Return of The Slender Man Ch. 01

"Search and rescue teams have found nothing to help solve these crimes, and there have been no ransom demands made to this point." Bettina went on. "Police have not responded to repeated inquiries for more information on the cases, but Police Chief Sean Moynahan issued a statement saying he will give a press conference with an update on the situation later this morning."

"And in State news," Bettina said, her manner becoming considerable brighter, "Independent State Counsel Robert Mullen was asked when he will subpoena Commander Donald Troy to answer questions, and if Commander Troy will have to testify before a Special Grand Jury that Mr. Mullen is expected to convene. Roll tape."

Tape rolled, showing Mullen saying "We have preparatory work to do before issuing any subpoenas, and we'll make a determination about how we will interrogate Commander Donald Troy. What I can tell you is that Donald Troy will be subpoenaed and be required to answer my questions fully and truthfully, or he will be prosecuted."

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

"So, Commander," asked Cindy as we watched the broadcast in the nearly empty MCD room, "would you rather be questioned in front of the Special Grand Jury, or just by Mullen?"

"In front of the Grand Jury." I said. "I might could influence them if I was answering questions in front of them."

"Where is everyone?" Chief Moynahan asked as he came in to get some coffee, which I had made.

"At their desks, or out in the field." I replied. "The Vice guys are hitting contacts and confidential informants to see if we can get any threads on these Slender Man kidnappings. The MCD guys are in Classroom 'E', getting Myron's report on the various families."

"And why aren't you two in there?" asked the Chief.

"Sir, I wanted to see Bettina's report, to see what the Press has." I said. "She didn't mention that KXTC's Editor-in-Chief, Burt West, was in Patricia Ridley's home with her when the Slender Man struck... and he forgot to call in to KXTC and let them know what was happening."

"And we confiscated his cell phone by the time he remembered." said Cindy. "By the way, he and Patricia were released from the Hospital after bloodwork was taken. She's here now, in the Pastor's Room." I nodded.

"Anyway, Chief," I continued, "Bettina didn't mention the pages that were found at the scenes, nor did she mention the disc golf discs, thank God. I'm hoping the Press does not know about all that stuff. And we'll get Myron's report later, either in writing or from his briefing to us..."

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

8:30am, Friday, April 20th. The Public Health Department was next to Police Headquarters on Riverside Drive, to our right as one looked at the fronts of the buildings, the Public Health building being closer to City Hall and Courthouse Square.

Town & County Solicitor Miriam Walters walked into the building and went to the office of Public Health Officer Beth Paige. They were longtime friends, and Miriam had called to ask Beth to discuss an issue with her. After preliminary pleasantries and getting coffee, they sat down at the conference table in PHO Paige's office.

"You're never going to believe this," said Miriam Walters, "but I had a very interesting meeting with Commander Troy yesterday."

"Before all this crap about the missing kids started up?" Beth Paige asked.

"Yes." said Miriam. "It was in the morning. Commander Troy suggested that I run for D.A. instead of Solicitor this year." She recounted the gist of her conversation with the Police Commander.

"Wow." said Beth. "So what's his motive in asking you to do that? I could've sworn he would be supporting Paulina Patterson."

"He said he does." Miriam replied. "He also said he really wants Krasney defeated. On that, he and I totally agree."

"That makes three of us." said Beth. "However, you are a shoo-in for Solicitor again. Would you give that up for a shot at District Attorney? A shot you might not win? What would you do if you lost?"

"I was thinking about that yesterday." said Miriam. "I also talked to my campaign team about it. All I have to do is make the top two, then there's a runoff election if no one gets 50%. My campaign staff are 'yes-men' and 'yes-women', but they think I have a good shot to make a runoff against Patterson. And Krasney is gone if that happens, whether or not I win or Paulina wins."

"You think Paulina will keep you on as an ADA?" asked Beth.

"There's a good possibility." said Miriam. "Or I get a job with the State, or a private law firm, maybe even teach at the University until I can plan my next move. For example, when Eldrick X. Weaver beats Sheriff Allgood for Mayor, Weaver will become such a polarizing Mayor over racial issues that I can beat him in two years and be Mayor myself."

"Unless Sheriff Allgood wins," said Beth Paige, aware that she was speaking about her boss, "and if he does win, he's likely to be like Vaughan... Mayor-for-Life, if he wants it."

"I know." Miriam said. "And the Mayor's office has never really been my lodestone. District Attorney is what I want. So, what is your advice for me?"

"I'd suggest you take all the time available to you," said Beth, "and try to figure out what the Iron Crowbar had in mind in asking you to run for D.A. He has to have an ulterior motive, and you need to know what it is----"

*BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!*

"That's my personal cellphone." said Beth Paige, looking at the device. "It's my daughter's school." She answered the phone.

"This is the Assistant Principal at Evergreen Elementary." said the Assistant Principal at Evergreen Elementary School, which fed into the County High system. "We're calling about your daughter Bettie's absence. Is she sick today?"

"Absent?" Beth Paige gasped. "I dropped her off at school this morning! She should be there!"

"Er, she is not in her homeroom, and did not answer roll call, ma'am." said the Assistant Principal.

"Oh my God!" Beth wailed. "Call the Police! Immediately!" She disconnected, then looked at Miriam Walters in shock. "My daughter... they said she's not at school... I dropped her off there!"

"Let's go next door to Police Headquarters." said Miriam.

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

I was coming out of my office, headed for MCD, when I heard the commotion.

"Ma'am, you can't come back here without authorization!" said the Duty Desk Sergeant as Public Health Officer Beth Paige came around the corner, followed by the Sergeant and Solicitor Miriam Walters. Considering that PHO Paige had the same rank in the Public Safety Department as the Chief, this could be bad.

Paige turned on the Sergeant and held up her PHO badge. "I am the Public Health Officer! Get out of my face, or I'll have you fired!" She tried to continue down the hall, and the Duty Desk Sergeant did not relent. He grabbed her to stop her.

"Get your goddamned hands off me!" Beth Paige screamed. Fortunately for him, I got there.

"Sergeant!" I called out. Everyone froze upon hearing the power of my voice. I said in a normal voice: "It's okay. Return to the Duty Desk. I'll handle this." The Duty Desk Sergeant nodded to me and moved out smartly.

"Get his badge number, I'm going to have him fired!" Beth Paige screamed.

"No you're not." said Chief Moynahan, coming up behind me. "He was doing his job, and the Commander and I will back him up all the way. What do you want, Ms. Paige?"

"It's Bettie... the school called." said Beth, her voice beginning to quiver as her body began shaking. "I dropped her off at school, but they said she's not in home room, that she's missing..."

"All right, we'll start looking for her." I said. "Evergreen Elementary?" Beth nodded.

"I'll take her to the Pastor's Room." said the Chief. "Ms. Walters, if you'll come with us..." He led the women to the Pastor's Room, but not before I'd sprung into action.

"Captain Ross!" I yelled out. She came flying out of MCD.

"I heard it, and I'm on it." she said.

"So am I." said Captain Teresa Croyle as she came out of her office. Miriam Walters looked a little less worried, seeing our fast response, but I felt her beady eyes peering at me, seemingly through me...

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

9:15am. Joanne Warner looked exhausted as she came into MCD with Cindy Ross. "We found this in the hallway at the school, next to Bettie Paige's homeroom." she said. It was a drawing, now in a plastic sleeve as evidence. There was a drawing of the Slender Man in the middle, surrounded by the words "no no no no no no no no no no no no". In the top right hand corner was the number '6'.

"Put it on the whiteboards." I said. "Anyone see anything?"

"No one saw a damn thing." said Cindy. "Unless they're lying. We looked at the hallway cameras, and Bettie Paige never appears. The kids usually are on the fenced-in playground behind the school until the bell rings. The camera shows Bettie being dropped off, going into the building, then going outside. But then we can't find her on any camera overlooking the playground. The teachers watching over the yard saw nothing out of the ordinary, no man in a suit or anything like that."

"Wow." I said. "Strangest one yet. Unless, like you said, someone is lying."

Cindy said "Teresa was going to organize a search and rescue around the school. Old Mrs. Boddiker was there, and already had the volunteers, most of whom are from the Veasley Community Center and from some of the churches, organized and moving out on assignments. Teresa didn't say a word; she said everything Mrs. Boddiker said was absolutely correct and was what she herself would've said and done."

I managed a brief smile. "We shall have to find a way to reward Mrs. Boddiker for her help. It was she that pointed out the disc golf bag to Patrolman Hicks, as well."

"Do you think that's a clue to all this?" Cindy asked. "Or just some kind of coincidence?"

"Two coincidences, therefore none." I replied. "We found the bag as a child went missing, and there were no fingerprints at all on the discs. Then Slender Man moved it from my safe to the MCD room. Yes, I think that bag means something... but I'll be damned if I know what it is. There are no markings on the discs, no notes or drawings in the bag... just Page 8, that was found taped to the basket at the park and is now on our whiteboards."

"Sir..." said Cindy, "one page left. Think there will be another kidnapping?"

"I hope not" I said. "All of the schools are alerted and on lockdown now. Officers at all of them, which stretches us way thin."

"I'll call up some Auxiliary Officers and some Deputy Sheriffs to help out with that." said Cindy. I nodded.

"Good." I said. "Maybe Slender Man will give us a break, and tape the 7th page on my office door or something."

Part 7 - Trouble Brewing

The outer gate to Greenville Minimum Security Prison in the southeastern part of the State opened up, and Dean Allen walked out. The son of the late State Senator Nathan Allen had served his time and then some. They'd added time to his sentence for trumped-up charges of smuggling drugs to another inmate, a man doing light time for financial crimes. The Town & County Police and that bastard Phil Kearns had worked hard to keep him from being paroled, but the Board had finally granted his release.

"How am I supposed to get back to town?" he asked.

"Walk." said the guard at the gate. "Or call a cab on your cellphone." Allen knew he didn't have a cellphone in his small suitcase, and the battery would be long since dead, anyway.

Just as he began walking down the road, a mini-SUV approached him. "Dean Allen?" the man called out.

"Yeah." said Allen. "Who wants to know?"

"Me." said the man. He stopped the car and got out. He was tall, with curly brown hair, a large nose, and an arrogant countenance. He was wearing a sportscoat and slacks, and a black shirt with a white clerical collar. "I'm SBI Chaplain Steven Ikea. I was sent down to pick you up. Some of my friends want to meet with you."

"Okay." said Allen, not having any real choice. Ikea put Deans' suitcase in the back of the SUV as Dean got into the shotgun seat. As they drove away, Allen said "I remember you. You were with the Town & County Police."

"I upgraded." said Ikea. "A lot of things have changed since they put you away."

"I've heard some of it." said Allen. "Your buddy Donald Troy has kicked a lot of asses."

"And your buddy Teresa Croyle has been right there with him." replied Ikea. "She's a Captain in the TCPD now."

"Shows just how stupid they are." said Allen. "So, who wants to meet me, and why?"

"Patience, Dean. Patience." said Ikea. "You'll find out everything soon..."

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

Pottsville, the crossroads of the State. The town of 40,000 residents was a mixture of the old trading town and the 'Old Money' that had been made from it, and a newer mix of industries to the northeast along the Interstate and farming to the southeast.

State House Ways and Means Chairman Wilson Hammonds (Establishment Republican) was of the 'Old Money' Hammonds family, in whose honor Hammondsville in the State west of the Iron Crowbar's Town and County was named. Chairman Hammonds wielded considerable political power in the State, and was virtually invincible and unstoppable in his own District.

But he now had two problems: Seamus 'Shane' O'Brady, and Donald Troy.

O'Brady had never quite let go of the Butch Fulmer murder. And he was on the fringe of finding out that it was Hammonds that had secured the museum security guard job for Fulmer, as well as 'extra payments' that insured Fulmer would keep his mouth shut about the Harlan/Gonzales University scandal (Author's note: 'Pink Panther'.).

There had been plans to send O'Brady a 'message' that he was overstepping. But Hammonds's marked cards in the Pottsville Police Department had gotten word to him that the Iron Crowbar was watching, and would be 'most unhappy' if anything happened to O'Brady.

And then there was Donald Troy himself. The Mullen probe was gearing up, but the Iron Crowbar was showing no signs of being intimidated, and every sign that he was going to fight Mullen with everything he could muster. On top of that, Troy and U.S. Senator Richard Nunn were relentlessly pursuing the BigAgraFoods documents issue... the documents the Guardians of Justice had released, showing BigAgraFoods's plans to control the food supply of the Nation, in order to subjugate the American People. And then there were the documents about the murder of the whistleblower Larry Wheeler. And that is what this meeting was about.

Gathering for a breakfast in Hammonds's Pottsville office were Hammonds, Lt. Governor Graham Collins, U.S. Senator Samuel Russell, State Senator Cain Mitchell, and State Rep. Jeff Canton. Russell looked like he had not slept in a month, and his collared shirt under his sportscoat was rumpled and slightly stained in a couple of places.

"Geez, Samuel," said Hammonds upon seeing the normally vigorous, well-dressed U.S. Senator, "you look half dead."

"It's getting bad for me in Washington." said Russell. "The FBI Executive Assistant Director for this region is not playing the Game, and he's in charge of Special Agent in Charge Muscone's team. My people are trying hard to stop them, but Senator Nunn, may he be damned by God, is working with them to get BigAgraFoods documents that will be... embarrassing, to say the least."

"Can they harm you in any criminal sense?" asked Collins.

"No, no... you know nothing harmful ever gets documented." said Russell. "But you also know how overzealous prosecutors can try to turn anything innocent into something criminal."

"Oh I know." said Graham Collins. "In fact, we're counting on Independent State Counsel to do exactly that with regard to Donald Troy."

"What exactly is your plan for that, Lt. Governor?" asked State Senator Mitchell.

"The plan," said Collins, "is to get Commander Troy indicted, which will get him suspended at the least. Once he's stripped of any law enforcement power, we can then move against Jared, impeach him, and more importantly convict him and remove him from office, if he doesn't resign first."

"Once that's done," said Collins, "and I am Governor, Senator Russell can retire and resign his Senate seat. I will appoint a reliable Republican in his place, a Republican that knows the Grassroots are to be ignored and spit upon..."

"I hate the fucking Grassroots!" exploded Wilson Hammonds. "I despise those bastards, those TEA Party assholes, and those pieces of shit that don't understand their fucking places in this world."

"Yes, Wilson, we understand." said Collins calmly. "But to piss in the Grassroots's faces, and show them that the Establishment is their true master, we have to get the bastards Troy and Jared out of the way. Then we can replace Russell with a reliable Republican, someone who understands that our big-money donors, Big Business, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce come before the puny ants of the Grassroots."

"On top of that," said Collins, "we intend to take it further, to make damn sure the People of this State don't get any independent ideas like they did when they re-elected that fool Jared. I'm working with both sides of the aisle in the State Legislature right now. The plan is to call the Legislature into Special Session, rescind the SBI Bill that Molinari and Cerone pushed through, and pass a new Budget that will restructure the SBI into the dominant law enforcement entity in the State... and with full authority over the shit eating local law enforcement jurisdictions. Jack Lewis will be brought back as SBI Director, restored to his rightful place before the Iron Crowbar ran him off to be a teacher at Eastern State."

"How long is this going to take?" asked State Rep. Canton.

"Mullen thinks he can get Troy indicted in June, maybe by July 4th at the latest." said Collins. "He has to lay some groundwork first, though. He'll be calling other witnesses to answer questions under oath, and start building his case against Troy. Then he'll subpoena Troy, and ask questions in a way that Troy can't possibly answer without contradicting himself. And then it's over for Troy... the 'Scooter Libby' treatment will commence, and once the Special Grand Jury indicts Troy, that's it for him."

"It'll take that long?" asked Russell.

"There's probably no way to do it more quickly." said Collins. "Mullen still has to use the process of the law and move within the law to entrap Troy. The key is to use the legal system itself to crush Troy, to give him no way out with the power of Government using legal tools to destroy him. If Mullen doesn't follow the correct process, then Troy is slippery enough that he might slip out of the net."

"And once Troy is gone," asked Cain Mitchell, "how long to get Jared?"

"It depends." said Hammonds. "If Troy is indicted, we'll let Jared know there's no hope for him, for Jared. We hope to force him to resign. We'll even suggest he pardon Troy and then resign."

"Pardon Troy?" shouted Mitchell. "Are you kidding me?"

"No." said Hammonds. "First of all, an indictment is not a conviction. Troy is going to fight like hell all the way. He just will be doing so as a former Police Officer and State Agent, not an active one. That's our lodestone for him."

"If he's pardoned," said Mitchell, "they'll just put him right back where he was."

"Maybe." said Collins. "But he'll be damaged goods. Harlow will win the Sheriff race in November by running against his besmirched reputation. I'll be Governor, implementing a new SBI under the control of Jack Lewis. The SBI-OER will be gutted. The investigations of BigAgraFoods and other businesses that give us millions in contributions will be dropped. We will regain control of the State, things will be as they should be."