Town & County Confidential Ch. 03

I continued: "And I agree with Commander Croyle that your attempt to justify Officer Hendricks's actions by saying I'm doing the same will not hold. This is purely about his actions last night."

"I agree with that, also." said Lt. Commander Orosco.

"There's still nothing wrong with Officer Hendricks's actions." said the Union Rep.

"Again, I beg to differ." I replied. "Officer Hendricks needs to explain why he was driving the way he was when he was not on duty. What's your answer, Hendricks?"

"There's nothing wrong with patrolling when I'm not officially on duty." Hendricks replied. "It's done all the time."

I said "Just after 11:00pm, you pulled into this convenience store. I will add that you turned left against oncoming traffic in a fast and dangerous manner."

"I turned on my lightbar." said Hendricks.


"Which brings us to our next point." I said. "Why did you turn on your lightbar?"

"So people would see me when I turned left." said Hendricks.

"I'm getting tired of your disrespect and insubordination." said Teresa. "I consider that sarcastic reply insubordinate, and your lack of using the word 'sir' when replying to the Police Commander is likewise insubordinate and disrespectful."

"It's not required to call him 'sir'." said the Union Rep. "This is not the Army."

"Yes it is required." said Orosco. "Especially in a setting like this."

"That's a load of crap." said the Union Rep. "And if you try to use that against Officer Hendricks, we'll grieve it and demand Federal arbitration to settle it."

"You wish you could get Federal arbitration." I replied, knowing what groundwork the Rep was really setting up. "So, Hendricks, you burned your lightbar to cross the street dangerously. Did you perceive a crime in progress at that store?"

"No." said Hendricks.

"No what?" said Teresa.

"No, I did not perceive a crime in progress." said Hendricks.

"That's it." said Teresa, getting up.

"What are you doing?" the Rep said as Teresa came around the table, not noticing me reaching up and clicking my ink pen in my pocket on my chest.

"I'm going to beat the fuck out of this fat piece of shit for his disrespect towards the Police Commander." Teresa snarled.

*WHAM!*

The Iron Wolf had pulled hard at the back of Hendricks's chair and he tipped over., landing hard on the back of the chair as it landed on the floor. Then she kicked the Fat Boy in the side of the head.

"Hey!" said the Union Rep, getting up. He was about to grab Teresa, but noticed that I'd risen to my feet, and that my red crowbar was in my hand as I began coming around the table. The Rep stood still, knowing that his very life was in mortal danger at that moment.

I came up to the Rep. "You touch her, and you will not live one more minute." I said.

"You're nuts!" the Rep gasped. "And won't get away with this!"

"Get away with what, Orosco?" I asked.

"I dunno, I haven't seen a damn thing." Orosco correctly replied. "All I saw was Hendricks leaning back too far and tipping over. Did it to himself."

"All right, Commander," I said to Teresa, "that's enough. If the fat fuckwad continues to be disrespectful to me, we'll let his fellow Officers handle it at a later time. The Union Rep knows how things work among the Brotherhood in Blue."

"Yes sir." said Teresa, going back to her chair. I then returned to my chair as Hendricks struggled to get back up.

"I'm not answering any more questions." said Hendricks.

"Then you're suspended without pay," I replied, "pending your termination for insubordination. We're really just asking these questions for information, you know. It's you who demanded the Rep, then acted insubordinate to reasonable questions. Now sit your fat ass back down."

"Have a seat." said the Rep, with a smirk on his face. "We'll barbecue their asses later."

Yeah, I thought to myself, he thinks he's recording this. But that ink pen I clicked? It's a bug killer. It kills microphones. The Union Rep had recorded static, like what the Slender Man does to cameras. Ain't technology wonderful?

"Why did you go into that store, if there was no crime in progress?" I asked.

"To get snacks." Hendricks replied.

"While patrolling?" I shot back.

"I was off-duty." said Hendricks.

"Ohhhh, so earlier you said you were patrolling." I said. "Now you admit you were off duty. Those two don't mix... by regulation, they don't mix. Stopping for snacks while patrolling is verboten. So... which is it?"

"Whichever way I want it to be." said Hendricks disrespectfully. "I've done nothing wrong in any scenario here."

"You must've been really hungry, to burn your lightbar to get into the parking lot." I said. "Couldn't wait even fifteen seconds?" Hendricks said nothing.

"Why did you stop at that particular convenience store?" asked Teresa.

"It was on my way home." said Hendricks.

"Now I know you're lying." I said. "That store is not anywhere near any reasonable route from the Precinct nor this Headquarters to your home. And speaking of your home, you went there and parked, but you were not there when the Police arrived to bring you here. Where were you?"

"How do you know he wasn't at home?" the Union Rep said craftily. I ignored him.

"Where were you, Hendricks?" I asked again.

"I was at a friend's apartment." Hendricks replied. "Or is that against regulations, too?"

"What's your friend's name? Who can verify that?" I asked.

"I refuse to answer." said Hendricks.

"Okay then." I said. "Hendricks, your driving privileges are revoked. You cannot be alone in any Town & County Public Service vehicle, much less operate one, without the express written consent or order of the Sheriff, Police Chief, me, or Commander Croyle. You are grounded, and will be assigned duties at your assigned Precinct Headquarters. Is that clear?"

Hendricks turned to the Union Rep and said "I'm grieving that. And I'm grieving the assault on me that just took place in here, witnessed by the Internal Affairs leader."

"I didn't see any assault at all." Orosco said again. "And if you say one more word, I'll suspend you without pay pending processing of your termination."

"Then do it, or don't." said the Union Rep. "Hendricks, we'll talk. We'll grieve the prohibition on driving and not being assigned field duties. And this hearing is over." He got up.

"It wasn't a hearing." I said. "I'm looking forward to the real hearing, when Hendricks's termination is adjudicated."

The Union Rep looked at me hatefully, then said "You'll be hearing from our lawyers about that assault."

It was my turn to smirk at him.

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

After leaving Police Headquarters, the Union Rep drove out of the parking lot and pulled into the lot behind the building at Riverside and College, from whose roof KXTC broadcast their morning reports. He took out the digital audio recorder in his jacket's inner pocket, and rewound back and forth to the right place. At first, he heard the recorded conversation, which did show Hendricks's insubordination. But that wouldn't matter when the assault on Hendricks was heard.

And then he heard static, and a high-pitched hum that became a screech. It sounded as if the Slender Man had suddenly shown up and screwed up the recording. The static ended well after the assault ended. The Union Rep shouted unprintable curses as he wished many bad things upon the Iron Crowbar...

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

Orosco was in my office with me and Teresa. He brought up the official video recording of the interview. Sure enough, just before Teresa got up, the video and audio dissolved into pure static and screeching.

"With all due respect, sir," Orosco said, "how did that happen?"

I replied by singing. Yes, singing:

"Slen-der Man, Slen-der Man,
Sometimes hums a lowly drone,
Slen-der Man, Slen-der Man,
He will wander 'round your home...

"Okay, okay." said Orosco. "Just be careful, sir. One day someone is going to figure out how to beat that thing. Anyway, because there is a patch of static, we may not be able to use this to terminate Hendricks's employment with the TCPD."

"I wasn't expecting that we could, anyway." I replied. "Okay, Ted, thanks for coming to that little meeting this morning. I trust you'll let the Chief and Sheriff know about what happened?"

"Just the parts I can prove." Orosco said, meaning he would not be discussing the assault. "And I'll keep the I.G. in the loop, too. If you'll excuse me, sir?" I nodded and he got up and made his goodbyes and exited.

"I would apologize, sir," said Teresa, "but I'm not sorry."

"Say no more of it." I replied, pointing at the light fixture in the ceiling, as if to suggest the room was bugged by I.A.

"Did we get anything of value from that?" Teresa asked. "Besides the obvious value of stripping Hendricks of his Police vehicle and being in the field?"

"Oh, yes." I replied. "I was looking for two things from Hendricks, and I got what I was looking for. First, he didn't even wait to ask for a Union Rep. He didn't even ask what it was about before asking for that Rep. And the Rep didn't even ask what it was about. That suggests they already knew, and a guilty conscience."

"And second," I continued, "Hendricks didn't even bat an eyelash when we asked him about that convenience store and his haste in getting to it. If he didn't already know, he should've at least looked like he was trying to figure it out in his head."

Teresa asked "So why did he pull in so quickly like that?"

"You tell me." I replied, turning it around on her to let (and make) her think about it in the correct perspective.

"Like your said, sir," Teresa replied, "Fat Boy must've been really hungry. Why don't you just give me the answer."

I chuckled, then said "Roark made one good observation on the stakeout, despite his dislike of being assigned to it: he saw that black SUV going around the block and about to turn into the convenience store parking lot. Hendricks knew we were staking out the place, and knew the robbery was about to take place. He had to get in the parking lot before that SUV did, but he'd timed it poorly, and was almost too late to the party."

"Ohhhhh." Teresa said, getting it. "By being there, he was calling it off! He saved the perps from getting busted."

"So I read the riddle." I said. "Unfortunately, we only have circumstantial evidence, and thin evidence at that."

"It should be enough to get him fired, though." said Teresa hopefully. "He did enough things wrong to justify it."

"Well," I said, "there are a couple of other issues involved. First, we can't prove that that black SUV was bringing perps to rob the place. Second, Hendricks has likely figured out that we must be onto him, or someone has or will tell him. So if the perps are smart, and with Hendricks not as easily able to intervene to stop a robbery in progress that we may be onto, they should at least lay low for a while."

"Or change locations." Teresa said.

"We'll continue to do stakeouts, but I'm not expecting a whole lot." I said. "Indeed, it may stop the robberies, which will get the Press off our backs... the Press..."

I went into what others call a 'reverie'. Something had come to my mind, and now I was mentally processing it in my 'mind palace', almost seeing the new paths tear open before me. When I finally came out of it, I saw Teresa typing on her iPad and glancing at me every once in a while.

"Figured it out, sir?" she asked.

"Not completely." I said. "But I just realized something, and my mind weaved it into the quilt of this mystery..."

Part 16 - Tangled Webs Weaved

1:30pm, Friday, October 9th. After getting back from taking the MCD Lieutenants to the Irish Pub a.k.a. the 'Cop Bar' for lunch, I was called into the Chief's Conference Room. Waiting for me were Chief Moynahan, Sheriff Griswold, and Mayor Daniel Allgood.

The best way to describe Daniel Allgood is that he looked like 'Clark Kent' in his suits and glasses, though his raven black hair was just a bit curlier. Daniel looked like he could tear off his suit and 'Superman' would appear, what with his broad shoulders and good, fit physique.

He had been a TCPD Officer, then the head of Internal Affairs before winning a term as Sheriff and then Mayor as a Republican. The Democrats had tried to steal the Mayoral election with fraudulent votes 'found' in the trunk of a car, but had failed. Nevertheless, the rabidly dishonest Media constantly told the Public that he was an illegitimate Mayor that had stolen the election, and made sure to call him a racist White Nationalist, since the Democrat he legitimately defeated was Black.

And as he was running again this year, the U.S. DOJ Civil Rights Division had filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against him, with the clear and obvious intent to harm him in the upcoming November Election. Not only had Mayor Allgood not capitulated, he was countersuing, fighting the onerous and abusive power of the Federal Government.

"Have a seat, Mis-ter Crowbarrrr." said the Chief. I went around and sat in my 'normal' seat to the Chief's left, with the Sheriff in his seat to my left. Mayor Allgood was directly across from me. "We have a little mystery of our owwnnnnn, which we'd like you to help us sollllve."

"How can I help, sir?" I asked.

The Chief said "The Union grieved our grounding Hendricks, which is no surprise. What was a surprise is that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) called the Sheriff and me, and the U.S. Department of Labor called all three of us about it."

"Already?" I gasped, feeling sure that my face mirrored my stunned surprise. "What... what did they want?"

"The NLRB asked me to not impose the suspension until the Union hearing was con-duck-ted and the full process played out." drawled the Chief. "The Department of Labor official said the same thing."

Sheriff Griswold growled: "Their conversation with me went along the lines of wanting me to force the Chief to keep Hendricks active until the hearing and the process were completed."

Mayor Allgood said: "The NLRB didn't call me, but the DOJ official did. He wanted me to force the Sheriff and Chief to not suspend Hendricks. I told him that what the Police did was not my business. He then said that if I 'cooperated', the Civil Rights Division would take it easier on me in their lawsuit. I replied that I intended to fight them like hell and win, and therefore I didn't give a damn about their false offers. I also told him not to contact me again unless it was through my lawyer."

I nodded as I absorbed the information. They were all peering at me as I thought about it. Finally I said "Why didn't they just sue us to stop the imposition of the action against Hendricks?"

"Good question." said Sheriff Griswold. "Are you asking it seriously, or rhetorically?"

I smiled. "You've figured me out, Sheriff." I said. "It's some of both. My answer to it is that it would take time to have the lawsuit heard, and we might win the ruling in the end. They obviously want the action stayed immediately, and for the stay to continue at least until the hearing, which might take days or even a couple of weeks."

"But why?" asked Mayor Allgood.

"That is what I need to figure out." I said. "But I'll ask this question: why is the U.S. Department of Labor so interested in the situation with Hendricks?"

Daniel and the Chief shrugged. The Sheriff looked hard at me, then said "I think you need to ask the question another way, Crowbar. You mean 'Why is a Federal Agency so interested in this situation?', don't you?"

I grinned. "Exactly, Sheriff." To the others, I said "That's why he's the Master, and I am but the Student."

"Good asskissing skills, Crowbar." growled the Sheriff, his mustaches twitching merrily.

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

2:30pm, Friday, October 9th. Intel Branch Lieutenant Mary Milton and MCD Lieutenant Jerome Davis came to my office. After I had them sit down, Mary said "We've got some information on that money the shopkeepers that were victims of the robberies had in their accounts, sir."

"Good." I said. "Whaddya got?"

Mary said "The large deposits came in by wire transfers. We began tracing the sources, and found that the transactions were routed through the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. When we tried to dig further, we couldn't trace it."

"They're stopping you from looking?" I asked.

Mary said "It's more like there's nothing there to trace. I've seen this before, sir, but usually for undercover or classified operations. And here's another quirk, sir, that will tie in to what Jerome is about to tell you. The money is there, in the accounts, but the account owners can't see it if they use their bank's apps to check their balances. We can see it, but they can't."

I looked over at Jerome, who said "My guys brought them all in for questioning. They all denied having the money in their accounts. Then when we showed them the printouts, they logged into their apps and showed us that those deposits weren't showing up there. They appeared genuinely shocked about it all."

I nodded, then said "I think they might be telling the truth. Someone else may have put that money into those accounts, essentially hiding it, maybe with the idea of getting it back later. Orrrrr..... there may be another reason: we can see the money, and someone wanted us to see the money."

"But why, sir?" Jerome asked.

"Another case of 'look at the shiny object over here, and don't look at what we're doing over there'." I said. "A lot of tangled webs being weaved in these cases, wouldn't you say?..."

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

4:30pm, Friday, October 9th. Lt. Mary Milton brought Terry Halston to my office, followed by Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle. "We have breaking news, sir." Mary said as I had them sit down, Teresa on the sofa behind the others in the chairs.

"Don't keep me in suspense." I replied.

"Sir," said Halston, "I heard from 'Caleb', my new C.I. He said that word in the Underground is that an assassination hit has been ordered against a TCPD Officer named Justin Hendricks."

"Did he say who ordered the hit?" I asked. "The Eighth Street Latinos?"

"No sir." said Halston. "He didn't know who was ordering the hit, but he did know that no one in the gangs were willing to do it, even for the $150,000 being offered. Then an offer to pay $200,000 was made, again with no takers."

"Wow. Double the going rates, and no one would touch it." I said. "Have you confirmed it, Lieutenant?"

"Not yet, sir." Mary replied. "All the MCD and Vice Detectives are calling their C.I.s, and we're hitting all the usual sources to confirm rumors like these, but that might take some time, and Intel just heard from 'Caleb' while you and I were at lunch."

"When is the hit supposed to go down?" I asked.

Halston said "Tonight, sir, according to 'Caleb'. He didn't know where."

Mary said "We've been tracking Justin Hendricks for longer than just last night, sir, mostly for Internal Affairs. But he always drove his assigned Police cruiser, and now that's been taken from him. His POV (privately owned vehicle) is old, grandfathered from the requirement to have a 'THEFT' tracking device built in, so if he uses that, we can't trace him."

"Unless someone sneaks in and puts a tracker on his POV, sir." suggested Ranger Halston.

"That'll require a warrant." Teresa reminded us. "Should I try to get one?"

"No." I said. "That'll alert Judge Nance as well as the God-damned Media. Put a plainclothes detail in an unmarked car on him." Teresa began making texts.

"Okay, guys, this is great stuff." I said. "Keep up the good work, and see if you can find more pieces to the puzzle. You can go. Commander, stay here a moment." Mary and Halston left.