Chapter 7
Jason was the first one in the kitchen the next morning.
As he walked by Ilsa’s room, he heard the shower, and had to quickly hurry away.
He liked her, and after spending time with her and Kevin the day before, and on the drive to where they were now, he realized they were friends, but not lovers.
He liked that, maybe over the course of this case he could get to know her better.
He had just made a pot of coffee, and turned it on when there was knocking at the door.
Surprised, he went there, and only opened it a slit.
He looked out and saw a beautiful redhead standing there with a basket.
“May I help you?” He was cautious, but looked up when he heard his name called and saw Ryan Carter hurrying over. He opened the door to Ryan, and smiled when the other man shook his head at the woman.
“I told you to wait, Prudora.”
“I know, but I have a lot to do today, I thought I’d let you have your shower.” She turned and stuck her hand out to Jason. “Hi, I’m Pru Carter, I’m Ryan’s wife. We live in the second cabin across the way.”
“Hello, Pru, I’m Jason Black, how can I help you?”
“I have chickens, I know that’s not important, but I have a lot of eggs, I thought I’d bring some over to you, sort of a welcome to Broken thingy.”
Jason smiled and reached for the basket and frowned when he saw brown, white, blue, and pale green eggs. “Did you color these?”
“Nope, that’s how the chickens laid them. Well, I have to get back over there to finish breakfast for Ryan and myself.” She turned and left and Jason only looked at Ryan with raised brows. Before he could say anything, Ryan shook his head, grinned, and followed his wife across the dirt road.
Jason let himself back in the cabin with a small smile and a shake of his head. He turned to see Ilsa and Kevin standing there, he only frowned when Kevin put his gun back in the holster strapped to his side with a shrug.
“Who was that?” Ilsa asked as she went to opened the refrigerator to start breakfast.
“Pru, or Prudora, I’m not sure exactly what her name is. She’s Ryan’s wife, and she gave us this.” He set the basket on the table and shook his head. “Are these real?”
Ilsa looked at the eggs and frowned, then Kevin laughed as he took the basket to the kitchen. “Yes, chickens do lay different colored eggs. The color is only on the outside, the whites and yolks are still the same on the inside. Thank god for these.”
“Why?” Both Ilsa and Jason asked.
“I forgot to buy eggs yesterday. Well, technically, I didn’t forget, I refused.”
“Again, why?” Jason asked.
“They were almost ten dollars a dozen. This basket right here would have cost almost twenty-five dollars in the store. If this woman is willing to give eggs away for free, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
” Between him and Ilsa they quickly cut up vegetables, fried some sausages, and made omelets.
Afterward, with verbal guidance from Ilsa, Jason cleared the table and did the dishes.
Two hours after waking, they were taking the files they had out to Kevin’s truck and drove over to Erin’s Way to get started.
Once the files were unloaded, Jason and Kevin put some tables together, while Ilsa started on of the coffee pots.
Kevin went over to talk to Duane about getting a lock for the outside door for when they left.
All morning and afternoon the three of them read the files they had brought.
Jason read the un-redacted original files from Katherine’s case, then went into Michael’s.
At one point he jumped to his feet, swearing.
“What?” Ilsa asked when he seemed to wind down.
“That fucking brilliant asshole,” he shouted, and then looked at her apologetically. “Sorry for swearing.”
“As long as it isn’t aimed at me, don’t worry about it. Now, who is the asshole? And why are they brilliant?”
“Babcock.”
“Which one?” Kevin asked.
“Michael.”
“Why, what did you find that everyone missed?”
“Where’s the video from the accident?” They scrambled and Kevin brought it up on one of the laptops and Jason started playing it.
“No, I’m sorry, where is the one where he’s driving and Ms. Ransome is in the front passenger seat?
” They went through and found what he was looking for, and when he found the part he needed, he looked at them with a grin.
“What?” Ilsa asked.
“Close your eyes and listen very, very closely.” He made sure their eyes were closed and played the video. It was at least five minutes long and at the most crucial part, he saw understanding on their faces and paused the feed.
“Are you fucking shitting me?” Ilsa demanded.
“Why did you know that was there?” Kevin asked in shock.
“There’s a file in Ilsa’s stuff that was labeled ‘video recordings’.
It doesn’t look like it was looked at a lot, because the pages are still crisp.
That file is a written version of what the people in the video are saying.
” He pulled the papers and held them up.
“Sort of like a script as to who is talking. After reading it, I wanted to see if it was true.”
“You can nail Babcock to the wall with this?”
“Yes, along with Larry Mason, and about eight other federal agents that work out of the Los Angeles office. That’s just based on what we read and listened to.”
“Will it hold up in a court of law, though?” Ilsa asked.
“It wouldn’t be entrapment?”
“No, we can get an affidavit for Katherine to sign as to the reason why she put the cameras in her car. She suspected her boyfriend was cheating on her, and she wanted to see if it was true. It’s already been established in the court of law, not once, but twice, that she stated why they were installed. ”
“Because it’s already been entered as evidence in both cases,” Kevin said with a nod. “Then you can use it when you take Babcock to court. I imagine Babcock and his team of lawyers will think it’s about the accident, but all the videos can be used, correct?”
“Yes, and we will make sure we have several copies so they don’t conveniently come up missing from evidence.”
“Wow,” Ilsa said, and nodded. “Do you think we should see if Duane could join us to see if he knows these other eight people?”
“It would be good, but not now, it’s going on five, and since we didn’t have lunch, I’m ready to pack it in for the night and head back to the cabin for something to eat.”
They agreed and started packing up when the door opened and several people walked in with dishes in their hands.
“What’s this?” Jason asked with a scowl.
“Your welcoming BBQ,” Duane said with a grin as he set the crockpot he had been carrying on a table.
He and three older men started putting tables together and food was laid out on it.
In the back of the room, another door opened and Clark stood there with a grin, while holding a long fork used for BBQ.
“Meat will be done in about twenty minutes. You have plenty of time to clean up your papers.”
“Thank you.” They did just that and joined the others by helping pull their tables apart so people could have a seat.
In what felt like minutes, everyone formed a line, telling Jason, Ilsa, and Kevin to go first. As they filled their plates, it was explained that because their ‘family’ was growing bigger, they had these BBQs to introduce everyone to the newcomers.
No one really said anything seriously as they ate, except to introduce themselves and tell which, if any, branch of the military they had retired from.
“Thank you for the eggs, Pru,” Jason said as he continued to cut into his steak and eat it along with all the sides.
“You’re welcome. I give everyone eggs, I have so many.”
“Do you want any money for them?”
“No, but if you want chicken for your freezer, just a small token for the processing fee would be helpful.”
“Okay.” They continued to eat, get seconds, then sat around and leisurely talked.
“I know it’s only day one,” Katherine spoke from her seat close to her mother at the other table. “But, how is the case going?”
Everyone turned to Jason and gave a double take when his face broke out into a gigantic grin. “Good, I found something that I believe will be Babcock’s downfall. It will be some time before he goes to court, but I’m going to base my case off of this.”
“Can we ask what it is?” someone asked.
“It was a statement that Michael Babcock made while he was alone with Stephanie Ransome in Katherine’s car.”
“What?” Katherine asked with a scowl. “I’ll admit that once I put the cameras in I only watched the first time he borrowed my car. I knew then he was cheating on me with her, so I didn’t watch anymore. I figured the camera would record them.”
“Did you have the recordings sent to anywhere besides just on the cameras?” Ilsa asked her daughter.
“Yes, there’s an app on my phone, however, Lyle took my phone when I left Los Angeles.”
“Can someone call this Lyle person to have the phone shipped here?” Adele asked.
“I wouldn’t,” Pru said, and shook her head. “I may have TBI, but I do have some clear moments. If the guy you’re after, who is after Katherine, is FBI, then he’ll probably have some sort of tracking thing on her phone if it’s turned on again. Maybe not the actual phone, but the number.”
“Shit, I never thought of that,” Jason admitted. “Yeah, I can see this happening.”
“Mom,” Katherine said with a grin as she wiped her hands and mouth with a napkin, then threw it on her empty plate.
“What?”
“I used your computer when I ordered it. I didn’t want Michael to see what I was doing, he had a tendency to snoop in my things whenever he was over at my apartment.
” She looked around the room and nodded once.
“We never lived together. I had my place, he had his. Also, when I knew I was leaving Los Angeles, I don’t know why, but the night I was at Mom’s place because I was exhausted, that’s the night Babcock came to the house to get Larry to come get me.
When I left my apartment I grabbed the book that I keep all my password and sign-on information with. It’s over in my cabin.”
“Thank you,” Jason said with a laugh. “So, if your mother looked in her search history, you’d be able to find what you bought, and then you can access the app from the laptop?”
“I’m pretty sure, but yeah.”
“Why would you need it if you already have the videos from the cameras?” Marcia asked.
“Because in the course of Michael’s trial, some evidence that was submitted during Katherine’s trial, the video to be exact, mysteriously disappeared. Thankfully, when the cops gave me the flash drive of all the videos, I made copies.”
“Ah, so they could use the video in his trial.”
“Yes, and we just saw something, as well as heard, that will help in our favor. It will only be a matter of time before we can take him to court. I’m hoping to go after him in the next six months. Anything sooner than that could hurt our case.”
“Are you going to threaten Michael?” Pru asked.
“Threaten, why would we want to threaten him?” Jason asked in shock, then saw the concern on her face.
“Shit, that’s not what I mean. Maybe intimidate, no that’s the same as threaten.”
“Prudora,” Ryan spoke quietly as he took her hand in his. “Close your eyes, breathe deeply, hold it, let it out. Good, now repeat.” When she didn’t seem as stressed as before, he told her to open her eyes. “Talk to just me. What do you think they should do with Michael?”
“When it comes closer to arresting them, have someone important go to the prison where Michael is, and say something like, we know what your father did, and we’re going after him.
Once he’s sharing this eight by ten cell with you, you can explain how it’s all your fault that he got caught.
” She shook her head and shrugged. “Or something along those lines.”
“Ooh, I like that,” Jason said. “But I wouldn’t do that until after the arrests were made. I wouldn’t want Michael to be able to contact his father to let him know we were coming after him. Maybe send someone to him and sort of gloat that Daddy would soon be joining him.”
“Question,” Cole said from the other side of the room. “I’m not up on the legal jargon, but I enjoy a good crime show on TV every once in a while. You don’t have to tell us, but with this new information you uncovered, could this Michael character ask for a lesser sentence if he cooperates?”
Jason shrugged, and shook his head. “It wouldn’t do him any good.
He’s in a maximum-security prison for life.
However, if he refuses to testify, I can subpoena him to testify.
He has every right to plead the fifth, and if he does, then I will play for the entire court this conversation I’ve uncovered today. ”
“Can you tell us what it was?” Duane asked.
“It’s Michael telling Stephanie about his father’s operation and how he started it, using his FBI connections.
He named names, and including Babcock and Mason, there are a total of ten filthy FBI agents.
I’m going to call you in tomorrow, Duane, to listen to it to see if you can give us any insight into these other eight people. ”
“I’ll be happy to help in any way I can.”
“How well do you personally know Babcock and Mason?”
“I don’t.”