Only Time Ch. 01

I asked "Did the guards see Senator Russell at any time yesterday? Did he go up to the office in the morning, or afternoon?"

"One Federal Marshal brought food to Russell around 2:00pm." said Karina. "He handed Russell the sack full of food at the door. Other than that, he apparently stayed inside the living quarters, isolated..."

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

We went to the Federal Building, and to Karina White's office, which was Jack's old office; he of course now occupied the corner office at the end of the hall. It was the same building and offices, but it felt really different. Team Lazarus was no longer here. Camaraderie of the past was just being built again.

"Okay, I'll put this up on the monitor." said Karina. "Here's the nearest traffic camera view, which shows Russell coming into the top of the screen, then hitting right by those air conditioner units. And this is from the Federal Building's roof camera. It's grainy, but shows Russell falling, coming into the top of the frame, then through, then he's obscured by bushes just before hitting the ground."

Jack Muscone came in as we watched. "The autopsy is already back." he said. "Russell had been drinking, but not excessively so. Blood alcohol was 0.06. No other drugs found in his system, though a more thorough test is still being run. Almost no food in his system; the M.E. thinks it was at least 18 hours since he last ate."

"That's good info." I said. When Karina looked at me, I said "It means that just one or two drinks would be absorbed pretty quickly into his bloodstream, giving rise to that 0.06 reading." Karina nodded.

Muscone said "And the M.E. said he died on impact after the fall, so it's not like he was killed sooner and his dead body thrown out later."

"Okay." I said. "So... any camera footage of anyone coming in or out, or up to Russell's apartment? And don't tell me the Federal Marshals didn't have him under surveillance; he was under house arrest."

"Not much gets past you." Muscone said, with perhaps a little bit of asperity. "Karina, what did they get?"

"The Cannon Building is almost completely rented out," said Karina, "so there was a lot of traffic out in the previous afternoon and evening, up to about 10:00pm. Two cars came in after midnight, their tags check out as other tenants. The Marshals's cams show that Russell's lawyer came in around 7:00pm, and Russell's daughter Ruby came in shortly afterwards. The lawyer left around 10:00pm... but we have no video footage of Ruby Russell leaving."

"And you've put out an APB on her?" I asked.

"Not yet." said Muscone. "We're trying to trace where she was by tracking her cellphone pings, but there's 'no joy' on that. Senator Russell's cellphone is missing, also."

Karina said "Nothing landed on the roof of the building, and the locked and guarded door from the roof to the office never opened. No one else came in or out, except a changing of the guard... the Federal Marshals shift change. Russell's door never opened, so how he got up to his office to jump out of the window there is currently beyond everyone's comprehension."

I nodded. "Karina, can you send all this footage to the TCPD? And maybe to Inspector Maxwell of the SBI?"

She and Muscone exchanged a look, then Jack said "Don, can I see you in my office for a moment, while Lt. Davis and ASAC White review the video together?"

"Uh, sure." I said. "And Karina, would you mind finding out specifically which Federal Marshal brought Russell that food at 2:00pm? I'd like to ask him a couple of... 'clarifying' questions..."

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

As we sat down in Jack's corner office, he made the gesture for me to turn on my anti-bugging device. I just gave him a thumbs-up; the device was on and working.

"I didn't say anything in front of everyone," said Jack, "because I realized what you're doing, trying to build some interagency trust, or at least stopping us from fighting each other. Karina is going to give out the Cannon Building's video, but the Federal Marshals's video will not be shared under any circumstances. In fact, it's already been classified Top Secret with one of the highest compartmentalizations in the National Security Agency."

"What, 'BEEKEEPER'?" I asked humorously, remembering the classification that was all about Your Iron Crowbar.

"I wouldn't be surprised, but no." Jack said, rolling with it. "And Dr. Robin Isley, who is still our EAD for now, put out the edict that any videotape in Federal custody will remain so, and not be shared."

"Ah, so desu ka? Isley knows about it and has already thrown up roadblocks." I said. "So, Jack, what can you tell me, friend to friend, Groom to Best Man, behind the scenes?"

"Let me escape that by asking you." replied Muscone. "What do you think happened there?"

"He was murdered." I said. "U.S. Senator Richard Nunn told me that the Republican Party was going to cut their losses and expel Russell from the Senate, even if that meant Val Jared would name a true Conservative, or at least a non-Establishment Republican, to the seat. So Russell ceased to be of value to anyone, and indeed became a threat to the Establishment Elites. So I'd say... the Swamp Frogs won this one."

"I'm just glad the bastard is dead." said Muscone. "It might be wrong of me to say that, but I think this world is better off without that dirtbag in it."

"I agree." I said. "So how are things here? Is Isley mucking things up?"

Muscone said "Like you like to say, everyone around here is as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs... except Melina. Karina White knows how to play the game, and she's just keeping her head down and our ducks in a row. SAC Ashton Cardigan of our cyber unit here was put under pressure to spy on me and my teams here and in Southport, and he told Isley bluntly that he wasn't going to do that. I appreciate his honesty and his courage, but now the betting pool is whether or not he gets fired before I do."

"You're not going anywhere." I said. "And neither is Cardigan, unless he just wants to." I stood up and said "Well, I need to be getting back home. If you come over, I'll buy you a double cheeseburger or two, and I'll share some observations with you then and over there. But not here." Jack nodded.

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

When I returned to Karina White's office, she was alone in the office. Jerome Davis was across the hall, talking to Special Agent Julius Jefferson.

"Don," Karina said, "I called and asked which Federal Marshal brought the food to Senator Russell. They checked their notes and said it was John A. Smith, who is a new hire and had been on the detail just two days. The problem is, no one can find him right now, nor one of the detail who was on the overnight shift, a George A. Adair. They basically just walked out of the Federal Building, and are simply gone."

I nodded. "Put out APB for 'em." I said. "Simple names like that? New to the detail? Uh huh."

Karina nodded, then said said "I just ran checks on both of them. They were very well vetted. Good credentials, good marks at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Facility at Glynn County, Georgia."

"That is what someone wants us to see." I said. "I'm calling it a 'backstop'. I think they were inserted into the U.S. Marshals, and apparently with a backstop that is really holding up to scrutiny. But if you contact 'Glynco' (the colloquial name for that training facility), I'll bet those two never were there."

"Wow." said Jack Muscone, who had just walked in. "So we've still got that problem?"

"It never went away." I said. "And I'm betting these backstops are The Geek's handiwork..."

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

"So, what did you think?" I asked Jerome Davis as we drove back along the University-City Highway at reasonable speeds... 'reasonable' meaning slower than Cindy would be driving, fer darn sure.

"I talked to ASAC White while you were talking with SAC Muscone." Jerome said. "She's really sharp; she sees things almost like you do, sir."

"The Sheriff would approve of your asskissing skills." I said. "But yes, Karina White is very sharp, and I think she's seeing what I'm seeing. What do you think we're seeing?"

"I can make a case for either murder or suicide." said Jerome. "ASAC White thinks it's murder."

"And she's right." I said. "In spite of the appalling mistreatment of that crime scene in the office, there were still enough clues left to suggest murder. Scrapes on the windowsill and the wall below, the way he was dressed..."

"Sir, how did he get up to the office areas?" asked Jerome. "Is there a secret back passage we don't know about?"

"Nope. And I know that for a fact." I said. "The only way to get up there would be within sight of at least some of the guards. But they all deny seeing him. So what does that tell you?"

"That someone is lying." Jerome said. "I heard SAC White make the phone call about that Agent who allegedly brought the Senator some food, and now he can't be found. Does that mean all of the Marshals are involved, or just some of them?"

"That's a thought." I said. "Here's another... Senator Russell had not eaten in 18 hours, give or take. If he died at dawn, and the camera evidence seems to show that, then he didn't eat at all since 11:00am the day before, noon at the latest. Yet supposedly food was brought to him, and he had visitors in the early evening. Something is wrong there; something does not add up."

"How so, sir?" asked Jerome.

"Teachable moment." I said. "You tell me."

"Uhh..." Jerome said, then thought about it. "Sir, I'm not just not seeing it. He might have just eaten lunch and not been hungry the rest of the day."

"It's possible, of course." I said. "But I'm thinking of it another way, and in combination with his blood alcohol level. There are two ways his blood alcohol is 0.06 at the time of his death: first, he drank something not long before he died, when even a small amount of alcohol on an empty stomach could elevate his blood level; and second, he had been drinking heavily but fell unconscious around noon yesterday, and the number came back down over time."

"Ahhhhh." said Jerome as the light bulb lit up over his head. "You think he was unconscious all day and night..."

"Yes." I said. "I can't prove this, at least not yet, but I think that fake Marshal who took him food may have rendered him unconscious, and then he was taken up to the office area in the early hours of this morning and dumped out the window."

"But..." said Jerome, as the enormity of what I was saying hit him. "But that means that his own daughter was complicit in this!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." I said. "Ruby Russell needs to be interviewed, and not by the Feds." I had Jerome dial a number for me on my Police iPhone...

Part 3 - Inquiries

2:00pm, Monday, October 14th. When we got back to Police Headquarters, the Duty Desk Officer at the employees entrance told me that the Chief wanted me to come to his office. Lt. Davis peeled off into MCD and I walked down to the corner officer, where his assistant Cassie just extended her hand to the door of the Chief's Conference Room in a gesture connoting that I was to walk on in. I did knock on the door first.

"Come on in, Mr. Crowbarrr." drawled the Chief. Also present were the Sheriff and the Deputy Police Chief.

"Before we begin," said the Sheriff, "tell us what happened with Senator Russell." I gave them the details that I'd learned.

Cindy said "And it took them, what, more than four hours to call you about it?"

"Crowbar people catch on fast." I said. "Yes, that's true. Jack Muscone may have been ordered to not call me. A huge jurisdiction dispute is brewing over it, and I think partly because someone in the Federal Government does not want the truth to come out about Senator Russell's death."

The Sheriff said "Val Jared has already called me about who to appoint as Russell's replacement. And I told him that I would not accept it, and that he'd better not offer it to you and take you away from this Police Force."

"I don't want any part of the United States Senate." I said. "I'll leave that to others. Maybe one of my kids will be a U.S. Senator one day, but it won't be me paving the way."

"Heh heh heh heh." the Chief chuckled. "O-kayyyy, what this meeeee-ting is about is that Judge Folsom made a ruling on the Board of Inquiry lawsuit. The judge said that Mr. Landau and Mr. Morse may remaaaaain on the Board, but Finneran cannot be removed from it. In an extraordinary twisting and parsing of the English language, Judge Folsom said that by naming the two others but not specifically excluding Finneran, the Mayor was de facto accepting Finneran to the Board, and so for that reason Finneran will not be forced to recuse himself."

I was open-mouthed with shock. Then I recovered and said: "All right, then... get ready for a Police strike. In the meantime, I need to call Mike Todd and the Police Captain's Union to appeal this---"

"Let me offer an alternative, Crowbar." growled the Sheriff. "We have the majority of the Board. Just go along with it. Neither you nor Commander Ross will be required to testify, as you're the defendants. We go through the motions, get it out of the way. It doesn't matter what they find, it's up to the Council. No one will be drinking any tainted water at the Council meeting, either."

I just shook my head. "No. No sir. I won't do it. It's wrong. And it's doubly wrong since Finneran is running for I.G."

"And that's another thing." said the Sheriff. "If you keep this going until the New Year, then the new Board of Inquest will take it up... and their findings will count for something, and it'll be out of the Council's hands."

"Not to mention, Mr. Crowbarrr," said the Chief, "that new Board of Inquest will be looking to validate its existence and assert its independence. And they may use you as their guinea pig for that."

I looked over at Cindy. "You're in this with me." I said. "What do you want to do?"

"Whatever you decide, I'll support." Cindy said levelly. I noticed her glance at the Chief and Sheriff with determination in her eyes. It did not take my mother's powers of deduction to realize they'd 'worked on' her already, and she was defying them to support me.

"Is there anything else, Sheriff, Chief?" I asked.

"So you agree to going forward with the BOI?" asked the Sheriff.

"No sir." i said. "I'm asking to be excused so I can go call my lawyer and have him appeal Judge Folsom's decision."

"By all means." said the Chief unhappily. "Go make that call. You can go too, Ms. Ross..."

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

Cindy and I went to my office. As we sat down, I said "Cindy, I really appreciate you supporting me in there. Having said that, now that it's just us and the crowbars, I need to know what you really want to do. If you don't want me to appeal this, just say so."

Cindy shook her head, then said "I'm with you all the way on this. In for a penny, in for a pound, and we're in it together. It's your decision."

I picked up my personal iPhone and called Mike G. Todd...

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

3:30pm, Monday, October 14th. I was writing up my case notes of the trip to the City and Senator Russell's death. My door was open, and I heard a loud cheer from the MCD room. Like any curious Detective, I got up and wandered across the hall to see what was the matter.

There was a large crowd of Detectives in the room, including Lieutenants Mary Milton and Jerome Davis. Joanne Warner said when she saw me come in the (back hall) door: "It's the new ad, sir. They're rewinding the DVR now."

That took a couple of seconds, then someone hit the play button. A photo of Finneran in younger days showed up, then a 'NAMbLA' logo was superimposed as the woman's voice said that Finneran was an active member of the North American Man-boy Love Association, then asked if the County could trust their children's future to a man who believed in doing away with pedophilia laws. The boilerplate said that the ad was paid for by 'The Friends of the Town & County', which I knew to be Judge Lorraine McGill and Mrs. Myrtle L. James's PAC.

"Wow." I said. "And the timing could not be better... tomorrow starts early voting."

"I'll bet KXTC won't run that ad." said Cindy, who had just come in behind me. "Think this will have an effect on the IG race?"

I said: "In the words of the late, great Paul Harvey: 'Stand by for NEWS!'." That was everyone's clue that Your Iron Crowbar can play dirty, too... and I was just getting started.

"Here's the new Finneran ad." said Theo. We watched as images of me with my crowbar came up, always seeming to look angry, with images of a military helicopter being flown (not my Cobra, but real military footage from the Viet Nam era), and Police making arrests during the Jasmine Nix riots. (Author's note: 'Sandstorm', Ch. 04).

"As your Inspector General," snarled Finneran, his mustache droopy, the collars of his yellow shirt looking wilted, "I will protect minorities from Police brutality. I will prosecute cops that attack blacks just for being black, and I will bring swift justice to Commander Donald Troy for his cowboy antics that get minorities killed!" The boilerplate said the ad was paid for by the 'LGBTQ Action PAC'.

My astute Detectives did not fail to see my smirk as I turned and left the MCD room...

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

Twenty minutes later I was being called back into MCD. "Priya Ajmani just reported on Commissioner Finneran, sir." said Lt. Davis.

"Let's see it." I said. The DVR was ready, and someone hit the play button.

The program that was on was suddenly interrupted by a 'BREAKING NEWS' screen, followed by Priya coming on screen. "This is Priya Ajmani, Fox Eight News!" said the gorgeous Indian reporterette. "Fox Eight News has learned that Board of Inquiry Commissioner and candidate for Inspector General Finneran is not only a current, card-carrying member of NAMbLA, the North American Man-boy Love Association, but the SBI has received photographic evidence that Finneran may have molested underage boys! SBI-OER Inspector Britt Maxwell made this announcement just moments ago. Roll tape."

Tape rolled, showing Inspector Maxwell saying: "The SBI has opened an investigation of Commissioner Finneran based upon evidence we have received that he molested underage boys. Some of our evidence is photographs, but we also have sworn affidavits and depositions on tape by two of his victims. We have been asked to handle this case by Governor Jared and Town & County Sheriff Griswold because Commissioner Finneran is running for the Inspector General position in that County, and having us investigate will free the Town & County Police of any accusations of bias in the investigation..."

The rabid Press smelled blood, and they went into a frenzy, shouting questions. Inspector Maxwell answered them for several long minutes.

"Commander Ross," I said out loud in front of everyone. "have Captain Thompson call KXTC... and tell them that Commander Troy can definitely be reached for comment on this." The room broke out into cheers and applause. Needless to say, no one at KXTC availed themselves of the opportunity to reach me for comment, so KFXU and the Town & County Examiner Online got my comments...

And where did the photos of Finneran come from? Pastor Raymond Kyle Westboro, himself guilty of being photographed in disgusting and illegal sex acts (Author's note: 'A Tiny Slip', Ch. 01.), had contributed to McGinty's Materials similar photos of Finneran committing disgusting and illegal acts...

Part 4 - Repercussions

The good feelings ended quickly. Several persons were brought into the Main Conference Room. The Chief and I were asked to join them.