Believer Ch. 01

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"Yeah we are." said Cindy Ross with alacrity as we drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room. "Jamaal is a great guy, a perfect example of a student-athlete should be, and I love his family... but I am soooooo glad he is gone."

I said "I heard the Bulldogs are being considered for the Gator Bowl again."

"After going 10-2?" Cindy retorted. "Look, I'm not expecting the Sugar Bowl, but..." Then she saw me grinning, and realized I was needling her. Changing tack, she said "Well, we should play against Auburn, and beat them up like Alabama did on Saturday."

What Alabama did to Auburn, 49-13 in a game not as close as the score indicated, would've gotten the Crimson Tide arrested in my State for child abuse. And I knew Cindy was needling Teresa on two fronts.

'Yeah, Auburn against the Bulldogs." replied Auburn fan Teresa Croyle with nary a batting of her eyes. "I'd like to see that matchup. If Auburn wins, you have to carry a blue-and-burnt orange crowbar for a week."

Chief Moynahan intercepted (pun intended) the college football banter by saying "Mr. Crowbarrrr, what is your wife going to do about these charges against her?"

"Fight them, of course." I said. "We didn't talk about it yesterday; she said she wanted a day off from all of it." Everyone nodded at that. I sensed more than saw the slightest gleam in Cindy's ice blue eyes.

"Okayyyy..." said the Chief. "And you have the Orange Order voting under control?"

"I don't know about 'under control', Chief." I said. "But ballots are being turned in. They have until Thursday noon."

"Any idea who might winnnn?" drawled the Chief.

"No idea." I said. "It's wide open this year."

Teresa said "Maybe not as much as you think. I've been hearing two names mentioned a lot..."

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7:50am, Monday, December 2nd. My Angels had gathered in my office with me, awaiting the KFXU broadcast before the Angels Meeting, when there was a knock on the door. It was SBI Lieutenant Norm Chow of the SBI-OER Division. Cindy gave Norm her chair (which was nearest the door), and Tanya backed up to make a big circle with Cindy on the sofa. I told Norm to get some coffee, which he did before sitting down.

After initial greetings, Chow said "I just came by to tell you, Commander Troy, that I was here over the weekend investigating these allegations against your wife. I haven't talked to her yet... I couldn't get in touch with her... but I interviewed Dr. Chang and Dr. Yates, who performed the surgery, and the nurses that were in the O.R., as well as Officer and Mrs. Buchannan and Dr. Cordell."

I nodded. "What did you find?"

Norm Chow said "This is a slam dunk for acquittal, if you will. There's no law against a teaching doctor being in an O.R. advising Residents, no specific law forbidding an injured doctor from performing surgery. Dr. Fredricson could have been restricted from hands-on medical duties, but Dr. Cordell gave an sworn affidavit that he never imposed any restrictions on Dr. Fredricson. I'm going to advise Inspector Maxwell that we should close the case and issue a statement fully exonerating Dr. Fredricson."

"Sounds good." I said. Just then, we were interrupted by Fox Eight's 'BREAKING NEWS!' screen and loud noise. We stopped to listen to the KFXU broadcast:

"We have breaking news in the civil trial of the U.S. DOJ Civil Rights Division's civil suit against Mayor Daniel Allgood." said Catrina Pierce. "Judge K.M. Landis has imposed a gag order on the case, directing most of his wrath at the USDOJ, who Mayor Allgood's lawyers accused of leaking false information to the Press. The gag order does not prevent the Press from reporting on the case, but Judge Landis warned that information he considers to be leaked could get a legal team and the reporters that reported the leaked information put in jail for Contempt."

And then KFXU played the 'BREAKING NEWS' alert again.

"And this just in." said Meredith Peller. "Let's go to Priya Ajmani with more breaking news. Priya!"

"That's right, Catrina and Meredith!" said the lovely Priya Ajmani as the feed showed her in front of the President's Office on the University Campus. "A 9:00am Press conference has just been called by University President Sidney P. Wellman, and Fox Eight News has learned that it concerns the allegations against Dr. Laura Fredricson! We will cover the Press conference right here on KFXU Fox Eight News!..."

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"What's that about?" Cindy asked, looking straight at me.

"I have no idea." I said. I picked up my personal iPhone and texted Laura: "Whassup?". The reply came back: "Busy now. Watch the Press conference. I (heart) you." So I texted that Norm Chow was here, and that he'd found nothing wrong and was going to recommend dropping the case.

I received no reply.

"That's strange." I said after a few moments. I tried to call, and Laura's phone went to voicemail. Then she texted back a terse reply: "In a meeting."

"Okayyyy." I said. "Norm, you want to go over there and participate in the Press Conference?"

"Let me call Inspector Maxwell and President Wellman, and see what they want to do." said Norm. He excused himself and left the room.

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Second thing second
Don't you tell me what you think that I can be
I'm the one at the sail, I'm the master of my sea, oh-ooh
The master of my sea, oh-ooh
--- Imagine Dragons, 'Believer'

At 9:00am, Norm was back in my office. "President Wellman said to hold off on making any statements or coming to the Press Conference. Inspector Maxwell says she doesn't know what's going on about the Presser." I just nodded.

We watched as University President Sidney P. Wellman, Dr. Laura Fredricson, and Dr. Clarence P. Chase, Dean of the University Law School, came out.

"Thank you for coming." said Dr. Wellman. "We are here today to respond to the false charges levied against my friend and colleague, Dr. Laura Fredricson. In an investigation made over the weekend, no violations of the law nor of ethics were found to be made by Dr. Fredricson as she mentored two doctors through the process of saving a baby's life and possibly the life of the mother as well. I have directed the University Ethics Board to close the case with a directed finding that Dr. Fredricson is innocent of the charges. Dr. Chase?"

"Thank you, Dr. Wellman." said Dr. Chase. "As Dean of the University Law School, I have taken up this case on Dr. Fredricson's behalf. There are no laws on the books that would prevent Dr. Fredricson from being in that Operating Room verbally assisting the two doctors already in there. She did not physically participate in the emergency surgery that resulted in a successful live birth by C-section, as well as successfully stopping complications for the new mother. Also, Dr. Fredricson was not restricted by the Hospital Administrator in any way, so there is no avenue there to attack her, as well. I will be representing Dr. Fredricson before the State Medical Board, to prove that the allegations against her are false, and do not merit suspension or the rescinding of her medical license."

"Additionally," said Dr. Chase, "pertaining to the criminal investigation by the SBI, we believe the Constitution gives the defendant the right to face her accusers, that 'whistleblower' status does not apply to the accuser in this criminal case, and we intend to find out the accuser's name with the intention of suing him. Dr. Fredricson?"

I saw my wife come up to the podium with a look on her face that I did not often see, but always boded something bad for someone. "Thank you, Dr. Wellman and Dr. Chase. I am grateful to Dr. Chase for agreeing to represent me in the legal issues."

Laura: "As Dr. Chase said, there are no laws, none at all, that restricted me from going into that O.R. as a doctor on Staff at University Hospital. There is legally no crime, none at all, with which I could possibly be charged. None. Therefore, the criminal case brought against me by the State Bureau of Investigation's Office of Ethics and Review, particularly by it's leader, Inspector Britt Maxwell, had no merit at all. There were no grounds, at all, to begin a criminal investigation of me."

Laura: "Because there are no statutes with which I could be criminally charged, the SBI-OER's Inspector illegally began that criminal investigation. The Inspector of the SBI-OER, Brittany Maxwell, violated my Constitutional and civil rights by illegally investigating me on the whim of someone trying to hide behind the cloak of anonymity while trashing my good name with false allegations."

"Therefore," Laura said loudly and coldly, "I am announcing that I am filing a lawsuit against the SBI, the SBI's Office of Ethics and Review, and personally against Inspector Brittany Maxwell for this egregious and unConstitutional violation of my rights. As part of this, I will be demanding the SBI reveal the name of my accuser... not his lawyer, but the accuser behind the charges... so that I can file a slander and defamation lawsuit against that person for the false allegations that were made to harm me financially and destroy my good reputation. I'll be making no more statements to the Press until all of the cases surrounding these false and baseless charges are resolved..."

To be continued.