by Mark Nolan
An agent quickly handcuffed Jake’s wrists behind his back, and then stood back with his pistol pointed at him. Reynolds used her gloved hand to grab Jake’s bloody shirt out of the sink and drop it in a plastic evidence bag along with the gloves. With that done she slammed the door shut before the dog could recover and attack her. Next she frisked Jake’s unconscious body while others pointed weapons at him. She found a long KA-BAR knife at Jake’s lower back, held sideways by a belt. And a small SIG P238 pocket pistol in an ankle holster. “Another pistol and a knife.”
“Only cops and criminals wear ankle holsters,” Oxley said. “Swab him for DNA and take him away.”
Reynolds tore open a packet and used a cotton swab to take a DNA sample from the inside of Jake’s mouth. She put the swab into a clean evidence container. Two other agents picked up Jake, each one holding him by a bicep and under his armpit, and they dragged him toward the front door.
Beth watched this and she was glad they’d closed the kennel door. If Cody woke up and saw these people manhandling Jake, he’d go into combat mode and tear one of the agents a new orifice. Beth had a feeling she should do something with the dog, to keep him safe from harm.
Lately, a growing number of people in law enforcement had started killing the pet dogs of America. Chief Pierce had made an update to the SFPD Use-of-Force Policy that expressly forbid the shooting of a dog without very serious just cause and a clear threat to safety. Pierce made every police officer in the department read the policy and sign off on it. Pierce said that if post office mail carriers could deal with dogs on a daily basis for years and years, why the hell couldn’t tough cops handle it?
“Okay you win,” Beth said to Oxley, “The FBI gets the bust, and I get stuck with the sleeping dog.”
Oxley laughed. “You can babysit Scooby Doo there while we take public enemy number one downtown and interrogate him.”
Beth shrugged resignedly and held up the palms of her hands in a false signal of defeat. “That’s okay, you guys are at the top of the food chain. Just don’t be surprised when that Secret Service agent named McKay calls your boss, and then your boss asks you to explain why you ignored the information. My conscience is clear; I tried to help you.”
“Sure Cushman, if you think you somehow know more about this situation than the FBI does, it’s only in your dreams.”
“Maybe or maybe not. I’m an investigator, and my investigation found that Congressman Anderson was under Secret Service protection at Moscone Center. Their agents were right there on the scene so they obviously know more about this than you or I or anyone else could. Think about that on your drive back to FBI HQ.”
“You’re full of it,” Oxley said, but a glimmer of doubt began to show in his eyes.
“Suit yourself, Oxley, feel free to believe whatever you want. You go ahead and embarrass yourself by arresting those two innocent people. Meanwhile, I’ll worry about the injured dog. I’ll just leave him in the kennel for now. It’s as good a containment area as any.”
“Maybe your imaginary Secret Service agent friend can help you clean up after the dog takes a dump.”
“If he does I’ll mail it to you for evidence, okay Oxley?”
Oxley dismissed Beth with a disgusted shake of his head. He walked away mumbling something about her pushy attitude.
Beth looked at her phone and stood in front of the door, blocking Cody from view. She wanted Cody to be out of sight, out of mind. While Beth had her phone out, she went ahead and deleted the voicemail from Sarah. That voicemail was the only evidence that she’d lied to a federal official. Unless Sarah broke down under FBI questioning, that is. The FBI was very efficient at getting people to talk.
Outside of the clinic, television news reporter Dick Arnold stood across the street taking video of the FBI agents as they dragged Jake Wolfe to their vehicle. Arnold zoomed in on Jake so the TV viewers could see him clearly. Jake was unconscious, he had blood on his face, and his hands and feet were locked in cuffs. Arnold grinned as he sent the video to his news station and it went live immediately on the website and soon after on television.
The rest of the FBI Agents came outside and got into their vehicles. They had finished clearing the other rooms, bagging up Jake’s two pistols and his knife and leather jacket, along with Sarah’s pistol and her purse. Oxley gave an order and the group of agents left the scene just as fast as they had arrived.
The broken front door of the clinic swung back and forth in the breeze as the vehicles drove away.
Chapter 93
Terrell Hayes had been standing off to the side of the clinic front door. He’d quietly observed the FBI Agents while maintaining his distance and keeping a bored look on his face. He was wearing the same police jacket and hat that Beth Cushman had on. His ID hung on a lanyard around his neck. Now that the Feds had left, Terrell walked over to his partner. “I headed right over here when you called me, but when I arrived there were FBI agents everywhere.”
“Thanks for standing by. Oxley was angry about a cop being here. Two would have made him twice as mad.”
“You looked like you had things well in hand. I’m known to be friends with Jake, so I just kept my mouth shut and avoided drawing attention to myself.”
“I like that whole you keeping your mouth shut thing. That works for me.”
Terrell smiled at his sassy partner. He liked how they could give each other a lot of good-natured grief. It helped to ease the tension in their stressful work. They both looked through the window and saw Cody lying on the dog bed. Cody had awakened from the shock of the stun baton. He was temporarily too weak to stand up, but he watched them with his highly intelligent eyes.
“Is it just me, or is that the smartest looking dog you’ve ever seen?” Terrell asked.
“He looks scary smart. Don’t you boy, huh?”
Cody barked once and nodded. Terrell and Beth exchanged a look.
“What do we do with Cody?” Beth said. “This isn’t a bad place for him. Sarah’s assistant will take care of him when she arrives in the morning. I had my cat boarded here for a weekend one time when she was sick.”
“The problem is, the front door is broken open,” Terrell said. “We should get it repaired, or somebody will steal everything in here that isn’t nailed down. They’ll probably set up a meth lab and blow the place up by sunrise.”
“I know a married couple that runs a twenty-four-hour locksmith service. Their fees are high, but they’ll come over here and fix it right now.”
“Give them a call. We can recoup the cost from Jake.”
“Right, with one hundred percent interest.”
“I think Jake would want me to take Cody to my house,” Terrell said. “My dog Boo-Boo will be happy to have a visitor.”
“Good idea. We need to get Sarah Chance bailed out too. She’s known to be an emotional person. It would not help her case at the FBI building if she were to vent at Agent Oxley.”
“Maybe I’ll go down there and see if I can help straighten this out. What’s the shortest route to get to the FBI building from here anyway?”
Beth shrugged. “Why are you asking me. Do you think my uterus has a built in GPS?”
“It doesn’t? Can you get a refund?”
Beth exhaled loudly in exasperation, but she was smiling at the joke and thinking of a way to even the score with Terrell. Beth walked over to the front door and made the call to the locksmiths. She took pictures of the door and the lock, and then sent the pics to their phones.
Terrell was standing by the kennel door when he thought he heard a sound coming from inside the room. He looked through the window until he located the source. There was a cheap throwaway phone on the counter. He could just see part of it peeking out from the other side of a plastic storage container full of what looked like dry dog food kibble. Terrell could barely hear a tinny sounding voice coming out of the phone, so it must be connected to a call. Terrell cautiously opened the kennel door and stepped inside.
&nb
sp; “Good dog Cody. You remember me from when I used to visit Stuart’s house. So we’re cool right?”
Cody was still woozy, but he sniffed Terrell’s familiar scent and looked up at him as if to say, “What are you talking about fool?”
Terrell went inside the kennel and closed the door so Cody couldn’t get out. He picked up the phone and heard a cultured voice saying, “Hello Jake, are you still there? What is happening young man?”
Terrell spoke into the phone and said, “Hello, who is this?”
“This is Gregory Bart Bartholomew, attorney at law. I received a call from my client Jake Wolfe. He told me the FBI was about to take him into custody along with a friend named Sarah Chance.”
“That’s correct. They’re both in custody and on their way to the FBI building right now.”
“Oh dear. That means I’ll have to put on shiny shoes, leave home and drive over to the city at this inconvenient evening hour.”
Terrell smiled. “I was called away from home and I had to put on my shiny shoes on account of Jake too. I know exactly how you feel.”
“Jake does have a bad habit of getting into these kinds of situations doesn’t he?” With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?”
“Lieutenant Terrell Hayes, SFPD. A friend of Jake’s.”
“What is your take on the situation, Lieutenant?”
“Sarah Chance found an intruder in her pet clinic after hours, treating his wounded dog. Sarah detained Jake with her pistol, and then called my partner Beth Cushman. Sarah locked Jake in a kennel room where they keep the larger dogs. Before Cushman got here the FBI stormed the building and broke the door open with a battering ram. They arrested Jake and Sarah and took both of them down to the FBI building.”
“That’s remarkable. I’m not sure why they would arrest the veterinarian, but those federal cowboys do get carried away sometimes. Alright, I’ll be on my way over to the FBI building in just a few minutes. Hopefully, the two ‘dog clinic desperadoes’ won’t say anything until I arrive.”
“Jake knows not to say anything. Not anything useful anyway. Sarah already made a statement similar to what I just explained. Then she demanded the FBI reward money for capturing Jake.”
“Sarah sounds like a woman to be reckoned with. I’m looking forward to meeting her.”
“She was in the news recently. In a good Samaritan lawsuit.”
“Ah now I remember, that’s why her name sounded familiar. That lawsuit was a load of BS by a greedy junkyard dog lawyer.”
“Most lawsuits are. I’ll give you my mobile phone number. Call me anytime if I can help with Jake’s case. He’s one of my best friends. We go way back.” Terrell recited his mobile phone number to Bartholomew.
“Thank you Lieutenant Hayes. Now that I think of it I believe I might have seen you on television. Regarding the golf course attorney assassination.”
“Yeah that was me. You’ll also want to talk to my partner Beth Cushman. She was in contact with a Secret Service agent named Shannon McKay. The agent said Jake was innocent. He was impersonated by a wanted criminal she’s been tracking.”
“This just gets more interesting by the minute. Do you have McKay’s phone number?”
“Beth has it. I’ll have her call you in ten minutes when you’re in your car. You can talk while you drive.”
“That’s very thoughtful of you. Thanks again Lieutenant. I hope you and I can have lunch one day soon at a private club I belong to in Pacific Heights. Goodbye for now.”
Terrell ended the call, and he thought that Bart Bartholomew seemed like an okay guy. Not all lawyers were bad people. That was just as prejudiced a concept as saying all people of a particular race were bad. Most lawyer jokes were actually old racist jokes where the word “lawyer” had been substituted for a racial slur word.
Terrell looked at the phone for a moment and realized it might be a good idea to call that FBI agent who knew Jake. To fill him in on what was happening. What was his name? Agent Knight. Terrell put the throwaway phone in his pocket and got out his own phone so he could call the FBI.
Beth returned to the kennel door and looked through the window. When she saw Terrell in the room, she smiled. Terrell heard the door’s deadbolt lock turn and click. He looked over and saw Beth grinning at him through the glass window. Then she turned and walked away.
“Beth open that lock. Not funny partner. Cushman, do you hear me? Dammit, Scooter!”
Cody panted Ha-Ha-Ha.
Chapter 94
At the FBI Building, agents removed the ankle cuffs from Jake and Sarah, and marched them separately toward two different interrogation rooms. The two groups passed by each other and Jake said, “My attorney is coming. Don’t say a word until he gets here.”
Sarah nodded, and the agents that were escorting Jake told him to shut his mouth. They pushed him into interrogation room number one, while Sarah was escorted down the hallway to another room.
Jake found himself in a cold bare room with CCTV cameras in all four of the upper corners. The agents made him sit at a heavy table that was bolted to the floor. They handcuffed his feet to a metal ring that was set into the floor, and then cuffed his hands to another ring on the table. Jake took a deep breath and mindfully refrained from any resistance, whether verbal or physical. Part of his martial arts training had been on how to keep your cool and to remain detached and above it all. The training worked most of the time, but not always.
This was definitely not one of the “friendly” interrogation rooms where they try to get you to relax and talk while having a cup of coffee. Jake hoped that Sarah was in one of the nicer rooms and he felt sorry for getting her involved in this. He’d simply had no choice but to break into her clinic. Cody’s life depended on it.
Several floors down, FBI Agent Knight was in the underground parking area, walking toward his car. It had been a long day of hard work, keeping the nation safe from terrorist threats and serial killers that the average American never heard about. Knight was exhausted and when his phone vibrated he hoped the call was not work related.
The call was from Terrell Hayes and the reception in the garage was surprisingly good thanks to how the FBI had installed small cell towers in strategic locations. The current director made sure the bureau was always on the cutting edge of new technology.
Knight talked to Terrell for a minute, thanked him for the tip and then sent a text message to his wife to let her know he had to work late again. As he rode the elevator up to the interrogation rooms, he felt a sense of weariness come over him. “The FBI never rests.”
All he could think of was that his wife and kids were enjoying a nice dinner without him again. He ached to go home and hug his family and enjoy a home-cooked meal together. This was the career he’d chosen and he was proud of it, but nobody had ever said it was going to be easy. The only easy day in the FBI was his day off, and even then he still had to carry his Glock pistol and his credentials with him. He was never really off duty in his job of protecting the public, not even when he was asleep. Every night he had restless dreams about the cases he was working on.
He agreed with what Terrell Hayes had said. Jake would probably talk to Knight more readily than anyone else at the FBI Building. And there was no doubt he owed Jake a favor or two, okay maybe half a dozen favors.
When Knight arrived at the interrogation room he asked the agent outside the door to let him speak with one of the agents. Reynolds came out into the hallway and listened as Knight explained his reasoning to her. Knight’s opinion of Reynolds was that she appeared to be a stiff, humorless and serious person. However she was also excellent at her job.
Reynolds agreed that Knight could be in on the questioning as long as he understood that she and Oxley would be in charge. Knight would only assist. They could use the good guy - bad guy technique on Wolfe.
Knight wanted to say that the Jake Wolfe he knew was far too smart to fall for that old trick, but he just agreed and went along with Reynolds. She was amb
itious and dedicated and had a habit of doing everything by the book. She probably got straight A’s in school, her sock drawer was perfectly organized, she’d never had a traffic ticket in her entire life, and she would not dare to fart without filling out a government form in triplicate.
There was never much use in arguing with coworkers. The FBI was just like any other place of employment, with all kinds of personalities you had to try to get along with and some you never would. Knight hoped he could get along with Reynolds for the moment.
The two agents went into the interrogation room and Knight raised his eyebrows at Jake. His friend nodded back in understanding and gave him a tired smile. Neither one of them wanted this to be happening, but they would try to be professional and friendly about it and hope for the best.
Reynolds whispered to Oxley about Knight joining them, and he agreed to it. Oxley then dropped a thick file down on the table with a thud and stared at Jake like a predator looking at its prey. This was done to intimidate a suspect, but Jake saw through the scheme and it had no effect. He just smiled calmly at Oxley.
Knight sat down at the table toward the end as an observer. He kept a neutral expression on his face and placed a small notepad and a pen on the table in front of him.
Oxley began the questioning. “Anything you’d like to get off your chest Wolfe?”
“Where is my dog?”
“I’ll ask around. In the meantime do you want to make a confession and save us all some time?”
“Go find out the current status and location of my dog. After that I might have something to say.”
“You have it backwards. First you’re going to confess and then we might tell you about your dog.”
“Don’t even think about using my dog as a bargaining chip.”
“Admit that you shot Katherine Anderson, and you can be reunited with your precious pet. Otherwise I might have him sent to the animal shelter.”
