Nolan's Journal Chapter 16
"Jason still hasn't shown up, and Bailey is getting jumpier. So am I. Aaron is working on a list of women that Jason would regard as prey. He still figures that they should have access to considerable funds yet be vulnerable to drug use. Jason's knowledge of cocaine trafficking would probably lead him toward a woman who would use it as her drug of choice. Still, there are so many drugs out there, that it might be one of many that Jason's target would use. It might also be taking him some time to pick up on suppliers.
"Still, he was part of the prison network and also had access to whatever information Oscar was willing to share. Not that Oscar ever gives anything away for free. He always has an angle. However, if Jason uses that information to distract us from what Oscar is doing, that might be enough reason for Oscar to be generous.
"Aaron will be keeping the other drug possibilities in mind. So far, he's come up with three women who fit the bill. He, or Stella and I can only check on them when we're not attached to another call. These days, with Lucy still on UC and the general cop shortage, that's not often.
"On the upside, even though Celina and I are no longer partnered, the seeds we sowed in terms of the center serving the community where she grew up are bearing fruit. The clients there trust cops now enough to report suspicious activity. That's enabled us to get enough of the dealers and thieves off the street to push the crime rate down a little. As that's beginning to work, more locals are getting up the nerve to speak to us. Celina says there's a good aura around the center. Whether that's true or she's just projecting her pride in the place, I'm hopeful.
"As part of her deal with the DA's office to get a reduced sentence – she's still hoping for no prison time – Blair London is trying to get inside Monica's head. She's writing down everything she can recall about every moment they spent together, whether it had anything to do with Blair's activities as a mole or not. She's hoping that by going over everything that Monica said, some pattern will emerge to predict what she'll do next.
"According to Blair, Monica often talked about how finding out what people cared about the most allowed her to manipulate them. Blair is painfully aware that Monica used that technique on her. For Blair, it's never been about money but rather about being powerful and effective as a woman and a professional. Power is certainly a currency that much of Monica's prey has regarded as an ultimate goal. She's gone after people who have it, like LA's chief money launderer, but want to expand their influence. To get what she wanted, Monica managed to convince him that LA is small potatoes compared to the territory he could control. As usual, she got what she wanted – at least until Harper and I teamed up with Garza to get Blair back. Still, I can't deny the pattern. Elijah Stone controlled a fair amount of the drug traffic in LA. He wanted more, and Monica played on it. She also played Oscar Hutchinson to get what she wanted. She may still be playing him to use in a bigger operation somehow involving the Federal Reserve Bank. Neither the LAPD nor the FBI have a clue yet as to what that will be. We just know that with Oscar involved, it will have to be underhanded, sneaky, and completely lacking in any morality whatsoever. Unfortunately, if Monica is involved, that will go double."
"Aaron thinks he found the most likely candidate for Jason's latest dupe. She's an actress named Darcy Midkiff. She was very big on a 2000s sitcom called Blairsville. I never saw the show. I was too busy trying to get my business going and taking care of my family. But apparently the thing was so popular that she ended up getting paid almost a million dollars an episode – and there were a lot of episodes. From what Aaron told me, rumor had it that a lot of money went up her nose. She was in and out of rehab multiple times. She consulted a lot of fad gurus for a cure too, but with little success. Her reputation kept anyone in Hollywood from hiring her except for the occasional guest shot. No insurance company would dream of covering a TV show or film that would rise or fall on her showing up for work. Still, as expensive as addiction is, it couldn't wipe out all her millions. She still lives on an estate in the hills – alone except for the cleaning staff or whomever else she hires to keep the place up. She put out the word that she's looking for someone to live rent-free in her guest house in exchange for maintenance services. It's the kind of arrangement I had with Ben for a while until Grey got on my back about it. Of course, I wasn't interested in ripping Ben off. Darcy may not be that lucky. With Jason's experience working in the LA parks, it's the perfect setup for him.
"Darcy's home is out of the patrol area that Stella and I normally cover, but I can drive up there in the evening and on my days off to look in on Darcy's house and grounds. If Jason shows up, I'll spot him. Much as I'd like to just go in and beat the sh*t out of him myself, I don't know what kind of weapons he might have. He might even have some ex-con buddies backing him up. I'd also probably end up on suspension or worse. But as an escaped con, his presence will warrant a Metro squad and every other available cop moving in to grab him. It won't be as satisfying as taking him down with my bare hands, but it will put him back where he can't go after Bailey or me again.
"Stella's turned out to have a talent that may come in very handy for her work as a cop. She spent a lot of her time growing up hunting in the woods with no GPS and usually not even a compass as a guide. Maybe it is inborn, or maybe she developed it, but she has a perfect sense of direction and always knows where she is. On Lucy's first outing with Tim as her TO, when she couldn't tell him exactly where they were, he made her get out and walk. Jackson was better at it because he had kept an eye on street signs and landmarks. But Stella would have given Tim a real surprise. It would have been good for him. Maybe if Grey decides to pull one of his switch-up days so that I get Gary and Tim gets Stella, he'll try, very unsuccessfully, to trip her up. I'll bet a lot of Tim's former boots would love to see that.
"Lucy finally finished her UC assignment for Harper and Lopez and is back on patrol. That means she has to cross paths with Tim now and then. They both treat any interactions they have while on the job as purely professional, but it's obvious that they're still uncomfortable around each other. So far, it hasn't compromised their performance, but if it does, I think Grey will step in somehow. He still needs every cop the division can put out there on the street. So I don't know what he could do. Still, he occasionally gets creative. I'll just have to see what happens."
