Chapter 72

Monday morning was always a bad ass experience. That Monday morning proved to my average Monday times ten. First of all my power was off. No power meant no coffee. Not a good way to start any day, especially a Monday. It also meant no hot water. It was either a cold shower or a barely warm wash in the kitchen sink with water headed on the oil stove ... I chose none of the above. I put on my work outfit and headed to the office with an overnight bag filled with soap towels and clean underwear.

Half way up the county road which connected to the more or less main road, I passed the utility trucks. There were two of them parked under a wooden power line pole. I didn't even bother to ask them how long my power would be out, I just drove by slowly.

I speed dialed Mosby to see where Helen's breakfast bag truck was at that moment. The phone rang once, before I remember seeing Mosby and Jerry the night before. I quickly broke the connection. I would give her the space she wanted. She was the one with the job. I figured she would either call me to play nice or Jen to quit. I could hardly wait to see what her decision was. I also wondered if she could really bring herself to choose Jerry over her career. If so, did she had the nuts to tell me in person, as we used to say in the military.

With the breakfast bag no longer a possibility, I altered my route to swing by the Hardees. Coffee and a big biscuit was the plan. The line of cars was all the way to the street. There was no way all those people had a power outage from a single pole being down. I figured it was a conspiracy to deprive me of coffee.

I parked the cruiser as close to the door as possible, without parking in the handicapped space. If I had parked in one of those, a cop would have pulled in right behind me. I knew it, because it was going to be one of those days.

Since I was already inside, I decided to eat breakfast in the dining room. The big advantage to eating in was that I could drink all the coffee I wanted. Hardees only sold one size coffee to regular customers. It was a bottomless cup but it was small. That being the case, I sat my ass at a booth near the coffee bar. I had probably the best biscuit made by anyone, anywhere. Helen's breads were exceptionally good, but they were no match for the Hardee biscuits. Their bacon egg and cheese biscuit was a thing of beauty. The coffee was adequate, so over all the meal was almost excellent.

I had finished the biscuit only moments before she stopped by the table. I didn't recognize her at first. I just knew a middle-aged woman in nurse's scrubs stopped at my booth I was expecting trouble from the Cop Out crowd, but I was wrong.

"Ms. Stone, my name is Lois from the clinic." She saw that I didn't get it. "Your doctor's office?"

"Oh Lois, I'm sorry my memory is crap and I'm not even forty." I knew right away that lying to her was a mistake. "Yes I am forty. I lie about my age." I laughed.

"Is there a woman who hasn't at one time or another?" Lois asked me, making me feel a hell of a lot better.

"Probably not, well, sit down Lois," I suggested.

She sat at the table, opened her coffee then spoke again, "You know I was one of the nurses those gangsters threatened. I was terrified. I almost quit the clinic that day. Then when Jeff's dad sent your skinny ass over, I was really terrified. I can still remember the sight of you sitting in that chair in our back hall. Then I remember the smell of gun powder and our problems went away. I guess I stopped to say thank you, I never got the chance that day. It scared the pee right out of me, but it also ended our problems."

"That's quite a speech but not necessary. You guys took care of me. I think we are even."

"Even that was because of us, so we owed you that and a lot more. I'm glad that it all worked out."

"Well it took a while for me to give another blow job, but it worked out." I laughed manically. Lois joined in.

"You know, you are something else," she said laughing and shaking her head.

I felt a lot better because of Lois. Maybe there is no conspiracy after all, I thought. That up tick in my morning lasted only until I got to the office. Ed was sitting at his desk with his first cup of fancy coffee, while I struggled to make coffee in the Mr. Coffee, he began on me. "Max, what the hell have you done?" he asked.

"Well my power is off, so I stopped by Hardees. If you mean the bag, I'm going to wash up in the bathroom and change my panties. Why?"

"I don't give a shit what you had for breakfast or that you need to take a whore's bath, I'm talking about Lucas." Ed wasn't angry he was worried.

"Ed, what the hell are you talking about?" I asked angrily.

"Lucas called me at home last night. He is all upset and is talking about quitting." Ed suggested.

"Yeah, I got that from the last time we talked. Maybe it's for the best. He needs to get his ass back in school. There is no real future here."

"Bullshit, you didn't have words about his future with your little business. You had words because he dared to question your decision." Ed had some of it right.

"He wanted me to explain a decision, so that Gwen and Mike could get the answer on tape before it happened. That wasn't Lucas, that was the TV star-wanna-be talking. Ed he either is loyal to me, while he is on the job, or he shouldn't be on the job."

"Oh, and you didn't willingly sign on to that TV thing." Ed asked.

"Come on you know that I agreed, but I also told them I would not change anything to accommodate them. They knew that they would have to find their own way. I don't have a problem with them. They were doing what they do; it's Lucas I had the problem with. As far as I'm concerned that is over, but he has to make up his own mind about whether to stay or go." It was quite a speech for me to make without having digested an adequate amount of coffee.

"One of you better back down or the outcome is not going to be good for either of you."

"Ed, he needs to go back to school. That is the best outcome for him. As for me, I can adapt to almost anything."

"If you say so?" Ed replied effectively ending our conversation.

"I don't suppose you have any idea why he is late?" I asked.

"No, if he doesn't show, we will know what he decided." Ed said sarcastically. There is nothing worse than sarcasm from a man old enough to be my dad.

"Well, I expect the Pros from Dover will show up anyway. We can always ask them." When I said that, Ed gave me a really nasty look

While the coffee was dripping, I went into the bathroom and locked the door. I used my towel and washcloth from home to clean up. I didn't bother with even my usual small amount of makeup. I felt like crap and by all indications it was going to be a crap day.