Iscariot Ch. 02

"No sir." said Myron. "We do have a concealed camera in the streetlight across the street from the Whippets entrance, just like we have at most of the clubs and bars in that area. But the camera was malfunctioning all evening, starting at about 5:00pm and continuing through the night. Our techs are checking for sabotage now. Whippets has cameras, but mostly angled to see people who are coming up to the doors or leaving. Reynolds says there was nothing out of the ordinary that he could see, and he's sending us everything he has."

"Nice of him." I said. "So what was going on with Holder? I know where he was not: at the Charter Commission meeting. So where was he last night?"

Jerome Davis said "We've just begun working on that, sir... sir?

He had seen the huge smile forming on my face. "Tell you guys what." I said. "Let's kill multiple birds with one stone. Jerome, take Rudistan and a Uniformed Officer and go in and round up the KXTC employees in the Press Room. Loddy-doddy all of them, every one. Tell them that the Police need to formally interview them on the movements of Lester Holder last night."

"And once they're out of there," I said, "I'll go in and give the rest of them the Mother of All Press Conferences." Everyone began laughing and clapping at that.

"As T-Square says, Commander," said Teresa cattily, "you are one nasty Cracker!..."

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

Jerome went into the crowded Press Room and loudly asked all KXTC employees to come with him to be interviewed with regard to the attack on Lester Holder. Bettina went, but tried to leave her cameraman there. Jerome was too smart for that; he had the cameraman and the two 'cubs' that were trying to hide in the crowd also come. Cindy Ross then looked over the room to make sure it was devoid of KXTC personnel.

Once she was satisfied that the room was KXTC-germ-free, she said loudly "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Police Commander!" The Police Commander strode into the room, carrying my red crowbar. I stepped onto the raised platform and up to the podium. The room seemed to explode in a burst of sound.

I just shook my head until they started to quieten down, then I said "If you will be quiet for a moment, I'll make a statement." Silence was nearly instantaneous. "Thank you." I said. "First of all, the TCPD is conducting an investigation into the attack upon your colleague Lester Holder that has left him in critical condition in University Hospital. As part of that, we are trying to learn where he went and what he did in the hours leading up to the assault upon him. We have asked the KXTC personnel here to assist us with our inquiries, and they are being interviewed in the other room. But if any of you have any information, any at all, that can help the Police in the investigation, please let us know as quickly as possible."

I continued: "As of this moment, we have very little information. Your colleague was found near the bar called 'Whippets' by two patrons of that establishment, who transported him to the Hospital's Emergency Room. He was evaluated and was rushed into surgery with life-threatening injuries. I have no more information on his condition at this time, and I refer you to the Hospital for more information on that. The nature of his injuries suggest an attack by multiple persons simultaneously. At this point, if you keep it civil, I'll take questions. Yes, Priya."

"Priya Ajmani, Fox Eight News." Priya said, identifying herself mostly to her own camera in the room. "Commander, was this a hate crime?"

I replied "Right now, we don't have any idea who committed the crime, nor why. The victim is black, but we have no idea if his assailants are black, white, or other ethnicity. The clientele of Whippets, where he was found, has people of all ethnicities. And if the motive was something like simple robbery, it wouldn't be a hate crime. Having said that, your colleague has been making a lot of racially charged and inflammatory statements on the air the past few week, and the attack on him could be related to those statements. But right now, we have no idea."

Reporters started shouting questions again, but I just shook my head. Then I pointed to Cynthia Freeman of SNN News. It is possible that I'd noticed her magnificent legs and allowed that to sway my choice.

"Commander," Cynthia said, "those inflammatory statements made by Mr. Holder that you just alluded to have been aimed largely at you and your family. Can you reassure us and the Public that neither you nor the Police had anything to do with this attack?"

"First," I said, "my Police Officers have been told repeatedly to disregard your colleague's statements as unimportant, and to not retaliate against him in any way. And I believe they've followed those instructions and are not behind this attack. Second, I can definitely speak for myself in saying that I was chairing the Charter Commission Meeting last night, and had eyes on me the whole time. And I'm not that good at being in two places at once."

I called upon Tim Sioban. "Tim Sioban, KSB News." he said. "A question and a follow-up, Commander: first, will you allow the DOJ to investigate your Police Force, to ensure that no one in the Police Force was responsible for this attack?"

I replied "I'm sure that if a review is necessary, the SBI-OER would conduct that investigation, and we would cooperate with it provided that our Officers's rights are fully honored. As I said before, we have no evidence that definitively shows that there is a civil rights component to this case, so it would be very premature to suggest the U.S. DOJ has any reason for investigating us, nor for us to cooperate if they did try to come in with an unwarranted and in my opinion unlawful investigation of the TCPD."

"Following up, Commander," Sioban said quickly, "will you agree to give the US DOJ all Police text messages, including your own, if they ask for them as part of their civil rights investigation?"

"I've answered most of that already." I said. "And some of that is presumption on your part that I do not accept nor agree with." I moved on.

"Bill Hacosta, SNN News." said Hacosta, rudely jumping in though not called upon. "Commander, KXTC as well as many other news outlets have been reporting on the blackmail papers of Bundy McGinty, which have been nicknamed 'McGinty's Materials', and Mr. Holder was a leader of the investigation into those materials. First, do you believe the attack on Mr. Holder is connected to McGinty's Materials? And second, have you found McGinty's Materials?"

"Again," I said, "we don't have any evidence that shows the motive for the attack on your colleague. And after we took down Bunson McGinty, who unfortunately was able to commit suicide before we could take him alive, I investigated as well as aided other LEO entities in searching for those materials, and they have not found their way into the light of the Public's eyes yet. I'm not even sure the Materials really exist; they may be exactly as real as the legendary Slender Man."

At that moment, Teresa Croyle appeared at the entrance door in the back of the room and waved almost frantically to me. I said "Okay, it looks like I'm needed, so this Press Conference is concluded. We'll update you as information comes to us." I stepped down and walked down the aisle, followed by Cindy.

"Commander," said Teresa as she walked with me into the front lobby then behind the Duty Desk, "we just got a call. A man was found unconscious near Weinstein's club, and an ambulance was called. He's at the Hospital now, unconscious but not badly injured. He's been identified: he's Lester Holder's cameraman...

Part 11 - The Investigations

"Bettina is furious." Cindy said as my Angels and I sat in my office around 10:30am. "When she heard that you gave a Press Conference after she and the other KXTC people were taken out of the room, she went off on Captain Thompson. I went into the room and told her that she was on the verge of being arrested again, and she left in a huff. All her people left, too, and we weren't really finished with them."

"What did you find out?" I asked.

Tanya Perlman said "Nothing from Bettina and the people in the room. Bettina had no idea what Holder was working on last night; in fact, she was expecting him to be at the Commission meeting to confront you."

"The Deputies were going to bar him from coming in if he'd shown up." I said. "But no one at all saw him anywhere around the Civic Center."

Tanya said: "Teddy Parker and Theo Washington are at the Hospital, and will interview Holder's cameraman when he wakes up. Meanwhile Jerome took the other MCD Detectives as well as Christopher Purvis of Vice to KXTC, to interview everyone there. Jerome himself interviewed Burt West. I think it might be better if they tell you themselves what happened."

"Let's go, then." I said. We went to Classroom 'E' after Tanya rounded up the Usual Suspects: the MCD Detectives and the Mighty Miltons.

"So, Lt. Davis," I said to start the meeting, "what happened?"

"They weren't particularly helpful." said Davis. "Burt West said to me, straight to my face, that he believed you were behind it, Commander. I told him you were sitting in the Charter Commission meeting, and he said he wanted to see the contents of your Police and personal iPhones, as well as all your emails and texts."

"Like I'd be stupid enough to use my own iPhones to arrange something like that." I said. "But what did he say about Holder?"

"I told him that, too, sir." said Davis. "Anyway, he finally said that Holder and his cameraman took a mobile van out last night, and that it was now missing. He did not know what news lead Holder was following; he didn't leave any notes, nor did he text or email anyone, at least as far as West knows. Julia?"

"Sir," said Rodriguez, "I talked to some of the camerapersons as well as the guys who maintain the mobile vans. The one Holder took out last night never came back. KXTC is down to one mobile unit left. One of them told me that the money they're going to get from selling the Town & County Examiner will be used to buy and outfit two more mobile vans, but in the here and now they're getting very depleted."

"So there's a KXTC van out there." I said. "Just how hard is it to find a van built to transmit communications, Myron?"

"Not hard at all, sir, when it's in use." said Myron. "But if there is no power to it, at all? Much more difficult then, sir. And while I have your attention, sir, we got as much camera coverage as we could of the area around Weinstein's bar, as well as the streets around KXTC, to see where Holder might've gone and where he was attacked. His van was last picked up near The Junkyard, where The Teacher lives."

Just then there was a knock on the door. It opened, and Detectives Teddy Parker and Theo Washington came in.

"Have a seat, guys." I said. "Find out anything?"

"Yes sir." said Theo. "We videotaped it, and put it into the evidence servers."

"Let's watch some TV, then." I said. Myron brought up the video. I condense the content here:

The cameraman said that he and Lester Holder went to meet a Source, who claimed to have information about McGinty's Materials that were damaging to Commander Troy. They went to the storage facility, where the Source called out to them, and then they were TASERed. He said he was then injected with a knockout drug and fell unconscious, and that was all he remembered. Yes, Lester Holder was also TASERed, but he did not know if Holder was drugged. He really didn't see anyone, and they might've had black masks on, which would cause them to blend into the darkness better."

After watching the video, Theo said "They're going to release him after taking some more blood and one last exam by a doctor. He's not injured, other than the spots where he was TASERed. I radioed in to have units look for the KXTC van in the area of the storage facility."

"Okay, good report." I said. "But I would think---"

There was a knock on the door, and this time the Duty Desk Sergeant poked his head in. "Chief, everyone, they've found the KXTC van..."

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

"The van was found on County Road 2 near the Coltrane County Line." said Tanya as another Angels Meeting commenced at 11:30am. "It was stripped down to the frame. Anything that could be removed, was removed. The battery, headlights, wiring, engine parts, taillights, taillight housings, tires, bolts, nuts... all taken. All of KXTC's equipment in the van, from cameras to communications electronics to the bare wiring, all taken out. No fingerprints at all, what was left had been wiped down with Clorox."

"And not set on fire?" Teresa asked.

"No, someone would've seen the fire in the nighttime and called it in." I said. "Sounds like The Teacher's guys at work. They're good, and they had time to strip the van down completely."

Cindy said "Myron looked for camera coverage of the van being driven down there. Nothing. He thinks they may have used some dirt roads to get it there, and they may have been able to temporarily knock out the cams along whatever route they took. He's checking for timestamp gaps that might at least give us an idea of which way they went."

"Okay." I said. "Tell Myron he's done good work on this."

"Sir," said Teresa, "just between the four of us in this room... do we really want this case to be solved? Do we want to know who did this?"

I replied: "I want the Town & County Police Force to do it's level best to solve this case. At the least, it is very good practice of the tools and techniques we use to solve crimes, from interviews to gathering data to piecing the puzzle together. And at best, it will show those who think that either I or someone on the Police Force did this that we really are working on solving it. Now whether we'll be able to actually find out who did it, and develop evidence to obtain an arrest warrant, I don't know. But it won't be for lack of trying on the TCPD's part."

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

Lieutenant Jerome Davis and five of his MCD Detectives were seated in the back room of the Cop Bar. There were a few other patrons in the room, as the large room in front was nearly full on this busy lunch day.

And even though Jerome Davis was there... heck, maybe because he was there, they talked about Geiger.

"Water leak? Really?" said Joanne Warner. "Just shut it off at the cutoff or even the meter, and get in here."

"I'm not complaining." said Teddy Parker. "Maybe whoever he called to fix it won't make it until late tomorrow afternoon."

"You know," said Julia Rodriguez, "he's really been looking into this McGinty Materials thing. I wonder if he called in the water leak so that he could go investigate a lead."

"Why would he need to call in with a sick day to do that?" asked Theo Washington.

"Maybe he wants to find the Materials himself, and sell them for a lot of money." said Teddy Parker, meaning it as a joke.

"I know you're saying that jokingly." said Julia, "but what if that's true? What if he wants to do that?"

"Power to him." Teddy Parker said. "If I had a winning lottery ticket, I'd give it to him if he'd promise to quit the TCPD and live off the winnings. Sorry if that makes me sound unprofessional, Lieutenant, but it's how I feel."

"I know." said Jerome Davis. "And I'm letting you talk like this to get it out of your systems. I do know Captain Perlman and Commander Troy are watching us, all of us, to see how we handle this as professionals. But you do make a good point, Julia. If Geiger did find that McGinty stuff, then he, like all of us, is obligated to bring it in to the TCPD."

Their food came, so they stopped discussing Geiger and started talking about the Holder case.

"Any ideas who might've done it?" asked Theo.

"If we find out, Commander Troy might give him one of those felt crowbars, like the ones he gave the kids." said Julia. (Author's note: 'Unresolved', Ch. 05. )

"Well, we're all Detectives here." said Joanne. "And we can all see that of course that happened while the Commander and everyone was in that meeting that went for hours. And of course the Commander didn't go take out Holder himself, because someone else did."

"If Commander Troy had done it," said Theo, "there would've been nothing left of Holder to find. He'd have just disappeared."

"Well, whoever did it," said Teddy Parker, "obviously didn't like what Penis Holder was doing any more than anyone else.

"Let me tell you this, guys, and then we'll say no more about it." said Jerome. "The Chief is having Internal Affairs determine where every Police Officer was during those evening hours... all of us. This is being done to show that none of us were involved in this. They're concerned the US DOJ might really come down and try to investigate us for doing it."

"Wow." said Theo. "They better bring a lot of warrants. And the Union will bring down holy hell on them, even if they are Feds and part of the Civil Rights Division."

"Just keep your heads on swivels." said Jerome. "And let's just not say any more about it..."

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

Jerome Davis asked Teddy Parker to ride with him. But instead of driving back to Headquarters, Jerome headed towards the subdivisions in the northwest areas of Town, where many Police Officers and other middle-class individuals lived.

"Geiger lives in a duplex in this neighborhood." said Jerome. "So let's drive by and see who is fixing his water leak."

They drove around the curve and Geiger's home came into view. "His car's not there." said Parker. "Nobody else appears to be at home, either."

"Yeah." said Jerome, stopping in front of the driveway/parking spot in front of the duplex. "Tell you what, go knock on the door. If he's home, just say we're checking to make sure he's okay." Parker exited the vehicle and went up to the front door and knocked on it. He looked around, and did not see any movement in any windows to suggest he was being observed. People here seemed to mind their own business, he thought to himself.

There was no answer. Parker got out his cellphone and dialed a number. He did not hear any noise inside the house, and the call went to voicemail after four rings.

Coming back to the car, Parker said "He's not there."

"Okay, then." said Jerome. "Let's go back to Headquarters. Don't say anything to anyone. I'll report it up the chain and see what they want to do..."

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

"Late lunch today." Teresa said to Cindy as they sat down in the small, private 'Command Room' at the Cop Bar.

"We haven't had lunch together, just the two of us, in a while." Cindy replied.

"We have beer and nachos after work." Teresa said. "But you're right about lunch. So what do you think about all this stuff with Penis Holder? And especially Don's reaction to it?"

Cindy said "Heh. The timing couldn't be better, of course. And I'm sure Don wishes he could've done that himself to Holder."

"Any ideas who did do it?" Teresa asked. "Or any vibes?"

Cindy replied "No, and I wouldn't say it out loud if I did. I'm almost as happy as Don is about this, even though it's going to bring down hell on the Police Force, and Don most of all."

"What, something you know that the rest of us don't?" Teresa asked.

"Yes. The Chief called me into his office today." Cindy said. "He's gotten word that the US DOJ Civil Rights Division has called for an investigation of the TCPD over this. They're going to send an FBI contingent from somewhere to do it."

"Why not Team Lazarus?" Teresa asked.

"Because Jack Muscone is engaged to be married to a TCPD Captain." Cindy said. "Martin Nash once worked here, and all of them have close ties to Commander Troy over the years. So they're going to send outsiders."