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 28 - Moths To The Flame

Dawn, Wednesday, January 30th. Sheriff Griswold and I were leaning against my Police SUV, watching from a reasonable distance as the Fire Department's Arson Team, led by Fire Marshall Zoe Singer went through what was left of Katherine Woodburn's compound.

The devastation was far worse than Todd and Teresa's home had been; it was more on the order of my Old Cabin's complete destruction. The entire structure had pretty much burned to the ashes.

Not all that far away was Katherine Woodburn herself. With her was her aide Clark and some others, but not Priya Ajmani. And also here, talking to Katherine, was State Senator Jimmy 'Coffin' Cerone.

"What brought him up here?" asked the Sheriff to me a few hours before, when Cerone first showed up.

"Did you hear about Woodburn calling DFACS?" I asked. "To take Cindy's daughter away from her?"

"Sure did." growled Griswold. "I called the Governor as soon as I heard about it, too. He and the Director of DFACS are not friends, but he was going to call and find out what was going on."

"It's taken care of." I said. "Which is one reason Katherine is this close to me and still alive. Cindy called her father, who called both Molinari and Cerone. They called the Director of DFACS, and a possibly one-way conversation took place. DFACS is not going to be coming after Betsy."

"Thank God." the Sheriff muttered. "No telling what

you

would've done if they had."

"Oh, I did it." I said. When the Sheriff turned an peered at me, I said: "I called my lawyer Mike G. Todd, and had him get ready to file the paperwork for me to claim Betsy." I just looked forward as Griswold continued to stare at me, beginning to understand.

"Carole was right again, wasn't she?" asked Griswold.

"Yes sir." I replied.

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

Katherine had arrived before midnight, while the fire was still raging. She wasted no time accosting me.

"So where were

you

when this fire started?" she asked, a blunt accusation.

"When I was notified of it," I said, "I was in a meeting of the Town & County Council." I then turned on her and stared her down as I said: "I had nothing to do with this, Senator. This is not the way I play, especially after my own home was burned down with my family in it a few years ago."

I repeated the same thing when Senator Cerone came up to me and bluntly asked if I had anything to do with the fire. "No, Senator." I replied, looking him right in the eye as I made the Boy Scout sign. "Scout's Honor."

After a second, he said "I believe you. My apologies for any insult. I know you were upset about that call to DFACS. I am asking a favor of you, Commander: let me handle it, and let me handle Senator Woodburn. Your cousin and her daughter will not be separated, nor bothered in any way."

"Thank you. I'll be glad to let you handle it, Senator." I said. "And I appreciate your involvement in solving the problem."

"When I was a young man," said Cerone in a musing voice, "Harvey Eckhart helped me out. Nothing criminal. I didn't have much money, and my mother was very ill. He paid her hospital bills, and the treatments that kept her from dying for another ten years. One reason I became the... businessman... that I was, was because I never again wanted to be too poor to help my mother." I nodded.

"Since then," Cerone continued, "I've helped Dr. Eckhart out whenever I can, and he sends me some information from time to time. And when his daughter's child was threatened, you better believe I was there to help. Good to have friends like him, eh?"

"Even better to have him as family." I said, most very sincerely.

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

Once again in live time, Commander Zoe Singer was coming up to me and Sheriff Griswold. "Definitely arson." she said. "It may take me 24 hours or so to prove, but it looks like accelerants were spread all over the house, top floor and bottom floor. Apparently no one was home, and the perps had time to do a thorough prep job. The house went up like a box of matchsticks."

"Even so," asked Katherine, coming up and listening in, "why didn't the fire or burglar alarm go off?"

"I'm sorry for your loss, Senator." Zoe said diplomatically, then said: "As to the alarms, I believe they were disconnected. Unfortunately, it's getting a lot easier to do that with these new wifi alarms instead of the old landline systems. Or did you have a landline system?"

"I thought it was wired in to the Police Station." said Katherine. "With me and my staff being in Midtown so much, especially this time of year, a good burglar alarm system has always been a necessity."

"I think the burglar alarm

did

go off, and a Patrol responded." I said. "They saw the fire when they got here, and called in the Fire Department. I'll check, but I think the fire was already well out of control when they got here."

"Can I get their names, to interview them?" asked Zoe.

"Sure." I said. "Call the Duty Desk, see who they dispatched. No, wait. Let me radio in to them now." I called in on my Police radio and got the names, and gave them to Zoe.

Then I said to Zoe: "I agree with Senator Woodburn that her burglar alarm

should

have gone off when the perps broke in, if indeed that is what happened. I'll be investigating that, too."

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

We'd kept the Press well back, but they still managed to get video of the fire. I suspect someone in the Police or Fire Department (or both) was paid to take some video with an iPhone, and did so.

At 7:30am, I got a call from SBI-OER Inspector Britt Maxwell. "Hi Don." she said. "You're not going to believe this, but Senator Woodburn has formally requested that my office investigate the fire at her home... specifically to determine if anyone in the Town & County Police Department had anything to do with setting it."

"Fer cryin' out loud." I muttered. "And what is her basis for that?"

"It's getting around all over the State that she tried to get DFACS to take Cindy's baby away from her." Britt said. "That's not doing Woodburn any favors with her Legislative colleagues nor even her staff. Priya Ajmani resigned as her Press Secretary, you know."

"Whaaaa?!" I gasped. "No, I

hadn't

heard that. You got one over on me, there."

"It's about time, after all these years." Britt said, and I could feel her grinning through the phone. "Anyway, I don't know if this is to distract from that, or if she genuinely believes someone close to you set the fire as a retaliation for Katherine's call to DFACS."

"Hmm, interesting." I said. "Okay, then, investigate away..."

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

"Yes," said Teresa at the Angels meeting, which did not include Cindy Ross this morning, "Priya is the one who called Cindy and told her what Katherine had done. Then Priya went into Katherine's office and submitted her resignation. She told Katherine she did not want to be anywhere near Katherine when the Iron Crowbar found out about what Katherine had done."

"No doubt about that." I said. "Fortunately for Katherine, I was asked by Senator Cerone to let him handle it. And when this State's 'don of dons' asks for a 'favor' like that, this Don says 'yes sir, three bags full'."

"Katherine thinks you're behind the fire." said Tanya. "We know you're not the one, of course. So who do

you

think is behind it?"

"Oh, I dunno." I said. "In all seriousness, it was not me. Cindy was with me at the Council meeting, so I doubt it was her nor her father; I don't think Dr. Eckhart plays that way. After that, it gets into the realm of possible political motivations, and with all the nutjobs in red and green t-shirts around, one just has no idea where to start."

Part 29 - Challenge Made, Challenge Accepted

"Now everybody try to find a good hiding place. This ol' tree is gonna be the base. I'm gonna close my eyes and hide my face and count to a hundred by fives.

Ready? Go!

5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100.

Ready or not, here I come."

------ Schoolhouse Rock, 'Ready Or Not, Here I Come!'

At 8:30am, I drove my Police SUV to the far back side of the Courthouse complex and parked. Eastside Elementary was just to the east of us. In the car with me were Myron Milton and Yvonne Newton.

"Yes," said Yvonne when I'd asked, "I was one of the SuperAdmins of the school's computer and web systems. I have the passwords to everything, unless they changed them... and I have one backdoor way in, as well, in case we got hacked, of course."

Myron said "I've set this laptop up to mimic a school system computer. Once we hook in to the school's wifi, we should be able to run the Marcie Harper video, and it will look to the world like it's the school running it."

"And I hope they don't notice that there are two instances of it being run." I said. "But this is all we can do. Go ahead."

Myron connected, and Yvonne gave the passwords to get in. They still worked; the school had not changed them after Principal Butler fired Yvonne. Bad security, but good fortune for the Police Commander: a moment later, I was recording the video on my Police iPhone. Marcie Harper was giving a math lesson about the number '5'.

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

After a few minutes of conversation with Yvonne, and letting her off at Mike G. Todd's office, Myron and I went back to Headquarters and to my office. Chief Moynahan also came in.

"Where's the bust going down, sir?" Myron asked, unable to hide his excitement about all of this.

I decoded the train code in my head, then grinned. "Either this is the biggest trap of all time, or they're the dumbest criminals of all time."

"What do you mean, Mr. Crowbarrrr?" asked the Chief.

"They're coming here." I said. "

To

my

jurisdiction!

The drug drop is going to be at Al Sharpton Elementary School in the Southwestern Ghetto..."

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

At 9:00am, the Fire Marshal herself came in, along with my Crime Lab/CSI technician for all things electronic, Mark Walker.

"Definitely arson." said Zoe. "And definitely a break-in and preparation by putting down a

lot

of accelerant. Looks like aromatic chemicals, like benzene or toluene."

"Breakdown products of gasoline?" I asked.

"No." said Zoe. "It was like someone brought in drums of the pure aromatics and just started pouring them all over the place."

"That is... interesting." I said musingly. "Where does one get that stuff in quantity? Crown Chemicals?"

"That," Zoe said, "is for your Police Department to find out. I'm turning it over to you." She handed me the file folder with all the paperwork.

"Thanks." I said, accepting the documents. "Mark, whaddya got?"

"You and the Fire Marshal asked about the burglar alarm, sir." said Walker. "I found a shunt at what was left of the burglar alarm connection box. It disabled the alarm, by sending a piggyback signal that all was well."

"Normally, the alarm would go off if it was destroyed by fire," continued Walker, "as the signal would be broken, and the alarm company at the receiving end would generate an automatic signal to the Police Department. What happened here is that when the fire reached the shunt and burned it away, the alarm triggered because it was not getting signals from the detectors in the house, which had been burned up by the fire. Then the fire destroyed the alarm box, as well. That signal break was also recorded and duly passed on to the TCPD."

"The Officers that responded found the house already engulfed by the fire." Zoe said. "It was already too late to do anything but watch the whole thing burn to the ground, which it did."

I nodded. "Well, it's no secret that Katherine Woodburn is our State Senator, and that she's in Midtown while the Legislature is in session. So no one at all was at home? None of her staff that stays up here?"

"No, they have their homes to go to," said Zoe, "and they work out of the Senator's campaign office near the Mall, or her office in the State Office Building. They would only be at her home if she was there. And thank goodness that no one was there."

"So our perps knew no one was at home." I said. "They brought in some serious chemicals, and then played with matches. Now who would do it that way..."

And then it hit me... Wallace Bedford's home had been prepped for the fire that consumed it... by aromatics. (

Author's note: 'Sandstorm', Ch. 03.

)

I realized that

there be

ninja

at work here!

And it wasn't hard to guess whose

ninja

they were...

"Okay," I said, coming back to reality, "thank you for this report, Commander Singer. I'll get my Detectives on this immediately." As Zoe Singer and Mark Walker left, I called Tanya and had her come to my office...

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

"It's AWN!" I said.

"Wow." said Jack Muscone as he sat in my office. "They're actually coming to

your

County. Think it's some kind of trap?"

"Maybe." I said. "But some educated guesses suggest otherwise. First, Marcie cannot go another week without making a shipment. She'd be losing money and losing customers if she did. And second------"

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

It was my Police iPhone. I answered it.

"This is Chief Soltis down in Midtown, Commander." said Chief Soltis. "We've had an incident at the State Capitol Office Building that might interest you..."

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

I flew the TCPD Bell 206 helicopter down to Midtown, with FBI Consultant Jerome Davis and FBI Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone as my passengers. We landed on the helipad atop the State Capitol Office Building parking deck, and made our way into the building, then to the office of State Senator Katherine Woodburn.

Senator Woodburn was watching the State Capitol Police as they went through the room. The office was trashed. Totally, utterly, completely trashed. There was not one piece of furniture left undamaged, not one painting on the walls left hanging, not one book in the smashed bookshelf that had not been thrown around. It looked like someone had taken sledgehammers to the bookcase shelving and the tables and the credenza, and Katherine's desk looked a lot like how I'd left the former (and the late) CIA Director's that one time...

"Wow." I said, coming in. "Who's your decorator?"

"That's what I want to know." Katherine said, her voice low and menacing.

"And we will find out." said State Senator Jimmy 'Coffin' Cerone, who I had not seen as he'd been obscured by the office door.

"Hello, Senator." I said. "This is one of my Detectives, Jerome Davis. And have you met FBI Special Agent in Charge Jack Muscone?"

"No, I haven't." said Cerone. "Agent Muscone, there was a time when I would not have liked meeting you, but those days are past. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He extended his hand.

"How do you do, Senator?" replied Jack Muscone politely, shaking Cerone's hand. Cerone then shook Jerome's hand as Jerome showed 'proper' deferential courtesy to the State Senate Minority Leader.

"So." I said, looking around. "What happened here? Besides the obvious, I mean."

"Exactly that, the obvious." Katherine said. "While I was back home watching my house burn to the ground, someone was here completely trashing my office."

"This definitely qualifies as a bad day for you." I said.

Katherine turned on me and asked: "Commander, do you think someone set fire to my home to distract me, so that they could come in here and do this?"

I nodded thoughtfully. "It's

possible,

of course. But that seems like an extreme way to distract you, not to mention the distances involved for them."

"Then what is this about?" asked Katherine sullenly.

"Is this related in

any

way to the fire at Senator Woodburn's home, Commander?" asked Cerone.

"It

could

be, Senator." I said. "But we have no data on any connection yet. Senator Woodburn, was there something of value in here that someone might have been looking for?"

"This is

our

case, Troy!" one of the State Capitol Police Officers suddenly snarled. I noticed the Sergeant stripes on his uniform shirt as he said "This is our jurisdiction, not yours! Stay out of our business!"

Everyone was shocked by the man's hostility, not the least being Senator 'Coffin' Cerone. "Sergeant," he said, "show some respect. Commander Troy is trying to help. He's also one of the best Detectives you'll ever meet. I suggest you avail yourself of that help."

"With all due respect, Senator." snarled the Sergeant, not backing down and looking Cerone squarely in they eye as he said: "I remember what this bastard and his partner did to some of our guys a few years ago. He should've gone to prison for it. I don't want Troy's help, nor him being present at

my

crime scene!"

I realized he was referring to the time Cindy and I had beaten down some State Capitol Police that had helped Mr. C. get away from me. (

Author's note: 'Frozen Mothballs', Ch. 03.

)

"You do realize that I can log in as an SBI Inspector, and take over this investigation from you?" I said.

"Fuck you, Troy." the Sergeant said, his hand just over his sidearm. Jerome was ready; his hand was on his sidearm, just about pulling it out.

"Commander," said Senator Cerone, "a case this small is not worthy of your immensely valuable time. It's more appropriate for someone on the level of this loser. Let's step out of here." I took the 'hint' and exited the office, Jerome following, then Cerone and Muscone also coming out.

"My apologies, Commander." said Cerone. "He won't be a State Capitol Police Officer much longer, I assure you."

"Thank you, Senator," I said, "but you might just leave him in place... and then watch him like a rabid dog. If he's fired, he'll go be a cancer to us somewhere else."

"That's a thought." said Cerone, not expecting my train of thought on that, but boarding that train along with me. "So what do you really think of this? I'm sure you had nothing to do with it, but for someone to burn down Ms. Woodburn's home and also trash her office here..."

I nodded. "I don't know yet, Senator. Not enough data, as Detective Davis is fond of saying." Jerome grinned and raised his eyebrows as I continued quietly: "My first thought is that either there really was something in her office that someone wanted, or it's related to her calling DFACS on Commander Ross. In any case, I promised I'd leave all that to you, Senator. But if you need my help on any of this, let me know."

"Thank you, I'll do that." said Cerone. "So... can I interest you gentlemen in a delicious lasagna lunch at Luigi's?" Even Jack Muscone accepted

that

invitation.

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

2:30pm, Wednesday, January 30th. We were in my office after returning home from Midtown.

"I hope Senator Cerone doesn't get shot for being seen having lunch with two Police Officers and an FBI Agent." said Jerome.

"There was a day when he would've been," I said, "and I'm not kidding about that. But he had Moe Molinari join us for lunch, so it looked like a political meeting more than a Mob-related one. And the Mob is very well aware that Molinari and Cerone talk to me frequently, and about political things, not Mob-related things."