by Ivan Bering
The irritating complication: I can’t talk to the Chief about the Judge’s assignments. I understand the Judge’s priorities, and I appreciate his security precautions. But by keeping everything to myself, I’ve accumulated a lot of pressure and also confused my squad who don’t understand why I’m delegating significant segments of work on our most important cases.
The Judge wants me to aggressively pursue the Dr. Max case plus the damn secret recording in his Board Meetings. I end up with two difficult and technically oriented cases; technology is not my strength. Oh yes, I can seek technical help but I can’t reveal all the details. Jesus Christ!
The Dr. Max situation will probably end up as a shit storm because the Forensic Division is the project manager, running the case in the prescribed manner, and I’m running a parallel covert investigation. And, the goddamn secret recording case appears hopeless; the only idea I have is the one that surfaced during my original lunch with Ann, the Judge’s assistant. I’m gathering the players and equipment to implement that idea. I don’t like the choice; the risk is too great. I need some technical help; but how do I get help without explaining the secret recordings?
All this cloak-and-dagger work means little sleep. I’m tired and the idea well is dry; my favorite way to generate new ideas and create new channels is brainstorming with the crew, no longer possible. Jesus, I’m getting a headache. I forget to mention I’m not drinking.
The topper is rather mundane: I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten a thing since my meager breakfast, and it’s well past my evening meal. Add it all up and it means: I’m ready to kick ass: anyone’s.
The damn elevator stops at every floor: one asshole gets off and another asshole gets on for a ride to the next floor. Asshole on, asshole off, way we go. Just my day. The door opens and in steps Jake the head of the Prisons Division and his female assistant with an armful of files; it doesn’t take Jake long to start laying on the sarcasm.
“Look Helen, it’s Batman and Robin. They’re searching for clues in the Hall of Justice building elevator, not a corner will be missed. How’s it going boys?”
Wes and I don’t respond. The idiot doesn’t know when to stop and continues to talk to his assistant as if we’re not present. “It’s a shame the so called detectives in this city can’t catch the Five Star Couple; the city is terrified and still we have detectives riding around elevators and doing other important stuff. When five-star hotels become killing zones, it’s a tragedy. My wife is terrified.”
I glare at the asshole. “Your wife is terrified?’’
“That’s right Charlie, but you wouldn’t understand.”
“Jake my friend she has nothing to fear, unless……..unless she’s gone back into the business and is going up to hotel rooms and wrapping her lips around some stranger’s big kahuna.”
Wes grabs my sleeve and tries to pull me away. Jake’s face is flushed; his assistant is looking at the floor. We hit the ground floor and when we all enter the main lobby, I let him have the rest.
“Actually Jake just make sure she washes up when she gets home…….you know …. she has to give Miss Pussy a good rinse…….let me show you.” I bend over a little, spread my legs, and move my hands under my crotch as if I was waving a hose with a stream of water.
“Just remember, full pressure on the hose and give Miss Pussy lots of water and that hotel stuff will run right off.”
He walks two steps closer but is barely able to talk. I know he is very proud of his young wife.
“Taylor you’re finished. There are too many witnesses this time. You’re finished!” and with that he turns and walks toward the main entrance.
But I’m not finished and go for a parting shot. “Be sure to give her our love and kisses.”
This last comment I punctuate with a few kissing sounds and loud smacks of my lips, a number of times——smack, smack, smack—— loud enough to carry to the front. There is a small crowd in the front entrance, some heads turn.
Wes and I walk down the corridor to my office. “Boss you are the craziest bastard I’ve ever known, and when the Chief hears about this one, it’ll be ugly.”
I raise my hand and stop him. “Jake and I have a history, and he won’t let it go. I try to give him all sorts of space, but he keeps coming back.”
We continue to the office. I know this is a bad one. A mistake. I shouldn’t have done the pantomime with the damn hose and the smacking lips a dumb move.
Jesus Christ. What a mess!
CHAPTER 35: Random Selection
They had identified a killer and the burial grounds for six young men.
Doug Brewster, head of the Legal Division, was elated. But, Chief Duncan Stirling sat at his desk, staring into space in a furious mood. The news about the killer would be a bonus for him and his Division; his staff solved the crime.
“Come on Duncan, why the long face? This is great news.”
The Chief put down his coffee and walked to the window. He was gaining control. “Let me start at the beginning; it doesn’t excuse what happened, but at least you’ll understand how it occurred.”
“Jesus man, now you have me scared. What the hell is going on?”
“Be patient. If I can tell the story from the beginning, it helps. For the past year, an irritating series of incidents plagued our northeast quadrant, some serious, some just bullshit small stuff: everything from rolling drunks to rape. We thought it was the same two or three guys, but they were fast and shrewd. Eventually, with the help of some new software, we isolated their home base to a four square block section in a northern district. Although we were sure this was their home base, we didn’t have a good plan for proceeding, other than an increase in surveillance. ”
The Chief stopped and drank his coffee. Doug thought he must be getting to the good part because he was having control problems.
“Last week the Regional Conference tied my up for a few days and kept me away from the office. Christ, it was only four days. My back up, my second in command became upset with the vigorous neighbor complaints and decided we had been procrastinating for too long. My brilliant team member decided to surround the entire area and round up all the males who were in the right age bracket.”
“Oh shit, his frustration was his justification? Tell me he’s not that dumb. Surely he knows that the ‘random selection’ clause means the police can’t pick someone off the street and start using the S1 Interrogation.”
“Sorry, I’m not sure what happened for him to leave his senses. And I don’t know why the rest of the crew followed without protesting. In any case once they had a couple of cells full of candidates and after some verbal interrogation and checking of alibis, he ended up with 15 guys who needed more follow-up. My assistant organized an S1 inquiry for all of them. Your staff was given some bullshit story about the group.”
“Son of a bitch. I can’t believe where this is going.”
“In the group we did uncover the two who had been terrorizing the neighborhood; but, with no substantial justification for subjecting them to S1, I ordered these two released; you concur? Good.”
The Chief turned, marched to the big screen on the back wall and loaded a recording.
“Here is the stunning part of this goddamn mess. I won’t play the entire tape for you, just enough for you to get the flavor. I didn’t release everyone out of the 15 we grabbed; I’m still holding one in the back cells.
As you see this guy, he has already been administered the drugs for S1. His reaction to the drugs turns him into a happy drunk. Some of his words are slurred, and he looks and acts like he spent all day in the bar; he wants you to be his friend and wants to share with you. Are you ready? Here we go.”
The video displayed a mature male, around 40 years old, some hair loss, glasses and carrying a few extra pounds. He certainly sounded like he was drunk; his name was John Ryan, the introduction went quickly, and then it started with a leading question.
“John, it is my understanding that you have been
a naughty boy.”
“Yes….Yes I have been …in fact I have been very naughty……oh yes I have been a real bastard…..well not all the time ….only on the anniversary …”
“John, that’s a good start. I’m glad we’re friends and we can share some our troubles………….. tell me more about the times when you have been very naughty.”
“God it’s good to have an understanding friend….Oh God where to start……ok let’s go with the first one…. just a kid in my mother’s neighborhood. I’d been house sitting the neighbor’s place, right next to my mom’s home, while the neighbor went on her annual jaunt down to Mexico for a few weeks. The kid snuck around after dark, looking for a free beer and some bullshitting. His parents didn’t seem to be worried about his hours.
One night we started sharing some beer and a few joints…..when he got drunk enough, I made my move…………he’d been giving off signs all week ….. but now he resisted ….that really pissed my off …the first thing I know he’s on the back porch dead. The bugger should have relaxed and let me ……well now I had a problem …the body.
I was lucky. I’d been building a small patio off my mother’s back porch. It was a dark night and he was easy to carry over to mom’s back yard. I dug the base a little deeper and buried him. At 8:00 am next morning the concrete truck arrived and he was part of the patio.”
“John, didn’t anyone question you?”
“Oh sure, there was a massive search for the kid. But two things saved me…..one he always came after dark, and no one saw him…….second some noisy woman at the end of the street swore she saw him get into a red SUV earlier in the evening.
Mom came home and I went back to my own neighborhood, out of the area. The cops kept combing the area but of course Mom was so innocent they just left her alone……..see I told you I was naughty.”
“But John you said very naughty and you mentioned the anniversary.”
“There are five more ……..I just do one annual on the anniversary of the first …I”
Chief stopped the recording. “ He goes into great detail how he plans each anniversary; how he selects the boys and where he puts the bodies; he’s been expanding his mother’s patio for the past five years. She still lives there, but we have not moved on this information.”
Doug understood. “We have a killer of boys and we know where the bodies are; the problem is all this information was acquired using an illegal interrogation. And, you’re unspoken question is: what the hell do we do next? Let him go? Dig up the bodies and not tell how we knew? Arrest the bastard and proceed to the S3 Interrogation?”
Both men looked at each other. The silence did not last. Doug started.
“You know Chief there are a few politicians who are pushing to have random interrogation passed into law. However, the strong opposition argues this is one more step toward a police state. The issue comes up on a regular basis and the debates are intense. So far, no resolution or worse for us, at this time, random interrogation is not legal.”
“Goddamn it, we can’t let this guy walk. Isn’t there anything in your bag of legal tricks?”
“If you’re prepared to support me and take some of the heat, here is what I propose: first, suspend your supervisor without pay pending a formal review. This will send the message you do not support his decision.
But my primary strategy will be to develop a series of unconfirmed news leaks which raise hope that the murders have been solved. The stories can escalate but always will be unconfirmed and denied. My delicate task will be to manage two reporters…….I trust them and have utilized them for other breaking news stories.
The problem will be: how to frame the story to ensure the random interrogation doesn’t surface immediately. First, a rumor will suggest a suspect is in custody, and the victims’ families have to be out front and pressing for more information. We’ll have to stonewall any questions as long as we can.
This will create a lot of pressure on the both of us; we must take the heat. When it appears that the street is prepared to lynch the guy, I will leak the difficulties in prosecuting because a random selection occurred. I predict at this point the public outcry will be massive, and the implications of an illegal interrogation will be considered very minor. This guy has no redeeming qualities which will cause someone to take up his cause.
Last, I’ll bring it all to the Judge. My position will be: we held back because we were hoping we could come up with some way to legally arrest the guy. We were playing for time and hoping. I don’t know if the Judge will buy it; he will be furious for being kept out of the loop for so long. But given the political climate and public outrage, I’m not sure he can’t do anything except use his annual discretion.”
The Chief wasn’t sure. “Review this with me……. this annual discretion. How far can the Judge go with this authority?”
“Ok, it’s really a misnomer and not an annual event. It means the new legislation allows a Judge to use his discretion to allow an S1 Interrogation, even if there is insufficient evidence of guilt. There are no restrictions. But the understanding is: it would only be used in exceptional circumstances and if use too often, the Judge has to answer to Regional.
But the bottom line: he overrides the need for a formal justification prior to an S1 interrogation. Every Judge is extremely reluctant to use this option and insists he is informed before an individual is targeted for an Interrogation.”
“Goddamn it. I’m with you, but you are going to have to script this all the way. One wrong press release and I see trouble. I have to run. First, I have a supervisor who needs his ass rearranged. The rest I leave to you…...shit …. what a goddamn mess. ….I’m sorry I have to run. They are screaming for me to get upstairs.” And with that the Chief was gone.
Doug smiled, pleased with his performance, his feigned surprise, his acute indignation. What he hadn’t told the Chief was: this random selection screw up was already common knowledge for those with the right connections. He had been well prepared before the Chief even requested a meeting.
He knew it wasn’t going to be as easy as he described. His ability to manage the press leakage would be most difficult. The Judge would be furious: first with the Chief for the random selection, and he would guess Doug set him up so there was no choice. Stephen would see Doug as someone who could have come to him at the beginning.
By withholding the information and allowing the public frenzy to build, it would appear the Judge was a reluctant participant and only used his discretionary powers because his hand was forced. Not because he wanted justice served.
Doug understood all this; the Chief had not have picked up on the undercurrent; he was just anxious to get the case off his back. For Doug, this became a golden opportunity to demonstrate his prowess as an aggressive legal mind, attuned to the public’s needs and able to deal with the tough cases.
He knew that some of his distracters thought he was an artificer, too ready to bend and twist for personal gain. This, he was sure, was Stephen’s opinion as he seemed to force Legal into extensive debates over many of its recommendations.
###
Harry had enough for one day. When he thought back to the last one, he began to grin. Yes, the result had meant a vigorous cleanup of the cab’s interior, but her aggressive fighting was turn on he really enjoyed. God, she was a prize; boy he was almost ready for another one.
He needed a diversion; he had the answer, walked down the hall and into the bedroom, to the five-drawer chest and to the third drawer from the top. Under his folded sweaters the recordings. Soon this drawer would not be able to store his entire planned collection He selected the most recent and on the way to the living room stopped to grab a couple of beers.
This ranked as his best diversion: all the lights out, drapes pulled, beer at his elbow, in his big lounge chair, and his pants off. He always hesitated to allow the tension to build. When his imagination triggered a stirring in his groin, he pressed: play.
CHAPTER 36
: Another Special Board Meeting
The Dr. Max case annoyed and troubled Emma.
She’d arrived early and paced the halls. This new science had commanded extensive amounts of her time. She relished the challenge, developed new procedures, and completed numerous brain scans to a point where within a few minutes she could, in most cases, determine the underlying memory storage patterns. Now it all appeared to be based on a faulty foundation.
First the damn duplicates and now Dr. Max challenging his own system. If he could beat S1 and S2 interrogations, what other deficiencies existed? It appears Dr. Armstrong was rather selective in what he chose to publish. With the damn duplicates, he made sure the early detection was well buried so no doubts would surface to challenge his brilliance.
This unresolved rape could destroy the entire system, S1 and S2 interrogations deemed inadmissible. These doubts would migrate to S3 memory probes; the result would be chaos, the impact unimaginable. All her efforts for nothing. She avoided thinking about the prisons because those interrogation scenes swamped her in a turmoil of doubt and guilt. Did innocent men get executed?
She was alone in the hallway, but soon the front door would be a busy passage as the other attendees arrived. Emma’s mood didn’t match the desired camaraderie for a meeting of senior personnel, but there was no option. For this emergency meeting, the Judge’s assistant had been adamant: attendance mandatory.
Staff arrived as singles or pairs, and as it would happen, Charlie and Jake met at the entrance. Charlie tried to avoid him. He never had a chance. Jake walked up to him, physically bumped him and declared:
“You idiot. It’s only a matter of time. Your career is destroyed. This is a promise.”
Charlie hustled to his chair next to the Chief, who had witnessed the interchange.
“Charlie, what was that all about? If you insulted Jacob again, you could be running out of support. Everyone knows what he is, but his political support is strong: he can’t be budged. Best to suck it up and let him win the exchanges or he’ll bury you. Are you listening?”