Chapter 66

Jack left the office just a few minutes before five. He made the appointment to see Jen from my office phone. Jen must have really been in Marty's pocket big time, since she made his appointment to see her for 5:30 PM that same evening. For Jen to stay past five, it had to be a big deal.

"So what do you think about that man's daughter?" Mike asked.

"Mike that man is married to one of my few friends. Her name is Helen. His daughter has a name as well. Her name is Julie and she is my friend Helen's step daughter. Now are you asking what I think of Julie?"

"Alright Maxie I get it. What do you think of Jack's story about Julie?"

"I believe every word of it." I admitted.

"So what are you going to do?" he asked.

"Well Mike, first I am going to be sure I can get paid. Then I'm going to do a lot of recon." I replied

"So, you are going to just sit back and look at the situation, while God only knows what happens to that poor teenager?" Mike asked almost angrily.

"You do remember the rescue we were involved in the last time you were here?" I asked.

"Sure, it made national headline, which Gwen and I cashed in on it." He said it not daring to look me in the eye.

"Exactly, well that was mostly about a party held at the Hazelwood B&B." I informed him.

"Yeah, I knew that," he admitted.

"Then you know there were hookers there, you might also remember that one of them was underage." I suggested.

"Sure I remember," he said. "Are you telling me that Julie was that girl?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you. Now that poor little girl can take care of herself for the day or so that I need to determine the lay of the land."

"Oh okay," he said. "I'm sorry I said anything. I'm not supposed to am I?"

"No you aren't. No matter how much better the TV drama would be, we aren't going to run off half cocked like the 7th Calvary to the rescue. It's not how things get done successfully in the real world."

"I get it Max, I'm sorry." he said obviously trying to get a handle on it all.

"Don't worry, everyone gets swept up in the 'damsel in distress syndrome' once or twice. It's all that knights in shining armor bullshit from fairy tales." I said honestly.

"What are we waiting around here for? I mean everyone has gone." Mike asked.

"We are waiting for a phone call from Jen."

"Oh is she going to call?"

"I certainly hope so," I said. Mike didn't know that I had a date with Mosby. What we did know at that point was that my evening would be determined by what Jen had to say.

By six she hadn't called, so I started to clear my desktop. I had some pens and papers left over from the day's work. "Well Mike, I have no idea what you are going to do, but I'm going home to change. I have a date with Mosby."

"If I trade with Gwen, can I trust you not to run off and leave her again?"

"Absolutely not," I replied with a smile.

"Come on Max, you know we missed some great moments, when we didn't shoot you off script." Mikes said.

"Mike honey, I'm always off script." I replied.

"Yeah, but not like when you slept on the office floor. That was way off script, and showed your vulnerability. It would have been killer to show your mental process at the time."

"Paranoia run amuck," I replied with a smile.

"It still would have been great TV," he stated again. He was sticking to his gun, trying to shame me into better cooperation.

"We will see. In the meantime I'm off to wash the smell of work off my ass."

"Okay, so where do we meet you?" Mike asked.

"After a quick shower, I'm going by to pick up Mosby. From there it's the Pizza and Pasta pit for takeout. Then we will be headed for the Cop Out Club."

"Okay, now I'm curious. Why the Cop Out. You were just there. You don't go there very often."

"I haven't been there much since the Hazelwood affair for sure. Now I want to see, if and when Blevins and Anya show up again."

"Not to mention ask around about the Russian crackdown?" he guessed.

"I little of that, I'm sure." I replied honestly.

What I didn't admit to, was that Mosby would make that a bit easier. No matter what else Mosby might be, she was great bait. Men looked at her and their brains turned to mush, while there pricks turned to stone.

The ride out to the cabin didn't seem nearly as long in the daylight. From our office the drive went for about five minutes, even if you got caught at both traffic lights, through the old urban sprawl. From main street it was onto the county road which connected Aster to Greenpoint. Greenpoint was an even more rural community. Unfortunately it was slowly becoming a bedroom community for Tryon as well.

Negotiating the flat Greenpoint road was simple compared to the county road which ran by my driveway. That road connected the Greenpoint road to a boat access ramp into the Deep River. Yes there were a few farms along the two miles of paved road, but the road ended in a concrete boat ramp down to the river.

At night I could look into my rear view mirror, to see any lights which might be behind me. In the daylight I backed the cruiser into a clear spot directly across the road from my entrance gate. I sat in that raw dirt turn around, while I checked the on line camera footage.

When I was sure no one had followed me, I tripped the gate opener. When the gate was open completely, I zipped across the road. The remote had to be used from a spot just past the first tree on my drive or it was useless. I always stopped in the exact same place. I knew it was a stupid thing to do, but I had been getting complacent. Someday I was going to get a RPG up my ass, while sitting either by that tree or while in that turn around.