Cahill

I could hear the din from the bar as I exited my SUV and I was still almost a block away. What a shame! I knew from long experience that would change as soon as my foot crossed the threshold. I tend to have that effect on people. I’m six feet six inches tall and I weigh an even 250 pounds—all of it broad shouldered muscle. My Body Mass Index at my last physical was less than four percent. My light brown hair is styled exactly the way it’s been for the past fifteen years—ever since I first joined the Navy. Sure enough, no sooner had I taken my first step into the bar than the noise died. When I turned left and stepped up to the bar the people there couldn’t back away fast enough. I took a stool in the middle of the empty space and sat down, waiting for the bartender to approach. “I’m not looking for any trouble.” “Good…neither am I. Give me a ginger ale.” He reached under the bar for a glass and some ice. Twenty seconds later he slid the glass in my direction. I pulled a fiver from my pocket and dropped it on the bar. He ignored it and walked away to draw a few beers and pour some wine. It looked to me like this was a pretty cheap crowd. Checking up and down the bar all I could see were longnecks and drafts. I reached into the lower left pocket of my cargo pants. Like almost everything else I was wearing they were a true deep navy blue. My heavy shoes were black as was my wide belt. My belt said as much about me as the bold white lettering across my chest. Just below the American flag over my heart were the letters that were my life—U. S. MARSHAL. On my right hip was my nickel plated .44 Magnum Colt Python, just behind two speed loaders in addition to the twenty-four rounds on the belt. On my left hip was my ASP Talon baton—every bit as deadly a weapon in my hands as the revolver. A pouch at the back of my right hip held my stainless steel handcuffs and its partner on the opposite side held my radio—my link to my backup team. I placed the photo flat on the bar as the bartender returned to me. “I’ll have another,” I said in a loud voice, continuing so I wouldn’t be overheard. “Don’t pick it up and don’t make a production of looking at it. I’ve been told that he comes here a lot. Is he here tonight? If he is and he escapes because you’ve given me away I’ll see to it that you’re arrested for obstruction of justice.” He gulped a few times but did as he was told, nodding slightly in response. I continued almost at a whisper. “If my nose is pointing to twelve o’clock, my right ear to three, the back of my head to six, and my left ear to nine, tell me where he is. Again, don’t point or do anything obvious and we’ll be fine.” He pretended to wipe the bar as he whispered, “About 4:30 with his back to you.” I picked up the reflection in the mirror then asked, “Red shirt with black and white stripes, looking away from me?” He nodded again. Now, in my normal tone of voice I asked, “Where’s the men’s room?”

Fredrick_Udele · Fantaisie

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69 Chs

CHAPTER 69

That was just as well because there was a big fight at another function down the hall. I blew my dog whistle, summoning Max into the catering hall as eight of us strode into the other room. Once Max made his appearance at my side the fight suddenly dissolved. I told everyone there who we were and why we were there. "I'm going to be really pissed off if we have to return and some of you will spend the rest of the weekend in one of our cells. Just try me. I dare you." Some stupid drunk pushed his luck until Max put him on the seat of his pants and kept him there by standing over him with fangs bared and a menacing growl coming from his throat. By then two uniformed officers had arrived and they wasted no time in arresting him and moving him to headquarters to sleep it off. Max joined us at the reception where he was almost as big a hit as he was at home.

Five years later I was seated at the desk in the library on a Saturday afternoon when Lucy walked in. "Where are the girls," I asked. Lucy and I now had three. They were a handful at times, but I loved them like you wouldn't believe.

"They're in Melody's room taking a nap."

"I guess that tells me where Max is." Lucy laughed as she told me that they were all sleeping on Max. That came as no surprise. I joined her as I rolled the chair back and swung my legs over Kurt's prone form. He looked up as I pulled Lucy into my lap for a long tender kiss. She reached down to run her fingers through Max's son's fur.

Max was the offspring of four generations of AKC national champions. I had placed several ads in the Memphis newspapers and In the AKC journal seeking a bitch to breed with him. Normally, a lot of money changes hands, but that didn't interest me at all. What I wanted was at least one of the male puppies—two if there were six or more. I faxed Max's papers and photos to three candidates, rejecting two because they didn't quite measure up. Max successfully impregnated on the first try and the result was seven pups. Once they were weaned I took the two biggest—one for me and one for Daryl.

I named mine Kurt; he was named Wolfgang—Wolf, for short. We trained both dogs together and we had help from Max whose presence ensured that both pups paid attention. One growl from him kept them on task. Now Max has retired from daily police work although I did use him twice when I had a need for two dogs while tracking felons in the thick woods at the north end of the county.

I had just been reelected a second time and I'd done no campaigning, exactly as I had promised. I let my actions speak for me. Crime was down more than sixteen percent and I'd taken a hard line on drug peddlers, but stressed the need for treatment over prison for drug users. I had joined Rotary at the suggestion of my father-in-law and I had spoken several times about our efforts to stem the flow of drugs into the county and our anti-gang efforts which had proved to be extremely successful. Just as important, I cooperated eagerly with local law enforcement, something that had never happened in the past.

Now I sat with Lucy on my lap assured of another four-year term as sheriff. She had just broken our kiss when she asked me, "I wonder if you have any idea how rich you are. Do you?"

"I know exactly how rich I am. I have a wonderful loving wife, three beautiful young daughters, and two furry beasts to protect us. I have in-laws who seem to love me as much as I love them and we live in a community where people live and work together in harmony and I have a successful career doing what I love every day. That's rich enough for me. Can it possibly be any better?"

"Probably not," Lucy answered, "but the improbable just happened. Daddy phoned to invite us to dinner. He's going to retire within the next month. That means that I'll take over running the company. Daddy has always told me that he was going to give it to me."

"That's nice, but how much time will that take? Will you have to travel? What about the girls? Who will take care of them?" I was about to continue when Lucy silenced me with another kiss.

"I'm now vice president of the company and I barely work twenty hours a week. I won't have to work more than another ten to fifteen hours. I might have to travel once a month, but it will always be two days or less and I'll use the company jet. Mother will gladly sit with the girls—Daddy, too, and don't forget that Melody is in school now and Julie is in pre-school."

"So, how rich are you now? How much is the company worth, anyway?"

"Well, Daddy recently told me he had an offer of a hundred and twenty million so I'm sure it's worth more than that, but that's only a small part of my wealth."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, it seems that I have a wonderful supportive and loving husband who doesn't give a damn how much money I have, three beautiful daughters and a couple of furry beasts that protect me wherever we go. I'm the top official in the city where we live and I have a lot of faithful friends. Mostly, though, I have an incredible man who loves me as much as I love him and in about seven and a half months I'm going to prove it again when I give him another child for us to love."

I did a double-take at that. It was the first time I'd heard that and I was just as thrilled as I had been the first time. Now it was my turn to stop her with a kiss. It was an especially long and hot one in which we swapped a lot of spit. My foot moved Kurt aside as I stood and carried my bride upstairs to our bed. Past experience told me we'd have just enough time to make incredible love before the girls awoke. I had everything I could have prayed for in my life. We had our health and more than our share of love. We had great friends Daryl and Jasmine and their two children. It doesn't get any better than that. Could I possibly be any richer than I was? Maybe, but I just couldn't see how.

THE END

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