The Ensigns of Detection Ch. 01

I continued: "I served the warrant, your client tried to stall. We now have the apartment's books and the information I need, so I'm willing to drop the charges, if only your client will show the slightest bit of cooperation."

"After the way you've treated him?" snarled the lawyer. "After your harassment of him? This arrest under false pretenses, trying to intimidate my client? Why should he help you? And besides, he's invoked his Fifth Amendment rights to not cooperate with you nor to answer any of your questions."

"That's too bad." I said. "The warrant allowed us to investigate your client's records, as well. I was really hoping he could explain this very recent cash deposit to his bank account of ten thousand dollars."

I leaned forward. "That's a lot of money, a lot of money. And in an apartment complex where drugs have been found, where drugs have been known to be distributed. And now we have you depositing $10,000 in cash right before three buildings are burned down by what I can prove was arson."

"Stop intimidating my client." said the lawyer. "You have no connection between him and those crimes. If you do, you're compelled to reveal that information."

"Which will happen at the discovery phase of his trial." I said. "Right now, I have enough for him to be bound over for suspicion of conspiracy... and of course the obstruction of justice charge will absolutely be applied."

"So what do you want?" the lawyer asked.

"Cooperation." I said. "Tell me the origins of that money, and as long as I don't find out he's lying about it, he's free to go and I'll leave him alone. But Counselor... I'm here to tell you, and this is not intimidation: this man is acting like a guilty man, his Constitutional rights notwithstanding, and I will keep digging... harder and harder and harder... and something will come up."

"I need to talk with my client." said the lawyer. Everyone got up and went to the anteroom, then Patrolman Hicks went out the other door to the 'perp' side and guarded it.

"I a-gree with you, Commander." said Chief Moynahan. "That man is hiding something."

"Think you can pry it out of him?" asked Martin Nash.

"Oh yeah." I said. "He's a small fish in a big pond. I could dig, find some small-time drug courier stuff, but I really could care less about him. I just want to bust his balls over his trying to throw the Constitution in our faces. I'll respect the Constitution and his rights, but he should apply his rights... more nicely."

I continued: "There's one other thing, and this is a 'teachable moment'. This guy just went and deposited ten thousand dollars into his bank account. That amount triggers a report to the Federal Government, and it also shows that he wasn't really trying to hide or launder it. So I think he and his legal beagle there are realizing that he has some explaining to do. The question for them is whether or not that explanation outweighs the need to hide something else."

"Heh heh heh heh." chuckled the Chief.

"Commander," said Nash. "Why didn't you tell us that you had that warrant? Would've made things a whole lot easier." For Nash to bring that up in front of the Chief, I realized, showed he was more than a little pissed off about that, though his quiet, straightforward demeanor had shown nothing to this point.

"That was my fault, Detective." said the Chief, rescuing me. "I'll explain later, but I had the Commander keep that one under his belt. And that brings up a good point: I'd like to have an after-action session with all of you after this. Just for... ed-u-cashhhh-ional purposes."

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

Ten minutes later, we were back inside. The legal beagle said "My client is willing to talk about the origins of that money, but in exchange you must agree to drop all charges with prejudice and to not harass my client further."

"We'll drop the charges" I said, "but I'm not going to promise I won't be back in his face for any potential future crimes."

"Then no charges for anything related to this arson case, or any past crimes at these apartments." said the lawyer.

"Dude, you're being way too broad." I said. "Here's the offer: your client cooperates, truthfully answers my questions regarding the two open cases I have now, and in exchange there will be no charges against him unless he's found to have lied, and charges will be dropped with prejudice, again provided he's not found to be lying."

The lawyer looked at his client and said "That's the best you're going to get."

"Okay." the apartment manager said. "What do you want to know?"

"The ten thousand dollars." I said. "Where did it come from?"

"Last Saturday a man came to me." said the manager. "He wanted to know which apartments were empty in the three buildings that ended up burning down that night. I told him to pound sand, and he gave me $10,000 in cash for the information. I'm not a rich man, so of course I took the money, and I gave him the information."

"Was that all?" I asked. "Did you give him access to those empty apartments?"

The man's face fell, as he realized I was not going to just take his word at face value. "Yes," he said resignedly, "I gave him some keys. He returned them all."

"Describe the man." I said. "What did he look like?"

"Tall." said the manager. "Not as tall as you, but taller than most. Slender. Face was kind of angular."

"Chiseled?" I inquired.

"Yeah." said the manager.

I leaned forward, boring into the man. "Was he a police officer?"

"I... I don't know." said the manager. His eyes gave him away.

"Dude, you're very good at recognizing cops." I said. "You had us pegged the second we walked in the door, and you were trying to kick us out before we'd even said a word. Now, I'll ask you one more time, and I'd better hear the truth: was he a police officer?"

"I'm not lying, I don't know." said the manager. "He never showed a badge. But when he asked for the information and I told him to get a warrant, he said it was 'unofficial' or something like that, and so it's possible that he was."

I whispered something to Parker, who immediately left the room. I said "Give us a few minutes for my Detective to get something. In the meantime, what do you know of James and Susan Douglas?" I mentioned the specific apartment they'd been renting.

"I don't know anything about them." said the manager. "They always paid their rent on time, I don't remember having any trouble with them."

I heard my Police cellphone chime. Opening up my email, I saw what I wanted to see: Parker had sent me a photograph. I brought up the photo and showed it to the manager. "Is this the man who gave you the money?"

The manager looked totally defeated. "I need to talk to my lawyer." he said.

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

Parker came back into the anteroom, and I thanked him for his quick work. Nash and the Chief wanted to know who's picture that was. I showed them, and they gasped.

Fifteen minutes later, the lawyer called us back in. Of course we couldn't listen in, but we saw through the one-way glass that they had had a 'vigorous' conversation.

The lawyer said "My client feels that his life will be in danger if he answers your last question. He will not do anything further to identify the person who gave him the money unless he is provided protection and full immunity from any prosecution. He is willing to have the current deal rescinded and not cooperate any further if he does not receive this protection. You may try to say he has waived his Fifth Amendment rights, but we will fight that to the last ditch, and it could take months or years in the Courts. That should show you how serious he is about this."

I'd already decided what to do at this not-unexpected turn of events. I looked straight at the manager and said "You're not worth it. I don't really need for you to answer at this point. The original deal is in place, and I'll honor it. No prosecution, and charges will be dropped. You will be released immediately... and with no protection or further consideration."

The apartment manager looked totally frightened. His lawyer was saying "Come on, let's go." Meanwhile, I had my Detectives come out with me, and told Patrolman Hicks to escort the lawyer and his client to the front door.

Part 5 - After-Action

"We're really letting him walk away?" Martin Nash asked as he, Parker, myself and Chief Moynahan sat down in the Chief's conference room.

"Not much else we can do." I said. "He had his chances. He could've identified the person in the photo. He could've cooperated, but he chose not to."

"Just who is that in that photo?" asked the Chief.

"Patrolman Brett Bryce." I said. "We've had some trouble with him before. Internal Affairs is supposed to be keeping an eye on him. Of course, if Bryce had been identified, and again in a lineup, we'd have to deal with him immediately, and therefore we might lose a potential trump card."

"Trump card against what?" asked Parker.

"Possible criminal organizations." I said. "Bryce is believed to be dirty. I don't want to go too deep into the weeds on that right now, though." I could see exasperation on Martin Nash's face. And apparently the Chief saw it, too.

"O-kay," the Chief said, "let's talk about that warrant situation, which is obviously on Detective Nash's miiiiind."

"Yeah, I'm not understanding that at all." said Nash. He was barely holding back on his feelings on this.

The Chief explained: "What happened is that the Commander and I discussed this situation with this apartment manager, who is known to be hostile to Police. I agreed with the Commander's plan to have you guys go in first and see if he co-OP-erated. And he obviously did not. So we got to do a little of what I call 'good cop, bad cop' on the guy, with the Commander taking the role of 'bad cop'. He's higher ranked, and he's willing to take the heat if there are any legal isssuuuuues on that."

"But why not let us know? Especially that the Commander had the warrant?" said Nash.

"Because," said the Chief, "you would've acted differently than you did, and I wanted to evaluate you under the circumstances in which you did go in there. We'll be discussing that in a moment. Commander, is there anything you'd like to add?"

"Yes sir." I said. "I want to embellish on what you just said. Guys, I was giving the bozo a chance to cooperate without using the warrant. He didn't. Then I served it. This was not the bozo's first rodeo with being served warrants. He knows damn well that the warrant was being executed immediately, and he had no rights or recourses about stalling us. So when he did, that gave me the opportunity I needed to arrest him. And as you could see, dominoes started falling."

"I get all that." said Nash. "But I still don't understand why we weren't told you had that warrant. You could've told us, and with all due respect, sir, I believe you should have told us."

"I think," said the Chief, "that it's time to move into the edu-cational phase of this discussion." With that, I called Lt. Perlman on my Police cellphone and had her come join our meeting. She was there almost instantly.

"Okay, gentlemen, and Lieutenant," said the Chief, "this is something I've done with my people in Midtown in the past, and something I think will be good here, but we'll see. This is an excellent situation to evaluate and teach from. It sounds negative by nature, but is actually to create a better trained and more positive Police Force going forward. Okay, Commander, what is your evaluation?"

"First," I said, "most citizens are usually helpful and cooperate, but sometimes they don't. Increasingly, citizens are aware of their rights and are distrustful of police. We have to be aware of that, respect that, and work with people, even if they start getting seemingly hostile with us about their rights. Up to a point, of course."

"Second," I continued, "and I've said it a ton of times before: Detection is about observation, deduction or inference, and knowledge. In this case, I had knowledge of this apartment manager. And quite frankly, you guys should've developed some of this in looking at this case. His name is easily found in our databases."

"Third," I said, "with some knowledge of this guy, I had a plan of how I wanted my interview of him to go. And this is the teachable point. To the extent you are able, always go into any interview or interrogation with a plan. That plan may include what to do or say if the guy turns hostile. It includes giving him rope to hang himself with, so to speak. It includes what questions you want to ask, and how you will steer him to give you the answers you seek."

"Last," I said, "and I'll be blunt with this: I held back knowledge that I had a warrant partially because I was more than disappointed that you guys didn't have a warrant already, much less know that the man had just deposited ten thousand dollars into his bank account."

"Sir," asked Parker, "how could we have known that? We had to have a warrant to access his bank records, and we had to have probable cause to get the warrant."

Tanya was about to answer, so I quickly said "That's actually a good question. Let's break it down. First, the probable cause is those heaps of ashes that once were apartments, which the Fire Marshal has already declared to be arson and therefore a crime."

"Second," I said, "do you guys realize just how easy it is for Police and Government agencies to get reams of data on any Citizen that they want to? Without a warrant, without probable cause? For example: a quick search of the local Police database came up with this bozo's name on several occasions having warrants served to him and his complaints to the Inspector General's office and the Council about the nature of the warrants, that they weren't specific, etc. And those warrants weren't so much on him but occupants of the apartments, and he's fighting them."

"Then," I continued, "I had Myron do an expanded search, a search you could have asked him for, and the Bank record of the deposit came up from Federal files. Now at this point, I did stop and I did go to ADA Patterson and ask for a warrant to get those bank records, as well as get the apartment records. My probable cause was the arson fire and the proximity in time of the payment to that arson fire."

"Guys," I said, "Not to beat the dead horse, but you could've gottent this. You have database people available to you to help search for data. You can even work with Vice's database people like Lainie and Sonali, and if there's any problem, go to Lt. Perlman here."

"Finally," I said, "when you go into a situation like that, go in with confidence and a sense of being in control. I don't mean lord it over them like I had to do with this bozo. Be courteous until they give you a reason not to, but be firm and in control of the situation. When that guy started blasting you from the start, I could see on your faces you had no idea what to do next. That's why I held back on the warrant... to observe your reactions and what you would do on the spur of the moment, in the heat of the moment."

I finished up: "From now on, you'll have some idea of what to do next because you will have as much knowledge as you can get going in, you'll have a plan going in, and you'll remain in control even when that plan goes to hell in a handbasket. Chief, anything to add?"

"Oh, I think that covered it." said the Chief. "Again, guys, that sounded harsh, but I know the Commander wants you to be the very best, as do I."

Just then, my Police cellphone rang...

Part 6 - Snapback

As my day with MCD was going on, Cindy Ross was headed to the Hospital to get Jenna. As she drove up in her SUV (yes, she has one assigned to her), she saw the huge gaggle of reporters outside the front door.

Have I mentioned that the Blue Crowbar hates the Press as much as the Red Crowbar does?

Driving around to the back, where only official vehicles could go, Cindy went inside and up to Jenna's room. Jenna was dressed and very ready to go.

"Okay," said the Nurse Jones, the lovely black nurse, "you get your wheelchair ride to the door, and probably to the nearest fast food place for a cheeseburger." Jenna smiled at that.

"Hold on just one second." said Cindy. "Is there a way we can take her to avoid those reporters out front?"

"You can take her out the back way," said Nurse Jones, "but you'll still have to drive by the reporters, and they've been known to block the road to stop people to get pictures."

"Well I can do something about that." said Cindy. She first called Sheriff Daniel Allgood, and asked for a Deputy vehicle escort, then called the Campus Police's Lt. Hanson and asked for the same thing. She got it.

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

The Press was in a near-feeding-frenzy. They could not wait to get pictures of ADA Stiles coming out of the hospital, wondering if she would still show the signs of the brutal beatings and rapes that she had been forced to endure. They only noticed the contingent of four Campus Police cars and three Sheriff Department cars when the blue lights of the vehicles all but blinded them.

Campus Police officers poured out of the vehicles and set up a human cordon that would prevent the Press from blocking the road. The Sheriff Department cruisers were there to form a convoy around one TCPD SUV.

Just as the vehicles were leaving, the Press realized what was happening, that they were trying to get Jenna Stiles out without being observed. They rushed to film the vehicles leaving.

Some in the Press were veterans of trying to get in front of cars to stop them. They were roughly pushed back by Campus Police officers and threatened with arrest, but if they had tried to stop the Sheriff Department cars, they might've been injured or killed: the cars were moving at a good rate of speed and fully intended to not stop for any reporter jumping out in front of them.

Among the reporters at the scene, Priya Ajmani watched as the vehicles got past them and safely away. She uttered unprintable curses.

Inside the SUV, Cindy and Jenna broke off from the convoy once they were on University Avenue. Cindy radioed the other vehicles her thanks.

"You know what," Jenna said, removing the jacket from her head that prevented the Press from getting any footage of her face, "the Press is going to blame the Iron Crowbar... Don, I mean... for this."

"I know." Cindy said with a wicked grin. "That's the best part of the whole plan.

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

Nurse Jones had been right. The first thing that happened when Cindy got Jenna home was that they ate the cheeseburgers Cindy had bought at the Wendy's Drive-Thru along the way home. "Oh God, that is soooo good after that garbage they call 'hospital food'!" Jenna said as she ate ravenously.

"So, do you want to get some rest?" Cindy asked.

"No." Jenna said. "I've been having to lie in that bed for days. What I'd really like to do... is take a walk."

"We can go to Ronald Reagan Park." Cindy said. "But if the Media sees you, it's going to be worse than what they wanted to do at the Hospital."

"Let's chance it." Jenna said. She wore a scarf over her head, and they were both bundled up for the cool weather.

At Ronald Reagan Park, they walked along the exercise trail, getting away from the parking lot and main road. They perched on a high spot overlooking the River, watching a few disc golf players and some people walking on the trail.

"I just need to get back to work." Jenna said. "I'm going in tomorrow. The caseload must be enormous after the Beanstalk Gang bust."

"Relax." Cindy said. "Franklin Washington is handling some of that for you. And D.A. Krasney called and said that Monday would be plenty early enough. He also said that if you need more time, you can have until after Thanksgiving."