The Hot Date Mystery Ch. 04

"Then we should fire you, Captain." snarled Carnes, who had turned around and given Teresa a look that not even 'Teresa Cunt' could possibly match.

The Mayor's gavel was tapping relentlessly. Finally, he got everyone's attention. "Folks, this should be a simple meeting about promotions within the Public Safety Department. I don't know what going on here, but can we please get down to business, and in a civil manner?" The silence was uncomfortable, but the meeting moved along. Reginald B.F. Lewis made a point of order in asking to table Colby's motion, which passed 8-2.

"Okay," said the Mayor. "The Police Lieutenant positions. These are positions of deputy to the Precinct Captains. Sergeants Carswell and Irwin have been submitted. Does anyone have questions of the Police leadership?"

"I do." said Malinda Adams. "Why are there no women being submitted for promotion?"

"Because, ma'am," said Captain Croyle, "there were only two positions open, and doing a sex test on the nominees was not required." That got some laughter, and even Malinda Adams couldn't look too angry at Captain Croyle... who happened to be a woman herself.

"I will say this, Ms. Adams." said Teresa. "Others will be moving up as these top level promotions are made, and women will be considered for those positions. Right now, these two men are the best qualified."

"Anything against these candidates?" asked the Mayor, trying desperately to move the meeting along. I was dismayed by his lack of strong leadership... then remembered how it was really Pastor Westboro who controlled these meetings when he was alive.

The vote was 7-3 for the promotions, with Carnes, Cook, and Adams against. Reginald B.F. Lewis voted for them, as Carswell was black.

"Okay, now the promotions to Detective-1." said the Mayor. "You are here yourself, Commander? Not Captain Ross?"


"Yes, Mr. Mayor." I said. "Captain Ross is unable to be here tonight due to a family matter. I can answer your questions on this matter."

"So Patrolman Jermaine Davis from Precinct 2?" asked Reginald B.F. Lewis. "And Roy McGhillie from Precinct 1? What do you have to say about your son, McGhillie?" Councilman Ian McGhillie was Roy's father.

"I will not be participating in the vote due to the family connection." said Ian McGhillie. "But I have never been more proud of my son than I am at this moment." He was near tears, and the applause by most in the room that greeted him added to his emotion.

"We are proud of your son, also, Mr. McGhillie." said Chief Moynahan. "And he will be an outstanding addition to our Vice Squad."

"And again, no women." said Malinda Adams. "With all due respect to these nominees, especially Mr. McGhillie's son, who I have known for a long time and know to be a fine young man, I am still appalled at the lack of women being nominated for these positions. Chief Moynahan, what do you have to say about this?"

"Madam," said Moynahan, his voice only a shred away from acerbity, "my Deputy Chief is a woman. The Captain of Administration is a woman. The Captain of Detectives is a woman. The Captain of Operations is a woman. If it weren't for the Iron Crowbar here, I'd fear for the ability of men to ever be promoted." That got some suppressed, snarky laughter from many in the room. The vote was 6-3 for the promotions, and with that we Police Officers got the hell out of there.

"Wow, is it always that bad?" asked Teresa as we walked down the hall to the stairs.

"That's the worst I've ever seen." I said. "Kelly Carnes was more rabid then I've ever seen her before. And while I appreciated his support, I have never, ever, seen J.P. Goldman get upset like that."

"Yes, Captain," said Chief Moynahan, "that's as ugly as I've seen it, as well. Mrs. Carnes isn't handling being in the mi-norrrr-ity very well. And I agree with Mr. Crowbar about Mr. Goldman."

"Maybe your wife should be running tests on them, Commander." Teresa said. She meant it as a joke, but it did start me to wondering. Then she said "How do you sit there so calmly when they're attacking your integrity like that?"

I took out the red crowbar and tapped it in my hand. "As President Teddy Roosevelt said: 'Speak softly, and carry a big crowbar.' Or something like that. You should re-think your policy on carrying a crowbar, Captain."

"Maybe I should." Teresa said. "Maybe I should."

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

Friday night, the Chief came up to us as we sat in the back room of the Cop Bar. "Okay, the second readings went like the first. The promotions are approved. Congratulations, Lieutenant-to-be Irwin!" He sat down after putting a pitcher of beer on the table, in front of Sergeant Irwin, who had been invited to join us.

Present at this impromptu victory party in addition to the Chief and Irwin were Your Iron Crowbar, The Green Crowbar, Teresa, Joanne, Theo, Teddy, Mary, Myron, David, Rudistan, Irwin, and Chief Emeritus Griswold.

"Okay, Commander," said Cindy, "how did you solve it? The Schultz and Martoli murders?"

"Well, I think most of it's out there." I said. "Terry Schultz was attacked after going on a blind date, then coming home and having sex with him. Not much sense in it until we find out that it was a substitute man on the date, and it was a professional hit."

I continued: "Of the unanswered questions, Cindy brought up a good point about Schultz being a man-hater. She should've gone to work for Malinda Adams." Some of the people at the table laughed as I went on: "Indeed, I believe Terry went out with Martoli only because she was trying to recruit him into her failing company. That may be why she had sex with who she thought was him, as well. She needed talent for her business, and it was being drained. Ergo, the desperate measures."

"If we had not found the computer, the original one," asked Joanne, "could this case have been solved?"

"Not as easily," I said, "but yes, I think we'd have gotten to the truth. Andy Martoli and the method of his death and preservation would've led us back to Tina Yaris, and her husband Tom was ready if not eager to sing like the proverbial canary. That would've led us to Miller, and maybe to Fuqua. We had Greg Towson to talk with, and the photos of the woman that entrapped him were found... and will be useful to me. So we'd have found some divorce records and worked backwards. It would've taken longer, been a lot more tedious, and it would've been harder to get warrants and to follow the financial leads. But all the information was pretty much there to be found."

"You young whippersnappers should count your blessings!" exclaimed Chief Griswold, who had already had a good amount of beer. "Back in my day, we didn't have these computers, we didn't have these databases; the FBI fingerprint database had to be manually searched, and it took weeks to do that; we didn't have videocameras, or drones, or any of that stuff."

"So how did you solve crimes, sir?" Cindy asked.

"The old-fashioned way, Ms. Ross... hard work." said the old Chief. "We made phone calls. We talked to people. People noticed things in those days a lot more than they do now. Today people's noses are buried in their smartphones, playing video games. We kept paper records, but we did have them. And people didn't travel as far or as much as they do today."

"So would the Iron Crowbar still be the Iron Crowbar?" asked Theo with his 'movie star handsome' grin, maybe trying to tease me. Cindy also grinned at the question.

"Not trying to brag..." I said, "but 'yes', I'd still be what I am. Guys, all the tools and gadgets we have are fantastic, and cut the time down from weeks to hours. But it's still all about people. It's about how the criminals act, what they do. There are truly very few unique new cases; it's all been done before. People act in certain ways; they act in patterns. And it's still all about observing, deducing or inferring, and applying knowledge and experience."

"I just want to observe another pitcher of beer." said Teresa. "The next one's on me..."

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

Tuesday, January 31st. At 1:00pm, Dr. Sidney P. Wellman, President of the University, stepped up to the microphones set up for the occasion on the lawn in front of University Hospital. He stood alongside the Hospital Board, some of the University Trustees, and most of the doctors on the Hospital Staff, including Dr. Laura Fredricson. In the audience were a number of media reporters, nurses, other hospital workers, and Captain Teresa Croyle, Captain Cindy Ross, Commander Donald Troy (me), and Chief Sean Moynahan.

"And I'm pleased to announce," said Dr. Wellman, "the hiring of our new Hospital Administrator... Admiral Leonard Cordell. Dr. Cordell is an outstanding trauma doctor that has patched up untold numbers of our wounded military personnel, and also a few of our local police officers. He is also a disciplined administrator that has shown unswerving ability to run organizations at least as large as this Hospital, and we are very lucky that he has accepted our invitation to serve here..."

As Dr. Wellman brought up Dr. Cordell, Teresa and I fist-bumped. Teresa had exercised every bit of ability she had to persuade upon Dr. Cordell, getting him to accept the job and this return to public life; while I'd exercised all of my persuasive powers that did not include using a crowbar or a katana to convince Dr. Wellman and my own wife Laura to consider Dr. Cordell. But it was a great fit for both, and I knew both Dr. Cordell and the Hospital would be the much better for it.

And as Laura shook Dr. Cordell's hand after the ceremony, I realized that my wife's retirement from the CIA had allowed another broken bridge to be mended, as well...

Part 21 - Epilogue

Wednesday, February 1st. At 6:45am, Jermaine Davis came into MCD with his few personal belongings.

"Sit right there, opposite Washington." said Captain Ross, assigning her new Detective a desk. "And welcome to MCD." She handed Jermaine a plastic sleeve, that contained his new badge and rank insignia.

"Thank you, Captain." Jermaine said. "And I really appreciate this opportunity."

"Make the most of it." Cindy said. She then went over to Vice, where Roy McGhillie was just coming in, and gave him his new seating assignment, badge and ranks.

"Coffee klatch is at 7:00am in MCD." Cindy told McGhillie. "Feel free to come in. Vice often works at night, so you might come in later in the morning, but if you're here, come on over."

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

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the lovely redheaded reporterette from in front of University Hospital at 7:00am (February 1st). "Channel Two News has learned that Dr. Tom Harbor, senior oncologist with the University Cancer Center, has been relieved of his duties and dismissed from the University Hospital Staff. The Hospital gave no explanation, citing that it was a 'personnel matter'. Dr. Harbor is a prominent name in his field, and 'experts' say that he will find a position with another hospital very quickly..."

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

"Here it is." Della Harlow said as she opened the box. The Purple Order, with its purple star hanging below the gray-edged purple drape, was lying inside. Attached to the drape were three bronzed oak leaf clusters, meaning this was the recipient's fourth award of this medal.

"She deserves it." I said. "But this is way too many."

"Some Council members are calling for a Board of Inquiry about it." said Della. "What do you think is going to happen? Or are they afraid of your crowbar?"

I smiled, and it wasn't a pleasant smile. "Oh, I think they should be much more scared of the green crowbar than the red one..."

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

Captain Teresa Croyle read the proclamation as now-Lieutenant Carswell's wife and Precinct Captain Thompson pinned Carswell's silver Lieutenant bars on his shoulders. Then I read the proclamation for now-Lieutenant Irwin, as he'd asked Teresa to pin his bars on, which she did along with Precinct Captain Briggs.

Then Cindy and Lieutenant 'Coldiron' Masters pinned the unique corporal stripes with one curved rocker beneath, designating the 'Detective-1' rank, upon Detective Jermaine Davis and Detective Roy McGhillie. Ian McGhillie was in the audience, and I could see the pride and emotion on his face. I hoped that one day I would feel that pride as my sons achieved greater and greater things.

Then came medals. I was awarded a Police Commendation Medal for solving recent cases, including the attempted murders of Dr. Eckhart's acolytes Tommy and Candy, and the unfortunately successful murders of Terry Schultz and Andy Martoli. Several Achievement Medals were awarded, including to Corporal Kirkpatrick and Patrolman Morton for stopping the killer Raoul's helper, and Patrolmen Hicks and Johnson for taking down Raoul, the would-be assassin.

And then came the final award: the Purple Order. I admit I egregiously pulled rank, as well as my status of being Captain Croyle's direct superior officer, in order to personally pin the medal on Teresa's jacket pocket flap. The Chief read the proclamation.

Afterwards, Teresa received a tremendous ovation from the assembled Officers, and it is possible that was not just for the award, but for her grit in overcoming an even greater threat to her health and life. And I sincerely hoped she would not be facing further such threats to her health... nor getting any more Purple Orders.

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

"The FBI is reducing its surveillance of the training facility." the tall young man said to the older man wearing the three-piece suit. The older man took out his pocket-watch from his vest pocket, the gold chain attached to one of the buttons, and read the time.

The young man continued: "Our people have also been listening in on the Michael Burke home, which we bugged. It's as bad as we thought: Michael Burke's wife knows about his involvement in your plans, and they've had some pretty vicious arguments about it."

"Yes." said the older man. "We're going to have to do something about that, as a precaution if nothing else. What is Mr. Ferrell assigned to right now, Mr. Fuqua?"

Fuqua said "He was training our militia infiltrators, but with the training facility being watched, we're reducing our operations there. As for myself, I'm going to be lying low for a while."

"Yes, get back with your employer." said the older man. "Keep watch over her. She's limitlessly ambitious, and could come against us without realizing it. Oh, and one more thing: have Agent 'Darkwave' come in."

"Yes sir, Mr. C." said Fuqua. He left the room, a makeshift, temporary office in the City. A few moments later, a pretty young woman came into the room, dressed in all black, as usual for her."

"Agent Darkwave," said Mr. C., "I have something for you to do. Agent Huntress cannot be trusted with this mission." He then explained the mission. "You'll also receive a measure of personal revenge for this, yes?"

"Yes sir." said Agent Darkwave. "It will be my pleasure to carry this out."

"Good." said Mr. C. "And don't say anything to Agent Huntress, even though she is your handler. This one is off-the-books, and is just between us, yes?"

"Yes sir." said 'Darkwave'. He nodded and she turned and left.

As Mr. C. watched her go, he thought as hard as he could about the problems he was facing. We are so close, he thought to himself. So close. And yet, we continue to have obstacles put in our path. Some are easy to eliminate. And then there's the big one, the one that is hard, the immovable object: the Iron Crowbar...

Finis.