The Ensigns of Detection Ch. 01

"No, what I need is work." said Jenna. "I'll be there Monday." With that, she got out her cellphone and texted Krasney. Meanwhile, Cindy was watching over the park, looking in a southerly direction towards Town. She saw the River to her right, flowing away from her, south to Town and onwards towards 'The Vision' in Coltrane County. She saw BigPharmaCorp on the other side of the River.

She was getting a sense of foreboding, as if something wasn't quite right. As Jenna finished her texting, Cindy said "Why don't we walk back towards the car now."

"Sure." said Jenna. They got up and completed the circuit of the walking path.

As they were driving back to North Street, Cindy saw a TCPD cruiser following a brown car. She hit the brakes, then peered at the Police vehicle.

"What's the matter?" asked Jenna.

"That... that's not right." Cindy said. She whipped out her cellphone and called the Commander.

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

"Yes, follow them." I said. "I'll get Rudistan on it."

Hanging up, I speed-dialed Rudistan's police cell number, staying off the police radio, feeling the eyes on me. "I'll explain in a second. Hello Rudistan! Where are you... I need you to burn the blue lights and take North Street to the West Highway... a car is trying to get out of State, and rogue cops are following it... Captain Ross is tailing, but she has a civilian passenger, so I need you to interdict... yep, and bring the people in the car back... okay, keep me informed." I hung up.

"Cindy... I mean Captain Ross called. She said she saw McCombs and Hendricks in their TCPD vehicle, and they were following a brown vehicle, that was heading west."

"What of it?" asked Tanya.

"Knowledge, my friend." I said. "McCombs and Hendricks are also under my watch as possibly rogue cops, and possibly in league with Bryce. They are also supposed to be on second shift, the evening shift, and for them to be out in a Police cruiser at this time is highly suspicious to me."

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

While all the above had been going on, the apartment manager's lawyer was driving him back to the apartment complex. "You need to get some clothing." said the lawyer. "I'm going to take you to Hammondsville, across the State Line. They can't touch you there. You need to consider where you want to move to; you can't stay here."

"Don't I know it." said the manager. "This shit is too heavy for me. I don't want any part of it."

They drove to the man's apartment, where he packed a suitcase full of clothes. "I'll have someone get your car to you at the hotel tonight." said the lawyer. "Right now, we've got to get you out of here."

They checked carefully, but saw no police cars. They headed north, to get to North Street, upon which they would travel west and hook up with the main highway and out of the State.

"Oh shit." the lawyer said as they got on the main highway. "Cop behind us... aw, fuck, he's turning on his lights. They're stopping us."

"What are we gonna do?" the manager said.

"If it's the cop that gave you the money, the one in that picture the Iron Crowbar showed you," said the lawyer, "we're going to run for the border. If not, we'll see what they want. I'm a lawyer, you just sit tight."

As the two officers approached the car, the manager said "Neither one is the guy."

Sergeant McCombs came up to the car at an angle to the rear of the driver's door. Hendricks was on the other side, watching the passenger side from the car's right rear bumper.

"May I see your registration and license, please." said McCombs. The lawyer handed him his law firm card instead.

"Officer, I'm a lawyer, and I'd like to know why you stopped us." said the lawyer.

"I stopped you because the passenger in your car is a wanted fugitive." said McCombs. "There is an APB out on him right now, and we are stopping your attempt to flee the jurisdiction. Would you please step out of the car."

"No, thank you." said the lawyer. "This man is not a fugitive nor is he wanted in any way. I am also his legal representation. Are we free to go?"

"Get out of the car. NOW! Both of you!" ordered McCombs, going for his gun and drawing it. "Show your hands! Keep 'em where I can see 'em!" The lawyer slowly came out of the car, showing his hands. On the other side, the apartment manager also got out, under the watchful eye of Patrolman Hendricks.

"Face the car, get against the side of it." McCombs growled. The lawyer complied. "Put your hands behind your back." The lawyer did so. McCombs put him in handcuffs, then searched him for weapons. The same was happening to the manager on the other side.

"We got company, Sergeant." said Hendricks. McCombs looked up to see two Police cruisers flying towards them, blue lights flashing away. Behind them was a Police SUV... that spelled trouble, McCombs knew.

Coming up to the scene, Sergeant Rudistan and Sr. Patrolman Morton got out. In the car behind them were Patrolmen Hicks and Johnson.

"Well, what's going on here?" asked Rudistan in his jovial way.

"This is our bust." said McCombs. "Get out of here."

"Well, now, Sergeant McCombs," said Rudistan, intentionally mentioning McCombs name in front of the perps, "I'm wondering why off-duty officers such as yourselves are making a bust in the first place."

"These guys are trying to flee the jurisdiction, Sergeant Rudistan. The passenger has an APB on him." snarled McCombs.

"That's not true, Sergeant!" yelled the lawyer. "These other officers made an unlawful stop! I'm a lawyer, an Officer of the Court of the Town & County! This police agent is abusing our rights and has committed police brutality!" McCombs looked like he wanted to hit the lawyer.

"Well, now, is that true, McCombs?" asked Rudistan, getting closer, but remaining on guard.

"No, Rudistan, it's not." said McCombs. "We're taking these guys in."

"Let me see your I.D., Mr. Lawyer." said Rudistan. McCombs looked like he was going to stop Rudistan, but the contingent of Rudistan's officers were ready to draw guns. It was a tense situation, but Rudistan got the lawyer's wallet and examined his I.D. and the legal cards.

"Tell you what we're gonna do." said Rudistan cheerfully. "Mr. Lawyer, we'll take your passenger in my vehicle to the Station, and you can follow in your car and represent him at the Station until we get this allll cleared up."

"Fuck you, Rudistan!" yelled McCombs. "This is my bust! I'm taking both these bastards in, under arrest. You don't outrank me, and it's my call here."

"Oh, is someone trying to pull rank here?" said a voice from behind. Cindy had been creeping up, listening in. Now she came forward, and said with full, lilting sarcasm: "I just love playing that game. I win almost every time." McCombs looked disgusted, knowing he was fully beaten.

"Sergeant, I like your plan better." Captain Ross said to Rudistan. "Take them in. McCombs, I would suggest you stay out of my way. And I'm sure Internal Affairs is going to be talking to you about this..."

Part 7 - Smoke, Mirrors, and Crowbars

I came into Interrogation-1, pretending that I was reading something. Martin Nash was with me. Cindy, Tanya, the Chief, and Parker were in the anteroom. Sergeant Rudistan had pulled rank, and was the Uniformed officer overwatching us.

Sitting down, I looked up from my papers at the lawyer and the apartment manager. "Well, gentlemen," I said, "I guess we're going to be trying this again."

"Come on, Commander," said the legal beagle, "you don't think I see what is going on here? You send cops to stop us and harass us, in order to intimidate us. Then you send other cops to bring us in. You'll just have to excuse me if I don't want to play your little game."

I chuckled. "You know, I really wish I was good enough to even think of doing something like that, much less trying it. But seriously, I understand... I understand why you would think I'd be playing that game with you. I know you think I'm setting this up to mess with you, when what I really am doing is trying to save your client's life."

I leaned in and said, more quietly, "There's just one little problem with your thesis... as I told you last time, this guy is seriously not worth my time to play these games. I'm about to order him released again. He can keep the $10,000, I'm not even going after that. And I don't want to see him in my jails.

"In fact, I'll have my Sergeant here escort you both to the State Line, to make sure you're not interfered with again. And I'll let you call the Media, KXTC or KSTD... or both... and let them follow you to the State Line. What better witnesses can I offer than the Media itself?"

The lawyer was frowning; his face had fallen as he realized I wasn't kidding. "So what is going on here, Commander? Is my client in danger?"

"Your client would know that far better than I would." I said. "But I'm just a Police Officer following the Constitution, which you keep throwing into my face. But as you know, under the Constitution there is little I can do to prevent crimes. I'm only empowered to investigate crimes, such as murder, after they happen. And my jurisdiction is a simple one, the 300 square miles or so of this County. Outside that?..." I shrugged my shoulders.

I was about to get up, when the apartment manager said "Wait. Can I talk to my lawyer, then maybe talk to you?"

"Better hurry." I said. "It's getting near suppertime." I got up and we all left, leaving the manager and his lawyer to talk.

"Think he'll co-OP-perate this time?" asked the Chief.

"Yep." I said. "And by the way, I really did not set this up. I intended to let them go. It was just their luck that Cindy saw McCombs and Hendricks following them and called me."

"And that she knew to call." said the Chief. "She must be psychic or something."

"Like father, like daughter." I said, more to myself than anyone else... but my words escaped no one present, especially the platinum blonde waving a blue crowbar in my general direction...

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

Ten minutes later, we were back inside.

"All right." said the apartment manager. "Let me see the picture again." I took the iPhone out, but first I showed Martin, then Parker, then the lawyer, then Rudistan... and then I held the picture up to the camera that was videotaping all of this.

"Okay, I said, "is this the man that gave you the money in exchange for the information on the empty apartments?"

He looked at the photo and said "Yes. That's the same guy."

"And you could pick him out of a lineup?" I asked.

"I think so." the apartment manager said.

"Okay, here's the bottom line." I said. "You're now a material witness to an arson investigation. I am releasing you into your lawyer's custody. I would recommend not leaving Town. If you or he see anyone trying to follow you, call the Police immediately. It won't do them any good to come after you now, you've identified this person on videocamera, and that would be good in Court. But do keep your eyes open..."

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

"So what can we do with this?" asked Lt. Curly Goodwin, head of Internal Affairs. We were once again in the Chief's conference room, with Cindy, Tanya, and Lt. Wes 'Coldiron' Masters present.

"Not much." I said. "We can trace Bryce to the office that afternoon. I've already had the GPS logs checked, and Bryce's police car went nowhere near those apartments during his shift that night. He didn't even respond to the fire; he was patrolling in the 3d Precinct. You can check that again, if you like; maybe I missed something."

"We will, but I doubt you missed anything." said Goodwin. "He was in civilian clothes at the apartment office, as well. Unless you miraculously produce a witness, we can't connect him to the actual arson crime."

"True." I said. "But you can put what we have into your servers, begin an investigation, go over phone records, financial record and the like, and it'll be there if he does anything else. And it might make him keep his head down; he definitely knows by now that he's being watched."

"How can you say that?" asked Goodwin.

"Anybody want to guess before I tell him?" I asked.

"McCombs and Hendricks went after the manager and his lawyer." said Tanya. "We know they're in 'cahoots' with Bryce, as well as Sharples from his days here."

"She's good at 'connect-the-dots'." I told the Chief, who chuckled.

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

Once the Chief left, I headed home. Laura and I cooked supper together, then we had a nice family dinner with our children. Carole liked the green beans; she did not feed Bowser anything. After dinner, I played with Jim, played with Bowser, and took Bowser outside to do his business while Laura got the kids to bed. We did some work on our computers. Then we went to bed.

I had a strong desire to eat some pussy, so I tongued my wife's slit for a long time. She did not protest; indeed, she came hard twice on my probing tongue. I finally mounted her and sank my throbbing cock nuts-deep into the warm wetness of her womanly honey hole. We made passionate love until I reached 'the clouds and the rain', as the Japanese call it. We went to sleep, lying like spoons, with her snuggling into me.

The next morning, Friday, November 20th, I got up at 4:45am. I went to the Campus gym, where ROTC's Sergeant Tate and I worked out on unarmed personal combat. He and I had moved far beyond standard military tactics, and our battles were becoming good. Then I went and worked out with the ROTC cadets, running with them on the streets and paths of the Campus, enjoying running in the cold air as I always did. My knees did not share my enthusiasm, however. I knew I might have to switch to swimming laps to get my cardio.

Going to Headquarters, I did the three 'S's (shit, shower, and shave), and got dressed. On a whim, I decided to wear civilian clothes, my usual black pullover mock-T and gray jacket and slacks, my badge on my belt and my gun holstered under my left arm.

It was 6:30am, and to my total shock, no one was in MCD. I made coffee anyway, watched the early national news broadcast, then took my mug of coffee back to my office, starting another pot in there.

Just as 7:00am approached, Tanya Perlman came bursting into my office. "Sir, someone has called in a suicide!"

Oh no, would it be the apartment manager or his lawyer, I silently wondered. Turns out, it was neither.

"Who are you assigning to it?" I asked.

"Cummings and Nash." she said. "The Chief is going to the scene, also. And here's why: the person who committed suicide is Dr. Laramie Wilkins, Head of Research for BigPharmaCorp!"

To be continued.