Divas Prison Ch64
"What have you found?" Jericho came storming into the building, looking for someone to give him answers.
"Locked door, hidden behind a bookcase. Heavy metal construction. Clearly not meant to be found or opened by anyone who isn't meant to be there." The officer said to him. Jericho went to enter but he was held back.
"Gloves sir." He was told, and was offered plastic gloves, which he then put on. He knew it was needed to make sure anything they found wasn't contaminated. There was no way he wanted to risk anybody getting off their charges on such a stupid technicality, especially if he found what he was praying he was going to find, and he wasn't even a religious man.
"Tell me about this safe. You got it open yet?"
"No sir. It's pretty secure, we are working on it."
"Sergeant, I have no time to wait for you to open it. Can't you blow the door off or something." Jericho had no patience, he was like a child trying to reach the cookie jar on the counter.
"If we risk a controlled detonation, we risk damaging any combustible materials on the inside."
"You think there is explosive material in there?" Jericho asked.
"Unlikely. But there could be documents, money, certainly nothing that you want to risk damaging."
"Fine, but they need to work faster. Tell them there's a bottle of whisky coming their way if they get it open in the next ten minutes. What else have you found?"
The Sergeant pointed. "Nothing major on or in the desk. Office supplies, couple of personal items, nothing that helps with an ID. Certainly nothing that helps any prosecution."
"Right. I want them sent to the lab for DNA checks. Of course she wouldn't risk leaving anything in plain view, even in a hidden room. The safe is the only shot here. But I'm not taking risks. Check the desk for fingerprints. If I can put Stephanie McMahon in this room recently, I can have her for the drug lab."
"You really think she's behind all this?" The Sergeant asked, unconvinced. "She's a major public figure, and hot as hell to boot."
"We just arrested two good looking women for drug trafficking. You think because she's hot she isn't capable of this? She's a murderer, a drug dealer, a corrupt piece of crap that has been abusing her power for years. I'm going to lock her up, and this room may be what I've been looking for for too many years. Get that safe open. Now."
Jericho left the room and looked around the rest of the building. There wasn't much to see, the lab contents now being catalogued and removed, and the rest of the building as standard as any other, each room fully checked by someone on the team before he got there. He ended up back outside the safe room pacing outside, waiting for news.
When he heard a loud metallic bang, he nearly ran back in, just in time to see the door pulled open, taking a lot of effort to do so.
He stood over as the officer started taking the contents out and putting it our to be seen. First he began removing bundles upon bundles of cash, all bundles of hundred dollar bills or fifty dollar bills until he said that was it. "Damn, that's got to be more than 100K." Jericho guessed out loud, before talking to another officer, who was assisting him as his partner had left with their arrestees. "Everything I'm here is going back to the lab at my offices. The team there are on alert and know this takes priority. I want the cash counted, every bill. Serial numbers checked."
Jericho then turned back to the safe, and was presented with a number of manilla envelopes. He took out the papers from the first and read them.
"Hmmm. This information on Dixie Carter. Certainly information she shouldn't have. But nothing illegal." The other envelopes yielded nothing of further interest.
Next out was a laptop. "Yes, much better." Jericho said, worried that he wasn't going to get what he wanted out of the room after all. "The tech guys will get everything off that hard drive in a matter of hours."
Finally, after a few more documents, this time legal ones for the building that told them nothing they didn't know already, a lockbox was pulled out of the bottom right corner.
"Open it. If you can crack a safe, this lock should be child's play." This proved to be true as the lock was picked in just over a minute, which was good fortune for the officer, who had Jericho burning a hole in the side of his head with his stare the whole time. When he was done, he held up the open box and Jericho was staring into that now. He held the box, making sure not to touch the contents, even with gloves on. Inside the box was one thing, a black pistol.
"A gun. Oh my god, yes. This needs a full work up. Forensics need to check everything about it. If this gun has killed someone, that's the ball game. I've got her." He turned to the officer. "You understand what you have to do, how vital this is?"
"Yes sir." Was the straight response.
"Good. You make any mistake, I'll have more than your badge, understood?"
"Yes sir."
"Why are you still standing here then, come on Junior, move your ass!" His order was complied with and the officer called over another, they divided up the items and left.
"Captain, I'm going to the local P.D. to talk the two women we took in. You find anything else call me, other wise, thank you for your help." Jericho and the Captain of the unit shook hands and he went to his car for the short drive to the local precinct.
Upon identifying himself, Jericho was directed into a specific room at the precinct where he found his partner with two suited men. There were security monitors in the corner but they weren't currently being watched by any of the three.
"Chris, you get anything?" Paul asked.
"I don't know. We sent a pistol and a laptop back to the lab. Found a load of cash too."
"Well I certainly hope that something comes out of that, or today has been a complete waste of my time." One of the suits said.
"Who the hell are you anyway?" Jericho said, not happy with his attitude.
"Christian Reso, Assistant DA." Said the suit, offering his hand, which Jericho shook.
"Can we trust you? I thought only the DA knew about this?"
"Yes Agent. District Attorney Copeland is my close friend, and my long time associate, he asked me to come personally." Christian produced credentials that seemed to satisfy Jerichos concerns.
"And this is Mr. Graves." Paul introduced the other man in the room.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm here as attorney for Miss Deville and Miss Rose." Graves also shook Jerichos hand.
"Mr Graves, can I ask how you found yourself with this assignment? Specifically, who hired you?" Jericho asked.
"I was contacted by Miss Deville. As you know, she is allowed a phone call. She called me, and I came here. Miss Rose engaged my services upon my arrival ."
"What about Rose? Did she call anyone?" Jericho cursed himself for not making sure that didn't happen.
"She did, but her call didn't connect." His partner said. "Don't worry, it was being recorded."
"I think it's best she didn't alert anyone. If Stephanie knows they're in jail, we might lose her."
"Gentlemen, I know you see these two as nothing but a stepping stone in your investigation, which of course I hope sees results, but if Mr Graves is correct, I don't believe I'm going to be the help that you're hoping for." Christian chimed in.
"What do you mean?" Jericho asked, looking to the Assistant DA, then to his partner.
"Chris, Rose is refusing to talk."
"You have to be kidding. She knows what she's looking at for this right?" Jericho was ready to start throwing things.
"I explained all her legal options to her, Agent Jericho. She understands the potential sentence the courts could impose, but she isn't prepared to help you." Graves confirmed.
"I don't believe this, what about Deville?" The increasingly angry agent asked.
"She's prepared to cooperate fully with you, but she wants immunity. A guarantee that she won't do any prison time for her crimes." The lawyer told them.
"And even if I was prepared to offer that, which frankly I'm not, it's irrelevant." Christian said.
"Why is that irrelevant?" Jericho said, staring daggers through the prosecutor.
"Because if the two of them don't give us the same story, it will be torn apart by any defence attorney worth a nickel." He was told, and he could also see Graves nodding his agreement. "The testimony will be worth nothing at trial, and it could be used to cast doubt on anything else you try and make stick to her."
Jericho turned to the wall and put his hands against it while taking a deep breath. He allowed himself to curse in frustration, then recomposed himself. "Paul, we have to do something. We are letting our best chance of ending this. Mr Graves, we are talking about getting the biggest criminal in the state off the streets for good."
"I can't make them talk, Agent. I am here to do as they instruct, and that's what I'm doing. I've advised her to cooperate, but she has refused."
Jericho scowled. "We will see about that. Where are they?"
"In the cells of course. Calm down." His partner told him, pointing to the screens. On a couple he could see the cell area. They were old style barred cells. Inside one, Mandy was sat on the bed, lent against the side wall. In another, Sonya was right at the front, her head resting against the bars as she gripped them with her hands. Since she was closer, the despondent look on her face was clear.
"Get them, put them in a room together and I'll give them one last chance." Jericho said.
"There's no point. She's not budging. We know that McMahon owned the building, surely that's going to help." Wight tried to explain, but Jericho cut him off.
"I don't care. I have to try. If I can't, maybe she can." Jericho went out of the room and looked for an officer to help move the prisoners to an interrogation room.
"It does help Agent Wight, but it's still not enough. You know as well as I do that if you want us to be able to prosecute your case, we need it airtight."
"Well he better be able to get her talking then." Wight shrugged, and the two of them looked to the monitors to watch Jericho work.
"You again?" Mandy said with an eye roll as Jericho joined the two of them in the room. Sonya just stared ahead, her expression changing all the time.
"Yes, me again. And I suggest you drop the attitude."
"I've got nothing to say to you, so get out of here." Mandy continued to put on a front, but Jericho didn't buy it for a second.
"Mandy, if I may call you Mandy." Jericho didn't wait for her to say yes. "You aren't as stupid as you're acting. So drop this tough girl act, it's not you." Mandy didn't take the sneer off her face, but since she didn't talk again either, Jericho decided to continue. "You're clearly a smart woman. What they've told me about your meth, and first look at your plants, you are a fine chemist. It's a shame you didn't finish college. But I can't change the past. I'm looking out for your future. I want you to have one. I need to know who you are working for. Who's funding all of this, and who collects the money. Tell me that, and I can take care of you."
"I told you, we will give you what you want, but you have to let us go." Sonya chose this moment to join the conversation.
Jericho kept cool and friendly as he turned to Deville. "Ok, one, I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Mandy, and two, you are incorrect." Sonya pulled a face, not understanding the agent. "There is no way I can fix it that you two don't do any prison time for this, it's just impossible with the amount of drugs involved, but unless your friend talks as well, there cannot, and will not be any sort of deal."
"Mandy? What's he talking about?" Sonya asked her friend.
"She told us she won't help." Jericho decided to answer for her as Mandy continued to be silent. "Your statement won't hold up in court if she doesn't give us the same information. I've got an Assistant DA here right now to take your statements. He doesn't have all day, and they'll be coming to take you both over to County Jail soon, so there isn't much of a time frame. I want your boss locked up, and we are prepared to make generous concessions to you both to help make that happen. Not pardons, but severely reduced time. If not, it's a minimum 15 years, but I'd expect double that with the amount of your gold meth that's gone out there. And that's assuming they don't pursue murder charges for those who overdosed on it. They do, and it's life sentences for you both." The last statement was made up, but Jericho saw it had an impact on them both. Deville, despite being the tough one of the two, had gone white, and he could see Mandy was trying to comprehend it.
"Look, you don't need us both. Her name is Ste..."
"Sonya, no!" Mandy shouted to drown her friends voice out.
"I'm going to step out, let the two of you talk. But remember that time is short." Jericho left the room and rejoined his colleagues in the other room.
"Agent Jericho, Mr Reso, if you try and pursue murder charges I promise you I'll have them thrown out in 5 minutes. No judge will hear it." The lawyer said firmly.
"It's ok Mr Graves." Jericho said. "We aren't. I was trying to get them talking. Call it added incentive. If Rose still won't talk after that, we know it's a dead end."
"Well she didn't give you much time of day." Christian said.
"No, but maybe her friend can make her see how much they have to lose."
"Mandy, what the hell? Just tell them what they want to know!" Sonya exclaimed.
"I can't. And I won't. You shouldn't either." Mandy said after a few moments.
"They're talking about going to prison for the rest of our lives! Don't you get that? You're supposed to be the smart one!"
"They said that to scare us. We didn't force anyone to take the stuff. We just cooked it. Any decent lawyer could convince a judge or jury of that." Neither could hear it, but in the other room, Jericho cursed loudly that his play had fallen flat.
"Can we get a better lawyer? Find a way to beat all this? I've got the money, you surely do." Sonya said, clutching at straws at the idea of beating charges.
"No chance. If they haven't already, they'll freeze our accounts for now, search our apartment. If you have anything elsewhere it'll be confiscated if anyone tried to access it for you."
"How do you know all this?" Sonya was bewildered.
"At the start I had more money than I knew what to do with. So I invested some, hid some, I looked into ways to keep it from the IRS. So I only reported a small income and people didn't wonder where all this money came from. But even though that worked, if I go for it now, they'll freeze it, confiscate it, whatever."
"So all my money is gone too?" Sonya asked, knowing the answer so not waiting for an answer. "Ok, fine, I don't care about that, but I can't go back in there."
"Sonya, it'll be ok." Mandy said, but that just angered the other woman.
"How? How can this be ok? He said we could go down for life! Unless we help them."
"We can't. We have to stay quiet, what happens, happens. We will get through it." Mandy sounded serious, but Sonya was getting more and more wound up.
"Are you insane? Have you lost your mind? Mandy, have you spent more than one day in jail?"
"No, I got bailed out when they caught me before, but..."
"But nothing!" Sonya interrupted. "Every day I spent in prison was a nightmare. I will do anything to keep from wasting my life in there, but you are throwing both of us down the drain. We have a way to help ourselves. Just tell them the truth, and stop being so damned stupid."
Mandy didn't like the way she was being talked to, and spoke up. "Stupid? You knew what I was doing, yet i notice it didn't stop you moving down here to help?"
"Because you asked me to! You knew I had no money since getting out, and you asked for my help! I also remember hearing the words 'and I don't even have to worry about the cops.'" Sonya imitated Mandy, playing hard on the airhead blonde stereotype in doing so.
"And yet, after you turn up, I find myself in jail? Maybe it's your fault!?" Mandy fired back.
"You're going to blame me for this? You promised me it wouldn't happen. And, of course, when I had to meet with St..."
"Don't say her name!" Mandy screamed.
"Oh for gods sake. When I met her, she told me the same thing. That she had the cops in her pocket. They work for her. I shouldn't have ever believed her, or you. She's betrayed us, and you're going to defend her? We owe her nothing. Nothing!" Sonya slammed her hands on the wall as she walked around the small room.
Mandy took a breath, knowing she wasn't helping Sonya's hysteria at their situation. "Please Son, calm down. Maybe you don't. But I vouched for you, told her that you could be trusted."
Sonya ran her hands down her face, trying to get a grip. "You can trust me. I've always had your back. Back in New York, and since I came down here."
"And now I need you to trust me."
"Trust you? You're sending us to prison! We might never get out! Our lives will be over! Why should we do anything to help her?"
Mandy went quiet for a few seconds, taking a breath. Sonya looked at her face and sat down again, to let her explain. "We have to calm down. When I got offered the lab, I'd just been bailed out of jail. She said she'd give me the lab, that I could use it for whatever I wanted as long as I got the meth production on track. She said she'd get my charges buried, I'd make a fortune. And that the cops would never again be a problem."
"Yeah, I remember those words, but look, I'd call this a problem. I call this a massive freaking problem!" Sonya gestured around the room.
"I get it looks bad, but they are trying to scare you, or us, but you must know that we can't trust them to actually help us. Who says their deal holds up? We help the police, and still go to prison, because we took our best chance and sent her down with us."
"You think she's going to help us? You believe that Ste..."
"Sonya, don't." Mandy again stopped her friend from saying their employers name out loud.
"Ugh. Fine." Sonya grunted. "But you think she's going to help us now we've gotten caught? Are you crazy?"
"She got me out of jail before when it looked like I was screwed. I make a lot of money for her. She won't abandon me just like that."
"Abandon you? What about me?" Sonya asked, masking her anger.
"I'll tell her I need you. It's not untrue, you saved my ass more than once."
Sonya stood up again, pacing round the small room. "Mandy. You have to listen to me. You're the smartest woman I have ever met, but right now, you're being unbelievably naive. There is no way back from this. The promises she made became pointless the moment they stormed the lab. She got you off a possession charge, which is about on the level of breaking a small window compared to this."
"You know who she is. She has pulled pretty much every string there is. I don't know how she does it, but she's a miracle worker."
Sonya covered her face with her hands. "You're brainwashed. That, or unbelievably stupid. I don't know what's wrong with you here. There's no other choice. You have to tell the cops what she's done, or we're done."
Mandy stared back at Sonya. "I won't do it, it's our only chance to beat this. You've got to trust her."
Sonya ran her fingers through her hair, gripping it strongly as she tried to keep herself composed. It was completely futile. She let out a scream and dived at her instantly former friend, catching her square on the chin with a strong punch. Mandy went backwards off her chair, rolling over backwards again before her momentum was ended by the wall, leaving her slumped against it. Before Sonya had a chance to continue her attack, the door flew open and half a dozen officers came running in. Half pinned Sonya against the far wall while the rest picked Mandy off the floor and had to hold her up while Jericho and Wight followed them in.
"Get them out of here." He said, frustrated to the point of rage himself. "Take her back to her cell until she comes round. She can't be booked into county like this." The officers helped, practically carried, Mandy back to her holding cell as ordered, leaving her locked up, and knocked out.
"As for this one." Jericho continued, now focused on Sonya. "Screw waiting for them, take her over now. She's clearly been itching to get back to jail, so let's indulge her." The last sentence was said directly to Sonya, in a near hiss, his face going red.
"No!" Sonya yelled back, doing everything she could to stop the officers hauling her off. Her strength didn't make it easy, forcing them to hold her on the table momentarily. "Her name is Stephanie McMahon, she works for the Governor. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm telling the truth!" She pleaded, as she had handcuffs put on her once more. "Don't do this! Please! Don't make me go back!" She continued her pleas as she was dragged to a squad car and forced inside for the trip to the county jail.
Back in the interview room, Jericho flipped the table, letting out a yell of his own. "Damn! She told us what we wanted, and it's useless. Another dead end. If the geeks in the lab team can't get anything from that laptop, it's over."
"And the gun Chris. Now don't worry, we have the best team in the country. You know that. They will get every bit of information that they can tell us. But it's what that info does for our case that I can't tell you."
"You're a real help Paul, remind me never to send you to stop someone throwing themselves off a building." Jericho said, in a tone most couldn't distinguish from dead serious. "Let's get back there. They need to be done by now, times running out."
A.N.: Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it. And thank you to everyone who contributed even one fo the reviews, that has now hit the 200 mark and i couldn't be more grateful.
Mandy has chosen her loyalty to Stephanie over her friendship with Sonya, thinking it is her saving grace from a long sentence. Is she right?
Jericho has one last hope to be able to close the case on Stephanie. Will he get what he wants?
