Moonlight Shadow

This story is part of an ongoing series.

The chronological order of my stories is now listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

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 8 - Switch and Bait

4:30pm, Friday, April 6th. I headed towards Interrogation-1 with Detectives Warner and Davis, and Captain Ross. As we got to the anteroom, I looked through the one-way glass and was faintly shocked to see H.J. Lynch from the firm of Chase, Lynch & Berry in the room with May Cialis."

"He came in a while ago." said Jerome Davis. "Masterson talked with both of them, then left. Lynch is now May's representation."

"Marvelous." I said acerbically. "What, did Masterson get scared that we were going to have him disbarred?"

"No sir." said Cindy. "Masterson used his cellphone in the hallway to call in Lynch, and I might've overheard some of it. Masterson is based in the City, Lynch is local. Masterson may also think this case is no longer a threat to the high-level people that he works for."

"That's probably it." I said. "Washes his hands when he realizes it's a

pion

case. Okay, guys, go on in, and don't let Lynch intimidate you."

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

We watched as Detectives Warner and Davis went into I-1 and sat down. Per my instructions, Joanne read May Cialis her rights. May rolled her eyes and refused to answer if she understood the rights.

"Why are you badgering my client with repeated readings of her rights?" snarled H.J. Lynch, who was rabidly anti-Police in ever fiber of his corrupt being.

"Just to make sure it's done in front of

every

lawyer Mrs. Cialis brings in to represent her." Joanne said cheerfully. "So, Mrs. Cialis, we've asked about your employment, and I'll ask again: how and by whom are you employed."

"As I told you," said May Cialis, "I am my husband's assistant."

"In what specific capacity?" asked Joanne.

"In whatever capacity he needed." said May.

"Doing what? What specific jobs did you do to assist him?" asked Jerome Davis.

"As I said, whatever he needed done." said May.

"Cite some examples." said Jerome.

"Ask specific questions and she'll answer." said Lynch. "I've advised her not to answer open-ended questions like that."

"So you're taking the Fifth, Mrs. Cialis?" Joanne asked.

"Not yet." said May.

"Were or are you employed by anyone else?" asked Joanne.

"Again, I was my husband's assistant."

"Was being a pharmacist your husband's only job, or the only thing that he did that brought him income?" asked Jerome Davis.

"He had investments in the stock markets." May said.

"Anything else beyond that? Any other employment at all?" said Davis.

After a pause, May finally said "He performed magic acts at clubs from time to time."

"He was a magician?" asked Joanne.

"That's who performs magic acts." said May. Joanne's sweet, pretty face turned ugly.

"Don't get snippy with me, Mrs. Cialis." said Joanne loudly, her voice as brutal as she could make it. "Keep giving us answers like those, and we'll twist your cap around. You've already got one charge of resisting arrest against you, your husband is dead and we consider you a suspect in his murder. Keep up the crap, and felony Lying to Police will be added to your charges."

"Get real, young lady!" snarled H.J. Lynch. "She hasn't lied."

"I'm willing to let a Grand Jury and a Trial Jury determine that." said Joanne, her eyes boring into Lynch's. "I'll get very specific, Mrs. Cialis: did your husband derive income from being a magician?"

"Yes." May said shortly.

"Did your husband derive income from any other employer, any at all, and who was that employer?"

At this point May said "I need to talk to my attorney."

"You've talked to your attorney!" Joanne said angrily. "You've talked to both of them for hours now. You've stalled and wasted our time for hours, and I'm brooking no more of it. Now either answer the question or take the Fifth: did your husband derive income from any other employer, any at all?"

"I'm not taking the Fifth, but I'm not answering that question until I have had the opportunity to confer privately with my lawyer..."

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

I rapped on the one-way glass, then opened the door and came in, Cindy behind me.

"Oh, so there's the Iron Crowbar." said Lynch. "Your minions can't handle it---"

"Shut up!" I practically yelled in the man's face, "or I'll throw your sorry ass in jail, too!" I was letting my anger show, and thus letting this legal beagle know that the TCPD's patience was used up. "Mrs. Cialis, no more games...

are you now and was your husband in the employ of the Central Intelligence Agency?

"

May looked totally stunned. I was boring in on her, my gray peepers trying to burn a hole through her eyes. This fish was landed, and she knew it.

"I refuse to answer that question." said May Cialis.

"Captain," I said, "bring my guest into the room, please." Cindy opened the door to the anteroom, and my guest walked in.

"I'd suggest you tell the truth, Mrs. Cialis." said the retired Deputy Director of the CIA for Science and Technology, a.k.a. Dr. Laura Fredricson, a.k.a. my wife. May was in total shock at seeing Laura standing there staring at her. She knew who Laura was, and she knew her own game was up.

H.J. Lynch leaned over and whispered something to May. She looked at me, hatred in her eyes, and said "On the advice of counsel, I am invoking my Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. I will answer no more of your questions, nor cooperate with you in any way."

"I want to talk to you, Commander Troy." said Lynch.

"That makes one of us." I replied. "Confer with your client until we take her back to her cell. Start giving her

good

legal advice, for a change. I have nothing to say to you, nor do I want to hear anything from you." With that, I followed Laura out the anteroom door.

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

"So why are the Cialises in Town, ma'am?" asked Joanne Warner, who was sitting with me, Laura, Cindy and Jerome in my office. Jerome had clearance as an FBI Consultant.

"I'm not sure." said Laura.

"Oh, it's obvious." I said, halfway in a reverie, looking at the ceiling as I spoke. "The Guardians of Justice."

"Whaaa?" Laura all but gasped. I let my eyes drift to meet hers.

"She and her husband came here last summer." I said. "Right after the GOJ started putting out their stuff on BigAgraFoods. And you

know

what Dame Agatha Christie and I think of coincidences."

"That

would

make a lot of sense." Laura said. "After you called me earlier, I had Callie pull their files and dig deep into them. They're both perfect for a mission like finding the GOJ: he's a part-time pharmacist, access to medical records, talks to people; he does magic acts and she assists him, giving them access to clubs and private parties."

"What Callie found," Laura continued, "is that May is a cyber-security and Dark Web expert. We don't know for sure where she was operating out of; it wasn't the Federal Building and it wasn't her home. But she's been sending information to Langley's office that's been assigned to finding the GOJ, and to the FBI's office that's been doing the same thing. Callie got that from looking at their end of things."

I nodded. "What do you guys think?" I asked Jerome and Joanne.

"So he did some kind of magic trick to make those backwards footprints." said Jerome. "The question is 'why?'. What was he trying to accomplish?"

"Deception?" asked Cindy. "Trying to lead us down the wrong trail?"

"Ma'am," said Joanne, "I don't think we know enough about that. I think it's part of why he was murdered, but I don't understand the reasons for it yet."

"Neither do I, and you're right that it's an important clue." I said. I turned to Laura and said "Well, I guess you'll be getting a call from the CIA Director."

"No, I won't." replied my wife. "I called him. I asked him why two of his Agents were in our Town and County, and why was my husband now investigating the murder of one of them. The Director was not happy, and was less happy when I said the TCPD had arrested her, though they didn't know at the time that either of them were CIA Agents."

"So why didn't May just tell us, then?" I asked.

"If your belief is right that they were trying to find the Guardians of Justice," Laura said, "then it's likely they still believe the GOJ is

you

, my darling, even though they've watched you for months and cannot find a shred of evidence that you are the GOJ. So she kept her mouth shut about it."

I shook my head. "So they still think I'm the GOJ?"

"Sir," said Joanne, "for a long time, most of us in the TCPD thought you were the GOJ." I rolled my eyes.

Laura said "And despite my husband's rightful disdain for them at times, the CIA, and the FBI too, are very competent organizations with tremendous tools to do their jobs. If Don was the GOJ, they would've found something on him long before now. They have to know by now that he is not the GOJ."

"Yeah." I said. "So either they're here looking at someone else... or they're here for another reason."

"The FBI is going to send in a team to interrogate May Cialis." said Laura. "Maybe they'll get some answers."

"She's taken the Fifth." I said. "She doesn't have to say a word to them."

Laura peered at me. "So you won't give up custody of her to Jack Muscone?"

"No." I said. "She's still a suspect in her husband's murder, CIA and FBI notwithstanding. I want the truth of that crime first. After I'm done, you can save the taxpayers of the State some money by taking her away from here and doing with her what you will. But not before. Not before."

Part 9 - Conflicts of Interests

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Fox Two News!" shouted the lovely MILF reporterette at 8:00am, Saturday, April 7th, from in front of the Federal Building. "Fox Two News has learned that a Board of Inquiry will be convened in the investigation of Police Commander Donald Troy's excessive use of force in using a helicopter gunship, meant for the military in war, to shoot criminals during a drug operation!"

Bettina started: "Several members of the Town & County Council have expressed outrage at Commander Troy's actions, and have asked the Board for a full inquiry. Several Social Justice groups have also demanded Commander Troy's suspension, and Jay Swenson and Ken Eidex, spokesmen for the Citizens for Police Accountability, have filed a lawsuit to force the Sheriff to suspend Commander Troy."

Bettina went on: "For his part, Sheriff Allgood said he is leaving the discipline of Commander Troy to Police Chief Sean Moynahan. Chief Moynahan has previously stated that he will take no action against Commander Troy until all investigations are completely finished. The SBI's Office of Ethics and Review has stated they will investigate the case, and now the Board of Inquiry will be making its investigation. Inspector General Horace S. Wellman deferred his investigation to the SBI after determining that his own legal counsel, Robert Mullen, was too biased to conduct a fair investigation into Commander Troy's actions."

More Bettina: "And in State news, Democrats are blaming Governor Val Jared and the Republicans for the failure to pass a new Budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1st. Democrats say that because of the

draconian cuts

required by the State Constitution, people will lose their food stamps and unemployment benefits, and they'll be forced to drink dirty water. Republicans say that Democrats and Governor Jared are responsible for the failure to pass a new Budget."

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

I was in my office as I watched the Bettina broadcast. I was wearing a true blue shirt with an embroidered TCPD badge over the heart, khaki pants, shoes with good athletic rubber soles, my gunbelt, and of course the 'girdle', my bulletproof back brace, underneath the shirt. This was technically a uniform, but was more relaxed and comfortable than my normal uniform.

"Food stamps are a Federal program, Bettina." I said to the television set. "And nothing was cut, just held at current levels. And why don't the Republicans call out these lies, the cowards?"

Teresa Croyle, attired just like me except her uniform shirt was light blue, had watched the Bettina broadcast with me. She said "Because they're cowards, like you said. And good grief, the way Bettina said all that... she's gunning for you again. You need to give her a good pickle-tickle, get her back on your side."

I chuckled at Teresa's unexpected humor, then said "I don't think it would help. She smells blood in the water, a big juicy story, and that's driving her more than anything else."

"And she's colluding with Della Harlow." said Teresa. "They're going to gang up on you in coordination with ads by Della against Sheriff Allgood and Chief Griswold."

"How do you know that?" I asked idly.

"Do you remember that time we took Bowser to the Hospital to see the kids at the Cancer Center, and that little boy Otis got to pet him before dying that night?" Teresa asked.

"Yeah, I remember that." I said. "Sad."

"Yes." said Teresa. "Otis's mother Beatrice works for KXTC, in their advertising department, mostly with the financial aspects of it. She also attends Ladies Auxiliary meetings, and makes a point to say hello to me at them."

I smiled, then asked "So, is she

your

confidential informant? Or Bowser's?" Teresa chuckled. I then said "So we and Bowser did a small but good thing for a dying boy, and now we have a mole inside KXTC...

karma, neh?

"

"Yes sir." said Teresa. "But I don't go to that well very often at all. Don't want to get her in trouble." I nodded.

There was a knock on my door, and Cindy came in, dressed like us but her shirt was green... and she was the only person in the TCPD authorized to wear a green uniform shirt, except on St. Patrick's Day. Following her in was Callie Carrington, in a light blue blouse and the tightest pair of blue jeans I'd ever seen on a woman... and that's not a complaint.

"Callie wants to brief us on the Cialises." Cindy said.

"I'll go make plans to give our helicopter pilots more range time." said Teresa as she got up, teasing me.

"And I'll work on setting those brackets up right." I replied. Teresa smiled a sinister smile, then left the office.

"Okay," I said as the ladies sat down in the hot chairs, "whaddya got?"

"I have a good bit on James and May," said Callie, "and also a third person who is possibly a bad actor. First, James Cialis. He graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, but under another name." Callie mentioned the name, and his first name really was 'James'.

"He has Pharmacy Licenses in several States under several different identities." continued Callie. "His license in this State was issued about a year ago, and it was simply issued... he didn't go through the normal hoops to get it. His locations of employment over the past several years have coincided with missions for the CIA, either surveillance of foreign agents or possible subversives, or he's a go-between for other Agents and Langley. He and his wife May have changed their last names for each of their missions, making them harder to trace."

"And they're doing this in the United States." I said drily.

"I would say that you'd be amazed at what and how much the CIA does inside the USA," said Callie, with her beautiful grin, "except that you likely already know."

"Not much gets by him." agreed Cindy.

"No, I don't know. And I don't really want to." I said. "Sorry to interrupt your story. Keep going."

Callie continued: "May Cialis is the far more interesting character. She's a cyber expert, but she's also done a lot of 'dark ops' that I couldn't find out anything about... clearances far above my pay grade, and Laura's retired and can't access those anymore, either. May and James are indeed married, and she's been assigned to the same places as him on almost every mission he's been on, but often she's on different missions."

"Could it be," I asked, "that they assign

him

to tag along with

her

missions?"

"That probably has been the case at least half the time." said Callie. "But they work together with their complimentary skills on most of the missions. And that brings up their missions here." Cindy and I were already an attentive audience, but now we really 'zoned in' on what Callie was saying.

"Believe it or not, Don," said Callie, "

it wasn't you they were after.

You're right that they're looking for the Guardians of Justice, who they think are operating from this area. They've pretty much concluded that you're not involved, Don; they think it's someone within the Federal Government or possibly the University, who can access things you cannot."

"Wait a minute." said Cindy. "No disrespect to you, Callie, but I'm not buying this. They beat Professor Milton almost to death. They came after your porn business, then came after Don, threatened to kidnap and torture him again... and now they're suddenly saying it's not him? And that brings up how they would know that... have they been illegally surveilling Don?"

Callie replied: "First of all, the actions against Professor Milton and Don were done by Dana Fox and his rogue group, acting independently. And I can't get the details on it, but I have reason to believe they went to a FISA Court to get a secret warrant to investigate Don... and Laura, I might add."

"Now I'm not buying it." I said. My words were spoken quietly, but the devastating effect could be felt throughout the office.

"Callie," I said, "this is not meant to be aimed at you personally, and I don't think you're one of the bad actors. And I don't know what you've been told nor what you've been allowed to see. Having said that, what I do know is that the beating of Professor Milton was not done by a rogue group; that was the FBI all the way. Dana Fox acted on orders."

I continued: "And while Dana Fox's actions against you in California might've been independently done, his desire to 'disappear' me and torture me to death... and he fully intended for me to die... was not a rogue action. I know this... because of 'Paris'. Everything done before makes sense in the context of 'Paris'."

"Now it may be," I went on, "that they went to a FISA judge and lied to him or her to get a warrant to investigate me, but let's not pretend that they've cleared me in any way, nor that their actions are aboveboard. I hope the CIA and FBI do not believe they are dealing with an Agency of the Weak-Minded, here."

"I don't know what else to say about that." said Callie, looking a bit hurt at our rebukes. "Laura verified most of what I found out through other means."

"You said that there was a third person in all of this." I said, moving the conversation along. "What's that about?"

Callie said "May Cialis often worked with someone the CIA calls Agent 'Warspear', and who has the nickname 'The Penetrator'. He's a self-styled James Bond type... handsome, fit, well-hung, huge ego... but he thought he was better than he really was."

"Glad no one here is like that." said Cindy, her ice-blue eyes twinkling. A red crowbar was waved in her general direction. A green crowbar was waved back in mine.

Callie smiled brightly at our repartee, then continued: "He was an Agent in Europe for some years, but his cover got blown and another Agent ended up getting killed as a result. An investigation found that he'd made several really egregious errors that led to his being outed and the other Agent killed. Most of us would have been 'disavowed' for less, but they let him resign and walk away."