Caught in the Act Ch. 01

Lorena Rose left, looking as perplexed as she felt. I could understand, some of my other Detectives were also surprised that we were not holding these two. But I had reasons for not arresting them just yet... not the least of which was that I had doubts that either was guilty of the crime.

-----------------------------------

At 1:00pm, a meeting convened in the main conference room. I'd sent my Detectives home at 5:00am after I interviewed Seth, telling them to come back for this meeting and to get some sleep, a shower and some food in the interim.

Present were: me, at the head of the table where the Chief used to normally sit, Cindy Ross, Martin Nash, Teddy Parker, Lorena Rose, Claire Michaels and Crime Lab Technicians Christina Cho and Joey "J.R." Barnes, who'd been sent by Dr. Woodrow on purpose to get them some experience in these things.

"CMB says that death was by bleeding out from the blow to the back of the head." said Barnes, who was youngish, had dark brown hair and thin sideburns leading to a goatee beard. He was not nearly as good a technician as Christina Cho was, and he was not the most promising crime scene investigator; however, Dr. Woodrow thought that he had the most leadership potential, while Christina all but refused to take on nor exhibit leadership.

J.R. said "The blow was to a slight angle, to the right of dead center. CMB thinks someone snuck up on Belle where he stood, and he was just turning to see who it was when he got whacked. It was a pretty savage blow that fractured the skull. That in and of itself was probably not fatal, but it did enough damage to cause bleeding, and enough of that to be fatal."

"Any drugs or alcohol, in the man's system?"

"No sir." said Christina Cho. "He was sober. So was Shayla Belle and Seth Warner. They all came up clean."

"Okay, thanks Christina, Joey. You guys can head on out, and let Detective Michaels know anything else you find." The technicians left.

"Okay, guys, any ideas yet?" I asked.

"Sir," said Detective J.G. Lorena Rose, "I still think Mrs. Belle and Mr. Warner are our prime suspects."

"Sure, but why?" I asked.

"She may inherit his fortune, by fighting his new will," said Lorena, "she stood to be left penniless by the divorce, there was some deep animosity between them, she and Mr. Warner were the last people to see him alive that we know of, and they both admit that Mr. Belle caught them in bed together."

"Definitely some things we can look at." I said. "We'll have to see the will when it's probated, to see if it's strong enough to hold up... I suspect that it will be. Yes, Derrick Belle fully intended to leave his wife as penniless as possible, but killing him might not do anything to alleviate that.... which brings to mind life insurance; Michaels, be sure to check and see if there was a policy on the guy."

"Yes, sir." said Claire, making notes.

"There is also one other thing, which you don't yet know, Detective Rose." I said. "And that is the past history of this couple. I happen to know about some of it from the time Seth Warner's father was murdered. Seth and Shayla were having an affair then, but at that time she was being very careful to not get caught by her husband because he'd threatened to divorce her."

"Now we have a very interesting change in the scenario." I continued. "Shayla brings Seth to her home instead of going to his, risking getting caught, because she already knows that she has been disinherited and that her husband has filed for divorce. What does that suggest to you? Anyone?"

No one answered for a moment, then Martin Nash said "I don't think this diminishes a possible motive for her or Seth killing him, but she definitely would be better off with him alive so she could fight the divorce and get something out of it. This way, she gets nothing."

"That still leaves 'crime of passion' as a motive." Cindy said. "Seth could've snuck back inside, killed Derrick, then he and Shayla go through the motions of calling his friends."

"Unfortunately, that doesn't fit well with the evidence at the scene." I said. Cindy became thoughtful, as did Teddy Parker. It was at that moment Detective Rose chose to speak:

"Sir..." said Lorena, "I... I'm still trying to understand why we didn't arrest Mrs. Belle and Mr. Warner last night. They now have time to get their stories straight, and they might even skip town" It became silent and a tension filled the air.

"Sir," said Martin Nash," I have to say that I probably would've arrested them, too, and at least put them through booking before interrogating them."

"I get that." I said. "And this can be a teachable moment for everyone. There are two reasons I didn't arrest them: first, because we lack true probable cause, especially based upon the evidence that I observed at the crime scene last night. I suggest all of you really re-examine those crime scene reports. Second, because I'm holding that as my ace up my sleeve. If I'd arrested them last night, they might've become non-cooperative. I also want to see what they do the next day or two. Captain Charles has assigned some plainclothes Patrolmen to keep them under surveillance, not only to make sure they don't skip town, but just to see what they do."

I concluded: "So if I'd arrested them last night, when everyone was exhausted, then it wouldn't have had much effect on them. But we can always arrest them and run them through the process at a time it might have a better effect on them, and maybe one of them will slip up and crack then."

"Ah," said Cindy, as if she were 'getting' me, "so you do think it might be them!"

"Oh, no doubt they're suspects." I said. "But Michaels and Rose, since you two are assigned to this case, here's your next task. You can do it in here or in Classroom 'E', but you're going to watch every minute of their interviews last night, which we recorded. Every minute. If you can show me one single instance where they contradicted themselves or each other, one instance where their stories don't match, I'll let you go to Paulina for the arrest warrants and you can personally bring them in."

"And do what the Commander advised, also," Cindy said, taking charge like she should, "go over the reports of the crime scene again. In fact, if you want to go back and look at it again, let me know and I'll go with you."

I ended the meeting and dismissed the team. As they left, I pulled Cindy aside. "Do not correct nor discipline Rose for asking that question." I said. "See if Claire talks to her, which she should do, but I also have no problem with my Detectives asking questions like that. It'll make everyone better in the long run."

"Yes, sir." Cindy said, knowing I was pre-empting what she had been about to do.

"And by the way," I said, a gleam in my eye, "just remember another Detective who has been questioning my every wild-ass thought for two years now. I even gave that person the blue crowbar for her 'brazenness'."

"Okay, you got me there." said Cindy. "But I'd been around the block for years before you even got here; Lorena is young and inexperienced, too young an inexperienced to be asking stuff like that. She needs to be listening and learning."

"I ultimately agree, but I like her spirit. We just have to harness it without demoralizing her in the process." I said. Another teachable moment, another lesson delivered, I thought... well at least hoped.

Part 4 - Taking Care of Business

At 2:00pm I had another meeting, to take care of some police business. I assembled the sixteen young men of the SWAT Team in Classroom 'J', as well as one Detective, and gave them the news.

"Okay guys, while the SWAT Team's success has been very good to this point, we have a few people in Town whining to their Council members about our police having and using 'Gestapo tactics'. While the militarization of the Police really is happening in many places in the Nation, that is not what we're trying to do here. So the Council has come down on us, to wit:

"First, the Council has said that only four SWAT members can train for eight hours per week. However, I can have two four-man groups, i.e. one of the two squads, train every other Friday to get around that.

"The next problem is that only the squad leaders can be full-time SWAT. That's Squad One with Senior Sergeant Hugh Hewitt, and Squad Two with Sergeant Gregory Charles." Sergeant Gregory Charles was Captain Leslie Charles's son, and had been wounded in the raid that also wounded Cindy Ross. He'd received a Purple Order and a Star of Gallantry with Valor Device for his part in that raid. I'd tried to get him a higher award, but the Council considered his actions as part of his job, while what Cindy did was to not only cover him to save his life, but she took on the perps shooting at them against the odds.

"So the rest of you are going to be back to regular duties of some kind." I said, getting a groan from the men. Couldn't blame them for that, I thought as I continued: "Each squad will still be 'on call' for a week, and I'm working to get you duties here at HQ while on call, so you can drop anything on a moment's notice, get your gear and be ready to move out. But the other squad will be on full duty somewhere, and that is Captain Charles's call on what to do with you."

"By the way," I said, "the overall SWAT Team Leader is being considered. Hewitt and Charles, don't get any ideas, because you are locked in to your current positions for now. Detective Michaels here had Sniper and some other SWAT training while in L.A. She's not officially on the SWAT Team yet, so she's going to be out both training Fridays, working with you guys... as your new leader." The SWAT squads were surprised, but I knew that once they saw what Claire Michaels had in store for them, they'd warm up to her leadership... very quickly.

-------------------------------------

At 4:00pm, still Sep. 28th, I was in the FBI's suite of offices, looking up some stuff on the computer, when Jack Muscone walked in.

"Hi Don," he said. "What brings you here?"

"I might ask you the same question." I said. "You're not in Town just for the cheeseburgers at the Cop Bar, I suspect."

"Well, that's always a reason to come here," said Jack, "but you're right: Derrick Belle's death set off some red flags in one of our ongoing investigations. Seems he was selling his business to one company, though another was bidding fiercely. Old friends Thaddeus Ward and Henry Wargrave's names have popped up. Is that what you're looking at?"

"No." I said. "Myron will tell me all about that tomorrow morning. I'm doing some secondary research, since I now have this Consultant role with you guys."

"What's it about?-- hey, how did you get that stuff?" he asked, seeing what I was looking at on my screen. "How did you get your Top Secret clearance so fast?"

"Our good friend the Deputy Director expedited it." I said. "I had a TS clearance in the Army, and he's... well, he's the Big Boy in Washington, D.C., so he gets what he wants... and what he wants is for me to be able to access certain things to help the FBI, and especially your team, Jack."

"You got that right. I have never seen that man as happy as the day you signed the papers to work as a part-time consultant with us." Muscone said, sitting down in the chair beside the desk.

"He also expedited my Federal Firearms Carry Permit, so I can be armed when out of my own jurisdiction and the State." I said. "That was my first demand in exchange for signing up. The second and last demand was the non-compete clause to keep the CIA at bay."

"Good ideas, both." said Jack. "So what are you looking at?"

"There has been one thing bugging the living shit out of me for months now: the woman that tried to kill Brody when you had him in Federal custody. She was a well-placed deep mole within the FBI, she was well-trained, and that means expensively trained... she was a huge asset to someone... yet she was burned in a rather weak attempt to kill Brody, and she committed suicide rather than let herself be extracted by her buddies... which I fully believe could and would have been done if they'd wanted. But no, they let her... or ordered her... to die. My question is: what in the heck was so big that they burned such a great asset?"

"My group and I had variations of that same discussion several times." Muscone said. "At the time, Brody hadn't talked and we hadn't gotten much in that case. So we concluded she was trying to keep Brody from telling us what he knew. But you're right: that's never been a satisfactory answer. What do you have on it?"

"Nothing, yet." I replied. "I've eliminated her as the motorcyclist that I believe was going to kill Brody and Gunn in our Courthouse Square. I've gone over what Brody gave us, and while it was good in getting the Black Badge gang, I'm just not seeing what was so big that they burned that big an asset over it. Even Conrad King didn't seem to be overly upset when we bagged his son in our raid, so that takes the 'Powers That Be', the real Big Boyz, out of the equation-- oh, wait..."

"What?" Muscone said, prompting me as I had a small reverie.

"Jack, what happened to Brody?" I asked.

"Witness Protection." Muscone replied. "The Federal Marshals have him. I have no clue at all where he went or what he's doing now."

"Any chance we can arrange to talk to him again?" I asked.

"Don't count on it." Muscone said. "That would mean getting the Marshals to extract him from where he is, set up a meeting that we'd have to travel to, all of which creates huge risks all the way around. I understand why you're asking, but I'm skeptical it's worth the risk... unless you can show me... and not really me, but the Marshals... something big."

"I don't have anything yet," I said, "but it occurs to me that Brody might not have told us everything. About the Black Badge workings, yes. But what if there is something more, a lot more, a lot deeper, that Brody knows about, and that is why an asset of that magnitude was burned..."

"I like your ideas. I'll report them up the chain." Muscone said, then teased me by saying "At least they'll think you're worth the money they're paying you. But don't get your hopes up, especially about talking to Brody again."

Part 5 - Findings, Investigations, and Clues

The tedious part of the job of police work had begun: gathering data. But I have an excellent team, and at the 10:00am meeting the next morning, Sep. 29th, I was being given some good information by Myron Milton. Also present were Cindy Ross, Claire Michaels, Lorena Rose, Martin Nash, Teddy Parker, ADA Paulina Patterson, Detective Julie Newton from Vice... and Chief Griswold, who likes to keep abreast of the tactical situation at all times. He took his normal seat at the head of the main conference room table, by the door, while I took the one at the far end, per usual.

"Okay, Derrick Belle." said Myron Milton. "Ran a company called 'Belle Settlement Solutions'. Company gives out loans at high interest rates to people who have time-payment settlements, lottery winnings, and such stuff. He had good money, but not really enough to do a big-time cash business like this one, so he had backers: venture capitalists and the like.

"Interesting thing, here," Myron continued, "is that he was in the process of selling the company. His financial backers, Acme Venture Capital & Trust, LLC, and a holding company called Peanut Settlement Solutions, LLC, were buying him out, but there was some competition from a company called 'Boxall Holdings, LLC'."

The Chief and I looked at each other upon the mention of that name, as Myron continued "So Belle had money, but his business was leveraged to the hilt, and it's not like his heirs are going to get a big whopping payoff. Mary and Detective Newton here are still trying to get info on who Acme, Peanut and Boxall really are behind the curtains, but that might take some time."

"What about his will?" I asked.

"His personal attorneys are Succup & Payne, P.C." said Paulina Patterson. "They are not his divorce attorneys, those would be from Effim, Goode & Hart, P.C. Succup & Payne were surprisingly reticent to help us regarding any of this. They may think we're trying to help Shayla. But after I threatened to have a judge issue a warrant to force them to probate the will, they relented. From what I saw, Shayla is completely cut out, not even a dime, not mentioned at all. There was nothing I could see that would allow her to effectively contest the will."

"Who are the heirs?" I asked, which is what I really had wanted to know in the first place.

"He has a younger sister, who is married, and he has a first cousin, his mother's sister's son." said Paulina. "He left the bulk of his personal holdings to them, about 2/3s of it. The other third went to several charitable trusts. His business interests were handled by a codicil to the will, and it's a very complex legal document due to the complexities of the business's ownership. And before you ask, Shayla never had anything to do with the business, so she has no inroad there to contesting the will."

"What about life insurance." I said. "Anyone find anything on that?"

"There was a ten-year term life insurance policy, issued by Allen & Allen Insurance Company, with his wife as the beneficiary. But he cancelled it two years ago." said Claire Michaels.

"Right about the time he first warned his wife that he'd divorce her if he caught her cheating on him again. So Shayla is pretty much left with nothing?" I asked.

"Not so fast my friend!" Myron said jovially, then caught himself and added "er, Commander. That's why I asked Detective Newton to come in."

"Sir, " said Julie Newton, looking very fuckable in her white blouse and very tight lavender skirt, "Shayla does have some money squirreled away. She set up a trust in her own name some years ago, and has been putting money in it. Irregular amounts at irregular intervals. I'm trying to see if she siphoned money off her husband's accounts or business."

"How much?" I asked.

"Looks like she accumulated about $200,000." Julie Newton replied.

Just then, Cindy Ross's cell phone rang. "It's the Coroner's office." she said, getting up to take the call outside. A minute later, she was back.

"Strange." Cindy said. "Mr. Belle's body was just claimed. His parents and sister came into Town. Shayla Belle made no effort at all to claim it, and someone in the office called Shayla to ask if she was going to claim it, as she had first right to do so as the wife of the deceased. Shayla is reported to have said 'No, I don't care, dig a hole in the ground and throw the bastard in it, for all I care.'."

"Where's the family staying?" I asked, ignoring the several looks of shock on various Detectives' faces at Shayla's callousness.

"University Hotel." she replied, giving room numbers. I looked at Claire and Rose, who at first did not get my gist.

"Ladies?..." They just sat there, looking confused.

"Ladies, on your way!" I said. "You have interviews to do, with the family of the deceased!" They finally got the hint and scooted out of the room.

-------------------------------------

"We're very sorry for your loss," Claire Michaels said to the mother, father and sister of the late Derrick Belle, "but we need to ask you a few questions. First, how was the relationship between Derrick and his wife Shayla?"

"Bad." said the sister, whose name was Cheryl Belle Dunston. "Derrick was getting a divorce. He said he was tired of Shayla cheating on him all the time. He said--" the woman stopped, glancing at her parents.

"Go on." said Lorena Rose, coaxing the woman.

"He... he said he was tired of her coming home with other men's semen running down her legs." Cheryl finished. "Sorry, Mom." Mrs. Belle just nodded, her face red from crying during the past couple of days.