and is currently assisting in the Ferrell case."

"Good, I'm glad to have them." said the DepDirector. "I've heard good things about you from Mr. Muscone as well as the Iron Crowbar, Agent Chow."

"I'm grateful, Mr. Director." said Chow dispassionately, showing no emotion on his features.

"And speaking of Commander Troy," said the DepDirector, "he's testifying in the Sharples trial, and may be doing so, or be held to be recalled, for several more days. So if we're going to pick his brain, submit your questions to Dr. Fredricson to read to him at the dinner table." There was polite laughter, and Laura smiled and nodded.

"Okay, Jack," said the DepDirector, "give us a synopsis of what we've obtained on Ferrell recently."

"Yes sir, thank you sir." said Muscone. He got up and turned on the projector, to which his computer was attached. The first slide came up. "Some months ago, video evidence of Richard Ferrell showed up in the dragging death of Kevin Greeley." (Author's note: 'The Other World, Ch. 03-04.) "We also got a statement from Jerry Saint that Ferrell was involved in the drug distribution that led to the deaths of two people at Greeley's club. And the Iron Crowbar believes Ferrell was partly responsible for the murder of Jeanine Burke, though proving that is going to be tough with Jeff Fuqua already dead."

"Moving along," said Muscone, "the older charges of Ferrell's assault upon Lt. Tanya Perlman and Phyllis Troy still apply. We have evidence that Ferrell was one of the saboteurs of the power substation recently. And last, but not least, the TCPD's Vice Squad has developed some evidence that Ferrell is trying to set up a drug pipeline to the University. Not a very large nor ambitious one."