Chapter 51

When I woke up I was alone in the bed. There was a note on the table - she had gone to work at noon. Information was coming in on the frat house investigation and she wanted to review it as soon as possible.

My smarter than smart phone was full of e-mails; the news cycle was running with the Food King assault as they were naming it. Everyone that had my mail was sending some kind of kudos or well done.

Bill Jackson said to take the evening off if I needed it; they would get by without me. That was nice of him, but I had long ago learned that it was best to keep busy and not allow myself to dwell on things. Besides, this was the first weekend of the month; if the rapists stayed on their normal routine there was a high probability this weekend was it. I wanted to be there if something happened, not home feeling sorry for myself.

Jenny called to invite me to supper/breakfast at the hut, she was going to work late and the girl's last test for the day was at 6:15, so we could eat together if could make it. I sent a note back that I could. That would give me time for a 45 minute workout in the gym and I needed that. I wanted to stay my weight and that would require a lot of work in the gym to do that.

We couldn't have timed it any better. We all hit the parking lot at the same time and only had to wait a few minutes to be seated. I ordered light; I didn't want to feel bloated for the evening.

While we were waiting for the food a big black man came to the table and I do mean big. He was at least 6ft 4in and weighed at least 250 pounds. He said in a very loud voice that had everybody looking at us, "You dat woman that killed them two on the island last night, I saw it on TV?"

"Yes, that was me," I replied.

"My mom shops there; that could have been her car they tried to take. Thank you for taking that scum out, you sure put some moves on them," he said as he stuck out his hand for me to shake.

As I stood to shake his hand there was a round of applause from the restaurant. The rest of the meal was mostly quiet. As patrons were leaving a lot of them said, "Nice job" or "Thanks" as they walked by.

As we left to pay the bill the manager said "No bill; this one is on us. Thanks! Stop by anytime".

A patron placed a twenty on the counter, "For the tip and thank you," he said as he walked away.

The girls headed home and Jenny followed me to my office.

"I'll work in there on my laptop until you get cleared up, then I'll fill you in on the things we found out," she said.

There were several papers on the counter. The story was on the front page of all of them, including pictures of the fight, the dead ones lying covered up and one of Jen and me making the statement to the press.

I read over the notes and the contact list that had accumulated on my desk over the last few days, nothing out of the ordinary there. The things that did catch my eye were that the Athletic Department was hosting a division Lacrosse Tournament. The games were to run Saturday and Sunday. They were going to play four games on each of the two fields on Saturday with the winners doing a play-off on Sunday to accommodate all divisions. That meant we would have 200 players plus coaches and spectators and media on the grounds over the weekend and we were just now getting all the details. This had all the makings of a snafu with a full cluster. We were going to need every one of the part-time people this weekend.

The mail included a big interoffice envelope from HR. It had several bomb shells in it, almost like a carpet bombing. I knew it was coming but I thought there would be a longer transition period.

I would be officially introduced as Director of Security and Safety at 9 AM on Monday to the media and was to assume all duties immediately. A pool secretary would be temporary assigned to me until the full time position could be filled to handle scheduling, payroll and other duties. I now needed to be working the normal five day week for a while.

I need to develop staffing levels and consider adding several full time people. HR would develop the job packet and handle the help wanted postings. I would be on the final interview committee after HR had verified the qualifications.