Homewrecker Ch. 02

Mary: "The Dawson's divorce was pretty amicable. He let her have the house and made a cash settlement that did not hurt him financially, and they parted ways. He moved into the apartment with Beryl, but two months later she moved out, into the Midtown condo she had at the time of her death, but she began spending more and more time in the City. He still lives in that same apartment she moved out of. Chris, what are his finances like?"

Christopher Purvis said "Extremely complicated. He does most of his business through his law firm. Midtown PD is collecting some stuff to add to what they already have, and we'll probably get it overnight."

"Okay, good report." I said. "Anyone have thoughts on Mr. Dawson? Things that make you go 'hmmmmm'?"

"Like Caldwell, maybe like Adams," said Theo, "he might could hire someone to kill her."

"And like Caldwell," said Julia Rodriguez, "he might have been using Beryl to entertain clients, if you get my drift."

"No, I don't." said Teresa, almost cattily. "You'll have to spell it out."

"Let's not, please." I said, coming to a blushing Julia's rescue. "But once again, that is good thinking, there." I handed her the red crowbar again, then said "Okay, let's wrap this up. Anything else?"

"Bart Bell." said Lt. Mary Milton. "After the State Medical Board stripped his license, he had a really tough time. He did odd jobs, spent some time on welfare and food stamps off and on, arrested twice in the City for drunk and disorderly conduct. And then, all of a sudden, he was hired by MegaTech Industries eight months ago, and listed as a 'speech therapy consultant'. He told us in his interview with Commander Troy that he helps some of their foreign employees speak better English, and he helps with the Artificial Intelligence devices that speak. And he seemed to be doing fine, until this weekend."

"Yet they abandoned him." Teresa Croyle said.

"Elliot Sanders abandoned him." Cindy replied. "According to the records you guys obtained back when we were investigating the David Lang murder, Kara Zorn is the one who hired him." (Author's note: 'Four Square'.)

"And Elliot Sanders didn't even know who he was when I said Bell's name." I said. "Or he pretended not to. Okay, what are your thoughts on Bart Bell?"

"If I may, sir?" said Roark Coleman. I nodded and he said "Of all the suspects so far, he's the one that most fits the criteria of motive, means, and opportunity. He has clear reason to hate Beryl Angel after the 'red flag' incident."

"Speaking of that case," said Teresa Croyle, "Bart Bell is a good looking guy, and he apparently was good at seducing women, including the mothers of his students. Seducing a mother isn't all that easy; her attention is on her child or children. I bring that up to prop up what I'm saying about Bart being a womanizer. So when Bart says he didn't check into the Hotel until this morning, it doesn't mean he wasn't there. He could've come in last night and stayed in another room... like a woman's room on the eighth floor."

"That's Iron Crowbar thinking, there." I said. "You're secretly carrying a crowbar around behind my back, arentcha?" Everyone laughed as Teresa vigorously shook her head in total denial.

"Sir, we also know he's something of a hothead, and he holds grudges." said Coleman. "If anyone on our list could slice a woman's throat open in a fit of rage, he'd be the one."

"Maybe we should go talk to him, while he's in our holding cell." Tanya Perlman said.

"Except he lawyered up." I said. "He's asked for an attorney, though none from MegaTech Industries have come to help him. So here's what we'll do on that. Mr. Roark, since you had the idea, I'll have the Duty Desk call you if an attorney comes in for him tonight. If not, then we'll call the Courthouse tomorrow and have a public defender brought in to represent him, so that we can talk to him while protecting his legal rights."

"Anything else?" asked Chief Moynahan. No one had anything else.

"Outstanding reports, and some good ideas." I said. "It may not seem like it, but I think we've made a lot of progress so far, not to mention causing the MegaTech conference to be shut down so the chessplayers can play in peace."

People chuckled politely, and I continued: "There are a few questions I have, that I don't yet have answers for. First, just why was Beverly DeAngelo in our Town & County? Second, why was she at the Hyatt?------"

"Sir," said Roark Coleman, "wasn't she undressing when she was killed? Looks like she was er... 'performing' for a client."

"Could be." I said. "I'd like to have some solid facts to back that theory up, though. Carrying on, and this is something you can ask the security guys and Bart Bell, Mr. Roark: why did MegaTech Industries bring their conference here, to our Hyatt, but more importantly, to our Town & County? And finally, we have two major threads running through this case: Organized Crime, and MegaTech Industries------"

"What's the difference between the two?" Teresa asked cattily. Everyone broke out laughing.

"The Mob is a lot more honest and honorable." I replied without missing a beat. "Seriously, we need to determine if these tracks are intertwined, or if it's one or the other, both or neither. So think about which thread make better sense to pull hard on."

Everyone nodded, and I said "Okay, tomorrow morning I am flying down to Southport, if the Chief will be kind enough to let me fly the Bell." The Chief nodded, and I continued: "I'd like for Parker to fly down with me. And Commander Ross, if you'd like to come along, you'd be welcome. You can talk with our FBI friends down there."

"I'd love to." said Cindy. I had not failed to notice her ice blue eyes light up a little bit at the thought of talking with our FBI friends in Southport... and particularly Tim Jenkins, perhaps?

I said: "We'll speak to Andrew Adams, as well as other potentially important people down there. And we'll search Beverly's apartment. Meanwhile, Lt. Davis, you can decide who to send to Midtown to talk to Darryl Dawson."

"I'll go myself, and take Detective Rodriguez." said Jerome. "Roark and Coleman can talk to Bart Bell in the morning, and also follow up on anything else that happens up here."

Captain Perlman said "I want to watch that interview with Bell from the Monitor Room. And you can also interview the security guys in County Jail, if they don't get bailed out by the time you get there..."

Part 10 - Diversionary Attack

8:15pm, Friday, November 15th. The Chief asked me to come to the Chief's Conference Room. The Chief was already in his normal seat at the near end of the table. I was directed to my seat to the Chief's left. The Sheriff was to my left, as per normal during the coffee klatches. Cindy was to the Sheriff's right, and I.A. leader Ted Orosco was to her right. And at the far end of the table was I.T. Lieutenant Myron Milton.

"Go ahead, Myron." the Chief said after I had sat down on the far side of the table, to the Chief's left.

"Yes sir." said Myron. "We've had two hacking attempts in the last two hours. One was an attempt to access the Police Department's personnel files. It was a pretty standard, simple hack, and was easily thwarted. The second was much more sophisticated. It went after the Internal Affairs servers."

"Was either attempt successful?" the Chief asked.

"No sir, at least we don't think so." said Myron. "I'm not necessarily blaming the Federal Government when I say this, but the hit on our Personnel files reminded me of what I've seen from them in the past. I might add that because we had that really bad attack previously, we have some seriously upgraded anti-hacking tools, so this attack was easily stopped." (Author's note: 'One Night In Bangkok', Ch. 02.)

"Any idea what they were after?" I asked. "Any specific files?"

Myron replied "They appeared to be going for the employment records, as opposed to the service records. And they also hit the server where the applications for employment are kept. We keep those records even if we don't hire the applicant, mostly to protect ourselves in the event of a lawsuit."

"And the second hack attack?" the Sheriff growled.

"Much more serious, sir." said Myron. "It was sophisticated, went through our standard protocols like a knife through butter------"

Ted Orosco raised his hand, which stopped Myron. Orosco said "I need to add here that Lieutenant Milton was unable to do much because he has limited access to Internal Affairs's systems. We happen to have a tech in I.A. that had seen this particular worm and was able to neutralize it. He said it was a very bad, nasty worm, on the order of that Stuxnet virus that damaged Iran's nuclear weapons program."

"Isn't I.A. completely walled off?" I asked. "How could they even gain an entry point?"

"Exactly, sir." said Myron. "I don't want to say 'inside job', but they had to know the specific system itself."

I said "I would think that if there were a mole in I.A., they wouldn't need to hack the system to get the data. But that's just one of my wild-ass thoughts. Orosco, I don't know who watches the Watchers, but you need to take a look at your own people. And I also need to know this: were they targeting specific files? And if so, which ones?"

Ted Orosco nodded, mostly to himself, then said "It looks like the files they were trying to access were from the time Harold Malone was Vice Captain... and Daniel Allgood was the head of Internal Affairs."

"And the USDOJ Civil Rights Division is going to come down on Allgood no later than Monday." I said. "Sheriff, what do we think about coincidences?"

"Those don't exist in the Klingon Empire, Crowbar." growled Griswold. "Orosco, I'm going to have the I.G. assist you with your internal audit. Not take it over from you, but work with you on it. Myron, it's ridiculous that you have control of all our computer systems and all our data, but you can't touch I.A.'s systems. That's a little bit too much compartmentalization, so Orosco, I want you to let Milton work with you on your systems."

"You two can goooo." said the Chief, to Myron and Orosco. "And keep me apprised of what you find. Anything else, Mr. Crowbar?" He knew there was; hence, the question.

"Yes sir." I said. "We need to get Commander Croyle in here for this, though."

After they left and Teresa was being summoned, the Chief said "Why doesn't young Milton have access to I.A.'s servers?"

"Sir," I said, "when I got here, Daniel Allgood was the head of I.A., and he and Myron were almost at war. It was Allgood that shut off the systems from the rest of the TCPD. I might add that it helped keep Malone and Julie Newton out of I.A.'s stuff, too, so that was a bonus." Sheriff Griswold nodded vigorously in agreement.

Teresa came in and sat down where Orosco had been sitting. "Okay, Mr. Crowbar." said the Chief. "You have something for us?"

"Yes sir." I said, straightening up in my chair. "I'm beginning to see a pattern here, and connecting some dots that some Feds are hoping we won't connect. We have word that the Civil Rights Division of the USDOJ are in the process of filing their civil rights suit against Daniel Allgood, which will be announced by Monday. At the same time, the TCPD has been notified that we are going to be audited by the... wait for it... Civil Rights Division of the USDOJ, for compliance in our hiring practices. And by sheer coincidence, I am sure, this hack attack was on our employment records, and on I.A. during the time Daniel Allgood was in I.A."

"Wow." said Teresa.

Cindy Ross said "You think the Feds were the ones trying to hack into our computers?"

"Yes." I said. "I think they wanted to see what's in our records, so that they would know what to subpoena. With the attacks stopped, I'm expecting them to try to subpoena everything in a fishing expedition. We need to have lawyers ready to stop those subpoenas, and we definitely should not comply with them if they aren't specific and based on probable cause."

"And furthermore," I said, "when the Feds get here to audit us, no one should be alone in a room with them nor be interviewed alone by them. No Officer at all. We should not only have more than one person in the room at all times, we should record the interviews for our own records, and our own protection. Union Reps can sit in with any Uniformed Officers that are called."

"Really?" Cindy said skeptically. "We're in compliance on everything. If we push back like that, a routine audit becomes a hostile witch hunt."

"It's going to be hostile, anyway." I said. "I believe the USDOJ Civil Rights Division has been preparing this two-pronged pincer attack with a goal in mind.. and that goal is to force the Town & County Police into a Consent Decree."

"That makes a lot of sense, Crowbar." said the Sheriff thoughtfully.

"Yeah it does." Teresa muttered as she nodded her head vigorously in agreement.

I noticed that Cindy was saying nothing. So did the Chief. "Do you not agreeeeee, Ms. Ross?" he asked her.

"It's not that I agree or don't agree, Chief." Cindy said, but looking at me as she said it. "But I do know these audits will go much worse for us if we're hostile about it from the get-go."

"You can be as friendly as you like, Ms. Ross." said the Chief before I could speak. "But I agree that we have to be careful, and cover our arrears at all timesssss. Okayyyy, let's go home and get some sleep. I suspect tomorrow is going to be a big dayyyyy..."

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

10:30pm, Friday, November 15th. Jerome Davis and I came into 'Lashes & Lace', wearing civilian clothes. I had my trenchcoat on, and my crowbar was in its inner pocket.

As we made our way through the busy front bar area, the clientele gave us a few looks. Most of the ones at Jerome were sneering looks of disdain.

"Private area." said the taller of the two security men that were blocking the door to the back bar room as we approached.

"You must be new here." I said.

"And you must be hard of hearing." said the man menacingly. "It might be a good idea if you just leave now."

I looked at Jerome and said "He wants us to leave. He must not like his job very much." The man was about to square up to me, when the red crowbar came out. Both security men looked wide-eyed with shock.

"I'll go get the boss." the other man said. He went into the private bar area.

"Well!" said a woman's voice a moment later. "It's my favorite cop of all time." A second later the tall, statuesque blonde Rita appeared. To the security men she said "Gentlemen, take a good look at this delicious man. And never, ever, get in his way. Come on in. Cop."

Jerome and I went past the security men into the back bar area. Rita's private office was downstairs, but tonight she led us back beyond and behind the private bar area into a small room with a table and a couple of chairs.

"I was so sorry to hear of your wife's injuries. Cop." Rita said as she sat down, inviting me to sit down on the other side of the table, leaving Jerome standing. "I hope you both will come visit when she's all better?"

"Thank you." I said. "I'm sure she would enjoy that. I know you're busy tonight, so let me just get to the point."

"Borrrrrinnnng. Cop." Rita said, her mood changing to one of boredom, and unhappiness.

"I'll make it up to you." I said.

"I'll hold you to that. Cop." Rita replied. "I imagine you're here because of the Beverly DeAngelo murder."

"How did you know that?" Jerome interjected. Rita gave him a look that could freeze blood. I looked up at him and just shook my head.

"He needs to be in here as a witness to our conversation." I said as I turned back to look into Rita's eyes, which were looking dreamily into mine. "Unfortunately, this is official Police business. What can you tell me about Beverly DeAngelo? Is she running an escort agency?"

"Not in our County. Cop." said Rita. "And no, she's not a working girl, and she doesn't run other girls, either. She's a party girl. She likes to find boyfriends that give her gifts in exchange for some of the best sex they've ever had... outside of my clubs and your bedroom, anyway."

"Of course." I said. "We have a list of suspects, men who kept her and ended up getting divorces over her."

"Oh yes." said Rita. "That's why she's called the 'Homewrecker'. She doesn't date wealthy single men, you know. She goes for the married men. I think she gets off on breaking up marriages."

"So I've heard." I said. "So are any marriages about to break up that haven't ended up in 
Divorce Court yet?"

"None that I've heard." Rita said. "Listen, I'll check around, find out what's been going on with her the past few months. Now that you've brought it up, I haven't heard anything at all. The paparazzi are enamored with Dr. Richard Searles and that actress Mia McNamara. Lovely couple; too bad that's destined to end in tragedy."

"Okay, I appreciate it." I said. "And as soon as Laura is able to, we'll come visit and give you a nice... reward."

"I look forward to it. Cop." said Rita. "And next time, bring a better bodyguard. This one failed the 'Robin' test." I nodded and got up, and led Jerome out of the room, then back to the front bar area and on out of the club.

As we were driving back into Town, Jerome said "Sorry if I fucked up, sir."

"Forget about it... well, don't forget." I said. "And don't ever go back in there unless you're with me or Commander Ross. Without one of us there, you're more likely to be shot or stabbed to death than not."

"Really?" gasped Jerome.

"Please don't doubt my word on that." I said. "And definitely don't test it by going in there again..."

Part 11 - Jimmy 'The Creek'

Saturday, November 16th. After a good night of rest at The Cabin, followed by a nice hot shower and shave, I dressed in a white button-down collared shirt and tie, and my dark gray jacket and pants... well, I had the jacket by the door with my gray trenchcoat. My gun was in it's holster under my armpit, and my badge was on my belt. I had my SBI badge and ID in my jacket pocket 'just in case'.

At 6:30am I went downstairs to take the dogs out, and saw that Carole was already up and about in the kitchen. "Hi Daddy!" she said when she saw me. "I'm making you and Mommy breakfast." Breakfast was bowls of Raisin Bran cereal.

"That's very good of you, Carole." I said. "I'll take the dogs out, and some food for Tiger Mom, and then we'll eat, okay?"

"Can I take the dogs out with you?" Carole asked. I assented, and she put on her jacket as I opened a can of cat food and added some dry cat food to it. We went outside onto the back deck, and the dogs scampered around the near side of the house as I set the cat food down on the other side of the deck, then joined Carole on the metal mesh loveseat.

"Look, Daddy!" Carole said excitedly. "Tiger Mom's kittens are eating the cat food, too."

"Yes, they're getting older and bigger." I said, observing a pure gray young cat and a white cat with black spots.

"We call the gray cat Gracie, because she's gray." said Carole. "We call the black and white cat Bull, because he's a boy, he looks like a cow, and he's a bully."

"He won't be around long, then." I said. "Feral cats, like their cousins the lions in Africa, kick the males out when they get old enough, and they have to go somewhere else and be on their own."

"Awwwww." said Carole.

"That's life, Carole." I said. "When you kids grow up, you'll go live in your own houses."

"Tommy said his cousin is still living with his parents, even though he's twenty-six years old." Carole replied. "Tommy said his cousin was in the Ran-gers in the Army, but he got hurt and had to come home. And now he can't find a job."

"That's not good." I said. There were all too many stories like that in our Nation, I thought to myself.