Jennella Ch. 03

She gently scolded me for spilling my food. I told her why I was spilling my food and told me I was very sweet for watching her and that she loved to watch me too

I began laying plans to lure her into our bed for a nap after lunch. I told her I needed a nap but that I would rather stay up and be with her. She smiled sweetly and said, "What If I come to bed with you and we nap together.

"Hey! Great idea, why didn't I think of that? Let's do it."

I must have been more tired than I thought because I kissed her and cuddled her and fell asleep.

When I awoke I was alone in bed. I got up and found her working at the kitchen table. She was working on some case files. I kissed the back of her neck and said, "Guess who?"

She giggled and said, "Joe? Frank? Tommy? Wolfgang?"

"Wolfgang?"

She giggled and twisted around and kissed my lips. "I love only my hubby."

"Which one?"

"This one." She reached between my legs and grabbed my package. She didn't squeeze hard, just enough to get my attention. I noticed her notes on the table. I caught the name Toby Jensen.

I told her I saw the name and asked if she had any more information.

She said, "Not yet. Lt. Good told me to call back about four. I can't wait to see what he finds out. We have a couple more hours to wait."

I picked up another of her cases. It was pretty straightforward. She had completed it perfectly and had only to file a motion for a declaration of default, because the husband hadn't replied to the initial filing, and a request for a court date. I would bet she hadn't spent fifteen minutes total on the case. If she had enough cases she would be making good money. If she could do that every hour she would gross $400 an hour She would clear $250 of that herself. When she wasn't busy I let her handle cases for me if they weren't too complicated. She was damned good. Sometimes I felt it took me longer to check her work than it took her to do it. If I just had her fill in forms for me it was a revelation. She could read a rough note with the essentials of information regarding the case and fill out a form with the husband's and wife's and their four children's vital information such as date and place of birth, education, previous addresses, work history and all that data. She never appeared to refer back to the notes. She just typed it on the form. I had never seen anything like it. I never found an error when she did that.

Now you could tell her something and she wasn't near as good unless she wrote it down. I was sitting looking over her work when the phone rang. Jen picked it up and looked at me, "Hi! Lieutenant Good, he is doing much better. I think he will be back to work next week. He is not a good patient. He wants to play all the time." She was quiet for a moment and blushed. "Yes, that is exactly his problem. I love it too." She listened and wrote on a pad in shorthand. He must have been talking fast. She was filling the page rapidly. Then she said, "Thank you so much, I'll give the information to Mike. No, I wrote it all down as you told me. Yes I take shorthand. No, you weren't too fast. Why thank you very much. Do you want to talk to him he is sitting right here. I'll do that with pleasure. Goodbye."

She leaned over and gave me a nice kiss. "That was from Lt. Good. He seems to like you a lot."

"Yeah, he and I were partners when I was a Deputy. We were great buddies; we watched each other's backs. He trained me and even after I got my own car we tried to stay near each other so we could cover one another. He used to work nights and slow days and let me park some place out of sight to study my law books. He's a damned good friend.

"Honey, why don't we have he and his wife over for dinner one evening?"

"He caught his wife cheating on him several years ago. She left him and took his two kids and married the guy she was cheating with. She moved to the West Coast. He sees his kids about once a year. Mom had me ask him to dinner a hundred times and he always had an excuse. I don't think he has had a date since she left him. I think he is afraid he will get hurt again."

"That makes me want to cry. Ask him anyway."

"I will ask, that's all I can do."

"That makes me feel bad, we have never had any of your friends over, just mine, are you ashamed of me?"

"Do you remember what I said I would do if I heard you run yourself down again?"

"Was that when you threatened to pull my little panties down and spank me?"

"Mmmmm! Yes it sure was. I am trying to decide if what you just said was enough to rate that kind of punishment.

"Yes, oh yes, it was real bad. Wasn't it?"

"Let me think about it while you tell me what else Tommy Good said."

"Oh! He said Toby Jensen is a deserter from the same unit as Jack Hobson. Three other members of the same unit are AWOL also. I have the unit number and stuff if you want it."

"No it wouldn't help me any. It does make you think. Did he tell you when they went AWOL?"

"Yes, They went AWOL about three days after Jack died. Toby left the same time Jack did."

"I think Toby was setting you up for Jack. Did you ever see them together, or did Jack ever mention Toby? I wonder if they are looking to get revenge for Jack?"

"No never. It would seem to make since though, but I have trouble buying that; Jack was never a guy to earn much loyalty. He was too much of a back stabber. I suspect they have another reason. I don't think Jack deserted and came back here to just grab me. He never cared anything about me, I was just his slut."

"Careful, I think that qualifies as running yourself down."

"Bullshit, that is how he thought of me. He told me a hundred times he did. No, there was another reason he grabbed me."

"I think you are right. It has to be something or someone connected to you in some way. Someone or something you are linked to that is or knows something of great value. Did he question you about anything you knew?"

"No! The only thing he ever asked about was you."

"Me? What did he want to know about me?"

"Lots of stuff, were you really in the Marines Force Recon? Were you ever in Iraq? Where? Stuff like that. Most of it I didn't know and couldn't answer. It seemed as if he asked the same questions over and over."

"I am beginning to have a glimmering of an idea. Get Tommy Good over here as soon as possible. She ran and got her note pad with all the info on it and she dialed a number, "Lieutenant Good? Mike Murphy wishes to speak to you." I took the phone.

"I think I have a clue about what is going on. Can you get over here right away; they may try to hit us soon. I hope they think I am too sick to be interrogated. I suspect they may have a watch on our house to try and find out my condition. Like I said I don't think they will hit while I am hurt. I probably wouldn't last too long under the sort of interrogation they use." I looked at Jen, "Get my shotgun out of the closet, my pistol too."

I checked the loads on each weapon. They were fine. About an hour later there was the sound of a siren slowing to a stop out front followed by a knock on the door Jen turned on the porch light and asked who it was. The answer was EMT Tec Tommy Good. She opened the door and three or four men rushed in and Jen shut the door behind them. Tommy Good grinned at me. How do you like this idea? We will take you out on a gurney and put you in the ambulance and take you off. We have another ambulance waiting a couple miles down the road. When we get to them we will turn off and they will go on to the hospital. We have a safe place to take you."

"Hey Tommy, You look nice in your white outfit. Sounds good to me. Tommy this is my wife Jennella, did you meet before?"

"Yes we did but it was even worse conditions and we were under a lot of stress thinking you were dieing. She looks a lot better tonight. Now I see why you married her, although why she has anything to do with you is a mystery."

I felt obligated to flip him off.

They loaded me up on the gurney and rigged an IV. They rushed us out the door. Jen went with us. After the switch with the other ambulance we pulled into a garage and switched to a SUV. In five more minutes we entered another garage and took an elevator to a nice apartment. We sat down around a table. Jen pulled a chair against mine and held my arm tightly.

Tommy smiled at Jen, "Hang on to him, he is the best."

Jen shed a tear and said, "I know!"

I said, "Let me tell you a story. During the battle for Baghdad one of my JAG unit's duties was to take custody of seized artifacts and other valuable properties. We took possession of a lot of things and took possession of a warehouse and put it all in there under armed guard and sealed the doors. A Colonel on the Generals Staff and I sealed the doors with tamperproof seals. Several weeks later we inventoried everything and sent 75 million Dollars American back to the States in the original 15 aluminum cases.

The problem was that we had originally checked in 100 million dollars in 20 cases. We were never able to discover where the problem was. We could find no more cases. No one had access to the building. There was a huge stink. Eventually it was determined to be an error in the original count. I never believed that. Someone stole it. My idea now is that someone believed I was the person that had the extra 25 million dollars American."

Jen looked at Tommy, "Wow! He sure looks a lot more handsome now doesn't he?"

"Naw! Both of us know he would never do that, do you think he might split it with us?" he snickered.

"Hey, I know it is a wild story, I am wondering how high this goes. The average GI doesn't have access to those records."

Jen looked puzzled, "I think Mike is right, Jack Hobson would never have been able to work out a plan like this. He wouldn't have the knowledge to put it together even if heard the story of the missing money. Jack's idea of a complicated gig was a smash and grab where they threw a brick through a jewelry store window and grabbing what they could reach and then ran like hell. Mike's right."

"Mike, who can we trust in the military or the intelligence community to investigate this situation." Asked Jen.

"I think we need to be careful. They are using military people to do the dirty work. I think we need to be very careful or we will alert the bad guys that we are on to them. They have to have sources in military intelligence."

"Exactly and they have to have very close contact with the Army grunts too. I looked at Tommy, "I think we need to know the units Hobson, and Toby Jensen are in."

"I have that info at the office, they are in the same unit. I have the names of the other three guys from that same unit who are AWOL too."

Jen said, "I have all that here on my pad. We need to find out if anyone else from that unit is AWOL or took leave about that time. They may have more assets here than we know."

I told her I could get that information if I had my National Guard laptop computer. That information was all on the unit daybook on the Military Computer Net. I could do that with my NG computer.

Tommy said he would send some one to get it. I suggested he send at least four people. I told him where the computer was located in my den.

In an hour and a half the computer was back in my hands. I booted it up and went to the Military Net. I clicked on to the United States Army Unit Daybook site and typed in the unit designator. I checked the leave and AOL /AWOL roles.

There were about ten men absent in various categories. The commanding officer of the regiment was on leave. He was the Staff Colonel who had been my boss in Iraq. I stared at Jen and Tommy. "This has to be the link. The Staff Colonel from Iraq commands the unit all our suspects belong to. He has to be the link."

"Why would he suspect you?" asked Jen.

"I have no clue except that I guess he knows he didn't do it so he reasons that I was the only other person who had access to the warehouse. Makes sense except I know I didn't do it."

"Then somebody else stole the 25 mil."

"Right." I said.

Jen looked at me. "Maybe not. Was one of you on duty when the workers brought stuff in or out?"

"No, not exactly, we sat on either side of the door and separately checked every item in or out. Then after we locked up we traded lists and cross checked with each other."

"Then the cases of money had to be still there when you left, right?"

"Possible! We never ran an internal inventory. They were all in one area in a separate room. Someone could have moved them and disguised them. Then waited until he could gain access to the warehouse. It would almost have to be an Iraqi workman who would be around long enough to figure out how to get the money out of the warehouse. We were rotated out of there about six months after the money was checked in. That was almost fifteen months ago."

Jen grinned, "I say it is still there in the Warehouse."

"Damned, I would sure love to go look for it."

Jen slapped her hand on the table and startled Tommy and I. "No fuckin' way. You aren't going anywhere without me Mike, if you want me to be here when you get back." I watched as tears grew in her eyes.

"Well Jen, I am going to do what I have to do. That is how I am. I love you with all my heart and soul. I guess if you don't want to be here that is what you have to do. You don't have to wait, just do it now."

She looked stunned. She teared up and started to cry. It was all I could do to sit and watch her weep. I wanted my arms around her.

She sniffled and looked up at me. "I'm sorry, I was wrong, you have done more for me already than I deserve. I could never leave you. I just get scared when you talk about going to Iraq. I don't know how I could bear for you to be over there and not know how you are."

"Why would you feel that way?"

"Because it is dangerous over there, you could be hurt or worse."

"Sweetheart that is exactly why I don't want to take the love of my life over there. Do you understand? Would you take me into danger if you didn't have to?"

"No! I wouldn't."

"One other thing, you are going to be too busy to go anywhere."

"Doing what? I can get off for a while."

"Well babe, it was supposed to be a surprise for you. I got your graduation date set up for Friday; you will graduate three months early. All your professors signed off on you as having completed their courses. Now you will have one week to study for the Bar Exam. I got you signed up for that. Then all you have to do is wait another month until the next MPRE test. If you pass everything you will be a full-fledged attorney." Her jaw dropped as she stared at me.

"Wha. How? When? Mikey when did you do all that?"

"I've been working on it for months. I wanted to tell you a couple of weeks ago but it sort of got pushed onto a back burner."

"Mike I adore you for doing that for me. I know I can do it if you believe in me. But getting your name cleared of suspicion and getting the guys off our backs is more important than anything else.

Tommy laughed, "Do you guys fight like that all the time?"

We looked at each other. I said, "Actually I think that was our first fight. Were we terrible? I hope I didn't act too badly."

"If that was a fight, both of you get real low marks for fighting skills. Hell, I had love sessions with my ex that were fiercer than that. I have never seen too people so much in love. Isn't the Bar Exam a big deal?"

I answered, "It sure is but I know Jen can do it and probably ace it. She has been taking the practice tests for months. I have graded them for her and she has never missed but one question and the published answer to that one was wrong. She was right! I have every confidence in the world that she can do it. I need to tell you that she took a course from me for a year and never missed a question. HELL! I KNOW damned well she can pass it."

"Well, Jenella girl, I for one know you are going to be a wonderful lawyer." Said Tommy.

I laughed, "She is going to put the fear of God in some of these hot-shot attorneys when they go against her. They will see her beauty and innocence and go for her throat. What they don't know is that she knows the law better than they do. She reads all my Law Reviews and knows every Florida State Law book backwards and forwards."

Tommy grinned at me, "Then she knows the Law better than you do."

I looked back at him, "I think that is absolutely true."

Jen pulled me to face her, "That is not so. You are the very best and I know it. You have taught me most of what I know. I still have a tremendous amount to learn from you on the everyday practical side of being a lawyer. I wouldn't know how to even get ready to go to court."

"You may be right about that, but I can teach you all that in a week of having you follow me around. I looked at Tommy and said, "You know she has a secrete weapon don't you?"

Tommy said, "I don't know what you mean."

"Tom, do you have that pad she showed us of the info you gave her over the phone?"

"Yeah, I've got it right here."

"Jen, tell him what's on the first page, start at the top." I watched his face as she told him word for word exactly what was on the pad, addresses, complicated unit numbers and all. It was perfect. He grinned, "Does she ever forget it?"

"Not that I have seen, once she read back from a nursery story she read when she was a child."

"No wonder you are not worried about her taking a test."

"She is really incredible, she has beauty and brains both. She is also sweet, caring, honest and true. Tommy I can't begin to tell you how much I love this girl. She is my life."

Jen smiled softly at me, "I feel the same about him. I have admired him since the first day I met him. I think I fell in love with him either that day or the next day. I never thought we would ever get together. It just shows you, prayer does work if you pray hard enough."

"Jeese! You guys are gonna make me throw up with all this mushy stuff."

I grinned at Tom, "Old buddy you are just jealous. You will find the right one some day."

"Hey! I am not looking any more. Not till I leave the job. Being a Cop is death on relationships."

"If the right one comes along, quit the job and grab the gal!"

"Hey! Mike, I only have a couple of years until I'm eligible for retirement."

My laptop said, "You have mail."

It was a message from the Secretary of Defense authorizing thirty days of active duty, with Rank of LCOL. Effective in one week, Priority one travel, quarters and meals. Use of one civilian secretary, aide or assistant was also authorized at the rank of GS-8 with appropriate pay and travel."

"Hell, they called my bluff. Well Jen, if you want to go you can. I'll have to request another week's delay. I'll say I need the time to fully recover from gunshot wounds acquired in the line of duty."

"Really, I can go?"

"That is what they said. I am authorized a sexetary."

"Oh! I can do that for you, any way you spell it."

Three days later the Army swept through the town and arrested and took into custody a dozen soldiers. Information about the captures was very sketchy, no names or ranks were released.

Jen and I were permitted to go home and were really happy to be there. We had Tommy and Trevor and Sandy over for a BBQ. We also invited a friend of Jen's who had lost her husband in Iraq two years ago and was just starting to socialize a little. Her name was Ida Parker. Jen said she really wasn't ready to date again. She turned out to be a very lovely and intelligent woman. Ida and Tommy hit it off right away and really enjoyed talking together. They tried to act uninterested in each other but it was obvious there was a strong attraction. After the evening was over and everyone was gone Tom looked at Jen and I and thanked us. Then he said, "You know I didn't realize how lonely I have been until Ida left tonight." Jen and I sent him on his way and grinned at each other. Jen said, "Should I call and see what her reaction is?"