Angels of Christmas Ch. 03

I pretended to think about it for a moment, then said "Carmela tends to see everything as a nail and himself as a hammer, and I'd normally say he will relentlessly attack Dr. Wellman until he gets his way and Dr. Wellman is gone. But this time he may see it as his best interest to let it go, to bide his time, and to work on getting who he wants as University President."

"And that's Sharon Marshall's trump card against him, isn't it?" Tanya asked with a wicked gleam in her sparkling eyes. "She was going to nominate your wife Laura to be University President, the one person Carmela cannot see in the President's chair. But it was a bluff, wasn't it?"

I smiled and said "Why do you say that?"

Tanya said "Part of it is that this would be one of the most important and influential things to affect your life, but you weren't talking to Laura about it, so you told us. You've been really nonchalant about it, except to say Laura hadn't turned it down."

Tanya: "And I happen to know from a secret FBI source that the Feds don't have anything Ms. Marshall can use on Carmela, but he did back down. Ms. Marshall had met with Laura just before meeting with Carmela, and I can see them putting that plan together."

Tanya: "Last but not least, you just said you believed Carmela would be held in abeyance until May. And you'd say that only if you knew what the Sword of Damocles over Carmela was, and that the threat would hold until May."

I said to Jack "Someone is going to make this woman Deputy Chief if she keeps that up." I then turned to Tanya said "That's the gist of it, but it's not really a bluff. Laura doesn't really want the job, but she will take it and then work with Sharon Marshall to oust Carmela if he were to keep up his crap."

"So, why wouldn't she take it anyway?" Jack asked. "She checks all the boxes, she has the ability to do it, the connections and the support. And I'm sure you've observed your wife far better than I ever have, but I remember the DepDirector, Martin Nash's uncle, once telling me that Laura is not nearly as unpretentious as you are, and that the University Presidency or something like a Cabinet position in the White House would be something she could end up doing. You declined the Police Chief's chair to remain where you are, but Laura would not be so inclined to stay where she is as Head of the Psychology Department."

I nodded and said "Your observations, and those of the late DepDirector, are well-founded, and sound. I think Laura would take the job, except for one thing: her medical practice. She's come to realize how much she loves it. How many doctors of her position and prestige still deliver babies at all, much less at three o'clock in the morning? And since retiring from the CIA, her psychology research isn't the driving passion for her it once was, but the medical practice still is..."

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

"Okay, that's all done." said Cindy as she, Callie, and Teresa sat down at their table in the back corner of the Cattleman's Club, which was nearly empty as it was well after the lunch rush. "This lunch is on me. Least I can do for you, Teresa, after you found this solution for us."

"My pleasure." Teresa said. "And congratulations. I hope you'll be very happy there. By the way, how are things with your gym? Have you found a buyer? And how are Ariel and Wanda doing?"

Cindy replied "No buyers yet. Business never quite recovered from the situation after Carl's death," (Author's note: 'The Babymaker') "but it's held it's own, and Callie has really helped me with managing the employees. We did sell some gift memberships for Christmas, and with people making New Year's resolutions, January is usually our best month. So I'm hoping we can boost the numbers, and I can find a buyer at a reasonable price."

Cindy: "Ariel started a gym in Midtown with both female-only and co-ed sides like mine, and Detective Nell Belle of the Midtown Force got a lot of their Officers to join it. Wanda set up in Palmyra County, and she's also a personal trainer for a lot of the rich corporatists and their well-kept wives there."

Teresa briefly cracked a smile at that, then got serious again. "There's... something else I wanted to talk to you about, and let's keep it between the three of us. My Aunt Clarissa knows Don's mother Phyllis, and apparently pretty well. I asked Aunt Clarissa how they know each other, and all I could get out of her was that they and their husbands knew each other and were friends from years past."

Teresa: "However, to my knowledge the Troys did not attend Mr. Esterson's funeral, and none of the Belvedere/Esterson family attended Douglass Troy's funeral. And I couldn't get Aunt Clarissa to tell me anything more about it. I did overhear them talking, and heard Aunt Clarissa say 'the Old Mother' a couple of times. I don't really want to pry into Don's business and ask if he knows anything about it------"

"Good! And don't say anything to him, nor Laura." Cindy interrupted, startling both Teresa and Callie. When they stared at her she said "I don't know much, but my father, Dr. Eckhart, told me that there was a woman in the CIA whose name was and still is so highly classified that it cannot be spoken aloud. In her later years they would call her 'the Old Mother'. According to my father, she had a close connection with Laura."

"That's true." Callie said. "Laura told me a little about her past as well as the CIA's past, and she told me the Old Mother pretty much raised Laura as if Laura were her own child. She won't say the woman's name, though, and the only other thing I know is that Don met her when they went to Laura's first husband's funeral." (Author's note: 'Sting of the Scorpion', Ch. 02.)

Teresa said "So the Old Mother has that connection to Laura, and I know that Aunt Clarissa's husband had been a CIA Officer and died in the line of duty. But I don't see the connection..." Her voice trailed off as a thought struck her.

"Yes, you're starting to see it." Cindy said.

"Aunt Clarissa was in the CIA?" Teresa said. "But... well... yeah, I guess it makes some sense that she might at least have had a CIA connection. But why not tell me? She's far past active status with them, and she knows Laura's connections, as well." Cindy shrugged.

Callie said "My role in the CIA is very limited, and most of what I know is from Laura. At times, the Company can be very secretive and act in seemingly strange ways. So there might be reasons your aunt hasn't said anything, just as there are secrets Laura continues to keep."

Cindy nodded vigorously in agreement, then noticed Teresa was deep in a reverie. "What? What is it?" she asked her BFF.

Teresa came out of it, then looked at the other women and said "All of that, I can understand. But the puzzle piece that is not fitting here is Phyllis. Where does she fit into all this?..."

Part 14 - Epilogue

"It's a done deal." Deputy Chief (Ret.) Cindy Ross said just before my Angels assembled in my office before the KFXU broadcast. "We close January 15th. I am finally going to get my house on the mountain with a view to rival yours and Teresa's, even if the view faces the other way."

"Congratulations." I said. "But what if the baby is coming out right at that time?"

"Then I'll be signing papers while the nurses pull him out of me." Cindy replied. I began laughing harder than I should have at the thought of that visual I could not un-see.

To change the subject, Cindy asked "Where's the Sheriff this morning? I got a text saying he'd be out of Town through tomorrow, but no further details."

"He's in Midtown." I replied. "Governor Jared invited him to stay at the Governor's Mansion for the remaining couple of days of Jared's term. And if you weren't being sworn in as Chief Deputy, the Sheriff would have stayed for Sharon Marshall's inauguration on Friday morning."

"Yep, blame me. It's all my fault." Cindy said.

I chuckled, then said "I halfway suspect the Sheriff is happy for the excuse to miss the inauguration. As am I. Laura and I were invited to go, but we were glad to be able to make excuses and stay up here."

"That won't do much for Laura's chances of getting the University Presidency job." Cindy quipped.

"We can only hope." I replied. "We can only hope. Okay, here are my other Angels, and there's Catrina on my television monitor..."

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

"Hello and welcome to Fox University Sunrise!" said Catrina Pierce at 8:00am, Wednesday, December 30th, from the KFXU studios. "I'm Catrina Pierce, and with me today is Priya Ajmani. Meredith Peller is on assignment. Good morning, Priya."

"Good morning, Catrina." said the gorgeous Indian reporterette. "Good morning everyone. Here's what's in the news. The Guardians of Justice Motorcycle Club has sued our competitor KXTC for libel, and has also filed suit against the US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division for slander and defamation. The GOJMC claims that the statements by these entities calling the club and their members racists and seditionists was not only false, but were made with the intent to cause them and their members material and financial harm, and to intentionally cause them emotional and mental distress."

Catrina: "The group filed separate and individual suits against our competitor's reporter Pat Stellum, USDOJ investigator Ava Hinds, and University Professor Lionel Carmela for slander and defamation stemming from the same comments. They explained their grievances in a Press conference yesterday. Roll tape."

Tape rolled, showing a benign middle-aged man with a friendly face, wearing a GOJMC leather jacket with patches of other Christian groups at a lectern. Next to him was a similarly aged lady that could be anyone's grandmother and former schoolteacher, also wearing a GOJMC jacket. And a man in an expensive suit; one did not need to be the future Second Iron Crowbar to observe that he was the group's lawyer.

"We are not racists!" the GOJMC man said. "We are not terrorists, foreign or domestic. We are not Seditionists, we are not Insurrectionists. We are composed of many riding groups, some Christian, some of other Faiths, some secular. We have Black members, Asian members, Hispanic members, and White members. We are Americans, we love our country, we support the Constitution. And we are not going to let the Haters trying to destroy your rights and freedoms use us to achieve their evil, insidious goals!..."

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

"We did not see that on KXTC this morning." said Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle as my three Angels and I watched in my office.

"Nor KSB nor the SNN Networks." I said. "And the national Fox Cable network is all over it, but I won't hold my breath waiting for CNN to talk about it."

"It was a brilliant move." said Deputy Chief Tanya P. Muscone with a twinkle in her eyes. "They're pre-empting anything the Feds might try to do to them, and making the Feds and KXTC either back up their claims legitimately and not through a rigged process, or e forced to retract them."

"Yes." I said. "It's like a forced move in chess. Sometimes the move is forced, but it's also a brilliant move. This was both necessary and brilliant."

Deputy Chief (Ret.) Cindy Ross said "Proving the claim of malicious intent won't be easy. Or at least it shouldn't be. So why do I suspect the GOJMC has something on Ava Hinds, and maybe KXTC?" Foe some strange reason, all eyes were on me.

"If memory serves me correctly..." I said.

"And it always does." chorused three Angels, right on cue.

"... it was the original Guardians of Justice that kept finding secret Swamp Frog stuff and exposing it to the light of day. That original group is disbanded, but we have many friends in many places. Oh yes. Our enemies may be powerful and abundant, but there are still good people out there, people who still love our country and our Constitution, people who are true Guardians of Justice. I can only imagine what these true Patriots have passed along to the GOJMC, the group that has stood with us in our times of crisis."

"I just hope they don't get hurt." said Teresa. "There is nothing Brendan Chapel won't permit himself to do if they get in his way."

I just replied "As any of those Christians will tell you: Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. It will be all right." Then I murmured almost to myself "It will be all right..."

Finis.