Tuesday Tales: From the Word SANDY

Well, here we are starting the second week of June. The weather has been good here for the most part, but in other places around the globe, it’s been insane. Hope this finds you and yours safe! This week’s word prompt for Tuesday Tales is SANDY. I’m continuing with And Justice for All. Enjoy! Harry is with Lacey, his forensic specialist.

Lacey inhaled and exhaled, calming herself, but he could see it was a struggle. She walked over to the computers and pressed a key. A man’s mugshot appeared. The guy, in his mid-twenties had sandy brown hair and deep blue eyes filled with hate.

“As requested, I’ve been monitoring the progress of all cases concerning officer-involved deaths. Three weeks ago, an off-duty officer—Greg Pershing, white male, didn’t match our parameters, but I followed the case anyway—was killed in a drive-by shooting outside at restaurant popular with members of the Islamic community. The Toronto police arrested his killer yesterday when the idiot decided to hold up a liquor store in a crowded mall, carrying the same gun. Idiot was high and probably too stupid to realize that the first thing they would do was check the ballistics on the gun.”

“So, he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.” Harry shook his head. “Why is this relevant if Officer Pershing wasn’t one of ours?”

“Nothing and everything,” she answered cryptically. “John Lennox, 28, has a rap sheet as long as your arm, but in the past, it’s been things like petty larceny, civil disobedience, indecent exposure, drunk and disorderly, and stuff like that. He’s quite mouthy one of the ‘I don’t recognize your authority’ crowd. I have a close friend on the force, so when I read that the gun was the one used, I called him for details. In addition to being a royal pain in thre ass, Lennox is a member of a pretty sketchy MMA club that calls itself White Lightning. It’s been on the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s radar for some time. Apparently, many of those organizations attract young men who suffer from what’s been dubbed the male loneliness epidemic … guys lacking connections and emotional support. Sadly, some of those would-be alpha males are jerks and prefer to listen to like-minded influencers and blame women, minorities and DEI policies for their problems than try to change themselves and deal with their issues. The caveman tactics don’t work for most women. They’re looking for partners not chest-pounding gorillas who would lord it over them. A lot of these men find connections with incels, the involuntary celibate, and we both know innocent women die at their hands far too often. To make matters worse, CSIS has found that several of these MMA clubs have suspected links to a world-wide white supremacists organizations.”

Don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.