The Four Boxes of Liberty Ch. 01

"Sir," said Corporal Inga Gunddottar, "that smoke you see down the road? It's the perp's car. We think we hit them when we returned fire, and they lost control and ran into a tree."

"Okay." I said, wondering about the wisdom of doing that on a busy street, but more worried about Parker. "Where is Parker wounded?" I asked the SWAT Team Officer, who had some serious medic training with the Green Berets when he'd been in the Army, and was examining Parker.

"That head would looks bad, but the bullet just grazed his scalp." he said. "His trenchcoat and suit jacket has light armor, and he had on armor under his shirt, which stopped two bullets. But one got him just under his neck, above the collar of his jacket."

"He tackled me, sir." said Janice Holloway, who was trying hard not to cry. "He covered me with his body..."

"You did very well, Teddy." I said to Parker. "Don't try to move."

I stood up. "Okay, guys, I don't need to tell you what to do. Get Parker and Holloway to the Hospital; make sure she wasn't injured, too."

Just then, Detective Jerome Davis ran up with Theo Washington. Davis was Parker's Police partner, so I said "Washington, take charge of this crime scene. You are the lead Detective on this case for the moment. Davis, go to the Hospital with Parker and Holloway, get their statements when you can, and guard Holloway. I'm going to get out of everyone's way and let you do your jobs."

"Thank you, sir." said Theo. "And Lt. Irwin might stop peeing his pants if you'll get to safety in your SUV or Police Headquarters..."

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

"We've got video from Riverside Drive, the Public Health Building across the street from City Hall, and the Veasley Community Center." said Myron Milton as he and I sat in the Main Conference Room with the Chief, Deputy Chief, and Captain of Detectives. "The City Hall cameras went out just a couple of moments before this happened." said Myron.

"Shit." said the Chief. "That means it verrrry likely was an inside job,"

"At least partially, sir." I said. "Okay, roll that footage, Myron." Myron turned on the monitor on the wall at the other end of the table. We watched as a very old light brown car drove north on Riverside Drive. The passenger, who had long, greasy black hair and an unkempt beard, had stuck his gun out the window just a little too soon, allowing Parker to see it and take action in time.

Officers Gunddottar and Hicks began returning fire from close range, striking the vehicle. A camera at the Civic Center, on the outside northwest corner of Courthouse Square, caught the vehicle continuing forward, but drifting left. People scurried out of the way as the vehicle continued drifting, then running over a fire hydrant, then into a large tree. The car burst into flames, and the perps did not get out of the car as they were consumed by the fire.

"No water coming out of that fire hydrant." Tanya astutely observed.

"And that car exploded just a bit too quickly for it to be the gas tanks." I said. "Tanya..."

"I know, I know, have our CSIs look for explosives and rigging." Tanya said with a cherubic grin.

"And also for anything that might've controlled the steering externally." I said. "Gunddottar and Hicks's shooting was accurate, but if they got the driver on the other side of the car, I'd be surprised."

"Wilco." said Tanya, making notes, then sending texts on her Police iPhone.

"Myron," I said, "when you put this into the evidence servers, send a note to Captain Orosco that it's there, and where it is. He's going to need it for the Internal Affairs investigation."

"Yes sir." said Myron.

"Internal Affairs?" asked Cindy.

"Yes." said Chief Moynahan. "Mr. Crowbarrr saw what I saw. Our Officers returning fire in that situation will have to come under reviewwww."

"Hicks and Gunddottar are Corporals, two of our best Officers." I said. "And bastards like Finneran on Boards of Inquiry would love nothing more than to roast them alive and destroy their careers...

"At the least," said Chief Moynahan, "there will be extensive refresher training for all Officers. Commander Troy, direct your Captain of Operations to make it so."

"Yes, Chief." I said.

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

As always, I was grateful for our great University Hospital and the wonderful doctors and nurses that helped people get well. Today, they were helping TCPD Detective Teddy Parker get well.

"Dr. Cordell was concerned about internal bleeding, sir." said Jerome Davis as I came up to the waiting room on the OR floor. "So they took him in for exploratory surgery."

"Dr. Cordell is possibly the best trauma surgeon alive." I said. "What he did for our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq is still the stuff of legend. Did you get anything from Parker?"

"I got his statement." said Jerome. "Recorded it on my Police iPhone, then transcribed it. Same with Holloway."

"Where is she now?" I asked.

"In an empty room near the waiting room, under guard." said Jerome. "Gunddottar and Hicks are on desk duty pending the investigation. Rudistan and Green are with her."

I read and watched Janice's statement, then went into the room, where Rudistan was attempting to cheer up Holloway. They all rose to their feet upon seeing that it was me.

"Hello, everyone." I said. "Sit back down." I pulled a chair up to sit with them. "I read your report, Janice."

"Teddy saved me." Holloway said. "He tackled me and covered me with his body... and took the bullets himself."

"Yes." I said. "He was very brave, and did his duty well. So what did you see?"

"I was telling Teddy thanks for escorting me to work." Janice said. "He looked over and saw a brown car... I think it was brown... coming up the street, and then he yelled 'Gun!' and tackled me. I didn't really see much after that."

"That's fine." I said. "Had you seen that car before? Following you, parked near your home, or City Hall, or the grocery store or anything? Or any car or persons, for that matter?"

"No sir." said Janice. "I've been on watch, too, ever since you guys busted Gayle Tunnin."

"You think any of them were behind this?" I asked. "Has anyone threatened you? Threatening calls or letters? Anything at all?"

"No sir, nothing like that." Janice said. "Sir, I know this is unprofessional, and I have no proof. But Della Harlow... she can be your best friend one day, and your worst enemy the next. She'll act like she loves you... but if she thinks you're not with her one hundred percent, then she'll show you a side of her you never want to see."

"I think I've seen that side of her." I said. "And no, it's not unprofessional to think of her as a possible suspect." As I said that, I felt a vibe, then saw just the slightest glimmer out of Officer Lydia Green's eyes. I said: "Stay here a moment, all of you."

I went into the hallway and called Teresa. "I need a female officer to replace Lydia Green as Holloway's guard. Who do you have?"

"Myself, if need be." said Teresa.

"I appreciate it." I said. "But I need you for other things. Who do you have?"

"To be candid, sir," Teresa said, "there's no one I know well enough to trust. Except Joanne Warner and Mary Milton."

"Tell Tanya to send Warner over to the Hospital, right away. At least for the day." I said.

Part 3 - Continuing the Investigation

"We got enough fingerprints to get IDs on the perps." said Tanya as she sat in my office with me at 11:00am. "The passenger, the bearded guy, is Dan G. Keller. No relation that we know of to the Dr. Adam S. Keller that is on TV a lot. The driver's name is David R. Boyd."

"Both these guys are trash, just dirt." said Tanya. "They make Dirty Lennie look like a clean cut, upstanding citizen. Numerous arrests for selling drugs on the streets, petty thefts, a couple of home invasions where the females in the home were raped. They're heavily into marijuana, both use and illegal sales."

"And here's the kicker for me." continued Tanya. "They've been arrested a few times at rallies that became riots, some for the legalization of marijuana, and some anti-Police demonstrations like the ones last year when Teresa played Iron Crowbar while you were suspended." (Author's note: 'Summer In The County', 'Falsely Accused'.)

"Oh, really!" I said. "Do tell. And those demonstrations, for lack of a more sinister term, were the ones where Della Harlow was trying to throw her weight around."

"Has Harlow really stooped to that level?" Tanya asked.

"I wouldn't put it past her." I said. "Remember, she was going to send TCPD Officers into an ambush when Teresa interdicted with the aforementioned red crowbar. And I'm sure Harlow considers what Holloway did a betrayal on the order of Iscariot kissing Jesus on the cheek. So yes, Harlow is absolutely a suspect. Getting proof is the problem."

"I was thinking more on the lines of someone with similar political connections but more money was behind it." Tanya said. "Someone who has hired seed people to start those riots up." By that, she meant that a few persons can be hired to gin up a protest, then the 'useful idiots' become a part of it without needing to be paid.

"That's good thinking." I said. "George Schwartz has been the money behind a lot of those demonstrations. But I'm also thinking along another line... these two sleazy dirtbags, the scum of scum, that have to reach up to touch bottom, would be much cheaper to hire to kill someone than professional killers. Schwartz has the money to hire quality help; Harlow doesn't. And she wouldn't want to risk campaign money on something like that."

"True." said Tanya. "So what is your advice on how to proceed from here?"

"This is a longshot at best, and likely won't succeed." I said. "But you can try to get warrants to get Harlow's phone data and the financial records of both her and her campaign. As probable cause, use the original tapes of her plotting with Tunnin, and then we mention that Holloway was the one wearing the wire and someone tried to shoot her."

I continued: "I doubt it will succeed because Della was once a cop, she knows how we're going to investigate this, and she should be smart enough to realize she needs to go through intermediaries."

"She wasn't smart enough to keep her mouth shut in front of Holloway about the smear campaign on Sheriff Allgood." Tanya countered.

"She trusted Holloway, and that's all the more reason she will not trust anyone else again." I replied.

"Do you think Janice was trying to trap Teddy?" Tanya asked.

"No." I said. "Janice trusted Harlow while Harlow was here. Harlow told Janice that Teddy was a racist, and Janice foolishly believed it and broke up with Teddy. Teddy was head-over-heels in love with Janice, and she broke his heart. Meanwhile, Janice realized that she made a huge mistake breaking up with Teddy, and realized what Della had said about him was not true."

I went on: "But Teddy was rightly concerned that Della would use Janice to file a sexual harassment complaint... and Cindy nipped that in the bud. And that broke Janice's heart, that Teddy wouldn't reconsider getting back together with her again. So when Della and Tunnin began conspiring, and tried to have Janice help them... she not only didn't, she came to us. No, Janice is a good person, who made the mistake of believing an evil person. Fortunately, I think it'll end up all right for her... and Teddy... and their children-to-be. Just another 'Day of Promise' in our Town & County."

Tanya grinned brightly. "Yeah." she said.

"Speaking of that," I said, "how are things with you and the Special Agent In Charge of all the City FBI Office?"

"Good." said Tanya. "It may mean more nights sleeping in his office. We're not moving to the City, and of course there is no way I'll ever leave the TCPD of my own accord, after all you did to get me back here. I'll probably die a TCPD Officer."

"Well, hopefully not for a long, long time." I said. And we were both right: it would be decades in the future, but Tanya Perlman Muscone would pass away (of natural causes) while still a TCPD Officer.

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

At 1:00pm, a meeting convened in Classroom 'E', attended by Chief Moynahan, me, Commander Ross, Captain Perlman, Captain Croyle, Detectives Washington and Warner, and ADA Paulina Patterson.

"First of all," said the Chief, "Parker is out of surgery, and doing welllll. Dr. Cordell's suspicions were right, a blood vessel was nicked, but they got to it in plenty of time to prevent Parker from bleeding out. Lt. Holloway is with him in his room, and both are being guarded by Lieutenant Rudistan and Patrol Officer Joan Laurer. Commander Troy, it's your meee-tinggggg."

"Thank you, Chief." I said. "So, what's the news on the warrants?"

"It's a 'no go' right now." said Paulina. "Judge Watts has an off day today, and Judge Folsom is in a trial. And there'd be no point in going to Nance, he'll squash the request like a bug, and likely would call Harlow as soon as he kicked us out of the building."

"There is one other thing I'll add while I'm here." said Paulina. "Krasney was real happy with himself after he dropped the charges against Tunnin. He was going around telling people how he'd really stuck it to Commander Troy. But this morning, when the news of the shooting came out, he went into his office and hasn't come out. His assistant says he is in a daze."

"He should be." said Teresa. "He might be next to get shot."

"Captain!" exclaimed the Chief in rebuke.

"Chief, she has a valid point." I said, rescuing my Captain of Operations. "Krasney's reaction is not normal. It might well be that he knows something, and that that something might be dangerous to him."

"Still," said the Chief, "let's be careful in our worrrr-ding. What is the Press doing, Ms. Ross?"

"Demanding Commander Troy give a Press conference, as usual." said Cindy. "Our official word so far is that the Officer-involved shooting is under investigation, and we're waiting to hear from the Hospital on our wounded Officer's condition."

"I'm sorry to speak out of turn." said Joanne Warner. "But why are they insisting that Commander Troy give the Press conference? He's not the Press Relations Officer, nor the Press Relations Officer's boss, and he's not the Detective in charge of the case. I just don't understand."

"Several reasons." I said. "First, they're goading me, since I'm pretty much boycotting them. Second, so they can ask 'gotcha' questions. They're not there to get information that they can report. They are agenda-driven, and trying to find ways to screw us, and mostly me, up."

"They're also deliberately insulting Captain Thompson and me." said Cindy. "Demanding Commander Troy answer their questions is their way of saying they don't trust what we're saying, that we're lying to them."

"Really?" asked the Chief.

"Priya Ajmani admitted it, Chief." Cindy replied.

"What else did she admit when you kept buying her beers, Commander?" I asked.

"I better not say." replied Cindy. "Your face might turn as red as your hair and your crowbar." Everyone broke out laughing, hard. That was Green Crowbar 1, Red Crowbar 0.

"Ouch!" I said out loud. "Touché! Green Crowbar!" I high fived her.

"That's one for the Bulldogs over the Wildcats this week." Teresa said fearlessly. "I wonder how many more Bulldog wins there will be."

"Zero, on Saturday." I replied, waving a red crowbar in Teresa's general direction.

"Okayyyy, we were having a meee-ting here... or so I thought." said the Chief. "Any more on these perps, Keller and Boyd?"

"No sir." said Tanya. "They don't have bank accounts or credit cards, so they were likely paid in cash. They don't have home addresses that we're aware of, either; their pre-paid phones list the Town & County Library as their addresses."

"They both had guns." said Tanya. "The driver had a .38 Special revolver in his pocket with the serial number filed off. The handgun Keller was firing was a 'composite' gun, assembled from parts and the serial numbers and all other markings filed down. It was a 9mmP caliber, firing unjacketed, solid semi-wadcutter bullets. Thank God for that, as expanding bullets would've done Parker considerably more harm where he was hit with the glancing blows."

"Why semi-wadcutters?" asked Joanne.

"They're cheap, and they're accurate out of handguns." I said. "They produce rapid incapacitation, and create large wound channels and deep penetration. As you probably know, they're made for hunting. Also, they don't penetrate good armor, which saved Teddy's life, but they hurt like hell on impact with that armor."

"The car they were driving was a lot more interesting." Tanya said. "No VIN, all other numbers sanded off, car tag reported stolen two years ago. The engine was completely rebuilt, and yes, there was a steering override as well as explosives rigged to blow upon impact with that tree."

Tanya continued: "And our CSIs did a great job in finding a homing device attached to the fire hydrant, so that steering override guided the car to the hydrant and thus to the tree. These guys didn't know it, but theirs was a suicide mission."

"Wowwwww." I said. "That's a game changer."

"According to our electronics CSI, Mark Walker," Tanya said, "the device had electronics used exclusively by MegaTech Industries. They're the 'Big Boys' of the applied tech world."

"They're the ones that created the 'Alicia' smart speakers," said Teresa, "which the NSA allegedly is using to listen in on people in their homes."

"And sales of the 'Alicia' devices plummeted after the Guardians of Justice came out with that information." I said. "But I suspect that a device like this is ordinary stuff for MegaTech Industries?"

"Mark wasn't sure." said Tanya. "I also called Barry Oliver at BOW Enterprises... he says hello to everyone, by the way... and he told me that the internal electronics are typical of MegaTech products, but MegaTech might not be making and selling homing devices as a routine product. MegaTech's headquarters and main factory is in Texas; I can ask friendly neighborhood FBI Agents to have someone down there interview them to find out more."

"An excellent idea." I said.

"What would be a normal, commercial use for those homing devices?" asked the Chief.

"Drones, sir." said Teresa, who was looking at Tanya' report. "To have them fly to a spot, or to bring them back home. But from what I'm seeing here, this device just a radio signal emitter. And there's a ton of uses for those." The Chief nodded.

"Soooo," the Chief said, "what does this mean for our case, Mr. Crowbarrrr?"

"It's suddenly big." I said. "Someone hired the filthiest losers they could find, supplied them with a rigged, sanitized car and sanitized guns, and sent them off on a suicide mission------ by the way, did any Police gunfire hit either of the perps?"

"Not the driver." said Tanya. "Keller caught a bullet in the mouth, and another one in the right shoulder."

"Do we know if the Police gunfire struck anything besides the perps and their car?"

"No sir." said Tanya. "Meaning no reports of anything or anyone else hit."

"But we won't know for sure," said the Chief, "until Internal Affairs tells us." I nodded.

"You were saying, Commander?" said the Chief. "It's suddenly big?"

"Yes sir." I said. "It's clear someone intended to kill Lt. Holloway. It's not to silence her; we have enough to re-file charges in January when we have a new D.A. even if Holloway had died today. So it's purely revenge. My thought has been Harlow being behind it... but the level of sophistication, the detail of planning, from the car being rigged to the serial numbers filed off everything, to... " I stopped for a moment, then finished: "Well, it's obviously larger than one person, and has organization behind it..."