Badge of Betrayal

Reluctantly, they all agreed. It was getting dark out and we would have the cover of darkness to help us in our retrieval. Before we got too far along, Jeff reminded me of the deal we had made.

"You promised you'd help me, Pat."

"I'll do everything I can, Jeff. But I absolutely will NOT allow you to be in control of the evidence room anymore."

"But Pat-"

"No buts about it, Jeff. It's not an option. I'll keep you employed and I'll do whatever we have to in order to get you help for your gambling problem. But there is no way you'll ever be in charge of the P&E again. I'll talk to Bryce Evans and get you switched back to the jail full time soon. But all of your pass codes, passwords and access to the armory and evidence rooms are getting revoked. You will not have access to ANYTHING down there without the presence of me or one of the other deputies here. The only thing you'll be able to do on your computer from now is play solitaire!"

Jeff was about to say or moan his disapproval but a stern look from Ben dissuaded him. The stupid fuck was just lucky to still have a job and not my foot in his ass. He was also damned lucky not to be going to jail, either.

Tonya met us at the Sheriff's office and immediately started to work on the electronic records. It was well after 8 pm by the time we got all of the evidence loaded in the back of my truck and transported back. Jeff was at least good about making sure the evidence all went back into its proper spot on the shelves in the evidence room. By midnight, Tonya had finished reversing all of the electronic transactions and had even managed to access Bud Roberts' email account and scrub the electronic copies of the transactions that Jeff had previously emailed to him. There no longer was any electronic trace of Bud Roberts' massive attempt to frame me for over eighty counts of evidence tampering.

"Thanks a million, every one," I said to the group. "And especially to Chris and Tonya. This is the second time you guys have bailed me out. I have no idea how I will repay you all. But trust me when I say that I won't forget this."

Ben, Angel and Danny all shook hands with me before they left but I could tell that they were all extremely uneasy with being burdened with such a huge secret. I assured them all that if it ever blew up that I would absolutely shoulder 100% accountability. As far as I was concerned, this was now strictly between me, Bud and Jeff McCauley. I went so far as to verbally threaten Jeff with his life if he breathed a word of this to anyone.

"Chris? Tonya? Can I chat with you guys a minute before you leave?"

"Sure thing," Tonya chimed. "What's up?"

"I really hate to bother you. You've both done so much for me already. But I'm wondering if I can push the bounds of our friendship a bit further by asking for one more favor."

"What kind of favor?" Chris asked.

"Same lines as before. Only this time I need an ace in the hole. I need to have a backup plan in case Bud Roberts decides to fight me on this. I don't want to be the one standing without a chair when the music stops, if you know what I mean."

"I see where you're going with this. You think there's more people in on this whole thing than just Bud Roberts," Chris deduced.

"Oh, I know there is. I just need to figure out how to get some leverage on this person to get him to go to bat for me instead of Bud. How good are you at snooping around on a person's personal computers if I can get you the IP addresses?"

"I could do it in my sleep, Sean Patrick Quinn, Junior," Tonya cooed. "Who are we going to spy on, Mister Bond?"

Both of their jaws dropped when I told them. But the game was afoot and they were both in it to help me win it.

I was the last one of our group to leave the Sheriff's office that night. As I got back to my F-150, I replaced my phone's battery, turned it on and saw that I had a text message that had been received several hours ago.

"Bridget and I are free this weekend. Any chance we might get to see you?"

Oh, hell yes, there was! Suddenly, the anger and frustration of the last twelve hours disappeared. It was pushing one o'clock in the morning but I still replied:

"Me and my boys are planning on making a day of it at the sledding hill. I think it is time we took Bridget out and see how the new toboggan works!"

I figured I'd get an answer from her in the morning but my phone vibrated again just as I pulled out of the lot. I paused and read her message:

"OMG! She will be ecstatic! I'm coming, too! Mom and Dad will probably show up to take pictures! Can't wait to meet your boys!"

Suddenly, I wasn't sure what to think about introducing the boys to Shannon. But then I realized that, if things kept going the way they were now, they would more than likely be meeting Shannon at some point. I couldn't help but smile at the thought. I quickly thumbed:

"It's a date!"

To which she replied:

"<3"

Yet again, for the umpteenth time, I pissed off Clarissa by showing up bright and early to pick up Nick and Jake to take them to the sledding hill. We had gotten an additional ten inches of snow earlier in the week so I was sure the sledding hill would be busy.

My phone started buzzing just as I was getting ready to leave. I glanced at it and saw that it was none other than Bud Roberts. I silenced the call as the boys loaded their own sleds into my F-150 and I headed out the door after them. I was too anxious to see Shannon and Bridget and didn't even care about Clarissa's bitchy comment as I left the house.

"It would be nice, Patrick, if you thought of other people than just yourself once in a while," she hissed. "You are seriously going to regret this, Mister. Big time!"

"Oh, get over yourself," I retorted. "Remember what I said? Maybe you and Bud aren't exactly holding all the cards anymore. Remember that. When you don't have much left, you don't have much to lose. You might want to think about how dangerous that could be for you."

"God, please, Patrick. If you had any way out of this by now, you would have done it already. You're just a gutless windbag, Patrick. And a wimp. I should have dumped your ass a long time ago." And she slammed the door shut behind me.

Fortunately, neither of the boys heard our little exchange. And, fortunately for me, I was able to keep my mouth shut and my cards still close to my chest. Besides, nothing was going to ruin this day for me.

We arrived at the sledding hill right around nine. Shannon and Bridget were already there waiting for us. Bridget ran over to me and I scooped her up and bear hugged her. My boys were both a little confused at my obvious affection for the little girl until I explained to them who she was and why she was special to me. Shannon was impressed with the boys and said she couldn't get over how handsome they were. The boys both blushed but still took in the flattery for all it was worth.

Nick and Jake immediately took Bridget into their embrace and proceeded to take turns sledding down the big hill and helping her make her way back to the top again. Shannon and I stood at the top of the hill watching them all, each of us nursing a cup of hot cocoa from the small snack stand that was only open on the weekends.

"I wasn't humoring them, Patrick," Shannon said. "Your boys are very handsome. They totally favor their father."

I stood close to her and briefly took her gloved hand in my own and said, "Thank you. You don't know how much it means to hear that. And you have no idea how much I've been looking forward to seeing you again."

"I was hoping so, Patrick. But I have to say that you look tired and extremely stressed. Is everything okay?"

"No," I said, bowing my head. "It most decidedly is not okay. You wouldn't believe the last 48 hours of my life."

"Try me," she said. "I'm a nurse so that makes me as good a listener as any bartender," she chuckled.

We sat down at one of the park benches where we could still keep an eye on the kids. The boys were doing a marvelous job of playing with and looking after Bridget. It took me a few minutes, but I eventually recounted the whole story. I told her about Jeff McCauley and his position at the department, his financial and marital problems, about his massive gambling problem and how Bud Roberts was using that to try and completely fuck me over.

"You have no idea, Shannon. I just can't believe he would go that far. Bad enough that he wants to steal my wife from me. But prison? He was going to make sure I went away for a long, damned time."

"My God, Patrick. Is there anything you can do? I mean, you have all the evidence, right? Can't you just go to the state police and have him charged?"

I explained to Clarissa how doing so would open up every case related to the evidence and how some very bad people would almost certainly go free. Every piece of evidence that was removed from P&E related to cases I had been involved with from my time at the Red River Falls Police Department to the last couple of years I had been on the Mason County Sheriff's Department. But the state Attorney General and his prosecutors would almost certainly review the handling of EVERY piece of evidence in our evidence room. It would almost certainly invite re-trials of over two thousand criminal cases in the last decade or more since Jeff McCauley had been running the P&E office. And, if re-trials were ordered, NONE of that evidence would likely be admissible, given the possibility of chain-of-custody being breached.

"But you know what the worst part is, Shannon?"

"Could anything possibly be worse, Patrick?"

"Oh, yes. The worst part is that Bud would have ruined me in my sons' eyes for the rest of their lives. My sons would have finished growing up thinking I was a common criminal. Nothing I could ever have said to them would have meant anything. Any fatherly advice would have just been empty words from a criminal. They would have grown up and become men and I would have had absolutely nothing to do with it. If they became good men, it would have been in spite of me. If they grew up to be bad men, it would most certainly have been because of me. I would have been better off dead."

Shannon embraced my right arm and put her head on my shoulder. "Not as long as I'm around, Patrick. I'll make sure that never happens."

I was just about to lean in and kiss Shannon when I noticed that Nick, Jake and Bridget were all standing at the top of the hill, ready for their next run, and were staring at us.

"I'm just cold," Shannon said. "I hope you don't mind me hugging your Dad. He is nice and warm, that's all."

The boys both kind of smiled sheepishly and Bridget just giggled. And then in a flash, they all three disappeared down the hill again. I took the opportunity to steal a quick kiss and said, "Nice save!"

At that moment, Shannon's parents both arrived at the bench we were sitting at, cameras in hand to take pictures of Bridget sledding. Shannon stood and embraced her mother, followed by a hug for her Dad. I stood, too, on ceremony and extended my hand to both parents. Suzanne shook warmly. Jack gripped my hand, too, but there was a strange look on his face. I could tell he was eyeing me warily. I wondered if maybe he had seen me kiss Shannon just moments before.

He said very little over the course of the next hour or so as we all watched the kids sled. The most reaction I got out of him was when he looked at me as I was looking at him and simply gave me a nod of his head. He then returned his gaze to his granddaughter as she continued sledding with the boys.

Suzanne and Shannon sat in the middle with Jack and me sitting on opposite ends. The two ladies chatted enough for everyone. Suzanne spoke with me just long enough to tell me how impressed she was with my two boys and I thanked her.

I finally got up and excused myself so I could take a couple of turns sledding down the hill with my boys and Bridget. Bridget was all excited and insisted that I ride with her. The boys both preferred to ride solo, anyway, and were getting big enough that two riders on their sleds was a bit much. I had a blast sledding with Bridget, I really did. Shannon just sat there and she and her mother both beamed their smiles in delight. Jack, however, just sat there stoically. It didn't happen that day, but I knew that a time would come when he would want to have a serious talk. I didn't know how much he knew about my personal situation. Maybe he didn't even care. But I hoped that he wouldn't crucify me over it and would at least understand my side of things. At the very least, I hoped he didn't take anything out on Shannon. He didn't strike me as the type of man who would, but you just never knew. Shannon was Jack's only child. She and Bridget were the two things he cared most about in the world.

We broke up the sledding party around 12:30 as the kids were all starting to get hungry. I was, too, and the boys started harping on me to take them out to lunch. Bridget immediately chimed in with stating very loudly where she wanted to go and the boys agreed.

"Okay, I guess," Shannon said. "Looks like we're taking the sledding party to McDonald's!"

We all piled into three separate vehicles and spent about an hour at the restaurant eating and visiting. Even Jack and Suzanne came along, which Shannon said was a big deal as her father hardly ever eats fast food. I sensed Jack came along more to keep an eye on me than anything else. I was good and mannerly and didn't even sit next to Shannon. I more or less watched the kids eat and then watched them play together on the indoor play set. Nick was getting kind of old for that and usually didn't play anymore on the rare occasions when we went to McDonald's. But he continued to eat up the attention that he was getting from Bridget and he and Jake had fun playing with her. I couldn't help but smile to myself and think how awesome big brothers they could be to Bridget. Perhaps some day in the future, I thought.

After lunch, Shannon invited everyone back to her place. I decided to take a pass on that and told her that I had promised to take the boys to a movie that afternoon. I figured I had probably worn out my welcome with Jack and didn't want to push it. I sensed that Shannon figured it out and gave me an all-too-brief hug as we left. Of course I had to give Bridget a big old bear hug and promised that we would do all of this again real soon. Even the boys and Bridget exchanged hugs and we left.

We did take in the theater that afternoon, a double feature, in fact. My boys were usually up for going to see a movie and I let them each pick out a show they wanted to see. So we gorged some more on popcorn, snacks and sodas at the theater and grabbed more fast food to eat on the way home that evening as it was supper time by the time I got the boys home anyway.

As I pulled my truck into the driveway, I could see another obvious set of fresh tire tracks of a vehicle that had pulled in earlier in the day.

As we got in the house, the unmistakable smell of Bud Roberts' cologne still hung in the air. Clarissa stood at the entrance to the kitchen looking smug. She could tell that I could smell the cologne and cocked her head to the side, arched her brow and said, "Something wrong, Patrick?"

I just shook my head, hugged each of the boys and told them I would look for them in church tomorrow. They now understood that I wasn't staying there full-time but hadn't asked much more than that, at least not to me anyway. And at least Clarissa had the decency to not whore herself out to Bud when the boys were around. I swore to myself that if that ever happened, there would, in fact, be absolutely NOTHING to stop me from strangling Bud Roberts or putting a bullet in his head. The thought alone enraged me. And, yet, I was almost terrified that I was now certain that I could get angry enough to really hurt or kill someone.

I pondered the thought as I drove back to my dilapidated hotel. My misery was exchanged for determination as I turned on my laptop and began reading through more text messages and emails between Clarissa and Bud. Sure enough, the most recent texts were from today.

Clarissa: Asshole just showed up, took the boys. No call ahead, nothing. Keeps fucking up my life. U need to fix this shit.

Bud: Trust me, babe. On this shit. Be cool, though. He'll be looking for my left jab and get knocked out by my right hook.

Clarissa: He never showed up last night. Didn't answer his phone. His cruiser was at the office last night when boys and I went out to eat. Still there at nine when we went home. What do you have him doing?

Bud: Not doing anything special I know of. Saw it on my GPS. Drove by too and checked it out. His office light still on even. Guessing he just there as now he has nowhere else to go.Will look into it, though.

Clarissa: U need to look into me first, lol. Mama's getting feisty. KWIM? Got an itch needs scratched, lol.

Bud: I scratch yours if you scratch mine, lol.

Clarissa: I lick yours if you lick mine, lol.

Bud: Be there in twenty!

I couldn't stomach reading anymore and just shut off the computer. So, Clarissa knew I was at the sheriff's office until late last night. I'm sure that would elicit some questions from Bud in the coming days. Fortunately, Christmas was coming up and Bud was going to be taking almost two weeks' vacation. After next Tuesday, we wouldn't see him again until after the first of the year.

It was now 9:30 pm. All of a sudden, my phone vibrated with a text. It was Shannon!

Munchkin is down for the count. You totally wore her out today! Wanna stop by for a late glass of wine or two?

Now it was my turn to text:

Be there in twenty!

Actually, by the time I freshened up and pulled in front of her little house on Front Street, it had only been about fifteen minutes. Hopefully, Shannon wouldn't see this as a sign of eager anticipation or desperation on my part. But, then again, why in the hell would she invite me over for wine this late at night? Maybe our connection was strong enough that we could just bypass the pretentions. One can only hope!

I knocked lightly, knowing Bridget was in bed. Shannon opened the door and stood in front of me dressed in a set of two-piece plum colored velvet pajamas. I stepped inside and removed my coat and hung it on the hook.

"Hello, gorgeous," I said as we fell into our embrace.

"Hello, handsome," she replied.

Our lips met again in a red hot kiss and I knew immediately that things were going to pick up right where they left off from our last scorching encounter. The feel of the velvet PJs was exquisite and immediately my hands began exploring completely on auto pilot. We continued to kiss as I ran my hands all over her back, hips and buttocks. The response of Shannon's body told me that absolutely nothing was off limits and every inch of her begged to be explored.

"Get over here, you!" she commanded, as my hands finally made contact with her immaculate breasts. She broke our kiss and led me by the hand over to her sofa. Once there, I directed Shannon to lie down on the sofa and I knelt beside her. I leaned in and kissed her deeply, stroking her face and hair with my right hand and used my left hand to take in the sensations of exploring the rest of her velvet-clad body. Over and over again, I ran my hand up and down, absorbing how good the material felt on my hand and taking in the effect it was having on Shannon, too. She was now arching her back, hoping that each pass of my hand would find its way across her breasts, her stomach, her hips, thighs and, especially, her pubic mound.