Price No Object Ch. 04

After Eddy drove off, I locked up and Teresa and I got into my Police SUV to drive back to Police Headquarters. I took a lot of sudden turns and Teresa and I watched carefully to see if we were being followed, but we saw nothing suspicious.

"Eight hundred pound gorilla in the room." Teresa said. "Do you think that guy was telling the truth?"

"Why wouldn't he be?" I asked.

Teresa replied: "It occurs to my very cynical mind that BigCommo could've sent him to throw you completely off the trail. And to be candidly honest, the story he told is pretty fantastical."

"True." I said. "But we've seen and discovered some pretty fantastical stuff ourselves over the last few years."

"But Don, come on." Teresa said. "If a man was that critical to something that big, they would not have let him walk out of there, much less quit their employment. Edward Snowden had to run to where? Hong Kong? and then Russia, and they're still going to kill him if and when they can."

I replied "And Dwayne Matheson is dead, isn't he?" That struck Teresa into silence.

I continued: "You're essentially correct, but Dwayne didn't know everything about the project. And from what 'Porlock' there said, they 'misunderestimated' his indispensability to the project. I'll add this: this is still BigCommo we're talking about, not the Intelligence Community nor the CIA."

Teresa shook her head. "But why attack Julie? They couldn't kidnap her and hold her hostage forever. And it was him they wanted, not her, wasn't it?"

"You're absolutely right." I said. "But you have to look at it in the correct context. You have to see it like the killer was seeing it. And then... it will make more sense."

That earned me a fullbore 'Teresa Cunt' look. Fortunately, we were pulling into the Police Headquarters parking lot. And as we went inside, I dropped a further bomb on the Iron Wolf: "And one reason I know he was telling the truth... is because I know who he really is."

It is fortunate for me that Teresa does not carry a crowbar, and I do...

Part 14 - Roadblocks

11:00am, Thursday, January 7th. FBI Special Agent in Charge Jack Muscone and I were in Lexington, in Hamilton County, which was southeast of Coltrane County on the way to Midtown. The U.S. Courthouse for our District was there, and we were in the Chambers of Federal Judge K.M. Landis.

Also in his Chambers were Karen Harper, the Director of Human Resources for Big Commo's City office, who was also over the Town & County sub-office, and BigCommo's attorney, Edward N. Parker, the newest addition to the powerhouse firm of Gresham & Mason, P.C.

Karen Parker was in her early forties with brown hair and a 'housewife next door' face and body, belying a tremendous energy and drive and passion for her company and the man she worked for.

Parker was in his fifties, tall and lanky, with brown hair and a face that looked as if it had caved in on itself. In some ways he reminded me of Jerry Barsbane. (Author's note: 'The Nuclear Option', 'Iscariot' for more on Barsbane.) But Barsbane had been 'happy-go-lucky', while Edward N. Parker more closely resembled an accountant.

"Yes, Your Honor." I said in reply to the Judge's opening query. "We believe that BigCommo has not turned over all of the documents covered by your subpoena."

"Yes we have." said Edward Parker. "We have complied fully with the subpoena, Your Honor, and we must protest these baseless insinuations by Troy."

"Commander, do you have any evidence to back your claim?" asked Judge Landis, knowing full well that I did.

"Yes, Your Honor." I said, bringing out a document. "First of all, this document refers to the 'Charrington Project', which is a classified BigCommo project to which Dwayne Matheson was assigned. But no other documents mention it, and some should."

"Your Honor," said Karen Harper, "due to the classified nature of that project, we have redacted it from some documents, and have declined to turn other documents over pending approval by the National Security Agency------"

"Stop right there." said Judge Landis. "First of all, my subpoena did not allow for the NSA to be able to approve or disapprove you turning documents over at your whim. Second, Commander Troy and his Police Chief Moynahan have the clearances to be able to see anything you could possibly have classified. And what's more, their Police Psychologist is a retired Deputy Director of the CIA, and she can see what the President of the United States sees. That's one strike against you on the way to a Contempt charge. Okay, Commander, is there anything else?"

"Yes, Your Honor." I replied, bringing out another document... a copy of the paper Carole had found. "This is a copy of a document in evidence that was found in the home of the crime scene. It appears to be a job offer, but there is no corresponding job offer in the records sent to us."

After perusing the document, Judge Landis passed it to the attorney Edward N. Parker, who looked at it and then passed it to Karen Harper. Parker had not been able to hide a startled look when he saw it, though Harper was a little better at hiding her emotions. Practice, maybe?

"Well?" asked Judge Landis, his voice very unfriendly.

"Your Honor," said Edward Parker, "I understand that there were no documents at all in the Matheson home------"

"How would you know that?" I asked, interrupting the legal beagle that had just made a huge mistake.

"If I may be allowed to finish, Your Honor," snarled Edward Parker, "it was noted as part of the crime scene in the Police reports." The judge looked at me. I looked hard at Mr. Parker.

"Which Police reports would those be?" I asked. I then turned to the judge and said "Your Honor, the TCPD has not released any of the Police reports of the crime, nor the autopsy results. Not to the Public, not to the Press, not to anyone else. Therefore, I again ask from where the BigCommo attorney learned that information."

"Well?" barked Judge Landis at Parker.

"I heard it from somewhere, Your Honor." said the lawyer. "And I'll reply by asking Commander Troy directly, here and now: is it true that there were no documents at all in the household at the time it was searched?"

"Don't answer that." said Judge Landis to me. Then he turned to the lawyer and said "Your attempt to deflect from answering the question of how you came to know that information has been noted by this Court. So why wasn't there a copy of the original in the records submitted under the subpoena?"

"Your Honor, I don't believe this document is real." said Karen Harper, "I believe Donald Troy fabricated it. Remember, sir, that Donald Troy associated with a White Supremacist group last Christmas that is suspected of being insurrectionists------"

"Watch yourself, Ms. Harper." interrupted Judge Landis angrily. "I will not tolerate crap like that out of you. That's two strikes against you on the way to a Contempt ruling. Now where is that document, and why wasn't it included in the papers submitted to the Police?"

"There is no such document in the Matheson employee records, Your Honor." Karen Harper said with alacrity.

"Your Honor," I countered, "perhaps you should instruct Ms. Harper and her attorney here to look further than the employee records. Perhaps in the personal records of the COO Duane Llewelyn or CEO Matthew Willis." Again the lawyer Edward N. Parker failed to hide the shock on his face, followed by ugly hatred as he realized I was onto them. Karen Harper's face also showed bitter hatred.

"My subpoena was for all records pertaining to the Mathesons and Cawthorne." Judge Landis said. "You have until 5:00pm today to turn those records over, whether classified or not, so I would suggest you get moving, Mr. Parker."

Parker got up and so did Karen Harper, but Judge Landis said "Don't go anywhere, Ms. Harper. You're confined to this Courthouse until those records are turned over or until 5:00pm. And if 5:00pm comes and goes without those records, you'll be held in 
Contempt until those records are found..."

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

Jack Muscone and I got into my Police SUV and drove towards the highway back to our Town & County. But at the last second we made a sudden turn, and I made my way to State Highway 40, going east towards Pottsville. If we were being followed, the followers were better than me.

"That was a really good job in there." Muscone said once we were on the highway. "You tied them up in knots. That lawyer seemed almost incompetent. They'd have been better off just sending in that HR person."

"She has the passion of a loyal company employee that hates me for daring cause her beloved boss Mitt Willis any problems." I said. "That attorney a relatively new hire, but he'll be up to speed in his hatreds pretty soon.

Muscone barked a laugh. Then he said "Sooo, are you just not asking, or do you not know?"

"That you met with Governor Marshall about the SBI Director job?" I replied.

"Okay, so you do know." Muscone said. "And since you're not asking, I'll tell you that our conversation went well, but that I don't expect to be offered the job. And that's because Governor Marshall is pretty damned astute and figured out that I probably won't take it if it is offered. And the main reason is that I'm not a top-job politician and paper-pusher type. I like where I am now, and will probably retire as a Field Agent."

I nodded as I watched the road and the vehicle's mirrors for signs of trouble, then said: "I'm not totally shocked at that. But does that mean that things are calming down for you in the FBI?"

"Only because the Swamp Frogs have new targets." said Muscone. "Lionel Carmel has friends in the Intelligence Community, and he's been pushing very hard to get Tracy Stone ousted. But I think that ship has sailed, and she's out of danger."

"I agree." I said.

Muscone: "I'm also hearing rumblings that the US DOJ Civil Rights Division really wants to go after Daniel Allgood and then the TCPD, but they're being held back for the time being. It's like a drag racing engine in neutral but being revved at full power; they're tearing themselves to pieces but are unable to get the traction they're craving."

I said "I suspect that some groundwork is being laid for that, in the form of Edgar Silas doing some agitating in Council meetings. I think we'll hear a LOT more from them this Spring."

Muscone nodded, then said "Oh, by the way... in my meeting with Governor Marshall, she asked who I'd like to see as SBI Director if I didn't get the job. I told her I had no names nor preferences, except for some guy whose name won't be mentioned but his initials are (D)on (T)roy. Ms. Marshall just said 'Don't I wish!'."

I just shook my head in mock resignation, then Jack continued: "Then I said that I just wanted to see someone that I and the FBI could work with harmoniously, which wasn't the case in the days of Jack Lewis. And it wasn't all that much better under Curly Goodwin."

I nodded. "That would be nice. Anyhoo, I know Norm Chow has turned the Director job down, and of course Britt Maxwell has, too. Carter Fischer and Gordon Grigsby are essentially handling the day-to-day, but I don't think either will be tapped for the Director position. They're too young, and you're right that the Director is going to have to have some political savvy and interpersonal skills to steer the ship through the minefields of the State Legislature..."

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

We arrived in The City and went to the City Diner for lunch. Somewhat to my surprise, Jack Muscone did not go to the Federal Building nor even check in with them by smart phone.

After lunch, we headed to the southwestern part of The City, to which a number of the better businesses had moved, escaping areas that were becoming 'less attractive'. This area had become to The City what Palmyra County had become to Midtown.

Satco Engineering was located on the top floor of a very stereotypical glass-wall office building in a very stereotypical office park. We went inside and I checked in with the receptionist, giving her my card in an old-school-manners way.

On the way to the location, Jack had said "So who is this guy we're going to see? his name sounds familiar, but I'm not placing him at the moment."

"Lawrence J. Gordon, CEO of Satco Engineering." I said. "He is the father of Peter D. Gordon, who you'll remember was acquitted of raping Kendra Luskin. Lawrence Gordon publicly condemned his son Peter, immediately calling Peter guilty." (Author's note: 'Falsely Accused', Ch. 01-02.)

"Ah yes, now I remember." said Muscone.

I said: "Lawrence J. Gordon is a Big-Boy-wannabee. He was a Senior Vice President of Acme Tool & Dye before BOW Enterprises bought out Acme, and he's been on several Boards from Henry R. Wargrave's Acme conglomerate to DynaCorp, to BigAgraFoods."

Back in live time, Mr. Gordon's assistant came and got Jack and me (and my card), and led us to the CEO's office suite, then announced us as she ushered us into the office. Lawrence Gordon had stood up when we came in, but did not come around the desk to shake hands with us. Hmmm, I thought to myself.

After we were seated, Gordon said "I had intended to have my CIO here with me, but he was called away to an emergency situation in California. So how can I help you?"

I said "Thank you for making some time for us today, sir. I'm here because last Monday you had a meeting with Dwayne Matheson and Jeff Cawthorne, is that not right?" Gordon acknowledged that it was, and I said "You may have heard on the news that Dwayne Matheson and his wife Julie died on Monday, and since his last movements of the day were to come here for a meeting, I was hoping to ask you a few questions about his state of mind at the time."

"Oh." said Gordon, who then said "Well, I don't know how much I'll be able to help, but go ahead."


I said "Sir, what exactly was your meeting with them about?"

Gordon said "We're in the market for a new security software suite of tools, and so I met with them to discuss it."

I said "Did the meeting go well?"

Gordon said "In terms of a productive discussion, I think so. It was a first meeting, so nothing was decided, nothing promised. My CIO and I interviewed them on their capabilities, and they got some specs from us so that they could put together a proposal."

"Who did most of the talking between Mr. Matheson and Mr. Cawthorne?" I asked.

"Mr. Cawthorne, by far." said Larry Gordon. "Mr. Matheson answered any technical questions my CIO asked, but the majority of it was between Mr. Cawthorne and myself."

"Did either of them at any time give any indication that there was something wrong?" I asked. "Did either seem angry, upset, distracted, or worried?"

"No, not at all." said Gordon. "They seemed fine. They were paying attention, very much involved in the discussions."

I said "You just said nothing was promised as a result of the meeting. My question is: how did it end? Were they hoping for more, or expecting more?"

"No." said Gordon. "In fact, I think they were happy we gave them enough information to make a proposal, when we could have just said we should schedule another meeting and then not contacted them again."

I said "Did you plan on going further with them? Hiring them for your contract?"

I saw Gordon's eyes flicker and move around for a second, then he said "It's kind of a moot point now, isn't it?"

"Not for my investigation, sir." I replied. There was a moment of awkward silence as I waited for an answer, and my look at him showed that I was going to continue to sit there and wait for his answer.

Finally, Gordon said "When we talked after the meeting, my CIO and I both liked their ideas. But we agreed that they were probably too small to handle our project, even if they ramped up for it."

I nodded. "Who was the company that did your last security project, or last upgrade?"

"Why does that matter?" Gordon asked skeptically.

"If someone was going to be replaced by Matheson and Cawthorne, they might've had reason to wish them harm." I said.

"From the news reports, it sounded like a murder-suicide." said Gordon.

"The Media is very untrustworthy, sir. I would suggest always being skeptical of anything they tell you." I said. "As to the question, I'm just trying to get a complete picture, here."

Jack Muscone had been peering at Lawrence Gordon, and now Muscone said "Mr. Gordon, is there a problem with that question?"

"Er, ah... no, not a problem." Gordon said. "But I'm skeptical of the relevance."

"It's relevant, sir." I said. "Who was it?"

Gordon said "It's been a good while, which is why we were considering a new system. And it was before I became CEO here, but I think it was MegaTech Industries that did the work for us."

"They're huge." I said. "Why not go back to them for the new system?"

"Like you said, they're huge." said Gordon. "A bit too huge. As they say, 'size matters', but sometimes too much size is a diminishing return. And I don't think they do the kind of work we wanted, anymore."

"True enough." I said. "One final question, sir: who recommended JDJ Security Software to you?"

Gordon said "You know, I really don't remember. I was at some function, maybe a dinner party, with some other CEOs, and I asked for advice on who I might talk to about the project, and someone gave me their name. But I don't remember who it was."

Jack had no questions so we made our goodbyes and left. Gordon did not get up to show us out.

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

"What did you think?" I asked as we got onto the highway to go home.

"At first I didn't really understand why you wanted to talk to him, but now I do." said Muscone. "There was something just... 'off' about that whole thing."

"Like what?" I asked, to get him to share his views.

"He really did not want to say MegaTech Industries's name." Jack said. "You really got under his skin on that, if I was reading him right."

"And you were." I confirmed. "Anything else?"

Muscone: "I also thought it was a big point that you were subtly getting to: JDJ is wayyy too small to handle that size of a project. Sure they can hire and ramp up, but that would take weeks to months, and they'd do it only after they got the contract. I'm not sure if him saying MegaTech is too big is important, though."

I said "Well, MegaTech doesn't really do those types of contracts, so it leaves me wondering why they did the previous one in the first place. But you're right that JDJ being so small is a valid point... a very valid point. And it begs the question 'Why did Gordon call them and have them come in for an interview?'."

"Well, he said they were recommended to him." Jack said.

"Exactly." I replied. "And that is my point, and leads to what I thought was the most important thing: Lawrence Gordon did not want to tell us who recommended Matheson and Cawthorne to him."

"You think he was lying when he said he didn't remember?" Jack said.

"Absolutely." I said. "He knows exactly who told him... and I'll stress that he was told to call them in and give them the interview. And his CIO is conveeeeniently not available to answer our questions today."

"O-kayyyy." Jack said as he thought about it, trying to see where I was going with that. "It's interesting that you picked up on that."

"That's because I was looking for it." I replied.

"But why------"

*BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!*

It was my Police iPhone, and it was Myron Milton calling. "Sir," he said after I answered, "we're under cyber-attack!..."

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

I burned the blue lightbar and drove at speeds that would make Cindy Ross envious as we hurried back to TCPD Headquarters. When we got there, Jack went to Tanya's office while I located Lt. Myron Milton.