Killing Game

By Kadi

Rated T

Disclaimer: This is only a sandbox that I like to play in. Sadly, it is not mine.

Chapter 8

From the moment that Sharon finished briefing him, Assistant Chief Taylor wanted in on the investigation. It was not necessarily a matter of mistrust in his elite squad of detectives' ability to put their investigation to rest, but the possibility of a scandal that prompted his involvement. He agreed with the decision to keep the investigation, in its entirety, where it was. Major Crimes would need to find those responsible for the murder of Sergeant Matthew Elliot, as well as open an investigation into the death of Officer Shawn Bertetto the previous year. Throughout all of this, they would be investigating the possibility of illegal activities taking place within the Narcotics, Robbery-Homicide, and Professional Standards divisions.

Extra white boards were pulled into the murder room as the team began laying out all of the notes and data collected by Sergeant Elliot. A board was dedicated to each division, and realizing that any request for case files from those divisions would raise suspicions too soon, Taylor had the files pulled from the department's archive library. There was also a concern about information leaking from within Major Crimes given all of the support staff that moved through the Murder Room each day; in an effort to delay inevitable leaks, the Murder Room was on lock down. Only those officers who usually provided support staffing were being granted access.

It had taken several hours to put everything into place and begin sorting through all of the information that they had. During that time, Rusty had dropped by with Sharon's mail and the copy of the letter from Sergeant Elliot was logged into evidence. There were any number of cases that could be involved when the entire work history of the officers that Elliot had named in his investigation notes were taken into account, and that created a task that appeared daunting at the onset. Detectives Lewis and Fiess had been with Narcotics for a couple of years, but prior to their transfers - which had happened many months apart - the two officers were with Robbery Homicide for several years. Lewis had transferred into that division more than a decade before. He had been in Patrol, waiting for an opening after passing his Detective's exam, and that opening had finally presented itself when Lieutenant Flynn left Robbery-Homicide for the then named Priority Homicide Division.

Fiess was a more recent addition. He made the move to Robbery-Homicide from Gang Intelligence a few years after his partner, Lewis. Both officers had cited opportunity for advancement in their declarations for transfer from RHD to Narcotics. Such transfers were not unheard of, and it was not unusual for partners to follow when they happened.

While Major Crimes might get the more emergent and high profile cases, Robbery-Homicide certainly worked its share. There were any number of cases to look at that Lewis and Fiess were responsible for closing. Then the team had to factor in their Narcotics cases. It was, in the simplest terms, a complete mess.

It became an even greater mess when the scope of their investigation was broadened to include Captain Garring of Robbery-Homicide. The Captain had come over to that division from Patrol when Taylor was promoted and began focusing on duties outside of his old division. Within a few years it was clear that Garring was running RHD while Taylor's ambitions lay completely elsewhere. He was far more involved with Major Crimes as he set his sights toward the office that he currently maintained. When Taylor officially transferred out of Robbery-Homicide and into a more administrative role as a liaison between Major Crimes and the media, as well as other divisions, Garring was the likely replacement.

Captain Garring had a few years to establish himself within Robbery-Homicide; his experience in Patrol had seemed to be a boon. He knew how the streets worked, because he worked a beat for so long. Now it appeared that all of that knowledge had another purpose. Thomas Garring knew how the streets worked, because he knew which people to contact to serve his purpose. He also had quite a history with Detective Lewis. As the team dug further into all three officers' histories, they quickly learned that Thomas Garring had been Detective John Lewis's training officer and later his supervisor. How they had swayed Fiess into their activities was still unknown, but there was no doubt of his involvement.

It was all beginning to give Russell Taylor quite the headache. He sat at one of the empty desks in the Murder Room, one that gave him a good view of all four murder boards. He sat forward in his seat and rubbed at his temples. There were days when he questioned whether or not it was time to retire, but then he reminded himself that he had three kids in college, and there were still professional goals that he would like to achieve.

"Okay," he said, and interrupted a very long explanation that Lieutenant Tao had been giving for what felt like an hour. He was sure it hadn't really been that long, but it sure felt like it. Taylor's hands were still gripping his head as he looked up at the boards. "Let's back up a little bit…" He heard a pair of groans come from his left. They belonged to the troublesome duo of Flynn and Provenza. Taylor let it go, in part because he didn't really have the energy to deal with them at the moment, but also because he could see their Captain shooting a glare in their direction from the corner of his eye. "We've got Garring with Lewis and Fiess, logging partial robbery recoveries into evidence. The goods were stolen, mostly from electronics stores and pawn shops, and when the suspects were found, they filed forms indicating that not all the items could be recovered." As he spoke he straightened a bit and waved a hand at the board dedicated to RHD and those activities. What he described was a common occurrence. Even when thieves were busted, they couldn't guarantee that everything would be recovered. This was why stores and homeowners were advised to have the appropriate insurance.

"That is correct," Tao stated. He moved nearer to the board and indicated a list of robberies, by case file number, that the pair of detectives had worked where such forms were filed. Despite their activities, none of them could say that Lewis and Fiess were not smart. They had not filed those forms on all their large recoveries; they seemed to have spread it out, a few cases a year, and those cases had varied in size. From the list on the board they were able to underline those that Sergeant Elliot had specifically looked into. "The Sergeant found evidence that after those forms were filed and their cases closed, the Detectives allowed the fencers who had the stolen goods to sell them. Afterward they were given a portion of the take for looking the other way."

"On top of that," Julio cut in, "they worked with the DDAs covering those cases to get their suspects lighter sentences on grounds that they were cooperative. Their guys pled guilty, went up for two to five years, depending on the size of the take, and then were back out on the street to keep going. Probably to hook them up with other fencers and suspects to keep their pockets lined."

"Then they made the move to Narcotics." Andy pushed off of the desk that he was leaning against. He walked over to the board that was filled in with notes regarding those cases. "It seems our pals Lewis and Fiess got a little greedy. They figured out that the kickback on drug busts would be a little higher. They were right. A couple of busts a year these knuckleheads were pocketing money on drugs that didn't make it into evidence. To make an idiotic situation even worse, Elliot turned over evidence that they blew surveillance on a couple of dealers, probably for money or contacts. We won't know for sure until we get their financial records, but one of those blown investigations involved a gang dealer by the name of Martinez. Apparently Fiess knew this guy. He had dealings with him when he was over in Gang Intel. Martinez went down last year, but he should have gone down before that, and would have if Lewis and Fiess had not blown their case against him. When Narcotics did finally move against Martinez, Officer Shawn Bertetto was killed. Elliot noted that he believed Martinez knew the department was coming for him. He was warned."

"Right." Taylor sat back in his chair. His tie was already loosened but he was thinking about taking it off completely. "That takes us back to Sergeant Elliot's big question. How did these two officers operate for so long without anyone ever getting wind of it?" He waved a hand at the board again. "People talk. Suspects talk. They get arrested by someone else, and it's hey buddy, cut me a deal like your pal did… Explain to me how that never happened?" As he asked the question, Taylor turned his chair and pinned Captain Raydor with his gaze.

She was leaning against the edge of Amy's desk, arms folded over her chest. "There were three Force Investigations between the two officers during the time frame that we are looking at. FID investigations focus on the precipitating event, be it a shooting, an altercation, or a complaint made during or after book-in. There would have been no reason during those situations to look further into the Detectives' case history. Not unless there was a history or concern raised at the number of Force reports being filed for that officer."

Andy raised his hand. "Or someone was trying to frame them for witness tampering." When Sharon rolled her eyes toward him in a long, bland look, he just shrugged at her. "It's worth mentioning, it does happen, and didn't you point out once that they, and their division CO might not have even known about it depending on the outcome?"

Sharon's lips pursed. She looked heavenward and took a cleansing breath. While her tongue swept across her teeth, she considered his question. He was never going to let that go. This was her payback for the remark about his little dust up with the moving vehicle. "That is true, Lieutenant," she put extra emphasis on his rank. Sharon's head tilted and she arched a brow when she looked at him again. "However, not every Pitchess Motion that comes to Professional Standards is initiated by a frame attempt. The department fields hundreds of those a year. They are almost always baseless, but once they are filed, regardless of whether there appears to be any merit in the complaint, Professional Standards does have to pull the officer's jacket. For some, it is as simple as a report or two, perhaps a minor infraction or disciplinary event. Others," her eyes narrowed at him, "have files that are packed with allegations; boxes of report history, and disciplinary files that go as far back as their academy inductions." If he thought that she had forgotten about the incident with the Commandant's daughter, he was mistaken. Sharon watched his eyes narrow and mentally checked off a mark in the win column for herself. "In this case," her attention returned to the Assistant Chief, "there was some concern raised."

"A statement from a suspect during an arrest by another division raised a few red flags," Amy explained. She flipped through the notes that Sergeant Elliot had made after reviewing that case. "The suspect indicated that he had been let off the hook before by Detectives Lewis and Fiess if he would guarantee them better information on a bigger bust. The suspect was not registered as a confidential informant, and after he made a snide remark about cops wanting payouts, the arresting officers logged the incident with the Criminal Investigations section of Internal Affairs."

"CID pulled the suspect's arrest history," Provenza explained. "He was picked up a couple of times by Lewis and Fiess. When he was questioned again, the suspect recanted, said he was high and coming down, didn't know what he was talking about. Since there was evidence that substance abuse was involved, CID bumped the case up for a decision of formal review."

"No one within Professional Standards has the ability to continue or pull a case," Sharon explained. "If the investigating officers do not feel that further review is warranted, or if they want to conduct a deeper inquiry, approval has to be gained from a reporting officer."

"Okay," Taylor shook his head at her. "Cases like that always get a deeper inquiry. So what happened? Who in CID dropped the ball?"

"No one." Sharon pushed off the desk that she was leaning against. Her spine straightened. "Lieutenant Donaldson, who was in charge of CID at the time, was on maternity leave at the time the request was made. Her office passed the request further up, and that is where it stops." Sharon turned her back on them then and moved quietly away.

Provenza leaned forward where he sat behind his own desk. He pinned the Assistant Chief with a long look. "The case request was sent to Michaelson's office. There were two follow up requests made. Elliot found correspondence back to the investigating officer in CID stating that the issue was handled and to move on."

"Michaelson." Taylor looked around the room. He straightened in his chair. "Commander Michaelson? The same man who single handedly restructured Professional Standards following the Rampart scandals, created the brief that gave way for the Force Investigation Division, and personally hand-picked and trained…"

"Me." Sharon shook her head. She paced the edge of the murder room with her arms folded tightly across her chest. "Myself and a few others were pulled in by the Commander. He was my training officer, and later my partner before his promotion to head of PSB. Sergeant Elliot's trail of evidence stops there. What we do not know is if the Commander was directly involved or if the involvement came from inside of his office."

"We are talking about investigating a long standing veteran of LAPD brass," Taylor reminded them. "Do you have any idea what this can mean?"

A humorless and almost cruel chuckle escaped Sharon before she could hold it back. "Do you?" She fixed the chief with a hard look. "Every single review motion that has gone through the Commander's office will have to be reviewed. Cases will have to be reopened. Convictions could be overturned. Lawsuits could be filed. Not to mention, of course, the hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and man-hours this will cost the department in investigating all of the wrongdoing. I know exactly what I am implying, Chief."

It wasn't just a mess. It was a nightmare.

Taylor stood up and walked around to stand in front of the white boards. His gaze moved over each one and finally lingered the longest on the one assigned to Professional Standards. He shook his head. If they pulled Michaelson in too soon and he was not involved, they could be tarnishing a career and opening themselves up to liability cases that could take years to disprove. On the other hand, if he was involved, and there were others in his department that were equally guilty, there was a chance that evidence could be dumped. They could miss their chance to shut down an entire operation in one complete swoop, and still open themselves up to further liability cases. Taylor placed a hand on his hip and turned. "Lewis and Fiess first," he told them. "We've got two dead police officers. Right now their involvement has them looking at Second Degree Murder without putting the gun in either of their hands. Let's get them in here, get them talking. Get Hobbs down here." He could sense in the stiffening that came from several members of the team that they knew exactly where he was going with his orders. Taylor held up a hand before they could protest. "We offer them a deal for all the names. They still go away for murder. We shut this down," He pointed a finger back at the boards. "We shut it down completely. We do it at one time." He pointed at the main Murder Board and Matthew Elliot's picture. "I want the bastards responsible for that. Then I want damage control."

Her people were looking at one another, more astonished than confused. "We close ranks around it," Sharon told them. "We mitigate the fallout as much as we can while still prosecuting those responsible. A complete audit will have to be performed; convictions and dismissals will have to be reviewed. We will close our case, but it will not stop here." Sharon shook her head, she suddenly felt very tired. This was just the sort of case that she had dreaded during her days with Professional Standards. When she was first presented with the Terrell Baylor lawsuit, Sharon tried very hard to not imagine this kind of fallout. It was the very thing that she had worked long hours to prevent for the majority of her career. Losing Sergeant Elliot as a result seemed unfathomable. She did not like the idea of offering Detectives Lewis and Fiess a deal anymore than the rest of her team, but if it put them behind bars for what remained of the rest of their lives, she would take it.

"I have to update the Chief." Taylor ran a hand over his face. "He may have questions," he told the Captain. "Stay close, I may call you over to join us."

"I will be here." Sharon allowed her gaze to drift back to her team. Her mind worked over the specifics of their next task while the Assistant Chief left them. "Lieutenant Provenza, take Detective Sanchez and pick up Detective Lewis. Mike and Amy, I would like for you to pick up Detective Fiess." She turned to find Andy with her gaze, but he was already at his desk and reaching for his phone.

"I'm calling Hobbs," Flynn said. "I'll fill her in. While we're waiting to gather everyone up, I'll take a couple of uniforms down and clean out Elliot's locker. If he stashed evidence at home, maybe he stashed something in his locker too." Andy shrugged at her. It wasn't all that probable, but it didn't hurt to check, just to make sure that they had everything.

"Thank you Lieutenant. Buzz, go with him; if there is evidence in the Sergeant's locker, I want it documented. In the meantime, I will continue looking through the data that the Sergeant gathered on his colleagues in PSB. I want to be certain that we have not overlooked anything." Sharon gathered the file with the notes from Amy's desk and waited for her people to begin disbursing before she stepped into her office.

The file in her hand landed against her desk with a sharp thump. Sharon let her shoulders slump and her head hang. She was currently replaying every conversation that she ever had with the man who was her friend and mentor. She was trying to determine if he could really be responsible for the circumstances surrounding them all. Could he really be involved in the activities that had caused at least two deaths? He had known Matthew Elliot as long as she had. He watched him move up through the ranks of FID under her tutelage. The Commander had been fond of Matthew, she was sure. How could he be involved now? It seemed impossible and yet the evidence was leading them in just that direction.

How deeply did it go? Who else had she once stood beside, worked with, trained with, and commiserated with was involved in these illegal activities. At the very least careers would be ending, but there was going to be jail time involved too, and with the deaths they were looking at considerable sentences.

A hand on her shoulder made her startle. Sharon looked back and found Andy standing behind her. She offered him a tired smile. "That was quick."

"Hobbs is in a meeting," Andy replied. "She will call back. I'm going to head on down and take care of that locker." His brows drew together in a deep frown. "Okay?"

"No." She would be honest with him. There was no point in lying. Sharon shook her head at him. They could talk about it later. They both had work to do at present. "Go ahead. I will wait for Andrea to call back. I can bring her up to speed."

He studied her for a moment. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask if she was sure, but Andy knew that she would be. Right now she would want to keep working. If she could keep her mind from wandering, she would be better for it, at least until they could discuss it. "I'll be back in a few minutes. I'll make some coffee before I go. You look like you could use some."

"God no." The corners of her mouth twitched toward a more genuine smile. Sharon waved him toward the door. "Get out of here, Lieutenant. Stay away from the coffee."

He tossed his hands up at her as he turned. "Don't say I never offered."

"I will try to repress it, actually." Sharon took a breath as he left, and found that she was able to let it out a lot more easily. She turned her attention back to the file on her desk and stared at it. After a moment she nodded. "Okay," she said to herself. "Let's see how much worse this can get."

-TBC-