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Reichenbach Ch. 01

By: WifeWatchman



The chronological order of my stories is as follows:

Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player Series, Case of the Black Widow series, Teresa's Christmas Story, The Case of the Black Badge series, A Case of Revenge series, Teresa's Summer Race, The Trilogy series, Dark Side Of The Force series, Caught In The Act series, The Phyllis Files 1-2, Case of the Murdered Bride series, The Credit Card Caper series, The Phyllis Files 3, The Hot Wives Investment Club series, Seriously Inconvenienced series, Case of the Paper Trail series, Christmas Mystery Theater, The Porno Set Mystery series, The Medical Murder Mystery series, The Eightfold Fence series, The Phyllis Files 4, Pale Morning Light series, Silverfish series, Cold As Ice series, Secrets of Apple Grove series, Sting of the Scorpion series.

Reichenbach, Ch. 01.

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 - Celebrations 

"Would you like a shot... at the title?" 

The question was posed by defending champion Captain Cindy Ross as she stood in the middle of the boxing ring in the Police Headquarters gym, crowbar in hand. A chorus of "Ooooooooh"s softly rang out.

"Don't mind if I do." came the reply from the challenger.

Loud cheers erupted as the challenger, Lieutenant Claire Michaels ascended the steps and climbed into the ring. Yeah, it was the cheesy line from the Lethal Weapon movie, but it had become tradition.

This... was the Police Boxing Matches, a decades-old tradition within the Force. It was the morning of Saturday, June 6th. It was D-Day historically, and something of the kind for the two Officers vying for the Championship of the Freestyle division. This was the Championship round. The matches had been going on every weekend for the last couple of weeks.

The actual Boxing division had been concluded earlier this morning, with defending champion Corporal Ronnie Kirkpatrick defeating newcomer Detective Martin Nash in six rounds (all that was allowed; the WBA this ain't). I was very pleased with how well Nash did throughout the competition.

But this was the biggie. Billy sticks could be used, but for some strange reason everyone wanted to use crowbars these days. Can't imagine why.

Cindy was attired in plastic armor that motorcycle riders wore, coving her shoulders, chest and torso, back, thighs and calves, all white with blue trim... and a blue football helmet with plastic face shielding. Claire Michaels, the leader of the Police SWAT teams, was similarly attired, but in white plastic armor with red trim, and a red football helmet. The United States Marine Corps' boot camp had nothing on this Police Force when it came to personal combat training.

They both had crowbars, standard crowbars bought at the hardware store. Neither Cindy nor I had been allowed to use our blue or red crowbars. The crowbar Cindy was using was painted international orange. Claire's was international yellow.

Cindy's route to defending her title had been relatively easy. There was no gender separation, and she had taken down every man or woman that had opposed her. Detective Joanne Cummings had given her the best fight, going over two minutes. Cindy had ripped through Theo Washington, Chester Morton, and Precinct Captain Damien Thompson, and was awaiting the final challenge.

Claire Michaels's route had been tougher. Patrol Officer Lydia Green, Patrolman Roy McGhillie, and Patrolman Jermaine Davis had given her strong opposition. But her semi-final match had been the greatest challenge at the time, as it was me... Your Iron Crowbar.

I had taken out Patrolman Louie Towson, a big husky officer; then Patrolman Phil Goodwright, being careful not to hurt them as they were not very experienced. Then Senior Sergeant Gregory Charles of SWAT administered a relentless pounding to me, but really didn't get any effective shots in... he was just whaling the ol' Commander for the fun of it. At his first slip, I rapidly took him down and subdued him into submission, with perhaps just a bit of administering of pain. Then came Claire Michaels...

And I almost won, but in the third round a slip cost me the game as I fell to the floor... and got swarmed. "I yield." I had cried out after an administering of several blows was followed by Claire's crowbar at my neck. It was okay; the crowd watching roared for Claire as I got up and congratulated her, and I knew that it was all good for morale. And in another way there was a silver lining: while I was disappointed, I also had to admit that I was happy that I didn't have to take the beatdown before the entire Force that surely would've followed in the Championship...

Over one hundred and fifty officers had given up their Saturday to be here and watch. Micah Rudistan was the referee, also wearing armor, a helmet and face shielding in case a billy stick broke or, more likely, a crowbar swing accidentally came his way. And the noise in the room went from silence to pandemonium when, after the introductory "crossing of the swords", Rudistan gave the single command: "Box!"

The sound of crowbars clanging could be heard over the cheering of the officers. Cindy and Claire were pretty well matched, though Cindy had tremendous experience. At one point, she parried a crowbar blow and delivered a vicious martial arts kick to Claire's midsection... perfectly legal, and one reason Cindy was so formidable. Two black belts is huge. Wielding the Blue Crowbar every day is more huge.

But Claire had her own training from the LAPD... and the Streets... and she was very tough. She rolled with the blows and delivered a few of her own. And she was ready for the tricks: when Cindy tried her favorite move, which was to duck below a high swing, then swing her body around on one arm like a gymnast on the 'horse', her legs cutting her opponent's out... Claire was able to side-step it. But her attempt to follow up was not fast enough to take advantage of the dangerous move and get Cindy off-guard, and Cindy parried the blows and was quickly back on her feet. And the roars got louder as it went on.

It actually went two minutes into the second three-minute round. But then Claire, tiring at the relentless onslaught and a couple of blows to the football helmet, made a lunge and went off-balance. Cindy whaled her on the back with a crowbar blow as she stumbled by, then as Claire tried to turn, Cindy pulled her legs out from under her. Claire went down hard, and found Cindy on top of her, the crowbar to her neck. "I yield." Claire said.

The crowd roared, some in celebration and some groaning in disappointment. As Rudistan held Cindy's arm in the air, denoting her as the Champion, I wondered how many green dollar bills would exchange hands to settle bets.

Moments later, as the designated representative of the Chief, I presented Martin Nash and Claire Michaels with their 2nd Place trophies, then Ronnie Kirkpatrick his bigger 1st place trophy with the label "Police Boxing Matches, Boxing Division, Champion" and the year; and finally gave Cindy her trophy with the label "Police Boxing Matches, Freestyle Division, Champion" and the year.

As she absorbed the huge ovation for herself and Ronnie, I thought I could see something in Cindy's eyes... for someone accustomed to winning, there was still pride at winning something important. Challenged all her life, Cindy's competitive nature took no prisoners. She still considered herself as being challenged, as having to prove herself... on every occasion, every day.

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

"Ohhh, I am sore." Cindy stated as she, Teresa Croyle and I sat in my office. "Claire was tough as hell."

"You were much better, though." Teresa said. "You'd've won on points, if anyone was keeping them."

"How's your lung?" I asked. "Take any blows to it? Need to get looked at?"

"No... " Cindy said, pretending to look down and check herself out. "Most of the hits were to the arms and shoulders. But in the late going, I hit Claire on the head pretty hard a couple of times. She might should be checked for concussion."

"Are you coming to the Cop Bar for the party tonight?" Teresa asked me.

"Uhhh, I don't know." I said. "It's my son Jim's first birthday."

"Yeah, and we're coming to the party at your house." said Cindy. "Which starts in... thirty minutes. So after that, bring Jim to the Cop Bar party, and we'll all sing Happy Birthday to him."

"Are you kidding?" I asked. "You want me to bring a one-year-old child to a bar full of rowdy cops and firefighters during the Police Boxing Matches party?"

"Uh, yeah, that pretty much sums it up." Cindy said., her face expressionless, her voice deadpan flat. What was she up to? I thought to myself. Her eyes did not give herself away; she was used to me by now.

"I tell you what." I said. "If you can convince Laura to let me do it, I'll go along." I did not like the grin on Cindy's face that immediately ensued. Had I stepped right into a trap, here?

I got my cellphone and dialed a number. "Hi Claire, this is Commander Troy. How are you feeling?... I see... I'd like for you and Hugh to come to my house, the Mountain Nest, and help us celebrate my son's birthday... it's not really a request, a very nice doctor is going to informally check to make sure you don't have a concussion. I saw where you took a couple of blows to the head... I'm glad to hear you're feeling fine, and I'll be even happier when my wife tells me you're okay. See you there... okay, bye."

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

"Maybe a very mild concussion." Laura said after checking out Claire in the living room of the Mountain Nest, with only me in the room... and my dog Bowser, who was watching Claire very attentively. I wondered if Bowser could sense things...

"Claire," said Laura, "if you begin feeling dizzy, faint, or sick, I want you to go right up to the hospital and get checked out again."

"Does that include those symptoms from drinking that swill they call 'beer' at the Cop Bar?" Claire asked. I laughed. Laura was a bit less amused.

"You now have an official excuse to drink in extreme moderation." said Laura. "Doctor's orders."

"Yes, ma'am." Claire said. She saw Bowser studying her. "Hi doggy. How are you?" She let Bowser sniff her hand, then she petted him. Bowser's wagging tail was one indication of his happiness. He was starting to trust people, some people, which was good considering his near-fatal ordeal in his early puppyhood.

Hugh had been talking to the others in the den, which included Todd, Jeanine (whose pregnancy was really beginning to show now), Phyllis, Teresa, Cindy, Laura's assistant Gayle Roberts, and Dr. Bonnie Karpathian. Hugh and Todd had talked a good bit with Teresa, I noted. I also observed something else: my mother making a great number of observations, seeing things that seemed to be eluding even me. I made sure to look around again, and I saw what some of it was about. Storm clouds rising, I thought to myself.

As Laura and Claire came back into the den, with Bowser following along, Cindy piped up. "So, Laura, you're okay with us taking Jim to a birthday celebration at the Cop Bar tonight?"

"Just have him home by his curfew." Laura joked. "And watch out... his daddy might be teaching him about fake I.D.s" Cindy's eyes sparkled as she looked at me. Her second victory today.

"Well, there's a silver lining to it." I said. "I get an excuse to come home early from that party."

"My thought exactly." said Laura with a wily smile on her face. Checkmate. I was whipped again...

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

But it didn't go badly. Cindy carried Jim into the Cop Bar and held him as she and the Detectives sat at the "Detective's Table", which was the table in back left just before the side door to the patio deck. On the other side of that door, just before going into the private back room, was the "Command Table". Tonight Police Chief Bennett, Fire Chief Quinlin, and the Sheriff Department's Chief of Staff were there. Obliged to join them, I did so for a few minutes.

The Chief of Staff, Deputy Sheriff Charles T. Oswald, was a big man but not fat, with a big face and white hair. He'd been a member of the County Sheriff Department for well over twenty years, had turned down a previous offer to become Police Chief (before Chief Griswold was hired), and was a master administrator, doing the 'beans-and-bullets' job for the entire Public Safety Department.

When he wore his uniform, he had a gold oak leaf cluster, like an Army Major... but the trick was that the Sheriff Department's gold insignia were the equivalent of the Police Department's silver ones. Therefore, 'Chief' Oswald, as he was colloquially called, was equivalent to myself, Brownlee and Fire Marshal Zoe Singer in rank.

He often met with the Deputy Chief of the Police Department, the Assistant Chief of the Fire Department, and the Assistant Public Health Officer of the Public Health Department to go over equipment counts, orders for supplies, and other such Executive Officer (XO) things. I didn't really like those meetings, but Chief Bennett was having me go to more and more of them... probably to make sure Deputy Chief Brownlee didn't create any mischief. But Oswald was straight-up, and if Brownlee tried anything, Oswald was letting me know behind Brownlee's back. Nice to have friends.

"That your kid?" asked Oswald as I sat down next to him with a pitcher of beer for the table, which was quickly poured into glasses for consumption. "Good looking boy, there."

"Thanks." I said. "Today's his first birthday, and I think Ross and Croyle have something sneaky planned."

"Not much gets by you, Don." said Chief Bennett. "I daresay you are right. By the way, we're instituting a new, or maybe an old, tradition at this table. No ranks, no insignia; if you're Command Group in any branch, then you're like an Army General, and here we're all on a first-name basis. Sheriff is good with that, too."

"Speaking of him, where is he?" I asked.

"He'll be back Monday." Oswald said. "He and his wife went on vacation for Memorial Day, and said they'd take the whole week unless something came up. I told him that with the Iron Crowbar watching over things, he could plan on that full week of vacation."

"Good." I said. "And since I let my Crowbar's Angels keep watch over everything, which makes my job easier, Daniel can relax. I hope he enjoys the time off. He's been under duress the last month."

"Any idea why?" asked Oswald? "We've noticed he's been on edge the past month. I always thought he could handle the pressures of the ob, but maybe they're weighing on him?"

"His wife is pregnant." I said, not wanting to give the real reason, of course. "And I think he felt the political pressure of that KSTD lawsuit over those Burke tapes."

"I felt that, myself." said Bennett. "As did Krasney and the entire Council."

We were interrupted by a ringing of a spoon against drinking glass. The bar settled down as Cindy stood up. "Everyone, I would first like to congratulate everyone who participated in the Police Boxing Matches." There was an acclaim.

"I also have Commander Troy's son Jim here." she said, holding Jim up. "Today is Jim's first birthday." Louder acclaim. "We have a little present for the Iron Crowbar Junior." Cindy said as Teresa handed her the newspaper wrapped long object. Cindy and Teresa 'helped' Jim open it. It was a small blue crowbar... thankfully made out of soft rubbery foam instead of iron.

"And the crowbar is blue," Cindy said loudly and happily, "because I dearly hope that Jim will attend his mother's University, and not his father's! Go Bulldogs!" Very loud cheering and acclaim, as many in the bar looked over at me. I was laughing, seeing what Cindy and Teresa had wanted to do. Payback would be merciless, I resolved, but for now I rolled with it.

"Your turn to speak." said Chief Bennett. So I got up and stepped out where everyone could see me near the bar.

"I do appreciate that little gift." I said. "And it'll make his mother happy... which means I won't have to sleep on the sofa this month, so I do thank you for that." Laughter and loud cheering, especially from the guys.

"I do want to congratulate the winners and runners-up of the Boxing Matches today." I said, to acclaim. "But I especially want to congratulate all of us, including myself, who participated and got our asses whipped... and lived to tell about it. Salud!" I raised my beer glass and then drank, as did everyone else amongst the cheering... except little Jim, whose fake ID did not fool the wily bartender and owner of the establishment.

"Let's sing Happy Birthday to 'Bulldog Jim'!" shouted someone, who I would later learn was the mischievous Micah Rudistan. A strong chorus began:

"Happy birthday tooo you,

Happy birthday toooo youuuu;

Happy birth-day, Bull-dog Ji-immmmm,

Ha-ppy birth-day toooo youuuuuuu...

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

Only a few minutes later, I left the Cop Bar with little 'Bulldog Jim'. The party was getting louder and more raucous, and Jim had fallen asleep. Chief Bennett and Deputy Oswald had also walked out with me and we made our way to our separate cars.

As I strapped Jim into his child safety seat in my mother's car, which I had driven tonight instead of my Police SUV, I felt the hair on the back of my neck rising, and a very strange feeling come over me... as if there were eyes watching me. I looked around in every direction, but saw nothing. Going around and getting into the driver's seat, I again looked around warily in every direction. I didn't have any night vision devices with me, so I couldn't look into the darkness.

I was careful driving home. I quickly took right turns and a couple of fast left turns where it was safe to do so. I zig-zagged my way back home, finally convincing myself that I was not being followed.

Once home, Laura took over the duties of putting Jim to bed while I took Bowser out back to do his business. I looked up at the new Cabin; only a streetlight in the driveway was lit, the rest of the house shrouded in darkness. As Bowser finished his business and looked around his perimeter, I no longer had the feeling of being watched, but I knew to be on my guard... the hammer was coming down on Henry R. Wargrave, and he was now a cool and desperate man.

Part 2 - Femme Fatale 

At just before 5:00am on the morning of Saturday, June 13th, I was roused out of sleep by a phone call. It was SBI Deputy Director Tom Conlan. He said that the City had requested me personally as an SBI Reservist to come to the City to investigate a murder, and that Cindy and I were authorized, and requested, to go.

I called Cindy, only to find out she'd been called by DD Conlan already. I went and picked her up in my Police SUV, and we headed east. I was burning the blue lights and drove at speeds in excess of 90 miles per hour on the nearly-empty highway.

"Oh, I meant to ask you." I said to Cindy as we hurtled down the road, "Did you ever find out anything about the Widow Athena Jones?"

"Oh! Gosh, I'd forgotten about that." Cindy said, as she looked out the side window. "The answer to your question is 'no'. I followed up on an address Rita gave me, but it turned out to be a dead end. I looked around the area a bit, but she's not showing herself these days."


Reichenbach Ch. 01



"That's too bad." I said. "Well, looks like we have something new to deal with now." As a result of our speed, we made the 90-mile drive in record time, getting into the City before 6:30am.

We headed into the heart of the City, where I slowed down but maintained burning the blue lights, until we reached the Marriott Grande Hotel. Cindy and I were dressed alike: black collared shirts with embroidered silver SBI Reserve badge sewn over the left breast and "POLICE" sewn in silver in the back, khaki pants, black boots, and light black jackets with the word "POLICE" embroidered in silver. The City and SBI had an uncomfortable relationship (and that was putting it very, very nicely), and we didn't want "SBI" staring in their faces... especially when they were looking at our backs(!).

"Hello, Commander." said Detective 'Sapper' Warren of the City Police as he greeted us in the hotel lobby. He was a big man, black, had once been a sapper in the military, and had played some semi-pro football, as well. He was in plainclothes. "Congratulations on your promotion, Captain Ross."

"How did you know about that?" Cindy asked, idly curious.

"Inspector Maxwell told Detective Ventura, who told me." said Sapper Warren. Robin Ventura was the daughter of University Campus Police Commissioner and Provost Marshal Dexter Robinson, and had been close to Britt Maxwell when Britt was the University Police Captain.

"So what happened here?" I asked.

"Murder, Commander." Sapper said. "Girl found dead in room 509." My heart sank as we got onto the elevator.

"Prostitute?" I asked.

"Yep." said Sapper.

"Blonde? Tall?"

"Blonde, yes. Tall, not so sure. She's still lying in bed. She's not a tiny woman, though, I can tell you that." Sapper said, then peered at me. "I get the feeling you know something, Commander."

"And I hope I'm wrong." I said, but my sense of foreboding was telling me I was right.

We went down the hall, which was way too full of police officers. I saw Detective Robin Ventura, who was black but had overcome racial adversity to be respected on the City Police Force. Cindy and I said hello to her before going on down the hall to Room 509.

The City CSI was working in the room, and when they saw us they said we had to get out. "No, let them stay." said a woman's voice, a voice familiar to me. "This is the Iron Crowbar." said Captain Susan Wexler, who was almost hidden behind the door.

"Good morning, Captain." I said, noting that Susan was in plainclothes, basic white blouse, black pants and black jacket, her badge on her belt just to the left of the buckle... the way Cindy and I were wearing our SBI badges.

"You're the Iron Crowbar?" asked one CSI technician breathlessly, a young Asian woman who had stood up quickly from her crouched position. "But you're so... so young!" Cindy laughed out loud, something I all too rarely heard her do.

"Thanks for the compliment." I said, tipping my Tilley hat to her. I then looked at the bed. I was not wrong, and my worst fears were confirmed:

The woman lying dead in the bed was Cherie Ward.

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

Cherie had died of a small-caliber gunshot wound to the head, just behind her left ear. It was easy to surmise that she had been lying on her right side, probably spooning with her client. The CSIs pointed out the scorching around the wound, showing that the shot was from exceptionally close range if not actual contact.

"The first call came in about 3:30 this morning." said Detective Ventura as we watched the CSI team work. I had already made my many observations, and now Cindy was going over things with the CSIs as I talked to Robin, who continued: "Someone called the front desk from a burner cellphone and said they'd heard people arguing in Room 509. Staff went up there, but it was silent. They knocked on the door, getting no answer. Since they knew the room was occupied but they weren't getting an answer, they called the Police."

"Two patrol officers went up and knocked, then had the hotel staff open the door. They found Ms. Ward lying dead, just as she is here. Her fingerprints were taken and quickly came back as Cherie Ward, a very high class escort. She's top-dollar, only the wealthiest men can afford her."

"Her purse?" I asked.

"Has not been found." said Ventura. "The murderer must've taken it. Her cellphone is gone; we're trying to see if it's pinging off any towers."

"Time of death?" I asked as I looked around the scene, noticing that Cherie was lying on the bed as if settled in and sleeping when she was shot.

"Best guess at the moment is between midnight and 2:00am." said a middle aged man with a failed attempt at a handlebar mustache. He was the Medical Examiner.

"Fingerprints? In the room, I mean? Besides hers?" I asked.

"That's the rub, and when I decided to ask for you to come over." Susan Wexler said. "The place has been wiped down. Totally. Whoever shot Ms. Ward took the time to wipe down the entire room."

"Any drink glasses left over?"

"No sir," said the Asian technician. "No glasses or alcohol found at all."

"Interesting." I said. "So she and her client didn't have a drink first. Have you obtained the hotel's camera footage?" I asked.

"We've looked at it, and we're getting the warrant to keep it." said Detective Sapper Warren. "Coverage is spotty, and so far we've found nothing."

Cindy came over to me. "Have you got a second?"

"Sure." I said. We went out into the hallway and down towards the elevators, where Cindy whispered to me "You know that woman I took the vial from at the Allen party?"

"The night he died?" I asked.

"Yes." Cindy said. "I think I told you this once before about this woman, but I am absolutely sure that this 'Cherie' is the woman I took that vial from. She was the one hired to put the poison in Allen's bourbon, and the one I intercepted."

"I am not at all surprised to hear that." I said. "And yes, we talked about it before. Good catch, though, and thanks for reminding me. So, what else did you see--"

We were interrupted as Captain Susan Wexler came down the hall to us. She whispered to me "Can I speak with you privately?"

"Sure." I said. We went past Room 509 and down to the far end of the hall, followed by Cindy at my signal. Another room that was unoccupied had been opened and made available to the police by the hotel.

Seeing Susan's look as Cindy came in behind us, I said "You may say anything to Captain Ross that you would say to me. She knows who Cherie was."

"I see." said Wexler. "Nothing personal, Captain Ross, and if you know, then it's okay. And it sounds like you know what I wanted to tell you: that Cherie was a Confidential Informant for me, and a very, very deep mole for the City Police within Henry Wargrave's operations, as well as those of several politicians. She was hired by State Senator Allen a number of times before he died, and we were close to getting a corruption case on him. Because of her, we've been able to wipe out several drug rings... though another ring always seems to take its place immediately."

Susan continued: "I also know Cherie's friend was murdered up at Lake Amengi-Nunagen. The FBI has been dancing around us, trying to investigate without tipping us off or letting anyone else know Cherie was a C.I. They might have meant well, but Cherie is now lying dead down the hall, and I have to wonder if the FBI didn't give something away and blow her cover."

"I can assure you that they did not." I said. "I was already afraid this might happen when Nicole Stanton was killed, and I warned Cherie myself when I was investigating her fellow escort's murder that she, Cherie, needed to really watch out for herself. I also thought she was not going to be used as a C.I. anymore."

"And she wasn't. I began winding her down from all of her operations." Susan said. "But the perps might not have known that."

"True. And Henry Wargrave has come under investigation by the FBI recently, and this might be his handiwork to clean up some mess we haven't discovered yet." I said. "Let me ask this: did anyone else within the City Police know that Cherie was your C.I.? And by that I mean before the Stanton murder, when some stuff started unravelling. Or was she just yours?"

Susan Wexler took in her breath, and then answered: "She was mine. Two of my Lieutenants, James Rogan and Andrew Payne, could've accessed my safe and gotten the names of my C.I.s in an envelope in case something happened to me. But I don't think either of then actually knew about Cherie, certainly not by name. She was too deep and too well-placed, so I kept her name to myself. It really pissed me off when that other girl was murdered, and Cherie's name inevitably came out of that."

"I understand." I said. "I tend to doubt any of your officers knew about or leaked Cherie's name. Oh!-- I almost forgot... Cindy, would you do me a favor, and see if the City CSI Team is doing what we call the 'deep clean' investigation. Have them get into the bathtub and sink drains, open the pipes, all that good stuff?"

"Wilco." Cindy said. She hurried out the door.

"And what else did you want to tell me, alone?" I asked Susan.

"Not much gets by you." Susan said, smiling. "I wanted to tell you that I want to get together with you again. For sex. My room in this hotel is still on retainer, we might can sneak up there after all this commotion dies down."

"Sounds like a plan to me." I said. "Let's have lunch. For now, we need to get back to the others..."

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

The City Police Force is a good, experienced organization. They'd obtained all of the hotel guest records for the night, seeing who was in other rooms. Room 509 had been paid for by Cherie's escort service; the client had likely paid the agency to book the room in their name, and they'd often booked Room 509 specifically for Cherie. Not a bad idea to do the booking, which would keep a client anonymous, and the Escort Service would fight like hell to keep their records secure, murder notwithstanding.

I had suggested the idea that the perp might've also booked a room near Room 509. Someone had wiped down the room with what appeared to be a hotel washcloth, but had taken that washcloth, had carried Cherie's cellphone out of the room as well as her purse, but had not gone far enough to walk into a camera's line of sight. So far, nothing of special interest.

"Nothing on the cellphone." Robin said. The CSI team was about done and the body was going to be removed.

As I watched, I felt a sadness. The sisters Marie Arruzio and Cherie Ward were both dead now, struck down in the prime of their lives, cut down by assassins. Tragic, unnecessary. And wrought by Evil. I hoped to bring vengeance upon both sister's behalves...

"Can this window be opened?" I asked, looking at the hotel window.

"No sir, it's sealed shut." said Sapper Warren.

"So the cellphone and purse weren't thrown out of it." I said. "I would imagine you're going to find the cellphone in a dumpster somewhere, or in the hands of a homeless person to whom it was given as a gift by an anonymous benefactor."

Assembling Warren, Ventura and Cindy, I said "So guys, what do you think so far?"

"We're waiting for you to tell us, Commander." said Warren, grinning. I grinned back.

"Oh, I imagine he already knows." Cindy said. "He's just seeing what he can teach us now."

"Cat's out of the bag." I said. "Indulge me. Any ideas?"

"Yes sir." Robin Ventura said. "Professional hit. Guy could import gloves, even room cleaner in a suit. He could take the washcloth out the same way. If he's careful ahead of time, he won't touch much, won't leave much fiber evidence from his clothes, which he probably neatly stacked on the table or dresser, then wiped that down afterwards. Like you said earlier, the cellphone will be discarded, and the purse will be checked for anything inside before it and the contents are burned.

Ventura continued: "He used a small caliber weapon, typical of pro hits. Autopsy might get us a tad of DNA and will show if she was sexually penetrated or not, but I'm betting he didn't even fuck her, just got in bed with her, shot her quickly, got out of bed, dressed, wiped down the place, and was off. If he did fuck her, he was using a condom, which he took with him."

"That's a nice point. Our perp might not have had sex with her first. And that means he had more willpower than me; I'd have wanted to tap that first." I said.

If Robin weren't black she would've blushed at that, but she continued: "So I think our real purpose here is going to be finding out who hired the assassin, and why."

"Good points. I only have one objection, which I'll get to in a minute." I said. "Sapper? What are your thoughts?"

"I'm good with Ventura's ideas, and I agree about the killer's willpower, Commander." said Sapper with a grin, which then turned to a frown as he said "But I'm not good with how the perp walked out of this hotel... if he did and is not here somewhere now... without the cameras seeing him."

"If he's a pro, he knows where the dead zones are." Ventura countered.

I said "You both are on the right track. That was my objection, too: that a professional would have to have the cameras made inoperable or would have to be exceptionally familiar with what's working and what's not. And that's not likely for a hired pro hit. I'd add to it that it's more than possible someone in the hotel staff was co-opted to turn just the right camera off at the right time. That again speaks against a hired pro hit, but it could be an organizational thing, with details like that being taken care of."

I added: "And to that point, have officers check every cleaning closet in the building to make sure no one is hiding and expects to be thrown out with the trash. Run checks on the hotel night staff, especially the guys that took the phone call and went up to check on the room after that call. I know your guys will ultimately check every employee and any contracted agencies, like the cleaning crews, but expedite checks on any night crew that was here at the time." Sapper and Ventura immediately put out those instructions.

"Okay," I said when we were all assembled again a couple of minutes later. "Cindy, any ideas before I give mine?"

"I know more than these guys," Cindy said, "so I'm thinking of a possible connection to the Stanton murder several months ago. Cherie and Nicole Stanton were friends and fellow escorts. Stanton was murdered, Cherie was not far away from the murder scene when it happened, though she had witnesses vouching for her at all times. I suspect whoever killed Nicole... killed Cherie."

"And you're right about that." I said. "Find the killer here, and we'll find the killer of Nicole Stanton, as well. That's really good thinking, Cindy. And guys," I said to the City Detectives, "don't try to cover old ground by trying to re-investigate the Stanton case. I will send you everything I have on that, including the FBI information about it, at least the stuff I'm allowed to. But I can assure you that you'll find the killer by solving Cherie Ward's murder before solving Nicole's."

I continued: "So here's what I am seeing: Detective Ventura is almost completely correct about the case. Almost, but not quite, I think. Cherie was indeed executed by a very experienced killer, with great knowledge of crime investigation procedures and how to avoid leaving evidence at a scene. This killer was also extremely aware of this hotel's security and the holes in that security. By the way, Cindy, I am betting the bullet from Cherie's body will be a .22 Magnum... we are seeing quite a few cases with that caliber lately, aren't we?"

"That's true." Cindy said.

I said "But was this a hired pro hit? Of that, I am not so sure. I will just leave you guys with two questions... why was that call made to the desk, which ultimately got the Police here and the body found? And the second question... I heard the word 'he' entirely too many times... are you absolutely sure it was a man?"

"Uh, no we're not." said Robin Ventura. "And you're right that we assumed on that. I guess the autopsy might show more."

"Yes, but if Cherie was not penetrated and no DNA is found on her body, like under her fingernails, nothing will be proved." I said. "I only mention that it might not be a man to keep you from making an assumption that might eliminate the suspect while eliminating half the human race for the crime."

"Guys," Cindy said, "the Iron Crowbar has just given you the biggest clue of all... why was that phone call made?"

The detectives thought about it, then finally Ventura said "I guess you're thinking that a professional would not want to alert us to his crime. He'd want to wait until the cleaning crew found her... or better yet, put the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door and it might be days before she's found. So either that was a legitimate call, or it doesn't fit in with what we're thinking."

"Exactly." I said. "But let's go further. I'd suggest the call was made so that we would find the body, once the killer was safely out of there. The killer wanted the body to be found. The killer wants us to know that Cherie Ward is dead."

"Wow." said Sapper Warren. "No wonder you're a legend in this State already, Commander. But why?"

"Well, like Cindy said," I replied, "we have some previous knowledge that helps us see what it would take longer for you to find out. But as a teachable moment," I continued, seeing Cindy glare at me at those words, "always watch out for those little things like the phone calls, and who found the body, and what led up to finding the body, and so on. Very often, clues are there."

We turned to go down the hall. "Oh, by the way," I said. "Captain Wexler is in your Vice Squad, isn't she?"

"Commander of it." said Ventura.

"Who called her in?" I asked.

Ventura didn't know. Sapper said "I've heard a few rumors that Wexler has C.I.s among the prostitutes of this City. If this girl was one of them, someone at the Precinct might have called her to let her know."

"So they knew this girl was a C.I.?" I asked. "That's not really likely, is it?"

"Uhhh, no sir, I guess not." said Sapper. "Sorry, sir."

"Don't be. It was a thought worth thinking." I said. "But Captain Wexler's presence here suggests, to me anyway, that there might be a drug connection with this dead girl. I seriously doubt Captain Wexler is going to tell you that, so don't ask her. But keep the idea in your heads that this girl's name might show up in a Vice investigation before all is said and done."

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

Cindy and I were sitting in the lobby of the Marriott Grande Hotel. It was about 11:30am, and the crime scene was being wrapped up and would soon be released. I was drinking some coffee, having had none this morning.

We watched as blonde reporterette Diane Williams, formerly of KXTC in our Town, was doing interviews with designated City Police Media Relations people. And behind the scenes, I'd noted Ms. Williams's 'cubs' slipping some bills into police officers' palms to get the scoop the official spokesmen weren't talking about. Fortunately, Diane Williams had not noticed exactly who the two officers sitting in the far corner of the lobby were.

"I guess you told Sapper and Robin that about Cherie having a drug connection to allay their suspicions about Wexler being there?" Cindy asked.

"No." I said. "That was to ascertain just how known or unknown Cherie's status as a C.I. was. I think Cherie had become known as a former C.I. since Nicole's murder, and that's not good... the motive widens the list of suspects." I then went into a reverie.

"Spill it, Crowbar 1." Cindy said, breaking me out of my reverie some minutes later.




Reichenbach Ch. 01



"What's that?"

"I think you've already solved this case." Cindy said.

"Solving a case means getting the evidence so that even ADA Dwayne Gregory can prosecute to a conviction." I said, referring to our Town & County's most inept A.D.A. "I do have some ideas, but even they are not clearly formed, so it would be unfair to you to tell you now."

"Give me hints, then." Cindy ordered.

"That's fair enough." I said. "What do you know about the Stanton murder?"

"I read the FBI files on it, so I'd be prepared if you ever wanted to talk about it." Cindy said. "Which is right now, I suppose." I smiled at that little funny Cindy made as she continued: "I really didn't understand it, Nicole's murder, and it remains unsolved even after you've looked into it, so it must be a tough one."

"And again, it's the difference between having the answer, i.e. knowing what happened; and the actual solution, which is being able to prove it." I said. "So let me tell you this much. Nicole Stanton left the Burke house and went down the road. Not too far from the house that road dead-ends into another road. If you turn right, that road leads to the town up there and ultimately to the main highway. If you turn left, you go into the Wildlife Management Area, which is Federal lands. Nicole did not turn right; instead, she turned left, went into the W.M.A., and was found dead."

"I'm with you, so far." Cindy said.

I said "Okay, so my thesis is that Nicole would not have picked up a stranger. So maybe someone staged an accident to get her to stop, the way my nephew Ned's ambulance was waylaid that time we investigated that case. Setting that kind of trap is certainly a possibility we cannot discount in the Stanton murder, but the Burke house was not all that far away, and chances are that Nicole might've sat down on the horn if there was trouble, or gone back to the Burke house. And last but not least, she had a gun. She was prepared for trouble if it happened... so if some stranger got her agitated, she could defend herself. But she did not do that with whoever killed her. How does that sound?"

"You still haven't completely discounted it, but you've given some good arguments against it." Cindy replied.

"True." I said. "So I like my second idea better, which is this: Nicole accepted a rider in her car because the person was someone she knew and trusted. She was probably shocked beyond belief that person was there, but she trusted that person and stopped. Then that person probably suggests they turn the other way for some reason, Nicole does, and we have the sinister result for Nicole."

"That definitely sounds more plausible." Cindy said.

"Good." I said. "Now Cherie knew Nicole, and knew Nicole had been murdered, and I even told Cherie to be on her guard. Cherie struck me as a reasonably intelligent and street-savvy woman, though her sister, the late Marie Ward Arruzio was a totally brainless airhead... but I digress. Cherie was likely on her guard, even though she was still involved in escorting, i.e. prostitution. It's a dangerous business, she knew the risks, but all the same she is going to take some precautions. Unless..." I looked at Cindy.

Cindy thought about it, then it hit her: "Unless," she said, "she knew and trusted the client."

"Yes." I said, pleased at Cindy's acumen. "I believe her killer was someone she knew, someone she trusted well enough, and someone who totally got the drop on her... and she might not even have realized it when that bullet put her out."

"Wow." Cindy said. "That's likely. But it doesn't cut down the list of suspects. She'll have had trusted clients, other trusted friends..."

"Yes." I said. "So I'll need to talk to someone to find out more about Cherie... and Nicole. By the way, what did you think of Warren and Ventura?"

"I've known Robin for a while; she's pretty bright." Cindy said. "She knew a good bit about professional mob hits. I guess the City has more of those than we do. I could also see that she lets the gears turn in her head and comes up with some good answers. Sapper Warren? He's studious, methodical, gets the information, gets the job done, but not much of the imagination you love seeing. A bit like Martin Nash, but Nash is more intelligent."

"Actually," I said, pretending to look around as if sharing a State secret, "I think Nash is a damn sight better than he really lets on. He's methodical and workmanlike, but the gears turn in his head."

I continued: "I'd compare Sapper to Hugh Hewitt. Does a good, steady job, but like you said: no imagination. Hewitt is outstanding on my SWAT Team, but it did not hurt my feelings when he was taken out of MCD and moved to SWAT."

"Ouch." Cindy said. "That is harsh."

"Captain Ross," I said sternly, "you are going to have to become that harsh yourself. It is going to be you making decisions on who to put where. You're going to have to ruthlessly evaluate your people, give the promising ones training and opportunities, and discard the weak ones. Joanne Cummings is an upcoming superstar, while Hugh Hewitt barely made the grade in MCD. Both have their place to do their best work, and putting them in the right places is key for both them and the Force."

"Yes sir." Cindy said, absorbing the leadership lesson.

In the silence, I asked "So what did you think of Captain Wexler?"

Cindy said. "I've heard her name, though Teresa has heard a lot more about her. She has been a Vice cop for years, done good work, but there's gossip that she got to Captain by fucking the right politicians."

"Captain of the City Police is far more political than in our Town & County." I said. "I'm sure she did what she needed to. I'm also sure she's a formidable cop. She's actually something of a legend in the City for the huge drug rings she's exposed and the sheer numbers of gang members that have been taken off the streets."

"Yes, but as she said, another gang just crops up to take the place of the ones we eliminate." Cindy said. "I've always looked at that as 'job security' for us. So, where do we go from here?"

I saw Captain Wexler coming out of the elevator. "Ah, I think I'm about to have lunch with Captain Wexler."

"You mean have sex with her." Cindy said. "I saw the looks she was giving you."

"And what are you doing for lunch?" I asked.

"Meeting Britt Maxwell." Cindy replied.

"For lunch or sex?" I asked. "No, don't answer. Give Britt my love." I stood up as Susan Wexler approached.

"I think we're finished with the crime scene at the hotel." Susan said. "I know you talked with the Homicide Detectives, but is there anything you can tell me?"

"Yes." I said. "I'm hungry. Let's have lunch, you and I."

"I'll see you guys later." Cindy said. "I'm meeting someone for lunch myself." Only as we all left did reporterette Diane Williams realize who I was... but it was too late for an interview.

Part 3 - The Business of Pleasure 

The loud smacks of flesh on flesh echoed in the hotel room as I pumped my iron hard cock in and out of Susan Wexler's mature, hot cunt with relentless ferocity. I was sheathed in a condom, which deadened a lot of the sensation for me, but that was okay... as long as Susan came hard, I didn't have to get my rocks off.

"Oh God, yes!" Susan grunted, her legs wrapped tightly around me as I plowed in and out of her. She was an older woman, somewhere between Laura's age and my mother's, and had fucked quite a number of men herself while on undercover operations. She was something of a legend in City Vice, but right now she was panting like a cheap whore as she and I rutted hotly in Room 609.

After giving her two hard orgasms, unless she was good at faking them, I finally worked my nut out and shot my load into the condom. The messy feeling was never one I particularly liked; I preferred climaxing inside a cunt, but I did not want to leave my semen inside Susan's pussy.

After I came, I worked the condom off and tied it in a knot to prevent the semen from escaping. I then went and flushed it down the toilet as Susan lay on the bed in post-coital bliss.

"Mmm, that was good." Susan said as I returned. "You have got the hardest cock I think I've ever been fucked with."

"Glad you like it." I said, lying down next to her on my back. She reached over and began playing with my manhood, as well as my drained balls.

"So," I said, "Nicole Stanton wasn't one of your C.I.s?" I asked.

"No, not mine." said Susan. "She might well have been someone else's though, and I wouldn't have known it. I do know she was Cherie's friend, well, whatever these women consider 'friends'. Working girls are not disposed to making good strong friendships. Other women get their hearts broken; a lady of the evening can wind up dead in a dumpster."

"So tell me this, at least as much as you can." I said. "How do you contact your C.I.s... or at least Cherie?"

"If they have something to tell me, they usually call a cell phone that I keep just for C.I.s" Susan said. "They have safe words and all that, as well. If I need to contact them, it's usually by an arrangement we've made beforehand. Sometimes I just call their cellphone. Sometimes it's a code word on an answering machine, and then they call me back. Just depends on the situation." She then said "You know about all this. Why are you asking?"

"I am getting the idea that Cherie was a double agent." I said. "Nicole might have turned her to whoever was handling Nicole, or to the criminals' side. Henry Wargrave has a lot of money. So it's possible your contact methods are compromised."

"You might be right, I'll take precautions." Susan said as she eased down and took my penis into her mouth.

"I also am wondering if Cherie being a C.I. did get out." I said. "Not because of the FBI's investigation, but because someone learned it another way. Then the wrong people found out, and as you said, didn't know she wasn't being a C.I. any more, and so they paid for a professional hit."

Susan did not reply, but continued to suck my cock for long minutes, her head bobbing up and down my now-iron-hard shaft. I let her, enjoying the blowjob though not really all that hot to come.

Susan raised up to mount me, but I swiftly got the condom rolled down my shaft. I think she wanted to take me bare, but she applied some lube she'd brought and slid her pussy down my sheathed shaft until I was buried to the balls inside her. She began riding me, and I could tell she was really getting off on it. I felt her cunt clenching my cock even as her body trembled, not as hard a clenching like Laura did when she came hard, but still a nice tight squeeze on my meat.

As she rode me, Susan said "I agree it's a mob hit of some kind. Professional. It's too clean, too quick. Small caliber gun. Ventura thinks that's what it is, and I think she's on it."

"Mmm, speaking of 'on it', you're on it right now, so why don't you ride it until you get off on it..."

"Mmm, good idea." she said. She leaned down and kissed my mouth hard. I began thrusting up to meet her downward plunges, and our bodies were slamming together with lusty ferocity...

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

Cindy and Britt lay together in Britt's bed in her apartment. Their loving had been sensuous, yet urgent, and now they were just enjoying that post-orgasmic bliss.

"So you're here investigating Cherie Ward's murder, eh?" said Britt.

"Yeah." Cindy said. "Kinda sad. Don thinks it's related to another murder a few months ago, up at Lake Amengi-Nunagen. By the way, you wouldn't happen to know if Nicole Stanton, who was a friend of Cherie, was a C.I. for anyone?"

"She was the one killed up at the Lake, right?" Britt asked. Cindy affirmed it, then Britt said "Keep this between us... you might not even want to tell Don because his wife is a CIA Deputy Director, but I think Nicole Stanton was working with a Federal agency. FBI maybe, but more likely the CIA."

"Oh, wow." Cindy said. "What was she doing with them?"

"The same thing the Corrigan Cell was doing, that Ned was doing, that Laura Fredricson and Alicia Foster and the CIA was doing... industrial secrets, all the way around."

Britt sat up, crossing her arms around her bended knees, her large breasts pressed into her thighs. "Before Laura and I had that rift... still don't know why that happened... I knew that some CIA research was going on somewhere on the University Campus. I also know that Todd Burke was a bad, bad boy. He may have grown out of it, but he was a nasty guy while he was a college student, maybe before."

"Yeah." Cindy said. "He's really grown up. Head of a company, married with kids, another one on the way, and soon. Fucking his Asian assistant, fucking Teresa, fucking his wife, and God knows who else."

"Well, in his younger days," Britt said, "he was very indiscreetly fucking women... as his brother Jack Burke did... and was getting secrets here and there from them. I thought Todd and even Jack had been recruited into the CIA. But that may not be the case; Todd may have been doing it for himself. Now Ned was definitely recruited by the CIA, then turned hard rogue on them. Ned was a dangerous son of a bitch, and it's lucky Don's plan to kill him worked, because if it hadn't..."

"Yeah, I know all that." Cindy said, knowing just how near a thing it had been, for Don and for her gym-ownership partner, Melina Allgood.

"What you don't know," Britt said, "is that Henry Wargrave, who is now under investigation, had his hands in the cookie jar, also. And it's very possible that Nicole was a CIA agent either working with him, or was spying on him."

"Oh my goodness." said Cindy. "But wouldn't Laura Fredricson know that Nicole was an agent?"

"I don't know." said Britt. "The CIA is very compartmentalized."

"So how does Michael Burke fit into this?" Cindy asked.

"I don't know." Britt said. "He was on the periphery. He was giving money to the University, working his way into the confidence of the Trustees and Dr. Wellman, then suddenly he backs out, retires, sells Todd his company which is now absorbed into that increasingly dangerous BOW Enterprises. Something is going on there, but it's much bigger than me, and I have too many other things to worry about. The SBI has good people, but also bad people, and cleaning up this mess is hard and time-consuming."

"So how do you know all this? About Nicole?" Cindy idly asked as she rolled over. Britt eased back down so that her raven-black-haired pussy was right at Cindy's mouth, and the platinum blonde began doing what she loved to do most: eat pussy. She began tonguing Britt's slit.

"You wouldn't believe what I've learned since taking the SBI Inspector General job." Britt replied. "The Governor has given me political information that a lot of people would kill... or die... for. Executives of companies are buying me lunch and pouring stuff into my ears, and not even hoping to get something back in return. I communicate with my counterparts in other States and we swap notes, a lot of notes. What they all don't realize is that I'm sitting right in the middle of this spider web, hearing several sides of something and being able to put it together, and therefore knowing more than the sum of the parts."

"The unique position." Cindy said. "Just like Don."

"Yeah," Britt says, "I have the knowledge, but I don't have the powers of observation and deduction that he does. He sees things. He saw that Todd was Michael Burke's son. He solved the 'Silverfish' crimes, which really blew the FBI's collective mind away. He has shredded the corrupt politicians in this State. He is personally responsible for restructuring the SBI, which was damn close to being shut down."

"Should it be?" Cindy asked. "Is the SBI corrupt?"

"No." Britt said. "Like I said, there are a lot of damn good agents doing damn good work. And they're the ones the politicians of both parties burn to cinders the moment they're able to. But the SBI was worth saving, and Don saved it. I suspect he's going to clean it out pretty soon, what I can't get to, as soon as his 'Moriarty', Henry Wargrave, either cuts a deal or gets put down."

"Ah, so you think the Consultant of Crime is Wargrave?" Cindy asked, following up by licking Britt's slit.

"Who else could it be?" Britt said. "Wargrave was moving arms into Alabama. Wargrave worked with Jody Corrigan, and has an either friendly or hostile situation with Nicole Stanton. Wargrave is connected with the President of the University. Dr. Wellman told me a number of things, mostly to keep me from being inquisitive, but over time I do figure things out."

"And the Oldeeds Organization?" Cindy asked.

"They're bad people, but other than the Silverfish having worked for them and then working for Wargrave, I don't see a connection. Wargrave did not like the child trafficking stuff Oldeeds was alleged to have done. But Oldeeds is dead now, so I guess that doesn't matter anymore."

Cindy didn't say anything, but just kept eating Britt's sweet pussy. After a few moments, her cellphone rang.

"Damn, that's my boss." Cindy said. "I gotta go."

Part 4 - Homing In 

Cindy and I attended the afternoon meeting of the City Police team that was working the Cherie Ward case. Leading the meeting was Lieutenant Rockford 'Rocky' Garnett, a tough, chiseled police veteran, who was Sapper Warren and Robin Ventura's boss. Captain Susan Wexler was sitting in on the meeting, though quietly, as were Cindy and myself.

Warren, Ventura, and two other Detectives were there, of course. It should be noted that a City 'Detective' was just a couple steps above a Uniformed Patrol Officer, and was the equivalent of a Senior Patrolman or Corporal in our Police Force. Our 'Detectives' would be pretty much Sergeants or Lieutenants in the City Police.

"I understand our SBI friends here have helped considerably on this case." said Garnett.

"Yes sir." said Sapper Warren. "The Iron Crowbar is the real deal, sir."

"Wha..." said Garnett, peering at me. "You are the Iron Crowbar? And a full Police Commander?"

"At your service, Lieutenant." I said.

Garnett chucked. "I... I'm sorry. I really did not realize that someone as young as you are... well, I mean to say that I expected someone a lot... older. Older than me, even."

"I get that a lot." I said politely.

"Well," said Garnett, still not quite believing it, "we appreciate your help, Mr. Crowbar. I'll also say that I have no love lost for the SBI. I once shot one of their agents that tried to fuck up one of my cases, coming in, throwing his weight around. It was only in the leg because I missed where I was aiming at." The man was red faced now, the passion of that moment coming into his wheelhouse.

"Man deserves a crowbar." I whispered to Cindy, who nodded her agreement.

"Yes, that was what started the war between the City and the State, especially with our police agencies. But you guys," Lt. Garnett said, "I'm hearing good things about you two. Maybe this SBI Reserve thing is a good thing, after all."

"I agree, Lieutenant." said Captain Wexler. "But why don't we continue with the discussion of the crime."

"Yes, yes ma'am." said Garnett. "Okay, Sapper, what did you get?"

Sapper reported: "The room was paid for by Cherie Ward's escort agency. They were totally shocked and devastated at hearing she was dead. They actually were cooperative about it... they gave us the credit card used to hire Cherie and the expense for the room. It belongs to a Ricky Morris, who works at the J.P. Goldman Bank main branch in... hey, that's in your Town, Commander." Cindy and I looked at each other.

Lt. Garnett asked us "Any chance we can get you to interview him for us when you go home?"

"Not likely, sir." Cindy said flatly. "He's dead." The City officers sat bolt upright as Cindy continued: "We investigated his death a few weeks ago. Domestic disturbance."




Reichenbach Ch. 01



"Wow." whispered Robin Ventura, seeing the 'coincidence' of that.

"Okay, we'll get there in a second. Keep going, Sapper." asked Garnett, who preferred getting the full report, then talking about the parts of it.

"Cherie checked in about 11:00pm last night." said Sapper. "She's on the videotape from the front desk, in the elevator, and the fifth floor elevator lobby. The hallway's cameras didn't seem to record anything at all. Hotel Security thinks it was a malfunction of the camera itself."

Sapper went on. "Cherie used the card to enter the room, and that card was not used again, at all. The door may have been opened at around 1:10am, from the inside and not with a card, but again the recording equipment went faulty."

"Fancy that." I whispered to Cindy.

"So the time of death must be within a few moments of that?" asked Lt. Garnett.

"We think so, sir." said Sapper. "And after that time there's no footage of anyone moving around anywhere in the hotel until the hotel staffer went up to the room, then the police after they were called in."

"Ventura, what did our 'highly esteemed' medical examiners say?" asked Lt. Garnett, with some acerbity in his voice.

"Time of death is listed as between 11:30pm and 2:30am." said Robin. "As an aside for the Commander and Captain Ross: we can never get our M.E.s to pin things like that down any tighter. They're scared to death that if they're wrong on anything at all, they'll be written up and fired... and they would be. Anyway, there was one .22 caliber round was recovered from the inside of the victim's skull above the right eye, having traveled diagonally through the brain. The rifling on the bullet suggests a semi-automatic pistol as opposed to a revolver."

"Makes sense." I said, interrupting. "There had to be a silencer on the weapon, or the entire hotel would've heard the shot. That suggests a semi-auto instead of a revolver, as well."

"Good point." said Garnett, who then nodded at Robin to continue.

"The CSI Team found hairs in the shower drain and the lavatory pipes." continued Ventura. "They're being run for DNA but they're not hopeful, since this is a hotel and it could be someone from the night before, and such. There were no hairs or tissue found on the bed or Cherie's body, other than her own, of course. Lipstick smudges on the pillow match Cherie's. There was no signs of trauma on her body, it doesn't appear that someone covered her mouth before shooting her, or anything like that."

"If I may." I said, interrupting again. "Tell the CSIs that the DNA data may not be as irrelevant as they think. I very strongly suspect this room was on retainer... with Cherie's escort agency." Cindy glanced at me when I'd made that pause. She was getting good, I noted happily as I said out loud "Chances are that the only people whose DNA we find will be Cherie's and her clients's."

"That's a nice little point, too, Mr. Crowbar. Anything else? Anyone?" asked Garnett. 

"Yes sir." said Sapper. "Our SBI friends here sent us some data from the FBI about a murder up at Lake Amengi-Nunagen, which is three and a half hours from here. Cherie was up in that area with her friend Dawn Starrett, whose real name was Nicole Stanton. Dawn was found dead, and while Cherie apparently had alibis for all timeframes, she was definitely implicated in the case. We're looking to see if there are any other connections beyond Cherie and Dawn being friends."

"Okay, let me see if I have this straight." said Lt. Garnett. "We have a dead woman at the lake that this dead woman here was associated with? And the room this woman was found dead in was paid for by the card of a man who was murdered in our SBI friends' County?"

"We're not sure if he was actually murdered." I said. "He died in a officer-involved shooting and the officer claimed self-defense. It's still being investigated."

"Yer killin' me with details, Mr. Crowbar." said Garnett. "But what I'm saying here is that we have three dead people all linked together through this one case."

"Give the man a crowbar." I murmured to Cindy, who tried to suppress a grin. Everyone else was agreeing with the Lieutenant.

"So why shouldn't we hand this off to our SBI friends here, let them figure out the bigger picture?"

"Let's talk before doing anything like that." piped up Cpt. Wexler.

"I agree." I said. "We're here to help, we're glad to help, but keep jurisdiction for now and I'll have the Ricky Morris information sent to you."

"Mr. Crowbar, before I close this meeting," said Lt. Garnett, "are there any special observations and deductions you have made and can tell us about?" There was only the tiniest bit of sarcasm in his voice; I ignored it.

"Yes, Lieutenant." I said. "First, it was an intentional murder, not an escort liaison gone wrong. It appears to be a professional hit, or styled as one. This new data suggests that Cherie got to the hotel, went to the room, and her client didn't come in for a while. Maybe Cherie was expecting that, as I believe she went to bed and was sleeping in it when the client arrived. Perhaps she opens the door to admit the client, gets back in bed, and is almost immediately shot dead. She might not even have known what happened to her."

"As to the killer, there is virtually nothing to go on, but I can suggest this." I said. "It was either a homosexual man or a woman that came to Cherie's room that night. Cherie was a beautiful woman, and I cannot see a heterosexual man, even a hired professional killer, not taking the opportunity to have sex with her before killing her, especially if he was posing as a client. Yes, that's a huge reach, but I'm willing to bet I'm right."

"There you go, thinking with your little iron crowbar again." Cindy quipped. The room erupted in laughter and I blushed fiercely, making sure to give Cindy a harsh stare before breaking down laughing myself.

"Okay, okay." I said. "Anyway, I also think you should continue to look into the hotel staff, because someone had to have been bribed to fuck up the cameras or the recordings. Get that staffer, and you might get something that leads to the killer."

"Last but not least, Captain Ross and myself are staying in the City tonight. Would anyone like to join us for dinner?"

"Oh, my wife is waiting for me." said Sapper.

Robin said "I've gotta call my dad. In fact, if you were going back I'd ride with you and visit him." Everyone else likewise made excuses. So Cindy and I excused ourselves, said we'd check back in with them in the morning, and took our leave of them.

As we were about to get into my Police SUV and find a hotel, I said "Wow, everyone turned down the chance to have dinner with a beautiful former 'Miss Physical America' contestant. Hard to believe."

"It sure is!" said a voice from behind me. "But we'll take you up on that dinner." I whirled around to see Special Agent in Charge Jack Muscone of the FBI, along with Special Agents Lindy Linares and Sandra Speer, and the TCPD's own boxing runner-up, Martin Nash.

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

Jack had secured hotel rooms for Cindy and myself at the Hyatt City Center Hotel, where Martin and Sandra were also staying. Cindy and I had come prepared with some luggage, and she had a nice green dress and her high heel slides with the leather strap, while I had my light gray suit jacket and pants with the light armor sewn in, and a thin-fabric black mock turtleneck shirt to go with it. We looked good. Damn good.

We had dinner at Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen. "Where's Eduardo?" I asked as we sat down and settled in.

"On loan to Les Craig in Southport." said Jack. "There's been some Hispanic gang activity, like they're trying to move into there, and Eduardo went to help out with it. I think your guys in your County found some of that and were looking into it. Might've scared them off and so they're further south now."

"No, they're not gone." I said. "They're trying to set up a drug pipeline from Southport to the University. I have a feeling they're going to be feeling some pain up at our end soon, though." Cindy smiled, knowing what Teresa had in store for those perps.

"So, tell us about this murder." Jack said. Everyone's eyes honed in on me, as they prepared to eagerly listen.

"Yes, you're definitely going to be interested, Jack." I said. "It ties in to Nicole Stanton's murder." I filled the FBI agents in on the details and what we knew to this point.

"Don, I just have to ask this." Sandra Speer said. "Do you really believe the killer is a woman or a homosexual man because he didn't bang Cherie before killing her?"

I laughed, then said "No, of course not. But I was trying to get them to open up their thinking about the case. They're too eager to think it's one of Cherie's clients... and a man. And in the case of Wargrave hiring her at times, it may be him that is behind this murder, but only indirectly." 

"Oh... there is something you need to do, Jack," I said, "and do it quickly. Get another warrant, and let's go recheck Room 509." I told them what we'd be looking for. Jack phoned in the warrant, and we had time to finish eating before it was ready.

As we ate, I said "Speaking of drug cases, there is one thing I need to look up. You guys know how Captain Malone would cut deals to let one gang operate in the County, while busting and beating down all competition?" Everyone nodded. "I need to check and see if that is going on in the City..."

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

Just after dark, Jack's FBI Team and a crew of Federal crime lab technicians came into the Marriott Grande Hotel. With his Federal warrant in hand, the City Police officers guarding Room 509 had no choice but to let him enter. The techs got to work quickly.

I whispered to Cindy "I'll bet Captain Wexler gets here within ten minutes." She wouldn't bet against me... and indeed, it was not three minutes later that Captain Wexler appeared at the door.

"Commander Troy, what is going on here?" Wexler asked, her voice irritated and demanding.

"Ah, Captain Wexler." I said. "Allow me to introduce to you Special Agent in Charge Jack Muscone of the FBI."

"We've met." said Jack Muscone, as he and Susan shook hands politely. "Captain, as the Iron Crowbar here has probably told you, the unfortunate woman you found here early this morning was associated with a murder committed on the grounds of a Federal W.M.A. some months ago. I have a warrant to examine the room for evidence pertaining to the connected crimes."

"I can understand that, Special Agent Muscone," Susan said, "but our CSI team has already collected all of the evidence. We'll certainly be glad to share our findings with you, but my people are good and I doubt they missed anything."

"I appreciate that very much, Captain." Jack said in his smoothest voice, letting his eyes take in Susan Wexler's attractive body. "But there were just a few particular things my guys need to check out."

"Captain Wexler," I said, "why don't we step out into the hall and let the FBI guys get their work done. Then we can all go home and to bed that much sooner." I escorted Susan into the hallway.

"Don, why didn't you warn me?" Susan whispered once we were down the hall.

"They ambushed me, too." I said. "One minute they're buying us dinner, the next minute it's 'Oh, come with us, we're executing a Federal warrant.'." Susan was not mollified.

"For goodness sake..." she started, but just then her cellphone rang. Saved by the bell, I thought as Susan answered. A moment later she hung up.

"For crying the fuck out loud." Susan said. "They just assigned a new Detective to my Squad, less than a month ago. Guy named Arthur Wilshire. Bright guy, but he's trying too hard to impress as he learns the ropes, and he wants me to come down about a sting they're about to do."

"My colleague in Vice back home would sympathize." Cindy said. Susan gave her a brief half-smile.

"Okay, I'll go take care of that." Susan said. "Don, do me a favor... let me know if these FBI guys find something... or make a mess of things?"

"Sure." I said. I watched Susan's sweet ass as she walked swiftly down the hallway.

Returning to Room 509, I asked Jack very quietly "Did you find what I'm expecting you to find?"

"We most certainly did." Jack said. "Pops, tell the Commander what you've found."

Pops was an old man with silver hair and a large mustache that was wilted. I understand he was called 'Mark Twain' behind his back.

"Commander, it's a pleasure getting to work with you." said Pops. "As you thought, this room is bugged to the hilt. At least fifteen listening devices and six very-well-concealed video cameras."

"Wires or radio signals?" I asked.

"Wires." said Pops. "This much stuff would generate a huge RF field if they tried to transmit it by wi-fi."


"Don't tell me, let me guess." I said. "The wires lead up to Room 609, right above us." Pops confirmed it.

"But Commander, and Agent Muscone," said Pops, "here's the interesting thing. Fifteen listening devices is overkill, so I looked at them. They were put in at different times, and are different makes and models. And while most of them are wired to Room 609, at least five don't really go up there, but were rigged to look like they do. They're passive listening devices and go to a concealed box up in the ceiling above the light fixture. That device can be activated by radio and its recorded contents downloaded, then shut off again."

"Ahhhhh," I said, smiling. "More than one group of people at work, and the left hand likely does not know what the right hand is doing. Jack, this shows me that Cherie was working with someone, probably the handler for whom she was a C.I., and then there was someone else listening in... and I was going to say Cherie was working for them too, but it's possible she wasn't."

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

Later that night, after drinks at our FBI friends' favorite bar, they offered to drive us to our hotel.

"It's not far." I said. "Cindy, why don't we walk." Cindy was very amenable to that, so we set out. As we walked leisurely down the sidewalk amongst the high rise building, Cindy's hand on my arm as I escorted her, I slowed down as we went by one particular building.

"Looking at something?" Cindy asked.

"Yes." I said, looking up at the high rise glass office building across the street. "This is the Cannon Building, where Wargrave's office is. He works on the top floor. There's a helicopter landing pad on the roof, where I just might land a helicopter one day. I've had my first three lessons."

"I still say there's something fucked up about that." Cindy said.

"No doubt about that." I replied. "No doubt about that. But it's paid for, and it's kind of fun. So anyway, I'm just looking at the lay of the land, here. I have a feeling about it. Now Wargrave's office up there is just north of dead west, so right below that to the ground is a closed-off area..." Cindy just watched me as I looked up and down the tall skyscraper, until vertigo began setting in and I had to stop...

Part 5 - The Ride Home 

At 8:30am the next morning, Sunday, June 14th, Cindy and I were driving home in my SUV.

"So, Crowbar 2," I said, "have you figured it out? Do you know who killed Nicole and Cherie?"

Cindy replied "You know... yeah, I think I do know who it is." She named the name. She was right! I was more than a little bit happy at that.

"Getting proof is going to be a different story, though." Cindy said. "I can see what you were saying about the answer and the solution. It's going to be tough."

"Very true." I said, "but I put a plan in motion weeks ago, with the help of Jack's boss in the FBI. We'll catch our fish."

As we neared the turn for Hillside, the seat of Nextdoor County, Cindy said "Can we stop somewhere, maybe get something to eat? Call me paranoid, but there's something I want to talk to you about, and I don't want to talk in this SUV with the radio in it."

"Don't blame you a bit." I said. "It ain't paranoia if they really are out to get you." Cindy laughed out loud, sounding a lot like her sister Molly.

I turned on the road that led south into the town. If I'd turned north, we'd have gone to where we had hunted down Arruzio all those months before, and also towards where Tom and Janet Riordan lived on the eastern shores of Reservoir Lake. However, we went south, and found the Hillside Diner. We stopped and had breakfast.

Cindy told me about her conversation with Britt Maxwell, and all the info she had learned. "Don," she said as she finished, "how can she possibly know so much stuff? I got the feeling she was trying to use me to confirm some stuff, and also to get more out of me. Did you have any idea she has been able to do this?"

"More than that." I said. "The Governor and I helped her put her systems together. And before you beat me down for not telling you, it's because of what I am about to tell you now."

The waitress came and refilled our coffee mugs, then I started my story. "Britt and I have been sharing some information, but I've always had the feeling she has held some back from me... and she has. I know this because information is regularly taken from her systems by the best hacker I have ever known."

"Milton?" Cindy asked.

"All three of them." I replied.

"Three?!?!?" Cindy asked.

"Yep." I said. "Myron, Mary, and Myron's father, Professor Marvin Milton. Cindy, you cannot say a word about this, not even to Myron and Mary. Professor Milton is a mathematician, and he also can hack computers and break codes like nobody's business. The CIA tried to rather forcefully recruit him years ago, the same way they tried to 'recruit' Barry Oliver and my nephew Ned... and Milton bitterly hates them for it. He only tolerates me in spite of being married to a CIA Deputy Director, because his son and daughter have vouched for me in the strongest possible terms."

"Myron gets help from his father at times, and Professor Milton really likes his daughter Mary and works with her a lot... and she has become unbelievably good at computers and databases as a result. Myron and his father have been a bit strained at times... sort of like me and my father, respect both ways, but wariness... so I walk on eggshells around all that."

"I see." Cindy said. "I'd love to hear more about your family some day. Your version as opposed to your mother's."

I laughed. "On the way home, I'll tell you some of it. Anyway, Britt has amassed a huge amount of information, and it's been very useful to me. And I need every bit of help I can get if we are going to defeat our favorite Consultant of Crime."'

"We?" Cindy asked. I could see she was happy at me naming her as my co-equal in the pursuit of the Enemy.

"You bet." I said. "You and I are in this together. All the way and then some, mon ami." We clinked our coffee mugs in toast to the success of our mission.

To be continued.



Reichenbach Ch. 02



The chronological order of my stories is as follows:

Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player Series, Case of the Black Widow series, Teresa's Christmas Story, The Case of the Black Badge series, A Case of Revenge series, Teresa's Summer Race, The Trilogy series, Dark Side Of The Force series, Caught In The Act series, The Phyllis Files 1-2, Case of the Murdered Bride series, The Credit Card Caper series, The Phyllis Files 3, The Hot Wives Investment Club series, Seriously Inconvenienced series, Case of the Paper Trail series, Christmas Mystery Theater, The Porno Set Mystery series, The Medical Murder Mystery series, The Eightfold Fence series, The Phyllis Files 4, Pale Morning Light series, Silverfish series, Cold As Ice series, Secrets of Apple Grove series, Sting of the Scorpion series.

Reichenbach, Ch. 01-02.

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 6 - Burke Family Values, Or Not 

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the lovely redheaded reporterette into that microphone of hers right at 7:00am on Monday, June 15th. "Channel Two News has learned that billionaire and University Trustee Henry R. Wargrave and his lawyers have declined to meet with the FBI to discuss the potential charges against Mr. Wargrave for arms trafficking in both the United States and in the Middle East. Channel Two News has also learned that a formal Federal Grand Jury indictment against Mr. Wargrave is imminent."

As Bettina went to Chuck Pringle for the Sports report, Joanne Cummings said "Commander, I know this above my pay grade, but why would the FBI want Mr. Wargrave to come talk with them if they're going to charge him?" There was a murmur of similar wonderment in all of the MCD Detectives.

"Well," I said, "speaking generally and not specifically about this, one way the Feds work is to get something on little guys, give them a deal or even immunity if they turn on their higher ups, then go to the higher up and get them to turn on the really Big Fish at the top of the food chain. I really don't know the details about the Wargrave case, but I would guess that is what's going on right now. They want to cut a deal with Wargrave to get at someone even bigger."

"I like your guesses more than most people's facts." said Cindy Ross.

"Who in the world is bigger than Mr. Wargrave?" asked Joanne.

"With that question, Detective Cummings," I said, standing up, "you are getting out of the realm of my pay grade... which isn't that much higher than yours."

Cindy asked: "My question is, 'Why are they so public about all of this?'. Won't Wargrave just run?"

"His passport has been flagged." I said. "He really has no place to run to. And they're watching him, so if he tries--"

"What the fuck?" Teresa had exclaimed. She had just heard something shocking on the TV.

Bettina had said "In social news, columnist Elsie Gringer has reported that BOW Enterprises and the Women's Law Firm of Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe have jointly announced the separation and divorce filing of BOW Enterprises CEO Todd Burke and law firm partner Jeanine Olivet Burke! Furthermore, the Women's Law Firm has announced that Jeanine Burke is leaving the firm, which will be reorganized as the Women's Law Firm of Dewey, Burnham & Winn, P.C..."

"Now why are they announcing that so publicly?" I wondered out loud.

"Don," Cindy said, forgetting decorum, "did you know about this?"

"Yes." I said. "And it's a family matter, so I'll have no comment on it. Excuse me, everyone." I got up and left the MCD room, going to my office. Blue Crowbar followed Red Crowbar right on in.

"Don," Cindy said, "at least tell me what just happened here. Your mother didn't say anything about it, either."

"Have a seat." I said. I then told Cindy most of what I knew...

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

It was an incredibly hot scene that my eyes were witnessing. My wife Laura was on her back on the floor, naked but for her Pour La Victoire Kerr pumps, her long, shapely legs high in the air. On top of her, shoving his incredibly huge cock in and out of her well-stuffed pussy, was my nephew Todd. I just watched as Laura wrapped those incredible legs around Todd's muscular back, the high heels pressing into his hard ass. Todd slid a hand under Laura's head and slammed his mouth to hers, his tongue striving to get to her throat as they kissed as hard as they were fucking.

We were at the Cabin, and it was Tuesday, June 9th, and it was a Swinger's foursome. Todd's wife Jeanine was deeply sucking my cock as we lay on the floor. She was on my left side, facing my legs so that she could also see the rutting couple furiously mating.

"Uhhhh, my balls are like rocks!" I heard Todd gasp as he broke his deep kiss with my wife. "Do you want me to come in your mouth or your cunt?"

"My mouth." Laura gasped. "I want to swallow your cum!" My wife's filthy words only added to my pleasure. I'd fucked Jeanine, lying like spoons on our side, then her sitting on top of me, but she seemed to prefer sucking my iron-hard prick while Todd and Laura pleasured each other with raw abandon.

After a long moment of furious fucking, Todd pulled his huge, long shaft out of Laura's cunt and pulled up and straddled her face. Shoving his cockhead into my wife's mouth, he groaned and let go. I could see my wife's full lips clinging tightly to his huge shaft, then the base of his cock pulsing between his tight, drawn nuts as he began ejaculating his large load into Laura's throat.

After being drained by my wife's hot mouth, Todd collapsed next to Laura, spent. He took her in his arms, kissing her neck and shoulder as they lay like spoons. They looked over as they heard me groan, and I let my load go in Jeanine's hungry mouth. Todd's wife swallowed every drop of my essence, just as my wife had swallowed all of Todd's copious offering.

This was Laura's first visit to the cabin since the housewarming party back in May. She had liked the place, at least she said she did. She certainly complimented the places where it was vastly superior to the old Cabin. Carole and Bowser had liked it a lot, while little Jim thoroughly tested it as a good place to sleep. The Cabin also met with the approval of the guests at the party.

I was glad when Laura said the Cabin would be a good place to swing with other couples, and that we could now host Libertine gatherings. Todd and Jeanine were our first couple-swap evening at the place, and I hoped to have many, many more such evenings with other couples here.

"Damn, Aunt Laura," Todd said as they lay together, "those gray viagras are awesome! I'm going to be ready to go again in a minute."

"That's because my wife is so fucking good and hot, Todd." I said.

"Yeah, Uncle Don, you're right." said Todd, grinning. "Aunt Laura's legs could arouse a dead man's cock." Laura giggled, then caressed Todd. "Let me get you warmed up again." she said.

I got up and poured some wine for everyone. When I came back into the main room, I saw my wife on top of Todd in a soixante-neuf, one of Laura's favorite things to do. She was voraciously sucking Todd's huge meat, her full, lipsticked lips sliding up and down his huge young weapon of lust. I watched intently, enjoying the sight of Laura fellating a huge cock and her moans as her engorged slit was being tongued by the young stud.

But I could tell that Jeanine was not intensely into it. She was a hot woman, as I knew from having fucked her in the past. Maybe her pregnancy was taking a toll, I thought.

Then I thought about it some more...

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

The women were sound asleep in the early morning hours as I sat in my office working on my computer. The desk was against the wall that connected to the front room of the Cabin. To my back left, opposite the door to the front room, was the door to the second garage. From there, lining the wall that faced the garage, was a floor-to-ceiling bookcase. It did not block the hidden trap door to the wine cellar and my secret 'electronics' shop.

There was a knock on the door and Todd came in without bothering to wait to be admitted. He at least had the courtesy to be wearing boxer shorts.

"Hi Uncle Don, working late?" he asked. I saw his eyes looking around the room "Hey, nice office you've got here." He was looking hard for any possible secret safes or bolt holes. I wasn't worried, as it was take a close look and nearly a microscope to find the trap door. After a moment, Todd gave up his surreptitious attempt.

"Thanks." I said. "Have a seat."

"Whatcha workin' on?" Todd asked carelessly.

"The murders of Nicole Stanton and Cherie Ward." I said, wanting to shock Todd just a bit.

"Oh... yeah, that." Todd said. "Damn, I feel real bad for both of them. If I hadn't sent Nicole home, maybe she'd be alive. And I should've known Cherie would be in danger after Nicole's murder. Cherie was... well, it's sad, I guess."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." I said. "But don't blame yourself. If Nicole had not died when and where she did, they would've gotten her some other place, and some other time. At least by her being killed on Federal lands, I got the chance to work on it and can bring them some Justice if nothing else."

"You said 'they'." Todd observed. "More than one killer?"

"One killer, but more than one involved overall." I said. "So tell me this: do you remember if Cherie had any credit cards, and what they looked like?"

"I do remember one, because it was brightly colored." Todd said. "Red for two-thirds of it, a diagonal white line, then blue for the right-side third."

"City and Counties Bank?" I asked, remembering that design as being one of theirs, and also having some other data from my computer researches.

"Yeah, I think that's right." said Todd. "Why?"

"An interesting thing about these cases." I said. "Nicole's purse was left in her car. Drivers license found, credit cards found. Killer didn't care a whit if that was found. But Cherie's purse was taken. It was easy enough to identify her, so the purse was taken to prevent any clues from being found inside it... like credit cards."

"I'm not seeing where this helps you." Todd said.

"Well, it may not." I said, deciding to say no more as I locked my computer down, and not telling my nephew that Nicole and Cherie had cards of identical design, issued by the same bank. "Why don't you stop playing Iron Crowbar Junior, I'll stop playing Iron Crowbar Senior, and let's go wake up these women and fuck them again..."

"Now that," Todd said, grinning, "is something worth a 'hard' investigation..."

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

On Wednesday, June 10th, Jeanine Olivet Burke received a surprise invitation to lunch... from Phyllis Troy. They met at the Soup & Sandwich Shop that Laura liked so much. As usual, Phyllis expertly and subtly steered the conversation into the channels she wished to discuss.

"So how is my great-grandbaby coming along?" Phyllis asked.

Jeanine laughed. "Just great... you know, Phyllis, I can hardly believe you're a great-grandmother. You just look too young!"

"Why, thank you, dear." said Phyllis. "Yes, I feel very young, too, but when one's daughter has a baby at eighteen, and that baby sires children before he's age 22... that leaves a young woman like myself as a great-grandmother. Not that I'm complaining, of course. Todd has become a wonderful young man."

"Yes." said Jeanine, and Phyllis caught the ever-so-slight inflection. It was time to begin.

"Jeanine," Phyllis said, "I must be very direct here. The reason I asked you to this lunch is because of your situation with Todd, and the effect on my family. It is obvious to me that you have fallen in love with another man, who I would guess is Michael Burke. You don't wish to hurt Todd, nor he you, but neither of you truly loves the other enough to sustain a difficult marriage."

Jeanine was gaping at Phyllis. Not so much for the older woman's effrontery, but that Phyllis had so accurately read Jeanine's innermost thoughts.

Phyllis continued. "I understand how things can happen. Todd was on a very, very hard rebound from having his heart utterly broken. You look a good bit like Melina, you're a wonderful woman in your own right, but things happened very quickly between the two of you."

Phyllis went on: "As to you, Jeanine, you've had tragedy in your life and had to bury your husband; that is something to which I can very much relate from experience, and no matter what difference there is in our ages, we both know how hard that is. You also had a relationship with Jack Burke on two separate occasions in your life. Perhaps you thought Todd would be a substitute for Jack, but you've found that such is not the case."

Jeanine nodded. "So are you saying I should leave Todd? For Michael?"

Phyllis said "I am only suggesting that you sit down with Todd and have a very open and honest discussion about your marriage, your lives, and your futures. That is the only fair and right thing for either of you to do."

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

Thursday, June 11th. That evening Laura and I had a surprise guest at the Mountain Nest: my nephew Todd.

As with all ladies, Carole was smitten with her cousin. He played with her for a good bit of time, making sure to pet Bowser to reassure Carole's guardian that his intentions were honorable. Finally, Laura took Carole and Todd and I took Bowser outside. As the dog did his business, Todd told me the news:

"Uncle Don," Todd said, "Jeanine and I had a really long, hard talk last night. She's been seeing my father behind my back for several months now, since that time up at his place where that woman was found dead. She said she's in love with him. So we're getting a divorce."

"I see." I said. "How do you feel about it?"

"That's the hard part." said Todd. "I have to admit that I felt relief when she told me. I mean, she's a good person, a good wife, and I tried to be a good husband to her, but I had to admit that the marriage wasn't working out for me, either. Does that make me a bad person? A bad father?"

"Not at all." I said. "Sometimes things happen. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. You're pretty young, still, even though you try to pretend you're all grown up." Todd grinned, realizing I was messing with him as I continued: "I think you're being the best father you know how to be, as well. I can tell you from my own experience that babies don't come with parenting instruction manuals. We just have to do what we think is best for them."

"Yeah." Todd said. "That's another issue: Jeanine will have custody of little Jack and the new baby when it comes, and I'll have some joint custody arrangement. But the problem is Doug. He's not Jeanine's baby, and while she loves him and cares for him, I've inherited enough from you and Grandma that I can see she doesn't look at him the same way I do. And I don't know if Melina wants him back. That's kind of a touchy situation, anyway." I did not have to be told of the strained situation between Daniel and Todd.

"Well, Todd" I said, "First, you take custody of Doug, and get as much custody of the new baby as you can. Laura and I can help with him, and you've seen the incredible support system we have with our kids. If not your grandmother, I've got half my Police Force just loving taking care of the kids... as long as they can give them back before too long." Todd laughed out loud at that one.

"Todd, I'll be brutally honest here." I said. "Jeanine got you on the rebound, and she thought, or hoped, she was getting another Jack Burke. But you're not your brother, you are your own man, and a damn sight better man that him for damn sure. So it didn't work, and if going your separate ways and still being friends is amenable, then that's what you should do."

"I guess so." said Todd. "I've really fucked things up when it comes to women, haven't I? How do I be like you, and get it right?"

"Uhhh, that's more good fortune than anything else." I said. "And it'll be all good for you, too. Meanwhile, you're getting plenty of pussy, so you ain't got no right to complain about a damn thing." Todd laughed again as Bowser bounded up, ready to go back inside for Carole-watching duties...

Part 6 - Fourth Rune 

I did not tell Cindy everything, though. I reminisced about what had happened the Friday before:

"This is Priya Ajmani, KSTD Five-Alive News!" said the lovely Indian reporterette at 8:00am, Friday June 12th. I was watching the feed to my computer screen in my office as Priya said "Five-Alive News is continuing the fight to bring the information from the Jack Burke sex tapes to you despite the most recent setback in the Appellate Courts. KSTD has appealed the case to the State Supreme Court and hopes to have a favorable ruling soon."

Priya continued: "We continue to wonder why Sheriff Daniel Allgood so adamantly refuses to obey the law and honor KSTD's Open Records Act request for the information in those tapes. What is the Sheriff trying to hide?"

Hoo boy, I thought. Now Daniel is going to be all agitated again. I have got to get this situation fixed, I realized... and then sat bolt upright as Priya used the nuke:

"Tonight KSTD is broadcasting a special hour of our hard-hitting investigational reporting." said Priya. "First we'll investigate the FBI's true motives in the vicious attacks upon billionaire Henry R. Wargrave. And then we'll follow up with another look at the assassination of the Reverend Jonas Oldeeds over two years ago. Many in this County call that case Commander Donald Troy's only true failure, as neither he nor anyone else has solved the crime. We'll take a look at it, and come up with some new ideas on just what happened there. That's tonight at..."

I had to stop listening, but the assaults upon my harmony continued as fifteen minutes later, my lovely assistant Helena French knocked on the door and then came in.

"Don," she said, "I just got a call from Priya Ajmani of KSTD. She's bypassing Lt. Peterson, and said she wants to talk to you personally about the murder of Jonas Oldeeds. She asked you to call her back."

"Yeah, right." I said. "With Priya, you are earning your pay as my gatekeeper, Helena. And the next time Priya Ajmani or anyone else at KSTD calls, don't even listen. Ask them to hold, put them on hold no matter what they say, then forward the call to Lt. Peterson. After you do that about five times, they'll get the message."

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

Sure enough, a 10:00am meeting with the Sheriff found him to be one very agitated man. After the meeting, I asked Daniel to come to my office for an 'informal' one-on-one chat. I don't think Chief Bennett liked that, but I told him that it was a brothers conversation, and that I wasn't going over his, the Chief's, head.

"I guess that Priya Ajmani report this morning has you pissed off?" I said to Daniel after we'd sat down in my office.

"Good God." Daniel said. "Don, between us, do you think she knows about Melina being on one of those tapes?"

"Yes." I said. "I think she knows way, way too much. Did you see that about tonight's exposé on the Jonas Oldeeds case?"




Reichenbach Ch. 02



"Yeah." said Daniel. "Reassure me about that one, too."

I took out my bug detector. Sure enough, I.A. was listening in. "Tell you what, Daniel." I said, very loudly and clearly. "Invite me to your house after work. We can talk where your former I.A. buddies won't be listening in." Daniel looked up and glared at the ceiling light...

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

That evening, Daniel and I sat on the back deck of his home on the ridgeline, looking over the northeastern part of Town and, if one looked due south, the northern parts of the University. Melina was not yet home, and was meeting with Cindy at the gym. I might have suggested to Cindy to leave early and take care of business... and keep Melina distracted while I talked to Daniel.

"I guess we'll see what's in that exposé tonight." said Daniel. "Priya has made twenty-seven calls to my office over the last two weeks, to the point that I've instructed every Deputy that no calls from KSTD are to receive a response. We direct them to the Council's Media Relations Office, but that bitch is relentless."

"I'm worried about the direction of all this." I said. "First, the Burke tapes were requisitioned. That was pushed back, but then Priya started zoning in on you specifically. Now, she really bringing you into it with the tapes, but all of a sudden she talks about the Jonas Oldeeds murder case. You understand the connection here?"

"Yes." said Daniel. "I know where the metal for your first red crowbar came from, too, of course."

"Ah yes." I said. "And if Priya starts insinuating what I think she's going to, we'll have to be careful. Priya cannot expose Melina as a CIA agent. President Reagan signed a law making it illegal for anyone to publicly out a CIA agent's name, and that applies to the Press, as well. So if Priya goes there, she will get an in-depth examination of my jails, and felony charges to follow."

"Yes, but that doesn't help the smear tactics, especially for my political career." said Daniel. "I know, listen to me, I sound like a politician. But I know I'm doing good for the County as Sheriff, and if that bitch is trying to force me out, then I've got to find a way to stop her... legally, of course."

"Welcome to my world." I said. "But I can reassure you that you have help far beyond what I can give you. Tell me, does Melina still have that dark brown wood jewelry box?"

"Uh, yeah." Daniel said. "It's up in the dresser in our bedroom."

"Would you mind bringing me to it?" I asked. Daniel knew enough to just do it and not ask questions, and soon we were in the master bedroom. Daniel opened a drawer and brought out the jewelry box. I went up to it, felt around the edges, and pressed the knot on the back while sliding the panel on the bottom out. A flat, very thin drawer slid out of the bottom of the box. There was only one item inside--"

"What the hell are you doing?"

Oops. Melina was standing inside the doorway to the bedroom, and the look on her face was one I'd rarely seen in our eight year marriage... in fact, the last time I'd seen her look like that was the day Elizabeth had sent that email about Todd and Ned's visit...

Cindy was right behind her, a worried look on her face. She'd not been able to keep Melina distracted. More on that later. I had a mission to complete.

"I am reassuring your husband," I said, undeterred, "that he has nothing to worry about when it comes to KSTD's impending attempt to expose you as a CIA agent, and to make people believe you are the murderer of Jonas Oldeeds."

"In my fucking jewelry box?" Melina roared. "That's none of your god-damned business..."

I held up the necklace. It was a 'Fourth Rune' from P. Harvey Eckhart's 'The Vision'.

"Daniel," I said, my eyes boring into my ex-wife, "Eckart's group, 'The Vision', has three camps: an Empowerment Camp, an Enlightenment Camp, and a Leadership Camp. They give runes to those who complete the camps. Dr. Eckhart also has a Fourth Rune, which he gives out very rarely, and only to people he really cares about. Along with the rune comes his promise of personal protection and help for anything the recipient might need, as long as it's within Eckhart's power to do it."

"How long have you known about that?" Melina asked, still angry.

"Oh, you got this sometime in your late teens, before you and I began dating." I said, stepping forward and draping the Fourth Rune around Melina's neck as if it were an Olympic gold medal. "I knew it was hidden in this box all that time, though I didn't really know what it was until more recently. Seeing that you never mentioned that you are one of the CIA's deadliest assassins during our marriage, I'm not shocked you didn't tell me about this, either. But what Daniel needs to know is that Eckhart is not going to allow you to come to harm, Melina. And he has power, real power, to back that up."

Daniel took Melina into his arms and hugged her. "Don't blame Don, honey. He's only doing what's best for you, for both of us."

"Yes, I know." Melina said, hugging Daniel back. "I guess you and I get to have another one of those talks."

Daniel chuckled. "Yes, but not until later. I'm inviting Don and Cindy to dinner. We'll all watch Priya's show and see what the damage is."

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

The damage was potentially significant. Priya had shot footage from the Fairgrounds, mixing it in with tape of the actual shooting of Oldeeds. There I was in the background, just a Supervisor then, ducking as the hand of Providence prevented me from dying that day. Oldeeds had been much, much less fortunate.

Priya then showed that the likeliest line of the fatal bullets' travel was from the north. Nothing new there, but Priya then showed Melina's gym, emphasizing that the roof was a very likely place where an assassin might be perched. Priya ended with a final insinuation:

"The roof of this gym is about 800 yards from the spot where Jonas Oldeeds was standing as he was struck. A long shot, to be sure, but one that a well-trained assassin, an experienced military sniper, or another Government-agency-trained assassin could make. KSTD will continue with its investigation of the only case Commander Donald Troy has failed to solve since joining the TCPD. Good night."

I was texting furiously. "Jack Muscone can rip that one apart. He investigated the roof, found nothing, put that in writing in his report at the time."

Indeed, the FBI put out a formal statement, which KXTC ran at odd hours and KSTD studiously refused to mention, that they (the FBI) had examined the roof of the building at the time and their finding showed no one had been on the roof. Still, the multi-headed Hydra was only beginning to sprout numerous heads...

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

Back in the present, Cindy said to me "I don't know how Melina realized something was going on, but she bolted out of that gym as if she were an arrow fired out of a bow. No way I could stop her. She later told me she'd lived with The Vision before going to college, which Harvey Eckhart paid for. He backed my college loan, too, but I paid it all back."

"I sort of knew that about Melina," I said, "but didn't pay attention to it then, since none of what's happening now had occurred then. But we're going to have to find a way to... 'persuade' Priya to stop pursuing this. I think someone is directing her to do this, and she has no idea of the danger she's putting herself in..."

Part 7 - Indictment and Investigation 

The evening of Thursday, June 18th found me at the Mountain Nest with my family. I was watching 'Channel Two Magazine with Bettina Wurtzburg'. It was an hour-long show. The first third was about Henry R. Wargrave. Bettina talked about his charity work, his financial gifts to the University and to the Hospital, his love of the Bulldogs football team (which Laura liked and I didn't as we watched), and finally about his businesses.

The second portion of the program was about Michael Burke and his financial gifts to the University, and Bettina talked about Burke's former business, which was now part of his son's company, and how he had 'lost' his wife. Bettina made it sound as if Eleanor had died, not that she'd been sent to prison for attempted murder.

The third part of the program surprised me. Bettina talked about Tom Riordan, University booster and patron, who happened to be Janet Riordan's husband. I watched that part attentively. Considering he was being lumped in with Burke and Wargrave, I could tell that something was going on with this.

"One thing's for sure." I said as the broadcast ended. "That was done at the request of and on behalf of University President Wellman."

"I don't disagree with you." Laura said idly as she read her copy of the widely circulated magazine 'Sexual Psychology', featuring articles by noted sex researchers. I need not say that Laura's articles had appeared in that periodical many, many times. "I'm just wondering how Dr. Wellman is going to react when Wargrave is indicted."

"Me, too." I said. "Wellman hates negative publicity surrounding his University."

"Think he'll cut Wargrave loose?" Laura said, asking a question she likely already knew the answer to. "Or will he stand by his friend... and all that money Wargrave brings to the school."

"My answer is..." I said, putting in a little pregnant pause for dramatic effect, "he's already cut Wargrave loose; and Wargrave, who loves his University, has acquiesced to it."

"Oh, so..." Laura started, and then made an observation. "Darling, you need to take Bowser outside."

I looked down, seeing a fine looking dog sitting on his haunches, looking up at me hopefully. "Okay, Bowser, ready to go outside?" I asked. "Do you need to go out?" 

Bowser wagged his tail happily as he got up and walked towards the door to the back patio. I followed, letting him out and going outside with him. It was dark outside as I stood on the patio and looked down at the twinkling lights of the Town in the early summer warmth.

*BZZZ! BZZZ! BZZZ!*

My cellphone was going off. It was the alarm that a sensor had been tripped at the Cabin. I looked up the mountainside and could see that the floodlights on the back deck of the Cabin had come on... these lights were tripped by motion sensors.

After Bowser was done, we went back inside. "Laura," I said, "sensor alarm at the Cabin went off. I'll go check it out real quick." I put on my bulletproof vest and gun belt as a precaution, hopefully unneeded.

"Take Bowser with you." Laura said. "Maybe he can get on the intruder's scent." I knew she was being sarcastic, not to mention condescending towards my canine buddy.

"I think I'll do just that." I replied, perhaps a bit acidly. "Lock the doors and set the alarm."

"We'll be fine." Laura said. "You be careful."

I put the walking harness on Bowser, to which I could attach a leash. He jumped up into my Police SUV and got in the passenger seat, and I drove up to the Cabin.

At the Cabin, I put the leash on Bowser and walked around. There was no one, not a sound. As we walked along the walkway to the deck, Bowser was sniffing the ground rather excitedly. I let him follow the scent, and he led me down the driveway towards the remote-controlled gate at the entrance. At the gate, the scent went cold.

"Probably a deer or a fox, Bowser." I said as we walked back up the driveway to the house. We went inside to check, and found no problems. I went back on deck, tripping the deck lights myself. As I looked over the Town from this much higher vantage point, and much more preferable view in my opinion, I glanced down towards the Mountain Nest. 

I suddenly had a cold feeling inside me. Maybe Bowser noticed; he began getting antsy, pulling against the leash. I was just thinking that this sensor alert had just pulled me away from my family; they were alone. Sure, Laura was very capable of taking care of herself and the children, but I wanted to get back to them as quickly as possible.

As I loaded Bowser back into the SUV, I got another cold shiver. I looked all around in the darkness... I had that same feeling that I'd had at the Cop Bar... that I was being watched. I looked up the mountainside towards the top of the ridge, peered into the darkness beyond the Cabin, but saw nothing, heard nothing.

"Okay, Bowser," I said as I got in the car, "I guess it's nothing. Let's go home." Bowser made a sound that was something between whimper and a sigh, and he seemed relieved that we were going back home, where he could resume his duties of watching over Carole...

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

Friday morning, June 19th. At 7:00am sharp, Bettina Wurtzburg appeared on the MCD television screen, and she was looking gorgeous and hot: makeup done just right, wearing a tight, clingy dress that showed off her hot body. We couldn't see much of her legs, but I knew she was wearing high heels that showed her luscious gams off to perfection. She looked like she was about to perform fellatio on the microphone in front of her, right there on the TV in front of everyone.

If Bettina was making sure to look hot, it meant that she had a hot news lead. And she did.

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" the lovely redhead started, as always. "Channel Two News has learned that the FBI will be giving a press conference in the City, to announce that a formal Grand Jury indictment against Henry R. Wargrave has been issued! The charges are extensive, ranging from money laundering to illegal arms importation."

"Mr. Wargrave has been given 24 hours to contact the FBI and make arrangements to turn himself in." Bettina continued. "His passport has been flagged, and police units in the State have been advised to keep watch for any movements he may make. The FBI made this statement late last night after the indictment was issued."

The screen went to film footage of FBI Special Agent in Charge Jack Muscone announcing the indictment, saying that the indictments were the results of years of labor investigating Wargrave's illegal operations. 

"He looks very happy, doesn't he?" Tanya Perlman said as she watched. "He's been wanting this for a long time."

"Yes, but he's gained weight." observed Joanne Cummings astutely. "He needs to cut back on the double cheeseburgers." That got her a sharp, cutting look from Tanya... but attention was diverted by one titian-haired Police Commander laughing almost hysterically after spluttering his coffee all over the place. I could not stop the laughter.

"Oh my God, that was a good one!" I finally was able to say to Joanne. "High five!" Joanne and I high-fived, both of us ignoring Tanya's cutting looks. Then Cindy started giggling and I went into another round of uncontrollable laughter, joined by several others.

It was unfortunately stopped when the Duty Desk Sergeant came to the MCD room. "Commander," he said, "you have phone call. It's from the FBI in the City."

"Ha!" Tanya said, pointing at me. "Jack heard you, and now you're gonna get it!" Still red-faced from laughing, I excused myself and went to my office, Cindy following.

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

"Thank you both for coming." said the FBI Deputy Director as Cindy and I took seats at the conference table in the FBI offices in the City at 9:30am. The phone call had been an 'invitation' to come to the City, partially to watch and enjoy the media circus surrounding the Wargrave indictment, and partially to discuss something else. In the room with Cindy and myself were Jack Muscone, Lindy Linares, and of course the DepDirector.

The DepDirector continued: "First, about Wargrave. We thought he was at his penthouse suite when we made the announcement last night. The warrant will be served this evening, but we're suspicious that he's not there. He may have gone to his home in your Town." His look was towards Cindy and myself. "We're putting assets into place to watch, and please consider this your formal notification of that."

"I need to call the Chief, then." I said. I excused myself and stepped outside the conference room and made that call to Chief Bennett. He kept me on the phone far longer than I wanted to be, asking a lot of questions to which I really didn't have answers at the time. I finally was able to hang up and go back in. There was some chatter going on, and it ceased as I opened the door.

"The Chief was acting funny." I said. "He asked me a million questions about what you were going to be doing. He seemed skeptical of the whole thing. Not sure why, either."

"I'll call him after this meeting." Jack Muscone said, for which I thanked him.

Taking back control of the meeting, the DepDirector said "The real reason I asked you and Captain Ross to come here today, Commander, is because we're putting a sting operation in place, which will help the local police crack the Stanton/Ward murders. That's why I asked you to deputize yourselves into the SBI when you came over... this meeting is our SBI/FBI liaison meeting.

"I thought Captain Wexler withdrew the request for SBI help." Cindy said, and correctly.

"She did." I said. "But last night Lt. Garnett made a new request, which was backed up by an Assistant Police Commissioner and... well, another group within the City Police. I didn't get a chance to tell you this morning because I was distracted by... double cheeseburgers."

Jack's eyes cut over to us as Cindy broke out laughing. "Stoppit." she said to me as she tried to regain her composure.

"Y'all are making me hungry." said Jack, which caused me and Cindy to have to suppress more giggles. The DepDirector was peering at us, totally stunned; he was not used to losing control of meetings like this.

"My apologies, Director." I said. "So we're ready to go with the sting?"

"Yes." he said. "Linares is my liaison for this. What we're hoping is that all the Press coverage of the Wargrave indictment will give you guys a chance to work behind the scenes without prying eyes, and maybe even the perp will be distracted long enough for you to make the sting work."

"I do need to tell everyone one other thing." I said. "I did some research on the City's drug trade interdiction efforts. The City is much larger than my County and most others, and it appears that there are seven major zones within it. What is interesting to me is that, like our County when Captain Malone was there, each zone has it's own drug gang that's allowed to operate, while all others that try to come into that zone are crushed by Police."

"Could that just be the gangs doing that?" Lindy asked.

"It could, but it still means the City Police are co-opted." I replied. "We have the good fortune to be in the unique position of already having observed Malone doing this, so it was easier for me to spot."

"Commander," said the Deputy Director, getting it, "do you think this is a pattern because the same person or persons is behind it here, as in your County?"

"The likelihood is very strong." I said. "Very strong."

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

It was Morning in America, and even better, it was Morning in his Town and County, thought Henry R. Wargrave as he stood on the back balcony of University President Sidney P. Wellman's home. He could see the River in the distance over the immaculately manicured back lawn of the mansion's property and the guesthouse at the other end of that lawn. 

He had stayed here the night before, having easily eluded the FBI Agents that had been assigned to watch him. Austin R. Murphy was at Wargrave's home here in Town, while his wife Lilly was in the City. He had told her that he might not see her for a while, but after he was settled in, he'd call for her and she'd be brought to him, to live out their lives together... somewhere else.




Reichenbach Ch. 02



"Good morning, Henry." Sally Wellman said as she came out with a cup of coffee for Wargrave. She was looking luscious in a gray dress and matching gray high-heel peep-toe pumps.

"Good morning, Sally." Henry said, putting his arm around the lovely older woman and giving her a warm kiss on the cheek. "How are you this morning?"

"Good." Sally said. "Sidney called from the Conference President's meetings. I don't think he slept well; he's worried about you."

"He shouldn't be." Wargrave said as they stood arm in arm, her head resting on his left pectoral. He noticed that Sally was being a bit clingy.

"He and I talked a good bit on the phone last night." said Sally. "About all those times you would fuck the hell out of me while he watched us. He and I don't do things like that as much as we used to, and I miss it."

"Well," said Henry, "times change... people change."

Sally knew what he meant. She said "Dr. Fredricson said that there are new drugs being tested, drugs that will be even better than Viagra and Cialis. They might be able to overcome any impotence not caused by spinal cord injuries. When those come out, you'll be back to fucking me in no time."

"That sounds good." Henry said. He knew Sally meant well, but the last name he wanted to hear right now was that of Laura Fredricson. "Sally, what you need right now is a weekend away with your husband, and him fucking your brains out with everything he's got left in the tank."

Sally giggled. "That'd be nice..." Then she frowned as she said "but he's been fucking that harpy policewoman Perlman all the time. I know Sidney has fucked college girls and some of his female professors, and I've never minded any of it... but he needs to give up that bitch."

Wargrave said "You should tell him that, then." He finished the cup of coffee. "Well, Sally, I need to get going. Thank you for your wonderful hospitality last night, and I hope I'll see you again soon."

"We'll have a big party after all this bullshit the FBI is smearing you with is over." Sally said. Henry hugged and kissed Sally goodbye, then left, heading to his home in Town. He saw no deputized agents of the law following him as he went... just two old ladies feeding pigeons from a bench at the turn into his subdivision.

"Good morning, Hank." Austin R. Murphy said as Wargrave came into his house. "We've got some breakfast here in the kitchen." The pretty Latina housemaid was setting two places at the table. "How are Dr. Wellman and his wife doing?"

"They're doing very well." said Wargrave. "Sidney was not at home last night, but he is still doing what he does best, pulling all the strings. But he is worried about what's coming my way, so he says."

As they sat down to eat at the breakfast table and watched the maid pour coffee, Wargrave said "How was your night last night?"

"Good. Juanita here is really hot in the sack." said Murphy. As Juanita smiled and left the men alone, Murphy said "I do know that it's hard to communicate with our friends, since the FBI is trying to tap in on everything. I did learn that the City Police are still working on the Cherie Ward murder, but our contact there believes they're going to put it on the back burner soon, as there are no leads. U.S. Congressman Condor is in Town even though Congress is in session... I think he wants to be here and give press interviews when your indictment becomes the Media's latest feeding frenzy."

"Funny how they were so friendly until they think I'm dead, and now they want to pile on." said Henry, his voice even and neutral.

"Yes sir, it is disgusting." said Murphy. "But Condor has another reason for being here... Katherine Woodburn. He wants to get into her pants something fierce."

"That man had better watch out." Wargrave said. "His cock is going to get him in trouble one of these days. He's been fucking his female interns for years... just wait until one of them gets pregnant, then threatens to tell his wife. That's when the shit will hit the fan."

Murphy laughed as Wargrave continued: "I used to think that women were the Iron Crowbar's weakness, but he's been keeping it to a low roar recently. And it's hard to blackmail a man who's favorite quotation is Wellington's 'Publish, and be damned!'. He really does not care. And that's why it's so hard to find his weaknesses... but I will."

"Speaking of the Iron Crowbar," Murphy said, "he and Captain Ross went to the City this morning. Maybe because they are SBI Reservists working on the Ward murder, or maybe to help the FBI try to bust you. Last night, he took his dog up to his new house on the mountain; apparently an alarm up there went off and he went to investigate. He had the dog sniffing around."

"Dogs are good people." said Wargrave. "I wanted to borrow Troy's crowbar and beat that Bryan Thatcher bastard to death myself when I heard about those poor dogs he tortured and killed. By the way, I sent a contribution to that KSTD ad campaign to adopt more dogs and cats from the pound."

"Yes sir, they got it." Murphy said. "The cloud to that silver lining is that they're featuring Troy adopting that dog."

"Well, it's for a good cause." said Wargrave. "And now, let's stop avoiding the topic: his wife."

"Yes sir." said Murphy. "She's doing her routine University job. Her part of persecuting you is done, since it's gone domestic and is in the hands of the FBI now."

"Don't kid yourself." said Wargrave. "She is all over this like white on rice." He paused, thinking for a long moment, then said "I don't want to hurt their kids, but something is going to have to be done about her. I think we're going to finally have to do it. And maybe doing it will distract the police and FBI just long enough for me to get out of the net."

"What's that?" said Murphy. "Trying to kill either one of them may not work. Someone tried to kill Troy last year on the streets; he got the drop on the fucker and blew him away before the guy could get off a shot. I swear to God that man is psychic." 

Wargrave laughed sardonically, then said "Seriously, Murphy... speaking of psychics, that's the solution to my problem. There's a certain process that can be done... well, let's just say that the methods Troy used to wipe out his rogue nephew... can be used against him..." He began to explain the plan, long conceived and planned, not noticing that the maid Juanita was just outside the room, able to hear every word...

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

City Police Homicide Lieutenant Rockford 'Rocky' Garnett came into the conference room and sat down at the head of the table, observing the four somber faces already there, seated, and looking back at him: Detectives Sapper Warren and Robin Ventura were followed by Vice Detective Arthur Wilshire and Vice Captain Susan Wexler.

"Okay, folks, what is it?"

"First, sir," said Sapper Warren, "we called Detective Wilshire when we got this information, and he asked if he could bring Captain Wexler down, also. Ventura called our SBI Reserve friends, and they'll be coming in later."

"Okay, so what is it?" asked Garnett. Sapper brought out a credit card, which was sheathed inside an Evidence ziplock bag.

Ventura said "We've been working with the Feds to see if Cherie Ward's phone pinged anywhere after it was taken from her room where she was murdered. We were able to triangulate the signal, which led to a dumpster behind the Cannon Building. That dumpster has been emptied, but the ping traced to a homeless man that stayed in that general area. He had the phone on him, and also this credit card. He said he got them both out of the dumpster."

Sapper picked up the narrative: "We tried running the card number, but it's come up flagged and blocked. That usually means that it's being used for an undercover operation, or else it's a C.I.'s card, with the Police working in connection with the Bank. In this case, it's City & Counties Bank. At that point, we contacted Detective Wilshire in Vice to help us out."

"So you haven't been able to run the card yet, is that right?" asked Garnett.

"That is right, sir." said Warren.

"We can run it for you." said Wexler. "We use cards like these for C.I.s, and I can get past those blocks."

"Would you mind?" asked Lt. Garnett.

"Sir, we do need to add something else." said Ventura. "Though the card is blocked, we contacted the Bank for their information on it. We had to work a little bit, but our SBI friends were able to find out that the card was set up by a Lieutenant James Rogan. I'm sorry, Captain Wexler, but we had to notify Internal Affairs when that came out."

"I understand." said Captain Susan Wexler. "Does this mean James is a suspect?"

"Person of interest, ma'am." said Ventura. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but we do have to consider his involvement. I.A. will have to talk to him. I'm sure they'll be contacting you today to put him on restriction until I.A. clears him. 

"Okay." said Wexler. "Arthur, we need to run this card, find out if there's any information on what it was used for. Guys, if there's nothing else, we'll go do that... and I'll let Rogan know he's grounded for the time being."

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

"Arthur," Susan Wexler said as they re-entered their office area in Vice, "I'll go run this in my office. If it's C.I. information, we'll have to clamp it down."

"Yes ma'am." said Wilshire. "I'll leave it in your hands entirely."

Susan went into her office and got onto her computer. She was able to pull up the credit card information she needed to see. Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she worked the application, then her printer came to life and begin whirring, then spitting out several sheets of paper. She took the sheets, put them into two file folders, taped the folders shut, and called Arthur Wilshire in.

"Arthur," she said, "take one file to Lt. Garnett, and another to Internal Affairs. Ask Garnett to find out who in I.A. is their contact. It looks like Rogan is compromised, but don't say anything to anyone, except asking him to come in here so I can talk to him.

"Yes, ma'am." said Wilshire. He hurriedly left her office, stopping at Rogan's desk to tell the Lieutenant to go see the Captain.

Part 8 - Burned 

Still Friday, June 19th. Cindy and I were having dinner at the Hyatt City Center Hotel's restaurant, where we were staying for the night courtesy of the FBI. The FBI team was out executing the arrest warrant for Henry Wargrave.

"They won't find him." I said to Cindy. "Not here in the City, and not in our Town, either."

"Where did he go?" Cindy asked.

"Oh, I think he's in our Town." I said. "But not at home. He could be anywhere. They'll check Austin Murphy's condo there, but Wargrave could be at Dr. Wellman's home, in a hotel somewhere..."

"Or hidden in one of the secret passages that seem to be all over the place." Cindy quipped.

"Yeah, that's not as humorous as you might think." I said. "I wish I was back home right now; I'd rather be with my family, knowing Wargrave's on the loose."

"They'll be fine." Cindy said. "Your wife is who she is. Your mother is an auxiliary policewoman. Your wife's sister can shoot a penny out of the air at 100 yards. And your dog is a good watchdog. Meanwhile, my sister is a good and wary cop, and Jenna is staying with Teresa while I'm out of Town. Our families are safe."

I was not mollified, but Cindy said "Let's change the subject. So what is this sting operation about?"

"We think there's a mole in City P.D., someone who knew that Cherie and maybe Nicole Stanton were C.I.s." I said. "Maybe one of Wexler's people. What has been kept under wraps... they didn't even tell me about this until last week... is that while you and I were busting up The Silverfish, the report of the DNA under Nicole's fingernails came back to the FBI. They haven't found a match in any databases yet, but there's enough to match someone if we can find the proper suspect from which to take a sample."

I continued: "So we're laying some groundwork. We've got a Federal warrant under seal as well as a secret State-level warrant for everything, to keep it tidy. I really think we're going to get something." I told Cindy the major things we were doing.

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

"Not a thing." said Jack Muscone. "He wasn't at home. He's not at his home in your Town, either, though his wife was there. She said he hadn't been there for a couple of days. He's not at his offices here in the City, and he hasn't been seen at the Marriott Grande where he keeps a room. We even went to Dr. Wellman's home near the University, and he's not there, either... Mrs. Wellman let us come in and look for him, but it was 'no go'."

The entire FBI team as well as Cindy and myself were in the FBI conference room, reporting to the Deputy Director of the FBI.

"He's flown." said the DepDirector. "Put out a nationwide APB. Media publicity. Cut off all credit cards, financing, passport, flag his drivers license, car tags, everything."

"We've done that, sir." said Muscone. "But Wargrave has fake IDs galore; he's been a smuggler for years. Honestly, sir, if he wants to run, we may never even get close to catching him."

"He's not running." I said, more to myself than anyone else as I sat there in my reverie.

"How do you know?" asked the DepDirector, peering at me.

"Oh... let me rephrase." I said. "He's not running yet. He knows you have the dragnet out. He's somewhat famous, he'd be recognized if he moves around in public, and there's been a ton of Press coverage of him recently. All the fake IDs in the world are for nothing if the facial recognition technology gets a glimpse of him."

"What do you think he'll do?" asked the Director, peering very hard at me.

"He might let the furor die down, then make a move." I said. "But it's more likely he'll create a distraction, something to keep your attention occupied, and that's when he'll make a move to slip away."

"What kind of distraction will he try to make?"

"Well," I replied, "we know he hates a certain CIA officer immeasurably. Her assassination, or the murder of the CIA officer's husband, would give him the distraction he needs. I think he's going to come after Laura or me. And that's why we need to wrap this frickin' Stanton/Ward case up, so I can get back home and defend my family."

"Relax." said Jack Muscone. "We've got a ton of assets helping you out there. Your wife is protected by hoops of steel, not to mention lead and copper."

Just then, my cellphone rang.

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

The meetings at the State Office Building in the City lasted almost all night. Cindy and I were in a conference room there with Inspector Britt Maxwell and Deputy Director Tom Conlan.

"It's only a matter of time before Jack Lewis finds out about this." said Tom Conlan. "And then he'll be up here trying to take the credit and blow the whole god-damn thing up."

I grunted. "No, it's much worse than that. The Stanton/Ward murderer is a key part of Lewis's team, an ally of his. Lewis will blow it up, all right, but not accidentally."

"What do we do?" Britt asked. "We have the goods, the sting worked. Should we notify City P.D. Internal Affairs?"

I grunted again. "Oh geez, if you think Jack Lewis is bad... City I.A. has some good people, but they also have some really, really bad people corrupting it. If the wrong person hears of this, it's over."

"There's another thing, too." said Conlan. "I know that Captain Wexler has several cases going, some involving C.I.s. If we move the wrong way, we may expose some people and get them killed, and we might blow the cases."

"Tell you what." Britt Maxwell said. "Don, Cindy, you're 'point' on this. Work with whomever you trust in City P.D., the SBI, and FBI and bring the perp down. And get your own mole, your asset, out of there as soon as you're done. This will become Federal as soon as you can put the killer at Stanton's crime scene up in that W.M.A., so it'll be their case and our hands are washed of it. You can do that, can't you?"

"Of course." I said. I was exhausted, it was the wee hours of the morning, and Britt was asking me if I could make that happen?!?!

Just then, I got a text message.

"Oh, this is from Susan Wexler." I said. "She wants me to meet her at the Marriott Grande Hotel at 8:30am. Room 1822. She must think I'm in Town and not here in the City." Another text came through and I said "She says she has a breakthrough on the Cherie Ward case, from the credit card that was found."

"Good luck." Britt said as I texted that I'd meet her at that time. Cindy and I got up to leave.

To be continued.

Dear Readers, do you know who the killer of Cherie Ward and Nicole Stanton is? And what does Henry R. Wargrave have in store for the Troy family? It's going to get messy, so tune in... same Crowbar time, same Crowbar channel...



Reichenbach Ch. 03



The chronological order of my stories is as follows:

Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player Series, Case of the Black Widow series, Teresa's Christmas Story, The Case of the Black Badge series, A Case of Revenge series, Teresa's Summer Race, The Trilogy series, Dark Side Of The Force series, Caught In The Act series, The Phyllis Files 1-2, Case of the Murdered Bride series, The Credit Card Caper series, The Phyllis Files 3, The Hot Wives Investment Club series, Seriously Inconvenienced series, Case of the Paper Trail series, Christmas Mystery Theater, The Porno Set Mystery series, The Medical Murder Mystery series, The Eightfold Fence series, The Phyllis Files 4, Pale Morning Light series, Silverfish series, Cold As Ice series, Secrets of Apple Grove series, Sting of the Scorpion series.

Reichenbach, Ch. 01-03.

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 9 - A Successful Arrest 

"Thank you for coming, Don." Susan Wexler said as she came into Room 1822 of the Marriott Grande Hotel on Saturday morning, June 20th. It was a very nice suite, with a living room, a back office room, and a luxurious bedroom suite. I was sitting on a sofa in the front room, and had not gotten up when Susan walked in.

Susan looked good, in a tight dress meant to show off her body, sheer black stockings on her sexy legs, and high heel black pumps. I wondered if she dressed like that to entice me into bed as she said "How are you feeling?"

"I didn't get a lot of sleep last night." I said. "Henry Wargrave got away from the FBI."

"I'm not surprised." said Susan. "Henry Wargrave is a great man. The FBI is peanuts compared to him. Why they thought they could bring him down, I'll never understand, but I can tell you this: Henry Wargrave will never stand trial for those... 'alleged' crimes."

"I totally agree with you." I said. "But for different reasons. You sound like you're on his side about things." I said.

Susan was staring at me, a peculiar look on her face. "I just know that the FBI has no earthly idea what they're up against. Mark my words, Don... Mr. Wargrave will win and the FBI will be caught flat-footed and looking silly, like they always do."

I said "Wow, sounds like you have no love lost for the Federalés.

"No, I don't." said Wexler. "Those God-damned incompetents are worse than the SBI when it comes to fucking up my cases, not to mention trying to jump in and steal all the glory after we make the bust. Don't tell me you have no problem with them doing that to you, or that it doesn't burn you up when they take the credit."

I smiled. "No... I don't have that problem. And time will tell if you're right about them and Wargrave. So... what do you have on the Cherie Ward case?"

"Just this." Susan said. "It's going nowhere. Your culprit won't be found, and even if he was found, there's no evidence to convict."

"Oh really?" I asked. "How can you be so sure of that? Especially about the other case, Nicole Stanton..."

"Because there is nothing there." Susan said. "I followed the FBI's case, trying to protect my own resource Cherie. As I told you earlier, I believe the FBI's fucked-up investigation of that case led to the exposure of Cherie, and her murder."

"And as I told you, that's not the case." I said. "So really, Susan... why did you bring me here?" Susan smiled, knowing that I was through bullshitting.

"Just to give you this." she said, handing me a DVD in a jewel case. "Do you know what's on that copy, with the original safely hidden away? It's you fucking me in Room 609 the other day."

"I see." I said. "And why are you sharing sex tapes with me, even when it's you and me on the tape? Gonna give it to KSTD?"

"I might." Susan said. "But that's not what's important: the bottom line here is that I told the SBI to drop the case, per the new law you helped write." Susan's face was getting just a bit ugly as she talked. "Apparently the hint didn't get through. So now I'm telling you... walk away from the case, stay away from it... and from helping the FBI's persecution of Mr. Wargrave."

"Ohhhh, I see." I said. "This is his suite. Maybe you or he is recording this right now. And you think blackmailing me to walk away from the case will work?"

"Oh I don't know." Susan said smartly. "If you don't want your wife seeing those hot little movies, and if you don't want your Town Council's members getting a copy of your little 'iron crowbar' in my sweet little pussy, colluding with fellow officers in the most wrongful of ways."

"I do appreciate this video." I said. "I'm sure my wife will enjoy it. You do realize who and what she is, don't you?"

"What do you mean?" Susan warily asked.

"She's a tenured and full Professor of Psychology at the University." I said. "Her focus is sexual studies. She'll probably evaluate this video and grade my performance, but she certainly won't be shocked or worried about it... especially since I told her already that I fucked you. My wife and I have an honest, open marriage."

"I doubt your Town Council will be as open about that." Susan said, but I could see on her face she was getting worried. Her gambit was not working.

"I do have to agree..." I said, "... that Councilman Pastor Westboro, being a Baptist preacher, might take some offense to this. Or who knows, he might enjoy it in secret. But the bottom line, here, Susan... is that nobody really cares if I'm fucking a City Vice cop. In fact, the guys will congratulate me for tapping a hot MILF like yourself, and the women might pretend shock but will secretly be jealous that you got some of what they want."

"Damn, you are arrogant, aren't you?" Wexler snarled. "But you're bluffing. You may think this won't hurt you, but you'll find out that you're wrong when the Media blasts it out all over the place. The Media loves taking down successful people like you; they just love tearing apart those who do good and powerful things. With this... they'll rip you apart in public, they'll take you off your little pedestal. Now you can walk away from the case... or you can endure some pain. I have friends that will make sure you feel the pain, including a former newswoman who knows how to deal with arrogant assholes like you."

"Okay." I said agreeably. "I'll walk away." I went to the door.

Susan looked bewildered. I then said "I'll walk away from this, just as soon as it's over." With that I opened the door, and Jack Muscone and Lindy Linares appeared, followed by a blue crowbar and the woman holding it, Cindy Ross.

I said "Susan Wexler, you are under arrest for the murders of Nicole Stanton and Cherie Ward, both human beings. You have the right to remain silent..." As I recited Susan's considerable legal rights to her, Lindy Linares was affixing the handcuffs to her wrists behind her back, having removed Susan's three handguns from various places on her person...

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

We did not take Susan Wexler to the City Police Headquarters but to the FBI offices in the City, as the Stanton murder was a Federal crime and the Feds had first dibs and the right to keep her. What with the potential corruption in the City Police, as well as Susan Wexler being a very high ranking officer, we knew there was no way we'd let the City P.D. keep her.

We had to wait until 10:00am for her lawyer to arrive, a lawyer that she immediately asked for when she was arrested. Consider me 'not surprised' that it was a lawyer from Gresham & Mason, P.C.; indeed, he was the same legal beagle that had represented Alicia Foster in the Credit Card Caper. Leaving Cindy, Sapper Warren, Robin Ventura and Arthur Wilshire to watch from behind the glass, I followed the U.S. Attorney and Jack Muscone into the interrogation room... and was pleased at the sound as the lawyer groaned at the sight of me.

The U.S. Attorney was the same black man that had been insulted by Tommy Gunn during the Black Badge case. And he was all over this case like white on rice.

"Did Ms. Wexler invoke?" was the first thing he asked.

"Not in my presence." I said. "She only demanded an attorney before any questioning."

Per normal procedures, the U.S. Attorney read Susan her rights, then asked if she understood them. She replied "Go to hell, nigger."

"Well, so much any bail or deals." the man said, getting up. As he left the room, he said, "She's all yours, Commander Troy."

"Okay, Susan," I said. "I'll just lay out the evidence here, so that you and your attorney from Gresham & Mason will understand fully just how deep the hole is that you've dug for yourself."

I began: "First, we have DNA evidence from under Nicole Stanton's fingernails, which I'm willing to bet is going to match your DNA sample we took from you under a physical evidence warrant after arresting you. That alone will put you at the Stanton crime scene.

"Second, while you were meeting me in Room 1822, the FBI and City Internal Affairs were jointly conducting a search of your home under warrants issued by Federal and State Courts, with the City Police Union represented as observers. And they found Nicole Stanton's registered gun, which likely was taken from her purse when she was murdered, but in any case should really not be in your apartment, now should it. We also found the .22 LR semi-automatic pistol that I strongly suspect will match ballistically with the bullet fired into Cherie Ward's head. I must admit I was wrong there; I thought it'd be a .22 Magnum."

I continued: "Third, we have the very interesting case of the credit card. The credit card that Sapper Warren found as 'evidence' was actually created by my FBI friends. The name on it was Cherie Ward, which you would expect to see. But the number on the card... was the number of Nicole Stanton's card that was found at her crime scene."

"So, Susan," I said, "after Sapper gave you and Wilshire that card, you allegedly ran the number and came up with the information on Cherie's card... but with a few changes to your C.I. police record of it. It was suggested in the meeting, which was recorded, that your Lieutenant, James Rogan, was involved in Cherie being a C.I... which directly contradicts what you told myself and Captain Ross at the crime scene. Then Rogan's name appears on that report as the handler of Cherie, and the person who gave her that card. Funny how his name appeared only after it was 'suggested' that Rogan was the mole. But he wasn't, was he Susan?"

"That's entrapment." said Susan's lawyer.

"No sir, it's a sting." I said. "We've got warrants for every part of this, for creating the credit card to how we were going to do the sting. All approved by the judge. Of course, the result is that you gave us the report on Cherie's credit card... after being given Nicole's credit card number. You didn't run the number, you just saw Cherie's name on the card, brought up her report, changed some items to protect the guilty, and gave a false report back to the other officers, as well as City I.A., attempting to implicate an innocent man."

"You'll never prove that." said the lawyer.

"Won't I?" I asked. "Just look through these warrants, Counselor. One of them was to let our undercover agent put software on Susan's computer, software that traces what she did, what apps she brought up, and such. It also records her keystrokes, and all that. We've got her pulling up Cherie's card without typing a number, changing the data on it, then spitting out those false reports. This is rock-solid stuff, Counselor." The legal beagle did not look very happy.

"Last, but not least," I said, "is the circumstantial evidence that will build up, especially in Cherie's case. It was you, Susan, who kept both Rooms 509 and 609 on retainer, but paying Cherie's agency to pay for Room 509. You bugged Room 509 to the hilt, and Cherie was helping you get information, maybe for police business... and maybe to use in criminal enterprises, as well. Rich clients who work in companies that have industrial secrets, maybe."

"Also, I have noticed a certain pattern: one gang operating in each of several zones in the City, and the Police busting all the others that try to come in. Your busts have been spectacular, Susan, but one gang in each area seems to remain untouched." Susan's eyes burned at me as she realized I'd figured that one out.

"So Cherie was your agent, Susan," I said, "and she was a double or triple agent, taking pay from others in exchange for information, as well. She burned the candle from too many ends, and she got burned at the last."

"As to Nicole..." I said. "She wasn't your C.I. directly, but she was on your payroll... as your hedge against your partner in crime, Henry R. Wargrave. He was paying and using Cherie for information, and entrapping men into sexual indiscretions, but you had to make sure he didn't try to burn you. So that was Nicole's role, to watch over Cherie.

"But something went wrong. Maybe she was turned by Michael Burke, and so you had to eliminate Nicole. And then you ultimately had to burn Cherie... permanently... because she was of no further use to you. She was exposed, and while you pretended to continue to use her to get secrets from men, you knew she was increasingly more of a liability than an asset. She was doomed to die, anyway, so maybe you justified it by telling yourself that you made it as painless as possible for her..."

I saw the first slightest emotion in Susan's eyes, other than anger at me, upon that last statement. I decided to pile on.

"By the way," I said, "we didn't just put this together yesterday. We've been watching you for months." I pointed at the one-way glass. A second later, Arthur Wilshire came into the room.

"Captain Wexler," he said, "my name is Special Agent Arthur Wilshire of the FBI. My home office is Boston. I was asked to come in and watch you as a suspect in the Stanton case, as you became a suspect last March. I was the one that tapped your computer lines, so that we could amass evidence on your illegal activities."

"You bastard." Susan said quietly. "Okay, I need to confer with my lawyer." We got up and left the room. It would be over thirty long minutes before they were done privately talking.

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

"What kind of deal will you give my client, in exchange for her truthful answers and possible testimony against others?" the lawyer asked.

"It depends on what she has for us, and who else she can bring to us." said the new U.S. Attorney that had come in, who was white. "Let's hear it."

"Speaking hypothetically?" asked the lawyer.

"No." I said, my voice cutting, interrupting what the U.S. Attorney was trying to make an exclusive discussion with the lawyer. "I don't like that game. Perps always weasel out doing it."

What would happen is that a perp would tell the story 'hypothetically', then the prosecutors could potentially decide to honor a deal offer. The problem was that defense lawyers often backed out of the deal, and then it was impossible to use the perp's statement against themselves.

I said "I have enough to convict her, we don't need her testimony. She can cut a deal and admit to her crimes to take death off the table, but I wouldn't give her anything else."

"What if she's offering you something bigger? Someone bigger?" asked the attorney. Was that a direct enticement to me to get Susan off the hook?

"Now I know you're bullshitting me." I said, then turned to the U.S. Attorney and Jack Muscone. "Guys, if Wexler could give us anything that big, the Gresham & Mason attorneys would never let her do it." The lawyer stared daggers at me, then I saw his face change slightly... as he realized the full import of my emphasis of his firm and their attorneys.

"I'll go further with it." I said. "I don't think Susan will give up the name I want to hear, if she even knows it. Because she'll be dead in 24 hours if she does."

"If you believe that," said the U.S. Attorney, "then she'll be dead in 24 hours if she doesn't." My suspicions about this U.S. Attorney immediately soared, but I held my tongue.

"I'll still fight for State murder charges for Cherie and the death penalty, no matter what you do on behalf of the Feds." I said to the U.S. Attorney.

"Let's talk outside." said the U.S. Attorney. Once in the hallway, he lit into me.

"What the fuck are you trying to do?" he snarled at me. "We can cut a deal, get the names of a lot of other dirty cops in City P.D. for them to clean up. We can interdict these drug gangs. And last but not least, we've got DNA for Stanton, but nothing for Cherie."

"Except the gun that killed Cherie found in her home." I said acidly. "That's more than enough. And let me tell you this: She will only give you the names she wants to, not the ones you really need to hear, and then you'll later realize you have nothing and it'll be too late. You, sir, have no way of knowing if what she's telling you 'hypothetically' is worth a shit or not. I do. But I'm not going to play that game. Let her sweat. If she doesn't come correct, then she goes down for Murder-1 in this State."

"That's not your decision to make." the U.S. Attorney tried.

"Yes it is." I said. "I represent the SBI on this case. It's my call to make on the State murder charges until I hand it over to the District Attorney for this region of the City. You, sir, have no idea who you are dealing with. I do. Either you follow my lead, or we just won't be on the same page."

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

I had the good fortune that Jack Muscone was taking my side, therefore his boss was taking my side, in the argument with the U.S. Attorney. The black U.S. Attorney also wanted no deals for Susan, which was understandable after what she'd called him. Jack's boss brought me in for a private talk.

"You think Wexler knows something about Superior Bloodlines?" he asked, after I'd told him of my suspicions of the white U.S. Attorney, as well as pointing out that Gresham & Mason had rushed to Wexler's defense.

"I don't know." I said. "On the one hand, her pattern is exactly like Harold Malone's: setting up exclusive drug distribution rights in a zone, using the Police to bust any others; and, of course, she called the U.S. Attorney a 'nigger'. But how much she knows about Superior Bloodlines? That, I don't know... and you won't get that out of her unless you do know. I think she's been working with Wargrave, and maybe with our Consultant of Crime. It's his name I'm angling to get from her. If she has something on him, we can bust his chops and then I can start working with you on the Bloodlines group."

"All right." he said. "But get something, and soon. Even I can't keep the U.S. Attorney from winning this one if the DOJ backs him up. And you may be right about that U.S. Attorney: with all the moles infesting every level of our organizations, there is no telling who is honest, who is corrupt, and what might happen."

Just then I got a phone call... from Val Jared, Governor of the State.

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

At 2:30pm, Susan's lawyer asked us back into the Interrogation room. She was in a holding cell, having been taken there for lunch, and he was taking the opportunity to negotiate with us.




Reichenbach Ch. 03



"All right guys." he said. "Put something on the table, a starting point we can work with."

"Full immunity if her information leads to the arrest and convictions of higher level organized crime figures." said the U.S. Attorney.

"No more than death off the table if she confesses and cooperates fully." I said, countering the U.S. Attorney completely. "No immunity. At all. Ever."

"I can see you guys aren't together on this." said the attorney. "We have to have a level of agreement. And I don't accept your offer, Lieutenant Troy, it's not nearly enough." He was using my rank within the SBI, which was Lieutenant, and I could tell that was a deliberate game. But I was not playing little shit games like that.

"Then there's no deal at all at the State level. At all." I said. "Your client's problem is that there are two crimes, one on Federal lands, and one here in the City... which despite their desire for autonomy, is still in my State. And I've already had a call from the Governor himself, backing me up all the way. The Feds can't give her immunity if we don't agree to it; if they do, we'll fight that in Court, and we'll win."

"Why are you doing this?" the lawyer asked, his eyes boring into me. The U.S. Attorney was also staring at me with as much hatred as he could muster.

"Let's stop the bullshit." I said. "Susan Wexler cannot give the Feds what they really want. But she can, and will, give me what I want, or she's not going to last very long in any jail. She'll never get immunity. City I.A. is just beginning to look into her real drug dealing career, and God only knows how much they'll find. No way she's immunized from everything, no way at all. Ever."

"For God's sake!" gasped the U.S. Attorney. He flicked his card over the table to the lawyer. "Here's my card. We'll talk privately when this fucking asshole isn't around." With that, he got up and left the room.

"Well, Lieutenant," said the lawyer, trying to play the intellectual with me, "I'll just deal with him, the Feds will take precedence, they'll run roughshod over the State. The Tenth Amendment ain't worth shit anymore." He got up as if to go. "So you have a nice day crying about no immunity."

"I guess you didn't hear everything that I said." I intoned, keeping my voice low and severe to impart menace. "I'll say the important part again: your client is not going to last very long in any jail if you give her to the Feds. Maybe that's what you and Gresham & Mason's real clients want. So you decide what's in your client's best interests, Counselor..."

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

Thirty minutes later, Jack Muscone, Cindy and myself sat on one side of the table, along with an attorney from the City's District Attorney's office, a voluptuous woman with a mane of brown hair that was poorly highlighted with blonde streaks. On the other side of the table was Susan Wexler and her attorney.

"We can take it down to Murder-3," said the City A.D.A. "if Ms. Wexler cooperates fully, gives us everything she knows about the murders, including her associates, and then cooperates fully with City P.D.'s Internal Affairs. And that's going to mean going over years of cases, and giving up a lot of names of dirty associates there."

"She'd be dead in prison in an hour if she did that." said her attorney, trying my own gambit against the State's people. The State attorney looked at me. I just nodded. 

The State attorney said "We can protect her. And after she cooperates fully, then one week from when we're finished we'll transfer her to custody of the Feds. They can incarcerate her out of the State, in solitary in a Supermax prison. She'll be bored, but she'll stay alive. If she ever returns to this State and is caught, she goes to non-protective-custody in State Prison, and no, I would not want to be her if she's put in there. But if she works with us we'll give her to the Feds, who seem to be much more willing to take it easy on her."

"I'll take that." Susan Wexler said. Her lawyer tried to get her to haggle for more, but she shook her head. "I'll take this." she said, then looked at me. "Commander, what do you want to know."

"Nicole Stanton. How, why, and for who." I replied.

"For Henry Wargrave." replied Susan. "He personally had me do it. He said he would have Cherie send Nicole home early on some pretext. Apparently she got one of the Burkes to send Nicole on away. I had driven up after them in a rented car. That rental was on Cherie's C.I. card that I gave her, which is why I had to make the card disappear, then take that item off when I gave them the fake data. If they didn't find it, great. If they did, they'd blame Rogan."

"So when Nicole came outside of the Burke cabin," I said, "you got her attention?"

"Yes." Wexler said. "Nicole was on my payroll, so she knew me. She was shocked when she saw me, but she let me into the car. I said my car was broken down further down the road. She took me down there, and I pulled her gun out of her purse and trained it on her. We got out, I cut her up, then drove off in my rental and back home."

"Makes sense, and fits the facts." I said. "Why did Wargrave want her dead?"

"I don't know." said Wexler. "Honestly, I don't know."

"Did Michael Burke have anything to do with her death?" I asked. "Maybe he was the reason behind Wargrave wanting you to kill Nicole?"

"If that's the case, I have no knowledge of it." said Susan. "But I'll tell you this, to give you a couple of names. Your district's U.S. Congressman, Gerald Condor, he has his fingers in a lot of pies. And your State Senator, Katherine Woodburn... her name began coming up all over the place. She and Henry Wargrave were tight, much more so than people realize. Look into them, and you might find more answers."

"Thank you for that." I said, noting the Gresham & Mason lawyer's face had acquired a pained look when Woodburn's name was mentioned. "Okay, what about Cherie?"

"As you surmised, she'd long since outlived her usefulness to me." Susan said. "She was exposed as a C.I., and no, it wasn't due to the Stanton murder. Someone found out anyway. I suspect it's someone in your Town, Commander, who relayed the information to criminals here."

I nodded as Wexler continued: "So, I told her to go to Room 509, and I'd come meet with her later... and for her to get some sleep if I didn't arrive on time. Sure enough, she went to bed. When I got there, I let myself in with my key. She was in bed and I told her to stay there; she was half-asleep as it was. Then I just took the gun, eased onto the bed behind her and shot her, then left and went back to Room 609. I'd had control of the Hotel security cameras on those floors for a long time; it was nothing to take them out."

"And maybe bribe the Hotel staff to make sure." I said.

"You seem to know a lot about it, Commander." said Wexler. "Was it you that set up that sting?"

"I just have one more question." I said. "The person that told Wargrave to eliminate Nicole, and the person who exposed Cherie... you know who it is, don't you? Condor? Woodburn?"

"No. They're small time, bit players. We're talking someone big, here." said Susan, her eyes locked with mine. "I know there's someone there, someone really big. Harold Malone called him the Shadow Man, because he stays in the shadows and has other people do his work. I also know the Shadow Man got pissed at Wargrave about something. That's when Cherie got outed; she was working for Wargrave a lot, and this bastard had her outed to hurt Wargrave."

As I pondered her words, Susan peered harder at me. "Oh. My. God. You know, don't you? You know who and what he is..."

I smiled briefly. I felt the lawyer peering hard at me, and I made sure to look hard right back at him. He understood, and I wanted him to understand.

I turned back to Susan and said "And my chances of keeping you alive would improve exponentially if you can give me something solid on him. Something I can use to convict the son of a bitch." I again looked hard at the lawyer. He was not peering hard at me now, nor even looking at me at all.

Susan did look at me. "I wish I could. But he's too smart for that. He leaves no traces. All I can tell you from years of rumors in the drug gangs is that he uses disguises very effectively. He's there one day, he's there the next day and looking like someone else, and you didn't notice either time, and then he's just gone. He just... blends in. You have no hope against him, Commander Troy, no hope. None."

"We'll see about that." I said. "Okay Jack, she's yours." With that, I got up, Cindy following. We went to make our goodbyes with the City Police.

"Great job, guys." Robin Ventura said, smiling brightly. "You have no idea of the hornet's nest you've created here."

"That was indeed a beautiful job," said Sapper Warren, "seeing it, solving it, and getting something on her. We'd never have been able to do that."

"Unfortunately, that's true." I said. "She was too high up in the City Police Force. I didn't say anything in meetings with you, because it would've gotten back to her, and she would've taken precautions. There's no way the City Police could make a case against one of their own. But now... maybe you guys can clean up some internal messes, but do keep your heads on swivels. It could get rough."

But nowhere near as rough as what was coming my way, I thought to myself. An east wind was blowing...

Part 10 - The Ride Home, Redux 

It was getting late Saturday afternoon as we were driving back home.

"So, Crowbar 2," I said to Cindy, "what led you to thinking it was Susan?"

"The Stanton case." Cindy said. "It struck me about you saying that Nicole had to trust whoever she let into the car, and ditto that for Cherie. Who was the only person that both ladies trusted? There may be others, but Captain Wexler was the only one that both women trusted and were possibly C.I.s for. But you knew far more than me."

"True," I said, "and by putting that one link together, you'd have been able to start piecing together a lot more. So you knew enough to get the rest. I'm just the shortcut."

"When did you figure it out?" asked Cindy.

"Oh, she was on my suspect list from the time I went to investigate Nicole's death at Lake Amengi-Nunagen." I said. "As soon as it became clear to me that Cherie was Wexler's C.I. You're absolutely right, Cindy: it had to be someone Nicole trusted and someone Cherie trusted, and Susan Wexler was at the top of that list. It was my biggest tell, also. But there were also other suspects, including Wargrave and Michael Burke, and even Cherie herself in Nicole's murder."

"When the FBI got the DNA data back, but it was not in any criminal database." I said. "That showed me that the killer was not a criminal with a previous record where DNA was obtained. And they forgot to look in non-criminal databases or check local databases, where Susan's DNA might have shown up. I have had a very good conversation with Jack Muscone's boss about that, and you may expect changes within the FBI in that regard in the near future."

"As long as he doesn't hire you away from us permanently." said Cindy.

"No worries about that." I reassured my partner, then continued: "So when Cherie was killed, I was hoping that the City's CSI team would find Susan's DNA in the drains, and that it'd come up a match in a database, to give everyone the clue they needed. But that came up 'no joy', so I had to keep digging."

"I knew circumstantially that it was Susan Wexler." I further said. "But I also knew that the City Police is very political, and they have some bad, bad apples in there. So just telling Sapper and Ventura what I was thinking would just put them in danger of being murdered, too."

"I had the feeling that you were trying to lead the horses to water incrementally." Cindy said. "Having the FBI go in and find the bugs and cameras, and such stuff."

"Yep." I said. "And look who arrived three minutes after the FBI did. Susan Wexler. She was tipped off, and very quickly. That confirmed to me about the moles. Also, I constantly brought it up about the killer possibly being a woman. That was as overt a clue as I could give without actually saying 'Hey guys! it's Susan Wexler!'."

"True." Cindy said.

"But yes, I'd been ahead of the game." I said. "A while back, I asked Jack's boss to consider sending in a mole to watch Wexler, see if they could get something on her and maybe even others within the City Police. They sent Arthur Wilshire, who got into Susan's good graces by seducing her and fucking her brains out a few times." I tried not to smile at Cindy's 'TMI' look for that.

I continued: "Unfortunately, Wilshire couldn't get any evidence or intel before Cherie was murdered. But someone remembered Cherie's credit card, and I knew what Nicole's credit cards were because the killer left them at the scene... a small slip, there."

"And Susan kept Nicole's gun?" Cindy said. "How fucking stupid is that?"

"She always had an idea she could plant in on a perp at some time in the future, I think." I said. "Also, if it were found, she'd just say Nicole gave it to her for safekeeping, or some such. But you're right... in the overall, it was stupid. Susan just didn't expect to get caught."

"Yeah, to the point she actually called the Iron Crowbar into the case." Cindy said, grinning. "That's not a little slip, that's a King Kong banana peel, there."

I laughed. "True. And even worse calling in both of us. But you know, I think she did that for other reasons. She needed to know how much I knew about things. I think the idea was suggested to her... by someone else. And maybe not Wargrave, for whom she was loyally working."

"Loyally?" Cindy said, her voice biting in its sarcasm. "She gave up his name as fast as she could. Congressman Condor and Senator Woodburn, too."

"Yes, I noticed that also." I said idly. "As I told that corrupt U.S. Attorney, the white one: she gave up only what she wanted to. She's shielding someone else, or a group of someone elses. My sneaking suspicion is Superior Bloodlines. Just between you and me, Cindy, I think Nicole Stanton might've been peeking into them for the Feds, and that is actually what got her murdered. Cherie didn't really know about any of it; she was almost an innocent bystander in all this."

"Could be." said Cindy. "It's just too bad... well, it's too bad that Cherie couldn't have been saved, somehow."

"Yeah." I said. "Shigata ga nai, neh? That means something like 'what can one do?' in Japanese... I think.

"Whatever that means." Cindy said. As she looked out the window at the scenery, I was was thinking as I drove. Yes, it was too bad Cherie could not have been saved, but it also was a blessing in disguise. Only Cherie knew that someone had taken a vial of poison from her and flushed it, and was there when Senator Nathan Allen died.

Only Cherie could possibly have identified the woman that had taken that vial from her. That only potential witness, Cherie Ward, was now gone. No, I never would've gone out and killed Cherie, and she was likely doomed anyway... but like a rifle barrel melting in a furnace, evidence of an excursion into the Dark Side of the Force was now gone.

Part 11 - Distractions 

"This is Amber Harris, KXTC Channel Two News!" said the lovely buxom blonde reporterette at 11:00pm Saturday night. "Channel Two News has learned that a shocking arrest has been made in the City! Captain Susan Wexler, a longtime veteran and legendary figure in the City Police Force, was arrested for two murders, and sources tell Channel Two News that Town & County Police Commander Donald Troy solved the murders and made the arrest in his capacity as an SBI Reservist!"

Henry R. Wargrave just stared at the television set as he watched. He was alone in the home at Reservoir Lake of his friend, University booster Tom Riordan. Tom Riordan was in his condo near the University in Town, and his wife Janet, who was now separated from Tom, was living in Hillside, the seat of Nextdoor County.

Another of his (Wargrave's) associates had fallen, Wargrave thought to himself. Captain Susan Wexler had been an integral part of his operations, his marked card deep within the City Police. And like Wargrave himself, Wexler had been betrayed. And now the Iron Crowbar has taken her down, Wargrave thought. They were falling like tenpins, like Ten Little Indians...

Wargrave remembered the rhyme, and the exchange of words with the Iron Crowbar. (Author's note: see 'Dark Side of the Force', Ch. 5, Part 24 to refresh your memories.). And now, there were only two little Indians left: himself, also about to fall, and the great Consultant of Crime who would be much less forgiving of the Iron Crowbar and the bitch the CIA had codenamed 'Scorpion'. That man would crush every wet bit of existence out of them both, leaving barely a couple of stains on the carpet...

Unless I kill her first, Wargrave thought to himself. Unless I kill her first...

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

"Thank you, Juanita." said Laura Fredricson in her office in the Psychology Building on Campus. "Now I understand you have just obtained employment with Jeanine Burke?"

"Yes, ma'am." said Juanita, the pretty Latina housemaid... well, actually a promising young agent of the CIA and working for Gayle Roberts and Laura.

"Okay, go to that. Don't go back to the Wargrave home; it will be too dangerous." Laura said. With that, Juanita made her good-byes and left.

Laura sat at her desk, thinking of the situation. So Henry Wargrave was about to come at her, was he? She smiled as she remembered how even her husband Don had been very afraid at his first confrontation with Wargrave, which had occurred right here in this office. And now Don was not only ready to see the emasculated, neutered Wargrave finished off, he was going up against a much, much bigger threat. Laura idly wondered exactly when Don had lost his fear of Wargrave.

At that moment, there was a knock on the side door, followed by her husband entering the room. As always, Laura's loins melted at the sight of him... tall, broad-shouldered, light-haired like she loved, and very confident and secure in himself. She'd snagged one hell of a man, she thought to herself.

"Hello, Beautiful." I said as I entered the office. "Ready to go home? It's past Bowser's suppertime."

Laura pretended to scowl as she said "That lucky dog gets more attention from you than I do."

"Oh, that's not true." I said, walking up to the desk. "You get me in bed all night."

"That's true." Laura said, flashing me that beautiful smile of hers. "I do have some things to tell you. Wargrave is possibly planning to move against us." She told me what she'd learned about Wargrave's desperate plans.

"I've got that handled." I said. "He'd better pay more attention to his own wife than trying to bother mine." I slid my hands around Laura's waist, and she slipped her arms around my neck.

"Oh, by the way," she said, "congratulations on catching Susan Wexler. The FBI is once again very, very impressed. Not only in the way you solved it, but the way you were able to actually get evidence on her. It's hard to get evidence on a dirty cop... as I guess you know from dealing with Sharples."

"Yes." I said. "I guess it takes a cop to catch a cop. And Sharples' time is coming. At least he's quietly and passionately working on that child trafficking case... for now."

"Well, that can wait." Laura said, "Let's gather the children from the back room and go home." She kissed my mouth warmly. "And I'm definitely going to give you a long hard night in bed. Here, take your gray viagra."

"Mmmm," I said, easing her back to the desk as I swallowed the little gray pill. "I sure don't need it when I look at you, baby. In fact, before we go home, I'm going to fuck you right here on your desk." My cock was as iron hard as my crowbar, and I wanted to fuck my wife right there and then.




Reichenbach Ch. 03



"Ooooooo..." Laura said. She sat at the edge of her desk, pulling her legs up until her high heels were on the edge of the desk on either side of her pussy. As I kissed Laura deeply, I slid one finger, then two into her snatch, finding her sopping wet and ready for more. I unzipped my pants and fished out my throbbing cock.

"Ohhhhhhh!" Laura moaned as I stepped up between her legs and inserted my cock into her opening. I pushed forward, and we both groaned as I sank my meat into her hot, wet cunt until our pelvises met. Withdrawing slightly, I drove in again, then began fucking this incredible woman in a smooth, hard rhythm...

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

Sunday morning, June 21st. The official start of Summer meant some serious summer heat in the ol' Town & County. With Wargrave indicted and officially a fugitive from Justice, the TCPD was on heightened alert.

So was the University Campus Police. I was in my office at Police Headquarters, finishing up my reports for the SBI on the Wexler case, when I got a phone call from Lt. Bill Hanson of the Campus Police, asking me to come down to his Headquarters.

"What's up, Bill?" I said as I got to his office.

"Hi, Don." he said. We were on a first name basis as operational leaders of our respective Police Forces, at least when not in public. "We followed your advice to be on the watch for people observing your wife's office area as well as your home on the hill, which is on the back end of the Campus property. And we did as you asked, videotaped people who seemed to be watching."

"And you caught a couple of bozos?" I asked, elated.

"We sure did." Hanson said. "They both lawyered up immediately. We let them call their lawyers, and they'll be here in a few minutes."

"Which law firm?" I asked. 

"Different ones." said Hanson. "Jason Tamarino called Sommes, Worthingdon and Williams. Jason is a student here, Junior, majoring in Fine Arts. Other kid calls himself 'Paco Valdez'. No ID on him at all, but we think he is a student, too. He's just not giving us anything, including his real name. Paco called Chase, Lynch & Berry."

"Ahhhhh." I said. "He's the guy I need to be in front of, then."

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

As Jason's lawyer arrived, we brought Jason into the Conference/Interrogation Room. Along with myself and Lt. Hanson, Cadet Police Officer James Tarleton also was present for the purposes of training. Tarleton looked vaguely familiar to me, but I didn't know why.

Suddenly, the door to the Conference/Interrogation Room flew open. A tall, slender man walked in. He was wearing a dark gray suit, white shirt and silk tie, and carried a black briefcase. His black hair was slicked back, and his forced, set smile revealed brilliantly white teeth, almost too much so. He was handsome, but had a slick, oily look to him that bespoke of a snake-oil salesman.

Lt. Hanson was frowning at the man, while I was working very hard to not break out laughing.

"My name is Charles Jefferson Worthingdon The Third," he announced, in a half-English accent, "of the Sommes, Worthingdon and Williams law firm. I am here representing the interests of young Jason. I trust you have not asked him any questions before my arrival?"

"Not at all, 'Slick'. He lawyered up and we've asked no questions." I said, remembering Todd's name for this legal beagle, the man who'd been having an affair with my sister Elizabeth and had been Ned's representative when Melina, Todd and I first delivered Ned to the Campus Police. Oh, those memories...

Sommes frowned at my little nickname for him, then he recognized me. "Oh. My. God. It can not be..."

"Oh, it is." I said, grinning. "Have a seat, Worthingdon The Third. Do you want to confer with your client before we begin?"

"Yes, that would be best." Worthingdon said. We left them alone for a few minutes.

"Sir," said Cadet Tarleton to me as we waited in the dark room behind the one-way glass, watching but not listening to Jason Tamarino and Worthingdon The Third, "I just want to say it's an honor to meet you and work with you, sir."

"Thanks, Officer Tarleton." I said. "So you want to be a police officer?"

"Uh, I'm majoring in Public Relations and Personnel Management, sir." said Tarleton. "I like being a Campus Police Officer, but what I really want to do is be like Dr. Eckhart of 'The Vision'. Do you know him, sir?"

"Yes, I do happen to know him." I said, with an inward smile. "I didn't catch that rune necklace under your shirt right away. You've been with 'The Vision'?"

"Yes sir, and no sir." said Tarleton. "I volunteered at the camps for a couple of years after attending one of Dr. Eckhart's seminars. I don't work there full time nor live there, but he's financing my college tuition. He's done that for a lot of people."

"Yes, I know." I said. "But he doesn't do that for just anyone. He must think a lot of you--" Just then, Worthingdon got up and tapped on the one-way glass. We all went inside the room.

"I find it hard to believe that you've arrested Jason just for being on campus where he's a student." said Worthingdon. "How in the world are you going to show any malicious intent on his part?"

"Officer Tarleton, would you mind?" said Lt. Hanson, as an instruction. Tarleton began a video, which we watched. It showed someone filming Jason Tamarino, sitting on the same bench I'd sat on while waiting for Skinny Beard to show himself. He looked like he was studying, but several times brought small binoculars to his eyes, looking at the building and also the parking lot.

"This goes on for more than an hour." said Lt. Hanson. "He makes cellphone texts, as well. In conjunction with the other perp we caught, we're getting a warrant to confiscate that cellphone and get the texts Jason sent. It's obvious that he has the Psychology Building under observation."

"So what?" said Worthingdon, his voice oily and smooth. "It's not a crime to watch a building. He's a Fine Arts major, he could photograph it and paint it if he wanted to. So why don't we stop wasting time and you tell me what is really going on with you."

At least this guy wasn't a Chase, Lynch & Berry jerk, I thought as I said "The reason there's a problem is because of who works in that building. There have been threats made against Dr. Laura Fredricson. Our next move is to call the FBI about Jason keeping her workplace under observation."

"Oh, I remember that bitch from the last time I saw you." said Worthingdon disdainfully. " We were in her office-- what?" I had stood up, menacingly, tapping a red crowbar in my other hand.

"Watch your language, Slick." I said. "Dr. Fredricson is my wife now. Say that about her again, and I will rip your God-damn head off." Worthingdon did not reply. He was speechless with shock, gaping up at me.

I sat down, having sufficiently rattled the legal beagle. "So to be very clear here, Jason," I said, turning my full attention on the young 'Fine Arts' punk in front of me, "you're in a lot more trouble than you might realize. If someone paid you to watch the building and to report a person's movements, you might not realize what you're doing, but it doesn't look that way right now. So I'd suggest you come correct and tell us all about it."

Worthingdon leaned over and whispered something to Jason, who nodded. Worthingdon said "You really don't think this is going to hold up, do you?" He was trying to bluff. I called it.

"Let me re-state what I just said, which perhaps whizzed by you." I said. "Our next step is to call in the FBI. They consider the threats against Dr. Fredricson to be serious, even terroristic in nature. They are going to crawl up your ass so far that you won't be able to take a dump for six months, Jason. You won't be a student here at school, either; you'll be suspended, maybe even expelled. Now, you need to take advantage of this lawyer's presence, and hopefully get good advice that will keep your life from being utterly destroyed from this minute forward."

I leaned back in my chair, waiting. Jason was clearly frightened by the magnitude of what was about to happen to him. The lawyer Worthingdon was in total shock; I don't think he comprehended the gravity of the situation until now, either. But he stepped up and did his job.

"Okay," said Worthingdon, "why don't you offer a deal, we'll do a hypothetical discussion, then go from there."

"No, I don't like to do that." I said. "But if Jason talks hypothetically and I believe what he's telling me... and I think you know, Slick, that I'm capable of knowing if he's lying or not... and then I might even consider this situation not worth my immensely valuable time."

"Okay, hypothetically speaking, then." said Worthingdon. "Jason, tell them what you might hypothetically know, and a hypothetical reason for being where you were."

Jason spoke. "I... I might have been paid to watch the Psychology Building. I know who Dr. Fredricson is, everyone on campus knows who she is, and I might have been told to text a certain phone number if I saw her going in or out."

"How long have you been watching the building? Hypothetically, of course." I asked.

"Yesterday and today." said Jason.

"Who hired you?"

"I don't know who he is." said Jason. "He's one of the Punk crowd at the clubs I go to. I never got his name. He came to my dorm room on Campus, asked me if I wanted to make some money, then handed me that cell phone with the instructions and a hundred dollars. He said I'd get another hundred for today." I asked Jason to describe the Punk.

"Oh," Jason said, "wears all black, sometimes has blue in his hair or blue highlighter around his eyes. Sometimes black lipstick." I regretted that I did not have a photo of Gor-don to show Jason. Something was telling my inner mind that the description fit Jenna's punk assistant all too well...

"And only yesterday and today?" I asked.

"Yes sir." said Jason, his voice sounding defeated.

"You can see this is nothing." said Worthingdon. "I'm inclined to not take any deals and just defend my client all the way through. It's really silly..."

"You haven't even heard the offer, Slick." I said disdainfully. "Jason, if you'll work with an FBI sketch artist to get a rendition of this Punk that hired you, and then make your best effort to never be seen anywhere near the Psychology Building again, I'm inclined to let the charges lapse."

Jason took the deal. I called Jack Muscone to provide a sketch artist.

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

'Paco Valdez' was a short, slender young man. I thought he was much more Black than Hispanic. The Chase, Lynch & Berry attorney, H.J. Lynch himself, was sitting next to him, looking like a pit bull ready to attack at any provocation.

I made sure to re-read Paco his considerable rights before going further. Then Lt. Hanson had the videotape played. Another hour of Paco watching the Mountain Nest from below, Paco still on campus, but half-shrouded in trees where he wouldn't be easily noticed from the campus side. He definitely was watching the house with the binoculars he was seen using on the tape, and making notes as well as texting on occasion.

"My client is invoking his Fifth Amendment rights." said the legal beagle Lynch. "He'll answer no questions. If you want to waste your time prosecuting this silly stuff, go ahead. I'll just bide my time, and humiliate you in Court."

"I doubt the Federal judge is going to let you play those games." I said.

"What?" said Paco, then turned to his lawyer. "Hey man, you said---"

"Shut the fuck up!" roared Lynch. "You can't say anything, even if you want to! Let me talk!" Paco shut up, sufficiently chastised, as Lynch said "Federal charges? Are you frickin' kidding me?"

"Lieutenant," I said to Bill Hanson, "let's not waste our time. Let's give this bastard to the FBI."

"Why, thank you very much!"

The voice of the man coming into the room was FBI Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone, escorted by Special Agent Eduardo Escobar. He introduced himself to the Chase, Lynch & Berry lawyer, and promptly took charge. That's what 'Special Agents In Charge' do.

"I'll watch from the other side." I said, getting up. I had Cadet Tarleton come with me, while Bill Hanson stayed with the FBI agents. As we watched from the other side of the one-way glass, I said to Tarleton: "James, I need a favor."

"Uh, sure, sir, if I can." he said, eager to please.

"I need you to ask Dr. Eckhart to contact me." I said. "Just tell him the Iron Crowbar, and use those words 'Iron Crowbar', and tell him these exact words, that it's 'a matter of urgency'."

"Uh, sure, sir." he said.

"Go make that call now." I said. As Tarleton left the room, I got out my cell phone and texted Tanya Perlman and Myron Milton, saying I needed a photo of Gor-don texted to me ASAP, and to not tell Cindy, Teresa, nor any other Detective of my request.

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

"So the sketch Jason provided looked something like Gor-don." I said. "But when I showed him the picture of Gor-don that Myron texted me, which is Gor-don's ID picture from his D.A. office badge, Jason said he didn't recognize it. I observed his reaction as I showed it, though. He's lying, but I can't really prove that yet."

I was with Jack Muscone, Eduardo Escobar, and my wife Laura in her office in the Psychology Building. We were discussing the situation.

"So why did you let Jason go?" asked Eduardo.

"We got all we could out of him." I said. "He was hired to do this, he doesn't know anything beyond what he told us, and he's now scared to death that he'll be expelled from School. He won't be a problem for us again... at least I don't think he will be."

"We're burning up computer lines looking into him, though." said Jack. "What about 'Paco'? He didn't say a word. We've got him in custody now, and we're running his prints, but he's totally clammed up."

"He's not a student." said Laura. "The Campus Police ran a photo of him against all Student ID pics. Nothing."

"Would you guys say that Paco looks like a very fast runner?" I asked.

"Huh?" said Jack, totally flabbergasted at my seemingly irrelevant question.

"Does Paco look like a fast runner?" I repeated as if not noticing Jack's skepticism. Eduardo said Paco was slender and looked fast, then asked why.

"Someone came around our home a while back." I said. "My excellent watchdog Bowser got very upset."

"Ah yes," said Laura, "I remember that, and I see what you're getting at. The guy watching the house was very fast. He ran back to Campus, as well."

"Yes." I said. "I suspect Paco is living on or near Campus, pretending to be a student. Kind of like Skinny Beard and Barry Bounel..." Reverie time...

Jack said "We're working with the Campus Police and TCPD now, seeing if we can get video of him anywhere. We're going to canvas the Campus, as well. Good training for the Campus Police, and if we get anything at all, we're going to come down on Paco like a freight train roaring out of the High Sierras. We've flagged him as a potential terrorist so he can't get bail, and we've taken Federal custody of him. So Don, you think he was hired by Wargrave to watch you or Laura, or both?"

"Watching her." I said. "And not just because she's so good looking." Laura smiled and blushed slightly as I continued "I think Wargrave definitely is behind it, and I think it's time to... distract him."

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

Just after noon on Sunday, I went to the home of Henry Wargrave here in Town. Mrs. Wargrave was at home... as I hoped.

"I'm sorry, Commander," Lilly Wargrave said, "my husband is not at home."

"First," I said, "please, call me Don. And second, I'm not here to see him. I came to see you, and see how you are doing."

As I spoke, I let my eyes take in Lilly Wargrave. Her light brown hair was cut short, and framed her attractive but not beautiful face nicely. She was wearing a clingy light blue blouse and navy skirt and jacket, sheer blue stockings and very high heel blue pumps. The heels accentuated her height even more than her build, which was tall and very slender.

Her feet were elegant and shapely in them, and her calves were nicely curvy, followed by the lusciously slender tubes of her thighs. Mmmm, long, long, legs for days, I thought to myself.

Her ass was a bit thin but nice, and her waist was almost tiny; she could probably wear one of those old-school tight corsets if she wanted to. Her breasts were 'enhanced', though not too much to be out of proportion or unsightly, just enough to just out proudly from her chest and invite attention. And best of all... Wargrave was impotent and could not fuck this woman... like I intended to right now.

"That's very sweet of you." Lilly said, her eyes warming. "Why don't you come into my sitting room and have a seat." We went into the room which was towards the back of the house, behind the living room and on the other side of the house from Wargrave's office, where I'd given him the unpoisoned Scotch. Lilly's secretary was in the back corner, and a very comfortable sofa and chairs faced each other in the middle of the room.

I sat down inappropriately close to Lilly, and she didn't seem to mind. As we made small talk, she curled her legs under her as she sat next to me and I eased my arm around her, drawing her into my side. She said she realized her husband had always lived on the edge, and what was happening to him had always been a possibility.

"He didn't take you with him?" I asked. I began nuzzling Lilly's neck, gently kissing and nibbling at her jaw and up towards her ear. She tilted her head to give me better access, enjoying my seduction.

"He said... that he'd send for me." Lilly said. "And when he does, I'll go to him. And I won't tell you when or where, so don't ask."

"I'm not going to." I said. "But you'll be all... alone... until then. A beautiful woman like you needs more attention than that." I kissed her neck some more.

"Mmmm, yes I do, and you're just the man to give me that attention, Don." Lilly said. She turned her face to me and our lips met in a warm kiss. I reveled in the taste of Lilly as I slowly, teasingly sank my tongue into her mouth. The kiss deepened, lasting a very long moment.

Lilly's hands became active as she began massaging the hardening bulge in my pants. I had taken a 'gray viagra' just before arriving, and I was getting really hot and horny. Lilly's hands deftly and expertly opened my pants and fished out my little iron crowbar, which was indeed iron hard as it sprang free of the confines of my pants and underwear. Lilly jacked my shaft as our tongues twined hotly in our deep kiss...

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

Henry Wargrave watched on his iPad at the feeds that were coming in. The cameras gave an all too clear picture of what his wife was doing with Troy. It was bad enough watching her pant like a starved whore for another man's hard cock, but when he'd yelled out "This is what I think of your husband!" as he came inside her, it was too much. His anger burst.

He picked up a burner phone and made a call. "Austin. Pick up two helpers and get ready. We're doing it tonight. Yes, tonight. We're not waiting..."

Part 12 - Preparations 

I reluctantly left Lilly Wargrave's arms, giving her a warm kiss goodbye and promising to visit her again soon, a promise I fully intended to keep. Still feeling the tremendous pleasing lassitude of intense sex, I got into my Police SUV and headed out, needing to get some work done.

Arriving at my office at Police Headquarters, I called Barry Oliver, who was a partner at BOW Enterprises, and arranged a meeting for 90 minutes later. I put together my report on the Wexler case for the SBI, and sending in a preliminary report as required. I wanted to get paid, for sure.




Reichenbach Ch. 03



At the correct time, I drove out to BOW Enterprises, which was in the Industrial District and on the west side of Town, near the River. As it was Sunday, the plants were only half-staffed and not much was going on. I was escorted to Barry's office by the security guard.

"Commander, good to see you!" said Barry enthusiastically. I looked around his office as I greeted him. I saw two doors to the right. One was a bathroom, I was sure.

"Ah, that door must be an archery range." I said, pointing at the nearly concealed door to the side.

"Todd is right, not much gets by you." Barry said. He opened the door and I looked down the 2-story tall but narrow passageway, at least 75 yards long, concrete walls on both sides, with archery targets at various distances. Three compound bows hung on the wall near the door, and quivers of arrows were on the floor below the bows. "That's my only perk as an executive of this place. I don't have a lot of time to shoot, though."

"So I hear." I said. "You guys have been doing a lot and in a short time."

"True." said Barry. "Todd is getting us business left and right, and our R&D Department is very busy. Exciting times for us. But what can I do for you, Commander?"

I explained what I needed. "I saw something on 'Mythbusters' about a Tesla device that vibrated things."

"Yes." said Barry. "Tesla had a concept that putting vibrational energy into anything attuned to its vibrational frequency could literally destroy it. The Mythbusters had a whole bridge vibrating, and they stopped the experiment because they feared it might really damage the bridge."

"I don't need anything so grandiose." I said. "But do you have anything like that which could induce a vibration in glass, like a bulletproof window?"

"We sure do." Barry said, getting a device out of his desk drawer and handing it to me, having been prepared by my phone call earlier. "We call this the 'Tesla Tuning Fork', though it's not a fork." He set about showed me how to use the device...

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

Back in the 1970s, TV shows had this cute little thing where, as the driver opened the door and got in the car, someone would simultaneously open the passenger side door and get in. That happened to me as I got into my Police SUV after leaving BOW Enterprises. I am sure the doors were locked, but as I got in I suddenly found P. Harvey Eckhart sitting in the passenger seat, having gotten in right as I did.

"I always wanted to do that, young Donald." he said brightly in his gravelly voice, his face beaming. "Thank you for indulging me."

"My pleasure, Harvey." I said, maybe a little shakily. "You can cross that one off your bucket list. Need a ride back to your Headquarters?"

"If you would be so kind." said Harvey. "And while we're driving in this very comfortable vehicle, you can tell me why my young friend Tarleton gave me that very worrisome message from you."

"Yes," I said as we pulled out onto the highway. "Worrisome is right. It's happening. And if what I'm thinking is right, it's happening tonight. You'll need to protect your people..."

Part 13 - Hunted Down 

It was about 10:00pm that Sunday night, June 21st. I was at the Mountain Nest, rubbing Bowser's belly as I talked with Laura and my mother Phyllis. The kids had been put to bed, and I looked forward to getting some sleep myself after a long day which had including fucking the delicious Lilly Wargrave.

"Yes," said my mother, mostly to Laura, "I am not sure what Todd is going to do. He's going to have custody of little Douglass while Jeanine will have little Jack and the baby that's due soon--"

Just then my cellphone alarm went off. I got up and went over to the table where I'd left it. It was the unique sound that meant the Cabin's sensor alarms had gone off again.

"Darling, call the Duty Desk and ask them to check it out." said Laura. "You stay here. You're tired."

"It's probably nothing." I said. "I'll just go up and check it out quickly. Y'all set the alarm, and I'll leave Bowser here to guard you."

"No, son, I don't believe that is going to be an option." said my mother. I saw what she was observing.

Upon hearing that particular alarm, Bowser had walked down the hallway to the coat closet and was sitting beside its door. He was a smart dog, and had by now figured out what the alarm meant. He was waiting by the closet for me to put his harness and leash on to go check things out at the Cabin.

"Well, I think you're right, Mom. As always." I said. I walked to the closet door. "Hey Bowser, ready to go check out the Cabin?" Bowser stood up expectantly. I opened the door and got out his harness, letting him step into it, then I got my own 'harness', my bulletproof vest, which I put on and followed with my police belt that had my gun and police radio attached.

I checked the police radio on the belt: "Commander Troy to Duty Desk. Commander Troy to Duty Desk. Radio check. Over."

"Duty Desk to Commander." came the reply through the device. "Loud and clear, sir."

I kissed my mom and my wife and headed out the door, led by Bowser. I had the leash in my hand but it was not yet needed. Bowser went right to the SUV, and when I opened the door he jumped right in and settled into the 'shotgun' seat.

We drove down the hill to a side road that paralleled University Avenue, then went north before turning right onto the road that climbed up towards the Cabin. I used the remote to open the gate to my driveway, then closed it after going in.

Pulling up to the Cabin, lit only by the streetlight on its pole that illuminated the driveway, I looked around, not seeing anything. I took Bowser and set him on the ground, ready to attach the leash to his harness--

*WHAM!*

Almost before I realized it, I'd been shoved violently against the side of the SUV, the weight of my assailant then driving me to the ground and lying on top of me. The ground rushed up to meet me, stopping just inches from my eyes as I felt something pressed to the back of my neck, then an injection of a drug into my system. I saw and heard Bowser growling at whoever was on top of me, then my dog snapped at my attacker. A figure in black kicked at Bowser, who avoided it and quickly dived under the SUV. 

"Run, Bowser!" I screamed, but it was only in my mind as my mouth wasn't working to utter a sound. I could see my dog watching me as everything began to fade. "Run, Bowser..." 

"What the hell are you doing?" asked one of the masked men in black, seeing the other looking beneath the SUV.

"I'm going to kill that god-damned dog." said the other. "He tried to bite me." He was looking under the car, trying to get at Bowser.

"Leave that damn dog alone!" said the other as he removed Don's police belt, throwing it, the radio and the gun into the SUV. "We don't have time for that. "We've got to get Troy out of here. We don't have any time at all!"

"Shit." said the other man, who'd really wanted to kill the dog. But he came along. There were four black-clad, masked men, and they worked together, laboring to get over 200 pounds of limp, unconscious Iron Crowbar down the driveway to the road, where a black van was backed up to the closed gate.

Bowser watched as his master was carried off by the men, his instincts knowing that something was very wrong. Safe from immediate attack, he ran to the gap in the fence and down a path on the slope, the path he normally took to the area to do his business.

Going under the fence, he crossed the road and continued through the woods on a path toward the Mountain Nest. Coyotes, owls, and other existential dangers loomed, but Bowser was on a mission, and he ran fast and unerringly towards his goal...

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

"Good night, Laura." said Phyllis as she left by the back door. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight." said Laura. She watched Phyllis go down the stairs to the patio, then to the door of her MIL apartment below. Laura looked up the mountain at the Cabin, not seeing any lights except the streetlight. She went back inside.

As she put away toys before going upstairs, she heard scratching at the back door, along with the whimpers of a dog. She went to the door and looked out, seeing Bowser on the landing outside. She opened the door.

"Bowser, what are you doing here?" she asked. The dog whimpered and began going down the stairs, looking back at her as if insisting she follow him. "Where's..."

She looked up the mountainside, seeing the Cabin, and understanding crept in.

"Don?" she gasped...

To be continued.



Reichenbach Ch. 04



The chronological order of my stories is as follows:

Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player Series, Case of the Black Widow series, Teresa's Christmas Story, The Case of the Black Badge series, A Case of Revenge series, Teresa's Summer Race, The Trilogy series, Dark Side Of The Force series, Caught In The Act series, The Phyllis Files 1-2, Case of the Murdered Bride series, The Credit Card Caper series, The Phyllis Files 3, The Hot Wives Investment Club series, Seriously Inconvenienced series, Case of the Paper Trail series, Christmas Mystery Theater, The Porno Set Mystery series, The Medical Murder Mystery series, The Eightfold Fence series, The Phyllis Files 4, Pale Morning Light series, Silverfish series, Cold As Ice series, Secrets of Apple Grove series, Sting of the Scorpion series.

Reichenbach, Ch. 01-04.

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 14 - A Missing Crowbar 

Captain Cindy Ross, Chief of Detectives of the Town & County Police Force, came up the driveway of the Cabin. She saw Lt. Tanya Perlman and Crime Lab Technician Christina Cho beside Don's Police SUV, and several Uniformed officers on the periphery. The road at the end of the driveway and below the cabin were a blaze of blue and white lights.

She also noticed Police Chief Harold Bennett and Town & County Sheriff Daniel Allgood were already here. She'd been delayed by taking Jenna to the Mountain Nest. Jenna and Phyllis were staying with the kids while Laura came up with Cindy.

Laura was calm, but unnervingly so, and Cindy both knew and sensed in her soul that she was in the presence of a woman whose years of training were overcoming some intense emotion. She realized that she would need the same resolve in order to be professional and not let what she was feeling right now... a fear that was almost paralyzing... overcome her. They arrived at the scene, which was busy with activity but abnormally somber and quiet.

"Rudistan!" Cindy called out immediately when she saw him. "Get on the radio and tell everyone to turn off all the lightbars. Every last one of them. There's no traffic on that road, and all we're doing is begging the Media to see the lights and come up to investigate them."

"Yes ma'am." Rudistan said. He got on the radio and soon there were no more flashing lights, except for one car's lights inside the back window for the benefit of any traffic that might drive up. Meanwhile, Cindy was at the SUV, ignoring Chief Bennett, who had been peering hard at her from the moment she'd arrived.

"What's going on, Perlman?" Cindy asked.

"Rudistan and Morton got here first." Tanya said. The driver side door of the SUV was open. The Commander's gun belt, gun, radio, and badge were on the driver's seat. Looks like they were thrown in there. His cellphone is also in there."

"So we can't trace the RFID chips and transmitters in his gun holster or his badge, nor triangulate the radio's signal nor the cell phone." Cindy said. "Someone knew enough to do that."

"That's right." Tanya said. "Also, a thin metal chain dog leash was found on the ground, but the dog is not here, either."

"The dog is okay." Cindy said. "Bowser ran back to the Mountain Nest and got Laura's attention. She called me, and I had the Duty Desk call you and send a patrol up here. Any signs of... something bad happening?"

"No blood." said Tanya, which instantly made Cindy feel some relief... and Laura even more relief as she was not far behind Cindy, listening in. "But his car keys were on the ground right under the door, as if he'd dropped them right there. And... uh, ah..." Tanya paused, then said with a rush "... his crowbar is still in the SUV, too. He hadn't taken it out yet."

"Ah, shit." Cindy groaned. "He'd have that in his hands if he was looking around. That means someone ambushed him."

"Yes ma'am." Tanya said, her face somber. "This dirt and gravel driveway isn't much for leaving traces, but it looks like there was some displacement here right by the door., then a little path for about five feet... I think someone came up behind Don as he was getting the dog out of the car, knocked him out, then began dragging him before picking him up and carrying him out of here. The dog must've run home."

"Yes. He's a good dog." Cindy said, wondering why she was thinking of small things like that at that moment in the face of her world about to come apart. "Sergeant Rudistan!" she yelled out.

The Sergeant came running up as fast as his semi-portly body would allow. He was in better shaped than he looked, and hustled up quickly.

"Rudistan," Cindy said, "it's way too early to begin panicking and putting out public APBs or anything that will get the Media excited and starting rumors. Get with the Duty Desk and have them put out quiet messages, through the Precincts, to be on watch for the Commander. But keep it on the down-low. He may just have gone off following some clue that he doesn't want me to know about, or he may be in real trouble, so we need to start looking, but quietly."

She continued: "Start securing all video footage of this entire road, all the way down to University Avenue and over the hill to Reservoir Lake, whatever exists, which I doubt is much. And for what it's worth, have Myron check the GPS in this vehicle." Rudistan acknowledged his orders and stalked off.

Cindy walked up to Chief Bennett and Sheriff Allgood, who'd been watching from the driveway, halfway between the gate and the SUV. She reported on what had been found, and what had not been found (blood).

"We should put out APBs." said Chief Bennett. "And let the FBI know."

"Sir," said Cindy, "I'm about to call the FBI now, but we should not put out public bulletins until we get an idea of a vehicle that came up here, or more information. And that's to keep the Media from getting onto this prematurely."

"But he could be coming to harm right now, and we're standing here doing nothing?" Bennett asked skeptically.

"Chief," Cindy said, working hard to keep herself calm and restrained. "If whoever took the Commander wanted him dead, we'd be examining his dead body right here and right now. And until we get some video footage of a vehicle, we have absolutely no idea what to ask anyone to look for."

"She's right, Chief." said Daniel Allgood quietly as Chief Bennett was about to say something. "We can't do anything hasty. Let's let these guys do their jobs."

"All right." Bennett said, almost sighing with resignation. "By the way, Captain, why is the Commander's wife over there at the crime scene? I know she's his wife, but she shouldn't be there."

Cindy whirled to face Bennett, her mouth gaping. Daniel intervened again.

"Go ahead on over there, Captain." said Allgood. "I'll explain to the Chief." As Cindy went back towards the SUV, Daniel said to Bennett: "Chief, Dr. Fredricson is technically an Auxiliary Police Officer as well as one of our Police Psychiatrists, so she can legitimately be there. But beyond that, Harold, if you want to try to tell a Deputy Director of the CIA to leave the scene of her husband's disappearance, be my guest. Just leave your Last Will and Testament with me before you do."

Chief Bennett said no more. He continued to watch Ross, waiting to see if the pressure and her own emotions would break her. He was watching to see if Cindy Ross was capable of being a Police Captain, if she was good enough to get the job done.

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

"Ah, shit." said Cindy. The KXTC van had hurtled up the road and almost collided with police cruisers along the road. Bettina Wurtzburg and her cameraman Scott Turnbull rushed out of the van and tried to run up the driveway, where they were roughly pushed back by TCPD officers, who then rushed to form a human barrier to prevent not only their access, but their lines of sight to take camera footage.

"Captain Ross!" called out Bettina, having seen Cindy already. "What's going on here, Captain? Why are all these police vehicles at Commander Troy's home?"

All eyes were on Captain Ross as she walked resolutely to the gate. Cindy said with alacrity "The Commander's dog is missing, and was last seen at this location. We're looking for it."

"C'mon, Captain," said Bettina, her voice turning scornful and full of acid wit. "All these officers? And acting more like their dog died than just being missing? And the last time police officers got this rough with us was when Pete Feeley was murdered. What's going on up there?"

Cindy glared hard at Bettina. The reminder of Pete Feeley's death did not go over well with her. "I'm sure the dog will tell you when he's found and interviewed." she said. Feeling herself losing restraint, she turned away from the reporterette and went back to the SUV.

"Okay, let's wrap this up." Cindy said. "Just lock the SUV and leave it here when you're done. Give me the keys. And no one is to say one god-damned word to the Press..."

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

I was unable to move as I lay uncomfortably on the floor of the back of the van. My hands were secured behind my back by my own handcuffs. But I wasn't as unconscious as my kidnappers might have hoped; their knockout drug must've been weak and had not fully knocked me out. I was dimly aware of the streetlights going by the windows outside the van. And I was aware enough to realize that we'd turned off the road coming down the mountain onto University Avenue, and had stayed on it, going straight south.

The road became the highway to Coltrane County and ultimately Midtown. It was now dark outside the van as we traveled through the countryside. Everyone in the van was totally silent, and I could sense the nervousness of these perps.

Not long later, the van slowed down, and I knew I was correct about our destination. We turned right, and went down a road that could use a re-paving. We stopped.

"Nobody's here." whispered one of the perps.

"Open the gate." said another perp, the leader. I recognized the voice through the mask.

Two perps got out of the vehicle and I heard a gate being opened. The van drove through, stopped as the gate was closed, then everyone got back in and we drove a few hundred feet further.

"It's dark." said the driver. "Looks like no one is there."

"They're there." said the leader. "Eckhart has a bedroom near his office on that top floor. Number 2 and I will scale the wall. You two stay here. If Troy wakes up, don't knock him out again."

As I'd surmised, we were at the World Headquarters of Dr. P. Harvey Eckhart's 'The Vision'.

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

Dr. Eckhart's office was circular, with windows as the walls and giving a view in all directions. On the back side, which was west and overlooking the River, was Eckhart's desk, with the sofas and chairs being in the middle under the domed skylight. Just to the left of the desk, west-by-northwest as the crow flies, were French doors that led onto a balcony that served as a small deck for anyone to sit on and view the River and farms beyond it, and the lush grass of the back lawn of the building.

Ropes with grappling hooks were shot up by crossbows to the rails of the balcony. Once they secured themselves, the two masked, black-clad men climbed the ropes and went over the rail onto the balcony. Somewhat to the perps' surprise, the door was not locked, and they went inside.

Sitting on one of the sofas in the middle of the dark room was Dr. Eckhart. The shock of bright white hair was clearly visible. The perps walked up to him, and one man put a silencer-equipped .22 Magnum semi-auto pistol to his head, waking him up.

"Oh!" he said as he jolted awake. "Ah, I see I have guests." he said. "What can I do for you... Mr. Wargrave?"

Part 15 - Brainwashing 

"You are a psychic." said Wargrave, taking off his mask. "But we don't have much time. I want four of your people to get my prisoner out of the back of the van parked out front, and bring him inside here. You will then use the techniques on him that you used on Eleanor Burke and your acolytes Tommy and Candy, for a purpose I'll tell you at the proper time. Don't get cute, or my people will start killing as many of your people here that we can get to."

"No, no, I'm not a violent man." said Eckhart. "I'll do as you require." He got up, and keeping his hands where they could be seen, he went to his desk and picked up the phone. "Yes, Tommy, would you and four young men come to my office for a task of some importance? Thank you."

Wargrave figured that the words 'for a task of some importance' was code for this situation... and he was right. But it was committed now, there was no backing out, and he couldn't kill anyone until the mission was completed.

Moments later, Tommy and three other young men, dressed in red 'Vision' golf shirts and black slacks, appeared in the office. They were confronted by their great leader being held at gunpoint by two masked men, but showed no shock nor visible distress.

"Tommy," said Eckhart, "I don't want any foolishness. Get that gurney out of the infirmary room and take it to the front of the building. There will be a man in the back of the van. Bring him up here and take him to the Therapy Room."

The Therapy Room was one floor below the office. Eckhart led the way down the stairs as Wargrave kept him at gunpoint. Minutes later, they were joined by the acolytes and three masked men, wheeling in an unconscious man on the gurney. Eckhart groaned as he saw the man; it was the Iron Crowbar.

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

It was painful and I had to work to not yell out as I was roughly transferred from the gurney to the massage-like table in the room. My handcuffs had been removed. The room was wood-paneled, with cabinets of chemicals along the walls. Above was a strange, semi-spherical device with multi-colored glass circles that I guessed would emit lights.

"So," said Eckhart, "what exactly do you want me to do with young Donald, here?"

I heard the voice, which I knew was Henry Wargrave's, say: "I want you to induce the suggestion that when he hears the correct phrase, he will kill his wife."

"I can't do that." said Eckhart. "It won't---"

"If you don't do it," one of the other masked men hissed, "I'm going to start killing people. Starting with this piece of crap." He put his silencer-equipped gun practically into Tommy's earhole. Tommy did not flinch, but looked at Eckhart as if for instructions.

"Let me finish, young man!" ordered Eckhart. "What I'm trying to tell you is that it won't work. The man loves his wife, not even the process run ten times over would make him kill her. He'd be able to pull back from it; the emotions are too strong."

"Maybe killing some people will change your mind." said the second perp. He raised the gun to Tommy's head again, but Wargrave stopped him.

"So how did you make it work on Eleanor Burke?" Wargrave asked.

"This is very advanced hypnosis," said Eckhart, "but it's still hypnosis, and you can't force someone to do what they would abhor doing. Eleanor wanted to kill Ned, so it was easy to program her to do what she wanted to do in the first place. The others wanted the results the process gave them, whether to forget an act of violence upon them, or to give up a severe drug addiction, or whatever. But no matter how deep we go, or how many times, there is no way this programming could force young Donald to murder his wife."

Wargrave was not happy to hear that, but he sensed that Eckhart was telling the truth. "Okay..." he said, thinking about it, "what if you programmed him to induce him to believe he's playing a joke with a fake gun on his wife?"

"Young man, ears are to hear with." said Eckhart. "Listen to my words: there is no way this process can be used to program this man to murder his wife. He cannot be tricked into it, either. His subconscious will reject the programming immediately."

Wargrave sighed, seeing that his master plan wasn't going to work as he initially envisioned (pun fully intended). "Okay," he said, "what about someone else, say, Jack Muscone? Have him believe he's playing a joke on his friend with a toy gun, and that his service weapon is actually a harmless toy. Would that work?"

"Er, that might work." said Eckhart. "It will take a hard, deep process, but he could be made to believe his gun is a toy, and that it's all a joke on Mr. Muscone."

"Do it, then." said Wargrave. "You have until dawn to get it done."

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

I heard a lot of bustling around for a while, then suddenly the smell of ammonia salts blasted through my nose. "Uhhh!" I said, shaking my head.

"Just relax, Don." I heard a voice say. "We're going to give you a relaxing massage... a massage for the mind." I felt earplugs, like Apple iPhone earplugs, being put in my ears, followed by the sounds of soft music and waves lapping at the shore. "Just relax." the voice said. Then that strange spherical device in the ceiling came to life, and multicolored lights were flashing in my eyes. I felt myself drifting...

"He's under, the spell is working..." said Eckhart some moments later. That caused me to have a feeling of déjà vu; I felt like I'd been here and heard that before... I must've dreamed it...

The multi-colored lights continued to flicker, and I smelled something that resembled patchouli oil. I then felt myself being injected with drugs. I felt the burning sensation as the drugs spread up the vein in my arm, then through my body. I felt like I had to pee, then something right painful in my penis... I was being catheterized.

The delta waves assaulting my ears were then joined by voice, a voice almost too quiet to hear, but was persistently there. "You are getting very sleepy.... close your eyes..."

Voices continued. Then I heard "Take out the toy gun.... shoot Jack Muscone.... he's laughing at the joke..." I felt thirsty, I had to pee. I let the pee go, and it seemed to go on forever. Another needle in my arm, this time an I.V...

Everything was swirling before my eyes now, the glittering lights fusing into one blurry mass of color. I was seeing Officer Pete Feeley standing over me, telling me to relax... then I heard the words "Jabberwocky Joyful Jehosephat". Over and over again, I heard those words... then was told to forget them until I heard them again...

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

It was 3:00am, and Police Headquarters was as busy as if it were 3:00pm. Though it was not their shifts, many officers had come in. Their Commander was missing, and sleep could wait.

The Chief was in his office with Sheriff Allgood and Jack Muscone, who had been called and apprised of the situation. Cindy Ross was in her office; she'd gotten tired of feeling the Chief watching her relentlessly. Teresa Croyle and Tanya Perlman were also in Cindy's office, drinking strong coffee.

Myron Milton and Mary Mahoney Milton had worked the computers like never before in their lives. Fifteen minutes ago, they'd put together video images cobbled together from various street cameras and other cameras to which they could electronically access, and they were not giving a damn about warrants at the moment.




Reichenbach Ch. 04



"So, a black van was videoed going up the road towards Don's cabin." Cindy told her Lieutenants. "Just before 10:00, which was when Don did a radio check with the duty desk. It came back into Town about 10:20, and headed straight down University Avenue, going south out of Town. Our last shot of it was crossing the railroad tracks just south of Junction Station."

"Coltrane County?" Tanya asked.

"We've got patrols on all of the farm roads down there." said Cindy. "Looking in ditches and everything. I called Sheriff Sorrells in Coltrane County and told him about the van, gave the license plates and told him it might be a kidnapping. He caught on quick that it was Don."

"No Media, at least not yet." said Teresa. "Who's with the kids?"

"I convinced Laura to go home." Cindy said. "Don's mom and Melina are also there. And we have a patrol cruiser station at the entrance to their driveway, and Campus Police are guarding the walking path down to Campus from the house. A bit like closing the barn door after the horse has left, if you ask me."

"If it keeps the kids safe, it's worth it." Teresa said. "Want me to go there, too?"

"No, I need you here." Cindy said. "Both of you. Tanya, you're the liaison with Jack Muscone and the FBI. I don't think I've ever seen that man as worried as he looked when he barreled into the Station. Teresa, I'll need you to coordinate working Confidential Informants all over the place. Get any word you can."


"Grubby Paul and Lorena Rose have been doing that for two hours." said Teresa. "As of about twenty minutes ago, nothing was going on. I'm afraid that if we ask too many questions, that in itself will start rumors."

"Yeah." said Cindy. "Shit. I really wish I was a Troy right now, or at least could think like one." Her eyes glazed as she went into a reverie, trying to make her mind work.

Teresa peered at Cindy, and then whispered to Tanya "Why don't you go check with Jack and see what the FBI has?" Tanya looked funny at Teresa, but left the office. Teresa got up and went over to Cindy's side of her desk, and pulled her out of the chair.

"Don't." Cindy said. "I'll break down, and Chief Bennett is watching me like a dog, just waiting for me to slip."

"Forget him." Teresa said, hugging Cindy. "You need this." Cindy gave in and hugged Teresa back. It was like clinging to a life raft as Cindy tried not to let her emotions overcome her.

"It'll be okay." Teresa whispered. "We'll find him. It'll be okay..."

"Oh God, I hope so!" Cindy whispered. The tears could not be stopped and she held on to her friend for a very long minute.

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

Tanya Perlman knocked on the Chief's door and was admitted. "I'm now the official liaison to the FBI." she announced. "Any information?"

"No." said Jack Muscone, looking very much like he needed a drink, his face beset with worry. "You guys have come up with a van and plates and put out an APB. I contacted all the airports in the area, but I don't think that's going to do any good. And I called my boss. Other than that, I feel totally helpless right now."

"We all do." said Daniel Allgood. "But Don can take care of himself. He's gotten out of worlds of shit before."

"Yeah." Tanya said, trying to put a positive face on things. "I'm hoping this is just some undercover trick he's doing, and he'll walk in the door and look at us and say 'What are you guys worried about?' or something." Daniel nodded, trying to hold on to the positive, also.

"Lieutenant Perlman, how is Captain Ross doing?" asked Chief Bennett. Tanya immediately knew what he was asking. Daniel did too, peering hard at Chief Bennett.

"Like an Iron Crowbar." said Tanya flatly and pointedly. "Holding rock steady through anything and everything." Muscone grunted agreement.

"Jack, Tanya," said the Sheriff, "why don't you two go get some coffee or check in on something. I need a moment with the Chief." Tanya helped to get Jack up and moving and they left.

Turning to Chief Bennett, Daniel Allgood said "Chief, I am more than impressed with how Captain Ross has handled this situation, and herself as well. She did a brilliant job at the crime scene, having them turn off the lightbars to keep the Media from seeing the commotion, taking charge, getting the facts, not overreacting. I don't think a Police Captain with ten or even twenty more years experience could better exhibit leadership."

"Oh, I agree." said Chief Bennett. "I very much agree."

"Good." said the Sheriff. "You know, Harold, it's been uncanny how well the Iron Crowbar has been at putting the right people in the right places. No one would ever have put Teresa Croyle in charge of any unit, much less a Vice Squad, but Don saw through that and she's been a spectacular success there. He was the one that put you in that Chief's chair, and I think that has been very good, and... if I do say so myself... he saw more than I did when he had me run for Sheriff instead of being pressured to run himself.

Allgood peered hard at his Police Chief as he said "So when he said that Cindy Ross was the right choice for that Captain slot, I knew he was absolutely right. And he didn't put her there to be his pet dog... he put her there to lead in exactly times like this... when he's not here. I hope to God he'll be found safe, and soon... but if he's not, you'll have no better situation than Cindy Ross taking over for him."

"I hope we don't have to find that out, Sheriff." said Chief Bennett, trying to not get the message the young Sheriff was pointedly delivering. "I do hope we don't have to find that out..."

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

"About two more hours." said Eckhart. "It's all autopilot now. The tape and the program will have to run its course and finish. If you interrupt it, then everything is undone and the process will not work."

"Good." said Wargrave. "What then?"

"Just let him wake up normally. Make sure you don't mention those three words to him until you're ready to set him off. Once they're said, he'll move to do his mission... but it's a one-shot deal." Eckhart's arms were folded, and Wargrave did not see the older man's left hand under his right elbow giving signals to Tommy and the two other acolytes in the room.

Eckhart slowly walked over to a cabinet, seeming to check on a bottle. Tommy was against the far wall, where there was no cabinet or countertop, the other two young men behind him. Suddenly, trap doors opened, and the 'Vision' acolytes and Eckhart sprang through them!

"Get them!" roared Wargrave. They rushed to the panels, but the doors were secured. There were no hostages left. Wargrave and his associates had intended to kill them, but they'd gotten away from him!

Eckhart and the acolytes quickly descended the circular stairs in the secret passages to the basement. Other 'Vision' people were at another passage, and as the group joined them, they all scurried down the passage, sealing doors along the way. This passage led to the dorms, which doubled as a very secure fortress. Despite his love of Peace, Eckhart's people were exceptionally well-armed, and nothing short of a nuclear attack would root out his people from their defensive stronghold.

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

"Okay, lets think about this." Cindy said as she, Tanya, Teresa, Jack Muscone, Sheriff Allgood, Chief Bennett and Detective Martin Nash sat in Classroom 'E'. "We know the van went south. We've scoured the southern part of this County, there is nothing there. So I'm thinking they went into Coltrane County."

The clock said 4:45am. Coffee was no longer an option; bladders were protesting harshly by now.

"They didn't go through Buford," said Jack Muscone. "I authorized Myron to access FBI resources, and he went through all the cameras on the streets approaching Buford as well as businesses like gas stations along the road. I'm sure you'll deny ever having heard this, but we looked into The Asylum's cameras that cover the road, as well. No black vans at all drove by there."

"So they didn't get that far." said Tanya. "That leaves that farm cooperative just south of the border, and 'The Vision' World Headquarters."

"They might take Commander Troy to the cooperative if they wanted to dump his body there." said Nash.

"Or maybe Eckhart and The Vision people wanted him for some reason." said Muscone.

"I tend to doubt Dr. Eckhart would want to harm Donald." said Sheriff Allgood. "They seem to be friends, from what I'm hearing."

"That guy is very dangerous." said Muscone. "He had run-ins with the FBI some years ago. We still don't trust him nor his motives. He knows a lot of stuff, too. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was this Shadow Man Don keeps talking about. He's certainly capable of being that person."

"I have my doubts about that... about him being the Consultant of Crime." Cindy said, not revealing that Eckhart had not made Don's 'Eightfold Fence' list... but that one person in the room now had made the list, and was now the one defending Eckhart. "But that doesn't mean he wasn't taken down there for some reason."

"Can anyone go down there and visit them?" asked Chief Bennett. "I doubt we'll get a warrant to go in there. The judges down there are sketchy."

"They're downright corrupt." said Tanya Perlman. "We could send Joanne Cummings down there, undercover. She could pretend to need Enlightenment."

"Tell you what." said Captain Ross. "I'll contact Deputy Strait and ask him to just check in with them, and also look along the road to the place. If nothing turns up, those of us who can play SBI and FBI agents will have to cross the County line and start looking around northern Coltrane County."

"I'm putting out a State-wide APB for that van at 9:00am." said Chief Bennett. "We can't wait any longer."

"I agree, Chief." said Cindy. "That just leaves one other very important mission."

"What's that?" asked Sheriff Allgood.

"Who's going to make the run for '5-hour Energy's?" asked Cindy. That made everyone realize how tired they were.

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

I must've been drifting in and out of sleep. Those lights were just blinking relentlessly, shifting and changing, brighter then darker, the noise in my ears more irritating than soothing. I felt like I had to pee again... oh, wait, I don't think I ever stopped peeing. I kept hearing words, over and over again....

Part 16 - Recovery 

I woke up. I felt cold. Not like the cold I felt on the night Ned shot me, but cold nonetheless. I realized I was wearing only underwear, and lying on a metal table. The I.V. had been removed from my arm, but I was still catheterized. I removed that and slowly sat up on the table. I felt dizzy, and groggy.

There was absolutely no one in the room. I got up off the table, walking slowly and jerkily as I regained control of my body. My clothes were on a chair in the corner of the room, including my bulletproof vest, but my gun belt and its contents weren't there... oh that's right, someone took them off. My memory was hazy. All I could really remember were flashing lights. I remember words being said to me, but I couldn't remember what they were.

I exited the Therapy Chamber, carrying my clothes. The only unlocked door led to stairs going up, so I slowly climbed them, feeling tired as I did. At the top was a landing which opened into P. Harvey Eckhart's office.

The office was empty. Looking out the windows, I could see the light of pre-dawn in the east. I remembered I needed to get dressed, and I did so, sitting on a sofa to put on my shoes and socks. As I finished I looked up. The sun was just peaking over the eastern horizon, first a tiny red line, then a larger, brighter orange sliver.

I looked around the empty office, seeing the two Fourth Runes still hanging on the posts behind Eckhart's desk. Time for him to give those out, I thought to myself as I headed towards the elevator.

The first floor was empty. Indeed, the entire building appeared to be totally empty. I looked around, seeing the room where visitors were 'analyzed' to see how they could be helped by The Vision. But I didn't dawdle, I had to be on my way.

As I walked out the front door, the rays of the sun were in my face. I could see that the driveway was empty. No vans, nor any other vehicles. And that's when I realized I had no cellphone on me. The front door to the building was locked; I could not get back inside, even if I wanted to. I went towards the guardhouse at the front gate. No one was there, which was totally strange, and the guardhouse doors were unlocked. The telephone inside was simply a direct line to the security offices inside the main building; there was no way to contact the outside world. Okay, then, I thought to myself, I get to walk home. I started out, feeling the warmth of the sun on my face as I headed east along the road.

I stopped to pee, still feeling the need to do so after having those drugs in me the night before. Now why was I given those drugs? I thought to myself. I started out again, remembering that Bowser had been with me when everything had gone to shit. Was my dog okay? I wondered to myself.

Fortune favored me. As I got about halfway down the road to the main highway, I saw a car coming out of the sunlight. It was a police vehicle!

"Well, well, well." said Sheriff Sorrells, pulling up alongside me. Deputy Strait was riding shotgun. "What in the world are you doing here, Commander Troy?"

"That's a good question, Sheriff." I said. "And I have no answers right now. Think I can get a ride back home, or to Buford so I can call for one?"

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

When the Coltrane County Sheriff's car got to the gate to enter the secure employee's parking lot of TCPD Headquarters, it was manned by Patrolman Johnson. "What can I do for you, Sheriff?" asked Johnson.

"Oh, I'm just giving this gentleman a ride to work, son." said Sorrells. Patrolman Johnson looked into the backseat and saw me.

"Commander!" he gasped out. "Thank God your safe!... er... sorry sir, that's not professional."

"Yeah, don't worry about it, I'm not looking too professional, either." I said, realizing I didn't have my badge nor I.D. "Can you let me into the building?"

I thanked the Coltrane County officers and asked if they'd like to come in for coffee. Being police officers, they accepted an offer of coffee, of course.

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

We went to my office, where I had an extra badge. I put it on my belt, then made the coffee. As we drank, we watched the one and only Bettina!

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" yelled the reporterette. "Channel Two News is investigating an incident that occurred at the home of Police Commander Donald Troy. Police arrived at Commander Troy's home last night, where a statement was made they were looking for his dog. While we at Channel Two News love dogs, including the dog rescued from Bryan Thatcher that survived and was adopted by Commander Troy, we do not believe that a dog is involved. Police will not confirm, however, that something happened to Commander Troy, that he may have been injured at his home. As always, Channel Two News will bring you any developments as they happen. And now for Chuck Pringle's Sports report..."

"Well, not much there." I said as I poured coffee and handed mugs to Sheriff Sorrells and Deputy Strait. I asked Sorrells how they'd happened to be coming down that road.

"Oh, your people are all in a frenzy up here, Commander." said Sheriff Sorrells. They found your car at your house, got videos of a van going south but not getting to The Asylum. I didn't ask how they got Asylum camera footage."

"Probably something I don't want to know about, either." I said.

"Uh sir," said Strait, "aren't you going to let them know you're here?"

I smiled. "Yes, but only after we've had our coffee. Let's see how long it takes them to realize I'm back."

The wait was not long. I heard a commotion outside my office, in my assistant Helena's anteroom, then the door burst open. Consider me not surprised to see that Cindy Ross was first through the door.

"What do you mean he's back...." she was saying. Upon sight of me, she stopped, but I could see tremendous relief on her face. Following her was Tanya Perlman, Jack Muscone, and Chief Bennett.

"What are you guys worried about?" I said, sipping my coffee as if nothing had happened.

"I told you, Jack!" Tanya practically yelled, a grin on her face that I didn't quite understand.

"Yes, yes you did." said Jack Muscone. "Don, you scared the living hell out of us! What happened?

"Sheriff Sorrells and Deputy Strait, do you know all of these people?" I asked. I made introductions where necessary, partly due to good manners, and partly to string them along. Once that was over, I had to explain.

"The Sheriff and Deputy found me walking along the road leading to The Vision's Headquarters." I said. "I got ambushed last night, and came to on the road right before they found me. Looks like they took my badge, gun belt and gun, and radio, so I'll need to make reports and get new ones..."

"No, we've got those." Cindy said as she texted on her cell phone. They were left in the your SUV."

"Was Bowser up there?" I asked, concerned about the dog.

"He ran to your other home." said Tanya. "Scratched at the door to get your wife's attention, and she called the Police. We've been searching for you all night."

"Oh wow." I said.

"So what happened, Don?" asked Jack Muscone. I felt a wave of dizziness as I looked at Jack, hearing his name in my head for some reason.

"I don't know." I said. "Like I said, I got ambushed at the Cabin, then woke up on the road. I remember seeing a lot of colors and lights, and it was like I was having dreams, but that's about it."

The stirring in Headquarters reached a fever pitch, and soon there was a big crowd in the anteroom and hall in front of my office.

"Okay, let's restore order here." said Chief Bennett. "Put out the word that Commander Troy has been found and is safe. Everyone back to your jobs! Lieutenant Perlman, take the Commander's formal statement."

"That can wait." said a woman's voice. It was my wife Laura, working her way through the crowd. It was she that Cindy had been texting. "First he's going to get a medical examination in your infirmary. Doctor's orders. Come along, darling."

"Good morning to you, too." I said, standing up. "The best medicine I need right now is to hug my lovely wife." I suited the deed to the word, and hugged Laura tightly.

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

The infirmary room, where I'd been given medical attention after the confrontation with Ned nearly a year before, was also about to get crowded, until the Doctor in charge kicked everyone but the Chief, Muscone, and Cindy out. She did all the usual doctor stuff, looking into my eyes with a penlight, making me stick out my tongue and say 'aaah', and examining my arms.

"You've been injected with drugs." Laura said. "I'm going to take some blood samples." As she did, I told her that I'd been catheterized, as it hurt to pee.

She finally said "Well, I see no physical problems with you. You weren't hit hard on the head, but there's a knot on your neck where you were given a drug, probably a knockout drug. Looks like you were given an I.V. of something, too, and if you were catheterized...."

"Like that night in your office?" I asked quietly. Laura just nodded, keeping her back to the others. I saw Chief Bennett peering at us.

Jack Muscone said "Don, do you think The Vision had anything to do with this?"

"I don't know why they'd want to kidnap me, drug me, and let me go." I said. "I think this is some kind of Wargrave stunt, maybe as a warning to you guys to back off him."

"Maybe we should get a warrant to search The Vision's Headquarters." said Muscone. "Since you were found near there. Maybe they did some kind of experiment on you." He was not being distracted, even by my bringing up Wargrave. Time to try a new tactic.




Reichenbach Ch. 04



"And upon what will you base that warrant?" I asked. "The Coltrane County Sheriff will tell you I was found well outside their property, albeit on the road to the place. There's no probable cause, at least not yet, and no evidence to connect them to any of this."

"Well..." Jack said haltingly, then said, "Look, Don, someone just kidnapped you and administered drugs into your system. Speaking of which... Dr. Fredricson, I'd like a report on what those drugs were when you get the results back."

"You'll be the first to know." Laura said.

"I'd like a copy of that, too." said Chief Bennett.

"That's not so easy, Chief." I said. "These guys are talking about something at a different level than our pay grade."

"Well no disrespect to Agent Muscone or your wife, Commander," said Bennett with something bordering on exasperation, "but you're this Police Force's Commander, you were kidnapped, drugged, and who knows what else, maybe brainwashed. Now I don't know what all the Federal stuff you do with these guys is about, but I don't like my police officers being treated this way, and I want some answers on it."

"And you will have them, Chief." I said, getting off the inclined table I'd been lying on. "Just as soon as I get them. By the way, Laura, is Bowser okay?"

"Jack, this man loves that dog more than he loves me." Laura said.

"Not true at all." I said. "But seriously, the dog?"

"He's fine." Laura said. "He apparently ran straight back home after you were attacked, and he was whimpering outside the door. He knew something was wrong."

"Sounds like a good dog to me." said Cindy.

"Want to keep him?" asked Laura.

"Better ask Carole about that first." I said. "Besides, Laura, you love that dog, too; you just won't admit it." Laura gave up.

Part 17 - Baiting The Trap 

10:00am, Monday, June 22d. Laura went to her office with my bloodwork, and Cindy drove me up to the Cabin to get my vehicle. She'd given me my belt, gun, radio, badge, cellphone and wallet at Headquarters, and the keys to the SUV as well.


"The Fire Department EOD checked the SUV for explosives." Cindy said as we arrived, opening the gate with the remote from my SUV. I told her to keep it for emergencies, as I had an extra at the Cabin.

"Tell you what." I said. "I'm going in and taking a shower and changing clothes. Want to come inside?''

"Sure." Cindy said. "I tempted to join you in the shower, too."

"Fine with me, but Molly will get jealous." I said.

"So would Jenna." Cindy replied. "So you go first, and I'll take one afterwards."

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

After Cindy and I took (separate) showers, we convened on the back deck to eat some late breakfast and talk. There was nothing in the refrigerator, so I whipped up some instant grits and we were eating bowls of the Southern staple cereal.

"So," Cindy said, "what really happened?"

"For your ears alone, my friend." I said. "I was hit as I was getting out of my car. I'd just put Bowser down on the ground when I got jumped and injected with some knockout drug. When I came to, I think I was inside The Vision's headquarters, but the perps had some of Eckhart's people hostage and forced him to do one of their procedures on me."

"The one you had done to Eleanor Burke?" Cindy asked.

"I would have no idea about that." I said. "Whatever happened there was fortuitous, but I'll never be heard taking credit for that brilliant piece of work."

"I understand." Cindy said, grinning in understanding. "So you were saying..."

"Yes." I said. "I am not sure what was going on, as I was drugged up. But if they have programmed me, you are going to have to really be on watch. If I start acting funny, you might have to take me down."

"Hoo boy." Cindy said. "I'll restrain from taking advantage of that too much. So, who's behind this?"

"Henry Wargrave." I said. "I recognized his voice. By the way, Eckhart and his people are okay, they had secret bolt holes to run to, and got away."

"Good." Cindy said, looking over the magnificent view of the Town. "I'm just glad you're okay. By the way, does the Chief have something against me? Hates lesbians or something?"

"No, nothing like that." I said understanding. "He does fear that you are too much my follower and not enough your own person, and he wonders if you have the leadership qualities a Police Captain should have. Of course I know you do, and then some, but we all have to prove ourselves to the new boss."

"I got a little tired of how hard he was watching me last night." Cindy said. "It was close to bird-dogging."

"Well, you're a Captain, so he can't just fuck with you." I said. "But don't sweat it. I'll bet you did a great job while I was missing, and he'll have seen it."

"Speaking of that." Cindy said, putting her empty bowl down on the table, having practically inhaled the grits, "you said there was another reason you had them promote me to Captain. Care to share it?"

"In due time, mon ami," I said, "in due time. Want some more grits before we go back to the Station?"

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

The press conference at 11:30am at Headquarters was pandemonium. Reporters filled the Press room to overflowing, smelling blood in the water. Something had happened to the Police Commander, and the Press wanted to know what that incident was.

"You'll have to talk to them." said Lt. Scott Peterson, Media Relations Officer. "Whatever you and the Chief say, I'll go along, but it's out of my hands."

"Oh, I do have a plan." I said. Moments later, at my request, my mother Phyllis came in, wearing her Police Auxiliary Detective uniform. "Oh, I am so glad you're safe." she said. I hugged her warmly.

"And you're not the only one." I said, seeing my mother's companion about to wet the floor with happiness.

I knelt down. "Hey Bowser, you okay?" Bowser's tail was wagging as hard as I'd ever seen it as he licked my hand. I gave him a good petting as officers came around to see Bowser; after all, we were in the hallway. "You did a great job, Bowser!" I said. "You're my hero."

"Why did you ask me to bring him, son?" Phyllis asked.

"Oh, you'll love this." I said, scooping up Bowser. "Let's go to the press conference." I put on my Tilley hat indoors, as well.

The press room just about exploded as I entered it, carrying Bowser. We assumed the podium, where questions were being shouted at me with a total lack of control. I finally raised my hand to get some quiet, and it worked.

"Ladies and gentlemen," I said, "no doubt you have heard of an incident near my home on the mountain. What happened is that my dog Bowser here, who I was fortunate to adopt after the Thatcher trial, ran back home to get help after I fell down and hit my head. I'm a bit embarrassed at the commotion, but I'm okay, and I'm proud to own this excellent dog. Bowser, look at these Media people."

Bowser looked over the group as I said "These guys are not your friends, Bowser. Do not give them even one single interview about this. And that will conclude my comments on this, as well. Thank you." I left the room, escorted out by a cordon of police officers, as the Media angrily shouted both questions and insults at me and my dog. I did happen to catch Bettina Wurtzburg glaring at me; she knew exactly what I had done to sabotage her previous reporting...

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

Bowser was a smash hit with the Detectives of MCD, especially Joanne Cummings. He was getting a bit nervous about all the people, though, as the loud noise of the Media circus had bothered him. I regretted taking him in and exposing him to that, so after a good fifteen minutes of one-on-one time to get him calm and happy again, followed by giving Joanne a few minutes to get to know him in the quiet setting of my office, I asked my mother to take him back home... with a police escort: there were Media people trying to follow her, and those cars were quickly pulled over by Police and detained until they couldn't follow her any longer.

At 2:00pm, I had a meeting with Jack Muscone, Chief Bennett, Captain Cindy Ross, and Sheriff Allgood... at the FBI offices. I introduced the Chief to Jack's boss, who filled the Chief in on some of the details of the Wargrave case. Chief Bennett seemed mollified now that he was getting some answers.

"So Don," said the DepDirector, "this is not The Vision's work?"

"I know you FBI guys had some problems with Eckhart in the past." I said. "But this is not the one to be trying to mess with him over. He's more friend than foe to me." The DepDirector noticed I was not directly answering the question, but he (most very wisely) let it go.

"Well guys," said Jack Muscone, "the reason for this meeting is to let you County LEOs know that we're going to take Henry Wargrave into custody tonight. Dr. Wellman, president of the University, is giving some awards at University Conference Center, and Wellman tipped us off that Wargrave will be there. We will make the arrest at that time, and in front of all those people, if necessary."

"You're sure he'll be there?" I asked. "I'm stunned that Wellman would give Wargrave up like that. They were tight; they've been BFFs for a long time."

"That's what I said." said Muscone. "But Dr. Wellman said that Wargrave is becoming a publicity liability for his University, and that cooperating with us will put him and the School in a more positive light."

"By the way," said the DepDirector, "your wife was supposed to attend this function, but we've asked her to make regrets and not be there, for her own security. After what happened to you, we're very concerned that it might have been a dry run for doing something worse, to you or her."

"That's a thought." I said, as if struck by it. Cindy looked at me as if surprised.... that I'd not thought of something someone else had. The DepDirector did not quite hide his pleasure at that.

"So," said Muscone, "you, Don, and you, Cindy, can be on Campus as FBI consultants. I'm not sure where Chief Bennett and Sheriff Allgood stand, with the University being State property."

"The Chief has no jurisdiction there, though you could ask him to 'assist' with your operations there." I said. "Sheriff Allgood has jurisdiction over every square inch of this County, per a tiny clause in the SBI Law passed earlier this year, so he and his Deputies are fully jurisdictional agents of the Law on Campus."

"Good." said the DepDirector. "Should be an easy enough takedown."

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

I went by my wife's office. "Hello, darling." she said. "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good." I said. "Having a Jack's Double Cheeseburger at the Cop Bar has a way of restoring one's vitality after a long night."

"I'll apply for a grant to study the recovery effects after sex." Laura said drily. "Your blood tests aren't done yet. Might not be for a few days. And I do apologize for trying to give away the dog; he really is a very good dog, and Carole does love him as much as you do."

"Yes, and no reason for you to be jealous of him." I said, grinning. "But that's not why I'm here. I have a couple of favors to ask of you."

When I told her what I wanted, Laura's eyes widened. "That is not a small thing." she said. "But I think I can make it happen."

I then left and made my last preparation... a visit to the hardware store.

Part 18 - Springing The Trap 

7:30pm, Monday, June 22d. The University Campus was not especially busy, as it was the Summer semester. The Conference Center was just north of the Hospital on Campus, and was attached to the Student Union. And it was a bit too easy to spot the various men in suit with little clear wires and earpieces. They were FBI agents, brought in from the City to make the arrest of Henry R. Wargrave.

I saw Jack Muscone in the hallway leading to the room where the banquet was. He was nervous. "I just hope he shows up." Jack said. "We're going to look a bit silly if he doesn't. But his limo was spotted driving into the back area."

"I hate to tell you this, Jack." I said. "But I don't think you're going to get him. Now or ever. Henry Wargrave will never be placed under arrest by the FBI."

"Aw, don't say that." said Muscone. "You're always right about everything, and I want you to be wrong about that."

"Time will tell." I said. "Oh... hello Dr. Wellman."

"Ah, Commander." said University President Dr. Sidney P. Wellman, his hair slicked back, that set sinister smile on his face, looking full of vitality for his age. "I don't know what that dog business was about, but whatever happened, I am so glad to see that you are okay. I'm just sorry your wife could not make it tonight. I have the feeling it's going to be a quite... eventful evening. Would you not agree, Agent Muscone?"

"I'm hoping for a quiet evening with a quiet arrest, Mr. President." said Muscone politely.

"I have to go inside. I'll speak with you later, gentlemen." said Wellman. He went on into the room.

"Think your Consultant of Crime will be here to witness this?" asked Muscone. I peered at him.

"As a matter of fact," I said, "yes I do." Muscone then peered at me.

"Okay," he said. "I'm going to be in the banquet room, in the back, just inside the door to the left if you need me. Where are you going to be?"

"Out here in the hallway." I said. Jack went on inside. A moment later Cindy Ross came up, wearing a thin black shirt and black slacks and what looked like black tennis shoes.

"Mmm, you look good in black." I said. "But it must be hot."

"Not that bad." said Cindy. "Gonna get hotter later on, though. You look good yourself." I was wearing my darker gray suit, with a very light gray, dri-fit mock turtleneck shirt.

"Thank you. And yes, it sure is going to get a lot hotter, and soon." I said. "You ready?" Cindy nodded that she was.

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

The dinner went along without a hitch. Dr. Wellman made introductory remarks, then Pastor Westboro gave the invocation. I didn't think invocations were allowed anymore, especially on college campuses, but I digress. Dinner was next, and there was general chitchat. But there was not yet any sign of Henry R. Wargrave.

"Ah, Commander," said a voice, coming up behind me. It was Tom Riordan, booster for the football team. He shook my hand somewhat like a politician. "It's been some time since I've seen you. Everything well with you and your family?"

"Oh yes, yes indeed." I said. "I'm sorry to hear of your own family troubles, your separation from you wife."

"Ah, it's unfortunate." said Riordan. "But it was probably inevitable. You've been through a divorce, haven't you?" Hmmm, interesting that he knows that, I thought.

"Yes, yes I have." I said. "Fortunately it was amicable."

"As I hope mine to be." said Riordan. "I just spoke with Mr. Wargrave; he should be here momentarily. I need to get inside before Dr. Wellman sends out a posse for me, if you'll excuse me." He went inside. Speaking of posses, it looked like the one for Wargrave was not bearing fruit, as the man had not yet arrived, despite Riordan's assurances.

The presentation portion started. Again, Wargrave had not made himself visible in public. But then I got a text from Myron: "Wargrave cellphone pinging off University cell tower." So he was around here somewhere. But where?

Then, it happened. My cellphone, my Police cellphone rang. Because it was the Police cellphone, any 'blocked' numbers were supposed to show up. But amazingly, this one said 'Blocked', anyway. I answered it.

"Commander Troy." I said.

"Jabberwocky. Joyful. Jehosephat." said the voice at the other end.

I felt my eyes blink hard. Suddenly, my brain was flooded with sensation, and words. Lights appeared, though I could still see.

"Kill Jack Muscone." said the voice. It was not Wargrave's voice, but it sounded familiar... nasally, and punkish.

I blinked again. The voice said "Take your toy gun and shoot Jack Muscone. He'll laugh at the joke. Go. Do it now. Jabberwocky, Joyful, Jehosephat. Do it! Shoot Muscone!"

I slowly put the phone into my pocket, looking straight ahead. In my peripheral vision, I thought I could see someone behind a door, peering at me. I barely saw Cindy rush past me towards that door, followed by Sergeant Rudistan.

But none of that mattered. I was on a mission, and it was all important that I do this, I thought to myself. I had to do it, the only thought in my mind was to shoot Jack Muscone with the toy gun in my holster under my jacket.

I entered the banquet hall, not really hearing President Wellman's speech. I saw Jack Muscone to my left, and turned towards him. As I approached, I slid my hand under my jacket, gripping my very real, not-a-toy, holstered service weapon...

To be continued.

So, readers? How can this possibly end well? Is Jack Muscone doomed? Is there any hope for the Iron Crowbar to save the day? Has Henry R. Wargrave won? Tune in next time for the answers... and some incredible, shocking twists. All will be revealed... well, almost all....



Reichenbach Ch. 05



The chronological order of my stories is as follows:

Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player Series, Case of the Black Widow series, Teresa's Christmas Story, The Case of the Black Badge series, A Case of Revenge series, Teresa's Summer Race, The Trilogy series, Dark Side Of The Force series, Caught In The Act series, The Phyllis Files 1-2, Case of the Murdered Bride series, The Credit Card Caper series, The Phyllis Files 3, The Hot Wives Investment Club series, Seriously Inconvenienced series, Case of the Paper Trail series, Christmas Mystery Theater, The Porno Set Mystery series, The Medical Murder Mystery series, The Eightfold Fence series, The Phyllis Files 4, Pale Morning Light series, Silverfish series, Cold As Ice series, Secrets of Apple Grove series, Sting of the Scorpion series.

Reichenbach, Ch. 01-05.

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 19 - Chopper Chase 

Jack Muscone's dark, beady eyes turned onto me as I approached him, my hand under my jacket. I pulled out my hand, in the shape of a "L" with the index finger pointed at him and the thumb pointed up, and jabbed it at him.

"Bang!" I said out loud. Looking back towards the door, I saw Cindy Ross come in. "Did you get him?" I called out. She shook her head.

Just then I saw a movement in the door leading to the back kitchen areas. "This way!" I yelled, tearing off after the person, who'd bolted. Cindy was right behind me, leaving a stunned audience, definitely including FBI Special Agent in Charge Jack Muscone.

Cindy was barely keeping up as I tore down the back passageway towards an exit door, which the perp had just gone through. I'd had enough of a glimpse of him to see that he was Henry R. Wargrave.

As we got outside, I heard the roar of a helicopter. "The football field!" I yelled, slowing down and stopping. Cindy was about to tear off after the fast-running figure of Wargrave, who had a huge head start, but I stopped her.

"Come on, this way, let's go!" I yelled. Cindy actually did not argue, and followed me as I ran to a golf cart that was to one side of the Conference Center... which I myself had placed there earlier in the evening.

"Where are we going?" Cindy asked as we tore down the sidewalks in the cart.

"The Hospital." I said. I heard the helicopter with Wargrave lift off, then saw it come up to our right. It flew south as it gained altitude, then curled left around the end of the mountain finger upon which my home The Cabin was built, going east.

"We lost him!" Cindy said.

"Not by a longshot!" I yelled. I pulled up at University Hospital, grabbed a linen bag of items, and told Cindy to follow me. We ran into the Hospital and into the Emergency Room areas, then to the elevators. No one from the Hospital stopped us. We took the elevator that led to the roof.

"The helicopter on the roof is on loan to us." I said. "Laura had the Hospital's Life-Flight helicopter park County Airport in case it's needed." I said as we ascended. "Did you see who was calling me? He was watching me when he called, as I figured he would."

"Sure looked like Gor-don's backside." said Cindy. "But he got away. Damn, he was fast."

"So was Wargrave." I said as the elevator doors opened. We ran out onto the roof, where the four-seater helicopter's engines were revved to full, and the bird ready to take off. To my surprise, we had another passenger along with the pilot: my ex-wife Melina.

We got in the helicopter, put on the headphone-microphone sets, and the pilot took off. "Go to the City!" I said. I saw the twinkling lights of Wargrave's helicopter in the distance. "Follow that other chopper to the City."

As we flew along, I asked Melina "Why are you here?"

"You're going to need help." said Melina. "Laura had me come with you. If they start shooting at you, guess who gets to wax them?"

"Just don't shoot the chopper down." I said. "If it crashes in the City, it could kill people."

"Darn... you're right. That's a good thought." Melina said. She was sitting to my left in the backseat. Cindy was up front by the pilot... who was the guy teaching me helicopter flying lessons, John Tower.

"How's this guy learning to fly, Mr. Tower?" Cindy asked into her headset.

"He's getting there." said Tower. "Just needs some hours in the air."

I chose not to consider how my wife knew to send Melina along with us, but I realized Laura must've known all about what I'd done. Instead, I decided to watch the scenery. I could see lights below as we flew. In the distance to the right, I saw twin clusters of light. "That must be the Twin Cities, Westphalia and Eastphalia." I said. 

Pilot John Tower confirmed it. "We have to fly south and then turn up into the City, to avoid City Airport's airspace." he said.

The lights became more frequent as we were approaching the City, the buildings getting taller. "The other chopper is landing on the roof of the Cannon Building." said Tower. That was the building that housed Wargrave's office, I knew.

"Put us down right on the roof." I said. "Melina, if they shoot at us..."

"I'm all over it." Melina said.

We approached the roof, where the other chopper had just landed on the pad. "We're going to land on the roof, but I'm going to keep it revved so we don't put weight down." said Tower. You might have to jump down." Cindy and I got ready.

Sure enough as we approached the roof's edge, someone from the other helicopter pulled out a gun. He got it aimed but did not get off a shot... Melina had fired her auto-pistol out the window already, and the man fell backwards, hit in the dead center of the chest. The other helicopter quickly lifted off, leaving him behind.

Tower came in on the now-vacated pad and put the chopper down. Cindy and I quickly jumped out, with me carrying my linen bag. A quick check of the man Melina had shot showed that he was dead. We then ran for the door, and entered. Steps led downward. I led the way, cautiously, knowing this was a direct passage to Henry Wargrave's penthouse office.

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

"Something's going on up there." said Austin Murphy, scrambling to put papers into his briefcase. He was hearing all the helicopter noise, not realizing there were two of them. Wargrave looked up and around, then listened intently.

"Austin, go." said Wargrave, stopping his task of trying to fill a briefcase with papers. "Run. Just get out of here. Don't even look back, or you'll become a pillar of salt." He had seen the second helicopter come up, and knew what it meant.

"But Hank..." said Murphy.

"Go, Austin, save yourself!" Wargrave said. "You'll continue the work after me, and you'll avenge me. Take out the bastard that betrayed me, then the Iron Crowbar and his wife! Go!"

Austin R. Murphy stepped over to Wargrave. They exchanged a handshake and a brief hug, then Murphy ran out the door to the elevator to take him to the lobby, 30 floors below.

As Wargrave finished stuffing the briefcase full of papers, he heard a noise behind him. He turned around to see two people: a man holding a red crowbar, and a platinum blonde woman in all black, with a helicopter headset helmet on, holding a blue crowbar... and a black crowbar.

Cindy Ross stepped forward and hurled the black crowbar onto the ground in front of Wargrave. "Henry Wargrave!" she called out. "Would you like a shot... at the title?"

Part 20 - The Reichenbach Falls 

Wargrave reached down and picked up the black crowbar. 

"Don't mind if I do." he said, moving forward.

I just watched, knowing this was dumb, but it was what Cindy wanted to do. I took the final item out of the linen bag as Wargrave attacked, and Cindy easily parried the blow. The clang of iron filled the darkened office, lit mostly by the lights of the City coming through the windows. Wargrave swung for Cindy's head and missed, and Cindy delivered a solid backhand to Wargrave's exposed ribs. He gasped in pain.

More blows and counter-blows. Wargrave was very experienced in personal combat, and had needed that experience and training on some of his smuggling operations to save his life. But now he was facing a two-time black belt with experience... and a mission. Cindy would have vengeance upon the man whose illegal weapons had nearly cost her her life. And she would have it.

Wargrave thrust and appeared to stumble. Cindy acted like she was going for the easy kill, but as Wargrave pulled back, ready to strike, Cindy also pulled back, having understood Wargrave's ruse and not falling for it. The Blue Crowbar was good, I thought happily. She was on top of it.

They were both tiring as they circled each other, occasionally thrusting and having their blows met and parried. Wargrave feinted a forehand swing, then suddenly drew back and changed to a two-handed backhand thrust which caught Cindy in the ribs, right where she had been wounded. I cringed as I heard the smack of the crowbar, then realized she had her bulletproof vest on... thank goodness!

Still, the blow hurt. Cindy gasped in pain but did not let down her guard. As Wargrave swung, trying to follow up, Cindy parried it... and suddenly planted her leg and delivered a staggering kick to Wargrave's chest. It knocked him back. 

As he tried to recover, he was swarmed. Cindy landed a blow on his hand holding his crowbar, and he screamed in pain as he dropped the metal rod to the floor. Cindy showed no mercy. A powerful blow to the chest with her fist, followed by a two hand jab to the face with the crowbar which connected solidly with Wargrave's nose. He staggered, covering his face and body with his arms in rope-a-dope style, which did him little good. Cindy swung hard at his head, smashing the back of his hand covering his ear. Another blow to his ribs, then another uppercut to the side of his head. Wargrave collapsed, almost unconscious. 

Cindy quickly pulled Wargrave's arms behind him, securing his hands behind his back with a plastic zip-tie. Then she pulled him up to his knees to watch me.

"Do you know who Tesla was, Mr. Wargrave?" I asked, my voice seeming to echo in the tense silence of the room.

"Of course." said Wargrave as he watched me attach two little metal rods to the window right behind his desk, secured by suction devices. It was the device Barry Oliver had loaned me. Another chain attached to Wargrave's desk would keep it from going anywhere.

"This device, when turned on," I said, "will shatter this window. It's a long way down, Mr. Wargrave... a long, long, long way down. And unlike the tall tales, you will not lose consciousness, you will have time to contemplate as you fall to the earth below. It is neither the Empty House nor the Reichenbach Falls, Colonel Moran... but it's the best I can do under the circumstances."

"Why don't you just shoot me?" said Wargrave. "Or at least beat me to death with the crowbar?"

I reached into my pocket and pulled out an ancient coin, now in a protective plastic sleeve. "Do you know what this is?" I asked. "It is the only thing my great-grandmother was able to take out of Nazi Germany with her. She was helped out of Germany and certain death... by Professor Heinz."

Understanding in Wargrave's eyes was instantly visible to me.

"Yes." I said. "My partner is here to whip your ass for supplying the firepower that nearly killed her. But me... I'm here to avenge the old man that you murdered. The man you forced to drink hemlock, and denied him the dignity of dying amongst the friends who loved him. Now you will die alone, with no one with you. I want you to think about that on your way to the ground."

"If that old Jew saving your ancestor made your existence possible," snarled Wargrave, "then I'm glad I killed him... for that reason alone."

Cindy walloped Wargrave on the back of the head. "Shut up, fuckhead." she said.

"That wasn't the worst of it." I said. "Your pathetic little attempt to brainwash me, to make me kill my wife?" I said. "It didn't work, did it? But you can think about that failure, too, as the concrete comes rushing up to meet your face, Wargrave. I'll be sleeping with my very much alive wife tonight, while your wife will be mourning your death. I protected my wife, you've left yours to defend herself alone."

Wargrave swore unprintable curses at me.

I smiled. "And I'll spit on the stain on the concrete that will be all that's left of you for trying to hurt my wife. Goodbye, Colonel Moran, and may the living God have mercy upon your soul. Ready, Crowbar 2?"

"Ready, Crowbar 1." Cindy said, the scissors ready.

With that I activated the device. A high pitched whine emitted, going higher and higher into silence. A second later it found the resonating frequency. Cracks appeared in the bulletproof glass. As the cracks spread, I picked up Wargrave's chair and hurled it through the window, shattering the glass. I pulled the chain holding the Tesla Tuning Fork, keeping it inside.

"I hope nobody's down there where the chair is going to hit." I said as Cindy cut the zip-tie. Before he could react or act, we both grabbed Wargrave and pulled him to the window... and then picked him up and hurled him outside!

Cindy tried to watch, but I pulled her back lest the air rushing out try to take her with it. We quickly put the zip-tie, scissors, Tesla Tuning Fork and such stuff into our pockets, then I folded the linen bag and secured it in my Tilley hat on my head. Grabbing the crowbars, we went out the door towards the elevators.

"This way." I said, leading Cindy into a side door. It was a stairwell, which led down. As we descended, an alarm went off, and a message to secure the building was broadcast over the speakers that normally broadcast muzak. Undeterred, we went down all thirty floors, then out a side door to the street. The door was not yet locked, as it was a fire escape door.

"Think any cameras caught us?" Cindy said.

"No." I said. I showed her the other device in my pocket, the well-used audio-visual jamming device, but this on a new-and-improved model. "Nothing like the best in CIA technology. By the way, how are you feeling? You took a couple of shots, there."

"I'm fine." said Cindy. "Kinda disappointed. He wasn't as good as I'd expected him to be."

"You won't hear me complaining." I said. "If he'd won, I'd've waxed him, but I didn't want to carry your dead hardbody ass down all those stairs." Cindy laughed.

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

Going around to the other side of the building, we saw the commotion. As I'd surmised from previously scouting the building, the ground directly below Wargrave's office was not accessible to the public. Therefore, the chair had not hit anyone, and Wargrave's body didn't hit anyone either. He was now half-liquid on that concrete path that went around the side of the hotel. Police were just coming up.

A few minutes later, Detective Sapper Warren came up. Cindy and I came over, flashing our badges, which was enough for the City Police to let us inside the cordon.

"Hi Sapper." I said. "What happened here?"

"Well, hi Commander, Captain." said Detective Sapper Warren. "What brings you two to the City?"

"FBI business." I said. "Somebody jumped?"

"Looks like it." said Sapper. "That's Henry Wargrave, from what this ID in his wallet says. The FBI's been after him. I guess he took the easy way out, huh?"

"Sure looks like it." I said. "Well, unless you'd like our help, I think we'll get out of your way and head back home."

"This one looks self-evident." said Sapper. "If you don't mind, call your FBI friends and let them know they won't be arresting Mr. Wargrave today."

I did so, calling Jack Muscone with the news. As the crime scene became an ant bed of CSIs and police officers, Cindy and I quietly left the scene.

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

We walked down the street towards the Hyatt City Center Hotel. In the parking lot there was a silver Town & County Police SUV. "That car looks familiar." I said.

"Oh my goodness." Cindy said, recognizing it as my Police SUV. Melina was behind the wheel.

"Where to?" my ex-wife asked, pulling out. "I'm driving. I like this car."

"Sure." I said, letting Cindy ride shotgun while I stretched out in the backseat. "By the way, when we get to Nextdoor County, take State 142 toward Buford, then Coltrane County Road 98 West."

"The Vision?" Melina asked, understanding.

"The Vision." I said. "Captain Ross wants to know why she was promoted. I think it's time we tell her, don't you think?" Cindy whirled to look back at me, but I would not let my face nor words give away anything.

Part 21 - Troy Family Values, The Saga Continues 

When we pulled up to The Vision's front gate, we were immediately allowed in. As we parked in front, at least twenty young Vision people came out. The women were wearing blue shirts, the men red shirts, all of them wearing blacks slacks. Many of them wore various runes, just as Melina was wearing her Fourth Rune, contrasting nicely against her black shirt.

The Vision acolytes were cheering and applauding as we got out of the SUV and waded through them to the front doors. They knew what had happened in the Therapy Room, and that I'd still defeated the Enemy in spite of it. "You did it, Iron Crowbar! You beat them!" some of them were calling out among the cheers. I acknowledged the accolades with a smile and waves.

Young Tommy met us at the door, asking us to come with him to see Dr. Eckhart. More people were inside, including one of Eckhart's trainers, Dennis Cole. They also applauded and high-fived us as Tommy led us to the elevator. Once inside, he punched in the code, which I immediately committed to memory, and hopped back before the doors closed. As we ascended in silence, I steeled myself and put myself mentally 'into the zone', eagerly anticipating what was to come.

Eckhart's office was dark as we entered, the only lights coming from little decorative lights low in the walls. Some moonlight would be good, I thought to myself.

"Oh my goodness." said Cindy, totally surprised. "Look at who all is here."

I looked around. The two large, semi-circular sofas faced each other, one facing Eckhart's desk, the other facing the opposite side to the east. Eckhart was seated on a loveseat at the head of the circle (south as the crow flies), and there were three chairs on the other (north) side.

Cindy was bidden to sit on the sofa to the left, on the end near Eckhart. Next to her was Jenna Stiles, then Teresa Croyle. Melina sat down on the edge of the sofa next to Teresa... and her husband. Daniel Allgood was in the left-side chair on my end. And in the middle chair on my end was Chief Griswold.

On the right side, next to Eckhart, was Molly Ross Evans, pregnant with my child. Next to her was Laura, and to Laura's left was my mother Phyllis, who I observed to be anything but totally happy being here.

"Ah, there you are!" said P. Harvey Eckhart. "Wonderful job, young man. It's on the radio that Mr. Wargrave has committed suicide, having jumped to his death from 30 floors up. Can't say I'm sorry to hear that."

"Me, either." I said. "Hi, Chief, I'm glad you could make it." I said as I sat down in the right side chair next to Chief Griswold.




Reichenbach Ch. 05



"I wouldn't miss this one for the world, Crowbar." said Griswold, his face beaming under his huge mustaches. He knew what was coming. "Not for the world."

"Doctor," I said to my wife, "would you please check Miss Ross out for me? She sustained a few blows and I want to make sure she's not bleeding where her lung wound is."

"Sure." said Laura, getting up. "Come along, Cindy." Cindy knew better than to protest, and they went around a corner into a room for the checkup.

"So, what happened in the City?" asked Molly.

"Well," I said "we saw the scene and talked to Detective Warren. Apparently Wargrave threw a chair through his office window, then jumped out."

"Har." said Chief Griswold. "It's about time. And I know that congratulations to you are in order, Crowbar, though I expect to never hear the details." 

The old Chief paused, then added: "You know, you've come a long way, Don. When you first came to the Force, Wargrave was a powerful man, and you were rightly afraid of him. Then the power of the Crowbar rose up, and Wargrave's was diminished... and now he's gone."

Eckhart laughed heartily at the Chief's words, the sound of it sinister and echoing in the room as he nodded in agreement. A moment later, Laura and Cindy came back. "She's fine." said Laura. "Hardly a dent under that body armor she was wearing."

Yes, I thought to myself, it was 'cheating' that Cindy wore her bulletproof vest and the helmet from the helicopter while Wargrave had nothing. But she was okay, and Wargrave was a puddle on the sidewalk. Okay by me. 

"Okay," said Cindy, settling back into her seat. "I'm supposed to ask how you did it, but I'm not even sure what all you've done." Eckhart chuckled again.

"Young Donald," said Eckhart, "your partner wants you to tell us how you defeated the brainwashing attempt. And so do I. I've never had a total failure like that, though I must admit I'm glad. And when you told me to let it happen, I had to trust you, though I was worried... very, very worried."

"You let that happen?" Jenna asked, her face showing shock. She was relatively new to my methods, and was about to get a huge education.

"Oh, of course." I said. "I warned Harvey the attempt was coming, and he had almost all of his people safely secured in the dorm areas. I'm guessing he asked for volunteers to stay behind and carry me in here." Eckhart nodded, his face grinning as he was seeing a step ahead of everyone else.

"What everyone doesn't realize," I said, "is that the drugs used in the process were very similar, if not the same, as the drugs Ned created and used... well, some of them. The sexual arousal drugs, the hypnosis drugs, even the sleeping agents to dull the mind for hypnosis... all from the mind of that most evil child prodigy.

I began to smile as I continued: "Well, unlike most people, I've been exposed to these drugs in varying amounts... when Ned used them on me and Todd at Melina's cabin, which was back when all this started; then during the Ward Harvester incident, where Ned's people injected me; then during an attack by that slug Skinny Beard."

I went on: "I realized when Skinny Beard injected me that his drugs did not have the effect they would've on others. And I knew why: not only had I received these doses from Ned, but I was getting low-level doses very frequently... in pills we've come to call 'gray viagras'. Is that not correct, dear?" I looked at Laura, who at first looked shocked, then realized that I must know all of it. She smiled.

"Yes, that's true." Laura said. "Ever since you and Todd were exposed and I've been doing that blood work on both of you. I kept your levels up, since the arousal components were like viagra, and I was the happy recipient of that..."

Laughter rang out, then Laura continued, speaking to the others: "But I also knew Dr. Eckhart had this process, and that it might be used against Don. And I knew Don was aware of it, because by curious coincidence Eleanor Burke apparently underwent the process and later wiped out Ned."

"Yes." I said. "So basically, I told Harvey to let me be 'programmed' in order to save his acolytes' lives, because I knew that I am immune to the drugs used in the process. I knew it for sure after the Skinny Beard attack, and I'd always figured that Laura was making me take the gray viagras as well as those 'special' vitamins to keep my immunity up. So, dear, do I still get the gray viagras?"

"That's up to you, darling." Laura said.

"I say keep using 'em!" Molly said, to an outburst of laughter.

"So," I said, "Wargrave's plan didn't work. I was groggy but never truly unconscious when they grabbed me, and I never was under the spell of the process. All that time, I was hoping the dog was okay, or else my daughter would be quite upset."

"Ah, brilliant." said Eckhart. "So one develops immunity to the drugs..."

"Yes." I said. "So I just played along, waiting to be 'triggered.' I told Cindy to be on the lookout for anyone talking to me or calling me that evening. I was sure that Wargrave had asked Wellman to tell us that Wargrave would be at that dinner--"

"Or maybe Wellman was the instigator of it." said Chief Griswold, with exceptionally astute insight.

"Yes, Chief, that could well be true." I said. "At any rate, the idea was to lure Jack Muscone and me into the same place, then the trigger would be given--"

"Allow me to interrupt with this." Eckhart said, interrupting me. "Mr. Wargrave's original demand was for you to be programmed to murder your wife. I didn't care if you were immune or not, I lied to him like a dog in the shade and told him the procedure would fail. I hoped Mr. Muscone would have on some body armor, but your lovely wife doesn't wear any."

"I wondered about that." I said. "And I appreciate you doing that." Laura nodded vigorously, then I continued: "At any rate, Wargrave fell for it, and had me programmed to shoot Jack Muscone instead. And someone called me on the cellphone to trigger it. Unfortunately, the person who called me got away, and we're not yet sure who it is." Cindy rolled her eyes, but realized I wasn't going to call out Gor-don in front of Jenna without better proof. But we'd be watching.

"I figured Wargrave would want to be there to watch me assassinate an FBI agent. So when I went up to Jack and said 'Bang!', I looked around and saw the movement behind the kitchen door."

I continued: "I figured Wargrave might have a chopper ready. A plane can only land at County Airport or one of the fields outside of town, but a helicopter could land on either of the Quads or at the football stadium or possibly the track. So I arranged to have the University Hospital chopper available, with a backup at the County Airport in case a real life-flight was needed. Sure enough, we needed that transportation and we had it nearby, and we could and did follow Wargrave into the City... just in time to find an investigation of his dead body, as he'd jumped from 30 floors up."

"I have no idea how how you made that happen," said Daniel Allgood, "and I don't want to know. So say no more of it in my presence."

"I'll distract Daniel for ya, Don." Melina said, hugging her husband. I couldn't help but grin at that.

"That's amazing." said Eckhart. "But why did you ask me to host all of these wonderful friends of yours tonight? You could be having dinner at that wonderful Steakhouse Restaurant in your County."

"And we will." I said. "But I've asked these specific people to be here for a special ceremony, and to reveal some truths." I looked over at the two Fourth Runes hanging on the posts, duplicates of the one Melina was now openly and proudly wearing. "Dr. Eckhart, don't you think it's time for those runes to stop hanging on the wall?"

Eckhart smiled and nodded. "Yes, for one of them, anyway." He got up and went over, taking the left side rune, the one he said would be mine one day. He came over and draped it around my neck, then went and sat back down in his place. Most of the others in the room gasped.

"What's that about?" Laura asked, wonder on her face.

"I'm a bit surprised that Dr. Eckhart has not chastised me for improper name usage." I said, looking at the older man, seeing his eyes gleaming. "I shouldn't be calling you 'Harvey', should I? Should I not be calling you 'Uncle Harvey'?"

As the gasps went around the room, I saw my mother through my peripheral vision. She knew, and she was not happy about this turn of events. But the truth needed to come out... and I was just getting started.

"Well," I said, "it's an old story. My grandmother, my father's mother, whose maiden name was 'Michaux', lived on a farm. When she was sixteen, the Carnival came to town. There was a young man with the Carnival. He and my grandmother met, it was love at first sight, and they had a very passionate relationship. She was going to run away with him, but her father and other farmers got out their shotguns and went after the Carnies. They brought my grandmother back home. But the damage had been done. She was pregnant."

I continued: "Back in those days, pregnant girls were sent away to visit that aunt no one knew about, and such. My grandmother gave birth to a boy. He was to be given up for adoption, but the Carnies had kept watch. And after the baby was born, they swept in and took that child away. He was raised by his father and the Carnies."

"And that child was you, Dr. Eckhart?" asked Cindy.

"Yes, my dear." he said. "My mother later married young Donald's grandfather, and his father was the result. As for myself, I left the Carnies when I was sixteen, and in time became a helper of people through 'The Vision'. It has been most rewarding for me, not for the money, but for the people I've met. Just look at this fine group as one example."

"How long have you known this, son?" asked my mother, finally speaking. "That was one of your father's most deeply buried secrets. He was deeply ashamed of it." The last sentence was a direct shot at Eckhart, and underserved. I countered it.

"He should not have been ashamed." I said. "Grandma died when I was eight. When I was six and my sister Elizabeth was 14, Grandma told us the entire story, and I did not forget one word of it. I think she told Elizabeth the story to tell Elizabeth to live her own life, which my grandmother had not been allowed to do. Elizabeth respected Grandma--"

"She's the only person your sister's ever respected." said my mother with some vehemence. "And revealing that story is one reason Elizabeth became so... difficult."

"Maybe." I said. "We'll not go further there, Mom. Suffice it to say that I've known since I was six that my father had an older brother, but I didn't know who he was for quite a while. Then Dad died, and as Executor of his will I had to put his papers in order. He still had his older brother's birth certificate, which his mother kept after baby Harvey was kidnapped by the Carnies. The rest isn't too difficult for an aspiring Detective to figure out, wouldn't you say Mom?"

"I suppose so." said my mother, relenting from what might become a sharper repartée. "Well, now you know the truth."

"Yes." said Harvey. "And yes, young Donald, you indeed must call me 'Uncle Harvey' now. Here, I can give this to you now, along with that Fourth Rune which you've earned many times over." He got up and handed me an envelope with papers in it. They revealed that the loan for The Cabin was paid off, and the title deed for the property was in my name. I tossed it to Cindy.

"Ahhh," said Cindy, looking at it. "So that's why it's not a perk or bribe. Since Dr. Eckhart is your family, it's a family gift."

"Yes." I said. "And I am very grateful to you, Uncle Harvey."

"Think nothing of it." said Harvey. "I love the view from up there as much as you do. And I have more money than I can hope to spend, so why not spend it to overcome a filthy crime by a very filthy criminal. I knew that you realized our blood relationship when you used that burner phone under the name 'Michaux'. That was my mother's maiden name, of course, and I knew then what you were revealing to me."

"Not much gets by him, Harvey." said Chief Griswold, his mustaches twitching. He then looked up at me. "Don? I know that can't be all."

"You are wise beyond your youth, Chief." I said. "Uncle Harvey... there is another Fourth Rune left."

"Yes." Eckhart said, his eyes boring into me. "But that is not my secret to reveal, not now anyway."

"Oh?" I said. I turned to Molly. "Molly, what about you?"

"Uh, no, it's not my story to tell, either." said Molly, a worried look crossing her face, her eyes staring daggers at me.

"Chief Griswold?" I asked.

"Way overdue." he said. "But it's your story to tell, not mine."

"Oh, you know I'll tell it. Contrary to popular opinion, I don't keep secrets any longer than I have to... and I could not agree more that it's way past time." I said.

I got up and went over to the Fourth Rune. Taking it off the post, I walked back to the group, seeing all of the eyes looking at me, Chief Griswold and my mom's in anticipation, Molly and Eckhart in apprehension, and everyone else in simple wonder at what Your Iron Crowbar was going to do next.

I walked into the middle of the group, then stopped in front of Cindy and draped the Fourth Rune around her neck.

"Whaaa?" Cindy gasped, looking up at me. I was looking at Eckhart.

"I am right, aren't I?" I said, watching his eyes brighten as a grin formed on his face.

"Of course." said Eckhart. "You always are. Nothing gets by you."

"What... is this about?" Cindy asked, among murmurs in the room. I knelt down in front of her.

"Cindy," I said, looking her straight in the eye, "you've been wrong about one thing all this time. You see... you are a Troy."

I shall never forget the look in those ice blue eyes as I continued: "Well, a Michaux, anyway. But the truth is that my grandmother... is your grandmother."

"How... how could that be?" Cindy gasped, her eyes wide as saucers. Then it hit her, and she looked over at P. Harvey Eckhart. "You... you?"

"Yes, child." Eckhart said, as I slipped back to my seat in the otherwise utterly silent room. "I am your biological father. Young Donald has surprised this secret, but I am glad that it is out now. Do you wish to hear this?"

"Yes." Cindy said. "Please!"

"Years ago," said Eckhart, "the FBI was chasing me around for some silly business that I had nothing to do with. I fled to Canada, whose Government refused to extradite me because the American Government had no case. I came to Alberta, and your parents came to one of my seminars. Your mother then volunteered to help at some of them. At that time your mother and father were separated. And your mother and I began a relationship together."

Eckhart continued: "It wasn't just a fling, either. I loved her, and I would've married her had she chosen to stay with me. But eventually she chose to go back to your father and sister, and I let her go. I only wanted her to be happy."

Cindy nodded and Molly looked at the floor as Eckhart said: "Only some time later did I learn that she'd become pregnant, and I was very certain that I was the father of the wonderful little girl that was brought into this world. I confirmed it later, by means I'll not discuss now. I never tried to tell you then, nor later, because you were in a loving home, you were happy. So I kept tabs on you, but did not interfere in your life."

"Then some... things... came up within your family relationships." Eckhart said. "When you left home because your family was not happy with your orientation and you were not happy with their lack of acceptance, you were subtly guided to come to 'The Vision', as many people your age do. Of course I helped you and guided you to the best of my meager abilities. I backed your college tuition loan, as I do many others, which you paid off with your earnings from those competitions. By the way, that money was placed in a trust account, and it is yours when you want or need it."

Harvey looked right at Cindy, his eyes twinkling as he said "And even if you weren't my daughter, I would be just as proud of you and your many accomplishments. But you are my daughter, and I have been filled with joy watching you and the Iron Crowbar defeating all those wicked people. When you were wounded, running ahead of young Donald to keep him from doing what he tends to do... lead his people from the front... I felt the ebbing in your energy... as did your cousin Donald. Together, we helped you come back to us, and I was very glad that you chose to come back."

Cindy smiled at Harvey, then turned towards Molly, the smile disappearing. "You knew about this? And didn't tell me?"

Molly did not flinch, but gave it right back. "I didn't know Dr. Eckhart was your father until just now. But yes, I knew. You remember how upset you were when our parents didn't come here after Ross was born, and only came to Midtown? Well, I lit into them for that. I gave them holy hell up one side and down the other."

Molly went on: "At some point, I was saying something like 'She's your daughter!' and I saw them look at each other. I knew something was not right, and I made them tell me what it was. Dad left the room and Mom told me that while they were separated, she had an affair and that you were the result. But she wouldn't say who the father was."

"And you didn't tell me..." Cindy asked, her voice an accusation.

"Oh, come on, Cindy." Molly said. "How in the hell am I supposed to come up to my sister and just say 'Oh by the way, you're not Dad's daughter, you're illegitimate.' And Mom didn't want to tell you, either... and it really was her secret to tell." Molly had glanced my way when saying that. I would have some 'splainin' to do.

Cindy looked over at me. "How... how did you know? And you too, Phyllis... I remember now how you would giggle out loud every time I said I'm not a Troy..."

"Yes, my dear," said Phyllis, her face beaming. "I observed and deduced it, just as Don did, I'm sure. When did you realize it, Don?"

"The night of the fire at the Cabin." I said. "Cindy had had that premonition and had called me, which is what saved us from that fire. Everything just started clicking in my head then, especially that hospital visit from Dr. Eckhart and the tremendous mental energy I'd felt him deliver to her. So, Cindy, as we were watching the fire I looked at you in the light of the blaze... and I saw the resemblance in your face to Harvey Eckhart."

"Don does tend to notice those things... doesn't he, Laura?" Melina said out loud, her voice seeming to strike blows at all of us. Laura smiled, and nodded. Chief Griswold chuckled and my mother just beamed at me.

"I inherited that trait from my mother, obviously." I said, smiling back at my mom. "Anyway, I realized that Harvey... er, Uncle Harvey knew... because he kept showing up. He showed up at your race last year... to see his daughter run and win the race. He showed up at the Hospital when you were at your low point, and he knew to come because of the connection between you. He'd helped you in the past, after you left home. And of course, he came to your Captain promotion ceremony."

"And I was at her Medal of Valor ceremony, too." said Eckhart. "But you did not see me then, young Donald."

"Some things do get by me, I guess." I said, smiling.

"Ohhhh, of course." said Daniel Allgood, having an insight. "That's why!" I understood.

"Yes, Daniel." I said. "That is the other reason I asked the Council to promote Cindy to Captain. I knew this day was coming, and I knew that if you, Cindy, were a Lieutenant, and a brevetted one at that, and then it came out you're my first cousin, which you are... then we could not work together any longer. But as Chief Griswold made it a point to remind me: Captains and above are exempt from the nepotism laws. So you're stuck with me, partner."




Reichenbach Ch. 05



"I can't think of a better person to be stuck with." Cindy said. She got up and came over to me, and I stood up to receive the hug... a hug of blood relatives and then some, that lasted a long moment. As we broke the hug, Cindy had tears in her eyes.

"By the way," I said. "Rita saw our family resemblance at that breakfast with Selena Steele. She asked me if I knew."

"Oh, that woman..." grumbled Griswold.

"Sorry, Chief." I said quietly.

Cindy wasn't finished hugging people. She went over to Harvey Eckhart, who had stood up, and gave him a long, strong hug. Finally able to show his love for his daughter, Eckhart hugged Cindy just as warmly.

"It's... it's been a long night." Eckhart finally said as they separated, a tear now flowing down Cindy's cheek. "Miss Stiles, why don't you take Cindy home. She needs to get some rest. Cindy, do come back soon, and we will talk. There are a great many things I must talk with you about."

"Sure. I'd love that." Cindy said. She hugged Harvey again. Then Melina was hugging her gym partner, telling her congratulations, followed by Phyllis.

Jenna got up and was about to escort Cindy out, and then a wonderful thing happened. Cindy came back, grabbed Teresa by the hand, and pulled her up. "Come with us." Cindy said. "I'm going to need you, too." Teresa nodded goodbye to us all, and with that the three women left, arms in arms, none of them dry-eyed.

Molly had a profoundly sad look on her face as she watched them leave. Phyllis deftly moved out of her seat and Laura slid over to allow me to sit between her and Molly. "I think I've lost my sister again." Molly said, her voice barely audible.

"No." I said, putting my arm around her. "We'll get that fixed up. Let her come to grips with everything."

"Yes, child." said Eckhart, seeming to read Molly's thoughts. "This has been a very long day for her... and for you and all of us. And you, Donald... you're a brave young man, but putting yourself out there and letting that process happen to you... that was..." His voice faltered as he wagged his finger at me.

"It had to happen." I said. "Otherwise, there was no way to take down Wargrave. I made him take actions that were criminal and for which we could bust him. I made him reveal and expose himself to capture, when otherwise he'd be on the run and we might never catch him. But he's gone now. One little Indian left." Eckhart smiled in understanding.

"And he complains about my hair-brained schemes?" Phyllis said to Laura, who laughed and hugged Phyllis. 

"Very true. Whatever you do, darling," Laura said to me, "do not put yourself out there like that when you finally confront the Shadow Man." She then added, not fooling me one bit: "My counterpart in the FBI would have a heart attack." I put my other arm around her, hugging both her and Molly at the same time.

"Well," said Chief Griswold, getting up, "it's way past this old man's bedtime. Thank you, Don, for allowing me to witness this wonderful night. I had my suspicions that you and Miss Ross were related, but didn't know what to do about the nepotism. You solved that as you do everything else. Brilliantly."

I stood up and hugged Chief Griswold. "I'll come fishing with you, one day soon." I said.

Melina and Daniel also got up to go, as did my mother, who hugged me warmly. "I'm very proud of you, son. And I know your father is, too."

"Thanks, Mom." I said. She left with the others, saying goodbye to Molly and Laura, but not acknowledging Harvey Eckhart. Laura and Molly got up, ready to go with me. Molly handed me the house ownership papers.

"Uncle Harvey, I appreciate your hospitality in having us here." I said, shaking his hand.

"It was my honor and pleasure." he said., his hand clasping mine tightly. "And I owe you tremendously for putting my young people's lives ahead of your own."

"That's my job." I said.

"Maybe. But it shows me your greatness." Harvey said. "Come back soon, Donald. We have much still to discuss." Suddenly, he gave me a hug, which I returned.

He looked up into my eyes, his own beginning to tear up. "Thank you, Donald." he said. "Thank you for bringing that truth out."

I looked down at Harvey as I said with a smile of mischievous amusement: "You're welcome, my friend... and you can cross that one off your bucket list, too."

Part 22 - Epilogue 

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the lovely redheaded reporterette on the morning of Friday, June 26th. "Channel Two News has learned that the Coroner's Inquest of the death of Henry R. Wargrave has returned a verdict of 'death by suicide'. The City Coroner had brought up several objections to the suicide theory, citing injuries more consistent with being beaten than with the fall from 30 stories high. The Coroner also showed that many building security cameras had failed right at the time of Mr. Wargrave's death, including several secret video and audio recordings within his office, which the Coroner regarded as suspicious."

"However, the Coroner could not show a consistent pattern of willful damage to the security equipment, nor show that anyone had been in the office after Mr. Wargrave's associate, businessman Austin R. Murphy, left the office some minutes before Mr. Wargrave died. Mr. Murphy was seen in camera footage as well as by numerous people on the lobby floor of the building at the time of Mr. Wargrave's fall from his office."

Cindy said "I don't remember seeing Murphy at the scene. Wouldn't he at least go over and see what happened to his friend?"

"He may have seen us." I said. "And got the hell out of there."

Bettina continued: "The Inquest also pointed out that the windows in Mr. Wargrave's office were bulletproof, and designed to withstand the impact of a small airplane, yet one window was shattered completely. No one can explain how that was done, and it has generated storms of comments and theories on several Internet blog sites. Meanwhile, the City Police have accepted the Inquest verdict, and have no plans to investigate Mr. Wargrave's untimely death any further as they grapple with the tremendous fallout following the arrest for murder of one of their former living legends, Vice Captain Susan Wexler..."

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

They watched the 11:00pm news that Friday night in the somber, silent room.

"So he committed suicide?" said the woman.

"It would've taken dynamite to blow that window open." said the man with her. "Unless... yes, of course. A Tesla device. Vibrational resonance. Yes, that's smart."

"The Iron Crowbar?" she asked.

"Of course." he said. "He majored in Chemistry; he's a scientist at heart. And his nephew's company has the technology... just as they had the technology to detect and destroy Jody Corrigan's unit."

"I'm sure you have people infiltrating that company for their secrets?" the woman asked. "After all, that's what you do."

"I do much more than that, my dear." he said gravely. "Much more. But do not concern yourself with those trifles. Your own position is immensely important to me. The Iron Crowbar is getting out of hand. He crossed my path when he ran Sergei Molotov out of Town, he incommoded me in destroying his own nephew... ah, such a brain that young man had, one to rival even mine... and then the Iron Crowbar seriously inconvenienced me by destroying Corrigan's unit. And now Mr. Wargrave is gone. Should the Iron Crowbar continue to hamper me in my plans, we shall have to make the situation an impossible one for him."

"Just let me know when you're ready." said the woman. "I want to kill him myself as revenge for Harold's death."

"Harold Malone was not murdered by the Iron Crowbar." he said. "But when the time is right, I will enjoy watching as you exterminate Malone's murderer, whom I will present to you trussed and helpless."

"I'll hold you to that promise." said the woman. "I need to be getting back home. Would you like me to give you a blowjob before I go?"

"Thank you, my dear," he said, "but the mood is not right. I have the death of my old friend Wargrave to mourn."

"I'll leave you to it, then." the woman said, donning her gear. Putting on the helmet last, she went out the back door. A moment later the buzz of a high-speed motorcycle reached his ears as the woman sped off.

He poured himself a sherry, a rare and expensive brand. How easy it has been to manipulate the Iron Crowbar into killing Wargrave for me! the thought. Maybe he is not the foeman I had believed him to be. Maybe he is not mentally up to the task he believes he is.

He turned off the television set. No, Mr. Iron Crowbar, he thought to himself and the four winds, you are not my intellectual equal, and you never will be. And in the end, that will be your downfall. I will destroy you, as I have destroyed many men before you, better men, who have crossed me... including the billionaire Henry R. Wargrave, may he rest in peace. Yes, Commander Donald Troy, I will dance upon your grave...

Finis.