Chapter 34

The insurance check deposited without a hold on it, and I moved it into a separate account that I'd already had set up and designated for the boat. I smiled as I thought back to the day I had opened it. I had stopped in at the bank to make a deposit, and the new teller remarked at the name I'd given the account, and asked if I was a fan of Talia Wagner. I looked up at him and saw that he was smiling, and cracked back, "She's okay, for the daughter of a Nightcrawler and a Witch." I could tell that impressed him. "Didn't expect a nerd, did you? But no," I continued, "this Nocturne is the name of my boat, named after a Chopin piece."

"Chopin's great! So's Mozart." He looked at me again, "But I'd have figured you for Secret Garden, or something more New Age."

My turn to be impressed. I looked at his name tag, "You are a fan of Chopin and Mozart, errr, "David?" Then I couldn't resist, "I'd have figured you for a Deadhead, or Blood, Sweat and Tears, or maybe even Kansas!"

"Touché! Yeah, I do like them, especially Kansas. But I did a couple of semesters as a music major. Trumpet. Then I got my front teeth rearranged for being an asshole. Learned my lesson, took a year off, and switched to business. And it's so much nicer not having to show off and be the center of attention all the time."

"Well, perhaps I can get to hear the story behind that, someday," I said, "but right now I have a client waiting for me to fix a server." Haven't seen that particular teller since, but I imagine he's doing well, somewhere.

Anyway, I made today's deposit and called home to let Kay know I was headed to the office to check on damage to the servers. I knew one of the server racks had been in the line of fire, and had taken a couple of 9 millimeter rounds. Fortunately, only one of the RAID units had gone down, and all I had to do was slide in a spare, and watch the software go to work and do the job I'd spent big bucks for. Didn't lose a byte!

As I cleaned up the mess I thought back to last night's dinner. We'd planned to head down to the rib place, Jelly's, I think, but the girls had surprised me with the cooler full of clams. They'd liked my quick and easy version, but now they wanted the real thing, so we did up a big batch of angel hair pasta with fresh clam sauce. They scrubbed up the clams, so I had it easy! They loved it, and now I'm in trouble, because I made the mistake of telling them about my home made New England clam chowder. But that's for the fall.

Richelle still seemed like she was in another world. We tried to talk her out of her funk, but all she'd say was, "I just feel like somethin's gonna happen. Probably nothin' to it, but I just feel uneasy." Then she changed the subject, and turned to Kay, "When're your folks comin' down? I wanna meet 'em, and your sister, too!"

"I called them this morning, and they'll get here in the afternoon on the day before graduation, and head home the day after the wedding. Laurel was gonna go stay with them for a week or so, while we're on our honeymoon, but now that Jake's in town..." She turned to Laurel, "What's happening there, Laurel? You're still welcome to go up there, they'd love to have you stay."

Laurel smiled, "You must have the nicest family in the whole world, Kaitlyn. They don't know me, never met me, and you say I'm welcome to just go stay with them for a week." She giggled, "While you're off somewhere, exchanging presents!" She saw Richelle's curious look at Kay, who was blushing furiously, and said, "Inside joke. But yeah," she continued, "I'll go back up there with them. Jake's got some business to tend to for most of the week, and he's already said he'll come up and get me that Friday." She frowned a little, "Are you sure they'll be okay with it? Me and Jake, I mean?" Richelle perked up at that, too, was apparently interested in the answer herself.

"Of course it'll be okay with them, sweetie, anybody wants to be friends with them, that's what they'll be." She looked at me and grinned, "And Dad and Krista will love Jake's truck too, and Mom will like how it sounds. Just don't let him get out of it until you've introduced him to Julius and Caesar!" Grin got bigger, "Right, Rob?"

I said, "Yes, I think that might be a wise suggestion. I got the definite impression that they both have an intense desire to protect your mom, and Jake might make what, a quick lunch?"

"Now you've got me worried," said Laurel, "who the heck are Julius and Caesar?"

"Well, let's just say that if Cerberus needed lessons in demolishing people, Julius and Caesar could do a refresher class for him."

"Mom will love that one, Sweetie! But yes, that's about the way it is."

Suzy piped in, "You mean they got some mean dogs around?"

"Mean?" I looked at Kaitlyn, who was shaking her head, "No, not mean, I think, more like authoritative."

Kay nodded, "Yeah, um, intractable."

"Very direct."

"Get yer attention."

Okay," Suzy chuckled, "I got the picture! Nice puppydogs, but they turn into slavering beasts when the occasion demands it. But they can't be all that scary, if they're your mom's pets, can they?"

Kay smiled and nodded, "Let's just say that we don't get nearly as many "undocumented immigrants" as the neighbors do, and leave it at that."

"Okay, so I'll let Renee know that I'm gonna spend a week or so with your folks. We would have just hung out together anyway. She's probably got other things she can do."

"Why not see if she wants to go up there with you? Mom and Krista would love it, and there's more than enough room!" Laurel brightened at that, and Kay went on, "Here! I'll call her!"

Laurel looked at our two cops, "Would you two be okay with that? I know we'd planned to go out one night, but..."

"No problem at all," both girls chimed in together. Richelle said, "We have lots of things going on, too. Missed a couple of our own classes while we were on special assignment, so we'll be making them up while you're gone."

Renee said yes, she'll go with Laurel to the Sanderson ranch for the week, and they'll both ride back with Jake. So that part is okay. We were worried a little about our extended "family" back here by themselves while we're off "opening presents", but they'll be okay.

My cell phone startled me, and I looked at it, then answered it, "Hi George! Feeling better this morning?"

"Well enough, Rob, how about you?" When I answered in the affirmative, he said, "Got some good news, maybe. Are you real busy? Can you meet me down at the city docks?" I told him I was done here, except for buttoning up the equipment racks and locking up the place. "Good. Can't talk now, but you know that little coffee shop by the market? Meet me there in say, a half hour, no, make it 45 minutes. That good? I need you to take a look at something."

I disconnected and put my phone away, then buttoned up that last server rack, then made sure the new security cams were operating, armed the alarm system, and locked up. I texted Ray on my way to my SUV, to let him know what I'd done, and headed out to meet George. I wondered what he had for me at the city docks.

I made pretty good time, and pulled in to the parking lot at Teena's Coffee Shop in time to see George just walking in the front door. Found a parking place and went in to join him. He'd already ordered for both of us, and Teena was just setting two steaming mugs in front of us as I sat in the booth. "Cheese Danish okay?" I nodded, and he said to her, "Two, please." Then he looked back at me and asked, "So how's your day going so far, Rob?"

I took a swig of the steaming hot brew. Good stuff! "So far, so good. But you didn't invite me here to check on my day, George, what's up?"

He smiled that crooked smile of his, and said, "Oh, nothing much, just feel like relaxing for a day or so." He took another swig of his own coffee, then a bite of his Danish, and said, "Love these things! She gets them at the little bakery on 4^th Street."

Okay, I can play the game, too, "Yeah, but you probably could do without probably half of them. How's your blood pressure lately? Kay and the other girls are starting to worry a little bit about you. Said you're getting to look a little pasty, too, like you're not getting out enough, maybe; maybe spending too much time bullshitting in coffee shops."

He put on a hurt look, and said, "Gee, guy can't even have a social chat with a friend without getting hassled about his eating habits. And it ain't like I got a boat or anything, to go out on and get some fresh air and sunshine." He slurped some more coffee, and held up his mug for a refill. Teena was right there with a pot, and topped off both our mugs.

"Gonna have to order me a cast iron bladder insert if I'm gonna try to keep up with you, George." I ate another big bite of the Danish, and drank some more of Teena's excellent brew. Decided to press on. "So, you just wanted to have a social chat with a friend, so you called me away from work, and you're hitting me with caffeine, sugar, and carbs for exactly what, George?"

He feigned a hurt expression, and said, "I knew I shoulda called Kaitlyn to meet us here! She'd at least show some respect, or at least some sympathy for an old retired cop." He looked up as the door signal chimed, and said, "Well! Talk about angels, and look who walks in!"

I turned in time to see Kay and Laurel just closing the door behind them, and walk toward us. We both stood up and greeted the girls; he got two hugs, and I got a kiss and a smile. We sat back down, and I watched my sweet Kaitlyn pick up MY Danish, take a bite, and hand the rest to Laurel. Then they sat back with innocent smiles, and I said, "Okay, George, what're you getting us into this time?"

Kay looked at him, then me, and said, "I thought you wanted me to meet you here!" Then back to him, "Didn't you say that?"

George shook his head, "I said that Rob's gonna want you here, not that he told me to get you here! Big difference!"

Meanwhile, Laurel sat there with a bemused smile on her face, "Okay, so what's going on?"

George sat back and drained his mug, then waved Teena off when she headed over to refill it. He pointed at the window and said, "What do you see straight out there, Rob?"

I looked, and didn't understand what he was talking about. "A couple of buildings across the street?"

"Yeah, but between them, Rob, what do you see between them?"

"Just an alleyway, then the water. What am I supposed to be seeing?"

"The water. As in the ocean? You can see the ocean from here?"

"Well, yeah, George, we are at the city docks," said Laurel, "and that's right by the ocean. We've all seen the ocean, right? What's so special about it?"

"Well, what's so special about it is if you got a boat you don't have to just look at it from here; you can go right out on it and enjoy it up close."

I said, "Yeah, we know. Used to do that myself! Then as you might recall, my boat," I looked at Kaitlyn, "our boat, got blown up. And now we can't do that any more."

"Yeah, but you got insurance money from that, no?"

"Well sure I did, but I'm thinking it's not gonna be anywhere near enough to buy a decent replacement for Nocturne."

"How big was Nocturne, Rob? I mean, what was her length and displacement?"

"Thirty feet, five tons. Why?"

"Could you afford something that wasn't the same size? Maybe for about half what you got from the insurance company?" I think we all must have looked at him like he was crazy, because he chuckled and said, "C'mon for a walk with me. Wanna show you something."