Jim McCain was a smart former lawyer, but Chan wasn’t sure how the sheriff would play this to maximize any potential benefit—not to the department, but to McCain’s reelection prospects. He’d surprised Chan by ordering the CID agents to be charged with assaulting an officer and resisting arrest. Other charges were “pending.” Chan was shocked McCain had even gone that far.
The sheriff finished his call and waved Chan over to sit in front of his large desk.
“My brother-in-law, Harry Davenport, is a hotshot Phoenix lawyer and a former federal prosecutor. He’s setting up a conference call with General Duffy, who’s the top guy at the army’s Criminal Investigation Command back on the East Coast, where it’s…” McCain checked his watch. “…eight twenty-two in the morning.”
“So he’s the boss of our perps,” said Chan.
“Yes.”
The desk phone rang. “This is the call.” McCain picked it up and put it on speaker. “Sheriff McCain here.”
“Jim, it’s Harry. We have General Duffy on the line.”
“Sheriff, Mr. Davenport has apprised me of the situation there in great detail,” said General Duffy, whose voice sounded thin and strained, possibly from ill health. “Your department is making some very serious allegations, and I promise I’ll look into it immediately.”
“You’ll look into it immediately?”
“Of course,” said General Duffy.
“And what else, General?”
There was a pause, then, “What exactly are you getting at, Sheriff?”
“What do you need to look into? You have incontrovertibly damning evidence on your desk in front of you of a federal crime committed by your CID officers. I want something done right now. Today.”
“These things take time, and you know that, Sheriff.” Duffy managed to muster a bit more substance to his voice with the remark.
“Sorry, but I’m short on time. So I want to know everything you have on this investigation. I want to know all about Major Kitman Bennings. I want to know why the Russian mob killed two people in his family home, and probably his mother too. And I want any names connected with your investigation. I want your associates at the FBI to give us everything they have on Staci Bennings’s kidnapping, because, like you, they have frozen us out. If you don’t cut me in on the action, you will experience repercussions.”
“Sheriff, I think I’ll have to have some people come and talk to you.” This time, Duffy’s voice had strengthened to the point that he sounded threatening.
“Why don’t you try talking to me in a meaningful way. Did I forget to mention that we have arrested your two agents who committed the federal crime?”
“I believe I forgot to mention that to the general,” said Harry Davenport.
“I have to ask you to please release them at once,” said General Duffy.
“Actually, I was thinking about using them in the press conference.”
“What press conference?” asked Duffy, sounding angry.
“The one I have scheduled for two o’clock this afternoon, about eight hours from now, in time to make the evening news nationwide. The one that will explain how the U.S. Army illegally used the NSA to spy on police detectives conducting a murder investigation.”
“That would be very unwise of you,” said Duffy.
“How so? I’m in a tight reelection race, and the army and FBI are actively, willfully hampering my department’s ability to solve multiple homicides.”
“There are issues here, that you are simply not cleared to be privy to. I’d suggest exercising some patience and self-control until we can resolve them.”
“Or you will do what?”
“I’m not going to do anything,” said Duffy, modulating his tone. “But you’re going to be getting some visitors. And if the NSA has taken liberty with your officers’ personal and work communications, and I’m not saying they have, then they could probably do the same to you. Everyone has skeletons,” said General Duffy matter-of-factly. “And you certainly wouldn’t want any of yours surfacing right now, during an election. So I’m asking you to exercise good judgment until we can—”
“You know what the problem is with the federal government? No one ever gets held accountable anymore. The IRS scandal, Benghazi, the trumped-up WMD excuse President Bush used to justify invading Iraq, no-bid government contracts awarded to companies owned by big campaign contributors… Whether it’s a Democrat in the White House, or a Republican, everything just gets papered over and no one gets fired.
“The only way to get some ‘justice’ is to have leverage. And my leverage is going public with you, General Duffy, threatening to smear me by illegally using the NSA to dig up dirt from my past.”
“I did no such thing!”
“I’ve got it on tape.”
“If you are recording this conversation, that would be illegal and will get you into very serious trouble if you try to—”
“The sheriff isn’t recording you, General. I’m recording you,” said Harry Davenport. “In Arizona and in Virginia, where you are now, one-party consent to recording a conversation makes it perfectly legal.”
“I’m in California,” said Sheriff McCain, “where two-party consent is required, but I gave my consent to be recorded. So screw you.”
The sheriff slammed the phone down.
Bobby Chan sat there almost speechless. He’d never realized Jim McCain had a pair of brass ones. He looked at the chief and said one word: “Wow.”
“That’s what I like about you, Chan, you’re so eloquent. Here’s the deaclass="underline" we’ve been dealt a hand, and I’m going to play it as best I can. I’m playing hardball to kick your investigation into a higher gear. And hopefully, that helps both of us.
“Just so you know, Harry Davenport is right now calling the secretary of defense,” continued McCain. “He’s demanding General Duffy’s resignation today. We’re also demanding the name of the NSA systems analyst who spied on you and Franklin, and I want to read in the national media today that he or she has been fired for abuse of authority. They can lie about the specifics, but I want him or her fired. And I’m demanding that those two agents from CID who spoke to you at the morgue…”
“Flood and Bates,” said Chan.
“…Flood and Bates, be in my office before six P.M. today. They will be stopping in to personally apologize to me on their way back to Quantico, because they are off this case, and their military careers are essentially over.”
“To be honest, I’m not sure I see the feds agreeing to any of your demands,” said Chan.
“Did I mention that my hotshot brother-in-law graduated from Harvard Law?”
“And…?”
“And the secretary of defense is his old frat buddy and former rommate.”
Chan nodded as he smiled. “Sheriff McCain, if you will authorize a Code Three patrol escort all the way to the Nevada state line, Franklin and I can be in Vegas in less than three hours. Since CID is desperate to find Staci Bennings, we need to find her first. And wouldn’t it be great to skunk the FBI’s kidnapping detail?”
“Go make it happen, Chan.”
CHAPTER 32
The private security vault off of South Rainbow Boulevard was not to be confused with the twenty-four-hour-access private-security-vault businesses from Las Vegas’s past. Those joints were located in mini malls next to nail salons and catered to a certain type of client who wanted ready access to their “goods,” at least, that is, until those small private vaults were mysteriously robbed and the contents of many vaults emptied. Strangely enough, few police reports were filed, possibly because that would entail listing what had been stolen.