The Usual Suspects Ch. 02

"Think the Company might not tell you, since you're trying to retire?"

"That, my darling," Laura replied, "is a very distinct possibility. I'll see if I can find out anything tomorrow morning."

"You're aware of that bust the SBI made, where they found the synthetic drugs?" I asked.

"Oh yes, that came right to my attention." Laura said. "One of my groups is following up on that. The drugs were powerful analgesics, is what I'm told, but I'm going to sneak a peek at their classified reports to the Director."

Bowser and Buddy came up, having finished their business and wanting to get back to guarding their young charges. We went back inside, and Bowser bounded up the stairs to Carole's room, Buddy following at a more deliberate pace. Not to be rushed, that good Cocker Spaniel, I thought to myself.

And speaking of not rushing... Laura and I took a long time getting upstairs ourselves. We made out like teenagers for a long time, kissing and feeling each other up...

Part 8 - Maneuvers

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" blared the lovely redhead MILF at 7:00am, Thursday, October 6th, from in front of Stiles Campaign Headquarters. "Channel Two News is following the story of the bombing of District Attorney Candidate Jenna Stiles's Campaign Headquarters!"

"In fairness," Bettina noted, "the devices used in this attack were not bombs, but smoke-producing fireworks. But they created a mess, as well as a big scare for Ms. Stiles and her staff. Police have few leads in the case, saying that a motorcyclist threw the devices, which were tied to rocks, through the window and then sped off. Because he was wearing a helmet, Police are unsure of his facial features."

"This crime has brought in personnel from the FBI, Homeland Security, and the SBI, as well as the Town & County Police and the Fire Department Arson Squad." continued Bettina. "Commander Donald Troy of the TCPD has issued a statement that the Police are going to increase their presence at all political events in the County."

"Meanwhile, D.A. Gil Krasney issued a statement that he condemns and deplores the attack on his opponent's Campaign Headquarters, and says the democratic process will not be denied by thugs using these terroristic methods..."

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

"This is Priya Ajmani, Five-Alive News in the Morning!" said the Indian beauty at 8:00am, in front of Police Headquarters. "Five-Alive News is bringing coverage of the bombing of Jenna Stiles's Campaign Headquarters! Two bombs were thrown into the office yesterday, shattering the front wall of glass and going off inside, threatening the lives of the D.A. candidate and her staff! Let's go to John Hardwood at the scene!"

"Thank you, Bettina." said Hardwood, from in front of Stiles Campaign HQ. "As you can see, police tape has been put up, marking the scene where the bombs went off. With Commander Donald Troy and the Town & County Police overmatched by this bombing, the SBI's Bureau of Firearms and Explosives has been brought in to tackle the case. The FBI and Homeland Security are also monitoring the situation. Back to you, Priya."

"Thank you, John!" shouted Priya. She then brought in Jenna's Campaign Manager and asked "Do you believe D.A. Krasney is involved in any way with the bombing of his opponent's campaign headquarters?"

"We have no idea who might've attacked Jenna Stiles for her strong campaign of protecting minorities' and women's rights, and exposing the truth about the current District Attorney." said the Campaign Manager. "But we do know that we will not let this intimidation deter us from our commitment to the People of this County."

"Ma'am," asked Priya, "do you believe the Town & County Police can solve this case, or is it out of their depths?"

"The same Police that rescued Jenna months ago?" replied the Campaign Manager. "Yes, I trust them to get the job done, and to protect Ms. Stiles from further political threats to her safety."

After concluding the interview, Priya then said "District Attorney Krasney denies that he or anyone involved in his Campaign is responsible for the bombing of his opponent's Campaign Headquarters. This is Priya Ajmani, bringing you the news you have a right to know!"

No mention of Krasney's statement, much less showing him deliver it. Bias? You get one guess...

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

The Director of the SBI Bureau of Firearms and Explosives (BFE), Lt. Bob Bohrmann, came into the office. He was offered coffee or water, which he politely declined, then was bidden to sit down, which he did.

"So," said his host, "how did it go up there?"

"Bad." said Bohrmann, almost sadly. "Commander Troy, as well as the rest of his Police Force, have a very deep distrust of the SBI. With him personally, I would say it borders on pure 'hatred'. In some ways, I can understand: Sharples did try to murder him, and Pelletier did try to murder his former Police Chief and killed a U.S. Marine in the process. But Troy doesn't try to separate the wheat from the chaff, the good from the bad. He took verbal jab after jab at me the whole time I was there."

"That's too bad." said the host. "And it's reflective of nearly the entire State. Virtually every local law enforcement agency hates our guts. How do we overcome that? What can Lewis do, when he becomes Governor, to overcome the distrust?"

"Honestly, sir," said Bohrmann, "I don't think we can. The City Police have orders to shoot us on sight within City Limits... they don't say that out loud, of course, but after Ferrell's last escapade up there, that's the unspoken word. I don't even need to tell you what Troy thinks of us, and he is practically worshipped by the whole northwest part of the State. The Southport Mob laughs in our faces. And Midtown... well, their Police have been going into the gutter since Moynahan and his team left... hard to believe one group of people were such a lynchpin for that entire Police Department, but that appears to have been the case."

"Okay." said the host. "Thank you for coming by." Bohrman left, leaving his host to contemplate.

SBI Deputy Director Robert Gaston had worked his ass off for years to reach the top of the SBI ranks. He had played the Game, and when it became clear what he was expected and required to do, he got down in the mud with Lewis and Ferrell and the rest of them. And he was almost at his lodestone, the very top: the SBI Director's chair. But Jack Lewis had slipped the other day, and said on TV that the dirtiest SBI Agent of them all, Richard 'Dick' Ferrell, was being 'considered' for SBI Director.

'Considered'. Gaston knew what that meant, and he knew that his lifetime of work, and of compromising his own values and his soul, were for nothing. As he brooded over his predicament, he tried to consider how to secure the SBI Directorship that Lewis had promised him, Gaston, before saying that bastard Ferrell was being 'considered'.

What would the Iron Crowbar do? he asked himself, at first humorously, sardonically. Then he realized that the Iron Crowbar had been hired into the TCPD and had risen brilliantly to the top. He could've had the Chief's chair or even won the Sheriff's job up there. He was an SBI Reservist, one of that bastard Conlan's pitbulls, and he was an FBI Consultant... and could go to work for them full-time if he wanted. Yes, how did the Iron Crowbar get to the top so quickly, and almost being pushed upwards, not having to work like a dog like Gaston did...

Yes, what would the Iron Crowbar do in my case? Gaston wondered...

Part 9 - Depths of Corruption

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the lovely redheaded reporterette at 7:00am, Friday, October 7th. "Channel Two News has learned that Governor Val Jared faces a blowout loss in the General Election!"

"According to our friends at Public Policy Polling, Jared is now down 49-41%, and may sink even more in the polls. Evangelical Christian groups and Social Moderates are publicly hammering him on both sides of the Jeremy Moreland issue and the Governor's failure to take a stand. Jared's opponent, SBI Director Jack Lewis, is openly calling Jared weak, ineffectual, and unable to continue his failed policies as Governor!"

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

At 8:00am, I got a call from Chief Griswold, asking me to come to his home. Cindy and I piled into my Police SUV and worked our way through the traffic to get to Reservoir Road and to the Chief's home. I noticed three black limousines in the driveway, and knew what was going on.

Yep... upon Mrs. Griswold letting us in, I saw Governor Jared sitting in a living room chair, Griswold in the other one, and Staff in the kitchen eating doughnuts the Governor had provided.

"Help yourselves to some doughnuts and coffee." said Griswold. Cindy and I hustled to get a couple of doughnuts each before they were consumed. Then we went back into the other room.

"Thank you for coming by, both of you." said the Governor, who was by now used to the fact that Cindy would be where I would be. "I need.... I need your advice."

"This Right-to-Life issue?" I asked. The Governor nodded. He looked exhausted. Not beaten, not down like a loser would be, but like a man who was fighting with everything he had and still losing. I remembered how I'd felt on that hallway floor after waking up from Dr. Casey B. Walker's torture and trying to fight my way out, and I knew the Governor needed a 'Whirling Dervish' rescue himself, though a more political and less physical one.

"I don't know what to do about it." said the Governor. "No matter what I say or do, someone will attack me, and the God-damned Press will gin up whichever side attacks me. Don't get me wrong; I'll fight to the very end, I'll go down swinging. But if I can't find a way out of this hole... I will go down to the most corrupt politician in the history of this State, Jack Lewis."

"Well," I said, "when you're in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging a bigger one." I went over and got the piano bench and brought it next to the Governor in his chair, in 'Michael Corleone' style. "Would you guys give me and the Governor a moment alone, please?" As Griswold and Cindy got up, I handed the Chief my red crowbar. He nodded as he took it with him.

"Okay, sir," I said quietly as I sat on the bench next to the Governor. "It's just you and me, nobody else, no crowbars. I don't want to hear what Governor Jared thinks. I need to know what Valnius Jared feels, in your heart and your deepest soul..."

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

"Ferrell." said the Director of the SBI-NTF as he answered his cellphone.

"The Crime Lab found out, Dick." said the voice at the other end. "You better get down there and squash this before the shit hits the fan and hurts Jack Lewis's campaign." The line went dead.

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

At 9:30am, the Governor of the State went to the podium in front of City Hall, ostensibly to speak on behalf of State Representative William C. "Billy" Williams (R)... who was running unopposed.

"I support Life, and I support the values of those who cherish Life." said the Governor. "What I do not support is this so-called 'State Right to Life Committee' that not only does not support Life, they support harassment of grieving families. I grieve with the Morelands over the loss of their son, and I strongly condemn the State Right to Life Committee's invasive actions. This committee had no business butting into the private decisions of a heartbroken family. They had no place there, no interest that could justifiably serve them. Yet they dragged this family through the mud, through pain and agony, all just to make the exact wrong point at the exact wrong time."

"Again, let me be clear." said the Governor. "I condemn the State Right to Life Committee. And who is their organizer? SBI Chaplain Steven Ikea. Note those first three letters: S-B-I. Once again, this corrupt organization and its corrupt leader, Jack Lewis, do the exact wrong thing at the exact wrong time. Once again, one of SBI Director Jack Lewis's agents either is responsible for the grief of a family, or makes their grief worse. I blame SBI Director Jack Lewis and his corrupt organization for using a brain-dead young man as a political tool in their unappeasable thirst for political power. I can assure you that when I am re-elected, the deeply corrupt State Bureau of Investigation will be cleaned out like the Augean Stables... and this man will be my 'Hercules' in cleaning out that filthy organization..."

He was pointing at the man to his right... me, Your Iron Crowbar. The look on my face was of a man dead to all feeling but inexorable Justice. And I was tapping the red crowbar in my hand.

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

"Governor Jared is not only corrupt," yelled Jack Lewis from in front of the State Capitol in Midtown, "he's a desperate man. The SBI is not corrupt. It is the finest, most trustworthy and honest law enforcement body in this State! I am proud to be its Director, and I am proud to have great Agents like Richard Ferrell and Chaplain Ikea working for and with me!..."

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

State Crime Lab Director, Lt. Tanya Perlman, sat behind her desk going over the results of Jeremy's autopsy when the phone rang. It was the supervisor of one of her labs.

"What?!" she exclaimed. "You're kidding! Those drugs are the same ones, the same exact ones, that the SBI confiscated in that drug raid? Okay, I'll check the email. Yes, call Detective Troy! Bye."

She checked the email. It was true... those drugs were the same, the lab tests were solid proof. Everything had correct chain of custody; this was evidence! And it did not take Lady Ironside long to figure out that only the SBI or someone working for them could've obtained and injected those drugs into Jeremy!"

She printed out the report and copied files to a jump drive, then said to her assistant "Call my van! I've got to get this to the Iron Crowbar immediately!"

She rushed out the door, pushing the control of her wheelchair as hard as she could to make it go as fast as it could. She got to the elevator and pressed the button. It seemed like forever, but the door finally opened...

... and out popped SBI Agent Richard 'Dick' Ferrell.

"You're not going anywhere with that, bitch!" he snarled. "Give it to me, now!"

"Fuck you! Get out of my way!" yelled Tanya, trying to drive into the elevator. Ferrell pulled at the side of the wheelchair, spinning it sideways. Tanya tried to maneuver it again, and Ferrell grabbed it. He pulled it up and over, emptying Tanya onto the floor!

"Auggggh!!" Tanya screamed in pain as she landed on her back. She was unable to move as Ferrell dropped the heavy motorized wheelchair onto Tanya's legs!

"Now, give me that fucking evidence, you bitch!" snarled Ferrell, going for his gun...

To be continued.