Chapter 6 – Twelves

Tess and Foxx rolled into the courthouse parking lot at 0030 or midnight thirty, just in time for Tess to catch Billy changing into her regular clothes for her oncoming dispatcher shift. Billy thought it was really strange that good 911 operators were so hard to find and train. The pay was good, almost as much as her officer pay, lower stress, little or no supervision as long as the job got done. This was her 7th year as a dispatcher, 2nd year full time.

Tess said, as they walked to the cafeteria, “You work both as an officer and a dispatcher full time?”

Billy said,” I try to work the same hours as Dad. It ends up being around 60 a week. The county doesn’t seem to mind.”

Tess said, “Of course they don’t. It’s a win for them too.”

Billy said, “What do you mean?”

Tess said, “I’m assuming your dad provides your benefits?”

Billy said, “Yeah, I’m on his insurance and all that. I’m only 25.”

Tess said, “Ask for a raise.”

Billy said, “But I don’t really need any more money.”

Tess said, “Sure you don’t.”

Tess and Billy chatted about labor abuses and other assorted girl topics the rest of the way to the café.

Foxx was already there with his basket, and a folder, “You two took your sweet time. I’ve got everything set up. It’s just sandwiches.”

Foxx covered the table with a brown cloth, making a single snapping motion, and then he tossed out three chinet plates, a tray and a salt and pepper shaker, and some plasticware. The sandwiches were in a meticulously organized arrangement by color of the contents, with a second level of bread color. It was pretty.

Tess looked suspiciously at the tray, “What kind of sandwiches?”

Foxx said, “Goose liver pate with cheese spread, turkey ham, tuna, and egg sandwiches. Potato salad, coleslaw for sides.”

Billy said, “Wow. I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”

Tess said, “Me too. Is this your regular repast at midnight?”

Billy said, “Don’t let him fool you, usually he makes us a couple of lunchboxes. He’s going all out for you.”

Foxx said, “Knock it off, Wilhelmina Foxx.”

Billy grinned and said, “See?”

Tess smiled and said, “I see.”

Foxx started passing out the sandwiches.

Tess smiled again, “Individually wrapped. Are you sure you’re straight?”

Foxx said, “Hey now! That’s not fair to all the gay dudes that can’t cook.”

Billy said, “I’m hungry, you guys. Shut up and eat.”

So they ate. The sandwiches were in pastic wrap, once around and cut diagonally. Tess snickered when she saw them. It was more like a high tea than a mid-day meal. Beverages were cold (thermos) iced tea and lemon water. Tess enjoyed the meal so much that she forgot to talk except to say, “Hey can you pass the...” and then point and grunt.

In about 20 minutes they had demolished the contents of the tray and the sides.

Tess said, “I just gained 10 pounds.”

Foxx said, “Not possible. The tray only weighed 8, so by any amount of math you can only have gained about 2 ½ pounds. By the amount of calories you ate, it can only be a kilogram.”

Tess said, “Shut up,” and punched him on the arm.

Foxx said, “Ouch.”

Billy said, “So what have you learned?”

Foxx said, “Billings is dirty and we’ll never prove it unless he is really stupid.”

Tess said, “Well... from what I’ve seen and ... of course, I’m prejudiced, he is.”

Billy said, “Okay. That’s great. What have you found?”

Foxx said, “Well, I’m not sure... but what if I handed you a roll of unsold lottery tickets, what do you think it would be worth?”

Billy said, “Mmmmmm.... assuming none of them win any major prizes, scratch off’s... couple hundred to a couple of thousand maybe?”

Foxx said, “What if you were doing this every day for years?”

Billy said, “Ah.”

Tess said, “How could they keep it going for years?”

Foxx said, “Remember the McDonalds Monopoly thing? Took them years to catch on to that, and there were a bunch of people involved.”

Tess said, “To spell this out, you think that Billings thinks... there are a ring or group of people swapping out lottery tickets at the retailer or the distributer, changing the manufactured tickets for counterfeit ones so that the scratch offs never win?”

Foxx said, “Well put.”

Tess said, "Who could do this? There are state inspectors in the lottery commission and all that?”

Foxx said, “You just named one person. I’m sure there are several others. The problem with this scheme is that you can’t even be suspected. If you are then any kind of statistical analysis will show the problem. Once that happens, it’s simple to follow the tickets back. Also it can’t be an individual thing, there has to be a number of people involved.”

Tess said, “So who do we tell?”

Foxx laughed, “I already reported a summary to the County Attorney’s office. She’ll send a brief to the state AG tomorrow. I’m not sitting on this. But think about it. Is it a motive for murder?”

Billy said, “Oh hell yeah. The only way some scheme like this keeps going is if nobody finds out. The McDonald sweepstakes scheme fell apart as soon as they started investigating...” she paused and said, “Minimum three.”

Tess said, “So how did Billings find out?”

Foxx said, “How do you think? Somebody told him. Probably one of his recent cases in return for a walk.”

Tess said, “That’s absurd. What if he got caught?”

Billy said, “Well, that’s the thing. There’s almost no risk for the arresting officer. He could just say he didn’t think he had probable cause or something and let the guy go. Nobody would ever question it, and even if they did, the most he would buy out of it is some training.”

Foxx said, “That’s correct. He’s free to do pretty much anything he pleases at this point. That’s why I was always lighting up his supervisors about his antics. A cop in his position is almost untouchable.”

Billy said, “He’s not the issue. He’s not the murderer here.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Tess said, “But I bet the person he let go knows who it is. I mean the name, not the actual murderer. I mean... rats.”

Foxx said, “I get you. You think Billings’ source knows other people in the group... else how would he have anything to give the guy.”

Tess said, “Right. Or more likely knows of people.”

Foxx said, “Ah.. Cost/benefits.”

Tess said, “So... what’s next?”

Billy said, “We get a list of the people Billings’ busted, and a list of the victims known associates, and cross them. Then we go talk to people.”

Foxx said, “Yep. That’s what’s next. Might take a few days. This isn’t Walker Texas Ranger, or CSI.”

Tess said, “You know, that’s always driving me crazy. It takes weeks to get results from the simplest test and CSI they just say `enhance’ and the bad guys’ picture shows up in the license plate.”

Foxx said, “Well... I do have my own personal crime lab.”

Tess said, “Seriously?”

Foxx said, “No,” and grinned.

Billy said, “Wow. I thought I was the only one who got caught by those.”

Tess glared at Foxx.

Foxx grinned some more.

Tess set back and sighed, “Okay.”

After a slightly awkward pause, Billy sat back and said, “I gotta go on shift. I hope it’s slow tonight. I want to study.”

Tess said, “What are you studying for?”

Billy said, “LCAT. I want to go to law school.”

Tess said, “Okay. That makes sense. You going to practice law?”

Billy said, “No... I want to be eligible to be an officer. Most senior officers have law degrees nowadays. Well for years now. They don’t take the bar or anything, but they have the degrees.”

Tess looked over at Foxx, “Do you have a law degree?”

Foxx said, “Yep. Mail ordered it last month.”

Billy said, “Don’t believe a word of it. He went to Vanderbilt.”

Foxx said, “Did most of it online. It was actually easier than doing it here. I only had to go to Nashville for a few weeks, not all at once. Finals, things like that. County paid for most of it.”

Billy laughed and said, “He told them he was leaving to get the law degree after Mom bailed. The county attorney almost had a heart attack and she camped out in the commissioner’s office till they agreed to do something.”

Foxx said, “It’s sort of nice to know you’re needed. Sort of.”

Billy said, “Dad makes Sherlock Holmes look like an amateur.”

Foxx said, “He was an amateur.”

Tess said, “I don’t think you can say that. He said he was the world’s only consulting detective. Which simply could not be true. How did people find things out?”

Foxx said, “He wasn’t. Not even close. Eugène François Vidocq. Paris, early 18th century. The Pinkerton Agency was around for decades before the 1890’s, solving cross state crimes, because at the time there was no federal police agency or any means to fund one. The Chinese used another system where the judge investigates crimes himself and have for 3000 years until 1911, and their system had death penalty cases reviewed by the Emperor. The ancient Egyptians probably had police and courts, because so far they’ve had everything else we have. Nobles in the Middle Ages had agents they used to discover things.”

Tess said, “Okay, Mr. Nerd. Billy has to go on shift.”

Foxx said, “Are you going to stay with her this shift?”

Tess said, “I think so. I could learn a lot.”

Foxx said, “Did you take a leave of absence from work?”

Tess said, “I did, and I told them why. So... they might call you and ask. I presume you’ll be polite?”

Foxx waved his hand and said, “No promises.”

Tess glared and said, “Mess with me and there’s a head smack waiting in it for you,” and she stood up and started collecting the paper plates and table-ware, and tossing them into the trash bin. Billy helped while Foxx put the leftover sides and condiments back in the picnic hamper thingie. He gathered it all up and waved as he headed back to his office.

Billy and Tess walked downstairs to the basement where the 911 operations center awaited. Billy looked at her watch and said, “Crap, gotta go! 2 minutes,” and took off down the stairs. Tess followed more sedately, finally reaching the basement where there was a double fire-door and a big open space with a bunch of desks each with lots of monitors in in cube quads. This was sort of a square with office system furniture, pretty nice stuff. Billy was talking to a middle-aged man who was standing next to a chair, and held out her fist. The man bumped and said, “I am relieved.”

He looked over at Tess and said, “Are you Theresa Smith?”

Tess said, “Yes, I am... why?”

He said, “I am Michael Rhodes, everyone calls me Dusty, of course! I’m the nominal shift supervisor, by seniority if nothing else. I heard your call the other night. You did really, really well. How are you doing?”

Tess said, “I really don’t know. The Foxx’s have been really very kind and it’s been very exciting, but I haven’t had a moment to think since then.”

Rhodes said, “Ms. Smith, they’re doing it on purpose. Billy and Lt. Foxx said they, “ and he stopped as Billy whacked him on the shoulder.

Billy said, “Shut up, Dusty. You’re making this sound like we’re drafting her or something.”

Rhodes said, “Well, the reason I work down here is because nobody wants to talk to me up close. Anyway, you did really well last night, and I’m really sorry you have to deal with all this, but Billy said you’re gonna hang out with her tonight. I’m grabbing you a chair.”

Billy said, “I’m logging you in as an observer,” as she did some magic on the center console, which had a bunch of status displays and notes, “and logging myself in as desk operator. We call this a desk. The county operations center only has 12 desks, because most of the calls go to the various cities and towns that have their own 911 call centers... some bigger some smaller. The ones that have no routes come to the county first.”

Tess said, “Don’t you have to know a lot of stuff to be a dispatcher?”

Billy said, “It’s about a year and a half all in all. You work through it as you become more proficient. I started qualifying when I was 17 and started working as a dispatcher my first semester in college. It’s been great. I worked while I was at the academy because we were so short of operators.”

Rhodes said, “It’s kinda tough sometimes, but sometimes it’s really rewarding.”

Tess said, “Are you trying to sell this to me?”

Billy said, “Oh, no. Dad has something else in mind for you.”

Tess said, “What?”

Billy said, “It’s a surprise. He doesn’t want to talk to you about it until he gets everything approved.”

Tess said, “Enlighten me. I hate surprises.”

Billy said, “Nope. Dad would kill me.”

Tess shrugged and let it go. There was so much happening, she couldn’t process any more change. She asked, “How do they know where to route the call?”

Billy said, “Good question. Enhanced 911 provides an address for every landline, and a location for every cell phone, latitude and logitude and the nearest plotted address on the display. If you are in a ship or a plane, same thing. The system does some quick checking if you’re on a mobile against cellphone and microwave towers and maybe even satellites. It draws circles on the ground based on your distance from the sats or towers and your location is where the circles intersect. It first came online in Haleyville, Alabama in 1968. It spread across the country really fast. By the mid 1970’s pretty much every city and town had some 911 capabilities.”

Billy continued enthusiastically, “The computer assisted dispatch system route the call to the nearest or covering Public Safety Answering Point, which is me. Our system turns the location from a mobile into an address, but not all of them do. There’s bunch of magic that the 911 system does to get the address and phone number of the caller from the system and display it on my screen.

We have some problems... schools, large companies, and hospitals and big hotels are particularly bad at updating the geolocation of their phones, so sometimes the cops go to the wrong office. It doesn’t happen that often, but it does happen. Just recently Congress passed a law that requires the system to provide enough verifiable information to get emergency services to your location. Floor, room, island in the lake, that kind of thing. ”

Tess asked, “Do you call the police cars like the TV shows?”

Billy said, “Mmmmmm, not often. It does happen, normally I send out a Nearest request to the system and it pops up a message on whatever emergency vehicle is closest to the location and not on a call. They either acknowledge verbally or by clicking the prompt. If they deny it, then I can either call them or go to the next nearest. I make the call based on severity of the incident, how far away the next unit is, other stuff. Some of the older cops just want to hear my voice I think.”

Tess said, “Creepy!”

Billy said, “Nah,” and she laughed, “They’re just used to getting dispatched by a person.”

Tess asked, “How does a phone on a network... like that one right there, how does it know its location?”

Billy said, “THAT particular phone has a GPS in it. A lot of them do nowadays. It makes the phones slightly more expensive at the cost of allowing the system to know where they are. There is an antenna on the building that receives the signal for the phone, and it passes it through the network.”

Tess asked, “But doesn’t that mean the phone thinks it’s where the antenna is?”

Billy said, “Yep, that’s right! We (the system admins here) program the location modification so that it informs the system the correct location. Be pretty silly if the 911 operations center wasn’t compliant.”

Tess asked, “Okay, that makes sense. Why are you telling me all this?”

Billy said, “You’re my observer, tonight. It’s better than camping out upstairs with a book, right? Dad is the shift supervisor for the mid shift as well as the Chief of Detectives, and the Investigating Attorney for the county. He can’t hang with you. I asked for you to be placed with me.”

Tess said, “He has three jobs?”

Billy said, “Yeah. Three jobs. Mostly he does the first. There aren’t that many capital crimes in unincorporated areas that he has to handle. Day shift has 4 detectives, and he talks to them in the morning.”

Tess said, “So he doesn’t do any actual policing?”

Billy said, “Yeah he does. He takes all the night capital cases, does the shift briefing, interfaces with the other agencies... all that high level cop stuff. Robberies, accidents with fatalities, homicides, fraud, stuff like that. He rides with the night deputy-supervisor sometimes, makes sure guys aren’t sleeping behind signs and stuff. ”

Tess said, “They do that?”

Billy said, “Oh, yeah. Some deputies have day jobs. There’s no rule against it, but if they can’t stay awake it’s kinda pointless to have an officer out there if they’re sleeping.”

Tess said, “That makes sense. Is it always this slow here? You haven’t had a call yet.”

Billy said, “Well, it’s a weeknight, and typically this time is the slowest. Sometimes, like during storms, all that stuff it's really busy, never a break for hours.”

Billy continued the training session for the rest of the the shift, with Tess asking questions. The next three days passed similarly, with Tess shadowing Billy the second half of the evening, lunch or ‘twelves’ before. Foxx kept his plans to himself.