Case of the Parole Officer Ch. 02

"Hi Lita." said Mary, sitting down next to her.

"Do I know you?" said Lita.

"You do now." said Mary, flashing her badge.

"Aw, c'mon, my parole's over in two weeks. Can't you leave a girl alone?"

"That's why I'm here like this." said Mary. "We just want to talk to you, and make this as quiet and easy for you as we can. Come on out with me, it'll look like we're going home to have sex. You talk to my boss, we leave you alone and make sure you get to the end of your parole."

"And if I don't?"

"Ah, then it gets ugly." said Mary. "The Iron Crowbar himself will get interested, and he'll personally drag you out of here by your hair in front of all these people. And your parole? Forget about that..."

"All right." said Lita. They got up and left, going to the parking lot. Lita got in the passenger seat of the black SUV while Mary drove. They drove off, no one the wiser... and no one knowing that both holders of Crowbars were in the backseat, introducing themselves professionally (our profession) to Lita.

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

I found bugs in lamps in every room of Lita's small apartment, which she shared with a fellow punk bitch. So we went outside and back to the SUV.

"What the fuck is going on?" Lita asked, sitting in the shotgun seat next to Mary in the driver's seat. We'd parked at Ronald Reagan Park, and were watching to make sure we had not been followed.

"Lita, is Ryan Frost your parole officer?" I asked.

"Yes." said Lita.

"Has he forced you to have sex with him?"

"Uhhh..." Lita said. "I can't talk about that. I'll go back to jail, and I'll be murdered there."

"No, you won't." I said. "In fact, I'll make damn sure you get released from parole, and into witness protection if you want it. Or I'll talk to T-Mac and T-Square, and they'll protect you from the bastard. So please, tell us the truth: did Frost force you into sex?"

"He makes me give him head at every meeting." Lita said. She went on to explain that Frost forced her to swallow his semen, then she had to drink mouthwash and swallow that to remove all traces.

"When's your next meeting?" I asked.

"Tomorrow morning." she replied.

"Lita," I asked, "would you be willing to help us put that bastard in prison?"

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

They were sitting on the back deck of the home, watching the sun set as the woman brought them bottles of ice-cold beer.

"Here you go." said Melina. "How are you doing, Curly?" She gave the other bottle to her husband, Daniel Allgood..

"Very well, Melina, thank you. And you?" said Curly Goodwin, chief of TCPD Internal Affairs.

"Never better." said Melina. "I'll leave you two to talk. Call me if you need anything, hun."

"Thanks babe." said Daniel. Melina left the back deck of their home, going inside to look after their child.

"Nice view." said Goodwin, seeing the University to his left, the football stadium's north side dominating that view, the Town to his front, the lights of the streets twinkling, and the Fire Department Range lights and Water Works to his right. The glow of the sky reflected off the glassy surface of the River.

"Thanks." said Daniel. "So what's up?"

"This is just an off-the-record visit." said Curly. "You've got a problem brewing in your top leadership."

"Yeah, I know." said Daniel. "The Chief and Commander are at odds."

"It may be a lot worse than that." said Goodwin. "You know, because we've discussed it before, that Troy has some kind of device that disables our listening devices. We tried to upgrade, and wouldn't you know it, the guy has an upgraded device the very next morning. It's like he can read our minds, so we've given up trying to outwit him."

Daniel chuckled. "And probably wise of you to do so. You know... I remember when the Chief brought him in, as I.T. Supervisor and a Detective, and he had the most beautiful wife on the planet. The only mistake I think he's ever made is letting her go, but I'm not complaining: she's mine now. Anyway, you know how you and I talked about Malone being up to something, and there was someone behind him but we couldn't tell who it was?"

"Yeah, I remember." Curly replied.

"Well, we couldn't figure out that someone, but Don sure as hell is on his track. Don has pretty much taken over the Police Department and its Detectives, and he is on a mission to take the Shadow Man down. He is damn good at solving crimes, too, so be sure to give him every inch of space and degree of latitude he needs to get the job done."

"Yeah, I heard Griswold say that, too. Too bad he's retired." said Curly. "And that leads to the problem now. We tried to listen in on Troy and Ross today. Troy had the device on... but he turned it off and we got this snippet. Listen to it."

Daniel listened to the recording through the earpieces from what looked like a mini iPod. "Oh, shit." he said. He listened again. When he was done, his face was somber.

"They're both thinking of leaving?" Daniel said. "Oh my God, that is... geez, I told Bennett to back off." After a reflective pause, Daniel said "Any idea why the Chief hates Ross so much?"

"Oh yes." said Curly. "If Troy is in there with his device, we can't hear shit, but otherwise we're getting everything. Here, listen to file #2 in there."

Daniel listened, then said "Okay, I see. Brownlee is in there talking trash about Ross every chance he gets. Calling her a 'dyke bitch'. And Bennett is agreeing, saying he hates faggots and lezbos too. And Ross is a lesbian..."

"Yes sir." said Curly. "Well, that's the gist of it. I wanted to let you know before something bad happens. I do happen to think Bennett is a good Police Chief, but he's making a huge mistake and agitating the Iron Crowbar."

"Yeah," said Daniel. "Thanks for letting me know, Curly."

"Thanks for the beer." said Curly. "I need to get on home." Daniel escorted him to the door, then went to the sofa where Melina was sitting, her legs curled under her, reading a magazine.

"Everything okay, honey?" she asked, still reading the magazine.

"No" Daniel said. He told her what was going on. "So... " he concluded, "what do I do now?"

"What you should always do... trust the Iron Crowbar." Melina replied matter-of-factly. "He'll fix your problem for you... he fixes everything."

"I hope so." Daniel said. "Priya Ajmani has been doing those newscasts about Oldeeds' murder. How's he going to fix that?"

"Don't worry about that." Melina said, smiling mysteriously. "The Iron Crowbar has power behind him that I'm not sure even he knows how to harness. But it will be all right. It always is. It will be all right."

Daniel said nothing as he thought about it. He remembered Vito Corleone's advice, and knew that keeping both Crowbars near him was the correct thing to do. He also realized his wife was right: whether on purpose or not, the Iron Crowbar just seemed to 'fix' everything.

He put his arm around his wife and kissed her cheek. "I love you, Melina. More than anything."

"Awww," Melina said, throwing the magazine across the room and turning to her husband. "I love you, too." They kissed. "Let's go to bed. I want to make love with you, darling" she said...

To be continued.

So, dear readers, the clues are there. What is going on? Who has committed what crimes? How will the Iron Crowbar(s) take down the wily perps? Tune in next chapter, same Crowbar time, same Crowbar channel...