The Babymaker Ch. 02

This story is part of an ongoing series. The chronological order of my stories is listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racism, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

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Part 8 - Ramifications and Repercussions

"That order... is countermanded."

Julia and Joan whirled to see me, Your Iron Crowbar, standing at the edge of the room. Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle was right behind me.

I'd gotten Joan's text that said 'Help', which was our cue to go inside. Yes, we'd been waiting in my Police SUV right outside. I am not an Agency of the Weak-Minded, dontcha know...

"You get the hell out of my apartment!" yelled Ariel, coming up to Wanda protectively.

"You... had better shut your mouth," I replied, pointing my crowbar in my left hand at Ariel, "or you're going to be a world of shit. I'm sorry, Wanda, but you will have to come to the Station and be interviewed there."

"Am I under arrest?" Wanda asked, defiance in her voice.

"That depends on you." I said. "As of right now, you're not. But if you don't cooperate, then I'll do what I have to do. Detectives, escort Wanda and Ariel to Headquarters. Do not run them through booking, just put Wanda in I-A and Ariel in I-B if they're available. Let Wanda call a lawyer if she wants one."

Ariel and Wanda did not resist as Laurer and Rodriguez escorted them out of the apartment. I turned to Cindy and said "Are you recording this, Teresa?"

"Yes sir." said Teresa, holding up her iPhone.

I handed Cindy a document and she took it. I said "You've been served. That's a warrant for Town Fitness Centers to turn over its entire client list, and to annotate it to show which clients are specifically Carl's and which are Wanda's."

"I'll comply with it." Cindy said.

Then I had Teresa bag the two shattered iPhones in evidence bags. "They'll need to show why they need new ones." I said. After Teresa finished, I said "Okay let's go."

As we got to the door, I turned and said "Oh, by the way... when you get back to Headquarters, just go straight to the Chief's office. I can't undo this one..."

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

I have rarely seen Teresa Croyle cry. When Amy had died, and a few other times when things got to be too much, she had cried. But now, as we were driving back to Police Headquarters, I saw out of the corner of my eye that a tear was trickling down the Iron Wolf's face.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Her career is over, isn't it?" Teresa said. "It's gone. There's nothing you can do to save her, either."

"I can't." I said. "But let's let it play out. And let's concentrate on Wanda and Ariel..."

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

Julia Rodriguez came into MCD and put her gun into its drawer at her desk. Lt. Jerome Davis was working at one of the back desks, and saw the look on her face. "Everything okay?"

"No sir." said Julia, with formality. "We've brought in Wanda and Ariel for further questioning."

"Did you have any problems?" Jerome asked.

"Yes sir." Julia said, then added "If you don't mind, sir, I need some time and space. I'll tell you all about it later."

"Okay." said Jerome. "Just keep me in the loop..."

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

I came out of the Chief's office and walked down to the anteroom of Interrogation Rooms A, B, and C. I looked through the one-way glass. Wanda was sitting there with her attorney, Mr. Gibson Stelling of Succup & Payne, P.C.

"I read her her rights." said Julia. "She immediately asked for a lawyer, and called Mr. Stelling, there. He got here very quickly, almost as if he'd been anticipating being called. They've been talking the last few minutes."

"Okay, good." I said. "I'll go in with you when they're done. No offense to you, and you still have the lead on this case, but I have a few questions to get us down the trail we need to be on."

"No offense taken." said Julia. "But I have to ask this: do I need to report what happened at the apartment?" I knew what she meant.

"Yes." I said. "You should inform your direct superior Officer, as should Laurer, and at least write up your report. I've already done what I had to do, and told the Chief."

"I'm sorry." said Julia. "That must've been hard for you. She's your blood, and your Police partner..."

"I'll just tell you this, Detective." I replied. "I love Cindy Ross like more than family. But my duty... is to the Badge. Never forget that... your first duty is always to the Force, and the 250 souls that are a part of it..."

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

Some minutes later, Julia and I went into I-A. Joan and Teresa watched from the anteroom.

"What is this about, Commander?" inquired Gibson Stelling. "Why have you dragged my client down here, under arrest? For what?"

"She's not under arrest. Yet." I said. "But we're having some trouble getting cooperation from her and her business partners, so Detective Rodriguez made the very correct decision to bring her down here for questioning. And as part of that, I'm going to read you your rights, Wanda." I did so, from the card. Wanda said she understood the rights.

"Okay," I said. "First of all, I want to discuss the LLC you and Carl formed. 'Best Fitness Solutions, LLC.', it's called." I could sense that Julia was surprised at the direction I'd taken with this.

"What about it?" Wanda asked.

"Why did you form it? What were you and Carl doing with it?" I inquired.

"We were making fitness videos." Wanda said. "And advising people on their own fitness programs. Our tax attorney suggested we create the passthrough LLC for legal protection."

"I see." I said. "Did you have clients through the LLC?"

"We had people who purchased our videos, if that counts." said Wanda. "We did give advice on their fitness programs, if they asked."

"All right." I said. "I need for you to understand, Wanda, that every question we're asking is to try to find a lead to your husband's killer. I might add that you, your business partners, and maybe others could still be in danger, so I really need to find these perps and put 'em away. So when I ask where Carl was yesterday morning, where he went, who he might've seen, it's to find a killer or killers."

"I've already been through this with your Detectives... a number of times." Wanda said.

"And you've never answered." Julia said.

"There's no need to badger my client." said Gibson Stelling.

"Badger her?" I asked incredulously. "You think that's badgering?"

"Yes." said Stelling. "She's answered already."

"No she hasn't!" Julia spat angrily. "She has not given me a clear, definitive answer. She keeps dodging the question, trying to end the interviews and such, whenever I ask that question!"

"I agree." I said. "And it's starting to look suspicious."

"Suspicious?" Wanda said, trying to put incredulity into her voice. "You think I had something to do with my husband's murder?"

"Did you?" Julia shot back.

"NO!" Wanda yelled. "I loved my husband!"

"Then where was he yesterday morning?" I asked.

"I said it before, he was running errands!" Wanda yelled, sounding exasperated.

"Where?" Julia asked harshly. "Where did he visit? What did he buy?"

"I don't know!" Wanda yelled back, beginning to cry.

"Who was he with, Wanda?" I asked. "Who was he having sex with that morning?"

"Now that's out of line!" yelled Stelling.

"Is it?" I fired back.

"You're up to your old bluffing tricks again, Commander Troy." Stelling snarled.

"Harumph! Am I?" I replied. "And if I can prove my assertion?" That struck the legal beagle into silence. I turned to Wanda and said "Wanda, this is starting to look really bad for you. I need you to come correct with some answers."

"I... I'm not even going to dignify that with a response!" Wanda gasped. Stelling leaned over and whispered to her, and she said "I'm not answering any more of your questions. Am I free to go?"

"Yes." I said, again surprising Julia as I slowly rose out of my chair as fast as my back would permit me to. "But Wanda, don't leave the County. If you do, I'll have Federal Marshals bring you back, and then you will be under arrest."

With that, I walked out of I-A, followed by Julia. Stelling and Wanda were escorted out the other door once the one on my side closed...

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

Meanwhile...

Deputy Chief Cindy Ross turned in her company's client list to the Iron Crowbar's assistant Helena, then went to Chief Sean Moynahan's office suite. His assistant Cassie admitted her into the office.

"Have a seat." said the Chief as Cindy stood in front of the desk at attention. She sat down, remaining stiff and formal.

"I've seen pain on the Iron Crowbar's face many timmmmes." said the Chief. "When Charlie Griswold died, and he had to go tell the Sheriff... when Barker died, and Irwin died. I've seen him in physical pain, his back hurting so much that I don't know how he even moves, though he tries hard to hide it. So let me assure you, Ms. Rosssss, that I've never seen him in as much pain as this morning, when he had to tell me what happened between you and his De-tec-tivvvvzzz."

"Yes sir." Cindy said. "I have no excuse. I was totally out of line."

"Oh yezzz, you were that." replied the Chief. "Don also begged me not to suspend you, at least not yet, because he feels that whoever killed Carl may also be targeting you and your bizzz-nessss partners, and he wants you to be able to carry your service weapon and have your indemnity. I can understand that."

"Sooooo," continued the Chief, "your weapon privileges are intact, but your Light Duty due to your pregnancy... begins nowwww. What I strongly, strongly recommend, is that you barricade yourself in your office, or over at City Hall, and get your duties involving the Budget dunnnnnn."

"Yes sir." Cindy said.

"Don't get me wronnnng." said the Chief. "This is not over yet. And I suspect the Sheriff will have a few things to sayyyyy. Okay, you're dismissed."

"Thank you, sir." Cindy said. She got up and exited the office, stunned that she even still had her Badge, much less her gun...

Part 9 - Playing It Out

"We Psychons had a god... until we found out he had a god."
------ Maya, 'Space: 1999'.

11:30am, Tuesday, September 29th. Police Lieutenants Jerome Davis and Micah Rudistan, Detective Sergeant Julia Rodriguez and Detective Joan Laurer were seated at a back table in the main back room of the Cop Bar for lunch. The room was empty save for them; lunch hour had not gotten busy quite yet.

Julia and Joan had told Davis and Rudistan what had happened, and Jerome had come straight to me to ask what should be done. I told him to document that his Detectives had come to him about it, and I told him that I'd already taken it to the Chief, so it was out of all our hands.

"First of all," said Rudistan jovially, "ranks are off and you can speak freely while we're here at lunch."

"Thank you, sir." said Joan Laurer. "So Commander Troy did take it to the Chief? That had to be hard for him to do."

"Yeah, it's been a bad few months for him." said Jerome. "I heard he almost had to fire Captain Muscone for taking the FBI's side against the TCPD's. And now this with Commander Ross?" He just shook his head.

"What's going to happen to her?" Julia asked. "I mean, she was wrong to do what she did to us, but I don't want this to end her career. She's still a good cop... just a pregnant one with raging hormones." Rudistan chuckled jovially.

"Still," said Joan Laurer, "I was... well, I really looked up to Commander Ross. She was an inspiration to me, as a Police Officer, as a Detective. And I trained really hard for the Police Boxing Matches because I wanted to be like her, and win it. And now... well, I guess I just feel totally let down."

"Your god, or goddess, fell out of Heaven." said Julia. Joan nodded.

Jerome said "We had a briefing with Commander Troy just before I rounded you all up for lunch. Captain Muscone, her Lieutenants Three, and Commander Croyle were in the meeting. He told me to tell you guys what he discussed, and to keep it under your hats." Everyone nodded.

Jerome: "First, Commander Ross is not suspended, but is on Restricted Duty, officially due to her pregnancy. She's going to be working on the Police Budget and the EMS Budget. And before you say it or even think it, they're not sweeping it under the rug. She's going to be disciplined. Commander Troy even said that Commander Ross will no longer be Deputy Chief by the end of the year."

"Where's she going to go?" Julia involuntarily blurted out.

"We don't know." said Rudistan. "As a Medal of Valor recipient, she has the right to retire at any time with at least a 20-year pension intact. She just may be persuaded to do that rather than have to be demoted."

Jerome: "Tell you guys what: as the Iron Crowbar says, let's not theorize without data. Anyway, the second thing Commander Troy told us was that a gym bag was found hidden in Carl's car, and inside the bag was a little computer and hidden camera. And it recorded a sexual encounter between Carl and the woman whose still photograph was circulated around Vice, Intel, and MCD."

"Ohhhhh." said Julia. "So that's why Commander Troy wanted me to get Wanda to tell us what she knew about whatever errand Carl was supposedly running that morning. But.. gosh darn it, why didn't he tell us, so that we'd know when we were questioning her?"

"Would it have mattered?" Joan Laurer replied. "If Commander Troy had told us, he still would've told us not to tell Wanda about it. And by not telling us, it allowed you to be less prejudiced in your response to her answers... which were bad enough as it was."

"That's a good point, Joan." Jerome Davis said. "I can see value in both ways of doing it. As it was, you forced Wanda to all but take the Fifth."

Julia said: "And it does potentially explain why his cell phone was taken and his home ransacked. Someone might've been looking for that computer and the video.... but it still doesn't stop me from being bothered about not being told about that before now."

Rudistan said "Commander Troy is so paranoid about the Press... and it ain't paranoia because the Press really is out to hurt all of us as much as they can... but he's so paranoid that he plays things close to the vest at times, and only reveals things when he's ready to lay all his cards on the table. Like that Jen Sakai hostage situation at the University." (Author's note: 'Big in Japan', Ch. 05.)

"Wow." said Joan Laurer. "So do you guys think Wanda was behind her husband's murder?"

"The Iron Crowbar always says that the first Agatha Christie rule is to look and see if the spouse did it." said Rudistan jovially. "The second Agatha Christie rule is that two coincidences mean no coincidences."

Jerome said "Wanda would've had to hire someone, since she was at the gym the whole time, and Purvis can't find any sudden loss of money from their finances in the six figures. However, we, and that means you and the MCD Detectives, Julia, are going to look a lot more closely at Ariel, Wanda's partner at the gym. Ariel has been aggressive to the point of violent in trying to keep the Police from talking to Wanda, and there are some gaps in eyewitness eyeballs on Ariel for the entire morning."

Jerome: "And we're also going to quietly look into Alison McFarland of the Town & County Examiner. Ariel, Wanda, Cindy and Alison were all in the 'Miss Physical America' company at the same time, and there was some bad blood between Alison and the others."

Jerome: "And last but not least, we have the names of Town Fitness Centers's client list, with Carl's clients and Wanda's clients marked. Commander Troy himself served Commander Ross herself with the subpoena, and she complied with it immediately. Intel Branch is going to be looking into all those people, though as quietly and discreetly as possible..."

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

3:00pm, Tuesday, September 29th. I assembled a meeting in Classroom 'E'. Present were Myself, Teresa Croyle, Tanya Perlman, Jerome Davis, Mary Milton, Micah Rudistan, Christopher Purvis, Julia Rodriguez, Teddy Parker, and Joan Laurer.

"Okay," I said, "if you are in this room now, it is because I am trusting you to keep the information we are about to discuss secret. It is an unfortunate fact that in cases like these, we have to look into the victim's family, friends, co-workers, and any other associations we can find. In the vast majority of these cases, the vast majority of the people we look into are innocent of any wrongdoing. So we need some serious discretion so as not to hurt innocent people, and also so we don't tip off the perps that we're coming for them. Good or good?" Everyone nodded.

I brought up the video of Carl having sex with the blonde woman. "Our CSIs found this on a computer belonging to Carl. I won't say more about the source of it for now, but the important thing is that we believe it was made on the morning that Carl was murdered. We distributed a photo of the woman to Vice and Intel. Did you guys get anything back?"

"Yes sir." said Mary Milton. "Facial rec did not find her in the criminal database, but there are some photos of her on 'the Facebook', as you like to call it, sir." Mary brought up some Facebook photos, and also a DMV photo. "Her name is Danielle Rogers Linder, wife of Lamar Linder. He's the State Representative for Hamilton County." Photos of Lamar Linder were also shown.

"I remember him." I said. "He was at the big Republican meeting up here during the July 4th holiday." (Author's note: 'Sugar and Spice', Ch. 03.)

"Yes sir." said Mary. "She's 32 years old, and she graduated from the University ten years ago. She'd started out as a Poly Sci major, then changed to be a Pre-Law English major. She dropped out of University Law School after the first year, though she was not failing. She went to work for the Linder campaign, his first, and they were married six months later."

Mary: "Lamar Linder is 54 years old, and is considered to be a rising star in the State Republican Party... the 'Establishment' wing of it, anyway. He is the State Republican Chair, but if I may add a little innuendo here, the Sharon Marshall Conservative faction of the Party has been working hard to get him removed from that important position, and they're not working with him at all."

Mary: "Danielle has no criminal record. If she did do any escort work while here at School, she was never arrested, and Vice tells me no one recognized her at all." Lt. Rudistan nodded vigorously in agreement. "And I'll turn over the discussion of their financials to Detective Purvis."

"Thank you, ma'am." Purvis said. "Her financials are totally tied in with his, and his are the typical jumble of a politician's. He was a lawyer in Lexington before running for the Legislature, and he's still listed as a partner in his law firm, so there's some residual income from that. He lists his State Representative salary as well as income from investments that are in a blind trust... so he says."

Purvis: "He also files reports with the State Legislature's Ethics Board like they all do, showing dinners with lobbyists, dinners with donors, trips paid for by supporters, and the like. So far, all legal and aboveboard, but it would be very, very easy to get six figures out of this morass of political money to pay for hired killers."