Sugar and Spice Ch. 01

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, racism, 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.

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Part 1 - Prologue

"What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice and everything nice;
That's what little girls are made of.
What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails and puppy-dog tails;
That's what little boys are made of."
--- attributed to Robert Southey, English poet and historian.

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Thursday, July 2nd, from near the entrance to the Fairgrounds, with Police Headquarters and the Crime Lab/Morgue buildings in the background. "The Town & County Police has made a huge drug bust!"

Bettina began: "Police raided a building near Al Sharpton Elementary School on the southwest side of Town, and arrested eight persons believed to be members of the Block House Boyz gang that was once led by Jacquez Wilson. Those arrested are alleged to have been cutting and packaging heroin and fentanyl into small bags, called 'dime bags', for sale on the streets. Police confiscated ten kilos of highly purified heroin, colloquially called 'China White', as well as quantities of fentanyl, with a street value in the millions of dollars."

Bettina: "Vice Lieutenant Micah Rudistan issued a statement praising his Vice Squad and their supporting teams of Officers for the takedown, and also the new Intelligence Division for developing the information leading to the busts from what he described as 'numerous anonymous tips'. Chief Sean Moynahan also issued a statement praising the work of all the Officers involved."

Bettina: "In other news, the Police Union's lawsuit against Police Commander Donald Troy was dismissed with prejudice by Superior Court Judge Patrick R. Folsom, who stated in his ruling that the Union was not following the protools outlined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement in their grievance against Commander Troy. He also cited over 150 'Friend of the Court' briefs filed by Police Officers stating that the Union was not acting in their interests in attempting to get Commander Troy fired. Commander Troy still may face a Board of Inquest over his actions in the McCombs incident."

Bettina: "In State news, candidate for Governor and current Lieutenant Governor Sharon Marshall will attend the Independence Day Triathlon here in our Town & County on Saturday, July 4th. Town Assemblywoman Stacey Jacobs, who narrowly lost her bid to unseat Malinda Adams as the Democrat nominee for Adams's Council seat, issued a statement saying, quote, 'It's not surprising that the racist, illegitimate Mayor Daniel Allgood would invite the racist, White Nationalist Lieutenant Governor Sharon Marshall to attend a celebration of a day of White Supremacy that is offensive to People of Color', close quote."

Bettina: "In a related story, Democrat nominee for Governor Hoyt Stenson canceled his expected appearance at the Police Chiefs Association picnic and fireworks show in Midtown, and he did not cite a reason for backing out. In a related story, the Stenson Campaign did not send anyone to a meeting with the Marshall Campaign and the State League of Women Voters, who sponsors State-level debates, leaving a series of three debates in limbo with regard to time and place."

Bettina: "Democrat Candidate for Lieutenant Governor Corey Coons will attend a 'Black Lives Matter' rally in The City on Saturday. His opponent, Ruby Russell, will attend a State Republican rally in Pottsville, hosted by State House Minority Leader Wilson Hammonds and State Senator Cain Mitchell..."

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

"Well, let's go find the real Bettina's body." Captain Tanya P. Muscone said as we drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room. Teresa Croyle was not with us, but Paulina Patterson was. "Katherine Woodburn has to have disposed of it somewhere, and put that doppelgänger in Bettina's place."

"It was definitely a refreshing channnnnge." drawled Chief Moynahan.

"It sure was." said Deputy Chief Cindy Ross, looking at me. I said nothing, and just stared at her, so she changed the subject:

"Congratulations to you and the Vice Squad, Tanya!" said Cindy. "That was a great bust!"

"Thanks!" Tanya said happily with her cherubic grin. "But it truly was a team effort, and I didn't have much to do with it. Lieutenant Rudistan led the whole thing, Joan Laurer led the physical raid, and we ambushed the perps really good. Not a shot fired, and they all just put their hands up and surrendered."

"You got 'a lot' (air quotes) of anonymous tips?" Paulina Patterson asked.

"Yes." said Tanya. "From what Mary Milton was telling me, we got two separate calls on our 'hot tip' line, then several C.I.s confirmed it when our guys contacted them. We pretty much cleaned up what was left of Jacquez Wilson's gang."

"I wish all our busts were that easy." I said.

"What do you mean, Mr. Crowbarrrr?" asked the Chief.

"I'm not trying to diminish what Vice and the Police Force did in any way," I said, "but isn't it amazing how quickly and completely the Block House Boyz were taken out?"

"Ahhhh... you heard what I heard, Crowbar, didn't you?" growled Sheriff Griswold.

"Though probably from different sources, Sheriff." I replied.

"What did y'all hear?" Cindy asked.

The Sheriff indicated for me to do the talking, so I said: "Again, not to diminish what the TCPD did... but I got word that KXTC itself was the source of the anonymous tips and the C.I.s getting word of that facility. And before you ask: the reason why was to cover their asses."

Your Iron Crowbar: "Word was getting around the Black Community as well as the Underworld that Lester Holder and Burt West set up Jacquez Wilson to be killed, that they guided him into that standoff, and it went wrong for Holder when the explosives in the building went off early and killed him, too. Add to it those two guys who basically committed 'suicide-by-cop' during the abduction of Gunddottar, and the gang was wondering if the Media misled and set them up, too. Ergo, the Block House Boyz were getting pissed."

Cindy said "I got word from my Media source that Martin Nash and Lindsey Black were trying to leak it to the Media and the Black Community that someone, whose name won't be mentioned but his initials are (I)ron (C)rowbar, fired missiles at the building, or otherwise somehow caused the explosives to go off early. But the National Media left Town and the locals didn't seem interested. But she... my source... didn't say anything about this business involving KXTC."

I said "Priya's with KFXU, so she may not hear what KXTC is doing as quickly as she used to. Also, after Karina White burst Nash's bubble with the 'official' (air quotes) report saying the explosives went off early, and maybe because of the radio transmissions from the KXTC camera in the Block House, Nash and Black gave up and went home."

Me: "Anyhoo, the new story is that KXTC set up Jacquez Wilson, and word was that his gang was going to retaliate with a hit on KXTC reporters. So someone puts out word where we could find the rest of the gang, and hey, presto! we clean them up completely. That's not a complaint, just the facts. I just don't want KXTC to think we're Agencies of the Weak-Minded, and that we weren't aware that we were doing their cleanup for them."

Tanya said "I have another question. I get it that Corey Coons will appear at a 'Black Lives Matter' rally on Saturday; after all, he's running his whole race on race, pun not intended. But why did Stacey Jacobs come out with that pure racist hate speech about July 4th?"

I said "I think that's what you're going to hear from the Media going forward: patriotism is racism. If you love America, you're a racist. If you support the Constitution, especially out loud, you're a racist. Salute the Flag, you're a racist. And July 4th? A day for racists to celebrate white slave owners."

I continued: "Look at what happened with the NFL A worthless slug that was about to get cut because he was not good enough to play quarterback anymore starts playing the race card, wearing socks depicting Police Officers literally as Pigs. That saved him for one more season, then he got cut anyway. But then... blacks started kneeling for the National Anthem in protest."

Your Iron Crowbar: "Hey, they can protest all they want for the other 23 hours and 58 minutes of the day, but for the two minutes of the National Anthem, show some respect, huh? But no, that's when they want to disrespect the Flag and our Nation with their Identity Politics protest. And now... the NFL itself plays the so-called 'Black National Anthem' before games. There's only ONE National Anthem, people, and I find the whole term and concept of a 'Black National Anthem' to be racist and offensive!"

"Strong letter to follow." said Cindy Ross.

"He's right, though." said Paulina. "And it extends to the Justice System. According to these race baiters, the Constitution was written by white slave owners, and it permitted slavery and counted blacks as three-fifths of a person. So the Constitution is racist, even though it was fixed and slavery outlawed. And since the Constitution is racist, then the Justice System under it is racist."

"Strong letter to follow." Cindy said again, trying to lighten the mood, which was getting tense.

I said "My question for Our Sheriff is: why isn't Hoyt Stenson's Campaign at least negotiating debates with Sharon Marshall?"

"Har." barked Sheriff Griswold. "I'll just say this: I want all of you to watch Hoyt Stenson's press conferences, public statements and speeches, and make observations and deductions. Having seen my wife in the early and later stages of Dementia, I'm seeing a man in the early stages of Dementia."

"That explains why he's hiding in his basement, avoiding public appearances and debates." said Tanya. "Does the Media know about this?"

"Oh yes." said Griswold. "And they're going to protect him as much as they can---"

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

It was my personal cellphone, and the caller was my wife Laura. I listened to her, then said "Okay, thanks for calling... I love you, too. See you tonight." As I disconnected, I looked up at everyone.

"That was Laura at the Hospital." I said. "She was calling to report on Inga Gunddottar. Sepsis has not set in, and they've upgraded her to 'critical'. She's still in an induced coma, she will have more surgery next week, and she has a long ways to go. But 'critical' is a damn sight better than 'grave'."

"Oh, that's awesome news." Tanya said. "Every day she doesn't get worse is a win." Cindy and I nodded vigorously in agreement.

"How's Jerome Davis doing?" Cindy asked Tanya.

"He's doing his job pretty well." said Tanya. "But he leaves here, goes to the Hospital, and stays there all night. I've talked to him, the Chief has talked to him, Father Romano has talked to him, and we tell him there nothing he can do at the Hospital. She's not going to wake up out of the induced coma until they bring her out of it, and people will be fighting for a phone to call him if and when that happens."

"I'll talk to him, then." I said. "Possibly with a little more authority in my voice..."

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

"Righteousness exalteth a Nation; but sin is a reproach to any People."
---- Proverbs 14:34.

"Tell me again why we could not just have used the BOW Enterprises plane?" Teresa asked Todd.

It was the same Thursday, July 2nd, and they were sitting in the terminal at Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport (DFW), waiting for a connecting flight to Lake Charles Regional Airport (LCH) in southwest Louisiana. She noticed a large plane coming into the terminal at the Gate next to theirs.

Todd replied "First of all, I left the plane available for Teddy Franklin's use while he sets up our businesses near your hometown. He's also having to fly to Washington, D.C., as well as to meet the executives of the Midwest & Pacific Railroad to coordinate things."

"So why not charter us a plane?" Teresa asked.

"And that's the second reason we're not flying the BOW plane, nor a charter." Todd said. "I told you before we're doing a lot of cost-cutting. It's much, much cheaper to fly commercial than fly our plane down there, what with all the fuel and housing expenses. And it's hard to justify a personal trip to take it off our taxes. And honey, I did splurge for first class."

"True." said Teresa. "And that makes sense. I'm mostly concerned about security issues, being a near-paranoid cop and all---"

She stopped talking as she saw two boys at the window, overlooking the tarmac and the planes at the gate. "Wow!" one of the boys said. "There's Army guys there, and a hearse!" She got up and went over to them, and saw what they did; an Army Honor Guard was taking a Flag-draped coffin off the back of the big plane.

Teresa instinctively came to attention, and exhibited her beautiful singing voice as she began singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic:

"Mine eyes have seen the Glory of the coming of the Lord,
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He has loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword,
His Truth is marching on..."

People heard her singing and got up to see what was going on, and soon almost everyone at those Gates were standing respectfully. Two Army Enlisted men in camo uniforms came to the window, came to attention, and saluted. And as the coffin was loaded into the hearse, which then drove away down the tarmac, many people there joined Teresa in the chorus:

"Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His Truth is marching on!"

As everyone went back to their seats, the two enlisted soldiers came over to Teresa and said "Thank you, ma'am."

"It was my honor. And I appreciate your service." Teresa replied. She saw the unit patches on their uniforms. "503d Military Police Battalion, I see. Airborne unit."

"Yes ma'am." said one of the soldiers. "We're headed back to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. If I may ask, how did you know our unit?"

"Your unit patch." Teresa said. "My boss and I are Police Officers, and he was a Captain in a Reserve MP unit, and a Paratrooper, so we talked about MP units as well as the Airborne units..."

Part 2 - Mirror Image

9:05am, Thursday, July 2nd. My assistant Helena buzzed me to tell me that Captain Muscone and State Crime Lab Chief Chemist Christina Cho wanted to see me. I had them come in.

Christina was wearing a white dress and cork-high-heel white sandals, and she was looking mighty tasty. I remembered that 'tradition' that the Best Man and Maid of Honor would have sex, and as we'd been in those roles in Jack and Tanya's wedding, my little crowbar was hoping that tradition would come true. But I digress.

"So what can I do for you?" I asked after offers of coffee or water had been politely refused.

"Sir," Tanya said, "the State Crime Lab analyzed some of the drugs we confiscated

last night, including samples ranging from the bricks of pure 'China white', to the already packaged dime bags. This is to show it was what we thought it was, and also sometimes we can tell specific batches if there are enough unique 'markers' in the samples."

"And that's the case here?" I asked.

"Yes, Commander." Christina said. "We found something very unusual in the small packages, and then in the batches of bulk heroin. It had been cut with mostly starch, but there was some sugar, plain old table sugar, in there. We analyzed it more closely, and we found this." She extended a file folder with papers to me, and I examined them.

"Ohh, I see what you're saying." I said. "The sugar is L-dextrose... well, I should say L-glucose. That is interesting. And I see why you came to me with it."

"Someone clue me in." said Tanya. "On what that is, and why it's a BFD."

I said "Sugars, like glucose, have isomers that are mirror-images of one another, but can't be turned to be identical. D-glucose is what occurs in Nature, for whatever reason God and the Universe decided. L-glucose is not natural, but can be made synthetically."

"Like some potassium isotopes are radioactive?" asked Tanya.

"Not quite." I said. "Isotopes are at the atomic level. Isomers are variants in chemical structures." I held up my hands, then put them together as I said "Our hands are mirror-image isomers like that; mirror images of each other, and they can't be turned in a way to line up identically." Tanya nodded as she put her hands together the same way.

I continued: "And the reason it's important is because the L-sugar doesn't occur naturally; therefore, it was probably introduced somewhere in the line of this batch of drug's pathway to our County, and on purpose so it could be traced. And that suggests we've stumbled onto a Government operation. I'll explain more fully later, but listen as I make a phone call."

I got out my Police iPhone and called FBI Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone. "Hi Jack." I said. "I'm going to put you on speaker. I'm here with your lovely wife and her lovely Maid of Honor."

"Hi ladies." Jack's voice said through the speaker. "What's up?"

I said "Jack, will you do me a favor? Call Dwight Stevens of the DEA, and tell him Commander Troy wants to know if he uses sugar in his coffee."

"Whaa?" said Jack. "Ask if he uses sugar in his coffee, you said?"

"Exactly that." I said. "And ask him that way. And after he uses a lot of words he did not learn in my daddy's household, tell him that Commander Troy is ready to help him with his case if he wants that help..."

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

9:30am. My assistant Helena was again called upon to admit visitors to my office. They were FBI Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone and DEA Supervisory Special Agent Dwight Stevens. Muscone was wearing his ubiquitous FBI suit and tie. Stevens was dressed more casually, like an engineer on a construction site or something.

"Yeah," said Jack as they sat down at my bidding, "I didn't learn any new words, but I heard some old ones."

"Okay," said Stevens, "how much do you know, and when did you know it?"

I handed him the file folder. "As you may have heard, our Vice Squad made a big bust of a stash house last night. The State Crime Lab analyzed some of it, and found some small amount of sugar was mixed in with the starch they were cutting the drugs with. The sugar was not naturally-occurring D-glucose, but L-glucose. They came to me, and I subsequently came to you."

"Why us?" asked Muscone.

"Just as our Universe is positive-matter, with virtually no antimatter in existence," I said, "when our earth was created, for whatever reason the D-sugar became dominant and then exclusive. Animals, including humans, can and do process D-sugars as food. L-sugars cannot be chemically processed by our bodies, which were made to process D-sugars, but L-sugar tastes exactly like D-sugar, and it can be synthetically created."

"As such," I continued, "L-sugar would be a great substitute for D-sugar for diabetics, or just for those wanting to lose weight. And some years ago, BigAgraFoods and BigPharmaCorp did research and development of foods with L-sugars. They discontinued the projects after it was determined that making L-sugars were too expensive to make to be economically feasible."