IC-Chapter 1-Big Brother(Bill/John/Jerome/Tony/Remy/Markus)

[Philulhu]

Bill pointedly ignored Brian as he walked past him and over to bench. He saw Brian talking to his lawyer and tried to listen in but there was too much background noise in the courtroom.

OOC,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2832941/]Bill's listening in... (1d100=72)[/url]

[Mr. Handy]

Time passed in silence. A few more people entered the courtroom, including Dr. Gregory Anderson, who sat in the front row behind the defense table. Most of the others looked like journalists, carrying notebooks and sketchpads. The court stenographer took up her seat near the judge's bench. At 9:00 AM sharp, the bailiff spoke up: "All rise!" he called as the courtroom doors swung open. A tall, white-haired man in a black robe who couldn't have been much younger than seventy strode into the room and up the aisle as people started to stand.

[Philulhu]

Bill watched Dr. Anderson carefully - he hadn't forgotten the events of the night before when he visited the man at his home. As the bailiff announced the arrival of the judge, he looked away, studying the judge and trying to second guess his mood.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,[b]Bill[/b], roll Psychology.

[Philulhu]

OOC,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2847156/]Is Bill getting a feel for what's going on? (1d100=14)[/url] Yup! :)

[Mr. Handy]

Bill watched the judge carefully as he made his way up the aisle and sat down behind the bench.

"You may be seated," said the bailiff loudly. "This court is now in session. This is the arraignment for Brian Anderson. The honorable Judge Henry Lofton is presiding."

The judge banged his gavel gently on the bench once. "This court will come to order," he said. "Assistant District Attorney Matthews, will you please read the charges?"

The prosecutor stepped forward. "Your Honor," he said, "Mr. Anderson is charged with possession of narcotics and other controlled substances with intent to distribute, assaulting a police officer, and resisting arrest."

"Will Mr. Anderson be entering a plea at this time?"

Alan Gains rose. "Not at this time, Your Honor," he said.

"Very well. Let us move on to the matter of bail."

"Your Honor," said Craig Matthews, "I move that the court deny bail. Mr. Anderson is a flight risk and a danger to himself and others, as he showed during his arrest."

The judge frowned. "It's highly unusual to deny bail in a case such as this."

"Indeed, Your Honor," said Alan. "My client did not attempt to flee the scene. Until his arrest, his record was clean. For charges such as these, bail should be set low."

The judge nodded. Bill could sense that he was all business and had the deepest respect for the law. While he was tough on crime, he clearly seemed to hold the law paramount, even when the law made it more difficult to punish criminals. "Bail will be set at five hundred dollars. The preliminary hearing for this case will be held on Monday morning at 8:00 AM sharp." He banged his gavel again. "Court is adjourned."

[Philulhu]

Bill shook his head. "Can you believe that?" he muttered to Yeager, "He's a drug pusher and a would-be cop killer and they let him out on $500 bail? It makes me sick."

[Mr. Handy]

Yeager was also fuming. "Lofton's usually a straight shooter," he muttered. "I never figured him for a bleeding-heart liberal. He's starting to go soft in his old age."

Alan Gains walked over to the prosecutor's table. "Mr. Matthews?" he asked. "Are you available to discuss a plea bargain for my client?"

"I have nothing on my schedule this morning," said Craig.

"I'm afraid we're going to have to take your client into protective custody," said Yeager to Gains.

"You can't do that," said Alan Gains. "He's been granted bail. He's a free man as soon as his father posts bond."

"Actually, we can. There are people out there who might want to harm your client."

"Is that a threat?"

"No, just reminding you of his involvement with figures in the New York mob. If they think he's cooperating - and he is - they're likely to want to silence him."

[Philulhu]

"If your client's innocent like you say he is, then surely you owe him a chance to prove it," interjected Bill. "If the mob get hold of him, he's a dead man. We'll look after him like he's one of our own." There was just a sense of sarcastic undercurrant in his tone.

[Mr. Handy]

"If you hold him," said Alan, "the mob will try to get him. If he's out on bail, they won't know he's been talking."

"We'll keep him safe," John Yeager assured him. "He'll be in a safehouse in a location nobody knows about, not a cell, and I'll have two of my best men babysitting him."

OOC,[b]Bill[/b], please roll Persuade.

[Philulhu]

"You know," said Bill, "As his Counsellor, don't you have a duty to give him the best advice? You want to let him walk outa here and end up wearing the old concrete boots? If he's lucky! They might just gut him like a fish or vent his skull with a nine-mil!" He glanced across at Brian, looked back at Alan and just shook his head.

OOC,Damn! [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2876185/][i]"Oh, oh! C'mon, I'm asking you with my brain."[/i] Persuade roll (75%) (1d100=78)[/url]

[Mr. Handy]

"Nine-mil?" said John Yeager. "Oh, a nine millimeter. Never heard it called that before, but I like it. Anyway, Mr. Gains, my sergeant is right. He's got a lot of experience in these matters."

"Nice try," said Alan Gains. "You want to place him in 'protective custody' after the judge just gave him bail, I'll file a motion that'll have him out and you in trouble with your commanding officer so fast your head will spin. My client is a free man at least until his trial's over."

"At least let us put a couple of men on him for protection."

"The mob sees cops guarding him, they'll know something's up. I'll tell him your offer, but it's up to him. If he turns you down, you'd better leave him alone. The last thing you want is a lawsuit for police harassment. Good day, gentlemen." Alan returned to the defense table to speak to Brian, who glared at Bill and John and shook his head from side to side.

[Philulhu]

"It's his funeral," grumbled Bill, "And you can count me out for the collection for flowers." He looked at Yeager, "Where do we go from here? We just gonna let him go or are we gonna stick a tail on him?"

[Mr. Handy]

"Of course we're going to put a tail on him," said Yeager, grinning. "We can do it ourselves if you like. He'll recognize us if he spots us, but maybe that's not such a bad thing. Or we can call a couple of our plainclothesmen to come over here and follow him. It'll take a little time to process his bail, so he won't be going anywhere before they arrive and pick up his trail. What do you think?"

[Philulhu]

"I'm all for doing it ourselves," replied Bill. "But if we show up everytime he turns around we'll have his lawyer on our asses as quick as you can say "'drug-dealer!'" He laughed sourly. "Let's get a couple of plainclothes to follow him round for a bit and see where he goes."

[Mr. Handy]

"Sounds good to me," said John Yeager. He led Bill outside to the Mustang and called in to headquarters on the radio. After a moment, he was patched through to Charlie Rawlings. "What can I do for you, Lou?" he asked.

"I need you to send a couple of your guys down to City Hall in an unmarked car and tail our druggie friend," said John. "The idiots cut him loose on bail for next to nothing, and he and his lawyer refused police protection. We can't do it, since he's already made us."

"I'll send them out, Lou. Oh, and we finally heard back from NCIC about those two guys you picked up at the prof's house last night. They had nothing on Fletcher, but Remy Leblanc is wanted back in Louisiana for fraud."

"I knew it! At least I'll have a chance to twist the screws on him a little before he gets extradited, try to find out what he was really up to out there."

"I'm sorry, Lou, but he got turned loose too, only about fifteen minutes before we got the reply from NCIC. I already put out an APB on him."

"Son of a bitch!" John paused and took a deep breath. "Well, it's too late to do anything about that now except find him. Keep me posted, Charlie. Over and out." He disconnected and turned to Bill. "Want to head up to the academy and try out the firing range now? Or is there another angle you think we should check out first?"

[Philulhu]

"After my run-in with Brian yesterday, I think I better put some time in on the range," replied Bill "We can have a chat about the case in the car, although if I'm honest, I'm scratching my head about it. I think the professor is up to something with his dream stuff and I'd like to know how that Morpheus stuff works as well."

[Mr. Handy]

"You and me both," said Yeager. "There's something hinky about that guy, no doubt about it. It's no coincidence that his son's a criminal." He drove through the city streets until he reached I-95, where he got onto the expressway and headed northeast. "We need to get a warrant to wiretap Brian's phone, so that we can listen in when Ribisi makes contact with him on Saturday. With what Brian told us, it shouldn't be hard to arrange. That and keeping a tail on him are the best moves I can think of. You got any ideas, I'm all ears."

OOC,[b]Bill[/b], you may roll Idea if you wish.

[Philulhu]

"You think he's gonna take the call at home?" asked Bill. "You don't think he'll try and take it on his cell ph... err, I mean take it on a public payphone? Try and throw us off the scent?"

OOC,Yup, that oughta do it. [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2918147/]Idea roll - gotta think of something! (1d100=17)[/url]

[Mr. Handy]

"Hmm," said John. "That is possible. But that's why we'll have a couple of guys watching him all the time. If he uses a public phone, if he goes somewhere, they'll be on him like white on rice. If he meets up with Ribisi or any of his mob buddies, our guys will call us and let us know."

Bill recalled that something else was due to happen between now and Saturday. Professor Anderson's experiment would begin Friday night. His younger self and Mary would be there. Only students at the University of Pennsylvania were eligible to participate, but perhaps it might be possible to slip a detective in undercover. There wasn't much time, however, so anyone that was going to get into the experiment would have to do so quickly.