Log:Bringing the List to Assistant DA Garcia

A List of Questions 2019/09/19 Night Marshal|Carpenter Tamara Garcia 2

It's after hours and most of the staff is gone, save for the cleaning crew. The lights are on in Tamara's office, and of course she's sitting there, working late on a case with files spread across her desk. She's eating out of a chinese takeout box, having her dinner as she works.

Carpenter steps to the doorway and knocks on the frame. "Hey there. Have a minute?"

Tamara's head shoots up mid-bite, a few noodles still dangling from her mouth. Her eyes widen and she starts looking left and right to figure out what to do. She quickly shovels the rest of the noodles in her mouth with her chopsticks. "Mmhmm. Mmmrmr mmrr im!" she ...muffles as she puts her box aside.

Carpenter chuckles. He also closes the door as he walks in, and he takes a seat. He gives her a minute or so to deal with the logistics of her food. "I came across something that I wanted to run by you, and see what you thought."

Tamara cleans up her notes and case work hastily. It's like she doesn't want him to see it. And he gets a glimpse why. It's the case file for the head mafioso in the city. The DA's office has been trying to find a concrete case to finally take them down, with no luck. But there's some paperwork Carpenter sees that catches his eye. Something about a witness before her hands sweep up the papers into the stack and tuck them away in a manila folder, which she puts in her desk drawer. "Of course," she says after swallowing. "What is it?"

Carpenter takes note of the secrecy, but at the same time, her work is above his pay grade, and he knows it. She likely doesn't want him to be a potential leak. At least that's what he hopes is going on. "I came across something, given to me by...an informant. Probably not admissible, but I wanted to see what you thought of it."

From what Carpenter knows of the history of organized crime, specifically with the Cangelosis and Capellis, lately no witness that has come forth has made it to the stand to testify. Disappearances. Deaths. Sometimes with collateral damage for it to happen. It's not a safe position for Tamara to be in, working on this case and working with a witness.

Tamara scoots closer to her desk and straigthens up as she collects herself. "Alright. Let's see it, Jack," she says, intrigued.

Carpenter shows her a printout of some of the database. "This is a list of names that supposely had cryptocurrency...routed through Pride's Triad. Notice that both my name and your name are on there. I know I do not have any such currency...and I'm trying to figure out what the list means."

Tamara reaches out for the print out, an eyebrow raised. Her eyes widen slightly when he points out their names are on it. "The hell?" she asks as she gets a closer look. The amounts by the names vary. The amount by Carpenter's name is considerably lower than the amount next to hers. "Where did they get this?"

Carpenter shrugs, "That I don't know. I assume it was a hack of a Triad computer. The problem is, I can't tell for sure, which makes it not admissible, right? But still something I can follow up on."

Carpenter is being honest, but of course, leaving out some significant details.

"It's not. Not unless we can confiscate the computer that this list was from. By the book," Tamara says, but she looks really discomforted by the list. "If we weren't on it, I'd think this was a list of people on the take..."

Carpenter nods. "Right. That was exactly what I thought, too. It certainly looks like that. Perhaps it's just...something simple? A list to do just that? Make it look like people are on the take when they're not?"

Carpenter does try to read Tamara's reactions. He thinks she's clean, but still wants to try to confirm it.

"A false list to incriminate opponents? A list of people to try and bribe? A hit list?" Tamara theorizes. She looks uncomfortable. But she doesn't seem to be hiding anything except the worry from the list. Carpenter should be used to her doing that by now whenever there was something that has her upset.

Carpenter nods. "Do you see any kind of pattern to the names? I didn't recognize them all."

Tamara chews a little on her lower lip, getting up from her seat so she can pace slowly behind her desk, trying to think. "I'm...not entirely sure. But the people I do recognize have been, or could be, potential thorns in their sides." She scans through the list. "If that were the case, then I know why I'm on it. And you? Well, they must know you get all the meta cases. If the detective that helps put villains behind bars is implicated, all that evidence goes out the window, and those cases could get thrown out. They'd be released. These other names, though...hmm.."

Carpenter furrows his brow, "Pride's Triad doesn't use a lot of metas. I mean, they have a few, but not like Lee's Triad, which has a lot of them. I find it interesting that I'm on the list, mainly because I don't get a ton of cases in the area."

Tamara keeps scrutinizing the list. "Then maybe that's not it. What was the last case you had in that area? Or anything concerning Pride's people?"

Carpenter thinks about it. "The recent attempted bombing today. But that was after the list was given to me." He rubs his chin as he thinks about it some more. "Quite a while ago. I got caught up in something with Wild Bull, about a year ago."

"The bombing? You were there?" Tamara asks in shock. There's a brief wave of worry that passes over her face, and then she calms again. He's standing here, after all, and working on a case. He's fine. Or at least only mildly wounded and still on the case. "Sorry, go on. What went down with Wild Bull?"

Carpenter thinks about it. "I was there, but some metas dealt with the problem. As for Wild Bull...I was questioning a weapons dealer. Johnny Cho, I think. And he ran off, and ran into Wild Bull, who is one of the folks who I think works for Lee. A meta fight started between Bull, Kihzra and several others."

Tamara frowns and folds arms over her chest. "Doesn't seem enough to get you framed. Maybe it's a list of potential targets to try bribing. If they could get you to cooperate, they could have you frame vigilantes and heroes who opposed them. Get the D.A.'s office to avoid any cases against their people?"

Carpenter nods. "Maybe. I haven't been contacted by any Triad reps yet, so...perhaps it's just a plan, like you think. Estimated amounts to bribe with? Apparently I'm a cheap date, comparatively." He chuckles.

Tamara looses up a bit and does let out a gentle chuckle. "Seems like a good guess. Could even still be a list in progress, unless someone on this list got a recent 'bonus'."

Carpenter nods. "Maybe it's based on our estimated salaries? I'm not sure. That was basically it, though. I can let you get back to what you were doing with your mob case." He gets to his feet, and pauses, "Be careful with that, hmm? Witnesses don't seem to last long."

"Or rank and level of importance?" Tamara smirks playfully. She half gasps as he mentions her case. "You peeked," she finally responds, half scolding as she walks over to him. She tugs on the lapels of his trench coat to straigthen them out. "And you be careful out there with your cases. I'll let you know if anyone approaches me about cash. You let me know, too, okay?" Tamara's voice softens as she tells him to be safe.

Carpenter smiles and reaches up to brush her hair away from her eyes, and he locks eyes with her, "I'll be careful. I promise. And I'll let you know if I find out anything more about the list in any way." He leans in, and if she permits it, he tries to give her a quick kiss on her forehead.

Tamara allows it, surprised an speechless for a moment. But she has a soft little smile on her face. "Alright. Good. Um. Keep me posted," she says with some attempt to be smooth and keep things professional, but it's a lost cause.

Carpenter grins. "I will. Go ahead and keep that printout. See if you can find anything else about it." He backs up...and then heads to the door.

Tamara returns to her desk and gets to work.

Clinging outside the window, cloaked by her holographic technology, Mechanica's lips curl into a dark smile. o O (Veeeeery interesting.)