About fifteen minutes later, a large white Chevy Suburban pulled into Fred's driveway. Joel got out of the driver's side. Dave got out of the passenger’s side. A squad car pulled in behind the Suburban. Maureen got out of that. From the back of the squad car, she let out a large dog.

Dave declared sarcastically, "What a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon."

Joel said, "Don't worry about it, Fred. We were all at work going over your case anyway."

Maureen said, "I guess you really did use drugs, Fred. They made you paranoid."

Joel countered, "Fred’s idea is worth checking out."

Some time later, they gathered together in Fred's living room.

Maureen said, "The dog didn't locate anything suspicious. I knew Fred was being paranoid. I'm bringing the dog back. I don't really like dogs anyway. I prefer cats."

Dave commented, "I've never seen a drug-sniffing cat."

Maureen made a face at Dave, then tugged on the leash. Soon, the cruiser with Maureen and the dog aboard pulled out of the driveway.

Joel asked Fred, "What were your plans for this evening?"

Fred said, "I was going to Mom's for supper."

Joel looked as his watch and said, "Fred, you should plan on doing that."

Some time later, the white Chevy Suburban pulled out of the driveway. A little later, Fred came out of the house. He backed his maroon sedan out of the garage. He left, heading for his mother’s place.

About half an hour later, the Suburban raced back. It stopped leaving skid marks in front of the house. Joel and Dave leapt out. A squad car screeched in behind it, with Maureen jumping from it. The dog was not with her anymore. All three officers drew their guns as they ran into the house. In the living room, Gary Alexander had his hands on a large plastic bag behind some videotapes. As the three officers rushed in, Gary yanked out the bag triumphantly.

Joel ordered, "Drop the bag and raise your hands."

Rather than comply, Gary said, "I was doing some investigative reporting. Look what I just found, partners!"

Joel loudly repeated, "Drop the bag and raise your hands!"

Maureen said, "I’d obey if I were you."

Gary kept a forced smile. Although he towered over the much shorter Joel Robust, Gary noticed he was looking directly down the barrel of Joel's old revolver, which for some reason he noticed more than the semi-auto handguns of the other two officers. If Gary had that revolver, it would blend with the rest of his cowboy outfit. Gary's smile faltered. He did as ordered. Joel then instructed him to turn around and place his hands on the wall.

Gary asked in some shock, "Are you arresting me?"

Joel said, "Yes, I am."

Gary said, "It's understood that a reporter has to sneak into places on occasion, even if not technically legal."

"Tell it to the judge," Joel said, holding his gun on Gary while Maureen put him in handcuffs. Maureen then read him his rights.

While they did that, Dave reached down and picked up the bag. He opened it and took out a small sample of plant material. He put that in a glass tube. He added some liquid, which changed color. He then did another test.

"It's positive for marijuana and for PCP. Wet, in street jargon. Several pounds of it," Dave said.

Maureen pondered, "Do you think Gary Alexander here is the Cowboy who Stan is hunting for? He dresses the part and has a dealer’s quantity of drugs."

Gary complained, "I’m not a drug dealer, darling, but it appears Fred Vigeretti is one! Like you said, that’s so much only a dealer would have it. You should be arresting him, not me. I found that bag behind those tapes."

Dave turned to Joel and asked, "Can I tell him?"

Joel said, "Be my guest."

Maureen frowned as though wishing she got to do this part.

Dave gave a big grin, pointed to a cardboard box sitting on a shelf, declared, "Smile! You're on Candid Camera!"

Gary frowned as he belatedly noticed the hole in the box.

Dave remarked, "Usually, I do a better job of concealing the camera, but we didn't have much time."

Maureen remarked, "It did the job, Dave. That’s what matters."

Dave grinned and explained, "I've got a transmitter hooked up. It worked properly when it had power. Joel, Maureen, and I watched you break in. We watched you planting the bag."

Joel then told Gary Alexander various things he was being charged with. These were serious charges indeed!

On Tuesday afternoon, a group of people gathered in front of City Hall. The mayor stood at a podium, talking to a group of reporters and other people. Notably missing among the regular cast of reporters was Gary Alexander.

The mayor announced, "Sharon Smith graduated with honors from Boston University with a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice. She had many offers, but chose to come up here to Port City, Maine."

That drew cheers. The mayor described some of the best features and tourist attractions of the city. He then talked about how unfortunate it was that Sharon had been wounded in the line of duty after working such a short time in this great city. He had a medal for bravery for her.

Mr. Smith pushed his daughter's wheelchair up to the podium. Although in the wheelchair, Sharon Smith was in her uniform. One pant leg had had to be slit to get over the cast covering that leg. Both parents were in tears. The mayor pinned the medal on Sharon.

Sharon then gave a short speech about wanting to become a police officer since she was a little girl. She talked of how her parents had supported her. She also mentioned some things that had impressed her about Port City, which had convinced her to take this offer rather than others.

After the cheers died down, Mr. Smith pushed his daughter in her wheelchair to one side.

Behind the podium, the mayor then said, "One of our citizens has a few words to stay next. Come over here, Mr. Black."

A man with one mechanical hand came up to the podium.

Mr. Black said, "Hello. I've done some bad things in my life. So bad that I've served time in prison. I paid my debt to society, but not everybody treats me that way."

Mr. Black held up his mechanical hand and said, "I don't like having this. I lost my real hand and forearm when I was shot last year. I wish so badly that I hadn't lost it. However, I would've lost my life too if it hadn't been for Fred Vigeretti. He lost an eye to one of the many bullets meant for me. I think many of you out there would not have risked your life and suffered so much to protect the life of an ex-convict like me. Officer Vigeretti did."

Mr. Black paused to collect himself, then he continued, "This last year has been a good one. I attended an award dinner where my daughter was admitted to the Golden Key Honor Society. I'm so glad I was alive to be there. Thank you, Officer Vigeretti."

The mayor then came back to the podium. He held up a bulletproof vest.

The mayor said, "This was still in the evidence room at the Port City Police department. It's the vest that Officer Vigeretti wore that day. All these white circles mark places where he was shot, but the vest stopped those bullets. Sadly, it didn't stop them all. Still, it stopped enough that both Mr. Black and Officer Vigeretti are both here today."

The mayor put down that vest, then picked up another and said, "This is the vest Officer Vigeretti was wearing just last week. This was the same day that Officer Smith was shot. This vest is marked with one circle, right in the center. Here, with my pen, I'm indicating the hole."

Cameras flashed, and the mayor smiled.

The mayor then said, "It is sad that a young teenager with what could have been such a bright future ahead lost his life in this incident. As sad as that is, it doesn't change that Officer Vigeretti's actions have been ruled a justified shooting in the line of duty."

The mayor paused, then said, "Before I bring Officer Vigeretti up here, some things need to be explained. There have been claims made about what happened that are confusing. Rather than explaining myself, I'll let the lead officer in the investigation do it himself. Officer Robust?"

Joel came up to the podium. He spent some time explaining what had happened. He told the reporters that in the package for the press was a video with edited sections of surveillance footage. He described what had occurred at the Lewis house, then later at the drug house.

One reporter shouted, "Are you really sure it's the same gun that you found?"

Joel said, "The rifling on the slugs and the firing pin and ejection marks on the shells match perfectly. This weekend, we learned something else important about this gun. Eric Lewis’s father is currently in prison for various crimes, including a robbery where a guard was shot and killed. We have shell casings and slugs recovered from that crime. Mr. Lewis was convicted of that killing even though the gun itself was never recovered...until now. Eric had his father's gun."

Joel answered various other questions to the press. After these died down, the mayor came back to the podium. The mayor gave a speech on the importance of keeping guns locked up and out of the hands of children, or better yet, not in the house at all. Then, using the incident at the drug house as a starting point, the mayor launched into a speech about the dangers of illegal drugs.

Fred sat waiting through all this. He wasn't really hearing the mayor's latest words, even though passionately delivered. Instead, what echoed in his mind were the words, "Justified shooting."

The next morning, Fred came in wondering whom he'd be working with. Despite her appearance at the press conference, Sharon was not ready to return even for a desk job. He walked up to the duty board, but did not see his name.

Joel walked up and said, "Fred, the chief's out sick today, so I have to do this. Would you please come into my office?"

Fred had a suspicion that the chief wasn't really sick, but pretending to be to avoid this.

Joel sat down, then said, "Just after yesterday's press conference, Mr. Shuster filed a lawsuit on behalf of Mrs. Lewis. They're suing for ten million dollars."

Fred declared, "That's an outrageous amount."

Joel said, "Eric was a college-bound boy. He was offered several scholarships already. Computing in projected future earnings, it may not be that out of line out of what they could get. Also, it didn't come up in the press conference, but we got back the autopsy report. Eric Lewis was clean of drugs."

"How can that be?" Fred said as he sank deep into his chair from being stunned.

Joel said, "I don’t know, but it doesn't change the justified shooting ruling one iota."

Fred remarked, "Then I don't see how Mr. Shuster can have much of a case."

Joel cleared his throat, then said, "Mr. Shuster came up with an angle that I hadn't expected. He claimed the Port City Police Department was negligent having you working in the field. He claims that due to your missing eye, you didn't see Eric's gun as soon as you might have otherwise. He also claims that you would have been able to shoot better if you had both eyes, wounding or frightening Eric rather than killing him."

Fred said, "That's wrong, Joel!"

Joel declared, "Until this lawsuit is cleared up, we can't have you working in the field."