A Case of Revenge Ch. 03

"What?" Britt said. "Don't tell me Don already knows and sent you to do this--"

"I'm not acting on my husband's behalf." Laura said. "He has no idea of any of this, and I want it to stay that way. There are some things that neither you nor he knows, Captain, things that I cannot discuss with you. But I need those samples."

Britt Maxwell was a beautiful woman and she was also a very sharp cookie. Laura's formality was unnerving. Britt knew something was up about this, something very dangerous, and she knew she's better be careful.

"Why should I give you the evidence?" Britt asked, her brow furrowing. "Especially if you're not going to tell me anything about it!"

"It's a national security matter." Laura said, which was half true. It was a CIA matter, though the security of the Nation would not depend on this case. "You know the Oldeeds Empire is being investigated by the FBI."

"Hold on, Laura," Britt said, "Vicki Oldeeds was the victim here, not the culprit. And I don't see how a rape case is involved in that."

"You'll just have to trust me on that. It involves the murder of a CIA agent, believed to be by Vicki Oldeeds. I'm taking this case to the Federal level." Laura said flatly, her eyes boring into Britt's. Britt suddenly realized what she needed to do.

"Sorry, Laura, I can't do that." Britt said. "I can hold off taking this up for a prosecution, I can bury it for a while for the sake of your investigation--"

"Are you going to give me the evidence, or not?" asked Laura, cutting off all further conversation.

"No." said Britt. "And I'm going to make sure to keep a couple extra copies of it in safe places. To protect myself, of course. I don't know what's going on with you, Laura, but if something happens to me, the shit will hit the fan in the Media -and- the SBI, and that genie can never be re-corked in the bottle once that happens."

"I see." Laura said. She stood up with surprising agility, considering she was heavily pregnant. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Captain Maxwell. I certainly will remember this... lack of cooperation." As she walked out the door, Laura said, her eyes jet and near anger, Goodbye, Captain."

----------------------

Cultivating friendships and loyalties is always a good thing. It paid off in spades for me when Tanya Perlman came to the open door of my office and knocked at 10:00am the morning of May 27th. "Can I come in?" she asked.

I observed the look on her face and a little well of fear went through me. "Is the baby all right? Is something wrong?"

"Oh! Oh, no..." Tanya said, smiling as I waved her in. "No, nothing's wrong. In fact, I found out it's going to be a boy. Maybe Pete's son will follow him into the Police Force one day."

"Yes, or maybe even higher things." I said as I watched Tanya close the door. "So what's up? Have a seat."

Tanya sat down. "I have a friend in the Campus Police Crime Lab, several of them, but this one and I, er, share information from time to time."

"I understand." I said. Tanya was telling me she had a source for whom she was a source at times, and for her to reveal this must mean something big was up.

"You know that Vicki Oldeeds rape case they've been working on?" Tanya said. I nodded. "Well, the rapists were reported to be very well-hung, which is why my friend was talking to me about it all this time. Apparently one of the rapists' condom ruptured, and some semen was recovered in Mrs. Oldeeds's vagina. Well, the full DNA report came back, and there was a match."

"Ned?" I asked, that always being my first thought.

"No." Tanya said, then got up, came around the desk and whispered into my ear. "It was your other nephew, Todd."

I stared at Tanya in shock, realizing that this was not a joke on her part. She was watching me for my reaction, as well. After a minute of staring forward, I looked at her. "Can you get me a confirmation, unofficially?"

"I'll try," said Tanya, "but Captain Maxwell ordered the evidence to be sealed and the database files encrypted. I don't know if Britt is covering for Todd or what, but she knows."

"Wowwww...." I said. "Well, she hasn't said a word to me, at least not yet."

"That's not all." Tanya said. "Your wife came to the Campus Police station a couple of hours ago and had a private talk with Captain Maxwell. Dr. Fredricson left with a very angry face, and Captain Maxwell shut her office door and hasn't come out since."

"Oh, shit, I hope Laura's not trying to intervene on my behalf-- oh, wait, she's not...." I said, then went into a reverie. Puzzle pieces flew in my brain, and I'm not sure how long it was before I came back to reality, with Tanya still sitting in the chair in front of my desk, carefully studying me.

"Friend to friend," Tanya said as she saw me come back, "what are you going to do?"

"Not a damn thing." I said. "Todd may be my nephew, but if he did this, he did it. I just don't understand the 'why' of it all. Well, until Britt says something, let's just keep this one between us."

"No problem." Tanya said. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." I said. "But I appreciate you telling me, friend to friend."

"So can you owe me one? Like getting me back into MCD?" Tanya asked, her eyes giving away her humorous intent at the question.


"Not while you're pregnant." I said. "When I see and hear Baby Feeley in this world screaming his little lungs out, we'll work on it then..."

-----------------

At 1:00pm I was called in for my appointment with the Chief, to discuss the Vice Squad situation.

"I freely admit, Chief," I said, "that I've learned a lot about leadership and grown up a lot in dealing with the Vice situation. And I don't think I've done the best job in handling it all."

"That's why I threw all that weight on you." said Chief Griswold. "I wanted to see how you handled things when you were really overloaded. So what did you learn and how are you handling it?"

"First, that I need to assign leaders to MCD and to Vice, then let them run their shows and I just lead the leaders and delegate through them." I said.

"Excellent." said the Chief. "So what's your plan for implementing that?"

"There lies the rub." I said. "I have a plan, but one part of it is going to take some time, the Vice part. There are some okay people in there, but Malone has left me a group of individuals, not a cohesive team. We need new hires after losing Ikea and Croyle, and so I can make inroads there. But there's no person there now who can really take over the Vice leadership role." I told the Chief my idea, and who I wanted to bring into the fold. He wholeheartedly agreed, and also agreed that the time lapse until that could happen was a bit of a problem.

"So I'll have to keep having a direct influence there." I said. "Now MCD is overflowing with leaders. I could put Cindy or Martin in the role right now, or even bring Tanya Perlman back and put her in charge. I thought of having Martin go work in Vice and keep it from falling apart, but I don't know if he wants to do that."

"Another thing you don't want to do, kid," said the Chief as he went into fatherly teaching mode, "is to give someone something and then have to take it back. Martin's a good kid, but if you put him in the leadership role in Vice, you'll have to leave him there. If you take him back out of that, it'll plant a seed of resentment, even if he swears up and down it's not the case."

"Yes sir, I agree." I said. "So the plans are laid out, but we'll have to plod along."

"I think you're doing fine." the Chief said.

"Chief, may I speak freely?" I asked.

"By all means."

"I need a favor."

"Oh really?" the Chief said, surprised, his face lighting up a bit. "How can I help?"

I told the Chief of the situation with Todd, Britt and my wife, and my solution for all of it.

"So, what if Captain Maxwell brings charges against Todd?" the Chief asked, studying me carefully. This was a test of my integrity, I well knew, just as Tanya had knowingly tested it earlier today.

"Then it's a good thing that his wife is a lawyer." I said. "He's responsible for his actions, and I won't be the one who can or will help him on that. However, no matter what Britt does, I need to help her get out of the pickle she's inadvertently put herself in with my wife. I know what I want to do, and I've been wanting to do this for some time, but I'll need your help to do it."

"You've got it." said the Chief. "Get out of here and go solve crimes while I make four phone calls." I got out. The Chief made four phone calls.

-----------------------

At 3:30pm on the same May 27th, an exhausted Britt Maxwell heard her phone buzz. It was the Campus Police switchboard.

"I can't take any calls right now." Britt said.

"But ma'am, it's the Governor." the switchboard operator said.

"The Governor of what?" asked Britt, not comprehending.

"Uh, the State, ma'am. It's Governor Jared."

"Oh!" Britt said, and wondered if this was Laura's opening salvo to crush her, Britt, after this morning's disastrous conversation. Well, only one way to find out. She picked up the phone.

"Governor? Yes sir, how are you..."

-------------------

"You alright, babe?" Cindy asked her roommate after observing the look on Britt's face when she came in the door.

"Oh God, what a day this has been." Britt said. Cindy put aside her light reading and sat up on the sofa to give Britt room to sit down. The 'light reading' was sheafs of papers that included police reports and materials from the Eleanor Burke case. Don seemed to already know every bit of it, while Cindy worked hard to catch up.

"So tell me about it." said Cindy.

"Cindy..." Britt said. "There's something I need to ask you first, and I'll understand if you refuse."

"What?"

"You know the Vicki Oldeeds rape case?" Britt asked.

"Yeah." replied Cindy. "Nobody knew she was in town, and the rape has been kept completely out of the Media. How that happened, I'll never know."

"Me neither," said Britt, "but here's the problem. One of the rapists was identified as Don's nephew Todd. Positive match on the DNA test."

"Geez!" Cindy gasped, shocked. "Does Don know yet?"

"I don't know." Britt said. "I haven't talked to him, but you know how he seems to know everything before anyone else does. But I do know this: Laura Fredricson came to me this morning and demanded I turn over all the evidence to her. Do you know that she's a high level officer in the CIA?"

"Yes." Cindy said. "Don told me, and told me to keep it a secret, even though it's not that well-kept a secret."

"Well, I didn't give Laura the evidence, and she walked away pissed." Britt said. "And I'm scared of what might happen to me. This is the fucking CIA we're talking about; they make people disappear!

"If something does happen to me, I want to give you this jump drive with all the information on the case. I don't want you to use it or look at it unless something does happen to me, though. If you don't want to take this, I'll understand."

"Of course I will." said Cindy, knowing full well the dangers of doing so.

"Oh, thank you, you're the best." Britt said. The women hugged each other tightly. Cindy could tell Britt needed a friend... and a drink. She promptly made a couple, taking the jump drive and hiding it first.

"I've also hidden a couple of other jump drives in a couple of places, including a safe deposit box, and instructions sealed with my lawyer." said Britt. "I have no idea what's going on with all this; it's too big for me. What do you think I should do now?"

"You want the truth?" Cindy asked.

"Of course." Britt said.

Cindy replied "My advice is to go to Don, tell him everything, and totally trust what he says and does."

"Really?" Britt said. "I mean... I trust him, but we're talking his nephew and his wife, here."

"Yep." Cindy said. "He has ways of making things right. I watched him play with Ferrell and Ikea like toys when they tried to set up Coach Marshall, and he saved Selena Steele from Angela Harlan when nobody else on the planet could have. By the way, are you going to prosecute Todd?"

"I don't know." Britt said. "I didn't see how I couldn't go forward with it. Then again, while I don't know why Todd did what he did, I do know Vicki Oldeeds is one evil bitch. A lot of people want to know what happened with that Mike kid, some say Vicki had him murdered. And Todd isn't that asshole kid anymore; he has a wife and effectively has two children now."

"Yeah, something's up with all of that Oldeeds business. And it's way above my pay grade." said Cindy. "All the more reason to go talk to Don, pronto."

"In the morning." Britt said, snuggling into Cindy. "Right now I feel a lot more protected while in your arms... by the way, there's something else I need to tell you, and it's another reason I'm holding back on the rape case: Governor Jared called me this afternoon..."

-------------

Britt and I sat in the main room of The Cabin, side-by-side on the sofa. It was May 28th and I had taken an early lunch to meet her there after she called me first thing in the morning.

I was reading the report of the DNA results. "Yep, pretty conclusive." I said. "So, let's get down to brass tacks: I heard my wife visited you about these results." I said.

"You know?" Britt asked. "Did she tell you last night?"

"No." I said. "And she made a point to not say much, then she went to bed early, claiming late pregnancy stresses. She's not the forgiving type when she feels betrayed, though. I'm sorry to hear of this, and I want you to know that you're still my friend no matter what."

"Aw, that's sweet." Britt said. "And I appreciate it. So, what do you advise me to do?"

"First, how did your conversation with the Governor go yesterday?" I asked.

Britt stared at me, then caught on. "So it was you that set all that up?"

"Of course." I said. "And we'd discussed variations of the theme several times, you and I. Listen, the war drums are beating at the State level. We need good guys in place. You're the 'bestest' good guy we've got, and I need you in the right place. So what did you tell the Governor?"

"That I needed a day to think about it." said Britt.

"Then I suggest you call the Governor and accept his most very generous offer." I said, smiling. "Do it today girl, do it today."

"Yeah, okay, I will." Britt said. Then I saw the beginnings of tears in her eyes. I asked her if she was okay.

"Yeah..." she said, "it's just that... well, I'll have to move to the City. I'm going to miss you, and Cindy, and Tanya and all the guys with the Campus Police, and all the fun we've had solving cases."

"Don't worry." I said, putting my arm around her. "We'll still be seeing you. And you're going to be doing some much, much greater things...."

--------------------

The sun was lowering as I sat and enjoyed the view from the back deck of The Cabin. I heard Laura's car arrive, then her high heels clicking on the walkway as she came around back.

"Hello, honey." I said. "I've got you some fruit drinks in the ice chest here." Laura was not drinking alcohol as the baby's delivery time was nearing, and I respected that by not drinking any alcohol, either.

"Hello, dear." Laura said. "Why did you ask me to come up here before going home?

"I just wanted to sit and enjoy this view with the most beautiful, wonderful woman in the world." I said. "That being you, of course." Laura sat down in the love seat next to me.

"I know you miss being here all the time." Laura said.

"Naah, it's not that." I said. "Did you hear the news about our friend Britt Maxwell?"

"We need to talk." Laura said. "I'm afraid that Britt Maxwell is not as trustworthy as you'd like to believe. So... what do you know?"

"Me? Not much." I said. "I'm just the local constable trying to keep things smooth and easy in my County. I will say this, though. You're my wife and I love you and my two babies more than anything else in the world. And Todd is my nephew and I love him, too. And Britt, she's a friend of mine and a good cop."

"Your friend, not mine." Laura said. I saw the signs of irritation in her eyes, and decided to pre-empt a marital argument.

"Oh, but didn't you hear?" I said. "Britt accepted a new job with the SBI. She's moved to the City. She's a full Inspector; that's a higher rank than Captain, and only the Directors are any higher than that. It's part to help the strained relations between the City and the SBI, but what they didn't tell us is that Britt is secretly in charge of Internal Affairs of the SBI, she's really running that whole I.A. show. She's going after slugs like Ferrell and Ikea, and she left behind cases with the Campus Police... totally left them behind.

"Oh really?" Laura said, totally surprised. "When did this happen?"

"Tomorrow morning." I said. "Oh, I'm sorry dear, did I mix up my tenses?"

Laura gave me a smile that was half appreciation, half irritation. "And you put all that together?"

"Who me? I'm just a local cop on the beat." I said. "I believe Chief Griswold might've had a word with the Governor. Those two are like brothers, apparently."

"Yes, they are." Laura said. "And who put that whole idea and plan together for the Chief and the Governor? A brilliant plan, I might add."

"Local cop on the beat has time to think about how to make things better. And better they shall be." I said, then rubbed Laura's tummy. "So... how's Carole's little sibling doing in there?"

"The sooner he's out of there, the better-- oh, damn, I just gave it away." Laura said. My eyes lit up. It was going to be a boy...

Part 15 - Completed Business

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" blared the reporter at 7:00am. It was May 29th, and Bettina was looking gorgeous. She always looked just a bit hotter when she had a juicy story. And she had a big one today.

"Governor Jared is holding a press conference in the City today at 10:00am, which his press office has said is to make a major announcement about the State Bureau of Investigation. While the Governor's office did not not give details, Channel Two News has learned and confirmed from multiple sources that University Campus Police Captain Brittany M. Maxwell has resigned her post in order to take a very senior position with the SBI in the City, which includes the rank of Inspector. Sources tell Channel Two News that Inspector Maxwell will be a bridge in the relations between the City and the SBI, which had become severely strained over the last few years."

"Aw man, she's leaving?" Tanya asked. There was a general air of sadness that we were losing a buddy.

"Yep." Cindy said. "Now I gotta find a new roommate."

"I hope you guys are happy for her." I said. "This is a huge promotion, a great opportunity for her, and I for one am glad she's doing it even though we'll miss her."

"Yes sir." said Martin Nash. "I'm sure we all feel like that. So who's replacing her with the Campus Police?"

"Hmmm, I better think about that one..." I said. That drew stares from a lot of Detectives, especially the ones in Vice that had been watching the news with us. They were beginning to realize that chess pieces do no move in and of their own accord...

------------------

I watched the news conference. Britt looked great in her navy suit and skirt with gray pinstripes and a light gray blouse. The Governor was there, as was the Mayor of the City, the Police Chief (or was it Commissioner?) of the City, and SBI Deputy Director Tom Conlan. Surprisingly, also there was University Campus Police Commissioner Dexter Robinson, in full uniform regalia.