Another Day in the Life Ch. 02

I smiled and said "I'll just give you this example. Back when I worked in the lab in Midtown, we came in one Monday morning and were subjected to a lab-wide drug test. Loddy-doddy-everybody. We all peed in the cups and all that, and the testers left and that was that."

"Nine days later, on a Wednesday," I continued, "there was a big buzz around the place. The Lab Director's assistant had been fired, and so had one of the front office people that worked with our clients to ensure legally defensible data. No one could understand why."

"When they told me about it, I said 'Didn't we have a drug test Monday before last?' and everyone oohed and ahhed as they remembered. That was all I said, too... just asked the question, though clearly connecting the dots."

"I didn't think anything of it until I was called into the office of the Lab Director." I said. "He was furious, and demanded to know who told me they'd been fired for failing the drug test. I said that no one had told me anything, and I'd never said they had failed the test. I told him I'd just remembered the drug test the week before, and brought it up, and the connections weren't hard to make."

"The guy almost fired me on the spot." I continued. "And after that, he pretty much treated me like crap, and I realized it would be a most very good idea to start up my own business."

"And you connected the dots here, too." said Muscone. "But you do it so often. And we see the same dots and can't connect them."

"Oh, I dunno." I said. "Team Lazarus has a fearsome reputation in the FBI for connecting dots. So, Paul Escandes. We won't be finding him?"

"I hope not, anyway." said Muscone. "Seriously, Witness Protection has him, and they're hiding him again."

"I wish I could've spoken with him." I mused. "I'd like to know if he procured any oxycodone for Patricia Ridley."

"I made sure to have some FBI Agents talk to Escandes before the Marshals took him out of the region." said the EAD. "We also checked out his movements over the past couple of weeks. Jack, go ahead and email Commander Troy their report. You may disseminate that report to your Detectives, Commander. I don't think there's much there to help you, though."

"Thank you. I'll check on it." I said. "So, what else brings you to my humble office?"

"Humble is right!" the EAD said with a chuckle. "Of all your many awards, you've got two of yours and two of your dog's on the wall!"

"And I'm very proud of Bowser." I said with a smile.

"We came down to tell you," said Muscone, moving things along, "that the FBI is already gearing up to fight the State Independent Counsel on this Jasmine Nix case. We will not be cooperating in any way. We will not be complying with any subpoenas. We will not be be allowing any Agents to be witnesses. We will not be turning over any data to them. We have solid legal grounds, and if push comes to shove... and it will... a Federal judge is ready to come in and squash that punk Mullen like the little bug he is."

"Unfortunately," said the EAD, "even though you're an FBI Consultant, we can't protect you completely. We're working to provide counsel for you, but he would be limited to stopping Mullen from asking about the Nix case. We can't help you on the other stuff."

"I understand." I said. "And I appreciate your efforts. There is one thing you might can help me with. I'm investigating that attack on the Governor when that poor young woman was killed. She may have had some information related to some of my cases, and former SBI Director Jack Lewis may know where her information is. If you guys find something on Lewis that I can use like a crowbar to pry the truth out of him, I'd be very grateful."

"Jack," said the EAD, "I'll leave that to you. Give Don what you find; don't tell me. I want plausible deniability on it."

"Yes sir." said Muscone.

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

Meanwhile, Joanne Warner and Theo Washington came into the offices of HelpPoint Medical Sales, and were shown into the office of their Manager, Jack Dorsett. Dorsett was tall and lean with dark brown hair and a full beard and mustache.

"Thank you for seeing us today." said Joanne cheerfully. "We'd like to ask a few questions about your employee, Dennis Ridley."

"Sure, but what's it about?" asked Dorsett.

"We're doing a background check on his wife." said Theo. "As part of that, we have to check up on him, as well. Entirely routine."

"I didn't know Police did these things," said Jack Dorsett, "but go ahead. How can I help you?"

"Is Mr. Ridley here today?" asked Joanne.

"No, he's taking a personal day." said Dorsett. "Said something about meeting with his attorney. I figured it was his divorce attorney..." He let the sentence hang.

"That may well be the case." said Theo reassuringly. "So Mr. Ridley is a good employee?"

"Yes." said Dorsett. "One of our top tier sales agents, has some of our better clients in his portfolio."

"Gets along well with his coworkers?" asked Joanne, keeping her voice bright and cheerful.

"Yes. No complaints, anyway." said Dorsett. "But I'll just come right out with it. We all know he's having marital problems, and things like that weigh down on anyone, especially with a kid involved."

"Have you met his wife and son, sir?" asked Theo.

"Yes." said Dorsett.

"And what is your impression of her?" asked Joanne, causing Theo to glance sideways at her for a second.

"Uh..." said Dorsett. "I gotta be careful with my words, here. His wife Patricia gave me a very negative impression when I met her. She did not seem to care that she was meeting her husband's boss when we first met, and at other times I met her I thought that the only way she was a good salesperson was to... well, to give extra benefits to get the sale, if you know what I mean."

"No, I don't know what that means." said Theo. "Care to elaborate further?"

"No." said Dorsett. "I'll say no more on it, as I have no proof of anything, and won't risk committing slander."

"What about their son?" asked Theo. "What was your impression of him?"

"He was very introspective, very self-absorbed." said Dorsett. "He's what, twelve, thirteen years old now, and he seemed to have no interest at all in anything going on around him."

"Okay, then." said Joanne. "Thank you for your time, sir."

Part 9 - Runaway

When Jerome Davis and Teddy Parker got to Advantage Chemical Sales, which was one office suite in a long building on North Street. Davis exhibited his Police badge and asked to speak to Patricia Ridley's boss. The receptionist picked up her phone and made a call, and said that the Police were here to see the Manager. A moment later she said "I'm sorry, but the Manager is in meetings and will be unable to talk to you today."

"This is a Police matter, ma'am." said Teddy Parker severely.

4The receptionist did not reach for the phone, but said "As I said, Officer, he will not be speaking with you today."

"Is that right?" Parker drawled in his 'enhanced' Mississippi accent. "Well, if he insists that we get a warrant, that's what we'll do." He got out his cellphone and speed-dialed the Courthouse. The receptionist looked worried... and rightly so.

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

The man burst out of the back door of Advantage Chemical Sales and began practically running to his car.

"Mr. Wendell Gloster?" he heard his voice called as he got to his car. He saw a very tall man and a short woman with an hourglass-shaped body approaching him.

"Sorry, I have an urgent appointment. Gotta go!" said Gloster. He attempted to get into the car, but found the man blocking him from closing the door.

"What the fuck?" Gloster said angrily. "Get the hell out of my way!"

"Get out of the car." I said. "Now."

"Fuck you!" Gloster said, attempting to start the car. He found a Police badge in front of his face.

"I'll tell you one more time." I said. "Get out of the car or I will pull you out by force." Gloster resignedly turned and got out of the car. I pushed him into the side, twisting him around so that his chest slammed into the window of the back door. I pulled his arm behind him to affix cuffs.

"Hey!" Gloster protested. "What is this about?"

"You are under arrest, Mr. Gloster." I said. "The charge is 'Evading Police'. You attempted to run from my Detectives in the lobby of your company, so we'll just go to the Station, take you through booking, and then my Detectives will talk to you at their leisure."

"Are you kidding?" Gloster all but shouted. He found out that I was not as I put him into the back of my SUV, and Teresa and I drove him to Headquarters, where Sergeant Rudistan gave him a tour of Booking... step by step.

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

Mr. Garner of Lowe, Ball & Lynch, P.C., who were business attorneys, came into Interrogation-1. He had been J.G. McGill's attorney, so I knew him all too well.

"What the heck is this, Commander?" asked Garner.

"Mr. Garner," I said, "you're a business attorney. You should talk to your client about getting a criminal attorney. I'll leave you to discuss things with him." I got up and left, going into the anteroom.

"Okay, guys," I said, "I don't have a lot of time, so I'm going to egregiously interfere and break this guy down for you."

"Watch and learn, guys." said Cindy. When Garner was ready, he had us come in.

"My client did not even know Police were outside." said Garner. "His receptionist only said two gentlemen wanted to see him, and he was busy."

"They told her they were Police, and they heard her say into the phone that they were Police." I said. "And don't try to tell me he didn't know: he flew out the back door like a bat out of hell. Why were you running from Police, Mr. Gloster?"

Gloster was relatively short, gaining weight, had thinning hair, and was not handsome at all. He looked part angry, but part scared as he said "I had an urgent appointment."

"With whom?" I asked.

"None of your business." said Gloster.

"Mr. Gloster," I said, sitting back in my chair, "you need to understand that I did not arrest you just for the fun of it. This is a very serious situation. You could be charged as an accessory to attempted murder." I emphasized the last two words, speaking them with special clarity.

Both attorney and client's eyes widened. "Are you kidding me?" asked the attorney Garner.

"Not one bit." I replied. "So get your act together, Mr. Gloster. Do you know a woman named Patricia Ridley?" I asked.

"She's one of my sales staff." said Gloster.

"Is she a good employee?" I asked.

"What does this have to do with anything?" asked Garner. "What is going on here?"

"I am the one asking questions, here, Mr. Garner. And your client needs to answer them." I said. "Now Mr. Gloster, is Patricia Ridley a good employee?"

"She's okay." said Gloster.

"Have you had sex with Mrs. Ridley?" I asked.

"What?"

"Answer the question." I said.

"What do you define as 'sex'?" asked Ridley. I could feel a lot of people's eyes rolling all over the place.

"What, do I have to spell it out?" I thundered. "Intercourse, fellatio, cunnilingus, fingering, fondling... hell, I'll spell out every frickin' act in the book... and double hell, my wife wrote that book, she's the sex professor on Campus. Stop wasting my time, Gloster... did you have sex with Patricia Ridley?"

Gloster was breaking down. He mumbled "It was consentual. Nothing was forced upon her."

"You had consentual sex with Mrs. Ridley?" I asked.

"Yes." said Gloster. "She wasn't a very good sales rep, so she gave me a blowjob when I began complaining about her numbers. So naturally I kept her on, and she initiated every encounter we had. Then her numbers went up, so she didn't have to fuck me or blow me anymore, and I was good with that."

"So she was banging clients to get accounts?" I asked, my voice harsh.

"I don't know for sure." said Gloster. "But it was widely rumored among the staff that she was."

"Your company sells chemicals, and pharmaceuticals?" I asked.

"Yes." said Gloster, looking miserable.

"Oxycodone?" I asked.

"We take orders for drugs up to Schedule II." said Gloster. "But those are delivered straight to the pharmacy or the University Hospital pharmacy. We never have physical possession of restricted drugs."

"You sell to pharmacies." I asked as a statement.

"Yes." said Gloster. "Mostly to smaller ones in the northern half of the State."

"So where is the accessory to attempted murder, here?" asked Garner.

"Still in play." I said. "There was an attempt to murder Mrs. Ridley by spiking her pain reliever bottle with oxycodone capsules. And your client, Mr. Garner, is not cleared as a suspect, since he has the motive of wanting to keep his sexual encounters with her a secret. Mr. Gloster, you can go... but stay in Town. If you leave the County, I'll have the U.S. Marshals find you and arrest you..."

Part 10 - Meetings

11:00am, Tuesday, April 17th.

"Okay, everyone," I said as I walked into MCD. "Meeting in Classroom 'E'. Roll in the whiteboards if you need 'em." A trickle of Detectives followed the Police Commander and Captain of Detectives into Classroom 'E'. When all was said and done, present were: Chief Moynahan, me, Captain Ross, Supervisor Myron Milton, Detectives Joanne Warner, Theo Washington, Jerome Davis, Teddy Parker, Christopher Purvis, and Roy McGhillie.

"First of all," I said when we were settled in with the coffee and doughnuts the Chief and I had brought in, "I need to tell you about Paul Escandes. He is in Witness Protection. He was a minor figure in an Eastern European gang in the City, got busted, turned informant and helped bust some seriously bad actors. He was relocated here, for reasons I am not sure."

"Before relocating him, the FBI interviewed him about his relationship with Patricia Ridley." I continued. "He says they met two years ago when she bought some exercise equipment from Coltrane Sports, and began the affair when he delivered the equipment to her home and she dragged him into bed. He said he did not consider the relationship serious, that it was more like a 'friends with benefits' situation, and that they both dated other people during that time."

"He said she'd told him that her marriage was loveless and breaking apart, and that it was only a matter of time before she pulled the string and divorced him. The FBI did not ask him about the oxycodone, because they did not want to tip him off that the Marshals and the FBI are looking into that to see if he accessed any illegal drugs."

"Sir?" asked Joanne Warner, "if I understand this correctly, he bolted from the store the night before Patricia Ridley reported the spiked bottle. How did someone know to tell Escandes to bolt?"

"And who is that someone that told him to bolt?" asked Jerome Davis.

"Ah, you noticed that, did you, Ms. Warner?" I said in a falsetto voice, then said in my normal voice "Those are both good questions, and something to consider. Right now, let's move to Myron's report. He has a lot of stuff for us."

"Yes sir, I do." said Myron. "First Dennis Ridley. He's done well with HelpPoint Medical Sales. He's having a good bit put into his life insurance, and he's had some of his commissions deferred into a year-end bonus that gets put into a trust he established before he married Patricia, with himself as the sole beneficiary. All this makes his ordinary income look pretty small."

Myron went on: "Patricia Ridley also is making pretty good income with Advantage Chemicals. But she also has some pretty healthy spending habits, pun not intended. Credit cards in only her name pay most of her and Zack's essential needs, and then she has some expenses above that, mostly jewelry and shoes, as well as eating at restaurants a lot with friends. Some of that gets expensed, but a lot of it doesn't."

Myron went on: "Dennis has a degree from the University, in Chemistry. Patricia has a degree from City U., in Business Administration."

More Myron: "Susan Carrera has her own business. It is a marketing firm for smaller pharmaceutical companies. The company has several clients, some of which are solid companies and pay their bills regularly. But some are start-ups, and if they're not doing well, Susan doesn't get paid. As such, her own finances are feast-or-famine. She's run up some huge personal credit card numbers in the past, and paid them down when money comes her way. And because her business has cash flow problems at times, she's lost some of her employees as a result. And competition in that arena is only getting stiffer. One wrong move, and she might end up in deep kimshee."

"Anything on Paul Escandes?" Jerome Davis asked.

"No, and for the record I'm stymied there." said Myron. "I started looking, but the records are cut off now, since the guy is in Witness Protection. Not like that has ever stopped me, though. I have been able to find out that Escandes made no questionable actions in the last few weeks. No sudden spending of money, no contacts with old friends from the old gangs. So if he did anything with drugs, it hasn't been found yet."

"Okay, good." I said. "Don't get in trouble with the Feds over that, though. Okay, next up... Zack. What did you guys find on him?"

Cindy spoke up: "We went to his school today. No disrespect to Purvis and McGhillie, but it was a good thing I was there; Police Detectives are one thing, a full-bore Police Captain with a green crowbar is another. They were 'reluctantly helpful', is the term I'll use."

"What we found out," Cindy continued, "is that Zack has become deeply introspective and very quiet over the last two years. His name is on special watch with the school system; they're beginning to track him over time. Basically, he just doesn't talk to anyone, doesn't play sports games during recess, doesn't hang out with any crowds, good or bad. He's prohibited from having video games while at school, but he still socializes with no one."

"The school psychologists have talked to him many times." said Cindy. "I talked to one of them, who knows Dr. Fredricson pretty well so he talked to me 'off the record', so to speak. He said there's little they can do about Zack. He's not hyperactive or ADHD, so they can't force him to be on any medications. He makes barely passing grades, and makes as little effort as he needs to make those grades. They think he's a fairly smart kid, but he's just... bored."

"Is there any area where he has shown an abnormal or weird interest?" I asked. "Like pyrotechnics, chemical reactions, making drugs in a meth lab?"

"Sir, he's twelve years old!" protested Joanne.

"I needed you around instead of my mother when I was twelve." I replied. "I don't know how many times she busted me down for 'unauthorized' experiments with ammonia and Clorox, and such stuff." (Author's note: do not try any experiments with those chemicals at home. Seriously, just don't.) "Point being, if Zack's playing around with things like that, or with fire, then I'll entertain ideas he's a suspect, here."

"Sir," said Christopher Purvis, "the psychologists said he didn't fit that pattern. He's not been known to harm any animals. He's not been known to set things on fire. Nothing overt to get attention. They think that his home life isn't a warm, loving environment, and he just shuts down to the outside world."

"All right." I said. "This may be a waste of your time, guys, but I want y'all to dig a little deeper... and with the idea to find if Zack could possibly get hold of oxycodone." Cindy and Purvis nodded.

I looked at the whiteboards. DMV photos of Susan Carrera, Wendell Gloster, and Paul Escandes were now posted.

"Why Escandes?" I asked.

"Sir," said Joanne, "we considered the possibility that he bolted because Patricia found out who he really was, and before he left he tried to take care of the loose end by poisoning her."