Chapter 20: Back at the Ranch

Kelly Dalton was not one of the community leaders of Silver Orb, Nevada, so when Lieutenant Lester Boron of the Capitallian Marshal Service requested a visit with her, Kelly turned to a slave for advice. Nancy was Hank Dalton's personal assistant and better-educated in the laws of Capitallia. Kelly was the citizen, though, and the decision had to be hers. Nancy could advise when her advice was requested--nothing more. Nancy recommended that Hank be notified and that Kelly ask Lieutenant Boron why he wanted to see Kelly. The next step was for Kelly to hold a video conference with Lieutenant Boron. After a brief discussion, Kelly decided to appear nude on video with full knowledge that all official video phone calls were recorded. Official Capitallian government phones always began the connection with a recorded message that the conversation was being recorded and that the caller could terminate the conversation at any time.

"I need to question Sarah Treumon and Serena Treumon concerning the death of their mother, Sybil Treumon," Lester Boron said. He was looking at his desktop display and not at the conversation screen. Video phone calls worked best when the two parties looked into each others eyes, and so the video conference screens were designed to mimic a face-to-face conversation at a simulated distance of a meter and a half, scientifically calculated to put most Capitallians in their conversational comfort zone. When Lester looked up from his desktop, literally a screen covering his entire desk, he was looking at Kelly's naked breasts and bushless pubic mound. Lester's jaw dropped and his eyes almost popped out of his sockets.

"The Washoe County Sheriff has juristiction over the case," Kelly said, secretly relishing the fact that her nudity put the hard-boiled cop off balance. "Why is it your business?"

Lester Boron blushed. The woman in front of him was naked--and it didn't bother her!

"It's a federal matter that I cannot discuss over an open line," the blushing lieutenant said after a long pause.

"That's not good enough, Lieutenant Boron," Kelly said.

"I need to interveiw them right now. Delay and I will obtain a court order that will let me take the children and then I will arrest you for obstructing justice."

"Let me handle this," Regina Harold walked in front of the video pickup. The wife of the late Senator Benton Harold was haughtily naked as she stared into the eyes of the law enforcement officer. "Do you know who I am?"

"You're Mrs. Benton Harold," the startled Capitallian federal marshal stuttered.

"I am SENATOR Regina Harold," Regina let her irritation show. "I was sworn in this morning. If you want to inverview those children, you will do so only in my presence and after you grow some manners, boy! I've about had enough of your agency's heavy handedness. Your agency was supposed to protect my husband and he died. Your agency failed five other senators, too. I don't like you bullying citizens just because your investigation has stalled. Mrs. Dalton knows that you cannot do anything without a court order. Trying to push Mrs. Dalton around is a bad idea. But if you have a legitimate reason to question the children, one that will convince their court-appointed guardian to allow you access, tell me and I might be able to pursuade Mrs. Dalton that your reason is compelling enough to upset the children. Now do you want to start over or do you want to get in a pissing contest?"

On screen Lester Boron's face went white, then red, then white again. He swallowed hard, swallowing his pride along with some bile rising in his throat, and lowered his gaze.

"Madam Senator," the marshal humbly requested, "I have a series of questions for the children. I don't want them sent over a non-secure communications link."

"Do you have the Sphinx III software on your office com link?" Regina asked.

"Yes," the marshal's eyes were wide, "You got equipped fast! It takes a week for a new senator to get approved for the Sphinx III and learn how to use it."

"You don't know Doctor Henry James Dalton, do you?" Regina said. "His slave Nancy will link up with you. Kelly, give this man the office number. Oh, yes, Marshal Boron, be warned. I have a nasty temper. But those two girls are under Hank Dalton's protection. He never gets mad at people. Hank just fixes the problems. You might survive making an enemy out of me. Hank is very protective of those under his protection."

Kelly sent the required information and cut the connection.

"Thank you, Regina," Kelly said. "I would have said something regretable. You have the clout to back it up."

Regina nodded and called Nancy on the com link.

"Nancy, in a few minutes you are getting a call for me from a Lieutenant Lester Boron of the Capitallian Marshal's Service. I need you to get Ned Saunders on the line, too."

"I've got one better, Senator," Nancy smiled on-screen. "Deputy Director Robin Tyson, Office of Military Intelligence is already on the line. You are on scrambler and--"

"And I'll take over," Robin Tyson ordered. The director blushed when her image appeared on the video screen--it was at that moment Director Tyson saw Senator Regina Harold's nudity. "Good morning, Senator. Please excuse me, but I still--"

"Hush, dear, I understand," Regina said. The senator quickly brought Tyson up to date. It didn't take long because Nancy had patched the deputy director in early. "That Nancy! I'll have to borrow her from Hank and get my personal assistant trained. Here's that boy now."

'That boy' appeared on screen and Director Tyson became a small picture in one corner of the screen. Senator Harold introduced Director Tyson. Lester Boron briefly summarized his case--a woman living at the same Pine Lake Apartment complex, a woman calling herself Mary Webster, was suspected of murdering Senator Sherri Westliegh, a member of the Abolish Slavery Party and the senior senator for Massachusetts. Lester Boron connected Mary Webster to the Treumon twins because the suspect lived in the same apartment complex, worked there as a handyman, and was reported as giving a ride to Sarah and Serena when the two children ran away from home.