Woman in Love Ch. 01

*Whirrrrrrrrrrr*

Tanya Muscone drove into my office and parked herself next to Teresa. "Sir, we have some new information for you."

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

Tanya: "I contacted the I.G. and Commander Orosco in I.A. to get permission to review the McCombs and Hatch drug bust, with the idea that there was cash that disappeared----"

"How did you find out about that?" I gasped, feeling my eyes widen in shock.

"Uhh... Jack told me." Tanya said. "After you contacted Dwight Stevens and 'Coldiron' Masters in the City."

"I didn't tell them that cash may had disappeared from the McCombs bust crime scene." I said, my eyes boring into Tanya's. "So try again."

"I told her, sir." Teresa said, stepping up to the plate and taking responsibility. "We were discussing what you'd told Stevens and 'Coldiron', and I told her about your earlier conversation with me. Was I wrong to?"

"Yes... and no." I said, realizing that the mistake was mine, and that I had to be patient with my Angels, who had just been trying to do their jobs as rapidly and efficiently as possible..

"I didn't tell you not to say anything." I said. "But the problem is that this is not standard C.I. material. I'm really having to keep this one under wraps, and it'll never be good enough to be 'probable cause'. I was hoping Dwight or Coldiron would find something, and then that could become our probable cause to circle back around to McCombs."

Teresa's face fell, in disappointment that she'd made a big mistake. Tanya added to my pain: "Sir, the Feds are all over it now, so I have Intel looking into it, too... for us. And with what they found on Paul Claisson, it's starting to add up---"

"Wait." I said. "What did they find on Paul Claisson?" Tanya's eyes widened as she realized I didn't know. "From the beginning, please." I added.

Tanya said "The Paris FBI office was watching a drug operation over there, and the name 'Paul Claisson' came up. Of course some of us know that he is dead, but not everyone did. So Jack's team is looking into several possibilities."

"We are really over our skis right now." I said. "First, did they find any pipeline of money into this country?"

"Yes." said Tanya. "Jack is going to brief you on all that."

I nodded, then said "What did Intel find on McCombs and Hatch?"

Tanya said "Nothing new on McCombs. But Hatch deposited $9,000 into a brokerage account. Legit account, but I have no idea where the money came from."

"Okay." I said. After a moment of thought, I said "Well, the cat's out of the bag now. But you need to go tell Intel that this is highly classified and critical, and anything you find is NOT to get out of here, not even to Jack or Laura, without you running it past me first. Leaks could lead to lives lost. Go tell them now, and call Jack and tell him, too."

Tanya didn't wheel out with the speed I wanted to see, but she did get moving. After she was gone, Teresa came to her feet and stood at attention.

"Sir," she said, "I accept full responsibility for----"

"Sit yer ass back down." I ordered. "We'll work on being a lot more careful about things like that, but in the here and now let's drive on with what we're doing. Hopefully that info won't get out, especially to the Media."

"So what can we do?" Teresa asked. "What's our next move?"

"Well, we need to----"

I was interrupted by a knock on my door, and the Chief's assistant Cassie poked her head in. "Sir," she said, "the Chief needs to see you in the Main Conference Room."

"Both of us, or just me?" I asked...

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

The Chief wanted to see just me. He was sitting at the near end of the long conference table, and had me sit to his left so that we could see the monitor on the wall at the other end of the room.

"First," said the Chief, "the Union must've had a lawyer on standby at the Courthouse. They ran to Nance, who first issued an order enjoining us from terminating McCombs. When I called the Court and said that I'd already terminated McCombs yesterday, Nance turned it into a stay while the Union grievance is in the works."

"And where is that?" I asked.

Moynahan said "Nance's ruling is in reply to the Union filing a lawsuit against the TCPD. They did not file a lawsuit against yoooooo, but they have filed a formal complaint with the I.G.'s Office, demanding a Board of Inquest against you. As they have to state their desired outcome for the Inquest, it is to have your employment with us terminated 'with extreme prejudice'... yes, they used those words, and perhaps intentionally ironically."

I nodded. "Okay, then." I said. "I wrote the Board of Inquest into existence, so it's only fitting they use it on me first."

Moynahan: "I doooo think we're seeing the 'dark side' of it. Anyhoooo, the second thing I wanted to tell you is that the Council has postponed its scheduled meeting for to-night, citing the civil unrest going onnnnn."

I nodded. "Good. We won't have to divert Officers to protect them."

"And the third thing..." said the Chief as we heard a knock on the door.

Lt. Myron Milton poked his head in. "The three-way videoconference is ready, sir." he said. The Chief gestured for Myron to set it up, and an instant later we had Jack Muscone and EAD Owen Lange on one monitor, the people in Laura's office on the second, and Wes 'Coldiron' Masters of City I.A. on the third.

"All right," said Owen Lange after everyone had exchanged greetings, "we've got a lot of new data. Why don't you go first, Captain Masters?"

"Thank you, sir." said Wes Masters. "First, I checked on Sergeant Thomas Chauvin's busts prior to his incident with Kenneth Taylor. He was involved in two drug busts, and one of them was a deal going down at the time. That was three days before he shot Taylor. I tried to get the information on any cash at either bust, but everything to do with Chauvin has been locked down, even to City I.A., allegedly to prevent leaks to the Press."

Owen Lange said "Let me interrupt you here and add to that. Chauvin hasn't had any financial transactions lately, but he did go to City & Counties Bank, where he accessed a safe deposit box. None of the boxes there are in his name, and the bank said they had no record of that visit, though they're required to report all safe deposit box entries to the State and Federal Governments. So we don't know which box to get a warrant for."

Owen Lange: "Also, we found out that Officer Jeremy Hatch deposited $9000 into a brokerage account. We'll have to leave it to you in the TCPD to pursue that. Okay, go ahead, Captain."

Coldiron: "Thank you, sir. I thought I would give you a briefing on what's going on here that the Media is not reporting. In fact, I don't know what's going on with the Press; what they're reporting is a completely different story than what's actually going on."

"Nothing new there." I said.

Wes Masters grinned and said "I do remember how you felt about the Press while I was working with you, Commander. And I'm seeing it firsthand now, over here. The Media is reporting peaceful marches during the day, and some violence during the night. But in reality, the Media pretty much stages the daytime marches for their cameras, and they don't cover the windows being broken out of stores, the looting of stores, and physical assaults on passersby that are dumb enough to go out into the streets."

Masters: "At night, it's a pure war zone. We've had whole blocks of buildings burned to the ground in the Badlands areas. City Airport had to delay flights for several hours yesterday because the winds were blowing the smoke from the fires over the airport, creating a visibility hazard. And the Media helped allow the Fire Department to put out one fire in Ferguson Park... which they filmed and showed to the world. But that was the only building saved. The CFD cannot get to the other fires, and have been shot at when they tried."

Masters: "The Police on the streets are also targeted with gunfire, which the Media hasn't said anything about. Two Precinct buildings have been taken over by the violent rioters, and the one in Ferguson Park was torched. And any time the Police hold a line and don't let the violent protesters advance, the Mayor and City Council members run to microphones to accuse the Police of brutality against 'peaceful protesters'. Several Assistant District Attorneys here are refusing to prosecute arrests, to the tune of about 75% of the referrals by the Police being dropped, and the perps released back to the streets. The City Police Force is really, really demoralized here."

Masters: "Also, the Mayor has refused to allow National Guard troops or even State Patrol troopers to come in and help. He ordered that any State Patrol Troopers be arrested on sight. It's almost as if the Mayor wants his city to be burned down. He's white, but he's a pretty far-Left Democrat, and he hates Governor Jared with a passion. He's blaming it all on the Governor, and the Media can't give him enough air time whenever he's yelling about Jared being a racist. Ditto that for the City Council members and some of the ADAs here."

One could almost feel the appalling shock that Captain Masters's report generated in the rest of us. He said he needed to leave the call, and after goodbyes were made, his monitor went dark.

EAD Owen Lange said "We've got some more information, too. We're looking all over the Nation to see if cops accused of crimes had drug deals go down just before the incidents, and there may be something in a few places, such as Wilmington, Delaware. There's a lot of corruption in Delaware, and Maryland, too. But nothing on the Officers in Midtown. That appears to be a good, clean action by the Officers. Okay, what do we have on this French Connection?"

Laura came onto the camera that was in her office, and said "I've contacted Langley about this guy who is using Paul Claisson's name. Our French colleagues had nothing on him; they also have it on record that he's dead. The drug gangs he supposedly was working with have been busted, hard, so if it was a money pipeline into the USA, that particular source of income will be reduced to a trickle."

I said "Laura, have you gotten any grief from Washington or Langley about any of this?"

"No." Laura said. "But the Company has limited their actions into checking on Claisson. Everything else is going to be turned over to the FBI and DEA. The Company wants no part of any of this, and I don't blame them. It's not their job."

I said "I understand. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is a distraction. I'll work to confirm that, but in the meantime... don't spend too much time on this new Claisson. He's unimportant to what we're dealing with locally, here..."

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

After the videoconference was ended, my Police iPhone rang. It was Owen Lange.

"This is for your ears only, Mr. Crowbar." he said. "The Bayport Rogue SEAL Team may be on the move. Four of them: Shaun Stevenson, Parker Cassidy, Gary Fenton, and Gil Cox. No sign of LT David Carter or the leader of the group when they were a SEAL team, LT Jeff Bayport."

Owen Lange: "As you know, Stevenson and Cassidy were with the DEA in California, and then dropped off the grid. Everyone out there thought they'd gone undercover, then over time realized they'd just disappeared. Fenton and Cox were running tac team schools, but are off the radar right now."

"And you think they're in this area?" I asked.

"We don't know." said Owen Lange. "I can't say any more on the phone. We'll talk later." And with that, the line dropped, leaving me holding a silent phone...

Part 9 - Media Plays

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" said the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Wednesday, May 20th, from the rooftop of the building on Riverside and College, with City Hall in the background. "The Police Union is demanding that Commander Donald Troy be fired!"

Bettina began: "After a contentious and unproductive meeting between the Police Union and the Public Safety leadership, the Union has filed a lawsuit against the TCPD and a complaint with the Board of Inquest against Commander Troy. The Union is demanding Commander Troy be fired for physically assaulting Police Sergeant McCombs as McCombs was making a lawful stop of a man believed to have kidnapped a child."

Bettina: "The TCPD has attempted to fire Sergeant McCombs, but Judge Harry Nance issued a stay of the termination order, demanding that Sergeant McCombs have his day in Court as well as allowing the full Union grievance process to take its course. And now let's go to Amber Harris, for more on an important breaking story. Amber!"

"That's right, Bettina!" said the athletic blonde as she appeared on the screen, in the copse of trees east of Courthouse Square, with the Courthouse complex behind her. "The State Life to Right Committee has filed a new lawsuit, this time against the State, demanding that the State release the adoption records of the baby that Betty Morelli delivered while in prison."

Amber: "SRLC spokesman Reverend Steven Ikea says that a DNA sample taken from the child would prove that the father is Commander Donald Troy, and that the FBI can re-file charges against Commander Troy for sexual assault of a woman in his custody. The lawsuit was filed in Federal Court, in the district of Federal Judge Ruth B. Taney in Midtown. Back to you, Bettina!"

"Thank you for that huge story, Amber!" Bettina said happily. "And now let's go to trusted reporter Lester Holder for more on black rage at Police brutality. Lester!"

"That's right, Bettina!" said Lester Holder, from near Al Sharpton Elementary School. "Blacks are largely peacefully demonstrating after several examples of white Police brutalizing blacks have surfaced in the last few weeks. The most egregious was City Police Sergeant Thomas Chauvin murdering Kenneth Taylor, who was unarmed. But outrage is growing in Midtown, where four Police Officers are not being held accountable for murdering a woman in cold blood during what they alleged to be a drug bust."

Penis Holder: "In our Town & County, the TCPD continues to aggressively patrol black neighborhoods while ignoring white neighborhoods. People near the Mall and along University Parkway are going to restaurants and bars unhindered by Police, while customers to black businesses are harassed by white Police patrolling those black districts."

Bettina: "Lester, have there been any demonstrations in the black districts leading to violence?"

Holder; "No, Bettina, any demonstrations that have happened have been peaceful, just as the demonstrations in the City, Midtown, and other cities in America have been peaceful, in spite of white Police trying to agitate black citizens into violence. Back to you, Bettina!"

"Thank you for that insightful report, Lester!" said Bettina. "And in other news, the University is set to hold its graduation ceremonies Saturday afternoon at University Memorial Stadium. Security for the event will be tight, even though deeply unpopular Governor Val Jared has canceled his appearance and speech at the event."

"In local news," Bettina said, "District Attorney Miriam Walters issued a Press Release naming ADA Savannah Fineman as Chief ADA for the District Attorney's Office. The statement said that ADA Fineman's superior administrative abilities was the reason for the promotion..."

"And in a related story," Bettina said, "ADA Franklin Washington has confirmed that he is taking a leave of absence from the District Attorney's Office as he pursues the Judicial seat currently held by Harry R. Nance..."

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

It was eerily silent in the Chief's Conference Room as some of us drank coffee and others just stared at the monitor, unable to believe what they'd just heard. The Sheriff was not present with us.

"Buildings are burning down." Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle said. "People are being shot to death on the streets. One man, a black man, was beaten to death trying to protect his store from looters. They literally beat his head to a bloody pulp on the street, until his brain matter was coming out of his skull. And the God-damned Media calls that 'peaceful'?!.

"And that same Media all but stated that Commander Troy assaulted McCombs." said Captain Tanya P. Muscone. "Can we sue Bettina for that?"

"I'm not trying to troll you when I say this." I said quietly. "But Bettina simply stated the Union's side of the dispute. Granted, it was totally only one side presented, and made to sound as bad for me as possible. But if we sued over that, we'd be laughed out of Court."

"With respect, sir," said Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle, anger in her voice, "that was nothing short of a smear job, and we all know it. We've got to respond in some way. At the least, you should go on the air and tell people what really happened."

"I agree." I said. "And I'm about to do just that."

"We've discussed that, Mr. Crowbarrrr." said the Chief. "You can't make a statement to the Press because of liability issuuuues."

"WHAT liability issues?" Teresa all but shouted. The Chief looked at her angrily, almost malevolently.

*BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!*

Thank God. It was my Police iPhone. I answered, said "I'll be right there." an disconnected. "That was Owen Lange." I said to everyone. "He's in my office. Commander Croyle, if you'll come with me, please, we'll leave the rest of you to your coffee."

I all but dragged Teresa out of there. In the hallway I said "Just go to your office and cool off. I pulled you out of there before you got really insubordinate with the Chief, where you would be fired, and I'd have had to submit my retirement papers. I'll talk to you in a few minutes. Go."

Teresa trudged down the hall, and I went into my office. "Good morning, sir." I said to EAD Owen Lange, who was already sitting in a hot chair. "Coffee? Water?"

"No thanks, I've had some." said Owen Lange said in his scratchy voice as I sat down. "I came here to tell you what I couldn't say over the phone yesterday. Is this room bugged?"

"It's okay to talk." I said, having turned on the bug-killer.

Owen Lange: "I won't discuss how we got the information that the Bayport SEAL Team is active, but nothing gets past you so I think you can figure it out. Part of what we've found out is that their chatter has been about Trent Ridge. They've talked about him, and about revenge."

"Did they give you anything more specific?" I asked.

"No." said Owen Lange. "I'm concerned that with this region's top FBI and DEA people massing here due to the threats to Federal Buildings in the cities, they may see this as an opportunity to take us out... like they tried to do at Jack's wedding." (Author's note: 'Power of Love'.)

I did not need a reverie for this. I took out my Police iPhone and sent a text. Then I said "Mr. Lange, if you'll talk to the Chief or something, I have to speak to Commander Ross, and it can't wait. I'll be back with you as soon as I do that..."

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

Cindy came into her office a moment later, and I was waiting for her. "Whassup?" she said. "Things got a little testy at the coffee klatch before you left."

"We'll get to that later." I said as we sat down. "This is a lot bigger than that. My bug-killer is on, so yours doesn't have to be."

"Okay, what is it?" Cindy asked.

I said: "I know you've been going with Parole Officers to visit Amber Harris whenever she talks about Betsy on the air. And it's been a good idea on your part do do that, and pressure Amber into cutting that shit out. Having said that, I heard what Amber said on this morning's broadcast, and I know what you're thinking. But before you do anything, here's some things you need to know..."