Black and Blue Ch. 04

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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Part 21 - Deadly Force

*WHACK!*

*POW!*

I'd swung my crowbar upward, catching McCombs's gun's barrel and pushing it upwards. The gun fired as McCombs pulled the trigger, but the bullet flew over the head of the man and his son that McCombs had been aiming at.

*THUD!*

As McCombs turned, I thrust the end of my crowbar at his face and solidly connected. He went down, falling flat on his back. I saw him try to raise his gun and point it at me.

*WHAP!*

Crowbar metal met gun metal, and got some of McCombs's fingers. "Drop it!" I ordered. I swung the crowbar like a baseball bat and hit him across the knuckles again, and the gun fell out of his hand as he cried out in pain. As I moved to kick it away, McCombs tried to roll to attack me. I grabbed his left wrist and twisted, forcing him on over onto his belly. Almost before he knew it, McCombs's hands were cuffed behind him.

And in case you were wondering, Officer Hendricks had been stupid, too. He was going to shoot me, and found himself disarmed and on the ground, courtesy of a two-time Police Boxing Matches Champion with a bad attitude.

"Well hello, Commander!" said Lieutenant Rudistan with great joviality as he came up with Lieutenant DeLong. "Getting in a little practice for the Boxing Matches that you can't compete in?"

"More like stopping cold blooded murder." I said. "Rudistan, you and Hicks take these two stains upon the TCPD badge to Headquarters, and run both through booking. The charges for McCombs will begin with attempted murder in the first degree."

"You're lying!" McCombs shouted. "I was protecting my Officers! You stopped me from doing the right thing! I want a Union Rep!" I just jerked my thumb at the Patrol cruiser, and McCombs was taken to it.

Meanwhile, Officer Buchannan had again gone up to the man and his son. "Hey, you remember me." he said. "I don't know what's going on, but I gotta check you out." He frisked the man and the boy, finding nothing dangerous.


"What the hell is going on here?" the man said. "This is twice in a row now?"

I had come up, and I saw the boy's eyes get very wide. I said "My name is Commander Troy. Someone has been pranking us, calling in a boy matching your son's description and clothing as being kidnapped. And this time, it looks like someone tried to do something worse, and I'll be personally busting his ass."

"Are you the Iron Crowbar?" the boy asked, his voice connoting shock and awe.

"Hey, 'O'." I said. "Yes, I'm the Iron Crowbar. You doing good in school?"

"He could be doing better." said his father, whose hands were still on his head.

"So are you going to start doing better?" I asked. "For your dad and for me?"

"Yes sir." the boy said.

"Good! Get good grades, and you might get a Sports scholarship to college somewhere." I said, planting a little seed in the boy's mind. I had Buchannan get their statements, and had Teresa get everyone else's statements as well as their Officer-cam and dashcam videos into evidence.

Teresa said "McCombs wasn't wearing an Officer-cam, and his dashcam was off. Hendricks was wearing his Officer-cam, but he turned it off right after he got out of his car..."

Just then, we saw the news van approaching us. "Stop that news van." I said. "Keep them back. Put up some crime scene tape..."

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

4:30pm, Friday, May 8th. When Teresa and I came into the employees entrance of Police Headquarters, the Duty Officer said "Sir, the Chief----"

"We're on our way." I said. We went straight to the Chief's office, do not pass Go, do not collect $200.

"Betcha a C-note that a Union Rep is already in the Chief's office." I said.

"What, do I look like an FBI Agent that would be dumb enough to bet against you?" Teresa replied, showing her pawky vein of humor. I chuckled at that.

And yes, when we got to the Chief's office and were ushered in, we found him with the Union Rep that had charged into my office and had Tanya's gun put in his ear.

"Have a seat, Mr. and Ms. Commanderrrrs." said the Chief. "We were just discussing this afternoon's inssss-i-dennnnt."

"Discussing?" the Union Rep said in sheer disbelief. "I thought I made it clear that this is a notification that we're grieving Commander Troy's physical assault against Sergeant McCombs. And I'm going to barbecue your ass, Troy!"

"Chief," I said, "I'm not going to even play around, here. McCombs tried to commit first degree murder. He tried to murder an unarmed black man in cold blood."

"He was following Police procedures disarming a suspect!" shouted the Union Rep, his face beet-red with fury. I felt like my face was just that red, too.

"IT IS NOT POLICE PROCEDURE TO CALL SOMEONE THE N-WORD!" I shouted back. "And that is what McCombs did! And he was in the act of pulling the trigger to shoot that unarmed black man in front of his underage child! I've got it on my Officer-cam!"

"And I witnessed it." Teresa said.

"I didn't ask you, missy." the Union Rep said haughtily.

I was in the process of grabbing the Union Rep and at the same time handing Teresa the red crowbar so she could break his ribs while I held him up. Unfortunately, the Chief intervened.

"That's enough, Mr. Crowbarrrr." the Chief said. I sat the utterly shocked Union Rep back down in his chair as Moynahan said to him: "Say that again, and I'll borrow that crowbar and beat you down with it myself."

"You asswipes are nothing but a bunch of thugs!" snarled the Union Rep, well known for his own Union thuggery. "I want to see my client. I want to see Sergeant McCombs. Now."

"What about Hendricks?" I asked.

"Apparently you're hard of hearing as well as stupid as a box of rocks." the Rep said angrily. "I said I want to see McCombs, and I want to see him NOW!"

The Chief said "You do not make dee-mannnds in my Police Station, no matter how much that suit cost you. You'll see him when I decide you will..."

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

Teresa and I were in the anteroom of Interrogation-1, watching McCombs and the Union Rep talking. McCombs was wearing an orange jumpsuit, the standard wear of guests of the TCPD's 'graybar hotel'.

I had the microphones on so that we could hear their conversation. When I'd flipped the switch, Teresa had looked at me funny, and I'd said "He's not a lawyer, and their conversation is not privileged." Whether that was true or not would depend on if Nance was the presiding judge, but I wasn't worried about that.

Even so, they were keeping their voices very low and hiding their faces to make it hard to read their lips. A moment later, McCombs's lawyer came in. It was Gwen Munson, of Prodder, Ryder & Reems, P.C. I flipped off the microphone, cutting off the sound, to keep things legally tidy and tight.

"We've got the bastard dead to rights." said Teresa. "We've got him using the n-word, what he said to you, the insubordination beyond that, then trying to attack you after you beat his gun out of his hand. He's finished, and so is Hendricks."

"As the Klingons say, don't count your chickens before they're hatched." growled the voice of Sheriff Griswold as he came into the anteroom. "The Union has already formally grieved you, Commander Troy, saying you assaulted McCombs as he was doing his lawful and correct duty. They were also trying to get Judge Nance to have McCombs released, but Paulina Patterson beat them to Judge Watts, who has the case and has ordered McCombs remanded without bail until his hearing Monday morning."

"They're moving fast on this." I said. "I'm glad we're moving faster."

"I'll also give you another heads-up." said the Sheriff. "KXTC and a couple of ambulance-chasing lawyers have gotten to the victim and his son. It is very likely the TCPD will be sued for twice accosting that man. KXTC has called Captain Thompson and demanded a comment from you personally, Crowbar."

"Oh, I have a comment for Fake News KXTC, Sheriff." I said. "But I'll get fired if I say it out loud to them. But seriously... this could get ugly, Sheriff. Really ugly. Especially with KXTC ginning up their dishonest crap..."

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

McCombs was taken under heavy guard to County Jail, where he was put in an isolation cell as a 'keepaway'. Hendricks was left in a holding cell at Headquarters.

"Gwen Munson was hanging around County Jail, expecting you to come in and question McCombs." said Teresa as we sat in my office at 6:00pm. "She finally left when they took him to his cell to eat, and told her he'd be there for the rest of the night. Out of curiosity, why didn't you talk to him?"

"For three reasons." I said. "First, because it's in Internal Affairs's hands, where it should be. Second, because he wouldn't answer any questions I have anyway. And third... because I'm tired, getting hungry, and ready to go home. Are we going to meet at the Cop Bar tonight?"

"I don't think anyone is going to be there." Teresa said. "KXTC Fake News propagandists... I mean 'reporters'... are sitting like vultures in the Irish Pub parking lot. There is also a crowd of reporters in the Press Room, but Captain Thompson and Commander Ross have already gone home. I'll drop dead of shock if you go in there, so that leaves the Chief, if anyone is going to make a statement to them."

"Yep." I said. "By the way, make sure you have your ducks in a row when you talk to I.A. or anyone else about busting McCombs and Hendricks. I have a feeling that we're going to be thrown a curve ball on this, and they may try to come at me through you."

"Bring. It. On." Teresa said, her voice full of menace. "But how can they come after you? You just saved a man's life! And you stopped a potential racial issue."

"Exactly." I said. "Okay, I'll call Laura and see if she can handle you and Todd and your kids coming next door to The Cabin for dinner, if you'd like to come."

"Let me call Todd." Teresa said. She did so as I called Laura...

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

7:30pm, Friday, May 8th. For some reason, chaos was ensuing in my home, and most of it was tracing back to young Jack Burke. He had been bugging Tasha, and then Ross got in his face and told him to leave Tasha alone. Jack didn't, and it looked like personal combat was brewing, but Carole ended that one by getting my red crowbar and taking over and handing it to Ross... who took it and turned to use it on Jack Burke.

Todd and I quickly intervened, then Todd told Jack to behave, Molly told Ross that she appreciated him taking up for his sister but it would be better to let us adults handle it, and I 'suggested' to Carole that the red crowbar was not hers yet, so she should leave it alone unless there was a real danger to deal with.


And then we heard a very rare sound: Bowser angrily growling, and no cellphone going off. Little Jack Burke was trying to get into the coat closet, where my Police gunbelt, including my service weapon, was stored on the shelf. The closet had an electronic lock on it, and the shelf was too high for young Jack to get to, but Bowser was doing the correct Police dog thing by alerting me to the danger. Jack earned a talking-to from Teresa for the error of his ways.

And at dinner, Jack Burke took potato chips off of Ian's plate and ate them. I said to Jack "You do realize there are Police Officers here that could arrest you for that?"

"Can I arrest him, Daddy?" Carole said eagerly... WAY too eagerly.

"No, Carole." I said as Teresa got up and took Jack to the kitchen. "I think his mom's handling it. Just like your mom handles things when you cause trouble." That caused Carole to quieten down rather quickly.

Listening to a conversation that did not concern me, I heard Teresa tell Jack "If you don't improve your attitude and begin behaving, I'll take you home and you'll sit in your room all weekend long..."

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

After dinner, Jack played video games in the front room while five young boys, one grown-up boy (Todd), and two outstanding dogs worked on New Lego City and the mighty Troy Transcontinental Railroad. Carole and Tasha did Carole and Tasha things with coloring books, and the rest of us adults (me, Laura, Molly, Paulina, Teresa, and Sheriff Griswold) talked in the greatroom.

"So someone literally tried that same stunt again." Paulina said. "They called in an abducted child, Police responded, McCombs acted in an exceptionally racist manner in multiple ways, he's literally about to murder that unarmed man, who was only saved when you physically stopped him."

"And with a Media van present this time." I said. "That wasn't a coincidence."

Molly said "The first time it happened, I understand the Police response, and it was handled fairly well. But it doesn't take the Iron Crowbar to see that this second time was not only ginned up, but McCombs's actions were part of it. What I don't understand is why a racist like McCombs would be a part of trying to gin up a racial incident that would only help blacks and the Media to take political advantage."

I replied "My first theory without data is that he was paid, and paid well, to do it. My second idea is that he's not a part of the (air quotes) 'conspiracy' by the Media and others to gin up an incident, but 'innocently', for lack of a better term, played into their hands."

"I'm not buying that." said Teresa. "After the McElwane and Buchannan incident, the word about proper handling of situations like that was discussed at every roll call, and was reinforced by separate emails from me and the Precinct Captains. So for McCombs to go off like he did was not 'innocent' nor 'natural', for lack of a better word."

I said "I'm not disagreeing with that. I'm just saying that McCombs might not have been working the Media on it. Also, McCombs was harassing Buchannan about not talking to us without a Union Rep, and we have the Union's 'anxiety' (air quotes) over me looking into McCombs's citation... and we're seeing strange stuff there, too. So I agree with you, Iron Wolf, on McCombs's perfidy." Teresa and I fist-bumped.

Then I said "Paulina, do you think we can get a warrant to dig through McCombs's finances? See if he suddenly got a huge amount of money?"

"Not yet." Paulina said. "We need more to show a pattern. Find something, and I can be all over it."

Sheriff Griswold said "The McCombs incident is now in the Inspector General's hands, because of your part in it, Crowbar. And the McElwane incident might be taken up by IG Wellman as part of his investigation of McCombs. He might try to get a warrant to check into their finances."

I said "There's one other way that might happen, too, though I pray to God it doesn't happen: if an incident like this one happens somewhere else, like the City, Southport, or Midtown, then that might be enough of a pattern to show cause for a warrant."

Sheriff Griswold said "Chief Moynahan told me he called Chief Soltis in Midtown and Captain 'Coldiron' Masters of City I.A., and told them to be on watch for something being ginned up. He also asked Cindy to have Tim Jenkins spread the word to the Southport Police as well as the FBI nationally."

"Speaking of Cindy and Tim Jenkins," Teresa said, the cattiness in her voice almost unnoticeable, "they're on their dinner date right now. I wonder how that's going?"

Laura said "That'll depend on how well Tim takes to being told he's going to be a father."

Teresa said "How is Callie taking that?"

I said "Are you sure you're not related to us? Your inquisitive nature is as bad as Carole's."

"Thank you for admitting that about Carole." Laura said to me, with the merest hint of acerbity. "As to Callie... I'm not sure. She always has that happy-go-lucky personality, and she seems to be taking it in stride." Laura's husband was shaking his head vigorously in disagreement. "You don't think so?" she asked me.

I said "She's an actress, and it's definitely a façade. I think she's worried about her relationship with Cindy..."

Part 22 - The Fuse is Lit

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Monday, May 11th, from the rooftop of the building on Riverside and College, with the State Office Building in the background. "County and State Politics erupt into chaos!"

Bettina began: "A lawsuit filed by Dr. Joseph E. Williams to force a new primary election in our County was dismissed with prejudice by Superior Court Judge Harry R. Nance. The ruling cited the State Democrat Party's willingness to accept the original results, and the Party's unwillingness to pay for another election. Dr. Williams has vowed to appeal the ruling."

Bettina: "And Stacey Jacobs, who narrowly lost her primary race to incumbent Malinda Adams, refused to concede nor to endorse Ms. Adams, but issued a statement saying she accepted the State Democrats's decision. She also stated that she would work to register blacks via voter drives, and to make sure every black vote was properly counted in the future."

Bettina: "Statewide, the Republican nominees for both Governor and Lieutenant Governor are not getting strong support from their State Party colleagues. Ruby Russell, daughter of the late US Senator Samuel Russell, was chosen over Republican Establishment stalwart Brian Cagle, and has received lukewarm support from State Republican leaders such as State Rep Wilson Hammonds of Pottsville."

Bettina: "But Ms. Russell is loved much more than the voters's choice to run for Governor, current Lieutenant Governor Sharon Marshall, a close crony of deeply unpopular Governor Val Jared and a supporter of his racist policies. While Republican State Senators that voted to acquit the Governor of Impeachment charges have endorsed Marshall, the State Republican Party and every Establishment Republican has not only refused to endorse Marshall, but some are considering openly endorsing her opponent, Democrat Hoyt Stenson of Jacksonville."

Bettina: "And now let's go to reporter Amber Harris for more on a crisis brewing in the Town & County Police Department. Amber!"

"That's right, Bettina!" said the athletic blonde reporterette as the camera feed switched to her with Police Headquarters in the distant background, but not showing she was on the same roof as Bettina, and only ten feet away from her. "Channel Two News has learned that the Police Union has filed a formal grievance against Police Commander Donald Troy, after Troy allegedly physically assaulted another Police Officer!"

Amber: "Sources tell Channel Two News that an Officer was making a stop of a man believed to be armed and with a child reported to have been abducted, when Commander Troy arrived and assaulted the Officer with his well-known, trademark red crowbar. The Police Union alleges that the Officer was making a lawful stop of the alleged criminal, and acted properly to protect other Officers and the child."

Amber: "Also, the Union has grieved Commander Troy's conduct in harassing several Officers by improperly investigating them and their actions, and attempting to question one Officer without requested Union representation. The Union is demanding Commander Troy be suspended without pay while the incidents are investigated, but as usual, Sheriff Griswold has taken up Troy's side, and declared that his favored Officer has done no wrong and would remain on full duty."