Mystery At Mystery Lake Ch. 02

The Chief was at his usual place at the near end of the conference table. I came in and sat in my usual spot to his left, with the outside windows to my back. Teresa sat to my left. Captain Claire Michaels looked calm, cool, and collected as she sat to Teresa's left. At the other end of the table was Our Sheriff, Antonio Griswold.

To the Chief's right was Deputy Chief Tanya Muscone. To her right was her husband, FBI Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone. To his right was FBI SAC Clark Webster, followed by Supervisory Special Agents Lindy Linares of the Cyber Division and Julius Jefferson, who was Muscone's No. 2.

Jack Muscone started off the meeting by saying "We heard you had a bad night last night."

"Bad?" I fired back. "We stopped two really bad perps from killing four innocent witnesses. Good guys alive, bad guys dead. How is that bad?"

Clark Webster said "You didn't capture them alive. We really needed to get a lot of information from them."

Yep, the party never stops in the Iron Crowbar's world, and the lousy morning continued. And Teresa made sure the Feds shared the pain.

"What?!" she yelled, rising to her feet, her face as beet red with fury as I had ever seen it. "Are you fucking kidding me? We put our fucking lives on the line to stop those bastards from killing innocent people, and you have the fucking gall to whine about it?"

Clark Webster had his hackles up, and he fired back "Hell yes! Why didn't you try to capture them alive?"

"We did!" Teresa yelled. "We tried like hell to take them alive, even though Cox was shooting at Don, and Fenton was going to try to take Don over the edge when he jumped!"

"Then you failed, didn't you?" Clark Webster snarled back. "All of you failed. You let them die!" I don't know what had gotten into the normally mild-mannered, friendly Clark Webster. But that had been the wrong thing to say.

"Wanna borrow a crowbar?" I asked Teresa, holding out my red crowbar. And I think she was about to take it and use it to administer some appropriate beatdowns. Alas...

"You are not help-innnng, Mister Crowbarrrr." drawled the Chief. "Commander Croyle, have a seat... please, sit down." Teresa slowly did so, fury still on her face. The Chief continued "And all of you, take your hands away from your weapons."

Lindy Linares and Julius Jefferson slowly brought their hands up above the table. They had been prepared to shoot Teresa if she'd attacked Clark Webster. They would've failed: I already had my service weapon in my hand, and I would've shot them dead to protect Teresa. To everyone's shock, I held up my service weapon, then put it on the table. The Federal Agents realized just what that meant... and I realized that some of them that had been my friends were my friends no longer.

"Captain Michaels," the Chief said, "bring up the Officer-cam and building surveillance video of last night's incident." Claire did so as Sheriff Griswold moved out of the way of the screen on the wall behind his head. We watched as the videos clearly showed Gil Cox firing at us, then releasing himself from the rope and falling, then Gary Fenton tearing himself out of Teresa's grasp and running to the edge and jumping over it to his death.

"As you can seeeee, Mr. Webster," drawled the Chief, "my Officers did all they could to take those extremely dangerous men alive. But the perps insisted upon death rather than being taken into cussss-to-dyyyyyy."

Clark Webster did not relent. "I wish you'd done a better job of keeping them alive. We really needed to have a conversation with them."

Chief Moynahan said "Those were two highly trained former Navy SEALs, with combat experience in war theaters, and trained to resist even the most effective enhanced interrogation techniques such as waterboarding. And it would've taken rendition and torture to get anything out of them; otherwizzze, they would've taken the Fifth and laughed in your faces."

I had remained calm on the outside, but seeing Clark Webster's obvious disdain despite being told and shown the truth, I calmly asked "Agent Webster, if we had captured them alive, what were you going to do? Were you going to come in and take custody of them from us?"

It was Jack Muscone that (unwisely) answered: "Don, those guys are very likely involved in a large number of crimes all over the country. So yes, we needed to interrogate them, and so yes, we would've had to take custody of them."

"I see." I said, seeing too much. "So you Federal Agents let us local LEOs put our lives on the line to capture these exceptionally dangerous men, and then you were just going to waltz in and take them from us. We face the existential danger, you come in and pluck the fruit so you can get a citation on your wall. Isn't that right?"

It was totally silent in the room as the implications of my words slammed into everyone's understanding with the force of a crowbar blow to someone's back. I looked at the Chief and said "I think we're done here." I stood up and said again "We're done here." I holstered my service weapon and went to the exit door.

"Go with him, Commanderrrr Croyle." the Chief said. Teresa wasted no time in following me out the door, not acknowledging the hateful looks she was getting from all the Federal Agents except Muscone, who was studying a microscopic speck of dust on the table in front of him.

"Are you some special kind of stupid?!" Tanya exploded, looking around her husband at Clark Webster.

"I'm not going to listen to this shit anymore." Webster said as he got up. "I'm tired of the disrespect being shown the FBI, and even outright threats. We're Federal Agents, not some lousy local LEOs that don't know their asses from a hole in the ground! I'll show myself out. Jack, I'll be at the Federal Building."

"You better not be, when I get there." Muscone said. "That was my wife you just said that to, and she is one of those 'local LEOs' you just referred to." Webster said nothing, but exited the room...

Part 11 - Extracting The Truth

11:05am, Tuesday, May 10th. Lt. Teddy Parker informed me that Detective Sergeant Julia Rodriguez and Detective Roark Coleman had returned to Headquarters with Wade Garrett, that Garrett had been taken through full booking and was in Interrogation-3, and that Garrett's lawyer Edward N. Parker had just arrived and was talking to his client.

I called Teresa to come with me, and we headed down to the Monitor Room, where Parker, Roark, and Rodriguez were. Julia Rodriguez made her report: "Mr. Garrett left University Hotel at 7:00am this morning and went to breakfast at the Country Breakfast Diner. If anyone asks, that's where his ankle monitor went. Off the record, SBI Agents James Tarleton and Terence Johnson have been tag-team following him, and Tarleton got a good breakfast out of it."

Julia: "At the Country Breakfast Diner, Mr. Garrett met with two men. One was the head of his Research Department, whose offices are here in Town. The other was the Plant Manager at his factory near Pottsville. They talked for over an hour, then left and went to the CNC Wafers offices here in Town."

Julia: "When we got the warrant, we went to those offices. He was there, and alone in his office when we went in, announced our Office, and presented the arrest warrant. He followed our instructions and Officer Jim Madison frisked him for weapons, then we let him walk with us out of the office without being handcuffed. We did affix handcuffs to him when we put him in the Patrol cruiser. Once we arrived here, he was taken through full Booking. His attorney appeared while he was in Booking; we think his assistant must've called the attorney."

"Okay, good report." I said. "And good job making the arrest without causing a scene. Anything to add, Mr. Roark?"

Roark Coleman said "Just that Garrett was staring out the window behind his desk when we arrived. There was a photo of him and Sage in her high school graduation cap and gown on his desk, but no other photos at all. And he didn't seem to be surprised at our arrival, nor that he was being arrested 'for real'. Whether that means anything or not, I'm not sure."

I nodded thoughtfully, then got my wits about me and said ""Okay. Julia, you will go into I-3 with me. Commander Croyle, I'd like you to watch and listen from the anteroom. Lieutenant Parker, you and Mister Roark need to have a private conversation, and it can't wait. After that, you can watch and listen from in here..."

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

I knocked on the door to I-3, stuck my head in, and asked "Are y'all ready?"

"Yes." said Edward N. Parker. I came on inside, followed by Julia, and we sat down at the table opposite them. Officer Culver was the Uniformed Presence, as required by the 'rools'.

I introduced myself and Julia, more for the benefit of the cameras than for Garrett and his attorney. I re-read Garrett is considerable rights from the card, and he just nodded when I asked if he understood them. I then brought out the photos I'd printed from the digital copies in the evidence servers of Garrett, Jayne Hallerton, and the young man engaging in sexual acts. Edward N. Parker winced. Garrett's eyes bugged out, then he groaned and his whole body wilted.

I said "In cooperation with the FBI and SBI, we are getting your personal phone records and your business phone records. We already have the $100,000 wire transfer out of your account, and we're digging deep into CNC Wafers now... and their close connections to Matthew Willis and BigCommunicationsCorp."

That caused Edward N. Parker to visibly start, and I did not fail to observe it. "Yes, Mr. Parker, we are about to be all over it. Why don't I tell you both what happened, and you just correct me where I go astray, Mr. Garrett, okay?"

"Don't say a word, Wade." Edward N. Parker admonished his client.

I started: "Sage came to your home last Wednesday, and let herself in. She observed you in flagrante delicto with these two, and videotaped it. And then she committed the unforgivable act against you: she handed the phone and its contents over to her mother and her mother's attorney. I don't know how you knew; maybe someone saw Sage leaving your home after making the recordings."

Me: "The problem was that that was very bad for you because even though you're in the process of getting a divorce, you're not divorced yet, and that will be considered adultery by the Divorce Court. And that meant that Silvia Garrett had a shot to demand some of your business, as your infidelity might cause the pre-nup to be invalidated. And that was not a problem for just you; it was a real problem for your biggest customer, Matthew Willis of BigCommo."

Me: "Willis is one of the 'Big Boy' Corporate Elites, and he is as dirty as they come. You and he had been using your company to launder money as well as do some off-the-books 'black ops' projects for the, shall we say, clandestine services of the US Government."

"You'll never prove that." Edward N. Parker snarled, his voice low and menacing.

"Won't I?" I replied, just a wee bit too happily. "I already can prove it. I've got people." Julia grinned, knowing that my 'people' was my wife.

I continued: "If Silvia Garrett was able to get even one percent of your company, she could give the State and Federal Governments consent to come in and tear your books apart, as well as get your bank records. And you and Matt Willis knew all too well that they wouldn't add up. I suspect that Matt Willis was watching your divorce situation more closely than you were, and he's the one that found out that Silvia had the goods on you." I was peering at Wade, but looking at Edward N. Parker within my peripheral vision.

"You'll never prove that, either." Parker said.

"I don't have to." I said. "What's important is that it was imperative you get those photos back, Mr. Garrett. Enter Gil Cox and Gary Fenton. They were hired to get the phone back, and the methods of doing it were not a concern. That $100,000 you said was a ransom? No, it was a payment, to get that phone back."

Me: "And Fenton and Cox delivered. They brought you the phone back just before we the Police arrived. The phone was in your pocket, and it rang when Mrs. Garrett called it, looking for Sage, and you lied and said the call was for you. Then Mrs. Garrett showed up, and called the number again... and that phone in your pocket rang!"

Me: "I have to give you credit: you did a good job coming up with that ransom story on the fly to explain away why you had the phone and why Sage was missing. Unfortunately for you, the fly in the ointment was that the phone Cox and Fenton recovered was Sage's new phone, upon which she'd put her beloved old cover."

Me: "You thought you had the phone with the incriminating evidence, but when Detective Coleman had you dial your daughter's number, you were shocked, shocked! to realize that the phone in your possession did not ring! And it was then that you realized the phone you had was not the phone that held the evidence."

Me: "You may have thought they duped you, but they had not; they did give you the cellphone they took from Sage when they kidnapped her, repeatedly raped her, then drugged her with fentanyl-laced oxycontin, killing her."

I observed Wade's face sag and become miserable as I viciously told him what Cox and Fenton had done to Sage. Edward N. Parker's face did not lose its condescending sneer, and fortunately he did not look over at his client.

I went on: "And as I said, we'll be getting your phone records from your place of business this morning. We'll be finding out who you called and who called you---"

*KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* *KNOCK!*

The door to the anteroom opened, and Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle came in, carrying a chair that was identical to the ones around the table. I briefly saw Command Deputy Sheriff Cindy Ross behind Teresa in the anteroom, but Cindy did not come into the Interrogation Room. I also observed the earbud in Teresa's ear, and I realized that the Green Crowbar would be using it to communicate with the Iron Wolf.

Teresa closed the door, came up to us, set the chair at the side of the table, to my right and Wade Garrett's left. "May I, sir?" she asked me. I indicated for her to sit down.

"What the hell is this?" Edward N. Parker asked, deep concern on his face. "Is this one of your tricks, Troy?"

"No trick on my part." I said. "Go ahead, Commander."

"Thank you, sir." Teresa said. She looked at Wade Garrett and said "Mr. Garrett, my name is Teresa Croyle, and there is just one thing I don't understand. For eighteen years you raised Sage. You fed her bottles when she was a baby, you helped her take her first steps, you helped her do her homework, you went to her ballgames. You were the father to her that I can only wish my father had been to me. So I just can't understand how you could just coldly cut her off, cast her so completely out of your life."

"Neither can I." I added helpfully.

Wade Garrett said "Commander Troy, are you sure all of your kids are really yours?"

"Yes." I truthfully replied.

"Then you can't understand how I felt when I found out that Silvia had lied to me, and that Sage was not my child." Garrett said.

"But I can." Teresa said, her voice surreal, strangely hypnotic. "When I married my husband, he came as part of a package. Three little boys. And I adopted those boys immediately. Partly for legal guardianship reasons, but also because I wanted them to understand that I loved them just as much as if I'd given birth to them myself."

Teresa leaned in and said "And after all those years of raising Sage, I just don't see how you could stop loving your little girl. Sure, I can understand you hating Silvia with every fiber of your being, but Sage? How could you turn off those years of nurturing love you provided her, even after learning she wasn't yours biologically?"

Wade was looking really bad now, and tears began streaming from his eyes. Teresa moved in for the 'kill', saying "And I really can't understand how you could hire two men who committed war crimes against women in Afghanistan, and who kidnapped your daughter, took turns raping her again and again, and when that didn't kill her, they forced her to swallow an oxycontin pill laced with fentanyl. I don't understand---"

"They weren't supposed to kill her!" Wade screamed out. He broke down, his forehead banging the table as he began sobbing uncontrollably. "That wasn't supposed to happen! She wasn't supposed to die!"

"Shut up, Wade!" Edward N. Parker hastily cried out. To us he yelled "That was not an admission of guilt!"

"Yes it was." I said, my eyes looking right through him. "You know it, I know it, we all know it. Hell, it's unanimous."

"This interrogation is over!" Edward N. Parker yelled, the condescension in his face suddenly having turned to pure fear. "No more questions! Stop talking Wade. Don't say anything else!"

"No, you shut up." said Wade Garrett. He looked at me and said "Get an ADA in here. I need a deal."

"Wade, just stop!" the legal beagle said, his voice sounding more desperate than commanding. "They can't prove a God damn thing!"

"No, it's over." Garrett said. "I'll talk. But I want something in return. Some kind of deal."

Edward N. Parker rose to his feet, and looked like he was going to physically attack Garrett. I also rose to my feet, and Parker knew that he could not do anything to his client before I got to him (Parker) and administered a legendary crowbar beatdown.

Parker said "If you won't listen to good legal advice, then you need to find representation elsewhere---"

He stopped as the anteroom door opened, and Assistant District Attorney Paulina Patterson came in. "Let's talk, Mr. Garrett." she said. She'd already been called, and had arrived at Police Headquarters in record time.

"Aw, fuck." Parker said under his breath. Then he said "I'm staying, just to make sure you don't play foul, Troy."

"I never do." I replied. I could almost feel the eyes rolling in Cindy's head and the heads of those in the Monitor Room...

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

Wade Garrett proved to be a skilled negotiator. He haggled with Paulina over his sentence for a good while. She'd offered 15 years with ten years parole; he said he wanted no parole nor probation, that once his sentence was done, that was it and he was free of the legal system. Paulina upped the time to 25 years, but Garrett haggled it back down to 20 years with no parole, and also no early release.

Once the documents were signed, Edward N. Parker got up and left, having not said a word throughout the negotiation, and not saying anything as he exited the room. I asked Garrett if he wanted another lawyer and he said "No, it doesn't matter now." He then told us his story.

"First of all, I did love Sage, even after I found out she wasn't my biological daughter." Wade Garrett said. "I only cut her off to piss off her mother; if push had come to shove, I would've paid off Sage's school debt and helped her with expenses. And I told her that, but her bitch mother was filling her ears and her head with poison against me."

I asked "How did you know Silvia had the video of you and Jayne Hallerton and that guy? Did you see them? Did you realize Sage had been there?"

Garrett shook his head as he replied "No. I got a phone call Friday morning from someone, who said---"

"Who?" Teresa asked, and harshly. "Who called you? Name a name."

"I don't know who it was." Wade said. "I didn't recognize the voice---"

"YOU'RE LYING!" Teresa yelled, and I realized Cindy was getting 'vibes' and telling Teresa through the earbuds.