The Dashwood Tapes Ch. 03

He took her by the arm and led her away as she looked at him in shock. They were soon back in the car.

"We need to know what this Dashwood Society is, who belongs, anything we can find. Don't forget to talk to vice and set up meets with the first officers on the scene and the shift supervisor who was there."

"I can do all that from home. Is there anywhere else we need to go"

"Yeah! We need to find something to eat. I'm starving."

After lunch they headed to back to her house. She insisted that they stop at the grocery store on the way. She moved efficiently through the store with him trailing behind. When they got to the checkout, she started to pay and he pushed her to one side.

"What the . . . "

"I'm buying the groceries this time."

"You bought lunch too."

"Well, it's not like I have a lot of expenses anymore."

She just stood and looked at him and then walked quietly back to the car as he carried the bags. She opened the back door for him to set them in.

"I can afford to buy groceries."

"Yeah. But if I am going to be eating them, I might as well chip in my share."

He pulled open his door and got in. She was still standing looking at him as he rolled down the window.

"Well. Are we going or not?"

She climbed in started the car and headed to her house.

As she put up the groceries, he had set up his laptop on the table in the kitchen,

"You are going to need to show me how to use this online stuff."

She smiled.

"Ok. Let me get this put away and we will have some lessons."

He continued to mess with the computer until she came and stood behind him.

"It looks like you are doing ok. What do you want to do?"

"I want to look at the notes from the uniforms."

"Here, let me show you."

She reached around him with her arms on each side of his head and worked the keyboard. He became acutely aware of her scent, her body warmth and especially the way her tits pressed against the back of his head.

When she had finished he could see all of the officers notes and reports.

"Thanks. You may have to show me that again. I sort of got distracted."

"By what."

He turned and looked at her.

"Rafferty. Wait. Before we go any further, what the hell is your first name anyway."

"Angela. Don't you remember. I told you the other night."

HE looked at her and rolled his eyes.

"Sweetheart, I don't remember much about that night."

She grinned.

"I guess that isn't surprising."

"Anyway, Angela, you are a very attractive woman and . . . "

She interrupted him.

"Ok. I get the picture. Do you think you can contain your baser instincts for a while?"

"I think so."

He turned back to the computer and began reading the notes from the officers.

She moved across the kitchen and poured a glass of ice tea, leaned back against the counter and looked at him. She watched as he read the officers notes and she could almost see his brain working as he looked for the small details, the minute links that would make a chain of evidence.

She jumped when he let out a whoop.

"Aha!

"What?"

"The door was not locked when they got there."

"So?"

"There was no evidence of a break in to gain access. That means whoever was there had a key. They didn't lock the door because they were expecting the bodies to be found momentarily. It could also mean they didn't want the police to destroy the door getting inside. Forethought. Planning. It also means we are looking for someone who has a key to that building. That means we have probably cause to subpoena the attorney for the membership records, or at least a list of anyone who has a key."

She nodded.

"I'll call Stu first thing in the morning."

"Call Stu now. I want that warrant ready as early as possible in the morning. I want to meet Mr. Coburn on the way into his office."

She nodded, picked up the phone and started dialing.

"Well, Stu wasn't too happy about me calling this late, but he agreed to get in touch with the ADA and get the night judge to send the subpoena. He said I could pick it up tomorrow morning."

"Great."

He stretched in the chair.

"What's for dinner?"

&&&

He leaned against the building and watched the street. She was standing next to him. They were both nursing coffees they had picked up when they left the house. He noticed a car coming down the street. A big car. A big black Mercedes limousine. He watched as Mr. Cogborn stepped from the limo and headed to the front door of the offices. He stepped out and approached him.

"Mr. Cogborn. May I have a moment."

He saw the man frown.

"Well detective. I thought I answered all your questions the other day. I have a meeting in just a few minutes. If you will excuse me."

"This won't take but a moment. Here."

He handed the folded subpoena to the attorney.

"That is a subpoena for the membership records of the Dashwood group. We can pick them up this afternoon or you can have them delivered to the police station. Have a great day."

He turned and walked away and as he passed Angela, he took her hand and led her toward the car. Getting in the car he looked back and saw that Cogborn was still standing in exactly the same spot looking at the papers.

"That should ruin the rest of his day."

They headed back to the house. With no other leads, they decided to go through the case notes one more time.

Later that afternoon he heard her answer her phone.

"Hello Stu."

"Really. I will tell him."

She turned and walked toward the table where he was looking at the computer.

"That was Stu."

"Does he have the membership records."

"No. Cogborn got a superior court judge to quash the subpoena"

"What the FUCK!"

"That's about what he said. The ADA is working on it and trying to find someone who will overturn him, but it's going to take an appeals court judge and that may take days."

"Son of a BITCH!"

Then he got silent. She could see that something had flipped in his brain.

"I need to talk to the shift supervisor that was on the scene, pronto."

By lunch, they were sitting in a diner with a uniform across the booth.

"Pete, I just need to ask you a few questions about that murder scene the other day."

"Sure Steve."

"When you got there was there anything unusual going on?"

"Nope, the uniforms that were there had secured the scene and were waiting outside."

"Did they clear the building?."

"I assume so."

"Their reports don't say anything about it."

"You will have to ask them."

"Ok Pete. Can I buy you lunch?"

"Nah. The wife packs me a lunch and we meet at the pavilion downtown where she works and eat together."

"That is great!"

"Gotta Run."

Steve sat and thought. Something didn't add up. The uniforms should have conducted a room to room clearing of that whole building but none of them had it in their reports.

"Ok. Let's find the uniforms."

It took a little driving but they finally found the first of the uniforms that had answered the call that morning.

"Thanks guys. Just a few questions about what you found when you arrived."

"It's all in our report."

"Yeah, I know and you did a good job, but there are just somethings I need your take on."

"Sure."

"Was their anything unusual about the scene when you first pulled up?"

"No. Everything looked normal from the street."

"Yeah."

"After you discovered the bodies, what did you do?"

"We called it in."

"Did you clear the rest of the building."

"We started to but dispatch called up and told us to stand down until more units arrived."

"Did the dispatcher say who gave the order to stand down?"

"No. Just orders to stand down and wait for additional units."

"Thanks guys. Watch your backs."

He watched the patrol car pull away. She walked up beside him.

"I guess they could have been waiting for backup. It is a pretty big building."

"Yeah, maybe. but the shift supervisor said he assumed it had already been done. He didn't know anything about a stand down order."

She got quiet.

"Dispatch?"

"Yep."

They sat in the small office off the dispatch center listening to tapes of the radio traffic from the morning that the murder had been discovered. As the tapes approached the time of the call, he began to concentrate until he heard the dispatcher issue the call to the uniforms that responded first. Sometime later, he heard the on scene officers report bodies and then report they were going to clear the rest of the building. Shortly after that the dispatcher ordered them to stand down until backup arrived but she did not say from whom the order originated. They got the name and phone number of the dispatcher and while they were sitting in the office, he dialed her number and explained who he was and that he needed more information. Her answer didn't go a long way to solving the mystery. She reported that the dispatch supervisor, a lieutenant Hutchins, had laid the note on her desk. He thanked her.

"This gets stranger and stranger."

He got the department directory and called Lieutenant Hutchins and identified himself

"Sure detective what can I do for you?"

"You remember a murder a few mornings ago. You were on duty at dispatch and you dropped a note on the dispatchers desk with instruction for the officers on the scene to stand down on clearing the building until back up arrived."

"Yeah, so what?"

"Where did that stand down order come from."

"The chiefs office."

"The Chief of the Department?"

"Yep"

"Since when does he issue operational orders?"

'Anytime he wants to. He is the Chief"

"Thanks.

He hung up the phone and look at Rafferty.

"There is something weird going on here. Let's get out of here where we can talk."

They headed out of the headquarters and were just about to the car when Rafferty's phone rang.

"Hello Lieutenant"

"Yeah, we were just there."

"Yes. We talked to the dispatcher and the dispatch supervisor who were on duty."

"Yes Sir."

She hung up the phone and looked at Steve.

"Evidently that little visit caused enough waves that Stu is getting phone calls from the brass wanting to know who is asking about orders from the chief's office."

"Get in the car and let's get out of here."

As they drove he sat and stared out the window.

He finally spoke to her.

"Head to the diner. Let's get a cup of coffee and I want to bounce some things off of you."

She pulled into the dinner and they were soon sitting in the back booth with coffee in front of them.

"Something just isn't right about all this"

"What do you mean."

"Ok. We have an order coming out of the chiefs office at a time when the chief shouldn't even be in the office much less issuing orders to beat cops about how to do their job. We have a local judge who overrules another local judge on what should be a routine subpoena for a list of names. It may just be coincidence, but it doesn't add up."

"You are being paranoid. There is no way the two are connected. How could they be?"

"I don't know. There are still too many unknowns here. There is the name of the murdered guy. There is the question about this Dashwood group and what they do in the building, why were people there the night of the murder, why is Cogborn working so hard to stymie our attempts to get to the member list of this group."

"Well if it makes any difference, the ID on the guy should be back this afternoon."

"Maybe that will help."

They were still sitting in the diner when her phone rang.

"Rafferty"

"Ok. Can you send it to me email?"

"Thanks"

"The ID on our mystery man."

She pressed buttons on her phone and then began again as the info scrolled.

"Robert Giovanni, age 48, last know residence Detroit. His rap sheet is so long that it would take a week to read it. Mostly petty crimes, theft, burglary, stolen cars. He looks like a lifelong career petty crook."

"What the fuck is he doing on this end of the country?"

"Doesn't say. Wait, there is a note on here from the guys in vice. Apparently, they have been looking for him. He sold a bunch of pirated videos a few months ago and both the FBI and the locals want him."

"Well, they got him now."

"How did my wife get involved with a petty hood from Detroit and end up dead with him? What she just collateral damage on a mob hit. I have a friend at the FBI. Maybe he can shed some light on this."

He got on the phone. After several tries he managed to reach his friend

"Dale, Steve"

"Yeah, Thanks. It is a bad deal."

"Maybe you can. The guy that was with her was named Robert Giovanni. Apparently you guys have a warrant out for him. Can you tell me exactly what for?"

"Was this guy in dutch with the mob? I mean, could this have been a mob hit and my wife was at the wrong place at the wrong time?"

Ok. Thanks."

"Well, the Feds what him on a piracy charge. Seems he sold a shit ton of pirated DVD's not long ago. As far as a mob hit, he says there is nothing on the street about it and as far as he knows, no one in the mob cares enough about this guy to spend the money to cap him."

"We are back to square one."

He sat most of the afternoon in the booth at the back of the diner simply staring at the coffee cup. She sat and watched him. Finally, he looked up at her.

"Rattle the DA's cage and see if he has found an appeals court judge that will unquash our subpoena. I want to go home and do some homework from there."

She nodded and as they walked out of the diner she was on the phone with the ADA.

"He thinks they have one. The paperwork is waiting for him but he doesn't do anything after hours so it will be in the morning."

"Figures."

"Now what."

"We wait. This is tied to that Dashwood Group somehow. I want to do some digging on the internet and see what I can find about it."

At her house, he sat in the living room with the laptop in his lap while he sat in the recliner. She was making tea in the kitchen.

"Are we going out again tonight."

"I doubt it. Until we get that subpoena, we are stonewalled."

"I am going to change clothes then"

"Help yourself. Your house."

He looked up to see her headed down the hall and he returned his attention to the laptop

He heard her come back out and walk to the kitchen. He was reading and didn't bother to look up. He felt something on his shoulder and looked up to see her standing next to him with a glass of iced tea in her hand. She had changed clothes alright. She had on a pair of running shorts and a white singlet top. He stared. She finally nudged him with her knee.

"Take your tea and put your eyes and your tongue back in your head."

"Ugh. I'm sorry. You just sort of startled me."

"My ass. You were looking at my tits. Admit it."

He colored slightly.

"Ok. I'll admit it."

"Nothing wrong with that. I knew you would when I put this on. When I relax, I like to feel as unencumbered as possible."

"Are you telling me that if I weren't here you would be running around the house naked?"

"More than likely."

"Don't let me stop you from being comfortable"

She laughed out loud.

"This will suffice thank you."

He looked back down at the laptop and soon spoke.

"Listen to this."

"Hellfire Club was a name for several exclusive clubs for high society rakes established in Britain and Ireland in the 18th century. The name is most commonly used to refer to Sir Francis Dashwood's Order of the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe. Such clubs were rumored to be the meeting places of "persons of quality" who wished to take part in socially perceived immoral acts, and the members were often involved in politics. Neither the activities nor membership of the club are easy to ascertain, for the clubs were rumored to have distant ties to an elite society known only as, The Order of the Second Circle"

"That pretty much sums up what seems to be going on at this building. I think we have a reincarnation of the hellfire club."

He looked at her and found her eyes wide.

"Did you catch that part about "persons of quality" who were involved in politics?"

"Yeah. We may be stepping on a rattlesnake and not even know it."

He looked at her again.

"Rafferty. You should call Stu and tell him you want off this thing. If this starts getting nasty, it could ruin career."

She looked at him.

"What are you going to do."

"I am pretty sure that someone is going to try and pin this on me. IAD wouldn't have shown up so quick if there wasn't something going on upstairs. They would have let the homicide guys do the leg work and if it involved an officer, then they would have gotten involved. Somebody up top gave them orders."

She walked over and sat down across from him on the couch.

"You can't take this on alone."

He shrugged.

"You sure as hell don't need to be involved."

"I'm just doing my job."

"Collateral damage Rafferty and you don't want to be in the blast zone"

"Steve, I'm sticking."

He looked at her.

"I appreciate it but I think you are making a big mistake."