4 comments/ 10861 views/ 4 favorites The Credit Card Caper Ch. 01 By: WifeWatchman The chronological order of my stories is as follows: Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player Series, Case of the Black Widow series, Teresa's Christmas Story, The Case of the Black Badge series, A Case of Revenge series, Trilogy Series, Dark Side Of The Force series, Caught In The Act series, Case of the Murdered Bride series. The Credit Card Caper, Ch. 1. Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas. This story contains graphic scenes, extreme 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 or racist 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 1 - Dead (Wo)Men Don't Use Credit Cards Autumn was full on and the nights were getting wonderfully cool as October rolled along. It was during the lovely autumn day of October 16th that Spence Foster, owner of Foster's Indoor Gun Range, entered Police Headquarters to file a report. He explained his issue to the Duty Desk, who had him wait in the lobby waiting room. Within five minutes Vice Detective Earl "E.J." Jefferson and Patrolman Bobby Cosby escorted him to Interrogation-A for his story. Detective Jefferson was a rather large black man with broad shoulders, who worked his body into peak physical condition. Patrolman Cosby was white with brown hair combed to the side, with broad shoulders. He wore heavy glasses and had buck teeth, giving him a 'country boy' appearance and the nickname of 'Country Boy Cosby'... and a few less flattering names behind his back, such as 'Buck Tooth Bobby'. "So, Mr. Foster," said Detective Jefferson, "you're saying that someone came into your gun store and tried to buy a gun with a stolen credit card?" "Well, let me clarify." said Foster. "The credit card was used at Cummings Outdoors General Store. The reason I'm here is because someone tried to use my wife's credit card. My wife died eight months ago in a car accident in Coltrane County, and I cancelled all of her credit cards. Lifelock notified me of the attempt to use her card an hour ago." ----- "Yes, Detective," said John Cummings of Cummings Outdoors to Jefferson and Cosby, "there was a woman in here about an hour ago. Tried to buy a Beretta 92FS nine millimeter. Her credit card failed, and she asked me to put the gun and paperwork aside so she could go home and get another card or cash. She hasn't come back yet, though." "Can we see that paperwork?" asked Jefferson. As he looked at it, he asked "What about her background check?" "She had a concealed carry permit, so a check wasn't required." said Cummings, correctly citing State Law. "Her name was... Alicia Foster." said Jefferson. "Mr. Cummings, we're here because that failed credit card generated an alert with this woman's husband. He says his wife died about eight months ago. Can we see your videotape of this woman?" "Sure." said Cummings, shocked at the news. ------ "Commander, we have a strange one. Right up your alley." said Lt. Teresa Croyle as she entered my office, Detective Jefferson and Patrolman Cosby in tow. I had them sit down, and Detective Jefferson filled me in, while Patrolman Cosby took advantage of this rare opportunity and observed us closely. Jefferson showed me the copies of the paperwork the woman had filled out, the copies of her drivers license and concealed carry permit, and a still photo taken from the gun store videotape. Upon closer examination, the face on the IDs was not the same as the woman in the video, who was wearing sunglasses, had plenty of makeup on, and was wearing a big-hair wig. "Cummings was embarrassed about it." Jefferson said. "They were pretty busy in there, though, and he was trying to help several customers." "He's also running for State Senate." I said. "So someone is using the late Alicia Foster's identity. Why is this a strange one, Lieutenant Croyle?" Teresa said, "The credit card appears to have been the actual card issued to Alicia Foster, not a made-up fake card with her data encoded. The circumstances of the overall case make that strange." "What did Mr. Foster have to say about that? About that card still existing?" "He says he destroyed all of his wife's cards that were at home," said Detective Jefferson, "and he suggested that maybe this one was believed to have burned up in the car crash that killed his wife." "Tell me about that incident." I said, fully expecting my Detectives to be fully prepared whenever they come into my office with something like this. "I looked up the record of the accident." said Jefferson. "It was in southern Coltrane County, at the last bridge before leaving the County. The bridge goes over a county farm road. Alicia Foster's car drove off the main highway and down the embankment to the farm road. It caught fire and burned. The accident was at two o'clock in the morning, so the Coltrane County Fire Department didn't get a call for thirty minutes, and by the time they got there the car and the body inside were incinerated to ashes. Deputy Strait, who talked to me about it, said the fire got so hot it melted the farm road asphalt, and you can still see where they repaired the road." "So the woman's purse should've burned up in the car fire." I said. "How did they identify Alicia?" "The car tag and VIN numbers were recovered." said E.J. "The body was charred, but Alicia Foster had disappeared and it was her car with a woman's body matching her description inside the car. Coltrane County doesn't have the Crime Lab we do, and Mrs. Foster had no DNA on record in any databases." "Dental records?" I asked. Teresa replied "This accident happened in early February, right after Pete Feeley died and you guys were hunting down the Black Widow, but Sonali made a case record of being contacted about dental records for Alicia. She attempted to find something... but she could not find any dentist Alicia Foster ever visited. Mrs. Foster apparently had good teeth that she took care of herself, and she never developed a dental record. The body had two teeth with filled cavities, but with no record to compare, it was moot. In truth, nobody really went past the car's identification as Mrs. Foster's." "So, just to test you, what are you guys going to do about this?" I asked. Teresa said "We've already put out a State-wide alert to all gun stores to be on the watch for this woman or anyone named 'Alicia Foster'. We're also contacting the malls and such places where she might try to shoplift or rob, as well as a fraudulent credit card alert. But if she's skipped town, I'm not hopeful we'll find her, especially since she was disguised." Teresa continued: "I'm also going to do some research with Julie Newton on the credit card, and then look into any friends of Mrs. Foster that might have had her credit card before she died, and by that I mean legitimately or illegitimately. Maybe she lost it and it was picked up by someone else, etc. Not hopeful for much, but at least the stones will be turned." "That's very good, but add one thing to your research: look into Spence Foster, look into their relationship, their finances, his finances after her death, and all that. He might have held the credit card instead of destroying it, or it had been lost and he found it- yes, Lieutenant?" I said, seeing a skeptical look on Teresa's face... and by that I mean skeptical for her... "Commander, Spence Foster owns a gun store and has an FFL." said Teresa. 'FFL' was the abbreviation for 'federal firearms license'. "He wouldn't need to have someone buy a gun with his wife's closed credit card and so on, if you know what I mean." "Well, you did say this was a strange one." I replied with a smile, which Teresa acknowledged with a sideways nod of her head. "Okay guys, work this for a day or two and let me know what you find." Part 2 - Vanishing Act "Commander, what is our protocol for missing persons?" asked Detective (J.G.) Lorena Rose. With her was Detective Claire Michaels, and they'd stopped me in the hallway. "Er, we generally work it for 24 hours or so after notification, to make sure the person wasn't just sleeping off a bender in a hotel room or something, or to see if a body turns up. After that we give it to the FBI's Missing Persons Bureau, as they have better and national resources to investigate with. Why?" "There's a couple in our waiting room." said Claire. "They're upset that their daughter was reported missing about six months ago, and they haven't heard a word about it." "What was the missing woman's name?" I asked. Claire handed me a piece of paper with two names. "She was a high-class call girl." Claire said. "Her real name was Dorian Sherwood, and her 'professional' name was Diana Shire." "Okay, go get Myron to look up our records of it and whatever the FBI has, and bring me a file to Interrogation-A, pronto. I'll go see the parents." I said. I went to the lobby where a couple in the late 50s or early 60s were. The wife was attractive and the husband was very tall, but they both looked as if they'd aged a lot in just the past few months. "Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood?" I asked, which they confirmed. "My name is Commander Troy. Would you mind coming into this room with me so we can talk?" Once in Interrogation-A, I had them sit down and I sat on the other side, the 'police' side. "I understand your daughter is missing?" I said. "Yes, officer." said Mrs. Sherwood, sounding frustrated and a bit angry. "As we told the other officers, the ladies: we reported our daughter missing six months ago, but we haven't heard a word about her." "Look, we know she was an escort girl," said her husband, "but she was a person, too, and she was our little girl. We just want to know what happened to her. Do you think we can talk to a Sergeant or someone in charge?" "Uh, sir, I'm the Police Commander, the second-highest-ranking officer in the Police Force after the Chief himself." I said. The Sherwoods looked visibly startled. "Oh!... I'm sorry... you just look so... young." Mr. Sherwood said. "I'll take that as a compliment." I said, smiling. "Those ladies you just talked to are Detectives, and they're fetching our records of the case. While we're waiting for those, can you tell me about Dorian?" "Like I said," said Mr. Sherwood, "we know she was a call girl. She went to School here, and majored in Psychology. She studied prostitution and women that went into the industry, and she... well she worked as one herself to understand it for herself. She never got out of it, and she seemed to like it. Her mother and I hated it, but we couldn't do anything to persuade her to leave it." "How old was she when she disappeared?" "Thirty-two." said Mrs. Sherwood. "She graduated from School ten years ago." "Did you keep in touch with her, or did you argue and not have contact?" "No, nothing like that." Mrs. Sherwood said. "We talked to her fairly often, usually every two to three months or so, same as with our other kids. Dorian was the youngest of three, and she has one brother and one sister. She came home every Christmas when the family gathered, and usually once in the summer, either Memorial Day or July 4th." "When did you realize she was missing?" "Last April I tried to call Dorian." her mother said. "Her cell phone had been shut off because the bill had not been paid. We called a friend who went to her townhouse, but nobody was there. So we came here. I had an extra key to her condo. There was nothing out of order in the house. It looked like she had just up and left suddenly, but her car was still in the garage. She had a tank of fish, and the fish had all died. So we called the police-" At that moment, Detective Martin Nash came into the room from the Police side, dressed as always in a suit and tie. "Commander, I was the Detective on this case last April." Nash said after I introduced him to the Sherwoods. He handed me the file as I invited him to sit down next to me. "So it looks like you gave it an extra day." I said to Nash as I looked at the notes. "Oh, let me explain that." I said to the Sherwoods. "When we get a missing persons report, we usually give it 24-48 hours, just checking to make sure a body is not found or that the person just went on a day trip or something and is just fine. If we don't get any leads, we give the case to the FBI. They have a Missing Persons Bureau that has much better resources and a national scope that is more than we could hope to have at the local level." I turned to Martin. "So Martin, you actually gave this an extra effort. What did you find?" As Martin talked, I used the time to read the contents of the file. I looked at the pictures of the woman. She had light blonde hair, was 5'6" tall and well proportioned, and very pretty. Definitely high class, and she could've become a Trophy Wife in this town if she had wanted to. Nash said "That was during the time we were looking for the crime scene for Carroll and Blondie. As to Ms. Sherwood, I checked around the places she was known to frequent and do business, as well as all the hotels in the area. To be frank with you, ma'am, sir, when a call girl disappears, we usually don't harbor much hope of finding her alive. Usually they o.d. on drugs or they're murdered. In your daughter's case, though, the people that knew her said she didn't use drugs, and her body never turned up at all. She was just there one day, then gone the next and wasn't seen again." "So she might be alive?" asked the woman's father, hope in his voice. "Well, she disappeared so completely that I actually had hopes she was alive and had just left town." said Nash. "I gave it another day, checked harder with some people to make sure they didn't know if she had travel plans, then I gave it to the FBI. I followed up with them for a few days, but then we got really busy with another case and I didn't check back. "I'm looking at the FBI's notes here." I said. "I think I'll call them and see what they can tell me." I looked up at the missing woman's parents. "Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood, I can promise you that I am going to personally look into this case for you. But I need to tell you this: don't get your hopes up. She was on good terms with you, but hasn't communicated with you for months. That tells me she either wants to not be found, or else she's no longer with us to be able to contact anyone. But I will do what I can, and I'll get back to you in a few days." ------- Back in my office, I talked with Martin and Cindy about the case. "Did you check out her apartment when she first was reported missing?" I asked. "Yes, sir." said Martin. "She hadn't been there in some time. Her fish were dead, the room was dusty and undisturbed. Her purse was gone, though. Her car was in the garage, but I remember from the notes that neighbors said she was picked up by someone after sunset in early February. One of them said it was the evening before 'that police officer's funeral through town'." "Feeley's funeral was February 6th." I said. "Martin, did anyone check the refrigerator?" "Yes sir." said Nash. "I think the Crime Lab did." I looked at the notes. "Yes, here it is. Oh wow, that's so great!- they wrote down here that the milk in the refrigerator was dated Feb. 12th, about two months before the search. That means the February 5th timeframe is spot-on." "Wow, I just learned something." said Martin Nash, making a note of the milk date trick. I said "I called the FBI Missing Persons people... and I asked Jack Muscone to call them too, since he once worked in Missing Persons. They apparently did not give the case much of their time. Jack told me privately that he was disappointed in the lack of effort, even if it was a call girl." "Commander, with respect," said Cindy, "I can understand them not wasting too much time on this. Out of curiosity, why has this piqued your interest?" "I don't really know." I said, sitting back in my comfortable chair, my 'Command chair' as I secretly called it to myself. "Maybe it's meeting the parents, seeing them worried, realizing that this girl is someone's daughter and sister. And like you said, Martin: it also intrigues me because she vanished so completely and with no trace whatsoever. That is not so easy to do as people might think. No body found, and you guys know we find the bodies when they're there to be found..." Both my Detectives gave perfunctory smiles at my attempt at humor. I continued, talking to myself as much as to my Detectives, "So she disappears completely, which suggests it was her idea and she wanted to not be found. But she was in good with her family, so why stop the contact with them? Hmmm, what happened there to cause both those things? I'm thinking to myself..." "Okay, I'm going to take a day or two and look into this one personally." I said. "Cindy, is Martin busy?" "He's still wrapping up the Blair suicide case." Cindy said. "I'll go with you; Lord knows your mother has trained me thoroughly enough on these cold cases." "Oh, that's right; Martin, you just dodged a bullet." I said. "And Cindy, I want you overseeing MCD and keeping an eye on Vice; we've got a big case in each squad. Okay, what about Teddy Parker? Let me have him; I need to evaluate him, anyway." "You got it." Cindy said. Part 3 - Investigations Young Detective Teddy Parker and I were sitting in Myron Milton's cubicle office in the basement of the Headquarters building on the morning of October 17th. "No, Commander," said Myron, "Agent Muscone twisted the FBI Missing Persons people's arms to let me into their facial recognition system, but a 24-hour search revealed no one matching 'Dorian Sherwood' or 'Diana Shire' coming up, especially at City International Airport, any other major airports, and the Amtrak Stations in the City and Southport." "It was a longshot, at best." I said. "No prostitute arrests anywhere matching the description?" "Well, there's a ton of blonde call girls getting arrested." Myron said. "But I narrowed the search to women older than 30, which really cuts the number down. Girls don't usually last too many years in the world's oldest profession, and it's fairly rare to have a woman over 30 streetwalking." "They usually go into the private escort business or find a sugar daddy and get married." I said. "The girls that work the clubs and the street whores are the ones that get burnt out, or turn up dead." "Bottom line, nothing." said Myron. "I'll keep looking." "Don't waste too much time and resources on it." I said. "This really is the FBI's job, though they don't seem too eager to do it. I'm not saying that as a complaint: it's been six months and she was a hooker, however high class. But let them burn their computers on it for a while if you don't come up with something soon." --------- Teddy Parker and I entered the hottest club in the Tenderloin District at 10:00am after our meeting with Myron. It was almost empty, being closed, and cleaning crew were working to get it ready for the evening. There were a couple of black men at the front bar. I was wearing plainclothes, no tie, and my light raincoat/trenchcoat as I approached the bar. Teddy Parker was in plainclothes also, but unlike Martin Nash, he couldn't make his suit look good on his body. He looked like he'd just come out of prison with a State-issued suit of clothes. The Credit Card Caper Ch. 01 "I smell pork." said one of the black men as I approached the bar. "True enough," I said, "but I'm not here to get anyone in trouble. I just want to talk to 'T-Square' for a minute." "Are you kidding, Cracker?" said the man behind the bar. "Cops don't walk in here asking for the big stud like that." A voice called out from the door leading to the back areas: "Jerome, that is the one and only cop or cracker that can come in here and ask to see me." It was T-Square himself. How he could see with those sunglasses on in the dim light, I didn't know. T-Square came up to me and gave me a good thumb-interlock handshake, somewhat to my surprise. "Well, if it ain't my favorite Cracker, the Iron Crowbar. Come on in back. You can bring your new boy here with you, too." "Mighty white of you." I said. T-Square laughed at that one as we headed through some back hallways. In the room just before the one to which we were headed, I saw through the open door a younger black man sitting on the sofa, with a pretty white woman sucking his enormous black snake of a cock. I recognized him as 'T-Mac', and the woman was Gloria Cagle, the woman that had been broken out of The Asylum with Eleanor Burke the previous summer. She was topless, her lovely breasts resting on T-Mac's powerful thigh as she expertly fellated him. Teddy Parker gawked at the site of Gloria swallowing T-Mac's enormous black size as T-Square led me into a very well-appointed office with some luxurious furniture, a black wood desk and a huge chair behind it. "So what do you need, I.C.?" asked T-Square, sitting down in his big chair behind the desk. I handed him two pictures of Diana Shire. "I'm looking for this woman." I said. "High class escort, but getting older, and was known to hang out in the clubs, but didn't work as a stripper. Disappeared last Spring. She actually has out-of-town family looking for her." "Damn, I.C., I got bitches coming in and out of my clubs every couple of weeks." said T-Square. "But you know... this girl is pretty hot. I think I'd remember her. Let me get my boy in here. HEY, T-MAC! YOU AND YO BITCH COME IN HERE! NOW!" Seconds later, they came into the room. T-Mac had managed to get his big black snake into his pants, but nothing could hide the enormous bulge. Gloria was still topless, her criss-crossed hands covering her breasts. They really were magnificent mammaries, and I understood why T-Mac liked this woman despite her being in her 30s: great tits and a smokin' hot mouth. "Do either of you remember this bitch?" T-Square asked, handing them the pictures. Gloria shook her head, but T-Mac nodded. "She's not one of our girls." T-Mac said. "I remember when she worked at 'Eruption' two or three years ago, but they kicked her out because she was flirtin' but not workin'. Last I heard, she was hanging out in that Bar Code's club on South Street." "There you go, I.C." said T-Square. "I appreciate the help." I said. "I owe you one." I motioned to Parker and we turned to go. "Hey I.C.!" said T-Mac as we got to the door. "If that cat of yours Sharples were to walk in here like you did, he wouldn't walk out. He's burnt bridges. Just sayin', ya know?" "I hear ya, bro." I said. "I'll keep that dog on a leash." As we got into my SUV, Teddy Parker asked "What's a 'Bar Code'?" "It's a derogatory term for a Jew, based upon them being marked in the Nazi death camps." I said. "They're talking about Weinstein, who runs a mid-size strip joint south of here, near Hotel Row." "Did that guy really mean it about Sharples?" Parker asked. "Oh yeah!" I said. "Well... they're not just going to go kill a cop and have me come down on 'em. But Sharples has made a lot of enemies in this Town; he has to watch his back." -------- "Yeah, yeah, I remember her." said Weinstein, whose first name was unknown to me, nor apparently to anyone else. He was restocking his bar when we came in. He was short, had longish, curly black hair, wore octagonal spectacles, and he looked slender but was actually strong and tough. "Dinah, I think... or Diana, that was her name. She used to hang out around here." he said. "Sometimes she let a client pick her up, but for the most part she was just a party girl, dancing with guys, talking with them. I don't think she really needed the money, so she turned tricks when she felt like it." "What happened to her?" I asked. "She just stopped coming in. Maybe last Winter, when business got slow." "Did she have any girlfriends that hung out with her?" I asked. "Was she friendly with the other girls here?" "She occasionally went home with one of the strippers, though the girls here usually go out with clients after getting off work, to get some extra money." said Weinstein. "She never worked the pole herself, though. Thought she was too good for that." "Where else did she hang out?" I asked. "No idea." Weinstein said. He paused from his work, then said "I figured maybe she went back to working the hotel bars, maybe places nearer the School. Older girls are starting to be in vogue with business travelers these days, and the fucking nerds at the School go for those older, experienced gals, if you know what I mean." "She never said anything about traveling? Going out of town?" I asked, knowing that Weinstein overheard a lot more than he was letting on; information was one of his biggest tradable assets. "Not that I heard." Weinstein said. "And I don't really keep tabs on the girls that work in here, but she was here one day, gone the next, never came in again. That's all I can really tell you." --------- "So what do you think, Detective Parker?" I asked as we drove back to Headquarters. "I don't know, sir." said Parker. "I like what you always say about not theorizing without data. We don't have too much data, sir." "That's true, but based on what you've read and observed, what ideas just pop into your head?" "What I can't get over is her just leaving her condo without taking anything... no clothes, no jewelry, nothing." said Teddy. "So it'd have to be something big, really big, to pull her away. I get this idea that some guy with money came in, offered her a lot of money to go away with him on a moment's notice, maybe they go to the Bahamas or something, and then she dies. Maybe he kills her, maybe there's an accident, but something happened." "I like that." I said. "I like it a lot. There's a few holes in it: she had a passport but didn't take it with her... but that doesn't mean she wasn't taken somewhere. Another idea along your lines is that she was enticed just as you said, then she was taken somewhere and sold into a white slavery ring." "Detective Nash said he and the FBI looked at that when she first disappeared, but they didn't think it was the case." said Teddy Parker. "She didn't really fit the profile, she was too old, and the FBI didn't get any international reports about someone looking like her being seen anywhere." -------- Back in Headquarters, a fairly rare thing happened: I was asked to come into Vice and talk with their Detectives. Teresa Croyle and Earl Jefferson sat at the table in the middle of the room with me. The installation of that table had been Lt. Croyle's first achievement upon returning to our Police Force. It was a new day, and a different style than Captain Malone's had been. "Sonali and Lainie got this information for us." said E.J. "First, Spence Foster had no financial problems. Never really did before his wife died, and he got a $500,000 life insurance payout upon her death. He saved most of it, and just continued along with his business. His credit cards are okay, he has no significant other debt, and no there are leads on that. We haven't found any information on any savings or investments he might have been doing, though." "We may need a warrant to get some of that stuff." Teresa said. "What about Alicia Foster?" I asked. "She's a little more interesting." said E.J. "First, she was employed by DynaCorp, the late Mr. Warner's company that is now in a litigation fight between his heirs. She was a graduate of Georgia Tech, then Cal-Poly, and some of the work she did for DynaCorp was for their CIA contracts, so it's classified." "Engineer, eh?" I said. "I can try to get more on what she did with DynaCorp. I just got a Top Secret clearance for my FBI consulting work. So what else?" "Nothing, except she was making regular payments to a charity, a charitable trust to be more accurate." said Jefferson. "Several thousand each month. She wasn't saving anything else that we can find, but the amounts were pretty large. Looks like she and her husband were living off his money, and most of hers went to this trust." Teresa added. "The trust could be a blind, and she was making payments to herself, maybe as a tax dodge." "That's something you can get Julie Newton working on." I said. "Hmmm... I wonder if Spence Foster knows about those payments to that trust." "Keep talking like that, sir," said Teresa, "and this isn't going to be a Vice case any longer." "As long as we're following the money, it is." I said. "And you two will stay on this, no matter where it goes. Good cross-training, if nothing else." "I did talk to some DynaCorp employees that she worked with." said Jefferson. "They couldn't talk about the nature of her work, but I just asked them how everyone felt about her death. They all said it was shocking and that they missed her, she seemed to be well liked. They also did say that she was an important part of their work." "Did y'all go down to Coltrane County and get info on her car crash?" I asked. At that point Teresa looked up at the ceiling while Earl assumed a look that could only be described as intimidating. If a black man could blush, Earl was blushing with anger at that moment. "We went to the Police Station." said Teresa. "The receptionist there was a middle aged woman. She looked at E.J. as if he were a piece of trash that was littering her floor. She said that the Sheriff and Deputies were all out of the office, wouldn't say when they'd be back. Said we could fill out pages of forms to get the police reports of the accident. So we went to the Courthouse in Buford to get the records, which are stored there. We were met by another woman at the desk, who gave us the same treatment. I very much suspect that the CCPD woman called the Courthouse when we left the police station." "Oh really?" I asked. "How were you dressed?" "Like we are now." said Earl. "Plain clothes." "Earl, go put on a uniform. The 'State Trooper' look." That meant a light blue shirt with pinned on rank (no soft shoulder-boards), and police blue pants with light blue piping for Earl, and yellow piping for me. I had on soft shoulder-boards on my uniform when I changed into it, so that I would not have to wear the black leather belt sash. I suggested to Teresa to wear the "black" uniform that was becoming popular around the place. It made her look like the hot but tough bitch she was. We drove down to Coltrane County. I'd called Deputy Strait's personal cell number and told him to expect us at the Station, and he said he and the Sheriff were there waiting for us. When we walked in, the receptionist frowned at the sight of Jefferson. I didn't bother to speak to her, but walked past her as the Sheriff came to the door. "Commander Troy, glad to see you!" said Sheriff Sorrells, shaking my hand. Deputy Strait was already in his office, awaiting us. "Sheriff, Deputy, good to see you both again." I said, still in the reception area. "This is Lieutenant Croyle and I want you to meet my new Detective, E.J. Jefferson. He's doing some great work for us." The Sheriff shook their hands and greeted them in his Southerly manner, showing no hint of disdain for E.J... to the receptionist's great displeasure. I knew she'd be picking up the phone to call someone the moment we closed the door to the Sheriff's office. "Glad to have you down here." said the Sheriff as we were all seated. "Can I get you something to drink? Water? Coca-Cola?" "I thought I'd come down and check in with you guys, introduce you to my new people." I said, going through necessary ritual niceties rather than get straight to the point. "Glad you did." said the Sheriff. "Lieutenant Croyle, I know it caused you some trouble, but I for one loved it when you whipped the shit out of that little bugger Dean Allen last Christmas Eve. That smug little bastard had it coming." "Thank you sir." Teresa said. "And Nathan Allen is dead." said the Sheriff. "Can't say how happy I am about that. Seriously, I'll get in trouble if I do say it, but that was one dirty, corrupt bastard, Commander. This county, it has its issues, it runs a certain way and I know how I have to play the game... but that bastard was over the line." "No one is happier than I am about Senator Allen's demise, Sheriff... and I will say it, and in front of anyone." I said. "Heh heh heh." said the Sheriff. "So, ladies and gentlemen, what can we do for you today?" Time to get down to business. "We had someone attempt to use a dead woman's credit card." I said. "The deceased was killed in a car crash in the southern part of your county, and I wanted to get the particulars on the accident." "Deputy?" said the Sheriff. "Yes sir, I remember that one." said the youngish Deputy Strait, in his eagerly helpful voice. "It was last February 6th. I remember because you had your officer's funeral later that day and we all took up some money for his mother. Anyway, it was a really bad wreck. Car and the body inside burned completely up." "Deputy, why don't you pull your notes for them, then take them to the scene." said Sheriff Sorrells. ------- We took my SUV. Deputy Strait rode shotgun, and he was amazed at the computer, hi-tech radio and GPS gear in the vehicle. Coltrane County couldn't compare. I remembered to be grateful for what we had. "I hope you'll tell Lieutenant Ross how happy I am she's recovered from getting wounded." said Strait. "And we're all proud as punch about her getting that Medal of Honor." "Medal of Valor, that's what we call it." corrected Teresa. "And she deserved it. We'll tell her you were thinking of her." "Okay, pull over right here." said Strait as we neared a bridge. We did and got out of the SUV. Strait pointed down the hill. "The car was a Honda Accord." said Strait. "There were no tire marks on the road up here, so we don't think it was hit or tried to stop. We got the notion that the driver fell asleep at the wheel and ran off the road." "Fairly steep grade, but not so much the car would tumble or fly over it." I said. We started making our way down. "Yes sir." said Strait. "The car apparently just ran off the road and rode down to this road. It hit the ditch by the farm road, which stopped it, but it rolled out enough to be on the road when it came to a halt. It caught fire, too. You can see where the asphalt was damaged." "Hmmmm, wonder what caused it to catch fire?" I asked. "Maybe a spark when the undercarriage hit the edge of the road really hard." After a pause I asked "So I understand you guys didn't take any samples for DNA testing?" "Aw, sir, we don't have the facilities or the money for high-level testing like that." said Strait. "We got the car tag number and VIN, learned it was Alicia Foster's car, called her husband. He said she wasn't at home. The Coroner did run a blood test for alcohol, but it came back clean. The Coroner got the ortho... ortho... er, the dental stuff, but Mrs. Foster had never been to the dentist, from what your Department's I.T. people told us. But the body height, weight and shape generally matched, her rings were on the fingers and all." "So your Coroner did the autopsy?" I asked. "Yes sir." said Strait. "He's pretty good as far as Coroner's go, from what I hear. Not like that guy you've got, that's about to lose his re-election campaign." "Oh, so you heard about that, did you Deputy Strait?" I asked with a grin. "So tell me, did anyone else ask about the woman's death, or ask for the autopsy report?" "Not that I know of, Commander." said Strait. "Not until you guys started asking about it today." "So where did they take the car?" I asked. "To the County Junkyard." said Strait. "I can take you there now, if you like." "Yes, let's go before it gets too late and the sun sets." I said. At the junkyard, Strait took us to the car, which the junkyard operator said was in the very back area with the worst-damaged, most useless cars. Indeed, the car was burnt to the frame, virtually nothing left. It was stacked on other cars, and so was about five feet off the ground, giving me a good view of the insides and underside. "Deputy, was there any testing done on the car to ascertain why it burned so hotly and completely?" I asked. "No sir." said Strait. "Like I said, money's tight in our County. And nobody really thought about it, either." "So guys, what do you think of this car?" I asked Teresa and E.J. "This thing is burned up!" exclaimed Jefferson. "Even if nobody got to the scene quickly, to burn this completely ain't normal, Commander." "Totally agree." Teresa said. "Commander, what's that spot there?" She pointed to a discoloring at the base of the steering wheel shaft. "Hmmm," I said. "Good catch, Lieutenant. Looks like something was attached there, but was taken off after the fire." -------- Back at Coltrane County Police Headquarters, I read the Coroner's report. The body was totally ravaged by the fire, leaving very little to even do an autopsy on. But what I was looking for was the 'negatives'. "No blunt force trauma to the skull." I said. "No gunshot wounds could be ascertained. Your Coroner did a pretty good job, there." "Think there's something suspicious about the death?" asked the Sheriff. "Oh, I don't know." I said. "Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill after this credit card showed up. Well, guys, I appreciate all your help. And if there's anything we can help you with, something that needs extra testing, let me know." "Maybe you can help us with this." said the Sheriff. "Our County Commission has had enough of the SBI. We can hardly afford it, but we can afford the SBI's dictating terms to us even less. We hammered out a deal that our County Commission and the Buford City Council both passed off on, to send our stuff to your Crime Lab for testing. We only need someone on your end that has the authority to sign it." "I can sign it! Right now!" I said happily. As the Police Commander and part of the Command Group, I was authorized by the Council to sign contracts on behalf of the Town & County Police Department, just as the Chief was. The Sheriff produced the documents, I signed in my place, taking great pleasure in poking SBI Director Jack Lewis in the eye. Having already made a similar deal with Nextdoor County, my Crime Lab would now run all samples for the 1st State Senate and 1st Congressional District of the State! The 'Northwest Territories', as we jokingly called the tri-county district, was out of the SBI's hands, evidence-wise... and that was a good thing. Part 4 - More Puzzle Pieces October 18th. After sending some of my Crime Lab people to meet Deputy Strait and to take samples from the burned car at the Coltrane County junkyard, utilizing the new agreement between our counties (and giving them this one as a 'freebie'), I went to the FBI suite in the Federal Building on Courthouse Square. Using my Top Secret clearance, I looked up what Alicia Foster had been doing with DynaCorp. Though I understood why it was classified, the information was a bit disappointing. She dealt mainly with mechanical processes and CNC machine programs in building some of DynaCorp's technology for the CIA, technology which involved spy satellites. Hardly what I'd hoped for. The Credit Card Caper Ch. 01 "Not much there." I reported to Teresa and E.J. when I returned to Headquarters. "I was thinking she was doing some big secret thing that the CIA might have 'disappeared' her for, but that doesn't appear to be the case." "Sure you were looking at real data and not planted data designed to mislead?" asked Teresa. She was cynical, and rightly so. "This stuff wasn't even classified Top Secret." I said. "Just Secret. I'd say what I saw was legitimate, but I have other sources that can confirm it for me." Teresa smiled, not saying out loud that one of my sources was my wife Laura. At that point, Sonali and Lainie came to the Vice room. I asked them to join Teresa, myself, E.J. and Cindy in Classroom 'C', which was Vice's equivalent to MCD's Classroom 'E'. "The charitable trust that Alicia Foster was giving money to, is gone. Totally gone." said Lainie. "There was about $200,000 in it, but it was emptied last June and then shut down. There were three women whose names were in the trust: Alicia Foster, Mary Hathaway... and Karla Warner, wife of the deceased Anthony Warner of the company Alicia Foster worked for." "And the same Karla Warner that is now a convicted murderess." I noted drily. "What about this Mary Hathaway?" "Sir, we can find nothing on this Mary Hathaway." said Sonali, in good English but with an Indian accent. "It is as if she does not exist anywhere. The FBI was also unable to help us find any information about this woman." "Hmmm..." I said. "Now why does it occur to me that this Mary Hathaway may just be the woman we're looking for, i.e. the woman who tried to buy the gun at Cummings Outdoors?" Teresa Croyle asked the techs "So there was no 'Mary Hathaway' that worked at DynaCorp?" "No ma'am." said Sonali. "And no drivers' license in this or any other State. The Social Security number on the documents for the charitable trust was a fake, as well." "Pretty obvious that 'Mary Hathaway' is a fake name, fake identity all the way around." I said, more to myself than anyone else as I mused over the information. "So, Lieutenant Croyle, what's your plan of action?" "Uh, I guess to send someone to State Women's Prison to interview Karla Warner?" Teresa said. "Though I'd imagine that they'd drive nearly three hours to get to Madison County and State Women's Prison, only to have Karla Warner invoke and refuse to say a word about any of it." "Maybe not." I said. "Karla went to prison over a year ago, what, June-July of last year? Maybe she doesn't know the trust has been emptied. Certainly she won't talk to me, but maybe she'll talk to a couple of you?" "I'll send Julie Newton and E.J." said Teresa. "Tell you what, send Lorena Rose, as well." I said. ---------- The door clanged shut behind Karla Warner as she was brought into the interrogation room at State Women's Prison. Julie Newton and Lorena Rose were at the table. E.J. Jefferson and a Prison guard were watching from behind the one-way mirror. "So, you didn't send your great Iron Crowbar?" Karla said with something of a sneer on her face, making it less attractive than it should be. "Well then, what can I do for Town & County's Finest?" "Mrs. Warner," said Julie Newton, "we think you may have been defrauded of some money in a trust fund, so we would appreciate your cooperation in answering some questions, and perhaps get some of your money back for you." "Go ahead." said Karla, her voice unfriendly and cautious. "Mrs. Warner, did you have a charitable trust with an Alicia Foster and Mary Hathaway?" Julie asked. "Alicia Foster and I formed one." said Karla. "I have no idea who Mary Hathaway is, though." "How much money did you put into the trust?" asked Julie. "About $75,000." said Karla. "Alicia put in more, nearly $100,000 at the time I was arrested. Once I came here, I've heard nothing about the trust except for one report last December, from Alicia." "Why did you and Mrs. Foster set up the trust?" asked Lorena Rose. Karla Warner paused, considering something. "Let me first ask this... I may never get out of this prison. How can I turn the money, my part of it, over to my daughter?" The Detectives looked at each other, then Julie Newton said "Mrs. Warner, the trust was closed down after the money was taken out. There's nothing left, nothing at all, to sign over to your daughter. That's why we're here." Karla Warner just stared at the two women. "It's been shut down? By who? Alicia?" "Mrs. Warner..." said Lorena, her voice connoting advance warning of something ominous about to be said, "... are you aware of what has happened to Alicia Foster?" Karla said "I heard from her last Christmas, when she and our lawyer gave me the annual report of the trust, per legal requirements. I haven't heard from her since. Why? What happened?" "Mrs. Warner," said Lorena, "Mrs. Foster was killed in an automobile accident last February." "Oh my God!" Karla said, totally shocked, her voice barely above a whisper. "I... I had no idea!" "And you said you have no idea who Mary Hathaway is?" asked Julie. "She was the third person listed as part of your charitable trust." "No, I've never heard the name." said Karla. "What happened to the trust again?" "It was closed this past summer." "I can't help you." said Karla. "I have no idea what happened to it. My daughter has power-of-attorney over my affairs, but that was one thing I hadn't told her about. Who could have closed it, if Alicia is dead and I'm in here?" "That's one thing we want to find out. By the way, you never answered the question." said Lorena Rose incisively. "Why did you set up the trust with Mrs. Foster?" Karla sighed. "I guess it doesn't matter now. At the time, Alicia and I set it up to hide money from our husbands. Alicia said she wasn't actually planning to leave her husband, but she wanted an insurance policy in case she decided to 'move on', as she said. She was with the CIA, as well, and when the news broke about Sommes and Willoughby's treason, I thought she might be in league with them, and that that was what she meant about setting up the contingency plans. Of course, we both were able to use the charitable trust to shelter our money from taxes, but the plan was to let the money grow, then split it up when the time came for her to 'move on'." "As for myself," Karla continued, "you're probably aware of the sequence of events that led to the murder of my husband. I began putting money into the trust when things first began going badly, about six months before Robert Schelle murdered him. It was a rainy day fund for the time I knew was coming. As you know, things turned out much differently than I'd expected." Part 5 - Rounding Out The Picture "Teresa, E.J.," I said on the morning of October 19th, "go bring in Spence Foster, and put him in Interrogation-A. I want to ask him some pertinent questions, and I want him to feel just a little bit agitated." As they left, Dr. Woodrow and J.R. Barnes of the Crime Lab came into my office. "The results of our tests on what was left of that car confirm what you were looking for." said the youngish-looking J.R. Barnes, and he proceeded to give me their results. "It was easy enough to find, even now after months of the car sitting there in the elements." That got me to scouring the computer for the newer records from Ward Harvester that we'd obtained under warrant when Ned used the site to confront me for the final time. Old Man Ward was being a bit better about his recordkeeping, I noticed. I found what I needed to know... ----------- "Yes, Alicia Foster had closer ties to the CIA than just working for DynaCorp as an engineer." said my wife Laura. It was the same October 19th, just before lunchtime, and we were in her office on campus, and Laura was on the sofa whose back was to the door. I was on the other sofa and Gayle Roberts was sitting next to me, cuddled up to me with her legs under her, with my arm around her. "No," continued Laura, "she was not in league with nor tied to Willoughby and Sommes in any way, at least not that the Company knows about. She possibly had some ties to the Corrigan cell, but they're being slow about responding to my inquiry about it. I suspect they may be beginning to keep me out of the loop, even though the remnants of the Corrigan cell are still out there somewhere... and Henry R. Wargrave is still around." "Don't stress on it." I said. "Though I don't think that's why they're being reticent about Alicia and her contributions to Corrigan's cell." "I am pleased to say," said Laura, "that my greatest contribution to that cell was exterminating Bartholomew Scott with extreme prejudice. I'm not sure what it says about me that I rejoice so much in what I did, but that's how I feel." "I feel the same way." I said. "Watching you blow his ass away was a joy to behold, and I don't mind saying it. So... Alicia Foster wasn't involved in anything you can tell that would get her killed or otherwise 'displaced' by the CIA?" "No, not that we can tell." said Gayle Roberts, who was also a CIA agent under Laura's command. "I was her handler at DynaCorp. She really was not much more than an engineer for the CIA contracts there and a Company 'insider' watching out for our interests." "So, and this is only if you can tell me," I asked, "what were the ramifications of Sommes and Willoughby? Gayle, did they come down on you?" "They never said, but I'm sure they investigated me very thoroughly." Gayle said, the smell of her perfume wafting into my nose, beginning to arouse me. "I always figured that Laura rescued me by bringing me here to work with her." "That's half true." said Laura. "I was glad to bring you on, but it wasn't to rescue you from any trouble. But Don, we really can't say any more about it... especially since you're a consultant for the FBI now." My wife's eyes were half amusing, half anger... she still had not quite gotten over my way of avoiding compulsory CIA service. "I understand." I said. "Well, ladies, I appreciate your help as it pertains to my case. And maybe I can show you... that appreciation." I turned and kissed Gayle on the mouth, which turned into a long, lingering kiss. My wife's eyes sparkled as she watched, enjoying the sight. "So, what do you think is going on?" Gayle asked, breaking the kiss, keeping up the conversation to tease me a bit and prolong the buildup to what was about to happen. "Oh, this one is embarrassingly easy." I said. "I just need to find our credit card fraudster. Now why don't I take you two ladies into the bedroom next door..." I kissed Gayle again, "... so I can deeply probe these CIA assets..." "I'm still not medically cleared to have intercourse." said Laura, who was still recovering from her hysterectomy. "Gayle, why don't you take my husband into the bedroom next door, and let him empty his big blue balls into that sweet cunt of yours?" "Mmm, sounds like a very good idea, but you have to come and... help us out I can't handle this FBI stud by myself, you know." said Gayle, her eyes twinkling mischievously. I took her hand and led her into the back areas of the office suite, Laura following closely... -------- The room was quiet but for the staccato slaps of flesh-on-flesh as I pumped Gayle Roberts on the bed. Gayle was nude except for the high heel nude/tan pumps she was wearing, which made her shapely legs and ass all the sexier. I had her legs hooked under my arms as I fucked her tight, wet pussy with hard, driving strokes, my balls beginning to ache. Laura was lying on her side next to us. As I adulterously fucked the beautiful woman beneath me, my wife and I shared deep, tongue-twining kisses that only added to the intense sexual pleasure of copulation. Gayle was sucking Laura's big, milk-filled breasts, enjoying the hot snack as she accommodated my size and powerful thrusts, her cunt clutching at me as sheathed my iron-hard meat to the hilt inside her glorious warmth. "Oh yeah, darling, fuck her!" Laura whispered. "Fuck her hard and deep. Give it to her!" I felt my nut rising as Laura's hand caressed my hard asscheeks. My wife had lubed up her fingers and my anal bud, and now I felt her finger began probing my ass. I knew what was coming, and tried to relax as Laura slid her left index finger into my asshole, slowly but steadily sliding it deeper. She pulled back out, lubed up the finger some more, then slid back in until she was knuckle-deep. I felt her begin to massage my prostate, which I knew was going to make me blow my wad... and sure enough, I was lost. "UHHH!! I'M COMING!" I gasped out as I felt the first spurt of thick jism blast from my cock hardly before I even realized I was climaxing. More spurts followed as Laura continued to orally plunder my ass. I rammed my meat into Gayle and pulled her asscheeks to me, making sure to get every drop as deep into her wonderful cunt as I possibly could... To be continued. ***** So, who is the credit card fraudster? And how will the Iron Crowbar bring the culprit to Justice? There's still more mystery and intrigue to come in Chapter 2, so keep reading! The Credit Card Caper Ch. 02 The chronological order of my stories is as follows: Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player Series, Case of the Black Widow series, Teresa's Christmas Story, The Case of the Black Badge series, A Case of Revenge series, Trilogy Series, Dark Side Of The Force series, Caught In The Act series, Case of the Murdered Bride series. The Credit Card Caper, Ch. 1-2. Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas. This story contains graphic scenes, extreme 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 or racist 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 6 - Disavowed October 19th: After getting back to Headquarters from my very pleasant lunch hour with Gayle and Laura, I received a setback. "Commander," said Lt. Teresa Croyle as she entered my office with Detective E.J. Jefferson, "Spence Foster is nowhere to be found. His assistant at his gun range said he was taking a couple of days vacation. He's not at his home, either." "How conveeeeenient." I said. "Okay, put out a full APB on him. I absolutely need for him to be found, and quickly. Go check back with his employees and see where he might have gone on a vacation." -------- "All right, Don," said Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone as I entered his makeshift office in the FBI Suite in the Federal Building on Courthouse Square, "Salem, U.S.A. has issued a warrant for your arrest. You are to be tried on charges of witchcraft, of inexplicably knowing things you absolutely should not know, and you are going to be sentenced to being burned at the stake. My God, how did you know?" "I wish all my cases were this easy." I said. "So you found a link between Alicia and the Corrigan cell?" "I sure did, once you told me where to look." Jack said. "And you were right: the reason your wife and her assistant Roberts haven't been told anything... is because Alicia Foster was 'disavowed' by the CIA." "Yep, it makes sense." I said. "So what's the story? Muscone began his story: "After the Sommes and Willoughby treason came out, the CIA's internal auditors, and some FBI people as well, began looking very hard at all the CIA people at DynaCorp. That included Gayle Roberts, Alicia Foster, and a couple of other engineers, who have since left the firm and been re-assigned to other places." Muscone continued: "They cleared Roberts pretty quickly, and your wife subsequently employed her at the University. The other engineers were also cleared, but the Agency believed that Alicia had been committing industrial espionage and taking some of the classified stuff at DynaCorp. That actually was their first clue that there was a rogue group within the CIA, though your actions really brought that out. So the highest levels of the CIA, FBI and Homeland Security had me and your wife begin looking into that. You know that story, and how your grenade launcher accuracy ended it." "Don't I ever." I said. "Though there are still a few of them out there. I can feel it." "Yes. Anyway, since they didn't realize at the time what the Corrigan cell was about, they thought Alicia was giving the stolen information to someone outside the CIA. So they disavowed her." Jack said. "So my question is: how did you know she was 'disavowed'? That's one of the CIA's biggest-kept secrets. They weren't all that happy when I started asking about it." "The charitable trust." I said. "She knew she might get caught, and she planned to use that money in the event she was 'burned'." When an agent is burned, whether disavowed or not, his or her credit cards and bank accounts are cut off without warning. "So," I continued, "I reasoned that she was intending to take the money and run. Apparently she made it as far as Coltrane County." "So what's left for you?" Jack asked. "Trying to find who used her credit card? You can pass that off to your J.G. Detectives, can't you?" "Oh, sure." I said. "And I will... but I want to talk to Alicia's husband, Spence Foster, first. I think he can tell us more than he has so far." "Think he's involved in the espionage?" "I tend to doubt it." I said. "If the CIA thought he was, they'd have his FFL revoked. He still has it; ergo, he's not a suspect in their eyes. But I still need to talk to him and-" At that moment, FBI Agent Sandra Speer brought two lovely ladies to Jack's office. They happened to be my Lieutenant Sisterhood: Cindy Ross and Teresa Croyle. "We've gotten a tip on where Spence Foster is." Teresa said. "He's up at Lake Amengi-Nunagen, apparently on a hunting trip, and he's camping on the Federal Wildlife Management Area up there." "What the hell can he be hunting up there this time of year?" Jack Muscone asked derisively. "Hogs." I said. "They're legal all year, though I don't know the regulations for hunting them on the W.M.A." Sandra Speer said "They'd like to get a Federal warrant and have us go arrest him. I'm going to give the go-ahead if you don't object, Jack." "Fine by me." said Muscone. "But consider him armed and potentially dangerous." ---------- As we waited for the FBI to get Spence Foster into custody, I had two important duties to attend to. The first was painful, but important. I called in Father Romano, our Catholic Police Chaplain, to be present for this one. "Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood, I really appreciate you coming in today." I said as the Sherwoods were seated in Interrogation-A. Crime Lab Technician Christina Cho was also in the room. "I've called you in to ask you both to submit DNA samples, to aid in the identification of your daughter should we find her." "Has there been any news? Do you know anything?" Mr. Sherwood asked. I took a breath, then replied. "I have... hopes... that we will be able to find your daughter, and soon, sir. However, I must warn you now that those hopes do not extend to finding her alive. I'm sorry, but I believe it is more likely that she is dead than alive." The Sherwoods sagged, Mrs. Sherwood becoming emotional. Trying to hold on to any hope, she said "Commander... you haven't actually found her yet?" "No ma'am, not yet." I replied. "So... there's still hope?" Mrs. Sherwood asked. "Ma'am, sir..." I said, "... it would be very wrong of me to give you false hopes. I asked Father Romano here so that you can talk with him, and so he can help you prepare for the worst if and when that time comes." Technician Cho took the cheek swabs and I escorted her back to the Crime Lab (to have two-man control) while the Sherwoods talked with the priest. ---------- The second duty was to quell a Disturbance in the Force, i.e. to referee a verbal spat between Cindy and Teresa. The debate happened in my office. "I'll be glad to let you have Lorena Rose." said Cindy. "But I am not taking Sharples into MCD!" "Well," retorted Teresa, "I'm not giving you anyone else. Joanne Cummings is starting to get the hang of things, E.J. is good but I don't know if he can withstand the Iron Crowbar in MCD, and even Geiger is getting better in there..." "Okay, ladies." I interjected, having heard their points... many times over. "I'll consider a Rose for Cummings swap. Don't say a word about this, but Claire Michaels is likely going to be promoted to Lieutenant and put in charge of the SWAT team. That'll happen November 1st, during our 'interim' promotion period. I agree that Rose would fit better in Vice than MCD, and Cummings has shown some brilliant observation and deductive abilities." "And Sharples?" Teresa asked, near bitterness. "Maybe we can promote him to something in the Uniform division?" I said "Sergeant Thompson is going to be promoted to Lieutenant, also, but that's for other reasons, Rudistan is pegged to become a Sergeant, and Ronnie Kirkpatrick a Corporal - yes, the first since Feeley. No room for Sharples, even to be demoted to Sergeant like he apparently wants." "Damn." said Teresa. "We'll talk about that." I said. "Meantime, both Vice and MCD are getting short of people again, and we'll need to promote promising young officers. You two need to keep a sharp eye out for who you might want as J.G.s." The Detective (J.G.) rank was actually a uniformed officer position, though within the Detective track. Most J.G.s still wore uniforms unless authorized for plainclothes missions, so it was a small but important step up for uniformed officers selected into the Detective program. I still felt pain about not having put Pete Feeley into it, but at the same time had to run my Police Force and put the best people in the best places. "Cindy," I said, "I need for you, Julie, and Lorena to go and interview the manager of that charitable trust. His name is Mr. Coleman of Guaranty Trust Company in the City, and he is expecting you because I called and made an appointment for you to see him early this evening. If the need arises you can deputize yourself into the SBI Reserve. And call Teresa the moment you have any kind of information we can act upon. Teresa, stay here so we can talk." Cindy scooted on out the door. "Let's go take a walk." I said to Teresa. "I don't want to talk about this inside the building here." Teresa didn't know if I was about to chew her out or what, and she looked nervous. We took my Police SUV north on the road that runs in front of the Headquarters, past the back of the City Hall building and up to Ronald Reagan Park. It was situation on the River at the northwest corner of Town, and had playground equipment, a long (1.5 mile) looping bicycle/running path, a frisbee-golf course, picnic tables under awnings down by the riverbank. Teresa and I found a bench under some shade. "I wanted to come here to keep this between you and me, Teresa." I said. "It's about Sharples." "Oh." Teresa said, still not knowing if she was in trouble or not. "I understand that you want that fatass piece of crap out of your squad." I said. "I'd love to make that happen, also. But I can't, at least not yet, and for two reasons. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but it's only fair to tell you if you're going to be leading my Vice Squad." Teresa nodded and I continued: "The first reason is the Police Union. Sharples has gone running to them twice when I tried to reprimand him in writing. Admittedly it was for flimsy stuff and I was trying to create a paper trail in his file so I could fire him, and the Union is pushing back. Sharples won both grievances, and I ended up doing more harm than good." "Fuck them." Teresa said, scowling. "I hear ya." I said. "But they're doing what they're supposed to be doing, I guess. Anyway, the second reason is far more important, and you can't say a word about this: "I've also talked to Internal Affairs about Sharples." I said. "I've been contacted by an SBI agent who has been watching Sharples for years. He thinks Sharples may be trying to set up drug connections, maybe broker one group like-" I paused, not finishing. "Like they say Captain Malone did." Teresa said, finishing. "Yeah, I'm still skeptical, but I understand." "Out of sheer curiosity, why are you still skeptical?" I asked. "I know there's some circumstantial evidence that points in that direction, Commander," Teresa replied, "but I still believe that if it were really going on, I or someone else in Vice would've found out about it. I just can't believe that no one in Vice got wind, and I don't think they're all dirty enough to hide the secret if they'd found out about it." "I agree, and I agree with you that they're not dirty." I said. "Anyway, Sharples has developed quite a reputation around Town, to the point he has to watch his back. That's an angle to work on. I.A. is watching him, as well. I've talked to Curly Goodwin several times, and they're working to get a bead on Sharples. I finished up: "And the ramifications of that for you is that you're stuck with Sharples for now. If we move him anywhere else, I.A.'s work gets set back, and he'll just be a problem elsewhere. So we can't move him to MCD, we can't move him to precincts when they happen, we can't really move him anywhere... I'm sorry, but that's the deal for now." "Thanks for telling me." Teresa said. "Anything I can do to help with all that?" "No." I said. "And don't do anything at all. You're not supposed to know. If you start trying to facilitate situations where Sharples can be caught, he might catch on. He's very cunning that way. So just keep bitching at him and carry on. Meanwhile... I've got to go get dressed properly. If you think Sharples is bad... I have to face the Council tonight. Want to be a Precinct Captain, Teresa?" "Hell no," said Teresa, "and you better shoot down any attempts to make me one. I am very happy in Vice, Sharples notwithstanding, thankyouverymuch." Inside I was extremely relieved and happy to hear that. Part 7 - Precincts (Author's note: sorry folks, gotta lay groundwork somewhere. Please bear with it.) The Town & County Council's public chambers were an impressive auditorium in the City Hall complex, but they had chosen to go into 'executive session', as some of the discussions actually involved personnel. Therefore we were in the Council's 'private' meeting room, a rather snug room that had a long conference table, a projector screen at one end, and some chairs that a few other people could sit in. The Mayor sat at the end of the table, at the far end from the projector screen. The Town's representation sat to his right, and the County's to his left. Chief Griswold and Captain Charles were sitting in chairs on the County side, just because that's where the chairs were. And up front, standing, wearing my Duty Dress uniform, was Your Iron Crowbar. After the Mayor called upon me, I began. After opening pleasantries, I said "Let me start with Precinct 3, which goes from the farms to the west of the River above the midline of the County..." I pointed on the screen on the map at the location. "... and which carries over the mountain ridge to the subdivisions and communities east, including the Mountain Valley Golf Course." That fun golf course was owned by Ian McGhillie, who was sitting in front of me as one of the Council members; he was also the father of one of my patrol officers. I continued: "The County Jail is still being used to house prisoners. It also used to be the County Police Headquarters before the merger of the Town and County Public Safety departments. The space there is not being used, would be ideal as a Precinct headquarters, and would require nothing more than a good cleaning up to become fully operational again. Infrastructure such as communications and I.T. is already in place. In addition, the outdoor Police range is in this precinct and not far away, giving them an existing place to train." I saw several heads nod as I looked around the room. Precinct 3 was easy. Now for the much harder parts: "Now, let's look at Precinct 2, which I know is the precinct that some of you are most interested in. Precinct 2 covers the farms west of the River and south of the midline, Junction Station, the 'Strip', as we call it; the 'Tenderloin District', as we call it; and the Southwestern areas of Town that were once part of the industrial sector. It also contains some of the industrial areas." The 'Southwestern Ghetto', which I astutely chose to not call it by, was the blighted area of Town, where the Public Housing was and where the majority of the crime was. It was Reginald B.F. Lewis's sector, and it was mostly Black. "There is an ideal location for us in this area." I continued. "The old Cannon Building, which is called the 'The Old Mill', was an industrial fabrics manufacturing facility near the River. It is empty now, but the structure is not run down and the insides can be cleaned up and molded into what we want. The front entrance faces north, and faces Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue." MLK Avenue was a major east-west road through that area, and one of the few roads that had a bridge built over the river to get to the west side. The road connected with the bypass road on the other side of the River. "It is not too large, it's fenced in nicely, and, as I was saying, the floors inside are still in good condition; in fact, these floors are really fantastic, made of old hardwoods that could not be replaced at any price today. All they need is a good buff shining, and I have some Police Academy Cadets well suited for that task." There was general laughter at that, then I went on. "I really like the feel of this old building when I go inside it, too; it has... 'character', for lack of a better term." I said, trying to sell the idea. "Anyway, the downstairs can be converted into a Precinct headquarters. The right side here," I put up a photograph I'd taken, "can be converted into holding cells and booking, with an exclusive entrance on that side. There'll be locked doors to the rest of the facility, with similar security to our current Police Headquarters." I went on: "The upstairs can be used for storage for anything except weapons and evidence requiring a chain of custody, and we might can create an evidence room if it's ever needed. What I really like is that we can, and will, put some secure servers and radio communications facilities on the upper floor. The Headquarters is getting short of space for this technology, and we can really wire this place up." "Who owns this building?" asked John 'Jack' Colby. "J.P. Goldman Bank. Foreclosure." I replied, nodding my head towards Mr. Goldman, who was sitting in the room as a Council member. "And because a certain public service body promoted me to Commander and gave me the ability to sign contracts for the Police Force, I've already secured an option to buy the property." That 'public service body' was the Council itself, and they got the joke. However, it was 'aggressive' of me, and that's putting it mildly, to take that action before the Council had made any formal decisions; it was almost putting them on a spot of being pulled into it; and it bespoke an untoward confidence in me of my plan. So fire me, I thought to myself. "It sounds good, so far." said Mayor Larry Vaughan, the People's Choice, sitting at the end of the table, conveying his own approval of the idea. "So, what about Precinct 1?" I knew this was going to be the toughie as I started. "Precinct 1 is from the Industrial and Warehouse Districts of Town north to the City Limits, as well as the University and what are actually State-owned properties. This encompasses most of the Town, and is of course the largest precinct by population." No getting past it, time to dive in: "I know some of you might object to this, but I really think for the time being that Precinct 1 should be headquartered in the current Police Headquarters. With two precincts moving out, there will be almost too much room in the Uniformed Officers areas of the building. It will simply save the taxpayers money to use this existing facility rather than convert another building or build a new facility." Reginald B.F. Lewis immediately spoke up. "Commander, I've loved what you've said to this point. However, I'm fearful that if one precinct is housed in the Headquarters, there will be a favoritism towards that precinct over the others, do you not agree?" I knew Lewis's real objections: he pretty much wanted these precincts to be separate, semi-autonomous little police departments, especially Precinct 2... which was what I was trying hard to avoid. The Credit Card Caper Ch. 02 "I can understand your concerns, Councilman," I said, "But at least for now there's no need to spend the extra money. And as Captain Charles can tell you, police units are rotated through sectors already, so that they can become familiar with all areas of the Town and County. He'll still be making officer assignments and patrols on a daily basis, which precincts will change only to put borders on where the patrols go." "And that's also an issue with me." said Lewis, demolishing my points with practiced skill and knowledge. "One reason for these precincts is for officers to get to know the people in their precincts better, to form better relationships and understandings with the people. I don't need to tell you that the black community and the police have long had a strained relationship, at best. While your efforts up to now in mitigating that are understood and well appreciated, Commander, you can't do it alone and we need a better overall effort." "I agree, but for another reason." said Thomas P. Cook, a local businessman who represented sectors of the Town that would be in Precinct 1. "There are a couple of empty buildings on University Drive, the main north-south road that separates the Town from the University. I'd love to see one of those as the 1st Precinct headquarters, so that people passing through see the Police presence... and the University across the street sees us there, as well." Cook's idea was a lot more 'in your face' than I wanted to be with the school or people driving through. In addition, he'd been one of those who'd been against precincts, but had changed sides, and I knew why. I knew I was losing this. "Well," I said, still giving it the ol' 'college try', "over time, that might become an option. Let me also say this. Right now, for a town or county of our size, a Police Force of around 250 persons would be the norm. We have just over 200 officers, not counting Auxiliary or civilians. Let's just say the uniformed officer numbers are 180. That's 60 per shift. By dividing into three precincts, that'll divide the Force three more times, so that we have about 20 officers per precinct per shift. That's not a lot, and while we'll make contingencies to bring officers anywhere needed in cases of emergency, I just want everyone to understand the numbers. Having officers at the Headquarters would strongly help the need for versatility and flexibility." No one said anything. I knew this one was lost, 'fer sure'. "So, Commander," said Malinda Adams, who had so far remained surprisingly quiet, breaking the silence in the room. "How are you going to assign your Detectives and the Personnel & Records people?" Hoo boy, here it goes, I said as I began: "First, Ms. Adams, the Personnel and Records people are going to remain right where they are. Some of the finance and payroll people are already in City Hall, which is near Headquarters, and moving any of our people around causes problems. I definitely do not need the problem of my officers not getting paid, or their paperwork messed up and costing them a medal or a promotion." I heard loud murmurs of agreement from the Chief and Captain Charles, trying to give support such as they could, and John Colby and Dagmar Schoen also nodded in vigorous agreement. "Second, Ms. Adams, and I'll just be very up front about this: my Detectives stay at Headquarters." I said, looking her straight in the eye. "They need to be able to work together as a team, we are not a large enough County to warrant splitting them up like the City does, and I need to be able to deploy any of them to any location. Vice Detectives can't interdict drug operations when the criminals are crossing precinct lines if they (my detectives) are split up. And Major Crimes often finds themselves all over the place while investigating cases. This is one area I will draw the line on, Ms. Adams." I was implying that I'd resign if the Council tried to fuck with me on this, but not actually have to make the threat out loud. "The Commander is right." growled Chief Griswold, giving me strong support. "It is absolutely imperative to our Department that our Detectives be centrally located and centrally controlled by the Commander. And it keeps the SBI out, also. You might force me out of retirement if the SBI starts trying to move in." That was a direct threat, I realized. Maybe we'd win this one, after all. "Okay, everyone," said the Mayor, quelling the murmuring that was beginning to swell up,"this is something we can consider later. The Commander is simply giving his presentation for now. Please continue, Don." "Thank you, Mr. Mayor." I said. "This really is pretty much it, except for the discussion of Precinct Captains. The Public Safety Structure Ordinance, recently re-done by yourselves, calls for a rank of 'Precinct Captain' between full Captains and Lieutenants. Precinct Captains get to steal the Fire Department's gold Captain bars, as opposed to the Police's full Captains' silver bars. Precinct Captains outrank Lieutenants, but full Captains outrank the Precinct Captains. "The reason this is important is because we have only six Captain slots," I continued, "seven if you count a Chaplain. This makes full Captains too high a level to fill the Precinct Captain role. My idea is to brevet Lieutenants to the Precinct Captain position, and after serving in the role, they'd either be promoted to full Captains or revert back to Lieutenants. I also have some names for at least one of the positions." A photograph of Sergeant Damien Thompson appeared on the screen. He was a large, athletic man, 34 years old, black, his head shaved bald. He was an excellent cop and Sergeant, a no-nonsense common-sense guy, a good leader of patrol teams, and he ran Duty Desks to efficient perfection. He was also very loyal to me, especially after I exposed Harold Malone, who had kept Thompson from being promoted to well-deserved, much higher positions. I gave the Council details of the Sergeant's stellar career, then added "He has the respect of the Black community, he would be an excellent role model for the kids to see. We'd need to promote him to Lieutenant on November 1st to get him started on the Precinct Captain track." "That'll work." said Reginald B.F. Lewis, very happy with my choice, knowing I was right and why. "Excellent choice, Commander." "So when do you expect Precincts to start up?" asked Mr. Cook. "We have our semi-annual promotions next February 1st." I said. "November promotions are not common, and usually fill-ins for gaps left by retirements and whatnot. What I am envisioning is some promotions in November, more promotions on February 1st, then Precincts going into effect the first week of February. We'll definitely need time to get the Mill building ready, not to mention deciding assignments." "I hope you intend to have a woman fulfill one of these three Precinct Captain positions." Malinda Adams said, her voice almost a whine. "There are simply not enough women being promoted properly within the Police Department, as I have told Chief Griswold numerous times over the years." She was an uber-feminist, but I'd anticipated this. But I didn't like the shot she took at my Chief, so I squared up a bit and responded. "Ms. Adams, I can hardly believe you would suggest that, when my MCD and Vice Lieutenants are both women, very capable ones at that, and when Lt. Perlman comes off maternity leave, she'll be the MCD leader. In addition, Captain Malone's old position is going to be very capably filled by Lt. Cindy Ross, a Medal of Valor recipient who is one of the very best police officers I've ever had the pleasure of working with, and with abilities far beyond her years... and she's most definitely a woman, just ask her." That got a laugh out of almost everyone... but not Malinda Adams, who was growing more pissed off by the minute as I continued: "Detective Claire Michaels is on track to become the SWAT leader, as well, we recently promoted Captain Harlow. All this was done under Chief Griswold's leadership. So I think your complaint is not valid, Ms. Adams." The room was getting uncomfortable and Malinda Adams was stewing, so the Mayor quickly moved to ease the tension. "Perhaps you can give us your other names, Commander." he said. "I believe one of your suggestions actually is a woman, is that not right?" "Yes sir, Mr. Mayor." I said. "For Precinct 3, we have Lieutenant Susan Weston. She's in Personnel & Records now, but she has experience as a uniformed patrol officer. She'd be a good organizer and leader of people, and she'd be reasonable at interaction with the people of her precinct." Weston was in her late 30s to early 40s, I wasn't exactly sure and I hadn't looked on her records to find out. She had dirty blonde hair, was not particularly pretty but had a very nice body that resembled my sister Elizabeth's lovely hourglass shape. She also could be a very tough bitch at times. "For 1st Precinct," I said, moving along, "I'm recommending Lieutenant Holsom 'Hal' Briggs." I explained that Briggs had been a good uniformed officer, but had suffered a hip injury that limited him physically. He was in his 40s, his hair already graying. Like Captain Charles he had long refused promotions so that he could remain 'one of the boys' in blue, even sitting behind a cheap oak desk. I concluded with "Briggs is currently working for the Sheriff's Department, running the Court Bailiffs over there. He's the equivalent of a Lieutenant rank, and it would be a smooth lateral transfer to bring him back to the Police Department and the Precinct Captain role." There was another reason to promote him, I silently thought: he was a good leader of people, but was pretty laid back. I did not say out loud that Reginald B.F. Lewis was right, that the 1st Precinct in the Police Headquarters would be fairly well subjugated to overall command, and Briggs would be a perfect 'figurehead' role. "In conclusion, there will obviously be some structural changes, and I'd like you to allocate a couple of extra dollars for this." I explained what I wanted as I showed them the photos, sketches and diagrams. I could not tell from their faces if they would approve this little bit of candy for me. I concluded my presentation, but John Colby asked me to stay in my place standing at the head of the table. "Folks," he said in his deep baritone but country voice, "I want the Commander to hear this. Some time ago there was a shooting attack upon the Irish Pub, and the Iron Crowbar here actually went forward after the shooters, killing one of them, and undoubtedly saving lives. This Council inexplicably did not act to reward that extremely brave, lifesaving action, and in the here and now I want that oversight corrected. As part of our discussion tonight I am going to be expecting that the Police Star of Gallantry will be awarded to Commander Troy for that action." This was Colby's way of saying 'buy me off with this reward, and I won't fight you too hard on precincts'. I was somewhat blushing about it, but on November 1st I would indeed be awarded the Star of Gallantry, which was below the Police Medal in importance but still a very high award. And, curiously, it would be the only Star of Gallantry that I would ever be awarded in my career with the Town & County Police Force... ---------- Sitting at the Cop Bar's 'command table' after we'd left the Council meeting, I asked the Chief and Captain Charles how they thought it went. "Great job, Crowbar." growled Chief Griswold. "I think you're going to get most of what you want." "I agree." said Charles, who was not at all happy about precincts in the first place. "And thank you for cutting Malinda Adams down to size. My blood was boiling when she attacked the Chief like that." "Yeah, I was pissed about that, too." I said. "I appreciate you sticking up for me, too." the Chief said. "I think they all realized that you're not going to take any shit from them after you did that. Oh well, I'll be retired and fishing soon, and I really don't give a fuck what Malinda Adams says." "I do." I said. "She's a thorn in our sides, and you're retiring and leaving me to deal with her." The Chief just grinned evilly under his mustaches at me, then continued drinking his beer. "By the way," I said, "I think we're going to lose on the 1st Precinct thing." "I knew that all along." said the Chief. "Thomas Cook is a decent man and a businessman, but I think you'll find that he part owns those empty buildings that he wants to see used as 1st Precinct headquarters." "Ah, so that's why he changed sides." I said. "Any improprieties in any of that?" "Hell yeah." said the Chief. "But don't get any ideas, Crowbar. This is one of those things that the politicians do. They got Cook on their side by offering to buy one of his buildings for the precinct. And I like the idea because a police precinct right in the face of the University will help you tremendously with your intent to impose jurisdiction over the Campus so that Jack Lewis and the SBI can't use it to encroach on our space." The Chief continued, almost merrily: "I know what you're thinking, too... you'll bring up that ownership connection to scuttle the 1st Precinct idea... but what you'll do is end up making several enemies on the Council, some of whom are friends to you now, and it'll make your job much, much tougher. Colby is going to get you the Star that I put you in for months ago, that the Council didn't want to award because you weren't wounded, even though you were pissed about your hat being blown off your head. And, of course, they pretty much don't want to 'encourage' you to take actions that put you in harm's way." "You've taken care of that already, Chief." I said. "I remember that Ned raid where Cindy got shot up... I had at least three people knocking me down so I couldn't go out there to help her... now just who was behind that?" "Damn straight it was me that told them to make damn sure you don't do something that gets you hurt, Commander." the Chief said. "I appreciate your fearlessness, but I want you to solve crimes and keep innocent people from being wrongly accused. You are needed too badly to be putting yourself into the line of fire, and that's just the facts, son." I knew the Chief was right. "I loved it that you brought up Ross's Medal of Valor, too." said Captain Charles. "Adams almost puked when you hit her with that, not to mention how you supported your people." Charles was big on leaders supporting their people. " And by the way, how is it that this young, good-looking Commander has three beautiful women Lieutenants working for him? Where did we go wrong, Chief?" We all laughed at that. --------- The next morning, October 20th, the Chief and I met Jack Colby and Dagmar Schoen in the back room of the Country Breakfast Diner. It opened at 5:30am, which was when we arrived, and was already nearly full of hungry people. Colby and Schoen looked very tired. "We worked it until two a.m." said Colby. "Reginald Lewis loved the Thompson idea so much that he all but forgot about your efforts to limit the scope of precincts." I replied "He's interested in 2nd Precinct, and controlling the police as they interact with his black constituents. He's not totally wrong about the problems, either, though I didn't like the full scope of his solution. Thompson is a great guy, as well, he should've been promoted years ago. So what's the bad news?" "1st Precinct." Dagmar said. "I sure don't blame you for trying, but you were lost on that before you even walked into the room. And we got creamed on the rank and brevetting. It's going to be a permanent rank, and since only three are authorized, one for each precinct, vacancies can only be created by retirement or resignation; by promoting the person to full Captain and therefore reassigning him or her; by firing, which takes a full proceeding; or by demotion, which also requires a full proceeding. The Police Union was especially strong on that one." My plan had been sent to the Council 72 hours before the meeting, so they'd known what was coming. Apparently, the Union was consulted ahead of time, as well. "So what did you guys get?" I asked. "We got you that Star of Gallantry that you should've had a long time ago." said Colby. "And a couple of other things that I can't mention right now." I figured that Colby had gotten something good for the Chief upon Griswold's retirement, but didn't want to mention it in front of the aforementioned Chief. "We also had to work hard, but your Detectives will remained assigned to Headquarters. By the way, and just between us here, did you know that some of your Detectives actually approached the Council and wanted to be assigned to precincts?" "I appreciate you telling me, but did they really approach the Council?" I asked, "or were they approached by certain Council members, who then fed you a story?" "I imagine some of both." said Councilwoman Schoen. "But this is just to let you know." Part 8 - Follow The (Missing) Money "This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" blared the lovely redheaded reporter on the morning of October 20th, as the Chief and I got back to Headquarters and the MCD room. "Channel Two News has learned that the Town & County Council has approved Precincts in their meeting last night, which was an 'executive session' as personnel issues were discussed. The second reading and formal approval of the bill will be next Tuesday, followed by ratification by the County Assembly in the next few weeks. Police precincts will go into effect on February 2nd of next year..." ---------- "Mr. Coleman talked with us." Cindy Ross said in my office at 8:00am, drinking her coffee as I was drinking mine. "He said that Alicia Foster set up the trust, and that Karla Warner and Mary Hathaway's names passed through their computer checks with no problems." "No problems, my ass." I said. "Contact Jack Muscone with the FBI." I said. "let him know of the lax checks done by Guaranty Trust. Maybe the SEC will be interested; then again, maybe not. But in any case, we'll have done our part." "Wilco." said Cindy. Just then the man himself walked in, with Teresa Croyle in tow. "My ears are burning, Don." said Muscone. "You shouldn't be taking my name in vain like that." "I'm glad you're here, Jack." I said. "Now I can call you all those dirty names to your face instead of behind your back." Everyone laughed, and I suggested we go to the Main Conference Room. Once there, Jack began his story. "We found Spence Foster in a hunting cabin on Lake Amengi-Nunagen." Jack said. "My guys told him they wanted him to come back with them to Town here, but he refused to go, constantly asking if he was under arrest, by what warrant, and was he free to go about his way." "Very Constitutionalist." I said. "He definitely is one of those, and we knew that already." "Agent Muscone called me last night, while you were in the Council meeting." said Teresa. "I got Jenna to get us a material witness warrant for Spence Foster, and the Federal judge then issued a Federal warrant to get him back here." "And my guys arrested him once we got the legal niceties in place." said Muscone. "But he then refused to waive extradition to be brought back across State lines. So that's where we are, stuck in that little hell-hole town near the lake. Once we get the extradition done, we'll bring him down. Probably be early this afternoon, though." "Now why in the world would the man, who lives here, fight extradition?" I asked. "Makes him appear guilty." Cindy said. "Yeah, I know, I'm not supposed to assume that, but that's how I see it." "Like I said a minute ago," I replied, "he's one of those Constitutionalist types, and may be doing this just to force us to go through every hoop. Oh well, we'll find out when he gets here." The Credit Card Caper Ch. 02 "By the way," Cindy said, "I have Mary Hathaway's address from the Guaranty Trust officer. We can at least check it out." -------- While we waited for Spence Foster to arrive, I got a call from the Crime Lab. "The technicians found traces of thermite on the car, which is what caused it to burn so fiercely and completely." said Dr. Woodrow. "They also think that device you thought was removed might have been attached to the steering and carburetor, but it's a guess, as not much was left of any wiring at all." Moments later I got another call, from Senior Sergeant Hugh Hewitt. I'd sent him and his four on-duty SWAT team members to the address of Mary Hathaway, after securing the proper warrant, of course. "The place is empty, Commander." came the voice of Hewitt through my cellphone. "It has been lived in recently, though. Fresh milk in the refrigerator, some clothes in a hamper." Everyone was catching on to the milk trick, I noted as I asked "Any papers to suggest where the occupant might have been or gone to?" "No sir, but we secured a burner phone." said Hewitt. "I've already given Milton the number so he can look into it." I called the FBI office in the City and talked to Special Agent Lindy Linares, asking her to put out a watch at the City International Airport and train and bus stations for the descriptions of two women... -------- At 12:30pm, October 20th, Spence Foster was escorted into Interrogation-B by the Federal Marshals who had transported him to our humble Headquarters. His lawyer joined him shortly afterwards, per his demand. "Okay, Teresa, come on in with me, but let me ask the questions." I said. We entered the room from the Police side. "Mr. Foster, how nice of you to finally join us." I said. "What the hell do you want from me?" Foster said, his voice a snarl. "I've been arrested without reason and my rights abused. Am I still under arrest or am I free to go?" "Mr. Foster," I said, "you were arrested under a material witness warrant-" "What crime have I committed?" Foster snarled. "I demand to be released from this unlawful custody!" I just looked at the lawyer, who whispered to Foster. Foster quietened down, his face still red. "Okay, one more time." I said. "Mr. Foster, you were brought in under a material witness warrant, and yes, you are considered to be under arrest at this time under that warrant. A few days ago you filed a report with the police about your deceased wife's credit card being used. We have been following up on that, and as a result of our investigation, we have some questions we want to ask you. However, it is you who for some reason became uncooperative when the FBI found you. You would not have been arrested had you cooperated and simply come back to talk to us." I continued: "Now, if you'll just answer my questions, you can be on your way. Or you can take full advantage of your Constitutional rights, take the Fifth, and I'll have you booked and processed for evading the police, and crossing State lines in doing so." "Oh, come on, that won't hold." said the lawyer. "Possibly, counselor." I said. "But once I do book him and charge him, I'll notify the Federal Government of his arrest, and they'll immediately revoke his Federal Firearms License. His store will be shut down... and while I have no further interest in it, the Feds might go off on one of their power trips and raid the place... you know, getting the names of every one of your customers, Mr. Foster, going to their houses and questioning them about you, letting them know their identities are well known to the Feds because they transacted business with you..." That got Foster's attention. "All right, what do you want to know?" Foster asked, his voice still heated, but somewhat resigned. "Mr. Foster, did you know that your wife was an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency?" I asked. After consideration, Foster answered. "Yes I did." he said. "But she didn't know I knew." "I see." I said. "Can you tell me how things were between you and your wife before she died in that car crash?" "They were fine." Foster said. "No arguments, no issues over money or anything else?" "Not really, nothing more than I'd imagine any married couple would have." Foster said. "Why are you asking this?" "Let me ask this first, if I may." I said. "Did you know that your wife had set up a trust fund, and put a lot of money into it?" "Uhh... no, I didn't know that." said Foster, his eyes looking surprised. "She never mentioned saving up money, or wanting to move or leave, or anything of that kind?" "No, nothing like that. Ever." said Foster. He was beginning to loosen up as he began to realize that there were things amiss in his marriage. "So you also wouldn't know that the trust fund she set up has been emptied of the money?" I asked, carefully watching Foster's reaction. "No, I had no idea about any of that." he replied, looking confused. "Just one more thing, Mr. Foster." I said. "Do you have any idea why your wife was traveling in the early hours of the morning on the night she died?" "No sir." Foster said. "As I told the police months ago, I didn't even know she'd left; she said she was going to be out late with her girlfriends, I went to bed and fell asleep, she wasn't there the next morning, and a couple of hours later the Police were calling me about her car being in a wreck in the next county. I think your police verified all of that at the time." "Mr. Foster, did the CIA or FBI ever contact you about your wife's accident?" I asked. "No." said Foster. "To your knowledge, did they or any agency of the Federal Government investigate your wife's death?" "No, not to my knowledge." Foster replied, looking very confused. "Okay, Mr. Foster, I appreciate your candid answers." I said, wrapping it up. "You're free to go... however... you've heard about the old adage about 'stay in Town'... well, please do not make me have to get the FBI to find you again. Counselor, will you please advise your client on why hanging around in this County, and notifying us if he does leave the County, would be very good ideas?" With that, I got up and left the room, Teresa following. Once we got back to the Main Conference room, I asked her, Cindy and Jack Muscone, who had watched the interview, "So, what do you guys think?" "Maybe you're right about his reasons for resisting coming back." said Cindy. "He seemed straightforward in his answers, though. If he knew about the trust fund, he hid it well." "That's true." I said. "Teresa?" "Not sure how any of that leads us to our credit card fraudster." said Teresa. "And from what I know of you, you're definitely looking in some direction, but I have no idea what that is." "Ah, that's because you were zoning in on something specific." I said. "And maybe missed something in that discussion, yes?" Teresa scowled, her face a mask of confusion. Cindy also looked perplexed, but remained silent. She was learning... she was learning. "Jack?" I asked. "I saw what you were getting at with that one question you asked." Muscone replied. "Yes, I thought you would." I replied. "Now, let's get Jenna and Paulina, and go have some lunch. I'll tell you all what we need to do while we're eating..." Part 9 - Making Moves Of course I coerced Jack Muscone into paying for all our lunches, knowing it'd be comped as an expense, by the simple expedient of letting him choose where to eat. Of course he chose the Cop Bar, and now he looked like he was in heaven as he began consuming his favorite: the double cheeseburger. "Best frickin' burger in the country." Jack said. "Not just the County, not just the State, but the whole USA." I agreed, as I was having the double cheeseburger myself. The four women were all having salads of some kind or another. "You might as well slow down, Cindy." I teased. "I'm not going to start talking about the case until we're all done eating." "Damn, you're on to me." Cindy replied. She did start taking her time eating, though. "So, Don," Jenna said, "tell us about this precincts business." Cindy and Teresa lit up, their eyes betraying their desire to know, as well. So I filled them in on what I expected to happen. Cindy and Teresa looked relieved that the Detectives weren't going to be split apart. Once we finished eating, I said "Okay, guys, here's what we're going to need. Jenna, Paulina, I need a warrant." Everyone gasped in shock when I told them what I wanted the warrant for. "Okay," Jenna said, "Cindy has told me that you spring things like this on us, but I am going to need a story to tell the judge. What is that story?" I told her. ------- "So Mom," Todd asked as he and his mother cuddled after an hour of extremely intense sex, with Todd ejaculating a massive load of semen deep into his mother's well-fucked pussy, "did you deliver that passport?" "Yes, I did." said Elizabeth. "And the recipient of that passport is going to begin working for me in Paris... an excellent addition to our team, to be sure." "That's cool." said Todd. "And Uncle Donny has no idea about it?" "My dear brother has no clue that I'm even in Town right now." said Elizabeth, her voice filled with contempt and derision. "Much less what's going on around him." She got out of the bed. "You need to get back to work, honey." she said. "BOW Enterprises won't last a day without you." "Yeah, right." Todd said, stretching luxuriously, but not getting out of bed, and just enjoying the sight of his mother's sexy body. "So your group is ready to move? What do you call yourselves?" "Never you mind yourself about that." Elizabeth said. "You'll know everything when the time comes... and that won't be until I have full control of what I want... and once your uncle is safely out of my way..." She peered at her son a moment as he lay on the bed, and she decided that she could take more time to quench her intense sexual desires for her son's body. "In the meantime, stud," she said as she eased back onto the bed, "let's forget all about that and concentrate on real pleasure." She began sucking her son's nipple as her hand gently jacked his young cock back to hardness. A moment later, she shifted her position, laying over his taut belly and groin. She tongued Todd's cockhead and then sank her mouth down his hardening cockshaft. Her lips moved expertly up and down his huge, thick shaft, coaxing her son into his full, ten inch hardness. After several minutes of sucking Todd's cock, Elizabeth eased up and straddled her son. She guided his huge prickhead into her sopping wet, sperm-filled twat, then sank her ass down, incestuously impaling her motherly cunt onto her son's hard male meat. "Ohhhhh, that's so good, baby!" Elizabeth moaned as she began to ride her son. She put the tops of her feet, still in their high heel sandals, onto Todd's muscular thighs, which she knew he really enjoyed. She herself enjoyed riding her own son, feeling herself filled by his cock in such a dirty, sinful way. She groaned as Todd's strong young hand kneaded her big, luscious tits, his mouth sucking her hard nipples. As she rode Todd, she began feeling waves of climaxes rolling through her sopping wet loins. And as she rode her son, the intense fantasies in her head were not of fucking her son... but her hated younger brother. Somehow, thinking of Don fucking her, maybe against her will, made her heat up so fast and hot that her pussy squirted, wetting down Todd's cock and her loins even more... To be continued. You have the clues. What will happen next? Solution next issue! The Credit Card Caper Ch. 03 The chronological order of my stories is as follows: Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player Series, Case of the Black Widow series, Teresa's Christmas Story, The Case of the Black Badge series, A Case of Revenge series, Trilogy Series, Dark Side Of The Force series, Caught In The Act series, Case of the Murdered Bride series. The Credit Card Caper, Ch. 1-3. Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas. This story contains graphic scenes, extreme 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 or racist 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 9 - Making Moves, Continued "What I need," I said, "is a Court Order to exhume Alicia Foster's body." "Say what?" asked Jenna, startled. "To exhume Alicia Foster's body." I replied. "We need to run DNA samples on it. Coltrane County didn't keep the samples they used to test for DUI levels, so we'll have to bring up the body and get what we can. Hopefully, the heat of the fire did not destroy all the DNA." "Okay," Jenna said, "Cindy has told me that you spring things like this on us, but I am going to need a story to tell the judge. What is that story?" "We need to identify the body, leaving no shadow of a doubt." I replied. I gave Jenna further information she'd need to ensure getting that exhumation order. ------- My cellphone had a busy afternoon. First was Judge Folsom, who wanted a clearer explanation of why I wanted to exhume Alicia Foster's body. Once I gave my information, he did issue the warrant, and the body would be exhumed before nightfall. However, it would be two days later, October 22nd, before the DNA results could come back. Next were calls from Council members Thomas Cook and Malinda Adams, who'd been contacted by Spence Foster, demanding to know why we were exhuming his wife's body. I referred them to the Chief, who referred them to the District Attorney's office, who told them it was part of an ongoing investigation which could not be discussed at this time. Then came calls from Laura, giving me information that I'd requested; followed by a call from my nephew Todd, who wanted to know what I wanted from him and Jeanine on my upcoming birthday... Part 10 - The Dorian Sherwood Solution On October 22nd, I got the first results of the DNA tests on the exhumed remains that had been buried under Alicia Foster's name, and I called the Sherwoods and asked them to come in. I also again called in Father Romano, our Catholic Police Chaplain, to be there. I hated this part of my job, but I did not shirk from it nor delegate it to others; it was mine to do. "Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood," I said to the couple as we sat yet again in Interrogation-A at 9:00am, "I can now tell you the full story about your daughter's disappearance. Please bear with me and let me get it all out." I began: "Last February a woman was killed in a car accident in Coltrane County to the south of us. The body was badly burned and it was believed to have been the body of the owner of the car, one Alicia Foster. That county did not have adequate facilities nor finances to run DNA testing at that time." "However, "I continued, "I had that body exhumed, and a comparison to the DNA that you submitted the other day shows that the woman who died in that car crash... is actually your daughter Dorian. I am very sorry for your loss." As the finality of my news hit them, Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood both broke down in sobs. Finally, Mr. Sherwood asked "What happened? Do you know what happened?" "Sir," I said, "I believe your daughter was murdered by Alicia Foster, who wanted to fake her own death. Your daughter was about the same height, weight and body type as Mrs. Foster. I don't have all the details yet, and we are working on bringing in the criminal who committed this crime. At any rate, I sorry that we could not provide a happier result, but perhaps this can give you and your family some closure." Tears stills streaming down her face, Mrs. Sherwood reached across the table and grasped my forearm. "Commander Troy," she said, trying to hold back the sobs, "thank you for not giving up on us, and for finding our daughter." "Yes, thank you, sir." said Mr. Sherwood. "At least... at least we'll be able to take her home and give her a proper burial, under her own name." They stayed with the Chaplain for some time, while I left to find the perpetrator that had senselessly killed their daughter and abused her body. As I exited the room into the anteroom on the police side, Chief Griswold was waiting for me, having watched the sad proceedings. "Good job, Crowbar." he said solemnly. "Having to tell a family of a loss is tough, but they'll appreciate it all the more over time. I just nodded. "Yes sir. But what I'll appreciate... is bringing that poor woman's murderer to Justice..." Part 11 - The Foster Solution I did not have long to wait. The FBI arrested a woman at City Airport, and transported her back to Town. The facial recognition programming immediately recognized one Alicia Foster when she tried to board a plane for Paris under another name. The passport she was using was of the best quality; I would daresay it was originally a CIA-issued ID. I entered Interrogation-1 at 1:00pm, October 22d, with ADA Paulina Patterson and Teresa Croyle, who basically sat back and watched. Mrs. Foster was already in the room, guarded by Sr. Patrolmen Rudistan and Morton. "Okay, Mrs. Foster," I said after I'd read the woman her rights, "would you care to explain all of this?" "With what am I being charged?" Alicia asked confrontationally. I could see why she and Karla Warner had become friends: same temperaments. "Several forms of fraud, from the charitable trust to using your own cancelled credit card to attempt to buy a gun." I said. "And of course, capital murder in the killing of Dorian Sherwood. Aggravating circumstances, too. You didn't kill yourself, but the State sure is going to... after your conviction by a jury of your peers, of course." "You'll never prove that." Alicia snarled. "It's all circumstantial." "I think it'll fly quite nicely." I said. "Circumstantial cases are quite effective. We have you faking your own death, your car with her body in it, that same car booby-trapped to run off the road, and then packed with thermite to burn hot and completely. All of that with you being an engineer and able to rig such a device, not to mention getting thermite from Ward Harvester as a CIA agent. That was one of the few legitimate records old man Ward actually kept of his sales. You are toast, pun not intended, Mrs. Foster." Paulina Patterson picked it up. "As the Commander said, the District Attorney's Office is going for a death penalty case, Mrs. Foster, due to the aggravating circumstances in murdering Miss Sherwood to fake your own death. But if you cooperate, the D.A. might agree to 25-to-life with possible parole." "I want to confer with a lawyer first." said Alicia. "I'm invoking my rights and will not answer any questions at this time." --------- "Spence Foster is here, with his lawyer." said Lt. Teresa Croyle, while we waited. "He's in Interrogation-Bravo." "Okay, get Patrolman Cosby to escort us." I said. "I'm going to bring them to the back, then to Interrogation-2." --------- "Oh my God!" gasped Spence Foster as he looked through the one-way mirror into Interrogation-1. "She's alive?" "Yes, Mr. Foster." I said. "Your wife is alive." "How-? How- why-?" Foster gasped, unable to find words. "Please come this way, Mr. Foster." I said. I led him and his lawyer to Interrogation-2, with Officer Cosby as the uniformed presence. "Have a seat, Mr. Foster." I said. "Now, you say that you had no idea of any of this?" I watched Foster's eyes carefully. "N..n..no." said Foster. "I... I thought she was dead." "Mr. Foster," I asked, "can you tell me any reason, any reason at all, why your wife would want to fake her own death?" "Are you kidding?" Foster answered. "How would I know what is going on in that bitch's mind?" I relaxed and sat back, having heard the words I needed to hear... and seen the look in Spence Foster's eyes. "If you and your attorney will stay here," I said, "I have some things to do. I might want to ask you more questions. Just ask Patrolman Cosby if you want something to drink or need to use the restroom." I exited the room. --------- Two hours later, District Attorney Gil Krasney walked into my office, his tall frame filling the room, looking down at me over the beak of his nose, his hair being combed straight back suggesting he was flying through the breeze. "Commander, I must congratulate you on another outstanding success. This is truly amazing what you've discovered." "Thank you, Mr. Krasney." I said. "So what brings you to our humble Headquarters?" "Alicia Foster's lawyer called me. He and she want to hear it straight from my mouth about the plea deal, but she's willing to talk." I'm sure the upcoming election might have had something to do with D.A. Krasney wanting to be personally in on this case, but I wasn't worried about that at the moment. We went down to Interrogation-1, but not before I gathered Lieutenant Teresa Croyle to sit in with us. Entering the room, Teresa sat in the chair in the corner by the door to the 'perp' side, while the District Attorney and I sat down at the table opposite Alicia Foster and her high-priced attorney. I recognized him; he was a partner in the extremely powerful Law Firm of Gresham & Mason, P.C. These guys represented politicians in Midtown and the Business Elite in the City. Having this guy represent Alicia Foster was somewhat akin to using a 155-mm nuclear-capable howitzer artillery cannon to stop a jaywalking attempt. "Okay," the lawyer said, "my client is willing to talk and make a plea deal, but you have to guarantee that parole is on the table." "Twenty-five to life, with possibility of parole." said D.A. Krasney, sitting next to me at the table. "Provided that the Commander here is satisfied with your statement and level of your cooperation." The legal beagle didn't look happy at that, but nodded to Alicia Foster, who began her story: "I ceased to love my husband several years ago." said Alicia, her face showing no emotion save that of reciting prepared lines. "But I was essentially stuck in this Town, in my job at DynaCorp, because the CIA wouldn't let me walk away from there. They wanted me to keep tabs on the Board member Willoughby and his lawyer Sommes, both of whom the Agency thought were selling secrets to foreign powers. "But I wasn't stupid," she continued, "and I knew that if I wasn't careful, I could be made the scapegoat for it all. So I made some contingency plans. Karla Warner thought her husband was going to divorce her, so she and I created a charitable trust to hide some cash from our husbands. I created a couple of new identities, including that of Mary Hathaway, using CIA contacts. Those contacts no longer exist; you wiped them out a few months ago, Commander." "Anyway," Alicia said, "I basically waited and bided my time. I avoided any problems when Mr. Warner was murdered, and thought I was coasting along. I was going to get a divorce from my husband, but the Company told me to stay married to him- "Why-" interrupted D.A. Krasney, "Er, I'm sorry to interrupt, but why would DynaCorp want you to stay with your husband, or even dare to ask such a thing?" "Not DynaCorp, Mr. Krasney." I said. "By 'Company', she's referring to the CIA. That's what they call themselves." "Oh." said Krasney. "Sorry, I didn't know that. Please, go ahead, Mrs. Foster." "Yes it was the CIA that wanted me to stay." said Alicia. "I had no idea why, but they intimated that they wanted me to keep an eye on him, too. So I knew that my only chance at freedom from that miserable fucking life was to disappear. And the only way to disappear was to fake my own death. "Why Dorian Sherwood?" I asked. Seeing the blank look on Alicia's face, I said "Diana Shire? Why her?" "Oh, her." Alicia said. She paused, then continued. "I met her at some company party, where Warner was wooing some potential customers. She was obviously an escort, and I noticed she was about my height and build. I figured that if she disappeared, nobody would notice; after all, she was a whore, a nobody. So I talked to her and got her number; I think she thought I was going to hire her for a date or something." "A nobody, you say." I said, trying hard to conceal my anger. "That's right, she was nothing." Alicia said coldly, her face showing no emotion at all. "Go on." I said, equally glacially. "Last February I knew I could make my move. I rigged the car up, got some thermite from a source, and lined the car with it. I called the Shire woman, telling her I wanted her to come to a party with me, and offering to pay her, and I told her I'd pick her up at her apartment. As soon as I had her in the car, I injected her with a sedative that knocked her out. I drove the car to the next County, where I knew they didn't have adequate resources to do good testing, and I drove the car off the side of the road by remote control. They didn't really look for the remote control device on the steering column, what was left of it, anyway, and I went into the junkyard the next day and got it. "And it worked, too." she continued. "They declared me dead, wrote off the death as an accident, and I was free to make a new life for myself." "Where were you while you were considered dead?" I asked. "And most importantly, why did you come back to this Town?" "I was in San Francisco for most of the time." Alicia said. "But I had to come back to the City to cash in the charitable trust, using the name Mary Hathaway. I had the money, but it was hard to move it around, what with all the anti-terrorism banking laws nowadays. I had an account in Mary Hathaway's name at Second National Bank, and I had to risk using that for a while until I could get all the money out of State." "Why did you try to buy a gun at Cummings Outdoors?" I asked. "You could have more easily bought a piece without a serial number in the Tenderloin District for cash." "I thought the credit card was still good." said Alicia. "I thought my husband didn't know about it, but apparently he did and he cancelled it. I didn't want to risk buying a gun off the street in case it was an undercover sting operation by your Vice Department or the City's Vice squads." "So why did you need a gun in the first place?" I asked. "What were you planning to do with it?" "Protection, plain and simple." Alicia said. "Don't you carry, even when you're off-duty?" Her answers were holding up, but I strongly suspected that she was not telling me the whole story. I also knew she was a well-trained CIA agent, and I'd have little chance to crack her story without using methods the Police simply aren't allowed to use. "Satisfied?" asked D.A. Krasney, expecting a routine response. But I inhaled then exhaled hard, and responded: "No." I said. "No, Mr. District Attorney, I am not satisfied with these answers. You are hiding things from me, Mrs. Foster." "Why you bastard!" said the lawyer. "You don't give her that deal, Krasney, and I'll make sure none of what she says can be used as evidence, and I'll wipe out any other evidence you have, as well." "Hold on a second, Counselor." said Krasney. "Commander, can I speak to you in the other room?" We exited to the anteroom, and out into the hallway. Paulina joined us; she had been watching with Cindy, Teresa, and the Chief from the anteroom. "Look, Commander," Krasney said, "the evidence will hold up, but he's right; what she said is inadmissible if we don't give her the deal. You just made it harder. So what's up?" "Mr. Krasney, I understand where you're coming from. And don't worry, you'll give her the 25-to-life deal and she'll take it." I said. "But her story was carefully manufactured to exonerate her husband, and I think he's part of it. Just let me ask her a few questions, and let's see what pops." Going back into the room, I said "Okay, Mrs. Foster, I'm going to ask you a few questions. Play it straight with me, and the D.A.'s deal will be back on the table. But if you fuck with me, then a trial in my County won't be your problem... the FBI and CIA will. You've been burned by them, and you know they'll try you... and execute you... for treason if we give you to them." Alicia stared at me for a moment, then said "My husband had nothing to do with this. I don't know else what to tell you." "Oh, come on, Mrs. Foster." I said. "Your entire story was half true. It was admittedly a clever mixture of truth and fiction, but it was obviously designed and manufactured to protect your husband. But is he worth protecting, Mrs. Foster... just answer this: why did your husband come to the police and file a report when you tried to use your credit card at Cummings Outdoors?" Alicia looked startled, then some understanding crept in. "Yes, Mrs. Foster," I said. "I know all about it; you might as well talk, give him up, and take the death penalty off the table... not to mention the death penalty for treason if we give you to the Feds." I sat back and began talking. "Yes, you and your husband agreed that you'd keep one credit card, just in case you might need it in an emergency. But apparently he cancelled the one you kept; and he did not cancel, but physically destroyed, the credit card he thought you were keeping. That little boo-boo came back to haunt you. But what does it say that he went and filed that police report?" "Why don't you tell me, since you seem to know so much?" Alicia challenged. "Sure." I said. "What it means is that your husband is covering his ass, and had no problem throwing you under the bus in doing so. When that credit card popped up as closed, either he realized he'd fucked up and closed the wrong one... or maybe he did it on purpose, wanting you to be found out by the 'accident' of using the closed credit card. He files a report, we find out about you, he's still skating free with the proceeds from the life insurance policy on you... and maybe he can claim the money from Second National, as well. You trusted your husband, Mrs. Foster, and he double-crossed you." "I don't believe you." said Alicia. I had one card left to play. "Mrs. Foster, will you allow me to speak to you alone, without anyone else in the room?" "Now just a minute..." the lawyer began, but I held up my hand. "Mr. Krasney, why don't you and Mrs. Foster's attorney step outside and formalize the 25-to-life deal." I suggested. "Don't worry, counselor, I'm not going to abuse Mrs. Foster's rights. But I think it's very much in her interests that she hears what I have to say, and I won't say it in the presence of anyone else." I looked at Alicia meaningfully. "It's okay," she said to the lawyer. He was not at all happy, but he and Krasney stepped out the door into the 'perp' side to finalize the plea deal. "Teresa," I said, "when you get outside, shut off the videotaping and all audio devices." Teresa left to go into the anteroom. I had every belief that my officers would do that, but to make sure, and to reassure Alicia, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small metallic device... the same device I'd used the night I'd confronted Katherine Woodburn in her KXTC offices. The Credit Card Caper Ch. 03 "Ooooh," Alicia said, her eyes lighting up as I activated the device, which would destroy any chance of our conversation being overheard or recorded. "That's hot-shit stuff. Cops don't have that; where'd you get it?" "Never mind that. I said. "But do take note that I have it, Mrs. Foster. Now, what I do need for you to know... is that my wife is a Deputy Director of the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology. She is one of the highest level CIA officers in the Nation. I think you're aware of this, and who she is. What I can offer you in exchange for your truthful testimony against your husband, is that you won't be assassinated in jail. I know that you've been disavowed, and that if you're put in prison they will get to you. I'm offering you the opportunity to be able to sleep at night while you're in prison. I'm offering you the chance to live." Alicia thought about it. "Okay." she said. "And there is one other little thing I'd like, just between the two of us." I said. "I want your schematics on that remote control you rigged that car with." Alicia's eyes widened in surprise, but she told me where I could find that information... --------- After a phone call to Laura to make sure she'd keep the CIA from killing Alicia, to which she agreed, I went into Interrogation-2. A very impatient Spence Foster and his equally angry lawyer were waiting. With me was D.A. Krasney and Lt. Teresa Croyle. "Okay, Mr. Foster." Krasney said. "I'm giving you a chance to cooperate. I'm offering you a chance to cop a plea." "What the hell for?" Foster asked. "For what charges?" "Conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Dorian Sherwood." I said. "The woman your wife murdered and put into the car when she faked her death. Also, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud in helping your wife fake her death, then receiving the insurance payoff." "Spence, don't say a word." his lawyer said. "They can't prove a word of that. Make them prove it." "That won't be a problem." I said, sitting down. "Let's watch some TV." The TV screen lit up with Alicia Foster telling me and Krasney, in front of her lawyer, that her husband was fully involved in the faking of her death, and fully knew of the plan to murder Miss Sherwood. "That's a lie, every word of it." yelled Foster. "It's all a goddamned lie! She's just saying that shit to save her own goddamned neck." "Why Mr. Foster!" I said, "that's hardly language to talk about your beloved wife in, if you're not having problems with her. But you've given yourself away too many times, Mr. Foster. Closing the wrong credit card, the one your wife thought was good, then having her buy a guy from Cummings Outdoors instead of giving her one from your own inventory, then filing the police report when the credit card alert came out... that was a cute try, Mr. Foster." "Oh yes," I continued, "even more cute was disappearing and going on a strangely-timed vacation, hiding from us, resisting our efforts to bring you in. You thought that would arouse our suspicions -and- bring in the FBI... so maybe we'd investigate and find your wife that way. Once she's out of the way, you can claim the trust fund money from the bank account... which you did know about. Foster's look was one of hate-filled shock as I continued. "Mr. Foster, your wife did not appreciate the betrayal; hence, her testimony against you. I'm willing to let a Jury of your peers decide if she's lying to save her own neck, or if she's telling the truth about you." I then leaned forward and continued. "But you know what really gave you away, Spence? The fact that the CIA did not even try to check up on your wife's death." After ten full seconds of silence in the room, punctuated by both Foster and his lawyer's faces falling as they realized where I was going, I explained: "Your wife was already in trouble with the CIA, and she conveniently dies in a car crash... and they don't bother to investigate? That is just not understandable, Mr. Foster. Except for one reason, and one reason only: you also, Mr. Foster, are an agent of the CIA. And you're one of the last remnants of the late Jody Corrigan's rogue cell." I bore home: "It was you that told the CIA that your wife's 'death' really had happened, which called them off. Corrigan backed it up, and you thought it was a done deal. But once the Corrigan cell was blown to pieces- literally, at County Airport- you had no more reason to keep playing the ruse of Alicia's death. You needed for her to really die, and the best way for that to happen is for her to be exposed. So you told her to come to Town, and to go buy a gun with that credit card that she thought was good, but you knew was closed. And then you went on from there. You actually thought you could betray her and she would remain loyal to you to the last." "So what do you want?" asked the lawyer, beginning the negotiations. Krasney said "I'm willing to go for 20 years with possible parole, given a confession, testimony against your wife, and a guilty plea." Foster accepted the deal. As I stood up, I turned to Teresa and said "You were right, Lieutenant. This one was indeed..." I looked hard into Foster's eyes, "... right up my alley. Book him." I left the room. Part 12 - Wrap Up Apparently while waiting with Spence Foster, Officer Bobby Cosby struck a deal with him to buy Foster's Indoor Gun Range. The FFL was transferred, and I was one of those attending the grand opening of 'Cosby's Safe & Gun Store', buying a nice gun safe at a good price. Officer Cosby resigned from the Force to run his new business with his brother, and they would do very well with it. The Fosters' arraignments and guilty pleas were quickly made, and we were able to keep the details out of the Press's attention until it was too late for them (the Press). But while my wife was able to keep her promise, and the CIA agreed to let Alicia Foster rot in a Supermax prison for the rest of her life (there would be parole hearings, but parole would be forever denied), no such offers nor promises had been made to Spence Foster... he'd forgotten to ask when he made his plea deal. As such, he was found murdered in his cell just a year into his 20-year sentence. That crime would never be solved. So, which was worse... Alicia's crimes in faking her death, and actually murdering Dorian Sherwood... or Spence's in his conspiracy of the same -and- brutally betraying his wife? -------- It was after dinner on October 23d. Laura and I were hosting 'Crowbar's Angels', Cindy, Teresa, and Tanya Perlman, at the Mountain Nest. "I'll help with the dishes, Laura." Cindy offered, and the two women went to the kitchen. Teresa was feeding little Jim and Tanya tended to baby Pete as I held Carole, who apparently thought baby Pete was a second little brother, paying rapt attention to him. "E.J. got a job with the City Police." Teresa said. "We're all kind of shocked about it. Commander, you think he wasn't happy? Think I ran him off?" "Naah, it was Tanya and Julie Newton's fault." I teased. "Seriously, to be honest and a little bit politically incorrect, highly qualified minorities like Earl are in demand. The City saw a chance to improve its minority hiring in their Police, Earl saw a chance to move to the opportunities of the City, and so he went. I'm afraid our small town Police Force just isn't very exciting to some, and they need greater challenges." "Are you kidding?" Teresa said, teasing back in her own way. "Take it from me: this is the best Police Force anywhere. I had to spend six months away from it, and that was hell." "Yes," said Tanya, "and just what can the City offer that this County doesn't in the way of challenging crimes to solve?" "For myself," I said, "I'd prefer that the criminals go to the City and present Earl and his fellow City Police detectives all the challenges they want, and we can just twiddle our thumbs and give out traffic tickets." Both women laughed at that. "Seriously," I said, "I don't think you were an issue with Earl, Teresa. I talked to him when he turned in his resignation. While he really did think the City would give him some opportunities, having to work with Sharples was a factor in his decision to leave." "I can understand that." Teresa said. "Don, I'm a good cop, and I can lead good cops. Even Geiger is acceptable. But Sharples is a cancer inside my unit." "Well, I heard the Coroner's Office is a little better off." said Tanya. "CMB resigned. He's going to be the Chief Medical Examiner for Coltrane County." "Well, good for him." I said, perhaps a bit biting in my voice inflection. "Any idea why he's leaving?" "Personally," said Tanya, "I think he was one of the good ole' boys, like Sanders and Judge Stone. They're in Coltrane County now, so he went down there, too." "Good." I said. "I wish him the best of luck in his new job." I wasn't exactly sorry CMB had left. He didn't like it when I pointed out fallacies in his conclusions, nor when Tanya or I made observations that he missed. "I think he's glad to get away from you too, Don." said Tanya, her eyes twinkling as she teased me. "He did not like not being the undisputed authority at a crime scene." "Which means he didn't like it when you were there, Tanya." I said, giving it right back to her... -------- "So, let me make sure I have this straight." said Cindy to Laura as they finished the dishes. "Alicia faked her death and was living in San Francisco. Her husband called her back, using the burner cell we found in the empty apartment Alicia had been living in." "That's right, from what I know." Laura said. "And Alicia didn't know that when her credit card was rejected at Cummings Outdoors, her husband was going to make a police report, in order to get us on her trail." Cindy said. "That's what Don says." Laura replied. "And both Spence and Alicia were part of that rogue CIA group who met their most timely demises at County Airport a few months ago, while I was holding onto the most important rifle in the history of evidence in this County." Cindy said. "That would be the case." Laura replied. "I know Don has told you a lot more than he tells anyone else, and I appreciate you keeping quiet about some of this stuff. But I really do think you guys just kind of walked into this one by coincidence. We really didn't have any idea of Spence Foster's involvement with the Corrigan cell, and Alicia wasn't really part of them. She was just a sidebar issue." "Is there anyone still out there that's a danger to us?" Cindy asked. Laura said quietly "Keep this between us, but Don and Jack Muscone think there's still a few of them left. Don is not sure if the guys that ambushed you on that Ned raid were the ones he killed at the airport, or of they're still out there. At any rate, I know you're watching my husband's back, and I'm grateful to you for it." "I just have one more question." Cindy said. "If I'm to help Don, I need to know who our enemies are." "Just between us: Keep your eyes on Henry R. Wargrave." said Laura, turning and looking at Cindy. "I am very scared of what he might be planning on doing. Don, he's a bit too fearless, he's actually trying to goad Wargrave into doing something. Please, do keep an eye on my husband, and don't let him get too rash." "I'll watch out for him." Cindy said. "Just like he's watching out for all of us." "Thank you." Laura said. She hugged Cindy, who returned the hug warmly. "Thank you for everything." "Right back at you." Cindy said. "Now Don's sister, who just got sprung out of prison... is she a threat?" "Probably." Laura said. "But if I'm any judge of character, Elizabeth is no match for Don... nor their mother..." ----- "Why, I'm sorry, Fussbudget." I said to my daughter, who was becoming cranky. "I know you want to stay up and talk to Teresa, but it's your bedtime, little girl." "Nite, nite!" said Carole upon hearing the word 'bedtime', surprising us all. After making some goodbyes, which included Carole giving Teresa, Tanya and Cindy big hugs, the three lovely Lieutenants (and baby Pete) headed to their homes, and Laura and I put Carole to bed then headed for our own. "So you and Cindy had a good talk?" I said. Not much deduction in knowing when ladies want to talk amongst themselves, and what they're talking about: men, in this case me. "I did find out this much." said Laura as she changed for bed. "Spence was part of the Corrigan group, but Alicia was very likely not with them." "She was innocent?" I asked, easing myself onto the bed after stripping naked. "No, I didn't say that." Laura said, sliding onto the bed next to me, wearing a black lace teddy. "Alicia was an engineer for DynaCorp, and assigned by the CIA to watch over the contracts. Spence was ordered by the Company to support Alicia's mission, and simply lay low. Gayle did not even know that Spence was in the CIA, and I wasn't told about him, either." "Ahhhhh," I said, quickly grasping the situation. "Should you have been?" I asked. "Yes." Laura said. "Gayle kept me in the loop about the others, but even though he was inactive, I should've known about Spence being inside the Agency. But now we know why we weren't told: Jody Corrigan 'recruited' Spence into his cell, and while Alicia was selling information to outside sources, Spence was feeding that same information to Bartholomew Scott. When the first rumors of the rogue cell began coming out, it was Corrigan who threw Alicia to the wolves, had her disavowed, and also had Spence give her the idea of faking her death. Corrigan got us to believe Alicia was really dead; hence, no investigation. Nice how you spotted that discrepancy in the narrative." Laura leaned over me and began playing with my cock as I asked "So who was Alicia selling her information to? Or can you not tell me?" "I have no idea." my wife said as she played with my balls and jacked my cock to throbbing, iron hardness. "Jack Muscone and his team are assigned to it, and were at the time, but so far they've reported no success in finding out." "That's unusual. In fact, it ought to be- ohhhhhhh!" I gasped as Laura slid her lips over my cock and began deeply sucking it. "Oh geez, baby, that's so fucking good!" After several seconds of fellating me, Laura said "I have a surprise for you. My doctor's appointment is on the morning of your birthday. If I'm cleared, then I'm going to give you one hell of a night, Mr. Birthday Boy." "Oh, that'll be great!" I said. "I can't wait to get back into your sweet pussy again... ohhhhh, oh yeah, baby, that's so good..." I just gave in and let the pleasure flow over me as my beautiful wife gave me head, feeling my balls rumble as I headed toward climax... ------- "This is an amazing view. Amazing!" said SBI Director Jack Lewis. He was looking out the windows of Henry R. Wargrave's 30th-floor offices in the City, admiring the lights stretching out to a seemingly limitless distance against the nighttime sky. "Thank you, Director." said Wargrave. "So what brings you into the City?" "Meetings with Inspector Maxwell, meetings with the City Police Commissioner, always trying to heal the wounds between our law enforcement organizations and foster a spirit of cooperation." "You sound like a politician." said Wargrave. "Speaking in cliches, and obviously not meaning a word of it. "Who knows, Mr. Wargrave." said Lewis. "Maybe I should become a politician. Would you support my run for Governor in two years, should I choose to do so?" "Maybe." said Wargrave. "Though I'm very happy with your work with the SBI. Still a lot to do there, though. That's not a reproach to you, just a reminder that we've still got further mountain peaks to climb, better views to admire." "Yes sir, don't I know it." said Jack Lewis. "By the way, the City Police hired E.J. Jefferson away from the Town & County Police. He was on their Vice Squad. That's really great news for us." "Why is that, Jack?" Wargrave asked politely, already fully knowing the answer. "Their Vice squad is getting thin." Lewis said. "The Iron Crowbar got that Croyle woman back, but now Ikea's gone, Malone is gone, Jefferson is now gone. Most of the people they have now are young, inexperienced... and now they're going to precincts over there, which will divide their forces. Looks like they may need a better Narcotics Task Force to come in and interdict all the drug crimes going on there." "Wishful thinking, Jack?" Wargrave asked. Lewis looked hard at him as Wargrave continued "Better be careful, Jack. And definitely do what I'm doing: waiting until after the November elections. Maybe even wait until next year, after Griswold's gone. That Allgood is a bright young man, but he's just that: young. The Iron Crowbar is one hell of a cop, but he's also just that: young. You'll get your shots, and the Town & County Cops are becoming younger and more inexperienced by attrition every day." "Yeah." said Lewis. "But you heard how Troy nabbed the Fosters? Damn, I have to hand it to him for that one. Especially Spence Foster. Who knew that a quiet man running a gun range was a CIA operative and part of a Rogue Hit Team?" "Yes." said Wargrave. "The Iron Crowbar is damn good, but he was lucky as hell on that one. What kind of luck is it when the parents of a woman who disappeared check on the investigation, the Iron Crowbar personally looks into it, and at the same time some dead woman's credit card is used... and the next thing you know, that man has put the two things together, found the deceased woman, flushed out the fake dead woman, connected her husband where there seemed to be no connection possible -and- got both of them to confess without breaking the law or violating their rights." "Luck is where preparation meets opportunity." said Jack Lewis, looking out at the views. "Well, I know one thing from my experience." said Wargrave, more to himself than to the SBI Director. "Luck runs out. Even the best have bad days, bad streaks. I had a few myself in my younger years. If the bad doesn't wipe you out, you may go on to better things. But when the Iron Crowbar's luck runs out... he won't be able to go on... at all." "Wishful thinking, Mr. Wargrave?" Wargrave's eyes cut to Lewis, who was smiling at his own joke, his eyes twinkling fearlessly in getting a little joke in on the powerful billionaire. Wargrave conceded that one. "Maybe." he said. "Well, I wish you success in whatever you do to him." said Lewis. "But I will say this. I've had some friends tell me about his wife. She was one of the CIA's best operatives ever, and she's still considered a badass now, from what I'm told. And she blew away that Bartholomew Scott guy, who was also a CIA badass, by fiat of a directive from the highest levels. That's some serious shit right there, from what I understand. The point being: I'm sure you know far more about it than I do, Mr. Wargrave, but I'd watch my back if she's anywhere around." Wargrave worked hard to hide how startled he was that Jack Lewis knew so much about Dr. Laura Fredricson. But all he said was "I'll keep my eyes open. So, let's get down to business. What did you have in mind for our friends in the State's so-called 'Northwest Territories'?" Part 13 - Epilogue "...after all, she was a whore, a nobody..." The words stuck in my head as we stood quietly a little distance behind the gathering at the grave site. It had been a long trip to make, but I had wanted to attend. Martin Nash had wanted to come along, as well. It was October 25th, the day before my birthday, a cool, sunny afternoon. Dorian Sherwood, a.k.a. Diana Shire, was being laid to rest, under a tombstone with her own name inscribed upon it, the name of a college graduate. Her family was gathered under the funeral home's tent, family friends as well as people from Dorian's childhood also attending. These were people that knew her, and were now grieving over her loss. The Credit Card Caper Ch. 03 When the funeral was over, and people were streaming back to their cars, the Sherwood family noticed us, and came over. I told them that Dorian's murderer and her co-conspirator husband were behind bars and would remain there for a considerable period of time. Martin and I both endured hugs as the family thanked us for bringing Justice and avenging Dorian's death. We then made our goodbyes and left to come back to the County. Martin was normally quiet, but now he was especially so, so I asked him what his thoughts were. "I was just thinking of how senseless it is." said Nash. "That woman didn't do anything, just living her life, and she was just... murdered in cold blood because her looks matched someone else who wanted to fake her death. I just... knew something wasn't right when I was first investigating her disappearance. Never realized what the answer was, of course." "You did a good job on that, Martin. And you gave it your best effort." I said. "And that's how it should be... we don't give up, no matter who the person is. That's what I've been thinking about all day." "Is that why you wanted to come here, Commander?" Nash asked. "Yes... Alicia Foster had no compunction, no feeling at all, about having murdered Dorian." I said. "She said Dorian was a 'nobody'. I wanted to come here and see for myself: she was not a 'nobody'. She was a sister, a daughter, a classmate and a friend." "Yes sir." said Martin. "There is no such thing as a 'nobody'." "Let that be her epitaph." I said. "And our vow." Finis