Chapter 6

"You need to call Ada." Louise demanded in her stern voice.

"I don't need to call her, you need for me to call her." Miles replied. He didn't respond well to orders. "Why not have her come over for lunch. She can stop for her favorite take out and bring it along."

"You know that letting her chose might be dangerous," Louise said. "Also that automatically invites Jerri along."

Well next week is Christmas. I know you are going home and filming will stop till after the New Year, so I expect they want to get the gold count. So have her bring the digital scale." Miles said.

"You are really going to put the phone call off on me?" Louise asked.

"Well you are the one hot on having her come over," Miles said. "You remember our agreement when you moved in here."

"Yes I know the one to whom the mess most irritates cleans it," she said. "How about rule two. The one who makes the mess cleans it up?"

"What makes you think I made the mess. You were the one who insisted Ada join our crew. So technically you made the mess."

"You fucked her," Louise said.

"You do have a point but you still need to call her. When I go back to the woods you are the one who will be left to deal with her," Miles reminded her.

"Fuck it, I'll call. You better play nice, since as you pointed out, I have to deal with her when you leave."

Miles went about recharging his two Tug motor batteries. He would need them hot when he returned to the miner's shack.

As they charged, he worked on his computer. He did some research on gold patterns in rivers and streams. He was determined to recover all the gold possible from the steam where he was working at present. He also planned to carry that knowledge forward to the next stream.

Miles had talked to almost no one in the area. He left the explanations to the land owner. He could tell them whatever he wanted, Miles thought.

The lease dictated the deadline for clearing the gold. His lease was for one year. He didn't expect to come up short on the deadline. He could have leased it for only six months, if it had been summertime in the mountains. Since it wasn't it might take a full year to clean the spot out.

He spent have a day, every day cutting wood and carrying water, so he only had time to mine five or six hours a day. Even that was enough time standing in the frigid water for any sane human being.

When the gold was divided, even thought he got a double share for fronting the cost of material and building equipment, his share would be less than minimum wage, but he didn't mind at all. He was having a blast living close to the pioneer lifestyle. He loved the challenges and he loved defeating them best of all.

He moved on from the research to emptying the email. He was amazed at the number of advertisement for Viagra and penis enhancers that had accumulated in his in box. There were a large number of insurance companies wanting to provide him with insurance as well. Since his insurance was provided by the state retirement system, he ignored them as well.

He glanced at the spam mail before deleting it. He found one email from his brother, Louise's father. It was dated two weeks previously.

'Louise tells me you are a mountain man now. I find that terribly interesting after thirty years sitting on your ass chasing bad guys. We hear they are going to stop filming for Christmas. Why don't you come visit over Christmas and bring your friend Ada.' Bob.

Miles would wager his share of the gold that his brother's wife Lucile was the author of that email. His answer was. 'Sorry I have made other plans, but thanks for the invitation.' His plan was to sit on the deck and smoke disgusting cigars.

With that in mind he poured himself a coffee, then moved to the deck. He lit up the Mexican cigars sold under the counter at an authentic Mexican bodega in the Spanish barrio. He was well into it when Ada arrived.

Miles stayed in his plastic chair smoking his all natural cigar, while she and Louise had their meeting. After few moments the two of them came onto the deck. Miles stood to great Ada. "Good to see you Ada," he said.

"You to Miles. Eddie wasn't sure when you would come out." she said.

"No need for me to come out, Eddie kept in touch with you two. I knew in case of an emergency he would let me know.

"Eddie says you seem to be in your element up there," Ada suggested

"I enjoy it for sure," Miles said.

"So let's see your gold," Louise demanded.

"Our gold," Miles said as he produced the small pill bottle with a pretty good amount of gold. "Let's go inside. I don't want to have to mine under the deck."

Jerri had the camera ready to film the weigh in. "Hello Uncle Miles," she said because she knew it would get under his skin.

"Hello Jerri," he said being civil. What Jerri didn't know was that Miles was a master at saying the right thing, while still being prepared by blow her shit into next Wednesday.

Miles handed over the bottle. Ada had a coffee filter on the scales. The scales were balanced to a perfect zero. She began to sift the gold onto the scales. While she did that Miles went for more coffee. He wasn't impressed with the drama.

"Five point three ounces of gold," Ada announced. That's pretty close to two thousand each."

"Not exactly, if you remember instead of all the bullshit bookkeeping, I bought all the materials and constructed everything for a second share.

"Stop with the bullshit Miles. Let us enjoy the moment," Louise said.

"None of use is going to get rich from the mining operation," Ada said. "It's a hobby for Me and your uncle. You get to have a nice dinner or two with your share," Ada replied. "Mostly for me it proves that history and the skills I acquired working with Louise have a value in the real world.

"I warned you both the we would do better exploring in the winter months and mining in the summer months. We can also judge how much is left to mine from our summer exploring this year," Miles suggested. "It's already a success, so the most drama is over."

"So just to change the subject before someone says something they can't take back. Where is everyone spending Christmas?" Ada asked.

"I'm going home to spend a few days with my mom and dad. The other kids should be coming too visit as well," Louise replied.

"How about you Jerri?" Ada asked.

"I'm going to spend the holiday with my boyfriend in New York," she said.

"Oh really," Louise said before she realized it."

Jerri ignored her comment. "How about you Uncle Miles?" she asked instead of answering Louise.

Miles glared at her but calmly said, "Pizza Hut."

"Let me know when and Silvia and I will meet you there," Ada said.

"Sure why not," Miles agreed.

The meeting ended with Ada making the official weighing and distributing of the gold. Miles share was a little over three ounces. The others shared and ounce and a half each.

"You know I'm sure people would to be part of the expedition. It really is a great experience," Miles said.

"I want to come visit in the summer the winter isn't something I'm ready too experience yet," Ada said.

There was more small talk then the meeting just ended. Ada stayed until Jerri and Louise left.

"Silvia really does want to meet you she has a problem she wants your advice," Ada said.

"What kind of problem," Miles asked.

"I don't know something she needs help with, but doesn't want to share with me," Ada suggested.

"Okay, I'll do what I can," Miles said. "I can't I blame her for not wanting to share with her mother."

"You I assume will not have the same problem," Ada said.

"I can't promise you that I will rat on her. I can promise you to give her some good advice," Miles admitted.

After everyone was gone miles spent some time working on his equipment and ordering new heated socks. He couldn't imagine standing in the ice water without them. He also toyed with buying a very small gasoline generator from Harbor Freight. He could manage it because he already had most of his shit on site. It was just a few light things going in after Christmas. He considered it but decided against it. The generator would have allowed him to recharge the batteries at night and on cloudy days. The convenience was outweighed by the hassle factor. He opened instead to buy a larger solar array. One designated for twelve volts DC to keep his batteries charged faster. He also bought spare batteries. He hoped he could keep more spare charged batteries in case of bad weather.

After three days of doing maintenance on equipment Ada called him on the phone. "Silvia is here. Could you meet us for lunch?" she asked.

"Just give me a few minutes to shower and change and I'll meet you anywhere," Miles agreed.

"How about the Alphabet Restaurant in the College Hill Plaza?" she asked.

"Sure what time?" Miles responded.

"Noon, is that okay," Ada asked.

Miles noted that her attitude was different. He had never heard her speak with any warmth in her voice before. "Sure noon is fine," he said.

The Alphabet had been several things over the thirty years Miles had been with the Police Department. He remembered it most as a Jazz club. Only because he hated jazz but college girls thought it was sophisticated to be a big fan. He had pretended to love it two when he was a rookie patrolman.

"Want to sit on the patio," he asked Ada when the two of them arrived.

She looked to Silvia for and answer. Silvia nodded so Ada said, "Sure let's eat in the great outdoor in the dead of winter."

"Okay, we will eat inside. Oh course it is a warm sunny day to me," Miles said.

"No the patio would be fine," Silvia said.

Miles was dressed for it, but the two women weren't before he ordered he had them move inside because Ada was obviously biting her tongue.

The conversation was about the show. Silvia said the crew were most pleased with the way it went. They had footage of Louise and Ada to balance out the footage of Miles in the process of mining. The crew found it a nice change that no one was worried about striking it rich.

The adventure was the thing not the end result. Well Louise was interested in the money but for Miles and Ada it was about the theory that the steams held gold. It was like a huge mystery them against mother nature.

The three of them had soup. The two women added salad to their order, but Miles went with a grilled cheese to his. He really didn't have a way to make grilled cheese on the mountain. Miles decided that bread and cheese were a little too iffy for his rations box. He did have canned cheese product used for Mac and Cheese which he did enjoy.

"So did Louise leave for home?" Ada asked.

"Yes she left this morning. It's only three days till Christmas so I expect her to be gone for a week," Miles suggested.

"Then why don't you and I go to your place for a little conversation," Silvia suggested. "We won't be long mom. Yes Miles I know that you know."

"Well there are no secrets between us now," Miles said.

"Oh yes there are," Silvia said without even a little smile.

They were drinking coffee on the deck when she said, "I guess I should get to it?"

There is no rush," Miles said.

After a few false starts Silvia said, "You always looked like a dangerous and mysterious character to me. So do you have a dark secret?"

"By the time you reach my age everyone has a secret or two they range from the kind that would embarrass you to the kind that would land your ass on death row. It's all about the degree of human failure, to which we fall victim." Miles explained.

"What would you do, if someone threatened you with exposure?" Silvia asked.

"I guess that would depend on how serous the threat was and how far I was willing to go to keep my secret," Miles said. "Are you comfortable enough to share your problem yet. You can start with who is threatening you and what they want."

"Don't you want to know what I did and why," Silvia said.

"Silvia is someone trying to extort money from you?" Miles asked bluntly.

"Yes," she said.

"Is it for a current event, or something in your past," Miles asked.

"It was a series of stupid mistakes eight years ago. I was a teacher in a public school." Silvia began.

Miles cut her off with, "I can guess the rest. I am going to guess it was not a parent who is threatening you." She nodded. "So one of the kids grew up and is a stone junkie or some suck. He needs money, so he contacted you, right?" Miles asked.

"Yes that is pretty much it," Silvia said.

"Was it only the one kid?" Miles asked.

"Yes I thought it was love. He pursued me the whole year and I was flattered. He was one of those glib, older than his years teens. I know it's no excuse but I didn't feel that I was a pervert. It just felt good. He was almost eighteen and when he graduated and left me, I was heart broken. He told some of his friends who hit on me the next school year. I resigned immediately and took the job with QE2." She informed Miles.

What dose he want, I am assuming it is not justice he seeks," Miles asked.

"No he wants ten thousand dollars to start some kind of business. I do know from our shows that once I pay it will never end," Silvia said.

"You are exactly right. If you pay you are setting yourself up to be the bank of Silvia," Miles suggested.

"You have considerable resources have you put them to finding his address," Miles asked.

"It wasn't hard. He is on Facebook, Pictures and everything," she informed him.

"Got to love that shit, it makes things so much easier," Miles said.

Miles removed his old fashioned pocket notebook and slipped it and a ballpoint pen across the table. Write it down for me. Name, address, place of employment anything else you know about him," Miles said. "Also Silvia is there any hard evidence he might have. If you are perfectly straight with me, maybe I can find you a way out this with minimum damage. You might have to call his bluff. If you do, I can assure you that you wont do any time. You might need a lawyer to work out a probation sentence, but you won't need F Lee Bailey or anything. I doubt a prosecutor would even consider it worthwhile pursuing."