Six Degrees Ch. 01

"What did you and he find?"

"Nothing." Tanya replied. "Elizabeth is at least as smart as her brother, and she's one of the best smugglers in the world for a reason. We've found nothing, not even with the FBI's help. As to Commander Troy, he has other things on his mind, so he'll probably address his sister's situation in its due time."

Cindy exhaled and shook her head. "Look, I can understand you not wanting to tell me this, because I'm related to the Commander and his sister, as well. However, if you think there is any issue with the Commander, much less any other Police Officer, you are obligated to go to the Chief and/or Internal Affairs with your concerns. And if you really think Don Troy is a bad cop, then..."

"Ma'am, I don't think that at all." Tanya said, somewhat emphatically. "Just the opposite."

"What about Nash?" asked Cindy.

"With respect, you'll have to ask him." Tanya said.

"No, you tell him what I just told you: if he has a problem, he should take it to the Chief or to I.A." Cindy replied. "And unless you've found a lead in this stuff with his sister, stop wasting your time on it. By the way... the reason we're monitoring computers around here is because we very much think we have a mole inside the Police Department. You should consider everything you do to be monitored by Internal Affairs. All right, dismissed."

Tanya got up and left. She was more than a bit shaken up at what had just happened. And was everyone really getting so paranoid that they're investigating us now?...

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

4:30pm, February 2d. Cindy was in my office and we were wrapping up mundane administrative stuff.

"Commander Harlow is now in what some called Gor-don's old office." said Cindy. "It's about the same size as this one. Jenna's old office is smaller. I don't know who is going to be in there."

"Deputy Chief Harlow is in charge of such things now, since she's over Captain Marc Aaron of Physical Properties." I said. "Her suggestion is that it be the generic A.D.A.'s office for any of them that come over here, or for the Sheriff Department's Chief of Staff to use when they're doing Organization & Equipment reviews. The Chief and Krasney will hash that out."

"Doesn't seem right." Cindy said. "Jenna not being in there now, and they just assign it away."

"Well," I said, "she'll likely never return to it." Seeing my partner's shocked face, I added "If she wins the Election, she's the D.A. If she loses, I'd be shocked if she was back at all. And the bad blood with Krasney is building as the campaign goes along."

"True." said Cindy. "It could be cathartic, though, and cleanse out some stuff." I thought to myself that this was clutching at straws, but said nothing.

"So, with Harlow's promotion," asked Cindy, "who is going to take over Personnel & Administration? Holloway?"

"She's not far enough along yet." I said. "She just made Sergeant. Some people are talking about Susan Weston in that slot."

"Would she take it?" asked Cindy. I could tell she wasn't all that happy about the thought.

"Maybe." I said. "She'd get promoted to full Captain, she's done Admin work before. I know how you and Tanya feel about Weston, but Della likes her and thinks she'd be a good choice."

"And who gets Precinct 3?" Cindy asked.

"Ah, there's the rub." I said. "A number of good candidates present themselves. Tanya and Teresa are top of the list. Lieutenant Masters is also a strong candidate."

"It'd be great for Teresa." Cindy said. "Of course, I'd miss the hell out of her."

"Yes." I said. "And it'd be as good, if not better, for Tanya. But... let's burn those bridges later. Weston isn't a done deal. Also, as you heard in the meeting this morning, our Data Guyz are moving. There is a rather large consensus that their cubicle space down there is a waste that could be better used by others, and I'm hard pressed to disagree."

I continued: "You heard some of it this morning. But there's a bigger situation. As you know, the top brass of all the Departments are being pressed to be more efficient. And with the Council, we have to actually do something to look like we're doing it, even if it makes no good difference. They're targeting MCD and Vice. There's 12 desk spaces in MCD and 10 in Vice, which could be made into 12. There's talk about putting Senior Patrolmen in those places, especially ones being 'monitored' for Detective assignments."

Cindy rolled her ice-blue eyes. "They disperse everyone to Precincts, and now they're bringing them back. Frickin' politicians!"

"Well," I said, "I have a solution, which I told Della and Marc. We're bringing Myron, Mary and David to MCD. We'll make the corner desk that's by the wall with the Vice room into a glass-enclosed cubicle for Myron. David is a full Detective, he'll take a desk and begin getting more training even as he continues his data work. On the Vice side, Lainie and Sonali will come up to the Vice Room. Julie will be appeased by getting a corner cubicle, not fully glass-enclosed but a cubicle, mirror image location of Myron's.

"That's fine," said Cindy, "but I'd rather Myron's cubicle be on the other side, by the back wall next to the door to the back side." I agreed with the sentiment. Then I noticed Cindy looking at my wall, and the blank space there.

"Any idea who did that?" she asked. "Who took Feeley's badge, and why?"

"No." I said. "No prints on the note. I have two photocopies of it in my desk here, by the way, in plastic sleeves, the paper untouched by ungloved human hands. And that reminds me: put out the word that everyone is to be extra-careful tomorrow. It's the anniversary of Feeley's murder, and I have a bad feeling that whoever took that shield has something in mind..."

"... for tomorrow." Cindy said, finishing the sentence.

"Yep." I said. "Tell Jenna, too. By the way, how are things with her going?"

"We haven't seen each other in days." Cindy said. "I get here about the time you're running with the ROTC cadets, and I work out. Jenna usually gets up after I'm gone... of course she's up half the night at her Campaign Headquarters nowadays. By the way, Joanne is getting to be pretty good in the ring. Maybe if you went a few rounds with her, it would bring her up a couple more notches."

"I'll think about it." I said.

"Sir, I have a question?" Cindy said. "Why was I asked to be in that meeting this morning? I know the Mouseketeers are my people, but there was a lot of stuff that had nothing to do with me nor the Detectives."

"I'll answer your question with a question, Captain." I said, looking right at her. "If, perish forbid, by really bad chance something 'wet' happened to the Chief, to me, and to the Deputy Chief all at the same time, who becomes the leader of this Police Force?"

"Uhhh..." Cindy said, and then it struck her. "Ohmigod, I never thought of that. Me."

"That's right." I said severely. "The Mantle of Leadership, my friend. The Chief has been talking with me about it a lot. He intends to be here for years, but it won't be forever. At some point I will be pretty much forced to take the Chief's chair. Della Harlow is a damn good Administrator; she will not rise to Commander of the Force. Guess who, Lord willin' and the creek don't rise, will?"

"Wow." said Cindy.

"That's what I said when Chief Griswold told me I was about to become the Commander." I replied. "I also will admit only to you, and don't you dare tell a soul, that I really did not know if I was ready for that. But it 'came to pass', and so I embraced it. Get ready to embrace even more leadership, mon ami. And start ingraining that into every one of the Officers under your command."

Leaving Cindy to contemplate the situation, I said "By the way, Perlman is taking a half-day tomorrow morning. She and Pete's mom will go visit Pete's grave, then she has a doctor's appointment for little Pete. So... unless there's something else, get out of here. Go home." Cindy obeyed the instruction.

I knew the Chief had just left, so I packed up to go. I took the packet with the vials of chemicals with me; I was going to hide them in the secret space behind the wine cellar at the Cabin. I took one last look at the empty spot on the wall, a feeling of foreboding filling me.

Part 5 - Anniversary of Death

Dawn, Wednesday, February 3d. I laid the flowers at the foot of Pete Feeley's tombstone. I remembered his fierce desire to be a Detective. I now had other young Detectives, and I resolved to help them grow as I should've helped Feeley.

I did not stay long, not wishing to feel the recriminations of my failure to save Feeley. I had another batch of flowers, and I walked to the other side of the hill and placed them on Amy's grave, remembering her fierce desire to care for her dog against all odds.

I watched the sun come up over the eastern horizon. I looked around, seeing the cemetery, the pet cemetery to the east. and to the northeast the field where Roy Chen's body had been found, and then the highway back to Town and the sloped end of the ridgeline where The Cabin was.

"Oh, Commmannndderrrr..."

"Wha?" I gasped, turning around. I saw the gravestone of Angela Harlan, the Black Widow. It had been her voice. I turned back, looking into the sun, thinking I saw a shadow on it's red edge.

"Oh yes, Commander," Angela's voice said into my head, seeming to come from the black form at the sunlight's edge. "You can feel it, can't you? It's going to be here."

As I looked back at the field in the growing light, it came to me. Yes, Angela was right. It would be here. The final confrontation with the Consultant of Crime... would be here.

I left the cemetery, walking by Angela's grave. I didn't want to think of her, not on this day... but I could not get her words out of my head.

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

As the Town woke up and began bustling with the new day, a black van rolled through the streets, towards a neighborhood of older, modest homes. Most people probably did not notice the first time the van drove through the neighborhood at a slow pace.

Thirty minutes later, the van had circled around and came back into the neighborhood again. It quickly backed into a driveway. Masked men poured out and assaulted the front door, using a ram to batter it in...

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

"I'll get Pete ready." Tanya Perlman said as she went to the back room, setting her Police gear, her armored vest and her holstered gun, down on the floor. She saw little Pete lying asleep in his crib. She hated to wake him up as she looked down on her child, thinking of how proud his daddy would be of him.

Pamela Feeley was putting her things in her purse when she thought she heard a car pulling into the driveway. She turned towards the front door----

*BAM!*

The door flew open, unable to resist the power of the ram. Before Pamela could scream, one of the masked men fired his machine gun at her, followed by another. The bullets ripped her apart and she was dead before her body hit the floor.

Tanya heard the noise, and she knew. She had seconds to act. She grabbed her vest and gun...

The door flew open as it was violently kicked in. Tanya began firing as the first man fired at her. Three bullets struck her and she instantly dropped to the floor.

The leader of the men came into the room, seeing the prostrate form on the floor. He stepped over her as he pulled out a .22LR semi-auto pistol. He saw the mound under the blankets in the crib, and fired two shots into it...

To be continued.