Casting Aspersions

This story is part of an ongoing series.

The chronological order of my stories is listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and

constructive

criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

***

Part 12 - News We Can Use

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" said the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Wednesday, July 17th, from the anchor desk at KXTC studios. "Channel Two has learned that the Town & County Council has denied the Medal of Valor application for slain Police Lieutenant Ivar Irwin!"

Bettina began: "In a tense Council session in which one member became ill and was taken to the hospital, the Council voted nearly unanimously to posthumously award the Distinguished Police Cross to Lieutenant Irwin at the next Promotions and Medals Ceremony on August 1st."

Bettina: "Some Police Officers were bitterly angry at the vote. Police Captain Teresa Croyle, a Medal of Valor recipient herself and Lt. Irwin's direct superior Officer, issued a statement blasting the Council for downgrading the MOV application. Lt. Irwin died while rescuing Captain Croyle's husband Todd Burke in an armed standoff at BOW Enterprises last month."

Bettina: "In other news, the Coroner's Office has just issued its report on the death of journalist Louella Hopper at the University Journalism School's symposium on entertainment journalism Monday night. The Coroner's report has stated that Ms. Hopper's death was a result of foul play. The SBI and Campus Police are investigating, and SBI Reserve Inspector Donald Troy has refused to respond to multiple requests for comment by KXTC."

Bettina: "The SBI has not commented on possible motives for the death of Louella Hopper, but sources tell Channel Two News that Ms. Hopper had received confirmation from Federal Government sources that blackmail papers belonging to Bundy McGinty were captured after Commander Troy busted McGinty for the murders of four Police Detectives across the State..."

Bettina paused for dramatic effect, then said clearly and loudly: "...and that Commander Troy still has those papers in his possession. Once again, sources tell Channel Two News that Louella Hopper had information that Commander Troy is illegally in possession of McGinty's Materials. And per usual, neither Commander Troy nor the TCPD would respond to KXTC's multiple requests for comment, which KXTC considers to be suspicious..."

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

"She's just trying to get you murdered, Crowbar." growled the Sheriff, his mustaches twitching in anger, as we sat in the Chief's Conference Room, sipping coffee and eating the doughnuts the Chief generously provided.

"How did she find out about that?" I asked, looking over at Tanya. Her eyes bugged out at my piercing stare at her.

"I have no idea." she replied. "C'mon, Don, do you

really

think I would leak that? And to Bettina, of all people?"

"No." I said coldly. "But the FBI would... and might have." Tanya looked shocked, very aware of the implication I was making, and she was trying hard to match my stare right through her...

*KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* *KNOCK!*

The door opened to reveal FBI EAD Owen Lange. "Mind if I join you guys?"

"Yes,

do

come in!" exclaimed the Chief, very glad that the extremely tense moment between me and Tanya was temporarily abated. I scooted my chair over so that he could sit next to me, and to the Chief's right, and I poured him some coffee.

"Thank you." said Lange. He took a long near-gulp of the coffee. "I really needed this. That bitch Jocelyn Moran had me up all frickin' night."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Well, her lawyer didn't get here until two in the morning." said the EAD. "Her name is Gwen Munson. Sweetest voice you ever heard, but the.. bitchiest... personality in the world... no offense, ladies."

"None taken." said Cindy Ross. "We're used to it."

"What you may not know," said the EAD, "is that we used the information about Louella Hopper's column to get Federal warrants to investigate Jocelyn Moran. She's been a shady character for a while, and she's suspected of using her position to shake down companies, threatening to accuse them of racism in the workplace if they don't make a generous payment to some worthy cause... which funnels back to her. We were able to get Federal warrants because the US DOJ is in Washington, D.C., and you guys are here."

"Thank God for that." I muttered. A lot of my colleagues nodded vigorously in agreement.

"Yeah." said Lange agreeably. "So we've traced several metadata threads between Moran's two so-called associates and people associated with Eldrick X. Weaver, Reginald B.F. Lewis, and Lester Holder of KXTC. We also have connections between both of them and people associated with Tasheeka Harris and Maxine Watts. We presented that to Moran and her attorney, who immediately said none of that was illegal. Our reply was that it would be harmful to their plans to have those plans exposed, and therefore Moran and her henchmen are suspects in Ms. Hopper's murder."

"Suspects? Not persons of interest?" I asked, being aware of the huge differences between the two.

"Full suspects." replied Lange. "And Moran and her associates were at the Hyatt Hotel Monday night. Moran's henchmen immediately took the Fifth. Moran and Munson attempted to leave, and of course we stopped Moran from leaving, as she is under arrest. She demanded an immediate 'show cause' hearing, which Federal Judge K.M. Landis got out of bed to hold an hour ago. Moran has been bound over, and is under house arrest at the Hyatt Hotel."

"Oh noooo..." I muttered. "All she has to do is get back to Washington, and we'll never see her again."

"Good!" said Cindy. "Then she won't be harassing Daniel Allgood for doing nothing."

"They'll send someone else." I said. "I want to see the screws turned on Moran, and force her to admit the collusion, or have to take the Fifth, which has its own bonuses for us."

The EAD smiled. "Let it play out, Commander."

"No problem, Mr. Director!" I said with alacrity. "Besides, I'm going to be busy trying to keep my family alive after Bettina blabbed that about me having McGinty's Materials to the world."

"Why don't you and I go talk about that, Commander?" Owen Lange said. "Your office?"

"As long as the Green Crowbar is also invited." I said.

"You guys have great nicknames." the EAD astutely observed as we got up to leave.

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

"All right," said the EAD as we settled into our seats in my office: me in my comfortable 'Command Chair', Cindy on the sofa, and the EAD in a hot chair, "here's what I've found out about all that stuff. First, Martin Nash and Julius Jefferson found that Joker card in that empty storage space. Julius told Muscone about it, but I found out that Nash called his uncle, the retired Deputy Director, first. The DepDirector called Muscone directly, and he's the one that asked Muscone to go through that process of showing you a photo of the card and watching your reaction. Muscone reported back that in his opinion your reaction was one of having no knowledge of that card. Muscone also made a routine report to me about all of it."

"What did you know, and when did you know it?" I asked. "By that I mean, when did Nash find that card, and where? When did he tell the DepDirector, and when did he tell Muscone? And when did Muscone's report cross

your

desk?"

"It crossed my desk Monday." said the EAD. "I'm not sure of the timing of the rest of it. I've sent Nash an email, telling him to be ready to take a phone call from me to explain himself... not only about the details, which I'll be asking about, but about why he did the end-run around his chain of command and went to the DepDirector first."

"So Jack just did what he was asked to do." said Cindy. "And he reported it to you, so he's not trying to hide anything."

"I believe that to be the case." said the EAD. "I just want you guys to know that I'm still working on it, especially to find out who leaked all that information to Hopper, and when."

I nodded. "I appreciate the information, sir. There's one more thing you can do for me: stay here and watch the KFXU newscast with us." With that, I texted Teresa to come to my office...

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

"Hello and welcome!" said Catrina Pierce at 8:00am from the comfortable-looking KXFU studios. "I'm Catrina Pierce, and with me as always is Meredith Peller. Good morning, Meredith. We have a lot of big news today!"

"Good morning, Catrina." said Meredith. "Yes, we do have a lot to report. Here's what's going on: last night at the Town & County Council meeting, Council Member J.P. Goldman, owner of the J.P. Goldman Bank here in Town, became violently ill and was rushed to University Hospital. At that time the Town & County Police collected all of the Council Members's bottled waters as potential evidence."

Catrina: "The Crime Lab issued a statement two hours ago that Mr. Goldman's water bottle was filled with an ipecac solution, which would cause vomiting. The solution was much stronger that the solutions that you could once buy off the shelf, and the amounts of the compounding suggest that it was not industrially made but was homemade. The water bottle at Council Member Ian McGhillie's seat was also full of ipecac, and the Town & County Police have opened a criminal investigation of the incident.."

Meredith: "Additionally, University Hospital confirmed that Mr. Goldman was poisoned by drinking from that water bottle. He was listed in serious but stable condition, and is expected to improve and be released, possibly by this afternoon."

Catrina: "In Councilman Goldman's absence, the Democrats on the Council refused to adjourn the Council meeting until Mr. Goldman could recover, but instead went into Executive Session. And during the Executive Session. the application for a posthumous Medal of Valor for slain TCPD Lieutenant Ivar Irwin was downgraded to a Distinguished Police Cross."

Meredith: "The Republican Council Members have bitterly denounced the actions of the Democrats, not only to degrade the award for Lt. Irwin, but to continue the Council meeting after Mr. Goldman was poisoned. They are considering a lawsuit to force a new vote on the MOV application. Council Democrats have stated that the legal process was scrupulously observed, that Lt. Irwin is getting the medal that best suits his actions, and that the Republicans's accusations of Mr. Goldman being poisoned was slanderous. That statement

was

made before the Crime Lab issued its findings."

Catrina: "In other news, the investigation of murdered reporter Louella Hopper is ongoing. Public Relations Officer Captain Damien Thompson issued a statement saying that our competitor KXTC's reporter Bettina Wurtzburg's stating that Commander Donald Troy had the so-called McGinty's Materials in his possession was not true."

Meredith: "Commander Troy of the TCPD, who also serves as the SBI Reserve Inspector, issued a statement exclusively to Fox Eight News that Bettina Wurtzburg's comments were 'dangerous' and 'could potentially bring harm to my family'. Commander Troy also stated that Bettina Wurtzburg, who is under investigation by the Federal Government for treason, is a person of interest in the murder of Louella Hopper."

Catrina: "Commander Troy also said that our competitor KSB's Tim Sioban had refused to cooperate with law enforcement authorities, and is being charged with obstruction of justice and interfering with State and Federal investigations. A Federal Judge ordered yesterday that Sioban be held without bail after he was arrested."

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

"Wow." said the EAD as the broadcast finished. "You don't play, do you Commander? But putting all that out there like that? Is that really the way to go?"

"No sir, I don't play." I said. "But I don't think it harms any potential cases to let the world know that KXTC and KSB reporters are the reason journalists are one of the three most despised professions, along with telemarketers and politicians."

"Okay, then." said the EAD. "I'll go get Julius Jefferson out of your MCD room and we'll go back to the Federal Building. I'll let you know of anything new that I find. You might also want to consider the 'Thunderbird' protocol."

"Yes sir." I said. The EAD left, and Cindy and Teresa of course immediately asked what the 'Thunderbird' protocol was."

"It's a codeword, like the 'Valkyrie' protocol." I said. "If the EAD gets called or warned off the case regarding the Feds leaking that about me and McGinty's Materials, he'll text me that word."

"What if you and your family are in imminent danger?" asked Teresa.

"Oh, he wouldn't text a vague message for that." I replied. "So, Teresa, how's the mood of the Police Force?"

"I'll be meeting with the Precinct Officers and Sergeants in an 'all hands on deck' meeting at 9:00am, sir." said Teresa. "I'll be able to tell you more after that. I do know that when I called to arrange the meeting, Abram and Rudistan said morale wasn't good."

"Fair enough." I said.

"Teresa," said Cindy, "can you give me a minute with Don, please?"

"Uh, sure." said Teresa. She got up and left.

Cindy made a point to show that she was turning on her anti-bugging device, then she said "Do you trust the EAD?"

"Uh..." I said. "Yeah. I guess I do."

"But not Jack?" asked Cindy.

"I dunno." I said, looking at my desk and shaking my head. "I want to believe him, but he's the one that asked me about that card. Maybe he's being duped, too."

"What bothers me," said Cindy, "is the DepDirector. Something's not right. Do you know if there was anything in the Materials that might affect him directly?"

"Not that I know of." I said. "But there are a lot of FBI reports that are part of the Materials. That in itself might be something they're worried about. But in the overall... I agree with you that something is badly wrong here. Most of all that they're not trusting me, and going behind my back like they're doing."

"Especially Nash." Cindy said. "My disappointment in him cannot be overstated."

She got up to go. "Well... not to beat a dead horse, but now you know why I turned in my FBI Consultant badge and refused to take it back. We may can trust Jack Muscone... though

only

because he's head over heels in love with Tanya... but we sure as hell can't trust the rest of 'em. My two cents worth: drop 'em, and don't look back. We don't need them, Don."

I nodded introspectively, my mind already ahead on other things. I was realizing that they'd fed Bettina information to see if it got to her and her lawyers.

But by what means were they doing that?

I wondered to myself...

Part 13 - 'Meetings'

9:00am, Wednesday, July 17th. The big meeting was in Classroom 'E'. Teresa was not present, as she was in her own meeting with her people. Tanya and my mother Phyllis were also not present. By way of contrast, SBI Agent Johnson and Campus Police Detective Tarleton were present. Somewhat to my surprise, so were SBI Inspector Britt Maxwell and District Attorney Miriam Walters.

"O-kayyyy," said the Chief. "We have a lot of stuff to cover. Mr. Crowbar, lead us through it, please."

"Yes sir, thank you." "I said. "First, who is assigned to Mr. Goldman's poisoning, and what have you found?"

"Detective Washington and I are in charge of it, sir." said Detective Julia Rodriguez. "Detective Warner and I swapped partners, sir, since Roy McGhillie's father is a Council Member."

"Smart thinking." I said. "Go ahead."

Rodriguez started: "We have the medical reports, which confirm poisoning by ipecac. We also have secured all the videotape of the room that we know about. There's a camera in back, behind the audience, that records the Council meeting, but it did not switch on until the meeting started. There is also a camera to the right side of the stage, to the left of the audience's podium, which normally records whoever is speaking at the podium. In this case, before the meeting, it recorded a young woman putting out the water bottles.

Julia connected her computer to the room's monitor, and played a video. It showed a young woman putting out the bottles of water. "This is Jenny Peabody. She's Adele Peabody's niece. Adele Peabody is the Intendant, who looks after the Council's wants and needs. Jenny is a student at the University, majoring in pre-Law Political Science. She's interning at City Hall, which was arranged by her aunt.

Julia continued: "She said she got the water bottles out of a refrigerator in the food storage room behind the cafeteria. She says none had any particular markings, they were all the same brand, and she didn't put the bottles out in any particular order, just from left to right."

"Who's her professor?" I asked. "Who's her guidance counselor?"

"Sorry, sir, I don't have that information." said Julia. "She was a Freshman last year, so she may not have a particular professor like upperclassmen do. I'll have to check." I nodded.

Julia continued: "The only other person that approached the bench was the sound system man. He's been the sound man at City Hall for ten years. The peculiar thing is that he said he checked the sound systems earlier in the afternoon, and they were all in order. He says he did not check the systems right before the Council meeting, as that would be too little time to fix any problems that came up."

Julia showed a video of the sound guy at work. It was not a dead-on camera angle, and was a bit blurry. The guy was leaning over microphones with his back to the camera's view.

"Julia," I said, "bring up an ID photo of the sound man." Julia did so. I said: "Hmmm, he looks close to the guy on our video here, but it's blurry enough that we can't really tell. It could be someone else."

"I think you're right." said Cindy. Others also agreed.

"Where was the sound guy in the minutes leading up to the Council meeting?" I asked.

"He said he was in his office." said Julia Rodriguez. "Someone else operates the videocameras and runs that little back-room booth. We talked to him, and he entered that room from the hallway door and was inside the whole time. Deputies near there said he never came out into the Council Chamber."

"Looks like the audio man stunt double is our likely culprit." I said.

"Cheeky bastard to do that." said the Chief. "He could easily have been discoverrrrrred."

"Yes sir." I said. "But he just hid in plain sight, and nobody gave him a second thought. And why would we?" Everyone nodded.

"Okay, thanks for your fast work on that, Julia, and whoever helped you amass the video feeds." I said. "Okay, what do we have on the Louella Hopper murder?"

"Roy and I have a few things, sir." said Joanne Warner. "Mostly stuff that Captain Perlman asked me to report to you about. First, we've examined all available video from the main ballroom. Ms. Hopper had nothing to eat or drink in there, and there's never any indication of anyone coming up to her, or her showing suprise as if she was stuck by something resembling a needle. We also have a tape showing that she left through the back door, and went to the smaller room that way, despite it being through an employees-only area."

"Anyone talked to the staff there?" I asked. "Who was there on duty, stuff like that?"

"That's where we've run into a problem, sir." said Tarleton. "The chefs are pretty carefully vetted, but the waitstaff is a bunch of college students, and turnover is high. So they often get people they don't know during the summer months. They've been as helpful as they can be, but we only have a few names. We've run them, and no one has any issues that we know of."