Secrets Ch. 01

"Give him a call first?" Angela asked.

"Mmmm, maybe not." I said. "Gives him a chance to be scarce if he doesn't want to talk to me. I'll risk the time to drive down there... oh." I winced.

"What is it?" Angela asked. I explained about the drive up and being stopped by the Coltrane County Sheriff.

"Better take that seriously." Angela said. "That guy is dirty, and a bit of a nutcase. He really might haul you off to jail and you'll spend six months in there before getting a hearing if someone doesn't come looking for you." I nodded.

"I'll take him down there."

The voice in the doorway was Detective Teresa Croyle. "It's a short trip, I need to go to their Courthouse, and it's quiet up here." Croyle said. Angela had turned and given me a 'wide eyes' look, connoting warning.

"Okay, I appreciate it very much." I said. "Captain, here's your laptop back."

"Just leave it there." said Angela. "I can unlock the door when you get back."

As Teresa went to get her car keys, Angela said "Be very, very careful, Don. That woman can be a snake in the fucking grass. If anything starts going wrong, speed-dial me immediately."

"I will." I said. "And who knows? Maybe this'll give me a chance to make her hate me a little less than she already does..."

"Ever the optimist, you are." said Angela, using Jedi Master Yoda grammar. "Get you killed, it could..."

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

As we drove across Town, I said to Teresa, who was driving, "I appreciate you taking me down there."

"Look, just keep your mouth shut." Teresa replied, derision in her voice. She turned south onto University Parkway... then east on the Nextdoor County Highway.

"Uhh..." I said.

"I know what I'm doing, here." Teresa said flatly. "Shortcut around the Coltrane County speed traps."

"O-kayyyy." I said. My back was beginning to hurt. Teresa went east and we crossed the County Line. After passing a trucking facility, she suddenly turned south onto a gravel road. We drove down the two-lane dirt road for a few hundred yards, then Teresa stopped in the middle of a field. I could see a treeline in the distance to the south, suggesting no through access, and I noted criss-cross tire marks on the ground. I wondered if teenagers came here to fuck.

"Get out of the car." Teresa ordered.

"What?" I asked skeptically as she opened her door.

"I said GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE CAR!" Teresa yelled. The look she was giving me was one of ugly hatred, and I decided I could run faster, or fight better, if I was on the ground. I got out.

Teresa came around to my side of the car and slammed the door shut. "Let me make one thing clear to you, Don Troy. I hate your nephew Todd's guts for killing my fellow Officers, one of them my Police Chief. And the one person I hate more than him is you! I can't kill Todd since he's already dead, may he burn in hell for all eternity... but I can kill you!"

"Detective..." I said. "They absolved my nephew of that crime. His car was tampered with. I'm sorry that the people you were loyal to were killed, but----"

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU TO TALK TO ME ABOUT 'LOYALTY'?" Teresa screamed. Then she stared right through me as she said "If there is one person on this earth I am not loyal to... it's YOU, Don Troy! Now if you know what's good for you, you'll never let me see you again."

"Look, I'm just trying to do a job, here." I said as Teresa pushed the button on her fob, locking all her car doors, then began walking back around to the driver's side, and unlocking only that door.

"Watch your back, Don Troy!" Teresa said loudly. "I'm looking to put a bullet in it." With that, she got into her car and started it. She backed up hard, almost hitting me, then turned around and drove back the way we'd come.

O-kayyyy, I thought to myself, so much for trying to make things better with her...

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

Not having any choice, I began walking along the two-lane path back towards the highway. As I got near the road, I saw a black car up ahead, a stretch limousine. Two people got out of the back. They were Jack Burke and his security man.

"Hiya, Donny!" Jack said with a joviality that fooled no one present. "Looks like you need a ride."

"I'll pass." I said.

"It's a long way back to your hotel." said Jack Burke. "Why don't I give you a ride, and we can... talk."

"I've got nothing to talk to you about." I said. "And I don't care to hear anything from you."

"You know." Jack said, his fake smile disappearing, and a little bit of anger creeping into his face, "if you'd just shut your fucking mouth for two minutes, you might learn something that could be really helpful to you. Being a stubborn asshole is why you lost Melina, and now you're throwing away the chance to be financially secure for a lifetime."

"So." I said. "You got your ex-lover Teresa Croyle to leave me stranded here. It's not going to work, Burke. I have no interest in anything you have to say."

"How do you know Teresa Croyle is an ex-lover of mine?" asked Burke. "Or just a lucky guess... after all, I've had so many women that you can only dream about fucking... including taking Melina's virginity because you weren't man enough to do it."

"I fail to see how goading me is going to make me want to hear anything you have to say." I said. "As to Teresa Croyle, maybe you were hooking up with her while you were on the run... for raping that girl?"

"Watch your mouth, Donny boy." said Jack, Teresa-like hatred on his face now as he advanced towards me. "Or I'll shut it for you, permanently."

"You and what army... rapist?" I fired back. Jack rushed me and tried to throw a haymaker at me. I sidestepped, and as he passed I saw a shoulder joint. I know what to do with those...

"AAUUUGH!" Jack screamed as I took his arm and pushed in the right place, taking him to the ground and separating his shoulder. His security man advanced on me, drawing his gun.

"What, gonna murder an unarmed man?" I asked. The other man in the car, the driver, had also gotten out and was pointing his firearm at me from over the top of the limo.

"Don't shoot him!" said Jack angrily as he got up, favoring his injured shoulder. "I still need him alive... for now. Get in the fucking car, Troy. Shotgun seat. Now."

"And if I don't?" I fired back.

"Then some teen kids are going to find your dead body here this weekend." said Burke. "I'm not fucking around with you any longer." The security man opened the shotgun seat and was about to advance upon me to 'guide' me to it. Seeing that I had little choice, and having enjoyed whipping Jack Burke with Aikido... again... I got into the car.

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

As we drove back towards the Town & County, the security man, sitting behind me, put his gun into my earhole as Jack Burke said, his voice not hiding the physical pain he was in, "Now listen up, motherfucker. I know that the Town & County Police Chief wants you to find City Detective McGinty's papers. What he didn't tell you is that he's not going to give you a job when you find them, he's going to kill you."

"Tell me something I don't know." I said wearily and acerbically.

"Okay, how 'bout this?" Jack Burke snarled. "Your only chance of coming out of this alive... is when you find those papers, you turn them over to me. You'll get two million dollars, and you walk away alive."

"I dunno, rapist." I said. "You seemed pretty pissed off back there. How do I know you won't kill me?"

"You don't." Burke said. "But if you hand McGinty's Materials to the TCPD or the Feds, I'll definitely have you killed. If you give them to me, then I'll respect Melina's wishes to leave you alone. For some reason beyond my comprehension, she still cares enough about you to ask me to spare your life. And I will... in exchange for the Materials."

"Well, I'm not going to find them sitting here in this car with a rapist and two thugs." I said as we got to University Avenue.

"Let him out." said Jack Burke. As the limo stopped at the intersection, I got out and walked to the sidewalk. The limo went on, and I began walking back towards University Hotel, my eyes unable to tear themselves away from that butt-ugly microwave tower on top of the hill, dominating the skyline and the Town.

*BEEP BEEP!*

An expensive BMW had pulled to the curb. "Hey, sailor!" said the driver, the beautiful Dr. Gloria Searles. "Going my way?"

"I am now." I said, getting into the car.

"I didn't expect to see you so soon." Gloria said as she pulled back into the traffic. "And why are you walking on the busiest street in the County?"

"I was called up here about a possible job." I said. "And it's a long story why I'm walking instead of riding."

"Let's go by my office for a minute," said Gloria, "and then I'll give you a ride to your car."

"How about dinner tonight?" I asked.

"I can't, I've got a ton of stuff to catch up on, and other plans." said Gloria.

"Later this week, or this weekend, maybe?" I persisted.

"Sure." said Gloria. "Thursday or Friday. I'll call you Wednesday."

We stopped at the Psychology Building on campus. "You're a Psychiatrist?" I asked.

"Yes." said Gloria. "Head of the Department of Psychology, and on Staff at University Hospital."

"I might could use your help on my case." I said. "I need to understand the psychology of a Detective who was murdered..."

Part 5 - Called Home

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, Channel Two News!" shouted the lovely redheaded reporterette from Courthouse Square, with Police Headquarters in the background, at 7:00am Tuesday morning. "A Police Officer has been wounded in a shooting incident!"

Bettina began: "Hamilton County Police Detective Tony Long was wounded in the town of Lexington when he and a fellow Police Officer responded to a domestic disturbance call. A car drove by and opened fire on Detective Long, wounding him in several places. Only one of his wounds was considered to be life-threatening, and he underwent surgery at University Hospital. Doctors say his prognosis for a full recovery is very good..."

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

"So two Detectives who knew McGinty well are now dead or wounded." I said. "Seamus O'Brady of Pottsville, and Tony Long of Hamilton County. Coincidence? You make the call."

"Yeah, you're right." said Captain Angela Harlan as we sat in the empty office I was using and drinking coffee. "But do you really think someone would kill the Governor just to get at Detective O'Brady? And that's assuming it's not the accident that it was ruled to be."

"No, I think it was a murderous attack on the Governor." I replied. "And someone who knew that, and also knew that O'Brady was a friend of McGinty, or possibly a foe, made sure that O'Brady was part of the Governor's security detail."

"That could well be." said Harlan. "By the way, you rented an apartment up here? I got a call to be your employment reference."

"Yes, and thanks for doing that for me." I said. "It's half of a duplex, two-bedroom, at the end of the road next the mountain."

"You moving up here?" Angela asked. "You don't have the job yet."

"Even if I don't get it," I said, "I may just stay up here. There's something about this place... something that says 'home' to me."

Angela was saying something, but I couldn't hear her. My head started hurting and I had a ringing in my ears. And my back started hurting. When it all cleared, Angela was looking at me.

"I'm sorry." I said. "What did you say?"

"I was asking if you think partying college students will bother you." said Angela.

"Oh... no, it's at the end of the street, tucked away." I said. "And it's south of all the Fraternity and Sorority houses." Angela nodded.

"Okay, then." she said. "Tony Long is in the hospital, under sedation... and under guard. So what's our next step?"

"I'm working with a psychology professor at the University." I said. "I'm hoping she'll help me work up a psychological profile on McGinty that we can use to predict how he might go about hiding his private papers."

Angela said "Just don't tell her too much. It's already starting to boil under the surface. We don't want a lot of crap leaking out about it. It'll just make your job... and mine... a lot harder."

"No worries." I said.

"Oh, one more thing..." Angela said. "Why didn't you call me about Detective Croyle leaving you in the Fucking Field yesterday?"

"The what?" I asked, bewildered.

"That field she took you to." Angela said. "Teenagers call it the 'Fucking Field'. They could call it the 'Virginity Field', since so many cherries are taken and left there."

"Oh, that." I said. "I was going to, then ran into some other people and things got busy. Is she in trouble?"

"Nooo, bu-ut..." Angela said. "You won't be taking any more rides with her, that's for sure. And she's working remotely from County Jail for the time being---"

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

It was my cellphone, and I answered it. After hearing the message and disconnecting, I said "I've gotta go to my hometown. Someone is buying the land my parents's home was on, and I've gotta go up for the closing..."

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

4:30pm, Tuesday afternoon. As I drove into Apple Grove, I felt a sense of desolation. Not the tension I'd felt two years ago, but a sense of resignation that an American small town was dying.

I picked up a Police tail as I neared the town. I maintained the speed limit, and the patrol car did not pull me over. But I could tell the driver was calling in my car tag as we drove along.

I drove to the town square and parked near the Police Station. The diner that I'd liked going to was the only business still open on the square, except for the pharmacy. I decided to go in and get something to eat, though I was not feeling hungry at all.

"Well, look what the cat drug in." said AGPD Lieutenant Leanne Wisocky. She was sitting with a young AGPD Officer that I did not know.

"Hello, Leanne." I said simply.

"Come have a seat." Leanne said. "This is Detective Stegall. Stegall, this is Don Troy; he was in my Class in school." I shook hands with Stegall, then sat down by Leanne as she said "What brings you to Apple Grove, Donny?"

"Closing on my parents's property in the morning." I said.

"Who's buying it, if I may ask." asked Stegall.

"Somebody hiding behind a trust." I said. "Priam Properties, LLC., a Nevada corporation." I noted Leanne and Stegall glance at each other, but I only said "They made a very generous offer, 20% over fair valuation. Half goes into escrow for my sister Elizabeth. So... what's going on in Apple Grove?"

Leanne caught her breath for a second, then said "I'm sure you saw it driving in. This town is nearly dead. Only this diner, the grocery store, and the pharmacy are still open. Owens, who owned the pharmacy, sold out to Walgreens."

"Nothing else is open?" I asked.

"Most people living here now work in Rome." said Leanne. "Well, the ones not in jail. You remember Eddie, the guy who ran the auto repair shop?" I nodded, remembering that he was the one that had taken the trackers out of my vehicle as Leanne said "The Feds came in and busted him. They accused him of being part of a domestic terrorist white supremacy group. That wasn't holding, so they planted evidence on him. Took three trials to get a jury to convict him, the first two were hung juries, and then they moved the trial to Capitol City."

"Just to play Devil's Advocate," I said, "how do you know the evidence was planted?"

"Because the FBI all but told us they did it." Leanne said. "They were trying to get our old Chief, Donny Hall, to do it. He refused, so they trumped up an accusation against him of taking bribes. They dropped those charges after he resigned and moved his family away. Our new Chief... well, I won't say anything about him. He's just trying to hold it together, and the bourbon ain't helping." I nodded in sympathy. And then it hit me...

"Why..." I mused, "why are they paying so much for my property, then?"

Leanne and Stegall both shrugged, and Leanne said "BigAgraFoods came in and bought up several farms to the south of town. Bought the Taylor and Phillips farms for a premium price, too. They've made offers to the other farmers, and some will probably sell on out, while others will keep farming until they die, and their children will sell the properties. Anyway, Eddy was not the only person the FBI came after. Owens sold out after they accused him of selling opiods illegally under the counter."

"That was pure horseshit." said Stegall. "Owens was a friend of mine, and as honest a man as you could ever hope to meet. Everything the FBI said was full bull. And guess what? They dropped the charges... after Owens sold his pharmacy."

"And those are just two of a repeating patter of stories." Leanne said. "The Jacksons were arrested for alleged white supremacy actions, and their lands confiscated by the Federal Government. After what happened to you two years ago, Donny, I'm surprised they're not trying the same thing on you. I guess after you won the lawsuit against you, they have to play fair, huh?"

"So the Feds came in," I said, thinking to myself, "wiped out half the town, is buying out a lot of it... what in the world for?"

"The Shadow Hand." Stegall said. Leanne nodded sadly in agreement. I almost spit out my coffee when I heard that.

"The... wha?" I asked, stunned. They looked at me funny, and I said "Look, I'll level with you both. I heard that term 'Shadow Hand' recently, down in the University Town in my State. So what is it about up here?"

Stegall said "BigAgraFoods is moving in on us, but they're not the ones killing off the businesses. Someone else is using the FBI to do it. We have no idea who it is, nor why they're doing it, but they're going to leave a ghost town for BigAgraFoods to take over."

I nodded, thinking about this 'strangeness'...

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

"Sad, isn't it?" Leanne said as she came up to me. I was standing on the property that would no longer be mine the next morning, where the front porch of my boyhood home once was. It was now cleared, flat land. Grassland extended about a hundred yards behind; I'd grown corn and sold it when I was a kid... well, what the deer didn't sneak in and eat. Beyond that were pine trees, and a creek, where I 'explored' with my dog Tag, then my dog Patches after Tag died.

"The saddest part is what happened to my parents." I said. "But selling the land... no, I'm not feeling anything about that."

"Yeah." Leanne said. "Don, I don't know if you'll ever come back to Apple Grove... maybe for high school reunions if they have any... but if you do, I won't be here. My husband and I are moving away. I got a job with the Campus Police of your alma mater, and my husband has a job with the School's farm cooperative program."

"Congratulations to you both." I said. "And all the sadder for this town." Leanne nodded. We hugged warmly, then went back to our respective cars, and I wondered if I'd ever again see the woman that had taken my virginity. You never forget your first...

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

Maybe it was a vibe, maybe a premonition. I had gotten a hotel room in Rome, but something was telling me to not stay there. Also due to an insight, I checked my vehicle, feeling as well as looking under the bumpers and tire wells, and I found a small device magnetically attached to the car frame under the front bumper.

I drove west, then threw the bug out the car window in what once was Apple Grove's 'nice' middle-class subdivision, but which now had many 'For Sale' signs. I then drove my vehicle north of Apple Grove, to the top of a hill upon which was built a cell phone tower... not the ugly contraption in the Town & County, but a vertically rising radio tower.