Believer Ch. 01

"Interesting." I said thoughtfully. Lionel Carmela was one of the most rabidly Leftist professors on Campus, literally a Marxist who openly advocated the overthrow of the United States Constitution and its replacement with a Soviet-style Communist regime.

The classes he taught had a hard left edge, and students were warned that any hint of Conservatism in their papers would earn them a failing grade. He also did not permit withdrawals, and anyone who tried to withdraw ended up with a 'withdrawn failing' grade, for which he'd been sued twice.

"I know Carmela hates my father with a passion, sir." said Myron. "Does he have personal issues with your wife?"

"Yes, he does." I said. "He was really supportive of Jan Camp in her lawsuit against the University, and he took a lot of shots at Laura during that time." (Author's note: 'Falsely Accused', Ch. 03.) "And he hates me, both personally and as a Police Officer. Okay, give your father my thanks, Myron." Myron interpreted that as the dismissal it was, and smartly exited the office.

I sat back in my 'Command Chair', looking at the ceiling, thinking. When I finally looked back down again, fifteen minutes had passed...

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

"Congratulations Commander, Captains." I said to Teresa Croyle and the Precinct Captains during our 2:00pm meeting at Headquarters. "Everything looks great. Uniforms, equipment, the facilities, all of it. I just sent an email to loddy-doddy-everybody expressing my satisfaction."

"Yezzz." said Chief Moynahan. "I'll be adding my own congratulations in my email... which will mention the perils of drinking and driving during the Holiday sea-sonnnnnnn."

I said "We go into Holiday shifts beginning at midnight." I said. "Tomorrow and Friday. Saturday is an away game for the University, so nothing special unless trouble breaks out. Keep this secret, but I will be out of Town on Saturday, so let's not have any criminal activity, okay?"

"We'll handle it, sir." said Teresa. Captain Abram and Captain Hewitt nodded vigorously in agreement...

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

2:45pm. I got a text from Eddy the Bounty Hunter, asking to meet me personally somewhere. We met at McGhillie's Golf and Country Club, on the other side of the mountain finger from The Cabin, not far from Sheriff Griswold's home. Ian McGhillie allowed us to use a couple of golf carts for free, and we drove by separate paths to a spot near the base of the mountain finger, which had some pine trees for cover.

"Got something for me?" I asked as Eddy came over and sat next to me in the seat of my golf cart.

"Sure do." said Eddy. "The guy who made the complaints is Dr. Lionel Carmela, Political Science Professor at the University."

I nodded. "And you're sure?" I asked.

Eddy said "Yeah. He has several grad students and some outsiders that are part of his inner circle, which are colloquially called his 'Politburo'. He has other undergrads who worship him politically but aren't on the inside like his Politburo, but there's one girl, named Dana, who is one of his disciples and is dating a guy who is an insider. Dana is a very unattractive woman and a rabid feminist, but I took one for the team and laid the pipe to her to get the story."

"You're getting paid and getting laid." I said with a grin. "Good work for those who can find it."

"Yeah." Eddy said sourly. "I'm telling ya, I've had far, far better looking women than her. This girl is ugly, the kind of girl you want to put a bag on her head. Anyway, after I came in her ass like she wanted, she told me that Carmela was the one that filed the complaint. I asked why Dr. Fredricson was being targeted, since she was a Liberal sex professor, and Dana said that Carmela told his inner circle people that he needed her kicked off the Hospital Staff and the University Faculty because she had too much influence on Wellman. She also said she'd heard that other professors were going to be targeted and gotten rid of, but she didn't know who."

I nodded. "So my name was not taken in vain in all this?"

"Not unless your name is 'God', which means Dana was screaming your name as she was coming on my cock." Eddy said. I groaned at the bad joke.

"Keep the day job." I said. "The comedy career ain't making it." Eddy shrugged.

"So that's all you have?" I asked.

Eddy replied: "I've been keeping tabs on various people in this County for a while now. The only people I won't take money to watch are you and your family; I don't want any part of a crowbar being shoved up my ass."

"Smart man." I said.

Eddy continued: "Over time, I've come to learn that Carmela has contacts with Leftwing politicians, black and white, male and female. He advised Della Harlow during her run for Sheriff, for example. He's worked with Malinda Adams in the past, but the latest word is that he was the one behind Stacey Jacobs primarying Malinda Adams. He and Kelly Carnes have no love lost for each other, but he's supported Katherine Woodburn even though she's nowhere near as Leftist as he is."

Eddy: "The gist of all this is that Carmela's people, his inner circle and outer circle acolytes, are infiltrating the Antifa groups, the PCGW green groups, and they do the agitating of the groups. For example, the 'Black Voices Raised' group advocates peaceful protests, but agitators within that group are pushing for more militant, violent action. He may be one of the chief advisors behind the County Democrats's agenda for the upcoming elections next year. And if the rumors of blacks being agitated to cause chaos in an election year are true... this guy is one of the masterminds behind it."

"So this is part of a bigger plan." I mused. "Part of a plan..."

Part 5 - Birthdays and Holidays

7:00pm, Wednesday, November 27th. Laura had suggested we have Ian's birthday party the next day, in conjunction with our big Thanksgiving feast. I nixed that; I'd long felt sorry for kids whose birthdays were right on a holiday like Christmas, and I said that Ian deserved his party on his own big day.

Cindy, Callie, and Betsy had gone down to 'The Vision' already, but Carole, Jim, Ross, Tasha, Mike, Doug, little Jack, Pete, Jennifer, Tiffany, and Marie were at The Cabin and ready to party. Their parents were present, including Edward and Stephanie Steele, at my specific invitation. Sheriff Griswold, Bowser, and Buddy supervised.

Now four years old, Ian was given some good gifts from his siblings and friends. Carole and Marie gave him a (purchased) book about flags of the world. Tasha gave him a (purchased) picture book about trains. Doug, Mike, and (theoretically) little Jack gave Ian things that could be loaded and shipped on the trains and trucks of Lego City.

Jim and Ross gave Ian... a Nerf football. That was not unlike a husband giving his wife a lawnmower as a gift; Jim and Ross played far more football, and all sports in general, than Ian did. But Ian seemed okay with it, particularly since the cake and ice cream began being served...

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

After supper, Todd talked with Sheriff Griswold, Edward Steele and Paulina; Molly talked with Tanya, Teresa, and Jack Muscone; and I talked with Laura and Stephanie Steele downstairs in privacy.

"I found out who filed those complaints against you, Laura." I said. "And it could affect both of you. It was Lionel Carmela, and from the information I gathered, he's doing it for reasons of politics and influence upon others. Laura, you're tight with Dr. Wellman, with me, with the Police, with the Hospital Staff. Stephanie, your husband is a Republican Council Member, your daughter is about to become the CEO of the J.P. Goldman Bank, and you have ties with Dr. Wellman and some of the University Regents. So Carmela is taking his shot at you, Laura, and may follow up with something against you, Stephanie. I don't know what, though, but you need to watch out."

"So what now?" Laura asked.

"I don't know." I said. "The timing was great for Carmela. The Press got to take shots at you, Laura; but if we bring out Dr. Chang and Dr. Yates, and Admiral Cordell touting your innocence, that gets lost in the four-day Holiday period."

"Your focus is the Press." Laura said. "I'm more worried about the situation itself. We need to find a way to get Carmela's name in public as the whistleblower, and then I can take action against him."

"What do you intend to do?" I ask. "Sue him for slander and defamation?"

"That's one possible route." Laura said. "But we have to get his name out there, or he'll hide behind the whistleblower laws. How did you get his name, by the way?"

"By methods that are useless to you to expose him." I replied...

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

Thursday, November 28th. Thanksgiving Day. Everyone from the day before was at The Cabin again, and were joined by my mother Phyllis, Molly's (and Cindy's) mother Maggie, and Chief Moynahan.

I'd also invited Jerome Davis and his father Jonathan, and was very happy that they'd accepted and were here. Inga Gunddottar, who was dating Jerome, was also present. Jonathan was very impressed with Lego City, and the boys (except little Jack Burke) were impressed with his stories about being in the Navy. Inga, Jerome, and Jonathan also met the Bowser standard of approval, but not the Tiger Mom standard... then again, no one really met her approval. Tiger Mom and her kittens were skittish of all the people and stayed hidden.

Some time before, Jim had proposed a stringbean contest, with Carole as the judge, and Ross had vigorously agreed. That got nixed when Carole said that everyone would lose, but it did start something, and we had several 13x9 casseroles of dressings, gravies, and turkeys. The Sheriff's deep fried turkey was the slight winner over Todd and his grandmother's turkey-in-a-bag in the oven. When it comes to cooking game, Sheriff's 'got game', I thought to myself.

Maggie had made her grandson Ian a birthday cake, so we had that as well as a cake in a pan that Paulina and Tasha had made.

And just about every bit of that food disappeared at lunch. I said that the boys and the Sheriff had hollow legs, which for some reason always made the boys laugh hysterically. The Sheriff was greatly amused, as well.

"Dad," said Ross as a lot of us boys of various ages watched the Detroit Lions play the Minnesota Vikings on television, "why do Detroit and Dallas always play on Thanksgiving?"

I replied "Well, the Detroit Lions have played on Thanksgiving since the 1930s. That's a long time ago, even before World War Two. So it's tradition for them. And in the 1960s, when Dallas became an NFL team, the NFL asked them if they would play on Thanksgiving one year. They said they would, but under one condition: that they get to play on Thanksgiving every year. And so they do."

"That's cool." said Ross.

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

Chief Moynahan held court with the older persons, including my mom, Maggie, Edward and Stephanie Steele. Most of the rest of the women were fluttering like parakeets in the greatroom while the guys watched football, with Sheriff Griswold and Jonathan Davis having some good conversation. I took the opportunity to talk with Teresa, Jerome, and Inga on the back deck.

"This is a wonderful view, sir." Inga said as she looked out over the Town in the valley below us.

"Thanks." I said as I got the fire in the fire pot going. "Okay, Inga, ranks are off today, so speak freely. What would you say is the biggest issue to you and your fellow Police Officers?"

Seeing that this was her huge chance to talk to two of the highest Officers on the Force, Inga said "For most of us, we don't like the way we're treated by the politicians, like the Council and the Assembly, and the Press. We felt like we were being used as pawns in the last Budget battle. And I didn't like the way Corporal Hicks and I were treated by the Council in that shooting incident." (Author's note: 'The Four Boxes of Liberty'.)

Inga: "And the Media's relentless attacks on you, Commander, and ultimately on all of us, makes us mad. We see the Press vans going around, trying to catch us doing something wrong, and even talking to people to get them to do something so we can be filmed overreacting. And we don't trust the Council to do the right thing and indemnify us when we're just doing our jobs and have to use the force needed to subdue violent offenders."

"That's an issue." I said. "And along those lines: if professional, paid-for agitators started making demands to defund the Police, how would the Force take that?"

"Most of us would be angry, but would keep doing our jobs." Inga said. "But if the politicians start withholding our indemnity, if they start trying to charge us with crimes just for doing our jobs... that's when talk of going on strike starts up. If Finneran had won the I.G. job, we might be on strike now."

"That's good information to know." I said. "So how is morale overall right now?" I asked.

"Strong, sir." said Inga. "And I'm not trying to kiss up when I say this, but as long as you and Captain Croyle have our backs, we'll have yours..."

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

After all the guests (except Sheriff Griswold) had gone home, which included my mother going to the MIL apartment at the Mountain Nest, we (Laura, Molly, Paulina, and I) cleaned up and then went and sat down in the greatroom. I poured some wine into five glasses.

"To the many things we are thankful for." I said. "Including family and good friends like you." We clinked our glasses and drank the wine.

"I didn't realize how out of shape I've gotten." said Laura. "I'm exhausted."

"Honey, you have a broken arm." I said. "You're trying to do too much."

"And you've got that crap hanging over your head with the State Medical Board." Molly said. "I curse the bastard that did that right when the Holiday season was starting."

"Any idea what you're going to do about it?" Paulina asked Laura.

"Fight like hell." said Laura. "Expose the asshole who made the false charges, and sue his ass out of existence. But I'm angriest that the SBI-OER is criminally investigating me over these ridiculous allegations."

"Honey, they may just be trying to exonerate you." I said.

"Don, tell me what law I violated!" Laura fired back. "Tell me what grounds the SBI has to be fucking with me over this!" The room filled with an awkward silence. Laura finally exhaled, then said "I'm tired. I need to go to bed."

"I'll help you get ready." said Paulina. They got up and went upstairs.

"She's just tired." said Molly. I shook my head vigorously in disagreement.

"No." I said. "She's angry. And you know what they say about 'Hell hath no fury'..."

Part 6 - Playing Games

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Friday, November 29th, from the KXTC anchor desk. "Channel Two News has learned that the SBI has opened a formal criminal investigation of Dr. Laura Fredricson, head professor of the University's Department of Psychology, and currently on Staff at University Hospital!"

Bettina began: "Dr. Fredricson has also been referred to the State Medical Board for malpractice by being in an Operating Room during a surgery despite having not recovered from injuries sustained in the Hospital bombing last month. She was also referred to the University Ethics Board for the same actions."

Bettina: "The State Medical Board issued a statement saying they have received the complaint, and are awaiting the result of the SBI's investigation before taking further action. As of this report, the State Medical Board has unbelievably not suspended Dr. Fredricson's medical license. University Hospital has not issued any statements, but as of this report they have not suspended Dr. Fredricson nor removed her from the Hospital Staff."

Bettina: "The University President's Office issued a statement saying that Dr. Fredricson has done nothing unethical, and that the complaint about her is without merit. The statement also said that they are seeking legal advice on whether or not the person making the complaint is covered under State 'whistleblower' laws, and if it is deemed the accuser is not covered, the accuser's name will be publicly revealed."

Bettina: "We have with us Dr. Adam S. Keller, senior fellow at the City University Rodham Foundation for Political and Social Change." The camera panned out to show Keller sitting at the KXTC anchor desk with Bettina as she said "Dr. Keller, is the person that complained covered by State 'whistleblower' laws?"

"Yes, he is covered by the whistleblower laws." said Dr. Keller, slipping up badly by saying 'he'. "Those laws were made specifically for situations like this, so that Dr. Fredricson's unethical behavior can be reported without the whistleblower fearing retaliation. But more important to me is the State Medical Board's refusal so far to suspend Dr. Fredricson's license to practice medicine. That lack of action puts the Public in extreme danger, and I urge the State Medical Board to take swift action and suspend Dr. Fredricson's medical license."

Bettina: "What about the criminal complaint to the SBI? Is that covered by the whistleblower laws? Or does Dr. Fredricson have the Constitutional right to face her accuser in open Court?"

Pencil Neck Keller said "The whistleblower laws do cover complaints to the SBI, but there could be an issue at trial if criminal charges are filed. But the ethics complaint to the State Medical Board are far more important here, and it is vital to the Public's safety that Dr. Fredricson's license to practice medicine be rescinded immediately."

"Thank you, Dr. Keller!" said Bettina happily. As the camera focused on her (so that Keller could get off the anchor desk without being seen doing so), she said "And as we enter the Holiday season, Channel Two News has learned that the Town & County Police will be setting up multiple checkpoints to entrap potentially drunk drivers. Sources tell Channel Two News that Operations Commander Teresa Croyle will be overseeing the checkpoints personally, and we can only hope that Citizens are not subjected to the same physical abuse that Dean Allen was some years ago..."

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

"The Citizens don't need to worry." I said as we drank coffee in my office. "But I can't make any promises if Bettina is found driving drunk at one of our checkpoints." Teresa nodded vigorously in agreement.

"That was just disgusting." said Cindy Ross. "Why take that cheap shot at Teresa? What's Bettina's beef with her?"

"It may have been a shot at all of us through her." said Tanya Perlman. I shook my head vigorously in disagreement.

"No." I said. "It's Bettina trying to agitate Teresa, but it's also setting the table. If any incident occurs, not just by Teresa, but by any Police Officer, you will hear no end of it from KXTC, and Bettina will add 'I told you so!' to the end of it."

"Are you suggesting the Press might try to do something to create an incident?" Cindy asked skeptically.

"I wouldn't put it past them." I said, my eyes boring into Cindy's. She did not meet my stare.

"I'll give Bettina this much credit." Tanya said. "She did actually ask Pencil Dick Keller about Laura's right to face her accusers."


I said: "That's true, but what I noticed was that Keller was just hammering away on the State Medical Board thing. He is really gunning to get Laura's medical license revoked. So what's his angle and involvement in this?"

I continued: "The good news, and in my humble opinion why the Board has not acted yet, is because the Enemy tried this before, and bribed the State Medical Board to suspend her license. The Board is scared shitless something like that might hit them again, so they're acting with an abundance of caution."