Cat's in the Cradle

This story is part of an ongoing series.

The chronological order of my stories is 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 9 - In Them There Hills

I was about to go for my gun, when the apparition spoke:

"It's me, Don. It's Teresa." said the Iron Wolf, Teresa Croyle.

"Teresa!" I gasped. "What in the hell are you

doing

here?"

"I might ask you the same question." Teresa said. "Whistling past cemeteries at night, are we now?"

"No, I mean in Apple Grove?" I whispered. "And yes, how did you find me here at the cemetery? And did anyone see you come in?"

Teresa came up and indicated for us to move the sandstone tile together. As we picked it up, still hard work even for two strong persons, she whispered "Of course someone was going to stay behind and watch your back while you were staying up here. Cindy let me out at Rome, and I took an Uber back into Apple Grove. Todd had rented your old house for tonight and had given me his keycard, so I stayed there and got some sleep... and I may have raided the refrigerator."

We got the tile into the truck, then went to work on the next one as Teresa whispered "As to where you were now, your service weapon is in its holster, which still has those old RFIDs and transmitters. It's how we found Hugh Hewitt, you remember." (

Author's note: 'Case of the Black Widow', Ch. 05.

) "And I have the app on my Police iPhone to trace those."

I did remember, and realized that I would have to be more cautious in the future. My Angels were smart Angels as well as sneaky Angels.

"So what's this about?" Teresa asked as we continued to load the tiles until the back of the mausoleum looked like the rest of it: a wall of granite bricks.

"I'll tell you on the drive home." I said. "I hope you left nothing at the house, because we're not going back there." Teresa assured me that all was good.

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

As we drove home towards my Town & County, using my mobile device to check for anything that might be following us, I said to Teresa: "To be candidly honest, I'm not totally sure what's going on. But I realized something was out of place when I saw those back tiles, that were so different from the rest of the mausoleum."

I did not mention having 'seen' that before in my dream state when I was being given the 'enhanced interrogation' (and then some) over McGinty's Materials. (

Author's note: 'Secrets'.

) And I was not about to mention, even to Teresa, what Trent Ridge had said as he screamed in pain as he was dying. (

Author's note: 'A Death In The Family', Ch. 04.

)

"I saw that those tiles were not naturally a part of the mausoleum," I said, "so I decided to go rogue and pilfer them. We can check them out at home. I do have one favor to ask you... please don't mention any of this to Todd, or even Cindy. And especially not to my mother."

Teresa didn't even bat an eyelash when I said that. "I understand... and I agree, so sorry." After a pause, she said "I have never understood why your mother moved back to Apple Grove, when her grandchildren and great-grandchildren are growing up at home. I hope when the boys grow up and have kids that I'll be able to see them all the time, and I know Todd feels that way. I'm sure you do, too."

"Yes," I said, "Should I be fortunate enough to have grandchildren, I hope to watch them grow up. But we've got a ways to go to get there. It's tough enough being there for my children. And they're growing up so fast."

"By the way," Teresa said, "what are you going to do with this truck?"

"That..." I said, "... is one thing I have not figured out yet." Teresa cackled a laugh at that.

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

We arrived back in Town just before 8:00am. I called the Chief and told him that Teresa and I would be in at 10:00am or so. I drove the truck up to The Cabin, and backed it up the drive. I opened the far end garage door, went and got a dolly, and we brought the tiles straight into my little office study and stacked them against the desk. It took a few minutes... Teresa was extremely interested in the objects on the wall and shelf that I'd accumulated, which she only rarely saw.

After securing the doors and turning on the Faraday cage in which the office was housed, I said "Okay, let's see what this is about." I spread a sheet on the floor, then took a chisel and hammer and began trying to crack the sandstone of one of the tiles at the edge, A large chip fell off, and Teresa and I sucked in our breaths.

The shining yellow metal of gold was flashing in our eyes!

"Ohhh, wow." said Teresa. "No wonder these tiles are so damn heavy. They're sheets of gold!"

"Yes." I said. "Four feet by four feet by half and inch thick, if not more."

"Whose gold is this?" Teresa said. "Well, it's yours now. Whose did it used to be?"

"Pastor Raymond Kyle Westboro's." I replied. "This was at least part of his ill-gotten wealth that he spirited away and hid."

"Amazing." Teresa said, running her finger along the exposed sheet of the yellow metal.

"We were lucky." I said. "Someone had been looking for the gold. They drilled into one of the narrow tiles, which didn't have gold in it. If they'd gone a little farther towards the middle..." After a pause, I said, "And it looks like they did their search at night, so they didn't see that those back tiles were so different and incongruous with the rest of the mausoleum."

Teresa nodded and said "Well, this story should be told over nachos and beer at the Cop Bar. But in the meantime, what are you going to do with this?"

"You mean what are

we

going to do with it." I replied. "You helped me recover it. And I was thinking we should give it to selected charities... charities that would've given Westboro indigestion to know they were receiving the fruits of his dirty labor... starting with the Animal Services Center and the University Vet Center." Teresa nodded at that, and I continued "And of course an endowment for the Boys's and Girls's Orphanages, in the name of Amy Croyle."

That one caught Teresa by surprise, and I saw the emotion on her face. "That would be... so good of you." she managed to say.

"And of course a nice endowment for the University Hospital Cancer Center." I continued. "And maybe something for the TCPD, to buy a new dog for our outstanding K-9 Corps..." I could almost hear the dog-hating Consultant of Crime rolling over in his grave...

Part 10 - The Mundane Grind

I called Molly and asked her to stay in the MIL apartment at the Mountain Nest for a few days, and Ross and Ian could stay upstairs in the guest bedroom or in Jim's room with him. I told her that I was locking down The Cabin for security reasons.

Also, no one had fed Tiger Mom, and I had one ravenous cat on my hands when I took food out to her before leaving. I made a mental note to make sure some food got put out for her in some way if nobody was around to feed her.

Teresa and I came in to Headquarters, and she peeled off and went into her office as I came on down the hall. MCD was full of Detectives busy at their desks. I went past my office and to the Chief's office.

"Welcome home, Mr. Crowbarrrrr." the Chief drawled. "Congratulations on that name for the lake in your childhood county."

"Thank you, Chief." I said as I sat down at his bidding. "I was absolutely stunned. Something

did

get past me."

"Heh heh heh heh." chuckled the Chief.

"I know I'm supposed to be answering this to you instead of asking," I said, "but what's going on around these parts, Chief?"

"Heh." the Chief chuckled again. "It was quiet with the Labor Day holiday. Precinct Captain Abram did very well filling in for Captain Croyle. I egregiously went over your head in discussing possible new hires with Captain Perrrrlman, as well as her ideeeeeas for a new structure. She's researched how other Police Departments run their intelligence services. Boston has their 'BRICS' unit, for example."

"And what people see watching 'Chicago P.D.' is

not

what a real Intelligence unit is about." I said.

"Truuuuue." drawled the Chief. "The only thing is... isn't that what the MCD Detectives already are?"

"Not really, sir." I said. "The MCD Detectives are meant to be out in the field. This new Intelligence unit, if it happens, would not be expected to do field work, unless we roll the CSIs into it."

"

Would

they be a part of it?" asked the Chief. "And who on the 'org chart' is in charge of the CSIs?"

"We've been cheating, sir." I said. "There's no one between Captain Perlman and the CSI techs and what's left of our Crime Lab that the State Crime Lab didn't usurp." The Chief knew this, I knew he knew it, and therefore I knew he was about to make a point about something.

"That will have to channnngggee." drawled the Chief. "I am about to pile a lot of supervisory duties... and the accompanying paperwork... upon your Captain of Detectives..."

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

After coming out of the meeting with the Chief, I went to my office... and stopped short in the door.

The door is on the right as one walks in. Looking left, the sofa is against the wall, facing the television monitor mounted on the wall just past the door. There used to be nothing over the sofa, but now there was a 4' x 4' framed map. It was a new USGS map of Fillmore County. On the right side was Apple Grove, the map showing streets and alleys. In the middle, dominating the map, was the large new reservoir. In the middle of the reservoir was the name, 'James Donald Troy Reservoir', and under it was '(Don Troy Lake)'.

"Like it?" said a voice from behind me. I turned to see Cindy Ross in the doorway.

"Uh, yeah, it's nice." I said.

"You better like it." Cindy said. "Tim Jenkins and I pulled hard on some strings to get the USGS to get that map made quickly."

"That's very nice of you." I said. "I'm still not over the shock of them naming it for me in the first place." I went around my desk to sit down and said "Come on in, have a seat." Cindy closed the door, then sat down in a hot chair.

"Yes, I can tell you haven't gotten over it." Cindy said with twinkle in her ice-blue eyes.

"Yeah, that was... not expected." I said.

"You deserved it." Cindy said. "What you did to liberate that county is the stuff of legend already. Besides, who else would they name it for? Millard Fillmore?" I chuckled at that.

"Our thirteenth President." I said. "Okay, what's going on in this County named after our third President?"

"School has started." Cindy said. "The Sports Media, especially nationally, talked a lot about Derrick Waters. KXTC made sure to show you petting Chief IV, as if you were a Bulldog graduate." I chuckled again.

"Extremely cool dog." I said. "Unfortunately... he's not going to be much help to your Bulldogs when they play my Wildcats on my birthday, October 26th." Yeah, the trash talk was AWN!

"Vee shall see." said Cindy in her best 'German' accent. "But I have to admit, Appletree looked really good against State Tech. His 365 yards was an eye-popping stat. Of course, it

was

against the Enemy, State Tech."

"Wow, so you're happy with Appletree's performance?" I said with a wicked grin.

"Against State Tech." Cindy said. "

Only

against State Tech."

"I hear you." I said. "I root for the Bulldogs against the Wildcats archrival, State U. So, what else is going on?"

"The Town & County Council has 'invited' the Public Safety Department to a strategy session Friday. Two o'clock p.m." Cindy replied. "Really, it's the Police and Fire Department structures they want to talk about. The Sheriff will formally submit the new structure to them at tonight's meeting, and they'll refer it to the 'Committee of the Whole' for review."

"And we have to be there." I said.

"The Sheriff has 'requested', in the Klingon sense, that we attend the Friday committee meeting and study session." Cindy said. "And if you don't mind, I'd like to call in Tanya right now, to discuss her proposed structural changes."

"Okay." I said.

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

*Whirrrrrrrrr*

Tanya Perlman drove in and parked next to Cindy. "Congratulations on the new lake name, Commander." she said, her cheeks rosy. "I wanted to go up with the rest of them, but the Chief said I had to stay behind and mind the store."

"You didn't miss a whole lot, either." I said.

"Like where the blue crowbar came from?" Tanya said. "As the official holder of it, I am sorry I missed that."

"We'll see if we can get you up there for a special encore presentation." I said. "In the meantime, as the holder of the Blue Crowbar, tell me what your proposals are for a new Intelligence Division."

Tanya said "It's about the same as we discussed before, sir. Mary Milton would be its Lieutenant, and it would consist mostly of data people. Chief Moynahan suggested we add people that can secure our warrants for us more quickly."

"How does this work with the MCD and Vice divisions?" I asked, and rather sharply.

Tanya replied "With MCD, the Detectives are in charge of leading the investigation at the crime scene, then gathering intel, interviewing witnesses, and all that. The Intelligence Division could be utilized to gather that intel, including video and personal info, while the MCD Detectives are in the field."

Tanya continued: "It's a bit different with Vice. They develop intel first, then investigate and go on operations to interdict the drug deals or other crimes going on."

"And why not just have people in MCD and Vice doing that?" I asked. "The junior Detectives start out doing data, then moving to the field?"

"The first reason, sir," replied Tanya, "is an example: under that system, Julia Rodriguez would be an Intel analyst, and the bottom of the totem pole. As it is, she might be our best field Detective right now... except for you, of course. The second reason is that the Intel Division working for both MCD and Vice would be able to see and pass along data that both divisions need, or that they should be working on together."

"Except that a lot of Vice's intel, especially from C.I.s and about C.I.s, can't be shared." I said. "But I get the concepts you're thinking of."

"Where it works, Don," said Cindy, "is that Mary Milton as the Intel Lieutenant, would be able to correlate the data and work with both divisions, which I suspect she'd have fun doing. Where it doesn't work is fast intel-gathering. Julia and Teddy can come up with data at their desks very fast, and it would be a huge slowdown for them to have to call someone in Intel, ask for what they want, maybe or maybe not get what they want, and maybe or maybe not in a timely manner."

Tanya replied "Sir, it's like Patrol Officers calling in a name for a warrant check. The data people run it and report back. But where Intel comes in vis-a-vis the Detectives, is the deeper data mining, going through financial records, and also gathering data while the Detectives are at the crime scene or in the field."

"And no field people? Uniformed Officers?" I asked.

"No sir." said Tanya. "The Intel people would refer the data they obtain to Detectives to act upon. The Detectives would have to ask for Uniformed backup."

"All right." I said. "I like some of it, but not all of it. And there's one thing I want you to add. The Crime Scene techs, the CSIs, are under the lead Detective at the scene, and after that they're pretty much unsupervised. I want you to incorporate them into the Intel Division, possibly with a Sergeant or Corporal supervising them."

"A Sergeant who would outrank the Detective at the scene?" asked Cindy.

"Yeah, that's a point." I conceded. "So figure something out, Tanya, but the CSIs need to be included in the Intelligence Division, if we have one..."

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

7:00pm, Tuesday, September 3rd. Cindy and Teresa were on the outside deck at the Cop Bar, enjoying beef nachos and a pitcher of beer.

"How did Don like the map you got for him?" Teresa asked Cindy.

"I think he liked it all right." said Cindy. "He's still reeling over the Reservoir being named after him, though. That was a BFD for him, especially in his own lifetime."

"True." said Teresa. "Todd thinks that some of the old problems are cropping up there, but in new ways. Don might think there's still work to do, so naming that reservoir for him was... premature."

"Could be." said Cindy. "Oh... before Tanya gets here: what do you think of her proposed structure?"

Teresa said "In some ways I like it a lot. It positions the TCPD to grow as the Town & County grows. But it also struck me... well, this will sound more mean that I intend it to, but it looks to me like Tanya is trying to find ways to expand her own role in the TCPD after all that promotion and structure business came down."

Cindy said "Yeah, I got the same feeling, though some of the ideas are good. But how do you think it will work out. I'm asking for a friend... Chief Moynahan. He's tasked me to analyze it."

Teresa said "He tasked me to analyze how our combat teams work. But to answer your question first, the Intel Division is just an expanded and formalized 'Data Guyz' group. I agree Mary would be great in it, as she's a magician with a computer keyboard and getting data. The CSIs can go in the field and collect evidence, and then do more to process it for us, and I think they'd like that."

Teresa continued: "Having said that, it's going to take cooperation to work really well, and everyone has to be on board. If, in the far-flung future, people come in and start creating fiefdoms and start having disputes over territory, it'll get ugly really fast."

Cindy nodded. "So what about the combat teams? SWAT going to be expanded?"

"Just the opposite." Teresa said. "Don and I talked about this on the way home from Apple Grove, then the Chief asked me about it. We've been getting into the bad habit of using SWAT to take down perps on raids and things... but that's really not their mission. Their job are those really bad situations, like the hostage situation with Todd, or the Feds trying to steal Peter Blassingame from us."

Teresa: "Back in the days of Captain Malone, it was us Detectives that made the drug raids, which is one reason I kept getting shot up. Then Don came in, pushed to put together a SWAT Team, and began giving us better training."

Teresa: "Let me just say this from the ground up. We hire Patrol Officers. They work the beats, giving out tickets, gaining experience, and we start training them. As they gain experience in things like raiding houses or warehouses to take down perps, we give the best ones even more training, and call upon them more to do those missions. Ideally, we'd like every Uniformed Officer to be able to work as a team to interdict a drug buy or clear a house looking for a perp."

Teresa: "What I want to do is put teams of Officers together that can be mobilized and assembled quickly, and be ready to take action when called upon, be it arresting a perp or bagging a bunch of them in a drug deal. The SWAT Team should only be a paramilitary team, and brought in to deal with combat situations, such as a large armed force, or a sniper, or to augment regular operations."

Cindy said "And isn't that what we're doing now?"