No Show Ch. 02

"Won't that just make the local LEOs hate you even more?" Cindy asked skeptically.

I said "If I may..." Coldiron nodded, and I said "Most of the locals hate the SBI immeasurably now. I like what you're saying, Director... let's just stop pretending. If locals don't want your help, so be it. If they ask for it, let them know you'll work with them, but you're going to take the lead on it. Flip side of that? Be careful when they do invite you in... they may be setting it up for you to be the fall guys, the scapegoats."

"That's a thought." said Masters. "So let me tell you in confidence... which means I'd appreciate it if you don't go around talking about this, but it's not a State secret, pun fully intended... we don't have to have a Budget next year, but the Governor is going to press for one. And either way, we're going to press for changes to streamline the SBI, and improve it."

Sheriff Griswold said "What about all this crap about consolidating counties, including ours, and splitting the Town and the County back up?"

Coldiron: "That's going to be the next big hoopla the Press will be covering, as if it's the most important thing in the world. But the two Parties have vastly different ideas of what they want to do... each side wants the plan to benefit themselves at the expense of the other... so we hope we can sneak the SBI stuff in under the radar...

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

As Teresa and I drove back to Headquarters, she seemed introspective. "Penny for 'em." I said.

She replied "I do appreciate Coldiron's recognition that local LEOs will likely never trust the SBI, and his candor about that is refreshing. I just wonder why he and the Governor consider all this to be such a big deal."

I said "For a ton of reasons. In the last Budget battle, Sharon Marshall was considered to have capitulated to Wilson Hammonds and the Establishment Republicans on the Immigration issue, and it really hurt her politically with her base." ('Send In The Clowns', Ch. 04)

Me: "And Coldiron is right: our attempts to work with locals and gain their trust, including my SIS experiment, has been a total failure and will continue to be. Soooo, they're punting on the messaging, and will turn their attentions to their strengths, which should be crimes that cross county lines."

Teresa nodded, then replied: "The one thing that bothers me is that this brings the SBI closer to what Katherine Woodburn wants it to be... an authoritarian entity that can be weaponized and used to exercise totalitarian control over the People of the State."

"Point well taken." I said. "But it may also help the SBI be a stronger buffer against the FBI and all the Feds. I am becoming really, really scared of what Derrick B. Harland is doing, and what the Feds are becoming. And speaking of that... what are you doing this weekend?..."

Part 11 - 52 Candle Pickup

7:00pm, Monday, August 1st. We gathered at The Cabin to celebrate Laura's 52nd birthday. Present were: Laura, Me, Carole, Jim, Molly, Ross, Ian, Paulina, Tasha, Cindy, Callie, Teresa, Todd, Doug, Mike, Jack Burke, Stephanie Steele, Marie, Sheriff Griswold... and Melina Allgood brought little Dan and Patricia.

"Daniel didn't come with you?" I asked Melina after they arrived. "He's welcome to join us, you know."

Melina said "I know, and I tried to get him to come, but he just wouldn't do it. Even though he said he knows you weren't informed of what others knew ahead of time, he still blames you for sending his call to voicemail."

I said "I don't think anyone knew in advance of what the agitators were going to do. Daniel needs to get over it. His I.G. complaint is hindering Sheriff Griswold from doing his job as Sheriff."

Melina said "Well, I'm staying out of all that. I've got too much other stuff going on. And I'm pissed as hell at what they're saying about the Wildcats. Thank God the national Sports Media is on our side."

I said "What's keeping you busy?"

Melina said "There's a lot going on at the Federal level concerning those Toyota Gangs, and at the State level, too. On the one hand, there may be connections to the Cartels, and our DEA and even the CIA want to exploit those connections. But that means they have to get the perps away from you and the local charges against them, and also get someone to turn on the others. And with EAD Owen Lange seriously ill, I'm doing what I can to watch them in his stead."

"That bad with the EAD, huh?" I asked, letting my gray eyes bore into my ex-wife's blue peepers. Her look back at me told me everything I needed to know.

"He's near death." Melina said. "Anyway, there's also the State connections. You remember when Hoyt Stenson ran for Governor against Sharon Marshall and got his ass whipped?" (Author's note: 'Consent of the Governed', and stories right in its timeframe.)

I nodded, and Melina continued: "You may remember that there were some allegations against Hoyt Stenson's son Hunter Stenson about drug use and lying on the form to buy a gun. Well, what we're finding out now is that Hunter Stenson may be getting money from people with ties to the Red Chinese. Influence peddling at its finest."

I said "I can see why the Chinese would give sons of prominent politicians at the national level, especially those from the cesspool that is Wilmington, Delaware, money in exchange for influence peddling, but what are they getting out of a State-level politician for that?"

Melina said "BOW Enterprises is in this State. And the Red Chinese seriously covet the nanotechnology being developed by BOW, Ichimoku Industries, and Zion Dynamics. And that may be driving the State Democrats's goal of splitting apart the Town & County in the next Legislative session. They're trying to re-draw the political map to get Hoyt Stenson and other Democrats elected in two years..."

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

It was a school night, so we got dinner underway quickly. The kids got cheeseburgers and hotdogs cooked on the grill by Our Sheriff, with potato chips as the side. The big kids, Todd Burke, Your Iron Crowbar, and the aforementioned Sheriff, also feasted on the cheeseburgers. The rest of the adults had baked chicken, kernel corn, green beans (not stringbeans), and rolls.

Afterwards, we assembled in the greatroom to give Laura her gifts. She opened the other adults's gifts first. Paulina gave her a necklace with a wreath made of tiny diamond, emerald, and ruby chips, leftovers from cutting the stones. Stephanie gave Laura three relatively rare books that were a series by a prominent psychology professor from years past. Callie gave Laura a photo book of Laura in her office, teaching classes, and at the Hospital, many with Laura's colleagues and students. And Melina gave Laura a gift certificate for an overnight stay at a resort that was 'all-inclusive' and was famous for its spa and other amenities.

Molly, Cindy, and Teresa combined to get Laura a gift certificate for lingerie and high heel shoes. Todd whispered to me that that seemed to be more of a gift for me than for Laura. I nodded vigorously in agreement. The Sheriff gave Laura a bottle of Four Roses Single Barrel bourbon... another gift that might have had me in mind as much as Laura. Your Iron Crowbar really likes the Four Roses bourbons.

And Your Iron Crowbar gave his lovely wife a new Macbook Pro laptop, which she needed, and a bracelet that she could wear on her wrist or ankle, which had four charms on it: Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, and Clubs. And then it was time for the kids's gifts. And a theme quickly became apparent...

... the Standard Deck.

Jim gave his mother a double set of cards in a nice box. One of the decks of cards were the basic patterns on the face, and the coat-of-arms of the Central Intelligence Agency on the back. The other deck had the CIA logo on the back, but on the front side in the middle were various drawings of Mad Magazine's Spy vs. Spy.

Dan and Patrica went next, and their gift was two decks in a nice box. The back sides of one deck were in University blue colors with the University logo, and the other deck was Wildcat red with the Wildcat logo... the two Schools where Laura had been a professor. "Which one of those decks has marked cards?" Cindy asked.

Teresa's boys gave Laura three decks of cards and a shu to distribute them like those in casinos. "Gonna be one heck of a game night around here." Todd said with a grin.

"Especially if the Sheriff brings the bourbon." I replied. The Sheriff's mustaches twitched merrily in agreement.

Ross and Ian gave Laura a package that included a standard deck of cards in a plain plastic wrapper, as basic as it could be, which caused Carole and Marie to giggle. But the package included a DVD of the movie '52 Pickup' with Roy Scheider, Ann Margaret, and the late Vanity.

Tasha's gift to Laura was... a deck of cards. But it was a custom-made deck, and the photos in the center between the numbers, letters, and suits were of Laura. Some were of her alone, some with Paulina, some with me, some with Carole, some with Jim, some with all of us. Laura profusely expressed her delight with that gift.

Carole and Marie (but mostly Carole) gave Laura another two decks in a nice box. 
The back sides of one deck featured a photo of Buddy, and the other of Bowser. But the Ace up their sleeves (see what I did there?) was the hand-drawn picture book.

It was titled '52 Card Pickup'. Every page was outlined with the markings of a playing card. There were 14 pages, and there were no words of prose, just depictions. The 'K' card was a picture of me. The 'Q' was of Laura as a portrait. The 'J' was of Laura and me together. The '10' was Laura as a doctor examining Marie's ten fingers. The '9' was a drawing of Tiger Mom and Gracie... cats, 9 lives, dontcha know.

The '8' was Carole and Marie, both 8 years old, and the '7' was of Jim. The '6' was of Laura petting Bowser and the '5' was Laura petting Buddy. The '4' was of Grandpa Grizz and Laura sipping drinks, with a bottle of Four Roses between them. I suspected collusion on that one.

The '3' was of Betsy holding Baby Ben, as Betsy was 3 years old. The '2' surprised me... it was of Laura and Paulina sitting together on the couch. The 'A' was also a surprise; it was a drawing of Bowser and Buddy sitting side-by-side, leaning against each other to form an 'A' triangle.

The last photo showed the Sign of the Dollar ($), which often is the Sign of the Joker in the additions to decks of cards. The drawing was of Ross, Ian, and Jim on the back deck of The Cabin, wearing hoodies, with crossed arms like they were 'gangsta' or something.

"Those guys are definitely the Jokers on your deck, Mommy." Carole said helpfully.

"They're not the only ones." Laura said. "How much of this was your daddy's doing?"

Bus-ted.

All eyes went to me. Carole looked over at me with a 'What do I say?' look. Teresa looked the same way. Cindy's ice-blue eyes had a look of triumph in them that I'd been found out. Laura'a blue eyes also had a little gleam of 'Gotcha!' in them.

"Ohhh, I might've said a couple of thoughts out loud." I said. "Just be glad I didn't have them play '52 card pickup' with you."

"How do you play that, Dad?" Jim asked. Oops, he fell right into it.

"I'll show you!" Carole said with great enthusiasm. She took one of the basic decks, held the long ends, bent them back, then said "Ready?" Before Jim could say no or stop her, she started letting the cards go, firing them out of her hand. They flew all over Jim as Bowser moved quickly to avoid being part of the 'game'. "Now pick 'em up!" Carole ordered.

"All of you, pick 'em up." I said. Ross and Tasha moved the quickest to get the work done, and soon the cards were picked up.

After that, we had cake for dessert. Yep, the frosting depicted a card with the Queen of Hearts, and a simplistic replica of Laura in the middle. "I'm detecting a theme." Laura said as two candles, one a '5' and the other a '2' were lit. Laura blew them out as we sang 'Happy Birthday' to her. Very small pieces were distributed; we did not want the kids to get too much of a sugar rush.

The party broke up quickly after that, as children needed to get ready for bed on the school night. Somewhat to my surprise, Paulina took Tasha back to her apartment, and Laura had me bundle up Carole, Jim, and dogs, and we went back to the Mountain Nest.

After getting the kids (and dogs) to bed, Laura asked me if I wanted to join her for a sample of the Four Roses whiskey. As we sat on the sofa against the wall and sipped the delicious, rye-forward bourbon, she said "Well, I have enough cards now to open my own casino." I couldn't tell if she was just saying that to start a conversation, or if she was seriously disappointed, or worse.

I said "The kids will play with the cards in the future. And I can teach them some memory games with them. And some of those custom-made sets were really nice."

"Yes, they were." Laura said agreeably. "And you must've come up with the idea far enough in advance to have those specialty cards made."

I was getting a small 'vibe', that Laura had not liked the theme. I also knew that it had originally been Carole's idea, and I sensed that I needed to take the blame for it. I said "Well, it was all in fun. And the kids want to give you something memorable, but it's hard to come up with fresh ideas for birthdays and Christmas... especially for the woman who has just about everything."

"That's true." Laura said. "And what I want right now is 52 strokes of your cock inside me. Let's go to bed..."

Part 12 - Subpoena Coladas

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Tuesday, November 2nd, from the anchor desk at the KXTC studios. "Low turnout marks this off-year Election season!"

After the hard-charging intro music, Bettina began: "Today is Election Day, but with very few offices or referendums to vote upon, the turnout is exceptionally low. Early voting in our Town & County was the lowest it's ever been, and many experts believe turnout today could be as low as 10% of eligible voters."

Bettina: "But more importantly, today marks the unofficial beginning of next year's Election season. Both the Sheriff and District Attorney's positions will be up for grabs, as well as the Mayor, all Council and Assembly positions, and the School Board posts under our current structure."

Bettina: "But will our current structure survive? Let's go to highly respected political reporter Carl Lemay to begin full coverage of this important story. Carl!"

"That's right, Bettina!" said the slender Reporter of Color in his expensive suit from the rooftop of the building at Riverside and College, with City Hall in his background. "Channel Two News has learned that Social Justice groups will join Council Members and others in bringing a lawsuit against the Town & County to force equal representation on the Council."

Lemay: "Currently, the Council is composed of five Members from within the City Limits of the Town, and the other five from the outlying County. The number of people in each Town district is not the same as in each County district, and both experts and Social Justice groups claim that such an arrangement, even in a semi-executive body that the Council is, is inequitable and disenfranchises People of Color. They specifically cite that despite Minorities being in much larger numbers in Town districts, County Republicans are running roughshod over them with their racist, White Nationalist Republican politics."

Lemay: "Additionally, the groups will appeal to the US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division to come into the dispute, and Channel Two News has learned that the USDOJ, under the enlightened leadership of Derrick B. Harland, is ready to make that step. Their actions may include a lawsuit in Federal Court to redraw the voting lines, and also to force the Town & County Police, well known for their Police brutality against People of Color, into a Consent Decree. Back to you, Bettina."

"Thank you, Carl!" Bettina said. "That was highly respected reporter Carl Lemay. And for a wider State perspective, let's go to our SNN colleague and expert political reporter Bill Hacosta for more. Bill!"

"That's right, Bettina!" said the despised SNN reporter in an obviously taped segment. "The State News Networks have learned that the entire State may be facing political earthquakes over the coming year. There is growing sentiment in the State Legislature to redefine the county lines throughout the State!"

Hacosta: "Both Republicans and Democrats are receptive to the ideas being proposed, giving political experts hope that bipartisan solutions can pass the Legislature in next Winter's session. Republicans would like to separate some of The City's wealthier white suburbs into separate Counties and remove them from the tax base of The City. The State Constitution limits the number of counties to 96, not including The City as its own entity, so in order to create these new counties, others will have to be merged."

Hacosta: "Two ideas for your area, Bettina, include absorbing Farmdale and Rivers Counties into Hamilton County or Coltrane County; and for Nextdoor County and/or Coltrane County to be absorbed into your Town & County. If that happens, it is very likely that the Town and County will be re-separated into their pre-Merger entities, which could be done while disallowing any plebiscites by the County's residents on the matter."

Hacosta: "In return, State Democrats are pushing for changes to the Town & County's bicameral structure that currently allows the Town & County Council to be dominated by racist, White Nationalist Republicans, and they want to merge rural, predominately Republican counties so that there are fewer Republicans in the State Legislature, especially the State House..."

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

"Wow, he was amazingly candid about the Democrats's desire to reduce Republican numbers." said Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle as she, Sheriff Griswold, Your Iron Crowbar, Chief Moynahan, Deputy Chief Tanya Muscone, and Chief Deputy Cindy Ross drank coffee and watched the propaganda-cast in the Chief's Conference Room.

"Not to mention calling the Republicans every name he can." said Tanya.

Sheriff Griswold growled "You have to remember that Hacosta got where he is by attacking (former Governor) Val Jared in the most dishonest and vicious, personal terms. He hasn't been able to attack Sharon Marshall as viciously, so he attacks all Republicans now, calling every Republican from Wilson Hammonds to Sean Stockton to Libertarian Johnny Perdue a racist and White Nationalist."

Teresa said "That's true, but it's more. It's to create hostility and angst. Both the Mainstream Media and Fox Cable know they're not going to generate revenue with headlines like 'Republicans and Democrats compromise to create real solutions for their constituents'. So if Hacosta's candid reporting creates angst and division, he's done his job for his Media masters."

Chief Moynahan said "It seeeems to me that KXTC just fired the o-pen-ing sal-voooooh in their war on the current structure of the Town & County and the Coun-sullll. And my con-cerrrrn is what that is going to meeeeean for the T-C-P-Deeeee."

Cindy said "Just to play Devil's Advocate... isn't the Council structure inequitable? I can see their point; the Town districts are more populated than the County ones, but have the same representation. I'm surprised the USDOJ hasn't come down on us already."

I replied "Somewhat ironically, it was the USDOJ that passed off on it when the Merger was first proposed. They forced us to have the equal-representation Assembly for all revenue, i.e. taxation and spending, but they agreed the Mayor & Council as a unit was more executive than legislative, so they allowed it. And they passed off on it when we re-wrote the Charter."