Mystery At Mystery Lake Ch. 02

Then I looked Jack Muscone dead in they eye and said: "Retire, Jack. Put your papers in, and retire...

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

2:00pm, Wednesday, May 11th. Captain Claire Michaels asked if she could talk to me. I had her come to my office, get coffee, and sit down. She chose the 'hot chair' nearest the door.

"What's on your mind?" I asked, observing the conflict in her troubled face.

"Sir," she said, and I could see she was struggling with the words, but then harnessed her courage and said "I... I did not leave the LAPD and come back here in order to cause problems, be a problem, nor be part of a Detective Division that is tearing itself apart. But that's what has happened, and I don't know what to do about it. I need your advice, sir."

"I appreciate and respect you coming to me and asking." I said. "And yes, we have problems that cannot wait, and must be resolved. So... what are your recommendations?"

Claire said "I don't think you'll agree with this, but I genuinely believe that the problems revolve around Roark Coleman. He's a piss-poor people-person, he's uncouth and offensive, and he's dividing Detectives, people who were once close-knit colleagues and good friends, into opposing camps. I sincerely believe that his removal from MCD will be a tremendous boost for the morale of the group."

"Let me ask this." I said. "What has Roark done wrong, actually done wrong? He's doing his job, and doing it well, as far as I'm concerned."

"True, sir." Claire conceded. "But I do agree that what he said in that meeting was offensive, and if Joanne says she was offended, I take her at her word. And even if Coleman didn't do anything (air quotes) 'wrong', I think he's the cancer in the unit."

I looked hard at her and said "You ran Jerome Davis out of there, even though he was doing a good job, and we still have a lot of problems while he's really whipped 1st Precinct into great shape. He wasn't the problem, and now you're saying Roark is the problem. So why shouldn't I say you're the problem?"

Claire said "If you believe that, I'll turn in my resignation today, and I'll find someplace else to be. But I also believe that my resignation will not resolve the problems."

"I agree." I said. "And that's the bad that goes with the good of being the Captain of Detectives. It's a prestigious position, but it comes with huge responsibility. And ultimately, that responsibility is mine. Having said that, you leaving will not resolve the problems, just as removing Jerome Davis did not resolve the problems. So let me ask you this question..."

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

Meanwhile...

Lieutenant Joanne Warner came into MCD and up to Lt. Teddy Parker's desk. "Teddy, can we talk?"

Teddy Parker looked up at her and said levelly: "I don't think that would be a very good idea right now."

Joanne said "Look, we've got to resolve this. It's driving a wedge between us, and it's hurting the morale of the unit. And I really was offended by what Roark said---"

"STOP!" Teddy yelled, shocking everyone in the room. "First of all, airing a personnel issue in front of others is a violation of regulations. Second, I just said it would not be a good idea for you and I to talk about this right now, neither in private nor in public, especially not in public. Just stop trying to talk to me about it."

And with that, he got up and left the room. Stunned, Joanne looked around the room, and saw that the many eyes looking at her were not on her side...

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

2:30pm. Lieutenant Joanne Warner was called into my office. I told her to sit down in the far-side hot chair. Teresa Croyle was sitting on the sofa behind her. Claire had not moved from the near-side hot chair.

"Do you want a Union Rep?" I asked.

"Do I need one?" Joanne asked back. "What's this about?"

I held up the file folder with the copy of her complaint, and said "Do you really plan to push this?"

"Yes sir." Joanne said flatly.

I said "I was in the room for both of these so-called 'incidents' you describe. We were discussing a case where a term came up. It happens all the time. Other people have said far more explicit things in the past, and you never had a problem with it. Heck, you've heard far more explicit sexual information from my wife in the past, and you didn't seem to be offended. So why are you making this false accusation now, and singling out Detective Coleman?"

Joanne said "It's not a false accusation, sir. As I wrote in that complaint, sir, Detective Coleman intentionally used that phraseology. And after I complained in front of you to him, he did it a second time, and in a much more obviously goading manner towards me personally."

"That's your opinion. Mine differs." I said. "I can tell you right now that neither I nor the Chief are going to endorse this; in fact, I'm probably going to dismiss the complaint as being without merit. But there's a problem, and that is why I asked if you want a Union Rep. Detective Coleman is going to file a counter-complaint, saying you are weaponizing sexual harassment by falsely accusing him of it."

Me: "He's also accusing you of using your rank to create a (air quotes) 'hostile working environment' for him. He has already asked for and conferred with a Union Rep, and he has formally stated that he fears you will use your rank to create an insubordination charge against him."

Me: "And Lieutenant Parker is backing him up all the way on it. You were heard by several persons saying you filed the complaint with the purpose and intent of getting rid of Detective Coleman." I saw Joanne's eyes flicker with anger, the anger of believing she'd been betrayed.

I went on: "Even if you don't push this, I don't know if I can convince Detective Coleman not to file his complaint separately. And even if he doesn't, the situation in MCD right now is absolutely intolerable, and I simply can't have it. I simply can't have my Detectives walking on eggshells, wondering if anything they say will be weaponized against them and used to set them up under false pretenses."

"Then remove Coleman from MCD, sir." Joanne said flatly. Teresa was right behind her, and the look on the Iron Wolf's face connoted severe danger to Joanne.

I stood up and leaned over my desks, holding myself up with my fists and arms as I said "Why shouldn't I remove you, Lieutenant?"

"Because he's the one that did wrong, sir!" Joanne said, peering hard up at me, not giving an inch. "And because I'm a Lieutenant and he's just a Detective, and he shouldn't even be that! And I've been in MCD for years, far longer than him. Why in the world would you get rid of me instead of him?"

"Because Roark Coleman is a better Detective than you are!" I yelled, hurtling the words into her face. I saw the shock and pain on Joanne's face, and I realized that I was about to destroy her emotionally. But I went on, anyway.

"If I had to send either you or Roark to a crime scene, I would choose him over you! Every. Single. Time. You have some good qualities, some really good qualities as a person and a leader in general, but I need the very best Detectives that will get results and put perps in prison! Roark is doing a very good job and getting better as time goes on... and you're not."

Joanne was in shock, perhaps in the medical condition shock. Her look at me was that of a totally stunned deer in the headlights, and she was shivering, almost fully shaking. I sat back down and said "So you have two choices. You can tell me that you consider that submitted, Roark will be formally informed, he will very likely file his counter-complaint and may get a lawyer, and then there's very little I can do; you'll be fired. He may be fired, too, but you definitely will be."

"Orrrr..." I continued, "you can let me, Captain Michaels and Captain Holloway try to broker a more peaceful solution, one that doesn't waste your years of good work and cause you to lose any chance of a pension by being summarily fired and forbidden from working in County Government ever again, and allows the TCPD to continue its mission with all my best people, including you and Coleman."

Joanne got ahold of herself and made up her mind. "Yes sir, I do want that Union Rep. I submitted my complaint to HR, and I do consider it to have been formally filed, so I want that Rep in order to make sure that it is filed and that the complaint will be investigated... by Internal Affairs if not the Inspector General's Office."

"So be it." I said flatly. "While this matter is ongoing, you are not to speak to Detective Coleman for any reason. If his clothes are catching fire, you are not to speak to him to warn him. We have three Lieutenant offices in the suite past the Captains's suite. Choose one of them and move all your belongings and everything in your desk into it. Dismissed."

Joanne got up and exited the office. I said "Claire, after Joanne has chosen her office, tell Teddy and Theo to figure out who will get the other office with a window, and who will have to live with the one without a window, and have them move in. Do that now. Go."

Claire got up and went, leaving me and Teresa alone in the room. She was peering at me, stunned at what she had just seen. A second later, there was a knock on the door, followed by Chief Moynahan coming in. Teresa and I were standing up when he said "Sit back dowwwwnnn, Mister Crowbar. And pour three doses of that medicinal stuff in your drawer. Come up here in this chair, Miss Wolf."

Teresa did so. I took out three shot glasses and poured shots of Jameson Black Barrel Irish Whiskey. We clinked our glasses, downed the shots, and I poured another round, which were to be sipped.

Chief Moynahan said "I will bet, Ms. Croyle, that you are totally shocked by what Mister Crowbar didddd."

Teresa said "I'm sure it wasn't easy for him."

Chief Moynahan said "You were in the Reserves, Mister Crowbarrrr, so you may not have had to deal with this. You may not believe this, but when I was an Army Lieutenant in Europe, I was a pretty wild guy, not the quiet man I am to-dayyyy."

"If you say so, Chief." Teresa said, subtly needling the Chief.

"Heh heh heh heh." he chuckled, then he said "I was a pretty popular guy back then, and me and my fellow Lieutenants partied hard quite a few times. When I was promoted to Captain, our Squadron Commander addressed us, and said that they and I had been friends, but now my first name to them was 'sir', and that I was on a different level from them. And he was right. I had to be. I was at a level that I was over them, not one of them, no matter how good friends we had been."

I said "I learned the lesson when I worked in the labs in Midtown. The Union guys would try to be buddy-buddy with me and the other shift supervisors. I kept a distance, but one guy didn't, and would go out drinking and partying with them. Then they took advantage of him, and when he tried to regain leadership control of them, they fucked him up, and he ended up getting fired."

The Chief said "What you saw to-dayyyy, Commander Croyle, is the Police Commander having to do what he had to dooooo. No, we're not a military force, here, but Mister Crowbar had to put the good of the Force ahead of personal friendships, as did Lootenant Parker."

"Yes sir." Teresa said. "Commander Troy had to do that with his own first cousin, as well." (Author's note: 'The Babymaker')

"Yezzz." said the Chief. "Anyhoooo, it's a valuable lesson of leadership. "Y'all remain seee-ted." He got up and said "Have a good day. And if you need me to talk to Ms. Warner, just let me knowwww."

"Thank you, sir." I said.

Teresa said "I'm almost glad Joanne picked the formal route. There is no way 'peace' can be brokered between Joanne and Roark. She hates him immeasurably, and he's beginning to hate her just as much. I still don't know what the answer is, at least an answer where we can keep both of them."

"We'll see what we can do." I replied. "But I fear that your assessment is correct..."

Part 13 - Friday the 13th

9:30am, Friday, May 13th. I came into the office of CNC Wafers, Inc.'s research facility in Town. It was completely shut down. The research scientists and employees were in the breakroom, many of them looking dazed and confused. The three administrative persons were in the room that held their desks. One woman was lightly sobbing at her desk, and Lieutenant Joanne Warner was quietly talking with her.

"He's in his office, sir." said Detective Sergeant Julia Rodriguez. She led me to the doorway of the office of Wade Garrett. TCPD CSIs were swarming like bees, processing the scene. My eyes roamed the room, taking a lightning inventory. And then I focused on the object of the investigation.

Wade Garrett was seated in his chair, leaning to his left, his head over his left shoulder. His right arm hung limply to the side of the chair. He was dead, and the bullet hole in his right temple just in front of his ear was the obvious reason. Martha the M.E. was doing Martha the M.E. things as she examined the body.

Our Ballistics expert Jody Taylor came up with an evidence bag that contained a revolver and the cartridges that had been removed from it, one of them having been fired. He said "This was found on the floor beneath his right hand, where that marker is." I saw where the numbered marker was.

Taylor continued: "I've checked for fingerprints on the firearm and the cartridges. Only one set of prints, and they belong to Mr. Garrett, here. The revolver is a Taurus 85 and the cartridges are .38 Specials. The only odd thing is that the serial number has been filed off, making it what we used to call a 'clean piece' but now the politically-charged FBI force us to say is a 'ghost gun'. I think I can do some work on it and get the serial number, though."

"Okay, good work." I said. "Let me know if you get that serial number, and who was the last legal owner of the gun. Martha! What time did this man die?"

Martha said "About two hours ago, around 7:30am."

I said "Are you confident that it's a suicide?"

"Not one bit, sir." Martha replied. "There are several 'strangenesses', as you like to say. I think Jody will agree with me that we should have found the gun a little farther away from the body, and not directly beneath the hand."

"I do agree with that, sir." said Jody Taylor. "When a person commits suicide like this, the body, and therefore the hand, instantly loses all strength. Therefore, even if it gets caught up by the finger on the trigger, the force of the recoil should push it and the hand back away from the head."

I said "And while a shot to the temple is not uncommon, most men eat their guns when they check out of their own volition. So yes, let's very carefully document all this. It may well be suicide, but let's investigate it as if it's a murder..."

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

Two hours later, I was in my office. Lieutenant Mary Milton came in and sat down at my hand-gesture invitation. She said "First, here's the timeline. Wade Garrett left County Jail at 7:10am. He was picked up by his corporate attorney, Martin G. Hayes, and went straight to his office, per the tracking on his ankle monitor."

Mary: "He called his assistant and asked her to come in to work. She said she had to drop her kids off at school, and would be there by 9:00am. She came in just before the top of the hour, and found his body in his office. She said the office door was open, which in itself was unusual; he usually kept the door closed."

Mary: "We've collected as much camera data as we were able to, from streets, parking lots, building cams, the works. There are no cameras inside the office. The cameras in the building showed nothing, but they may have been turned off or rendered inoperable; the timestamps don't match up consistently to anything."

Mary: "The employees at the scene, were cooperative in every way. They readily answered our Detectives's questions and helped get the video data. The corporate attorney Hayes had dropped Mr. Garrett off and then driven to the Country Breakfast Diner to eat breakfast. He was cooperative with Roark Coleman when Roark called him, and readily answered his questions, though he had very little to contribute. Joanne Warner had no problem getting the assistant to answer her questions, though the assistant was very shaken up by the whole thing."

Mary: "But all that changed when Garrett's first attorney, Edward N. Parker, showed up. He told the employees, especially the research people, to not say one word to the Police nor answer our questions under penalty of being fired and being sued, citing the NDAs they'd signed in the past. He also intimidated Hayes and the other corporate attorneys and officials, demanding they not cooperate with us, either."

I nodded, then said "Do you know who inherits Garrett's properties, and his business?"

Mary said "Roark asked the corporate attorney Hayes that, before Edward Parker showed up. Hayes said that Mr. Garrett had changed his will about three years ago. If his daughter Sage had reached majority, i.e. 18 years old, then she inherited everything outright. If Sage was still a minor, then a conservatorship would be formed to run the company until Sage reached the age of majority."

Mary: "Of course, Sage preceded her father in death, and therefore Wade Garrett died intestate. Silvia Garrett was not mentioned in the will at all, but she may be able to make a claim on the estate, and it'll be in the Courts for years, I imagine."

I said "When all is said and done, more will have been said than done. It'll be interesting to watch on Court TV. Anyhoo, that's it. He's dead, so we'll move on to the Katherine McAfee and Tamara Lidell cases..."

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

Sunset, Friday, May 13th. I was sitting on the deck of my home The Cabin, watching the sun disappear behind the western horizon and the lights of the Town beginning to twinkle in the valley below me, when NCPD Chief Molly Evans came out on the deck and sat down in the seat to my left.

"Well," she said, "the FBI notified us that they are taking over the Mystery Lake cases. They've been going through that whole area, but haven't yet found any more bodies... that I know of. The Feds aren't talking to us anymore."

"Don't look that gift horse in the mouth." I said acerbically. "By the way, did you speak to Officer Howard E. Neumann about consorting with the biased, dishonest, and corrupt Press?"

"I sure did." Molly replied. "He almost peed in his pants when he was called on the carpet in front of my desk. When I showed him that video of Bettina and Amber quoting him by name, he almost crapped his pants, and he was sweating and literally shaking."

Molly: "He told me that Amber Harris had come into the Station, and had asked about the things she mentioned on television... and she had stated the information points first and only asked him to confirm them. He said she already knew so much that he figured she'd talked to someone else, and was just confirming with him as a second source."

I said "And technically, that's what she was doing. But then she got on television and reported it as if he'd been the first, original source, and stated that he furnished the information in a way that she knew would get him in trouble with you."

"Or told him she'd give him credit, and he'd be happy to be named in the report, and he swallowed it hook, line, and sinker." Molly replied. "Anyway, he's on notice, and I doubt he'll ever speak to the Press again, except with the words 'no comment' or 'you'll have to talk to Press Relations', which is Captain Price."

"Good." I said. "By way of contrast, Jason Folby did a really good job on this case. Not to tell you what to do, but I'd recommend putting him on the Detective track."