Homewrecker Ch. 04

Just then Lieutenant Jerome Davis came up. "Sir, we found the car that left here. It's in the parking lot of First Baptist Church, abandoned. Eastside Elementary is on lockdown, and we have a Patrol there."

"Good. Thanks." I said. "Walk inside, get a warrant, and get every bit of video we can. Do it quickly." Davis moved out smartly to execute the mission.

I walked over to the body, pulled back the sheet, and felt no surprise as I looked into the lifeless face of Darryl Dawson. He had been shot twice in the chest and once in the forehead. "Anyone with him?" I asked.

"A woman, sir." said a Deputy Sheriff. "She had just gotten into the car when the gunfire started. We took her inside for her protection."

"And speaking of that, Commander," said Chief Bailiff Alexander, "I'd like to get you inside or away from here, just in case another shooter is nearby."

"You must be new here, Captain." I said. "But yes, I'll go inside and interview the woman." I went inside and was guided down the hall to a room where several Deputies were in the room with a woman. Withhold my surprise that the woman was Gwen Munson.

"Did you do this?" Munson snarled when she saw me.


"I'm not the one." I said. "And you can ask State Senator Katherine Woodburn, with whom I was having lunch. What happened out there, Gwen?"

"We came out of the Courthouse after the bail hearing." said Gwen. "Darryl opened the car door and let me get in, then I heard loud pops, and... blood was on Darryl's shirt as he fell..." Her voice trailed off.

"Get her statement." I said to the Deputies...

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

As we watched the crime scene being processed from down the road a ways, Muscone said "Do you believe in the coincidence of 'Coffin' Cerone being in Town when this happened?"

"And made a point to come see us for lunch." I said. I reached up and turned on the ink pen bug-killer in my pocket. "I'll tell you something else, too. This State has two major Mob factions: the City, and Southport. They've pretty much cut the State in two, with the City Mob having influence over the northern half, and Southport the southern half."

I continued: "There are two exceptions: Midtown, and this here Town & County. Midtown is considered neutral territory, an open city, so to speak. Both sides agree not to engage in hostilities towards each other in the Midtown area, and if they need to have face-to-face 'summits', they have them in Midtown. And the Town & County is considered off limits because a certain redheaded cop with a crowbar don't play the Game by their rules." Muscone nodded vigorously in agreement.

I went on: "Darryl Dawson murdered the niece of one of Cerone's people. And Beryl might've been more involved with Taggart's operations than Jimmy The Creek was; the guys that were keeping her were people Taggart would be keeping tabs on. So when I showed the world that Dawson was the one that butchered Beryl, the Southport 'Family' was not going to let it go."

"But Taggart had a problem." I continued. "Dawson lived and worked in Midtown. Taking him out in Midtown risked being a violation of the neutrality agreement. So they had to risk hitting him here... and they did."

Muscone said "I get that. But why not let the legal system play out?"

"Because Gwen Munson intended to play the Bart Bell reasonable doubt card." I said. "And even with Deborah's confession, it wouldn't be a slam-dunk in Court... especially if Miriam Walters gave the case to Savannah Fineman to prosecute. And she was going to; Fineman handled the arraignment hearing today. So... it looks like Taggart did not let the grass grow under his feet, and he took care of the problem."

Muscone said "Hmmm, and you brought Dawson here, instead of leaving him in Midtown."

"We-ellll," I said, "this was the jurisdiction where the murder occurred..." I let the sentence hang.

Muscone chuckled. "I am really, really glad that I am on your side, Dog."

"So am I, my friend." I said. "So am I..."

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

An hour later, Paulina Patterson was in my office, and Cindy and Tanya had joined us.

"Miriam took me off the Dawson case," Paulina said, "and put Savannah on it. Somehow, Judge Nance got the arraignment. Savannah barely tried to stop Dawson from getting bail; she let Gwen Munson shred her on it. Nance set bail at $100,000, and permitted him to go back to Midtown, though he had to surrender his passport. Of course Prodder, Ryder & Reems paid the full amount of that bail in less than ten minutes, and he was walking out of there with Gwen."

Tanya said "We have the video of what happened in the parking lot. The Beamer didn't park, it just pulled up. A Toyota Camry backed out of a parking lot spot right behind the Beamer. The driver and gunman in the shotgun seat were masked. The shooter fired three fast shots with what looks like a Sig Sauer pistol, and a shell casing we found in the car at First Baptist shows it to be a 357 SIG caliber."

"Double tap to the chest, then a head shot." I said. "That is high level military or SWAT type training, and the guy was deadly accurate... a head shot as Dawson was beginning to fall to the ground. And 357 SIG is a 'no shit' caliber to use. The killer meant business."

Part 23 - Epilogue

10:00am, Wednesday, November 20th. I was in my office, finishing up the paperwork on the DeAngelo murder, when I was buzzed by the Helena, who had been buzzed by the Duty Desk.

"Sir," said the Duty Desk Sergeant, "there's a guy up here with a lawyer and three armed guys he says are his security. He said his name is Elliot Sanders, and he's acting like he's an important man, sir. He's demanding to be brought to you."

"Geez." I said. "Put him in the Press Interview Room. I'll be there in a minute."

I called Teresa and gave her the 'red alert', and we helped each other put armored vests on. Then we went down the hall, out into the lobby area, then over to the Press Interview Room, which was accessible only through the Press Room. Sanders's security was outside the door, facing off with three armed and armored TCPD Officers. He and his attorney were inside. Teresa and I went past the security men and into the room.

"Mr. Sanders," I said, "I am very surprised to see you here today, considering the importance of your immensely valuable time. This is Lieutenant Commander Croyle."

"Why are you guys wearing armored vests?" Sanders asked, his voice haughty. "Is that normal?"

"It is, when armed men come into my Police Station with potentially hostile intentions." I said, not backing down. "And I must really protest you continuing to bring armed parties in here. So why are you here?"

Sanders said "You solved the murder of that whore, and put two of my employees in prison... in two days. So it's been two days since Mr. Dawkins was murdered. What is your progress on that case?"

"You came all the way here just to ask him that?" asked Teresa Croyle, mucho skepticism in her voice.

"Curb your dog, Commander Troy." Sanders said sneeringly. That caused me to front him.

"Watch yourself, asshole." I snarled, my voice low but full of menace. "You may think you're a big shot in this world, but you're not. This woman outran an exploding building to save a little girl's life. She's a badass. But you? I don't think you can outrun a bullet... any more than that scumbag Mitt Willis could."

Yeah, that got a reaction, I thought to myself as I saw the anger and hatred well up in Sanders's eyes. He said "Kara Zorn was right about you. You are an asshole."

"Have a nice day." I said, turning away towards the door. "You can show yourself out."

"So you're not trying to solve Mr. Dawson's murder?" Elliot said, a bit too loudly. "You move like lightning for a worthless whore's death, but you're not doing a damn thing for my employee, are you?"

I whimpered a laugh as I turned to him again. "Mr. Elliot," I said, my eyes boring into his,"I am not an Agency of the Weak-Minded, and I'm not playing your games. Take your war with the Mob somewhere else."

With that, I strode out of the room, and Teresa had to hustle to keep up.

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

"Wow, that guy sure thinks a lot of himself, doesn't he?." Cindy said as I met with my Angels a half hour later, and I told Cindy and Tanya what had happened with Sanders. "Comes in here and tries to throw his weight around with the Iron Crowbar?"

"Who he said Kara Zorn had warned him about." said Teresa. I pointed at her then made a thumbs-up.

"No, there had to be a reason for that." said Tanya. "A practical reason."

"And a related reason to the currently unanswered question of why MegaTech came to this County for its conference in the first place." I replied. "And I don't have that answer. Yet. So! Next week is Thanksgiving, and the beginning of the Christmas season. What are you guys planning to do?"

Cindy said "My father will be at the Coltrane County compound. So we'll be having Thanksgiving there. After that, it's making sure the Operations Commander stays chained to her desk for the Christmas season." I barked a laugh... more at Teresa's face than Cindy's comment.

"Both of us Crowbars can't keep her chained to a desk." I said. "And thank God for that. But what are you doing for the Season, Teresa?"

"Choir practice." said Teresa. "I'm going to sing with the Cancer Kids at University Hospital. We're going to have people that have beaten cancer as well as the kids still in the Hospital singing in the choir at the charity concert."

"That sounds great!" Tanya said. "I hope you'll sing a song where Bowser can howl at the end of it or something."

"I just hope he doesn't howl at the Iron Wolf's singing." said Cindy cattily.

"My goodness!" I said. "Why are you working so hard to get on our 'naughty' list, Green Crowbar?" Cindy just shrugged lightly.

"It'll be great." Teresa said. "And the kids look forward to it almost as much as they look forward to Bowser's visits."

"I'm looking forward to it, too." I said. "Okay, I'm going to take Carole to the Wildcats-Purple Hawks game the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It's Jamaal Washington and Clarence Appletree's last home game, and they'll be honored for Senior Day."

"Yayyy!" Cindy cheered. "Thank God we will never have to see them against the Bulldogs again!"

"Are Franklin and Theo going?" Tanya asked.

"Yes, but they'll be on the field with Jamaal's family." I said. "So the School is handling everything for them..."

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

Saturday, November 23d. Laura and I were talking on the back deck. Tiger Mom was watching us from her perch on the deck rail.

"I have my next appointment on Tuesday." Laura said. "I'm hoping to be free of the cast, but it's more likely they'll reset my wrist, and I won't have to wear a sling to keep me from using my arm very much."

"Good." I said. "By the way, any progress on hiring a new Hospital Administrator?"

"I may have told you this before," Laura said, "but the Hospital Board is really divided. Some want someone who will be a bean counter, who will rein in costs, and BigBenefitInsurance is pushing them really hard on that. But others want someone like Dr. Cordell, who sees the future of the Hospital as being the research and teaching hospital it was created to be, and who want the Hospital to be a place future doctors want to be at to learn."

"Well, it is 'University Hospital', isn't it?" I said, meaning it lightly.

"Yes." Laura said seriously. "I'm afraid that if the Board hires a bean counter, Dr. Richard Searles will go somewhere else. He's possibly the best cardiologist in the Nation, and he's become a really great teacher, but his fiancée Mia McNamara has an acting career."

"So he's off to California?" I asked.

"Actually," Laura said, "Georgia has become a favored place for moviemaking, and Emory University Hospital in Druid Hills, near the CDC, has a huge cardiology program... and they've made a push to recruit him."

"I'm sure you'll find someone good to be the Administrator." I said. Just then I saw Tiger Mom scurry off, and said "And now I perceive three boys who want me to come help them with Lego City..."

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

And so four boys were in the attic room of The Cabin, working on Lego City. One of those boys was Your Iron Crowbar, living my childhood dream of creating a massive model railroad system. Jim and Ross were creating new ways to use Legos to build different buildings, while Ian had figured out that working on the railroad got him more face time with Dad.

"Look, Dad!" Ian said excitedly. "My car for the Amtrak train is done!"

"That is awesome, Ian." I said. Indeed, Ian had repaired the wheels on the old wooden car to run smoothly on our tracks, and he'd painted the car brown and beige, like many private railcars were if and when they were seen attached to Amtrak trains on 'Virtual Railfan' cameras.

We attached the private car to the silver cars, which were pulled by an old Lionel engine with silver and red Santa Fe colors... a 'Warbonnet', that paint scheme was called. Ian was beside himself with happiness as his private car went around the tracks with that train through the great Lego City.

I always looked at great cities as the production of the great minds of great men, and demonstrations of the capability of Man's mind. And as I looked at the toy production of the minds of young men, I was impressed by what my sons were achieving.

But I realized that this was even more a labor of love, not only of what they were creating, but the love of a father and his sons, and brothers working together. And those bonds would last far longer than the buildings and train tracks themselves...

Finis.