I own nothing except a few characters and the plot.
STAR WARS REBELS
The New Spectres
Bar Homicide Part 1
PHILADELPHIA - 2031
"We've been having quite a few visitors from what I'm being led to believe is the Outer Rim and they all seem to be getting into fights with weapons at bars here. Right now, I have three stabbings and six blaster-related incidents. Between these and stray ships coming up the coast that are splashed before they reach you, Lucy and Eric are backed up." Ty said on the phone to who Lucy assumed was her dad.
"Your Dad?" Eric asked her as he showed her the file on one of the recent bar incidents.
"Sounds like it. No suspects yet?" She replied as R9 beeped something.
"Philly Police are looking for one as are our guys. I've also told Amtrak, bus lines, spaceports, airports, rental cars. I am not about to quote Tommy Lee Jones from The Fugitive. My Dad perked up when I told him what this assignment involves. No R9, most of the bars in this city don't allow droids in them." Eric explained.
"R9's an exception. The last one who told me that R9 wasn't allowed in was shut down for over 30 health, building, and fire code violations. He also did two years for creative bookkeeping and another year for obstructing an investigation. Word quickly spread, my droid is allowed in the bars unless they want their business put under multiple microscopes." Lucy told him with a giggle as Ty walked into her office.
"Your Dad might be sending a couple of bodies down here. He noted the increasing workload since we started shooting down unresponsive air traffic heading towards New York or Washington and the amount of bar incidents has gone up. Speaking of the open Bar Homicide?" Ty said and directed the question to Eric.
"Still looking for a suspect. It's kinda hard when half of the potential witnesses scattered after it happened and the other half made like Schultz after we discovered that your sister-in-law raided the kitchen and ate all of our lunches again along with anything else we had in there that fitted her appetite and said they saw nothing, heard nothing, or knew nothing." Eric replied earning a look from Ty. This part of Eric's personality was still new to him and he had Lucy to thank for it.
"The owner wants the place released so he can reopen it. I told him that it isn't my case, that it's still a crime scene, and the more he annoys me, the longer that tape stays up. He really irritates me, and I'll have him, his bar, and his books put under a microscope. He'll never get his bar back once Fire, Health, and Buildings get done with him, plus the IRS and anyone else I can think of." Lucy added causing Eric to snicker.
"Which category of witness was the bartender in?" Ty asked.
"The Schultz category. I made everyone give written statements with contact info." Eric replied.
"Bring the bartender and the owner in for a chat and have a padlock put on that bar." Ty told the two and left for the kitchen followed by an annoyed sound.
"She ate his lunch again." Lucy commented followed by a beep from R9.
Lucy and Eric found themselves at the scene of another bar incident involving a blaster and a offworld victim.
"Who saw what?" Lucy asked the patrons that were still at the bar.. Getting no answers, Eric decided to try another tactic.
"We have ways of making people talk. We would hate to have to use them." He said using his faux-German accent. This also got no response.
"All right then. Lieutenant, no one leaves here until they give us a written statement. Anyone who wants to be difficult or refuses to give one here can sit in Lockup until we get their statement or I decide they can be released." Lucy said to an officer who signaled for a pair of Stormtroopers to watch the door. Eric went to talk to the bartender.
"Where were you when this went down?"
"In the back room getting a case of beer." The bartender replied sarcastically.
"Wanna start over again down at the Navy Yard? Lose the attitude." Lucy told him as R9 rolled up to her with something in his claw.
"Hey, no droids allowed in here."
"This droid is unless you wanna do this at the Navy Yard while we have the Health Inspector come take a look around here. Then we can bring in the Building Inspector and the Fire Marshall. The droid stays." Lucy snapped at the bartender who quickly shut up.
"Where's this case of beer?" Eric asked the bartender.
"Served it."
"Place this man under arrest and get him out of here." Eric said in German to another pair of Stormtroopers who placed the bartender in handcuffs and took him out.
"A little hasty there with the arrest."
"I don't buy his fairy tale. I'm taking him out of his comfort zone and putting him in our comfort zone. It worked for Joe Kenda. Also the beauty of a Material Witness. If you were tending a bar and somebody got shot, would you continue to serve drinks or close the bar? I know I wouldn't keep pouring drinks especially when people ran out of the bar without paying their bar tabs. And that hasty arrest thing, coming from a woman who called in Hochster on her son's teacher and Principal after showing up at his school with armed commandos, has cars towed for spite, and uses every other legal loophole she can think of to justify those actions." Lucy ignored his sass since it was part of what she called The Real Eric Schuyler. He was also included in the "Extended Felth Family" and Ty referred to her and Eric as his other two kids at least once while talking to Steve and Marty about some business which Lucy figured was either the ASW Crash Investigation that Marty had taken over from her or some new business that she only knew certain details about.
"Don't call me at work for nonsense and I won't show up with armed troops. Ed Dobbs told Darius that he's dealing with the nonsense before I have to visit with troops again. Plus, once they burn Greg Washington's ear about it, all bets are off. Besides, Nutrition Expert sounds like a Political Patronage job and Ed hates when people get jobs that they have no qualifications for."
"How did he end up there anyway?" Eric asked as he looked behind the bar.
"His brother was the Principal at the school Darius was attending when President Bridger did for him what Darius did for Keisha Banks. How the hell do you not notice a blaster bolt or a bullet coming through your bar? What is that stick pointing at?" Lucy asked Eric as she pushed a stick through the hole in the bottom of the bar.
"Somebody want to get this bullet out of the wall?" Eric called to a Philly PD Crime Scene Tech who came over and pulled the bullet out of the wall with a pair of pliers.
"I think I have a few more questions for that bartender. Lieutenant, make sure the hospitals know to report any gunshot wounds that come in. Bullets and blasters."
The bartender was put in the Interrogation Room with Lucy while Eric watched from outside.
"We found a bullet in your bar. There was no call about a second shooting at that bar." Lucy said.
"I don't have to report it." The bartender told her.
"I suggest you stop lying to me right now. Failure to report a crime is a crime and you're being held as a Material Witness. That means that your butt stays in jail until we decide that we've gotten everything we need out of you. Now do you want to tell us about this other shooting?"
"Bite me."
"Put him back in his cage." Lucy said to a pair of Stormtroopers who took the bartender out of the room and back to the holding cell area. Lucy exited the room after them.
"I have Schultz looking into who owns that property. I want to see if we have any standing to legally seize that bar." Eric said as Schultz appeared.
"I pulled copies of every report from the police for every call to that bar over that last six months and added them to the calls our troops responded to. The ones with the little scotch tape tags are the ones that involved some form of violence." Schultz explained to them as he handed them a rather thick folder. Lucy noted the large number of tags as Eric flipped through it.
"Why is this place still in business?" She asked.
"State doesn't have the guts to do something about it." Eric replied as Ty joined them.
"Is this all one bar?" He asked them.
"At least six months worth of incidents." Lucy told him.
"This place should be closed down as a public nuisance. Here's an open homicide with our pals from that flame-weapon case investigating." Eric added.
"That can be arranged. Sergeant, arrange for a detail to go over to that bar with a padlock and a notice stating that the Remnant is seizing that property and anything inside of it as a public nuisance." Ty told Schultz who went to carry out the orders.
"Schultz, make sure that they replace the Crime Scene tape that's across the door of that place when they're done with that. It's still a Crime Scene." Lucy added. A few hours later, two Stormtroopers escorted the bar's owner into the Interrogation Room where Eric was waiting while Ty and Lucy watched from outside.
"Major, do you care to explain why your troops felt the need to seize my business and then drag me down here?" The owner demanded.
"Crime Scene, Public Nuisance, and more violence in one week then the worst neighborhood in the city had in a month including a murder." Eric explained.
"You have no right. You just wait until my lawyer gets done with you and everyone else here. I happen to know the Deputy Mayor of this city."
"Now I see where your bartender gets his attitude from. You can call your lawyer and the Deputy Mayor from our Detention Block. Secure him." Eric told the Stormtroopers who took the owner back to a holding cell. Outside, Lucy turned to Ty.
"That was a waste." She said.
"Not really, maybe a few nights in jail will get their attention." Ty explained as Eric joined them.
"Did we hear from Detective Jenkins about that other homicide?" Eric asked.
"I sent him an e-mail. My guess is he might not have much more to tell us then what was on the report that Schultz pulled. Deputy Mayor probably explains why he's still in business, but the Deputy Mayor has no weight around here and I'll throw their ass in jail too." Lucy replied.
"Pushy Politicians. I love dealing with Pushy Politicians especially when I throw them in a jail cell and misplace their paperwork for a few days." Eric told them allowing his faux-German accent to slip out as he spoke causing Ty to look at Lucy.
"I don't know if he got this from Hochster, someone else at RSB, or you. Maybe a combination of all three." Ty said causing Lucy and Eric to laugh.
Detectives Jenkins and Allen stopped by to compare notes on the cases coming from the bar. The four gathered in Lucy's office with R9-D2.
"The slug Eric found in the wall is from a 9mm. I still haven't heard an explanation about how that ended up there and we're keeping both the owner and bartender locked up as Material Witnesses until they give us one." Lucy said.
"We've also seized the business as a Public Nuisance based on the amount of calls there over the past month." Eric added.
"I was kinda hoping that this would happen where you guys would catch a case there after the owner threatened us with the Deputy Mayor. I know you guys would throw the Deputy Mayor in jail too." Detective Jenkins told them.
"It did and we're not playing around with the owner of that place. Padlocks, Seizure Notice, and we had the Crime Scene tape on the doors replaced after someone ripped it down. As soon as we find out who did that, they will be arrested and charged with Evidence Tampering among other things. Provided it wasn't your people of course since you have an open case involving that place."
"We would have told you guys if we sent any of our Crime Scene people in to do anything there and then resealed the place after." Detective Allen told Lucy.
"That leaves us with someone from the Deputy Mayor's Office ordering evidence of something removed from that place." Eric said.
"I'll see if Forbes can get us warrants for the Deputy Mayor's home, offices, and car."
"How about one for the Deputy Mayor?" Allen asked.
"The beauty of Material Witness warrants." Eric replied as Lucy made a phone call.
"Colonel Carpenter. We need warrants for the Deputy Mayor. Material Witness and Search for offices, home, and car. The latest incident at Nolte's, someone tampered with my crime scene and it wasn't the Detectives investigating an earlier incident there. They worked with us before on the flame weapon case. They want this too, Deputy Mayor's throwing weight around trying to interfere with their investigation. Fax them to us as soon as they're signed. Thanks." Lucy said and hung up her phone.
"What did she say?" Jenkins asked.
"She's going to get us the warrants." Lucy replied.
"Forbes as in Forbes who prosecuted the Brad the Bum Case?" Allen asked.
"Yep, that's her. She's already prosecuted a couple of our neighbors and that smuggler Lucy shot down off the coast of Atlantic City. Lucy had one that's got a few screws loose and I had one who's a mail thief." Eric replied.
"Is this neighbor of yours the woman who bashed her boyfriend in the head with a frying pan and only got Probation?" Jenkins asked.
"Yeah, that's her. She blocked my brother in with her car, my son used The Force to put it in front of a fire hydrant while I arranged to have it towed. She showed up here throwing a fit and went after General Marlion twice. He filed a 302 on her and Forbes filed a slew of Felonies for her to face when she gets out of loony bin." Lucy replied.
"I guess I do warrant service if we get them?" Eric asked Lucy.
"We can do it tomorrow. I have to arrange a perp walk anyway." Lucy replied earning grins from the two Detectives.
That evening while Justin tended to Caleb, Lucy filled Darius in on some of the details about what was going on.
"Jenkins and Allen, weren't they the ones on that case with those flame things that the First Order had that found their way to the Black Market after we defeated Pryde and Sidious? I think that case was also the one where Eric had just about everything trucked out of a bank." Darius asked.
"That's them and that was the same case. They caught a Homicide at Nolte's before we caught our case there." Lucy replied as Justin joined them.
"Caleb's asleep with the stuffed Loth-cat firmly planted next to him." Justin said.
"Can you take him to school tomorrow? I have some early morning warrants to serve on the Deputy Mayor." Lucy asked her brother.
"Yeah, sure. I pick him up after school tomorrow too. Just make sure his lunch is ready though."
"Dad called earlier. I don't know if he spoke to you yet. I'll do Caleb's lunch before I go to bed since I'm the one who hears all the complaints about what we send with him." Darius said.
"He spoke to Ty and I have a feeling I already know what it's about. Our workload is increasing again. He's thinking of sending people to help out. Are they floating around this house again?"
"Mace is in Caleb's room. Kanan and Bryan are up in New York." Darius told her.
"Good, I was thinking that I could throw you out of the house in place of Mace if you and him ever compare me to Sylvia again."
"Didn't Dad have you escorted out of his offices for doing that once?" Justin asked.
"I think that was one of the many times that Dad had his Death Troopers give Josh an Uncle Phil for making one of his bad and or vulgar jokes." Darius replied.
"Whenever Dad ordered Josh thrown out of there, we usually left as well. Chances were that Dad was looking for any reason to get rid of us and Josh would say something that set him off. Other times, he would tell Jacen or Galen Marek to drop us off somewhere other then the office, usually the shoe store. It was usually Jacen who picked us up from school in the afternoon in between the Vican Supply Run and driving Sylvia between doctor's appointments and buffets. We always thought she grew tumors or developed rashes on command as a guilt tactic." Lucy added. Darius came to bed after making Caleb's lunch for the next day and found Lucy sound asleep. He reached into The Force and found Caleb also sound asleep although the stuffed Loth-cat had somehow ended up on the floor until Mace put it back on the bed. Justin was still awake though and Darius figured that he was exchanging messages with either Chris or Junior about something that more then likely was none of Darius' business. He soon drifted off to sleep himself too tired to even make his Midnight Snack Raid on the kitchen.
Lucy and Eric arrived at the Deputy Mayor's home early the next morning with a squad of Death Troopers and a squad of Stormtroopers. Lucy had also made arrangements for an army of reporters and camera crews to be there. The Deputy Mayor, a man named Samuel Johnson greeted them at the door.
"What is this?" He asked Lucy angrily.
"Samuel Johnson, I'm Lieutenant Colonel Carpenter and this is Major Schuyler. At this time, we are executing warrants to search your home, car, and offices in connection to multiple violent incidents occurring at Nolte's Bar including at least two Homicides. We also have one to detain you as a Material Witness." She replied as the troopers entered the home. Johnson was incensed.
"Do you and General Marlion know what you have have just done?"
"We do. We just don't care. Please place your hands behind your back. The General insisted that we use the handcuffs." Eric said and placed handcuffs on Johnson before handing him over to a pair of Stormtroopers who placed him in a van after wading through the reporters and camera crews who were shouting questions at JOhnson and snapping his photo. Eric and Lucy then searched the house and Johnson's car while Johnson's wife complained about the timing of the visit and the mess being made.
"Nothing on the warrant says we have to be neat." Lucy told her.
"Well, I'm not cleaning up after you."
"You wanna live like a slob, then that's your business." Eric added as a Stormtrooper emerged from the basement.
"Sirs. You might want to see this." The three followed the Stormtrooper to where R9 was standing over what appeared to be a freshly filled hole in the floor.
"You're not going to rip my floor up are you?"
"You two, chop through this." Eric called to a pair of Remnant Maintenance Workers in his faux-German accent. The two workers broke through the floor with axes and found dirt.
"It's just dirt, Major." One of them said.
"So, dig. DIG!" The workers exchanged their axes for shovels and began digging. Lucy was quite amused while Mrs. Johnson was incensed.
"First you wreck my house and now you're gardening in my basement?"
"The droid thinks there's something under here and so do we." Lucy told her.
"What's that odor?" Eric asked as he smelled something foul.
"Major. we found something." The other worker called.
"Smells like a dead body. I better call Ty and Detective Jenkins and let them know what we found. I think this is going to be another Homicide victim." Lucy commented.
"Take her away then call for Crime Scene and the Medical Examiner." Eric told the Stormtroopers who took Mrs. Johnson out of the basement as the workers uncovered a large tarp that Lucy had no doubt was wrapped around a dead body, but wanted R9 to confirm her suspicions.
"R9, scan this." Lucy told the droid who let out a series of what sounded like whimpers before scanning the tarp and showing the results to everyone.
"As Kenda would say. My, my, my." Eric said as the scan clearly showed a body wrapped in the tarp.