Interlude Ch 08

The order of my stories to read is:

Todd & Melina series,

Interludes 1-5

, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, Case of the Executed Evangelist series, The Swap series.

Interludes 6-8

.

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.

This interlude is intended to bridge the gap to the next blockbuster set of police drama stories. Thank you for bearing with me, and I hope you enjoy the stories.-- WW.

Note: sex is in the back half of the story, if that's all you're interested in. ;-)

Part 12 - Sister Dearest

"Okay, take a deep breath, and go to Interrogation-1. Do not pass 'Go', do not collect two hundred dollars." Cindy Ross said as I entered the Headquarters hallway leading to the MCD room after lunch. Entirely too many people were in the MCD room, obviously waiting for my arrival.

It was the Monday after the weekend of introducing Todd to Jeanine, a little over two weeks after the birth of my daughter, and I was still floating on air at being a father. Laura and Carole (and I) were still staying with my mom at the "Mountain Nest" and my mother was fussing over both of them, as grandmothers are wont to do. It was a quiet time as far as police work was concerned, so I'd taken a few extra minutes to spend with my new daughter.

"What's up?" I asked, instantly knowing that something big had happened.

"You'll see when you get there. C'mon, let's go." Cindy said, escorting me down the hallways. I knew something really was up: the other detectives and uniformed officers were anything but discreet in following us down to the interrogation rooms. Arriving at the one-way mirror that looked into Interrogation-1, I peered inside... and got the biggest shock of my life.

"She came in while you were at lunch. She turned herself in." Cindy said. "Just like that." she continued as I looked at her in shock.

Paulina Patterson, Teresa Croyle and Martin Nash were inside, interviewing the suspect who was talking to them without a lawyer present. My eyes literally burned at the sight.

The woman being questioned...

was my sister Elizabeth!

"Oh. My. God." I said, my voice barely a whisper. I could feel everyone watching me, and quickly regained any composure that I might have lost.

"Has she said why she turned herself in?" I asked.

"No." Cindy said. "She's been singing like a canary about everything, from her drug connections to everything that happened with Ned. She confirmed what you'd guessed about Ned murdering Big Alex and Nurse Anya, and she's giving Teresa every drug-related name she knows about. But the 'why' of it? She said she'd tell the reason to you and you alone when you got here."

"Well, perish forbid that I interrupt them right now." I said, controlling my burning desire to go in and find out what the hell was going on. "When she's done talking and they're done, come get me."

I noticed the large number of detectives and officers waiting in the hallway outside the anteroom Cindy and I were in, and I addressed them. "I am sure that you guys have a lot more to do than standing here watching a suspect get interrogated. Get back to work, folks, before Captain Charles comes looking for you."

"Too late." Captain Leslie Charles said. He was part of the group watching me! "But the Lieutenant is right, the party's over." As the crowd dispersed, Captain Charles said to me "I've gotta hand it to you, we were betting you'd fall down with shock on seeing who was in there."

"I almost did." I said. I saw Angela Harlan watching me. "Well, Detective Harlan, welcome to my version of the 'Family Feud'. Pray that your family never comes to this."

"Yeah." Detective Harlan replied simply, still looking at me in uncomprehending wonder.

--------------------------------------------

An hour later, I was summoned by ADA Paulina Patterson from my seat in the unused commander's office next to hers. I had spent the time marshaling my thoughts and memories in preparation for the confrontation that was soon to happen. And now it was time.

Paulina escorted me to the anteroom, where Cindy and Teresa were watching. The room was empty except for Elizabeth.

"Can't take any crowbars in there." Cindy said, a bit unnecessarily.

"No problem." I said. "I'm just curious why she's here." I looked over my sister through the one-way glass. She was wearing a dark suit, similar to the one she'd worn the day over a year ago when she'd first confronted me and my family in Laura's office on my first visit to this Town. Her magnificent legs looked hot and shapely in the sheer black stockings and black high heel pumps she was wearing. She certainly looked none the worse for wear, increasing my curiosity as to why she was turning herself in.

Well, I thought to myself, only one way to find out. I opened the door and entered the room, alone.

"Well, if it isn't my dear brother." said Elizabeth as she looked up, her eyes roving over me. "I have to admit, you're looking very good. Police work suits you. You always did look good in a uniform, I have to admit."

I was wearing my white collared shirt and tie, with soft shoulder epaulets denoting my Lieutenant rank, my badge over the left pocket and two rectangles denoting the Medal of Valor and Purple Order over my right pocket, above my nameplate, as well as blue pants with light blue piping down the side. Elizabeth had seen me in my military uniform when I'd been commissioned, I recalled.

"You're looking pretty good yourself," I said, sitting down, "especially for someone who's been on the run. So, without further ado, why are we talking face to face in my interrogation room?"

"Ah no pleasantries? Not even going to tell me how the family is doing? How's your

ex-

wife? Still fucking around on you?"

I did not care to play games with my older sister, but was swept up by her verbal attack. "I doubt you care about the family, with the possible exception of Todd, who is doing just fine. Your other son had best never find himself my presence again... or you won't have a second son any longer."

I did not know why I had just said that to my sister, who was by no means my friend. It was the first time I'd really let slip my intentions of what I intended to do to Ned if I ever found him. I wondered if Teresa and Cindy were listening in and had heard it... and if it had been recorded.

"Yes, so I've heard." Elizabeth said, her eyes becoming a bit darker. "I thought he'd blown you away in that warehouse. You were extremely lucky to have survived that."

"Speaking of that, how did

you

survive it?" I asked.

"I remember seeing you rescue those children, then I got up and ran. Someone was beating the shit out of Ned, someone with a mask on. I don't think either of them saw me get up and go. Then the explosion happened as I was running. I was thrown through the air and slid a long way along the floor, which was slick.

I was near a door to the outside, got my tied hands in front of me, and went out the door. I hid in some bushes near the fence line while your very inept police department tended to you and Ned, then made it to the other end of the building and out of an unlocked gate while the fire department tended to the fire. Then I called Jean-Paul Baptiste, whom you managed to arrest when Mr. Kurchikov was murdered, and he got me out of the country."

"I see." I said, knowing that Elizabeth had already confessed to Paulina and Teresa about her involvement with the Kurchikov gang and that, like I'd surmised, she'd left him alive before he was murdered by Dill-Worthing.

"So," I said, "you said you would tell only me why you turned yourself in. And here I am."

"Oh I

do

have you on pins and needles about that, don't I?" my sister replied, her voice mocking. "The fact is, little brother, that despite your many brilliant successes you've been too inept to capture my wayward son. It is no secret to anyone that he is looking for me with the intent to kill me. He even put a mob contract out on me, the little shit. And so the only place I might possibly be safe is, ironically enough, inside my little brother's jails."

"And you think you'll be safe inside my jail, or in State Prison?" I said, no small amount of sarcasm in my voice, matching my sister's, continuing a sparring that had gone on for many, many years.

Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know... but I'll take my chances here, inside your

syssssss-temmmmm

, rather than out there... until you get a brain and actually catch my son."

I didn't really hear what Elizabeth was saying... the way she had said "

syssssss-temmmmm

" had me thinking furiously.

"Do you know a man called 'Gruff'?" I asked. Elizabeth smiled, a wicked, sarcastic smile.

"Of course I do." she said, leaning back in her chair and crossing her shapely legs to get me to notice them. I definitely noticed, though I listened intently. "He's the one who helped Ned escape when you first brought him back to the campus. I take it he helped Ned escape the second time, also?" I did not acknowledge the question, much less answer it. Elizabeth continued "I believe Mr. Gruff is still with that cult group in the next county South of here. But he's not what, nor who, you think he is."

"Do you have any idea where Ned is now?" I asked.

"No." Elizabeth said. "Like I told your police friends in here earlier, none of whom you've had sex with yet even though that black D.A. woman wants you very badly, I don't have the slightest hint where Ned is. If I did, of course, I wouldn't be sitting here having this detestable chat with you, little brother. And it's not like I nor my associates haven't been looking hard for him. Very hard, I'd say. But Ned has hidden himself very, very well."

"No doubt about that." I said. While I believed Ned was still somewhere in the area, there had been not one sign of him, nor any sighting.

I changed the subject. "By the way, your friend Gruff was on the scene when the Reverend Jonas Oldeeds was blown away. Know anything about that?"

Elizabeth's face fell at the mention of the late pastor's name, anger flaring up in her eyes. "No." she said, her voice as dark and menacing as I'd ever heard it. "And may God have mercy on the soul of whoever killed Jonas if I find out who it was."

"So you didn't have him killed?" I asked, simply to needle my sister, to get deep into her head. It worked.

"Hell no." she said bitterly, then added. "I loved that man. I begged him to take my virginity, which he was happy to do, of course." She peered at me, as if doing so would help her words penetrate my veneer of defenses.

"That's right little brother, Jonas Oldeeds deflowered me and it was sheer heaven every single time he fucked my brains out. I was fucking him for years, right under our daddy's nose. Daddy was real idiot, wasn't he brother?" She was beginning to rant, and the last line was retaliatory strike at me in exchange for my hit about Oldeeds to her. I knew the pain I'd caused her outweighed any she'd caused me, and my face gave nothing away.

"Maybe Ned killed the Reverend Oldeeds." I said, knowing it wasn't true.

"I tend to doubt it. He had no real reason to, as far as I know." Elizabeth said, then added: "And besides...

It's not Ned's way.

" She peered at me and then added "But I think you know that."

I looked at Elizabeth for a moment, realizing that she knew something and that I wasn't going to get it from her. There was nothing in her eyes.

"If it's any consolation to you," I said, "I think Jonas Oldeeds still had feelings for you, even on the very day he died. He spoke about you to me that morning." Elizabeth looked at me sharply, unable to know of my conversation with the Reverend just moments before his brutal death.

I changed the subject. "And, speaking of your prodigal son, I'd better get to looking for him. Do you want to see Todd or Mom?"

"Todd, sure. Mother? She's here in Town? No thanks. I don't care to see her at all."

"As you wish. I'll let Todd know, but I don't know if he'll want to visit you." I said, getting up.

"Wait...." Elizabeth said softly, causing me to turn back towards her. She was peering hard at me through her glasses. "Mother's in town, you said... ah yes... the baby did come, didn't it? Ah, yes, your eyes lit up. You can't hide how happy you are to be a father."

She sat back in her chair and again crossed her legs in manner of showing them off to me. She relaxed, her eyes not quite as mocking as they'd been during the interview. "So, do I have a nephew or a niece?"

"Niece." I said, knowing that she was right, that I was not hiding my joy at all. I got out my iPhone and brought up an image, a picture I'd taken of Carole just a couple of days before, and showed it to my sister.

"Awww..." Elizabeth said as she looked at it. For the first time in my life, I saw something in my sister's eyes, something I suspected she rarely experienced: tenderness, maybe even love.

"Good thing she takes after her mother." Elizabeth said, taking another little shot at me to cover up her tenderness for the baby. "By the way, you'd better be damn careful. Ned would not hesitate to try to get to you through your daughter."

"I know." I said. "We'll keep her safe."

"I hope so." Elizabeth replied as I exited the room.

-----------------------------

"And that's the story." I said as I ate a late supper at my mother's house. Laura was breastfeeding our daughter while I spoke mostly to my mother and to Melina, who was visiting us. "Elizabeth is now in custody. Do you want to see her, Mom?"

"No, son, no I do not." Mom said, emphatically. I detected some unpleasant feelings behind her voice. "I don't care if she's my daughter, her actions drove my husband into the grave." Melina nodded, understanding, taking Phyllis's hand into her own to give sympathetic support.

"Excuse me, I have to make a quick phone call." I said. I left the women and went downstairs into the game room. I called Todd on my cellphone. I could hear a woman moaning in the background.

"Sorry to interrupt you, Todd, but your mother turned herself in today." I said. "Yes, you heard me correctly." After briefly giving him details, I said "She said she would like to see you, if you want to see her."

"Yeah, I guess I'll go see her in the morning." Todd said. "Maybe she'll tell me where Ned is, if she knows."

"Maybe, but I suspect she doesn't know." I said. "We'll be transferring her to County Lockup, probably after lunch, so definitely visit in the morning."

As I hung up, I had an eerie feeling... I felt as if I was being watched. I turned around, but saw no one, but felt as if someone had snuck back up the stairs. Had someone in the house listened to me talking to Todd?

Part 13 - The Family Ties That Bind

It was 9:30am Tuesday morning.

Laura and Melina were going to fly to Miami early this evening for another of Laura's sex symposiums. Hell, I thought to myself as I headed to Interrogation-1, they just had a symposium in California. But it was summer and the Nation's college campuses were running slow, so it was a good time to pack a few of them in, I was guessing to myself.

My mother would be taking care of Carole, and told me to take a night off. I had a date with Brittany Maxwell; we had not had a long, hard night together for quite a while, and I was looking forward to an extremely pleasurable evening. But that had to wait, something important was about to happen in the here and now that required my full and undivided attention.

A flaw of our Police Headquarters is that there are no real visitation rooms with glass partitions where an arrested perp can be visited by family. Lawyers talk to their clients in the interrogation rooms. Therefore I had to stretch the rules a bit to allow my nephew Todd to visit his mother in Interrogation-1, and of course I listened in from behind the one-way glass.

"Hi son." Elizabeth said as Todd sat down. "You look well... except that you look like you've had a recent tragedy. Pet dog die or something?"

"No." Todd said. "Melina dumped me. She's carrying my baby, but she began dating another man."

"Oh...." Elizabeth said, understanding flooding her face as she put the puzzle pieces together. "Was... was the other baby yours, also?"

"Yes it was, Mother." Todd said, his eyes boring into hers.

"Jesus..." Elizabeth said. "I had no idea. So your brother killed your baby."

"And damned near killed Melina, also." Todd said.

"Yes, I know about that." Elizabeth said. She was trying hard to put a look of concern and sadness on her face. I don't know if Todd was falling for it; I sure wasn't.

"Any idea where my little brother is, Mom?" Todd asked.

"No." Elizabeth said. "If I did, I wouldn't be sitting here in your uncle's jails. So... Melina dumped him, and now has dumped you too. That woman..."

"Let's just not talk about her, Mother." Todd said.

"Well, she's carrying my grandchild, you said." Elizabeth said, letting her eyes bore into her son's.

"Yes, she is."

"What about you, Todd?" Elizabeth said, trying to sound more friendly and upbeat. "You have a new family now, since you found out who your real father is. How is Michael?"

"He's doing okay." Todd said woodenly. "Everything's been strange, but it's getting better now. It's like a soap opera: their first son was murdered-- Uncle Don solved that case, by the way-- but their younger son's wife was knocked up by the older son, who is my brother. So I guess I'm going to be an uncle soon, too."

"Well, that's nice. Have you met the mother of the baby... oh, I see that you have, and she's quite a special lady, am I right?"

"You know, you're like Uncle Don, Mom: you both can read minds."

"Pul-eeze don't say I'm like my brother in any way, Todd." Elizabeth said with some asperity. "But it's not hard to see your face light up when I mentioned this woman."

"Well, you're right, Jeanine's a great lady. She's a lawyer, too." Todd said, his eyes lighting up even more.

"Very nice." Elizabeth said, with a half smile on her face. "I heard that Ned murdered Tim Olivet. He's the second son, isn't he?"

"Yes." Todd replied. "Yet another reason I want to find my little brother."

"Sad." Elizabeth said. "So who was the first son, your half-brother?"

"Jack. Jack Burke." Todd said. The name caused Elizabeth to sit back, a look of shock crossing her face before she fell into a reverie.

"Jack Burke." she said. "Now there is a name I have not heard in a long, long time."

"You knew him?" Todd said, peering at his mother.

"No, at least I don't think so." Elizabeth replied, and it was obvious to me that she was lying. "But I've heard that name from somewhere, a long time ago. Did your Uncle Don know him?"

"He may have." Todd said. "Melina knew him also."

"I see." Elizabeth said, still looking introspective. "Anyway, enough of that. I'm glad you're doing well, Todd, and that you've got friends and family. I can't say the same for myself; you are the only family I consider myself to have anymore."

"Uncle Don's not a bad guy at all, Mom." Todd said, perhaps with a bit of intent to rile up his mother. "You should let the past go, let bygones with him be bygones. He could help you, and help keep you much safer than you would be without his help."