Iscariot Ch. 02

"But Allgood..." warned Muscone, shaking his head slowly. "They're going to do whatever it takes, including frame him. A fair and impartial investigation would weigh the differences between his actions as keeping order versus trying to silence the voices of his political opponents. But if they look at it through the preconceived notion of Daniel intending to suppress their voices for any reason at all, they'll just say he's a racist and go from there. And Jocelyn Moran is a hardcore Democrat; it may not be just about white and black, but in beating down a Republican to help favor the Democrats, now and in the future."

I nodded thoughtfully. "And they've begun to figure out that Daniel didn't get a settlement from the CIA like I did, so they think they can drain him financially. But that's going to backfire... badly."

"How so?" asked Jack.

"His wife, who happens to be my ex-wife, is a close friend of a man with more money that he knows how to spend." I said.

"They'll accuse Daniel of bribery." said Muscone.

"For paying for his lawyer?" I asked. "Okay, we'll set up a legal defense fund, then. And Dr. Eckhart's nephew's wife is the sister of Mayor Allgood's wife, so we'll throw family in, as well. Bottom line... we have the resources to fight these bastards to the last ditch."

"Good." said Muscone. "Anyway, I'm out of the loop on it. Seems they found out I'm engaged to a TCPD Officer."

"Engaged?" I asked incredulously. "Engaged? How about setting a date, so you can say you're 'married' to a TCPD Officer, which is a wonderful thing... just ask my wife."

Muscone grunted a chuckle, then said "You're in a pretty good mood today, Don. Happy about Lester Holder?"

"That's not it." I said. "I am very happy about the arrest of Amber Harris, and hoping for revocation of her bail..."

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

ADA Franklin Washington came into the Main Conference Room, where the Chief, Deputy Chief, and I were waiting for him. "Well, I gave it the ol' college try," he said, "but Folsom didn't totally revoke her bail. She's under house arrest. She cannot leave her home for any reason, she's wearing a new-and-improved ankle monitor that hopefully can't be imitated, and the Court has ordered cameras to be placed that observe her front and back doors, to be monitored by the Police."

"Damn." I muttered quietly.

Franklin said "Folsom didn't say so, but I think he gave consideration to it being a hospital visit to see her friend, and the fact that the Police did show up more properly attired for a riot than for one reporter. But the good news is that Amber cannot go to KXTC to work, and she cannot appear on KXTC as a reporter, not even from her home. So she's cut off completely, there."

"Better than nothing, I guess." I said. "Thanks for all your hard work on it, Franklin."

"My pleasure." said Franklin. "By the way... can I give you guys a little heads-up on something, off the record and don't tell a soul I told you this?"

"We won't tell. Pinky swear." I said. That made Cindy laugh out loud. The Chief just nodded.

Franklin leaned forward and lowered his voice as he said "Even when Krasney was D.A., we had a good thing going with Paulina handling MCD cases, and me handling the Vice cases. But since Miriam Walters has been D.A., she's been maneuvering Savannah Fineman into the main MCD slot, and looking to push Paulina aside."

"How far 'aside'?" I asked.

"Paulina and I have worked our asses off, for years." said Franklin. "Even though we have staff lawyers working for us, we put in the time ourselves. Walters and Fineman are expecting Paulina to do all the MCD grunt work, while Fineman sits on her ass and takes the glory."

"Yeah, I've heard some things along these lines." I said.

"Let me ask," said Cindy, "is Miriam doing this for racial reasons? Because Paulina is black?"

Franklin winced, then said "You know, I can't say that's the reason. Miriam has not shown any hint of racism towards me. Paulina and I have talked about it, and we think Miriam is trying to put Savannah in the prime position to run for Solicitor in the next election. Letting Savannah take the glory for MCD's successes will give her a record to run on."

"Using the Iron Crowbarrrr for her cronyism purrrr-pos-esssss." drawled the Chief. "But I don't know what we can do about it."

"Truth is," I said, "we can't do much. I appreciate you telling us this, Franklin, but it's Walters's shop to run."

Franklin nodded. "I'm just giving you the heads-up on it. You know I don't play the race card came, and neither does Theo. But if Walters gives Paulina too much shit, I'll go make a racial discrimination complaint against Walters if that's what it takes to keep Paulina in the House."

"Well," I said, "hold off on doing that for now. Let's see how it plays out. I do have one question for you: do you think Paulina could beat Mason and Fineman for the Solicitor job?"

Franklin nodded slowly, thinking about it. "I don't know." he finally said. "I thought Paulina had the D.A. election in the bag, until the stuff about Tasha came out. That was dirty what they did, just like it was dirty what Penis Holder was saying about Tasha and you..."

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

"You know," Cindy said as we sat in my office after Franklin had left, "Franklin may have given us a clue to why Holder was attacking you through Tasha so much."

"How's that?" I asked.

Cindy replied: "They hammered Paulina with it, and it cost her the D.A. election." (Author's note: 'Media Matters' for openers.) "So they're thinking that if it hurt her, it should hurt you, also. But it really didn't. I'm not sure why, but it didn't."

I nodded. "I'll buy that for a dollar... a Canadian dollar, at that. And it didn't work on me for reasons that are politically incorrect, but true nonetheless: a man that beds women is looked up to, and his philandering reputation is not held against him... just look at that prominent businessman in New York City who dates the hot models and has several children. Heck, he could successfully run for President one day, and his way with women won't hurt him; he'll be teflon."

I continued: "But a woman that sleeps with a married man that's not her husband, a woman that has a child out of wedlock... she's looked down upon, scorned, believed to be a slut or an outright whore. So the Press attacks on Paulina hurt her, but don't hurt me..."

I saw the look on Cindy's face and said "Don't get mad. I'm just telling you the way it is, not how it should be in a politically correct world."

"Yeah, you're right." said Cindy. "But it's still a double standard."

"Yes." I said. "It absolutely is. The flip side of that, and the equalizer... is American Divorce Courts. Nothing more rigged against men in this world than Divorce Courts are against men..."

"I do have one question about the Charter Commission." said Cindy "The rank structure... it was either clever or disingenuous for Eldrick X. Weaver to call for an extra rank in the Police structure, though it would match what the Fire Department does. What is the Commission's thoughts on all that?"

I said "Well, Weaver wants to create more overhead jobs, then whine if they're not filled with minorities. And Malinda Adams will whine if they're not filled by women exclusively. He also is looking for a backdoor route to push for three Precincts. We haven't had the Fire Department portion of the Charter, which will be part of the overall Public Safety portion, though, so it might come back up in that context."

Cindy said "You were right about us not being big enough for multiple precincts. And that we tried it once, and it didn't do a thing to improve anything. So why do they keep pushing?"

"Well," I said, "just between us and the crowbars, we did get something good out of it. We got County Jail refurbished, and we got the Old Mill, which is a really awesome facility. And just between you and me, the Old Mill is the reason I don't fight too hard to reduce us from two Precincts to one."

"As to why they want it," I continued, "they are hoping that our left hand forgets what our right hand is doing... they want three Police precincts, but they want to dissolve the Council -and/or- split the Town & County back up. People have forgotten or don't connect these things together, but I see those as pieces of the same overall puzzle. It's about control by certain political groups. Divide and conquer the Police. Divide and conquer the Town and County political structures."

Cindy nodded as she absorbed the lesson. "But... but Myrtle L. James is no Democrat, and Mr. Aniston and Mr. Abel are businessmen and more inclined to vote Republican than Democrat."

I nodded. "It's not just one Party; it's both." I said. "If it weren't for the level of rancor over this racial business with Allgood and Lewis on the Council, I'd say there was collusion going on to manipulate what the Charter does."

"Unless that racial business is smoke and mirrors for the rest of it." Cindy said, standing up. "Well, I've got to get back to work. Talk to you later."

"Later." I said as she exited the room. Her words had set me to thinking...

Part 13 - Down The Dark Path

*Whirrrrrrrrr*

Captain Tanya Perlman drove into MCD and, without stopping, said "Detective Geiger, come with me." She drove out the back hallway door as Geiger quickly locked his computer and got up and followed her out the door.

"In there." Tanya said, pointing to the door of the Main Conference Room. When Geiger went inside, he saw Captain Ted Orosco sitting at the near end of the table, in the 'Chief's Chair', as it had come to be called. Orosco was the head of TCPD Internal Affairs, and Geiger felt a chill at the sight of him.

"Have a seat Detective." said Orosco. "Would you like a Union Rep for this?"

"Uh, do I need one?" Geiger asked. "What's it about?"

"Have a seat." said Orosco. When Geiger sat down, Orosco said "What this is about, is that you took a sick day yesterday?"

"Yes." said Geiger. "I had a water leak at home."

"And you were home all day?" asked Orosco. "Waiting for someone to come fix the water leak?"

"I fixed it myself." said Orosco. "And I was home for the most part, but I went out a couple of times, to get food and to get parts to fix the leak."

"Where did you go to get the food?" asked Orosco.

"Kroger." said Geiger.

"Do you have a receipt for what you bought?" asked Orosco. "And for the parts you bought?"

"I may have thrown them away by now." said Geiger. "Look, what is this about? Why are you giving me the n'th degree about my movements?"

Orosco replied with a question: "You've been doing a lot of research on McGinty's Materials, have you not?"

"Yes," said Geiger, "I was assigned to look into that. Ask Lieutenant Davis, he'll tell you."

"I sure will." said Orosco. "So your absence yesterday had nothing to do with those Materials? You weren't following up on a lead about them?"

"No, but even if I were, what's the issue?" asked Geiger.

"You've found no leads on where those materials might be?"

"Hold on." said Geiger. "I asked you two questions that you didn't answer, but just asked me more questions. So I'll ask again, what's going on? Why are you asking me these questions? Are you investigating me, and if so, what for?"

"Detective," said Orosco, "we're trying to determine if you have any leads on McGinty's Materials, and if you were pursuing those leads, and if you've found anything... and if you have found anything, if you're informing your superiors of what you've found like you should have."

"No, I haven't found anything." said Geiger. "And at this point, you're making insinuations that I've done something wrong. So yeah, I want that Union Rep now..."

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

After Lady Ironside blew through MCD, taking Geiger with her, the other Detectives were looking at each other, silently asking 'what was that all about?' with their eyes.

"I have no idea." said Teddy Parker out loud in reply to the unspoken questions in his fellow Detectives's eyes.

Eyes grew wide again when Tanya's wheelchair was heard in the hallway as she went back to her office. Roy McGhillie peeked, and reported that she went into her office alone.

"So he's either in the Main Conference Room, the Chief's Office, or one of the Commanders's offices." said Joanne Warner.

"I don't care." said Teddy Parker, going back to his work.

"What's he been working on?" Theo Washington asked, meaning it for Parker, who said nothing. "Teddy?" Finally, Parker looked up.

"I'm not trying to be a jerk to you, Theo," Parker said, irritation in his voice, "but I don't know what Geiger's been doing, and I really don't care. I really don't give a shit about anything to do with him. At all. Okay?"

"Okay, then." said Theo. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife. Julia Rodriguez locked her computer and left the room by the side hallway door.

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

*Whirrrrrrrr*

Tanya Perlman drove her wheelchair into my office and parked between the hot chairs in front of my desk. In one of those hot chairs was IT Lieutenant Myron Milton. In the other was Deputy Chief Cindy Ross.

"I just took Geiger to the Main Conference Room to talk to Orosco." Tanya said.

"Good." I said. "Myron, what have you found?"

"As you asked, sir," Myron said, "we've been following everything Geiger has done on his computer. All of it is related to McGinty's Materials. The most interesting thing is that he's been using a couple of backdoors that I didn't know about to access the FBI's files on McGinty and his Materials. He also put in a little backdoor that will allow him to have access through any computer just like the access he has on the computer on his desk."

"What has he found? Especially on the FBI servers?" I asked. "I'm sure Captain Perlman won't be mentioning any of this at the dinner table."

That earned me a dark look from Tanya. "Can I borrow that crowbar, Commander Ross?"

"You've got a blue one." said Cindy. "And the speed to catch up to Don when he starts running away from you."

I'd been grinning at that repartée, but then said "Seriously, Myron, what did you get?"

"The only thing I found of interest," Myron said, "is that Martin Nash is leading an effort to go through Post Office records to see if McGinty consistently sent packages or letters to any locations on a regular basis. He's got some of the computer analysts that work with the facial rec looking for letters that might match McGinty's handwriting."

I nodded. "Talk about your proverbial needle in a haystack." I said. "Okayyyyyyy, did Geiger glom onto anything else?"

"He really went through all your case notes on Bundy McGinty, sir." said Myron. "Then he started expanding out to look at associates of McBundy that were mentioned in City I.A. files as well as the FBI's data. He began really focusing on two people."

Myron had Cindy turn on my TV monitor with the remote, then he used his tablet to bring up some information on it. "He really looked a lot into these two men: 'Bugs' Morelli, no relation to Jerry or Betty Morelli; and Chad Molson." Bugs Morelli was a gnarly looking man with a tough, pockmarked face and barrel-chested body. Chad Molson was more slender, and had a face that looked like 'Sinestro', the Green Lantern's archenemy from the comic books.

"What's significant about these guys," said Myron, "is that were believed to have worked with McGinty, and possibly for what is believed to be the Blassingame smuggling ring. They are also both dead, both shot in the back of the head by small-caliber rounds."

"Trademark of Mob executions." I said.

"Maybe, sir," said Myron, "but neither of these guys were known City Mob nor Southport Mob associates. Bugs Morelli died almost two years ago, Molson died about a year and a half ago."

"And Geiger was looking into them?" Cindy asked.

"Yes ma'am." said Myron. "Pretty hard."

"Myron," I said, "pull up whatever you can on those two, especially their murders, and send it to me."

"Already working on it, sir." said Myron.

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

Julia went into the Lieutenants's suite and knocked on the left side door, which was Jerome Davis's. When she heard him say "Come in!" she did exactly that, then shut the door behind her.

"Hey, Julia, whassup?" Jerome asked. "Have a seat, unless you'd rather go somewhere there's a lot more room."

"I'm beginning to see why Captain Perlman always complained about the size of these offices." Julia said as she sat down. "Sir, we've got a problem in MCD. Captain Perlman came and got Geiger. That's not the problem, but Parker snapped hard at Theo over an innocuous question. Geiger is bad enough, but now it's getting tense between the rest of us. Geiger being in there is tearing the rest of us apart, sir."

"Yeah, I know." said Davis. "Look, just between us... Internal Affairs is looking into Geiger. It may be nothing, but he's been almost abnormally into this McGinty Materials thing. And with his past reputation, we don't know if he's acting in good faith in his search for the stuff. So you guys just hang on, okay?"

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

"Yeah, this is Jerry." said Jerry as he answered his cellphone.

"Mr. Big says that Internal Affairs questioned your boy Geiger today." said the voice on the other end of the connection. "It's time. Have your boy bring his partner in..."

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

"...While close beside Jesus, he asked, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is the one I give this piece of bread to after I have put it in the dish." Then He put the bread in the dish and gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon."

--- The Gospel According to St. John 13:24-26.

9:00pm, Friday, June 28th. Detective Timothy Geiger disconnected the cellphone call he'd just gotten, then made a call himself. "Hey Parker," he said, "I just got a contact from a C.I. about the McGinty stuff. He wants to meet tonight, and I need backup... mostly so Internal Affairs can't claim I'm doing this dirty... okay, see you in a few... I'll call Lieutenant Davis..."

Only moments later, Teddy Parker arrived. "I couldn't get ahold of Davis or Captain Perlman," Geiger said, "so I called Commander Troy. He said to go ahead and meet the C.I., but to call for backup if we saw anything at all that wasn't right."

"Let's go, then." said Parker.

They went outside and Geiger said "I'll drive." Parker got into the shotgun seat and Geiger behind the wheel, and they headed through the gate of the employees parking lot.

"So what's this about?" asked Parker.

"Guy wants to meet, says he has information on McGinty's stuff." said Geiger. "I think he's legit, but he's probably going to want money. Internal Affairs was all over my ass today, so I want a witness to it."

"Yeah, I heard Orosco questioned you." said Parker. "How did that go?"

"Soon as I asked for a Union Rep, he backed off." Geiger said. "Said we'd talk again with a Rep present on Monday. And that's another reason to have you here... if they suspend me Monday, you can keep going with this."

"Why would they suspend you?" Parker asked skeptically.

"Why was the guy even questioning me in the first place?" said Geiger.

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

"After Judas had eaten the piece of bread, Satan went into him. Jesus said to Judas, "What you are going to do, do in a hurry."

--- The Gospel According to St. John 13:27.

They went into the dark lunchroom of Al Sharpton Elementary School. "We're supposed to meet in here." said Geiger.

"Doesn't look like anyone here, so far." said Parker.

*CLICK!*

The lights in the lunchroom came on, almost blinding in their intensity. Then the Detectives realized that a man was standing in the doorway to the kitchen areas, slender, with a face that looked like mashed-in jello, and a bad polyester suit.