Chapter 20 — HR’s Leak
It was 9:30 Tuesday morning and once again Dan was summoned to the Captain’s office.
It was obvious that Captain Barr was not having a good morning. His hair was messy, his yellow power tie was crooked, and he had a coffee stain on his shirt. His blue suit jacket hung perilously onto the back of his chair by one arm, and the cat piss smell of his sweat mingled with his cologne to produce an odor that could best be described as toxic waste.
Barr was waving Dan’s insurance beneficiary form around in the air like he was a man on a life raft using the paper to signal a passing boat. “Dan, what the fuck do you think you’re doing? Whatever possessed you to think you should name Kim Ammar as your beneficiary? She was the victim on one of your cases, for Christ’s sake.”
Dan’s face was deadpan. “Well, sir, basically I think that it is my insurance policy, and I can name anyone I damn well please as the beneficiary. You, sir, do not have one fucking thing to say about it.” Dan finished it off with a smile.
The veins began popping out of Barr’s forehead. “You watch your tongue, Detective. You are drifting into insubordination and that would be grounds for termination. On second thought, don’t watch your tongue. I would love to fire your lazy butt today.”
Dan was tired of dealing with this asshole and let his anger creep through. “And you watch where you go sticking your fucking nose, sir. I hand-delivered my beneficiary form directly to HR yesterday and you have no business even looking at it. You are drifting into abuse of power and I’m sure my union rep would love to drag your sorry ass through the mud over it. You and whatever snitches you have working for you in HR.”
Barr’s phone began to ring. It was an outside line, so it could be the town hall. He was already in trouble with the mayor and needed to take the call. “Well, we’ll see about that, Detective. We’ll just see about that.”
Barr picked up the phone, calmed himself a moment, and then, in his most pleasant voice, said, “Hello, Captain Barr speaking.”
“Captain Barr. This is Special Agent Bob Kehm from the FBI. I believe you know me from my work on the Ammar case last year.”
Barr sighed. When it rains, it pours. When would he ever be done with the fucking Ammar case? He held out the beneficiary form to Dan and then pointed to the door as soon as Dan took it from him. He did not want Dan to know about this call.
“Yes, sir. What can I do for you?," Barr asked as he watched his office door close. “We’re always happy to cooperate with federal law enforcement agencies.”
“For the last couple of days, we have been investigating a possible terrorist threat, somewhere in Southwest Ohio. I received additional information this morning that the target may be somewhere in the Milford area.”
Barr sat heavily in his chair, knocking his coat to the floor. “Holy mother of God. What can you tell me about it? We need to begin preparations.”
“Well, that’s the thing, Captain. We don’t know what kind of event it is going to be, when it is going to be, or exactly where in your area it is going to be. I’m afraid you know as much about it as I do right now.”
Barr’s anger resurfaced and he sprang back to his feet, rolling the chair over his coat. “You’re joking, right? You called me just to tell me that you don’t know anything?” he growled.
“Captain Barr. It is our duty to keep local law enforcement informed of any possible threats in their area. If I were you, I’d stop complaining and start preparing. At a minimum, you should get authorization for overtime and start reviewing emergency procedures.”
“Yes, of course. I’m sorry. I’ll get right on that.”
“One more thing," said Kehm. “We’ll probably be communicating a lot in the next couple of days. I would like to have a principal point of contact with your department. I suggest Detective Slater.”
Barr sagged back into his chair, grinding the wheels into his jacket. “I’m not sure Detective Slater will be available for that duty, Agent Kehm. But I’d be glad to take that assignment myself.”
“Thank you, Captain, but I already have a good working relationship with Detective Slater. I’m sure you can juggle the assignments around so that he’s working with me.”
“But Agent Kehm," said Barr. “Staffing is a local matter, and it is my prerogative to choose who I think would be best for the job. If not me, I have some young, high energy detectives I could assign.”
“Your mayor is next on my list of calls to make, Captain. If you need some special authorizations, I am willing to assist you and discuss the matter with him.” Kehm paused for emphasis. “Let me be clear. I will have Slater as my contact man.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll start working on freeing him up for you right away.”
“Okay, Captain. I’ll give you a half-hour to get your ducks in a row before I call the Detective. In the meantime, please tell Detective Slater that Agents Black and Jones are on their way to Milford as we speak. They should arrive in the next couple of hours. Slater is to take whatever steps he feels are necessary to prepare for their arrival. Have you got that Captain?”
“Yes, I’ve got it. Whatever steps are necessary. What kinds of steps do you mean, Agent Kehm?”
“And thank you, Captain.”
The line went dead. Barr hung up the phone and sat staring out his window, cursing fate. No matter how he tried he couldn’t think of a way to keep Slater off the case. He really hated that son of a bitch, and this special assignment would give the slacker way too much visibility at town hall, not to mention swelling his already fat head.