Shipping and Handling Ch. 04

"Oh." said Russell. "I called because I want to know what the hell is going on with the Farris family? Why were they arrested and brought to your State facility down there?"

"They had some property stolen, Senator." said Ormond. "Police in two jurisdictions were following up and asking them some questions."

"Two jurisdictions, eh?" snarled Russell. "One of them the TCPD?"

"That's where the furniture was found, Senator." said Ormond.

"Well, let me tell you something, Sheriff." said Russell. "You leave the Farrises alone, and you definitely better make sure the Iron Crowbar doesn't get anywhere near them."

"Why not, Senator?" asked Ormond. "They're just LEOs like me, just doing their jobs."

"Ormond, if you know what' good for you," threatened Russell, "you'll do what I tell you and keep the goddamn Iron Crowbar out of your county, ya hear?"

I took the cellphone and spoke into the mic: "Loud and clear, Senator Russell... at least I'm hearing a threat against an LEO by you, as well as an attempt to obstruct justice by you."

"Who the hell is that?" shouted Russell, his voice full of anger... and panic.

"Who do you think, Russell?" I said with a grin. "It's me, your worst nightmare, of course. And you can tell your butt-buddy Edward Blassingame that I'm coming for both you and him."

"I'll see you in hell, Troy!" shouted Russell. Then the call dropped.

"Watch your back, Sheriff." I said as I handed him back the phone. "And let me know if he tries any shit down here."

Ormond was grinning. "We're tired of that guy's shit, and since those rape accusations against him came out, his power even in this area, his original home district, has gone down the tubes. And since Larry Wheeler's murder, we're always on the lookout..."

Part 17 - Obstruction

4:00pm, Saturday, March 30th. Even before I entered the Police Headquarters building, I could sense that something was wrong.

As I came into the Employee's Entrance, the Duty Officer, Patrol Officer Joan Laurer, said "Sir, the Chief wants you to go directly to his office."

"Okay, thanks." I said. I went down the hallway, seeing Vice and MCD Detectives in their respective rooms, working on reports... and all very quiet and subdued.

I knocked on the Chief's door, and he called out for me to come in. Going in, I saw that he was not alone Sheriff Griswold was also there. The Chief had me sit down next to Our Sheriff.

"Something's not right, sir." I said. "What's going on?"

"A couple of things." said the Chief. "First, the warrants for those BigAgraFoods employees were served in the City and other places. At first they tried to forbid our Police and the City Police from entering their corporate offices in the City, and had armed Security people blocking the doors. But a strong reinforcement of City Police and State Patrol Officers showed up, and the Security people backed down at the point of our Government Guns."

"Then we had to find the particular employees." said the Chief. "We'd sent contingents to their addresses of record, and got some of them, but the others were at BigAgraFoods and there were attempts to hide them from our people. We finally had to go room-to-room, and found the wanted people being hidden in a back storeroom. They were arrested and charged with evading Police, and were run through Booking at the local jurisdictions's various headquarters.

The Chief went on: "They all immediately demanded lawyers, which were provided. Those lawyers told them to immediately invoke, which they did. And they knew just which judges to go to in order to get immediate bail: Harry Nance here, Judge Mohammed Omar in the City. All of the defendants were released on their own recognizance with no ankle monitoring."

"Geez." I whispered.

"Even worse," said Sheriff Griswold, "we attempted to send our findings to the State Insurance Commissioner. But we were blocked... by the SDOJ Regional Director for this area, Gil Krasney."

"Does he have that power?" I asked, incredulous.

"The Court does." said Griswold. "Krasney went and filed for an injunction on behalf of the State Department of Justice, and Judge Nance granted it, citing the Attorney General has jurisdiction over the State Insurance Commissioner. That's totally bogus, and we are appealing, as is the SBI-OER Inspector to bolster our legal standing."

"Wow." I said. "I knew Krasney was a dirty-dealing snake in the grass, but... that?"

"Word I've gotten," said Griswold, "is that Krasney really wants a spot on Karl Handel's team if Handel wins the Governorship next election. Krasney may even run for the Attorney General spot."

"Or have Handel appoint him as SBI Director." I replied. "That would totally suck."

"And that's the good news for the day." said the Chief. "The bad news is that the Shimono Group is still out there, and I can't get anything out of the FBI on that. Roy McGhillie is trying to stay calm, but he's about to go nuts over the possible threat to his fiancée's family."

"I don't blame him." I said. "I ain't feeling so good for my family's safety, either."

"You have a wife with tremendous power and the tenacity of a bulldog." growled Griswold. "McGhillie is young, and Becca and her mom are still reeling over the loss of Becca's sister Kathy. It's tough for them."

"Okay, then." I said. "I have nothing else to add to this. They'll secure Donna Farris in hoops of legal steel, also, so anything we might've gotten from her will be for naught. What do you want me to do next, Chief?"

"Get your paperwork done, and in good order." said the Chief. "You did well, exposing the obvious smuggling ring in SPS, and putting some light on some nasty insurance fraud. But it'll have to keep, for now. In the meantime, see what you can do to find Shimono and her Bastard Boys, so we can put Roy's mind at ease, eh?

"Yes sir." I said. The Chief dismissed me.

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

I went into MCD, which was occupied and then some. I saw Lt. Rudistan at a desk. "Ah, Lieutenant Roood-i-stan." I said, in an excellent imitation of my daughter Carole. "You're in MCD now?"

"Just doing the paperwork for today's raid, sir." said Rudistan, without much joviality. "But I might just keep this desk."

"If you do, I'll assign Carole as your partner in crime-fighting." I said. "She might learn a thing or two."

"From what I hear, sir," said Rudistan, his joviality returning, "I might be the one that learns some things about being a Detective."

I took the 'Commander's Chair' from the back desk by the (currently in use) coffee maker, brought it to the center of the large room, and sat down. "What happened, everyone?" I asked.

"It was a disaster, sir." said Nell Bell, who was doing her paperwork at the desk opposite the one Rudistan was using. "We almost got into a shootout with their Security, then they tried to hide the people we had warrants for. I noticed that the people they hid were the exact names on our warrants, which obviously means they knew in advance that we were coming and they knew exactly who we were looking for."

"And they had legal beagles ready to go?" I asked. Nell nodded. "Who were they?"

"Nathan Masterson in the City office." said Captain Tanya Perlman, who'd just come in. "Chip Blake, the guy who opposed us at BigBenefitInsurance, was at the BigAgraFoods office in Coltrane County, which some people moved into after they moved out of our County. Last, Max Chambliss was in their Midtown office, which is little more than a home for lobbyists to the State Capitol."

"And who was their highest level Officer there?" I asked. "In the City?"

"Roger Green," said Tanya, "who was acting CEO after Mitt Willis was perp-walked through his employees. Green became COO after Edward Blassingame was named CEO. Blassingame was not there, and could not be reached by phone... which was not for lack of trying on my part."

"Awesome." I said, standing up. "Okay, everyone, you've done a great job these last few days, but these cases, except for the murder of Saidy, are pretty much in the hands of the Court system now. Nell and Eric, you've done great work, and I've enjoyed having you up here with us. Feel free to stay at The Cabin for as long as you need to, and to stay up here and work with us for as long as you need to... and as long as Chief Soltis lets you before lassoing you and returning you to Midtown."

"Thank you, sir." said Nell.

"All right, wrap up the paperwork, so I can wrap up mine... and so we can Lt. Rudistan out of MCD." I said. Everyone laughed tepidly, including Rudistan, as I left the room and went back to my office.

Green Crowbar followed Red Crowbar into the office. As we sat down, Cindy said "You're not giving up on this, are you?"

"I don't know." I said wearily. "I mean, I'm not giving up on the murder. But Blassingame is going to pull out all the stops to prevent any real investigation of the insurance fraud, and probably the smuggling ring."

"So maybe we let the Feds handle the smuggling ring aspects of it?" Cindy asked hopefully.

"If I thought they were really interested in going after the ring, I would." I said. "But Cindy, things have changed, even over the last few months. The Swamp Frogs believed they weathered the Storm when we took out Superior Bloodlines and that traitorous CIA Director, and they're now coming back out of their hiding places. You can see it in the cooperation between Establishment Republicans and Democrats to go after Governor Jared, and in the rather tepid response to getting Trent and Quint and the Shimono Group once the nuke incident was resolved."

That was not what Cindy really wanted to hear. "Okay," she said, "but I know Crenshaw and Jenkins in Southport aren't letting up. And you really don't think Jack Muscone would capitulate to the Swamp Frogs, would he?"

"No," I said, "but if they're looking for a reason to get rid of him and break up Team Lazarus, including Crenshaw and Jenkins, we'll see it soon in the pressure they bring to bear upon him."

"Not exactly Government 'of the people, by the people for the people', huh?" Cindy said.

"Let's go home to our babies." I suggested. "This will keep until tomorrow or Monday." That suggestion generated no disagreement at all.

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

At home, my son Jim was unhappy. "We didn't get to build the Lego castle today." he pouted.

"True." I said. "We had some visitors that were staying at The Cabin. But we'll have a lot of other weekends to work on it. So don't let it bother you, okay?"

"Okayyyy..." Jim said, not really happy about it still.

"Where are your brothers?" I asked.

"Playing in the backyard." Jim said.

"Why aren't you out there playing with them?" I asked. "Get out there!" Jim dutifully went out into the backyard.

Molly and Laura were talking in the greatroom, so I joined them. "How is the case going?" Molly asked.

"It's just about 'ovah'." I said. "The Courts are involved, and Blassingame is pulling out every stop to make sure they shield his dirty employees. I hate to say it, but I think we're at a dead end."

"I hate to say this," Molly said, "but we were talking with Paulina earlier. All BigBenefitInsurance has to do is say they don't feel like they were defrauded, and all that stuff is dead on arrival in any Court."

"I'm more worried about the other stuff." I said. "Saidy's murder, and the Shimono Group, particularly Trent and Quint."

"Darling," Laura chided, "let it go, for a few hours anyway. Dinner will be soon. Should we add stringbeans to the menu?"

"Nooooo." I said. "Jim's already being pouty about his Lego project, and it would just give Carole incentive to tease him mercilessly about it..."

Part 18 - The Golden Break

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

It was 3:45am, Sunday, March 30th, and it was my Police iPhone ringing. I heard Bowser barking his head off as I picked up the phone. "Troy." I said sleepily.

"Sir, this is Lieutenant Mary Milton." said Lieutenant Mary Milton. "We have a... situation, here."

"What is it?" I said, waking up as Laura got up to go help Carole hush Bowser.

"Uh, sir, I don't think I should say over the phone." Mary replied. "Can you come down right away?"

"Uh, sure." I said, wondering what the reason for the secrecy was, but knowing the reason must be good. I disconnected the call and got up and began dressing in my black civilian clothing.

Despite Carole's entreaties for Bowser to hush, he continued barking, and Laura's arrival had not helped. So after I dressed, I went in there. Carole was petting Bowser, who stopped barking an began whimpering when he saw me.

"Hey, Bowser." I said, sitting on the end of Carole's bed and petting him. "What's the matter?"

"Bowser is worried about you, Daddy." Carole said.

I gave Bowser some more skritchins. "It's okay, Bowser. You just look after Carole, okay?" Laura had left the room, and I firmly guided Bowser to his basket and got him to settle in. I then helped Carole get back in bed, showing Bowser that all was okay. Bowser was not mollified, but stopped whimpering. I petted him one last time and left the room.

Laura had checked on Jim and Buddy, finding Jim sleeping soundly and Buddy awake but settled in his basket. As we went down the hall, she said "What is going on with your dog? And what was the phone call about?"

"Lt. Milton wanted me to come to Headquarters, but she didn't say why." I replied. "Set the alarm and be on the lookout after I leave." I put on my trenchcoat, armor, badge and gun, kissed Laura goodbye, and left.

I was very aware of my surroundings as I drove towards Headquarters, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. No parked cars where none should be, no cars driving slowly or strangely. There was sparse traffic on University Avenue and North Avenue, as there always was at night, but no one peeled off to follow me as I drove down College Avenue.

Arriving at Headquarters, I went in the Employees' Entrance, then into the hall and to the Duty Desk. "What is it, guys?" I asked.

"Sir, Lieutenant Milton asked for you to come to Interrogation-1." said the Duty Desk Sergeant. "She said she'd explain when you got there."

"Okay." I said. "Anything happen last night? Too much partying anywhere?"

"No sir, it's a typical Saturday night in a college town." said the Duty Desk Sergeant.

I went down the side hall past my office and the empty MCD and Vice rooms, then along the back hall towards the Interrogation Rooms. Mary was at the corner of the hallway, in front of the Monitor Room.

"Sir," she said as I came up, "the Duty Desk called me a few minutes ago, since I was on call. I called you as soon as I saw what was going on." She led the way into the anteroom. I looked through the one-way glass and got a huge shock:

Sitting at the interrogation table, handcuffed to it, was the Black Velvet Killer, George Aurus!

To be continued.