JUSTICE REBORN (A Charlie Taylor Novel Book 1) (25 page)

Kate and Stephen sat facing each other.

One sat on the new couch, the other on a
large chair. Normally she was pleased to be meeting with Stephen, but yesterday
the call from his assistant sounded more like a summons: 9:00 am Judge’s
chambers. It did not take long for Stephen to get past the preliminaries.

 “Charlie Taylor, on a special assignment
for me, has been trying to uncover how Dr. Max manipulated the system to his
advantage. Many hours analyzing the interrogation videos proved a useless
exercise, didn’t even provide a hint, not one clue. So as he told me, he went
back to what he knows best, the basics. This detective can be difficult to
contain; however, this is what made him perfect for this case. I needed his
irreverence.”

Tension started to creep through her body,
but she tried to remain calm with the hope she would be able to walk away from
this discussion.

“His old fashion police work uncovered a
series of miscellaneous facts which lead to a few questions. I thought, given
our history, I would ask you in private and give you an opportunity to explain.
You should know, at this time, Charlie is questioning your technician, Janice.
There are a few questions which she will have to answer. For you Kate, the
first anomaly we have to clear up is your daughter’s acceptance into the
University’s medical program.”

 “Stephen, no mystery exists; the basics
are obvious: a set of good marks and active participation on athletic teams.
And I understand, she impressed the Admission Committee with her written
submission and her interview.”

“Obvious? No, I disagree. I don’t think
it’s that simple. Your daughter had good marks but not in the top 10 % of the
applicants and her athlete participation proved to be a hit and miss activity,
not a stellar performance. As well, the Admission Committee awarded her the
Mackenzie scholarship which means free tuition plus a generous living allowance
throughout her years in medical school. This was the first anomaly which
bothered Charlie.

When he dug deeper, he discovered three
members of the Admission Committee had close links with Dr. Grovernor. One is
the CFO for Allied Scientific and works on a daily basis with Grovernor; the
second sits on the Board of Directors for the company and the third is the CEO
for a major supplier of a variety of chemicals used by Allied. This means the
three might work extra hard to ensure Grovernor stayed a happy man. A ruthless
man, like Grovernor, could control the admission process.”

The room turned silent. Both wrestled with
their emotions; years of suppressed feelings seemed ready to flare. Stephen’s
scrutiny of Kate was intense, unyielding; she turned rigid and shook her head
in denial, but the Judge wouldn’t stop.

 “Kate, I’m going to play hardball. To
repeat, Charlie is already putting Janice through the same type of
interrogation. Janice’s finances improved significantly in the last months and
we need an explanation because, surprisingly, she attempted to keep her good
luck a secret. Charlie kept coming back to this fact: two people involved in
the Sally Grovernor – Dr. Max Armstrong interrogation reaped great benefits.
Too much of a coincidence and for Justice Reborn too critical to leave
unresolved.”

Kate did not know Charlie, as the sole
occupant of the adjacent room, was watching the entire discussion. A distraught
Janice lingered in an isolation cell; Charlie had deferred her interrogation.
He’d been able to identify substantial purchases made by Janice and felt sure
there had been a huge influx of cash but tracing the source proved difficult.
Numerous complex financial transactions were too much for Manuel in the few
hours Charlie had given him. And, since time was running out for Dr. Max,
Charlie guessed Kate would be the key, and Stephen should be the one to
confront her.

Kate prevailed, determined to stonewall the
interview. “You and I both know trying to understand the why and what of an
admission committee is impossible. The fact that I’m doctor and an alumnus
surely a factor, and my position on your Justice Board, again, would certainly
be taken into account. I can’t explain their reasons and don’t know why you
expect me to be able to justify their actions.”

Stephen sat motionless for a number of
minutes, but then he voice was hard. 

“Kate, let me repeat. I said hardball is
the game and I mean it. This evidence allows me to have both you and Janice put
through an S1, and if necessary an S2 Interrogation. This is not a bluff. You
know the ramifications of forcing us to use an Interrogation when you could
have told us the full story. Therefore, it is time for you to tell me what
happened and why.”

No response. Stephen stared at Kate and
waited. Finally, he spoke again.  “When Charlie came to me with his
conclusions, I almost threw him out of the office; it was only because we’re so
desperate that I even agreed to listen to him. All my feelings for you continue
to fight his logic and his evidence.”

His voice broke, wrestling with his
emotions, he restarted. “I…I….could not believe you would be part of a
conspiracy which would introduce doubt and undermine the system you worked so
hard to make a success. I understand your love for Sonja, but what you were
willing to destroy for her that I’ll never understand.”

 “Steve, listen I ..”

“No…no…… I’ll only listen to a complete
confession. This was unconscionable and a perfidious act. You can’t believe
what you have done to my feelings for you and the memories of our time together
will become a nightmare.”

Dr. Kate looked at her lap, tried to
control her breathing but couldn’t control the tears; she knew she couldn’t
beat an S1. She stared at her lap, and soon her sobbing spread into the room.
She tried to speak, but it was physically impossible, emotions overriding each
word. Stephen never moved, a patient statue.

Charlie continued to monitor in the next
room. As the dialogue evolved and the Judge revealed more and more, Charlie
began to understand the undercurrents. At last Kate gained enough control to
speak.

  “Stephen, I’m so sorry. After my divorce,
I end up saddled with a huge alimony and money did become an issue. On top of
that, Sonja’s unwavering goal, almost an obsession, was medical school; her
marks were good but not excellent, and I knew it would be a long shot if she
got accepted. I understood how much my daughter wanted to become a doctor but
couldn’t think of a way to help, just worry.

 When Sonja’s name appeared on the
Admission Committee’s interview list, Grovernor’s flunkeys let him know about
her and how difficult the selection process was going to be. This gave him the
idea; some old boy’s gossip trigged this outlandish event; he approached me
with a proposition.

 If I could get his daughter through an S1
and possibly an S2 Interrogation, he would drop the charge against Dr. Max,
after the S2…. use the excuse that further interrogation was too dangerous for
his young daughter. No one ever thought that Max would push it and demand S3
for himself.

 I wasn’t aware of Dr. Max’s record and the
potential death sentence…..none of that ever became public…..Grovernor just……..
Grovernor wanted to embarrass Max, demonstrate his brilliant reputation was
based on faulty science, demand the Nobel Peace Prize be revoked.

He hated him because Max never came back to
assist the company when they needed his technical brilliance and prestige.
Governor's company is on the brink, well beyond a minor cash flow problem.”

She started sobbing and tried to regain her
composure. It became difficult to understand her, but Charlie needed more
before he tackled Janice, who would be a lot harder case. After a few minutes,
Kate started again.

 “As you know I’m in charge of assigning
technical interrogators. I knew in a case like this, I would have to assign one
of the best. Otherwise, there would be questions. As it happened Janice is one
of the best, and I knew about her financial troubles; she’s a poor money
manager, and prior to the recent downturn, compounded her problems with some real
estate investments.

I didn’t approach her but told Grovernor
about her problems. I don’t know how much he gave her or how the funds
transferred. I just got a call that Janice I should have lunch.  The plan:
Grovernor’s daughter was never to be given the real medication for S1 or S2.

Janice explained how to behave when under
the influence and gave her some recordings of different people undergoing an
interrogation. What we didn’t know was the girl was a serious drama student,
already accepted at the Academy of Arts. She gave an absolutely brilliant
performance.”

After a long pause, Kate gathered her
thoughts and finished her confession.

 “When Grovernor first approached me, I
knew this was Sonja’s only hope, and I foolishly agreed. Within the week, I
knew it was unethical…. wrong… too much for me; I told Grovernor we had to
stop.

He laughed and said Sonja would receive her
acceptance that morning. Did I want to tell her: no med school?  He is a
fanatic and warned me; he would ruin Sonja’s career as well as mine; his hate
for Dr. Armstrong blinds him to all consequences, and Max is right: the
daughter has a similar personality. 

He recognized I was still not on side, and
he promised to stop after the S1 Interrogation and give his daughter’s health
as an excuse. I knew it wasn’t good enough, but somehow I convinced myself that
we would muddle through, if we stopped after S1.

I knew there would be confusion and
concern, but I conceived an argument……..the dosage associated with S1 was not
sufficient for certain personality types. Further, we should develop a
checklist to identify those individuals who should be automatically be moved
forward to an S2. That is, skip S1 for these exceptions.

As long as this subterfuge stopped at S1……
S2 not challenged…..I would be able to argue Dr. Armstrong and similar
personalities are such a small minority in our total population base…….we only
need minor change in our procedures to reestablish confidence levels.

The double cross occurred when his
obstinate daughter insisted on an S2 Interrogation, and all my planning flew
apart. She found the entire experience exciting….. a great acting debut with
many important people observing……. as she fooled the world.

 I’m so sorry. I caught up trying to help
Sonja. She’d worked so hard and wanted the admission more than anything. I knew
she wouldn’t get in without outside help and allowed myself to get desperate.
Steve, she really is very much like you and as she matures even more so…..
sometimes the appearance startles me and I worry someone else will see the
resemblance and guess.

She doesn’t know …….no one knows……I was
afraid to tell you…..if you can do anything to help her through this
mess…..please …..please. This will be so hard on her. She’s so straight…… if
this becomes public she will give up her medical dream……walk away from
university………..and I don’t think she’ll ever speak to me again.”

The tears and sobbing started again, the
depth of her sorrow overwhelming. Stephen left his chair and went to the couch.
He held her and soon tears were rolling down his cheeks. He knew had she told
he about the pregnancy both of their futures would have been different.  He
continued to hold her and to stroke her hair; he kissed her forehead and
whispered something in her ear. She lifted her face and then their kiss was
completed without reservation.

Charlie, still unaware of Jake’s ultimatum,
was in the next room, shocked and subdued; he knew he had seen and heard too
much.

  “Jesus H Christ, I can’t believe this!”

The meeting room was silent, the atmosphere
tense.

Emma Collins sat, slumped, alone at the
Forensic table; her head hung down, eyes focused on some notes. By the time the
meeting concluded, the Chief’s mood would be radically altered.

The Judge started by establishing a
Condition Confidential and went straight to the point.

“I’ve some good news. We have solved the
puzzle of Dr. Armstrong; our systems and Interrogation protocols are valid. Dr.
Max told the truth; the lies came from young Sally and her father.”

His delivery was rapid, as if he wanted to
get past this as quickly as possible. The Judge went on to explain how Dr.
Grovernor bribed both Kate and Janice; and, how Sally was coached to perform,
as if she was under the influence of S1 and S2 medication.

“Grovernor wanted to embarrass Max and
destroy his reputation. His anger stems from the fact Max would not take a
sabbatical and solve Allied’s production problem. Grovernor talked about this
problem as being minor, but the truth is: the production problem is
fundamental, and his company is unlikely to survive.

The girl, Sally, is emotional immature with
a fierce temper. She has rarely been refused anything, and Dr. Max rejected her
advances, after, what even he acknowledges was a torrid kiss and embrace. After
Sally pressed him, he left in a hurry. When Max left the house, she went into a
rage, breaking furniture and tearing the place apart. Dr. Grovernor, back from
Europe due to an emergency on his production floor, arrived in time to witness
her tantrum. He got her to tell him the story. This is when he saw an
opportunity for revenge.

The original plan included a complete S1,
followed by a retreat due to Sally’s mental stress; all charges were to be
dropped. Grovernor thought this would be enough to hurt, if not destroy, Max’s
reputation, possibly get the Nobel Peace Prize revoked.

 The Dr. didn’t count on his daughter’s
demands. Sally is a natural actor and enjoyed the part. She insisted on a
second performance using the S2 Interrogation. Again, to fool experts who were
reviewing the interrogation, a hubristic ego jaunt for Sally. Her Interrogation
cocktail mix consisted of water and a food dye.

 The surprise to all these players was
Max’s record with minors and the possible death sentence. Grovernor knew about
Max’s tendency and probably his earlier sealed record. But he didn’t understand
these cases, all having occurred prior to Justice Reborn, would still count as
part of a series for repeat offenders.”

Stephen stopped and surveyed the room; no
one spoke. Emma’s focus remained on the papers in front of her. Ann gave
Charlie the nod, and he knew she’d picked up an interference signal, the secret
recorder active. The Judge’s technician, not authorized to attend the meetings,
had provided Ann with a device sensitive to the frequencies emanating from the
secret recording equipment.

“After S2, Dr. Grovernor presented a strong
and legitimate case to drop the charge, the risk for Sally too great. They
didn’t count on Max volunteering, but Grovernor didn’t care because he was
confident we’d think Max beat the brain scan, manipulated the system again.
Questions?”

The silence didn’t last long. Legal first
off the mark. “Judge, how the devil did they get caught, and second what is
going to happen to Dr. Kate and Janice?”

“They were caught because Detective Charlie
Taylor did some old fashion police work; I’ll ask him to explain.”

 Chief was glaring before Charlie uttered
his first sentence.

  “The Judge asked me to look at this case
from a completely different angle. He already had a scientific team in motion
with a large resource pool. I was at the classic dead end when I decide to
branch in a different direction and make an assumption: suppose Dr. Max is
innocent. If true, it meant Sally was beating the system; the next question
became: how can a young teenager beat the system?

Only one way: she had help. From there I
dug through all Janice’s and Kate’s records:  histories, bank accounts,
spending patterns, etc. The big break came when I reviewed the grades Kate’s daughter
submitted as part of her application for entry into the faculty of medicine.
They were not good enough to warrant what happened; her admission to med school
was suspicious, and when she was awarded a full scholarship, all the alarm
bells went off. This did not appear to be a legitimate award.”

 “I’m going to stop Charlie, if you want
the details you can buy him lunch. I just wanted you to understand the basics.
As far as all the players in this incident: Grovernor, his daughter, Kate,
Janice, and the three members of the Medical school Admission Board, I can’t
tell you how this will play out. As of this moment, I’m assigning the entire
case over to Doug. My preliminary assessment is that they should all be turned
over to Sector 13 and out of our Sector. Any comments?”

Doug spoke. “We pay very high salaries and
monitor all staff to try and prevent bribes; once this breaks in the press we
must be ready to manage the fallout; do you have anything in mind?”

“You are correct. In Kate’s case even a
higher salary wouldn’t have prevented the incident with medical school as a
goal her daughter. Janice’s very ambitious and, yes, money was a factor,
Grovernor knew that enough money would turn her. I’m at a loss to think of any
practical way we can prevent this in the future.

 Maybe random periodic S1 Interrogations
for our staff, like the old drug testing program they used to have for
athletes. We’ll come back to this at the next meeting. Thanks…  I’m going to
adjourn the meeting. Thank you.” Most noticed he appeared subdued and at times
rather abrupt; a strange demeanor for a man who had just resolved an explosive
issue.

As people stood and gathered their papers,
Ann spoke. “We’re having some maintenance problems with the main door, so I
would ask you all to exit via the small side door at the back of the room. The
one Charlie is using right now. Thanks.”

People exited as requested and on leaving
found they were going through an archway type of device, similar to the ones
employed in the airports years ago. As well, there was armed security staff
gathered around the device and in the hallway.

 Jacob Konahouse, head man for the Prisons
Section, hesitated for a moment before he walked under the arch device. Before
he cleared the detection device, the alarm buzzers sounded, and two security
guards took Jake by the elbow and led him into a room off the hallway. The
remainder of the people exited the meeting room and continued down the hallway.
Only a few people noticed the incident with Jake; one being the Chief and he
went right for Charlie.

“Smart ass. Where do we begin? First, where
do you get off carrying out an independent investigation without informing me?
Second, who the hell are these security people? And what the hell is that the
piece of junk with the fucking buzzer? And, last where the hell have you taken
Jake? Are those enough questions or would like more?  What the hell is the
matter? You can’t talk, for once? Bullshit!!”

As the Chief yelled the questions, Charlie
tried to think of the best starting point for his explanation. None of the
alternatives were likely to satisfy Chief Stirling.

                                           #
# #

In the
room off the hallway another drama began. Jake perched on a hard back chair and
standing in front of him the largest security guard, and possibly one of the
ugliest, he had ever seen. This guard and the other two members of his squad
filled the room. The big guy finally spoke.

“Mr.
Konahouse, our scanning equipment detected a recorder either on you or in your
briefcase. You can either hand it over, or we will strip search you and find
it. As you are a senior member of the Judge’s Board, you know what the
advantages, at a time of sentencing, are for cooperating. Let’s make this easy
for all of us.”

Jake
prepared to push it. “You’ve no rights to search me, and I will protest to the
Judge.”

The big
guard leaned down and grabbed Jake by the neck. “Look stupid, who do you think
authorized bringing in the equipment and my team?  First clue: it wasn’t the
Easter Bunny. I will ask once more, after that we will strip you and march you,
naked, down to the Judge’s chambers and request an S1 Interrogation. Are we
ready or do I turn the boys loose?’’

The other
two guards struggled with elbow length latex gloves, a difficult fit for large
hands.  One must have whispered a crude remark to other, and they both smirked.

The threat
of an S1 overwhelmed him. Jake crumbled. “The device is built in as part of the
combination lock for the briefcase. Enter 2233 as the code and the rest of the
controls will be displayed, and you can see it’s all touch screen controlled.”

                                                 
# # #

In the hallway, Charlie explained. “Chief I
never had a choice the Judge called me in and asked me to treat Dr. Max as a
priority case but not to discuss it with anyone, including you. I couldn’t even
use any staff. Stephen insisted all top secret. Christ, I don’t know why. Ask
him.

My guess is he was so concerned about the
integrity of the Board sessions, the fewer people in the know, the better.”

“ Alright. I get the picture and the Judge,
and I are going to have a talk…..now, explain the rest of this shit.”

                                                 
# # #

Inside the room, the guards had the
recording device and a sorry looking Jake. They used the inside passage to get
him into the Judge’s chambers. The big guard handed the device and briefcase
over to Ann, who was in the room with the Judge.

“Thank you gentleman, please dismantle
your scanners and return to your regular duties. Ann and I will take it from
here. Thanks very much.”

Jake, alone with the Judge and Ann,
stood in the middle of the room rather stunned by the speed of events in the
last 20 minutes.

“Jake how many meetings have you
recorded and where are the copies? Before you answer, I remind you because of
the severity of the offence, you will have to undergo an S1 Interrogation to
confirm all your answers, and lies are not something you want to add to the
agenda.”

“My third recording. I have the other
copies at my house.”

“Can you explain your reasons for
recording Confidential sessions? Why take such a risk?”

Jake recovered a little, and some of
his hostility returned. “First, I was guaranteed the recording would not be
detected, and I deemed the risk as minimum. During Condition Confidential
sessions, decisions are made which might prove embarrassing, if handled by a
good Monday morning quarterback. You do have enemies.”

“You were hoping something might come
forward to demonstrate my incompetence, and you could use it to ensure your
tenure or reduce mine.”

Jake never bothered answering.

                                             
# # #

Outside the Chief tried to control his
temper. Charlie knew the next explanation could put him over the top.

“Ann ask me to find the individual who
secretly recorded the Confidential Sessions. And because the first occurrence
happened at a regular Board meeting, the list of suspects was short, just you,
the Division Heads. I could not discuss it with anyone.”

 “Where did you get the high-tech equipment
to detect the device? And where did you get the security staff?”

“Actually, it isn’t really high tech
equipment. All the stuff came from a recent stage play, all props, all fakes,
and the guards are all amateur actors and friends of my brother Sam. The
equipment didn’t detect anything; I told them to ring the buzzer when Jake went
through, and we developed the dialogue to use once he was in the isolation
room.”

The Chief temporarily speechless, his face
flushed, blood pressure peaked, and then he almost spit out the words. “You ran
a fucking sting on one of the most well-connected guys in the Sector?  You’re
fucking crazy, just fucking crazy. How did you know it was him?”

“There were only four possible suspects:
First in Legal we have Doug: too risky for him and not his style. Second, there
is Dr. Kate, who spends so much time in the lab, has no social life, is
interested in pure science. No, she has no interest in attacking the Judge.
Third, we have you the Chief; I wondered if you were devious enough to try
this?  But why would you bother? You are only a few years from a full pension.
It would be a great risk for what? Not a good fit.

 This left Jake, a political appointee who
deals in secrets, cross currents, loves intrigue, likes to have the upper hand,
and loves to make a deal. A good fit. What’s he after? Anything that might show
that the Judge is soft or making poor decisions; he knows the Judge will get
rid of him if an opportunity presents itself. It had to be him, a real bastard,
and I decided to run the bluff. I did speak to some techies and was told it was
not likely we would be able to detect the device once he turned it off. There
was only one choice; run a sting.”