Balance of Power Ch. 03

"Har!" growled the Sheriff happily, his mustaches quivering. "Yes, I asked her to come with me to talk to Cordell. She was the one that persuaded him."

"I sure did." said Teresa. "When the Sheriff told me he wanted Dr. Cordell for the job, it was an epiphany, like a light bulb turning on in my head. And he said it himself... he gets to lead the civilian version of Navy Corpsmen again. I suspect we'll have a few Navy Corpsman veterans working for us in a few months."

"Is Roy Easley ready for the Fire Marshal job?" asked Beth Paige. I couldn't help but grin at that. Teresa saw it and grinned, too. "What?" Beth asked.

Teresa said "I'm reminded of a Medal of Valor recipient who was promoted straight from Lieutenant to Commander without ever being a Police Captain. And was Acting Chief of the whole Police Force for a while."

"That's right." growled Griswold. "With Don Troy as an example to look up to, Easley will be fine. And Zoe has been training him and prepping him for this for some time..."

Meanwhile, Admiral Cordell was answering questions from the Media. "Yes, I've informed President Wellman and the Hospital Staff of my decision. I've enjoyed the opportunity to serve as Hospital Administrator, and I'll still be on Staff as a trauma doctor if they need me, but the EMS is like a calling for me..."

Part 16 - Polling Data

7:30pm, Thursday, September 26th. We had the back room of The Steakhouse to ourselves for the Charter Commission's party. Edna Carter and her husband came, as did Rev. Joseph E. Williams and his wife. Edward Steele came with his wife, Professor Stephanie Steele, and his daughters Selena and Marie. I came with Laura, and we brought Carole since Marie was going to be there. Savannah Fineman was also there, and her 'date' was Sheriff Griswold; we'd invited him because of all the help he gave us in writing the Charter.

"So what is the Hospital going to do, with Dr. Cordell leaving?" Stephanie Steele asked Laura.

"He'll be helping with the transition," Laura said, "but I'm not sure who we're going to get to replace him. I understand him wanting to rebuild the EMS, but it's going to be a big hole to fill at the Hospital."

"I've given a name to Dr. Cordell and President Wellman." I said. "Y'all may remember Donny Tate, who was one of Kendra Luskin's victims?" (Author' note: 'Falsely Accused', Ch. 05.) "He's an accountant, and if I don't miss my guess, I think he just might fit into that job very well."

"It's a 'done deal', then." Laura said.

Stephanie grinned, then said "Don, did you ever hear any more about that serial killer that was using my graphics as his pattern?" (Author's note: 'Four Square', Ch. 03.)

"No, I haven't." I said. "Detective Beale in Atlanta emailed me a few weeks ago, and said they'd had no more serial killings since Cindy and I visited them in Atlanta. And with all the excitement going on around here, that had totally slipped my mind. Why? Anything new on your end?"

"No." said Stephanie. "But my paper that had that pattern is going to be published next week. I hope nothing bad will happen, but you might want to have them watch out."

"I'll send out some emails, and alert Jack Muscone." I said.

As the party was winding down, two six-year-old girls came up to the end of my table, with several drawings they'd made. "Daddy," Carole said, "we have the results of the latest polls!"

Everyone grew quiet and watched as I said "Oh really? What are those results?"

Marie held up her drawing, showing some bar graphs and a pie chart. Carole pointed to it with her drink straw as she announced importantly: "In a poll of local six-year-olds, one hundred percent want longer recess at school, later bedtimes, and no stringbeans at dinner." Everyone chuckled.

"Hmmm." I said. "I wonder what your brother Jim's Stringbean Lobby is going to say about that!"

Carole replied "My polling says that little brothers are annoying." Everyone burst out laughing at that.

"My big sister would agree." I said with a grin. "What else does your poll say?"

"Our polling says that dads who let their daughters stay up late and watch more TV are more popular than dads that don't." Everyone 'ooooh'ed at that.

"I'm all for that." said Selena Steele.

"Don," said Edward Steele, "I think we need to poll those dads and see what they think."

I replied "I think we need a Commission to re-write those rules. Only dads of six-year-olds get to be on it, and they want earlier bedtimes and more chores for those household six-year-olds."

"Uh oh!" said Carole, as she pretended to be on the phone. "There's new data coming in! Daddy, your household ratings have gone down fifty per-cent! You should give your voters more ice cream to make up for it." Everyone was howling with laughter by now.

"The dentist lobby would love that." said Edward quietly. I got the subtle joke... Kelly Carnes's husband, under investigation for financial crimes, was a dentist.

"Carole, I think we better get you home and to bed before any more polls come out that will damage my good reputation with these voters." I said, wondering how my six-year-old was picking all this up so fast...

Part 17 - Epilogue

Monday, September 30th. I was sitting in my office with Cindy after the Angels meeting.

"How was the retreat?" Cindy asked. Laura and I had attended a couples retreat with Dr. P. Harvey Eckhart and other couples at 'The Vision' compound in Coltrane County.

"It was good." I said. "It was really good to get some alone time together. And Dr. Eckhart's processes were really good for all the couples there. Thanks for suggesting it."

"My father didn't charge you, did he?" Cindy said.

"No, as a favor to you." I said a bit wickedly. He wouldn't have charged me as his nephew anyway.

"You know how much he charged those other couples that were there?" Cindy asked. "Ten thousand dollars per couple."

I nodded. "And all of them have gone through his full course of programs, too. That's another ten grand per person. But he does over-deliver. His stuff is really good." Cindy nodded.

"So what did you do over the weekend?" I asked.

"Spent some alone time with Betsy." Cindy said. "Callie flew to California and got back late last night. Her porn business is raking in the cash, and she shot a cameo appearance on 'Days of Promise'. Benny Black flew to the City with her on the flight, and stayed there in the City, but I'm not sure why."

"Hmmmm." I said, making a mental note to check on Melina's whereabouts. "Okay, then. Are we ready for tomorrow?"

"Yes, yes we are." said Cindy. "The bling is in. Is this going to be formal or informal?"

"It won't be a full meal deal like the normal ceremonies." I said. "I did think about making Teresa wait until November 1st..."

"Yes! You should make her wait." Cindy said.

"We-ll, she convinced Dr. Cordell to take the EMS Chief job, so there's that."

"Pul-eeze!" muttered Cindy. "She didn't need to convince him. He would've begged for that job if they'd have wanted him to."

I grinned, then said "Well, we're promoting the Precinct Captains today instead of waiting, so it's only 'meet and right' to promote Teresa, too..."

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

Tuesday, October 1st. It was little Pete Feeley's fifth birthday, and we'd be attending a birthday party for him late that afternoon. But before we would give him presents, we'd be giving ourselves some presents. New insignia!

Even though I'd not been particularly enthusiastic about it all, I did feel a bit of excitement as I came into Headquarters. More for the actual promotions than the other insignia changes. or so I told myself.

There is a small wardrobe/coat closet/locker that was in the back left corner of my office, between the back wall and the book cabinet to the right of my desk, where the 'I Beat Slender Man' trophy held sway. Inside were my semi-formal jacket and leather 'bomber' jacket that I'd sometimes wear with my duty uniform in cold weather. It was with considerable nostalgia that I began removing the oak leaf clusters from those jackets. In a way, the new stars seemed to take me further away from what I loved to do most: be a Detective in the field, solving crimes.

The excitement was building in MCD, so I went in there and watched Bettina's worthless report with them. All she could talk about was the upcoming Board of Inquiry, and that Finneran had been named to it. But that was later this week...

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

"There's a new constellation of stars in the sky." I said loudly as Sheriff Griswold came into MCD, wearing his brown Sheriff's uniform with four gold stars on the epaulettes of each shoulder and each collar of the khaki shirt beneath his jacket.

"May I?" Griswold said to Cindy, and everyone chuckled as a green crowbar was waved in my very specific direction by Our Sheriff. "And you're about to be the Dog Star in my constellation, Crowbar." he growled.

"The Dog Star: the brightest star in the night sky." I said. "That fits."

"Sheriff," said the heavily pregnant Joanne Warner, "Commander Ross is the Bulldog star. Commander Troy is the Wildcat star." Trying to start trouble, she was. Succeed, she did.

"And compared to the Wildcat star, the Bulldogs star is very dim right now." I said. A green crowbar was again waved in my direction, this time by its owner. Yep, it was college football season.

"And speaking of stars..." said Teresa Croyle as she led Fire Chief Davies, Zoe Singer and Roy Easley into the room. Chief Davies already had his two gold stars on the shoulders and collars of his Fire Department uniform, and Easley had the gold star of the Fire Marshal on his dark navy blue Fire Department jacket... along with the silver-bordered red rectangle that denoted the Medal of Valor, and the purple rectangle that denoted the Purple Order.

"Nice uniform, Chief Singer." I said. Zoe was wearing the new EMS uniform. It was a lighter blue, like Air Force blue, lighter than the deep blue Police uniform and even darker navy blue (almost black) Fire Department uniform. The piping on her sleeves and pants was dark blue, almost black. Zoe was also wearing a rectangle denoting her recently-awarded Distinguished Service Medal. And the star on each of her shoulders was silver; the new EMS was making every effort to distinguish itself from the Fire Department.

"Don't y'all wear stars on your collars?" Fire Marshal Easley asked.

"We can." I replied. "But I'm wearing soft shoulderboards on my shirt under my jacket."

"I'll be wearing either soft shoulderboards or a metal star on my shoulder epaulettes." Cindy said. We both had 'TCPD' pins on our collars.

"Soft shoulderboards for me, toooooo." said Chief Moynahan as he came in.

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

We went to the gymnasium for the 'ceremony'. Connie the Police photographer was there and would be taking pictures for us. She reminded us that we would have to have new official portraits taken, as well, which is one reason why I had more uniform jackets in the wardrobe in my office.

The Sheriff and I fitted the silver two-star insignia onto Chief Moynahan's collars for the ceremony. He was already wearing the stars on his epaulettes: the stars were individual, but a bar on the underside with holes aligned them properly. Stars on the collars, like the Sheriff's, were actually touching and connected, and therefore easier to do, so of course we took the path of least resistance.

The Sheriff and Cindy pinned a silver star on each of my shoulder epaulettes, the star going where my oak leaf cluster had been... towards the shoulder and not in the middle. The Sheriff also affixed my new badge onto my jacket, a clip that fit into a little buttonhole slit. Then the Sheriff and I did the same for Cindy for the stars. Her badge said 'Deputy Chief' and so did not change.

Cindy and I pinned silver oak leaf clusters on Teresa's shoulders as the Chief read her promotion proclamation, and Cindy affixed her new badge to her jacket. The Chief and I pinned the same new rank on Internal Affairs Chief Orosco's shoulders, as well.

Then came the Precinct Captains Abram and Hewitt, who were promoted to full Captains, leaving behind the gold Captain bars for silver ones. And with that, gold Captain's bars were permanently retired from TCPD uniform wear.

Jerome Davis came up, and I put his new badge on his uniform, which said 'Lieutenant'. He was no longer brevetted, but a full Lieutenant. Then I pinned upon the Senior Detectives their new silver bars with three black squares, the former Supervisor insignia.

Then came a surprise. Sheriff Griswold read a proclamation promoting Julia Rodriguez to Detective Sergeant as Cindy and I pinned her rank on her collars, Sergeant stripes with one rocker beneath, the same as an Army Staff Sergeant. And we did the same for Roy McGhillie, also a promotion to Detective Sergeant.

And then we did what Police Officers do... brought out the doughnuts and consumed them!

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

6:00am, Wednesday, October 2nd. I was driving through Town as the first light of dawn began illuminating the buildings, the streetlamps still on. I loved driving through my Town at the break of a new day. Truth be told, it was mornings like this that motivated me to accept the task of re-writing the Charter, and of course being a Police Officer here.

I came into Headquarters and went to check on the Duty Desk, per usual. The Duty Desk Patrolman was hanging up the new photos of the command structure on the wall. The Duty Desk Sergeant was briefing me on the duty log entries when the phone rang. I pointed to him to answer it.

He noted the time in the duty log and made notations. Then he hung up and said "Sir, that was the 9-1-1 dispatcher. Someone called in and said there are people at Point Hollow... dead people, sir..."

Finis... for now.