Reunion Fever Ch. 05

"You bastard!" Reichard hissed. "You'd use her children as pawns? Hold them to ransom to get her to confess to crimes she didn't commit? You're as despicable as Wisocky is!"

"Mr. Reichard," I said, "I'm trying to save those poor kids. You are the one consigning them to DFACS hell, with Captain Wisocky all ready to make it happen, if you keep up your shit."

Lisa turned on Reichard and said venomously "I told you to shut your fucking mouth." She then turned to D.A. Tittle and said "I'll take that, but with one exception. No parole at the end of my time served. I am not having that bitch Wisocky doing to me what she's done to Roddy all these years---"

*WHAM!*

The door flew open and hit the wall, and Leanne Wisocky flew into the room. She looked at Lisa as she said to me: "No deals involving the kids! I'm turning those kids over to DFACS! I'm splitting them apart!"

I said "Craig Reynolds is the biological father of the oldest child, and he has the right to claim her."

Leanne said, her voice as ugly as the look on her face: "That may be, but I'm still putting the other two into the foster care system---"

"Then I recant what I said before!" Lisa shouted. "Roddy didn't hit me. I ran into a door! I fell down when I broke my wrist! You got nothing on him now!"

"We'll see about that!" Leanne growled. She turned and exited the room, leaving the door open.

I said "D.A. Tittle, give her the deal with no parole at the end once she serves the full time. Lisa, I know you just recanted so that Leanne can't take your kids from Roddy, but I still need you to sign that form, so I can help you."

D.A. Tittle and Lisa signed the plea deal, and he, Lisa, and I signed the parental rights deal. Robert Reichard refused to sign either document nor even look at them; instead, he said to Lisa: "You've just destroyed your life. I can't help you any more, and I won't. I am no longer your legal representation." With that, he got up and left the Interrogation Room, and I heard him outside demanding to speak to Roddy Baker.

"Do you want new legal counsel?" I asked.

"Not right now." Lisa said.

"Okay, you have to tell us what happened, on camera." said D.A. Tittle. "I'll have it typed up, and you can sign it."

"What do you want to know?" Lisa asked.

"Go through what happened." I said. "First on Friday night, then on Saturday night."

Lisa began: "I'll start even further back. Our Senior year in high school. Roddy was not dating Kitzi. He was fucking her at parties, in back bedrooms or in his truck. And then he asked me out, and we went out. But I did not put out for him. He was known for dumping girls that did not put out after the second date, and especially after the third. But we went out five weekends in a row, and the only thing he got was some really good blowjobs from me."

Lisa: "And then Lori Lovlin invited me to her house, to party with her and Craig. I'd heard the stories about what went on with him, but didn't really care. I went over and we didn't do much, so I wondered if the rumors were wrong. And then I got woozy. I think Lori may have spiked my drink. I never lost consciousness, I just felt like I was drunk. And when Craig began kissing me, I didn't resist."

Lisa: "But I didn't help them, either, and Lori helped Craig get my jeans off. He got between my legs and ate my pussy, then got on top of me and worked his cock into me. It was huge, and it hurt. I just lay there as he fucked me, and it got better. And then I realized that Craig had come in me, and I wasn't on the Pill."

Lisa: "We fucked again after I watched Craig fuck Lori, and then I went home. I think I knew the next morning that something was different, and that I might be pregnant. That weekend I went out with Roddy, and I let him go all the way with me. Well, I pretty much enticed him into doing it. He came in me twice. And a week later I skipped my period, took the home test, and found out I was pregnant."

Lisa: "I told Craig, and he was dismissive about it. He had just done the party thing with Fat Girl, that's Jenny, and apparently he fell in love with her. So I told Roddy and our parents that Roddy had knocked me up. I thought they'd help me get an abortion, but noooo... they forced me to keep it, and they pretty much forced Roddy to marry me."

Lisa: "At first, things weren't bad. I did love Roddy, and our first child, Annie, she was a joy. But money was really tight, and with that bitch Wisocky gunning for Roddy, literally, things were really bad. We couldn't move away, because Roddy's parents were helping us. Then Roddy's uncle stole Roddy's dad's house and his money, and they were left broke and homeless... and Roddy and I were close to that."

Lisa: "There were some good times, and we had Tommy and Agnes as a result. But as things got worse for Roddy, he became worse. He couldn't hold a job, he was verbally abusive to me though never bad to the kids. Then Wisocky set him up, framed him, and got him put away in jail. Me and the kids nearly starved during that time, and I... I did what I had to do to get money to feed them."

I said "Why don't we talk about this weekend, then we can come back to the other stuff."

"Okay." Lisa said. "The kids were staying with others, and I'd expected Roddy and I would go to the reception and the game together. But he got to talking to his football buddies, and stayed with them the whole time. While at the game, several people told me that they were going to Pennington's Farm, since Strawberry Hill was flooded by the new lake, and they asked if Roddy and I were going to go. I said we weren't planning to."

Lisa: Roddy and his buddies left the game early and went to Molinari's. I didn't bother going... I don't like being around Roddy when he's drunk, and I knew Steve Greene was going, and was being Roddy's wingman."

Lisa: "No one invited me to anything else, so after the game I just went home. About an hour later Roddy came flying in. He was yelling at me, babbling incoherently, and I put it together that he was saying Annie wasn't his child, that Craig Reynolds was her father. He rushed at me and I threw a lamp at him, and then ran for the door... and I ran right into the edge of the door."

Lisa: "Steve Greene was outside, in Roddy's truck. I got in and we took off. Steve drove me to his house, gave me his keys so I could get inside, then said he'd be back and drove off. I did open the door and went inside and turned on a light. And then I started remembering that Roddy was screaming about divorcing me and kicking me out of the house. I was remembering seeing Craig at the reception, all happy and having money, and his wife carrying on about their kids."

Lisa: "I really don't fully remember the next hour or so. I remember getting a Death costume and mask Steve had bought for Hallowe'en and putting it on. I know I got into Steve's car and drove it around, looking for Craig. And I found him, parking with the others, and I tried to run up to his car and stab him. Someone saw me and screamed, and Craig turned around in time."

Lisa: "So on Saturday, I did what you said I did. I went to the restroom and into the employees areas from there. I carried the bag with the costume to the end of the hallway, covered the camera, put on the costume, and went out and attacked Craig at the pool. And why did I stab him where I did? It was Craig's cock and balls that ruined my life, so I went for his jewels. Got them, too, from what I understand."

"That will be sufficient for her plea deal." I said to D.A. Tittle. "But I do have a few extra questions, Lisa. First, from where did you get the TASER?"

"It was stolen from Captain Wisocky." Lisa said. "I was hoping there was some way to trace the filament wires back to her weapon."

"Where is it now?" Detective Watson asked.

"I threw it in a trash can in the kitchen areas." Lisa said. "You mean the vaunted AGPD didn't find it?"

"No we did not." said Watson. "So one more time, where did you---"

"Hold on, Detective." I said. "I suspect someone else took the TASER away. Sooo, Lisa, someone lured Craig outside with a note. Good timing for you, too; it was right when you went to the restroom then the back areas. And by sheer coincidence, I'm sure... not... someone used a jamming device on the cameras right as you went outside and stabbed Craig. So once again, Lisa... who were those two couples you were sitting with, that came in right behind you?"

Lisa said "I swear to God, Mister Crowbar, I told you everything I know when you asked me at the hotel---"

"Commander Troy!" shouted Deputy Tyrone Biggs as he rushed into the room. "They're going for the Starnes house!"

I jumped out of my seat and said "Have her sign her confession! I've got to go, I'll be back later..."

Part 18 - Custody Battle

9:15am, Sunday, October 3rd. Deputy Biggs and I raced at top speed in his Fillmore County Sheriff Department vehicle, lightbar burning, to the home of my mother's friend, Mrs. Starnes. Sheriff Hall was right behind us in his vehicle. As we pulled up, I saw two AGPD vehicles as well as another vehicle with a county government license plate. And then I saw the scene on the porch.

Two little girls were hugging each other fiercely, crying and yelling and screaming. Captain Leanne Wisocky was holding the older girl while Sergeant Steve Stegall was pulling at the younger girl, trying to tear her out of the other girl's grip. Mrs. Starnes was in the doorway, yelling and screaming, and a black woman in her late 30s or early 40s was keeping Mrs. Starnes from helping the little girls.

We pulled up with a squeal of brakes just as Stegall was successfully pulling the girl away. "Let her go!" I yelled as I sprang out of the FCSD vehicle. As I rushed Stegall, he let her go in order to face us, and the girls went back to holding each other tightly.

"Let them go, Leanne!" I yelled at Leanne Wisocky. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Stegall about to attack me, and I turned to face him. I needn't have worried. Displaying the speed that earned him a college football scholarship, Deputy Tyrone Biggs hurtled into the fray.

*WHAM!*

Tyrone's huge bunched fist slammed into Stegall's belly. A second punch smashed into his face. Stegall reeled back into the wall.

"You goddamned nigger!" Stegall yelled as he drew his service weapon. "I'm going to kill you---"

*WHAP!*

The red crowbar made its appearance as I brought it down onto the back of Stegall's hand, and I was pretty sure I damaged something in there. Stegall screamed in pain as his weapon clattered to the floorboards of the porch. I kicked the gun away, and with both hands shoved the crowbar into Stegall's face. He went down, and I had him in cuffs before he could move to attack anyone.

Leanne had her hand over her service weapon, but had not drawn it. I drew my gun and pointed it right at her. "Get your hand away from that weapon." I said.

Leanne looked shocked. "You think I'm going to shoot you?" she asked.

"I'm going to make sure you don't." I said. "Now slowwwwly remove your gun from the holster. Pinch the butt. And I know you don't have a round in the chamber. I do."

Leanne slowly removed her service weapon and I took it out of her hand. I emptied the magazine, cleared it, then put the empty magazine back in the gun... and returned it to her as I said "Be sure to not make any sudden movements or give me a reason to think you're going to shoot me or Biggs."

Deputy Biggs was sitting on Sergeant Stegall, who was lying prone and cuffed on the ground. I took a small booklet out of my jacket inner pocket, a copy of the Constitution of the United States of America, slid it under Stegall's face, then literally rubbed his nose against it. "Try to let those words sink in, dirtbag." I said.

I then turned to the black woman, and I said "I know who you are. You're Amanda Baldwin, the Director of the Fillmore County DFACS office."

"I know who you are, too, Commander Donald Troy." Baldwin said. "Why are you interfering with us doing our jobs?"

"Why, I'm saving you from making a horrible mistake." I replied. "Not to mention helping you avoid charges of kidnapping."

"I'm not kidnapping anyone." Amanda Baldwin replied. "I'm taking these children into protective custody, and putting them in the foster care system."

I replied "And may I see your Court Order, issued by a Judge, to do that, please?"

"Yes, I'd like to see that, too." said Sheriff Hall laconically as he came up.

Amanda turned to Leanne Wisocky, who said "We're applying for it now."

"That's not good enough, Captain." Sheriff Hall said, and much more seriously. "And it really is my job to be doing things like that, not yours. You are not staying in your lane, Chief Wisocky."

"I told you, Sheriff, that I was going to do this." Leanne said, her voice full of hatred and bitterness. "I told you I was going to tear the Baker family apart, and make sure those trolls never see each other again!"

"Why?" I asked, incredulous at the sheer hatred I was sensing from Leanne. "What have you got against those ten- and six-year-old girls? What did they ever do to you?"

"They're BAKERS!" Leanne yelled. "They're no good trash, just like their parents, just like their whole God-cursed family!"

As I stood there in shock and awe, Leanne said "You wanna know why I hate 'em, Don? You remember Mitchell Baker, who you helped put in Federal prison? Well, you didn't get him fast enough. Two years after you graduated high school, that bastard hid a payment by my mother on her house, said she didn't pay it when she did, and he foreclosed on it."

Leanne: "You remember, Don? The house you said you went to for sex with your girlfriend? Yeah, that house. Mitchell Baker stole it from my mother. Threw her out on the street like a piece of trash! He laughed in our faces as he had the Sheriff Department of that time throw my mother out."

Leanne: "Of course we didn't have any money to fight it, and it wouldn't have mattered if we had. The judge and the whole system at that time was rigged, corrupt, bought off by Mitchell Baker and his friends. And my mother? She never got over it. She had to endure the shame when other people looked at her as if she were dirt, she had to endure going on welfare. I helped her as much as I could, and she was ashamed of that, too."

Leanne: "And then one day I got home from a really bad shift with the AGPD, and I found her in the bathtub with her wrist slit and her stomach full of Xanax. Thanks to Baker, my mother killed herself. Oh, the M.E. and the Coroner gave a cop a break, and put it down as an accident, that she hit her head in the bathtub when she fell. But I swore vengeance on every Baker I could cause pain to. And that is what I'm doing."

"Even to the point of tearing a six-year-old girl out of her sister's arms, and putting her in foster care hell?"

"Even that. Especially that!" Leanne yelled. "And if you were in my place---"

"I am in your place!" I yelled back. "My mother and I had to bury my father. He's in the cemetery right now, because of the same fucking bad guys that stole your mother's home, that stole Roddy's father's home from him. They murdered my father---"

Leanne said "I thought he died of a heart attack."

I said bitterly: "Yeah, it looks like a heart attack when one is forced to drink hemlock. You see, the leader of that cabal of filth gave my father the choice of drinking the hemlock or watching every member of his family... my mother, my sister, me, Todd, Ned, my first wife Melina at the time... be tortured and murdered, and then he would die painfully." (Author's note: 'Along Came A Spider', Ch. 02)

I continued: "Yes, I got my vengeance on them. And you've taken yours out on Roddy, who is a wife-beater and a bad seed. But I don't hate a little six-year-old girl for any of that. She's innocent of this. Ah, fuck it..."

I saw that Leanne was dead set on tearing apart the Baker family, so I got my cellphone out and made a call. I said "Hold the line, please." then extended my arm to Amanda Baldwin. "You need to take this phone call." I said.

Baldwin took the phone and said "Hello?... uh, yes... yes, Governor..." After listening for a moment, she handed me back the phone after the call was disconnected. "That was the Governor of our State." she said. "He's ordered me to stand down and let the Iron Crowbar, and he used that term, 'the Iron Crowbar', handle the custody issues with these kids."

"You're not going to take them?" Leanne wailed. "No! You have to!"

Amanda Baldwin said "I don't like it any more than you do, Leanne. But I have my direct orders from the Governor." Turning to me, she said "I had no idea you had that much clout, Mr. Troy..."

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

The party never stops in my boyhood hometown of Apple Grove. Amanda Baldwin had just left when two cars pulled into the driveway. One was a black SUV with Federal Government license plates. The other belonged to my nephew, Todd Burke. Todd, my mother Phyllis, and his lawyer got out of his vehicle. And to my surprise, getting out of the Federal vehicle were FBI Special Agent in Charge Jack Muscone and Supervisory Special Agent Julius Jefferson!

"Why, what are you guys doing here?" I asked.

Jack Muscone said humorously: "Why, we got request for cellphone data from Sheriff Hall. And Apple Grove is such a nice town to visit, we thought we'd drive up and deliver the data personally." Then, as he came up to me, he said softly "And I thought I'd tell you that things went very well in the Town & County last night."

"Great! That's good to hear." I said. Then I noticed Julius Jefferson and Tyrone Biggs man-hugging. "You guys obviously know each other." I said.

"Hi Commander." Julius Jefferson said. "We never told you nor anyone else this, just in case someone wanted to retaliate against Tyrone. You remember when I was outed and had to go dark in Providence Springs, just before the Battle?" (Author's note: Also in 'Along Came A Spider', Ch. 02. Good story, you really should re-read it.)

I nodded and Jefferson said "Tyrone was the guy who hid me and kept me from being found by Spaulding's thugs."

"Ahh, so desu ka?" I said in a falsetto voice. "I always knew Tyrone was a great man, and a good man." Tyrone grinned and Julius chuckled.

"Okay, everyone..." I continued as I saw all the people standing around, "why don't we do this... Tyrone, why don't you and SSA Jefferson drive the data under two-man control to AGPD Headquarters for processing. Sheriff, can you take care of this dirtbag, maybe read that Constitution to him while you drive him to jail for processing?"

"I'll handle him." Sheriff Hall said, and I knew he meant he was going to do something besides arrest and process Stegall.

Nevertheless, I continued: "Mom, can you and Mrs. Starnes go with the Baker girls to the Hospital, and introduce them to the Reynolds? Todd, can you and your lawyer go with them, and get the necessary paperwork started? Jack, can I catch a ride with you, after I have a conversation with Captain Wisocky here?"

"Sure." said Muscone. Everyone else got in cars and left. I turned to Leanne.

"I'll make you a deal." I said. "It really is an offer you don't want to refuse. I'll give you Roddy Baker. I'll give you his third strike, and you can put him away for life without parole. And I'll forget about your end-run of trying to get DFACS to take the kids without a warrant. In exchange, you'll forget about what happened between Stegall and me and Biggs. You'll leave the kids alone and let me deal with them."

Letting my voice grow colder, I said: "And you will guarantee the safety of my mother, of Tyrone Biggs and his mother, and of my nephew Todd Burke and his family if and when they are here. In other words, if anything happens to any of them, especially my mother, I will come back. And I'll be looking for you first. And I think you understand what that means."