No Show Ch. 02

Me: "Last, but not least, both the Merger and the rewritten Charter were passed by a vote of the People, especially the re-write, and that's vox populi, vox Dei. It's a huge counter to any assertion by the current weaponized USDOJ, as well as the Courts."

Sheriff Griswold growled "I think that 'poison pill' that Crowbar put into the new Charter, that any change to the structure triggers a plebiscite to separate the Town from the County, is what's going to hold some people back from rushing into any changes."

Tanya said "I agree, Sheriff... but I think our greatest danger is going to come from the State Legislature. They can dictate terms to us, especially if they split the Town and County up as part of merging other counties into ours."

"Changing the subject," I said, to change the subject, "I noticed that Bettina did not mention the Wildcats-Bulldogs controversy, nor go to Jeff Hull for a report. Hmmm, I wonder why.... I wunnnnn-der whyyyyy."

Chief Moynahan replied "You were right, Mister Crowbarrrr. The national Sports Media's take was vastly different from the local re-port-innnggg."

"How so?" asked Cindy.

I said "They actually showed that horrific call on Davis Smith before showing the fans throwing stuff at the refs, and pointed out that it's costing us his services for the first half of our next game. They weren't excusing the fans's conduct, but they gave it context that Bettina's Bunch never did. And they unloaded on that jerk Lawrence Watson, and almost all of the pundits said he got what was coming to him from the Wildcats fans after the game."

Me: "And they showed the Wildcats's President and Athletic Director's reply to University President Jerry Moore's insults, and let's just say that those guys won't be having Christmas dinner together. As if this rivalry needed any more heat... they've gone full 'bad blood' now."

Teresa said "You have some surprising allies, too, Don. Hospital Administrator Seth Warner told me that he's getting calls from University Boosters that want to donate just to the Hospital or to my Trust, that they are not going to support the University itself while Dr. Moore is President."

"What about Coach Thrasher?" growled Griswold.

Cindy said "Let's see what happens the rest of the season. I personally think he has to win out or he's out, but time will tell on that..."

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

"Get your subpoenas while they're hot." said Captain Damien Thompson as he came into Classroom 'J' at 9:10am. A meeting was in progress, that included the Sheriff, Chief Deputy Sheriff, and every Police Officer in the TCPD ranked Lieutenant or higher, except the Chaplains.

Captain Thompson began passing out the documents. The Sheriff, Cindy, Tanya, Teresa, and the Precinct Captains and Lieutenants were handed documents, but there was one notable and obvious exception: Your Iron Crowbar.

"Where's mine?" I asked Thompson.

He shrugged his shoulders in response. "I don't know, sir." he said. "These came to the front window Duty Desk, and they called me per SOP. I can go check and see if yours was misplaced."

"Yes, do that, and hurry back." said Thompson's direct boss, Commander Tanya Muscone. He came back a moment later and said that there had been no document for me; all the documents the Duty Desk signed for were accounted for and given out.

"These are subpoenas, issued by the I.G.'s Office as part of the Board of Inquest." Cindy said as she examined hers. "Can they do that?"

"Yes." I replied as I looked at Teresa's document. "The I.G. has the power to investigate, and he has some investigators, a lot like the D.A.'s Office's investigators. These subpoenas compel those of you who got one to be at the Inquest when it convenes, and it also compels you the recipients to at least meet with the investigators to answer their questions. Of course you have the right to take the Fifth and invoke, and you have the right to have legal counsel present... and I more than strongly recommend that you have that legal representation, and never be alone in a room with an Inquisitor... er, investigator."

"Why didn't you get one?" Cindy asked. "Because you weren't at City Hall last Tuesday?"

"I wasn't there, either, and I got one." Teresa said. "They should still want to talk to you, Commander. Maybe they left your name off by accident... er, Commander? Commander Troy?"

Her words had caused me to go into a reverie, and a deep one. It was a full minute before I came out of it. Only my iron grip on my iron crowbar (the real, red one) prevented it from slithering away. When I came out of it, I looked around and said "I think I know why I didn't get one. And it wasn't an oversight..."

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

Teresa came into my office at 11:00am. "You were right." she said as she sat down at my hand-gesture invitation. "It's all over both Precincts that you didn't get a subpoena while the rest of us did. We obviously have moles, and those moles are planting 'fake news' stories to stir up anger and division within the ranks of the Police Force."

"What's being said?" I asked.

Teresa replied "Most of it is asking why not. But some of it... well, the insinuation is that you're cooperating with the I.G. and throwing the TCPD under the bus to cover your own ass for not being there last Tuesday."

I gasped out loud. "Do they really believe that?"

Teresa said "I'm sorry to say, sir, that some of them do. Especially in 2nd Precinct. They're calling you 'Commander No Show', and this is the reinforcement they are seeking."

"And after all I've done for them, and for this Police Force..." I whispered, pretty much forgetting that I was not alone in the room.

When I finally came out of it, Teresa said "Sir, it's obvious that this is some sort of set-up. Tanya checked, and the I.G.'s Office did not ask for a subpoena for you. One of their investigators, Catherine Shannon, made the actual requests. I've never met her, and I don't know anything about her."

I said "The I.G.'s Office has two Investigators, and their LEO powers are the same as the D.A.'s Office's Investigators. Catherine Shannon is one of them. She's a little older than us, just over 40, I think. Her father was a bail bondsman, so she grew up in that life. She became an Investigator for the City's D.A.'s Office, then found that going private, getting her P.I. license, and becoming a full time bounty hunter for bail jumpers was more exciting and more lucrative than Government work."

Teresa said "But she's now back in Government work."

I said "If she'd been a Police Officer all those years, she'd have more Purple Orders than you have. And that is not a compliment, so do not try getting any more." Teresa gave what was for her a wan smile, and I continued: "Injuries and age caught up to her, so she got a job with the Federal Marshals. But she left that within a year, and was hired by Curly Goodwin when he was elected I.G."

Teresa asked "Who else is with the I.G. Investigators?"

I said "The only other one I know of, and I only know of them because I looked them up yesterday, is David Slater. He was a full bird colonel in the Army, in the JAG Corps, and is now retired."

Teresa said "Airborne? Or Leg?"

I grinned as I said "You are asking exactly the correct first question. He's a dirty nasty Leg. And in spite of that, he made O-6, but didn't make it to Brigadier General. No loss of face; very few do make it. He's in his early fifties, and the only other interesting thing is that he is a National-level Chess Tournament Director, which is a BFD in the Chess world. He works with a group that runs some very large chess tournaments in the United States."

"Cool beans." Teresa said. "Do you think they'll be (air quotes) 'friends or foes'? And by that, I mean do you think this I.G. inquiry will be a problem or not?"

"I don't know." I replied. "I truly don't know. The fly in the ointment is that I wasn't subpoenaed."

"Maybe that's not that bad a thing." Teresa said. "You don't have to fool with those fools."

"I'll bet you lunch at the Cop Bar that I get one by close-of-business Friday... after they have talked to all of you..." I said.

"No way I'm betting against you." Teresa wisely replied.

"I always knew you were a brilliant Iron Wolf." I said. "By the way, what are you doing this weekend?..."

Part 13 - I.G. Inquisition

"Remember, remember, the Fifth of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot;
I know of no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,'twas his intent.
To blow up King and Parli'ment.
Three score barrels of powder below.
To prove old England's overthrow.

By God's Providence he was catch'd,
With a dark lantern and burning match
Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the bells ring
Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God save the King!"

Friday, November 5th. Guy Fawkes Day. My son Ross's 7th birthday.

And I needed a party. The day before had been Doug Burke's 8th birthday, and he'd agreed to have a joint big party with Ross tonight at The Cabin. Teresa refused to tell me what she and Todd had bribed Doug with to obtain that agreement.

But we did have a small party for Doug... small being Todd and Teresa bringing him, Mike, and Jack Burke to The Cabin, Melina bringing Dan and Patricia to their brother's celebration, and Cindy, Molly, Ross, Ian, me, and the Sheriff also there. Dan and Patricia gave Doug a picture book, some with Doug, but most of Dan and Patricia, and of course the redoubtable Dorothy, daughter of Bowser. Ross and Ian gave Doug a card with a gift certificate for McDonalds, and said they'd give him a real gift at the joint party.

Almost everyone but Molly and her boys (who lived at The Cabin full time) left. Cindy, Teresa and the Sheriff stayed behind and asked to talk to me...

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

Flashback... Thursday, November 4th...

We went onto the back deck and I lit the fire pot for warmth. Several feral cats walked along the deck rails high above the ground, watching us. They and Cindy watched each other, and I suspected some unspoken vibes were going on between the Smooth Criminals and the Green Crowbar.

I said "I got my subpoena today from the I.G.'s Office... at 4:45pm. And they want to talk to me tomorrow morning, giving me virtually no time to prepare. Sheriff, I know you've not wanted to talk about it, but they're playing dirty, so we should have no qualms about our defense."

Teresa said "They told me I couldn't talk about it, or it would be Contempt."

"Me, too." Cindy said.

"That's bullshit, and another lie." I said. "It's not Grand Jury testimony. But if you don't want to say anything, I'll understand."

"I'll tell you this much." growled Griswold. "My interview was with I.G. Goodwin himself, Wednesday morning. It was on camera, and I had Bernadette Gillem there as my legal counsel, to which Goodwin did not object."

Griswold: "He asked me a lot of pretty basic questions about how we plan for security, what we do to implement it, what we do for emergencies. Then he went into who was in charge, and seemed to emphasize when control over a situation shifted from the Sheriff's Department to the Police, if at all."

Griswold: "I answered truthfully that the Police come in when the situation gets hostile, requires armor protection, and requires larger numbers of people to keep control of the situation. Goodwin pressed on the breakdown of the chain-of-command, and I truthfully told him that that was a flaw we did not expect to have, and would take corrective actions."

Griswold: "He did ask where you and I had been at the time of the incident, and I told him that I was at your home, that I'd told you to stand down, and that I'd sent Chief Deputy Ross as my representative. To my surprise, he asked no more questions about who was in charge versus who was supposed to be in charge, but he did press on your absence. He asked if you'd listened to the voicemail Allgood sent you, and I said you didn't while in my presence."

Griswold: "When he asked why I'd had you stand down, I told him that it really was your birthday, but also because I thought the situation was under control, and that your presence at City Hall wasn't crucial. And that was really it. No pressure, just fact-finding. I thought it went fine."

I said "They didn't ask 'what did you know, and when did you know it?' At all?"

"No." growled Griswold. Then he got thoughtful. He finally said: "And if that's Allgood's beef with us, why didn't he ask that?"

"I have my suspicions." I said. "Ladies, are you willing to share?"

Teresa said "I can see that I need to. My interview was today (Thursday), this afternoon, and it was neither (air quotes) 'no pressure' nor 'fine'. Both David Slater and Catherine Shannon were there. I brought my attorney Agnes T. Spires, and they tried to tell me she couldn't come in with me. I told them I had the right to an attorney at any time that any Government official at any level was formally questioning me."

Teresa: "They pushed back on that, saying I wasn't a suspect, that it was just fact-finding. I asked them if they remembered they were talking to a Police Officer that knew how to conduct legally defensible interrogations, and apparently better than they did. I then told them that I also had a right to Union representation, and if they kept up the crap I would invoke that right, and delay their questioning by as much as a full day. That seemed to surprise them... scare them, really... and they suddenly got a lot more cooperative."

Teresa: "And everything they asked me... was about you, Don. They didn't ask if I was at the scene, they didn't ask if I had been called, or anything like that. They only asked if you had been called, why you didn't go to the scene, and if you had told anyone not to call you for anything because it was your birthday. I told them that you and Tanya had made a joke about it, but you had never given me any such instructions in a serious or formal way."

Teresa: "They tag-teamed on me a little bit, asking each other's questions in slightly different ways. I stopped that by repeatedly pointing out that they'd just asked that, and my answers weren't going to change no matter how they asked nor who asked. Then Agnes spoke up and told them to quit wasting my time with their obvious shenanigans, and they wrapped it up. They came across to me as amateurish, and like they thought I was the dumbest rock in the box or something."

I said "They didn't realize who they were up against. We're not ordinary Citizens on the street they can intimidate or trick with their tactics."

Cindy said "And that's exactly the vibe I got from them: they're like Federal Agents, that think they can bully people around, either subtly or directly. They learned very quickly with me."

"What happened?" I asked.

Cindy said "They interviewed me not long after I.G. Goodwin talked to the Sheriff. I had Cy Hart as my legal representation, and they tried to tell me I couldn't have a lawyer with me during the questioning. I said fine, I'll take the Fifth and be done with them, and Cy read them the Riot Act about me being denied my fundamental and Constitutional right to have an attorney."

"So they relented, but acted all miffed and put out about it." Cindy said. "They asked me what our security plans were for City Hall, especially for trouble events like the one Tuesday night. I told them we had basic plans, but that I would not speak publicly of them without the Sheriff's explicit permission. They asked if those plans had failed Tuesday, and I said truthfully that some things had worked but others had not, and we'd be reviewing and making corrections where necessary."

Cindy: "Then they did ask me if we had any advance knowledge of the protesters flooding the Council Chamber and protesting. I said truthfully that I'd had no advance knowledge nor warning of what had transpired, which is why I went to your birthday party instead of being at City Hall to begin with."

Cindy: "And then, like Teresa said, it was all about you, Don. Why weren't you there? Was it true that you been called and apprised of the situation? Did you give instructions to not be called for any emergency because it was your birthday? I told them you and Tanya had joked about that, and I'd heard nothing else about you not wanting to be contacted."

"And then they just ended it there." Cindy said. "I'd really expected to be asked about the altercation between Jerome and Bailey, about what happened between me and Bailey, and all that... but they didn't ask a single question about that. And the vibe I was getting... is that you were the complete focus of their inquiry, and they don't care about anything else."

"Just one more question, for all of you." I said. "When were you contacted to arrange your interviews?"

"Tuesday morning." the Sheriff replied.

"Tuesday morning." Cindy replied.

"Late Tuesday morning." Teresa replied...

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

Now in live time, on Friday the 5th, my attorney Mike G. Todd and I were talking in my office as we waited for the I.G. Inquisitors to arrive. They'd wanted me to come to City Hall, and I told them our Main Conference Room was better suited for our meeting... and that if they wanted to talk to me, they'd do so on my terms.

Mike Todd said "The good news is that KXTC's high-powered, well-financed lawyers aren't making a dent in our case against them. They can't get it delayed any further; it'll happen by early next year. They can't get it dropped. They can't get me to the table to negotiate a settlement, and I think that's what's scaring them the most."

"Good." I said. "I really hope we can get them shut down---"

BUZZZ!

It was my assistant Helena, telling me they were here...

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

David Slater was tall, slender, in good shape, but not as broad-shouldered as me. His face looked permanently semi-cynical with a long nose, and a ring of brown hair surrounded the bald dome of the top of his head. He was wearing a dark gray suit, white shirt, and a necktie of subdued colors that didn't stand out.

In her well tailored purplish suit, off-white blouse, and dark-green-dominant multi-colored scarf, Catherine Shannon looked like a sophisticated, high-powered lawyer. She wasn't unattractive, but she wasn't standout beautiful, and she looked older than her age. Her eyes were dark and while not penetrating, seemed incapable of displaying warmth. Her hair was dark brown and styled to look 'professional'. But for all of that, one could see that she had a hard edge to her, and that like my Detective Lisa Monroe, she had seen seamier times in her life, and knew how to deal with them.

Helena brought the Investigators down the hall and to the Main Conference Room, where Mike and I were waiting for them. I was in my 'normal' seat, next to the end, facing the doorway, the window to my back. Mike G. Todd was sitting to my left. As they came in, I came around the end and shook hands with them as I made observations, and I invited them to sit down in the two seats opposite me and Mike, their backs to the door and the light from the window in their faces.

"You really don't need a lawyer, Commander." said David Slater.

"Really?" I said acerbically as I gave him a look connoting my derision with his obvious ploy.

Catherine Shannon misunderstood, or pretended to. "This is just a fact-finding interview of a witness, not an interrogation of a suspect." she said.

I said "What I was saying is: 'Really? You're gonna play it that way?'. You're just going to come in here and insult my intelligence as well as try to deny me my Constitutional rights?"