A Death in the Family Ch. 01

"Darn." I said. When Laura looked over at me, I said "I prefer to take out my stress in the bedroom, making love to my hot sexy wife."

"Well, then." said Laura. "Just for you, I'll provide a therapy session or two per week... or six, or seven, or more..."

"Some therapy." I said. "Wearing me out until I can't move."

"Ah, you catch on fast." Laura replied...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sunday, June 2d. Tanya and Jack Muscone's daughters apparently were doing some shopping, so Jack brought little Pete Feeley to The Cabin. As the boys played upstairs and Laura, Maggie, Cindy, and Molly talked in the greatroom, Jack and I sat on the deck out back and talked. I was in my normal seat, and Jack in the chair by the table to my right.

"EAD Lange was impressed at how quickly you came up with Andrew Parsons as our possible mole." said Jack. "I think he was wondering if you knew already, and just waited for the moment to tell us. I told him you didn't play those games."

"No, no games." I said. "It really didn't hit me until you guys 'triggered' me by talking about the Mole. But I might ask the same question about him. He knew Parsons was in Pennsylvania when Parsons's name was first brought up. And he wasn't nearly as surprised as you were when I brought up the in-law connection with Blassingame."

I continued: "I might also add, Jack, that when the NCHS school shooting was hitting the fan, you told me that Melina had been sent on an assignment... to Pennsylvania. And I also have heard Pennsylvania come up from... other sources." That was Alison McFarland, who said she'd received word of a possible case to investigate... in Pennsylvania.

"Yes, that's true." Jack said. "You think there's a problem with the EAD?"

"Possibly not." I said. "He's obviously been researching me, to the point he challenged me to a round in the ring to determine what my fighting skill set was. And in doing his research, he would learn about my issues with the previous EAD, with Parsons and the Rovers brothers, and with Dana Fox. And so I'd expect him to know who and where Parsons was."

"And he had to have ideas about something already," I continued, "if he was the one that sent Melina to Pennsylvania during the school shooting time. One the one hand, that could've been to protect the Swamp Frogs and their 'false flag' NCHS incident, which I believe that incident really was. On the other hand... she went to Pennsylvania, maybe to root out something going on there."

"That could be." said Muscone. "And it ties in to some things we've found out. The Harrisburg and Scranton offices in Pennsylvania have a pretty high concentration of Agents that were once disciples of Dana Fox and our previous EAD, the one you forced to retire." (Author's note: 'Riverboat Gambler', Ch. 02.) "A lot of people that we're pretty sure are allied with the Swamp Frogs are there, and Andrew Parsons is one of them."

Muscone continued: "Someone in the Scranton office has been accessing the files of our offices in the City and in the Town & County Resident Agency. And we're not talking the regular files, but our most restricted files. As soon as we developed the lead on Dick Granger, the file was accessed, and Granger dropped off our radars almost immediately."

Jack went on: "We have some very good Internal-Affairs-type units that do a very good job of internal investigations without the suspect realizing he or she is being investigated. The EAD had one of those units go through Parsons and his office with a rectal probe, but they found absolutely nothing. The guy's personal emails and cellphone didn't show a thing. He's had no contact with his sister nor her husband that we could find. He's pretty damn careful for such a dumb-looking guy."

"Well, absolutely no contact with his own sister comes across to me as strange." I said.

"That's a point." said Muscone. "But then they wouldn't be able to find any contact between you and your sister, now would they?"

I chuckled, then said "I get the point: you're telling me that either this guy and his organization are good enough to get around all of the Government's abilities to know every aspect of a person's life... or they're letting him get away with it."

"Ya think?" Jack said, his face wincing and his voice sounding like it was wincing, too. "Are they that deep into everything?"

"Who watches the watchers?" I said half-humorously. "And let me scare you even more: watch out for the day when they go in and start reassigning that cozy group to FBI offices all over the country. All those Swamp Frog moles in all those places..."

"Oh geez..." muttered Muscone.

"Yep." I said. "One Swamp Frog mole in the FBI's Human Resources branch can do more damage than a corrupt FBI Director trying to damage a Presidential campaign for political reasons..."

Part 5 - Human Resources

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Monday, June 3rd, from the front steps of City Hall, surrounded by hired security. "The Town & County Charter Commission has announced dates, times, and locations for public hearings!"

Bettina began: "The hearings will be on the next eight Wednesday nights, and will cover specific portions of the Charter being written. The meetings will be in the Public Chamber of the Town & County Council, and the rules for speaking are similar to the rules for speaking before the Council in that one must be a County resident. This Wednesday's hearing will cover the Town & County Assembly and procedural issues."

Bettina: "The Public Safety Department hearings won't occur for a few weeks, but the Charter Commission announced the Police Department will have a separate night of hearings to accommodate those who want structural changes to the Police Force, most notably the division of Precincts. Commander Donald Troy, Chairman of the Charter Commission, has ignored repeated requests by KXTC for clarification on that issue."

Bettina: "And the State House Judiciary Committee is continuing its work investigating deeply unpopular Governor Val Jared for charges ranging from 'Abuse of Power' to 'Obstruction of the State Legislature'. We have with us Dr. Adam S. Keller of the City University Rodham Foundation for Social and Political Change. Dr. Keller, these are very serious charges against Val Jared. How can the State Legislature effectively move the investigation into an impeachment?"

Adam S. 'Pencil Neck' Keller was shown on a split-screen with Bettina as he said: "We've already had the Mullen Investigation that showed the Governor acted in an abusive manner towards two women who made very credible claims of sexual harassment against Jared. The State Legislature can also show that the Governor's persecution of Undocumented Workers and colluding with the Federal ICE Bureau to have them arrested and deported is Abuse of Power. And by not cooperating fully with the State Legislature, the Governor is Obstructing them in their efforts to get to the truth."

Bettina: "Dr. Keller, the State Legislature will have to be convened in order to formally impeach, try, and remove Val Jared from office. How can we get that accomplished?"

'Pencil Dick' Keller: "Once the State House Judiciary Committee shows its findings to a Superior Court Judge, such as the excellent, fair-minded Judge Harry Nance, he can petition the State Supreme Court to convene the Legislature for the purpose of getting rid of this despicable Governor."

Bettina: "What would the timetable be for this?"

Keller: "I think it's possible we'll have a very merry Christmas this year, with Val Jared removed from the Governor's Mansion and subsequently facing criminal charges for his racist actions..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Neither of those two charges are crimes." said Tanya Perlman as the Command Group and Sheriff, sans Teresa Croyle, watched and drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room.

"You're right." I said. "It would be like the U.S. Congress trying to impeach the President for 'Obstruction of Congress'. That's not a statute law nor a crime, either. And 'Abuse of Power' is a crock, too. It's not abusing his power for the Governor to do all he can to assist the Feds in enforcing the law by arresting and deporting Illegal Persons."

"Hell, we should be trying to obstruct Congress... from spending more of our money than they collect in taxes." growled Sheriff Griswold.

"And spending that money upon things that are not 'legitimate functions of Government'." I said agreeably. The Sheriff's mustaches twitched vigorously in agreement.

"Where is Teresa?" Cindy asked. "Still smarting from that beatdown she took in the Police Boxing Matches final?"

"I wish that's what it was." I replied, then said "Precinct Captain Carswell came over to see her this morning, so she's meeting with him now."

"Any idea what it's about?" asked Tanya.

"Officially, no." I said. "But I can make guesses. I won't do so out loud, just in case I'm wrong."

"You're never wrong." said Cindy.

"Unfortunately, that's not the case." I said. "I actually hope I'm wrong about this one."

"Carswell's retiring?" asked Chief Moynahan. "That's the scuttlebutt I'm hearing."

"Yes sir, he is." came a voice from the doorway.

The voice was Teresa's. She'd just opened the door and heard our last couple of sentences. She came on in and poured herself coffee, then spoke as she sat down: "PCpt. Carswell is putting in his retirement papers, effective August 1st. He has 30 days of vacation accrued, but agreed to not take it until after the July 4th holiday, and just be paid for whatever's left over."

"Ouch." said Cindy. "That doesn't give you guys a lot of time to figure out who to replace him with."

"I asked him who he thought his replacement should be." Teresa said. "He put in good words for several people, including Irwin, Rudistan, or Sergeant DeLong in 2nd Precinct if PCpt. Abram was brought over from 2nd to 1st Precinct."

"Sounds like he was hinting that that should happen." I said.

"And it's not a bad idea, sir." said Teresa. "But if y'all don't mind, I'd like to get caffeinated before having any serious discussions about it."

"Good idea." said Cindy. "What I really want to hear about is your explanation of that beatdown Don gave you Saturday."

"As soon as I hear yours," Teresa replied cooly, "I'll give you mine... er, ma'am." Everyone chuckled at that.

"What, nothing from the Iron Crowbar on that beatdown?" Chief Moynahan asked.

"No sir." I said. "After whipping Assistant Director Lange, the rest was easy. I've moved on." Tanya burst out in sustained laughing, and the Sheriff was chuckling under his mustaches. Both Cindy and Teresa gave me looks that could kill mere mortals.

"What?" I asked 'innocently', looking around. "I beat half the people in this room. And I can't 'heppit' if Captain Perlman was too fast for me to catch in that Tank of hers, and the Sheriff chose to catch fish rather than sign up for the tournament."

"At least I can catch fish better than you can, Crowbar." the Sheriff said matter-of-factly.

"If you'd quit tying fishing line to that red crowbar," Cindy said, "and use a rod and reel, you might actually catch some fish, Don." That generated some 'hmmmm' sounds and some looks at me.

"I'd rather catch criminals. I'll leave the fish to you 'experts'." I said. "And speaking of criminals..." I told everyone what little I knew about the perps that had been bedeviling up for the last few months...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

At 9:00am, Lieutenant(B) Jerome Davis had the MCD Detectives come into the Main Conference Room, telling everyone to bring full cups of coffee with them.

"Okay, guys," he said, "I want to talk about some organizational things. What I want to do is have specialization within the teams, and augmentation. For example, Joanne Warner and Julia Rodriguez will be the primaries at the crime scenes, and responsible for the evidence gathering and observations and deductions. Theo Washington and Roy McGhillie will be backing that up, and will get the early start on gathering information, including interviewing witnesses at the scene."

"Depending on how many cases we have going," Davis continued, "Teddy Parker and Timothy Geiger will be augmenting the teams with more data-gathering and witness interviewing. You might go with one of the others or you might be a team yourself. Never alone, of course. If there are multiple cases, like when we had four going at the same time, then Parker and Geiger will be a front line team at a crime scene. If drugs are involved, then Geiger's on point; if not, Parker is."

"The reason for this," said Jerome, "is so that I can tell the Police Leadership, the Town & County Council, and any Grand Juries that walk through here that you're all busy, all the time. With three teams of two, sometimes some of you are on the bench waiting, and I don't want that."

"Also makes for a good argument to keep us from being dispersed to three Precincts." said Julia Rodriguez.

"That's Iron Crowbar thinking, there." said Jerome. "And you're absolutely spot-on."

"Are we going to have three precincts?" Joanne Warner asked skeptically. "I mean, Commander Troy is running the Charter Commission, and the Council might as well wait until that's done before they make any changes."

"From what I understand," said Jerome, "Commander Troy does not want to get granular in the Charter document, so the Precinct issue might not get addressed as specifically as he or we would like. And the Council, in their infinite wisdom, might try to make the change before the Charter is voted on. And remember... the new Charter might be voted down."

"What about cross-training with Vice?" asked Joanne Warner.

"I'm sure that will still continue," said Jerome, "but it's above my pay grade. Captain Perlman and Commander Troy will guide us on that."

Jerome then said "And speaking of precincts, there is one other thing that I'm obligated to tell you: Precinct Captain Carswell is retiring. If any of you are interested in his position, or perhaps Precinct Lieutenant if a promotion creates that vacancy, then let Captain Croyle know. It will not be held against you in any way if you do express interest in those leadership posts." He watched everyone carefully, seeing whose eyes glimmered with interest...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Meanwhile...

Needless to say, the Angels Meeting was extended. Cindy, Teresa, and Tanya brought in coffee mugs, and we went through a couple of pots as we discussed the ramifications of PCpt. Carswell's retirement.

"He said he'd been thinking about it for a while." Teresa said. "But what happened to Molly (Evans) really got him and his family talking, and he's put in his time."

"I don't blame him a bit." I said. "And it's a first-world problem for us to replace him. So, Captain of Operations, what are your initial ideas?"

"I have two, which you've heard before." said Teresa. "Irwin is one of them. The other is Lieutenant Hugh Hewitt."

"Ooooooo..." Tanya involuntarily said, quietly but skeptically.

"You're right: it's not the first time you've brought his name up." said Cindy. "What are the pros and cons of him?"

"Yes, explain your thinking, Teresa." I said, using her first name as an informal way to have her 'speak freely'.

Teresa said "The SWAT Team has several guys that can lead that unit, so it wouldn't hurt for Hewitt to move upward out of there. He's done a great job with the SWAT Team, especially leading it. I know he has the previous baggage, but we gave him a chance in SWAT and he's taken the ball and run with it. I think he'd do well in a Precinct leadership position, as well."

Teresa continued: "Sir, I know you think Irwin and Rudistan are too young, and were promoted to Lieutenant well 'below the zone', but I think we should consider them. Irwin is ready; to be honest, he's pretty much been running 1st Precinct as it is."

"You're right," I said, "in that I do still think Irwin and Rudistan are not quite ready. Remember, whoever we make Precinct Captain cannot be demoted back to Lieutenant. They have to be promoted to Captain or removed from the Police Force, either by retirement, transfer to another Public Service branch, or less fortunate ways. And we can't brevet them to Precinct Captain. So while they've both done a good job... we gotta be right on either of them. We gotta be right..."

Cindy said "Do we need to rush? By that I mean we could let Irwin be 'acting Precinct Captain', run the show as the Lieutenant he is now. If he does well, we talk about promoting him. If not, we look for someone else and say we were doing that all along."

"I like that idea." Tanya said.

"I'm not sure we can do that, not for very long." Teresa said. "The Union will be all over us to either promote Irwin or put someone else in there. And they'll do it just to push our buttons."

"The Council won't like it, either." I said. "They'll push us to name a name, also... and just to push our buttons. And to be honest, they'd be right to do that."

Tanya said "We don't have to do anything until August 1st. So let Irwin run it until then, like he will be anyway. Then we start the clock talking about it."

"That will work... until August 1st." said Teresa, her voice showing impatience at having to repeat herself. "And then the Union will be expecting someone to be promoted or put in that post on that date."

Teresa continued: "And to be candid, that's what I want, too. I really would like to get it done. We might move Abram over as part of it, and if we do we need to let him know. If it's Hewitt, we've got to fill the SWAT leader position. And it's only fair to all the Officers of both Precincts to know who their leadership is going to be as soon as possible."

"Dayum." I said. "I just heard some serious leadership right there. And taking care of your people, too."

"Yes, we did just hear that." Cindy said, adding her compliment for Teresa to mine.

"So..." I said, "I know you told the Detective Lieutenants they had to tell their people about the opening. Anyone express interest?"

"No one in Vice, sir." said Teresa. "In MCD, Teddy Parker emailed me, and I'll bet as soon as he heard about it. And Joanne Warner emailed and said she wasn't sure she wanted to pursue it, but she did want to talk about it."

Cindy said "So she was pissed that Jerome got promoted over her."

I replied "Well, she may have been unhappy she wasn't promoted without being pissed at Jerome personally."

"Okay then." Cindy said, and I glanced at her sideways. She just raised her eyebrows at me: she had a vibe about it, that I apparently wasn't feeling.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

11:30am, Monday, June 3d. The 'Detectives Table' in the large main room at the Cop Bar was occupied. Joanne Warner, Theo Washington, Julia Rodriguez, and Roy McGhillie were talking over lunch.

"No, I get it." Theo was saying. "Joanne's always been better at crime scenes than I've been, and I'm the guy who plods along and makes the phone calls and get the information together. And it's not like I'm not at the crime scene, contributing."

"Yeah, but slotting us into such specific roles." said Joanne. "That's not how Captain Perlman and the Iron Crowbar did it."

Julia Rodriguez said "Don't think for a moment they didn't approve of what Jerome--- er, Lieutenant Davis, did. And the Iron Crowbar and Captain Perlman were always teaching the rest of us when they were on the scene."

"And I for one hope they continue to teach us." said Roy McGhillie. "I mean, I'm a good cop, we're all good Detectives, but it seems like every time Commander Troy speaks, I'm learning something new."

"I'm good with it, though." said Julia. "When I first heard Jerome--- dammit! I keep forgetting his first name!... when I first heard Lieutenant Davis talking about it, the first thing that came to my mind was that he can't split Parker and Geiger apart, so he's doing this to separate them as much as possible."