Читать книгу As the Eagle Flies - J. D. Oliver - Страница 9

Chapter Four

The next morning we were laying in bed sipping our morning coffee; when there came a knock on the door. I slipped on my robe and palming my pistol behind my back, I answered the knock.

It was the Highway Patrol Captain from yesterday. He said, “May I come in?” I noticed that he had the morning newspaper in his hand, “Sure come on in, do you want a cup of coffee?”

“Yes, I would like one.” While I was answering the door Faith had got up and put her robe on, she went and got him a cup. “Do you take cream or sugar?” She asked.

“Just black would be fine thank you so much, I’m afraid I haven’t had breakfast yet; this will hit the spot.” We sat down at the table. He took a sip and then opened the paper to the front page; “you both take good pictures, evidently one of those cars that passed yesterday was a reporter for the daily Bugle. I don’t know how he got your names; probably from one of my Officers.” He held the paper up, in big blazing headlines, it read: ‘Local Rancher and Wife save the life of Highway Patrol Officer.’

In smaller letters underneath it said. “Local rancher and his wife, Clay and Faith Bronson; save the life of Officer Kenneth Holden. After seeing Officer Holden get shot, they stopped their vehicle and shot and killed the wanted murderer Ted Wayland and his cohort; ‘Boat Lewis’, who was also a wanted criminal from the Los Angeles area. The third man in the vehicle they knocked unconscious, no name is available for him at press time.” It went on, but that’s all I read.

I looked at the Captain, “That guy I shot in the arm, he died?” I asked.

“Yeah, I guess so. Turns out he was a bleeder; they couldn’t get it stopped, I guess he was in the wrong line of work. By the way, my name is: Courtney Lopez. Yeah, I know, most people think Courtney is a girl’s name, you can just call me Cort. It’s simpler that way.”

I reached out and shook his hand. He added. “Oh yeah, by the way, I will need that pistol. I brought you another one, brand new, just like yours, same make same model. Also I brought you a permit for it. Didn’t want you packing that thing illegally. We need yours for evidence. Yeah also, the both of you will have to go the inquest. Just routine stuff. But it won’t be till next week, will you stick around or come back for it?” He asked.

“I don’t know for sure; we have some things to check on here. The newspaper gave the names of those guys, but do you know what they were doing in this neck of the woods?” I asked.

“I don’t know for sure; but the guy you knocked out was a lawyer from L.A. any way that was what his I.D. said. Worked for some big law firm; I didn’t pay much attention to their name. Of course he clamed up right away, asked for his lawyer. That pistol he had beside him, he did threaten you with that didn’t he?”

“Well, he had it in his hand and it was pointed at me at one time, but when he seen the other two go down, he shucked it right away.” I said. “So I guess you could say that he would of taken a shot; if he thought he could of got away with it.”

“That’s good enough for us, we’ll charge him with assault with a deadly weapon.”

“What was his name anyway?” Faith asked.

“Delbert Westinghouse. He did sort of fit that name didn’t he?” Cort said.

“Well, I would say more of a Dilbert, not Delbert.” Faith said.

“Yeah, there is some what of a distinction between the two, isn’t there?” I said.

Faith said, “Yes sweetheart, there is, I would much rather be a Del; instead of a Dil.” Faith got up; Alita had woke up and was hungry. Faith picked her up and sat on the bed and turned her back and proceeded to feed her.

“Well, I suppose I had better be going. I’ll let you know when that inquest is. And if you decide to go home let me know, Okay?” Cort said….his face turning red.

“Honey,” Faith said, turning around with Alita on one breast and the other bare, “do you think we have time for me to get my hair done. I noticed there is a Beauty Shop here?”

“Sure do you want me to call for an appointment, and then we can go to breakfast?” I said. As I dropped my robe and reached for my pants.

“Would you really do that for me? Teddy never did anything that he didn’t consider manly.” Faith said as she switched feeding outlets.

“Sure, what’s the big deal about calling for a hair appointment for you? I’m not the one getting my hair done.” I said, as I buckled my belt and went to the phone. Turns out she could get in about 10:00 this very morning. We finished getting dressed, the three of us. One thing about Alita; she was a happy child. She never cried or fussed unless of course she was hungry or had a dirty diaper. I guess I would be little cross also if I was hungry or had crapped my pants.

When we got to the dinning room, Frank and Fern Blake were already seated and was reading the morning paper and sipping their morning coffee. They both looked up as we entered. The look on their faces was one of two very perplexed people.

The hostess seated us at the next table to them. Franks expression was one of almost fear, bordering on envy. Now Fern was another story altogether; her eyes were flitting back and forth between the two of us. You could tell she full of millions of questions. Well maybe not millions, but a lot anyway. Faith smiled at her and that was all it took; here she came and pulling up an extra chair she sat down. The only thing that saved us was the fact that her food came a couple of seconds later.

We ordered, also we ordered some cream of wheat for Alita, this was to be her first time; out side of prepared baby food. She really liked it. Of course we didn’t feed her all that much; just enough to know that she liked it.

The Blake’s were done with their food and drinking more coffee by the time we finished eating. Faith looked at her watch, she had ten minute’s before her hair appointment. As Fern came up, Faith said, “I’m sorry we don’t have too much time to talk, I have a hair appointment at ten.”

“You do? So do I, perhaps we can talk there, if that would be alright?” Fern said.

“Sure, that would be fine, here Clay, will you take Alita for me?”

“You bet, she’s no problem at all.” I said. As I wet a napkin and washed her face. The baby’s face; not Faith’s. Alita just made a little face, as all kids do when you wash their faces. Then she grabbed the wet napkin and gave it a toss, it landed in Frank’s coffee cup.

“Oh, I’m sorry Frank, here let me call the waitress, she will get you a clean cup.” I said.

“No, don’t, I’ve had enough anyway, we were just killing time; till you folks got done so we could talk to you.”

“Okay, come set over here. What’s on your mind?” I said.

“Well, we read the morning paper; we couldn’t help but see your pictures and read the story. Those men, the two you killed and the other one were with that Dipper Tick in the office the other day. I just thought you would like to know.” Frank said, as he was twisting a napkin into knots. Alita was watching him, she looked at me and motioned for me to give her a napkin to play with. I did.

Frank was still talking, but I wasn’t paying much attention; I was watching Alita. She tore off part of the napkin; dipping it in what was left of her cream of wheat she rolled it up into a ball and then she tossed it toward Frank’s coffee cup that held her other napkin; it landed in the coffee cup on the other table. Then she tore off another piece and did the same thing. Damn, she was not only bright, but she hit what she was aiming at. I never told her to stop it; I just handed her more napkins.

The waitress had been watching us, she was a blue eyed red head. I bet she was as Irish as they came. She came over, “Is there anything more that you want?” She said as she laid more napkins on the tray of Alita’s high chair.

“No, I don’t think so, just the bill I guess.” I said, as I winked at her. No I wasn’t hitting on her, she knew what I meant. She reached out and ruffled Alita’s hair.

Frank’s voice came back into my consciousness. “So therefore, I just wanted to let you know if there is anything I can do for you, be sure and let me know.”

“I will Frank, but if they come back around; this is my satellite cell phone number,” I wrote it down on a piece of napkin and handed it to him. He looked at it. I continued, “Just call anytime, either Faith or myself will answer it.”

Alita and I went back to our room, I changed her diaper and asked her, “Do you want to go swimming?” She gurgled and clapped her hands. I took that as a yes. I put her little swimming suit on her. And changed into mine. There was a young family with three small children already in the pool. They were trying to teach the kids to swim. It’s a fact that most kids that grow up in the high desert do not know how to swim. They have a hard time finding water deep enough to swim in. This family looked like they were of that fold.

I sat Alita down in the shallow end; she sank to the bottom and then started to swim along the bottom and then she came up for air and then back down. The mother of the family was staring at us.

“How in the world did you teach her to do that?” She asked me.

“I didn’t, my wife and Fern Blake gave her a lesson yesterday. I guess she’s just a natural,” I said. Her children were watching. Her youngest was probably just under two, she watched for a little bit, then she just dropped under water and started to do the same thing as Alita was doing. The younger children start to swim, the better they do.

We spent the next hour there; helping the other two children, they also picked it up fast. The parent’s names were Harry and Sally, I didn’t pick up on their last name. But I did find out they worked for a ranch not to far from our own. They were on a small vacation.

Alita and I had just came back to our room, when Faith got back. I was stunned; in walked a dark haired brunette. Alita stared at her. So did I. “What, what did you do?” I said.

“I had it dyed, do you like it?” She said. Now my Mother didn’t raise any idiots.

“Yeah, I think I do,” I said. “But, you’re sort of mismatched aren’t you?” I said.

“I already thought about that,” she said, holding up a small box, “this dye is made especially for pubic hair, will you help me with it tonight?”

“Sure, I guess so. But why did you want to dye your hair?” I asked.

“Cause. You know, maybe you don’t; but I was a blond with Theodore. I want to forget about him, not that I haven’t, but, this is my new life, the only thing I want to remind me of him is Alita. Are you sure you like it?”

“Yes, I definitely do. It makes you look not only sexy; but deadly so. I could almost call you Elmira. Wow! Too bad Alita isn’t asleep.”

“Oh, that can wait, we have all of our lives to look forward to.” She said, as she kissed me and plastered herself against me. She untangled herself, then sighed and said, “I guess I had better tell you the truth; I was never a natural blond. I’m sorry if I deceived you. Are you mad at me?”

“No, of course not. I fell in love with you; not the color of your hair.” I said, kissing the nape of her neck. She moaned a little bit, then said,

“Honey, you had better stop that; Alita is staring at us.” I pulled back, not because of what she said, but because our phone was ringing.

It was Cort, “Sorry to disturb you,” He said, “but the inquest was put on fast forward, it’s this afternoon, can the two of you make it?”

“Sure, no problem, but we’ll have to bring Alita with us; we don’t have a baby sitter. Will that be Okay? I said.

“I don’t know why not, that’ll be a good touch anyway. That Dipper Tick made bail for Delbert Washington; even though it was set at five hundred thousand. I half way hope he jumps bail; we could use the money.”

“Will they be at the inquest?” I asked.

“I don’t know why they would; it’s just a coroner’s inquest. I’m sure after they see the video from the patrol car there won’t be any doubt as to the rightness of the kills.” Cort said. He added. “I’m sure you will be cleared; then you won’t have to stick around any longer, that is if you don’t want to.”

“Yeah, we’ll see, thanks a lot Cort, what time is the inquest?”

“Two PM, is that alright?”

“Sure, we can make it, at the court house, right?”

“Yep, see you there.” Then he hung up. I turned to my wife; did you hear all of that?”

“Yes, what do you want me to wear? Something sexy or something prim and proper?”

“I think I would go with prim and proper; of course you could wear gunny sacks and you would still look sexy. But do your best to tone it down.”

“In that case, I had better go buy something. Can you watch Alita for a half hour more? They have a boutique here, so it won’t take long.”

She was a good as her word; she came back in a dark gray suit with the skirt down to her knees, along with a pair of medium high heels. I was at a loss for words.

The more clothes she put on the sexier she looked. I didn’t say anything, it wasn’t her fault, she was just born that way.

I just put on clean jeans and shirt along with my boots and hat. I did make sure I put the new pistol in my overall jacket pocket. I had already put the gun permit in my billfold. We fed Alita before we left.

They had a metal detector at the court house, I showed them my permit. Turns out it just wasn’t a regular permit; it was police officers permit and as such it allowed me to carry the gun into court houses; just like a police officer would.

When the guard handed the permit back to me, I looked at it, closely this time. It said that I was a special agent for the state of New Mexico. I wondered what kind of a special agent?

After I stowed my billfold in my jeans pocket, Alita held her arms out to me. I took her, I think she liked her new Dad. I know I really liked her. Faith straightened her suit jacket and arraigned her skirt. Everyone was staring at her. Blond or brunette, red or purple, her hair color made no difference. She was a bombshell no matter which way you looked at her.

Cort was right; the inquest was over in a matter of minutes. It was more or less a formality. The coroner ruled it justifiable. As we were walking out, I asked Cort, “Hey, I just read this permit; what kind of an agent am I supposed to be?”

“A special agent appointed by the Governor, he is concerned about these land speculators. The Governor is a friend of mine. I told him about Dipper Tick, turns out he’s not the only one who has been poking around. He wants you to look into it; see if my maybe organized crime might be trying to move into our state. I’ll bring your I.D. and badge over later.”

“Uh, I really don’t know about this, just what would I have to do? And who would I report to?”

“This really isn’t that kind of job; like you have to clock in and stuff. The Governor just wanted you to have the proper authority. They did a background check and your record is squeaky clean. And oh, by the way, it doesn’t pay anything.”

“Well in that case, how could I turn it down. Do I at least get an expense account, car, or anything?” I said with a smile.

“No, no car. But if you have any legal expenses or anything like that, just submit a request for reimbursement.” Cort said, with a lopsided grin.

“You mean if someone sues me, the state will pay for it?” I said.

“Well you are an employee of the state, that would be only fair. Wouldn’t it?”

“Fair? Yeah, I guess. I think it all depends on what side of the word ‘fair’ that you’re standing on. But yeah, if I find anything out, I’ll keep the state informed. That would be only ‘fair’ wouldn’t it?” Cort sort of looked a little crestfallen, at what I had just said. He didn’t know quite what I meant. That was okay, I didn’t either.

As I was buckling Alita into her car seat Faith was watching me, she said, “Honey, are you Okay, you look a little glum?”

“I’m alright. I was just thinking that’s all. A lot has happened to us since we left the ranch. I don’t think that I’m too happy about it. How could I be; I just shot and killed two men. Granted they deserved it, but just the same it grates on a person.”

“I would say that I know how you feel, but that would be false, how could I? I’ve never had to kill anyone. Oh, there were times I would of liked to, I suppose, but in retrospect I’m glad I never have. But you just remember, you saved that Officer’s life, and I would say his life was worth ten of people like you shot.”

“Yes, I know Honey. I guess what’s happening to me is just a delayed reaction. It’s happened to me before; after some operations that I’ve been on. I sure get tired of this world at times. But, you know what? You and Alita make it all worthwhile; life that is. So what do you want to do the rest of the day?”

“I know, let’s play like tourists. We can go down to the old part of town and sightsee and shop. Would you like to do that?” Faith said…

“Sure Sweetheart, I guess that would be fun. I don’t think that I ever have.” I said, as I started the truck and worked my way into the line of traffic.

Tourist season was in full swing, we did find a parking space in a lot that was specially made for tourists. As we were parking, a car with Montana plates parked beside us. It was an older couple, he looked to be in his late 60’s, her in her early 60’s or late 50’s. They were dressed in typical western style. Much like us really.

As we were putting Alita in her stroller, the woman couldn’t help but make a fuss over her. “Oh, how cute, how old is she?” She asked as she talked baby talk to Alita. Why women do that I have no idea. “Almost seven months.” Faith answered.

“She looks just like her Father,” the women said, looking at me.

“Yes, we’ve been told that before,” I said, then added, “Where about in Montana are you from?”

The older gentleman said, “Judith Basin, I have a ranch there, we’re just down here for a little vacation. Are you from here?” He asked me.

“Well, yes and no. My mother-in-law has a ranch in the Chama Valley, my folks have a place in the Big Horn Basin. But Faith and I, we have each other and of course our daughter Alita.”

“Well, then you have the world, don’t you?” He said.

“Yes, we do. My name is Clay Bronson, this is my wife Faith, and of course you have already met Alita.” I reached out to shake his hand.

He said, “I’m Charles Hester, this is my wife Edith.”

We chit-chatted, for awhile, like strangers will, then parted for our different ways. They were pretty much doing just as we were, playing the tourist. Like I mentioned before they were dressed much like people from Montana usually are; boots, jeans, western get-up. He was carrying his billfold in his right hip pocket, the same as me. Now why I noticed that, was beyond me. Perhaps it was because every time I was out in public I was always conscious about my wallet. I sort of kept one hand on it, not literally, but in mind. Oh yeah, she had her purse on a long strap over one shoulder. Easy pickings, right?

They were a couple of shops ahead of us, when I noticed some pick pockets setting them up for hit. “Look Faith, their being set up.” I said, she looked up from a window that held turquoise jewelry.

“Yeah, two men and a woman, right?”

“Yep, well really a man and a woman, plus it looks like a kid. I think the man is the distraction and the woman is the Dip; and I think she hands off to the kid. Or vice-versa I guess it could be. Let’s get close, I’m getting a little bored anyway, I need some action.”

“Bored? How can you be bored, you have a brain, don’t you?” Faith said, as we maneuvered the stroller through the crowd.

“Yeah, I have a brain, but all it wants to do is think about you naked.” I said, leering at her.

As we were doing this, Alita was listening to us and picking up on our vibes, you might say. I may be mistaken but I think she knew what we were talking about. The pickpocket’s, not the other, she hears that all of the time.

We got there just as the man sort of stumbled in front of the older couple, the older gentleman reached out to steady him and the woman made the dip. Just as she had his wallet clear, my hand clamped like a vise on her wrist. Her eyes flashed up at me, but she didn’t struggle.

The interference man made a dive at me, Faith pushed the front of the stroller into his path, he tripped over it and fell flat on the sidewalk. Faith stepped on his neck and held him firmly to the concrete. Every time he tried to struggle, she pressed a little harder, cutting off his wind. The hand off kid stood there, not knowing what to do.

If looks could kill, I would be dead… The woman’s eyes were spitting fire at me. “You ought to mind your own business, if you knew what was good for you.” She said.

“Strange thing about that, I never do know what is good for me. And evidently you don’t either. If the three of you are pro’s, you’re not very good.” I said, as I took the billfold out of her hand and handed it back to Charles.

Just then a cop showed up, after a short explanation he took both of them into custody. The kid was still standing just around the corner, peeking at us. We didn’t say anything to the cop about the kid. The kid didn’t think anybody knew he was with them. I jerked my head at Faith, nodding toward the kid. I took the stroller and continued to talk to the Hesters. Faith moseyed over closer to the kid. I could see that she was talking to him.

After agreeing to let the Hesters buy us supper, I walked over to where Faith and the kid were still talking. As I got closer, I could see that I was mistaken, he wasn’t a he, he was a she, but she was still a kid, looked to be twelve or thirteen.

She had short red hair and freckles. Faith turned to me, “Clay I would like you to meet, Rosie O’Claire, an orphan. That is till the two pickpockets became her foster parents. They were training her in the ways of the nefarious. And since we have removed her meal ticket, I guess we’re stuck with her for awhile anyway.”

“So Rosie”, I asked, were they from Santa Fe, or what?”

“No”, she said, in a pleasant contralto voice, “they have a place in Las Vegas, Nevada. They said they had a short job to do down here, they just got a call the day before yesterday, we got down here last night. They had a picture of the old couple they tried to rob. Their car is over here, I have a key to it.”

“Well, how about that, do you have clothes in the car?” Faith said.

“Yes, I have an over night bag; with one change of clothes and my tooth brush and stuff.”

“Okay,” I said, “lets go get your stuff, plus I would like to see what they left in the car; like papers and whatever.” We walked over to a late model ‘caddy’. In the cubby hole was an envelope, with said picture, plus a short note from; guess who, nobody but Dipper Tick. It read, ‘get Charles Hester’s wallet, he carries his social security card and a certified copy of his birth certificate with him. I need it to get in his safe deposit box’.

I took the envelope with me. I don’t know how he was going to get in that safe deposit box without a key, but who knows, maybe he had his ways. I knew the two pickpockets would make bail right quick. Dipper Tick was probably in there right now trying to get them out.

I asked Rosie, “Do you want to stay with them, or go with us, it’s up to you. Do they have legal custody of you or what?”

“I want to go with you, Blackie, that was the guys name, tried to get in bed with me the other night, but she caught him. I know it would only be a matter of time till he raped me. And I don’t think this foster thing was legal anyway. They knew somebody at the orphanage, I was sort of handed out the back door late one night.”

“Do they know you had that key to their car?” Faith asked.

“No, I had an extra key made, they did not know. I was going to steal their car and get away the first chance I got.” Rosie said.

“Alright then, you put your overnight bag back in the car; is there anything in there that you simply can’t live without?”

“Yes, my birth certificate, my parents were killed in an auto accident, I carry my birth certificate and social security card in there.”

“Get them out, but leave the bag; we’ll buy you anything you need. I’ll jimmy the door lock, so it will look like someone broke in. But how do we know someone won’t break in before they get out of jail anyway?”

As we were walking back to the truck, Faith asked Rosie, “Just how old are you?”

“I’m twelve, I’ll be thirteen in December.”

“Only twelve, you seem much older than that, I guess you’ve led a hard life. How long ago did your parents die?” Faith asked.

“Five years ago, they were both orphans themselves, so we didn’t have any relatives; that I knew of anyway.”

“Well, I guess that’s why you seem much older. Experience wise, you’re like in your twenty’s. What about schooling, what grade are you in?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t gone very much. But I do a lot of reading. And I have been taking some courses on the computer, I’m pretty smart, I guess.” Rosie said.

We arrived at the truck and right away I seen we had a problem. The cab of a 1950 Ford Pickup, especially with a built in car seat, was not big enough for the four of us.

I stood there scratching my head, Faith spoke up, “you know I never really liked this truck anyway. But I know who does, the man who did most of the work on it has a shop just a few streets over. When Teddy died he tried to buy it from me, but at that time I wasn’t thinking straight. Maybe he has something bigger? Should we go see?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I said, “But maybe Rosie can sit on your lap, if it’s just a short way?” We put Alita in her seat, and we all piled in, Faith and Rosie were a little cramped, but they’d live.

His shop was behind a southwest style house with a lot of trees around it. As we pulled into his driveway and shut it off, he came out of the shop; he must of heard us. We all got out, he recognized Faith right away. “Hey Faith, you ready to sell me that truck, looks like you need more room?” He said. He was young man, a little older than me, say in his thirties.

“Yes, Hector I am,” Faith said, then added, “but not just sell, I would like to trade for something bigger but with all of the trimmings.”

“I have just the vehicle for you, a new Durango I just reworked, the same goodies that your truck has. I’ll trade you for just 5,000 difference.”

“5,000 huh? Yeah, but you see, mine’s a classic, the Durango is just a new truck, a dime a dozen. I’ll tell you what, I know how bad you want this truck. I’ll trade for 3,000 difference, how’s that?” Faith said.

“Alright, if you wasn’t Teddy’s widow, I wouldn’t do it. But cash, no credit cards.” Hector said.

Faith looked at me, “Sweetheart, will you pay him? I don’t have that much cash on me.”

“Yeah, no problem.” I said, as I pulled out my billfold and counted out 3,000. I know why she traded him down, she knew I only had 3,000 in cash with me. Faith handed Hector the money, then said,

“Hector, this is my husband, Clay Bronson. This is Rosie O’Claire a new friend of ours. I assume you have the title for this vehicle?”

“Sure, and already notarized. What about yours?”

“It’s in the cubby hole, I’ll sign it.” And she got it out and did the same. Then we changed our stuff over. He was right about one thing; the Durango had a child car seat.

“Oh yeah, that switch on the dash turns on the turbo-charger, be careful with it; make sure you have plenty of room ahead before you hit it. Otherwise on cruising speed it only runs on four cylinders, it kicks up to all eight when you give it a little gas. It even has a full tank of gas; I suppose yours is on empty.” Hector said with a grin.

“You’re wrong about that, its full, I don’t let my gas tanks get below the half way mark, that way you’ll never run out of gas,” I said.

As we left, Faith looked back, a little wistful, I thought. I said, “We didn’t have to trade your truck, we could of just paid cash for this vehicle.”

“No, that’s fine. It belonged to Teddy. A person’s car is very personal, it’s something like a dog, it should only belong to one person. With Teddy I was a blond, now I’m back to my normal hair color. With you I want everything to be new.” Faith said.

“Honey, that’s fine, but there is no way that you can cut all of your ties to the past. For instance, Felicia. She’s Alita’s Grandmother, that’s a fact that you cannot change.”

“I know that, it’s just the more personal stuff, like my hair and vehicle. I don’t want anything to stand between us.” Faith said.

Rosie spoke up from the back seat. “You were married before?” She asked.

“Yes Rosie, I was.” Faith said, “my first husband and Alita’s Grandfather were killed in plane crash over a year ago. Clay and I have only been married for a short while. And also Clay’s father, married my ex-mother-in-law.”

I looked in the rear view mirror at Rosie, then said to Faith, “Do you think the boutique at the Hotel will have clothes to fit Rosie?”

“Yes, I know they have. The fancy kind anyway. For jeans and boots, we’ll probably have to shop elsewhere. How about it Rosie, are you up for new wardrobe?”

“Oh yes, but I don’t want to be any trouble, just the basics would be fine.” Rosie said as she handed Alita her Teddy Bear. Alita giggled at her, Rosie’s smile grew wide on her face. I asked her,

“Do you like kids?”

“Oh yes, I used to baby sit them at the orphanage. How old is Alita?”

“Just a little over six months, we are just starting to feed her baby food, do you think she looks like Clay?”

“Yes, remarkably so, but he’s not her father, is he?” Rosie said.

“No, he’s not. But when anybody asks, just tell them that he is, because that’s the truth, now.” Faith said.

“I wish she was my sister.” Rosie said, as she smoothed Alita’s hair.

“Well, you have our permission to say that she is, if you want to.” Faith said.

We arrived back at the Hotel/Motel, whatever you wanted to call it. On our way in I stopped at the desk. “We are going to have to have a bigger room, our daughter just arrived from home. Do you have a suite with two bedrooms?” I asked.

“Yes, it costs a lot more, double to what you’re paying now, is that alright?”

“Sure, just put it on the same card that you already have, do you have someone to help us move our stuff?”

“Yes,” she said, then she rang her bell and boy appeared and accompanied us to our old room. We opened the door to find a mess. Someone had rifled it. We backed out.

And called Cort.

The boy showed us to our new room. I didn’t want to disturb anything in the old room till they had a chance to go over it for prints. I don’t know what they could have been looking for; we hadn’t left anything of importance in it. But I had hunch who was responsible for it.

When Cort arrived with the CSI team, he came by our new room. “Their hard at work, but I brought your new I.D. and Badge. Boy, trouble seems to follow you around, doesn’t it? I see you’ve added to your family?”

“Yes, this is Rosie O’Claire. We had a little run in with some pickpockets, she was kidnapped by them, but now she’s not.” I said.

“Yeah, I know. When I left the courthouse, a lawyer was already there, trying to get them sprung. They might even be out by now, so watch yourself. I know a federal judge who might help to straighten out who she belongs to, by the looks of it, I suppose you two want custody of her?”

I looked at Faith, she nodded, “Yes, you’re right.” I said, “I also believe those two pickpockets are in cahoots with Dipper Tick.”

“Well, I would say that you were right, since it was him that showed up to try and bail them out.” Cort said, then added as he left, “I’ll keep in touch, you had better be sure and pack your heater with you.”

I grinned and patted my pocket. I had to smile at Cort’s use of the word ‘heater’. He must of read too many Mike Hammer novels. I looked at the I.D. that Cort had given me, Special Agent, CSI division. For the State of New Mexico. Well I guess they had to put something on there. I still couldn’t understand the why and wherefore of them wanting me to work for them. It just didn’t make sense, I was a nobody.

I said as much to Faith, “Don’t worry about it Dear,” she said, “they must have their reasons. But we do seem to be right in the middle of things all of the time, don’t we?”

“Yes, and I’m not sure that I like it. Now take this Charles Hester thing. I think we’re getting into things a bit deeper. Anyway, when we have dinner with them tonight, we can find out a little more I guess.”

“Sure, but right now Rosie and I are going to get her some new clothes” Faith said, then added, “you can watch Alita, can’t you?”

Mr. Mom, that’s me. But I really didn’t mind. I changed her diaper then fed her some baby food, then rocked her to sleep. Before they got back, the hotel boy had delivered our belongings from the old room, the CSI team had left.

This new room had three bedrooms along with three bathrooms. The hotel boy came back with a helper and the crib from our old room. I had him put it in the bedroom that Rosie would be using, she could watch over her at night. That is if Faith would let her.

They came back loaded down with packages. Rosie’s eyes were beaming. “I have never had so many new clothes, thank you both, so much.” She said.

“You’re welcome sweetheart,” Faith said. Then to me, “where do you have Alita sleeping?”

“She’s in the first bedroom, there, on our bed. The boy brought her crib, I had him put it in the next bedroom, I thought Rosie and Alita could sleep in there, is that Okay?”

“Yes, that is if Rosie wants to sleep in the same room as Alita?” Faith said.

“Oh yes, that would be perfect, I’d love to.” Rosie said. Then she asked, “Is it okay if I take a shower and change into some of my new clothes?”

“Of course, we’re supposed to meet the Hester’s for supper. Here in the dinning room of our Hotel, their staying here also.” Faith said.

“Oh,” Rosie said, “do you think they know I was supposed to be the ‘hand off’?”

“No, they don’t know that, you’ve done nothing wrong Rosie so don’t worry about it.” I said.

Faith and I, went to clean up and change clothes also, but of course every time Faith got naked, one thing led to another, per usual.