Teresa's Summer Race Redux

"You did it!" Todd heard the voice say as he rounded the turn to the Fairgrounds and the Finish Line. "Now avenge me! Avenge my death!"

"Didn't my uncle already do that?" Todd asked his ghostly brother in the silence of his head.

"Only part of it." said Jack Burke's voice. "Even he doesn't know all of it. But you will have vengeance for me..."

Suddenly the sun blinded Todd as he crossed the finish line. The apparition was gone.

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

I heard cheers as Todd approached, then saw him round the turn into the Fairgrounds. Indeed, he looked like a young god of mythological times as he ran through the finish line tape, and many women's eyes were sparkling with sexual hunger as they watched him... not the least of which was Teresa Croyle.

Todd and Teddy Franklin hugged briefly, then Todd went with the EMTs to be checked upon and re-hydrated... and get a blood sample. All of the racers were being tested for performance-enhancing drugs. Yes, even at an amateur race like this. Such was the effects of the scandal at the University the year before.

It would be several minutes until the next racers came in. My family gravitated towards Todd to congratulate him. I looked at him curiously... he wasn't really smiling his normal charming smile. I thought to myself that he looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"Yay Todd!" Carole exclaimed, clapping her hands as I shook Todd's hand. Todd's mischievous grin returned as he tickled Carole's belly, making her laugh loudly. Laura and my mom also congratulated Todd and Teddy, then the winning racers disappeared in a sea of people as Carole and I turned to watch the other contestants finish their grueling ordeals.

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

"And here comes Bradley, with a comfortable lead over the third place Fire Department team, who overcame the ROTC runners in the last phase of the race." the radio announcer was saying. Some moments later I heard him say "And here comes Hewitt of the Police team... he looks exhausted, ladies and gentlemen, he's barely hanging on."

Sensing trouble, I went over to the EMTs near the finish line and told them to be ready to administer to Hewitt. Sure enough, when he came down the road to the line, he was gamely running but was staggering to the finish. Gasping for air as he crossed the line, he collapsed to his knees, and EMTs rushed to his aid. They would actually administer a full I.V. to Hugh before they let him out of their sight.

I looked over at Claire Michaels, his race partner and what I thought was his girlfriend. To my shock, her features did not show concern... but disgust and contempt.

Uh oh, I thought to myself, press the panic button... trouble in paradise. And I had no idea yet just how much trouble...

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

At the medal ceremony, Todd was grinning brightly and Teddy somewhat more demurely as the gold medals were draped around their necks. The Bradley Rangers' congratulations of them had been a bit perfunctory; they had been more than disappointed at being silver medalists for the second year in a row, and this time in such destructively convincing fashion that it had to be demoralizing.

I congratulated the Fire Department team, as did Sheriff Allgood, for their bronze medal finish. I noticed Bettina Wurtzburg and Priya Ajmani competing to get interviews with Todd and Teddy, followed by the Media trying to get pictures. They'd tried to get the Bradley Rangers to pose with the other teams, but the Bradleys were having none of it and had left the scene. I couldn't really blame them: Rangers were trained to win, and there are no silver medals in war. Hard for them to get out of that mindset, I realized to myself.

Then some Media person had wanted Todd and Teddy to pose with last year's race winners. Teresa was affable to it, standing next to Todd. Cindy was much more reluctant, but did her duty for a couple of pictures.

It was then that I realized how much Cindy being unable to do this race again was really hurting her inside, despite her resistance to showing it. She was a competitor and a winner in her deepest soul. So I did what any good police partner would do: I walked over to her and handed Carole to her, and said "Carole, tell Cindy how proud your dad is of her." Carole didn't have words for that, so she just hugged Cindy. As she hugged my daughter back, Cindy just looked over at me, her ice blue eyes sparkling just a bit brightly.

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

"How touching." said State Senator Katherine Woodburn to U.S. Congressman Gary A. Condor. "The Iron Crowbar wins again."

"Relax, Katherine." said Condor. "As a politician, you know how these things ebb and flow. We will have our win over him. Just wait until Priya's exposé of the Jack Burke tapes comes out, and her story on the killer of my friend Jonas Oldeeds. Your friend the Iron Crowbar will not be looking so happy then."

Thou fool, Katherine thought to herself, and about Condor. Out loud she said "Oh, that will be nothing. We have to go much deeper than that to destroy the Iron Crowbar. And I do have a friend... a friend who is going to do just that." Her smile broadened as she thought of what was coming.

Just then the Newton sisters, Julie and Yvonne, came up to them. "Senator, Congressman," Julie said in introduction, "may I introduce my sister Yvonne? She's ADA Paulina Patterson's assistant."

"Oh, really?" said Condor, his mind opening the possibilities. Julie was a Police Detective, and her sister worked for an Assistant District Attorney! Could these young women be corrupted into betraying the Iron Crowbar and his allies? he thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Condor was pouring on the charm for both of the raven-haired beauties... and they were pretending to be charmed, Katherine noticed with a mixture of amusement and disgust...

Part 5 - The Party

Sunday, July 5th, 6:00pm. The party at The Cabin was in full force. It was a family celebration of Todd's race win, a post-Independence-Day celebration, and also just a celebration of who was here to celebrate: a year ago this day, Cindy Ross was lying on a gym floor, nearly dead. I'd made damn sure she was off duty today and would not be put on duty; history would not repeat itself, at least on this day.

Present were myself, Laura, our kids, Molly, Ross, Cindy, Jenna, Tanya Perlman, her little son Pete, Todd, his baby son Doug, Teresa, Teddy, my mom Phyllis, Daniel and Melina Allgood and their son Daniel, Paulina Patterson, Martin Nash, Sandra Speer, Jack Muscone, Joanne Cummings, Seth Warner, Barry Oliver, Myron Milton, Mary Mahoney Milton, Wes 'Coldiron' Masters, Theo Washington, his brother ADA Franklin Washington, Teddy Parker, Geiger from Vice, Julie Newton, Yvonne Newton, Bettina Wurtzburg (having promised that everything was off the record), her aunt Elsie Gringer...

... and of course, the redoubtable Bowser.

I was concerned about Bowser being surrounded by so many people, and he was indeed a bit skittish. He remembered Joanne and let her hold and pet him, and fortunately other people gave him some space.

The kids stayed up in the attic room, watched over by several volunteers at intervals, and Bowser mostly stayed up there with them. He watched over Carole, but had the other kids under his 'protection' as well.

My mother came up to me as the party got into full swing. "I believe we're going to have a surprise today." she said, her eyes twinkling.

"Seth and Joanne?" I asked. My mother grinned; I had observed what she had observed. And about an hour later, Seth gathered everyone into the greatroom.

"Everyone, Dynacorp is now part of BOW Enterprises, officially and legally." Seth said. "I'm glad to be part of the winning team, especially that of my partners winning the Triathlon." Some laughter and cheers.

Seth then said, "But I am even happier to be part of an even better partnership, one that I intend to last for all eternity." He took Joanne's hand and drew her to his side, then knelt down as a small box was produced from his pocket. He opened it to reveal the sparkling diamond ring, and popped the question...

She said 'Yes'.

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

Bowser barked at the door to the attic room. Melina and Tanya were on baby duty, and Melina opened the door and let Bowser out. Bowser tore down the stairs, through the greatroom and along the walkway of the deck to his opening through the fence. He went down his mountain trail.

"Oh, he's doing his business." I said as the guests wondered what the dog was doing in the daytime. And then we were distracted by the arrival of a surprise guest on a motorcycle: P. Harvey Eckhart had come... alone. No acolytes, no bodyguards.

"Ah, young Donald." he said. "I am very happy to be able to accept your kind invitation."

"I'm glad you did." I said as Harvey handed me a case of wines. We went inside, where there was general acclaim at his arrival. Cindy rushed to give her father a hug and escort him into the party, making introductions where necessary.

For myself, I noted that my mother and Jack Muscone had disappeared upon Eckhart's arrival... they were now upstairs on baby duty, which allowed Melina and Tanya to come down. Jack and Phyllis were avoiding Eckhart.

"Young Donald, you know how it works." said Eckhart as he and Cindy led a progression into the kitchen.

"Yes, I do." I said. I took a bottle of wine at random, opened it, and poured three glasses... one for Eckhart, one for Cindy, one for me. We clinked glasses and I said "Salud!". Eckhart drank first. This was a symbolic test to show the wine wasn't poisoned... and it was something Eckhart did very seriously when being given anything to drink. Any security I thought I had paled in comparison to the measures Eckhart took to defeat his many enemies.

Eckhart congratulated Seth and Joanne upon their engagement then talked with Daniel and Melina for a good while as Laura and I brought out more food and drinks. Elsie Gringer, now having her social story on Seth and Joanne's engagement, was now upstairs with my mother Phyllis, which meant that the entire County's gossip would be shared and parsed.

As I poured wine for the guests, I happened to catch Todd approach Tanya Perlman. After greetings and Tanya congratulating Todd on the race, I was shocked to hear him say "I need to talk to you. I want to know more about the case of my brother Jack's murder."

"Why don't you ask your uncle?" Tanya said. "He solved it."

"I know, but I want your perspective on it." Todd replied. "I also think you might want to look into something... if Jack Arruzio really acted out of cuckold vengeance, or if there was more to it..." He had Tanya's interest, and they walked off before I could hear more.

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

It was getting late, the sun beginning to set over the western horizon. Some of the guests had made their goodbyes, and Todd's BOW group as well as Teresa and Joanne were in the front living room talking mostly about their race. I noticed Eckhart sitting in the metal mesh two-person seat that I normally sat in, Cindy sitting next to him on his left side. Sensing it was the correct thing to do, I went over and sat in the table-side chair to Harvey's right.

"Ah, young Donald, yes do come join us." Eckhart said. "I told you last year that I would return this year for a conversation with you. I believe it's time for that conversation now."

"Sure." I said. "So, what's up for us this year?"

"Danger, my young nephew... danger." Eckhart said. "The two of you are embarking upon the destruction of one of the most powerful webs of Evil that has ever been spun. You must alert at all times, and ready for anything. Especially you, Don... it is going to be a very long and lonely road for you before it is all over."

"I'll be with him, every step of the way." Cindy declared.

"Ah, my dear," said Eckhart, almost sadly, "you will indeed be working with him... but you cannot share young Donald's ordeal. He must endure it... alone. You will know of what I speak when the time comes." I was already trying to stretch my mind to understand what the threat could possibly be.

At that moment, Bowser bounded up onto the deck. He looked at the three of us, and as Eckhart said "Hello, little doggy.", Bowser jumped up into Eckhart's lap.

"Ah, such a good dog." Eckhart said, his voice nearly a whisper as he petted Bowser and stroked the dog's back. "And that reminds me... remember this, both of you: your Shadow Man deeply hates dogs."

"Oh really?" I whispered, more to myself than the others.

"Ah yes, young Donald." Eckhart said, his voice even more gravelly than normal. "That piece of filth Bryan Thatcher... do you think he was acting alone in his experiments upon those dogs and his torture of them?"

"I... I never thought about it." I said. And then possibilities began tearing open inside my mind.

"Yes, my friends, Thatcher was working for an insidiously evil man." said Eckhart. "What this very dog, who is fortunate to be alive, endured at the hands of that man is unspeakable to me; I cannot even think of those atrocities... they're as bad as what was happening in that Asylum near my Headquarters."

I looked at Bowser. "And he will pay for that, Bowser." I promised. "He will pay." Bowser wagged his tail as he met my look into his canine eyes.

Part 6 - Epilogue

There was one last act of celebration at the party. Teresa and Molly led a large group of remaining guests onto the deck, a paper-wrapped object in her hands.

"I know you already know what this is, Cindy." I said as Teresa came up beside her. "And it's a commemoration not of what happened to you or what you endured, but that you overcame it and you're still with us."

"Hear hear." said Molly.

"And you can use this to keep the bad guys down... and keep the Commander in line." Teresa said with alacrity. Everyone laughed. Cindy unwrapped the gift. It was a new blue crowbar.

"Made with the finest machine gun parts from Wargrave's arsenal that was used a year ago," Teresa said, "a certain black crowbar the Commander gave us but won't say where it's from, and the crowbar you used to win the Police Boxing Matches." That black crowbar had been the one Wargrave used ineffectively in his final battle with Cindy before being thrown out the window.

"How does it feel, child?" Harvey Eckhart asked his daughter as Cindy took the new blue crowbar and waved it around then tapped it in the palm of her other hand. "How does it feel to you?"

"Good." Cindy said, getting her father's meeting. "It feels right. Ju-u-st right. Thanks guys."

The party began breaking up. Molly was staying overnight and would return to Midtown in the morning. My mother Phyllis was also staying, spending a few extra hours with her grandson Ross. As Cindy and Jenna left, Cindy and Molly hugged warmly and promised to get together again soon.

"Just use that blue crowbar to protect Don." I heard Molly say. "I heard what Dr. Eckhart said to him... Don's going to need you."

"And you." Cindy said. "But we'll win... and we'll celebrate."

Neither woman had any idea, I thought to myself, of what it was going to take for that celebration to happen. I looked out over the Town, seeing a train coming out of the western horizon, and steeled myself for the battle ahead...

Finis.