CHAPTER 38

We met Daryl and Jasmine and they were obviously freshly showered as we were. That was when I first noticed the plastic bag in her hands. She and Lucy had obviously planned for this or something similar. Of course, we were both armed--our 9mm's securely holstered on our belts. Mine was covered by my navy blue sports jacket, Daryl's hidden by a lightweight jacket. I drove, following Lucy's directions to a spot just at the edge of the city limits. Maxwell's was a high-ceilinged building with leaded glass on the front and side windows, giving it an elegant appearance. Inside it was even better with real natural stone and extensive dark woodwork on the walls.

The Maitre d' greeted Lucy by name then looked his nose down at Daryl, Jasmine, and me until I opened my jacket a bit to give him a view of my ID and pistol. "Frank, I'd like to introduce my husband, Matt Cahill, the Chief of Police, and this is his friend and Lieutenant Daryl Evans. Finally, this is my best friend Jasmine Stone. She's the chief librarian at our library. Have my parents arrived yet?"

"Yes, Miss Lucille—they are in the gold room. Allow me to show you the way." He took a few menus from the podium and led us down a wide corridor to a small room separated from the main dining room by a wall of leaded glass blocks with just a single table for eight. Jonathan rose to hug all of us which, I assumed, told the snobby Maitre d' how things were with us. His attitude changed immediately. I thanked Jonathan once he was gone.

"He's not a bad sort, but every now and then he forgets we're in western Tennessee and not in Paris."

"I've been to Paris," I told everyone. "Paris, Texas; it's a nice place." Lucy scoffed and swatted my arm as Jonathan and Marylou laughed.

"Let's be seated and have a drink or three before dinner. Marylou and I know the menu by heart, but I think the rest of you will probably need a look." Jonathan and Marylou returned to their seats and we also sat. The extra two place settings and chairs were removed immediately and we shifted the settings and chairs to have more room. I was next to Marylou and my wife who had Jasmine to her right and then Daryl. Our waiter came and took drink orders. I'm not much of a drinker—guns and alcohol usually cause trouble and I was almost always armed—but this was a celebration so I thought I could handle one drink with dinner. I ordered a margarita on the rocks then turned my attention to the sizable menu.

I couldn't believe all the courses listed in the menu—starters, soup, salad, pasta, entrees, desserts, and after-dinner cordials. Furthermore, the menu was written in English and French. There was no way I was eating all these courses so I just picked out the few I thought I'd like. I turned to Lucy after a few minutes to ask what she was going to eat.

"I'm going to start with the snails." Then she changed her mind when she saw the expression on my face. "Actually, the shrimp cocktail here is really great. Why don't you have one, too?" I smiled at my approval and asked her about the French onion soup. "It's my favorite, by far." She chose the rack of lamb, but I ordered the king sized prime rib and Daryl and Jonathan joined me. I was really glad I wasn't paying the tab for this meal. I thought it would come to well more than a hundred per person plus tip before we were done.

We had a lively time and a great dinner, but I'd found that every meal at our house had been great, too. I guessed that was a big benefit to being rich, or, at least, having a rich wife. One of the benefits of prime rib is that there's always fat to take home for the dog. Marylou had a tuna steak that she couldn't finish and didn't want to take home so I added that to Max's dinner treat. I'd often thought that dogs would eat anything, but that's not true. I'd given Max some stew I'd ordered at a diner in Carolina Beach and when he was done all of the peas were sitting unmolested in the bottom of his bowl.

We said good-bye to my in-laws at the restaurant with sincere thanks, but Jonathan actually thanked Daryl and me. "Thanks for ridding the area of drugs," he told us.

"Sorry if we disillusioned you, Jonathan," Daryl said just before I could get the words out. "We put a big dent in the supply train, but someone else with a lot of greed and no caring for his or her fellow man will follow them. It might not happen for six months or so, but eventually…." Jonathan looked at me and I just nodded my agreement.

"We hit them hard and, most importantly, we eliminated the corrupt police officers who successfully protected the scum. People like them are the lowest form of life. I'm not a big supporter of the death penalty, but dealing drugs and the misery they create deserves the most severe penalty imaginable. In many cases it's worse than murder in my book."

"I would think that police officers would support the death penalty, Matt."

"The cost of imprisoning someone for life is, perhaps surprisingly, much less than executing him. The reason for that is all of the appeals that are required by law. The state has to pay for the attorneys—both prosecution and defense—as well as the judge and other courtroom expenses. The most recent estimates exceed twenty million dollars and don't forget that the prisoner needs to be segregated from the general population and that's expensive, too."

"Hmmm, I never thought about it that way."

"It gets worse. What percent of prisoners are there because of drug use—not sales, but simple possession? I'll tell you—it's more than half, by far. That's hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Many in law enforcement would like to see things like marijuana use legalized so we can spend our time tracking down more serious criminals."

"I agree, Jonathan. Matt and I have discussed this probably a couple of dozen times. Unfortunately, he's also right about somebody else moving into the area. The profit on illegal drugs is just too tempting for a lot of folks." Jonathan just shook his head and then he and Marylou turned and walked away. We waved good-bye and piled into my SUV for the short ride home. Lucy invited Jasmine and Daryl in, but they had the good sense to decline.

I was sure that Max could smell the treats I'd brought home for him by the way he jumped and scampered around the kitchen. I made sure that everything was cut into small chunks before placing his dish onto the rubber mat. I knew he was very hungry, but he stayed sitting until I told him it was okay with a snap of my fingers. Then he attacked the food with even more ferocity than he had shown in taking the Mexican down earlier this afternoon.

I knew that Lucy wanted me to ask her about her news so that was exactly why I hadn't. Max had been put out and the house secured when we walked together into the bedroom. I didn't even react to the scowl on her face. "You can be so exasperating, you know?"

Playing dumb, I replied, "Who, me?"

She was laughing now as she stared at me. "Yes, you; who did you think? Max?"

"Okay, I give up. What's your news? Are Jasmine and Daryl getting engaged over the weekend? They were so obvious at dinner."

"They were and Jasmine does think it will be soon, maybe even this weekend, but I was thinking about something else." She waited for almost a minute before continuing as if she was a bit uncertain how to proceed. "Um…I went off the pill almost six weeks ago."

"Okay." That was all I said, but anyone reading my face could tell that I wasn't quite done. I was just waiting for the rest of her comments.

"Well, I was due for my period three days ago. I know it's too early to be sure, but…. You're not angry, are you?"

I picked her up and kissed her then. "No, I'm not angry. How could I be? We agreed that we didn't want to wait so the actual decision of when was really up to you. Do you want to get some of those home pregnancy tests or should we wait a bit? What about seeing your doctor? Want me to go with you?"

Now Lucy was laughing like crazy. "I'm glad you're not too excited." I stood stock still for a second before joining Lucy in laughing, then I hugged her and told her for at least the fourth time today how much I loved her. We showered again, just because we loved the feeling of our skin on skin contact and went to bed, first to make the most incredible love of my life and then to sleep, but not before I told Lucy once again that I loved her more than life itself.