Moonlight Shadow Ch. 05

I smiled. "Some of both, sir." I said. "What I'm still curious about is the timing of May killing her husband. Why now? And why here?"

"Why not?" asked the Chief, semi-humorously. I chuckled.

"Well," I said, "I think Pierce, Agent 'Warspear', came here to avenge himself on Laura for busting him up and ending his CIA career some years ago. He said at Point Hollow that he wanted May Cialis turned over to him, and brought there by Laura. He might've wanted May back, but I think he really wanted to get that suicide vest on Laura, and then he'd have detonated it, or we would have detonated it trying to get it off her."

"He did not anticipate yooooo anticipating everything he was trying to dooooo." drawled the Chief. "Very good work, Commander. I'm getting used to saying that as a matter of routine, but don't ever think that I consider it routine. You handled it extremely well, even by your own standards."

"Thank you, sir." I said.

"And that brings me to the more difficult part of this." said the Chief. "I want your evaluation of Captain Ross during last night's hostage crisis."

"Er, she did well." I said, not sure what the Chief was getting at. "Obviously with her fiancée in deep trouble, was worried. But she did what I told her to do, and so everything worked out."

"Okay, let me try this way." said the Chief. He took his badge off his shirt and slapped it down on his desk. "Put yours on the desk, too. This is speaking freely, off the record, man-to-man... but I need your unvarnished opinion here."

"Yes sir." I said, taking my badge off and putting it on the desk. "But where are you going with this?"

The Chief said "Let me put it this way. Your wife was in danger last night, as well. Obviously she handled things fine, and you had to stay near Ms. Carrington to keep her suicide vest from exploding. But you also handled it well; you were cool, calm, and collected during the whole crisis. Would you say Captain Ross was the same?"

It was painful to say, but it had to be said: "No sir. She held together very well during the crisis, but she was pretty emotional after it was all over."

The Chief nodded. "How's she doing as Chief of Detectives? And by that I mean that if, perish forbid, you got tired of it all and moved to, sayyyyy, Los Angeles... could she do your job?"

"First of all, Chief," I said, "I am not going to the LAPD. Great place, good people, but it's not for me."

"I am ree-leeeeved to hear that, Don." said the Chief. "But you're not even considering it?"

"Sir," I said, "there are two things: first, if I'm told that I'll be the criminal if I enforce Federal Law and turn illegal persons over to ICE, I'll have a problem. And in California, that's what would happen to me."

"True." said the Chief. "And the second thing?"

"Have you read Milton, Chief?" I replied. "And I don't mean Myron and Mary."

"Ahhh." said the Chief. "You're the ruler of your little kingdom here in this Town & County, but would be a smaller fish in a much bigger pond in L.A." The Chief had realized I was referring to Paradise Lost, and Lucifer's comment upon being thrown into the Pit.

"Yes sir." I said. "And I have family to consider. Laura could get a position at UCLA or one of the many other colleges there, but Molly is Police Chief in Nextdoor County. I'd never ask her to give that up, so staying here is how I keep Ross and Ian in my life. Ditto that for Tasha."

"Ye-es." said the Chief. "Family is very important. My late wife and I never had children. You're a lucky man, Don. But speaking of 'family', you're avoiding answering my question about Captain Ross doing your job."

I said "Captain Ross can lead people, sir. She can be in command and will get the job done. What I think you're truly asking is if she can be that Detective that solves crimes like I do, and can teach other Detectives and up their games. To a point, yes she can do that. And to a point, she has great insight and intuition. But I admit that I have something of a gift for solving crime, like my mother before me. That can't be taught; it just is what it is."

"Yes, of course." said the Chief. "And Captain Ross is Chief of Detectives to supervise them and correlate things for purposes of efficiency. It's her Detectives' jobs to solve the crimes. I just let you help them instead of insisting you sit at your desk because you're so damn good at seeing things and figuring them out."

He picked up his badge. "Okay, back to business. What's on your agenda for today? Besides the massive pile of paperwork last night's incident created?"

"Sir," I said as I picked up my own badge, "I fully expect for May Cialis to come correct and confess to something. If she doesn't by noon, we'll have to do a little 'nudging', in a legal way, of course. But I expect her to sign a confession by the end of the day. It's her life if she doesn't."

"Commander," the Chief said solemnly, his face becoming grave, "this may be one of those few times where you are wrong. I fear that forces are at work to prevent that."

"Do you know something I don't, sir?" I asked.

"No." said the Chief. "But I hear rumors. And since you're a brick wall, people come to me to try to get their way. Just be prepared for things to not go as you'd like. By they way, do you think the Feds will ask for Mr. 'Warspear', there?"

"I would think so." I said. "Putting a suicide vest on a CIA Agent, engaging another one in personal combat, explosives charges at the Federal as well as local level... I'm expecting them to want both May and Timothy, there."

"All right." said the Chief. "Get to it. Your Angels await your presence for their meeting..."

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

"This is Priya Ajmani, Five-Alive News in the Morning!" shouted the gorgeous Indian reporterette at 8:00am, Thursday, April 12th. "There are shocking new developments in the James Cialis murder case in just the last hour!'

"May Cialis has been charged with the murder of her husband James Cialis," said Priya, "but last night Timothy Pierce was arrested on charges of attempted murder, making terroristic threats, using explosives as a murder device and a weapon of terror, kidnapping, and assault on Police Officers."

Priya: "District Attorney Gil Krasney has hinted that the Police are looking into Pierce as a co-conspirator in the murder of James Cialis, but Police Commander Donald Troy issued this statement, and I quote: 'The Town & County Police have obtained overwhelming evidence of May Cialis being the murderer of her husband James. We have not obtained any solid proof that Timothy George Pierce participated in the murder of James Cialis. Again, we have no solid evidence of Pierce's involvement.', close quote."

Priya: And in State news, State House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Wilson Hammonds, a Republican, has demanded that Governor Val Jared accept the appointment of a State Independent Counsel to investigate charges that the Governor used intimidation tactics to force two women who had made sexual harassment complaints against the Governor to withdraw those complaints. Hammonds said, and I quote, 'If Jared is innocent, why would he oppose the appointment of an Independent State Counsel?', close quote..."

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

"Wow, Commander," said Cindy Ross, who looked utterly exhausted, "you usually aren't that out front about a case. Why the change-up?"

"Well," I said, leaning back into my comfortable Command Chair, "you can see that they are setting a trap for me, and no matter what I do, I fall into it. If I don't come out with a statement like that, they'll take it to mean that Pierce was involved in the murder of James Cialis, and use that to gin up 'reasonable doubt' for May at her trial. And making a statement like all but forces me to prove Pierce was not involved, and it's damn hard to prove a negative."

"It's Krasney I don't get." Teresa said. "He's badly behind in the polls and he needs some solid wins in Court. Yet he seems to be pushing to help May Cialis get off, or maybe get her extradited to Federal custody."

"Part of his job, for right or wrong," replied Cindy, "is to decide which cases are winnable and prosecute those, and not waste tax money on those that aren't."

"Are you saying we can't win the May Cialis case?" Teresa asked Cindy. I also was peering at my cousin on that one.

"No." said Cindy. "And don't get me wrong, I'm with Don on this one. I'm just saying that Krasney is doing what he thinks is his job, for right or wrong."

"Which is why he needs to no longer be District Attorney." I said. "And that was another reason I put out that statement to Priya. I want people to question Krasney's judgement, and therefore question his competence to be the D.A."

"Gonna endorse one of the other candidates?" asked Teresa.

"I just might." I replied.

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

At 10:00am, Timothy George Pierce was arraigned on multiple charges. He was denied bail as an extreme flight risk, ordered to be in isolation and on suicide watch, and was assigned a Public Defender. Wouldn't you know it, he drew Dexter Epstein, the most incompetent legal beagle in the County.

At 10:30am, I made my coordinated move. As Pierce was being brought through the booking hallway to I-1, I had May Cialis brought down the hall from the other end, where the holding cells were, to I-2, making sure they would see each other. Pierce looked surprised, then his eyes softened upon seeing May. For herself, May Cialis did a great 'Julie Newton' impression: she hardened her heart, forced her face into a mask of stone, and showed nothing but a slight smirk as she went into I-2. Not good for the Iron Crowbar's plans, I thought to myself.

"Nice little trick, there, Commander." said Nathan Masterson as I came into I-2. "But it's not going to work. I've advised my client to keep her Fifth Amendment right to silence fully intact. Any previous offers made to cooperate are withdrawn, and we accept no deal offers. We're going to full trial."

I shook my head in mock sadness. "I don't know. I don't know." I said. "Maybe I'm just not making myself clear. This is a death penalty case right now. Even if I have to fight the D.A. to do it, I am going to make sure the Jury knows that you acted alone, May. I'm going to make sure Pierce is not found guilty of the murder of your husband, nor that he took any part in it. Now if you really want to go down that path, be my guest. It's the rest of your life at stake."

"You heard me, Troy." said Masterson, arrogance in his voice. "We're fighting you all the way. No deals, and no more interrogations. You've done enough talking to empty air in front of my client."

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

Detectives Joanne Warner and Theo Washington were assigned to Pierce's case. They were interrogating him, with Public Defender Epstein sitting next to him. His rights had been read to him, but Agent 'Warspear' had not yet taken the Fifth.

"Offer me a deal." he said. "I can help you put May Cialis away for the murder of her husband. But offer me something in exchange."

Watching in the anteroom were Cindy, myself, Chief Moynahan, and Jerome Davis. "Shouldn't Epstein be doing the talking?" asked Jerome.

"Yep." I said. "But Epstein is so incompetent that he has no idea what to do. Captain Ross, did you check to make sure Epstein was the correct next-in-line public defender?"

"Yes sir." said Cindy. "And they used a dirty trick to put him at the top of the list. Harry Nance pulled the three names in line above him for cases coming up this morning, but haven't been heard yet... literally pre-assigning these lawyers to upcoming cases. We can protest, but even Judge Watts said it's technically permissible to do that."

I shook my head. "I've gotta make a phone call." I said. I left the anteroom for the hallway.

Meanwhile, the interrogation continued. "Mr. Pierce," said Joanne Warner, "you don't exactly have the greatest record as a witness. Anything you say to show it was Mrs. Cialis acting alone is going to be counted by her Defense. They're saying it was you, in order to create reasonable doubt about her having done it alone. Now what proof can you give us?"

"Put me on the stand, and you'll see." said Pierce. "The Jury will believe me. They will find me persuasive. And I'm offering a lot more than just her head on a platter. Does the Iron Crowbar not want to know what is going on within the walls of Langley?"

"I'm sure he does," said Theo Washington "but you haven't been between those walls nor part of the Company for several years now, at least not officially."

"Ohhhhh, I dunno." I said as I came into the Interrogation room. "I think we're seeing a lot of smoke-and-mirrors, here. I think that even your 'revenge' motive for attacking my wife is a bit suspect. So let's please stop playing around, Mr. Pierce. Either give us everything you have, unconditionally, or take the Fifth and keep your fucking mouth shut through your trial. You've got the worst lawyer in the County as your legal counsel right now. I hope you realize that it is you who is being set up, here, as you have become expendable."

The look on Pierce's face was priceless as he realized the truth of my words. The air came out of him, literally as well as figuratively, and he all but collapsed in his chair as his mind worked through the chains of logic I'd already forged in my own mind some time ago.

"Detective Washington," I said, "may I see you for a moment, outside?"

"Yes sir." said Theo, getting up and following me out of the room.

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

My phone call had been to Jack Muscone. I'd asked him if the Feds were going to ask to extradite Timothy George Pierce. He said "I already know the answer, and it is 'no'. They have less than zero interest in the guy. Even when I pushed up the chain that he has info on NS-14, seeing as he got explosives from them, they weren't interested."

"How about May Cialis?" I asked.

"They've already asked to extradite her." said Jack. "As far as I know, that request is still standing."

Now, as Theo followed me into my office and closed the door, I turned and said "Theo, I know you don't like doing that, and I hate like hell to ask you. But it's very important, and a murderer may go free if I don't ask."

"You don't even have to ask, sir." said Theo. "You want me to contact my brother Franklin in the D.A.'s Office, and see if Krasney wants to extradite May Cialis."

"Damn, you're getting good." I said. "Keep that up, and you might get a blue crowbar soon."

"I'm striving for it." said Theo with a grin. "But seriously, sir, I don't know for sure, and neither does Franklin. He's been working this NS-14 case, and the drugs and explosives aspects of it with the Fed BAFTE and State SBI-BFE (Bureau of Firearms and Explosives). And Krasney pushed his nose into the grindstone on it the last couple of days, asking Franklin to push on some things that don't really need pushing."

"Distracting him." I said.

"Yes sir." said Theo. "Anyway, sir, Franklin and I and our wives had dinner together last night, and he and I talked about the Cialis case. Franklin doesn't know for sure, and he's being kept out of that loop, but he thinks Krasney is going to let them extradite May Cialis to the Feds."

"What about Pierce?"

"I don't know, sir." said Theo.

"Okay, thanks." I said. "Don't get Franklin in trouble, but see if anything has come up today. Thanks for talking to me. You can go." Theo left the room.

I sat down and called my ultimate source on my personal iPhone.

"Oh, hello my handsome friend." said the lovely MILF Adele Peabody, the Intendent at City Hall. "I know why you're calling."

"Can you talk?" I asked.

"For just a moment." said Mrs. Peabody. "Yes, Krasney is doing everything he can to have May Cialis extradited to the Feds. He plans to drop all local charges, including the murder charge, without prejudice, to allow her to be extradited. Oh... gotta run. Talk to you later." The line went dead.

To drop charges 'without prejudice' meant that they could be re-filed later, and there's no Statue of Limitations on Murder-1. But still, I thought to myself, this was simply disgusting, and Gil Krasney was a gutless piece of dog shit.

Part 25 - Compromises

At 11:35am, my phone buzzed, and Helena said that Jack Muscone was here and wanted to see me. I had her wave him in.

"Don't shoot the messenger. Please." said Muscone as he came in the door. He took one look at me, then said "Looks like you already know. Who told you?"

"Nobody." I said. "I'm figuring it out."

"The retired Deputy Director would like for you and me to meet him for lunch at the Cattleman's Club." said Jack. "I would appreciate it if you'd come."

"All right." I said. I called Cindy on the Police iPhone, and she said May's attorney Masterson had just left, and May was being taken back to her cell for lunch.

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

When we got to the Cattleman's Club, we were led to the back room, which was a bit more private. To my (pleasant) surprise, there were two people waiting for us: the DepDirector, and my wife Laura.

"So, my dear," I said after kissing her on the cheek and sitting down, "are you here to protect these guys from me, or help them persuade me that murder does not supersede Company business?"

"Some of both, I'm afraid." my wife said, though her eyes showed amusement at the way I'd asked the question.

"Don," said the DepDirector, "I know how you feel, and believe me I agree... but this might be one we have to let go."

"Why?" I asked, in an excellent imitation of Carole when she was two years old.

"Because." said Laura, just as she'd said to Carole on a few occasions.

"Seriously," Laura continued, "I could tell you that a trial would mean a lot of Company secrets would come out, and some dirty laundry. And I'd be telling you the truth. But another reason is to keep your name out of CIA business, darling. Yes, they came here, and yes, May Cialis shot her husband, but letting the Feds have her and you continuing to run this County would keep the tensions down amongst the DC brass."

"There's another aspect of it, also." said the DepDirector. "None of us here know if there's more going on behind the scenes. Laura and I are retired and out of the loop, and you and Jack are not exactly the ones they're inviting to the meetings, if you know what I mean. For May and her husband and Warspear to all be here, and now? Gotta be something to that."

"I hear what all of you are saying." I said. "But there's one problem blowing up the whole thesis: why aren't the Feds asking for Pierce to be extradited to Federal custody? Why only May Cialis? Why are they basically leaving Pierce hanging out to dry? He can reveal secrets during his trial. He was involved with NS-14 over those explosives; is no one interested in that?"

"That is a point." Jack Muscone said. "Even if not for Company business, why isn't BAFTE interested in Pierce? And the DEA? And all of the DOJ, what with his NS-14 connections?"

"Maybe that's something they're working on behind the scenes, that we don't know about." said the DepDirector. "Anyway, Don, the point is that as abhorrent as it is to you, we have to let this go, and let the Feds have May Cialis. Kind of like 'Paris'... they literally let you leave Paris with the mortal remains of a CIA Agent that was murdered by a rogue FBI Agent. The French Police were very cooperative... and that's what I hope you'll do here."

"Well," I said, " I did have diplomatic immunity in Paris. But I understand your point, sir. Now explain to me why they had Warspear try to murder my wife."

The next several seconds were full of silent tension. The looks on their faces were not quite that of shock that an explosive had gone off in their hands, but that they'd known they were playing with a lighted fuse.