Schoolhouse Rock Ch. 03

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A few moments later, Cindy went into I-1, and Tanya had Bradshaw brought back in. I was in the anteroom, watching through the one-way glass. Lynch had not said a word since I'd left the Interrogation Room, and he said nothing upon Cindy's appearance.

Once Bradshaw was there and seated, Lynch said "What is this about?"

Cindy first read Bradshaw his rights, then said to Lynch "Your client is being charged with embezzlement, fraud, theft, and possibly with crimes involving illegal contributions to politicians. He and Jennifer Martin conspired to transfer money from the Heritage Cloisters HOA bank account to another account, and from that account they contributed a massive amount of the embezzled funds to the campaign of State Senator Katherine Woodburn."

"I need to speak to my client." said Lynch, beginning his normal process of dragging things out. That did not bother us at the TCPD; we were being paid no matter how long it took to bring Justice to his clients.

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

"What they did," said Cindy as we sat in the 'Monitor Room' waiting for Lynch to finish talking with Bradshaw, "is to create an LLC called 'Heritage Cloisters HOA, LLC'. The officers on the registration papers are Bradshaw and Martin. The official HOA account is 'Heritage Cloisters Trust', and is set up as a non-profit trust. These bozos named theirs to look like the real HOA account, but it's not."

Cindy continued: "They moved money from the real account to the one they created, then disbursed money to themselves and to Woodburn's PAC and her Campaign. They also gave money to Woodburn's campaign in their own names, and a lot of it, and we're looking to see if they siphoned off HOA money to do that. In any case, it looks cut-and-dried. Katherine Woodburn's side? Not so much. She'll likely claim she and her campaign had no idea of where the campaign funds really came from, and she'll pay it back, and that will be that."

"But it can be huge, publicity-wise." I said. "She's pretty much the State Senate Democrats's point man... er, point woman... for the Budget battle."

At that point, Lynch got up and pressed the buzzer on the telephone console on the wall. Cindy and Tanya walked back in.

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

"You don't have a thing on my client." said Lynch. "He and Ms. Martin are the duly elected Board Members of the HOA, and the only ones still serving. They're entitled to move HOA money from one HOA account to another, which is all they've done. And campaign contributions are not illegal."

"In these amounts, they are." said Cindy. "And trying to funnel money through multiple accounts violates campaign laws and constitutes fraud and money laundering. Furthermore, there is a serious question of whether HOA money can be used to make political contributions. I'll bet the membership doesn't know of those contributions, and a lot of them may not like it that their money went to a candidate they may not have supported."

"They have no say-so in that." said Lynch. "The Board gets to decide that."

"No," said Tanya, "that's not the way the HOA Charter is written. The Board is authorized to spend money only on items directly related to the HOA, such as its upkeep and security. I'm certainly willing to let a Jury decide if funneling money to just one politician, and none for the other political Party, is a 'directly-related' spending of HOA money."

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

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

It was my Police iPhone going off. I walked out of the anteroom and into the hallway to answer it.

"Commander, this is Yvonne Newton." said Yvonne Newton. "We just got an email from Marcie Harper Videos. All the schools got it. It says that there was an error on this week's video, and they've uploaded a replacement video. I haven't opened the website yet; I was going to wait until you came over, if you want to."

"Sure." I said. "Is Principal Butler on the prowl, waiting for me?"

"Yes." said Yvonne. "He knows about your visit this morning."

"Okay, I'll get around him." I said.

After disconnecting, I called Laura. "Hi honey." I said. "Who is picking up Carole today?"

"Stephanie Steele is picking her and Marie up today." Laura said.

"Can you contact Stephanie, and tell her that I'll be picking up Carole, but she needs to pick up Marie?" I asked.

"Sure." Laura said. "Break in your case?"

"I'm not sure."

Part 14 - Change of Plans

2:30pm. As the bell rang to end the school day, I went into the front office reception area. Carole was sitting in a chair, waiting for me.

"Daddy!" she said, jumping up and coming over and hugging me.

"Hi, Carole." I said, picking her up. I turned to the receptionist and held up a library book. "It seems someone forgot to bring back her library book today. I'm going to take this to the library, where someone will learn a valuable lesson about forgetfulness and paying fines as a result." The receptionist grinned and said okay. Principal Butler couldn't complain; I'd checked in at the front office...

We went into the library, where I returned the book I'd taken that morning, knowing I might need it as cover. Of course Carole never forgets a thing, but the front office people might not have known that.

"Hi Yvonne." I said. "Something new?"

"Yes." Yvonne said. She led me to the back office area, and brought up the Marcie Harper Videos site. I set up my Police iPhone to record it off the screen as it showed. Carole was standing in front of me on the chair's footrest, watching along with me.

Everything about the video was the same, until it got to the fade-out. When it returned, the mouse was green. The vowels on the placards were different, and I immediately saw that the code number was for the Valley Villages schools. The numbers on the right side of the board looked strange; they didn't look like regular price and quantity numbers I'd come to expect. The clock said 10:00pm. The first three consonants were 'T', 'R', and 'P'.

Marcie's lesson dialogue was exactly the same as when the mouse had been red. As we watched, Carole said "Daddy, something's wrong. It's a trap."

"A trap?" I asked, suspecting my daughter was correct.

"Yes Daddy." Carole said. "They're spelling 'trap' on the train letters. And Marcie looks like she's up to something, like Shawn Redmond looks when he's about to start trouble."

Five years old, I thought to myself. She's five years old, and already knows when her classmate is starting trouble. And she's seeing it in Marcie, too.

"I think you're right, Carole." I said. "Now look, you cannot say a word about this to anyone, okay? Just like we talked about before. Just don't say anything."

"I won't, Daddy." said Carole. She then followed up with: "Daddy, are you going to have 'meetings' about this?"

"No, not like Mommy's 'meetings'." I said, mollifying her.

But yes, I was definitely going to be having 'meetings' about it...

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

"Oh hell yeah, it's a trap." I said. I was in Classroom 'E' with the Chief and Detectives Warner, Washington, and Davis. Tanya and Mary Milton were busy with the HOA case suspects in the house.

"Why do you think that?" asked the Chief.

"They're going right back to Valley Villages." I said. "They just had a shipment there, and MSG Terhune died that same weekend. Also, the Valley Villages schools are on flat land, with tremendous visibility in all directions. I think they spotted MSG Terhune when he went down to see what was going on, and they ambushed him and killed him, either at or near the school, or they followed him home and killed him there."

"And Marcie knows we're on her tail, and was even going to cancel this weekend's shipment with that red mouse signal." I continued. "Now she suddenly goes back to green mouse, but has the consonants in a different order that even Carole could read as 'trap', the numbers on the right side of the board suggesting numbers of persons needed instead of price and quantity of the drugs, and once again my five-year-old Detective was reading Marcie's face like I only wished I could."

"We are not fooled, Commander." said the Chief. "We know you read her face as well as Carole did. But yes, your daughter is remarkable for her age. So, what are you going to doooooo?"

"Walk into the trap." I said with a grin.

"Like hell, you will." said the Chief, not sharing my amusement.

"No sir, I won't." I said with a bigger grin. "However, this is an opportunity to watch the watchers. Jerome, you need to talk to your dad on the phone. Don't text him; talk in your voice on the phone. Texts can be intercepted; it's much harder to get full voice phone call transcripts. Tell you father to be sure to not go anywhere near the school. Tell him not to talk to anyone he doesn't trust, but to tell people he trusts to not go near the school over the weekend. Oh... and tell him you might be down to visit him this weekend."

"Yes sir." said Jerome.

"What's the plan, Commander?" the Chief asked again. I smiled, and told everyone the plan...

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

"Gwen Munson said the same thing Lynch did." said Tanya as she, Cindy, and I talked in my office. "She was far more polite than Lynch, but she had a gleam in her eye. I'll bet Katherine Woodburn knows about all this by now."

"She ought to know, anyway." I said. "I hope those warrants were served."

"They were." said Cindy. "Priya called me a few minutes ago. I told her I couldn't talk at the moment, and probably couldn't talk later, either. The Woodburn Campaign lawyers are refusing to comply until they can determine what can be turned over under the law. Unfortunately, the law allows for such a review, but they only get about 24 hours before the judge gets pissed."

"There's a much bigger problem with the HOA." continued Cindy. "We got a good bit of the HOA's finances off their servers, but the HOA's lawyers went to Court to seek to squash the warrant and force us to give the information back and not keep any of it. The lawyer is a crony of Bradshaw and Lynch, I might add."

"Whose Court is that in?" I asked.

"Watts's." said Cindy. "And yes, Nance tried to take it over, and got slammed back by Folsom-------"

Just then there was a knock on my office door. It was Paulina Patterson.

"Just a heads-up, guys." said Paulina. "Judge Nance is doing the arraignment of Bradshaw and Martin. He moved it up from tomorrow morning to 4:30pm today."

"Da-amn." I muttered. "Do we have enough evidence to at least hold them?"

"Oh yes." said Paulina. "Including what we got from the HOA servers. Second National Bank has already complied with the warrant for the HOA account and Bradshaw's fake HOA account there."

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

I made a rare appearance at an arraignment hearing, sitting in the back row next to Captain Teresa Croyle. Tanya and Cindy were sitting on the front row, right behind the Prosecution table. District Attorney Miriam Walters made a rare (for a District Attorney) personal appearance alongside Paulina at the Prosecution's table, her appearance adding considerable legal weight to the People's case.

"We do not waive the preliminary and evidentiary hearings, Your Honor." said H.J. Lynch. He was at the Defendant's table, with Gwen Munson and the two defendants.

"Your Honor," said Paulina, rising to her feet, "we are fully prepared for the preliminary hearings right now, should you wish to save time and not set another hearing date."

"Defense?" asked Nance, giving Lynch a sideways glance which connoted 'she just called your bluff'.

"We'll waive, then." said Lynch resignedly.

"So be it." said Nance. "Prosecution, what is your suggestion for bail?"

"Your Honor, we ask for bail in at least the amount of one million dollars, and ankle monitoring." said Paulina. "The crimes with which the Defendants are charged are serious felonies, and may have other political links which we are exploring now. They also have the financial means to pay lesser bail and still leave the jurisdiction. This makes the Defendants considerable flight risks."

"Your Honor," said Lynch, rising from his chair, "these clients have considerable ties to the community. Their homes are here, their families are here, and they are not flight risks. Further, the Prosecution has not shown these political connections that they insinuate like gossipy rumors. We ask that our clients be released on their own recognizance, with no ankle monitoring."

"That's hard to argue with." said Nance.

"We are prepared to show those political links now." said Paulina. "And we will show they are not insinuations nor gossip, but real criminal activity."

"Save it for the trial, Prosecutor." said Nance. "The defendants must surrender their passports. They are remanded to the custody of their attorneys on their own recognizance, and should not travel outside the County without notifying the Court first."

Part 15 - The Political Game

Back in my office at Police HQ, an impromptu Angels meeting occurred. Tanya asked "Commander, why were you there, at the arraignment?"

"There was something I wanted to see." I said. "I wanted to see what reporters were there. There was only one 'cub' for KFXU there, which surprised me. Also, I was watching to see if Gwen Munson would make a Motion to Sever, to split Jennifer Martin's case from Gus Bradshaw's. She didn't, which I find... interesting." Everyone looked at me as if I were going to explain that. I didn't.

Cindy finally said "Anything to do with Katherine Woodburn?"

"Some, but that's not all of it." I said. "Lynch is an idiot, a disgrace to the legal profession, and he won't be part of the profession much longer if I can help it. By way of contrast, Gwen Munson is not stupid like he is, and she's politically savvy. If she'd made that Motion to Sever, I'd be telling Paulina to work to cut a deal with Jennifer Martin. But she didn't, so we'll have to wait and see what happens."

"Okay, I need to talk to Captain Croyle." I said. "Tanya, you can go on home, and you can dismiss the Detectives for the day, as well."

"Ha!" said Tanya. "We're on a hot scent of a State Senator who wants to raise my taxes. We've got work to do!"

"I love it. Go make it happen." I said. Cindy and Tanya left, leaving me with Teresa, who stood up at the position of attention.

"Sir," she said "I don't have to be Commander Ross or your daughter to know what's coming."

"Have a seat." I said. "Go on, have a seat." When Teresa sat down I said "This is much more of a 'teachable moment' than a reprimand or discipline."

I started: "One thing we've talked about in the past is how the MCD Detectives too-often use me as a crutch; they wait for me to tell them the answer before they move to create a solution. And the Chief has banned us from the MCD coffee klatches partly for that reason. Today... I saw some of that from you."

I continued: "I understand why you sent that 'URGENT' text. Bu-ut, I think it was a bit unnecessary, and it did come while I was meeting with my bosses. First of all, you wanted me to give Irene that immunity, and while I legally could, I didn't want to... it's a rare occasion when I actually do it. That was why I had you call Paulina. We have a new D.A. in Town, thank God, and Miriam Walters is watching like a hawk in her early days as D.A. It was better the immunity come from the D.A.'s Office than from me."

Teresa nodded, and I continued: "Second, I expect you of all people to be able to act without me being available. Of course you should keep me in the loop, and as early as possible, but that doesn't mean I have to decide things for you. Next time, you go to Tanya yourself, she'll go through the process and get the D.A., and maybe assign Detectives to the case."

"Yes sir." said Teresa.

"Last," I said, "you also need to consider how close you are to this case. You're probably the one that is going to coordinate the lawsuit, which should become a class-action. You called me to give Irene immunity right away because of your zeal to get after those two slugs, and I understand that. But it also clouded your judgement a little bit. That's why I've recused you from Police work on this case; on this one, you're coloring within different lines, okay?"

"Roger that, sir." said Teresa.

"All right." I said. "We'll meet at the Cop Bar tonight, where your punishment will be to buy the beer..."

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

5:00pm, Wednesday, January 23d.

State Senator for the 1st District, Katherine Woodburn, sat in her office in Midtown, exhausted. By any and all definitions, this had been a bad day.

First were the Legislative Caucus meetings. Despite the Media's attempts to mislead people into thinking the Democrats were unified and the Republicans in disarray, behind closed doors that was not the case. The more-Progressive, newly-elected Democrats were pushing hard to have a Budget that increased spending and demanded adherence to policies based on climate change. They also were demanding huge cuts in spending for law enforcement at every level, and demanded total opposition to Governor Jared's immigration enforcement policies. That did not sit well with more moderate Democrats, and it absolutely was not in lockstep with Woodburn's desires for a strong, overbearing SBI-NTF. There was no chance of that Progressive budget passing the State Senate, either.

Then came the bipartisan Budget meeting with other Legislature leaders. Molinari and Cerone were there, herself and Senate Majority Whip Cain Mitchell, House Ways and Means Chairman Elijah McKinney, House Minority Leader Wilson Hammonds, House Minority Whip Peter Long Cox, and House Majority Whip Hoyt Stenson. Stenson was elderly, a moderate Democrat, and was from one of the small towns between Rocktown and Westphalia in the generally rural southeast part of the State.

It became clear immediately that Wilson Hammonds was going to be the problem. He was obstinate that Governor Jared get nothing at all in the way of immigration, neither reform nor enforcement, nor employer verify programs. And most very unfortunately, the Republican Establishment was firmly behind him, and with the help of the surprising alliance with the Democrat Progressives, he had enough clout to keep a Budget from being passed in the State House.

When she asked Hammonds what he wanted, what it would take for him to help pass a Budget bill, he said "Everything is negotiable... except one thing. Jared gets nothing on immigration. Nothing! We can talk about anything else at all, but in the end, I am going to be able to say I shoved immigration up Valnius Jared's ass. Nothing else is acceptable to me."

And then just moment ago, her aide Clark came in and told her about the subpoenas for her campaign records. Now she was in a meeting with the Campaign's lawyer, Clark, and Priya Ajmani.

"I called Commander Ross of the TCPD as soon as I heard about it." said Priya. "She said she couldn't talk about it. I also talked to an old source at City Hall, who said that the TCPD is investigating the Heritage Cloisters HOA Board for embezzlement and fraud, and they found records of contributions to your campaign; hence, the warrant request."

"We're going to fight that in Court." said the lawyer. "We're asserting that anything the TCPD wants can be found in the public records, which they've already obtained."

"Good." Katherine said. "Push that. Hard. The last thing we need is Donald Troy sniffing through our campaign records."

"Ma'am," asked Clark, "do you think the Iron Crowbar is behind this whole thing? To get at you?"

"He was at the arraignment of Bradshaw and Martin, the HOA Board members." said the lawyer. "That suggests strong personal interest above and beyond the norm."