Reunion Fever

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.

***

Part 5 - Friday Morning in Apple Grove

7:30am, Friday, October 1st. Laura, my mother Phyllis, and I drove to the Apple Grove Diner, just south of the town square. It had that 'home' feel as well as really good food, making it one of my all-time favorite places to eat. Laura's tastes in food weren't as down-home, but she indulged me.

I was wearing my light trenchcoat and Tilley hat as we went in, and you know what was in the inside pocket (yes, the red crowbar). As we came through the door, I saw what I was looking for and expecting to see: Police Officers! I had texted AGPD Police Captain (and Chief) Leanne Wisocky, and she texted back to join them at the Diner. We came up to the joined tables that seated six, and the five duly deputized agents of the Law sitting there.

"Well hey, Donny Troy!" exclaimed Sheriff Donny Hall enthusiastically, getting up from his seat at the end of the table, to my right as I approached them. We exchanged a man-hug.

I said "Everyone, you know my mother Phyllis and my wife Laura?" Deputy Sheriff Tyrone Biggs was at the left end of the table, and he got up to shake hands with Phyllis and Laura. Another black man, wearing an AGPD uniform with Corporal stripes on the sleeves had also gotten up.

Deputy Biggs said "This is Ben Watson, the AGPD's new Detective. Ben, this is the Iron Crowbar, and you'd be wise to be 'Watson' to his 'Sherlock'." Everyone laughed politely as Detective Watson shook hands with me, then Laura and my mother.

"You remember Sergeant Stegall." Sheriff Hall said. (

Author's note: 'Return to Apple Grove', Ch. 01-02

) Sergeant Stegall was on the other side of the table, to Deputy Biggs's left. He stood up and came around to shake our hands. "And of course you know Captain Wisocky." Leanne Wisocky didn't stand up, but just said hello to us.

"Don," said my mother Phyllis, "why don't you have a seat with your fellow LEOs, and Laura and I will sit over here." Without waiting for an answer, she led Laura to the smaller table next to the bigger one, a square table with four chairs. The ladies sat with their backs to the wall so that they could observe the diner as well as our table.

"Have a seat, Don." said Sheriff Hall, indicating the chair to his left, across from Leanne. I took off my trenchcoat and hung it on the back of the empty chair, then sat down. A waitress, a cute girl who looked no more than 18 years of age, came up with a cup of coffee and a glass of water.

Leanne said "Allow me to order for you, Don." To the waitress she said "Daphne, bring the 'Iron Crowbar Special' for the Iron Crowbar."

"

You're

the Iron Crowbar?" the girl squealed, her eyes wide. "Wow, I thought you were a legend! I never hoped to meet you!"

"No, I'm not a legend." I said.

Daphne took out her cellphone and said "Can I take a selfie with you?"

"Sure." I said as I extracted my red crowbar from my trenchcoat.

After Daphne snapped a selfie, Leanne said "Here, I'll take one of both of you." She did, taking one of Daphne holding one end of my crowbar at my invitation, and me holding the other.

I said "Daphne, tell everyone else that I'll take selfies with them after we've finished eating, okay?" Daphne agreed and rushed off to put in my order... and tell her coworkers the biggest news she'd had in a good long time.

The 'Iron Crowbar Special' was a huge three-egg, steak-and-cheese omelette, three strips of bacon, and three large pancakes. For a dollar more, the 'Iron Crowbar Unlimited' was the same thing, but the pancakes were as many as one could eat, there at a time. Leanne said "Apparently that's what you ordered every time you came in here in the past, so they put it on the menu."

"Just don't let my daughter Carole make the pancakes." I said, then relayed the story of how she had one time used salt instead of sugar in making the pancake dough. Everyone laughed at that.

"How

is

Carole doing?" Leanne asked.

"She's a handful, and then some." I 'lamented'. "Eight years old, going on sixteen."

"She solve any more cases?" Leanne asked.

"She's materially helped on a couple." I said. Then to change the subject, I said "Sooo, tell me about what Apple Grove and Fillmore County Law Enforcement are doing."

"Well," said Leanne, "we hired Watson away from the Wildcat School Campus Police, and promoted him to Detective already." The Corporal stripes were the AGPD designation for a Detective, I knew.

"Wildcat School. That's good." I said, fist-bumping Detective Watson, who was sitting next to me.

Sheriff Hall said "Most of our problems are either Illegal Immigration or drug trafficking. As you know, Illegal Persons have no compunction about driving drunk, and we were making a boatload of DWI arrests. We also were interdicting a lot of drugs between Veracruz and Rome, and I was working with the Federal DEA to come in and wipe Veracruz clean off the map."

Hall: "And that's when BigAgraFoods came in and struck a deal with the DEA, and pretty much forced us locals to take it. They said they'd pol

ice Veracruz and for us to stay out of there, and leave Rome to itself. We bust any DUIs or anyone we catch with drugs outside of those zones really hard, with no mercy, but we leave Veracruz to themselves."

Leanne said "We know you'd never do that, Don, but BigAgraFoods and their Big Boy cousin companies bring a lahhht of revenue into this county."

"Still, they're there, like a ticking time bomb." I said. "What does Providence Springs think of it?"

"They don't like it." said Deputy Biggs. "We... they... were hoping that these companies would hire more blacks, and give our people greater opportunities to make better lives. And some companies, like BOW Enterprises, are doing a really good job of hiring more blacks and not hiring Illegal Persons at all. But BigAgraFoods would rather hire Illegals than Citizens of any skin color, black, white, green or blue, so it's not like cracking down on them would help my people."

Sheriff Hall said "We expect to be busy this weekend, though. Reunion Weekend, as we call it, is always a busy time for us. Some of the people want to relive old times by going to 'Strawberry Hill' and have sex in cars, like they did as teenagers."

"I never parked there." I said truthfully.

"Where

did

you park?" Sheriff Hall asked, meaning it humorously. "Not at your house. Your mother was wayyyy too sharp to not catch you."

"True." I said with a grin. "I usually went to my girlfriend's house." I did not look towards Leanne, but could see her in my side vision, and she was studiously examining her cup of coffee. She had taken my virginity, but we'd never really dated; my mother did not approve of Leanne, and still didn't, if I don't miss my guess. Leanne and I would fuck at her house or in the woods behind my house, with my dog Patches standing guard.

Leanne said "Strawberry Hill overlooked the creek. It was near where you and the FBI trapped the Swamp Frogs in that funneling maneuver and laid waste to them." (

Author's note: 'Along Came A Spider', Ch. 02.

) "It partially flooded when they built the dam and filled the Reservoir. So now kids are parking in the farm field overlooking the Reservoir, that was once the Taylor-Greene farm before Mitchell Baker foreclosed on it, before you and the Feds arrested him."

Sheriff Hall said "We'll be on watch for DUIs, too. Most people are staying at the hotel where the reunion is at, but those that don't will be offered rides to their own hotels or residences if needed. And those that don't do the right thing will be offered an overnight tour of our newly refurbished Police Headquarters."

"Or our newly refurbished County Jail." said Tyrone Biggs...

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

After everyone was finished eating, the LEOs went to work. I took selfies with all the Diner employees, then my mom, Laura, and I drove to my mom's place in the retirement center. I used her wifi connection to connect to the TCPD, and read the duty logs of the night before. Happily, they were as dry as tinder and as exciting as watching fresh paint dry.

Having done that, I texted the Town & County Police Command Group to see how things were going. The Chief diplomatically texted back "

Things are fine here. Enjoy feeling old at your reunion.

"

Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle was much more explicit in her reply. She texted "

Police Headquarters did not collapse in the night, and your well trained Police Force is doing a great job as always. Stop worrying about us and enjoy your vacation.

"

The Iron Wolf has spoken, I thought to myself...

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

Knowing we had to, Laura and I accepted my mother's invitation to go to lunch with her at the Sr. Living Center's dining facility. Laura was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food, and Phyllis explained how they rotated the menu but also added specials so that there was little monotony.

I had feared that my mother's fellow residents would come by the table and bother us, but only one person did, and it was okay that he did: he was former Sheriff Greenwood, who was now very advanced in years. After I shook hands with him and introduced him to Laura, my mother invited him to sit down with us.

"Yeah, Donny Hall is a good guy, and he's doing a good job as Sheriff." said Greenwood. "But I wish he'd stayed Police Chief. Then he wouldn't have to undergo re-election, and he couldn't be easily removed from the Chief's chair. And before you ask: yes, I think BigAgraFoods just may try something like that, just like the Swamp Frogs did when they ran me out and installed Spaulding as Sheriff. BigAgraFoods and the US Chamber of Commerce

want

those Illegal Aliens for cheap labor, and he's in their way."

"I so agree, Sheriff." said my mother Phyllis, with the merest twinkle in her eye. "Donny Hall was an excellent Police Chief." I knew that

that

was a barely concealed criticism of Leanne Wisocky, whom my mother never liked.

And I didn't let it go unchallenged. "Are you saying that Captain Wisocky is

not

doing a good job as Police Chief?" I asked.

"She's doing okay." said Greenwood, as my mother pursed her lips and said nothing. "But her husband and some of his family were BigAgraFoods employees, him in mid-tier management. He allegedly quit when she became Chief, but Phyllis and I found out he'd been hired as an independent contractor by a shell company that turned out to be wholly owned by..." He let the sentence hang.

"BigAgraFoods." Laura said when it became obvious I was not going to participate. My mother was peering hard at me, and out of sheer deference to Sheriff Greenwood's presence I did not glare back at her.

"Yes." said Greenwood. "He's doing exactly the same job for them, just through hoops of smoke and mirrors. It's not a good look, and I brought it up to the Mayor, Town Council, and County Commission. They ignored me."

I tossed my napkin onto the table rather abruptly, then allowed a tinge of anger into my voice as I said "All right, let's cut to the chase, here. Do you have anything, anything at all, to show that Captain Wisocky is corrupt in any way, any way at all?"

Sheriff Greenwood looked shocked as I peered at him, then at my mother, then back at him. He said "No, Don, and that's not what I was trying to suggest---"

"Then what

are

you trying to suggest?" I said angrily, my eyes boring right through him.

"Whoa, son, give me a chance to say something, here." Greenwood said placatingly. "I'm not trying to disparage her, nor even her husband. He seems to be an aboveboard, good guy. But there

are

some issues, there, and you can ask D.A. Tittle if you don't want to believe me."

Greenwood: "For the most part, Captain Wisocky does a good job. But she also has a tendency to decide someone is guilty or innocent prematurely, and then start seeking supporting evidence."

"In other words, son," my mother said 'helpfully', "she does not follow your rule of making theories based on the facts, but twisting facts to suit her theories."

"What does she do?" Laura asked in a clear 'intervention', seeing as the flush on the back of my neck and my ears was getting darker than my hair.

Sheriff Greenwood said "Don, do you know Roddy Baker?"

"I've heard the name, but I've never met him." I said. "He was quarterback of the football team for a year or two, I think."

"Well, you might see him tonight or tomorrow." said Greenwood. "He graduated ten years ago, and had to marry the girl he got pregnant. Well, for some reason Leanne Wisocky hates his guts, and she's been after him for years. She was the arresting Officer nine years ago when he was pulled over and given a DWI. It was his second DWI... he got his first one while still in high school... and she worked hard to get the D.A. to upgrade it to a felony as a second DWI offense."

Greenwood: "He did upgrade it, but the judge only gave Roddy six months of weekend jail and community service. But he got probation, too, and a first strike on his record. And Wisocky had the Parole people going through his house every other month, often in the dead of night."

Greenwood: "Then five years ago, he went hunting with a couple of guys in the northern part of the county. And when he showed up at the deer processing place with the deer he harvested, Wisocky was there with a contingent of Officers, and busted him for having a firearm. His home was searched, and a.38 caliber revolver was found, which his wife said was hers, but you know that doesn't fly. If he can't have one, she can't have one, at least practically speaking."

Greenwood: "Roddy said his probation had ended the week before, and Leanne said it didn't end until the next week. The records in the Courthouse said it was the week after, but it appeared that he had been informed by an official notice that it was the week before. The Feds refused to press any charges, but Wisocky wouldn't let it go, and Roddy's public defender was a piece of crap that pretty much threw him under the bus, so he got six months in jail and six years probation... which still hangs over his head now."

Greenwood: "Two years ago, Wisocky pulled him over in his vehicle. His wife was in the passenger seat, and their kids in the backseat. She searched the car without a warrant, saying he was on parole, and found a bottle of oxycodone. The stuff was in a prescription bottle, and his wife had a prescription for it, as she had a broken wrist. But Leanne arrested him right there, and she openly gloated in front of his kids that she was going to put him away for life, because it would be his third strike."

Greenwood: "That time, though, Robert Reichard came in. He's one of those anti-Police attorneys, and he's smarmy... like the Hamilton Phillips kind of smarmy. Reichard took Roddy's case

pro bono

. The D.A. also refused to prosecute that one, citing reasonable doubt. And Reichard sued Apple Grove and Fillmore County, citing a pattern of Police harassment and abuse by now-Captain Wisocky. The suit was vigorously contested and was rightly thrown out, but it cost the county a lot of money in legal fees to fight it."

Greenwood: "That didn't stop Leanne, though. She did do everything by the book: she got warrants, and conducted a sting, and caught Lisa Baker and other girls working at the Hilton in a prostitution sting. But she filed no charges against anyone but Lisa. And the D.A. promptly dropped the charges against Lisa. He's very wary of any case Leanne tries to bring against the Bakers."

"Is that all?" I asked.

"Isn't that enough, son?" my mother asked.

"By that I mean has she gone after anyone else like that?" I replied. I looked back and forth at both of them until Greenwood shook his head 'no'. "Any idea

why

she went after Roddy and Lisa so vigorously?"

My mother said "Maybe because they're no-good trash, son. Roddy was always getting in fights at school and on the football field during games. He was always drinking and was careless with guns. And he got Lisa pregnant. What more do you want?"

"Something that actually shows Leanne is corrupt, or even compromised, which I am not seeing right now." I replied. Neither Greenwood nor my mother said any more, but they did glance at each other surreptitiously as we began eating again in silence.

Laura rescued them: "So, are you two now the Apple Grove Private Detective Force?"

My mom said "Well, we

have

looked into a few small things, and given our findings to Sheriff Hall, Deputy Biggs, and Sergeant Stegall, who is a really good Detective. I would suggest you hire him, Don, except that we need good people like him up here."

"I agree, about him and that you need to keep him." I said. "So what cases did you solve?"

Greenwood said "The bastards in Veracruz did try to set up a drug pipeline into Apple Grove, Providence Springs, Rome, and Springer. They stopped when our Police and Sheriff Department took eight of their cars off the roads, all loaded with heroin. Sheriff Hall also spoke to the top leadership of the Big Boy companies, and said he expected their 'help' in stopping such trafficking. And it did stop, at least coming out of Veracruz. But it's still a hellhole down there. Nobody in their right minds, not even the Police, go down there. Those that do... usually never come back..."

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

"That was a disaster." I said moodily as Laura and I drove back to the Hilton Hotel via the Junior Biggs Dam over Lake Donald Troy.

"Yes, I could see that they upset you." Laura said. "So if I may ask, did you get upset because Leanne is your former lover?"

I replied: "No, it was more because she's a

fellow

Police Officer, and from everything I know and have heard, she's a good one. I know my mom never liked Leanne, thought Leanne and her family were beneath me and ours, but she needs to come correct with more proof than they were giving me if they're going to accuse her of anything."

Laura asked "Does it not bother you that BigAgraFoods went through that charade with her husband to conceal that he works for them?"

I said "On the surface, maybe it should. But it also occurs to me that maybe it's legit, that they didn't want to lose him as an employee but her career with the Police was more important to him. So maybe they're just doing it to keep the heat off of the Wisockys. Also, it's easier for them to terminate his employment if there is a conflict of interest or it behooves them to do so."

"There's that word again!" Laura exclaimed. Yeah, she knew the '

behoove

' joke...

Part 6 - Friday Night Lights

4:00pm, Friday, October 1st. Laura had refused me sex when we got back to our hotel room, telling me to 'save your strength for tonight'. So we got on our laptops. I looked at the TCPD duty logs, finding nothing out of the ordinary... except a notation by Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle, saying "

If Commander Troy calls, tell him Commander Croyle said to have a nice weekend and stop worrying about us.

"