Consent of the Governed Ch. 01

Meredith: "Alison, you know Commander Troy, you've interviewed him, and he's given you access that other reporters would die or kill for. Is his refusal to meet with Weaver a politically motivated response, or one based on racial motives?"

"Neither." said Alison, not rising to Meredith's race baiting. "It's a very practical response. There's really nothing for him and Weaver to talk about. And since you brought it up, I will say that yes, I've had access to Commander Troy that many other reporters are jealous of, and I've had the opportunity to observe him and watch him in action."

Alison: "That man's ability to not only solve crimes but also to outwit political enemies is incredible. I don't understand why some of these politicians continue to try to use him, attack him, smear his good name, call his daughter racist epithets, and play crap games with him. He keeps chewing them up and spitting them out, and maintaining law and order in this County on top of it. You'd think they'd learn..."

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

"Yeah, you'd think they'd learn." Teresa Croyle said. She'd come into my office during the show, and watched with me.

"Their attitude is the same as their fellow Socialists." I said. "Socialists say 'Socialism will work the next time we try it!'. These idiots say 'We'll beat the Iron Crowbar next time!'. Let em' keep trying; I'll get bored like Sherlock Holmes if they stop."

"Just don't resort to cocaine use like Sherlock Holmes did." Teresa said. A red crowbar was waived in her general direction, followed by both of us chuckling at the joke.

Teresa then said: "How much longer will Meredith be with KFXU?"

I said "I'm not sure. I had the impression that was scripted, on purpose, to drive the adversarial conversation. But Catrina looked genuinely angry at Meredith when Meredith said the black riots were 'peaceful protests', and threw in some good zingers in retaliatory reply, which made Meredith angry. They may end up being like that 'Mike & Mike' sports show... the two guys hated each other so much that off-air they didn't speak, but passed written notes through an intermediary."

Teresa nodded. "I noticed that, too, about Meredith and Catrina. Anyway, I just hope the people watching 'Point Taken' in the morning will watch 'The Four' in the afternoon. People need to hear both sides, and make up their own minds."

"Oh, we're way past that." I said. When Teresa looked at me inquiringly, not unlike the way my dog Buddy looked at me or Carole at times when wondering what us hoo-mahns were doing, I said "People don't watch the news to get information, anymore. They watch the channels that give them validation of their own viewpoints. "

I saw the light come on in Teresa's eyes. "Yeah, that makes sense." she said. "Leftists and Establishment Elites watch CNN and SNN and KXTC, who give them what they want. The Conservative Right watches Fox Cable or OANN."

"Yep." I said. "Okay, we need to plan our actions regarding Carmela's lies about my wife."

Teresa said: "I'm not sure what we can do. Legally, anyway."

"Oh, we're beyond legalities." I said. "Carmela thinks we're constrained by the Law, but what if I choose to ignore and remove those constraints?"

"Uh oh." Teresa said. "What are you planning? Or do I want to know?"

"Oh, I'll tell you; it's not that bad." I said. "Here's what I'm thinking..."

Part 6 - Extracurricular Activities

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Tuesday, October 13th, from the KXTC Studios Anchor Desk. "The Town & County Council meets tonight, with huge implications for the Police Force!"

After the hard charging music intro, Bettina began: "The Council is expected to take up the Public Safety Department's proposed hiring of retiring Police Deputy Chief Cindy Ross as the Sheriff Department's Chief of Staff, followed by the promotion of Police Captain of Detectives Tanya Perlman Muscone to Deputy Chief. But these nominations may not be as easy as Sheriff Griswold expects. Let's go to trusted reporter Amber Harris for more on this controversial situation. Amber!"

"That's right, Bettina!" said athletic blonde Amber Harris, from the rooftop of the building at Riverside and College, with City Hall in the background. "Several Council members have vowed to stop the nominations from being approved, and will use any means available to them to do so. Roll tape."

Tape rolled, showing Council Member Susan Weston saying "Tanya Muscone is not fit to be Deputy Chief, and I will do everything in my power to prevent her promotion. She has failed as Chief of Detectives, and promoting her past her level of competence is not a solution, but a set-up for an unmitigated disaster within the Police Department."

Then Kelly Carnes was shown, proving why there are stereotypes about blonde women: "Cindy Ross is only being transferred to dodge proper punishment for actions for which she was insufficiently disciplined. It is imperative that the Council demand a full investigation of the incident, particularly Commander Troy and Sheriff Griswold's cover-up of it. I believe a majority of the Council will agree with me that a Board of Inquest and further Council action is needed before that hire can be approved."

Back to Amber live: "Outgoing Council Member Reginald B.F. Lewis declined to appear on camera, but when I asked him about these nominations, and if he was angry that no Persons of Color were nominated, he replied that he'd come to respect Captain Muscone's abilities in spite of her being confined to a wheelchair, and that it would be appropriate to choose one's spots over debates on nominations of People of Color."

Bettina: "Amber, assuming that Captain Muscone's nomination is approved by the Council, who would be nominated to replace her as Captain of Detectives? Is that what Councilman Lewis meant when he talked about 'choosing one's spots'?"

Amber: "Bettina, Channel Two News has learned that the TCPD plans to hire their new Captain of Detectives from the outside. Specifically, Los Angeles Police Lieutenant Claire Michaels, a former Detective with the TCPD, is being re-hired by the TCPD with the intent to take over the Captain of Detectives duties. The Council will also be taking up that hiring and promotion. Commander Troy has refused repeated requests by KXTC for comment on these matters. Back to you, Bettina!"

"Thank you, Amber!" Bettina, then said almost under her breath "The Iron Crowbar moves quickly, doesn't he?" Then she caught herself and said "And in other news, State Democrats are demanding that Town & County Sheriff Antonio Griswold resign after his incendiary remarks that gubernatorial candidate Hoyt Stenson is in the early stages of Dementia. Griswold is a close crony of White Nationalist Governor Val Jared, and is accused of making those statements to help Jared clone Sharon Marshall in her race against Mr. Stenson. Neither Sheriff Griswold nor Commander Donald Troy responded to repeated requests by KXTC for comment on these slanderous allegations."

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

"How did they get Claire's name?" asked Captain Tanya Muscone as she, Deputy Chief Cindy Ross, Lt. Commender Teresa Croyle, Chief Sean Moynahan, Me, and Sheriff Griswold drank coffee as we watched the broadcast in the Chief's Conference Room.

"From one of the Council Members." I replied. "We had to include her nomination to Captain in the package we sent to them, and I'd bet Kelly Carnes broke a fingernail in her rush to dial Bettina's number. But in fairness, it could've been any of them."

"And no mention of the ACLU's complaint about the ads against Finneran?" Cindy asked. "I heard they filed complaints not only with the FEC, but with the US DOJ Civil Rights Division, asking that it be made part of the lawsuit against Mayor Allgood."

I said "You may have noticed that they've stopped mentioning KXTC's endorsement of Finneran. What happened is that after Katherine Woodburn bought back KXTC, she withdrew that endorsement, and forbade anyone from talking about it on air. I would venture a guess that Katherine told her reporters to not mention the ACLU complaint, since it involves Finneran."

"Does she want Finneran to lose?" asked Chief Moynahan, incredulity in his voice.

"Probably not." I replied. "But she doesn't want to appear as being strongly supportive of him, either. His NAMbLA membership is killing him with people of all ethnicities."

"Because he's a homosexual?" Cindy queried sharply.

"No, because he's likely a pedophile." I said. "Oh, did I just slander him without proof? Well... as the X-Files show said: 'The truth is out there.'... and Katherine knows it."

"As do youuuuu, Mr. Crowbarrrrr." drawled Chief Moynahan.

"I yam what I yam, Chief." I said, in an excellent imitation of the legendary Popeye. It was not a denial...

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

9:55am, Tuesday, October 13th. Dr. Laura Fredricson stepped into the classroom across the hall from her office suite and said "Tamara, can you come here for a moment, please?"

Tamara got up and went into the hallway. There were two Campus Police Officers present. Laura beckoned for Tamara to come into Laura's office through the direct side door to the hallway. When Tamara stepped inside, Laura shut the door behind her without entering the office. Tamara was left facing Cindy Ross, Teresa Croyle, and... sitting on one of the 'two sofas' with his back to the windows... the Iron Crowbar.


"Have a seat, Tamara." I said in my most authoritative voice.

"What the hell is this about?" Tamara said. "I'm not staying!" She opened the door behind her, only to find Campus Police Cadet Officer Tatum blocking the door. The female Officer came inside and forced Tamara to the couch opposite me, and forced her to sit down. Then Cadet Officer Tatum exited through the side door back into the hallway.

"Why are you holding me against my will?" Tamara asked loudly. "Am I under arrest?"

"Why, I can certainly arrange that." I said. "But right now we only want to have a conversation."

"I want a lawyer." Tamara said. "I'm not talking to you without a lawyer present. Am I under arrest or am I free to go?"

"One of your Constitutional rights is the right to remain silent." I said. "If you will exercise that right and shut up for one minute, I'll tell you what's going on."

"I don't care what you want to tell me." said Tamara. "Either I'm leaving or I want a lawyer before any further (air quotes) 'conversation' takes place."

"There's the door." I said, pointing to the office door that led to the anteroom where Laura's assistant normally was. Tamara almost tripped up rushing to it. When she opened it, she almost collided with Melina Allgood, who was holding up her FBI 'dark agent' ID.

"FBI." Melina said. "Get back in there."

"I WANT A LAWYER!" Tamara shouted. Melina shoved her back into the office and slammed the door behind them. Teresa came over and forced Tamara back to her seat on the sofa, facing me. Then she grabbed Tamara's face and forced her jaw open, not unlike forcing a dog's jaw open to give it a medicine pill.

"Bitch, you better shut the fuck up," Teresa growled in her most vicious 'Teresa Cunt' voice, "or I'll break your fucking jaw right now."

"Owww!" Tamara protested, twisting her head out of Teresa'a grasp. "Police brutality!"

"I dunno." I said. "I dunno. Maybe I'm not making myself clear." I took out my red crowbar and began lightly tapping it on Tamara's thigh and knee. "You see, Tamara, Police brutality doesn't begin until I swing this crowbar and smash what little brains you have into your throat. I only need one blow to literally split your head open, to kill you."

"Then do it, you murdering bastard!" Tamara snarled.

"I'd rather do something else." I said. "You see, you now have two choices. We the TCPD can take you to Headquarters, run you through full booking, charge you will several felony crimes, and then you can call a lawyer to try to weasel you out of it. Orrrrr, we'll let the FBI Agent here take you into Federal custody, and you will be (air quotes) 'disappeared'. You will never be seen again, at least not alive, on the face of this earth."

"Bullshit!" Tamara huffed. "And I've committed no Federal crime!"

"Like that will save you." I said witheringly. "But just to make the point... let's watch some TV!" I took an iPad from Teresa and slid the cover off it, then brought up a video file and began playing it.

Callie Carrington appeared on the screen. "I'm a Federal Agent." Callie said, holding up an ID which had been blurred out. "On Friday, October 3rd, I came into the office of Laurie, Dr. Fredricson's assistant. We heard a noise in Laura's office, and I cracked open the door to see what it was. It was one of Laura's students, named Tamara. She was going through Laura's calendar book, taking photos with an iPhone."

Callie: "I had Laurie come over and peek in, and witness it. We didn't do anything to interrupt because we didn't know if her actions were authorized or not. I reported it to Dr. Fredricson later that day."

The next video clip showed Laurie saying what Callie had said. "As you can see," I said as the clip ended and I handed Teresa the iPad back, 'we have two witnesses who saw you trespassing into Dr. Fredricson's things. We also have a clip of Dr. Fredricson saying you were not authorized to be at her desk nor looking at her stuff."

"That's a lie." said Tamara. "I wasn't even in this building that day."

"You got an alibi? Someone who can confirm under oath where you were at the time these two, not one but two witnesses say they saw you in Dr. Fredricson's office, going through her things? Oh, of course you don't; I checked. Even if these eyewitness testimonies were false, I'm not stupid enough to overlook a simple thing like that."

"Check my iPhone." said Tamara. "You'll see I don't have any photos of Dr. Fredricson's calendar on it."

"Why, let's do that." I said. "Open it up." Tamara did, and I handed the cellphone to Teresa, who turned around. She connected Tamara's phone to her own, running a program to copy everything in Tamara's phone.

"Hey!" Tamara said when she realized what was going on.

"You did consent to letting us investigate your phone." I said. "We all witnessed it. So, Tamara, you face being failed out of the Psychology program and not getting your degree, expulsion from School, and being arrested and prosecuted, and possibly doing jail time. Or, you start telling us the story, and it'd better be the truth."

"Arrest me, then." Tamara said. "I want a lawyer. Now."

Melina was behind the couch Tamara was sitting on. She leaned over the back of the couch very near Tamara's left shoulder and began speaking, her voice almost a whisper: "I don't think you understand, Tamara. Dr. Fredricson is a Federal Agent, a very high ranking one. That makes going through her stuff like you did a Federal crime."

Melina: "The Iron Crowbar is not going to arrest you, Tamara. I am. And once you're in Federal custody, you'll wish to God or whatever you consider holy that you'd talked to him instead of me. We will get the truth out of you... and then you'll disappear forever, like the Iron Crowbar said a minute ago. You'll be charged under the PATRIOT Act with domestic terrorism, and you will no longer exist... neither in any records, nor literally."

"You'll never get away with that." Tamara said, trying to bluff.

"Won't she." I replied flatly. Then I made my voice quiet, and gently hypnotic as I said: "You may think Lionel Carmela has friends, people that can help you. But they'd have to know where you are to help you, and they won't know, and they'll never find out. And they can't outrun bullets, just as you cannot outrun a bullet fired at the back of your head from one inch away..."

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

"We got her statement on a different iPhone than any other used, so far." Teresa said to me as she, Cindy, Melina, and I ate lunch at Laura's favorite Soup and Sandwich place. I looked outside and saw the clouds increasing, the overcast adding to the solemnity and gloom of our conversation.

Tamara had admitted that she had gotten into Laura's appointment calendar at the request of Dana Stirewalt, who was a student member of Dr. Lionel Carmela's unofficial inner circle, colloquially called 'the Politburo'. Dana had only told her that she wanted to prove that Dr. Fredricson had started the Babymaker Club and was the ringleader of it. Tamara said she thought Dr. Fredricson was doing it as a research project, and that Dana Stirewalt wanted it to help a friend at The Silver Sentinel, the University's student newspaper, get a huge scoop.

"Do you think Tamara was telling the truth?" Teresa asked me, and Cindy and Melina were peering at me.

"Yes and no." I replied. "She was telling the truth about her actions, but not the reasons for them. I hope Tamara does not think I'm such an Agency of the Weak Minded that I would not fail to notice that she was totally betraying her sponsoring professor, and with obvious purpose and intent to cause Laura damage. I suspect Carmela and maybe Stirewalt really worked her over mentally, and Tamara was a very willing sycophant to Carmela's deeply Leftist causes."

"But you can't do anything about it." Cindy Ross said. "Callie and Laurie's testimonies were fake."

Yes, they were, I thought to myself. Both beautiful blondes had willingly (eagerly, in Callie's case) agreed to make those false witness statements; they had not seen Tamara in the office. I had a good idea about the correct day, and had 'a friend' check the pings on Tamara's cellphone to find out when she was likeliest alone. The additional threat of Melina arresting and 'disappearing' Tamara had been devastatingly effective on the young woman's weak psyche.

"True." I said. "I told Callie and Laurie that we were going to destroy the iPad the videos were on, and of course we could never call them to testify about something they really didn't see. No, nothing there is legally defensible, but I wasn't looking for that, of course. I wanted the information... and to make Tamara useless to Carmela."

"She's useless now, fer sure." said Teresa. "After I sent that video of Tamara's 'confession' to Laura and Dr. Wellman, Laura dropped Tamara from the Psychology program, with a 'failing' designation, and Dr. Wellman has referred her to whoever gets referred to for such things, to begin the process of expelling her."

"Laura's still in danger." Melina said. "Sure, it's all coincidence about her doing checkups on the Babymakers and the women that hired them, but a few pure Haters on the Ethics Board would interpret things as they please."

"That's not the true danger, though." I said.

"What is?" asked the Green Crowbar.

"This is all being done so that radical students can march, protest, and even commit violence," I said, "with the purpose and intent of 'canceling' Laura, and forcing her out as Head of the Department of Psychology at the University."

"What about her being on Staff at University Hospital?" asked Melina, her voice sounding worried."

"Oh, I dunno." I said. "I'm hoping that the Hospital Administrator and a certain very generous Hospital Board Member will exercise influence to keep Laura on Staff and doing doctor things."

"Damn straight we will." said that very generous Hospital Board Member, Teresa Croyle. "The anniversary of the Hospital bombing is on October 16th. And I think you'll like some of the things we're going to be doing when we commemorate that."

"What things?"

"It's a surprise." Teresa replied. "I can't say in front of Don." I just rolled my eyes...

Part 7 - Counseled and Canceled