Special Agent Justin Pierce - Personal Journal - Tuesday November 24^th, 2008, 16:16

Chief's in the can at Wendy's so I now have the chance to write some of the past day or so's events down.  I think he's still talking to me since I bought him two Mega Cheese Burgers, two apple pies and an all you can drink Coke cup - depth charge size.  Food clearly calms the big guy down and after what we went through this afternoon, I can't say I blame him.

Anyway, we had an interesting meet with LA's DEA MET leader last night.  His name is Bernard Everude and he's a polite and helpful type.  Clearly Brooks and his supervisor Kale want to help us but perhaps the big man ain't convinced.  We've had ‘every courtesy' extended but they don't like the idea that Devlin might be in on their secrets - they think he's dirty, so I think they are playing the cards close.  Still, they could be useful depending on how things develop out here.  Frost and Chief did some OT last night, checking out the bikers titty bar, the Twilight Bar and Grill - Frost did the UC part whilst Chief held the perimeter.  It emerges that there is a pretty strict regime in operation with a clear chain of command among the bikers and a pecking order among the dancers and waitresses.  I think Agent Brooks summed it up best - ‘They don't shit in their own backyard' which made McAvoy and his pals actions even stranger - but more on that later.  Chief also observed a regular Twilight patrol in the area but wasn't made which suggests things are perhaps a little too cosy in the ‘hood.

Tuesday dawned and we set about establishing Venetta's timeline and retracing her steps in LA which meant some office time checking through phone numbers and then assigning the tasks - Chief and I got a bunch, Devereux bagged a couple and Frost manned the phones.  Props to the LA ASAC - he can get subpoenas at the drop of a hat - guess that's what you get for working in the nation's 3^rd most litigious city.  

First stop for Chief and I was the LA Times where after some territorial pissing we finally managed to meet up with veteran crime reporter John Connelly who clearly thought he was the next Bob Woodward and gave us some attitude until I hit him with Vanessa Thomson's crime scene photos.  After that, he wised up and spilled some valuable info.  Venetta met with him but was a little cagey about her reasons for being in LA - she told him she was looking into Pyramid Shipping but had hit a brick wall through legal means so he helped her source a hacker by the name of Matthew Li - his online handle being Dark Angel to try and hook into New World Industries. 

Li is a pretty harmless geek and we caught up with him later in the day.  He admitted Venetta had paid him to hack NWI whose parent company are based in the Cayman Islands and are as ‘secure as Fort Knox' with no direct phone lines and some kind of proprietary network that he couldn't break.  He did however strike lucky as they were transmitting to a Haitian legal firm - Derek Loville and Partners - whilst he was snooping around. DL&P appear to process payments for NWI and Venetta picked up on a $7K cheque to one Simon Mark Chandler, who, it turns out is the younger brother of business mogul Michael Chandler.

In Venetta's footsteps Devereux door stepped a couple of LA congressmen that Chandler has contributed to but they didn't seem too keen to speak to us.  Meanwhile Chief and I went to a Regus Business Park where businesses can rent suites by the day, the former, somewhat barren home of New Age Industries - an NWI splinter that Venetta had tried calling several times and that's when things got weird.  I had managed to get them on the phone earlier in the day for a more than evasive conversation on Michael Chandler's whereabouts but by the time we got there, they had moved out leaving a desk, a phone and a table. 

Then Stephen Alzis showed up, talking like he knew both Chief and my own life story and talked some interesting talk.  How much of this is true and whether we're being played is a moot point - this guy likes fucking with people's heads - anyone who can apparently immolate himself in flames until you see his flesh peel and the fat bubble and then suddenly re-appear totally unscathed is someone I would prefer to stay clear of but whatever his twisted rationale, I can't deny what he said sure got my attention.

So here's the deal according to Stephen Alzis.  Michael Chandler is a megalomaniac and his younger brother a sociopath with multiple personality disorder who is estranged from the rest of the Chandlers and possibly hiding out among the Sons of Twilight.  When Simon is Simon and not one of his other personas he's a skilled sorcerer but stress and fear force him to retreat into alternate personalities.  The brothers don't get on but are not necessarily enemies although Simon lives in fear of his brother and the other Chandlers who live a reclusive life in the Cayman Islands. 

Now here comes my stitching together of the pieces - we know from Li that Venetta masqueraded as a representative from DL & P - having had business cards and notepaper forged by him.  It looks like the idea of being visited by someone that presumably does NWI dirty work forced Simon into his ‘Ray' personality and that's who she interviewed and what we have on tape.  I guess when she went back a second time, presumably to confirm the whole ‘innocent on Death Row' deal Ray wasn't in but Simon was and Venetta wound up in a world of hurt.  Simon can make ‘gates' and control people so that would explain why McAvoy and his Twilight buddies are behaving out of character. 

Alzis intimated that Venetta was still alive and we have time to find her but the question is why would he keep her alive?  We know he was looking for something, hence the Amtrak incident but what is it?  Alzis also said we need to get close to McAvoy's best Twilight buddy - a guy named Mike Flynn who has a thing for redheads apparently and perhaps he'll lead us to wherever they are holding her.  

Update: I just heard from Wilmot that ‘Brion' turns out to be Brion Gammell - a former cameraman who worked in Venetta's early days at the TV station and now runs his own visual effects company based in Baton Rouge.  Li told us that this was where she took the original interview tape - could that be what Simon was searching for?  Parisi and Wilmot are rolling to his address now. 

Well, Chief's coming back from the Big Boys room with a glower on his face so time to wrap this up and have an in depth conversation about all things Green with him as Alzis said he had history that direction - I've also asked A Cell to check into that and NWI as a whole. 

Thanks Steve Anderson - thanks a bunch for getting me neck deep in this shit...