Phoenix

by Roy A. Teel, Jr.

  He looked at the room that once was Howard Cohen’s bedroom and said, “A lot, Jade. A lot more than I can discuss right now. Are any of Howard’s lawyers working?”

  She nodded and said, “Ken Miller is down on the ground floor. He’s upset and wants to get to his office, but LA Fire is keeping him out.”

  John nodded and looked at Jim and Sam and asked, “Can you two get a car?” Jim nodded, and John said, “Let’s get our CSI teams in here ASAP. It shouldn’t take long to identify Mr. Phillips by DNA, right Jade?”

  “I can’t do a field kit because I don’t have any samples, so I will have to do it back at my lab.”

  Jim asked, “What do you want us to do?”

  “Find Paul Green, Mr. Phillips’s assistant.”

  Sam asked, “And then?”

  John never looked up as he looked into Aston’s burned out skull. “And then bring him to the lair … the Eagle will have a lot of questions for him.”

  Jim looked at him and asked, “And what about Sandy Hyde and Tom Koswick?”

  John said, “I have them covered. They’re part of all of this, but they are not the key players. There’s one more piece to this murder puzzle, and I have a feeling I know now who it is.”

  Jim and Sam stared at each other as Jade and Jessica kept working the scene and the body. Jim said, “I’m all a fuckin’ tingle, John. You want to share what you think you know?”

  He shook his head and said, “No. I need to pay some visits around town. Can you get to Judge Robinson?”

  Jim nodded and asked, “Why do you want me to get to Judge Robinson?”

  “We need an order for those few people that the Eagle is protecting.”

  “You want me to walk into Larry Robinson’s chambers and ask him to issue a protective order for a bunch of fuckin’ lawyers?”

  John nodded. Jim took a cigarette out of his top left pocket then looked around the burnt out room and said, “I don’t think a little cigarette smoke is going to offend anyone. Do you?” John was looking at Aston’s body, and Jim asked, “Oh … and who is requesting the damn order, John? Should I tell Larry that it is for the Iron Eagle?”

  John looked at him and said, “You can tell him whatever you like. Just get the damn order and then have Judge Robinson join the others at the hotel.” Jim just shook his head as he pulled Sam by the arm and started out of the room. John walked out into the hall and called Chris.

  “Mantel.”

  “Where are you guys with the innocents?”

  Chris was looking at a small room full of men and women, all zip tied and gagged. “Um … so far we have seven of twelve, and they are not very happy to be here. Philly and Lance just called me and told me that they have the others and are bringing them in.”

  “And none of them knows your identity?”

  “Nope. I’m in full body armor and masked as are the other two. Why? You can’t leave these people like this all day. You know that.”

  John said, “We aren’t going to. As soon as Philly and Lance are back with the others I have set up a holding room at the Ritz for them.”

  Chris stepped out of the room and closed the door and asked, “And just how the hell are we supposed to get a dozen plus people into the Ritz in their night clothes, John? Jesus! Most of these people were in bed when the men grabbed them. They have no clothes. There are a few that we had to get blankets for because they were sleeping commando.”

  John laughed and said, “Philly and Lance know what to do to get our guests into the hotel. Once there, they will be secure … pissed off … but secure. There will be robes and food. They will be well cared for.”

  Chris said, “John, these people are going out of their minds. You can’t keep them like this all day.”

  “They will all be happy tomorrow morning that they were guests of the Iron Eagle. Have you been able to work on the PowerPoint presentation?”

  Chris looked at his tablet where he had the program open. “Yeah, a little. I have the Eagle’s information in there, but I need the data you want blended with it.”

  “I will get that to you in about an hour. Take a breath. I’m going to have you leave Lance and Philly. I have another assignment for you as soon as all of the guests have been brought in.”

  Chris looked up at the ceiling and said, “What a surprise. Are you going to let me in on what that assignment is?”

  John walked to the elevator and said, “Meet me at Howard Cohen’s office as soon as Philly and Lance are back. I’ll explain it all to you then.”

  “The court will take a thirty-minute recess, so His Honor may use the bathroom.”

  It was ten thirty a.m., and Judge Robinson was slamming down his gavel when he saw Jim and Sam walk into the courtroom. He stood up and stepped off the bench and then walked over to one of his bailiffs, said something, and walked out of the courtroom into the hall. The bailiff walked over to the front of the gallery and pointed at Jim and Sam. They walked up, and the bailiff asked, “Judge Robinson wants to know if you are here about the murder?”

  Jim got a strange look on his face and asked, “What murder?”

  The bailiff opened the swinging gates from the gallery and said, “Follow me, please.”

  As they walked into the hall, Sam asked, “Murder? Which one? Jesus! We’ve had multiples in the past several days.”

  The bailiff opened the door to Robinson’s chambers and said, “Please take a seat. His Honor will be right with you.” They sat down, both asking each other what the hell murder the bailiff was asking about.

  Chapter Twenty

  “And these two … why does the

  Eagle want them and not Walker?”

  There was muffled arguing and screams as Philly and Lance brought the last of the attorneys and judges into the holding room and placed them on the floor. Chris motioned for the two men to follow him, and they all stepped into the hall.

  “John wants me at Howard Cohen’s office. He said you two know what to do.” Philly nodded as did Lance, and Chris asked, “What? No jokes? You have a group of lawyers and judges in the other room zip tied and gagged.”

  Philly looked at Chris and said, “There’s no humor in this situation, Chris. When we can fill a small room with less than twenty lawyers and judges that are not corrupt in a city of corruption, there’s nothing to laugh about.”

  Chris nodded and said, “I have to meet John. You two know what to do?”

  Lance said, “Yeah. Get your ass to wherever John wants you because things are going to get really, really deadly, and it’s going to happen fast.” Chris didn’t bother to ask any questions. He simply walked out of the building and headed for Cohen’s office.

  Alice was laying on a couch in Aston’s formal living room when Paul returned from disposing of Aston’s body. She had a rag over her eyes, and Paul walked in and asked, “Migraine?”

  “Not yet, but if I don’t keep the light out for a little bit, it will become one. Would you be a doll and bring me my purse from Aston’s private office? I left it in there, and my migraine medication is in it.” Paul walked out of the room, and as he did, Alice sat up on the couch and pulled her hand gun out from under the pillow she had been laying on. She tucked the weapon behind her and leaned her head back on the couch as she waited for him to return.

  It was just noon when Violet and Barbara sat down on the veranda near the pool. Barbara brought her a bottle of water and sat down at a small table and asked, “Why are you back in the picture again, Vi?”

  Violet took a drink of the water and said, “It’s not because I want to be, Barbara. Believe me. I was minding my own business doing my job when I ended up being one of several witnesses to a homicide.”

  Barbara had a cup of coffee in her hands, and she sipped it and asked, “I know that. Sara and Karen have talked to you, so now I’m going to talk to you. Only I don’t want to
catch up. I want to know what you know about this mess downtown.”

  Violet sipped the water and said, “I know that there is going to be a rising body count of lawyers soon.”

  “And you know this how?”

  She laughed and said, “Jesus, Barb. We’ve known each other for over twenty years. I might be a grunt in Tom Koswick’s law firm, but I know a corrupt lawyer when I see one.”

  Barbara finished her coffee and poured another cup from a pot she had on the table. She took out a cigarette and offered one to Violet, who accepted it gladly, and after the two had lit the smokes, Barbara said, “So tell me what you know, Vi.”

  Chris was standing at the entrance of Cohen, Miller & Hyde when John walked up to him. “Jesus Christ, John! What the fuck happened here?”

  “Aston Phillips happened here. Or I should say, this was the place where our killer dumped his body and then set it on fire.”

  Chris was shaking his head and asked, “John, please tell me that you have some theory about who is doing all of this and why.” He nodded and waved for Chris to follow him. The two men walked out of the building and over to his truck. Chris looked inside and said, “No fancy upgrades yet?”

  “When have I had time?” Chris nodded, and John said, “I know who is doing the killing, Chris.”

  “Okay. Who? And what’s the motive?”

  John laughed and said, “Power, kid. Power. All roads were pointing to Aston Phillips and his hard-on for Howard Cohen after Francis Statler walked on a murder charge ten years ago. Aston had a son and daughter who ended up being some of Statler’s last victims before the Eagle got him.”

  Chris looked confused and asked, “I don’t get it. I recall you telling me that Phillips had been off the radar with Howard for nearly a decade, or Howard told you that. I don’t remember. Are you saying that Aston came back for revenge on Cohen and his firm?”

  John said, “That’s how it was supposed to look, and it was really looking like that until this morning.”

  Chris leaned on John’s truck and said, “I’m all ears.”

  John smiled and said, “Yeah, well, I can’t give you all the details yet, but what I can tell you is that Sandy Hyde wanted Howard out of the way.”

  “So, she’s the killer?”

  John shook his head. “No… she has worked closely with the killer and still is. The person doing the actual killing is Paul Green, Aston Phillips’s assistant and heir to a substantial portion of his estate when he dies or, in this case, is murdered.”

  Chris looked on and asked, “Green would know that he would be a prime suspect in Phillips’s death. That doesn’t make sense.”

  John said, “It actually does. Green is not the trigger man in Phillips’s death. I’m certain he was present, but he wasn’t the shooter. He helped remove the teeth, and Green set the body on fire in Howard’s bedroom. All of that can be easily proven. Green also has been doing the killings at Howard’s firm, but they’ve been nothing more than a distraction from a greater plot.”

  Chris was leaning on the truck, staring at John doe-eyed, and said, “Okay…”

  “The mastermind is Judge Alice Walker.”

  Chris leaned in to John and said, “Los Angeles Superior Court’s presiding Judge Alice Walker? Why the hell would she want to overthrow the judiciary? Shit! There are rumors that she is being looked at hard for a federal bench appointment by the president.”

  John nodded and said, “She is a shoe-in for the ninth circuit court of appeals, and with several recent retirements and several high profile spots open in the court, her name is circulating at the highest levels of government. The president could nominate her, and she would breeze through the appointment process en route to the bench.”

  Chris looked really confused and asked, “Then if Walker is a sure thing for this spot on the bench, why would she want to see people killed?”

  “That, my friend, is a long and sorted tale, but it goes back many, many years, and there are several high powered lawyers in this city who know about the skeletons in her closet … and she is doing some housekeeping.”

  “Walker is close with both the state attorney general and the U.S. attorney general. I read an article that was critical of her relationships as well as her private interests.”

  John nodded and asked Chris for his tablet. He plugged a USB cord into the unit and then into his laptop in its silver case, and in a matter of seconds, he unplugged it and handed the tablet back to him. There were two flashing green lights on a split screen on the tablet with Tom Koswick and Sandy Hyde’s names on each.

  John said, “I want you to grab Koswick and Hyde and bring them back to the lair.”

  “What about Walker?”

  John closed the laptop and said, “I will deal with Walker tonight, along with a hundred of her closest supporters.”

  Chris asked, “So, the Eagle is going to use the gas like he did at the house where they killed my sister Andrea as well as at the church in the child sacrifice case?” John nodded, and Chris asked, “Are you sure that so many people have to die?”

  John pulled out his tablet and handed it to him. On the screen was the list of corrupt LA attorneys that Howard Cohen had left for him after his suicide along with their actions. Chris read over the list again and handed the tablet back to him and said, “They will all be at the dinner?” John nodded. “What about their spouses and children, John? They are bound to be there.”

  He shook his head and said, “No. This is a private attorney-only function. I am going to be their guest speaker, and they will keep me in a green room without sound, so I won’t hear the proceedings before I give my talk.”

  Chris looked at the blinking lights on his tablet and asked, “And these two? Why does the Eagle want them and not Walker?”

  John looked down at the tablet in Chris’s hands and said, “It’s personal and not something to discuss right now. Once you have Hyde and Koswick in the lair, Sara and Karen will sedate them, and the Eagle will deal with them after the dinner.”

  Chris nodded and walked off in the direction of his car. He stopped halfway across the lot and walked back to John and asked, “Mask, no mask?”

  “It’s your call … they won’t be talking to anyone outside of the Eagle and maybe you.”

  Chris shrugged his shoulders and walked away, mumbling loud enough for John to hear, “Mask, no mask, and why the hell would I want to be involved with these two?”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Why do I think this night is going

  to go down in Los Angeles history?”

  Judge Robinson walked into his chambers where Jim and Sam were sitting. He didn’t say anything right away. He threw his judicial robe onto a couch near his desk and sat down. Jim didn’t say anything, and Larry said, “So, you don’t know about the murder here in these halls last night?”

  Jim shook his head and asked, “Does anyone else, Larry?”

  Larry shrugged and said, “From a law enforcement standpoint, no. We know about it here in chambers. One of the bailiffs for Judge Walker was killed last night.” Jim pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, and Larry did the same. He looked at Sam and said, “You smoke, don’t you?” Sam nodded, and Larry handed his pack to her, and she took one. Jim lit it with his Zippo after he had leaned across Larry’s desk and lit his.

  Jim asked, “So, what the fuck, Larry? Was Judge Walker injured?”

  He laughed and said, “Well, her courtroom is dark today, but I doubt very much that she was hurt. What brings you into my office?”

  “John sent me over to request a protective order.” He handed Larry the piece of paper with the names of some of the most powerful attorneys in LA on it.

  Larry looked it over with the cigarette hanging out of his mouth and said, “John doesn’t need me to get this order. He can get it from his fuckin’ secret court. Besides, why woul
d I want to protect these people? I hate the whole bunch of them.”

  Jim laughed and said, “I didn’t tell that to John, but they are the least corrupt of the ones that the Eagle is going to deal with tonight at the Ritz.”

  Larry pulled the cigarette from between his lips and held it in one hand and the list in the other and started laughing. “Does John … the Iron fuckin’ Eagle … really believe that these people are going to just fold and follow him and his men because I issued an order?” Sam’s mouth fell open, and her cigarette fell into her lap. Larry laughed and said, “I guess Sheriff elect Pritchard wasn’t aware that I know who the Eagle is.”

  Jim shook his head and said, “You don’t have to worry about the people on that list following John or his men. He already has them in protective custody.”

  He stared at Jim for a few seconds and then broke out into laughter. He turned in his seat and started to bang on the keyboard next to him on his desk and asked Jim to read off all of the names one at a time. As he did, Larry laughed harder and harder, tears streaming down his face. He was still laughing when he said to Sam, “Make yourself useful, Ms. Pritchard. Grab those documents off the printer over there.”

  Larry’s laughter was both infectious and ironic, and Jim joined in and said, “This has to be too much for even you, Larry. I know for a fact you hate at least half of the people here.” Larry was still laughing as he put the cigarette back between his lips and began to sign the documents and then pulled out a hand stamp and stamped them.

  There was a moment of silence, and Sam asked, “Your Honor, you know who the Iron Eagle is?”

  Larry looked at Sam with a cold stare for a fraction of an instant and then at Jim and said as he broke out in laughter again, “Oh, Jim, please tell me that Sheriff elect Pritchard isn’t as naive as she just came across.”

  Jim folded the paper and put it in his pocket and said, “She’s still learning the ropes, Larry. Sam knows who the Eagle is. She’s just not a fan of his methods.” Sam shook her head slowly after Larry had handed Jim the protective orders and stubbed out the cigarette in an ashtray on his desk.