he mumbled about driving a stake through the heart of Jason McCauley, especially when that worthy did one of his columns bemoaning the plight of some prisoner it had taken city and state years to put inside. Cash suspected that his superior lived in terror of being discovered by the newspaper. It had ruined careers before. Cash had his own differences with the
Post,
but remained amused by Railsback's pointed fingers and endless cries of "Anti-Christ!"
"They wouldn't go that far."
"The hell they wouldn't. Stay away from them, Norm. Don't give them anything. Let them dig it out without any help from us. Maybe
they
will come up with a rational explanation. Now get the hell home before I blow a fuse. Best to Annie."
"Yeah. 'Lo to Marylin, too." Cash made himself scarce.
"Honey," he said as he pushed through the door, "you started supper yet?"
"Got some hamburger thawing."
"Put it back in. I'm taking you out. Movie, too."
"What brought this on?" Being taken out to dinner was an event so rare it called for some questioning.
"I just need to get out. Away." He described the encounter with Hank.
"What if Nancy calls? The kids might need something…"
"She should be able to cope for one night. Come on, get your purse. Don't even bother fixing up."
She went with great reluctance, and dinner was no success.
"What's worrying you?" Cash finally demanded, after his second and third choices of movies elicited flat refusals.
"I just think we should be home in case…"
"Christ! How come you're so all-fired sure…"
"I ran into Martha Schnieder at Kroger yesterday. She told me her daughter has been baby-sitting for Nancy."
"Huh? So?"
"So lately it's been three or four nights a week. Nancy has been hanging out at the Red Carpet Lounge in Cahokia. Sometimes she doesn't come home till three or four in the morning…"
It finally sank in. And for a minute his emotions rushed this way and that. Finally, he took her hands in his. "Honey, there's a fact that we've all got to face. Michael's been gone for eight years. And Nancy's still young."
"Norman, that's enough. I know it all by heart. Every damned argument: 'It's time we accepted the fact that Michael's dead'; 'Nancy has the right to a sex life'; 'She has the right to find a new husband.' And on and on. Anything you can think of, I've thought of already. And it's all true. But dammit, Norm, it
hurts.
She and the kids are all that's left."
He knew she was describing a battle he still had to fight. Not yet engaged, he could observe, "I don't think she'd cut us out. She's still family. The most she'd want is for us to mind our own business. It
is
her life."
"What if she married somebody who had to move somewhere else?"
"We'd just have to live with it."
"I don't
want
to live with it!"
She was getting loud enough to draw curious glances. "We'd better go. Come on, I'll take you to Baskin-Robbins." She loved ice cream. A cone had smoothed over many a rough spot.
They spent the rest of the evening in front of the TV. As Cash had predicted, the phone didn't ring once. Instead of watching Carson, he turned in early.
He didn't sleep well. Michael's ghost hovered over his bed whispering about time machines.
The media did get hold of the story next day, but didn't play it up. Cash supposed it was because they could get nothing to sink their teeth into, though Railsback offered the opinion that reportorial imaginations bogged down when wandering outside the traditional bounds of business, politics, and crime. Harald claimed it was because the department itself was for a time diverted.
The entire department became embroiled in a series of crash priority cases, a hectic mishmash of murder probably due, in part, to the torrid weather. There was the killing of an off-duty patrolman during the holdup of an evening church service, then the rape-murder of a ten-year-old girl,
Post,
but remained amused by Railsback's pointed fingers and endless cries of "Anti-Christ!"
"They wouldn't go that far."
"The hell they wouldn't. Stay away from them, Norm. Don't give them anything. Let them dig it out without any help from us. Maybe
they
will come up with a rational explanation. Now get the hell home before I blow a fuse. Best to Annie."
"Yeah. 'Lo to Marylin, too." Cash made himself scarce.
"Honey," he said as he pushed through the door, "you started supper yet?"
"Got some hamburger thawing."
"Put it back in. I'm taking you out. Movie, too."
"What brought this on?" Being taken out to dinner was an event so rare it called for some questioning.
"I just need to get out. Away." He described the encounter with Hank.
"What if Nancy calls? The kids might need something…"
"She should be able to cope for one night. Come on, get your purse. Don't even bother fixing up."
She went with great reluctance, and dinner was no success.
"What's worrying you?" Cash finally demanded, after his second and third choices of movies elicited flat refusals.
"I just think we should be home in case…"
"Christ! How come you're so all-fired sure…"
"I ran into Martha Schnieder at Kroger yesterday. She told me her daughter has been baby-sitting for Nancy."
"Huh? So?"
"So lately it's been three or four nights a week. Nancy has been hanging out at the Red Carpet Lounge in Cahokia. Sometimes she doesn't come home till three or four in the morning…"
It finally sank in. And for a minute his emotions rushed this way and that. Finally, he took her hands in his. "Honey, there's a fact that we've all got to face. Michael's been gone for eight years. And Nancy's still young."
"Norman, that's enough. I know it all by heart. Every damned argument: 'It's time we accepted the fact that Michael's dead'; 'Nancy has the right to a sex life'; 'She has the right to find a new husband.' And on and on. Anything you can think of, I've thought of already. And it's all true. But dammit, Norm, it
hurts.
She and the kids are all that's left."
He knew she was describing a battle he still had to fight. Not yet engaged, he could observe, "I don't think she'd cut us out. She's still family. The most she'd want is for us to mind our own business. It
is
her life."
"What if she married somebody who had to move somewhere else?"
"We'd just have to live with it."
"I don't
want
to live with it!"
She was getting loud enough to draw curious glances. "We'd better go. Come on, I'll take you to Baskin-Robbins." She loved ice cream. A cone had smoothed over many a rough spot.
They spent the rest of the evening in front of the TV. As Cash had predicted, the phone didn't ring once. Instead of watching Carson, he turned in early.
He didn't sleep well. Michael's ghost hovered over his bed whispering about time machines.
The media did get hold of the story next day, but didn't play it up. Cash supposed it was because they could get nothing to sink their teeth into, though Railsback offered the opinion that reportorial imaginations bogged down when wandering outside the traditional bounds of business, politics, and crime. Harald claimed it was because the department itself was for a time diverted.
The entire department became embroiled in a series of crash priority cases, a hectic mishmash of murder probably due, in part, to the torrid weather. There was the killing of an off-duty patrolman during the holdup of an evening church service, then the rape-murder of a ten-year-old girl,
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