Schoolhouse Rock Ch. 04

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, 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.

Part 17 - Fire In Our Souls (continued)

Dawn, Friday, January 25th. I was looking at Todd and Teresa's former home from across the street. The fire engines and trucks had left; now the Fire Marshal and her team were investigating the cause.

The increasing light of the new day showed the extent of the damage. The front of the house did not look that bad, just the smoky tops of the upper windows showing sign of the fire. But the back side roof had a gaping hole in it, and the damage inside was pretty bad.

Standing next to me were Todd, Teresa, and Cindy. Todd looked stoic. Teresa looked mostly angry. Cindy looked even angrier...

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

When I arrived at 1:30am, it was chaos. The Fire Department was getting water onto the blaze, but I could see by the bright orange glow coming from the back side of the house that it was already a disaster.

Callie Carrington (and Betsy) had gone to Teresa and Todd's house next to The Cabin to take care of the Burke boys while Todd and Teresa went to the Heritage Cloisters subdivision. I was permitted through the front gate, and as I went through I told the Officers to not let any Press vehicles inside the subdivision.

I parked a distance away from the orange glow and the brilliant red-and-white LED lights of the fire vehicles. I came up to Cindy and Fire Chief Quinlin.

"What happened?" I asked.

Cindy said "Let's go talk privately." We excused ourselves from the Fire Chief's presence (to his unspoken but obvious relief, I might add) and went back towards my Police SUV.

"Teresa's house has... had... a burglar alarm and a fire alarm." Cindy said. "The burglar alarm never went off, but a neighbor called 9-1-1 after hearing a window crash. That was at 12:35am. A Patrol was dispatched to check it out, but they couldn't get through the front gate, and there was no one at the guardhouse."

"Don't We The Police have a number we can use to get inside the gate?" I asked.

"I'm getting there." said Cindy. "Yes we do, and Patrol Officers Hardy and Drew called in to 1st Precinct for the code. They were given it, but when they tried it, it didn't work. At that time, 9-1-1 got a call that the carbon monoxide and secondary fire alarm at Teresa'a house had gone off. They called Todd's cellphone number, but it's his business number, and when he didn't answer, they called the Fire Department."

"At this point," Cindy continued, "First Precinct tried to call Teresa, and got through to her. She said no one was at their Heritage Cloisters home, and to get the Fire Department there. Then she called me and Callie. Callie went over to take care of their kids, and Todd and Teresa came over here. I got dressed and called the Duty Desk, then I called you while I was driving up here. When I got here, there was a backup of Police and Fire vehicles. Gus Bradshaw was standing in front of the gate, saying we had to have a warrant to go inside the subdivision."

"That's a crock of shit!" I exclaimed.

"I know, I know." said Cindy. "I told Bradshaw to get out of the way and open the gate. He refused by telling me to, and I quote, 'Fuck off if you don't have a warrant.'. The other Officers had correctly not touched him, but you know I was going to get some Boxing Matches practice. He tried to throw a swing at me, and found himself face-down on the concrete with his arm behind his back. And under arrest."

"I hope you got video of that." I said.

"Oh yes." Cindy said with a smile. "And Hardy and Drew's dashcam got a lot of it, too. Anyway, I busted down the door of the guardhouse, went out the back, and opened the exit gate to let everyone through. It's not coded like the entrance gate."

"That's Iron Crowbar thinking, there." I said.

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

Spectators were watching behind a cordon set up by the Police, who had allowed Captain Croyle and her husband to be inside the perimeter, but not too close. I came up to them.

"I'm sorry, guys." I said. "I'm just glad no one was at home."

"Sir, do you think they knew it was empty?" Teresa asked, very sure it was arson.

"No." I said bluntly. "And I don't think they would've cared if it was occupied or not. But let's not theorize without data."

We watched as the Firefighters got the blaze under control. I commended their efficiency to Chief Quinlin, and would send an email to the entire Fire Department the next day.

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

Some moments later, I heard a commotion at the front gate, and Commander Ross being called on the Police radio. The Press had arrived.

As Cindy went to the front gate, I did something I should not have done. I pressed the 'Break' button on my Police radio, and all the radios in the area blasted the alert sound it created.

"Break Break Break." I said. "The Press is not to be allowed inside the subdivision. Any part of it. At all. How copy?"

"Roger that." came a reply.

"I'm coming down there." Ross said into the radio.

"So am I." I replied.

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

Bettina was haranguing Lieutenant Irwin, who had remained calm and professional.

"We have the right to go in there and report the news!" yelled Bettina as the cameraman filmed it. "Now get the hell out of my way, or I will sue you!"

The cameraman would find that his video became staticky and then went out, as if the Slender Man had arrived. But it was not the Slender Man. It was me and my bug killer.

"Thank you, Lieutenant." I said as I came up to him, to let him know I was taking over. "Bettina, why shouldn't I arrest you for verbally assaulting my Police Lieutenant?"

"Because he's illegally keeping us from doing our jobs!" Bettina yelled angrily. "You're violating our First Amendment Right of the Press to cover this story!"

"Bettina, keep yelling at me, and I'll take this crowbar and literally break every one of your teeth with it."

"Hey!" yelled the cameraman. "You can't threaten us like that!" He took a step towards me, which was a huge mistake.

"What are you gonna do about it, fat boy?" I snarled, standing up to him, and ready to beat him down and smash his $100,000 news camera to pieces. Fortunately for him, a green crowbar appeared between us.

"Stay in your lanes, brothers." said Cindy Ross. "Turnbull, that looked dangerously close to assaulting a Police Officer. I would just arrest you, but the Iron Crowbar is much less forgiving than I am."

"I'll leave these two pieces of dog shit to you, Commander." I said. "But under no circumstances is any member of the Press to enter this subdivision before dawn."

"Hey! We have the right------" Bettina started again.

"BULL SHIT!" I yelled into her face. "You do NOT have the right to interfere with the Police and Fire Departments doing their jobs, and them risking injury due to your worthless presence! If you don't like it, the Courthouse is thataway!" I pointed south as I said "Feel free to sue me! I'll take my chances in Court, but you are NOT coming into this subdivision! If you or any Press person does come in, you'll spend the next 72 hours in jail!"

"I've got this, Commander." Cindy said. I took the hint and went back to the area of the fire. As I left, I heard Bettina say "Get a drone in the air."

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

"Ah, shit." said Chief Quinlin. "A drone."

"Chief Quinlin!" I said loudly. "Do drones constitute a threat to your Firefighters safely doing their jobs?"

"Yes they do, Commander." Quinlin said, seeing the Police videocamera taping us.

"Let's eliminate the threat, then." I said, more quietly. I went to my SUV and got out what looked like a Police radio, but was a signal-jamming device, far stronger than my bug-killers. Professor Marvin Milton was still grateful to me for saving his life, and allowed me to test the wonderful toys he created.

"Your radios might go out for a second." I told Chief Quinlin as I turned the device on.

When a drone loses it's controlling signal, it usually will hover, and then will drop and land on the ground, unless it's programmed otherwise. Sure enough, the Press drone did just that. It landed in the street near us.

I went over to it, seeing the "KXTC" lettering on the sides, and I proceeded to smash that drone to pieces with mighty crowbar blows. I made sure to completely destroy the camera in the drone, literally smashing it to the circuit boards and grinding the lens into sand.

Officers and Firefighters were gawking at me. I said loudly "Are there any questions on how I feel about the Press?" To my surprise, everyone started laughing loudly, even the Fire Chief, then applauding. Even Teresa and Todd grinned.

It is possible that I am not the only person that virulently hates the deeply unpopular Mainstream Media.

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

As the fire was just about put out, and Fire crews were beginning to stand down, Chief Quinlin came up to me. "Commander," the Chief said, "This is Engineer Scott Montgomery. He wants to tell you something."

A Fire Department Engineer is the equivalent of a Police Department Sergeant. "Hello, Engineer Montgomery. I'm Commander Troy. What happened?"

"We were the first fire engine to get here, sir." said Engineer Montgomery. "The Fire Department has codes to get into all the gated subdivisions in case of an emergency. When I put in our code, it didn't work, so we couldn't get to the fire more quickly."

"I'm going to write this down in a sworn statement." I said. I proceeded to do so, and had him sign it. "Thanks for this, it will help our case, if what I'm thinking is correct. And I know you guys got here quickly, and were stopped at the gate. No one is going to hold that against you."

"No, we won't." said the Fire Chief. "But I'm going to ask the Fire Marshal to go around and make sure every gated subdivision has a working code for the Fire Department."

"I would imagine they'll be fine." I said. "I think the codes here were taken out, and on purpose. I'll be looking into that... in a professional way, if you get my drift..."

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

Back in live time, as the sun began announcing its presence with brighter and brighter light, Fire Marshal Zoe Singer came up to us. Lt. Roy Easley was right behind her.

"Mr. Burke, Captain Croyle, I'm very sorry about your home." said Zoe.

"Thank you, ma'am." said Teresa, as the Fire Marshal was a Commander, the equivalent to me in rank. "What happened?"

"Definitely arson." Zoe said. "We found a lot of glass in the kitchen. Most of the window panes blew outwards, but some blew inwards. There was more glass on the floor, and clear evidence of accelerants. I'd say someone smashed in a windowpane and threw in a Molotov cocktail, likely gasoline. And then they threw another bottle of something in, maybe kerosene, something that burns hotter and longer."

"That got the whole kitchen going." Zoe continued. "It spread upward into the second floor pretty fast, and outward towards the front of the house. It got to the attic, too. Again, I'm sorry; it's really bad." Todd and Teresa nodded.

Zoe turned to me and said "I'll send you the formal paperwork turning the case over to you as arson in a couple of hours."

"I'll bring it over myself, ma'am." said Lt. Roy Easley, who along with me and Teresa was a member of that very small brotherhood of MOV recipients.

Part 18 - War Reignited

I went back to Headquarters after telling Teresa to take all the time off she needed to take care of personal business regarding the fire. She said that Todd and BOW Enterprises would be taking care of that, and that she wanted to come in and do Police work today.

At Headquarters, I joined many Officers in the gym to run laps around the edges of the gym, enduring many questions about what had happened at the fire. Then I showered and changed into a fresh uniform, and knew I'd feel better after getting a cup of 'Navy' coffee.

It was a somber MCD room that I walked into. "Good morning, everyone." I said. "What's going on?"

"How's Captain Croyle doing?" asked Theo Washington.

"Let's ask her." I said, as Teresa was walking into the room.

"Captain Croyle needs coffee." Teresa said. After getting some, she came to the middle of the room by me and said "I appreciate any sentiments you are feeling. The good news is that no one was there and most of our property had been removed, as we'd moved to our new house, and no Firefighters or Police Officers were injured in putting out the fire."

"Is it arson?" asked Teddy Parker.

"Yes." I said. "The Fire Marshal has already declared it as arson, and we'll get the paperwork later this morning."

There was still tension in the air, so I said "Okay, what else is going on?"

"Did you see the KXTC newscast this morning, sir?" asked Julia Rodriguez.

"No." I replied. "And I'm not going to like it, am I?"

"We report, you decide, sir." said Julia as she grabbed the remote to play the DVR of the broadcast. I felt as much as saw Cindy come up and stand next to me as the replay began.

The television showed Bettina down the road from the Burke house, with the cordoned off area and the fire-damaged structure in the background. "This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" she said. "We are bringing you coverage of the devastating fire in the Heritage Cloisters subdivision last night!"

"The fire occurred at the home of BOW Enterprises CEO Todd Burke and his wife, Police Captain Teresa Croyle." Bettina said. "The home had been listed for sale, as the Burkes have moved to a new home, so no one was in the house when it caught fire."

Bettina continued: "Channel Two News was physically prevented from covering this incident, as the TCPD illegally stopped us from covering this important news story that you have a right to know about. KXTC is considering legal options, including suing the TCPD, Commander Don Troy, and Commander Cindy Ross for violating our First Amendment Free Press rights."

"Okay, that's enough." I said.

Julia stopped the replay. "It goes on like that for another minute or two, nothing but whining about being stopped from covering the fire at close range, and stopped from talking to the Burkes."

"In other words," I said, "being prevented from showing the Burkes on TV watching their home burn down. The Press loves to show the pain of others... when they're not calling my daughter a racial slur or trying to murder my other daughter."

Cindy said quietly "I came in here to get you. The Chief wants to talk to us."

I refilled my coffee mug with 'Navy' coffee. I'd be needing it.

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

We went into the Chief's Conference Room. The Chief was at the near end of the table, and had me sit to his left and Cindy to his right (with the door to the room right behind her). On my other side was Sheriff Griswold. He wasn't at the other end of the table because they had been watching the television monitor on the far wall.

"O-kayyyyy." said the Chief. "We saw the KXTC broadcast. The Sheriff and I also reviewwwwwed the Officer-cams and Police car videos. We did this after KXTC's Burt West called this morning and told us he planned to file a lawsuit against us if the Police did not issue a public apology, and if Commanders Troy and Ross did not personally issue on-air apologies."

"That will be the day." I said. "Well... that's my statement. Commander Ross can make her own."

"I agree with you, Crowbar." said the Sheriff. "Bettina's yelling at Lt. Irwin was over the line. And their cameraman did advance towards you when Commander Ross intervened. And I am going to tell Mr. West that if push comes to shove, pun intended, then we will arrest Bettina Wurtzburg and charge her with assaulting Police Officers. Plural."

In case you're wondering, the thought going through my head was 'How did the Officer-cams record that when my bug-killer was on?'. But I remained silent for the moment.

"Sheriff, Chief," asked Cindy "is this meant to be a quid pro quo tradeoff to keep them from pursuing their lawsuit?"

"I am hoping sooooo." said the Chief.

"Whaddya say to that, Crowbar?" the Sheriff asked me.

"If they sue," I said, "we should arrest Wurtzburg and Turnbull and charge them with assaulting Police Officers. But if they say 'we'll drop the lawsuit if you drop the charges'... I would say 'no'. Once we arrest them, then we follow through all the way to trial, and we put Bettina Wurtzburg in prison for ten years, or try to, anyway."

"May I speak freely, Chief?" Cindy asked. I knew what was coming.

"You don't have to ask that, young lady." growled Griswold. "You're part of the Command Group. Speak your mind, that's what you're being paid to do."

"Yes, speak freely, Commander." said Moynahan.

"Okay." Cindy said, gathering her wits and her courage, then saying: "Sir, as you know, Commander Troy and I have had some... 'debates'... about certain issues involving the Press. I admitted, and still admit, that when I tried to get you to keep him out of the Pringle suicide case, I strayed outside my lane. On the flip side of that Canadian coin, I believe Commander Troy strayed out of his lane last night."

Cindy continued: "He has the right to bar the Press from crime scenes and things like that fire last night, which heightened all our tensions because it was Teresa's home that was on fire. But while Bettina and Turnbull were wrong, Don did escalate it with his presence, and his in my opinion all-too-eager desire to ratchet up his war with the Press. Police-Press relations are my responsibility, and I want him to let me do my job and back off the Press war."

All eyes went to me. I'd been peering at Cindy as she spoke, and when she finished I nodded and said "You're right. I was wrong. It's your job and I should've let you handle it. And to the extent I'm able, I'll leave the Press to you in the future." I extended my fist, and Cindy fist-bumped me over the table."

"Thank you for stepping up, Mr. Crowbarrrr." said the Chief. "I have to admit that I did not expect you to take that as well as you did."

"Officially, Chief," I said, "she's absolutely right. Unofficially..." I added as a wicked grin formed on my face, "... just set those brackets up right, Chief. Set those brackets up right."

Sheriff Griswold burst out laughing. Cindy met my stare at her and grinned as she said "Yes, Chief. Set those brackets up just right."

"Hoo boy. You twoooo are going to be the death of me yet." drawled the Chief. "Sheriff, what do you want to do about this?"

"I'm with Crowbar in that if we do arrest Bettina it won't be as a bargaining chip, and we'll take it all the way through." growled Griswold. "So the ball is in KXTC's court. I did tell Burt West when he called that I would check on the facts and get back to him. So I'm going to call him back and let him know we're not playing around, here..."

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

10:30am, Friday, January 25th. Bettina knocked on the door to KXTC Executive Producer Burt West's office. "You wanted to see me, Burt?" she asked.

"Yes, come on in." said West. "Have a seat." Bettina closed the door and then sat down.

"I got a call back from Sheriff Griswold." said West. "He investigated what happened at the front gate, and he sent me these two video clips, which he said have been put into the TCPD's evidence servers."