Point Hollow Ch. 03

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.

This story is dedicated to the memory of Dame Agatha Christie, and is partially inspired by her Poirot novel 'The Hollow'.

Part 13 - Meetings

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the lovely redheaded MILF reporterette from outside University Hospital at 7:00am, Tuesday, May 3d. "Channel Two News has learned that the three students found by the FBI outside the State have been transported to University Hospital, where they are currently recovering. There is still no word of the fate of Danny Cantrell, the only student still missing."

"In political news, today is Primary Voting Day in the State." Bettina continued. "Most local and State incumbents are not being primaried, and the red-hot District Attorney's race is officially non-partisan and will not be contested until November. In that race, District Attorney Gil Krasney maintains a 49-46 lead over Jenna Stiles.

"And in the Governor's race, it will be a mere formality to name Val Jared the Republican candidate and Jack Lewis the Democrat's challenger. Governor Jared has developed a 50-44 percent lead. Karl Frazier of Public Policy Polling has told us that the recent SBI raids into the City and Hamilton County have not gone over well with the Public, and this could be hurting SBI Director Lewis's standing in the polls."

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

"Okay, get your doughnuts here!" I said as I brought in two boxes of the Police staple breakfast. Detectives quickly attacked them.

"Parker will be here in a little bit." said Cindy. "He was here until 2:00am getting data on the missing students. The FBI has essentially cut us off, by the way."

"I know." I said, then said much more quietly, "I unleashed the full power of the Mouseketeers yesterday. I'm sick and damn tired of people I thought were friends and colleagues not even having the common courtesy of returning a phone call to tell me to mind my own business."

"I am the choir. You are preaching to it." Cindy said, then raised her voice and said loudly so that everyone could hear it: "By the way, we have over 120 entrants for the Police Boxing Matches, Freestyle Division. My only regret is that I only get to whip some of you."

"I hope I'm in your bracket, Captain." said Detective Joanne Warner. "We'll see who whips who." The bravado got some cheers as the two blonde stared each other down, then Cindy made the 'V' with her fingers to her eyes then at Joanne. Game on!

"By the way," said Lt. Wes Masters, "who makes the brackets?"

"Usually the Captain of Uniformed Personnel..." said Cindy, then stopped as she looked at him. "But now we don't have one. That would mean..." All eyes went to Your Iron Crowbar. I smiled.

"That's right." I said. "Me. Actually, Commander Harlow and I are doing it together, and the Chief will look at it before it's final. First rounds are this weekend. Finals are June 4th."

"A day which will live in infamy... for the Iron Crowbar." said Cindy with great alacrity.

"I think I hear smack talk, Mr. Coldiron." I said with great coolness as I sipped my coffee. Lt. Masters nodded with a grin.

"More like smack-down!" said Mary Mahoney Milton as she came in. "It's gonna be Girl Power all the way!" She and Cindy high-fived.

"I'll be in my Man Cave, that being my office." I said, then said quietly to Mary as I passed by: "You know, man cave... the big office, not the cubicles." Mary laughed as I walked out of MCD with all the male dignity I could muster.

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

Cindy came into my office just before 8:00am. "Commander, I have a question about------"

She stopped short, seeing what was on my wall to the right of my desk, her left as she came in. Instead of Pete Feeley's badge alone in a frame, there was a frame that contained two badges side-by-side... Pete's on the left, and Tanya's next to it on the right. Just above the bottom of the frame was a slip of paper, a tiny slip, with the inscription 'Deuteronomy 32:35'.

Cindy stared at the framed badges for a long time, then finally looked at me. I was looking right back at her. She just nodded her head, then said "Excuse me a moment." and left the office...

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

Meetings. It was a day of nothing but meetings. First, what was formerly called the 'Crowbar Angels' meeting... with Tanya gone, we respectfully retired that name. Teresa then rather sarcastically suggested we call it the 'Detective Fiction' meeting... and of course that stuck.

"What's the uniform policy for us, Commander?" asked Wes Masters. We all happened to be wearing light blue shirts with soft shoulderboards. As Senior Officers, Masters and Ross had on pants with a thick light-blue piping stripe down the sides. Teresa was wearing a dark blue skirt, and therefore had no piping. I had the double line of thin light-blue piping on the sides of my pants, representing the Command Group.

"Whatever I'm wearing." I said jokingly, then said "Seriously, the Chief wants Captains and above to wear uniforms, and preferrably the light blue shirts, though of course we can wear white shirts with Duty Dress or Formal uniforms. You and Teresa will be just fine in plainclothes or like Cindy and me, here. Detectives are being encouraged more and more to wear plainclothes, except on Promotion Days and Orange Order day, etc."

"Just wear clothes." Teresa said. "It'd get really bad if everyone started running around here 'nekkid'." We all laughed, then I brought the meeting to business.

"Okay, Coldiron," I said, "I know you've hit the ground running, but you're still barely up to speed. Teresa, what does Vice have going on?"

"First, Lorena Rose's mother died, so she will be ending her unpaid leave of absence and going to Detective School." Teresa said. "I'll be very glad to have her back, too. Right now, there's not a lot going on. We're trying to help with the missing students case and the drug lab found at Point Hollow. The FBI is not really interested in the drugs aspect of the case, though."

"Okay, Cindy, whaddya got?"

"We're going to have to start talking personnel." Cindy said. "With Torres still on loan to Vice, MCD only has Joanne, Theo, and Teddy. I really, really, really want to get Joanne to Detective School and Advanced School. Teddy has been doing well, and we need to get him to Detective School. Theo's already been to Detective School, 'Coldiron', so he's good to go."

"Yeah, we'll have to talk about that." I said. "Detectives will now be coming up through the Uniform ranks, as well. The current people you see will be expected to be leaders of teams. Of course some in the Council want these teams dispersed amongst the Precincts, but that's simply not going to happen while I'm alive and while Daniel Allgood is Sheriff. So what will happen is we'll have more people coming in to the MCD and Vice Rooms here, but they'll be Corporal-level Detectives, green as grass yet thinking they can solve the Grand Unification Theory."

"No worries there, guys." Cindy said to the others. "One day in the field with the Iron Crowbar, and they'll quickly be cured of any illusions of grandeur on their own parts..."

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

The meeting with the Precinct Captains was being held in the Precinct 3 Headquarters Conference Room, as PCpt. Briscoe was the new man. The other Precinct Captains congratulated him as we gathered. Briscoe and Precinct 1 Captain Briggs were old friends, and while Briscoe was not as laid back as Briggs, they were going to be talking fishing more than Police leadership, I suspected. Oh well, Chief Griswold had been guilty of that, too...

"Okay guys," I said, "I know Briscoe is getting up to speed, so he gets a free pass this meeting. Enjoy it." The others laughed. I was their direct superior officer, with no in-betweens, and I had developed a small reputation for expecting questions to be answered and plans well in place and easily explained. They even made sure they knew what the duty schedules were or had copies available to show me.

We went over personnel and equipment wants and needs, then I opened the floor for questions.

"Sir," asked 2nd Precinct Captain Damien Thompson, "is there any truth to the rumor about having Detectives assigned to Precincts?"

"In the minds of three Council Members, yes." I replied. "But that is a figment of their imaginations, like the 'Leg Ranger'. Basically, you guys will be expected to evaluate and recommend good talent for Detective positions, and if they want to take that path, they'll be assigned to Headquarters, and sent to the field anywhere in the County."

"Sir," said 1st Precinct Captain Briggs, in his drawlish way of talking, "I've been getting questions about emergency medical service. With the EMTs gone, who's going to be doing that? Some of my Officers are getting Red Cross training to supplement our basic training, but we're not paramedics by any stretch of the imagination..."

"You're right." I said. "We're looking at getting some increased training for all our Officers, but we have to be careful: if either us or the Fire Department starts having anything resembling medics, the Federal Departments of Justice and Labor will come in and hammer us, that being the County, over the disbanding of the EMTs. Right now, we just have to call University Hospital for an ambulance, and let their paramedics take care of it."

"What about that private ambulance service that's been talked about?" asked Briggs.

"My two cents on that is that it's not going to happen." I said. "The optics are bad, especially for what some are trying now." I knew that this conversation would get back to Thomas P. Cook... and I wanted that to happen. I wanted that dirty S.O.B. to know that the Iron Crowbar was watching him, and would be all over him like a wet blanket if he tried to enrich himself at my County's expense with a private ambulance contract.

After we completed the agenda, the meeting broke up. I stayed around to talk more with PCpt. Briscoe. We toured the facility, noting things that might need some improvement, then went to his office.

"I think Captain Weston left this Precinct in decent shape, sir." said Briscoe.

"I think so." I said. "But there's room for improvement. One reason we asked you to take this position before you retire is so that you can share some of your vast experience with the younger Officers. I'm not expecting you to overhaul the place, as you won't be here more than another year unless you change your mind on that..."

"Noooo, sir." said Briscoe. "I was happy to have this opportunity, and it's a good capping stone to end my career with the Force. But the day is coming to leave things to the younger generation. I'll definitely teach them what I can, though."

"Good." I said. "So... while you have me here, what are your questions of me?"

"I was talking to some of my people about that storm drain under the County Jail." said Briscoe. "It's locked up, but there's still some security concerns about escapes. Do you think we should consider filling that in or something?"

"I talked to some engineers about that." I said. "They said if we fill it up and then have that once-in-a-millennium flood, the drain would not be able to take the water away and we'd be up to the ceiling in floodwaters. It's also there for us to evacuate the Jail if there's ever a dire need, so we have the keys if we need them. We could add some monitoring, though, like that secret passage we found at Headquarters..."

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

The next meeting was a lunch meeting at the Sheriff's Office in City Hall. Sheriff Allgood liked to have these meetings on the days of Council meetings, so that he was prepared to meet with the Council before or during their meetings.

Present at the meeting was the Sheriff, his Chief of Staff Charles T. Oswald. Police Chief Moynahan, myself, Deputy Chief Della Harlow, Fire Chief Quinlin, Fire Marshal Zoe Singer, Public Health Officer Loran T. Michaels, and Assistant Public Health Officer Beth Paige. There was no longer an Assistant Fire Chief, so that seat was vacant for the moment. Sometimes the Coroner came, though not always. And after this meeting, Chief of Staff Oswald would usually meet with Harlow and the Assistant Fire Chief and Assistant Public Health Officer to go over 'beans and bullets' issue, i.e. personnel and equipment.

After we made our cold-cuts sandwiches and grabbed drinks, we sat down to have our meeting. It was mostly small talk while we ate. Afterwards, we got down to (the Sheriff's) business.

"Okay," said the Sheriff. "We are under budget for the year, so you're all to be commended for that. I might add that some of that comes from the EMS no longer existing, but the Police Department is much more efficient now that Deputy Chief Harlow has the reins..." There were murmurs of acknowledgement for Della.

The Sheriff went through a few agenda items, then opened up the floor for comments and questions.

"Just one question, Sheriff," said Chief Moynahan, "and since we're doing well with the budget: I'd like to get my SWAT guys some more range time and some more practice with less restrictions on their time. I wouldn't mind getting another set of eight guys trained up, as well. Times are getting more chaotic, and we're going to need our guys to be trained as best as possible."

"I agree, Chief." said Daniel, and I was not fooled into thinking that this was their first conversation on this... just the first one in front of the rest of us. Daniel said "I'm working with the Council to lift the time restrictions on their training, but Malinda Adams is putting up a huge fight on it, as always."

Loran T. Michaels, the Public Health Officer, spoke up next. He was in his 40s, slender, and it looked like his suit was consuming him. He had a pursed mouth and smallish eyes, and his brown hair was neatly combed outward from the middle of his head to the sides.

"Sheriff," he said, "I'll bring up a touchy one: I'm being told that if Robert Brownlee tries to get his job back, he's going to be pushed off onto the Public Health Department. I can tell you right now that my people want nothing to do with him, and we'll fight hard to keep him out."

"I'm not sure what to tell you about that, Loran." said Sheriff Allgood, who was over the Public Health Department the same as he was over the various branches of Public Safety. "I'd say that Robert Brownlee is nowhere near in good enough shape to return to work anywhere, and we should burn that bridge when we come to it."

"Sir," said Michaels, not ready to drop it, "I don't see why we should bear the brunt of having to provide that man a job. Why can't he go back to the Police Department? That would be the correct thing to do under the law."

"There's also an opening for the Assistant Fire Chief." said Assistant PHO Beth Paige.

"Don't you go telling me who to put in my Fire Department positions!" growled Patrick Quinlin. "You mind your own damn Department and leave mine to me!"

"She's right." said Michaels, with an unnerving calm, and a facial expression like he was about to get something over someone. "Why can't Brownlee go to the Fire Department?"

Daniel Allgood looked like he was developing heartburn. "Guys, we are nowhere near having to even think about that situation. Why are we fighting about it now?"

"Because the longer the can is kicked down the road without assurances that my department won't be polluted with Brownlee's filth," said Michaels, "the likelier it'll be you'll try to force him on me."

"I'm not sure what the Council will do, if they've even thought about it." said Allgood. "I do know Brownlee will not be returning to the Police Force. But there are other positions in the County, not even in my Public Safety Department, where Brownlee can be sent to. The Parole Office, the Library System..."

"So are you assuring me that Brownlee will not be forced onto the Public Health Department?" asked Loran T. Michaels, ever persistent.

"Loran, I'd be lying if I could give you that assurance." said Allgood. "It's in the Council's hands, not mine. Now why don't we move along with more current and realistic issues... what?" He saw Michaels and Paige collecting their paperwork as if to leave.

"I'm sorry, Sheriff," said Michaels, "but I need to consult with attorneys and the Council. I believe you're going to try to force Brownlee on us, you won't assure me that you won't, and I'm not really taking your word on this."

"Mr. Michaels," I said with authority in my voice. "Sit back down, please, and I'll tell you what is going to happen with Brownlee." Michaels looked at me in shock; technically, he was the equivalent of the Police Chief.

"Okay, Commander Troy," Michaels said with something of a sneer in his voice. "Tell us."

"Robert Brownlee is going to try to come back to the Police Department." I said. "He will be flatly denied. He may or may not be offered a Public Health position or even a Fire Department position... but that doesn't matter, because he's going to scream and cry and threaten to sue if he does not get his Police Department position back... and that ain't happening. He'll probably file the lawsuit, and the Council will settle with him for some undisclosed amount of green dollar bills, and he will go away... to a new job with the SBI. So stop worrying about it, willya?"

Michaels and Paige sat back down. "You better be right, Commander Troy." Michaels said.

"He always is." said Chief Moynahan. Zoe Singer did not quite suppress a smile.

"Okay, is there anything else?" asked Sheriff Allgood.

"Well, Sheriff" I said, "I might as well bring up the 800-pound gorilla in the room. My Precinct Captains are getting asked by Citizens about emergency medical services. With the EMTs gone, they want to amp up our Officers's training, but that won't be to a First Responder level. This private ambulance service business of Councilman Cook is not kosher, and is going to be looked at by law enforcement both within and outside of this County. So my question is... what do we do, and what do we tell the Citizens?"

"You're right, Mr. Crowbar." said Chief Moynahan. "That is indeed an 800-pound gorilla." Everyone laughed.

Sheriff Allgood nodded, then said "It's a good question, though, and I need to be prepared for it if and when the Council asks about it. As to what is happening: the Council was looking into a private service, but as you said, John Colby exposed some issues with it.

"I can also tell you that the Council has expressed concerns that a private service carries severe risks... if inadequate services are provided and someone dies, then there might be lawsuits. With the County EMS, they were indemnified by State Law unless they could be shown to be grossly negligent or intentionally harmed someone. The legalities of a private service are not nearly as clear. They might be fine, but the Council is composed of a lot of worry-warts."

We all laughed at that accurate description of the Council.

"So," the Sheriff continued, "there's the University Hospital. But that's the State, and I know how much you love the State coming into your business, Commander Troy." There were some chuckles at that, but I was not amused: I have no love lost for the SBI, and might have expressed that with a machine gun every once in a while...