Chapter 13: X Marks The Spot

Once in the car and on their way to the Pagoda, Su Li's restaurant, Ruby let out a raucous laugh. "Oh Jimmy!" She began to laugh hard.

Neither Ruby nor Jimmy was aware of the extent they had both outwardly changed. Some of the changes ran deep. Many of Ruby's were caused by fear she would be found out. With the love she had for the man who filled her life, she would do anything to keep the past buried. Jimmy had changed because Ruby had awakened him.

"Yahoo!" he shouted as he steered one handed and gave his wife a one armed hug. "By god we are a team!" he shouted.

"Watch your driving, Honey," she cautioned him. "Just you remember there are three of us in the car now."

She laughed, "Oh lordy, what are we going to do if they ever demand proof?" She kissed the back of his right hand while it held the steering wheel.

"Why hell, we get them some proof. That's simple." He laughed back at her. "We just give out with more hints for them to stub their dirty consciences on."

Su Li greeted them at the door. "Your next child will be the son you expect now. This one will be a daughter." She smiled a secretive smile and led them to a table off to one side.

Ruby stared in wonder at the young Chinese. "Su Li, how do you do it?"

"I merely state the obvious in a mysterious manner and make wild guesses that cannot be verified until much later. By then it makes no difference, because I already have a new wild guess for people to think about. We are a wily bunch, we Chinese."

Jimmy looked at her and wondered what she was talking about. He seldom understood any of the conversations between the two women, each so beautiful in her own way.

"Your food will be out in a minute. This evening I shall personally serve you a sampler tray of many dishes." She hurried off.

"Now will you please tell me what in hell was that all about?" Jimmy looked across the table at Ruby.

"Sweetie, she made a little joke. Now shut up and hold my..." Her voice trailed off. "Uh oh," she whispered. Ruby looked across the room at the four men who sat there in deep conversation. She watched one of Su Li's younger sisters serve them.

"What is it? Why did you just go 'uh oh' and ... Uh oh," he said as he saw where she was staring.

"I wish there was some way to hear what they are saying right now." Ruby turned back toward Jimmy. "Don't stare at them. They are planning something."

Su Li brought the first part of their order. "Someone is searching your car." She left as the second tray of food was brought out and set on a serving cart.

"Now Jimmy, don't go running out there all half cocked." Ruby reached across the table and touched his hand.

"No, I am all the way cocked and about to go off. Your surprise is out there in the glove box. I'll be right back." He stood and walked toward the restrooms back by the kitchen. He did not hurry until he was near the side door that opened to the outside.

Once outside Jimmy sprinted toward his parked car. He grabbed the man bent down searching under the seat of the convertible. The glove compartment door was open. Jimmy kicked the stranger's exposed crotch from behind, and grabbed him by the collar and pulled hard. The man fell back onto the pavement and Jimmy stomped the man's hands.

"You damned thieves are all the same." Jimmy lifted the man to his feet and searched him. He found the jewelry box with the necklace he bought for Ruby as a surprise. He also removed a thirty-eight-caliber revolver from the man's belt holster. He dragged the man to the street exit and told him, "Start walking." He returned to Ruby.

"Well?" was it a false alarm?" she asked when he didn't say anything.

"Nope," he answered her in an off hand way. He sat down at the table and reached for his napkin.

"Jimmy Ray, you can be so exasperating at times." She frowned at him and demanded, "Tell me what happened."

"I sent him on his way." He uncovered a dish and helped himself to a serving of pork.

"Jimmy," she warned, ""Right now I am becoming very angry with you. What happened? You tell me, Jimmy Ray Haggard, right now."

"I stomped on both his hands and sent him walking down the street." He told her and smiled to himself.

Su Li came hurrying up. "Was everything all right?"

"Yes, thanks to you. I caught the bad guy and explained why he should not mess with my car and sent him on his way."

Jimmy smiled at her and slipped the man's revolver out of his pocket and wrapped it in a napkin. Su Li's eyes widened. "You might want to take this over and give it to the four men at that table over there. I think it might belong to one of them. At least he'll know who the owner is."

She looked at Jimmy for a moment and nodded. Su L made her way to the men's table and placed the wrapped revolver in front of one of them. One of the pair unwrapped it and asked her something.

Su Li pointed at Jimmy. The man looked over and Jimmy waved, then smiled and shook a reproving finger at them.

Ruby stood and walked over to their table. She stood with her hands on her hips and stared a challenge at the four men seated at the table.

"What do you want?" the one who unwrapped the gun demanded.

"My Jimmy is too indirect and subtle when dealing with trashy people like you." She grinned at the four, shifting her gaze from one to the other.

"If I was to fall over and scream, my Jimmy would come over here and kill all four of you. I bet he might apologize and even be a little sorry about it later when he found out it was a mistake. The thing is, you would still be dead." Her smile conveyed her message more than her words. "Now, you just think about it." She smiled again and turned away.

Henry had come in and joined them at their table when she returned. "What was that all about?"

"Oh I just preached them the gospel according to Jimmy. Don't mess with Jimmy's red headed wife because his bite is worse than her bark."

Jimmy looked at her with a puzzled look on his face. "What did you just say?"

She kissed the bald spot just beginning to show on the top of his head. "You are going bald," she whispered, then reclaimed her chair.

"The hell I am," Jimmy exclaimed in a loud voice.

Henry looked back and forth from one to the other. "More trouble?" he asked.

Ruby smiled at Jimmy and turned to Henry. "Now what was that phone call you made that was so important?"

"Both parties are opposed to you as a suitable replacement for me. I talked to the governor and he says he has orders from the party bosses to have nothing to do with you. People back in DC have taken an interest."

Ruby told them, "Let's eat. We'll come up with something. Those outhouse Romeos back there in Washington need a shake up."

Jimmy shoved his chair back and stood. Ruby looked up at her husband and saw the determined expression on his face. "Don't be too hasty Hon," she warned him.

Jimmy walked across the dining room and caught the four men just as they got ready to leave. "Read day after tomorrow's morning edition of our paper. I am going to gut both your parties." Neither answered. They turned and walked away.

"What was that about?" Henry asked as he returned to his seat.

"I just run a big bluff. As soon as we get home Ruby will help me make it work."

The rest of the food came. As Su Li served them, she told Jimmy, "Please, next time let the customers leave the tip before you run them off." She smiled. "When Jimmy Ray Haggard speaks, men tremble and leave no tips. That is an inscrutable Chinese saying."

Henry looked across the table at Jimmy, "Jimmy Haggard is very impressive." The three fell to and ate their meal in silence. Jimmy left a ten-dollar tip to make up for the tip the other four neglected to leave.

Once home Jimmy asked, "Hon, didn't you tell me that Greta wanted to write a column?"

Ruby gave Jimmy a questioning look, "Jimmy Ray, what have you got up your sleeve? Now don't give me some smarty pants answer about your arm is up your sleeve. What do you want with Greta?"

He smiled and told her, "We can't use Wally because he already has too much on his plate. So I figure we might let Mister X leave a message for Greta to write a political gossip column." He was pleased he got ahead of his wife for once.

"Well, of the most repeated sins we have run into is sex of one sort or another. We could introduce Mister X to the readers of Stanley's newspaper, tell the readers about all the dirt he has dug up and how he has decided to use us to clean up politics a little."

Ruby felt she had missed something. "What good will that do us? We don't have proof of anything."

Jimmy patted her arm. "I'm betting there are others who are mad at their bosses and would like to hurt them or get back at them. Maybe they will call or write us. Besides, we can always hint a lot. What do you think?"

A big laugh escaped her mouth. "You want to know what I think? Baby, I think you are one mean hero."

She kissed him. "Sweetie, I don't care what anybody says, you are the smartest man I know."

A soft smile came over his face. "I sure like it when you say such things to me because I know you mean them. Honey, I been living in a dark room all my life and you turned on the lights."

"Jimmie, oh you are my love and my life, I think we turned each other's lights on."

Greta drove by to give Ruby a ride to the radio station. "Come in here and sit a little. We have a few minutes and I want to run something by you." She waved her friend to come into the house.

Greta eased out of her car and hurried inside. "Okay, what's up?"

Ruby handed her an envelope with two handwritten pages. "This is from Mister X to you. I believe you are just about to become a political gossip columnist. Stanley promised you a column under your own byline if you could come up with something. If you want it Greta, this is your first column."

"Okay, I'll bite, what's the joke?" Greta looked at her friend and waited for the joke to be revealed.

"No joke. Read it and then decide." Ruby pressed the papers into Greta's hands.

Greta read the first paragraph, cocked an eyebrow, read the second paragraph and snorted. As soon as she finished the first page, she went on to the second. "Why not Wally? Why me? Do you realize what would happen if Stanley even permitted me to write this?"