Decree. Between that and taking the direct cheap shot at you, Don, why is he feeling his oats like that? He's bottom-rung at KXTC, and would probably already have been fired if he wasn't Lionel Carmela's mouthpiece... and using his mouth to give Carmela blowjobs."
"Is he packing the tweezers he'd need to find Carmela's little shrimp between his legs?" Tanya asked, a vicious twinkle in her eyes. Her fellow Angels and I broke out laughing; the Chief, not so much.
Cindy said "I dunno if Stellum is sexually servicing Carmela; from what I hear, Carmela likes to fuck the ugliest, most feminist women on Campus. They whine about men at near-violent rallies, then meekly submit to him when he breaks them to his fist, and whatever else."
Cindy: "But Teresa's right. My secret Press source, whose name I won't mention but her initials are (P)riya (A)jmani, says that Amber Harris and Carl Lemay despise Fat Stellum, and Bettina thinks very little of him, as well. Only his fawning over Carmela and Dr. Moore and getting interviews with him are keeping him employed..."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
9:00am, Monday, January 10th. A meeting convened in Classroom 'E'. Present were: Me, Lt. Commander Croyle, Captain Claire Michaels, Lieutenants Mary Milton, Christopher Purvis, Micah Rudistan, Teddy Parker, Theo Washington, and Joanne Warner, Detective Sergeant Julia Rodriguez, Detectives George Newman, Roark Coleman, Kerri Ambrose, and Joan Laurer, and Supervisor Yolanda Grissom.
Also with us were SBI-DTD Lieutenant Lorena Rose and DEA Special Agent Kevin Pitts. They had come in to discuss Marquis Swift and our warrant for his arrest, so Claire invited them to the meeting.
The meeting was our standard 'get our ducks in a row' about the Sandstone/Gerard murders, but the full MCD Division showed up to see Yolanda's first demonstration of her 3D software and analysis tools.
"O-kayyyy," I said to take control of and start the meeting, "let's hear about the victims first. Mary?"
"Thank you, sir." Mary Milton said. Two photos appeared on the 5x4 matrix of monitors, and two autopsy photos below them. "The apartment was leased in the name of Sarah Sandstone, age 24. She was in and out of foster homes until she was 18, then began working the poles in the clubs, and lots of private parties in the basements of Fraternity Houses. Numerous arrests for prostitution and drug possession in personal use amounts, and she had a tendency to take makeup and shoes from stores without paying for them. But she never did prison time. Just some fines."
Mary: "He was Geoff Gerard. And that rather mean countenance is matched by reports of his attitude, which constantly needed adjusting. He was a drug dealer, usually selling small amounts on the streets, then on the University campus, which is where he got busted for distribution."
Mary: "After being released from prison, he had no official problems until he was pulled over last year and played the 'Sovereign Citizen' game with the State Patrol. Saying things like he was traveling, not driving, so he didn't need a license. Refused to show ID nor his vehicle registration, so they shattered his window, TASERed him, dragged him kicking and screaming out of the car, and arrested him. The car was searched and the dog brought in, but no drugs nor weapons were found. Judge J.B. Stone threw out the charges, and also refused to allow his probation to be revoked. And Lieutenant Rudistan has more on them."
I nodded to Rudistan, who said "As you all know, people usually congregate and live together according to ethnicity. The Southwestern Ghetto in the south and southwest part of Town is nearly all Black. South of Town and in the Hotel Row area is mostly Hispanic. And the Rio Linda Apartments and the area around them is virtually all poor Whites."
Rudistan: "The 'Smooth White Boys' control the area. They sell drugs on the University campus and to the Fraternities, and they are rumored to be very heavily into prostitution, providing the Fraternities with girls for parties, a good bit of the club scene, and all that. They generally stay out of the areas controlled by T-Mac and the Rodrigo-san, and their territory east of University Avenue is left to them, though the University itself is considered neutral territory and open to all."
Rudistan: "We've had our eyes on Sarah Sandstone and Geoff Gerard for a while. As Lieutenant Milton said, she's been busted for prostitution and shoplifting. We consider her to be (air quotes) 'low rent', which is a step above 'trash' and 'streetwalker'. But all that may be cover, and she may be higher-up in the drug distribution chain than she appears to be."
Rudistan: "When Geoff Gerard was busted, he was believed to be part of the 'Smooth White Boys' organization. The SBI-NTF of the time leaned hard on him to get him to turn, but he would never admit he was part of the Smooth White Boys. So they threw him in State Prison for a couple of years. While on the inside, he hung out strictly with other Whites while in prison, which is common. But he never acted like he was a member of any of the White gangs."
"Was he on the SBI or DEA's radar?" I asked.
"The name was familiar to us, sir." said SBI Lieutenant Lorena Rose. "But he never popped up outside the Town & County's jurisdiction."
DEA Special Agent Kevin Pitts said "We didn't have much on him, either. But Homeland Security and the FBI under Attorney General Derrick B. Harland were working with the ATF to try to catch him running guns. They
said
they were seeing if he was arming the Smooth White Boys, but it was White Nationalists that Harland's
weaponized
Swamp Frogs were hoping to catch him arming... like the Guardians of Justice Motorcycle Club. No success there, and I personally think they were just trying to harass the GOJMC and other White right-wing groups, which they believe are the true threat to (air quotes) 'our Democracy'."
"Uh huh." I said. "Okay, Joanne, tell me about the eyewitness. You talked to her again?"
Lorena Rose said "Before we move along, I need to add a couple of things. First, from what we know of him, this doesn't really fit Marquis Swift's M.O. He's the leader of a gang that moves a good bit of product, and doesn't fool around with armed robberies like this. Second, and closely related to the first point, he's been in firefights with other gangs, but we have no concrete example of him killing someone as part of a robbery to take drugs. So this whole pattern doesn't really fit the mold for Marquis Swift."
"First time for everything, sir." said Joanne Warner. "And maybe the victims were targets of opportunity, and Swift saw something and acted on it on a whim."
"Could be." I said. "So you talked to the woman across the hallway?"
"Yes sir. Yesterday." said Joanne. "Her name is Rhonda Huntington. The name on the apartment lease is Randy Luna. Rhonda has been busted for prostitution and personal amounts of weed and dope, but that's it. She's had a ton of waitressing jobs, and she's on and off welfare."
Joanne: "Randy Luna has a painting business, as in painting houses and buildings and such. He gets contracts with construction firms that are mostly disreputable and possibly Mob-connected, and he hires Illegals to do most of the work. No arrests for drugs, either distribution or personal amounts, but he's had three DUIs reduced to misdemeanor traffic citations over the last six years. He also contributed to Bruce Finneran's failed campaign for Inspector General, and his application to foster was denied over lack of steady income... well that's the
official
reason. Don't want to go 'round spreadin' rumors, dontcha know." We all chuckled at that.
Joanne: "I went to the crime scene location yesterday with Joan Laurer and George Newman. There are still Police milling about the area, so we didn't look too out of place. I went to Rhonda's, and she didn't want to let me in, but I told her that we'd be less visible if we weren't in the hallway, so she let us in."
Joanne: "Her apartment looked like it'd been very recently cleaned up. She had us sit down in chairs very near to the door, and clearly didn't want us walking around her apartment. She told us she lived with Randy, but he wasn't at home, and he had not been at home when the crime occurred."
Joanne: "She did not want us to video her making her statement, so I recorded it on audio. I asked her to confirm what she'd told us the day before, and she did. She said when Sarah and Geoff came home, she cracked the door opened to make sure it was them. And then the man she described, which matches the description of Swift, came behind them from outside, burst into the apartment, and fired at them."
Joanne: "I asked clarifying questions, such as exactly where the shooter was when he fired, and she said he was at the end of the door, well inside the door frame, and she could clearly see his back. She could not identify what kind of gun he was holding. She said he went to the table and picked up something, but she quickly shut the door as he turned to leave so that he wouldn't see her when he turned to leave. She also admitted to being the caller to 9-1-1 that identified the apartment the victims were in. And that's pretty much all she could give us."
I said "Joan, what were your observations during the interview?"
"Rhonda
-was-
nervous, sir." Joanne Laurer said. "But not unreasonably so. And she was uncomfortable with us being in her apartment, but I would suspect most of the tenants of that complex would also be that way around us."
"True, that." I said. I asked George Newman for his observations, and he said he stayed in the hallway while the women interviewed Rhonda. He also observed that he was the only black man in the area at the time, and while he never felt threatened, since he was wearing his uniform, he did get some 'strange' looks from passersby when he was outside.
"Okay." I said. "And now for the moment we've all been waiting for. Yolanda, do your technical magic, please!"
There was an enthusiastic response, including some applause, as Yolanda stood up and plugged her laptop into the dock on the table. Still standing, she said "I first want to say that I'm happy to be here as part of the TCPD Team, and I think I found the very best spot to land." Everyone applauded.
