Page 142 - Just Deserts

Telepax

Drubble examined the dazed and twitching casualties of the
second trial. “Yep. Looks like they won’t be making any trouble for a
while.”
Skinner saw the chief look at his watch. “Great! Do you have any
more questions?”
Ness looked at his superior and shook his head, another master of
the poker face. “Not right now, Mr. Skinner. We’ve got to get back to
the city pretty quick.” They moved toward the door of the shed
closest to their automobile.
Outside, Skinner shook their hands and waved as they drove off,
never ceasing to smile. Chief Drubble watched him fade into a speck
in the rearview mirror as the policemen sped off into the desert.
“Well, M.T.,” he finally said, as they turned onto the main
highway, “I believe we have just seen the future of law enforcement.
And we are going to get it first and we are going to get it cheap. This
ought to get those assholes on the city council off my back for
good.”

* * * * *

Just as councilman Augustus P. Swiller started to pack up his
briefcase he heard a loud commotion beyond his office door.
“You can’t go in there!” His secretary’s exasperated soprano burst
into the room behind the ample figure of a very irate middle-aged
woman. Swiller immediately recognized her type as a constituent on a
mission rather than someone’s mother bent on murder. He held up
his hands palms forward, trying to signify the necessity for her to
apply the brakes. She did so, an inch from the front of his desk.
“You!” She started, in a voice well-trained in church choirs.
“Don’t you go to that meeting yet, Councilman! That man has got to
be stopped, and you’re the one to do it. And don’t worry about how:
I’ve brought you plenty of ammunition.”
She slapped her oversized handbag.
“Ah, yes, of course I’m always pleased to discuss issues of mutual
concern with the people of my district.” He eyed her not inexpensive
clothing and the set of her jaw, cues that perhaps a small army of
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