Dark Side of the Force Ch. 05

The chronological order of my stories is as follows:

Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, The Swap series, Interludes 6-10, The Murdered Football Player Series, Case of the Black Widow series, Teresa's Christmas Story, The Case of the Black Badge series, A Case of Revenge series, Trilogy Series.

Dark Side Of The Force, Ch 1-5.

Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, extreme 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 or racist 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.

*****

Part 23 - Investigations

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" yelled the lovely redheaded reporter at 7:00am. It was Sunday morning, and we were watching in the MCD room, drinking some badly needed coffee.

"Channel Two News is bringing you continuing coverage of the sudden death of State Senator Nathan Allen last night at the Hyatt Hotel here in Town!" yelled Bettina from outside the Hotel. "Senator Allen collapsed last night after a dinner party, and efforts to revive him failed. EMTs arrived very quickly, but neither they nor the doctors at University Hospital were able to save Senator Allen's life, and he was pronounced 'dead on arrival'. Early tests suggest the Senator was killed by a heart attack, but the Town & County Police Force Crime Lab has not confirmed that as it continues its investigation!"

Bettina continued: "Senator Allen's death came just as word reached Channel Two News that Allen's son Dean was arrested on DUI charges after registering a 0.14 on a breathalyzer test, well above the legal limit. We do not know if Dean Allen has been informed of his father's death. We now go to Priya Ajmani for an update. Priya!"

"Thank you, Bettina!" said the lovely Indian woman. "The wars between the SBI and local authorities continue, as Channel Two News has learned that SBI Director Jack Lewis has demanded that the SBI take over the investigation of Nathan Allen's death, citing the fact that Mr. Allen was a State Senator, but also stating that the Town & County Police are unfit either professionally or ethically to do the job. Chief Griswold of the Town & County Police issued a statement declaring that the TCPD will handle the case, that it is their jurisdiction, and that the SBI's assistance in any way is, and I quote, 'not needed, is not wanted, and will not be allowed nor tolerated'.

"Meanwhile," continued Priya, "reactions at this early hour to Senator Allen's passing have been muted and mixed. U.S. Congressman Condor, who was at the scene and attempted to revive Senator Allen, issued a statement of condolence, while the Governor's office issued a statement only acknowledging that the Governor has been informed of the Senator's passing. Back to you, Bettina!"

"Thank you, Priya!" said Bettina. "We're getting breaking news... that the Coroner has already conducted an autopsy of Senator Allen, and will be giving a preliminary finding at 2:00pm this afternoon. This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!"

-----

"I'll tell you this." said Chief Griswold in his office. "It is fortunate that you did not approach nor touch Senator Allen in any way. We've got ten witness statements that you went nowhere near him, and thank God for that!"

"However, they also said that you were telling him his son had been arrested, and some people are going to try to make an issue of why you thought it was necessary to go and tell him so brutally like that." Griswold growled.

"They may even say that my telling Allen and pouring it on is what caused his heart attack." I said agreeably, unperturbed.

"Yes." said Griswold, peering at me. "Fortunately, it's not considered murder to tell a man something, even if that causes the man to drop dead in front of you. But I'm keeping you in the background on this one, and definitely away from the Press."

"Fine with me." I said.

"So, Don, what really happened?" asked the Chief. I leaned back in my chair and looked him straight in the eye.

"Senator Allen died of a heart attack." I said. "Natural causes. Fortuitous, but natural."

----

The Medical Examiner appeared before the podium in the Media Room of Police Headquarters, wearing a labcoat and a baseball hat with the Combat Medical Badge affixed to it. The room was full of reporters from all over the State. They were taking notes and straining to hear as the M.E. spoke.

"It appears at this point that Senator Allen died of a heart attack." said CMB, as most of us watched from the MCD room. "Senator Allen had been taking medications for a heart condition, and my autopsy also showed signs of chronic alcoholism. The toxicology results are not back yet, but preliminary screening shows no poisons nor any reason other than natural causes for Senator Allen's death."

"Are you going to send samples to the SBI Crime Lab to verify your results?" a reporter asked loudly. Obviously the Press wanted to start something, but the Chief was having none of it.

"I'll take that question, CMB." said Chief Griswold, taking over the podium as questions were shouted at him. He held up his hand for silence, partially got it, and answered: "To answer the last question: our lab has sent samples to the University's lab for confirmation of results. However, we have not, and we never will, send anything to the SBI's Crime Lab. I am sure you remember the SBI Lab's total failure last year in the death of Jefferson Jackson, when they didn't even run tests for which they claimed results."

The Chief then raised his voice, giving special clarity to every syllable: "Please take this down: There is no way that I will ever respect nor trust any part of SBI Director Jack Lewis's organization. I do trust that you will quote me exactly and verbatim on that last sentence."

"Chief," cried out a reporter, "there are reports that Commander Troy was at the scene at the time of the Senator's death. Will you make Commander Troy available to us for questions?"

"Commander Troy and other officers were indeed at the scene." said Griswold. "They will be filing their police reports, which will be made available to you in an appropriate and timely manner, as always." Reporters yelled questions at Griswold as he left the podium, which Lt. Scott Peterson assumed.

"Wow, the Chief really let himself go on that one." said Cindy as we watched. "He didn't pull any punches when he took that personal shot at Director Lewis."

"Yep." I said. "Since he's retiring, he feels no restraint at all."

"Damn straight." said the Chief, walking into the MCD room. "And the best part of retirement is that I don't have to deal with those fucking troublemakers of the Press anymore."

"You're making me look forward to retirement, Chief." I quipped.

"Don't you dare even think about it." replied the Chief, grinning as he left the room. Have I mentioned that I might not be the only one with a deep hatred of the Press?

----

"Well, it looked like our plan worked." said State Senator Cerone to Senator Langdon as they dined at an expensive restaurant in Midtown. "Allen is dead. And Condor said he watched Allen drink out of that bourbon decanter, the one we told your prostitute to put the stuff in."

"Yes, but that's the thing..." Langdon said. "... my woman said that some other woman took her vial away and washed it down the sink. The other woman had black hair, severe bangs haircut. My woman said that woman disappeared and she never saw her again. In other words, that bourbon wasn't spiked. And their County's Crime Lab found nothing, as well.

"Hmm, interesting." Cerone said. "Allen died... but it might have been a sheer coincidence. I won't question it, though; I'm happy for the results."

"Yes, as am I." said Langdon. "But if a woman knew to take that vial from my woman, maybe someone else killed Allen? Wargrave?"

"Shhhh, don't even speak that man's name out loud." Cerone said calmly but superstitiously as he ate a piece of steak. "But he's the best. He works efficiently and not clumsily. I'll bet they don't even find traces of his work..."

----

"Nope." said Myron Milton. "Not one bit of video camera evidence of the Senator's food or drink being fucked with during the dinner. And everyone else ate from the same foods and drank from the same water pitchers, bottles of wine, and bottles of liquor."

The food and drinks at the event had been confiscated, though many of the plates and glasses themselves had been run through the dishwasher. None were showing any signs of contamination or poison. The other men at the dinner, including Congressman Condor, were checked by doctors, who took blood samples under an evidence warrant. In addition to showing nothing was wrong, I now had DNA samples in the databases on several men with possible criminal ties... as well as Congressman Condor.

We could not locate all the prostitutes, but the ones we did were tested and found to be free of poisons... and free of sexually transmitted diseases, also. That got Teresa Croyle's curiosity going. She was wondering if the women really were prostitutes, or if they weren't the women at the party...

Part 24 - Solution

And speaking of Teresa Croyle... her arrest of Dean Allen was in the books. Three days later, the blood tests confirming Dean Allen's DUI came back from the lab, and were confirmed by the University's labs. We had an airtight, rock-solid case. And because of that, Judge Rodney K. Watts showed a great deal of enjoyment as he declared Dean Allen in violation of his previous plea deal.

Phil Kearns sat next to Teresa Croyle in the audience as Dean Allen was brought into the Courtroom. Judge Watts declared that the previous plea deal was null and void, but he did offer Allen the chance to re-submit a plea in the vehicular homicide that wiped out Kearns' family. Dean pleaded not guilty and was bound over for trial. ADA Paulina Patterson showed that Dean was a considerable flight risk, and Judge Watts agreed... he denied Dean Allen bail. Allen was taken to County Lockup to await his trial.

The trial would be the next Spring. Despite Paulina Patterson's sterling prosecution and some very emotional testimony from Phil Kearns, the defense team fought hard and with the passion of their deep hatred of the Police, and the Jury found Dean Allen guilty only of manslaughter. He would be serving a little over three years. I was disappointed, but at least there was some Justice for the family of Phil Kearns...

-----

On September 22d, the toxicology results came back, and the University's labs matched the findings: There were no poisons in Senator Allen's body, other than the alcohol he had drunk. The medications he had been taking were present in elevated levels, and there was also Viagra found, which the M.E. made sure to speculate was taken by Allen himself in anticipation of a night of carousing with one or more of the prostitutes at the party in Allen's suite that night.

Senator Allen's death was declared to be by natural causes, and the Coroner's officer closed the case. Hopefully, it would be forever over.

Some of us went to the Cop Bar that evening. I had to sit for a while in the Command Group's table with the Chief and Fire Chief Eugene Gillem, who told me he was retiring at the same time Chief Griswold was, at the end of the year. Chief Gillem was a longtime leader of the Fire Department, and he'd be missed by his Force just as much as Chief Griswold would be by his. I made a note to pass along a request to the Council...

----

"I hope someone doesn't get a bright idea to compare Allen's toxicology report with Jefferson Jackson's." said Cindy as she, Teresa and Molly shared a pitcher of beer on the outside patio of the Cop Bar.

"They won't." said Molly. "Even if they do, how are they going to prove anything?"

"Cindy, are you all right?" asked Teresa, observing her friend.

"I don't know..." said Cindy. "I know the man was pure evil, but I just feel like... we crossed a line, you know? We're supposed to be protecting life, not taking it."

"For myself," said Molly, "I think we saved many young girls and maybe many lives from that maniac... not to mention avenging those lost and ruined by him."

"Totally agree." said Teresa. "And there won't be any more families being wiped out by Dean Allen any time soon, either."

"Yes." said Cindy. "I'm with you both on that. I just feel like Yoda is telling me I've gone to the Dark Side, and forever will it rule my destiny."

Just then Martin Nash, Sandra Speer came onto the patio and sat at another table near Teresa's.

"Did Jack come with you?" asked Teresa.

"He's inside, trying to drag Don out here." Sandra said as she sat down.

Teresa got up. "I'll be back in a minute."

-----

Jack Muscone and I waved goodbye as the Police and Fire Chiefs called it a night and made their way to the door to go home. Just then, Teresa came up with two beers. She sat one down in front of Jack Muscone. "Commander, mind if I have a word with the Federalé?"

"I don't mind at all. I'll see you two outside when you're done." I said, not really surprised. This talk was long overdue. I headed outside to the patio and took a seat with my teammates. After a few moments, Theo Washington and Eugene Graham came out and joined Sandra and Martin.

"You both looked good in those black wigs." I said quietly. "But I like you better as you are now."

"They never had any idea." said Molly. She had been the waitress serving the pitcher of water... which was loaded with the contents of the first large vial I'd received from Dr. Eckhart. "I wanted to slap the shit out of Allen when he grabbed my ass, though."

"They almost caught me." said Cindy. She'd gone into the office, poured the contents of the second large vial into the bourbon in Allen's office room. "I'm glad they didn't recognize me, and that they accepted my story about being sent in there."

"Me, too." I said. "But I suspect you rather enjoyed it, once you got on out of there."

"It was kind of fun, being undercover." said Cindy.

"I had a blast, to be honest with you." said Molly.

"Me too." I said. "I loved the look on his face when I started talking about his son being arrested."

"Unfortunately," Molly said, "Cindy has regrets." she said, snitching on her sister. Wasn't the first time, I was sure.

Cindy gave Molly a withering look, then said "I know that it was just like the Jefferson Jackson case... can't blame any one person for doing anything that killed the man. But I still feel like I... and we... crossed the line."

I had to choose my words carefully, here, so I let my mind go 'into the zone' to find what I needed to say, and I let the words flow as I began:

"Ladies, we are fortunate that as police officers we the ability to stop crimes or at least avenge them by arresting criminals, and even if the legal system isn't perfect, we do our part and we normally don't have to kill to administer Justice. But sometimes... sometimes we're dealing with people who are out of the norm.

"There's always been the question of why The Batman didn't just kill The Joker, and if he had killed him, how many lives might have been saved. That's the comic books, of course, but I made a different choice than The Batman. Let me just tell you this, and maybe it'll help:

"When I confronted Ned... the first time, not the second... and I was in the hospital while he was escaping from there for a second time, I knew that the structure of the Law was not enough to stop him. I knew that he had people helping him, people using the Constitution and the Law against itself. I knew then that my next confrontation with Ned would be as soldiers, not as police officer and criminal, and that one of us would not leave the battlefield alive.

"I've had people ask me why I didn't let them kill Ned. Even Ned's brother wanted to kill him himself. I chose Eleanor for two reasons: one, she could get near him; and two, because the bastard had gunned down her son by shooting him in the back.

"Last, but not least, I thought of Dr. Heinz. He lived in a nation that, at the time, actually made it their law to annihilate Jews. He did not follow that law; instead, he saved people. A few in actual number, but with untold ripple effects... including me sitting here in front of you."

"What I guess I'm trying to get at, Cindy, is that I believe there's a difference between just 'the Law' and what we call 'Justice'. I don't ask you to agree with me on it, but it was a choice I had to make. I knew Allen would never stand before a judge, that the Law would never touch him, especially as he himself was using the Law against itself. What we did was to save lives in the future, and bring Justice to those that Allen harmed and destroyed. Perhaps one day someone will sit at this table, having a beer, that would not have been alive if Senator Allen had lived another minute. And over time, I think we'll not regret making the choices we did regarding the late Senator Allen, just as I cannot bring myself to regret what happened to my nephew, even if he was my blood kin."

"So, Don, let me ask this." Cindy said. "Now that you've crossed the line, gone to the Dark Side... how do you come back?"

"By keeping you around me, my friend." I said. "No, I'm not joking here. Why do you think I not only allow but welcome you challenging me? You're the rock, Cindy. You're having pangs of consciousness now precisely because of the Good inside you. You keep me in line, you keep me from going to the Dark Side when I shouldn't. Even when you're not around, I know you and that blue crowbar will eventually catch up to me, and I'll be getting an ass-whoopin'... my hip still hurts after what you did when I knocked up your sister here."

Molly began laughing, unable to hold back, and Cindy had this look on her face halfway between disdain and humor herself.

"I just hope we never have to do something like this again." Cindy said. "I know it was the right thing to do, but I guess deep down I'm still one of those that believe we can't use the methods of the Enemy. To me, I guess it's what you said, Don... I'm still a cop, not a soldier, at least not yet."

"And may that never change." said Molly. "But I'll make a deal with you, Sis: I won't mention it ever again, if you won't. What's done is done, let's bury it."

"Agreed." said Cindy as they clinked beer mugs.

----

At the same time, another conversation was going on at the next table.

"Funny how Dean Allen came up intoxicated like that." said Theo Washington.

"And that he was singled out for a traffic stop." replied Eugene Graham. Sandra and Martin just smiled.

"Excellent police work in this County, I'd say." said Sandra.

"You know, guys," Eugene said, "I've been working with the Southport Police for some years now. We've got the Mob down there like this County has no idea of. And when that man, who was once a Police Captain, put a gun to my head and was threatening to shoot me just because I'm a black man... sometimes it makes me wonder if our system really does work. I know a lot of my people... a lot of them... don't believe that it does. For me, seeing that asshole get busted like that... well, it's what dirty cops have been doing to my people for a long time."

"I'm with ya, bro." said Theo. "But it's guys like you and me that have to set the example for the rest of them, show them what's good and what we can do. And we're not alone... the Iron Crowbar, he's the real deal. He broke Captain Malone down, made him his bitch."