by J. D. Oliver
“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 Fai
th, 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.