Return To Point Hollow Ch. 02

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"Before y'all start complaining," I said tiredly as we drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room, "I am ecstatic to hear Bettina telling her viewers that we have no new news, and we have no idea what is going on. That is exactly what I want the criminals to think right now."

Cindy Ross said "Who are these parents that are complaining about not being notified nor kept abreast of what's going on? Captain Thompson and I contacted every family we could find, and the Chief broke the news to the families of the deceased."

"Irene Ward." I said. "Pi Omega. Daughter of wealthy Establishment Elites. Taking cheap shots. They better be careful; I might just investigate them next."

"Better put on your armor, Don." said Tanya Perlman. "D.A. Walters is probably going ballistic and taking your name in vain right now."

"She better not be." I said without a shred of humor or levity. "I don't know who gave that stuff to KXTC, but it wasn't me. And she damn well better not accuse me of it."

"Wow, I'm feeling the vibe from you all the way across the table." said Cindy.

"Who do you think the leaker is, Crowbar?" asked the Sheriff.

"If I knew, Sheriff, I'd be beating his or her ass with a crowbar right now." I replied.

"I'll be sure to let the District Attorney knowwww that it was not you, Mr. Crowbar." said the Chief. I just nodded, and everyone knew I was a 'live wire' about this one.

"Am I the only one seeing the hypocrisy of Penis Holder?" said Teresa Croyle. "All those times he was calling Paulina's daughter a racial name, and now he's using her to make a racial attack on Miriam Walters?"

"That's the Press for ya." I said. "They expect you to not remember that, and certainly not to bring it up. And with the Press, it's about the Agenda in the moment. They can't be bothered with consistency or history."

"One thing I noticed," said Tanya Perlman, "is that Bettina and Penis Holder both kept saying 'Channel Two News' a lot. 'Statement to Channel Two News', 'Channel Two News has learned', and so on. What was up with that?"

Cindy said "According to my own sources, I have learned that Channel Two News is not doing all that well and their ad revenue is flagging. Also, you noticed how APHO Waters gave that comment to Bettina, and Waters may be positioning herself for a political run. Beth Paige refused to talk to KXTC, and you'll her statement exclusively to KFXU an hour from now. So it's getting to be a Media tit-for-tat on who gives who what comments."

"What about the Fire Department thing, Sheriff?" asked Teresa.

"Tucker tried to get the Union to gin up a strike on his behalf." growled Griswold. "He found out pretty fast that he was not very popular with the rank-and-file Firefighters, and they're pretty glad to see him gone. They liked Quinlin well enough, but don't want to lose their jobs striking over him, especially after he took the retirement deal. And there is no enthusiasm for a strike in general; they want to keep their jobs."

"Still," continued the Sheriff, "well, let me say it this way. A number of years ago, Major League Baseball umpires had a semi-strike where a lot of them resigned, expecting to be hired back. For many of them, their resignations were accepted, and they were out of jobs and were replaced. I've heard rumors of something similar possibly happening in the Fire Department: a number of them will turn in their resignations over the new EMS formation. And if they do... those resignations will be accepted, and they will be replaced."

"That's going to be a tough challenge for new Fire Chief Davieeees." said Chief Moynahan.

"Noooooo." said Sheriff Griswold. "The ones leaving are mid-level leaders, like mid-level managers in most shops. It would be the equivalent of disgruntled Police Sergeants and older Senior Patrolmen leaving. And if that happened, young leaders will get the chance to step up and fill those gaps."

"I hope we don't have any disgruntled Sergeants." said Chief Moynahan.

"No sir." said Teresa Croyle. "The ones we have seem happy enough. We went through our attrition over the last few years. Sergeant McCombs is the only one left that I'd truly like to get rid of."

"By the way," Teresa continued, "if I were watching that in a vacuum, I'd wonder if the Media and the APHO were working together to keep Point Hollow clear of people... as if they want to do something there, but don't want anyone there to witness it."

"You make a good point." I said. "There is definitely something going on that the Feds are interested in, and maybe others as well."

"Don, you okay?" Cindy said, noticing my tiredness.

"I was up late last night." I said. "After I got home, I started working on the encryption for a website that is on all the victims's computers. Laura started helping me, and we made good progress, but we were up until three o'clock in the morning..."

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"And in an exclusive interview with Fox Eight News," said Catrina Pierce, "we have Public Health Office Beth Paige with us." Beth Paige was wearing her formal jacket with ribbons and two stars on each epaulette, and two stars on her white shirt collars. I dunno what it is, but those new star ranks seem to be on display a lot, I thought to myself.

"Ms. Paige," said Meredith Peller, "other Media outlets are saying the Public is in danger, that your Office does not know what is going on, nor what those victims of the other day's attack were affected by. What do you say?"

Beth Paige replied "The Fake News Media really needs to stop their dishonest reporting that is designed to frighten people, and cause chaos and division. We do know what the drugs were that affected those people, we know what killed six of them, and it was a different drug. We know that the Public is in no danger whatsoever, unless they were to attempt to ingest those drugs themselves."

Catrina: "So why should people avoid Point Hollow, if it's safe now?"

Beth Paige: "Well first of all, it's a crime scene. The Police have opened up this case as one of murder in the first degree of those six persons. This wasn't a freebasing accident, it was intentional murder. Second, while there is no danger to the general Public for airborne contaminants, there may be some remaining contaminants at Point Hollow, and by avoiding that area one avoids the risk, however small, of being contaminated or affected..."

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"Ahhhhhhh... fuck." I muttered as my Angels and I watched in my office. "I would have infinitely preferred she not tell the world that it was a murder case."

"Nothing they can't find out from our duty logs." Cindy said. "But I get your point that it's not good for County employees to advertise it. Let the Press figure it out and report it."

"Catrina and Meredith very expertly tricked Beth into revealing a lot more about the case than we wanted out there." I said. "Oh well, it is what it is. What is going on in our Town & County today?"

"I'm going to go work on the budget." Cindy said. "I was told it would get easier over time, that all I would have to do is plug in new numbers every year. That was a crock."

"What are the issues now?" I asked. "Are they cutting our budget?"

"Yes and no." Cindy said. "The Assembly wants to authorize more Officers, but the money they want to budget is more than this year, but not enough to fund what they want us to do. I will also say this, Tanya: if you want an Intelligence Division, you need to get it passed in a hurry. I'm putting together a package that includes it, but it'll get stripped out if the Intel Division is not passed. You have less than two weeks."

"Don't stress on it." I said to Tanya. "So, what else is new?"

Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle said "I've got the SWAT Teams on rotating shifts, and a fully armored contingent on standby. We keep detecting people skirting around the edges of Point Hollow, trying to get in. As in a paramilitary scout unit scoping out the place. They back off every time we detect them and send heavily armed and armored groups to confront them, but it's getting irritating. If it's the FBI doing it, I want it to stop, and for them to back off."

She was looking hard right at Tanya as she said it. Tanya was not looking back at her, and seemed peeved at Teresa for looking at her that way.

"I'll contact the FBI about it." I said...

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9:00am, Friday, October 4th. I came in for the meeting, and was surprised to find that neither the Police Chief nor the Sheriff were there. Also not there was ADA Savannah Fineman, nor anyone else from the D.A.'s Office. And it wasn't like I didn't text them and notify them.

"I excused Joanne Warner." said Captain Tanya Perlman. "She's at the offices of the Town & County Examiner, looking up that name you found yesterday."

"Good." I said. I filled everyone in on what had happened at Point Hollow the day before.

Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle said "So that explains the literally two minutes where the storm clouds formed out of nowhere, soaked our Uniformed Officers, delivered a huge burst of lightning to the front yard of the house, then dissipated as if it'd never been there."

"That's what I saw, too." I said. ""Okay, let's get started. What's new?"

Teddy Parker and Theo Washington gave their report of their interview with Brother Terence Ballard and the lovely Jolene. Theo finished with "It was all good until the name of Dr. Charles Westbrook was mentioned. And then it got cold as ice."

I said "I've been looking into Charles Westbrook, also." I gave the report that Laura gave me. "This guy's is beginning to crop up more and more. And he's the Consultant of Crime's first cousin, so I'm already suspicious of him. What we don't have, is his whereabouts."

"It's cropped up with me, too." said Lt. Mary Milton. "All of the survivors mentioned him but wouldn't elaborate on him. Beyond that, is Irene Ward. She's related to Marie and Cherie Ward through her father, but it's her mother that's rich. Her mother is the COO of a company called TechnoDynamics, Inc. They were partners with DynaCorp and are now partners with MegaTech Industries on a number of Government projects. Suffice it to say they're part of the Establishment Elites. And her mother has written a number of checks in the low five figures to... you guessed it... Dr. Charles Westbrook."

"And the bank that cashed those checks?" I asked.

"City & Counties Bank in the City." said Mary. "The address on the account is the property adjoining the 'World Outreach Church'. It's actually the same property. Small metal building. It's not marked with any business name."

"Well, ain't that a coincidence." I said. "Part of the World Outreach Church. I'll definitely be visiting there, probably this weekend. Care for a return visit, Detective Washington?"

"Like Delta Airlines," said Theo, "I'm ready when you are, sir." Everyone laughed.

Lt. Jerome Davis said "Why don't we re-interview the survivors with the emphasis on Westbrook. Press it with them."

"We can also contact the FBI, see if they can find him---" said Tanya.

"NO!" I said loudly, and more harshly than I intended. As Tanya looked at me in shock, and perhaps a bit of anger, I said "We've already kicked Rovers's BAU out of here. I don't want to contact the FBI, not even Jack Muscone, and then have the Swamp Frogs use that to force the Rovers BAU on us. And more, I don't want that BAU to know anything about what we're doing."

"Sir," said Lt. Mary Milton, "does that mean you don't want us to put out an APB for Charles Westbrook?"

"That'll make it hard to find him, if we don't." said Captain Perlman.

"I..." I said, about to speak, then fell back into my chair as I thought about it, practically in a reverie. I finally exhaled and said "Yeah, if we put out an APB, that'll be a beacon for the Rovers BAU team. Let me think about that one a little bit..."

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

It was my Police iPhone, and it was the Sheriff. "Yes sir, I'll be right there." I hung up, then said "Okay, I have to go. Theo, I'll call you to get ready when I'm ready to go to the City. Y'all keep up the great work. Oh, one more thing. Lt. Mary Milton, I emailed you some information about a website that all these people may have in common. Check on it and see if you can continue the work I did on it..."

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I had a pretty good idea what was going down as I came into the anteroom of the Sheriff's Office, which, for the record, was on the opposite side of City Hall from the D.A.'s Office. The Sheriff's assistant just nodded toward the door, indicating that I was to go on inside.

"Hello, Crowbar!" the Sheriff called out affably as I entered the room Also in the room was Police Chief Sean Moynahan, Deputy Chief Cindy Ross, Public Health Officer Beth Paige, Assistant PHOs Waters and Gupta... and District Attorney Miriam Walters. "Have a seat." I did so, next to Chief Moynahan.

The Sheriff began: "Crowbar, this meeting is about----"

"Did you leak that information about my plans to Lester Holder?" Miriam Walters almost shouted. The Sheriff looked more than a little bit pissed at being interrupted.

"Of course not!" I fired back. "And after what Holder said about my daughter, I don't even speak to him, much less leak to him!"

"Then who did?!" thundered Miriam Walters.

"I don't know---" I started.

"Then find out!" yelled Walters. "If it wasn't you, I want to know who the hell it was!"

I stood up. "Ms. Walters," I said, "I just told you it wasn't me. If you don't accept that, and if you continue to yell at me and give me orders that I don't have to accept, I'll have to wonder what the real intent of your accusations are. Are you trying to make me your enemy, Ms. Walters?"

It was silent in the room as I bore in. "Well?" I asked. When Walters still said nothing, I said "Everything you've been doing recently really does make me wonder if you want me as an enemy. And if you do, I will oblige you. And once I'm your enemy, you can pack your bags and get ready to resign as D.A. And your crony Savannah Fineman? She'll never win any election in this County. Ever. So decide what you want to do, and either keep up the shit, or get your head out of your ass."

I could see that both Miriam Walters and her friend Beth Paige were offended by that, and I did not care. I turned to the Sheriff. "Is there anything else, Sheriff?" I expected him to tell me to get out.

"Have a seat, Crowbar." growled Griswold. "Now that that small matter has been cleared up, we need to have a coordinated response. I'm seeing that I need a Press Relations Officer of my own, but Deputy Police Chief Ross is doing a wonderful job in the interim, and I expect all of you in the Public Safety Department to work with her on our unified message for the Press. I would also like your cooperation, Ms. Walters."

"It's unbelievable you would say that when someone around here leaked that false crap to Lester Holder." said Miriam Walters.

"Ms. Walters," I said "you need to understand that Holder's little diatribe was pure retaliation for you humiliating him in the earlier press conference. The Press cannot allow themselves to be shown up the way you showed up Holder. They will never stop at trying to get revenge for what you very correctly did. See the Press for what they are: the real Enemy. Now once again, decide who the real enemy is, here, and act accordingly."

"Crowbar is right." growled the Sheriff. "But I'm more worried about what the Press is revealing to the perps, as well as others out there who do not have our best interests at heart. Lester Holder is a sidebar. He's unimportant at best, and a hate-filled racist at worst."

"Not all of us have the luxury of hating the Press or going to war with them." said Miriam Walters. "And Lester Holt wouldn't have been saying anything if he wasn't being leaked information."

"So," I said, "you're saying that what he said was true? And you're more angry because it was leaked than the veracity of it?" Miriam Walters turned beet red, and her beady black eyes were flashing fire at me for exposing her words for what they were, and turning them against her.

"Remind me never to make you my enemy." Cindy said quietly to me, but loud enough for Miriam Walters to hear it.

"I can see this is going nowhere fast, and that I'm wasting my time being here." said Miriam Waters, getting up. "Your response to the Press is not the real issue here; solving this case before the wild speculations gets too rampant is." With that, she turned and exited the room.

"Okay, you guys can go." said the Sheriff, to everyone. "Please coordinate any Press responses or appearances with Deputy Chief Ross and Captain Thompson."

"Sheriff," said PHO Beth Paige, "do we have any progress to report on the case? The Public is very worried about this."

"Yes," I said, "we are making progress. But I'm not going to say anything publicly about it, because I don't want the perps to know and run away. I'd like to catch them and charge them with six counts of murder in the first degree..."

Part 11 - Ministerial Pleasures

12:30pm, Friday, October 4th. Jack Muscone was very obviously enjoying his two Double Cheeseburgers. I was having just one Single Breakfast Burger plate, Lt. Jerome Davis was trying a new menu item: a massive Cobb Salad. Captain Tanya Perlman was having a Steak Caesar Salad.

Tanya had wanted to have this lunch, as she'd taken some offense to me saying to not talk to the FBI about the case. So here we were, in the back 'Command' room of the Cop Bar.

"I'm working out of the Federal Building here for right now." said Jack as we ate. "I've been really watching out for the Rovers BAU team, but they're not showing up anywhere. Melina has even been searching the hotel registrations for aliases they've been known to use, but that's been a 'no go', as well."

"Maybe they're shacking up with this Dr. Charles Westbrook." Tanya said. "We can't find him, either." I began wondering just how much Tanya had told Jack about this case.

"Don," said Jack, getting down to it, "I understand why you don't want to talk to the FBI, and why you're not issuing public APBs: the Rovers BAU squad. But I hope you trust me and Melina enough to let us help you."

"It's not about trust with you two." I said. "It's simply about keeping a firm lid on the information. One thing you guys may have not thought about is that 'The Geek' is still out there, and he may be hacking into your systems on behalf of Rovers, his BAU, and the Swamp Frogs. You start looking for these perps, and he may know about it within minutes."

"I thought he was arrested." said Jerome Davis.

"He was." Muscone said. (Author's note: 'Long Cool Woman', Ch. 03.)

"Oh hell," I said, "he was probably free in 48 hours after that. The Swamp Frogs just love him. They think they can control him. They're damn fools about that."

"Our systems are pretty darn secure, Don." said Muscone. "But if this Geek is so damn good, how do you know he isn't in your systems?"

"I don't." I said. "But to be candidly honest, Jack, The Geek has help getting into your systems, whether it be Rovers's BAU or other Swamp Frogs. Maybe someone in Pennsylvania. By way of contrast, Myron is not exactly extending him invitations to get into ours." Muscone did not look very happy at hearing that truth.

"There is one thing you can help me with, Jack." I said. "The Rovers BAU team was walking into my Police Headquarters at the same time the autopsy results were emailed to us, at best. Even if they had hacked the State Crime Lab, they got here very quickly... so quickly that I simply don't accept that they got the news before inviting themselves in. They were already here!"