Casting Aspersions Ch. 04

"No... well, maybe." Britt said. "That girl Christy that worked in 'Bangkok'? I went around the block with her a few times. She doesn't know that I know that you fucked her brains out." (Author's note: 'One Night in Bangkok', Ch. 04.) "But that didn't last. There was something odd about her; she wasn't what she seemed."

"Like a Federal Agent on undercover missions." I said. Britt's beautiful sparking eyes widened as she made the connection I'd long since figured out.

"May be." she said. "Anyway, I've been dating a woman named Ruby. Short black hair, drop dead gorgeous, even more than Christy was. She's a lot of fun, and the kind of girl I could fall for... but there's something about her, too. She's holding something back..."

Part 24 - Honours

Thursday, August 1st. It was Promotions & Medals Day, but for me it was something far greater: Carole's birthday. My little girl was six (SIX!) years old today.

As usual in the Troy household, Carole got one gift from each of us in the morning, and would get more during her party later this evening. Jim gave her a Lego Princess Belle's Enchanted Castle set, and I was pleased to see Carole give her brother a hug in return. Laura gave her a Project Mc2 Spy Bag (hmmm...), and I gave her a STEM-recommended soap and bath bomb lab kit, where she could make real soap and learn the beginnings of the Chemistry that aspiring Detectives needed to know.

I went on into work, wearing my formal uniform with medals. I skipped the coffee klatch and Bettina's worthless reporting to catch up on emails, duty logs, and other stuff. Kelly Carnes and her husband had been released on bail after their arrests, and had promptly filed for a formal separation. That didn't make sense to me: as long as they stayed married, they couldn't be forced to testify against each other. I wondered what was really going on there.

The Louella Hopper case had lagged, and both the SBI and the Press were losing interest in it. Tanya Perlman had contacted James Tarleton about the open Detective position, and would be setting up interviews with him. Also in consideration was Vice Detective Christopher Purvis.

There had been no more attacks on me. I don't know if the NEA thugs still had interest in me, but perhaps seeing me being followed by a Police vehicle almost constantly deterred them. The other Charter Commission members had had no problems, either, though they were getting a lot of calls about issues... and more of those calls were about the Board of Inquiry than the School Board issue.

But I was not letting my guard down. Eddy the Bounty Hunter had contacted me, and told me he'd turned down flat an attempt to hire him to 'get to the Iron Crowbar and get McGinty's Materials from him'. There were other rumblings around the State, and Cerone and Molinari had not been forthcoming with information in my direction.

"All right," said Commander Cindy Ross as she came into my office with two boxes of 'bling'. "Here's the badges, for you to give out." She handed me one of the boxes. "And in this other box are the medals. Here's Irwin's Police Cross." She opened an award box to show the red ribbon with blue edges, and the blue cross on a wreath of green underneath.

"Beautiful medal." I said. "But it should've been an MOV."

"I agree." said Cindy. "Father Romano and Chief Moynahan are going to present the Police Cross and Purple Order to Irwin's parents and sister." I nodded in acknowledgement of what Cindy was fully saying.

Partly because of what Irwin's mother had said to her at Irwin' funeral, and partly because of her anger over the downgrade, Captain Teresa Croyle had declined to participate in the presentation of the Police Cross. Cindy, Sheriff Griswold, and myself also declined to participate, though I told the Chief I would do my job and present the Purple Order. Father Romano came to the rescue, saving us all from having to make a hard choice between honoring a brave Police Officer and protesting the Council's spiteful action.

"And here's Geiger's medal." said Cindy, displaying the Sheriff's Medal. It was the elevated Public-Service-Department-wide medal in the category with the Police Medal, Fire Medal, Public Health Medal, and EMS Medal (Fire Marshal Zoe Singer was a recipient of that). The colors of the drape and ribbon were those of the Sheriff Department uniform: khaki with darker brown edges. Sheriff Griswold had elevated it from the Police Medal, as was his privilege to do. "Are you giving it to him?" Cindy asked me.

"Yes." I said. "And Teresa insisted on giving him his Purple Order, which is a very significant gesture."

"She sure knows about Purple Orders." Cindy said. "And here's Parker's Police Medal. I don't know how we got that past the Council without them downgrading it to a Star of Gallantry."

"We didn't run it past them." I said. "Only the medals that also have the metal-bordered ribbons, the Purple Order, Distinguished Service Award, Police and Fire Crosses, and Medal of Valor, actually have to go through the Council, according to Our Sheriff. We'd been submitting everything to the Council as a courtesy, but courtesy has flown out the window with the Irwin medal downgrade and the poisoning of Mr. Goldman. And you better believe I'll have that codified in the new Charter that we don't have to go through them for anything lower."

"Good idea." Cindy said.

"Okay, let's go give out some badges." I said...

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

The MCD and Vice Detectives were having a small party of their own in MCD. A cake and lots of doughnuts had been brought in, and everyone was saying their farewells to Detective Timothy Geiger. It was his last day of duty with the Town & County Police Force, after taking a medical disability retirement.

"What are you going to be doing?" asked Vice Detective Christopher Purvis.

Geiger replied "I'm getting my P.I. license, and I'm going to be working for the Town & County Examiner as an investigator."

"Oh my goodness." Teddy Parker said. "No sooner do you get on Commander Troy's good side than you go and join the Press, and get on his bad side again." Everyone laughed.

"I have a feeling," I said as I came into the room, having heard that, "that the Examiner might not be a big ball of crappola like KXTC is. Make sure that happens and stay on my good side, okay Geiger?"

"Yes sir." said Geiger.

"It's time to goooooooo..." said the Chief as he stuck his head in the doorway.

"Are you going to miss this, Geiger?" asked Joanne Warner. Geiger paused, and the room got still.

"You know," Geiger said, "all I ever wanted to be since I was a kid, was to be a Police Officer. And I got to live that dream. But I won't lie: there were some very tough times for me here, some things I'm glad some of you guys didn't have to see. But I think I'll look back... and know that I did some good here."

"You did. And you survived." said Teresa Croyle, the ultimate survivor of those times.

"By the way," said Christopher Purvis, "we're going to have Steven Ikea come in and award you your medals."

"Oh please, no." said Geiger, trying to work with the intended humor, though to him it was anything but funny.

"Like hell!" said Teresa, giving Purvis a genuine 'Teresa Cunt' look. "Ikea comes in here and I'll string his sorry ass up... and that's just to keep the Iron Crowbar from doing worse to him."

"No doubt." I said. "Geiger, good luck to you, and I know we'll be seeing you again. Everyone, let's go outside..."

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

First came the swearing-in of new TCPD Officers. I felt grateful that the TCPD was a Police Force that all Police Academy graduates wanted to work for, and we had the luxury of being able to pick the very best candidates. The Chief swore eight new Officers into our Thin Blue Line.

The promotions came next. The highlights of the day were the promotion of Lieutenant Hugh Hewitt to 1st Precinct Captain and Sergeant DeLong to 1st Precinct Lieutenant. The 2nd Precinct's Officers cheered very loudly for DeLong, though he'd be going to 1st Precinct.

The promotions had been part of the package sent to the Council along with Irwin's MOV application. Though Irwin's medal had been downgraded, what had passed had covered the promotions. I was working on language in the Charter that would allow promotions up to Lieutenant to not need Council approval anymore; only for Captains and above would we need to submit anything.

And then came the medals ceremonies. Service time-in-grade ribbons were given out, as well as academic ribbons. Then came Achievement and Commendation Medals. And they got me again: two of those Commendation Medals were for me and Teresa, for our actions at Nextdoor County in going in and securing the scene so that NCPD Chief Evans and Detective German could be safely extracted. It is possible the NCPD Chief herself pinned those medals upon us after receiving her own standing ovation from our Police Force.

Stars of Gallantry were awarded to now-Lieutenant DeLong and Sergeant Carter, and Commendation Medals for the SWAT Team members were handed out, for their actions in the rescue of Todd Burke. Other Police Officers were awarded Achievement Medals.

It was tough deciding which way to do it: sad before happy, or happy before sad. We chose 'sad' first. The Police Force stood up as one and remained at attention as the citations for the Purple Order and the posthumous Distinguished Police Cross for Lieutenant Ivar Irwin were read by Precinct Captain Carswell. Lieutenant Irwin's parents and sister, the Air Force Officer, were present. Mrs. Irwin began weeping and wailing and nearly collapsed, and Mr. Irwin had to support her. Irwin's sister ended up taking the proffered medals.

Then we went to 'happy'. Precinct Captain Carswell was promoted to full Captain and then awarded the Distinguished Service Award upon his retirement, which was pinned on his uniform by the Sheriff at Carswell's request. Then Detective Parker was called up, and was awarded a Police Medal by Captain Perlman for his role in Operation ISCARIOT.

The Police Force rose to their feet again as Detective Geiger was called up. Captain Teresa Croyle put the purple-and-silver ribbon of the Purple Order around Geiger's neck and hugged him. And then I came up and pinned the Sheriff's Medal on his uniform as the Sheriff read the proclamation. We backed off as Geiger stood before his fellow Officers and received a well-deserved and sustained round of applause...

Part 25 - Epilogue

Friday, August 2nd. Three gleaming new Police SUVs were in the employees's parking lot as we all went outside. They were identical to my new Police ride. The keys to the first one were handed to Commander Cindy Ross, and the second one to Chief Moynahan.

And the third one? It was a gift from Todd Burke, CEO of BOW Enterprises, as a thank-you to the Police Force for rescuing him. And the keys were handed to his wife, Captain Teresa Croyle.

So if you guessed either Cindy or Teresa as the recipient of a new armored SUV... you were right!

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

That evening, there was a large gathering in the 'Command Room' of the Cop Bar. It wasn't really a celebration gathering, but more of an exercise in 'letting off steam'. Storm clouds had moved in earlier in the afternoon, and our hopes to sit on the outside deck were washed away by the driving rainstorm.

Present were a lot of Detectives, their leadership, and spouses of every kind. Laura and my mother Phyllis had come with me. Callie Carrington had been in California, but had returned in time to join us. Molly Evans had been invitee and was here, as were ADAs Paulina Patterson and Franklin Washington, and Franklin's wife. Tanya Perlman had brought Jack Muscone, and Jack had brought Julius Jefferson and Lindy Linares. Martin Nash was not present, I noticed.

As we drank beer, wine, and harder stuff, and ate a lot of nachos and other finger foods, Julius Jefferson came up to me. "I need to apologize to you, Commander." he said.

"Why is that?" I asked, surprised.

"For going behind your back on that McGinty business." said Jefferson. "I reported what we found to SAC Muscone, but Nash didn't at first. I don't know what was going on with that, but I didn't like it."

"I'm more interested in who leaked that stuff to Bettina Wurtzburg and Louella Hopper." I said.

"I don't know anything about that... officially, anyway." said Julius. "I'll tell you this... someone did, and deliberately. I know it wasn't SAC Muscone, but I can't vouch for Nash nor his uncle. And just so you know: I applied to transfer out of Team Lazarus. I told SAC Muscone I'd work for him in another place or capacity, but I needed to get out of that situation in the City office." I nodded.

"Thanks for telling me." I said. "Don't get yourself in trouble, but let me know of anything you find out about all this."

A few minutes later, Lindy Linares came up. "Hi Don." she said. "I just want you to know, I applied to transfer to Cardigan's cyber team."

"If you don't mind my asking, why?" I said.

"Don, I don't know what happened," said Lindy, "but Martin Nash did an end run around you, around SAC Muscone, and around all of us with all this McGinty business... and now people are trying to kill you over it. No one's saying anything, but that was a dick move by Nash to go to his uncle and not to you or Jack." I nodded.

"Thanks for telling me." I said.

"If you need anything and I can help you," Lindy said, "just give me a call. And if you need a piece of ass, definitely give me a call." I grinned at that, and told Lindy I'd take her up on it soon.

Some time later, the party was beginning to wane. As I looked around, I saw Tanya and Jack Muscone talking. It was obvious to the world that he was head over heels in love with her, and that she cared for him a lot, as well. Whatever issues these recent incidents had caused between me and Jack, I had to let them go for the sake of my Angel, whose happiness was most very important to me. As the world's greatest six-year-old Detective had said, good Iron Crowbars have to pull their punches sometimes.

Laura came over and sat down next to me, and handed me a drink. Scotch. "Darling, I have an idea." she said. "Your mom and Molly are going to The Cabin to relieve Selena Steele and her mom of babysitting duties. Why don't you and I go to The Mountain Nest for some 'alone' time?"

"I like your ideas." I said. "Brilliant as well as beautiful, you are..."

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

What seemed like hours later, I woke up. I sat up in the darkness, hearing nothing but the hum of the air conditioner. Only the light of a streetlight through the window of the sitting room provided illumination.

"What is it?" said the woman in bed with me. Her perfume was strange, unfamiliar to me.

"Uhhh... nothing." I said, gathering my wits. I looked at her, and a faint shock when through me as I realized she was Gloria Searles.

"Oh boy." I muttered. "I think I had one of those dreams again..."

Finis?