Innocent Conspiracy

by David Archer

  Darren Beecher followed him. Darren was a former FBI agent who had worked with the famous Behavioral Analysis Unit as a profiler. His skills at being able to read the facts of the situation and produce a description of the type of person they were looking for had become invaluable, and he was often able to predict a suspect’s, or a potential victim’s, next move.

  Jenna brought in a tray with numerous cups, sugar and creamers, and a carafe of coffee, then opened the video display screen built into the wall. “I took the liberty of putting together a bit of a presentation for you,” she said. Sam only grinned, because it seemed like Jenna could always put together a presentation within minutes. There was no doubt in his mind that she had turned on the omnidirectional microphone on the table during his meeting with Ron, Jeff and the clients, using what she learned as the basis for research. They were about to see the results.

  “Go for it,” Sam said. The others around the table chuckled, for they had also grown accustomed to Jenna’s multimedia talents.

  She pressed a button on the remote she held and the logo for Web Wide Awards appeared on the screen, with the faces of its owners superimposed over it. “Web Wide Awards was formed about ten years ago, when John Morton and his girlfriend, Annie Porter, disagreed with some awards given by another website to some YouTube videos. Those awards were chosen by a panel that seemed to ignore what the fans had to say, and both John and Annie felt this was a mistake. By creating an award system that allowed the fans to generate all of the nominations and vote for the winners, and then honoring their choices, Web Wide Awards quickly rose to prominence as the most coveted award any video work could hope to earn. For internet videos, this is the equivalent of winning an Oscar. Web Wide Awards has become so respected and trusted that even some of their quarterly winners have gone on to receive recording and film contracts from established producers.”

  Summer waved her hand in the air. “Wait a minute,” she said, “explain that. Quarterly winners?”

  “Oh, yes,” Jenna said. “Every quarter, Web Wide Awards allows the public to nominate videos and artists for the quarterly award. The quarterly awards are done with less fanfare, without a live webcast. The winners are presented with their awards privately by a representative of Web Wide Awards and a two-man film crew, who may literally fly around the world in less than a week. Video of each of these award presentations is displayed on the Web Wide Awards website. The quarterly award includes the quarterly award trophy, Honorable Mention on the website, and a cash prize of 5,000 dollars that can be used for any purpose. They give awards to music videos, series, and movies, usually a total of about eight awards per quarter. And winning the quarterly award does not guarantee you a chance at the annual.”

  “Okay, just curious,” Sam said, “but did Max Petrelli win any of the quarterlies this past year?”

  “Two of them, in fact,” Jenna said. “First and third. His award for the first quarter honored a single episode of his show, which took a powerful stance on bullying, while the third quarter award was for outstanding production values. He’s the only person to win two quarterly awards and the annual award in the same year.”

  “Interesting,” Sam said. “Okay, go ahead.”

  The image on the screen changed to a shot of the stage from the night of the shooting. Aaron Zachary and Jennifer Larkindale could be seen rushing toward a fallen Max Petrelli. A stagehand was already on his knees beside the boy.

  “Two nights ago, as the award program was coming to its end, the winner of the Top Web Video Breakout Award was announced. It went to Max Petrelli, for his homemade series Freaktown High. As he was walking out from backstage to receive the award, he seemed to stumble for a second, recovered, and then fell flat. When he didn’t move for a couple of seconds, stage crew and the hosts went to check on him and found that he was bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound to his chest. The police and paramedics were called, and Max is now recovering from emergency surgery at the hospital.”

  The screen changed again, and Sam grinned. The image that appeared was of his friend Karen Parks, a Denver homicide detective.

  “This is Detective Karen Parks of the Denver Police Department. She’s heading up the police investigation, and she’s already aware that we’re being brought in. I took the liberty of calling her a few minutes ago and asking her to come to this meeting, and she should be arriving shortly. She will be sharing all the information she has, but she says it isn’t much at this point.” Jenna grinned. “She said this is one time she’ll be glad to have Sam Prichard on a case, and intends to let you take lead on it.”

  “She’s a good cop,” Sam said. “She’ll be an asset, trust me.”

  “Currently,” Jenna went on, “the theory is that the shooter came in through a delivery entrance that was not secured, then climbed up into the lighting racks over the main auditorium. There are catwalks up there, and it is believed the shot came from about the middle of the third catwalk, which would put the shooter roughly dead center over the audience. The bullet that was removed from Max was a 5.56 mm round, and was probably fired from an AR-15 that was fitted with a sound suppressor. An initial examination of the video footage did not reveal the sound of a gunshot, but when the footage audio was enhanced, they found a spike of sound that matches the characteristics of such a gun.”

  An example of the rifle she was describing appeared on the screen.

  “The police do not have any leads, and Detective Parks admits that she is stumped. They examined security footage from cameras along the route they believe the shooter took, and found several people who seemed to keep their faces averted from the camera, but most of them have already been located and cleared. There were only two who have not been identified, and efforts are underway to correct that, now.”

  There was a tap on the door and Nadia Jenkins, one of the office girls, opened it and poked her face inside. “Mr. Prichard? There’s a Detective Parks here to see you.”

  Sam smiled and made a “come on” motion. “Send her on in, please,” he said.

  Nadia stepped back and Karen Parks entered the room. It was the first time she had been in Sam’s new office, and she nodded appreciatively as Nadia closed the door behind her.

  “Fancy digs, Sam,” she said. “Thanks for the invitation.”

  “No problem,” Sam said. He indicated his secretary, standing in front of the video screen. “Jenna thought of it on her own, before I got the chance. I was just briefing the team about the case. Have you got anything new?”

  Karen took an empty seat beside Sam, set her briefcase on the table, and reached for the coffee. “Nothing new,” she said. “This thing has us stumped, at the moment. I’m working on the theory that the shooting was designed to hurt the company behind the awards, rather than the boy who was shot. He was just the target of opportunity.”

  “From everything we’ve learned so far,” Sam said, “I agree with you. It looks to me like someone is out to put Web Wide Awards out of the awards business.” He turned to Jenna. “Do we have any information on what the blow back has been for them?”

  “Well, a couple of their bigger sponsors have made noises about pulling out on them, but the general public support for the company is only growing. People from all over the world are posting on social media that the shooting was something no one could have predicted, so Web Wide Awards should not be held responsible. Of course, everyone agrees security should be greater in the future, but it’s likely that the company’s revenues will actually go up for this quarter, because of the shooting.”

  “That’s pretty heavy,” Summer said. “I’m just wondering out loud, but could anyone have predicted that that might happen? That could be a motive for the shooting, right there.”

  “I’d think it would be very difficult to predict,” Darren said. “Often, when any sort of terroristic action takes place in any kind of corporate event, the company behind it suffers tremendous loss of reputation. Of course, there are precedents for this sort of thing; th
ere have been companies who were victimized in similar ways and came out a bit stronger than ever, but that would not be the rule, by any stretch of imagination.”

  “I spoke to three different stockbrokers,” Karen said, “and they said the same thing. They don’t think it’s likely anyone really could’ve guessed that something like this would boost any kind of public support for the company. The opposite would be a lot more likely to happen, with the public blaming them for their favorite new star being almost killed.”

  “Then we’ll put Morton and Porter toward the bottom of the list of potential suspects,” Sam said. “I’m more inclined right now to focus on finding out who would benefit if Web Wide Awards were to go out of business.”

  “That could be a pretty big list,” Karen said. “It isn’t just other award companies that might gain, but think about production companies. For the past several years, this company has been pretty well ruling the online video world. Most people wouldn’t realize it, but until you made it onto their website, you weren’t likely to make any money off your video work at all. If they lost that edge, then very expensive marketing would become the only way to make a show hit, which would just about wipe out most of the indie artists who’ve been winning these awards and making a name for themselves. Most of them, especially when they’re just getting started, don’t have the kind of money it would take to draw the kind of viewers they need. One of the things Web Wide Awards does is review almost every new indie video that comes along. Anything they give a decent rating to suddenly seems to gain traffic, and traffic translates into dollars.”

  “So, you think the production companies might be out to shut them down?” Jade asked.

  “I don’t know,” Karen said, “this is just speculation. All I know is that the internet analysts I’ve spoken to tell me that the free promotion Web Wide Awards gives to new web videos they like is equivalent to spending a quarter million on advertising. That’s a hell of a lot of promotion that a new indie video artist gets for free, but it will cost a production company at least that much money to draw the same amount of traffic. There’s probably a lot of them who would be glad to see this outfit go out of business.”

  “All right,” Sam said, “we’ll look closely at that. Jade, we need any information we can get on any conflicts the company has had, whether with other award outfits, with production companies, with anybody. If anyone has displayed significant animosity or made any effort to create problems, we need to know it.”

  “She’s the one who’s going undercover?” Karen asked.

  Sam nodded. “Yes. She knows computers and networks, so she can look through their system for any indication that there might’ve been someone working on this from the inside. My gut says the shooter had someone feeding him information, and if we can find out who that person is, it’ll probably lead to the shooter.”

  “Can I throw something out, mate?” Denny asked. Sam nodded, so he went on. “Right, so there are certain questions we definitely need the answers to. First, we need to know who fired the shot. Second, we need to know why the shot was fired. Third, we need to know about any assistance the shooter had from inside this company. Fourth, we need to know how the shooter got in. Fifth, how the shooter got out. Sixth, we need to know why nothing long enough to be a rifle appears on any of the security video. And seventh, just because I’m a bloody bugger who wants to know, we need to find out who put up the money for this hit, because a shot like that took a pro.”

  “I’d say,” Sam said with a grin, “that just about sums it up.” He turned to Karen. “I got a couple of guys on the way back from Salt Lake City,” he said. “As soon as they make it back here, I want to take them directly to the Canterbury so they can get a look at the actual crime scene. Walter Rawlings has a knack for figuring out exactly how a crime took place, and I need his input on this.”

  “I’ve already gone to the mayor this morning,” Karen said, “and gotten his blessings to let you take the point position. To be honest, he seems a little bit pissed that you’re working for Windlass instead of the city, but he gave me permission to let you run the show. I’ve got three detectives and a half dozen uniforms on this case with me, and we are available as you need us. The only thing I’m going to ask is that I get to stay close, so I can answer the mayor when he calls.”

  “No problem,” Sam said. “You can stick with me as much as you can spare the time for, and I’ll make sure you get copies of every report.”

  Karen grinned at him. “Reminds me of when we worked Juvie together.”

  “Yeah, it does,” Sam said. “I just hope you’re not as pigheaded as you were back then. And speaking of pigheaded, we need to break for lunch. Walter and Steve will be back at one, so we need to meet back here by then.”

  The group broke up and went their separate ways, and Sam invited Karen to join him for lunch in the break room. “I smuggled in some frozen pizza,” he said. “Sometimes, when I’m too busy to think about going out for lunch, I just pop one in the microwave and chow down.”

  Karen burst out laughing. “Yep,” she said. “Just like when we were working juvie division. I think we lived on pizza back then.”

  “Which is why I stopped eating it at all for a couple of years. I didn’t start up again until I got partnered with Betty Beauchamp. She couldn’t get enough of the stuff, and it finally started to smell good again.”

  “Oh, gosh, I just barely remember Betty. Whatever happened to her, anyway?”

  “Oh, I thought everyone knew,” Sam said. “We were digging into a robbery at one of the convenience stores in LoDo, and we figured out who had done it and went to pick them up. When we got close, one of the idiots started firing at us. Of course, we both drew our guns and fired and took the shooter down, but a few minutes later Betty started feeling weird and fell over. That’s when we found out she had been hit. It was a twenty-two, and it hit her in the lower abdomen. Made a tiny little hole that closed up afterward and hardly bled at all, and the doctor at the ER said it wouldn’t be that big a deal to take out. Unfortunately, it had nicked her intestines in a couple of spots, and she developed some nasty infections. Almost died from it, actually, but she suffered enough damage that they had to take some of her intestines out. That was the end of her police career, and I understand she writes detective novels now.”

  “Hmph,” Karen said. “Bet she makes more money than we do.”

  Sam winked at her. “Speak for yourself,” he said. “I’m doing pretty good, here.”

  “Yeah? You better call me the next time you have an opening, then.”

  They made it to the break room and Sam pulled a couple of small pizzas out of the little upright freezer he had bought and put there, and then grabbed them each a root beer. They sat down at one of the little tables as the pizza turned around and around in the microwave.

  “So what’s it really like?” Karen asked. “Working for these guys, I mean.”

  “It’s pretty great,” Sam said. “I don’t have to worry about whether I have a case, the pay is fantastic, and most of the time all I do is sit in my office and read reports. Every once in a while, like with this case, I have to spend some time out in the field. I don’t mind, because it’s all part of the business. Very rarely do I miss a night of sleeping at home, though.”

  “I heard something about these guys still working for the government sometimes?”

  “Yes,” Sam said, nodding. “In fact, just to work here, you have to have a security clearance. All of the investigators and most everyone else has top secret, special restrictions clearance. There isn’t much we can’t see or know about.”

  “Yeah, well, you already had that. How hard is it to get a security clearance? Just in case you ever did have an opening, I’m just wondering.”

  “Unless you’ve got something questionable on your record,” Sam said, “it shouldn’t be that big a problem. And if an opening does come up, you can bet I’ll be in a hurry to give you a call about it. You’d be a terrific a
sset to this team, Karen.”

  “Yeah, and I bet you say that to all the girls. It’s really just a thought, Sam, I’m not sure I’d ever leave the PD. How are the benefits? That’s one area where being a cop doesn’t seem to be all that advantageous.”

  Sam grinned. “The benefits are awesome,” he said. “Pays for everything, and I mean everything. Not even a copay or a deductible.”

  “Dammit, I’m jealous, now. That’s better than the coverage we got, I got a thirty percent deductible I have to pay on everything.”

  “Oh, I remember,” Sam said. “This is definitely a pretty sweet job.”

  “It sounds like it. Now all you have to do is solve one of the most difficult crimes I’ve ever seen.”

  Sam grinned. “Yeah,” he said. “But I got one hell of a team working with me.”

  “It certainly seems like it,” Karen said. “Sam? Thanks for working with me on this. You and I both know that the only reason the mayor is letting you take lead is so that he can say it’s your fault if we don’t come up with the shooter. He’s putting me with you to try to make sure we know everything you do, and I don’t really like being used as a spy. I just want to get that out in the open, so there aren’t any surprises down the road.”

  Sam laughed. “Of course I know that,” he said. “Just be sure to spell my name right when you file your reports.”

  *

  “Good morning, Mr. Reilly,” said the news producer, Jillian Ross. “I’ve talked with personnel, and we’ve assigned you to our most up and coming reporter. Her name is Wendy Dawson, and she’ll be—oh, here she is now. Wendy, come meet your new cameraman; Harvey, this is Wendy! Wendy, this is Harvey Reilly.”

  “We’ve met,” Wendy said, and then she winked at Harvey. “Good to see you again.”