Fire in The Hole Ch. 03

"Is it true he has been blackmailing journalists?" asked Ruby Russell. "Did Commander Troy send information to Brian Jennings's wife that Jennings was having extramarital affairs, then sent the Police to stop a Press van and illegally search Jennings for a concealed weapon?"

"I don't think I can comment on the legal details of the Police stop of the van, nor the weapons charges." said Bettina. "But suffice it to say that Commander Troy is not holding back, and is not above using the power of Police to attack the Press..."

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

"The arrogance of the Press," said Reed Hudson on his radio show, "is getting more unbelievable by the day. Reporter Bettina Wurtzburg of KXTC went onto 'Point Taken' and outright slandered Commander Donald Troy and the Town & County Police Force."

"Commander Troy is no longer speaking to the Media." continued Reed. "The TCPD has closed the Press Room, and does not give regular Press conferences any more. Why not? Maybe because reporter John Hardwood tried to murder Commander Troy's four-year-old daughter? Maybe because Lester Holder called Commander Troy's other daughter a, quote, 'halfbreed', unquote? And Lester Holder remains on the job and not disciplined in any way for that racist statement?"

"But don't expect Bettina Wurtzburg to look inward for the causes for this conflict." said Hudson. "Don't expect Bettina Wurtzburg or any other journalist to admit the Press's racist comments and murderous actions. They're too busy calling Governor Jared a racist for enforcing the law, and too busy attacking Commander Troy for saving lives and doing a damn good job solving crimes and enforcing the law. No, the Press thinks they can do no wrong. They think they don't stink. They think their job is to tell you what to think, and they expect you to believe what they say and comply with their orders."

"It just... it really raised my hackles today," finished Hudson, "when Wurtzburg said that Commander Troy was obligated, required to speak to the Press and give Press conferences! Really, Bettina? After the vicious attacks on him, after the racist attacks on his daughter, after the murderous attack on his other daughter, and you have the gall to say that he is beholden to you?!..."

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

Cindy and I were escorted to the upstairs back room of Luigi's. Priya and Clark, Katherine Woodburn's assistant, were sitting at one table near the front, which had an extra setting. Katherine was at the table in the back, near the window overlooking the River. There were two other place settings, one of them mine. There were no other people in the room, and there would not be any others while we were meeting, I realized.

After greetings all the way around, I sat down with Katherine. "First, I want to express my appreciation for all you did on behalf of getting some measure of justice for Queenie."

"Oh, I was delighted to be of service, there." I said. "Except for Charlie Griswold's death, the results were very good. And Charlie's death will be avenged."

"Yes, it's a family matter for you now." Katherine said. My eyes cut to her and she said "And I wish you very good luck with that. If I find out where Jack Lewis and Richard Ferrell are, I'll let you know immediately."

"I appreciate that." I said. "But changing the subject: let's not waste Senator Cerone's immensely valuable time. Bring him on out." Katherine was briefly shocked, then smiled as she understood that she was not dealing with an Agency of the Weak Minded.

"Not much gets past you." she said. A second later, State Senator Jimmy 'Coffin' Cerone came out of the kitchen areas he'd been inspecting (and found to be to his satisfaction).

"Ah, Commander, thank you for coming." he said, shaking my hand as I stood up to greet him. "Let me greet your friends." He went over and shook hands with Cindy, Priya, and Clark as if they were his most generous constituents. "I don't think I've seen you since your promotion, Commander Ross. My heartiest congratulations!" Cindy thanked him politely.

Back at our table, Cerone sat down. "I won't even try to guess how you knew Senator Woodburn had set up this lunch for you and I to talk, and of course she has some important things to discuss, as well."

"Meeting at the Town & County Luigi's, the finest Italian restaurant in the State, was my first clue." I replied, complimenting the restaurant's owner. And it was no lie; this restaurant was now considered the very best in all the State for authentic Italian cuisine. The place settings was my second clue, but a magician doesn't reveal all his tricks.

"Thank you, Commander." said Cerone. "Yes, it has indeed exceeded all expectations. I've already taken the liberty of placing orders for you both. All-you-can-eat shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo for you, Commander, and the white clam sauce pasta for you, Katherine." I had to admit that the choice was very good. Cerone had the lasagna. Lasagna to Cerone was like double cheeseburgers to Jack Muscone.

After the food arrived for both tables, Cerone got to the point: "We asked you to come today to discuss that Guardians of Justice document dump. First, I can tell you that every bit of it was genuine; the GOJ had the real documents, and their release is devastating for the company and the Government. But what I want to know is why the reporters made a point to mention Orrin Taggart. His rail lines are small; he's more into the shipping along the rivers."

"I was discussing that with my Officers this morning." I said. "We don't have any idea why, either. I'm not even sure why the GOJ decided to pick on BigRoadAndRailCorp."

"A lot of people thought that you were the GOJ." said Cerone. "But we have determined, as have the Federal and State Governments, that neither you nor your wife are involved."

"Well!" I said with mock acerbity. "Glad we've figured that out. I've been getting irritated at the Government's intrusion upon my life. So, Senator Cerone, do you have any ideas about why they targeted Taggart?"

"As you know," said Cerone, "after I retired from my businesses and became a humble State Senator, Mr. Taggart took over much of the operations in Southport. He runs clean businesses, relatively speaking of course, and keeps the crime there down." I studiously avoided rolling my eyes at the many liberties with the truth that had been taken in just those few sentences.

"However," continued Cerone, "Mr. Taggart is no friend of the Government, especially the Feds. The good news is that the FBI in Southport is incompetent. Les Craig was an amusing joke, and then he went over to the Dark Side against you. Very bad decision, I daresay. The people they have down there now, Andrew Parsons and David Rovers, are even worse. The locals are a lot more competent, and a lot cleaner than you might suspect, but they only get active when drugs are being shipped in and out."

I nodded, not saying out loud my innermost thoughts on the joke called the 'War on Drugs'. But I digress...

Cerone said "So we're wondering what Taggart did to get the Feds's attention, and have the Media mentioning him."

I thought about it. "He didn't do something silly, did he?" I asked. "He wasn't part of the attempt on Jared or the successful attempt on Collins, was he?"

"Not to my knowledge." said Cerone.

"I don't think so, either." said Katherine. I noted that Cerone was giving her some deference, and put that into its compartment for the future as she continued: "As you know, Don, Collins was behind the attempt on the Governor, and a badly botched attempt it was. I really wish you'd take up a career as a magician and go on tour, so we could stop worrying about your presence around here."

Cerone and I both chuckled at that. I said "No, no magic crowbars required for that one. What got me about that, though, is that it reminded me of a certain... Consultant. And I suspect your Queenie Files were originally influenced by that very bad man. So my question is, do either of you know who the 'blast from the past' might be that is now operating behind the scenes? An associate of Westboro that I don't know about, maybe?"

Both of them looked surprised for a fleeting moment before recovering and resetting their faces to passivity, which told me that they did not know what I was talking about. "You think Taggart is that person?" asked Cerone. "I don't think he dealt with Westboro. I don't mind admitting that Westboro was way too much for us. We stayed out of his way... and he stayed out of ours. As you've been known to say, Commander, even Westboro was not badass enough to outrun bullets, and he knew that if he pushed us, we'd have tested that theory."

I chuckled. "True. And he never made it to his little retirement getaway in New Hampshire. Too bad. So if Mr. Taggart is keeping his nose clean, then the Feds must have another reason for having the Media mention him."

"Or the people that had Collins killed and phoned you also had the Media mention it." said Katherine. "Maybe they want a cut of his operations? Or they're moving in and are going to shove him out?"

"I wasn't aware the Federal Government wanted to get into the shipping business." I said, deliberately allowing myself to fall into the 'trap' and reveal that information. "No, folks, this one is big. Bigger than State Legislative politics, for sure. I'd suggest we all keep our heads down and stay clear of whatever crap is going on with that..."

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

As we drove back to Headquarters via a few trips around the Bypass, Cindy told me what she had talked about with Priya and Clark.

"They were happy you broke the Queenie Files codes." Cindy said. "They were fascinated about your saving the Governor and busting Collins, but Clark openly said they were disappointed that you saved Jared's life. I just don't get the hatred for that man..."

"I do." I said. "Remember that Clark is part of politics as Katherine's assistant, and Priya is still in the Media orbit, even if her job right now is with Katherine. That makes them part of the 'Establishment' that wants to rule over us, and Jared is not their friend in that capacity... nor am I."

"Yeah, but they don't hate you like they hate Jared." Cindy said. "But that brings me to the next thing we discussed: your war on the Media. Your shot at Amber Harris this morning sent shockwaves through all of them. Priya says that a lot of them are getting truly scared of what you might do. It was bad enough that you annihilated Brian Jennings, but he and Lester Holder are not very liked, and they think Jennings got what was coming to him. But Amber is a different matter. She has friends, and the other journalists think she didn't attack you like Holder and Jennings did."

"Then they aren't getting it." I said. "They're all journalists, peas in a pod. The sins of one are the sins of all, as far as I'm concerned. And you saw what Amber tried to do to me this morning."

"I told Priya that, too." said Cindy. "I told her that Amber's shots at you this morning crossed the line. She tried to debate that, but I told her that your opinion was the only one that mattered when deciding if she'd crossed the line or not. Anyway, the point Priya was trying to get across was that the Media is very scared of you right now, and not in a good way. They're trying to figure out how to get you, and if they get desperate enough, they might try something stupid... like Hardwood did."

"Bring. It. On." I muttered.

Seeing she was not getting through to me, Cindy changed the subject. "So what did Cerone and Woodburn want?" she asked.

"These are just guesses on my part," I said, "but I think Cerone was really caught off-guard by that GOJ report on the plans to nationalize the railroads, followed by the Press going out of their way to mention Orrin B. Taggart. Katherine wanted to hear more on the Queenie Files and the whole Collins thing. Just both sides feeling out the other for information."

"What did you learn?" Cindy asked. Inquisitive, the Green Crowbar was.

"You know," I said, mostly musing, "I don't think Katherine knew what was going on... or else she's a great actress. I don't think... well, I no longer think... that she was behind Jack Lewis's involvement in Charlie Griswold's death. I think she had him as her marked card for the day she could get control of the SBI back, but that whole thing blew up on her. One thing's for sure... it's going to be an interesting Election in November and Legislative session next year."

"And Cerone..." I continued, "he is definitely worried about that GOJ leak and what he perceives to be a threat to OBT Rail & Shipping. It's as if he's always known something like this might happen, and now it's happening. But I'm not sure why the Government would suddenly get interested in Taggart, nor why Cerone is so suddenly so agitated..."

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

Bettina Wurtzburg came back into the offices of KXTC. She was very happy with her appearance on 'Point Taken', having gotten some great digs in against Don Troy. She'd had a good lunch with reporters in the City, and they'd strategized plans to press the attacks against Governor Jared going into the autumn election season.

The feeling of well-being vanished. She felt the tension as she came into the large room with rows of cubicles. It did not take one of the 'cub' reporters to tell her that Burt West wanted to see her in his office, though one did.

"Come on in." West said when Bettina appeared at his door. "And close the door." that was another clue to Bettina that something was badly wrong.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she sat down in front of West's desk.

"You were en route to the City," said West, "so you didn't get the word. Troy blistered Amber Harris this morning." He showed Bettina the tweet.

"Oh my God." Bettina said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Why?"

"According to one of our moles... er, sources inside the Police Department," said West, "Troy got pissed off when Amber mentioned that phone call to him at the time Collins was being blown away, and went nuclear on her when she made the comment that he doesn't give press conferences."

"Which is true." said Bettina. And then it hit her. "Oh, shit. I was ripping him for that on 'Point Taken'."

"We saw it." said West. "We loved it, but you should be prepared for Troy to come out with something on you. I'm not going to ask what he might hit you with, and we'll have your back and will come out against him with everything we have, but you need to be ready for it."

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

8:45pm, Friday, August 24th. I pulled up to the home of Amber Harris and her husband, which was in the Kensington subdivision. I briefly thought of young Ryan and his sexy mother Marlena, who were part of 'The Swap' case in this same neighborhood, and realized I hadn't seen them in a while.

I was trying to open the door to get out, and realized something was holding it shut. That something was Commander Cindy Ross. "Don, don't get out. Go home. Let the Uniforms handle it."

She was trying, but I was having none of it. "Am I about to have to go all 'Wildcat' on you, Ms. Bulldog?" I asked, perhaps a bit quietly. Cindy rolled her ice-blue eyes, but backed up and let me out.

When we got to the door, I noticed that Lt. Irwin was there, along with Patrolman Johnson, Patrolman Culver, and Corporal Inga Gunddottar. "Domestic disturbance, sir." said Irwin. "Husband and wife were fighting, then her work colleague came to the scene."

As I went inside, Amber Harris was in the front room with Corporal Gunddottar. Amber suddenly sprang up out of her chair and rushed at me.

"You son of a bitch!" she shouted. Her attack was cut short by Cindy Ross, who grabbed her and took her down to the floor with one whirling motion.

"That's assaulting a Police Officer!" Cindy shouted at Amber. "Get yourself under control or I'll put you in cuffs!" Amber finally stopped struggling, and Cindy all but dragged her back to her seat.

It was then that I noticed that Amber had a huge bruise under her eye, on the upper part of her cheekbone. "What happened to her face?" I asked Irwin.

"She said her husband hit her." said Irwin. "She said when she got home, he confronted her over your tweet this morning, sir, and also some explicit photos of her having sex with another man. It went from verbal to physical. Wait until you see his face."

We went into the den room. Mr. Harris's face had several red marks, deep scratches. "Gunddottar!" I called out.

"Sir?" Inga replied, hurrying up to me while Cindy babysat Amber.

I said quietly "Get an evidence bag, then go in and start scraping under Amber's fingernails for physical evidence relating to these scratches. Do that now." Inga stalked out, followed by Johnson. Meanwhile, Mr. Harris was also staring at me with a look of furious hatred on his face.

"Where's the other person, who I suspect is Nick Eastwood?" I asked.

"Yes it is. He's in the kitchen, sir." said Irwin. He led the way. Sure enough, the young blonde Sports reporter was in the kitchen, being watched by Sergeant Clark. I said nothing but groaned inwardly; Sergeant Clark's wife was known for talking too much, and he was not discreet in what he told her.

"Why are you here, Mr. Eastwood?" I asked Nick.

"Amber called me." replied Eastwood. "Said her husband was getting abusive towards her."

"Getting?" I asked acerbically. "Let's try this again, Nick, and this time, tell me the whole truth. How did it go down?"

I could see in the young man's eyes that he realized I was not buying the story. He said "What I said is true. But the full story is that Amber asked me to follow her home, and she called my number and we had an open line when she went into the house. It got ugly, quick, and I came on inside."

"Did you get into a physical altercation with either of them?" I asked.

"No, I didn't have to." said Nick. "They stopped fighting when I came in."

"All right." I said. As I was about to leave the kitchen, Nick said "Commander Troy, can I talk to you for a minute?"

I looked back at him. "No, I don't think that would be a good idea right this minute." I said. "If you have something of interest regarding evidence, tell Sergeant Clark. Otherwise, this is not the time nor the place for you to talk to me." I turned and left the kitchen.

In the hallway, I went up to Lieutenant Irwin. "Irwin," I said, "it is State Law that when there is a domestic disturbance, someone has to be arrested?"

"Yes sir." said Irwin. Cindy had come up and was listening intently.

"O-kayyyy." I said. "Arrest Amber Harris, take her through full booking at Headquarters. The charges are Assaulting a Police Officer, that being me; Assault and Battery when she tried to gouge her husband's eyes out; and Disturbing the Peace and Domestic Disturbance charges. Do another scraping of her fingernails at Headquarters, and put it and Gunddottar's scrapings into evidence and send them to the Crime Lab. Also take photos of Mr. Harris's face, particularly with regard to the scratches near his eyes. Go to Night Court and get a warrant to take DNA swabs of her and her husband in connection with that."

"Also," I continued, "arrest her husband and put him through booking, the charges being Assault and Battery for that shiner he gave her under the eye. Take photos, all that good stuff. It may have been self-defense, but we'll let the Court System work that out. Interrogate the hell out of them to get the details of what happened."

"And Nick Eastwood?" asked Irwin.

"Unless you have reason to believe he got physical with Mr. Harris," I said, "let him go. Warn him to not leave the County. Also, be sure to get Commander Ross's statement regarding Amber Harris's assault on me. Any questions?"