Just a Story Ch. 02

"And there's the kick, and it's 20-17 Wildcats with 39 seconds to go." said the announcer.

The stadium that had been rocking was now almost dead quiet, save for the small section of cheering Wildcats in the bleachers in the upper deck of the southeast corner. The kickoff was returned to the 35 yard line.

"And the pass is... incomplete!" yelled the announcer breathlessly. "Second down! Twenty-eight seconds to go, and the ball is handed off and the halfback runs left. He breaks a tackle, spinning and driving for yards, and... the ball is loose! He's fumbled the ball! The Wildcats are all over it and... they have it! The Wildcats have the ball! The Wildcats have the ball!... and the Bulldog running back is getting up, he fought so hard and now he has tears running down his face, his teammates are trying to console him..."

The 'Victory Formation' is everyone's favorite when their team is in it. As we celebrated, we knew that this game would go down in history, and Wildcat lore, as the 'Appletree-to-Washington' game...

Part 6 - Orange Is The New Black

Sunday, October 30th. At 7:00pm the members of the Orange Order Police Honorary, convened for dinner at the Junction Station Depot building. One member wore a red shirt and khaki pants; it is possible he's a redhead, also.

I was not sure Cindy was going to show up, but she did... wearing all black. Normally that would not be a complaint, as with her body and platinum blonde hair, Cindy looked smoking hot in black. This evening, though, she was practically in mourning.

"I swear to God," she told Teresa within my hearing, "I'd rather take that 70-0 beatdown every time than lose the way we did yesterday." I didn't mess with Cindy at all about it, and I think she realized the reason why: I was saving something for later. I did say hello to her, and handed her an envelope, asking her to open it only when I asked her to later this evening.

As the dinner commenced, Corporal Ronnie Kirkpatrick, leading the proceedings, paid tribute to Chief Emeritus Griswold. This was the old Chief's last rodeo with the Orange Order. He was giving up his Inner Circle place, and making way for younger Officers. The applause for him was long and loud.

Then came the promotion announcements, and Your Iron Crowbar was called upon to announce those. I announced the promotions of those that weren't Orange Order members, then announced Janice Holloway's brevetting to Lieutenant. She knew, as she had to get her uniforms ready, but most of the Membership did not, and there was pleasant surprise in reaction. Last, but not least, I announced the promotion of Teresa Croyle to Captain and her new duties as Operations Captain. That wasn't so much a surprise, and Micah Rudistan's "It's about time!" brought down the house.

I then announced the medals; well, most of them. A couple of Orange Order members were going to be surprised, if I could help it. After I was done, Corporal Kirkpatrick called upon Chief Griswold. He stood up and said "I think we might have actually gotten one over on the Iron Crowbar here."

"Sir, if I may..." I said. Then I pointed at Cindy and said "Open that envelope." She did, and broke out laughing hard. Teresa read it, and began laughing as well; well, what was for her a laugh.

"Go ahead and announce it, Chief." Cindy said.

"We had to strike while the iron was hot, pun not intended, with the Council Members still 5-4 on our side." said Griswold. "Chief Moynahan and I went to the Council, and they wisely agreed with us. So on Tuesday, Commander Troy will be awarded the Police Distinguished Service Medal."

There was applause, which I acknowledged. Then I pointed with my eyes at Cindy, who stood up and said "The note reads: 'Distinguished Service Medal? Really?'."

As everyone chuckled, Rudistan said "Y'all should've known he'd find out." I just shook my head in a manner of asking 'why do you even try?'."

"Nothing gets past you, Crowbar." said the Chief, impressed but no longer surprised at much anything I did. "How'd you know?"

"You try too hard to surprise me." I said. "That in itself is a dead giveaway. And I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I really didn't want anything taking away from these promotions."

"Taking away?" Teresa practically thundered. "I'm not even here, much less getting this promotion, without you, Commander. This is long overdue."

"Thank you for making my point for me so well, Ms. Croyle." said Griswold. "Crowbar, this award is partially for taking down a dirty bastard that murdered my friend and our fellow Officer. But it's also for four years of relentlessly cleaning this Town up. You have no idea how happy I am... just to have lived to see it. So you're going to be rewarded for your work... whether you like the timing of it or not."

I'd been rewarded, I thought to myself. That had been a second Medal of Valor awarded to me, and while it had been deserved, no more was needed. But I pretended to go along and be accepting of the accolade.

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

Meanwhile, a dinner was taking place in the back room of the Cattleman's Club.

"Thank you for coming." Sheila Sorrells said. She had black hair, cut rather plain at her her shoulders. She was not especially pretty, though she was not 'coyote ugly', either. She was in her early 40s, and her body was beginning to be a bit curvy, though she did keep in shape by attending Wanda's morning workout sessions.

"My pleasure." said Jenna Stiles. "This sure beats the food at those campaign appearances we have to make.

"You got that right." said Sheila. After some minutes of small talk and ordering their dinners, Jenna came to the point.

"So, what did you want to meet about?" the lovely auburn-haired woman asked.

Sheila replied "It's about my race for the empty Council seat, and I wanted to get your input on it. I'm thinking of dropping out of the race and endorsing one of the other candidates, maybe getting something in exchange that can help me in two years. What do you think of that? And who should I endorse?"

"Answering the second question first," Jenna said, "I don't think I would endorse either one of those slugs. Loran Michaels is a very underhanded and talks out of both sides of his mouth. His stance against Brownlee in the Public Health Department was unexpected, as he actually took a stand on something and didn't try to work a political angle on it. As to Peterson... well, everyone knows Priya Ajmani is just a whore, but he still pretty much coerced her into oral sex in exchange for information."

"Why did the Iron Crowbar and the Police Chief endorse Michaels, then?" asked Sheila.

"Oh, I don't know." said Jenna. "If it were anyone but Don Troy, I'd say they didn't realize what they were doing. But with the Iron Crowbar, I would say he has something up his sleeve."

"I thought it was taking up for his position blocking Brownlee." said Sheila. "Or maybe it's about the Chief and the Sheriff not getting along very well."

"Now that may be closer to the truth." said Jenna. "But it still doesn't explain Don. He's the one that put Daniel Allgood in the Sheriff's race instead of running himself. Everyone thought Don would run for Sheriff himself, but we now know that he was after Pastor Westboro and his Syndicate, so Don stayed where he was. I'm glad he did; he was the one that found me and sent his troops in to rescue me."

"Yes, he did." said Sheila, and then to quickly change the subject, she asked "What about Scott Peterson?"

"On the face of it," said Jenna, "you'd think he'd be a lot better than Michaels. But that story about Priya is getting around, and Cindy Ross told me that he'll take care of Scott Peterson before he takes care of the women of this County." Sheila nodded, absorbing the information.

"So," Jenna said, "as to the first part of your question, I would answer your question with a question: what do you really want? especially in politics?"

Sheila said "The same thing you do: awareness of women's issues, and working on them. It's pathetic what goes on in County Government and in our schools."

Jenna said "Well, you do understand that while I support women's issues, my goal in running was solely to defeat that bastard Gil Krasney, don't you?"

Sheila seemed startled by Jenna's comments, and her vehemence in her words. "I didn't realize you were so passionate about it."

"Oh yes." Jenna said. "Talk about slugs! That man is a disgrace to the legal system. Every day I wake up and think of how that bastard wanted to give rapists a deal, let them off the hook, and I get fired up for the campaign."

"What will you do if you lose?" Sheila asked.

"Try again in two years, I guess." Jenna said. "If I'm still here in this County. So... will you keep running and pushing those women's issues? Or take the best offer and endorse one of those men over the other?"

Part 7 - Pranks And Promotions

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the lovely MILF Reporterette from in front of City Hall at 7:00am, Monday, October 31st. "Today is Hallowe'en, and things are getting very spooky in the political elections!"

I was sipping my coffee as I watched Bettina, who was wearing an orange and black dress that looked like tiger stripes on the Cincinnati Bengals' helmets. Bettina's shapely body made the dress look good, though. Also in the MCD room were Detectives Joanne Cummings Warner, a very happy Theo Washington, and Teddy Parker. Vice would be trickling in over the next hour, having had some missions over the weekend.

"In those races," said Bettina, "the Governor's race is at 49-44 for SBI Director Jack Lewis. Republican Val Jared is lagging behind, and experts say this race is beginning to fall into Mr. Lewis's lap. Governor Jared is being accused of being a misogynist, a racist, and wishy-washy on many issues, especially abortion rights. His message of cleaning up the corruption of Director Lewis and the SBI, as well as his tough policy on illegal immigration and creating jobs for Americans in the State is not resonating with the voters at all. Roll tape."

The tape showed Dr. Romanov of the University's Center for Politics being interviewed by athletic blonde Amber Harris, who said "How is the State shaping up for Director Lewis?"

"Director Lewis is polling very strongly in almost every county in the State, Amber." said Dr. Romanov. "Voters are not worried about the accusations of corruption on the part of his SBI officers, and it looks increasingly likely that he will win."

"What about these reports of people physically attacking Governor Jared's supporters at his rallies?" asked Amber. "Does this violence hurt Director Lewis?"

"These people are frustrated, Amber." said Dr. Romanov. "We must try to understand their feelings and their grievances. The 'System' is either leaving them behind, or crushing them. The Republicans have done everything they can to keep blacks and women under their jackboots, and these people are striking back at the injustice done to them."

"But is open violence the answer, Doctor?" asked Amber.

"Ask the Republicans that question in light of their policies that favor the corporate rich." said Romanov.

Back live, Bettina went on: "In the local elections, the District Attorney's race is at 52-45% for incumbent Gil Krasney over challenger Jenna Stiles. With her campaign again running low on money, experts question if she'll be able to mount an effective challenge all the way through to Election Day, now eight days away."

"And the open Council seat election remains virtually the same as before, with Loran Michaels maintaining a 45-40% lead over Scott Peterson." said Bettina. "Channel Two News has learned that both campaigns are reaching out to third-place candidate Sheila Sorrells, encouraging her to drop out of the race, and of course to endorse their candidate. Her decision could prevent a runoff election. And now let's go to Sports with Nick Eastwood. Nick!"

"Thank you Bettina." said Nick Eastwood, with the University stadium behind him. "It was a crushing loss for the Bulldogs on Saturday, as they fell to the defending National Champion Wildcats on a miracle play, 20-17. Appletree's halfback pass to Washington was an incredible end to a hard-fought, defensive football battle."

After a game recap, Nick Eastwood said "There is one silver lining to this loss, Bettina. The Police say that their jobs will be a little easier because their Police Commander was very happy with the game's result. Commander Troy is a Wildcat alumnus, and sources tell me that he was nearly injured after being tackled by other celebrating Wildcats at the game..."

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

"She absolutely kicked my ass in the ring this morning." Joanne said. "I had to tell her she was too worked up, and I just left."

"Hoo boy." I said. Joanne peered at me. She also noticed that I had the red crowbar in one hand as I drank coffee with the other.

"You have something up your sleeve, Commander." she said, most astutely.

"Just my arms." I replied, knowing that was an outright lie. Theo made sure to keep his face looking away from Joanne.

Suddenly the room was filled with the Darth Vader theme. As the 'Imperial March' played, into the room came Captain Cindy Ross, who looked like she was in no mood to take any shit. One could almost hear the artificial breathing from the platinum blonde...

"Where is that music coming from?" I wondered, looking around. Then I saw Teresa outside the other door, with a boombox in her hand. Her timing could not have been better. Cindy was looking darkly at her.

"You better get back to Vice, Ms. Croyle." I said. "You might not live to be promoted to Captain tomorrow." Teresa hurriedly exited, and I might have been the only one to see the gleam in her eye. I then turned my attention to Cindy. Teddy Parker had rushed to get her a mug of coffee. Smart man, and Chief Griswold would've approved of the kissing up.

For herself, Cindy turned her ice blue eyes upon Theo. "I am not liking people named 'Washington' right now." she declared. "And that extends to families."

I did not resist. I said "I think people named Washington are winners and never quit. If Theo will apply that to Detection like Jamaal did to winning football, no crime will remain unsolved." Theo and Teddy laughed, while Joanne tried to hide a chuckle.

"I swear to God that 70-0 loss was not as bad as Saturday's." Cindy said. "I am so fucking pissed off."

"It could be worse." I said.

"I'd like to know how." Cindy said, not caring a whit about ranks.

"Washington might've dropped the ball." I said. "And then *I* would be pissed off, and it would be a very bad day."

"Sounds like we all should be rooting for the Wildcats." said Teddy Parker. That got him a 'look' from Cindy... and not a pleasant one."

"Parker, go talk to Janice Holloway or something." I said. Parker quickly left.

"More coffee, Ms. Ross?" I asked. Finally, the Green Crowbar showed a sign of being mollified as I poured her mug full of the steaming beverage.

"Why are you carrying your crowbar around?" Cindy said, noticing that I was properly 'armed'.

"Are you kidding?" I asked. "Did you not see the football game?"

"I'm angry, not suicidal." Cindy said, drinking her coffee. I chuckled, and we talked about other things, including where Teresa's new office would be. That was something even Your Iron Crowbar didn't know, and Deputy Chief Harlow was keeping it under wraps. After a moment, I saw Teresa poke her head into the front doorway of MCD, the door next to Vice's entry way. It was set.

"Okay, Captain," I said to Cindy. "Before our morning meeting, head back to your office and print off a file of the Westboro break-in. Here's some more coffee before you go." I filled her mug and mine. Cindy dutifully headed out, not really noticing that eyes were watching her... and Detectives were following.

I saw her go into the anteroom to her office, and I got to the edge of it just as she went inside.

"WHAT IN THE GOD-DAMN FUCK!?!?!?!"

We were all giggling and coming up. Inside Cindy's office, right behind her desk, hanging from the ceiling and reaching all the way to the floor, was a tapestry of paper with a black-and-white printout copy of a photo of Jamaal Washington catching the halfback pass over his shoulder. In addition, red and black crêpe paper was hanging like bunting from the ceiling tiles.

Cindy was absolutely stunned. When she finally turned to us, her face was scarlet. "Why you bastards..." Then she saw Teresa, who was laughing as heartily as I had ever seen her laugh. "This is YOUR doing, Lieutenant Croyle!"

She had the green crowbar ready to go, but found herself blocked by the red crowbar. My reasons for carrying it were now very clear.

"No, this was my doing." I said, taking full credit. I had planned it, sent Teresa and Theo out of MCD to do it while keeping Cindy in MCD.

Speaking of Cindy, she was looking around as people were gathering from the hallway, some beginning to come in and look. Sergeant Rudistan got pictures.

Cindy couldn't hold it. She began shaking her head, then began laughing along with us. "Vengeance will be mine!" she uttered. As the gathering died down, she went into the office and, with mighty crowbar blows, shredded that hanging paper as if it were a piñata...

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

Part of the layout of Police Headquarters is that the Chief's office is in the back left corner, as seen from the front door (which faces east). Against the left outer wall next to the Chief's suite (going towards the front of the building) is Paulina's office, then my office, then the Captain's offices, then the Lieutenant's offices.

On the inside of the hallway are the long rooms of MCD towards the back, then Vice towards the front of the building. To the right of them, and what we call 'behind' them, are Classrooms 'C' toward the front, with the door to the left hallway behind Vice, and going sideways as one looks from the front of the building. Next was Classroom 'D', with its door on the right side near where the Personnel & Records Officers are quartered. Further back is Classroom 'E', its door facing the hall behind MCD, then Classroom 'F', with entrances from both sides, and whose side wall was shared with the back hallway.

I was standing with Della Harlow in Classroom 'F', which was totally empty. Captain Marc Aaron, the Physical Properties Officer, was also in the room. Della was saying "We can put six large cubicles in here, floor to ceiling with doors, run secure lines from the junction with Classroom 'E' that goes downstairs to the I.T. servers, and put the Miltons, Sonali, and Lainie in here. We can also put David Krueger, if he wants to be here instead of MCD, and we can hire a replacement for The Abacus for the remaining space."

"Or put secure servers in that sixth space." I said. "And yes, David will want a cubicle office over an open desk in MCD."

"And that will free up the space next to Captain Ross for Captain Croyle." said Captain Aaron.

"After the stunt we pulled today," I said, "that might be dangerous."

"I am scared of the day the Wildcats lose to the Bulldogs." Della said. "There is no telling what they will do to you, and what your reaction will be."

"We have a year or more to find out." I said. Inwardly, I was much more worried...

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

Tuesday, November 1st. It was a beautiful morning, clear and beginning to be 'cold' cold. The ceremonies would be in the bleachers behind Police Headquarters.

"After our ceremonies," said Police Chief Moynahan, "you Commanders and I will head over to the Fire Department Headquarters for Mr. Davies's promotion. This is an effort at creating goodwill with the Fire Department."