Sugar and Spice Ch. 01

"So I'm not making accusations," I said, "but my questions are: how does the DEA dispose of its no-longer-needed drugs stashes? Did Operation CHICAGO SPICE have quantities of L-sugar laced product still in a vault somewhere? And was that leftover product destroyed?"

"I don't know, but I can check." said Dwight Stevens.

"But do it quietly." I said. "If perps stole those drugs and sold them in St. Louis and Kansas City, there was likely insider help, and you don't want to tip them off."

"That's a good point." Juan Morales said. "Commander, do you think that's the case here? That some of our supply meant for the project was stolen and sold?"

I said "I need to eliminate it as a possibility. If that's what happened, then there's some mess and dirty people you can clean up. If not, then we move on with other ideas."

"Don is so often right the first time," said Jack Muscone, "that you DEA guys should really look into it."

"Or you FBI guys can do it for us." said Dwight Stevens. "It might be better if you do, rather than us investigating ourselves." Jack nodded in agreement.

"And I have one other question." I said. "DEA Agent Kevin Pitts. Good? Bad? Clean? Dirty?"

Juan Alberto Morales said "He's a good Agent, as far as I know. Clean record. He's had some good busts."

Dwight Stevens said "I agree. No complaints about him that I know of. You can look him up on our database with your FBI account, if you like."

"I do like, and I already have." I said. "And yes, his record is good. But he's also had a few set-ups that didn't go perfectly. No big deal; nobody's perfect, and drug deals don't go down right nor smoothly, sometimes. But would it be unfair to say Pitts is... 'ambitious'? That he has his eyes on citations on the wall? Maybe things to get noticed, leading to promotions?"

"In fairness, most Agents do." said Dwight Stevens. "And I don't say that as a negative. Some want to move up the ladder, while some don't mind sitting back and serving their entire careers on the lowest rungs. Pitts? Yeah, he wants to move ahead, and with the added advantage of being black, he likely will get opportunities, and soon."

"Opportunities with whom?" Cindy said quietly and cryptically at me. I just nodded in her direction; she'd realized what my 'citations on the wall' comment truly referred to...

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

3:30pm, Thursday, July 2nd. Captain Tanya P. Muscone came to my office. "I've asked Jerome Davis and Joanne Warner to work on it with Penny Scott, who had a clearance in the Military that we reconstituted for her. It'll give Jerome something to do, to take his mind off Inga for a while."

"Good." I said. "They're Federal Consultants, so the DEA won't have an issue with them. But let me ask you this: how is Jerome? Really?"

"He's okay. Really." Tanya said reassuringly. "When he's at work, his head is in the game."

I nodded. "Good. But I still may have him talk to Laura."

"Why?" asked Tanya. "I mean... you think there's a problem with Jerome?"

I said "I'm concerned about him spending literally every moment of his free time at the Hospital, when he can't do anything for Inga, and they won't bring her out of her induced coma without letting us know first. If and when Inga recovers, it's going to be long and hard for her... mentally, as well as physically."

"And she'll need his support." said Tanya.

"True." I said. "And that's why I don't want Jerome exhausting himself now, and not be fully there when the time comes that she needs him the most."

Tanya said "I get that... but I think there's something more going on in that red head of yours about it. So spill it."

"You Angels know me too well, at times." I said. "But yes, I'm also worried that... well, when Inga wake up, she may not remember what happened to her... or she may remember every bit of it. Cindy doesn't remember anything, but Jenna Stiles does. She's been tough, and she puts on a good outward appearance, but she still has nightmares about what happened to her, and she still talks to the psychologists."

I continued: "The bottom line is that Jerome needs to continue living his life, because he may find that things between him and Inga will have changed, permanently and for the worse for their relationship."

Tanya nodded. "I'm not trying to shirk my own duty, but I'm going to leave that up to you. So... what do you want my guys to concentrate on in this sugar drug case?"

I said "The State Crime Labs here and in Southport are running all the drug samples that they, we, and the Southport PD have in evidence, for L-sugars. Make that Penny Scott's priority. I want Joanne Warner working with Tim Jenkins on those St. Louis and Kansas City busts. And Jerome can supervise both of them, and look for any crossover correlations."

Tanya said "You think Tim will work better with Joanne than Callie Carrington?" I saw the wicked gleam in her eye, and a red crowbar was waved in her general direction.

"I'm sure it will be fine... as long as Tim does not try to steal Joanne's dog Leo." I replied...

Part 5 - On The Bayou

"Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and fillet gumbo
Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar, and be gay-o
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou."
---- Hank Williams, Sr., 'Jambalaya (On The Bayou)'

Todd and Teresa dressed nicely for dinner; Todd in a suit and tie that was cooler than the suit he'd worn on the trip, and Teresa in her clingy, shimmering green dress and beige high heel sandals that made her legs look like Todd's net worth.

At 4:30pm, they'd gone downstairs, and found that Clarissa's great-nieces, Beatrice and Eugenia Windham, had arrived home from their Prep School. The teen girls's eyes lit up upon seeing Todd as he was introduced to them.

"My aunt on my father's side was named Beatrice." said Teresa. "She took care of me after my father... was unable to. So that's a name I like."

"Oh, cool! And it's great having a new cousin." Beatrice said to Teresa, though still glancing over at Todd a lot.

"And we need some new relatives around here." said Eugenia, also looking at Todd flirtatiously. "Except for Grandma Clarissa, the old ones are boring, and full of themselves."

"You two need to go up to your room and get ready for dinner." said Clarissa. "It's semi-formal, for our guests. Run along now."

As the girls went up, Clarissa said "Beatrice is 16, and Genia is 14 now. Their mother Tessa was my sister Dora's older daughter. Tessa and her husband Weston Windham died in a plane crash four years ago, and I took guardianship of them. They're good girls, and I've tried to avoid the mistakes I made raising my children Colin and Jen by not spoiling Beatrice and Genia."

"Windham." said Teresa. "I used to know someone named Easton Windham. Did Weston Windham have a relative named Easton?"

"Not that I recall." said Clarissa, seeming to think about it. "But I never really got to know him that well, nor my niece Tessa, for that matter." Teresa nodded silently, not revealing that 'Easton Windham' was the name of her first husband... (Author's note: 'Teresa's Christmas Story'.)

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

At 5:30pm local time, more family arrived, and Clarissa introduced them: "This is my son, Colin Esterson, and his wife Wendy."

Colin was 5'8" tall, slender, with raven-black hair that had a natural wave to it. He also had what looked like a perma-sneer on his face, as if he believed he was better than everyone else and always wanted to be showing it. He was wearing a suit and tie that fit him fairly well. Wendy was dark haired and tall for a woman, almost as tall as her husband, and very thin... 'willowy' was the word that came to Teresa's mind. She was wearing a blue blouse, flower-print skirt that went down to her ankles, and a matching light jacket.

"Nice to meet you." Colin said politely, his voice sounding nasally and condescending, as he shook hands with Todd and Teresa. Teresa noticed his grip was weak. Todd had his charming smile etched on his face, but Teresa knew her husband well enough to know that he did not think much of Teresa's cousin Colin.

Just a moment later, another woman came in. She had dark red hair, a decently shaped body, though not as fine nor as fit as Teresa's, and her face looked like a cross between Colin and Clarissa's.

"I'm Jen, Jen Sakai." she said, introducing herself. "I'm Colin's sister."

"Nice to meet you." Teresa said. "I'm Teresa, and this is my husband Todd." As Jen shook Todd's hand, Teresa made the observation that Jen had looked her over more than looking Todd over. I'll bet she's a lesbian, Teresa thought to herself.

Charles the Butler made and served adult beverages, and just as everyone sat down and chatted, there was another arrival. A dark-haired man strode in with a woman that bore a strong resemblance to Teresa, and also Clarissa.

"This is my niece, Clara Bessemer Edwards, Dora Clara's younger daughter." Clarissa said. "And her husband, State Senator Robert Edwards."

"Call me 'Bobby', please. Very nice to meet you." said Edwards, with the manners and voice of a practiced politician. He was beginning to get portly, and had a face full of life under his dark brown hair. Clara shared Teresa's dirty blonde/light brown hair in both color and style, and her body was a shapely hourglass figure like Teresa's, though only because she exercised hard to keep it that way.

"Yes, it is so nice to finally meet you, ma cousine." said Clara. "I've heard so much about you."

"Just the good things, I hope." said Teresa. "I must confess that I know very little about any of you, and I hope to remedy that with our visit."

"I thought you were going to be delayed in your arrival, Bobby." said Colin Esterson, and his voice connoted that he'd have been happier if Sen. Edwards had indeed been delayed.

"I was able to get away early." said Edwards with studied politeness and a false joviality that did not fool Teresa (who was used to Rudistan). "I didn't want our new family members to be subjected to stories that might unduly influence them."

"But Cousin Teresa is a cop, Uncle Bobby." said Beatrice. "It'll be hard to unduly influence her!" Everyone laughed politely. Teresa wondered if Beatrice was just 'stirring the pot' with that comment, as Beatrice's eyes glinted like Tanya Muscone's did whenever Tanya was stirring up trouble...

As everyone sipped their pre-dinner drinks, with Clarissa and Teresa having Scotch on the rocks, Todd having bourbon and water, and everyone else having more exotic mixed drinks, Teresa asked Jen "Your surname is Sakai? Japanese?"

"Oh, yes." said Jen, seemingly taken aback for a split instant. "I'm divorced now, but my husband is Japanese. We lived in Houston, and we split up after he wanted to return to Japan and I wanted to stay here in the United States. I moved back home shortly afterwards."

"Ah." said Teresa. "Did you visit Japan?"

"Yes, I went with my husband on business trips there." said Jen. "Tokyo is a bit too big for my tastes, though. I always felt like it was... crushing me, you know what I mean?"

"I think so." said Teresa. "I'd love to visit Japan, maybe the country outside of Tokyo. Like Mount Fuji."

"Yes, you can see Fujisan from Tokyo, on a clear day." Jen said. "But outside Tokyo, you really have to know your Japanese to get around, if you're not part of a tour group. And those are very limited in the places they go."

Just then, Clara Edwards came up to Teresa, all but interrupting the conversation with Jen. "So my niece Beatrice said your aunt was named Beatrice?"

"Yes." Teresa said. "And it's funny... I always thought she was my mother's sister, at least that's what she told me. But she wasn't... she was my father's sister. I knew she and my father didn't like each other, but I never understood why she told me that fib."

"Yes," said Clara, "families, especially families like ours, families with old money and history... they can have some deep, dark stories. But I'm glad to get to meet you, the cousin I never knew I had."

Meanwhile, Robert Edwards was talking to Todd. "So you're the CEO of BOW Enterprises." Robert said. Todd managed to keep the surprise off his face; neither he nor Teresa had told anyone that fact, nor his last name before they arrived.

Robert went on: "Yes, I've heard a lot about you, and your exciting new technology company. We should talk before you go home. Louisiana is a great place for dynamic new companies like yours. Maybe if you're planning to start a new branch or factory, you'll consider us."

"I just expanded," said Todd, "so I'm not quite ready to expand again. But when the time comes, I'll check things out down here. I guess I'll have to learn French, though."

"Ah, you can get by without it." said Edwards. "I think Aunt Clarissa is the only one here who speaks French fluently."

"Is Republican Senator Edwards trying to goad you into building another air-polluting plant here?" said a voice. It was Colin Esterson, coming up to them with his wife Wendy. He was keeping his face fairly passive, though the perma-sneer never left. By way of contrast, Wendy's face betrayed her hatred for Edwards.

"You mean new business and job opportunities for the People of Louisiana, don't you Colin?" Edwards fired back, pretending a joviality he clearly did not feel.

"My company won a national Conservation award this past year," Todd said politely, "and we clean up as we go. And what do you do, Mr. Esterson?"

"I am a Founding Member and the Operations Officer of the Global Climate Change Trust," said Colin Esterson importantly, "an organization dedicated to the global implementation of Climate Change rules set in place by the Kyoto Protocols. We are a brokerage of carbon credits both nationally and worldwide."

"An organization dedicated to the redistribution of wealth into his own pockets via the inducement of guilt, a.k.a. shaming of free enterprises businesses." replied Edwards, his voice mocking and goading.

"You know," Todd said, the merest hint of mockery in his eyes behind his 'business' smile, "I've never understood how those carbon offsets work. How does me buying one actually reduce carbon emissions?"

"There's a difference between 'carbon credits' and 'carbon offsets'." Esterson said, his voice becoming condescending, as if he were lecturing a pathetically dumb child. "And how carbon credits work, per the Kyoto protocols, is that polluting nations and businesses pay for the credits in recognition of their contribution to pollution and the destruction of the earth's environment, and the money is used to help developing nations develop in ways that are responsible, and cognizant of the Environment."

Todd said, his voice slightly more skeptical: "So a company can buy these carbon offsets, or credits, and go right on polluting. I'm just not sure I see how these carbon credits actually stop the pollution, nor actually reduce the carbon levels."

"They don't." said Robert Edwards. "All it is, is a scheme for the redistribution of wealth from productive nations into the pockets of parasites... and their own pockets, of course.:" replied Edwards.

Wendy Esterson was staring daggers at Edwards. "Evil Capitalists are always making excuses for their destruction of the environment and consumption of the world's resources."

"And evil Socialists are always creating schemes like the fraud of Climate Change to redistribute wealth into their own pockets." fired back Edwards with practiced smoothness.

"Ahem!" said a voice. Clarissa Belvedere Esterson came up and took Todd by the arm. "Dinner is ready. And we have one rule here: absolutely no discussion of politics at the dinner table."

"An excellent rule." Todd said as he allowed Clarissa to lead him away from the others...

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

*CHIME!*

It was my personal iPhone, and an email came in as I was wrapping up the day's business with Cindy Ross in my office.

"It's an email from Teresa." I said. The email read: "Uncle Don, we arrived safely and we're at my aunt's house. Todd asked me to ask you to do a check on Colin Esterson of the Global Climate Change Trust, and Louisiana State Senator Robert Edwards. And I'd like to ask you to run a check on Jen Esterson Sakai, and maybe her ex-husband. Have a good weekend, Love Teresa and Todd."

After I read the text out loud, Cindy said "I know for a fact that Teresa ran checks on her family, so why does she want you to?"

I said "First, she may not have known some of their full names. Second, once she and Todd got down there, they may have gotten their hackles up over something. Todd's related to us, and he has the Vibe to some extent. And I trust Teresa's instincts completely. Ergooooo, it's no big deal. I'll see what I can find." I turned to my computer and began typing, with a very curious Green Crowbar watching...

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

Clarissa sat at the head of the table. Being a widow, she had no one sitting at the other end of the table, and so she had Teresa sitting at the other end, and Todd to her (Clarissa's) immediate left. To Clarissa's right was her son Colin Esterson, as heir apparent, and Wendy was to Colin's right.

To Todd's left was Clara Edwards, and Robert was to her left. Jen Sakai was down the table to Robert's left, and Beatrice and Eugenia were down the table to Wendy's right. They probably should have been on the other side, but Teresa had noticed Robert Edwards glancing at the teen girls in a rather inappropriate way, and subsequently observed that Beatrice and Eugenia stayed well away from him.

Dinner was a three-course French meal. "We will be having a Cajun dinner tomorrow night, as part of a tour we've arranged for you." Clarissa said. "And on July 4th, you'll be my guests at the Lake Charles picnic. Plenty of gumbo choices, crawfish, but also hamburgers and hotdogs. And a great fireworks show."

"Sounds wonderful." said Teresa.

"So how are Genia and I related to you?" Beatrice asked Teresa, who noticed a sight scowl on Clarissa's face. Children are to be seen and not heard, the matriarch believed.

Nevertheless, Teresa answered: "My mother and your grandmother were sisters, so that makes you my second cousins, or 'first cousins once removed'."

"Why did you become a cop... er, a Police Officer?" asked Eugenia.

Teresa said "My sister Alexis was killed in a car crash one Christmas Eve, when she was 18 and I was 16. A policewoman helped me that night, and I after that I thought of becoming one myself. And it worked out."

"I daresay." said Robert Edwards. "Medal of Valor, Police Cross, six Purple Hearts for being wounded in the line of duty. Quite an impressive record." Seeing her look at him, he said "Oh yes, we had you and your husband checked out, back when Aunt Clarissa was asked to donate a DNA sample to prove your family relationship. And I'm sure you had us checked out, as well."

"Maybe not to that extent." Teresa replied, politely but firmly. "But just to see who you all were."

"When I heard that my sister Sarah's heir had been found," said Clarissa, "I was more than happy to help prove the blood kin relationship. It was a very pleasant surprise to finally learn about my sister Sarah and her family, and while I was saddened to hear of her passing, I am very glad to have her daughter here as my guest."

"I was glad to learn the truth about my mother and her family, as well." Teresa said.

"Which was the greater shock?" Colin Esterson asked, and rather rudely. "Learning that you had a family? Or that you were one of the richest heiresses in the world?"

"Colin!" Clarissa said sharply, a scowl on her face. "That is very inappropriate."

"It's okay, ma'am." said Teresa, affixing her eyes on Colin, letting him know without speaking that she was most very aware that he'd done that as a probe of her. "And to answer the question: I was surprised by both, but not shocked."