Power of Love Ch. 03

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Rather than a formal dinner, there were finger foods and snacks, and Bessemer Sugar Cookies. People danced (and drank) and ate. I noticed a certain County Sheriff sampling the bourbons, and needing several samples to decide which one he liked best. I had Scotch and Soda, and Laura had a Godmother (Amaretto and Vodka).

As everyone was dancing, I saw young Davie Marsden and Timmy Austin at a table. Susie Haskins and Frieda Franklin were off to one side, sitting on a table rather than in chairs.

I made observations and deductions, then went over to Davie and sat down in the chair next to him. "Davie, why haven't you asked Susie to dance with you?" I asked.

"I don't think she wants to dance with me." said Davie uncertainly, which was not characteristic of him.

"I beg to differ." I said. "I think Susie is hoping you'll go over and ask her to dance."

"How do you know, Mr. Crowbar?" Davie asked.

"Because I am a Detective, Mr. Marsden. And a very good one." I replied. "And I can see Miss Haskins looking over at you every few seconds. So go prove me right or wrong."

Davie went over to Susie and asked nervously "Would you like to dance?"

"Yes!" Susie exclaimed as she practically flew off the table. She took Davie's hand, and practically dragged him onto the dance floor. That had to be a confidence builder! I thought to myself. And it had a positive domino effect. Timmy Austin and Frieda Franklin soon joined them on the dance floor.

Laura and other ladies were chuckling as they watched. I summoned up my courage and went up to her, and said "May I have this dance?"

"Certainly." Laura said, leading me to the dance floor.

As we danced, Laura said "Davie and Susie are a cute couple. Think they'll have a future together?"

"Oh yes." I said, though we had no way of knowing just how much of a future they'd have together... as General David and Senator Susan Marsden would become Washington D.C.'s 'Power Couple' in the far-flung future...

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Meanwhile, Carole and Pete were dancing together, and my son Ross was dancing with his sister Tasha. Jim had somehow gotten Callie Carrington to dance with him, there being no lack of confidence in my eldest son. And where was Cindy? She'd danced with Tim Jenkins a couple of times, interspersed with them conversing at one of the tables over drinks.

And then there was Ian. He was drinking club soda and talking with Sheriff Griswold. The Sheriff would later tell me that Ian asked him a lot of questions about running for political office, and they were questions the Sheriff would've expected of a much older kid. "Damned if that boy don't have a lot brains packed in his head, too." the Sheriff would say, and I would nod vigorously in agreement.

Paulina danced with a lot of guys, including both Julius Jefferson and Ted Crenshaw. Lindy Linares corralled me for a dance, as did Karina White, Teresa, and Callie. Cindy was having no part of me today; not only was she a dirty nasty Leg, she was a pouting dirty nasty Leg...

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"I swear," said Stephanie Steele, "these Bessemer cookies are going to be the death of me yet."

"They are delicious." said Paulina Patterson. "Maybe your Investment Club should invest in their stock, Laura."

"Way ahead of you, my dear." said Laura as she ate a Bessemer Butter Cookie. "We looked into the company. They were once family-owned, by the Belvedere family. Charles Belvedere, who went by 'Old Man Belvedere', had the cookie and chocolates company, sugar plantations, cocoa plantations, and a lot of farmland. He sold out to a subsidiary of BigAgraFoods in a deal that was part stock and part cash, for close to 75 million dollars."

"Must be nice to be a Belvedere heir." said Stephanie Steele. "How many heirs were there?"

Laura said "Belvedere and his wife Clara, née Lenora, had three daughters but no sons, which may be why he sold everything. If the stock were held onto, with splits and the natural rise of stock prices, it'd be worth about 300 million dollars to the Belvedere heirs in today's money. Divided by three, that's 100 million apiece, give or take..."

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As the party was nearing its end, I had my moments of talking with Tanya.

"Thanks for making sure Jack got to the wedding, and on time." she quipped.

"Nothing was going to stop him from getting here and making you his wife." I replied.

"And thanks for being his Best Man." Tanya said. "You have no idea how much he loves you."

"And the feeling's mutual." I said. "And I know he loves you more than anything, and he'll take care of you."

"And Don..." Tanya said, and I could sense the emotion within her as well as see it on her face, "thank you... for everything. And I mean everything. I know I'm not as much of an Angel to you as Teresa and Cindy are, but I'm just thankful for all you've done for me..."

I put my arm around her and said "You are every bit as much my Angel as Teresa and Cindy are. Every bit. So don't ever let me hear you say you're any less, or I will get in your face like you get in mine when I need it." Tanya chuckled through her tears and we hugged warmly.

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People were beginning to make their goodbyes and leave when Rudistan came up to me. "I've got good news and bad news about that plane crash, sir." he reported. "The good news is that nobody was killed except the two men you said were already on the plane, and there was no damage to the Hammondsville Highway, the bridge, the railroad line, nor BigPharmaCorp."

"Excellent." I said. "What's the bad news?"

"The plane crashed into the Police Impound Yard." said Rudistan. "It's... a mess, sir. People won't be getting their impounded cars back, and the vehicles in evidence are a lot smaller pieces of evidence now."

I couldn't help it. I began laughing. Must've been the way Rudistan was telling me about it...

Part 17 - Cleanup on Aisle 5

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Monday, March 30th, from near the site of the obliterated Impound Yard, with said Yard in the background. "The County Tax Commissioner relents!"

Bettina began: "After County citizens began putting together a recall drive, the Tax 
Commissioner finally agreed to fix the incorrect tax rates accidentally applied to some properties without those property owners having to go through binding arbitration. There was strong and surprisingly broad condemnation after she said that anyone who complained without going through the arbitration process was racist."

Bettina: "However, many lawsuits against the County for improper property assessments remain. Judge Rodney K. Watts surprisingly allowed the lawsuits to go forward instead of dismissing them as County Attorney Dennis Garland had requested. Mr. Garland's motion to have the lawsuits combined into one class-action was rejected by Judge Watts after attorneys for the plaintiffs filed briefs that they would file over 150 Motions to Sever, which would re-separate the bundled lawsuits."

Bettina: "And in other news, Commander Donald Troy is being blasted by Social Justice groups for allowing a plane loaded with explosives to crash into the Police Impound Yard. Documents obtained by Channel Two News under the State Open Records Act and the Federal Freedom of Information Act showed that Commander Troy and FBI Agent Jack Muscone were abducted at gunpoint on Saturday and put on the airplane. They escaped and parachuted to safety, but the plane crashed, leaving the Impound Yard destroyed..."

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"Why did Watts allow the lawsuits to go forward?" asked Captain Tanya P. Muscone as we drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room. "He's usually a law-and-order judge."

"Word I got," growled Sheriff Griswold, "was that he's not a fan of the arbitration process, and he thinks something sinister is going on, even though the Tax Office agreed to correct the improper tax rates. So he's letting it go forward, for now at least."

"People got really up-in-arms about all that." said Cindy.

"Just remember," I replied, "the American Revolution supposedly happened because of tax issues. If there is one thing that will get people's hackles up, it's taxes."

"I have a quest-yunnnnn that is actually work-rel-AY-teddddd." drawled Chief Moynahan. "What happened to the fake Deputy that led you to being captured?"

I said "He's in the wind, as is the guy Cindy saw in the Groom's tent, dressed as a BOW Enterprises security guard. 'Baker', as I'll call him for lack of a better name, was not Navy SEAL material, and not really military material, so he wasn't part of Bayport's SEAL Team. From what the perps said, I'm surmising that he was supposed to pick up Springer and Drew after they jumped out of the aircraft, and he probably high-tailed it out of the area when it all went wrong for them."

Teresa said "And we found a homing device inside a woman's purse that had been left on one of the seats, right in the middle of the wedding area. No luck identifying her, assuming it's a 'her', even with the videocameras all over the place. And yes, Don, we looked specifically for Lindsey Black on the video."

I said "That was a longshot, and maybe wishful thinking on my part. But it's more likely that it was a woman we are not very familiar with, or could easily become unknown to us with a little bit of a disguise."

"Any fallout from the ease with which the perps took those high explosives off that train?" the Sheriff asked.

"Not as much as you might think, at least not yet." I said. "There is some considerable embarrassment that empty crates were substituted for the ones the perps stole, and that the swap wasn't detected. However... and don't let it get out of this room... Melina Allgood is putting together a special team to investigate that whole operation. Someone had to give the orders that caused the explosives to be left where they were, and that bespeaks someone who knew very well how the system worked, and how to game it. And it took a good number of people in relatively high places to make that work as it did."

"You'd think..." growled Sheriff Griswold, "... that after the EMPTY QUIVER event, they'd be a lot more careful, and on higher alert."

"And that's exactly the point, Sheriff." I replied. "That's what Melina and her team are going to be looking at. For this to happen again, and not long after the EMPTY QUIVER event, as well as those arms that Barsbane stole to be taken so successfully? Yeah, that needs to be looked into."

"Anyone in here going to be helping Melina and her team?" asked Tanya P. Muscone, with a wicked gleam in her eyes that matched the rings on her left-hand finger.

"I admit it." I said. "After Teresa told Melina that all I do around here is twiddle my thumbs, my ex-wife decided I need some work to do."

"How do you even get up the energy to get your thumbs twiddling, you lazy bum?" Teresa asked acerbically in retaliatory response. We all broke out laughing at that as a red crowbar was waved in the Iron Wolf's general direction...

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"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Wednesday, April 1st. "This is not an April Fools joke: the State Legislature adjourned sine die without passing a single bill!"

Bettina began: "While all the functions of State Government will continue, based upon the previous year's Budget numbers, it sets up a potential crisis for the next Legislative session, when a Budget will have to be passed. Legislators on both sides blamed deeply unpopular Governor Val Jared for the failure to get anything passed. And the rancor on both sides of the political aisle was very high, and there were no efforts to get any legislative work done."

Bettina: "Now everyone turns to the election season! The Party primaries are on Tuesday, May 5th in our State, and promises many bruising political battles, and a lot of political advertisements for viewers to watch..."

Part 18 - Boot-To-Ass Contact

Saturday, April 4th. It was just after sunset, and Jack Muscone and I were sitting on the back deck of The Cabin, sharing some Highland Park Single Malt Scotch. Tanya, Jennifer, and Tiffany were inside, talking with Stephanie Steele, Selena Steele, Laura, and Molly.

Pete was upstairs with Jim, Ross, and Ian, working on New Lego City and Troy Transcontinental Railroad. Carole and Marie were doing Carole and Marie things with picture books. Buddy and Bowser were supervising, and letting Tiffany and Jennifer practice their dog-petting skills.

"Yeah, Tanya and I are going to go on our honeymoon when it's warmer, after school lets out." Jack said.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"We're not sure yet." said Jack. "We thought about taking the kids to Washington, D.C., as tourists, seeing the sights and all that. But I've seen plenty enough of Washington. We've also thought about just the two of us going somewhere. We were thinking about San Francisco, but it's gotten really bad with the homeless people on the streets. Maybe Vegas."

"Cindy and Callie were talking about going to Nashville." I said. "Taking in a show at the Grand Ole Opry, stuff like that. But they're country music fans. If you like historical places, you could go to Andrew Jackson's home near Nashville. You could also go to Charlottesville, Virginia, see the University of Virginia and Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello. Seeing as he's the President this County is named after, of course."

Jack nodded. Then he said "Just between us, and I'll never speak a word of it, but what was Springer talking about when he said they'd found Trent Ridge's body in barrels of acid? And had developed that drug they shot into you from what they found in his body?"

"Delusions of a criminal mind, and a figment of our imaginations." I said. "I'd say what happened to Trent Ridge is like what happened to your brother... unmentionable."

Jack nodded. "Like I said, I won't say a word."

I said "I didn't mean that in a tit-for-tat kind of way, and I hope it didn't sound like it. I'm just happy that two more of Bayport's rogue SEAL Team are now taking dirt naps."

What I didn't say out loud was that in reverse-engineering my nephew Ned's pain-causing formula, I'd come across all the variants already. When I saw the darker blue of what was in Mort Springer's syringe, I not only knew they'd fucked up somewhere, but that what was in the syringe was closer to the antidote than the formula itself.

So when he injected me, the result was some localized pain, but overall pain relief for my hurting back. And that allowed me to attack and defeat in personal combat two young, fit, men with extensive CQB training.

"So they were going to crash the plane into the wedding?" Jack asked. "And kill everyone?"

"Taking them at their word, yes." I said. "And I should've seen that coming long before they kidnapped us and took us to that airplane. I had all the clues, but I didn't put them together until I saw the explosives and the parachutes on the plane. Very bad on my part."

"Tanya will beat you up for berating yourself." Jack admonished. "And she's right... you're not a mind reader... like Carole apparently is."

"Yes, and she and her mother are at odds again." I said. "Anyway, it was a really good plan on the perps's part. Yes, all the top leadership of the TCPD was there, as well as a good bit of the FBI in this region of the country, from Southport's organized-crime-killers, to the City's units, including Ashton Cardigan and his really good cyber-unit. And you and Owen Lange, of course."

"So why kidnap you and me?" Jack asked.

"As Springer said, they wanted to interrogate me, see what I knew about some things." I replied. "I will also purely speculate that they wanted to guarantee your death, and mine. Great damage was going to be done, but if I'd strayed away and gone to the potty or something, and they missed getting me, it'd be hell for them and they knew it. So with us actually on the plane, it ensures our deaths, and would be considered revenge for what we've been doing to them and their Swamp Frog buddies."

"And Westboro's gold?" Jack asked.

"That is something that they genuinely know more about than I do." I said. "The legend is that Raymond Westboro, the Consultant of Crime, converted large amounts of his considerable fortune to gold, physical gold, and hid the gold in various places around the country. It is possible that some of that gold was found. What do you think of our new Intelligence facilities, Jack?"

Muscone barked a laugh, then got serious. "You think they're going after more of that gold? They know where it is? And that it has to do with Teresa, and her sister's death?"

I replied: "Springer said the fortune they were trying to grab wasn't gold. He was expecting me to die, so he was loose with his tongue. But I wish he'd told us just a little bit more. And I don't know how it could be related to Teresa. I thought all of that they were doing was to get at you."

"And they still might be." said Muscone. "Look, Dog, I'm not the Iron Crowbar, I don't pretend to be, and I don't play one on TV. But I didn't get to where I am in the FBI without having a few 'little gray cells' up here, as Agatha Christie would say." He was tapping his temple as he spoke.

"And I can see what's going on." he continued. "This thing about my brother... it's someone coming after me, and I know it. They came after you for your one weak spot... the Morelli case... and now they're coming after me for what they think are the same reasons: they think this is my weak point."

"If you keep your mouth shut," I said quietly, "there's no way they can prove a damn thing."

"It's not about proof of it." Jack said. "They just want me out. And I'm thinking of giving them what they want."

"Is it marriage doing that to you?" I asked. "Or landing on your head after that parachute jump?"

"It's taking stock of my life." said Muscone. "Hey, I love the FBI. But I've had more than two decades of it. The organization itself is becoming corrupt at the highest levels in Washington. It used to be that field agents like myself were beneath that, and could do our jobs and let the politicians do politician things. But not any more."

"All the more reason for you to stay." I said.

"I'll tell you something else, Dog." said Muscone. He held his hand out, sweeping it over the vista of the twinkling lights of the Town in the valley beneath it. "This Town... there's something about it. You know it. You feel it. And Tanya loves it as much as you do. And it's grown on me. I still love the City, but I'm finding I'd rather be here, in this Town, and not just because of Tanya. I want my girls to be raised here. I want to be a part of this."

I nodded. "I understand. This Town gets into your head, then your heart. And then your very soul."

After another round of Scotch, Jack said "Well, it's getting late, so I better get going." We stood up, and Jack extended his hand.

"Thanks for everything, Dog." he said. "For being my Best Man, for getting me to my wedding pretty much on time, and everything else."

I shook his hand. "And we had some fun along the way."

"Well, you did, anyway." Muscone said. "My butt is still sore from being kicked out of that plane. You enjoyed that one, didn't you?"

I began whimpering a laugh, and couldn't stop. More whimpers of laughter followed, and Jack joined in. I finally nodded and said "Yeah, that was a... once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And I'd really be pissed at myself if I'd not taken it." And then we broke down laughing harder.