Chapter 10

Stephen Farlow

It was almost nine o'clock when Stephen Farlow turned into his driveway and his garage door began to open. I had parked my car a block away so that it would not be noticed and I had been in the bushes next to his house for nearly an hour waiting for him to get home. I moved into the garage as Farlow pulled his car in and managed to stay in his blind spot until he got out of the car.

"Jesus Christ, Brian, you scared the shit out of me," was Farlow reaction when he saw me. "What are you doing in my garage?"

"We need to have a little talk," I said.

"About what?"

"Let's go into the house," I suggested.

"Why are you here?" he asked as I followed him into the house.

"I just thought we should talk about your friend's murder."

"Oh, shit, you did kill Glen, didn't you?"

"Now who told you that I killed your lover?"

I could see that Farlow was looking around as if trying to find a way to get away from me.

"Stephen, why don't you just sit down and talk to me? You must know that if I have to chase you it will probably hurt when I catch you."

Farlow slowly sat down on the sofa. "What do you want?"

"First I want to know who told you that I killed Commissioner Buske?"

"Captain Ross told me that this morning. He said that they had evidence that you had killed Glen because you thought he was having an affair with your wife."

"And you believed that?"

"He said he had evidence."

"Come on now, Stephen, you and I both know that other than his wife, Commissioner Buske wasn't interested women. Why would I ever think he was having an affair with my wife?"

"I don't know. I thought it was strange but Captain Ross said..."

I cut Farlow off. "Forget about what Captain Ross said. He was wrong. So, if I didn't kill Buske in a jealous rage who else might have had a motive to kill him?"

"I don't know?"

"Let me help you think this through, Stephen," I said. "Commissioner Buske was taking bribes from CSC to make sure they won the automotive parts supply contract with the city. You found out about it when you were in Vegas with him. You thought it was funny that they gave him ten thousand dollars to use while he was at that conference with you last October. Did you happen to mention to the Commissioner that you and I talked and you mentioned that we talked about your trip to Vegas?"

"So?"

"So, that's what got him killed," I said. I could see the color draining from Farlow's face. "I don't believe that. You're crazy."

"Tell me this, if Commissioner Buske was concerned that I might be looking at what he was doing in Las Vegas, who might he go to for help."

"His attorney, I guess," Farlow said.

"That would be Richard Mitchell of Mitchell and Horne, wouldn't it?"

"Yes."

"What do you think Commissioner Buske would have done if he was indicted for accepting bribes from a vendor?" I asked.

"I don't know. I guess he would let his attorney handle that for him."

"That would be Mr. Mitchell again. Now how do you think Mr. Mitchell would feel about his client, who also happens to be a partner in the land deal you are working on, getting himself busted for accepting bribes. As his attorney he would want to try and make a deal with the DA to help his client but what if Commissioner Buske wanted to trade information about your land deal to save his neck?"

Farlow stiffened and his jaw tightened as he realized where this conversation was headed.

"What land deal are you talking about?"

"I am talking about the deal where you went around putting options to buy on all of the land along River Road between Munt Street and Grayson Road. The property that your exclusive little club plans to sell to the city when it turns out that the city can't buy land at Fort Brodrick for the new schools."

Farlow began shaking his head as he looked down at his hands.

"Do you really think that your friends would take a chance on letting Commissioner Buske expose their project to save his own ass?"

"Oh, God."

"Here's your chance to save your own ass and get some justice for your lover."

Farlow cringed a little when I said that. "I have nothing to say to you," he said.

"Do your friends know that you and Commissioner Buske were lovers?"

Farlow didn't have to answer. I could tell by the look on his face that they didn't.

"What do you think they will do when they find that out?"

The fear was evident in his face.

"I guess that if you aren't going to talk to me now I will have to bring you down to the station to question you. While we are there I will make sure that Captain Ross finds out about your relationship with Commissioner Buske and I'll tell him that you are being very cooperative."

"You can't do that. If they killed Glen, they will surely kill me too."

"I can only help you if you cooperate."

"I'll cooperate but you can't let Ross know."

That confirmed what I suspected, that Ross was part of the conspiracy. Over the next hour, speaking in front of a video camera, Stephen Farlow confirmed what I suspected.

Before we finished I asked him, "Who killed Donald Boland?"

"I thought Boland killed himself."

"No. His was killed and I am certain that his death is connected to this land deal so if you know anything about this you better tell me now or you will be an accessory to murder."

"I don't know anything about that. I honestly believed that he killed himself. I would never have gotten involved in this if I thought anyone would be killed. Besides, Boland died before I got involved with these people."

I put the video camera into my briefcase and then Farlow and I walked back to my car for the ride down to the Bucks County substation. When we arrived Hanratty and two state police detectives were still questioning Lucia. Hanratty saw me come in and excused himself to come talk to me.

"The little bugger was getting ready to skip town when I grabbed him. He spilled everything but he still claims it was you he saw coming out of the house after he heard the gun shot," Hanratty said. "He said that Ross paid him $25,000 and told him to go to the house a little before 8:00 PM and wait to see what time your wife arrived and what time she left. He was told to wait until he heard a gun shot and then call 911 and report it."

"Did Ross tell him to leave town?"

"Yep."

"Good. When Ross checks up on him, he'll think Lucia left town as instructed," I said.

I walk into the interrogation room and stood directly in front of Lucia.

"Who was it that you saw coming out of the house at 37 Third Street after you heard the gun shot?" I asked him.

Lucia looked at me and his expression showed that he obviously had no idea who I was.

"I already told them what I saw," was his response.

"Now I want you to tell me. Who did you see leaving that house?"

"It was Lt. Hobbs."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Do you know who I am?"

"How the fuck should I know who you are?" Lucia said.

"I am Lt. Brain Hobbs of the Brodricksburg Police Department."

Lucia's eyes opened wide as he stared at me.

"Now, who was it that you saw coming out of that house?"

"Ross told me it was Lt. Hobbs." Lucia said.

"I don't give a fuck what Ross told you, who did you see coming out of that house?"

"I don't know. It was some guy in a dark coat. I couldn't see his face. Ross told me he saw him too and that it was Lt. Hobbs."

"Ross said he saw the man?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't he tell anyone else?" I asked.

"Ross said that he couldn't say anything because he wasn't supposed to be there."

"Did that make sense to you?"

"Hey, for 25K I was willing to say whatever he told me to say."

"When did Ross say that he would contact you again?"

"He said he wouldn't contact me and that I should never try to contact him," Lucia replied.

I turned to one of the State Police detectives in the room and asked him to lock Lucia up and hold him as an accessory to murder. Then I turned back to Lucia. "I don't think you're going to get to spend that 25K for a long time."

The Next Morning

"So far we have Ross, Lucia and Farlow," I said. Hanratty and I were sitting in my apartment with Chief Pasiak the next morning.

"Lucia puts Ross right in the middle of this mess. The rest of them will be a little harder to bring down. I did get some information from Farlow that should help Van Horn's investigation of Congressman Freewater. Apparently Freewater already has the paper work to release the J&J railroad right of way lands. He managed to work something out with someone in the US Department of Interior. Farlow said that some money changed hands to make this happen so we have to follow the money.

"My money is on Kasperek being the man behind this whole scheme. He was the first to find out about the J&J railroad right of way problem. He and his lawyer - guess who that is - have been trying to find a way to get that land from the government for the last six years. It looks now as though with the help of Congressman Freewater they have been able to accomplish that."

"Well, that's a start," the chief said. "I think we need to stay away from Richard Mitchell and Mayor Gargas for now. Mitchell will just claim that he is the attorney for these men and then claim attorney/client privilege. We can't get to him until one of the others in the group is willing to identify Mitchell as a full participating member of the Thursday Night Club. We don't have any direct evidence against Mayor Gargas yet and he is just too cool under fire to be scared into giving us any information. He'll want to call his attorney immediately and we end up with Mitchell involved and nobody talking."

"The next person on my list is our Superintendent of Schools, Robert Kelly," I said. "We already know that he had talked to the State Department of Parks several years ago and was told that the school board could not purchase land at Fort Brodrick. That's enough to put him in the middle of the conspiracy. I think he'll break pretty quickly when he finds out how deep the shit is that he is standing in."

"I am starting to understand the picture now," Hanratty said. "Kasperek finds out he can't build his fancy subdivision unless he can get title to the J&J railroad land so he goes to Mitchell and Horne to enlist their help. Mitchell goes to Mayor Gargas, who happens to be a personal friend of Congressman Freewater. So Mitchell asks the Mayor to see if the congressman can help. Coincidentally the law firm of Mitchell and Horne are the attorneys for the Brodricksburg Board of Education, so they would have known of Robert Kelly's attempts to get the Fort Brodrick land for the school district."

"How did you know that Mitchell and Horne represented the school board?" I asked Hanratty.

"When I got home last night I got on the Internet and did a little research on the players in this game," Hanratty said.

"Better keep an eye on this guy, Chief. He may be after both of our jobs," I said.

Hanratty smiled and then continued. "My guess is that Congressman Freewater found a way to get the right of way lands from the feds and that's when the idea came to them to buy up all the land along River Road and then sell it to the school board for a huge profit. That's where Stephen Farlow comes in. They needed a real estate agent to contact the landowners and make the option to buy offers. What I don't understand is why Commissioner Buske and Captain Ross were involved. What did they bring to the table?"

"Commissioner Buske brought money to the table," Chief Pasiak said. They needed a lot of money to buy the options on the land and to pay bribes where needed. Captain Ross was their eyes and ears within the police department. It was his job to make sure no one was snooping around asking questions about their land deal."

"I think that Farlow must have told the Commissioner that he and I talked about his trip to Las Vegas and Buske must have told Richard Mitchell," I said.

"Why do you think he would go to Mitchell?" Hanratty asked.

"Mitchell is his attorney," I said. "I am guessing, of course, but it makes sense. Mitchell then contacts Ross and tells him to keep an eye on me to see what I am up to. Ross had already been watching me ever since the Boland shooting. I think he was afraid that I would eventually prove that Boland was murdered."

"Why do you think Boland was murdered?" the Chief asked.

"I'll tell you why and who I think did it or at least had it done," I said.

"Sometime near the end of last year, George Kasperek contacted Mr. Boland and offered to buy his land. Boland turned him down flat. I think that Kasperek must have tried to approach Boland again, which probably made Mr. Boland wonder why Kasperek would want his land when he already had a few hundred acres along Munt Street that he couldn't develop because of the J&J right of way. I believe that Kasperek was worried that Mr. Boland would start asking questions and would ruin the group's plans to purchase the land along the J&J railroad right of way, so he had Mr. Boland killed."