Trilogy: Twilight's Last Gleaming

"Maybe they're going to make you Captain." Cindy said.

"No." I replied. "I'm not old enough. I have to be 36 to become a Captain, and the Council has made it abundantly clear that I won't be promoted again until I met the age requirements for any future position-" I stopped. No, could it be? Naah... then again...

----

"I know my guys had defused that bomb." said Jack Muscone as we ate lunch at the Cop Bar on the same July 28th. Jack loved the double cheeseburgers at the Cop Bar. "So I don't understand how it was detonated."

"I'm not sure," I said, "but Melina- or Laura or one her agents- somehow put another explosive device in that Government limo. Possibly the spare tire was anything but. The first explosion detonated the bomb that your guys deactivated."

"That's what a couple of my forensics guys concluded after they examined what was left of that limo." said Jack. "That was one hell of an explosion. We found bits and pieces of Jody Corrigan, Sarah Collins, Bartholomew Scott and two guys we can't identify, even with our classified database. And just so you know, they all officially died in that explosion, so no one except your officers know that your wife shot up Scott and you took out those two ninja-wannabees."

"Doesn't bother me." I said. "The officers were sworn to secrecy by the FBI, and my wife had authorization to wax Scott. It's all good, and since it's federalized and classified now; I don't even have to file a police report." 'No paperwork' was best news of the day, I thought to myself.

----

"The one thing I want to know," said Tanya Perlman in the MCD room, toying with her metal ingot as the Detectives discussed the case while I was lunching with Muscone, "is how Don had any idea that Eleanor was going to shoot Ned. And how did she get the gun?- oh... never mind, he gave her the gun... but how did Don know she'd shoot Ned and not him?"

"Let me just 'suggest' this." Cindy Ross said, pun fully intended. "Remember the case of the murdered football player, Jefferson Jackson?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with this?" Tanya asked, her sweet face looking puzzled. Cindy just looked at her, letting Tanya think about it.

"Ohhhhh..." Tanya said. "Tommy and Candy!"

"I see what you're getting at." Martin Nash said, also beginning to understand. "Those kids were hypnotized. So maybe Eleanor was hypnotized also, for lack of a better word. Don must've said something to trigger Eleanor to shoot Ned, and she did. He couldn't get close to Ned, and he was being watched, but she got right up to him and let him have it."

"You guys are good." I said, walking into the room, having heard the last part of the conversation. "But of course there is no way I could or would ever admit to being responsible... for such a brilliant piece of work."

Everyone grinned and nodded in understanding. But in my mind a question loomed: How had Cindy suggested it as knowingly as she did?...

----

Somewhat to my surprise, on the 27th the morgue reported that Ned's body had been claimed. I soon found out by who, and why. Ned's father Nathan, whom I'd called earlier that morning, the day after Ned's death, had come down. He had not wasted any time.

Nathan had worked himself out of the debt Elizabeth had put him in, and he'd remarried. His wife was a bit plain, but very nice, and I could tell by observing them that they were well-matched, and this woman was certainly better for him than my sister Elizabeth had been.

"I'm going to take him back to where he grew up, bury him there." Nathan said. "I still blame myself for a lot of his failure. I think he was in a lot of mental and emotional pain and I'm...well, I'm glad that he's at peace now... at least I hope he is."

"I understand." I said. "Listen, I want to take you to see someone who has asked to meet you." We got into my Police SUV and I drove to the home of Jeanine and Todd Burke.

-----

"I never knew him. I never knew I had another son until it was... too late to meet him." Nathan said, sitting by Jeanine on the sofa as she showed Nathan pictures of his biological son Timothy Olivet.

"He was a good man." said Jeanine. "He built his company, and he did a lot of charity work even though he tried to keep his name out of the papers so his parents... the Burkes... wouldn't find him."

Todd had been polite but not exactly friendly to his former stepfather when we'd arrived, and he was now talking with me and Nathan's wife.

"Todd, do you want to come to the funeral?" I asked my nephew.

"No." Todd said. "I... I think I'm going to go to State Women's Prison and tell Mom. It'd be better if she heard it from me." I understood, and it was a mature choice by the young man. I was proud of him.

"For what it's worth, tell your mother I said hello." I replied.

"Getting soft on her, Uncle Don?" Todd said, ribbing me.

"Naaah..." I said. "But to tell you the truth, I'm trying to not hate her. We'll probably never be friends, but after hearing Teresa's story last Christmas, I realized that I don't have to keep up the hate..."

Meanwhile, Jeanine took a framed photo of Timothy Olivet. The photo had been taken at an event honoring Tim for several generous charity contributions. "I hope you'll accept this." Jeanine said. "I know you didn't know him, but you'd have been proud of him."

"I am proud of him." Nathan said. "Thank you for sharing these pictures and stories with me. Can we visit his grave before I leave to go home?"


"Sure..."

Part 20 - Rest

Just after noon on July 29th, Todd was speaking to his mother through the glass wall that separated them State Women's Prison.

"Ned is dead, Mom." said Todd. "He kidnapped Jack Burke's baby, thinking it was your grandson, and was trying to flush out Uncle Don. But Uncle Don beat him, and Eleanor Burke shot Ned dead."

"I see." said Elizabeth, her voice flat and metallic. "And the baby is all right?"

"Yes, Mom." Todd said. "Not that you care, but Uncle Don is okay, too. He was shot in the back by a sniper, but his armored vest held. He told me to tell you 'hello', by the way."

"Thank you for coming here to tell, me Todd." Elizabeth said. After some more small talk until their time was ended, Todd left. Elizabeth was escorted back to her sell. A part of her was not unhappy that Ned was dead, but she still remembered the little baby boy that would crawl around the house or pull on her skirts as he tried to walk. Despite all the bad that had happened, she shed a few tears as a mom mourning the loss of a son. But not many: she cleared her mind and continued to consider her plans for her dear younger brother...

----

On the late afternoon of that same July 29th, I was looking over the cemetery where Ned had been laid to rest. It was a downhill slope to a stream, then up a hill on the other side. Ned was buried on the hill on the other side.

Laura did not accompany me, as she still had had to go to Washington for that meeting. This time she not only booked her own flight, she abruptly changed it just before she was to leave. She would bill the taxpayers for the cost of the change, but she wasn't taking any chances.

To my surprise, Melina had told me she wanted to go to Ned's funeral. She'd never hated Ned, and I remembered how she'd acted at the lake, trying to get him to have sex with her, then feeling bad for him once he was hospitalized after we brought him back. I don't know what she saw in him. I hadn't understood what Goth Girl Kathy had seen in him, either.

Melina and Daniel drove me up in their car, giving me a chance to talk to them about the campaign and upcoming election. I was happy to hear how enthusiastic both of them were, and how much fun they said they were having on the campaign trail. I was glad my idea to run Daniel instead of myself was working out.

I sat with Nathan and his wife at the funeral. There were some people about Ned's age, who had known him in school. People from Nathan's church acted as pallbearers. Many of the people there had no idea of Ned's criminal record, and they only remembered the skinny, introspective kid they'd known in the years of his youth.

Now, I was standing on the little roadway, having said goodbye to Nathan and his wife. A big black car had driven up, and Jack Muscone and another man had gotten out of it, watching the funeral from a distance from beside the car. After the rituals were concluded, I went up to meet them, again sensing the power and mastery of the man with Jack. He was the Deputy Director of the FBI, the man I'd met back in Town before.

I introduced Daniel and Melina to him, and he was polite but soon came to business, saying to them "Would you two mind either leading us or following us back to your town? I'd like for Don here to ride with me. We have something of urgency to discuss. Agent Muscone can ride with you, if you like, and I'll pick him up in Town."

I got into the backseat of the big black car, the Director on the other side. The cushions of the car were plush and very comfortable; I want seats like this in my Police SUV, I thought to myself.

As we drove back, the Director got to the point, explaining the situation. I totally agreed with him and gave my own suggestion for solving the problem. He gave a brief, pursed smile as he agreed, getting what he wanted out of the bargain: me.

Part 22 - Epilogue

The sun was setting on the evening of July 30th as I sat on the back patio of The Mountain Nest, looking at the Town. I was finally starting to catch up on sleep and feeling physically good again after the last several days of chaos and no sleep.

Laura was coming to sit next to me, having just arrived back from her meeting. She had a sheaf of papers with her. I handed her a glass of wine as she sat down, and she drank half of it in one gulp.

"Easy, girl." I said. "Do much more of that and I'll take advantage of you in your drunken condition."

"Sounds good, but we have to talk about something first." Laura replied. "Read this." I read the document she gave to me.

"Basically, Don, you know too much." Laura said. "The Agency is not going to accept just a non-disclosure agreement. They basically told me in no uncertain terms that you have to be brought into the fold. If you don't join the CIA, they might just kill us both."

"No, they're not going to do that." I said. "And as I've said many times over the last decade, I am never joining the CIA."

"Honey..." Laura said. "I know of your aversion to them, and sometimes I don't blame you. The way some of them have been acting lately would never have been tolerated before. But they're serious... you have to do something, and they want you on the inside. You won't have to do much, just some analysis while you're here doing your police job."

"Nope." I said. "I've already made other arrangements." By now Laura was beginning to figure me out.

"Okay, what is it?" she said. In reply, I opened my hand to reveal an FBI badge.

"Jack and his boss got to me first." I said. "They've hired me as an FBI consultant. I'm still with the Police Force here, I'm under the same security terms as I would be under the CIA, I get to help solve crimes in a much more similar way to what I do in the County, and best of all... I insisted upon a non-compete clause, so the CIA can't hire me now, even if they want to."

"Ohhhhh!" Laura groaned. "You didn't." I couldn't tell if she was kidding or not. She threw up her hands in mock disgust. "So now I'm sleeping with the enemy... the FBI."

"Well," I said, "the way I see it, you and I can begin work on better FBI-CIA relations... in fact, why don't we go to bed and begin working on those better relations right now..."

"Well, in the interest of better relations, how can I say no to that?" Laura said. We got up and walked hand-in-hand back inside...

Finis. ... for now.