Internal Affairs Ch. 05

Rose decided that she should use her cell phone to order take out pizza. She also decided that they could stop to pick it up on the way to her apartment. After roger retrieved the pizza, she drove straight to a tall concrete condo building near the Governmental plaza.

"Nice place," Roger said upon seeing the inside.

"Corporate welfare," Rose explained. "It's owned by the company. When someone higher up the food chain comes along, I can be asked to move out. In the meantime we can enjoy the view. I never get tired of looking down on the little people," she said with a laugh.

She went into the galley kitchen before opening the pizza box. The Pizza Place had included paper plates with the order. The only thing for Rose to do was open the Gulf Coast boutique beer.

"It's really good pizza, but most any pizza is good. Three months on the farm left me with a high regard for familiar junk food," Roger explained while waving a slice around.

"Those three months probably saved your life," Rose replied.

"Yes I agree. Of course I'm not sure what to do with the rest of it. Like they all say, I'm just climbing the mountain one rock at a time, or is it moving ahead one mile at a time?" Roger asked.

"I get it. You are a walking cliché," Rose suggested.

Two pieces of pizza and Roger was through. "So where is this roommate that might like me?"

Instead of answering Rose went to one of the bedrooms to open the door. A black cat jumped up at her repeatedly. It was the way a small dog would have greeted her.

"Roger Everhart meet Bella the cat," she said. "She is good company and she doesn't empty my refrigerator."

"That would make her the perfect roommate alright," Roger agreed.

"She has on occasion stolen the heart of a boyfriend," Rose suggested. "Now that we have eaten, I'll show you to your room, while I design your system."

The bedroom was half the size of his tiny house. It also had it's own bathroom. The bathroom connected to the hall hallway as well. That feature allowed it to be either a private bath or the main bath depending on which door was locked.

"I'm going to order up your security, so watch TV or something. I don't care what you do just leave me to it." she demanded.

"Does this building have wifi," Roger asked.

"Of course its stream is called 'the building' Password is 'bluesky'," she informed him.

Roger went to his room to check his email, and to answer Hillary's inquiry as to his health. After his decision not to purchase 'the little blue pills' online, he move on to check the name Acme Security. He found several entries but nothing with a local address. She could be a local contractor with no official status. She could also be an agent with any of a half dozen government agencies who were tasked with keeping tabs on him. They would be one step closer to him for sure with their own cameras in place. His plan was simple, allow them to put all the hardware in place, then hijack the software.

He was up late watching a TV show from the night before. The show was an international phenomena. It was a very off beat cop show. It was so off beat it ran in three different versions, in three different languages.

The show had exactly the same plot line, and even the same characters, but somehow each version was a little different.

He watched the latest two episodes because he had missed the previous episode. That was the beauty of the online TV shows, they were all there waiting for me. That and the variety of the offerings. there was everything from gold mining in Greenland show to a show about chasing big foot. There were docudramas, as well as the scripted TV shows from all over the world.

"What are you doing in here all alone," Rose asked peeking in his door.

"Internet porn," he said.

She walked over to see the screen on his laptop. "So you find house renovations erotic?" she asked.

"Well you have to admit there is something sexy about a building contractor with her boobs hanging out," Roger said.

"I will admit that it is not something you see everyday," Rose commented. "So are you going to be okay?"

"I would be better if you would come to bed," he said.

"The idea was to keep you safe, not to entertain you," Rose said sternly but without any trace of anger.

"There I will watch contractor porn till I fall asleep," Roger said.

"I usually watch some wilderness docudrama till I all asleep," she said leaving the room. "By the way I lock my door and sleep with a 10mm pistol."

"I usually sleep in a Kevlar vest, just so you know," he said with a smile.

It was 6:30am when he heard dishes rattling in the galley kitchen. He stumbled out of bed, took his clean underwear into the bath, and then stepped into the shower stall. He stood under the stream of hot water for only a couple of minutes before he turned off the water. He wore the jeans from the day before, but with a clean black tee shirt. He would be tempted to wear his gang vest, if he had it with him. Instead he wore the light weight jacket that marked him as a cop. It was an old style cotton bush jacket. the kind with lots of pockets.

"So are you going to run in that," Rose asked.

"I didn't bring my running suit and shoes, so I'm going to walk two blocks to work," Roger said.

"If you want I can scramble you an egg," Rose suggested.

"No thanks, I have to have a cop breakfast," Roger explained.

"What's that?" Rose asked.

"A bagel and bad coffee at my desk," Roger said.

"Okay, come by after work and I'll give you a ride home. I can explain the workings of your new security system," Rose suggested.

"That's fine," Roger said turning toward the door.

Once he arrived at work, he found the bagel on his desk just as he expected. He took his coffee cup from the drawer, then to the break room to rinse it before filling it with bad coffee.

Hilary enter their office space with a file in her hand. "I got the employment records for Ellie Smith. I looked them over. Now I want your opinion," Hilary said.

"Sure why not," Roger agreed. After Hillary handed him the file he began reading it. According to the file Ellie was twenty five years old. Her previous work experience was clerk in a convenience store. She did it at night while she went to the criminal justice course at the community college.

Her college scores had been excellent. She was most likely on the fast track to being a detective herself. "She sure looks good on paper," Roger said.

"I thought so as well, but something bothered you about her story. Have you decided what it was?" Hillary asked.

"If you wanted to kill a cop why one bullet through a car door. I can see emptying a clip at her then running away, but why only one. Was she a random target of opportunity or a set up just for her?" Roger asked.

"The shooter couldn't have known she would be the one answering the call," Hillary said.

"Come on he knows what sector she is patrolling and what shift she is on," Roger said.

"Okay so there are three cars patrolling that area," Hillary said.

"Scanner and he knows here call sign. If someone else gets the call, he disappears without shooting or leaving a trace. If she gets it he fires the one shot in her door to frighten her," Roger said. "If it wasn't her it was a friend or relative who doesn't want her to be a cop."

"We need to look at her mother, father, sister, brother, or boyfriend," Hillary said.

"And her, nobody heard the shots so we can't tell if it was just the one shot or if she returned fire after the door hit," Roger said.

"Even if she did return fire, she couldn't have had a good site picture. Shooting into the dark was a bad idea," Hillary said. "If it was someone trying to scare her, it would account for the fact that they shot an empty car." Hillary said.

"Yes but did they target her or just a random cop shooting. We really need to know that. Let the detectives work on the random theory, we can work on the Ellie angle." Roger suggested.

"Okay what is left of today and tomorrow then we walk away," Hillary said.

"Fair enough," Roger said. He got the name of Ellie's next of kin from the file. "We need to talk to her mother."

The meeting took place before lunch. "Mrs Smith, I'm Hillary Bridges," Hillary said to the woman sitting on the small patio outside her apartment at the Village.

"Hello Hillary, are you my nurse?" the older woman asked.

"No ma'am we are police officers," Roger said.

"Oh my, is my son in trouble again?" she asked.

"We don't think so," Hillary said.

"He hasn't shot out more street lights has he," the older woman asked.

"No ma'am we are here about your daughter, Ellie," Roger suggested.

"Ellie comes to visit me everyday," she said.

Of course they couldn't put much faith in what she said. The head of patient welfare had warned Hillary that Mrs. Smith drifted in and out of dementia. She sure seemed to do that, Roger thought. The same lady had informed Hillary that the daughter was the contact for her care decisions.

"Mrs Smith where is your son Edward these days?" Roger asked.

"Did Eddie cut school again. I promise I will talk to him when he comes home," Mrs Smith informed them.

Once they were back in the car, Hillary began. "So are you thinking the son?"

"I'm thinking it is a possibility," Roger said. "As long as he doesn't get caught there is no downside to the indecent. His sister is taking care of his mother, so if she quits she can get a normal safe job. If she doesn't, she gets a career boost."

"I don't think that is the case. It just seems awfully dicey," Hillary said. "To many things left to chance."

"It isn't murder so if the plan fails nothing is lost. He didn't shoot anywhere near his sister," Roger said.

"If it was the brother. Let's take a look a the boyfriend then we can come back to the brother Eddie if the boy friend doesn't look good for it." Hillary said.

"Let's find the boyfriend and rattle his cage," Roger said.

It took almost two hours to run him down. In the end it was Hillary who tracked him down through a neighbor of Ellie's. He turned out to be a wimpy Realtor.

If Roger had met him without knowing anything about him, he would have thought the Harold was a hair dresser. He seemed awfully effeminate. They found him setting up shop for an evening open house event.

After the introductions Roger began the questioning, "So Harold how do you feel about Ellie being a cop?" Roger asked. "I mean it must be a constant concern that something will happen to her."

"Of course I think about that, but it's what she wants and I want her to be happy," Harold said.

"Would you like for her to change jobs. You know just give up police work and go into something less dangerous." Hillary asked.

"I think anyone would like to see his fiancee safe," Harold said.

"You know she is getting good reviews so she will probably be here as long as she wants to be," Roger said. "Harold do you own a rifle?"

"Yes my grandfather was in Korea. He bought a.30 caliber carbine back with him. I have it at home," Harold said.

He was getting a little worried Roger could tell. "Would you mind if I took a look at that weapon?" He asked.

"Do I need a lawyer," Harold asked.

"I don't know do you. How is it going to look to Ellie if you lawyer up," Hillary asked.

"I want a lawyer," Harold said.

"I'm going to turn this interview tape over to the detectives," Roger said.

"I expect they will be at your house this afternoon with a warrant for the carbine," Hillary said. "If they go through that trouble, they won't be in a forgiving mood. Those guys are only in the numbers, they don't see the people behind the numbers. So you can leave now Harold."

After he had gone Hillary said, "I'm going to get stake out to be sure he doesn't destroy evidence before we can get a warrant.

"Do you need me to go along to the magistrate," Roger asked.

"No why are you so hot to get off early, do you have a date?" She paused a moment to look at Roger. "My god you do have a date."

"Not really there is a contractor doing some work at the burnout. I need to go meet with him." Roger lied.