The Mogul Sheriff

By Michael O'Gara

Mountain County Sheriff Millie Brennan faces many personal, professional, and business challenges in the aftermath of the tornadoes that ravaged the area. One of the Tornadoes ripped a swath of devastation through the lakefront community of Safe Haven Bay where Millie lives. It caused the death of fifty three people including some people Millie loved dearly.
Having just overcome the tragedy, Millie is suddenly confronted by a dangerous and evil adversary from her past. A chance encounter with the one person who ever escaped Millie’s reach results in a violent confrontation. Millie must now find out why having successfully escaped Millie’s jurisdiction the wanted felon is back in Mountain County. While in the pursuit of capturing the elusive fugitive, Millie uncovers a sinister plot that reaches far beyond Mountain County. Now Millie has a mystery on her hands she may or may not be able to solve but solve it she must.
As if Millie’s life is not complicated enough balancing her job as the elected Sheriff with directing her successful development company, an old romantic interest is back on the scene. Millie is suddenly faced with another complication in her life. Will his presence be a blessing or a curse? Will Millie be up to the challenge of successfully balancing all the opportunities and problems with which she is faced? Millie’s life has never been boring and that seems the one thing that will not change.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael O'Gara
• Release date: Dec 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466115972

Michael O'Gara

-story-telling multi-genre author selling internationally -MFA, MBA -author of 40+ novels -husband, father, grandfather, disciple -Content and joyful (mostly). Giving life my best shot. -Very happily married for decades.

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The Mogul Sheriff

By M. O’Gara

Copyright 2011 - Michael O’Gara

Smashwords Edition

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This is a fictional work coming from the author’s imagination including the persons, events, places, organizations and companies. Any similarity to actual persons, events, places, organizations and companies, is purely coincidental.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - Decisions and Actions

Chapter 2 – Discovery and Recovery

Chapter 3 - Acquisitions

Chapter 4 – Good Fortune

Chapter 5 – Eureka!

Chapter 6 – The Cavalry Arrives

Chapter 7 - Expect the Unexpected

Chapter 1 - Decisions and Actions

The big white Hummer with the County Sheriff emblem on the door and all the flashing police lights pulled onto the lawn. Millie Brennan got out of the Hummer and put on her protective vest.

Millie was small in stature at a mere five foot two but she had a presence of a much larger person and a reputation that was at odds with her size. If she had gotten out of beat up pickup truck she would have looked at home in her jeans, southwestern blouse and cowboy hat with her pony tail flowing out from beneath it. To most people who did not know the folk hero status of the little woman, the gun and badge on her belt would have seemed out of place. Sergeant Jason Evers had already arrived and Millie walked over to him, Is Wally inside?

Jason nodded and said, What man in his right mind holds up a convenience store at gunpoint for a couple of packs of beer?

Millie said, That’s the point; he’s not in his right mind. He was probably three sheets plus to the wind when he robbed the store. Millie went to her Hummer and got on the very loud public address speaker, Wally this is Sheriff Brennan. How about doing us all a favor and coming out with your hands up?

Wally yelled, Not until I’ve had at least six beers.

Millie asked, How many have you had already?

Wally replied, Three.

Millie said, Let me know as you finish one OK?

Wally yelled, OK Sheriff.

Millie motioned to Jason, Tell everybody to keep down. I’m going to let this play out. Millie took out her cell phone and made a call while she was waiting to advise that she might be late for her meeting.

A few minutes later Wally yelled, That’s fer.

Millie replied over the loudspeaker, Thank you for letting me know Wally.

The four Deputies were now all behind their cars waiting and trying not to laugh at the insanity of this situation which could be a very dangerous comedy. The house was surrounded and no one wanted to shoot old Wally if they could avoid it. They waited for about another five minutes.

Wally yelled, That’s fy.

Millie replied on the loudspeaker, Thanks Wally. She turned to Jason, It won’t be long now.

A few minutes later Wally staggered out of the house with his hands held high and said, Thas sis.

A Deputy took Wally into custody gently.

Jason said, This time he won’t be going to county for thirty days. Armed robbery just upped the sentence.

Millie nodded agreement, If Judge Murphy had gotten him last time he’d be in rehab instead of going to do serious time.

Corporal Melissa Alman came out of the house with the weapon used in the armed robbery in an evidence bag. She came over to Millie, It’s so old the hammer is rusted in place and the chamber won’t revolve. There is no way to load it let alone fire it.

Millie looked at Jason who said, I’ll let Elizabeth know. Maybe she could cut him some slack if he pleads and send him to six months of confined rehab. Elizabeth Rall had been the prosecuting attorney all the years Millie had been Sheriff.

Millie got in her vehicle and headed for the convenience store Wally had held up.

When Millie arrived the owner greeted her, Did you get him Sheriff?

Millie nodded, Yes.

The owner said, Did you have to hurt him?

Millie shook her head, No. We just waited for him to finish the beer and he gave himself up.

The owner shook his head in dismay, Wally has been coming in here for years so why would he do such a crazy thing? He could have hurt somebody with that gun.

Millie shook her head, He wasn’t in his right mind that’s for sure; way too much alcohol. Thing is that’s no excuse and neither is the fact the gun he had wasn’t loaded and couldn’t be loaded it was so rusted.

The manager said, That so? The new judge should have put poor Wally in rehab the last time he did something stupid drunk. That judge would butcher the milk cow and try to milk the steer and then say he was trying to level the field.

Millie tried to stifle her laughter. She handed the man a twenty dollar bill, That’s for Wally’s beer. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Thanks Sheriff.

Millie said, You’re welcome. I’ve got a meeting to get to. Be safe.

The manager knew Millie’s story as did most of the folks in Mountain County. Millie came from humble roots and everyone knew she was a small town working girl from a working class family that had made good. She’d been married twice and well and had given her second husband a daughter. Her first husband had been a hero killed in action in Afghanistan serving his country. Her second husband and her daughter had been taken by the killer tornado that had gone through Safe Haven the year before. The tornado had also taken her brother Shamus, her mother and father in law, as well as several very close friends. Her mother and father had already passed.

When Millie arrived at the meeting she got out of her Hummer and strode to where a group of people were waiting. It was a beautiful spot that would be the private lakefront park for the subdivision under development. The problem they had was the kind most business people would love to have and Millie was looking forward to dealing with it.

Julia Meyer, Mountain Development’s Senior Vice President spoke first with a teasing smile, Good morning Sheriff. I hear you were delayed dealing with a real desperado.

Millie shook her head and ignored the remark saying with a smile, Good morning everyone.

Julia was not alone. With her were Sue Hahn the company’s real estate broker, George Ramirez Vice President of Construction, Wade Palmer the senior architect and Aaron Goodman the company engineer."

Millie asked, So what do we have?

Julia said, Sue is selling them before we have the homes finished. We’d like to start more but if we move ahead with more homes with the crews we have on this site now we will not meet our construction deadlines for the sales we have.

Millie asked, Why don’t you just hire more workers?

Julia said, We’ve already hired any locals experienced and worth having who don’t already have a job. We’d have to import workers but the hotel rates are so high now it will really eat into our profits.

Millie asked, How do our pay and benefits compare to the other companies around here?

Julia said, Much, and I mean very much better.

Millie asked, Then why aren’t workers jumping to Mountain Development?

George interjected, They think when we finish this subdivision there will be no more work. There are some construction workers on assembly lines and in retail stores who love to build but are afraid the jobs with us won’t last.

Julia said, How do we convince them that isn’t true?

Millie said, Start the site work across the lake and put up a big sign that says Lakeside Estates by Mountain Developments LLC. Millie looked at Aaron, That will keep you hopping. Millie turned back to Julia, Also put up large signs on each side of the seven hundred acres that says, Future Commercial and Residential Development site of Mountain Developments Inc."

Millie Brennan was not only the elected Sheriff of Mountain County but the owner of Mountain Developments. She owned over two hundred and forty acres on the other side of the Lake with about three eights a mile of lakefront. She had once owned or partnered in almost a thousand acres but three quarters of the farmland had been sold. About half had been sold to a resort company and about a quarter for a resort and convention center. Those sales alone would have made Millie very wealthy but she had been very successful in other real estate development projects as well, while all the time working as the elected County Sheriff.

Early in her real estate investing she had acquired the Jamieson farm in Mountain View before the real estate boom. She had also inherited the large fortune of her husband’s family when he had been killed in the tornado that had ripped through the City of Safe Haven Harbor last year. Millie was one of, if not the richest person in Mountain County which was home or summer home to a lot of very wealthy people.

Julia said, That would work and it will get a lot of attention. There will be no question about there being a lot of potential work with our company. We’ll get on it. The other decision I have to deal with is whether we should build even bigger more elaborate homes here.

Sue said, I’ve presold the eleven you have in progress and none are even waterfront homes. I’ve had inquiries about whether there will be larger homes built here in the non waterfront portion of the subdivision. I think you should build a couple of five to six thousand square foot homes and see if we can sell them. The profit margin will be much larger.

Millie asked, What are you going to do Julia?

Julia smiled, Build a couple of big expensive homes. We can well afford it and at worst we’ll have to sit on them for a while and I don’t think that will happen.

Millie looked at George, Where are we on the cliff lot homes under construction? Millie had bought twenty three lots that were locally referred to as cliff lots because they were on bed rock six feet above the lake. She had bought them for a song before the real estate boom and had sold or built on most of them. The fact there was a large ledge a few inches above lake level in front of the lots meant that with the addition of stairs cut in the rock or built those lots became very desirable home sites.

George said, The finishing touches are being put on two and we are getting ready to start two more.

Millie said, I see the merit in where Julia is going so I’m changing my mind. Let’s put off building more on the cliffs at this time. The smaller lots there constrain how big a house we can build. Instead bring the crews here to work on the higher end homes. Julia I’ll leave it to you to manage and approve Wade’s designs and I want to start on the big homes as soon as possible. If Sue is willing you might get her advice on the initial designs Wade comes up with. We’ll start a couple of more homes now and more as George hires more crew.

Julia said, We’ll take care of it.

Millie asked, Anything else before I go to my day job?

No one had anything to say so Millie added, OK then I’ll see y’all later.

Millie got into her Hummer. She drove to the Safe Haven substation which now was her base station. The reconstruction of the downtown was well under way. The disaster here had not been as bad as the Joplin Missouri tornado disaster, but it had been bad enough. The tornado had ripped a swath through the town four blocks wide and almost two miles long. Fifty three people had lost their lives when the downtown and the waterfront had been destroyed. Millie’s husband and infant daughter had been killed in the tornado as well as her brother and several close friends.

The County Courthouse in Mountain View twenty miles away had been badly damaged by another of the tornados that ravaged the area that night. As a result Millie had to establish three substations for the Sheriff’s Department. Other Departments had to be in Mountain View which is the county seat. They had needed use of the remaining facilities including the building that had formerly housed the Sheriff’s Department.

As Millie had predicted once the substations were established the voters did not want them to be abandoned. The substations had not hampered the operations of the Department so Millie had accepted the moves as permanent. Millie had gotten an option to purchase the Safe Haven building for the county when she leased it. The option had been exercised and the county now owned the two thousand square foot building that had once been a sales office for the Beaches development. The Beaches a mix of single family homes and condominium apartments had been built by a consortium headed by her friend and now Congressman Mitch O’Keefe.

Millie parked and went into the office through the front door, Hi Tabatha, anything happening?

Tabatha was the long time office clerk slash secretary who had served Millie for several terms. Tabatha replied, No Sheriff. It’s been quiet except for the one incident.

Millie smiled, That’s the way I like it.

Ernie came out of his office. He was the Deputy Assistant which meant he managed all the administrative affairs of the Department for Millie. Ernie had been wounded in combat and had suffered a wound that would make it difficult for him to do all the functions of a field Deputy but he was an administrative whiz and was carried on the books as an Auxiliary Deputy Sheriff; thus the title of Deputy Assistant. He had been one of Millie’s best hiring decisions and she had a record of making good ones.

Ernie greeted Millie, Hi Sheriff. I just sent you the latest reports. We are still on budget in all areas. The stats are looking really good and stable.

In the years Millie had been Sheriff the crime statistics had continually dropped to a low level where they now were relatively stable. Her first few years of striking hard at the criminal element had earned her folk hero status. More than once she had been wounded in violent confrontations with career criminals and gained regional and national prominence as a crime fighter. These days that seemed like a thing of the past. There was the odd meth lab busted or pot patch arrest but it was mostly small time. Career criminals seemed to keep their distance from Mountain County because they knew there were easier pickings elsewhere.

Millie had just started a new term. The one stable element of Mountain County politics was that almost everyone wanted and expected Millie Brennan to be Sheriff. She and her Deputies were respected and in most cases the public had a real affection for them. The Sheriff and her Deputies had gotten to that pleasant balance of being seen as respected peace officers, welcomed social workers, and good neighbors. It made policing relatively easy. Quite often the informal reports they got in visits to business and during conversations with residents enabled them to preempt big problems. Millie was content to enjoy the peace.

Millie was reviewing the reports when Tabatha announced, Your friend the Mayor is here.

Millie looked up to see Doris coming in to her office. Doris greeted her, Hi Millie. How is it going?

Pretty quiet just the way I like it.

Doris said, Good. I’m here on City Business.

Millie asked, And what might that be?

Doris smiled her most charming smile which warned Millie she was going to be asked for a big favor. Doris was one of her good buddies in spite of Doris being considerably older. Millie knew her well.

Doris stated, We thought to rebuild City Hall bigger and better but we can’t do it where it was because the lot is so small. We’d like the site where our husbands had their offices. We want to make the old site a memorial waterfront park.

Millie and Doris had been married to doctors both of whom had perished in the tornado. Their two doctor husbands had offices in the same condo office building Millie’s company had built. After the building had been destroyed Millie had arranged to reacquire the sole title to the land.

Millie asked, And how much are you offering for the land? Millie was afraid she knew the answer and that was why Council had sent the Mayor.

Doris smiled, We hoped you would sell it to the City for a hundred thousand. We know it is well below market value but with the rebuilding of infrastructure we are kind of stretched thin financially.

Millie asked, Wouldn’t the site at Main and Central where the four story office condo building had been be a better site?

Doris said seriously, Much better but more difficult to sort out. The council doesn’t want to be bothered with it. The vacant Central Avenue site is now almost in the north to south center of the city.

Millie said, I will sell it to the City for a hundred thousand but I want a contractual stipulation that the old site will only be used for a park. I also ask the council to put a memorial stone on the new building grounds naming our husbands and the fifty one others who died in the tornado.

Doris started to tear up. Doc Wooster was Doris’s deceased husband. Millie and Doris’s husband doctors had been good friends as well as colleagues. Millie had been a friend of Doc’s since she was a child and he had been their family doctor. It had been Millie who had been match maker for the older couple.

Doris dabbed at her eyes with a tissue, Thank you Millie. I’ll tell the council the good news.

Millie asked, How about we have lunch at your diner?

Doris said, Sure thing. Doris was not only Mayor of Safe Haven Bay but she owned the regionally famous eateries; the one downtown café called Sheriff’s Eatery and Jail which was being rebuilt after the tornado, as well as the OK Corral Diner on the highway. Both locations played on a western lawman theme based on their local folk hero Sheriff Millie Brennan who years ago had made national and regional headlines with her shoot outs with desperate criminals and some not so desperate but whacky desperados. Doris and Millie hugged then Doris left.

As soon as Doris left, Millie called Sue who answered on the second ring, Hi Millie what’s up?

Hi Sue. I have a challenge for you. I’d like to see if I could obtain sole title to the lot at Main and Central where the condo offices used to be. Would you be my stalking horse?

Sue thought for a moment, How much are you willing to go?

Millie said, A hundred and fifty thousand at most. I’ll pay you the regular commission plus ten grand if you can put it together.

Sue asked, And I get the listing if you sell what you build there?

Millie laughed, Of course Sue.

Sue said, I’ll do it. The individual owners are not likely to want to finance building another one so they may go for getting a little more cash out of it. Will you pay for an independent appraisal to help me in the negotiation?

Millie said, Yes of course.

Sue said, OK, I’ll get on it. Now to change horses; I have listed a number of home lots in the Beaches where houses were destroyed in the tornado. Would you be interested in any of them? Some of the prices are depressed right now.

Millie said, Sure bring the listings over and we’ll go have a look.

Sue asked, How about after lunch say one thirty when I can be there in town?

Millie said, Sure, come by the station around to the back door and call me and I’ll come out. The call ended and Millie went back to work.

Millie had her office work done by noon hour and left to meet Doris for lunch. Once inside the diner Millie had to stop several times to greet and talk to folks as she made her way to the table permanently reserved for her. All the locals knew it was part of the charm of the place and played on the Sheriff’s folk hero status for the tourists. Doris even kept several scrap books of Millie’s headlines and photos for the tourists to look at. Millie knew a lot of people by name but always had a handshake and kind word for those she met. This had become a ritual at both the eatery and diner.

One old fellow said to Millie as she passed his table, Draw, and she made a motion as if to draw her weapon and their hands met to shake.

Millie said, You’re slowing down Wilbur.

Wilbur smiled, I’m still fast enough to beat you Sheriff.

Millie shrugged and smiled, You always vote Wilbur so I have to let you win.

One of Wilbur’s companions guffawed and said, She’s got you there Wilbur.

Millie put her hand on Wilbur’s shoulder as she moved past, You fellows stay out of trouble now. Millie smiled because she genuinely liked the people of Mountain County. For the most part they were honest, down to earth, hard working people. The summer residents of Safe Haven Harbor were for the most part quiet and well behaved for big city people. Millie supposed that was because they came here to unwind and enjoy a peaceful summer.

Millie sat at the table with the sign that was permanently left there and said, Reserved for Sheriff. Josephine a long time employee came to Millie’s table.

Doris is in the office and will be out shortly. What are you having today Sheriff?

Millie smiled, How about a shooter burger and lemonade Josephine.

Just then Terry the City Marshal came in and Millie waved her over. Terry had once been a Deputy Marshal when Millie had been City Marshal prior to becoming County Sheriff. Her husband Rob was now Police Chief in Longview eleven miles up the lake by boat.

Terry came over, Hi Sheriff, Josephine.

Josephine replied, Hi Marshal. What can I get you?

I’ll have a grilled cheese on Texas with ice tea please.

Josephine said, C’mon right up, and left to fill the orders.

Millie said, We’ve been quiet how about you.

Terry smiled, The same and I like it. We earned our quiet times.

Millie nodded, You betcha.

Doris came out of the office and joined them. They talked about the progress that was being made to rebuild Safe Haven Harbor. Doris told them that her downtown eatery would be open in just a few weeks. They enjoyed a pleasant lunch together.

After lunch Millie went to the office and Sue was there within five minutes. They went driving the Beaches looking at the lots listed for sale. Millie looked at thirty seven lots. Some of the lots were very reasonably priced and some were unrealistically priced especially given their size and location.

Millie looked at the houses around the lots and chose eleven that she felt were prime lots considering size, location and price. They were the most suitable for building large homes overlooking the golf course and with a view of the lake. Millie knew of the restrictive covenants and she liked them. She would make near full price offers on the eleven. She found another seven she would like to have and made offers on them well below the asking price. The others were not suitable for her kind of development. Sue did point out two smaller lots that were well located and if purchased and joined they would make an ideal home site and they were reasonably priced. Millie made an offer on them each conditional on the purchase of the other. Millie had a potential for eighteen additional sites on which to build.

Millie and Sue went to the station and Millie signed offers and wrote checks for trust deposits. Sue said she would arrange to get the offers presented but it might take a while to get them signed. Sue said she’d better get to her office and get busy calling and faxing.

Ernie brought some routine documents that needed Millie’s attention but other than that it was quiet. Millie looked at the patrol boat schedule and saw both boats were patrolling the lake today. The summer season was just about upon them with the Memorial Day weekend just a little less than two weeks away. The patrol boats would be out most of the time now. Millie decided it was time to buy a boat to occupy the slip at the new house and replace one of the two she lost in the tornado.

Millie loved to be on the lake and had been around boats since she was a child. She remembered fondly how she had learned to rebuild inboard engines with her father and brother. She had also worked on engines with her first husband Tom before he was killed in combat in Afghanistan. For many years her life centered on the lake and Millie decided her life needed more balance and it was time to replace the boat she had lost to the tornado.

Millie took out her laptop and got on the internet and started doing research. She knew what she wanted and she found it. She found the closest two dealers from the manufacturer’s website and called. When she called the first one she routed to a woman who was very pleasant and took her name and information but could not answer her questions so Millie thanked the woman and called the second dealer.

She told the second dealer her name and what she was looking for and asked the list of questions she had prepared. They told her they could order what she wanted but if she was flexible on color they had one in stock with all the features she was looking for. Millie was told it was blue and white instead of red and white. There was only one question the salesman couldn’t answer and he said he’d check and call back.

Millie was working when her phone rang and she picked it up to hear a man ask, Is this Sheriff Millie Brennan?

Millie said, Yes it is.

This is Stan Crowley of Crowley Marine. I was told you called with some questions regarding a boat purchase?

Millie said, Yes. I have subsequently talked to another dealer who was more helpful. Frankly Mr. Crowley I got the impression I was pushed off on a less than qualified staffer because I was a woman inquiring about a very expensive boat. If I had been a man I expect I might have been treated differently.

Mr. Crowley said, I apologize and I would like to make it up to you Sheriff. Are you familiar with the craft?

Millie said, My husband, may he rest in peace, and I owned one. It was destroyed in the recent tornado which also destroyed our other boat. I frankly liked it better than the thirty foot boat I acquired before we were married.

Mr. Crowley said, If you are seriously interested in purchasing it I will give you a sweet deal Sheriff. I’ll even deliver it to the lake for you free of charge. It has all the options available on this model. Selling you this boat would be a good object lesson about lazy Monday salesmen missing out on a big commission that I gave as a discount to the customer instead.

Millie couldn’t help it and laughed lightly then said, How much of a discount Mr. Crowley?

The man gave her a price and Millie said, I’ll take it.

Mr. Crowley said, Good. Will you need help with the financing?

Millie said, No, I’ll pay for it by check.

Mr. Crowley said, "Very well.