Price No Object Ch. 05

Griswold slid her record jacket aside then looked her straight in her ice-blue eyes and said "So let me get straight to the guts of the matter. There is a cancer inside this Police Department, and inside this Town and this County. There are a lot of good people doing good things, but that cancer is still here, and is growing."

Griswold: "I am trying hard to excise that cancer from my Police Department, and I brought you in because I think you have the integrity as well as the Police skills to make t this a better, cleaner Police Force. You've been in those competitions, so I know you can handle pressure, both internal and external."

Griswold: "And I'll risk being politically incorrect here by saying this: I did a thorough background check on you, and I am aware of your sexual orientation. I know that you left your home in Canada because you stood for your principles, and for what you are. That took courage, and I'm going to need courage like yours."

Griswold: "Now this world is getting to a place where you don't have to hide your orientation, but there's still a way to go. I don't know if Captain Malone knows, but he did not want me to hire you. And if and when he finds out, he's going to put pressure on you to quit. I'm here to tell you that if he or anyone else gives you one word of shit, you let me know and I'll take care of it. I'm not asking you to be a snitch or anything like that. I'm just telling you that I'll have your back."

"Thank you, sir." Cindy said. She didn't know why, but she was getting a sense that this man meant what he was saying, that he really would have her back... a feeling she had almost never experienced before.

"Having said that," said the Chief, "I also see that you are a political atheist and not prone to be part of protests or demonstrations. And let me give you some unsolicited advice, advice from a guy who has been around the block with the Police for a long, long time: be a cop first, and don't worry about the rest. When you put on a uniform, or put your Badge on your belt, leave the politics of it in your locker."

"So that's it." Griswold finished. "You will be tested, and harder than most Police Officers will be. But you have friends and allies, too." He stood up, and so did she as he came around the desk and shook her hand. "I'm looking forward to working with you, Detective Ross..."

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

Cindy found her fellow MCD officers Tanya Perlman and Hugh Hewitt to be good Officers and good people. The Uniformed Officers were under Captain Leslie Charles, who was efficient and competent, but always looked at her with a baleful eye. And Officer Micah Rudistan looked to be overweight but was athletic beneath it, and his wit sometimes grated on her.

And then there was Vice. From the moment she met him, she felt a strong sense of foreboding about Captain Harold Malone. He had the aura of natural leadership and power that one might expect from a hardened Police Captain... but it wasn't a positive aura. And his Vice Squad seemed to perfectly reflect those negative biases.

Detective Julie Newton was called 'The Abacus', as she was an absolute wizard at facts and figures, personal finances and corporate books. She knew where all the hiding places were, and the routes to offshore bank accounts. She also was very superficial and distant towards Cindy and all the MCD Detectives, but Cindy observed that she looked at Captain Malone with worship in her dark eyes, and Cindy wondered if Julie was banging him.

She did not quite understand how Timothy Geiger was surviving as a Detective. He seemed timid, almost submissive, though that was in comparison to his Police partner... Steven Ikea. Cindy had rarely detested anyone more than she did Ikea. He was arrogant, condescending, and always seemed to be looking for a reason to start quoting the Christian religion with the zealotry of a televangelist. He was obviously Malone's favorite as they talked often, and Ikea was all but in command of Vice. Ikea's record of busts of drug gangs was impressive, though, so Cindy wondered if her impressions of him were wrong.

And then... there was Detective Teresa Croyle. She was tough and courageous, and her two Purple Orders testified to that. She also was unfriendly, even mean-spirited, and was despised by a lot of her colleagues. She'd been barely polite when being introduced to most new Officers, though with Cindy she'd actually looked in her eyes and said hello.

Most just thought she was Malone's dirty enforcer and a bad person with a bad attitude. But Cindy felt a very strong vibe about Teresa: pain. There was pain in Teresa's soul, but Cindy didn't know why. And trying to find out wasn't going to work; Teresa had rebuffed every attempt Cindy had made to talk to her beyond work-related issues.

Teresa's nickname was 'Teresa Cunt', which Cindy had heard used a few too many times. When a Duty Desk Sergeant called Teresa that to another Officer within Cindy's hearing, Cindy made her first attention-getting move: she locked that Sergeant's heels and said he'd better never, ever, use that nickname for Detective Croyle within her, Detective Ross's hearing. And she had been overheard, by Captain Malone... and by Teresa herself.

She took Chief Griswold's advice and concentrated on her work in MCD. It seemed that the Chief was always showing up at crime scenes, and she made sure to listen when the Chief helped her hone her investigative techniques; he had forgotten more about crime scene analysis than she thought she would ever know.

And one time Captain Charles was at a scene that required a large contingent of Uniformed Officers to secure it. As they finished up their work and the bodies were being removed, Captain Charles came up to her and looked at her with that baleful glare of his, and said: "You know, Ross, you're not half bad. Keep listening to Griswold, and you're going to be one damn fine Detective." Absolution, Cindy thought to herself.

And it wasn't much longer before the tests came. She and Tanya were in MCD when Steven Ikea walked in. "Hey Ross, I heard you're a sinner, that you're a filthy dyke. Is that true?"

"I heard you were a dyke." Cindy said. "You like women, and you don't have any balls." Tanya laughed out loud at that, earning an ugly look from Ikea.

Ikea turned back to Cindy and said "You better watch your mouth, dyke------"

"Or what?" Cindy said as she sprang to her feet and confronted Ikea.

"Or you won't be around much longer." Ikea said. "You better learn your fucking place, you godless dyke."

"And you'd better learn your place, nutjob." a voice behind him said. He turned to see Teresa Croyle behind him, giving him the full 'Teresa Cunt' look. She continued: "And your place is not here in MCD, so get out of here and leave her alone."

"You'd better get back to your desk, if you know what's good for you------" Ikea started. Cindy took her shot.

"And you'd better get out of here, or I'll kick your balls into your chest cavity." the athletic platinum blonde 'promised'.

"I would do that," Teresa said, "but like you said a minute ago, he doesn't have any balls to begin with."

"You've been warned, dyke." Ikea said to Cindy, then turned and left the room. Teresa nodded to Cindy and then turned and exited the room.

"Oh my God." said a stunned Tanya Perlman. "She took up for you! Teresa Cunt took up for you!"

"Don't ever call her that again within my earshot." Cindy said, though calmly. "And yes, she did. Okay, you witnessed that. I'm going to write Ikea up, make an HR complaint." Tanya's face immediately got more shocked.

"Uh, before you do that... talk to Chief Griswold." Tanya recommended.

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

"Have a seat." Chief Griswold said when Cindy reported to his office in response to his summons. She sat down.

"So you want to go to HR about Ikea?" the Chief said.

"Yes sir." Cindy said. "We can bust his chops, maybe get him demoted or fired."

"Yes, you could." Griswold said. "And if that's the route you want to go, I'll support you. But some unofficial advice from someone who's been around the block: don't. HR won't do a damn thing. Malone will protect Ikea... and come down on you. He'll say you started it, that you threatened Ikea, not the other way around. And Daniel Allgood in I.A. doesn't have what it takes to stand up to Malone and stop him."

Seeing Cindy's look, the Chief said "Listen. Ikea is nothing to you. He's an insect, a puny ant. But he's also Malone's 'boy'. Malone has been pushing me to promote Ikea to Lieutenant, and I've told Malone that that will be the day. But Ikea has tremendous influence with Malone, and Malone can make a lot of trouble for you."

Griswold: "I'm protecting you and Tanya, but it's like God and Lucifer in Paradise Lost: God is all-powerful, but Lucifer is nearly so, and things are touch-and-go. Malone has powerful friends on the Council and among others, as do I. But Malone is probably going to run for Sheriff, and if he wins, it'll be over for me, you, and every good person in this County."

"Is it that bad, Chief?" Cindy asked, beginning to glimpse the true enormity of the opposing forces at work.

"Yes." Griswold said. "And here's an example of it: Malone is going to ask you and your MCD colleagues to participate in a raid on a drug gang tomorrow night. He was going to order it, but I nixed that. And I'm going to tell you what I told Tanya and Hugh: you are not to go on that raid nor any raids with Vice, especially under Ikea's field command. If you do... you will be targeted for assassination by the drug gang you are interdicting."

A shock went through Cindy. "Sir?" she gasped.

"It's part of the corruption that's going on." Griswold said. "Whenever someone fronts Ikea and puts him in his place, that someone is put on a detail to go on a raid, and is made the point man. They get shot at, and sometimes hit. We're lucky as hell we've had no deaths yet."

"Sir..." Cindy said, "Teresa Croyle has two Purple Orders..."

"You catch on fast." Griswold said. "Teresa is a damn good leader of Officers, and she's brave... hell, she's fearless. And Ikea keeps putting her out front while he hides in the back."

Beginning to understand something... about Teresa... Cindy said "Sir, it's not just bravery on Teresa's part. I don't have anything to back this up, but I get the feeling that Teresa's attitude comes from pain. Something in her past. She doesn't fear death... because she's almost seeking it."

The Chief smiled under his huge mustaches. "You've caught on, I see. I think you're right. Dr. Fredricson, who volunteers as our Police psychologist, thinks the same thing, but even she can't break through Teresa's defenses. Maybe you can find out what's going on. In the meantime, I've offered Croyle a transfer into MCD, but she won't take it. I think she's honest, but she has a loyalty to Malone that bothers me. What do you think, Ross?"

"Sir," Cindy said, "I can understand her loyalty, as Malone has covered for her when she could easily be out on her ass. And a lot of people want that."

"But you don't?" the Chief asked, peering at Cindy.

"No sir." Cindy said. "Whatever else Teresa Croyle is... she's 'good Police'."

"I agree." growled Griswold. "I just wish I knew what was going on in her head. Anyway, you can go. Just let me know what you decide to do with the HR thing."

"I'm taking your advice, sir." Cindy said. "And that's because I know you've got my back... and I appreciate that."

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

A few hours later, Cindy saw Teresa in the hallway and pulled her into the Main Conference Room. "I've been told not to talk to you." Teresa told Cindy.

"I know." Cindy replied. "But I've got a plan to keep you out of trouble. I want you to start arguing with me. Publicly, in front of others. Argue with me and I'll argue back. Maybe not on the dyke issue, but on politics, since you're more conservative and I'm more liberal. Whatever it is, if they see and hear us arguing, they'll leave you alone..."

And it worked. Teresa and Cindy's arguments became the stuff of legend around the TCPD, and few if any realized they would talk and even have lunch together at times. But Cindy could never get to the issues concerning Teresa's past, even when she directly asked when Teresa was being a holy terror around Christmas time.

"Look, just leave it." Teresa said. "I'm not going to talk about past family issues." And Cindy knew she'd just heard more from Teresa than anyone else ever had.

"Look, I've had my own family problems." Cindy said. "I left home when I was in high school and came down here. And my sister is a cop in Midtown, but we don't talk."

"Just... look, I know you mean well." Teresa said. "But just leave me be on it." And Cindy knew she was hearing the last of that subject. It would not be her getting Teresa's truth out of her...

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

Time went on. But things were getting worse. MCD had been stymied in several investigations. Evidence had disappeared. Witnesses had skipped Town or had come over all dead. And it seemed that the Beanstalk Gang, a brutal drug gang, could not be stopped by Malone and Ikea's Vice Squad, though every other drug gang had been crushed with ruthless efficiency.

"I'm not sure what we can do." Chief Griswold had said to her and her MCD colleagues at lunch one day. "There's something out there... someone... beyond Malone. Someone supporting Malone within the Force, and controlling things everywhere else. I think it may be Henry Wargrave."

"Sir," said Tanya, "he's President Wellman's friend. Sidney says he's a good guy."

Griswold knew Tanya was having an affair with Wellman, so all he said was "He's a good guy to Sidney Wellman because he gives Wellman's University big checks. And I'm not complaining, because Wargrave has given us a lot, too. He bought the University a brand new mass spectrometer... it cost in the millions... and he directed them to give our Crime Lab their old mass spec. It's a godsend, we couldn't afford it otherwise. Still... there's something... someone... out there that is keeping us from solving crimes. And I admit... whoever he is, he's too much for me."

Cindy had felt the depression from the Chief and from her colleagues, and she was beginning to feel it chronically, too. She did her job, but she retreated to the background more and more as Officers became aware she was a lesbian and began giving her the cold shoulder for it, at best. The 21st Century hadn't arrived in the TCPD yet.

Her arguments with Teresa were becoming more and more real, for both of them, and they were barely speaking otherwise. And Teresa's pain was becoming fatalism, Cindy sensed. It wouldn't be long before Teresa's next Purple Order was posthumous, Cindy felt, or that Teresa would so something that would get her fired. Cindy felt helpless to stop the freight train seemingly roaring down on them all.

And then... it all turned around.

"Who is that?" Cindy said from the doorway to MCD. She and Tanya had seen the tall broad-shouldered man with almost-blonde red hair being escorted to the Chief's office. The vibe she sensed was the most positive she'd felt since the day she first met Dr. P. Harvey Eckhart as a teenager.

"He's the guy that brought in that kid that stole those research drugs from the University." Teresa Croyle said as she came up to them. "His name is Troy, Don Troy. The Chief wants to hire him as our I.T. guy... and if he goes through the Academy, he might end up with you in MCD."

"Malone told you that?" Cindy asked casually, a little too casually.

"No." Teresa replied just as casually. "Well... I listened to conversations that did not concern me."

"Mmm," Tanya Perlman said, her eyes twinkling brightly, "that is one handsome man." Then she said with mock sadness: "But... he's married."

"That's never stopped you before." Teresa said cattily. Tanya turned on Teresa with a look of shock and anger. Cindy had burst out laughing, and she patted Tanya on the shoulder, easing the tension.

"We'll see what happens." Teresa said. "Captain Malone wants no part of him."

"Because if he comes to MCD... Malone will never rule over it again." Cindy said, very, very sure. She didn't say it in front of Teresa, but she sensed that Chief Griswold had not given up on saving his Police Force and his Town & County, and that he was about to make the hire that would make all the difference against the shadowy evil that was overtaking them. And she knew that her whole life had just changed...

Part 22 - Epilogue

Back in live time...

Sheriff Antonio Griswold was totally speechless when Cindy told him that she'd named her son after him. "You're... you're naming him after me? That's... that's not just good asskissing skills..."

Cindy smiled and said "No, it's a whole lot more. I talked with Tim, and Mom, and Callie about it. Melina named Daniel after my father, Dr. Eckhart. And no one has done more for me in my life than you, Sheriff. Not even Don. You gave me my shot to be a Police Officer. You had my back all those years, even when I fucked up. You were the father I needed but did not deserve. I'm who I am now... because of you, Sheriff. And since Charlie died... I wanted someone to carry on your legacy."

"I... I don't know what to say." the Sheriff said, still stunned.

"Say 'hello' to your namesake, Sheriff." I said. Tim handed Griswold baby Benjamin Antonio. Maggie took an iPhone photo of me looking over the Sheriff's shoulder as he held the baby, tears streaming down the old man's face...

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

"I'm telling you, we will break through." said Matthew Willis. "It's just going to take more time that we anticipated. But we still have the core code Matheson created, and we have the best team money can buy working on it."

"Like you had the best team money could buy advising you on how to get Dwayne Matheson back? By murdering his wife?" Dr. Robin Isley shot back. "Look how that worked out for you. Did you even consider that Dwayne Matheson might kill himself when he found his wife's body?"

"No, I didn't." said Matthew Willis, almost defiantly. "But what did you want me to do? He wouldn't come back for three hundred thousand dollars while she was influencing him."

"You idiot." Isley said. "You know, some people aren't motivated by money. Matheson wasn't. Teresa Croyle isn't... she gave up a hundred million, gave it to her local hospital."

"That's enough, Robin." said Director of National Intelligence Brendan Chapel, knowing Isley was goading him as much as she was goading Matthew Willis. The three of them were sitting in his office in Washington, D.C.

"Okay, Willis," said DNI Chapel, "you definitely fucked that one up, but I can understand it... who in their right mind refuses that kind of money to work on something so valuable to national security? But all is not lost. Go and get 'Charrington' completed. It's crucial to my------ our plans to destroy the White Nationalist Conservatives and save American Democracy. You can go."

Matthew Willis got out while the getting was most very good, especially for his own health. Robin Isley looked at Brendan Chapel, who was lost in thought.

Isley said "It may not matter... Don Troy knows about 'Charrington' now, which means Laura Fredricson knows about it. And that will mean Senator Nunn will know about it, as well as our White Nationalist enemies all over the Nation. The exposure alone will get it shut down."

Chapel replied "In the short term, maybe. The Guardians of Justice exposed our plans to take over the transportation of the Nation and the foodstuffs, and to confiscate everyone's guns... and it blew over. Now those plans are being reconstituted under the guise of 'national security', as we use the excuse of parents confronting school boards to implement Derrick B. Harland's plan to make an enforcement unit with the FBI to destroy those parents."