Chapter 21
Rice hung up the phone and Ed's car pulled in front of the Police Headquarters Building. He let the driver show the way to the Commissioners office and saw that Stu and Tim were already in the waiting room. Ed waved for them to follow him. The secretary got up and followed them into the office with a legal pad. Ed stopped her and told her that he would call her if he needed her.
"Stu, Tim, I want to talk straight to both of you," he said as he sat on the edge of his desk, "I picked you two because I know that I can trust you. I haven't done either of you a favor. The job we're going to have to do means long hours, little thanks and it's going to be dangerous. I want you each to pick 2 of the top investigators in the department to assist you. You will each work as a team with your 2 investigators. We have to clean up this town and do it fast. The public will expect results by the end of the week. The press will hound you and take you to task if you try to catch a few hours sleep once a month. I don't know if I will even be asked to remain as Commissioner, and I don't really care as long as I know that I have made a difference when I get kicked out. When I go I am sure they will ask you to go too. I'll be available to you 24 hours a day and I want to be informed of any progress you are making, every day. You have my permission to call me at any hour of the day or night. I want to know who is making your job harder and who I should watch out for. This job is as political as any job in the world. I answer to the Governor and so do you."
"Your first job is to pick your 2 investigators. I'd like you to have them on board by the end of the week. Make sure that you would trust them with your life. One day your life might be in their hands. If they aren't working out you replace them. I won't interfere with your people. You have to work with them, I don't. I'm going to get you offices on this floor and this door is always open to you. I will have the names tomorrow of 2 more Councilmen that I want you to check on. There is going to be a liaison from the Governor's Office working with us. Nothing is to be kept from him. He is my boss's eye in this office. Do you have any questions?"
Stu spoke first, "I take it that we will work as all police investigations do, search warrants through a judge and such, read them their rights."
Ed nodded, "We have to be cleaner than anybody in town. We have to be above board in our dealings and, trust me; there will be plenty of people watching your every move. Now, I am going to reassign my secretary. I need someone that I feel I can trust. Schwartz hired the secretary in the outer office and I don't know where her loyalties lie. Stu, I know that your wife is a secretary for some company, would she consider working for me? That way she would see you occasionally and see were you are spending your time. It might take some of the edge off of the long hours that you will be putting in. Would you want her working in here?"
Stu thought for a minute, "She's been trying to get a position with the City. Where she is now is quite a distance for her to travel and the pay isn't all that hot and her boss is a jerk. I'll ask her and let you know tomorrow. I think that it would be great having her see that we don't just sit around all day reading magazines."
Ed stood up, "Alright let me get to work. You two find suitable offices on this floor. Don't make waves. Pick out the offices you need and let me know where they are. I'll do the reassigning. Make a list of the equipment you'll need. Did you get your cars?"
Stu and Tim both nodded and got up to leave.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ed," Stu said, "This is something I have wanted to do for a long time. Too much is going on out there and Schwartz just turned a blind eye to it."
Ed shook their hands and walked them to the door. He went back to the desk and started going through the papers stashed in the drawers. As he leafed through the top drawer Ed noticed a picture under several papers. Just the edge of the picture was showing. He pulled out the picture and looked at it. There was Schwartz and this secretary sitting on a beach. She was smiling and wearing a bikini and had her arm on Swartz's leg. Her smiled looked forced. Ed walked out to the copy machine in the outer office. The secretary was not at her desk. He put the picture in the copy machine and set it to copy photos. The copy lost some of the resolution but was still very good.
As Ed walked back into his office, the secretary came into the outer office and started to sit at her desk. He asked her to come into his office and she followed him with a legal pad. Ed motioned for her to sit in a chair in front of his desk. Ed shoved the copy of the photo over to her. She paled when she saw the photo.
"Where was this picture taken?" Ed asked her, "By the way I don't know your name."
"It's Karen Hanson," she replied softly, "The picture was taken at a conference in Florida. Earl and I went down for the week."
Ed looked at her, "How is it that you went. Who paid for the trip?"
Karen started fidgeting in her chair, "Earl took me as a representative of the Department."
Ed took the photo from her, "Karen this is misuse of City funds. I think that maybe Schwartz pressured you to go with him. I am going to reassign you to another City job. If you agree to accept the reassignment without too much of a fuss, I'll forget about trying to make you reimburse the City for the trip. There is no way that you should be going to a conference in Florida as a representative of the Police Department."
Karen looked down, "In this office you did what Earl told you to do. I'm a single parent and I need this job. He told me that he would have my child taken away if I didn't do as he said. I told him that there wasn't any way he could have my child taken away and he said that he would find a way. He opened my desk drawer and pulled some drugs out of it and laughed. He said that that was how easy it was.
"Karen, would you sign a statement to that effect?" Ed asked, "I'm sure you know that's illegal. That is rape."
Karen hesitated, "Yes, I am so ashamed. I didn't know what to do. I know that you can never trust me after seeing that picture, so if you want me to, I'll resign and leave."
Ed saw that she was sincere, "I'm going to transfer you to another department at the same pay grade with my recommendation. This will be a new start for you. With your statement and everything else we have on Schwartz I don't think we'll be hearing from him again. We already have a solid case against him for rape. I probably won't need your testimony. If I don't need your testimony, this will be between you and me and no one will ever hear of this again.
Karen smiled weakly, "Thank you. I can't afford to lose this job. I didn't know what I could do. I'm glad that Earl's gone. Maybe you can bring some respectability to the Department."
Ed told her to gather her things and to take the rest of the week off. He told her that she would be paid for the rest of the week and that he would have her contacted at home about her new assignment. Karen thanked him again and left Ed's office.
Ed spent the rest of the day going through the files in the office. Ed found several files that he would turn over to Stu and Tim for further investigation. The computer that Schwartz used was surprisingly free of any files. Ed suspected that the computer had recently been erased.
Ed picked up the phone and called the "Preacher".
"This is Ed Harold," he said into the phone, "Is there any way that you can recover computer files that may have been erased?
"Hey Commissioner," Bob replied, "I saw you on the boob tube. Maybe I ought to go back to my old profession now that I've got friends in high places."
"Don't even think about it," Ed laughed, "Would you be interested in doing some consulting for the City. I need you to check out my computer and maybe several others"
"Sure thing, Ed. When do you need me? Files that have been erased can be resurrected if the hard drive hasn't been reformatted. It's not too hard if you know what your doing."
"Can you be here first thing in the morning?" Ed asked, "I'm in the middle of an investigation and this computer in my office might have some evidence on it."
"I'll be there," Preacher said, "Is this gratis or can I charge?"
"This is a paying job," Ed said.
Ed hung up and continued going through the files. Schwartz was type who never threw anything away. He was also very organized and kept files on every person that he knew. Several of the files contained pictures and receipts. Ed shook his head. Schwartz should have known better. The files would ensure that he never lived a day as a free man. Ed thought to himself that Schwartz had to be an incredibly arrogant person. He probably figured that he would never be caught and that the files would ensure that he had something on everybody.