Little Red Haired Girl Ch. 05

"Seems she's helped the Police solve cases far more than you ever have, Mr. Finneran." replied Mr. Fitzgerald.

"Keep comments like that to yourself, Fitzgerald." warned Silas.

"So you'll let him smear her good name, but I can't call him out for doing it?" Fitzgerald asked out loud.

"You will suspend your remarks, Mr. Fitzgerald." said Silas angrily. "Are there any more questions for this witness?"

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

Finally, it was time for my interrogation. Finneran wasted no time in attacking.

"So you put children's lives in danger." said Finneran. I said nothing. "Well?"

"I haven't heard a question to answer yet." I said. "As to your statement, I reject the premise of it, and I have no further comment on that false premise."

"Are we going to play these games again, Commander Troy?" growled Silas.

"Yes, Mr. Silas." I said. "As long as Finneran keeps up his crap."

"Watch your language." warned Silas. "Mr. Finneran, do you have a question for Commander Troy?"

"A lot of them." said Finneran. "So let's review. A few years ago, the boys Marsdon and Austin were caught by Police sneaking into First Baptist Church, is that true?"

"Yes." I replied.

"And then you had them tell Police about their secret passage on the night First Baptist Church was destroyed?" asked Finneran.

"Yes, saving hundreds of lives."

"I didn't ask for your evaluation. It was a 'yes or no' question." Finneran spat. "So then you gave those boys little trophy shop medals for doing that, is that true?"

"Yes I did." I said.

"And then you gave Susie Haskins a medal after the kidnapping incident by the criminal known as the 'Slender Man', is that right?"

"The alleged criminal?" I asked, throwing Finneran's political correctness back into his own hatred-filled face.

"Don't get smart with me, Troy." snarled Finneran. "Answer the question."

"I object to this line of questioning." said Mr. Fitzgerald. "What does this have to do with the incident we are examining here?"

"I'm establishing that." replied Finneran.

"Your objection is summarily overruled, Mr. Fitzgerald." said Silas, glaring at Fitzgerald. "You may proceed, Mr. Finneran."

"Answer the question, Troy." Finneran growled.

"I did award Susie a medal for her bravery and taking care of the other kids while they were kidnapped, yes." I said.

"So you're just encouraging these kids to take rash actions, aren't you?"

"That is your evaluation of it." I said. "I don't accept your premise, and I don't agree with that evaluation."

"Did you discourage the kids from following you up the hill?" Finneran asked. Oops.

"Why, yes I did." I said. "When Susie pointed out the direction Paco had run, I yelled at the kids to stay there as I ran by them. That is documented in several witness interviews."

"And yet they followed you anyway." said Finneran. "Because you gave them toy medals and made them think they're some kind of heroes. And you endangered their lives instead of stopping them when they ran up the hill after you!"

"I didn't know they were running up behind me." I said. "I was kind of busy stopping a man from murdering a little girl."

"And he almost killed you, didn't he?" shouted Finneran gleefully. "If those kids had not saved you, you'd be dead now, wouldn't you?"

"That's hypothetical, and I don't know if the perp would've killed me." I said. "But yes, I definitely credit them and their actions with saving my and Frieda's lives."

"So you admit that you had to have your little heroes save you." ranted Finneran.

"I've already answered that." I replied.

Mr. Landau stepped in. "Commander," he said "why didn't you just say you pushed the man over the cliff. Your actions kicking him while he was hovering over you led to his fall, is that not right?"

"My actions helped." I said. "As to the story of what happened, as young Mr. Marsdon said, the boys preferred to be totally honest and take responsibility for their actions, for which I commend them."

"So you did ask them to lie, didn't you?" yelled Finneran.

"No, quite the opposite." I said. "As Mr. Marsdon truthfully testified, I did not coach them nor ask them to lie in any way."

"I don't believe you." snarled Finneran.

"I do." said Landau.

"I don't care what you believe, Finneran." I said. "And your hatred of the Police has been well documented to the point that your presence on any Board of Inquiry involving Police Officers is permanently objected to."

"You will refrain from making such remarks, Commander Troy."

"Like hell I will!" I exclaimed, standing up. "This man is lying about me and accusing me of crimes I did not commit. And this Board of Inquiry is about me, and I will defend myself as well as point out and expose Finneran's bias and dishonesty!"

"I agree." said Mike Todd, rising to his feet also. "My client's rights are being abused by your attempt to prevent him from speaking in his own defense!"

Silas tapped his gavel several times. He was a black man, and if he'd been white he would've been red-faced with anger. "Mr. Finneran, do you have any more questions for the defendant?" He deliberately used that last word to cast me in the light of an accused criminal on trial. Silas had gone over to the Dark Side, as far as I was concerned. Mike G. Todd and I sat back down.

"Just one, with followups." said Finneran. "Did any Agent of the FBI warn you that Paco Domingo was an expert in the martial arts?"

Now how did he know that? I wondered to myself. I kept my face passive and said "Yes."

"Did any Agent of the FBI advise you to shoot Domingo, rather than engage him in personal combat?" Finneran asked, his face looking like he was anticipating some kind of victory.

"Yes." I said.

"Then why didn't you?" yelled Finneran. "Why did you play the hero and engage the man in personal combat, almost getting your head smashed in with your own crowbar, and setting a terrible example for those boys that also rushed in like some kind of heroes, as well?"

I stood up again. "Because Frieda Franklin was right behind Paco, and in the line of fire." I said. "And I accuse you of hypocrisy in asking that question. You say I'm endangering the boys, then when I take Frieda's life into account and don't shoot Paco because she might get hit, even though it put me in greater danger, you say I should've shot at him and endangered her. You can't have it both ways, Finneran. You're a hypocrite. A dishonest, duplicitous hypocrite."

Silas had begun tapping his gavel, and I kept talking right through it. "I'm going to finish my statement, Silas, no matter how long you tap that gavel." I said. "As far as I'm concerned, this is over. I refuse to answer any more questions."

And with that, Mike G. Todd, the Union rep, and I got up and walked out, essentially ending the hearing.

Part 33 - Epilogue

The gangly man in the ill-fitting polyester suit came up to the other man in the bar and sat down.

"Is it set?" Dick Granger asked as he sipped his drink.

"Yeah." said Jerry Barsbane. "But we had had a big setback. Paco got himself killed. He was essential to our plan."

"You know we can't have any delays." said Granger. "It's set, and we can't change the timing of it, not by a minute."

"I know." said Barsbane. "Our team will be three people instead of four, unless the Boss Man can get another guy in place in time. Either way, I came to tell you that it's a 'Go'. We're ready to strike...


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

8:30pm, Monday, May 4th. Bettina Wurtzburg and Amber Harris were at a table in the barroom of the Cattleman's Club, sipping on drinks. They were both very glum.

"God, it's bad." spat Bettina angrily. "I thought for sure we'd given Finneran enough to barbecue Donald Troy's ass, but then the Mayor went and put two new people on the Board of Inquiry, stacking it against us. Troy's going to weasel out of it... again."

"Yeah, I know." said Amber Harris glumly. "I suggested to Burt (West) that we run another campaign to demand Troy be fired. Maybe even hiring Lester Holder back just to shove his buttocks into Troy's face."

"How'd that go?" asked Bettina.

"He was positive about another round of calling for Troy to be fired." said Amber. "But he said there was no way we could hire Lester back."

"Hello, ladies!" said a voice. The women looked up to see former SNN reporter Jenna James. "May I join you?"

"Sure." said Bettina. "Congratulations on being hired as Katherine Woodburn's new Press Secretary."

"Thank you." said Jenna. "It's a good job, and I don't have to be one of the rotating anchors on SNN anymore. God! that sucked. Diane Williams is a washed up bitch, and she has the cat claws out for everyone else. At least being Katherine's Press Secretary, I can stay in the loop without all the crap."

"How's Katherine as a boss?" Amber asked.

"Good." said Jenna. "Very professional. I think she has what it takes to make a run for Governor if she wants to. But I will say this: all her other staff says it really hurt Katherine when Priya Ajmani left her... and by 'left her' I mean in more than just in a professional way and a job change."

"Priya is an airheaded idiot." Bettina said as she sipped her drink. "If she thinks she'll do any better at KFXU than anyplace else she's been at...well...she'll find out."

Jenna said "Ladies, let me ask you a question. What did Priya leave Katherine over?"

Amber said "I heard it was over Katherine trying to get DFACS to take back Cindy Ross's new baby."

"Yes." said Jenna. "And what do you know about that? About how Ms. Ross was able to cut through the red tape and get that child so quickly?"

"Happens all the time." Bettina said. "Her father is one of the richest men in the nation, if not the whole planet."

"Still... undue influences gets her ahead of the line." Jenna said. "And I'll go further: what do you know about that baby?"

"Not much." said Bettina. "She's a cute little girl."

"Yes." said Jenna. "You didn't hear me say this, but Katherine is still bitter about losing Priya. She says she'd like for someone to look into that baby's true parentage, that it might be of interest to reporters who believe the Public has the right to know about who's breaking in line to adopt a baby... and especially why that particular child."

Jenna got up. "You ladies have a nice evening." She left.

"I dunno." said Amber. "Cindy Ross has been much less our enemy than Donald Troy."

"She's still one of them." snarled Bettina. "She's still a filthy cop. And worse, she's still the Iron Crowbar's blood kin. Yes, if there's something there... we should use that to attack that redheaded bastard, through his blood kin...

Finis.