Crown's Law by Wolf Wootan

demonstrated many
of her theories in the lab. It was the main theme of her two
doctoral theses. She had made several presentations at UCI to
groups of distinguished mathematicians and physicists from all over
the world. Sam would not let her travel to other halls of academia
yet, so they had to come to her. That they came proved
something.
    “Maybe when you’re 16,” he had told her.
    So 16 was a big number to Becky and the Crown
family. Not because she might be able to travel to other palaces of
academic prowess, but because she would be able to get her
California Driver’s License! Getting Becky to and from UCI had been
a joint effort of the Crown clan, Sam catching the brunt of it when
he worked in Santa Ana. Two UCI students lived on Beach Road, so
Becky had hitched rides with them when she could. Fortunately, much
of her studying was done at home or with Sam at various venues. Now
she could drive herself! If she had a car.
    That was taken care of her on her birthday.
The Crowns gave her a new 2001, white VW beetle/bug wrapped in a
large, red bow. She was ecstatic!
    Helena had set her up for disappointment on
her actual birthday on Friday. The Crowns had their usual small
party—the gala being scheduled for the next day—and Becky received
her usual wonderful gifts, but no car keys! She was silently
crushed!
    The next day, the bash was twice as big as
the one Helena had thrown for her 15th birthday. During the cake
ceremony and after the singing of “Happy Birthday,” Sam secretly
retrieved the birthday car from a neighbor’s garage and parked it
in front of the Crown house garages where they had saved a space
for it.
    A few minutes later, the uniformed Chief of
Security for the District walked out on the deck; he greeted those
he knew and found Sam.
    “Hey, Sam. There’s a car parked illegally out
front. Do you think you could have it moved?”
    Of course, he was in on the gag they were
pulling on Becky.
    “Sorry, Chief. Hey, Beck! Could you go check
this out? See whose car it is?” Sam yelled at Becky.
    “Sure, Sam! Be right back.”
    She left the deck and went out to the road.
They all heard her scream over the roar of the crashing waves. Sam
gave the chief a high-five and they all headed for the road. Becky
was already sitting behind the wheel, alternately crying and
laughing. She jumped out and began hugging her grandparents and
Sam.
    “Thank you! Thank you! You guys really fooled
me! Oh my God!” she wailed.
    Since she had her driver’s permit, she
insisted that Sam ride shotgun while she took it for a spin on
PCH.
    “It’s like a dream, Sam!” she bubbled as she
sped along PCH 15 miles per hour over the speed limit. Sam’s hands
were balled into fists and his knuckles were white.
    “Jeez, Beck! Watch the speed! You’ll kill us
before you even get your license!” groaned Sam.
    “Sorry, Sam! Shit! This is heaven!”
    ***
    Even though she wasn’t reliant on Sam
for transportation anymore, she still dropped by the Mickey Malone
office quite a bit. She enjoyed helping Sam with his cases. It was
a pleasant break from her crushing study load. She had gained quite
a reputation among the Investigations International detectives for her deductive powers. She had helped Sam crack
several difficult cases and he had given her the well-deserved
credit.
    Sam took a lot of good-natured ribbing from
his fellow detectives.
    “Hey, Crown, did you ever solve anything
before the kid came along?”
    “Why don’t you turn the office over to Pearl
and Becky? Give you more time to hunt quail!”
    They all loved Rebecca Rogers. She had a
large cadre of protectors at her beck and call if she ever needed
them.
    ***
    In March, Sam accompanied Becky to
Washington, D.C. where she addressed the National Academy of
Sciences and answered questions from the gathered throng of
mathematicians and physicists—even some astrophysicists and
astronomers—about her theories. The controversy heated up on both
sides. Becky came