The Stuff of Legend

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 9 - Your Captain of Detectives

Chief Griswold grabbed the door handle and turned it, then opened the door.

*Whirrrrrrrrrrrrr*

**WHOOOSH!!**

As if fired from a cannon, Tanya Perlman burst out of the door, driving her 'Tank' down the sidewalk at a high rate of speed. Upon seeing her, the Police Officers exploded in the loudest cheer I'd heard since the announcement of Leonard 'Sergeant' Sharples's arrest.

Seeing the Police Officers rise to their feet in applause, all the schoolchildren also stood up and cheered. Members of the Community Center and other guests were also cheering, realizing how big this was. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Teresa Croyle jumping up and down with excitement. Cindy was beside her, also clapping and cheering. Captain Thompson has stopped the picture-taking to applaud and cheer for Tanya.

I also saw that while everyone else was cheering, the Press, while duly recording the event, did not look happy about what was transpiring. At all.

I put that into its compartment of the mind as Tanya, perky and rosy-cheeked as ever, drove up to the podium. The applause would not stop for a long minute. I finally took the microphone from the podium and Tanya turned sideways to face me as I said "Please raise your right hand and repeat after me: I, Tanya Perlman..."

"I, Tanya Perlman..." Tanya replied as she held up her right hand, and repeated after me the words of the Town & County Police Officer's Oath, re-submitting her to the Thin Blue Line after her forced retirement.

I had done it, I thought to myself. Defeating Pastor Raymond Westboro had been very good. Defeating the Slender Man had been good. Solving all those cases had been good. But defeating the naysayers of the Town & County Council and getting my third Angel back was possibly the most satisfying moment of my Police career.

At the end of the recitation, I extended my hand and Tanya shook it as I said "Welcome home."

"Thank you, sir." Tanya said, trying hard to not get emotional at what had been her greatest dream: returning to the Town & County Police Force.

And it kept getting better: FBI Special Agent in Charge Jack Muscone, who'd been standing off to the side, came forward. As Chief Moynahan read the proclamation promoting Tanya to Captain and naming her Chief of Detectives, Jack and I pinned the silver bars denoting that rank on her uniform jacket epaulettes.

One could barely hear the Chief even with him using the microphone; the Officers of the Police Force maintained their sustained loud applause for considerable moments. And it only got louder when Cindy came forward and handed Tanya the ceremonial blue crowbar... the first crowbar, the one I'd administered to the late Sergei Molotov's backside all those years ago... the crowbar that was now duly passed down to every Captain of Detectives, and would be for all future time, as well...

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

"Do not dare complain about the size of this office." I admonished Captain Perlman as I followed her into her new office, which was Cindy's old one. On the floor behind the desk was a large 'mat' of hard plastic, and there was a runway of semi-hard plastic from it to the door, so that Tanya could maneuver her wheelchair into and out of there without damaging or wearing out the carpet underneath.

Tanya laughed at my words as she drove around behind the desk and placed the Blue Crowbar in its home, the hooks on the plaque on the wall next to the desk. Then she looked up at me and said "No, no complaints. I never thought..." It started getting emotional in the room as she said "Don...

thank you.

"

"You're welcome, but I did it purely for selfish reasons." I said.

"Don't even try." she said, her eyes twinkling, but with tears. I came around the desk and knelt down, not letting the pain in my back bother me as Tanya and I hugged warmly for a long moment.

There was a knock on the door, and I barely got back to standing up when Teresa came in, followed by an entire elite unit of the FBI: Team Lazarus. And with them were Jack's daughters, Tiffany and Jennifer, who guided young Peter D. Feeley into the office with them. Pete smiled when he saw me and his mother, and I picked him up when he waded through the adults to get to us.

"Commander," Tanya said with a grin, her cheeks rosy with perkiness, "

the size of this office is not adequate

... for all these guests."

"I'll take that under advisement." I said as she and I began laughing. Teresa caught on and nodded with what was for her a laugh.

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

*KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!*

"May I come in...

Commander

Ross?" I said as I knocked on the open door of Cindy's new office, which was Paulina's old office, right next to mine. Cindy looked up and smiled.

"Please do, Commander Troy." she replied. She had just come in, and I was the first to 'officially' greet her in her new 'digs'. She was putting pictures on the side of her desk: one of her and Callie; one of Cindy's parents, William and Maggie Ross; one of Cindy with her father, Dr. P. Harvey Eckhart; one of Cindy with Molly, with Molly wearing her Police Chief uniform; and one of me with Carole, Ross, Ian, Jim, Bowser, and Buddy.

"Congratulations." I said. "This is awesome."

"Yes young Donald, it certainly is!" exclaimed a familiar voice behind me, that of the founder and great leader of 'The Vision' self-help empire, Dr. P. Harvey Eckhart. He hugged me warmly as he said "Such a wonderful day this is." He walked past me and met Cindy halfway as they exchanged a warm hug.

Chatter had barely started when Maggie, Molly and Callie came into the anteroom. "Well, I'll get out of the way." I said as I hugged Molly.

"Oh, don't go." said Maggie. "You're part of the family, too."

"Yes, but I actually have work to do." I said. I excused myself and went to Tanya's office and got her. She was now in her 'regular' motorized wheelchair.

"Let's go to MCD." I said. We went across the hall, where all the Detectives were massed in MCD, along with J.R. Barnes and Christina Cho. When Tanya drove in, they all stood and applauded mightily.

"Aw, thanks guys." Tanya said. "I can't tell you how great it is to be back with all of you."

"Let's talk for a second." I said, sitting down on the edge of one of the desks, my new 'girdle' keeping my back well-braced. "Yes, no one except perhaps Captain Perlman herself is happier than I am to have her back. I do want to lay out what she'll be doing and what the expectations are for her and all of you."

I began: "First, I don't expect Captain Perlman to be out in the field every single time we have a case, though she may drop in on you from time to time. Her main two missions are to supervise all of you... which is like herding cats..." There was some laughter at that, and I continued: "And she's also here to teach you and arrange for others to teach you the arts and sciences of Detective work. Between her and Chief Griswold, you've got the best teachers of this work that you could ever hope to have."

"Modesty is a human trait, Commander." said Joanne Warner, in an excellent imitation of Chief Griswold. She was meaning me as a teacher of Detectives.

"Yes, I will excuse it." said the old Chief Emeritus himself as he came into the room. He and Joanne fist-bumped. "Sorry to interrupt, Commander, but I wanted to congratulate Captain Perlman, which is really congratulating all of you young whippersnappers to have her leadership and Commander Troy's." He gave Tanya a warm hug, himself very happy to see this day arrive.

"Yes, I am lucky to have Captain Perlman back, and teaching all of you what she knows... which is a lot." I said. Everyone agreed as the chatter rose up.

Then it got quiet when Theo Washington asked "What's going on with Lieutenant Milton and the CIO thing?"

"Several things." I replied. "When that dirtbag Brownlee was here, he forced I.T. to be under the Deputy Chief, which I have to admit is really where it should be. Obviously I kept Myron out of Brownlee's grasp. But with Commander Ross now Deputy Chief, the Chief, the Sheriff, and the Council saw fit to promote Myron to the job, which he deserves and in which he will do very well. And having him under Commander Ross and Mary under me really takes care of the nepotism issues with him and Mary, which I was bending into pretzels to overcome. Now I don't have to bend into a pretzel anymore."

"And unable to, with your bad back." said a female voice. It was Cindy, coming in through the back hallway door, a gleam in her ice blue eyes. She came up and put her hands on my shoulders from behind, and said: "And o! how I love it that I can give your Police Commander a hard time... and not have to worry about getting written up!" The room broke into laughter at that, and Chief Griswold's mustaches twitched merrily.

"Bad back or not," I said, "I will still beat you down in the boxing ring... just kidding, Chief." That was in reply to Chief Moynahan's look at me for daring to make that remark in his presence.

"Nooooo, do not do that." Moynahan said. "The way you two would go at it, we'd be back to having

no

Commanders in the TCPD again." More laughter.

"Har." said Chief Griswold, then said to me and Cindy: "He's right, you know."

"Sir, what are we doing for data?" asked Joanne.

"Sonali and Lainie know they're going to have to step up." I said, looking over at the two young women. "And they will; they've been doing a great job and learning a lot under Myron and Mary. But that is a point: Detective Warner, I'm expecting you especially to be more computer-savvy going forward." That was because she could look up stuff in her CIA capacity, and she knew it.

"I'll handle it, sir!" Joanne said confidently. Tanya fist-bumped her.

Just then, Public Relations Officer Damien Thompson came into the room. Everyone applauded and congratulated him. Thompson acknowledged the applause, then said "Sorry to bother you folks, but can I get a photo with your great Chief of Detectives?"

The Police photographer had come in behind Thompson, and took a picture of him and Tanya. Then Jerome asked if he could get a picture with Thompson, his former Precinct Captain, and of course as fellow black men. Thompson took photos with him, then with him and Theo, then with Chief Griswold and me, then with everyone in the room in a big group photo...

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

Some moments later, a couple of cakes arrived. One was for J.R. Barnes, the other for Christina Cho. Every silver lining has its cloud. To get Tanya back, I had to make a deal with the State Crime Lab.

"So, folks," I said, "We're getting Captain Perlman back, but we're losing J.R. and Christina. J.R. is going to take over as Director of all the State Crime Labs, Tanya's old job. He'll do an awesome job there. And Christina Cho, who finished her Ph.D. work in Chemistry at the University this semester, and while working with us at the same time, is going to be Chief Chemist of the State Crime Lab here in Town, and likely over all the labs before too long."

Everyone applauded, and I said "I hate losing you, but you both deserve these opportunities, and I know you'll do very well." We toasted J.R. Barnes and Dr. Christina Cho with the soft drinks we were enjoying with the cakes...

And astute observers will have realized that two of those three Police Medals were for J.R. and Christina, and that that was because they were leaving, and that that was because Tanya was returning. Just a small cluuuuue, there...

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

"How

did

you get Tanya back?" asked Cindy, as Molly and I sat in Cindy's office chatting with her, 'breaking in' the office, as it were.

"Oh, I just told the Council to suggest someone better for the job, and they couldn't come up with a single name." I replied.

"Yeah, right." Cindy said. "You busted your ass getting her back."

"He gets what he wants." Molly said. "And that is what he wanted. He's the Stuff of Legend." That remark caused me to peer at her; I'd heard that before, and recently...

Cindy smiled and said "Don, we can see you're as happy about it as Tanya is. I'm happy as heck she's back, but I think you were happy I took this job so you could get her back in there."

"You deserved this promotion." I said. "And I definitely saw the opportunity and took it. Oh yes, I most certainly am happy... for you, for Tanya, and most selfishly for myself."

And yes, I busted ass to make it happen. It was not hard to convince Todd to put BOW Enterprises resources to work on Tanya's Tank, and of course Teresa is very persuasive with Todd. It was more difficult convincing the Council, and overcoming their objections. One objection Susan Weston (who hated Tanya from days past in the TCPD) brought up was that every Officer had to qualify with a gun. I'd anticipated that, and had the rebuttal ready.

Before going to the Council, I brought Tanya and Chief Moynahan to the Armory Range in the basement, for her to qualify and him to witness. The target was sent to the far end of the range.

"Oh, I'll have to open the door for her to shoot at it." said the Armorer, wearing his gray baseball cap as always, as everyone saw that Tanya was below the height of the benchrest.

"No." I said. "The standard is to shoot from the bench, door closed. She'll have to overcome that." Everyone was a bit shocked at my intransigence, and wondered how this was going to work... and then Tanya showed them. She pressed a button on the Tank, and everyone watched as she was lifted upwards by the springs that were attached to the locks keeping her seat connected to the bottom part of the Tank.

At maximum height, Tanya could see over the shelf of the door. She had to raise her arms just over her head, but she fired her .38 Special revolver over the bench. When the target was brought back, it was not Melina-perfect shooting, but it was more than good enough to pass the test.

And once I showed those targets to the Council, then explained to them about Tanya's abilities to teach the Detectives as well as lead them, they finally relented one by one, until I had that 7-3 vote to bring Tanya back. No real surprise that two of the 'no' votes were Kelly Carnes and Susan Weston. More surprising was Loran T. Michaels, who claimed to be concerned about indemnity issues.

And then came the State. Regional SDOJ Director Harold Benton said that Perlman was 'indispensable' to the State Crime Labs, and the Attorney General Karl Handel was going to make an issue of it, and not release Tanya from her contract.

I also knew that our TCPD Crime Lab was being reduced to ashes, in a manner of speaking, by budget cuts. We were close to being reduced to the BATmobile for drunk driving tests. The local Crime Lab, once the best in the State, was being downgraded to supporting the Medical Examiner and the Morgue in the basement. The Lab techs were leaving for other jobs, and we were hiring field CSIs to replace them. So I talked to J.R. and Christina, talked to Mr. Benton, and we cut a deal.

Maybe I should write a book on deal-making... call it

'The Art of the Deal'

... oh, never mind, someone beat me to that title...

Part 10 - Absence Does NOT Make The Heart Grow Fonder

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Fox Two News!" shouted the lovely redheaded reporterette at 7:00am, Wednesday, May 2nd, from in front of City Hall. "County history was made as Damien Thompson was made the first black Captain in the Town & County Police, but civil rights leaders and social justice groups are enraged!"

Bettina: "The complaints started early yesterday, when black civic leaders said that they were denied the opportunity to speak at the Police ceremonies to congratulate Captain Thompson and give the occasion the proper testaments that it deserved! Others complained that the Police did not give the occasion its due, and while Chief Sean Moynahan and Commander Donald Troy did acknowledge the history-making promotion, it was glossed over. But the strongest complaint came from Town & County Assemblyman and mayoral candidate Eldrick X. Weaver. Roll tape."

Tape rolled, showing Weaver saying "This was history in the making, and one of the most important moments in our Police Department's history, but Sheriff Daniel Allgood did not even attend! Daniel Allgood just reaffirms the racial bias of Whites in this county against Blacks that achieve! Daniel Allgood has disqualified himself to be Mayor of this Town!"

Back to Bettina live: "Loran T. Michaels, who is running against Daniel Allgood for the Republican nomination for Mayor, agreed with the sentiments of Mr. Weaver. Roll tape."

Tape rolled, showing Loran T. Michaels and his goofy-'ish' smile, saying "It is unbelievable that Daniel Allgood would not attend one of the most important Police promotions ceremonies ever. I was honored to be there, as were many others who took the time to be there. It raises questions for the voters: will Allgood be a no-show as Mayor, as well?"

Bettina live: "The Sheriff's Office released a statement saying that Sheriff Allgood was presiding over the Sheriff's Department's ceremonies, which also had a number of promotions and awards."

More Bettina: "And the Social Justice group 'Citizens For Police Accountability' issued a statement excoriating Commander Donald Troy for not naming a new head of the TCPD Internal Affairs Department after a vacancy was created by the promotion of James 'Curly' Goodwin to Precinct Captain.

"Jay Swenson and Ken Eidex, spokespersons for the group, said that Commander Troy was trying to gut the Internal Affairs Department to protect himself. Della Harlow, candidate for Sheriff, issued a statement agreeing with the CFPA's accusation. Ms. Harlow said that when she is Sheriff, Internal Affairs will work for the People of the County to expose and punish Police corruption, not cover up for Commander Troy. The TCPD issued a statement saying that candidates for the Internal Affairs post were being considered."

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

"That fucking bitch!" I all but exploded. "I put out a statement yesterday that Harlow knows full well that I don't get investigated by Internal Affairs, but by the Inspector General himself. And Bettina buries it, doesn't say a word about it."

"I'll have a word with Captain Thompson." said Deputy Chief Cindy Ross, who was officially Thompson's boss. "Good baptism for him, to accuse the Press of burying your statement."

"Commander... er, Commander Troy, that is..." said Jerome Davis, "what's the deal about the Sheriff not being at the promotions ceremony?" Jerome was black, and I couldn't tell if he and Theo were offended by Allgood not being there. I treaded carefully with my words:

"I don't know why Sheriff Allgood was not there." I said. "They're saying he was at the Sheriff Department ceremonies. I think they had a couple of retirements from there."

"Sir," said Joanne, "Sheriff Allgood is running for Mayor. Won't that hurt him in the race, if Mr. Weaver makes a big deal of it?"

"And he

will

make a big deal of it." Cindy said shortly, and astutely.