Send in the Clowns Ch. 03

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8:00am, Monday, March 22d. The Sheriff and I were ushered into the office of District Attorney Miriam Walters as she got up from behind her desk and moved to the table running lengthwise in front of her desk. To her left at the table was Savannah Fineman. The raven-haired D.A.'s beady black eyes barely flickered at seeing me, but the blonde ADA could not keep her anger and disdain off her face.

"Grab some coffee, gentlemen, and have a seat." Miriam said. The Sheriff got coffee, then he sat down at the table to Miriam's right. I did not get any coffee, and I sat to the Sheriff's right.

Miriam said "Thank you for coming, Sheriff. I was expecting Chief Moynahan to be here."

"He's in Midtown, so I brought Commander Troy." the Sheriff said gruffly. "He's the one that was all over the Greuze case, so I would've brought him over anyway."

Savannah's eyes flashed a bit of fire at that. Miriam again showed no emotion as she moved on: "The reason I asked you, Sheriff, and the Police Chief to come over is because the arraignments of the five people that were arrested Saturday are taking place tomorrow morning, beginning at 9:00am."

"So what's the problem?" Sheriff Griswold asked.

Walters said "The arraignments were scheduled to be this morning, but the Police have not filed all their reports in a very timely manner. So ADA Fineman had to ask for the arraignments to be delayed until tomorrow. The attorneys for three of the five suspects fought very hard against the delay, correctly citing that it was not their clients's problem if the Police were incompetent and couldn't get their paperwork done in a timely manner. We haven't even started our cases, and they already have grounds to appeal."

I held my tongue, though I felt the heat rising in my neck and sides of my head. The Sheriff's mustaches quivered unhappily, and he did not hold his tongue.

"That's an unreasonable burden to put on my Police Officers." Griswold said. "The case wasn't closed until yesterday afternoon. A Sunday afternoon, I might add, after they busted their asses all day and all night this weekend to solve the case."

Savannah spoke up. "The last arrest made was at 2:30am Sunday morning. Your cops had all night Saturday, and all day and all night Sunday to get the paperwork done."

"That is a load of horse sh------" started Sheriff Griswold.

"Allow me, Sheriff?" I interrupted. I did not even look at Savannah, but bore into Miriam Walters as I said "Let's say we did get all the paperwork by, sayyyy, noon Sunday. Would ADA Fineman have come in and worked on the case Sunday afternoon and evening as hard as my Officers worked from the time of the theft to that final arrest? I somehow doubt that she would, given her history of laziness, nor would you require of her the same weekend hours and effort my Officers worked to solve the case."

Miriam's eyes narrowed in anger. "Sheriff," she said, "we've gone over this countless times. You and Chief Moynahan get your people to do their jobs, and I'll handle my ADAs."

I couldn't help myself. I replied "And we've been over this countless times, D.A. Walters. Make Fineman *do* her job. And stop trying to shift the blame for her failure on the Police by making unreasonable demands then saying we failed to meet them."

"The Commander's points are valid." growled the Sheriff. "You're a hypocrite, Miriam, for demanding my Officers submit their paperwork in an unreasonably short amount of time, but you won't apply that same work ethic and standard to ADA Fineman."

Miriam sighed, which sounded halfway like a grunt. She said "Why don't you and I continue this alone, Sheriff?"

"No." the Sheriff replied coldly. "It's either both me and Commander Troy, or neither of us. Whether Fineman stays or goes is up to you, and it's no skin off my nose either way."

Walters shook her head, then said "Well then, before I ask you both to leave, I'll finish what I was going to tell you. Judge Rodney K. Watts agreed to the 24-hour postponement. And that is going to give the U.S. Department of Justice the time and the chance to file motions to take over the cases on behalf of the FBI, NSA, and the Bureau of Prisons. They're saying that escaped Federal prisoner George Aurus is behind the theft, and that those persons are his accomplices and therefore should be in Federal custody."

"That's a lie." Sheriff Griswold said angrily. "At the very least you should make them prove it."

"And they can't prove it." I replied. "And I'll go to the Federal Judge myself to stop the Feds from getting custody of these suspects, not to mention contacting my U.S. Congressman and U.S. Senators. And I may even go to the Press with it------"

"God dammit, Commander!" yelled Miriam. "I didn't say we were gong to just hand them over to the Feds, just that they were asking for them!"

"But Fineman will give them to the Feds, if she's given the chance!" I fired back. "And you would let her, saying it's her decision. I base that on previous experience with the both of you." (Author's note: 'Bottle Kill', Ch. 03.)

"He's right, you know." growled Griswold helpfully.

"This is pointless." said Miriam Walters, her voice full of exasperation. "So who is going to help ADA Fineman prepare for the arraignments."

"No one." I said. "We're not------"

"Whose fucking side are you ON?" Savannah exploded, her face deep red under her platinum blonde head.

"Ms. Walters," I said, ignoring Savannah, "what I was about to say before I was so rudely interrupted is that we're not finished with the suspects yet. My paperwork is not complete yet because I'm going to interview them again, and I believe we have an excellent chance to get at least a couple of them to turn."

"They all invoked!" Savannah yelled. "You can't talk to them anymore!"

"That's an outright lie." growled the Sheriff. "Not all of them invoked."

"You've got nothing, Troy!" Savannah yelled. "You had your shot at them, and you blew it!"

I just rolled my eyes, then shook my head sadly. "Sheriff," I said, "there's no point in any further conversation here. This ADA is even more incompetent than Dwayne Gregory, and dirtier than Gil Krasney. And apparently D.A. Walters would rather go down in flames in the next election than do the right things, here."

"I agree. Let's go." growled the Sheriff. We got up to go. Miriam Walters made no effort to stop us as we exited the office.

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City Hall's front porch faces east and overlooks the western end of Courthouse Square. The D.A'.s suite of offices is on the second floor in the southwest corner. The Sheriff's office is in the northwest corner of the second floor, and Cindy's office is next door, the back window facing the north side of the building.

"Have some coffee." the Sheriff barked as we went into his office. I filled two mugs, one for me and the Sheriff's for him, as he called Cindy to come in. She did, got some coffee for herself in the mug she'd brought with her, and she and I sat down in front of the Sheriff's desk as he sat behind it.

"That bad, huh?" Cindy said as she sipped her coffee.

"Am I giving off that much of a vibe?" I asked.

"No." Cindy replied. "You've gotten good at keeping me from reading you. I'm sensing the Sheriff's anger and agitation."

"I need to work on my resistance." muttered the Sheriff.

"Resistance is futile, Sheriff." Cindy quipped. (Admit it, you knew that was coming.)

"I'll tell you what's futile, Sheriff." I said. "Working with this District Attorney's Office, especially with an ADA that is actively working to help the Swamp Frogs."

"Whaa?" Cindy gasped. "I know Savannah is lazy, but working with the other side? Really?"

I said "Yes. For a lazy-ass witch whining about us not getting our paperwork done, Fineman sure knew a hell of a lot about the situation. She said everyone had invoked. Now she could've said that to embellish the situation, but I believe it was something else."

I explained: "The three perps that had Gresham & Mason attorneys invoked, and the three that had public defenders did not. I think Fineman was told by either a Gresham & Mason attorney or a Swamp Frog Federal Agent that they'd all invoked, because all their guys did invoke. So she's been in contact with them, and I suspect she's working with them to get the perps turned over to the Feds."

Sheriff Griswold said "And I didn't have to have the Iron Crowbar's powers of observation to see that Savannah just about jumped out of her skin when he said that was what she wanted to do."

"Wow." Cindy lamented. "And Miriam supports that? When she ran for D.A., I truly thought she was better than that."

I said "So did I. I even encouraged her to run against Krasney." (Author's note: 'Another Day In The Life', Ch. 03.)

I continued: "Don't get me wrong; I'm glad I did that, and got Krasney kicked to the kerb. But Miriam's cronyism with Savannah is going too far. It's hurting our cases, but what's worse is that it's hurting the TCPD, and literally putting my Officers's lives in danger. It's almost two more years before Walters faces re-election again, and I don't think we can go on like this for that long."

Sheriff Griswold grabbed the remote to his television monitor. "We can figure that out later. It's time for SBI Director Masters's testimony before the Legislature..."

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10:00am, Monday, March 22d. Although eligible to wear a formal SBI uniform jacket with the ribbons he'd earned as a Police Officer in three jurisdictions, SBI Director Wes Masters chose to wear a navy blue suit with a black, gray, and blue diagonally striped tie. With his blonde hair, chiseled jaw, and bright blue eyes, Masters cut an imposing, impressive figure.

Senate Budget Chairman Katherine Woodburn (D - 1st District) gaveled the session into order. "This a joint session of the State Senate Budget Committee and State House Ways and Means Committee, for the the purpose of having State Bureau of Investigation Director Wes Masters answer our questions regarding the SBI and its policies. Due to the large number of Representatives and Senators, each Legislator will have just five minutes of question time. Director Masters can make an opening statement if he wishes, and then we'll begin the questions with State Senator Cain Mitchell."

"Madam Chair, point of order." said State Rep. Tasheeka Harris (D - Inner Midtown). "The witness has not been sworn in. Would the Sergeant-At-Arms please swear in the witness?..."

To be continued.