The Case of the Failure to Look Beyond the Obvious
Chapter 7
7.1
The door to Ironside's office opened. Mark Sanger wheeled the chief into the office and down the ramp. Perry Mason and Dennis Randall followed them in. Sitting at the table was Lt. John Means along with one uniformed officer. He stood up as everyone entered the room.
Ed and Eve walked over to the table waiting for their boss to take control. Ironside wheeled over to Lt. Means. "As promised Commissioner Randall has surrendered himself to me."
Lt. Means walked up to Dennis Randall. "Commissioner, I am placing you under arrest for the murder of Jermaine Webb. You have the right to remain silent. If you give up the right to remain silent anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak with an attorney and have an attorney present during questioning…"
Randall interrupted Means. "I know my rights, Lieutenant."
Lt. Means pulled out a pair of handcuffs and reached for Randall to place them on his wrists.
"That is not necessary, Lieutenant," Ironside barked at him.
"Chief, may I remind you of regulations regarding…" Means began.
Ironside gave Means a look that shut Means up immediately. "Don't quote regulations to me, Lieutenant," Ironside reprimanded his subordinate detective gruffly. "I know the regulations and I am telling you those things are not necessary and that is an order."
Lt. Means looked at Ironside with disdain and said, "Yes sir." He put the cuffs away. "Please come with me, Commissioner."
Randall began to follow Lt. Means when Ironside grabbed his arm. Randall stopped. Means looked back. "When you have finished booking the commissioner, Lieutenant, I want him brought back up here," Ironside told Means.
"This is highly irregular, Chief. What is the purpose of him being brought back here?" Means stood in front of Ironside challenging him.
Ironside was quickly losing his patience with Means. He was not used to being questioned. "Because I said so," Ironside snarled.
Perry Mason came forward. "I want some time with my client, Lieutenant."
"You can question him in his cell. I must insist he remain in his cell in our custody," Lt. Means told Mason and Ironside.
Ironside turned to Ed Brown. "Sgt. Brown, go downstairs with Lt. Means. Since he can't seem to follow orders bring the commissioner back here after the Lieutenant is done booking him. Lt. Means, I would suggest you learn to follow my orders or you are going to find yourself pounding a beat or better yet assigned to traffic control. Is that clear?"
Means was livid but kept his anger contained. "Yes sir," he said with contempt dripping in his voice. Brown followed Means and Randall out the door.
Perry and Della sat down at the table with Robert Ironside. "That man is going to present a problem," Ironside said. "I don't believe for one minute he is going to tell us everything he finds out and I have no intentions of telling him a thing. Everything we discover would go right to the district attorney. Eve, get on the phone. Find out where Carl is and get him here immediately."
The door opened and Lt. Carl Reese came into the office. "Don't bother, Eve. What's up, Chief?" Reese said.
"Lt. Means," Ironside said.
"Oh, what about him?" Reese said in disgust.
"Carl, who do we know we can assign to Means that we can trust to keep us completely informed on his activities?" Ironside asked.
"How about me?" Reese said. "I can investigate everything he can and report back to you. He is not going to like it though. He is not exactly fond of me."
"That, Lt. Reese, is the least of my worries," Ironside said. "Ok, you got the job. You are now Lt. Means' partner until further notice. Get downstairs and let the Lieutenant know you two are now working together. Keep us completely informed as to what he is up to and get Damon Richards' partner up here. I want to talk to him.And send Ed back up here."
"You got it, Chief." Reese turned and headed out of Ironside's office.
Perry smiled. "I would like to see the look on Means' face when he finds out Carl is assigned to babysit him."
Mark came in the room. "Are you cats getting hungry?"
Ironside turned to Mark and in a raised voice said, "I thought you would never ask. How about chili?" Perry groaned. Della chuckled.
"It's your stomach," Mark said and headed to the kitchen.
7.2
Lt. Tragg brought Jerome Carrens out of the cell. He gave him his personal belongings and said, "Your bail has been raised. You are released. However, you must appear at your arraignment the day after tomorrow. I suggest you get in touch with your lawyer."
Carrens picked up his things and left as fast as his legs could carry him. He did not notice the two men that followed him after he left the police station.
7.3
Lt. Reese arrived downstairs and found Sgt. Brown who was sitting on the edge of a table as Lt. Means was in the process of booking Randall for murder. Reese walked over to Brown. "Hi, Ed. The chief has decided that Means needs a partner. I get to work with the little weasel."
Ed snickered. "I think I will hang around to see the look on Means' face when you break that news to him."
"Sorry, Ed. Ironside wants you back upstairs pronto," Carl said.
"The man is simply a kill joy," Ed said as he headed out. "Oh, the chief wants the commissioner brought back upstairs when Means is done."
Means was fingerprinting the commissioner as Reese watched. He took him over to the photographer and had mug shots taken. He then took him into another room to assign him the jumpsuit presently worn by prisoners. When he finished with Randall a while later he brought him out. He walked over to Reese. "Where's Brown?"
"The chief sent me down to take his place. He wanted Brown back upstairs." Reese made an effort to keep from showing Means the contempt he felt for him. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you the chief wants to work in teams. You and I have been assigned as partners for the time being," Reese said with as big a grin as he could spread across his face.
"I don't need a partner and certainly not you. You can tell Chief Big Mouth I am not working with you or anyone else. This is my investigation. It is supposed to be independent of Ironside's investigation. I am in charge of the public investigation," Lt. Means yelled at Reese.
"You just don't get it, do you, John boy? You are not in charge of squat. With the commissioner out of commission Ironside is in charge of the whole damn police department. He's the boss and he calls the shots. I have been sent to babysit you. Did you really think the chief was going to let you head this investigation? That was for the benefit of the mayor. All you are is the figure head the mayor needed to cover the collective butt of the city council. You and I are going to investigate this together. That way the chief can be sure you are not manufacturing evidence against the commissioner, not to mention the chief will know everything you are reporting back to Richards. I am betting Ironside is looking for a reason to bust you, so I am going to tell you up front you will not be doing any investigating without me. If I catch you doing so, I will report right back to the chief and you will be busted right out of this department. Oh and one more thing…if you ever call the chief anything except 'Chief Ironside' I will personally shove my fist down your throat. He is a ten times better man sitting in that wheelchair than you are on your feet. He's something you will never be…a good honest cop. Now you are excused for the night and remember don't touch this case after hours or I will help the chief bust you. Got that, John boy?"
Dennis Randall was grinning from ear to ear. It sometimes drove him crazy when Bob Ironside did this type of things to him but right now he was rather enjoying it. He knew he could depend on Bob to cover all the bases. Sending the sometimes hot-headed Italian Reese was an excellent idea.
If steam could actually come out of a person's ears Means would have been a whistling tea pot. He turned on his heels without saying a word and stormed out of the room.
"Speechless, the man is actually speechless," Carl mocked. "I was sure he was going to say he was going to go crying to the mayor. I am so disappointed."
Dennis Randall laughed. "We better not keep Bob and Perry waiting."
"Ironside and Mason…doesn't it just give you a spooky feeling seeing those two together? They look so much alike they could be brothers." Carl shook his head and led Commissioner Randall out of the room.
7.4
Ed walked into the Chief's office. The aroma of chili was in the air. Except for the two days the chief had been in Los Angeles this was the third time in a week chili was being served up. Ed could not figure out why the chief was so fond of that stuff. He could not believe the chief did not have ulcers by now.
"Is Means done with the commissioner?" Ironside asked his sergeant.
"Should be by now, Chief. They should be up in a few minutes," Ed said as he sat down.
The phone rang. Eve walked over and picked it up. "Chief Ironside's office. Just a moment, Lieutenant, he's right here. Mr. Mason, it is Lt. Tragg for you."
"Thank you," Perry said. "And Eve, my name is Perry." He took the phone from Eve who smiled at him and punched the speaker phone button. "Hello, Lieutenant."
"Hello, Perry. How are things going there?" Lt. Tragg asked.
Perry brought Lt. Tragg up to date on what had transpired regarding Commissioner Randall. "Is there anything new on your end?" Perry asked.
"Perry, I got a call from Immigration. The chief's hunch was right. The three gunmen killed at that warehouse were all French and all members of DeValle's French mafia. They entered the country last week. I did somechecking with the French police. They have searched the homes of all three men. Apparently they were paid to remove a couple of very prominent citizens from our midst," Tragg told Mason.
"Who?" Ironside asked him.
"Perry Mason and Robert T. Ironside," Tragg said with a bit of drama in his voice.
Della looked at Perry with concern on her face. "Were you able to find out why, Lieutenant?"
"The obvious reason is both of them are beginning to interfere with this drug-trafficking ring. They seem a bit more serious about preventing them from investigating," Tragg said.
"Anything else, Lieutenant?" Ironside asked.
"Yes, Chief, in fact there is. Each was paid by a wire transfer from Wells Fargo Bank in Sacramento. We are running down who owns the account right now," Tragg informed them.
"Any evidence of another base of operation for more drug trafficking?" Perry asked.
"Not at this time," Tragg said. "Also I wanted to let you know we released Jerome Carrens. Paul has assigned his men to him to see where he leads us. One of us will keep you informed about what happens. Oh, and Perry, I told Paul the LAPD would split the bill with you since we will be helping you in the process," Tragg said.
Perry could almost see a smile on Tragg's face when he said that. "What about the drug trafficking in San Diego? Do you know if Paul has found out anything about that?"
Tragg said, "He and Hamilton flew to San Diego about an hour ago. They are going to do some checking there. Again we will get back to you on that."
"Alright, Lieutenant. Thank you for all your help there in Los Angeles. Let us know if anything else comes up," Ironside said and cut off the call.
"Alright, Ed, what did you find in Webb's apartment?" Ironside asked Brown.
"Nothing that will help the commissioner. We could not find anything to refute the evidence of the gun with his fingerprints," Ed said. "The commissioner's prints were not found anywhere except on the gun," Ed told his boss.
Ironside frowned. "Not even on the doorknob?"
Ed shook his head, "No, not even on the doorknob. But then the commissioner said the door was open. He would have no reason to touch the doorknob."
"The prosecution will say he wiped his prints off the knob or simply used a handkerchief to prevent from putting fingerprints on the doorknob," Perry observed. "He will contend Randall was suprised by Sgt. Brown; that he simply did not have enough time to get out of there before the police showed up. Ed, if it is ok with you I would like to visit the scene tomorrow."
Brown nodded his head. "Of course, Perry. I will take you there myself. I don't think you will find anything though."
The door banged open and Lt. Reese walked in with Commissioner Randall. They came down the ramp and took seats at the table.
Ironside grinned. "I trust Lt. Means was unhappy about me assigning you to work with him."
Carl grinned back at Ironside. "Let's just say we put a damper on his power trip."
"Sit down, gentlemen. We are about to have dinner." Ironside waved his hand toward the chairs.
Carl sniffed the air. "Please don't tell me that is chili I smell."
Commisioner Randall curled up his nose. "I would probably get a better meal downstairs." That brought out laugher among everyone.
Mark came in with a large pot of chili. "As usual this stuff carries the normal warning, eat at your own risk. Bourbon coming right up."
"Tragg will be pleased he missed this meal," Perry said as he dished a bowl of chili for himself and then one for Della.
Ironside told Reese and Randall about Tragg's call as everyone began eating dinner. Randall looked at Ironside. "Bob, I can't order you around right now obviously but I would sure feel better if you had around-the-clock police protection. That goes for Perry as well. I sure would hate to have my lawyer shot out from underneath me."
"Perry will not be leaving here without police protection and I will not be leaving without Ed or Eve or someone in the department if they are not available. You probably got up here ahead of the police officers assigned down the hall to both elevators. No one will be allowed access other than those that work here without my direct say so. Feel better, Dennis?" Ironside nodded his head once at Randall.
"I will feel better, Bob, when you solve this mess and not until then," Randall grumbled.
"Commissioner, when you left your office yesterday did you lock your office door?" Perry asked.
"No, I rarely lock it. I normally leave before my secretary. She locks the door when she leaves. Yesterday I left early. I drove over to Webb's apartment and parked just down the street. I waited until he came out and then followed him," Randall told Perry.
Ironside asked, "Where did he go?"
Perry interrupted before Randall got a chance to answer Ironside. "Just a minute, Bob. Commissioner, who has access to your office besides you and your secretary?"
"The cleaning crew has keys to the office. And of course there is a master set with the front desk," Randall said.
"You kept that gun in your office, did you not?" Perry asked.
"Yes, of course. There is little need for me to carry the gun outside this office. In fact there really is no need for me to have one in my office but it is regulation. I kept the gun in the top drawer of my desk," Randall said.
"Someone had to have gotten into the office and taken the gun. I hate to say this, Bob, but like last time there must be someone in the police department that took that gun. I want to talk to your secretary, Commissioner. We need to know what time she locked the door and if anyone was in the office after you left but before she left. If we can determine about what time it was taken we can check to see who was in the building at the time and start narrowing down the suspects," Perry said.
"We can have her come up here in the morning. What time does she arrive, Dennis?" Ironside asked.
"She arrives at …" Randall stopped in mid sentence. He said nothing further but it was clear something was bothering him.
"What is it, Dennis?" Robert Ironside asked.
"My secretary called in sick yesterday. She had been coming into work with a cold that got worse. She went to the doctor and he recommended she take a day or so off. There was a replacement secretary yesterday. She would have been issued a set of keys for the day. She would be the one to lock the door."
"Eve, I want you to find out tomorrow who that replacement secretary was. We will need to talk to her," Ironside said.
"Alright, Chief," Eve said.
Perry turned back to Randall. "Now Commissioner, where did Webb go after he left his apartment?"
"He went to the Whitmore Storage Company. I watched him enter the one warehouse where he stayed for over an hour," Randall said.
"Did you get a look inside there, Dennis?" Ironside asked.
"No, I did not approach the warehouse. Webb had opened the big double doors and if I had entered he would have spotted me immediately. I waited until he came out. He got in his car and left. I followed him across the Golden Gate Bridge where he met with a man I had never seen before. They talked for quite some time. Webb walked back to his car and pulled out one of those three-foot containers and gave it to the man who gave Webb an envelope. Webb reached in the envelope and took out money. I watched him count it and put it back in the envelope. The two men parted and I followed him back to his apartment," Randall continued.
"Commissioner, how far away were you? Were you close enough you could identify the man if you saw him again?" Perry asked him.
"I had parked down quite a ways from where Webb had stopped. I walked up and stayed behind a cement barrier. I could not have been more than fifty feet away." Randall took a drink of his bourbon.
"Did you hear the conversation between the two men?" Perry asked.
"No, they spoke in very low voices. I could not make out what they were saying," Randal answered. "They left soon after the money was exchanged."
"And then Webb went back to his apartment. What happened next?" Ironside asked.
"After he arrived back at his apartment he did not leave there. I stayed across the street until I heard the gunshot. The front door of the apartment building was locked so I went around to the back. I went in. His apartment is right by that back door. The door to his apartment was open. I went in. It was dark. I moved forward into the apartment. I tripped over something. It turned out to be the body of Webb. I checked to see if he was alive. He wasn't. That is what I was doing when Sgt. Brown came in," Randall told them.
"Ed, didn't you say the front door of the building was unlocked when you arrived?" Ironside asked.
"Yes, Chief. I went right in," Ed said.
"Then the man who killed Webb must have left by the front door. If he had gone out the back door, the front door would have remained locked," Della said. "And if he went out the front door then maybe someone saw him."
"Chief, when we go check out that apartment tomorrow, we need to check with the neighbors and see if they heard or saw anything. We might get lucky and find someone who saw someone leaving the building immediately after the shot was fired," Perry requested.
"We'll check that out tomorrow. We'll meet here at nine tomorrow morning. Carl, you and Means can check out the neighbors in the surrounding houses and Eve and Mark can check out the other apartments in the building. Perry, Ed and I will be checking Webb's apartment. Dennis, I want you to check the mug files and see if you can identify the man Webb sold the heroin to by the Golden Gate Bridge. We will all meet back here afterwards and figure out where to go from there. In the meantime I would appreciate if you all would go home," Ironside said.
Everyone got up and headed to the door. Carl walked up to Commissioner Randall. "Commissioner, I'll escort you back downstairs." Randall started to follow Reese.
"Dennis," Ironside called out. "It'll be alright."
Randall looked at his friend and nodded, then left with Reese.
Mark began clearing the table. Ironside wheeled his chair over to the window. Perry looked at Della and then followed his brother over to the window. Della hesitated but joined Perry and Ironside at the window. Ironside sat there staring out over San Francisco. "Someone in this department removed that gun from Dennis' desk. That cop, if he is a cop, is part of this drug-trafficking ring. We have to find that man before the thugs behind this decide to remove him as well."
"Bob, I have a hunch that secretary that was brought in as a replacement will turn out to be someone who was not sent over by the agency. It would explain how our man got into the office. Or the secretary herself is the one who removed that gun," Perry said.
"Robert, are there cameras covering the halls in this building?" Della asked.
"Yes, in some parts of the building but not where the commissioner's office is located. We have them in the area where prisoners are booked and in the jail but not in the offices of our higher ranking personnel including the commissioner or myself," Ironside reported. "As soon as we can tie down the approximate time the gun was removed we will know who was in the building at the time. But I think your hunch may turn out to be right, Perry. At any rate we have to find the woman who reported here yesterday as a replacement for Dennis' secretary."
"Alright, we will start fresh in the morning then," Perry said.
"Robert, you should try and get some sleep," Della said.
"This is a good time for figuring out things. I'll go to bed a bit later. You two will be staying in Mark's room. The bathroom is off to the left over there." Ironside pointed.
Mark came over to the window, "Are you ready to retire, Chief?" Mark asked.
"No, Mark. I think I will stay up for a while. Put on a pot of coffee, will you please?"
7.5
Della and Perry closed the sliding door into Mark's room. Della sat down on a couch. Perry sat beside her and put his arm around her. Della relaxed and snuggled up against him. "This case is going in so many directions I wonder if we have enough people to keep up with it," she said.
"If we don't, Bob will bring in more people. One thing is for sure, none of us are going to be getting much sleep for the duration of this case, least of all Bob. He is not going to rest until he clears Randall of this charge," Perry said.
Della looked into the worried blue eyes of the man whom she had come to know so well. "Perry, what is it?"
"It's just that whoever has framed Randall did a very good job. It looks really bad right now. We have to come up with a lot more than just claiming his gun was stolen if we are to get him out of this mess," Perry told her.
"You and Robert will," Della said with complete certainty. "I have confidence in both of you." She smiled at Mason as he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her.
7.6
The phone rang. The man answered it, "Hello."
"Mason and Ironside will be at Webb's apartment tomorrow morning. It might be risky as he will be there with several cops. Check it out. If you are comfortable take out one or both of them. There's half a million waiting for each one for you when you do."
The line went dead. He could care less about the lawyer but if he could take out Ironside he would have more contracts than he could possibly handle. It was important he did not become over confident. Removing Ironside had been tried many times before and other than putting him in a wheelchair for life, every attempt had been in vain. But he would not fail. First Ironside and then that pain of an attorney. Yes, this is going to be a very lucrative trip to San Francisco.
