Brodricksburg Pt. 01

"Hi, sweetie. The blue suit looks good on you," She said.

"That black dress looks great on you. I can't wait to get you out of it when we get home," I said.

Carrie blushed a little and punched me on the arm.

"If you don't behave yourself, you won't get that chance," she said. "Rich is still coming, isn't he?"

"Gees, I am beginning to wonder if you were more worried about whether Rich was coming than you were about me," I said.

"Well, he is a good looking guy," she said. "Besides, I mentioned to Linda that you might be bringing Rich with you and I think she was excited about that."

"You know, if those two should fall in love and get married and end up hating each other, it will be all your fault," I said.

"Hey, we've been married for ten years and we still love each other," Carrie said and then kissed me again. "Come on, our table is over here," Carrie said as she led me to the left side of the room near the head table.

"This is the same table we always sit at," I said.

"I arrange it that way so you don't get lost on your way back from the men's room."

"Very thoughtful of you," I said.

Even though Carrie was the chairperson of these events, she never sat at the head table. She reserved that for the big shots in the charity that was hosting the event and the attending dignitaries like Mayor Gargas and Congressman Freewater, our local representative in congress. Carrie always said that she didn't like sitting at the head table because she didn't like being the center of attention at these events but I know she did it for me, so that I wouldn't feel uncomfortable.

We had just arrived at our table when Carrie spotted her friend Linda coming into the ballroom.

"Brian, be a sweetheart and get a couple of glasses of white wine while I go get Linda,"

"Yeah, any excuse to get rid of me," I said.

"I won't be getting rid of you for at least another fifty years," Carrie said as she moved off in Linda's direction.

I had just ordered two glasses of Chardonnay and a beer for myself when Hanratty appeared at my side.

"Wow, you clean up pretty good when you want to," I said.

"Gotta look good for tonight's victim, don't I?" Hanratty replied.

"What do you mean by tonight's victim?"

"Come on, we both know that your wife is going to try to fix me up with one of her friends again tonight," Hanratty said.

"I didn't tell you that."

"Didn't have to. I know Carrie won't rest until she makes me as miserable as you are." Hanratty said.

"I am not miserable," I said.

"I know. That's why I don't stop Carrie from trying."

"I think you'll like Linda," I said.

While I waited for Hanratty to order a beer, I looked back into the ballroom and saw that Carrie was back at our table with Linda. Then I saw something else that really caught my interest. I saw Commissioner Buske standing with Mayor Gargas and Congressman Freewater. Standing near enough to this group to be part of them but far enough away that I couldn't be sure was Captain Ross.

Hanratty and I took our drinks back to the table and while Carrie was introducing Linda to Hanratty I excused myself. I said that I had to say hello to Captain Ross. Hanratty gave me a funny look but didn't say anything and then turned his attention to Linda Abbot.

I really didn't want to talk to Ross but I was hoping that I might hear some of what the other three men were talking about. The trip across the room turned out to be a waste of time. The three men stopped talking as soon as they saw me approaching Captain Ross.

"Good evening, Captain, nice to see you," I said.

"Yeah, good to see you too," he snorted. "I see your wife managed to arrange the seating so that Chief Pasiak and his wife will be sitting at your table again."

"Really? I hadn't noticed," I said.

Actually I knew that the chief would be at our table because Carrie always sat him with us, but she didn't do it to help my career, she did it because she and Mrs. Pasiak had become close friends while working together on a lot of charity boards. I must say that it pleased me to know that the seating arrangements bothered Ross.

I tried to keep a conversation going with Ross but when I saw the Mayor and Congressman Freewater wander off in one direction and Commissioner Buske in the other I ended the conversation and went back to my table.

When I got back to the table Chief Pasiak and his wife, Audrey, were just sitting down.

While Carrie was introducing Audrey to her friend, Linda, the Chief looked at me and with just a very slight nod of his head let me know that he had seen the three men talking.

The rest of the evening was very pleasant. We had an excellent meal and Carrie and I danced until we were both too exhausted to move. As the evening came to an end, I noticed Hanratty and Linda Abbot huddled in a corner talking. They were both smiling a lot and they looked very comfortable together. I knew that there would be no living with Carrie if those two became a couple.

As Carrie and I were saying good night to the Chief and his wife, the Chief whispered, "See me in my office Monday morning, early."

"I'll be there."

*****

Back home in bed that night, Carrie was full of herself. We were both naked and she was sitting on top of me with my erection embedded in her hot nest. Carrie was moving up and down slowly as she talked about the evening.

"Wasn't that meal great?" she asked. "And the band, they were really good, weren't they?"

"Yes, everything was perfect, as usual," I said. "You know what this means, don't you?"

"No. What?"

"Tomorrow you will get a call from someone that desperately needs you to run their next fund raiser and you won't be able to say no."

"You don't mind me running these fund raisers do you?"

"Of course not. You know that I am proud of you."

Carrie began moving a little faster.

"I think Linda and Rich hit it off, don't you?" she asked.

"Looked that way to me," I said.

Carrie bent down and kissed me. "Do you know how much I love you?"

"A lot, I hope," I said.

"You're right."

Carrie wrapped her arms around me and rolled us over so that I was on top of her.

"Finish me off now," she said.

I started taking long hard strokes into Carrie and soon she was breathing hard and her whole body tensed up as she climaxed. Seeing her orgasm took me over the brink and I was soon pumping my seed deep inside her.

*****

Monday Morning

*****

"Any idea what the Commissioner, the Mayor and the Congressman where talking about Friday night?" Chief Pasiak asked.

"Not a clue, sir," I said. "They broke up their little meeting before I could get close enough to hear anything. Do you think Captain Ross is part of that little club?"

"Don't know, but I think we should assume he is," The Chief said. "He probably thinks that the Mayor will help him become Chief when I retire."

"Probably so," I said.

"What did you find out last week?" The Chief asked.

"I found out that CSC holds the contract to supply maintenance and repair parts for our motor fleet and they have been the low price bidder for that contract for the last three years," I said. "Friday I went over to look at the bid request the city wrote for those services and all of the responses received from vendors including CSC.

"The RFP was very specific in what it asked for to the point of specifying the brand names of the replacement parts requested."

"That is probably not unusual," the Chief said. "You would want everybody to be bidding on the products, wouldn't you?"

"That's true, but what I found interesting was that all of the normal maintenance parts and supplies for the motor fleet called out in the RFP had the same brand name."

"Why do you think that was interesting?" the Chief asked.

"Well, everything from the motor oil to the replacement sparkplugs called out in the RFP were all from one manufacturer," I said. "That includes oil filters, air filters, antifreeze, shock absorbers, windshield whispers, belts and tires and a lot of other stuff."

"That is interesting."

"What was even more interesting was that I have never heard of the brand name before," I said. "The RFP specifically listed Mazura Maatsa as the brand name for all of those products and more."

"Mazura Maatsa? Who the hell are they?"

"I looked them up on the Internet and found their home page. Apparently they are an off shore company with their offices in Malaysia. Their web site lists all of their products and they are all in the RFP. There was a statement on the web page that said that all of their products met or exceeded the original manufacturer's specifications," I said.

"Aside from the RFP single sourcing all of those products did you find anything suspicious?" the Chief asked.

"Actually, yes. The web site did list all of the parts that are included in the RFP but there was no price list and I could find no way to order the parts from Mazura Maatsa. There was no contact information and no e-mail address. It appeared that there was no way to order any of the products shown on their web page."

The Chief sat quietly and waited for me to continue.

"There were eight vendors that responded to the RFP that the city posted three years ago. Seven of the vendors were disqualified because their bid responses did not include pricing for the Mazura Maatsa parts. Those bids gave pricing for common American brands of the same parts. Champion spark plugs, Quaker State Oil, etc. Only CSC quoted prices for the Mazura Maatsa products. The next year there were only five responses and three of those were disqualified for not quoting prices for the Mazura Maatsa parts and supplies. The one vendor, other than CSC that quoted the Mazura Maatsa parts had higher prices for those parts.

"Then last year there were five bidders again. Two of them were disqualified for not quoting Mazura Maatsa parts. CSC and two other vendors responded with the Mazura Maatsa prices but again, CSC had the lowest prices for those parts."

"Why do you think CSC was able to quote a lower price for the same parts from Mazura Maatsa?"

"That puzzled me too, so I called one of the other vendors that had quoted Mazura Maatsa parts and asked them about that. They told me that CSC has exclusive rights to sell Mazura Maatsa products in the US. So they had to get pricing for the Mazura Maatsa products from CSC. The price CSC quoted them for the Mazura Maatsa parts was uplifted by ten percent."

"I am not sure there is anything illegal about that," the Chief said.

"Right, but I do wonder why the RFP required the Mazura Maatsa parts when the more popular brand parts were no more expensive," I said. "If there is anything illegal here it will be in why Mazura Maatsa parts were required by the RFP. My suspicion is that CSC bribed someone to specify the Mazura Maatsa parts in the RFP. I don't know if we can tie that to Commissioner Buske yet but I am working on it."

"What are you going to do next?" The Chief asked.

"I am going to examine the Commissioner's expense reports from his Vegas trip to see if there is anything there that will help my investigation."

"Okay, keep me informed," the Chief said.

*****

Captain Ross

*****

When I got back to my desk, Hanratty was waiting for me with a smirk on his face.

"Captain Ross just stopped by to say hello," said Hanratty.

"What did he want?"

"Don't know for sure but he said that he wanted to know what you were talking to the Chief about," Hanratty said. "I think his nose was a little out of joint that he wasn't included in your meeting with the Chief."

"I guess he's a little insecure," I said.

"Insecure? Hell, he is terrified that the Chief is going to retire and make you the new chief on his way out the door," Hanratty said. "I suggest that you watch your back around him. I think he is waiting for you to make a mistake so that he can discredit you."

"You may be right. What did Ross say?"

"He just asked if I knew what you were talking to the Chief about."

"What did you tell him?"

"What could I tell him?" Hanratty said. "I told him I didn't have a fuckin' clue."

"Bet he didn't like that answer."

"You'd be right. Can we hit the streets now?"

*****

New Tires

*****

"I think I better take the car in for new tires," Hanratty said as we sat down with our coffee and donuts. "This morning I almost went off the road when I hit a small puddle of water. The damn tires are almost bald."

"When you drop me back at the station why don't you take the car over to the public works garage and get them to put a set of tires on it," I suggested.

"That's what I was thinking of doing this morning."

At two o'clock that afternoon Hanratty was back at the station. "You want to make an afternoon run by the schools?" he asked.

"Yeah, let's go," I said. "I'm afraid that if I sit here much longer my ass will root itself to my chair."

As we walked down the stairs, I asked Hanratty how he made out at the garage.

"Four brand new Goodyears," he said.

The significance of what he said didn't hit me until we got outside and I saw the car with the new tires. Four new Goodyear tires, just like Hanratty said. My first impulse was to say, "What the fuck?" but I kept my mouth shut.

The next morning I told Hanratty I had to run an errand so he would have to go for coffee without me. Then I took my unmarked car and drove to a parking lot about a mile from the public works garage. I opened the hood and pulled one of the spark plug wires loose and then I drove my misfiring car to the garage.

"What can I do for you, Lieutenant?" It was Manny Thompson that asked. Manny had been working in the garage servicing the police department's cars for fifteen years and knew most everyone on the force by name.

"Got a skip in the engine," I said. "You got time to look at it now, Manny."

"Yeah, pull it over here."

Manny popped open the hood and found the problem almost immediately.

"Loose plug wire," he said as he reached in and reattached the wire.

"You think this thing needs a tune-up?" I asked.

"How many miles you got on it?"

"About seventy thousand."

"Better schedule it with Frank before you leave," Manny said. "Probably can't get it in until sometime next month though."

"Will you be putting in those Mazura Maatsa spark plugs? They any good?" I asked.

"I ain't never seen any of them Mazura Maatsa plugs. We've got Autolite plugs for this car."

"I thought the city contract required you to use the Mazura Maatsa replacement parts."

"Don't know about that," he said. "We order everything from CSC. I don't know what they's supposed to send us but the stockroom is full of Autolite spark plugs and Fram oil filters and such. Everything in there is American made."

"Thanks, Manny."

"No problem, Lieutenant."

*****

The Scam

*****

The next morning I met with Chief Pasiak to bring him up to speed.

"I think I have a pretty good idea of what CSC is up to," I said. "They get the person who writes the RFP for automotive parts and supplies to specify Mazura Maatsa parts because nobody can get them. I believe that CSC made up the company and created the web site. Then they generate a contract that says CSC is the only approved distributor of Mazura Maatsa parts in the US. That way no one could underbid them in their RFP responses. Apparently when CSC wins the bid they put a paragraph in their contract with the city that states 'if the required Mazura Maatsa part is unavailable for any reason, CSC will supply a part of equal quality at no extra charge.' Since there are no Mazura Maatsa parts, CSC always provides the typical American brands."

"Can we prove this?" the Chief asked.

"I think so but it would be very difficult. We would have to be able to prove that Mazura Maatsa does not exist. Because they are not chartered in the US, it would be difficult for us to prove. It would cost us a small fortune to even try. The FBI should do that. I'd be willing to bet that they already know what I found out."

"I am sure they do but for some reason they want us to do the leg-work for them," the Chief said.

I was beginning to get an idea of what the FBI was up to but I wasn't ready to discuss my theory with the Chief.

"Even if we could prove that, we still need to find out how we can tie Commissioner Buske to the scam. It could still be that he was duped into specifying the Mazura Maatsa parts, or it may even be someone else on his staff."

"Thanks, Brian. Keep picking at it; you may still find the loose thread that pulls the whole thing apart."

"Will do."

*****

Back To The City Clerk's Office

*****

I waited until March fifteenth before I went back to the City Clerk's office to look at Commissioner Buske's expense accounts for his trip to Las Vegas. The reason I waited so long was that I didn't want to raise any eyebrows in the clerk's office. The last thing I needed in my investigation was to have the staff in the City Clerk's office asking questions about why I was spending so much time looking through their files.

I told one of the clerks that I needed to look at some of my old expense files and he led me back to the expense files for 2004. He pulled out the folder that held my expense reports and I began to look through them. I had timed my visit so that I arrived just before noon because I suspected that everyone in the office would go to lunch together and I was right. The clerk that had shown me where to find the expense files told me I could stay if I wanted and to just put the folder back when I was finished. I thanked him and turned back to my expense sheets.

As soon as the four people that had been in the office when I arrived had left for lunch, I put my expense folder back in the file cabinet and went looking for Commissioner Buske's folder. It only took me a minute to find it. I took the whole folder over to the officer copier and quickly copied every expense report and receipt in his folder and locked them in my briefcase. When I finished, I put his folder back in the file where it belonged and left the office.

I wasn't able to look at the expense reports until I got home that evening. I couldn't take them to the station because I couldn't let anyone see what I was working on. At home I put my brief case in the study until I would have time to look at them after dinner.

When Carrie came in from work, she gave me a kiss and headed into the kitchen to get herself a glass of wine.

"You ready for another beer?" she called to me.

"Not yet."

We sat and talked about our day and then I told her that I was going to have to work in the study that evening and wasn't to be disturbed. That caught her interest because I very seldom brought work home.

"Can I ask you why you brought work home? You don't usually do that," she said.

Usually if I had work to do after my normal hours I stayed at the station to do it. Carrie works in a law office and I am a cop, so we keep our work separate from each other. There have been times that her law firm represented someone I arrested so Carrie and I had to avoid any conflict of interest. We usually talked about our jobs in general terms but never specifics. That protected both of us from getting into compromising situations.

I didn't like telling Carrie that she wasn't allowed to come into the study while I was working but I couldn't let her see that I was examining Commissioner Buske's expense reports because I had already confirmed that Richard Mitchell of Mitchell and Horne was commissioner Buske's attorney.

"Sorry, Babe, can't tell you about it," I said. "It's police business."

"Okay, I'll leave you alone."

"I won't be long," I said. "Maybe when I am finished we can have a little fun in bed."

"Fun for whom?"

"Both of us I hope."

"We'll see about that," Carrie said as she spread her legs and gave me a quick peek up her skirt. "Wilma will be ready to play, but will Barney?"