The Guardians of Justice Ch. 05

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, 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.

Part 25 - A Lack of Justice (continued)

Callie's hand went to her mouth as the tears burst from her eyes. "Oh, Cindy..." she gasped. Then she took Cindy into her arms, and Cindy collapsed into her. They cried together for a while.

"What... what are you going to do?" Callie finally asked.

"I don't know." said Cindy, trying to recover her composure. "My first thought was that this has to be stopped. But then I was thinking... I've thought about having a baby, being a mother. I see Don and his kids, Teresa and Todd with their kids. I think of Susie Haskins, what a wonderful little girl she is." Callie nodded.

"So... I had thought of maybe going to a sperm bank or something... after I talked with you about it, of course." Cindy said. "With my memories erased, this isn't much different. But then I thought that it is different. This was created by an act of Evil. Even with a sperm bank, I'd generally know what the baby would be like, what ethnicity and all."

"And even with your memories erased," Callie said, "this baby would constantly remind you what happened." Cindy nodded.

"I'm my father Dr. Eckart's only child... that he knows of." Cindy said. "What if this is the only chance to continue his bloodline?"

"It's not, if you get pregnant some other time, by better means." Callie said. "But I understand what you're saying."

What do you think I should do?" Cindy asked. "And it's definitely our decision together."

After a pause, Callie said "I think you should sleep on it. We're both too emotional right now. I'll get you some melatonin."

"Mixed with gin, if you don't mind..."

Part 26 - Agenda-Driven

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Fox Two News!" said the redheaded reporterette at 7:00am, Tuesday, October 16th, from in front of City Hall. "Let's go to Amber Harris at the Courthouse. Amber!"

"That's right, Bettina!" said the athletic blonde. "In a major defeat for Commander Donald Troy and a huge victory for women and victims' rights, Judge Rodney K. Watts dismissed the specious charges against Gayle Tunnin, who has made credible claims that Sheriff Daniel Allgood sexually harassed her while he was her boss in the Internal Affairs Division of the Town & County Police Department!"

More Amber: "Condemnation of Republican Daniel Allgood and calls for him to step down are coming form all quarters, and even his own Party. Republican State Representative Wilson Hammonds called upon Allgood to end his candidacy as a Republican. Candidate for Sheriff Della Harlow blasted Allgood, saying that he should resign as Sheriff immediately, as he is not fit to lead Town & County Law Enforcement. And Allgood's opponent for Mayor, Town Assemblyman and former civil rights leader Eldrick X. Weaver, made this statement. Roll tape."

Tape rolled, giving Weaver what amounted to free ad time as he was shown saying "Daniel Allgood has returned this County to the days of corruption and white privilege, where white men treated women and blacks as sex objects and slaves!"

Back to Amber live: "Also, Mr. Eldrick Weaver and Ms. Della Harlow jointly filed a formal complaint against Commander Donald Troy with the SBI-OER, the Federal Elections Commission, the U.S. DOJ Civil Rights Division, and the Town & County Council, stating that Troy acted in a political manner to help his brother-in-law Daniel Allgood mitigate the credible claims of sexual harassment by abusing Police power to arrest Allgood's accuser. This is not the first time Commander Troy has been accused of abusing his authority to suppress women; the State Independent Counsel also investigated Donald Troy for abuse of Police power when Troy harassed two women that made credible claims of sexual harassment against racist Governor Val Jared. Back to you, Bettina!"

Thank you, Amber." said Bettina. "In the interests of accuracy, we are compelled to note that District Attorney Gil Krasney asked that the charges against Ms. Tunnin be dropped with prejudice, a legal term that mean the charges cannot be reinstated. However, Judge Watts dismissed the charges without prejudice, with a comment that they could be refiled at a later time. If Mr. Krasney is defeated in the D.A. race, and it increasingly looks like he will be, then those charges could be reinstated next year."

"Also," said Bettina, "Judge Patrick R. Folsom refused to throw out Daniel Allgood's lawsuit against Gayle Tunnin for slander and defamation of character, saying that the case had strong merit and could proceed forward."

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

"I can see what they are do-ingggg." said Chief Moynahan as we watched and drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room. "They let Amber Harris attack Mr. Crowbar, while Bettina plays the 'fair and balanced' routine."

"Yes sir." I said. "I guess they think I don't have anything else with which to go nuclear on Amber Harris. They are about to find out that they are wrong."

"What bothers me," said Teresa, "is the complaints they're filing against you, Commander Troy. Looks like they're trying to set it up to give the FEC and DOJ another excuse to come after you." I nodded, but said nothing.

"You think this is why that DOJ woman backed off?" asked Tanya. "She knew this was coming, and she'd have a second chance at you?"

"Except she went all the way back to Washington." I said. "I don't know if this is what they had in mind when they were trying to warn us off from investigating anything, but if this woman knew the complaints were going to be made, why not wait until they actually were made? And why would she go back to Washington if she knew another opening to act was coming?"

"So that begats the question: what are they planning that has the DOJ covering for them, if it wasn't this?" Tanya said.

"Time will tell." I said.

"Have the Press attempted to contact you, or Captain Thompson?" the Chief asked Deputy Chief Ross, who was sitting between me and the TV. When Cindy didn't answer, all eyes went to her.

"Reverie time." Tanya said quietly. I tapped Cindy on the shoulder. She practically jumped out of her skin.

"Are you okay, Commander Ross?" asked the Chief, looking concerned.

"Er... yes sir." Cindy said, trying to get her wits back. "I'm sorry, sir, I was thinking of... something else." She then got up and said "Would you please excuse me?"

"Certainly." said the Chief. After the door closed behind Cindy, all eyes went to me. I just shrugged.

"Don't look at me." I said. "She hasn't said a word to me."

"Me, neither." said Teresa. "And that is what's worrying me most."

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

7:55am, Tuesday, October 16th. Teresa and Tanya came in for the Angels meeting.

"What are you going to do to Amber?" Tanya asked.

"I need plausible deniability on this one." I said. "So don't ask."

"How bad will KSTD be this morning?" Teresa wondered out loud. When I didn't answer out loud, she peered hard at me.

"Let's watch some TV." I said, clicking the television monitor on with the remote.

"This is Cynthia Freeman, KSTD Five-Alive News in the Morning!" said the beautiful dirty-blonde reporterette. "The County is is political turmoil following a hectic weekend, where former TCPD Detective Gayle Tunnin made sexual harassment allegations against her former boss Daniel Allgood, who is running for mayor, and the subsequent arrest of Ms. Tunnin by the Town & County Police, acting upon a sting operation where they gathered evidence that Ms. Tunnin and Della Harlow pre-planned the allegations!"

"District Attorney Gil Krasney asked that the charges against Ms. Tunnin be dropped with prejudice, meaning they could not be brought up again later." said Cynthia. "But judge Rodney K. Watts specifically stated that he was dropping the charges without prejudice, and said the charges could be refiled next year, meaning after a new District Attorney is chosen by the voters!"

Then Cynthia said "And now let's go to our new political reporter, Bill Hacosta. Bill!"

Hacosta was short, even by television personality and reporter standards, with graying hair and a smug face, almost as smug as John Hardwood's face had been. He said "Thank you, Cynthia! We're with Dr. Romanov of the University's Institute for Politics, who is an SNN Contributor. Doctor, how are the vote-fixing scandal and now these charges of sexual harassment affecting the campaigns of the local Republican candidates?"

"The vote-fixing scandal is hurting Establishment Republicans State-wide." said Dr. Romanov. "But Sharon Marshal has had strong Grassroots support for some time now, and she's well ahead of Senator Maxine Watts in early polling."

"What about the Mayor's race?" asked Hacosta.

"It's still early," said Dr. Romanov, "but Daniel Allgood's core support has not abandoned him yet. The arrest of his accuser, Gayle Tunnin, and the wiretaps showing that the allegations were pre-planned has helped Mr. Allgood. The charges may still be true, but Ms. Tunnin's own credibility was damaged."

"What about the Police, Doctor?" asked Hacosta. "Commander Troy is Sheriff Allgood's brother-in-law, Commander Troy was investigated by the State Independent Counsel for similar accusations of abuse of Police power to suppress female victims of sexual harassment. Isn't there a pattern here?"

"I'll let others made that determination." said Romanov. "But Allgood and Jared supporters don't see it the way the Democrats do..."

"Thank you, Doctor." said Bill Hacosta. "Cynthia, the polls in the Mayor's race show Eldrick X. Weaver with a three point lead over Sheriff Allgood, 49-46%, within the margin of error."

"Thank you, Bill!" said Cynthia. "And in a late-breaking story that you are hearing first on the SNN Networks... sources tell Five-Alive News that one of the voices captured in the TCPD's sting, one of the persons conspiring to smear Daniel Allgood with allegations of sexual harassment... is Amber Harris, political reporter for our competitor, KXTC..."

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

It is rare to see Teresa Croyle truly smile. She did so when Carole hugged her at Teresa's M.O.V. ceremony, and she did so at her wedding to my nephew. And now she was smiling, truly smiling, as we listened to that announcement of Amber's involvement with the smear campaign of Daniel Allgood.

Tanya Perlman's eyes were sparkling even more as she turned to me with a huge grin. "That is so nasty!" she whispered excitedly. I just smiled.

Then my office door opened, and in walked Chief Moynahan. "You are a baaaad man, Mr. Crowbar. A bad, bad man."

"Thank you, sir." I said with a smile.

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

At 9:00am, I went to the Press Interview Room. Because KSTD had reported on Amber's involvement in the Allgood Smear Campaign, I was going to give Catrina Pierce an interview, supposedly about the upcoming Bulldogs-Wildcats game.

As we were getting ready, I said "Off the record completely, but I've seen you before. Didn't you used to play professional disc golf?"

"Oh, yes, I did." said Catrina. "But I had injuries, and I've gotta pay the bills. So I became a Sports reporter. Do you play disc golf?"

"I used to, just for fun." I said. "But then I broke my back twice, so I don't play so much."

"You broke your back? How?" asked Catrina.

"Helicopter crash, followed by being shot in the back right on the weak vertebrae." I said. "Then the next time was after a fight with a criminal." That criminal was the Slender Man, but I didn't mention that aspect of it.

"Oh wow." said Catrina. We then got ready and started the interview.

"This is Catrina Pierce for SNN Sports." the platinum blonde said. "I'm here with Commander Donald Troy of the Town & County Police, with an exclusive interview about the upcoming Bulldogs-Wildcats game here at University Memorial Stadium in less than two weeks. Commander, what preparations do the Police make for a game as big as this one?"

"We have three main areas we focus on, Catrina." I said. "Traffic control, general law enforcement, and security. The traffic control plan has been in place for years, and has worked pretty well. The general law enforcement includes illegal parking, drunk and disorderly conduct, and things of that nature, and again, we have a plan in place to handle those things that we've been doing for a long time."

"The third aspect, security, involves law enforcement at every level, such as the FBI, Homeland Security, and even including some military reserve help." I said. "Obviously I can't go into details, but we've had these plans in place for a while now, as well."

"Commander, you're a Wildcat graduate." Catrina said. "What does this game mean for you?"

"Well, the Bulldogs-Wildcats rivalry has become very big in the past number of years," I said, "and possibly the biggest out-of-State rivalry game for either side. The winner has gone to the Conference title game for the last several years, which adds to the fun."

"But as a Wildcat in Bulldog territory," Catrina said, "are there any special problems for you?"

"Not really, nothing seriously hostile." I said. "We do have some fun with it, though. My nephew and my cousin are University graduates, and my wife is a professor at the University, but in the TCPD we have a number of Officers that went to other Schools, such as Eastern State and the University of Mississippi. We do have some banter, but it's all in fun... as long as the Wildcats win, of course." I said that with a smile, and Catrina laughed.

"There are rumors that the number of traffic tickets go down when the Wildcats win." Catrina said. "At the same time, you were credited with diffusing the situation with Coach Willy Gonzales, and the NCAA has accepted your submission of evidence that the potential scandal was the work of outsiders. Why is a Wildcat like you getting the Bulldogs Nation out of trouble like that?"

"Three reasons, Catrina." I said, holding in my patience at the nature of the question. "First, a scandal like that harms not only the University but our Conference and all of college athletics. Second, it would be wrong to let the University take the blame for the actions of the evil persons that actually committed crimes, whether or not I attended that University. And third, related to the second... it was where the evidence led. As a Police Officer, I follow the evidence and try to bring a true, correct verdict to the criminals, while protecting the innocent, especially if they're being framed."

Yes, that was an opening, and it was meant to be. And Catrina was a pretty smart lady; she took that opening and ran with it.

"Speaking of that," she said, "you had evidence that Gayle Tunnin and others conspired to smear Daniel Allgood. First... how do you know her accusations are false?"

"First of all," I said, "the Police Lieutenant that wore the wire and got the audio tapes gave a sworn affidavit that Tunnin admitted the accusation was not really true, but she was going to make it anyway. They also tried to get that Police Lieutenant to make her own false accusation against another Police Officer, but she refused. That was all part of our evidence package that we presented to the Judge to get warrants for the sting, and the evidence we turned over to the D.A.'s Office."

"Second," I said, "I've known Daniel Allgood for several years now. He was the head of Internal Affairs. I encouraged him to run for Sheriff because I knew, and know, that he is a man of integrity. I've been accused of helping him because his wife and my wife are sisters... but that's allowed me to see that he loves his wife completely and he adores his children, and has no need to bother with other women. He's done a great job as Sheriff for these last four years. I definitely take that into consideration in comparison to the accusation made against him... accusations without a shred of proof to back them up, by the way."

"You've also been accused of using Police power to suppress the claims of Donna Rodman and Hillary Braselton that Governor Jared sexually harassed them." said Catrina. "And Amber Harris of KXTC says their claims were credible."

"But they weren't credible, Catrina." I said. "And every reporter that says they are is deliberately lying. The FBI proved... proved, Catrina, beyond a doubt... that the Governor's signature on their yearbook was forged, a fake. Those women admitted they lied and tried to frame the Governor. There was nothing credible about their claims at all, just as there is nothing credible about Gayle Tunnin's false accusation against Sheriff Allgood."

"KSTD broke the story that one of the voices on the tapes the Police obtained is that of our competitor's reporter, Amber Harris." said Catrina. "You had a run-in with her, in which she was charged with assaulting a Police Officer. She has relentlessly and repeatedly called you a racist and a misogynist, and accused you of Police brutality. Do you have any feelings about her being part of Ms. Tunnin's accusation against the Sheriff?"

"Oh I have feelings." I said, a bit witheringly. "I won't say anything about Amber Harris's domestic dispute incident, as that has been adjudicated by the Courts. What I will say is that she has taken a lot of cheap shots, not only at me, but at others. I know it's part of the job that I'm going to be subject to flak, but when KXTC allows false smears to be hurled at people without consequences, that reflects more on KXTC as a whole than just one reporter. As another example, their reporter Lester Holder made a viciously racist statement about my daughter. He should've been fired immediately for his racism and what he said about a little girl, but KXTC keeps him on the payroll. And I haven't even gotten to reporter John Harwood, once a KXTC reporter, attempting to murder my other daughter last Christmas..."

Part 27 - Your Iron Crowbar At 'Work'

"That..." said Cindy Ross, "...was righteous."

"Yes. Yes it was." I said. We were in my office. Teresa and Tanya were also present.

"Think they'll show anything beyond the Sports stuff on the air?" Teresa asked.

Tanya intervened. "Oh hell yes, they will. I'll bet it was part of the deal."

"What deal?" I said. "I see no 'deal' here." That earned me some less-than-angelic looks from my Angels.

"So are you back to speaking to the Press?" Cindy asked.

"We'll see." I said. "If KSTD shows that on the air, I want to see what KXTC's reaction will be."

"I'm more worried about what Della Harlow and the Democrats's reactions will be." said Teresa. "I've told the SWAT Teams and both Precincts to get well-prepared for possible demonstrations, maybe even riots."

"That's Iron Crowbar thinking, there." I said. "Tanya, mobilize your assets to get intel... have your Detectives contact C.I.s and other informants, see if anything is being ginned up." Tanya nodded and made notes.

"All right." I said. "I'll be out of the office for a few hours, maybe the rest of the day. Anything you need before I leave?"

"I need to get a couple of things done, too." said Teresa. "Is it okay if I'm gone while you're gone?"