Believer Ch. 01

This story is part of an ongoing series. The chronological order of my stories is listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racism, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

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Author's special note: This story covers those every-year Holiday things, and also lays groundwork and builds up to two big future stories. Thank you for your patience.

Part 1 - Prologue

*BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!*

8:05am, Sunday, November 24th. Bowser barked angrily as my Police iPhone rang. I answered it anyway.

"Don, this is Cindy." said my Angel. "Joanne Warner has gone into labor. She's at the Hospital now."

"All right, we'll mosey on down there." I said. I disconnected the call, but before I could put the phone down...

*BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!*

Needless to say, the redoubtable Bowser was beside himself, literally running in circles as he barked his displeasure. I answered it anyway.

"Don, this is Teresa." said my Angel. "Seth just called Todd and said that Joanne is having her baby now."

"I'm on the way." I said. I disconnected. For several seconds, Bowser and I stared at the phone, halfway expecting it to ring again.

Laura came downstairs. "I just got a call from Melina. Joanne is having her baby."

"Three times is the charm, Bowser." I said, giving him some skritchins. Then I followed Laura out the door and to my Police SUV...

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

By the time Laura and I got to the Hospital, Joanne had delivered the baby. "It's a boy." Melina told us. "No complications at all. Seth's in there with her. We can see them after they put her in a room."

Just then, the Hospital speaker system announced 'Code Blue, Code Blue, Obstetrics'. That got Laura's attention. She said "I'm going to go see what's going on."

When she did not return fifteen minutes later, I told everyone gathered in the waiting room "I'm going to go see what's going on." I went down the hall to the Nurse's Station.

"Yes, Commander," said the Nurse, "she went into the delivery room area. There's a problem birth, but I don't know any more."

"And couldn't tell me if you did." I said. "Is the patient anyone we know?"

"Her husband is a Police Officer." the other nurse at the station said. "He's over there in the waiting room."

I looked down the hall, then said "Thanks. I'll be in there." I went down the hall. The waiting room was empty save for one man. I recognized him as Patrolman First Class Kevin Buchannan. He was black, tall and well built, with a trimmed beard and mustache. He was a competent, promising Police Officer, assigned to 2nd Precinct, and was being monitored by Lieutenant Rudistan for increased opportunities.

"Commander!" he said, very surprised. He tried to get up, but I stopped him.

"Carry on. Sit back down." I said, and emphasized the point by sitting down next to him. "What's going on?"

"My wife went into labor." said Buchannan. "They took her to the delivery room, then I heard a 'Code Blue' and a doctor and nurses ran in there. Then your wife came down the hall. They won't tell me what's going on."

"They won't tell me, either." I said. "Your wife's in good hands. Let's just wait until they come tell us something..."

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

After the Hospital bombing (Author's note: 'Only Time'.), delivery rooms were set up near the regular O.R. rooms. Laura Fredricson undressed and put on scrubs, then a paper suit over the scrubs, and went in. She saw Dr. Kim Chang, a resident in gynecology, and Dr. Yates, who was a psychiatrist but only a G.P. on Staff. There were two nurses in the room, as well. They looked worried, and Kim Chang looked a little scared.

"Status report." Laura said, coming up to them.

"Dr. Fredricson," said Dr. Yates, "you can't be in here with your broken arm!"

"This is a teaching hospital, and my eyes and my mouth still work." Laura replied. "What's going on, Kim?"

"Ma'am," said Dr. Chang, "Mrs. Buchannan began going into labor at 7:30 this morning, and came in with her husband. She's dilated and the contractions are coming quickly and are lasting 30 seconds. But the baby wasn't moving, so we looked with the sonogram. It looks like the umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby's neck."

"Let's get her into surgery, stat." Laura ordered. "Doctors, scrub up. I'm going to lead you through an emergency C-section..."

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

In order to get Kevin Buchannan's mind off of his wife's labor, I began talking to him.

"You got any family we need to contact?" I asked.

"My wife's parents and my parents live in the City." Kevin said. "They can't really afford to come over here."

I began texting as I told Kevin "I think we have to deliver some Court papers to the City. If they just happen to go by and pick up y'all's parents on the way back here, no one can complain."

After more texts and calls to the grandparents-to-be, Buchannan said "Thank you, sir. I really appreciate it."

Just then, Cindy Ross popped her head into the waiting room. "Joanne's in her room now."

I said "Tell her I'll be there after Patrolman Buchannan's wife has her baby."

"Oh, congratulations!" Cindy said. "Boy or girl?"

"We don't know yet." I said. "There may be some complications, too. Let the Chief know." Cindy said she would, then excused herself.

"Sir, if you need to go..." offered Buchannan, but I shook my head vigorously in disagreement.

"I'm right where I need to be." I said. "I can tell you from lots of experience that a waiting father-to-be needs backup." Yes, that... and no way I was leaving one of my Officers without backup at this pivotal moment of his life...

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

Laura guided Dr. Chang through the emergency C-section, with Dr. Yates's help. "Okay, unwrap that umbilical cord. It's a damn good thing y'all did a sonogram; it would've died if it had been pushed out."

A moment later, Dr. Chang said "It's a boy." as the baby was pulled out, and taken over to the table to be wiped down and checked. A moment later, everyone smiled as they heard loud baby cries in the room. The little guy had made it!

"Doctor, we've got bleeding." said the delivery nurse.

"All right, here's what you're going to do." Laura said to the other doctors, beginning to guide them. She did not mention that Mrs. Buchannan was experiencing the same problems Rhonda Hooper had been having when the bomb had exploded...

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

Two hours had passed. Cindy had put out an email to the Police Force showing a photo of Joanne Warner in bed, holding her baby boy, with a congratulatory message. In the meantime, Kevin Buchannan was getting more and more worried.

We'd talked about Kevin's career path. He said he didn't know if the Detective track was for him, and he'd been considering training for the special tactics teams or the SWAT team itself... but now that he had a baby to think about, he had to consider staying in the Uniformed Officer's track.

Kevin also told me that his wife was working on finishing her degree online with City University, so that she could get her Teaching certificate. "I don't know if you know this, Commander, but they make it tough to get a teaching certificate. There's a lot of good people ready to help our kids, teach them what they know but they can't get a certificate."

"And the student loan business is nothing short of a racket." I said. "But don't tell my wife the college professor I said that."

Buchannan barked a brief laugh, then said "Yes sir. And they're always razzing the coaches at Booker T. Washington High about having their certificates to be able to work there, but they don't say a thing to the County High coaches."

I said "I happen to know from writing the Charter with Mrs. Carter that County High and Town High's coaches have their certificates. But BTW High's coaches have theirs, too. So why are they being singled out?"

"I'll be blunt, Commander." said Kevin. "BTW is predominately black. And ever since that football game against County High," (Author's note: 'In Black And White'.), "the County High parents make complaints to the SHSSA (State High School Sports Association, the governing body for athletics in the State's schools), and the SHSSA just assume the complaints are true."

That led to a discussion of how things were on the Southside, particularly with the black community, and I told Buchannan to speak candidly. He said that because he lived on the Southside and grew up there, he had a level of respect that other Officers did not, but that didn't mean all that much. He said Lieutenant Rudistan having grown up on the Southside helped him, but there was still skepticism because Rudistan was white. And one big complaint by blacks on the Southside was that white Officers who didn't live there were sent in to police them, and were 'not respectful'.

Finally, Laura came into the room. "Congratulations, Kevin! It's a boy." Kevin just about started crying as I shook his hand. Laura said "He's doing very well, but we had some problems with the delivery." She discussed how the umbilical cord had been wrapped around the baby's neck, then said "We did an emergency C-section, and your wife had some bleeding afterwards. We had to remove her uterus to get it stopped. She had a condition that would've made future pregnancies dangerous at best, and impossible at worst. But the good news is that if there's no more bleeding, and she should make a full recovery."

Kevin nodded, and Laura said "Let me ask you this: you have Police insurance, don't you? Did you bring your wife here for any pre-natal care?"

"No ma'am." said Kevin. "The deductible was pretty high, so my wife went to the Clinic in our neighborhood. I thought they did a pretty good job."

"Oh, I'm sure they did." Laura said. She didn't say it out loud, but would tell me later that she would've caught Mrs. Buchannan's problem early, as she had Rhonda Hooper's condition, whereas the staffs at the Public Health Clinics usually wouldn't.

"Can I... can I see the baby?" Kevin asked, emotion in his voice.

"Sure." Laura said. We went to the makeshift nursery area, where Kevin was outfitted with a paper suit and a cap, surgeon-green in color, and a mask. As his new son was handed to him, I took a photo, which captured a tear trickling down the proud father's cheek.

I sent an email out with that photo to the entire Police Force, along with my message of congratulations for the newest addition to the Police family...

Part 2 - Inspections

"First things first
I'm a' sayin all the words inside my head
I'm fired up and tired of the way that things have been, oh-ooh
The way that things have been, oh-ooh
--- Imagine Dragons, 'Believer'

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Monday, November 25th, from the copse of trees just south of the Courthouse complex, so that said Courthouse complex was in the background. "Commander Donald Troy continues to fail to solve a murder committed in broad daylight in the heart of our Town & County!"

Bettina began: "Attorney Darryl Dawson was murdered in the Courthouse parking lot last week, and the Town & County Police have made no progress toward a solution of the crime despite plenty of eyewitnesses and videocamera coverage. A spokesperson for Prodder, Ryder & Reems, P.C., the legal firm which employed Mr. Dawson, issued a statement saying, quote: 'Commander Troy's failure to solve this crime shows his utter incompetence, and he should be fired immediately', close quote. Commander Troy has refused to respond to Channel Two News's repeated requests for comment. Now let's go to trusted reporter Lester Holder with a breaking report on judicial malfeasance. Lester!"

Lester 'Penis' Holder came on screen and said "That's right, Bettina! The government watchdog group 'Citizens for Ethical Standards' has filed formal complaints with the SBI-OER, the State Bar, and the State Supreme Court against local Superior Court Judge Rodney K. Watts, accusing him of taking bribes to make rulings to benefit the Police."

Penis Holder: "They particularly cited Judge Watts allowing Police Deputy Chief Cindy Ross to adopt a child out of turn and more quickly than others have been allowed to adopt. Cindy Ross is the daughter of the extremely wealthy founder of 'The Vision' self-help empire, Dr. P. Harvey Eckhart, and she is heiress to his incredibly huge fortune. Neither Judge Watts nor Deputy Chief Ross have responded to KXTC's repeated requests for comment. Back to you, Bettina!"

Back to Bettina: "Thank you for that very important report, Lester! In other news, the local Republican Party has not said who might run for Inspector General. The Democrats are strongly behind Board of Inquiry Commissioner Bruce Finneran, who was narrowly defeated by incumbent Horace S. Wellman earlier this month. Mr. Wellman is not running for re-election next November, leaving the post wide open. KXTC has endorsed Commissioner Finneran for that post. And now let's go to Jeff Hull for more on the big Bulldogs-State Tech game this weekend. Jeff!"

"That's right, Bettina!" said Jeff Hull. "Our Bulldogs travel to State Tech to take on the 2-9 Engineers in what is expected to be a strong Bulldogs showing. The Wildcats, who clinched the Division championship last weekend, will finish their regular season at home against a very tough 9-2 State U. Purple Hawks team..."

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

"Yeah, Bettina's about to see a 'strong Bulldog showing', if she keeps up that shit about me adopting Betsy." said a visibly angry Cindy Ross as we drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room.

"Har." grunted Sheriff Griswold. "Did she really try to contact you?"

"Someone at KXTC did." Cindy replied. "They called my office here at 10:30 last night, then again around 5:30 this morning, and of course I'm not here either of those times."

"And accusing Judge Watts of bribery?" Tanya Perlman said angrily. "But not a word about Harry Nance?"

"So who was that attack really upon?" Teresa Croyle asked. "Cindy, or Judge Watts?"

"What if I told you..." I said, "that the attacks are on both, and are very much related to each other?"

"What do you meeeeeeen, Mr. Crowbar?" asked Chief Sean Moynahan.

I replied: "They're trying to discredit Judge Watts, who is the most fair-minded judge we have, and a strong counterweight to the corrupt Judge Nance. And in a seemingly unrelated story, they bring up Cindy adopting Betsy again, bringing that back into their spotlight. I don't think it's a coincidence. But exactly why? I don't know, Chief. Not yet."

"Only the Iron Crowbar can connect dots that seeeeeem to have no connect-shunnnnn." drawled the Chief. I was not sure if he was kidding me, or if there was more behind his comment.

"He sure connected those dots in the Beverly DeAngelo murder, Chief." said Tanya Perlman with a grin and a gleam in her eyes.

"That was a team effort." I said. "And an outstanding start to our Intelligence Branch's career."

"Modesty, Commander..." growled Griswold.

"Does not apply here, Sheriff." I said. "It really was an outstanding team effort. And watching Coleman and Newman shred Gwen Munson in those interviews? That alone was worth the price of admission." Everyone chuckled at that.

"Speaking of that," said the Chief, "what dooooo we have on the Dawson murder?"

"Unless we catch a break," I said, "nothing, sir. It was a pro hit. I suspect Elliot Sanders and MegaTech are greasing Bettina's sweaty palms to have her bitch about it on her newscasts, but it is what it is. So, Chief, are you asking for my resignation over it?"

"Lord, no." muttered the Chief. "If I have to ask for your resignation, Mr. Crowbar, please make it over something worthwhile... a real doozy of a scandal or something..."

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

It is said that the three days before Thanksgiving are the most dreaded on the calendar of the Town & County Police Force. That is because the Police Commander makes snap inspections of everything... and is never satisfied with what he finds.

I went through County Jail like a tornado. The 1st Precinct Police Officers were in okay shape, but the Deputies incurred some serious wrath. One Deputy gave me some backtalk, saying I wasn't his boss. Within an hour, he was explaining himself to the County Sheriff, who ultimately was his boss, and the 'explanation' failed. He would be suspended 30 days without pay for insubordination.

2nd Precinct had learned from the previous year. The Police cruisers were washed and cleaned inside and out, their engine fluids at the correct levels. The vast majority of the Officers's uniforms were correct, properly shined shoes and belt buckles, and gig lines were straight. But the few that weren't were made to be an embarrassment for everyone else. And I made sure to let them know that the polished wooden floors of the historic Old Mill did not meet my standard.

The Detectives in Headquarters fared little better. The Intelligence people didn't know what was coming... and what came through wasn't good to watch. Once I was done, Captain Perlman banned all food and drinks in the Intel Center, which should already have been implemented, anyway. MCD and Vice weren't a whole lot better, as desks were untidy, paperwork lying around, papers open to be read that shouldn't have been. Lt. Davis, Lt. Mary Milton, and Detective Sergeant McGhillie took their asschewings, then had private meetings with their people.

Afterwards, I called Lt. Commander Croyle into my office. She (wisely) came in and stood at attention, expecting her asschewing to be the worst of all. "I have no excuse for the condition of this Police Force, sir." she said.

"At ease, have a seat." I said. Teresa sat down, and I said "As long as it's better on Wednesday, no problem. And you know I do this to make sure everyone doesn't start getting 'holiday fever' too early."

"Yes sir," said Teresa, "but I am still appalled at how unprepared they were, especially knowing what was coming."

"It wouldn't have mattered." I said. "I remember when I was at Military Police Officer Basic Course. As part of our training, we would go in to inspect the Enlisted Barracks. We came in to one unit, and everything looked great. Floor was spotless, all the beds and lockers properly made and perfect. And then... this one NCO comes in. He throws coffee grounds on the floor, then yells 'This place looks like a pig sty!'. Then he starts going through lockers, and throwing people's stuff on the floor, and yells 'Oh look, these lockers are not arranged to the standard.'."

"Like Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann in 'Full Metal Jacket'." Teresa said, remembering the Drill Sergeant portrayal by the late, great R. Lee Ermey.

"Yes." I said, then continued: "Those privates spent all weekend having a 'G.I. party'. We came back in on Monday and everything was the same... spotless, beds made, lockers in perfect order. That NCO goes through with us, and says 'Everything looks pretty good.'.

"Was that NCO pissed off at something?" Teresa asked.

"I have no idea." I replied. "He might have just been making a point, to them and to us doing the inspections. Anyway, that's just how it works. As long as your Police Officers correct the mistakes and it looks the slightest bit better than it was, it'll be all good..."