Price No Object Ch. 05

"I need a lawyer, to negotiate on my behalf." Davalos said.

"You have that right." I said. "And we'll provide you access to that attorney... Monday morning, when you're arraigned. Until then, you get to sit in my jails over the weekend... thinking about your future. And you're a lawyer yourself, so you know what the Game is, and how it's played."

I got up and left the room. A moment later, a uniformed Officer came in to take Davalos back to the holding cells...

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

Nathan Masterson, Esq., of Gresham & Mason, P.C. came to Police Headquarters around 10:45am, and demanded to see his client Davalos. "He's been taken to County Jail, sir." the Duty Desk Officer said helpfully.

Masterson left for County Jail. He noticed a TCPD Police cruiser following him, and he was forced to travel at the speed limit when it became clear he had been singled out to be followed. At County Jail, he went to the front desk and asked to see his client Davalos. "He's not here, sir. He's still at Police Headquarters." the Duty Desk Officer said helpfully.

When Masterson arrived back at Police Headquarters, he found that someone was waiting for him in the lobby. A redhead wielding a red crowbar.

"Where is he, Bar Code?" Masterson thundered at me.

"Wherever you're not, Jew Hater." I replied. "And it will stay that way until I am good and ready to let you talk to him."

"You will never get away with this!" Masterson snarled.

"Get away with what?" I replied. "His arraignment will be Monday at the earliest. I've got 72 hours, and I'm taking every minute of it."

"I'm going to go get a Court Order to force you to let me speak to him!" Masterson snarled again. "I'm going to------"

"The Courthouse is that way." I said, pointing in the general direction of Courthouse Square. "The Assistant D.A.'s office is in City Hall. Same direction. See ya, and I wouldn't wanna be ya..."

Yes, what I was doing was legally very dangerous and could compromise the domestic abuse case, I thought to myself as I headed back inside Headquarters. But I was desperately trying to pin down the bastard that was responsible for two deaths.

Part 16 - First Contact

11:45am, Friday, January 8th. The BigCommo jet landed at County Airport. Five men in suits and ties got off and proceeded to a black SUV with Federal Government plates that was waiting for them. The SUV and another one identical to it pulled out of the airport and proceeded south towards Town, and ultimately to Police Headquarters.

In the lobby, Matthew Willis and the four Federal Marshals were met by attorney Edward N. Parker, who announced to the Duty Desk "This is my client, Matthew Willis. He is turning himself in, in compliance with the Federal and State warrants for his arrest. I request to speak to your Chief of Police as quickly as possible."

Matthew Willis looked like a younger version of his father: tall, slender-'ish', in shape, with the look and air of a future Aristocrat of the Corporate Elite.

An instant later, Lieutenant Commander Teresa Croyle came out, wearing armor over her uniform shirt. Also appearing was Lieutenant Micah Rudistan, similarly attired. Teresa introduced herself and Rudistan, then stepped up to Willis and said "Matthew Willis, you are under arrest as a person of interest in the deaths of Julie Davalos Matheson and her husband Dwayne Matheson." She read Willis his considerable legal rights from the card.

"Are we going in there to talk with your Chief?" the lawyer Parker asked, almost pulling Willis in the direction of Interrogation-A.

"You must be a new employee around these parts." Teresa said, a bit cattily. "Your client is going to go through basic booking, and then he'll be taken to Interrogation-1. We will escort you to I-1 to wait for him there. And you will not be speaking to our Chief at all, unless he changes his mind."

"Mr. Willis is the CEO of BigCommunicationsCorp." said the lawyer. "He deserves to be treated with more respect than being taken through Booking like a common criminal, especially considering he's not been charged with any crime."

"Ah, so Mr. Willis is an important man, is he?" said Lt. Rudistan with great joviality.

"Yes." said the lawyer, his eyes boring into Rudistan. "Yes he is."

"We'll be sure to accommodate him appropriately." Rudistan said as Teresa signed the Marshals's document, taking custody of Willis. Their duty done, the Federal Marshals left.

Teresa said "We're not making him wear the orange jumpsuit that so many of our guests prefer. But take away his belt." With that, she signaled to Patrol Officers Johnson and Burrell to take Willis through Booking, getting him photographed and fingerprinted, and having him put his wallet, cellphone, and pocketed personal items in a container for safe storage.

Rudistan had wanted to take Willis through the booking process, and deliver some of his well-known acerbic wit. But Teresa said "Sorry, Rudistan, you've been promoted past your level of competence, there..."

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

After booking, Matthew Willis was brought down the hallway from Booking to the Interrogation Rooms. As he neared the door to I-1, the door further down the hallway, to I-2 opened, and Richard Davalos was brought out, to be returned to the holding cells.

I was in I-1 near the jail-side door, watching Willis's reaction. He barely registered surprise, and immediately I saw a crafty look appear on his face.

"Hello, Richard!" Willis said enthusiastically. "How is your son in Charlotte doing?"

Before Officers could hustle him away, Davalos said brightly "He's doing well, Mr. Willis, very well. Thank you for asking, sir."

In the Monitor Room, Carole was watching with Detective Julia Rodriguez. "Well, that didn't work." my daughter declared, seeing and perhaps sensing that my ploy to shock Willis and make him worry that Davalos was turning had not worked. I'd heard what Carole said in my earbuds, and I thought that that indeed had been 'Strike One' against me.

"No, it didn't." I said into the microphone that worked through the wi-fi with the earbuds. "Julia, you might as well let Masterson 'find' his client Davalos. We'll never get Davalos to turn now..."

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

Matthew Willis was brought into I-1, followed by Edward N. Parker, with Johnson as the Uniformed Presence. They sat down opposite me and Lt. Commander Croyle.

"Thank you for coming so promptly, Mr. Willis." I said.

"I've nothing to hide." said Matthew Willis in a friendly voice that fooled no one present.

"I'm Commander Don Troy, and this is Commander Teresa Croyle." I said. "I'm going to read you your rights." I did so from the card, and Willis nodded that he understood them.

"So what is this about, Commander?" asked the lawyer Edward N. Parker. "Why the warrant? Why put my client through Booking?"

I replied "We are investigating the deaths of Dwayne and Julie Matheson, both former employees of BigCommo. And there are some questions about their employment that I'm having trouble getting answers to... a lahhht of trouble."

E.N. Parker: "So why are you bothering the CEO of the company with that, much less issuing a warrant for his arrest? Why aren't you talking to our H.R. Department?... which has complied fully with the Federal and State subpoenas you obtained."

I replied "No, Mr. Parker, BigCommo has not complied fully with the subpoenas. But I am not blaming the H.R. Department, because I believe some things are being withheld from them, too."

"I can't wait to see your proof of that." Parker replied. "You have absolutely nothing."

"Don't I?" I replied. "Let me spell it out, then. We know that Dwayne Matheson was working on a project critical to BigCommo and the Federal Government. We know that his software work was so unique that he could have gotten patents on it. We know that he was so important to the project, that when he submitted his resignation from BigCommo, he was handed a check for $50,000 to stay on."

"I dispute that." said the lawyer. "Show me your proof of that."

"Witness testimony." I replied. "And the point, Mr. Willis, is that your HR Department cannot authorize bonuses of $50,000 on their own. So it had to come from higher up. And we're in the process of subpoenaing BigCommo's financial records pertaining to the Cerberus and Charrington projects."

"Commander," said Parker, "you may have had probable cause to get the employee records of the Mathesons and their colleague. And I reassert that we fully complied with those subpoenas. But you have no cause, probable or otherwise, to go on a fishing expedition through all of the company's financial records. We'll fight your subpoena requests to the US Supreme Court if we have to."

I replied "Oh, but I think we do have probable cause. The evidence at the crime scene." I pulled out the bagged piece of paper that Carole had found, then slid copies of it across the table. "These copies will be easier to read than through this evidence bag. Six-figure job offer? That didn't come from a low-level HR Manager, nor her low-level attorney." Yes, that was a shot at Edward N. Parker.

"Again, Commander, show me your proof, your absolute proof, that that document even came from BigCommo." said the lawyer. "Even the threats of the Federal Judge in your pocket could not force it to be magically produced."

"Who else could it possibly be?" I replied. "Federal Judges aren't stupid, and neither are Juries. BigCommo is the only company that would have the motive to offer that, not to mention the means to offer it. Mr. Willis, what would you have paid Mr. Matheson to return to BigCommo employment?"

"That's none of your business, and------" said the lawyer.

"I'm asking him, not you." I said to the attorney, then turned to Willis and said "Mr. Willis?"

Willis said "I wouldn't have paid him a dime over the very generous compensation he was already getting... and was completely ungrateful for, it would appear."

The lawyer began to furiously whisper in Willis's ear, then said "I need five minutes alone with my client." Teresa and I got up and went into the anteroom, then I went on through and walked the short distance to the Monitor Room.

"He's lying, Daddy." Carole said. "He's the one who wrote that letter. He's thinking about it. And that law-yrrr is thinking that he destroyed it already, so you can never find it."

"I think you're right, Fussbudget." I said.

Julia Rodriguez was sitting next to Carole, and would relay any messages to my earbuds. She said "Sir, they probably have destroyed that job offer letter and any other records that could lead back to it. Maybe we need to find another way to get at Matthew Willis."

As I thought about it, Carole peered at me and said "Daddy, he's a bad man. A real bad man. He was happy that he was not paying Mr. Math------ Mr. Dwayne what he had promised him."

"Yesss," I hissed, as much to myself as to anyone else. Then I said "Yes, Fussbudget, that's the way to approach him, to get under his skin. Julia, get those vids I asked for ready to play. I'm sure Willis is the one who had Mrs. Matheson murdered. Carole, anything I can do or say to make him make a mistake and admit something?"

Carole said "No sir, Daddy. He's not going to say anything. He's scared of something, of someone. And he's more scared of that man than he's scared of you."

My eyes widened at that. And new trains of thought boarded at the station as I realized that just as Richard Davalos was a Pawn in this game, Matthew Willis was himself barely more than a Bishop or a Knight...

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

Five minutes became ten. As I came into the anteroom, Teresa said "Masterson is in I-2 with Davalos. That lawyer Parker got a text and replied to it, but he put up the phone before I could go in there and confiscate it.

"That doesn't matter, I'm afraid." I said. "We just got Strike Two against us; Carole is sure that the offer letter has been destroyed. We've got two chances left: Slim and None. And Slim just boarded the train to Albuquerque..."

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

We went back inside. The lawyer Edward N. Parker said "I will be speaking for my client, so you can direct your questions to him through me. Also, you better start showing some connections between my client and those deaths, or I'm taking him back out of here. We've cooperated, we've fulfilled the warrants, but they don't say you can run roughshod over my client's rights."

"He's not going anywhere." I said. "We have the original of that job offer, and I'm very willing to let a Jury decide if your client had it sent to Dwayne Matheson or not, even if you, Mr. Parker, destroyed any other copies of it." The lawyer barely blinked at that, but said nothing, no protestation of innocence.

I continued: "And there is another reason I'm holding your client. And that reason's name... is Peter Toole." (Author's note: 'Swamp Frogs', Ch. 02.)

The lawyer didn't react, but Matthew Willis sure did. His face registered shock, which rapidly turned to deep, bitter hatred.

I began: "Peter Toole was a young man that worked brutally long days, and was rewarded by being given more and more work to do. His wife begged him to quit, and almost had him do so. But then he went in to work on some trumped up 'emergency', and his wife packed up and left him."

"And then the CEO of his company called him on the phone and fired him." I continued. "Not even the courtesy of an in-person notice, but just a quick phone call and having a security guard usher the poor man out. And Peter Toole's mind snapped. Let's watch some TV."

I turned on the television monitor and began playing a video. It showed Peter Toole firing five bullets into Mitt Willis's body as Mitt was perp-walked out of the Palladium Hotel in the City. I could sense Matthew Willis's bitter anger welling up as he watched the video of his father being shot dead.

"The apple does not fall from the tree." I said. "Like your father enjoyed working people to the bone, then spitting in their faces as he kicked them out and destroyed their dreams and their lives, you did the same to Dwayne Matheson. You worked him harder and harder, longer and longer days, promising him bonuses in the five figures but never making good on those promises. And then Dwayne quit. Your attempt to give him a check failed; he tore it up and threw the pieces into your face."

I continued: "You were desperate to get him back. Project Charrington was failing without Dwayne there to work on it, and your promises to some very powerful Swamp Frogs were not being fulfilled. So you came up with a plan to get Dwayne back in the fold as your programming slave, get Charrington finished and delivered to those to whom you owed everything, and thus secure your place as your father's successor in the hierarchy of the Establishment Elites."

I continued: "You had spies watching the Mathesons. Their neighbor, Mr. Tate was paid to watch and report on them, and he used his wife to unwittingly help. You had Richard Davalos pressure his daughter to get Dwayne to go back to BigCommo, and you, through Davalos, had the companies Jeff Cawthorne had contracts with sever those contracts because Cawthorne wouldn't help you get Dwayne back. And you had someone put a flag on the SBA loan, to pressure Dwayne and his wife financially."

"You're on the right track, sir." I heard Julia say into my earbuds. "Carole says he's reacting, that he knows you're right."

Me: "But you severely, severely, misread the room. When Dwayne had complained about not getting the bonuses he was promised, you thought that money was the way to Dwayne's heart. So you offered him well into the six-figures to come back, with a tremendously huge bonus."

Me: "But it didn't work. And through your spies, you realized that Dwayne's wife was the reason he'd quit, and was the reason he wasn't coming back. She even created a new company in order to keep Dwayne away from you."

Me: "You were desperate, so when someone offered you a straw to clutch, you clutched at it. That someone gave you a plan, and even arranged the resources for you to do it. At your direction, Lawrence J. Gordon enticed Dwayne Matheson and Jeff Cawthorne to The City to discuss a contract, a contract that he never intended to give them. And while they were away, you sent killers in a truck provided by your patron to attack Mrs. Matheson."

"Did you intend for them to kill her?" I asked. "Or maybe just beat her like Davalos beats his wife? Or maybe rape her as a 'familia'-style warning to Dwayne? Well, they did kill her. I don't know how you could think something so insidiously evil, but you actually thought that if you harmed Julie Matheson, and ultimately if you killed her, that Dwayne would then come back to BigCommo, especially if enticed by the large offer. You really thought that..."

"Carole says he's happy about having done that." I heard in my earbuds. "He's not as agitated now."

I went on: "So let's circle back to Peter Toole. His heart broken and his mind deranged by your father's callous actions, he went and found your father... and shot him dead. Blew his ass away. You, Matthew... you're much, much, more lucky. Dwayne Matheson also lost his mind in his heartbreak and anguish, but he shot himself instead of finding and killing you.

Me: "And that was the unintended consequence of your actions. You didn't end up with Dwayne coming back to work for you... he ended up dead! Your plan totally backfired. And now you have a project you have to deliver to a man who is truly merciless when it comes to failure. And the only person who can save your ass... committed suicide after you had his wife murdered!"

Matthew Willis had been watching and listening with utter hatred on his face. His lawyer had been listening with spellbound fascination. But when the spell broke, the legal beagle said "You'll never prove a word of that! Not one word!"

"Vee shall see." I said in my 'German' accent. "Vee shall in-deeed see."

To his credit and my chagrin, Matthew Willis recovered his composure. "You got nothing, Troy. I can read much more interesting fantasies than that on the Literotica website." he said with a gleam in his eye. He turned to his lawyer and said "Let's go."

As they got up, Willis said "Oh yes... on that video. I did notice who was diving for cover as that deranged maniac was murdering my father. That was you, Troy. That was you. It was you who perp-walked my father into that ambush and got him murdered."

He then leaned over, using his arms on the table to hold himself up, and said "And I will forever hold you responsible for that. Look to your life, Troy. Look to your life. You... and your heirs."

That line was straight outta the Brando/Reeve 'Superman' movie, spoken by General Zod. Willis thought he was being cute, trying to goad me.

But there was nothing else I could do. My attempt to get him to fuck up and expose himself had utterly failed. I said nothing as Matthew Willis and his lawyer left the room.

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

"Come on, De-tec-tive Julia!" Carole exclaimed as she ran out of the Monitor Room and tore down the back hallway at the top of her speed. Julia Rodriguez was taken aback, but then took off after Carole.

"Carole, where are you going?" she called out as she ran after my daughter, who was showing athletic speed that would serve her well in Sports in the future.

"Hurry!" Carole said. "We only have one chance left!"

Carole did not attempt to go through the main door to the lobby, as it was metal, locked, and needed a passcode to get through. Instead she ran for the anteroom to the front Interrogation Rooms. Hurtling through I-A, she was stopped only because Julia behind her had to shut the anteroom-side door before Carole could open the lobby-side door.