Calm Before The Storm Ch. 03

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Laura was a popular dance partner. The first dances were the more formal, old-school style dances, and Laura and I led the way onto the floor. Then Chief Griswold danced with Laura while I danced with his wife, who complimented me on my successes and said that he husband was proud of me. Then Todd danced with Laura and I danced with Teresa.

Last but not least, Daniel and Laura danced while I danced with his heavily pregnant wife... my own former wife, Melina.

"When is your baby due?" I asked.

"December 15th." Melina said. "But it could be any time."

"I hope she comes earlier rather than later." I replied. "Not too close to Christmas."

"I hear you." Melina said, then she peered at me. "How do you know it's going to be a girl? I haven't told anyone, and Laura said she wasn't going to tell you."

"She didn't." I said. "But my mother has been predicting it for months. She was always extremely accurate about it when I was growing up in Apple Grove." Melina smiled, then frowned.

"Speaking of Apple Grove," she said, "I've heard that things are getting worse up there."

I did not ask how Melina knew this, nor from what sources. Instead I merely said "I've heard that, too. I think someone's going to have to do something by this Summer.

"That someone being you?" Melina asked. "Need any help?"

"Maybe." I said. "But I suspect that it'll be high-level Federal help cleaning out that county. Oh wait... yes!" I paused and strained to listen to the voice in my earpiece.

"What?" Melina asked.

"The Wildcats just scored." I said happily. Melina grinned.

"So that's what that little earpiece is, a radio." Melina said. "I thought you were playing Secret Service agent or something. So what's the score?"

"Fourteen-to-nothing, Wildcats." I said.

Melina beamed. "Go Wildcats!" she said. "Hear us roar!"

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The music turned 'modern', and young officers and their spouses or dates, increasingly influenced by alcohol, were dancing fast to electric beats and multi-colored lights. Myron and Mary Mahoney were leading the charge with some surprisingly good moves.

Laura was talking with my mother Phyllis and Elsie Gringer, who had somehow managed to get dates. Those three sharing gossip was both a good and bad thing, I thought sardonically to myself as I went on a mission: I found a door behind the stage curtain and used it to go into the back area. The staff that was not working was watching the Conference title game, and I watched a few minutes with them. The Wildcats were in solid control, 21-0 at halftime.

Back at the head table, I told the Chiefs and the Mayor that they would have to formally leave the party before anyone else could leave. What Chief Griswold often did was to make the formal exit, then he and his wife would come back in a few minutes later.

And so before it got too late, we had the closing toast, given by Chief Griswold, then he and his wife left with Captain Moynahan, followed by the Mayor and his wife. A few other older Officers and their spouses also left, but what it meant was that I and a few other football fans went to the nearby lounge and watched Wildcat football.

I saw the final six minutes. The Wildcats executed a long, grinding drive, and scored to make it 28-6, which was the final score. I was cheering the Conference Champion Wildcats, feeling elated. Cheering with me was Dr. Woodrow of the Crime Lab, a Wildcat alumnus himself. A few Officers congratulated me. Chief Griswold would say they'd rise fast in the Force as good ass-kissers, I thought to myself. I bought everyone in the lounge a shot of Scotch.

Going back to the Ball, I danced a slow dance with Laura. I noticed that Todd and Teresa were also slow-dancing, and as usual Todd had the woman with him mesmerized. What stunned me was that Teresa had him mesmerized, as well.

"They're a beautiful couple." Laura whispered to me, seeing what I had been looking at. "They're so right for each other, but both are afraid to commit to the inevitable."

"Yes." I said, then I saw something else. "But... press the panic button, trouble in Paradise for someone else." I said. Laura glanced back and saw what I meant. Cindy and Jenna were sitting at a table, talking to Daniel and Melina. Cindy and Jenna had not danced together all night. And the body language I was reading was of a couple in love... in the case of Daniel and Melina. Not so much for my cousin and her fiancée...

Part 12 - Fiery Politics

Monday, December 7th. Pearl Harbor Day, the date that still lives in infamy. But like every other day, we start it off with the one and only Bettina!

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" yelled the lovely redhead from outside Firehouse #6 near Ronald Reagan Park. "Channel Two News has learned that the Fire Department plans to meet Council budget guidelines by deeply cutting the EMS Department!"

"Uh oh." I said as we listened in MCD.

Bettina continued: "The Fire Department is presenting a plan to the Sheriff and the Council that will severely reduce the number of EMTs in the County, as well as virtually eliminate any promotion opportunities for them. Sources tell Channel Two News that this could even include the reduction of EMS vehicles and the outsourcing of ambulance services to a private company through a bidding process. And now let's go to Nick Eastwood for Sports. Nick!

"Thank you, Bettina!" said Nick Eastwood, with the University Stadium as his backdrop. "The Wildcats continued their magical season as they won the Conference title over the Tigers by a 28-6 score Saturday night. The National Championship game is set for Monday night, January 4th, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Wildcats will be playing the SEC Champion Ole Miss Rebels for the crystal trophy!"

"Congratulations, Commander." said Martin Nash. When I didn't reply, he peered up at me, as did everyone else. And they all saw that Your Iron Crowbar was in a reverie.

"Commander?" Tanya Perlman finally asked, tapping me on the shoulder.

"Uh, yeah, yeah." I said, regaining my wits. "Er, what?"

"You are a million miles away." said Tanya.

"I was just thinking about something." I said. "Excuse me, everyone." I headed out and back to my office.

"What's that about?" asked Joanne Cummings.

"He gets that way when he's onto something." said Tanya. "It usually ends up painfully for a criminal somewhere."

"Like it's going to end up for the Wildcats in the title game!" said Teddy Parker. When everyone stared at him, he said "My dad went to Ole Miss. I'm rooting for 'em." He then saw everyone staring not at him, but past him. He turned to see a broad-shouldered, strawberry-blonde man looking over his shoulder. I'd snuck in behind him through the side door to MCD.

"I believe," I said severely, "that a small wager is in order here, wouldn't you say, Mr. Parker?"

"Yes sir." Parker said fearlessly. "How much?"

"Loser buys the winner dinner at The Steakhouse." I said. "And by the way, that means loser is picking up the tab for all the MCD officers and their spouses or dates."

"Hotty Toddy, Gosh Almighty!" said Parker. We shook hands on the bet.

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"Did you guys enjoy the Policeman's Ball?" I asked.

"Yes sir." said Myron.

"Well, it didn't beat last year." said Mary. And how could it have? The previous year, Myron had put the ring on Mary's finger in front of the entire Police Force.

"What happened last year?" asked David Krueger. Mary told him of Myron popping the question, and her saying 'yes'.

"Not many things can beat that." I said. "Okay, guys, here's why I called you in. I need for you to do some deep, deep digging. I want to know if someone has any inroads into setting up a private ambulance service in this County. It has occurred to me that one Council Member, Thomas P. Cook, might have some ideas about that, as the EMTs are suddenly being utterly destroyed by these budget cuts, and Bettina already mentioning that in her newscast this morning."

"Damn." said Myron. "He should not be trying that with the Iron Crowbar around here, seeing through him like that."

"Yeah, well unfortunately my observations are based on way too much knowledge and experience with Thomas P. Cook's little under-the-table deals." I replied. "I'm still pissed about First Precinct Headquarters, and that sweet little deal Cook got from that. Okay, guys, what else are you working on?"

"What else, the Beanstalk Gang." said Mary. "The FBI is helping us, and we're pulling on strings here and there. The Abacus has been working it, too. She found a couple of links to Midtown."

Myron said "I've been working on the BigPharmaCorp angles, with the Douglases and that gang. Most of these links are turning out to be dead ends, though."

"How so?" I asked.

Myron replied "Well, let me just give a couple of examples. First, you remember that Karla Warner and Alicia Foster had set up a little slush fund, and Alicia drained it? Well, I found a couple of links from that with the cats that set up a little variable annuity whole life insurance fund for the Douglases. I'm pulling on those strings now, seeing what unravels. And... well, there's something else."

"What?" I said. Myron looked at Mary.

Mary said "Sir, you remember that I told you that some of your Detectives were doing research on your sister? Well, we followed up what they were doing, to see if we could find more. And some of the people Miltie is finding out about... may have connections to your sister and the group she seems to be working with."

I nodded. "Good. If you find anything we can spank her over, let me know. By the way, what did the Detectives find out? Did they pursue these lines of digital inquiry?"

Myron and Mary glanced at each other, which put me on alert. "Spill it." I ordered.

Mary took a breath, then said "Sir, Lt. Perlman followed up on what Detective Nash found. She found a couple of strings that we've tugged on, but she's only doing this in fits and spurts, maybe around her other job duties. But Detective Nash... he didn't look in those directions. He only looked up your sister's past record, then her past going back to high school, as well as some of yours. It's as if he's more interested in her, and your relationship to her, than the gang she's working with."

"O-tay." I said. "So, what about you, David?" I asked Detective Krueger.

"In addition to the other project you have me working on," said Krueger, "I started digging deep into those rumors of a gang stealing organs, tissues, and even babies. What got me going was that Domingo Shipping, who tried to start up in this County, might've been laying the groundwork for that before Domingo's son killed that tranny and you busted the son for murder. Seems that both Domingo Shipping and a company called Castor & Pollux Enterprises in Eastphalia are tied to another company that's on our radar, a Vauxhall Holdings, LLC., out of the City."

"Anything on the perps doing that stuff?" I asked.

"Not yet." said Krueger. "These are all shell companies. There's a 'Castor & Pollux, Attorneys At Law, P.C.' in Westphalia, also. They're lawyers with a very wealthy clientele."

"Related to the Eastphalia C&P company?" I asked.

"No firm links yet," said Krueger, "but I get the idea that they may be. I need to do more research, though, see if I can find some common names."

"Okay, keep looking into them." I said. "Oh yeah... there is one other thing I need for y'all to look into. The Senior Citizens Community Center. It's just up the road, catty-corner across from City Hall, on the other side of Riverside Drive from the back side of City Hall. I was thinking about it on the Orange Order walk Friday night... that's a pretty lucrative piece of property, and I wonder what might happen to it if the Old Folks were kicked out and made to go to the new Civic Center."

"Ooooh, you're touching a live wire on that one, Commander." Mary said. "Those old people are angry about that whole thing. They were never asked about it in the first place, just told. They want to buy the property, but the Council is blocking them."

"So I've been told." I said. "So dig deep, see if you can find any options to buy the property. For that matter, find out who owns it now; I'd imagine the Town does, but let's find out for sure. If Thomas P. Cook's name, or the name of one of his companies comes up, let me know. I'd love nothing more than to make a big public stink about that."

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"It's always a pleasure to have lunch with my husband," said Laura as we were eating at her favorite Soup & Salad restaurant, "but it also usually means you want to talk to me about something, and not on the phone."

"That's Iron Crowbar thinking there, my love." I said. "Want a job on the Police Force?"

"I'll consider it." Laura replied. "So... what's up?"

"Did you catch Bettina's newscast this morning?" I asked.

"I did, but I don't remember much about it." Laura replied. "I wasn't really paying attention to it."

"She mentioned the budget cuts." I said. "And especially that the EMTs are going to get ripped hard, maybe even pretty much destroyed. She also mentioned outsourcing the ambulance service to a private company."

"Okay." said Laura. "What am I missing?"

"Does the University Hospital have an ambulance service?" I asked.

"I think they have some, and the County parks their ambulances on the property." Laura said. "But ours, the Hospital's that is, are mostly used to transport patients to other hospitals for specialized operations or care, or to transport terminally ill patents to hospice, stuff like that."

Laura then added "You might remember, darling, that it was you who figured out that 'Santa Claus' had extracted a gun from the Jonas Oldeeds murder scene via an ambulance. After that, the Hospital began letting the County handle the ambulance work."

"Wow, I nearly get shot dead, and then this happens as an unintended consequence" I said. It was an attempt to be humorous, but it fell flat, as do many of my attempts at humor.

So I hurtled on: "What I'm looking into is if Thomas P. Cook is trying to use this EMT situation to set up his own private ambulance service, using his Council influence improperly. I am thinking that if the University and their hospital were prepared, then they could set up a service that could be contracted with the County, or could compete with Cook's operation, if such a thing happens."

"I'll make a few phone calls to the University President and the Hospital Board." Laura said. "Of course, we're getting and using inside information, just like Cook is."

"Not at all, as far as I'm concerned." I replied. "Bettina's broadcast is now public information, and to make a contingency based on that is legit. What Cook is doing, using his influence as a Government official, as a Council Member, to destroy the so-called competition, the EMTs, then use his Council position to get an exclusive contract for ambulance services... now that's dirty pool."

"And very common amongst our elected Government officials... at every level." Laura said.

Part 13 - Angels and Demons

"And we're having no luck finding the Douglases, nor Gor-don." said Tanya Perlman. "I do think other people are looking for Gor-don, though... I'm getting word that a tall blonde man has been asking about him. I thought it might be you, sir, but the peeps said he was blonde, not redheaded like you. They know who you are, and they know it wasn't you."

"Interesting." I said, not letting on that Eddie the Bounty Hunter was this blonde man's identity, and that he was not being nearly as discreet as he needed to be. "Okay, so let's talk your people's assignments. What are they doing?"

Tanya replied "Teddy Parker is trying to steal the Wildcats playbook and send it to Oxford, Mississippi." My grin matched Tanya's as she said "Not really, but he's as excited for his team as you are for the Wildcats. I might have to remind him that you outrank him by quite a bit."

"Naah, it's fun." I said. "And to be honest, I like it that he's willing to stand up to me on that, so to speak. Kind of like you and Teresa, and a certain-- by the way, that reminds me, I need to get with Captain Ross. Has she been acting unusual to you?"

Tanya exhaled and said "Yes sir. Since you brought it up, I'll say that I've noticed Cindy has not been the same since Jenna's abduction. I think she worries about Jenna, but Jenna seems to be recovering well."

"Yeah, I think you're right, on all fronts there." I replied. "But you're holding back: I think we both agree that their relationship is being tested by this."

"Yes sir." said Tanya.

"Okay, assignments. Parker is buying Ole Miss shirts. What's Theo doing?"

"He's been cleaning up the odds and ends." said Tanya. "Checking up on Velasquez and Tomoko Shimono from what you call the 'Eyes Only' case, looking further into Quintus Bishop and Richard Norris and the others from the Fake Badges case. Hasn't found much, and I'll pull him out of that as soon as something new comes in." I nodded.

"As to Joanne Cummings," said Tanya, "she closed out the BigPharmaCorp investigations, and handed off some of that to the Data Branch; they're pounding the keyboards on it. She's also been studying police procedures very hard; she wants to go to Advanced Course and Detective School early. I'm torn between driving her on with it, or trying to cool her off."

"Oh, let her work it." I said. "I told Captain Ross that I would consider sending her to schools as soon as I can, if our workload allows for it this Winter and Spring."

"Cool." said Tanya. "Torres is still on loan to Vice. I'd ask you to make that permanent and send me someone new, but with the budget cuts coming... I might not get anyone new."

"Very astute of you to see that." I replied. "How would you feel about Purvis cross-training with MCD more?"

"I'm fine with it," said Tanya, "except that I don't think he'll ever catch on and become much of an MCD investigator. He's good in Vice, though."

"Okay, what else?" I asked.

"That basically leaves Martin Nash." said Tanya. "He's been working on the aftermath of the Fulton murder, trying to get any clues as to who moved Fulton out of his apartment and over to the BigPharmaCorp railroad tracks. He's also been working on wrapping up who might've been taking stuff from BigPharmaCorp, and if there's any gang connections behind that."

"And you?" I asked.

"I'm supervising." said Tanya, her voice half joking.

"Which is what you're supposed to be doing." I replied. "So, that's all?"

"That's it, unless you have more questions for me." replied Tanya.

"What about the Burke-Arruzio case review." I asked. "Anything new on that?"

"No sir." said Tanya. "It's pretty well established that Arruzio was a friend of Jack King, who you cold-busted in that Black Badge case, and who fled to France after he escaped Supermax prison. The Feds are red-faced about that and not publicly acknowledging it. But nothing further from King, at least that I can find out. The FBI has nothing on him, either. But there is one thing..."

My ears and eyebrows perked up. "What?" I asked.

"King's father Conrad is a member of BigPharmaCorp's Board. He also is one of what you'd call the 'Big Boyz' nationally. He had ties to Henry R. Wargrave. If Joe Arruzio killed Marie and Jack Burke on orders, then it might be Conrad King or Wargrave behind those killings."

"Or someone associated with them." I said. "Keep searching. Don't expect the FBI to be much help, either." I dismissed her, then thought to myself...

She had not mentioned that Nash and herself had been investigating Elizabeth, at least not specifically mentioning my sister, only vague 'gang' connections. That had my curiosity, but I figured I'd let it stew for now.