Vox Populi Vox Dei Ch. 04

"Won't work." growled the Sheriff. "Edward Blassingame has rebuffed all plea deals and has asked for a speedy trial. What I heard is that Russell might get a plea deal if he goes ahead and resigns from the Senate. And you're right, Crowbar. Russell knows a lot of stuff about the Power Elites. He's a walking Bundy McGinty. He might want to ask for Witness Protection and resign from the Senate if he wants to live."

"Ruby Russell better watch her fat ass, too." said Cindy. She saw the Chief's look at her, and said "Sorry, Chief, that was the Klingon term for her fat butt." We broke out laughing at that, and the Sheriff's mustaches twitched merrily.

"Don," asked Teresa, "what did you think of the Susan Dougherty plea deal?"

"Well," I said, "unlike Peter Blassingame, the chances of Susan getting the death penalty was pretty slim to nonexistent. So if this guarantees she has to spend 60 years or more in jail, I'll accept it."

"And Savannah Fineman saved us sooooo much money." Teresa said darkly. "Just ask D.A. Walters, she'll tell you."

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

"We're returning to normal from the levels of security we had for Peter Blassingame and Susan Dougherty at County Jail and the Old Mill, now that he's on Death Row at Jacksonville State Prison and she at Women's Prison in Madison County." Teresa Croyle reported at the Angels Meeting. Yes, we'd moved them both around a few times.

"Good." I said. "But let's keep an elevated alert posture, including basic armor at all times. There's still a lot of dust swirling around, and people who want to do us harm. Okay, Tanya, what are the Detectives working on?"

"Like our drug dealing antagonists," said Tanya, "Vice is gearing up for the University's Fall semester to begin. Our cyber guys are working on the jury tampering, with Jack's help."

"How is Myron feeling about working with the Feds?" I asked.

"He's not." said Tanya. "Mary Milton is working with Sonali and Lainie on it. And they're not working with the FBI per se, just Jack."

I nodded. "Interesting. Okay, what about MCD?"

Tanya said "It's slow at the moment. In fact, I was thinking this might be a good time to discuss making some changes in there, with Jerome Davis's input---"

*BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!*

It was my Police iPhone, and it was from SBI Inspector Britt Maxwell. I answered. "Hi Britt."

"Don," said Britt, "can you come over here? We've found Jay Swenson and Ken Eidex..."

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

The creek that runs near the town of Beaver Ruin near Lake Amengi-Nunagen (Author's note: 'Black Velvet', Ch. 02.) goes east. The creek that is dammed to form Lake Watchacoochie flows into it just south of the town of Waguli. That creek becomes a small river that flows east by southeast towards the North River that flows northward between Westphalia and Eastphalia and to the City, forming the State's eastern border in the northeast corner. That small river is not the State Line, but crosses the line and flows parallel to it in an easterly direction until it flows into the North River just north of the City.

Ergo, that land northwest of the City is marshy, and except for City International Airport, which was built up to be above the 1000-year flood plain, it was not really developed. It was along a road there that Cindy and I drove to meet Inspector Maxwell after testing the raw power of my new Police SUV's powerful engine, which achieved a speed of nearly 180 miles per hour on the main highway.

We pulled up behind a number of LEO vehicles, an ambulance and a coroner's vehicle. Britt Maxwell came up to meet us as we got out of our vehicle.

"It just got more interesting." said Britt. "They just found a third body."

"So what happened here?" I asked as we walked up towards the crime scene, a small field with clumps of high grass. "And who found the bodies out here in this godforsaken wilderness?"

"Three guys that said they were scouting the land to set up deer blinds for the fall." said Britt. "We ran checks, and they've bought hunting licenses for years and reported several deer harvested each year, and they've bought a number of hunting rifles, as well. We'll run deeper checks, but they appear to be legit."

"So what did they find?" I asked.

"This." said Britt, pointing ahead. Two shallow graves had been exhumed, and forensics experts were crawling about like disturbed ants. About ten feet further along, another grave was being excavated.

"We were on the lookout for Eidex and Swenson." said Britt. "Their clothes were still on their bodies. Their faces were intact enough that facial rec and fingerprints identified them pretty quickly. The City Police suggested bringing a cadaver dog to see if we could find anything else, and we found the third body. It's been there a lot longer; the medical examiner says it's at least a year and maybe nearer two years that it's been buried there. No clothing, it was buried naked."

"How did they die?" I asked.

"Eidex and Swenson were shot in the back of their heads, execution style." Britt said. "They were probably on the back of their knees and someone stood behind them and shot them at close range. This third body appears to be a male, but his male parts may have been cut off, and he may have been tortured. We'll put the dental records out there, and run DNA tests to see if John Doe here pops up as someone on record."

I nodded and watched the processing for a few minutes. Someone was taking photos with a tablet, and allowed me to see all the photos that had been taken. Cindy also skimmed through the photos. And once that was done, there being little left to see, I told Britt we were done.

"Any ideas?" asked Britt as we walked back towards our vehicles on the road.

"Just the obvious deduction." I said. "Whoever killed Eidex and Swenson also killed that third person. Wayyyyy too coincidental for them to be buried that closely together and be completely unrelated crimes."

"Well, we haven't found any other bodies yet." Britt Maxwell said. "They're going to run the dogs through the woodline and along the other side of the road, but it doesn't look like this is an established dumping ground."

Cindy said "I don't get it why someone would take the trouble to bury the bodies out here in the middle of nowhere. Why not just throw them into a dumpster behind a building in the Badlands areas of the City?"

"Good point." I said. "And that brings up something, Britt. If everyone can keep this out of the Press's hands, you could set up cameras there and maybe along the road, see if anyone comes back. And definitely check out those three guys that found the bodies a lot harder. Something does not feel right about that..."

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

Once the identities of the bodies of Eidex and Swenson had been confirmed, my attorney Mike G. Todd notified Judge Watts. Seeing that there was little hope of getting any further information, the judge dropped the contempt charge against attorney Max Chambliss and released him from jail.

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

2:00pm, Thursday, August 23d. I went into the meeting in the Main Conference Room. Also present were Chief Moynahan, Deputy Chief Ross, Captain of Detectives Tanya Perlman, Vice Lieutenant Mary Mahoney Milton, and MCD Lieutenant(B) Jerome Davis.

"Sooooo, Captain Perrrrrrrlman," drawled the Chief, "I believe you have some proposals for us."

"Yes Chief." said Tanya. "And all of this is after discussion with Lieutenants Milton and Davis while Commander Troy was away this morning, I haven't had the chance to pass it by him yet."

"Oh, you passed it right by me, all right." I said with a grin. "But that's fine. Go ahead."

Tanya began: "Vice is pretty young, but they're doing well. We have Christopher Purvis, Grubby Paul, 'Ice Cube' Perry, Roark Coleman, George Newman, and Statler and Waldorf. Only Purvis and Paul are grandfathered into Senior Detective status."

Tanya: "In MCD we have Joanne Warner, Theo Washington, Teddy Parker, Julia Rodriguez, and Roy McGhillie. Warner, Washington, and Parker are grandfathered in as Senior Detectives. With Joanne going on maternity leave within the next couple of months, now or in the near future might be a good time to make some changes."

Tanya: "Lieutenant Davis and I are proposing that Julia Rodriguez be partnered with Teddy Parker, and Theo be partnered with Roy McGhillie."

Jerome Davis said "I'll have Joanne's back if she needs to be in the field before going on leave." The Chief and I both nodded.

Tanya continued: "That's for the short-term. We have some longer-term ideas, as well. First of all, Roy McGhillie had done fine in MCD, and this is not a negative comment on him, just the opposite... but I'm thinking that he was really good in Vice and would be better suited in there."

"He's certainly going to look at that as a demotion." Cindy said.

"Maybe not, if you're about to say what I think you're about to say." I said to Tanya.

"Not much gets past you, sir." Tanya said with her cherubic grin and a wicked gleam in her eyes. "Roy might not be unwilling to go back to Vice. And so that it doesn't appear to be a demotion, we promote him to Detective Sergeant and give him leadership duties and opportunities... with the ultimate idea that he one day becomes the Vice Lieutenant."

"And where is Mizzz Milton going to?" asked the Chief. "K-9 duty? Court courier?" He was teasing Mary, and we all knew it.

"Oh, she's assigned to 'reports'." I said with a grin. In the IT and programming worlds, being assigned to 'reports' was definitely considered a demotion, a step down. And like being an 'environmental chemist', being assigned to 'reports' was pretty much a career-ender with no hopes of getting another job in the programming field.

"Don't you even go there with me, sir!" Mary said, though with a grin, knowing she was being teased and giving it right back.

Tanya was also grinning as she said "Mary has done a great job in Vice, Chief, but her very best talents are on a computer keyboard. And this issue of the bugs in the Jurors's rooms in the Blassingame trial have shown me that we need better resources devoted to the cyber and data intelligence world. Myron does a lot, but he's the IT Lieutenant. And just between all of us in here, Mary does an even better job than he does in data mining."

"Ooooo, that's 'hanging drapes'." I said. I was having too much fun with this.

"Soooo," Tanya went right on, "my idea for the future is that Mary would become the Lieutenant of a division devoted to cyber-related activities and data mining. We could call it the 'Intelligence' Division or the 'Cyber' Division, but Mary would lead that, Lainie and Sonali would be in it and joined by others. And Roy McGhillie could ultimately fill in the Vice Lieutenant slot, as Purvis has exhausted my patience trying to get him to take a leadership role."

"Is there even going to be an MCD left, Captain Perrrrrrlman?" asked the Chief, half jokingly but with a serious edge to it.


"Yes sir." said Captain Perlman. "Commander Troy is still here." Everyone laughed, and I shook my head in mock resignation. Tanya then said "Seriously, sir, we are thinking of having Coleman and Newman come into MCD. Statler and Waldorf probably need more seasoning in Vice."

"What about that young Campus De-tec-tivvvve?" asked Moynahan.

"Tarleton, sir?" I replied. "He's been very impressive, but I fear that we may lose him to the SBI. A little birdie told me that SBI Director Goodwin really wants to hire him in. One idea is that he'll be assigned to the University Campus, and have his office at Campus Police Headquarters, or the State Crime Lab building, and that other SBI Agents will be assigned to other college campuses around the State. I hate to admit it, since I didn't think of it myself first, but it sounds like a very good idea. And the SBI does need more good Agents like Tarleton would be."

Tanya said "And the SBI might have some competition for him. I might just happened to have mentioned to my favorite FBI Agent how impressed I was with Tarleton when I worked with him in the past. And Jack needs good people as he rebuilds his teams. So who's going to win, Commander?"

"Oh, I don't speak in hypotheticals." I replied. "What I said was a done deal." The room broke out into laughter at that.

Part 26 - Peanut Butter Jelly Time...

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Friday, August 23d, from the KXTC studios. "Channel Two News has learned that Citizens for Police Accountability spokesmen Ken Eidex and Jay Swenson have been found dead!"

"The bodies of the two men were found in a rural area northwest of the City." Bettina said happily as a map showing the exact location where the bodies had been found was shown. "The SBI is working with the City Police and Town & County Police on the case, and the FBI has been asked to participate, as the crime scene is less than two miles from the State Line."

Bettina: "Ken Eidex and Jay Swenson had failed to appear in Court after being sued by Commander Donald Troy in what legal experts said was a mistake for Judge Rodney K. Watts to allow to proceed. Their attorney Max Chambliss was imprisoned for Contempt of Court, but after the deaths of Mr. Eidex and Mr. Swenson, Judge Watts dropped the lawsuit and the contempt charges, and released Mr. Chambliss. As a result, Commander Donald Troy has come away completely empty-handed. Commander Troy has not responded to KXTC's multiple requests for comment."

Bettina: "And now we go to trusted reporter Lester Holder for more. Lester!"

"Thank you, Bettina!" said Lester 'Penis' Holder. "Channel Two News has learned that Federal Judge Ruth B. Taney has ordered a halt to the FBI's investigation of our colleague Bettina Wurtzburg for several ridiculous charges, after lawyers for KXTC and Ms. Wurtzburg filed a claim with the Federal Court that the FBI had deliberately created false information that they intended to use in their case against her. Legal experts believe this will totally destroy what little case the FBI thought they had, and that the persecution of my colleague will be forced to stop, making this another disaster for Commander Donald Troy's war on the First Amendment and the Media. And now let's go to Jeff Hull with Channel Two Sports. Jeff!..."

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

"Damn!" I spat. "That bitch does it every fucking time!"

"What is it, Crowbar?" asked the Sheriff. We were in the Chief's Conference Room, drinking coffee. My outburst was 'unexpected'.

Cindy spoke up. "Bettina put up a map showing the exact location where Eidex and Swenson's bodies were found. Yesterday, Don suggested that they put cameras in the area to see if anyone came back to that location, as long as the Press didn't get hold of it. Not only did the Press get the story, but Bettina made a point to show that exact location."

"Almost as if she found out Don had said that," Teresa said, "and made sure to do that."

"No 'almost' about it, in my considered opinion." I replied moodily, making air quotes.

"And Bettina's lawyers got the info on the FBI's sting to find leaks," said Tanya, "and twisted it into a 'false information' narrative."

"I'm sorry to say, Captnnnnn," drawled the Chief, "that the FBI got what was coming toooo them. They didn't get a warrant in advance to do that, which they should've done, and they paid the price for it."

I did not mention that it had been far worse than that, and it appeared that someone in the FBI had deliberately sabotaged the case against the Bettina, and that it was very likely that same person or persons had also exposed it to Bettina's legal beagles.

"Is everyone coming to Mike's birthday party tomorrow?" Teresa asked. Todd's son Michael Todd Burke would be four years old, and everyone in the room said they'd be there to celebrate...

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

2:00pm, Saturday, August 24th. It was definitely a large celebration. Little Mike Burke, his brother Douglass and cousin Little Jack Burke, Carole, Marie, Jim, Ross, Ian, Tasha, and little Pete Feeley consumed an entire birthday cake and huge tub of ice cream. Their parents and other relatives and friends, including Pete's stepsisters Jennifer and Tiffany, and Susie Haskins and Davie Marsden, consumed another tub of ice cream.

Little Jack Burke was not happy that he was not getting any presents like Mike was. I asked him when his birthday was, and he said "October 15th."

"There you go." I said. "You'll be getting your presents then. But today is Mike's birthday, so it's his day to get presents. What do you want on your birthday?"

"Anything but a dog." little Jack said. "I don't like dogs."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Dogs are bad." little Jack said. Like father like son, I thought to myself. And I saw that Laura was very carefully listening in on the conversation, in a professional way... her profession as a psychiatrist.

"Besides," Jack said, "Aunt Teresa is allergic to them."

"That's true." I said. "Just make sure you don't hurt any dogs, unless they try to hurt you first."

"I'm going to go get more ice cream." Jack said, and proceeded to do just that. Laura and I just exchanged looks...

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

The kids were full of energy after all that ice cream and cake, and were running all over the house, doing everything from playing hide-and-seek to just chasing each other around. We adults were winding down.

Tanya got my attention and we went into Todd's office, the only room in the house off-limits to the kids. "I just heard back from the State Crime Lab. They got a DNA match. You'll never believe who it is."

"Thomas P. Cook?" I asked. Tanya's eyes grew wide as saucers.

"How do you do it?" she asked, totally stunned. "Did they contact you, too?"

"No, this is the first I'm hearing of it." I said. "But it is possible that I'm the one that contacted J.R. Barnes and suggested he have them attempt a match of that third body with Cook's. He's the only major missing character from around this area that would've been taken out by the same perps that waxed Eidex and Swenson."

Tanya said "Like I said yesterday, we don't need to worry about losing people. MCD, Party of One." I chuckled at that. She continued: "They have to confirm it, but the markers are present, and 'confidence is high' that it's Cook."

Part 27 - Final Answer

Wednesday, August 28th. The excitement of football season was in the air on the University Campus, as the University Bulldogs were playing Taco State, and Derrick 'Train No. 93' Waters was going to be honored with the retirement of his jersey. I had always felt like Autumn was the real Spring in my Town & County, as the return of the students (and college football) seemed to breathe new life into the whole area.

But before all that was the Charter Commission's final hearing before the Public. At 7:30, the Commission members assembled behind the tables on the stage of the Civic Center Auditorium, the room where Teresa had been shot. (Author's note: 'Teresa's Christmas Ordeal', Ch. 02.) This was being broadcast on the radio, as well.

I'd arranged to borrow a stage from 'The Vision', and the Acolytes were kind enough to set it up for me. The Civic Center had set up a thousand chairs; every single one of them would be occupied, and more brought in.

"Thank you for coming." I said as I gaveled the meeting into order. "We cannot possibly have every one of you be able to speak tonight. So we're going to do two things. First, our assistants, who are volunteers of the Beta Clubs of the three high schools and the local Boy Scout Troop, will be passing out raffle tickets." Young people began going down the aisles, handing out tickets.