Karma - Kindness of Acquaintances

Trying the next house, that door was slammed in our face too. How do the J. Witnesses do it? I'll never know. Walking away from that house, we headed to the end of the block and ducked down the alley. Dan was waiting and we jumped in the back seat. We immediately lay down and covered ourselves completely with a blanket as he took off. That was the plan. Women READ AND FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.

Three blocks away, we pulled off our disguises and stuffed them into a paper shopping bag. Dan broke the silence. "How was it Agent 99 and Agent 86?" Dan began laughing and we heard Greg laughing on the cell speaker phone.

Dorothy was a big fan of Get Smart from the late 60's. She's been re-addicted to it on cable. "Chief, we targeted the Chaos cell..." and the four of us busted out laughing. "What a rush it was to be on her porch with Robin and see all those flat screens in the living room. Anybody could have seen that. I just hope that it's going to work."

"Ladies." Dan paused, "And you too Greg." I heard a snicker from Dan and a groan from Greg. "Let's dump this stuff off and then head on home to change." I heard a yes from everyone. That's when we started to hear fire department and police sirens in the distance. Then we saw a squad head straight for us. Dan pulled over to the side and the cop sped on past. I only realized then that the three of us held our breath until he was gone.

Pulling into an alley on the way home, Dan dropped our 'garbage' into a 7-11 store dumpster. Earlier today he found this dumpster was almost completely full so he was confident that it would be emptied today or tomorrow. He also doused our 'garbage' it with old fry oil so make sure no one would dumpster dive it away. Dan dropped Dorothy and me at our house while he pulled out back and took off the temp plates. They had been taped to the car we borrowed from our neighbor.

"Dorothy? Do you think we did it? Do you think the cops entered the house?"

"Greg should be here in a minute. Let's go and see what happened. I'm sure the men can't wait." She chuckled a little. "You'd think that this was Christmas or they won the lottery again." We heard the familiar 'beep, beep' and Greg and Dan were waiting for us in Greg's regular car. Dan was going to have to drive Greg's other borrowed home later. He had parked it at a park three blocks away from the Bitch's house.

As we approached the block, we found that the police had closed the street. We could see two fire engines, several squads, and maybe an evidence technician. An ambulance was leaving. We went a block over and parked. Walking on over, we joined the groups of neighbors and other on-lookers. Mixing into the crowd, we got to hear the story.

By luck, Dan asked the first neighbor that had slammed the door in my face what happened. "I was sitting home and there were these two damned Jehovah's Witnesses at the door." He was shaking his head in disgust. "That's when I knew it was going to be a bad night." Dorothy and I worked hard to not smile in the semi-darkness. I felt that we just won an academy award for acting.

"Then about 15 minutes later I hear this explosion. Then the motion detectors in the cars set off the car alarms up and down the block. We got 8 of 'em on this block. They're a pain in the ass. Every summer for 3 days, the neighborhood kids blow off fireworks and get damn good on setting off car alarms."

Dan nodded yes. "Real pain in the ass when that happens My wife's dog goes nuts. What happened next?"

"I went outside and saw the picture window of the Bernhard's was broken. A couple of us from the block came out and that's when we started hearing sirens. Once the cops and the fire department showed up, they broke into the house to investigate. They also started asking about who lived there. We mentioned the family and somebody said that the wife kicked the husband out. Somebody else said the mother was gone and somebody else saw the wife leave. Old Lady O'Malley asked about the kid. That's when a fireman came out holding the kid in a blanket. Still breathing, nothing hurt but not real responsive. They rushed the kid to Children's Memorial and called Family Services.

"I guess when there's an explosion, they send a couple of ambulances. The third one just left a couple minutes ago."

Dan looked at him, relieved. "Must have been pretty exciting. Did you think the husband did it?"

"Oh hell no. Old Lady O'Malley told the cops that they'd find 'im at Loyola at a night business school class. That busy body knows everything on the block." He chuckled. "I make damn sure I don't do anything wrong around here." He mopped pretend sweat from his brow. "I overheard the cops talk to him and he's on his way to Children's Memorial. He's kind of lucky, the campus isn't very far away from the hospital since they moved it. School is across the street from the Old Chicago Water Tower of the Fire fame and the hospital is east of there." He exhaled and quietly said, "They can't find the mother or the Grandmother."

The neighbor looked around to make sure no one was listening to him. He whispered to Dan, "They found all kinds of stuff'n the house. Lots of stolen stuff and they've called in the drug sniffing dogs. That crowd that's been showing up at the house this week...rough crowd..." He paused and looked at the broken window. He quietly finished the a barely audible, "I hope they nail the ever loving shit out of all of 'em."

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5) Outside the job site, (Andre) Brian and Al, Mike

"Hey Brian, pass me another MGD. If you give Al another water, you'll hav-ta pass him the bucket." My wonderful brother-in law started laughing. There's not a mean bone in his body. But for him and his family, it's all about laughing and poking fun. That is poking non-mean and non-destructive fun that is. I heard the pop of the bottle top with the woosh of pressure released finally followed by the fragrance of beer. He continued, "Al this was a great idea. I get a night out with you two guys and we might even be able to nail that asshole that hurt Andre."

Waiting. We've been waiting for an hour so far and we've seen nothing. "Mike, where'd you get these binoculars? Are they surplus?"

"No way Al, I traded the use of this step van so somebody at work so he could move his kid to Cleveland's burbs for a job. He really wanted the kid out of the house." He took a sip of his MGD. "I think he got 'em at Bass Pro or was it Gander Mountain, or was it..."

Brian broke in with "Shhhhhhh. Two cars just turned in the driveway." The three of us immediately became quiet. We were parked near the locked gate along with other step vans that you'd find at construction sites.

There were two cars and the first one Brian and I could identify. It was Jason's beat up 2002 Camaro. The last year they made them till the end of the decade. It was his for sure. The dent in the front quarter panel was there with his sloppy repaint fix that looked like shit.

"Brian, that him isn't it?" I heard a quiet "Yep."

Mike was focusing his camera, taking stills of the proceedings.

"Brian? Who's the second car?"

"I'm focusing now Al. It's a ... young woman in an older green Toyota with rust in the rear quarter panel. She's got the better wheel package and..."

"Brian. Focus. Plate number." He was such a car guy.

Mike broke in, "Don't worry, I've got her and I've got it."

We watched in near silence, only hearing the click of the electronic shutter as the two cars stopped 10 feet away from us at the gate. From the side windows of the step van, we were heads above those two cars. If those drivers were to look up, they'd only see dark tinted windows. We checked it out before. With no inside lights, all we'd have to do is be as quiet as a mouse.

Jason got out of his car with a set of bolt cutters and cut the chain. Then he brought out another lock and set it so the gate would be relocked when they left. There was a whisper, "Brian, I kept overhearing from the foreman that the lock would break every couple of days and they'd have to get a new one. Now we know. Jason wasn't that dumb."

"Al, both cars are going toward the HVAC area he was scouting out earlier today." Then Brian started laughing. "Asshole will have to carry that stuff 100 yards back to the cars."

We looked on in silence as the two of them quickly started collecting things to steal and place them on a pile. To his credit, Jason went for the higher cost materials. His helper is not big enough to be of much help.

Brian whispered "That little woman with the couple of extra pounds on her. Look at her trying to lift that box of controls. It's what? 25 30 pounds? Look at her bitch him out. This is getting to be funny."

Mike was smiling and was now taking video with his camera. As they started to carry the loot to their cars, I felt it was time. "Time now to call in the Police? It looks like Jason could take another 15 minutes to load the cars and they've got enough in the cars now for grand larceny. Don't you think?"

Brian got on his phone and dialed 911. "I'd like to report a burglary in process. We are outside of ..."

It only took the cops 4 minutes to arrive. They did not use sirens or flashing lights. One squad was covering the street side in case someone was going to try to climb the fence, two more entered the gate and split to cover both sides. We stayed talking with the dispatcher during the whole operation. We watched one cop walk quietly in behind those two thieves while the remaining 3 flanked them.

Mike whispered "Thanks for inviting me out. I haven't had this much fun in ages."

Then we heard a loud "POLICE. FREEZE. Put your hands on your head and remain motionless." There is something about looking at a drawn firearm that is aimed at your head that gets your immediate attention.

We got to see the terror on their faces. Mike snapped a great shot of them. That's when I remembered that we're here because of that happened to Andre. He was suppose to be resting comfortable, but you never know. I pray that Andre will be able to see these shots.

The cuffs were placed on both of them while another squad entered by the gate. We asked the dispatcher to alert them that we were in the van and would like to come out.

A minute later a flash light was pointed on our step van. That's when we turned on our interior lights and opened the door to get out. We left the van slowly and approached the officers. I walked up to who I thought was the senior officer. "Thank you so much for getting these assholes. Our good friend was injured today because of some stolen equipment. We figured that it had to be Jason. We don't know about the girl. By the way, we have plenty of photos. What do we need to do now to submit statements?"

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6) At Loyola night Classes

"Class, in the Uniform Commercial Code we have some interesting..." there was knock on the classroom door and a campus security guard came in. "Excuse me, but is there a Richard Berthard present?"

This was odd. Tyrone's one of the security guards at the North Michigan Ave campus of Loyola of Chicago. He's also a Chicago Police officer. This security job's a piece of cake for him and he does this to put away some cash for his three kids for college. He's never interrupted my class before. I know that Berthard is one of my students. He took a class with me last semester and another one this semester.

Rich Berthard came to me with a problem of a wayward wife and a daughter he adored. I set him up with a friend of mine that does family law. She originally did Securities Law, but she got raked over the coals by her own ex-husband. She changed specialties. There's nothing like getting burned to sharpen your game.

I also referred him to the School of Social Work here. They've got a good set of people that'll help with the divorce and afterwards. Suddenly I hear a weary "I'm Richard Berthard. What can I do for you?"

"Can you please come with me. There's a phone call you need to take."

I nodded to Rich to go and started talking quietly with the guard. "What's going on Tyrone?" He looked sideways and crouched away from the class. "His house is in my district. Somebody blew out the front window. The 1 year old was alone and asleep in an upstairs rear bedroom. Mother or grandmother nowhere to be seen. Living room loaded with hot equipment. Kid's not real responsive, she's at Children's Memorial now."

"Who's the Watch commander on tonight? Who's the detective handling?"

"Both are your favorites, Scully and Flowers."

Tyrone just named the people that I had a good relationship with. "Can you have either of them call my cell? Tonight? I've got something that they'd like to hear."

He chuckled with a warm "Will do boss" and left to take Rich to the Security office. I turned back to the class and could see that they were wondering what was going on.

"There's been an issue that came up. I may need to take another phone call or two before the end of class." I got a groan from the back row. "Let me make this clear. I am an active judge. I will always try to do what is best. If I feel that I've neglected my teaching, I will gladly schedule another class or some one-on-one sessions. I'm sure you would feel the same if something came up in your life." Then my phone rang. I heard a "Saved by the Bell" and the class chuckled as I went out in the hall."

"Judge Bollettino here."

"Hey Pete, long time no hear. What can I do for you?"

John Flowers the watch commander was an old friend of mine. "Well John, I understand that you had some excitement. It involves one of my students, Richard Berthard."

"Oh yes, the window, the kid and the stolen goods."

"Well John, he left his wife a week ago and he's started divorce proceedings. She's been sleeping around. He came to me for some advice in the past couple of months. He's also been with me since 6:30." I paused. "He's in the clear as far as I can see. Now what about the kid?"

"Kid was breathing but wasn't responsive to the loud noises. Got her down to Children's Memorial. DCFS has a case worker on the way."

"Can I put in a great word so they'll release the kid to the father? He's been gearing up for a custody battle. I set him up with Nancy O'Connell."

"You did call in the heavy guns didn't you? I never want be in a court room with her, unless I had to testify on her side. By the way, it looks like the wife started bring somebody new into the house and he's been using it to warehouse some hot goods. Don't know yet if it's just a fencing operation or he's took the stuff in trade."

Because I was still in class, I couldn't talk any more. "Well Pete, I'll see what I can do and try to keep you in the loop. Don't worry about your student. I'll made a call and try to smooth things out for him."

"Thanks John, if you can just don't say anything about me, OK?"

"You got it."

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"We've drawn some blood to see why she's not very responsive. There is no problem with her vitals. I have to ask this. Does anyone in your household take any sedatives?" The father held his head in his hands as the conversation with him continued.

As a cop, I've seen this scene play our time and time again. Parents turning a blind eye to their kids with the hope that it they'll grow out of it. I get to see the parents when the kid is on a gurney being loaded into an ambulance after an overdose.

But this one is different. It's a one-year-old this time. A one-year-old left alone in her crib doped up a little to keep her quiet. This is part of being a cop that hurts. The watch commander told me that the father's on the up and up but to pay attention to him anyway. What's that old line from a newspaperman, 'If your mother loves you, check it out'. He walked out of the house a week ago after seeing his wife banging some creep.

"Is she going to be all right? I walked out a week ago. Marriage was falling apart. I..."

"The best we can do now is to wait for the results." The doctor looked at the father. "We'll see what happens. She doesn't appear to be in danger." I saw him pat the father's shoulder and go to the next ER patient.

"Mr. Berthard? Richard Berthard?"

I looked up and saw the DCFS case worker. Marge Adamowski was a hardened veteran of the street. We've worked together on a couple of cases over the years. I looked at her and smiled. There's a chance that she'd listen to me. But really, who knows if that'll happen. I was told to keep the judge in my back pocket and use him if I needed to.

"Marge, this is Richard Berthard. He's the father. Before you get started, could I have a word with you? There's some new information on the case that just came in." Berthard looked at me with a question, then shrugged his shoulders and held his daughters hand. We went out into the hallway and found an unused room.

"So tell me Moralos, who's his chinaman?"

"Hold on Marge. Berthard's not rich or powerful. He's not political. He's not pulling strings. I know that it looks like he's got pull. He does, but he doesn't know it and couldn't figure out how to use it if he even knew."

Marge came from small town Indiana and her political baptism was getting entangled with an underage pregnant girl, an Alderman's son and the newspapers. Chinamen is the term for somebody in power that can pull strings for you. That's 'Pull'. 'Pull' can get you a zoning variance, a job with the city, a contract with the city county or state, more services, a get out of jail free card...whatever.

"He left his wife a week ago when he found her in bed with some asshole. It looked initially like that asshole may be a fence 'cause the house was loaded with stolen goods. Somebody broke the front window with some small explosive and we found the kid on the second floor, in her crib. Looks like the baby was drugged. He's been besides himself.

"He's got some help in the wings. He was referred to Nancy O'Connell for the divorce and child custody about 2 weeks ago. She's taken the case. I thought that you'd like to know."

Marge looked at me with her dagger like cold brown eyes, then smiled. Her eyes softened and I relaxed. "Ok Moralos, we know that she only handles the ones getting raked over the coals. Fill me in on what you got so far."

For the next ten minutes I brought her up to stuff on the crime scene. Some of the wide screens did show up on the stolen list and there was a couple of hundred dollars of assorted drugs in the house.

"About 30 minutes ago, the mother was arrested for grand theft at a construction site. A search of her car showed a real designer bag that had an ounce of what looks like coke. It looks like it may have been a family business as the grandmother got arrested for stealing antique weapons and drunk driving." We continued to discuss the case but I could see that Nancy was feeling more comfortable with releasing the child to the father. She'll be interviewing him in a few minutes after she reviews the medical chart.

As we walked in the room we heard a phone go off. It was Bernhard's phone. He pulled it out and looked at the number and shrugged and started to put the phone away before. Nancy spoke up "ANSWER IT. NOW." He was a bit shocked. I looked the number and I nodded to him to do it.

"Hello?" He was silent but his eyes became wide.

"Berthard, I know that number. PUT IT ON SPEAKER. It'll save us all some trouble." As he was doing that, I started "Hello. This is Officer Moralos. Who am I speaking with?"

"Where Rich? I want to speak with my Rich. Put Rich on."

"Hello. This is Officer Moralos. Who am I speaking with?"

"This is Rich's wife Marcia. I need to speak with Rich."

I nodded to Rich and smiled. I mouthed the words 'Go ahead. It'll be OK' to him. I started to write something down for him to read.

"I'm here Marcia. What do you want?" I passed the piece of paper to him, and he smiled.