Long Cool Woman Ch. 02

Amber: "Authorities believe that Mr. McGinty acquired blackmail material on a number of State politicians, Organized Crime figures, and dirty Police Officers, and hid the materials for his own protection as well as potential future use. After SBI Reserve Inspector and TCPD Commander Donald Troy led the Police raid that ended up taking the life of Mr. McGinty, a search for the materials began. So far, those materials have not been found."

Amber: "Channel Two News is investigating whether or not the materials exist, who might be named in them, and if Commander Troy found them. Many people want to know if there is any information on Governor Val Jared's crimes and unethical behavior that could be used to impeach and convict him. Also, if Commander Troy did find the materials but did not turn them over to the authorities, then he would be guilty of a number of crimes. If they have not been found, then they continue to be a clear and present danger to the lives of many of our State's citizens."

Amber: "Sources tell Channel Two News that the information in McGinty's Materials could be worth millions of dollars to the right people, but could be dangerous to have in your possession. Citizens are advised that anyone finding any of this information should immediately contact the SBI, or alternatively contact a Media organization for proper handling of this material. Back to you, Bettina!"

"Thank you, Amber!" said Bettina. "Channel Two News has repeatedly attempted to contact Commander Donald Troy and the TCPD, but so far there has been no response to our requests for comments. Considering the nature of this material, and the implications for Commander Troy if he has any information about them, Channel Two News believes that it is suspicious and unethical for Commander Troy to continue to not respond to our requests for comment."

Bettina: "And for other local news, let's go to trusted political reporter Lester Holder. Lester!"

"Thank you, Bettina!" said Lester, with City Hall behind him... or a green-screen image of City Hall. "Channel Two News has learned that the Board of Inquiry report on the death of Police Lieutenant Ivar Irwin has been sent to the Town & County Council, which will require an Executive Session to discuss the personnel issues involved. By a 3-1 margin, with Chairman Silas voting 'present', the Board of Inquiry exonerated the TCPD's actions during the raid that ended up taking the life of Lt. Irwin.

Penis Holder: "The issues surrounding the Board of Inquiry center around questions regarding Commander Donald Troy's conduct before and during the raid, and if he took the correct actions to best resolve the hostage situation involving BOW Enterprises CEO Todd Burke. This Board of Inquiry did not discuss the possibility of Lieutenant Irwin posthumously receiving a medal for his actions, so another Board of Inquiry to investigate his actions will be required once the TCPD submits a medal request."

Bettina said "Lester, if the Board of Inquiry has cleared the TCPD, hasn't Commander Troy been cleared of wrongdoing?"

Holder replied "Bettina, the Town & County Council does not have to accept the findings of the Board, and many of them have serious questions about Donald Troy's actions during that incident, including asking why Commander Troy did not negotiate with the hostage-takers before raiding the warehouse where they and Mr. Burke were, and if he utilized the best people available to him to execute the various missions involved in the incident. So he has not been cleared, and his actions that led to the death of a Police Officer can and should continue to be closely scrutinized."

"Thank you, Lester!" said Bettina. "And in State news, Kara Zorn, the Chief Operations Officer of the the leader in industrial technology companies, MegaTech Industries, will be visiting the City facilities of MegaTech today! Ms. Zorn is said to be an inspirational leader and speaker, and her speeches are said to be akin to huge pep rallies. MegaTech employees are looking forward to Ms. Zorn's visit..."

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

"Was that DVR'd?" I asked as we watched in the Chief's Conference Room.

"Yes." said Cindy Ross.

"Good." I said. "I'll need to re-watch it. I was too stunned to listen properly the first time around."

"What stunned you, Crowbar?" asked the Sheriff, who I might add was stunned himself at the 'journalism' he'd just heard and watched.

"Amber Harris." I said. "I mean, just pile up kegs of dynamite in front of a large crowd and light the fuse. Her reporting about McGinty's Materials was worse than irresponsible; it was outright dangerous. I am not kidding when I say that report could get people killed."

"I don't disagree, Mr. Crowbarrrrr," said the Chief, "but it is news. Why shouldn't they cover it?"

"Chief," said Cindy Ross, "It's the way they're going about reporting it. And I'll add that Amber all but accused Don of a crime, by suggesting he found the stuff."

"Yes," I replied, "she just poked the hornet's nest with a big fat stick, talking about the nature of the stuff, and that it might be worth millions. But I'll guarantee you this... if some poor bozo off the street finds something on, say, Cerone, or Wilson Hammonds... even if he properly turns the stuff in, how long will he remain alive with that kind of knowledge?"

"I see what you meannnnn." drawled the Chief.

"So why did she say to bring anything anyone finds to the Press?" Tanya Perlman asked with a wicked gleam in her eye.

"That was worse than self-serving hypocrisy." I growled. "Of course the Press would love to get that material and go after anyone named in it. Pulitzers for years, they're thinking to themselves. And they truly believe they are something special by going into hot spots and war zones and facing dangers... ah, fuggedaboudit. I'm getting worked up." I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

Cindy Ross often asks that one question that leaves the room hanging. She did not disappoint today, as she asked. "The question I have is... who gave that information to the Press and had them run with it? No matter how they found out about it, someone gave them information on McGinty, and I believe someone had them roll with it."

"That is Iron Crowbar thinking, there!" Sheriff Griswold almost shouted, and very happily. "Crowbar, hand her that thing."

"She already has her own, Sheriff." I replied. "And that kind of thinking is why I gave it to her." The Sheriff beamed. Cindy smiled at the compliments.

And leave it to Teresa Croyle to show remnants of her dark-mood past as she said "What bothered me about that broadcast was Penis Holder's b.s. report."

"That's what I want to go back and re-watch." I said. "He is setting something up for tonight's Council meeting. I'm sure you know what to do, Captain Croyle."

"You betcha, sir." said Teresa. "We'll have the public meeting well covered. But it's the Executive Session I'm worried about. They'll likely have you there to talk about the hostage crisis, and then Reginald B.F. Lewis starts something up, and the Press will be pasting you as a hardcore white nationalist and racist tomorrow morning if you go in and arrest Lewis like you did last time."

"And then they'll accuse you of being a racist for owning a white dog." Cindy said.

"Black labs matter. All labs matter." I said half-humorously.

"Maybe we can avoid the trouble." growled Griswold. "I've told the Council and the Intendent, Mrs. Peabody, that you guys will be in my office at City Hall until called upon, and Mrs. Peabody can come get us."

"Sheriff," Cindy said, "I've already gotten word that Lewis is going to try something. And the Press is going to have people in the hallways outside the private Council Chamber, all ready to videotape and broadcast anything that happens." I suspected that Cindy's source was the lovely Priya Ajmani.

"What to doooo, Commander." said Chief Moynahan. "What to doooo..."

I gave a sardonic smile and said "Let not your heart be troubled, Chief. The Press thinks we are stoo-pid. But they will find out that they are the ones who are stoo-pid..." And not another word would I say about that...

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

"No, Britt." I said. "I have no clue what that was about, nor how the Press got wind of the McGinty Materials... no, but someone wanted it out there... look, I'm driving over to Westphalia. We'll talk about it all when I get there... okay, bye."

I hung up and looked at my Angels three, sitting across my desk from me. "Well, that fuse the Press lit has just exploded. KSB also went with the story this morning, meaning it was a coordinated Media barrage. Midtown, meaning the State Government, is en fuego about it. I've told Helena to hold all my calls not from within this Police Department, unless it's the Governor himself. Britt Maxwell sneaked past that by calling me on my Police iPhone, but that's okay."

My Angels said nothing; there was nothing for them to say. I said "Cindy, are you busy this morning?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Cindy replied. "I've got a meeting with Chief of Staff Oswald in an hour, and then I'll be prepping the Chief for tonight's Council meeting. I'd prep you too, but you don't need the help, and you would ignore anything I say, anyway." That got a 'look' from the Iron Wolf, but Teresa said nothing out loud.

"No, I wouldn't ignore you, and I do look at what you prep the Chief with." I said. "But there's not much I can do around here today, so I'm going to Westphalia and put out fires at SBI Headquarters."

"You need backup." said Teresa. "I'll go with you."

"Except with me gone, and with vacancies in the Precincts, you're very much needed here." I said. "Soooo... I'm going to pick up some backup along the way..."

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

I went into the Pottsville Police Headquarters building to find a state of near-pandemonium. I was dressed in civilian clothes, so I was not immediately recognized by the slew of Press 'cub' reporters that were in a frenzy trying to get information about Bundy McGinty. I went up to the Officer behind the desk and exhibited my SBI badge and ID card.

"Go on in." she said. "His hair is twice as frazzled as normal today." I laughed out loud, and went through the door upon hearing the buzz that released the lock.

I went along the hallway to the small office of Detective Seamus 'Shane' O'Brady. "Hi Shane." I said jovially. "Heard anything about McGinty lately?" If looks could kill, I would've died on the spot as O'Brady looked up at me from under his bangs of very curly black hair. But he was not really mad at me.

"Have I ever." he said sourly. "It's been non-stop since Tim Sioban's KSB report this morning. I understand KXTC also was reporting on it in your County, as well?"

"Yep." I said. "Why don't we go tell your Chief I'm borrowing you for the day, and let's go to SBI Headquarters in Westphalia?"

"Sounds like a great idea." Shane said, immensely relieved to have the opportunity to escape the Media feeding frenzy in the lobby. We went to the office of Chief Lloyd Rogers, whose greeting was friendly.

"Yes, get the poor man out of here." the Chief said when I made my request to borrow O'Brady for a day. "What the Press did was despicable. It's going to get someone hurt..."

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

When we pulled into the gated parking lot of SBI Headquarters in Westphalia, the older guard looked at the Black Beauty derisively. "What the heck?" he muttered. "You really gotta ride around in this old thing?"

"Wowwww!" exclaimed the younger guard. "This is an O65 Imperial Crown! Where did you get this, Inspector Troy?" He knew my name from the ID I'd exhibited.

"My uncle restored it, added a few things to it." I said. We were waved through and I parked near the building's side entrance. We went inside and to the office of SBI Inspector Brittany M. Maxwell.

"Hi Don!" she said brightly, getting up and hugging me. "Hello, Shane!" she said to O'Brady, also giving him a hug. "Glad you two could come by. Have a seat." We sat down as Britt went behind her desk and sat down in her chair.

"Director Goodwin is furious with the Press right now." she said. "Tim Sioban called him yesterday about McGinty's Materials... your nickname has caught on, and stuck... and Curly tried to get Sioban to keep it off the airwaves. Said he'd give him what he knew off the record if Sioban would keep it under wraps, or at least embargoed, for a few days so that we could have a coordinated response ready when they did go with it."

"Uh oh." I mused.

"Yes, 'uh oh' is right." Britt said. "Sioban burned a bridge; he put it all on the air in his morning newscast, even mentioned the Director by name in saying he was creating a Task Force for it, which is one of the things Curly told Sioban off the record. Our Task Force... was our visit to you yesterday, Don. But now we'll have to formalize it. Shane, want to be on a Task Force?"

"If it keeps me from having to talk to those rabid dogs of the Press, sure." said O'Brady.

"So, any ideas, Don?" asked Britt.

"I just have one question." I said, making my voice sound musing and far away. "Has the Governor called? Has he called you, or Director Goodwin, or Norm?"

"No." Britt said. "Lt. Governor Sharon Marshall called, though, maybe as Jared's proxy."

"But he himself did not call, nor his direct Staff?" I asked. Britt shook her head 'no', and I said "Good. That's a good thing. It means he's not worried about this, not for himself, anyway."

"So who stirred up the den of pit vipers, a.k.a. the Press?" asked Britt.

"My belief," I said, "is that someone believes McGinty had dirt on Governor Jared, and they desperately want to find it so they can use it against him. Of course that leaves a LOT of suspects."

"I agree." said a voice behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see SBI Director Curly Goodwin standing in the doorway. He said "Let's go to the Conference Room. There's coffee in there..."

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

The meeting turned large. In addition to me, Britt, Shane, and Curly Goodwin, Norm Chow came in, followed by SBI Lieutenant Gordon 'Gordo' Grigsby, who would take over the leadership of the SBI-IDE on July 1st. Then Agent Carter Fischer joined the klatch.

After exchanging greetings with Grigsby, he said "The SBI-IDE is ready to go, but can't officially do anything until July 1st, when the new budget kicks in. Right now, every Agent who is going to be part of the IDE is being paid out of the old NTF funding, along with some extra 'general funds' budgeting."

"The Democrats and the Press are birddogging us like crazy us on our spending." said Director Goodwin. "They really want to accuse the Governor of illegal and improper spending, and they've tried that in the past. So what I'm planning to do is have these future IDE guys work on this McGinty Task Force until July 1st, and then have Carter Fischer here lead the Task Force with SBI-OFI people." The OFI was the Office of Financial Investigations, which also looked into white-collar crimes of all kinds.

"So you don't expect to find anything?" asked a voice coming into the room. We looked up to see FBI Supervisory Agent Martin Nash and FBI Special Agent Julius Jefferson come into the room.

"We have no idea." said Carter Fischer. "But we're not expecting it to be easy, nor quick."

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked the FBI guys. "Not that I mind seeing your shiny happy faces." Everyone chuckled.

"Jack Muscone gets worried when the Iron Crowbar starts traveling around." said Martin Nash, and I could sense the humor underneath his deadpan serious exterior. "Seriously, he asks if you wouldn't mind our listening in, just to stay in the loop on this."

"That must be the same reason the City I.A. is in the house." I said as City Police Captain Wes 'Coldiron' Masters came in, followed by City Detective Thomas 'Sapper' Warren. Introductions and shakings of hands all the way around ensued.

"I've been asked to spearhead the City Police investigation of the McGinty Materials." said Cpt. Masters. "Commander Troy, I haven't had as much time as I'd like to further investigate McGinty's role in the Sullivan murder, but this will give me that time and an excuse to do it. I'm beginning to believe that McGinty was innocent of that. Whether or not it helps us find his Materials, I don't know."

"Good." I said. "I'd love to get that all cleaned up and put behind us."

"Commander," asked Carter Fischer, "with McGinty and Jeff Farley both dead, why bother?"

"Because I told McGinty that I'd find the truth." I said. "And I intend to keep that promise, with Captain Masters's generous help."

"I'd like to know the truth, too, one way or the other." said Masters. Fischer nodded, as did everyone else in one way or another.

"Okay, let's bring in our videoconference attendees." said Director Goodwin. "On your best behavior, everyone."

The large television monitors lit up. On one of them was Governor Val Jared, at the head of the conference table in his office. I could see that to his left was Sheriff Griswold. On the other monitor was Lieutenant Governor Sharon Marshall, also in that office, but to the Governor's right side. The separate image of her was from her laptop, I surmised.

"Thank you all for coming." said Governor Jared. "Director Goodwin, lead the meeting."

"Thank you, Governor." Goodwin said. "And it's nice to see you again, Sheriff Griswold."

Griswold growled: "You've learned how to kiss ass since becoming SBI Director. You need to teach the Iron Crowbar how to do that." Everyone laughed.

"He's a hopeless case, sir." said Goodwin with a wicked grin, making us (including me) chuckle again. "Okay, we've been totally ambushed by the despicable, dishonest Press on this thing, so we're scrambling to get ahead of it. A lot of the people who worked on the original McGinty case are here. Let's go around the horn and get reports from them."

'Sapper' Warren went first: "The City Police investigated McGinty thoroughly after he died. We went through his office with a fine-toothed comb, and all his stuff is still in evidence with us. We never found anything at all that gave any sign of where his hidden materials might be. I'll add that before he died his office was ransacked, so something of value might've disappeared at that time. Also, he never rented another office, at least not that we found, but we did find three safehouse apartments he was renting. They had nothing but personal effects such as clothing, and there was nothing hidden in the walls or under the floor or anything. All of that is still in evidence, too."

Captain Masters took over: "We've gone back several years looking for any persons that McGinty associated with that could help us. He had no friends at all. He hooked up with hookers from time to time, usually in compensation for some work he'd do for a girl, like bust some heads to get her child support payments paid to her. But no one close, no one we think he'd trust with the information or the whereabouts to it."

None of the SBI people had anything. Shane O'Brady said "Like Commander Troy, I made an early investigation of the alleged Materials, and was invited to participate in the searches of his office. Like Detective Warren said, we found nothing of importance."

"Commander Troy," said Lt. Governor Marshall, "did you look into any of that?"

"Yes ma'am." I said. "I looked over what Detective O'Brady and the City Police found. There was nothing of interest, and nothing out of the ordinary was brought to my attention. Unfortunately, things on my side of the State redirected my attention, but I'm convinced the City Police did a good, thorough job, and they would've found anything worth finding... and there was simply nothing to find."