Town & County Confidential Ch. 01

Chief Moynahan asked: "So what do you want to dooooo, Mr. Crowbarrrr?"

I replied: "I'm waiting for my Operations Commander and Captain of Detectives to tell me, Chief. Suggestions, ladies?"

"The Detectives will be doing follow-up interviews with the store people that were robbed and also the owners." said Tanya Muscone. "We're also touching base with our C.I.s."

"What about where the next holdup or holdups might be?" asked Dwight Stevens. "Any analysis of that?"

"Not yet." Teresa said. "That's where C.I.s come in, and that takes a bit of time."

Stevens said: "The reason I'm asking is because we'd like to set up some stakeouts and catch at least a couple of these guys, then start working our way up to the higher-ups."

A pall of utter silence met him. Jack Muscone tried to rescue the situation by saying "We're hoping this will be a joint operation between the TCPD and the DEA, working together to clean up the mess at the local level, and also get a bead on larger operations in the State and this region of the country."

"I get that, Jack." said Teresa Croyle. "But we're just not at that stage yet. I'm still not convinced this is a drug operation at all."

"What do you think, Don?" Tanya asked.

I looked at Jack Muscone and said "I think I'm being treated like a mushroom. Kept in the dark and fed a lot of shit." I then turned to Dwight Stevens and said "Agent Stevens, I've given you demonstration after demonstration that I know what the fuck I'm doing. Yet you continue to treat me as if I am an Agency of the Weak-Minded... again, and again, and again, and again." I was pounding my fist on the table as I said those 'again's.

"What the hell?" Stevens asked, making his voice sound confused.

"You are already planning stakeouts, with or without us... you just all but said so." I said angrily. I turned to Jack Muscone again and said "So Jack, what does Agent Stevens know that he is keeping from me and the TCPD?"

Muscone did not try to win the 'blink' contest with me. He turned to Stevens and said "It's only fair to tell them what we know if we're going to be operating on the Iron Crowbar's turf."

"First of all, Commander Troy" Stevens said icily and formally, "I am not deliberately trying to hide anything from the TCPD. We develop intel information that we don't share with anyone, just as you do. I said earlier that some of the names in these holdups coincide with names on our watch lists, but I don't intend to share how we got that information... especially with KXTC blabbing everything they're getting from leaks in your Police Force."

"That's a cheap shot." Teresa said flatly. The Iron Wolf was giving Stevens her full-bore 'Teresa Cunt' look, which did not bode well for Agent Stevens's health and safety.

"It's not meant to be, but it's true." said Stevens, his voice now sounding rattled. "And I know you've been working on plugging the leaks. But the bottom line is that we're connecting these holdups to drug operations we've been working on for a while now."

"And Don," Jack Muscone said, trying to play peacemaker, "take my word for this, or don't, but we really do want to include you and the TCPD in this, and in good faith. The DEA could have come in here under your noses, but we have too much respect for you to do that."

That did not go over well with me, but for Tanya's sake I did not say out loud the reply that first came to my mind. Instead, I said "Well, Commander Croyle is correct. We're nowhere near the point of putting our Officers at risk on dangerous stakeout missions, based on what we have so far."

In the awkward silence that followed, Chief Moynahan said "O-kayyyy, why don't we all get back to work. Jack, call me if you get any new information, and I'll do the sammmme if we get something. Agent Stevens, I do suggest that you not conduct any Federal oper-ay-shunnns in our County without letting us knowwwww." With that, he stood up, prompting all of us to stand up, and the meeting was 'ovah'...

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

The Sheriff looked like a kindly old man, and with his big handlebar mustaches he looks like everyone's granddad. But I wasn't fooled; he was sharp as a tack. He knew every powerful handgun that slugs were fired out of, and he could identify any slug of bourbon I put in my flask.

County Sheriff Antonio Griswold, the People's Choice by an historic margin at the ballot box, had been the Town & County Police Chief when I joined the Force, and had risen through the ranks of the Town Police Force before the Town and County merged their governments.

His Detective skills at crime scenes were unparalleled; even I learned from him. He had also been awarded the Medal of Valor for heroism, and was one of the very few persons on the planet that I truly looked up to. His hobbies were fishing and tasting bourbon whiskeys. He could identify any bourbon by nose and taste, or at least the distillery where it was made.

At 2:00pm, Wednesday, October 7th, he had joined the Chief, me, and Teresa Croyle in the Chief's Conference Room. I swept the room for bugs and found none.

"Okayyyy, Mister Crowbarrrr," said the Chief as we started the meeting, "you did not invite Captain Muscone to join us?"

"No, Chief." I said. "She's monitoring our Detectives as they interview the shop owners or managers that were robbed. And I'm sorry to say that with her being married to Jack Muscone, we need to have this meeting and plan our actions without her."

"That will be rectified soon." growled Sheriff Griswold. "Right now, we need to decide if we're going to work with the Feds on this, or not."

"And if we're going to look the other wayyyy when the Feds come in with their own oper-ay-shunnns." drawled Chief Moynahan.

"I'd say 'no', sir." said Teresa when I looked over at her. "Not to be cynical or anything, but something fishy was going on with Dwight Stevens, and Don was right when he called him out on it."

I replied with a grin: "You, cynical? Why, perish the very thought!" The Chief chuckled, and the Sheriff's big handlebar mustaches twitched merrily. Teresa gave me as much of a grin as we were going to get out of her.

"Yes, sir," she replied, "and you were right that any stakeouts could potentially be dangerous, and the Feds just add more layers of uncertainty to it all."

"True. Well said." I replied. "And Chief, Sheriff, there's more to it than that. Intel had been developing information that The Eighth Street Latinos are starting to bring prostitution into the County. The low-grade, streetwalker-level prostitution where the girls are low-class, hooked on drugs, and have venereal diseases at more than twice the rates of the University students that are hooking their way through school."

I continued: "I was hoping to really crack down on that facet of the gang's activities and drive the prostitution clean out of our County, but the Feds sticking their noses into our business is going to put the gang on high alert, and the perps might spot and interfere with our operations before we have a chance to implement them."

"Wouldn't shutting down the gang's drug operations help take care of that?" asked the Chief.

"No sir." said Teresa. "If we don't go in, arrest the girls and their pimps, and either put them in prison or deport them, since most of them are Illegal Persons in the first place, they won't care and they won't stop running the prostitution rings."

I said "That's right. But let me circle back to this business with the Feds, and should we trust them, much less do their grunt work for them with stakeouts. Dwight Stevens knows something that we don't know, and he wouldn't share it even when I called him out on it, and even after we showed them our videos of the robberies. He's not meeting us halfway, and that makes the stakeouts even more dangerous for us. No way I'm allowing Commander Croyle to put our Officers in harm's way under those conditions." Teresa nodded vigorously in agreement.

"Har." barked Sheriff Griswold. "You're right, Crowbar. That's what Stevens was doing. He wanted you to commit the TCPD to do the stakeouts, which are hard, dangerous, and Law Enforcement Officers at every level from local to Federal have always hated doing them. And then his Feds would come in and take the glory of the busts after we did the work."

"You still think he's one of the good guys, Don?" Teresa asked. I knew what she meant We'd dealt with dirty Federal Agents in the past, and sometimes it was hard to tell who was good and who was bad.

"Yes, I do think he's honest." I replied. "But I also think he's stubborn. He just won't listen to good advice because I'm the one giving it, and he can be manipulated too easily. For example, I don't think it was just his idea to try to get the TCPD to do the DEA's grunt work for them. That sounds like something someone higher up thought of, and suggested that Stevens try it."

"And this is why we can't have Tanya in here, Chief." Teresa said. "The next logical question is if her husband Jack Muscone is the one disrespecting the TCPD by wanting us to do the Feds's grunt work."

I shook my head in disagreement. "No, Jack Muscone may genuinely want to keep the TCPD in the loop and work with us rather than counter to us. But again, let's circle back to the real issue here: the DEA knows something about this gang and this possible drug operation, and they're not telling us what they know. And for that reason alone, I think we should not cooperate with them..."

Part 5 - A Day in Police Life

Meanwhile...

2:00pm, Wednesday, October 7th. Captain Tanya Muscone, Lieutenant Jerome Davis, and Lieutenant Micah Rudistan were in Classroom 'E'. The array of monitors were showing various hidden Officer-cams on the persons of the Detectives interviewing various shopkeepers. They also had microphones that could speak into the hidden earbuds the Detectives were wearing.

Detectives Julia Rodriguez and Teddy Parker walked into the Qwik Stop on Riverside Drive, not far from The Old Mill, which was 2nd Precinct Headquarters and to the south of Police Headquarters. "Pablo Gomez?" Julia asked the cashier.

"Si." said Pablo, followed by a spate of Spanish.

"You speak English?" asked Teddy Parker.

"No hablo Inglés." said Gomez. (I don't speak English.)

"Estás mintiendo. Y nosotros somos la Policía." Julia said, exhibiting her badge. (You're lying. And we're the Police.)

"What do you want?" Pablo said, his voice unfriendly.

Teddy Parker said "We're following up on the robbery here the other night, and we have some additional questions."

Pablo said "I told the Policia that night everything that I know."

Julia asked sharply: "Is there a problem in us asking for your cooperation in our investigation? Or do we need to take you to the Police Station right now?"

"What is it about?" Pablo asked.

Teddy Parker asked "Did you see anyone in the days before the robbery just hanging around? Maybe casing the joint to see when the best time to rob you was?"

"No, nothing like that." said Pablo, sounding a bit more relieved.

Parker: "Did you see anyone in the same clothing the robbers wore? The same jackets, same jeans, same or similar shirts?"

"No." said Pablo, with no elaboration.

Julia had been looking at the store cameras, then around the store: down the aisles, behind the counter, through the door to the employees area in back. She came to the counter and said "Mr. Gomez, do you remember who else was in the store when the robbers came in? Other employees, other customers?"

"No." said Gomez, with no elaboration. His voice had grown tense again.

Julia: "Do you have a safe in back where you keep money?"

"No." said Gomez, with no elaboration.

"What do you do?" asked Parker. "Take your cash home every night?"

"I put it in the back of a drawer in my desk in my office." said Pablo. "It is hidden well, so even if someone broke in, they would not see it."

Julia said "We know that the robbers took a large envelope from under the cash drawer in the register. Is that where you kept your extra cash?"

"Yes." said Pablo after a moment's hesitation.

"Was anyone in the back room during the robbery?" Teddy asked. "Or in the storage room?"

"No." said Pablo.

"Thank you for your time." said Julia Rodriguez. To Teddy she very quietly said "Let's go."

Once they got outside, Julia looked around again. "Nobody's watching the place now, in broad daylight in the middle of the afternoon." She and Teddy walked to her car and got in.

"Anything?" they heard through their earbuds. It was Captain Muscone speaking.

"No ma'am." said Julia. "And I didn't see where any customers could be that could've been out of camera range, nor how anyone could be around the cashier area without being on a camera."

"Ma'am," said Teddy, "Pablo was suspicious. Tried to say he didn't know English until Julia broke him down. Answered our questions as shortly as he could, no elaboration, and he seemed nervous a couple of times when we asked certain questions."

"Yes," said Tanya, "we saw that on your hidden Officer-cam. Do you think it's a good location for a possible stakeout?..."

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

4:15pm, Wednesday, October 7th. Detectives J.J. Perry and Joan Laurer entered the convenience store on the northwest side of Town, just north of where the Bypass joined the road west that led to the State Line ten miles away. This section of Town on the west side of the River was relatively new, and many had been surprised how quickly it had been taken over by the Hispanic community that worked in the farm fields owned by the giant BigAgraFoods Corporation to the west of Town and the River.

J.J. Perry had the nickname 'Ice Cube' because he was cool as ice under dangerous circumstances. For years he had been undercover, so deep undercover that he was not permitted to attend Police functions nor wear his Police uniform. His information had led to the busts of many dangerous criminals, including drug distributors. But the reporters of KXTC learned of him and made sure to expose him to the world, greatly endangering his life.

I brought him in from the cold, and now he was doing regular Police work in the wealthier northern areas of the Town and County, places he did not often visit while undercover in the more dangerous Southside.

"Were you the one here when the store was robbed the other night?" Perry asked the man behind the counter, who was very young, white, and looked as dumb as a box of rocks.

"No, that was Rafael." said the man. "He's in back."

After an awkward moment where he did not move, Joan Laurer, who was tall, statuesque, very fit, and the current Police Boxing Matches Champion, finally said "Would you call him up here so we can talk to him?" She exhibited her TCPD badge.

"What's it about?" the young man asked.

"You're not very smart, are you?" J.J. Perry said. "I just asked if you were the one that was here during the robbery. So guess what we want to talk to Rafael about?"

"You don't have to be snotty assholes about it." the kid whined. His hand moved to his pants pocket.

"STOP!" Joan Laurer yelled as with lightning speed she drew her service weapon and aimed it at the kid's head. "Get your hands up... GET 'EM UP!" she yelled. The kid looked shocked, but finally raised his hands.

"What the fuck is your problem, Pig?" the kid asked. "I'm getting my phone to call Rafael."

"Keep your hands where I can see them!" Laurer said. She went behind the counter, told the kid to put his hands on the counter, then frisked him, finding no weapons. She cuffed his hands behind his back after putting his cellphone on the counter.

"This is Police brutality." said the snotty kid.

Joan replied: "You called us 'snotty assholes' and 'Pigs', and then reached for your pants pockets as if going for a weapon. People have been shot by the Police for less."

Meanwhile, J.J. Perry had gone into the back room. Seconds later he was back, directing a college-age Hispanic man towards the counter.

"Are you Rafael?" Joan asked.

"No hablo Inglés." said Rafael. (I don't speak English.)

"Estás mintiendo. Y nosotros somos la Policía." J.J. Perry said, exhibiting his badge. (You're lying. And we're the Police.)

"¿Qué quieres?" Rafael asked as he was forced to put his hands on the counter and was swiftly frisked. The conversation continued in a mixture of English and Spanish, which I present in all English here:

"You were here during the robbery the other night?" Joan asked.

"Yes." said Rafael.

"Did you recognize the clothing, the jacket or caps, of the robbers?" asked Perry. "Did you ever see them in here before that night?"

"Not that I remember." said Rafael.

"Any related gang colors?" asked J.J. Perry as Joan Laurer brought her handcuffed box of rocks in front of the counter. "Anyone casing this place in the days ahead of the crime?"

"Not that I saw." said Rafael. "We usually don't have any trouble like that. Those guys stay on the Southside."

"Is there a safe in the back office?" J.J. asked as Joan began looking around the store, particularly at where the cameras could and couldn't see. Yeah, I know, that covers everywhere. But some people are as dumb as boxes of rocks, and need to be told that.

"No." said Rafael. "We have a lockbox for extra cash that's put in a locked drawer in the desk. The owner gets the extra money out every morning and takes it to the bank."

"We know the robbers took what was in the cash register." said Perry. "Was there any other money they took? From the back, or in one of these counter drawers?"

"No, there was none to take up here, except what's in the register." said Rafael. "And they didn't go in the back."

"Do you remember what customers were here at the time of the robbery?"

"There were a few people in here." said Rafael. "They were buying snacks, or over at the beer cooler. The robbers made them lie down on the floor."

"They didn't take any beer, or any munchies?" Joan Laurer asked as she came back up to them.

"No, just the cash in the register." said Rafael.

"Did they look like they were high? On drugs?" Joan asked.

"They were really agitated." said Rafael. "I wouldn't know if they were on drugs or not."

"All right." said Perry. He nodded to Joan, who took off the dumb kid's handcuffs.

"I suggest you pay the Police more respect." said Joan to the dumb kid. "The gangbangers at Jacksonville State Prison would just love to pop your cherry ass."

With that, she and Perry exited the store. They looked around the parking lot and the surrounding area as they went to their vehicle.

"Anything?" they heard Tanya Muscone say into their earbuds as they got in the car.

"No ma'am." said Laurer. "And other people should've been in in sight of the camera. There could have been people in the back room, also, no matter what Rafael said."

"Is this a good candidate for a stakeout?" Tanya asked.

"There's a mirror behind the counter, which is likely a one-way glass." said Joan. "But to be honest, ma'am, this robbery was not like the others. Much less cash obtained, no packets that we could see on camera, anything like that. It looks like it was a quick-hit robbery by two strung-up thieves that needed some drug money."

"Roger." said Tanya. "Come on back to Headquarters."

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

5:00pm, Wednesday, October 7th. All the MCD, Vice, and Intel Detectives and their leadership were meeting with me, Commander Croyle, the Sheriff, and the Police Chief in Classroom 'E'.

"All the interviews seem remarkably similar." said Captain Tanya Perlman after we watched the Officer-cam videos. "A little bit too similar. They all try to claim they didn't speak English, then their answers were all the same. Nobody noticed anything, no one noticed if they were being cased beforehand."