Sugar and Spice Ch. 02

"That's fortunate." said Clarissa. "I wish I could say the same of some of the men in this family."

"Didn't Beatrice and Genia's father die in an accident?" Teresa asked.

"Oh yes, and he was a good father to them." said Clarissa. "And their grandfather, Edward Bessemer, he was a decent father to his children."

"So he died in a work-related accident?" Teresa asked, adroitly probing her aunt for more information.

"Yes." said Clarissa. "And the legend that he fell into a vat of flour is true. A horrible way to die, I am sure... though one secret about that accident never did come out: he was dead when he fell into the vat."

"Murdered?" Teresa gasped, her professional instincts kicking in.

"I don't know, not for sure." said Clarissa. "But my father had a private talk with the Coroner. The final autopsy report came out that Edward had died of asphyxiation, but I remember that the preliminary finding was that his heart had stopped before he fell. I naturally thought he'd had a heart attack right at that moment, and fell into the vat as he lost consciousness. But nothing was ever said of that in the autopsy report."

"So who would want to kill him?" Teresa asked. "And why?"

Clarissa chuckled merrily, almost a cackle. "Heh heh heh heh! Ever the Detective, you are, my dear! You were born to be one, if I don't miss my guess."

And I'll bet you rarely do, Teresa thought to herself. Out loud she said "Yes, I have to admit it's professional interest... my profession."

"Well, I'll tell you what I know, which isn't a lot." said Clarissa as Charles the Butler poured Teresa another Scotch, and added a few drops of water to release the flavor of the Scotch. "As you know, Edward is credited with saving the Belvedere Company from spiraling into bankruptcy, and his cookies saved the company, and therefore all of us from financial ruin. Had he lived, he would have been tapped to succeed my father as the CEO of the company."

Clarissa: "After he died, my father began preparing to sell the company. He had come to despise my husband's lack of business acumen, and he simply did not consider that I or Dora Clara could run it; after all, that was the mid-1970s, the heyday of the Glass Ceiling, Helen Reddy, and the Equal Rights Amendment."

Clarissa: "It took a while, but BigAgraFoods's subsidiary company finally paid a fair price for the company. My father put almost all of the money into trusts for his three daughters, including Sarah in the hopes she would contact us and return home one day."

Clarissa: "My father was named to the Board of Directors of the subsidiary company, but I believe the boredom of his retired life was a large part of his eventual passing away, and my mother died shortly afterwards of a broken heart."

Clarissa: "So I guess I'm one of your suspects, as the house and a substantial fortune came to me, as well as to Dora Clara. From what I understand, neither your mother nor your father ever knew about any of this, so you can safely eliminate them from your list of suspects. Additionally, my husband gave up all pretenses of working for a living. I did not divorce him, but we led separate lives out of separate bedrooms. So he benefitted, as well."

Teresa asked "Did Edward have any other enemies? And to that point, did your father? Was there pressure on him to sell out to the Big Boy company?"

"Ah, you're already ahead of me." said Clarissa. "And the answer to your question is that several large companies wanted to buy the company, but their first efforts were to destroy it. Edward overcame the attempts to bankrupt us, attempts my father couldn't handle. BigAgraFoods was run by a despicable man named George Willis, and he enjoyed crushing his competition."

"Did George Willis have a son named Mitt Willis?" Teresa asked.

"Why ye-ezzz!" said Clarissa. "You know who Mitt Willis was?"

"Oh yes." Teresa said. "He tried to destroy the Iron Crowbar. He lost. And I was there when one of Willis's employees took him out. I watched Mitt Willis die, and to this day I don't feel one bit of regret nor pity." (Author's note: 'Swamp Frogs', Ch. 02.)

"Well, I'll declare!" said Clarissa. "But yes, George was Mitt's father, and every bit as despicable. And would Willis have my brother-in-law killed to force my father to sell the company? There can be no doubt."

"Of course," Clarissa continued, "it could easily have been one of the other competing companies. And then there was the Union representing the sugar cane workers... the Unions were just becoming powerful and asserting themselves in those days, before President Reagan broke PATCO. Edward was a hard-liner against the Union's attempts to unionize the company's employees as well as the sugar cane field workers. They did successfully unionize it all after Edward died."

"Last, but not least," said Clarissa, "were the politicians. As you've seen from Robert, Louisiana politics can be very rough-and-tumble. They want their cuts, their pieces of the action. I'd rather deal with Organized Crime, with the Mob, than Louisiana politicians, and my niece's husband is one of the filthy predators. My father usually dealt with them the normal, way: he paid the protection money in the form of campaign donations. But Edward didn't play around with them; he refused to give 'em a dime."

Teresa said "I'm not sure Edward's death, and the sale of the company to BigAgraFoods, benefitted the politicians. Big Boy companies play the game, but can't be intimidated by politicians the way the little companies can be."

"There's truth in that." said Clarissa. "Tell me, does your husband have to deal the Mobs, and with the politicians?"

Teresa replied "He plays the game with the politicians; he'll give campaign contributions in reasonable measure to politicians of both parties, to ensure he gets and keeps his permits. It's the Federal Government that has given him the most trouble, when they accused him of passing secrets to Israel, then rogue agents tried to steal one of his research projects."

She did not mention how far they had gone in their attempts to steal BOW Enterprises secrets, including the Mutanix. (Author's note: 'Moonlight Shadow', 'The Nuclear Option', 'A Death In The Family'.)

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

Returning to their room for the night, Todd was 'not surprised' when Teresa began sweeping their room for bugs. And she found some: one in the lampshade on the bedside table's lamp, one in the landline telephone on the other bedside table, and one in the lights over the vanity in the bathroom.

They went onto the patio and closed the doors. Teresa swept there for bugs, but found none. They sat down on the two metal mesh chairs, and talked very quietly.

"Those bugs weren't there yesterday." Teresa said. "So who planted them?"

"The security guys were with us, so it was either Charles or a family member." said Todd.

Teresa nodded. "Want to go home? After what Jen said on the phone last night, I'd be much less worried about your safety."

Todd grinned, and said "Naah, I feel safe with my security blanket with me, that being you. But we were going to leave Monday morning. If you want to up that to Sunday, I'll claim some kind of business emergency."

"Let's do that, for Sunday afternoon." Teresa said. "So, how was your day with my relatives today?"

"The tour was really nice, and the dinner was good." Todd said. "And State Senator Robert 'Bobby' Edwards invited me to bribe him if I wanted to do business here. He was surprisingly open about it."

Teresa said "Aunt Clarissa said those politics are about as old as Louisiana is. Clara Edwards is well-versed on some of the business things about Bessemer cookies, probably to aid her husband in talking up Louisiana to businesses thinking of coming here. Oh, and Jen Sakai noticed my concealed weapon, and seemed very taken aback by it."

She then told Todd about George Willis, Mitt's father, and how BigAgraFoods had pressured Belvedere to sell the company, and that Clarissa was not convinced that Edward Bessemer's death was a tragic accident, but possibly was a tragic murder. "It's a small, small world, that Mitt Willis's father was the one who put the screws to my grandfather. I told Aunt Clarissa that I was there when Mittens died... but not that I almost tackled him in time to save him."

Todd nodded. "Yes... and I have the feeling that this family might have to deal with the Willis's and BigAgraFoods again... didn't Mitt Willis have kids?"

Teresa said "Yes, and his son Matthew was implicated in the Tau Fraternity hazings and rapes, but never formally charged." (Author's note: 'Unresolved'.) "Yes, I agree that he will take the Willis family to new heights of crime."

Little did either know what would be wrought...

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

"Ohhh..." the listeners heard. It was Teresa's voice. "Ohhh, you're cock is so... big!... Oh yeah... just like that... ohhhh..."

"That's right, baby," they heard Todd say, "take very inch of my big dick! Oh yeah, you're so tight... so wet..."

It definitely enhanced their lovemaking to be as noisy as they could for whoever was listening to the bugs. And those listeners were enjoying it, as well...

Part 10 - Let Freedom Ring

"Let freedom ring,
Let the white dove sing,
Let the whole world know that today,
is a day of a reckoning!
Let the weak be strong,
Let the right be wrong,
Roll the stone away, Let the guilty pay
It's Independence Day."

--- Martina McBride, 'Independence Day'.

7:00am, Saturday, July 4th. Wearing my Police uniform of a light blue shirt, dark blue pants with double-light-blue piping down the sides, and an armored vest, I drove in my SUV from The Cabin around the mountain and down the road past McGhillie's Golf Course and onto Reservoir Road. I was allowed through the checkpoint, and went down the road to the Start Line, the starting point of the Triathlon.

Security was being set up near where Reservoir Road ends at the Nextdoor County Highway, and the road that led past The Cabin and Teresa's home was blocked off to all but emergency vehicles just up from where the road dumps into University Avenue.

And speaking of emergency vehicles, I saw an ambulance parked on the other side of the road from the starting line, and went to it. Paramedics Ellen Brooks and Kevin Randolph, who had saved Corporal Inga Gunddottar's life, were sitting on the back bumper. Their EMT uniforms looked sharp, I was pleased but not surprised to see.

When they saw me, they stood up and (unnecessarily) saluted me. "All the way and then some, sir!" Ellen Brooks said enthusiastically.

"Air-borne!" I replied happily as I returned the salute. "How are you guys doing? You recovering from your wounds, Brooks?"

"Yes sir." said Ellen. "I'm back on duty."

"Good." I said. "Be ready August 1st. Purple Order on the way for you." I looked over the ambulance. "This is the ambulance Kalsu drove you in to rescue Gunddottar?"

"Yes sir." said Kevin Randolph. "We're generally going to follow the race. After everyone has done the swim, we'll join the ambulance at the bike ride starting point, and then migrate to the finish line. We are also prepared to be called up in case of... trouble."

I nodded. "Good plan. Okay, I'll most likely see you again at the Finish Line."

"Oh, sir!" said Ellen as I was about to leave. "Some of us in the Police, Fire, and EMT services are planning on having a civilian parachute jump, maybe to raise money for equipment or for charity. Would you be interested in jumping with us?"

"Would I?" I exclaimed. "You betcha!"

"That will be the day!"

The voice behind me belonged to the Green Crowbar, and Cindy was tapping it in her hand as she came up to us. With her was Callie Carrington, Cindy's mother Maggie, and Betsy Ross, who was in her grandmother's arms.

Cindy was wearing her Police uniform like I was, and also wearing armor. She did not even bother to speak to me, but went up to Ellen and Kevin and said "This man's back has been broken at least twice, and if he tries to make another parachute jump, I will break it again if the jump doesn't. So don't be getting his hopes up."

"Yes ma'am." said Ellen. "Sorry sir, I didn't know about your back."

"Oh, it's just fine." I said. "I didn't have any problems when Jack Muscone and I jumped into his wedding."

"The only reason I didn't bust him up then," said Cindy, "was because the plane was wired with explosives, and blew up the Impound Yard when it crashed." (Author's note: 'Power of Love', Ch. 03.)

"Seriously," I said, "I do appreciate the Deputy Chief looking out for my health and safety---"

We were interrupted by a contingent of vehicles coming into the Start Line area. Among them was the Commander of the State Patrol (all of it), Colonel Hartmann. With him was the Commander of State Patrol Post 1, the 1st District post, Captain Cortese.

"Good to see you again, Commander." said Hartmann in his typically energetic style. His uniform was pressed to razor-sharp perfection. "We're here to get in place for Lieutenant Governor Marshall's arrival."

"Good morning, Colonel, Captain." I said, shaking their hands. "You know Deputy Chief Ross, and this is her family. And allow me to introduce Paramedics Brooks and Randolph, who went in and rescued my injured Police Officer in that standoff."

"Mighty fine work." said Colonel Hartmann as he shook their hands. "Forgive my abruptness, but I need to get started. What time is the Lieutenant Governor getting here?"

I said "The race starts at 9:00am, and she's the official Starter of it. So I'd imagine minutes before then. I'll show you where you can set up your command post." I excused myself from everyone else, and went along with the State Troopers...

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

People began trickling in. The racers were allowed within the security rings and were checking in. We'd limited the crowds to invited guests and families, that had passes not unlike what I'd observed at Augusta National Golf Course when Cindy and I went there. (Author's note: 'Four Square', Ch. 03.) People went through 'airport security' metal detectors, then were wanded, and they had to have their passes in plastic sleeves on lanyards around their necks at all times.

The dignitaries began arriving at 8:30am. Sheriff Antonio Griswold, Council Members Edward R. Steele, J.P. Goldman, John Colby, Dagmar Schoen, Katina Jones, State Reps Billy Williams of the Town & County and Peter Long Cox of Nextdoor County, Mrs. Myrtle L James, and State Senator Moe Molinari were all here. Ian McGhillie was running point helping park the State Troopers... and making sure they didn't destroy his golf course by encroaching onto it. Daniel Allgood would be arriving with Lt. Governor Marshall.

Also present were representatives of that most despised of institutions: the Media. I saw a couple of Media vans, and maybe three camerapersons with their cameras.

Alison McFarland of the Town & County Examiner had gained access to the area with her Press credentials. But she seemed more interested in handing out flyers announcing her big podcast on Wednesday night, which I knew was being picked up by KFXU... and was about Admiral Cordell.

"Sheriff," I said quietly to the Sheriff, "there doesn't seem to be a large contingent of Media today."

"The Fox channels are using Fox Eight's feed." said Griswold. "KXTC has a van here, as does the SNN Network. KSB may just be using KXTC's feed. But if your observation is that the Mainstream Media wants to cover Sharon Marshall as little as possible, you're probably right."

I replied "The silver lining to that cloud is that maybe they don't expect a lot of trouble from agitators today."

"We can only hope, Crowbar." growled Griswold. "We can only hope."

"And speaking of hope," I said as I looked down the road, "here comes our hope to be the next Governor." The Sheriff followed my gaze, and saw the procession of State Troopers coming up the road, lightbars blazing.

A moment later, the State Patrol's armored Escalade opened to reveal Sharon Marshall, Lieutenant Governor of the State, and Republican nominee to succeed Val Jared as Governor. Also getting out of the car was the Honorable Mayor of the Town & County, Daniel Allgood. I noted that Melina was not with him. Whassup with dat? I wondered.

Amidst tight security, Sharon Marshall came up the line of dignitaries waiting to shake her hand. She had Katina Jones come with her, giving Katina as much publicity as possible.

I had attempted to get out of the way, but Colonel Hartmann himself prevented that. "Come on, Commander, you know the Lieutenant Governor wants to be seen with you. She'd put you on a leash and make you follow her around if she could get away with it!"

"Sounds kinky." I said. "My wife the sex professor might want to study that, but I'll pass." Colonel Hartmann guffawed at that.

"Don!" Sharon Marshall exclaimed when she got to me. A handshake wasn't enough; she hugged me, and very warmly at that. Katina Jones hugged me even more warmly, perhaps remembering our hot interracial liaisons in bed. (Author's note: 'Eyes Only' Ch. 03.)

I'd also felt that Sharon's jacket was very stiff... it was light armor, not unlike the armor in my specially-tailored suits and in the lining of my trenchcoat. Better than nothing, I thought to myself.

"It's great to be here!" said Sharon Marshall as she spoke into the microphone near the Start Line. "I'm honored to be here to celebrate the Fourth of July at one of our State's greatest traditions, the Town & County Triathlon!" The crowd cheered.

"As you know, I'm involved in another race, a race of a different sort." said Sharon Marshall. "I'm going to need your support! We need all of you to get out the vote, to get people registered to vote, to make everyone aware of the differences between us and our opponents this year!

Marshall: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the TCPD Officer who was badly injured by a filthy drug gang! And I'm proud to have with us the paramedics that went through enemy gunfire to save her!" The crowd roared as she pointed to Ellen Brooks and Kevin Randolph, who just looked stoic.

"I will tell you now," said Sharon Marshall, "that when I am elected Governor, all this talk about defunding the Police will fall on deaf ears! I support our Police! And I support great Police Officers like Commander Donald Troy, who has stood fast against the anarchists bringing crime and death to our streets!" She pointed at me as I stood near Ellen and Kevin. I was grateful to hear the loud cheers of applause for me.

"How come I don't get recognized like that?" Cindy whispered to me, knowing I had not asked for that nor wanted it.

"Because you won't let me make any parachute jumps." I replied with an evil grin.

"When in a deep hole, mon cousin." the Green Crowbar replied. "When in a deep hole..."

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

As the racers were told to assemble at the Start Line, Police radios started squawking.

"Break, break, break!" I heard on the earpiece in my ear that was plugged into my Police radio. "Large crowd coming down Reservoir Road from Nextdoor County Highway, wearing red shirts, wielding chains with locks on the end, tire irons, crowbars, and aluminum baseball bats."

"They're approaching the main checkpoint!" I heard someone else say. "We are badly outnumbered! Do we have permission to disperse with tear gas?..."

All eyes in the vicinity were on me...

To be continued.

What do you think will happen?