White Wives Matter

This story is a work of fiction based on some of today's headlines. No one in this work is real, or is this story even based on a real person or event. Pretty clearly everyone mentioned is over 18.

As always I appreciate constructive criticism to my inbox. I continue to venture forth without an editor because these way too long and rambling efforts are mine alone, and written for my enjoyment, and I hope yours as well. If you like your stories wrapped up with a neat bow at the end, please pass on this one. Hey I am sorry but life ain't that way. I take responsibility for any and all misteaks.

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In the history of modern marriage there has probably never been a couple with more opposed political views than my wife Beth and I.

I am a conservative, always vote Republican, am a life member of the NRA, and support the local Republican Party with my time and money. I currently work as a deputy sheriff for the elected Republican sheriff in our county.

My wife is a tenured professor in Women's Studies at the state university here in our college town. She is a card carrying member of NOW, has most recently embraced the #Metoo movement, and a bunch of other women's rights and assorted social underdog groups, too many to name. A lifelong Democrat she is very progressive in her views and those same views are now reflected in the opinions and ideals of her peers and the college administration.

When I say college town I am stating that the majority of the revenue in our small city is generated by the State University and the businesses supported by it. We have little outside revenue beyond the college besides the farms that surround our small city, and some light industry.

Beth has always taken the side of the oppressed and I must say I admire the work and effort she puts in for charity. She does not just offer her/our money; she spends her time doing good things. Be it volunteering at the local free meals for disadvantaged site, reading to underprivileged children at the local library branch, or volunteering at church. She does not just preach giving, she lives it.

Myself, I am pretty below average in participation as far as my beliefs. I vote Republican in each election; send the NRA and RNC a few bucks now and then, but that is about the extent of my support.

Although I am a Deputy Sheriff here in our county I have not arrested anyone in several years. I work as a data analyst with a team of three non-sworn county employees. After 9 years on patrol, and 5 as a detective, I was promoted to this position about 5 years ago when the team was formed. At that time the reason that I was added was that the Sheriff knew that I had more knowledge than anyone else on his staff about computers. The team had to be headed by a sworn officer and I was appointed.

When I first started with the data analyst team the rest of the group looked at me as an outsider since I knew little about what they did, and yet I was assigned to be their superior. It took about 6 months to build trust and move forward with the same goals. The team, at my insistence learned firsthand the ins and outs of police work by being assigned as "ride-alongs" for a couple months on a rotating schedule. For my part I attended two, 2 week Analyst seminars at Quantico hosted by one of our 3 letter government agencies. At the end of those 6 months we had come together as a team.

We are tasked with analyzing data to predict future crimes. At first it was a crapshoot, but over time our techniques in both analytical technique and police work have given us an edge in many instances. Our department uses our data to move manpower to the areas that we consider to be hotspots at different times of the year. For instance we see a huge uptick in shoplifting and car break-ins near the malls just before Christmas. Our department adds manpower to these areas during that time. Conversely as the summer heats up we see more domestic and racial tension in our poorer neighborhoods so manpower is moved accordingly. That is the simple version of what we do, in reality it is much more complex.

You may recall that horrible terrorist incident in a New Jersey mall a couple holiday seasons ago. You don't? Oh right, It was stopped by a lead my team generated before it got underway. We passed the lead along to a very appreciative government agency. A few arrests and deportations did not make much national news at the time.

Over time our analytical prowess grew until it had come to be much more involved with a couple of those three letter government agencies. Our reputation and contacts led us to a great many developments beyond our local area. Our work area security was bolstered, and in fact a large portion of our budget was taken over by the Federal Government. In short we were a valued asset to the Feds.

Beth and my life was progressing as normal as you would consider possible for two people with opposite interests. The fact we loved and respected each other was the key to our marital success. I kept my work to myself, (as it must be in my business) and never ran down any of Beth's projects or work. We have always been able to discuss our different opinions without it turning into a fight. I respect her positions, and she respects mine. The single sticking point, even though it rarely comes up, is her friend who works at the college in admissions, Janet.

Janet is twice divorced and cheated on both of her previous husbands, ending the marriages, as well as screwing over a couple nice fellows. Beth stood by her during both divorces, something I did not care for, but kept silent about. I knew my opinion would not change the outcome, and since childhood my wife has always been Janet's loyal friend. Janet is promiscuous and even at her age is on the prowl for young men from the college. To sum it up, she disgusts me.

I actually first met Beth and Janet at the same time. I was a second year deputy just back from Desert Storm and was working DUI late night enforcement here in town. I knew the best place to catch drunk drivers was at the side of a one way street that faced the parking lot of a local late night bar. The bar itself was a real meat-market at the time, a last chance hook-up joint that featured the early hip hop and dance tunes and a diverse racial clientele. In short, white ladies went there to hook up with black guys when their late night options ran out elsewhere.

I generally parked facing the right way on the one way street. Patrons leaving had to choose to do the right thing when leaving the lot. Turn right, legally, and go around the uptown square and circle back to their south or west destination. A left turn put them within yards of the east west street but was an illegal one way street violation of about 25 yards. I loved the traffic set-up, some nights it was like shooting fish in a barrel.

About 3 a.m. one Sunday morning Janet's claptrap Honda turned left illegally and jogged onto the westbound street. I flipped on the cherries and blipped the siren. Janet pulled over into a used car lot and shut off the engine. I approached as usual; hand on gun staying behind their c-pillar until I got to where I could see them. Janet was obviously drunk but Beth was not as bad off. Janet starts the disrespect right off the bat, but Beth had the cool head and tells Janet to shut up. I liked that. I checked their ID's back in my cruiser and found nothing amiss. They were both 21, local girls and their addresses were the same, just up the street in an apartment building. All was as it appeared, just two young ladies who were out too late with a bit too much alcohol on board.

If I arrested Janet I knew it will be 7 a.m. before I get her processed, booked, and the car impounded. I had a pistol match at 10 a.m. and really wanted to clock out on time at 5 and get a couple hours sleep before I compete. I decided in the cruiser that if Janet shot off her mouth she was going to jail. If she was cool I would let her leave the car and drive them home with a warning. Remember this was the late 90's and a DUI was bad, but not a big deal like now. I was allowed to use discretion. If I took them in Janet would lose her drivers license for 3 months and pay a moderate fine. That was it back then.

I approached and Janet to my surprise she stayed silent. I let her lock up the car and took the girls home to their apartment near the College on the west side of town. I wrote her a warning for improper lane usage and made sure they got inside ok. I did make a mental note of the place where they were pulled over, leaving the parking lot of the meat-market, but considered it was just a bad late night decision when enjoying a night of drinking. Janet looked and acted the part of a slut but her passenger Beth did not dress or act that way at all.

A couple weeks after pulling the pair over I was leaving the courthouse in the afternoon after finishing testifying on a couple DUI convictions. Beth met me at the bottom of the steps and asked if she could buy me a cup of coffee to thank me for not hauling them in. I accepted and coffee turned into dinner. We hit it off well regardless of politics and started dating, then after almost a year, we married.

For the next few years we did as most married couples do. We moved up in our jobs, bought a nice home and then an even nicer one, and enjoyed the fruits of our labor. Beth is blonde and leggy with a nice proportional set of C cups adorned with large dark pink areole and big nipples that announce their presence when she gets horny. Her ass is less pronounced, certainly not sporting a booty, but she looks great in yoga pants. As she has aged she has filled out and bloomed into a woman. When we first married she could have been a thin leggy model that was all the rage then.

Our sex life was full and loving with a bit of kink thrown in. Hey it was the 90's and Beth could dress up like Madonna and make me believe it! We tried twice to have children, both times ended in miscarriages. After the second failed pregnancy our doctor determined that Beth had some female problems that would most likely not allow us to have children, and further attempts could jeopardize her health. She went on the pill, and remains on it at age 41.

Life was rolling along pretty steady. We were both busy with work of course but spent a lot of time together. Beth and Janet spent time on their causes, even though I believed Janet was only in it for the social aspect and not the well meaning part. Yes things were going well until Nelson Connor was shot.

Nelson Connor was deaf; he had overcome that obstacle to become an honor student. He was working on his degree at our small local hearing impaired college but took a few advanced classes at our State University.

A rookie University patrol officer took a call about an attempted rape about 8 p.m. on an early October evening. The officer was patrolling the eastern edge of the grounds and notified their dispatcher of his position. He was told to be on the lookout for a man with a blue hoodie and dark running pants, and to remain in the current area as local police were at the scene of the alleged crime.

Minutes later the officer, who will not be named here, called in contact with a man fitting the description. The suspect was waiting at a bus stop. The officer drove by and then turned at the end of the street and came back to the suspect.

I saw how the rest of the encounter played out on the officer's body cam. The suspect stood still as the officer stopped his patrol car and got out. The officer then told the suspect to put his hands in the air. The suspect took two steps toward the officer. This time the officer told the suspect to stop and raise his hands, at the same time the officer drew his Glock 17. The suspect turned slightly left, and started to raise his hands, by God I was sure he would! But then he reached around for his backpack with his right hand. The officer fired three shots, center mass. The suspect was most likely dead when he hit the ground.

The officer called it in and surprisingly was pretty calm for a rookie. He did as he was instructed in training, leave the body alone and keep the area secure until help comes. There were two people nearby, an older couple out for a stroll, and though horrified, they stayed back on the sidewalk behind the patrol car. It turns out they saw it all as well.

I knew it would be determined a good shoot, justified. Nelson was just reaching for his Student ID when he was shot. I looked at the footage again and realized that Nelson Connor had not seen the officer draw his gun. The patrol car spot light had blinded him from that low angle. Most likely he only saw the officer's upper body. The State police investigated these type shootings and I could see nothing the officer had done wrong as far as protocol. Regardless, an innocent man, an honor student, the pride of his family lay dead. I also realized that the fallout from this would be huge.

The national media picked it up the next morning and ran wild with the story. People we had never heard of in our town were now descending on us, and their plan was to raise hell until justice was done. My group identified the first out of town troublemakers within a couple hours. This group had a reputation of stirring up racial trouble in situations like these. The group leader was a man on many of our radars, Roland Marcel.

Marcel was backed by some big untraceable money. He was known to have unsavory Middle-East and African ties. For a man in his early thirties he was well connected. Tall, fit, well dressed, and well spoken, he was an educated man. He blew into town after his group leased an entire floor of our local Marriot. He was immediately on local news telling everyone he had come to comfort the Connor family and assure that justice was done. For our part we used our resources to shadow Marcel's group. We could see them through the security cameras in the hotel, monitor their calls, texts, and computer use. Any electronic communication they made, we saw.

Things at home were pretty quiet. Beth knew I could not and would not divulge what I knew of the case, so we kept the subject in the background. I did let her know that I felt the shooting was horrible for everyone involved, and gave her a hint that trouble may brew over this. I am sure she knew that before I mentioned it, but I wanted it out there. She told me that she would be participating in any events that would bring justice to the aggrieved family.

The next day Mr. Marcel was on the local news again speaking of how he planned to get support from the community through local groups. Of course he had time to kill since the State Police investigation would take about three or four days. I was sure that Beth, as well as Janet, would be a part of those local groups and decided to closely monitor Beth, Janet and Mr. Marcel.

Believe me I did not take the decision to spy on my wife lightly. I did it for her safety most of all. Beth had never given me any reason to suspect her in any way, and looking at her private texts, emails and conversations made me feel like a real creep. But she was a part of this and I rationalized that it had to be done. I took the lead and kept the rest of my team out of the loop for Beth and Janet's part of it. I am sure they trusted me to share anything pertinent about the case. I also knew that they would not be doing their jobs if they did not take a look as well, but if they did, they made no indication.

The days passed quickly after the shooting. The media doing its job of making Nelson Connor look like a saint, and really he was. He had volunteered to help deaf children. He had his own blog about his disability, and he never acted like it would hold him back in life, his positive attitude was, well, heartbreaking when you realize how he ended up. The poor kid made a horrible, confused, mistake and paid with his life.

On the flip side I knew the officer was done for life with police work. Even though he did his job perfectly, he chose wrong. I had heard he had taken the offer of counseling from his department, and I was happy to hear that. Most of us old timers would try to gut it out. Believe me when I say from my experience as a soldier. The most horrible thing you can do is take another man's most valuable possession, his life. Even if you are right.

Marcel's group consisted of three people we identified as lieutenants, all young men. A couple had degrees, and also some criminal background, of course arrests, without convictions. There were about eight or nine support staff of various sexes and ages that put together the events and did the dirty work of permits and booking venues. They also handled publicity as directed. Marcel's underlings were skilled at their work after having quite a bit of experience in Florida and a small suburb of St Louis.

On the Monday morning after the shooting, five days later, the State Police reported that the investigation results were being released at noon. They were holding a press conference at the State Capitol, forty miles away to release it. Over the past three days we had found out a lot of the plans that Mr. Marcel's group had in place for the day of the announcement. We found that two busloads of "protesters" were to be dispatched from the nearest major city, arriving in our town just after the announcement. They had planned, and had a permit for a community gathering in our University quad for the evening of the announcement as well.

My efforts to spy on my wife had also turned up a few things. She had met twice privately after public events with Mr. Marcel, and had said nothing to me about it. She also had sent and received texts with him. All of them were business like from her; his had some innuendo that she apparently ignored. On the other hand Janet was being ridden by Marcel's lieutenants like the town bike. Not surprising, she was working her way up to Marcel. I had also intercepted texts from Janet to Beth about the fun she was having with the team. Beth's replies to Janet were standard stuff. "Have fun girl, but be careful." The latest text from Janet to Beth indicated Marcel was impressed with Beth both professionally and in "other" ways. Beth just sent a "lol." I surmised that Marcel had a passing interest in my mature wife, but honestly I saw that going nowhere, knowing her as I did.

Janet and Beth were to be on the podium as Mr. Marcel made his speech on the quad early that afternoon. It was a very warm October day and the campus seemed to be abuzz with activity as I drove over to the University at lunch time to see my Beth. She got in my truck and we drove to Wendy's for lunch. Without giving away what I knew I asked her to be careful if things got out of hand, and consider not attending the gathering. I knew I wasted my breath, but as I dropped her off back at her building she noticed my bag of riot gear in the extended cab backseat, and I saw her turn pale. I hoped that move would do the trick, only time would tell.

Our indications were that a large crowd of students planned to attend Marcel's post announcement rally. Since our college was a State University it was a magnet for students from lower income families who were attend in on academic or athletic scholarships. A good many were also here on grants to under-privileged students. Overall our student base was mostly liberal. However the majority were well-behaved, serious students here for an education, so I was a bit surprised at the large expected turnout. Marcel's reputation had surely something to do with our expectation of a large student crowd.

Conversely the townspeople were expected to mostly go about their day of work and leading their lives. The general opinion was that the shooting was horrible, but life goes on for working folks, and justice will be served.