Hampered in His Plans Ch. 03

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 12 - The Crime Scene

"Teresa and I were at the Hospital when Tanya called me." said Cindy. "We took Buddy to see Amy. Teresa is taking Buddy home, to your home, and I came on down here."

It was still Monday, January 11th, about 2:30pm. There was a Police cordon around Union Hall, and I was delighted to see Patrolman Culver firmly holding the line. He was aided by a number of officers in heavier-than-normal protective equipment, and I realized Lt. Masters had had them prepared in case of trouble. We now had 'trouble'.

"So what do we have in here?" I asked, going inside. It took a second for my eyes to adjust to the light. When they did, I saw Crime Lab personnel at work gathering evidence, and Tanya and Theo Washington examining the body.

He had been sitting at the table, facing the wall with the television. He had fallen forward onto the table, then he slid out of the chair onto the floor, and was now sprawled on his back.

"So he fell out of the chair, Perlman?" I asked.

"Looks like it." she said.

"How can you tell?" asked Cindy.

I said "He's lying on his back, which means he fell out of the chair. It would be rare for him to be standing and to fall straight onto his back like that. But if he was sitting in his chair, fell forward against the table, then slid over to the side... then where he is now is a very probable outcome." Tanya nodded in agreement.

"He has a stab wound to the back of his neck." Tanya said. "I felt for a pulse and got blood on my fingers, and felt the wound when I explored for it."

"You were the first to arrive?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes sir." said Tanya. "Theo and I were having lunch with Theo's brother Franklin just down the street when we got the call."

"Who called it in?" I asked.

"The Duty Desk called it in to me." said Tanya. "I don't know who called it in to them."

"I can tell you that, sir." said Sergeant Rudistan. "One of the striking EMTs, man named Jimmy Lawson. He was one of the so-called leadership group that was a liaison between the Union reps and the rank-and-file. He's a redhead like you, Commander."

"Well!" I said, "At least he has that going for him. Ah, there's Martha the M.E. Hi, Martha. If you wouldn't mind giving me a cause of death as quickly as possible, I'd be very grateful and will be out of your way."

"I'll see what I can do." said Martha acerbically. She and I had developed something of a rapport, once I'd figured out her acerbity was actually a sardonic sense of humor. I watched as she began examining the body. It did not take long when she turned the body onto its side.

"Yep, stabbed with a sharp knife right here in the neck." said Martha. "Base of the skull. Looks like the perp cut his spinal cord."

"Looks like he knew right where to do it, too." I said, looking closely at it as I squatted next to Martha. "Am I right that that is just the right spot between the neck and skull?"

"Yes sir." said Martha. "I think he may have stabbed the knife, which is thin and very sharp, like a stiletto, right up into the head, too... but that might've been secondary to the first cut that severed the spine."

"So who am I looking at on the floor here, Theo?" I asked abruptly. Theo was ready.

"Jack Naples, Commander." Theo said. "He's the National EMT Union president. Came down to help organize the strike, so I'm told. One of his people found the body, began shouting, and others came in. Lawson checked for vitals, said he was dead, and called the Police."

"Tell me more about Naples." I said. "Besides the fact that he's not married and has not been married for some time, if ever; that he uses amphetamines; gets little sleep; is diabetic; and is not a very popular man even with his Union associates."

"Oh my God." said Cindy. "You're just showing off, Commander." A red crowbar was waved in her general direction. Undaunted, she said "Okay, I can see the amphetamines and no sleep, but where are you getting the diabetes and unpopularity?"

"The diabetes is on the medical alert tag on the bracelet on his right wrist." I said. "Yeah, even I could see that one, Crowbar 2." A blue crowbar was waved in my general direction.

"As to the unpopularity," I said, "the fact he's lying here dead in the middle of a Union Hall floor was my first clue to that." That got Theo laughing, Tanya's eyes rolling, and Cindy giving me a look that hinted at a desire to kill.

Theo saved me by saying "He's forty-nine years old, lives in Washington, D.C., Georgetown area address on his drivers license. Been with the EMT Union for the last ten years. He was with the SEIU before that. Was arrested numerous times participating in demonstrations and protests. He was part of the PCGW protests against Crown Chemicals here." That made Cindy groan.

"That just widened our list of suspects." said Cindy. "If someone recognized him from the PCGW protests, they might've acted to kill him. There's still bad blood over all of that, even after years have passed."

"True enough." I said. "Okay, we need to talk to people to see who was here, when."

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

Chief Moynahan had been asking me to allow my Detectives to take the lead roles in questioning suspects. With that in mind, I told Lt. Perlman to have Teddy Parker and Theo Washington interrogate those closest to the situation and most possibly involved. But I had to admit that I was chafing hard in my exercise of extreme patience as I listened in as much as I could.

The interviews were videotaped, giving me the opportunity to review them, as well. Hans Logan was interviewed by Detective Parker. His name was explained by him having a German mother who met his American serviceman father while said father was stationed in West Germany. They married and she came to the United States with him, and named their son 'Hans'.

"I left here for lunch with a couple of EMTs and a reporter." said Logan, whose answers to questions are condensed here. "When we got back, Naples was dead... no, we were all going to lunch, and Naples generally stayed behind alone and made phone calls and emails... no, I don't know if anyone stayed behind after I left.... I'll be honest, none of us liked Jack Naples very much. He was pushy, he was manipulative, he was basically trying to come in and run this whole thing, which I thought was very bad.... no, I don't think he had our interests at heart, only himself and his national Union..."

Next was Wilbur James, interviewed by Theo Washington: "I left for lunch right about the same time as Hans and Jimmy. No, I was pretty much by myself. Walked out with several others, then went my own way to get lunch... I'd say that's right, that Jack Naples was not very popular with us. I think he wanted the best for us, because without a local EMS, there's no local Union, and that hurts him... no, I can't say that anyone expressed a particular hatred of Naples.... look, he was brash, offensive, wanted to run things himself, really wanted to create a lot of conflict to give the Media a story as well as to push his own agenda... no, I was not opposed to the strike call, far from it... yes, we were being destroyed anyway, so we might as well go down fighting, you know..."

Then came Jimmy Lawson: "Yes, I was a medic in the military, got this job when I was discharged... honorable discharge... yes, I have a wife and a son, he was born a few weeks ago... no, I wanted to avoid an outright strike; we're losing our jobs over this... no, I didn't like Mr. Naples's tactics, he was very confrontational, really wanted the strike... he was strongly opposed to any dialogue with the Council, he was telling us to not even try... well, I went to the restroom, and everyone broke for lunch, and I left behind most of them... didn't see Naples, I thought he went to lunch, too... no, I went home to see my wife and the baby, we don't have much money so I don't eat out very much for lunch..."

While I was listening to Teddy Parker interview the people who found the body, I noticed that Theo and Tanya were talking to Cindy, and the conversation seemed animated. Then Cindy took out her cellphone and made a call. Quite frankly, I would've preferred my Detective Leadership be involved in interrogating these suspects, but I curbed my irritation when I saw that Cindy's face was becoming increasingly worried.

"Okay, Perlman," I said as she came up, "so what are you deducing about this case?"

"Uh, not enough data, sir." Tanya said.

"And why don't you have the data?" I asked, rather acidly. "Going to wait to review the tapes of the interviews rather than listen to them and watch the interviewees firsthand?"

"Well, yes, I was planning to do that, sir." she replied, then looked at me. "Is there a problem, sir?"

"You tell me." I said, my eyes boring into hers.

"Well, yes there is." Tanya said. "You might want to ask Captain Ross or Theo about it, though. I'm just hearing it secondhand."

"Okay, then." I said. "But be ready to answer any question I have about this case tomorrow morning. Carry on." With that, I walked away from her, observing that she was irritated at me. The feeling was mutual.

Cindy was on her phone again, and getting frustrated. "Is there a problem, Captain?" I asked, stiffly and formally.

"Yes sir, there is." Cindy replied. She looked up at me and saw that I was not very amused right now. "Sir, may I explain?" By that, she meant she wanted to tell the story without Crowbar interruption.

"By all means." I replied, giving her the latitude.

"Detective Washington got a call from his brother, ADA Franklin Washington." Cindy said. "There was a meeting of the D.A. and his staff, and it turned ugly when Solicitor Walters brought up Krasney negotiating deals with the Firefighters, including the rapists. Unfortunately, ADA Stiles got angry when Krasney wouldn't outright deny negotiating, and Washington said Stiles slapped Krasney. She then walked out, and no one has heard from here since. So I'm trying to call her."

"I see." I said. "Well, you'd better----"

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

It was my own Police cellphone. And it was Bettina Wurtzburg calling. I pressed the button to send it to voicemail.

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

Now it was Bettina on my personal cellphone. I thought maybe this one was big, and bad, so I called Bettina back on the Police cellphone.

"It better be good, Bettina... no, this is off the record, confirm that... okay, yes I've heard about it... no, I don't know... no, I don't know... oh really?... you've confirmed that?... okay. By the way, are you not interested in the murder of a national Union president?... Yes, Jack Naples. I'm here at the crime scene... no, Hardwood is not here... okay... okay, see you later."

I looked at Cindy, who'd tried twice more to reach Jenna as I'd talked to Bettina. I said "Well, Jenna was seen meeting with Councilwoman Malinda Adams at lunchtime, so Bettina tells me. Bettina was calling for confirmation of the story about slapping Krasney, and trying to get me to confirm Krasney is going to make plea deals."

"So Jenna's okay?" Cindy asked.

"So it appears." I said. "But it's pretty obvious what she's up to if she's meeting Adams, isn't it?"

"Uh.... I guess she's bitching about Krasney?" Cindy offered. I just looked at her.

"Think about it, Crowbar 2." I said. "It's much deeper than that. Okay, you go find Jenna. Get out of here. You're distracting me, and your head's not going to be in the game right now. Go." Cindy looked faintly shocked at me, but she headed out. I returned to the crime scene.

"Okay," I said to Lt. Perlman, "anyone find a stiletto-type knife anywhere around here?"

"No sir." said Perlman. "Rudistan has officers checking all the trash cans and curb drains in the area, but nothing showing up so far. Oh, here comes KXTC."

Bettina and her cameraman burst out of the van and made a beeline to me. I whispered to Tanya: "Today is 'Be nice to the Press' day, so I'll handle Bettina. Go take charge of this investigation, light a fire under everyone's asses.... ah, there you are, Bettina. I'll give you a quick interview, but make it fast. I have to go..."

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

"Where the hell were you?" Bettina asked John Hardwood as she came up to him at his desk at KXTC News Headquarters.

"What do you mean?" asked Hardwood.

"I sent you to Union Hall." said Bettina. "A man was murdered there. National Union president. BIG story, John. Why didn't you show up?"

"Your assistant called me." said Hardwood. "He redirected me to the Courthouse, said there was a bigger story brewing there."

"My assistant called you?" Bettina asked. "Hell, John, I don't have an assistant, other than my camera crew."

"Oh." said Hardwood. "Well, all I know is that I was sent to the Courthouse, and there *is* a big story brewing. Krasney wants to cut deals with the firefighters, his entire ADA staff is essentially rebelling. He's going to work through the night and make the announcement of the deals tomorrow."

"Oh, wow." said Bettina, going into 'reporter' mode. "What have you gotten on that?"

"I've confirmed with sources with knowledge of both Krasney and the Firefighters' Union's actions, and working on people near the lawyers right now."

"Great!" said Bettina. "Okay, keep on it. I'll look into this 'assistant' thing----"

"Ms. Wurtzburg?" asked a breathless young intern who rushed up. "There's someone in the publisher's office to see you. Says he's the owner of the company!"

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

"Mr. Burke?" asked Bettina as she came into the office. Inside was Todd Burke, CEO of BOW Enterprises, parent company of the company that owned KXTC.

"Ah, Bettina." Todd said with his charming smile. He was wearing a well-tailored suit, looking like the young, successful executive that he was. "Come in, have a seat."

"How can I help you?" she asked, sitting down. Todd leaned back against the edge of the desk.

He said "I wanted to tell you that it was me who redirected your reporter Hardwood to the the D.A. Office situation. And while I'm not telling you to lay off the Union man murder, I would like to... 'suggest'... that it be a back-burner, low priority story for you."

"Uh, why?" asked Bettina. "A murder is big, no matter what."

"Yes, I understand." said Todd. "And again, I'm not telling you to bury it. This is all off the record, by the way. But I know that my uncle will need as few distractions as possible as he solves the case, and it's going to end up not being all that much of a story."

"Did your uncle ask you to talk to me about this?" Bettina asked warily, trying to make the gears in her head turn.

"Oh no, he'd never ask me to do that." Todd said. "But this thing with the District Attorney's office? That's big, Bettina. Really big."

"I know." said Bettina. "Okay, I'll follow the murder case by just following the Police reports, with no further deep digging. But you do realize that this could become a national story, and it might not be easily buried?"

Todd grinned, even chuckled. "Bettina, there's a reason Rush Limbaugh calls the Press the 'Drive-By Media'. You report, the story lasts two days, then everyone moves on to the next story, leaving pure destruction of people's lives in their wake. This Union man story won't last the full two days, if I don't miss my guess."

"Are your guesses as good as your uncle's, Mr. Burke?" asked Bettina. It could've been playful skepticism, or flirtation in her voice.

"In some places, yes." said Todd, smiling that charming smile of his. "Knowing what technologies are going to be the next best thing, and which aren't... I've done very well with those guesses, so far. Can I solve crimes like my uncle can and does? Oh hell no."

Todd then leaned over close to Bettina and said "One thing I don't have to guess on... my uncle thinks you're a really great piece of ass."

Bettina did not rise to the bait. She merely looked at Todd and said "Well, and definitely off the record, your uncle definitely knows what a great piece of ass I am... but he didn't tell you that. He's too much of a gentleman. Nice try, though." She got up to leave. "Have a nice day, Mr. Burke."

Todd grinned as Bettina left. She's good, he thought to himself. Not good enough to break the biggest story of the century to this point, but she's good.

Part 13 - Multiple Lines of Inquiry

I knew that I did not even have the night in order to get this problem nipped in the bud. I had called ahead to the Station and put out some orders, and now they'd come to fruition.

The contingent in front of City Hall was fairly large as the sun dipped behind the building on its way to the western horizon. I had called a Press conference, and the Media was well-represented at it, including Diane Williams from the City.

I brought out one of the big police shields that had been used in the Jenna Stiles rescue. The several pockmarks of machine gun fire that had struck it were easily visible.

"Ladies and gentlemen," I said into the microphones. "Look at this. Take pictures of this. Take camera shots of this and show your viewers. This is the shield that my Officers used to go into the dungeon and rescue ADA Jenna Stiles. The perps tried to kill my people with machine guns. Jenna Stiles endured unspeakable atrocities at their hands."

Now that I had their attention, I said "My officers did not need this heavy shield the other day, but they still went into harm's way and had to engage in physical altercations to rescue a young woman that was being brutalized. My officers acted with courage, and with distinction."

"And now I'm told," I said, letting anger creep into my voice, "that these rapists of this young woman at the Fire Station are going to be able to make plea deals... they're going to walk free with no consequences for their actions. The whole thing is going to be swept under the rug in the name of political expediency. Now these accused men do have their right to a fair and speedy trial. But I genuinely hope that District Attorney Gil Krasney will reconsider, and will prosecute these accused men to the limits of his Office's ability."

"I will be very angry if my Officers went into harm's way to protect the victims of these crimes, only to see the perps plead down because some politician doesn't want to be bothered by the bad publicity." I thundered. "I've been in harm's way, and I've had to ask my Officers to go into harm's way... and for what? Political expediency? If D.A. Krasney does cut a deal, I hope someone will run for office against him, and I hope you'll consider supporting that opposition candidate. I call upon District Attorney Krasney to do the right thing, and bring this case forward to and through a fair and speedy trial. Thank you."

With that, I took the big shield and stepped aside. Chief Moynahan then took the podium. "I wish to support my Police Commander's words on this." he said. "I have only been Chief here for a short time, but I have known Commander Troy for a longer time, and I am completely impressed with his integrity, his courage, and the leadership he provides the excellent Officers of the Town & County Police Force. I also hope that his leadership, and the courage of his Officers, has not been wasted in the making of the arrests of the alleged perpetrators. That's all I have."