Return To Point Hollow Ch. 02

"I wouldn't be surprised." said Muscone. "Want me to try to check into them? I'm not sure we can do it without them or their benefactors knowing about it."

"And that's exactly what I want." I said. "Get with Assistant Director Lange on it to give yourself some cover, but yeah... I'd like for them to know that they're being probed... deeply probed..."

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

I was burning my blue lightbar as my Police SUV sped along the University-City Highway towards the City. In the car with me was Sr. Detective Theo Washington, holding on to the handle above the shotgun-side door for dear life.

"If you don't want to answer this, I'll understand." I said. "But what's going on in the DA's Office from Franklin's point of view?" ADA Franklin Washington was Theo's brother.

"I'll give you the Cliff's Notes, sir." said Theo. "Franklin believes that all of the things we heard about for months, and what Lester Holder ultimately reported on, are true. He thinks DA Walters wanted to demote Paulina along with Gregory, and she meant to do it as a public humiliation of Paulina. Franklin absolutely believes it was racially motivated. And what other reason could there be?"

"To answer that question: political reasons." I said. "Walters wants to keep Paulina down so that Paulina doesn't run for D.A. again, or for Solicitor, against Walters or Fineman, respectively."

"Yes sir." said Theo. "But Franklin thinks it's more. A lot more."

"Is he looking for work elsewhere?" I asked.

"No comment, sir." Theo said.

"I'll buy that." I said.

"I will say this, sir." said Theo. "There was word that after she realized demoting just Paulina would create a war with you, Walters was going to demote all four ADAs, then come back early next year and promote Franklin and Savannah Fineman to ADAs, leaving Paulina behind and trying to justify it by saying she did promote Franklin. What she didn't know was that Franklin was going to immediately file a civil rights lawsuit over it. That alone would necessitate Franklin looking for employment elsewhere."

"Well, I hope he'll stay." I said. "He's doing such a good job with the Vice cases that I don't even have to show my face in there. I'd hate to lose him, just like I'd hate to lose you from MCD. But if Miriam Walters is creating a toxic situation over there, I wouldn't blame him from getting out."

"I have a question, sir." Theo said. "May I speak freely?"

"Sure. Go ahead." I replied.

"Is Paulina going to leave? Or run again against Walters?" Theo asked. "Franklin will support her all the way if she does."

"I don't know what Paulina's plans are." I said truthfully. "She doesn't want to play the race card at all, but she's not going to let Miriam Walters walk all over her in order to help Miriam's crony Savannah Fineman..."

Just then my Police iPhone chimed. I read the text. "Ahhhh, outstanding. Ready to have some fun, Theo?"

"Always, sir."

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

"Ohhh, yeahhh..." groaned Jolene. She was sitting on the edge of Brother Terence Ballard's desk in his office, her dress hitched up, her long legs spread wide. Between her slender thighs was Ballard, his pants around his knees, and his fat cock pistoning in and out of Jolene's tight, wet snatch.

"Yeah, sister." grunted Ballard. "Your tight pussy is a piece of heaven. Let me bestow the Lord's blessings deep inside your heavenly---"

*CLICK!*

Oops, I thought to myself as I photographed the leader of the 'World Outreach Church' plundering his assistant's womanly depths, I left the sound on. How careless of me.

"I daresay it's not 'outreach', but 'in-reach', Detective." I said to Theo. We were both wearing armor that had the generic 'POLICE' label instead of 'TCPD'.

"What the hell you doin' in here?" thundered Ballard as he pulled himself out of Jolene. Part of him was going for his pants, and another part of him was going for his desk drawer.

"Don't even think about it." I said, lightly tapping my red crowbar on his hand on the drawer. Theo had pulled Jolene to the side, and was handcuffing her as she screamed obscenities at him. Meanwhile, I had pulled Terence's arms behind him and handcuffed him.

"Where's your warrant, Pig?" screamed Ballard. "I'll have your fucking badge for this!"

"Not exactly churchgoing language out of these two, sir." said Theo with his movie-star-handsome grin.

"Not at all." I replied agreeably. "Here's your warrant, Brother Terence." I said to him, exhibiting the document. It had been sent to me electronically from the Magistrate Court judge in the City, and I had a mobile printer in my Police SUV that printed it out. Ain't technology wonderful?

"Okay," I said as I put on latex gloves, "let's see what you were going after in this drawer." I opened it, and saw the powerful handgun inside.

"I got a concealed carry permit for that." said Ballard.

"I doubt it." I said as I rapidly extracted the cartridges from the magazine, then poured the cartridges, then the empty magazine into a evidence bag. "You've got a pretty long rap sheet of drug distribution charges from your younger days. And it's still illegal in this State to have firearms in church, even with a concealed carry permit."

"This isn't the church, bonehead." growled Ballard. "It's the office. My place of bizz-ness."

As I cleared the powerful handgun, put the cartridge in with the others, then the pistol in another bag, I said "That remains to be seen." I moved to the side, then pushed Ballard into his desk chair, his pants still around his ankles.

"So, Ballard." I said. "Drug distribution in the past---"

"I'm out of all that!" protested Ballard. "I got clean, I found Christ, and I'm running this church now."

"Don't interrupt me again." I said, tapping Ballard on the arm with my red crowbar. "As I said, you have a history of being very familiar with drugs. You have a loaded firearm on church property. But what interests me about you... is that you were Lawrence Evans's spiritual leader, and both you and he know Charles Westbrook. Tell me about them, and where I can find Westbrook, and I'll just forget about finding this... evidence..." I was holding up the bag of bullets and the magazine...

"And while I can't un-see you banging this slut like you were when I walked in," I said, "I'll delete the photo I took of it. So, tell me about Lawrence Evans."

"I told those cops yesterday," said Ballard, "Lawrence left the church months ago. I don't know anything about him since he left."

"Let's try again." I said. "I'm betting getting Jolene's mouth and pussy on your cock is a whole lot better than what's going to happen to you in prison. Lawrence Evans. Charles Westbrook. Connect those dots, Brother Terence."

"I want a lawyer." Ballard said, looking hatefully at me.

I turned to Theo and said "He wants a lawyer. He wants... a lawyer." I turned back to Ballard and said "Okay, then. You are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent..."

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

An unmarked City Police vehicle containing City Detectives Robin Ventura and E.J. Jefferson came up. I transferred the evidence, the prisoners, and a copy of the warrant to their custody. They said they'd send their CSI teams to go through the church and the offices.

After they left, I began looking around. The church faced west, and the offices were to the right (south) of it. As I looked north, I saw in the distance a small metal building that looked like a business, with a strip of oak-tree-line ground between its parking lot and the church's. "No markings on that building, but it's on church property." I said "Let's go see what it has to offer."

We drove up and parked on the church's side, then crossed the ground to the building. There were no cars in the lot, and the building seemed empty. But when I tried the front door, it opened.

"Cover me." I said as I drew my service weapon and went in. On the right side was the waiting room, with some chairs and a table with very old magazines on it. To the left were two empty, generic offices like those in a branch bank. Further down was a receptionist's window, like a doctor's office, and a door in the back wall. I looked as far as I could into the receptionists area, but could see no one.

I nodded to Theo and opened the door, and he went through in a manner of clearing the place. I followed behind. There were three offices in the hallway to the back, two on the right, one on the left behind the breakroom that was next to the receptionist's area. And a steel door at the end of the hall that looked reinforced.

The building wasn't that deep, so the room behind it could not be that large. Theo grabbed the door handle to open it. It was not locked, and I led the way inside, moving to my right. Theo followed me in, moving to the left.

It was a storeroom/warehouse area. It was dark except for a few red lights, that gave the room an eerie, evil sensation. Coming into the door, I'd seen the bank of light switches on the wall next to the door, and I flicked them on, bathing the room in normal, fluorescent lighting.

The room was virtually empty. There was a table at the far end, with red candles and a book. To the left side was a large loading dock door. To the right were storage cabinets. But what was shocking was what was on the almost shiny smooth concrete floor. In the dead middle of the room on the floor was etched a huge pentagram, the bottom point of the star pointing right at the door we'd come in.

"Damn, what the hell is this place?" muttered Theo, looking around. "A church of Satan?"

"I dunno." I said, holstering my service weapon. "Let's go back into the offices and see if there's any clue to Westbrook's whereabouts." We turned to go. But just as I was about to close the door behind me, I thought I heard a sound. I turned and went back in, and gasped.

In the dead middle of the pentagram stood a man in a suit. The gasp came as my mind seemed to see Pastor Raymond Kyle Westboro, the Consultant of Crime!

Then I realized it wasn't him; this man just looked a lot like him. But I could feel a sense of sinister foreboding, a sense that reminded me of the original Consultant and his unlimited capacity for evil.

"Ah, come in Commander Troy!" the man called out, his voice smooth and rich, not Westboro's harshness. "There is no need to look further for Dr. Charles Westbrook. You have found him!..."

To be continued.