Schoolhouse Roc

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 - Stymied

Wednesday, January 23d. My mind was crowded with thoughts as I drove back to Police Headquarters. Was Marcie Harper on to me? Had she canceled the shipment, which the red mouse had indicated, because she'd realized who I was when I went down to her studios with Todd? Or was she just being overly cautious?

I trudged down the hallway, then stuck my head into my office's anteroom and asked Helena if there were any messages for me. She said that Captain Croyle had asked me to call her when I got back in, and that Sheriff Griswold had come in and that I should join him and the Chief in the Chief's office.

Knowing where my bread was buttered, I went to the Chief's office suite. I did things 'proper': the Chief's assistant Cassie buzzed the Chief and announced my arrival. The Chief told her to tell me to come on in. I did so.

"Good news on the video?" asked the Chief as he had me sit down next to Sheriff Griswold.

"No sir." I said. I explained how the red mouse had appeared. "I'm hoping that they're not onto us after my visit down there. And it'll be next week before we can find out if this is a one-off, or if they're going to shut down and do something else."

"You think she realized who you were when you went down there, Crowbar?" asked the Sheriff.

"Yes sir." I said. "Myron helped me create some pretty good fake IDs, I had cards made with a real BOW Enterprises phone number on it, and of course I made sure to drive to Todd's home in the Heritage Cloisters subdivision, and I was followed."

"Those bums who ran for the State Line." said the Chief.

I nodded, then said: "But my cover wasn't going to hold up if they dug really deep, like a law enforcement agency would do. That

does

tell me one thing: they're no small-time operation if they have the resources to make checks like that on a lowly Assistant to the BOW Enterprises CEO." The chief and Sheriff chuckled at that.

*BUZZ* *BUZZ* *BUZZ* *BUZZ*

It was my Police iPhone buzzing. I looked at it, and it was a text message from Teresa. It said "Please call. URGENT!"

"Problem, Crowbar?" asked the Sheriff.

"Captain Croyle wants me for something." I said. "But she can handle it, unless it's one of her kids or my kids that's the issue... and then she'd be breaking down the door to this office to tell me."

"Har." said the Sheriff. "You're right."

"Commander, go ahead and find out what it's about." said the Chief. "We're just twiddling our thumbs, here."

I grinned, then said "Yes sir." I got up and headed towards Teresa's office. Helena called out to me as I passed by my anteroom door. I stopped and looked in.

"Sir," she said, "Captain Croyle is in I-A. She asked me to ask you to come down there."

"Okay, thanks." I said. I headed down the hallway to the Interrogation Rooms. In the anteroom, I saw Teresa in I-A with a woman and her lawyer. I knocked on the window. Teresa got up, opened the door, and asked me to come in.

"You wanted to talk to me?" I asked.

"I did, about something else," said Teresa, "but then this developed. This is Irene Allen. She is the former Treasurer of the Heritage Cloisters HOA. And you know Mr. Gibson Stelling, of Succup and Payne, P.C."

"Yes, I do. Hello Mr. Stelling. Hello, Mrs. Allen." I said as I sat down next to Teresa. "So, what's the issue here?"

Teresa said "You know about what happened last night at the HOA meeting. Irene has information that proves Gus Bradshaw was embezzling from the HOA. She needs immunity, though. I can't give her that immunity, but you can, sir."

"Well..." I said, then paused, then said "Yes, I

could.

But it really needs to come from the ADA. Captain, have you called ADA Patterson yet?"

"No sir." said Teresa.

"Go ahead and call her now." I said.

"Can't you just give her the immunity now?" asked Teresa. "It'll save time, and we can get a warrant faster."

I held my temper, and said "We'll discuss the 'whys' and 'why nots' later. Go ahead and call Paulina."

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

While we waited, Teresa and I went into the anteroom. She said "The first thing I was going to tell you is that Leanne Quinlin Gonzales, our real estate agent, called me while you were at Carole's school. She got an offer on our house this morning. A full 25% over our asking price, but good for only 24 hours."

"Oh really." I said acerbically. "If you don't mind my asking, what was the price?" I asked.

"When we bought the house, it was fairly valued at $1.1 million, and we paid $1 million even for it." Teresa said. "But after the security and the golf course were allowed to go to shit, and coupled with overall economic conditions, prices dropped. The house is valued at $800,000 now. The offer we received was for $1 million."

"So this high bid comes in on the night after the HOA meeting, and that much over asking, and trying to pressure you into a very fast sale. What do we think of coincidences, Captain Croyle?"

"What are those?" Teresa replied adroitly, making me chuckle.

"You taking it?" I asked.

"Leanne said there were some issues with it." said Teresa. "First, only persons or families can buy homes there. The couple making this offer absolutely cannot afford it, per Leanne's credit checks. So she asked them where the money is coming from, and after some huffing and puffing, they said they were getting a loan from a private backer, and wouldn't say who it was. So I told Leanne to just reject the offer."

"I think you did right." I said. "But Captain... was that really enough for you to send me a text saying 'URGENT!'? I was meeting with the Chief and Sheriff at the time."

"Oh." Teresa said. "Sorry about that. But no, the urgent thing was Irene coming in with the evidence to bust Bradshaw and Martin. I think she's scared for her safety, too." After a moment she said: "Sir... am I in trouble?"

"Not really, but we'll talk later."

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

Paulina arrived 30 minutes later. So did District Attorney Miriam Walters.

I had also called Captain Tanya Perlman in, to take over from Teresa. "Teresa, you're personally involved, and I want you to concentrate on the lawsuit you are going to file against the HOA on this. Tanya, it's your case... personally. I want this Bradshaw asshole thoroughly fucked up, and you are just the person to make that happen."

"Ah, I get to have some fun!" Tanya said with a grin and a sparkle in her eyes.

As Teresa and Tanya filled Paulina in and Paulina worked out the Immunity Agreement, Miriam and I watched through the one-way glass from the anteroom.

"This is a pretty small case to merit your personal attention, isn't it?" I asked.

"The Heritage Cloisters has some of the wealthiest people in the County living there." said Walters, showing her political awareness skills. "And it's a chance to see how my ADAs handle things like immunity agreements. I appreciate you calling in Paulina, rather than doing it yourself. Oh... and for such a small case, you brought in the Captain of Detectives personally? Just how small is this?"

I chuckled. Miriam Walters was pretty damn sharp, I thought to myself. Not bad looking, either...

As we watched and listened, Paulina got Irene's story. Irene was saying she had evidence of Gus Bradshaw redirecting funds, meant for security, to another bank account. She had resigned as Treasurer over it after she brought it up and was shouted down and intimidated, i.e. threatened, by both Bradshaw and Jennifer Martin. After Paulina gave her immunity, Irene's lawyer produced the papers.

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

"Plenty here for arrest warrants and for a warrant for all the HOA's papers." said Deputy Chief Cindy Ross as she looked over the papers that were now in evidence. She described to Paulina some of the things to show the judge. I had also been looking up some stuff on the computer based upon my observations.

"Paulina," I said, "you should bypass Nance and go straight to Watts. That account Bradshaw set up, is showing up as one from which campaign contributions to State Senator Katherine Woodburn were made."

"Oooooh." said Tanya. "Do we have some political scandal, here?"

"I dunno." I said. "We'll proceed very cautiously. Woodburn's campaign did not try to hide the contributions. But let's get that forensic audit warrant first."

"I need to speak to you about that." said Miriam Walters.

"Let's go into my office." I replied.

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

I had Miriam sit down in a 'hot chair'. She did so, crossing her shapely legs as I went around to my side of my desk and sat down in the lumbar-supporting 'Command Chair'. "What's up?" I asked.

"I just wanted to let you know what's going on at Court." Miriam said. "The State Legislature House Chamber formally voted down impeaching Judge Nance. He's been restored to the Bench. Folsom has him doing arraignments and the little shit stuff that Solicitor Ted Mason handles, but I've gotten word that Nance believes he's the guy we have to go to to get warrants, and he's pushing Folsom on that."

"That's not good." I said. "And all the more reason to sneak this particular case past Nance and go to Watts... if Katherine Woodburn is involved, I don't want Nance running cover for her."

"I understand." said Walters. "Just don't be surprised when the hammer comes down in the future. A judge's gavel still beats a crowbar in our Courts."

"Noted." I said. "But if Nance tries to deny warrants without good reason, I'll be raising holy hell... as will the Chief and Sheriff."

"And you may have to." said Walters. "And while I'm here, let me fill you in on the situation with Gayle Tunnin. As you know, she was arrested and is out on bail. She is not cooperating at all. We think we have an airtight case, what with the Holloway recordings and all that, but they intend to fight to the last ditch."

"What about Della Harlow?" I asked. "Are you going to prosecute her, too?"

"That case will be a lot tougher." said Walters. "Right now, it would be a conspiracy charge. Yes, we have her on the tapes, and we have Holloway's testimony. But Harlow could just say it was wishful thinking, that she didn't know Tunnin was really going to do it. I'm also getting word that the Democrats will fight for Harlow to the last ditch. They'll throw Tunnin under the bus if they have to, but they're circling the wagons around Harlow. But don't ask me why."

"I don't need to." I said.

"What I was thinking," said Walters, "was filing charges and having her arrested, anyway. Then we'd offer her a deal to squeal... or offer Tunnin a deal to squeal on Harlow."

"If you have a tough case already," I asked, "would it really be any easier with Tunnin testifying, and Harlow's lawyer saying Tunnin would tell any lie to get a deal for herself?"

"That's a thought." said Miriam. "My question is: who would you rather see go down?"

"Both." I said. "But if I had to choose: Harlow, for damn sure."

"That's what I thought you'd say." said Miriam. As she stood up to go, she said "I'll talk to Mayor Allgood and Sheriff Griswold, also, see what they want to do..."

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

D.A. Walters went to talk to the Chief. So, after sweeping Classroom 'E' for bugs and finding none, I brought in my Lieutenants Milton and Detectives Warner, Washington, and Davis for a discussion of the Marcie Harper case.

"The mouse turned to red." I told them. "Looks like Marcie either got wind of me, or she's being cautious and called off this week's shipment."

Mary Milton asked "Sir, do you think they have an alternate means of giving the location info, and the red mouse means to go to Plan B to get their info?"

"It's possible," I replied, "but I suspect the answer is 'no', and for a couple of reasons. First, if she got spooked by my presence in her studios, she doesn't know just how much we know. So why risk a shipment through other means of communication? For all she knows, we're watching every school in the State. Of course we're not, and if they look they'll see we're not."

"And the second reason is the complexity of getting the message out." I said. "The videos are a means of transmitting the information that everyone can see but is hard to trace to the viewers. Of course in saying that, every first grader in the State is a suspect, if you get my drift."

Everyone chuckled, then I continued: "As we talked about before, cellphone texts or emails requires knowing who to send to, and that's potentially a lot of people, and risks being intercepted. So unless Marcie has another website where she can put 'Pink Knights' on, like Superior Bloodlines did," (

Author's note: 'The Hot Date Mystery, Ch. 02-03.

) "then this week's shipment has been called off."

"Sir," said Jerome, "do you think they'll set up a new way of communicating?"

"I don't know." I said. "We'll find out next week. If nothing happens this week, and things appear calm, maybe they'll resume. Myron, did we have any attempts to hack us?"

"Several, sir." said Myron. "One was some Slender Man Fan Club group in England. I think they were just seeing if they could. They didn't try to get anything, and they were shut down pretty quickly. Others were the usual suspects: the Red Chinese, our own Federal Government, the Mob in Southport, and so on. No damage done. Then there were a few that I haven't seen before. They could be Marcie Harper's gang, but they routed through the Midwest & Pacific Railroad's servers."

I must've looked astonished at hearing that, because I saw people staring at me. "Now

that

... is a 'strangeness'." I said, thinking out loud...

Part 13 - Bad Behavior

Tim Sluman came into Marcie Harper's office, the office in the front part of the building. He swept for bugs, finding none, then sat down opposite Marcie at her desk.

"Ma'am," he said, "we can sustain a week of no shipments, even two, but we risk our customers finding other suppliers."

"I know." said Marcie. "But we've had breaks in shipping in the past, and our customers and suppliers know that we're being cautious so we don't get caught."

"So are we back on for next week?" asked Sluman.

"I don't know." said Marcie. "Anyone in the Town & County watched the videos yet?"

"Eastside Elementary ran it already, pretty early." said Sluman. "Just once, all the way through. Several other schools across the State also ran it, but none that are up in the Iron Crowbar's area."

"Any idea how he got on to us?" asked Marcie.

"Our security guys have checked with their contacts." said Sluman. "They did not tell us before, but the recent shipment at Valley Villages had a problem. Someone was spotted lurking around the school perimeter when the trucks for pickup came in. He was followed home and eliminated later that night, as a precaution."

Marcie was appalled. "Are you fucking kidding me?" she asked. "A man was watching our operation, they murdered him... and they didn't bother to tell me about it?"

"Our guys didn't know." said Tim. "Well... they claimed they didn't know. And it's happened before, us potentially being watched. We canceled the video subscription to Rocktown Elementary after Sheriff Deputies were spotted watching our vehicles about this time last year."

"Well, God damn." said Marcie, with considerable asperity in her voice. She thought about it. "Okay, we can't wait another week like I'd planned to. We've got to nip this in the bud, and find out if we've really been compromised. Get Gary into the studio, now..."

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

1:00pm, Wednesday, January 23d. Tanya drove into my office.

"Judge Watts issued the subpoenas." she reported. "We've picked up Gus Bradshaw and Jennifer Martin, and put them both through full booking. He's in I-1, she's in I-2. Both have demanded lawyers and we are waiting for their arrivals."

"Good." I said. "Who did they call as their legal representation?"

"Bradshaw called H.J. Lynch of Chase, Lynch & Berry, P.C." said Tanya. "Ms. Martin surprised us a bit: she called Gwen Munson, of Prodder, Ryder & Reems, P.C."

"Oh, now that

is

interesting, don't you think?" I said.

"Yes I do." replied Tanya. "Gwen has gone big-time since she won that case for Jan Camp against the University. She's the lead legal beagle these days for civil rights issues involving women."

"She also represents women involved in normal political issues around the State, not just civil rights cases." I said. "That suggests that we might be much closer to Katherine Woodburn than Katherine will be comfortable with. What about the financial records?"

"We got the warrant, and it's been served." said Tanya. "Irene Allen is helping Mary with getting those records from the HOA servers. We're also presenting the warrant to the Second National Bank, to get the HOA account records. And we've asked for a warrant for Katherine Woodburn's campaign records, all of them. We have her public disclosures already, but we're going for her campaign's internal records, to make sure they match and that there's nothing under the table."

"Good." I said. "By the way, if there's any suspicion of HOA records being destroyed, let me know. We'll bust Bradshaw and Martin for that, too."

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

Tanya preceded me into I-1. Gus Bradshaw and H.J. Lynch were sitting at the table. Corporal Hicks was the Uniformed presence.

"Ah, Commander Troy himself." said Lynch. "Here to physically abuse another of my clients."

"Corporal Hicks," I said, "take Bradshaw back to his holding cell, while I have a private conversation with the attorney." Bradshaw and Lynch were shocked.

"Now just a goddamn minute..." Lynch said, but I indicated to Hicks to proceed. Hicks took Bradshaw out of the room.

"What the hell is your problem?" thundered Lynch.

"You!" I thundered back. "I'm going to tell you this just this one last time, before this witness and on the cameras that are recording now. If you ever...

ever

... accuse me of Police brutality again, and I get it on camera, I'm going to take you to Court with a slander lawsuit, and I'm going to take you to the State Bar to have you disbarred. I'm sick of your lies, and I'll tolerate them no further. If you think I've committed Police brutality, then prove it... and you'll be forced to if you ever again say it on camera."

I have rarely seen such hatred on a human countenance than what Lynch was displaying on his face at the moment. No 'Teresa Cunt' look could possibly match it. I said "Now have you get any more shit to say before we bring your client back in?"

"One day, Troy. One day." replied Lynch. "One day I'll get the proof, and I'm going to barbecue your ass."

"Keep talking, asshole." I said. "I'm done with you. Disbarment, Lynch." We were staring at each other across a small table, but it felt like we were planets apart. I could see that Lynch was trying to determine just how serious I was, and if he'd really pushed me over the line.. a line he'd actually crossed a long time before.

"Well," he growled, "are we just going to sit here all day, or are you going to bring my client back in?"

I turned to Tanya. "You know, I just don't think this bastard has gotten the message." I stood up. "Captain, you can have Bradshaw called back in at your leisure. I'm going to go begin the complaint process to have Lynch disbarred." With that, I turned and left the room. And yes, I went and told Myron to secure the tape of what Lynch said, then I called Mike G. Todd. I

would

be filing the lawsuit and making the formal complaint to the State Bar...