Seriously Inconvenienced Ch. 01

The chronological order of my stories is as follows:

Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player Series, Case of the Black Widow series, Teresa's Christmas Story, The Case of the Black Badge series, A Case of Revenge series, Teresa's Summer Race, The Trilogy series, Dark Side Of The Force series, Caught In The Act series, Case of the Murdered Bride series, The Credit Card Caper series, The Hot Wives Investment Club series.

Seriously Inconvenienced, Ch. 01.

Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, extreme language, and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial or racist language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

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Part 1 - Prologue

It was a multi-alarm fire. The three-story building was engulfed in flames, being consumed by the raging inferno. I pulled onto the scene in my Police SUV next to Captain Charles's vehicle, from which he was implementing the traffic plan to re-route vehicles away from the scene. The date was Wednesday, November 12th.

"Couldn't have happened in a worse place. But your plan is working extremely well. Outstanding job!" I said to Captain Charles, who nodded and then responded to something on the police radio. Captain Charles rarely left Headquarters except to go home after work, but had deployed on this day for this big-deal mission. I thought about why this was such a big deal as I listened to Captain Charles give orders. Allow me to explain:

The road that leads from the east, from the City and Nextdoor County, into our County is a 4-lane divided highway. Just east of the town it swerves south and becomes the Bypass, crossing the river near Junction Station to the south of Town, curving north and paralleling the River on the west side of said River, then turning west just north of the northern border of Town. The railroad tracks run alongside the highway for the most part, especially west of the River.

From the Nextdoor County highway, a road named Jefferson Avenue splits off and comes straight west into Town. University Avenue, the major north-south road that runs between the Town and University, intersects Jefferson Avenue just a couple blocks south of the University Hotel, which is at the southern edge of University property. University Avenue continues south to become the main road to Coltrane County and on south to Midtown.

Jefferson Avenue goes west, and is the southern 'border' of the areas known as the Tenderloin District and the Southwestern Ghetto. Jefferson Avenue crosses the River and meets again with the Bypass. Just further north, Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard runs east-west, parallel to Jefferson Avenue. MLK Jr. Boulevard runs through the heart of the rougher areas of Town that would soon be in the 2nd Precinct.

University Avenue goes north, then turns sharply left and heads west as the de facto northern border of the Town until it also crosses the River and meets up with the Bypass, that road continuing straight west until it crosses another river, which is the State Line.

Ergo, the fire was at the northwestern corner of what was one of the biggest and most-trafficked intersections in the County. I'd long since been informed of the various contingency traffic plans, though the thinking was that the event would be a fatal car accident or pileup. I was pleased to see that Captain Charles' plans, formulated with Chief Griswold over the years, was working well, and I was very impressed with the efficiency of the Police Department's Uniformed Officers in their handling of the crisis. Police were at the junction of Jefferson Avenue and the Nextdoor County highway, not letting people come into Town on that road. Likewise, University Avenue was shut off well north of the fire site. Traffic was not too bad, even though it was 4:45pm, the beginnings of the afternoon rush hour.

"Not the best way to end the day, eh, Commander?" I heard a voice behind me say. I turned to see Town & County Fire Chief Eugene Gillem, in full firefighting attire, with a white fire helmet that was the traditional color helmet for a fire chief.

"No sir, Chief." I said, giving him the respect of his rank. He was equivalent to Police Chief Griswold, and I knew he was retiring the same day Griswold was. We'd miss his experience and expertise, as he ran a terrific Fire Department.

"This is Patrick Quinlin." said Gillem. "He's going to become Chief after I retire. Patrick, this is Commander Donald Troy that my friend Chief Griswold keeps raving about."

"I've heard a lot of raving about you, too." said Quinlin. "Glad to meet you."

"Good to meet you, sir." I said as I shook the redheaded man's hand. "I've bought houses from both your daughters."

"Good." said Quinlin. "As to this fire, we might need your deductive abilities on what caused it. I was just telling Chief Gillem here that I've never seen a building go up this fast or hot."

"My Crime Lab is ready to help your Arson team with whatever you need." I said. The way it worked was that the Fire Department's arson team would investigate, then if evidence of arson was found, the police Crime Lab would also come into the picture to investigate the crime further. I also had brought the arson team's lab facilities into my Crime Labs, which saved the Fire Department (and the County) a ton of money, but also kept things under my control.

"Anyone inside the building?" I asked.

"Not that we know of." said Chief Gillem. "The restaurant's customers and employees ran out as the smoke filled the first floor rooms. Mr. Veccio and his family are over there." He pointed to an older man who was on the University side of University Avenue, tears streaming down his face as he watched his restaurant, which was the first floor of the building, burning. His name was Santo Veccio, and his family's home was the 2nd floor of the building. The third floor apartments were rented to University students. "We think the students that lived on the top floor are at classes, but there's no way to send my guys in to find out. The fire was already too dangerous when we got the first alarms."

"Commander!" called out Captain Charles. "There's a bulletin coming over Police radio. There's been a robbery at Second National Bank!"

Part 2 - The Bank Job

Because of the traffic, it took me some few minutes to reach the Second National Bank, whose offices were north of Courthouse Square in the heart of Town. I drove on some medians and even on the sidewalk to get there as quickly as I could, blue lights blazing and siren blaring.

"Whaddya got, Nash?" I asked as I came in. Detective Martin Nash was the first Detective to arrive at the scene after the robbery call came in.

"While that big fire had everyone distracted," Nash astutely commented, "three men charged in the back door to the lobby just before the 4:00pm closing time, and robbed the bank at gunpoint. They had military assault rifles, likely M-4s from the descriptions and the video tape I just looked at. They were wearing all black and had black cloth masks over their heads. They had everyone lie down on the floor. One guy was here in the middle of the lobby with the customers, a second in the back with the manager, forcing him to open the safe, and a third grabbing cash from behind the teller windows."

"Anyone hurt?" I asked.

"No, sir. But they took one of the tellers with them as a hostage." replied Nash, with a worried look on his face. "Detective Torres is getting info on her right now.

"What else did they take?" I asked as I looked around the room.

"We don't yet know exactly how much cash they got, but it was a pretty big haul." said Nash. "They also took the customers's and tellers's wallets, purses, watches, jewelry, and most importantly, cell phones. Every last one of them. Put them in black cloth bags like they put the money in. They then destroyed the phone system at the junction in the utility room, so it took a few minutes for someone to go somewhere to call in the robbery."

"That gave them a head start, and like you said, we were distracted by the fire, putting us on low manpower." I said. "And all the credit cards and stuff will be a lot of identity theft, and it's going to suck for these poor people."

"Yes sir." said Nash as Detective Torres came up to join us. "Diana... anything on the girl they kidnapped?"

Diana Torres said "Commander, first let me tell you that we've got the surveillance tapes, which are being taken to headquarters for Myron to process." I nodded as Diana turned to Martin and said "As to the woman, her name is Luisa Gomez. She's of Hispanic origin, 26, recently divorced. She's wearing a light green dress and wooden slides with a white strap." Diana showed me the picture of Luisa Gomez that had been sent to her iPhone. The woman was pretty, with brown hair cut fairly short, bright, sparkling eyes, and nice full lips.

"Their vehicle?" I asked.

"Ubiquitous white van." said Nash. "No markings on it, had a rack on top for ladders, but no ladders on it. The license tag looked like it had mud smudged on it, so we don't have a number. We've put out an APB, and with our officers manning a number of traffic diversion points for the fire, I'm really hoping someone will see the van. I called to see if we can put some more patrols out, and we have an APB out for Luisa Gomez, to see if she was dropped off anywhere."

"More patrols is one thing, but tracing the right van is another." I said. "Get as many cellphone numbers from these witnesses as you can, and give them to Myron as fast as you can. He might be able to get some pings or tracings, which could give us a location, or at least a direction they went." Nash got right on that, moving as urgently as I'd ever seen him move.

I spoke to several of the tellers, who were all women. Some were sobbing, knowing the extreme danger their friend Luisa Gomez was in at this moment.

"Do any of you know why they'd choose to take Luisa?" I asked. "Did she ever say she was worried about anyone or anything?"

"Her ex-husband was abusive towards her." said one of the women, a rather dumpy girl with light blonde hair like Cindy Ross's. "But she said he left the State after she divorced him, and that was a year ago." I got the name of the husband, though that name of 'Pedro Gomez' didn't give me a lot of hope of finding the correct individual easily.

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

"The amount taken from the bank was about eighty-five thousand dollars." I said to the group gathered in the main conference room at 9:00pm. Present were myself, the Chief, Detectives Nash, Torres and Parker, Myron Milton, and 'Crowbar's Angels': Teresa Croyle, Tanya Perlman and Cindy Ross. Also present were FBI Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone and FBI Special Agent Sandra Speer.

"Why bother with customer wallets, if they got that much?" wondered Detective Teddy Parker out loud. He quickly corrected himself. "Sorry, sir. The question was rhetorical."

"No, it's a good question, and I'd suggest a couple of reasons." I said, rescuing Teddy, who was young but had flashes of promise. "One, for the credit cards and other information. They can use the information for identity theft, or sell the information to others, again for identity theft purposes. Two, to cause the customers and us police to be as distracted and overwhelmed as possible having to process all this information."

I continued: "The eyewitnesses said the criminals were in excellent physical condition, and the video tapes shows that their black clothing was somewhat clingy to their bodies, and their bodies do seem to be fit. I would also suggest from watching the tape that they moved in a very well-coordinated and practiced fashion. Anyone know what that means?" I asked, testing my detectives.

"That they practiced." Cindy Ross said sarcastically, meaning to be half-humorous. I tried not to laugh... and failed.

"Stoppit." I said as more laughter cropped up.

Martin Nash spoke up, very serious, almost frantic. "I think you're trying to get at the idea that they're some kind of paramilitary organization, that they keep fit and that, as Lt. Ross said, they practiced their actions and timing very well."

"Yes, good." I said. "I'm thinking a bit farther, though. I'm thinking that we still have three stand-out criminals from the old Corrigan Cell, and that these guys were them. They needed money, so they robbed the bank."

"That's a thought." said the Chief. "Is that why you are here, Agent Muscone?"

"Partly." said Jack Muscone.

"If I may, sir," said Myron Milton, "it's not the only reason the FBI was brought into the case. Commander Troy contacted them earlier today after I told him about the cell phones that were stolen today. They've been shut off and we're not getting any pings from them anymore, and I suspect they were placed inside a shielded box so that their signals can't get out. But before that happened, we got a few pings from towers to the west of the River, suggesting they went West. They may have crossed the State Line. And that means we'll need the FBI in on the case."

"And if they are indeed the last remnants of the Corrigan Cell," Jack Muscone said, "then this may be our chance to get at them, and I really want to get them. My boss says he doesn't sleep well at night knowing those killers are out there possibly watching us and you guys."

"And especially wanting to get revenge on your new FBI consultant. I share your boss's concerns." said Chief Griswold, not fooled at all by Jack Muscone's commentary. "Any word on Luisa Gomez, the kidnapped girl?"

"No sir." Nash quickly replied. "After Myron told me about the pings, we had patrol officers go along the West Highway all the way to the State line. Didn't find a thing. I'm still checking with the patrols, but we think they still have her."

The room became quiet, and the women in the room looked downwards, especially downcast. They understood fully what might be happening to Luisa Gomez even as we sat here trying to find her, and they felt the fear that every woman experiences every day... and more frequently than they'll admit.

"We don't think she was pre-chosen." said Myron. "She has very little money after her divorce. No current boyfriends that anyone knows of, and her ex-husband was last heard of in California. The other tellers said that she hasn't mentioned having any contact with him since she was divorced from him. Can't rule him out until we find him and account for his whereabouts, but it looks like they just took one teller at random as a hostage in case we got onto their track before they could get away."

"No, it wasn't just random, nor for insurance. They didn't release her." I said. "That is very bad, but at least we haven't found her dead body yet. I also think they might have taken her to keep us occupied in looking for her, which ties into the other thing I wanted to bring up: I don't think the timing of the bank robbery and the big fire today was coincidental. It has crossed my mind that the fire was set as a distraction for the bank heist."

"That's 'Iron Crowbar thinking', there." said the Chief. "What has the Fire Department told us about that fire?"

"Not much, yet. The building collapsed." I said. "It's still too hot to try to go in there. They're going to look for evidence of arson in the morning after things cool down some. We've got some officers on the scene keeping watch. The good news is that everyone known to be living in that building has been accounted for, and are alive and well."

"Can't they water down everything and then go in?" asked Diana Torres.

"No, not really. That might damage or destroy evidence." I said. "And they really don't want to go in there at night, anyway. They'll wait until daylight, when they can see better."

"Which is very wise. Okay guys," said the Chief, "not much we can do, except keep looking for the girl. I'm going to send you all home now, but Lt. Ross, I'd like some of the Detectives to work here on shifts overnight. Overtime is authorized, four hour shifts max, and they can sleep while here; I just want a presence. Crowbar, I'm sure you'll be working with our FBI friends here?"

"Yes sir." I said. Indeed, I was in for a long, nearly sleepless night looking at reams of camera evidence, cell phone pings, and anything else that might help us get a clue to the whereabouts of these criminals.

Part 3 - Fire in the Embers

"Okayyyy..." said the Fire Marshal, kneeling before a spot inside the charred remains of the building that had burned the day before. The morning of Thursday, November 13th had dawned overcast and gray, with what looked like the threat of a storm being barely held in abeyance.

The gray light revealed the total and complete damage done to the building by the ravaging fire. Nothing but heaps of black ash seemed to remain. The building had been relatively old, with brick and large amounts of real wood walls in the upstairs apartments. All that tinder had gone up in a hot conflagration.

"Sergeant," said the woman, "it's obviously arson. Go ahead and call in the Police Department."

"Consider them called in." I said as I came up behind her. "I'm Commander Don Troy, Town & County Police."

"Oh!" said the Fire Marshal, her eyes lighting up. "I'm Fire Marshal Zoe Singer." she said, standing up. "I'd shake your hand but it's very dirty."

"Doesn't bother me." I said, taking her hand and shaking it, pulling it slightly in towards me as I sized her up.

Zoe Singer had black hair combed straight and to each side of her face, with a severe part in the very top of her head. Her hair curled slightly at her jaw, framing her face nicely. She had very light brown skin, and I could not tell if she was Hispanic, light-skinned Black, or just had dark skin for a Caucasian woman. Her voice gave me no clue: perfect English without any hint of inflection nor accent.

She was wearing dark blue Fire Department coveralls and black workboots. I noted pinned-on silver oak leaf clusters on the epaulettes of her shoulders, denoting her to be the Fire Department equivalent rank as myself.

The Fire Department had a Chief, equal to our Chief Griswold, then had three ranks with silver oak leaf clusters: Assistant Chief, Battalion Chief, and Fire Marshal. The Assistant Chief was second-in-command of the Department, and was all paperwork and structures and property; while the Battalion Chief was the senior field officer overseeing 4 to 6 fire stations. Theoretically, there could be multiple Battalion Chiefs. The Fire Marshal was semi-independent, and the Fire Marshal's office did inspections and issued permits as well as arson investigations.

Zoe's coveralls were snug, and I could see that she had a nice body, her breasts not small but not large, her figure nice and trim, her ass not too obvious but I was betting was a nice, firm heart-shape. The uniform had a stitched badge over the left pocket, identical gold star-and-wreath shields as the Police Department, but the lettering was in red instead of the blue that my badge's letters were. Her name was sewn in red over the right pocket.

"I'm glad to finally meet you." I said. "I've heard a lot about you." Indeed I had. The Fire Marshal not only investigated arson crimes, but was the de facto Internal Affairs for the Fire Department, answering to the Town & County Inspector General, Horace S. Wellman. Zoe Singer had been fearless in rooting out previous corruptions within the Fire Department that somewhat matched the racist cabal within my Police Department.