.
Chapter Thirty-Five: Heat of the Moment
Emily and Ford strolled into the sheriff's office. Emily glanced around the empty lobby, the only people there being the receptionist who was occupied typing on her computer and the security guard patrolling the hall. He strolled back to the lobby standing guard at the doors of the entrance.
"You'll go straight down that hall," Ford explained. "And make a left past the trophies. The squad room is on your right."
"And you sure there's no one in there?" Emily questioned.
"Positive, everyone's in the break room downstairs playing cards."
As if on cue, a deputy strolled out from the double doors, music and laughter blaring from the room he'd came out of. Emily watched as he strolled past her and Ford down the hall and turned right, making his way to the men's restroom.
This would be easy. There wasn't much in the way of security. She could handle the guard if needed. Emily noticed the security camera mounted on the wall facing them. She glanced back to Ford.
"Alright, I'll text you when I'm done." Emily walked around the lobby pretending to look interested at the plaques and awards on the wall as Ford strolled up to the receptionist.
"Can I help you?" The receptionist asked in a bored tone, glancing up from her computer. "Stanford, what a surprise!" she added with a chuckle. "Back to volunteer?"
Ford smiled, "Evening, Margie."
"You're looking sharp; have plans with Deborah tonight?"
"Actually, she's overseas with her humanitarian group for the summer," Ford explained. "Just passing through. We're on our way to the airport to pick up my nephew and have dinner.
Emily strolled over to them. "He's flying in from New York for our anniversary!" she beamed at the receptionist.
Margie smiled. "Congratulations."
"Do you mind telling me where the women's restroom is?" Emily asked.
"Sure," the receptionist pointed towards the hall. "Straight ahead, to your right."
"Thanks."
Emily strolled down the hall. Coming to a glass display of trophies she turned left entering another hall. All the offices were dark and vacant. The only sounds filling the space was the click of Emily's heels and the distant chattering between Ford and the receptionist. Walking further down the hall, Emily noticed a sign on a pair of double doors, SQUAD ROOM. She peered inside, the lights were dim and computers were on but there wasn't anyone inside the office.
With a sigh, Emily glanced up to the security camera and waved at it.
"You're good to go, Ems." Nolan assured through the comm.
Trying the door handle, Emily was surprised to find it was unlocked. She slipped inside. The hum and buzz of computers greeted her. Walking down the aisle of cubicles, she glanced at the name plates, and spotted Deputy Garcia's cubicle at the end of the row.
She clicked on the desk light and started searching the drawers and cabinets, finding nothing but file folders and legal pads, she searched the hutch of the desk, skimming through cups of pens and markers and sifting through stacks of books.
Nothing.
"Where is it?" Emily questioned, getting annoyed.
"It has to be there, right?" Nolan chimed in. "Keep looking."
"Thanks for the help," Emily scoffed.
Replacing the stack of baseball and criminology books in the hutch, Emily glanced to the desk, noticing a popsicle stick photo frame that had #1 DAD spelt with red and blue puffy paint and dotted with baseball stickers. She picked it up. A happy Deputy Garcia stood behind a baseball field, hugging a smiling little boy in a baseball uniform
"Deputy Garcia has a son?" Emily questioned.
"Yeah, a nine-year-old, Lucas," Nolan replied. "Spends most time with his mother and some with the dad. The parents divorced a year ago."
"Why did they separate?"
"Based on their divorce decree, the wife felt his job wasn't worth the risk or the lack of money."
Emily eyed the photo before setting it back on the desk beside an autographed baseball. "That's terrible," she said, feeling a tightness in her throat.
"Yeah, it is. Ems, the security guard is outside the door," Nolan alerted. "Hide!"
Seeing the security guard's flashlight shining through the windows, Emily snapped her hand away from the picture frame, clicked off the lamp and then ducked down. She heard a rolling sound above her head and then a light thud. The baseball rolled past her and out the cubicle. Emily jerked forward and gently kicked the ball under the desk with a thud.
The flashlight swept across the room two then three more times before finally the light and security guard's heavy footsteps retreated.
Emily sighed and glanced at the baseball. Reaching for the ball, something black and shiny taped underneath the desk caught her eye.
"I found the thumb drive," she said, removing the drive. "It was taped under the desk."
Nolan chuckled, "Wow I gotta give the guy credit for watching his detective shows."
Setting the ball back on the desk, Emily took a seat in the computer chair and turned on the monitor. A welcome screen, ARLINGTON COUNTY SHERIFF OFFICE, greeted her and prompted a username and password. A few seconds of hacking from Nolan and she bypassed the security.
"We're in," Nolan stated. "Just plug in the drive and let me work my magic."
After a few minutes of hacking, the drive and Deputy Garcia's computer was wiped clean of any evidence.
Emily sighed in relief. "Good work," she put the thumb drive back where it was hidden. Sending Ford, a quick text, Emily stood ready to go, but not before glancing back at the picture of a smiling Lucas. Her eyes lingered on the photo.
Normally she didn't feel an ounce of sympathy when she took someone down. But now she felt the heaviness of guilt lodged in her throat. Deputy Garcia wasn't just a Deputy — he was a father and a dad. He had a son. A little boy to care for. Normally, Emily didn't care that she'd ruined her mark's life or the life of their families to meet her objective, but that all changed as of late. She'd changed as of late.
Emily looked away from the photo. "I'm on my way out," she said, slipping out of the squad room.
Once she was back in the lobby Ford was still occupied with the receptionist.
"…Stanford, perhaps you'd like to attend the upcoming Labor Day community picnic," the receptionist offered. "We'd love to have you."
"Ford, he's ready to be picked up from the airport," Emily announced happily, strolling over to Ford.
"Well, Margie, we gotta head out," Ford took the flyer with a smile. "I'll look forward to that picnic."
"You all take care now," Margie said as Emily and Ford strolled out the sheriff's office.
"It's done?" Ford asked once he and Emily were outside in the SUV.
"It's done." Emily assured. "Drake doesn't have any evidence on you or Catlin or anyone."
Ford nodded. "Thank God."
"Nolan, you still have those recordings of Chief Rhodes and Catlin, right?" Emily questioned.
"Yeah."
"How fast can you hack into the sheriff's police scanners and send out a message?"
"The hacking I can do. Uh the rest not so much…. Where did I put my police scanner codes for dummies Ebook?"
"I know the scanner codes," Ford offered. "What kind of message do you want to send?"
"You speak scanner?" Nolan questioned, surprised. "What exactly did you volunteer for?"
"I taught the new deputies to be better commanders. Coordinated some mock rescue situations. Basic training and things like that."
"Drake wants to do his job," Emily explained. "He'll arrest someone tonight."
"We'll let Drake take all the credit for arrest Chief Rhodes," Nolan explained.
"Exactly," Emily replied. "Which gets him out of the picture and leaves Catlin with one less ally."
Nolan could practically see Emily smiling. "What do you have in store for him, Mastermind?" he added, strolling further out to the balcony away from the crowds that started to file out of the ballroom.
"What was Rhode's kid's name?" she asked.
"Ron," he replied, bringing up the teen's record on his Nolpad. Boy did he have a record. "He's a bit of a bad boy; besides doing poorly in school he's got a misdemeanor with possession of marijuana. Guess Daddy's influence helps since the kid only got half the usual 30 days in the slammer for his crime."
Nolan peered over the balcony overlooking the parking lot. "And speak of the little devil," he watched as Ron smoked a blunt next to his dad's grey Prius. The teen leaned against the back of the car and closed his eyes.
Five minutes later, Ron picked up his cell phone. Nolan couldn't clearly hear his conversation. Hanging up, the teen threw the half burnt blunt on the ground and roughly kicking it under the back tires of the car. He took something out of his pocket, cologne perhaps, and sprayed it over himself, before walking back towards the building.
An idea forming in his mind, Nolan said. "Give me fifteen minutes and then I'll send out the message."
xXXx
"Where were you?" Chief Rhodes asked his son as he neared their table.
Ron took a seat. "Outside," he said monotone. He glanced away from his dad to his step-mom glaring at him across the table.
He glared back. He didn't like Kim. She was nosy and annoying and bossy. Not like his real mom. Ron sighed, he wished he didn't have to spend summer vacation with his dad. He really wasn't looking forward to their trip to Korea to visit Kim's family next month.
"What?" Ron snapped at Kim.
"You smell of smoke," she noted.
Ron shrugged. "Yeah, well… there's a lot of smokers outside."
"Sure," with a sigh, Kim glanced to her husband and placed a hand on his. "Honey, we need to talk about something…"
"No, we don't," Ron insisted. He gulped and glanced to his dad nervously. His dad wailed on him pretty hard the last time he found out he had weed. If he found out again he threatened to send him to military school.
Chief Rhodes grabbed his beeping cell phone off the table. "Just a minute, hon," he asked and glanced to the text message.
Unknown; CHIEF RHODES. URGENT. OPEN IMMEDIATELY.
Rhodes clicked the attachment on the text. Audio played from his phone.
'Good,' Catlin laughed smugly. 'Now, the target's name is Greg Milano….'
'When's it going down?' Rhodes asked.
'Friday morning. Susan's Diner. Make it simple this time, we don't need another incident. Just enough to shake him up.'
'I'll call you when it's done.'
Pulse racing and eyes wide, Rhodes smashed the home button on his smart phone, clicking out of the text.
Ron shot his dad a look.
"Honey, what's wrong?" Kim asked worriedly, glancing at his phone. "Everything alright?"
Rhodes pulled away from his wife. "Uh, nothing. Just work."
Ping.
Rhodes glanced down at the phone.
Unknown; GOT YOUR ATTENTION?
Rhodes furiously text; Who the hell are you? What do you want?
Ping.
Unknown; COME TO YOUR CAR OR ELSE EVERYONE KNOWS.
"Where are you going?" Kim questioned as her husband suddenly got up.
"It's work. Be right back," he assured and rushed out of the building to the parking lot.
He tried calling the number back all to find out the number wasn't available.
Rhode's phone pinged. He glanced at the text.
Unknown; LOOK IN THE FRONT SEAT. YOU'LL FIND YOUR SECRET.
Rhodes peered inside his Prius to see a black thumb drive sitting on the front seat.
Quickly scanning the parking lot, Rhodes pocketed his phone and grabbed his keys. The second he clicked the unlock button on his car remote the car alarm went off.
"Turn off, God damn it!" Rhodes furiously clicked the PANIC button on the remote. The alarm blared louder.
"I can't believe I never did this as a kid," Nolan chuckled, watching the scene unfold from the balcony.
With a little hacking he had complete control of Rhodes' car all at the touch of his fingertips. Nolan glanced to his Nolpad and clicked another button, this time activating the windshield wipers and the flood lights.
After five minutes of messing with Rhodes, Nolan figured it was time to get the show on the road. Successfully connected into the sheriff department's scanner frequency, he glanced at his tablet to the list of codes Ford had told him to use and then read them off into his comm.
"We have a code blue," Nolan glanced back to the lot, Rhodes now had a brick in his hands and was trying to break the window. "Have a 10-66 possible Code 62c, on Beck and Glenn in the parking lot of CARE headquarters. Be advised; I'm engaging the suspect."
"This is Sheriff Lopez," A female voice replied. "On our way."
Drake sat across from a smiling Catlin. He had exhausted his efforts in getting her to confess to her crimes. He knew she wouldn't fess up to anything. He just needed time. Where was that team of Stan's?
"Deputy Garcia are we finished here?" Catlin asked in a bored tone. "You have no evidence to accuse me of what you're saying and you've simply wasted the last half hour going in circles."
He had one last card to play. Drake sat up and narrowed his eyes at her.
"Stanford Shepherd is downstairs. I can bring him in, have him relay the events which occurred at his repair shop," he stated. "Which you orchestrated to get him to pay up. With a report from him, we'll see just how much evidence we have against you."
Catlin looked at him with hard eyes.
Just then, Drake's walkie talkie buzzed. "Code blue in the parking lot of CARE headquarters."
Drake turned away from the con woman. "10-4," he replied into his walkie talkie.
Did everyone know about Catlin already? But what was the thing about the parking lot?
He had to step away for a minute to deal with whatever was going on outside.
"I'll be back, don't go anywhere." Drake strolled out of the office and glanced to the deputy manning the door. "Watch her. Don't let her leave. I need to see what's going on downstairs."
"Yes, sir." The deputy said and then strolled into the room.
xXXx
Catlin glanced to the young man guarding her office door. He was in his twenties. Had hard blue eyes. Short brown hair. A real looker. She got to her feet and sauntered over to him.
"Excuse me, Deputy, I need to use the ladies room."
"I'm sorry ma'am but you're not allowed to leave this room."
"Not even for something like that?" She chuckled and bit her lip, looking up at him with big eyes. "Look, you can even accompany me if you wish. I just really need to go."
The deputy sighed. "Fine," he opened the door.
"I'll be needing my purse too," Catlin stated, pointing to her clutch that was sitting on the bookshelf beside him. "If that's alright."
He looked like he was about to protest, then Catlin added. "There's some female items I require —"
"A-alright, alright," the young deputy's face turned red and he quickly handed her clutch. "Just be quick."
"What the hell is going on out here?" Drake grumbled to himself. That car alarm was giving him a headache.
Approaching the blaring Prius, he spotted a man desperately trying to break in. The man held a brick above his head, ready to throw it at the driver's window.
This was obvious grand theft auto.
"Sir! Sir!" Drake yelled, moving cautiously towards the man. "Sir, I'm going to need you to put that brick down."
The man spun around, angry brown eyes snapped at Drake.
"Chief Rhodes?"
"Oh, uh, Deputy Garcia, there's no trouble here," Rhodes stated, lowering the brick in his hands. "Really, uh, it seems that my car alarm's gone off and I can't seem to turn it off."
"Just got a report about suspicious activity, possible grand theft auto," Drake chuckled. "Never thought I'd see this day."
Drake wasn't expecting to find this. Funny how the world worked.
Rhode's grabbed a clean handkerchief from his dirt stained tux. "Look, this is embarrassing. It's a big misunderstanding, really," he chuckled, dabbing at his sweaty receding hairline. "I'm just trying to get into my car. But the damn remote doesn't work."
Drake held out his hand, "May I?" Rhodes handed him the remote. Drake clicked the button and the car alarm stopped.
He sent the officer a look.
"It… it wasn't working before." Rhodes chuckled nervously.
"Well, if that's all," Drake handed him the remote with a sigh.
"Yup, that's all the help I need. Thank you."
Drake shrugged at how jumpy Rhodes was as he dashed to his car.
"Anytime," Drake muttered, turning to go back inside.
He couldn't believe he'd wasted his time on something stupid like this.
Taking a step forward, Drake stepped on something hard. He bent down and picked up the item.
"Thank you again, Deputy." Rhodes said quickly as he went to the front seat and grabbed the thumb drive.
"Sir, can you explain this?" Drake asked from behind him.
With the thumb drive tight in his fists, Rhodes spun around to see the deputy holding a blunt.
"That's not mine!"
Drake examined his face. Dilated pupils. Rapid eye movement. Increased speech. Obvious signs of someone who was on drugs.
Well maybe coming out here wasn't a complete waste. He never pinned Rhodes as the druggy type. The slimy, blue collar type, sure, but not a druggy.
"Sir, are you high right now?"
"Are you kidding?! No, I'm not!"
"Sir, I'm going to need you to step away from the vehicle, please," Drake ordered.
Begrudgingly Rhodes did so.
"I'm going to have to search you," Drake said. "Standard procedure."
"I know the procedure," Rhodes grumbled, face turning red with anger. "Go ahead."
As the deputy walked over to him, Rhodes stepped back, dropping the thumb drive into the dirt behind him.
"Hands up and out to your sides," Drake ordered. After a quick search he couldn't find anything.
"Satisfied?" Rhodes scoffed, putting back on his tux jacket.
"Well, I guess you won't mind if I check your vehicle then," Drake offered.
Rhodes handed him the keys. Drake unlocked the car doors and started searching. It only took him a few minutes to find a small dark bottle hidden in the back seat.
"This looks a lot like marijuana," Drake opened the contents. "Well that's quite a lot. Sir, you do realize possession of marijuana is grounds for a misdemeanor and given the amount that you have in your possession, at least $2,500 in fines and a minimum of a year in jail."
Rhodes glanced at the bottle. Face red. "I-I don't know where that came from! That's not mine. I'm not on drugs!"
"Yeah, yeah. I've heard it all before," Drake said.
Just then, three flashing cruisers pulled up to the scene. Rhodes looked around himself in horror. His eyes darted to the thumb drive lying in the dirt three feet away.
"What seems to be the problem here, Garcia?" Sheriff Lopez asked Drake as she stepped out of her cruiser.
Drake walked over to the brunette Sheriff, handing her the small bottle.
"Found this on him, ma'am. That's about an ounce."
"Good work, Garcia." Sheriff Lopez strolled over to the Prius and held back a chuckle at the site before her.
"Well, Chief Rhodes, fancy meeting you here."
"Sheriff," Rhodes spat, leaning against his car with Deputy Garcia next to him.
"James Rhodes, you're under arrest for possession of marijuana." Sheriff Lopez announced.
Rhodes glanced past Sheriff Lopez, she was standing right where the drive was.
"Alright, Sheriff, you caught me." Rhodes held out his hands in surrender and smirked. "I'm guilty," He slowly walked with Drake to the cruiser. In a flash he broke away from the deputy and leapt towards Sheriff Lopez.
The sheriff jumped out of the way as Rhodes hit the ground. Drake bolted from his spot, pinning the man to the ground. But not without getting a punch in the jaw from Rhodes.
"James Rhodes, you're under arrest," Drake stated, roughly pulling the man up to his feet. "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."
As he shoved Rhodes towards the cruisers, something fell to the ground. Drake glanced at the thumb drive at his feet.
"Hey, pick this up," Drake ordered a deputy. "Give it to the Sheriff."
"Ma'am,' a deputy said presenting the sheriff with the thumb drive.
"I'll take that Deputy," Sheriff Lopez examined the thumb drive, eyeing it suspiciously. She walked over to one of the deputies who had a laptop. "Take a look at this," she handed the deputy the drive.
Sheriff Lopez glanced at the folder on the drive labeled 'MY CONVICTION'
"Open it," she ordered the deputy.
The deputy clicked the folder; Sheriff Lopez glanced at the photos, audio logs, and a list of names with wide eyes.
"Que me aspen," she chuckled.
Drake slammed the door on a hysterical Rhodes and glanced back to the scene unfolding around him; somewhere a crowd had gathered at the scene. Rhode's family was watching in shock. There were a few reporters with cameras. They were already asking Sheriff Lopez questions.
This was not the way he'd envisioned this night to go. He intended on Catlin Tucker going off to prison for money laundering but instead he had Chief Rhodes in the back of a cruiser on counts of marijuana possession.
How did this happen again?
Breaking away from the reporters, Sheriff Lopez turned to Drake with a smile. Drake swallowed nervously; the sheriff never smiled unless something good happened.
"Good work, Garcia," she congratulated.
"Ma'am?"
"You just opened the biggest case this city has ever seen. Good work. I expect a full report first thing tomorrow."
"Yes, ma'am," Drake smiled. "Thank you ma'am."
xXXx
"Five minutes, please." Catlin asked, strolling into the restroom.
The young deputy nodded and stood alert. He looked down at his watch. Five minutes now six had passed. He went to the door to knock on it when Catlin strolled out.
"Ready to go?" she asked with a flirty smile.
Sitting back in her office, reading an old magazine, fifteen minutes passed and a young deputy strolled inside.
"Ma'am, you're free to go," he announced.
Catlin closed the magazine. "Well I do hope you all enjoyed wasting my time," she stated getting up and gathering her things.
"Apologies for the inconvenience, ma'am."
The deputy held the door open for her. Walking out of her office towards the elevator, Catlin's phone beeped. She glanced at the text.
Unknown; IT'S DONE.
With a smirk, she pocketed her phone and strolled down the hall.
xXXx
Nolan and Emily stood in the parking lot, near the SUV, watching with the crowd as Chief Rhodes was being hauled off to county jail.
He glanced to Emily with a grin. "Everything went according to plan, just like you said. Catlin didn't press charges and Drake simply let her go."
"We got lucky."
"We got a miracle." Nolan corrected, still amazed at their plan and how it went off less than an hour. "I think we've got someone watching over us."
Now, the event was pretty much over. All the guests were leaving. The reporters had packed up and gone home.
Emily spotted Ford walking back from the headquarters. "Come on, we should all be getting home," Emily suggested, moving to get into the SUV.
"Kinda sucks that we didn't get to use Becca's presentation," Nolan pointed out as he piled into the driver's seat. He grabbed his tablet off the dashboard.
Ford piled into the SUV. "Are we good here?" he asked them.
"Yeah. We're ready to go." Nolan replied.
"All units respond!" A female voice chimed in through the SUV speakers.
'You're still patched in to their frequency?" Emily asked.
"I wanted to make sure everything was done before we left," Nolan pointed out.
"This is Sheriff Lopez," the sheriff replied. "Go ahead."
"Sheriff, we have a code 904 at 24th and Avery," the woman replied. "Possible 11-47,"
"10-4." Sheriff Lopez finished. "Everyone, let's head out!"
Police sirens went off. The blonde duo glanced out the windows, watching the flashing, beeping cruisers pulling out of the parking lot and zipping down the street.
"Code 904 means there's a fire." Ford explained.
"What's 11-47 mean?" Nolan asked, worried.
"Injured civilians," Ford finished. "24th and Avery is the same street as my shop," he took out his cellphone. "I'm going to call Jason." Ford said, getting out to make the call.
"Maybe I should call Rebecca too." Nolan offered. Knowing there was a fire so close to where the shop was made him uneasy.
He dialed her number and it went straight to voicemail. Strange. Rebecca usually picked up on the first few rings.
He dialed her number again and the line kept ringing. Nolan's gut twisted and pulse sped up in his ears. A sudden dreadful feeling in his gut told him something bad had happened.
"Mr. Ross…. sir?"
"Jason?" Nolan questioned, keeping his worry at bay. "Why are you answering Rebecca's phone?"
The beat of silence on the other line gave way to the familiar sounds of a hospital.
"You're at the hospital?" Now Nolan wasn't calm, he was yelling and panicked. "What happened, where's Becca?!"
"S-sir, there was a fire at the repair shop. Rebecca's in the emergency room."
Author's Note
Well. We did it. WE GOT THROUGH THE BULK OF THIS CASE. Hope this was worth the month of waiting. I left you on a cliff hanger. I'm sorry, I like suspense okay? Big thanks to Shetkhal Shahar for beta'ing (she's too awesome!).
Note; Que me aspen, is Spanish and translates to 'I'll be damned'.
Leave a review if you enjoyed!
Until next time,
DDLJ