Moonlight Shadow Ch. 04

I was halfway in a reverie. "No, probably not. Very curious, though." I then snapped out of it, looked up at Teresa, and said "Captain, call Fire Lieutenant Easley. He's been working with the Bomb Squad lately. For some reason, the guy thinks that having a Medal of Valor means he has to do the dangerous tasks."

"Can't imagine why he'd think that." Teresa said sardonically. "Especially in this County."

"Must be rowdy Police Captains setting a bad example for him." I retorted. "Seriously, ask him to prepare a bomb disposal unit, just in case. We have some explosives in evidence, but I suspect some of the plastique walked away before last Thursday's firefight at MLK Park."

"Yes sir." said Teresa. "Oh, one more thing. I heard from Otis's mom, Beatrice. Seems KXTC had a huge meeting on why their ratings are down and advertisers are pulling out. A survey taken suggested that the advertisers are not happy with the Media's treatment of you, sir."

I couldn't help but smile. "Money talks," I said, "bullshit runs the marathon. Okay, thanks for that info. Go call Easley." Teresa scooted out the door.

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

Things happened faster than I expected. It was only a half hour after Lynch left that D.A. Krasney came into Headquarters... along with Nathan Masterson of Gresham & Mason, P.C. (no relation to Ted Mason, I understand). They went to the Chief's office, but he stymied that move by calling me into his office.

"We have a situation with this Cialis case." said Krasney as I walked in. "The Feds are asking us to extradite her to their custody. Any problem with that?"

"Not only 'yes', but 'hell yes!'." I said. "We are not giving up custody of May Cialis until this murder case is resolved... likely by the Jury's verdict in her trial. And don't try to end run me, Krasney; Judge Folsom has already been told, and has made it clear to his subordinate judges, that no extradition is to take place."

"Why not let them have her?" asked Krasney. "Take her off our hands, save the taxpayers some money..."

"It's called 'murder in the first degree', Mr. Krasney." I said. "Even Mr. Masterson here knows what that is. I am not letting that murderer get away with it by getting into Federal custody, then getting released at the request of the CIA Director."

"We'll just take this to Federal Court." said Masterson.

"Which has no jurisdiction over murder cases." I replied. "And if they did try to let her be extradited, she stays in my jails until the appeals are done with."

Krasney looked resigned as he said to Masterson. "It's not going to happen, Masterson. So are you May Cialis's counsel now?"

"Yes, I've taken back over the case." said Masterson. "And I want to talk to my client."

"Fine." I said. "Make sure you give her good legal advice... like how she's facing the death penalty, and how I'm gunning to have her put on the table at Jacksonville State Prison and put to death by lethal injection if and when she's convicted of murdering her husband. Also make sure she understands that any stories of her boyfriend making her do it won't work too well with the competent juries of this County."

Masterson looked displeased, but the Duty Desk Sergeant, called in by the Chief, was already there to escort him to I-1 to talk to his client.

"You're going to push this, aren't you?" asked Krasney.

"You know something, Mr. Kraaaaaasney?" drawled the Chief. "If you'd allow the Iron Crowbar to do his job, you'll probably have this woman confessing to her crimes, and you'd save the taxpayers a lot of money that way. Why are you trying so hard to cut a deal with a woman who has nothing to give us?"

"Mason believes she had an accomplice." said Krasney. "He fears 'reasonable doubt' issues, and, frankly, so do I."

"You've been living in fear for years, Krasney." I said, then added brutally: "Which is why you're not going to be D.A. after the Election in November. Right now, you're wasting my time. Let's go get May Cialis's confession, so you can move on to things that don't scare you so much. If you'll excuse me, Chief..." With that, I walked to the door and out. Krasney was tall and long-legged, but had to hustle to keep up with me as I strode down the hall...

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

"My client wishes to make a statement," said Masterson, "which will implicate the true criminal in the murder of her husband. She will also give you much more information about him, and about certain er, Federal cases which might be of value to you and to the FBI. In exchange, she'll be given full immunity for any part she played in her husband's murder, and you'll allow her to be extradited to Federal custody."

I couldn't help it; I just began laughing.

"Come on, Masterson." said Krasney, who was sitting next to me. "You know we can't accept that. I'm not giving her unconditional immunity until I know it's worth it. And you've gotta convince Commander Troy more than me."

"Hypothetical, then?" asked Masterson.

"No." I said sourly. "No loopholes."

"Even if her information might be of value to you in saving your wife's life?" asked Masterson, peering at me. May was looking hard at me, also.

So that was their trump card, I thought to myself. They're trying to get her off by giving me information they think I don't know.

Stupid to bluff the Iron Crowbar when one is holding an empty hand, I thought to myself. Very stupid, indeed.

"No." I said. "No hypotheticals. No loopholes. I know what happened at the crime scene; there is nothing you can give me that will change the truth of that."

"Did you not hear me?" gasped Masterson. "This woman is offering you information that can save your wife's life!"

"Then you should be telling me that information, if my wife is in danger." I said. "You are under obligation to do so as an Officer of the Court."

"I don't know the information." said Masterson. "Only my client does."

"Mr. Krasney," I said, "you look thirsty. Why don't you go get a Coca-Cola, and maybe talk to the Chief about how you got re-elected by getting a conviction of May Cialis..."

"All right." Krasney said, not to happy about it, but also knowing that this just went above his pay grade.

"And ask Captain Ross to shut off the microphones, so that only Mrs. Cialis and her lawyer will hear what I have to say." I said. Krasney waved as he left the room; I knew Cindy would shut off the microphones herself upon hearing me say that.

I turned on May. "Let me be crystal clear, Mrs. Cialis." I said. "Threatening my wife will not get you immunity. It will not get you the chance to give a false hypothetical statement. It will not get you any deal at all. If you know something, I suggest you tell your lawyer, who can then tell me."

"You're willing to let your wife be in danger, rather than hear a hypothetical that in no way harms your case?" asked Masterson. I did not even look at him; I bored into May Cialis.

"Perhaps, Mrs. Cialis," I said quietly but with great menace in my voice, "you have heard of what happened to Sergei Molotov?" May's eyes flashed for a second; she knew.

"Yes, your masters in the CIA sent my wife on a suicide mission; they fully expected her to die, to not return from it. I had other ideas. I am the one who changed their suppositions. I saved her and wiped out Molotov. Mr. Putin was very happy with me for doing that. My children were even happier when their mother came home."

"Mrs. Cialis," I said, "if I could do that, then do you really think I'm going to let your lover, Agent Warspear, try to take revenge on my wife for outing him and busting him? No, ma'am, I'm going to put a crowbar upside his head." May couldn't help it; she smirked as if she expected me to lose that contest.

"And I'll go further, Mrs. Cialis." I said. "When I do bust 'Paul Smith', or whatever name he's going by now, I'm going to have only one deal to put on the table... and he's going to get dibs on it. You've taken the Fifth, so I'm not allowed to tell you that your only hope... your only hope... to get death off the table, is to sing like the proverbial canary."

I got up. "Mr. Masterson," I said, "I advise you to advise your client very, very well." And with that, I left I-1 and came back into the anteroom.

Part 21 - Research Studies

The young stud grasped the beautiful blonde's hips and pulled her into him as his huge cock sank balls-deep into her, followed by the loud *smack!* of the round globes of her firm asscheeks smashing into his taut, muscular groin. He began pumping into her, driving forward with long, hard thrusts as the beautiful girl moaned and gasped in pleasure.

They were in the little bedroom next to Dr. Laura Fredricson's office. The good doctor was monitoring their progress from the little watching chamber next door. If this room seemed as small as a closet, it's because it was meant to be a closet, but now had a table-desk with instruments and videorecording Laura barely had room for her long, shapely legs as she sat in the chair at the desk.

"Oh yes! Fuck me!" gasped the hot blonde as the young stud slammed into her again and again. He was hoping he could become part of the unofficial 'Sigma Epsilon Chi' or S-E-X Fraternity on campus, and Dr. Fredricson had promised to give him a good recommendation if he 'performed' well. And the fringe benefit, of course, was that he got to fuck this drop-dead gorgeous woman.

The woman was in her early 20s and was a high-class escort in the area. She aspired to get into porn, and Dr. Fredricson had promised her a 'great reference with a great contact' if she helped Laura's research.

Both young people were fucking hard. The college-aged boy was obviously enjoying the sex as he pistoned his huge meat in and out of the woman. It was harder to tell if the woman was enjoying her young stud's cock driving deep inside her again and again, but she was moaning as if she was.

The woman began sinking to the bed, and the young man followed her down, still plowing his cock in and out of her tight furrow. The angle and tightness of her cunt channel brought increased pleasure to him, and he felt the cum beginning to boil in his big balls.

"Oh yeah... here it comes, baby... oh yeah... UHHH!!" the stud groaned as he sank down into the woman and began firing huge spurts of thick jism deep into the blonde's well-fucked pussy. With several vigorous thrusts he emptied his balls, the pleasure of his release washing over him as he collapsed onto the woman in a hot, sweaty heap.

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

After they got dressed, Laura interviewed them together in the little bedroom.

"Yeah, he was pretty good." said the woman, responding to Laura's question. "He's young, but his technique is good. It has to be, with a big cock like that." Everyone chuckled a bit at that.

"Oh, she's awesome." said the young man. "I usually have to be careful with girls with my size, but she took it like a pro, handled it... and me... really well."

"Okay," said Laura to the young man, "I'm going to have you come out for some individual questions, then I'll come back for you." she said to the girl.

In the main office, Laura asked the guy a few questions about the girl handling his size, about how she was relative to other women, etc., then dismissed him. Then she brought the woman out.

"Okay, between us." Laura said. "How was he?"

"He was... okay." said the woman, and not enthusiastically. "I think I taught him a lot about technique in just that one session. In some ways, being so big means he doesn't work on the little things about pleasing a woman, and I'd guess most of the girls he's been with either are inexperienced themselves, or were too busy trying to accommodate his size."

"Good points." Laura said. "Okay, let me call in my contact." She called in Callie. The woman was stunned to see one of the hottest porn stars, who also owned a porn company, come into the room. Callie talked to the woman, they exchanged business cards, then the woman left.

"Think she'll be a good porn star?" asked Callie as Laura sat down at her desk and Callie took the chair on the other side of the desk.

"She'd be okay," said Laura, "but probably pretty run-of-the-mill. Not a lot of energy, there."

Callie nodded. "True. So, what research are you doing on her and that young stud she was banging?"

Laura said "I watch their interactions during their sex. Then I ask them to talk about their experience and each other while they're together. Then I talk to them separately to see if they say the same things. The guys usually do, but the woman very often are far more critical in private. This will tie in to some research that Dr. Anthony Foster is doing. He's our relatively new Assistant Professor of Psychology, and he's doing human interactive behavior research. He's studying, as are many psychology professors, how truthful people are in various situations."

"Cool!" said Callie. "I'd tell him to interview my porn stars, but they'd probably blow up his research. Those people lie like dogs in the shade if it'll make them a buck."

Laura smiled. "Okay, so what are you finding these days?"

"Nothing new on the Cialises or 'Warspear'." said Callie. "That Audi that was found burning on the Bypass last night was the same one that had been watching us. So it looks like 'Warspear' has new and different transportation, and we don't know what it is."

"That sucks." said Laura. "Look, you and Cindy be careful out there. Really be on the lookout for anything or anyone out of the ordinary."

"I was about to tell you the same thing." Callie said with a grin. "It's you that Cindy and Don thinks he's after. Don tries to pretend he's not worried about you, but Cindy knows that he is."

"Yes," said Laura, "it's very hard on him when he thinks there's a threat to his family. He still won't talk about that Christmas Eve when Carole was abducted, even when I try to get him to. He just said that it worked out, that Teresa rose to meet her destiny... but he won't talk about the attack on Carole or her grandmother. Typical alpha-male, but what can one do?"

"And if you can't get him to talk about it, no one can." said Callie.

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

5:30pm, Wednesday, April 11th.

Callie left the Psychology Building, peering around warily. Seeing no cars that weren't supposed to be there, she began walking to her BMW, which was parked near Laura's Mercedes. She gave Laura's car a thorough look before moving to her own. She glanced into her vehicle's windows, but saw nothing out of place.

Pulling out, she went along the long parking lot/road behind the various buildings until it became a normal street that joined other roads on the University Campus. She made her way north to one of the roads that emptied onto University Avenue. She was looking at the northbound traffic coming from her left, as she was going to turn right.

*CLICK!*

She barely had time to realize that her doors had been unlocked when she then realized that the right rear door was being opened and a man was getting inside. As she turned, she found herself looking into the business end of a powerful handgun.

"Please don't do anything stupid, Ms. Carrington." said a man in his thirties with a full head of dark hair and a handsome face. It was Agent 'Warspear'.

"Aw, shit." Callie said, sounding more annoyed than anything else.

"Just do as I say, and nobody gets hurt, as the cliche goes." said Warspear. "Keep your hands on the wheel. I don't know if you have any of those silent alarms, but it would be best for Captain Ross's health that you don't attempt to try anything, anything at all. Now... turn right, just like you were going to..."

Part 22 - Troy Family Values, Yet Again

8:30pm, Wednesday, April 11th.

Teresa and Cindy were sitting on the outside patio of the Cop Bar, sharing a pitcher of beer and a huge plate of beef nachos as they waited for others to join them. Well, it had been a huge plate of nachos. More than half the plate had been consumed, and the rest was destined to meet the same fate.

"So how are things going, planning for the wedding?" Cindy asked.

Teresa barked a laugh but shook her head at the same time. "BOW Enterprises is handling virtually all of it. I'd just as soon go to the Justice of the Peace and just exchange vows and be done with it. But for Todd, it's an important event for his business, and for him as a semi-public persona. I understand that, so I just back out of the way and let Mariko-san do all the work."

"You're the bride. It's your wedding." Cindy said. "Don't let them make you do anything you don't want to do."

"Oh, don't worry about that!" Teresa said with some warmth. "They know better. Todd knows better. I've made sure that the parts of the ceremony I want are going to happen."

"The Honor Guard is already practicing a sword arch for the wedding party to walk through." Cindy said. "So... who is going to give you away? Or are you just going to come down the aisle alone?"

"I'm sure they'll figure something out." Teresa said cryptically, causing Cindy to peer at her for a moment. Then she moved on.

"So," said Cindy, "are you happy with your husband-in-perspective?" That was a term used in England in the Victorian age.

"Yeah." Teresa said, a slight smile forming on her face. "Todd is... well, he's young, but he's very mature for his age. I think having all the kids around had a lot to do with that, but Todd always was patient with me in my moods, and always supportive of me. He and I started out just being 'friends with benefits', despite our difference in ages, but then we just realized that we were in love, and getting married was the right thing to do."

"So how do you compare Todd to Don?" asked Cindy. "Think Don was like Todd when Don was that young?"

"No." said Teresa. "Don's mom said that Don wasn't all that outgoing in high school, not flamboyant, though he had what she called 'quiet' confidence, and an 'understated' leadership potential. He was good Army Officer material, from what I understand. Todd was flamboyant, outgoing, chasing girls, and catching them because they let him. Todd did have something of a mean streak; he was pretty abusive towards his younger brother Ned. And Todd has that magnetic leadership that causes people to want to follow him."

"Don has tremendous insight and intuition about crime, and human actions and interactions." Teresa continued. "Analytical skills from his mom. Todd has his blood father's business intuition, and some insight abilities inherited from his mom and grandmother. Don's mother told me that it's kind of like the days of old calculators: they had scientific calculators and business calculators. They worked exactly the same, as the math behind both is exactly the same. But people applied those same buttons to different tasks. And in that light, Don's mom always thought that Don could never be a business CEO like Todd... Don's too straightforward honest and doesn't have the people skills Todd does. But Todd could never be a Police leader, much less the Iron Crowbar."

"That makes sense." Cindy said. "They have some similarities and some differences, and are applying their skills where they most need to be applied." Then Cindy got a crafty grin on her face as she said: "And just like his Uncle Don, Todd went after that older woman in his life." That earned her something of a 'look' from Teresa, but Teresa knew Cindy was teasing her.

"You're just a young whippersnapper compared to Don and me. But yes, Uncle Don did very well in the wife department." said Teresa. "And so did Todd, for that matter." she added importantly. Cindy laughed out loud.

"I have no illusions that Todd is going to be sexually faithful." said Teresa. "I'm not really interested in anyone else, but our marital arrangement is a lot like Don and Laura's otherwise. What about you and Callie?"