The Pact Ch. 01

Editor's note: this story contains scenes of incest or incest content.

*****

This story is part of an ongoing series. The chronological order of my stories is now 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 1 - Prologue

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Fox Two News!" shouted the redheaded reporterette at 7:00am, Monday, May 21st, from in front of the Courthouse Complex on the east side of Courthouse Square. "Fox Two News has learned that Independent State Counsel Robert Mullen has issued numerous subpoenas!"

Bettina began: "Mr. Mullen is tasked with investigating Governor Val Jared for corruption and intimidation, specifically in regards to his alleged sexual harassment of two women who later entered a plea deal after being charged with crimes themselves. Mr. Mullen is also looking into the Governor's role in a potential cover-up of the assassination of black superstar singer Jasmine Nix, and he is investigating Commander Donald Troy's role and possible conspiracy with the Governor in these matters."

Bettina continued: "Subpoenas were issued for SBI Lieutenant Norm Chow, Town & County Police Captain Teresa Croyle, and we have now learned that TCPD Deputy Chief Cindy Ross has also been subpoenaed. Captain Croyle sued when the Independent State Counsel ordered her to appear for questioning on her wedding day, which was last Saturday, and was awarded a stay allowing her to avoid answering the Independent State Counsel's questions for the time being."

"Lawyers for Chow, Croyle, and Ross issued statements saying they are working with the Independent State Counsel to arrange dates to comply with the subpoenas." went on Bettina. "The Town & County Police Force has not responded to repeated requests for a statement on why so many of the TCPD's top leadership are under Mr. Mullen's scrutiny and being subpoenaed."

"Also," said Bettina, "Citizens For Police Accountability spokespersons Jay Swenson and Ken Eidex have filed motions with the Courts to have Commander Donald Troy's lawsuits against them dismissed while upholding their own lawsuit against him. Commander Troy filed his lawsuits against the two spokespersons, the CFPA, and the Committee of Concerned Citizens last week in response to their legal actions, and he has filed motions to obtain all of the data relating to the financing of their organizations. Legal experts believe Commander Troy's lawsuits are specious and will be dismissed after a Court hearing in the near future."

"And in other news," Bettina said, "the Town & County Police Force still does not have an Internal Affairs Captain after James Goodwin was assigned the 1st Precinct Captain position. Sheriff Daniel Allgood and Inspector General Horace S. Wellman responded to our requests for comments with statements saying the Police Department was handling filling the slot, and a short list of candidates had been formed. Police refused to comment on which names are on that short list..."

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

"I'm beginning to regret taking this job." said Captain Damien Thompson, Public Relations Officer, as we drank coffee and watched the broadcast in MCD.

"Why is that?" asked Deputy Chief Cindy Ross.

"Ma'am, I was at the wedding Saturday." said Thompson. "Several reporters spoke to me. Not one, not a single one, asked me about the Mullen investigation or the subpoenas. My office did get two phone calls: at 10:30pm Saturday night, and at 11:30pm last night, obviously when we were not here. And yet Wurtzburg is trying to make it sound like we're deliberately not responding to these inquiries that have never happened."

"This is not an order," I said, saying that just to make it clear," but why don't you consider putting out a Press statement saying exactly that... that you were not asked about it at the wedding, and the only other attempts to contact the TCPD were in the dead of night on a weekend?"

"With respect, sir," said Thompson, "would that really do any good?"

"You'd feel better, but otherwise it probably wouldn't." I conceded. "And they'd never report your statement to the viewers, either. But it would let them know that you're aware of their tricks, and that you don't appreciate those tricks. They think we are stoo-pid, and you would be letting them know we are not."

"You're right, Damien." said Cindy, Thompson's direct boss, "it wouldn't make a difference. Good idea not to stir the pot. Let me and Commander Troy be the 'bad cops', and you be the 'good cop' vis-a-vis the Press." I nodded vigorously in agreement.

"What's going on with this Mullen probe?" asked Jerome Davis. "Are we all going to get subpoenas?"

"Detective Warner will." said Warner's Police partner, Theo Washington. "I can see what Mullen is doing. He is obviously committed to racial diversity: he's clearing my path to the Commander's chair."

I burst out laughing at that one. "Good one, Theo." I sputtered. "And you're trying to make me spit coffee on my uniform, so I don't look as sharp as Captain Thompson, here." Thompson and Cindy laughed at that one.

Surprisingly, the other Detectives didn't share the humor. Joanne was looking at Theo in a way that would be waving a crowbar in his general direction, if she had one in her hand to wave. Jerome's eyes were wide-eyed with shock, looking to see my reaction to Theo's statement. Teddy Parker buried his nose in his computer monitor.

And I realized that the tension and worry over what the Independent State Counsel was doing to me and to the TCPD's leadership was prevalent in my Detectives... and that could only mean it was an issue for the Uniformed Officers, as well...

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

8:00am, Monday, May 21st. Deputy Chief Ross had not come into my office to watch the Priya broadcast with us, so it was Tanya Perlman and me, what with Teresa on her honeymoon (of sorts).

"This is Priya Ajmani, KSTD Five-Alive News in the morning, bringing you all the news you have a right to know!" said the beautiful Indian reporterette precisely at the top of the hour.

"Hoo boy," I said, "she's starting in on that shit again." Tanya nodded in agreement.

Priya gave the same information as Bettina, but had some extra tidbits on the Independent State Counsel: "Five-Alive News has learned that Independent State Counsel Robert Mullen will interview SBI Lieutenant Norm Chow this Friday, May 25th, and will interview TCPD Deputy Chief Cindy Ross as early as next Tuesday, May 29th. Sources tell Five-Alive News that Mr. Mullen is not focusing on either of those individuals, but will instead concentrate on TCPD Captain Teresa Croyle and what Commander Troy may have told her regarding the Rodman-Braselton incident."

As Priya's broadcast went to Sports, I clicked off the television set. Tanya said "Why is he focusing so hard on Teresa? If anything, Commander Ross would know more about what you've said."

"True." I said. "I dunno... they may think my family ties with Cindy might make it more difficult to get her to reveal anything, both legally and practically. But what I fear is that they think they can dredge up Teresa's past and use it against her. We all know that not only were my actions correct in every way, but that there's no way I am going to tell Teresa or anyone else if I did something wrong. So the logical conclusion is..." I let the sentence hang, peering at Lady Ironside.

"Uh... I'm drawing a blank, here." Tanya admitted.

"I think they're going to try to coerce her into saying something against me." I replied. "And I don't think they have any idea of how tough and resilient Teresa really is. They'd break me before they would ever break her." Tanya agreed.

"Speaking of Teresa," said Tanya, "who is charge of Operations while she's gone, even if it's just for a couple of days?"

"Theoretically, the more senior Precinct Captain." I replied. "But they were both promoted on the same day, so that's a wash. Teresa put Carswell in charge, since he was Precinct Lieutenant already, while Goodwin came out of Internal Affairs. But next time, she might put Goodwin in charge."

Tanya nodded, then grinned mischievously and said "Of course we all know who really is in charge, that being you."

"Not at all. I don't drive a Tank around here." I replied, giving it right back.

"Oooh, the power is mine, mine!" Tanya cackled, rubbing her hands. I could not help it, and we both began laughing hard for a few moments at the revival of our old joke with each other...

"Damn, I am so glad to have you back." I said.

"And I am so glad to be back." said Tanya.

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

Just after 9:00am, Cindy buzzed me on the phone. "Can you come out to the anteroom?" she asked.

"Sure." I said. I got up and walked to the door of my office, figuring I'd get the answer to why Cindy was buzzing me instead of just knocking on the door.

And I was right: she and Helena had been showing Cindy's new assistant how to buzz us on the phone. As I came to the door, I observed a slender young woman, maybe 24 or 25 years old, sitting behind the desk 'guarding' Cindy's office. She had a cute but not beautiful face. I could envision her dyeing her short, straight brown hair various colors like Mary Mahoney Milton often did. Lauren was wearing what amounted to a dark blue pantsuit. In half a century, she could run for the U.S. Presidency wearing garb like that, I idly thought to myself.

"Commander Troy," Cindy said, "this is Lauren Wilcox, my new assistant. Lauren, this is Commander Donald Troy." Lauren's eyes widened a bit as I shook her hand.

"Pleased to meet you, sir." Lauren said in a quiet voice.

"Likewise." I replied.

"Commander," Cindy said, "I've told Lauren that if Helena is not here and you ask her to do something, she should do it if she's able to."

"Thank you." I said. "Helena, will you show Lauren the ropes, how we do things around here?"

"Yes sir, of course." said Helena.

"While they're doing that," I said to Cindy, "your office or mine?"

"Entrez-vous, s'il vous plait." Cindy said, pointing to her office. We went in and I closed the door behind us.

"I brought in that chair in the corner for you to sit in." Cindy said. It was an office chair, raised up somewhat. The lever was engaged so that it did not rock back and forth, and the backrest was locked in a near-upright position, giving my back some needed support.

"Ah, that's not bad." I said as I sat down in it. "Thanks for thinking of me."

"My pleasure." Cindy said. "I was getting Lauren settled in instead of coming to the Angels meeting. Did I miss anything?"

"Just Priya's scintillating broadcast." I said, and Cindy knew I was being sarcastic. "Are you ready for Mullen?"

"It's funny." Cindy said. "I talked to Cy Hart yesterday over lunch, at my father's place. Cy has been in contact with Mullen's people. They want me to come in next week, after Memorial Day, which is fine by me. Cy told me that the one thing surprising him the most is that there have been no problems at all in the negotiations, no hostility, no real points of contention. Cy got the idea that it's going to be short and simple."

"All the same," I said, "watch your back. They might be trying to spring something on you. By the way, where did you find Lauren, there?"

"BOW Enterprise's staffing agency." Cindy said. "Lauren has an Accounting degree, which is good for the Deputy Chief's office since I'm doing most of the budget and accounting work for the TCPD. She worked for BOW for a while, then went to University Hospital and worked there under Admiral Cordell. He gave her a huge glowing reference, and BOW gave her a good one. I had her checked out, of course, through my father's contacts as well as regular Police, SBI, and FBI channels. She's clean as a whistle."

"Cool beans." I said, knowing that I'd be doing my own after-the-fact checking up on her. "Good work getting her."

"Okay, now here's where I play turf games." Cindy said. "I know how you feel about the Media, and I know you made sure to say you weren't ordering Thompson to say anything... but let me and Thompson handle the Press, at least from the official Police side of things."

"You're right, that's your playground." I conceded.

"I have no love lost for the Press. I may hate them even more than you do, if that's possible." said Cindy. "But I'm trying to take the arrows myself and shield Thompson from them. Good-cop-bad-cop thing. I'll let him deal with them in a more positive way, and I'll bring the crowbar down on them when they need a spanking."

"O-kay." I said, conceding the argument entirely. "I'll leave them to you, and you to them."

"I hate it when you do that." Cindy said, peering at me, but with a slight grin on her face.

"Do what?" I asked.

"Concede an argument." Cindy replied. "Letting me learn, the hard way."

"No, not at all." I said. "I'm looking forward to watching you take them on."

"Okay, what am I doing wrong?" Cindy asked, again peering at me.

"Nothing." I said. "But I hope you don't believe the Press is going to respond to Captain Thomas's positive treatment of them with positive treatment of him. The Press has begun reaching levels that would've shocked even themselves five years ago. One of their reporters tried to murder my daughter, and I don't think Hardwood was the exception: he was totally representative of them and their hatred. And it's not going to get any better, especially when they begin losing again and again and again..."

Have I mentioned that I continue to have a deep, burning, abiding hatred of the Press?

Part 2 - Lakehouse Lovings

"Awesome sauce!" sang Teresa Croyle as the waterfall came into view.

"Yeah, ain't it cool?" replied Todd. They came up to the pool at the base of the waterfall, Seth and Joanne Warner coming up behind them. To the left was the grove of silver birch trees, to the right was the wider pool that funneled into the stream that emptied into Lake Watchacoochie near the Troy's Lake House.

"Oh yeah, this is a great place!" Joanne gushed. She went left of the rocks, into the softer soil of the grove of trees, and spread out a big beach towel for her and Seth. Todd spread out his and Teresa's towel nearer to the edge of the lake, and he and Teresa walked on up the trail towards the waterfall itself.

"These birch trees seem out of place for around here." noted Seth. "But I was reading about this area, and the U.S. Forestry Service planted them in several places around the lake on purpose, doing some kind of testing."

"Wow, look at them." said Joanne. She was watching Teresa and Todd. Teresa was wearing a shimmery light green bikini that barely covered her large, high-riding breasts, and barely concealed her loins from view. Her magnificent body was on display, toned but shapely, her thin abs flaring into her hips and bubble-butt asscheeks.

She was standing on a ledge near the waterfall, pondering if she should dive in. Todd was on the trail below, wearing only his swimwear briefs that barely hid his considerable package beneath. His tall, slender body was sculpted into a muscular specimen of manhood that rivaled comic book heroes or the ancient Greek gods.

"They're both in incredible shape." said Joanne. "Where does Todd find the time to train like that?"

"He works out every morning at the BOW gym, while she's having coffee with you guys." said Seth. "He and a bunch of men and women at BOW are doing it. I used to work out with them a lot, but I don't go by there as much anymore since I started working with the King Charities Group. They also have a yoga class and martial arts training, but that's just a few of them doing that... Todd, his assistant Mariko, Teddy Franklin, Barry Oliver, and Mariko's brother Nagamasa."

"We work out at the TCPD gym in the morning, before the coffee klatch." said Joanne. "Even Teresa isn't up to Cindy Ross's levels of fitness... but when it comes to martial arts, I think Teresa has surpassed Cindy, and maybe even Don... but don't tell any of them I said that!"

"I won't." said Seth, laughing. "So, you think Commander Troy is better at martial arts than Commander Ross?"

Joanne gave a little smile. "Well, he pretends he's not... but Teresa and Melina both tell me that even with his bad back, Commander Troy has achieved a whole new level in his Aikido training, and he's been adding some other disciplines, as well. I hate to say it, but the Slender Man did us all a favor by keeping him out of the Police Boxing Matches. Even Commander Ross and Captain Croyle knew they were going to get beat down."

"Captain Croyle..." Seth said. "Isn't that 'Captain Burke' now?"

"Uhhh, I"m not sure..." said Joanne. Then she saw what Seth was looking at.

Teresa had turned her back to them, facing the cliff over which the waterfall was running. The scars on her back, under her armpit, and on her hips from previous wounds and the surgeries to heal them were visible, red or purplish scarring that stood out.

"Wow, she has been through so much." Seth said, his voice almost a whisper.

"How she survived that building blowing up on her and Carole, I'll never know." said Joanne. "Except that it was the Grace of God. It's a shame she and Todd can't have children...well, their own child."

"I seem to recall someone else being in a building that blew up." said Seth sadly. His mother had not survived that explosion, though she'd saved Joanne's life.

"Yes, I definitely remember that." said Joanne. "Which reminds me... that's all the more reason we need to be working on our own baby right about now."

"I know, I know." said Seth. "Have you gone to the doctor yet? Gotten off the Pill?"

"Commander Troy got me an appointment with his wife," said Joanne, "but it's for the first week in June. She is one busy lady..."

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

They watched as Teresa called out "I'm going to dive in. If I don't come up, come get me." With that, she dived into the water, at an angle just in case it wasn't deep enough. A moment later, she came back up.

"It's deep enough around the waterfall." said Teresa as she treaded water. "But it's a lot more shallow the farther you get away from it, so don't try diving in from where Seth and Joanne are."

"Hey guys!" called out Todd. "Y'all going to get in the water?"

"I got a cold shock just watching Teresa dive in." said Seth. Joanne chuckled.

"It is cold." said Teresa. "But it feels good."

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

Todd had joined Teresa in the water, and he immediately asked with a shivering voice how Teresa could stand the cold. He did not stay in very long, and she came out of the water after him.

As they dried off and enjoyed the warmth of the sun's rays, Joanne asked "We were wondering what you were doing about your last name, Teresa." Teresa had insisted on dropping the ranks while they were at Lake Watchacoochie; hence, the use of the familiar names between her and Joanne.

"Todd and I talked about that a pretty good bit the last few months." said Teresa. "I met my lawyer, Agnes Spires, by consulting with her on it. I've got some property and other financial interests in my 'Croyle' name... and while I love Todd, I'm not sure about that 'Burke' surname..."

Todd laughed. "I'm not either, to be honest. I took it after learning who my real father was; I couldn't stand having the same name as Ned's joke of a father, my mom's married name, so that was a welcome change for me."