"I'll see you this evening," Molly spoke to me as she went in.
I nodded, "and hopefully the last time we have to deal with the School Superintendent."
"Hopefully," Molly shrugged, "I'll see you in the evening."
I nodded again and then turned and headed toward the curb. As I arrived at the curb, Officer Barnes arrived in the patrol car that we use for patrolling Columbia Falls. He came to a stop at the curb in front of me and waited for me to open the back door. Once in, I shut the door behind me and climbed into the most comfortable position I had in the car's back seat.
"Everything okay?" Officer Barnes asked, his voice still sounding strained from the difficulties of the day before.
"Oh, I'm fine," I answered, "Molly an I will have to go through a battle with the school district superintendent tonight, but everything should be fine."
"I can't believe he'd pull something after yesterday..." Officer Barnes commented...
"They'd probably have to have a meeting anyway," I sighed, "to go over the plan for what to do after everything that Williams pulled yesterday... how long the school year will go and what credit to give the students and so forth."
"Ah..."
"The attempt to fire her is likely just another set of games that he wants to play," I continued, "frustrating and it really pisses me off that people would play these games... but I suppose that there isn't that much that one can do about that... at least nothing until election day."
"After the way things have finally turned in your favor, I'd think that Hireman is really playing against his political future as it were," Officer Barnes commented, "Your neighbor will beat him handedly if his only issue is to crush you and your wife."
"I don't think its his only issue," I commented, "when Officer Jenkins and I were dealing with the MacClure case, he made that much certain... but it does appear to be his... "hot" issue as it were..."
"It'll still take his job away from him," Officer Barnes answered.
I nodded and then glanced out at the lawns and neighborhoods going slowly by us. As we did so, I noticed that we were not headed in the direction of the station, damaged as it was.
"Are we not going back to the station?" I wondered, "Check in and all?"
"Officer Jenkins and Officer Howard are dealing with the matters there," Officer Barnes chuckled, "checking with all the repair issues that need to go on there and putting things back together. That sort of thing. We have our patrol to do... you know, the patrol the attack sort of made us miss yesterday."
"But what about the vigilante that tried to stop Williams?" I asked, "I had wanted to do something about finding out exactly who he was... you know... checking his ID and all."
"Oh, that stuff is still open," Officer Barns answered, "but Officer Howard will be making a few calls about that this morning, but we still have a few issues to start with first thing this morning and once he has some things to start with, he'll let us go from there. But, for the moment we have our patrol to do... Williams sort of prevented us from doing that. By the time we return, Officer Howard should have an update for us on the matter of that guy's ID card."
I sighed and nodded.
"And don't worry, I checked you in when I arrived and let Officer Howard know you were in," Officer Barnes continued.
"He was in?" I asked, sounding curious.
"On crutches and everything," Officer Barnes chuckled, "but he is in."
I slowly nodded again.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
The patrol went quietly with little real "action" beyond what were a couple of very routine and basic calls. Nothing out of the ordinary. As we returned to the station after the patrol,I could see that there were a couple of repair crews already there. They were likely only taking estimates to make sure that we would be able to budget the cost of replacing and rebuilding after Williams had destroyed most of the front of the building.
We went in through the station's back door to find that among the officers that were in, there was a fair amount of activity going on. Officer Jenkins was seated in a chair near the door with a clipboard and a stack of papers, most of them plain white papers.
"Welcome to the nut-house," Officer Jenkins chuckled, "where everything is backward until our front office area is rebuilt and everything is up and running again."
Putting things back in order seemed to be in a tough position. Since our front office area was gone, we did our best to move what we could to keep the station running. People coming in to file reports would have to use the back door and would fill out forms that would relate to the report they wished to give. A spare radio and phone line was set up our main interrogation room, and officer who normally patrolled with the radio used was reassigned as the dispatch officer. All of this would last until the repairs were complete and things returned to normal.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Oh yeah," Officer Jenkins nodded, "a little uncomfortable, but I'll manage."
Officer Barnes and I then continued on to make our report in to Officer Howard. We found him hanging up the phone as we got to the door.
"Ah, there you two are," he said as we came in, "you'll have to forgive me if I don't get up... my ankle, you know. I'm good sitting down, but getting up and down isn't easy."
"Things are quiet so far, today" Officer Barnes nodded and reported in, "just a couple of routine stops..."
"I'd prefer it to what happened yesterday," Officer Howard replied.
"Wouldn't we all?" I asked and then sighed, "have heard anything on the guy's ID? Honorius?"
"Ah... your vigilante," Officer Howard sighed and lifted up a couple of papers on his desk, "I really don't know what to tell you two on him. Gut instinct tells me it's a hoax and we have no idea who he really is..."
Officer Howard then looked up with a sigh, "however, I did call some of the numbers on the card, just to double check things..."
"Wrong number?" Officer Barnes asked.
"No, I did get through to actual FBI and other related governmental offices," Officer Howard answered, "but they all had no clue as to who this "OSS" guy is beyond the historical answer for the CIA, which doesn't match the card..."
"So it's a hoax?" I wondered, "a good one, but still a hoax?"
"It would appear so," Officer Howard sighed, "we won't be able to run the plates for a little while yet, as we're still repairing things and getting other things set up, but maybe that will allow us to figure out what agency owns that car and how your vigilante ended up with it."
"I'd wonder more why he wanted to stop Williams," I commented, "Molly and I met him while the trial for the fate of the Animatrix Serum was beginning... he wanted us to urge "Leona" to work with the people who wanted the Animatrix Serum on the market. He was polite, paid for everything, and was even friendly toward Molly and I..."
"But you never knew who he was or why he was contacting you on this?" Officer Howard answered, "sounds suspicious to me..."
"To me too, but you can't arrest someone for a dinner invitation," I shrugged.
"Well... we can do some digging on the plates of the car," Officer Howard shrugged, "maybe that will lead to some clues that will allow us to figure this guy out..."
"And give us a family to identify," Officer Barnes sighed, "he has to have a family, somewhere."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
The rest of the day went quietly. Getting things ready to run the plates from the government issued car, which was now at the station, wasn't completed and Officer Barnes and I ran our afternoon patrol to the same quiet peacefulness that the morning patrol had done. Once that was done, I quietly left the station to meet up with Molly outside of the offices where the school board meeting would be held.
I found Molly waiting for me as I arrived outside the building. She looked calm but still slightly nervous. It was clear that she was uneasy with dealing people who held authority over her and were obviously aggressive to her.
"Thanks for coming, George," Molly said weakly.
"It's no problem, dear," I told her and nuzzled her as we walked in.
We walked in to find the school board just sitting down with the the district superintendent, Wayne Hireman, at the head of the table. Unlike the first time we appeared before them, this was not a big public meeting, and it was obvious that they did not expect us.
"Mrs. Wayne... Officer Wayne... what an unexpected surprise," Wayne Hireman said slowly.
"Yes, isn't it," I replied, "but then you're surely wanting to talk about yesterday's act of terrorism, committed by a friend of yours... wouldn't it be important for you to have one of the man's targets as well as one of the investigating officers to give you ALL of the relevant information?"
"We would be intrigued by anything you have to say that would be of relevance to the discussion," one of the school board members spoke.
"Including the possible attempted firing of my wife?" I asked glaring firmly at Hireman.
"That wasn't on the agenda," a second board member spoke in surprise.
"It is a good idea, though," Wayne Hireman smiled, "I mean it is very tragic that Bill went nuts as he did, but it was clear that he did what he did to get at Mrs. Wayne, and in doing so, created an unsafe situation. It is within the best interests of the school and the town that Mrs. Wayne be relieved of her post and a human substitute to finish the year. That way there will be no reason for an anti-Animal Person lunatic to attack the school."
"Hitler's first Solution to the Jewish Question," I growled while the others gasped.
"Pardon me?"
It was actually one of the other school board members that spoke up.
"The first "solution" the Nazis actually thought of was essentially expulsion," the school board member spoke, "they even backed various Zionist groups with the idea of sending Europe's Jews somewhere outside of Europe. Their ultimate idea was to send them to Madagascar where they wouldn't "threaten" Europe... however, the realities of war erased that option and they would eventually turn to murder..."
"It still blames the victim of the crime for the problem," Molly growled, "people hate and target me and my husband, so naturally it is OUR fault they hate us."
"I'm only thinking of our school's students," Wayne Hireman replied.
"You're STILL on this issue?" another school board member asked, "after all that they have done? Officer Wayne has done a fine job of protecting this town... Mrs. Wayne saved the life of one of the students from a Mountain Lion, and you are STILL trying to fire her?"
"It is all for school safety," Wayne Hireman answered.
"For who? The students or your ego?" the first school board member answered, "You know, I'm glad the Choir woman is running against you. I'm tired of having to hear some ridiculous call to fix a "problem" that doesn't exist."
Wayne Hireman blinked and would have backed away if he could.
"We can not play to a popularity contest," Wayne Hireman answered, "we have to do what is right for the students, not simply follow a bunch of fools who have fallen to the charade these two have played since they arrived. Do you honestly think an ANIMAL cares for our children?"
"I wouldn't have killed the Mountain Lion if I didn't," Molly answered.
"But..."
"Sir... shut up," was the voice of the last school board member spoke, "Abigail is right. These two have proved that they still have what made them "human" before. It is old now to keep hearing about firing them or making their lives difficult... and I think I can speak for everyone that your intention to fire Mrs. Wayne meets unanimous opposition?"
The others nodded.
"I've also joined the state teacher's union as well," Molly answered.
Wayne Hireman then muttered something under his breath. It was low enough that the humans couldn't hear it, but I knew that Molly and I did.
"Damn Mrs. Fitzpatrick."
Wayne Hireman then sighed, "Fine. The topic is closed... we will move on to the business of assessing the costs of repairs to the school."