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Introduction:

Despite my many successes as chief of police I have to face one major failure. Thank God for Lucy's strength.

CAHILL—Part 4 by Senorlongo

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I loaded Daryl, Dan Powell, and Max into my SUV, dropping Dan off at headquarters with my thanks and driving Daryl to my in-laws where I knew that Jasmine was anxiously waiting for him just as I was sure Lucy

was waiting for me.

On the way out the door earlier today I had told Sgt. Ed Sulkowski, “Ed, get someone you have complete trust in and go over to the Bascombs’ house. Pick up some shotguns from Mulvaney and don’t let anyone get near

the house except for Jasmine Stone. Do you know her?”

“Um…the good-looking librarian?”

“That’s the one. She’ll be on her way to see Lucy at her parents’ home in a few minutes. Stay there until Daryl or I return and don’t stay in the car if someone approaches the house.”

“What the hell is going on, Chief?”

“I can’t tell you now, Ed. I’ll explain everything either later or tomorrow morning. Now get moving.”

Ed and a patrolman I later learned was his son-in-law were on the ball as we approached. Knowing that they might be nervous I flashed my light bar to identify us. I could see them breathe easier once we were there. Max had his head out the window when I stopped.

“Everything okay, Chief? You’ve been gone quite a while.”

“Yeah, everything’s fine. We confiscated a couple million in illegal drugs and arrested six people—Joe Wilson, Stan Irwin, Jeremy Haynes, his father and mother, and Gil Parsons. I also killed one Mexican and the state police killed another. It’s been a busy day. You guys can go home. Thanks; I appreciate your attention to duty.” I reached through the window to shake Ed’s hand and drove up the long driveway, exiting at the front door.

Why wasn’t I surprised when Lucy and Jasmine ran out the door into our arms? “Oh, Matt—thank God you’re safe.” Those sentiments were echoed just a second later by Jasmine as she pulled Daryl’s head down for a long kiss. I might have noticed had Lucy not done exactly the same thing with me.

I chuckled when we broke the kiss. “You two should go into choreography or maybe synchronized swimming.” The women laughed and Daryl might have joined them had Jasmine not kissed him again. I put my arm around Lucy and we walked +together into the house with Daryl and Jasmine following right behind us. Max capered between Lucy and me.

As expected, Jonathan and Marylou were waiting for us just inside. We had obviously fired our weapons. My face and hands were grayish black with smoke and powder residue from the shotgun as were Daryl’s. Even the smokeless powder used in most weapons these days leaves some residue. I waited until we had a chance to wash up in the kitchen before joining my wife and the others in the family room.

“Remember when we caught that bartender switching liquors? Believe it or not, that’s what started a major investigation. He identified Jeremy Haynes as his boss and told us that his roommate had bought drugs from him, too. I know the chief in Memphis extremely well so once he had the info he got a warrant to search the dorm room where his men found a quantity of cocaine and other drugs. Daryl and I met with a state attorney who was able to flip the roommate. He was wearing a wire when he made a good sized drug buy from Haynes and from that the state police got a warrant to tap Haynes’ phone and to bug their house.

“Confused yet? Well, from the phone tap we learned that there was a huge drug buy coming in from Mexico. I asked Lucy to go with us last Sunday to identify the voices the bugs picked up which she did. Today we arrested Stan Irwin, Gil Parsons, Carl Haynes and his wife, and Jeremy Haynes as well as your former chief of police.”

“Joe Wilson? Oh no! That will kill his poor wife.”

“We also arrested one of the Mexicans and I killed another. The state cops got another although it’ll be hard to say exactly who because he was in a truck cab and they hit it with about a hundred rounds. I turned the drugs over to the DEA and the prisoners to the state police. We learned after the arrests that Mrs. Haynes had a small ledger listing all of their major sales over the past two years and a list of their bank accounts in the Caymans.”

“Wow,” Jonathan said, “You two have been busy. I think we should treat you to dinner—not Carter’s, I think, but how about Maxwell’s?”

“Oh, that’s a great idea, Daddy. Why don’t you make a reservation while I take everyone home to clean up and change clothes?” Next thing I knew we were in my SUV with Jasmine and Daryl following. Max ran into the house for water as Lucy and I headed to our bedroom for a shower. I dropped my holster belt onto the floor and stepped out of my clothes. I was about to throw them into the hamper when Lucy stopped me and led me into the shower. She moved again into my arms as the hot water sprayed over us.

“I was so worried about you,” she confessed.

“I doubt that I’ll be directly involved in many raids as chief, but you need to learn to have confidence in my ability. I hate to tell you how many times I’ve put my life on the line. The only time I was shot was in a motel in Mobile when Max woke me up in the middle of a drug war.” I paused then to once again show Lucy the scar on my bicep. She leaned forward to kiss it just the way she would when one of our children had a boo-boo.

I reached for the soap, but she beat me to it and washed my body—front and back from top to bottom, but spending entirely too much time on my cock and balls. “We’ll be late if you keep that up,” I told her even though I hated for her to stop and the expression on my face was sure to tell her that.

“We’ll have plenty of time after dinner then I hope to have other news for you, too.” I pressed her, but she wouldn’t budge. I’d learned early on that Lucy could be incredibly stubborn if the mood struck her so I let it drop. She promised me that she’d tell later and I knew she would. I took the soap from her to wash her lovely body. It was funny, but the more I knew about Lucy the more beautiful she became. Best of all, she was a generous and beautiful person, a credit to her family and her city.

We met Daryl and Jasmine and they were obviously freshly showered as we were. That was when I first noticed the plastic bag in her hands. She and Lucy had obviously planned for this or something similar. Of course, we were both armed--our 9mm’s securely holstered on our belts. Mine was covered by my navy blue sports jacket, Daryl’s hidden by a lightweight jacket. I drove, following Lucy’s directions to a spot just at the edge of the city limits. Maxwell’s was a high-ceilinged building with leaded glass on the front and side windows, giving it an elegant appearance. Inside it was even better with real natural stone and extensive dark woodwork on the walls.

The Maitre d’ greeted Lucy by name then looked his nose down at Daryl, Jasmine, and me until I opened my jacket a bit to give him a view of my ID and pistol. “Frank, I’d like to introduce my husband, Matt Cahill, the Chief of Police, and this is his friend and Lieutenant Daryl Evans. Finally, this is my best friend Jasmine Stone. She’s the chief librarian at our library. Have my parents arrived yet?”

“Yes, Miss Lucille—they are in the gold room. Allow me to show you the way.” He took a few menus from the podium and led us down a wide corridor to a small room separated from the main dining room by a wall of leaded glass blocks with just a single table for eight. Jonathan rose to hug all of us which, I assumed, told the snobby Maitre d’ how things were with us. His attitude changed immediately. I thanked Jonathan once he was gone.

“He’s not a bad sort, but every now and then he forgets we’re in western Tennessee and not in Paris.”

“I’ve been to Paris,” I told everyone. “Paris, Texas; it’s a nice place.” Lucy scoffed and swatted my arm as Jonathan and Marylou laughed.

“Let’s be seated and have a drink or three before dinner. Marylou and I know the menu by heart, but I think the rest of you will probably need a look.” Jonathan and Marylou returned to their seats and we also sat. The extra two place settings and chairs were removed immediately and we shifted the settings and chairs to have more room. I was next to Marylou and my wife who had Jasmine to her right and then Daryl. Our waiter came and took drink orders. I’m not much of a drinker—guns and alcohol usually cause trouble and I was almost always armed—but this was a celebration so I thought I could handle one drink with dinner. I ordered a margarita on the rocks then turned my attention to the sizable menu.

I couldn’t believe all the courses listed in the menu—starters, soup, salad, pasta, entrees, desserts, and after-dinner cordials. Furthermore, the menu was written in English and French. There was no way I was eating all these courses so I just picked out the few I thought I’d like. I turned to Lucy after a few minutes to ask what she was going to eat.

“I’m going to start with the snails.” Then she changed her mind when she saw the expression on my face. “Actually, the shrimp cocktail here is really great. Why don’t you have one, too?” I smiled my approval and asked her about the French onion soup. “It’s my favorite, by far.” She chose the rack of lamb, but I ordered the king sized prime rib and Daryl and Jonathan joined me. I was really glad I wasn’t paying the tab for this meal. I thought it would come to well more than a hundred per person plus tip before we were done.

We had a lively time and a great dinner, but I’d found that every meal at our house had been great, too. I guessed that was a big benefit to being rich, or, at least, having a rich wife. One of the benefits of prime rib is that there’s always fat to take home for the dog. Marylou had a tuna steak that she couldn’t finish and didn’t want to take home so I added that to Max’s dinner treat. I’d often thought that dogs will eat anything, but that’s not true. I’d given Max some stew I’d ordered at a diner in Carolina Beach and when he was done all of the peas were sitting unmolested in the bottom of his bowl.

We said good-bye to my in-laws at the restaurant with sincere thanks, but Jonathan actually thanked Daryl and me. “Thanks for ridding the area of drugs,” he told us.

“Sorry if we disillusioned you, Jonathan,” Daryl said just before I could get the words out. “We put a big dent in the supply train, but someone else with a lot of greed and no caring for his or her fellow man will follow them. It might not happen for six months or so, but eventually….” Jonathan looked at me and I just nodded my agreement.

“We hit them hard and, most importantly we eliminated the corrupt police officers who successfully protected the scum. People like them are the lowest form of life. I’m not a big supporter of the death penalty, but dealing drugs and the misery they create deserves the most severe penalty imaginable. In many cases it’s worse than murder in my book.”

“I would think that police officers would support the death penalty, Matt.”

“The cost of imprisoning someone for life is, perhaps surprisingly, much less than executing him. The reason for that is all of the appeals that are required by law. The state has to pay for the attorneys—both prosecution and defense—as well as the judge and other courtroom expenses. The most recent estimates exceed twenty million dollars and don’t forget that the prisoner needs to be segregated from the general population and that’s expensive, too.”

“Hmmm, I never thought about it that way.”

“It gets worse. What percent of prisoners are there because of drug use—not sales, but simple possession? I’ll tell you—it’s more than half, by far. That’s hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Many in law enforcement would like to see things like marijuana use legalized so we can spend our time tracking down more serious criminals.”

“I agree, Jonathan. Matt and I have discussed this probably a couple of dozen times. Unfortunately, he’s also right about somebody else moving into the area. The profit on illegal drugs is just too tempting for a lot of folks.” Jonathan just shook his head and then he and Marylou turned and walked away. We waved good-bye and piled into my SUV for the short ride home. Lucy invited Jasmine and Daryl in, but they had the good sense to decline.

I was sure that Max could smell the treats I’d brought home for him by the way he jumped and scampered around the kitchen. I made sure that everything was cut into small chunks before placing his dish onto the rubber mat. I knew he was very hungry, but he stayed sitting until I told him it was okay with a snap of my fingers. Then he attacked the food with even more ferocity than he had shown in taking the Mexican down earlier this afternoon.

I knew that Lucy wanted me to ask her about her news so that was exactly why I hadn’t. Max had been put out and the house secured when we walked together into the bedroom. I didn’t even react to the scowl on her face. “You can be so exasperating, you know?”

Playing dumb, I replied, “Who, me?”

She was laughing now as she stared me down. “Yes, you; who did you think? Max?”

“Okay, I give up. What’s your news? Are Jasmine and Daryl getting engaged over the weekend? They were so obvious at dinner.”

“They were and Jasmine does think it will be soon, maybe even this weekend, but I was thinking about something else.” She waited for almost a minute before continuing as if she was a bit uncertain how to proceed. “Um…I went off the pill almost six weeks ago.”

“Okay.” That was all I said, but anyone reading my face could tell that I wasn’t quite done. I was just waiting for the rest of her comments.

“Well, I was due for my period three days ago. I know it’s too early to be sure, but…. You’re not angry, are you?”

I picked her up and kissed her then. “No, I’m not angry. How could I be? We agreed that we didn’t want to wait so the actual decision of when was really up to you. Do you want to get some of those home pregnancy tests or should we wait a bit? What about seeing your doctor? Want me to go with you?”

Now Lucy was laughing like crazy. “I’m glad you’re not too excited.” I stood stock still for a second before joining Lucy in laughing then I hugged her and told her for at least the fourth time today how much I loved her. We showered again, just because we loved the feeling of our skin on skin contact and went to bed, first to make the most incredible love of my life and then to sleep, but not before I told Lucy once again that I loved her more than life itself.

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There was excitement aplenty when Daryl and I walked into headquarters Friday morning. Sgt. Ed Sulkowski and his son-in-law had plenty of time to phone the others on shift so everyone was in line for inspection with expectant expressions on their faces. “I’m sure that Ed has filled most of you in so I’ll be brief. Yesterday, in a joint operation with the State Police and the DEA we stopped a huge drug buy worth somewhere between five and ten million in street value. I won’t go into the details as to how we got onto them, but I will tell you that the ring was led by Carl Haynes with his son Jeremy, Gil Parsons, former chief Joe Wilson, and Lt. Stan Irwin. According to records we confiscated they’ve been at it for the past five years, at least.”

“Shit! No wonder we could never catch anyone selling. They knew we were coming before we did.”

Unfortunately, I had to agree. We continued with inspection which was going much better now that everyone knew what to expect and uniforms were being professionally maintained. Daryl and I left at 9:00 for the drive to Memphis for the obligatory press conference. After all the work we’d done I planned to make sure that we got the credit we were due.

I needn’t have worried. Julia Adams began the sessions by introducing me and then Daryl as the key people in the investigation. She then outlined the steps that led to the arrests, conveniently omitting the two college student informants and their role. Even I was amazed when a captain from the DEA gave an extensive listing of the confiscated drugs, listing their street value at almost ten million dollars. I was asked questions about the role of the small city police force in this affair and the impact of those who had been arrested on the remaining members of the force.

“I’d prefer to talk about the more than hundred and fifty hard-working dedicated officers than the four who betrayed the public trust. Critics always paint with a broad brush so in their eyes all officers will be suspect. In some regards I view this as a positive because I’ve already begun recruiting minorities to the force and this will just make my job easier.” The questions ended and we were able to leave around 12:30. I phoned my friend Paul McCormick and we were able to get together for lunch at a family restaurant near his office. I phoned my office to let them know we’d take the afternoon off. We ran at the high school track for almost an hour then returned to our house to use the pool and hot tub. Lucy joined us with ice cold water and some boiled shrimp with spicy cocktail sauce from the kitchen. I could read Lucy’s mind—she’d much prefer we were here naked and alone. Daryl left around three, promising that we’d get together tomorrow for dinner.

“Well?” I turned to Lucy and smiled when she told me that she had no news. “In this case I guess that no news is good news, eh?” She jumped into my arms, hers around my neck and her legs around my waist as she kissed me, thrusting her tongue into my mouth with incredible vigor. I spun her around and carried her up to the bedroom. I needed a shower before dinner and Lucy was going to join me—one way or another.

She came willingly—twice—once up the stairs and into our bedroom and once pressed up against the shower wall, her legs up and over my shoulders while I pounded her sweet pussy relentlessly. My dear sweet Lucy could barely stand, let alone walk when I placed her legs on the floor so I walked her out and sat her on the bathroom stool never taking my hand off her while I grabbed a towel to dry her. I dropped the soggy towel onto the floor and carried her again to bed. She snuggled up as close as humanly possible as we fell asleep almost immediately.

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I wanted Lucy to buy a home pregnancy kit, but she balked. “If I do, my parents will know as soon as we’re out the door.”

“Not a problem,” I told her as I hustled her and Max into the SUV. Once on the road I drove south toward Memphis. We didn’t actually go all the way, but stopped at a pharmacy about thirty miles from home. To play it extra safe I went in alone and bought the two that were recommended by the pharmacist who wished me good luck as I left.

I pulled into a rest stop when Lucy told me that she had to pee. “Sounds like a perfect opportunity,” I told Lucy with a big grin on my face. Apparently she agreed because she grabbed the bag from the pharmacy and kissed me before jumping out the door and trotting away to the rest room. I let Max out, taking my garden trowel and plastic bag, just in case.

We were there less than two minutes when I heard a voice behind me. “You need a leash on that dog, Mister.” I turned to see a young black police officer from the township we were in.

“Sorry, officer, but I don’t have one. I do have this to show you though.” I pulled my leather badge/ID case from my rear pocket and held it out for him to examine.

“If that’s a police dog that’s all the more reason why you need a leash,” he said as he returned the case to my hand.

Max had peed against a tree, but that’s all so I called out, “Max, heel.” He was by my side seconds later. “Max…sit.” Again, he followed my instructions immediately and I rewarded him with several pets on his head and ears.

“Wow, I guess he’s very well trained.”

“He is and he’s usually gentle as a lamb, but one word from me and…. Well, on Thursday he took out some Mexican in a big drug bust in about three seconds.”

“Of course; I recognize you now! I saw the interview on the TV news. That was really great police work.”

“Well, to be honest I was only in on it at the start and at the end even though I was offered some involvement in the investigation. I turned that down because I didn’t want one of the perpetrators to see me and jeopardize the investigation.”

“Were you serious about looking for minorities to fill those vacancies?”

“I was and I am. We only have a single black officer and I brought him in with me from the Marshals Service. He’s the number two in the department now. Wednesday night we have an appointment in the local AME Church to hold a tutoring session.” I reviewed all of the new standards with him and he told me that he’d call for an application. His wife wanted to move to a more rural environment and there was plenty of that outside Bascomb’s Landing.

He had just driven away when I heard Lucy behind me. She ran up with the four cylinders in her hand and a huge smile on her face. Leaping into my arms she asked me, “Want to guess what these all say?”

I had to laugh. “They say that I’m the happiest man on the planet and the luckiest to have you.” I pulled her to me for what I thought of at the time was the kiss of all time. After breaking it roughly a minute later I suggested that we had an even better way to celebrate. Lucy nodded her agreement and we hopped into the car, driving away less than a minute later.

We literally ran into the house, stripping our clothes from our bodies as we ran to the bedroom, Max running ahead and then waiting for us to catch up. I helped Lucy onto the bed, not even bothering to turn it down then slid in behind her. We kissed for maybe a minute or two before our lust for each other took over and Lucy broke it to climb on top of me. She rubbed me into her slit a few times before rising up on her legs and slowly impaling herself onto my steel-like erection. It throbbed with every beat of my heart and in my ardor for my wife I was sure it was pumping at 150 beats a minute, at least. There was so much blood in my cock that I felt it would break.

Once Lucy had lowered herself all the way to my pubis she began a slow rocking motion, gently driving her clit into my hard muscles. I matched her with slow deep thrusts that increased in speed and intensity as we progressed. We were into it about two minutes when she leaned down to kiss me, teasing me with her active darting tongue. I pulled her to me then so our bodies meshed into one. She pulled her head back for a second to look into my eyes as she said the words I yearned to hear—I love you. My response was to drive up into her with all my strength as I kissed her again. I had been sure that Lucy was the woman for me before, but now that it seemed that we were going to be parents I couldn’t be more certain.

Our mating was destined to a swift death because of our love and lust. I could feel the tremors begin in her abdomen and spread to the other parts of her body as they grew in strength and frequency. She came so hard I thought she might need the emergency room for her back which bent backwards more than forty-five degrees. Instead, she was more like a whip than a pillar of stone as I emptied my balls into her hot cunt.

We were breathing heavily when we finally came to rest. Lucy’s body was covered in a sheet of sexual sweat and mine was even worse. Lucy looked at me then at the blanket and we both laughed. I realized then that I had rarely laughed before meeting Lucy. That was just one more reason for loving her the way I did. I checked the clock then showed it to Lucy. She called me a “party pooper,” but rose from my body leaving a long thread of semen and pussy juice oozing from her cunt. Walking hand in hand we made it to the shower for something we would both need before our dinner date with Daryl and Jasmine. Lucy had already planned the menu with Ingrid.

They arrived at six and we had drinks on the patio by the pool. I say “drinks,” but truthfully three of us had ginger ale and the other had a Coke. Ingrid brought out some chips and salsa that tasted great. I was reminded then that neither Lucy nor I had eaten any lunch. I asked Ingrid for some potato chips and they came a few minutes later. We moved to the patio table just before seven for our dinner—grilled tuna steaks, potatoes au gratin and fresh baby carrots. The meal was delicious and was accompanied with great conversation, but nothing was said about Lucy being pregnant. We had decided to say nothing until it was confirmed by her doctor.

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Monday morning at inspection I reminded the men of our 4:30 appointment at the county firing range. “Remember the rules—all weapons unloaded and actions open. If you’re in uniform you won’t need an ID or a pistol license so that’s what I recommend. We’ll have at least five firing lanes, but I’ll go first then Lt. Evans and when we’re done each of you will fire fifty rounds. There’s one thing to remember. You’ll hear me say it over and over—shooting is nothing more than practice and concentration…practice and concentration. Of course, having proper form is critical, but that’s just one aspect of practice. Okay, dismissed. Have a safe day.”

Daryl was still with me when I walked up to Sandra’s desk. She looked up to ask me, “Did you meet a Darnell Carmichael on Saturday afternoon? He told me you suggested he phone for an application to the force.”

“Yeah, he stopped me while I was walking Max at the rest stop down in Coopersville. Send him an application and tell him what other info we’ll need.” I walked into my office with Daryl at my heels.

“What on earth were you doing all the way down there?”

“I needed something from a pharmacy and we stopped there on the way back because Lucy needed to take a whiz.”

Daryl’s no dope so he read between the lines and responded almost immediately. “That’s great, Matt. Congratulations.”

“Yeah, well…we’re not saying anything until she sees her doctor so please don’t say a word—not even to Jasmine.” He made a sign of zipping his lips like a kid in elementary school might then I reviewed the day’s work with him and left with Max for the supermarket just down the street. By now everyone in the city was accustomed to seeing Max with me, even in restaurants and the supermarket. I pushed the cart to the fruit and vegetable section where I selected three items, paying no attention to whether they were ripe or not. I wasn’t planning on eating them.

Lucy stopped by just before lunch with her picnic basket. She told me that she had an appointment to see Dr. Murphy on Friday at 4:00. “I made it late in the afternoon hoping that you would be able to go with me.” I promised that I would unless some dire emergency occurred. Then she asked if she could come with me to the range this afternoon. I agreed once the Range Manager assured me that he had an extra set of ear wear.

Daryl came in for lunch after Lucy had gone, telling me about a three-car accident on one of our “major” highways. Our roads were a big problem. Most of them had been built forty or more years ago when the population was only a tenth of what it was today when they were overcrowded and drivers tended to go much too fast. Twice in the past week I had pulled over to the roadside to allow someone to pass even though I was technically speeding. Imagine their surprise when I flipped the light bar and siren on. The first, a man in his fifties, was polite and respectful, but the second, a young woman, created a ruckus—swearing like I hadn’t heard since my years in the Navy. Of course, I was polite, but insistent that I wanted to see her live to see thirty and driving on that road at such high speed made that doubtful.

I picked up Lucy at 4:00 for the twenty minute ride to the range. I wanted to get there first so I could set up my demonstration. The manager introduced himself after acknowledging Lucy. I explained what I wanted to do and he shut down the range while he walked me to the fifty-yard mark. I set up my special sawhorse and pushed the cantaloupe, apple, and plum onto the three spikes that protruded up from the two by four I had nailed to the top.

Many of the men had arrived by the time we were done. I explained what I was about to do. I put on my shooting glasses and my ear protection then made sure that Lucy’s were comfortably over her ears before turning and loading my pistol. I replaced it in my holster then drew and swiftly brought it up to a two-handed firing position. A second later I exhaled and fired. The cantaloupe exploded. I waited a few seconds before taking my second shot, this time destroying the apple. Finally, I fired at the plum disintegrating it instantly.

“Practice and concentration,” I told the men. “You have no idea how many hours and weeks I practiced that before I got it right. I must have shot ten thousand rounds. Now, there’s one thing that most of you don’t consider—gravity. A bullet starts to fall as soon as it leaves the barrel. The rate of fall is independent of its horizontal speed. At fifty yards my .44 Magnum shell has a muzzle velocity of about 1,350 feet per second. It covers the fifty yards in .11 seconds and the bullet will fall almost two and a half inches so I have to aim that much higher in order to strike the target. My 9mm only travels at about 1150 fps so it will fall even farther.

Most of your shooting will take place at twenty feet or less. Scientific studies have shown that, so if you aim for the chest and the bullet drops an inch or so it won’t make any difference. This is something you have to consider if you have to shoot at longer distances.” I stopped when one of the officers asked a question.

“Chief, isn’t it a disadvantage having only six shots when most people, like criminals, use a semi-automatic with at least double the number in the clip?”

“That’s a good question, Somers. Let’s get a target. Most of the time you won’t have to fire more than ten yards so it’s important that you aim and practice at twenty or more. Start at twenty and move up from there.”

I reloaded as the range manager ran a man-shaped target out to forty yards as we had discussed earlier.

I raised my Colt Python quickly, but not so fast as to upset my balance. Then I fired one shot after another until the cylinder was empty. I flipped it open with my right hand, spilling the spent cartridges onto the floor as I pulled one of the speed loaders from my belt, ejecting the cartridges into the cylinder in less than two seconds. I flipped the cylinder closed as I replaced the loader, bringing the weapon up to horizontal as I did. Once I had my left hand on the grip and trigger I commenced firing again. I repeated once the six shots were spent. The target was retrieved once I was done.

“Care to guess how many times I had to practice that? I used to sit in my Navy barracks and practice for hours whenever I wasn’t on duty. Now I can do it in my sleep. One of these days my life and the lives of others may depend on my ability…or yours.” My target, once retrieved, showed eighteen holes in the central body mass of the target showing eighteen straight kill shots. I stepped back and Daryl stepped forward, loaded his H&K 9mm and fired just as quickly as I did. He changed clips and fired again. His target, to nobody’s surprise showed thirty clean hits.

Now it was up to the men. The first five loaded their weapons as Daryl and I stood behind them, making suggestions like “hold your arms straight, but don’t tighten your muscles. Look down the sight with both eyes. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it with a little more practice.” All told we spent more than ninety minutes at the range and only half of the men had qualified by reaching eighty-five percent accuracy, but another eighteen had just missed. Only the older officers had done really poorly. I had an idea what I could do with them.

Tuesday we repeated, but before their 4:00 p.m. shift began, meeting at the range at 2:00. My demo went as expected as did Daryl’s shooting. This time sixty percent of the men met the standard and nineteen were close. Wednesday morning at 8:30 we finished the testing with the midnight shift. There were fewer on this shift and I wondered aloud if we had enough. The officers told me that it was tight. If there was an accident or a fight at a bar, responding was a close call and left the rest of the city under-patrolled. I decided to discuss that with Lucy.

Wednesday night found Daryl, Lucy, Max and me in the AME Church hall where we were provided with a blackboard and a number of tables and chairs. Five young black men and one black woman showed up for the tutoring. I began the session be telling everyone that we would be on a first name basis during the sessions. “How many will we have,” asked the woman named Aimee.

“How many will you need? We’ll give you as many as you need or as many as you want. I should tell you that you will be tested in Memphis, but we’ll provide a big van to transport you both ways. The test has two parts—aptitude or your ability to learn and a psychological profile. If you are successful you’ll find that there will be repeated psychological reviews because we don’t want a hothead on the force and we don’t want someone with psychological issues. We don’t want people who are prejudiced either. We do want people who are calm and who think things through before reacting.

“I’ve had people spit in my face when there was an antiwar demonstration outside a base where I was stationed. I wanted more than anything to strangle that little bastard, but that was exactly what he wanted. Instead, I twisted him around, handcuffed him and put him into a van where he was formally arrested for assault and read his rights. Then I returned to my place in line. There were no more spitting incidents for the rest of the demonstration although we did arrest another thirty people. Keep in mind that what I did was by the book and what every other police officer should do in a similar situation. So…why are you here? Why do you think you want to be a police officer?”

We listened and talked for almost thirty minutes and when we were done we were sure that everyone had good reasons for being here. Lucy passed out sample exams and I gave pencils to those who needed one while Daryl took over the instruction. He went through the first twenty questions with the group and I was pleased that they did well. Theoretically, you can’t study for an aptitude test, but you can study for the type of question and you can develop good test-taking practices. We all left with smiles on our faces at 10:00.

The next week we had eight students and the week after that ten including two Hispanic men. We held the sessions for ten weeks then made transportation arrangements to and from the test which was held on a Saturday morning. All ten of our students felt that they did well and all thanked Daryl, Lucy, and me for our time and willingness to help. Now all we had to do was await the results.

>>>>>>

I was in my office the day after the range work was done when Sandra told me that I had a phone call from Julia Adams. “Hi, there Prosecutor; how are you? How’s the case going?”

“I’m doing great, Matt and the case is even better. Jeremy Haynes is such a total coward. He rolled over on his own parents and his colleagues the very first time we talked with him. I don’t think this will ever actually go to trial. There will be a plea deal for sure, but there will also be some heavy jail time for all of them. The worst is Wilson, the ex-chief. He just wanted money to take care of his sick wife in their retirement. Now he’s sick and it’s likely that he’ll die in prison.”

“He’s a drug dealer and worse. I have no sympathy for him or any of the others. What about bail?”

“No…they got our strictest judge and I was able to use Mrs. Haynes’ journal as proof that they had the means to get out of the country. Haynes and his wife have more than ten million in the Caymans. Jeremy has four million. Parsons and Wilson have about three each. That was enough to convince the judge that they were flight risks so no bail.

“But the reason I’m calling is to share some good news. We counted the money they paid the Mexicans and it comes to 1.25 million. As the lead officer in the case and because it was under your jurisdiction your city will get seventy-five percent as soon as the money is cleared. That will probably be within a year or so.”

“That is good news because I have an excellent use for the money. All I have to do is convince my wife and let her deal with the City Council.” I ended the call with a big thank you and dug into the budget. It was just one more reason to totally despise Joe Wilson. It was worse than inadequate. There was no provision for new vehicles. The inventory from the garage showed that we had four vehicles that were already five years old with more than a half million miles on them. They were spending more time in the shop than on the road.

We needed a long-term plan approved by the Council for vehicle replacement. The same was true of shotguns, pistols, and parts. I also thought that we needed more manpower for the midnight shift. And then there were the two projects I wanted for the community.

Lucy and Daryl joined me for lunch and I laid out the deficiencies as I saw them. “That’s one of the reasons why you were hired, Matt. There hasn’t been an increase in the police department budget for the last ten years. In that time salaries alone rose by almost fifty percent so something had to be wrong. I think that all of us expect a big increase, but I’ll start working on that today. We’re having an emergency meeting Monday night to deal with the Carl Haynes matter. Luckily, he’ll be out of office by January. I’m going to recommend Jasmine as his replacement. Haynes was running unopposed, so we’ll have to vote in a replacement and this way she’ll have the upper hand.” Then she leaned over the table to kiss me, reminding me for at least the thirtieth time about her appointment tomorrow afternoon.

I walked over to the City Planning Department at 1:30 where I was met by a Mark Fredericks at the counter. He told me that he was one of the architects in the department. “That’s great—just what I need. I want to erect two community centers—one in the eastern end of the city and one in the west. That means that land would have to be purchased and a building erected. I want a gymnasium where kids can play ball and—I think—three rooms for senior citizens, maybe one for cards or games and another for arts and crafts and perhaps a kitchen/dining room. Finally, I want space for a police department sub-station. What do you think?”

“I think you’re blowing smoke out your ass. It’s great to have ideas, but this City Council will never vote for it.”

“I think there will be a lot of support. In fact, my wife loves the idea.”

“That doesn’t mean much.”

“Do you know my wife?”

“Nope.”

“Her name is Lucille Cahill—Lucille Bascomb Cahill.” I thought his jaw dropped so far it would hit the floor. “How long to get some preliminary drawings that I can share with the Council?”

“When’s the next meeting?”

“Monday night to deal with the Carl Haynes issue.”

“What issue?”

“He was arrested last week along with several others in a big drug bust.”

“No shit! I never would have thought….” Then he was really surprised when I told him about the others. “Damn! I always wondered why the cops never caught many drug dealers.” Then, as an afterthought he said, “What a disgusting mess. I guess we all owe you a vote of thanks. I have three kids—two in high school and one in middle school.”

“I expect to get roughly $900,000 from the confiscated money and my wife has pledged another $100,000. Her father has pledged another $250,000 so I think it has a good chance of happening.”

“Okay, I think I can have some preliminary drawings by Monday night.”

“Great, will you come to the meeting to explain and answer any questions?”

“Nobody’s ever asked me to do that before, but—yeah, I can do that. It’ll be my pleasure. Thanks, Chief.”

“Just call me, Matt.” We shook hands and I left him to his work.

The following morning I had a call from Paul McCormick. “I don’t know how you did it, but your ten candidates all scored in the top fifty and two of them were in the top fifteen. Great going. Will you have openings for all of them?

“For most; how’d they do on the psych part?”

“They all passed easily which is more than I can say for the folks from Memphis. Half of them failed that part.” I knew that was the death knell for their fledgling police careers. One could always take the aptitude part of the test again and hope to do better, but improving on the psych exam was next to impossible. We talked for a while before I made my next call—a very important one to my friend Pastor Anthony Michaels about my next speech to his congregation.

I went home that night with a huge grin on my face and when Lucy ran to hug and kiss me it was even bigger. I spun around with Lucy in my arms as our lips pressed together and our tongues dueling in our love for each other. Breaking the kiss, I whispered, “I love you and I always will. My love for you is eternal.” I guessed that she agreed because she once again pressed those delicious lips into mine. That was how I carried her into the house. Max was nipping at my feet when we ran into a laughing Ingrid. “I just want you to know that I’ll have dinner in about fifteen minutes…if you’re interested, that is!”

I placed Lucy onto her feet before walking into the kitchen to get a Coke for me and an iced tea for Lucy. We were talking in the family room when Ingrid summoned us to the table. She served us delicious beef filets done medium rare with roasted new potatoes and grilled ear of corn. It was another fantastic meal, made even better because Lucy and I kissed between almost every bite.

After feeding Max we went outside to the pool where we dropped our clothes and stepped into the water naked. We swam a dozen laps before stopping to hold and kiss each other. My hands were on her butt cheeks, but hers went straight to my cock. “And, what do you have in mind, Mrs. Cahill,” I asked teasingly.

“I think you already have a really good idea, my darling. It feels a little cool, but I have a nice way to warm it up.” She kissed me then as her legs went around my waist and she pulled me into her heaven. Damn, but it really was heaven in there—so warm and wet and silky smooth unless she used her powerful Kegel muscles on me. Her slow languid movements in the dark water as she wrapped herself around my cock and rubbed her bullet-hard nipples into my chest drove me wild with lust. I had learned many weeks ago that I could never get enough of Lucy.

We began to move together, creating waves in the tranquil water until they splashed actively into the distant sides and steps. So active had we become that water spilled up and out of the pool onto the deck with every thrust into Lucy’s cunt. Tomorrow we’d hopefully learn that she was pregnant. It was what we had been praying and working for, not that making love with Lucy could ever be considered work. It was the most pleasurable thing I’d ever been a part of.

I knew that we wanted it never to end, but neither of us was built for that. Lucy came with a loud scream that I was sure could be heard at her parents’ home then she sagged into my chest as I continued to pound her. Soon she returned my efforts and she was working toward her second. All told, she came four times before I finally spilled my seed into her vault. I carried her out, her legs still wrapped around my waist and her head on my shoulder. I stooped to retrieve our clothes and carried her up the stairs to the shower. She was still wrapped around my body when I stepped under the hot water.

“I think I’ll stay here forever,” she whispered.

“Then I think I’ll need a new wardrobe.” For some reason she thought that was hilarious and broke out laughing. After thinking about it for a second or two I joined her. True to her word she was still there when I walked to the bed. By then the laughter had died out to be replaced by kiss after kiss on my face and neck and lips. I placed her carefully onto the bed, slipping in behind her. She found her usual place—head on my left shoulder and left leg lying on my thigh—when I told her again how much I loved her. The next thing I recognized was the alarm at 6:30.

The mood was jovial at inspection and, as had become the norm over the recent weeks, it was perfect. I sat in on the morning briefing with Daryl then retired to my office to prepare for my budget meeting with the City Council. I knew that Lucy would move the meeting that way right after they took care of asshole Carl Haynes, replacing him with Jasmine. That would be a major step forward in my opinion. I’d also heard from a number of people on the street while walking through the downtown area. Everyone who approached me had expressed their thanks to me and their total disappointment in Haynes and family. Second only to their scorn for Carl Haynes was their disdain for former Chief Joe Wilson.

It was noon before I knew it and, even then it was only because Daryl came to get me. “Damn, Matt; you’re really into that budget.”

“Yeah…like I have a choice; can you believe that there’s no plan for vehicle replacement? According to the garage foreman some of our vehicles are more than five years old. None of them have less than five hundred thousand miles on them. I think that some of the Council members are in for a big surprise, plus I’m going to apply for some federal grants. Paul McCormick has told me that he gets a lot of his equipment that way—weapons, vehicles, ammunition. I can’t find a single application in the files and neither can Sandra. She’s worked here for eight years.”

“Well, it’ll still be here when we get back from lunch. How about Earl’s?” Earl’s sounded good. The restaurant wasn’t named “Earl’s,” but that’s what all the locals called it. We walked out with Max, knowing that he’d be accepted at Earl’s just as he was almost everyplace else.

Sure enough, Earl himself met us outside the door. This was an Italian restaurant and Earl was a short heavy black man. Go figure! I asked him how business was. “It’s great, Matt now that I don’t have to give those freeloading cop bastards free meals every day.”

Daryl and I sat at one of the tables with Max at my feet. We ordered Italian subs with Cokes and had returned the menus to Earl’s meaty hands when he asked, “I got some fat and some cut up pieces of meatball and sausage—the mild stuff. Okay if I give it to Max?”

“Sure, Earl, but not too much. Lucy will kill me if he gets diarrhea.” Earl laughed, but he knew I was serious. What he produced was no bigger than a small scoop of ice cream. I thanked Earl as he set the plate onto the floor next to me. I signaled Max that he could eat as I thanked Earl again. Daryl and I talked shop until our sandwiches arrived, returning to the office around 1:15 where I tried to organize my work for presentation Monday evening. I left at 3:30 sharp, telling Sandra that I had to take Lucy to the doctor.

“Good luck,” she told me with a wry smile on her face. I smiled back and shook my head as Max and I strode out the door. Ten minutes later I was in the driveway where my wonderful wife was already waiting. She jumped into the car and off we drove while Max licked Lucy’s face and hands and wagged his tail wildly. I left the windows open, but told Max to stay when I walked Lucy into Dr. Murphy’s office.

We waited—of course—for more than twenty minutes before a nurse called Lucy’s name—well, almost. “Lucille Bascomb,” was the name that was called. The nurse was somewhat surprised when I accompanied Lucy to the exam room. “Why are you here, Ms. Bascomb, and who is this with you?”

“I’m a bit surprised that you don’t know that I’m married. It was in all of the newspapers and I told the woman who made the appointment that I was. This is my husband—Chief of Police Matt Cahill—and we’re here to learn if I’m pregnant. I used three of those home pregnancy tests last week and they all said ‘yes,’ but we’d like confirmation and I assume that I’ll need a series of appointments.”

“Yes, I’m sorry, but I’ve been on vacation for the past three weeks. I’ll make the change in name and marital status immediately. Even though you’ve already done this I’d like you to use these three tests. Wait until the middle of your stream and then stick them in so the urine covers the test area. You can dry them with paper towel, but don’t rinse in water. Okay?” Lucy took the strips and stepped out with a smile followed closely by the nurse.

I was alone in the exam room for about five minutes, but there was no way I was going to read any of those sappy women’s magazines in the rack on the wall. Fortunately, Lucy returned then and she was smiling again. “Six for six,” she said laughing. Then she came to me and gave me the sweetest short kiss of my life. It was short because just ten seconds into it a woman I assumed was Dr. Murphy opened the door and entered.

“Hello, Lucille.”

“Hi, Dianne; I’d like you to meet my husband, Matt…Matt Cahill.” I stood and nodded in greeting then sat as Dr. Murphy took over.

After examining the three tests she told Lucy to sit on the exam table as I moved out of the way. “These tests are about 96 percent accurate, but I’ll need a little blood to be sure. If you’re pregnant your body will produce several hormones that are only in your blood during pregnancy. Are you still afraid of needles?”

I didn’t need to hear an answer. Lucy’s face showed her panic. I walked over to hold and hug her face and head. I whispered into Lucy’s ear as Dr. Murphy quickly inserted the needle and waited until the vial was full. A few seconds later Lucy’s arm was bandaged while Dr. Murphy went through a spiel that she must have recited more than a thousand times about diet, exercise, no smoking or drinking. A series of appointments were set up before we left at almost five o’clock. Rather than go home I took Lucy out for an early dinner.

Max was happy to see us and he had warmed to Lucy even more that I could have hoped. He moved to her as soon as she was in the car, wagging his tail wildly. “I think he loves you almost as much as I do, Lucy.”

“That’s okay because I love him too—not as much as I love you, though.” Then she leaned across the console for a sensational kiss. Breaking it she told me, “I’m in the mood for pizza for dinner. Is that okay?” It was, so back to Earl’s we went. His pizza was just as good as his Italian cold cut subs. We ordered double sausage with two Cokes, sitting at the rickety table as we ate. I kept some of the scraps for Max to eat later. We walked out just before six and then—catastrophe!

There is nothing a police officer hates more than a hostage situation. Only a domestic dispute even comes close. My phone rang and caller ID told me it was headquarters calling. Sgt. Holland, the evening sergeant, told me that there had been a silent alarm at George’s Men’s Wear about fifteen minutes ago, just before closing. The responding officers found that George was stuck in his shop with a white male who held a gun to his head. They had secured the front and rear of the shop and Holland wanted to know what to do next.

“Call in every officer from day shift that you can reach and especially Lt. Evans. I have to take Lucy home and then I’ll be on scene. Get in touch with the phone company and have them send a technician who can hook us up with the shop’s phone.” Lucy was already belted in when I hit the light bar and siren. There was no time to waste. Drivers in Tennessee generally pull over to allow police, ambulance, or fire trucks right of way, and as soon as I pulled out there was a clear lane for me. I hit fifty down the city’s main drag before pulling off onto our street. Once the door was opened I ran into our home office to open my gun safe. It was a big one, almost six feet high by three wide and two deep. I pulled out a hard-shelled case that weighed almost thirty-five pounds. Opening it, I carefully counted eleven .50 caliber bullets. Carrying it in my right hand I ran back down the stairs to hug and kiss Lucy before leading Max back to the SUV.

“Please be careful, Matt,” Lucy yelled as I began to pull away. I would be; I had more than one good reason to be extremely careful.

>>>>>>

I sped up to the cross street where George had his menswear shop, skidding to a halt just before the intersection. I opened the hatchback and carefully donned my vest, making sure that my Colt Python was easily accessible then I grabbed the heavy gun case and trotted down the block. I was pleased to learn that day shift officers had blockaded the street and removed any residents from the apartments above the stores. That was especially important above George’s shop.

Looking across the narrow two-lane street I could easily see into the well-lit store. George was pulled in front of a young white male who held a revolver against his head. So far, so good, I thought. The kid hadn’t panicked yet and his pistol wasn’t cocked. I turned to one of the officers and told him, “Get whoever has this car tonight to turn it so it’s on a sixty degree angle to the curb, like this.” Then I showed him with my hands how I wanted the car. I had opened the case and was putting my weapon together by the time he and another young officer had returned.

They stopped short when they saw it. “What the hell is that, Chief?”

“Ever try to shoot through plate glass with a 9mm or a 5.62mm from an M-16? If you do you’ll see that the glass is so hard and so thick that it will actually turn the bullet. That won’t happen with this. I held up one of the rounds—a .50 caliber BMG round for my Barrett M82 A sniper rifle. I attached the scope and set the front bipod up on the squad car’s roof. The rear stand I adjusted so the rifle’s barrel was just even with the perpetrator’s head. Daryl walked up then to hand me a headset, courtesy of the phone company.

I took the radio handset from the squad and set it to serve as a bull horn. “HELLO, IN THE STORE. THIS IS CHIEF CAHILL OF THE CITY POLICE. I’D LIKE TO TALK TO YOU ON THE PHONE SO YOU CAN SPEAK BACK TO ME. PLEASE PICK IT UP WHEN IT RINGS.” I turned it off, dropping it onto the car’s seat. Daryl had coordinated with the phone company technician, telling him that we wanted an open line to the store. A few seconds later I could hear the phone ring across the silent street.

Warily, the young man pulled George across the showroom to the phone. I spoke as soon as he had it up. “This is Matt Cahill. Why don’t you call me Matt? What should I call you?”

“Oh, no you don’t; I’m not giving you my name.”

“Okay, how about if I call you Bob? It’s as good as any name.”

“Um…okay.”

“So tell me, Bob—how’d you get into this mess, anyway? You’re in a real pickle, aren’t you?”

“My car ran out of gas and this guy was the only one that was open.”

“I see, but George is a really nice guy. I’m sure he would have given you twenty bucks if you had asked him. Why the gun and why take him as a hostage?”

“I…I need more than twenty. I need my medicine.”

“You seem a little tense, Bob—and kind of jittery, too. That sounds like meth to me. Is that what you’re on? Don’t let that cause you to make a stupid mistake.”

“What…what do you mean?”

“Well, I’m sure you watch TV so you must know that the police never allow someone in your situation to just walk away. We have you surrounded—front and back—so the only way you’re going to get out is to put your gun down and walk out the front door with your hands on your head. Don’t let anything happen to George. He’s the only thing keeping you alive.”

“What do you mean…the only thing keeping me alive?”

“Well, it’s pretty simple. You’re using George as a shield, right? But what do you think would happen if you shot him? There would be no reason not to shoot you. I hope you understand that. It’s important. I want you to relax. As long as George is okay you’re going to be okay. What about food or something to drink like water or a Coke? I could get you some burgers from Wendy’s right up the block or I could get you some chicken from KFC. Are you hungry?”

“Yeah, I am kind of hungry. Say, how do I know you have people out back?”

“That’s a fair question, Bob. Tell you what I’m going to do. I’ll have one of my men shoot his rifle into the heavy steel door out back. You and George can stand in the doorway to the back room, but don’t get too close to the door in case it breaks and splinters. I don’t want either of you getting hurt.”

“Um…okay; go ahead, but don’t do anything stupid.”

“I won’t, Bob, but that’s good advice for you, too. Don’t do anything stupid and we’ll get through this okay.” I had him right in the crosshairs throughout the entire conversation and I could have taken him out at any time, but I was hoping that wouldn’t be necessary.

“Bob, Officer Lovett is out back with an M-16 rifle. Neil, I want you to take three and only three shots at the center of the door when I give you the word. Are you ready, Bob?

“Yeah…okay, go ahead.”

“You heard the man, Neil.” A second later the still night was broken by the sound of three quick reports and I could hear the rounds impact the steel door.

“You can believe me, Bob. I have no reason to lie to you.” I saw him then return to the showroom and it took all my resolve not to swear out loud. On the way back, looking trough the scope I saw him quickly swallow several pills from a plastic bag. If they were more meth this situation could go south in a hurry. I needed to keep this guy cool and relaxed so I changed the subject back to food.

“Okay, Bob; I was just thinking. Burgers would probably be better than chicken, you know? You’d probably need two hands to eat the chicken, but only one for the burger. That way you could still keep your gun on George, but don’t worry. He’s not going to do anything to hurt you. He’s one of the nicest guys I know. You don’t have to hurt him and you don’t want the gun to go off accidentally, do you?”

He moved the barrel of the gun away from George’s head and I breathed a sigh of relief. Now all I had to do was keep him as calm as possible. I made arrangements to get two double with cheese combos from Wendy’s, even asking him what he wanted on it. Then I asked him to speak to George to find out what he would like. Finally, we took their order for drinks. “It’s going to take about ten minutes—maybe a trifle longer. We’ll cut the line, but the officer still has to get there and back so please be patient.”

I waited a few minutes before speaking again. “Which is your car, Bob? Is it out on Main Street?”

“Yeah, it’s on the other side of the street…a 2007 Pontiac. It’s a Grand Prix…white.” Daryl simply nodded then dashed up the street in search of the car. It would be great if we could learn more about “Bob,” anything that would help bring this crisis to a peaceful conclusion.

“Say…Bob are you from around here or are you just passing through?”

“I was born down near Memphis, but now I live over in Kentucky.”

“That sounds nice. Kentucky is a beautiful state.” I’d say anything if it would help this guy to relax. A few minutes later Daryl gave me a sheet of paper with his name, address, and info about his local family. Now I had to be careful. “Bob, if you were born near here does that mean that you still have family here? Is there anyone you’d like us to contact? Someone you’d like to speak with?”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say because he reacted immediately and in a negative way. “The only one here is my fucking bitch of a mother. I don’t care if she fucking dies. In fact, I’d like to be the one who does it. I’d shoot that fucking cunt right in the head just like I’m going to do with this old man.” Oh, shit!

Oh, shit turned to oh, fucking shit when “Bob” pulled the hammer back and pushed the barrel into George’s head. I tried to speak—to calm him—but the look in his face told me that we were done speaking. I couldn’t wait even another second. His head was right in the crosshairs a millisecond later when I slowly pulled the trigger.

A .50 caliber bullet dwarfs almost every other cartridge, even the .44 Magnum shells I used in my pistol. The cartridge holds so much propellant that the round is supersonic immediately. Muzzle velocity is almost 3,000 feet per second. The speed of sound is about 1130 fps so the heavy missile is traveling at more than 2.5 times the speed of sound. “Bob” was dead before any of us even had time to react, his head exploding from the massive kinetic energy of the heavy projectile.

Three officers ran across the street into George’s to remove him for examination by the EMT’s on site and to secure the scene. I just took several long breaths in an effort to calm myself. I was looking down when I felt a hand on my shoulder. “You had no choice, Matt; none at all. If you had waited even a few seconds George would have been dead and then we would have had to kill him anyway.”

“Thanks, Daryl, but that doesn’t make me feel any better. I feel that I somehow failed. I had no idea that mentioning his family would set him off.”

“No, I think you handled it perfectly. Mentioning family, especially mom usually forces the perp to think about what he is doing. None of us had any idea. I wonder if there are any records in Social Services about his family. Sounds like an abusive situation; I think I’ll check up on Monday.”

I had started to disassemble the rifle when George was led behind me by two EMT’s. He was wrapped in a blanket and was hurried along the sidewalk when he suddenly stopped to hug me. “Thank God you were here, Matt. I wasn’t really scared until the end when he seemed to snap. I’d be dead now if not for you.” I returned the hug then encouraged him to follow the EMT’s to their vehicle. He was an elderly man who had undergone an extremely traumatic experience, one that could haunt him for the rest of his life.

I had returned the rifle to its case when Daryl suggested that I go home. “I’ll secure the tape for the crime scene tech’s and we have plenty of witnesses. I’m sure George will be a good witness, too. You need to get home to that great wife of yours.” I nodded and walked away, carrying my rifle and feeling like a total failure.

Lucy was up and waiting for me when I drove into the garage. She rushed out to hold me. “Daryl called. How terrible for you!” She led me into the house and up to the bedroom where she stripped my uniform from my body and led me into the shower. I was there with her when I broke down and cried like a baby. All told I must have cried for half an hour before Lucy’s love and tenderness helped to calm me. I had no remorse about killing the Mexican in the drug bust, but I’d had no real choice then. He was trying to kill me and it was self-defense. I had the highest hopes of ending this standoff successfully, but it wasn’t to be.

Lucy put me to bed then took care of Max, feeding him and putting him out. He knew somehow that something was wrong—that something bad had happened. He rushed in and placed his head onto the bed where I could reach him and run my fingers through the fur on his head. Soon Lucy joined me, lying partially on my body. No sex tonight, but there was still plenty of loving and caring before I finally succumbed to sleep.

>>>>>>

We didn’t do much on Saturday, but I did take two phone calls from the County. The first was from the crime tech’s to tell me that their report would indicate that I shot out of necessity to save a life. The second was from the medical examiner. That came in the late afternoon. He told me that analysis of Sean Dugan’s blood showed he was a chronic abuser of drugs and that he had enough meth in his blood to fry anyone’s brain. He doubted that Dugan would have been able to think or reason at all.

Sunday morning we were up early for the drive to the AME Church. Again, we were met by Pastor Michaels who led us to the front pew. This time I was asked to speak in the middle of the service. “Thank you, Anthony. The last time I was here I tried to tell you that I wanted to recruit minorities for the police force and that we—meaning my friend Daryl Evans, my wife Lucy, and I would hold tutoring sessions for anyone interested. Ten people showed interest and attended our sessions.

“Well, I took a call from the Chief in Memphis a few days ago and he told me that either we were great tutors or we had great students because all ten passed both parts of the exam. All ten scored in the top fifty on the aptitude part and all ten passed the psychological part. I have a meeting tomorrow evening to review the police department budget with the City Council and I anticipate that we will have openings for all of you. You will get a formal letter within the next two weeks about enrolling in the Memphis Police Academy. Of course, the city will pay for that. Congratulations to all of you. You certainly deserve it.” I stood back from the podium to applaud.

I was about to sit down when an elderly man stood to ask a question. “Did you shoot a young man Friday evening?”

“I’m sorry to say that I did. I’ve been involved in more than a dozen hostage situations and most of them were resolved peacefully, but this young man was close to overdosing on methamphetamine according to the medical examiner. We were doing well until he suddenly became irrational and paranoid and placed his cocked pistol against George Myers’ head. I regret having no choice. It was either him or George. I would have done the same thing if it had been anyone in this church. Innocent people don’t deserve to be murdered.”

“Well, Chief—I’m inclined to agree with you. I heard about it from some of the bystanders. They told me that you were trying to get him to give up his gun and come out when he went crazy. That’s when you shot him. Weren’t you worried about hitting George?”

“No, I make that kind of shot with my pistol regularly and at a greater distance than on Friday. I had a high powered rifle with a quality scope and I had the perpetrator in view through it the entire time. I hated having to shoot and kill him. I tell you unashamedly that I cried for more than half an hour when I got home. Thank God I have a loving wife or I don’t think I would have made it.”

“Yes, sir—no question about it; a good woman makes us stronger.” He waved and began to applaud. Soon everyone in the entire church was clapping. I readily admit that I was embarrassed so I just took my seat to allow the service to continue. Almost an hour later Pastor Michaels finished by asking everyone to pray for “our brave and noble first responders.” Amen!

>>>>>>

I was in an important meeting with Daryl and Dan Powell to review the budget requests Monday morning. I wanted their input to ensure that I hadn’t missed anything so, of course, they found six issues that I had completely missed. Dan also suggested an alternative vehicle replacement system that might be cheaper but more effective than the one I had proposed. I decided that I’d hold that in reserve in case the City Council balked at my plan or if they wanted me to cut the budget once they realized how much I felt we needed.

We were into it almost an hour when Sandra called on the intercom. “It’s Lucy, Matt.” I took the call immediately. “Hi, what’s the news?”

“It’s confirmed. You’re going to be a dad. I’m so happy. What are you doing now? Are you busy?”

“Yeah, I am. I’m in a meeting with Daryl and Dan Powell.”

“Great! Invite both of them to dinner on Saturday. I’ll invite my folks. I know Dan and his wife Marie very well.”

“Okay, I’ll take care of it right now. I’m planning on leaving a bit early this afternoon so we can have dinner and still get to the meeting before seven.”

“Okay, I’ll see you then. I love you so much, Matt.”

“Yeah, I love you, too.”

Daryl was smiling when I turned back to the table. “That was obviously Lucy. We’re having a dinner party on Saturday. You’re both invited. I hope you can come, Dan. I know that Daryl never turns down a free meal.”

Daryl laughed. “You know very well that my mama didn’t raise no fools. That Ingrid can really cook. Tell Lucy I’d like prime rib…on the bone.” I just shook my head, but silently I did agree. Then we went back to work. Sandra made the necessary revisions. Thank God for word processing programs—and then she made enough copies for the City Council members and for the public. I left around three to hug and kiss my wonderful wife.

The official meeting was scheduled for 7:30, but I met with the City Council, the mayor, and the Council’s attorney in executive session starting at 7:00. Lucy ran the show, wasting no time as she spoke first about Carl Haynes. “Our first order of business is what to do about Carl and his place on the Council. “Any advice, Martin?”

“I’d like to hear from Chief Cahill first. Is there any question about his guilt?”

“About as much as the sun not rising tomorrow morning; I apprehended him and Mrs. Haynes myself in the midst of buying what the DEA describes as almost ten million dollars in illegal drugs. In case you’re wondering, there’s no bail because a ledger found on Mrs. Haynes indicates that they have more than ten million in a bank in the Cayman Islands.”

“Thank you, Chief. I recommend that you take action to suspend Carl pending the completion of the case. You can appoint a replacement if you wish.”

I noticed an older woman raise her hand. “Lucille, I’d like to suggest that we appoint Jasmine Stone. I’m sure we all know what a wonderful job she’s done at the library. She’s intelligent, level headed, and well organized and she has lived in the city almost all her life.”

“Thank you, Maude; I agree with your assessment. Anyone have another suggestion?” The group was silent so I assumed that there was consensus on Jasmine’s appointment. “Next, I think we should ask Matt about the police officers who were arrested.”

“I think the procedure is the same as for Carl Haynes although Mr. Albright can correct me if I’m wrong. There is always a presumption of innocence even in circumstances like this. There are two officers involved—Lt. Stan Irwin and Patrolman Gil Parsons. They should be suspended without pay until the trial is over then they can be either reinstated or fired for cause.”

“Well said, Chief; even though they were caught in the act as it were, we still have to follow the law. What about Jeremy Haynes? You didn’t mention him.”

“Jeremy resigned verbally in front of several witnesses about a week before he was arrested. If he hadn’t I would recommend termination for gross insubordination. He absolutely refused to follow lawful orders from both Lt. Evans and me. I recommend that you simply accept his resignation.”

Lucy looked at Albright who simply nodded his agreement. “Okay, let’s deal with these items quickly. I know that Jasmine will be here so she can be sworn and participate in the meeting immediately. We also have some regular business on the agenda before we get to Matt’s recommendations for next year’s budget. That’s going to take us a while. I think you’ll find he’s a lot more thorough than Wilson ever was.” There was no further discussion so executive session was adjourned and we walked from the small room to the large formal meeting hall.

We stood for the pledge to the flag and then the meeting began. Lucy took only a minute to explain about Carl Haynes even though his situation was common knowledge. She told me later that she wanted it on the official record. Jasmine’s appointment took less than a minute and those present applauded in response. Albright gave her the oath of office and she joined her colleagues at the long curved table.

I was asked to review the reasons for the two suspensions which I did—again for the record—and the Council voted unanimously in favor. Then the Council attended to the routine business—approving bills, accepting several resignations, including Jeremy Haynes, and making appointments for openings—all at the mayor’s recommendation. I was amazed at how Lucy moved things along. I was preparing for my remarks on the budget when architect Mark Fredericks sat next to me. He had several large drawings in his hands and I quickly approved of what he had to show me.

I quietly thanked him as I stood. Daryl helped to distribute the budget information sheets I had prepared. Next to each budget code was the deion and the current year amount. Under that I had given a rationale for my request and the projected amount. I gave the Council members a few minutes to scan the documents before beginning.

“The first account you see there is my salary. Since I was just appointed I’m not seeking an increase. Next line is for the salaries of the lieutenants. There’s an increase here because you recently approved two new positions at my request. Otherwise, there’s no change there.” That’s how it went as I progressed through the entire department budget. I had spoken several times to the Garage Manager and he had told me that he had his own budget which included parts and tires for all city vehicles. That was a relief to me because I basically knew nothing about vehicle maintenance or how to budget for it.

There were a few questions, of course, but for the most part the people told me that the increases were understandable and expected. One area that was questioned heavily was my request that we double the officers on the midnight shift. “Within the past two weeks there have been three calls to bars in the early morning. Two of those calls required eight officers and one required ten to deal with drunken men fighting and throwing chairs and pool balls at the officers. In the first two cases the officers were able to restore order, but there were arrests and paperwork and transport to the county jail. Several were treated at the County Hospital. That left the city grossly unprotected for more than three hours. In the final case it was more than four hours. That’s inexcusable. Three days later we had a bad accident involving a drunk driver and two other cars. Four people went to the hospital. We had six patrol cars and twelve officers involved from about 1:30 a.m. through almost 5:00 between directing traffic and protecting the EMT’s and then traffic control for the fire department while they addressed all of the spilt gasoline. Once they were done four of them spent the rest of their shift plus two hours each of overtime at headquarters with the paperwork the state requires.”

“Matt, should we have our own jail? I don’t think we have much need most of the time.”

“You’re right—most of the time, but we had three incidents in less than two weeks where a couple of cells would have been helpful.” They took no action, but did ask me for a study on the problem. Finally, I nodded to Mr. Fredericks. “Now we come to a pet project of mine. The city isn’t all that big, but we still have more than eighteen square miles to patrol. On a map Bascomb’s landing looks like a long and relatively thin rectangle, bounded by the creek on the south and railroad tracks on the north. To cover all of that area we have only a single police station. I’d like to suggest that the city purchase land near each end for a combination youth and senior citizen center and police department substation.

“When we conducted the drug bust we confiscated 1.25 million dollars that was intended to purchase the drugs. Because we were the lead police force and because the arrest occurred within city limits we should receive 75 percent or $937,500 which I request should go to this project.” I would have continued, but Lucy had told me to stop here so she could speak.

“My father has pledged $250,000 for this project and I pledge an additional $100,000. We are in dire need of recreational facilities for our youth and for our senior citizens and having a police presence in the neighborhoods would go a long way to making the areas safer.”

“I asked Mr. Fredericks from the planning department to put together a few preliminary drawings. I’ll let him explain them to you.” He set up an easel where the entire Council and most of the public could see it, then turned back to the Council members to speak.

“What I’ve tried to do is maximize space and minimize cost. To do that I suggest you consider a pre-fabricated building. The quality has increased tremendously over the past few years now that most of the builders use robotic construction techniques. The buildings I envision could be made of individual sections that fit into a framework made of aircraft quality aluminum that I’ll show you in a few minutes. They will be six inches thick to provide insulation that is superior to anything most of us have in our homes and they can be as long—high—as we want them to be. In this case I have specified twenty feet which is more than most gymnasiums have and a slanted roof made of the same materials. A slanted roof handles rain better than a flat roof and is less susceptible to leaks.”

Over the next ten minutes he showed computer renderings of the interior of the gym as well as the sizable rooms for the senior citizens. Finally, he showed how everyone entering the building would walk through a hallway that could be seen from the substation. He stopped then for questions.

“Is there land at both ends of the community for these buildings, Mr. Fredericks?”

“Yes, Ma’am, he responded. “There’s a parcel of approximately 390 acres on Maple Drive in the east and another of more than 500 acres in the west on Spruce. They’re owned by….”

“Yes, they’re owned by Bascomb Mining and Land,” Lucy stated. “I’ll speak to my father about the land. Mr. Fredericks, how much land would we need if we wanted outside basketball courts and a field that could be used for baseball, football, and soccer?”

Fredericks obviously knew his stuff because he recommended different fields for each use and a minimum of twenty-five acres per site including parking for fifty cars. I then told the Council that I envisioned a minimum of two officers for each substation for each of the first two shifts from 8:00 a.m. through 12:00 midnight, explaining that I had already applied for a federal grant to cover the expense of the salaries and benefits. Discussion continued for more than half an hour, but it was obvious that there was a lot of support for the idea even if taxes had to be increased to pay for the incidental costs. The meeting was adjourned at 11:00. I was exhausted as I made the short drive home.

NEXT: My plans for the Bascomb’s Landing P.D. come to fruition and so do some other plans.

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