Calm Before The Storm Ch. 03

And... it was not like I was rushing to tell Tanya about the Black Widow's possible reasons for going after Selena Steele... and the Black Widow's reason for the murder Pete Feeley, the father of Tanya's child...

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

"I told Jenna about my parents coming down from Canada for Christmas." Cindy said. "I thought she'd be happy that they were willing to meet her. But she just... well, she just said 'That's nice.', as if it were just the next Court appointment."

We were at the Cop Bar. The fire pit on the outside deck was lit, offering the only warmth against the cold of the early evening. I was bundled up in my police-issue jacket, and took some measure of comfort that Cindy was wearing hers, too.

"Let me ask this." I said. "What's she normally like? Quiet? Talkative?"

"Usually, she's halfway in between." Cindy replied. "She'll tell me what's going on in Court, I tell her what went on during my day, the stuff that I can tell her, anyway. If she gets busy on something, then she doesn't talk much.

"And before you ask," Cindy continued, "this is different. She's been finding ways to make herself busy, and I often see her lost in thought. I try to feel her mental energy, and I don't feel anything really bad, so I don't think she's reliving her ordeal in her mind. But she's less talkative... and less interested in things."

"Well, I can hardly complain about her going into reveries." I said. Nope, the joke didn't work.

"Don, when you go into a reverie, a bad day follows for some criminal." Cindy replied, her humor being better than mine. "Jenna... it's different. Did your wife say anything to you about her appointments with Jenna?"

"Oh no, she'd never say anything about that." I replied. "That's privileged, and I wouldn't ask her, either. She only told me that they'd made a lot of progress and had some breakthroughs."

"Maybe, but I'm not seeing those breakthroughs on the home front." Cindy replied.

"Listen," I offered, "if you'd like to talk to Laura, tell her what's going on, just you and her, I can set that up."

"I guess it can't hurt." Cindy said. I got out my phone and called Laura, telling her we'd have a guest at dinner. Laura said Carole would love to see Cindy. As I hung up, what I did not say to Cindy was that, from what I was hearing, observing, and deducing... things could hurt, even if they were for the best.

Part 14 - Pink Cigars

Thursday, December 10th. This day was the birthday of my grandmother, my father's mother, and P. Harvey Eckhart's birth mother. And it was about to become the birthday of another girl.

Laura got the call at 1:45am. The woman who takes over an hour to get ready for parties and public outings took all of two minutes to get dressed and practically fly down to go to University Hospital. As for myself, realizing that I was not going to get back to sleep, I got up, checked on the kids, sat on the floor and petted Bowser for half an hour, then went to my desk and began doing some research work.

Vauxhall. This little company was staring me in the face. Money coming in, money going out, and not a single human name to be attached to any of it. I'd alerted Jack Muscone of the FBI to it, and he said he'd told his boss. But so far, nothing of consequence. We could only look at so much without a warrant, and this shell company was just not doing anything to allow us to look deeper.

So... if I were a Consultant of Crime, if I were acquiring a lot of money, a lot of money, and I need to hide it or launder it... what would I do. How would I do it? Small cash businesses were okay for local crime gangs, but we're talking a lot more money on a lot wider scale...

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

I woke up. The clock said 4:35am. I'd fallen asleep at my desk. I heard Bowser yip at the back door. Then I heard the *clack* of the deadbolt lock being thrown back and the door handle turned. My body tensed up as my hand went for the drawer where Laura and I kept a .38 Special revolver.

Bowser barked again as the door opened. "Hi Bowser!" said a very familiar woman's voice. It was my mother Phyllis. Bowser's tail began wagging as he surmised there was no threat. The tension left my body as she came on in. "Oh, hello son. I did not realize you were awake."

"Laura got called to the hospital." I said. "Melina went into labor."

"Yes, Laura called me while she was driving to the Hospital." said my mother. "She said you usually need to be going by five o'clock, so here I am to help Bowser watch the kids."

"Thanks, Mom." I said, standing up. I was only wearing athletic short pants and underwear, and I saw my mom looking over my body.

"Son, have a seat on the sofa." my mother said. "I know that your wife gives you a blowjob to start your day, and I haven't sucked your big, juicy cock in weeks." To emphasize her point, my mother took off her athletic sweater top, revealing her large, luscious breasts, which women half her age would kill to have.

"Well," I said, "I guess I better do what my mother tells me." I said. I removed my clothing and sat down, and my mother knelt between my legs, her eyes twinkling as she took my hardening shaft into her warm hand and began to stroke it. I felt her tongue lash at my balls and then up the shaft, then she kissed my abdomen as she brought those magnificent breasts up to envelop my throbbing cock.

The only problem with tit-fucking, I thought to myself as my mother slid her breasts along the sides of my cock, her nipples rubbing against my groin, the heat of her mammaries soaking into my inner thighs... is that it looks a lot better than it feels. For me, anyway. My mom liked doing it, and I let her.

After a moment of this, my mother took my cock into her mouth and began sucking me. I felt the warm wetness of her throat and tongue as she deep-throated me, then began bobbing her head up and down as she fellated me.

I just sat there and enjoyed the pleasure of having my cock sucked by my own mother, enjoying the nastiness of it, the forbidden badness of it, and knowing that any man to be getting head from his pretty mother was receiving a gift from the Universe. Sometimes I would think of what my enemies would do if they knew, and I would revel in that. But today, I just enjoyed the pleasure of my mother's hungry mouth swallowing my hard male meat.

I was getting close, and I did not try to hold back. Just as I neared the crest, a memory flashed in my mind... of my sister Elizabeth fellating me. The thought of my sister's hot mouth and expertise in sucking cock, and how great it had felt, flowed through my hara, my very being, and I let myself go into that...

"Uhhhh!!" I gasped as the first shot of thick, ropy jism fired out of my mouth and into my mother's throat. She swallowed greedily as spurt after spurt of hot man-lava filled her mouth, her hand jacking me furiously to get every last drop out.

"Oh geez, that was good!" I gasped. "Mom, we're going to have to get back to doing this more often."

"Yes we are, son." my mother said. "I could feel the tension leaving your body as you came in my mouth, too. Is everything all right at work?"

I laughed, a short bark that got Bowser's attention. "That depends on what you mean by 'all right', Mom." I said. "The Consultant is still out there, bad guys still out there, my cousin and her fiancée on the rocks, and it's about to be Christmas... the time when Teresa Croyle becomes Teresa 'Cunt', like Dracula in the night-time." My mother giggled.

"Oh, I hope Teresa will move past her past." said Phyllis. "And she has her new family to support her... you, Cindy, Todd, and the rest of us..."

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

As we watched Bettina's newscast, Cindy's phone and mine rang at the same time. The news was better than good.

"She's your business partner." I said to Cindy. "Go. Get out of here. Move. Scoot. That is not a request. Go, go!" I practically chased her out of MCD. As I came back into the room, everyone was naturally looking at me funny.

"Well, everyone," I said, "you'll be happy to know that Sheriff Daniel Allgood and his lovely wife Melina are the proud parents of a new baby girl!" A cheer and applause greeted my announcement.

"Joanne," I said to the lovely young Detective, "you're her hunting buddy. Go to the Hospital. Scoot!" She moved out swiftly, not needing to be told twice, much less chased out.

"Are you going to the Hospital, sir?" Tanya asked.

"No, not right away." I said. "I'll take the Chief over later this morning."

"Have they named her yet?" asked Martin Nash.

"Yes." I said. "Patricia Louise Allgood. I think 'Louise' was Daniel's mother's name. No clue about 'Patricia'..."

Part 15 - Epilogue

Wednesday, December 16th. Cindy was sitting on the sofa of her condo, absolutely stunned at what Jenna had just told her.

"Look, I know you wanted me to meet your family," Jenna said, "but my mother says my uncle, her brother, is probably not going to come out of the hospital alive, so I need to go home to Washington State."

"I..." Cindy said, trying hard not to break down crying, "I understand. Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, that's okay." said Jenna. "You stay here with your family, and your new nephew, and I'll handle my family."

"When will you get back?" Cindy asked.

"I don't know, maybe not until after Christmas, or even New Years." Jenna replied. "Mr. Krasney told me I can stay as long as I need to." She explained more of her uncle's illness. It was not a good thing.

"Okay." Cindy said. "I hope your uncle gets through it. I'll be here for you when you get back..."

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

"She's a beautiful baby." I said as I held tiny Patricia Allgood. "Glad she takes after her mother, Daniel."

"Me too." said Daniel affably. Little Patricia did indeed have raven black hair already, like both her parents, and she seemed to have gotten the best-looking parts of both her parents.

Cindy and I were at Melina and Daniel's home, visiting after work on Thursday, December 17th. I'd hoped this would cheer Cindy up. My cousin was very unhappy that Jenna had gone to her girlhood home and family, but Cindy had delivered Jenna to City Airport this (Thursday) morning, checked in with SBI Inspector Britt Maxwell as well as our FBI friends, then came back home.

"By the way," said Daniel, as if it were an afterthought, "did you guys check into the report of the girl from the orphanage running away?" A teen girl had disappeared the day before from the Town & County Girls Home, one of the region's two orphanages sponsored by the churches in the area, the other being for boys. This girl, named Amy, had been known to sneak out overnight, but had never left for more than a night at a time. Now, she'd been gone 24 hours.

"Yes, sir." said Cindy. "I asked Lt. Croyle to look into that. She understands December Desk Duty, but she hates it. I figured she can't get into too much trouble looking for an orphan girl. I hope you're okay with that, Don."

"Well, it might be good if a woman finds the girl." I said. "And Teresa is a lot better than she used to be, but I still worry. Maybe too much."

"You care about your people, Don." Melina said. "But you've gotta trust them, and let them make their own mistakes."

"You sound like Chief Griswold." I replied with a grin.

"Cindy," said Melina, "can I talk to you for a moment, privately?"

"Sure." Cindy said. "As long as I can hold Patricia while we talk." Good negotiating point, I thought. I relinquished the baby to Cindy, and the women went into the kitchen and breakfast room.

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

"Cindy," Melina said as they sat down at the breakfast room table, "I've been thinking about this for some time, and I wasn't going to tell you until after Christmas, but maybe now is the right time, with me having to take care of the new baby and all. It's about the gym."

"Look, I can handle the gym." Cindy said. "Take all the time you need."

"It's not just that." Melina said. She paused, then threw herself into it: "I want you to buy me out of the business."

"What?" Cindy said. "You're not happy with it anymore? I thought you loved it."

"I do love it." Melina replied. "It's been great, I've loved doing it. But... along with the babies, and being a duly elected Sheriff's wife, I just need to do this. I don't want to just sell out to someone else, so I want you to buy out my half. I've already had an audit done of the business's value, and I would imagine you can swing it financially, or bring Don into it if you want to."

"I'll tell you what." Cindy said. "Let's get through the Holidays, then I'll put something together early next year. If there's tax consequences of waiting, I'll pay the taxes for you. In the meantime, you just take care of this precious little girl and her brother. So, can you at least tell me why you want to sell out?"

"All I can tell you," Melina said cryptically, "is that I'm going to be doing other work that will take too much of my time away from the gym, and I just need to get it out of my name."

"Okay... it's been a good partnership, and I'm sorry to lose you on it." Cindy said, feeling wistful. This Holiday season was just not going her way, she thought to herself. Little did she know...

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

"So, Don," said Daniel, "how are things right now? Calm? Busy?"

"The calmest they've been in a long, long, time." I replied, then after a pause I said "I think that scares me more than when things are happening." Daniel chuckled.

"I know what you mean." Daniel said. "I'm afraid that things are going to get ugly for me after Christmas and New Years. The EMTs are extremely bitter about the Fire Department shafting them. I've talked to the Council, and I just don't understand it, Don, but they just do not give a shit about the EMTs. I don't get it."

"Me neither." I said. "With regard to this particular situation, I'm really watching to see if Thomas P. Cook tries to bring in his own private ambulance service. If he does, I'm bringing the State and maybe the Feds in on him. I'm really sick and tired of that guy using his Council position for personal profit."

"I'll back you up all the way on that, as long as you have some evidence to support your investigation." Daniel said. "But I'm afraid that the acrimony is going to get worse. The Fire Department people are just as bad as the EMTs; they really hate each other, and this latest thing just makes things worse."

"Wanna bet on which news station utters the words 'We fear an outbreak of violence.' first? And when?"

"Heck no." said Daniel. "I'm not dumb enough to bet against you, even if your FBI buddies haven't figured that out yet. Melina tells me that Laura is still laughing at them all the way to the bank." I chuckled.

"Well," I said, "I can tell you this. Next year, things are going to come to a head with the Consultant of Crime, and the layers of organization in his very complex web. The SBI has been laying low, and that just means they're planning their next strike to fuck over us and all of local Law Enforcement in the State. And the FBI is pressing me to work with them on some national issues. It's calm now..."

"... but I'm afraid that it's just the Calm before the Storm..."

Finis.