The Big Guy Chapter 13

The Big Guy
Chapter 13

I loaded Daryl, Dan Powell, and Max into my SUV, dropped Dan off at headquarters with my thanks, and drove Daryl to my in-laws. I knew Jasmine was anxiously waiting for him there, 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 completely trust and go 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, who I later learned was his son-in-law, were on the ball as we approached. Knowing they might be nervous, I flashed my light bar to identify us. Once we were there, I could see them breathe more manageably. 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.” Jasmine echoed Those sentiments a second later as she pulled Daryl’s head down for a long kiss. I might have noticed had Lucy not done precisely 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 behind us. Max capered between Lucy and me.

As expected, Jonathan and Marylou were waiting for us just inside. We had 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 could 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 significant 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 exceptionally 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 could 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. Let's treat you to dinner—not Carter’s, 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?” The 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 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 often 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 show Lucy once again the scar on my bicep. She leaned forward to kiss it just as 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, and 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 to tell me later, and I knew she would. I took the soap from her to wash her lovely body. It was funny, but the more I learned about Lucy, the more beautiful she became. Best of all, she was generous and attractive, a credit to her family and city.

We met Daryl and Jasmine, who were freshly showered as we were. That was when I first noticed the plastic bag in her hands. She and Lucy had 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, a lightweight coat hid Daryl’s. I followed 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 Maître 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. 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 table for eight. I assumed Jonathan rose to hug all of us and told the snobby Maître d’ how things were with us. His attitude changed immediately. I thanked Jonathan once he was gone.

“He’s not a bad sort, but 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 sat down. 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 and then turned my attention to the sizable menu.

I couldn’t believe all the courses listed on 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. After a few minutes, I asked Lucy what she would eat.

“I’m going to start with the snails.” Then she changed her mind when she saw the expression on my face. “The shrimp cocktail here is 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 delighted I wasn’t paying the tab for this meal. I thought it would come to 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 significant 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 she couldn’t finish and didn’t want to take home, so I added it to Max’s dinner treat. I’d often thought dogs would 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 goodbye to my in-laws at the restaurant with sincere thanks, but Jonathan 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 their fellow man will follow them. It might not happen for six months or so, but eventually.” Jonathan looked at me, and I just nodded in agreement.

“We battered them, 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 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. 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, then he and Marylou turned and walked away. We waved goodbye 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. Before placing his dish onto the rubber mat, I cut everything into small chunks. I knew he was famished, 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 precisely 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 almost a minute before continuing, uncertain about 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 I wasn’t entirely done. I was 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 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? Do you want me to go with you?”

Now Lucy was laughing like crazy. “I’m glad you’re not too excited.” I stood 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 to make the most incredible love of my life and then to sleep, but not before I told Lucy again that I loved her more than life itself.

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. “I’m sure 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 Carl Haynes led the ring 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 at least five years.”

“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 the inspection, which was going much better now that everyone knew what to expect and that uniforms were professionally maintained. Daryl and I left at 9:00 to drive to Memphis for the obligatory press conference. After all our work, I planned to ensure we got the credit we were due.

I needn’t have worried. Julia Adams began the sessions by introducing Daryl and me, the critical people in the investigation. She then outlined the steps that led to the arrests, conveniently omitting the two college student informants and their roles. 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 that all officers will be suspect in their eyes. In some regards, I view this as a positive because I’ve already begun recruiting minorities to the force, which will make my job easier.” The questions ended, and we could leave around 12:30. I phoned my friend Paul McCormick and got 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 we’d get together tomorrow for dinner.

“Well?” I turned to Lucy and smiled when she told me 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 would 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, and we fell asleep almost immediately.

I wanted Lucy to buy a home pregnancy kit, but she balked. “If I do, my parents will know when 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 go all the way, but we stopped at a pharmacy about thirty miles from home. To play it extra safe, I went in alone and bought the two recommended by the pharmacist, who wished me good luck as I left.

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

We were there for 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 our township.

“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 I need one word from him. 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 great police work.”

“Well, honestly, I was only in on it at the start and 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. We have an appointment at the local AME Church on Wednesday night to hold a tutoring session.” I reviewed the new standards with him, and he said 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 a massive smile and the four cylinders in her hand. Leaping into my arms, she asked me, “Want to guess what these all say?”



To be continued