A Thin Blue Line

[D.KnightSpider]

"Right now, I'd believe you if you said that you were traipsing on the moon after marrying a lunar princess. Things are getting crazy around here. We've got a new quasi-suspect, more indications that the 23rd is corrupt, and another indication that Rodrick wasn't as insane as we thought." I paused, then gave Thaddeus the Good Captain's message. "You might want to come back to headquarters. We should probably compare notes."

[Kislath]

"Okay, sure. Lawrence and Macabbe brought me the Wolfpack file, which I hear is pretty sizeable. It's in a squad car down in the parking garage, so we're all heading down to get it. After that I'll be right over. Oh, by the way, Adamson says he can give us a briefing if we phone ahead and schedule it. See ya soon."

[D.KnightSpider]

"I'll be here." I say to close the conversation with Thaddeus.

I frown. So Adamson wants us to come in later tonight for a personal briefing. I could go for that. There are more than a few questions that I want to ask him and this seems like a prime opportunity to do so.

At this point, I realize that I've been drumming my fingers across the desk in a modest tempo rhythm. I must have really been deep in thought to do something like that.

A shake of my head clears my thoughts. I take just a minute to order lunch for Thaddeus and myself (I'm paying, of course). Hopefully, he's in the mood for subs and, hopefully, the partner and the food will arrive at the same time.

Once that's done, I call Woodsworth once again.

[Reltzik]

Thad gets off the phone to discover that Macabee and Lawrence waiting for him. They're holding the elevator door open and inviting him to take a ride with them down to the garage. This would, of course, require Thad to get into a confined space with them. But hey, they've been nice enough up until now and don't know a thing about the hints that Lawrence is a dirty cop. What could possibly go wrong?

*****

Woody answers a bit more promptly this time. Lara can hear a kettle whistling in the background. "All right, detective. I'm a bit more awake, now. What do you want to know?"

[Kislath]

OOC--- That's why I said what I said to Lara in earshot of them. They should think twice about trying anything funny now they know they would be prime suspects.
Also, Thad suspects them of being dirty while they may not suspect that he suspects them. That's why his holster is unfastened, his safety is off, and he's already getting ready for a fast draw. The situation is not lost on Thad, who has been getting into scrapes like these since these two were in grade school. His buddies are wiseguys, after all, so he knows a potential setup when he sees one. He's even trying to think up a way to keep from having both arms full of files, assuming there even are any files.

"Ah. Thanks!" he says in response to the door holding.

[Reltzik]

The elevator door closes. Macabbee presses G2, and the car starts trundling downwards.

"Blue rats give me the creeps," Lawrence grumbles, more to pass the time than anything else. "The way they look at you. Like they're eying your back to figure out the best place to stick the knife. Wish they'd just get out of the way and let us do our jobs. It's not like they're any more trustworthy than we are. You can see that from those harassment cases we had. They're human just like anyone else. But when you say your buddy's clean and the rat squad says he isn't, guess who the brass believes?"

"It's like Herman always said," Macabee puts in. "Who watches the watchers? I think he got that from a comic book of all places. Imagine. Philosophy from Superman. Still, there's a point to it. Look at Adamson. Sergeant Adamson."

"No one did anything about Sarge Adamson until Rodrick plastered his face. Everyone knew, but no one did anything. Where was the rat squad then? Nowhere, because they know that their bread's buttered on the brassy side," Lawrence grumbles. "No one's watching them. WE need to be monitored like we're prison inmates. Yessir, Comrade Commissar. Them? Oh, no, their butts smell too much like roses to ever doubt them."

"Part of the job," Macabbee says as the door opens. "Come on. Tanner, you'll probably want us to drive you over to the 8th to drop the file off. There's six boxes of it. Unless you have your own ride?"

[D.KnightSpider]

"First, let me apologize again for waking you." I knew, from firsthand experience, how rough that could be on a person. "But your tip mentioned that you had seen a barfight between a man answering Herman Rodrick's description. Could you describe the men involved and tell me what, exactly, happened?"

[Reltzik]

"Herman Rodrick was... not exactly a regular. He didn't keep any sort of fixed schedule. But he was in once every week or two, thereabouts." Woody rattles off a quick description of the victim, and then a description of Rodrick's attacker. The latter is vastly inferior to what Harding provided. "I don't know who attacked Herman. I mean, I saw who did it, I just don't know who he is. Definitely not a regular. He came in with a big group that rented out one of the back rooms. Bunch of actors. West Street Theater Company, that was it, they were having a party to celebrate the end of a run of shows.

"I didn't really notice the fight until it turned into a shoving match. Well, it wasn't really a fight. Only the one punch got thrown, and then everyone backed off and cooled down. The guy who started it... well, escalated it, I don't know who started pushing whom first... ran off to the back room quickly. I talked to Herman and he said he wasn't pressing charges. He didn't even want me to send the bouncer to kick the bum out. I did so anyway. We're not that type of bar, you know?

"Anyhow, we've got contact information for the theater company, we pulled the video of the incident from the security cameras, and we have the credit card number that guy used to pay for his drinks. All of that's at the Pub. They'll be open for lunch, you can just drop by to get it. My shift doesn't start until 7, but just tell the manager who you are and what you're looking for, and she'll find it for you."

[Kislath]

"Much obliged. They did arrange to get me a car, but a ride would save me the hassle of moving it all twice.

Yeah, I hear you when it comes to the rat squad. They just let me know that their opinion of me hasn't changed much over the years. This ain't my first run-in with them, you know. They're not too fond of my choices in friends and entertainment, like its any of their business. I think they were actually kind of pissed when they couldn't nail me for anything. It wasn't for a lack of trying, though.

What was up with Adamson, anyway? Or, more to it, what was Rodrick's problem with him? Why did he finally do what nobody else would, ya reckon? Was it all just a good cover story to help him get undercover, or was it more personal?"

[Reltzik]

"Oh, it was personal," Macabee says. "Second-hand personal, but personal. Adamson was starting in on me. Ratcheting up the pressure. That was his pattern. I'd told Herman about it a week before, just venting. He promised to do something about it. I've never seen anyone so angry. Not like that, I mean. I've seen people screaming at the top of their lungs and attacking anyone near them, but not so calm and so angry at the same time. He got very, very quiet... and very, very tense. Just clenched up and quivering. It didn't even get into his voice. I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been sitting right next to him at the bar. Two feet further away, and he would have seemed perfectly normal."

"F***ing sex predators," Lawrence growls. "I personally told him exactly what would happen if he ever came creeping around the 23rd again."

[D.KnightSpider]

For once, this case had decided to drop the Mother Lode on us. I found myself grinning behind the telephone receiver. Not only would we be able to see this guy for ourselves, but we'd also be able to track him down in double-time. Of course, it was usually when you thought that you had a slam dunk that someone fouled up your game. But I'd still celebrate while I could.

"That's terrific; it should speed up the process of finding this guy greatly. Do you remember when this altercation took place?" I asked.

I was hopeful that any incoming foul wouldn't be found there. Fingers crossed.

[Reltzik]

"Let's see," Woody muses. "It was... week before last? Maybe the week before that. I'm not sure. Either way it was a Friday night. We've got it noted down at the Pub."

[Kislath]

"Heh,heh.. Yeah, you gotta watch the quiet ones.
So.. did he ever show back up again?"

[D.KnightSpider]

Well, it wasn't a home run, but it wasn't a strike-out, either. I'd take it, at this point. The door was open for the dates to match; they probably would.

"Excellent. That's all I needed to hear. Now, let me ask you about Rodrick, if you don't mind. You said that he wasn't a regular, I understand that. But you also could match his face to his name, so I'm hoping that some things involving him might have stuck in your mind. Did Rodrick ever let anything slip about his past or can you remember talk about any history that he had?"

[Reltzik]

"Nope," Lawrence answers. "I've got no idea what happened to Adamson. Sergeant Adamson. He just vanished once he got dismissed. Good riddance."

"This is us," Macabee announces. "You okay with the back seat? Here, let's shift things over some."

They weren't lying about the file's size. Six filing boxes, spread out across the squad car's back seat. There's no way that Thad's going to be able to carry that all on his own, at least not in one go. Going through all of it will be worse. But they get it shifted over and make room for Thad.

*****

"I didn't know him at all," Woody says. "I knew his face, I recognized him on the TV, but I didn't know his name until you told me a couple of minutes ago. Social drinker, always came in with others, usually one or two drinks, no more. Beer. No particular brand, kept experimenting, asking what we had in that was new. Except after that fight, he switched to tequila, and he didn't stop at two. What he ordered, that's all I really know about him. Seemed like a nice guy, though."

[D.KnightSpider]

It was the answer that I expected. After all, if Harding had no idea about Rodrick's past, why should a random barkeep? Still, you never knew where you might find that one nugget of interest that could break a case.

"That's alright. Then, unless you think that there's anything else I should know, I think that's about all I need. I'll be sure to go and collect that information; thank you for being pro-active in gathering it for us." I said.

[Kislath]

"Yowsa. Look at all of this stuff. It's gonna take forever to get through all of this. I sure hope it's worth it."

Man...all this info and they still haven't been able to stop the wolfpack. I'm sure this led to frustration aplenty. I wonder if that frustration led them to consider... nonstandard ways of dealing with the situation.

[Reltzik]

"No problem," Woody says. "We run a safe pub in a safe neighborhood, and we have cops to thank for that. I hope it helps."

Okay, that call's pretty much over. What's Lara doing next? I figure she has time for one more phone call, email, or round with the database before Thad gets back. Assuming no one gets sidetracked.

*****

"Yeah," Lawrence says. "We've been dealing with that b**** since before the Surge. And she's been a priority for about a year and a half. Nothing ever sticks to her. **** if I know how she got that pardon."

Macabee gets into the driver's seat, starts the car, checks that everyone has seat belts out, and pulls out of the spot. "That's part of why the two of us got assigned to you. Mike's an old Brookvale hand. He was at the 23rd before La Loba came back from her stint in higher education."

"Where she was some sort of anarchist."

"And I knew Herman pretty well. Neither of us have those files memorized, but we're both pretty up on the gang situation, so just ask us anything you need to know."

[D.KnightSpider]

After ending the conversation with Toy Story, I give the phone lines a couple of minutes' reprieve. During which time I sit back and stare at the ceiling. There's so many leads coming out of the woodwork that it's hard to keep track of them all.

One thing is clear, though. I can't allow myself to get sidetracked. As much as I want to give Rodrick's Shrink (his real Shrink) a call, I need to get back to our original plan. The bushes around the 23rd need rattled.

I check my watch. Based on pure gut speculation, I can probably do what I need to do before Thaddeus returns. We're really on the clock, now. If we're going to go see Adamson tonight, then I need to shake down the 23rd as hard as I can and go scout the neighborhood before doing that. It's time to knuckle down and get serious.

I pick up the phone again, mentally imagining its groan of exhausted protest, and then dial up the 23rd. I'm looking to get in touch with Sloduski. I'm not optimistic about him being any real help. But if I'm looking to squeeze some noise out of a squealer, then he's the next one that needs pressed.

[Reltzik]

Lara gets the number for Sloduski's direct line from the desk sergeant at the 23rd. A moment after dialing that second number, a man's voice answers. "23rd Precinct, Internal Affairs."

[Kislath]

"Heh.
I'm not even sure where to start..

Say, what about that crazy bunker? Have you ever seen anything like it? Building that took some doing, and must have been hard to keep totally quiet.
The reason anyone went to all the trouble to build it is the thing that's getting me. You'd figure that after killing Herman, they'd have shut the door to protect their investment and keep it secret. Very strange. It makes me kinda think that the killer didn't have any interest in the place and wouldn't care about that.
The other thing that bugs me is the whole general sloppiness of it all. The analyst said that the killer only fired one precise shot and managed to avoid getting shot while Herman emptied his clip returning fire. Then he or she just waited until Herman was dead.
Now, that either implies a lot of skill, or a lot of luck.
The bloody handprints all over the steering wheel tend to rule out skill, though.
Who could have gotten into that bunker while Rodrick was inside? It must have been someone he knew, and someone who he didn't think was planning to kill him. On the other hand, it must have been someone who didn't plan it out very well and didn't care if the bunker was discovered. The shoe size is also a bit small.
Now, who the heck fits that description besides la Loba?"

[D.KnightSpider]

I took a breath. This was it. There was only one way to handle this conversation: to dive right into it.

"My name is Detective Lara Brand with the 8th precinct; I'm trying to get in touch with an Officer Sloduski."

[Reltzik]

"I'm Sloduski," the voice on the other end of the line says to Brand, in a friendly tone. "Just call me Ian. What can I do for you, Detective?"

*****

"Sounds like it all fits," Lawrence says.

"Not for La Loba," Macabee sticks in. "She doesn't do wild stuff like this. Carefully-planned operations, yes, but even then she doesn't like to order killings."

"There was that business with the suicide hits," Lawrence tells her.

"Which you can argue either way. To hear her tell it, she was cleaning up the streets. What'd the detectives say? We'd have to prove intent?"

"Yeah, right. There's what we can prove to a court, and then there's what we KNOW. She wanted blood."

"Maybe," Macabee says. "But this definitely isn't like her. Maybe if she had a plan go south, something that was meant to be a lot cleaner. Or maybe if it's someone who only ties to her third-or-fourth-hand."

"Fine," Lawrence says. "So we find the gunman, sweat him, and work back through the hands until we get to hers."

"I'm just saying I don't KNOW that it was her. It could just as easily been some internal rivalry in the Wolfpack. Or for that matter, a hit by a rival gang. She doesn't have any real competition left in Upper Brookvale, but there's plenty in Central and Lower Brookvale. If I had to bet, I'd bet on it being a rival gang."

"She found out he was a cop and had him hit," Lawrence counters. "How doesn't that fit?"

"La Loba doesn't HIT undercover cops," Macabee says, obviously frustrated with him. "She just puts them to work for her somewhere else."

Lawrence is shaking his head. "No way. No way. This was La Loba. This is her old turf. Gang hits either take place on the gang's turf or on the victim's turf, not in the middle of university housing. Besides, Rodrick SAID she was kicking off some sort of new operation."

Macabee's clearly fed up. "Fine, whatever. Say it was her if you want. Anyhow, the CSU analyst suggested that he was shot point-blank. Doesn't take much luck to bury a gun in someone's belly and pull the trigger, not if they let you get close enough to do it. And then they said he was in shock and missing his glasses and couldn't shoot a straight pattern. That explains how whoever-it-was was lucky enough not to get hit."

[D.KnightSpider]

"We're presently investigating the death of one Herman Rodrick. I understand that you've dealt with him once or twice; I was hoping that I could pick your brain about his character and ask some questions about his run-in with Adamson."

Well, he hadn't hung up the telephone the moment that I'd started talking. It was encouraging-- in a 'just barely hoping' way.

[Reltzik]

"Yes, I'd heard about that. Tragic. I did run into him once or twice, yes, but I didn't really know him. His boxing match with Sergeant Adamson... I assume that's the Adamson you're talking about? I remember that, but it was over a year ago." Lara can hear a file cabinet opening. "Let me pull the file. Is there anything in particular you'd like to know?"

[D.KnightSpider]

Okay. This was going significantly easier than I'd been expecting. Granted, Rodrick was dead and so the details of his life and crimes probably wouldn't benefit from secrecy; but, still, I'd have expected a bit more pushback about trying to get official details on Adamson's ill-fated run-in with Rodrick's fist. There was principle, if nothing else.

Well, there was no sense in overly worrying about it.

"That is the Adamson to which I refer; I'd like the full details of that incident if possible. You see, we have one witness who claims that when Rodrick assaulted Sergeant Adamson, it was not just Rodrick randomly snapping and lashing out at Adamson, but a carefully executed plan carried out with full awareness and intention. I don't supposed that you can confirm or deny that?"

[Reltzik]

Sloduski's definitely a talker.

"Oh, yes, I remember that part. It was a sticky situation. I certainly wouldn't call walking up to him and starting in with the fists a carefully executed plan by any measure, but there was a degree of premeditation.

"The matter was complicated by the preparations to send Rodrick undercover. They'd mostly been developed at that point. There was already a plan to have Rodrick commit what appeared to be a minor crime to justify his expulsion from the Force, and for him to be prosecuted for it. But in reality he was not going to be dismissed. He needed to be retained on the payroll, even if he couldn't collect for years, and his record had to be cleared after the assignment. So paperwork was drawn up which would clear him from an unspecified misdemeanor or minor felony that he was going to commit. Not that it was meant to be an actual crime, but it had to appear to be one, so the documentation needed to excuse the apparent crime after the fact. The blanks hadn't been filled in, so to speak, but the paperwork was there. Legally, it didn't amount to carte blanche to commit a crime, but it would allow Rodrick to claim entrapment if his record was not cleared. This was coupled with an unfortunately vague order from Captain Adamson, which Rodrick took in a way which Captain Adamson did not intend. Taken together, there was no way to bring actual action against Rodrick. Or to put it another way, the only action we could bring is exactly what we would have done in preparation for his undercover assignment, and the groundwork to exonerate him from that was already in place and binding.

"There were other mitigating factors. First, while then-Sergeant Adamson's.... here we go, Bradshaw Adamson, I'd forgotten his first name, I think he went by Brad... while Brad Adamson's injuries were particularly showy, they were not actually that severe. Black eyes, a bloody nose, cut lips, some other bruising and minor lacerations, but no broken bones and nothing that even required stitches. Second, Rodrick was a former Marine and trained in lethal hand-to-hand combat. A prosecutor could argue that this made his attack assault with a lethal weapon, but that's discretionary and I didn't feel it was justified here. In this case, the minor nature of Brad's injuries showed clear restraint on Rodrick's part, given how easily Rodrick could have inflicted far worse. And third, while assault and battery against a law enforcement officer is usually a felony, we typically class brawling between officers as a misdemeanor. The legal distinction is whether the assault is motivated by the victim's position as a law-enforcement officer or their duties as one, or is just coincidental to it. If someone punches a cop for writing them a ticket, that's a felony, but if someone punches an off-duty cop because he's hitting on his girlfriend, then that's a misdemeanor unless there's a separate aggravating factor. That's the same distinction that ups cop-killing to first-degree murder, even if it is not premeditated, and a similar distinction is applied when a witness to a crime is killed. So when two cops mix it up, we usually assume it's not because the other guy's a cop. So long as there isn't a severe injury or a lethal weapon or some other aggravating factor, that makes it a criminal misdemeanor at most, with additional administrative punishments on top of that. In Rodrick's case, the assault appeared motivated in part because of his orders, and in part because of Brad Adamson's indiscretions... were you aware of those?... neither of which were innate to Brad's status or duties as a police officer.

"I have no idea what I would have done if Brad Adamson had pressed charges or brought civil action. But he didn't. That simplified matters greatly. For a case of simple brawling, administrative punishment is left to superiors within the precinct or division. Internal Affairs only investigates, reports, logs, and recommends. The precinct chief decided to proceed with the undercover assignment and not pursue administrative punishment in spirit, though it was pursued officially as part of Rodrick's cover."

[D.KnightSpider]

The more I found out about Rodrick's... interaction... with Adamson, the less I like it. Not only had that assault not been related to Rodrick losing it, but the injuries dealt showed that Roddy had been in control of himself the whole time. It said something about Rodrick that the entire episode had gone down that way; I wasn't sure that I liked that saying.

"If you're referring to Sgt. Adamson's habit of harassing females, then, yes, I'm aware of his activities. I'm curious as to how something like that could be so well known and nothing be done about it. But I digress. Do you have any idea why Adamson didn't press charges? Was it simply because he didn't want those indiscretions publicized?"

[Reltzik]

"Nothing was done because it was the same old story," Sloduski answers. "You've probably heard this song and dance before. None of the victims were willing to come forward. Well, not enough of them. Part of it was the shame of being a victim of a sex crime. Part of it was a certainty that their testimony alone wouldn't have been enough... and it wouldn't have, sexual harassment is a devil to prove on a single victim's testimony alone. Part of it was fear of retribution from Brad Adamson, especially if a complaint couldn't be substantiated. And part of it was that the longer it went on with everyone knowing it and no one doing anything about it, the more unassailable he seemed. Rodrick changed all of that. He shouted his accusations for the entire precinct to hear during his attack, and afterwards Brad seemed a whole lot less scary and a whole lot more vulnerable. A lot more women were willing to come forward after that. It opened the floodgates. I don't like how Rodrick did it, but he got results.

"I didn't really question Brad Adamson hard on why he didn't want to press charges. I'd guess that you're right, and he wanted nothing more than to slink away out of sight before the media got wind of it and sent a whole bunch of cameras his way. Maybe he was afraid of another beating. I think his family might have put a bit of pressure on him to let the whole thing die quietly, too. He settled for a misdemeanor charge, probation, administrative firing, and some pretty hefty fines. I think he might also have been the target of some civil suits, which were settled quickly and quietly out of court. I'm not sure about that part, though, that's more rumor mill than anything I know firsthand."

*****

OOC EDIT: Decided to give K some more to work with.

After a bit of silence, Macabee says, "There's a lot of people it could have been. Just about anyone with a small gun and a lot of luck and not much expertise could have done that. But going off the shoeprint... it couldn't have been La Loba personally. She's tall, I doubt she has a small shoe size. If whoevever-it-was was a key figure taking care of things personally, then it was probably one of La Loba's lieutenants. One of her real lieutenants, that is, and we don't know a lot about them. In theory, she's also got some leadership of the old gangs as lieutenants, even if they're increasingly sidelined and disgruntled. But they're traditional gangsters. Intimidation factor counts a lot for status, and they're BIG. ... maybe the leader of The Rebels. That's a Central Brooksvale Chechen outfit. They're in the 26th's half of Central, so I don't know much about them. I keep forgetting the Chechen word for "Rebels". In any case, their leader's a pretty small guy, and I hear that he's sloppy when he does things in person, which he sometimes does."

"It's more likely that it was someone in the Wolfpack, or one of the gangs in the Wolfpack," Lawrence says. "Attached to the Wolfpack, maybe. The relationship is complicated. But just a plain foot soldier, not anyone important, just an everyday nobody lowlife looking to make a few bucks and a bit of prestige. The slums are full of them. There are probably a couple thousand fitting your description in Upper Brookvale alone."

"I don't think that bunker belongs to the Wolfpack," Macabee says, switching to a less contenscious subject. "It just doesn't make any sense for them. Hiding something like this on their own turf, maybe they could pull that off, but out here? Not a chance. And there's no advantage to them. I doubt it belongs to anyone from Brookvale. But... if it does belong to someone from Brookvale, my first guess would be La Loba. Simply because she's got her fingers in everything. She's got half a dozen businesses, majority shares in a recycling outfit with a municipal contract, her own radio station... it wouldn't surprise me if she owned a dog kennel on the other side of town. Just because she could. If anyone around Brookvale were to have something that weirdly random in their back pocket, it's her."

"Plus, this is her old turf," Lawrence puts in. "She used to live at the University. Managed to get MPD kicked off campus entirely." Thad vaguely remembers that from about four years ago, some scandal involving a cop caused the University administration to switch from municipal police to state troopers for on-campus policing. "Wouldn't surprise me if it was leftovers from her anarchist student days."

[Kislath]

"Anarchist student days? Well, if nothing else, bunkers and anarchists go together like peanut butter & bananas.
What? You never tried that? You totally should. It's awesome. A little mayonnaise really jazzes it up.

So, the mighty Wolfpack has rivals, hunh? Chechens? Yeeesh.
How does Lupa stay in charge, anyway?
I hear her lieutenants are hardcore badguys that make her look like a sunday school teacher. Why haven't they just gotten rid of her and taken over?

Also, when it comes to Rodrick's death, who benefits? "