Shipping and Handling Ch. 05

"Ladies and gentlemen!" I announced at 7:15am in the crowded MCD room. "Reporting for duty after graduating first in his class at the Police Academy Advanced Course, Detective Jerome Davis!" A huge round of applause greeted Jerome Davis as he came into the MCD room.

"Aw, thanks guys!" Jerome said. "And it's great to be back with the greatest group of Detectives on the planet."

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder!" Joanne Warner said brightly as she hugged Jerome. He also received hugs from Mary Milton and Julia Rodriguez, man-hugs from Theo Washington, Teddy Parker, and Roy McGhillie, and a fist-bump from Captain Tanya Perlman.

"Well, that's another ribbon I'll have to order for Promotions and Medals Day next month." Cindy Ross said. "And that's not a complaint. I love spending tax dollars on awards for your achievements." People chuckled at that.

"Except for Purple Orders." I said. "I hate awarding those. So earn achievement ribbons instead, please."

"And that's a great achievement, Jerome." said Tanya, who then added with a sly grin: "Makes your Captain look good, too." More chuckling ensued.

"It was a close thing, though." said Jerome. "There were two Detectives from Midtown, Steve Ruger and Kimberly Wesson. They were pushing me hard. I think I won out only because I had the best physical fitness scores."

"So those Police Boxing Matches are good for something!" said Lt. Micah Rudistan with great joviality as he came into the room. He then shook Jerome's hand and congratulated him.

"What are you doing here, Rudistan?" asked Commander Ross. "Besides raising my political correctness hackles?"

"Ma'am, I hadn't even started with you yet!" Rudistan joked. "But I'll say this: you women don't stand a chance in the Police Boxing Matches!" Cindy 'glared' at Rudistan.

"I think he means no man nor woman has a chance this year." said Teddy Parker. "Commander Troy has three years of frustration to take out on all of you, and he's going to. We might as well call it off and give him the trophy."

"By the form of your sentence, Parker," said Teresa Croyle, "I perceive that you're not competing?"

"I'm signing up for the Boxing division, ma'am." said Parker. "I've always wanted to try that side of it." Everyone 'ooh'ed and 'aah'ed.

"I'll see you in the ring." said Rudistan, who also was planning to compete on the Boxing side. He and Parker made the two-finger signs at each other.

"So... did I miss anything while I was gone?" Jerome asked. Laughter broke out.

"Nothing of interest." I said laconically. "We've just been twiddling our thumbs, waiting for you to get back." More laughter broke out.

"And the next time you leave, Jerome," Teresa said, "teach someone how to make coffee correctly, willya?" There was an acclaim for that.

"Glad to know I'm loved for something." Jerome said with a grin.

"Go Navy!" said Theo, trying to start 'trouble' with Army veterans in the room. And succeeding.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." I said.

"I won't." said Joanne. "You're gonna owe me a big dinner when Army kicks Navy's ass next December!" The acclaim was for the normally sweet Joanne's potty mouth more than the Army-Navy sentiment.

"What, no Air Force representatives in here?" asked Teresa, throwing a softball at her BFF.

"I'll represent the Air Force." said Cindy, hitting it out of the park. "My Canadian dad was in the Canadian Air Force."

"Fly, Falcons, Fly!" said Roy McGhillie. The Air Force Academy's mascot was the Falcons. I'd told him on Sunday that George Aurus had turned himself in. To say that McGhillie was a lot happier now would be a huge understatement.

"So did Nell and Eric go back to Midtown?" asked Julia Rodriguez.

"Yes." I said. "Chief Soltis called them home before I could find TCPD badges for them..."

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

Commander Cindy Ross joined the Angels meeting at 8:00am. "Callie and I took Betsy down to 'The Vision' headquarters yesterday." Cindy said. "So what is this about Aurus turning himself in?"

"You can watch the videotape, and I suggest you all do so, and several times." I said.

"I saw it." said Tanya Perlman. "So you had it figured out that they broke Aurus out to go after Leonard Lotz, and ultimately your sister?"

"That is my thesis." I replied.

"But why?" asked Teresa. "Why go after your sister... my mother-in-law, for that matter?"

"You just said it yourself." I said. "She's your mother-in-law. More specifically: she's Todd's mother."

"So they're after Todd?" asked Teresa. "Do I need to warn him?"

"Absolutely." I said. "And make sure your kids are safe at all times."

"But why Todd?" asked Cindy. "And why go after him through his mother? It'd be far easier for them to go after you, or Teresa and the kids."

"Yes, yes it would." I said. "So that leads me to deduce that they, or more likely the people behind them, are after my dear sister for other reasons, as well."

"What reasons are those?" asked (of course) Cindy. "And who exactly is behind these guys? Blassingame?"

"Blassingame is one part of it," I said, "and he is an Establishment Elitist, one of the Crony Capitalists. But there's another group behind these guys, a Government group with initials for a name."

I continued: "As to reasons, they've wanted revenge on Elizabeth for some time. She went after the guns they meant to be used to kill blacks in Providence Springs. She was arming Jews in Europe, especially France, trying to prevent the Muslims, who are loved by the Elitists, from dominating the Jews that the Elitists hate."

"Even worse," I went on, "she put a gun to the head of the Consultant of Crime and put him in chains on a helicopter in which he meant for me to fly to my death. She thwarted the Elitists's plans in Paris, and she took my side against CIA agents who were trying to kill Vassily Kurchikov. So yes, they have many reasons for wanting to go after my sister, beyond the fact that she's my sister and Todd's mother."

"Ohhhhhh...." Tanya said, figuring it out. "They're still after the Mutanix, which Todd dispersed to Japan and Israel. Maybe they think capturing her will get them the Mutanix?"

"You are too good for your own good." I said. "Let's keep that one amongst ourselves, and not share it with any FBI Agents... any, if you get my drift."

"I hate keeping secrets from Jack." said Tanya, a frown on her pretty face. "Though I don't feel the need to volunteer any information, either."

"If it comes up, send him my way." I said. "And Teresa, you definitely can tell Todd to increase his security, as well as have him make Takaki Misaki aware of the pertinent issues." Teresa nodded.

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

"So, let's talk these recent cases, especially the murder of Saidy." I said. "What do y'all think?"

We were in Classroom 'E', all of MCD as well as Purvis and Geiger of Vice, my three Angels, myself, and Chief Moynahan. Somewhat to my surprise, Commander Ross spoke up.

"So from what I saw on the tape of your conversation with Aurus," Cindy said, "Mrs. Jones was one of the bad guys. So now we don't know if another truck came to the Farris home next door or not."

"That is correct." I said. "In fact, we can safely deduce that at least one other truck did come to that home."

"And both Saidy and Meadows," continued Cindy, "who picked up the Farris's furniture, were murdered."

"That is correct." I said.

"And the truck Saidy's body was found in," Cindy went on, "was normally driven by Andy Lessing, who we found out is Jeff Farley."

"To be totally accurate," I said, "Lessing was one of the drivers on that route, but not the only one. And yes, he is Farley."

Joanne Warner spoke up: "So they had Lessing drive that truck whenever they had some contraband on the truck, and the other guy when everything was clean?"

"That is an excellent thought." I said. "So what was the contraband?"

"Ohhhhhhhhh!" Tanya Perlman exclaimed. "I get it now. The contraband was people. They had passengers on the truck. If George Aurus is to be believed, and Jimmy Tolson disappeared quickly after being broken out, it's possible that he and Quint Starr, and maybe others, were in that truck."

"Keep making deductions like that," I said with a grin, "and I'll make you Captain of Detectives."

"Don't you threaten me!" Tanya said, giving it right back to me.

"Seriously, I think you're right." I said. "So, to make a long story short-------"

"TOO LATE!" came a chorus, which made the Chief chuckle.

"O-kayyyy." I said. "As I was saying... there are two possibilities here. The first is that more than one truck came to the Farris home, and some of the Farris's stuff ended up on Truck 164, and the rest of their stuff ended up elsewhere on another truck. The other possibility is that Truck 164 rendezvoused with another truck, one of them having all the Farris's furniture, and some furniture was transferred to the other truck, and the human cargo came in on Truck 164."

"Pertaining to the first possibility, you believe what Aurus told you?" Cindy asked.

"For now, yes." I said. "What he said fits a lot of other data we have. But either way, furniture was being brought to this County, likely to be delivered to professional fencers for some green dollar bills, and the rest of the Farris's stuff, like the old appliances, were delivered by the other truck to the City, to be fenced there, very likely by Clarence Meadows."

"Were the Farrises involved in this?" asked Julia Rodriguez.

"I'm pretty sure Mrs. Farris was." I said. "Dr. Farris, I'm not so sure about. But let's keep going for now. Truck 164, now disguised as an SMS moving truck, came to our County, probably to deliver the furniture to someone for fencing as well as to deliver the people somewhere here... which scares me. Clarence Meadows was lucky, for the moment; by being on the other truck, he avoided being murdered like Saidy was."

I continued: "Saidy was told to turn onto McGill Farm Road, possibly to meet with someone, and then he was shot dead. It could have been Farley, Quint Starr, or Jimmy Tolson that committed the murder; Quint and Tolson have committed murder in the past, and Farley was behind City Detective Sullivan's murder, and framed Bundy McGinty for it. At any rate, Saidy could not be left alive because he had seen Quint and Tolson."

So." I said. "We began investigating the murder, and all this other stuff sprang up. The Midtown Detectives were already catching on to the moving van thefts, which led to the insurance fraud, and my previous case with McGinty exposed elements of Farley and the smuggling ring. The problem is... the bad guys were always one step ahead of us, and have thrown every legal obstacle possible in our path."

"So what is the way forwarrrrd?" asked the Chief. "Or have we done all we can?"

"For most of it, we've done what we can, and it's in the hands of the D.A.s and the Courts." I said. "As to the murder, I have hopes that we can flush out the perp that killed Saidy."

"Who do you think it was?" asked Cindy.

"As you correctly surmised, Commander, it was Lessing." I said. "He was likely up front in the cab with Saidy. But proving it? That's a different story entirely."

"Okay, everyone." said the Chief as he peered at me. "Get your paperwork done. And I need to speak with my Command Group..."

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

My Angels and I went with the Chief to the Chief's Conference Room.

"Sooooo, Mr. Crowbarrrrr." drawled the Chief. "You tried to hide it, but I detected pessimism in your voice. You don't think we'll bring this to a conclusion, do you?"

"I think they're going to get away with the insurance fraud." I replied. "I won't blame any D.A. that looks at the flimsy circumstantial evidence we found and not want to take it to a Grand Jury, much less a trial. I was hoping to interrogate some people and see if one of them slipped and gave us something on the smuggling ring, but they've lawyered up with high-powered legal beagles that just love to fight me to the last ditch."

"As to the smuggling ring," I continued, "we know it's there, but we have absolutely no proof of it at all. I would imagine the Enemy is going to roll it back if not shut it down, and live to fight another day on it elsewhere. As to the murder, I have some thin hopes that Justice can be brought to the Wicked, but it might not be us administering that Justice, nor through the legal system." That got Cindy peering hard at me. The Chief showed no reaction at all.

"Having said that," I went on, "I am going to do a couple of things. First, I'm going to talk to Jack Muscone, so that he won't take down my APBs for Jimmy Tolson and Jeff Farley. Then I'm going to talk to D.A. Walters about pressing full charges against the BigAgraFoods employees in this area that were arrested. And then I'm going to push those APBs as hard as I can, so that the whole world will be on watch for Tolson and Farley."

"Think you'll get any information on them?" Cindy asked.

"Maybe." I said cryptically...

Part 20 - D.A. With Attitude

"Hello and welcome to Fox University Sunrise!" said Catrina Pierce at 7:30am, Tuesday April 2d, from the KFXU studios. "I'm Catrina Pierce, an with me as always is Meredith Peller."

"Good morning, Catrina." said Meredith. "Good morning, everyone. As we reported yesterday, the Town & County Police are asking for your help in finding two dangerous, wanted criminals." Photos of Tolson and Farley were put on the screen as Meredith continued: "Jimmy Tolson, who recently escaped from the Supermax prison in a nearby State, is believed to have returned to the Town & County area. Also wanted by Police is Jeff Farley, who may be using the alias of State Parcel Service employee Andy Lessing."

"Citizens are being advised to be very wary of State Parcel Service trucks with employees they don't know." continued Meredith. "And anyone seeing these two wanted criminals are asked to call 9-1-1 or contact the Town & County Police Department immediately..."

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

"Think that'll generate a lead?" asked Sheriff Griswold as he and his Police leadership drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room.

"It'll generate something." I said. Since the previous day, Captain Thompson had put out the alert to all the Media, most of whom dutifully repeated the warning messages about Tolson and Farley. After KFXU had reported it, KXTC realized they had to, also. And even SNN had carried the alert State-wide.

Jack Muscone had been much less than pleased when I told him I was going to be issuing APBs out the wazoo, and expected that they would not be canceled by Federal entities. He begrudgingly acquiesced and agreed to help when I explained what was going on.

Back in live time, Cindy said "We don't have a shred of evidence against either one of them. So like the dog that chases the moving car and tries to bite its tires... what are you going to do when you catch them?"

"Are you kidding?" Teresa replied moodily. "Tolson is wanted for escaping a Supermax prison. And Farley is wanted by the City Police after they re-opened the case of the murder of Detective Sullivan."

"True." I said. "As to the Saidy murder, we'll burn those bridges when we get to them."

"You have something up your sleeve, besides your arm." said Cindy.

"Doesn't he always?" Griswold lovingly growled, his mustaches twitching with merriment. Though I'd said nothing, I had a sneaking suspicion that Our Sheriff had figured out what I was really doing...

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

At 9:00am, I got the text message I'd been expecting: "He's here."

I bolted for the door and down the hallway to Teresa's office. "Red alert!" I said as I barged in on her office. "Let's go!"

We got into my Police SUV and blasted down to City Hall. We put on our armor as we got out and rushed into City Hall and to the office of District Attorney Miriam Walters. Several Deputies were in her receptionist's room.

"Alright, let's barge in." I said. I threw open the door to Walters's office. Inside was our District Attorney, sitting at her desk. In front of the desk, flanked by his lawyer Chip Blake and four security men, was Edward Blassingame, CEO of BigAgraFoods, Chairman of the Board of State Parcel Service, and one of the Establishment Elites.

Normally polite and friendly, Blassingame was red-faced with anger as he turned to face me. His security had moved to protect him, but found the assemblage of Deputies to be squaring off with them. My own protection was one Iron Wolf with one hell of an attitude.

"This is a private meeting, Commander Troy." Blassingame snarled.

"No it's not." said Miriam Walters. "I texted him to come over. I'm tired of your browbeating me, thinking you're some kind of rich hotshot Elitist who is above the law."

"Is there a problem here, Officers?" I asked jovially. Then the humor left me. "Is Mr. Blassingame trying to be an important man, here?" How Teresa held her face and didn't break out laughing at my Rudistan-ism, I'll never know, but she did.

"Nothing of the kind." said the attorney Blake, his smile forced and set. "The conversation has been mischaracterized. Mr. Blassingame and I are simply discussing with the District Attorney that these warrants for our employees was based upon no evidence at all, and that any attempt to prosecute them would be a waste of her time and the taxpayer's money."

"And she needs you, the BigAgraFoods CEO, and several well-armed security men to tell her that?" I fired back. "The employees will have their days in Court. In the meantime, I suggest you leave. Now."

"Why are you doing this, Troy?" said Blassingame. "You truly have no evidence of any crime, here."

"Except a dead body that is obviously a murder case." I said as I squared up to Blassingame. His security moved towards me threateningly, but the Deputies and Teresa all but had their guns drawn as I said "And I'm doing this to find the murderers, Jeff Farley and Jimmy Tolson, Mr. Blassingame. I do not like murder being committed in my County; it offends me. Greatly. And I will not rest until I find Farley and Tolson."

I went on, looking Blassingame squarely in the eye as I said: "I will be pushing hard, very hard, digging very very deep, until I find them. And whatever comes out and is exposed as I pursue these wanted criminals is just going to be collateral damage... for someone. And once I find them, they will be telling me some truths... a lahhhhht of truths. I'm sure I'll have your full cooperation in pursuing Justice for your murdered employee, Mr. Blassingame... won't I?"

"Of course." said Blassingame, though unhappily. "But as I was explaining to the District Attorney before you barged in here, abusing employees over non-existent insurance fraud charges won't solve that murder."

"Won't it?" I replied, tapping the red crowbar in the palm of my hand. "Vee shall see. Vee shall see."

Blassingame peered at me then turned to go, only to find a red crowbar across his chest, blocking him. His security was about to pounce. So was Teresa.

I said "Farley and Tolson. In my custody. Soooooon." Blassingame glared at me as he pushed past the crowbar. He and his entourage left.

"Glad you came in." said Miriam Walters as the Deputies stood down. She pulled out a tape recorder. "I've got it on tape. He was literally threatening my physical safety."

"Let's hear it." I said. Miriam rewound the tape and played it. A staticky hum was all we heard.

"Yep, he had some kind of microphone-killing device." I said. "Captain Croyle, it's almost as if the Slender Man was here."

"We know the Slender Man." Teresa said. "The Slender Man is not our friend.. But Edward Blassingame is no Slender Man..."

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