This story is part of an ongoing series.
The chronological order of my stories is listed in WifeWatchman's biography.
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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.
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Part 16 - Piling On
"Oh, no..." muttered Sheriff Griswold. He and Cindy followed me into my office. As we sat down, I took out my personal iPhone and speed-dialed my wife.
"Hi honey, it's me." I said. "Cindy said I needed to call you? About Inga?"
"Yes." Laura said. "She's in post-op. Dr. Morgan just briefed me on her surgery."
"She's still alive?" I asked, my eyes looking at Cindy and the Sheriff as I said it. "That's good, isn't it?"
"Yes." Laura said. "For the most part, everything went as well as could be expected. They set her jaw so that it will heal properly, and cleaned up the upper body damage around her ribs. But it's not all good news."
"Okay, hit me with it." I said, seeing the concern spring into Cindy's face at my words.
"The damage to her bones around her eyes was worse than they first thought." Laura said. "There was a lot of pressure from the inwardly-crushed bones on her eyes. They reset the bones, but the damage to her eyes may have been worse than they first thought, and may be permanent."
"So what does that mean?" I asked, sensing and dreading the answer.
"They won't know until she recovers consciousness," said Laura, "
but she may be permanently blind...
"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
2:30pm, Monday, July 6th. Word travels fast in a Police Force, and somehow the news about Inga was already spreading around Headquarters and the Precincts Headquarters, casting a pall over everyone.
"Laura said that Father Romano is with Jerome at the Hospital." I said to Cindy as we sat in my office. The Sheriff had gone to tell the Police Chief the news. "He's pretty devastated."
"Well, they don't know for sure yet." said Cindy. "So let's keep hope alive."
"Yes. You're right." I said. "We'll keep hope alive. Okay, at the risk of telling you how to do your job, you probably should go talk to Captain Thompson and get a message ready for when the Media begins calling about it. And I'm going to drown my sorrows in work: we've got some potentially big things going on with this Block House Boyz drug case..."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
An hour later, Jack Muscone came to my office. "Hey Dog," he said, "I heard about Inga, and I'm hoping to hear something better soon."
"Thanks." I said. "Have a seat. Whassup?"
Jack said "I'm hearing some rumors, and I didn't want to talk about them on the phone. This isn't official yet; I'm just letting you know ahead of time. The DEA brass in Washington is pressuring Rutherford Lyndon and Dwight Stevens to federalize the Block House Boyz case, and take it over from the TCPD."
"Consider me 'not surprised'." I said. "Sounds like the Swamp Frogs are beginning to try to bury the whole thing before we get too close to the truth."
"What truth is that?" Muscone asked.
I said "I have absolutely no proof of this yet, and may never get it. But I strongly suspect that DNI Brendan Chapel himself is behind stealing those drugs from the DEA in Texas. And when an anonymous tip led the DEA to the drugs in Missouri, he had them stolen again and sold, and the money is going into his pockets."
Jack emitted a low whistle. "Wow, when you theorize, you theorize big. What data are you basing this upon?"
I said "Bits and pieces of purely circumstantial data, but are the edge pieces of the puzzle. First, we know there was an attempt to move in and take Teresa's inheritance from her before she found out about it. And who were the threat actors in that case? The Swamp Frogs. Now we have drugs sitting in a warehouse, worth in the tens of millions of dollars, disappear and subsequently are sold on the street. And who are the threat actors that are manipulating things, making information disappear, and now we hear are trying to get this thing off of my radar? Swamp Frogs."
"Robin Isley?" Muscone asked.
"I'll bet she's involved," I replied, "but her lodestone is 'citations on the wall'. Brendan Chapel's lodestone is money; his avarice is unquenchable. He is a greedy, greedy man. So I'm thinking all the way to the top."
Muscone nodded, then said "What do you want to do? What do you want us to do?"
"Let's just sit back and let it play out, for now." I said. "We'll decide at the time if we want to fight the Federal takeover."
*BUZZZZ!*
It was my desk phone, and it was the Chief of Police inviting me to come to his office. "I'll go see my lovely wife." Jack said, getting up.
"You're getting the better deal." I replied as I followed him out the office door.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Chief had me sit down next to the Sheriff in the Chief's office. "I've just heard from our legal counsel. The Police Union filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over our inaction on their grievance against yoooo. We formally refused Federal mediation, saying we consider the grievance by McElwane to be totally resolved. So the Union filed a lawsuit against us in the Court of Federal Judge Ruth B. Taney."
"Did Federal Judge K.M. Landis take it from her and squash it?" I asked.
"No, Crowbar." growled Sheriff Griswold "He's on vacation this week. But even if he were here, Judge Taney has traditionally been the Federal Judge on this Circuit that handles Union and Labor issues."