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  This got Pike feeling guilty for not filling her in sooner, but what could you do about that now.

  He said, “I get what you’re saying, as far as it goes. So we’re at least not totally dangling out there on an island, no explanation in sight. Whether we believe it or not.”

  “Exactly . . . And I won’t expect you to admit it, but you must be proud of me for placing the scarlet fever component in the mix.”

  “You didn’t do that. I prompted you with my questions.”

  “Have it your way . . . I am glad you came today, though.” She took his arm. Not the way someone really takes your arm, but how a cousin, or an aunt or maybe even your mom might do it, but it wasn’t the worst thing.

  A couple blocks from the motel Pike said, “So do you believe in UFO’s? . . . Or what?”

  “I think I do. I just have trouble rationalizing how they could be visiting us.”

  “The distance, you mean?”

  “Yes. When you consider how far away the nearest star is that might support life. My sense is, it would take thousands of years to reach us.”

  “I agree. Unless they’ve found a different way to travel.”

  “I’d need more information, then,” she said.

  Pike said, “My Arizona gig, I’m supposed to be meeting someone who saw one . . . In fact the one. Back in 1956 . . . For what it’s worth.”

  “Well you’ll have to excuse me for being skeptical,” she said. “Of course, I would have been skeptical as well . . . that I could have . . . performed some of the things I have.”

  “That makes two of us,” Pike said.

  Dani said, “Jumping sideways for a moment though . . . I’m still not clear on who suggested you come and see me.”

  Ah man. After all that, she comes back to it. And she’s not going to let up, is she.

  “Okey-dokey. Jeez. You keep pressing me, the fact of the matter is, I started off this morning with another guy, sort of a buddy. We had an argument . . . and so we split it up. These things happen. You move on.”

  Dani said, “I’m sorry to hear that. Where did you split up?”

  “I don’t know, one of the stops we made. We decided it wasn’t working out, is all . . . That okay with you?”

  “Well, is he all right? He had a means of transportation, at that point?”

  “Pretty sure he did, yeah.”

  Dani let go of his arm and stopped walking. “Pike I don’t like the sound of this. You need to check in with your friend.”

  “Okay, I will a little later. He’s fine, but I’ll make sure, just because you’re worried about it.”

  “Now.”

  Pike had backed himself into a corner, but he had no choice at this point. Why had he mentioned Hannamaker in the first place, when she asked him by the pool how him just happening to drop in on her came about?

  He couldn’t control his big mouth obviously. Why did you have to embellish stuff? Those legal shows like Law Order, they were always emphasizing that when you get to court, or get interrogated period, you don’t volunteer extra information.

  What was wrong with I decided spur of the moment, or even, it’s none of your business, though that would be a little extreme, but still.

  Pike took a deep breath and called Jack, who answered right away.

  “Bud,” Pike said, “I’m not apologizing or anything, and believe me I’ll sleep fine either way . . . but only so Dani here can sleep good, I’m checking on you.”

  “Appreciate it,” Jack said. “I’m okay.”

  Pike covered the phone and said to Dani, “He says he’s a-okay.”

  “He’s back in your town then,” Dani said, “with his parents?”

  Oh my God. “She wants to make sure you’re back in Beacon,” Pike said to Jack.

  “Actually, no. That place we got the sandwiches? Turns out they have a 24-hour coffee shop. It does the job, I’m at the counter . . . Then in the morning I’ll figure it out. There’ll be a lot of options.”

  Pike said to Dani, “He’s squared away for tonight, and he’ll be home in the morning.

  Dani said, “Is that so. And where is he squared away, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  Pike hesitated and Dani asked if he’d hand her the phone please.

  ***

  With the outskirts of Palm Springs in the rear view mirror, Pike said, “This wasn’t how I drew it up. You see things differently, obviously.”

  Dani said, “Pike, you can’t do that to someone. I don’t care what transpired between you.”

  “That’s what I would have thought too . . . But the funny thing was, it felt good. Rewarding, in fact.”

  “Well perhaps you’re not as good-hearted a person as I thought you were.”

  “You got that right, not at all . . . but one other thing here, didn’t you tell me something about not being able to leave Palm Springs? . . . As in a little matter of the police?”

  Pike was suddenly wondering, no joke, was he currently aiding and abetting a fugitive, or whatever the expression was?

  Dani said, “We should be fine.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Pike said.

  “Please relax, I have a routine, and I abide by it.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means . . . I’m required to check in twice a day, by calling a special number. 9 in the morning and 9 at night, with a half hour grace period. Which I just did before we left.”

  “Wow . . . they don’t monitor your phone location or anything, in addition?”

  “I left it in the room, just in case.”

  “Oh my God . . . And you’re lecturing me about doing the right thing, and dropping a kid off?”

  “We’re fine,” Dani said, “and your friend’s going to be fine, and you will be too.”

  “Meaning we feel so much better when we do the right thing in life.”

  “Totally.”

  “Unreal . . .” Pike said. “You’re a beautiful woman, don’t get me wrong on that, but you’re a piece of work.”

  “That’s sweet of you,”she said, “but . . . please keep your eyes on the road and let’s fulfill our objective with as few distractions as possible . . . And incidentally, your friend, does he know about my situation?”

  “Which one?” which was a darn good question, and Dani wasn’t sure either.

  Pike said, “The early part of the ride, where we were getting along, I shot him the basics of your current incarceration . . . Nothing about the Supergirl aspect.”

  “That was sensible of you,” she said.

  Hannamaker didn’t look too great standing there waiting, and Pike was glad about that. He also had Jack’s suitcase in the back of the pick-up all this time, so that probably caused him some extra inconvenience too, which was good.

  “Hey,” Jack said, not making eye-contact with Pike.

  Pike didn’t say a word so Dani stepped up and offered her hand. “I’m Pike’s friend,” she said. “Are you hungry, thirsty . . . or is there anything we can do for you?”

  “Jiminy Christmas,” Pike couldn’t help butting in with. “You’re treating him like we just discovered him laying in the desert, his rear end all stuck with cactus pricks.”

  “You didn’t have to come out all this way on my account,” Jack said. “And there’s a bus station I found in Emarryville, they go to Beacon it turns out, not Greyhound but that other line.”

  “That’s good then, how far is that?” Pike said.

  “It’s not an option,” Dani said.

  “Why not?” Pike said. “What time’s the bus leave?”

  “Not till tomorrow,” Jack said. “But early enough. They got a 6:18, I think it was.”

  “So . . . we drop you, you don’t mind relaxing there for a few hours, the station, and then jumping on the bus?”

  “No, that’d be fine,” Jack said.

  “Get in please,” Dani said, “and that won’t be fine.”

  Pike didn’t want to get back in. He said, “You’re saying
. . . I gotta look at this piece of garbage, all the way back to Palm Springs?”

  “Indeed,” Dani said. “And overnight as well . . . After that you’re on your own, if you girls want to continue your cat fight.”

  “Was that supposed to be a joke?” Pike said.

  “I thought it was pretty funny, actually,” Jack said.

  Pike decided you could only fight a losing battle so long, and he got back in the truck and waited for them to get in too, and to sort out the seating arrangement. He had one of those simple three-seat bench jobs, that was it, no back seats, and first Jack got in the middle next to Pike and that was ridiculous, so they switched it around which was still tight but at least he had Dani next to him for the ride back, though that wouldn’t be nearly enough consolation.

  They got back on the highway and Dani seemed a bit agitated. “You keep looking at your watch,” Pike said.

  “I was kind of noticing that too,” Jack said. “Is everything all right?”

  “You know what?” Pike said. “Your job is to keep your mouth shut, and let me do any noticing that might be necessary.”

  “Please, boys,” Dani said.

  Since they were kind of into it now, and since he was irritated at Dani too for making him do this, Pike couldn’t help adding on, “She’s afraid she’s under surveillance, and we better not screw around getting back.”

  “Is that really true?” Jack said.

  “Either that, or she’s having serious withdrawal issues from her phone.”

  “You lost it?” Jack said.

  “Left it,” Pike said. “In case they check on her, she claims.”

  “I guess that is a good way to keep tabs on someone,” Jack said.

  “Dude, how many ways can I say it--nobody’s asking your opinion.”

  Dani spoke up. “I am a bit concerned about something,” she said. “It didn’t come to me until a few minutes ago, but they do physical inspections twice a month.”

  Pike raised an eyebrow at that one, and Jack did too, and they didn’t exactly look at each other but they were on the same page.

  “Okay, you need to stop taking things out of context,” Dani said. “The inspections are supposed to be random, but I’m remembering the last one was on a Thursday night.”

  “Two weeks ago?” Pike said.

  “I’m pretty sure it was. Though frankly this whole bad dream, it’s been somewhat of a blur.”

  Pike said, “Even if it was, what are the odds of someone showing up tonight? Wouldn’t the idea be to keep you off balance?”

  “One would think,” Dani said. “Except this gentleman--he was very courteous actually and seemed like a real straight shooter, and he wore a coat and tie--when he left last time he said take care and I’ll see you in two weeks. ”

  “They’re all about full disclosure, more and more,” Jack said.

  “What would you know about it?” Pike said.

  “Well we did a criminology segment in Mr. Hart’s Civics? That’s what they were stressing, kind of like with the drunk driving checkpoints, lot of times they announce them up front, where and when you’re going to have to watch for ‘em.”

  “That would fit this situation I think,” Dani said. “I don’t believe the man was being cagey in the least, that he was simply alerting me that he’d see me in two weeks.”

  “Well what time was all that?” Pike said.

  “Pretty late. I remember I was watching the news when he knocked. The news comes on early in Palm Springs, at 9:30 if you can believe it, because of all the retired people. But then they repeat it after Jimmy Kimmel and all of them . . . I’d say it was around 2.”

  Pike said, “Wow you’re not kidding. Very considerate of this person to time it like that. What if you were in the middle of something?”

  “You’re not allowed to be,” Dani said.

  Jack said, “What do we got, from here?”

  “About an hour and a half,” Pike said.

  “Gonna be tight then,” Jack said. “Do you live in an apartment, a hotel, what?”

  “A motel.”

  “A little more than that,” Pike said. “They call it a motel, but it’s a definite notch up. More like a semi-resort.”

  “Is there a 24-hour front desk then?” Jack said.

  “Uh-huh,” Dani said. “I’m sensing where you might be going with this, but I’m not seeing it.”

  Jack said, “So you call ‘em up, tell the desk people you’re expecting someone, and you’ll be back shortly.”

  “And if the person shows up early, to please have them wait in the lobby,” Pike said. “That’s not bad actually.”

  “What would that accomplish?” Dani said. “I’m not where I’m supposed to be, I just violated the conditions of my bail, and they’ll likely re-admit me . . . I apologize Jack, I’m not sure how much Pike has told you, concerning my . . . unlikely predicament.”

  “Not a problem,” Jack said. “But to answer your question, by calling it in, you’re demonstrating responsibility. That should help.”

  “A pre-emptive strike,” Pike said. “In fact, if the guy does happen to show, and you are late . . . and none of this may happen but if it did . . . just tell him you needed some fresh air.” Pike couldn’t help thinking of the resort guest who apparently had needed some fresh air and stumbled upon the scene in the hot tub with Dani and Chuck . . . but that wasn’t relevant at the moment.

  “So . . . just like that,” Dani said.

  “Pretty much,” Jack said. “Your dinner wasn’t agreeing with you, and you felt better being out . . . Anyhow--at least call it in, get it on the record.”

  Dani smiled and kind of shrugged her shoulders and Jack gave her his phone and she took care of it. “I must say, you kids are clever,” she said.

  “Kids,” Pike said.

  “Yeah, what’s up with that,” Jack said.

  Dani said, “And Jack I’m glad to meet you, and glad these kind of . . . backhanded circumstances developed.”

  “What does that mean?” Pike said.

  “That things happen for a reason . . . Pike let’s face it, you and I wouldn’t have come up with such a clever plan, I don’t think, without Jack’s input . . . At least I can relax the rest of the way now, and what will be will be, I guess.”

  “And I admire your spirit,” Jack said.

  Pike didn’t like this at all, and didn’t say anything back to either one of them . . . and couldn’t she see right through this idiot, that her spirit was not all he was in the process of admiring? Pike hunched forward a bit and clenched his teeth and focused on the road.

  Meanwhile Dani had shifted to the right, and was asking Jack steady questions, and Jack was animated and happy to answer them all, and every so often there would be a pause and they’d both laugh about something.

  This continued for a good twenty miles, and by that point they were like two long-lost friends, and Pike couldn’t handle it any more.

  So he said, “Yo, hello? . . . I’m sorry to interrupt the party you got going on, but Dani, I have some questions about Chuck.”

  “Who’s Chuck?” Jack said.

  “Okay now you have to pipe down,” Pike said. “You’ve been revved up for a while, more than a little out of control. Now you need to get back into your place.”

  “My, how rude,” Dani said.

  “So let’s start with the basics,” Pike said. “Where is . . . was . . . this guy from?”

  “What’s gotten into you?” she said.

  “Nothing’s gotten into me, except for I’m trying to help you out here. You need to work with me.”

  Thinking: You don’t know it yet girl, but I’m really trying to help you out here.

  Jack said, “I don’t mean to be rude myself, but I take it Chuck’s the one you wasted, then.” Saying it as obnoxiously casual as ‘he’s the guy you played racquetball with’.

  “Okay,” Dani said, “you’re both starting to get on my nerves . . . Can we please have silence the
rest of the way?”

  “We absolutely can,” Pike said. He looked over at Jack. “See what you did?” he said. “With you, less is definitely more.”

  “I’ll remember that,” Jack said.

  “No you won’t,” Pike said.

  Chapter 23

  Dani thought the best idea was she’d go in first, and check with the desk people in the lobby.

  The thought was if the inspector dude was hanging around, or had shown up and was coming back shortly, that Pike and Jack would wait a few minutes and then go hang out by the pool until Dani gave them the okay.

  This would be better than the three of them tromping into the room together, on the admittedly off-chance, but still a chance, that the guy was waiting outside the room, or who knows, maybe even had a key and was waiting in it.

  The problem was, a long time went by and Dani didn’t show up at the pool, and meanwhile Pike was stuck with Hannamaker, the last guy he wanted to be looking at tonight.

  Meaning the day, that shaped up with so much promise actually, when he dumped the two-timing son-of-a-bitch . . . had backfired royally.

  It had to be past two now and people were still swimming. There was a sign so big you could hit your head on it, announcing that the pool closed at 10pm, but apparently that didn’t matter.

  There was a couple hanging onto the wall together in the deep end, looking lovey-dovey out there, and Pike felt a little funny watching them, but he couldn’t help it, and it beat talking to Jack, and Pike wondered did Dani ever hang out in the pool at night with anyone these days.

  She’d mentioned that new guy, that she knew from the resort bar, but there was no sign or mention of him, so hopefully that ran its course, but her dangerous pattern of picking guys wasn’t going to go away, and Pike was pretty sure that even him going back and dealing with Chuck wouldn’t make it go away either.

  But at least, just maybe, he could get her out of this jam, and give her a fighting chance.

  Without being a lawyer or knowing anything about the case, it didn’t look real promising, did it?

  You had two problems, maybe three.

  First you had a witness who evidently thought he saw Dani hold the idiot under water, that’s number one. That might not be a deal-breaker in and of itself, a petite gal like Dani pulling off something as unlikely as that . . . except you had the Pocatello detectives sticking their nose in, which was problem number two.