No Show

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, racism, 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.

There may or may not be discussion of political issues in my stories. If you are a Snowflake that feels you need to be protected from any mention of politics, then click the Back button now, and never attempt to read any of my stories ever again. You've been warned.

***

(

Author's note: this story was meant to be a small part of another, but it took a life of its own, so I'm submitting it separately, on its own. It's like an Interlude, a cleanup of past stuff and setting the table for future stories. Thank you for bearing with it.

)

Part 1 - Prologue

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Tuesday, October 26th, from the anchor desk of KXTC studios. "Town & County Police Commander Donald Troy continues to be heavily criticized!"

After the hard-charging intro music, Bettina began: "Channel Two News has learned that Federal authorities are becoming angry and frustrated with Commander Donald Troy, who they are claiming is not helping them with their investigation of the train explosion over a week ago, nor with the ongoing Federal investigation into the activities of the Toyota Gang beyond our County's jurisdiction."

Bettina: "The US Department of Homeland Security is deeply concerned that the railroad car explosion was an act of domestic terror, carried out by White Nationalist insurrectionists, such as devotees of the racist former Governor Val Jared. Our viewers will remember the terrorist attack on University Hospital that killed twelve people, and there have been other incidents that were not as well publicized." (

Author's note: 'Only Time'; 'The Nuclear Option'.

) "But despite repeated requests by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Homeland Security Department, Commander Troy has not made himself available to assist them in their inquiries."

Bettina: "And in the Toyota Gang case, two 1933 Double Eagle gold coins that are illegal to own or possess, and a quantity of drugs were found in a Federal raid on the Toyota Gang's base of operations here in our County. As a result, the Feds have taken over the cases. Additionally, both State and Federal officials are growing increasingly angry with Commander Troy's seeming inaction and failure to solve the case of an attack that killed former DEA Agent Amelia Sedgwick and two persons who may have been impersonating Deputy Sheriffs. They are asking the FBI to take over that case, and get the answers that Commander Troy seems to be unwilling to find for them."

Bettina: "And in other news, tonight the Town & County Council is expected to ratify the Budget passed by the Town Assembly last week. The Republican-majority Assembly rammed the Budget through to passage on a straight Party-line vote, with no regards to the concerns of our County's poorest Citizens, nor People of Color who want to see meaningful

Police reform

imposed upon Commander Troy's ham-fisted Police Force..."

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

"In other words, why hasn't Commander Troy bailed them out and done their job for them." said Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle as she, Sheriff Griswold, Your Iron Crowbar, Chief Sean Moynahan, Deputy Chief Tanya Muscone, and Chief Deputy Sheriff Cindy Ross watched the propaganda-cast and drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room.

"I thought the attack on Amelia Sedgwick was solved." I said. "We got the perps that did it. As to all of the Feds's noise, I

have

helped them out, as much as I can, anyway. I've given Lorena Rose and Dwight Stevens a good bit of help. And I've answered every one of NTSB Agent Weller and Homeland Security Agent Winters's questions when they've asked. And none of them have bitched to me that I'm not helping them."

"They haven't com-plaaaaained to me, either." drawled Chief Moynahan.

"Nor to me." growled Sheriff Griswold.

As I spoke, I typed on my personal iPhone. "I'm texting my lawyer, Mike G. Todd, to review that and see if Bettina's lies are eligible to be added to my libel lawsuit against her and KXTC."

"So Bettina's just making it up?" Cindy Ross asked, her voice sounding the slightest bit 'accusing' in nature.

I said "I wouldn't put it past her. Why? You know something I don't?"

"A lot of things." Cindy replied cooly. "Especially about how the Bulldogs are going to beat the hell out of the Wildcats on Saturday."

There were chuckles in the room as a red crowbar was waved in her general direction, along with a huge eye roll and smirk from me. Unperturbed, Cindy continued: "What I did hear from my KFXU source is that whoever is asking for the Feds to take over the Amelia Sedgwick case is not anyone in our area, but someone in Washington, D.C."

"Are they

that

interested in who the two 'Fake Deputies' were that died in that attack?" asked Tanya.

"That's what they're saying, at least up front." growled the Sheriff. "But the people behind those who are asking are Swamp Frogs. So I'm suspicious of their motives."

"Meeeeeee, too... as Carole like to say." I replied. Then, to change the subject, I said "Changing the subject... so the Budget was approved by the Assembly?"

Cindy said "On a strictly Party-line vote. The Republicans just shut down all debate. They refused to compromise with the Democrats in any way, on any thing."

"In fairness," growled the Sheriff, "the Budget they passed was pretty much the same as the year before, with raises for the schoolteachers and the Public Safety Department, and cost of living raises (COLA) for Town & County Government employees."

Cindy: "We also got the money for your new Interrogation Room, Don. But the Democrats wanted even more for the Free Clinics and low income housing on the southside of Town, and the Republicans wouldn't even discuss it."

Tanya said "Ryan Paulson said he was going to make huge cuts in the Budget for the clinics. Did he?"

Cindy was hesitant to answer, so I pressed her: "Well? What happened with that?"

Seeing I was not going to let her off the hook, she finally admitted: "No, that remained the same, with COLA increases. For all that bluster, nothing really came out of it."

Sheriff Griswold said "The Assembly Democrats had been planning a bunch of procedural crap to try to

defund the Police

and force

Police reform

on us, including using demonstrations and protests that KXTC would be drooling to put on the air. So Paulson started pre-empting that by threatening the one part of the Public Safety Department the Democrats love... the Free Clinics. And it must have worked; the Democrats kept their mouths shut."

I said "I can hardly believe that

that

intimidated the Democrats into silence. The Democrats

and their Mainstream Media partners

never, ever waste an opportunity to create chaos and discord by making as much noise as possible, as well as throwing the race card. But in this whole Budget process, you, Cindy, kept telling us how the Assembly Democrats just sat there ignoring you, and just showing you book titles of their 'woke' literature."

"So what do

you

think is going on with that?" Teresa asked. "About not raising a stink about the Police budget? I'm asking for a husband."

I said "I think they're biding their time, and planning something for the future. They'll whine about People of Color being discriminated against by those eeeeeevil Republicans ramming their (air quotes) 'racist' Budgets through to passage, and it will be just one more point why the US DOJ Civil Rights Division should come in with Totalitarian power and

force

the Charter to be changed to give Democrats electoral hegemony over all of us... at the point of

Federal Government guns.

"

Cindy rolled her eyes, which angered me tremendously. Everyone saw my face turn deep red and my gray eyes blaze at her. The Sheriff quickly intervened.

"Let's just take a break from talking about it." Griswold growled. "We'll see what happens tonight, at the Council meeting."

"Whatever happens," I said as I got up, "don't call me. I'd like to spend this evening with my family."

"What, you think it's your birthday or something?" Tanya said with a wicked gleam in her eye.

"As a matter of fact..." I said as I got to the door. Yes, it was my 38th birthday, dontcha know...

Part 2 - Birthday Presence

6:30pm, Tuesday, October 26th. The Usual Suspects had gathered for my birthday celebration. Laura, Carole, Jim, Molly, Ross, Ian, Paulina, and Tasha were there, of course. Cindy, Callie, Maggie, Betsy, and Benjamin joined us, as did Teresa, Todd, Doug, Mike, and little Jack Burke.

Marie Steele was with us, as she was every Tuesday while her dad was at the Council meetings and her mom had 'telescope time'. And no family party was complete without the presence of Sheriff Griswold. And, of course, those Most Usual of Suspects, the Redoubtable Ones, Bowser and Buddy, provided canine supervision.

I had changed clothes, to black slacks and a nice black mock turtleneck pullover. But I'd quickly observed that the Sheriff, Cindy, and Teresa were still in their uniforms. And the Sheriff was not drinking alcohol, at all. That was disquieting.

Carole suggested (loudly) that I be given my presents before dinner. Laura harshly told Carole that she (Carole) did not dictate the order we did things, and that we would do the gift-giving after dinner. I intervened, and said that the idea of me opening presents first was a great idea... especially if we got called away to duty. Laura did not look happy, but conceded after Cindy leaned over and whispered something to her.

Carole said "Betsy, you go first." Betsy smiled happily as she came up to me with a card. The card contained a photo of Betsy and Ben, and another card that said I was entitled to a big hug from Betsy.

I said "I want that big hug right now!" and Betsy rushed into my arms. I'll leave it to Bowser to decide who got the bigger hug.

Tasha went next, and gave me a booklet of photos. One showed her surrounded by the cats on the back deck. Carole admitted she and Marie couldn't get photos like that because the dogs were always with them, so Ross took the photos involving the feral felines. I fist-bumped Ross, and told him he did a good job.

Other photos showed Tasha and her mother on their laptops, then a pose of them together. Then there was one of her sitting with me on deck in the metal mesh loveseat, taken from behind us (by Ross). Then one of her playing basketball with me, and leaving me in the dust as she drove to the basket. And that wasn't posed, it really happened. There were several more photos of Tasha with siblings, to round out the picture (pun fully intended).

Next came Ian, Ross, and Molly. I detected a theme: they gave me a photo book, also. Among the many various photos, there was one of me talking with Ross on deck in the metal mesh loveseat, taken from behind, and one of Ian and me that same way. I detected a theme.

Then Jim, Carole, and Marie gave me... a photo book. There were photos of each of them with me in the metal mesh loveseat on the deck, taken from behind, followed by some of Jim doing Jim things with New Lego City, Carole and Marie with Bowser and Buddy, and other shots. One of them showing Carole making breakfast on a Saturday morning drew chuckles from me... especially since Carole had set the salt and sugar bags right next to each other for the photo. That girl bears watching, I thought to myself. She bears watching...

Then came Carole and Marie's hand-drawn booklet. It was entitled '

.38 Special - Daddy The Detective

' and showed me holding a.38 Special revolver with smoking barrel pointed at the sky. It was my attire that was interesting. With the trenchcoat and Tilley Hat over a suit and tie, I looked like a cross between the Green Hornet (

sans

mask) and DC Comics's Jim 'The Spectre' Corrigan.

With

noir

lines like '

the smoke of my revolver wafted into the smoke of my cigar

', '

I have a nasty relationship with a string of reporters

' (very true), and '

the door to my office opened and in walked trouble. Brunette, as usual.

' showing Mommy walking into Daddy's window-slatted office, Private Detective Russ Ferrament sought to solve the case of who jumped and assaulted Ross 'Canada Dry' Troy.

Ross was shown in a red pullover hoodie, holding a bottle of Canada Dry ginger ale, and looking like he'd been jumped and whacked on the head. After a thorough investigation, aided by Police Dog Bowser, it was determined that the perp that jumped on Ross's back was a Smooth Criminal with gray and black bengal stripes that always hid in the shadows, and was known by the alias 'Tiger Mom'.

The motive of the assault was to distract Ross with her feline wiles while her fellow perps absconded with a plate of delicious cat food. The wily gang succeeded in their nefarious scheme, and Police Dog Bowser was stymied in his attempt to capture the Smooth Criminals. Detective Daddy closed the case.

"That is wonderful." I said after reading the story. "You should enter that in the next 'Mickey Spillane Challenge' on the Literotica site." I passed the booklet around as Marie brought up another two wrapped packages.

"One is for you, and one is for Aunt Trreeesa." Marie announced.

Carole added: "We don't know when her birthday is, so I suggested we give it to her now."

"Excellent idea." I said.

Teresa said "My birthday is July 19th. I'm three months older than Don."

Molly said "Cool! Mine's a 19th, too. March 19th."

"When is yours, Aunt Cindy?" Carole asked.

"February 29th." Cindy replied. "I only have a birthday every four years, which is why I stay so young and beautiful."

"Pul-eeze!" retorted Molly, teasing her younger sister.

"Molly!" admonished their mother Maggie. "That is

not

a nice thing to say!"

"So

that's

your secret to being so young and beautiful." Callie said as she 'side hugged' her wife. "And I thought it was because you're married to me."

"Yes, that's my real secret." Cindy said, hugging her wife back before they exchanged a smooch on the lips, which made Carole and Marie giggle.

"Ohhh, my goodness." I said as I took the paper off of Marie's gift. It was a framed 17"x11" drawing of me. I was in the trenchcoat and Tilley Hat, like in the booklet, but I was posing like an action super-hero. My left side was to the front, and my left arm was extended to the front, towards the viewer. The ubiquitous red crowbar was in my left hand, gripped in the middle and held horizontally, seeming to come off the page.

My right hand was holding out my trenchcoat like a cape, as if I was shielding or enveloping someone next to me. It reminded me of how I'd enveloped young Susie Haskins as she cried over her mother's illness at the Hospital. (

Author's note: 'Who Watches The Watchers', Ch. 04, Epilogue.

)

"Oh wow, that's amazing! Thank you, Marie." I said. I noticed Teresa was finishing unwrapping hers. It was a drawing in a frame of the same size, and showed Teresa in a

ninja

outfit, but blue instead of black, and with no mask. She was standing like the Superman statue in Metropolis, Illinois: legs slightly apart, fists on hips; and she was looking slightly upward as she looked forward, as if seeing something over a great distance.

Marie said "I saw a drawing of Supergirl, and thought of Teresa. So I drew that."

Carole added "And you're the Green Hornet, Daddy, but without a mask."

I said "I'm just glad you got the crowbar's red color right. Especially since our Wildcats are going to beat the Green Crowbar's Bulldogs down silly on Saturday."

"No they're not!" yelled Ian. "The Bulldogs are going to win!"

"You poor, deluded soul." said Tasha nonchalantly, causing me to do a double-take look at her. Tasha and Carole both broke out in fits of giggling at that.

Todd looked greatly interested in the drawings. "Can I get photos of those?" he asked as he got out his iPhone. He took closeup photos of both drawings as Laura called us all to supper.

As I headed to the table with the others, I heard Carole whisper to Todd "This is what you want." Out of the corner of my eye I saw her hand Todd an 11" x 8.5" piece of stiff paper, and him nod with a grin as he looked at it. Now what was that all about? I wondered to myself...

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

After a delicious dinner of steaks and salads for the adults and hamburgers for the kids, which they devoured as if they had hollow legs, Maggie Ross went into the kitchen and a moment later reappeared with my 'Bugs Bunny' cake, simple chocolate frosting on white cake, as depicted by the children's picture book featuring Bugs.

As the echoes of 'Happy Birthday To You' faded, I blew out the two candles that spelled out '3' and '8' on the cake. I cut the cake, and was awarded the first piece. Then the cake rapidly disappeared into the tummies of little kids and big kids alike.

"It's going to be impossible to make them go to bed when the sugar rushes hit." Laura lamented as the dishes were cleared.

"It's a sugar-free cake, Mommy." Carole said.

"She's right." Maggie said, then whispered conspiratorially, "I learned a few things raising two girls on a farm in Canada---"

*BUZZ!* *BUZZ!* *BUZZ!*

*BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!*

The noisy phone was my Police iPhone. "Send that to voicemail, Crowbar!" the Sheriff growled. Seeing that it was Mayor Allgood calling, I complied.

And despite having her phone on silent ringer, everyone heard Cindy's TCSD iPhone buzzing. She grimaced as she went into the kitchen to take the call. A couple of minutes later, she came out again, and she and the Sheriff seemed to be of one mind as they moved to the front room together and engaged in a whispering contest. Cindy then spoke to Callie and Maggie, then left.

"What's that about, Sheriff?" I asked him as he came into the greatroom and sat down next to me. "Trouble at the Council meeting?"

"It's mostly handled, from what I understand." growled Griswold. "Bunch of red-shirted Antifa types and green-shirted Environmentalist Wackos filled up the Chamber and started making noise. The Council went into Executive Session and left, and it quieted down after that. Cindy's going down to take care of the mop-up operations."

"Let's go see what's going on, on the PBS channel." I said, getting up.

"Let's don't." growled the Sheriff, and I mean he

really

growled. "It's your birthday, Crowbar. You are not going down there, so just relax and enjoy your birthday with your wonderful kids..."

Part 3 - Missing Inaction

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Wednesday, October 27th, from the rooftop of the building at Riverside and College on the southwest corner of Courthouse Square, with City Hall in her background. "Commander Troy once again was a no-show as violence erupts at the Town & County Council meeting!"

After the hard-charging intro music, Bettina began: "The Council was taking up the issue of ratifying the Town & County Budget for next year, which was passed by the Town Assembly on a completely partisan Party-line vote, when some persons in the audience began a

peaceful

protest, chanting slogans such as '

defund the Police

' and '

reform the Police

'."