Dinner Date Ch. 04

"Well, I'm just glad you're not shy about telling me, 'I told you so.' Not only do we now need a new judge but we also need a new Sheriff."

"You also need to look at bringing the DA in on ethics charges at the very least. As far as the Sheriff goes, that one is easy. Talk to Chief Jacobs who was on point during the arrest. He and his department have had to live and eat this shit sandwich for almost a year. The last four months being the worst of it. I'll let you deal with who to push for Judge. But I warn you now, you better make sure they know what happened to the last one when he stepped out of line. I won't pull any punches just because they're new to the job."

"You can't be serious about Chief Jacob? For Sheriff? He's a..."

I cut him off before he could stick his foot any farther in his mouth. "Let me stop you right there. The next words out of your mouth had better not be related to any political affiliation. I don't care what party he's affiliated with. Are you thinking party first or Texas first? I'm telling right now; he was the right man for the job while I was there and he took orders just as well. But if you want someone just because of party affiliation let me remind you how Calhoun turned out."

"Why do you have to be such a pain in my ass, Robert."

"Better I be a pain in your ass than you dealing with this pain in my leg. By the way, you need to be on the knees right now kissing my new assistant, Kelly's feet since she's only the reason we're not having this conversation through a Ouija board over my casket."

Peter took another appraising look at Kelly after my last comment. "Yes, I heard about that knife throwing stunt she pulled." Turning to Kelly, he said, "I wish to thank you for your quick thinking and for saving that old man there even if he is a pain in my ass." Kelly smiled and nodded at him.

He turned back to me then, "Do we need to discuss anything else?"

"Yes, sir. First off, I need to inform you I'm going to start to build a team in order to deal with issues in the future. If nothing else, this incident," I said indicating my leg. "Shows a weakness in our responses. Not trying to put the jinx on this but, where would we be right now if Kelly's knife had missed the mark?" Peter winced at the thought. "Secondly, did you find the leak in your office?" Finally, how did Tandy get his hands on the blackmail material? How did he get set up and who did it? I asked already knowing the answer.

"Why did I know you was going to bring all that up? No, not yet. We've been looking through phone records and call logs but so far, we've not found anything yet." I'll let you know as soon as we do."

"Do that. Until then Kelly and I are going back to the apartment and hopefully get some actual sleep for the next six hours. We're also going to need the jet one more time for the ride home."

"I'll arrange it for you. I just need to let the flight crew know where they're heading to. Again, Robert. And you too Kelly. Thank you both for dealing with this. We have some more issues we'd like you to look at but they can wait until you are back on your feet. Get healed up and call me when the doctor gives you a clean bill of health." With that he stood and guided us back out to the door.

It took everything I had but the minute the door closed securing us inside our own apartment I crashed against the wall as all my strength finally gave out. I slid to the floor while scaring Kelly half to death. I told her to just give me a couple of minutes then I should be able to get back up and we could go to bed. As much as I thought about playing tonight both of us knew it wasn't going to happen. Probably not for a while until I healed up some more. This was going to be a long couple of weeks of frustration.

Kelly and I managed to make it home and I actually made the first PT appointment only to have to return back to Austin one more time. It seems both the Judge and the Sheriff were looking to try and become a witness for the prosecution. I was upfront and told the AG if he didn't need either one in order to hang Tandy, I would put them on trial together and perp walk them out to the gallows as soon as the verdict was read, but it wasn't my call. I did suggest to see what they were willing to offer as far as testimony before they offered any deal. If Calhoun was willing to flip on the Perez while pleading guilty to destruction of evidence and tampering with evidence in Tandy's case. It just might seal Tandy's fate and offer the families of both girls some sort of closure.

During this time Tammy had been acting just a bit stranger than normal but I put it off to my close call. Honestly, I think we all had been acting a little weird lately. I was just hoping Jack would clear me soon so we could start to play again. Speaking of Jack, He was a bit upset about my missed PT appointments. I assured him this was my last trip until both he and the therapist cleared me. He was glad to hear that. I think almost as much as I was.

I have purposefully not mentioned my PT. I swear I think my therapist was the Marquis de Sade reincarnated. He just told me he wished he had a dollar every time he heard that from whiny little wimps like me. He could have retired years ago. Then asked if he would like him to break out his whips. Tammy told him it wasn't necessary as I had plenty of my own at home. I'm thinking it might have been a better idea if she had held that comment until after he finished stretching out my hamstring.