Sugar and Spice 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, 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 16 - Piling On

"Oh, no..." muttered Sheriff Griswold. He and Cindy followed me into my office. As we sat down, I took out my personal iPhone and speed-dialed my wife.

"Hi honey, it's me." I said. "Cindy said I needed to call you? About Inga?"

"Yes." Laura said. "She's in post-op. Dr. Morgan just briefed me on her surgery."

"She's still alive?" I asked, my eyes looking at Cindy and the Sheriff as I said it. "That's good, isn't it?"

"Yes." Laura said. "For the most part, everything went as well as could be expected. They set her jaw so that it will heal properly, and cleaned up the upper body damage around her ribs. But it's not all good news."

"Okay, hit me with it." I said, seeing the concern spring into Cindy's face at my words.

"The damage to her bones around her eyes was worse than they first thought." Laura said. "There was a lot of pressure from the inwardly-crushed bones on her eyes. They reset the bones, but the damage to her eyes may have been worse than they first thought, and may be permanent."

"So what does that mean?" I asked, sensing and dreading the answer.

"They won't know until she recovers consciousness," said Laura, "but she may be permanently blind..."

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

2:30pm, Monday, July 6th. Word travels fast in a Police Force, and somehow the news about Inga was already spreading around Headquarters and the Precincts Headquarters, casting a pall over everyone.

"Laura said that Father Romano is with Jerome at the Hospital." I said to Cindy as we sat in my office. The Sheriff had gone to tell the Police Chief the news. "He's pretty devastated."

"Well, they don't know for sure yet." said Cindy. "So let's keep hope alive."

"Yes. You're right." I said. "We'll keep hope alive. Okay, at the risk of telling you how to do your job, you probably should go talk to Captain Thompson and get a message ready for when the Media begins calling about it. And I'm going to drown my sorrows in work: we've got some potentially big things going on with this Block House Boyz drug case..."

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

An hour later, Jack Muscone came to my office. "Hey Dog," he said, "I heard about Inga, and I'm hoping to hear something better soon."

"Thanks." I said. "Have a seat. Whassup?"

Jack said "I'm hearing some rumors, and I didn't want to talk about them on the phone. This isn't official yet; I'm just letting you know ahead of time. The DEA brass in Washington is pressuring Rutherford Lyndon and Dwight Stevens to federalize the Block House Boyz case, and take it over from the TCPD."

"Consider me 'not surprised'." I said. "Sounds like the Swamp Frogs are beginning to try to bury the whole thing before we get too close to the truth."

"What truth is that?" Muscone asked.

I said "I have absolutely no proof of this yet, and may never get it. But I strongly suspect that DNI Brendan Chapel himself is behind stealing those drugs from the DEA in Texas. And when an anonymous tip led the DEA to the drugs in Missouri, he had them stolen again and sold, and the money is going into his pockets."

Jack emitted a low whistle. "Wow, when you theorize, you theorize big. What data are you basing this upon?"

I said "Bits and pieces of purely circumstantial data, but are the edge pieces of the puzzle. First, we know there was an attempt to move in and take Teresa's inheritance from her before she found out about it. And who were the threat actors in that case? The Swamp Frogs. Now we have drugs sitting in a warehouse, worth in the tens of millions of dollars, disappear and subsequently are sold on the street. And who are the threat actors that are manipulating things, making information disappear, and now we hear are trying to get this thing off of my radar? Swamp Frogs."

"Robin Isley?" Muscone asked.

"I'll bet she's involved," I replied, "but her lodestone is 'citations on the wall'. Brendan Chapel's lodestone is money; his avarice is unquenchable. He is a greedy, greedy man. So I'm thinking all the way to the top."

Muscone nodded, then said "What do you want to do? What do you want us to do?"

"Let's just sit back and let it play out, for now." I said. "We'll decide at the time if we want to fight the Federal takeover."

*BUZZZZ!*

It was my desk phone, and it was the Chief of Police inviting me to come to his office. "I'll go see my lovely wife." Jack said, getting up.

"You're getting the better deal." I replied as I followed him out the office door.

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

The Chief had me sit down next to the Sheriff in the Chief's office. "I've just heard from our legal counsel. The Police Union filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over our inaction on their grievance against yoooo. We formally refused Federal mediation, saying we consider the grievance by McElwane to be totally resolved. So the Union filed a lawsuit against us in the Court of Federal Judge Ruth B. Taney."

"Did Federal Judge K.M. Landis take it from her and squash it?" I asked.

"No, Crowbar." growled Sheriff Griswold "He's on vacation this week. But even if he were here, Judge Taney has traditionally been the Federal Judge on this Circuit that handles Union and Labor issues."

Chief Moynahan said "We are attempting to use the same legal arguments we used in the State Courts: that the lawsuit is outside the proper application of the collective bargaining agreement. Howeverrrrr, Judge Taney is a very activist, Leftwing judge, and is likely to side with the Union's position."

"Okay." I said. "What does that mean for us? More specifically, for me?"

"There is going to be a hearing next week." said the Sheriff. "The Union plans to push for your suspension while the case is being adjudicated, but that's not likely to happen. They also are going to ask the Judge to force us into binding Federal arbitration, and we will let her know that we'll appeal that to the US Supreme Court, as well as involve our Congressmen and Senators. That might scare her into holding back; things are tenuous for Unions with Congress right now."

I said "I'm not going to count on that, though. In God We Trust. Congress? Not so much."

Chief Moynahan said: "Another thing we have going for us: I bee-lieeeeve Judge Taney is stunned at the number of 'Friend of the Court' briefs she is getting from our rank-and-file Officers. They are saying that they will move to decertify the Union if the Union does not drop their complaints against yooooo."

"And that might be our saving grace." added the Sheriff. "Taney is not going to want to harm the Union, so she might be willing to find a compromise both sides can agree on, rather than just slamming the Union's demands down our throats."

I said "I hope so. The most important thing is that we aren't forced to submit to binding Federal arbitration. I might not get fired... or more accurately, be forced to retire... but they'll hammer us on the Union's behalf, and may even force us to re-hire McCombs."

"Soooo, Mis-ter Crowbarrrrr," drawled the Chief, "what do yoo pro-pohhhhhse we do?..."

Part 17 - Council and Candy

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Tuesday, July 7th, from atop the building at the corner of Riverside and College, with City Hall in the background. "The Police Union files suit against the Town & County Police Department!"

Bettina began: "The Police Union, which represents Police Officers up to and including the rank of Lieutenant, filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against Commander Donald Troy and the TCPD after the TCPD refused to act upon the Union's grievances against Commander Troy, and then refused to accept binding arbitration by the National Labor Relations Board. The Federal lawsuit, filed in the Court of Judge Ruth B. Taney in Midtown, seeks to force the TCPD to submit to binding Federal arbitration, to suspend Commander Troy without pay until the Federal hearing can be held, and to immediately reinstate Sergeant McCombs to the TCPD."

Bettina: "Responding to requests by KXTC for comment, Police Chief Sean Moynahan stated that Sergeant McCombs would not be reinstated to the Police Force under any conditions, citing McCombs use of racist language during a stop of a black man and his son. Chief Moynahan also stated that he was eager to oppose the Union in Judge Taney's Courtroom."

Bettina: "And in other news, black civic leaders are demanding the resignation of District Attorney Miriam Walters after it was learned that the D.A.'s Office is charging the 'Jacquez 200' with first degree murder in the commission of a felony, called 'Felony Murder' for short.. The 'Jacquez 200' are the 200 protesters, nearly all of them black, that were arrested when they surrounded and protected Jacquez Wilson to prevent the Police from arresting him."

Video of the Block House explosion was shown as Bettina said "The arrests were made after eight persons, including our KXTC colleague Lester Holder, were killed when explosives inside the building detonated and destroyed the building. In a statement, Commander Donald Troy said that the murder charges were being brought, quote, 'in order to show that violence and unlawful actions will have consequences for the perpetrators committing the crimes', close quote."

Bettina: "The black leaders are asserting that the white District Attorney is pressing the murder charges because the peaceful protesters are black, and that the charges far exceed the level of any crimes that might have been committed. District Attorney Miriam Walters did not respond to numerous requests by KXTC for comment."

Bettina: "And Council Members Reginald B.F. Lewis and Kelly Carnes have promised to introduce legislation at the Town & County Council meeting tonight, that will defund the Police after the fatal standoff between Police and Jacquez Wilson. Coincidentally, the Sheriff's proposals for promotions and medals in the Public Safety Department will also be submitted..."

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

"Can they do that?" asked Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle as we drank coffee in the Chief's Conference room. "Can the Council usurp the prerogative of the Town & County Assembly, and defund us?"

"No." said Assistant District Attorney Paulina Patterson. "And I don't understand why Bettina would even suggest that they could."

"Welcome to the agenda-driven reporting of the Mainstream Media." I said "On the face of it, Bettina is just reporting what Lewis and Carnes plan to do. But she knows, as they know, that it's all empty rhetoric, and designed to make political points. It's disingenuous, and a total lack of integrity. But that's never stopped Bettina before."

"And you actually gave a statement to that Press?" Deputy Chief Cindy Ross asked me, her twinkling ice-blue eyes showing that she was teasing... or goading... me.

"Yeah." I said. "I'll gladly take the arrows on what we're doing to enforce the law and make examples of those 200 criminals. And maybe, just maybe, if they get the idea that they will be punished for their crimes, it'll cause others to think twice before committing violence or shielding criminal slugs like Lester Holder and Jacquez Wilson.

"I noticed they went after D.A. Walters instead of you, Paulina." said Captain Tanya Muscone.

"I noticed that, too." said Paulina. "We've all told them that I'm the driving force behind this, not Miriam, but they're going after her for it."

"It doesn't matter what you tell them." I said. "They're definitely not going to say the black ADA is the one pressing the charges, so they dishonestly say the white D.A. is doing it. I might also add that they're trying to pressure Miriam to force you to drop the charges."

I continued: "The black civic leaders know that if we succeed in pushing the Felony Murder charges, it could cripple their ginned-up demonstrations. They see that we're not playing the game, that we really are going after them, and they're reacting like cornered cats... they're going to come out fighting as viciously as they can."

"How are those cases go-ingggg?" asked Chief Sean Moynahan.

"We have clear evidence against 185 of the 200 that they were there at the time of the explosion." said Paulina. "Now it's just a matter of getting the worst offenders in front of Judge Watts first, and starting the dominoes falling."

"Are you going to give any plea deals and lesser charges to anyone?" Cindy asked.

"Maybe," said Paulina, "as long as every single one of them gets at least one felony charge on their record."

"What about the Union lawsuit?" asked Tanya. "Is it anything to worry about?"

"No." said Teresa. "Well, let me put it this way... if the Union persists in the B.S. crap against Don, the Union will be decertified, which will make everything else moot. The rank-and-file Officers are really energized about this."

Tanya said "I don't understand why the Union is being so hardline about it, especially since their membership is not in sync with their position on it, at all."

"It's obviously all about Don, and it's personal." Cindy said, perhaps meaning it to tease me.

"Tanya's right." Teresa said. "They're not going to get Don fired or even suspended, and the rank-and-file are as completely behind Don as I've ever seen any group be behind anyone. Even Journalists don't support Democrats the way our guys support Don." We all chuckled at that.

"Yeah." said Tanya. "Their acting almost as childishly as the Teacher's Union was during the Charter writing."

"Whaa?..." I said, peering at Tanya. And then I went into a reverie. When I came out of it, six coffee cups were clustered right next to mine in front of me. I didn't even blink; I just got up, got the coffeepot, and refilled all of them.

"What was on your mind, Crowbar?" the Sheriff asked as I slid the cups back to their rightful owners.

"What Tanya just said, Sheriff." I replied. "That they're acting like the Teacher's Union. And that might be the real answer..."

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

7:00pm, Tuesday, July 7th. Teresa and I were in our Duty Dress uniforms, and both of us wearing 'trousers', as we watched the Main Council Chamber begin to fill up with Citizens. We (the TCPD and Deputy Sheriffs) were openly prohibiting anyone wearing a red Antifa shirt, any 'Black Lives Matter' or 'Black Voices Raised' shirts, or any green Environmentalist shirt from coming in, and all but daring those wearing them to sue us over it. There were still a lot of blacks coming in, many middle-aged or older.

"A lot of older people in the crowd." Teresa observed. "Are they here to support the Police, or the agitators?"

"They're here to support Reginald B.F. Lewis and Kelly Carnes." I said. "They'll be a lot more civil about it than the young 'BLM' agitators, and this is a place they can make their voices heard with less danger to themselves than by marching on the streets."

Just then, EMS Chief Leonard R. Cordell came in and came up to us, wearing his 'Duty Dress' EMS uniform. He shook hands with me and Teresa.

"Ready for Alison McFarland's show tomorrow night, sir?" I asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." said Dr. Cordell. "I have to admit: as it's gotten closer and closer to the airing date, I've gotten more and more nervous about it."

"You'll be a rock star, sir." Teresa said, making Dr. Cordell chuckle.

Sheriff Griswold and Fire Marshal Roy Easley also came up to us before the session began. "Looks like the kids in the BLM shirts went home rather than protest outside." the Sheriff said. "That was a great idea, Crowbar, to prohibit them from entering while wearing those shirts."

"I just hope we don't get sued over it." Teresa lamented.

"We won't." I said. "It's actually in State Law that just as political slogans on clothing is disallowed at voting places, it also can be disallowed in the chambers of State and local government meetings. The law was made to prevent agitators from disrupting sessions of the State House or State Senate, and I have no problem using it for Council meetings..."

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

At 7:30pm, the Mayor and Council Members filed in and took their seats. Mayor Allgood gaveled the meeting into session. "Okay, let's have the legal actions and the monthly reports." the Mayor said.

"I move that these be entered into the record without verbal readings." said J.P. Goldman. Edward Steele seconded.

"Without objection?" said Mayor Allgood. There were five objections. You get one guess which political Party they all were in, and it'd better start with a 'D'. The Mayor called for a vote, and he broke the tie, which approved Mr. Goldman's motion.

"New business?" asked the Mayor. "Mr. Steele is recognized."

"The Sheriff has submitted the Public Safety Department package for promotions and medals for August 1st." said Edward R. Steele. "I move that the Council approve the package."

"I second." said John Colby.

"The motion is seconded." said the Mayor. "Discussion of the package will require Executive Session, and I'll entertain a motion for that after we conclude the evening's public business. Any other new business? Ms. Carnes is recognized."

"I move that we act to defund the Police, and strip all money from the Town & County Police Force after their brutality against a KXTC reporter and others in a shameful display before the State and the Nation a couple of weeks ago."

"I second!" Reginald B.F. Lewis said loudly. The black persons in the audience applauded loudly. Mayor Allgood patiently gaveled for order, only getting verbal and banging the gavel harder after 35 seconds of applause.

"Point of order!" yelled J.P. Goldman, anger in his voice.

"Mr. Goldman is recognized." said the Mayor.

"That motion is illegal." said Goldman. "Only the Town & County Assembly can budget money and reallocate or remove an allocation afterwards. I believe Carnes knows that, and is making the motion only to make political points---"

"Point of order!" cried out three voices.

"Okay, stop it." said Daniel Allgood. "Mr. Goldman is correct that the motion introduced usurps the authority of the Town & County Assembly."

"I disagree!" said Kelly Carnes forcefully. "I believe this Council has the authority to suspend the disbursement of that budgeted money. I believe we can, and should, discontinue paying any Police salaries until the TCPD accepts a Consent Decree from the US Department of Justice----"

"Point of ORDER, Mister Mayor!" J.P. Goldman shouted. "The motion is unlawful, and there should not even be debate on it! I again strongly object to Carnes being allowed to make those viciously hateful statements---"

"Point of order!" cried out five voices.

"Keep this up," said Mayor Allgood, "and I'll reinstitute strict adherence to the 'speak only when spoken to' rules."

"Mr. Mayor," said Sheila Sorrells, "I move to lay it on the table."

"I second." said Malinda Adams happily.

"Point of order!" yelled J.P. Goldman furiously, his face getting redder.

"There is a motion to table, and it can't be debated." said the Mayor.

"Mr. Mayor," said Edward Steele, "the whole point is that the motion is illegal in the first place, and therefore the motion to table is illegal; therefore, Mr. Goldman's point of order is valid and should be recognized. I also ask that all discussion of this illegal motion cease, and that you deny its entry into the record."