Woman in Love Ch. 01

"Have a seat, Savannah." said Miriam Walters. "These Police Officers want you to drop the gun charges against the four perp Sergeant McCombs busted."

"We've gone over this with these Police Officers time and again!" Savannah said angrily. And my answer is the same: no way in hell! I fully intend to press those gun charges and take all four of those thugs to trial, and ask for fifteen years for each of them if convicted."

"I'm not even going to waste time debating with you on that." I said. "We need those charges dropped to decrease the racial tensions in the County---"

"Seems like your Police Force handled that very efficiently... if not brutally." replied Savannah.

"I'll let them march unabated to your house next time, if you think we acted incorrectly." I fired back. "But another reason is to work a case against a dirty cop. Will you help us?"

"What is this case against a dirty cop?" Savannah asked.

"They claim to have a C.I. that has information that can help with their case." said Miriam.

"Who is the C.I.?" Savannah immediately asked.

"As I told the D.A.," I said, "I refuse to name the C.I."

"Then I'm not helping you in any way." said Savannah. "Go back to your job of stopping those... thugs... from marching in our streets, and let me do my job of putting four dirty drug pushers away for fifteen years for their illegal possession of a firearm."

I got up and headed for the door. "I'm going to ride this case to the Election!" Savannah called out, goading me. I was opening the door, but stopped for a second.

"You won't win." I said, then pointed at D.A. Walters. "That's what she wants, by the way... for you to lose to Mason. Au revoir."

The Chief had gotten up and was rushing to follow me out the door. "Oh by they way, Ms. Fineman," he said, "the Iron Crowbar is correct. Your chances of winning are... slimmmmm...

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

I was walking at a high rate of speed across Courthouse Square, when I heard the Chief calling out: "Slow down, Mis-ter Crowbarrrr... wait for meeeee..."

I stopped and half turned, allowing him to catch up to me. He'd come up to my left side, so I instinctively circled around to put him in the 'place of honor' to my right as we continued my walk towards the Courthouse complex.

"Where are you go-ing, Mis-ter Crowbar?" asked Moynahan, trying hard to keep up with me.

"To see Judge Folsom." I said. "I'm going to try to persuade him to take the case away from that corrupt bastard Nance, and drop the gun charges."

"You'll have a much better chance of that with the D.A.'s cooperation." said the Chief.

"As you just saw, Chief," I said, "that cooperation is not forthcoming. And I don't have time to waste arguing with that cunt Savannah Fineman." The Chief was shocked by my potty mouth language, but it helped him to understand how bitterly angry I was.

We went into the Courthouse complex, our badges and IDs getting us through the detectors without having to relinquish our firearms. We went to the Chambers of Judge Patrick R. Folsom, whose assistant told him we were there, and who ushered us in upon his request.

"It's not often that the TCPD's Finest come to see me in Chambers." said Judge Folsom. "What can I do for you, gentlemen?"

"Your Honor," I said, "I know this is going to be a bit irregular, but I need your help. I need you to take over the case of those four perps Sergeant McCombs busted, and drop the gun charges part of it."

"You're right... that is highly irregular." said Judge Folsom. "Why can't you just ask Judge Nance to drop those charges?"

"That has been tried, Your Honor." I said. "He's already refused a plea bargain that would've dropped those gun charges. Your Honor, that's an unwinnable case, and I can show you why right now----"

"No." said Folsom. "No, I'm not conducting a trial right here and now. And I don't know what your problem with Judge Nance is. He's a sitting Superior Court Judge, and his opinions are to be respected, even if they are not agreed with every time. I had the D.A. and one of her ADAs in here the other day, literally begging me not to give Judge Nance the Kelly Carnes case. I just don't understand it."

"Your Honor," I said, "I can prove Nance is corrupt. And I mean prove it. He's been referred for impeachment twice, and only partisan politics has saved him from conviction---"

"Now just a minute, young man!" Folsom said angrily. "You may be a brilliant Detective, but you don't come in here and besmirch and sully the reputation of a Superior Court Judge like that! And the impeachment process worked like it was supposed to!"

In the frigid silence, Judge Folsom finally said "Look, the case is ADA Fineman's prosecution. Get her to come to me and ask me to drop it, and I'll consider overruling Judge Nance and dropping those weapons charges. Otherwise, it plays out in Judge Nance's Court."

The Chief and I looked at each other, then stood up. "Thank you for your time, Your Honor." the Chief said as I exited the room without waiting to be excused. The Chief lingered behind...

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

I texted the Chief that I'd meet him at the Sheriff's office in time for the Union meeting. I then drove into the Downtown area, and to the building of the Town & County Examiner.

"Hey Don!" said Alison McFarland, the lovely blonde publisher of the Town & County's Paper of Record, and renowned podcaster of the 'Unresolved' podcast series. "You just caught me. I'm about to go to lunch."

"I'll buy you lunch, today or tomorrow, if you'll help me with something first." I said...

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

Thirty minutes later, Deputy Sheriffs came to the cell of 'Jesus Freak' and 'Mr. Handsome'. "You guys made bail. Let's go."

"Whaa?" said Mr. Handsome. "How'd that happen?"

"That Public Defender must've finally remembered us." said Jesus Freak.

When they got to the hallway, they were in for a shock. "Your bail is paid, gentlemen." said the tall, broad-shouldered redhead, wielding a red crowbar. "But give me two minutes of your time." The Deputies left us alone in the hallway. My bug-killer was 'on'.

I said "I think you can help me nail a dirty cop to the wall by his foreskin. I can't make you help me, but I paid your bail, so maybe you can give me some goodwill back. You need to do a couple of things. First, do not trust your lawyer Hunter Harris, nor that bitch Gwen Munson. If they find out you're bailed out, and they find out where you are, you'll be dead in ten minutes... and if you know my reputation, you know I don't bluff about shit like that."

"Second," I said, "there are people outside waiting to give you a ride anywhere you want to go inside the County. One of them is a podcaster and newspaper publisher. Consider giving her an exclusive on how a dirty cop took money out of your car... after your trial. I'm working on getting those gun charges dropped, and I'm willing to testify on your behalves to get you acquitted, if it comes to that."

"Why are you doing this for us?" asked a stunned Mr. Handsome.

"Yeah, what's this shit about?" asked Jesus Freak, playing a role so Mr. Handsome wouldn't know he'd talked to me before.

"Like I said... I do a favor for you, you do a favor for me in the future." I said. "Get moving, guys."

They went through the outprocessing procedure. When they came out the front of the jail, they found two people waiting for them. "I'm Alison McFarland, with the Town & County Examiner.." said one of them. "This is Eddy the Bounty Hunter. We're here to give you a ride to wherever you want to go, within County Limits, that is."

"What, is this some kind of trick?" asked Mr. Handsome. "Where's our lawyer?"

"You probably don't want to talk to him right now." said Eddy.

"Especially if you want to live." Alison said. "Come on. We'll explain at the office..."

Part 6 - (Not) Friends And Lovers

Meanwhile...

Laura had set up a table in her office, just in front of the windows, with some hookups. Callie Carrington came in with her laptop. "Are you sure I can't do this in my cubicle?"

Laura was sitting behind her desk and looked up at Callie. "There's not enough room in there for both you and Tim."

"And that's the point." Callie said, which caused Laura to look up through her eyebrows.

"Is there a problem with Mr. Muscone's request that you work with Tim?" Laura asked.

Callie looked a bit stunned, then said "Laura, the guy got my fiancée pregnant, and things between me and Cindy right now are very uncertain because of her relationship with him."

Laura said "This might be a good chance to work on that, by getting to know him---"

Her phone buzzed, and her assistant said Tim Jenkins was there. A moment later Tim came into the room. "Have a seat over there, Tim." said Laura. He went over and began setting up his laptop next to Callie.

Laura said "I've got to go teach my class, so I'll leave you two to it. Don't forget to log out completely if you leave the room, and Callie can access the safe for you to put your laptops and classified materials in." With that, she exited the office, which became very quiet.

"Awk-wrrrrd." Callie said, almost to herself.

"Yeah." said Tim. "So do we ignore the 800-pound elephant in the room, or air it out?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Callie said severely. "Let's just get this overwith."

"Good enough." Tim conceded. "All right, what are we looking at first."

"The French Connection." Callie said. "French drug gangs, the French Mafia, and pipelines either to or from Russia, then to the USA."

"Where are we getting this intel from?" Tim asked.

"We have a very, very good connection in the Israeli Mossad." Callie said. "She has forgotten more about smuggling in France than most of us will ever know." She began typing on her computer in an effort to stop the conversation with Tim.

Jenkins began looking at the material he'd brought in his briefcase, and they worked silently for long minutes, broken only when Tim said "Got something. Paul Claisson. French smuggler and drug dealer."

"No way." Callie said. "He's dead." (Author's note: 'The French Connection', Ch. 01-02.)

"Not according to this." Tim said, turning his laptop so that Callie could see the information on the screen. Callie turned to her laptop and began typing furiously upon it.

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

"Yeah, he's definitely dead." said Melina. "I watched him die myself." She did not mention that she had more than watched; she had been the one to terminate Claisson.

Tim Jenkins's alert to the the group had brought her, DEA Special Agent Dwight Stevens, and FBI ASAC Karina White over to Laura's office. Laura was also there, having returned after her class had finished.

"According to this report from the FBI office in the U.S. Embassy in Paris, France," said Tim Jenkins, "a drug operation out of Marseilles, Corsica, and Sardinia was being monitored, and this guy came up." He brought up a photo of a man at the entrance of a warehouse in Corsica.

"Yeah, it looks like Claisson." Melina said. "I wonder if he has a twin."

"Wouldn't be the first time we've seen twins around here." Laura said, remembering Tomoko and Keiko Shimono, and possibly Joe Arruzio and his twin brother from the 'Case of the Murdered Lovers'.

"Not according to the CIA's file on him." said Callie. "They've got him reported as dead, too... killed over two years ago, though his last mission is redacted. Before that, he was a smuggler between South America and France, but that was a front for CIA operations, and he was deep undercover for the Company."

"He has a history in this County, too." said Laura. "He was involved in one of the TCPD's cases, the murder of Melissa Darby Cash." (Author's note: 'Lady Ironside'.)

"So why is his name popping up now?" asked Tim Jenkins. "Oh, this report says that the FBI and Interpol believe he was siphoning off money from the drug operation and wiring it to the French Antilles. From there, the money went to the Cayman Islands, and promptly vanished into thin air."

"I'll start digging into it." said Callie.

"Me, too." said Dwight Stevens.

"Hold off on that for a minute." Laura said, getting her cellphone. "Let me see if I can get in touch with Don about this. I've been around the Iron Crowbar long enough to know that he'd call this a 'strangeness'."

A moment later a text came back. "Damn." she said. "He's in 'meetings'..."

Part 7 - Union NO!

2:00pm, Tuesday, May 19th. The Union Reps came into the Conference Room next to the Sheriff's Office in City Hall. Waiting for them were the Sheriff, Police Chief, me, and my attorney Mike G. Todd.

They were the same Union reps that had barged into my office. (Author's note: 'Black and Blue', Ch. 02.) One of them came up and extended his hand.

"No hard feelings about that visit to your office, eh?" he said. I did not return the gesture; instead, I just stared malevolently at him. When he continued to hold his hand out, I just crossed my arms and stared at him, making the awkward even more embarrassingly awkward. He finally dropped his arm, but was now looking angrily and hatefully at me... just returning the way I was staring at him.

"Let's sit down." growled the Sheriff. After we sat down, he said "Everyone knows everyone here, I think. Commander Troy has chosen to have legal representation rather than a Police Captain Union Rep, and this is his attorney, Mike G. Todd."

Sheriff Griswold: "This is a formal first meeting concerning the Police Union grievances against Commander Donald Troy over an incident involving Sergeant McCombs, who is not here, as well as Officer McElwane, who is not in this room but is on standby outside. This proceeding is being recorded by video and audio devices."

"Why isn't Sergeant McCombs here?" asked the Union Rep.

"Because he is in jail, charged with attempted murder, and bail for him was denied." said the Sheriff. He then handed the Union Rep a document. "Furthermore, as this document attests, as of close-of-business yesterday, Sergeant McCombs's employment with the Town & County Police Department was terminated for cause."

"You fired him before our grievances?" the Union Rep all but yelled. "That is illegal!"

"Not at all." said Chief Moynahan. "And don't start up dishonest crap like that. The Inspector General recommended McCombs's termination, and we've acted upon it. McCombs was reduced in rank to Patrol Officer, and he loses his time toward any pension with the Town & County. And most importantly... he was stripped of his indemnity."

"This is... this is outrageous!" yelled the Union Rep.

"So is attempted murder." I said levelly.

"And that's our whole point!" growled the Union Rep. "Sergeant McCombs did not try to kill anyone! He executed a lawful stop, and acted according to correct procedure. He was assaulted by this... thug, by Commander Troy, who is the one that should be in jail!"

"Trying to kill an unarmed man is not lawful procedure." I said. "Furthermore----"

"He did not try to kill that man!" the other Union Rep all but shouted. "That's your opinion, Troy, and we believe it to be a false opinion based upon an attempt to cover up your assault upon Sergeant McCombs!"

"He fired his gun at the man!" I said angrily.

"No, it went off when you struck Sergeant McCombs." said the first Union Rep. "The videocamera and eyewitness testimony confirms that."

"Whose eyewitness testimony?" asked Chief Moynahan.

"Officer Justin Hendricks's testimony." said the Union Rep.

"Considering we're going to fire him for cause, al-sooooo," said the Chief, "he's not a very good witness. And the testimony of at least three other Officers on the scene, as well as the video evidence, contradicts Hendricks's claims, and support Commander Troy's version of the events."

"They're covering up for Troy." said the second Union Rep.

"Bullshit." I said. "And furthermore to your points, there is one thing the videocams clearly show... McCombs used the 'n-word' in ordering that unarmed man to his knees, and was clearly counting down to shoot him. You can't get past that."

"That doesn't excuse your assaulting Sergeant McCombs!" said the second Rep.

"I didn't assault him!" I said, the volume of my voice rising with the level of my exasperation and anger.

"YES YOU DID!" yelled the first Rep. "Sergeant McCombs acted lawfully! He acted properly! He did absolutely nothing to justify your actions assaulting him! You're out of control, Troy! You're just a fucking thug!"

"That's a load of crap." growled Griswold. "And give Commander Troy his proper title."

"FUCK YOU, old man!" shouted the first Rep. "We'll call this son of a bitch whatever we God damned well please! And if you don't like it, you can shove his crowbar up your own ass!"

"Sheriff," said Mike G. Todd, "I see no point in continuing this charade."


"Neither do I." said the Sheriff.

"If I may, Sheriff," the Chief said, "there are two grievances. Why don't we separate them and dispose of the McElwane complaint, possibly to the Union's satisfaction---"

"No way in hell!" the 1st Rep snarled. "We're keeping them combined. We demand one summary ruling against Commander Troy."

"You're not going to get it from us." growled the Sheriff. "And the I.G. has already determined that Commander Troy acted correctly to stop McCombs from committing murder in the first degree. He didn't assault McCombs; McCombs assaulted an unarmed black man, and used racist language in doing so."

"We demand binding arbitration by the Federal NLRB." said the 2nd Rep.

"I categorically reject that." I said. "I refuse to submit to binding Federal arbitration."

"You don't have a choice." said the first Rep.

"The hell I don't." I fired back.

"Commander Troy is right." said Mike G. Todd. "Both sides have to agree to binding arbitration, and he's just rejected it. Furthermore... Sheriff, am I safe in saying you plan to reject the Union's claims?"

"That is correct." said the Sheriff. "The Union can take it to their membership, see if they can gin up a strike, but that's all they have left."

"That's a lie." said the first Rep. "We're going to file a lawsuit against the TCPD and Commander Troy personally. We're also going to demand a Board of Inquest against Commander Troy."

"Which is it?" Mike Todd said. "You can't both sue him and demand a Board of Inquest. So which one will it be?"

The Union Reps got up. "You'll be hearing from our team of lawyers soon." They walked out of the meeting.

"Looks like you and your fellow lawyers are about to get a lot richer." I said to Mike.

"You've already paid me my retainer." said Mike. "But yes... get ready for a lot of legal activity."

"What is the Union going to dooooo, Mr. Crowbarrrr?" asked the Chief.

I said "I suspect they'll sue the TCPD to stop the McCombs termination, but they'll take me to a Board of Inquest, and if they lose they'll sue me."

"I just don't get it." growled Griswold. "I mean... this is cut and dried. The videocams don't lie, and neither do the Officers at the scene... except that fat boy Hendricks. How can they possibly think they can win?"

"I'd be idly curious to know exactly what they really want." I mused.

"Well, now that this hearing is o-verrrrr," said the Chief, "I am going back to Headquarters and read McCombs his term-i-nay-shunnnnn..."

Part 8 - Distractions

When I got back to Police Headquarters, I'd barely had time to pour a cup of coffee and sit down in my comfortable 'Command Chair' when Teresa came to the office. I had her come in and sit down.

"How'd it go, sir?" she asked.

"Not well." I said. "The Union thugs are saying McCombs acted completely properly, and that I criminally assaulted him. And they are prepared to go down with that ship. They're fighting to the bitter end."