Counterfeit Road

by Kirk Russell

  ‘The way the man walks and moves, you might see something we would never otherwise know, but I appreciate how emotionally hard it might be.’

  Thames didn’t answer.

  ‘Can I give you my cell phone number and will you think about it?’

  After a pause Thames said, ‘Let me get a pen.’

  Raveneau heard him put the phone down. It took a long time and when Thames fumbled with the phone and picked it up again, Raveneau thought he’d say sorry it took so long. Instead, he hung up.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Yesterday, Raveneau submitted to Lieutenant Becker a ‘scratch,’ the memorandum required outlining the travel Raveneau saw necessary as part of the case investigation. Becker read and passed it on to the captain who moved it to the commander’s desk this morning. Commander Saguaro rarely rubber-stamped his approvals, so it was no surprise to Raveneau to get called into his office this afternoon.

  Saguaro was on the phone and pointed at a chair. So Raveneau sat listening to Saguaro talk and soon realized the conversation was about the bomb casings. The story was leaking its way through the department.

  Saguaro put the phone down and asked, ‘Inspector Raveneau, are you a golfer?’

  ‘Not a very good one.’

  ‘Are you planning to take clubs on this trip?’

  ‘No, sir.’

  The commander let a beat pass. He stared before asking, ‘Are you certain this trip is worthwhile?’

  ‘Well, it was either Hawaii or Rome and I thought this time of year Rome would be too cold, or the sky that endless white. You know how it gets in the winter.’

  Raveneau wasn’t even sure Commander Saguaro registered the joke. He was studying what Raveneau wrote, reading bits of it aloud, ‘memorabilia, swizzle sticks with hula girls, handwritten love notes, photos connecting to one link with victim, Captain Frank’s son interviewed.

  ‘Who is Captain Frank?’

  ‘He was an airline captain for United at the time of the murder. I received a lot more information on him today from a third-party storage company holding records for United Airlines. Frank lived in Hawaii. I need to talk to people who knew him. I may even find him.’

  ‘Is he a suspect?’

  ‘He could become one.’

  ‘Is that right? He could become one. I love talking to you inspectors, especially when you’re ready to travel. You’ve got an answer for everything and no information.’

  He smiled to show he was joking. Raveneau had printed off what the storage company emailed him today on Jim Frank. He lifted it to show Commander Saguaro, though he knew Saguaro didn’t have the slightest interest in seeing it.

  ‘How many days?’

  ‘I’m hoping for two but if I find enough it could turn into three. With everything else going on here I’d like it to be two. Flying first class will make the travel easier. I’ll be able to rest on the plane and get right to work.’

  The absurdity of that idea got a real smile from Saguaro and his eyes lit briefly. But they changed just as quickly as he moved on.

  ‘When you say with what’s going on here, are you talking about the cabinet shop?’

  ‘Yes and no, I’m not on Ortega’s team and the Feds are taking the lead on the bomb casings. As you probably know, it’s become a terrorism investigation. Inspector Ortega’s team is working the murders, but I know Special Agent Mark Coe who’s heading the Fed end and Inspector Ortega wants me to keep talking with him. There may be other overlaps we don’t understand yet, and I’m part of looking for those.’

  ‘What overlaps?’

  ‘The Secret Service is also involved. There’s a cross with counterfeit money the cold case victim Alan Krueger was carrying. It’s in the same series as money passed at two banks last summer to buy explosives from a black market weapons dealer. That may tie to a threat to the President.’

  Raveneau didn’t have to answer any of these questions, but he was comfortable with the commander. Saguaro wasn’t going to get on the phone and gossip. He might collect gossip, but he wouldn’t trade. Saguaro was a black hole.

  ‘And you’re sure this trip to Hawaii won’t get in the way?’

  ‘I’ve got to—’

  ‘I know, I know, you’ve got to follow the investigation. What you inspectors need is a pack of cards that you carry and that have all your answers on them, so when you come in here you can just hand me the card with the answer you want to give. It would save everybody time.’

  ‘Like the brass at a press conference.’

  Saguaro smiled. ‘Yeah, like that.’ He signed his last signature with a flourish. ‘OK, you’re approved. Take your clubs, Ben. You’ve earned a couple of swings.’

  ‘There won’t be time.’

  ‘Hold it to two days if you can. We need you here. And keep every receipt. They’re all over me nowadays.’ As Raveneau reached the door he added, ‘Nice work finding those bombs. You’re the only one who would have gone through that plywood.’

  Raveneau called Jack at Clement Street Travel, gave him the approval number voucher and said, ‘If I can I’d like to go out tomorrow afternoon, be there for two nights and return in the morning. Can you make that work?’

  ‘Give me one second.’ Raveneau heard him on the keyboard and then Jack’s, ‘Yes.’

  Jack would book airline, rental car, and hotel. Anything else Raveneau would need to submit to the fiscal department for reimbursement, but in his career he rarely submitted for food or anything else and knew he wouldn’t on this one. So in his head the trip was booked and now it was a matter of accomplishing what he needed to there.

  When he got back to his desk la Rosa was there.

  ‘You busy?’ he asked.

  ‘What’s up?’

  ‘I’m going to Hawaii tomorrow afternoon to see what I can learn about Captain Frank. I want to talk with you about some things first.’

  ‘How about if I just come to Hawaii with you and we can talk on the plane? I’ve never been and I’ve always wanted to go.’

  ‘I don’t think Saguaro will go for it.’

  ‘OK, do you want to talk now?’

  ‘Yeah, let’s take a walk and get some air. I learned some things this morning.’

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Raveneau told her about the drive with Nate Brooks but was having trouble communicating what was bothering him. It was the way he was wired. If you asked him he would tell you he was about facts, motive, and opportunity, but la Rosa knew that just wasn’t so. Raveneau stressed the rational gathering of information, but often was very intuitive in how he solved cases.

  ‘Brooks took me down to the Ferry Building to watch the light rail pass by with the President, the mayor, and a US senator riding along. With him narrating I could almost see their faces. It ended with Brooks holding his coffee cup from the bottom with his right hand, kind of balancing it there as he leaned back against the door of his car and said the Secret Service had more records on Krueger than the personnel file he was authorized to show me. He said I wouldn’t get anything out of the file but advised me to keep digging.’

  ‘What does he want in return?’

  ‘Not clear, but he wants to be kept in the loop with Ortega’s team and any contact I have with Mark Coe.’

  ‘He knows you aren’t going to agree to that.’

  ‘Sure, he knows.’

  ‘So why is he asking?’

  ‘He’s saying he wants to communicate. He’s worried. He can tell I’m bothered by what we found and he wants information anywhere he can get it. He’s casting a wider net than he would otherwise.’

  ‘He sounds to me like a guy unraveling. How much pressure is he under?’

  ‘Plenty.’

  ‘Is he angry?’

  ‘Maybe, but more frustrated than angry. I think he feels somewhat powerless. I understand that. You look at those bomb casings and your imagination just runs.’

  ‘Why don’t you stay here and figure out what Brooks is after and I’ll go to Hawaii.’


  Raveneau smiled and was usually quick with a comeback but not today. La Rosa read that as him being focused on the Krueger investigation and this Hawaii trip, yet at the same time still very disturbed by the discovery of the bomb casings. She thought this whole walk was really about the bomb casings. She didn’t really believe he was concerned about Brooks.

  ‘Talk to me about Hawaii,’ she said.

  ‘I’ll be looking for anything I can learn about Jim Frank or anyone who knew him. He may even be there just waiting to talk. I’m going to find where Frank lived and I hope to find people who knew Krueger.’

  They reached the corner of Seventh and waited for the light to change. Raveneau looked out at the traffic going by as he spoke.

  ‘The Secret Service ruled out Marlin Thames as a suspect back in ’89, but I borrowed a photo from him today and have asked for the FBI’s help getting it enhanced. I don’t think it’s him. It’s almost certainly not, but it needs to get looked at. That’s something I won’t tell Brooks, yet I couldn’t tell you why.’

  ‘You don’t trust him.’

  ‘It’s not that, it’s more that I don’t want to have to trust him.’ He turned to her. ‘I don’t think there’s anything wrong with him.’

  ‘Then what is it you’re picking up?’

  ‘He’s telegraphing that he’s not happy with the Secret Service. He’s telling me things he says he’s not authorized to tell me, but it feels like he’s trying to steer the Krueger investigation. I feel like I’m being led down a path.’

  ‘What’s he asked for?’

  ‘He asked about transcripts I read at the FBI. Coe showed me transcripts on the condition I not talk to anyone, though I told him I would share what I learned with you.’

  Raveneau told her now about a Utah banker named Garner and the man code named Jericho who in a wiretap transcript was negotiating to buy weapons from an officer at a US military base.

  ‘A base here in the US?’

  ‘Kentucky and the Feds think it’s a small group selling, maybe as small as two officers. But that makes me think of something I heard on the radio a few days ago. Someone did a study or a little fact checking as a reality test; it might have been a professor in Boston. What he did was look at brigadier generals and the number of people in their families who were in the military and compared that to Congress. He did the same with Congress. The generals had one hundred eighty family members who were in the military. All of Congress had a total of ten. One can say, so what, but I think it says a lot about the drift the country has taken. We’re already politically polarized. What if we run into a crisis with the national debt and that’s coupled with a confrontation somewhere in the world? We could get to a point where our military steps in to stabilize the country. But what if there’s a group out there that wants that to happen?’

  ‘This is so unlike you.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘Do you think there’s a larger plot already in motion?’

  ‘They’re only showing me bits and pieces and no I don’t believe there’s some grand plot. But there is something happening and it has something to do with the right conditions being in place.’

  ‘Is that what’s bothering you?’

  ‘I’m fine.’

  So now he was going to close up on her. Sometimes she wished she had a simpler partner, but never for long. Raveneau had a way of making things happen. If he got stuck he went sideways. He did what you expected and did it again, and then something completely different.

  ‘You wanted to walk and talk and tell me what’s bothering you.’

  ‘It’s not that something in particular is bothering me. It’s more like the way you know it’s going to rain in the minute just before it does. I’ve never seen anything like these bomb casings before. But there they were and I don’t know if we stopped a plot or if we just got a glimpse of part of one. That’s what Brooks is wigging out about.’

  ‘And you’re afraid he’s right.’

  ‘He could be and I’m not sure what we can do. Yeah, that’s part of what’s bothering me. I’m not sure what we can do. We can make contingency plans, form task forces, have meetings and plan, but we’re better off being lucky. Finding those bomb casings was luck.’

  ‘I think it’s something more.’

  ‘It was luck.’

  ‘Then stay lucky.’

  TWENTY-SIX

  Two hours later, Drury exited 880 northbound at Grand Avenue in Oakland, dropped off the freeway at an estimated fifty-five to sixty miles per hour and swerved around the cars lined up at the base of the offramp. His tires screamed as he ran the red light. He drove the retail section of Grand Avenue on the wrong side of the road, accelerating and crossing back over the line as the road started to climb.

  The Criminal Investigation Unit team following did not attempt to stay with him. They fell back. They notified Oakland Police as Drury’s car climbed east toward the hills and the intersection of Highway 13. Close to the onramp for 13 an Oakland police cruiser swung in behind Drury and went to lights and siren, but by then Drury was down the ramp and accelerating again. The officer followed and asked for help from the California Highway Patrol as he closed in on Drury’s vehicle.

  Now Drury braked hard and pulled over. He forced the officer following to stand on his brakes and the close call sliding to a stop behind Drury angered Officer Hernandez. He used his bullhorn to order Drury to turn his vehicle off, put his hands on his steering wheel and not move. The officer unsnapped his holster as he got out. He kept close watch of Drury’s hands as he walked up alongside the car and then ordered him out of the vehicle.

  Drury said, ‘I’m sorry, officer. I know I was speeding but my girlfriend just told me she’s been cheating on me for a year.’

  Hernandez glanced at the approaching traffic. He expected the highway patrol any moment and was aware of what the suspect did along Grand Avenue, but didn’t want Drury to know that yet. He was unaware that San Francisco Police had a surveillance team watching this individual. For some reason that wasn’t communicated to him, and what he saw was a white male, clearly agitated and struggling with his emotions. He could easily be high on something as well as angry and Hernandez wanted backup before handcuffing him. When Drury started to turn, started to explain more, Hernandez barked at him.

  ‘Keep your back to me.’

  ‘I’m going to do exactly what you say, officer, but I’m OK now. I made some driving mistakes but we were supposed to get married in June. I’m sorry for what I did driving back there, but I’m not a danger now.’

  Behind the officer traffic was slowing to rubberneck and though Hernandez knew better than to listen to what the man said, it resonated with him. His own wife dumped him just before the holidays, telling him she was filing for divorce and was in love with another man. He pushed that aside, glanced again down the highway looking for the CHP and not seeing any lights.

  He positioned himself carefully. There wasn’t a lot of room and ten feet behind him the traffic was still doing forty-five or fifty. Drury put his hands on the roof of the car. Drury spread his legs and Hernandez took one more glance down the highway before pulling Drury’s left arm down and clicked cuffs on his wrist.

  But then as he reached for the other arm Drury launched himself backwards. He drove Hernandez hard enough, fast enough to make him stumble. He slammed into him a second time and Hernandez was across the painted white stripe marking the edge of the right lane. That was where he fell backwards.

  Drury heard tires squealing. He heard the cop’s yell just before he was hit but he didn’t turn to look. He jumped in his car as traffic came to a stop and veered on to the highway. When Drury overtook the traffic ahead he started weaving through. If the car ahead didn’t get out of the way, he leaned on his horn. When some aggressive fucker tried to stop him from passing he moved toward him until their mirrors clicked together, which was enough to scare the guy off and open another gap as the highway fed into the larger 580.

&nb
sp; He didn’t think about the officer he pushed. He didn’t really even have a place he was headed. He had picked up on surveillance this morning and knew he’d been used and knew he was fucked no matter where he went, and his mind kaleidoscoped through images of the homicide cop who followed him to the bar and was on to him. He pushed the Honda up as fast as it would go now but debated getting off the freeway before it split again.

  Traffic way ahead was slowing anyway. What he couldn’t see yet were the black and white CHP cars weaving back and forth across all lanes, bringing the speed of the traffic down from an average of sixty-five miles per hour to thirty down to ten and now almost to a stop. But he saw two coming now from behind. He didn’t know the officer he pushed died on the scene but the officers approaching knew that. They were coming very fast and he took his last chance to get off the freeway, exiting too fast and brushing against the side of a passing car as he turned right at the base of the offramp.

  Now he was on a tree-lined residential street. He nearly hit a girl walking a dog and went left at the next corner with a helicopter swinging in overhead. He couldn’t believe they had a helicopter already and knew he had to get out of the car. He rounded another corner and a police car appeared in the intersection ahead. But to his right a woman was just getting out in her driveway with a bag of groceries.

  Drury braked hard with a hand already under the seat finding the gun. He was out very quickly, but she was smart. She dropped the bags and ran. She got inside her front door and tried to lock it before he slammed into it. The door split the skin of her forehead right down the middle and still she tried to get up. She called to her kid to run and a little girl cried as he tied up the mom with electrical cord.

  He tied her up and then grabbed the girl and dragged her out the front door on to the lawn, leaving her there, as he retrieved the woman’s purse and got back inside. Then he went through the house locking the doors and looking for anyone else and found a babysitter or nanny hiding in an upstairs bedroom closet.