Price No Object Ch. 01

This story is part of an ongoing series. The chronological order of my stories is listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racism, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

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Part 1 - Prologue

10:00am, Friday, January 1st. The swearing-in ceremonies were at the Civic Center theater. It was not a particularly well-attended event; mostly family members and friends of those being sworn in were there. I did notice a number of Sheriff Deputies trickling in.

Among the guests were several children. Ross and Ian Troy had wanted to attend, as their blood aunt Cindy Ross was being sworn in as Chief of Staff of the Sheriff's Department. My son Jim had rather reluctantly agreed to join them, after he was promised he would not have to wear a necktie, not even a clip-on. He was wearing a black mock turtleneck with a gray sportscoat and slacks similar to what his dad liked to wear, and it was a good look on the son, too.

Dan and Patricia Allgood were also there. Dan was wearing a clip-on tie and seemed to like wearing a suit and tie. It was Dan's sixth(!) birthday, and Carole made the proper announcement and everyone sang 'Happy Birthday' to him. Laura and I would give Dan a gift via his parents after the ceremonies were over.

Patricia was dressed similarly to my daughter Carole and Carole's BFF Marie, wearing white stockings and black 'Mary Jane' shoes along with dresses of different colors: Carole in black (as close to Wildcat red her mother would allow), Marie in University blue, and Patricia in navy blue. Tasha and her mother were also present.

The Burke family also arrived. My nephew Todd would tell me later that Doug and Mike were indifferent about being there, but little Jack Burke had expressed a strong interest in attending. Doug and Mike hung out with my boys. I did notice that Doug went over and gave his biological mother Melina Allgood a hug, which was very nice of him. She did hug him back, though more like she would hug any of the other kids as opposed to her other biological children. Carole made a point to hug her Aunt Melina also, then collected her cousin Patricia to sit with her and the other girls.

"Doug is a good kid." Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle told me as we talked before the ceremonies began. "He knows Melina rejected him as a baby, and he tells me he considers me to be his mother. But I'm glad to see he's rising above it, and went over and gave her a hug."

"She may be his biological mother," I replied, "but he's fortunate to have a wonderful adoptive mother that loves him as her own."

"And a father that loves him as much as you love your lucky kids." Teresa said right back.

At that moment, Cindy's sister, Nextdoor County Police Chief Molly Evans, and their mother Maggie Ross came up to us. Molly said "I know Cindy is family, but isn't the Medal of Valor a bit much?" Yes, Teresa and I were wearing our formal Police uniforms with the 'fruit salad' of ribbons, and we were also wearing our MOVs on their red ribbons around our necks.

I replied: "I would agree, but it's not just for Cindy." And at that moment Sheriff Antonio Griswold came up behind us, also wearing his MOV.

"All right," Griswold growled. "Let's get this thing going. We've got bowl games to watch." I chuckled as Town & County Councilman J.P. Goldman, having heard Our Sheriff, moved as swiftly as he was able to get the ceremonies started. I went and sat down next to Laura and Paulina.

First, Mr. Goldman swore in Mayor Daniel Allgood to his next term. Then the Mayor swore in all ten Town & County Council members, including newly elected Edgar Silas. Silas had wanted to be sworn in separately and give a speech, but Edward R. Steele had told him that such a thing had never happened before, and that he, Silas, was but one of ten. Silas wasn't happy about that, but said nothing further about it.

Then Franklin Washington was sworn in as the new Superior Court Judge, replacing the far-Left activist Harry R. Nance. The applause for Washington seemed to be a lot louder and longer than for the others.

After the new and old Town Assemblypersons, some new School Board members, and a few other administrative officials were sworn in, Sheriff Griswold and Cindy went on stage, escorted by retiring Chief of Staff Charles T. Oswald. Cindy was wearing a Sheriff Department uniform tailored for her very advanced pregnancy. The Sheriff administered the Oath of Office to Cindy, and everyone applauded politely.

And then things began to happen. Sheriff Griswold called for me and Teresa to come onto the stage. As we made our way up, the Sheriff helped Cindy put on her MOV.

"Today we are honoring a man who has given a full lifetime of service to our Town & County's Public Safety Department." Sheriff Griswold announced. "Chief of Staff Oswald's example of devotion to duty and excellence in the performance of his duties is one that has inspired me and all our Deputies, as well as our Police Officers, Firefighters, EMTs, and Public Health Officers. And as he goes into a well-deserved retirement, we're honoring him appropriately."

I held the box, and as Cindy read the proclamation, the Sheriff pinned the Public Safety Distinguished Service Medal onto Chief of Staff Oswald's uniform jacket, under his silver 'Retired' badge. Yes, that was why we were wearing MOVs; this was a 'BFD'. And everyone on stage had been awarded a Distinguished Service Medal in the past. We started a loud and sustained round of applause for Chief of Staff Oswald, who looked emotional as the Sheriff invited him to say a few words.

Oswald made remarks complimenting Cindy and saying she would do an admirable job succeeding him, thanked the Sheriff for his support, then concluded by saying "It was an honor standing with my fellow Public Safety Officers this past year during the worst crisis in our County's history. The professionalism and devotion to their duty of our Police Officers, Firefighters, EMTs, and Public Health HAZMAT Officers was something we can all be truly proud of, and I am honored to have been part of that same Public Safety Department. Keep up the good work, and always stand for and by each other as you stand up for what is right!"

The audience rose in a standing ovation... except for the five Democrats on the Council, the Democrats of the Assembly, and the other Blacks in the auditorium. They were looking for a reason to be offended, and they were finding those reasons in Oswald's words of praise for those that put their lives and limbs on the line to protect the good citizens of our County...

After the ceremonies, as Edgar Silas and Kelly Carnes walked past me, Silas snarled "I don't see why Oswald was allowed to give a speech and I wasn't." I made a point to turn and face him, and he and Carnes stopped, turned, and fronted me. "You got a problem with me, Troy?" Silas said loudly, trying to draw attention to us.

"Mostly with the crappy company you're keeping." I replied, referring to Carnes. "But yeah------"

Sheriff Griswold suddenly appeared between us. "Let's go have lunch, Crowbar." he said as he clapped his hand on my shoulder and steered me down the aisle, away from further confrontation with those two enemies...

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

12:00 high noon, Friday, January 1st. The Cabin was the scene of a big family lunch. All three of my Angels and their families were here, including Cindy's mother Maggie and FBI Special Agent Tim Jenkins, the father of Cindy's unborn child; Tanya's husband, FBI Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone, and their kids; and Todd and Teresa with their boys.

ADA Paulina Patterson was present with Tasha, Edward and Stephanie Steele with Selena and Marie, and Franklin and Theo Washington with their wives. And of course Our Sheriff was helping Bowser and Buddy herd the human cats.

People brought food, and it was a nice feast. Maggie Ross had taken control of the kitchen and was supervising. Carole, Marie, Tasha, Jennifer and Tiffany Muscone were industriously helping set the tables and bring out food, and Carole was having little Betsy Ross help her with a few placesettings, which made Betsy very happy.

As that was going on, the boys were upstairs doing more with New Lego City and the great Troy Transcontinental Railroad. Pete Feeley loved the opportunity to get to work on it, as did Doug and Mike Burke. Little Jack Burke and Ian, however, were not participating; instead, they were playing a video game.

Most of the rest of us were watching the inaugurations of Lieutenant Governor Corey Coons and Governor Sharon Marshall. The crowd that was there for Ms. Marshall were polite, and did not disrupt Corey Coons's swearing-in, but Coons's crowd did not reciprocate. They booed Governor Val Jared when he was introduced, calling out ugly things that cannot be repeated on this family-oriented website. When security forces moved in and threatened to remove them by force, they settled down somewhat, but their boos could still be heard during Ms. Marshall's speech.

"Where does Governor Jared live?" Cindy asked Sheriff Griswold.

"He grew up in Alvaton, near Westphalia." said the Sheriff. "He went to school here at the University, then moved to Midtown."

"Where are he and his wife going to settle down?" I asked. "And will they continue to be active in politics, on behalf of the Party?"

Griswold said "They're renting a house in Palmyra County for now, but they're not sure where they're going to move to permanently. I suggested they move up here, to our County. As to remaining active in politics? He hasn't said, and my thinking is that he won't. He's still bitter about the Establishment Republicans that voted to impeach and to convict him."

Cindy said "If they need a house with a safe room, I have one for them."

"I thought you were moving in there." I said. "Until your new house gets built."

Cindy replied "If Governor Jared wants to buy the house, I'll sell it to him, and Callie and I can rent a place until the House on the Hill gets built."

"I'll mention it to him." said Griswold. He got out his cellphone and began writing an email. Just then, we saw on the KFXU broadcast that the Governor and his wife were being driven away from the State Capitol, where the inauguration had been held. There were protesters lined up along the street on both sides, dressed in Antifa and Environmentalist Wacko clothing, yelling and screaming at the Jareds.

"Wow, even to the very last." Teresa lamented. "Just what has caused them to have such unappeasable hatred for that poor man?"

"He supports the Constitution and the Law." growled Griswold. "And he believes in Justice for All, not just for some at the expense of others, like Silas does. And they hate Jared for that."

I added: "And the demonstrations you're seeing here are paid for by Haters like George Schwartz and the cronies of Lionel Carmela, and are for the Media to broadcast into the homes of the People of the State, to make people think that Conservatism and Patriotism are evil, and that the Constitution must be destroyed and replaced by a Totalitarian Socialist Manifesto."

"Strong letter to follow." said Laura in a message of warning to me as she came up to the group. "Lunch is served, everyone. And I suggest you get in line before the boys find out and all the food disappears."

"Too late, Mommy!" Carole said. Indeed, a blur that was a procession of boys rushed past us to the serving line.

As we ate lunch, the Sheriff's iPhone chimed. He barked a laugh, then showed me the text from Val Jared. It said "Free at last."...

Part 2 - The Crime Scene

2:30pm, Monday, January 4th. My wife Laura had called me to say that a 'loddy-doddy-everybody' Faculty meeting was being convened, and that she and Stephanie Steele had to attend, so could I pick up Carole, Marie, Jim, and Ross? I agreed to do so. After hanging up, I told Tanya that I'd pick up Pete along with the others if she'd watch over them when I brought them back to the Station. She agreed to do so.

At 4:15pm. Carole and Marie were doing their homework in my office... well, it was more like Carole had finished her homework and was helping Marie do hers. Meanwhile, the boys played games on laptops and iPads in Tanya's office. My phone buzzed, and an instant later, Captain of Detectives Claire Michaels was admitted to my office.

"Sir," Claire said, "there's------ oh, hello kids."

Carole said: "Captain Mike-uls is about to tell you that there's a crime with dead bodies, but she's worried about saying that in front of us kids." Claire looked shocked at having had her mind read.

"I can understand that." I said without blinking an eyelash. "So, Captain, you might as well tell me."

"Yes sir." said a perturbed Captain Michaels. "Looks like a double-homicide or maybe a murder-suicide." She gave an address.

"Can I go, Daddy?" Carole said excitedly.

"Do you have your badge?" I asked back, hoping she didn't. Guess what?

"Yes sir." Carole said. "It's in your car with my book bag."

"Do you always carry your badge in your book bag?" I asked, preparing to make an on-the-spot correction.

"No sir, I usually don't." Carole replied. "I thought I might need it today, so I put it in the bag."

She 'thought' she might need it today, I mused to myself...

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

Marie went to Tanya's office, and Tanya said the Sheriff was coming over to help with babysitting and would take the kids home. Carole and I got into my Police SUV, and she got her badge and put it around her neck.

The location was in a middle-class neighborhood north of Town in the north of the Kensington District, north of the Kensington subdivision, called the 'Talbot Farms' subdivision. The houses were not old, but they were sturdy and not the newfangled cookie-cutter houses of more modern times.

"Okay, Carole," I said as we pulled up, "you know the rules. Stay back and observe, and don't get in the Detectives's way."

"Yes sir." Carole said. We went to the house where we gave our badge numbers to Patrolman Culver, who didn't even blink an eyelash that one of the investigating Officers was a seven-year-old Honorary Auxiliary Officer. I saw a Subaru in the open garage and an Audi to the side of the garage, and idly wondered why the garage door hadn't been shut, especially as it was a cold day.

We went inside, and I noticed that it was pretty cold inside the house, though it was well-lived-in. Carole and I proceeded to the greatroom, where we found Senior Detective Theo Washington supervising the CSI team gathering evidence and Detective Sergeant Julia Rodriguez looking around while consulting her Police iPhone.

In the middle of the room, lying dead on the floor side-by-side, were a man and a woman, both with gunshot wounds to their heads. A Glock pistol, caliber 9mmP, was lying on the floor between them. Detective-1 Roark Coleman was examining the man's body with a magnifying glass.

As to those bodies, I observed that they were both white, medium height and build, and appeared to be in their mid-to-upper twenties. He was wearing glasses, his hair was brown and styled well, and he was wearing a suit and loosened tie. Her face would've been attractive but for the bullet wound under her left eye and bruising on her face and head. Her hair was light brown with blonde highlights, and she was wearing a sweatshirt and panties, but no pants.

"Whaddya got, Theo?" I asked gruffly as we came up to the victims. Carole was trying to do the right thing and stand back, but was craning her neck to look at the bodies.

"Hello Commander. Hello Carole." Theo Washington said as we came up. "Fingerprints have not come back yet, but his drivers license in his wallet says he is Dwayne Matheson and that this is his home. We have not found any ID for the female, as her purse was emptied on the dining room table and her wallet apparently taken. But the wedding photos on the hall wall are of her and him, so we're pretty sure she's Julie Matheson, Dwayne's wife, and DMV records should confirm that once we hear back from them."

"I'll buy that for a dollar." I said, then asked my daughter "Carole, what is the first thing we always ask at a crime scene?"

"Who called the Police, Daddy." Carole said, drawing a couple of glances from the CSIs in the room, and a grin from Julia Rodriguez.

"Very good, Carole, that's right." I said. "So guys... who called it in?"

Julia Rodriguez said "Mrs. Jones, who lives in the house next door, to the right as you look at them from the street. She called 9-1-1 and said she heard what sounded like a gunshot in this house right after Mr. Matheson got home. I'm going to go interview her right after we wrap up the initial scene here."

I nodded, then said "I may want to go with you, and listen in on that------"

Just then Martha the M.E. bounded into the room. "My goodness, I must be really moving slow if I got here after Detective Troy and her father." I ignored the dig, knowing that she was needling me. She knelt down by the bodies and said "If you'll excuse me, Mr. Roark, I need to do some work here."

Roark Coleman looked unhappy at what sounded like a snide comment, but he got out of the way. "What did you observe, Mr. Roark?" I asked him.

"Uh, sir," Coleman said, "it's pretty clear that the Glock nine-millimeter fired the shot that killed the man. There's stippling around the wound."

"How can you tell this Glock is the weapon that fired the shot?" I asked. "Did you touch that Glock on the floor?"

"Oh, no sir!" Coleman said hastily. "That's where it was when we got here, unless the Patrol Officers that got here first touched it."

Corporal Hicks came up, and I could see in his face that he had not taken Coleman's comment very well. "No sir, Commander. We didn't touch a thing, except to check for pulses. But they were already dead."

"Good." I said. Having put on latex gloves, I called for Connie, our camerawoman, to video me as I picked up the Glock. I said "Okay folks, here's a pro tip: if someone fires a semi-auto pistol at another person with a strong enough grip, the gun should recoil and chamber another round if the magazine is not empty. But if someone commits suicide, the hand holding the firearm loses strength immediately, and the firearm may not completely recycle."

With that, I took the magazine out, noting out loud to the camera that there were several cartridges in it. Then I pulled back the slide, and an empty shell flew out and fell to the floor.

"Empty shell." I said as the camera recorded it. "That's a data point for Mr. Roark that Mr. Matheson here committed suicide with this firearm."

I had the techs bag the gun, magazine, and spent shell, then got my butt out of Martha's way. She began examining the bodies and almost immediately grunted in surprise. She spoke up: "Corporal, when you felt for pulses, were the bodies warm to the touch?"

"Uh, he was." Hicks said. "But... come to think of it, her body was a lot colder than his when I felt for a pulse."

"That's what you call a 'strangeness', isn't it Daddy?" Carole said, peering at me.

"It most certainly is." I replied with a little smile. Then I said "Okay, Detective Rodriguez, if you will let Carole tag along with you while you check out the rest of the house, we'll let Martha do her job here."