Shipping and Handling Ch. 02

"No, we're losing people, not getting them." Walsh said. "And you'll have to ask I.T. about the computers. And if they give you anything without a warrant, it'll be their jobs."

"Maybe I can help you, Mr. Walsh." said Geiger. "We don't want to take a scrap of paper out of here, we can photograph parts of documents, and the information we need is limited, and would be for internal use only. If we had that without a warrant, it would become tainted and could not be used in any lawsuits against you. On the other hand, if we go get a warrant, then that data would be valid and could be subpoenaed. So if you give us a discreet look at just a few things, we might can catch these bozos and solve your problems, and no one the wiser."

Walsh looked at Nell, who just 'shrugged' her eyebrows. "All right." he said. "What do you need?"

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

"Make sure your badge and gun are not easily visible." I said as we pulled into the parking lot of the administrative offices of State Parcel Service's main facility. "We're going in semi-undercover."

"How's that?" asked Cindy. I handed her a card. She said: "So you're going to be James Donald Burke of Crescent Moon Enterprises, LLC." she said, reading the card.

"And if anyone asks if I'm related to Todd Burke, I can truthfully say 'yes'." I said. "Anyway, just follow my lead.

We went in, and easily got past the front desk with a receptionist and security guard by me flashing my badge and ID, then securing it in my pocket. After a short elevator ride, we came to the inner sanctum of SPS's administrative brass, and to the office of Vice President Dick Granger.

"Hello." I said to the assistant, an attractive but not beautiful woman in her late 30s or early 40s. "My name is James D. Burke. I'm here to see Mr. Granger."

"Do you have an appointment?" the assistant asked, looking skeptically at me.

"I discussed with him last week that I'd be in the City today." I said. "I don't have a formal appointment, but I'm sure he'll see me if you ask."

"The reason I asked if you had an appointment," the woman said, "is because Mr. Granger has not been here for several weeks. He's been out on field trips."

"Ah, I see. Is he still in (Teresa's hometown)?" I asked. "I talked to him there just a short time ago. We were discussing a joint venture there, if the railroads build a line through there."

"Er, no, he left there." said the woman, who looked much more relaxed now. "I think SPS has decided against building a facility in that area. Mr. Granger is scheduled to visit Laramie, Wyoming; Boise, Idaho; and Seattle, Washington. I'm not exactly sure where he is at the moment. If you have his number, it might be best to call him directly."

"I shall do that, and see if I can get in touch with him." I said. "But If he calls or comes back in, please let him know I stopped by." I handed her my fake card, and we left.

As we were going back to the front, Cindy said "She just gave out that information like that? Not the best of assistants, if you ask me."

"True," I said, "but I was able to name Teresa's hometown, and talked potential business, which was very helpful to our undercover mission as well as causing her to trust us when she otherwise wouldn't have. I'll be telling Jack Muscone that Granger is in the American Northwest---"

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

"That's mine." Cindy said. She took out her Police iPhone, hit 'speaker' to answer, and said "Commander Ross."

"Commander, this is Detective Rodriguez." said Julia Rodriguez. "Is Commander Troy with you?"

"Right here." I said as Cindy held up the phone. "What's up?"

"Sir," said Julia, "we may have another missing person. The original driver of Truck 164. His name is Andy Lessing. He's not answering his cell phone, and the City PD went by his house and no one is there."

"All right." I said. "Let the City PD handle that for the moment. Ask them to put out a State-wide APB for Lessing. We'll talk about the rest of it when you're done and get back home..."

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

"Did I miss something at the Academy?" Nell Bell asked Geiger as they began the drive back to our Town & County. "That business about the warrant can't be right."

"It's not." said Purvis. "And Commander Troy is going to blow a gasket when he hears about it."

"Don't worry." retorted Geiger. "I'll stand in front of him and tell him it was all me. And you did get the data you needed, didn't you, Detective Bell?"

"Yes, we got that." Nell Bell said. She had photographed the names of all the other families that had hired SMS to move their stuff only to have that stuff stolen, as well as the data on employees of SMS that handled the orders, and the men sent out to move the furniture. "But it may compromise any arrests we make."

Purvis was driving, and pulled into a gas station. "I've got to fill up." he said.

Once he was out of the car, Geiger said "While he's gone, something just between you and me. You asked about Captain Croyle. You're probably going to find out sooner or later that years ago, before Commander Troy came along, Croyle was the most hated Police Officer on the Force, and that was when Vice was pretty corrupt."

"Was she dirty?" Nell asked, shocked.

"Far from it." admitted Geiger. "She was clean, still is. But Captain Malone ran Vice a certain way, and we had Steven Ikea, who is now the SBI Chaplain, in our Vice unit at the time. Croyle got most of her six Purple Orders because they kept sending her on the dangerous raids on drug pushers, and she kicked ass but at a price."

"Oh my God." Nell said.

"Commander Troy ran Malone and Ikea off," said Geiger, "and he saved Croyle when she was about to be fired for cause. And I'll be candid with you... I expected to be fired, too, but for some reason they've kept me."

"You're not dirty... are you?" Nell asked, looking a bit skeptical and worried.

"No, I'm not dirty." said Geiger. "But during those dark days, I did what I had to do to survive. And I do what I have to do to survive today. Yeah, that line I gave that guy probably wasn't right, but if it got you the info you needed, I'll take the hit for any problems. It'll be worth it."

"O-kay." said Nell. She was saved from further discussion by Purvis getting back in the car and getting it moving towards home...

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

The afternoon sun was lowering towards the western horizon as Donna Farris was brought into the big tent in the fenced-in parking lot behind the TCPD Crime & Arson Lab. She saw furniture sitting on blankets and sheets, all tagged with evidence numbers.

"Yes, this is our stuff." Mrs. Farris said.

"Anything missing that you can see right away?" asked Eric Hannum as Mrs. Farris went up and down the 'aisle' between the various boxes and articles of furniture.

"No, this looks like what we shipped." said Mrs. Farris. "I can't see inside the boxes, though." Joanne gave her an itemized inventory of what had been found in the boxes.

"And you didn't ship anything by a second truck?" asked Joanne. "This is all there was?"

"No, just the one truck." said Mrs. Farris. "And yes, this is all of it."

"Why don't we go inside Headquarters for a few moments." Joanne said. She led Mrs. Farris through the side employees entrance, down the hall, and through the anteroom to Interrogation-A. Rookie Patrol Officer Lisa Burrell was the Uniformed presence.

"You're interrogating me?" Mrs. Farris queried as she looked around, obviously discomfited.

"I'm going to have you do some necessary paperwork." said Joanne, as cheerfully as she could. "And we do have a few questions that we hope might help us catch the criminals that did this."

"Do I need a lawyer?" asked Mrs. Farris.

"It's your right to have one, of course." said Eric Hannum, as soothingly as he could. "And you can insist on one at any time. But I think you'll see that these are just informational questions."

"Okay." said Mrs. Farris, her voice connoting a great deal of uncertainty.

"Ma'am," said Joanne, "why did you choose SMS as your moving company? Have you ever used them before?"

"I didn't choose them." said Mrs. Farris. "My new company handled the arrangements. And no, we'd never used them. But we haven't moved for years. We moved out of our apartment when I got pregnant with our first child, and into the home we just moved out of."

"Have you sold that house?" asked Joanne.

"Not yet." said Mrs. Farris. "We're going to put it up for sale, and if we don't find a buyer in three months, my new company will buy it."

"Very nice of them." said Joanne. "Ma'am, was this man one of your movers?" She showed the DMV photo of Reuben Saidy.

"Yes, he was one of them, and he was the driver." said Mrs. Farris.

"Was this the other man?" asked Joanne, showing Andy Lessing's DMV photo.

"Er, no." said Mrs. Farris. The other man was black, not fat but he had some girth, roundish head, curly hair trimmed pretty short." She also confirmed that there were only two men.

"So you didn't have them load things like your washer and dryer?" asked Eric Hannum. "Television, microwave, clothes?"

"No," said Mrs. Farris. "I got a good bonus for taking this position with BigAgraFoods. Rocktown is a small town, but it'll be a good place to raise our three children. We're going to use the bonus money to buy some new appliances and new furniture. We bought new beds for the kids, for example."

"Okay." Joanne said cheerfully. "So you were with State Parcel Service, and now you're with BigAgraFoods?"

"Yes." said Mrs. Farris. "Edward... Mr. Blassingame... asked me and some others to transfer to BigAgraFoods when he took the CEO position there. And they gave us nice bonuses to do it."

"Very nice." said Joanne. "And you just left the old stuff at your old house?"

"Yes." said Mrs. Farris. "We're going to list the stuff online for sale."

"Great!" said Joanne brightly. "Okay, we can fly you back home tonight, or you can spend the night here and make the arrangements tomorrow to have your things sent to your new home."

"I'll go back tonight." said Mrs. Farris. "If you'll give me a number of the person to contact, we'll arrange for our stuff to be picked up."

"We'll call you when we're able to." said Joanne. "It's still evidence..."

Part 8 - Consolidation of the Objective

7:30pm, Thursday, March 28th. We assembled in Classroom 'E' to two surprises: the TCPD Police Chief had arranged for the delivery of a large number of pizzas, and the Midtown Police Chief was sitting next to him when we came in.

"Just thought I'd come talk to my mentor and hear about this case." said Chief Frank Soltis as I shook his hand. "Sounds like it's bigger than we thought."

"And I apologize if I gave any impression that it was less than that." I said. "Your Detectives have done an outstanding job getting onto the thefts, and now we're finding a lot more."

As everyone sat down after getting some pizza and Coca-Cola, Chief Moynahan said "It's your meeting, Commander." He was sitting at the end of the table nearest the door, the projector screen on the wall to his right, with Chief Soltis sitting to his left. I was in the middle of the long table, facing the screen. Lt. Mary Milton was to my left, operating a computer. Cindy sat to my right, and the Detectives found other places around the table.

"Okay, before we begin," I said, "I'll apologize in advance for interrupting with a lot of questions as you talk. I appreciate you rolling with it, and bearing with me. Let's talk about the Farris family first." I pointed at Joanne.

"Thank you, sir." said Joanne. "We had to fly down and get them, and Mrs. Farris came alone, saying her husband had to watch the kids."

"Question." I said. "Did you get to see inside their new house?"

"A bit of it, sir." said Eric Hannum. "There were new beds for the children, and there was a new-looking refrigerator in the house, but not much else. We really couldn't see into closets to see if any clothing was there."

"Okay." I said. "Keep going. What was Mrs. Farris like?"

Joanne said "I would say 'nervous', sir. She really didn't want to come up at all. When we took her into I-A, she got real nervous about being asked questions, even asked if she needed to call a lawyer. We told her she could get a lawyer at any time, but that the questions were just for information, and she answered them fairly readily. The interesting thing that came out is that she's a transfer from SPS to BigAgraFoods, and this move was for her job, not his."

"I'll have more on that in a minute." Mary Milton said.

Joanne went on: "She identified the furniture as the family's. When we asked about not moving any appliances, she said she was getting a nice bonus for the job and location transfer and they were buying new appliances. That's a lot of money in appliances and TVs and furniture they're abandoning at one place and buying in the other, and when we asked about that, she said they were putting the old appliances up for sale online." That got me and Cindy glancing at each other.

"I guess that's my cue to add what Commander Ross and I found today." I said. "We went to the Farris's old address. The house was completely empty. No appliances, no nothing left. Neighbors, who were quick to spot us as Agents of the Law at the scene, said that only one moving truck arrived, and Mrs. Farris supervised the loading of that truck."

"So let me ask." I said. "How did the Farrises decide which of them would come up? By that I mean did they discuss it? Draw straws? Flip a coin?"

Eric Hannum said "Mrs. Farris pretty much dictated terms to her husband." Joanne Warner nodded vigorously in agreement.

"Okay." I said. "Moving on... Nell and Company, what do you have? And yes, I know about Mr. Geiger's little ploy to get you the data. I didn't exactly set a good example, either, as Commander Ross and I didn't have a warrant to enter the Farris home today. So go ahead."

Nell said. "Thank you, sir. We did get Frank Walsh to show us some information on the people that hired SMS to move their stuff and then had it stolen, as well as other customers. And we got some good data on the employees working there. Walsh admitted he'd been transferred into that SMS office six months ago, and many of the people in there were transferred into there since Mr. Blassingame announced he was taking the BigAgraFoods CEO job. I believe Lt. Milton has a workup on them."

"I sure do." said Mary.

"Want to give that now, or wait until after Detectives Rodriguez and Parker speak?" I asked.

"Sir, before she does," said Nell, "we did find out one other thing that may be important: BigBenefitInsurance was the only insurance company for the moves that had thefts, though SMS did insure with other companies for other contracts. And BigBenefitInsurance did not drop SMS even after these thefts began taking place."

"Oh, that is interesting." I said. "Thank you for that. Okay, Mary, whaddya got?"

Mary said "First, I checked on Frank Walsh, the SMS manager, and the employees that were transferred into that department. We can't get Federal tax records without a warrant, but we can peek into bank records and credit cards. Walsh is not making anywhere near what other managers at his level are making, and the employees are not making much more than when they started with SMS or SPS; in other words, they didn't get raises nor much improvement in pay if they got promoted."

Mary continued: "One of the movers is Clarence Meadows." She brought up a DMV photo showing a black man with a round face, wide 'surprised' eyes, and curly black hair cut fairly short. "He's been with SMS for three years. No CDL with his face anywhere in the system; apparently he just rides along and moves furniture. He's had a couple of busts for low-level possession of marijuana and cocaine, and the cocaine charge was pled down three years ago, right when he took the SMS job. No issues since, though."

"Who was sent on this job with him?" I asked.

"One Mr. Roman Brady, who is the alter-ego of Rupert Saidy." said Mary. "Mr. Brady is listed as having worked at SMS for four years. So I hit the DMV database again, but this time dug into the past, and got this." The DMV image came up, showing a man with dark hair like Saidy, but definitely in better shape and more 'professional' in appearance.

"Wow." I said. "He looks suspiciously like one of Marcie Harper's lieutenants. We need to confirm his identity with Mr. Walsh. According to the neighbors at the Farris's old home, the men who arrived at the Farris's old home answer the descriptions of Clarence Meadows and Saidy. Okay, let's keep going for now."

"Yes sir." said Mary. "Next, I checked on the Farrises. Donna Farris was making very good money with SPS as part of Edward Blassingame's management team, which is called the 'Inner Circle'. Twelve SPS employees have recently switched to BigAgraFoods, according to State employment records. And they all got very large bonuses for doing so, so large that banks had to file paperwork for the deposits that were well over ten thousand dollars."

"Paid by BigAgraFoods?" I asked.

"That's where it got interesting, sir." Mary said. "They've got until April 15th to report the bonus payouts for the first calendar quarter of the year, so we'll have to wait and see on that. But the banks have reported all of these people's accounts getting $25,000 apiece... and then there's another $75,000 deposited into each account, but the source on the paperwork is listed as insurance payments, and the electronic deposits match that."

"Oh wow, that's interesting." I said. "And they're the ones whose furniture went missing after using SMS's services?"

"Six of 'em, sir." said Mary. "They signed settlement deals that include giving up the right to sue for the losses. The other six reported house fires, with collateral damage to their expensive cars, and accepting insurance settlements of $75,000 each."

"So we're looking at insurance fraud?" asked Chief Moynahan astutely.

"And more, if I don't miss my guess, sir." I said. "Julia, Ted, that is your cue."

"Yes sir." said Julia Rodriguez. "We talked with Bert Cowell, the distribution director. He replaced the man who replaced Dick Granger after you sent Granger to prison, Commander. We discovered that Andy Lessing, the regular driver of the truck Saidy was found in, is missing."

"We put out an APB for him immediately," said Julia, "and the City Police sent a patrol to his home. It was empty. No signs of a break-in or a struggle, and no signs of a hurried departure. His car, which was parked at the distribution center, had no luggage nor anything strange in it."

"Got us a workup, Mary?" I asked Mary.

"Yes sir. Several of them." said Mary. "Bert Cowell started out as truck loader, then did the truck route to Pottsville, then to Palmyra County. He became the weekend distribution manager, then the overall distribution manager, where he's currently working. He has a nearly spotless record. Misdemeanor disorderly conduct while in college. He was a member of the Tau Fraternity, and they're one of the bad ones on our University's Campus. Cowell dropped out of college his junior year with pretty bad grades, and ended up at SPS. He's had no felony arrests, and no arrests or even tickets at all since that one college hiccup."

"Sounds like exactly what we'd expect to see of a senior SPS employee." I said. "What about Saidy and Lessing?"

"Saidy, as you know," Mary said, "was an ex-con in the SPS Parolee Program. I've tried to dig deeper and see what we could find on him, but so far nothing's popped up. Andy Lessing, though, may be familiar to you, Commander." She put a DMV CDL photo up.

"Oh yesssss. Very familiar." I hissed. "If you haven't already, Mary, pull up a photo of former City Police Officer Jeff Farley."