Chapter 86

TUESDAY — SEPTEMBER 24

After the assistant DA stormed out of the conference room, followed shortly by Sheriff Tate, Joyce alternated from being furious at the DA to being worried sick.

"Why are they doing this to me?" she said every ten minutes or so.

Patton had tried to reason with her. "We already talked about this. It's obviously political. For some reason, the DA is pushing a smear campaign against the Sheriff. That's the only logical conclusion."

"The assistant — what's his name, Randolph — is using cocaine, probably crack," Jeff said walking back into the conference room where the legal people and Joyce were gathered around the table. The two Sergeants were on a tour of the retreat as the girls turned on the charm.

"I think I know, but would you tell us how you came to that conclusion?" Patton said.

"You can smell him. I smelled him as soon as he came into the room. And he hasn't just started, either. Crack users smell like that after they have been on it for a while. Also, he's fighting a crack rage. And not fighting it very hard," Jeff added.

"He'll never win," Patton said turning to focus on Joyce. "He hasn't a prayer of winning. The court case, I mean. Not his 'fight' with crack. You could win this without the original tape, but with the original and the FBI expert to testify ... So calm down. As we've speculated, the only logical reason for this farce is to cast suspicion on the Sheriff at election time."

"They've bit off more than they can chew," Jeff said, pouring himself a cup of coffee. Sitting down near Joyce, he spun one of the chairs away from the table to prop his feet on.

Patton took in Jeff's demeanor, realizing that he was trying to project confidence to a very upset deputy.

Jeff winked at Joyce. "I know that you're upset. Hell, anyone would be. But that smartass assistant is a pawn in this. Just as we have talked about you being a pawn. Only difference is that the Sheriff left here on a mission. I strongly suspect that when that mission is over, that assistant DA isn't going to be quite as cocky, and you will be feeling a lot better."

Joyce sighed. "Okay, maybe I'm acting like a wimp in this, but dammit I've tried my best to be a good deputy. I've done a lot of things that were way beyond the call of duty. I've just never been in trouble before. No wonder some of the old heads at the department literally hate lawyers — present company excepted," she finished nodding at the two attorneys.

"That man is a disgrace to our profession," Fontaine said, his voice tense.

Joyce went on as if she hadn't even heard him. "I just don't understand how this guy, and I guess the DA, too, can use our justice system to go after someone that hasn't done anything. Ah, screw it," she snapped, getting up and quickly leaving the room before her tears of frustration showed to everyone.

"Sorry about that," Jeff said to Patton.

"Hell, I don't blame her. And she's right. They're obviously abusing their power. But abusing it or not, they very well might achieve their goal of unseating the Sheriff — if indeed, that is their goal."

"What do you think the Sheriff has on his agenda?" Fontaine asked Jeff. "You mentioned a 'mission' that you thought the Sheriff is on..."

"I ... don't know. I tried to get him to let me go with him. He seemed to really think about it, but he said that he wasn't the one in charge." Jeff hesitated a moment, "He ... is confident and ... determined."

"He said that he wasn't in charge of what he's involved in?" Patton asked rhetorically. "Hmmm. This might really become interesting," he finished. Then after a moment continued with, "I have two investigators that worked through the night, and a political analyst who is working on this today."

Jeff looked over at Patton. "Why not tell them to stand down until we hear from Tate. A day or two shouldn't make any difference, and unless I miss my guess, it won't be that long before we know something."

Patton stared hard at Jeff. "I'd rather be safe than sorry. Waiting might waste valuable time."

"Okay," Jeff said. "You're right. I'm just going by my feelings. I shouldn't be telling you how to do your job."

Turning to Fontaine, Jeff changed the subject. "Are you free to close on the land deal with the Thompsons in the morning? I hate to keep putting them off. They mentioned something about a trip when we first talked. I don't know if they have made any firm plans or not, but I don't want them to think that we're trying to welsh on the deal."

Fontaine looked at his assistant.

"We've got the thing with Mr. Riley tomorrow at two, but anything we have for tomorrow morning can be put off."

Diana walked in, face scrubbed of the dark makeup, her hair now cascading down her back in gentle waves, and the elastic gone.

"Did I detect a little ... animosity between you and our distinguished colleague from the DA's office?" Patton teased.

"Well," she quipped. "That little idiot pushed me out of his way twice before he got here to the conference room. Third time was the charm."

"He was so high that I don't think he even noticed that you tripped him," Patton laughed.

Diana smiled at him. "Oh, I wanted to do more than that."

Jeff cringed, then commented. "Between you and Joyce, it's a wonder he made it out of here."

"You don't know how hard it was for me not to put my foot on his rear and shove just as he pranced down the front steps. He is the most arrogant, uh... person I've ever met," she finished, wanting to really say what she thought of him.

"It would be fun to destroy him in a court of law," Patton said, a smirk on his face as he winked at Fontaine.

Patton pushed back from the table. "I suggest that you two," he said directing himself to Jeff and Diana, "do whatever is necessary to get the young lady calmed down. Our investigation and planning will continue, but the worst part will be hers — the waiting.

"If the DA does manage to get this past preliminary and tries to play the bogus recording in court, there will be some serious allegations focused on the District Attorney and his staff. However, as I've said before, I doubt if they expect to go all the way with this. Their own allegations of wrongdoing concerning a police cover-up would by then have already created the desired harm toward the Sheriff's reelection.

"Unfortunately the first public thrust by the DA will be in the headlines. When the Deputy and Sheriff are found innocent a year or two later, the article will be a second-page, small-print item. The Sheriff will have failed his reelection, and the Deputy won't be retained by the new Sheriff.

"Even if the DA doesn't get this past preliminary, there could still be a lot of bad publicity for the Sheriff at the worst possible time. Bad news sometimes travels fast and speaks with a loud voice. The news media loves it. But good news usually travels slowly and has a quiet voice, if it is heard at all. When is the last time that you have seen a retraction printed as a headline?"

Shortly, as the attorneys and their assistants left, Jeff and Diana escorted them to the front entrance.

"I'll call you as soon as we talk with the Thompsons," Jeff told Fontaine.

"Okay, we'll be waiting for your call," the attorney answered, everyone's mood somber.

Later, as the two Sergeants were walking to their cars, Griffin glanced over at Hernandez. "Uh, I have a couple of things that I'm going to check on before going back to headquarters, and well, I've kinda gotten forgetful lately. Seems like I'm going to forget to turn my radio back on, and well, you know how spotty the cell reception is around here..."

Hernandez looked over at him as they both stopped when they reached their vehicles. "I've already pushed it by hanging around up here..."

"Tate wouldn't have asked if it wasn't important."

"Hell, he only suggested thirty minutes or an hour. We gave him twice that," Hernandez fretted.

"And what if he needs more, but didn't want to get you in trouble by asking for more time?"

"Ah, shit," Hernandez said, resigned. "My Lieutenant is going to have my ass. All right," he sighed. "I have some things to do to keep me off the radio and away from my headquarters, too. Fuck it. I'll just leave everything turned off and go about my business. I have a couple of informants that I can spend some time talking with. But dammit, you owe me one. I'm going to tote a serious ass chewing over this, but if it might help Tate and Cramer ... Hell, it won't be the first chewing I've ever gotten." (Note: Hernandez isn't illiterate. Cops will sometimes say, "tote an ass chewing," when they mean to emphasize that it is a serious reprimand.)

Both men shook, grinning, before driving leisurely away.

Jeff turned from the door where he had been watching the two Sergeants, a grin on his face as well.

"You need to do something with Joyce," Diana said walking up to put her hands around his neck, pressing her breasts to his chest.

"And what would you suggest? She's not exactly in the mood to be reasoned with. Hell, her career is about to go down the drain. There is a good chance she is going to be tried for murder or some such. I've tried to hug her; tried to tell her everything is going to be all right, but with all that she's facing, it just sounds stupid."

Diana smiled up at him, pulling his face down to hers for a prolonged kiss. Sighing, she finally pulled back. "If she were already one of your wives, I would just say to grab her up and fuck her brains out, but since you say that you are going to wait until you marry her for that..."

"Baby, I wouldn't do that to her right now, even if we were married. It just wouldn't be right..."

"Jeff Matthews, you have seven wives and still you amaze me sometimes about not understanding us. If you turned on your pheromones and did whatever it is you do with your mind, she would go off like a rocket, worrying about this DA or not. Now go find her. Throw her over your shoulder, or drag her by the arm until you find a bed, and make love to her. You don't have to stick your dick in her, but give her enough orgasms to get her mind off this."

"Diana, I really..."

"She was in her suite when I talked to her about ten minutes ago. And don't you let her tell you no. Just go in there, turn those pheromones on and get her naked. She isn't going to be depressed while she's having orgasms, and you darn sure know how to make us have them. Now go."

Despite her trying to push him, he reached around her with both arms, grasped her by her ass and pulled her feet off the floor as he raised her face to his. Kissing her hard, he teased her mind with his mental push, feeling her shudder against him. Sitting a flushed Diana on her feet a few seconds later, he strode quickly toward the elevator to go look for Joyce.

A few minutes later, he found her no longer in her suite, but on one of the decks. She was standing, looking out across the mountains, her gaze fixed, her mind obviously elsewhere. Knowing he was going to catch hell, but without preamble anyway, he picked her up and put her over his shoulder.

"No, Jeff, no," she started as she struggled.

"Yes, Jeff, yes," he said, laughing, which obviously didn't push any funny buttons at the moment.

"No, dammit, Jeff. I am NOT in the mood for this," she said, seriously trying to squirm out of his grip, only to find how useless her strength was against his. That just made her madder.

As Jeff reached with one hand to push the sliding glass door open, Joyce balanced on his shoulder, she seized the opportunity to try to roll off, only to grunt as the arm holding her clamped down almost instantly.

"I have my marching orders from the Queen Bitch," Jeff teased as Joyce fumbled for a wristlock, only to realize that she might just as well have been trying to move the wall for how much good it did. He ignored her and marched on. She thought about trying to bite or scratch him, but she wasn't that mad at him. Deep down, even in her anger, she knew that he was only trying to help her. Besides, she was a little leery of such activity, since the consequences might be more than she wanted to risk. She had been told about him spanking Diana with a hairbrush, and although that had been sexual play, she surely didn't want her ass blistered right now to add to her troubles.

Of course, a little of that under the right circumstances might be a lot of fun, she caught herself thinking, then realized that she had forgotten to struggle. As they walked on down the hall, the realization also occurred that he was gently rubbing her butt, and his thumb was sneaking closer and closer to her pussy.

We've discussed his pheromones. He's proven that he can make us come by just kissing us and doing that thing with his mind — whatever it is. I know he's doing it to me now because I've getting hot just riding on his shoulders. Oh, damn you. Why do you have to be so sexy? I can feel the muscles of your shoulders move as you walk and your bicep muscle feels like a rock pushed against my side. How can you be so damned strong?

Oh, I know you're doing it to me. My pussy is already wet. She grunted as his thumb quit messing around and went for the gold.

She hadn't even realized they were in the suite until he gently put her on the bed. Without preliminary, he loosened her belt, unsnapped her jeans, pulled the zipper down, then tugged. Aggravating her own self, she obediently raised her ass a little for him to pull her jeans and panties down. He stopped to untie her shoes, then removed them and her socks, her jeans and panties following.

He didn't bother with her top or bra just yet, but lifted her tight bottom to shove a pillow under, then kissed her pussy while pulling her legs up to ride across his shoulders. She gave up, not that it mattered much one way or the other. Her first orgasm hit ten seconds later. There were lots more.

In the classroom many doors away, Arlene, Ann, Melissa, Jennie and Helen all tensed at the same time, their faces flushing. As they grinned a knowing grin at each other, Linda looked around her. "What?" she said, although she had a good idea from the expressions and the flush of Jeff's wives, but didn't know whom.

"Looks like Joyce is becoming one of us," Arlene said, trying not to giggle as the not-so-faint echoes of another of Joyce's orgasms raced through her.

"How do you guys do that?" Linda said, her own face now flushed as she realized that Jeff must be making love to someone.

"We don't really know," Ann answered after a moment of silence while the orgasm subsided, "but we hope you will soon be able to do it with your sister-wife."

The classroom door opened. Diana and Laura walked in followed by a somewhat dazed Caitlin.