Chapter 4

There was some nervousness on Ty’s part in going to Denise’s sister’s house for Thanksgiving dinner and meeting her relatives. He had met her sister Beverly and her husband Kevin at a high school football game previously and they were nice people. He hoped Denise’ parents would also be that nice as well as the other relatives who were going to be there.

Ty didn’t need to have worried as Bill and Connie, Denise’s parents, greeted him warmly and congratulated him on the engagement. They said that Denise was the happiest they had seen her be in a long time. The other relatives that were there joined in on the congratulations. Ty could see the joy on Denise’s face as she talked about Ty and how he proposed and what her plans were for the wedding.

Besides the turkey and its trimmings Beverly had put out a large variety of food. If anyone left the table hungry that was their own fault and Ty could say he wasn’t one of them. He was a little stuffed after the main meal but he still found some room for the atomic cake that was served as dessert.

Kevin broke open the champagne and all of the relatives toasted Denise and Ty on their engagement.

When Ty was talking to Denise’s father, Bill mentioned that Denise had said she enjoyed fishing at Ty’s pond by his house. Bill said he had taught Denise how to fish when she was young.

Ty told Bill he had an open invitation that if he ever wanted to fish the pond he was welcomed to do it. In fact Ty said Bill should bring one of Beverly’s kids and teach them how to fish and he is free to use the johnboat that is there. Since there is ice starting to form on the pond the fishing probably will need to wait till spring but when the ice gets thicker Ty said everyone is invited to go ice skating there if they want to.

Bill thanked him for the invite and said he was not a fan of ice fishing and would do the fishing in the spring.

After Denise and Ty had left Beverly’s home, Ty told Denise he had a nice time. She kiddingly told him that her parents had said to her that she had made a good catch in Ty.

The Holidays were a good time for Ty as he spent them with Denise. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day he spent with her at her sister’s house. One of the neighbors dressed as Santa which thrilled the young children who still believed. The food Beverly put out as Ty had come to expect was more than enough and it was delicious.

Ty and Denise welcomed in the New Year at the Oaks Country Club. Ray and his wife along with two of the para-legals and their spouses rounded out their table for eight. Denise in a black strapless satin dress was out and out beautiful. Ty thought it was a great way to start a new year.

In driving around while working, Ty made it a point that if he was in the vicinity he would drive by Kim Barkley’s home. One time when he did this he saw her by her car taking out some groceries. He parked his car and walked up to her and asked her how things were going.

“Ever since the hospital things have been good. Jeff is a changed man and treats me just like he did before we were married. He doesn’t drink alcohol anymore and that could have been the cause of his problems. Thanks for asking and stopping by.”

In driving away Ty thought his heart to heart conversation he had with Jeff had done some good. To play it safe however he did tell Kim to mention to Jeff that he had stopped by.

One day when Ty was looking in a closet at home he noticed a 30 caliber scoped rifle in the corner. He remembered that Dad’s hobby was shooting ground hogs with this rifle. He said that he did that for sport and also because of the damage the ground hogs can do to a field of soy beans. Ty when he was younger had shot the rifle and was pretty good up to four hundred yards. Seeing the rifle had Ty thinking and he wanted to talk to Kurt about a thought he had.

The next day Ty walked into Kurt’s office saying he had something to discuss with him. Kurt told him to take a seat and tell him what was on his mind.

“Well it hasn’t happened yet but the way things are going in the country who knows what can happen. By that I mean we may be involved in a situation where we need a sharpshooter and we can’t wait for the State Police’s swat team to show up.”

“What are you saying?”

“I am saying that we need to have some police officers trained to be able to shot and hit a target at maybe up to four hundred yards away on the first shot. If they can hit it at that distance then hitting something closer won’t be a problem.”

“We haven’t had a need yet for that skill here.”

“And I hope we won’t ever but we do need to be prepared should something happen.”

“I guess I could find some money in the budget to fund two decent rifles and scopes for this. Do you have anyone who you think should be our shooters and don’t tell me Jane.” Laughing he said, “Her tits are too big and would prevent her from getting her eye close to the scope.”

“Let me ask around and see who I can find.”

At coffee call Ty mentioned that he was looking for four volunteers to shoot a sniper’s type of rifle should an occasion occur that had a need for it. Four police officers volunteered for this type of shooting. Two of them said they had military experience and two of them jokingly said they had ground hog shooting experience. Ty asked them to come out to his farm this weekend and they could do some four hundred yard shooting.

They did come out and while their four hundred yard shooting with Ty’s father’s rifle was a little suspect, they were deadly on three hundred yard shots. Their skill level now was something that could be called upon if needed.

On another Saturday morning Denise was at work and Ty was home when his doorbell chimed. Ty saw it was his neighbor Clarence Rudnick. Clarence owned the farmland that bordered Ty’s land on the east side.

Opening the door Ty said, “Come on in Clarence, what brings you here?”

Clarence who was close to eighty years of age and didn’t look that well said, “Before I get to that I want to congratulate you on being on the police force and I hear you have gotten engaged. Betty and I have been married for fifty eight wonderful years. A good woman is a wonderful thing for a man to have.”

“Yes Clarence, I believe in what you say. Denise who I am going to marry in about one month is what I have been looking for in a woman. I am a lucky man.”

“The reason I stopped by is that I want to put my affairs in order and I am going to be selling my land. I don’t know if you are interested in buying it but I thought I would let you have first crack at it. It is six hundred and seventy five acres and except for fifty acres of woods the remainder is all farmland. Are you interested in buying the land?”

Ty asked what he was asking for the land and Clarence told him. The price seemed fair but Ty wasn’t sure and told Clarence he would need to talk with Denise and then he would get back to him. Clarence said he would wait to hear from Ty.

Ty phoned Martha Brown who was a friend of his mother’s and a successful realtor in town. She wasn’t in her office but he was given her cellphone number. In trying that phone number Martha answered on the second ring.

“Why Ty it’s nice to hear from you and congratulations on your engagement. I suspect there is some reason for your call, what is it?

Martha he knew from what his mother had said was not someone who beat around the bush so he said, “Martha, I have the opportunity to buy some additional farmland but I have no idea what farm land is going for now days so I am asking an expert.”

She told him what some recent farmland sales had gone for and broke it down to a cost per acre. When she was told the cost per acre of the land that was offered to Ty she told him to jump on it. She said there was nowhere for land values to go but up. Prices in five years she thought would double from what they were now. The conversation ended with Martha telling him that age old adage “That God isn’t making any more land.”

Later in the day Denise came in to the home carrying some groceries. After putting the groceries away Ty told her about his visitor and the offer that was made to him about the land. He also told Denise about his call to Martha and what she had said about land values.

“What are you going to do?”

“I have played with the figures and the cost of a mortgage will be about what I can get for leasing out the land. Throw in what I need for a down payment and what the taxes on the land and on me are going to be, the bottom line is that I don’t have the funds to do it. I could take out a mortgage on my land but I don’t want to buy the land like that as I think it might be risky to do it that way.”

“Do you want to buy the land?”

“If Martha is right it sounds like it would be a good investment and the price Clarence is willing to sell the land to me is a good deal. I think the price he is asking from me is low and that’s because he was good friends with my parents and I have known him a long time. The value of the land would make for a nice nest egg and give us no money worries in the future if Martha is right.”

“I think you or rather we should do it.”

“Great for you to say that but how are we going to do it?”

“I’ll just cash in some of my investments and come up with the funds we need for the down payment. You and I have never discussed money but you should know that the two person law firm I work at is not a nickel and dime operation. It generates a very nice income for both Ray and me. Besides the defense and other legal work we do, the plaintiff’s work on the side just adds big time to the bottom line. Mom instilled in me the need to be a saver and that is what I have done except for spending some money on the clothes I need.”

Denise told Ty what her investment account was worth which surprised Ty as it was about the same amount as the value of the farmland he owned. Ty said he would call Clarence tomorrow and agree to the deal subject to being able to secure a mortgage. Denise asked if he wanted her to draft an Agreement to Purchase and Ty told her maybe later but a handshake would seal the deal with Clarence.

Ty’s and Denise’s wedding was larger than what Ty expected but it was nice. Ty had suggested being married by Judge Sullivan in her chambers but Denise said she wanted a church wedding. That ended any further discussion on the matter as Ty had one vote and Denise had one hundred votes. Her parents, relatives and friends attended the ceremony and reception. Ty invited Kurt, Cory, Clarence and their spouses to the wedding.

Denise and her sister Beverly did a nice job in organizing the wedding. Ty could see that Denise was excited in doing this and if she was happy Ty was happy.

Due to her having an active court calendar Denise asked that any honeymoon be put off till the court basically shuts down for the summer. Ty was fine in doing that because every day with Denise was a honeymoon for him. He suggested and she agreed that maybe they would take a European river cruise or just visit Europe during the summer as their delayed honeymoon.

The purchase of the land from Clarence was completed one week after the wedding. Both Clarence and Ty were happy that the sale was finalized. Ty thought Clarence wasn’t looking well but he denied that anything was wrong when Ty asked him.

Kurt was out of the station one day in May when a frantic call came into 911 saying a man who was waiving a gun had shot a person and was threating the patrons on a recently opened for the season roof top garden restaurant. The caller said the man said he would shot anyone who tried to come in to the restaurant especially the police.

Ty had been to this restaurant with Denise just after it opened last year and was familiar with this fourth floor roof top restaurant. Ty knew that there were some buildings about one hundred yards away that were six stories high. Ty told Dan and Kevin to each take a rifle and a radio and get onto the roofs of those building. Taking a radio for him to communicate with them Ty took off to the restaurant.

At the restaurant the restaurant manager met Ty. He said someone had phoned him about there being troubled. He did say there was a phone at the bar and gave Ty the phone number.

Ty called the numbed and after about ten rings it was answered.

“I am Police officer Ty Pranger and I need to know what is going on up there and what the problem is.”

“None of your fucking business and don’t call me again” and the phone was slammed down.

Ty checked in with Dan and Kevin. They were in position and said they saw a man about thirty five years of age with a gun in his hand through the scopes on their rifles. They said he had people lying on the ground and they could see a waiter who must have been shot because there was blood on his white pants and some woman was pressing a cloth against his leg. Ty told them not to shoot the man with the gun until he told them and only then if they were sure they had a clear shot that they wouldn’t hit any innocent people. He asked them to give him a running commentary if they saw anything change over there.

Ty thought about the situation and decided to make another phone call to the restaurant to try and establish some communication with this man.

After another ten rings the phone was answered and before Ty could say anything the voice said, “I told you not to call me. You must think I am not serious when I ask you to do things. Let me show you how serious I am by shooting another person here to show you I do mean business.”

Ty heard Dan telling him the man had put the phone down and seemed to be looking at the people laying down to see who he should shoot.

“Take the shot... , take the shot!” Ty hollered and the sound of two simultaneous rifle shots were heard and echoed among buildings.

“He’s down... , he’s down” Ty heard on the radio.

Ty and two police officers ran up the stairs while the EMT’s loaded their equipment into the elevator to go up to the restaurant. In entering the restaurant Ty saw there was much confusion among the people that where there. Some people were hugging each other, others were crying, some seemed to be in shock. An effort was made to comfort the people while the EMT’s took care of the wounded waiter. A table cloth was put over the dead shooter till the medical examiner arrived.

In asking why the shooter did what he did, Ty was told that the waiter who was shot was dating the shooter’s former girlfriend. Apparently the shooter couldn’t accept his girlfriend dumping him.

Eventually things calmed down as best they could. After their statements were taken people left and the restaurant was closed for the day. Before they did leave some of the people that were there came up to Ty and the other officers and thanked them for what they did. Among the people expressing their thanks were two ladies who walked up to Ty.